Pages 1 to 115 from "Notes of Readings in New York and Other Ministry, 1954" (Volume 196).

THE MATERIAL FOR THE NEW STRUCTURE

Acts 1:1 - 26

We see in this chapter the nature of the material the Lord had formed, and how suited it was for the new structure -- the assembly. Special notice should be taken of the place given to the Spirit in the Lord's charge, of the fact that He assembled with the apostles and that they as together asked of Him, and that Peter stood up with them for his discourse recorded in chapter 2. There is something for us in all this, for according to the mind of God, the end of a dispensation should conform to what was true at its beginning.

The first narrative by Luke finishes with Christ carried up into heaven after blessing the disciples, and their returning to Jerusalem and attending the temple and praising and blessing God there. All is suggestive of the results of Christ's ministry as bringing in the priestly family. Luke's second narrative, the Acts of the Apostles, has in view the new structure, hence the prominent idea is assembling together in view of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Lord's own charge to the apostles is said to be by the Spirit. His service in Luke 24 is not presented as being by the Holy Spirit, but as what He did Himself. Acts has the assembly as the new system in view. Everything is now provided by the Spirit, and what the disciples did in the ten days between the Lord leaving them and the Holy Spirit coming shows that they had been formed by Christ's ministry. Without being told to return to the city and to go to the upper room they did so, showing that they had light as to the new thing. The fact that we get here the mount of Olives instead of Bethany gives a clue to the heavenly connection. Those in the

upper room represented the authority of Christ; no reference is made to the temple in verses 3 to 14.

"Assembled" is one of the key-words to the new dispensation, and here "assembled with them" is a most remarkable expression. Here in Acts it is the manner of His presence, and so He assembles with them and commands them not to depart from Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit. It is a pattern -- a primal thought that goes right through the dispensation as a matter of light. It is most suggestive that the Lord takes up a relation like this, and there He commands. We treasure it as light in the soul, and if we are to answer to the beginning this is necessary. In Luke we find that the Lord left here a priestly company. He led them out to Bethany, which speaks of an earthly association, and there He blessed them; it was like Aaron's house being blessed (Psalm 115.). They continued in the temple praising and blessing God, which was what God sought from Aaron and his family.

Luke's second treatise has the assembly in view and although he refers to the same things, it is in quite another way. The disciples, who belong to the new structure, are here charged, assembled, and commanded not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father. The mount of Olives in Acts 1 suggests a heavenly connection. When every man went to his own home, Jesus went there (John 8:1), and it would seem to point to heavenly associations with the Father, "When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives".

When the disciples are together they ask the Lord; they recognise the oracle, the place of divine communications. It is at this point that the Lord is taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight, but the two things we have been looking at remain, the Lord's administration in relation to the assembly, and our privilege of asking. It is a great thing to be in a place where we can ask, and although we may not always

get what we ask, we get regulated. Here the Lord replies to their question in the negative, but a negative is very often light, and we learn that when the Father's time comes, the course of things will be resumed according to the prophecies. The assembly is linked up with an eternal order of things; we are, as it were, let down to earth like the sheet, but only to be drawn up again. The feast of Pentecost was not limited by time like the other feasts, and so we have access to what is eternal.

The Lord is taken away, and they are seen gazing up, but they are corrected at this point. The cloud would indicate that they were not to look up. Stephen was right in looking up into heaven, for then there was no cloud; but at this point God had not given up Israel, so there was not the "clear shining" yet. The disciples go to the upper room, not to the temple. It was probably the guest-chamber where the Lord had been (Mark 14:14, 15), and where He had instituted the Supper. They show that they are in keeping with the new thoughts.

Peter standing up is another evidence of the fruit of the Lord's work. He stands up in the midst of the brethren, the assembly properly, and proves that he had profited by what had gone before. In chapter 2 he shows that he understands further the ground on which preaching stands. In the first instance they are together to receive communications, and he stands up "in the midst of the brethren", but in the second he stands "with the eleven"; that is, they are on the same footing as he; they were all commissioned to preach, and it is only sent ones who can preach or teach. Evangelisation stands on the ground of commission, and it is for the brethren to determine whether there is a commission; they are to judge.

In verse 21 we see that they deemed it an indispensable qualification that the one to be chosen in

the place of Judas should be "of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us". Only such could be an adequate witness. It is remarkable that the Spirit tells us the number of names in the whole company residing in the upper room, which indicates His cognisance of what belongs to Christ.

Peter stands up in chapter 2 more as an oracle than as a servant. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God"; as there is speaking for God things are clarified. A word from the Lord comes from one standing up "in the midst of the brethren". In the assembly the Lord is supreme, and the speaking is an oracle. The gospel preaching is supported by the sympathies of the house of God, and you may get a manifestation at the Lord's supper, which will colour not only the preaching, but will go through the week with you.

It is instructive to see that the disciples appeal to the Scriptures, and that they pray. The Lord knew when He left them that He could safely trust them, and so He did not tell them, as He could have done, whom they should appoint in Judas's place. They had not the Spirit as yet, but they knew what to do in those unique circumstances. They were menders of nets, and what they did in Acts 1 was on the principle of repairing a rent. It is also a point to be noticed that they knew the brethren, those who had been in the habit of assembling with them all the time Jesus went in and out among them, and the Lord knew their hearts. They go through all the exercises needed in making the selections, but God decides the choice. It is a great thing to know the brethren, and then you know how to act under any circumstances.

ADJUSTMENT TO GOD'S THOUGHTS

2 Samuel 7:1 - 29

J.T. In this chapter we see the need for adjustment even in the most spiritual. It is easy to apply it to those who are not spiritual, but that it should be needed in the most spiritual is perhaps what we would not expect. There is no evidence of any naughtiness of heart in David in this connection. In the end of the previous chapter, referring to his dancing before the ark, he says to Michal, "It was before Jehovah, who chose me"; he evidently was subdued and humble in his spirit, but not withstanding all the honour put upon him and the prosperity that marked him in bringing up the ark, he needed adjustment.

Ques. Nathan needed it also, did he not?

J.T. Yes; so that we see the most spiritual among the people of God need it, especially in connection with His house. God would remind us that all in the house must be of Himself. That David should consider the fact that he dwelt in a house of cedars and that the ark of God was under curtains was a very right motive and exercise. Nathan says to him, "Go, do all that is in thy heart; for Jehovah is with thee". It was right that it should be in his heart, but then whatever may be in my heart, I must think of what is in God's heart.

Ques. Would God's word to Abraham earlier, "Walk before my face, and be perfect", show that in God's wisdom He anticipates that in the most spiritual there would be times of imperfection?

J.T. Just so; in the most spiritual. Even Joseph, wonderful man though he was, does not pass without a slip that needed adjustment; he would have the elder blessed, in that way denying the sovereign choice of God.

Ques. Adjustment is needed in so many ways, but is it your thought that we need adjustment in relation to the thoughts of God, that He must act first?

J.T. It is to bring out the importance of the house, that God's mind must pervade it and that He must have the initiative as to all things concerning it.

Rem. The children of Israel took the initiative in desiring a king, but it was not according to God.

J.T. There is no doubt that the motive on the part of David was a worthy one; he had in his mind to find a habitation for God. It was a governing principle in his life, but this chapter is to bring out that notwithstanding all that, worthy as it was, David was short of the spirit that enters into the house of God; that he lost sight of the fact that it was a question of God's sovereignty and choice and that the thought of relationship entered into it. A military man was never in divine purpose, it was a son; what answers to the heart of God is sonship. It is the son who is to build.

Ques. Should Nathan have known that, instead of confirming David in what he purposed to do?

J.T. We must not be too quick. Deliberation is a great thing in the things of God. Of course, the Lord answered quickly in His dealings with others, but deliberation is a great principle. It was a great and weighty matter that David suggested to Nathan and required due consideration. You would have thought that Nathan would have said, Well, what about the word, "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.

Rem. So what is in our hearts should originate from God's heart.

J.T. If David had built the house, "Wisdom hath built her house" could not have been said. Wisdom

borrows nothing; she is indebted to no one. Wisdom originated with God, but it is the Son that builds, so that while wisdom builds, it is the affections and sentiments of the Son that enter into the building.

Ques. Is that why it is said regarding Solomon, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son", 1 Chronicles 17:13?

J.T. It is not simply David's son that builds the house. In both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes it is David's son -- Solomon, "son of David". But that is not enough for God, the point that God emphasizes is, "He shall be my son"; that is to say, he is detached wholly from David. So that from the very outset of Solomon's being, God, as it were, intervened. He sent by the hand of Nathan and called his name Jedidiah, meaning that Jehovah loved the child. To David he was Solomon, but to Jehovah he was Jedidiah, and this showed what he was in the mind of God. God adopted him because He loved him. Thus Solomon is not simply David's son. As building the house, he is God's son, and the application of that to Christ in the first chapter of Hebrews makes it all the more emphatic: "I will be to him for father, and he shall be to me for son".

C.H.H. I suppose David reached that in his soul in Psalm 72 where he blessed "Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things".

J.T. Quite; and we see the end of David's desires, for the psalm ceases with, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended". He sees now in the son one who would take up the will of God; there is nothing more to desire.

J.D. What place would David's matchless preparation for the house have when he himself was debarred from building it?

J.T. Well, in David's heart there was affection for the house, so that although one might be debarred from much activity, his affection for the house would

lead him to expend all he has for the saints; he has a regard for what the saints are as the dwelling of God. Exodus 15 contemplates a place which Jehovah has prepared for Himself to dwell in. Moses could not bring the people in, nor did Joshua bring the people into the fulness of Exodus 15; Joshua did not get beyond Shiloh. The tabernacle was set up there. But in Solomon, the counterpart of David, you have the full thought of God reached as indicated in Exodus. What David is occupied with in this chapter (verses 22 - 29) is the establishing of the thing, not only that they had been redeemed for Jehovah, but that he wanted to see them established to be His people for ever. And that, I think, agrees with the number twenty-four -- a number that characterises David's ministry, meaning another ministry besides that of Moses.

Ques. What is suggested in that it says that the word of Jehovah came to Nathan that night?

J.T. It was an urgent matter; God would not allow the thought to crystallise in David's mind. He would adjust David at once. But it is interesting to see that He refers to David as "my servant". He is serving God and God would have him proceed to the end. He was chosen to be king and he was to proceed on that line; God took the matter up at once so that there should be adjustment. There was a certain distance -- the prophet involves distance, and David was to accept the fact that the message was mediatorial. David had been chosen to be a prince over His people; that was his ministry or office, and his last words indicate that he had learnt the mind of God as to his ministry. He accepted the message that Nathan brought, and he went in and sat before the Lord. It is a question now of being detained there.

C.H.H. May we not learn from that a principle, that if ministry puts us in touch with God, in accepting it we can go in to God?

J.T. That is the thought. Had David done this before the prophetic word it would not have been necessary. The thought of building a house was an important matter and it required the greatest care and inquiry from God.

J.D. Are you indicating that every one of the people of God should be able to get His mind for himself?

J.T. Yes; prophetic ministry is intended to bring us down, but it is for our blessing. You feel reduced and humbled as the prophetic word comes into your soul. Now David would speak to God, but before he speaks, he goes in and sits down before Jehovah. A sitting posture shows that you are there for a while. What he says to Jehovah indicates how much he profited by the word of Nathan; he had bowed unreservedly to the prophetic message.

C.H.H. Communications to Paul were direct.

J.T. They were, but there is one important point about him, before he got his direct communications for his ministry, he fully owned the brethren, and found adjustment among them; one cannot be a special minister to the saints or to the Lord unless he finds his place among the brethren first.

C.H.H. So that they gave him the right hand of fellowship, but in the first place he owed his position to Ananias.

Rem. It is noticeable that while Nathan failed in the mind of God at first, yet he was entrusted with the message, and he delivered it.

J.T. God spoke to him that night. But when Paul asked, "What shall I do. Lord?", the Lord answered, "Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do", Acts 22:10. That was the reply to Saul without designating anyone; but so that there should be no discrepancy between what Saul saw in Christ and what he should find in Damascus. He went before him and prepared Ananias to receive him. The kind

of people Saul met in Jerusalem when he went to houses and dragged out men and women and delivered them to be punished, was the same as he was to find at Damascus. He was dealing with Christ when he did that at Jerusalem, so the word was, "Why persecutest thou me?". Now he was to find the same people in Damascus. Ananias says, "Brother Saul". He is at once disarmed and made to realise that the voice he had heard from heaven was the same in character as when Ananias spoke to him, so that from the very outset of his spiritual being. Saul would know that he got adjustment through the brethren. He recognises this principle later when he refers to one who was in Christ before him. Ananias said to him, "Receive thy sight". He looked upon Ananias; he would be impressed with what he saw in a brother after he received his sight. But then Ananias went on to say wonderful things to him, that he was chosen to "see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth". It was a personal touch. Saul was listening to all this, but it was his turn now to do something; that is to say, when the light comes to you conveying the mind of God, you are to move according to it. Saul apparently was not doing anything, so Ananias says, "Why lingerest thou?". He was listening to the mind of God but that was not enough, the time had come to make a move: "Arise and get baptised". That was his part; he had to come to that. So you see he had to learn the principle of adjustment through the brethren. Great vessel though he was, he was at first slow to act according to the light vouchsafed.

B.T.F. Do you think the Acts take character from the principles laid down here?

J.T. Quite, the principle of selection. Whilst God selects there must be the corresponding result in those He selects. It is very beautiful that after the message reaches David, he goes in and sits before Jehovah. He would get impressions of the divine dwelling as he sat

before Jehovah. In John's gospel the first persons that move towards Christ say to Him, "Where abidest thou?"

F.R. Does sitting before Jehovah indicate that David no longer takes the initiative?

J.T. If we are to get the mind of the Lord, the thing is to sit before Him. The prophetic message is gracious but it implies distance. It was right, surely, to take account of the ark as dwelling under curtains, but to get an idea of what is requisite for God you must go in and sit before Him; you get right impressions there.

C.H.H. What answers to that today?

J.T. Of course we know what the house is: "Whose house are we". We know from Ephesians that the house is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. It is a spiritual structure in which God dwells and in which He is approached. But then, in approaching God now, you never lose sight of the fact that He is in heaven. He is dwelling here Spirit-wise; that is, all divine feelings and sympathies are directly in the Spirit. If we distinguish between the divine Persons, the Father and the Son are in heaven; the Spirit is here; so that God is here in that way.

B.T.F. What about the "living stone" and the "living stones" in connection with the building?

J.T. It is a spiritual house. "Yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house", 1 Peter 2:5. We never lose sight of the fact that the Father and the Son are in heaven, and that the Spirit is here -- the Comforter; so that there is a medium through which the Father and the Son can dwell.

Ques. What does the ark dwelling under curtains signify?

J.T. David refers to the curtains as unsuitable; it

was a provisional place for the ark pending the building of the house.

Ques. God bears a good deal from us until we have light?

J.T. That is what comes out in Numbers, when the ark went before. The love of God is such that He is content to accept the circumstances without complaining. But sitting before the Lord you can understand that certain things will enter the soul. You are subdued and you get impressions that you might not get anywhere else.

Rem. I suppose Mary of Bethany was a typical example of this; she sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word with the result that she knew how to anoint Him.

C.H.H. Does this passage correspond with the holiest?

J.T. In a way. Entering the holiest in Hebrews 10 does not contemplate us as together. You are to do that. It involves ability to abstract yourself from what is outward so that you acquire an apprehension of Christ as He is before God. In this passage it is where the ark was and what that alluded to -- where God was dwelling between the cherubim. Of course, David, not being a priest, could not go inside. It refers to God's house. In the Psalms you get it alluded to, "One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple", Psalm 27:4.

C.H.H. That is the value of a meeting like this.

J.T. Especially when the saints are together in assembly, where the Lord is supreme and where He is recognised. You get impressions there that you get nowhere else.

Ques. David having now found his place in Jehovah's thoughts, would really point to Christ, would it not?

J.T. That is the point God has in His mind.

Rem. Peter had to learn that lesson also. His idea was to make three tabernacles; he had to learn that Christ is supreme.

J.T. Exactly; the voice said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him". Mark puts it that they saw no one but Jesus alone with themselves. So that David really comes to Christ and that is the substance of his remarks in this passage. David is coming into the divine 'manner'. In the house of cedars he would be impressed with the manner of man -- what man can do -- but it is the manner of God, the divine manner you get in the divine Presence. And so David says, "Is this the manner of man?". He is laying hold of how things are there; he is apprehending what was in God's heart.

Rem. He speaks on very intimate terms with God.

J.T. I think it is the effect of perfect love that casts out fear. He is able to speak to God and he says, "... according to thine own heart". Certainly it is much better to have things according to His heart than according to my heart. The manner of man in the house of cedars can never rise to the manner of God in His house.

W.D.R. You are coming nearer to the thought of ascension, are you not?

J.T. It is elevation. Hence you see the Lord in the finishing touches in the gospels; He directs the disciples upward. Here David gradually arrives at the greatness of God; he is impressed with it.

B.T.F. Why does David use the titles "Lord Jehovah" and "Jehovah Elohim"?

J.T. I suppose it refers to the increasing spiritual power of David as he apprehends God.

C.H.H. Would it refer to our ability to express the greatness of God in the assembly in every character in which we know Him as revealed in Christ, so that there is a variety of worship?

J.T. I am thinking of the difference between Romans and Ephesians. In Romans 8 we cry, "Abba Father", by the "spirit of adoption". That is not the Holy Spirit, formally, it is "a spirit of adoption". That is related to the beginning of our relations with God, consciously. Ephesians is the culmination of that, so that you get reference to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", and then you get "the Father of glory", and then, in chapter 4, "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all". There is expansion in Ephesians. David's use of divine titles here shows spiritual progress.

H.E.E. Is it because of David's apprehension of the greatness of God that he takes account of the greatness of God's people in verse 23?

J.T. That is the next thing that comes out, as it says in Ephesians: "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints".

Rem. So that our valuation of the people of God is related, to the measure in which we apprehend God.

J.T. You are impressed with the fact that David has come to recognise that all that he was, spiritually, was from God; all that his house was ever to be was from God; all that God's house itself was to be was from God; so that he is completely adjusted in that he saw that God was all and in all; he reached, we may say, "the fulness of God".

FRUITFULNESS

Luke 8:15; Luke 13:6, 9; 1 Thessalonians 1:1 - 8

These scriptures, as you will observe, speak of the simple thought of fruitfulness. God had this in His mind from the outset of His operations. On the third day, spoken of in the book of Genesis, we have the first reference to it. It is presented there as a result of certain latent qualities in the earth. That is, the earth had long lain in water and by the word of God emerged from the water; the allusion, doubtless, is to the judgment of God which precedes and enters into fruitfulness. As applied spiritually it signifies that the believer is planted in the likeness of Christ's death, planted in baptism. God indicating in this that there can be nothing in us for Him aside from the definite acceptance of His judgment on ourselves, but borne vicariously by the Lord Jesus. So that the apostle says, "We, as many as have been baptised unto Christ Jesus, have been baptised unto his death", Romans 6:3. We are become identified with Him in the likeness of His death, or planted, we are told, so that there should be a crop according to the mind of God, the believer taking root downwards. There is no suggestion of a limit to the depth of the roots. The deeper the roots go, the more fruitful and valuable and extensive will be the crop. There are grades in the roots. Baptism is the nominal acceptance of the death of Christ as being the penalty due to us, and involves that one is planted. The use of baptism abroad today, therefore, by millions of people on the earth who have no thoughts whatever of the reality of it, is a most solemn consideration, and every believer having been baptised, is under serious obligation as to what it means, and whether the acceptance of what it means marks him. True there is the planting, but then the planting is one

thing, and the taking root downwards is another thing. The Lord, in these parables about the sower, speaks of persons having no root in themselves. The figure in Isaiah is taking root downward, and bearing fruit upward (Isaiah 37:31). The planting is one thing, but the taking root in the energy of life is another thing, and then the depth to which the root goes is still another thing. There are grades. The Lord Jesus is said to have gone down to the lower parts of the earth. Who can fathom that? Certainly no geologist can fathom that. Though they do not go down very far they have a great deal to say of what they have found, but you find no reference to the great descent of Christ into the lower parts of the earth. The depth is beyond us, really, and the deeper we go the richer and more extensive should be the fruit. For instance, a man who accepts baptism generally as planted in the likeness of Christ's death is sure to take root. Aside from taking root there could be no crop. But then, the root may be little and short, so there is in that same scripture in Romans 6 the idea of our old man being crucified with Christ. That is a further thought which requires a deepening of the roots. Crucifixion is a man's death. It involves that I have judged the old man in which I had part. There is only one old man; it is the thought that involves us all -- each of us comes to a judgment of what it is -- but it involves us all; "our old man", it is said. That is a further extension of the root downwards; and then finally we have one who says, "I am crucified with Christ". When one says, "I am crucified with Christ", he is dealing with himself -- he is not dealing with others. His thoughts are occupied with himself, and he means to convey that he has reviewed his whole history and discovered how mean he has been, unrighteous of course, and sinful -- but also the meanness of the things he has been guilty of, the utter despicableness

of his thoughts and attitude towards others. Many of us have reviewed our history in that way and have come to the necessity of crucifixion. The history of oneself has been viewed as so utterly bad, so mean, that nothing less than crucifixion will meet the case, and he sees that the Lord Jesus knew all that, and accepted all that, in hanging on the cross. His heart is drawn after Christ; it becomes entwined around Him as he thinks of the depth of suffering that He endured, that He became a curse, that He was "made sin" on the cross. He was made a curse -- a remarkable statement -- made sin and made a curse for us. One thus judged, beloved brethren, is taking root downward, and correspondingly he bears fruit upward, that is, God-ward. So that Romans 7 is really a sort of answer, that we have become "dead to the law by the body of Christ, to be to another". And all that we are is acceptable. We are not going to link on with Him the meanness, the earthliness, the despicableness of our conduct. We are holding ourselves according to Him. The believer, as his root goes down, corresponds with Christ, and he would abhor the idea of linking on with Christ anything of that which took Him so low, which cost Him so much sorrow and suffering.

Well, now, having said all that, you can see the force of this scripture in Luke 13. I want to speak of it first. It alludes to Israel, but it illustrates what is current around us. The fig tree alludes to that which God set up on earth through the gospel, as Israel had been set up. The Old Testament speaks much of the plant of Israel, the care expended on it, and this parable is intended to teach us that after all that, there is nothing. The vineyard owner came seeking fruit. That He does so is sure. If we take up the profession in relation to God, He comes seeking results, as you will observe here, "These three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree". That is,

you may expect a divine visitation, as you take up a place in this world in relation to God, as a baptised person. It may be that you have not thought of this. It may be that you have never felt or realised those comings of the Possessor of the vineyard -- for He holds rights over you. He says, "These three years", meaning that He has given full time; if not the first year, then the second year, and if not the second year, then the third year. Now this is a very serious matter, and each believer, or nominal believer, has to consider whether there has been this visitation, or these visitations year after year, since you have accepted and taken up this attitude God-ward, and whether there has been any fruit available to God. He is looking for it. The Lord, in John 15, speaks of His Father as being the Husbandman, and shows that even if one bears fruit, He will purge the branch that it might bring forth more. God never intimates that He is satisfied; He is always seeking more. Each year should yield more because of His gracious, careful husbandry. So here He says, I have come these three years seeking fruit, and found none. And the vinedresser says, Lord, let it remain for another year. The Planter of the vineyard had no thought that His comings should terminate. It is a very solemn consideration, that we do not know when God may come in and terminate the time of fruit bearing, when there will be no more hope of answering to His mind. The vinedresser here alludes to the Lord's own position as come into manhood, as come in to Israel. One could say much as to the wonderful feelings of affection and sympathy that marked Christ as moving about in Israel. We know much of what His thoughts and affections were with regard to His earthly people. You know, on the Lord's visit to Jerusalem, how moved He was. One loves to stand with Him there as He approached from Jericho, "already at the descent of the mount

of Olives" to the east. He looked on the city, and it says, "He wept over it". The Lord would lay it upon us that we should think a little with Him as to this. "He came to his own, and his own received him not". What did He feel about that? He would fain continue on with them, for the Scriptures bring out the perfect humanity of Christ. The Spirit of God loves to dwell upon it, always maintaining the balance as to His deity in a full way. The Spirit of God loves to dwell on the perfect, real, and genuine humanity of our Lord Jesus, that He was capable of such feelings, that He loved Jerusalem, and would do anything for it; indeed, He has done all for it! He died for that nation. He was about to die for it and the feelings proper to Him in view of such a sacrifice were all there. "He came to his own, and his own received him not". He felt the coldness, the indifference that marked them. "How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen her brood under her wings, and ye would not". Has this not an echo amongst us? The Lord's tender solicitations for us -- "And ye would not". So here, the Possessor of the vineyard would remove the fig-tree after three years of testing. The vinedresser had another thought -- yet not another mind -- it was delightful to see the sacrifice of Christ, the true Messiah of Israel, continuing on with them, to do His utmost for them for another year. He was reasonable in his request, but it speaks of the sacrifice of Christ, the intercession of Christ, and shows what Israel was to Him, and how He was loath to let the judgment of God take effect. The figure means that God had respect to His intercessions, and the fig-tree is allowed for another year. Think of the gracious ministry of Christ as He continues on! I suppose we may include the early chapters of the Acts in this. It says, in Luke, that He led His own out "as far as Bethany", not beyond that; meaning

that He was still lingering over the city. He was blessing them within easy reach of the city, so that they might be a testimony in it, as they were. He digged about the fig-tree, He did everything a vinedresser could do in digging about the fig-tree and in dunging it. The figure is well known to those who have to do with farming, the adding of the fertiliser after the digging. Think of the Lord Jesus being so concerned for His own that He comes digging about the fig-tree, and then applying the fertiliser! The vinedresser only asked for another year, and we know from other scriptures how Israel was set aside, and with what terribleness; for the Lord Himself says, "Thine enemies shall make a palisaded mound about thee ... and shall lay thee even with the ground". Jerusalem was razed to the ground; Zion was, it is said, as a ploughed field, for such was the judgment of God. I speak thus, on these verses, as a very solemn reminder of the judgment of God where no fruit is found. Everyone has to take it to heart, for certainly the same thing will happen to christendom.

Now I want to show you in the parable in Luke 8, how Luke speaks of this subject which is spoken of by all three synoptical evangelists. Luke quotes the Lord, in verse 15, as saying, "But that in the good ground, these are they who in an honest and good heart, having heard the word keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience". Instead of saying, "bore fruit a hundredfold", as He does in verse 8, or "one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty", as in Matthew 13:8, He says, "bring forth fruit with patience". Now this is the important side to the subject, because we are apt to be impatient. First, it may be with the Lord, or with the brethren, and sometimes with ourselves. If one is impatient with himself it means that he has not learnt himself, that he has been expecting something from himself; and I well know

from my own experience that many suffer from impatience with themselves. The first thing is to have done with yourself; there is nothing to be expected from yourself. Impatience is a serious state, for the enemy acts on it, and the most spiritual among us is apt to come under the enemy's influence by impatience. In Numbers 11, you will remember, as Israel began to move out into the wilderness, they immediately complained, they murmured, and it says that "the fire of Jehovah burned among them, and consumed some in the extremity of the camp", showing that those of us who hold ourselves at a distance from the divine centre -- from the tabernacle -- who are infrequent in our attendance at the opportunities of privilege, who are neglectful, who are world-borderers, in other words, those who are on the outskirts of the camp, are sure to be complainers. Unless we frequently attend the meetings, and have part in that which satisfies -- for there is in the assembly that which satisfies, for God is there -- it is as sure as possible that we shall become murmurers; we shall complain against the brethren; we shall complain, it may be, against Christ and against the Spirit, and perhaps against God. Let us never forget that it is the dwelling-place of God; Christ is there, the Spirit of God is there, and, not to be neglected, the saints are there; indeed all the elements of heaven are there. Many do complain. They question why God should have allowed this and that. It is a sure evidence as to one's living associations, and that one is far away from this centre, which answers to the tabernacle of witness, which was beautifully set up in the centre as Israel was encamped. The cloud was over them by day, and the pillar of fire by night, the evidence of the divine Presence. Those who stayed in the utmost limits of the camp enjoyed but the utmost limits, and they complained, and the fire of Jehovah burned among them.

But then, the chapter tells us that Israel also wept, and the mixed multitude joined in, and they complained about the manna; and then, alas! one hesitates to speak about it, even Moses complained, showing that the most spiritual among us is exposed to this dangerous feature of complaint. Hence the Lord's word here, "bring forth fruit with patience". There will be much, may be, to hinder the crop. There is the chilling north wind of times, and other things which tend to hinder the growth, and we must be patient. But let us see to it that the fruit is there, that the growth has not stopped entirely, that there is genuine growth of something for God; that we are patient in it, day in and day out, week in and week out; that there is a patient steady evidence of good works, in the attendance at the meetings, in attention to the things of God and in the participation in the manna; that nothing that would tend to promote growth is excluded, so that there is something for God. He comes regularly; He comes looking for fruit. How often He has to turn away! But if we are to be patient, He is patient. Nothing affects one more than the patience of God. How long He has continued waiting on christendom, for instance, notwithstanding the conditions that are so revolting. God is patiently continuing, He has His eye on the few that love Him and keep His commandments, and He comes looking for fruit. How dreadful we should feel if we knew how often He comes and finds nothing! So that the Lord has in mind here, according to Luke, that there should be patience -- bearing fruit with patience -- not giving up, but continuing. As is said elsewhere, "In due time, if we do not faint, we, shall reap", Galatians 6:9. And I may add, that it is not only that God has His fruit, but we have ours. We have our "fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life", Romans 6:22. Hence the need of patience. We are to be patient in well-doing for in

due season we shall reap, if we faint not. There is much tendency to give up, but the word here is "with patience".

In speaking of patience in regard of fruit-bearing, it is perhaps worth while to remark that we also have in the Scriptures the suggestion of quick results. The farmer knows what I mean. Certain seed is sown with a view to an early crop, other for a later, but certain things are needed early and are forced. Every attention is given so that there should be a quick result. Now this is not at all out of keeping with what I have been saying as to patience. To illustrate the quickness of divine results, take the rod of Aaron laid up before the Testimony. It budded over night and blossomed and yielded ripened almonds! There is nothing like that in nature -- but that gives the idea of quick results. The staff of Aaron was laid up just for a night, with the eleven other staves of the tribes of Israel, and it yielded ripened almonds, in perfect order. There was the bud, and the blossom and the fully ripened fruit. You may say, Can you illustrate that in a spiritual way? Yes; Scripture abounds with quick results. Take the man in John 9. He developed from a blind man, in a very brief time, into a fully developed worshipper. Just look at the passage and you will see him growing! I am speaking practically -- and so we get the Thessalonians. The apostle having been shamefully treated at Philippi, went to Thessalonica, and went in among the Jews and for three sabbaths he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead. How one loves to think of the apostle in those three sabbaths! What a time they must have had! He was amongst them as one of them. He went in among them. He alludes here to his being a model and they valued him as such. That is, he stresses that the idea in the

gospel was not only presented in words, but presented in himself, and that is where so many of our dear brethren suffer. They have not had the model. As the gospel has been preached and the truth presented, the model has not been there; that is, the end to be reached has not been presented in their teachers. But it was otherwise in Thessalonica. The apostle was there. He went in among them as it says, "opening and laying down that the Christ must have suffered and risen up from among the dead", Acts 17:3. And a great number were converted in that town. He had to leave them immediately, and he wrote his letter very shortly after, for he was concerned about them. It is only a question of reading this chapter to be convinced of quick results in a meeting. He speaks of them as "the assembly of Thessalonians". Not the assembly at Thessalonica, but persons who belong to the town, who were characteristically persons of that town; that is, they had not come from the east, nor had they been christians for years before. They were verily Thessalonians. They had just heard the word and had received it, and this quick result is there. That is why I read this chapter, dear brethren, and the Lord would perhaps use it in our little gatherings; for one has great sympathy with gatherings who are perhaps minus what others in large cities have, such as much ministry and much teaching and much practical fellowship as compared with brethren who reside in smaller towns and country places. The Lord has great sympathy for us in these circumstances, and He would encourage us in this way. The Thessalonians had nothing, as far as the Scripture says, save what they got from the apostle in that three weeks' visit; but the soil was there, the young bud was there too, so that he says, "Remembering unceasingly your work of faith, and labour of love, and enduring constancy of hope, of our Lord Jesus Christ, before

our God and Father; knowing, brethren beloved by God, your election. For our glad tidings were not with you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as ye know what we were among you for your sakes, and ye became our imitators, and of the Lord, having accepted the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit". Now this last verse is most important as to what I am saying, "Having accepted the word in much tribulation". Normally, affliction will come with the sowing. It is a sort of digging around at the roots. Affliction makes us real, so that the fruit is forthcoming. So they were ensamples "to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia: for the word of the Lord sounded out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith which is towards God has gone abroad, so that we have no need to say anything". I read these verses twice because they are so simple and direct as to the subject I am presenting to you -- how quick results will come, results marked by patience too, as the soil is right. They received the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit. So that the Spirit of God was there as the apostle ministered, and the soil was developed, and the seed sown sprang up in the ordering of God and matured in a few weeks. There was a 'sound' as he says: "The word of the Lord sounded out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith which is towards God has gone abroad". One would question as to the 'sounding' -- as to what kind of sound is heard in our town, where we are -- in this town. The christian's position is here. Christ went into heaven as the high priest of old went in to the holiest. On the skirts of his garments there was a bell and a pomegranate, and bell and a pomegranate, all round. As he went in, the sound was heard without. That is the presence of Christ in heaven now is to have

a corresponding sound here in the saints; in the towns and villages and cities in which we are, there is to be a sound. And so, when the Holy Spirit came, there was a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. True christianity is marked by a definite sound reflecting what is of God, and it is to be heard wherever the saints of God are gathered; wherever they are set, there is to be a sound, not only in their own towns, but in the district or country, and indeed, as the apostle says, "in every place". How pleasing it is for those who have to do with the things of God, in visiting the brethren, to be able to speak of them in this way; that there is a sound of testimony -- the word of God sounding in the brethren -- "The word of the Lord sounded out from you".

One hopes that this matter may be taken to heart, because after all, lifeless meetings are not what God intends; not that I am saying these exist, but we are in danger of it. I am not imputing anything to any gathering or any person more than to myself -- but God is looking for fruit and He comes, and searches for it, and if it is not there something happens, for God is God. So that we should serve Him with reverence and godly fear.

INDUCING WORSHIP

John 4:23, 24; Exodus 12:21 - 27; 2 Samuel 7:12, 14, 18 - 22; 1 Chronicles 29:20, 22

My remarks will deal with what induces worship to God. In John 4 the Lord, in conversing with the woman at the well, introduced the Father, saying, "The Father seeks such as his worshippers"; referring to those who worship Him "in spirit and truth". She had introduced the subject of worship and the Lord had seized the opportunity to say wonderful things which, ordinarily, we would hardly expect Him to say to such a one. But God was working in this woman and the Lord paid attention to her remarks and said things to her that we do not find Him saying to anyone else, remarks that we refer to constantly, and rightly so. These remarks are found in John's gospel which unfolds to us the declaration of God, that He has needs, speaking reverently, and hence the Father seeks worshippers. The quality of those who worship is in mind, for He goes on to say, "God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth". There is no deviation from these remarks; they convey the divine standard as to worship.

I want to show, first of all, that ministry induces worship. God approaches men in a minister; that is, in Christ, and then in ministers. There are two words used, one implying servile or slavish ministry -- the other official or dignified ministry. Normally, both are combined in every minister. Moses and Aaron represent the ministry in the Old Testament. God expended great care upon them to this end. Primarily, Moses possessed the light and thoughts of God, and Aaron was the speaker. In their first service they occasioned worship, as it says in Exodus 4:31, "When they heard ... they bowed their heads and worshipped". Thus the people met God.

So that, normally, God comes into contact with us through ministry. The verses in chapter 12 show the power of ministry as normally exercised. They are the words of Moses. Earlier in the chapter Jehovah speaks in a great general communication of His mind in regard to the passover, the great institution that was to exercise such an influence in Israel, and in which the Lord Himself took part, as we all know. But the verses I have read, beloved brethren, are Moses' presentation of what Jehovah had spoken to him. And you will observe that there is a great abridgment of what Jehovah had spoken, and there were certain additions. But what I am endeavouring to say is that ministry is not only intended to refresh us, and instruct us, and edify us, but to induce worship. And so Moses epitomizes what Jehovah communicated to him, on the principle of brevity, for ordinarily we take in but little at a time. Brevity and pungency with affection behind what is said are important. And so you will find that the great minister Paul, we might say, constantly introduces the spirit of worship into his ministry. He is not so unduly occupied with the service in hand as to shut out the additional thoughts that would enter into it. The minister always keeps his mind free so that in his service there is the introduction of God, some recognition of God -- how great God is. Thus the feelings of the minister are calculated to convey the greatness of God to those ministered to: "O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!". How persons would be affected were they to hear the apostle Paul preach "the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus)". And so, in various instances, we find his feelings coming out spontaneously as he dealt with the great features of the truth. You can understand that those to whom he ministered would become worshippers.

And that was the intent, for if a convert has not become a worshipper, of what moral value is he to God? The Thessalonians "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God". So that, characteristically, evangelisation has in mind to secure worshippers.

And so Moses, in a few words, conveys to the elders of Israel what Jehovah had said about the passover. And in doing so he introduced the use of the hyssop. You may ask Moses, Why did you bring in that idea? Well, it was his skill as a minister. Hyssop implies that if I am to be a worshipper I must be small. It grows out of the wall, "From the cedar tree that is on Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall" was a moral conception in the mind of Solomon. And Moses also introduced the thought of the bason. Why did he use that word? It is not in the general instruction he received. The bason was for the blood. It is referred to again in chapter 24 in relation to the service of God. Think of the precious blood of Christ, beloved brethren! If the blood is to be preserved in a bason, a vessel, it is to be kept in all its preciousness! It is that we may have a true estimate of it and of the "cup of blessing which we bless". The idea, thus, is carried forward into the Lord's supper; there is a vessel; there is that in which it is conserved and presented to us, out of which we drink. We speak of the blood much, but what about the preciousness of it? "Ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold ... but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ", 1 Peter 1:18. Think of what that life was to God! Was it mere human addition that Moses introduced? No, beloved brethren, it was a spiritual addition, a spiritual touch in ministry that the Holy Spirit promoted in the minister so as to affect the hearts of the hearers. And so, if I am small the blood is great. Well now, as I said, Moses spread out

briefly the gist of what Jehovah said to him, and though in brevity, not one iota of Jehovah's thoughts is to be omitted. One marvels, as the Holy Spirit opens up the Scriptures, that not one iota of the whole Bible is to be omitted. Scripture is divinely inspired, and the Holy Spirit helps the ministers to bring in touches from the Scriptures to affect the hearers that they may worship. And so here, the great minister presented the death of Jesus and the wonderful way that Jehovah's care had provided for His people that their houses should be kept intact. Who is there who is a parent who is not concerned about the intactness of his house? God cares for the households of His people, not only that the firstborn is saved, but that the household is to be preserved. That precious blood, as it were, is put upon the lintel and door-posts with the hyssop by parents that fear God. And the presentation of it induces worship: the people "bowed their heads and worshipped".

Next I would speak of sonship. God addresses Himself to men in a Man. The reflection of God's love in the minister affects men. Hence Luke presents to us the kind of Man Jesus was. Think of how He ministered in Luke 4! His demeanour as minister affected His hearers; they wondered at His words. But my thought is sonship; that is, it is not now Christ as a minister, but Christ as Son. And so David had in his mind to build a house for Jehovah and he spoke of it to Nathan. At first Nathan encouraged him to proceed but Jehovah spoke to him that night telling him to say certain things to David, which brought in the great fact of sonship. Solomon was not yet born, but light as to the great fact of sonship is introduced and what developed is that David went in and sat before Jehovah. Why did he do that? Well, he was affected by what Jehovah had said through Nathan. Would that some here would be affected tonight by the thought

of the house, and that it belongs to the sons! The Lord Jesus said, "The bondman abides not in the house forever, the son abides for ever. If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free". We are to be free to come in, certainly, and free to stay in. David went in, we are told, after hearing the words of Nathan. You may be sure they were said in ministerial power! Nathan was a real minister! He stimulated David to move towards God -- and he went in and sat before Jehovah, and he tarried there. Read it at your leisure. You will be impressed by the appellations by which he addresses the Deity. The nearer we get to God, dear brethren, the greater He becomes to us, and the more worship is induced in our hearts, so that we have liberty to address Him with titles that are proper to Him.

And now I want to show how headship in Christ induces worship. That is what David represents in the closing section of 1 Chronicles. Solomon sat on the throne before David died, but immediately before that, according to the narrative in 1 Kings, David was advanced in years and obtained no warmth. But in 1 Chronicles he is seen as before God, as it were, in supernatural power. And it is only in that power that we can be before God -- out of weakness we are made strong. But from Chapter 23 to the end of 1 Chronicles we are told of David's disposition of what there was in his day; and that is going on at the present time, beloved brethren. The Lord Jesus is making disposition of what He has. All are not available, but those who are available He makes disposition of, and that is headship. As I understand headship, as presented in David here, it is to get the most out of what there is. It is the very converse of one-man ministry. One-man ministry dominates christendom, whereas headship is to dispose of what there is so as to get the very most out of it. Hence, the Levites are mentioned first in chapter 23. There

are some thirty-eight thousand of them, and David divided them into twenty-four courses. There were the Levites, the priests, the singers, the doorkeepers, and then the military. However they are viewed, as you look at these chapters, you find that David disposes of them so as to get the very best results. And then, in the verse I read, he said to all the congregation, "Bless now Jehovah your God. And all the congregation blessed Jehovah the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and did homage to Jehovah and the king".

Is it possible that some here have had no thought about taking part in the service of God? It is the first thing that you should think of, that you should take part. You may be a sister, but that does not mean that you should not take part, for the body requires that all should be in the matter, "All the congregation blessed Jehovah". All should worship. Headship is to the end that everyone should take part, that everyone should function, that everyone should add to what is there.

In chapter 23 David reduced the age of the Levites by his last words to "from twenty years old and upward", as if to say, This is my dying word to you -- reduce the age of the Levites. What does he mean? It is to increase the number! The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward in Numbers 4, and in Numbers 8 the age is brought down to twenty-five, but the last words of David, in 1 Chronicles 23, bring the age down to twenty. It means that they were so perfectly delightful to God that He says, I wish to increase their number. Is there a young person here in doubt? The Lord has need of you. He wants to make the most of you; that is the principle of headship. He knows you well; He knows your antecedents; He knows you thoroughly; He says, I want you!

There is also the thought of refinement -- two hundred and eighty-eight refined and cultured persons who are singers, family singers. There is the number; divide it by twenty-four! There is the teacher with the scholar, the small as well as the great. Let there be no discrimination! Bring all in! There are twelve in each course; no guess-work. The Lord knows them that are His! All are known, but how much more those who are available! He knows them, as Jehovah said about Aaron the Levite: "I know that he can speak well". So that headship, I believe, is the last great feature. The Lord is, working to get the greatest results from what is available. He is bringing in the young. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established praise". And so David says to all the congregation, "Bless now Jehovah your God". The Lord would speak to you on the principle of headship; He would put in His claim, "And all the congregation blessed Jehovah the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and did homage".

And then it says, in verse 21, "And they sacrificed sacrifices to Jehovah, and offered up burnt-offerings to Jehovah, on the morrow after that day". That is, not only was that day under the influence of David and his headship, but the morrow. That is, the principle of continuance is brought in. The people rejoiced together and they made Solomon king the second time. Christ, as Son increases in our estimation and appreciation under such circumstances.

Well, that is what I had in mind -- that worship is induced by ministry, first of all; and then our apprehension of God's thoughts as to sonship lead us to worship; and, finally, as under the headship of Christ, the whole system is disposed in order that there may be the greatest possible response in worship to God. May the Lord bless the word!

WORSHIP

Exodus 4:29 - 31; Exodus 12:25 - 27; Exodus 34:5 - 8; Exodus 33:10

I have in mind to speak about worship, and I have selected my scriptures from this book so that it may become clear that worship is intended by God to mark His people from the outset, that is, from the time of one's conversion, and that each may understand that it is not merely for those who have advanced in the truth but for all. Hence we find that, in the gospel of John, it enters into a conversation between the Lord and a woman, who had in herself no moral right to speak about such a holy subject, but she did speak of it; she introduced it into the conversation, evidently because her soul had been reached, the Lord, having spoken to her in a prophetic way, had brought her sins to her mind, and, as the sequel shows, she had begun to judge them, she had begun to repent. It is to this very thing she alluded in speaking of Christ afterwards, that He had told her all things she had ever done. It was therefore in no perfunctory way that she introduced the subject of worship, nor did the Lord, who knew it well and who continued the subject in a most exalted way, deter her at all. In no way did He indicate to her that it was not for her to speak of such a holy subject so early in her contact with Him; it was quite apropos. No doubt if she came into fellowship and into service later, as doubtless she did, she would shine in it. She would not be behind in her part in that service for she was one of those as to whom it is said that their conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God. That is the end in mind. So also with another notable case contemplated by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians -- an unconverted man or an ignorant man coming into the christian assembly and coming under the power of the prophetic word. He would

be convicted, the secrets of his heart would be made manifest, and he would fall down, the apostle says, and worship God. It is as if it would be the first thing after he was convicted of sin and judged himself. In truth the gospel is the light of God; it brings God into a man's soul, with the result that normally there is an immediate response to God. If there is not, the fault is with the person who professes to believe; something is holding him; there is some reserve. Alas! it has to be owned that it is so with most of us. How slow we are, after we profess to receive the light of the gospel, to respond in the fellowship of God's Son, and of His death and of the Spirit, in the worship of God. Many put if off for weeks, months, or even years -- whereas God is looking for an immediate return.

We see another case in the tenth cleansed leper, who was a Samaritan. There was an immediate return on his part, but not with the nine. They failed to return to give glory to God. But one returned; he fell down and gave glory to God. It was an immediate reaction from the light of the gospel, the light of God entering his soul.

All these instances illustrate what is in mind, and why I have turned to Exodus. It is the initial ministerial book, typical of our exodus from the world and it covers the exercises as we are leaving, in fact, before we formally leave. This book contemplates that there should be response to God as His light comes to us. There may be young ones here who have never thought of worshipping God, though they may say they confessed the Lord some time back. The word would be for all such, particularly that they may delay no longer, that they may see that God is looking for immediate reaction, not a matter of weeks, months, and years, but an immediate reaction from the word of the gospel received in the soul.

The gospel narratives furnish many more instances than I have mentioned, and Exodus would elucidate the point, as I hope to show, not only as to young believers, but in Moses himself, the great mediator and deliverer, under God, of His people; he worshipped, too. The passage read in chapter 4 contemplates the reception of the ministry of God. Moses and Aaron appear as the ministers of God acting together, for it is an important thing in service that the servants who minister are of one mind, able to act together. Two are always better than one, even in service; and so, if there is to be this unity in service on the part of those who are qualified to serve in a special way, the history of Moses and Aaron must be looked into. We see God's great concern about them, particularly Moses. What a history his is! It is a history from his infancy. Not so with Aaron. We hear nothing of him until he is about eighty-three years of age. Not that he did not have a history with God, but the Spirit of God passes over it until he is about to enter the divine service, and then God tells Moses about his brother. He knew more about Aaron than Moses did, I am sure, and it is well for all those who serve to understand that God knows all about us, that He would put us together and help us to serve together. He would tell one about another -- some good thoughts about him. The Lord does that if we wait upon Him about fellow-servants. He would give us to understand just what each one is and how he is to be regarded; it is important that we should understand each other and have an exercise to come to a right judgment of each other; God would give it to us for He intends His servants to work together. So He says to Moses, "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?". He is called a Levite before Moses, not simply because he was of the tribe of Levi, but he evidently had the characteristics of a Levite, known to God. No one

can serve God unless he has those characteristics, "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he goeth out to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart". That is a fine commendation for God Himself to give of one servant to another, and we need these commendations, and shall get them if we ask God about them; but even if we do not ask we will get them as we are open for them.

The meeting takes place on the mountain of God, which is another important point to be observed, because the mountain of God refers to the place of divine reserves, and servants have all to go there. We all get our supplies from the same source. And there was an expression of affection between them. Aaron was three years older than Moses and would thus be at a peculiar disadvantage, indeed Moses would be too, because age enters into the calculations of servants. The older we are the more apt we are to make much of our age; it is a part of our capital and we do well to discount that capital; it becomes a test to servants when such disparity exists between them. But the affection is here between Moses and Aaron, and expressed too. Moses had the lead; God never overlooked that. There was no one like him in God's mind at that time, "My servant Moses", He says. When Aaron and Miriam questioned him later there was no one like him, one to whom God spoke face to face as a man speaks to his friend. But they were of one mind here, and according to what God said, and Aaron spoke to the people. God had said, "I know that he can speak well". And so in our verse it says, "And Aaron spoke all the words that Jehovah had spoken to Moses". Moses received the communications; they passed through him, for there is only one mediator. He was the apostle, the one through whom the messages came, and how many there were! It would be

an interesting matter to count up the number of messages that Moses received from Jehovah, I suppose every message added to him in a moral way. He would not grow weary of receiving them. They came from between the cherubim on the mercy-seat. Moses tells us that he heard a voice speaking to him from there. He always had access there, I do not say that all the messages came to him just there, but still, that was the principle. And Aaron was his spokesman; at least, at the beginning. God says, "I know that he can speak well". So that good speaking is important in the service of God; not eloquence, of course, the mere putting together of words, nor gesticulations, but such speech as is suitable for divine communications. Hence we find that Paul, as compared with Barnabas, was the chief speaker, although some rivals of his at Corinth said his speech was contemptible. Still, according to certain records, he and Barnabas "so spoke that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed". Stress is on the speaking. So here. Moses and Aaron gather the elders together. They move rightly, and we are told that "Aaron spoke all the words that Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people". And then it says, "And the people believed. And when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped". How pleasing that would be in a gospel meeting! We hear of a hundred being converted, or fifty, or twenty-five, but countings are not very certain. How delightful it would be, and what an evidence of the genuineness of the confessions, if each one bowed his head and worshipped! What a sight it would be! And why should this not be so? Is not the message today greater than what we read here? Think of the full declaration of God in Christ set out in the gospel, testifying to His love and to His

righteousness. His righteousness toward the believer and upon the believer. Think of the righteousness of God coming upon a wicked person like the woman of Samaria as believing the testimony; and think of His power known in the soul -- for in truth that is the order in Romans; it is the righteousness of God, the power of God, and the love of God. The righteousness is in chapter 3, the power in chapter 4 and the love in chapter 5. Is that not enough, as genuinely received into the soul, to move the soul to worship? I think so. And each of us may well question himself as to whether it has been his history. Is it true of me that I worship God? It may have been observed as I read these passages that it is not said that they worshipped God; the point is they worshipped. The thing is so manifest; there is no need to say that they worshipped God. It would be well for us to look back on our histories, and compare our present state of soul as to whether we really do worship. These people worshipped; they bowed their heads and worshipped. The light had come to them through these servants. First it says that they believed, and then, "when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped". I am not attempting to preach the gospel, but I do wish to impress upon everyone and myself too, the immediate intended effect and reaction of the gospel in the soul of the believer -- that I might be characteristically a worshipper, purged and sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Well now, the twelfth chapter is an advance on this. It is a question of redemption and the passover. The Levitical thought comes in again. The account of the passover, as given by Jehovah to Moses, takes up twenty verses in this chapter. Moses, in giving it to the people, reduces it to something like seven or

eight verses. He does not leave out anything that should be mentioned, but he introduces things that Jehovah did not mention at all. He is a true Levite in this service, and if there is one thing that should affect us, it is the desirability of brevity -- to be brief without omitting anything that should be said, just saying what is needed. So he speaks of using hyssop and a bason, which Jehovah did not mention, according to the record; and then he speaks about what their answer to their inquiring children would be; "It is a sacrifice of passover to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses". He makes a point of that -- delivered our houses. And you can see how suitable that is because it is the children that are in mind. This is not a Sunday-school matter; it is the great servant Moses who was faithful in all God's house, who is speaking here. He is speaking about children. He is anticipating that children will enquire about the passover. It is lovely to think of it in a spiritual sense, how, in Israel's history, children would enquire about the passover lamb and the ritual of the passover. What did it mean? One can understand a child of four or five asking his parents, 'Why was it necessary to kill the lamb?'. What an opportunity for the parents to bring home to such a child, in the youthful period of life, what the meaning of that passover lamb is -- "For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed for us", we are told. What a lesson that is to teach children -- "our passover". The children are included, for everyone in the house is included. The children are holy, we are told in 1 Corinthians 7. The children of believers are in a sphere where they hear of the most holy things. It enters into the make-up of the household that the parents include the children in these things -- "our passover, Christ" -- children and all. The children were included in the provision

of the manna, too. There was to be an omer for each one in the house. If the parents had eight children, then there would be ten omers. You can understand a child saying, Why should I have the same amount of manna as my father and my mother? Well, what an opportunity of bringing the children into the thing, of leading them on in a most spiritual way; for it is a question of their affections and interests. They can be led on to the most exalted things in a holy way. In the book of Joshua it was anticipated that they would ask about the twelve stones that were set up at Gilgal. Here Moses says, 'our houses'. One can understand how two children -- neighbours, for the idea of the nearest neighbour is contemplated in this chapter -- speaking to each other about what had happened in the celebration of the passover. How lovely it would be to listen to such a conversation! What happened in your house? one might ask. And what happened in your house? the other would ask. Well, one may say, Jehovah passed over our houses, both yours and mine. We are sharers alike in this wonderful deliverance so that we are no longer bond-slaves in Egypt. They were not likely to forget their bitter experience in Egypt, their hard toil at the brick kilns. What rigour! what utter want of consideration in the Egyptians towards them! But now they are about to be delivered out of it, for that is all included in what the passover signifies. They are to tell of the way Jehovah "delivered our houses"! And so we are told that when they heard this they bowed their heads and worshipped. They did that. They had not heard this message before; it was the first time they had heard it, and it effected a wonderful state in their souls. That is the point I would endeavour to show, that this matter is not for the more advanced brothers and sisters; it is initial; it is the immediate reaction to the gospel in the believer's

soul. If it be not so, then his conversion is questionable.

Now in chapter 34 they heard the mediator himself. This is a wonderful scene. Moses is alone in it; not even Joshua is with him at this second ascent of the mountain. It is a scene that is set down by the Spirit of God to affect all readers; to inspire us with the desire to have first-hand relations with God. Paul said, for instance, "... whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God". This is not a matter for children, exactly. They can hear about it and enquire about it, but it is a matter for spiritual persons. Moses represents an advanced believer, one in the service of God in a very distinctive way. He had just vindicated God in the presence of all Israel, encouraging the people to be for God, and he brought about conditions of worship as I hope to show; but I am not speaking of that at the moment. I am speaking now of Moses -- a man who had effected so much for the people and for God. He is fully owned of God. He had desired to see Jehovah's glory. How delightful that was to God! "Show me thy glory", he had said. God would gladly have done so, but the times did not permit of it; it was not opportune. I suppose God kept this in mind as to Moses until on the mount of transfiguration. God would never let it out of His mind that here was a man intent upon seeing His glory. God buried that man! What He must have thought of him! Satan wanted his body, but Michael contended for it. Moses' body was protected, as every believer's body is. But God signalised His servant in that oft spoken of incident in the New Testament -- the mount of transfiguration. Moses was there! You say, Was he there in his body? I am not saying that. You say, Is it possible that all the departed saints are being used of God? I am not saying that. I would contradict anyone who would say that. But Moses was used of

God. Elias was used of God after he died. He was on the mount also. Others, who had been asleep, are said to have come out of their tombs and entered into the holy city and appeared unto many after Christ's resurrection. You say, Where are they? I do not know. I am confident that God is looking after that, whether in the body or out of the body. God allows us certain glances into the unseen, but we must not attempt to go further and force things. God would say, Leave all that with Me. As regards Deity, God has come out in manifestation, but let us not intrude into the things which are beyond us; we have not seen everything. Even as to angels, we know but little. There is more revealed than we can understand. Let us give ourselves to what is revealed, for it belongs to us and to our children. And so God brought Moses into that glory scene on the "holy mount". Whether it was in the body or out of the body, we do not know, but God brought him there. It was a simple thing for God to do. Moses sought to see God's glory, and so we see how he was given to appear in glory himself, fully equal to the position. He and Elias were speaking to Jesus "of his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem". What an honour it was!

Well, Jehovah said to Moses, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee ... and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen". We see God in Christ. The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. But do we bow down every time we see that? And do we worship? One often thinks of the writer of Psalm 119, how he got up through the night: "At midnight I rise up to give thanks unto thee" (verse 62). He was not simply doing it lying down on the bed, which would also be accepted, if done reverently, but he got up through the night. I think God is looking for that in us, that there should be this kind of movement with

us, that He should be thus in our hearts. So that if it be a meeting of this kind, or whatsoever it may be, when God speaks and shows Himself in any way, there should be immediate reaction in the sense of praise and worship, for He deserves it.

Well now, Jehovah came down and stood by Moses: "And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood beside him there". How beautiful that is, yet it is not at all beyond us. If we understand the assembly at all, we will see that it is not beyond us. The great thought of the house of God was disclosed to Jacob. In the first vision which he had, Jehovah appeared above the ladder, but in the second vision in Bethel, Jehovah came down and stood beside Jacob. That is the great principle that runs through; God draws near. He loves the idea of nearness. He comes near to us, but then, He would have us to get nearer to Him. And so in Hebrews, we have, "Let us approach". Why not? We have access into the holiest "by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water". Hebrews 10:19 - 22. Why should we not draw near? Everything is provided to make us suitable to draw near. Jehovah came down to Moses. He would be near. He descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and He passed by and proclaimed, "Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation". This is what God proclaimed. It does not go as far as the gospel

does in our day. Nor does it at all touch the mystery, which was hidden in God even then. But it says that "Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped". Think of what is available to us week after week, through one and another, by God's Spirit sent down from heaven. What unfoldings there are! But what is our reaction? What are our services? It is a matter of God showing Himself. In chapter 24 God called Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders to go up and worship, but here God came down in the cloud and stood beside Moses. For us this would be moral elevation; God comes near and shows Himself. And then the reaction -- Moses worshipped! Anything less than this in assembly service is wanting; anything short of reaching God is wanting. He is to be worshipped. Not that Jesus is not to be worshipped; He is to be worshipped, of course, for He is God. He is to be worshipped even in a mediatorial sense. But then God is the great objective in service. Any service that does not reach God is wanting, and God wants completion in our service. Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped. Think of a person coming into the service of God, pretending to serve God and yet leaving without worshipping Him! God is the great Objective in His house. The Lord Jesus makes that plain in all His ministry, and especially in the epistle to the Hebrews. And I may say here that, in order to understand the gospels, we must understand the epistles. We must learn from the epistles; the truth for us is in the epistles. The ministry of Christ is universal, not only relating to the assembly but to Israel, for He is to rule over the nations, and they are all to be gathered together before Him, according to the gospels. The epistles are narrower. We approach the gospels through the epistles to see what applies to us, and as I was saying, the Lord makes it plain in the

epistles that God is to be worshipped. Paul says, "To us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things". There are things said about Jesus, in the mediatorial sense, that are also attributable to God. For instance, Jesus made everything -- "by whom are all things" -- but then in other similar passages it says of God, "of whom are all things" -- all bringing out in wonderful perfection and variety the deity of Christ. But when we come to distinction of Persons, the Father is the supreme Object of worship, and the Mediator will never be satisfied until He brings the people to God. Moses led the people out to God. And here he "made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped". It was an intelligent action, and he made haste to do it.

In chapter 33 we see how conditions for worship had been established in the presence of idolatry. The tabernacle had been taken and pitched outside the camp. Joshua remained inside the tent, a spiritual element, as it were, maintaining the position. And then it says, "And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and stood every man at the entrance of his tent, and they looked after Moses until he entered into the tent. And it came to pass when Moses entered into the tent ... Jehovah talked with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people rose and worshipped, every man at the entrance of his tent". Now the tent door is not properly the place of worship; not that it is despised, for it does not seem so here. The place of worship was established outside the camp -- pitched outside, and it was there that God came down to speak to Moses. What a scene it was! Think of a person remaining in his own tent when such a glorious scene was opened up to him! We are told, in verse 7, that "every one which sought

the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp". If there is any one here who is still in the camp, he is missing this. I am not denying that there may be worship in your heart, though in very cloudy circumstances, but your place is outside the camp if you are a christian. Do not stay where you are a moment longer. God has established a place where He is to be worshipped. It is outside the camp, and if there is one here who is in a human organisation, a man-made religious system, the word to you is in verse 7. "Every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp". That is where to worship properly; that is where God came down and spoke to Moses; that is where Joshua remained. He did not depart from the tabernacle.

May God bless these thoughts to us!

THE BRIDEGROOM'S PRIESTLY TURBAN AND THE BRIDE'S JEWELS

Isaiah 61:10

I have in mind to speak of the bridegroom decking himself, as a priest, with the priestly turban. This fits in with the idea of the believer's household, affording a place for the ark. The ark requires to be handled in a priestly way. In 1 Samuel 7 it says, "And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Jehovah, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and hallowed Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Jehovah" (verse 1). And then the ark was taken out of Abinadab's house in 2 Samuel 6, where they "set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was upon the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart" (verse 3). But then it says later, "Uzzah reached after the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen had stumbled. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God". I refer to these scriptures to bring out the necessity for this priestly turban being donned by each bridegroom; that is, it should be donned in view of household functions.

The turban, or the high-priestly head covering, in Exodus, is a very distinctive part of the priest's habiliments and had a golden plate on which was inscribed, Holiness to Jehovah. High-priestly service, of course, lay in the sanctuary. Hence the requirement that his head covering should be dedicated in holiness. It alludes to headship in Christ, of course, which is perfect. But the sons of Aaron also had head-caps; high caps they were called. Theirs did not have a golden plate with an inscription on it, but still, they would correspond with the

head-dress of the high priests, the allusion being that the intelligence, the use of the head, should be in holiness. In nothing, I believe, are we more likely to transgress than in our minds, and particularly if we have good minds. The apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, "We all have knowledge, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies", 1 Corinthians 8:1. Indeed, Paul's writings in his two letters to the Corinthians are marked by the use of the priestly turban. He was not a bridegroom, of course; but he presented Christ as the Bridegroom. Indeed he says to the Corinthians, "I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ", 2 Corinthians 11:2. He was, on Christ's behalf, securing the bride in Corinth, and in doing so the priestly turban was in evidence. He used it, in principle, in the careful discrimination with which he ministered to these saints. He did not tell them everything he knew. In speaking to the Ephesians he enlarges on what he knew, saying he desired that they should know his knowledge of the mystery. There was one man who knew the mystery! The knowledge he had was not that which puffs up; indeed he speaks of being less than the least of all the saints. And in many ways this would appear, but particularly in his measurement and discrimination in the use of Scripture, in the use of knowledge, "For I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified", 1 Corinthians 2:2. Think of a brother like that, not judging it well "to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified". He would have in mind their tendencies and would save them from what they were prone to; vying with one another and puffed up because of their knowledge. So that the apostle determined to restrict himself so that they should not be damaged by imitating Paul. Otherwise, they may have said, Paul spread out everything! But in serving, it is not a question of

telling people what you know; it is telling people what they need, after carefully determining what they do need, and presenting it to them insofar as you may, as the Lord gives grace for it. We are so likely to catch on to any display of a special intelligence. There should be no such thing as a parrot found in the assembly of God. That should have no place anywhere! The apostle says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies". Edification is needed in all these things.

Well now, the bridegroom here, we are told, is clothed by Jehovah. It says, "I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with the priestly turban", Isaiah 61:10. The turban is what he puts on; "as a bridegroom decketh himself". He is head, but his headship is priestly. It is not the mere exercise of mentality -- knowing much -- but priestliness enters into it. Otherwise there would be no room for the ark in the household. If the ark is to have a place in the christian household, there must be the priestly turban on the head of the bridegroom, that is, the husband. It is a question of headship. And how can I have a house according to God without headship? We cannot, dear brethren.

The Lord, in entering into one house, took the housefather's place. There were two persons on the way to recovery; they had been on the wrong road, but He walked with them, and now they are getting into the right way, and the Lord took the housefather's place. It is wonderful to ponder that scene at Emmaus! They constrained Him to come in, and He went in. How long it took to walk there I do not know, but the Lord was there with them and as the meal was placed on the table He gave thanks for it. We see the priestly turban in use

there! And when they returned to Jerusalem, in the assembly, we might say, He stood in their midst. You see the priestly turban in use there, too. It was not much in evidence with the disciples, but He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. He had expounded the Scriptures in the way, but now He refers to the law and the prophets and the psalms -- in the assembly. That is to say, He would open up their understanding in a priestly way; the turban would be in evidence, and the intention was that they should use it. So that we are to consider this matter as to our intelligence in our houses, as to whether it is used in a priestly way; that this knowledge is to function in a priestly way before our wives, and before our children, and before whoever may be in the house.

And then we are told, "and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels". With her jewels! Now we get in Revelation the supreme thought of the bride -- the bride of Christ. She comes down from God out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. We are not told what the adornment is, but the point is that she is adorned "as a bride ... for her husband". She has her Husband in mind. What adornment will the Husband value in that day? But here, the bride is said to adorn herself with her jewels. They are hers; they are not borrowed; they are hers! If we transfer the thought to spiritual adornment, that is not borrowed. Jewels are often borrowed and imitation is often used, but these are real jewels and they belong to the person. And if they are her own, spiritually, they will remain. One of them will be subjection, making full room for the influence of the priestly turban -- the intelligence that is regulated by priestliness. It requires subjection. The church is subjected to Christ. Knowledge, developed in a priestly way, requires subjection in those who receive the instruction. So that clearly

the jewels here would be what the bride has; certain qualities that are not merely natural; they are the fruit of the Spirit; they are her own! They are "her jewels".

Well, I trust that these few words will be taken on by each of us who are householders; that our knowledge is not to be simply what we know, but that what we give out at any time should be in priestly power and grace. On the other hand, the wife is to be in subjection, and we shall have the display of the priestly intelligence, the priestly turban. And then there will be room for the ark in the house.

It would appear that there were priestly conditions in the house of Obed-Edom. There had been different conditions in the house of Abinadab on the hill. It was not that he sought the ark; it was put there by agreement among the men of Kirjath-jearim. It had been put in his house and his son Eleazar had been consecrated to keep the ark, but it is a question if the priestly turban was there at all. And I think that God passed judgment on the whole position in what happened to Uzzah. There was a want of priestly intelligence in regard to the ark, and hence the sorrowful judgment that came upon that house.

So that, dear brethren, it is important that we have the priestly head-dress; that there is the unfolding of the knowledge of God in a subjective way and that it is effective in the house. And then Christ has a place in the house, as in the house of Zacchaeus. He received the Lord into his house with joy. And the Lord recognised that Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham; that is to say, he was of that morally dignified line and recognised as such by the Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Lord bless His word!

GOD'S CARE FOR YOUNG BELIEVERS

Genesis 2:8, 9, 15 - 20

I wish to use these verses as setting out how God in His wisdom and love cares for believers, especially young ones. The divine record only proceeds a little way before we get this thought inserted. In chapter 1, Man is said to be created. There is nothing said about his need for a companion in that chapter. The word "Man" includes both man and woman: "male and female created he them". But chapter 2 brings things in from the standpoint of God's own affections and pleasure in what He had created, so that we have the word "formed" there instead of "created". The word "formed" denotes skill of handiwork after a pattern, so that men are not simply the product of the ground. Eve comes under the divine hand in the sense of formation. Formation involves features of life which would be pleasing to the person who formed the things. So that every creature of the field would have some attractiveness for the Creator, but particularly Man. So we have the word "formed" used in regard to him at first. The same word is used for the lower creatures, but Man is distinguished in that he is breathed into by the Creator; he lived by the breath of God; not by the formation of God, but by the breath of God he became a living soul.

Formation refers to ornamentation, appearance, the framework. As a result of it God saw His own image in Man, and then He began to think for him. So that Adam comes in immediately as an object of divine interest. We cannot say that of the lower animals, although they had their existence by God and were formed too; there is nothing said about their environment, nor is it indicated that they had a place in the garden, but Jehovah Elohim planted

the garden eastward in Eden for a purpose. It was by His own hands, we might say. You may be sure that no landscape garden has ever exceeded its beauty. Similarly you may be sure that no houses equalled the midwives' houses in Egypt in architecture. But here He planted a garden: "Jehovah Elohim planted a garden in Eden eastward, and there put Man whom he had formed". He was occupied with this great creature whom He had formed and into whom He had breathed. God was intensely interested in Man. He would not be the sole object of interest in the universe, of course, because angels were made before him. We are not told how they were made; there is no evidence that they live by breath, but they were made before Adam, and before this earth, too, on which Adam was set. For as the earth's foundations were laid, the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God, referring to angels, no doubt, shouted for joy. So that God had objects of interest there in the angels, but none of them is a type of Christ, none of them is the image of God. God intended Man for that great honour. He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"; that is the divine thought; and now He is occupied with Adam and He plants the garden and places him in the garden.

Then it is said that "out of the ground Jehovah Elohim made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food". That is a question of providing for Adam; the "sight" would be Adam's sight, and the eater of the food would be Adam. Jehovah Elohim (the compound name is used indicating that He is entering into close contact with Adam) is going to provide for him and care for him, and if any need arises in Adam's history, Jehovah Elohim will see to it that it is met. Sin had not yet come in; so there is no need to use the word 'legitimate', because everything, so far, was perfect.

Now, applying this to the christian, it is that he is taken up potentially, and the work is to proceed in his formation and development, so that he may meet the divine needs, for God has needs in His affections. And so the believer is taken up by God for His pleasure. The first epistle to the Corinthians regards the saints as "called" -- called saints. That does not means that 'saints' is their title; it means that God has called them, so that they are available to Him. That epistle develops this great thought of divine care for believers, and how we have been called into the fellowship of God's Son. God has thought of you long ago, long before you had any existence at all: "Whom he has predestinated, these also he has called; and whom he has called, these also he has justified". But I am speaking of the calling, and that He foreknew you before He called you. That means that God in His long outlook, back in the countless millenniums of time, or even before time, saw you as you are, born of Him. He has wrought in you now by the Spirit and you have moved on spiritual lines, however little, however feeble, however vague it may be. God sees the whole matter of your history until you are to be established in an unchangeable blessing in eternity. He foreknew you; He foreknew me. Paul says of the Lord that He "loved me and gave himself for me". That would mean that the Lord had seen Paul in His divine outlook, not as he was, an insolent, overbearing man, and a murderer. In that state there was no attraction in him for the Lord to give Himself for him. It was as wrought upon by God that Paul became lovable to Christ. But he says, He loved me. There was something to love; something which the Lord foreknew; and so great was the love begotten in the heart of Christ for Paul that He gave Himself for him.

Now it should touch our hearts to know that the Lord gave Himself for us because He knew us, not in naughtiness, not in self-will, not in stiffneckedness, but in lovableness; and the point now is to reach that in some concrete way. We are told that "the wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes, thus is every one that is born of the Spirit". It is a sovereign matter and has in mind the securing of the believer already known in the divine way. All that is of divine purpose is according to what is lovable. God is going to surround Himself with lovable persons, and their lovableness involves formation. It involves breath, too; that is, the Spirit in us. God has taken us on, knowing us from the beginning, so that He might reach the end He had in mind for us.

Now it is the man whom Jehovah Elohim had formed that He placed in the garden, according to Genesis 2:8. Our first blessing does not involve responsibility on our part, in the sense that it is based upon the work of Christ -- not our works. A young believer is not blessed on the side of responsibility, exactly, but he is given to understand there is such a thing as that. So the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is just said to be there, but the stress is laid on the tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. That is what you need -- what is pleasurable to the eye and what is good for food; and God puts us where that is available. He has put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there, but He does not say anything about the responsibility not to eat of it as yet, or the penalty attached to eating it. It is rather that the environment provides a great source of wealth that is enough to overwhelm you; if you have been brought into any need, this is to meet it. The potential richness and the

actual riches are overwhelming if we are ready to go in for them. From God's side they are overwhelming.

And so the river is said to water the garden; and then it flows out from the garden, where Man was. And that is where you and I are. It does not say the river is for Man, but it indicates that it is an immense idea as to what is good and refreshing and enriching. So that you are to be kept in the new sphere into which you have been introduced through the gospel, because it is not only the gospel of salvation; it is the gospel of blessing. We are brought into the blessing that God has prepared for us. But when the river is mentioned as becoming four main streams or heads -- for that is the word used -- then Adam is placed under responsibility; that is, God would have us first to understand that He has brought us into blessing of extreme delightfulness where nothing at all is omitted that we need. There is a source of refreshment; an unending source of riches, for the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone; there are great potentialities of wealth, and it is all infinite in this realm.

Now in verse 15 we are told that Jehovah Elohim took Man, and put him into the garden of Eden to till and to guard it. That is the next thing; that it is not all pleasure, it is not all gratification and enjoyment. God would say, now, There is work to be done; there is the tilling of the garden and there is the guarding of the garden. There is no mention here of the sweat of the face. That is said later, when sin came in, but not here. It is, so to say, a gentleman's life. You will understand what I mean. God is setting up man with plenty; with everything that is pleasant to the eye and good for food; beautiful landscape; nothing wanting to please him so far as his needs go. We are not yet told that he needs a companion; we will hear of that later. The young people do need companions, and they need holy

companions, because you will surely become like your companions, and God is going to say, right here in this chapter, that He has the idea of companionship in mind for you. But in the meantime it is a question of what your life is in the new order of things.

So that God has called us into the fellowship of His Son. That is what we are told in 1 Corinthians 1:9. It is a question of calling; not yet to heaven -- that is more Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians. But in Corinthians we are called into the fellowship of God's Son. And every young person here should begin to look around and see what he has been brought into, and begin to enjoy and partake of the trees. And God would now press upon him that there is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and He commands in regard of that. This is the first time we have a commandment in Scripture. So that if you have begun to look around, with spiritual vision to see what beautiful trees there are, and what food there is, and what a river there is, and what potential wealth there is, you are now to take on responsibility. What I observe with young people is a great lack of acceptance of responsibility to till and to guard the garden that they have been brought into. It is not only that they should not bring anything damaging into the garden -- or the local assembly, for that is what is in mind -- but they should see that others do not do it. If you are loyal to the fellowship you will not fail to tell of any secret damaging root of evil that is being allowed. That is the guarding. There is the tilling and the guarding. You begin to see that you are wonderfully provided for, and you put your hand out to do something, and that something is to till and to guard the garden. Tilling is not arduous labour; there is no sweat, as I said before. God comes into the garden in the cool of the day, meaning that Adam

would be free at that time of the day for a divine visitation. These are beautiful thoughts, because the God that we have to do with is the God that did all these things for Adam. And He is doing them for us; He had us in mind. He would as much as say, You young people will understand that I am not only enlightening you, but I have made a wonderful environment for you, and I am now just seeking to get you to take on a little responsibility. And that is to be in the way of tilling the garden; doing what you can to help the brethren so that there should be fruit to God. And also, you are to guard the position that there should be no evil root in your own heart, practised in secret or cherished in the mind, which will defile, and that you will not condone it in any other person either. You are guarding the position, because Satan will come in if you do not. The record of how the serpent came in is in the next chapter.

In the first epistle to the Corinthians we have all this that I have been speaking about. There is the calling into the fellowship of God's Son. Think of the magnitude of that! "God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord". But then there is a commandment. The whole first epistle to the Corinthians is a commandment, and so you get the word "commanded" in this second allusion to Adam's position in the garden. He is under commandment; later, Jehovah's commandment is called a covenant, and the thought of the covenant attaches to every believer who has part in the fellowship in the assembly. Now, as it were, God said to Adam, 'All this I have done for you; I have set you up in My own image and surrounded you with a most attractive environment; there is the river, an infinite source of supply in the garden; and now I have placed you here just to look after things, to guard the position and to till the land'. There is no need for ploughing or harrowing

or heavy work; it is just a simple matter of tilling. There may have been some digging, but the word is not used; there is no idea of the sweat of the face, which comes in later. It is God making the position attractive to us, and then He would say, 'Not only have I done this for you, but I want to draw near to you, to establish Myself in your heart; I want you to be in covenant with Me; I want the position consolidated so that you will have a conscience in regard of any movements of yours that may violate this contract'.

You might think God is becoming more severe. But He would tell you that He likes you so well that He wants the bond sealed, and it is not to be violated. He does not wish it said of you, That young man has transgressed the covenant. He does not want to have to say that of any of us. He does not want to make any historical allusions to our naughty ways; God wishes to set us up as men, able to keep a covenant, as it were. He wants to have us near to Him and have us under the bond of covenant. It is the perfect law of liberty, because we are surrounded with everything that is delightful; and it should be delightfully attractive to us to be in bond with the God who is so good to us, as I may say, who has given Jesus for us.

Well, this is only the fringe of things; it is what God does for the believer. He impresses on us what He has done for us, as He said to His people Israel: "Ye have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself", Exodus 19:4. He wants to draw us into covenant with Him, to have a people near to Him, and to make a nation of priests. These were the thoughts He expressed, to Israel, and He would bring us near, too. And He would enter into covenant with us to place us under responsibility not to violate the position. So that we are in a position

of covenant; we are set up in relation to God, and God would be severe as to this matter. He commanded Adam, and said to him, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt certainly die". The time had come for God to be very definite with Adam, and so with us. Dear brethren, we would appeal to the youth as to definiteness. The winds are blowing hard, the storms and the floods are rising, and we had better get our houses built on a rock, which would mean we are to judge all the things that are negative to what we have here. God is rightly severe about this matter of good and evil. It is a crucial matter, and it is imperative that I be exercised about it, for there is penalty attaching to disobedience.

But I go on to verse 18: "And Jehovah Elohim said, It is not good that Man should be alone". Now we have come to a very interesting matter -- a marital matter. Whether in dealing with it spiritually or literally. God would say, I am thinking of you and I can think for you better than you can think for yourself in this matter. He says, "It is not good that Man should be alone". It is very touching that God should think of us as He thought for Adam. Whether Adam had indicated in some way that he had a pressing need in his heart, we cannot say. But what is presented here is that God had taken account of the need in Adam's heart, that in spite of this wonderful environment he was still wanting; and it was not good for him to be in that condition. God was thinking of him in that way. This would all be accentuated as it applies to a believer. We are to make our requests known unto God; not simply to speak of them, but to make them known to Him. He is ready to take cognizance of what we say, "Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests

be made known to God", Philippians 4:6. He is ready to take account of the prayers and desires of your heart. But He would have us know that He was thinking of that Himself. You will find that God has always thought for you. How wise to let God think for you!

Now the time has come to bring up this marital question, and every believer is to come to this point, though many have never come to it. There are places where brothers and sisters break bread together, but if the marital thought is not in prospect, such meetings come short; they are questionable. Why not make way for marital relations? We are to be married "to another, who has been raised up from among the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God", Romans 7:4. That is something that should come into your heart. As believers we are said to be married to Another who has been raised from the dead. We are not said to be raised from the dead in Romans. We are here in flesh and blood condition, and that is where this matter of marital relations comes in. It is that we may bring forth fruit to God. I touch on that so that the young people may have some thought of what is in the mind of God for them, and think that they are to be companions of the Christ. We are in need of that. Of course, no one should think of literal marriage in relation to Christ. Marriage to Christ is not literal marriage. But if I do not know what it is to be married to Christ, how can I understand what it is to be married according to God? The passage shows how God is thinking of us first, and then thinking for us. He is attracted by His own work in you; He loves you; but He sees the dangers; and now He would say, It is not good that you should be alone.

The next thing is wisdom. Once you reach the marital attitude in christian experience, the question

arises as to what wisdom you have. So that, first of all, God is thinking for Adam, that it is not good that he should be alone, but first He tests him to see if he can name things. If you are going to have a husband, or a wife, as the case may be, you should be able to name him, or her; and choose the right name. It is remarkable that God brings up this matter Himself. He saw that Adam was in a state that was not complete, but before proceeding in the matter He would see if Adam was able to name things. How often we are deceived and put the wrong names on things. It is most important, in relation to marriage, that I name things aright. If it is to be "in the Lord", then I must consider what the person is. Can I name what is in the person?

Well, Adam is tested by an animal. It is a form of life. God has formed that creature and it is to be named; and God brings it to Adam. Now, in doing so, God is testing him out to see if he is equal to the new relation which He has in mind for him. Well, can he name the animals? He has already said of Adam that it is not good for him to be alone. All these creatures refer to certain features of life in christians. Animals are used throughout the Scriptures to represent features of life in men and women. And Adam was able to name each one. And, as I said, this matter is raised before the marital matter is raised. The same is true of the fellowship, I should be able to name the evidences of life; I should not be deceived; for many are deceived and lose their way because of inability to name things or persons. But with Adam, God would say, I am not going to allow things to be spoiled. I will see if Adam is likely to link up with one of the lower creatures. Think of linking up with a monkey or a giraffe! Adam was wise enough to avoid that. The names which he gave illustrate the various features found in persons. Think of persons who grovel in the

earth and never look up to God! Think of a believer marrying such an one! The Lord healed a woman who was bowed down for eighteen years. Satan had bound her. She could not lift herself up. The Lord named her condition. Satan had done it.

Well, Adam saw that there was nothing to answer to his mind and affections in the lower creation. His mind repelled any such thought as that. It says that "he found no helpmate, his like". It was Adam's own decision. God knew the condition well enough, but Adam decided the answer; he found no helpmate his like. The book of Job tells us how noble some of these creatures are, but Adam would say that none of those creatures was his like.

Adam was qualified now for the divine thought. Whether in natural marriage or spiritual, it is a question of headship, of naming things, of calling persons according to what they are. So that now God can provide what Adam needs; he has shown his qualifications, that he can marry intelligently and that he can marry the object of his affections -- one that is like him. That is the position, and God would work the matter out. What a transaction it was! God was thinking of Adam! And He is thinking of believers; every moment He is thinking of you and for you, to provide for the needs of your souls, so that you might be satisfied. You should not go off after the animals or wander about to gratify yourself. Think of God taking measures to meet your needs! He caused Adam to go to sleep. Think of the blessed God causing a man to go to sleep -- a deep sleep such as would dull every sensibility in his being, so that He should bring into being what Adam needed. And so He brings a woman forward.

Well, I need not enlarge further upon this, but it is said that God brought the woman to the man, as much as to say that He would go the full length for

you in providing for you, potentially; not bringing this creature out of the man and then letting him find her, but he brought the woman to the man. He is still testing him as to whether this new institution is to be in intelligence. He knows what appeals to our intelligence. God is in this marital relation, whether it is spiritual or literal, it is to be a matter of intelligence, otherwise you will have darkness; you will have sorrow untold.

God does not say one word to Adam, but Adam sees the creature and he says, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh". It is the rounding out of the position from the divine side, and Adam is unmistakably intelligent as to what he is doing. He sees all things clearly. So he said, "This time it is bone of my bones" -- that is in contrast to the bones of the lower creatures -- it is now bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh; "this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man". The whole position is rounded out in intelligence, so that from the divine side, at least, there is a pattern and type; there is no room for the devil to come in. The sequel shows that the moral side had to be dealt with, but so far the position is rounded out, I am speaking of it, now, as to how the believer's position is filled out. You are in a wonderful circle and God is providing for every need of your soul; He sets you up in intelligence, and He is asking you to name that brother and that sister. What do you think of them? And so the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, "I speak as to intelligent persons". The position is not rounded out until we come to that; it is in that connection that we come into the marital relations, that we are intelligent persons and we know what we are to do. The Lord's supper is the bond of all that. Before you get the truth of the Supper developed the apostle says, "I speak as to intelligent persons, do ye judge what I say". You are not a critic, but at

the same time you can name the evidences of life, and you can say, I am brought into a wonderful circle. That is really what happened when Eve was brought to Adam, I am brought into the joys of family life in the christian circle; it is the rounding out of the whole position, which involves that I am brought into Ephesian conditions, heavenly, spiritual conditions in the heavenlies in Christ. What is there equal to it? Nothing! We have the very best that God can devise for us, and we are set in heaven with companions that we can love; and they can love us.

COMPLETING MATTERS

Mark 16:9 - 20

I wish to speak at this time about the need for the completion of matters in the assembly. This thought has come to my mind in connection with the scriptures read, while in this meeting.

There are persons who question the authenticity of these verses, claiming that they have been added to the book by someone other than the writer of the gospel. But they really are necessary to bind up, or complete, the gospel, and there hardly can be any doubt but that they are a part of Mark's writing. Mark has his own particular way of expressing himself. One thing that characterises him is that he is very brief -- more so than the other gospel writers. But he is most careful to carry matters through to completion. And this is very important, and especially so in assembly matters. The Scriptures tell us that the creation was finished: "And the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished", Genesis 2:1. And we are also told how the matter was completed. The heavens were garnished, we are told. That suggests adornment -- not only that they were finished, but that they were made beauteous. And Noah finished the ark -- it was completed. The word is, "And Noah did it", Genesis 6:22. And so throughout the Scriptures we find incidents in which matters are brought to completion. God would have it so.

The hem of the priest's garment is referred to in Psalm 133. That suggests a completed matter. The garment had a tidy and orderly conclusion. There were no loose ends flowing. The psalm has in mind Christ glorified and the Holy Spirit given. The garment, therefore, would suggest the assembly where matters are to be completed and orderly; "Let all things be done comelily and with order", 1 Corinthians 14:40. Tidiness should mark all assembly matters. The

Lord's garment had a hem. The Spirit of God tells us of it. How perfectly complete were all matters which Jesus did! "I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it", John 17:4. And now the Spirit is here to help us that we may complete matters -- and complete them well.

Now in considering the verses read we must take account of what precedes them. It says, earlier in the chapter, that Jesus had risen from the dead and that certain women had gone to the sepulchre where they had seen a man clothed in a white garment who had told them that Jesus was risen. They had received wonderful light, but they had run away terrified and had said nothing to anyone. Now that kind of thing will not help in a crisis. They were of no help at all. They are not presented by Mark in the same favourable light in which the other gospel writers picture them. Mark is concerned about unbelief in the saints. He tells us of the difficult conditions with which the Lord had to deal. This section tells us what Jesus did. He had power to overcome the unbelief that was in the hearts of the disciples. What skill He used! We might well wonder where matters would have ended had it not been for Him. And this is the point to which we must come when dealing with difficult issues. How much we need Him!

Mary of Magdala is referred to in verse 9. She is brought forward as a subject of the Lord's work. It says that He had cast out seven demons from her: "out of whom he had cast seven demons". Luke tells us that they went out, which means that the work of God in her was such that their abode was untenable. But Mark lets us know that it was a difficult matter, but the Lord had met it and had cast out the demons. But now she is available and the Lord speaks to her and she goes and tells the disciples that He had risen and that she had seen Him; but they disbelieved her. It is not only that

they were unbelieving -- it says that "they disbelieved". It was not a question of their inability to take in what Mary said, but an attitude of resistance to the truth. They actively refused to believe her. This was the condition with which the Lord had to deal in view of making the disciples trustworthy persons.

Next we are told that the Lord was manifested in another form to two as they walked, going into the country. It was in another form. There was a different state of soul which had to be met in these. Why were they going to the country? Were they giving up? Were they finding the pathway of discipleship too difficult? Was discouragement turning them aside? These settings only serve to emphasize the skill which the Lord used to overcome unbelief in His own. The whole position seemed to be disintegrating. All was in jeopardy unless He came in and met the situation. But then, one sister is right. Mary of Magdala was available. She did not flee. She was not unbelieving. She brought the good news but she was disbelieved. And then the two who returned from the country came to the disciples, and they did not believe them. How serious is the matter! It says, "Neither did they believe them". Sometimes conditions of unbelief amongst the saints seem to be just like that. It makes no difference what is said; there is resistance to the truth -- they just will not believe! But, thank God, we can count upon the Lord coming in unless, of course, conditions become fixed. But that was not so here. Serious though conditions were the Lord still had in mind to bring about trustworthiness in them!

Well, the skill of the Lord is seen in the way in which He deals with the eleven. He manifested Himself to His unbelieving disciples as they lay at table. That was not an assembly setting. The Lord selected the time and the place and the conditions. And He will do just that. It was when they were restful and in a

softened state -- as they lay at table. He manifested Himself to them then and reproached them with their unbelief. He will not fail to administer a rebuke in cases where there is resistance to the truth. His words were no doubt severe, but how they must have affected their feelings! It says that He reproached them with their unbelief and hardness of heart. In chapter 8: 17 He had spoken sharply to them, "Have ye your heart yet hardened?", He had said. And their hearts are still hard! But the Lord has in mind to make them trustworthy. He is using His skill to complete the matter!

The Spirit, through Mark, records for us that it was "the eleven". One was missing. He had been dealt with, and rightly so. What an influence Judas must have been amongst the disciples! We are not told what he said in conversation with the eleven, but we can be sure that his influence had not been a good one. But he is not with them now. He is in no way responsible for their unbelief now. The fact that he is not here should help. But they are unbelieving and had resisted the truth brought to them by persons who were qualified to do so. And so the Lord rebuked them -- He reproached them for their unbelief. Did they refuse His word? They received the rebuke and judged themselves and the unbelief in their hearts. How quickly it happened! How quickly matters were settled when they had to do with the Lord!

And then the Lord gave them a great commission. They were to preach the gospel to the whole creation. Was that commission given to unbelievers? Surely it was not. They were no longer unbelievers, but believers. How skilful was the Lord's dealing with them! It had been severe, for He had reproached them, but it was effectual and it was complete. No question but that He had full confidence in them now. They are now trustworthy persons. How quickly it must have taken place! Immediate action characterises Mark's

writing. No doubt he felt that much time had been wasted by himself during the time that he was wrong. Time had become a precious commodity with Mark. It is not to be wasted. Mark frequently uses the word "immediately". Indeed, it is a characteristic expression with him. And it is well that we take heed to the word and, if unbelieving, cease to continue in unbelief. Let us accept the rebuke and get right quickly. That would be Mark's advice. And that is the way he records the adjustment of the eleven. It was an immediate matter. And so the Lord has confidence in them and commits this great service of the glad tidings to them as trustworthy persons.

Next we are told that He was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God, I am sure that He would be looking at the disciples as He was parted from them. How would He look at them? Would it be with doubts and misgivings? Would it be a look of rebuke? I am sure it would not be. It would be with dove's eyes. How He loved them! and how they loved Him! He was leaving them as trustworthy witnesses. How well He knew that they were true to Him spite of their unbelief and hardness of heart! They were true lovers. And so it says, "And they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs following upon it".

And so, dear brethren, the Lord would show us how matters are carried through with skill and without delay. The time is short. May we be helped to complete matters in an orderly fashion!

MOSES -- FAITHFUL IN ALL GOD'S HOUSE

Numbers 11:10 - 17; Numbers 12:1 - 8; Exodus 29:26

You may have observed that I have read in order to speak about Moses. He was one of the great worthies. There were others, of course -- very distinguished persons whom we shall see in heaven. It is important that we should become acquainted with them in some sense; not, of course, personally now, but as the Spirit of God is pleased to picture them in the facts of Scripture. We should become accustomed to them in this way, so that on seeing them above we shall be able to distinguish them from others; for as the stars, so the saints in heaven will each have his own glory. We are all to be glorious. One star differs from another star, we are told, "in glory".

I have selected Moses to speak about him, not as a type of Christ, but, perhaps, as a type of some of ourselves. God waited until he was about eighty years of age before He took him up formally. He had His eye on him before, of course, and he was exceedingly lovely as a babe. He was fair to God, we are told; a sort of formula for extreme fairness, but undoubtedly carrying the idea that God saw fairness in him. How beautiful he was! Other worthies, as remarked, are selected similarly, some of them when very young, such as Samuel. We may say that Moses was selected when he was very young, but held in abeyance for many years to form his character. He was unique in his service. He is said to have been faithful in all God's house. So that he is a model for us as to doing work in God's house. Perhaps but few of us think of having part in the work of God's house, of being workers with God. But Moses is signalised as being faithful in all God's house. And there were others, of course. We have such a man as David: "I have found David my servant", God says, in Psalm 89. It is a remarkable thing that it should be said that he was found, and yet

he is regarded as a type of Christ in that psalm. But I am speaking of these men now as types of christians or believers, so that we may feel ourselves not so far away from them -- that they are of us and that we are to become acquainted with them and learn from them in an objective way, but nevertheless truly to learn from them. And so Jehovah says, "I have found David". How delightful that expression is: "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will", Acts 13:22. That is saying more than was said of Moses. It is really Christ that is in mind there, but still it is David, and our minds are led to think of the occasion when he was found among his brethren. God saw to it that he was found in that way. He had been overlooked in the mustering of Jesse's sons, as if he were of little value, but God found him at that time -- a man after His own heart, who would do all His will. It is said of the man in John 9 that the Lord Himself found him -- another very beautiful thought! And so it is well for young brothers and sisters to hold themselves as findable, and in a desirable place in which to be found. It is a terrible thing to be found in a picture show, for instance. That is very different from being found in this meeting, and God so regards it, too. David was neglected but he was well occupied, looking after the sheep. Typically, he was looking after the saints; and Jesse sent and fetched him, and the Spirit says, "This is he". He does not say, 'That is he'; it is one nearby; one who at the moment he was brought in was near to God.

Well, with regard to Moses, I have begun with a rather ugly setting, both for Moses and for the people. It was not a season like this when the faces of the brethren are bright and happy, the Spirit of God undoubtedly making them so, but when they were complaining bitterly. Moses was complaining too, showing how the minister may become like the people. The brethren tend to influence the ministers and make

them like themselves; whereas, the idea is that the minister should make the saints like him. It is thus with the Lord; He makes us like Himself. And so, as I said, the people were in a bad state. It says, "And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted; and the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who will give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; and now our soul is dried up, there is nothing at all but the manna before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and its appearance as the appearance of bdellium. The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it with hand-mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was as the taste of oil-cakes. And when the dew fell upon the camp by night, the manna fell upon it. And Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every one at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled greatly; it was also evil in the eyes of Moses", Numbers 11:4 - 10. That is a sorrowful picture, and we may all thank God that we are not much accustomed to that. But there may be much that is unseen. How many unspoken complaints exist? And so the word is to help us, and it is to call attention to Moses, dear brethren, what a man he was, though failing, somewhat, in this instance. In the book of Hebrews he is said to be faithful in all God's house as a ministering servant, but Christ is the Son over God's house. Sonship underlying the position insures the maintenance of what is pleasing to God, and that is the thing to lay hold of, "Ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus", Galatians 3:26. Let us lay hold of that, dear brethren, because that is how God is going to keep things as He intends them to be in heaven, where Christ is to be first-born among many brethren. God is leading many sons to glory. But in Hebrews 3, the Lord is said to be Son, whereas Moses was a ministering

servant. So Hebrews contemplates finality, and that which is opposed to the mind of God is reprobate, evil, and to be cast away. Hebrews contemplates finality; and Christ is the leader of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings.

Well, now we can see that Moses needed perfecting here. I only just touch on it because the position is somewhat similar to what we are in now. We are in the time of great pressure, a time in which there is much to be done and not enough time to do it, and that tends to complaint and to ugliness. Think of a ministering servant, so pleasing to God otherwise, asking God to slay him -- like Elijah! Thank God he did not kill himself, nor attempt to; neither did Elijah. They put it on God to do it, but God did not do it. God does not take pleasure in killing His servants. He has pleasure in His servants, whom He has found -- those who please Him. He keeps them alive. So, as I said, Moses was not at his best here. Nor does the Spirit of God take any pleasure in recording this of him. He, as it were, must suffer so that we might be ashamed of ourselves when we find ourselves in any state of complaint amongst the brethren. Are we prone to complain? Soon as ever we get to the back of the room do we begin, and when we get to the street, and when we get home? Now this is a sorrowful thing! Dear brethren, it is time for calling a halt to this kind of thing, "What shall we then say to these things?". How many seldom come to the meetings -- have more pleasure at home than at the meetings! How many come but once a week! We are thankful for that once, of course, but others come never at all. The more we stay away the more we shall complain; the more we shall find fault, and presently we may say that we are going out of fellowship. Just think of that! Where will you go? Where would the truth in Hebrews put you? "But we are not drawers back to perdition", Hebrews 10:39. Think of that word -- drawing back to perdition!

You may say that you will be saved, finally; but will you? How will you be saved? This chapter contemplates a terrible disciplinary action on the part of God; but still, God was working with His people, and He was working with Moses. And I want to speak about Moses; about what a man he was in these circumstances. Jehovah's anger was kindled and Moses was displeased. Moses usually was honoured in such cases, where he would have Jehovah be merciful and save His people. But that does not happen here. Moses in no way regulated himself to save the people; he rather spoke against them, as the circumstances warranted. God did not say, You are wrong, exactly, because God Himself was angered; His anger was kindled against the people. But then He took issue with Moses. Moses said, Have I conceived all these people? You put too much on me. He was complaining against God; not only complaining against the people but complaining against God, as Martha complained against the Lord. How ready we are to complain! It is one of the readiest things to come to us -- to complain, and particularly in regard of those who are seeking to do their best for us. Of course, our best is very little; and so with Moses; but still, he was doing his best for the people at that time, and still they were complaining. And so I stress this, how God looks on His servants, and how in times of pressure in the world there is a tendency with us to complain. And the complaining spirit reaches even to those who are serving. It is therefore a most dangerous matter and one to be warned against. We should rather encourage and exhort the brethren not to come into the spirit of the age, the spirit of complaint.

I need not say anything more about this matter; I have said enough; it is rather an ugly situation, but God came in in His own way and He provided others -- seventy men of the elders. Did they complain?

No! We do not hear a word about their complaining. They were selected by God in these circumstances, and if God selects persons for His service, you can be sure He will not select complaining people. He does not want complaining people. But He selected seventy men and He gave them the Spirit. Think of what God is ready to do for us, dear brethren, to turn us away from our complaints! He is ready to give us His Spirit and grant us the privilege of serving Him in the power of that Spirit, and to take advantage of all the favours there are for such people. The seventy were to be gathered to the tent, and Jehovah said, "I will come down" -- not send down, but come down; and He did. He came down at Shinar, and at Sodom, and in Egypt, and now He comes down about this complaining matter and to see these seventy men and to give them the Spirit. Who is prepared to be one of these seventy? Is there someone here who wants to be one of these seventy? Would they not always be known thereafter? Surely, they were known in heaven. God says to Moses, "I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them". He would take enough to make them useful. Moses was the leader; he would never cease to be the leader in those days, but the seventy would have their part, and I would again urge the young people here to have part in the service like these seventy. There is great room for ministry and ministers. One wonders at the number. Thank God for those that are available!

It must have been a real test to Moses to have been envied. But God would say to us now that what He was to Moses, He is ready to be to any one of us who is seeking to serve. We cannot hope to escape envy; but we can hope to escape being envious. Let us not return envy! Moses did not do it. And God took the opportunity of saying something He had never said before about him -- that he

was the meekest man in all the earth. Wonderful, that there should be such a man as that! And it may be that no one on the earth knew that. But it was made known when it was recorded in this book! The meekest man in all the earth! That was intended to shut the mouths of the complainers -- the enviers -- his own brother, three years older than he; his own sister, possibly eight or nine or more years older than he. You wonder why they should be envying at that age, but the flesh dies hard. If we in any way cultivate fleshly elements they get stronger as we get older; we have less power to overcome them, so the point is to judge at once any element of envy of one another. Moses knew how not to be envious, and he knew how, earlier, to rebuke one who was envious on his account. So we should refuse all thought of envy of one another, and especially if others may suggest it to us. Joshua said, "My lord Moses, forbid them!" Numbers 11:28. But Moses said to him, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would that all Jehovah's people were prophets ... !". That is the language of a servant who knew God and knew how liberal God is, for He does not give His Spirit by measure. He gives us freely of His Spirit.

Well, I must now pass on to the passage in Exodus 29, I want you to see how God is concerned about His servants; how He loves His servants; how He values them and distinguishes them in heaven and on earth. It is lovely to think of the interest and love that God has for those that serve Him. None are more loved, and that is the reason why I turn to this priestly chapter. It is a chapter about priests, and Moses was among the priests. You may say, I thought he was the mediator. Yes; but he was among the priests. They were Aaron and his sons in those days; at least, that is how they are presented in the chapter. Aaron's daughters were taken account of, too, but I am speaking now of his sons. Moses

was not a son of Aaron, but he was a priest! He was a brother of Aaron, but he was a priest, nevertheless: "Moses and Aaron among his priests", Psalm 99:6. In Exodus he was a priest -- supremely so, for he always had access to God. You could hardly find another like Moses. He went in, we are told, to speak to God. It was as if he always had access to God, and God loved him. God spoke to him "mouth to mouth". It was always a pleasure to God to have Moses come into the tent. He was with God, and so in this chapter where the priests are mentioned, God said to him, "And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of consecration which is for Aaron, and wave it as a wave-offering before Jehovah; and it shall be thy part", Exodus 29:26. It was the priests' food. But there was food especially for Moses, and that leads me to think of what the Lord Jesus was in service. How few thought of Him; how He was alone in the nights, we are told! He went to the Mount of Olives in the night and was in the temple during the day, to meet the attacks, to meet the criticism of the priests and the Pharisees. What days they were! How little we understand the life of Jesus! What a life it was! What a life of suffering in service! It says in one of Mr. Darby's beautiful hymns:

'Man's boasting love disowns Thee;
Thine own Thy danger flee;
A Judas only owns Thee
That Thou may'st captive be'.

He was in the temple serving daily, doing all possible for men as He moved about amongst them. Who knew Him? Who valued Him? Who took sides with Him? When the test came, 'A Judas only owns Thee that Thou may'st captive be'. The Psalms tell us something of the experiences the Lord had. Was not the mount of Olives a trysting place between Him and His God? Did the loneliness not cease; did the

sufferings not cease for the moment? Where did He sleep? I do not know, I am not saying that He did not sleep -- far otherwise. But He went to the mount of Olives in the nights; after the suffering, after the toil, after working the miracles! And may one not say that on one of those nights, possibly on many of them, Jehovah said to Him: This is your portion; I am thinking of you. He could say, "My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me". Do we ever think of this, dear brethren? The brethren may not think much of those who serve, and may criticise, too. But think of God coming and whispering in our ears, This is your part! You are not to be left without your part; there is something for you! How precious to think of God whispering in the ears of Jesus, This is for you. How the Lord speaks of the Father's love -- "On this account the Father loves me", John 10:17. Why should He say that? He loved Him from eternity; He loved Him as an Equal, but He says, "Therefore ..." The Father loved Him "because I lay down my life" -- as if the Father would recompense Him. And so it is that those who, in any way, serve, may hear God say at the opportune time, Here is something for you. You are not doing this service for nothing, "... knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord", 1 Corinthians 15:58. Keep that before you if you want to serve; the Father will honour you, "If any one serve me, him shall the Father honour", John 12:26. And Paul says, "Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will render to me in that day; but not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing", 2 Timothy 4:8. If we love the Lord's appearing, if we serve Him, someday He will tell you, This is for you. I do not know of anything more precious than a whisper from heaven: You have been toiling for Me; others have not thought much of it, but I have; this is for you.

This wave breast is your part. Would anyone take away this wave breast from Moses? I think not! We should keep it before us that the Lord Himself thinks of and gives a portion to those who serve Him. The Lord has a name which no one knows but Himself, and we are told that the overcomer will receive a secret name which no one but himself knows. I would urge this, dear brethren, that we cherish the Lord saying to us, This is for you; for nobody else but you. So that we never need to think that we are forgotten. We are not forgotten; we are thought of and valued in heaven.

Well, I would leave this with us all, that we may not be complainers; and that if we are serving at all, we may know that the Lord knows and values the service. And He has something particular for you which no one else shall have but you. May the Lord bless His word!

THE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE LIVES OF GODLY PERSONS

2 Kings 13:14 - 21

I confess to a certain peculiar liking for this section of Scripture covering the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. They are, as it were, peculiarly homely and practical -- and I might add, human. Elijah and Elisha were representative of God to men, and they were conversant with death. One of them, indeed, was only conversant with it in the moral sense, for he never died; he was one of the great exceptions in the race. He was one of those who did not die; he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. And we have, in him, the principle of passing on to others of what he had, so that they too might have it. He, in this, indicates God's way, for whilst Elisha wished to share in what Elijah had, his share was to be on certain conditions; that is, he was to see Elijah as he went up. His wish was -- and it was a noble wish, and one which he obtained -- to have a double portion of Elijah's spirit; that is to say, it was on the principle of increase. That principle is particularly seen in the Lord Jesus, of whom it is said, "He must increase". The principle of our dispensation is increase and those of us who belong to it are in a great wave of prosperity; the prosperity that is marked by increase; by the "increase of God", Colossians 2:19. It is said, "growing by the true knowledge of God", Colossians 1:10. Therefore, dear brethren, we may each hope to become richer, not to remain in contentment with what we may have acquired so far, but to have more and more. Now Elisha was to see Elijah when he went up, meaning that there was to be keenness of sight or vision. The moment, it was implied, would be short, but the thing he required or desired so much would be his by the use of his eyes, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee,

it shall be so to thee", 2 Kings 2:10. In view of all this we dare not be negligent in the things of God. We are here tonight on the ground of vigilance, "What I say to you, I say to all, Watch", Mark 13:37. Now Elisha was not unmindful of all this, but his turn came, not to be taken up in a whirlwind, but to die through sickness. One of our number has died this very day, taken from our midst, here. Who knows who the next one of us may be? And so, "Be ready". Well now, Elisha is outstanding as an interesting, practical prophet; not because of his writings, but because of his practicalness and his keenness in the knowledge of men, so as to serve them on God's behalf. And no christian can be other than that, in principle; serving men -- all the race. Elisha kept on and kept on and we are told here he was "sick of his sickness in which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down to him". He was not without interest but the sequel shows he was not quite as interested as he should be. That is what I am seeking to bring before us all here, this matter of interest, that we may not be found in any way doing the work of the Lord negligently, "Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently", Jeremiah 48:10. It is not a time of curse, nor am I here to curse, but at the same time we have these things in the Scriptures, a curse attached to any one careless or negligent in the work of the Lord.

Elisha was going to die, as it reads in verse 14. There might be some alleviation from his illness, but little use of hoping for his recovery. We often wonder why it is that certain should be taken, but these things are taken account of in heaven. Their administration is there, and all is on the principle of the will of God, whether one is on the bed of sickness from which he dies, or whether he is told to go up like Moses to die; it is a question of the will of God. And so it was with Elisha.

Now I come to what is in my mind -- the passing on from older brethren of what they have, or rather what there is, for at the most they only share in what there is. But what is to be passed on is to be shared in by those who follow. There are a good many here on the following line, not many on the leading line, not many about to die, I am speaking of what is ordinary, the young ones here have good hope to live. You are encouraged in that very point, "that thy days may be prolonged". God would not address that to old men about to die; He says it to young people. "That thy days may be prolonged in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee", Exodus 20:12. God needs you, born into this world and grown up; God needs you and He is willing to enter into all your matters, aspirations, prospects and purposes. In these circumstances there is perfect normality attached to these things. God, speaking reverently, would take a normal account of youth. I sometimes marvel at the Lord Jesus -- God over all, blessed for ever -- yet taking up a babe into His arms. Luke tells us that the Lord Jesus took infants into His arms. Think of the Lord Jesus, the Creator of the universe, God over all, taking an infant into His arms! The older one gets, the more one becomes fond of children, direct from the Creator. They have received their spirits from the Creator. The Lord knew that, and took infants into His arms and blessed them. Some would forbid it, but He said, "Suffer little children to come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God", Luke 18:16. He took them into His arms and blessed them. Matthew 19:15 says, "Having laid his hands upon them, he departed", meaning that He left them to their parents. Not the grandparents. We must not assume that the responsibility of parents belongs to the grandparents. It belongs to the parents. It is true indeed that Abraham "dwelt in

tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise", Hebrews 11:9. He dwelt with them, but that could only be a characteristic feature. It would be what a grandfather's love would lead him to do in his interest in them as heirs with him of the same promise. And if the Lord took infants into His arms and blessed them, and went away, that did not mean they should not be cared for. Far otherwise! He meant that the parents should take care of them. Parents are called upon to do that. "And ye fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord", Ephesians 6:4. They are to provide for their children, "For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children", 2 Corinthians 12:14. So that they have a great place with God. Indeed the Lord Himself tells us, "Their angels in the heavens continually behold the face of my Father who is in the heavens", Matthew 18:10. The angels are ministers of children as well as grown people, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?", Hebrews 1:14. The angels are subordinate, even to children! So that children are to be cared for.

Now I return to what I have been saying as to Elisha. He was dying, and he knew it. It was the sickness wherewith he died. The gospels give many illustrations of people who were sick and were healed, but this did not apply to Elisha. He was sick with the "sickness in which he died", but he would pass on what he shared, to another. He was not like the king who said, "If only there shall be peace and truth in my days!", 2 Kings 20:19. That was not the language of Elisha. The king of Israel came down to him. Elisha was a father, and the king of Israel regarded him as a father, I am seeking to bring before us that we are heirs of what other people have shared in and our turn is coming. As

elders are taken to be with the Lord, the inheritance comes to ourselves. I refer now to what is needed in the testimony, and the king of Israel was needed. He was a king with a certain amount of interest and intelligence. He came down to Elisha and he said, "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!". Now we might read much into this. It was a phrase that really belonged to Elisha himself. He does not stop to comment upon it, but he does stop to take up how it is going to be with the king of Israel. What is he to be in the testimony of God? What service is he to render to the people of God? Hence the prophet says to him immediately, "Take bow and arrows. And he took a bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it; and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands, and said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot". That is, the old, sick prophet is teaching the young king how to serve, and he is ready to learn. And so, dear brethren, it is a critical time for us. Those of us who are older, who feel our service is short, if we are normal with God as He is with us, we shall think of what the young ones are capable of. I am not speaking to the brothers alone; I am speaking to the sisters, too. It is most important the part that sisters have in the service of God. See that you do it; that it continues; that the work of God goes on. It must go on; God has decreed it must go on, and if we do not go on, it will go on without us. But now there is one who is evidently intending to go on. He is a king, able to fight, and sufficiently interested in doing things well, to come down to the prophet who is sick. One might say, Why trouble Elisha with your affairs? He is a sick man. There is no question about that. Elisha knows he is sick and undoubtedly knows he is going to die, but he is concerned about

the young men and young women as to how they are going to serve, and that they should learn; that they should know how. That is the great point in this particular passage, not doing things any way or when we wish, but when they should be done and done well! There is no small talk about Elisha's illness. The word is about the bow: "Take bow and arrows". That is the word. Whatever the king had in his mind to say to Elisha, the word was, "Take bow and arrows" and shoot! Do the thing -- shoot. Do it properly, do it well! He did it, we are told here.

What I want to say now is, "Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it; and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands". Let us not forget that. Do not be ashamed if you do not know how to shoot; learn how to shoot. The old brother knows how, old though he be; he has experience. He is intelligent, his mind active, and clear and right, and he directs the young man, the king, to put his hand upon the bow, "And Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands, and said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot". Then the word is, "An arrow of Jehovah's deliverance". That was the arrow shot forth in the strength of the prophet's hands, as well as the young man's hands. The younger is to learn from the older; something is done immediately. "An arrow of Jehovah's deliverance". How much deliverance is needed in the gatherings of the saints, some hardly able to move in the service of God, in some cases having two meetings in the week put into one. It is slothfulness and laziness and added to that unintelligence, the want of knowing how; hence anyone who does know, whom the brethren think to have knowledge, gets letters asking, What do you think about this? and What do you think about that? What do you think? That is the point! You

have a mind given you by God, and you have the opportunity of speaking to God in prayer. Before you write that letter to someone else, test yourself, learn to do things yourself, learn to shoot. The prophet was going to die, and he did die. Therefore if there be anything we wish to know how to do, and to do well, get to God about it. Of course there is such a thing as gift of government. It is well to ask such brothers, but, generally speaking we do not need to write about everything; we can try it ourselves, see if you can do it. If you miss one time perhaps you will do it again and do it well. These are very simple, homely, practical things. I am saying them with a view to helping everyone here to get to God. As we were saying, the Lord took a child in His arms. He would show the mother how to do that and do it well, and bring it up for Himself. So "an arrow of Jehovah's deliverance" is worth speaking about. These arrows are needed all over this continent; the land south of us, farther south still, away to the east and away to the west. Things are being left undone or partly done. That is the first thing, "an arrow of Jehovah's deliverance, even an arrow of deliverance from the Syrians" -- that particular section of the enemy that has been against you or against the testimony, "Thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou hast consumed them".

Now the next thing is, "Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed". This is the word to be noted, he "stayed". He did well, he smote thrice, but he stayed. The prophet did not tell him to stay smiting. He said, "Smite upon the ground". It is not shooting now, that is a great objective thing, the objective truth put into action. This smiting upon the ground is something relating to himself. It is ground right near me, at my feet, right by me. It is what you might call

subjective truth. That is with the christian all the time. The Spirit of God is here with the christian all the time, in wonderful patience. The Paraclete is by us, the word means that the Spirit of God is near us to help us to shoot and smite on the ground without staying. That is to say, keep on at yourself. The amount of criticism among the brethren is most baneful, distressing, destroying and damaging. The spirit of criticism is not smiting on the ground. It is some one else, but this is at yourself. The smiting on the ground is yourself -- the thing that would hinder you in the shooting. Well, he did not smite more than three times and incurred the wrath of the prophet. I would not like to incur the wrath of the prophet, nor the wrath of the Lord, nor the wrath of the brethren. The christian might be wrathful when others are wrong in their conduct. So, as I said, Smite on the ground, take heed to yourself. See if there be anything damaging the brethren through you, whether by criticism or otherwise. Deal with it well! Deal with it thoroughly, and have done with it! Then, in the next battle with the Syrian, you will be the victor, for we need victory against the Syrian.

So the prophet, "the man of God", was wroth with the king and he said to him, "Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then wouldest thou have smitten the Syrians till thou hadst consumed them; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice". This was said by "the man of God". It is a question of God; representation of God. And you will not be victorious, brother or sister, if you have not gone far enough in dealing with yourself. Elisha did not stipulate the number of strokes upon the ground; the greater the number, as the prophet indicates, the greater the victory! And we need victory, dear brethren; we do indeed! And for that we must each one deal with himself; each one must

deal drastically with things which stand in the way of the service of God, and the service of the brethren.

And then finally it is said, "Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass as they were burying a man, that behold, they saw the band, and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha; and the man went down, and touched the bones of Elisha, and he revived, and stood upon his feet". It is the after-effect of a man of God -- the after-effect of the life of a man of God and what it can do. What it does here is to break up the bands, which are a most baneful thing among the brethren, bands of persons thinking alike in some things and others being excluded from their company. It is baneful and damaging, but the way out here is the effect of the bones of Elisha, the after-effect of the life of an old brother or an old sister. One has just gone from amongst us here. It is now a question of the after-effects. Are we to carry on as usual? The attractive after-effects of the life of a godly person must be seen and felt; and they will be, if God has His way. Sons, daughters, granddaughters and grandchildren, are to take it to heart. What is the example set by the prophet, by Elisha? He is dead and buried. It is his bones, not exactly the man, but like the bones of Joseph; they were made much of and carried from Egypt to Canaan. So the bones of Elisha were there, buried in the grave and the buriers of some man, who may not have been of very much consequence in their eyes, cast him into the grave of Elisha, for fear of the band that had come into the land. They cast him into the sepulchre of Elisha, and when he touched the bones he revived and stood upon his feet. It is the after-effect of the life of a godly man as it is carried in faith, for that is the only way. I suppose

there will be a great dearth here below when all the saints go up to heaven. What barrenness in this poor world! What a moment for the devil! But now it is not so; it is limited because the after-effects of godly people still remain, carried in the affections of the brethren.

And so we have the idea of a man risen from the dead. What can the band do against him? He "touched the bones of Elisha, and he revived, and stood upon his feet". It is an anticipative thought. Ezekiel carries it forward; a great army stands upon their feet, bones brought together, and they live! They are the after-effects, in a sense, presently to be seen in the millennium, as I understand it, of the influence of this present time -- what will be gathered up. The Spirit of God is still here. The bones of the man of God were there, and there was something in the way of spiritual virtue in them which made this dead man live. Are there not such miracles? There are far more miracles than many of us are aware of. We should not be able to come here today without these miracles. As one reviews what is current, it is God acting in relation to what virtue there has been, but those here carry the things in their affections. They know what God can do, and they pray accordingly, and things happen. Many of us here today were here last year at this time. God is doing that for us, and He is going to do more. That is what I had in mind as to what is carried down. We need to take advantage of what there is, such as Elisha, so as to gain from him, as he himself did when he would have a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Hence the great Elisha, and then this man with no name given. He stood on his feet. He was dead, but he was made to live. It was to offset the bands -- the influence of bands amongst the brethren. Think of persons being alike in the outlook of their minds in what is detrimental and abominable to heaven! This man shows

what is possible as the brethren deal with things. It is the after-effect in the brethren's minds of the affections and the life of a godly man. I hope I am not saying things that are not intelligible to you. So, "Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God; and considering the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith". And then it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come", Hebrews 13:7, 8. The dispensation is going on in life and we want to get the good of what has been carried down by those still living and apply the things and bring God into them and see if there may not be restoration, recoveries, additions and increase amongst us, which I believe will go on to the end.

THE TESTIMONY AS HAVING PRIORITY TO THE TRANSLATION

John 20:19 - 23; Genesis 24:61 - 67

These scriptures are often read, but they are read now to show that the testimony of God is going on and that in the current order of things it takes priority to the translation into heaven. The translation to heaven is a fixed matter as to time with God and will happen according to 1 Thessalonians, but in the order of things the testimony has first place, as I may say, the priority. In saying this it is with the hope that all may be moved to have part in it. Luke 15 may be cited as illustrative of heaven's mind in view of gospel testimony, in view of gathering, and in view of saints being brought into the assembly. That is to say, great activity is contemplated, great industry in the sense of effecting things such as are indicated in the gospel by Luke, and indeed in all the gospels, but particularly those by Luke and John. So that we have the shepherd seeking his sheep, the woman sweeping her house for something lost, and the father waiting for his son so as to have him robed and fitted for the house. All this has priority to the actual translation to heaven. That will happen, as we have said, and the saints are to be comforted by this happening. It is said, "Encourage one another with these words". "These words" would be the reference to the actual translation of the saints to heaven.

Now John 20 has often been used and is still being used among the Lord's people to lead us into heavenly associations and enjoyments and privileges. But what is in mind now is to show that these, although there, culminate in testimony here and that that testimony is ordered by God as the testimony of Christ was ordered. "As the Father sent me forth", the Lord says, "I also send you". It says

further in verse 22, "And having said this, he breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit"; and then finally, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". That is to say, the saints, who are viewed earlier in the chapter as being fitted for heavenly associations and privileges and enjoyments, are now seen as sent by the Son as the Son was sent by the Father. And moreover they are seen as breathed into by the Lord Jesus. Breathed into! Clearly so as to fit them for this service -- the service indicated -- so that it might be rendered with power and with the right spirit -- no less a spirit than the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus.

What is now in mind is to show that the Spirit of Christ, or the Spirit of Jesus, is to dominate and fill all those who are sent. As the Father sent the Son, so the disciples are sent by the Son, with proper equipment, and particularly with such a Spirit involving such power as is suitable for the commission that He had just spoken of.

Now I speak thus because it is in my mind that although we have spoken much and rightly of the advantages and privileges and enjoyments that belong to the heavenly people, those who form the assembly, yet what is more immediate is the service or commission that is involved in these verses. So that at the present time we have heaven occupied with, relatively, a very few people. We have a goodly number here, for instance, but relatively there are only a few here, although we value them -- every one. It is a time of values -- what such and such a one is worth, not only here among the brethren, but in heaven, because heaven has its valuations and it passes over none who have the Spirit. Everyone who has the Spirit has a wonderful valuation in heaven. And so the idea of valuation must come into our meetings. The brothers have liberty to speak;

some with ability, but above all some who have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. They are thus qualified and are to be noted because of not only having the Spirit of Jesus, but gift accompanying it. The Holy Spirit is a gift, to be sure -- the greatest of gifts -- but at the same time there is what is called gift in the sense of power and efficiency in service and the evidences are seen in such, so that the work of God is to go on in meetings such as these. Thank God such meetings are more frequent than they used to be, and fuller, too. Some of us know of places where they are fuller than they are here -- very much more so. Not that we belittle what we have here. Far otherwise! We value what there is. God has wonderful resources here below. One speaks thus to stimulate our hearts because we have part in what there is. It belongs to the Father; it belongs to the Son; and it belongs to the Holy Spirit; and in a sense, relatively, it belongs to the assembly.

The assembly is the greatest thing outside of divine Persons, and God is going on with it, forming it, fitting it, so that it is growing every day. It began with a few, but according to Acts 2 the Lord added to the assembly daily such as should be saved. What a time it was! What work went on! What values were to be seen! You get three thousand added in one day. And then five thousand men are referred to, and then you get exceptional, outstanding persons. Barnabas is one of these. There were many others like him. We shall see them all in heaven, and be with them, and share their joys.

Well, as I have said, the work of God goes on. One of the greatest things one knows of at the present time is the work of God. Think of what a real saint is, and then the aggregate of all in the assembly. Persons organized, spiritually, and fitted and compacted into one great thing called the assembly. The greatest name of a thing in the whole universe is

the assembly. And so we glory in it. Indeed the word is found in the wonderful epistle to the Ephesians, "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages". Think of that phraseology dear brethren, and think of yourself -- of ourselves -- belonging to it! It is intended to stimulate us and cause joy to come into our hearts to think of the greatness of what we are connected with, so that we are not overwhelmed by the miserableness of this poor world or its attractiveness and blandishments, or its wickedness. I speak thus for our encouragement for John's writings are calculated to fit us for this very thing and to set us up in life. The great point in John is life, "In him was life". That was the word about the Lord Jesus, "and the life was the light of men". So the point to be dwelt upon for the moment is life. And the service is to be carried on in life according to these verses in John and according to the typical verses in Genesis that have been read.

And so our passage contemplates the disciples in a certain position, in a certain place. And importance is attached to the fact that they were there -- "where the disciples were". That is the idea. And so we have to think of what is going on; what is current! what is being done in the way of formation, and calculate that it is a question of the persons we are dealing with. Our position in this hall, for instance, is just incidental, nothing more. It has no spiritual value save that it houses us for the moment. Heaven regards it in that light, but otherwise it is nothing. There is nothing attached to it in a spiritual sense. And so it is with our meeting rooms, of which there are some good and some poor (and the Lord is putting it upon us to have suitable meeting rooms) but their importance is that they house or afford facilities for the brethren to meet in. We do not want to embellish them. All we need is comfort. The Lord

comes in amongst us in these very places, and, of course, while He is there they are wonderfully augmented -- we need not deny that -- for the Lord does come.

And so here, according to what I have read, "When therefore it was evening on that day, which was the first day of the week, and the doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace be to you". Now you notice what I have already remarked, and am now stressing, that it is a question of where the disciples were, and that they were in danger of being affected by some intrusions. If these intrusions are effected mentally, of course, the enemy can use them and does, alas! But the saints are not indifferent to that. We are not told who shut the doors, but we are told that they were shut for fear of the Jews. And that gives us some inkling as to how these physical matters stand in relation to the service of God. But the main thought, as I have said, is where the disciples were. If it was in a tent, well, it was where they were. If in a room -- an upper room -- it is where they were. They dominate the matter. The importance of the persons and what they are engaged with, dominates the matter. The Lord says, according to Matthew's report: "For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them". Notice, it is them, alluding to the persons. That is, it is in the midst of them, whatever it may be that surrounds them or houses or shelters them. It is a question of these persons and that the Lord is there. He is there to help them in whatever they do. They are doing it but He is there to help them, and who can help like Him! We can count on that day in and day out -- some of us, at least -- and the Lord proves how true He is.

Well now, the next thing is to bring in how He changes or affects them. It may be a cold day, or a hot day, or a day of trouble, a day of calamity. Whatever it may be, think of how the Lord may act for us! Here the word is, as He comes in, "Peace be to you". It is as though He would say, That is the state you are to be in; I am not coming in simply to see and hear and then go, I want to affect you; I have something for you to do, I have a commission for you and I want to affect you so that you will be fitted to do what is in My mind that you should do. And so He says, "Peace". "Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace be to you. And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side". So that you can see how the Lord is concerned about us, dear brethren, ministering peace to us. And it was no empty thought or proposal. It was a real thing, and it had a real effect upon them: "Peace be to you". It is not simply peace in the house or in the room, but "Peace be to you". Well, the word is that they were glad because they saw the Lord. But then other things happen, too. He said "Peace be unto you". He intended that their hearts should be touched by it, be filled by it. And then they were glad because they saw the Lord. Think of how their hearts were affected! It was the Lord Himself, not simply that He came there spiritually, it was His very self -- the Lord Himself, and they were affected according to that. It was the real presence of a real living Person, and they were glad. It was a felicitating time -- a wonderful time -- no such time in the whole universe as it was at that moment. There were only a few of them, but they were all affected. And then again He says, "Peace", as much as to say, I want you to continue in peace, that it may not be simply a matter for the moment but a continued matter while I am here. I want you to be filled with peace, and undoubtedly

they were, for there is not a single discrepancy in the account of this chapter. All is perfect. It is a very encouraging thing to have something perfect brought to us. And that perfection can be brought about in ourselves. It is one of the things that belong to us, that we are capable of, to be full of peace: "Peace be to you". And it says, further, "He shewed to them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord. Jesus said therefore again to them, Peace be to you: as the Father sent me forth, I also send you. And having said this, he breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit". Now you will understand, dear brethren, that the question of the Spirit comes up. It is not exactly what we get in Acts 2, for the Lord had not yet ascended, but yet it was the Spirit of Christ, the Son of God. God Himself was there and so the breathing was of the Lord -- the same One who breathed into Adam was now breathing into His disciples another life -- indeed to us. We cannot say much beyond the fact that it was physical life that was breathed into Adam, but here it is spiritual life, and therefore how wonderful the position is, dear brethren: "He breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit". So it is not simply a question of saying that we have the Holy Spirit, but whether we have received the Holy Spirit. The Lord says, "Receive the Holy Spirit", but He had already done the breathing. So that there is some action on our part and that action is an appreciative action, that we are glad to get the wonderful Gift that the Lord is giving, and that is the Holy Spirit, "Receive the Holy Spirit". It is a question of each one of us challenging his heart as to whether he has received the Holy Spirit, and if he has, whether his conduct is according to it, that he is expressing the Spirit of Jesus and nothing else.

And now the next thing is "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". You can see now how very full and practical all this is, dear brethren. I am now referring to the forgiveness of sins and as to whether we are all in possession of the forgiveness of sins -- that precious possession that we have, that we know we are forgiven and that we know this very thing from the Holy Spirit; that is to say, from the saints by the Spirit, because the point here is that "whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". It is a question of what the saints can do for us, and how the Lord equips us and qualifies us to carry out the commission that He has put upon us; namely, the continuance of the work of God in the power of the Spirit in the sense of the forgiveness or remission of sins, and the retention of sins -- that the saints have power to do both. You say, That is extraordinary! I never heard that before, that the saints can forgive my sins! Well, it has to be understood, I am speaking exactly as the scripture says in this chapter. And it is for each of us to understand what it means to be forgiven in this sense; that amongst the Lord's people we can realise what it means to have the forgiveness of sins, or on the other hand, sorrowful to say, that our sins may be retained, that we have not judged ourselves, that we are going on in some way that the Lord would reprehend, that we are not allowed to be free with the brethren and not allowed to have a place among them. Why is it the brethren do not forgive us our sins? Why others and not us? Well, it is a question of the state we are in, the conduct we pursue. The saints cannot lay their hands on us; our conduct is not suitable to the assembly.

Now I turn to Genesis 24. I just want to say a word about Isaac and Rebecca so as to amplify

John 20. From verse 61 to the end of the chapter, a long chapter, we have this matter that I have in mind to speak of just for a moment. First, as to Rebecca herself; how she followed the man, I am speaking of her now as the type of a characteristic sister, on a high level, characteristic of the assembly. And it says that she followed the man. That was the order. The servant of Abraham, the greatest servant of the house, was in charge. He is a type of the Holy Spirit as in charge of us here, today, so to speak. He is in charge, and so it says that Rebecca followed the man, "The servant took Rebecca and went away. And Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was dwelling in the south country. And Isaac had gone out to meditate in the fields towards the beginning of evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, camels were coming". My theme is not simply that Isaac is a type of Christ and that Rebecca is a type of the assembly, but that both Rebecca and Isaac are also types of saints. And it is now a question of how the masculine side is to fit and how the feminine side is to fit. I have spoken about Rebecca following the man, which is a good feature. She was subject. But then Isaac is occupied with the Holy Spirit. He is returning from Beer-lahai-roi which first came to notice at the time of Abraham, when Hagar was seen as a type of an unruly sister. She was not subject to her mistress. But the Spirit of God is seen as having to do with her at the well Beer-lahai-roi. That is to say, that well is a type of the Spirit as dealing with such a person as Hagar. The sisters may become unruly and misbehave, but Hagar, in the grace of God, becomes subject and returns to her mistress. And this well is first seen in connection with her, which is a very important point. But still, her son was a wild ass of a man. She was a poor mother. Although she had a son who was a son of Abraham, she was a poor

mother. She did not bring up her children rightly. She did not properly nourish them, and many a child suffers because of the failure of the mother in nursing her children. But my point now is to show that Isaac is occupied with this well. It is available to every person; it was available to Hagar, and now Isaac is coming to it and going to it, and while he is doing that Rebecca comes. Now both Isaac and Rebecca afford us examples of suitable conduct and occupation. Isaac was a man of leisure, not like Joseph, who was a man of great affairs. Isaac was a man of leisure and able to meditate and to ruminate, and he sees Rebecca coming, and he is thinking of what is carrying her. She is coming to the meeting. How is she coming to the meeting? How is she attired? Is she occupied with ordinary things on the way? No, the facts show that she is in every way right, so that she takes her veil as soon as she sees Isaac. But Isaac saw the camels -- the things that carried Rebecca. And so it becomes a question of how we are carried in dealing with the things of God. What carries us? And then another thing is that it was a time of mourning in the house. Isaac's mother had died. It was a time of death. We have just heard that a brother has died. We cannot but feel that. And it is a question of how we behave in a time of death. We read of its being better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting. That is important to bear in mind, for there is such a thing as mourning. It is wholesome to think of it even if it is for a person who has not been walking with us, but who once did. And we are going to bury him, although he died out of fellowship. We should be rightly affected by such an occurrence. It is like God to bring about contrition in such a case. We have had such deaths and we have been grieved by them, and it is wholesome to be grieved by them, but at the same time to be with God about them and

to recognize that burial is suitable for such a one. Ananias and Sapphira were buried, and Stephen was buried. The brethren made great lamentation over Stephen. You can understand how the death of a man like Stephen would affect the saints. They made great lamentation over him, and it is quite right to do so. We have had that experience. But I must come back to Isaac, and then I will finish. Isaac was grieved about his mother, but he was comforted. That is to say the state of things was changed in his house by Rebecca, I want you to notice that. Someone has asked, How long did Isaac and Rebecca live in Sarah's tent? I cannot tell you that, I would say a very short time. To confirm that, it is said that Rebecca had a house, and there was fine clothing in that house and she used some of that clothing with which to clothe Jacob. It was a house, not a tent, which confirms my remark that the period in which Isaac and Rebecca resided in Sarah's tent must have been fairly short, because a house had come in and was occupied by a suitable person, and that person was Rebecca. She became a good wife. She ruled the house. She guided the house, and the house is to be guided by the wife. It is quite clear from the facts mentioned that she guided the house. In fact, in later life she shone better than her husband, and that may have application to assembly history, because Isaac is not always a type of Christ, nor is Rebecca always a type of the assembly. That phase of her history came to an end. And we have to bear in mind here that she was led into Sarah's tent; that is to be noted -- led into it -- which I suppose would show what her place was to be, that she was not to lead, she was to be led and Isaac did the leading. He led his wife into his mother's tent and she adorned it. She was glorious in the house. She knew what to do and what to say on many occasions.

Now that is about all that I have to say, dear brethren, but I think that it is instruction that ought to stay with us, for the idea of being commissioned attaches to us. It is a matter that we should be very humbled in speaking of at all, because we are in the time of small things and therefore we cannot assume to have much in the sense of commission. At the same time there is such a thing as having a commission. It would be a poor thing if there was not such a thing attaching to our position, but there is. And Isaac and Rebecca are in that position. They are in Sarah's tent, set there to carry out the behest of Jehovah. And they do so.

In chapter 25 it is mentioned again that Isaac was at the well Beer-lahai-roi. It is as much as to say he was constantly going to that well, meaning that we must keep our eye on the Spirit, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh's lust". So that we carry on, dear brethren, in a simple way in the sense of commission. As the Lord Jesus was sent of His Father so we have a commission to carry out as having to do for men in the sense of remission of sins; and having received the Spirit we should walk in the Spirit and so promote the work and pleasure of God.

May God bless the word to us.

"EGYPT IS RUINED"

Exodus 10:7 - 11

I need not make any apology for speaking because I believe the brethren are glad to have me speak; but I want to speak of something that may be helpful to us. I wish, particularly, to stress verse 7: "How long shall this man be a snare to us? let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God, dost thou not yet know that Egypt is ruined?"

Now, dear brethren, I feel quite at liberty to refer to the ruination of Egypt, because Egypt is typical of this present evil world. It is not much of a country now, but still, it was used by the Spirit of God to typify this world. Pharaoh's bondmen said to him, "How long shall this man", which as we know was Moses, "be a snare to us? let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God". Why do you hinder them? Why do you interfere with them? The matter is very plain, why do you not let them go? "Dost thou not yet know that Egypt is ruined?".

That is a very solemn word, dear brethren -- the ruination of a country! If any one goes into the world, we speak of him as going into Egypt. If you want the world you go to Egypt. But the word is, "Dost thou not yet know that Egypt is ruined?". So that the world is a ruined state of things. You may say that you are well off in business. But you have no resources if Egypt is ruined! If the world is ruined, and you are in it, you are ruined! It is an awful thing to think about, but I should like, especially, to enlarge on it to the young people here today. If you are seeking after the world, or building yourself up in it, the word here is, "Dost thou not yet know that Egypt is ruined?". Can I say anything plainer than that? It is, more or less, a repetition of what I have already said, but it is very remarkable,

very plain, very humbling, and very solemn: "Dost thou not yet know that Egypt is ruined?".

It says that Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. This is a second court, so to speak. The devil is making another attempt -- to build the world up again, perhaps. I say to every one, Be on your guard against building up Egypt. To faith it is ruined already and there is no reason why you should be building up Egypt.

And so, dear brethren, it says, "Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. And he said to them, Go, serve Jehovah your God". But the sequel shows that Pharaoh was not honest about it, as is often the case amongst men. He said, "Go, serve Jehovah your God", but he was not sincere as to it at all. He asks, "Who are they that shall go?". Moses answered, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters; with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we have a feast of Jehovah". It is wonderful what feasts the brethren have. Think of what the brethren feast upon at the present time! It would appeal to us all. How precious it is to have our feasts week by week, as we might say, on the first day of the week. And so the word is, "we will go with our young and with our old". The children -- all of them -- will go to keep that holy feast of Jehovah! The children must go. They must be let go. But it rests with each young man and young woman not to seek Egypt, for Egypt is ruined.

Of course, men are going on with their businesses, and doing well in a certain sense, but then, spiritually, the world is ruined. Therefore, let us not be found in it. Let us not seek after it. Let us keep out of it and go on according to God and God will be with us.

Pharaoh said to them, "Evil is before you!". This is just a threat! It is double mindedness! "Not so:

go now, ye that are men ..." says Pharaoh. But it is remarkable that the sisters have acquired such a great place amongst us, and that they should be with us at such a time as this. They have part in the feast, also! But, in what Pharaoh says, the men are brought forward here. If any are to go, the men are to go. I am sure that there is not a young man here who would not be stirred up at a time like this, "Serve Jehovah! for it is that ye have desired". You have desired to go. You have desired to get out of the world. And there is nothing, spiritually, in Egypt. It is very solemn! The whole world is ruined, in principle. But you "have desired" to go out of it. "They were driven out from Pharaoh's presence". Pharaoh has no use for you. The world has no use for you. If you want the world you may get it, but you will find that it is ruined. And there is very little time now, dear brethren; let us go on with the assembly. It is remarkable how the truth of the assembly has developed in these our days, so that it is greater than ever before. God has wrought and the truth has come out, and the Spirit of God is working to lead the brethren on. Egypt is ruined; let us take this to heart and get well out of it and get on with what God is doing!

We have enjoyed what is outside of the world as together here, by ourselves, with the brethren here, rejoicing. We are holding a feast of Jehovah, I must say that I have a great joy with the dear brethren here at this time.

THE PARACLETE

The Holy Spirit sent down and so with the saints, the church, now corresponds with the Angel who accompanied Israel through the wilderness. The Angel of Jehovah would keep them in the way and "bring thee to the place that I have prepared", Exodus 23:20. They were enjoined to "be careful in his presence, and hearken unto his voice". He would bring them in unto the Amorites, "and I will cut them off", says God.

Romans opens up what the Spirit is in relation to the gospel. Corresponding with the light the Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in the hearts of believers. He enables them to fulfil the righteous requirement of the law; He is in them a new state and His mind in us is life and peace. Christ in the believer, the body is dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness; and our bodies shall be quickened by His power. By Him we put to death the deeds of the body and so we live. We are led by Him as sons of God, and by Him, the Spirit of adoption, we cry, "Abba, Father". He witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. As in us He is not our spirit, nor does He absorb our individuality. In Galatians He cries, "Abba, Father" -- using our vocal powers, as it were; in Romans we cry by Him. The latter indicates growth, and is what God intends; a son (the believer) is speaking, rather than the Spirit. The Spirit is not a son, but has (in Christ first) become the Spirit of Sonship and so brings the consciousness of sonship into the believer's heart, and so he cries, "Abba, Father". And in the saints the Spirit makes intercession for them according to God.

The position of the saints in relation to the testimony is worked out in Romans 12 -- Israel's relation to it being in view in chapters 9 to 11. Chapter

12 corresponds somewhat to the ordering of the tribes in Numbers 2. Believers are at the divine disposal and so the kingdom of God is in chapter 14. It alludes to God here by the Spirit in moral sway and blessing -- as of old He was in the midst of the tribes, they being set around His dwelling in four sets of three each. The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 15 is energy -- at least, in Paul -- in service and testimony, the Levites' part, as in Numbers.

PETER IN ACTS 9 - 11

"I being in the way, Jehovah has led me to the house of my master's brethren", Genesis 24:27. This passage covers the apostle's position or course as presented in these chapters.

In the earlier chapters (1 to 5) his lead is evident. In chapter 5 mention is made of his shadow, cures evidently being effected thereby. This points to spiritual substance -- what was there in him. After this Peter is not mentioned by name until chapter 8 where, with John, he is sent to Samaria. He seems, therefore, to represent the spiritual wealth in the assembly. Others, such as Stephen and Philip, are used actively. At Samaria Peter takes the lead to meet an emergency, but otherwise he is personally out of view until chapter 9: 32. Here we see him passing through all quarters; that is, he is "in the way", in the current of the mind of God, for this was now bearing toward the nations. His movement suggests spiritual sensitiveness, and now, being "in the way", he is divinely led. He is enlightened and prepared at Joppa to go to the house of Cornelius at Caesarea -- to use the keys the Lord gave him to admit the gentiles into the kingdom.

In chapter 12 Peter is an object of attack by the enemy, but preserved, evidently representing spiritual wealth of experience and authority, brought forward again in chapter 15.

The divine pains taken to prepare Peter to receive the gentiles, and Ananias to receive Saul, are touching and instructive.

PRINCES

Numbers 7:1 - 89

"The princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, the princes of the tribes, they that were over them that had been numbered" -- full titles and offices.

The bullocks and waggons denote the thoughtfulness of the saints, in a rich way, for those who are serving -- those who toil. They were given to the Gershonites and the Merarites -- those who carried heavy parts of the tabernacle. All this comes out in Acts.

Nahshon gives the lead -- prince of the tribe of Judah. This offering or giving of the princes reflects God -- He loves a cheerful giver. Thus each prince has a day; the offering was spread over twelve days.

There were three vessels -- one large and one small silver vessel full of fine flour mingled with oil. A brother may present Christ in a larger or smaller way; it is Christ in either case; the quality is the same. The gold vessel is small, a cup full of incense -- quality for God in the way of odour. It is a sweet savour of Christ in those that are saved and in those that perish.

Princes coming from different parts and without consultation and yet each offering the same as the others, typifying unity of the Spirit, all have the same thoughts of Christ. The aggregate of their gifts, enumerated in verses 84 to 88, is the "dedication gift" of the altar. At the end Moses goes in to the tent of meeting to speak with God, but God speaks with him first -- then Moses speaks to God. God's speaking is according to His mercy and authority -- all founded on the ark of the testimony.

"JEHOVAH HEARKENED TO THE VOICE OF A MAN"

Joshua 10:14

God hearkened to the voice of a man when the sun stood still, and heaven helped Israel in the execution of vengeance on their enemies. Now contrast that with the voice of Jesus! "Father, forgive them", He says, "for they know not what they do", and the clock stops. Christ dies and goes into the grave. He is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

That does not involve judgment. In that word, "glory of the Father", we have the germ of a new day. It was in the heart of the Father that there should be such a day. He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and now He "has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens", not on His own throne yet but in the Father's throne.

The day is governed from the Father's throne -- by a Man. A Man! Stephen sees Jesus in the brightest spot in glory, he saw the heavens opened and the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand. He kneeled down and cried, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge". Wonderful reflection of the Father's throne and of the prayer uttered by Christ! Wonderful reflection of the character of the day which the Lord had made! He was equal to it under the most painful circumstances. It was not a time of curse, and hence he prayed for his enemies; he was a perfect reflection of Christ in the midst of the darkness in Jerusalem. How one would seek to be that, to be unaffected, to be here according to the divine appointment, maintaining in one's ways and walk and spirit the character of the day which Jehovah has made, and rejoicing in it. May God grant this to us!

LIFE AND ETERNAL LIFE

Mark 10:30

Although life and eternal life are used interchangeably, especially by the apostle John, yet in Romans they present different ideas. Eternal life is an end in view, whereas life (chapter 8) is connected with the Spirit: "the Spirit life", and so present. Life in this sense is power -- it involves ability to be free from the flesh, so as to fulfil righteousness here. There is also the "springing up into eternal life". The latter is clearly objective and outside (above, morally) the present condition. I do not think it right to connect eternal life with our present mortal conditions, and therefore I regard it as wrong to place it in the wilderness. It is the life of God's purpose for man and is necessarily the other side of death. The fact that it is said to consist in the knowledge of God and of Christ as the sent One only shows that the moral element is possessed by those who have it -- that is, they know God as the supreme Object of veneration, and a Man, tested in every way and found, in contrast to Adam, to be infinitely obedient. The cross (all that entered into it) was essential to this obedience being fully expressed; to apprehend rightly what "sent" involved, we have to ponder Gethsemane and the cross, and the light thus acquired has a great effect upon us, both as regards God and Christ, and relatively as regards the world. So that clearly eternal life belongs to another order of things -- "in the coming age life eternal".

"WALK IN LOVE"

Ephesians 5:1, 2

"Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour".

This shows us the idea of the way of life: "walk in love", not simply when you are in the meeting; it is a question of walking in it. A person who walks in love has his foot dipped in oil; he has a peculiar kind of walk, "Looking upon Jesus as he walked" -- that is the pattern, that is the walk. "Walk in love". Christ was for God's pleasure, and as we walk in His footsteps we are for God's pleasure, and no greater privilege can be ours. It is given to us to be here in this world, where Christ has been, where the apostles have been, for God's pleasure. It is a responsibility too, so do not put it away from you. It has been seen in men of like passions with ourselves. We have the Spirit of God; we have the example of Christ, the example of the apostles. "Mark them which walk", says the apostle, "so as ye have us for an ensample". Remember the apostles, remember Paul; in them we see the reflection of the walk and ways of the Lord Jesus Christ.

May He give us in these days to be in His hand, and to remain in His hand; for as we remain there the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in us. His work shall be promoted in us, and thus we shall be for His pleasure here.

"THERE IS A PLACE BY ME"

Exodus 33:21

God said to Moses, "There is a place by me". Did you ever think of that -- a place by God for you? It is a question of position -- you are to stand on the Rock. May I encourage you to think of this. God said, "there shalt thou stand". I especially urge the idea of place -- a place by God. The position is in Christ, we have a place outside the world altogether; we have a new status, and God has put us there. He has put us "in Christ".

Pages 116 to 404 -- "What We Have Come To". U.S.A., 1949 - 1950 (Volume 198).

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO (1)

Hebrews 12:18 to middle of verse 22

J.T. The assumption is that the brethren know the Scriptures comparatively well, especially the epistle to the Hebrews written by Paul, as we suppose. We are supposed to know our Bibles. We have come to look into the Bible and these remarks are made so that we may have exercise about it, each one of us, brothers and sisters, so that we may hear, and hearing we may understand. If we do not understand, we can ask again.

The first positive thing is mount Zion. It is thought that we should consider a little the earlier verses because they refer to what we have not come to. We have not come to the mount that could be touched; it is not what is visible. That is to say, "Ye have not come to the mount that might be touched and was all on fire, and to obscurity, and darkness, and tempest, and trumpet's sound, and voice of words; which they that heard, excusing themselves, declined the word being addressed to them any more, (for they were not able to bear what was enjoined. And if a beast should touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and, so fearful was the sight, Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and full of trembling)". These verses refer to what we have not come to. They are terrible verses, and they remind us of what we all were liable to -- the judgment of God. These are negative thoughts. I thought it well to call attention to them first so that we might have the background of the verses before us of which we shall speak later. There are eight things mentioned in the verses before us that we shall take up later.

S.McC. I think what you have said is interesting. The solemnity that is in these verses seems to be stressed throughout the epistle.

J.T. Of course, we are to bear in mind that it is a christian epistle. The first chapter is glorious, "God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son". The word is literally 'in Son'. God in Son -- God Himself speaking, so that it is a wonderful epistle in that sense. It is a christian epistle and yet these verses found in this chapter are terrible verses, really. In the same chapter it says, "our God is a consuming fire". And we would think solemnly of all that because it is a terrible background, but at the same time he is reminding us of the wonderfulness of what belongs to us in Christ, what we are in Christ.

S.McC. It really, as you say, throws into relief the glory of the system that is centred in Christ in that way in heaven, does it not?

A.N.W. Would it be right to say that mount Sinai is defined but not named, whereas mount Zion is named and not defined? Would it be according to your thought for us that we should learn to define mount Zion for ourselves?

J.T. Sinai is the mount that could be touched -- it is physical and visible, whereas Christianity is not that. It is not visible or physical, it is spiritual and unseen.

A.N.W. I thought it was striking that it was not named, but defined with all those terrible features, whereas mount Zion is just named and you are suggesting what it would mean to us.

J.T. You might say you get it in history, what could be touched, but when you come to mount Zion you cannot get it from history; it is not what

men are acquainted with, really, but it is the subject of our conversation.

H.B. Deuteronomy 4, in relation to the mount Sinai, would show that there were darkness, clouds and obscurity. Yet behind that it says, "the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven". In man after the flesh there was that which hindered the heart of heaven being fully known, but now it is known in mount Zion, in christianity.

J.T. The heart of heaven -- I think it is well to mention clearly what is said. The heart of heaven -- a rare expression, should be emphasised, for it is a wonderful expression and belongs to the economy.

S.McC. What does mount Zion convey to you in relation to christianity? Does it convey a different thought from what it was before?

J.T. I wonder if we have dwelt enough on the negative side before we come to mount Zion, whether we all understand what is meant by the negative side contained in verses 18 to 21.

J.W.D. "Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and full of trembling". Would you bring that into practical experience in any sense now?

J.T. It is a question of what souls go through in the presence of God. Many go through experiences and they feel they are lost and are overcome. So that it is hard to say what may be said about these earlier verses, these negative verses. We are to search ourselves as to what we are going through in our souls, whether we are going through anything like this, and then we shall see the blessedness of mount Zion.

A.S.C. It says in regard of mount Sinai, "obscurity, and darkness, and tempest, and trumpet's sound, and voice of words; which they that heard, excusing themselves, declined". Would you help us on that?

J.T. It is intended to impress us with the enormity of sin. The more we judge it, the more we shall

enjoy the blessedness of forgiveness and the presence of the Spirit, who gives us the consciousness of forgiveness.

A.S.C. The word was addressed to them, but they excused themselves from it, not taking on the matter.

J.T. That is true, bringing out what we are and the enormity of sin, and whether we are judging things fully and coming into christianity, conscious of forgiveness of sins, and the Spirit of God, and having a place in the assembly.

S.McC. Is there a link in Romans 7, in the man going through that experience in which the law bears upon him, with the negative side in this chapter?

J.T. That is so. "O wretched man that I am!". Why does it say that? That is what I have in mind, as to what the law really implies and how we are to be delivered from it. "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?". Then he says, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord". He got deliverance. If we have not, we should search our hearts. We come thousands of miles to be here and we want to get something. If we are going on with things which are not according to christianity, we want to get rid of them and go on with things which bring us to full christianity. "O wretched man that I am!". Then the answer, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord". Then he says further, "I myself with the mind serve God's law". That is christianity. "But with the flesh sin's law", a true confession.

A.N.W. In verse 20 the writer interposes, "for they were not able to bear what was enjoined". Would the Spirit's coming mean we are empowered to bear what is enjoined?

J.T. That is what mount Zion means. It is a new principle like the constitution of this country. A new principle -- mount Sinai was an old one.

V.C.L. Did Paul himself understand something of this principle of the enormity of sin in the three days when he neither ate nor drank?

J.T. I am glad you brought that up -- what Paul went through in those three days and three nights.

V.C.L. Afterward he stood up and "preached Jesus that he is the Son of God". Was that like coming to mount Zion?

J.T. That shows how the truth laid hold of his soul. He "preached Jesus that he is Son of God". Mount Zion implies the Son of God, for it is the answer to all with which we are dealing here.

J.McK. Does Exodus 20 help as to bringing the matter of sin before the people? They said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not".

J.T. So that they trembled. The whole position was somewhat modified, but we need much more than that as we come into full christianity. That is to say, we need new birth, forgiveness, the Spirit, and all that enters into the blessedness of the Spirit. We need to understand that we must be born anew, which is the first thing we get in John 3"Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God".

J.McK. So that is the basis of God's work in our souls as He cleanses us.

J.T. That is the basic thought, in the beginning, for the believer. He sees the kingdom.

E.G.McA. 'Enjoined' is the word in the latter part of verse 20, "they were not able to bear what was enjoined". That is an obligation, whereas, mount Zion is a spiritual privilege to which we have come.

J.T. Quite so, it is just a question of where we are. Some of us have come thousands of miles and it is a joy to see so many here in Chicago. One has

known it for fifty years and one is thankful for what is here today, but the question is what we have come for. Are we here to contribute, and are we ready to receive the truth? Because that is the point, to get the good out of these meetings. "Ye shall know the truth", it says, "and the truth shall set you free".

A.N.W. Is there something to be said about the mediator? The mediator himself has to say, "I am exceedingly afraid and full of trembling".

J.T. Of course that mediator was not Christ. Christ is our Mediator, "The mediator of God and men ... the man Christ Jesus". Moses was not that.

A.N.W. I only thought much depended upon our Mediator in that way positively. This shows that even Moses, acquainted with the presence of God Himself, was afraid. It shows what the position involved.

J.T. In the denominations around us, it is a question whether the idea of the Mediator is known at all. It is "the man Christ Jesus", the Man with feelings, governed by love and grace peculiarly. The idea of mount Zion is grace, or more accurately, mercy. It is the extension of mercy to men with all that flows from that.

B.W. Should not the truth be clear to us and not obscure? Is the negative side here helpful in that way, for often times we are not clear about the truth?

J.T. Quite so. What is ministered and conveyed in our Bible readings, is to be the truth and our relations are to be in love, love governing us and love in the truth, too. That is the gospel, really, the gospel worked out in Paul's ministry, especially Romans which is the basic idea of the gospel.

J.W.D. Why does Paul bring in the terror of the Lord in the section that deals with the judgment seat of Christ?

J.T. Why not? There is so much looseness, even among ourselves, and how much looseness there is

abroad among nominal Christians! The terror of the Lord is introduced because God is not mocked and we are to be serious. How much looseness and worldliness there is! Indeed, in coming to a meeting like this, if we have nothing before us but a good time and travel, it is a solemn thing to come and have the word of God opened up to us. Are we ready for it? Are we open to receive the truth? It says, "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free". We should expect that at a meeting like this.

J.W.D. So that woven into the curtains of the tabernacle were the cherubim, a symbol of divine government. Should we take account of the cherubim?

J.T. Very good, it is a symbol. It is not a question of what it is literally but of what the symbol means.

J.W.D. Would the idea of the cherubim indicate that God's government protects what is so precious, so glorious in Christ? So in coming to these meetings we have before us the positive things, but also the cherubim. The idea of the cherubim has to be faced, too.

J.T. It is a question of the government of God. The seraphim are more holiness, but they go together.

W.H.C. Is the thought of the cherubim involved in the chastening in the previous portion of this chapter? Why does this portion come just here in this chapter?

J.T. Very good. A remarkable thing that it should be brought in, especially that our God is a consuming fire. Not God simply, but our God, the Christian's God. If we want to be faithful with men, we are not hiding it.

S.McC. What you have been saying is most important as bearing on our coming to these meetings,

because if worldliness is allowed in our minds and ways we shall not have the truth, shall we?

J.T. That is just what I am thinking about. These terms cherubim and seraphim are symbols. What are they symbols of? We have to make an application of what a symbol means.

A.N.W. Burning is attached to both of them. The first mention of the cherubim is, "He set the Cherubim, and the flame of the flashing sword".

J.T. That is government. A remarkable thing that it should come so early in the history of man. Satan had come into the order of things that God had set up and that is a solemn thing. God intended to deal with evil at once.

C.C.T. In speaking about coming to these meetings, we would not have in our minds excusing ourselves and declining the word.

J.T. It is a very good thing to accuse yourself, but to excuse yourself when it is a question of sin is not good.

E.G.McA. Is the passage referred to, "Our God is a consuming fire", to check us that we might not think too lightly of mount Zion and what it is in the ways of God?

J.T. We are not to take mercy too lightly.

H.B. Would a word in Isaiah help? "To this man will I look: to the afflicted and contrite in spirit, and who trembleth at my word".

J.T. Trembleth, that is very good.

J.W.D. "And great fear came upon all the assembly". Do you think we are often conscious of that?

J.T. You refer to Ananias and Sapphira with whom God dealt so severely? "Great fear came upon all". If we are solemnised by the judgment of God, it helps us.

J.McK. Does Romans 6 bear upon this? "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid".

J.T. Just so. "God forbid". That is a good phrase to notice.

E.G.McA. You suggested a very beautiful contrast between Moses as mediator, who exceedingly trembled and feared, and Christ our Mediator full of sympathy. Would you open that up? We might have in our minds that the Mediator is someone austere. I was thinking of what you said in your prayer, referring to Corinthians, "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ", the greatness of the Person in whose face that is seen, so that we might enter more into the good of Christ as Mediator.

J.T. Mr. Darby once said, What is lovable in me is not of me, but of God. What is lovable in any one of us is of God. It is not mere niceness. We need more than niceness, we need righteousness and holiness.

E.G.McA. That brings in Christ as the Mediator in sympathy and tenderness, does it not?

A.N.W. There must be a reason why it was the skin of the face of Moses that shone, not exactly the face, but the skin of his face.

J.T. Very good, but it is a deeper matter in Christ, very beautiful, too, the face of Jesus Christ.

A.S.B. Would the beginning of the chapter help us in this regard? It says, "laying aside every weight, and sin which so easily entangles us" and "looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith", and, later, the Father's chastening of sons is in order "to the partaking of his holiness".

J.T. "Leader and completer of faith". The Originator of faith. So that the thing is to see what Christianity really is, and what it really is seen in Christ personally, the face of Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ, really.

A.S.B. What you said earlier in regard to the end of the chapter, "Our God is a consuming fire", is what I was thinking of. Holiness has been subjected

to the fire and its perfection brought out. All that is connected with the beginning.

J.T. Nothing else will do, but what can be tested by the fire. You cannot let anything pass except that. Every sacrifice was by fire, too.

A.G.L. Is there much around us that corresponds with mount Sinai, its obscurity and darkness, and do we need deliverance from that to arrive at mount Zion in our own souls?

J.T. Yes, especially the young people, for they do not tell us what is really going on. God has patience with us and pities us. That is a condition that can be rectified by the truth. The Lord said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free". There is a remedy for it. These meetings are that we might apply the truth.

A.G.L. So that if we have come by way of mount Zion, we are not afraid to come to God the Judge of all.

J.T. We shall come to that, please God, the Judge of all. It is an elevated thought, the top, so to speak, in dealing with the matter.

W.McK. In 2 Corinthians 4 which was already mentioned, it says "God ... who has shone in our hearts". Does that involve what we have here, that we come clearly and definitely into the knowledge of God?

J.T. Very good. "For the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". That is Christianity, really. What we have come to; that is what we are trying to aim at now. Mount Zion is what we have come to actually. It should be felt in a meeting like this that we have come to these things, these characteristics.

J.McK. Would you say that as we come to mount Zion the sense of mercy fills our souls with the knowledge of the greatness of the love of God, for we do not deserve it, deserving judgment instead?

That would enable us, especially the young, to be firmly founded in the truth you are developing.

J.T. So that referring again to verse 22, "Ye", meaning the Hebrew christians, "have come to mount Zion". That is the first thing; the next is "the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem". We will have to try to confine ourselves to mount Zion now because it is one of the greatest things; it is foundational and belongs to the system we are connected with. The system is that we have a High Priest in heaven who is touched by the feelings of our infirmities and then we have a Priest on earth. The Spirit of God is not called a priest, but He is here nevertheless in a priestly way to aid us in our infirmities and to add His help to our weaknesses.

F.H.L.C. Does the scripture you quoted from, John 8:34 - 36, connect with our chapter? "Verily, verily, I say to you, Every one that practises sin is the bondman of sin. Now the bondman abides not in the house for ever, the son abides for ever. If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free".

J.T. Quite so. The Son expresses the full thought of christianity. The Lord Jesus as the Son of God expresses the whole matter of liberty, involving the Holy Spirit too. The "therefore ..." is a matter of sequence, "If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free". The Corinthians were not abiding in that. Some of us were quoting a dear brother who is now with the Lord, He spoke about beautiful things and among them was the Man of John 8, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God.

S.McC. You made a very interesting remark as to the Spirit being here in a priestly way. Would you say a little more about that? Does that fit in with the service suggested in Romans 8, interceding?

J.T. I would think so. Of course, as I was saying, the Spirit is not called a priest, but the Lord Jesus is. The idea of priesthood is in Christ, in Christ as

Man; it is not a question of the Spirit by Himself, but Christ as Man. But at the same time the Spirit takes on priestly service because He adds His help to our weaknesses, and He is sympathetic with us in our weaknesses. I am sure you would agree with that, it is a very beautiful thing to have before us, that Christ is in heaven and the Spirit down here, not on the earth simply, but in the assembly, for that is where He is.

S.McC. That is excellent, showing how the position is maintained here below, equal to what is on high.

A.N.W. Is it too early to ask how far the Spirit's service as a Paraclete goes in relation to our individual matters?

J.T. I think it goes a long way. He deals with matters in relation to us in a spiritual sense. I would not say He looks after us in our ordinary affairs in our families. I would not want to say much about that. He goes a long way as a Paraclete. The word refers to Him as alongside of us so as to take care of our interests, truly to take care of the interests of Christ. He looks after everything.

A.N.W. It says, "in things relating to God", in Hebrews 5. Would that govern the service of the blessed Spirit?

J.T. I suppose that is right.

A.N.W. It is the spiritual side.

J.T. There is much needed as to the truth of the gospel being presented to us. The priestly attitude of the Lord Jesus above is to take care of all our interests. He is above and the Spirit is here in the assembly to care for all that relates to God.

J.McK. Is it your thought that in the preaching of the gospel the idea of mercy should be stressed?

J.T. I think that. Mr. Darby refers invariably to grace, but I think mount Zion is more accurately mercy. Mercy is extended to us in our need, in the

direness of our need as men and women in this world.

J.McK. So that mercy is really sovereign, from God Himself.

J.T. I am sure.

J.W.D. Would that be the basis of the Spirit making intercession? Why can He make intercession?

J.T. Do you mean the basis of redemption? I think that is the basis for everything. Therefore the Lord Jesus became Man to make everything perfect, so that salvation should be complete; all that relates to the salvation of men should be complete.

S.McC. It says in Romans 8:27, "But he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God". Do you understand that to mean that He is maintaining here the blessedness of what is on high, where Christ is interceding in the presence of God for us?

J.T. I would say just that. Romans 8 is so full in that sense. The number of times the Spirit is mentioned is remarkable, probably thirteen or fourteen times, and it is to bring out the volume of spiritual power resulting from the presence of the Spirit Himself here on earth where we are. He makes intercession according to God for the saints.

J.K. "The Spirit joins also its help", is in connection with prayer, is it not?

J.T. Just so, "Joins also its help to our weakness" is how it reads.

J.K. "The Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered".

J.T. I think that is very precious, and especially important for the young people -- there are a good many here -- so that they may get the good of the

gospel. The time is ebbing out; we are almost into the millennium, but it will not be nearly so great a time as this is. This is the greatest time, the greatest dispensation. It is the longest, but we cannot tell how much longer it will be, but it looks as if it is very near the finish.

A.S.C. We get the psalmist's apprehension of mount Zion in Psalm 48, "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King". Is that for our encouragement now?

J.T. Just so. David comes into all of this very much and especially in that passage you quoted, for David is the author or editor of the Psalms; not that he wrote all of them, but I would say he was probably the editor. In any event, he had a great deal to do with them, being called the sweet psalmist of Israel. The word 'sweet' would imply what the grace of Christ is in the Psalms and one psalm may be cited peculiarly. In speaking of the ark, he says, "We heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood". That means that he was a boy, maybe, when he heard of it at Ephratah, which was very likely where he was born. He says, "We heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood", showing how real he was as a young man or boy.

H.B. The same psalm goes on to speak about God choosing mount Zion and says, "I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy ones with bread".

A.B.M'N. Does the thought of the kingdom enter into what you have been saying?

J.T. That is really what we are dwelling on, so we have spoken about new birth, which is basic to all that has been said. In John 3 it says, "Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God". See the kingdom -- that is a real question

for everybody, whether he sees the kingdom. Then the next thing in that same chapter is, "Except any one be born of water and of Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God". These are real basic matters as to the kingdom. And what we are saying now is of the highest importance. The question is, Are we all getting what the kingdom really means, the kingdom of God? It says, "the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit".

A.N.W. The summing up of the matter in chapter 12 is, "Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken".

J.T. Receiving it, not seeing it, or entering into it, but receiving it. That is another thing, a beautiful thought. It is a question of inquiring whether we see, or enter into, or receive the kingdom of God, a kingdom which cannot be shaken.

A.G.L. Does the thought of the constitution of christianity enter into that?

J.T. I think it does. These items are all basic to what we are saying now because it is what is constitutional, whether we have seen the kingdom or entered into the kingdom or received the kingdom which cannot be moved; let us "have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear". We have come here many times and our dear brethren have prepared for us. We have come long distances and we do not want to come for nothing.

E.F.C. Is it important that we see that mount Zion is the place of rich divine provision? It says, "On the mount of Jehovah will be provided". I was thinking of the geographical setting and whether we understand the rich provision in the word of God and the sacrificial work of Christ, and the mercy of God as Abraham and David proved it in type.

J.T. What you are saying now reverts to Abraham, to the mount of Jehovah, not mount Zion or Sinai, but the mount of Jehovah which was very near mount Zion. "On the mount of Jehovah will be provided". It is very near, but it is mount Zion where things are fully provided for us.

J.W.D. Is not the idea of a right secured to us seen in mount Zion, an inalienable right connected with christianity? I am referring to John 1, "to them gave he the right to be children of God". Mount Zion represents the constitution, the right of every christian to be in its glory and liberty. Mount Zion really constitutes the right of everyone of us to this.

J.T. You are alluding to John 1. Now let us allude to the end of this epistle in regard to the word 'right'. It says in chapter 13: 10, "We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle; for of those beasts whose blood is carried as sacrifices for sin into the holy of holies by the high priest, of these the bodies are burned outside the camp. Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate, therefore let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for we have not here an abiding city, but we seek the coming one". I think these two scriptures are well to keep before us, what christians have a right to, that God has given us that right. We have no right to anything as natural men, whereas mount Zion refers to what we do get and what we have in the Spirit and what christianity implies.

S.McC. Would the answer in the believers be seen in Revelation 22 in the washing of the robes, that they may have the moral right? There is a moral answer to the right that is presented to the believer, "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life". It is established

on a moral basis on our part showing that we surely realise what we are dealing with in mount Zion.

J.T. The idea of right, so that all these passages surely ought to help us as to christianity.

W.H.C. Is verse 28, "Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear", in the apostle's mind that we should move forward? There is to be power seen in us.

J.T. I think so. The apostle, undoubtedly Paul, would endeavour to get the Hebrew christians into the reality of christianity and we should go forward into it.

E.G.McA. I would like to refer once more to your reference to the Spirit of God moving here in a priestly way, as it seems to me all that has been said since greatly helps if we take account of it. If I do not know how to pray, the Spirit helps. And the fact that it says our infirmities without designating them shows it includes them all in connection with the mind of God. That is a wonderfully encouraging word in regard to the Spirit here at the present time.

J.T. Very good. It reminds us of the continuance of divine service, what brethren are going on with. And there is no doubt that in what we are going on with, God is helping us, and the first day of the week is the day in which we enter on divine service. We usually have three meetings, the first for the breaking of bread and it is alluded to in 1 Corinthians 11:17. The apostle says that he came to the assembly, but there were certain things that he could not praise them about. At the same time he did praise them about other things, but what he did not praise them about was when they came together, they failed in what belonged to the assembly. There are peculiar joys that enter into the first day of the week when we come together. So I will read a verse or two in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 17. "But in prescribing to

you on this which I now enter on, I do not praise, namely, that ye come together, not for the better, but for the worse. For first, when ye come together in assembly, I hear there exist divisions among you, and I partly give credit to it. For there must also be sects among you, that the approved may become manifest among you. When ye come therefore together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. For each one in eating takes his own supper before others, and one is hungry and another drinks to excess. Have ye not then houses for eating and drinking? or do ye despise the assembly of God, and put to shame them who have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this point I do not praise". Now, he says, I am going to tell you what is proper, "For I received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread, and having given thanks broke it, and said, This is my body, which is for you, this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, this do, as often as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come. So that whosoever shall eat the bread, or drink the cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty in respect of the body and of the blood of the Lord", and so forth, I thought it was an important matter that we should come to it intelligently and we should see how the Lord is looking on what we are doing on the first day of the week, and we should see how much there is in it for God and for the service of the Lord Jesus. I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring forward these facts, so that the truth of the assembly should be with us thoroughly on the first day of the week so that we should continue in it, increase in it, and that the numbers

should increase and not diminish, but increase and not be divided by sectarianism. I have suggested all that I have said, dear brethren, because the time is pretty well up now and I think we should take to heart what is going on at the present time and what we have part in so that we should continue in it and increase in it.

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO (2)

Hebrews 12middle of verse 22, "and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem"; Revelation 21:1 - 7

J.T. The suggestion for this time is Hebrews 12, beginning with verse 22. We have had mount Zion already. Next is the "city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem", to which is to be added "myriads of angels, the universal gathering". After that we shall consider the remaining part, that is, verses 23 and 24. These things will be severally before us during these three days. It is thought wise now to add Revelation 21, also, which treats of the heavenly city. We shall later come to "the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven". But we should be occupied now with the city. The assembly is the assembly of the firstborn; that we shall have to consider by itself and we shall perhaps see how important it is, related to the assembly in a peculiar way; "The assembly of the firstborn". These references do not include the saints from the beginning, that is to say, the saints from Adam or Enoch, but refer only to the assembly itself; it properly is an idea to be viewed entirely by itself. It is a matter of the firstborn. That is to say, the place that each one has as firstborn, and they are registered in heaven. It is not an earthly position; it is a heavenly position. The earlier reference in the previous verse is to heavenly Jerusalem, to a city. It is a city really, the capital of the coming world, but the assembly of the firstborn is to be viewed by itself. We should see that the assembly itself is in mind and it does not include other things mentioned here, such as angels. And then God Himself, the "judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant", are brought in. All of these are separate thoughts and are not included in the assembly of the firstborn, but what is before us primarily is the heavenly Jerusalem, because

that refers to a city, to a capital, which is the very centre of God's government and ways.

S.McC. How do you view the twenty-four elders in Revelation and what they symbolise in relation to this thought of the city of the living God?

J.T. Well, the first thing that has to be said is they are not mentioned here, but no doubt are included in what is said. They are mentioned throughout the book. The four and twenty elders, that is to say twice twelve, include the whole patriarchal period, whatever that period may be.

S.McC. I was interested in what you have already said as to what we could include in this matter that is before us now and what we could not include.

J.T. These eight items have to be spoken of as they are stated -- Paul wrote this probably, and they are to be taken up as presented here. We first begin with mount Sinai, a negative thought, showing what is opposite to what is represented in mount Zion; then we have mount Zion which is in relation to David. David begins his regime there and it gives character to his whole kingdom and ministry.

J.W.D. Would the city that Abraham looked for be included in this city?

J.T. Well, we are not told what it is. It is a question of spiritual understanding and comparing what Scripture says. It shows what a remarkable man Abraham was; what a place he had in divine ways and counsels. So that he looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. It would rightly compare with what we have in the book of Revelation in that respect, because it says much about foundations, but the city in verse 22 is set by itself. It is the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem. We have to see what that means, whether what is said about the church of the firstborn is included, for the city, the heavenly Jerusalem, is mentioned by itself, then the myriads of

angels are mentioned, and, after that, the assembly of the firstborn.

A.S.C. Is it right to link what you are saying with what we have in chapter 11 in relation to the patriarchs, "God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city"? Do we now arrive at the city in chapter 12?

J.T. Well, we have to be sure what is alluded to, because we cannot say that the assembly of the firstborn is alluded to in that city. First we have mentioned here the heavenly Jerusalem which may also allude to the assembly of the firstborn, but we have to treat it by itself. The city is one thing and the assembly of the firstborn another.

J.McK. Is it over against the earthly Jerusalem, indicating that God is now operating from heaven instead of from earth?

J.T. Quite so.

A.N.W. In the details of the city in chapter 21 there are two twelves, one in relation to the tribes and the gates, and the other in relation to the apostles of the Lamb and the wall. The names of the twelve tribes inscribed on the gates would perhaps have an earthly bearing, for it says the names inscribed were those of the twelve tribes for the sons of Israel.

J.T. It has to be treated as a city anyway. To be clear about it in our minds, the first reference in verse 22 here is the city, the heavenly Jerusalem. Verse 10 of Revelation 21 is also the city. In verse 8 it says, "to the fearful and unbelieving", and so on; then verse 9 says, "And there came one of the seven angels which had had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife". In the earlier part of the chapter it is as a bride, but here she is formally called the bride and undoubtedly is the assembly, the Lamb's wife.

E.G.McA. You spoke of this heavenly city being the capital, the centre of God's government and ways. Is that thought in advance of Zion and the liberating thought in connection with christianity in contrast to the old regime?

J.T. Well, of course, we have to keep to the facts, and the facts are that Zion is not properly called a city. It was part of Jerusalem really, not a total thought, but part of Jerusalem. It is called the city of David and we, of course, would therefore think of it as the capital, the place of rule, whereas the assembly of the firstborn and all that has been said about it is to be regarded as heavenly, wholly heavenly, having no earthly connection at all. It is indigenous to heaven really.

C.C.T. Is not that the reason it is mentioned here in Hebrews as the heavenly Jerusalem and in Revelation as the holy Jerusalem? It removes any earthly thought whatsoever, does it not?

J.T. Very good. Only the question is what it includes, whether we may not be at times making too much of it, I mean going beyond what it includes. Here we have what is said of the heavenly Jerusalem. To be accurate we must think of things just as they are before us in Scripture.

A.B.M'N. It is called the city of the living God, but would the addition of heavenly Jerusalem give it its character?

J.T. You see these items referred to in verses 22 and 23 are separated by semicolons, an accurate separation for each one. The next thing spoken of after mount Zion is the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem. The item after that is the angels, which is another thing. What we are especially touching on is heavenly Jerusalem; what it is not, what it is, and what it may be. It is a time of accuracy from the divine side, I mean.

J.McK. Does Galatians 4 help as to what you may have in mind? Over against Hagar corresponding to Sinai in Arabia is Jerusalem above which is free, which is our mother, as if to indicate the way in which we begin in relation to these things.

J.T. That is in Galatians, of course, and intended to help Galatian believers really, but it is alluded to in this book. The writer of Hebrews is the writer of Galatians and, no doubt, they would allude to the same thing in a sense; but it is a question of whether they do, you see, and whether we may be inaccurate in stressing a thing like that unless we are sure, and so here the word is heavenly Jerusalem. That is by itself, and then we have taken the liberty of reading in the book of the Revelation to show what this heavenly Jerusalem may be as treated by John. John wrote the book of Revelation, not Paul, and John has a different point of view. I do not say that there is any contradiction, far be the thought, but, at the same time, we have to be careful in alluding to things, to look into things, and to see what is said.

A.N.W. While it is said to be holy in both cases in Revelation 21, the point here is to emphasise that it is heavenly.

J.T. Just so.

S.McC. In the letter to Philadelphia, the Lord brings into the minds of the saints this thought of Jerusalem. Would that be what the Lord has particularly in mind in our day, to give us a distinct impression of the assembly in this way?

J.T. Would you be kind enough to read the passage in Revelation 3 as there are several things mentioned.

S.McC. "He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the

new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name".

J.T. That is clear enough. It probably means the same thing as Paul does. So it is now a question of considering further. We have the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and then we have other things that we have to provide for. Where are they and where do they come in? Verse 22 says, "myriads of angels, the universal gathering". That is angels, of course, a large number of them, myriads, and then the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven. They are to be by themselves; they are registered in heaven. And then God Himself, the Judge of all, and He, of course, would cover all those involved to whom judgment applies, even those that are not the Lord's. Then "to the spirits of just men made perfect". Who are they? We cannot say they belong to the assembly. They are the spirits of just men made perfect. That is one setting by itself. Well, we have to look back in the history of humanity and see where there are just men who are not included in the assembly, who are classified by themselves, the spirits of just men made perfect. God would take account of all that came in after Abel, showing us and all those to whom the apostle wrote that God is taking account of men as such and their spirits are taken account of. They are in their graves, but their spirits are taken account of. But they are viewed as perfect in some sense. We have come to them. Of course, we are not told where they are, but they are taken account of here. These matters we should look into, dealing accurately with Scripture to get all the good we can out of it. If God is calling attention by His servant to the spirits of just men, well, who are they? We say it includes Abel. We are entitled to include him because he was a just man and now we come to him as being perfect in some sense in the divine mind. That is to say, it must include the

redemptive work of Christ. There would be no perfection without that.

J.McK. Does this suggest to our minds that heavenly Jerusalem is connected with the operations of God from heaven so that the saints are to become more spiritual in sensing those operations?

J.T. There is that which God has in His hand, which He is operating.

J.McK. The idea of administration, which should cause us to be exercised to become spiritual, to be in concern with God's operations.

J.T. Just so. Think of the value of being in it. The first day of the week is the day when all these things come into mind.

E.G.McA. What is the import of the living God in connection with heavenly Jerusalem?

J.T. The idea of living is over against judaism or anything else morally dead. God is over against that, the living God.

E.G.McA. It is in contrast to all that is morally dead, formality, rationalism, and so on.

J.T. Just so. It is now all around us in christendom. Judaism has passed away, but it is making an attempt to re-establish itself now in what is called Israel, but it is a poor, miserable thing. There is nothing of God in it, nothing living about it, and we do not need to pay any attention to it; only, of course, you wonder at the way it is spoken of and treated by so-called Christians around us. But the living God is the living God and is over against what is dead morally.

J.McK. We have been speaking of the first day of the week and all that is available to us in the service of God. Do you have in mind the distinct place the Spirit has in this service, as well as Christ, so that we come to the living God and heavenly Jerusalem?

J.T. It is the living God who is served. But we have the Church of England and others with all

kinds of forms; dead forms. The living God, and the Spirit, and the saints, too, are living.

J.W.D. It says that the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. Did God anticipate these spiritual operations?

J.T. Very good, meaning it is glory to belong to these things. All emanates from God; even the creation itself, what there is in it of glory is from God.

A.G.L. In chapter 9 the apostle speaks of "Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God". Is that connected?

J.T. Just so. The worship of God requires a living state of things. We have it in John 4. It is the worship of God. The Father seeketh such as His worshippers, and the Lord speaks of Him, too, as the living Father.

V.W.H. In Matthew 16 Peter confesses, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". That was really where Christ first saw the assembly, was it not?

J.T. Very good. It shows that Matthew deals with things that we have just been speaking of. What Peter confessed alludes to christianity, where things should be living.

A.N.W. Does the omission of the article in verse 22 throw emphasis on the character of God? It is literally 'living God', not the living God, each time.

J.T. Quite so, or you might say "To city of living God". You might read it that way.

S.McC. In the opening chapter of Genesis much is made of the female side and the woman is bound up with the matter of government. Would this verse help us to see how the assembly is bound up with this matter of government?

J.T. That is very good. I might add that the word 'man' in Genesis 1:26 includes woman, but the woman is not there. If you follow it strictly, the

rendering in the first part of chapter 2 does not give the woman, but chapter 1 includes her. She is not seen until the end of chapter 2. God said of Adam, I will make a helpmate for him. There was no one suitable. It is as if he was looking for a woman and he found none suitable to himself, but God says, I will make him a helpmate, one suitable to him, and He does. He builds a woman and then He brings her to the man and does not say anything. But Adam says something, he says to Jehovah, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called woman". So she does not appear literally in the first chapter; yet the word is, We will make man in Our image and We will make male and female; it is the plural. In chapter 2 we have the woman in actuality.

S.McC. That helps us as to the greatness of the place the assembly has in this matter of government.

J.T. We can read now from the 9th verse of chapter 21 of Revelation, I think it is well worth reading because we have come to such an important subject.

S.McC. "And there came one of the seven angels which had had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife".

J.T. The word is not the same as verse 2 of chapter 21, "Prepared as a bride". That is a figure, but here, I will show you the bride. It is just what she is that is shown.

S.McC. "And he carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone; having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are those of the

twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. On the east three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that spoke with me had a golden reed as a measure, that he might measure the city, and its gates, and its wall".

J.T. The brethren have just to consider what is really meant, whether this includes all men from the beginning, and so forth. It clearly alludes to the assembly, for the foundations have the names of the apostles of the Lamb.

S.McC. "And the city lies four-square, and its length is as much as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed -- twelve thousand stadia: the length and the breadth and height of it are equal. And he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, a man's measure, that is, the angel's. And the building of its wall was jasper; and the city pure gold, like pure glass: the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone, the first foundation, jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates, twelve pearls; each one of the gates, respectively, was of one pearl; and the street of the city pure gold, as transparent glass. And I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it. And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there.

And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations to it. And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it; but those only who are written in the book of life of the Lamb".

W.McK. Would the fact that the assembly, viewed in her eternal relations in verse 2, is called the holy city indicate that government in some sense enters into the eternal state? We have been speaking about the assembly as the seat of God's government.

J.T. I think it should be limited to the thought here. I do not think our minds are entitled to bring to the eternal state the matter of government. The allusion I think is to the heavenly capital of the millennial day.

A.N.W. Would it be correct to say that all the verses we read have a distinct earthly bearing, which could not quite be said of verse 2, "I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband"? Would that be distinctly the heavenly side?

J.T. It would.

A.N.W. In other words not exactly for show, but seen.

J.T. Then you have the view of it in Hebrews 12, verse 23. We have to consider what that would mean. The firstborn have the first place with God. They are not earthly, but what belong to heaven, are indigenous to heaven.

J.W.D. It includes only the assembly, I gather. Is that right?

J.T. It is the assembly of the firstborn and includes only the assembly. The same would be true of the first reference, that is, heavenly Jerusalem. But then we have to make allowance for the other items which we should come to later, such as the spirits of just men made perfect. We cannot be sure they are included in the heavenly city. How are

they to be spoken of accurately? Then the idea of the covenant. The covenant does not belong properly to the assembly, but there is a new covenant, as it says, Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling. Why should all these things be mentioned unless there is something vital meant? And I think we have to go back to the beginning of humanity before Israel and the assembly were formed.

V.C.L. What is the link between Paul's word, "Ye have come", and the millennial setting in Revelation 21? Hebrews 12:22 says, "Ye have come" as though it is a present matter, but is not Revelation 21, which you have just had read for us, largely millennial from start to finish?

J.T. We have to be careful because the millennial conditions include the present conditions in some sense, whereas this 21st chapter refers to the new heavens and new earth, not the present. So we have to make allowance for that. It is new, I do not think the millennial earth will be altogether new in that sense.

C.C.T. Is that why it says, "new Jerusalem", also, in chapter 21?

J.T. Quite so. In verse 9 it says, "There came one of the seven angels which had had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife". It is a great and high mountain, and he "shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem".

A.N.W. It is called the new Jerusalem in verse 2.

J.T. The holy city is undoubtedly in mind here. She is shown as the bride, the Lamb's wife. So that I am only trying to maintain accuracy in dealing with Scripture that we may get all the good God intends us to get out of it. So these scriptures must be carefully read. Revelation is written by John, clearly, and the Hebrews by Paul. Not that there is

any difference spiritually, but at the same time God used John to write about these final conditions to show us that that is what He had in mind, that we might see how different they are from the present time.

V.C.L. The wife is mentioned in Revelation 21:9, "The Lamb's wife". Would that include this present time?

J.T. Yes, quite.

V.C.L. Would not the bride in verse 2 exclude the present time?

J.T. The bride adorned, that is a figure. We ought to be free to apply it, but at the same time it is a figure in verse 2.

J.McK. Is the purpose of God seen in the assembly of the firstborn registered in heaven apart from the matter of responsible history. God in His grace having registered our names there?

J.T. Surely, the place of the assembly is there indelibly. It is a peculiar thing, it is a precious thing and is looked at by itself. But then before that we must come to heavenly Jerusalem because it is a question of government, the capital of the universe at some particular time.

W.H.C. We often say the city speaks of administration and speaks only of administrative features.

J.T. The city has a great place in Revelation 21 and 22, a greater place there even than in Hebrews.

W.H.C. Would you say a little more about other features of the city, such as beauty and power, as well as administration, and, as you said, the place of God's operations?

J.T. God has His own primary thoughts in mind in dealing with what is historical in our dispensation. He has His own thoughts in mind always. Here in Chicago, how much is there that is in keeping with what the heavenly city is? There should be improvement as to divine administration in the assembly,

because heavenly Jerusalem is the word, and we are dealing with the greatest things of the assembly. Why have we not more to show for the Lord's sake? It is well worth thinking of, because we are to rise up to the greatness of God's thoughts for us.

H.P.R. Verse 9 of Revelation 21 says, "One of the seven angels which had had the seven bowls ..." Is that a millennial scene or connected with the millennium?

J.T. It refers to the present time. Those seven bowls refer to judgment. The seven last plagues bear on the conditions we are in now. These bowls refer to the power there is with God to execute judgment by them.

S.McC. In this book the great cities of the world come up for judgment, but the book finishes with a greater city, the assembly. What is to fill our minds in Detroit, Chicago, and New York is what God has in these cities.

J.T. What God sees when you come together. There are two meetings in Detroit, something for God to take account of as a witness, to work out things, and that is the idea that is in the divine mind. God is pleased to come down to very small things, but yet there is the reminding of God, to use that word, and God reminds us, too, of what is in the divine mind. Two companies of brethren come together to take account of certain things. That is pleasing to God and it is pleasing to yourselves, of course, and is to us, too, when we hear of it. You had meetings there lately that were pleasing to the brethren. I am referring to practical things that we should carry away with us. We can put them into effect. They refer to something that is in the mind of God.

J.W.D. I think you mentioned in London that this refers to the assembly, the Lord having so much

enjoyed His relations with the assembly here that He brings her forward in the millennial setting.

J.T. Very good. That is what our brother alludes to in these last plagues, implements of judgment. His judgments are here now. That is the idea. God is executing them now.

S.McC. Would it be that as we are formed in the features of the assembly we should know how to act in the position in which we are, in matters of government and administration?

J.T. That is what we should be getting out of these meetings. Are we all correct? Do we know what to do, and do we do it?

C.C.T. It says in Revelation 21 that John was caught away in the Spirit. Would that be for us locally? As we are caught away by the Spirit, we would be able to view these things in the right way.

J.T. There was reference in prayer to the blessed Spirit having part with us, a most precious thing.

V.C.L. In Ephesians 3 we see these things working out. It says, "in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God".

J.T. Very good. An excellent scripture.

V.C.L. I was thinking of the word 'now' in view of your emphasis.

J.T. Very good. This is the time of testimony and we are in it ourselves. The divine mind was seen at the outset, after the Spirit came down. The twelve apostles began to act before Paul came, but, when he came, he greatly augmented what was there and so you get the full thought of the assembly.

A.S.B. In your reference to the seven last plagues, did I understand you to say that judgment is operating now, and is that with the intent of bringing out the character of the city in its holiness, the city of the living God?

J.T. That is right. There are things that God will do in the millennium that He would not do now because we are in the dispensation of grace. Here in Chicago or Detroit we would not put anyone in jail. Such things are not being done now. Severe physical things will be done in the millennium that are not being done now. We are dealing with things in a spiritual way and what is dealt out in the way of judgment in the assembly now is not physical but moral.

S.McC. In relation to that, would the Lord's words apply, "Put the sword into the sheath", but it will come out again, will it not?

J.T. It will. The Lord will deal with things on that principle presently.

A.G.L. You spoke of the seven bowls as being here now. Are they here in the minds of the saints as having a divine judgment of evil?

J.T. Just so. We are to judge evil on the same principle, but not on the same pattern, but the thing is there nevertheless. A brother is to be put away; we withdraw from him if he is not fit to be in fellowship. The Lord helped us to change the word 'putting away' to 'withdraw'. In the meantime, we go on the ground that the Lord Himself laid down for us. We are not using physical means now; we leave it with God. 'Putting away' is in accord with the original word in 1 Corinthians 5. The apostle says, "deliver him ... to Satan for destruction of the flesh". Satan will do that, not the brethren, but it is clear the man was restored. It is not physical, although there is a certain physical thing done in withdrawing from a person, but not in the sense of putting in jail or the like. We do not do that. It is God's judgment.

J.McK. So that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

E.T.P. Peter says, "The time of having the judgment begin from the house of God is come". Has

that a present bearing for us, alluding to the present bearing of judgment among us?

J.T. It has not actually come, that is, physical judgment. Read that passage again.

E.T.P. 1 Peter 4:17, "The time of having the judgment begin from the house of God is come; but if first from us, what shall be the end of those who obey not the glad tidings of God?".

J.T. That is a serious way to put it. Peter is not dealing with the physical side, with actual punishment, but it is put in such a way as to be before us in dealing with evil.

A.N.W. Our position in the matter of judgment is set out in chapters 2 and 3 of this book, whereas, from chapter 4 onward, it is more the things that are hereafter. Revelation 2 and 3 are assembly matters, the Lord's judicial moves in relation to the churches, knowing their works, and finally standing outside Laodicea knocking at the door. "I rebuke and discipline as many as I love; be zealous therefore and repent". I thought that referred to the assembly time.

J.T. No physical dealing there yet.

A.N.W. It is to come.

J.T. What is physical in cases of discipline is not what is in mind. It is a question of what kind of judgment begins. It should be in our minds that material things will happen presently. The Revelation is full of it, both in the beginning and the end, and in the middle, too. Up to chapter 19, all is judgment, you might say.

A.G.L. God executes the judgment that we have already arrived at in the assembly.

J.T. Exactly. We have it in our minds; we do not put a man in jail. That will happen presently. In the meantime, we are working according to what they did at the beginning; that is what we go by as to discipline.

C.C.T. Would a judgment about unionism be one of the judgments of the assembly?

J.T. We cannot have fellowship with that kind of thing. God will deal with that.

J.W.D. "And the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed". That is an entirely different principle from what operates today.

J.T. Very different. We are dealing with things in the assembly now. What they did at the beginning is the pattern for us.

W.McK. Why would you not use the expression 'putting away'?

J.T. It is assuming to have the same assembly power and authority as they had in the beginning. Twenty-five years ago we thought it right, but we have been helped to see that we could not assume to have such authority as they had at the beginning when the apostles were there.

A.N.W. At the beginning there was the word of the apostles as to how things were to be done. What you say is a balance, for you could not abrogate 1 Corinthians 5, but 2 Timothy 2 is to be taken account of.

W.H.C. In relation to Babylon it says, "Rejoice over her, heaven, and ye saints and apostles and prophets; for God has judged your judgment upon her".

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO (3)

Hebrews 12:22, "And to myriads of angels, the universal gathering"; Hebrews 1:5 - 14

J.T. It is thought that we should segregate this part of our subject -- that is to say, what we have come to -- in this reading, to look into the subject of angels according to what is stated of them in the first chapter. Angels are a higher order of being than men, and were created before men. We cannot say how long before, but clearly they were created before and are designated by Job as sons of God. So they are highly dignified in the divine mind and in divine service. It is thought that we should be a little more conversant with them, especially as it is said in Hebrews 1:14, "Are they not all ministering spirit, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?". That is to say, we are the persons, men are the persons in mind to be ministered to. "Ministering spirits", it says, "sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation". They were evidently used from the outset of the creation of man. Their service begins in the book of Genesis and runs through the whole Bible to the book of Revelation. So that it should occupy us, at such a time as this, as those who seek the truth and we might say are among those who inherit salvation. Angelic ministry is a prime element in our salvation. Even as to the Lord Jesus Himself, He said He could ask His Father and He would give Him more than twelve legions of angels, and so we read too, that an angel came and ministered to Him.

S.McC. Does the service of angels bear mostly on our external circumstances, such as our journeyings, our occupations, our bodies, and the like?

J.T. Quite so. Then it is remarkable how they enter into divine things, and how some of them are designated archangels, having a special place with

God, and how much they can tell us of things that we even do not know about. An angel spoke to Mary, the Lord's own mother, and instructed her. All through the Scriptures we get remarkable instruction from angels and, therefore, it becomes incumbent upon us to look into what Scripture teaches us as to them, and it is thought that this meeting should be devoted largely to the subject.

E.F.C. Do some angels serve in a priestly way and others in a military way? For example, Gabriel in priestly service and Michael in military service.

J.T. These are important things to notice, and you can see how in the ways of God they are employed in very great matters, very extensive matters, even in matters on which, as to ourselves, great things depend. Therefore the suggestion to all of us is that we should look into the matter and see how we may rely on the angels at certain times to help us. Not at all that we should pray to them; that would be idolatry and would be very wrong, but still we may ask God about them.

E.F.C. Why do you think their service toward those of the circumcision was more pronounced than toward the uncircumcision? They are linked with Peter in a direct way, whereas, with Paul they are referred to as standing by.

J.T. That is a matter for us to look into and see whether a certain class of saints, the Jewish element, among the saved are paid more attention to than the gentile. I would hesitate to say much on that point, for I would think they are available to all of us. The word in verse 14 of chapter 1 is, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?", not only those who are Jewish and not only gentiles, but all.

A.N.W. On the boat when the shipwreck was imminent, Paul says, "I exhort you to be of good courage ... For an angel of the God, whose I am

and whom I serve, stood by me this night, saying, Fear not, Paul".

J.T. Then again we have one of them destroying a hundred and eighty-five thousand men at once.

S.McC. In the book of Daniel their service seems linked with the opening up of prophetic events. Would that bear on the matter you are referring to, speaking to us about divine things? They come, do they not, in relation to the unfolding of prophetic matters to Daniel and all the people?

J.T. It is said he was greatly beloved; that is very touching -- "O Daniel, man greatly beloved", the angel told him.

S.McC. Would there be in that way an intimate link between the angels and those who are in the testimony, as understanding the place they have and that they are dear in the sight of heaven?

J.T. Quite so. We begin to inquire in our minds how high they extend upward, the place they have in divine operations and then how they extend downward too. We get, for instance, in the gospel of Luke, a multitude of the heavenly host celebrating, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men". That is, they are entirely unjealous as regards men, as ourselves. They respect us as servants would respect their masters, so to speak. They would respect those who are heirs of salvation.

A.N.W. Mark tells us that as driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, the Lord Himself was ministered to by them, "And the angels ministered to him".

E.G.McA. You would say that the angels instruct us according to that passage in Daniel, "And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding". And then in verse 11 of chapter 10 Gabriel says, "O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand

the words which I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent". It shows that they can tell us things.

J.T. Quite so. Especially Gabriel as to the seventy weeks, "Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people". A very important epoch, and it was entrusted to them to tell Daniel about the bringing in of "the righteousness of the ages". These are great matters and they were entrusted to angels.

J.W.D. Do you mean we can be conscious of the personality of angels actually speaking? It was an actual angel, an actual being that spoke to Daniel. Are we conscious of the personality of these beings or is it an indirect service we are conscious of in an indirect way?

J.T. Our time is somewhat limited and we must make the most of it, but I think what you say is of supreme importance in the subject, and I will begin with such cases as refer to the Lord Himself, a divine Person, how angels regard Him and then their place in the service of God. What should occupy us to begin with is the exalted beings who are engaged in divine service, and what men say to angels and what angels say to men. How much intelligence they have, and whether it is to be compared with what the great apostles, like Paul and Peter, would have, and even how much any of us here in this day of small things might have as compared with angels who are invisible to us. We cannot say we see them, but they are here. We ought to be aware they are here; they are to be discerned, for things are happening by them. I think these are the lines which we should pursue for we want to get the full thought as nearly as we can in the time we have. I would suggest that we keep on as we have already done. We should consider how divine Persons Themselves deal with angels.

J.McK. Does the matter of John 5 help? "An angel descended at a certain season in the pool and troubled the water. Whoever therefore first went in after the troubling of the water became well". There was an awareness of the angel's movements, while perhaps not yet seen with the physical eye.

J.T. Very good; an awareness, but the one man who needed it did not get the good of it.

A.N.W. At the end of the book we are reading there is an exhortation as to hospitality for by the exercise of it some entertained angels unawares. I suppose they may be in that form; they were represented as men, but they were angels.

J.T. That helps to clarify our subject. Regarding the persons who appeared to Abraham, one of them was the Lord Himself. Jehovah, as the sequel shows, but two of them were angels, and so we take these examples of how angels may be with us and how we may be with them.

A.S.C. In Acts 12 the angel said to Peter, "Rise up quickly ... Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And he did so ... And going forth he followed him and did not know that what was happening by means of the angel was real". That would illustrate the service of angels in relation to matters.

J.T. That is a good illustration and helps to keep things within bounds that they may be intelligible to us, that we may carry away some thoughts that may help us, that we may have to do with angels in a conscious way, and that we may seek to have an experience of this kind, asking God to give it to us. Acts 12 furnishes a very interesting case. Herod attacked the assembly and slew James with the sword and then proceeded to take Peter. Peter was put in prison between two soldiers, having been delivered to four quaternions of soldiers to keep, and he went to sleep. Someone was speaking about that in Bristol the other day and he told us reproachfully that Peter

should not have been asleep, but it does not seem any reproach should be attached to him. He was in danger of being slain at any moment, but asleep, evidently dependent on God. We can take up these cases one by one, keeping the subject within bounds so that some of us, at least, may become useful in knowing what angelic service really is. It is going on all the time and we are enjoying it at this very moment in this hall.

H.B. In 2 Thessalonians 2 there is that which restrains. Might their service be occupied with that?

J.T. "He who restrains", and "that which restrains". "He" would be the Holy Spirit. It is important to keep before us that there is a restraining power at the present time against anti-Christian elements. There is government which God has appointed. "The powers that be are ordained of God". They are useful to us and we may count on them.

C.C.T. Do we see the service of the angel in Acts 11 in regard to Cornelius' house; salvation is connected with it?

J.T. That really begins in Acts 10. Peter became concerned and went up to the house top to pray and he became in an ecstasy. While in that state something happened; he saw a sheet come down from heaven knit at the four corners and containing the quadrupeds of the earth, the creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven. It came to him and a voice said to him, "Rise, Peter, slay and eat. And Peter said, In no wise, Lord". That is to say, there is something there for us to learn. He used the word 'Lord' to the voice. He discerned it was a voice and it undoubtedly was a divine Person talking to him and I would say it was the Holy Spirit. Peter says, "In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And there was a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not thou make common. And this took

place thrice, and the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven. And as Peter doubted in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean", he was doubtful, and the Spirit of God says to him about the three men who came to seek him, "Go down, and go with them, nothing doubting". The Spirit of God told him to go and Peter accepted that. All that comes into the subject we are dealing with.

C.C.T. I was referring to the angel saying, in chapter 11, that Cornelius could be saved. Was that angel here connected with salvation as in the first chapter of Hebrews?

J.T. You should begin at chapter 10. Cornelius is there, and Peter coming into the whole matter is used to instruct Cornelius and his company about salvation, and the result is the Spirit of God fell on all that heard Peter. The Spirit of God fell on them there. There was no solicitation; the Spirit of God did it Himself. They did not ask Him to come; He just did it Himself.

J.McK. It is singular that after the angelic help to Peter in Acts 12 he "related to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison". Did the Lord deliver Paul out of the lion's mouth by angelic service to him? We recognise they are sent forth by God on account of those who inherit salvation.

J.T. Yes. Angelic service is immediate and effective. We all ought to understand this so that we may come into it consciously and intelligently, and pray about it, for they are God's ministers.

J.McK. We direct our thanksgiving to God.

A.N.W. The way it is put in chapter 10 is helpful. "... Saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him".

J.T. He was intelligent and he understood it was an angel, showing it is quite possible for us to have such an experience and to know what experience we are having.

W.H.C. Why was it that in the temptations of the Lord, one thing that came before Him was the question of the service of the angels? "The devil takes him to the holy city, and sets him upon the edge of the temple, and says to him, If thou be Son of God cast thyself down; for it is written, He shall give charge to his angels concerning thee, and on their hands shall they bear thee, lest in anywise thou strike thy foot against a stone".

J.T. All that is most instructive and enters into what we are saying. We have to get the subject in order, and have in our minds what is happening daily in an unseen sense so that we may be ready when the time comes for us to have part in it, and to know that we are having part in it.

A.B.M'N. Would this give us an intelligent sense of what we mean when we say we are dependent on God? While we recognise these are ministering spirits to us, we consider them as sent forth from God and we give Him thanks for their service to us.

J.T. Are we experiencing such service and have we intelligence enough to know we are experiencing it and do we give thanks to God when the thing happens? Something happens; an unseen power causes it to happen. Is it a divine Person or just an angel? Can we tell?

A.S.B. Daniel says in regard to Gabriel, "And he informed me, and talked with me"; such information is valuable to us in our circumstances.

J.T. Now we are getting to the subject. He informed him; information is given to us. Have we had that experience? Can we say it was actually divine Persons, or was it an angel?

A.S.C. Linking on with that, in the New Testament, we find Gabriel standing by Mary in view of the incarnation.

J.T. She was evidently given to understand. The angel said "I am Gabriel, who stand before God".

He spoke to Mary and to Zacharias. These are wonderful things and they are within the Scriptures. They should be within our range and, so far as I am concerned, I want to know the thing, have the experience, and, if I have not had it, ask God to give me the experience that is needed. If we are in trial and there is something to be done, there is no reason why we should not ask God to intervene, if it pleases Him to do so, angelically.

A.S.B. That is the word used in that section, "I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding".

J.T. Very good, "Skilful of understanding". We should inquire whether we have anything like that in our experience and speak of it intelligently to the brethren.

S.McC. What you have said just now clarifies the matter in our minds, that in speaking to God in regard to certain matters we should be free to ask Him for angelic service. It is very helpful and opens up a lot for us to consider. It is very testing to discern the help of angels. The Spirit speaks to us and we have the idea of angelic voices. It would call for discernment.

J.T. Quite so. As we progress and as things happen daily in the world among the nations that may affect the testimony. God would help us to ask Him, God, about it, that they might be checked for the sake of the testimony. We should look for results after the meeting for prayer. We might get the answer on Tuesday or Wednesday, I am speaking practically. What happens is just like that. Things are happening every day and we might have to say to them, and effectively too. God has myriads of angels, and they are not idle, they are at His bidding and He is ready to use them and, if we keep on praying, He will use them, and use them even if we do not.

S.McC. What has been going on in connection with the Taft-Hartley bill is an illustration. We should be free to ask God to intervene angelically.

J.T. I would say that fully. We see what is happening and we ask Him in our prayer meetings and in individual prayer as well. The Lord Jesus is over the whole matter and we can count on God to act for us. Things are happening in these ways, and it is important that they should happen. Why not ask God that they may happen?

V.C.L. Would the help which we have had in discerning the different operations of divine Persons, and especially those of the Spirit, now make way in our souls that we might discern angelic service under God's hand?

J.T. That is just the point. The word is myriads, myriads are used and available, all ministering spirits sent out, active, and our prayer would be in connection with what God would do.

J.W.D. In the Old Testament is there a different basis? Gideon says, "Alas, Lord Jehovah! for because I have seen an angel of Jehovah face to face, ... And Jehovah said to him, Peace be unto thee: fear not; thou shalt not die". It seems accompanied in the Old Testament, and even with Zacharias in the New, by a sense of fear.

J.T. All that is of great importance in what we are dealing with and, if we proceed on those lines and keep within bounds, we will reach something that will affect us in our minds. We shall get intelligent results.

J.K. In Manoah's time the angel appeared to his wife and informed her that she was to have a son; he told her of the kind of son, and what she was to do, and she says, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God". She discerned the angel.

J.T. Quite so. Let us pursue those lines and think of how we may occupy ourselves and whether we converse about these matters, whether we are conversant with them or have them intelligently, so that we can occupy each other with them. How great a matter it would be and how the state of the saints and the work of the saints may be affected by it! How changed we would be, instead of being occupied altogether with this scene, our clothing, and the like! We are gradually brought into the divine world and we come to the idea of the universal gathering, myriads. We become occupied with all this; and you can say, Well, what a remarkable experience during the past month, and the brethren could come into it. J.N.D. refers to a voice from the unseen world. It would greatly elevate the state of the saints to look into these matters and talk about them. They are real matters.

E.T.P. Angels are also connected with children and sisters. The children's angels "continually behold the face of my Father" and the token the sisters wear is connected with the angels. Why are the angels connected with the token which the sisters wear?

J.T. That is very important. You are alluding to 1 Corinthians 11, and these things are practical. It is a question of what the sisters wear on their heads.

S.McC. It is very practical and important, in relation to what you are saying about the unseen world, that the sisters should be conscious, as drawn into the matter, of the angelic hosts looking on and the support they would afford.

J.T. I know that is so, not that I am calling attention to myself, but I know things happen, even in the night seasons, and you wonder what causes them. That is just what we are talking about now, angelic service. God sends them forth to minister, and they are really for us.

A.N.W. Can we learn from the case of Philip? The angel acted in a kind of preliminary way, giving him general directions and then, as he heeds it, the Spirit speaks to him.

J.T. I think angels may represent simple ordering of circumstances in business matters, and so on, but the Spirit has to do with higher matters, and Acts 8 is a good illustration of it, for the Spirit takes part in the matter.

A.N.W. Do you think it is proper to use the word 'providential'?

J.T. Yes, it is.

T.L.S. Does 1 Corinthians 11 mean the angels are concerned about order as to the man and the woman?

J.T. Yes. There is a volume of such matters to consider, I have been trying to keep the subject in order that our minds might be affected by it. There are so many things which could be brought up that you could hardly enumerate them, but there are certain outstanding matters to consider, such as Acts 8 and Acts 10. Paul said the angel stood beside him. These are important men before God, Peter and Paul, and we might learn from them in their experiences and count on God to give us something like that. We are to follow what the apostles did that we might have the same experiences and might bring them to the attention of the saints so that we become elevated in what we think about and do.

V.W.H. In Acts 10 the Spirit of God speaks to Peter, but the angel speaks to Cornelius. Is there a difference in the order?

J.T. That is a thing to be noticed. The Spirit of God did not speak to Cornelius, but He spoke to Peter.

A.S.B. With reference to 1 Corinthians 11 as to the recognition of order by us, especially by the sisters, I was thinking of the fulness of it in relation

to Matthew 25, the Lord coming in His glory and all the angels with Him to establish that order.

S.McC. One of the things that troubles us most is fear, the fear of man, the fear of the power of the enemy, but what you have been drawing attention to would help to eliminate that, so that we might be more restful in regard to divine interests.

J.T. There is a great deal of anxiety. We should not be too apprehensive about things. Sometimes we have fear and there is no cause for it; angels come in to support us, so that we may not be unduly apprehensive.

A.S.C. Linking on with that Paul said, "For an angel of the God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood by me this night, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted to thee all those that sail with thee. Wherefore be of good courage, men, for I believe God".

J.T. Very beautiful, and brings ancient history down to us. But the Spirit is not history, but with us in present experiences. In the incidents recorded as to Paul's shipwreck, the thing is made very tangible to us because the Spirit of God brings it down to us and angelic service brings it down to us too, so that we may say we may have something like that. We could have it, and why not have it? I believe what we speak of now elevates the brethren if we take account of things that are happening.

C.C.T. When Peter comes to himself in Acts 12 he says, "Now I know certainly that the Lord has sent forth his angel".

J.T. That is an experience that he had and talked about. But I would like to be able to talk of it too, and we ought to get into the custom or habit of talking about these things instead of ordinary, physical things.

J.McK. I was wondering about the passage in 2 Corinthians 11"Thrice have I been scourged,

once I have been stoned, three times I have suffered shipwreck, a night and day I passed in the deep: in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own race ... in perils on the sea, in perils among false brethren; in labour and toil, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness". Would this indicate that the angels were ministering to Paul in all these circumstances?

J.T. What an interest heaven has in all that! Another thing that comes to mind at this time is the divine system at work. Christ is the Head of it in heaven, the Holy Spirit is down here, and angelic service is continuing in it. Both the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Himself are engaged in superintending the whole matter. We come into it, we are those who are heirs of salvation.

J.W.D. He says, "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies". Is that an actual angel or is it symbolic?

J.T. It is symbolic there because it is a book of symbols. Sometimes you have angels mentioned, such as Michael, "I Jesus have sent mine angel". The Lord Jesus sent an angel representing Him peculiarly.

A.N.W. Does not an angel in some cases represent a divine Person Himself?

J.T. Yes, in some cases. In chapter 10 it is undoubtedly the Lord Himself.

J.W.D. Do you think there is a spiritual possibility of discerning one angel from another? Jesus speaks of "mine angel" and Peter says "an angel". Sometimes angels are distinguished by name.

J.T. Michael is mentioned as known in some sense; he looked after the body of Moses.

E.G.McA. Linking up the statement, "Myriads of angels, the universal gathering", with chapter 1: 14, "sent out", would indicate that God is looking

down and, through the angelic hosts, taking care of the saints even before they ask for it.

J.T. They are sent out. What experiences have we had in our lives of these matters?

E.G.McA. When Daniel was praying and the angel came to him, he says, Your prayers were heard from the beginning. Then God sent Michael, one of the chief princes, in answer to it. The priestly and military angels were operating on behalf of Daniel that he might understand what God had in mind.

P.W. Does Jude come into this? "Michael the archangel, when disputing with the devil he reasoned about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a railing judgment against him, but said, The Lord rebuke thee".

J.T. There is an illustration of angelic service in connection with the body of Moses. It is brought out that there was a matter of controversy in connection with the body of Moses between the devil and an angel. The book of Jude records it. Something happened and the Lord knew and recorded it. The Lord knew the tribes would have made something of the place where Moses was buried and would have made use of it to make an idol to worship. God would not have it; God would not let it be known where He buried Moses; a very great distinction He gave to Moses.

J.McK. Is the angel who binds Satan a person or symbolic?

J.T. I think it is an angel.

J.McK. "And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him".

J.T. A very good illustration of the power that angels have in the service of God.

J.McK. It is a great encouragement to our hearts, in view of all the opposition against the saints, that

angelic ministry should sustain us and direct our hearts to God.

J.T. Yes, there were one hundred and eighty-five thousand slain by one angel in one night.

V.W.H. Some angels are quite versatile in their service. The same one who had part in the judgment connected with the seven bowls of the seven last plagues shows John the bride, the Lamb's wife.

J.T. Showing what is in our favour and what we really ought to come into and to speak of to one another for the encouragement of each other.

W.McK. Would Luke help us to look for something specific in the way of angelic service? "The angel Gabriel was sent of God to a city of Galilee, of which the name was Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary". How specific the whole matter is.

J.T. The Lord Jesus' birth is an infinitely blessed matter, involving the ministry of angels.

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO (4)

Hebrews 12:23 (Second half)

J.T. We committed ourselves at the beginning of these meetings to these verses in Hebrews 12. We have followed it up so far and one's thought is that we should still consider these scriptures. To this end we shall read from verse 23, beginning at the clause, "to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect", these two items. The first is God. The fact that we are confining ourselves to very short passages in no way interferes with the magnitude of the things that are before us. We are said to have come to, "God, judge of all" and then secondly "to the spirits of just men made perfect". It is now a question of concentration of the mind, first on this great fact that we have come "to God, judge of all". Whether we can concentrate our minds on this wonderful statement, whether we can become expanded, because it is a matter of expansion now, is the test. The verses are so great and full, indeed so infinite that it is a question whether we can become expanded commensurate with the magnitude of the thought of "God, judge of all".

E.F.C. Does God, in this instance, refer to all three divine Persons?

J.T. I would say that. God is stated in this full way. He is not one of the divine Persons, it is God as such, and God as Judge of all. Not Judge of all the wicked only, but all, corresponding somewhat with the statement in Ephesians, "One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all". But here it is "God, judge of all". It does not say the kind of persons or whether they are men; the range includes all beings, and we can assume that all matters, everything, will be rightly and infinitely dealt with.

A.S.B. Does Peter give us a lead in this? In regard to the Lord Jesus in the first epistle he says, "for Christ also has suffered for you, leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously".

J.T. Very good, a very apt scripture to bring in. Peter is dealing with the government of God, so that, in whatever has to be gone through, we are restful, we commit ourselves to God.

H.B. Would it be right to link up what Abraham says, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right"?

J.T. Just so, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?". But when we come to this passage it is even more than that. It does not say all men or whether they are christians or believers, it is simply "all". Those of us who know Him have more and more confidence. We can be restful, committing things to God who is the Judge of all; everything is included, such as international maters, industrial matters, and all other matters. We can be restful as leaving the whole thing in God's hands.

C.C.T. Is righteousness in view in regard to the Judge of all?

J.T. Quite so. Righteousness must be there. But then we are not qualifying God. We just, as it were, face the great thought before us and see whether we can expand intelligently and feelingly as to it. If we know God as believers we are all the more restful in saying we have come to God.

W.McK. Is there a link between this and what we have in 1 Timothy, "God who preserves all things in life", and "the blessed and only Ruler"?

J.T. Quite so.

S.McC. In relation to expansion and our coming to God the Judge of all in this setting, does it stand

related to the present time, to the assembly as linked with all the thoughts of God and to every thought of God being carried through in the assembly at the present time?

J.T. Quite so. The only question now that arises is what the scripture says here; we have come to God the Judge of all. We cannot say that it is a question of the service of God or any feature of judgment that is to be instituted, but can we expand to the wonderful thought of God as the Judge of all?

A.N.W. Is there a link between the spirits of just men made perfect and God as Judge?

J.T. Quite so, but it is better to keep to the statement that is before us. Can we in our intelligences look up to it and weigh the thing as we are here sitting together? If we take illustrations, in this country the capital is Washington and we have come to Washington. We have already dealt with certain features, but now we come to the main thought of the head of the government, the one who is in the place of Judge of all. Even a criminal can have recourse to the President. That is the way the thing should open up to us. If we know God and have confidence that everything can be committed to Him, we can be restful. Everything will be adjusted. Whatever question has to be adjusted or adjudicated, we can be restful because all is sure to go well in the presence of God the Judge of all.

E.G.McA. Is that what Paul had in mind in Acts 20 when he said, "I commit you to God"?

J.T. Surely, but he said more than that, "To the word of his grace". Committing us to God is qualified by "the word of his grace", but here it is judgment. God the Judge of all; it is the presence of Him who is the Judge of all. Are our minds, intelligences, consciences, and affections able to open up to that, to expand in it, so that we are brought into it?

V.C.L. Is it more a question of the nature and attributes of this glorious Person to whom we have come rather than His operations, what He is in the majesty of His Person more than what He is doing?

J.T. Quite so. It is not what He is doing, but what He is, the Judge of all. That means, of course, in the expansion of it what He is doing, what He is capable of, what we may expect from Him.

A.N.W. In the economy all judgment is committed to the Son; the Father judges no one, but the point here is God, God the Judge of all.

J.T. It is important to point out that all judgment is committed to the Son; that is a question of departmental delegating of certain things to the Son, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand", but then God Himself is here; are we able to open up to that?

E.G.McA. "God, judge of all", would that include the judgment of angels who have not kept their original state?

J.T. Just so. It does not say who the beings are; it is simply "all", so that it is God Himself and our having come to Him as the Judge of all. If any question of judgment comes up, if it is angels, for example, what will happen? The book of Revelation tells us what will happen, death and hell cast into the lake of fire. The book of Revelation would help us on the point of judgment, but it is a question of judgment of the wicked. But the word judgment is not confined to anything in the way of penalty; judgment here is any matter requiring adjudication; maybe the righteous are involved in it.

E.G.McA. Your remark as to restfulness of spirit greatly helps us to leave everything to be adjudicated in the hand of the one who is God the Judge of all.

J.T. Just so.

K.R. It says in relation to perverting of judgment, "Marvel not at the matter; for a higher than the

high is watching", Ecclesiastes 5:8. Does that bear out what we are saying?

J.T. Yes, "A higher than the high". The higher one is God.

A.S.C. Did Peter learn something about God, the Judge of all, in relation to the matter of Cornelius? When he was told to eat, he said, "In no wise, Lord", but the voice said to him, "What God has cleansed, do not thou make common". He learned that this was God's matter and not his. He recognised God as the Judge of the matter, did he not?

J.T. Yes. Therefore, it was a question of adjudication; whether or not the door should be opened up to the gentiles. The time had come for that important matter. Peter was not ready, but he was made ready; God the Judge of all made him ready, "What God has cleansed, do not thou make common".

E.F.C. Hebrews 4 says, "And there is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do". Would that be God the Judge of all in that sense?

J.T. "With whom we have to do". Just so.

J.McK. In Romans 11, Paul says, "Thou wilt say then, The branches have been broken out in order that I might be grafted in. Right, they have been broken out through unbelief, and thou standest through faith. Be not high-minded, but fear, if God indeed has not spared the natural branches; lest it might be he spare not thee either". Is that in the sense of God acting as Judge of all?

J.T. Very good. That is within the enclosure of the three chapters of Romans in which the admission of the gentiles is in question. The result is to be that all Israel shall be saved.

W.H.C. Does Nebuchadnezzar come into this? "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour

the King of the heavens, all whose works are truth, and his paths judgment", Daniel 4:37.

J.T. Well, there is another thing. Nebuchadnezzar is a man who is at the parting of the ways in view of the government of the world being taken away from the Jews and handed over to the gentiles. Nebuchadnezzar was called a king of kings. So that it is a matter of God's right to hand over the government of the world to the gentile monarchies, the four monarchies. That is another great matter for us to understand. The problem involves the four gentile monarchs to whom the government of the world is handed over by God. I do not know if we all understand it. In regard to Daniel, "Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to close the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies", Daniel 9:24. The whole matter is clarified for Daniel and it is brought down to us now. We are living in the last monarchy, which "was, and is not, and shall be present" (Revelation 17:8), which is the Roman. The final empire is the Roman empire and we are coming back to it presently. It is not now, but it shall be and, according to the book of Revelation, we have to wait for that. We have to wait for the revival of the empire itself. It is well worth our while to look into the subject of the four monarchies. It is a technical word used prophetically, dealing with the handing over of the government of this world to the four monarchies. The first is Babylonian, the second the Persian, the third the Grecian, and the fourth the Roman. The Roman is the one we have to do with and will have to do with; in the meantime, in principle, it exists now. So that now we come to God; that is what we are dealing

with, but we want to look into that matter, for God will deal with that as with all other matters.

E.T.P. This statement, "God, judge of all", is not only calculated to make us restful, but also to sober us in that all our movements are weighed by God.

J.T. Very good. It is a question of patience. God is all powerful.

A.N.W. Could we bear to come to God the Judge of all if we had not previously come to mount Zion?

J.T. Just so. The question of the gospel, mount Zion involves that. The matter is all settled in our hearts if we know God.

A.S.B. Is there a word of encouragement for us in what David says in 1 Chronicles 29, verses 10 - 12: "And David blessed Jehovah in the sight of all the congregation; and David said, Blessed be thou, Jehovah, the God of our father Israel, for ever and ever. Thine, Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the splendour, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is thine: thine, Jehovah, is the kingdom, and thou art exalted as Head above all; and riches and glory are of thee, and thou rulest over everything; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make all great and strong"?

J.T. Very good. That brings up the question of headship, God is Head of all. The head of the woman is the man, the Head of the man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God. That is, God is Head, the principle of headship ultimately reverts to God Himself. We have to understand how that works out. It is stressed in David because it is David that brings all that out, the thought that God Himself is Head, not only King but Head. These are great thoughts that we all do well to look into, in order to get on in the truth. These eight items we are dealing with should be looked into.

J.McK. Is there an analogous thought in 1 Corinthians 15:28: "But when all things shall have been brought into subjection to him, then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all"?

J.T. Very good. That brings up another question that has already been raised, whether headship in God will go on into eternity or whether it is just a millennial thought. I think, however, it is an eternal thought. Headship must revert to God, must be centred in God Himself, and the Son Himself must be placed in subjection to God, that God may be all in all.

V.C.L. Is there a link between God the Judge of all and the way God turns to Moses in Exodus 3 after observing the people and names Himself "I AM THAT I AM"?

J.T. That is very apropos. In the beginning of Exodus it is a question of God, and whether God, at that particular juncture, should be known in Israel, and God elects, as it were, to retire into Himself, I cannot use a better word than that. He retired into Himself and made Himself known, and the answer in Moses' heart was that God is all in all.

J.McK. Does the headship of God in eternity imply that all will be in the way of influence and control from God Himself?

J.T. Quite so. The more we know God the more restful we are about that. Everything will be resolved, everything will be settled. There will be a reason for everything. That brings up another thing, the idea of Ephesians 2, beginning at verse 19, "So then ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the

corner-stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord". Now I turn to this because of the word 'temple'. That will explain everything in the millennial day, the temple will explain everything. I only refer to this to bring out that Ephesians is the suitable passage to find it. The reading is "being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord". That is to say, the assembly is increasing to something and that something is the temple and that implies everything will be solved in the temple. The idea of the temple is the solution of every problem. Every problem is solved in the temple and the assembly is that temple; it is God's assembly and it is growing to a holy temple in the Lord. The whole matter is clarified here as to the millennial day.

E.G.McA. So that in Revelation 21 in connection with the millennial day it says, "And I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb".

J.T. Very good. That helps in what I have in mind because it fits in with Ephesians.

S.McC. In relation to what you said as to Jehovah and what it says in Revelation 21, "God himself", it is a touching thing, is it not, that, in the secret of His being, in so far as He can be known by finite persons like ourselves, He desires to be known? "God himself shall be with them, their God".

J.T. Yes. All the divine thoughts and affections must go on to that, "God himself shall be with them, their God".

E.G.McA. Would Revelation 21 connect with this? "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband".

J.T. Quite so, from God as such. That is, the holy city comes down from God. She is indigenous to heaven, not here and not going to heaven, but there already. She comes down from God out of heaven.

E.G.McA. So that the assembly is seen in its greatness as being the temple of God.

J.T. I would say that. Everything will be clarified in the millennial day; in the eternal day everything will be perfect.

N.B. What place do the saints have in this matter of judgment? Paul says to the Corinthians, "Do ye not know that we shall judge angels?" 1 Corinthians 6:3.

J.T. Very good. Revelation 18 says, "God has judged your judgment upon her". That is, God has respect for the judgment of the saints.

E.F.C. In coming to the practical side of having to do with God the Judge of all, are we not to be exercised as to the matter of pleasing Him? Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God, and in the first epistle to the Thessalonians the apostle speaks of walking so as to please God.

J.T. It continually comes back to us that perhaps what most of us need is the principle of restfulness. We are not to be in turmoil, but restful in the presence of God, Judge of all.

E.G.McA. Would restfulness in God be more pleasing to Him than simply walking in righteousness?

J.T. Just so, I am sure what pleases God more than anything is that we know Him. We are restful because we know Him, "He understandeth and knoweth me", Jeremiah 9:24. That is pleasing to God. He has those before Him who know Him and are restful in the knowledge they have of Him.

T.L.S. We can carry on God's service in a known way on that ground?

J.T. Just so.

W.McK. This matter of restfulness in God is peculiarly intensified in the letter to Philadelphia because the Lord stresses it, so much. "He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name", Revelation 3:12.

J.T. So that God is so pleased that He puts His name upon the overcomer. Therefore, the word, 'overcomer' must come into what we are talking about because that is what we are now in the presence of.

S.McC. Do we have to hold in our minds, in a balanced way, the supremacy of God involving all three divine Persons, and the order in the economy in which God is presented to us in the Father?

J.T. Just so, so that we have to come back to the idea of specifying divine Persons, whether we know them, whether we can specify them, whether we know the Father as Father and know God as God, including the three Persons. Also whether we can specify the name of the Son, and the name of the Spirit, and whether we can specify each of the divine Persons. That would help us greatly in the knowledge of God.

J.W.D. Is the complete idea seen in the thought of God as love? "He that abides in love abides in God, and God in him".

J.T. That is good.

J.W.D. Is that God in the supreme sense?

J.T. It is in the economy. He is known in the economy as love.

A.N.W. John makes a striking reference to the Lord in his gospel, chapter 13, "Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this

world to the Father", is one passage, but there is another, "that he came out from God and was going to God" as though it was beyond the economy, as we might say. Is that right?

J.T. Well, we have to watch that saying 'beyond the economy'. We have to think carefully, because in what way do we know Him except in the economy?

A.N.W. He was Son of Man where He was before. Is that not beyond what we speak of as the economy? I am thinking of it now that you are mentioning it.

J.T. God has come into the economy, the Father and Son and Spirit, but, of course, that is dependent on the fact that the Son has become Man. It is a question now whether we are on sure ground in saying 'beyond the economy', whether we have the right to say we have to do with Him in any other sense than in the economy.

A.N.W. I only followed up what was suggested, that we should distinguish divine Persons, but to distinguish between the Lord going to the Father and going to God seems sublime. His going to God, when He Himself is a divine Person, is supremely wonderful.

J.T. Just so, but how much do we know about these things? What can we say about it? How does the Son go to God apart from the economy? Because the Son became Man and you have to say He belongs to the economy, and He goes from that point of view. As to the abstract thought, I am doubtful about our touching that, I think we ought to stay where God is pleased to come to us and I think that is in mind here. We have come to God, and we know the God that we have found, 'Patient, gracious, powerful, holy; all His grace shall there abound'. And I think that is a safe place to be; where God has placed Himself within our reach.

S.McC. I think what you have said is helpful because there has been a danger of thinking that, in touching the supremacy of God, we are taken outside of the economy, whereas we are not. We only know God as revealed.

J.T. I think that is right, and I am sure we do well not to baffle the saints in any sense, but keep things where they are, because if you go outside of that we are apt to get lost in our minds.

J.McK. The greatness of the economy and God in it is brought to light in the word which Paul speaks to Timothy: "Now she who is a widow indeed, and is left alone, has put her hope in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day", 1 Timothy 5:5. He is bringing it down to a widow in her loneliness, that God in the economy is available to her.

J.T. That is good, a question of the widow.

J.W.D. While we cannot know God outside of the economy, would not Scripture impress us with the infinite majesty which is before us in God? "The King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see; to whom be honour and eternal might", 1 Timothy 6:15, 16.

J.T. We have to bow to that, "whom no man has seen, nor is able to see".

J.W.D. The scripture brings that before us, to impress us, in some sense, with what we cannot know.

J.T. Quite so. We might proceed from this majestic thought, having spoken so much of it. One hopes the brethren would carry away something about having come to God the Judge of all. Now the next thing is the "spirits of just men made perfect". And the mind has to travel back to a time when men were just and died. Some of them have been

seen alive since, but, in the main, they are still in death, but we have come to them, not as dead, but as made perfect. The spirits of just men made perfect. We cannot say these belong to the assembly because they are not so represented here. They are presented as just men, not angels.

C.C.T. Noah is the first to be called a just man.

J.T. Just so. We get the men from Abel and onward until Abraham comes in, but up to that time it is a question of Adam and those who followed such as the seventh from Adam. Beginning from there, on down to Genesis 6, then down to Genesis 9, and down to Abraham gives us the men in mind in that period.

E.F.C. It says of Abel that he yet speaks. Would that mean that we come up against his sacrificial spirit in that way?

J.T. Quite so, "Having died, he yet speaks".

S.McC. This could hardly be said, could it, before the incoming of Christ, the incarnation, and the work of redemption?

J.T. It could not be regarded as perfect before that. These men who have died are now made perfect in their spirits. It is the spirits, you notice.

H.B. Would the last two verses of chapter 11 of Hebrews have some bearing on what you have been saying? "These all, having obtained witness through faith, did not receive the promise, God having foreseen some better thing for us, that they should not be made perfect without us".

J.T. That is right. I think that would bear on it, not made perfect without us. But then we have to abstract them in the sense that we have come to them according to this passage, the spirits of just men made perfect.

E.F.C. Is there a possibility of this working out in persons who are alive today?

J.T. Well, in the assembly, on the first day of the week, we are able to abstract ourselves and get into the thought of the service of God, I would go with that. You are dealing with the ministry, how the spirits of men are made perfect. How can we be in the assembly on the first day of the week unless our spirits are perfect?

E.F.C. So that perfection is not dependent on the completion of our course?

J.T. No, for us it would involve the possession of the Holy Spirit.

T.L.S. Does this involve the wealth that came out in Old Testament men?

J.T. It does in the sense that they are the spirits of just men. You could not say they were perfect then; they are the spirits of just men; that is the point here.

T.L.S. Would it be cumulative now in that sense?

J.T. Cumulative in those that we have come to, if, in our minds, we apply the thought of redemption; it is abstract, of course, because they have not their bodies yet.

A.N.W. We would have to include a man like just Lot.

J.T. Just so. Showing how extensive the thought is. He is called righteous Lot, showing that, although in the government of God, he got into Sodom, God regards him as righteous.

W.G. How do we come to the spirits of just men made perfect?

J.T. Well, the apostle Paul says that we have come to certain things and one is the spirits of just men made perfect. It is just a matter of light in our souls so that we can regard it in that way; we have light about these men. You say, Well where are they? We cannot say. Matthew says many bodies of the saints that slept arose and entered into the

holy city and appeared to many. We can say that, but what more can we say? We cannot say where they are now, but we can say they are perfect, they belong to the perfect ones.

W.W.C. Does the mount of transfiguration indicate the high spiritual character of these just men? Elias, it says, spoke with Him.

J.T. Just so. There appeared to them Moses and Elias and they spoke with Jesus. That is a special thing; it is a vision. You cannot just say you have come to them. We can say it in a sense, but Peter and John and James had come to them for a moment in a way.

A.S.C. In relation to the incoming of John the baptist, it says of Zacharias and his wife, "they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless". Is that in line with your thought?

J.T. The question now is where to place them prophetically. Do they belong to the Jewish economy and only it? It is a question of where to place them. If the Spirit of God is indicating that we have come to just men, it is a question of what dispensation they were in. Now they are called just men; what dispensation do they belong to? Well, I would say the dispensation about the time of Noah, running down to Genesis 9, because they are separated here from other things to which we have come. They are not in the Jewish economy, are not like David or Solomon or even the prophets, because the prophets reach on to the future. It is a question of what there was earlier, how God took account of men and things earlier. We now have the assembly and there was the Jewish economy, and God is taking account of these. God, at least, had men of that type at that time. We now have come to their spirits made perfect.

E.G.McA. You remarked about Paul coming to God's thought in regard to these men. Does it indicate that there is a completion of the whole matter? Otherwise, the spirits of just men would be something incomplete, would it not?

J.T. I believe that is the idea. Paul by the Spirit is presenting the completeness of the position, the completeness of the unseen world as regards the men of the antediluvian day. They came in before Abraham, before the Jewish economy. I think that is the way we have to arrive at it. They have an existence and their existence is perfect, and we have come to them.

J.V.C. Does this magnify God to us? With God all things are possible.

J.T. Just so, it shows what He can do.

J.McK. The scripture states that those who draw near to God, "must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who seek him out", Hebrews 11:6.

J.T. It is a question of coming now, coming to the light.

J.V.C. Now it has come to light who they are.

S.McC. Did I understand you rightly that this does not include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David?

J.T. That is what I would think; these are antediluvians in general. We ought to take account of them rightly for we have come to them and they are made perfect. That is the way I would look at it.

S.McC. I had never thought of it in that light, I always thought it included Abraham, but I can see what you have in mind.

J.T. Abraham is called of God and belongs to a family and that comes down to us through judaism.

C.W.A. Would this encourage us in view of the conditions that existed then? "The earth was corrupt before God", but God was able to preserve and carry through this witness.

J.T. Everything is taken account of. That is the point we have in these items we are dealing with. We have other items to come to and I am sure we will have help in them.

F.H.L.C. It says God is just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. In what way could you apply that scripture to the spirits of just men made perfect?

J.T. You cannot say they believed in the sense in which that scripture mentions believing.

F.H.L.C. Can we view anyone being made perfect apart from the redemptive work of Christ?

J.T. No. Of course, they are perfect and that will be seen in the millennial day. The perfection which will be seen is based on the redemptive work of Christ.

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO (5)

Hebrews 12:24; Exodus 24:3 - 15

S.McC. Exodus 24, part of it, is suggested because it brings before us, as few chapters do in the Old Testament, the greatness of the Mediator. We shall bear in mind, of course, that it stands in relation to the old covenant and we are dealing with it as a matter of type. The verse we have read in Hebrews 12, which finishes the things that we have come to, alludes to Jesus the Mediator, the Mediator of a new covenant. It is a touching allusion, which should affect every heart that loves Christ, that among the things that we have come to, we should have this closing reference to Jesus. Not to the Lord Jesus, but to Jesus, His personal name, the name that He uses Himself in the end of the book of Revelation, "I Jesus". This verse points to His particular glory in mediatorship. There are many glories, of course, which attach to Christ and which faith delights to take account of, and this is one of them. As we have already had it in our meetings, this includes more than the assembly. Rightly speaking, the covenant is not linked with the assembly; it belongs to Israel. The saints of the assembly, of course, come into the gain of the spirit of it as suggested in the Corinthian epistles, so that this is a more inclusive expression here, but our attention is focussed not so much on the new covenant itself, but on Jesus the Mediator of it and the blood of sprinkling. We are thus reminded of the sacrificial basis on which things are going forward and effectuated. We are not to forget that; it is put here among the things that we have come to, although it is the blood of sprinkling that is referred to. The personal reference in verse 24 to Jesus, I think, should touch our hearts.

J.McK. As coming to Jesus, it is not only a matter of coming to Him as such, but as the One who is

Mediator of the new covenant. The spirit of the covenant and what it suggests are available for us. The Mediator is Jesus Himself.

S.McC. That is right. We are brought into touch with the Person who is, and has been able, to establish the conditions on which persons can be set up in relation with God on the basis of established righteousness. It would involve that persons in liberty with God have a sense that certain things that stood out in moral history have been resolved and the persons set up in liberty with God. We have come to the Person that is able to do that.

A.S.B. It does not say the new covenant, but a new covenant. Would you help us in that?

S.McC. Well, I think there is something interesting in that, because the point would be more the character of the thing. It is not to focus our attention on the official side, but on the character, a new covenant.

A.N.W. Have we not been helped in the matter of the new covenant in connection with the Supper in that regard? We used to dwell very much on the new covenant, but it seems the matter has been greatly enhanced by the emphasis on the words "in my blood", bringing before us the Person, as you say. It is the Person that is the great matter.

S.McC. Exactly, rather than the covenant itself. So here the Person is the great matter. Notice it does not say the Mediator, it is "Jesus, mediator of a new covenant". The attention is drawn to the Person and His ability to operate and to work out matters involved in the new covenant.

A.G.L. Would it help to have a word on the difference between the 20th of Exodus and chapter 24?

S.McC. Well, it is interesting to see the liberty that there is in Exodus 24. We find the youths mentioned, the thought of the sprinkling of the blood brought in, and then the elders and Moses and

Aaron going up and eating and drinking in the presence of God, the God of Israel. There seems to be suggested in Exodus 24 the liberty that we do not have in chapter 20.

A.G.L. In chapter 20 we have in type what we have not come to, the thundering and the lightning and Moses drawing near to the obscurity where God was. Here you have an easier and happier setting; they draw near to God Himself. Would the matter of the Hebrew servant coming in between the two chapters account for the two different views?

S.McC. I was just thinking of that. Exodus 21, which comes in between Exodus 20 and 24, points in type to Christ coming in on the principle of love and establishing the conditions in which in liberty we are set before God.

C.C.T. Would this great thought as to the Person be very stimulating to all of us? We have had God, Judge of all, and now we have Jesus, the Man. Would it help us in our movements here?

S.McC. It would. It points to the great mediatorial feature in the system, something that we cannot forget or lose sight of. The thought of the mediatorship, although it is applied here in regard to a new covenant, brings into our minds the special place that Christ has in regard to this great extended realm of things to which we have come. There is a distinctive glory, I suppose, about each of the Persons of the Deity. There is something about Jesus that is distinctive, as, for instance, it was He who died for us. The Father did not die for us, nor did the Spirit die for us. We are to take account of what is specific to certain Persons in that relation. This verse reminds us of the specific glory of Christ in mediatorship.

A.S.B. As Jehovah the Saviour, He is the Mediator, is He not? His hand is on God and men, so that both sides are involved in mediatorship.

S.McC. Very good. It comes up in Matthew's gospel, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus". It is interesting and bears on the whole gospel for it is the great administrative gospel. It is helpful to see that we have come to a Person who holds in His hand the solution of the moral question, because the new covenant, as we think of it, bears on the moral question, "Their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more", Hebrews 10:17.

V.C.L. Did Paul arrive early at some understanding of this? "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest". As soon as he is converted he preached Jesus, "that he is the Son of God".

S.McC. I am sure he did. Reference was made at the opening of these meetings to the need of many to be brought into the joy of what christianity means, the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit. Well, that is an important thing. We have come to mount Zion, the new principle which involves the extension of mercy towards us, setting us up in proper relations with God on that ground. But this final touch coming in after the thoughts of the city, heavenly Jerusalem, and the universal gathering, the myriads of angels, and God the Judge of all, and the spirits of just men, this thought of Jesus the Mediator brings us to a fuller side in regard to the matter.

E.G.McA. It has been said that every time a covenant has been brought in, it is in regard to some need. What would this covenant convey as to our need at this time in regard to divine things?

S.McC. It is well to bear in mind that the epistle is written to Jewish believers and they are accustomed to Jewish terminology. The covenant as they would understand it bears upon their liberation, their being set free, set up in happy relations with God. These Jewish believers would understand how God has established conditions on an unalterable basis, the basis of redemption, by which persons can be in

relation with Himself. The need would be in the persons, especially having the service of God in mind as this epistle has. We should be free and on happy and easy terms with God on the basis of what has been effected from the divine side.

E.G.McA. Is that the reason for the word 'new', a different one from the old -- altogether new?

S.McC. It is important to keep that in mind. The marginal note to the word 'new' signifies what is fresh and youthful in contrast to what is fading away. The apostle speaks of it in this epistle and there is somewhat of an analogy in Exodus 24 in the reference to the youths.

E.G.McA. Their mediator, Moses could not bring them into what God had for them.

S.McC. Therefore, as we said at the outset, we are dealing in Exodus 24 with an old covenant, but it is permissible to use it as a type. Certain things are set out typically in that chapter which bring out the liberty of certain relations with God in certain settings.

J.McK. In regard to the footnote, would what is fresh and youthful affect the minds and hearts of those who come to Jesus, coming in the sense of that instead of the arduous and burdensome way of the first covenant which they were unable to fulfil?

S.McC. That is a great matter, and it is especially important, in view of the service of God, that our souls should be rightly affected by the glory of mediatorship in Jesus so that we should all have a good start, we may say, in assembly service, in the service of God. We can all start together and we can start on a common basis. This is one of the things that we have come to, Jesus Mediator of a new covenant, to the Person who is able in every way to set us free from every darkening influence, everything that would engender bondage, everything that would make us ill at ease in the divine presence.

F.H.L.C. Is the blood alluded to here connected with the old system for the reason you just gave us in regard of the epistle itself?

S.McC. I think so. It is Jewish terminology; they would understand all these expressions. When Paul is writing to the gentiles, he uses a different means of expressing himself, but the thing in principle is there.

A.G.L. Is there confirmation in all that you have been saying in Matthew's gospel? The Lord in referring to the covenant speaks of His blood being "shed for many for remission of sins", this dealing with the whole moral question.

S.McC. I think that is right. Matthew would link in that way with what we have here. It is especially important that persons should be free for the service of God, because these things that we have come to are all to help us in regard of the truth, arriving at an understanding of what is in the divine mind so that we should be happy and free in our relations with God, especially in His service.

J.K. We had previously in connection with mount Sinai that if a beast touched the mountain it was to be stoned, whereas, in connection with Jesus, there is that which comes within our range. He is so accessible in that way.

S.McC. I think that is the point. The very name Jesus would bring up the thought of accessibility.

A.N.W. Are we not, in this verse and in the verse speaking of God, coming to the kernel of the constitution before a Jewish mind? I think that would help in going back over the meetings. To God and to Jesus -- are we not touching the kernel of the whole constitution in that way?

S.McC. I believe we are. Divine Persons are related to this range of things. It is not only ideas or thoughts to which we have come, but we have come to divine Persons, and divine Persons, of

course, in a relative way; God, the Judge of all, and Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant.

W.H.C. The eighth chapter speaks of what He is going to do in another dispensation, "And they shall not teach each his fellow-citizen, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; because all shall know me in themselves, from the little one among them unto the great among them". Is that what we are to arrive at?

S.McC. Well, that would be the point. The great end in the covenant is that persons should know God. It is linked with the house of Israel. We come into the spirit of the thing, of course, in 2 Corinthians 3.

T.L.S. All the arrangements of service are in His hands. The Mediator has to do with all service. Does mediatorship refer especially to the service in this passage or does it include more?

S.McC. It has in mind that persons have come to these things which we have been speaking of in the course of our inquiry into the truth. The covenant does not stand related to mountains, cattle, or angels, but it stands related to a people secured by divine power on the basis of delivering grace and brought to God Himself. It stands in relation to these, but the stress is on Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant.

C.C.T. So that, by seeing the Person and the place He has as Mediator, I am set free and I seek my place of freedom.

S.McC. I think so. We need help in regard to our links with Christ, especially as to being free. It is not just a matter in the service of God of using the terms that are proper to the position, but our souls should be free; we should be constitutionally free, and I believe this would help us, Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant. Many things could be referred to in connection with Jesus, but this particular feature, Mediator of a new covenant, stands out here.

J.McK. Is there not a peculiar effect on our souls as we take the Lord's supper, especially as we consider the place the cup has in it? Paul says he received from the Lord that "This cup is the new covenant in my blood", bringing peculiarly before us the Person of Jesus Himself.

A.N.W. Hebrews 10:19 reaches the top-note. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus". Liberty is there.

S.McC. It is an important matter that we should be set up in a sense, as Mr. Wigram says, of 'Not a cloud above -- not a spot within'. As we have to do with God, with Jesus, and with the Spirit, in the service of God, we are lifted out of what would hinder or mar our liberty in the service.

W.McK. We were speaking about the service of the Spirit augmenting the priestly service of Christ. Does the Spirit also augment the service of Christ as Mediator?

S.McC. I believe He does. We might read chapter 10: 15, "And the Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it; for after what was said: This is the covenant which I will establish towards them after those days, saith the Lord: Giving my laws into their hearts, I will write them also in their understandings; and their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more". We can see how the blessed Spirit augments the great service of Christ in relation to our liberty in serving or worshipping God.

E.F.C. Do we not get a similar thought in 2 Corinthians 3 as the apostle speaks of having such confidence toward God and of the Spirit of the living God? Would that not involve the freedom and liberty that we have in approach?

S.McC. Well it does, and bearing on this thought of augmenting we have, for instance, verses 17 and 18 of 2 Corinthians 3. "Now the Lord is the Spirit,

but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit", or the 'Lord Spirit'. That shows us how the blessed Spirit is augmenting the great service of Christ, intimately bound up with and adding His touch to the service and ministry of Christ so that we should be free and in liberty in divine service.

H.B. We can be at home in the conditions of transparency and clearness of Exodus 24:10.

S.McC. That is it. Nothing to resolve, no issues to face; they have all been faced. We are in the place of the "form of heaven for clearness", as it says.

A.S.B. In Matthew you were reminding us, with regard to the remnant, that He gave Himself a ransom. In 1 Timothy 2, we have "For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all", extending the character of the thing to our day, showing that we are never beyond the mediatorial position, the moral question having been dealt with.

S.McC. I am sure there is something in that. It behoves us to keep in mind the glory of Christ in this relation. It is so easy to lose sight of it, Jesus Mediator of a new covenant; it involves His work, what He has done and what He does, and we are not to forget that. It seems as if the writer has been saying we have had these six different things before us, but, before he finishes, he reminds us of Jesus in this way, Mediator of a new covenant, and it should touch our souls.

E.G.McA. In the old covenant there were many restrictions called for and commanded, and there were many things outlined, but in this passage there are none of those set forth in the new covenant, but we come to know all the good, the grace, the liberty,

and the love by coming to the One who is the Mediator of it. So we are enlarged in it as coming to the Man Himself.

S.McC. Exactly. As this epistle brings Him before us, and as we take account of the greatness of the Person, in contrast to all others, who has been able to effectuate the work that He has? It is a great matter and we were reminded in London by our beloved brother, not with us today, in a way which affected all our hearts, that we have always to keep in mind that redemption underlies the effectuation of the purpose of God.

V.C.L. This morning we were reminded of the night of the Lord's betrayal, a night never to be forgotten by any one of us. Is not that a part of what is to affect our feelings as to how great this Person is?

S.McC. Exactly. The verse seems to have in mind that we should not forget the Person. There are many things that we could think of in relation to Him, but now our thoughts are challenged in this verse in this matter, "Mediator of a new covenant". He has been able to establish the conditions in which our hearts may be free in the presence of God.

E.G.McA. He is also able to maintain it.

S.McC. A good thing, to maintain it. There is a good deal of cloudiness among us, but the thing to keep in mind is the greatness of the truth, that we have come to, "Jesus, mediator of a new covenant".

E.F.C. The greatness of Jesus is seen in Moses in type in verse 2 of chapter 24. It says, "Let Moses alone come near Jehovah; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him". It is a matter of the uniqueness of Moses.

S.McC. I am sure that is in mind, because the chapter brings out in type the greatness of the mediator as few chapters do. Exodus 24 has been alluded to as one of the greatest chapters in the Pentateuch,

and its greatness stands in the ability of the mediator to go where no one else could go; we are reminded of that in the Person of Jesus. He can go where none other can go.

E.F.C. It is through Him that we have such confidence towards God.

S.McC. Exactly. The importance of our position in that way is related to this Person in His mediatorial capacity in this verse.

J.V.C. Is that also set out in that we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, by the grace of God tasting death for everything?

S.McC. Well, that is an allusion to His death bearing on things as well as persons. The covenant is particularly linked with persons.

J.W.H. There seems to be something simple about the way the initial service starts here in the youths. Is that the effect of the new covenant in its simplicity upon us?

S.McC. It is a great matter that spiritual youthfulness among us should be in the liberty suggested in this section. It says in verse 5, "And he sent the youths". That is, they are under the hand of the mediator. The mediator is stressed in this chapter in what is referred to and they are under the hand, in type, of Jesus the Mediator. It is a wonderful thing to be under His hand, available and subject in that way.

C.C.T. They had ability also, "And he sent the youths of the children of Israel, and they offered up burnt-offerings". They were useful in this service now because they were free.

S.McC. They were. The remarkable thing is that Moses should think of them and bring them into this position involving glory, because this chapter involves glory, and the bringing of the youths into it suggests that the work of God in this setting is to fill out its part and place in the service of God.

A.S.C. As having come to Jesus Mediator of a new covenant, we find One who is able to sustain us in our affections to the carrying through of all that is being wrought in our souls. To Moses, the people said, All that the Lord has said will we do, but there was not that in them which could hold their hearts and affections to it.

A.Bm. In Exodus 24 we have the suggestion of freshness and liberty in the youths. We get in 2 Corinthians 3, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord". There is freshness and liberty.

S.McC. The matter of freshness should have a great place in the service of God and that is the point in this chapter. 2 Corinthians 3 has especially in mind our freedom and liberty in the service of God, the Lord Jesus and the Lord Spirit particularly operating with that in mind.

J.McK. How do we come to Jesus in this sense? Is it an individual or a collective matter? It is rather suggestive that Exodus 24 is the whole assembly of the children of Israel. Can I arrive at this apart from coming to the Lord's supper, remembering Himself, and bearing consciously in our spirits all that He has gone through to establish this for us and to open up the service of God?

S.McC. Well, I am sure the verse in Hebrews 12 is a general statement of the things that we have come to, not specific as to time, when we have come to Jesus.

A.N.W. It is not that we should come to it or that we might come to it, or how we come to it, but that "ye have come". "Ye have come to mount Zion" and to all the other items in the constitution. It is for us to solve what is involved in coming to them.

S.McC. That is it. So that allusion was made to America, the capital, and the constitution. Some of

us have come to it and we have come to all that is in it. The question as to whether we have the enjoyment of the different features of it is another matter, but the fact is that we have come to it, we are in the presence of it, and it is operating towards us. The great thing is for us to be in the happiness and joy and blessedness of what it means.

E.F.C. Would you say our participation in the service of God would show whether we have come to it experimentally, or not?

S.McC. Well, I would say that. It would show whether our souls are in the liberty of these great things, the great system of things alluded to here.

J.McK. I think perhaps the young, as well as all of us, would get distinct help from that. If I have not taken my place at the Lord's supper, I cannot take the ground of having come to Jesus Mediator of a better covenant. Is not the light and joy of it in our souls brought out by being with Christ and moving on to the service of God?

S.McC. Our practical enjoyment of it will show itself. It says, "Ye have come to mount Zion", in verse 22, "and to Jesus, mediator". It is not a matter of state in the saints. It is a matter of what we have come to, what belongs to the system, but whether we have the enjoyment of it is another matter. I may be at the Lord's supper and yet not in the state or enjoyment of it.

J.McK. This matter is basic. The understanding of that in our souls, all that we come to, and the greatness of it as administered by Christ would greatly help us.

S.McC. I am sure that is right, and so reference was made at the beginning of our meetings to many who may still be in distress and darkness of soul. What we have been getting of the truth is to help us into the liberty and joy of what christianity really is.

A.B.M'N. Does the acceptance of this blessed truth give us the whole matter in our souls at once?

S.McC. Well, I think we need to have our eyes open to what is toward us in this setting. We have come to it and these things are toward us; whether we are getting the gain of them is another matter.

A.B.M'N. Light in contrast to the darkness.

J.K. Was it not said at the beginning there is that which we have not come to and that which we have come to? This is the positive result.

S.McC. Exactly. The bearing of these things towards us, as having come to them, is in mind. I do not think the point in the writer's mind is that it bears on some and not on others. It bears on all. Whether we are getting the full gain of what mount Zion means, or the city means, or the myriads of angels, or God Judge of all, is something that we have to look into.

C.C.T. Was not that the exercise of our beloved brother as to these meetings, that we might understand and come into the joy of these matters?

S.McC. That is it. We are all in the system and the Lord is helping us to get into the truth and know its bearing upon us.

A.G.L. Would chapter 11, the great faith chapter, help us? It says, "Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". This great unseen world is referred to.

S.McC. Well, that is it. The man of the world does not see these things to which we have come. This is all part of the great unseen realm of things, but seen by faith and known to faith.

E.T.P. Your reference to state is helpful; if I understand you correctly, it is not a question of attainment, but what God has arrived at for us.

S.McC. That is the point and we have come to it. The question is whether by the Spirit we are enjoying

what is involved in it, as come to it, is another matter, but one thing that should help us in regard to the service of God is that we all have a common basis to start on and that is a great thing to bear in mind.

E.G.McA. Would this particular reference to "Jesus, mediator of a new covenant" be the culminating thought in the apostle's mind? He supports us as coming to these things and brings us into the practical good of them. We are not left simply standing as having come to something, but have the support of the Mediator, the support of the system.

S.McC. That is it, so that we shall be sustained in right relations with God, because Exodus 24 has in mind happy sustained relations with God. The blood of sprinkling brings up the great matter of what covers the position.

A.S.B. John 3 was referred to at the outset, "Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God", but John 9, which is the answer to it, says the man came seeing. The Lord presents Himself to him in that position.

S.McC. That would bring up the matter of whether we really see what is involved in what we have come to. We are there, we have come to it. The question is whether we see it, that has been in mind in searching out the truth these days.

A.S.B. You are emphasising being observant.

A.N.W. We should not overlook the statement in verse 22. The apostle does not say 'we' have come to mount Zion. The statement is, "Ye have come to mount Zion". In that way it is not only a matter of instruction for them, but also for us today.

S.McC. It might have said, 'we' have come to it, but that might be apostolic or linked with the apostle, but it distinctly says, "Ye have come to mount Zion", whereas in Corinthians you remember how he makes a distinction in regard of certain things, "But we have

the mind of Christ". He does not say 'but ye have the mind of Christ'. It is very important that we should see these differences.

E.F.C. Would you say the greatness of the blood of Jesus, to which this no doubt alludes, would be unique in the sense that Jesus was a divine Person? That is why the blood is so great.

S.McC. Exactly. The blood of sprinkling, an interesting matter. Exodus 24 amplifies the thought of sprinkling, speaks of the people being sprinkled. "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words". It is a remarkable statement; we have a lot of blood in the chapter, as you will note, and it is good to be reminded of the place the blood has, not only its bearing on the book, but also its bearing on the people.

A.G.L. What is the thought of sprinkling as over against the thought of His blood being poured out? Our hearts are sprinkled in Hebrews 10. Would that be an application?

S.McC. It would involve all that as entering into the matter of our clearance in this system of things. In Exodus 24, the liberty of verses 9, 10, and 11, involving the side of ennoblement and happy relations in that setting with God, serves to amplify the thoughts in mind in Hebrews 12.

T.L.S. Seeing seems to be stressed in Exodus 24.

A.N.W. The great contrast is seen also because Hebrews 12 is the Mediator, whereas Exodus 24 is the blood.

S.McC. That is it. When we think of Exodus 24, we think of it by way of contrast. When we come to Hebrews 12, Jesus is not only the Mediator, but He also supplied the means on the basis of which the people could be set up in right relations with God.

A.S.C. Would you help us on the thought of "speaking better than Abel"? Of Abel God said to Cain, "Thy brother's blood is crying to me from the ground", Genesis 4:10.

S.McC. Well, I think the point is that the blood in this setting is not crying for vengeance. We have come to "Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel". The grace of the position is emphasised in this setting; it is not a matter of vengeance or judgment, but it is towards us in all the conditions of grace and blessing which are in mind in this section.

E.G.McA. This section, in regard to the sprinkling of blood, brings us into favour with God rather than bringing in distance.

S.McC. It does. Bearing in mind that Cain is a Jewish type, and bears on the Jewish position, it is all the more interesting that the blood speaks better than that of Abel.

C.C.T. Is verse 11 of chapter 24 the outcome of the sprinkling? Having freedom, "They saw God, and ate and drank".

S.McC. What a delightful position of such nearness to God and in such complacency! Of course, the position is not perfect here; when we come to christianity how different the position is!

C.C.T. That is a type of our freedom. We are able to sit down restfully to eat and drink of the things of God.

W.McK. Does the thought of expansion enter into the matter of speaking in Hebrews 12? Moses spoke all the words of Jehovah. There is great room for response and feeling in the matter of the covenant.

S.McC. Well, it is very interesting. So there is room for the opening out of the truth. The volume of blood in this section should affect our hearts as should the opening out of the truth. The blood in

this connection would have a salutary effect on our minds, precluding lightness in attending these meetings. The blood in its bearing upon us and the teaching connected with it would help us in our souls.

A.N.W. The last two verses have the sense of favour, "Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear. For also our God is a consuming fire".

S.McC. We are to bear that in mind, over against all that obtains. What Abel had to face comes into mind in this connection. We have the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel. That is a remarkable thing because Abel is the great witness to righteousness.

A.G.L. "Having died, he yet speaks", Hebrews 11:4.

A.H. I would like to ask about the order in John 3, "Except any one be born anew", and then "Born of water and of Spirit", and then entering into the kingdom. We need help to see what we have come to and then to enter into it livingly.

S.McC. I think so, so that the moral process is individual in the last verse you referred to -- the moral bearing of the truth upon us. It is a great thing to see, in finishing the things to which we have come, this touching allusion to Jesus in His mediatorship and the blood of sprinkling. We are not to forget that, in all the glory of what has been mentioned before.

W.H.C. Why is there such a warning following this wonderful passage we have been reading? "See that ye refuse not him that speaks". "For also our God is a consuming fire".

S.McC. It is a solemn matter to refuse divine speaking. This letter makes a lot of it. We do not sufficiently realise the authority of the speaking that we have been under the last two days. It does not dawn on us so greatly as it should. The authority of

the speaking from heaven, coming as it does through a distinctive vessel, is to impress us as we are in the presence of it. To take issue with it or to refuse it is a serious matter. You see persons who think nothing of taking issue with such speaking.

A.S.B. "Insulted the Spirit of grace", is a serious charge (Hebrews 10:29).

S.McC. A solemn matter. You hear of persons who think nothing of challenging a servant as to his ministry, what he is bringing forward; they forget the authority of the speaking, what lies behind it, and the seriousness of taking issue with it. Of course, we search the Scriptures to find out if things are so, but the great matter in this epistle is to see the authority that lies behind the speaking, for, in this epistle, the refusal of it is apostasy.

READINGS ON DANIEL (1)

Daniel 1:1 - 21

J.T. The proposal at this time is not to look into the prophetic side of Daniel's book, but rather the moral side, if the brethren will take in what that means. It is a very prophetical book, of course, dealing with the powers that be, those powers which took the place of Israel. All this is in mind, but, as I said, the mere matter of prophecy is secondary. What is first is the moral side, especially as it bears on young people. So chapter 1 is selected because it deals with it, first of all in the removal of Israel as God's representative here on earth and next in the introduction of the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar; then the account given of these four young Jewish persons who are mentioned in this first chapter is in view of the youth among us at the present time, because there are old among those who are ministering, and it is just to remind the youth that they should be ready as Daniel and his three companions were ready when the time came. If what I say is intelligible, the brethren will say so, I am sure.

C.H.H. Is it important to see what is represented in the powers that sought to influence in a subtle way so that only a comparatively small number of all the youths were maintained? The subtle way in which the authority of Nebuchadnezzar would seek to defile the youths and get them into his system? Is not that prevailing today?

J.T. There are the powers that be, of course. They are not much removed from the world; they are selected from the world, but at the same time are under God and we take them from God's hand. They are ordained of God; the powers that be are ordained of God, we are told, and God has His own hand in matters; that perhaps should come before us. Then we may see how the dangers of youth

enter into the matter, because the powers that be are drawn from the world, and certainly in our own disposition we are apt to seek after power in that sense, and glory. We are apt to seek after the power and glory that belongs to the ruling class and the point now is to see how these young men in this chapter are able to keep themselves from what is defiling.

R.W.S. These youths are able to keep the testimony and hold the position. They were just a few in the testimony, the great public body taken captive in Babylon. Looking at appearances we would give up, but it is a question of being with God in relation to these moral exercises.

J.T. That is exactly what is in my mind. We must look at this from the standpoint of the youth among us, those who are needed to carry on the testimony, and one can thank God there are a good many of them relatively. Some, of course, have turned aside, alas! That has to be mentioned too, the moral condition of some who have given way to the enemy; it exposes certain of us and is to be detected.

A.B. Would constitution be in mind in regard to these young men?

J.T. Now tell us what constitution means in your mind.

A.B. I was thinking of what you said in regard to our younger people, the need for the refusal of certain things that would damage them constitutionally, even in regard to the powers that be. So the great matter of food in the scripture is to establish us and to carry us through relative to God and what is of God here.

J.T. I see now what the word 'constitution' is in your mind -- how we are formed, what our habits are.

A.B. Exactly.

E.J.M. Had you in mind that the young people among us in a moral sense are of royal lineage, and that God has them in His mind even though they may be set in untoward circumstances in this world? Hence meetings like this contribute to their moral growth and understanding of divine things?

J.T. Why are you using the word 'royal'?

E.J.M. Well, it says, "And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz the chief of his eunuchs, that he should bring of the children of Israel, both of the royal seed and of the nobles, youths ..." I was thinking of the family of God, for instance, and what the young are in the sight of God in contrast to what is in the world.

J.T. Then you have the word 'royal' in your mind in a spiritual sense, and that would be that they are of royal lineage as born again, born of God.

L.E.S. This would be over against what is said in the end of 2 Chronicles in regard of Jehoiakim, who was carried away, and Jehoiachin. One was twenty-five when he began to reign and the other eighteen. These four youths would be over against the condition of corruption and compromise and being under the power of the enemy which is seen in those two kings. It says of Jehoiakim, "He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah his God. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon".

J.T. No royalty in him at all morally.

L.E.S. Exactly.

J.T. We want to look for royalty in a true sense, that which arises from the Spirit of God, born of the Spirit; unless anyone be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. First, he is born anew to see the kingdom; then by water and Spirit to enter into the kingdom. The idea of royalty is what the Spirit may have done with the brethren. Whether the idea of water and Spirit is applicable is,

I think an important thing to bring up, because these four young men of Judah were evidently pure in their outlook and feelings.

V.L. Would you think that Paul, even as Saul, would be a man preserved from moral damage so that he would fit into the testimony when God was ready for him?

J.T. I would think so. He was mentioned as one of those who held the clothes of Stephen, and then we are told the Lord said to him, "It is hard for thee to kick against goads". The conscience was not at work. There must be conscience at work.

V.L. There certainly should be. I was thinking of your reference to the word 'water'. Paul uses it a good deal in Hebrews, the washing and sanctifying.

J.T. "Washing of water by the word". There it connects water with the word. I think what you said is quite important in view of the youth among us, the word 'youth' including not only young men but sisters, too.

J.G.H. Would you say the thought of purity is brought out in that Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the king's delicate food? He was evidently one who called on the Lord out of a pure heart.

J.T. Evidently the washing was there in its effect.

S.McC. Youthful lusts flee. Paul would have in mind that Timothy would be free from all that would damage him in view of being free for the testimony.

C.C.T. The apostle says in 2 Corinthians 7, "Purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh". Does that not enter into this?

J.T. "Perfecting holiness in God's fear". Excellent. I suppose you have something more to say in regard to your remark, Mr. McC.

S.McC. I was just thinking how Timothy would fit into these difficult times. Paul was concerned

that he should be free from that which would damage him in his part in the testimony.

J.T. That brings up the question of what people have to do themselves, to look after themselves, "Purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God's fear".

E.B.M. "Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love".

J.T. Obedience to the truth, I would think is very important.

E.B.M. The affection side is there, too.

R.W.S. Mephibosheth was damaged when his nurse took him up and fled. He fell and became lame.

J.T. Showing the nursing was not too good.

R.W.S. While grace overcomes the damage, the damage is there.

J.T. How easily people become deformed spiritually and morally by bad nursing, poor nursing, maybe in their local meetings.

C.H.H. Would the spirit seen in Paul in view of recovery with Eutychus look out for that kind of thing so that the damage would not be permanent?

J.T. He is referred to as a boy, evidently one of the young. It says, "And they brought away the boy alive, and were no little comforted", showing they had care for him at this time. It was on the first day of the week it happened.

J.K. Is the royal line we have been speaking of seen in what Paul says in relation to Timothy? "Calling to mind the unfeigned faith which has been in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also".

J.T. Very good. The reference to the parent and the grandparent, just as we were noticing, would show that parents are the nurses, and would mean that in some sense the local meeting should seek to

have a care mutually so that the young may be saved from the world, which is a weapon of the devil to damage the youth.

R.W.S. Is nursing a function of the local assembly?

J.T. That is what I mean.

C.H.H. I would take it that there is a certain background to these young people seen in their names; the name of God comes into each one of their names.

J.T. They are remarkably treated as youths, young people. They are called children at one time. They had the severest test, Daniel excepted, in the fire in a later chapter.

C.C.T. As to what you were saying about nursing, would Hannah's bringing the new coat year by year come in?

J.T. Very good. She knew the growth of her child and she brought a little coat every year. She ministered to the service of God in doing that.

T.U. Have you any thought as to why these selected are of outstanding qualifications, "youths in whom was no blemish, and of goodly countenance, and skilful in all wisdom, and acquainted with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace"?

J.T. They are selected, showing that the selection made is important. We should make selections.

T.U. They were selected on the basis of qualifications.

J.T. Quite so, but then they come in in connection with Daniel as companions. We have to make allowance for what Daniel was, especially for his influence as the writer of the book, the right influence. Daniel clearly had the lead in all this matter. That is another thing that has to be spoken of, the great thought of leadership among the brethren in local settings.

E.J.M. Is not the moral power of Daniel worth noticing? He held sway in spite of the conditions in which he lived until the day of recovery.

J.T. Very good, showing he is a man that goes through things and is successful and is viewed in that light from the very beginning to the end of that book. "Go thy way, Daniel", and so on. He takes care of himself in a certain sense.

E.J.M. And in a moral way he had sufficient influence with the government to bring his three companions into the position.

J.T. Very good. He took care of them, too.

Rem. They become models for all, as Paul did.

J.T. Yes, this is in mind, all that we are saying in the idea of care for others. They become models. The word 'model' is a very important word in Scripture. Paul says, "Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ".

J.McK. Does the idea of what is constitutional seen in John's epistle help? "I have written to you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one".

J.T. Quite so. The little children too are in mind. There is more said to the little children than to any. There is very little said to the fathers, "Ye have known him that is from the beginning". Those of us who are older are saluted, as it were, but the younger and particularly the children are well cared for.

R.W.S. So there are to be no meetings where the young people in the truth are to be excluded.

J.T. That is right, I have seen it misused, they go as they wish to, but they should be brought into the afternoon reading instead of the children's meeting. The children's meetings are given up generally now.

R.W.S. What I meant was, at certain meetings where there have only been brothers, the sisters are

now brought in. And now the children and the young people are to be included in all assembly functions.

J.T. They come into the truth to some extent. There is some quality to indicate that the Spirit of God has begun to work in them.

R.W.S. I wondered if there are any meetings where children would be excluded, whether in London or any other kind of meetings?

J.T. They are not excluded in this country or Canada.

R.W.S. I thought it would be right to say the very best is for them as well as for others.

J.T. Why should it not be? They begin to understand. They are to behave in the meetings, too.

C.H.H. Is there not a grave responsibility on the part of the parents in connection with Deuteronomy 6, "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart; and thou shalt impress them on thy sons, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up". Parents are to impress their sons. They are to be taught.

J.T. Very good.

C.P. Do we not get an example of it in David, "We heard of it at Ephratah"?

J.T. "We found it in the fields of the wood". There was great purpose of heart with David.

E.B.M. We see that in Daniel himself, "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the king's delicate food".

J.T. Quite so. Showing that he was a leader. He purposes in his heart, he determined not to do it. The idea of saying no to what is wrong and yes to what is right, he purposed in his heart. He was supported.

S.McC. What you have said as to leadership is very important. We often speak of leadership; the moral side, keeping us free from defilement, is most important in our localities.

J.T. Perhaps you can give us some illustration in Detroit; not that I would make a personal remark, but I think it is a right thing to demand an illustration of it.

S.McC. If we should see a group of young people getting together to do a certain thing that would not promote spiritual progress, should not a lead be given, such as in Daniel, in regard to that?

J.T. Quite so, and not only locally, but in the gatherings where the young people come to the meetings, let the Spirit of God come in and help in such things.

C.C.T. Is that the thought in regard to verse 9? "And God granted Daniel favour and mercy before the prince of the eunuchs". Is that the outcome of leadership among us in the young?

J.T. So that we can do much that can be done. We see it, we begin to do it, and God comes in to help and God is ready to help at all times.

J.G.H. You were speaking of the importance of a model. Do you think that is to be found in each generation? Paul was a model, and tells Timothy he was to be a model.

J.T. Quite so, each generation. We should try to find out how that works in the history of the testimony. We have to come down from Paul, the earlier leader, leading the brethren, down to the Reformation; then God later comes in after long centuries and raises up one who brings in a revival; and it still stands and is going through to the end, and the young ones ought to be ready for it.

J.McK. In the fourth verse it says, "youths in whom was no blemish ...". And then there is the

matter in the New Testament of presenting our bodies a living sacrifice.

J.T. Good. We should get into that by looking through Daniel. It says of Daniel's three companions that they yielded their bodies. They did not save their bodies. If it was necessary they would offer their bodies for the sake of preserving the truth, but God saved their bodies.

V.L. Is the matter of saving worked out in Noah? God shut him in the ark. The idea of the Spirit being with him is seen in the dove perhaps. We have been shown to bring the Spirit into our households with the young in mind.

J.T. For the saving of his house. Nothing is said about any young ones in his house, not one mentioned. He "prepared an ark for the saving of his house". There were his wife and his sons and his sons' wives, eight persons saved, no children. It is to be noted too, that the ark was prepared for the saving of his house, but still there were no children. That is a thing to be noted and enquired into, as to why it was so because a very bad state of things had arisen. The sons of God came to the daughters of men and worked wickedness and that had to be met, and in Noah it was met, I am not sure that everybody will understand what I am saying, but I am sure there are those here who do. We have to see to it that right principles are preserved even if there are no children actually, and they must be extended to others, if they are not our own children.

E.B.M. You said just now God came in for Daniel, "God granted Daniel favour and mercy before the prince of the eunuchs".

J.T. God comes in to help. He ever does, in any way and any time in general, but at the same time He looks for the people involved to help too, and take the initiative. That is what God looks to see, and then He helps.

J.B. Do you get that in 2 Chronicles 34 where it speaks of Josiah? "And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem", and so on.

J.T. So that his life is linked up together in groups. He did not live to be very old, but what happened in his life from his eighth year is grouped together, so that he is a model, I believe, and became the occasion of the revival in Israel. In Josiah we have one of them, there are several, but this is one of them. That is one thing to keep in mind, the idea of the growth of a youth from the time he is a boy; Josiah was a boy and grew up to be a young man and a middle-aged man, you might say, and it shows how growth, spiritual growth, develops in a christian and how he becomes useful.

T.U. Would verse 8 encourage us when things are right to follow our own convictions? "And Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not ...", and then in the next verse it seems God honours his having the courage of his convictions.

J.T. Quite so.

C.H.H. Reverting to leadership again, should that not be seen for every city among the elder sisters? It speaks of the elder women admonishing the younger women.

J.T. Very good. We have it in the case of Phoebe, and in Hannah certainly, and that sister mentioned in the book of Luke, the old sister Anna. She was a model. She spoke of the Lord to everyone who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

W.H.C. I have been impressed by your remarks in connection with the sisters. Paul in speaking to Timothy speaks of the "unfeigned faith which has been in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice". He is carrying on.

J.T. I think that is to be particularly noted, coming down the line of ministry we are on, how sisters may be raised up of God. Here were three generations. The question has been raised generally as to the sisters and how the sisters ought to be with the brethren, and then we are also dealing with the children. How they come in for growth, beginning with eight years of age, and where they took away the boy alive and were not a little comforted. The boy evidently was looking out of the window. He was allowed to do it.

C.H.H. So the younger sisters among us would be greatly helped through the care of the elder sisters. The elder sisters would take that responsibility on and help the young ones.

J.T. I would say that fully. Look around and see what can be done in the right direction.

C.P. Do we not see it in Naomi? She says, "My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee ... ?"

J.T. Just so.

J.W. Daniel's words to the prince of the eunuchs emphasises the principle of leadership, and it extended ten days.

J.T. Ten days, the full test of responsibility. It is not twelve, it is ten, the full sense of responsibility.

J.W. They stand over against the other youths.

J.T. If it is administrative responsibility, it is twelve, but, if ten, it is responsibility by itself.

E.J.M. Speaking of sisters, in Acts 12, Peter comes to the house of Mary, the mother of John, where a prayer meeting was going on, and a sister by the name of Rhoda told them that Peter was at the door and insisted upon it in spite of the opposition of others.

J.T. She recognised the voice of the ministry, not the voice of anyone, but the voice of Peter. We recognise the voice, it is important.

E.J.M. She evidently was at the prayer meeting.

J.T. The others, while they prayed, did not believe what they were praying for. Rhoda became a leader.

P.W. Speaking of sisters, Esther did things that were right. She said to Mordecai, it would be at the risk of her life to go in, but when she did she found favour from the king. God wants us to do things. I thought this might link up with what is in mind now.

J.T. She was ready to sacrifice her life.

P.W. Finally she went in and found favour with the king. She saved God's people.

J.T. There is another thing that might be added to that, no prayer to God is mentioned in Esther. In the book she did not have to pray; she did other things and, dear brethren, prayer is not enough, prayer is not everything. There are other things that have to be done and we must take account of it and see that they are done.

C.C.T. The young maiden in Naaman's time was able to speak about the prophet. Would that be something done by the Spirit?

J.T. Her master should be with the prophet in Samaria; he should go there. That was her thought, she had feelings about it, too, and he did go eventually.

J.P. Esther fasted.

J.T. It does not say she prayed, but she fasted. I do not know how much there is of it now. I do not see much of it.

J.P. Daniel denied himself.

J.T. The thing is to do the thing needed. If it is needed, see that it is done. You say I will go and pray about it. That is not all, there are other things to be done, and we must see that they are done.

J.K. Is it not with Daniel a definite committal? He purposed in his heart, and he followed it up, for

he said what should be given them to eat and to drink. Then he said, Look upon our countenances after ten days. Would it be right to say he followed up the exercise?

J.T. Quite so. We should see in the next chapter how things were done by Daniel with his companions. That will have to come in the next meeting.

C.H.H. Would this appeal to the prince of the eunuchs be a principle for us when it is necessary for the saints to appeal to the powers that be? I was thinking of Paul and his nephew. He appealed to the chiliarch for his protection. Then Esther appeals to the king and here they appeal. The prince of the eunuchs is set over these youths and they appealed to him as though they recognised and submitted to his position. Paul, also, recognised the position of the chiliarch. So, too, Mordecai recognised the rightness of appealing to the king. There is difficulty experienced in some quarters as to appealing to the Senators in connection with amending the law relative to the union matter.

J.T. Very good. It says in verse 16, "So the steward took away their delicate food, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams", showing how God was working in all matters, "And at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: and they stood before the king. And in all matters of judicious wisdom, as to which the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the scribes and magicians that were in all his realm". And then it says, "And Daniel continued unto the

first year of king Cyrus". So we have a model before us and how it continues. It is a great matter to continue, helpful to the saints; and waiting on God about it too that He may allow it to continue.

C.P. Does the pulse speak of the word of God? The will of God set forth in the word of God and man living by the word of God.

J.T. It is the kind of food that would be despised as compared with the delicate food. It is a food that God can use despite its being despised by others.

N.B. Why is there no reference to the water? In verse 12 Daniel says prove thy servants and give us pulse to eat and water to drink, but in verse 16 there is no reference to water.

J.T. I suppose there is no need to mention it. I suppose the pulse did the work by itself, so to speak.

W.H.C. Is it not an important thing that we have purpose of heart? It was true of Daniel and Moses. When Moses became great, he refused to be called son of Pharaoh's daughter. I was desirous for the sake of the many children here today that we should seek to meet every exercise that comes up, with true purpose of heart.

J.T. What we have to say always is to bring God in. Is there any room for God to come in? The special thing is, is there room for God? I would say that is the point to come to. God is ready to come in if He is sought, if we want Him.

E.J.M. So that in reference to the way these four men stood, I was thinking of 1 Peter 3:15, "But sanctify the Lord the Christ in your hearts, and be always prepared to give an answer to every one that asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you, but with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that as to that in which they speak against you as evildoers, they may be ashamed who calumniate your good conversation in Christ".

J.T. Just so. That is to say, Peter comes in peculiarly, and Peter fits in fully with Paul. Now the thought of how God can be reckoned upon is seen, I think, in the idea of the twenty-four elders; instead of twelve, twenty-four. The idea of elders comes in and we should count on them.

V.L. Would it not be fair to say all the truth as to the Spirit, at the present time, would give particular help to any that are younger to bring God in by turning to the Spirit in a simple way? Would that be referred to in that they were ten times better?

J.T. The question arises now as to what God is graciously doing, extending back say fifty years. That is to say He, the Spirit, has brought in eternal life, the great question of the truth of the assembly, the service of God; and He has brought in the sonship of Christ too, and now He is bringing in something about Himself. Are we acquainted with it? Are the young people acquainted with what the Lord is saying to us in relation to the Spirit? He is down here really to do things for us. He dwells with you, the Lord says, and shall be in you. He is now available to us.

R.W.S. Is it time now to illustrate what we should ask the Spirit for and bring to the Spirit? Should it be in relation to spiritual things or may we address the Spirit in relation to the things concerning our ordinary life?

J.T. I would say in the case of ordinary affairs I would refer to the Father. There is one God and Father. "There are gods many, and lords many, yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him". The Spirit is not mentioned there, but we know He is mentioned elsewhere, and I would say the Spirit of God is here. The Spirit of God is sent from heaven and is here to be available to us and, therefore, I think

of Him now as to the service of God and all that pertains to it. He has not been brought forward very much, but now He is brought forward by Himself peculiarly. He is here to do things for us and He dwells with us and shall be in us. Every one should know about it and make use of Him, and bring Him into matters in relation to our families and other things too; that is the way I would look at it. I would see what related to the Father and to the Son and what relates to the Spirit, and know what They are usable for, speaking reverently.

C.H.H. Would that scripture in Corinthians help in that? "But there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are distinctions of services, and the same Lord; and there are distinctions of operations, but the same God who operates all things in all. But to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit. For to one, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; and to a different one faith, in the power of the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healing in the power of the same Spirit; and to another operations of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; and to a different one kinds of tongues; and to another interpretation of tongues. But all these things operates the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each in particular according as he pleases".

J.T. That is a good way to answer all this, and I wonder if we understand how these things work out, and how God is sometimes used as Father, for there is that side, what He does; and the Son, what He does; and the Spirit, what He does. We have to learn, speaking reverently, how to use the divine Persons, and according to knowledge.

J.P. Would Romans 8 help? "But if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye

shall live, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God".

J.T. Very good. The Spirit will help you in regard to the flesh. The Spirit works against the flesh and the Spirit has to have room to operate and we can thus, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.