Numbers 11:16,24,25; Numbers 14:10; Numbers 12:5; Numbers 16:19,42

This is pre-eminently the wilderness book. Indeed, its primary title was, In the Wilderness; and so in the opening of it we have Jehovah speaking to Moses "in the wilderness of Sinai". Numbers 1:1. Our position in it is thus assumed; and God reminds us at the very outset that He is thinking of us as there. He thinks of us in every position where we may be legitimately, as required by His will in this world. So in this book ( Numbers 33) we have the journeyings of the people and their encampments recorded, as if God would impress upon us that He follows all our movements with intense interest.

Now the wilderness, though a familiar word amongst us, is perhaps not so well understood as we may imagine, nor is it definitely accepted, as divinely presented to us. The idea of it appears in Exodus, God sending His message to Pharaoh to let His people go that they might serve Him in the wilderness. It may seem a matter of small moment that the words "in the wilderness" are added Exodus 5:1. It might seem to be enough to say to Pharaoh that God wished His people to serve Him, which indeed was the purport of His first great message, "Let my son go, that he may serve me" Exodus 4:23; but afterwards stress is laid on the place of service, God was to be served in the wilderness.

In Christendom today the nominal service of God is not carried on in the recognition of the world being a wilderness; it is carried on where there are abundant worldly resources. The world is taxed to provide the ways and means, whether it be the buildings, the salaries of the servants, the choirs, the furniture or what not, whereas God notified Pharaoh at the outset that the world cannot provide the means of

divine service. He intimates plainly that it was to be carried on where there were no visible resources. In other words, that the world and its resources are wholly ignored, and all the provisions come from above. Hence you find that before the means and order of service are proposed, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel are invited to go up to Jehovah; Exodus 24. The principle is that things have to come from thence. "And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink", Exodus 24:10, 11.

They are there in God's realm, we may say, as "nobles" and they are there without fear. So that when in the next chapter He proposed to them to build Him a tabernacle, what is required is understood; at least, a general impression has been conveyed, though the details awaited instructions received by Moses during the forty days on the mount. Moses is detained, called up higher (verse 12), and there a pattern is unfolded to him, "a figurative representation of things in the heavens" Hebrews 9:23. God is in no way dependent on this world for the means of His service. We are shut up to God and to heaven, so that divine thoughts may come into evidence. Who that knows God in any way does not prefer to have God's design for His place of worship, rather than those of the greatest ecclesiastical architect?

A young believer begins to see that he has to do with God; and with God where there is no light and no material save as God Himself brings it in. I do not say the people did not have material, because they did; but spiritually it was from God, and the wilderness brought it out. Four hundred years before it was announced to Abraham that they should go

out of Egypt with great substance. No believer is of any value in the assembly morally unless he has got some substance.

The exercises of coming from Egypt imply that I acquire substance; I do not come into the wilderness a pauper. I am there with a measure of substance, but God will order and direct as to the use of it. It is to fit into a divine scheme. Think of having something which God can use, according to a pattern which He has ever had in His mind! I should not like to be out of that; I should like to have something that God can use. "See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount", Hebrews 8:5.

That is the position in the wilderness with regard to the service of God, and I am concerned with it as set out in Numbers. Exodus gives us the tabernacle set up; Leviticus God dwelling in it, calling us to Him in His own abode -- a most touching thought, and everything is provided for in the priesthood. Numbers contemplates what has been set forth in these two books, so that we can face the world as contrary to us. Having the light of Exodus and of Leviticus, we are here in the wilderness not as individuals, but in relation to the tabernacle.

"The wind is contrary" Matthew 14:24 to that; as you will remember, in Matthew 14 the Lord, having sent the multitudes away, and having compelled His disciples to go into a ship, was alone on the mountain praying, but the wind was contrary. That is the position. Let no one assume that the wind will change in this respect, it will always be a contrary wind. But Numbers is to prepare us for it, and to show the provision which has been made.

Now I wanted to deal first of all with individual service. Moses is the great type of this; he is said to be a servant, and faithful in all God's house. There are those who are like specialists, but scripture

hardly countenances anything like that; the idea of service is to extend to all God's house. Each has his own gift, his own measure; but every truly commissioned servant will have the whole house in his mind. Even if he is not able to help actively he can pray, or she can pray. One may be bed-ridden or crippled, but he can embrace all the saints in his prayers and affections.

Chapter 10 contemplates the tabernacle set up and in movement and as movement begins the power of the "wind" is felt. And, alas! we find here in Moses, as often appearing in ourselves, a spirit of complaint. Not rebellion; I suppose the nearest point he reached to rebellion was when he called the people rebels. We are not far off rebellion when we say that the people of God are rebels. But in this chapter Moses is not saying that, he is telling Jehovah of the burden, the excess that is laid upon him, and that he had not "conceived all this people". Numbers 11:12. That is to say, the complaint was against God, because He had as Moses thought, put upon him more than He should have done. Moses on that occasion saw the Israelites, every man in his tent door, weeping. They were the tears of murmurers, they were not tears of humiliation. So it is, beloved, that we are tested in the service of God in these circumstances.

I want to show you that, although a man in this position, honoured of God, may for the moment fail, yet how graciously God stands by him These appearings embody the divine provision for these failures; that is to say, God came in in a visible way to meet the opposition. For us, of course, it is for faith, but nevertheless real, so that the servant should not lose ground. It is as sure as possible, if I begin to complain that there is too much upon me, and that I am not cared for, or considered enough, I shall lose ground with those whom I serve.

Now the first appearing here is to maintain Moses

at the full height of his service. God says, as it were, I will act according to your suggestion, but in doing it I will preserve your dignity, I will preserve you in honour. I speak thus, dear brethren, so that in service we may know what resources there are; how tenderly, how compassionately, the Master stands by His servant, even although he had brought the circumstances upon himself. So He says: You gather these seventy men. For God will never pass by His servant, save He is obliged to by permanent unbelief, or will. So He directs Moses to select the men who were to help him in his service, trusting him to know that they were reliable, really leaders of the people. What beautiful confidence Jehovah placed in His servant, although failing at this moment!

Moreover, He says, Gather them to the tent door and I will come down and speak with you. And "I will take of the spirit which is upon you, and I will put it upon them". Numbers 11:17. How Moses would feel that! It was as if God were saying, I have thought this matter out, and I have not put any weight upon you that you could not bear; so in adding others I am going to take from you and give to them. But I will speak to you in doing it, I will maintain your honour. And incidentally it would be an advantage to the people; for God turns even the failures of His servants to advantage. There are seventy-one personalities now in the service instead of one. The power is not increased; but the personality is increased, and that is something. Jethro had suggested that Moses should delegate his authority, which he did, but now he has got divine consent, and the power is actually transferred; so that we have seventy persons in addition to Moses with the same spirit or power that Moses had.

Two of them prophesied even in the camp; Numbers 11:26 - 28. Joshua says, "My lord Moses, forbid them", Numbers 11:28 as if he would restrict ministry to one man

like many a young brother who would stand up for some selected leader, as we see at Corinth. Moses says to Joshua, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets". Numbers 11:29. What a beautiful spirit! one that should mark every servant of Christ. No one who serves in the spirit of Christ can detract from you, or from me. "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them". Numbers 11:29. What a camp Israel would have been if all had been like that! It was greatly enhanced by the fact that there were seventy more with the spirit that was upon Moses.

The next thing is, in Numbers 12, to see how God stands by His servants; and woe be to him who envies or traduces them. Miriam and Aaron were jealous of Moses. "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?" Numbers 12:2. Well, that was true, but why assert it? Moses was not saying anything different. Moses had just said, Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets. Think of the wickedness that would rival a man like that, that would impute to him such a wicked motive as arrogating to himself the whole service of God! He had no such thought. The service of God is never a one-man affair; it is a question of personality and increase of personality under Christ, but all in the power of God, all in the anointing.

We see in this chapter the seriousness of envying one whom God uses, one indeed whom God had honoured in such a signal manner as to come down and speak to him on several occasions at the tent door, and recently in the presence of those seventy men on the mountain. The Holy Spirit immediately says, "Now the man Moses was very meek". Numbers 12:3. It is not the servant Moses -- we want to see the man. The man must underlie the servant; indeed, one is very loth ever to use the word "servant" in any official way. We want to see the man behind the service.

What kind of man is he? What is he in his house, in his business, if he has one, or in his workshop? but particularly what is he in his house? Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. Why should he not do so? He was not accountable to Miriam for that. And so the Holy Spirit brings in at once His estimate of "the man Moses". Numbers 12:3.

One is reminded of the greater than Moses, "the man Christ Jesus". 1 Timothy 2:5. Luke gives us the Man. We have to study Luke in order to understand Mark; in Luke it is the Man, but in Mark the Servant. Now here you see God takes this matter in hand and it is important to notice that He spoke "suddenly". Numbers 12:4. We see here how God distinguishes between servant and servant "If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Numbers 12:6 - 8.

Now this is important instruction for us. It is very confirmatory to those who serve, but it is a solemn warning against rivalry or jealousy, and to opposition founded on jealousy against any servant of the Lord. It is so important a matter that the Lord comes down Himself. He shows that while there is great personality in the service, there are also distinctions of service and one is honoured more than others.

In chapter 14 we have another appearing. This is in relation to the gospel in its heavenly character, as alluded to in Hebrews. It is the gospel of the land of Canaan, the gospel that witnesses to heaven and the heavenly calling. The spies had brought back an

excellent report, and, they had brought the grapes from Eshcol.

This is a most serious matter, indeed Hebrews shows that it was the great turning-point, and that apostasy is in view, and dealt with from this point onwards. That is to say, it leads to the habit that has been observed from that very day until now, of taking on a lower line when God is emphasising the higher line. This is a great feature of opposition -- that when God emphasises certain features in a ministry it is opposed by certain of the people. Not that one accuses any, only that the warning should come home to every one of us, lest we take a lower line, or oppose what God is emphasising.

There was hardness of heart in unbelief. This was to be a test; twelve men were sent up to bring back a report of the land; and there it was, the grapes of Eshcol told their own tale, and the twelve all witnessed to the wealth of the land. Then the enemy began to work, and only two out of the twelve stood their ground in connection with what God had emphasised. So Caleb stands up and witnesses to the good land, and to the power of God to bring His people in, because He had delight in them. How wonderful is this, the sense of God having delight in us, and because of that delight giving us the very best He has got, and exercising His power to bring us into it against all opposition!

You see what is at work -- opposition to that which God emphasises as the very best thing for us; indeed the people are about to stone these two faithful men, when the glory appears. "And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel", Numbers 14:10. We see now what is to be contended with; not two weak men like Caleb and Joshua, but God shining out in all His glory. No one need fear but that He will stand

by the truth! Think of the glory coming down at such a time and appearing to all the congregation! We need not fear, dear brethren, to stand firmly by what God emphasises. The glory will appear in some form; God will come in unmistakably and show where He is, so that the thing stands.

Following on this in Numbers 16 we have the great rebellion. It is not now Miriam and Aaron in personal jealousy, but a general uprising against Moses and Aaron by the leading men of Israel. There were two hundred and fifty men, princes of the congregation -- a most powerful combination -- Korah leading. And so the glory appears; that is to say, God will stand by the whole position. It is not now simply a question of one servant or of two servants, but the whole position of Christianity, typically, is assailed in this chapter. "And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation", Numbers 16:19. They are gathered together around the door of the tabernacle. It is an attack on the whole position, as I said; they have come up boldly to the door of the tabernacle.

This marks Christendom at the present time; there is an attack on the whole position -- Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit down here. The "door of the tabernacle of the congregation" Numbers 16:19 is where the attack is being made. Can it be met? It is being met -- it has been met -- by the glory. Can God be overcome? Never! It may mean martyrdom, it may mean separation, reduction, reproach, but the truth stands; it must stand. While Christ is in heaven, and the Holy Spirit is here, Christianity can never cease to exist. It stands, and we may stand courageously by it, for the glory stands by us: "And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked

toward the tabernacle of the congregation; and, behold, the cloud covered it", Numbers 16:42.

The cloud is covering the whole testimony. Can we doubt that this applies at the present time? There is not a doubt that God has preserved the truth, the whole position of Christianity, implying that Christ is in heaven, with all power committed unto Him in heaven and on earth; and that the Holy Spirit is here and that the priesthood exists in virtue of the Holy Spirit being here; and that the church exists, and the glory covers it -- indeed that all is preserved.

This leads me in closing to emphasise that we have the whole idea presented for us. If Satan cannot rob us of the whole, he will endeavour to rob us of a part, but the glory covered the whole tabernacle here. As I was saying elsewhere, the recovery of the Lords supper in our time (it had been in captivity, so to speak) introduces and maintains before us the whole thought.

The Lord in instituting it says, "This is my body". Luke 22:19. We commit ourselves to that; and "we, being many, are one body". Romans 12:5. You have the whole thought ever in view, and the glory covers it. How often we have proved that! How precious to be together with the light of Christ as Head, His body here, and the glory coming in and covering all! It is no local matter; the breaking of bread, although done locally, is universal in its bearing. Who can take it from us as we recognise the position and stand by it? We must maintain what is local, but the thing is that in what is local we should maintain strenuously what is universal -- one whole testimony of God.

And so "the Spirit and the bride say, Come". Revelation 22:17. As soon as the Lord announces Himself, all is there in active response. So He says to Philadelphia, "I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world". Revelation 3:10. The Lord Jesus has never anything less than the whole thought before

Him. David in slaying the lion and the bear preserved the lamb. In Amos 3:12 you have the word, "two legs, or a piece of an ear" taken out of the mouth of the lion. That is something, but David had the whole thought before him. However weak a saint is, I must look at him in relation to the whole, he belongs to the church and to nothing less.

So in the face of the greatest rebellion that ever took place against God and Christ, and I refer now to the antitype, that is, to the history of Christendom, we have the appearing of the glory as it covers the tabernacle, the figurative representation of things in the heavens, where God meets with His people. That indeed is preserved, the glory covering it. May we not courageously stand by the whole truth, maintaining the whole thought and nothing less, in the face of all opposition. May God grant this!

THE KING AND THE KINGDOM

(Summary of Reading)

1 Samuel 22:1,2; 1 Samuel 30:17 - 31; Romans 14:17,18

In regard to the kingdom we find the scriptures making much of the Man by whom it is administered. They make much of Christ, and the Old Testament affords us testimonies to Christ as King, and in all His relations; hence it helps in the understanding of the kingdom, if we consider the Man by whom it is administered. The idea necessarily proceeds from God, but He is pleased to exercise His power and authority in a Man. Scripture makes evident the value of the types, and of what marked them. David is pre-eminent in this way. The scriptures enlarge on what he was personally, and on what Moses was; the Spirit enlarges on their character, these being the two specially employed by God in administration.

It might be stated concisely that the kingdom is the exercise of power in grace, and for this there must be a suited man. In the person of David a rallying point is afforded for those that needed help. David becomes a captain over them, and, in result, nothing is lost in spite of Saul's breakdown. David recovers all. These two features are prominent, protection for those in need, and formation (for the people become like David), and then the recovery of everything for God. We need help, but as that is afforded us, we learn there is a formative power behind it, and that brings in the moral greatness of the man. David was not officially king yet, it was a question of what was moral. In Psalm 45:4 we read, "And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness arid righteousness". That gives the thought of the Man; He is very great and very meek. That state has to be brought about in us; one has to be ruled before one can rule. Rule in the main is influence, and this involves moral greatness. The

idea of a king is that he is able to rule, he has proved his ability in this way, and we are being formed to rule.

In Moses you have divine authority more directly set forth. It is a question of God's authority directly communicated. So we get the thought of Moses' rod, the symbol of God's authority. Whilst divine influence was there it came out generally in ordering and arranging the people, so that they went out in rank, or military fashion; Exodus 13:18. The kingdom is exercised in Exodus very much in a military way until after chapter 15, where Moses is king in the affections of the people. In Deuteronomy 33, he is said to be king in Jeshurun, referring, no doubt, to Exodus 18. Generally speaking, however, what is military is in view. The people go out in harness, five in a rank, then Moses acts in regard to the Red Sea, typically against death; the rod is lifted up and death disposed of. Thus the Lord is celebrated in Exodus 15:3 in a military way, as a "man of war".

David is also marked by this, but much more is said of his personality, what he was as raised up amongst men. "He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God", 2 Samuel 23:3. David is the typical king. In the Old Testament there is more said about him than perhaps about any other, beginning with his boyhood. His anointing in the midst of his brethren is one of the finest pictures in the Old Testament. That is the man to rule. Saul was anointed in a sort of private way by Samuel, and was given a heart afterwards to suit his position. God helped Saul so as to show that if there was anything in flesh qualified to help man God would give it all the opportunity possible. Saul is marked from the very outset as having failed to find the asses. One might pass over that as being a mere incident, but the fact is drawn attention to, in order to show that he was disqualified from the start. He set out to find the asses and failed, and so he returned fearing

his father may become concerned about him; a poor circumstance for a king. David, on the other hand, is occupied with the sheep, and none is lost; the lion and the bear come, but David protects his flock. He qualifies in this way before he is anointed. Then he comes in before Samuel, and everything about him indicates he is the right man. He has the marks: "ruddy and of a beautiful countenance" 1 Samuel 16:12; there is the indication of the energy of youth; and the Spirit says, "Arise, anoint him for this is he" 1 Samuel 16:12, as if to show that the Spirit knew him if Samuel did not. So the man is stamped with success from the beginning, and is anointed in the midst of his brethren. His parents did not know he was selected, yet the Spirit knew him well. Divine interposition is seen as marking his anointing; "this is he".

The Lord developed the qualities of a king in the midst of His brethren. God knew Him, and marked Him off in the midst of the remnant of Israel. Everything about Him was pleasing to God. He stood out in the mind of God as the One for His delight. So when anointed with the Spirit, He can announce, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight". Matthew 3:17. The anointing was God committing Himself to Him. He had no pleasure obviously in Saul's anointing. It was provisional to show what flesh is, but David is a man after God's own heart.

David is first anointed by God in the midst of his brethren, but later he is crowned in Hebron. The people come to it. Like Solomon crowned by his mother in the day of his espousals. We have to come to this, that we desire no other. There is the recognition of the true leader before the public establishment of the kingdom. "When Saul was king over us", they say, "thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel". 2 Samuel 5:2. They recognised him then. So we recognise that the power of God is with Christ; though government outwardly is in other hands, the

real power is with Christ. We can rely on that whatever may be going on in the political world; you can take account of what the Lord is doing. He recovers everything; and we know it by the way He recovers us. There is the testimony to it in oneself.

If we apply this dispensationally, the remnant of Israel as well as other needy ones require the power of Christ as viewed in this light, just as David's brethren and his father's house needed to be protected and influenced and stamped by his character. So the Lord, though rejected, is security for every one of us. "With me thou shalt be in safeguard", David said to Abiathar; 1 Samuel 22:23. It is a question of the king now, and we learn from the sequence that a stamp was left on all those associated with David during the time of his rejection. His influence brought about an extraordinary set of people.

In Matthew 11:29 the Lord says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me". He is not simply a teacher there. He is a model; you see how things are presented in Himself. He was in rejection, and in the next chapter He quotes David's action, how he went into the house of God and did eat the shewbread, when fleeing from Saul. In the same chapter we get, "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you", Matthew 12:28. It was there, but He invites all those who laboured and were heavy laden to come to Him. The emphasis is on the Person, it was a question of the kind of person. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light". Matthew 11:29,30. It is an immense thing, amid the break-up of everything politically, to have the idea of the kingdom and security spiritually, for surely it is much greater to be secured spiritually than physically. Not that God does not preserve us physically, but at the same time we are preserved here

in peace and tranquility, so that we become a shelter for others. He has "made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father", Revelation 1:6. There are two ideas, a kingdom and priests, and how can we be made a kingdom save as formed by the King?

David's marvellous warriors were all the product of his influence, so we have the same thing now in Christians, for David's men typify such, every one of them is as the son of a king. They had not much to commend them naturally, they were discontented and in debt, but their association with David made them what they were eventually. Abishai risked his life to obtain water for him; David became such an attraction and object. "I speak of the things which I have made touching the king", Psalm 45:1. We get a suggestion there as to how those under the influence of Christ regard Him. It gives the thought of a composition. Every lover of Christ composes something as regards Christ. It is not His position in regard of the assembly that is in view, but His place as King: "So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty". Psalm 45:11. He becomes an object for every one in the kingdom, and I believe this is a great feature, so that one is not carried away by radicalism. It provides an antidote to that. We hold and preserve the truth of God in our souls as retaining the dignity belonging to us, as connected with the King. Royalty attaches to us, and moral dignity goes with this, though we should be marked by meekness outwardly. "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass", Matthew 21:5. We are made to feel today that foundations are being destroyed, kingdoms are toppling, so it is important that we should have right thoughts as to the King. God's King loves righteousness and hates lawlessness.

Mephibosheth is an example of one who appreciates the king; he is an Ephesian believer typically. He had no thought for his land or anything earthly, all

he was concerned about was that the king should come again in peace to his own house. So we look for the Lord to come into His rights. The kingdom becomes a large theme. Paul, during the whole of his two years at Rome, received all that came to his hired house and spoke to them of the kingdom of God. In Romans 14 it is the kingdom that occupies us, not now the king exactly. It is the system, the thing itself and this brings into evidence formative work, as the kingdom is composed of persons. Chapter 13 gives us the kingdom of men, what God has set up provisionally in the world, but chapter 14 is what is spiritual, it is the kingdom of God, "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" Romans 14:17. The last verse of chapter 13 exhorts us to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ", Romans 13:14, it is not "put ye on Christ" nor "the new man" as elsewhere, but "the Lord Jesus Christ", it is His full title, involving His authority. It is remarkable that we should put that on. It is put on as clothing, it is the garb in which we appear. We "put on" Christ as related to the kingdom. It is profession, but carried out consistently and practically.

The present good of the kingdom is first for protection. You are protected spiritually. If a young believer confesses with his or her mouth Jesus as Lord, it means salvation. Such come under the protection of Christ, and are saved. So baptism is in the name of the Lord in Acts 10. As you come under the wing of the Lord you are protected spiritually by the Lord. You come under His influence and learn from Him, and being formed by Him you get the benefit of having your will subdued, and realising the good of the Spirit. If the protection of the Lord is gained, your will is not to be active, you cannot count on His protection if you pursue your own will. The Lord must subjugate me if I am to be in the good of what He has for me. He sees to it by means of discipline and other things that my will does go.

"Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" Romans 13:14, is a question of profession. It is the garb in which you appear in public; you make no provision for the flesh, and then you come into the good of the Spirit. A Christian parent is not concerned as to how his children will get on in the world, so he baptises them, and brings them up in the truth of that. He puts on the Lord Jesus Christ in his house, and so in every sphere.

The kingdom is the bulwark of everything. Just as the city being the metropolis of the empire is protected, and just as all the light and direction which issue from the centre would soon disappear were it not for the army and navy to hold enemies off, so without the kingdom where would the assembly be? Perhaps we get the best example of this in Acts 9. Saul sets out as an emissary of Satan to destroy the assembly, and entering into houses, dragged out men and women, committing them to prison. In the midst of this activity the Lord appears and brings him down, and then subdues everything that opposes itself against what He is doing, so that, in result the assembly is multiplied and edified.

The parables in Matthew 13 and onwards view the kingdom as the product of Christ's sowing. We get what the kingdom has become historically on the one hand and what it is essentially on the other; this is chapter 13. In chapter 18 and onwards it is viewed in relation to the assembly, so the features which mark it would work out in the brother you forgive, and in the light of the assembly you would look at the kingdom in an entirely new way, as in relation to the capital. One of the great features in this connection is to know how to forgive a brother. We are to be full of forgiveness, not niggardly.

In regard to suffering, the word to Smyrna is, "Ye shall have tribulation ten days" Revelation 2:10. The Lord limits the period of it. If He allows it, it is

His doing. It is a great thing to be directly in touch with Christ as Lord. One can stand as on a rock amid the surging tide of lawlessness. "Here I take my stand; I can do no other" is the profession of a man in the kingdom. It marked Luther's brightest day. You have the helmet of salvation, and are able to lift up your head. You are protected spiritually in order that you may die outwardly, that you may become a martyr. The Lord supports the one He subdues, He will not support the flesh. Honours conferred on any one denote the prerogative of the sovereign, and those who receive them are necessarily part of the system. One might say in connection with Romans 13:14, that we put on the King, we appear in that garb everywhere; that is the idea in "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ". I am not any less than the dignity conferred on me, and am supported according to that.

We referred to Mephibosheth sitting at table. In a certain sense it is an official position, but it also speaks of joy and satisfaction. So with us; but, on the other hand, we are to administer. In Matthew 18:3 it says, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven". One enters as a little child, guileless and without worldly sophistication, and grows up under the influence of the kingdom, so he knows how to act towards a brother, he has learned this from Christ. "Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone", Matthew 18:15. That is the line on which he acts. If he does not recover his brother, he takes another, there is an increase of the brotherly spirit brought to bear on the erring one. One of the finest features in the kingdom is the overcoming evil with good, hence you are on the line of recovery all the while. So you increase the brotherly spirit and thus make it hard for the brother to pursue a course of sin. "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I

forgive him?" Peter asks, "till seven times?" "Until seventy times seven", is the Lord's reply Matthew 18:21,22. It is wonderful, but that is the kingdom. If we refer for a moment to Luke's account of the transfiguration, which is different from the other evangelists' it says, "there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God". Luke 9:27. What they see is a Man praying, it is not a warrior; "and as he prayed", it says, "the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering". Luke 9:29. And with Him are found two men, "talking with him"; that is the kingdom, then the Father's glory, the Shekinah, appears, so you have a vision of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says, "We were eye-witnesses of his majesty". 2 Peter 1:16. They learned in Him what the kingdom was.

The position of the saints is like a rock in the midst of the waves. Take it away, and all is gone. It is invulnerable. There is power with those who put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence it says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord", 1 Corinthians 15:58. It is a question of the Lord. It is very wonderful, and one would like to experience this power more in one's soul, for it really and truly exists. We are not dealing with theories. Christ is in heaven and the Holy Spirit on earth, and man's will cannot triumph as long as the Holy Spirit is here. "He that doeth these things shall never be moved", Psalm 15:5. "His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks", Isaiah 33:16.

FRESHNESS

Revelation 21:1 - 14; Revelation 22:1,2

In reading these scriptures I wish to show how God would preserve freshness amongst us as His people. These scriptures afford the thought in bringing forward the heavenly city. It is seen at the beginning of the millennium from verse 9 to the end of chapter 21 and in chapter 22 and then one thousand years later, in chapter 21, verses 2 and 3, and still retaining its freshness. John says, "I saw the holy city new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of the heaven". Revelation 21:2. It suggests to us that it was what he had been labouring for. His ministry was inaugurating, and preserving freshness. He says, "I saw".

Now I want to show this thought in the word, so that we might see how, that what it was at the beginning should mark the end, and if there is one thing that marks the end, it is freshness, as we see in this scripture. God began with that. You remember how that before man was formed in Genesis 2, it is said "a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground". Genesis 2:6. And then we have the record that God made man out of the dust of the earth; evidently watered earth, moist earth. Then in the same chapter we have what is more formal, man being formed and set up in the garden where things are to be maintained in freshness. It says a river went out of Eden to water the garden. We must remember that Genesis was written by Moses when the necessity for the truth contained in it was very apparent. We cannot be sure as to the exact date at which Moses wrote the book, but we can be sure of this, that he was a man who knew something about the meaning of water. He wrote about the age of the people, as you remember, in his well-known psalm (Psalm 90); he wrote about the allotted age

of man. He knew how age tended to staleness, although he was in himself a bright exception, and is a model for us. He retained his freshness and his vigour although he had exceeded by far the allotted span of which he speaks.

Moses wrote Deuteronomy when he was one hundred and nineteen years old. There is not the slightest indication of any decay in that. He indeed at the very close blesses the people, and he blesses them in holy vigour as Moses the man of God, outlining the tribes, not according to the principles of decline, but according to the energy of the Spirit. Beginning with them he says, "Let Reuben live, and not die" Deuteronomy 33:6 -- he had life before him. And so, according to Genesis 2, he is not occupying us with mere physical things, but with spiritual things, spiritual suggestions. We have a watered earth not yet from heaven, for the mist arose from the earth to water the ground. Then again, a river went out of Eden to water the garden so that there might be freshness. For God intended to come into the garden, and did come into it, and in coming into it would look for that freshness.

Later we have the principle of springs, which Moses also records for us and we have further, in Exodus, the smitten rock, which cannot fail to touch the heart of every Christian on earth. In the New Testament we are told that the Rock followed Israel; they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Christ. It was to provide that there should be no weary ones in the whole camp of Israel; they should be watered. In Exodus 17 God told Moses to go there to the Rock, and "I will stand before thee there upon the rock". Exodus 17:6. God said, "Smite the rock and there shall come water out of it" Exodus 17:6. God was there as the Lawgiver when the Rock was smitten, and the water flowed. The Lord Jesus is presented in that in a typical way as dying that we might have water. Again, in Numbers 20, the rock

was to yield refreshment for the people. God said to Moses, You go and speak to it, and take the rod; not your rod, but the rod, from before the Lord. There is only one rod now, the smiting is over; Jesus lives for evermore, and there is water for the asking. He says, "Take the rod", Numbers 20:8, the symbol of priestly power. What marks that rod? What marks Christ today, and every spiritual person? That it budded and blossomed and yielded fruit; the evidence of freshness and power. That is the rod that Moses was told to hold in his hand when he spoke to the rock. In other words, it is what we have as believers received from God; He gives a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life, in virtue of which every one who goes to Christ may have water.

It says in Psalm 104:16, "the trees of the Lord are full of sap" -- that refers to believers. What is the sap? What is it, but what we have from Christ, in virtue of which there is fruit-bearing even in old age. They go to God in the energy of that sap, a sap which ever bears its fruit -- first the bud, then the blossom, and then the fruit; all in a night, but all in perfect order. I referred to Moses because he wrote the book of Genesis, and we have in all his writings the thought of retaining freshness. But I want to go to Joshua and the book of Judges. Joshua records for us that Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, asked for springs of water. There is nothing said about rocks or wells, but springs. We find the book of Joshua so full of suggestions as to the establishing of the truths of Christianity in the power of resurrection and ascension. Joshua takes us into the land, and there should be springs. Achsah expressed the spirit of the assembly in the way of desire that things should continue as they were at the beginning, so one thing she wanted was springs of water. I can understand those who knew the Lord Jesus when He was here, desiring the continuance of that freshness. Take

John; how he loved the Lord. You remember how he says in his last chapter, "It is the Lord". John 21:7. How he would consider the necessity (out of love for Christ), of the continuance of that. Nothing less would satisfy him; he would tell you of His beauty, and what He said, and how He said it. John's gospel is a talk by one whom He loved. John says humbly of himself, "the disciple whom Jesus loved". John 21:20. Jesus loved in John what was of Himself, the reproduction of Christ in that way, and John loved Him and would desire to continue in the freshness of Christ personally, and so he brings in water. He records what the other evangelists do not record, the wondrous conversation between Christ and the woman of Samaria. It is the narrative of one who would have continued here the freshness and vigour of Christ.

Now Achsah in the book of Judges represents that spirit typically, she says to Caleb, I want springs of water. She sprang off the ass; there was energetic movement on her part which Caleb appreciated -- she sprang off. She has a sort of prophetic instinct that decline was setting in, and so it was. The angel of the Lord leaves Gilgal and goes to Bochim; that indicates decline, and soon it came with rapid pace, but here Achsah is indicating, as it were, the spirit of the assembly, expressing a wish to have the springs. In that same book we have another thought in Samson -- the same principle, that of freshness. When the Philistines shouted against him he broke the cords with which his brethren had bound him. Alas think of that, brethren may bind one who retains the energy of the Spirit. But "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him". Judges 15:14. What is the use of binding a brother who is moved by the Spirit of the Lord, "the power that worketh in us"? Ephesians 3:20. And so, being released from his bonds, Samson found a fresh jawbone; it was by him. Certainly it should be said of each one of us that we are not far from death.

Samson found the fresh, or moist, bone, and he takes it and smites one thousand men at once. And we have recorded in the book of the wars of the Lord, "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, have I slain a thousand men" Judges 15:16 -- it was in freshness. I specially recommend to you the features found in Judges, because we are in days of decline, and God would have us come back to what was at the beginning. Judges affords a link with the books of Joshua and Moses in freshness and vigour.

Now we may dwell on what each one of us must know in our souls if we are truly believers. God says of Israel, "When Israel was a child ..". Hosea 11:1. Now we have all been that if we are truly Christians. Some of us may not be more than that, others may have gone into manhood, but in each case the knowledge of childhood must be precious, and God remembers that time. Who that is a father does not recall the early evidences of life and response to affection in his children? So with God, He refers to the time when the movement of life first appeared, and, if the grey hairs have come since, God remembers the period when there were no grey hairs. He says, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him". Hosea 11:1. There is a sorrowful indication in this that any of us who are elders may take note of. Does He love us now? Are we as lovable now? John was lovable. It is an indication that each elder one may take to himself. Am I just as lovable now as I used to be? How delightful are the first evidences of life and affection. God refers to the time when Israel was a child, "then I loved him". Hosea 11:1. Why did He love him then? Because he was lovable, he had partaken of the passover, put the blood outside, and moved out of Egypt at God's direction. He was lovable, he was obedient. And it says, "I remember for thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; when thou wentest after me" Jeremiah 2:2 -- not simply now by commandment,

but by attraction. You soon come to follow the Lord by attraction; He has become attractive to you. So Jeremiah records, "When thou wentest after me in the wilderness". Jeremiah 2:2. Israel was "the first-fruits of his increase". Jeremiah 2:3. That refers to every one of us, and I ask myself, Am I lovely now as I was then? "What is thy beloved more than another beloved?" Song of Songs 5:9. He is "white and ruddy". Song of Songs 5:10. There is evidence of life. It is said of David when he came into the house, that he was ruddy and of a beautiful countenance, and the Spirit says, 'That is the one'. You see how God takes delight in the energy of life in Christians. Elihu remarks when speaking to Job, that when a man judges himself God is gracious to him, and "his flesh shall be fresher than in childhood, he shall return to the days of his youth", Job 33:25. So God refers to our beginnings.

You may ask, How may this freshness be maintained? I anticipated that question in the reference to the springs, but I would turn to the Psalms by way of help. Let us look at the first psalm. It says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper". Psalm 1:1 - 3. There is a word for young and old. The way of freshness has to be the way of righteousness, it has to be the way of rigid separation -- "he walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly". Psalm 1:1. He is apart from all that marks the world, and "his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night". Psalm 1:2. According to Deuteronomy 18, the priest's portion was the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw, indicating the importance of mastication and assimilation.

Unless we read and assimilate the word of God we shall not be sustained in freshness. The psalm indicates one of the features whereby we can continue in separation from the world. And then diligence in acquiring the Scriptures, it is one who delights in the law of the Lord. Some of us read the Scriptures as a mere duty; such will not retain freshness, but one who delights in them will do so. Some discredit the Old Testament but look at this, it abounds with wondrous things if we will only seek them.

The Lord in Luke was expounding the Scriptures. Beginning at Moses and the prophets, and in His own infinitely exquisite and perfect way, He was expounding in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. I can understand these two saying, 'Where shall we go to have them expounded like this?' We must get along without expounders, though we are thankful for them. But when these two returned to Jerusalem they found the Lord Himself there, and He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. So He says, "Thus it is written" Luke 24:46 -- it is for you to look up what is written. He had said that before to the devil by way of defence. He regarded the Scriptures as His armoury, He selected the weapons that He needed at the moment, and utterly discomforted His opponent "Get thee behind me, Satan". Matthew 16:23. But now He is instructing, "Thus it is written" Luke 24:46 -- it is for us to look up what is written, or we shall be unintelligent and wanting in the freshness of which I have spoken; so that we might know the apostle's desire "that God, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him". Ephesians 1:17. And so with that we may go through the Scriptures and behold wondrous things in which our souls are nourished and built up, so that we are fresh and vigorous.

There is just one other point in the Psalms. In Psalm 92:12, it says, "The righteous shall flourish like

the palm tree". You have the word 'righteous' here, it is a word we do well to take note of. Unrighteousness is becoming so prevalent; everywhere bulwarks are giving way. The question is, Am I righteous? It behoves us to be righteous in our business affairs and in all other things of man. Without that we are vulnerable -- if we have not the breast-plate of righteousness; but if we are covered there, we are free to go in for the means of sustenance and growth. But it goes on to say, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing". Psalm 92:13,14. So now we come, not only to reading the word of God, but what we are in relation to the saints, where our roots are. Some of our roots are in our businesses and in our families, whereas he that flourishes in the courts of God has his roots in the house of God.

Let us enquire as to whether our roots are there, whether we prefer our natural relationships to our spiritual relationships. I have to learn to give the house of God the first place. In other words, I love the Lord Jesus and the saints, and my affections are ordered in relation to them. The evidence of life in the public way is the result of my roots; the flourishing depends on the roots, not on the gift you have. Gift in itself will soon lose its power and efficiency unless it is used in love. The apostle says, speaking of gift, "Yet show I unto you a way of surpassing excellence". 1 Corinthians 12:31. That is where your roots are, you grow up there, and the Lord will give you in his sovereignty what you need, and so you flourish, and there is power in it, and vigour in it. And it further says, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing". Psalm 92:14. That is the lovely appearance you afford to the eye; the saints speak about it, the love that marks you in your relations

to the saints; not above them, but as Paul says, "less than the least of all saints". Ephesians 3:8.

I have read all that in relation to the two scriptures, not to speak of the holy city, but to borrow that one thought, the freshness and vigour that John saw at the beginning of the millennium appearing at the end of the millennium. John's ministry brings in the thought of freshness and the Holy Spirit abiding with us for ever.

THE WILDERNESS

Song of Songs 8:5

I wanted to speak about the wilderness, for it has its place. In making that remark I am thinking of Revelation 12. The woman who brings forth the man child is said to flee into the wilderness, where she is nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. She is said to have in it a place prepared by God. Then it is said that there is war in heaven, but she is taken care of. The interests of the testimony are not specially bound up with her, but she is taken care of in the wilderness, in the place prepared for her of God. In that place she is nourished by certain ones whose identity is not disclosed.

Now it may be that, as in the wilderness, some may not know that it is the place divinely designed for our preservation spiritually and for our nourishment, and where we may acquire the knowledge of God as we could not acquire it otherwise. The thief on the cross had no such opportunity -- to be in paradise with Christ is not to discover what Christ can be to you in a scene of contrariety. The woman's son was taken up to the right hand of God, for the dragon had his eye upon him, as he had on Christ, but she was in the wilderness. Satan is not yet attacking her, for God will not lead the young believer into the conflict at once. Instead of that she is nourished every day for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, even though it brings its own test of the provision God makes. But the war goes on, there is no cessation of that, whether it be in heaven or on earth.

But though that is indeed true, let us be assured of this, that you and I are divinely cared for in the wilderness, just as it says here, they nourished this woman for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

We are preserved in some sense pending the Lord's return, hence the protracted period of one thousand two hundred and sixty days, but we are cared for every day. Whether it be through Peter or James or John, each in his own way brings in the bread of life come down from heaven, and the nourishment is administered: the love of God is the divine provision for every one of our days. But then the war goes on. We hear but little of the conflict waged against the apostles after Paul is introduced in Acts, but the war went on, and you may depend upon it though you may not be a soldier in active service you will share the spoils. No good soldier of Jesus Christ is selfish, and the spoils of war are divided equally with those who tarry behind, taking care of the stuff.

The war went on here in Revelation 12. Michael and his angels fought with the devil and his angels, and Michael was victorious. Thus in the next instance (verses 13,14) the woman is given the wings of the great eagle. You are nourished first, but when the time arrives for the conflict you are given wings. He had borne them upon wings and brought them to Himself, but these were not the wings of God, but she is given wings of an eagle "that she might fly into the desert". Revelation 12:14. When the time of attack comes we shall be furnished for it. The woman is protected from the face of the serpent, not for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, it is not a daily matter now; God would reduce it to limits, so it is "for a time and times, and half a time" Revelation 12:14 -- that is to say, God brings the thing down to narrow limits when you have to do with the serpent; but when you have to do with God's preservation it is a question of days. The war is in progress and it will go on, but God will reduce it to a limited compass. The one thousand two hundred and sixty days is love's reckoning, but the time, times and half a time is the reckoning of the soldier. It is but a brief moment

and the war will be over, but while it is going on you will be furnished with wings.

I come now to this passage in the Song of Solomon because it contemplates the believer as coming up out of the wilderness. The idea of the wilderness is limited, but the ways of God are not limited. Love belongs to eternity; it finds its home there. So we come up out of the wilderness to enjoy love in its own place. Alas! the believer is sometimes found in Egypt. You will recall how the Israelites come up out of Egypt, but they wanted to return to Egypt.

Now the Lord's supper is for those who know where He is, and that He is not here. There are those who would not want to go back to Egypt, for they are born in the wilderness. There are some who have been born in Christian households; they do not go to theatres nor do they desire the world. They do not wish to leave the environment in which they have been brought up. Moses could say, "Come with us, and we will do thee good". Numbers 10:29. You will recall that when the work of the tabernacle was in progress there was much more provided than was needed, there is wealth there. So it can be said, "Come with us, and we will do thee good". Numbers 10:29. We are journeying to the place of which the Lord has said, "I will give it you". Some Christians born of Christian parents have no thought of going on, hence Hobab says to Moses, "I will depart to my kindred". Numbers 10:30. There are many such, they are children of the wilderness. But the end according to God of that journey is they were to go up out of it, leaning on One whom they had learned to love. The way into it is by baptism. Paul says, "Ye ... have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed". Romans 6:17. The teaching brought in the mind of God, and they who believe obey.

After the children of Israel sang the song of victory, Moses led them into the wilderness of Shur; they

went three days, that was the testing time. It is a question of submission. It is in the discovery of His love that you come to love. It is a wonderful time in the history of a soul when it can say of Christ that He is her beloved. "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" Song of Songs 8:5. I will tell you who she is, she was brought up under the apple tree.

Moses led them three days and they found no water, and when they found water it was bitter. The will must be subdued, there must be unqualified submission to the authority of the Lord. There are failures at the outset, the failure of believers to submit to the authority of the Lord. You may see it coming out in the households. The Lord will bring out of that. There must be the acceptance of death. You must be tested. The Lord tasted it in his own way. The sin that brought in the judgment that fell on Christ is not going to be allowed in a believer. Happy is the soul who began in the abhorrence of it.

So he led them to Marah, and there the water was bitter. We shall have to accept definitely the judgment of God on the flesh, bitter of course it is, but how delightful when you can say, "Where thou diest I will die". Ruth 1:17. Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed them wood. It is a wonderful moment when the wood comes in; the judgment of God and discipline are very near together. He showed it to Moses, it was the light of the love that has been there. He has been there -- "who loved me" -- think of that; do you ever say that? Who loved me! I know of nothing so affecting. Paul says, "He loved me", the Lord Jesus loved me when He died for me; think of the Lord loving me when He died! I can understand your saying, "He loves me", but "He loved me", says the apostle, "and gave himself for me". Galatians 2:20. One can understand that the link formed there with Christ will never be broken. That precious fact

will ever remain with us, that the Lord loved me when He died, and hence the change in me, in the light of the love of Christ, that has begun in the wilderness; multiply the forty years by three hundred and sixty-five days, every day brings in that experience of the love of Christ. What has He been to me today! Wilderness time is a most valuable time. What about it beloved -- how are you spending it? If you were to take a calendar, every day brings its own tale of the love of Christ.

If I read the book of Exodus, I see Him die. He died for me. If I take the Book of Leviticus, what is Christ to me there? If I take the book of Numbers, what is Christ to me there? God has given instructions as to how they were to march, but when they marched, the ark of the covenant went before. Hear Moses' word when the ark went forward "Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered". Numbers 10:35. Who is the ark? It is Christ going before us -- it is love -- it is Christ going before to find a resting-place for the saints. Will He ever fail us? Never!

Again I hear, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel". Numbers 10:36. Having scattered all enemies the ark comes back. From the beginning to the end it is the love of Christ -- every day.

And so this Song of Solomon contemplates it; it says, "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?" Song of Songs 8:5. How are we to come up out of it? As coming into His obedience, coming up out of it as loving Him to be occupied with the love of Christ -- they leaned on Him in coming out. While we are in flesh and blood condition, we always need support, and that is the arm of Christ. We are drawing near to the end, and the world is but a wilderness to those who love Him. It is a period in which the Christian is tested and in which the Lord is attracting hearts to Himself. Thus in the Song of Solomon we see His triumph in securing the love of the saints.

The aim of ministry is to present Christ in such a way that He becomes the Object of the saints here. He says, "I raised thee up under the apple tree". Song of Songs 8:5. The apple tree refers to the service that the Lord rendered in the covenant; so whilst the cup is said to be the cup of the new covenant, it is the new covenant in Christ's blood, it is the pledge of the love of God. Then the place the Lord Jesus is in has also to be borne in mind. It is in "the cup of the new covenant in my blood" that He makes the love of God effective. Everything is given to Him to minister, but one thing given to Christ that affords Him the greatest delight is to make the love of God effective in the hearts of the saints. In 2 Corinthians 3:6 the apostle says, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life", then he adds, "the Lord is that Spirit". 2 Corinthians 3:17. It is the Lord carrying out that service in the saints, making effective in them the love of God. It is the Lord's doing, He never wearies. He never gives up a task. He has undertaken to make the love of God effective in the saints, and He will do it. The Lord asserts His authority in the soul, but it is to bring into effect there the love of God. "The Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty", 2 Corinthians 3:17; there is always room for that service. He claims room in your heart where the Spirit of the Lord is. The apostle says, "We all with open face beholding the glory of the Lord". 2 Corinthians 3:18. Not as John saw Him with garments down to the feet. He says you cannot see any of those beauties, but we all with unveiled face. It is a love matter, you must come into it, and whatever happens, love has that in view; the Lord will bring into your soul the love of God. You may evade it, battle with it, but the Lord is stronger. I, He says, I brought thee up under the apple tree. It is always under His own blessed influence, "where thy mother brought thee forth ... that bare thee". Song of Songs 8:5. The love of God that comes into

the soul will lead to attachment to Christ, and in result she comes up out of the wilderness leaning on her Beloved. It speaks of the saints as leaning on the Lord as the loved One.

It says, "cometh up from the wilderness". Song of Songs 8:5. The Lord has become so endeared to the heart in the wilderness, that you come up out of it leaning upon Him. Moses, as typical of Christ, says, I have been with you all these years, and I wish you to come into the land suitably. It is a wonderful land; you must be there in suitable dignity. So that the believer should be moved by the drawings of love. They were led by the hand out of the land of Egypt, but they are led by the heart of God into Canaan.

GOD'S INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS

1 Thessalonians 1:2,3; 1 Thessalonians 3:12,13; Ephesians 1:4,5

I have before me to speak about the saints as before God. We have to take account of ourselves as before God. We read in the Old Testament that "the Lord's portion is his people", and that "Jacob is the lot of his inheritance", Deuteronomy 32:9, and I desire to show how that thought is developed in the New Testament epistles, taking up this first one to the Thessalonians, who may be taken to represent the saints in the state of normal childhood, for they were but a few weeks old spiritually when this letter was written; and in that way they afford perhaps the most interesting company of believers that you can find in the Scriptures.

You will remember how that when the apostle in his labours visited Thessalonica he spent three sabbath days in preaching in the synagogue, and how that it is said that certain believed the word, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. The company, therefore, was made up of believing Jews and Greeks, among whom were some of the chief women. The apostle had to move on in his service, but he moved on with considerable concern as to the work at Thessalonica, lest he had laboured in vain, but the result of the visit of Timotheus brought to light that instead of his labour being in vain it had been a great success; not only had they believed savingly, but they had come to take account of each other in love. They had indeed taken form as an assembly, so that in writing to them he addresses them in that way. He addresses them as an assembly of Thessalonians, not a set of converts, but an assembly. They are addressed uniquely; there is no other company in the Scriptures addressed in this fashion, and it is because, as I understand it, that God would

through the letter of the apostle disclose to them what a place they had in His affections. They had become in fact, as the letter says, "beloved of God". 1 Thessalonians 1:4.

Now one would not suggest that every saint is not beloved of God, because we are. Love in God rises above our ways, even as in Corinthians when their ways were fleshly; God loved the Corinthians, but He had to write to them in a corrective way. In the Thessalonians there was that which was lovable, and the exercise with one is as to whether one is lovable. Love in God takes account of one, and sets itself upon one, even though unlovely in many respects, but this epistle indicates a state of loveliness in youthful Christians. That is, God in this letter lets us into His thoughts as to what He looks for in young believers, and one is free to address oneself to young believers.

You will remember that John in writing his first letter addresses himself to believers under three heads. The first set are called fathers, then he addresses young men, and then finally he addresses little children. The whole letter could be read by either set. I have no doubt the fathers could enjoy what was said to the little ones, and said to the young men, and thus the fathers would get more out of the letter than the little ones; but the little ones were not forgotten, and they are addressed as a class; and God has a great deal in the freshness and vigour that mark the young believer normally: He looks for it. If you have lost it through years, and grey hairs have come, He has not forgotten it; He says, "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness" Jeremiah 2:2.

Now the Thessalonians correspond in that way with the beginnings of Israel's history. We see in them the kindness of youth, and the love of espousals, and so I desire to dwell for a moment upon them before I pass on to Ephesians. The apostle says, We have

great remembrance of you, "we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers". 1 Thessalonians 1:2.

It is a great thing to get a good start, and so you find it says in John that the Lord went away beyond the Jordan to the place where John baptised at first, and many believed on Him there; John 10:40 - 42. That was a good place to believe on Him, where John baptised at the first.

It is an immense thing to get a right apprehension of God in Christ, for that is what this epistle indicates. It is God, but God in Christ. The light of the knowledge of God in Christ shone into their hearts, and they turned to that God. God came before their souls, and they turned to Him from idols, and then further it says, "to wait for his Son from heaven". 1 Thessalonians 1:10. It was God's Son. You see how the babes are set up in the light of the knowledge of God in Christ, and the Christ who has made God known is His Son, not the Son, but His Son. You are thus in the light of holy relationships, the Father and the Son. As I said, many believed on Him where John baptised at the first. The first principles were dominant there, and so, as John says to the little ones, "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shalt remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father". 1 John 2:24. That is how the little ones are set up, so that these Thessalonians, young believers as they were, had the Father, and they had the Son, and hence the work of faith; that is the next thing.

What are you doing, beloved? You see we are left here, we are baptised into the light of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - a wonderful heritage of light! But what are we to be in that light? We are to develop into sons of light, and the first great thing is your body. That is how the truth is developed in Romans; the members are to be yielded unto God as instruments of righteousness.

In Romans the body is to be presented to God a living sacrifice. So we get here the work of faith. What are we doing? Are we working for the brethren to take note of us? I know well enough how it is for young people, and even with older ones, how we do work for wages; that is to say, we look for approval, we look for recognition. Now the work of faith is not that, the work of faith has God before it; so he says, "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father". 1 Thessalonians 1:3. How lovely this company was in that way. There was in it the evidence of life in its beginnings. It worked out in the way of taking account of God.

Such is the picture the Spirit of God gives us of a company of Christians a few weeks old. And the apostle goes on in chapter 3 to introduce the subject of holiness, which I would dwell on for a moment. If you have life in activity the great thing is to give it a lead. Life springs up of itself, the principle of it is spontaneity, but it has to get a lead; there has to be formation, the growth has to be according to the pattern; so the apostle is that pattern primarily, and then the Lord Jesus, and then God Himself. And one of the most serious considerations I know of today for the elder brethren is that so many young ones are coming on, what kind of pattern are we setting? Now the apostle calls attention in chapter 2 to what he was amongst them. He cared for them as a nurse her own children. We may be sure, as elder ones, that God holds us accountable for what has come to us. What comes to us has not come from our children but from our fathers, it has come in that way; "the father to the children shall make known thy truth" Isaiah 38:19; therefore it is a question for those who are elders as to whether we are exponents of what has come down to us.

These young believers became models because they were patterned on a model. Who was the model? Paul was the model. "Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord". 1 Thessalonians 1:6. As they imitated the one through whom the light came, he passed them on to Christ. That is the principle of a model. This is important, dear brethren; it has to be taken up; God is graciously working, and young ones are getting light, and taking their stand with the saints; what about models for them? You say, Christ is the model; thank God He is, the Same yesterday, today, and for ever, but He is in heaven, and so the apostle says, "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning". 1 John 2:13. To the little ones he says, "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you", 1 John 2:24 etc., but to the fathers it is, "Him that is from the beginning". 1 John 2:13. We are to be models as acquainted with Him; not simply with that which is from the beginning, but with Him. It is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Himself as from the beginning that constitutes us models for others, and so the apostle calls attention to the fact that he regarded the Thessalonians as did a nurse her own children; that is to say, he exercised the skill of the nurse with the affections of the mother.

We may be sure that this is necessary at the present time; the young are coming in (thank God for it!), but the great point is the model, and then he goes on to say that he was like a nursing father. There was in his service in those few weeks among them the instincts of the mother and the skill of the nurse, the maternal side; but there was also the paternal side, so that he says, "as a father his own children" we admonished every one of you 1 Thessalonians 2:11. And then he says, You became imitators of God, and lastly of the assemblies of God.

Now I mention these facts for the young, because they show the development of life in us, and I would specially call attention to the imitation of assemblies.

It is because there are so many non-catholics, because we are so sectional and so national. Now the Thessalonians were Greeks, most of them, and as Greeks naturally prejudiced against the Jews; but the evidence of life was so present with them that the normal effect of it was that they overcame their national instincts, and they became imitators "of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus". 1 Thessalonians 2:14. They might have gone elsewhere for assemblies to pattern themselves on, but the apostle says, "Ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus". 1 Thessalonians 2:14. These assemblies were not established by Paul, they were established, doubtless, by the labours of the twelve, and there is not much evidence that the Thessalonians knew Peter and John and James, so there was all the more evidence of the power of life in that they overcame all feeling, national instincts, and so on, to pattern themselves on assemblies so far away as Judaea. There is in it the catholic principle which one feels is so important, because God in these days is calling attention to His house. The house of God naturally extends beyond all national boundaries, it includes all the saints, and the Thessalonians, young though they were, understood how to overcome rational or social prejudices, they patterned themselves on the assemblies of God; God was their link.

The element of holiness is introduced, and I would remark on it for the young, because in our beginnings as believers our motives are apt to be very mixed; hence the importance of understanding holiness, so that we have the word in chapter 3, "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints". 1 Thessalonians 3:12,13. The element of holiness must be present, and this

leads me to say a word about the covenant, because as the people took their position before the mount in Exodus 19, the question of holiness necessarily arose. God was proposing to dwell, and if He is to dwell it must be according to His nature. Righteousness is present, and righteousness judges sin with authority; it faces the sin, and it deals with it. We have to learn that. It says, "The body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness". Romans 8:10. There is no more important lesson you can learn than that you have the Holy Spirit in view of righteousness; in the power of His presence you must judge sin with authority.

But then holiness repels it, shrinks from sin, it shrinks from evil, hence God sets up an enclosure in which He is to dwell, but He is to dwell there in holiness, in holy love; so the Lord Jesus is presented to us in the epistle to the Corinthians as bringing in the love of God to our hearts. The apostle says, God "hath ... made us competent as ministers of the new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens". 2 Corinthians 3:6. Then he says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit". 2 Corinthians 3:17. Now look, beloved, I would like you to understand that the Lord Jesus has not only made the love effective in dying, He has not only attested it in His death, but He makes it effective in our souls. One of the most precious services the Lord renders to us at the present time is to make the love of God effective in our souls. In dying He says, "Thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel". Psalm 22:3. He did not forget that God was dealing in righteousness. He was dealing authoritatively in righteousness when Jesus died, but He was dealing in holiness, and the Lord recognised that. He says, "Thou art holy, thou that dwellest in the praises of Israel". Psalm 22:3. He says that on the cross. How then is He to praise in the midst of the assembly, to praise such a God as that? How except by bringing

in the holy love of God into our hearts, so that we not only judge sin but we abhor it, we recoil from it. There is already in our souls by the administration of Christ, in the gift of the Spirit, a holy love. The love of God in us is a holy love -- "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us". Romans 5:5. It is in virtue therefore of the administration of Christ, the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit, that we are constituted suited for the abode of God. And in keeping with that there is the administration of the Father, the Father of our spirits: "Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?" Hebrews 12:9. But how live? Live in holiness, so that we are chastened by the Father of spirits that we should live in holiness. Then it adds, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord". Hebrews 12:14. Difficulties will arise, crises come up among the saints: who knows His way? He who has holiness, and he who has holiness sees the Lord. It is a question of where the Lord is in the crisis, and who sees Him but he who has holiness; so, beloved, the importance of holiness in a practical way is apparent, but it is specially apparent at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so he says, "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" 1 Thessalonians 3:12,13. What a word that is! To have our hearts established in holiness, established in it, at a time when we shall need it -- that is to say, when the Lord comes with all His saints, for He is coming with them all. This thought appeared very early in Scripture, for it is said by Jude that Enoch prophesied of the Lord coming with the "holy myriads", Jude 14, so when He comes with these, beloved, we shall need holiness. It will be a wonderful time, arid this is before our God and

Father, so the saints come in there before our God and Father with hearts established in holiness.

Now I pass on to Ephesians, because we have there the full thought of God for us, and what you will see in Ephesians is that it is a question of what is before the foundation of the world. I do not suppose any one of us can take in the idea of eternity, I know we cannot, and God takes account of that. It is something to be realised, not defined, nor compassed, and so we have "before" here, as it says, "according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world". Ephesians 1:4. We are thus led into the thought of God in regard of us; He had in view that He should have an inheritance. I do not know of anything so interesting to contemplate as God's inheritance. The apostle recognising the difficulty of saints haying hold of it prays to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. I would that I could convey to you something about that, the Father of glory. He prays to Him that the saints might have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; not revelation, but the spirit of it in the knowledge of Him, "that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". Ephesians 1:18.

Now this is not children, it is not the beginnings of life; no, it is sonship now. Before the foundation of the world God had sons by Him, and so He says, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him". Hosea 11:1. He loved him in his youth, but He says, "I ... called my son out of Egypt". Hosea 11:1. He had sonship before Him for them. "Let my son go", He says Exodus 4:23, not 'My child'. The child is lovable, but the son serves; the son reciprocates intelligently the affections of the Father, hence He calls His son, He would have His son before Him, He would have His son to serve Him, and so He brought them out that He might bring them in. He led them out by the hand, as He says,

"I it was that taught Ephraim to walk, he took them upon his arms", Hoses 11:3. That was the beginning, but in going into Canaan it is another matter; it is a question of recognising the Lord Jesus as moving that way. He has been here, He has gone there. How has He gone there? It is for us to discover that spiritually. He went through death.

Psalm 22 is the "hind of the morning". It is Christ invisibly moving about amongst His people. It is love active, active invisibly, to the natural eye, for the world saw Him no more; it is the movements of Christ known spiritually. Now He says, "I ascend". "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God". John 20:17. What a word! That is for sons; it supposes intelligent affection, which the Lord would develop in us, so that we might see the Lord as He has gone up.

You remember how Elisha coveted a double portion of Elijah's spirit. It was a wonderful desire, an intelligent desire, a desire appreciated by Elijah, so he says, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee" 2 Kings 2:10 -- if you see me go up. That is the thing; have we seen Christ go up? We often dwell on the coming down, the wonderful descent of love, but what about the going up? "When the queen of Sheba had seen ... his [Solomon's] ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her". 1 Kings 10:4,5. It does not say only, He that descended is the same also that ascended; He "descended first into the lower parts of the earth" Ephesians 4:9 in love; let every one who has gift remember that, the descent precedes the ascent; but He ascended too, far above all the heavens, and it is for us to see the nature of that. So Elijah says, If you see me when I am taken up it shall be granted unto you; and the apostle shows how it is in the appreciation of

Christ going up that we become acquainted with what is becoming to that scene.

Directly the Israelites crossed the Jordan, as you all know, the manna ceased; it ceased on the morrow after the passover, then they ate the old corn; it abounded in the land, it was the store corn, it was carried forward from the previous harvest. Paul was caught up into the third heaven, and heard unspeakable words. It is a wonderful inquiry as to the manner of Christ's going up, what He is there before God, that we might know the pre-world thought of God, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Predestinated unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself; it is all before Him so that the Lord's portion is His people; "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" Ephesians 1:18; and it is only as we apprehend Christ going up, and what He is there in His own domain, that we understand what we are, that we should be before God holy and without blame in love.

I have often said that the Christian does not go up alone, nor would he desire it. The more we love the more we desire to have the brethren every inch of the way, so we are quickened together with Christ, raised up together, and made to sit down in the heavenlies in Christ. We are there in love, we would not have it otherwise. If we love the Lord's people we want them all there. And we are made to sit down together there; it is final; we are to sit down in Christ, in full dignity, before God.

Well, I hope I have indicated something of what there is for God in His people.

CORRESPONDENCE TO CHRIST

Revelation 19:7,8; Revelation 21:1,2, 9 - 11

Adam gave names to living souls, not to inanimate things. What is living takes form under the eye of Christ and for Him. He confers names, and forms into families; the families receive their names from the Father. So every family in heaven and in earth is named of the Father. The last Adam names individuals, in each of whom is expressed some form of life; this life is developed in affection, and these affections link on to the affections of others, and so families are formed: it is fitting that the Father should give the name to the family, but all are in correspondence to Christ.

God has brought Christ in, and in Him is life. He was the Image and glory of God, a standard that God brought in to be our Head, to form our heart and our intelligence. We get a view of the result God has before Him; we must consider it in the abstract and aim at that, and the Holy Spirit moves in us so that we are brought into correspondence to Christ.

In Ezekiel 40 we have a unique revelation, a wonderful vision of the frame of a city; the abstract thought has to be filled in. As we draw near to the vision we see a man with a measuring line who is to take us through the city, and we see a house. Now a family is a primary thought, but a city is a provisional thought; so here it is not a city but a house with remarkable measurements -- there are courts, and chambers, and altars. The prophet was to show the house to the people that they might have the full thought of God. If they are ashamed of all that they have done, they are to be shown the form of the house, its pattern, the goings out and coming in thereof. But if there is no corresponding exercise to

this wonderful revelation of God's mind they would get no more light.

In Psalm 45 the heart is inditing a good matter -- it is the heart, not the mind. God has formed vessels who appreciate Christ; it is the welling up of a heart that appreciates the King. He pours out what is his thought about the King: "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever"; "Upon thy right hand did stand the queen". Psalm 45:2,9. The queen! The Spirit of God in the Psalmist brings in a new thought: the queen! Who is the queen? No one can understand the mystery of union with Christ without the feminine side. We are to form part of a company that stand at the right hand of Christ; we shall stand in divine righteousness with Him. "Hearken"! The full divine thought is brought to you. If we listen we are brought to the great fact that we are to form part of the vessel which is to be with Christ as the queen. We must begin to hearken if one is to be clothed in gold of Ophir.

In Hosea they did not continue to hearken, but there is One who said, "Thou openeth mine ear morning by morning". Isaiah 50:4. The very idea of humanity is that one hearkens; you hear and learn what God has to say. You forsake your father's house: "So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him". Psalm 45:11. "The king's daughter is all glorious within". Psalm 45:13. Whence all this? You begin in hearkening; as you hearken the Lord brings remarkable things to you; the word enters the heart, and it produces what the word conveys.

Revelation gives the thing in its fulness; it is not something to admire and understand, but what we take into our souls. I fix my mind on what is spiritual. In Revelation the thought suggested by the prophet is "the holy city, new Jerusalem". Revelation 21:1. Two things mark this city: it is holy and it is new. There is not

a little tarnish found there after its long service during the millennium employed in the administration of earthly affairs. One might have thought there would be a little weariness or fatigue, some wrinkles might appear, some spots here and there. But no; the prophet says, "I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem" Revelation 21:2; it remains new; the springs of God were there. Israel was in the desert, but the Rock followed them -- a permanent spring. It is very touching that the Rock followed them. The cloud, the pillar, and the ark all moved before, suggestive of divine forethought. What grace that the Rock followed them. The Lord teaches us how to lead, and how to follow; if we do not learn how to follow we shall never know how to lead. The false wife says, My husband is gone on a journey; he has taken a bag of money. She does not feel the need of him, she is no widow; there are no springs of God there, it is a desert: she paints herself. The prophet sees her in a desert, he drew near to find her making every effort to appear young, but she was growing old in the wilderness; there are wrinkles and spots on her, but not on the heavenly city. The washing of water by the word preserves the assembly now.

Thank God for ministry -- the washing by Christ, that there may not be a wrinkle or spot on us; "holy and new" prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That word is to our heart; that we are to be in correspondence to Christ -- not a wife, but a bride. It is the eternal scene that is before us. After verse 9 the scene changes and it is provisional and administrative. The bride is all glorious within. She is attired suitably to the King inside; the exercise is, how am I to meet it? When we see Him we shall be like Him. How uneasy I should be to find in myself something out of correspondence to Christ; that cannot be from the divine side, but I should be exercised now as to perfect correspondence with Christ. There was

a man found at the feast without a wedding garment, he was out of keeping with Christ; it is a great thing to be dressed as a saint; what God does He does for ever, but He works through my exercises.

Paul desired to present every man perfect in Christ; the washing of water by the word is the means. The wedding garment is provided by the King, it is perfectly suited to the occasion. Paul felt God's abhorrence of any inconsistency with Christ. But the queen is all suited to the King's eye. She is all glorious within; it is the "within" time and not the time for display; her beauty is for her Husband, not for display. At the Lord's supper this comes out; I am there for Christ, the assembly is for Christ. Then what I am inside is to come out administratively; now it is the wife, not the bride. It is the wife, the Lamb's wife, who is with Him; this is retrospective, she is in relation to the suffering Lamb. He needs her in the conflict and contrariety -- in the time of suffering.

"All thy garments smell of myrrh". Psalm 45:8. The whole system is marked by the spirit of a suffering Christ. If there is to be correspondence to Christ now, the elements of suffering must be accepted; she knew and entered into His suffering. Paul said, "and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake". Colossians 1:24. Christ must be expressed here amid suffering. Are we prepared for it? The Corinthians were reigning as kings; that is not suffering! "In all their afflictions he was afflicted" Isaiah 63:9, and now Paul takes up the affliction for His body's sake, the assembly. He confides in her. He confides in her in an hour of suffering and then she is His companion in the hour of glory. There is correspondence to Christ "within" which prepares for the administration outwardly. The true One comes into evidence. She is the wife before the public nuptials. She has made herself ready.

God has many wonderful grants in His word; it was granted to her that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright, the fine linen being the righteousnesses of the saints. Every bit of righteousness in the young believer or the old bedridden saint is knit together, not one iota missed, not a cup of cold water forgotten, all gathered up and interwoven into the garment for her being arrayed, In Colossians we have the idea and how God brings us to it. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up" Colossians 2:7; you will not want or need anyone else but Christ. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead" Colossians 2:9. Do you need anything after that? Nothing can be added, we need nothing more: "In him dwelleth ... . bodily". All divine fulness is there, and we are "complete in him". Colossians 2:10. I need nothing outside of Christ.

In John 20 Mary Magdalene is sent with a. wonderful message from the Lord to the disciples. She finds them sitting in an upper room intently talking about the Lord. She has just seen Him. If a Greek philosopher or Jewish rabbi came in with a great work of tradition or philosophy and offered this book to her and said, Mary, this will aid you in understanding the Lord; we do not deny what you hold, but this will add to what you have, she would answer, I have just been speaking to the Lord and He said, "I ascend unto my Father", John 20:17, and He sent me with this message. Do you think Mary would accept the aid offered? John says, If all the Lord's doings were written, the world could not contain the books. We have more books than we can read, The world's books may be cleverly written and highly illustrated, but I do not need them. I have Christ. He is the Head of all principality and power, and the Christian should he in moral correspondence to Christ in view of entering in.

FIRST PRINCIPLES

John 10:40 - 42

I have read this passage for two reasons -- first because it introduces the baptism of John, and secondly, because it introduces the thought of Christ abiding: I wish to connect these two things. If the Lord abides, it is in connection with first principles. So it is said here that He went beyond Jordan, where John baptised "at the first", and abode there.

Now John baptised elsewhere later. We find a disputation at the second baptising between one of his disciples and a Jew about purification. But we find no such occurrence at the first baptism of John; that introduces to us what may be called first principles. It opens up, indeed, a wide set of circumstances, because it gives the occasion on which the Lord Jesus Christ is owned publicly by the Father. As God looked down and saw the remnant moving from Jerusalem, from all parts of Judea, from the different countrysides to the Jordan, it afforded Him pleasure, as indeed any such movement does at any time or in any place, where men are moved in regard of God. We learn in Luke there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repents, so that we may be assured, as these repentant Israelites moved from different sections of the country, there was interest in heaven.

But One comes (we are told), among the others, emerging from the obscurity of private life -- not indeed that He was ever obscure from the divine eye, from the Father's eye, but obscure in regard of men. Even John the baptist, His relative after the flesh, had to say, "I knew him not". John 1:31. So He comes and proposes to be baptised. Think of the Lord of glory -- He, as it is said, by whom all things were made, and who upholds all things by the word of His

power -- humbly moving to the Jordan in relation to His people, the people of Jehovah, as they moved.

John says, "I have need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me?" Matthew 3:14. One admires the saying. But the Lord says, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us" Matthew 3:15 -- not it becometh 'Me', but "it becometh us". He associates Himself with the accomplishment of righteousness -- "It becometh us", He says, "to fulfil all righteousness" Think of what that was to God! There was One who had it in His heart that not one iota of righteousness should be left out. He says, "All righteousness". Thus John submits and Jesus was baptised.

And coming out of the water He sees the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descending in bodily form. Marvellous event! The Holy Spirit in bodily form as of a dove -- and it abode upon Him. And the Father's voice says, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight". Matthew 3:17. That was what took place when John baptised at the first. Think of all that lay behind the sending of the Holy Spirit on that occasion, reaching back as it did and covering all men from that moment to Adam. Upon none could the heavens open; to none could those words be uttered, "This is my beloved Son"! What lay behind that? The freshness and vigour of a life that from its infancy, from its very first movements, was devoted to God. He was cast upon God from the very outset in dependence. And He grew up; as it is said, "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant". Isaiah 53:2. He grew up before God, before Jehovah, as a tender plant. Think of the freshness that met the eye of God in that tender sapling.

The Psalmist speaks of the trees of the Lord being full of sap. Never was it more true than in that holy Babe, and in the boyhood and manhood of Christ. He drew nothing from the soil around; He was as a root out of a dry ground, but there was that

constant greenness, as one might say, for the eye of God. So the Spirit coming down, and the voice, told of what lay behind for God.

Then the dependence that marked him as a man. Arrived at the age of thirty, about to enter the service of God, according to Luke, He prayed.

Now, all this came out where John baptised at the first. Hence the Holy Spirit would recall us to what is at the beginning: as John says, "That which was from the beginning". 1 John 1:1. That is what the Holy Spirit would engage us with today. If He is to bring about a state of things answering to the mind of God at the end, He will engage us with what was at the beginning. John says to the little children, "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father". 1 John 2:24. The Lord would bring us back to that, He would keep before us that which was from the beginning. Thus the result is apparent: the Lord resorts thither. "He went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John baptised at the first, and there he abode". John 1:28.

Having said so much about the beginning, I want to say a word about the abiding. John does not present the Lord as a visitor to this world. He says, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" John 1:14; it is not visited. You will find throughout this gospel references to the Lord's abiding. But having told us who the Word is ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God; all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made: in him was life and the life was the light of men" John 1:1 - 4), he adds, "The Word became flesh". John 1:14. Think of what is wrapped up in that! He became that in which He could be near to us, that in which He could dwell with us. So he says, "And dwelt among us; and we contemplated

his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth". John 1:14. It was such an one as that.

We can well understand therefore as Paul presented the truth, in affection to the Thessalonians, how they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God -- the God whom the Son made known -- and to wait for His Son from heaven. It was the same whom the apostles contemplated. An only One with the Father. He was with the Father to be contemplated. I cannot define what that meant, but I can understand the apostles being detained as they companied with the Lord and saw the relation that existed between that Man and God as His Father. Such is the privilege. He went in and out amongst them; He ate and drank with them; He spoke with them; He was weary with His journey; and yet here it states, "We contemplated his glory, the glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth". John 1:14. That was their privilege.

And thus He was presented; and God in Him was presented in the gospel. Indeed the gospel is not rightly presented unless it is thus first, what God is in Christ, and then what Christ is with God. That is what I apprehend to be the gospel. We must have the latter. We shall never understand the greatness of what we have come into unless we apprehend what Christ is with God. "We contemplated his glory, the glory as of an only-begotten with a father". John 1:14. "With". It is what He is "with". Think of beholding that what He was with God. And then to know that One moving in and out with them, dwelling among them. That is what John presents: not a visit; that is not John's point of view, but it is always, "We know that the Son of God is come". Not come and gone, but come.

And so He comes to dwell. Hence in chapter 2 we have, "Where abidest thou?" John 2:38. The Lord did not

there say, I have no place to lay My head; elsewhere He did. When one sought to follow Him He said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head". Matthew 8:20. But that statement is not found in John. John is dealing with the Lord Jesus coming into this world as the Son, and He has got an abiding place; and hence it is, "Come and see". John 2:39. It is a spiritual place. Would that we could know more of that request -- "Come and see".

In John it is always available for us, for John supposes a work of God in the soul. In Luke it is Christ come into manhood to seek men -- He came where the man was, fallen among thieves, in a half dead state; but that is not the abiding place. Neither is an inn an abiding place. With John it is "Come and see". He has an abiding place outside the ordinary reckonings of man. One has to learn where it is. John is entirely on spiritual lines. Not that the others are unspiritual, of course, but John supposes there is a work of God in the soul, and on the ground of that He can invite you to come. So the Lord says, "Come and see" -- a wonderful invitation that may be heard today! The Lord would invite its to come and see where He abides.

John tells us that "they abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour". John 2:39. From that point you get movement on their part. Andrew seeks Simon; Philip seeks Nathanael. So that you have purpose as the abiding is understood. There is movement according to Christ. But the first thing is "Come and see". I would appeal to every one, especially the young -- if you are to know the abiding place, the word is, "Come and see".

The Lord, it is said, went over beyond the Jordan where John baptised at the first; and He abode there. "And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle but all things that John spake

of this man were true". John 10:41. That is, the gospel is in connection with the abiding place in this evangelist. "And many resorted unto him". It is not that He seeks them out, but they resort to Him. And then, what comes out is that whatever John said about Him is known to he true. So I would say to every young one here, if you want to be sure about the things that you have heard (and we have had much ministry), the certainty or confirmation is in the abiding place. They say, John did no miracles, but what he said about this man was true. It is an immense thing to be sure of a thing. How are you to be sure? Not by remaining outside at a distance.

One has great sympathy with many of the Lord's people who know nothing about the abiding place. They are clinging to Scripture -- and one is thankful that the scripture has authority -- where would any of us be without that? Scripture truly has authority and should command us, but then there are many of God's dear people who are not confirmed. As the apostle said to the Corinthians, "He that stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God". 2 Corinthians 1:21. We want establishment, and one has great sympathy and consideration for dear brethren who know nothing about the abiding place. They are wanting in confirmation. Here they say that John did no miracle, but what he said about this Man was true. It is an immense thing to have that in your soul: to be confirmed in everything that you have heard in the way of ministry according to Scripture. It says here, "many believed on him there". John 10:42. It is a point of great importance where you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

From the point of view of Luke, the Lord comes in and meets the soul, the individual soul; if one goes astray He leaves the ninety and nine and goes after the lost one and places it on both shoulders and takes it home rejoicing -- that is Luke: he found the lost

one on the mountains. And from that point of view it is no question of where you may be, nor indeed is it in any sense from a geographical point of view, but it is a very great matter as to the moral surroundings where you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Many true believers in Christ are at a great disadvantage because they believe on Him in surroundings that have been corrupted with bad teaching. Many of them are dwarfed, as I may say, maimed and underdeveloped, because they have not believed on Him "there". You say, Where? In relation to first principles. It says, they believed on Him there.

I would say to young people whose parents have walked in the light that you have a great advantage. You have come to believe on the Lord in surroundings that do not admit of evil, of moral evil or spiritual evil. You have a great advantage and you should cultivate it. It is open to you to be like those who believed on Him in this place: they believed on Him where John baptised at the first: and there He abode. It is an immense thing to come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ where He abides, and where first principles are maintained.

And one would say to the elder ones, how important it is if our young are to be brought up aright and develop into young men and fathers that the elders should maintain first principles. John says, "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning". 1 John 2:13. I would like to be a father. John has a word for the young people specially; he addresses them by themselves. And then young men also are addressed by themselves: and then the fathers. There is a word for each. And so John's word for the elder ones is, "Ye have known him that is from the beginning". 1 John 2:13.

Many elder ones, who have been long on the way, recall reminiscences of the service of certain servants

which are interesting, but rich as are such reminiscences they do not constitute a father. One cannot but remember that Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, could recall many of Elisha's exploits but to whom is he recounting them? to a wicked king. What link could he have with such a man as that? He had immense opportunity. He could not only have recounted the exploits of Elisha, he knew his faith and devotion. He had evidently come into favour with those in high places through his relations with Elisha, but they did not add to him, nor did it indicate that he was in accord with what was at the beginning. What was at the beginning? Elisha says to one of the kings, I would not look at you were it not for Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat feared God.

So with Naaman when he came to Elisha: Elisha did not even come out to see him. These were the features from the beginning that Gehazi had forgotten about. We may grow old and be able to recall the exploits of others, yet be devoid of the qualifications or features of the fathers. What are these? The knowledge of Him that is from the beginning. No servant is now from the beginning. Jesus is from the beginning. The knowledge of Him that is from the beginning is what marks a father. As I have already said, what marks the Lord at the outset was that which marks Him still. The Lord remains ever what He was -- "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" Hebrews 13:8. The knowledge of Him today is the knowledge of Him as He was at the beginning. It is thus the fathers know Him.

May the knowledge of Him that is from the beginning preserve us in vigour, in vitality, and in freshness, that we may have maturity of judgment, that we may have experience. Those who know the Lord in that way have what young men cannot have -- they have experience. So that is the experience of those who know the Lord according to what He

was when He was baptised. The soul ever reverts to it as loving Him. He is the Father's Son; it is the same One that the Thessalonians waited for. There is thus carried in the soul that first freshness and energy, and, I was going to say, in our service there is found brevity or pointedness that is edifying.

I think that, as John the baptist is the model servant, Mary of Bethany is the model worshipper. She represents one that knew the Lord. She had a pound of ointment, the intelligent apprehension of Christ rightly measured, and suited to the occasion. That is remarkable intelligence -- spiritual intelligence. The Lord explains it. He says of Mary, 'She hath kept this against the day of my burying. Let her alone'. You may be sure that in the Lord's service, or in the Lord's worship, the worship of God, that which is the outcome of love shall be taken into account and approved according to its value by Him. He was going to die. Those feet that had been anointed in Simon's house were again anointed, but this time because they were going into death. Mary knew that. They were carrying that blessed Man into death. She anointed Him for His burial. It was an action of intelligence, and it was so regarded by the Lord Jesus.

That is all I would say, the Lord abides where first principles are maintained, and He is to be believed on there.

Numbers 10:1 - 3; Mark 3:31 - 35; 1 John 3:14 - 24

I had in my mind to speak about the circle of the saints, regarding them as love's circle. The passage in Mark suggests this thought because it speaks of the disciples sitting around the Lord, and of His looking round in a circuit upon them. The passage therefore affords the suggestion of a circle and I wish to show how that circle is formed and maintained.

The silver trumpets of Numbers 10, as we can readily understand, were intended for sounding out the testimony. The Lord having died for us has a right over us. He has the right of redemption. He has another right over us, as He has over all men, as Creator, He has thus creatorial rights. The trumpets were made of silver, suggestive of redemption. Christ having died for us has a right to call us to Himself. He calls us in His rights of love, and no one can rightly refuse to answer. Then the trumpets were made of one piece. This suggests that in calling us the Lord intends that oneness should mark us. The Lord had redeemed the people, and nothing can be more touching to the heart than the thought of redemption.

The passover lamb was taken from the flock by the Israelite in Egypt on the tenth day of the first month. It was taken away from its natural surroundings and brought into surroundings of another kind -- brought into the house. It remained in the house, as you will remember, four days. It refers to the Lord Jesus coming out of His own surroundings, coming to earth, being among men for a full period of testing, a period of observation, so that it was apparent that He was without sin. The testimony was there, that He was "holy, harmless, undefiled separate from sinners" Hebrews 7:26 -- such was Jesus -- and He was

put to death. The lamb was put to death and the blood sprinkled on the two door posts and on the lintels of the houses of the Israelites; it was for God's eye, for the Israelite inside the house knew by the word of God that that blood sheltered him; and corresponding with that they moved out until they were on the other side of the sea and wholly beyond the reach of harm from the Egyptians. They were safe under the wing of Jehovah and under the leadership of Moses, who would typify the Lord Jesus.

Thus they were a redeemed people, a people who unitedly, under the leadership of Moses, sang the song of deliverance, the song of redemption on the wilderness side of the sea. "The Lord hath triumphed gloriously". Exodus 15:1. They spent three months in these circumstances in the wilderness, nourished and nursed in the desert by God Himself. The water flowed from the smitten rock for them, and the cloud went before them and guided them, and for about thirteen months they encamped before the "mount of Jehovah". Here God entered into a covenant with them. In proposing to do this He said, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself". Exodus 19:4. As brought to Himself they were for thirteen months before the "mount of Jehovah" where He opened out His heart and mind (at least in type) to them. He would take them into relationship with Himself according to His own terms, for they were terms of love. For thirteen months, as far as one can reckon, the unfolding of the love and mind of God from the holy mount went on, and at the end He says, "Make two silver trumpets", Numbers 10:2, as if to embody all that had preceded in these instruments of testimony.

As the blast went forth from these trumpets, what lay behind it, to a heart that loved God, was all the love He had shown in redemption, in deliverance, and in the opening of His heart to them. All that would

enter into the blast of these trumpets, and so today the Lord asserts His right over us; oh, what a right! the right that He has as Redeemer, and not only so, but as the One who has disclosed the love of God to us in the death of his Son, He has made it known; He has attested it at the cross; He has brought it into our hearts by the ministry of the Spirit.

God said, "when they shall blow with them, the whole assembly shall gather to thee at the entrance of the tent of meeting". I wonder if every one here has responded? The trumpet blast has been going forth, and its intention is to gather all the assembly; every redeemed person on the earth is in view in this blast. It is not for a limited few of the assembly. If we sit down to the breaking of bread and some are absent, we miss them; if we love the Lord and if we love them, we feel their absence. The trumpets' blast has been heard in our hearts, and we have responded, but we may well say in the language of the Lord in Luke 17:17, "Where are the nine?" Where are the many of those who owe their all to Christ and who have heard the blast but have not responded? The Lord would have all the assembly. It says, "all the assembly shall gather to thee", Numbers 10:3, that is, to Christ. Moses represents the Lord in His authority. We must recognise that it is the Lord's supper, and that the Lord necessarily governs the assembly. Indeed, the whole first letter to the Corinthians emphasises that. If I respond, I must recognise the principles that govern the house of God. It is as if the Lord would say to us, Now what about your love? Have you come because you love Me? Yes; well, now I will give you a test. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me". John 14:21. We can put that test to the whole assembly. That is the test that is being put forward today, and it is a question whether we are answering to it.

I come now to Mark 3. Mark in approaching this

subject brings the natural relationships in. I touch on that because these natural relationships, alas! often operate adversely in regard to the assembly. The silver trumpets refer to you personally: salvation may come into a man's house, as the Lord says, "This day is salvation come to this house". Luke 19:9. All the house may be saved as a household, but the household is not called into the assembly. The silver trumpets refer to you individually. It is a call; it is a voice; it is the voice of the Lord speaking to you. Each one had to isolate himself from all his relationships according to nature. He respects them in their place, but now the Lord wants you. "The Lord hath need of thee". Have you answered that call? Search yourself in regard to Christ; recognise that His rights are first. He has prior claim now, even before that of your father or mother. You can never understand the assembly unless you accept that natural relationships have to become secondary to the spiritual. The Lord would jealously guard the assembly from all "household stuff".

You remember how in Nehemiah's day the priest, Eliashib, was related by marriage to Tobiah the Ammonite, an enemy of God, who, as it says, had "no place in the congregation of the Lord for ever". Deuteronomy 23:3. They had not shown the brotherly spirit and so were shut out. Eliashib was overseer of a chamber of the house of God, and he brought in Tobiah and set him up there. That happened when Nehemiah was away. When Nehemiah returned he cast out all the household stuff and Tobiah with it. All the natural element must be dealt with unmercifully. Mark brings forward this feature of the truth here. We read, "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee". Mark 3:32. There are many like that, who would influence one inside, but the Lord sets us the example, and so the truth of the circle here comes to light. He would take care of that and one would urge that each

would see to himself that he is taking care that the circle is formed and kept free from all household stuff. It is preserved accordingly a spiritual house, which is added to by the thought of a holy priesthood. It is a spiritual house over which the Son of God presides, and He would have it maintained as a circle of love, a circle marked by spiritual relationship.

Mark says His disciples "sat about him". Mark 3:34. There is a certain restfulness in their position, and they were occupied with what the Lord was saying. The mother and the brethren would have disturbed all that. We would often break up a spiritual state of things for our own personal ends but the Lord rebuked this. He says, "Who is my mother, or my brethren?" Mark 3:33. What a question that was; how testing for her who bore Him, as we read in another setting, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" John 2:4. How we need that sternness to refuse the natural claims when they interfere with the spiritual order of things, and spoil and rob us of our rich heritage; that is, this circle of love -- that in which divine love has its place. So the Lord, it says, looked round the circuit of them which sat about Him. He is now marking out, by His own action and words, the love circle. He has marked it out for us so that we might know it, and this passage, as it were, marks out for us for all time the circle of love. The Lord Himself marked it out and it is distinguished by certain features. The Lord proceeds to indicate them.

The Lord looked on them as they sat round Him, and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother". Mark 3:34,35. He would, in saying this, show that every affection we have finds an object in this people. Our brotherly affection, our sisterly affection, and our affections for a mother find their answer in that circle. Some of us know this to be true; others do not, and it is to them I

would speak. There is no affection begotten in you by the Spirit of God that does not find an answer and a sphere of expression in that circle. It is a divinely ordered and appointed circle. If I want a brother I find him there; or a sister, I find her there; or a mother, I find her there. I find her as I can find her nowhere else, in a spiritual way. So that we find a home in that circle. Morally there can be nothing like it on earth -- the circle of those who do the will of God. As the Lord says, "whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother". Mark 3:35.

Think of what it is for God to have here on earth a circle of people who do His will, it is heaven on earth! "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven", Matthew 6:10. That was surely so in Christ. The glory, one would say, shone in the Lord coming down. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork" Psalm 19:1. These refer, in a way, to Christ being wholly subservient to the will of God. The earth was lawless, but the Lord Jesus coming here as Man brought the glory here, so that the glory was seen as He moved about according to the will of God. Wonderful spectacle for heaven! that precious pathway of Jesus from the manger to the cross, a Man doing the will of God and now He has brought about a circle of those who have learned from Him, who do the will of God. What a great thing it is to see a man's soul entirely submissive to the will of God, and that there is a circle marked off by the Lord, in which affections may be fully satisfied.

So in the passage in 1 John 3:14, the apostle calls attention to a means whereby we may know that we have passed from death unto life. It says, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren". John makes much of that. The Lord had indicated 'the brethren' in looking round, had marked them off. John develops that, and enlarges

on love. I may confess to you in speaking of love, dear brethren, that I feel extremely incapable. There is nothing I know less of. I look at this epistle, I have read it many times, but the more I look at it the more wonderful it is, and one has to admit that one can hardly speak of love. In 1 Corinthians the apostle has to speak of it in the abstract -- a very humiliating thing. They were a people among whom he had laboured for eighteen months, and he had exhibited in his manner divine love before their eyes, and yet they were devoid of it. He could not speak of it as among them, and so one has to admit that one is very weak in regard of love; but here it is, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren". 1 John 3:14.

If I meet a man who does the will of God I must love him, I must not allow anything against that person, I must regard him in the light of the will of God. He represents a moral triumph; the Lord has brought that result to pass in him. It is well for us to look at things as they are. I see a man who was lawless but now is doing the will of God. He moves about subject to the will of God. It is a great moral triumph.

The silver trumpets' blast brought the assembly to Moses. It was a lovely scene, that vast assembly drawing near to the door of the tabernacle, to Moses; as they heard those silver trumpets sounding the whole assembly moved. What would it be today if all the saints on earth came together on the first day of the week to break bread! That can never be, I quite admit, but the day is near when they shall all come. "The Lord himself, with an assembling shout ... shall descend from heaven". 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It is a similar thought to the silver trumpets. He has a right to gather the people, "with archangel's voice and with trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we the living who remain, shall be caught up

together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and thus we shall he always with the Lord". 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17.

We shall be gathered together. We can never hope now for all the assembly to come together on the first day of the week, but what we may look for are individuals who love the Lord's coming. We may miss many. It is an immense thing to see one -- one who does the will of God. It is a moral triumph, as I said. If you see any one doing that, mark him off and love him, you are obliged to do so; it says, "he that hateth his brother abideth in death" 1 John 3:14 -- a terrible word, as if hatred is moral darkness, and death. We were all disobedient, "serving divers lusts and pleasures ... hateful and hating one another". Titus 3:3. You see how things become intensified, "hateful and hating one another". It is not to he wondered at, that the spirit of hatred is abroad in the world, because we are hateful naturally. "He that hateth his brother abideth in death" 1 John 3:14; it is really moral death, whereas the circle of love is outside all that.

It is wonderful what God has brought about in the very midst of darkness. The late war was the expression of the pagan state of things, disobedient and hateful, and in the midst of all that God has brought about a circle outside of it, in which love is. It is a wonderful circle, it is like the tabernacle of old, and made of such material as will survive wilderness conditions. In those who do the will of God are all the elements of the tabernacle, the spirit of rigid exclusion of evil, on the one hand, and appreciation and preservation of good on the other. There is a circle maintained where love is free. One of the evidences of it is that I love the brethren. I have passed out of the state of death and hatred into an atmosphere of love. I can say without any doubt, I have passed from death into life, for I love the brethren.

INTELLIGENCE

Romans 12:1; Ephesians 1:15 - 19

It will be observed by those who read the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit emphasises the importance of spiritual intelligence throughout; indeed it is one of the great essentials of believers to be spiritually intelligent. The prophet Hosea (chapter 4: 6) speaks about God's people being destroyed "for lack of knowledge". Hosea 4:6. The same prophet having spoken of the resurrection of the saints, says, "Then shall we know", Hosea 6:3. In that remark one is reminded of John's epistle, which treats in a large measure of this subject, in which he says, "We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding". 1 John 5:20. The Son of God has abolished death. Indeed, that by which He was marked off here as the Son of God was the resurrection of the dead, and He has given to us an understanding "that we should know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life". 1 John 5:20. One might say that there is there the combination of all knowledge, in so far as knowledge can be compassed by a finite being -- the knowledge of the true God in a Man, and the knowledge of eternal life in a Man. You recall how in that passage in Hosea the prophet says, "Then shall we know". Hosea 6:3. As raised up we see it. The saints come into the apprehension of the resurrection, for we are raised by faith. We are not literally raised, we are raised "through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead", Colossians 2:12. As risen, as in the light, by faith, of the resurrection, we begin to acquire the knowledge. "Then shall we know; we shall follow on to know the Lord", Hosea 6:3.

If one speaks of the gospels, in them we have the presentation of knowledge, or rather we have everything

presented from the divine point of view. It is true that "we know in part", 1 Corinthians 13:9, but there is such a thing as seeing the parts put together. One thing leads to another, until we see all as one great whole; that is what an understanding of the gospels leads to. "We shall follow on to know". Hosea 6:3. As we understand the epistles, as we learn "in part", we come to the gospels to see the whole.

Romans is the initial epistle, and Ephesians presents to us the full divine thought, in so far as we may apprehend the spirit of wisdom and revelation -- not the spirit of wisdom and information, but the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have revelation in the gospels, and in order to apprehend revelation we must have "the spirit of revelation", Ephesians 1:17, and that can only be received from God. The apostle could not impart it, although he had the knowledge and the doctrine. He could only pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation

In turning to the gospels, one has in mind what John refers to as knowing the true God and eternal life, both things presented within the compass of a Man. God had said through the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 31:22) that He would create a new thing on the earth: "A woman shall compass a man". Jeremiah 31:22. I have no doubt that the thought of a woman in Scripture is the subjective side, the side of desire, the side of need, and of affection. We read of seven women laying hold of a man; Isaiah 4:1. They shall be called by his name -- and then God said, I will create a new thing on the earth, that a woman shall compass a man, and I have no doubt that the longings of the apostle in Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians have that in view, that the saints might compass Christ -- not indeed personally, but in wonderful consideration for us God has come within the compass of a Man. In the Old Testament, at Sinai, God thundered; He impressed the people with His majesty and His

dignity. Even Moses said that he feared. Only in that way could God come within their range. He began in calling Moses back up to the mount to call his attention to a pattern, and the first thing that is mentioned is the ark -- something that could be carried. What is this? Oh, beloved, it is God coming near to us, that He may be, as it were, compassed according to the spirit of intelligence which He gives us; in other words, that we might know Him. So with all the parts of the tabernacle, bound together as they were in wisdom so that there should be one tabernacle. I think that in that one tabernacle, the pattern of which was given to Moses, you have God coming near to the people. What grace is in that! True enough the cloud ascended up, maintaining the proof of Him who was there -- God Himself, the everlasting God. Moses, knowing it, said, "Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations". Psalm 90:1. "From eternity to eternity thou art God". Psalm 90:2. But then God came in grace within the range of an enclosure, one hundred cubits by fifty cubits -- we might say, within the range of an enclosure of ten cubits, for that was the size of the holiest. God was there and He was known there.

Well, I refer to that, so that we might have the thought of how God would draw near, within our range, so that we might know Him. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" John 14:9. What was the tabernacle but a type of that? God Himself come down within the range of that enclosure so as to be known by His creature. God Himself was there. So in Exodus the tabernacle is said to be according to the pattern, everything made precisely as required. Then God Himself comes in -- it was no less than the divine presence. In the next book He speaks to Moses out of the tabernacle, and says, as it were, Any one who wants to come to Me, this is how you are to come. I am here to be

apprehended, I am here to be known, I am here to be loved -- already having taken care that He had drawn near to them, He had approached them, having known them and loving them. Moses said, "Yea, he loved the people". Deuteronomy 33:3. And His love would lead Him to come so near, to come within their range, to come within the very thing their hands had made! What wonderful grace! That they might know Him. As was said later of Zion, "God is known in her palaces". Psalm 48:3. He is known there "for a refuge", Psalm 48:3.

In turning to the gospels, we see they present that very thing; God had come here in a Man, and in Him they contemplated the complete Pattern. To understand the gospels, it is in the intelligence of the epistles. You know "in part" through the epistles, but in the gospels you are brought to see the whole scheme of divine wisdom presented in a Man. Ephesians speaks of God abounding to us in all wisdom and intelligence, so the first great feature in the gospel is the kingdom. One has remarked that God comes in kingdomwise in order to be known housewise. The house comes last, John comes last.

Matthew is the kingdom -- hence the lovers of Christ, beneficiaries of redemption, take up the Gospel of Matthew, and the first word you find is "Book". Now books are of divine origin. I know that we are living in an age of books -- of corrupt books, books which when the gospel is understood should be consigned, as they were at Ephesus, to the flames. All should read the standard Book, the divine Book. Many may read this, comment on it, and preach from it, but unless they have the Holy Spirit they cannot understand it. "None of the wicked shall understand", Daniel 12:10. The wise understand, as Hosea says again, "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?" Hosea 14:9. And as Daniel says, "I Daniel understood by books", Daniel 9:2. You see how a wise man profits by

books. The Lord has said in the heading of the roll -- in the volume of the book -- possibly the most profound of all books is that one. When it was written I do not know, but the very heading of it indicates that there was a Man coming to do the will of God. Any book that has not got that as its basis is worthless. A book that is devoid of that is worthless, fit only for the flames. In that book it was written of Christ -- in fact every book should be about Christ -- "In the volume of the book it is written of me" Hebrews 10:7. "Lo, I come to do thy will". Hebrews 10:9. That was what was in that book. If we could read that book we should find much. No doubt it has all come out in the gospel, for that is the great thesis of all books. So Matthew opens with "Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham". Matthew 1:1. What do we find here? We find power in the King, we are in the presence of the King. It is not "Son of Abraham, Son of David", but "Son of David, son of Abraham". He shall set up here a kingdom which cannot be moved. Daniel says, "I saw a stone cut out without hands, and it smote the image ... the gold, and the silver, and the brass, and the iron, so that in those days the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom of which there shall be no end". Before you can have the kingdom you must have the King, and "Jesus Christ, the Son of David", presents to us the King. Thus, as I said, the first great feature of intelligence is the knowledge of the kingdom.

In the epistle to the Romans you learn it as it benefits me but in Matthew I see it in relation to the whole scheme. I see it as laid down in that book in the volume of which it is written, "Lo I come to do thy will, O God". Hebrews 10:9. I do urge on young people to consider the knowledge of the kingdom. It is not only deliverance and power, it is an order of things. It affords an assurance of divine authority. One of the greatest and most essential elements at the present

time is the assurance of divine authority, divine power, divine leadership and divine order -- these are the things among others that the kingdom presents to us.

Now if you have the establishment of the kingdom, the next thing is the preaching. Things are to be known by preaching, so that the preacher says, "I the preacher was king in Jerusalem". Ecclesiastes 1:12. Not, 'I the king was preacher', but "I the preacher was king". In other words, the King subserves the preaching, and the Preacher is supported by the kingdom. God is preached, the love of God is preached, and the kingdom is preached. And hence, if we have the kingdom, the next thing is preaching. Mark is not a book -- it begins thus, "Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God". Mark 1:1. The kingdom is the great background and support of the gospel.

Then next we have Luke -- there is divine order in the Bible -- in Luke, the thought is sympathy; the knowledge of God, drawn near in the sympathies of a Man. The eunuch had been reading about the Lord as a Man, he had been reading about a Man growing up. "He shall grow up before him as a tender plant". Isaiah 53:2. That should appeal to every young Christian, as to whether you are growing up before men in the world for their eyes, or before God. Jesus was cast upon God from the very outset of His being; He grew up, it says, as a tender plant before God. There the prophet outlines the Manhood of Jesus. Nothing indeed appeals to one more than the Manhood of Jesus. Luke, to preach Jesus, had to preach His Manhood -- God on the earth in a Babe, God was there. Who could deny it? So as to be near, so as to be compassed by us, He has drawn near in such meekness, the Man Christ Jesus.

One often refers to Moses, "the man Moses", one of the finest touches in regard to Moses. Aaron and Miriam had rebelled against the man Moses, the

meekest of all the earth -- a forecast of Christ. If any one should have known Moses it was Miriam; she had watched him in the river; she knew his beginning. And so, beloved, if we read the gospel of Luke, we have the beginnings of this "tender plant". There was no room for Him in the inn. It is not that there was hostility; exactly it was a consequence, a condition. He was born in the manger. The shepherds find Him in the manger. Matthew presents the dignity of Christ but Luke presents the lowliness and grace of Christ -- coming so low, coming in such meekness. We have got to get it at the beginnings, the Man Christ Jesus. Knowing the Man, you get His sympathies. You see how in Luke 7 the woman comes in and washes His feet. She began down low at His feet -- that carried to her glad tidings. Wonderful feet! She washed those feet, the feet of Jesus, and then later He is anointed. You see the Lord had come within her range. He has come within our range so as to be known, so as to be loved.

Then the gospel of John is the final and great feature of divine and spiritual intelligence, because it presents the Son as in the bosom of the Father. In that position He is contemplated. It is not now a question of what He does for me, it is a question of what He is, "We have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father". John 1:14. The spiritual intelligence involved in that means that I see that God has a family; and having a family He has got a house; and having a house and a family, He lives in his house, and is to be known there. The first disciples that were drawn to Christ in John inquired, "Where abidest thou?" John 1:38. Why should they say that? Why should they ask such a question? Because it suggests the point of view of the gospel. Could anything be more precious, beloved brethren, than to know where He dwells, and to be invited to "Come and see"? John 1:39. And then, as seeing it,

to be free and happy there? "They abode with him that day. It was about the tenth hour". John 1:39. What a time they had! I refer to it because it suggests to us what the spiritual intelligence in John's gospel involves for us.

Let us go back for a moment to the beginning. One would like to say a word for beginners. We have all had to begin -- perhaps most of us have not got on very far. You will find, however, that the epistles to the Colossians, the Ephesians and the Philippians all speak of "knowledge" and the apostle prays that the saints may have knowledge in all things. Now John, in writing to the little children, says, "This is the last hour". 1 John 2:18. He does not occupy them with a long period of time, he brings things within their range. He says, "This is the last hour, and there are many antichrists". 1 John 2:18. Young people are particularly exposed to antichrists, those who are against Christ, whatever they may profess. And so the apostle warns the little ones about it. He says, We know it is the last hour, because there are many of them, as if Satan threatened to bring forward all his forces. There are certain features of Antichrist, and the apostle says, "Ye have heard that antichrist comes", 1 John 2:18, and then he tells them how they are to know him. The Antichrist denies Christianity, he denies the Father and the Son. And then he says, Ye do not need that any one teach you; for "ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things". 1 John 2:20. "You have the knowledge of all things, and the same unction teaches you ... and is true". 1 John 2:27. So you see how God has provided for you in the Spirit.

Romans shows in the passage I have read that the teaching of the gospel brings about intelligence in regard to our bodies. He says, "I beseech you ... by the compassion of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice ... which is your intelligent service" Romans 12:1 -- that is, it is in the light of what you have learnt of God.

It is but intelligence to use what is always available and that is your body, and to present it a living sacrifice.

Now one has to go back in the epistle to see how it can be living. It says, "If Christ be in you" -- a wonderful suggestion -- Christ in a believer, in a Gentile (for those he was writing to at Rome were Gentiles). "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness". Romans 8:10. The Lord would only be in your body as a body of righteousness. Chapter 6 shows that the members are to be presented instruments of righteousness. "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will" Hebrews 10:7. If that is to be reflected in you and me, it must be in bodies controlled by righteousness, controlled by the Spirit, vessels, as it were, in which Christ is expressed here. What a great triumph! How wonderful! Think of Christ truly reflected in believers doing the will of God. "That ye might prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God". Romans 12:2. That is to say, the proposal of Christ becoming Man is effective in us, in our bodies. We present them to God a living sacrifice, in them we prove "what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.". Romans 12:2.

Well, I cannot say much more, but that is the beginning of Christian movement. It works out in the way I hold my body. We all have our bodies, and it is an immense thing, as knowing our propensities, to see how God supplies means of putting them to death. So that the Spirit is life in us in view of righteousness. The great end is in Ephesians Paul says, Having heard of your faith and love, I pray that God will "give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ... that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of ... his inheritance in the saints". Ephesians 1:18. We begin to look at things from God's side. We think of His

calling, His inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of His power that "he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead" Ephesians 1:20 -- not simply that power that works in me for my deliverance, but the exceeding greatness of it, for it goes on, "He set him down at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body". Ephesians 1:20 - 22.

So you see how intelligence begins by presenting our bodies to God, and culminates in the knowledge of God in that He has placed Christ Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. Think of being part of that! to learn thus how we are to he the complement of Christ in the aggregation in the future! He is Head over all things to the church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.

How wonderful is the full effect of the full knowledge of God, as it is apprehended by brethren who have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God!

DAYS

Acts 1:1 - 4; Leviticus 23:9 -17

My exercise in regard of this meeting has been that something might come before its that would lead to a better, and more intelligent, and more spiritual use of our days. I believe that the Lord is about to come, and one is particularly concerned that the time remaining may not be, in any one of us, misspent. So I would call attention to the use of days -- days being allotted periods, each day calling for its own work.

We have, I believe, in the expression "Ancient of days", Daniel 7:9, as applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, a suggestion as to the perfect way in which His days were used and filled up. Moses, by the Spirit of God, alludes to years, giving them a limit, but it is not really the number of years, but the number of days that one spends here which are our concern. The expression, "The ancient of days" would, I apprehend, refer to how the Lord used His. We have in the Old Testament references in regard of days that would indicate that God not only takes account of how years in general are spent, but how days are spent. According to Scripture there is no mourning at the burial of Abraham, for he was a man who is said to have died in a good old age, "old and full of days". Genesis 25:8. These days were all taken account of by God. And so with Isaac and others, particularly Job, it is said that they were old at their death and full of days. Their lives were not a blank, they yielded something for God daily. In Jacob, as one marked by failure, we have the acknowledgement that the days of the years of his life were not as the days of the years of his father, they were few and they were evil. A humble admission which, alas, many, if not all of us, would be obliged to fully confirm as to ourselves, but then,

be it so, Jacob made a good finish, and God accepted the finish. He will accept the beginning, as He did when Jacob anointed the pillar, for He said that He would be with him; and God accepted his finish, even although the most part of his life was spent, as he said, evilly.

In the prayer of Moses, the man of God, and it is well to listen to the prayers of a man of God, he says, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom" Psalm 90:12. So with a wise heart we see that every day is precious and we use that day rightly, no part of it is to be lost, but we are to be here "redeeming the time". Ephesians 5:16. The Lord would impress upon us to face things now. Scripture speaks of "from this day forward". When light comes into the soul the Lord would say, Thou shalt see greater things henceforward, that is, from now on thou shalt see; for day after day involves increased light. "The path of the just shineth more and more", it says, "unto a perfect day". Proverbs 4:18. What a prospect there is, what an incentive to resolve to use up our days rightly. If rightly used they will issue in something for God every day, and that something accumulates until at the end there is something of value that God knows how to measure.

In Acts 1 we see how days in this dispensation began; they began with the daily experience of Christ risen. I want you to consider that for a moment. Forty days spent one after another with Christ risen from the dead. Think of the experience they had, beginning with the first day of the week after He rose! Now I would ask you to take note of that, that this dispensation began with the daily experience of Christ risen. In regard of the saints of old, you will remember how God said, "This month shall be unto you a beginning of months" Exodus 12:2. Whatever month it may have been on the calendar of those days, in the civil year, as we speak, it was the first

month to them. So today each believer knows that whatever month in the civil year he comes to know God in Christ, that that is his first month. Presently he will give it a name, and so in Deuteronomy it is the month Abib, indicating that he has come to a spiritual beginning, he gives it a name. The more you refer to your beginning with God the more definite the first day will become in your mind, and in your heart, you will observe it in relation to God.

So the passover was to be observed in the month Abib on the fifteenth day of that month. They were to take account of the first day of that month, and on the tenth day a lamb for a house was taken from the flock, and for four days abode in the house of each Israelite. Every inmate of the house would live, day by day, for four days with the innocent victim. These are the days in which spiritual history is made. If I do not make spiritual history today, a day is lost and it never occurs again. A lost day is never made up -- in the history of time it has gone.

Now after the passover, having come into the land they were to offer a sheaf of firstfruits to God. It refers, beloved, to Christ presented in His own personal perfection to God, as risen from the dead. Many of us know that Christ has been delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification, but this refers to the saints so identified with Christ risen; see Leviticus 23. Wonderful thought! He is before God, presented and waved there, as if to occupy the divine eye. From that day forward they begin to count for fifty days. I see the saints forming the assembly beginning as to their daily experience with Christ risen from the dead. How many of us have spent one day with Christ risen? Romans is not risen with Christ. The Colossian saints are addressed as "risen with Christ by the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead". Colossians 2:12. You begin with that. One feels that that truth has but little

place in our experience, yet we are risen with Christ. The beloved apostle said that his great exercise was "to know him and the power of his resurrection". Philippians 3:10. And he said further, "if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead". Philippians 3:11. What kind of days, think you, were thus spent? He said also "we henceforth know no one according to flesh", and then he adds, "if even we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now ye know him thus no longer". 2 Corinthians 5:16. Think of that! I know no one after the flesh, not even Christ. But to know Him as He is, and where He is, that is the experience essential to our being fitted for what is coming.

And so they began to count the first day after this sheaf of firstfruits was presented to Jehovah. What a day it was, beloved, that first day! How much spiritual history entered into that day! I do not suppose that any of them failed to mark the fortieth day, which Luke calls "That day in the which he was taken up". Acts 1:2. What a day that was to them. For the first day was full of spiritual history -- not public history, spiritual history. The affairs of Jerusalem doubtless went on as before; men bought and sold, as they always did, on that first day of the week in the city of Jerusalem. The occurrence of a few days before was a matter of past history, probably what they would call legal history, criminal history. There can be no doubt that in the criminal annals at Jerusalem it was recorded that a certain man was crucified on that day. And things went on as before, the matter had passed away. But, beloved, in the circle of those who knew Christ and loved Christ, that day was full of spiritual history, history that shall remain when the annals of this world are for ever gone. The Lord was up early on that day and a certain woman was up early. They were starting the day well. In the Old Testament we read of persons who undertook to do great things rising early to do

them. Abraham rose up early to go to Mount Moriah with Isaac. God Himself said that He rose early to send the prophets.

So here the Lord came out of His tomb early like the hind of the morning, for He was to be seen by His loved ones "skipping upon the hills" on that day; Song of Songs 3:2. No more in the limitations of the grave into which He had been. He is now outside of all these limitations and He is beginning the day in wonderful activity. He sees one and another, He sees them collectively and speaks to them. That was His day. His heart was free now, He had His own with Him clear of death and the enemy's power, He had been heard "from the horns of the unicorn". Psalm 22:21. What a day it was for Him! What a day for His own! I dwell on the first day, we can easily add in all the others, for the first gives the initial idea. It was full of experience; indelible impressions were being stamped on those that were to form the assembly. So it is as we live in the light of a risen Christ, as we walk with Him, as we talk with Him, as we know Him where He is, risen, we receive these same impressions. It is as receiving these impressions that we become fitted for Him, so that we should be prepared for the great day that is now so near.

I was noticing today in Matthew that expression, "they that were ready went in with him". Matthew 25:10. How many of us are ready? This is a real thing, beloved, that the Lord would put before us. How am I to be ready to be with Him, suitable to Him, unless I know beforehand what is becoming for that scene? Unless I know by companionship with Christ as He is risen, knowing that I am risen with Him by faith, how shall I be ready, how shall I enter? In Colossians we have the thought of entrance -- not exactly possession of the land -- but entrance, and the education of our souls is in view of association with Christ,

in view of preparation for the event that is now so near. "Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light". Colossians 1:12. The Father is operating to that end, that we should be meet for sharing the portion of the saints in light. The point is to bring us into correspondence with Him as risen. So we are said to be circumcised with Him in His circumcision by "the putting off of the body of the flesh ... buried with him in baptism, in which ye have also been raised with him through faith of the working of God, who raised him from among the dead". Romans 6:4. Then, too, we are quickened with Him, the quickening is a real thing, a very present reality and it is by virtue of it that one can fill up his days in association with Christ risen. You will remember how it is said of Elisha that he walked and talked with Elijah after they had crossed the Jordan -- that is the experience that we want, beloved.

Now at the end of fifty days they were to bring out of their dwellings two wave loaves: they had presented the sheaf, but now they were to bring out of their dwellings two wave loaves and present them to God as a new meat offering. It refers to the experience one has gained by companionship with Christ risen; it is said in Acts 1:3, "He was seen of them during forty days".

I see two people entering their house; the Lord had walked with them a considerable distance on the first day, He had spoken to them on the way, He had caused their hearts to burn. That is a fine experience if Christ causes your heart to burn. "Did not our heart burn within us as he talked with us by the way?" Luke 24:32.

It was a remarkable experience, although they did not yet know Him. No ordinary traveller, however dignified or versatile, could have caused their hearts to burn in talking with them, but Jesus did. And then they walked along and they invited Him into the house, into the ordinary meal room -- doubtless a

lowly one -- and the Lord went in and sat down as the House-father, and He gave thanks. What an experience for one's house! What an experience for the head of the house to see the Lord of glory, now risen, performing the function of the House-father, for that is what He did. That was an experience, beloved, well fitted to qualify the head of that house to behave becomingly ever after at a family meal. Indeed, there would be an indelible impression produced on that occasion in that household, whoever may have been there. One of the most important things is to know how to be in one's house according to God, for if I am to be there according to God I have to learn how to be there with Christ, I must learn everything from Christ.

They returned to Jerusalem, sixty furlongs off; their impressions must have deepened with every step, until they arrived at the company and related what had happened to them in the way, and how He was made known to them in the breaking of bread. And while they yet spake "Jesus himself stood in their midst". Luke 24:36. What an experience! Not now for them alone, but for them all. And then the Lord proceeds, in His own gracious way, according to Luke's account, to put them at ease in His presence. "It is I myself", He said Luke 24:39, and He showed to them His hands and His feet, and He eats before them. What an impression that must have produced on them ever afterwards. I can understand one of these brethren on a later occasion, when someone may have been perturbed for some cause, how he would act like Jesus quietening his or her spirit, how he would convey to them that he was touched with the feelings of the perturbed one. And there are many other things to be learnt, as apprehending Him risen, in our daily experience.

As John presents it, we see the doors closed on that same day, and someone comes in without the doors

being opened. What an event! What a wonderful thing it is, Jesus Himself stood in the midst and says to them, Peace be unto you. They would never forget that. Yet it is not far away from us, beloved, as we apprehend Christ risen and touch Him and see Him spiritually. We may know something of these experiences, and I verily believe that these are the very experiences that will cause the saints to be prepared for the presentation; so that when the time arrives we may not feel strange or awkward or uncouth in the presence of the Lord. "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready". Revelation 19:7. She knew Him before, and she has made herself ready. She has had that place all along, and when the time comes she is equal for it, "she hath made herself ready".

Well, the fortieth day arrives, and Luke says, "That is the day in the which he was received up". Acts 1:3. What a memorable day that was for them! The Holy Spirit stops to give us an account of it later on in the chapter, and then following upon that we have the ten days. He was received up from Olivet, and from Olivet to Jerusalem was a sabbath day's journey. How they would, in every step that they trod on the way, down into the valley across the ravine arid up into the city, how they would be impressed with what they had seen. They saw Him go up! Well, now, they come to the city and go to the upper room. Luke shows us the disciples going into the temple; that is the grace of God. God would, as it were, make such a wonderful contribution of grace to the temple, so as to attract the people. Luke does not tell us that in writing to Theophilus the second time, but says, "They went into the upper room", Acts 1:13, because he is on the line of preparing us for the assembly. The two wave-loaves suggest that. Out of that habitation issued forth, as we may say, the two wave-loaves. They bring out of their dwellings two wave-loaves

baken with leaven. Sin was rendered inactive in them, they were in correspondence with Christ and they were presented to God. That was the great result of these fifty days with Christ. Peter and James and John, the hundred and twenty, every one of them was distinguished, each of them had a name, and that name indicated some particular feature of Christ -- they brought out of their habitation two wave-loaves and presented them to God. God will have the bread, because the bread refers to the humanity of Christ. One may give much, one may sacrifice much, but God will have the bread of His offerings; He insists on that, whatever I sacrifice I must see to it that my motive is pure.

Well, dear brethren, the days are short, and the Lord would put it upon us that in every one of us in association with Christ, there should be a reproduction of Christ, so that there should be something for God and for Christ at the end. That is what I had in view for all of us to teach us to number our days. Job said that his days were swifter than a weaver's shuttle, What a lot of days were lost -- broken threads. What kind of web is produced of broken threads? For when you begin to weave knowing what you are putting in with every move of the shuttle, neither the warp nor the woof is to have a thread of leprosy. It is a remarkable thing that the type contemplates leprosy in the warp and not in the woof and in the woof and not in the warp. How can that be? I apprehend that if I lay down right principles in my days, in the light of Christ risen I see what becomes me to weave, the whole thing is laid down rightly, the weaving is in my own hands, and the woof and the warp must be the same. They must both be free of leprosy. And so that corresponds with the loaves, they were baken with leaven, but the leaven was rendered inactive, sin was not there. The principle of the weaving is most important, it is

a very practical thing, as to what kind of woof one is putting in. God calls for self-judgment every moment of the day, and to take up one's cross daily. The apostle could say, "I protest by your rejoicing, I die daily" 1 Corinthians 15:31 -- "Christ the firstfruits afterward, they that are Christ's at his coming". 1 Corinthians 15:23. There is the afterward, but in the meanwhile the experiences come in between Christ the firstfruits and those that are Christ's at His coming. There is experience day by day. How did He die? He died in the power of life; one cannot die otherwise according to God. The dying of Jesus is a wonderful thing. Jesus did not die from exhaustion, He died in the power of life, He died in life. So Paul would be bearing about in his body the dying of Jesus. And that is all the outcome of daily experience with Christ risen.

READINGS IN JOHN'S FIRST EPISTLE

1 JOHN 1; 1 JOHN 2:1,2

In suggesting John's epistle, it was thought that we might see something of life as it works out in the family of God, and of what that life is as first seen in Christ. It says, "The eternal life which was with the Father" 1 John 1:2; this life was with the father. It does not refer to what was prior to incarnation, but what is seen in the Lord on earth. "Father" supposes a family. In John's gospel it says, "As many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God ... who have been born, not of blood nor of flesh's will nor of man's will, but of God", John 1:12, 13. That, stated at the outset, indicates what John had in view, and the apostle, in speaking here of the life as with the Father, would impress upon us the kind of life that is to mark the family. Think of this life, as with the Father and yet come within the range of the apostles! John says, "Which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled" 1 John 1:1; then, "And the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us". 1 John 1:2. It was with the Father, but manifested, so as to be reported of by competent witnesses; thus those who have part in it may see the nature of it.

I think "that which was from the beginning" 1 John 1:1 is emphasised to preserve the life from human admixture. Everything is to be tested by that which was from the beginning. The family is what the saints are here as loving Christ. Two things are stated of it by John: those who form it receive Christ, and they are called children of God: "See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God", 1 John 3:1. The life is said to be

manifested; it came within the range of competent witnesses. In his gospel John uses the expression: "an only-begotten with a father" John 1:14; it is a figure brought in to emphasise the place the Lord had. All would understand the peculiar place; an only one would have with a father.

This eternal life takes concrete form in the Son. The expression here is not like John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word", but "That which was from the beginning", namely, eternal life. It is the thing he is dealing with, as taking perfect form in Christ; in One seen with their eyes, contemplated, and handled with their hands -- to show how real it was. It was not a passing thing but abiding. It was life brought within the range of men, manifested in everyday circumstances. There is progress in the way the apostles apprehended it. First heard, then seen, then contemplated, then handled, "concerning the word of life". 1 John 1:1. The dignity of the Lord's Person is guarded elsewhere, but what the Holy Spirit would impress upon us here is the life. In Christ it was brought within the range of men in the most practical way.

"The word of life" 1 John 1:1 would be the thing in expression, and it was verified in the most complete way. It is reported here by the apostle John, who had an unique place in the testimony. He brings it near to the saints, so that the life may be known in its practical bearing amongst us. As an example of handling it, John certainly was in close and intimate physical relation with Christ at the last Supper. His word here is that he handled life. He says, "We have seen, and bear witness, and report to you". 1 John 1:2. Light comes to us by way of report. After the Lord rose from the dead, He said, "Handle me and see" Luke 24 39. He was a real Man after, as before His death. But the testimony here refers to what the apostles saw from the beginning. In John 15:27, where the witness of the Spirit comes in, the Lord said,

"Ye too hear witness, because ye are with me from the beginning". They had been with the Lord for that intent. John shows us in this epistle the great features of that life which was "from the beginning", and which was "with the Father". 1 John 1:2.

What a depth of meaning this passage gives to the truth of the incarnation of Christ; He manifested to the apostles a life which was with the Father. The truth of incarnation is presented in a very condensed way by John. In his gospel "The Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us", John 1:14 but here he is going to address the children, and to speak to them of life. There is consideration for us: "My children, these things I write to you". 1 John 2:1. The report is brought to us by one who was with the Lord, whom "Jesus loved". Things have to be broken up for the children; it is not on the wide platform of the gospel, which has every one in view, but he is speaking to the family. It is never your Father, but the Father, because there are other families. With one or two exceptions it is always so in John's writings.

John addresses us first as "my children", 1 John 2:1, then as God's children 1 John 3:1. Before he reaches the full truth of God's children, he breaks up the truth, as it were, by placing the family in grades, and then speaks to each grade, so as to bring home a special feature of it to each one. He says, in principle, in chapter 1, I am going to speak to you about a thing with which I have been occupied myself with the greatest delight, and I want you to be occupied with it so that it may be your delight: "that ye also may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ". 1 John 1:3. There is a difference between "fellowship with us", and "fellowship with one another". He is aiming at the establishment of the family, so that fellowship with one another brings us in on mutual ground. In the Canticles it says, "I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey", Song of Songs 5:1.

"Honeycomb" is a reference to mutuality. The way in which fellowship is introduced is very interesting. The fellowship which the apostles had was special, as they had been companions with the Lord: "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations", Luke 22:28. Obviously we could not come in on that line, but they established a link of relationship with those they addressed, and they in their turn established links, so that the chain comes through unbroken. The fellowship now is "with one another". And He further says, "These things write we to you that your joy may be full". 1 John 1:4.

As the family of God we ought to know our great place and portion. Perhaps we have the light of the family, but the life of it is the thing that should characterise us. John presents these things with a definite end in view "That your joy may be full". 1 John 1:4. He was well aware of the good times the apostles had, especially after the Holy Spirit came down. No doubt they enjoyed things whilst the Lord was amongst them, but after the Holy Spirit came the things He spoke and did would have their true place with them, and they with John would pass on what they had heard and seen that our joy might be full. He is here not only dealing with things spoken, though including them, but of what came out in the Lord's ways; it was the life manifested.

Paul does not treat of this side of the truth; he was not with the Lord on earth. He knew Christ as He is in heaven and develops the truth in connection with Him there. In the future those who were with the Lord in the days of His flesh will have that which is peculiar to themselves; Luke 22:29, 30. It is interesting to note in this connection that Paul had been fifteen days with Peter in Jerusalem and no doubt would he greatly affected by what Peter would communicate to him of the Lord's life on earth; Galatians 1:18. This epistle does not contemplate us as

out of the world but in it, and the ministry of John was intended that we might enjoy this life notwithstanding. It is to be enjoyed in our relations one with another. Hence the need of walking in the light, as God is in the light, that we may have fellowship one with another. The meetings of the saints should be thus marked, hence the enjoyment of brotherly confidence and love. "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren". 1 John 3:14. This life was manifested to the disciples; it was there in spite of the contrary scene through which He passed. It was what He was as with the Father.

In regard to ourselves, we could not enjoy this life as in the wilderness since it belongs to the land; it is known and enjoyed amongst the saints. It is something that we have as come together; the deep satisfaction and joy of holy spiritual life instead of the terrible corruption and moral death that exist in the world. He does not take us out of the world; in fact the Lord prays definitely that we should not be taken out of the world, but kept from the evil. Thus, although actually in the world, we have and may enjoy this eternal life which is in God's Son. This life is incorruptible, and it is a wonderful thing to experience, filling us, as it does, with holy, spiritual joy.

"That which was with the Father" 1 John 1:2 refers to the Lord's life here; to what was seen in Him in the days of His flesh. God had promised it and now it had taken form in a Man on earth. It could not be limited to the three years, or so, of the Lord's ministry, for who would undertake to say that in any part of the Lord's life here eternal life was not manifested? John says, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us", John 1:14. This includes His life from the manger to the cross. As a matter of actual witness by the apostles, it was from the time they followed Him. That manner and expression of life

had never been on earth before to be contemplated, it was the eternal life which was with the Father. As a boy He said to His parents, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Luke 2:49. So that whilst the apostles could only witness what they saw, it does not infer that it was not there before they saw it. If we were more in the good of this life, we should have great joy in contemplating its perfection in Christ, and this is what the Spirit of God has in view; that we might know the blessedness of the life that belongs to us. The prayers of the Lord Jesus, which the apostles heard, would be expressions of the life which was with the Father, but there were many things besides in which the life was expressed

Our enjoyment of this life is specially realised when together. There are many opportunities of fellowship and the thing is to have what belongs to the family distinctly before us; it should not be mixed with what is natural. There is, of course, the natural side, and that is not wrong, but the thing is to keep the life that belongs to the family of God free. Take Bethany as an example. The Lord went there after His entry into Jerusalem and spent the night. It was a spot that was congenial to Him, and where He would be free. So as to fellowship it does not mean simply keeping separate, although implying it, but that we have part in the life that belongs to the family of God. There are those who have not part in it. As Peter said to Simon in Acts 8:21, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter". We have the thing in belonging to the family, and however intimate our unconverted relatives may be with us, we have to say to them, "You have no part or lot in this matter". Fellowship is in the light, and it does not admit of what is merely of nature.

The fellowship of the apostles was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and John had in his mind the full joy of the saints through his report of

this life. If we had seen John he would have told us what he and all the apostles enjoyed; he would convey the blessedness of it to any Christian company that they might share in the fulness of joy. What the apostles reported was light, rendering us independent of man and the world; as the light becomes effective in us it makes us full of joy. The breakdown of the professing thing does not come into view here, but what John would establish is right family relationships so that the saints could be happy together in this life. You want to get the thing that was from the beginning; to see the life in Him. They asked Him, "Where dwellest thou?" and He said to them, "Come and see ... and they abode with him that day". John 1:38,39. That gives an idea of the thing. Before you get joy to the full you must first have the objective. Chapter 1 of our epistle is largely objective. The mariner looks up to take his bearings from heaven; he also makes soundings; the latter corresponds with the introspection which this epistle contemplates. It is "in him" first. This chapter is clearly what is "in him"; it is what was seen objectively by competent witnesses, and particularly by one whom Jesus loved. He sets it forth, first in Christ, then in the saints: "which thing is true in him and in you". 1 John 2:8. So, "If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him". 1 John 2:29. But the first thing is to know that He is righteous. In the end of the epistle it says, "He is the true God and eternal life". 1 John 5:20. You do not begin with the truth of His Person, but with what He expressed, because what is in John's mind is to bring the children in to the present good of eternal life.

The end of the epistle is written in the present tense and from the viewpoint of His death and resurrection: "This is he that came by water and blood". 1 John 5:6. We are in the circumstances in which He was. His wonderful life was seen while He was in

these same circumstances here; hence the apostle brings it so near to us. "That which we have seen and heard we report to you". 1 John 1:2. The saints were to be brought into the life. Then there is the message -- he had something special from God. "And this is the message which we have heard from him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all". 1 John 1:5. It is not now a question of John's own feelings, but of the message. The first thing the children have to learn is "that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all". 1 John 1:5. In speaking to them he is aiming at this, that there is no darkness in God, and there must be none in us. We can understand why the first thing recorded of God in Genesis 1:3, in bringing order into the creation, is that He said, "Let there be light", and He divided the light from the darkness, because He is light. It is not God is love in chapter 1 of our epistle, but He is light. A brother gets up to speak to the saints, and if full of love, as John was, he impresses the saints that he loves them; that is, "These things write we to you". 1 John 1:4. Now he says, I come to my message; that is a serious thing. John had a message, and he gives it. Is there any darkness in God? None. Then we may ask Is there any darkness in us? The message is very brief, but how full it is! Darkness is anything of the flesh; or any reservation we may have as the result of making provision for the flesh. Saul spared Agag. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin", 1 John 1:7, from all that is of darkness. The expression, "God is light", 1 John 1:5 is that as revealed He exposes everything. "That which makes everything manifest is light", Ephesians 5:13. "God is love" 1 John 4:16 is a question of His nature. Light is God in relation to what Satan brought in; everything is exposed by the light. The revelation of God's attributes is necessary, sin having come in. Light is relative.

It is a most important thing for the saints to know,

that there should be no part dark. Some one said that light exposes, but love removes what is exposed. A son should be perfectly at home; the expression, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin", 1 John 1:7 ensures this. It is to the end that the saints should be perfectly restful in the presence of the light. We have fellowship with one another as we walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin -- it does not say sins, but sin. The presence of sin does not disturb you; you are quite restful in the knowledge of what the blood does. It is not only what we have done that is in question, but also what is in us. The blood meets this so that there is no reservation with God or with each other. In regard to anything that has happened, provision is made for that: "He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins" 1 John 1:9 and "if any one sin, we have a patron with the Father". 1 John 2:1. John writes so that there should be no disturbing elements. The Patron with the Father is looking after our every interest to the end that we may not be affected and disturbed by the presence of sin. I am not to be disturbed by it, because He has died. Where there is confession, there is forgiveness, and this results in transparency.

1 JOHN 2:1 - 11

The opening verse begins with "My children". 1 John 2:1. It is parental, an expression the apostle could use; his place among the saints warranted it. In chapter 2 it is more John's family, but in chapter 3 it is the family of God. If there is one thing that the saints need more than another it is this parental care. There are very few who have the moral weight to address the saints in this way. It is to be distinguished even from the authority of the teacher. Paul said, You may have ten thousand instructors,

but not many fathers; 1 Corinthians 4:15. Paul claims those who were the direct fruit of his ministry. John here rather addresses the saints generally in parental interest. He could speak thus on account of his great experience and his affection for the saints. In the Revelation he is the "brother and companion in tribulation" of the saints Revelation 1:9. John would seem to refer to his position as known among the saints, particularly the Jewish believers, as one having experience and affection not merely as an apostle. He received no distinct commission such as Paul received, but the Holy Spirit records the incident connected with his call: he was with his father Zebedee in the ship, so he was marked as a family man from the outset. That works out in his writings and ministry so that in using these words, "My children" he would use them knowing that he had a moral right to do so.

In his second letter John addresses "the elect lady and her children". 2 John 1. The elect lady would suggest the maternal thought of what should appear in any local company. As a father, he would appreciate in the children the marks of maternal care. He says, "I rejoiced greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth". 2 John 4. In the third epistle he again speaks of "my children". He says, "I have no greater joy than these things that I hear of my children walking in the truth". 3 John 4. Gaius suggests the paternal, and the elect lady the maternal side. The features of the parents are to be seen in the children.

The apostle was writing them that their joy might be full, but the message was, "God is light". 1 John 1:5. Then he says, "My children, these things I write to you in order that ye may not sin". 1 John 2:1. The word that comes to us as one of the features of this letter is that we should not sin. It is well to be reminded that we should not sin. The fact that we have sin is no warrant for us to commit sin. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves". 1 John 1:8.

Jacob was concerned as to his twelve sons. He says, "Hearken unto Israel your father". Genesis 49:2. He had something to impart to each, a blessing, even for Daniel To enjoy the blessing it is well to be reminded of the dangers that exist. The epistle we are considering opens up with blessing, the blessing of eternal life, but in order that we should not miss it, the message comes in so that we should be on our guard against sin, because sin robs us of the blessing. God has provided a means of preservation, so that it immediately says, "If any one sin, we have a patron with the Father". 1 John 2:1. We have an Advocate in Jesus. The enjoyment of the blessing depends on our being maintained in communion with God. Hence our Advocate is with the Father. Jacob blessed all the tribes, but if they were to enjoy the blessing, they must be on their guard against their natural proclivities; each had his own danger. What he said was light for the tribes from the very beginning to the end; light on their whole course. Moses' blessing ( Deuteronomy 33) does not afford any of these warnings, because the saints are viewed in the light of God's purpose, as having the Spirit, whereas Jacob views them historically. This epistle includes both sides -- our actual historical condition, and our abstract state as born of God. Jacob's blessing brings in the bad as well as the good; Moses speaks of the good only.

In the introduction we have the message that "God is light", 1 John 1:5, and the actual conditions in which the saints are found here. The second chapter is the mixed condition of things in which we are found. In that way the advocacy of Christ becomes exceedingly important. Even if sin occurs, we are preserved in connection with God. The Lord said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee", Luke 22:32. He had prayed for him in anticipation of his fall.

This chapter runs parallel with Luke 22. In the

latter we have, first, "The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table", Luke 22:21, that is, one of the number. That is there to remind us of our capabilities. Then the next thing is their contending with one another as to which should be the greatest, and then Peter saying, "With thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death", Luke 22:33, and the Lord has to say, "The cock shall not crow today before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me". Luke 22:34. That is what you get here, but the advocacy begins before the things happen.

We have often been reminded that the same word is used for "Comforter" in John 14, but here we have Christ before us as the Advocate. John would have us to know who is there and the service the Lord is rendering us. Our Patron with the Father is Jesus Christ, the Righteous. If it is a question of the blood, it is the blood of God's Son, but the Advocate is One who is never lawless. "The Righteous" is a very strong way of putting it. That is what He was; it involves His work. As you think of the history of the assembly from the beginning this service is all the more appreciated.

On the providential side we see the care of the Father, even the hairs of our head are numbered, but on the side of the maintenance of the purity of the relationship of the family, the advocacy of Christ provides for it and the same One who is our Advocate is made the propitiation for our sins. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". 1 John 1:9. The advocacy of Christ brings about the confession and forgiveness. Here our souls are set on a sure foundation. We have here the provision made in view of the long history of sin in this world, so that we might be preserved in communion with God. Every sin committed by believers has been met by Him who is the propitiation for our sins and "for the whole world" 1 John 2:2.

So God is "faithful and just" to forgive our sins. The propitiation is what He is; the bearing of His work remains in Himself in the presence of God in all its value. It is in relation to the "whole world". There is no other propitiation; it is not exclusive, He is for the whole world, and for all time.

Luke 22 is very remarkable in that way; it groups together the external features which mark the saints throughout the whole period, in what we might call mixed conditions, the conditions we have to recognise in our relations to one another. Luke 22 and John 13 go together, only Luke gives us more the public conditions; there is a possibility of one having his hand on the table and yet being a betrayer; and then there are those who vie with one another as to which shall be the greater; and then there is one who professes to have more love than the rest, and he denies the Lord. That is what you get in Luke 22. In John 13, you get the betrayer, but he goes out. His hand is not said to be on the table. No doubt the light of Christ's service forced him out. Then there is Peter; he does not go out, but he says, "Thou shalt never wash my feet", John 13:8. He is a true believer who would assert his own will even to the Lord. He placed the Lord in the position of One who erred; he said in effect, he knew better than the Lord. Then John was there. He lay on the Lord's bosom. That is John 13. Peter had to beckon to John. He was at a distance. I think 1 John 2 runs parallel with these two chapters. It is what we are here as in our mixed conditions and relationships, but later we shall find that we are viewed in another relationship as the children of God; those that are born of God who do not sin. In the second position, he says that he that is born of God does not sin. We have to reconcile these two statements. The Lord's table is the testing-point for us all. This is the message, that God is light, and then if we walk in the light as God

is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The Lord's table covers that.

Verses 3 and 4 raise the question with us as to whether we know God or not. Are we keeping His commandments? "Hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him verily the love of God is perfected". 1 John 2:3 - 5. There is a distinction between "commandments" and "words". The love of God is perfected in him who keeps His word. The commandment is placed first. There is here a challenge to every professed believer in Christ. The test is the commandment. Are we subject or not? That is the point of recovery from lawlessness; we keep His commandments.

You have "writing" in both the present and past tenses. The present is to set the saints in motion "These things I write to you". 1 John 2:1. And then he says, "I have written to you, fathers". 1 John 2:14. He writes in the past tense to the fathers and to the young men, showing that he was leaving with them something by which they would be exercised as remaining down here, while he was going away. "Have written" corresponds with the commandment; he left something that was to remain with them, but when he says, "I write" it is a present thing, What has been written apostolically and left to the saints has an abiding effect. Paul said, "The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord", 1 Corinthians 14:37. The "word" is wider. A commandment is a definite authoritative pronouncement, it is not for us to question the rightness of it. For instance, "He spoke, and it was done". Psalm 33:9. We have often referred to that. The world was made in wisdom; speaking would be the unfolding of God's architectural wisdom in the physical system. Wisdom was there developed

in His word; He spoke, He conveyed His thought. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God" Hebrews 11:3; the word conveyed the wisdom of God. Faith understands it. The mere scientist does not understand it. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God", Hebrews 11:3. "He commanded, and it stood fast". Psalm 33:9. Here, it is not a question of His wisdom, but of His authority. The commandment becomes intelligible to you, it is a question of authority, but the "word" conveys His mind. The commandment would be largely specific in character. "Love one another" John 15:12. "Love your enemies" Matthew 5:44. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect". Matthew 5:48. Through the "word", the mind of God, including the mystery, is unfolded.

Judas inquired in John 14:22, 23, "How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?" and Jesus answered, "If any one love me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him". We begin with the commandment, where departure exists. The great test is the commandment; then, as subject, you get into the mind of God, so that here you have the word after the commandment. The same principle would apply to the law. You have specific commandments, but you have the wonderful unfolding in type and figure afterwards of the mind of God. (Compare Exodus 20 and Exodus 25 - 40.) The doxology of the apostle in Romans 11:33 would take it all in: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"

The Lord's commandments come into evidence as the test of love, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me". John 14:21. The Lord would indicate to such a soul what is His will, not only in regard of his path in the wilderness, but in relation to the house of God. You have a place in

the house of God, and He is over it; and whatever He has said in the way of commandment, as in relation to the house of God, you have to regard it.

We are speaking now not of the ten commandments, but of His commandments; the Lord in his own way reduces the ten to two. As in Deuteronomy you have things brought down to the level of affection through Moses' personal exercises and love for the saints, so the Lord takes up and reduces the ten to two, that is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ... and thy neighbour as thyself". Matthew 22:37,39. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets". Matthew 22:40. The five books of Moses and the prophets have to be read in the light of these two commandments. You love the Lord, and you love the saints. We are reminded of Psalm 119 (one which every young believer should read constantly), "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee". Psalm 119:9 - 11. In that psalm the law is said to be an inheritance. It is all really embodied in what the Lord Jesus commands.

In a household you may lay down certain things specifically and the question comes up with the wife or children, and they are settled in accordance with the specific commandment. But there are a thousand things that come up that are not provided for, and on every such occasion the wife would say, "That would not suit my husband", or the children would say, "That would not suit my father; father would not like that". That is being governed by the "word". Through the word, the mind of the person who speaks is known.

The "old commandment" 1 John 2:7 is a word which they had from the beginning. During the Lord's ministry here, what He said would take the form of

a commandment to any one that received it. The more you know the Lord, the more you take every word as law. John sets forth Christ as the "Word". Mary listened to His word.

We sometimes hear young believers, and those of older age say, "I do not find any verse of scripture against that". We are not governed by having a specific word for everything, but what is needed is a knowledge of the mind of God; affection discovers it. Those who have it keep "his word", which conveys the whole scope of His mind. The word is more comprehensive than the commandment. You want every word of His mouth.

There is "the old commandment", and every part of it is precious; but then he says, there is a new one. Most believers do not know about the new one. It is what is new that tests us: "Again, I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines" 1 John 2:8 -- what is true in Christ in heaven and what is true in the saints now. We are today in the light of a new commandment, "Which thing", he says, "is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines". 1 John 2:8. In John's gospel the Spirit has to say that "the darkness apprehended it not", John 1:5, but here it is passing. This involved the coming down of the Spirit from heaven and His present operations here. Darkness has had its day. It is being moved. It is no longer fixed. This brings out what a marvellous position the saints occupy as corresponding with Christ in the light of this new commandment. The path of the righteous shines more and more to the perfect day. The new commandment refers to what is in us as corresponding with what is in Christ. Speaking in a general way, John's gospel is objective, and this epistle is subjective. What was true in Christ in the former, is true in the saints in the

latter. It means that the Holy Spirit has come and is operating in the saints, and that has the complete removal of darkness in view.

It is very striking here: "Which thing is true in him and in you" 1 John 2:8, not that it ought to be, but that it is true. And the mark of it is that I love my brother. "He that loves his brother abides in light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him" 1 John 2:10. Love is the thing worked out. Love is light in that way; hatred is darkness. So that if you say you are in the light and hate your brother, you are yet in darkness. "He that hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes". 1 John 2:11.

We get something of the idea in what Jude says; "Keep yourselves in the love of God". Jude 21. The darkness then has passed. You abide in it, but it is a process that is always going on. The shadows are being dispersed, the light that has come in is dispelling the darkness. It is a blessed thing to keep ourselves in the love of God.

In the first and second chapters believers are viewed in their mixed condition, whereas later they are viewed as born of God; they are identified wholly with the divine nature, as born of Him. It is said that they cannot sin. To view the believer in the latter way involves that we have, for the moment, to dismiss from our minds what he is as having sin in him.

To love your brother involves that you lay down your life for him. Love has to be found out; you cannot really define it. You can speak of the effects of it, what it does. 1 Corinthians 13 gives you the features of it.

"Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected". 1 John 2:5. I apprehend that one who keeps the word is a full grown man. The love of God is perfected in him. The love of God perfected in you

would save you from one-sidedness or from special friendships. It renders you like God Himself. It fits you for the house of God.

The Ephesians and Colossians loved in the Spirit, they had love for all saints; and brotherly love is proved in our genuine enjoyment of the society of the brethren or of our brother. Some of us are apt to get on party lines. To love like God is to love universally. The brethren are lovable; one must discover the lovable virtue in order to draw it out. The effect of being in the love of God is that I express it to those who are born of God. You will find your joy in it without the "I must do this" and "I must do that". "We ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren". 1 John 3:16. It is a reflection on the Corinthians that the apostle had to speak of it as he did, as of something that was not among them. He describes it as "a picture on the wall", whereas it should have been in their hearts actively. The universality of the love of God is worked out in the four gospels, in Christ, and it has its full answer in the heavenly city. The light of the city is "most precious", Revelation 21:11, and it lies foursquare. It is universal in its bearing. It reflects God Himself.

1 JOHN 2:12 - 29

"I write" refers to present exercise. "I have written" shows that the effect of it would continue.

In the addresses to the seven assemblies ( Revelation 2, 3), there was the writing and there was the Spirit speaking. All was written in a book, but "what the Spirit saith" is more present ministry at any time.

All John's ministry is characterised by writing. We see this in the gospel, in the epistles, and in the Apocalypse. His ministry has in view the protracted period until the coming of the Lord. Peter's ministry referred more to current needs. Writings are of deep

importance when those have fallen asleep in Jesus, who by their personal ministry have introduced the dispensation. John says that if one added to or took away from what was written in the Revelation the judgment written in the book would fall upon him. Writing gives the idea of permanency, and is more accurate as a standard. Paul wrote to Timothy hoping to come shortly, that he might know how to behave himself in the house of God. The Holy Spirit uses these writings today; in them we have a standard of truth, maintaining a range within which we have to keep.

"I write unto you" has in view the current need of those addressed; whereas, "I have written unto you" is something left on record with trustworthy persons. The little children have nothing left with them. John does not say, 'I have written unto you, little children'. He says, "I have written unto you, fathers", 1 John 2:14, and "I have written unto you, young men". 1 John 2:14.

You would not entrust much to little children, they are objects of affection and care. There is more said to them than to the fathers and young men (verses 18 - 27); it is in the way of warning and protection in regard of the things to which they were exposed. There is a special word for little children in 1 John 2: 26, "These things have I written to you concerning those who lead you astray".

I think the Holy Spirit would instruct us in the need for a current ministry which applies to all saints, whether fathers, young men, or little ones; and then there is something left with those who are matured.

There are classes of Christians in the family that can be entrusted with things, so the fathers are noticed as specially trustworthy, having "known him that is from the beginning", 1 John 2:13 and the young men as being "strong, and the word of God abides" in them 1 John 2:14. These are the qualifications for trust. The

apostle Paul says, "This charge I commit to thee, son Timothy". 1 Timothy 1:18. There is divine wisdom in the classifications given, the suggestion being that those who are more advanced spiritually are more responsible, but little ones are not to be burdened, the wisdom of God is seen in reminding us of this in our relations with one another, namely, that you do not burden little ones. They are like those who are weak in the faith, you would not put burdens on such. (See Romans 14.) The whole family get the good of what was written to the little ones in verse 18 and onward -- it appears in the general epistle.

The natural mind might inquire what he wrote. You miss the point if you inquire that. He says, "I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning", 1 John 2:14, and "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you". 1 John 2:14. The point to get hold of is that there is an obligation resting on elder brethren and on younger brethren and no special obligation, no church obligation is to be imposed on little ones, or you will do them harm. "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations". Romans 14:1. I think "having known him that is from the beginning" means that this class of believers understands the four gospels. The Lord said, concerning Lazarus, "Loose him, and let him go". John 11:44. The epistles release the soul. Romans and the other epistles release the soul from the world and self and all that would hold it, and as let go you go to the gospels. That is, you sit down and contemplate as John puts it, "we have contemplated his glory". John 1:14. I think that is what the "fathers" would do.

Earlier in the chapter it says, "Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected". 1 John 2:5. Perfection would mark a father. In "fathers", "young men", and "little children", we have the family in its grades of development. There would

be among them mutuality of sympathy and interest, care and respect.

The father is characterised by maturity, and his interests would be universal. It is said of the holy city that it lieth foursquare. There are as many gates on the east as there are on the west. I think the fact that it lies four-square suggests the complete idea, the full growth. You cannot move a father by disturbing occurrences, everything you bring to him he has already thought out. He is "steadfast", unmovable.

The "little children" may be seen in Romans, the "young men" in Colossians, and the "fathers" in Ephesians. I think that the man is "let go" in Ephesians, he is no longer held by anything, because he has got the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height; he knows the love of Christ; he has a wonderful outlook. He apprehends the assembly as that in which is the glory of God for ever.

The believer begins in Romans. At the end of the epistle the apostle's desire is for establishment, and for this Colossians and Ephesians are needed. Of course the youngest believer may glean in the gospels, but I have to be set free by the epistles; that is, I am made free to sit down and contemplate in the gospels the various glories of Christ, not now as meeting my need, but as accomplishing all the will of God.

As Romans is understood rightly, the believer sees that he is a very great person, being a son; he has the spirit of adoption. You get the full divine thought in that on the personal side, I am a son. Well, if I am that, I can afford to be less than that. If I have to assert my greatness I am not greater than what I am publicly but, as in the good of Romans, I am prepared to be less publicly, and in my service and walk here, than I really am. That is what Romans teaches us, that a man should think

soberly of himself, he should not be inflated. The believer is thus in accord with Christ.

In the measurements of the ark the "half" appears in the length, the breadth and the height; that is seen in the gospels. The Lord was everywhere less publicly than He was personally. He says to the woman, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him". John 4:10. I think that the contemplation of Christ in the gospels would enable the believer to shrink publicly; to be less than the least of all saints; to do anything for the Lord's sake.

The apostles in their administrative capacity were within the reach of the people. The altar of incense was two cubits high, implying what Christ is before God as man, and the saints with Him. You come to these things in Christ, you see them in Him, and you are formed of the same material. The gospels enlarge that in every way. The Lord came into this world as a babe. Think of the shrinkage publicly! and yet He was God over all there. You see it everywhere in the gospels, "I am in the midst of you as one that serves" Luke 22:27; the disciples were disputing as to who should be the greatest. It is in the light of my great position in Christ that I can afford to serve.

In his public testimony the Christian is bold, there is no shrinkage before Satan. "We were bold in our God", Paul says 1 Thessalonians 2:2. He was as bold as a lion; and so Peter and John. You do not shrink before the enemy, there is double strength. James and John were "sons of thunder" Mark 3:17; but while I may be bold in front, I am content to be anything that God may apportion to me for the sake of the testimony, even in the most insignificant position. The apostles were the off-scouring of all things, and they accepted it. John the Baptist accepted the principle of the "half" when he said, "He must increase, but I must decrease". John 3:30.

As regards the three grades here, I think that this chapter gives the public position where the work of God is seen. One is recognised not on the ground of growth and spiritual progress. All the saints are included in verse 12 on the ground of being forgiven; that is our common position, but God is fair in discriminating, and those who have progressed in the truth are recognised. There are distinctions flowing from sovereign appointment, and there are distinctions which are the outcome of growth or development.

What is said to the young men indicates that it is harder to overcome the world than to overcome Satan. Overcoming the wicked one, having to do with him personally, is one thing; but then there is the world, and he is behind that too, and the young men are particularly exposed to the things of the world. The resources of energy and vitality in the young men lay them specially open to the ambitions and ideas of the world. It is fearfully seductive, so that a special word of warning is given them.

Romans presents the little children. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father". Romans 8:15. The Thessalonians were "in God the Father". 1 Thessalonians 1:1. The young Christian is regarded in that light. The young man has the word of God abiding in him. Such an one reads the Scriptures, he reads them regularly and carefully and acquires the word of God through them.

A danger with the young men also is in regard to what is religious, corresponding with the temptation of the Lord. The enemy took Him to a pinnacle of the temple. Desire to have a place among the saints is a great danger. Every motive that has ever inspired man naturally is included in the "lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" 1 John 2:16; those things are what Satan presented to the Lord in principle.

Paul said to Timothy, "Give attention to reading" 1 Timothy 4:13, also, "Give thyself wholly to these things". 1 Timothy 4:15. And again he said, "Thou hast fully known my doctrine and manner of life". 2 Timothy 3:10. There is a great lack in reading and following up what is for the saints today. One has to pay attention to all that is coming out from the Lord. How great is the thought of "the word of God abiding in you". 1 John 2:14. It is the present mind of God.

The young man who came forth in the way ( Mark 10:17 - 22) took notice of the One who gave character to the way, but when put to the test, he loved the world, he could not surrender, he had great possessions, and he went away sorrowful. The Lord looked upon him and loved him, but he went away sorrowful because he loved the world. "Love not the world" 1 John 2:15 is a word that we need to take account of. Paul emphasises it in writing to Timothy, "Flee also youthful lusts". 2 Timothy 2:22. Demas loved the present world.

What comes in from verse 18 to 26 is probably what is most necessary because, alas, most of us are young in the faith, and the danger is in regard of antichrists. The young men are not exposed to that, nor are the fathers, but the little ones are. The danger is in the "last hour", the critical time. I think the hour suggests a crisis, and so he says, "according as ye have heard that antichrist comes, even now there have come many antichrists, whence we know that it is the last hour". 1 John 2:18. That is the sign. One has been struck lately with the number of persons and systems that have come up which are against Christ. The development has been enormous and it is sweeping away the outward shell of Christendom.

"Even now", he says, "there have come many antichrists, whence we know that it is the last hour". 1 John 2:18. We have to learn what the Antichrist will be by these that have already come. Then he tells us how to finally determine the Antichrist; he denies the

Father and the Son. The antichrists may feign to own Christianity, but they are liars; that is what the apostle emphasises. The bold, lying statements that are made today and passed by those who are nominal Christians are dreadful. They allude to the humanity of Christ without His divinity, and they couple Him with Shakespeare or Plato. But the spirit behind all this is easily traced by the unction from the Holy One. The little children are thus preserved.

"The last hour" is the great crisis for us. The fact of the many antichrists proves we have entered on it, "whence we know that it is the last hour". 1 John 2:18. They are not necessarily unified, they do not coordinate as yet. The apostle brings in the test, the Antichrist denies the Father and the Son. The liar denies Jesus Christ come in flesh; we have to discern the liars. Jesus Christ come in flesh is that the Lord was really human here. This was the foundation that Paul laid; John lays emphasis upon it in chapter 4. The spirit of Antichrist denies it, but when the Antichrist comes he will throw off Christianity, he will deny the Father and Son. That is what is coming.

The generality of the saints are little children spiritually, and hence the danger of the many antichrists. The unction is the resource, as it says, "The same unction teaches you as to all things" 1 John 2:27; that is the position now. I have no doubt that the Lord is graciously helping and that the Spirit is teaching the saints generally, and one is encouraged that there will be preservation of what is of God until the end of the blessed service of the Spirit.

The unction is the Holy Spirit in this particular way, not exactly for our affections, but for our instruction. There is room for the Spirit, that is our position and thus we are in every way independent of man's natural ability.

1 JOHN 3

"If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him", 1 John 2:29. I suppose the writer had God in his mind, but God as in Christ here in the manifestation of righteousness. The fact that he does not specify by formal designation only emphasises this. We have "the Father", God, "his Son Jesus Christ" in chapter 3, but the "he" and "him" of 1 John 2:29 refer to God as in Christ manifesting righteousness. Righteousness is to mark those begotten of Him. Christ loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this marked Him as a Man here, but we have to look at righteousness as from God's side. We have to take account of God as working out righteousness, so that it is known that every one who practises righteousness is born of Him; without specifying any of the Persons in the Godhead, the apostle presents God as in Christ.

As a consequence a new generation comes into view; those who practise righteousness must be begotten of Him; and then it follows that the Father is pleased to clothe them with the ineffable dignity of acknowledging them as His children: "That we should be called the children of God". 1 John 3:1. The epistle to the Romans works out that God is righteous. In a way it is an expansion of this verse.

This, of course, includes His work on the cross; the great truth of righteousness is worked out so that God can beget children. The practice of righteousness comes out in them in chapter 3, but that God is righteous must be first manifested, and I think Romans works that out.

"Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets". Proverbs 5:16. What is characteristic of God becomes characteristic of the children, they bear the character of God in the presence of the world.

The family of God is clear; set up in righteousness it practises righteousness. The children of God have a wonderful place; we are called children of God. God takes care of His children, but the children manifest the moral characteristics of the Father. Of others it is said, "Their spot is not the spot of his children", Deuteronomy 32:5. We are to be the "children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world", Philippians 2:15.

It is remarkable that John hardly ever speaks of sons; with perhaps one exception ( Revelation 21:7), he always speaks of children, but if we are to fill the position of children we must know the relationship of sons. We are children here, as the verse just quoted says, "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation". Philippians 2:15. We are sons before God. "Now are we the children of God" 1 John 3:2; as God is righteous, every one who practises righteousness is born of Him. So that when you see one professing to be of His children not practising righteousness, you have adequate grounds for questioning his position; he is not maintaining the character of his Father.

God is manifested as righteous. In Ephesians 3:15 the Father is referred to as naming the families "Of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named". Here we get our name, as it were: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God". 1 John 3:1. It is not our Father, but the Father; other families were also to be named. You will observe it is not children of the Father, but children of God.

God has come out in Christ and attested that He is righteous, so that in begetting children He begets them as already cleared, so to say; there is nothing attached to them, no reproach attached to them. Indeed, every family that the Father names is

characterised by righteousness. Peter says that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of Him. Every family that God names is characterised by righteousness, but the higher the revelation the higher the character of the righteousness that each family exhibits.

In taking up Abraham, God accounted him righteous; the family features are developed in the light of that. It is a great thing to see that there is nothing attaching to the family; the working out of righteousness involves that God has disposed of all that. The family is begotten in the light of the manifestation of righteousness; God is righteous, and those begotten of Him practise righteousness. I think Romans is the light in which the principle of righteousness is developed in the family. Of course Colossians and Ephesians contribute. God has put us into a sphere of righteousness dominated by affection as shown in Christ.

In our epistle it is the Father, not our Father; all the families are named of Him. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God". 1 John 3:1.

The children of God are viewed as apart from sin: "He that is born of God sinneth not". 1 John 3:9. Naturally we were born in sin and shapen in iniquity, but as born of God we are born in righteousness.

The previous history is not taken account of; it is dealt with from the death of Christ. In a sense, all the attributes of God enter into the birth. John 3 is the beginning of the thing; the emphasis there is on the "again"; the first birth is not counted; but God begets in righteousness and what He is is seen in the children. There was a previous history, but it is settled in righteousness; for thousands of years it had been an open question, but it was settled in the death of Christ. God begets children who are clear of all charge of sin. John 3 is the affirmation that

another birth there must be, for the old thing was reprobate, but here what is before its is the moral nature of God seen in His children; so that "he that is born of God sinneth not". 1 John 3:9. God begets in the light of the death of Christ. In principle God had been operating thus from the outset -- "my Father worketh hitherto" John 5:17 -- but then the question of righteousness was not settled, it was an open question until the death of Christ; now all is clear The gospel makes that clear, so that God's begetting is in the light of Romans; not only the nature of God, but His attributes must enter into the begetting.

From His own side God had been working from the outset in view of redemption, but His righteousness was not manifest until Christ died. Now God is known in His nature and attributes and all enters into the paternal thought. All awaited "the period fixed of the Father". Galatians 4:2. The children were there, but in the position of minors in the house, but "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son ... that we might receive sonship". Galatians 4:4. The full position of children as a family, not as minors, was accorded to all those who received Christ, "who have been born, not of blood nor of flesh's will nor of mans will, but of God", John 1:13.

"He secureth the needy one on high from affliction, and maketh him families like flocks". Psalm 107:41. From the very beginning God wrought to gather families for the glory of Christ out of every condition that Satan ever set up; in this very result shall be seen the great triumph of God over the enemy. In the successive eras of evil, God in power and patience brought out families according to the testimonies presented. The family idea is ever in evidence; they may be in different measures of intelligence, but they were there. Each, of course, shall hear some distinctive correspondence to Christ. He died "not for that nation only, but that also he should gather

together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad". John 11:52. There shall be a unified sphere of things even if it be made up of many families, yet they are all bonded through one headship and one parentage.

Those who received Christ were given the right to take the place of children of God, "even to those who believe on his name", John 1:12. One is prepared to receive all the greatness and glory of Christ as they are unfolded. Those are the ones that are given the right to take the place of children; that is their privilege, they take the place of children but here (1 John 3:1) it is that the Father designates them, "that they should be called the children of God". He has the right to do so. Then there is that which is common to all the families; while they may differ in their intelligence, yet the root principle is common with them all. Hence in Revelation you have a song raised by the elders and living creatures, but it is that in which every family can join; it celebrates the great common foundation on which they all subsist before God. We shall find that there is that in which we can rejoice with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of them, that there is a common note; while each family will have its distinct note, there is a common note of the whole of the congregated families of God.

The Lord when refuting the Sadducees' error says, speaking of the resurrection, "they are ... sons of God, being sons of the resurrection", Luke 20:36. It is that which is common to them all, although there are various stages and degrees in which they enter into it. There can be no rivalry, each family should know its own place, and will rejoice in the higher note that another family will sing; they will rejoice even though they cannot join in it fully. The song in Revelation 14 is sung in heaven in the presence of the elders, but a company on earth are privileged to learn it, and none others can learn it

but themselves, so that they have that distinction, but the singers above are evidently of a higher order.

Angels constitute a family. Families are grouped according to the light under which they are brought forth. Those before the flood, for instance, would be grouped by themselves. And Israel would be a distinct group before and after the giving of the law; we have several groups in Revelation, so that the indication is to many families. While we get representative men suggesting a family, like Enoch before the flood and Abraham after, yet we have to remember that the grace of God went outside even all that, witness Melchisedec and Job.

You have indications of different families in Genesis, in Melchisedec, king of righteousness and king of peace. He is only one man mentioned, but he is mentioned as independent of Abraham; he was there before him. Then we have Job, in whose day there were sons of God appearing before God. We assume that these are angels, but as a matter of fact we know very little about it. It is simply an indication that God has treasures in reserve, as the result of His gracious operation, which will amaze us when we see them.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us" 1 John 3:1; it is for us; we have a known designation as in this world. "Therefore the world knoweth us not" 1 John 3:1 is a consequence following upon the rejection of Christ and the place He has put us in. "For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew him not". 1 John 3:1. Here again it is Christ, but God in Christ, it is what Christ was here. As representing God here, He was in the world and the world knew Him not. The fact of it is that the world is not able to take cognisance of Christ, morally; they could take account of the miracles, but Him they knew not. In measure it ought to be true of us as Christians that what came out in all its fulness in Christ must

become characteristic of us, and so the world cannot understand the motives that govern us. The Lord's brethren -- they could not be closer -- did not understand Him, they said, "if thou doest these things, show thyself to the world". John 7:4. It shows the helplessness of the flesh to apprehend what is of God as set forth in Christ.

The Lord has not as yet come out as representative of what we shall be. It says, "When he is manifested" 1 John 3:1; we have to wait for that. The designation "children" refers to us here; I do not think it will continue. It is not what we shall be. The Lord will come out and describe in manifestation what we shall be. Everything morally attributable to the children of God came out in all its fulness in Him here, but it came out in Him parentally. I mean that He was not a child; He was here parentally, so to speak, that is, He represented God in this respect. The character of the children must come from the parent. We are not viewed parentally; He was here as a parent, as the use of the expressions "children", "daughter", etc., indicate. He is "The everlasting Father". Isaiah 9:6. When it comes to what we shall be eternally, He describes it as son. We wait for that; sons is what we shall be. It is what He is Godward that is going to abide. He was a Son here.

"When the Christ is manifested who is our life, then shalt ye also be manifested with him in glory" Colossians 3:4; that is the point, manifestation in glory, so that we shall be like Him and we shall see Him as He is. That is where John and Colossians link.

The children correspond with what God was in Christ here in a parental way, but what we shall be corresponds with what He is now. Paul says that we know Him not after the flesh; we know Him as He is. In bringing many sons to glory, God made the Leader of their salvation perfect through suffering. Sons are led to glory. And yet the way in which He maintained the character of God here in the

presence of an opposing world is an example for the children. We learn what is becoming in the children from the parents. I think it is well known in the world that the parents are to describe what the children are, but when you come to what we shall be, we are brethren of Christ, we are sons of God, that is what He is before God as Man.

Here it is not the image, it is the likeness; we shall be like Him. In Romans 8:29 it is image -- that we should be "conformed to the image of his Son". Likeness brings us into accord with Him, as before God: "Like him before thy face". Image is somewhat stronger; the idea is that we represent Him. He will be the Firstborn among many brethren; every one of the brethren shall represent Christ; they will be dispersed throughout the universe. Adam was set in representation of God; he was made "after our likeness". Genesis 1:26.

Verse 3 shows the effect of all this on the believer in his walk down here, in a scene of pollution; we purify ourselves as He is pure. The hope is in Christ. John makes much of what you do yourself, you purify yourself. The standard is very high. The hope of being like Christ in that day leads to purification by the believer; purifying oneself involves mortifying the deeds of the body. Every bit of the manifestation which the Spirit makes to me of Christ must result in the setting aside of something that is in me.

It is a question of displacement, but it is also a question of implacement, the implacement of what is pure and after Christ.

1 JOHN 3:7 - 24

What we had on the last occasion might be recalled with profit in connection with this scripture, namely, that the children learn from the parent; the parental idea being expressed in Christ. "Even as he is

righteous" 1 John 3:7 refers to the Lord Jesus viewed in a parental way. This chapter presents the children of God. There are only two generations: "the children of God", and "the children of the devil"; one practises righteousness, the other lawlessness. "He that practises sin" is a course of evil rather than an act. The Christian might sin, but when you see a person practising sin, you would say that such an one was not of God.

In verse 7 it is "children" in relation to the apostle, but in verse 10 it says, "In this are manifest the children of God" 1 John 3:10. They are manifested in their love towards the brethren. Children are subjects of care, and in them are seen the features of God the Father; as in Ephesians 5:1, "Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children". That would be parallel with this passage. Ephesians usually gives the fulness of thought so that "beloved children" brings in their endearment to God.

The idea of children implies that such are under the Father's care and are to be representative of Him, and this is what is worked out here. So that one would emphasise the parental side as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is what He was to them when here. You get this idea in John's gospel; it is alluded to in chapter 21, "Children, have ye any meat?" John 21:5. Also in Luke 8:48, "Daughter, be of good comfort". We get many similar expressions in the other gospels showing how extensively the Lord expressed this parental feature; and it must be so, for He made God known; and one of the features of the revelation is that God is known, not merely in terms, but in this practical expression of parental love and sympathy. It magnifies the personal greatness of the Lord when you view Him thus: everything of God was perfectly set forth in Him. Nothing is more interesting and touching than the parental feature coming to light in the Lord's care for His

own, and in the love He expressed for them. When it says, "He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous", 1 John 3:7, it refers to what the Lord was here; what the Parent was, so to speak, is worked out in the children. Your feeling towards the Lord in that connection is akin to that which you have towards the Father Himself. The idea of "children" does not run into eternity. Strictly, it is a relationship which belongs to us as in this world. Sonship refers to the counsels of God, and to glory, but "children" covers our position here in a contrary scene, hence it is that we come under His care. That is why in verse 2 it says, "Now are we the children of God". 1 John 3:2. What we shall be has reference to the counsels of God.

You would not address the Lord as Father; still in Isaiah 9:6 He is called "everlasting Father" and the disciples when He was here would so regard Him. The more spiritual they were, the more they would recognise Him as the Head of the house, the "House-father". He took that place in the family (Luke 24:30), and when the last passover Supper was being partaken of He was in the position of Parent. That was in the Lord's mind when He said to Philip, "He that has seen me has seen the Father" John 14:9; in Him the Father was expressed.

It greatly helps if we bear in mind that the term "children" is a provisional one; it may not appear to be so when you think of its ordinary use among men, but it is so spiritually. The term covers our sojourn here. There was the parental expression of the Lord Jesus towards the disciples, and the more you look into it, the more you will see that it must be so, for every movement of the heart of God towards us is of necessity expressed by Him. So that He could say to the Father "that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them", John 17:28.

As remarked already, a practice is a course, it is not an isolated occurrence; but as stated earlier in our consideration of this epistle, we have to look at things abstractly. This chapter deals with the children of God abstractly, hence it says, "he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God". 1 John 3:9. 1 John 2 indicates a very mixed condition, so that the possibility of sin in us is recognised, but in this chapter it is not. "Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin" 1 John 3:9 is an abstract thought; that is to say, the believer is taken account of entirely in relation to what is born of God; he is looked at from that point of view, and such an one does not practise sin.

Life comes to light in Genesis 1 on the third day. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth" Genesis 1:11. God puts down at the very outset of the Bible a denial of evolution and it is denied right through. Things are to be "after their kind", no admixture, so that the seed is in itself, and that seed cannot be altered. You cannot develop it into something else. And so, here it is, "His seed abides in him" 1 John 3:9; the divine seed is there, and is true to its kind. Those of the wicked one are also true to their kind; they practise sin, for Satan sinned from the beginning.

"Born again" in John 3 is born anew. It is the necessity of it that is emphasised, but when you have the character of the thing as here, the full thought, it is "born of God" and it is seen in those who practise righteousness. New birth is necessary because of what the flesh is, but you have to wait for the idea of being born of God until you get the character of God. It is "begotten again to a living hope" in 1 Peter 1:3; then in verse 23 of that chapter, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which

liveth and abideth for ever", 1 Peter 1:23. The living and abiding word of God is more than the initial, sovereign act, as in John 3. "Born of the Spirit" and the seed abiding, refer to the effect of the word on your soul. Born of God implies the indwelling of the Spirit, so that the character of God shines out through you, and gives the fulness of the thought, you are like Him in righteousness and in love.

In this chapter you get a fully developed family who reflect the character of God. So, too, the children of the devil manifest the devil's characteristics. The "seed" is the divine nature, which involves the indwelling Spirit. It is helpful to look back to the beginning of Genesis; John synchronises with Genesis more than any of the evangelists, because he deals with the beginning of things, as Genesis does, and he refers to the seed. The divine seed remains in the believer, and is of its own kind; that is what God is working out today, and it cannot be set aside. We have all sorts of theories advanced based on evolution, but those who hold them cannot get over this: "his seed abides in him". The evolutionist cannot deal with this, the children of God are here living and abiding in Him. This wonderful thing exists and nothing can overthrow it.

In Genesis we get, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Genesis 1:1 and in the gospel of John you have, "In the beginning was the Word". John 1:1. John goes further back, but it is the same line of thought.

1 Chronicles is a book written by a lover of the testimony. It bears the marks of a writer who had the testimony in his heart (like David who had the ark in his heart) and he begins with Adam, as much as to say, Not one iota of the mind of God from the very outset must be lost in this record; nothing must be left out.

Chronicles has to do with David and David is reached in chapter 2, which shows that the Spirit had His mind on David, because he took Zion and brought in the ark. Luke corresponds with this in the New Testament; he is a writer who also loved the testimony. The Lord took him up to write from that point of view, so that he links on with 1 Chronicles. In his gospel you have the whole testimony of God linked up from Adam to Christ; Luke loved the testimony, that is the thing. John is dealing with the beginning; he is an abstract writer, and had to meet subtle and spiritual opposition to the truth; that is what had to be dealt with. He gets at the foundation of the evil and saps the ground from under the enemy's feet.

John sees only two classes: the children of God, and the children of the devil -- no intermediate class. If he were present to deal with the opposition to the truth today, you would see how he would deal with it; he would put all who oppose in one class. They pretend to differentiate and bring in development, but he dismisses them at once; they all belong to one class, and are not entitled even to be heard.

"To this end the Son of God has been manifested that he might undo the works of the devil". 1 John 3:8. The manifestation comes out in certain features. In Romans 1:4 He is "marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead". The devil sinned from the beginning, and his works are manifest but now the Son of God is manifested, and enters the lists with Satan. He takes up this tremendous conflict which began in the wilderness and ended in His resurrection. The children of God would be no match for the devil, but the Son of God is; He undoes the works of the devil. The Lord proclaimed His mission to destroy the works of the devil when He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" Luke 4:18. He proclaims that He is

going to release souls from all the bondage they have been brought under by the enemy. It was a wonderful moment in the history of the world when the Son of God was manifested, entering the lists with Satan, not only to bind him, which He did, but to defeat him, that He might undo all his works. What patience is needed in undoing; taking account of souls and of Satan's works in them; the undoing of his works in a soul requires time. Things have to be undone one by one. The Lord in referring to the woman in Luke 13:16 said, "Whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years". He singled her out, and undid that work.

If we revert to the beginning of our histories we recognise the many things that were undone from day to day. It is all the patient work of the Lord; every item is to be undone, and a moral process is going on even now, with a view to putting that which is of God in its place. We need to be subject to the Lord lest we hinder this work of undoing in ourselves.

In our scripture this manifestation is looked at as having taken place; it "has been manifested" 1 John 3:8; it was there morally; but Colossians treats of a future manifestation that shall be public, and we shall be manifested with Him, as in verse 2 of this chapter.

Then we come to the message (verse 11), which is evidently very important. "For this is the message which ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another". 1 John 3:11. The message is the conveyance of the present mind of God as meeting the need that exists. This would really show how the works of the devil were undone by a company here in love one to another. The devil sinned from the beginning and injected his ways into Adam and Eve, but the working out of Satan's character was in Cain, just as the working out of Ham's character was in Canaan. Cain was the one who came under God's judgment in a peculiar way as a murderer; that is what Satan is.

Doubtless the reason for the message here was that love was waning.

Then he says, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren". 1 John 3:14. It is a great thing to pass from death to life. The enemy would be content to have the Lord in glory, but to have a people kept so that they manifest the traits of the Lord here is what excites his animosity. He would sweep the saints from the earth if he could. It is an immense thing to know your company and to know that, as loving them, you have passed from death unto life. One has often referred to the principle of "dead reckoning". Sometimes you raise the question as to how you are getting on, and you say, "Well, I am making progress, through grace things are different from what they used to be, I find more interest in divine things than I did". That is what one would call in nautical language, "dead reckoning". Of course, if you go too far on that line you may become self-occupied and confused; but it is a great comfort to know that these things which you observe in yourself are the fruit of the divine nature, and are not of the world, or according to the flesh.

John treats of the brethren on the ground of profession. It is abnormal not to love your brother, but Cain was literally Abel's brother and you will find that God repeatedly uses the word 'brother' in raising the whole question with him, as if to force upon Cain the awful fact that the one whom he slew was his brother: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" Genesis 4:10. In Hebrews 12:24 we have"the blood of Abel"; but when Cain is addressed by God it is, "thy brother". That is the serious thing.

You love your brother, but he is responsible to love you too. That is the way you know your brethren, they "love one another"; in this way they

are manifest, and you know them. It is a great point at the present time that you know your brother, because there are imitations The word 'brethren' has gained a place in the world-system on this account, for Satan has taken it up, and hence there are classes of brethren. All this is the subtle work of the devil to becloud this great thought of the brother. The children of God are to be manifest, and are recognised by the features of righteousness and love. The four gospels, if you analyse them, will enable you to determine who the brethren are. They "hear the word of God, and do it", Luke 8:21. This us how they are brought to light. It is a question of bringing forth "fruit after his kind". John knows of only one kind, those who have the divine seed in them, and who can say, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren". 1 John 3:14. There are many of the Lord's dear people who are entangled in systems not according to His mind. He loves them and we love them; for we can discern what they are by their walk, even though we can love them only in the abstract. It may be we are walking with persons who are not manifesting munch, if any, of these traits of which we are speaking. That is a very solemn matter also.

Hatred soon manifests itself; Abel did not have long to wait to discern that Cain hated him. The Lord says of His enemies that they hated Him without a cause, and it is so often of a Christian. John recognised his brethren. He says, "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you" 1 John 3:13; and then goes on to say, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren". 1 John 3:14. You have different feelings towards the brethren, you are more at home with them than with anyone else.

Then he shows how love is known: "Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us". 1 John 3:16. You say, My feelings towards the Lord's

people are different from what they are towards those outside, So far so good. Verse 14 answers to that, but then you must not be content with that, you must learn to love. There is a divine standard for it, it is not an indefinable thing that you cannot express. If you look at the Lord Jesus, you see what love is in all its fulness, in that He laid down His life for us. That is the lesson of the whole period of His life down here, as we have it in verse 16, "Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives". 1 John 3:16. It is only as we meditate upon that, and are exercised about it, that the truth of it would be manifest in our lives. Verse 16 is objective; verse 14 is subjective. Look at the perfect picture in Christ: ponder over it. It covers the whole period of His life here, and to lay down our lives for the brethren is the great answer in us to the love expressed.

Verse 17 would indicate that this was not being carried out, so that John goes on to say: "Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth", 1 John 3:18. The apostle Paul was marked by this love, he "died daily" for the saints, and that is what John would have in the Christian company. Then he adds, "Hereby we shall know that we are of the truth and shall persuade our hearts before him" 1 John 3:19. These are comforting things in the light of verse 16. And then he says, "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God". 1 John 3:20,21. That is what is to be aimed at, establishment in love, and being quite restful about everything. In the main we realise how little we come up to loving in deed and in truth. In our heart we feel our best sacrifice is feeble in the light of Christ's. In 1 Chronicles when David was spiritually at his highest he calls God's attention to the vast wealth that had been gathered together for

the house. But after all, it was of God Himself: "Of thine own have we given thee" 1 Chronicles 29:14. It is a man knowing God and feeling his own littleness in His presence. God is greater than the heart and knoweth all things. We are led on here to reconciliation. If our heart does not condemn us, it is a perfect state practically before God, and we are doing the things that are pleasing in His sight.

It is very helpful and comforting to know that God is greater than our hearts, so that we have no reservations with God. It is like Paul; on the one hand, he deprecated what he did because it was so small, but on the other hand he says, "I have fully preached the gospel of Christ", Romans 15:19. His heart was not condemning him, and he could turn to God with the sense that he was pleasing to Him. "And whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight". 1 John 3:22. There is perfect agreement between our hearts and God. It is reconciliation from the subjective side; whereas in 2 Corinthians 5:18 it is "God ... has reconciled us". In doing the things that are pleasing in His sight, we are pleasurable to God practically.

It brings us back to what God indicated in Genesis 1:12 "The herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed was in itself". Then, in order that all that should be regulated, you have the great light in the heavens on the fourth day and on the fifth day, a multitude of moving creatures having life, and on the sixth day, crowning all, man is created, after the image and likeness of God. John's epistle brings us up to the sixth day, where we have understanding. It is life expressed in intelligence. The subjective corresponds to the objective. In verse 23 we have, "And this is his commandment, That we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another". 1 John 3:23.

That is the full divine thought: to believe on Him and love one another. "And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us". 1 John 3:24. This is a perfect state of things, and one that is brought about entirely by Himself. The commandment is that you believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. There is the idea of renown in this full title: "His Son Jesus Christ".

1 JOHN 4

One sees that in a day when Paul's ministry was failing to maintain its first results John's comes in as a reserve. John speaks of the Son, but with the desire to bring about the liberty of love in the hearts of the saints. When love is lacking, the Spirit cannot effect what He has before Him.

Verse 1 contemplates the activity of "spirits". "Believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits". 1 John 4:1. There never was a day when there was more spiritual activity than the present. Men in our days have come to recognise spiritual power, but, alas, it is power of an evil character and source. We are exhorted to prove the spirits. They assume to have the mind of God in taking on a prophetic character: "Many false prophets are gone out into the world". 1 John 4:1. Jezebel arrogated to herself all prophetic authority, representing the Romish system; but here it is "many". John in this epistle does not describe the evil as co-ordinated, but speaks of the variety of spiritual activity.

The great movement at the time of the Reformation released men's minds from a certain bondage in which they were held and since that time there has been great licence for the mind of man to work, but no co-ordination; there are many voices. At the same time, they all, in principle, deny "Jesus Christ

come in flesh;" 1 John 4:2. In one form or another, as under Satanic power, they deny that the Son of God became a real Man.

"Jesus Christ come in flesh" involves the condemnation of every man as after the flesh, and that is why these spirits oppose it; they serve the order of man set aside by Jesus Christ coming in flesh and dying. These evil spirits are not simply in the atmosphere, they are in men, and their voices are always being heard. As gone out into the world, they carry the light they obtained in the assembly, but you may see the characteristics of the world in them.

It becomes a question of the Spirit of God or the spirit of imitation -- of which are you under the influence? We are to test every voice; does it confess "Jesus Christ come in flesh"? If the voices do not stand the test, we refuse to listen to them. "Jesus Christ come in flesh" does not emphasise the Lord's deity exactly, but is more to show the order of man that was here for the pleasure of God. We are called upon here to prove the spirits, to prove them by what they are going on with. If they do not confess "Jesus Christ come in flesh" they are not of God, whatever else they may do, or say. These evil spirits oppose the moral bearing of what came out in Christ. In "the systems" they formulate there is the maintenance only of the man set aside in Christ. In the assembly there can be no recognition of that man, but of the Man who has come out from God; and inasmuch as that recognition involves the working out of love, we can see what John has before him.

Doubtless these false prophets once professedly belonged to the Christian company. In 1 John 2 it speaks of those that went out because "they were not of us". In going out they carried into the world the knowledge of certain facts relative to Christianity, but they have steadfastly worked to defeat the truth.

Judas began this movement -- he went out "and it was night", John 13:30. There are these two great forces at work: the Spirit of God to maintain what has come in by "Jesus Christ come in flesh", and Satan seeking in every way to nullify it. The position is clearly defined. "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world". 1 John 4:4. The Holy Spirit operates in the Christian company and Satan in the world -- the world nominally Christianised. Satan operates on men's minds; they are ever ready to go on with the man after the flesh. We are in the world in which these spirits are active and we do well to take heed to the word of exhortation and prove them: "Hereby ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God". 1 John 4:2,3. Does the voice exalt Christ? If it does, every loving heart responds. If it does not glorify Christ it exalts the man set aside by His coming and you have done with it. Bring in the test at once -- will it glorify Christ or the man set aside in His death? Is it of God? Otherwise it is of Satan. The test is thus simple.

It says, "They are of the world"; although they may pretend to recognise the Lord Jesus, they are simply of the world. In proving them we take notice of their sayings and actions: "For this reason they speak as of the world, and the world hears them". 1 John 4:5. We were noting in the Proverbs the man that speaketh "froward things", Proverbs 2:12. There is also "the strange woman" that "flattereth with her words" Proverbs 2:16 but the man has that feature of the world which speaks froward things. Then later in the book it says, "A man of Belial, a wicked person, is he that goeth about with a perverse mouth; he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers" Proverbs 6:12,13. Early in the book, as noted, he is simply a man that speaks

froward things, but in chapter 6 you get development. He brings his principal members into the thing. It is the world of literature and science, the masculine side; and then you have in the strange woman the seductive side. It is Satan in the world operating by these agencies to ensnare and overthrow the people of God. In our chapter you have what corresponds to this: "They are of the world", whatever their profession this type of man is antichristian. It goes on to say, "Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly", Proverbs 6:15.

We need to pay attention to the way the apostle John uses that word "of". It indicates the origin and source of good or evil, The apostles were men who were marked by the character of Christ; they were like Jesus Christ but they were stamped, as you might say, officially as "of God". They carried with them the stamp of God which is so important. Hence their word is authoritative and final: "We are of God; he that knows God hears us". 1 John 4:6. So that there is mention made here in a distinct way of God in His representatives and the world in its representatives. The apostles distinctly represented God. It is a fact of immense importance that in this world there were those that represented him and whilst that was true of the apostles in a special way, it is the mind of God that it should be true also of us. We should take up and carry on this representation of God in our measure.

One is struck with the fact that those to whom John wrote are addressed as children. One is speaking of the simplicity of the thing; we are to he marked by affection. Where there is a lack of love, it is because the Spirit of God is grieved and so fails to produce it in those who should have it. The Spirit was given that these things might be wrought out effectually and that the saints might be preserved in love and simplicity, and thus answer to the thought

of God in leaving us down here. Satan is seeking to exercise a spiritual influence over God's people, to draw them away from God's intention for them. If we are preserved, in self-judgment and dependence these things will have no effect on us. I think the Lord introduced what would overthrow this influence when He instituted His Supper. The Lord's supper tends to produce mutual affection, and to maintain it. We have got to be preserved here in simplicity, and then all these voices will be detected and we shall not fall under their influence. The Spirit thus has liberty to work among the saints. As we love Christ we are not going to promote anything set aside in His death. We must not argue things out; we are to be simple concerning evil. It is a very simple pathway in which we are found; but the lover of Christ clearly detects what is antichristian. It is not possible for people to partake of the Lord's supper in a spiritual way and support antichristian ideas.

Discerning of the spirits clears the ground, so that we have a circle free from these things, as it says, "Beloved, let us love one another". 1 John 4:7. While the evil spirits are discerned, they have no place in this circle. Indeed, they are used by Satan to destroy it. There is now in this world a system of divine affections that God can find pleasure in. What one observes is that so many of the Lord's people do not know where to turn, there are so many voices; but God has brought about a circle where love is: "Beloved, let us love one another". Where it is unknown, the dispensation is not understood for it is in it that God is now known. What marks the children of God is of God; God is known in His house. The first paragraph of our chapter clears the ground so that we may reach the circle. The love of God is shown in that He "sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him". In the circle of the brethren you

have life -- life is there -- so that as in it we are proof against these spirits; and in it we have passed from death unto life. The love of God is active towards us as in the circle. We come into the light of what God is to us. That is what lies behind the Lord's supper; if we come to it in a spiritual way, love becomes active; and we are developed in love, so that the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup take on a spiritual meaning. There is light among the brethren and the love is known that God has to us: "God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him". 1 John 4:9. The Lord would greatly help us to be free of these wicked voices that are about. Saints are often baffled by them. But the company of the saints is where the light of God shines, and deliverance from these voices is known. But Satan does not leave us alone; his constant effort is to overthrow and to draw us away from that circle, but God would maintain us in it.

After the spirits are dealt with, we are free to dwell on the wonderful character of God's love as seen in the sending of the Son into the world that we might have life through Him, and that He might be the propitiation for our sins; then John says, "We have seen, and testify, that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world". 1 John 4:14. We are made to see the majesty of divine Persons in their intervention in grace; there is a grandeur about that sentence: "The Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world"; and God would present that even now. Alas, how many real believers are deceived by these spirits! 2 Timothy contemplates such; they are so mixed up and involved in the world that we have to retreat to the knowledge that "The Lord knows those that are his" 2 Timothy 2:19; only He knows all. But we should be on the look out to be of service to everybody represented in the loaf which we break. On the other hand, John's ministry is to bring to light the children of God: "In this

are manifest the children of God". 1 John 3:10. They are marked by righteousness and love.

In John's gospel you have the remarkable history of Peter given as John views it. Peter was a true believer, he loved the Lord, but had to appeal to the Lord regarding it, as if he had not proved it in his conduct: "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I am attached to thee", John 21:17.

You could hardly define divine love, it is seen in its results: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us". 1 John 4:10. Through the testimony of this love God has formed a sphere down here in which He dwells. It was through the gift of His Son that we might live through Him. It is through this testimony, as made good in them by the Spirit working in them, that there is a people here in whom God's love is known, who dwell in love and so dwell in God and God in them. To those people these voices would appeal in vain; the overcomer is described in this epistle. The shining out of God now is contingent on this love-circle. How blessed to be found in the circle in which God dwells -- He in us and we in Him! It must be my circle. If I leave the influence of it, I am under that which comes from the world where is developed the man that was set aside by the One who came to make the love of God known.

"No one has seen God at any time". 1 John 4:12. This is said also in John 1:18. Here it goes on to say, "If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us". 1 John 4:12. In the gospel it is, "The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". John 1:18. What a remarkable relation there is between Christ in the bosom of the Father for the declaration of God, and God dwelling in us; He is thus known here. The opposition of Satan is specially to what is down here for God. In verse 15 we see that in him by whom Jesus is confessed as Son of God, God abides, and he in God. One would

emphasise the greatness of the sphere where divine love is. But how can it be developed in the souls of God's people if they are indifferent to the Lord's supper. If the Lord's supper becomes formal with us there is no development in our affections. One feels that we have to grasp what was in the mind of the Lord when He instituted His Supper. It was not only that we should call Him to mind, but there was to be a development of affection in every one of us as the consequence of partaking of it, to the end that the characteristics of God might be seen.

How to find those in whom the love of God is known is an important inquiry. The Spirit of God is here to indicate it to us. It is a circle where Christ is exalted, and where the man that is set aside by the coming of Jesus Christ in flesh is refused. "Hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit" 1 John 4:13. Room is made for the Spirit. There is confirmation in the activities of the Spirit. We may have to go back and look over things historically to determine where we are, but the confirmation of one's position lies in the Spirit; we get it by the Spirit; one is sure of his position because of the Spirit. We cannot deny the reality of the Spirit in His activities among the saints. Historical things have to be met, for God does not pass over anything. For example, the well-known unfaithfulness of a certain company of eighty years ago remains. If connected with those responsible for it, I must judge it in order to be clear, but then my confirmation as to where I am lies in the Spirit. It is a wonderful fact that the Holy Spirit is here in the assembly (verse 13). "And we have seen, and testify, that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world". 1 John 4:14. The apostles had testified to that great fact; they had seen and testified "that the Father has sent the Son". 1 John 4:14. It would apply also in measure to those who are in this circle of love. The message of the gospel

would be going out from them. One was thinking, too, of the influence of this circle in relation to the households of His people; God has graciously blessed a great many of our households, but one feels that He would emphasise the majesty of the gospel: "We have seen, and testify, that the Father sent the Son as Saviour of the world", 1 John 4:14, should have some answer in us. We should support the apostolic testimony by the conditions in which we are found as dwelling together. One was noticing in the Book of Ezra that in the great recovery of that time, the Sidonians and the Tyrians were given meat and drink and oil to bring cedar trees for the house of God (Ezra 3:7). So now, in the present recovery, God would bring out the full bearing of the gospel; we should go into the region of Tyre and Sidon; Matthew 15. We are not to be limited to the households of God's people. We should be great enough to bear witness to the universal character of the gospel so that those outside may be brought in.

The testimony is supported in that character of life so perfectly exemplified in the Man Christ Jesus. What is to characterise us in service is what marked Him, who humbled Himself; Philippians 2. That is to be the standard, and we are to know no other; the commandment is to "love one another, as I have loved you". John 15:12. He indicates and reflects what was in Christ. We must not be selfish, but as those who sacrifice themselves in the service of love. This marked those who gave up their ease and worldly advantage to bring to us these wonderful things; our leaders who spoke the word of God; Hebrews 13:7. Is there among us, as the people of God, that which suggests this sacrifice? Was it nothing to the Father to send the Son, and for the Son to come? It was self-sacrificing love. We are to sacrifice ourselves in the pursuit of the objects of divine love. Self-sacrifice characterises the circle so that every

one who goes out must be characteristic of it. Thus we are able to say, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" Revelation 22:17.

1 JOHN 5

We saw at our last reading that the Son had been sent as the propitiation for our sins, and as the Saviour of the world, as seen in 1 John 4:10, 14. Obviously the subject of that chapter is love. Verse 11 says, "Beloved, if God has so loved us" 1 John 4:11; and "if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us" 1 John 4:12; and again, "God is love, and he that abides in love abides in God, and God in him" 1 John 4:16; and, "Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment" 1 John 4:17; and then again, "there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" 1 John 4:18; and in verse 21, "And this commandment have we from him, That he that loves God love also his brother". 1 John 4:18. So that the great subject of chapter 4 is love.

Chapter 4 answers to the Book of Deuteronomy, which was preparatory to Israel entering into Canaan and chapter 5 answers to the Book of Joshua, which records their possessing the land. In chapter 5 we have the Lord coming by water and blood: what is involved in his death, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, to the effect that we have eternal life. So that this chapter brings in the land of Canaan; the gift of eternal life being in the Son: "This life is in his Son", 1 John 5:11. But the end of chapter 4 and the first paragraph of chapter 5 have to do with our position here, and the effect in our confession.

The last verse of chapter 4 is put in the way of a commandment, showing that it is imperative that whilst you love to do the thing, it strengthens the position when it is imperative that it should be done. If you love God, the commandment is to love your

brother. It is what the Lord had in mind before His departure when speaking to His disciples.

We have the message in chapter 1 that God is light and in chapter 3 the message that we should love one another. A message is something that comes from a distance by a messenger; and the person that carries it necessarily comes into your mind. Joab said to Ahimaaz that there were no tidings suited to him. He wanted to run, and knew something about what had happened, but he had no message; when he came to David his tidings were uncertain and indefinite; he had to stand aside until Cushi came. John would be fully qualified to bear such messages as, "God is light", and, "We should love one another".

Christians might say that they love God, but that is not enough; they must love their brother. The commandment brings in divine authority. You cannot disregard your brother. Sometimes it may look impossible to love him, but we are under command to do so. The loving one another is the evidence of eternal life: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren" 1 John 3:14 but in chapter 5 he deals with life as a definite subject. In chapter 1 it is presented objectively in Christ: "That which was from the beginning" 1 John 1:1; in chapter 5 it is presented more subjectively, as showing how we are brought into it, that we might consciously know that we have eternal life. Loving one another is the evidence of life. Chapter 5 deals with it as in the Son and John presents that which enables us to determine that we have it as a possession, and not merely as title: "These things have I written to you that ye may know [have the consciousness] that ye have eternal life" 1 John 5:13. It is "in the Son", as to the setting of it, but one is conscious of having it by the things that John writes.

With regard to the titles of the Lord in this chapter:

the force of them is apprehended more clearly when you see that John's ministry was to the Jews. They were in view, and the test was whether they would believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah; if they did, it proved that they were "born of God". But there was a further thought: "Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John 5:5. Believing that He is the Christ shows that one is born of God. It would be more applicable as a test to a Jewish believer, but in itself it did not take him out of the Jewish world. The testimony on the day of Pentecost was presented to Jerusalem and, later, that God would send Jesus Christ to them, if they repented. Anyone accepting the testimony of Acts 2, 3 and 4 would believe that Jesus was the Christ but Acts 9 brings in "the Son of God", and answering to it, the Jew would be taken outside of Jerusalem morally "Who is he that gets the victory over the world" would include what was set up there. The Son of God connects us with a new system, having heaven as its centre. The thought in "the Christ" is that everything would be accomplished by Him that God purposed. Paul was a "prisoner of the Christ Jesus" Ephesians 3:1 for the nations, so that "the Christ" has reference to us Gentiles too. In speaking of the mystery the apostle says, "which is Christ in you the hope of glory", Colossians 1:27. It is the working out of the "prisoner of the Christ Jesus for you nations" Ephesians 3:1. In Ephesians 3 Paul goes on to show that he had received the revelation of the mystery, which involved the working out of all the divine thoughts in Jew and Gentile as one body. It is a wonderful achievement! At the end of chapter 2 of that epistle he shows what "the Christ" had brought about: "Broken down the middle wall of enclosure", Ephesians 2:14 and came and "preached the glad tidings of peace, to you who were afar off ... and to those who were nigh". Ephesians 3:17. He not only preached

the glad tidings to the Gentile and Jew but formed them into one body, and set up in that one body all the divine thoughts. In chapter 3 Paul says, "I am a prisoner of the Christ Jesus for you nations", Ephesians 3:1 and prayed to the Father for them, that they might "apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge, that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God". Ephesians 3:18,19. The application of Christ to the Gentiles is very forcible. As the Christ, He sets up everything, and then maintains what is set up. But the Son of God takes both Jew and Gentile out of the world into a new order of things entirely.

We have another thing in chapter 4 the confession of the Son of God, not only belief in Him but the confession of His name. The name signifies all that is presented in the Son in testimony; whoever confesses it, God dwells in him. This brings in Paul's ministry; the confession of the Son of God made room for God. The house of God is really contingent on the confession of the Son. Saul would be an example of that when in Damascus "straightway in the synagogues he preached Jesus that he is the Son of God", Acts 9:20. That was a confession, and God dwelt in him. It was the beginning of things. The house really comes out of that; room is made for God. So that the confession of the Son of God immediately provides a dwelling-place for God. It might be said, The dwelling-place was present at Pentecost; that is true, but the position was not clearly seen until the confession of the Son of God came in. Early in Acts the links with the temple were not broken, and it is when you come to chapter 9 that you get the setting of the house.

The idea of a dwelling suggests that things are congenial. The Son builds the house, and then brings in a system of affections, of which Solomon is

a type. Notwithstanding all the affection seen in David, he is not allowed to build. It was Solomon who built the house, if you take up Solomon's history, you get the idea of a house. Jehovah loved him, and named him Jedidiah, and said of him, "It is he who shall build a house for my name I will be his father, and he shall be my son", 2 Samuel 7:13,14. If the Son builds the house, He considers for the family that shall reside there; hence the confession of the Son is of immense moment in regard to the house: "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him". 1 John 4:15.

He "came by water and by blood, Jesus the Christ", 1 John 5:6. The order of man enters into that, and His coming is in connection with the means of cleansing; cleansing is necessary if we are to be brought into Canaan, and we must have these elements of water and blood to release us in view of entering. Here the water comes first, whilst in the gospel the order is reversed, because he is dealing with practical cleansing. Of course the judicial side is before the Spirit in the gospel, but John has before him in this epistle our being brought into the consciousness of eternal life, and for that the water is essential. It is the application of the death of Christ, not exactly for sin, but for moral cleansing. There are many who see their title to life clear but connect it with the blood; whereas entering into it consciously necessitates the water. This cleansing would be from the world system and also from the flesh in us; it corresponds to the laver in the court of the tabernacle.

There are many who rest in the fact that "it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul". It is one thing to have the title to a thing, but another to have the consciousness of it. There is title in the blood certainly, even as there is title in the handful of fine flour (Leviticus 5:11 - 13) for that matter - that is enough to give you a footing before God -- but for

the consciousness of eternal life you need more than the handful of fine flour. Here we have the threefold testimony, "the Spirit, and the water, and the blood". 1 John 5:8. It is the Spirit that bears witness -- that is general -- but then He applies the water and the blood. They agree in one to the truth that we have eternal life, but the Spirit is necessary as a complete witness. He gives us the consciousness of it. The water is clearly for us, the blood for God; but all was fulfilled in the cross. We needed the water, but what God needed to meet His holy judgment against sin was the blood. The Lord said to the penitent thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise". Luke 23:43. His own death was in principle the water. The application of death has to come to pass in respect of us morally; it is the only way through which we cross the Jordan. The washing of water by the word is the same thing; the word is the intelligent expression of the death of Christ. With regard to the "coming" of verse 6, the apostle has before him the sphere of the testimony, and sees the Lord coming into it through death. Paul says, "Coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off, and ... to those who were nigh" Ephesians 2:17, meaning the sphere of the testimony of God. The Lord has come into it, not by incarnation, but as having died, it is a matter for faith to apprehend. He is in heaven literally, but has come into this sphere as having died, and as having died He has the means of relieving every one who has faith, in order to bring them into the enjoyment of the blessing of God. So that we are in a wonderful time. We look at Him as having died, and therefore having the means of setting us all perfectly free for the enjoyment of the blessing of God.. Actually God has crowned Him in heaven.

The threefold witness is that which is presented objectively by way of testimony. Then you have in

verse 10 something for yourself; the believer has the witness in himself. In verse 11 we have what is presented collectively in the saints, the fact that they have eternal life: "This is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in the Son". 1 John 5:11. The fact of eternal life being possessed by the saints is a witness on the part of God. It is not now a question of preaching, but of the fact that the saints have it as the gift of God. We have the Son by way of intelligent faith and affection, it is what we have in our souls; the believer characteristically has the Son, and having Him he has life. Whilst the apostle is dealing with the individual mainly in the chapter, he says that God has given to us eternal life, which would be a collective idea; it refers in principle to all saints, We must have the company to have the conditions of life, that which answers to the land of promise. The witness that God has here cannot be set aside or refuted, because it is in life. Jannes and Jambres tried to produce life but could not, and were compelled to say, "This is the finger of God". Exodus 8:19. What Moses did could not be imitated. It is not a mere theory, but something known and enjoyed here on earth, and it cannot be overthrown. It is the same character of life as spoken of in Psalm 133, that is, life in a collective way, where brethren are dwelling together in unity. It is heavenly in character enjoyed on earth: "as the days of the heavens which are above the earth", Deuteronomy 11:21. It is also our eternal portion. The Lord has come by water and blood, so that we may be free to enjoy it, that there might thus be a witness for God. It is a marvellous position, because it refers to the saints brought out of the world, delivered from the flesh, set up in relation to Christ and to one another in the enjoyment of the blessing of God; such a testimony cannot be set aside or imitated. Each believer necessarily has eternal life individually, but the position of it is in

the Son. Paul had it, for example in Galatians 1:15,16 he says, "But when God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me". As witnessing for Christ in the synagogue at Damascus he had life, and none could touch him. Peter had made a confession similar to Paul's during the Lord's ministry on earth. He developed the first part of that confession, "Thou art the Christ", Matthew 16:16 in his service; but Paul brought in the second part of the confession, and it was not simply the announcing of a doctrine, he preached in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God; it was consciously known by him. With Peter, the Lord said, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee". Matthew 16:17. Paul says, "But when God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me". Galatians 1:15,16. There is a difference there.

No doubt the witness on the part of God was in Antioch -- that he had given to the saints eternal life; Acts 13. One does not know of any better illustration of the statements here found than Paul himself. He may be taken to illustrate every phase of them. It is wonderful what he possessed in the way of intelligence and affection. Eternal life is a wide and comprehensive thought but to have life in your soul is a wonderful thing, and usually refers to power there, it is like John 4, the water becomes a fountain springing up into eternal life. He who has the knowledge of the Son of God in his soul enjoys the blessedness of eternal life, and there is power in such a one, and moral superiority to circumstances. Peter did not develop the thought of the Son of God. The Lord gave him the keys of the kingdom. But the truth of the Son of God involves the house, so that the opening up and developing of the truth of the Son of God was left for Paul. The Lord did say to Peter what He would do: "On this rock I will build my assembly" Matthew 16:18; the thought of building was in the Lord's mind, but Peter had to wait for that. It was not communicated to Peter who would be used

for the building; for this service He sovereignly brings in Paul.

Life and eternal life are not dissimilar in character but the Spirit of God uses the word 'eternal' life to show that there is nothing to succeed it, for there is no termination of it. The word 'eternal' is a well-known term. Scripture has its own vocabulary and that word has its own meaning there; it is applied to God Himself, hence we cannot make the word 'eternal' too strong, in whatever connection it is applied. When we apply it to life itself, we have something beyond creature power, as in Satan, to destroy, or the believer to lose: "They shall never perish", John 10:28. The earthly saints will have it too for they will not die at all. They are not as privileged as we, for besides having this great blessing, we have heavenly ones.

For full development everything awaited Paul's ministry. He is the architect and erecter of the structure, whereas Peter's work was in the foundation, and his name is there; Revelation 21:14. It is the Son ruling as King we have to take account of. It is a great thing to see the antitype of Solomon on the throne in Christ, and then as building the house. First we have Solomon ruling, and we see the wisdom which marked his starting out; he could tell which woman was the mother of the child. He was a remarkable man as a ruler, but when you see him as a builder, you have another character of things before you and that is where the truth of the Son of God is so important, it brings in a new system of things.

In verse 13 he says, "These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God". 1 John 5:13. We have got the secret of why he writes; it is that we might know consciously that we have eternal life. It is, as one has often remarked, like the soundings that a mariner takes after having taken the position

of the sun. You take account of what is in yourself; that is, by the soundings you discover what God has effected in you. Then by keeping the position of eternal life as in the Son clearly before you, you are preserved from self-occupation in the process. A person might have eternal life as a matter of light, but the right understanding of this epistle enables the believer to have the consciousness of having it. He sees what God has effected in Christ and what He has effected in him -

Verses 18, 19 and 20 are all in line with what we have been saying. In verse 14 it says, "If we ask him anything according to his will, he hears us". 1 John 5:14. You know that God heard you; as having the consciousness of it you are sure. It is like Ahasuerus the king holding out the golden sceptre to Esther, she knew that she was heard and accepted. The Lord said, "I knew that thou always hearest me", John 11:42.

The process through which one goes really means that if we did not have the authority of Scripture for this, we could not say these things; we assure ourselves by this authority; we face the matter with the authority of Scripture. But we analyse and find what is of God in us and what is not. We know there is that in us, namely, the divine seed, which cannot sin but we draw a line of demarcation between that and what is of the flesh in us which can only sin. This epistle is really the consummation of a process which begins in Romans 7. It is the subjective side: "with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin". Romans 7:25. This process enables one to detect the workings of the flesh, and is largely worked out in Romans 7. John's epistle enables one to look up to Christ and see every divine perfection there; but then I must look at myself and analyse my experiences, failings and thoughts, and see where I am. In the presence of all this one can say, with

the authority of this epistle, one knows consciously that one has eternal life: "These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life". 1 John 5:13. It does not say, Believe on the Son of God, but on the name of the Son of God (verse 13), showing that we have come to know the honour and renown that reside in that Person. It is the result of growth in the knowledge of the Son of God. You believe on Him, and you see that His renown fills the whole sphere.

John does not tell us what the sin unto death is, it is left for us to determine, as having spiritual discernment. The entire enjoyment of what has been before us is nullified by allowing idols. The true God is presented in One having come by water and blood. He is the true God. We can only see God in Christ. Verse 20 is characteristically Christian knowledge. Knowing the Son of God has come would indicate a knowledge of the Father. It is remarkable that the Lord should be presented to us here at the finish as the true God. It is really the fulfilment of John 17:3: "That they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent". The thought that He is the eternal life suggests His manhood, it is what He is as Man on our side. As the

"true God" He is on God's side. God in His essential being can never be seen or approached. Verse 20 refers to the fact that God is made known in a Man. He has come out in a Man to be known and worshipped; so that there is no excuse to turn to idols. That which was contemplated by the apostles from the beginning, which was heard, seen and handled, was reported, that we might have fellowship with them, so that like the man in John 9 we fall down and render homage to Him.

ESTABLISHMENT

Romans 16:25

We find in this scripture the thought of establishment. The apostle in finishing his letter, breaks out in this remarkable doxology, desiring that these Roman Christians should be established. He had said that God would bruise Satan under their feet shortly. God has not only bruised Satan under the feet of Christ, but He bruises him under the feet of the saints. This is a word of great encouragement for troubled believers, of whom, alas there are many. They are troubled because they are unestablished, and unestablished souls are exposed to the disturbing activities of Satan. "God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly". Romans 16:20. Hence the apostle gives definite word to the believers in Rome as to the bruising of Satan, but then there was this further thought in the finishing of the letter that they should be established, and that God had power to establish them.

One is reminded, in referring to the subject, of the words of Agur (Proverbs 30:1 - 4), who had learnt evidently through experience to be a very humble man. I refer to him because he introduces certain inquiries relative to this question of establishment and shows that it hinges on our knowledge of God. He says, "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" Proverbs 30:4. The understanding of divine establishment hinges on our knowledge of God, and our knowledge of God must be according to revelation, a revelation which has brought out the great fact of God being a Father and of His having a Son. "What is his name?" he says, "and what is his son's

name, if thou canst tell?" Proverbs 30:4. For you things hinge on what you can tell. All has been told out from the divine side. Revelation is complete: "The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". John 1:18. Now it is, "if thou canst tell". You see, christians are supposed to answer questions. Meetings such as these are most important, for in them the Holy Spirit brings to us certain features of the truth, which may be needed; but then, if questions are put to you, what can you tell? Are you going away with contentment that somebody else can tell something? What can you tell about God? He ascended, He descended, He gathers the wind in His fists. Can you tell anything about these things? The north wind strikes you in adverse circumstances; God gathers that in His fists. Some of us here know something about it. And then He binds the waters in a garment. Satan can act upon the waters but not bind them in a garment; his action is necessarily limited. God limits satanic action; He can hold the wind in His fists and bind waters in a garment. Then he says, "He establishes the ends of the earth". Proverbs 30:4. Think of the power of God! Job made fine speeches, silenced his three adversaries, but God addressed him, calling his attention to created things. Job, silenced, put his hand upon his mouth, Job 40:4. "The invisible things of him ... are clearly seen - . - by the things that are made", Romans 1:20. The earth is thus referred to as representing divine establishment. God "built his sanctuary ... like the earth which he hath established for ever", Psalm 78:69. Thus He establishes the saints. "He that establishes us with you in Christ - .. is God", 2 Corinthians 1:21. The most elaborately founded empires have collapsed, but what God establishes remains. So that the question is put to us, "What is his name, and what is his son's name?" Proverbs 30:4. I would urge then the inquiry as to how much you can tell, whether there is this knowledge

of God in the saints which is referred to in Proverbs 30, whether we can give an answer to every one of the hope that is in us. We read in 1 John 2:27 that the unction teaches us of all things. As thus taught, we are able to answer questions. John says, "We know", 1 John 5:19 - 21. I urge this, because many of us are content to listen to things and enjoy things that are given out, but what can we tell? The apostle is praising God here (Romans 16:25 - 27), but it is the God who has power to establish us according to his glad tidings; he gives us the standard in connection with which God establishes the saints. What do we know about Paul's gospel? He speaks of "the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ", 2 Corinthians 4:4. Through Paul's gospel we learn that the believer is not only justified and saved from the authority of darkness, but he is made fit for heaven; he is a son. The believer is established according to that gospel.

Then there is "the preaching of Jesus Christ". Romans 16:25. This refers to the moral greatness of Christ. It is the Man anointed rather than the anointed Man. The former refers to the moral features of the Man as they were manifested in Him here on earth; the latter is what He is in heaven. In Paul's preaching I see how he brought forward "the man", the Lord as here. If I am to be established by the power of God it is according to that, according to the preaching of Jesus Christ. The third thing is the mystery; we are to he established according to this also.

You will bear with me in emphasising these things because, while one rejoices in the interest there is among the people of God, one discovers a great want of spiritual intelligence. There is thus a word for every one of us in the question, "What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" Proverbs 30:4. And so the apostle desired that the saints should be established "according to the revelation of the

mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God". Romans 16:25,26. Think of being admitted into that, the secret of God! God Himself kept it securely hidden since the world began, but now I am admitted into it and I am to be established in connection with it. Think of having a part in the mystery of God!

These are wonderful things, and I speak that every one may look into the Scriptures more and read of these things for himself. The apostle says elsewhere that he combated for the saints that their hearts should be comforted and knit together in love unto the full assurance of understanding of the mystery of God in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; Colossians 2:1 - 3. They are all there for us, and God would have us established in connection with them. The Roman Christians obviously had not attained to these things. The apostle had not yet ministered among them, but he had it on his heart that they should be established. God had power to establish them and it should be according to his gospel, according to the preaching of Jesus Christ, and according to the mystery.

I feel encouraged to call attention to this passage in connection with what we have had, so that each saint should go away with the inquiry as to what he can tell. The apostle said to Timothy, "Thou hast fully known my doctrine". 2 Timothy 3:10. Timothy would listen to everything Paul said; he was a learner. The apostle could entrust him with the testimony; he says, "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also". 2 Timothy 2:2. So that it becomes a question for everyone, What can I tell? what can I impart to others?

EXPANSION

2 Corinthians 6:11 - 18; 2 Corinthians 12:1 - 5

I have in mind to speak about expansion, a word simple to understand and much used among men and used in Scripture in a spiritual way. The believer, having the light of God revealed in Christ, and having come into the light of Christ as Man before God, has material in his soul for expansion. But as is usual when the Spirit of God would encourage the saints to go in for further spiritual things He has to exhort, and in exhorting to bring in negatives, hence we have here, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers", etc. 2 Corinthians 6:14. In drawing near to the realm of the spiritual, the Holy Spirit invariably brings about in the souls of the people of God, the sense of the necessity for contraction. The way in is narrow. The Lord says, "Narrow is the way and straight is the gate that leadeth unto life". Matthew 7:14. So that in view of the narrowness of the way, and the straightness of the gate, the necessity for reduction becomes quite obvious. Big men are at a great disadvantage. And as we have seen in our readings, Rahab, when speaking with the spies sent to Jericho by Joshua, referred to the destruction of Og by the Israelites. "We heard what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, how ye utterly destroyed them, and our hearts melted". Joshua 2:10,11.

She proceeds from the occurrence at the Red Sea to an occurrence forty years later. Passing over many doings of the people in the wilderness, doings that were shameful -- they had made a golden calf; they had rebelled against Moses -- but she passes over all that and says, "We heard what ye did unto the two kings". Now I mention this, dear brethren, to bring before you how a spiritual person takes account of exploits of the people of God by reduction. Reduction

can only be by the Spirit. Now I say that for the young ones here who may not as yet have begun to avail themselves of the Spirit of God, but He is available to you for reduction: "If ye by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body ye shall live". Romans 8:13. Do not attempt it otherwise. The Holy Spirit is available to you for the mortification of the flesh. This is what Rahab takes account of.

In the book of Deuteronomy, which in a special way treats of things spiritually, we have the dimensions of the bed of Og. He could never enter by the narrow way. Of course he was king of the Amorites, but he represents a feature in our spiritual history. He would be a man taken account of at Corinth. "Ye are puffed up", says the apostle 1 Corinthians 5:2. Who could measure up with Og? See the size of his bed! He was a man of great stature, but his very stature would preclude a possibility of his entering. Og is the man in the flesh. It is that big "I" that stands out before us when we do exploits. "They measure themselves by themselves" said the apostle 2 Corinthians 10:12. The habit of setting one brother over against another leads to the recognition of natural ability and attainments and party feeling. These things have to be abandoned if we are to enter Canaan. They may, in some sense, find recognition in the wilderness, but Rahab took note of the destruction of Sihon and Og. They were brought down by spiritual power in the saints. Rahab spoke of what the Lord did at the Red Sea and what the people did to the two kings. The latter type refers to the work of the Spirit in the saints. The Spirit, in that way, teaches us what a sister Rahab was. The Holy Spirit loves to dwell on women of worth, because they represent the subjective results of the work of the Spirit. Proverbs 31 speaks of the virtuous woman. Rahab comes under that head. She took account of the exploits of the spiritual in Israel. It was by the power of the Spirit typically these two

men were brought down. They were utterly destroyed.

Rahab herself has to undergo a most humiliating experience on the day of her salvation. She was saved alive and set outside the camp of Israel; Joshua 6:23. She is not immediately brought into the camp. What exercises she would have as she saw the city sword-swept! She was set outside the camp. She would thus learn that the camp of God was holy. And then the Spirit of God tells us, "She dwelleth in Israel unto this day". Joshua 6:25. I refer to her because in her we see the spirit of reduction.

In the first letter to the Corinthians the man after the flesh is shut out. The apostle insists on the cross, where he was judicially terminated. One said, "I am of Paul", another "I of Cephas", and another "Of Christ". 1 Corinthians 1:12. Parties with leaders existed, and there were dissensions amongst them, at the Lord's supper; and so the apostle rebukes even them. The first letter is like the "whip of small cords" John 2:15 with which the Lord cleansed the temple. No "package" was to be carried through the temple. No secret compacts among brethren, social distinctions, preferences, etc. -- all these things are foreign to the house of God. You see, if you apply that today to Christendom there is very little left. But God will apply it. It is our business to apply these principles now. 1 Corinthians contains them.

The second letter brings in expansion. You cannot have expansion in the Spirit without reduction in the flesh. The apostle addresses them as one who had been down into death; 2 Corinthians 1:8. His very life was threatened. But God delivered him. He is brought up from the grave, as it were, and thus used to open up the heart of God to them, in the covenant and the truth of reconciliation. The covenant is what God is to us in Christ, and the reconciliation is what we are to God in Christ. In the light of these two truths we are called on to expand.

Unless we understand the covenant somewhat we will be in poverty and under restraint. So in Isaiah 56:3 we read, "Neither let the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree". You see, the Spirit of God is dealing with people labouring under disabilities. All this clearance that I have been speaking of may bring about in some a legal state, whereas God would have us free. He says of the eunuch, "Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters". Isaiah 56:5. And of the son of the alien, "Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar". Isaiah 56:7. What a word of encouragement for every soul here who is labouring under any disability! The son of the alien necessarily labours under limitations and the eunuch labours under limitations. Whereas God would have you to know that as taking hold of His covenant He gives you a place and a name in His house, better than of sons and daughters. God would impress upon us the importance of the covenant. How He sets our hearts free. "Perfect love casteth out fear". 1 John 4:18. And where is perfect love to be seen? He has given His Son for you. I believe there are many saints labouring under assumed disabilities. They have given up the world, they earnestly desire to be with the people of God. They have joined themselves to the Lord, yet through want of spiritual intelligence labouring under disabilities. As a believer you are not the son of an alien. You are "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God". Ephesians 2:19. God would disabuse your mind of these disabilities. He says, "I will make you joyful in my house of prayer". Isaiah 56:7. How attractive

it is! You are there in perfect liberty in God's house, and He will accept your offerings, however small.

The results of the working of the flesh among them is dealt with in the first epistle to the Corinthians. Now the positive side is the love of God, and this the new covenant opens up. I think we have found a little of that since we have been together. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". 2 Corinthians 3:17. That is 2 Corinthians 3. Chapter 4 brings out how completely the minister of the covenant was in accord with the covenant, and the next chapter brings out what pleases God. As in accord with the covenant we are in accord with reconciliation. We are moving about in the body, agreeable to God. "We are zealous, whether present or absent, to be agreeable to him", 2 Corinthians 5:9. And then he goes on to say that "If one died for all, then were all dead, ... that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again". 2 Corinthians 5:14,15. "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more". 2 Corinthians 5:16. "If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation". 2 Corinthians 5:17. There is first reduction and contraction, then the expansion of the heart of the saints by the presentation of the love of God, reconciliation and new creation. They are not only presented doctrinally, but in the apostle's life and ministry. Whether present or absent he wished to be agreeable to the Lord. He had a definite object in life. Then he said, "We do not know any one after the flesh". 2 Corinthians 5:16. Only he could say it, perhaps, but it is a wonderful thing to have such great spiritual experience brought near to you in a man of like passions with yourself. So that if any one be in Christ, it is new creation. We are not literally in new creation yet, but did it ever dawn on you that there is such a thing as new creation? "Old things are passed away behold, all things are become new". 2 Corinthians 5:17. I do commend to you that remarkable statement.

In the next chapter he gives us a list of some thirty-five or more things or circumstances which he had experienced himself; 2 Corinthians 6:4 - 10. Then he says, "Our mouth is opened to you ... our heart is expanded". 2 Corinthians 6:11. They were his children; he says, "I speak unto you as children; let your heart also expand itself" 2 Corinthians 6:13. He had presented the truth to them, being himself a witness to it in his ways, and now he appeals to them to become enlarged. And then he uses negatives. "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" 2 Corinthians 6:15,16. The questions answer themselves, and their very answers involve absolute contraction from the side of the flesh. This must be if there is to be spiritual expansion. And I do warn young people especially about entering into any alliance, marital or otherwise, with unbelievers.

So the apostle is led, in giving the list, to refer to the temple of the living God. But they were it, and he goes on to say, "God has said, I will dwell among them and walk among them". 2 Corinthians 6:16. One has often thought of God walking amongst the saints. Suppose God walked about amongst His saints in their homes, their business, what would He find? We read that the Lord looked around in the temple first, then cleansed it, and then walked and answered questions in it; Mark 11.

Well, now, that was about all as to 2 Corinthians, except that in chapter 12, after speaking about cleansing in chapter 7 (chapters 8 and 9 deal with the "giving" of the saints), in the succeeding chapters he brings forward the things that he suffered. He was let down through a window in a basket. And now he says, "I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. ... Such an one ... caught up into

paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter". 2 Corinthians 12:4. One has to stop there, because one has to confess that one knows little of visions arid revelations of the Lord, but one would contemplate that we are men in Christ. In that day when we are free from the trammels that hold us now we shall appear as men in Christ. We shalt be manifested with Him. So the church is presented as composed of such, not babes in Christ, but men in Christ. Here it is presented in one person, fourteen years before, but in Ephesians it is, "Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ". Ephesians 4:13.

Paul had a most humiliating experience in being let down in a basket, and now, as a man in Christ, he is caught up to the third heaven, into paradise. As here in the flesh he needed the reducing experience of the basket and the "thorn", but expansion belongs to a man in Christ.

THE YEAR OF RELEASE

Deuteronomy 14:22 - 29; Deuteronomy 15:1,2; Philemon 8 - 20

These scriptures may appear to be far apart and unrelated, but I hope to show that though they are such from a historical point of view, yet they are intimately related, and deal with precisely the same thing, namely, the establishment and maintenance of right relations among the people of God. God would have amongst His people family relationships, not only in name but in immediate and permanent activity.

In mentioning the fact of the family, one is led to think of it as presented in an extensive way through Scripture, it being a primary thought with God, and what is primary with God He cherishes so that from John's point of view, the immediate and permanent result of the Lord's becoming flesh was, that a family came into evidence. It says, "He came to his own, and his own received him not". John 1:11. John sums up the ministry of Christ in the midst of Israel briefly saying, "As many as received him" -- there were some who received Him -- "to them gave he the right to he children of God", John 1:11, 12. That is what we are here and now.

In his first epistle, John also says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God ... Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be", 1 John 3:1, 2. Not only are we accorded the right to take the place of children, but we are called such, we have a known designation -- "the children of God".

Now I wish to speak on these lines, and would seek to show how the family is endowed, so that there should be the means whereby our status and dignity are maintained in this world. The book of Genesis

yields more family instruction than any other book in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy corresponds in result. Genesis affords the instruction that bears fruit in Deuteronomy. That is, the people were to go into the land as a family. This chapter (Deuteronomy 14) says, the people were the sons of Jehovah, and then the Spirit of God prescribes their food. We all know the effect of food in the bringing up of children, in the forming of their constitutions, so that the relationships being formally recognised, the food is prescribed.

But prior to all this, there was the original patriarchal influence and example (I trust you will follow my remarks). God had said to Moses, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob", Exodus 3:6. These are the patriarchs, and Jacob, the last of them, shines in his true patriarchal instincts, intelligence and energy as he was about to pass off the scene. One refers to him with a peculiar kind of feeling. Our minds last evening were directed to a glorious sunset. Such a sunset is absorbing in its splendour, and I would liken the end of Genesis to a sunset such as was described to us. Jacob hears that Joseph, the object of his tenderest affection, is coming to him; the one upon whom the preservation of the family depended, and it says, "Israel strengthened himself". Genesis 48:2. There is no evidence that he took a stimulant. The power was in him, he strengthened himself although of advanced age. He rises to the occasion in the energy and power of Israel, and received Joseph, saying, "I had not thought to see thy face". Genesis 48:11. He also says, "Thy two sons ... shall be mine". Genesis 48:5. He knew he was going to die, but was in the energy and strength of Israel, and consciously a patriarch. Joseph's sons were now his sons. And further, he says, I am going to indicate what they are to be. Joseph, on his part, with true parental affection, brings the lads "out from his knees", Genesis 48:12, and the

patriarch blesses them. It says, "Guiding his hands wittingly", Genesis 48:14, indicating who was to have the first place. (See Genesis 48.)

Now, beloved, this parental designation is not far away from us. It refers to "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on the earth is named", Ephesians 3:14, 15. The Father names the families, and has given us the first place. Let us accept it. Of all the families named of the Father, the Church has the first place; even so in Israel, we have Joseph instead of Reuben, and Ephraim instead of Manasseh, and Levi taking precedence of all! Who devises such changes? God in His wisdom; and in that wisdom He has selected us to be first -- to have a unique place, the one nearest to Christ. We are named of the Father. As Israel, in remarkable intelligence, representing God Himself, designated Ephraim's greatness and multitudes, in whom the people were to be blessed, so God has designated us in wisdom, and more than wisdom, being "rich in mercy", and "for his great love". Ephesians 2:4.

Think of this for a moment: "For his great love, wherewith he loved us, ... hath quickened us together with Christ ... and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus", Ephesians 2:4 - 7. And so the apostle goes on, in his own energetic, loving way, to say, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God" Ephesians 2:19. That is what we are today. Our heavenly position is designated on account of His great love wherewith He loved us. Who could explain that love? No one. We bow to it, owning it is sovereign. We should rejoice in God's sovereignty, because of what it means to us. If there is anything that will give impetus to our affections

in a coming day, it is the knowledge of the great love of God underlying the position of the church.

Well, Jacob is about to die, and expresses these parental instincts, in view of leaving a family behind him. He says, "Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days", Genesis 49:1. He would have them to know what should happen. They were to represent him, and in doing so to have a great place here; so he says, "I will tell you". Then he says moreover, "Assemble yourselves, and hear" Genesis 49:2. That is to say, there is not only the evidence of the mind of God in the great patriarch, but the sons are to hearken to Israel -- it is the spiritual side -- their father. And then, at the end, it says, "All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, ... and he blessed them: everyone according to his blessing". Genesis 49:28. In other words, the tribes are set up fully endowed. And as Isaac, in an earlier day, had blessed Jacob, saying, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field" -- the field representing rich soil whence income would be derived -- so Jacob, according to Isaac's blessing, was sustained by corn and wine; Genesis 27:27, 28. The tribes, in like manner, are richly endowed, and Deuteronomy takes that into account.

Moses, the writer of the Pentateuch, was aware of all these things, and in reading those books we should always remember that it is a retrospective view, written by a man who had been forty years in the desert with God and the people; he looks back and records everything from that standpoint. It is only thus we can understand the Pentateuch aright, and so in referring to the family, he says, "Ye are sons of Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 14:1), not now the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We read in chapter 26, that an Israelite is to come with his basket of firstfruits to Jehovah and say, "A perishing Aramaean was my father". Deuteronomy 26:5. There is nothing about that in

Genesis 48, it does not depict a perishing Aramaean. Jacob is Israel strengthening himself, blessing the tribes, and representing God in so doing, though outwardly in weakness, having gone down to Egypt with a few. Spiritually he was Israel, progenitor of millions (not "a few") and these are now "sons of Jehovah".

Well now, the endowment is what will sustain us in our dignity, so the first thing is, what will your property bring in the first year, the third year, and the seventh year. In the seventh year you are so wealthy, spiritually, that you are able to "make a release". I can only briefly speak upon these three points, and would seek to enlist the interest of everyone here as setting out in his spiritual career.

That career is composed of hours, days, weeks, months, years. You have to wait a year before you can make any definite reckoning as to your acquirements. You may think you have acquirements, but your brethren know differently. You may think you can speak well and attempt to preach, but you have to wait a year in order to make a definite reckoning. It is the tithe of the first year, not of the first quarter, or the first half year that you bring to Jehovah. The inheritance was divided amongst themselves, each man was to have an allotment according to his needs; and now what will you do with it? You must spend a year on it, and a year is a considerable time for a young person. Time passes swiftly with the old, but with the young it is not so swift and so you sow your seed in the Springtime, and you have to wait. "The earth bears fruit of itself", Mark 4:28 and you are cast on God for it. During all these months between the sowing and the reaping you are cast on Him. Many things may intervene: You have to watch the sky, to look out for weather and be continually on the alert, if you are to have a crop. You say you love God, that is like a crop growing.

Then you look after it all the more because God looks for a tithe. You have to appear before Him and you must not come empty; if you have no crop, how can you bring a tithe?

I speak especially to yearlings. You are to go where God has placed His name with your tithe. You may think you have a fairly good crop, but when you come up to Jerusalem with your tithe and lay it down alongside of others', you may be very humbled about it. There are comparisons, you see. Here is a man from Beer-sheba. Look at his tithe, see his bag of money; think how many fatlings he can buy and the number of people he can entertain! Consider this brother, he has had a good year, for he has looked after his farm. And even in his youth he takes account of the Levite. Young people are not prone to have respect for the Levites. A Levite is one who will not minister to your natural feelings. He will not recognise your family claims, nor will he appeal to you naturally. But God says, even in your first year, do not forget him. He disregards his father and mother, and has no respect for family feelings when it is a question of his service. You must take him into account, and the more you do so the more you evidence your spirituality.

We now come to the third year: three in Scripture, denotes a complete period. It is completeness as to testimony. Every third year the Israelite who brings his tithe stores it within his gates. His doing so shows that he can be trusted. God does not say to him, You must come up to Jerusalem, for He can trust him to store up in his own gates his tithe. He is not like the man in Luke's gospel who had no room where to bestow his fruits, and purposed to pull down his barns and build larger, and there to store all his fruits and his goods. That man was not thinking of others at all. He certainly could not be trusted. God says to him, "Fool, this night thy soul

shall be required of thee", Luke 12:20. What is going to become of his goods? Whose shall they be? These were given to him to enjoy, not to store up. He did not know whose they should be. Solomon says, the man that comes after may be wise or a fool. (See Ecclesiastes 2:18, 19.) What will the fool do with your goods? Squander them, it may be. So the word here is, "At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year [all of it], and shalt lay it up within thy gates: and the Levite (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee), and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest". Deuteronomy 14:28,29. It refers to a "local brother" -- to use a familiar expression -- whose farm has done well, who has progressed spiritually and has added to his wealth; he has laid it up within his gates, and all the local brethren share it with him. That man can be trusted.

John, in his gospel, contemplates believers that can be trusted. The Lord, indeed, elsewhere, speaks of being faithful in that which is another's, otherwise who shall give you that which is your own? This is that which is our own. Our spiritual wealth is our proper endowment, and the man who is allowed to store it up within his gates can be trusted. He has already been up to Jerusalem and has measured up with his brethren, and now in the third year he is, in a sense, perfected. The Lord uses the word in regard to Himself, referring to His resurrection; Luke 13:32. The apostle says in Philippians, "As many as be perfect", that is, their senses are developed; they are not one-sided but are balanced, and such are to "walk by the same rule", Philippians 3:15, 16. In the presence of a perfect man "the meeting" does not lack anything. He is wealthy and shares it

abundantly with the stranger, fatherless arid widow, and especially with the Levite. The Levite is ever in the mind of God, and must ever be in the mind of the saints. He has no inheritance on earth, and so has to be the special care of the spiritual.

Now the seventh year is the year of excess. In that year time Israelite was to make a release. Not only do you show hospitality to your brethren and those who are near to you, but you remove everything that would tend to limitations. I hardly know of anything more pleasurable, in a way, than to be released from what involves bondage. It may be trespass; there is much trespass amongst us. A man who trespasses is obligated to the one against whom he trespasses, but the word here is that you make a release in the seventh year. You are not only "perfect", but spiritual. You are formed in Ephesian character, and as such are marked by excess. It says, "At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother because it is called the Lord's release". Deuteronomy 15:1,2. You are now like God Himself. In the seventh year one is, so to say, entirely on the divine side. You see what God is doing: that He has remitted His claim against every man and woman on earth. "When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both", Luke 7:42. That is God's attitude; it is His wonderful year of release.

Now the Christian is brought wholly to the divine side, to the release, not of every man, but of the neighbour and the brother (the stranger is not admitted here). So that instead of being in bondage on account of any claim we, as creditors, may have on them, we release them, and they are free to resume their occupations on their lands, and so develop them. A man bound to a creditor can make but little

headway, and many of us have suffered on that account. There is no wealth when you are bound to a creditor. Moses said, there shall not be a time when there will be no poor amongst you; the spiritual man therefore opens his hand bountifully to such, for it is "the Lord's release".

Now I have read the verses in Philemon because there is a striking correspondence between them and those in Deuteronomy already considered. The apostle Paul is the creditor and Philemon is the debtor. One need have no fear in having a creditor like Paul, because he is a wealthy man; he can write a substantial cheque, sign it with his own hand, and send it by the hand of one who was once a slave. He sends this cheque to his debtor, and says, Philemon, here is an opportunity for you: this young man left you, and is indebted to you, for he was your slave. In the meantime he has been converted; he is now my son, and is a great comfort to me. I would like to keep him, but I would do nothing without your mind, I therefore send him with this cheque, signed by my own hand. If he owes you anything, include that in it -- put it to my account but remember, you owe to me yourself also. What I wish to do is to establish brotherly relations between Onesimus and yourself.

Now that is the substance of the letter. It is the spirit of Deuteronomy, perfectly expressed in the beloved apostle. He says, I do not claim this for Onesimus as one having authority. I might so do, but for love's sake I rather beseech thee "being such an one as Paul the aged". Philemon 9. That is, he appeals to him on moral grounds, and says, I send this young man, a brother beloved to me, and I wish that he may be so to you. He is so to you, much more than to me, both in the flesh and in the Lord. Philemon, like many of us, required the gracious touch of a spiritual man, so that he might remit his claim; and

does it not appeal to you, dear brethren, to remit your claim?

It is "the Lord's release", let us then relax our hand from the loan, and in virtue of it, we shall have family circles where there is liberty, where we shall enjoy the affections of brethren beloved, instead of slaves. There is a great deal of misunderstanding and slavish fear amongst us, whereas the year of the Lord's release would enable us to remove all this by remitting all our claims, so that our brethren should be free and no longer slaves. We are truly free, as born of the free woman, and the Lord would have us to be in the liberty of wealth. Poverty tends to slavery, but spiritual wealth maintains us in practical liberty with one another. May the Lord bless the word!

THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY

John 20:17 - 23; Luke 24:48; Mark 16:15 - 18; Matthew 28:18 - 20

I have been thinking about service or ministry. You will remember how, in the epistle to the Ephesians, it is said that the Lord, as ascended into heaven, having led captivity captive, has given gifts unto men, "Some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers". Ephesians 4:11. These were to be, as it is said, "for the work of the ministry". Ephesians 4:12. You will see that the Lord has ever exercised wisdom and discrimination in the allotment of the gifts. Some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. God is the "God of measure", and gifts are dealt out according to His measure. The apostle Paul refers to this in regard to his gift. He laboured according to the measure which God, who is the "God of measure", apportioned to him. Gifts were given according to the order in which they were required in the ministry; they were "for the work of the ministry". -

Now my thought is to present, as the Lord may enable me, from these passages what is needful in ministry. I begin with John and work backwards, according to the order of the books. I begin with John because he is intended for the last days -- the last word, as it were, to us. We are to take up everything in the light of the last communication, and the gospel of John is, I believe, the last divine communication to the assembly -- later even than Revelation -- and it behoves us to view all that preceded in the light of this book. It throws light on all that preceded it. It is the gospel, as most of us know, of the Person of Christ, presented to us by one who was peculiarly loved by Christ, so much so that he is said to be "the disciple whom Jesus loved". John 21:21. He is thus a type,

for in these last days what counts specially is love. John says of himself that Jesus loved him, and there is abundant evidence that he loved Jesus. His love was reciprocal, and so he tells us (chapter 14) that he that has Christ's commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Him. The test of love is in keeping the commandments. And then, again, when the Lord is questioned by Judas, not the Iscariote, as to how He would manifest Himself unto them and not unto the world, the answer is "If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him". John 14:23. The commandment is first, and then the word. The commandment separates me from all that is contrary to it. The "word" is his mind, so that in keeping His word, as loving Him, there are conditions for the divine dwelling. The Father and He would come and make their abode there. It is not merely a visit.

Thus you see how John signalises love in a day of general departure, such as this, from the commandment of the Lord. And so I bring it forward now in regard to service. He tells us that the Lord in commissioning the disciples -- breathed into them. This is preceded by the verse I have read to you in reference to His communication to Mary Magdalene, in whom there was responsive love. The Lord honours her by speaking to her of the wonderful relationship into which the disciples were to be given entrance. I refer to this so that we may see that service emanates from the family circle. Qualifications for it are not acquired in the seminaries or universities. They do not afford the education that ministry requires. What John would insist upon is the family circle -- that those who minister according to God are sent forth from the bosom of the family. The disciples are the brethren of Christ. The Lord had just said to Mary, "Go to my brethren" (not 'the brethren'

now, but "my brethren") "and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father and to my God and your God". "Mary came and told the disciples", etc. John 20:17,18. She delivered her message.

In the light of this message they are in a certain place, not "in assembly" -- that is not the word to use, for it is not the assembly that John is concerned about now, but that which underlies it -- family relationship. Relationship with, God as Father, relationship with Christ as His brethren. That is the position. They had shut the door for fear of the Jews. They would not have the family in any way corrupted or impaired. The doors were shut. The circle of the family of the brethren is to be immune from all religious corruption and contamination. The Lord stood in the midst. He stood there. He is not sitting, because, as I understand, He is going further, and He says, "Peace unto you". John 20:19. I am not speaking, for the moment, of the privilege of the saints Godward, but of the features of the circle from which the Lord sent out His commissioners. He says again unto them, "Peace unto you". John 20:21. Having called attention to His love for them, as witnessed by the wounds in His hands and His side, they were to be imbued with the thought of love, as attested by His wounds. Having shown them his hands and His side. He again says, "Peace" -- the double portion, that of the first-born. Peace! It is a thought that pervades John, showing that inside there is to be peace. And then He says to them, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you". And then He breathed into them. What I see in this, dear brethren, is that the Lord intended representation, and representation must be founded on likeness, and likeness involves the spirit of the one whom I am like. It is not only likeness in physical form, but morally, and for that you must have the same spirit. Now we should not shirk from the idea of representation. No one should

attempt service without the idea that in some way he represents Christ. He had that in His mind.

Now I dwell on that for a moment, for service may be used on other things, and not accompanied by this. I am to be the representative of Christ as He was the representative of God "The image of the invisible God", Colossians 1:15 as it says. There must be that in order to serve according to God. He says, "Receive ye". It is not only that the gift is available, but it is to be received. "Receive ye Holy Spirit". John 20:22. You can understand, therefore, that as breathed into by the Lord He made available to them all that was necessary for representation. In the fourth chapter of this gospel we have the giving of the Spirit, and in the seventh it is the receiving of the Spirit. "This spake he of the Spirit which those that believed on him should receive". John 7:39. And so here it is "Receive ye Holy Spirit", and then He says, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted". John 20:23. What a commission, dear brethren, in a world of apostasy and where the people of God are led away in the drift! Sins of "ignorance" exist in all the varied denominations. Here the Lord puts a weapon into our hands, as representing Him in His service. You are to forgive them. You do not hide their sins -- you bring them to their attention; but it is only to forgive them. You are not retaining sins; true, where the will is at work, of course, our attitude must be different; we have to say to such an one, "Your sins are upon you; we are unable to remit them". But in general, according to John, the weapon of deliverance in our hands is forgiveness; it is the weapon of love. I think we can see, brethren, how serious the commission is, and yet how blessed. He has furnished us with the means -- His Spirit. So that in service I think of Him -- I think of His way of doing things; I have got the means because I have His Spirit. So that I approach those whom I would serve in the

spirit of forgiveness. I set them at ease. I am not charging them with anything. It is the spirit of forgiveness.

Now I want to pass on to Luke. This evangelist would make the service dignified. The whole of the last chapter of Luke has reference to the Lord's priestly service so as to qualify them to be witnesses. He opens their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. The Scriptures had spoken of His death and His resurrection -- the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. And so he says, "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached". Luke 24:47. Now a representative is one thing, a witness is another, and, mark, what He is dealing with here is not that they were His witnesses -- it is that they are witnesses of the thing. They are competent to bear testimony as having seen the things. I lay stress on the great importance of having the understanding opened so that we may understand the Scriptures. It is in them that we see the full bearing of the things the Lord speaks of here. The Scriptures have announced them, and now they have taken form, and He says, "Ye are witnesses of these things". Luke 24:48. Of course, the apostles had a special place in this respect, but the question arises -- "Of what am I a witness?" This question should arise with every one of us. Of what can I speak with the positiveness of a witness? What is it that we can bear testimony to with positive certainty?

And then He goes on to say, "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you". Luke 24:49. That is to say, the Spirit is given to them in divine faithfulness. The Father's promise -- a very precious thing. The Lord adds, "Tarry ye in the city until ye be endued with power from on high". Luke 24:49. Now, that is what I wanted to dwell on particularly. There is spiritual intelligence as the understanding is opened, and there is thus competency to witness, because in a

spiritual sense I have seen. How am I to bear witness? I am to be clothed with power from on high. You do not go on the witness-stand, so to speak, tremblingly or in fear or in shame. You are clothed with power from on high; it descends from heaven. It is a question of spiritual dignity. The minister of Christ is to go forth, not with apology, for why should he apologise in bearing witness of such wonderful things? Why should he apologise even because of himself? He is clothed with power from, on high. Where is man in all his dignity alongside of the apostles, alongside of Stephen and of Paul? "They could not resist the wisdom and spirit with which Stephen spake". Acts 6:10. His face shone. He was a heavenly witness, reflecting the dignity of his master.

In Mark it is a question of faith; we are to have all these things with faith. There I am looking at what is not seen. I am not occupied with external credentials of Christianity. Learned men ransack history to establish theories and hypotheses in regard to the origin of Christianity, and they find themselves peculiarly handicapped, for there is no literature. There is no record of any Christian literature in the early days of Christianity. The Old Testament was there of course, but nothing else. Literature was not then needed, for it was a question of faith. The dispensation of God was "in faith"; it was a living thing, seen in persons. What marked them? "These signs", said the Lord, "shall follow those that believe". Mark 16:17. Not apostles, not ministers, but "those that believe". "They shall cast out devils in my name", etc. Mark 16:17. There was no need to write a book to prove that such people were from God. They were, themselves, the book. Evil would lift up its head, as in the case of Elymas, the sorcerer, who would turn, away the proconsul from the faith. He was struck blind. Then there was that woman with the spirit of Python,

who said, "These be the servants of the Most High God". Acts 16:17. She did not deny God, nor that they were His servants; but she had a demon. There are people talking glibly today about God, but denying Christ. If Paul were here he would cast the demon out. It is well we should accept with humility the "day of small things". They that believed in the early days had power. I do not say there is no power now, but it is relatively very little. "Thou hast a little power". Revelation 3:8. The gospel of Mark, I believe, is the first of all Christian literature that is extant. It was written, no doubt, for Gentile believers. It was written to give an account of the ministry of Jesus. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God". Mark 1:1. There is nothing about His birth or His boyhood, it is the "Son of God". What Mark stresses is faith. The Lord appeared to the eleven, in the verse previous to what I read, upbraiding them with their unbelief. They would not believe the testimony, and if you cannot believe on competent testimony you are not a Christian. They disbelieved the testimony of Mary and of those who were going into the country who had seen Him risen. But now they believe, and He says, "Go into all the world", etc. Mark 16:15. Mark has "the whole creation" in view; "He that believeth shall be saved". Mark 16:16. It is a question of believing or not believing. And so "these signs", he said, "shall follow those who believe". Mark 16:17. I want everyone here to look into this carefully, because at the present time ministry can only be in faith. There can be no power to cope with the enemy otherwise.

Now I go on to Matthew. Matthew tells us that the Lord sends a message through a woman to whom He appears, to tell His brethren that they should see Him in Galilee. Now Galilee is a long way to Jerusalem. What Matthew would impress us with, first of all, is that for ministry you must go to the Lord, and it will cost you a journey; but what He

has to impart is precious -- it is worth the journey. You have got to reach Him. Things do not come to you merely by reading, by study. You have got to go to Galilee. You have got to read, to be sure. Timothy was enjoined to "give attention to reading". 1 Timothy 4:13. But in order to minister, in order to affect people, you have got to go, as it were, to the Lord in Galilee. If we aspire to minister (and it is a good thing to aspire to minister), we have got to go there. It involves strenuous exercise; as Paul says, "For this cause I labour", 1 Timothy 4:10 etc. The Lord says, "Tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me". Matthew 28:10. The order He was about to give them was a most extraordinary one. It was not simply to preach, but to "Teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Matthew 28:19. He meets them in Galilee. It is a question of distance, you see. It is a King we are dealing with. He is a great King -- the King of kings, and the Lord of those that exercise lordship. He is to be reverenced and respected. And so, as they met Him they came and "held him by the feet, and worshipped him". Matthew 28:9. Some doubted, but they worshipped Him. This is most wholesome. He comes to them, and says, "All power is given unto me" Matthew 28:18 -- a great fact. It is a King who is speaking. Matthew presents the King. Elsewhere we learn that the disciples were to be made a kingdom. We are made a kingdom and priests unto God. He says, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations". Matthew 28:18. How are we to "make disciples"? That requires power; "make" here implies skill and moral power. For this one has to be a king, and this is by coming under the influence and learning from Him in whom the full thought of kingship is set out. It is said in Proverbs that there are four stately things, and the last one is, "A king against whom there is no rising

up", Proverbs 30:31. That contemplates great moral power. What influence have I got? How am I to rule ten cities by and by if I cannot rule now? The first thing is to rule my own spirit. If I am to rule, I must rule myself first. The Lord exerted a marvellous influence in this world in a lesser way, so did Paul. And as you are influenced by the Lord you will be an influence. "All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth". Mathew 28:18. Paul brought Christ in among the nations; he presented in his own Person, as far as he could, the features of Christ. He says in speaking of the Corinthians, they had reigned as kings -- but what kind of kings? According to men. One who is a king after Christ has greater influence, and it is thus, and thus only, that disciples can be made.

And so the Lord goes on to say here, "Teaching them and baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Matthew 28:19. How much do you young people here understand that as baptised you are brought into all that? We have further -- "Teach them to observe the things that I have commanded you". Matthew 28:20. It is one thing to teach you certain things, but another thing to teach you to observe those things. "What things soever I have commanded you". Matthew 28:20. Look at the so-called Apostolic Church, based on this scripture, and what do you find? The things that Christ commands? No. It is "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition". Matthew 15:6. The Lord would bring us back, to observe the things that He has commanded. No one can be a true servant save as he takes these things into account. How can I teach anyone to observe the commands of Christ, save as doing it myself? Paul says, "I show unto you a way of more surpassing excellence". 1 Corinthians 12:31. That is the point. The way of love is not only spoken of -- it is shown; and so here it is "Teaching them to observe the things, whatsoever

I have commanded you". Matthew 28:20. And then He says, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world". Matthew 28:20. May we not reckon on that? I should never come to these meetings or undertake any service except as relying on this promise.

Well, I trust that what I have said will help us to understand what ministry really involves, and to furnish that, so that in these weak, small days there might be something that will correspond with what there was at the beginning in the way of ministry and service.

THE INHERITANCE

Acts 13:1 - 3; Joshua 18:1 - 10

(Summary of Reading)

We were talking together this afternoon of the inheritance and saying that Judah had his special portion in the south and Joseph in the north. The position of these two tribes indicates sovereignty. But there were seven other tribes whose portions were not allotted to them, and it appears that these get their portions in connection with the house of God. The two earlier divisions would correspond with the earlier chapters in Acts. We hear nothing of Peter and John being separated for their work by the Spirit, and that would correspond with Judah and Joseph, but the subsequent divisions of the inheritance were in connection with the house.

The house of God in its full bearing came out in connection with Paul's ministry; it was there in principle before, but as a universal thought and conception it came out at Antioch. Paul at Damascus had announced in the synagogue Jesus as Son of God; he had gone up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, thus linking himself wisely with what was there; there was no interference with what was already established. This is typified in Judah. Barnabas and Paul then (Barnabas being linked with Jerusalem) set out on their ministry, thus featuring mutual sympathy. They laboured a year in Antioch, and then we get prophets coming down from Judaea. One of them announced there was to be a famine over all the habitable earth. This dearth, in the government of God, prepared the way for the house -- for that feature of it which expresses universal sympathy. Those at Antioch who were well-to-do determined to minister to their brethren

in Judaea, which they did, sending it by Barnabas and Paul. So the sovereignty of God wrought by the Spirit to bring about universal sympathy and spiritual feelings and to overthrow national barriers. The Gentiles took account of the need of their Jewish brethren and helped them, sending it to the elders by these two brothers. We may say that, answering to the type, the tabernacle was now set up.

The introduction of the Gentiles in Acts would give adequate expansion to the thought of the house. The tabernacle was the house of God; Shiloh was the gathering place. Judah had a great place in the purpose of God, "The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and to him will be the obedience of peoples", Genesis 49:10. That indicates the gathering centre. It says in Joshua, "And the whole assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there, and the land was subdued before them". Joshua 18:1. There is nothing of rivalry seen at Antioch. This famine gave opportunity for the expression of Christian affection toward the Jewish brethren.

Such conditions existed at Antioch that the Spirit was free to bring out divine thoughts, and we begin here to get an insight as to how things would work out among the people of God. There was a good deal unknown yet as to what individuals may have. You cannot determine your own position. God has to make it clear in the house. We may know the extent of the territory, but that is only the first thing; these men in Joshua 18:4 were sent to make a survey of the land subdued before them. There are certain ones to whom God has given a place; some have gone. It is perfectly clear that God in His sovereignty raises up men and gives them special places. There are "lots" still unknown, but if we pursue a right course -- we may encounter opposition --

God will come in and each will have his place and there will be no confusion.

Perhaps we are more familiar with the general thought of the inheritance than with the particular way we come into it, but it is important that each brother and sister should know his or her divinely given portion and place. Simeon cannot select Dan's place, or vice versa. One of the most striking things is, that Simeon's portion was not made much of. Moses did not mention any spiritual blessing for him in the distribution in Deuteronomy 33. It is a very testing thing to look for one's name on the list and find it is not there at all. It is humiliating to be left out of account among the brethren. The man of God -- Moses -- leaves Simeon out; he has to take his part in another brother's territory; he gets his portion in the territory of Judah. Then that is a test to Judah, which is a further thing.

The principle of sovereignty tests us as to our position with God on the one side and love to the brethren on the other. I suppose there is nothing so exclusive as divine sovereignty. Simeon comes in on account of God's faithfulness. God has not forgotten him; he gets Beersheba and other towns. Simeon might say, I have got some wonderful towns; Beersheba was where Abraham lived; and Jacob was there, and had a vision which showed that however much it might appear that the promises were not going to be fulfilled through his going to Egypt, yet they were to be fulfilled. God says to him, I am the God of thy father, Isaac. Christ is risen and everything is secured for us in Him. Though the man of God may leave you out, God comes in and your place is secured. "The man of God" is a remarkable term. It is usually spoken of in the singular, he is one who is acting for God. Simeon does not lose in the end; his case teaches us to be content with obscurity. If you are waiting for indications

in the house, it will lead you to pay attention in the house and you will learn your place. You may rely on certain features bringing you into notice, but if a man is to know his place he must find it out in the house of God. Each one should know his gift, God has set certain in the assembly. He would have us to know soberly the relative value of the gifts. There are firstly, secondly, thirdly, and "after that" others in connection with this disposition in sovereignty; 1 Corinthians 12:28.

Paul had a gift, and Barnabas had a gift, and they had been using their gifts, and using them effectively, but as yet no direct portion had been assigned to them. It is most important that the brethren should see that whatever you may have your place has to be indicated by the Holy Spirit in the house; Acts 13:2.

Recognising divine sovereignty would make you willing to be only thirdly, or even "after that". That is what we do not like naturally. There are prominent gifts and minor gifts in the category. But that side is preparatory to 1 Corinthians 13. You come properly to the conditions in which the inheritance is enjoyed in chapter 13. In 1 Corinthians 12 we get the disposition in sovereignty of those set in the assembly, but all is in view of the surpassing excellence of what comes out in chapter 13.

When God is setting up a man and allotting him his portion He uses expressions to bring him down. We get an illustration of that in Joshua 1:1, "Jehovah spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' attendant, saying, Moses my servant is dead; and now, rise up, and go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I give unto them, to the children of Israel". Joshua is not spoken of yet as the "servant of Jehovah", though he gets that title later in the book. The reference to the spies and Rahab confirms that the Lord is not going to accredit

any one. Israel got help through the agency of a poor, despised, discredited woman. We get nothing like that in connection with Moses' ministry. Even in Paul's case, he comes in after Barnabas; it says Barnabas and Saul. Happily he was in keeping with that -- there was no rivalry with Paul.

We see the thing worked out more distinctly in those that are prominent, but every one has got a part in the inheritance. Paul said, "Learn in us".

The question is, What have we got in the dividing of the land? What are we possessed of with which we can minister to divine Persons?

Barnabas and Saul were two wonderful brothers. If you went to Antioch and asked the saints what they thought of them, they would have given them the first place, but that would not determine their position in the house. The Holy Spirit said under certain conditions, "Separate me now". Acts 13:2. What comes out first is the beautiful spirit of the brethren. It says, "Now there were in Antioch in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers ... and as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting". Acts 13:1,2. Those are the conditions the Lord had His place, they ministered to the Lord. The sceptre and the lawgiver have got to be recognised. Thus they would not turn from the truth. The sceptre is the rule of Christ, and the lawgiver is regulation. They ministered to the Lord and denied themselves in fasting. The principle of self-denial is most important. There have been noted men who gave up their comforts for the sake of the people of God, and God honoured them. Priestly conditions and priestly service were present. God said, "Take Aaron ... that he may minister to me in the priest's office". Exodus 28:1. It is a wonderful thing that God has brought about priestly conditions in the assembly in the Gentile world. It is striking that it is not in connection with their prophesying and teaching, but in connection with what was

priestly that the divine mind was made known in "the assembly which was there". Acts 13:1.

There was that which was set up for God at Antioch. When Barnabas and Saul went to Jerusalem with the money, and the brethren asked them about Antioch, they could give an account of what God had wrought. He had brought about assembly conditions in the Gentile world. The Lord said in Luke 24:41, "Have ye here any meat?" When we come to a place, we want to find out what the brethren have got. Paul could say, God has wrought at Antioch -- not through the official element, but God has wrought: He has brought about assembly conditions in the Gentile world. He was going to distribute the inheritance and He has been doing it ever since. There is still more to be allotted in the house of God.

Joseph had the north land and Judah the south, which we might connect with Peter and John. In the earlier part of the Acts there had been a fixed state of things already; Paul would not interfere with that; there were those to whom God had definitely allotted their portions. We have to respect what is already fixed. But there is a brother who has his inheritance, a large territory in the south -- the most favoured part of the land -- is he ready to let in Simeon? That is what brings out what God has already wrought. Jerusalem gave Paul the right hand of fellowship, there was brotherly feeling with Judah in that way; Judah and Simon went up together to fight against the Canaanites in Judges 1. Supposing God gives you a place and another brother comes in, are you ready to give way? The greater you are spiritually, the more ready you will be to admit any one who comes in. After all, it is all ours.

It is the same spirit as we get in Luke 14:10, "Friend, come up higher". If I went up higher to start with, I should have to go lower to make room for another. It is a question of divine appointment. It is refreshing

to see a magnanimous spirit in a brother; he is great enough to make room for the most insignificant gift. Peter and those in Jerusalem recognised Paul. The Holy Spirit is now distributing, and we want to make room for what the Holy Spirit will do. When the conditions exist, then He speaks; things go through a regular course and at the right moment the Holy Spirit speaks. Where there is a priestly state and assembly conditions the Holy Spirit dominates the brethren and they get their portions. The great thing in the house of God is to give the Holy Spirit freedom; He acts freely under certain conditions. Think what the Holy Spirit would be to us if we gave Him freedom. Shiloh was the gathering centre; the Lord has recently emphasised the house, but the body should not be left out of sight. The body is for the expression of Christ, and the gifts are for edifying but the Spirit speaks in the house of God. He indicates His mind and the allotments are made. I think family feeling would come with it, and the brotherly spirit. Judah is able to let in Simeon, he does not want it all. There is no thought of a brother dominating everything. The more you have, the more wealth I have. We were speaking of the number of workmen who were working in the temple for Solomon; 1 Chronicles 22. What a wide distribution it suggests.

I suppose this has in view the seven tribes; and what it signifies is the completeness of the family. The outlook of it is very wide; it has regard to all the saints.

It makes room for the Spirit. There is, alas, a great deal of divine competency not liberated for the service of the brethren. The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul, they were competent vessels and they became more so when they were separated for their service. That should exercise us all, whether what is there is available for the service of the brethren.

The Lord would not have the saints without sufficiency; men of God knew that in the past. They could not tell what the Spirit would do, but those who knew the Lord knew that He would not leave the saints without sufficiency. There is no thought of the spiritual wealth of the assembly on the divine side being diminished or the gifts taken back. He gives the gifts and there is no thought of His recalling them. There are many breaking bread who are perfectly capable of serving the brethren in love, and they do not exercise their capacity. The Lord is saying, "Loose him and let him go, for the Lord has need of him". Matthew 21:2,3. He knows where they are, though we may have to do the loosing. Brethren who have ability oftentimes do not exercise it. "Take heed to the ministry thou hast received that thou fulfil it", Colossians 4:17 was said to Archippus. Make room for the Spirit and He will use what is there. There may be very little, but what there is He will use. If love is in activity there is power to edify, as we see in John 21. John is the unknown quantity; Peter's part is plain enough.

THE INHERITANCE

Notes of Reading with J. Taylor and C. A. Coates on Joshua 16

C.A.C. I should be glad of help as to the general thought of the inheritance, and how it is divided in a practical sense today?

J.T. So should I. What have you had before you?

C.A.C. One can realise in some measure that the inheritance is too great to be taken up by one individual, or even by a section of the people of God; but how does the distribution work today? Do you enjoy a different portion of the inheritance from what I enjoy?

J.T. Surely. I suppose the section of the book which treats of the present mode of distribution would be chapter 18, where the tent of meeting is in view: "And the whole assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; ... And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not been distributed to them". Joshua 18:1,2. Then at the end of chapter 19, "These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting". Joshua 19:51. I thought that there we have what applies to the saints right down to this dispensation. God indicates at the outset that certain ones were to have certain portions, and some others, but all subsequent dispositions were made in the house.

C.A.C. How would that work out in its bearing on ourselves?

J.T. God has to do with it, but the saints are brought into it in their judgment of things, the place

they acquire. The land was subdued before them; that I suppose, refers to apostolic power and authority, but subsequently the disposition of God was made in relation to the assembly. The saints come to the judgment of it in the tent of meeting. How that works out in detail would be a matter for each to think over.

C.A.C. Is there any particular scripture in the New Testament that would help in regard to this distribution?

J.T. The early part of Acts brings it out. We see God's direct disposition in the apostles; there is no question as to Peter's place or any of the others. Then Barnabas comes in moved by God, the truth lays hold of his heart, he brings his money and lays it at the apostles' feet. But his place in the testimony was not made clear immediately, it took time, the apostles did not even appoint him; there is more development in the house.

C.A.C. Yes, in that way as recognising the house, each would be spiritually exercised to find his right place.

J.T. You will observe in the end of chapter 19 that Eleazar comes before Joshua: "These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun ... distributed by lot in Shiloh before Jehovah at the entrance of the tent of meeting". Joshua 19:51. There it is not apostolic authority as in Moses or Joshua, but priestly. The place the priestly element has in all assembly matters is of the first importance, because after apostolic judgment ends we have to depend on the priestly element.

C.A.C. I suppose the practical weakening and possibly the absence of the priestly element led to all the disorder in the assembly.

J.T. Quite so. So the selection of Barnabas and Paul was by the Spirit; the twelve had its part in it.

C.A.C. Would that be indicated by attention being called to the fact that Joshua was old? The Joshua side of things was passing off, referring to the weakening in the assembly of spiritual lead of apostolic character.

J.T. Yes, that raises an interesting point, because all the chapters in the Acts from 6 to 12 point to a certain weakening in Jerusalem. The delegation of everything by the apostles to others seems to indicate that they were relinquishing their responsibility; and Peter's imprisonment in Acts 12 brings out a certain peculiar position in Jerusalem -- they prayed and prayed for him in the assembly, and yet they did not believe when the answer came. They did not believe the Lord was answering their prayers in relation to Peter; there was a weakening at Jerusalem, but at Antioch there was indicated a priestly state. Barnabas was there, and names were given of certain ones in the assembly there. They were marked by ministering to the Lord and fasting, so the priestly element was found elsewhere than in Jerusalem. In that connection the Holy Spirit asks for Barnabas and Saul; He says, "Separate me", Acts 13:2. I thought that the Holy Spirit acting thus implies the intimate knowledge that God has of conditions among us.

C.A.C. I suppose you would say that it is not in the mind of God that things should be conserved in the assembly by apostolic power. His thought was to remove the apostles, but that things should be sustained in priestly and spiritual power in the exercises of the brethren.

J.T. Yes, that is most important and comes down to ourselves.

C.A.C. We see that the apostles were unable in their later years to correct the state of the assemblies. There is a distinct weakening, so that both Paul and

John had to witness the sad state of things in the assemblies; and they did not seek to adjust them by apostolic power but left them to the moral exercises of the saints.

J.T. Quite. In Deuteronomy, when Moses was to be removed, Jehovah directs that he and Joshua should appear before the tent of meeting so that the leader should continue. But, whilst he was divinely appointed and nominated, yet the consummation of all was at the door of the tent of meeting; God brings in the saints. There is nothing arbitrary in what He does; He carries us with Him if we are ready for it.

C.A.C. Would that be confirmed by the thought of the habitation of God by the Spirit at the end of Ephesians 2? Then we get a parenthesis in chapter 3 which brings in spiritual and priestly state; then the distribution of gifts in chapter 4 and the allotment of grace to every one of us according to the measure of the gift of the Christ. That is linked somewhat with the inheritance.

J.T. It is indeed. So the saints are carried forward. Jehovah enjoined that Moses should compose a song which he taught to the people. That was something they would have subjectively, and not only did Moses compose it but Joshua was linked on with the service of the song. Then the Levites were directed to put the book of the law in the ark; it was conserved there. Christ looks after that, as it were. It was put there that nothing should be lost. There was a song to be taught to the people and under these circumstances Joshua takes on his ministry. We see how God carries the people on with Him in what He is doing. There is nothing arbitrary; everyone assents to what is done. So, while we have fixed principles, they can never be dissociated from priestly state; they lose their power if they are.

C.A.C. No divine principle can be rightly applied otherwise.

J.T. Divine principle in other than priestly hands loses its familiarity to us and becomes strange.

C.A.C. I remember a striking remark of J.N.D. : "Divine principles in the hands of unspiritual persons are like a sword in the hands of a drunken man". I suppose at the door of the tent of meeting the divine allotment would be seen in its completeness without any defect. In taking possession there was failure, there were defects; people stopped short of the divine apportionment, of taking up the inheritance. What are we to learn from that?

J.T. Judges and Joshua representing the direct disposition of God, each has its own presentation of what happened as to Achsah and Caleb. They represent elements of appreciation of what God gave. In Joshua we have the daughters of Zelophehad; without these elements what God confers is sure to be misused, but with these elements and others a right appreciation of the mind of God stands out, and divine things do not go begging, as, alas, they often do. Caleb and Achsah show they appreciate what God gives, and so do the daughters of Zelophehad; they come forward and ask for their rights. There are those who fail to take what God apportions of the inheritance, which shows their want of appreciation of the thing.

C.A.C. The fact of the little moment that remains to us is highly important. There is time for us still to possess if we have failed in the past. There is long-suffering of the Lord to us-ward. If there has been defect and anything unsuitable there is space yet for repentance and getting right. So, in principle, if I have not possessed what has been given, there is a little space yet to make it good, which is encouraging to me.

J.T. It says that the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim took their inheritance. The daughters of Zelophehad in the next chapter show their appreciation

of it: "They came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren". Joshua 17:4. Achsah asked for springs as well as her inheritance -- upper and nether springs. Things cannot be continued without water, they grow hard and dry. On the other hand there is a desire to have what we have among our brethren; that is what the daughters of Zelophehad sought for. We do not want it independently.

C.A.C. I suppose the thought of the inheritance would bring in the brethren. It is "according to their families" -- that is repeated more than once.

J.T. Quite so. Another thing that comes out in the distribution of the inheritance is the irregularity of the boundary lines. According to Ezekiel they will be long lines straight across the land. There will not be then the same need for brotherly giving and taking as there is need now.

C.A.C. That is a very interesting consideration, because I was noticing in reading that one tribe had cities in another tribe.

J.T. Yes, you find that whilst a large portion was given to Judah yet in result Simeon has to get his portion inside. That is a great test and tax on one's love. It seems that the book of Joshua brings out in that way the love of the saints. God delights to bring that out and He gives occasion for it in the irregularity of the boundary lines; it gives occasion for brotherly consideration and grace in one another.

C.A.C. An exclusive principle among the brethren is not to be maintained. Is that the thought?

J.T. Quite. This country is divided up into parishes, and each vicar has his own parish, but that principle does not maintain in the house of God.

C.A.C. I suppose what is local still obtains, but there is not an exclusive principle introduced.

Brethren from another tribe are welcome. Is that right?

J.T. Yes. You do not in Teignmouth assume that brethren are not to come and have their part in what is there. The more love is active, the more communion there is.

C.A.C. I suppose now that the Lord would give opportunity for fellowship between adjoining cities, and would also provide opportunity for links practically of love between districts? I was thinking of the collection being made in Macedonia and the assemblies in Galatia to minister to the saints in Judaea. Would that not answer to the interlocking of the tribes?

J.T. Quite. The types provided for the males appearing before Jehovah thrice a year to maintain the tribal association, they would never lose that. But in Jerusalem they would be a nation, a centre where all are a community for the interchanging of wealth. Each is there according to his wealth, according to the measure he has developed the portion which God has given him.

C.A.C. Would the place where Jehovah sets His name give us the universal idea? The tribes go up. Would it suggest our entering into the spiritual privilege which is the universal privilege of the assembly? If we touch spiritual privilege we pass outside what is local into what is universal. Would not that answer to going up to Jerusalem?

J.T. I thought so. They would meet there on common ground, but it would soon show which had the richest inheritance, who had the most wealth. The borders of the tribes give occasion for the development of love -- "with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love: using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bonds of peace". Ephesians 4:2,3. They would rather maintain unity and peace than gain a bit of land. Peace among the brethren is more important than the

inheritance. We are to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit, because unless we are on good terms with our neighbour we cannot take in the universal thought.

The general principle would be to have confidence in all matters which arise locally; the general principle that underlies the assembly is confidence; if there is not confidence there is nothing. We must have confidence in the brethren. If they are not worthy of it they are not material for the assembly; if they are, we must leave things with them. Do you not think so?

C.A.C. Yes, I think that must be the only principle on which we can go on.

J.T. "One body and one Spirit ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all". Ephesians 4:4,5,6. We must have that; we cannot violate that; and in order to maintain that we must bear with things in love, and endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. That is the great end in view. If there are any brethren on the spot in any difficulty, in principle I should say, Why should the Lord pass by them? It is their direct responsibility. Why should the Lord pass by them? He would not do it unless compelled to.

C.A.C. You would regard the challenging of a local judgment as altogether abnormal, and only justified on the most unquestionably moral grounds?

J.T. I am sure it is so.

C.A.C. As a general principle we should count on the Lord to give judgment locally, and it would be abnormal if saints locally did not exercise spiritual judgment in any local case. And it would also be abnormal if saints in a district formed a wrong judgment as to matters which occurred in the district where they lived. In either case it would be a serious matter to call it in question.

J.T. I do not see how we could get on if we did. One marvels to think of it, broken up as we are, with national prejudices, class feelings, and what not -- it is a miracle that we get on as we do.

C.A.C. I have often considered with profound admiration the way the Lord preserves unity and integrity of heart which values what is of God, and enables the brethren to recognise it.

J.T. Yes, we have no one to appeal to. "The locusts have no king" Proverbs 30:27; yet there is unity among us. I think the Lord would impress on us the principle of boundaries which are irregular, and that answers to things as they are now. I am called on to give way, and in result the unity of the Spirit is preserved. God would emphasise lowliness and meekness. I do not want to assert myself in any way. I want to have a right judgment, but to have it in all lowliness, meekness and long-suffering, bearing with one another in love. Christ is made prince of the kings of the earth; the princely idea is a universal one. A prince is a man great enough to be little. Barnabas represents the princely idea in the way in which he maintained and promoted unity among the saints of God.

C.A.C. The princely idea is Christ in the saints, so we have the principle of submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. I understand that to mean the recognition of Christ in the brethren.

J.T. Is there not authority too in it? Coming over we were dwelling on the epistle of John: we see love working there because we are born of God, yet the commandment is there. We see love worked out in those begotten of God, but the family feelings and instincts are throughout the epistle emphasised as commandments.

C.A.C. That principle is of the greatest importance in a day where lawlessness abounds and manifests itself in the circle of the saints.

J.T. Yes. You cannot say you love God and not

keep His commandments. It maintains the authority of God ever among us. Love is spontaneous, but God never leaves anything to itself. He always maintains His own rights. It is so even in the universe; it goes of itself, but He holds it in His hands.

C.A.C. While there is liberty, it is the law of liberty.

I notice that Judah's portion is too great for him, so he has to let in Simeon; but the children of Joseph complain that their portion is not great enough, and they are told to go up and cut down wood: they are exhorted to go in for clearing operations. There is a difference between killing the Canaanite and cutting down wood. I was wondering if the Canaanite would represent positive elements of evil, spiritual wickedness, and the wood might represent what is not evil in itself but what is natural, which obstructs the people of God and renders the inheritance unfertile so that no crops are produced there. Spiritual energy is needed to cut down what is merely the growth of nature, even though it is not evil in itself. Many of us have found that there were things which are natural to us but which obstruct the enjoyment of the inheritance, and militate against spiritual happiness. I suppose the thought of the inheritance would be very much fulness of joy. We have the inheritance family-wise very much in the writings of John -- "your joy may be full". 1 John 1:4. Many of us feel we are not full of joy -- well, if not, something must have obstructed spiritual fruitfulness as far as we are concerned. I suppose the spiritual happiness of the saints would be according to the measure in which the inheritance has been entered upon. We might test our own hearts whether our joy is full. I know experimentally there is a great difference between the knowledge of the doctrine, giving one's assent to the truth, and having fulness of joy. If we are not enjoying the inheritance and reaping the fruits of it

for our own enrichment, we shall not have any tithes to take up to Jerusalem. One has thought how wonderful it is that the greatness of Christ, the Son of God, which is so infinitely vast in its extent, should be distributed amongst the people of God for their own joy. The assembly, looked at universally, is an adequate vessel to take it up, so that God has the glory, the full result of the activities of His love brought back to Him in the universal praises of His people. It is a very touching expression of divine love that God should make His portion to be dependent on His people having theirs.

J.T. Yes, I have often thought, How much does God get out of our meetings?

C.A.C. I suppose that would be the object of all levitical service. The universal service of the levites would be to keep before the people what was due to God, so that God might get His portion in His people and from His people.

J.T. The whole tribe of the levites was taken over by God; they had no inheritance, indicating that we are enriched spiritually. Our heavenly portion is before God as the firstborn ones.

C.A.C. Yes. Jehovah Himself is their inheritance. In one passage the offering by fire is their inheritance: in another the priesthood is their inheritance; and in another the thought is that the Levite gets his portion peculiarly in the blessed God Himself as ministering to God's pleasure. Such persons serving among the saints would keep before them what is due to God -- that must be the ultimate object of everything.

J.T. Achsah gives a good lead, for she lays stress on the springs of water, and the daughters of Zelophehad make much of the Spirit and the brethren.

C.A.C. Somebody has remarked that the death of Caleb was not recorded. I think Caleb represents an undying principle of affection; he wholly followed

Jehovah, and that is never going to die out of the assembly. If Joshua goes, Caleb remains; and Achsah does not go either -- that is the intense, urgent desire for springs of water, the feeling the necessity for them. If these things are found the inheritance in principle is held and maintained.

THE GENTILE WORLD

Matthew 15:21 - 39

(Summary of Reading)

We see here that the Gentile world has become the field whence material for the assembly was to be drawn. This is the Gentile field; and the woman here qualifies as the right sort of material. The Lord places Himself within her reach; it was not what He was producing but what He finds. The woman qualifies in the way she answers to the light; she says, "Truth Lord". Matthew 15:27. She answers to the truth, and the test is that He answers her not a word, when she says, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David". Matthew 15:22. His disciples came and said, "Send her away; for she crieth after us", and He answers, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel". Matthew 15:23,24. The Lord was bringing out her position; she had no claim on Him as Son of David; the assembly is not formed of persons calling Him Son of David. There was a good deal of trimming and dressing necessary. Silence is a very searching thing. If you ask a question and a person does not answer, you wonder why; here it is solemn, but very wholesome. We sometimes ask things of the Lord that He does not answer at once. The disciples break in on the divine silence; it is an unhappy thing to interfere with the work of God. They say, "She cries after us" Matthew 15:23 -- they were selfish -- she was crying after the Lord. It was a question between her soul and the Lord. It is well for us to take notice of His silence and not to interfere with Him. It is a great thing to learn from Christ in divine things, to give the Lord a free hand. The Lord would bring her down for her good -- she had a confused thought; she was not an Israelitish woman, but talked as if she were. She had to learn to be quiet and get the mind of God; hence the silence. She

got down to the bottom when she reached the point of His dealings with her.

His service is not for nothing, it is for our blessing. He had His own joy in His service. He said, "O woman, great is thy faith" Matthew 15:28; there is feeling in that -- we do not want to deny the Lord His own pleasure in the service.

The Lord does not deal in superficialities, He digs deep and goes to the bottom. What comes out is that faith is found. However humiliating the disclosure, faith owns it. How quickly one who is exercised responds to the light! He says, "O woman, great is thy faith". Matthew 15:28. She ministered pleasure to the Lord, she would never forget that word. The Lord bears long with us, but it is when the full effect of the light is reached that He has joy.

Israel's territory is not sufficient for the work of God. He was certainly the children's bread, but the children did not appreciate the bread. What a wonderful meeting between Christ and this Gentile woman! She was one of those under the curse, but she had light in her soul as to her condition. She says, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table". Matthew 15:27. She had no thought of being a dog before, she responds to the light. Her faith was great. In Matthew the Lord invariably slights Jerusalem. In Luke He makes much of it. In Luke the preaching begins at Jerusalem, but in Matthew He slights it; so instead of any material for Christ coming from Jerusalem we have the opposite. What comes out here is that faith is found in a Gentile woman. She was one of the babes of Matthew 11. Faith, the acceptance of the light, was there.

In the next chapter He speaks of Himself as the Builder; here He is in the territory of rough material, and His presence -- the shining of the light -- reveals it. We have to recognise that the flesh profits nothing.

As long as we retain any thought of being something after the flesh it precludes the thought of our being suitable to the assembly. If she had retained the thought of being a Canaanitish woman she would have been prohibited from suitability. All natural thoughts, family pretensions and all that flesh lays claim to, interfere with our qualification for the assembly.

Then we see she is a mother, she has a daughter. A mother's exercised heart feels in regard of her daughter, and she gets the blessing for her daughter too. Many daughters are not affected by the exercises of their mothers, for they do not feel their own condition. The constitution of the assembly greatly depends on mothers. Spiritual mothers know how to teach young women to love their husbands and children. Maternal feeling is of God; a mother who exercises her legitimate feeling will shine in the assembly.

This woman is a subject of mercy, and, to use a figure, entitled to belong to the timber of the house of God; she would not have recognised the Lord at all had she not been a subject of mercy. It is not His work that is in view here, but He placed Himself within her reach. He did not go there by accident, but going forth He went away into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. There were other women there who did not come to Him; she must have had some previous light.

I was thinking this morning -- the Lord did not work for nothing, He had His joy. He says about the Samaritan woman, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of". John 4:32. While His disciples were in the town He was eating: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work". John 4:34. As life takes full effect in a soul God gets His portion. The Lord would have us know that we belong to the highest family, but before that we have to accept the lowest position -- the humiliating place of dogs.

All this time the daughter is not with her mother, but the mother is with the Lord about her. Discipline comes in in our families and it is intended to fit us for the house of God. Very often difficulties come in in our houses to teach us to be pillars in the house of God.

If we turn to 1 Kings 5 we shall see how the timber was brought down to the house of God. Timber refers to the dignity of saints, stone is more firmness and solidity. The woman began to qualify when she went to the bottom. It is dignity that enables us to go down. The natural man seeks to go up; flesh always exalts itself. True greatness enables the believer to go down. The timber came down in a raft; there is no architecture in a raft. It was just trees kept together and dragged through the water to the place Solomon appointed. These rafts were ungainly things, but they came under the influence of the water, and that is death.

At the end of Matthew 15 we have the feeding of the four thousand. It teaches us the presence of the Spirit, we get the number seven instead of twelve. The woman would appreciate this; "great" faith brings in the power of the Spirit. The Lord does not look up to heaven here, He is administering, having the presence of the Spirit in view. It is not apostolic days, but sufficiency in the Spirit; every sufficiency is in the Spirit. It is not here the administration of the twelve -- the vessels, that is, the baskets are larger here, it shows abundance. In being emptied we appreciate the fulness -- the Spirit's power is unlimited.

The Lord takes account of those who continued with Him in spite of deprivation and inconvenience. If we are together and seem to be getting nothing, yet those who continue get the blessing.

SOVEREIGN SELECTION AND THE HOUSE OF GOD

Psalm 78:65 - 69; Exodus 15:1 - 17; Psalm 114:1,2

(Notes of Reading)

J.T. What I have in my mind is that we might see that in the development of the testimony the house or dwelling-place of God is built on the principle of sovereign rejection and sovereign selection. At the outset in Exodus 15:2 there was a desire on the part of a redeemed people to glorify God. "This is my God, and I will glorify him", or "make him a dwelling". Then in verse 11 the question is raised, "Who is like unto thee, Jehovah, among the gods ... glorifying thyself in holiness?" Exodus 15:11. Later, in verse 17, we read, "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, the place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling, the Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared". Exodus 15:17. The song, beginning with a right desire, ends with God glorifying Himself, and all centres round the habitation. In referring to Psalm 78 the particular thought I had was that of the sovereignty of God in rejecting the tabernacle of Joseph and in choosing the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved. In glorifying Himself in building the house, God tests those in responsibility. Believers, of course, are the house, but there is the desire on the part of the saints to glorify God, and then God glorifies Himself; at the outset they are possessed of this desire. The gospels show this also. At Bethany they make Him a supper; they are beginning to take up the line of preparing for the Lord. So, too, "the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?" Matthew 26:17. Later in John 12 the Lord spoke to the Father: "Father, glorify thy name". John 12:28 Then came a voice from heaven, "I have

both glorified it, and will glorify it again". John 12:28. God sees to the glorifying of Christ, but He values the desire of His people to glorify Him -- to provide for His glory. God appreciates that, but reserves the right to do it Himself, because if it is to be done suitably according to God's greatness, and majesty, and holiness, He must do it Himself. They recognise here, "Who is like unto thee, glorifying thyself in holiness?" Exodus 15:11. He opens a door to His people, He accepts all we propose, but if He is to have a habitation in keeping with Himself He must build it.

A.S.L. In the tabernacle system all the willing-hearted could bring material, but God must give the pattern. "See that thou make all according to the pattern that I showed thee in the mount". Exodus 25:40.

J.T. Psalm 78 shows that in the hand of man the idea of the house had gone into decay; so God rejects Shiloh and chooses Judah; but He had that in view at the beginning, for God has no afterthoughts. He reserves His thoughts; He does not necessarily disclose them all at once.

A.S.L. So God's thought comes to light when all is in weakness on man's side.

J.T. Mount Zion preceded Sinai in the thoughts of God; Calvary was before Eden, Adam was a figure of Him that was to come. Mount Zion sets forth God's sovereignty, He loved it. "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell for I have desired it" Psalm 132:14. God is not arbitrary.

C.J.R. What is in your mind with regard to rejection?

J.T. Psalm 78 shows why God rejects, and He is justified when He speaks and clear when He judges; Psalm 51:4. God never does anything unless He can show He is right in doing it. No one can raise a question. When He rejects He shows why He does it. Psalm 78 is to set all that out.

A.S.L. Our privilege is to justify God in all His doings.

J.T. In our own time, too, the principle of rejection has come out. The history of Christendom corresponds to the history of Joseph; it has entirety broken down. It is a solemn thing to be rejected.

Ques. Is not everything for God established on the line of sovereignty?

J.T. Things are established permanently on that line, so in Hebrews it says, "Ye are come unto mount Sion". Hebrews 12:22. God has brought us hack to the line of sovereignty. God makes the two things run together -- sovereignty in God, and faithfulness in man. In Ezra we get God's sovereignty, while in Nehemiah we get faithfulness in man. Cyrus was selected sovereignly to start the movement in Ezra but Nehemiah begins with his own work. Thus in the Book of Ezra we get sovereignty in God and in Nehemiah faithfulness in man. There has been one Man perfect in faithfulness to God and He is looking for faithful and wise stewards. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant?" Matthew 24:45; but underneath it all is His sovereignty. God chooses whom He will, and moves where He will. The sovereignty of God tests us. It was a tremendous test to Christendom years ago when God called attention to what the church really is. The cathedral represents what things have come to, but God calls attention to what is real. But it was no afterthought with God, He always had it in His mind; Scripture clearly shows that and alongside of it we get faithful men.

Rem. Faithful men would have a deep sense of sovereignty.

J.T. In looking at Ezra we see that he rested in what God did. Joseph suggests Israel in responsibility. The tabernacle was set up and connected with Shiloh in Ephraim. In Psalm 78 all is in ruin, the ark was taken and everything was gone.

A.S.L. Does not all come to a climax in the crucifixion of that blessed One?

J.T. Ephraim or Joseph is particularly responsible. Sovereignty had put him before Manasseh, and he was doubly responsible for that reason, but God had Judah in His mind all the time. Judah owed his pre-eminence to God's sovereignty, but Judah must not vex Ephraim and Ephraim must not envy Judah. The one who has been replaced is not to envy those whom God has brought forward, and those whom God has called to come forward are to restrain themselves and not to vex them. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim", Isaiah 11:13. If we continue in His goodness we shall not be high-minded but fear. We have to learn that there are those whom God has to pass by and those whom He will use.

C.J.R. What do you mean by some being passed by?

J.T. God has passed by the leaders of Christendom, and if we are not faithful God will pass us by, and use others who are faithful. So when Ephraim had failed and the ark was taken, the glory having departed, God awakes "as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts ... Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim" Psalm 78:65 - 67. It is a solemn warning. God will go on with His work, and if we do not work with Him He will take up others.

A.S.L. It is not eternal security we are speaking of but His ways.

J.T. God refuses Joseph because he had proved unfaithful. This is a solemn word to us, because God will go on with His work, and in our own time we see the same thing. God has passed by the accredited Levites and all the hierarchy of Christendom, taken

up an unknown people, and called attention to the

assembly as the body of Christ and then as the house of God.

Rem. Responsibility is always connected with the house.

J.T. Yes; the people coming out of Egypt say they will glorify Him; they will build Him an habitation; but however much we may desire to, we fall very far short of His standard. There is nothing that will keep us in our proper place like being preserved in a deep sense of God's sovereignty, and we are extremely slow to learn it. God has undertaken in these last days to glorify Himself. We speak of it being a day of small things, but it is a day when God is working in connection with the latter glory of His house. In Haggai 2:9 the Holy Spirit says, "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former". There were only a few restored from the captivity, but God says the latter glory shall be greater than the former. God intends to glorify Himself, and He knows how to do it, and the results will be seen in the heavenly city. The house is where God is known and where His glory dwells, and having undertaken to glorify Himself He has made Christ Son over it. David had to learn the sovereignty of God as to whom He would choose to build the house. David had in his heart to build a house for God, but God says, It is reserved for Me to say who shall build it. He says I shall be Father to the one who builds the house. Solomon is Christ risen. He builds the house and is Son over it. The glory of God in the house necessitates sonship. He brings Christ out of death, places Him in heaven, and as Son He builds the house. We are living in a wonderful time, and we can see what God is doing in building a house for Himself. So Zechariah has it: "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou dost become a plain". Zechariah 4:7. God comes in and removes insuperable obstacles in grace, so that His own work is carried

on. The Lord said to Peter, "On this rock I will build" Matthew 16:18; the Father began the thing, now the Lord says, "I will build". In the early chapters of Acts Peter is not the builder. The Lord had reserved in His mind what He would, do. "He himself knew what he could do". John 6:6. Peter, James and John worked during a transitional period, and were continually in the temple. The house was there but could not be in evidence while the temple was standing. There could not be the development of the house while the temple stood. We are never fit for the house until other systems are discredited in our eyes. Peter was the instrumentality in the hands of God for three thousand being added, but the time for the house in the character of sonship had not yet come, and they had yet to learn that they were the temple. All that came out through Paul. So God converts Saul far away from Jerusalem. He is cut clear from all earthly moorings. The Son builds the house and the connection with the temple is cut; Jerusalem is gone -- all systems of men are discredited. Faithfulness is necessary if we are to be consciously in God's house. Christendom is not the house; we must leave all systems of men, as forming a definite judgment regarding them. In the early chapters of Acts the Builder was there, but the time had not come for the public display of the building.

The assembly as the house of God is not built by any man, but by the Son. The Lord was building and thousands were added. Acts 19 has the full development of it in view and so Paul separates the disciples; he went no longer to the synagogue; it is approaching the building of the house as seen in Ephesus. In the chapter twelve men are spoken to and afterwards receive the Holy Spirit. God's glory is ensured in that the Son is over the house. "Whose house are we" Hebrews 3:6 is a provisional thought. The house of God began with Jacob and the thought is carried

over from him and will be seen again in Jerusalem, but is seen now in the assembly; there is the full answer there to the truth of the house of God. We should not be on the level of the earth as forming part of that house; our ways should be on a more exalted plane. On this earth at the present moment there is nothing for God but the assembly, so that the assembly is the house now. "The tabernacle of God is with men" Revelation 21:3 is the final thought. In the millennial state of things there will be a more imposing show of things. Solomon built four houses, characterising the millennial state of things -- the house of God, his own house, the house of the forest of Lebanon, and the house of Pharaoh's daughter. In God undertaking to glorify Himself we get something that will abide; the answer to it is seen in Christ and the assembly. The desire to glorify God should ever be present with us, and links on with God glorifying Himself; He has undertaken to do that and is doing it now. Ephesians refers to the former and the latter glory of the house (Ephesians 2:19 - 22; Ephesians 3:21); the former glory and the latter glory converge and we are in the light of both now. "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages", Ephesians 3:21. It is one of the features of the moment in connection with the house of God that it has brought into prominence the holiness of God.

In order to understand the house from the spiritual point of view we must see John's presentation of it. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" John 1:14. John's two disciples who followed Jesus say, "Where abidest thou?" John 2:38. He says to them, "Come and see". John 2:39. To understand the spiritual thing we must come and see where the Lord abides. Externally the saints are the house, but we must understand where the Son abides. "They went therefore, and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day". John 2:39. The

Son invites followers to "come and see". John comes in, bringing the light of the internal thing. So John stands by us; if we have to stand alone, we can get the good of the house in a spiritual way.

CHRIST AS KNOWN IN THE HOUSE

John 8:35,36

Verse 35 of this chapter suggests the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is to be known in the house. He is in it as having built it, and in mentioning His work in building the house, one is minded to refer to Him as building all things. It is said, "He who has built all things is God", Hebrews 3:4 but God as in the Person of the Son, "by whom also", we read, "he made the worlds". Hebrews 1:2. That word, "the worlds", as it comes into the mind produces a sense of one's littleness as finite, for if one thinks of the worlds, one has to take refuge in God, and one may find refuge in God, for "he who dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him", 1 John 4:16 so that one is filled and restful in the sense of what God is; otherwise one is lost in the very thought of the worlds. The greatest mind must find itself lost as it thinks of the worlds, for the mind naturally enquires what is beyond, and beyond, and beyond, and you have to stop as being finite. Hence in acknowledging God you take refuge in Him, as He knows, and that suffices. As Paul said, "Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth" 2 Corinthians 12:2. The heart rests there; God knows, and as one is humbled in contemplating one's littleness, one's admiration of Christ in His greatness is enhanced. He made the worlds, and without Him was not anything made that was made. The mind and heart are subdued as the greatness of Christ is before one. "All things received being through him, and without him not one thing received being which has received being". John 1:3. "By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by the word of God". Hebrews 11:3. We apprehend, but we cannot take it in; nevertheless the word of God found its expression in Christ; it was carried out by His Son; He by whom all things were made, as

John presents it, became flesh and dwelt among us. He came within the range of men, and as dwelling here He was known as coming in and going out among them, and there were those sufficiently interested to contemplate His glory. "We have contemplated his glory" John 1:14. What glory? Not only as the Creator of the worlds, but as dwelling among men. "A glory as of an only-begotten with a father" John 1:14 -- that is how He was contemplated. It is thus we begin to get an insight into the house with the Son in it, and the Son in all His personal dignity as an only one with a father. We shall never understand it aright unless we see the Son in it; He is in it according to John's presentation of truth in family relationship as "an only-begotten with a father" John 1:14 -- so that it might be intelligible to all of us.

But in that relation He has our need in view. He is said to be "full of grace and truth" John 1:14; grace to secure our hearts and truth to extricate us from the world; but He is there as an only one, as wearing the glory of an only-begotten with a father. That is what John has in mind. But He is also in the house administratively and for that thought one would refer to Matthew, for Matthew is the great administrative gospel. Each of the evangelists presents the Lord in connection with the house in a sense peculiar to his gospel and understanding that helps us to understand the gospels. The thought in my mind tonight is the house system, God dispensing through His house; that is the dispensation in which we are and in which we have part. So Matthew presents the Lord to us as in the house from the outset. You recall how the wise men from the East were guided by His star. He was the King of the Jews, and the wise men found Him in a house. (See Matthew 2:11.) We have to understand that the dispensation is house-wise; that is the characterising feature of the moment, the dispensing is house-wise. We must

first come under the rule of the sceptre, and be instructed by the Lawgiver, but Shiloh involves the house, and the great objective in the house involves the obedience of the peoples Genesis 49:10. Hence the Lord is in the house and the wise men come into it. What is before me is that every one might be encouraged to come into the house. The Psalmist says, "Let us go into the house"; so the wise men go into the house and did Him homage, and having opened their treasure they offered Him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, the Spirit of God opening Matthew in that way with what is due to the Lord in the house. Men have disregarded the rights of Christ in the house, and hence they have lost the activities of the Spirit. The Lord's rights must come first, and hence the wise men did homage. That is the way to arrive at the house from Matthew's point of view. If He is born King of the Jews He is born to rule and exercise the rights of God, for there is no room in the house for man's disobedience. But the fact is that the very grace of God is taken advantage of to disregard the rights of Christ, but we cannot do it with impunity, the government of God moves on, He comes in governmentally. Matthew opens with homage being rendered by Gentiles, a rebuke at the very outset to the legitimate subjects of the King, who were attempting to kill Him. The Gentiles seize the opportunity and if we are to get the benefit of the house of God we must do as the wise men did, we must begin with humble acknowledgment of the rights of Christ in the rule of the house. If we have not done it, take advantage of it now. If you want to get clear of the troubles of Christendom, be wise and bow and acknowledge the rights of Christ in the house.

We might trace in Matthew other instances connected with the house. The ninth chapter gives us the Lord in the house sitting at meat with publicans and

sinners. Think of the grace of Christ, sitting at meat in Levi's house, criticised as one might expect, but full of grace in the presence of the criticism. "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick". Matthew 9:12. All the spiritual ills we suffer from may be cured by Christ in the house. Is there one here in spiritual need? Perhaps none of us are quite whole. It is the sick who come in for the administrating virtue of Christ in the house. His presence there involves the administration of mercy for the sick. "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice". Matthew 9:13. Two blind men we read later in chapter 9, come to Him in the house; they need their eyes opened. Blindness comes over even the people of God, otherwise why cannot they see the plainest spiritual things? They are blind. In Hebrews 12:14 we read, "Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord". Many miss the movements of the Lord because of the lack of holiness. There was faith in these blind men for their eyes to be opened, and they received their sight in the house.

In chapter 13 there is the seed-sowing, suggesting the presentation of the gospel world-wide. That exercise does not alone suffice, for souls have to be taught and instructed and the teaching is in the house (Matthew 13:36). The disciples come to him, and said to Him, "Expound to us the parable of the darnel of the field". Matthew 13:36. A perfect maze exists in the world today; the wheat and tares bewilder and entangle souls so that one's heart bleeds for them, for the way has become so difficult. The instruction in regard to all this is in the house. If there be obedience to the Lord you will come to Him. The disciples came to Him, and He was available to them in the house and He explained the parable of the wheat and the tares. Note, too, He not only explains the immediate difficulty but goes further. He went on and opened up the precious truth of the assembly; the Lord

bringing them thus into the light of the treasure and the pearl. To disentangle us from the evil the Lord first adjusts our souls and then brings us into the light of the precious treasure, the truth of the assembly. That is coming to light today and is found as we come to Christ in the house.

The Holy Spirit is working, too, so that there is not only the recognition of Christ in the house, but of what is due to Him personally. So in the end of the gospel a woman comes with ointment and anoints His head -- a becoming tribute to what is due to Him personally. Have we ever been moved in this way to anoint the head of Him through whom all the bounty of God is dispensed day by day? The woman recognises His official place. She would recognise no dignitary in this world; no one who apprehends the gospel of Matthew will recognise religious dignitaries. There is one Man to whom the oil belongs, and only one, and this woman in the intelligence of faith and love draws near and anoints Him for His burial. The air was rife with murder against Him, but there was one heart that loved Him and knew that He was the divinely appointed Administrator; so she anointed His head -- a wonderful testimony to the place Christ had acquired in a devoted heart. Do you think this could be forgotten? No one can countenance such a thought for a moment, for the Lord said wherever the gospel is preached this that this woman hath done shall be told for a memorial of her, but everything of man, man's reasonings, man's thoughts, as seen in higher critics and the like, are to be entirely discountenanced. We have to see the dispensation of God is in faith and house-wise. Look at the Lord's words to this woman, to the one who anointed Him officially. Never has there been a person so peculiarly distinguished as this woman set alongside the gospel: "This that she hath done shall be told for a memorial of her". Matthew 26:13. Such is the Lord's appreciation; He valued

the act and a memorial of her must be preserved. He Himself was about to die to make it effective.

As before stated, Matthew presents the kingly and official side, but in John it is the family side, hence He says, "The servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth ever". John 8:35. Note the word 'abideth', not only an administrative place but a place in which to dwell. "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father)" John 1:14; it is the Son with the Father. Have we sufficient spiritual understanding to apprehend Christ in this way -- as a Son with the Father? It requires contemplation. I refer you now to two souls who became detached from their teacher. There may be some who are following the leader of a party. John was not that, but he had disciples, those who followed him, but two of these who heard him speak followed Jesus. John spoke feelingly about Jesus; it was a word from the heart, "Behold the Lamb of God". John 1:36. Perhaps there is nothing we are more lacking in than spiritual feeling. The Lord had feeling Himself. He rejoiced, He sighed, He wept. It was as John looked upon Jesus that he said, "Behold the Lamb of God". John 1:36. A word from the heart goes to the heart, and it went to the heart of those two, so that they followed Jesus. Jesus knew they were following, but He turned to see. Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, "What seek ye?" John 1:38. The first chapter of John suggests the last Adam. He loves to hear you tell the desires of your heart. What have we come here for today? These two said, "Rabbi ... where abidest thou?" John 1:38. They did not wish any abiding place, nor should we where He cannot abide. Now if you want that the Lord would say, "Come and see". John 1:39. It is a spiritual matter. They came and saw where He abode and abode with Him that day; they would in that way apprehend the Son, and they dwelt with Him.

In chapter 8 the Lord introduces the service of God. It had been turned into the service of sin. Many who pretend to serve are only serving their own wills. Sin is lawlessness; men have disregarded the law of God's house and substituted man's will of the worst order. The servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth ever. He delighted in the will of God and would abide in the house for ever. This house was to stand out in all its lustre and glory, and be filled with the Son who should serve for ever. We see Him serving in the next chapter. There a man is set free by the Son. "Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said to him, Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God? ... he that speaks with thee is he". John 9:35,37. The Lord introduces you into the house in that beautiful way as one who talks with you. In principle the man is brought into it. In chapter 12 a supper is made for Him. That corresponds with the action in Simon's house, but is more exalted as coming in in connection with the glory of the Son of God, following as it does on chapter 11, where the Lord says to Martha, "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God?" John 11:40. So chapter 11 gives us the glorification of God and of the Son of God. He is declared to be the Son of God by resurrection from the dead. He knew in John 12 the work that had been effected in that group. Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard -- a measured amount, note, and very costly. She was intelligent in the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God. Thus we own the Lord in the house in family relations and are there in relation to the Father.

LOCAL CONDITION AND FURNISHING

Luke 11:1 - 13; 1 Corinthians 16:5 - 9

(Summary of Reading)

The Lord is more concerned about the number of gatherings than in the increase of their size. The greater the number of gatherings, the more there is for Him. The more gardens there are, the more lilies there are for Him; not only the number of assemblies, but the condition of each is taken account of. The Lord is on a journey even now. Luke 10 refers in parable to a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, and in chapter 11 we have reference to a friend on a journey and how he is cared for, so that the setting of this would help to show how a local company is furnished. The Lord is said to have been praying in a certain place. The reference to the place is to be noted, and then the desire on the part of the disciples to be taught how to pray. That is the secret of furnishing. We have to get all the furnishings from the Lord, and dismiss from our minds all human arrangements. The inn leads up to this. Though He was in Martha's house in chapter 11 she was not furnished. Earlier in chapter 10 it says He sent out two and two into every place whither He would come. He is particular as to the furnishings and conditions in the localities.

In reference to the garden of lilies, I was thinking of Song of Songs 6:1 - 3; that is most suggestive. The greater the number of gatherings, the greater the variety and the wider the domain for the Lord, but He must supply the furnishings, and this passage in chapter 11, leading up to the reception of the Spirit through prayer, indicates the fulness of the position, so that we lack nothing. In 1 Corinthians we see the Lord could not come freely to Corinth. Paul had it in mind to go, and he was representative of the Lord,

but rather than come with a rod, he wrote them, and encouraged them in the thought he would go and even winter with them. He was on a journey, but the hesitancy that marked his coming shows that conditions were not suitable. We speak very often about the Lord being with us, but I think that if He came sometimes He would take up certain things and adjust them, but instead He is patient and enlightens us.

The more companies the more gardens there would be, it is the number of companies the Lord is after. To count up the aggregate of the saints would be a very objectionable procedure, something akin to David's sin, but the number of the gatherings is another matter. After Barnabas and Mark left Paul he secured Timothy, and it says the number of assemblies increased every day. There was greater variety. Every local company has something distinctive, just as every child in a family has something distinctive.

In regard to the furnishings of the local company, I think that Bethany would help us. It is not called Bethany in Luke, but just "a certain village" it was not distinguished yet. John usually gives the name as he speaks of them as distinguished by the Spirit. Here it is a certain village in which He is received into Martha's house, but it is quite evident that Martha was not furnished. She was careful and troubled about many things, but there is one thing needful, and that is to consider Christ. That is the paramount thing in every locality. Other things have to be attended to, but one thing is needful, and Mary had chosen that good part. Hence she becomes a nucleus, but you cannot build an assembly on one person. Wisdom has hewn out her seven pillars. You must have more than one. At Ephesus there were twelve to start with. They had received the Holy Spirit at one time. They would be remarkably