Acts 1:9; Acts 4:15; Acts 7:55, 56; 2 Corinthians 4:3 - 7

My thought was to dwell on the fact that we are living in a cloudless dispensation, in contrast to the previous one which, as we all recognise, was marked by the presence of a cloud. The first mention we have of a cloud is, I think, in Genesis 9. It is a very simple thought that a cloud has the tendency to shut off the light and influence of the sun, yet in that passage, although there may be the shutting off from the creation of the light of the sun, there is at the same time in the presence of the cloud the testimony to God's faithfulness. Although the shining of His face -- the shining of His glory in the face of Christ -- was for the moment hidden, there was at the same time the testimony to His faithfulness; that is, there was an indication in the face of the cloud of what was concealed behind it. Abraham was called out from the midst of the gentiles by the God of glory; that is, glory was in the mind of God in calling him out. But that glory was to be concealed. Hence when God takes up the people in His faithfulness, the cloud disappears, that is to say, God's glory was there. His glory existed, I need not say. Glory is not an afterthought with God. Glory refers to what God is in His nature, and His glory was present at all His operations; but in calling out Abraham, God indicated that there should be a particular family in connection with which that glory should be displayed, and in undertaking to bring to pass that which He had in His mind in calling out Abraham, the cloud is apparent. The cloud appeared even before the people left the land of Egypt, there was the presence of the divine glory -- only God had arranged a means

of concealing it. He had arranged His own means for concealing that glory, but it was there. It was there as a guide to the people, and it was there as a protector of the people: its effectiveness on their behalf was fully demonstrated to them. And then they were baptised to it. They were baptised unto Moses, we are told, "in the cloud and in the sea". 1 Corinthians 10:2 That is what God intended the people for; they were to be His glory, and they were baptised to it. They were baptised in it, we are told. Well now, as thus committed to it, it becomes their guide in the wilderness until they had opportunity to show their appreciation of it. What I mean by showing their appreciation of it is that they should build something for it, that they should prepare an abode for it. As we read of David, who fully expresses the sentiments of God's people in regard to His glory, "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob". Psalm 132:4 And then he invited Jehovah to enter into His rest, He and the ark of His strength. Now that was exactly what the people undertook to do in the wilderness.

Nothing can be more interesting to us than the wilderness position. The wilderness is divided into three sections, as I understand it. The first section has reference to pure grace; God establishes on the banks of the Red Sea an economy of pure grace. The people, in the full sense of the deliverance that has been achieved for them, celebrate Jehovah as a man of war, and they set out to journey in the wilderness under pure grace. They murmur; there is no complaint on the part of Jehovah. The next section has reference to the divine system; the believer is in the wilderness in connection with God's system of things. A system of things is established here in which divine order is to be displayed, and in which the will of God must be supreme. That is,

the children of Israel are here in relation to the tabernacle. And then, finally, the believer is seen in relation to the Spirit. From Numbers 21 to the Jordan refers to a people here as possessing God's Spirit.

The people, now, as set up in presence of the glory in the cloud -- baptised unto Moses in it -- and in the full appreciation of Jehovah as their Deliverer, would build Him an habitation. You will never effect anything for God unless your heart is established in grace. Unless you apprehend that God has intervened for you in the Lord Jesus Christ -- in the death and resurrection of Christ, and in the gift of the Spirit -- you will never really effect anything for God. As in the light of His grace, your heart at liberty in the presence of what God has done for you, then you are able to do something, and the people proposed to build God a habitation. He accepts the proposition -- He accepts their offer, and they build a habitation. What I want to point out is, the material was all provided by the people. Moses did not bring down from Sinai any of the material; all he brought down were the tables of the covenant; all the material for the structure had to be provided by the people. Moses brought down the pattern of the tabernacle, he brought down the light -- the mind of God. That is what the apostles did. The mind of God has been brought to us by the apostles, but you must have the operation of the Spirit if you are to have the material. As I said, Moses did not bring down the material. He brought down the light, the pattern of the structure, and the people supplied the material willingly, as we are told.

The people having now supplied everything that was requisite for the building of the tabernacle, everything was formed according to the pattern, and by the hand of one divinely endued with wisdom. So the structure was made in accordance with God's

mind, and reared up, and then, we are told, the cloud rested upon it. That is, God is pleased to connect His glory with the structure. The delight God had in it was such that He filled it in such wise that even Moses could not go inside the tabernacle.

The glory filled it, but it was a glory cloud. It was not manifested glory; it was concealed glory. But the glory was there. And when we come to the New Testament, when He appeared, He was in His own Person the Tabernacle -- for that was really what Christ was; in His own Person He represented all that God had in His mind to establish -- on the mount of Transfiguration, when Peter would have made three tabernacles: one for Christ, one for Moses, and one for Elias, God, as it were, says, 'There is only one Tabernacle' and the cloud immediately appears. God intimated that He could not connect His glory with Moses or Elias, as such; if the glory cloud is to appear, if it is to rest upon anyone, it must be upon the Son. The Son, Christ, is the true Tabernacle. Under God's eye, He represented the tabernacle in the wilderness, and hence, the cloud appears. This time it was a bright cloud, pointing, I daresay, to the unique situation; that is, the Son was there. But with all that, though the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was present, the glory was still concealed; the cloud was there. It was a bright one, as I have said, but nevertheless a cloud.

The Father was within that cloud. Not now Jehovah's voice, but the Father's voice is heard, intimating the supreme thought in the glory, namely, that God revealed, is revealed as a Father with a Son. That is the idea of the revelation of God. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". John 1:18 The revelation of God signifies that He is to be known in the character of a Father with a Son. That relationship was spoken

of in the cloud. The relationship was there, but nevertheless it was shrouded in a cloud.

The cloud idea continued until every link was broken with Israel. The Person of Christ here drew the Father's voice out of the cloud, the relationship was there; but the cloud remained. And so, as the Lord was about to ascend to heaven, you might say, surely the cloud period is now over, but no, it is not. There was one element in God that had to be vindicated, and that was His patience. Hence the cloud still remained, so that when Christ goes up from Bethany -- or rather from Olivet -- we are told, a cloud receives Him. A cloud -- that is, He is cut off from the view of Israel by a cloud, pointing to the fact that God in patience lingered with Israel, that He would still hold out His hand to Israel, the universal character of the testimony had to be held in abeyance; the full universal display of God's own mind had to be held in abeyance. So you find that while Christ is hidden by the cloud, the twelve continued the ministry in Israel. They continued it to Israel on account of Israel's privileges, and while the special national privileges of Israel were recognised, you could not have the full, clear shining of the sun, because if the sun shines full it must influence all the creation below, not a part of it.

Psalm 19 speaks about the tabernacle set in the heavens for the sun, and he comes out of his chamber, we are told, as a strong man to run a race. And the race is the circuit of the heavens, and all the creation below is affected by it. But if a cloud comes in, there is only a partial shining. There may be a total cutting off of the sun's light, or a partial shining. Now I take it that Israel as it stood was itself the cloud. The recognition of Israel's national privileges, as giving it priority over all other nations, necessarily prevented the shining of the sun. We all know what an eclipse is, or a partial eclipse, and what I understand

by Israel's position, as it stood in the early part of the Acts, is that it partially eclipsed the full shining of God in Christ; but God's overtures to Israel, His lingerings in grace, only brought out the wonderful character of His patience. The patience of God is a great testimony of the Old Testament. The prophets stand for His patience. And so His patience lingered in His overtures to Israel through the ministry of the twelve.

Now, what I wanted to show is that in the ministry of Stephen you have the way made clear for the full shining of the light. In the end of Acts 5 you find the ministry of the twelve continued in the temple, and from house to house -- the house -- to -- house character having reference to the activity proper to christianity, but at the same time the link maintained with Israel in the temple. When you come to Stephen you come to one who is not an apostle, he had not special ministry to Israel. What marked Stephen was that he was full of the Holy Spirit. He was full, and if you get a man full of the Holy Spirit there is no part of that man dark at all; Stephen, as filled with the Spirit, was not in any way darkened by the influence of his national relationship. He was full of the Spirit, and what marks a man that is full of the Spirit? He is luminous; there is no part dark. Mat a great many of us suffer from is partial eclipse. If you recognise a nation or a section of a nation -- if you recognise anything on earth, if you give anything on earth a special preference, there is a partial eclipse; for God has no connection with anything earthly. I could enlarge upon that in regard to Jerusalem, but all I wish to emphasise is that in the death of Stephen every link was cut with the nation. And it was the death of one who was filled with the Spirit; in Stephen there was a perfect ministry of the Spirit. If you get a vessel full, it is full, and Stephen was filled with the Spirit. And his face shone, it was

as it were, a full moon. A full moon signifies that the moon is in the full light of the sun, there is nothing interfering between it and the sun. Now, I take it that Stephen was in the full light of Christ in heaven. You may ask, Why with Christ in heaven? Because the face of Stephen was a heavenly face. It was not the reflection of any of the glory set in Jerusalem; it was as the face of an angel. An angel represents several thoughts, but there is one thought that the idea of an angel stands for, that cannot be denied, and that is, he is a heavenly being. The fact is that the term 'heavenly' is used to designate angels. We read of "a multitude of the heavenly host", Luke 2:13 meaning a multitude of angels -- praising God at the birth of Christ. Now, Stephen's face was like the face of one of these. The cloud has gone as far as Stephen is concerned. The Holy Spirit had come out of heaven; and Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and his face shone like the face of an angel.

What a wonderful testimony to that council! There was the servant of Christ full of the Spirit -- full of the Spirit -- without a thought of animosity in his heart; without any vindictiveness at all; he was there in the full energy of the Spirit of Christ, in the presence of the council. I say what a speaker he was, but what an unappreciative audience he had! There was not an atom of sympathy there. There was one of the most perfect addresses conceivable, and it received not an atom of sympathy. But there he stood, the representative of a heavenly Christ, in the presence of an earthly council -- a council that represented the government of God from the Red Sea onward to that moment. It represented all that had been deposited in Israel; it had the responsibility of it. And there was Stephen, the representative of a heavenly Christ, bearing testimony. And what kind of testimony? He says, "the God of glory". That was his text. He began with God, the God of

glory. That is, the glory had been there from Abraham onward (though veiled in a cloud) and Stephen outlines the history, as it were, of that glory in its relation with Israel, and faithfully depicts the inveterate character of their hatred, from start to finish, to everything of God. Take Joseph, or Moses -- each person represented the activities of the glory. Although not displayed, although hid behind the veil, nevertheless the glory was there, and Israel refused it, until finally it appeared in the Person of Christ, "Of whom", he says, "ye have been now the betrayers and murderers". Acts 7:52 That was his address. That was his testimony. "And they gnashed on him with their teeth ... and cast him out of the city". Acts 7:54 They stoned Stephen, but then, what kind of man did they stone? A man whose face shone like the face of an angel; a man who called on the name of the Lord; a man who prayed for them even while they stoned him.

But now I want to dwell on the well -- known passage, that he "looked up stedfastly into heaven". There is no idea of a cloud now. The cloud no longer conceals the Lord from Stephen. The cloud received Him out of the apostles' sight, we are told, but Stephen looks right through the heavens, "and saw the glory of God". That glory in the cloud, through God's patience and long -- suffering, had been with Israel, but is now in heaven, and in the company of Jesus. "He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God". That is what Stephen saw, and he dies. Stephen succumbs to the stones of his murderers, but the light reflected -- that wonderful heavenly light reflected in his face and in his spirit -- remains upon earth. There was one standing by, holding the clothes of the murderers, a young man. God takes up young men; and here was one who was holding the clothes of the murderers

of a martyr of Jesus; he saw what happened, and I take it, the impression never left him. I think the Lord alluded to that when He said, "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks!" Acts 9:55. I think that the Lord alluded to the effect of the light which had entered Saul's heart. He was resisting it, but he was to become, ere long, a witness to it. Hence, I have referred to Stephen as making way for the present situation.

Now it is most important at the present time that our souls should be established in the full light of the present economy. The present economy -- the christian economy -- was not properly established until Paul's ministry was fully developed. Until the link was finally severed with Israel, as I said, there was the cloud state of things where the light was shining, but where nevertheless, it was not complete; there was not the full shining of the sun. When you come to Paul's ministry you have the establishment of what I call the world -- wide christian economy. It is a wonderful economy into which we gentiles have been introduced. Peter admitted the gentiles into the christian system, but now, what was it into which he admitted them? Acts 9 shows us a heavenly kingdom established in the Person of Christ, and chapter 10, the four -- cornered sheet let down from heaven, representing the mind of heaven -- that the mind of heaven is sympathetic with the whole race of man. Peter is brought in sympathy with that, and he opens the door to the gentiles. He opens the door formally, by baptism, and admits them into the heavenly system. He admits them into all that is unfolded in chapters 9 and 10, and then we have Paul's ministry. It is very interesting to see that, in opening this subject to the Corinthians, he introduces it in connection with himself as a minister. What was called in question at Corinth was the minister. The best possible way, let me say

to discredit the ministry is to discredit the minister; if you discredit the minister, you will discredit the ministry without opposing it. Now that is what they were doing at Corinth, and what the apostle establishes is that what his ministry was, he was. And who made him that? Jesus could say of Himself when asked as to His Person, I am "altogether that which I also say to you". John 8:25 In His own Person He was altogether what He said, and Paul can say, "God ... hath made us able ministers of the new testament". 2 Corinthians 3:6 That is to say, Paul does not assume to be what he said in himself; but God had made him a competent minister of the new covenant, and the Corinthians were to understand that. They did not see that what the enemy was aiming at was the ministry; he was aiming at Christ. The enemy would not dare to oppose Christ at Corinth, but he did dare to oppose Paul; the enemy did not dare to discredit the Person of Christ, but he did dare to discredit Paul.

The apostle seizes the opportunity and without aggrandising himself he shows that God had made him a competent minister. But he was not a minister in the letter, that is, he was not a minister in the first covenant; he was not a minister according to the letter, he was a minister of the spirit of the covenant. It is a wonderful thing to get a hold of the spiritual import of all that happened in the incarnation and death of Christ. What we want to become accustomed to is to get spiritual ideas. Paul says, "Not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life". 2 Corinthians 3:6 And then he says, "the Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". 2 Corinthians 3:17 That is, where the Lord has His place, Judaism and Jewish principles have no power; they gender to bondage, the Spirit of the Lord genders to liberty. And what does that liberty involve? Why, that we have liberty to love one another! Surely the spirit of the covenant

is love. Analyse John 13 -- what a spirit that was! That was not the letter, it was the Spirit. It was the new commandment. The new commandment is the new commandment; that is, it is something wholly new. The true light is the activity of love amongst us, so that, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty to love one another and to care for one another. But there is more; there is liberty of access to God. Now that is the greatest privilege that could possibly be accorded to a people upon earth. You remember the two things that Moses desired; the first was that he might see Jehovah's glory, and that was denied him, and the second was that he might enter the land of Canaan, and that was denied him. Now, these two great privileges are given to us. We have liberty of access to God, and have liberty to enter Canaan. We have liberty to approach God in His holy nature, and we have liberty to be in His sphere, in His home, in the family circle.

Reverting for a moment to the types, there was not only the cloud over the tabernacle in which the glory was, but even when the high priest was admitted once a year to the holiest of all, he had to go in in a cloud of incense, "that he die not". Leviticus 16:13 That is to say, all that which spoke of God revealed in Christ -- all that spoke of the Person of Christ, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim, and so on -- all had to be shrouded with thick smoke -- with incense -- with a cloud; otherwise the high priest would have been smitten. What you now see is that the cloud is no longer required. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh ... let us draw near". Hebrews 10:19

The difficulty now is, that with us the spirit of Moses is absent. If Moses were amongst us, what a

delight it would be to him to see the way open into the holiest! It is dedicated by His blood, but remember it is a living way. You may say it is through the death of Christ, but it is not only that, it is a living way; to enter the holiest requires power. It requires power, but there it is; the door is open and the apostle exhorts us to draw near. You may say, what do we draw near to? To God. We have liberty to draw near to God, and as we draw near, what do we find? By the Spirit, we are enabled to see and understand the means by which God brings to pass every thought of His. That is what I understand by it, that already the assembly is in the secret of the means by which God effects all His purposes. You see not only that God is Almighty, as He declared Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but you see in Christ the means by which all is brought to pass. Hence, if you want to be enlightened as to the mind of God, you have to draw near to God. You see that it is all carried out in holiness. Unflinching holiness was to mark everything within the veil.

All I want to bring out is that christian liberty is toward one another, and there is liberty toward God. We are not now bound by Jewish principles, we are in the full light of the heavenly system; so that the apostle says, "We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face". 2 Corinthians 3:18 That is really the holiest. The glory is to be beheld; it is all there in the face of Christ. Stephen saw it, "and Jesus". All the divine glory is in the countenance of a Man -- it is a wonderful thought, not of an angel, but in the countenance of a Man. Beholding that, we "are transformed ... from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit". 2 Corinthians 3:18 What I wish to add is, the apostle shows in chapter 4 that what he preached was really that. He preached the glory of God; not simply the God of glory, but the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In other words, the gospel that Paul preached

was the full shining out of God's nature in the Person of Christ. He says the enemy blinds the minds of the unbelieving "so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth for them". The gospel that has come to us has come from Paul and it is the gospel of the glory -- not simply a partial shining of the glory, but the full shining out of God's nature; and that is seen in the Person of Christ. And Paul can say that it has shone into our hearts -- it is a wonderful place for it to shine into -- "for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ".

Now, I take it that that is what we are to be instructed in. If we are to come out in the future "having the glory", we have to be formed in it now. The gospel is intended to produce a vessel that will come out in the future having the glory; so that there is the shining out in the assembly, as we are told, "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages". Ephesians 3:21

THE WILL OF GOD

Hebrews 10:1 - 22

We cannot understand christianity until we see the kind of Man Christ was as taking human form here under God's eye. We have to see this before we can understand aright what christianity is: and this passage, it seems to me, would suggest what He was. His thought in becoming Man was to do God's will: "Lo, I come ... to do thy will, O God", He says, "a body hast thou prepared me". He answered in every way to God. He, in carrying out God's will, established a title to live down here, and not only so, but having established that, He becomes the sacrifice. Having established a title to live, and that publicly, He is eligible, or qualified to take man's place as sacrifice. All the perfection of Christ comes out under the eye of God. In the burnt -- offering the more the light shone in, the more His perfection shone out. It is not so with us. "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart". Hebrews 4:12 The word of God, turned in on us, discloses something very different from what was in Christ. The inner springs of Christ were all active Godward.

We see the order of man which is to remain in the presence of God, and we are to be formed after the will of God. When we think of man, we must go back to the garden of Eden. The moment the Lord appeared as Man here, every thought connected with man came into evidence. The problem to be solved was, Can this Man justify God in regard to every thought of God for man? The problem was infinitely

solved in Christ's walk here, so that we see Him as Man in perfection before God, in the midst of lawlessness and corruption, answering to the mind of God. That is man according to God. Christ is to do God's pleasure and bring in a new race -- a race with the law of God written in their minds and hearts, knowing forgiveness by the Spirit. In the Lord's birth we have the announcement, "good pleasure in men", Luke 2:14 indicating that it was a race God had in mind. The Lord sets it all forth in His own Person, and then removes the man who offended, and, in doing so, brings in a race or order of man according to God's pleasure. That indicates our position, so that on the one hand we have, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". That is, sanctification is in the death of Christ, involving the removal of the lawless man; then it goes on in verse 15, "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us". Man is retained before God, so that God's thought might be effectuated. We have the ministry of the Spirit; a ministry which forms man after Christ. In the old economy the sacrifice was inferior to the priest; in christianity they are equal. Necessarily the priest was superior to the offering, as the latter was a mere creature; now the Offerer and the Offering are equal. The Lord has brought in a new order of man. He has retained man before God; then the Spirit comes in, so that there is the ministry to secure God's end.

The Spirit is a witness to us that our sins and iniquities God will remember no more. In christianity there is even more than the writing of the law on the heart; we are the epistle of Christ. The saints are to be a transcript of Christ -- His letter. We delight in God's will; instead of its being a burden to us, it is a delight. An order of man is brought out like Christ. We are in accord with the death of Christ, as regards the removal of the man. Fellowship

involves that. We put forth our hand. No one can partake of the Supper for another. "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ". We commit ourselves to it, and if so, we are transcripts of Christ, so that we fill out the rest of our time to God's will. There is great testimony in that to God. If we accept that, we are here in order that God would secure His thoughts in us, pending the establishment of things publicly, and there is a testimony to the order of man that God intends to retain before Him, and that here where sin reigns. The apostle describes it in Romans 8, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us…" Romans 8:4 That is a testimony for God, because it was what God intended in the world. He intended that Israel should walk in His will, so christianity takes the place of Israel, and the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us. God intended to secure something in Adam and that failed; and something in Israel, and that failed. "They like Adam have transgressed the covenant", Hosea 6:7. Christ takes it up and maintains it, and that is to be continued; nothing else will do for God.

This epistle is intended to establish in the assembly what is set forth in Christ in the gospels. The covenant is "I will". In general, Hebrews is not type and antitype, it is a book of contrasts; so when the types are alluded to, it is what they were literally. The will of God is the principle on which the new order of man will be brought in. The disciples felt in the Lord's presence that they did not know how to pray. What constitutes a man great is the way he acts in the presence of light. If there is an accession of light, how are we to act, how are we to be affected? The disciples were properly affected. "Teach us to pray", they say Luke 11:1. That is a right desire so the Lord says, "When ye pray, say, Father, thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come". All His instruction

was on that principle, that His disciples might be established here in the will of God.

The will of God is a large subject. It is good to recognise it as a principle. The teaching of Romans 12 is that we might prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are to prove it. It takes the whole christian course to prove it. The first thing involved in its application to us is that our wills are set aside. Instead of bringing pleasure they cause grief every day to God. The Lord is always unique; in every way that we correspond, there is some distinctive mark as to the Lord. The law is put into our minds, but He came with it. It is a great victory to have a generation like that in a scene of confusion. That is the testimony. In the millennial state of things the law will be written in the heart of Israel. The assembly on high will be the vessel of glory; there is the shining of glory in the face of Jesus in the assembly. The heavens declare the glory of God, as the psalmist says; nothing on earth declares it in the same way. The Lord comes down, and brings that principle to earth -- God's will. Everything in heaven is moved in accord with God's will; there is no deviation there -- that is the idea of glory. Now the Lord brought that to earth; He brought to earth what governed heaven, makes a complete circuit, and goes back to heaven. Now that is reflected in the assembly. And then Israel will be formed after the law, so that God's will is done on earth as in heaven. Now the testimony is all that, set forth in a contrary scene, witnessing to what will be seen publicly in the coming age. God's will must be vindicated on earth; only thus can the idea of approach be introduced.

God's will was in the Lord's heart. The fact that He says, "Lo, I come", shows that the disposition is there. It is the order of man. There are two things in Romans 8the Spirit of Christ, referring to the

order of man like Christ who is to continue on earth; and the Spirit of adoption, referring to what is in God's heart. The Lord as Man was the glory of God here. The ministry of the Spirit is to make us equal to that. All that man is is out of accord with what God is. Christ is God's glory, and the ministry of the Spirit is to bring us into accord with God's standard, so "we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed". 2 Corinthians 3:18 In Romans 8 we see the Spirit of Christ, that is the Spirit of the Man; then the spirit of adoption is the Spirit of God's Son.

The secret of approach is that we know God. One may love God, and not have the title to approach. They loved God in the Old Testament, but had not the title to approach that we have. The measure of our approach is the measure of the revelation; it is the measure of liberty accorded to us. With christians it is the place Christ has, nothing short of it. There is our measure, but what God grants is another matter. On our side it follows on the ministry of the Spirit. On His side it is a question of sovereign pleasure -- what He wills. He is pleased to accord us the privilege, but it does not follow that, because we love God, we have title to approach; for the Old Testament saints had not the same privilege, though loving God. God determined privilege. He accords to us the privilege of entering the holiest, but we could not have it if He did not accord it to us. He is sovereign, and He discriminates. He accords to us the greatest privilege. God indicates His pleasure for us in that He has given Christ a place in heaven, as Man, as Forerunner. He went in, in Acts 1, but there was a cloud, there was no indication that the disciples were to go in. "Whom the heaven must receive", Peter said, "until the times of restitution of all things". Acts 3:21 "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,

when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ". But in Acts 7 the heavens are opened, and Stephen says, "I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" Acts 7:56 -- there is indicated the mind of God for christians. "The heavens opened" -- I read there the title, the mind of God for us at the present moment. God must determine the place of every family, for He is the Father of whom every family in heaven and earth is named. Christ's place is our place now.

In the early part of Acts there is no idea of Christ being a Forerunner; He has gone into heaven, and to be concealed there, it would appear, until the time of restitution of all things; but in chapter 7 the heavens are opened, and that is the basis of christianity. The ground of the present dispensation is now laid in principle. Israel had the covenant, but we go further, we go within. Salvation will be when He comes out. In the early part of Acts we see the cities of refuge: "the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved". Acts 2:47 In Hebrews the external assembly is not in itself salvation for us; we require to lay hold of the heavenly position for salvation. It is insisted on in Hebrews. So it is the book of the opened heavens. We have no timidity in approach. It is in contrast to the tabernacle, for "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest". Hebrews 9:8 It is "new" in contrast to the old; and "living" refers to the resurrection of Christ and the power of the Spirit in our hearts; so that, in approaching God, our affections are active. In the holiest we see the means by which God brings to pass universal blessing. We are in the secret of God; we see what Christ is as Man before God. The tables within the ark suggest Christ as doing God's will. It is all a question of Christ, so that there we learn the secret of God. What a thing to be in the secret of God -- to see the

Man by whom He effects this glorious system, a Man who had the law in His heart! Our priesthood is determined by our relation to Christ. What a thing to have a company of people with a pure heart -- like David's mighty men! As we enter the holiest, we are in accord with it -- we can lay our hand on the ark if we are formed according to it. Our exercises are in accord with the will of God.

In Hebrews we have not the assembly convened at all, except where it says, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is". Hebrews shows the privileges that belong to christianity; we get light as to those, but we have no directions as to the assembly convened, so I take it that entering the holiest is a matter of our soul's apprehension. The holiest was prominent in the wilderness. The sanctuary is a sanctified place set up; but with the holiest the idea is that there is nothing holier; hence it is the immediate presence of God. When God's thought is brought to pass, everything is in accord with the ark.

We have to learn to recognise God's will. The ark is the means by which God brings to pass every thought of His, and when this is accomplished, all is in accord with the ark, so that His will is done on earth as in heaven. David danced before the ark, it was his way of expressing his delight in the will of God. It is a grand thing to see the means by which God has brought to pass His thoughts -- then all is in accord with the ark, so that Christ is the centre of everything. The ark is the expression of God's will. Take a man in this city -- obscure, unseen, and desiring to do God's will -- what a thing that is for God, what a delight to Him!

THE WILDERNESS

Romans 6:1 - 23; Romans 8:12 - 16

J.T. I thought it would be helpful if we looked a little at the wilderness. It is important that we should see that it is not simply that we hasten through it, but that it is a sphere ordained in the ways of God in which He sets forth His testimony; so I thought it would be helpful if we saw how we get into it, and, as it is rightly understood, the end of it, and how we get out of it. The consideration of the typical books always helps in regard of detail, as to the position of the believer in reference to the wilderness, or the land, and I was thinking only today of the place the book of Numbers holds. I think it will be found that in the opening statement of each of the books is indicated the point of view of the book. In Exodus it is a question of the names of those who came out of Egypt; therefore, that is the point of view; Egypt is especially in view and the people in it and being brought out of it. In Leviticus it is: "And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle", Leviticus 1:1 indicating what was in the tabernacle -- what resided in it; that is to say, how the people were to have to say to God in the tabernacle; whereas in Numbers God spake "in the wilderness ... in the tent of meeting". Numbers 1:1 So that it is not only as to what the tabernacle is inwardly, but what the tabernacle was in the wilderness. It is the wilderness position. I speak of that to show the setting of this chapter. Believers should see that as called out of the world it is not simply to go to heaven, but God designs a certain course here, and we are to stand in relationship to that, we are to see our place in relation to that, so that I thought this chapter

opens the subject, because it is the believer definitely accepting the death of Christ in his baptism. I do not know what the brethren have to say to that.

Rem. That is how we enter the wilderness, is it not?

J.T. I think so.

Ques. Is death accepted because we come under the influence of the "One Man"? Romans 5:15

J.T. I think so. They "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea". 1 Corinthians 10:2 I think it is of all moment that we should see that what we are committed to is baptism, and then what God can do with us as the truth is accepted, because this chapter is a question of our bodies.

Ques. You refer for the moment to the "yielding"?

J.T. Yes.

Ques. When did the wilderness begin for Israel?

J.T. I thought it began upon the banks, when they had crossed the sea; they got to the other side of the sea from Egypt, but then it must be remembered that a whole year elapsed before the tabernacle was established.

Ques. Do you think that in that way it is from mount Sinai that we get the full thought of the wilderness, is that not important? Because God brought the people out to keep the feasts, but they never did keep the feasts.

J.T. The first thought was -- He said to Moses, 'Now you are to serve Me here'; but the service, I believe, really depended on the tabernacle.

Rem. It was on mount Sinai when God said that to him.

J.T. Mount Horeb is the name that is used.

Ques. Do you mean that there can be no service without the tabernacle?

J.T. No, I do not mean quite that, because there is the yielding of the body individually -- I have no doubt that a believer feels that his body is to be for

the Lord from the first moment of his conversion, but I doubt whether he has any idea of the tabernacle then; in fact, what you have is the influence of grace first; there is no demand upon the people at the outset; God would culture them under the influence of grace.

Rem. So the tabernacle is in view. Do you think we reach the tabernacle in Romans?

J.T. I think Romans is preparatory; you can only get the tabernacle in Romans by introducing it into chapter 12.

Ques. Romans really supplies the man, does it not?

J.T. And Corinthians takes him up.

Ques. Would chapter 12 just touch the edge of the collective thought -- the tabernacle?

J.T. I think it does. You have in chapter 12 the thought of our relationship with one another. Chapter 3 is of all moment to form one for the tabernacle position. What I see is that the introduction into the wilderness is brought to pass by that which is objective. We are led into the wilderness by the light presented -- the light of certain facts; it is not a question of what has taken place in you, although that is essential to your answering to these facts.

Ques. Do you refer to chapters 3, 4 and 5?

J.T. Yes. Whereas what enables you to get out of the wilderness is entirely subjective. I do not say there is not that which is objective -- the ark of the covenant is that, but we really get out of the wilderness by the Spirit.

Ques. How was that represented in the history of the children of Israel -- by that which followed the brazen serpent?

J.T. I think so. The tabernacle was not much in view at all after that -- it is rather the Spirit. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God". You are not led by the tabernacle now but by the Spirit. Prior to that it was when the

cloud moved which was over the tabernacle, that they moved.

Ques. That is a question of light?

J.T. Entirely a question of light. Of course there has to be the work of God in us to enable us to respond -- I mean to say it is only a converted person that would recognise that light.

Ques. I suppose it is well to bear in mind that the wilderness is a very practical thought, is it not?

J.T. I think so, and it is not merely something that you have to pass through, it is designed of God. It is intended that the testimony should be there; hence the importance of the saint recognising that his body is requisite to it; you are needed there.

Ques. There are divine lessons there, that can be learned nowhere else?

J.T. And more than that, you have set forth the order that shall be established presently -- that order is to be seen in an adverse world: that is God's idea. What I understand by the wilderness is this: that God does not propose to alter your circumstances outwardly at all, what He proposes to do is to alter you, so that you should set forth His order there.

Rem. That is the difference between ourselves and Israel; they were led into a literal wilderness; now God affects us while we are still in the same circumstances; it is unseen to the natural eye.

J.T. The change is not in the circumstances but in you. I believe that any effort to alter your circumstances only interferes with the thought of God. He knows all about your circumstances before He touches you, and He intends to show the greatness of His work; He changes you and leaves the circumstances untouched. He supports you according to the light that has come into your soul.

Ques. Could you state what it is that entices you to take the wilderness position?

J.T. I think what you see in Moses is important.

He necessarily acquired a great place in the minds and hearts of the Israelites. He is really typical of Christ -- that he celebrated the passover for faith, that the destroying angel should not touch them -- it was not a question of himself but them. That shows his affection for them -- he considered for them; in that way I think he acquired a very great place in the minds and hearts of the children of Israel. Now if you apply that to the Lord I think you can understand how believers are led to accept baptism as the eunuch did -- the light of that Man in Isaiah 53 had come into his soul; He says, "here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Acts 8:36 Now it was said of the Israelites that they were all baptised unto Moses, but then what is said here is, "As many as have been baptised unto Christ Jesus, have been baptised unto his death". That is the point, I take it, here.

Ques. Death becomes the means of escape from all that is obnoxious?

J.T. Yes, now God takes you up. Hence how all the education comes in. It is one thing to be fitted for heaven -- I think the wilderness helps us there -- I think the wilderness qualifies us for heaven, but then you have to be qualified for your place in relation to the tabernacle and I believe the first year of grace -- the first year of the wilderness is for that purpose; you come under the influence of Christ, where there is no demand upon you, as it were, then God proposes a covenant.

Rem. It is very striking that in that first year even the murmurings did not bring judgment, it only brought out God's resources.

J.T. When you come to Numbers the word is spoken to Moses in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the people are all to be numbered; there is to be a man of each tribe. I have no doubt there is the idea of local responsibility in that. You are numbered

in reference to your own locality. It was not done in an arbitrary way -- each tribe was represented. It all had in view the general arrangement in relation to the tabernacle of witness and that brings out, I think, the importance of the saint recognising God's claim on him. You recognise God's claim on you, that is to say, you are let down here, you are not taken to heaven, you are to be set in relation to the tabernacle of witness.

Ques. Do you mean that is what we are numbered for?

J.T. Yes.

Ques. Were they not numbered in the order of their pitching, and in the order of their march both in relation to the tabernacle?

J.T. Yes, and each man was to pitch by the standard of his father's house.

Ques. Does the tabernacle represent what is coming, in a coming day?

J.T. Yes, it represents the order that is in the mind of God; the great thought is, that that should be set up, while things are adverse.

Ques. The order was to be represented in the camp of the people?

J.T. Yes, it was to be seen. Balaam saw it; he saw the people according to their tribes: "How goodly are thy tents, ... O Israel!" Numbers 24:5 He saw them according to their tribes; he looked on the wilderness, it was the people in the wilderness that Balaam saw.

Ques. What is equivalent to the tabernacle of witness now?

J.T. It is that in which divine thoughts are cherished. That is the idea of it. The tabernacle contained within it all the precious things of God -- pre-eminently the ark of the covenant -- that was the great central thought, so that it was carefully guarded.

H.W.S. What is the difference between the service

of God in the wilderness and the service in the land?

J.T. What do you allude to?

H.W.S. Is there not a service that the saints take up that is connected with their heavenly place?

J.T. What do you allude to? I only want to get your thoughts, you know.

H.W.S. I was thinking of the saints in the consciousness of sonship.

J.T. That is the continuation really -- there is only one service so far as I know, it begins in the wilderness.

Ques. Is that service always connected with the tabernacle?

J.T. Yes, I think so.

J.S. Would the thought of the tabernacle bring in the idea of rule and law and all that which one must accept and bow to, and the pure grace of the first year prepares one to bow?

J.T. Yes, there can be no deviation from all that. You have to see that the affections were there at the outset. "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness". Jeremiah 2:2 There was an indication of their affection, and the first is, I think, the nurturing: the seventy palm trees and twelve wells of water were to promote that.

Ques. Does Romans give you the first year?

J.T. I think so, but I think the epistle to the Romans contains more. I think it is important to see how God nurtures the affections of His people. The manna indicated that God would provide them with everything, but all to an end -- the proposal He makes to them in Exodus 19He would make a covenant with them and would dwell with them; wonderful thoughts! That was to be in the wilderness; all that shows the importance of the wilderness position. So that the book of Numbers begins with the second year, a man was supposed to be well on --

twenty years old and upwards; there they are, and they are numbered, and each man is to take up his local position in regard to the tabernacle.

J.B. I would like to ask what is the meaning of the four ensigns and why the standard -- bearers were Judah and Reuben, Ephraim and Dan?

J.T. Well, I do not know, except that it shows God's own sovereignty in the arrangement -- why Judah had the leading place would, I think, indicate the sovereignty of God -- it is not Joseph, it is Judah; God acts according to His sovereignty and then that must be according to perfect wisdom.

J.B. I was wondering whether we got a kind of view of the order and it ends really in apostasy.

J.T. But how important that we should each know his place in regard to that. A man pitches by the standard of his father's house, that refers to his local responsibility.

Rem. As to the company at Corinth being addressed.

J.T. It was "to the assembly of God which is in Corinth ... with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" 1 Corinthians 1:2; that is the general thought and the local thought, but the tabernacle is the great controlling, governing principle. The tabernacle was not a very ostentatious thing; compared with the temple it was very insignificant looking; the point in it is the value of the things contained within.

Ques. Is there anything that answers to the tabernacle now?

J.T. I think, as I said, it is that in which divine thoughts are cherished; to speak more correctly, it is that in which Christ has a place as the Centre of all divine thoughts.

Rem. That connects with Christ subjectively in the saints.

J.T. Wherever that is, that is the idea. You see it in the early part of the Acts.

-- .L. And it is all living.

J.T. Surely.

Rem. Every type in the tabernacle finds an answer in connection with Christ and the assembly.

J.T. Yes.

W.W. Is it individual exercise up to chapter 12 and is chapter 12 the first allusion to what is collective?

J.T. I think so. In chapter 12 you come to what is practical. There the apostle begins to apply the truth. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God". Romans 12:1 God can use your body in the wilderness -- you present your bodies living -- the testimony is to be maintained by life, in living persons, and living persons from the divine point of view are persons who love, they love Christ and they love one another, that is to say Christ is cherished as the Centre of divine thoughts.

J.S. Would you say that the man in accord with Christ is found in Romans -- the wood, and that in chapter 12 we have the gold appearing -- the testimony of God is reached?

J.T. Yes, I think so. One has to think of himself wisely, soberly, according to his measure.

Rem. So that there is to be divine order in the wilderness -- in reference to our individual pathway there.

J.T. There is that here in which Christ is cherished as the ark of the covenant; in other words, as the One in whom all divine thoughts centre, and you want to be in relation to that, and you stand up in your own locality in relation to that. Others do the same, so that the same principles govern these people -- they have one thought before them.

Rem. That is the importance of chapter 12 -- the

will of God. Romans leads up, does it not, to the assembly, though as to actual fact you do not get the assembly?

J.T. It lays a basis in the soul for it, so that strictly the epistle to Romans, rightly understood, prepares the saints for Ephesians.

Rem. I think it is specially helpful to notice that Romans supplies the man.

J.T. Yes, I was looking at chapter 12 to see how the believer comes up to the point. Paul says, "I say, through the grace which has been given to me, to every one that is among you, not to have high thoughts above what he should think; but to think so as to be wise, as God has dealt to each a measure of faith. For, as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office; thus we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other. But having different gifts, according to the grace which has been given to us, whether it be prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith", etc. Romans 12:3 - 6. You see how the thing is regulated. I think the design of God is that whilst there is a catholic system -- the universal principle -- the same principle governs the universe, you have also the local thought, that is, that the same order prevails in all the assemblies.

Rem. That you connect with Israel dwelling in their tents.

J.T. Yes, there is the order. Balaam's prophecy shows the importance of the book of Numbers, from God's point of view -- the importance of the saints being in order.

J.B. Then do you speak of the wilderness as the usual circumstances of the saints?

J.T. Yes. The circumstances in which God has reached you, these circumstances become a wilderness to you; they are not altered, you are left in them, but now enlightened and educated and supported in

them so that in you, as in others, God is able to set forth His mind and thought in the presence of evil. Evil is still untouched publicly.

J.B. Then is it your thought that as the children of Israel took their places in connection with the tabernacle, so we take up usual circumstances down here in the light of what has been set forth in Christ?

J.T. Yes, I think so. Moses brought all the light down from the mountain and that was given expression to in that which was constructed. Now we are to be in the light of it and we are to see to it that we answer to it.

Ques. What is the difference between that thought and that in Ephesians 2:22, "Built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit"?

J.T. No difference in this sense that the habitation is there, but then Ephesians is not the setting forth of divine order in the wilderness. What do you say, Mr. M.?

P.R.M. I should not think so.

Ques. When you were speaking of the tabernacle and the temple, did you confine your thought of the tabernacle to the coming age or do you link it with eternity?

J.T. I see what you mean. It is in the coming world you see the order. God created a universe -- moral order is there set forth, but then you have in the eternal order of things the idea of the tabernacle as a dwelling, not as a sphere of order, but as a dwelling, "The tabernacle of God is with men". Revelation 21:3

Rem. You think that the temple is connected with the thought of kingdom glory; when you come to the tabernacle you have the very nature of God -- not so much the contrast?

J.T. Yes, the tabernacle is really the greater thought and therefore the importance of seeing that it was in the wilderness.

Ques. Would you connect the last verse with the thought of the tabernacle as the dwelling?

J.T. Exactly.

Ques. Is that not the end God has reached in the assembly?

J.T. Yes.

Ques. So that Ephesians links the coming age with eternity?

J.T. It does. Now in regard of chapter 8, the point is not the order of the wilderness and guidance by objective facts, but the Spirit guides. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God". What I mean by objective is, for instance, baptism, it signifies that there has been movement; the Lord Jesus has left one order of things. He has left it by death, that is light, and we are affected by that light and so we accept baptism. Now Numbers 21 comes in; it is the termination of that order of things and the Spirit known as the subjective power becomes the means of guidance, so that sonship comes to light and not merely the light of it, but the effect of it in us.

Ques. How are you using the word 'guidance' there?

J.T. The Spirit, I believe, guides the believer through his intelligence, through his affections, he comes to apprehend unseen things.

F.W.J. Does the light come from Moses and the power of life through the Spirit?

J.T. I think so, Mr. J. All that is objective comes through Moses -- Moses is the apostle, but the subjective is clearly in the Spirit.

F.W.J. The flesh is supposed to have gone?

J.T. Yes, quite so. What one looks for in the assembly is guidance by the Spirit. When we come together we are guided by certain objective facts; it is a fact that brings us together. But then the great thing is to be governed by the light that has been

given by God to govern any given position and I believe that after the brazen serpent a new chapter begins and the sons of God are brought to light by the Spirit -- by the full unqualified recognition of the Spirit.

Ques. Then in a way the saints are looked at abstractly, are they not?

J.T. What do you mean by that?

Rem. Well, as to actual fact they are still alive in the life of flesh, but what has been brought to pass in the triumph of God is that God has a people living in the Spirit, and that, as a result, the body is presented a living sacrifice, but what underlies all that is the fact that they have been made to live in the Spirit.

J.T. Quite so. That underlies all our relations here on earth. Now, when you come to the history of the believer after the brazen serpent, you come to what is divine territory. The territory prior to that is not divine, there was not dislodgment of enemies there; when you come to the brazen serpent there is dislodgment of enemies. It is not Canaan, but it is territory that is divine. It was divinely given territory and had to be possessed; it was not the territory in which they were to live -- a man's business and his family -- that is divine territory.

Rem. One's business must not be governed by the principles of the world.

J.T. It is an entire mistake to assume that a man's business can be governed by the principles of the world.

Ques. Do you call a man's business divine territory?

J.T. The whole point in it is that he may have something to sacrifice; that is the reason why Moses would not leave the cattle.

Ques. Are we still in the wilderness?

J.T. There is a certain divine territory that you

have to pass, you recognise it; well, that divine territory was not over Jordan; it means a man's family and a man's business, as I understand it; it means legitimate relations here -- what I mean by that is every relation that God can own, but then you are not to live in that; the mischief is that many live in their families or they live in their business.

Ques. Did you say that it is given us for sacrifice; will you tell us what you mean by that?

J.T. Well, you have got something to give away.

Rem. I suppose if you take a man of the world he is characterised by covetousness; God has made us to live in the Spirit and in that way we are saved from that principle.

J.T. The sorrowful part about the two -- and -- a -- half tribes was that they thought Moab was a good place for their cattle. They thought of their business and they would stay there. It was all very well to leave the cattle there, it was the place, but why live with the cattle?

Rem. I suppose if they had left the choice with God they would have had a portion both sides as they will in the future.

J.T. Quite so. All very well to go back to Moab to the cattle provided your living associations are in Canaan; if you live in your family, when you come to the assembly you are away from home; the meeting becomes a sort of duty. The two -- and -- a -- half tribes went over to fight but it was simply a matter of duty; then they went back to Moab. There were only nine -- and -- a -- half tribes in Canaan and the two-and -- a -- half tribes had to have an altar to prove their right to go up to the tabernacle to worship, because they lived in Moab. Where there is that sort of thing there are great pains taken to prove your right to be there. If we were always there we should not have to maintain our rights there.

Ques. So if you go back to the other side it is not presenting your body a living sacrifice?

J.T. No. I think presenting your body a living sacrifice means you are wholly at the disposal of God.

Ques. Do you think that if we know what it is to go over Jordan we shall take up everything in connection with the plains of Moab and there will be a heavenly colour connected with it?

J.T. It is all well to go out of Canaan to see your cattle but be sure you live in Canaan.

Ques. What do you understand by living in Canaan?

J.T. Well, there you come to relationships, the Father and the Son and the sons, you come to divinely formed relationships, there you are at home.

J.S. You mean "As many as are led" leads on to that.

J.T. I think so. That is the leading of the Spirit.

Rem. As to yielding your body a living sacrifice.

J.T. I think you yield your body unqualifiedly: "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools". Ecclesiastes 5:4 If you assume that you present your body to the Lord, see that you pay the vow -- that there is no reserve -- you yield yourself to God.

Ques. What is the difference between the circumstances you speak of in the wilderness and the circumstances you speak of as divine territory?

J.T. Well, coming in contact with the world as it is -- it is adverse to you; but then your family things are not adverse, yet that is not the land of Canaan.

Ques. So that the wilderness you speak of would be the adverse conditions?

J.T. Yes, the adverse conditions over which God does not assume to have any control, in a sense; but He supports you in them; so that His order and His character can be seen in it. When you come to your house, God's support is there; God's influence is

there; you baptise your children, for instance, it is controlled by God in that sense, and the same principles hold good in your business, so far as I see. To assume that the principles of the world can obtain in your business and not in your house is all a mistake; the garment spotted by the flesh is to be hated.

Rem. I suppose the circumstances can only be the wilderness in the measure in which they are taken up in the light of baptism.

J.T. Yes, the tabernacle supposes that. The coverings of the tabernacle suppose reproach, whereas the temple did not. The temple was glory, there was no evil occurrent.

Ques. When you come to the land, is testimony connected with that?

J.T. I think the wilderness is the sphere of testimony.

Ques. Would you take the thought of the one body as the wilderness?

J.T. Yes.

Ques. What is the character of the conflict on the wilderness side of Jordan?

J.T. I think it is the flesh and the power of flesh in oneself.

Ques. Do you not think the wiles of Balaam specially came in there?

J.T. Yes. I was going to say you have the accuser -- the influence in heavenly places against you, then the teaching of Balaam who cast a stumbling block -- the Moabitish influence -- family relationships: relationships of this sort kept up in preference to assembly links -- these things we have to encounter, and they have to be overcome. If Balaam could not curse them, he would seduce them.

Ques. What is the difference between the relationships in which we stand in the wilderness and those of the land?

J.T. In Corinthians our bodies are said to be the members of Christ; we are said to be, although many, one body in Christ; that is to say, I think it works out in the way in which we regard each other -- we hold each other in affection.

Ques. Do you think the thought of formation comes in there?

J.T. Well, it is essential, you could not have the idea of the body without love.

Rem. I mean if you take Romans, you have the spirit of sonship, but when you come to Ephesians you have formation that has taken place in connection with the presence of the Spirit.

J.T. Quite so. All that leads up to heavenly ground -- our bodies are the members of Christ -- there is a testimony in that way as to unity seen in our bodies -- we being many, and the Corinthians are said to be locally the body of Christ -- the character is there.

Ques. What is the difference between the way sonship is presented in Romans and in Ephesians?

J.T. In Romans it is the Spirit rather, as has been said.

W.B. Is that in contrast to the thing itself?

J.T. I would not say it is in contrast to the thing, but it is not the fulness of it. That is, that God has predestinated us to sonship -- the thing itself.

W.G. Is it by the Spirit you can understand heavenly privilege?

J.T. I think that is Romans. What a wonderful thing it is to see sonship -- that is people led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

Ques. No public evidence, but a moral one?

J.T. I do not think sonship is for a testimony here; the point is what you are.

Rem. A secret you cherish.

J.T. Yes.

Ques. You connect the idea of the body of Christ with testimony here?

J.T. Corinthians is that. Corinthians contemplates the body here; Ephesians is the body in connection with God's counsels -- the complement of Christ.

Ques. Do you get assembly ground in Romans?

J.T. The assembly convened is not in Romans. As has been said, Romans brings in the man. The man that God can take up.

Rem. You must have the man to go to church.

J.T. Exactly; so that a good Roman makes a good Ephesian.

THE BLESSING OF GOD -- HOW DISPENSED

Genesis 27:24 - 40; Numbers 6:22 - 27

What I have on my mind is to speak a word about the blessing of God. I thought rather to show the manner of its communication than to enlarge upon the thing itself -- it would be undertaking a rather big task to speak upon the blessing itself.

In response to Esau's question, "Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?" it comes to light that Isaac had more than one blessing, and, coupling this with the allusion to this incident in the New Testament, we are confirmed in that thought. We are told "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come". Hebrews 11:20 So that you can see that in speaking of blessing we touch a very wide subject. Undoubtedly every family shall have its own distinct blessing. It is intimated here. The Lord Jesus will have to say to each family and will bless each. So the subject becomes very extensive, and I do not attempt to speak of the thing itself but of the manner of it.

You will remember what is said in regard of ourselves: we are blessed "with every spiritual blessing" Ephesians 1:3 -- others may have one or two, but we have all, and, more than that, we have them in heaven -- that is the place we have them in -- "In the heavenlies in Christ". I refer to that as a theme that should prepossess every christian heart. Other thoughts have their place, but that thought should prepossess our hearts. I commend it to you, and may the Lord lead us to ponder the greatness of the portion that is ours when the full mind of God is disclosed. That is what gives character and preciousness to Paul's line -- the whole counsel of God. Finding an appreciative company, he is enabled to bring it to

light, and when the whole counsel of God is brought to light we find we have the first place in connection with Christ. He begins with the assembly. The assembly has the first place there; it is formed and placed in the heavenlies in connection with Christ before the blessing of the other families. We have part in all the others while having distinct blessing of our own. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing by the Father Himself, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ". Ephesians 1:3 In such fashion was the apostle, in apprehension of soul in the presence of the Father, moved by the greatness of the divine thought in regard to the assembly. He would lay it on the hearts of the Ephesian saints, that they might be in the light of it. What marvellous light it is! -- the bringing in of what the heart of God cherished in a past eternity -- that we should have that place. We would not have it in any other than Christ Jesus. As loving the Lord Jesus the youngest believer would instinctively refuse to have it in another; but the magnitude of the position is emphasised.

As I was saying, I desire to present the manner of it, and I take Isaac to be typical of Christ as the Blesser; that is to say, from the birth of Isaac, especially from his weaning until he blesses Jacob and Esau, we have the christian dispensation in type. From the moment of Isaac's weaning we have in the forefront a man whose origin and destiny is heaven -- at every turn you find heaven signalises the presence of that man here. After he is weaned Ishmael mocks. There was nothing in the babe to draw out hatred, to provoke malice, the malice must have arisen from another cause -- it was not the babe personally. Hence the unjustifiable attitude of Ishmael. Ishmael must go, but he is cast out as blessed. The angel called out of heaven to Hagar -

there is the allusion to Isaac -- out of respect to Isaac, Ishmael is blessed. If you examine the previous allusion to Ishmael when Hagar fled from Sarah, the angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar but not out of heaven; but now that Isaac is on the scene, even Ishmael is taken account of in heaven. Such is Isaac! At the offering up of Isaac the angel of the Lord calls twice out of heaven, emphasising the fact that he is a heavenly man -- the man whom Abraham offered up was an object of interest in heaven. I allude to this so that we may get clearly before us the position of Isaac as the heavenly man. Ishmael comes into blessing and Esau comes into blessing. It is very simple and it throws light on the dispensation to which we belong -- a dispensation in which everybody is blessed. I do not say everybody enjoys the blessing; but it is there for everybody, without preference even a mocker, a persecutor, is blessed. The man, too, who despised his birthright, the profane person -- the Spirit tells us, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau". Hebrews 11:20 That gives us some idea of our dispensation -- I think we should boast in it -- a dispensation in which blessing goes out unhinderedly.

I want to dwell upon Isaac -- I have often said he is Paul's great text in the Old Testament. The section of Scripture that records the birth and life and the doings of Isaac presents the ministry of the apostle Paul. It is the man who, first of all, obtains the place of pre-eminence in Abraham's house. Abraham makes a feast when Isaac is weaned -- doubtless an allusion to the separation of the Lord Jesus from Israel. Isaac obtains the pre-eminent place in the house; hence the mocking of Ishmael. Then, on the other hand, he becomes the victim, and as the victim offered up, heaven claims him -- he is the supreme object of heaven. Twice in chapter 22 the angel called out of heaven. Then we get the relationship with the assembly -- Isaac receives Rebekah. His

mother dies and he is alone in the field -- he is said to be praying. Did you ever see Him thus? His mother's tent is empty and Isaac is alone in the field. Now you will never understand your place in His heart until you see Him thus. The Lord needs us! Chapters 23 and 24 taken together, show the Lord recognising the place Israel has in the mind of God and the fact that it will cease. It is one thing that Isaac was weaned, it is another thing to see Israel deceased. The Lord felt it, and Paul felt it!

In the end of chapter 24, Isaac is seen alone in the field -- what is he meditating about? It refers to prayer -- there is a want in his heart. There is a place in the heart of Christ for every saint. One would love to fill a place in the heart of Christ! The love of Christ is towards the assembly -- He loved the assembly and gave Himself for it. What a thought to have a place like that in the heart of Christ!

Isaac is alone -- at this point Paul comes in; the mission of Abraham's servant is typical of Paul's ministry. Paul got near enough to the heart of Christ to discern what He wanted. Paul went out into the world to get the assembly -- the assembly was there before; the coming of the Spirit had formed it; the treasure was in the field. The field is not Israel; it is the world -- it is where Isaac was meditating. Paul went out and brought it in. What a ministry! Those with David heard when he longed for water from the well at Bethlehem. This indicates somewhat how Paul felt the longings of the heart of the Lord Jesus. John heard the voice of the Bridegroom but Paul heard the beatings of His heart. "I have espoused you to one husband" 2 Corinthians 11:2 gives the idea. He would have their affections undivided -- any division of our affections is the work of the enemy -- he says, "I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God". 2 Corinthians 11:2 He feared that as the serpent beguiled Eve, so their thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity

as to the Christ. How does he beguile us? By the introduction of something that divides the heart with Christ. A divided heart is the work of the devil -- a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let it be what it may that divides the heart with Christ, it is the fruit of the devil's work. Paul presented one Man. He says, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more". 2 Corinthians 5:16 Where did Paul meet the Lord Jesus as a heavenly Man? The first time he saw Him, the first time he heard Him, it was out of heaven, and he presented in the gospel what he saw and heard. What was his ministry? It was the ministry of Christ. He came to Corinth and presented one Man in the gospel. The effect was, souls were converted. He loved Christ and he attached them to Christ. In that way Paul espoused them to Christ. Think of that word 'espoused'. He says, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ". 2 Corinthians 11:2 He presented Christ, and they were brought to love the Lord. That is how the assembly is formed -- you are brought into the assembly in that way. You discover your place in His heart, and He has got a place in yours. That place is to be reserved for Him! The Lord detests a divided heart -- it results in idolatry; the Lord is displaced.

Now that is really chapter 24 -- Rebekah is brought to Isaac and he is comforted after his mother's death. When we come to chapter 27 we have the blesser. It is all the history of Isaac, and it shows the extent of the blessing -- even he who deserved the curse is blessed. We see how indiscriminate the blessing is: "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau". Hebrews 11:20 That is our dispensation! Blessing is universal in the hands of the heavenly Man. The heavenly Man is marked by suffering rather than vindictiveness. Look at the

Lord Jesus -- He says to Saul, "Why persecutest thou me?" Acts 9:4 How easily He could have disposed of Saul in judgment! What had he been doing? He had gone into the houses of the members of Christ and dragged both men and women off to prison. As James says, "Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you". James 5:6 That is the heavenly Man! That is Christ! It shall not be so in the future. The Psalms call for vengeance. We could not use the Psalms as the experience of our exercises. Take Stephen -- he was condemned and killed, and there was no resistance. The Lord says to Saul, "Why dost thou persecute me?" There was nothing there to call out Saul's hatred. "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" Acts 26:14 -- that is the heavenly Man. Is it not a simple thing to see what the heavenly Man is? There, too, you have what the assembly is -- the Lord discloses in that one verse what the assembly is. That is what the saints were at the beginning and the Lord acknowledges that such people are Himself The Lord does not own the man who defends himself -- he belongs to another dispensation. The heavenly man does not resist; he becomes a martyr; Stephen's face shines as the face of an angel. That indicates something of what Christ was as expressed here. Saul got in the Lord's first address to him what He is Himself and what the assembly is.

Now that is how Saul met the Lord Jesus and his heart was imbued with a sense of blessing. We know how he spoke of it afterwards, that instead of dealing with him in judgment, the Lord converted him, brought him to Himself and gave him the Holy Spirit. There we come to what we have in Genesis 27; "Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau". The Lord blessed Saul of Tarsus; so you can see in the first meeting of the Lord with Saul how the idea of His position as the Blesser comes out -- instead of being dealt with in judgment, Saul is blessed.

I wish to show you that Isaac, in chapter 27, is conscious of the blessing. The nearer you get to the Lord, the more He impresses you with His ability to bless. Isaac would bless Esau -- the thought in his mind is to bless. He says of Jacob, "Yea, and he shall be blessed". But Isaac had more than one blessing; he blesses Jacob and Esau; that is to say, if the heavenly Man blesses, the blessing is universal, it is available for all.

I would add one more thought. In speaking of the manner of the blessing, it afterwards comes out through the priest -- the priest was a heavenly man; he was clad in the robe of blue. But here you come to a man under obligation, as an official. Isaac was not an official; he is conscious of the blessing, and he blesses accordingly, "Yea, and he shall be blessed" -- there is no possibility of reversal. "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed". What a wonderful thing to have an odour like that! When you come to the priest, he is directed how to bless; he has access to God; he goes inside. The habit of going inside is very important; turning to God is our greatest privilege -- we are entitled at any time to take up the priestly function. The sanctuary is all lit up by Christ. Suppose you go to heaven actually -- you see One there who has a Man's feelings, a Man's sympathies. The One who has got you and me on His heart is the Light of heaven -- He illuminates heaven. We are encouraged to draw near, having such a High Priest. The way is open -- "Let us draw near!" Hebrews 10:22 That High Priest is on our side -- that Man knows all about you; He has your name on His breastplate. How lovely! Does it not give us confidence? As we draw near we are supported by the Lord Jesus. I allude to that in connection with the Priest -- our names are on His heart, and He has direct access to God.

In Leviticus 8, the priests abide at the door of the

tabernacle for seven days, and in chapter 9, Aaron and Moses go in to the tabernacle, and when they come out they bless the congregation. The blessing was then on the earth; now Christ blesses out of heaven. In Luke 24, the Man who blesses the people is carried up into heaven -- heaven is influenced by that Man. What a thought! The Man who has gone in and who illuminates heaven has been carried up. It is not that He went up, that He ascended -- the point in Luke is, the Man who blesses is carried up.

In the ritual in Numbers, the priest blesses according to all the intelligence of the mind of God. The blessing comes to us through such a Man -- through the Man who has got access, and who blesses according to all His infinite intelligence and holiness. So that blessing for all comes out through the heavenly Man, and comes to us through the Priest. The One who lifted up His hands and blessed them is carried up into heaven -- heaven will have a Man like that.

May the Lord enable us to follow these thoughts, so that we may realise the importance of the manner of the blessing of God -- how it comes out universally, and to ourselves.

LUKE WRITES WITH METHOD

Luke 6:12 - 19; Luke 10:20 - 22

Luke writes, as he tells us, with method, and I suppose that method is not simply chronological. I take it his method is moral, he arranges his subjects methodically, in order to present the truth in such a way that it should be expressive of God and of His grace, and also that it might be intelligible and acceptable to man. With this end in view, he removes every possible hindrance, so that the prejudices of men should not be aroused; that men should be in no way at a disadvantage when the truth is presented to them. So he introduces his narrative here with a peculiar incident, in which the Lord Jesus is seen descending from the mount with His disciples to a level place. But before descending He is presented to us as spending a whole night in prayer to God. This is not as John presents things. John records that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son", John 3:16 but Luke works this out as seen and developed in the ministry and walk of Christ, so that one is impressed with the sense of what Elihu said, "My terror shall not make thee afraid", Job 33:7. Luke takes pains in this way to present the Lord as allaying every prejudice in the heart of man, hence in his gospel -- in his methodical presentation of the truth -- he unfolds the grace of God as brought out in Christ, not indeed in the terse and concise way that John does, but according to the moral order which is characteristic of his writings. John says, "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ", John 1:17 but Luke breaks that up for us in a methodical way. So he begins by saying, "he went out into the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God". What the Lord said to His Father in all that night is not

recorded. It will doubtless be included in those books that John speaks of, that would fill the world if they were written, but they have not been written: John 17 does not give us this prayer. It was not uttered in the hearing of the disciples. "He went out into the mountain to pray", it says, "and he spent the night in prayer to God"; that is, a Man mediatorially with God. Then it goes on, "when it was day", that is, the time of working -- when it arrived, He says, 'Now I am going to associate men with Me -- men known to others -- some fishermen -- some tax-gatherers, and so forth: I am going to associate these with Myself in approaching humanity'. So it says, "when it was day he called his disciples"; and then He made a selection. It is a mediatorial scene, that is, the activity of Christ in carrying the gospel in the most effective way from God, to man in the plain, is seen. It is Christ, and Christ mediatorially. "There is ... one mediator" the word tells us, "between God and men, the man Christ Jesus". 1 Timothy 2:5 So the Lord calls His disciples apart in order to make His momentous choice, not thinking of their dignity, but of the men on the plain -- the lepers, the demon-possessed, the paralytics, all the sin-stricken and sin-sorrowing of the plain -- these were in His mind. The whole race of mankind was before Him -- none less -- for He was the Son of man, and all that fell to man was His; not only the assets, but the liabilities. We must not forget there were assets, for God has indicated these, and they stood awaiting Christ's coming: dominion over creation, the throne of David, and priesthood -- all these came under Christ. But then the liabilities -- terrible and far-reaching in their nature -- were His also. Let us think of that -- that I was a liability; I was no asset; and the Lord had to take account of my affairs, and to meet them in death; nevertheless, when it came to Him, He shirked nothing.

So He called His disciples, and chose twelve who should be His associates in the mission that He was about to undertake. It is well to have before our souls the care and forethought with which the Lord Jesus in becoming Man took up His work. He nominates twelve men, whom, it says, also He named apostles. It was an official act, and all the official acts of Christ were with good in view. He had before Him the welfare of others. It was no question of ennobling those twelve men; the point was to do the work; the nobility and honour would await them (that we shall speak of later); the point in the Lord's mind was that they should get on to the plain as fast as possible and with the best equipment. The need was on the plain: every sinner was there: the 'no-difference' doctrine of Paul belongs to the plain. Judaism was national -- a sort of mountain towering above all others, whereas Paul brought in the 'no-difference' doctrine, which answers to the scripture we have here: "having descended with them, he stood on a level place"; and he brought it in in a peculiar way, not only announcing 'no difference', but acting on the 'no-difference' principle. He could say to Peter at Antioch: You are not acting it. Peter had drawn back, turning the saints aside from the principle of the plain. Paul held to it and says, "I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed". Galatians 2:11 Is there anyone holding preferential position in the things of God? There can be no such position from the divine side manward. So Paul says, "Unto the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews". 1 Corinthians 9:20 I got on their level, he says -- that is the idea of the plain: I became "all things to all men, that I might by all means save some". 1 Corinthians 9:22 He was entirely in accord with the mission of Christ; he had no thought of his own dignity. Let no one think that a preacher is above his congregation; he must come down to their level,

and below them, if he is to help them. Paul became all things. Whatever men made him -- whatever indignity was laid upon him -- he was ready to accept it in order to reach precious souls.

Now we find the Lord formally accrediting the apostles as His representatives, and in this connection it is interesting to note that it does not say He sent them (this He did afterwards), but "he came down with them". It is what one has just been asking the Lord to do -- to come with us. The remarkable thing here is that it does not say that they came with Him, but He with them, that is, they are to do the work now. It is very wonderful that God should take up men to set forth the gospel, for angels are mightier than men, but He is pleased to take up men -- men who are restored in their right hand. We find, in the incident that precedes this, the Lord going into the synagogue and healing the man whose hand was withered. The right hand must be healed. "The heart of a wise man is at his right hand", Ecclesiastes 10:2 that is, in other words, the servant of Christ is actuated by love. So his right hand must be stretched out and healed; he is to be actuated by his heart, not by his head -- actuated by love for souls.

And now the Lord descends with His disciples to a level place. Where are you tonight? Are you prepared to take a humble place with the race of humanity, acknowledging that you are no different from all others? See the kind of people who were on the plain! -- "a great multitude of the people, ... and those that were beset by unclean spirits". Note it says that first they "came to hear". Are you prepared to hear what Christ has to say to you tonight? This meeting is in order that you may be spoken to in grace, and the Lord would raise the question with you as to whether you came to hear. Now that is an important point. It first says, they came to hear Him; and secondly, to be healed of their diseases. That is the

moral order. They were not only affected in regard to their diseases, they wanted to hear. We read of one who says, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for he will speak peace unto his people". Psalm 85:8 What would the Lord say to you? He would speak to you according to the state of your soul, but He is not limited to that. In speaking to Mary He was not addressing her according to the state of her soul; we are simply told that He was speaking and she was hearing. She was an advanced hearer, we might say. It is of moment, not only to hear what the Lord would say to you personally, but to give ear to whatever He says. Poor Zedekiah said, "Is there any word from the Lord?" Jeremiah 37:17 He was not prepared for the word that came, for that word was terrible. Jerusalem was to be destroyed and sacked, and the kingdom taken away from the poor king: it was a dreadful word, nevertheless, it was "a word from the Lord". But whilst the Lord speaks to you, as I was saying, according to your need, He speaks other things, and we want to hear whatever He says. Everything He says is of value, so Mary was listening, we are told, to what He was saying. He is the Word of God, and He is not limited to the need of my soul; He speaks of God. So in the narrative in this chapter we find they "came to hear". The Lord has got a word for you. He would remind you of your need of Him. After all, you will not gain much in your endeavour to find satisfaction in the world if that is what you are after. I have seen a good bit of it, though not like Solomon; I have seen it in passing, but Solomon saw it and tasted it by the help of God. No one can say that today. Any man who goes in for the world today has to do so at his own expense, but it was not so with Solomon; he had ability, intelligence and means, so he drank of all the rivers. "All the rivers", he tells us, "run into the sea; yet the sea is not full". Ecclesiastes 1:7 It was his own poor heart he had in view. It

was a big heart, as he was a great man, and the rivers all turned into it, and yet he was unsatisfied. So we may say with the little bit you have got, and the little bit I have got -- there is no satisfaction. You may obtain it according to your price, to the extent of sixpence or a shilling, a pound, or one hundred pounds, whatever your means may be. If you have the means of a Rockefeller you could buy it to any extent, and yet, like that poor man, you might not, perhaps, be able to digest a single meal. However much your means, you cannot be satisfied with what you buy, for the elements of satisfaction are not there. I am stating things that all may know, but they are timely things to say. War is over, and Satan is busy seeking to rearrange and readjust things to satisfy his votaries of whom, alas! the greater number of the world consists; he is active, I say, and rearranging his affairs so that he might lull to sleep the exercises which have arisen in the hearts of men. God would stir up, by means of all that men have passed through, a sense of responsibility towards Himself; a sense, too, of all that obtains in the world -- its wickedness and woe, and Satan is working to allay all that by the racecourse and places of amusement. But the elements of satisfaction are wanting: "Her guests are in the depths of hell", Proverbs 9:18 we are told. Terrible language! -- the world in that character setting itself under Satan's direction to decoy and destroy the souls of men. Well, wisdom, in face of all this, lifts up her voice. "Wisdom is justified of all her children" Luke 7:35; and her children appear in this gospel. So now we find the Lord Jesus, having come down, associates with Himself twelve men to relieve those on the plain. That is what He is doing tonight, coming down to your level, endeavouring to impress you with the sense that He is near you, so that virtue, which is available for you from Himself, might be imparted to you. So first the people hear; then they want to

be healed; and then it says, "all the crowd sought to touch him". There is a general movement in the multitude towards the Lord. Are you prepared to make a move in that direction? As having come down to your level, He has placed Himself where He can be touched, becoming one of us, as it were, in His grace, for it says, "power went out from him, and healed all". How beautiful is His grace! I would appeal to you if you have any need in your soul to come and touch Him. Lay hold of Christ on the principle of faith, for, after all, the word is not far from you; you have not to go to heaven, or to the depths, "the word is near thee", the apostle says, "in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach". Romans 10:8 How terrible is the responsibility of a child of christian parents, brought up in a christian home, and taught to read the word and to pray. The word is near you; it is all about you. Are you to put it away? And what is that word? It is "the word of faith, which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved". Romans 10:9 How beautiful! How simple! Mark you, I am not now referring to what I am saying; I am speaking of what you have in your heart and mouth, that is, "the word of faith, which we preach". And then it goes on to say, "If thou shalt confess ... thou shalt be saved", Romans 10:9. May I appeal to anyone who has not come to a decision to lay hold of the word in this way. I can remember when I did. It came about in the most simple and unexpected and unpremeditated way, but I never faltered after that. You believe, and confess that Jesus is Lord. You lift up a standard in the presence of the enemy; you own Christ publicly as your Lord, and you believe in your heart privately with God.

I could not put the gospel in a simpler way to you.

I do not pretend to be a 'plain' man, but I would endeavour to be one tonight. I would present the gospel as I see it. Christ has come down with His apostles to the plain, to heal men, and it remains for you now to confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and to believe in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10). If anyone were to ask me why I have got a mouth, I should reply, 'To confess Christ with', and the first use I am to make of my heart is to believe on Him. He is presented thus to me that my heart should believe on this blessed Man raised from the dead.

And now one word as to the other side. While Christ accords power to those who present the gospel on the plain, their honour and dignity is not there. The occasion of rejoicing of the people of God is that their names are written in heaven. The seventy come back and say, "even the demons are subject to us through thy name". Luke 10:17 What a testimony! They came back victorious and occupied with their victory. Like many of us, we are all disposed to live in what marks us in testimony and in service, but the Lord does not give us power for service in order that we should live in that. That is a peculiar kind of power intended for service, but not to live on. The occasion of our joy is elsewhere. The life, privilege, honour and dignity of Christ all lie elsewhere; they lie outside of man. So the Lord says, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven". Luke 10:18 That is a greater victory. 'You are talking of what has happened on earth', He would say, 'but I saw Satan fall from heaven'. How beautiful! Think of your name written in heaven: think of my name written there! In travelling about the world one has to write one's name a good many times -- one's name, age, mother's name, and whereabouts -- all that

information has to be furnished. But what I would say is, you will not have to give this in heaven, your name is already recorded there eternally, your name is actually written there. When the matter of books comes up, we find that the book of life is brought in as a further testimony in regard to the lost. The books are opened, it says, and the dead are judged according to their works. The works are recorded, according to those books. The word is 'books', suggestive of a number -- a reflection which fills the heart with sorrow as one thinks of the vast numbers of this poor race classified with the 'dead' -- "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God". Revelation 20:12 Terrible thought! But then it says, another book (not books) was opened, for all the names of the redeemed are in one book; the thought of unity is there, all the names of the redeemed are written. Now, it is noticeable that it does not come into view at the translation, it is not searched in order to find whether my name is there before I go up, it comes into view a thousand years later in connection with the lost. The other books are opened first, and there is abundance to condemn, but it is as if God said, 'Lest there should be any mistake, I shall look in the book of life, and see if your name is inscribed there'. In order that every conscience may be satisfied that there is no possible hope for the lost, no kind of exemption for them, God opens this book. Are you prepared to have your name entered in the book of life? It is a serious matter, for records are being constantly kept, and your responsibility is put down against you. The book of life is a special book in which the names of the saints are inscribed in legible characters. They are perfectly readable and cannot be erased. It says in Revelation, in the address to Sardis, "I will not blot his name out of the book of life". Revelation 3:5 It does not say any are blotted out, the statement is made in order to assure the redeemed that

their names are not blotted out. If Christ does not blot them out, who can?

But here what we find is that our names are registered in heaven. Think of that, that my name is written in heaven. How it should sink into every christian's heart! You rejoice in that. I have often raised the question with myself, as to whether I ever did rejoice in it. There is a book which is called 'Who's Who' in which is entered the name of every person of importance in the United Kingdom, their ancestry, rank, etc. When I go up to heaven, how many of those men shall I see there? There is a book in heaven after the pattern of 'Who's Who', and the name of every heavenly christian is there. So the Lord says, "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven", and then He rejoices -- the Lord rejoices -- in spirit. In following the gospel narrative how one's heart is drawn out to the Lord in all the woes of His path; so when one comes to a point like this -- one of the bright spots in His sojourn here -- how one rejoices. When He touches the thought of heaven, immediately He thinks of the Father, of His counsels, of His abode, of all that He has before Him, and He rejoices in spirit, for nothing of all the Father's counsels shall fail, everything will come to pass, so we shall each have our place in heaven according to the Father's appointment.

What a prospect for us as drawing nigh to the end! One can be conscious of a spirit of expectation arising in the hearts of the people of God. As the world goes down in utter confusion, so the hopes of the saints grow brighter. So the Lord rejoices in spirit; may not we rejoice with Him, for not only are our names written in heaven, but the effectuation of the counsels of God is nigh. May God bless His word!

GLORY OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL

Ezekiel 8:1 - 4; Ezekiel 9:1 - 11

Ezekiel holds a very peculiar place among the prophets -- he is not what may be termed an evangelistic prophet. I think that Isaiah stands out as the evangelistic prophet. You will recall how the Lord, in standing up to preach for the first time, turned to Isaiah for His gospel text. I take it therefore that Isaiah has a peculiar place in that way; and you will recall, too, how the eunuch who had been up to Jerusalem to worship, returning in his chariot through the desert, also read the book of Isaiah, and how that Philip, who is the one man in all Scripture called an evangelist, began at the same scripture that the eunuch read and preached unto him from that scripture -- "Jesus".

Jesus was foreseen by the prophet Isaiah in a peculiar way; he says, "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple", Isaiah 6:1. He records there the acknowledging of his sinfulness; there was ready to hand a means of cleansing, for one of the seraphim takes a coal from the altar, flies swiftly and touches the prophet's lips so that he was cleansed, and hence John the evangelist records that "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him", John 12:41. John cites the chapter I quoted (chapter 6), and he quotes chapter 53 at the same time, and then he says, "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him". It was through what we may call an evangelical prophet he announced the glory of the King on His throne, and Isaiah announced the moral glory of the same One, in His path of suffering love

in the world. "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth", Isaiah 53:7. 'He was stricken', he says, 'for us' -- for the transgression of Jehovah's people. "Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath subjected him to suffering ... by his knowledge shall my righteous servant instruct many in righteousness". Isaiah 53:10 - 11 Such is the testimony, beloved friends, of Isaiah, the greatest of the prophets!

Now Ezekiel has another point of view. It is not a suffering Jesus, nor is it exactly Jesus on the throne; what he is pointed to is "the glory of the God of Israel".

Isaiah saw the glory of the Messiah, for His name signifies that He was "Jehovah the Saviour".

Ezekiel sees the: glory of God. The great counterpart of Ezekiel in the New Testament is Stephen, and, I may add, the counterpart of Stephen is Paul. Stephen sees Jesus in heaven "standing", he says, "at the right hand of God". Acts 7:55 Think of that! think of a man here looking through the heavens and seeing Jesus standing at the right hand of God. It says he saw "the glory of God and Jesus". Well, now, Paul takes that up and he is more explicit, he says it is "the glory of God in the face of Jesus" -- in the face of Jesus -- think of that, beloved friends. "God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 4:6. It is the glory here in Jesus there, the glory in Jesus, and it is revealed in the heart of Paul for the shining forth of it, he says. It shone down here, it was reflected down here in Paul, as he moved about among the nations, in a circuit from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum. As he moved about in that circuit there was the reflection of the glory of God in the face of a Man in

heaven, shining out in that wonderful vessel. That is how Paul is regarded.

Ezekiel's great view is "the glory of God", so he says, "As I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God". When God gives us visions they are visions in regard of Himself -- visions of His glory, and the first chapter outlines a wonderful system -- wheels, and cherubs, and a man, and lions and oxen. An irresistible force going straight on (verse 12) and on the top of it, in the amber spot, "the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it" (verse 26). That was what he saw, and then he describes the man and the description is none other than a description of the Lord Jesus -- he began with his loins upward and from his loins downward. In that way He is a Man in the supreme place, who has got compassions. As the apostle says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God", Romans 12:1. They are expressed in a Man -- every divine compassion found its expression in that Man. This description, as I said, is from the loins. The loins are a well-known seat of the lower affections -- there are higher affections connected with the heart, but what men need first of all are not those higher affections, but the lower affections that we get in the epistle to the Romans. "The compassions of God", that is what men need to begin with -- you need compassion -- God has had compassion on man -- he needs it.

Referring back to Romans 12, the writer says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God", in other words, it is the measurement downwards, it is God, in His compassion, going out to man. In Luke 7 "He had compassion" on the widow. Now, if you compare Luke 7 with John 11 you will see the difference. It does not say He had compassion on Martha and Mary -- no. He loved them. That is the higher affection -- from the loins up. John

11 opens with the statement, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" (verse 5). Hence, death having come in and broken up the circle, He must break death. He groaned as He approached the grave of Lazarus, but that groan meant that death must be annulled, it was a scene befitting a power that could annul death. That word 'groan' implies the deepest movement of His being; He felt the power of death for those He loved -- what a comfort for christians! and He looks at death in the way it affects us. He went into death and broke its power because He loved us. "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death", 2 Timothy 1:10.

Luke 7 gives us the lower affections; 'compassion' and 'love' are two different words, hence Luke says He was moved with compassion for the widow. He does not give us her name or her son's name, she is a widow and had an only son. A widow represents poor, needy, sin-stricken humanity. Are you aware of the ravages of death? Have they come home to you? Men shut their eyes to it; where death occurs all kinds of things are brought in to minimise its awful effect. In regard of the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, there is a little girl of twelve and she died. Death enters that house, and Jairus goes to the Lord and the Lord follows him to the house -- think of that! The Maker of the universe following a man to raise his little girl. That shows the compassion of Christ, but, when He went in, what did He find? "the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly", Mark 5:38. They were there to minimise the awful effect of death, they were making a tumult. The Lord says, 'I cannot help you now, you must remove the flute-players'. I use it as an illustration of how death is sought to be minimised by contrivances that Satan has devised. We must confess that God has brought home the ravages of death to mankind in a way He never did before. One can

well understand the expression, "O death"! Luke says the Lord was moved with compassion for the widow, it was the lower affections. God's compassions are towards all men. He has compassion for everybody; He had compassion for the widow and He has compassion for you, and as it says in Romans 3:22, "righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all" -- it takes in every man, every woman and every child.

Do you know Him? The christian knows Him; he knows how He has met him in his need, how he has peace through the blood of Christ, how the Holy Spirit has been given in the same connection, and then, as the scripture says, "his compassions fail not; they are new every morning", Lamentations 3:22. Brother, do you know that? The freshness of divine compassions every morning -- that is to say, God taking account of us in the needs of our bodies, and there are fresh mercies every morning.

Ezekiel sees, in this chapter 8, when he was sitting in his house -- it is well that a man should learn to sit in his house -- godly men know how to sit in their houses and look after their families. Ezekiel was sitting in his house, and the hand of the Lord fell upon him. The elders of the people of God were there -- that is a good point, and then, as it reads, "the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me". In his house with the elders of Judah -- what must Ezekiel have been saying to them? Ah! he was a man of God, he would talk to these elders as to their responsibility. You know, that is what men think of least. Someone was saying to me yesterday: an unconverted man was speaking to him just yesterday, and saying how he had been ill, and he said, 'You know, when a man is ill, he begins to think'. Yes, but perhaps you never shall be ill; you must begin to think under other circumstances besides illness God would have you think -- "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation". 2 Corinthians 6:2

God is speaking to you now, it is for you to think; and so the elders of Judah would suggest this responsibility in figure. What about your responsibility? You may say, 'Well, I have my family, and my business'. Yes, what about your soul? There is a well-known instance of a man who had much wealth through business, through the fruits of his lands -- "much goods laid up for many years" -- he had provided for many years, as men do. Sharp businessmen look ahead to see how the markets are going, but when God comes in, what about his much goods? "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee". Luke 12:20 "Thy soul" -- not your wife, or your children, but your own soul shall be required of thee, you have got to give it up. That is your responsibility. It is the beginning of your responsibility -- when God speaks to you, you yourself, must repent. The responsibility is individual. The house is divided -- the husbands and the wives cannot repent together, they have got to do it separately. The question of having to do with God individually is a most important thing. One has to learn to enter into his closet, and shut to the door, to be alone with God. And so, in regard of your soul, it is an intensely individual matter between yourself and God.

Ezekiel the prophet says, the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me that was remarkable, and "the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens". You get a fine view of things, a grand prospect, as you are lifted up between heaven and earth. I have no doubt that the tabernacle is a figure of the firmament between the heaven and the earth -- it was there that the Lord was; and the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up -- He was lifted up from the earth. He died between the heaven and the earth, He was a spectacle for the universe to see. Have you seen Him? -- the Lord of

glory, hanging between two malefactors, for you. He says, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me", John 12:32. But then it adds, "This he said, signifying what death he should die". It was the death of the cross. He was lifted up from the earth. Have you seen Him there? As you see Him there you are drawn to Him -- the prophet is taken by a lock of the head -- one would feel that, and he adds that he was brought to Jerusalem. The Lord wept over Jerusalem. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets", showing, as here, that her sins had mounted up to heaven, and God took account of them. And now, how about you tonight? What about your sins? What about them? They are all known to God, in citing that passage I cannot but finish it, "how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Matthew 23:37 So we see Christ showing His compassion, "and ye would not"; and so it is with every one of us who rejects, and holds himself back from the Lord Jesus, rejecting the overtures of Christ, "ye would not!"

The prophet is shown a wonderful thing, he says "and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy". Now, how is it, beloved friend, in regard of that gate in your heart? Is there a seat there for the image of jealousy? Now, God, in making you, had in mind that that heart was to be for Him. What is in that heart? What is in it, as God looks into it? "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts", Matthew 15:19 that is every heart naturally. Is that the state of your heart? or, has the Lord opened it? I often think of that dear woman called Lydia, who lived at Philippi; she was an Asiatic, but she lived in Europe and the Lord opened

her heart -- the Lord did it. There are things we cannot do, and what we cannot do the Lord does; what we can do, as His, He leaves us to do, hence "whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul", Acts 16:14. Paul spoke the things but the Lord opened her heart. One seeks that the Lord may open hearts; I know, no matter how one may speak, if the Lord does not open the heart the door is shut. Take heed how you believe and what you hear. If the Lord opened your heart He wants you to hear the things spoken by Paul -- that is the gospel; let the light of the gospel shine in.

Ezekiel saw "the seat of the image of jealousy" it may be in your heart tonight. That secret idol would make God jealous of your heart because He wants you. Every true christian here tonight loves God, and it is said of those that love God, "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to purpose", Romans 8:28. A whole number of things working together for good -- we do not appreciate that but it is so. Things that may seem adverse are all working for your good because you love God, and He would have you love Him so that the light of Christ should come into your heart. Is the image of jealousy in your heart? "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there", it was alongside the image. The glory of God is, as it were, beside you. Think of the grace and compassions of God going to where that idol was! He allowed his glory to be there. Later on in Ezekiel he says, "there was only a wall between me and them", chapter 43: 8. There is no more between God and you, the glory of God is here.

There is not anything that I am more sure of than that "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 4:6 is shining in His people here today. There is only a

wall between you and them. The glory of God was there alongside the image of jealousy, the grace of God can come near in His people.

In chapter 9 the glory had gone out to the threshold -- and I would warn you that the glory is about to leave, and the opportunity will be lost for ever. Give up that image of jealousy which disputes the rights of God in your heart! There is nothing more beautiful than the face of Jesus and the glory of God is in it -- it is imperative for you to turn away from that idol to "the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ".

In chapter 9 the judgment comes, and you will notice that the destroyers come in by the way of the upper gate. Judgment comes from heaven, it is a terrible thing to have to say that it comes from heaven -- it is overwhelming. I think the deluge was a great type of God's judgment; "the windows of heaven were opened". Genesis 7:11 Everyone was engulfed in the presence of that awful deluge -- it destroyed them every one. No one lived, except eight souls in the ark. What comes from heaven is overwhelming and so I would warn you tonight to take advantage of "the glory of God" and the outstretched hand, now. He is waiting on men to bless them, but when these six men come down there is no escape. Ancient men, young men, women and children, there is no escape whatever for the wrath of God is terrible, beyond my power to express. These men are sent with slaughter weapons in their hands, but there is the other side for your encouragement. The man with the inkhorn was among them -- he was not out of sympathy with the men with the slaughter weapons, nor is any true servant of God with a right judgment. Not that the christian hastens judgment, but he knows it has to come and he is in sympathy with it. Hence Romans teaches us that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven", Romans 1:18, It will be overwhelming

when it comes. This man with the inkhorn is clothed with linen, he is pure and holy, and he has got an inkhorn by his side. He goes out and he takes account of every person that sighs over the abominations of Jerusalem. It may be that you attach but little importance to that sigh that you give expression to, as you take account of the abominations that exist in that which bears the name of Christ in this world. God takes account of it, that is an indication that there is something of God in you -- it is there and God knows it, so he says, "Go ... through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (verse 4). Now, that is a word of encouragement; anyone that sighs or cries for the abominations that are done today in that which bears the name of Christ shall not come into judgment -- not one -- "and, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter" (verse 11). There was a report made, and I would say for your encouragement, if you are wont to sigh and cry for the abominations that exist, the mark is put on you, and I would say that you may do more than sigh and cry -- the next thing is to leave the place. "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity", 2 Timothy 2:19. Have you done that? It is a serious thing to be found in a place where abominations exist. The New Testament shows you what to do -- withdraw from the midst of it -- and there is a very beautiful word of encouragement. "The Lord knoweth them that are his". 2 Timothy 2:19 It corresponds with this passage, the man knew those that sighed and cried and so the Lord today knows those that are His, and those that are His feel, in some measure, the evil. I want you to more than feel it, I want you to act on the scripture which enjoins, "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity". Leave the place. You

say, 'What am I going to do? Am I going to be isolated in the world?' No, you do not need to be that, "follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart", 2 Timothy 2:22. Not only those who sigh and cry, but those "that call on the Lord" and what does that mean? "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved". Acts 2:21 These people know deliverance every day for they "call on the Lord out of a pure heart". They are the ones to be with.

May God bless His word!

LEVITICAL SKILL IN SERVICE

Mark 3

J.T. It is as well to remember as we had last evening that the things treated in the gospels had already become known. They were written to show the settings of them from the divine standpoint that the saints should be in sympathy with God in what He was doing.

This gospel presents the beginning of the gospel so that the believer is arrested as to what part he has in it. The Lord would bring us into a sense of levitical obligations in regard to it and this gospel is peculiarly fitted to bring about the levitical family and to bring about the recognition of levitical obligation, and that each should take his place in regard to the service.

W.H. Is that in the Lord's mind when He says, "Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men"?

J.T. Yes. It shows how the levites were brought into the service, and the apostles brought into it so that all should follow -- so that they should enter levitical service. They were with the Lord a considerable time. After this chapter is the place of active service; that is to say, from the time they are called they are serving the novitiate, the five years. They would observe the Lord, how He did things.

W.H. So that Mark says, "that they might be with him".

J.T. Yes. Now they are to be with Him in the mountain -- called apart.

G.N. Is levitical service in this gospel universal?

J.T. Yes, I think so, preaching.

Rem. So that "do the work of an evangelist" 2 Timothy 4:5 would be applicable to all of us.

J.T. Yes. In the first chapter the Lord attacks the enemy in the religious sphere and the household sphere, and He returns to the synagogue; He enters it again. At His first entrance He overthrew the power of Satan. Now He is going to take a man out of it that He can use, hence it is his right hand that is withered. He is going to employ us. And so He heals a man. Hence the man's hand is restored.

A.R. Is levitical service preaching, did you say?

J.T. Yes, it is the leading thought in this gospel.

A.R. Would you confine it to that?

J.T. No. All saints are levites. You see this third chapter is dealing with a special class of preachers. All are not preachers, neither does the assembly preach. So that this chapter calls attention to a class specially employed in the preaching.

G.N. It is the twelve that are singled out here.

J.T. That is what it develops into; but He goes up into a mountain and "calls whom he himself would" and He appointed twelve. This principle of sovereign selection is important. Peter's house had a condition that would hinder service; it was fever, but there is also the man himself in his house. It is how he is to be in it. That is chapter 2, where he has power in his house. It might not cure fever in the house but the power in which the man is set in his house would enable him to hold it for God. It says, "passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-office, and says to him, Follow me". "And it came to pass as he lay at table in his house" -- the Lord was in his house.

Rem. This house then becomes an evangelical outlet to the world.

J.T. That is what you get. Many were with Jesus at table. Levi brought in his own class.

G.N. Levitical service would be dealing with a moral state.

J.T. Would you enlarge on that?

G.N. Well, we generally take priestly service as dealing with a moral state.

J.T. The point in Mark is how things are done, do you think? The priest is the sympathetic side -- that is Luke; but the skill is seen in the levite. So that we have "He hath done all things well".

G.N. Hence the necessity of being with Him.

Ques. Do you suggest that the power of evil may be dispossessed and a brother still have a withered hand?

J.T. Yes. The withered hand means he is not available for work, so that the second chapter adjusts one in regard to one's circumstances. Love is sympathetic. But there is another thing; we have to learn what new things are, because coming out of the synagogue one would carry the old things. Hence we have seen the gospel carried on in the old way, not according to the new methods. So that the Lord, before He healed the man, brought out the fact that the things had to be new. He says, "No one sews a patch of new cloth on an old garment: otherwise its new filling-up takes from the old stuff, and there is a worse rent. And no one puts new wine into old skins; otherwise the wine bursts the skins". Mark 2:21 - 22 It is the Lord's way of doing things and that has to be noted. So that the man whose hand is withered has to learn that if he is in the Lord's employ he must work on new principles.

G.N. So that every case would require new and special skill on the part of the levite.

J.T. Yes, a certain newness in the levite working in the power of the Spirit.

Rem. You would see that in Philip joining himself to the chariot.

J.T. Philip knew what to do. In Samaria he preached Christ because the Samaritans were under the influence of national feeling, and they had not come to it, that one Man had done everything; and

that delivers from national feeling. It conveys the idea to you that one Man, Christ, has done everything so that all men would be indebted to this one Man. That overthrows all feeling. And then to the eunuch he preached Jesus. I do not suppose that he had any pride in his nation; he was a coloured man, but it was a great thing that a coloured man should know that Jesus was a Man as he was. He saw that Jesus was a Man, for Philip would enlarge on the humanity of Christ. He preached Jesus; you must begin at His birth, for that is the history of the Man. "He shall grow up before him as a tender plant", Isaiah 53:2 that is what he was reading and that won his heart so that the levite knew what to do. He might have said 'the preaching in Samaria was very effective and I will preach it here'.

Rem. That indicates the skill of the levite.

J.T. Yes, the thing is to be ready to have something new to meet the person where he is. He began at the scripture and preached Jesus. I think from the whole of the book of Acts we get the levitical skill working out. The first is Peter's sermon at Pentecost; he stood up with the eleven, and that meant that they were all preachers.

- .S. Is there an analogy between the priest and the levite now?

J.T. It was the priest who regulated the levite.

G.N. Luke's gospel presents the Lord Jesus as priest on the extrication line. "That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies", Luke 1:74 and all through the gospel each incident is extrication.

J.T. Yes, it is more sympathy in Luke. He had compassion. The Acts appeals to one in this sense. Peter acts in the intelligence of a levite in standing up with the eleven and so after chapter 13 we have the full height of levitical intelligence presented in the apostle Paul. The Spirit says, "Separate me now"; Acts 13:2 the time had come for it. Paul had been

working in Antioch for a whole year and working effectively, too. That is the five years' novitiate. But they were not at full levitical maturity until chapter 13. The Spirit says, "Separate me now". They had come to the age of thirty and the choice is amply justified in the fact that they return to Antioch. The choice of the Spirit was justified in that their work was done, they completed the work and they fulfilled it. The idea of a levite is to finish things; the Lord finished His work. So during that tour Paul comes to Antioch in Pisidia. He does not stand up at once. He sits down amongst them until he is asked to speak and then he speaks. The levite knows. He has levitical wisdom and in speaking he says nothing to irritate. There are many other instances. When he went to Philippi he sought out the prayer meeting before he preached. He found certain ones there praying and he sought them out. When he went to Thessalonica he went in "among them" before he spoke. These are hints as to levitical skill in service.

G.N. In the type the levite received his instruction from the priest so that the apostle would be first priest and then levite.

J.T. Yes, that is the order. That five years in Numbers is very important because you see how other people act then. You will have observed in your own way how you have been helped by seeing how brethren did things. It is "Remember your leaders". Hebrews 13:7

W.H. At Antioch there was a priestly element in operation.

G.N. So an old brother is not to be despised for he has experience.

J.T. Yes. So you have Peter alongside. Peter is preserved. Herod would kill him, but Peter was a man of great experience with God.

W.H. Is the skill you speak of a gift or the result of experience?

J.T. It is experience. Men with great gift employ sometimes human methods, but experience with God excludes all that.

G.N. So that in the conflicts we pass through we should gain experience and pass it on.

J.T. Yes. Young people may have gift and energy, but they cannot have experience; hence the importance of leaders.

Rem. That shows the wisdom of God in setting the young and the old together.

J.T. Yes. It is the twenty to fifty years. There is a time when the Holy Spirit indicates that a brother has a certain line of work to do, and it has to be done.

G.D. Do you think that the writer of the gospel moved out too soon?

J.T. Yes, but he came to it afterwards. It says afterwards "he is profitable to me for the ministry". 2 Timothy 4:11

G.D. His time with Paul and Barnabas would be a great lesson to him.

J.T. Yes, there is a time when you get knocked about; you are not yet a journeyman. During the five years you have to take a subordinate place -- you are not thirty yet. One learns this in those five years, that things are not done on old methods.

W.H. Do you think you get in Barnabas a recognition of the skill when he went to seek out Paul?

J.T. Yes. I think he saw in Saul the right kind of man. In Acts 9 he came in among the disciples and then he entered the synagogue and preached that Jesus is the Son of God. He joined himself to the disciples not as a distinct vessel but as one of them. He was to be subordinate in Jerusalem. All these things happen, he comes to Jerusalem, works for a year, and is not recognised, but he is working; and he is not yet recognised -- it is Barnabas and Saul. He has to win his spurs, so to speak, and presently it is Paul and -- Barnabas.

Rem. So that in the day of ruin you would be very glad to do anything.

J.T. Yes. You do not give up the thought that there is a levite and a Prince of the princes of the levites. You look to the Lord to give you His own line. We are told just what they did; they went out preaching everywhere.

A.R. Is that what you meant last night when you said that levitical work is not local?

J.T. Yes, the levites' work is general and so the Lord had established the principle of newness and the third chapter brings out a state of things so that the old regime had to be given up. No doubt, reluctantly, but he takes out of it what is usable, and this man can be used. A man with one hand is awkward. He was not altogether useless.

J.C. How do we find out what work the Lord would have us to do?

J.T. The great levite Paul said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Acts 9:6 That is one thing. The next thing is that you work away at what you find; he just did what was to be done. Barnabas brings him to Antioch but that was not a levitical appointment. Barnabas saw that he had a heart for the service, but he does not yet get his commission. So one has just to move on humbly doing what is to be done at the time, looking to the Lord, and you will find that you are in a certain line of things. You may have desire and the Lord has respect for any desire but you find that you become effective on a certain line.

G.N. We must have no assumption -- the apostle came amongst them.

J.T. One has not to go far. So that at the end of the year the Spirit says, 'Separate me Barnabas and Saul, I have another work for them'.

Ques. Do you think that a good deal of our

discipline comes in to teach us that the man must be greater than his service?

J.T. I think that is important. Every levite is a first-born, so the book of Joshua helps greatly.

Rem. You would not use the service to distinguish yourself. It is to distinguish Christ.

- .S. So this man with the withered hand is typical of the first man?

J.T. Yes, it is any man working in a religious way.

- .S. Would it suggest the recovery of Israel?

J.T. I have no doubt in the future, but if you notice he says, "Rise up and come into the midst". The Lord would show what He is doing and all see it. The Lord calls the man out and heals him; He gives him power to work -- to work according to God. Thus things begin to take a new form; the old methods depart. The Lord proves that He has a right and calls whom He will so that, after all, my service is given to me of Christ. He takes them away from the noise of the crowd up the mountain and one has to apprehend the Lord there, to be with Him there.

Rem. He calls to Himself, whom He would, so that we have not only to be with the Lord but to recognise the sovereignty of His choice.

J.T. Yes, that is what comes out here. You will observe that whilst they are with Him on the mount they are not yet put into service. It is one thing to go amongst the saints and to do what comes to your hand but another thing to get a distinct word from the Lord as to what you are to do and take your bearing from that point of view. Thus another course of instruction comes in and that is in chapter 6: 7. You have levites entering on their service and what they do -- they leave anointed ones behind them. They would be witnesses, they "anointed with oil many infirm". The anointed one is a witness.

A.R. Would that be in the apostle's mind, when

he said to Barnabas, "Let us go ... and see how they do"? Acts 15:36

J.T. Yes. It was his thought that souls should not only be saved but set up as witness. All this sets aside modern evangelical activity.

Rem. You get that in chapter 5 -- the demoniac is left behind.

J.T. Yes, the Lord leaves us as witness. If it were for the satisfaction of His own love he would take us to be with Himself.

W.R. Why does Mark record the Lord's command to have a staff and sandals? Luke leaves that out.

J.T. They were to go forth in experience. The staff is experience and the sandals help you in regard of the earth and your walk.

W.H. In the middle of chapter 3 he comes to the house. What is the instruction in that?

J.T. You find that the house is a place of affection and the Lord would be available there to people. That would be now in the assembly.

FELLOWSHIP

1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:15 - 22; 1 John 1

J.T. I suggested these three scriptures to give us the three features of fellowship. There are three features and they stand out. First: we are called to the fellowship of God's Son, that is the dignity of the fellowship; second, the fellowship of His death involving the exclusiveness of it; and third, with one another involving the personal distinctness of each christian. The Lord would have us to understand that we are called to something very plain. He reminds the Corinthians in this chapter and later that in visiting Corinth He did not take up the nobility specially: He had no thought that what was great in this world would add anything to what He was instituting so that Paul says, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things that are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord". 1 Corinthians 1:26 - 31 That is God served notice at the outset in Corinth that He had no regard for human greatness or distinction. What would be great in His order of things would be for Himself, so all the believer requires is that Christ is made to him wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption so

that we are set up independent at the outset of the world's greatness. So that it is nothing to us. And so, in calling us into this fellowship it is the fellowship of His Son and no fellowship can be greater than that. There are fellowships in the world sometimes distinguished by great personages at the head of them but no fellowship can be compared to the fellowship of God's Son. It is well, for young people particularly, to notice this because there is a danger of young people becoming scandalised (as the word is) by the cross, stumbling at the outward smallness of the things of God: so that God gives us to know that these things are not really small: they are infinitely great.

Rem. Do you think that we are fitted for the position by what we have set forth in what Christ is made to us?

J.T. Yes, we do need wisdom there, and we do need righteousness and sanctification and we do need redemption.

Rem. So we get that at the beginning.

J.T. Yes, in Christ -- a subject that is to be worked out later. But you are completely equipped at the outset. God has made Him to be that to us, knowing what was requisite for His own system of things; hence God has made Christ these things to us and that is encouragement for the feeblest believer.

Rem. That is a contrast to weak things.

J.T. Yes.

G.N. Would you say that the Corinthians had departed from the dignity of the fellowship? They were reigning like kings.

J.T. Yes, exactly. The apostles were the full expression of the thing, it was what God had made them. The Corinthians had departed from that.

Rem. So in the thought of fellowship you have no public distinction in this world.

J.T. You have to become a fool to become wise, weak to become strong.

G.N. I suppose there is great moral dignity in that in itself.

J.T. Yes, it is only as being great, as being truly great, in the light of Christ, that one can be truly small and so when the apostle came to Corinth he set aside all that would distinguish him naturally. He was a man of great learning, a man of celebrated ancestry, a man religiously without blemish, but instead of capitalising these things he lodged with poor people, tentmakers, not because they were christians, but because they were of the same craft, showing how completely he was identified with small things in this world.

I think it is dignity here. In the light of John 9 and 10 we know what the Son came to do. He sets up a system of His own; He builds the house and is over the house; but for the moment it is simply the dignity of the thing because the Corinthian saints were not equal to the truth of the house, to the truth of what the Son would do.

Rem. Would it help us if we saw that the present is the time of fellowship?

J.T. Quite. There is no need for it in the millennium because there is nothing adverse.

Rem. Would it call for sympathetic feelings in relation to what is before the Son?

J.T. Yes. It is a great thing for young believers to see that they are called to what is so dignified. It is before God you need dignity.

J.F. Is the idea of fellowship that we have a common interest?

J.T. It would amount to that only I think it is the character or distinction -- that He gives character or distinction to the thing. We are part in that. The principle of fellowship is joint partnership, involving obligation.

A.A.T. Is fellowship for the present time?

J.T. Yes. We shall not need it in the millennium,

but in chapter 1 here it is the dignity attaching to it.

G.N. Would you say a little more as to the dignity? Has it any outward aspect at all?

J.T. Well, it is well illustrated in the tabernacle. The outward appearance of the tabernacle was very insignificant. What you would see would be some badgers' skins or rams' skins, everything speaking of death outwardly, but inwardly there was dignity. Before God there was dignity. There was essential greatness before God.

Rem. Do you think the outward results flow from that, but the thing itself is not for the public eye?

J.T. Yes.

G.N. You take the tabernacle as a figure here, because it needs to be viewed as in the wilderness?

J.T. Yes. It was set up by the apostle Paul. He began as a tent-maker; he was there eighteen mouths, we are told, teaching the word of God, meaning that the thoughts of God came out and through the apostle's service they were put together in the saints. They were made to stand together in relation to God and one another. That was the thought, so that God was known there of a truth; there was the Jew, the gentile and the church of God. The church of God was that in which God was known, but outwardly it was a very insignificant assembly.

Rem. I suppose the beauty of the tabernacle was only inside?

J.T. Yes. If you went to the meeting at Corinth you would not find the elite of the city there, but if they were there they would not be there in the light of their own dignity but of what God had made them in Christ. You would find in that assembly the bulk of them poor and despised. God deliberately selected them. Just as the tabernacle was made of what was insignificant in itself, so he chose what was insignificant in Corinth and set them together to be known amongst them. Anyone sitting down there would see the

saints sitting together and would recognise that God was there. Although it was outwardly small God Himself was there. That is the thought. God would impress us with His own greatness. He placed Himself in grace within the reach of all and that gives the assembly a wonderful place, and hence the importance of understanding fellowship so as to preserve it intact and keep out evil. The moment evil comes in, God has to go out. You cannot have the two together. Hence chapter 10 is to show that the fellowship is the fellowship of Christ's death. The apostle takes them up on what they were doing there.

- .W. What is the force of being called?

J.T. The word 'assembly' implies being called out. The gospel reaching you in the world implies that you are not to stay there. 'Not only is this a wicked place', He says, 'but I have something infinitely better for you'.

Rem. Abraham was called out. Here it is called into. That is more positive.

J.T. Yes. But it refers to your being called by the gospel because it really is the gospel of God's Son.

Rem. Do you think the curtains suggest the thought of fellowship?

J.T. Yes, they do.

- .L. Outwardly they were held together by links of brass. Is that the Corinthian side?

J.T. The first vessel is brass as you approach the tabernacle, meaning that in God's enclosure there must be the constant persistent judgment of sin. The brazen altar stood right in front as you enter the gate and the fire was burning there all the time. We must be there according to what God is in Christ.

- .L. Would the curtains held together by links of brass be Corinthians and the links of gold John's epistle?

J.T. Yes, quite. There was the love of Christ at Corinth; I mean although they were loose and allowing

evil they were christians. They were said to be babes but they were babes in Christ.

A.A.T. Were they in fellowship?

J.T. They were called into it, you see. He addresses them as intelligent persons and in addressing us in this way it is to bring home to us the necessity for consistency in what we do. They bless the cup and break the bread and now he says, 'what you are doing is that you are publicly committing yourselves with your own hands to the death of Christ: and what then are your outward relations?'

- .W. Is that why the faithfulness of God is brought in?

J.T. I think the faithfulness of God is the background to fellowship. There is no excuse for saints to be found in evil associations. God will support you in giving up the evil associations.

- .L. Is the thought in Corinthians that you do judge it?

J.T. You have to judge it for if you do not you have to do with the Lord and you are not stronger than He. Those that are not consistent are contending with the Lord.

Ques. Is that the reason why he says in chapter 11 that many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep?

J.T. Yes.

Rem. Does chapter 10 bring in the responsible side?

J.T. Yes, chapters 10 and 11 both do.

Ques. The first chapter is a question of purpose, is it not?

J.T. It is the privilege side, what God is doing, but chapter 10 is what you are doing. You are blessing the cup and breaking the bread and he points out that what you are doing is in connection with the body of Christ. The apostle is combating what has now become a huge system in the world.

And it opens the subject as to what the Lord will do. What we need to pay attention to is chapter 10. It is a question of our public associations and the Lord is against all evil associations.

- .L. Would it be correct to say that outwardly we walk together in the judgment of evil?

J.T. That is it.

- .L. Would that be the brass?

J.T. Yes, and there are boards all round and God is with us in that way. Outwardly we present another attitude towards sin. As God said to Jeremiah, 'You are like a wall of brass against the hardened Israelites'.

Rem. The Lord's death is the solution of the question of good and evil.

J.T. Yes, but the point is that in the divine precincts there is no tolerance of evil.

Rem. Christ has suffered that evil might be removed so what a serious thing it is to tolerate what He suffered for.

A.A.T. Is this judgment maintained by the assembly?

J.T. Yes, by the assembly, but each individual maintains it for himself.

A.A.T. But the instructions are for the assembly.

J.T. Yes.

Rem. We have not the assembly now.

J.T. But we have the light now. God has brought to light the great principles that govern fellowship. There is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, and that means that there is universality in our relations. There is only one fellowship, and the principles that govern it have been brought to light. And the question is, How am I taking them up? We read in the Song of Solomon, "We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts"; that is, her affections are not

developed but still she is a sister, in family relationship. "What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?" We must speak for our brethren even if undeveloped and the question is, "If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver": that is, if she has the principles of fellowship with her, the principles that would exclude evil and preserve good. If she have not loved much she has begun to refuse evil and maintain good. Now you cannot build unless the wall is there. That is the principle of exclusion of evil and the maintaining of good. "If she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar", Song of Songs 8:8 - 9 that is, we will dignify her. "I" is the thing, so if the saint is that you can take him on and build on him.

Rem. That takes in your associations.

J.T. Yes. It is in the light of the death of Christ that you can refuse. You have the power in your soul and the Holy Spirit in you enables you. You begin with yourself. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live". Romans 8:13

-.L. So that in the outward court it was brass right the way through, and was not the effort of the apostle in 1 Corinthians to bring the saints there into accord with brass?

J.T. Yes, quite. In chapter 13 he speaks of love. In chapter 11 he brings in the love of Christ but it was to beget love in them. I was thinking in regard to principles being recovered of what some of us were speaking of with regard to the type in Leviticus -- the type of leprosy and the cleansing of leprosy. It says, "If a sore of leprosy is in a garment, … or in the skin, or in the warp, or in the woof". Leviticus 13:47 - 48 In ordinary cloth it is in the warp and woof. I referred to it so as to see that if we do not apply the principles that govern fellowship, the leprosy will be in the warp even if you put in a good weft. Even if the weft be clear the leprosy is there. The apostle was there

eighteen months teaching the word of God. It involved laying down definite principles for them: and what kind of warp did he put in for them? Now the warp is that part of the cloth laid on by him and it runs the entire length of the cloth, the weft is what is put in by hand -- it is what I do, my daily experience and practice. The apostle says, "I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth". 1 Corinthians 3:10 The apostle laid the warp for them and he says, 'You have to put in a good weft'. They put in leprosy: their conduct was not right: they had an incestuous person with them. Their practical conduct was leprous.

Rem. Principles bring forth a generation in accord with themselves.

J.T. Well, I think principles have been recovered to us. The truth of the house of God came out and was refused by a great many brethren. They lost, and God has ever since been asserting those principles: and brethren brought into the light of them, coming into fellowship as we speak, are really in the position of putting in the weft. And so the principle involved is that there is only one Lord, and the fellowship is one -- the fellowship of His Son, of His death; therefore it includes all the saints in the world.

Rem. So that even in the day of ruin those principles remain.

J.T. Yes, to the end.

A.A.T. Here it is as if Paul had acted in chapter 5 and explains his action in chapter 10.

J.T. He is trying to get them to put in the right weft. This man has to go; he is not suitable for fellowship.

- .L. Would you say that we get the test of what the weft should be in chapter 10?

J.T. Yes, that is so.

Ques. Would you say a word as to the distinction

between the fellowship of the blood of Christ and the body of Christ?

J.T. The blood is the love of God to us, I think; the blood represents the life. Think of what a life that was for God! From its very inception to its end it was wholly for God, and God gave that up. He gave it up in love that we might live, and are we going to live a different life from that? The life of Jesus is to he continued -- "That the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh". 2 Corinthians 4:11 God will have no other life than that but it is recovered for the eye of God and I drink into that. It is a question of consistency; the body of Christ is that there was a vessel for God's will here. I was saying the other evening, "In the volume of the book it is written of me". Psalm 40:7 I am admitted into that -- "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" There was a body here for God's will and I commit myself to that so that he says, "For we being many are one bread, and one body". I think we should well note the remark "in the volume of the book it is written". There was that which was delightful to God.

G.N. So that the Lord felt being cut off in the midst of his days.

J.T. You see how it is connected with the volume of the book in the breaking of the bread. The question is what is my body connected with? Can I wear a badge? Can I be linked up with a society in this world? I must use my body if I do; and therefore all one's relations are tested. It is the bread which we break. Moreover I am connected with the Lord's people: the "we" there is the 'we' of universality; I am linked with all the saints. We cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of demons.

Rem. Before you come to Corinthians it is supposed that the body is presented already, that is in Romans.

J.T. Well, Romans runs alongside Corinthians; it makes you a board in the tabernacle. We are set up in relation to one another in the assembly; Romans is the kingdom and this is the assembly. It is that in which the order of God is to be seen.

Ques. And what about John's epistle?

J.T. John brings in the persons; it is persons we have fellowship with. And who are they? "If we walk in the light ... we have fellowship one with another". John brings in the personal side. Each saint is personally interesting to me; it is not with this saint or with that saint but with any saint. He is personally interesting to me and if he is walking in the light and I am walking in the light we have fellowship one with another. Corinthians is 'of' but John is 'with'. That suggests persons. It is with the Father and with the Son that ye also might have fellowship with us and with one another.

- .L. That would be the golden links that bind us together -- the links of affection.

J.T. Yes, that is a very good distinction. It is a terrible thing if I do not want a christian. I want the saints with me, so he has raised us up together and made us to sit together in the heavenlies. Love values that. It is terrible to think that I would make up my mind to get on without the christian company; it is the opposite of love.

- .L. Fellowship would be impossible without the others.

J.F. What is the condition, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light"?

J.T. In John it is movement. Walking in it is that I move myself in it.

Rem. You reap what is the result of consistency when you come to John.

J.T. Yes. Look at the number of persons you have to love. Love is the one thing that stands by you; it never fails.

Rem. So that in a day like the present we would feel the loss of many of our brethren who are not available.

J.T. I do not think that we should be content until we get them. Keep on looking for them.

A.M. So Abraham looked towards Sodom.

J.T. Yes, and he armed his trained servants to rescue his brethren. He is a fine example of one in fellowship. I think it is very fine to dwell on Paul's attitude towards the Corinthians. Whatever their attitude towards him, his attitude was the same towards them. There are many to whom you cannot speak because of their attitude. "O, ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you ... . Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers". 2 Corinthians 6:14 Enlargement spiritually and an unequal yoke cannot go together.

LOVE TO ALL THE SAINTS

Colossians 2:6 - 19

J.T. What came to my mind in regard to the subject before us is the fact that the Colossians had love. It says, "the love which ye have towards all the saints". That is in a certain sense the key to this epistle. Both this company and that at Ephesus had love.

G.N. That would be the atmosphere of the christian circle -- that is what you get in Colossians?

J.T. Yes, that is in the company who had love as a common thing; as the Lord said, "have love amongst yourselves". John 13:35 I have been thinking lately a little about love. The Lord speaking in Spirit as Wisdom in Proverbs, says. "… that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance". Proverbs 8:21 The Lord here in all His movements was marked by wisdom. Those that were drawn to Him would see not only beauty -- His personal beauty, but that wisdom was there, and love begotten by wisdom. He ensures a condition of things that is wholly in accord with the mind of God. Wisdom having been with God at the outset in everything that was done, is now with Him in what He is doing. The Lord says, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work". John 5:17 It was there in Christ from the outset, and those who were about Him loved Him in that way, so that the love that is amongst us is or should be marked by wisdom; in Colosse the fact that they had love afforded the Spirit of God the opportunity to bring in certain things in regard to Christ as Head. The Spirit had liberty to bring in Christ in a personal way, because love appreciates the personal touch. Moses from the outset was a remarkable man personally, but his personality would be

largely hidden behind his officialism, he was an official as representing God. But at the end of the wilderness his personal touch is seen in a particular way. God says, 'Now you have got to go up and die'. 'Well', he says, 'put a man over the people which may lead them, that they may not be like sheep which have no shepherd'. He loved the people and God says 'there is Joshua, he is a man who has got the Spirit'. The going in is a spiritual matter, and you have got to change from Moses to Joshua: He is not going to lead them in, but a man is going to lead them in who has the Spirit. It is a spiritual thing, and so Moses writes all these words, that is the whole book of Deuteronomy, thirty -- four chapters, all to the end that, although he is not going to take them in himself, they should go in suitably. It is not here the official, it is the man himself, because of the affection which he shows for the people, and his thought is that they should go in suitably, that there should be no discrepancy between them and the land which God had given them, so that the personal touch comes out at the end. It corresponds in my mind with John 14, in which the Lord prepares a place, a new order of things.

G.N. Do you mean that the children of Israel journeyed with Moses by the instructions he gave them, but the crossing of the Jordan was a matter of affection?

J.T. Yes. The fact that the Colossians had love among themselves, induces the Spirit of God to bring before them certain features which were yet lacking, because we may have love and yet certain features be lacking.

Ques. Would authority be set forth at the Red Sea?

J.T. Yes. It is the rod of Moses there.

Ques. Would authority be connected with light and what is personal with love?

J.T. Yes. It is love that makes way for headship.

Rem. So that Romans would be light, while Colossians would be love.

J.F. Why do you connect Colossians with this point in the history of the children of Israel?

J.T. Colossians is the place where the saints are entering the land, and so corresponds to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is as far as Moses can take them, he is practically head, but he is not Joshua. There is that which you need as preliminary education on the other side of Jordan. It is not a question of one's place in relation to the tabernacle. It is no question now of the public order of Corinthians, but how you are going to be in the new order of things where Christ is. One may behave fairly well in the light of Corinthians, but when you come to Joshua -- to Colossians, it puts you to the test. How are you going to do in an order of things where everything is governed by divine wisdom, wisdom being the handmaid of love? He says here, "As therefore ye have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in him". I think it is very essential that we have love among ourselves, and that we have love towards all the saints. It is not simply that I love those that are local, but all the saints.

C.P. It is a vital thing in the assembly. What our attention is being called to is vital to us. It is not knowledge.

J.T. There is one great danger, and that is localism. You may have order, and the Lord may be adding, and we begin to think of ourselves in relation to what we have locally. The Ephraimites seriously threatened Gideon, that is they were local, Gideon was general, he says, "Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?" Judges 8:2. He was not occupied with what he had.

Rem. So that God would lead us on to what is universal.

J.T. "The love", it says here, "which ye have towards all the saints". If any came there, whether they came from Jerusalem or Thessalonica or Corinth, they would all find the same thing. There would be no preference or favour to the one from Jerusalem. They would think equally as well of the Thessalonian, because they had the thing there that was general or universal.

Rem. I suppose the danger of being local is that there may be rivalry as between localities.

J.T. A real danger, and one has seen it. This love among ourselves towards all the saints, I think, is the safeguard to that.

G.N. If we are taken up with what is local we might stop short of what is the purpose of God.

J.T. I think we stop growth. Growth is in relation to the whole. The Lord is Head of the body, now if I am local unduly I stop that as far as I am concerned, because the nourishment comes from the head and the body grows proportionately. You would not like to see the right hand longer than the left.

Rem. From whom the whole body is fitly joined together.

A.F. Headship is universal. We ought to be on the line of headship.

J.T. Yes. This instruction is very important because the two -- and -- a -- half tribes had already decided that they would not go over. They had not love among themselves. In fact what they thought about was their cattle. Love among yourselves does not include cattle.

Ques. Do not you think that is a real danger at the present time?

J.T. Certainly. The king of Sodom says to Abraham, you take the goods and I will take the persons. It is the persons you want, love for persons.

The two -- and -- a -- half tribes had made up their minds, they would be content without persons.

Rem. They would be earth dwellers.

J.T. Yes. Where he mentions the love on account of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, that is the love that the saints have. The love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Spirit, that is the wilderness side of Jordan, because the Holy Spirit came in in the wilderness. If he begets love, as He does, shedding the love of God abroad in my heart, it is in relation to the hope, and the hope is for all the saints. When I think of the hope I do not think of local assemblies at all. He does not present assemblies to Himself. Assemblies are provisional. They are like gardens. "My beloved is gone down into his garden ... to feed in the gardens", Song of Songs 6:2. He has got his garden; it is general -- but then there are gardens. Gardens may be used to illustrate assemblies -- the provisional thing, but that is not connected with the heavenly hope.

C.P. In Numbers God speaks of the people as gardens by the river's side.

J.T. That is it. He does not present assemblies to Himself. He presents the assembly to Himself because that is the end of the thing, the primary thought.

C.P. Gardens are on the wilderness side of Jordan.

J.T. That would be like Corinthians. Corinthians is assemblies and the Lord comes to them to feed in His gardens. There are no assemblies in the heavens. There is one assembly there.

G.N. What is meant by changing over to Joshua? Is Joshua a type of the Spirit?

J.T. He is rather a type of Christ in a spiritual way. It is what the Lord is as having passed out of this world altogether. What He is as risen and gone on high is a spiritual thing. He comes in in spite of closed doors. The authority of the Lord requires that there is one door in the room. A man shall

meet you with a pitcher of water. That is his interest in you. Follow him and enter where he goes. There is only one entrance, and the clock has to do with that -- "when the hour was come". Luke 22:14 The time of day has to do with that and all public things, but the Joshua side, the spiritual side is "the doors were shut" John 20:19 not 'door', but "doors". The Lord comes in, in spite of closed doors. That is to every saint, as it were, there is a door.

C.P. You are not speaking of Joshua as the one who leads them over, but what is true of them on the other side. Is he a type of Christ as Captain of our salvation?

J.T. He is more. In leading many sons to glory, He is the Leader of our salvation.

Rem. So that Moses would represent lordship, while Joshua would represent headship.

A.S. Was the apostle's distress for the Colossians personal or official?

J.T. I think it is apostolic there. His thought was to present every man perfect in Christ. It is like Moses in Deuteronomy. He would present every Israelite, as it were, perfect. I was saying in reference to the two -- and -- a -- half tribes that they had made up their minds that they were just going so far. It is not that they did not have love. They had it as the others, but there are many of the Lord's people who make up their minds that they will go so far and no further. Earthly possessions detain them. "We have much cattle", Deuteronomy 3:19 they say. They are detained by the providences of God, in fact by what they should have offered in sacrifice.

G.N. When you come to the side of Christ as head, it is love that answers to that, you love the Lord.

J.T. The woman in Luke 7 anoints His feet. She saw that those feet had carried Him into the world, and she does not mean to detain Him in the world. After the resurrection they held Him by the feet but

that was unintelligent. Mary of Bethany anointed His feet. It meant that she saw that He was going out of the world. "Against the day of my burying hath she kept this". John 12:7 And so Mary Magdalene in chapter 20 -- she wanted Him, and He pointed out to her, 'if you are to have me, you must be in correspondence with me'. So He says, "Touch me not". John 20:17

R.N. So that love would delight to answer to that.

J.T. Quite. I do think that this determination today to go to a certain point and not go beyond it, is a very serious one. You maintain distinctions, whereas over Jordan there is no distinction. It is "in Christ Jesus".

Rem. I suppose the danger of these things is that they are all legitimate.

J.T. Well, you can go on with them with a good conscience. Here were two -- and -- a -- half tribes with spiritual advantages and yet they made up their minds not to go any further. They would go over to fight, but only for a short time. They wanted an altar set up, but it was not for sacrifices. It is like a brother saying, 'I have got property and a large family. I want to live on my property and in my family, but I want to maintain my place among the saints, I can go in at any time and take part with you. But I am not at home there, my home is elsewhere'. It was not a right thought for them to set up an altar. It was just to notify the ten tribes that they had a right to the land, but they were not taking it up.

G.N. Lordship is connected with the wilderness, and headship with the land.

J.T. Moses went as near headship as he could, because it is not the official Moses. "These are the words which Moses spoke" Deuteronomy 1:1; it is not 'Thus saith the Lord', but "These are the words which Moses spoke"; it is his own personal desire for the people, and that desire was according to the Lord, he loved the people.

F.W. Is it only earthly things that would detain one from going over?

J.T. I think that it would be that generally. I do not think that to emphasise the local thought too much would rob us of the general thought. It is not so many assemblies in the heavens. It is one assembly in the heavens. He comes into His garden -- that is the whole assembly on earth. But He feeds in His gardens; he gets variety -- that is He is gathering lilies.

Ques. Is it occupation with the person: "as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord"?

J.T. He begins with the state in you. It is not here, what is presented to you in the way of light. It is what you have received. That is, he begins with the subjective thing. You have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord. It is not the Lord Jesus Christ; that would be Romans, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ". Romans 13:14 That is the kind of garb in which you appear according to Romans, but here you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord. That is, you have made a start, a very good start, and it is for everyone to see that you have made such a start.

Ques. What did you say 'The Christ' set forth?

J.T. The One who does everything for God.

G.McK. I suppose our exercises should be that the local is governed by the general.

J.T. You are in a way as interested in the saints in New Zealand, as in Glasgow, although you are responsible there. You keep it in relation to the one garden.

G.McK. A common end in view.

G.N. So the truth of headship would preserve us from being local. He is Head of the assembly. We all come under the same headship.

A.F. Do you make a distinction between coming

together in assemblies -- in Corinthians -- and one taking his place in the assembly?

J.T. "In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises" Hebrews 2:12 -- I think that is the general idea, because Hebrews contemplates the whole -- "whose house are we". Hebrews 3:6 Although he is writing to the christians in Judaea it is "we". This house includes all christians. It is the general idea in Hebrews throughout. The breaking of bread begins in New Zealand or Australia, thinking of the order of the day. It goes on the whole day till perhaps eight o'clock; you will pardon my simple allusion. You know the Lord comes into His garden, the whole assembly is before Him if He comes in. He comes in, in relation to the whole, but then He has His gardens. He has His special gardens in which He feeds. It is most interesting that the breaking of bread runs on to eight o'clock in the evening or may be longer as the sun goes round.

C.P. What about the gathering of the lilies?

J.T. That is what the saints are. Gathering lilies is a beautiful thought. He feeds among them, and then it says He gathers them. He has His own thoughts about you. He has got His own thoughts and He will bring you to these thoughts. He is gathering the lilies; He is not gathering up the worthless of the earth but what is valuable in His eyes. He says "Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these". Luke 12:27 The saint today has got more glory than Solomon. If God so clothe the grass -- it is what God does, the Lord is looking for those who are divinely clothed. I think that Colossians is to bring us up to that.

G.N. Why is circumcision and baptism brought in?

J.T. All these are to bring us into correspondence. It is His circumcision, There was handwriting, now

handwriting stands out against you and that is known and recognised. That could be disposed of by no one but Christ and His death.

Rem. I suppose one accepting baptism in the Colossian sense would be able to go on his way rejoicing.

J.T. The eunuch would love to be in the company of that Man, would he not? "Concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other?" Acts 8:34 Philip began at that scripture, and announced unto him -- Jesus. He is willing to die with Him and he goes on his way rejoicing. He would be quite a Colossian saint.

Rem. That is the point of view here, and the eunuch illustrates it. You get the Spirit in the next chapter.

G.N. Movement would come in there. It is movement of the affections.

J.T. It is remarkable about that eunuch. There is an angel, and there is a eunuch and a man comes miraculously and he is taken away miraculously. He is born in spiritual circumstances, in heavenly circumstances, he is really begotten in the heavenlies. "The hope which is laid up for you in the heavens". Colossians 1:5 He went on his way. He was going to Colosse and he finds his way. You have to find what that way is. Colossians are entering; it is not in the land. You are still on the way and we must take note of that. You are going into the land -- God's land. If you are over Jordan in the conflict, you do not go back to Moab, you go back to Gilgal.

Rem. The eunuch was not going to be detained by the plains of Moab.

J.T. No, he went on his way happily. I believe he got in his soul the thought, 'I would like to be with that Man, His life is taken from the earth, and I do not want to be in life here'. Your life is hid with Christ in God. The man disappears. We know

no more of him. In John 12, at Bethany they acted rightly. There is no word as to the Lord telling them what to do. It is all what they did and the Lord accepts it. The conditions were there in a way -- six days before the Passover -- there they made Him a supper. Martha serves, Lazarus was one who sat at the table with Him, but Mary anoints His feet. The Lord accepts what they did.

C.P. The conditions were there -- they loved Him.

J.T. And their conduct was quite in keeping with Bethany, but there is something beyond Bethany. In chapter 20 it is not a locality. I think chapter 20 is the climax to the instruction which began in chapter 13.

W.H. So that the Supper would be connected with what is local, the assembly would be abstract, it would not be local.

J.T. The assembly would be connected with John 20; chapter 13 would be the local thing.

Rem. You would say that the experience of John 20 would be like Paul in the third heaven. You do not know whether you are in the body or out of it.

J.T. The Lord said to Mary, "Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend", John 20:17 as if He were going at once, and she goes to the brethren, and He gives a heavenly visitation.

G.N. Where would you put the company in the end of Luke?

J.T. That would be more the Pentecostal company, the public thing. That is, Luke presents rather the public side. The Spirit comes upon them there, whereas in John He breathes into them.

LIFE WORKING OUT IN THE INDIVIDUAL AND IN THE LOCALITY

John 8:12; John 20:21,22; 2 Corinthians 4:10 - 12

Life is what I had in mind to speak about tonight -- not in an exhaustive way, for the subject is very large, but in order that, by the Lord's help, we may see how it works out in the individual and how it works out in a locality, that is, collectively.

This thought came into my mind in coming yesterday, believing that, as in all cities in which saints reside, the subject of life, spiritual life, is of prime importance.

The Lord would have us in the light of life which comes to those who follow. He says that those who follow shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. That is, the light of it as it shone in Him, for it is said, "In him was life; and the life was the light of men". John 1:4 So that life is a great thought, an extensive thought, an eternal thought, for it was promised before the world, and has taken form so as to be intelligible, so as to be within the range of man; it was to be life for man. Now, as I said, it was a great thought. God introduced it on the third day of creation. He gave life, or the possibility of it and we know that the stars were set in the heavens as guides. They differ, it says, in glory and their glory is obviously not of life (of that we know nothing). One star differs from another in glory, and the most glorious star, I suppose, of all was that seen over the manger by the wise men of the east and no doubt they suggest to us the benefit of the stars. They said, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east" Matthew 2:2 -- His star. So that would emphasise, beloved brethren, the value of these bodies. God made them and they are lights and

they are glorious. That surely is a wonderful thought, but the saints on earth are vessels of glory. Vessels of mercy fitted for glory are greater objects of interest to the spiritual mind than the stars of whose substance we know little. But we do know that God brought in life on the earth on the third day. As he bound the waters of death -- limiting them, the dry land, we are told, appeared. From the ground God caused to grow herbs and trees "yielding fruit". Genesis 1:11 - 12 So that the thought of life came in early. And then, on the fifth day, as you remember, He created the creatures, calling them living souls. Those records were written long after man was made, long after God was known to him in measure, so that those who had faith would read them with interest for they were not written for the curiosity of man. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning". Romans 15:4 We have the record of the third day and the fifth day, and then on the sixth day we have the greatest testimony to life of the creation formed -- man. What interest it would afford to those who had faith when the record was first written and read. "Let us", says God, "make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…" Genesis 1:26 And then so as to bring the great testimony before us more clearly, the Spirit of God turns to it in the second chapter without referring to the day, and we have man made after the likeness of God, by His own hand. "Formed" -- beloved brethren. "Formed" is not only the idea of creation but of making and the making brings in wisdom and skill. So that he was a figure, before God, of Him that was to come. God, "breathed", as it is said, "into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul". Genesis 2:7 The breath of God: who can say what a breath that was: who can define it? God breathed into his nostrils. God did it. It is a divine transaction of the most intimate nature and here we have man and

he is called by the Spirit of God "a living soul" -- made to live with an upright countenance, with a countenance that could meet God's countenance. As the psalmist of old said later answering to the thought, "The salvations of his countenance". That God should breathe upon a man, in the apprehension of the psalmist, meant salvation. Moreover, he says, "Who is the health of my countenance, and my God". Psalm 43:5 So that God and man, in the apprehension of the psalmist, met together and man was in health. It is said of the Lord in spirit, He "is white and ruddy" Song of Songs 5:10 the perfect expression in a man of energy and life. The psalmist apprehended the spiritual thought; others may dwell on the material. What we are concerned with, beloved, is of the Spirit, "God is a Spirit". John 4:24 God has revealed Himself in Jesus as a Spirit and He is to be known and worshipped "in spirit and in truth". And so the testimony of life was there. The figure of Him that was to come had appeared and the Holy Spirit, from that time, had in view the One who was to come. One was to come, as John says, "by water and blood". "This is he", he says, "that came by water and blood ... not by water only, but by water and blood" 1 John 5:6 -- as if John's epistle would place the water first and I have no doubt, beloved friends, that the import of that is that knowing redemption we neglect the water and hence we deprive ourselves of the enjoyment of life. We may take up the blood and neglect the water, but John says, "He that came by water and blood". And so the first name that Adam gave, after the figure of redemption, is Eve -- "the mother of all living". Genesis 3:20 That the word 'living' should be in the mouth of a man who had been pronounced dying "dying thou shalt die" -- is a wonderful triumph and, dear brethren, it should be in our minds as well as in our hearts for God has in view a living race -- not a dying race. He has no pleasure in a dying race. He

has got pleasure in a living race for He created the earth to be inhabited by a living race, and hence the Son came "by water and blood". From the divine side, He came by blood and water. As John says in the gospel, "forthwith came there out blood and water". John 19:34 If I were preaching the gospel, I should preach the blood first; if preaching to christians, I should preach the water first.

Well, now, the Lord, having all these things in His mind and having in His ministry, according to John's presentation of it, brought in the great principle of life, new birth, the lifting up of the Son of man, the fountain of living water, the raising of the dead, the living bread, and the gift of the Spirit, introduces His great subject -- "the light of life". I put it to you this evening, dear brethren: where are we in regard to the light of life? We cannot go on happily and spiritually if we are not in the light of life. If I have got the light of life, I am not going to live in circumstances of poverty or servility or mere outward form and mere doctrine or the most correct form or order of doctrine. I want to have the life. "I am come", He says, "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John 10:10 -- plenty of it -- that is the thought. What a divine thought is abundance! Look anywhere you please in the world and there is the witness -- even as it is, and what shall it be in the future? -- even as it is, there is a witness of the bounty of it -- the plentifulness of it. So the Lord says, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly". Where are we, therefore, as regards this? The Lord came and where are we as regards this abundance? Well now, He says, he "shall not walk in darkness". If there is a christian here who is linked up with any association in which there is no freshness, he is walking in darkness to that extent. If I am in any association that is not marked by the

evidence of life then I cannot say I am walking or following Christ -- walking in the light of life. If I have got the light of life, I shall seek out where it is and I am not left in darkness as to where it is. This life, says John, is in His Son. There is no question about that. God has set life there. But then, I have another thought and that is that there is a circle of life. God is not now cultivating the ground. The time is coming when there shall be the evidence of God's blessing in material things and men shall sit under their fig trees like Nathaniel, when the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn, the new wine and the oil, and they, as it says, shall hear Jizreel. Israel shall have blessing in abundance. The heavens and earth reunited shall afford abundance on the earth -- heavenly blessing on the earth. But God is not cultivating the earth. Alas for any christian who is cultivating the earth today! Cain cultivated the earth but the first man with faith (according to the record of Hebrews) was occupied with living beings. You may say they were sheep but they were called living souls, and he with faith takes account of the living souls. One of those sheep, in the eyes of Abel, was sufficient as a sacrifice. He offered an acceptable sacrifice. A sacrifice (how little he understood it!) which really meant the Lord Jesus. Faith had a person in view and that is a principle. We are not cultivating the earth. I am only referring to principle and I hope to show that the Lord would have us to cultivate one another. You see it is life in persons that God has given now and so if I have got the light of life it is life in a Person. We shall see the thing extended presently, but, for the moment, it is life in a Person. Think of the One who sat just as He was on the well; He came there; it did not alter His circumstances -- just as He was. He came so as to be within the range of a poor soul. "If thou knewest", He says. What words

these are! "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink". John 4:10 "If thou knewest the gift of God". What words these are! One's heart is detained in the presence of such words as these. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink", then you would be able to appropriate what has become so available. Think of that: He came within her range and she talked to Him and then she talked of Him. Oh, I am sure that if we talk with Him, we shall talk of Him. Well, in that way, the life has come within our range. Hence I think of Jesus. If I am to apprehend life, I think of Jesus. I see, therefore, life within my range so as to contemplate. "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life; (and the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us:) ... And these things write we to you that your joy may be full". 1 John 1:1 - 4 The life has come within our range. Do we contemplate it? "He that followeth me" says the Lord, "shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life". What are our associations -- religious? political? social? What are they? We test them by the light of life. If there is no spiritual life there, abandon them for ever. No one in the light of life could abide where death was, where death could reign. One has come into areas governed by death, a state of things in which there is nothing for God. "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead". "Thou hast a few ... they shall walk with me in white". "He that overcometh ... I will not blot out his name out of the book of life", Revelation 3:1, 4, 5. The Lord says to John, "I am ... the living one, and I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of

hades". Revelation 1:18 And hence the great truth of life, the importance of it when death is working everywhere, prevailing everywhere. The Lord would have us in the light of life and to walk in it; not to walk in darkness and where people profess to live and are dead.

Well now, I want to show how the thing works in an individual. It is said in John 20, that having said these things, the Lord breathed into them. There is to be life there, life like Jesus' life. The life is to be like His. It is not simply that I am a living soul but my life is to be like His, for God has His standard. "If these things are done in the green tree" -- Luke 23:31 -- there never was green like that before. The "green" in christianity is to be of the same kind, that is the life of Jesus. Hence the Lord breathed into them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit". How wonderful that is. Think of the intimacy of the transaction. Think of the life and then the thought in it, not only that I should enjoy the thing but I should be that 'green' that God saw here in Christ, that I might go out in the spirit of Jesus for here it is Jesus Himself, it says, "stood in the midst". It is Man you see -- the last Adam, true enough, but nevertheless Man. He is a life -- giving spirit. But then it is a race of men on the earth like Him, connected with a company of people who have received the breath of Christ. Well now, the apostle had that before him. He said, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus" -- the dying of that Man. Why should that Man die? He died in love. It is a wonderful thing to see a man die for love, to see one surrendering himself to love, but think of the Son of God dying. Could anything in the whole universe be of more interest than that? How He died. I do not know how far back we might trace the manner of death. We may look back to the mount of transfiguration. "He stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem". Luke 9:51 He had just been talking about it on the heights. He

spoke of His decease and He goes deliberately down to die. If you trace that path you see how He died. What tender compassion for those who were with Him, and especially as we draw near and find ourselves in the upper room. He was dying in order that others might live; that is what He was doing and He was teaching us how to die, perhaps one of the most difficult lessons to learn. We have to learn everything from Jesus. It is only in the power of life that we can die. But the Prince of life died. Here it is His dying, and the dying of Jesus is what is so remarkable, and that is what the apostle says, "That the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body". That is what Paul had in view. I take the apostle Paul to be the full representation of one into whose nostrils the breath of life had been breathed by Jesus. He received that breath. It developed in him until he says, I want to see a complete representation in man, as complete as it can be, bringing the thing down within the reach of us all. I want to see the life of Jesus in my mortal body. And then he goes on to say, "For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh", and then the apostle adds, "So then death worketh in us, but life in you". Now what I make of that is, if you will bear with me, that life in any locality in which a man lives will be seen as the life of Jesus is manifested in him and he will help the saints generally. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren". That is what should mark a local company. I take Bethany to represent love in a locality. The Lord delights to come to a locality where love is. So He came to Bethany. Thus it is before the passover he came where Lazarus was, who had died. A risen man was there, and not only a risen man but persons who were affected by the testimony of life. They thought of

Jesus; they made Him a supper and Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him, and Martha served and Mary anointed Him. There is not a word there as to their being told to do these things. It is the product of the light of life. Chapter 12 is, so to say, the product of the previous chapter -- the thing is allowed to be seen -- the light of life working out in a group, in a locality. The point is not the house, as you will observe. In Matthew and Mark we find a reference to Simon the leper's house but in John it is the locality. So it says He came to Bethany. He came to Bethany where Lazarus was. Lazarus was there and others who loved Him. The result of His ministry was that they gave of their own accord and He accepted it. It is true the house is referred to as filled. It is filled with the odour of the ointment. That is the thing. That is what the Holy Spirit would lead to. Readings and prayer meetings are all right but the point is, what is the benefit of these without the green evidence of life? That is what God likes and He will have it. If there is one who is in life, that one has to learn locally to lay down his life for the people -- "death worketh in us, but life in you". It is a poor thing if I am enjoying life at the expense of another brother. God would have me to enjoy it through my own exercises.

THE ALTAR OF EARTH AND THE ALTAR OF STONE

Exodus 20:22 - 26

In thinking of the material that is spoken of for the altars in this chapter, there is this particularly, that God reminds His people that He had spoken to them from heaven and that they should not make with Him gods of silver nor unto themselves gods of gold, i.e., there is a suggestion of respectable idolatry. However respectable the gods may be or seem to be, they are, nevertheless, idols, and to be refused.

God had spoken out of heaven, and had enjoined, early in the chapter, that He had rights over them which were indisputable. They had seen no form but had heard a voice and they were to be on their guard against idolatry -- a danger which is ever present even as we partake of the greatest privileges. As God may be pleased to address us in the most intimate way, the danger of the heart being diverted is ever present.

The enemy would suggest what is respectable; that which, in the world, would be regarded as of the first order -- gods of silver, gods of gold. These are what the enemy would introduce immediately after there has been a manifestation from God. God had spoken to them out of heaven, but the danger was present, nevertheless, of the heart being diverted by what would pass muster, in religious circles, as being respectable, and the Lord in proceeding brings in the idea of the altar.

I thought of this, dear brethren, as a line of preservation for us. You will observe that it does not say 'if' in verse 24, whereas in verse 25 He says, "If thou wilt make me an altar of stone". The altar of earth was imperative; the altar of stone may be

beyond us. The want of it does not unchristianise us, but no one can be in relation to God without the first. There must be an altar of earth. It is the means or guarantee of our security; it is the acceptance of divine provision and is the confession of our part in flesh and blood.

The altar of stone, I apprehend, leads us further and suggests that we have part in an order of things outside flesh and blood. This is a most wonderful suggestion in this particular phase of Israel's history, and if there is to be a recognition of their condition, they might go on to an order of things quite outside flesh and blood. If one might carry further or elucidate the truth opened up in this verse, one might refer you to the first epistle to the Corinthians; I speak of it tonight because of the need of each individual christian to be self -- sustaining and not dependent for his spiritual welfare on what the Lord may provide in the way of gift. There is the need for each christian to be self -- dependent, as it were. Not independent, surely, but able to live on in dependence upon God. Psalm 16 is an expression of the dependent man. It is not Christ in resurrection; it is Christ here in the place of dependence on God in acceptance of the conditions which He had taken up before God.

VICTORY

1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 John 5:4, 5, Habakkuk 3:17 - 19; Judges 4:4 - 6

I have before me, dear brethren, to speak about victory, and you will observe in the first passage read that God gives it to us, the 'us' obviously having reference to those having faith, for spiritual things are given only to such. God is bountiful in material things and provides for all, even although there may not be faith, for He has never left Himself without witness among men, giving rain, as we are told, and fruitful seasons, filling men's hearts with food and gladness. Indeed, as the passage goes on to say: "In him we (meaning all mankind) live, and move, and have our being", Acts 17:28. But when it comes to spiritual things the dispensation of God is said to be in faith. The gospel is addressed to those who have faith, as it is said, on the principle of faith to faith; it is an administration. The Lord Jesus Christ, ere going up to heaven, after He rose from the dead, moved in and out amongst His people for forty days, and in that way would impress them with what is spiritual, so that on going on high, being made both Lord and Christ, He administered what was spiritual. And so Peter says, referring to the gift of the Spirit which was there to be observed: "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear", Acts 2:33. But He shed Him forth upon those who had faith. He, as shed forth thus, was available to man, but only on the principle of faith. So that what God gives spiritually, as I said, has reference to those who have faith, and when the apostle here says, "Thanks be to God who giveth

us the victory", the "us" refers to those who have faith. As having faith we believe what is presented to us on the principle of faith. And so, in this chapter, the apostle says at the outset that the gospel which he preached to the Corinthians was that "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures". 1 Corinthians 15:4 These facts were presented to them on the principle of faith, and having received them (if they did, indeed) they came within the 'us', to whom God is pleased to give the victory. And, I may add, so that there may be no misunderstanding as to what this victory implies, that it does not refer to any material success or prosperity in this world. It refers to what the chapter speaks of; it refers to resurrection, and you will observe that he does not say, 'He shall give it to us', but He "giveth us the victory". In other words it is a present thing, which God intends should be by faith in the possession of our souls: He gives it to us, and He gives it to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the Lord, as risen, remained with His own forty days before He ascended, and, as you will remember, He appeared, according to this chapter, on six different occasions; and I submit to you that on each of these occasions there would be conveyed the sense of victory. First, He appeared to Cephas. In the gospel of Luke we are told He appeared to Simon, doubtless to reassure the heart of His erring disciple, but the Spirit of God has not that in view in this passage, and so He mentions Simon's spiritual name. We have to understand what it is, beloved, to have spiritual names, because it is first that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual. We have to understand how we come under the eye of the Lord, the last Adam who is a quickening Spirit. If He has to do with us He quickens us; He quickens us in relation to His own perfect wisdom as to the

place we are to occupy in that spiritual world which He came to effectuate. So that Simon is referred to here according to his spiritual name. This quickening involves certain traits which no one else has. Each one differs, as this passage tells us: "Star differs from star in glory". 1 Corinthians 15:41 Each one has his own living characteristics, spiritual characteristics, and, as all come under the eye of the last Adam, He sees these and names the person accordingly. We shall all appear, therefore, in the spiritual realm according to the names which the last Adam confers. And so, as He appears to Cephas, there would be in the heart of Cephas a sense of victory. He would be stimulated in the sense of victory as to what he was and the place he was to occupy in the divine structure, for his name signifies 'a stone'.

And then He appears to the twelve, for they were to administer. There was to be here an administrative company appointed by the Lord, and they had been appointed, and as appointed He appears to them. The appearance would convey to them a sense of victory, for the One whom they were to represent in their administration was Himself supremely victorious; He was out of death. Their administration should be not of material things, but spiritual things, and they would be impressed by the appearance of Christ to them as the twelve, with the sense of victory: that they had to do with a spiritual Person. One who had been into death, and was now out of it. They would be impressed with victory, and would carry on the administration in the sense of victory; they would be above the least taint of corruption. We know how administrators after the flesh are exposed to corruption, but these would be set up in their souls in complete superiority in the sense of victory that the Lord Jesus Christ would accord to them as appearing to them.

Then it is said that He appeared to above five

hundred brethren at once; and here again there would be the conveyance to their souls of victory, for how should we maintain the truth involved in the term 'brethren', except as in victory? We should soon drop to the level of current religion around us unless we are in the sense of victory. It was as risen from the dead that the Lord Jesus Christ sent the message to His brethren. He says, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God", John 20:17. "I ascend", He says, and how that would elevate their hearts far above this world, and the earth, and even the garden in which Magdalene had met Him. They were to be linked up with Him as ascended into heaven. He came in afterwards -- on what particular date I cannot tell -- but there were five hundred of them together at the one time -- a remarkable occasion -- and He appeared to them. Some of them, says the apostle, remained until that day. How those who remained, as moving about among the later converts would convey to those converts the dignity of 'brethren'! The term has been dragged down in our own times to the current religions in the world, brethren being classified among all the religions of town or country; but it was never so intended. The Lord's thought was that it should be elevated -- that we should remain in obscurity outside the range of man's cognisance. And so, these five hundred, as they moved about among the later converts, would impress upon them the spiritual dignity involved in the term 'brethren'.

And then He appeared to James, it says. We have in one instance His appearing to five hundred at once, and then again to one man. He would convey to James the sense of victory. Like some of David's mighty men of old, he doubtless had to confront many at one time, but God would give him the victory. I have no doubt that we should read the

history of David's men in the light of this, for, as the Lord would appear to an individual, He would convey to him that one man could chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; as Samson says, "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men", Judges 15:16. A man who has had an appearing from the Lord is fortified in his soul with a sense of victory. It was not for Himself alone that He won the victory; that victory is to pervade every one of us! We are to be set up here in the sense of it.

Then He appeared to "all the apostles", as if to suggest to us that, if the authority of the Lord be called to question -- as, alas, it is -- the sense of victory which He conveys to those who represent Him in the world enables them to maintain it. To put it in simple language: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me", John 14:21. You maintain the will of God in your own path, and, as far as you can, in the meeting in which you are, at all costs. Not one iota of divine authority must be surrendered. His appearing to all the apostles has relation to His authority. They represented Him. His presence would impress them in this connection. They would be reminded of the spirit in which His authority should be maintained.

Paul said He appeared unto all these; then he adds, "And last of all he was seen of me", as one, we may say, who was intended to be a personal representative of His in this world; one who loved the Lord in a peculiar way. He says, "He loved me, and gave himself for me". Galatians 2:20 Paul loved the assembly, too, as he says, I will "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church", Colossians 1:24. How the beloved apostle Paul would be impressed with the victory of Christ as He appeared to him!

Well now, having said so much, I turn to the

passage in John's epistle, because it shows you how we come into this. First he says, "All that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world" -- nothing else! You may study the Scriptures, and the writings that bear on the Scriptures, and acquire knowledge and ability to speak, but all these suffice not for the victory over the world. It is all that is begotten of God that gets the victory. And then again, he says, "This is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith". This is not only faith in your soul; it includes, I think, the system of truth unfolded in the Lord Jesus Christ -- the whole of it -- our faith. On every hand the truth is being given up and abandoned; who are abandoning it? Those who are not born of God, for those who are born of God get the victory, and they hold the truth. Later on we are told "the Spirit is the truth". Christ is the truth -- "I am the way, the truth, and the life". John 14:6 That is objective. He presents the whole truth of God objectively, but in the epistle the Spirit is the truth, suggesting that the Holy Spirit down here, in the believers, maintains the truth in complete correspondence with Christ in heaven; an immense thought! Can it ever fall to the ground? Never! "This is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith". It was held in the souls of believers. The truth was never intended to be maintained by catechism or 'articles of religion'. That cannot be called faith. The word suggests that things were held livingly in men's souls, and by the Spirit the truth was held in all its parts, as John wrote. And it was supremely above the world; it brought down the world, as at Ephesus; the books were burned.

I wish to convey to the young ones here what an immense thing we have, as we lay hold of the truth by the Spirit. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of

God?" I have already anticipated this: "Our faith" involves every christian -- the unity of the faith -- and wherever it is held in faith -- that is, livingly, in a man's soul -- there is victory. But then there is the individual thought: "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" The word 'overcometh' here is victory; "he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God" has it.

I commend, dear brethren, the importance of believing that Jesus is the Son of God. John presents Him in his gospel, and Paul preached Him as the Son of God. According to the Scriptures Paul was the first to preach that Jesus was the Son of God; you can understand it, for he had already the appearing. "Last of all … he appeared to me", 1 Corinthians 15:8 Paul said. "God", he says, "was pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations", Galatians 1:16. And so the preaching that has come to us gentiles is that; the preaching of the Son of God.

As it is individual here one would raise the question with everyone present -- the question the Lord raised with the man that had been blind: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" John 9:35 You see, John contemplates in his gospel that there are believers, and believers. He contemplates that many should come under the head of believers, or disciples, and yet not be believers in the Son of God. Indeed, the man in John 9 had already been a believer. He had witnessed for Christ, and, on account of his witness, had been cast out of the synagogue, and yet the Lord raises the question: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" You see there is a point we have to reach experimentally, when we believe on the Son of God. And so the man says to the Lord, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" The Lord replies, "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that

talketh with thee", and he says, "Lord, I believe". John 9:36 - 38 He is already outside the world, cast out; but I doubt that he had yet overcome it. The religious world had taken the initiative, and cast him out, but he would meet the world in other forms later, and he needed preparation for this. So the Lord finds him, and he believes on the Son of God. What does that mean? -- another world; the light of the Son of God in another world gives me the victory over the present one. So I would say to the young ones here, to consider what you have come into as having believed on Christ. It means another world: a world the Son of God has set up, and you have part in it; it is all before you. He says, "me and thee", and He would convey to your soul that it is just Himself and yourself; that is, He links you up with Himself, and you are His for ever. And the world? You disdain it! What has it got for you? Nothing! Paul said the world was crucified unto him, and he unto the world. He says, "God forbid that I should boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world", Galatians 6:14.

Now, I just wanted to point out in the two passages I read in the Old Testament how that the Old Testament confirms, and, indeed, enlarges on the New. It gives us illustrations, and so, in Habakkuk, you have a victor. If you go through his prophecy, you will see, at one time he was very despondent; things were not going well, and he is an example of most of us. We all have our despondent times, up to a point. I often think that the journey of young christians is, so to speak, undulating -- up and down -- and so it was with Habakkuk, until he arrived at the apprehension of what he speaks of: high places. He begins with variable notes, but he ends with a stringed instrument; I think it is 1 Corinthians 15. The choir, I think, is in view of these chapters,

beginning with the tenth, and when you come to the great truth of resurrection the strings are tightened up, the flesh is disallowed, and you apprehend the Man out of death; you are in victory. And so Habakkuk says, "To the chief Musician. On my stringed instruments". Whatever happened to the vines, or to the figs, or to the herds, or to the flocks, affected him not now. His business affairs might go against him, his family affairs, or what not, but now he would rejoice -- "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation". What is proposed in the gospel is outside of all these material things, and, as apprehended, makes you independent of them. Not that you do not feel things, but you are not dragged down by them; you walk in your high places. You see it is when God gives you the victory, and you are in it consciously, that the high places are yours. The Lord Jesus walked on the high places for forty days before He ascended so that His own might see what victory He had gained. The world saw Him not -- it was outside of this world -- but His disciples saw Him; He showed Himself unto them alive. He walked on His high places, but now the believer walks on his. He walks independently of adverse circumstances, as in the light of victory, in the light of Christ risen from the dead. God gives you "hind's feet"; you are above the pressure of this world, and you walk on the high places, and God gets His portion from you. I would that every one of us could use this possessive case, as indicating that we have entered on the high places trodden by the Lord Jesus Christ during those forty days. As the Lord took Peter by the hand, so He would take every one of us, so that we might walk with Him on our high places.

In Deborah there is an instance of one who has the victory in its bearing on the testimony here, because, after all, that is what God has in view in

leaving us down here. He could easily take us to heaven, but His thought is to set us up in complete independence of this world on our high places, so that we might be here in superiority to the world, and to present the gospel, the testimony to it. It is only in the good of the thing that I can commend it to others; it is not a system of doctrines or articles; it is a thing I have got. I am walking on my high places, and can impress others that the thing is worth having.

Well, now, Deborah judged Israel in those days, and they were dark days. She says, "The roads were unused, and the travellers on highways went by crooked paths. The villages ceased in Israel, ceased until that I Deborah arose", Judges 5:6,7. But how did she arise? "She dwelt under the palm -- tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel, in mount Ephraim". You see, she had a palm -- tree -- "the palm -- tree of Deborah" -- it was hers, the token of personal victory. How can I be a judge of any, unless I am personally victorious? How can I influence others aright, unless I am spiritually victorious? Deborah was victorious, as she dwelt under her own palm -- tree. As the Israelites came to her for judgment, they would be impressed with that well -- known symbol of victory. They did not need to carry a bribe with them to obtain her favour, as she needed no bribe; you could not corrupt her, for she was beyond it. She dwelt under her own palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel. You see, she is in good surroundings, with her own palm tree over her. And so any one of us who is in these circumstances can influence the people of God aright.

They come up to Deborah for judgment. And so one who is personally victorious is sure to have a place among the people of God. They respect you, and come to you. What an advantage to come to one who is personally victorious! What an advantage

to the saints to have one who lives near to God, and to whom they can come for advice! It is on this ground that eldership stands. How can one rule in the house of God unless he rules himself and his own house. As he rules himself and his own house, he is sitting under the palm tree of spiritual victory; he is beyond personal considerations, and is thinking of the welfare of the saints -- only that -- and the saints know it, and they come to him.

So they come to Deborah, and she sends for Barak, and says, "Hath not Jehovah ... commanded?" I only want to say that you see that one who is personally victorious is now concerned about the will of God. It is not a question of my will, or my judgment, although the saints respect it, as they did Deborah's, but her word to Barak was this: "Hath not Jehovah … commanded?" Victory in this sense is always marked by respect for the Lord's commandments, and that is what an elder would insist on, and what is of most importance to be insisted upon; for, everywhere, men are asserting their own wills, whereas one that is victorious spiritually considers for God. As the Lord said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me", John 14:21. And again: "Hereby know we that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments", 1 John 5:2. The truly victorious person insists on the Lord's commandments.

Well, dear brethren, that is what I had on my mind tonight, and I hope the Lord will bring the thought home to each of us. He intends that we should each be in victory, as otherwise we shall not be available in the testimony.

I believe He is giving victory; I believe that God is graciously giving victory to the assembly, maybe in a small way outwardly, but, nevertheless, really, as in the case of Samson. There was not very much to honour Samson in his death, but he slew

more in his death than in his life. He had his greatest victory in the end; what was the secret of it? His hair had begun to grow; it had been shaven, but now there was evidence of life -- thus the victory at the end.

SPIRITUAL CONTEMPLATION

Exodus 3:1 - 6; John 1:14; 1 John 1:1 - 3

I wish to speak at this time, dear brethren, about spiritual contemplation, believing that it is a real need among us; especially among young believers, the ability to sit down as illustrated in Mary of Bethany is comparatively rare. In the Canticles the female speaker says, "In his shadow have I rapture and sit down". Song of Songs 2:3 Sitting down from this point of view, is a posture in which we can contemplate to advantage. Unless we acquire the habit as believers we shall not shine for Christ, for we shall not take in nor absorb something presented objectively which is seen in Christ. We all know the influence of atmosphere, how it affects us extremely, how particularly in inanimate things, the influence of environment gives character to them, as for instance, a flower. "Consider the lilies", says the Lord, "how they grow". Luke 12:27 They grow in an environment provided -- "they toil not, they spin not; and yet ... Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these". Yet they also have to be nourished from the earth, and so it is, dear brethren, that we receive from the earth, for we are to take root downward and bear fruit upward. The king himself lives of the field; that emphasises that we eat, for in that wonderful description of creation in Psalm 104, one of the many wonderful things we eat is bread to strengthen man's heart and wine to gladden it. These have to be assimilated, so that in taking in the word, as Jeremiah did, he said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them". Jeremiah 15:16 Ezekiel, too, ate the roll. In eating the word thus it becomes, as it were, ourselves, as when the Lord says, I am "Altogether that which I also say to you". John 8:25 There is this, beloved brethren, that we

take in by our own act, and the effect of the external environment which is prepared of God in Christ in heaven. Now for these things we require to sit down; we require, too, the habit of sitting down in a special sense, and so I refer to the passage in Exodus, not that Moses sat down there, for the Old Testament is not the time of sitting down but rather standing. Our Lord Jesus Christ has led the way in sitting as in all else, but Moses turned aside to contemplate. I want young ones to take notice of this particularly. We come to meetings, and it is wonderful the provision God makes for us; they are a divine provision, but after the meeting is over we are tested. In many instances that which came into the soul and mind is lost ere we leave the room, but the idea is that we should retain it for an opportunity to sit down and contemplate. Now you see Moses came to Horeb, the mount of God, an excellent position. It is well to come to hear from God, it is well to be there. It is to Moses' credit that he led the sheep there, and that he came to the mount of God, as it is to ours as we draw near to hear the word of God, for ministry is intended to convey the mind of God, and it is well to hear it. Yet though the angel came, if Moses had not turned aside, how much he would have missed. He might have recorded what a wonderful thing he saw in the bush burning and not consumed, but I say, Moses, was that all? If he had not turned aside that would have been all. It says of Moses, he said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt". He had determination to see the thing to the end. It was not a mere apparition but a sight and the Lord saw that he turned aside. God takes notice of the resolve of our hearts, and there should be resolution with us as the mind of God is brought to us. We are not worthy if we do not make resolutions.

The work of God proceeded in Moses' soul, so God

says, "Moses, Moses". In other words Moses is distinguished in this act. He could no doubt have occupied curious ears with it if he had not turned aside, but when one's name is mentioned twice one has distinguished oneself in the eyes of God, not of men, for no one was present when God said "Moses, Moses". There are several instances of this sort of distinction, as for instance Abraham when he offered up Isaac, Jacob when he sacrificed to the God of his fathers, Samuel, and above all Saul of Tarsus, and may it be said of each of us as we turn aside through special interest to take account of what God says to us, for we want it all. Think of God disclosing His mind to us, do we not want it all? Let us stop, dear brethren, to consider the wonder of it. Is it not worth thinking over, taking bit by bit, as it were; to understand, as He says, and know Me? (Jeremiah 9:24). Now the word is to Moses, "put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground". The mark of the Old Testament was, come not near, for the way into the holiest was not yet manifest, (Hebrews 9:8) but not so with us. However, we are apt to tread glibly on holy ground with our shoes on, but if we are to apprehend things aright we must see them in relation to Christ as He is before God. We are enjoined to draw near now by the new and living way; no more room for the flesh now than then, but there is a wonderful provision for us to leave the flesh outside. God enjoins us to draw near for love is intolerant of distance. I doubt much whether anyone enjoys relationship to God save he who enters the holiest. It is right to follow others, but a time comes when you have to go in yourself. Take off thy shoes for the place is holy; let us never forget; we are exhorted to be sober. Then the voice goes on, "I am the God of thy father"; you see, God would impress you as you draw near with His relationship to you, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". Romans 15:6

The very lispings of the babe in christianity are in the light of the revelation of God, so that by the Spirit you cry, Abba, Father. You are in conscious relationship with God. You may say, my experience belies that, but I would say light goes before experience. The Spirit following light gives experience; be on your guard about placing experience before light. "I am the God of thy father". The Lord commenting on this passage makes it refer to resurrection, saying that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That relationship can never be taken away; it stands for ever. In the opening of John's gospel we see one who contemplates Jesus as an only begotten. It is not now a burning bush. He says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us", many of us refer to that and rightly, but we overlook the next part, "and we have contemplated his glory". It is one thing to have the service but another to contemplate how He dwelt among men. John was one of them and he says, "we have contemplated his glory". It corresponds with what we call the holiest. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us". They would see. You see if the Lord raised the dead, you say there must be something beyond that, and I want to see it; see what is behind that power. Nicodemus says no one can do these miracles unless God be with him; it comes to that, you reason backward, it is not of nature, so God is behind it.

They say, "we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only -- begotten with a father". King James' translators missed the point a bit, they say the Father, but it is not that quite. It is to bring it within the range of the youngest child, for everyone knows what an only one with a father is. The apostles saw behind the scenes, as it were, into the shrine. What reciprocated affections there are in such relationship as that! They saw how He spoke to God, His

emotion and the effect of the relationship. How much greater this was than the signs which everybody saw! The grace of relationship -- the grace of reciprocated affections -- and he adds, "full of grace and truth". So that while He is in relation to God, yet He is full of what man needs, and no one can serve unless he sees that in Christ. John had received of His fulness, and we must receive of it, "Of his fulness we all have received", the same grace and truth that is of Christ. Witness John's epistle and gospel as a proof of it.

Now I just want to bring out the thought of life -- "Concerning the word of life". Christianity begins with absolute perfection and all else is to come to that; hence, in the Word becoming flesh all is in perfection, and everything has to come to that. In the Acts the Lord presents Himself alive, that is, He placed Himself before their eyes, making it evident He was alive, and John says, our eyes have seen it and we report to you. He is qualified to be a witness. So the beloved disciple develops in his contemplation, he is filled and can bear witness. One of the greatest things in Scripture is the thought of witness, not only what one says, but what one is. Stephen is a striking witness; his address is a witness and he lays down himself as a witness; he was a witness. So John says, "we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son", and "we ... report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has been manifested to us ... that ye also may have fellowship with us". So you see how by contemplating we bear witness to what we have seen, for we cannot do anything more. The thought is to bear witness to what we have seen. The need is great for quiet prayerful contemplation of what is presented and is coming out, so that we may be extending the things, on the principle of witness, "That your joy may be full". 1 John 1:4

GATHERING

John 11:49 - 52; John 12:32, 33; 2 Kings 2:1 - 14; 1 Chronicles 12:1, 23, 26 - 28

I wish to speak about gathering, a thought that runs through Scripture, and one that has a peculiar interest in the gospel of John, which has in view our own times in which the primary force of divine terms and instructions is lost. Terms which had special significance at the outset have lost their meanings, and have taken on a meaning which man by mere religious training is pleased to give them, and so the people of God have to learn the vocabulary of Scripture over again. In order that we should learn it in its primary significance we have to unlearn human definitions and discard them. What John presents to us shows that we have to learn them over again and to learn them from Christ, for He is the model and living expression of everything He presents in teaching.

We have such instruction also set out in the early part of 2 Kings, where it is said that Jehovah would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven. As it was announced, every moment counted for Elisha, in order that he might learn all that was possible ere Elijah's departure. He would have the living voice, the touch, and the influence of Elijah and specially so in relation to those places intimately connected with the testimony. Elisha represents the believer, and so in the light of Jehovah's intent, they both being in Gilgal, Elisha moves first and Elijah goes with him. The initiative is with Elisha in this, realising the necessity of the moment. Afterward the initiative is with the Lord as represented in Elijah, for He would encourage every desire to move on our part.

The movements of Elijah are to remind us that the

believer is to acquire an understanding of divine places and names direct from the Lord, who ever seizes the opportunity to be with us in it. It is as sure as can be that the Lord will go much further than we do. So Elijah goes to Bethel. The movement is to bring about attachment of the believer to Christ. If I begin to move the Lord will be with me and He would say, 'Now that you are moving I will go ahead and lead you on'. He knows the way, so they go to Bethel. He now suggests to Elisha that he should remain there, for the Lord has sent him further. But Elisha says, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee"; so they two went on. They go on together and at each place Elisha learns the true meaning of divine things. It is thus that the believer is taught the spiritual significance of divine things by the Lord.

John takes account of the movement of the Lord in the divine dwelling, with ourselves in it, for in chapter 1 when He saw two disciples following He challenges them as to what they were seeking, and then invited them to come and see where He dwelt. Never had such an experience of the divine dwelling been known before; the Lord Himself being in it. We have to learn these things from Christ, and we learn perfectly as we understand from Christ. So with the principle of gathering. John brings out in chapter 11 what is involved in the idea of gathering. There again the Lord leads the way. You will observe that the prophecy of Caiaphas, the high priest, did not include the thought of gathering; it was light from God, and it reminds us that God may even use a man who is not in sympathy with the testimony, but you will find that such a man will not go the whole way; he is sure to be national in his thoughts, for he can know nothing about the family of God. Caiaphas speaks about the nation and of one dying for the nation, but the Spirit of God goes on and as

ever presents the complete thought, which involves the gathering of the family, the children of God. If our children migrate to other lands we do not connect them with the nation to which they go; they are our children, whether in Africa, America or Australia.

John, in writing his gospel, is concerned about the children, for the testimony has not taken a national form. It will revert to that, but it is not a primary thought or continuous, for it will eventually disappear in its national form. God brought in the national position in His ways in order to meet the conditions that had arisen in the world, but the primary thought of God is the family, the children. The Spirit of God, therefore, through John adds to the prophecy of the high priest, saying, "and not for the nation only, but that he should also gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad", John 11:52. The Spirit of God speaks of the children, hence its application to the present time when the children are so scattered. The Lord died not only for the nation, but to gather together the children of God who were scattered abroad. He died to do that, so that as learning from the Lord, we learn the truth of the family over again and learn it completely. The shepherds of the present time should be feeding and gathering, but if I think of the shepherds of Israel, what are they doing? If I look abroad on the shepherds of the christian profession, those recognised in the religious systems, what are they doing about the children of God? I see little concern for them there, so I turn to the Lord to learn it over again. The official shepherds of the day speak of their own flocks, an unscriptural term, and I have to turn therefore to the Lord to learn about the family and how to gather the children of God. I learn it first by seeing that He died to gather them; I must learn from Him. He said, "he that gathers not with me scatters". How many scatterers

there are today! There are thousands of them and we can learn nothing from them, so we have to come to Christ and learn humbly from Him. John gives us the greatest thought, telling us that Christ died as the good Shepherd. He laid down His life for the sheep. As serving after that pattern, I learn that it involves the surrender of one's life; one has to learn to give up one's life in order to gather. In John 12 we have a thought that is parallel, that of attraction. This is another prominent feature with John, and so mighty is the power of attraction in Christ as a principle, that although He is presented in so ignominious a manner, a spectacle as seen at the cross, yet He draws all unto Him. In that external ignominy there is the greatest moral beauty which faith discerns, and if I am to correspond with that I need not to adorn myself in any human way, nor be concerned about human respectability; there must not be the slightest attempt to avoid shame or ignominy. He was lifted up in shame and yet He would draw all to Himself; such is the power of attraction, and this accounts for much in the testimony of God. We are entitled to reckon on the attractiveness of what is of God, as we accept the place of public shame and ignominy.

As we turn to Chronicles we see how the Old Testament is intended to amplify the New, and in the portion I have read we have the features of the gathered saints, those who are gathered according to the fashion of Christ. Let us look at the gathered saints and see if we are among them. We have David as a centre in Ziklag, in the stronghold, and in Hebron. This is an important chapter and would help us to see the component parts of those who are gathered and enable us to determine if we ourselves are gathered. The general feature at Ziklag is that they were helpers. They had come to David under adverse circumstances. Saul was still king, showing

the presence of influences that pull on the flesh; and who is immune from that? Hence these men came to David against an adverse wind. Saul was still reigning and David had to defend himself from this influence, for it would dominate everything that was external. Yet these men came, even the brethren of Saul and Benjamin. They were the first to deny natural instincts and the best thing in nature, for that has to be relinquished. How easily one is influenced by one's family! So the children of Benjamin came.

Among those who came to David in the stronghold were the Gadites; they were men of wonderful power. From Judah came those who were related to David after the flesh, which raised another peculiar difficulty. As today there are those who are outwardly related to Christ, the children of christian parents; so when these come, they are the only ones that David challenges. We may easily drift into external relationship with Christ and His people, and much of the weakness amongst us comes from this. David goes out to challenge them, for there must be no such people in the camp as are merely in outward relationship there on natural lines, for they will only betray Christ. So David says to them, "If ye come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto you; but if to betray me to mine enemies, God ... rebuke it". It is a terrible thing to be in outward relation but not so inwardly. Simon Magus was one such, and the apostle said, "thou hast neither part nor lot" with us. Simon believed Philip and was baptised, but think of his offering money to get the Spirit! He had truly no part or lot, and he had not the Spirit. So Peter says, "Thy money go with thee to destruction!" Peter says "thou hast neither part nor lot", Acts 8:20 - 21 although he believed outwardly and was allied with the saints. So David challenges them and the Spirit came upon

Amasai. It is a question of the Spirit, otherwise we have no link with Christ or His people. Amasai's is a most beautiful speech:

"Thine are we, David,
And with thee, thou son of Jesse:
Peace, peace be to thee!
And peace be to thy helpers!
For thy God helps thee".

What brethren they were truly, how truly gathered! They came peaceably, not to spy out the liberty of the saints or to betray Christ. We need sons of peace; there can be no assembly formation without sons of peace. There is no doubt, now that Amasai speaks, for the speaking is by the Spirit, and it means peace. He recognised that David had his helpers, and that God helped, and David made him captain, for he was worthy of it.

At Hebron you will notice that the numbers of those who came are given. Saul is dead and that influence had ceased. It is not now the place of rejection. Colossians and Ephesians, which contemplate the thoughts involved in Hebron, suppose that that influence has been dealt with. Hebron is outside the world, and those there are looking into another world. How many of us are thus taken account of? The number is given of those who came to David to Hebron to transfer the kingdom of Saul to him. Did it ever come into your minds, dear brethren, that we are to have part in that, to transfer the kingdom, to take it out of the hand of Saul? As the apostle says, "As ... ye have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and assured in the faith". Colossians 2:6 - 7 As we have received Him, we are to go on in faith, by which we are assured and introduced into God's world. It is noticeable, too, that among all those thousands gathered at Hebron there are only two names given! There were many

thousands gathered to David to transfer the kingdom, but only two persons are named; they are Aaronites. What men they must have been! There was "Jehoiada the prince of Aaron", the leader of three thousand seven hundred, and there was Zadok, a valiant young man, and twenty -- two captains. May I not suggest from this that what excels at Hebron is priesthood? We have in Romans 16 the longest list of worthies, such as are at Ziklag and the stronghold, but when we come to Colossians, whilst we get names mentioned, they are of those who are marked by priestly grace, and they excel. Paul himself, a prince, combated in prayer for the saints, and Epaphras a Colossian prays, prays earnestly.

It is to be carefully noted that Jehoiada and Zadok do not refer only to brothers; it is for brothers and sisters, for what is priestly refers to both. It is as we are known in heaven that we are in power here. He whose voice is heard oftener in heaven is better known there. So in Colossians it is to the end that the saints might be in faith as to the working of God. The more you pray the more you are known in heaven. So only the names of those known in priestly power are given at Hebron. It is to impress us with the great value of prayer. Hebron is an advance on Ziklag, for Hebron looks into God's world. In Ephesians the apostle bows his knees to the Father. See how well he was known in heaven. His prayers were continually heard in heaven. In Colossians he says that he would have the saints know what combat he had for them. It is most important to have one's name registered at Hebron, for it is as one excels in prayer.

THE LORD JESUS AS KING

John 18:37; Genesis 14:18 - 20; Deuteronomy 33:4,5

I have before me tonight to speak a little about the Lord Jesus as He is presented to us in the Scriptures as King. It is not the title by which He is known to us exactly. The term 'Lord' is that by which believers imply His authority, but it is akin to the term 'King', kingship being more official, and conveying in itself as I hope we shall see, much in the way of testimony from God.

What I wish to dwell upon first of all is that in His answer to Pilate the Lord says that He was born king. He says, as you will observe, "I have been born for this". Now, in approaching this subject I thought it well to touch on the Lord's royalty which, I may say, is hereditary; He is the root of David, being God, but He is also the offspring of David. We who belong to the assembly have intelligence as to Him both as the root of David and as the offspring of David. The gospel of John unfolds for us the truth of the Lord's Person, and that underlies His being the root of David. The gospel of Matthew unfolds His official position, so that it is the "Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham". Matthew 1:1 Thus the assembly, for which the gospels were written, understanding the gospel of John, understands how the Lord Jesus is the root of David. David was not an accidental king, beloved friends. In the first book of Samuel you have first the desire of a pious woman to have a son, and this desire was granted, so that we have Samuel, the prophet. Then we have the desire of a people to have a king, and their desire was also granted, and so we have Saul, for man's unregenerate

desire must ever result in confusion, and so God says that He gave them a king in His anger. We do not want to have anything from God given in His anger. We may ask, and ask amiss, we may ask for things to consume on our lusts. We must be on our guard against such desires and petitions.

The Israelites of old asked for a king. They wished to be like the nations around them, and they wished to have a king, whereas God was their King. And God gave them a king. "I gave thee a king", it says, "in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath", Hosea 13:11. Then we have David. Who asked for him? No one among men. What his mother's desires were we know not. We know that his father had no such desire for his son, for when Samuel came to anoint the king according to the word of God, to Bethlehem, to Jesse's house, David was not sent for to be present. Who desired David? God. It was no accident that he was chosen. He was a king after God's heart. "I have found David", He says, "... a man after my heart, who shall do all my will", Acts 13:22. What is the secret of all that? The root of David. David's root was Christ. The assembly understands it, so that when the Lord announces Himself as the root and offspring of David the assembly knows what that means. The Lord announces Himself, "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come", Revelation 22:16, 17; they understand! The Spirit is infinitely aware of all that these terms signify; and He has the assembly with Him in intelligence and in affection, so that she knows who He is and with the Spirit says, "Come".

Pilate was ignorant of all these things, and he says to the Lord, "Thou art then a king?" This brings out the Lord's reply, as I have read to you, "I have

been born for this, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth".

God had Him in view when He had David anointed. What you find in the gospel of Matthew is that the gentiles recognised this fact before the Jews. The wise men from the east arrived at Jerusalem and they say, "Where is the king of the Jews that has been born?" Matthew 2:2. It is not, 'Where is He who has made Himself King', like Adonijah, or like Absalom, or like antichrist. Such climb into power on the dead bodies of others. Ruthless murderers! These wise men from the east wanted to see the king that was born. As you look into His countenance you see royalty; true royalty emanates from God. The time is coming when "the blessed and only Ruler shall shew", as the scripture says, "the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship", 1 Timothy 6:15.

The wise men were guided by His star, the star of the King. They were not governed by fleshly, national feelings of patriotism. They were not envious of the Jews that they should have a king. They did not say, 'King of the nations'. "Where is the king of the Jews that has been born?" They were in the mind of God. The star guides them to the house "where the little child was". The Holy Spirit says, "the little child with Mary his mother" (Matthew 2:11), not the mother and the child, for the King born, beloved, was greater than His mother, for He is the root of David. So they enter the house, and opening their treasures they presented "to him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh", and they worshipped Him.

Pilate had his answer. The Lord says, "Thou sayest it, that I am a king". He did not hide the truth. He was wearing a purple robe, the insignia of royalty as suffering, for suffering goes before reigning. Let us remember that. "If we suffer, we shall also

reign with him", 2 Timothy 2:12. If Pilate had eyes to see, he could see royalty. How majestic is Jesus as He stands before the high priest, and as He stands before Pilate! And so we have the inscription of His accusation written, "Jesus the Nazaraean, the King of the Jews", "in Hebrew, Greek, Latin", John 19:19, 20. The world has committed itself to the murder of Him in whom royalty shone, in whom it is shining, and in whom it will shine. A King was there, and the world has committed itself to His murder. As Paul says later, speaking of the hidden wisdom, the wisdom which God hath prepared before the world "for our glory: which none of the princes of this age knew", 1 Corinthians 2:8. Caiaphas did not know it; Pilate did not know it. "For had they known", he says, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory". He was there before the eyes of Pilate. You can understand the feelings of that poor weakling, a representative of Caesar, when he said, "Thou art then a king?" Pilate had asserted over and over again that He was innocent, and yet he scourges Him and hands Him over to His enemies to be put to death. He was in the presence of a Monarch before whom all the Caesars would pass away into oblivion. It says of the antichrist, who is the embodiment of them all, "whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of his coming", 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

I have read from Genesis because we have in Melchisedec the first intimation of this wonderful kingship of which I have been speaking. There was a king spoken of earlier, Nimrod, who "was a mighty hunter before Jehovah", Genesis 10:9. I suppose he used men and beasts for sport, for kings after his type care nothing for men's lives. Men are but chattels in their minds, as the other creatures of God. Then there were those kings that were at war, four against five. A sort of 'world war' was on. Melchisedec

was not embroiled in that. Abram came into it to rescue his brother, a worthy cause surely, under all circumstances. And in 'returning', as the writer in Hebrews says in chapter 7, "from smiting the kings", Melchisedec met him with bread and wine. So that Melchisedec is the first king representing Christ. It was "Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God", which is "first being interpreted King of righteousness", Hebrews 7:1, 2. We have such a King as that. We have One who is not only personally righteous, for Jesus loved righteousness, as the centurion witnessed when he said, "In very deed this man was just" (Luke 23:47); but He is King of righteousness, and that means that He has it by Him and will enforce it. As He comes out by and by, we shall see righteousness. Righteousness shall reign. It is not reigning now. Grace is reigning now through righteousness, or none of us would be here. Presently righteousness shall reign. And so it says, "when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness", Isaiah 26:9. Now they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. God is wonderfully patient, but there is the King of righteousness, and when He takes up the reins in this world He will enforce righteousness, His judgments will be in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. They are not learning it now. A few of us are, thank God. We are taught righteousness. The world is not. It is unrighteous, and lawlessness is taught in it. The very schools are teaching it. Let us not be deceived as to the world. We are living in an awful age. Lawlessness is pursuing its course; we have arrived at the apostasy, and it is developing rapidly. But here is the King of righteousness. He is teaching us righteousness through grace, "the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared, teaching us that ... we should live soberly, and

justly, and piously in the present course of things", Titus 2:11, 12. Grace reigns through righteousness. So He bears with us, and that accounts for the way things are. How much God bears with in us! He goes on with us and teaches us on the principle of grace.

He is first King of righteousness by interpretation, and then "King of Salem, which is King of peace", so that we have peace through righteousness, beloved friends. For "the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever", Isaiah 32:17. An unrighteous person can never understand the peace of God. We must learn righteousness and practise it and then peace follows.

And then the King brings forth "bread and wine". Melchisedec conveys to us the great salient features of kingship as exercised in grace, and every one of us who knows the Lord Jesus in His position in heaven will attest that. We will bear witness to the fact that He is all these things to us; and I would urge the youngest here to know this blessed Man in heaven, and you will know all these things. You will find that He comes in the way of righteousness, in the way of peace, and in the way of supply. He brings forth bread and wine.

Every king according to man, instead of bringing forth supplies, demands them. From Nimrod down to the present day the kings of this world subsist on what they get from the people. So God warns the people of Israel as to what a king would do. He would take their sons and daughters, their fields and vineyards. He would give them nothing. What had Saul to give? What has Christ to give? All the wealth of heaven. He demands nothing. He brought forth bread and wine.

I cannot dwell longer on this, but it is a delightful subject conveying to us the salient features in Christ, and none of us should rest until he knows Christ in

these features. When we know Him in these features we shall never come under the domination of the king of Sodom, that is, the power of this world. See what the bread and wine mean. Bread, we are told later, strengthens man's heart. You need your heart strengthened. And wine makes the heart glad. It is better than what the world can give. Indeed wine gladdens the heart of God and the heart of man. Melchisedec is king and priest. He is priest of the Most High God, and he blesses God and Abram. Now as we thus learn Christ, He will become King in our affections. So that in going on for a moment to Deuteronomy 33, from which I read, I want to show you how that as you apprehend and learn Christ as King of righteousness and King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God, He ministers to your needs spiritually and acquires a place in your affections. "He was king", it says, "in Jeshurun", that is to say, king in an upright people. Wherever there is an upright man or woman in the world, Christ has a place there. You get to know the Lord as I have been saying, and now He is enthroned in your heart, and as enthroned in your heart He preserves you from every rival, for there are rivals: "as there are gods many, and lords many, yet to us there is one God, the Father ... and one Lord, Jesus Christ", 1 Corinthians 8:5, 6. And so Mary Magdalene says, "they have taken away my Lord", John 20:13. He had a place in her heart. So to us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. He is God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Can all you young people say that? That we have got the Lord? He is our Lord.

Moses typifies Christ here not in His official position as King but in His moral greatness. I want to make that clear to you. Moses was never crowned. He was not in the regal line at all. He belonged to Levi. He was of the priestly line. Therefore, if he is alluded to as king it means what he was morally.

I will just refer for a moment to a passage in Proverbs to explain that. The writer speaks of four stately things; Proverbs 30:29, 30. The first is a lion. He turns not away for any. The second is a warhorse; he smells the battle afar off. The third is a he -- goat; that means the christian who is separate. It means a servant of God who accustoms himself to retiring to be with God. Moses was called up to the mount to be with Jehovah and he was there forty days and forty nights, and he neither ate nor drank. What an experience! But what moral formation there must have been in that man during those forty days he was with God! No natural sustenance! He drew all his sustenance from God. How he would come down from that mountain imbued with the sense of divine support and as the possessor of true moral greatness! So he draws near to the camp, and he hears the noise of the people. He understands it. He has an exercised ear. Joshua thought it was war. 'No', says Moses, 'it is not war, it is the voice of singing'. A false god was there. They were making merry in his presence. Idolatry was there and Moses enters into the camp of Israel; he burns their idol, the calf, grinding it into powder, and putting it into the water, he compelled the Israelites to drink it. One man in the presence of thousands of men, and they have to give way before him. There was no rising up in the presence of Moses. He was not there a crowned king with an army behind him. He had been forty days and nights with God in the mount. He was imbued with a sense of the presence of God and the support of God and the protection of God, and a nation had to give way before him.

That is the idea in which he was king. From that point onwards Moses rises. God honours him. And so in this remarkable chapter it is said that "Moses commanded us a law, The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob". He was the law -- giver. The speaker

instances the value of the law. The law was spiritual. It was God's law, not only the ten commandments but the whole law of God. The Israelites had come to value it. It is a great thing, beloved friends, to learn law in the true sense. I connect Romans 7 with this. I do not think any believer acquires a place in the testimony unless he learns to value law. I do not mean now the legal sense, but as from God. The writer in Romans 7 says, "I delight in the law of God according to the inward man" (Romans 7:22). If I delight in it I regard it as an inheritance, so "Moses commanded us a law, The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob". What the congregation of Jacob would have been as governed by these laws! No other people had such laws. They were divine laws. They were wise laws. They were spiritual laws; now they were valuing them.

If you look carefully into Romans 7 you will see how the believer works out this principle. He arrives at the value of the law of God and he wants to do it. When he comes to chapter 8 he sees the way: "the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit" (Romans 8:4). You have the Holy Spirit, and you are fulfilling the law. You delight in it. You are in the spirit of it.

"Moses commanded us a law". It is really Christ. "And thus fulfil the law of the Christ", we are told; Galatians 6:2. Do you think of the law of Christ? "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law of the Christ". No true believer is afraid of law. The law of God enters into everything. "I delight in the law of God". Moses commanded us a law and it is called "the inheritance". Then it goes on to say, "He was king in Jeshurun". That is to say, we have come to admire the one who gives us law. We value him. "His commandments are not grievous", 1 John 5:3. That is the way you come to appreciate

Christ. He is King in your heart. He has acquired moral greatness in your soul through experience. It is one thing to read the Scriptures and hear sermons, but it is another thing to prove what Christ is to you in a moral sense so that He becomes greater and greater to you every day. "He was king in Jeshurun", it says, "When the heads of the people And the tribes of Israel were gathered together". There you have the people together. The heads of the people and the tribes. The heads represent the mature wisdom that was there, and the tribes the family feeling. When these are together Christ is supreme. He is King in Jeshurun. The next thing is, you will say, "My heart is welling forth with a good matter: I say what I have composed touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the sons of men", Psalm 45:1, 2.

The soul advances in the knowledge of Christ, into appreciation of Christ and, I may add, into admiration of Christ. You love Him and you speak of Him. Your heart is welling up, with a good matter, and that is really the normal state of those who love Jesus. You think of something of your own. However little, it is your own and you speak of it "touching the king".

Well, I hope what I have said will help all to have a better appreciation of Christ as King.

VESSELS OF MERCY

Romans 9:21 - 24; Jeremiah 18:1 - 6; Jeremiah 19:1, 2, 10, 11

You will observe the recurrence of the idea of a vessel in these passages, and it is of this I wish to speak, especially from the standpoint of Romans, in which we have the idea of the sovereignty of God. There believers are referred to as "vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us". The apostle in dealing with the subject of God's sovereignty, connects it immediately with christians. They were taken up, both from among Jews and gentiles, for divine use, for this is the thought of a vessel -- that it should be for use.

We have, indeed, the thought carried through and seen in the heavenly city as it comes down from God out of heaven, it is a containing vessel, a great vessel. We have its measurements and it is said to have the glory of God. It is the aggregate, really, of those vessels spoken of in Romans 9 -- vessels of mercy, fitted for glory, and as thus fitted, put together as an immense containing vessel, great enough to contain the glory of God. This is a wonderful thought, and one that should touch every believer, that this is what he is called to, and that God has taken him up of His own sovereign will as a vessel of mercy fitted for glory. For it is said, "Of his own will begat he us". The more we are subject to that, the more we recognise that God has a will, and that His will is moved by His love, the more ready we shall be to submit.

One who would refuse God's sovereignty is quoted in this passage as saying, "Who hath resisted his will?" He could have more truthfully asked, 'Who has not resisted his will?' Certainly no one among

the sons of Adam has failed to resist in some measure the will of God, and a large number, unknown to us, of angelic beings have sought to resist the will of God; to their irretrievable ruin indeed, but nevertheless they have resisted it.

Perhaps the best illustration of one who resisted the will of God is in the writer of this very epistle, Saul of Tarsus. He, as a natural man, was extremely zealous for the religion of his fathers, and so when Stephen was to be put to death, he held the clothes of those who stoned him; not in the way of a spectator, his will was in it -- his heart was in it: "Saul was consenting unto his death". Acts 8:1

This consent to the deed of murder was deliberate, and continued. He also made havoc of the church, and not content with resisting the will of God in his own sphere in Jerusalem he sought letters from the high priest to go to foreign cities. Such was his determination to resist the will of God, but he was brought down. He is perhaps the greatest evidence in Scripture -- the greatest object -- of divine mercy! According to His mercy He saved us! And again, God being rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) -- rich in mercy! so that Saul was brought down. He was the first person in the New Testament who is formally called a vessel. The Lord Jesus says of him to Ananias, he is a "vessel to me" (Acts 9:15) -- God would use him.

Now he refers to that here in saying there were vessels of mercy, fitted, not for destruction, but for glory, "even us". I would appeal to all, knowing that most of us are vessels of mercy; I would also appeal to those who may not be so in their own consciousness. In the faith of your parents it may be that you are, and parents are entitled so to regard their children, but what is most important is what is in your own mind; whether in your mind any such designation may be applied -- whether the idea of mercy has come into your history. It is a wonderful

moment when it does. Not indeed but that you have been partaking of mercies from the outset of your being. The first breath that you breathed was thus provided for you. And so, too, your food and clothing. Not one thing that we enjoy as men, women and children, but which is a mercy of God, sovereignly provided. As Paul says, "in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness", Acts 14:17.

God did all this of Himself. He would have men in this world, and He would support them as in it. When the prodigal returned, the first thing he said was, "I have sinned against heaven". Luke 15:18 No doubt he alluded to these bountiful things. Everything he partook of hitherto was brought about by the influence of heaven. He did not recognise it and never gave thanks. He wasted it; so he says to his father, "I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight".

The mercy that saves your soul is a further thing -- a greater thing: "According to his own mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit", Titus 3:5. That is by the death of Christ. He has provided in the death of Christ the means of washing.

The book of Revelation speaks of washing in three ways. The Lord has washed us in His own blood; Revelation 1. He has done that. Then in chapter 7 it says of the "great multitude", "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14) -- they have done it! In the washing of regeneration Christ does it, but I do it, too -- I do it by faith, by the application of the means of cleansing. I have no doubt it is baptism that is alluded to. Baptism is a figure of Christ's death, through which alone we can be saved. Then also it is by the Holy Spirit. God gives us the Holy Spirit on the principle of mercy, so that we should

be saved. Thus we have "the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit", Titus 3:5.

Now I want to show from these passages in Jeremiah how man as a vessel is in the mind of God. In chapter 18 he is in view in the potter's house. The prophet is directed to go to the potter's house, where he is making vessels of clay -- a most interesting house! an allusion to God, undoubtedly. The potter is making vessels, and he makes one vessel that becomes marred. This typifies Adam and his posterity. Men and women strut about this world, embellished and powdered and what not, to make themselves beautiful, forgetting that they are marred vessels and cannot be improved. He makes another vessel, that is not marred; he makes it as it pleases him.

Now this is a most interesting passage. It includes the whole history of mankind -- first a history of marred vessels. Whatever they may have pretended, they are all marred. But the potter makes another vessel, one that pleases him. God is not making marred vessels now, He is making vessels that please Him, that is what God is doing. You want to go into this house! God is making in it now vessels that please Him.

In chapter 19 it is not the house of the potter, nor of a vessel being made, but being bought -- "buy a potter's earthen flagon". I want you to note this. God has bought men. He has paid the price for them. He has not sealed them all -- He has not put His mark upon them all. Those who have accepted His ownership through "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24) He seals. The idea of a seal is that He puts His mark upon them. He has bought them and they are publicly known to be His. Such are all true christians. We who believe are justified, and as justified through the redemptive work of Christ, God has put His seal upon us. But then He has bought

all men, for Christ has given Himself a ransom for all.

If God falls back on His rights, He has a right to every one of us, not only because He is Creator, but because the Lord Jesus has bought the field. God puts His mark on all those who are really subject to Him. He would not have His name identified with a lawless man. When I go to the Hall of Records, so to speak, I find He has the title to all, but only those who embrace the offer of redemption are marked. True believers are all marked by the seal of the Spirit. They are the recognised property of the Lord. They are property that He commits Himself to, they are His. He would lay claim to you this very day through the gospel. The gospel is to assert in men's hearing that God has a right to them. He would have you on no other principle than that of faith. Millions of men nominally profess Christ, but not on that principle, and He never puts His mark on them. They have simply taken on christianity on the principle of sight, as they might take on any religion. The Lord repudiates all that. He never puts His seal on mere mental assent to the truth. The glad tidings is on the principle of faith, and to faith. The preacher is preaching on the principle of faith, and he preaches to faith, so that where there is faith the gospel is received and the Holy Spirit is given. The Lord commits Himself to that principle, and to that only. This chapter contemplates that there has not been the acceptance of that principle. There was no evidence whatever that it belonged to the purchaser.

The prophet is told to go to the "valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate", that is the place of judgment. But the east gate would be the gate that looked toward the sun, that is to say, this dispensation of God has been a wonderfully favourable one. It has been marked by the favour of God. God has shone in it in Christ.

As the sun shines daily, as evidence of His goodness, so Christ shines -- beams on men. He expresses toward them the fulness of divine grace. In Him grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.

I suppose the clay vessels were spread out there, so as to be affected, but the vessel was broken, it was fragile, in the sense that it was not a living, eternal thing. He that does the will of God abides for ever, but here the vessel was to be broken (verse 11). It is "as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again". You see how serious it is not to visit the house where the vessels are being made that please God. This chapter 19 contemplates a vessel that is broken, never to be brought together again. This, however, does not mean annihilation. It means that men are never to be set up again on this earth as a whole being. The wicked dead shall come up before God to be judged. The severest judgment is on those who refuse to bow to the gospel; those who have been in the light of the Sun, who have been in the favour of God, who have heard the gospel, but have never obeyed it. So the most awful judgment is pictured here; it says, bury them in Tophet till there be no place to bury (verse 11). Tophet as we learn in another prophet, was ordained of old for "the king" -- (Isaiah 30:33) for Satan. It is enlarged -- Tophet is enlarged; it is also for those "who obey not the gospel".

I dwell on this a little because of some here who have had great opportunities, and have failed to embrace them. They are in the light of the redemptive work of Christ, but they have never gone on. It is no use taking the place of being a christian. The christian religion in its present public character, has no more virtue than any other religion. It is merely on the principle of sight, whereas God approaches men on the principle of faith -- we are justified on the principle of faith. The believer is

brought up from the grave. We read of the believer's body, "It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory", 1 Corinthians 15:43. The believer is brought together everlastingly, never to be broken, but the unbeliever, those who die Christ -- rejecters or Christ -- neglecters, shall never be brought together on earth. Their place is to be banished from the presence of the Lord to everlasting destruction. "Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared" (Isaiah 30:33) -- that is, for Satan. Satan was in the mind of God when He prepared it. Very little is said about it, but God had ordained it for him and his angels, and men who are rejecters of Christ share that doom.

I pass now to chapter 18. There is the house, and he made that vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it, and he says, "Cannot I do with you as this potter?" (verse 6).

That is a word for everybody here. That is what God is doing -- He is making another vessel as it pleases Him. That is true in Christ -- the man that pleased Him. Of course He was not 'made'. He was a divine Person in manhood, but He presents the divine thought, and God is working to that. It is a wonderful delight to the believer. "We are his workmanship". There is no such skill seen in any other house. Take man as he is, "fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14; there is no being like him. How much more new creation! This is the time of new creation. The new man is created after God in truthful righteousness and holiness. That is what God is doing. Would not each one here like to be in the house of the Potter -- the blessed, divine Potter? He is making a vessel as it pleases Him. He is going to fill heaven with vessels that please Himself. He is doing it now! Cannot I do with you as this potter? He says. So I would ask you to put yourself in His hands -- see what He will do with you!

But it must be on the principle of faith. There must be no compromise! God is fashioning it as it pleases Him. "If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation". 2 Corinthians 5:17 Think of being a vessel in which there is not one thing which is not of God -- and that abides for ever -- new creation abides for ever! It shall never pass away. There shall be a new heavens and a new earth; all these vessels of mercy, fitted for glory, shall be there. All is the work of God.

FEATURES OF DIVINE INFLUENCE

Ezekiel 47:1 - 5; Revelation 22:1, 2, Genesis 2:10; Psalm 46:4

What is exercising me at the present time, and has been during the day, is the thought of influence; and I have selected these four scriptures, in each of which reference is made to a river, believing that the idea of a river in Scripture is largely that of influence. Other features stand connected with it, for a river is a resource, particularly the Nile, which may be regarded as typical of human resource and influence. It is alluded to in Scripture from that point of view. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is spoken of as lying "in the midst of his rivers, which saith, My river is mine own, and I made it for myself", Ezekiel 29:3. The Nile stands out therefore as typical of human resource and influence. The very existence of Egypt as a country depends on it. But the Nile is not the only river which may be regarded as the representative of the world in its resource and influence. Indeed, in the book of Revelation, the special judgment of God is poured out upon the rivers of the world and the fountains of water; meaning those influences by which men are darkened, by which the light of God is excluded from their minds, by which men are maintained in independence of God. The world depends on them. The great centres of education, the great sources of thought, these come in for the severest of the vials of divine wrath; and they exist, beloved friends, at the present moment as never before. Whether in large volume as represented in the Nile, Amazon, or Mississippi, or in the smallest streams in distant and comparatively unknown parts of the earth, the same dire influence is at work to shut out from the minds of men the light of God, the light of His love.

I want to occupy you, by the Lord's help, with

what is positively of God in the way of resource and influence. I want to dwell on these four scriptures as containing four features of this positive divine influence that is operative at the present time, and has been operative for well nigh twenty centuries in this world. I want to dwell on the book of Ezekiel first, because it connects what I have been speaking of with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. No influence can be beneficial, can be pure, can be life-giving, can be edifying, save that which begins with the death of Christ, and I want to show that all that is good, all that is beneficial, all that is life -- giving, must come that way. And so the Holy Spirit occupies us in this passage in chapter 47 with the setting, as I may say, the geographical setting, of the source whence this river issues. I want you to follow, as Ezekiel followed the man with the measuring line; for to understand Ezekiel, particularly the closing chapters, we have to keep our eye on him. We have to be shown, in other words; and God is showing. He is constantly showing us things, and it is of the greatest importance, that every christian should have a right understanding of the setting of the source of this simple type, this river.

He says, as you will observe, "And he brought me back to the door of the house". Now the idea of the house of God should not be beyond the simplest believer. There are many things about it that you may not be acquainted with, but you certainly, as a believer in Christ, should know something about the door. If you are in the fellowship of God's people you certainly should know something about the door. So he says, "And he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward". Now you may have been occupied with the Lord's people, having some knowledge that they are the house of God, for they are. That is to say, they are the house of God

as indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It does not refer to them as merely professors of Christ. It refers to them, of course, as professors, but it refers to them as having the Spirit. No one is in the house of God save as he has the Spirit, and every one who has the Spirit is in the house of God. He may not know his place in it, but he is in it from the divine side as possessed of the Spirit of God.

Now I want to occupy you with the setting of this house. As I said, you may have been occupied with the saints and perhaps have found things to complain of, but there is nothing to complain of as the man with the measuring line leads you to the door and shows you water issuing from the house. We have not here, therefore, the house as the subject of discipline, for judgment is to begin at it, we are told. A very solemn thing indeed! Not that anyone truly of the house shall come under judgment, but judgment begins there, and as Peter says, "if first from us, what shall be the end of ... the impious and the sinner?" 1 Peter 4:17,18. Where shall he appear? So that the Holy Spirit is not occupying us here with the house from that point of view. He is occupying us with it as the source, as it were, of this river; and He goes on to tell us, "For the front of the house was eastward". I am dwelling on this because I am impressed with the importance of it, that every believer here should understand the setting of the house. It is toward the east. Now the east points to Christ. It refers to the coming of the Lord, the Sun of righteousness. And so at the outset, as the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and filled the house with His sound and with His presence, every heart was turned toward Christ. Were you to visit that company in Jerusalem you would not find any one there occupied with worldly affairs. Every heart was turned toward Christ; the whole company was turned toward Christ. The outlook was Christ, and

the coming of the Lord as the day -- spring from on high. As Peter exhorted the disciples later, "until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts", 2 Peter 1:19. That was the outlook. If you look abroad at christendom today, is that the outlook? Not at all. The idea of the coming of the Lord is well -- nigh lost. There are those who hold the teaching of it as a mere doctrine; others there are, thank God, who hold it as a blessed hope, but the great mass of nominal believers today has given it up. They are not looking toward the east. They have turned right about, as it were; they are looking toward the west. What hope have they? None. The west is the point of the compass which is without hope. It is the going down of the sun. It is the ending of things, and if you analyse the writings and speakings of the leaders of nominal christians you will find that they have no such hope before them. They are not looking toward the east, and hence there are other influences that are issuing forth from them.

Well, you will find further, "And the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, south of the altar. And he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round outside unto the outer gate towards the gate that looketh eastward; and behold, waters ran out on the right side". Now what I want to point out next is this movement northward. It has in view that we should be humble. It is the aspect of judgment. Whilst the coming in of the Holy Spirit into the assembly was the great result of the occupation of the saints with the coming of the Lord, whilst that was the immediate result, the danger of getting away from that was ever present, and it was not long before there was a bearing away from it and a forgetting of the sufferings of Christ. Ah! beloved friends, we need to have the sufferings of Christ constantly in view. All that bitter wind from the north involving the judgment of

God came upon Him! There could be no river issuing from the house apart from that.

And then the altar. The water issues, it says, "from the right side of the house, south of the altar". Having in mind the sufferings of Christ, keeping that steadily in view, we can take in something of the south and the right side. But so sure as the north is forgotten, so sure as the altar is overlooked, we shall weaken and the idea of the south and of the right side of the house must disappear. But all these features were there at Pentecost according to Acts 2. The sufferings of Christ were present. The Lord had appeared to His disciples, as it says, "after he had suffered", Acts 1:3. He came in amongst them. After He suffered He was present in their midst with the tokens of His sufferings. And then Peter, in his address, calls attention to His death. It was emphasised. There could be no issuing forth of that mighty influence, of that mighty power, the Spirit of God, and the grace of God, and the love of God, carried forth upon that current, without the sufferings of Christ.

And then, the right side. The south side, I apprehend, is the favour of God. As the north points to the judgment of God, so the south points to His favour. The favour of God shone upon that scene, as it never shone upon a scene before. His countenance was lifted up upon them and the river issued forth. The right side, as I apprehend, points to the energy that marked them. The whole heart and soul of the saints were thrown into the movement. There were no half -- hearted measures in those days. There was no forsaking of the assembling of themselves together. The heart and soul of the people were one, and it was thrown into the movement. It was, as it were, the right hand of power; the very best from heaven was exercised for the benefit of man. Such beloved friends, is the Holy Spirit's

anticipative description of Pentecost and what followed it. No doubt this prophecy will have its more literal fulfilment in connection with Israel in a coming day; but, as I have been saying, it has a present bearing, as almost all Scripture has. And now, what I would say to everyone here is that all this that the Holy Spirit shows here is presented to us as the expression of divine abundance. Thus let no one say that what is in the house is not sufficient. We began with the source. God takes us to the source of things, and we traverse the river downward, so to speak, from its source, and what you find is that the further you are taken, the further you progress in that way, the more ample you find the supply. We begin with waters to the ankles, then to the knees, then to the loins, and finally a river to swim in, "that could not be passed through". Let no one talk of the poverty of the house of God. Those of us who know what it means know its wealth. We know its fulness. We know the more we understand it, the deeper, the more extensive, the more magnificent it is. God in it, beloved friends, satisfies the desire of every living thing. Every living thing lives in it, as the passage goes on to show. All outside of it is death. What a wonderful thing to be in it! To be swimming in it, and thus in the very midst of its fructifying power! The world is left behind for ever as you prove the extent of this wonderful influence. And what I allude to is the Holy Spirit come down from heaven, but not only the Holy Spirit but the grace of God, the love of God, and, I may say, the love of the brethren. All these things were carried forward by the power of the Spirit for men. There was never an influence like that in the world, and it remains here. I want the youngest christian to get hold of it and to see that he has something greater than the world.

Now I proceed to Revelation to show you the same thing but from the standpoint of the government of

God. The river this time does not issue from beneath or from the south side of the altar. Nor indeed is it said to issue from the house at all. It is from the throne of God and the Lamb. We christians respect government as it is in this world. We pray for those in authority, but we well know the influences that are at work. We know that none of them can be represented by the "river of water of life, bright as crystal". We know what lies behind governments; selfish motives often govern the politicians. The end of government is to preserve order and promote the well -- being of the people, but the underlying element of selfishness and ambition remains. And so we are directed to the perfect, pure river of the water of life issuing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

The Lamb is the suffering Christ as He is known today, but He has a throne, and from that throne issues forth the river of the water of life. It is, as said, "clear as crystal", so that in the government of God amongst us (and it is directly amongst His people) everything is transparent. There are no dark parts, no secret counsels; things are open. The mainspring of everything is love. Every one is made to feel that the very best is being done for him, and there are no preferences; preferences are most baneful. We read also of 'the street', one street. There are no special classes. The government of God knows none; it recognises, beloved friends, only the saints of God. There is just one street; we are all on the same footing from this point of view. I am speaking not of the indirect government of God, which takes account of different positions in this world. I am speaking of the direct government of God which goes on in the house of God. There is only one fellowship, as I may say; one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one body, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There are no special classes provided for, no reserved spots here; as in the city, so here there is but one street. And in

the midst of the street, on either side of the river, available to everybody, is the tree of life bearing twelve manner of fruits, each in its month. Think of the variety! Think of the government of God issuing and culminating in this variety of fruits! There is nothing harsh about this government. As submitting to it you are fruitful. Then in the profession of the saints, that is to say, the leaves of the tree of life, there is healing power. Now it is not so where there is no life, where there is no fruit. You all remember how the fig tree was cursed. It had leaves but no fruit, a type of christendom at the present day. There are leaves, but there is no fruit, and no healing of the nations in their leaves. Look at the League of Nations, an endeavour to get things right. But is it getting things right? Christianity in a way is brought into it; all that is best in the world is taxed to make it a success. I am not decrying it. It is not my business to decry what represents government, but to call attention to the futility of mere profession. What can it do for the nations? Look at this fruit, look at this tree; the very leaves, it says, are for the healing of the nations. The very profession of true believers has healing in it. What a wonderful position christians occupy! This passage, of course, looks on to the millennial world, but the features present are here now by the Spirit in the assembly.

Now I go on to Genesis 2, to show you another feature of this divine influence, for the Scriptures are one, beloved friends; whether of the Old Testament or the New, it is the same thing. It is the word of God. And what I dwell upon now is this mighty influence is issuing forth from the place of supreme privilege. "A river", it says, "went out of Eden, to water the garden". That was the function of this stream of God. The best spot on earth was that which He had just planted for Adam, containing every tree that was good for food and pleasant to the

eyes; it was planted by the hand of God. I like to think of God planting. Is it far away from us? Not at all. It refers to christians. "Every plant", says the Lord, "which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up", Matthew 15:13. All that He Himself has planted shall stand. His own hands have done it, He has set us in perfect wisdom in relation to the place of privilege. And now He says, 'Here is something to water you, the refreshment of heaven'. The river went out of Eden, the place of delights, to water that spot, the brightest spot on earth. "And from thence", it says, "it was parted, and became four main streams".

I want to show you in a few words that this influence is universal. The more we understand Colossians and Ephesians the more universal we shall be. We have already, as understanding these epistles, come under the mighty power of this river. It is the Spirit of God coming from heaven to refresh the saints, to maintain the saints in the full light of their calling. How few of us are in the full light of our calling! And why? Because of not understanding the provision of this river. It was to water the garden. It is the Spirit of God giving us understanding which is brought out in the epistle to the Ephesians. The Holy Spirit is only mentioned once in the epistle to the Colossians, which is significant, because He is occupying them with His own work, what He effects. He has quickened us together with Christ, and as quickened together with Christ we need this river. How shall we stand in the full light of our calling, beloved brethren, without it? It is the Holy Spirit, as Peter says, coming down from heaven; He is here in us to maintain us in our heavenly status, in our heavenly privileges, and as in the enjoyment of these privileges the river becomes parted from us and becomes four main streams. That is to say, it issues to all parts of the world. The believer in the light of Ephesians is never

local; he is never insular. He is universal. He has love for all the saints; he is interested in all men; he is evangelical. And so you find in Ephesians the gospel presented in its fullest height: "The glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ", Ephesians 3:8. Who can speak of the unsearchable riches of the Christ save as he is maintained by this water, by the Spirit of God come down from heaven?

Well now, I end with the psalm, and what I have to say about it first is that the source of the river is not given. We have the source of each of the other rivers, but the source of the river in Psalm 46 is not given. And what I understand by that is that it tells its own tale; the effect of it is its commendation. "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God". It is the gladness that it brings, beloved, that is its testimony. Christianity is never dependent on history. It is never dependent on human evidence, however great this may be; it carries its own credentials with it. This present subjective power is its evidence, is its credentials. It makes glad the city of God; what more do you want? How much do you understand, beloved, of this river, the present living ministry of the Spirit of God in its varied channels (for there are various channels), "the streams whereof make glad the city of God!" The idea is that it comes to you; it is not that you have to go to it.

I am reminded of a passage in 1 Corinthians 14 as illustrative of this truth. The apostle is commenting on the saints being together for ministry, and he lays down the principle that things are to be governed by spiritual intelligence. So he says, in effect, 'You are together, and an unconverted man, an unbeliever, an ignorant person, comes in. When he sits down in your meeting and you are prophesying the river is flowing, the power of God is active in prophetic ministry. He falls down, and acknowledges that God

is in you of a truth' (verse 25). He needs no historical evidence as to the origin of this meeting, the assembly of God in Corinth. God will never give you such evidence as that; it is beneath Him. The thing carries its own evidence, beloved friends. Learned men spend their lifetime and their means in the east to discover evidence for or against christianity, but God never condescends to do that. "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God". They carry their own evidence. The believer knows, and he never wastes his time digging into the earth for confirmation. He will dig into the Scriptures. He will turn to God and enquire from God. The Scriptures, beloved friends, afford all the evidence, and then the blessed Spirit of God is here. The Holy Spirit carries His own evidence with Him, as we see at Pentecost. Do you think any of those people at Pentecost would put a spade into the earth to find evidence of what they saw and heard at Pentecost? The thing is absurd. Peter gives an account of it. He says, "Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God ... he has poured out this which ye behold and hear", Acts 2:33. Those who believed were speaking by the Spirit of God; the river was there. You want to see that. We want to prove for ourselves in the present living ministry that God is with us. And so at Corinth the man would fall down and say, "God is indeed amongst you". Is that not enough? I think so, and every believer here should know it for himself. "The river of God is full of water", Psalm 65:9. There are riverbeds sometimes empty, and sometimes they are full and overflow their banks. But the river of God is never empty. The river of God is full. It is the mighty influence of God in the Spirit to minister to His people, to hold His people, to maintain us in independence of the influences of this world.

May God bless the word to us all!

RIVERS OF LIVING WATER

John 7:1 - 18, 37 - 39

I have in view to speak of the believer, as seen in this gospel; what he is as following the teaching of the chapters preceding this -- this being a sort of culmination of that teaching; the culmination being what the believer is as in this world -- what he is to it on the part of God. He is regarded as having received the Spirit from heaven; hence he is to correspond with Christ in certain moral features that the Lord indicates in Himself in this chapter. The believer, as formed in the teaching of the earlier chapters and having the Spirit, comports himself here in such wise as to create in the religious world uncertainty as to whence he is, and how it is that he can be what he is. His features are unknown to the ordinary religionist; the Lord was an enigma to them, and I wish to dwell on the things that come to light in this chapter in Him as indicative of what the believer in Him should be.

You will observe that the Lord is said to be 'walking'. He walked, it says, "in Galilee". "And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him" (verse 1). This gospel presents the Lord Jesus as serving at Jerusalem and in Judea more than any of the others; being intended for the last days, it prepares us for a sterile soil in which we have to sow -- the hard religious soil. The Lord sowed in it; the results were not as they are seen in the synoptical gospels, in which He is seen as labouring more at Galilee. Galilee was a more fruitful field; being despised and under reproach, the ear for His ministry was keener. The first three gospels mention abundance of miracles. John gives but a few isolated ones,

and he gives them in order that nominal believers should become genuine believers. You can see, therefore, beloved brethren, the analogy between John's and our own times. We are living in times when there are multitudes of nominal believers in Christ who are not trustworthy -- who have proved, times without number, to be faithless in crises. So that John tells us that many believed on the Lord because of His miracles at Jerusalem; but He did not commit Himself to them, for He knew all men; He knew what was in man; chapter 2:24. As to the sign at the marriage, in chapter 2, there is not a word said as to the effect of it on the guests as such in a spiritual way. All that is said is that His disciples believed on Him. There is nothing said about the bridegroom or the bride believing on Him. It was an occasion, indeed, in which He plainly intimated that He was not there on merely natural lines, for, as His mother said, "They have no wine". He said to her in answer, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" John 2:3 - 4 He was introducing the spiritual where the natural, as I may say, was at its high-water mark -- at a marriage festival. He was there on His Father's business, as ever, and so the sign -- the turning of water into wine -- is said to have been the "beginning of signs", John 2:11 and it was not fruitless -- His disciples believed on Him.

In this chapter, as I said, the Lord is walking, and, as we follow the teaching of the previous chapters, we come out in a certain moral way, not governed or trammelled by any of the old things, religious or otherwise. It is an entirely new way, incurring the severest hostility, rising to murder. His brethren say, "Shew thyself to the world". In their view, He should make capital out of His works to make a show in the world. How this exposes the natural heart of man! We see it exemplified in Simon Magus (Acts 8:20), who offered to buy with money the power to give the Spirit. "Thy money go with thee to

destruction", says Peter, adding, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter". Acts 8:21 And so, as I said, the Lord's brethren would have Him show Himself at the feast: 'Why, these miracles are capital for you to make a name for yourself'. How that manifests what our natural hearts are as governing us in the Lord's service! If the Lord has endowed one with ability, the flesh in him would take advantage of this to make a show.

"Jesus therefore says to them, My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready". "Your time is always ready". The Lord says in effect that the natural man is just an opportunist. Naturally every one of us is an opportunist -- we try to make the most of any situation that comes up. This has to be owned and refused constantly. The Lord says, "My time is not yet come". Nevertheless, He went up "as in secret"; it was for testimony, not to show Himself. What is recorded here is for our learning; we should note the deliberate refusal to capitalise what is of God to make a name in this world. The Lord goes up into the temple and teaches; there is moral qualification to teach, as we refuse religious fame. The Lord had no thought at all of His own glory. God will use us and help us in our service if we are not thinking of our own glory, but of His who sent us. But, they say, How knows this man letters having never learned? As people say today, 'He is not a college man; he has no degrees'. Where did He get all this? Need I enlarge on the corresponding features of the present time? It is God showing how entirely independent He is of man's apparatus for turning out religious workers. God will not have it; He despises it! Does He need man's devices? Is not He God! If He sends His ministers, can He not supply them with all they need? That is the point here. The Lord says, "My doctrine is not mine, but that of him that has sent me". And, moreover, He says,

I will tell you how to get the doctrine: if you practise His will. And that is the secret of so much ignorance of spiritual things -- it is the want of practising the will of God. "If anyone desire to practise his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God, or that I speak from myself". If you are practising the will of God things will not be puzzling to you -- the things of God will become intelligible to you, as it says in the book of Hosea: "Then shall we know"; and it adds, "if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth", Hosea 6:3. That is how knowledge comes.

Well, now, all this leads up to that cry of the Lord in verse 37. He calls attention to what a believer on Him is to be in the very midst of one of the greatest religious convocations of that day -- the feast of tabernacles. It was the last feast of the year, and much entered into it; it was the last day of the feast, too -- the "great day of the feast". As it were, things had been reserved to make it a success, and the Lord cries. It is most interesting to note the many times in Scripture in which the Lord is said to have cried. I suppose what is meant is that the thing was urgent. He would have it heard; it was most important that it should be heard. "He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water". Think of that! This passage has been read for nearly two thousand years, and it is perfectly simple to us. But what was it then? Think of the novelty of it! It was entirely different from current teaching. It was altogether a new feature. The Lord says, "as the scripture has said". Could the Jews have found the scripture? Not one of them! One can fancy those rabbis, doctors of the law, and scribes turning to the Bible to see where the scripture was. Could they find it? The truth is this, beloved

brethren, that the appeal is to ourselves, as to whether we know our Bibles. If the Lord Jesus says, "the scripture has said", it is for us to find out where the saying is. The truth is, as I understand it, the scripture has said it in effect. It is not a question of a formal verse; it is what the scripture says in effect. We must know all Scripture to correspond fully to the idea of believing in John. After the Lord was risen the disciples believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said; John 2:22. We must understand "the voice of the prophets" to understand the prophets; we must understand all Scripture to know what it may say directly or in effect. You find the idea of rivers from the garden of Eden onwards; God indicated that there should be here a great spiritual influence flowing out. You get it in the garden of Eden, in Ezekiel, in the Psalms, and in Isaiah. What did it all mean? Surely not merely rivers of water. It meant the Spirit of God come down from heaven, who is "As rivers of water in a dry place". Isaiah 32:2 And so here -- "This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified". The Holy Spirit is here now from a glorified Christ, and in the believer, from the seat of his affections (that is alluded to), flow out rivers of living water.

Thus you see what a genuine believer in Christ is -- what a benefactor he is under God as believing in Christ. The Holy Spirit being in him, he is a power for good here. Whether in his house, in his office, in the workshop, on the streets, or among the brethren, the rivers of water flow out. It is here in the desert, as it were, that the living water is a present existing thing; and thus we see the importance of saints, as representative of God in this world, making full room for the Holy Spirit come down from heaven so that He may influence others through them.

THE COMING IN OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Luke 17:20, 21; Luke 2:8 - 19, 22, 24 - 35

The thoughts in these verses in chapter 17 are peculiarly fitting in Luke. The Pharisees demanded of the Lord as to when the kingdom of God should come. That they should know it was actually there in their midst was hardly to be expected, so they demanded of Him as to when it should come. He had just cleansed ten lepers, but that would be of no interest to them, certainly the Samaritan who returned as cleansed and gave glory to God would not interest them; but nevertheless anyone with eyes to see could see that there was something very extraordinary there, but the Pharisees demanded in regard to the coming in of the kingdom having in mind that it would be something that would appeal to man's senses, and the Lord answers immediately "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation". It is different from all other kingdoms, he implies that virtually, it is not ushered in with the noise of war it "cometh not", He says, "with observation". "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!" that is to say, it should have no trumpeters from among men, it should have no advertisers from among men; the great writers of this world should not make it a subject for their books, the orators of this world should not make it their theme, if anyone did appear in their midst to speak about it, he was a chatterer -- that was what they called Paul at Athens. "Neither shall they say", the Lord says "here" that is to say, the wilderness, "Lo here! or, lo there!" Current literature says nothing about the kingdom as presented in Luke (I mean the literature current at that time) it was not a theme for this world. Much had been said of other kingdoms, which one might

mention but it is not necessary, but there was no notice taken of the kingdom of God as it was introduced into this world. It was not intended, beloved friends, to appeal to man as he was. It was intended for man, to be sure, for this gospel connects our Lord with men right back to Adam, so that He stands related to every family of the race, every member of the race. It was, therefore, intended for men, but man as he was as the gospel came in, as the kingdom of God came in, in his varied relations, took no notice. How it could be that the wonderful works of Jesus should be performed in the world and no notice be taken of them by the leaders of this world, is a question of great interest: but the fact is, beloved friends, that the world took no notice of it. They did not say, "Lo here! or, lo there!" nor does the world today take any notice of the kingdom of God. Now I am saying all this in the negative sense so as to bring in the positive, to which attention is called from heaven, and if any of you is converted here tonight, the conversion, the light, will come in to you from heaven. You are not ever likely to be converted by the daily newspapers; it is true enough that you do get sermons published in them and church notices, but that is because christianity has become the recognised religion of the day, it has become a matter of worldly interest -- but what kind of christianity? Is it the christianity expressed in Luke 2? a divine sign -- do you hear anything of this? You see the cities of Judea and indeed the civilised world, were crowded with people in those days, and no doubt each city and town afforded certain entertainments. It was census time, but there are shepherds here abiding by their flocks by night, they represent persons interested, persons who are not in the swim of things in this world. As soon as God begins to work in your soul, you gradually veer away from that swim. These people were outside of

it all, they were occupied unselfishly with sheep. There were no advertisements in the towns as to what happened at Bethlehem. No doubt current topics were discussed in the inns, at the street corners, but the kingdom of God, beloved friends, had just come in! The kingdom of Caesar was there in all its power, by a stroke of the pen he could set the whole world moving, every family moved to its city to be enrolled. A mighty empire indeed! Volumes untold have been written about it and are being written about it -- the wonderful empire of the West: it was at that time at the zenith of its power. It came by observation. Sages and orators and literary men of all kinds and castes noted it. A marvellous event in the history of mankind was the rising up of this mighty empire, and you can understand that the people who crowded the towns and cities of Judea and the empire generally were talking about Caesar and his doings, the doings of his generals, the doings of his armies and their conquests. These were the themes, beloved friends, that occupied men -- with others, of course. And yet in the midst of all that, the kingdom of God had silently come. Marvellous thing! It came in without notice publicly; no one said, "Lo here! or, lo there!" It did not come with observation, but it had come, and it had come to stay, beloved friends; that which should develop and should break in pieces every other kingdom had come. It is not doing that yet, for the sign was not of destruction: a little babe does not forebode destruction; but there are unknown shepherds keeping their flocks by night, and heaven is all astir. Whatever themes occupied men, women and children in the towns, heaven was left out, what was going on in heaven was unobserved, it was unknown. True enough later on, as Matthew tells us, there were some wise people in the east who saw what was going on in heaven, they got an inkling there of what was going

on, but just a few of them, and they moved to Jerusalem according to the light of heaven. And so here these shepherds, you see, were outside the swim of this world. Where are you young people here? Where are your hearts? Where are your faces directed? Towards this world -- the world of pleasure? This is what this world has become -- a world of pleasure. All the inventions of men are employed to further the pleasures of this world: men have become characteristically "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God". 2 Timothy 3:4 But here are shepherds who are not that, they are unselfish, God is working with them, they are different. Are you conscious of any little change like that, young people? any little touch in your heart that leads you to see that there is nothing in this world after all, that in this world you will thirst again, however much you may drink at it? And so, the angel of the Lord was there by them. What a visitant, what a companion in their solitariness! Is it not worth while to be solitary to have such a companion as an angel of the Lord? What is he there for? To announce to them what heaven is occupied with, as he would to you tonight -- to call attention to the incoming of the kingdom of God. A wonderful thing, he says, has happened, and it has happened to you today, not is going to happen. It is not a gospel concerning the future, the gospel is concerning the present; true enough, it includes the future, but it is the present, "Unto you is born", he says, "this day". The shepherds feared, but there was no occasion for it; the kingdom that had just come in was not to strike terror into the hearts of men, but to effect their salvation. The King was the Saviour: if He were King it was because he was Saviour, and His kingly power is to be subservient to the Saviour; and so "unto you". Now, young people, look at that, it is to you, you see -- "unto you". You say, 'Was it not to God?' No, that is

not the point here, it is that a Saviour has come in on behalf of man; on the part of God, to be sure, but it is "unto you"; and the thing has happened today "a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord". It is not yet a question of what He is to be called, for names given refer to what is shown to be, to what is expressed. Here it is not that, what He is to be called, but what He is, for He is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" personally -- "which is Christ the Lord", that is what the angel says. Have you ever had a communication from heaven? some silent word pointing to Jesus? 'Yes', you say, 'but I have never been able to believe it, somehow I have never been able to take it home to myself'. Well, God says, 'I will help you; I will surround you with a company of angels'. You know, the best time to believe in Christ is when you are among the people of God. I was going to say it is easier to believe then than at other times. If you are at all exercised, having any little touch from heaven about your salvation, get amongst the people of God -- a good atmosphere. And so presently there was a multitude of the heavenly host, with the angel, mark you, as if to flank him, as if to confirm him by their presence, for they say nothing to the shepherds. It is the wonderful atmosphere, you see, brought in, surrounding them; they are surrounded by the multitude of the heavenly host. Did you ever think of angels being for that purpose? You say, 'I have never seen an angel'. Well, let me tell you that a christian is greater than an angel. It is not said that an angel has the Spirit of God, but it is said a christian has. Christians are greater than angels. You see you have not got far to go to see what I mean. God surrounded them; it says they were surrounded with a multitude of the heavenly host -- the heavenly host. May I venture to say that the saints of God are a heavenly people? They are -- and their hearts normally beat with the

heart of God for your salvation. So that the multitude here are to bring in an atmosphere in which the shepherds, as breathing it, should believe the testimony, and they did believe it. See what they say, "Let us now go". Now let me appeal to you to come to a resolve, you will never get anywhere spiritually without resolve, this definite resolve of soul to move; and you are in the very best circumstances, everything is in your favour. Not only the message, but the messenger following the message and flanked, as I said, by a multitude of the heavenly host. What are they saying? They are praising God. What is the occasion to praise? The Babe just born. What should issue from that Babe? "Glory to God in the highest". What should happen on earth? "Peace". What more? "Good pleasure in men". That is what they were saying. And now they all went up, for the Holy Spirit tells us they not only departed from the shepherds, but they went back to heaven. It was heaven's action. Heaven is intensely interested in this meeting; now I am not speaking theoretically, I know what I am saying, that heaven is occupied with us here tonight. Now what are you going to do? While you are here believe, make a resolve; they will not stay with you, they are going back to heaven. A sign was given to them -- what was the sign? "Ye shall find a babe" not 'the babe' notice, it is not for the world, you see: it is a babe just as far as the world is concerned. Had an ordinary man of Bethlehem looked into that manger he would not have seen anything different from what he might have seen in other mangers and houses -- a babe. I am not denying that there might have been something different about Mary and the circumstances, but as far as outward observation went, there was simply a babe, there was nothing striking to the natural eye. But these people had light from heaven, they were in the know of things; and you here tonight may be in the full

knowledge of the mind of God. Now what are you going to do about it? What about that resolve? have you made it? As I said before, you will never make any spiritual headway till you make a resolve, make a resolution. What was the resolve the shepherds made? "Let us now go". Make the resolution now, and go. And they went, and going, they found Mary and Joseph, the parents, with the Babe.

Well now, that is one stage. These shepherds do not represent very great progress. So far they have light, but, as far as Christ is concerned, they have just seen Him as a babe; but then it is wonderful to see Him even in that way as a babe. He is not acting yet, He is not doing anything, the movement is all with them. It was a question of apprehension. Have you arrived at that infantile apprehension? It is the beginning for the believer, for we begin as babes, and that just refers to our apprehension of Christ; you have got just a babe's apprehension of Christ. But then there was one person there who represents soul history. Soul history is one of the finest subjects that you can get, and Mary represents soul history. You have begun soul history now; you have seen the Babe, you are convinced; you have been in excellent company, you have got an excellent start. Mary now represents the thread of the instruction. She pondered these things. You see, the resolution is one thing and the movement is another, and the seeing of the Babe another, and the speaking of it another, but the pondering of the thing is still another. Now you have begun soul history; that is a history, as I said, concerning which the leaders of this world shall not say, "Lo here!" or "Lo there!" -- it is not within their range, they are not concerned with soul history, but the kingdom of God lies in soul history, and Mary represents that, she pondered the thing. You are sure to make headway now.

Now the next thing is the Babe is growing. He has

come to eight days, and further, a good many more days -- the time of purification; the Babe has grown, and now you are carrying it. Mary and Joseph carry the Babe to Jerusalem. Think of the experience! Think of the soul history of Mary, with the light she had, as she carried that Child with her husband from Bethlehem to Jerusalem! Was it nothing? It was something, beloved friends -- and those pigeons, those doves! Now come, how about it? How about this carrying of the Lord? He is but a Babe, to be sure, and Mary, representing soul history, is intensely interested in Him. There was no one on earth so interested in Jesus at that time as Mary, and I suppose as you become exercised and get converted and the light of Jesus comes into your heart, that is just the case with you. There is no one like you, you have got more interest in Him, you think, than anybody; and so you have -- from your own point of view -- it is well you think so. Now she brought Him to Jerusalem.

Well now, I want to show you how the light increases in your soul. (One could say much more on these points.) They brought Him to the temple, and there was a man there who represented God -- Simeon. It is not now an angel, but a man who has been conversant with God, who has had communion with God. He has had communications from God, and he is in the temple of God, and the Babe passes from the hands of the parents into his hands. You see, as in your hands there is great limitation, you are just thinking of Him in relation to yourself. True enough, you should think of Him in that way -- every one of us has been in that stage -- you think of what Jesus has been to you, He has become endeared to you. But now I look at Him in the hands of Simeon, he represents God, the Holy Spirit is upon this man, he is a representative of God. Not only is the Holy Spirit in him, not only has the Holy Spirit spoken to

him, but He is upon him, that means he is a representative of God, he is anointed. Now look at the Babe in his arms, how different He is. Let us hear what he has to say about the Babe. You young believers, you would like to know more about Jesus. He is your personal Saviour, you love Him, you have come under the influence of His love, but you want to know more about Him, do you not? Now listen to what Simeon has to say about Him. He blesses God, he says, "mine eyes have seen thy salvation". Ah, you see now it is not your salvation only, but God's, He is God's salvation, and that means that He is everybody's Saviour, He is the Saviour of the world. Do you not love to think of your Jesus in that light? I do. I love to think of Him according to what He is to me, as Paul said, "who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20); but then, Paul says too, He is the "one mediator between God and men ... who gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5,6) -- I love to think of Him in that light. He is the Saviour of the world, He is God's salvation, but what more? Well, my natural predilections are thwarted by what I hear. Mary and Joseph were Jews, they were brought up as Jews, they were of the lineage of David, the family of David, and what does Simeon say about Jesus? Well, he says, He is "a light for revelation of the Gentiles". How important that I should be checked in my natural feelings if I am to make headway spiritually. I may be clinging to my family or my nation -- Simeon says, 'That must go' -- that is what he means. He does not connect the Babe even with Mary and Joseph; He is God's salvation, and He is a light for the gentiles. You see how I am put on one side, how wholesome that is in my spiritual history to be put on one side. Mary might put in a claim. Ah, no, "A light for revelation of the Gentiles". I can understand them muttering, 'the gentiles?' Yes, the gentiles; all my natural feelings are turned

away, they are ridiculed, they must be let go, they must be surrendered. I have got to begin over again, I must learn everything now from heaven; I am dealing with the kingdom of God that has come in in this way, and it is making nothing of nations, however distinguished, religiously or politically; it has no reference to them. It has reference to men, you see, the kingdom of God -- God and men. And so my national feelings have to be thrown behind my back. "A light for revelation of the Gentiles". Have you come to see the Lord Jesus in that light? If you have, you are getting on. You see Him now in Simeon's arms. I love to think of Simeon as representing God, the thoughts of God, but He is the mediator between God and men. The first thing is to bring to light those despised gentiles -- that is what He will do. I am being prepared now for the house of God. I am becoming universal in my thoughts, for I am coming into accord with the thoughts of God. Well then, what about Israel? Well, Israel will be taken care of, too, but they have to take a second place, a wholesome lesson indeed, for God is faithful and every promise He has made He will fulfil. But He is sovereign as well as faithful, and if He puts the first last, I have to bow, and, as bowing, I come into the first; for the present time is bringing in the first, the assembly is formed of those who are first. You want to come into that.

Well now, Simeon says another word, "This child is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel". Israel needed that, and He would serve Israel, but the first thing is to bring them down. If there are any here who are religious and resting in any religious distinction or preference, this Child is set for your fall, but it is a fall that will lead to a rise, you see, that is the kind of fall, it is a wholesome fall. Like Saul of Tarsus, he fell, he represents Israel, and the child was set for his fall. I need not go over the story, how

Saul came to the ground, he fell to the ground but he rose up again -- Jesus raised him up, and that is what He will do for you. If you are religious, assuming to have preference religiously, the first service this Child will render to you is to bring you down; that is the best service, for you can never get help otherwise; and then He will raise you up again; He will raise you up as you fall and set you among princes. That is what He will do.

Then the final word -- "his father and mother wondered", that is how it should read, I believe. Joseph's public relationship is owned, for grace always shows itself in Luke. They are marvelling. These are wonderful things, beloved friends; they are far greater than any subject men treat of, and Mary marvelled rightly at such wonderful thoughts from God. And now, Simeon blessed them -- he represents God. Do you not want to come into the blessing of God? It is the time of blessing, you see, not the time of cursing. But he says to Mary, as it were, 'You will have more soul history'. God is very kind to us in telling us all about what we may have to go through. Mary represents soul history. Simeon says of the Lord that He was "set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against; (and even a sword shall go through thine own soul;) so that the thoughts may be revealed from many hearts". For every heart is brought to light in this Child; nothing remains hidden, He brings everything into evidence, the inmost thoughts of hearts. But he says to Mary, "a sword shall go through thine own soul". You say, that is hard. Yes, but soul history is worth the while. Mary is found at the cross. You do not want to be behind her; I do not, thank God. She represents soul history. And we do not want to miss anything that God in His love has ordained for us. You may depend upon it that God ordained nothing for that woman -- blessed among

women as she was -- that was not for her good. Were you to have asked her, as an old sister later on, she would have told you that all this soul history was from the hand of love, that sword that pierced her soul was from God: it made her more spiritual. And so she is found at the cross, and then finally she disappears from Scripture; in the first chapter of the Acts, she is in the upper room with the brethren. May I suggest that that is the end for you, young people? You do not want to be outside of the upper room; you do not want to be away from the brethren; you want to be with the brethren. I believe she was one of the most spiritual of the sisters at the beginning. She had a history which no other one had, nothing equalling it; she represents, in the gospel of Luke, soul history.

I suggest all this, beloved friends, to christians and all. What we need to go in for is soul history with God, accepting the sword as it comes, for God only sends it in love; it is not the sword of vengeance, it is discipline. No doubt in it, or rather through it, you will be found in the company of the brethren in the upper room and you know how the Lord came in there and showed Himself. What wonderful times they had, and these times are all available to you. The gospel involves all this -- what the believer is brought into.

SUBJECTIVE FEATURES IN THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

Joshua 2:16,21; Joshua 15:16 - 19; Joshua 17:3,4

In this book that pre-eminently refers to Christ -- the book of the inheritance -- the women in these three passages may be regarded as forming links in which are set out what we call the subjective feature of the book. And when I say 'subjective', I refer to a term that has more currency amongst spiritual people than it has in the world. It is a philosophical term that is rightly and appropriately applied to convey what God effects in us. There is that which He has effected in Christ outside of us -- on our behalf -- and then there is that which He has effected in us by the Spirit, which latter is usually presented in Scripture in a figurative way on the feminine side, and so it challenges us peculiarly as to what there is in us which reflects what God has effected in Christ. He has set out His ideal in Christ as coming here unsolicited, and has set out under His own eye and under the eyes of angels and men His ideal -- what men should be here. He has taken Him up into the heavens as Paul says, speaking of the glad tidings he preached among the Corinthians, "Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures". 1 Corinthians 15:3 - 4 Christ in resurrection is not only God's ideal as a Man walking here among men, but His ideal for all time and eternity. In resurrection we have a Man after God's eternal counsels, and it is in that condition, as received up in glory, that He is presented in the gospel. Paul was so taken up with Him and so apprehended the mind of God that he said, "So that we henceforth know no one according to flesh; but

if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new; and all things are of ... God", 2 Corinthians 5:16 - 18. That is the mind of God set out in Christ, and the ministry of the Spirit -- that of the new covenant particularly in 2 Corinthians -- is to form us in divine love so that we should be changed, as it says, as beholding the glory of the Lord, into the same image from glory to glory -- one thing after another, from glory to glory. That is what is going on and that is what is represented in the types and figures of Scripture under the feminine figure -- that there should be in the saints a reflection of Christ, He presenting the divine thought in man, that there should be a reflection of Him in us. And that is the body, that which can be united to Christ; it is what is according to Christ, nothing inferior.

So I have taken up these women or vessels as presenting the feminine or subjective side in the book of Joshua. I refer to Rahab particularly because she presents the initial thing. She was tested by the spies as to what was there in her. I speak of her from the references of the Spirit in the New Testament. James says, "But was not ... Rahab the harlot justified on the principle of works", showing that she represents what I have been saying, that which is practical and subjective. She was justified by works, he says, and he confirms that by saying that she received the messengers and put them forth by another way.

The writer of the Hebrews says, "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with the unbelieving, having received the spies in peace". There she represents the saints seen as not perishing with the world. The world is perishing. Jericho represents the overthrow of the world viewed as the stronghold of Satan. We must distinguish between the powers that be -

the government of the world and all its machinery -- and the world itself in the abstract. We pray for authorities but the world itself in the abstract is essentially wicked; it lies in the wicked one. We have to distinguish the provisional intervention of God in government without which there is no possibility of the testimony here. God intervenes in government to make the testimony possible. We pray for the authorities. But the world itself is essentially wicked and hates Christ and all that belongs to Him. That is what Jericho represents. The king of Jericho in no sense could be regarded as one of the powers that be. He is typically representative of satanic power, so that Rahab was under no moral obligation to him.

She received the messengers, James says, which was a treacherous act from the standpoint of the king of Jericho, as is our position from the standpoint of Satan -- not from the standpoint of the king of this realm or of his representatives. Our position is not regarded as treacherous in his eyes, nor should it be; we pray for him. But we have no hesitation in being treacherous to the world as it is viewed as of satanic power and opposition to Christ. So Rahab received the messengers, James says. They were representatives of God -- of Joshua. Hebrews says "spies", that is to say, they represent the secret agencies of God -- implying the overthrow of this world. And so James says, she received the messengers and put them forth another way.

Now it is that 'other way' that I dwell upon for a moment as applying peculiarly to those that have light from God and are true to it. Many have light and are not true to it. It is as you move with the light that you are true to it. Otherwise you may adorn the world and add to its power of opposition in the testimony. But Rahab was true to the light she had and this showed itself in "another way" -

another one. That is what James says, She put forth the messengers another way; that is, she had light from God and that light implied another way. You are converted, it may be, in some recognised religious body governed by worldly principles -- the name of Christ being attached to it. Satan has no objection to that so long as you are governed by the elements of the world, but it is degrading to that name to associate it with the elements of this world. Well, it may be, if you are converted in these circumstances, you get light from God and you remain there. That is not "another way". It is the 'old way', the way that everybody takes -- the way that seems right to a man, as the wise man says, but the end thereof is the ways of death; Proverbs 14:12. On the other hand "there is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it", Job 28:7,8. That is the way; that is "another way". I do not say that Rahab reached that way all at once. The one she had been on was not right. The king's pursuers went on that way; they knew no other. They pursued, as they thought, the messengers the way they expected they would take, that is, the ordinary way. To have a religious name in this world, to go to church on Sunday, such is the old way, not "another way". There is "another way"; many of us have found it. It always shows itself where there is light from God and where will is not active, you follow it. If the will comes in you will not follow it; you will say the old is better. Flesh only knows and walks in the old even though it be religious. Rahab learned at once that there was another way, and there is another way -- a secret way, indeed, as I have said -- one that the vulture's eye hath not seen. The king's messengers went the ordinary way, but Rahab knew of another way and she put forth the messengers that way. "Get you to

the mountain", she says. That is not inviting; it was the 'other way'.

I dwell on the word 'other' as the initial idea and I refer for a moment to the red heifer. You all remember the type in Numbers 19. It was a sin-offering, but the colour of the heifer is the point. You get it nowhere else. It means that it is distinguished -- marked off. The heifer was marked off from all other heifers. It is a type of Christ as meeting the low state of things in the people of God -- a state of things in which we are marked by the world; in which although our meeting rooms may not become a church and our services are different, yet there is no spiritual distinction. It is a low state of things marking many of the meetings of the people of God. The secret is that we do not maintain the difference -- the 'other way'. In our business we like the ordinary; in our houses we like the ordinary; in our domestic affairs we like our parties, our dress suits, and so forth. That is the ordinary, and it is most deadening; the very life of things ebbs out spiritually where these things obtain. It is simply the ordinary, and so the injunction to Moses is to take a red heifer. She is different from all other heifers, so to say, she is distinct and marked off. Then she is slain. You see Christ was different from all others -- whatever the circumstances, always different -- never like other people. He died as different.. And so the ashes of the heifer are kept in a clean place so as to be available to every christian, so to say, every Israelite that became defiled, not by coming into open sin, but by touching a dead body and the like -- by association with what is dead. The person who was thus defiled and who refused to use the water and the ashes was to be cut off. It is the continuance of the thing, the living in it that is the evil -- the refusal to use the ashes and the running water for cleansing. The Lord will have us different; He wants us like

Himself, and that is different. The mind is to be renewed. Rahab began with this; she put the messengers forth another way. That was a spiritual touch. She accepted their proposal as to the scarlet line, and she says, According to your word, so be it. Then she put them forth. She is a fine example for young christians. We have no record of her earlier; she is introduced here living on the wall of Jericho, but presently we find that self -- judgment has taken effect in her. She has stalks of flax spread out on the roof -- a sure evidence of the element of purity already set in -- and with these she hides the spies, that is to say, the secrecy by which divine things are maintained as in purity -- the element of purity. The flax was not yet spun; it is simply flax in the raw, but it is being prepared. It was sufficient for the purpose. Then as you are converted, you begin to witness. She goes up to the spies and makes a speech. "I know", she says, "that the Lord hath given you the land". She recognised the mind of God, those who were to have the land. "The meek shall inherit the earth". Matthew 5:5 Has it ever occurred to you the kind of people God intends to inherit the land, not the Jerichoites, not that kind, but the Israelites -- the people of God? 'We have heard', she says, 'what God did at the Red Sea'. That is to say, she is in the light of the resurrection of Christ; she understood that God had raised Him from the dead. She was a typical christian as in the initial stage, as beginning. Then she says, 'We know what you have done to Sihon and Og'.

She understood that the people of God had power -- sufficient power -- in them to overthrow the greatest of men -- such a man as Og. Hence it is that she understood the resurrection of Christ and the presence of the Spirit in the people of God. You see, this is what the people of God are; what God has done for them in Christ and by the Spirit; what we do by the

Spirit. They overthrew Og. That is a type of the power of the Spirit as in the believer. She understood these things and thus was spiritual, so that she saw there was "another way". And now, I will challenge you young people about this 'other way'. You have been converted, but are you content to go on in the old way? You may think you have a through ticket, but the old way does not lead you at all to the destination on your ticket. Your ticket leads you to a certain destination, but you have got to take the way to that destination. Are you prepared to take the wrong way -- the ordinary way that men take, or 'the other'? You say, How does it come about? Well, you begin to recognise the saints -- what God did at the Red Sea. He delivered Christ for us and raised Him for us. God did that. You begin to see that the people of God are the objects of the love of God, and that He acts for them. You begin to see what God has wrought in them, that they themselves can do things, too; and what God has wrought by the saints. The mighty power of the Spirit of God is in them. You say, It is of interest to me that there is such a people. As Ruth says, Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God. What about that? Rahab was taking that way; she was recognising the people of God -- what God had done for them and what they could do. The people of God can do much. You get a lot of christians together recognising the Lord and the Spirit, and the flesh and the world are not there. They have overcome the world; they have overcome the flesh. They have done that by the power of the Spirit. There are none like them; in all the universe there are none like them. They do exploits. Rahab saw what God did and what they did, and that moreover God had already given them the land. This world is to be cleared of all that is contrary to God and the meek shall inherit the earth. Rahab began to see this and so sent forth the messengers

another way. What about taking that way? Do not stay in the old way -- the ordinary way, the way that men take generally. It may seem right to you, but the end thereof? It is a question of where it leads. The apostle says, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world", 1 Corinthians 11:30 - 32. If you stay on that old way, judgment applies.

Now I go on to Achsah. I think she may be taken to represent the next stage; she comes in at a remarkable period. A certain feature of the world was broken down, that is, the feature represented in books -- Kirjath-sepher. Caleb took other cities, but this one evidently was peculiarly strong. It is a city of books. It is peculiarly fortified, and Caleb, knew it. I appeal to you young people, as to what books you are reading. The books of this world do not belong to the other way. You are taking the ordinary one. Men talk about novels, histories, plays, races, and all that goes on in the world, and you are reading those books. That is the ordinary way; you are not taking the other one. The other one brings you under reproach, but it is the way of life. "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath", Proverbs 15:24. It is a question of the way you take, and Kirjath-sepher is the great centre of food for the unregenerate of this world. Books, newspapers, magazines, novels, all kinds of stories -- the world is kept going by these things. Well, Kirjath-sepher was well fortified and Caleb understood the power of the thing. He says, He that takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And Othniel takes it. He must have been a remarkable young man. Judges develops him and tells us much about him. He was the first judge in Israel and

was entitled to it. He overcame wicked literature. It is not that God has not got literature; He has, but God never goes in for volume. With Him it is reduction -- how much can be said by the fewest possible words. As John says, If all the things which Jesus did were written, one by one, even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Hence this book (the Bible) is very small relatively, but it is enough. It is all that we need. God has foreseen in this book everything the saints need, but the volumes turned out by the printing presses of the world to keep the world going are uncountable! And they have got a powerful influence on young minds, so that you are kept in the ordinary way, and not on the other one. Now you see, Caleb understood and promises his daughter to him who should take it. So Othniel takes it and she became his wife, and as she came to him, she moved him to ask of her father a field. Now you have got someone who is not occupied with the books of Kirjath-sepher, but with her father's blessing, that is to say, the blessing of God. You want that, and you want every possible means of getting it. You must not neglect any means which God has devised in order that you may get the blessing. It is worth something. Achsah moved Othniel to ask of her father a field, and as she approached her father she is reverential. She sprang from her ass. Then the south land which she is given is an objective thought; it is the favourableness of it. The present is a well-accepted time, a day of salvation, but we want more than that; we want the Spirit. She says virtually, to keep this going, I shall need the Spirit -- the life of faith is by the Spirit. So she says, "Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water". She has no small thought; she understood what is necessary, and he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

How she would regard them is an interesting matter; how she would utilise them! I have no doubt the nether springs refer to the Spirit in the way in which it sets aside the flesh and springs up. The upper springs refer to heaven. So that the believer has a wide range; he has freshness, the springs of God. Think of having the spring in you. As the Lord says, "thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water". "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life", John 4:10, 14, so that one should never thirst again for ever. Think of that, and then of the refreshing springs of heaven. The depths of Ephesians are available to us -- the heavenly springs -- what is brought about into our souls from that land by the Spirit. You can see what a wife Achsah was to her husband Othniel, what a help this woman would be to him -- a type of the church as maintained in heavenly vigour by the Spirit.

Now the other word is in regard of the daughters of Zelophehad. Now they had no brothers. They were the only daughters so that they pre -- eminently represent the subjective side, and what they lay claim to is the inheritance. It is not only the springs of water, but you want all that God has in His heart for you. If God has thought out things for us -- foreknown us before the world; He has known us before and planned out an inheritance -- is it not worth our while to see the extent of it, and to claim it where He has placed it? You want it just where He has placed it. It is placed among the brethren. These daughters wished to have the inheritance among the brethren. I am speaking for young ones here tonight. What about having an inheritance among the brethren; that is where it is. God is pleased to place it where it is enhanced. What I have among the

brethren is enhanced by that very fact. Hence I seek to be among them. Think of all that Scripture predicates of the brethren -- what unity among them is like, as an example. You never saw such a thing in the world as it is depicted in Psalm 133. The point is what it is like. It is like the oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments. Think of the beauty and dignity of Christ. The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove upon Him and the influence went out -- to the skirts of His garments. That is what unity amongst the brethren is like. "As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore", Psalm 133:3. That is another picture of it. These are wonderful things to see. You get nothing like them in the world. The inheritance of God is there, and these women, we are told, demanded this. It was their right. They were descendants of Manasseh, and he, we are told, was the eldest son of Joseph, whose was the birthright. It is an inheritance coming down from Christ, and it is obtained among the brethren. May God bless these thoughts to us.

REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY

Luke 22:14; Luke 24:7 - 9, 33 - 35

J.T. There is representative authority from the Lord whilst He is away; a fact that ought to be well noted. It is said in Mark that the Lord likened Himself to a man going out of the country having left his house and "given to his bondmen the authority" and the commandment is to "the doorkeeper that he should watch", Mark 13:34. The Lord intended that there should be representative authority during His absence; and I thought these scriptures in Luke would help us to see how that authority was introduced, and how it was recognised where light came into the believer's heart. When God enlightens persons they recognise this, that is, the eleven in chapter 24, and those that are enlightened by the two men. It says, "they remembered his words; and, returning from the sepulchre, related all these things to the eleven and to all the rest". Then the two later returned to Jerusalem and "found the eleven" -- as if there was a recognition of the representative authority left by the Lord. I thought that we might see in the institution of the Lord's supper, that He selects the twelve apostles. There were others who loved Him -- they are referred to as "all the rest" in chapter 24:9, and as "those with them" in verse 33; but they are not referred to in chapter 22, but only the twelve apostles as they are called. The Lord makes His own selection for an express purpose, as was customary with Him in all His special movements while here.

H.W.H. Had you in mind that that character of authority is maintained today?

J.T. I had in mind that we might see that it exists. That is what I think Mark would show, that

the Lord left to His bondmen, not simply authority, but the authority, that is what is necessary for the ruling of the house; the doorkeeper is a thought that goes with that.

A.W. Is your thought that in the Supper we have a kind of ruling principle of authority in relation to all that follows?

J.T. I think that the twelve apostles being formally mentioned in Luke, reminds us that the thing was instituted in the presence of accredited witnesses, so that there should be no question about it. It should be the centre of authority in the sense of what arises from love, love begotten in our hearts, for the maintenance of what is due to Christ in the house must arise from the maintenance of affection. The wise woman in Proverbs sees to the ways of the house in view of the absence of the husband. If one loves the Lord he will do all in his power to maintain what is due to the Lord in the house, and the Lord will own that. But it is well to notice that it is the authority He gives to His bondmen, "and to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper that he should watch", Mark 13:34. That is His mind and it is to go on till His return, we are to watch until that time. The way it is brought in is, I think, in the institution of the Supper. We have twelve chosen persons present whom He had already named apostles and who are called that, as over against the other evangelists. Luke especially calls them apostles here; there are many other lovers of Christ, but they are not mentioned.

H.W.H. I gather from what you say that the authority would be with sent ones.

J.T. That is good; I had that in mind. John brings out that side of it, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you", and having said that, He breathed into them (John 20:21, 22) as if it would hinge on the presence of His Spirit in them. There is

the sense of being sent which would be the same thing.

S.R. Do you mean that though the Lord is not here, the authority is still here? Is it in relation to the individual or the assembly?

J.T. It is in the house, according to Mark. You will notice what is said there. He likens Himself to a man who has left his house and has given to his bondmen the authority, to each man his work and to the doorkeeper to watch, so that it would be more that side, that in which His chief interest is -- in the house. He made His selection of persons to be present. It has often been questioned as to why the others were not there, but I think it is clear enough that the Lord is entitled to make His own selection. He intended to convey the idea of authority in the matter -- He would select those who would rightly represent that.

P.L. Authority in the sacrificing love which the Lord would Himself embody in the Supper?

J.T. Well, I think those who love have authority. There is no greater authority in the whole universe than love, because it is not arbitrary; it will do its best for you. Hence it is set where love is in the family -- in the parents, would you not say? Any authority that does not arise from love to Christ and love for others is sure to be arbitrary, and unnecessarily restrictive.

A.W. Is that why what is presented in the Supper is the light that governs every situation in the assembly?

J.T. Yes; everything arises out of it; everything must germinate there.

P.L. It would be like parental love; the "housefather" is referred to. The Lord Himself is presented thus.

J.T. Quite. There can be no doubt that the element of authority would enter into their minds. He had gone all the way with them, and He takes His

place at table and is known as the "housefather", Luke 24:30 (note, New Translation). He gives thanks and breaks the bread; the authority was there, and they moved in it. When they went to the city "they found the eleven"; there is no evidence that they had the number of the house, it was a matter of finding where they were -- "they found the eleven", Luke 24:33. In verse 9 of the same chapter, those that had seen the two men went to the eleven and told them, as if the things all referred to them.

A.S.M. Does the expression "translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Colossians 1:13) suggest the authority of love we are brought into?

J.T. Indeed; hence the book of Proverbs, which is the expansion of that -- the Son of the Father's love; it is not arbitrary, but love acting wisely.

A.W. Would the recognition of authority give direction as to where the eleven were?

J.T. No doubt. They would not have much difficulty in finding them. But this is a very important principle; it works in parents, in meetings, and in a general way in the house of God; authority must germinate and develop in love or it is sure to be arbitrary and unduly severe -- in fact persecuting.

A.J.G. I suppose there is nothing to show that one has authority except the moral power to exercise it.

J.T. I think that is right, and the amount of moral power lies in the amount of love you have. All the evangelists emphasise that side. Matthew says an angel came down from heaven and rolled away the stone -- that was what he did, but then he sat on it. There was power in what he was doing. It was not that he needed to do that for the Lord to come out, but love would do it to let them go in and see; love would do that. There was moral power in that he sat on it; he had a moral right to sit on it. Then it says, "his look was as lightning ... and for fear of

him the guards trembled and became as dead men" Matthew 28:3 - 4; he was acting against evil, but that is quite compatible with love. He had in mind the women that were about to be there, and who were there. But now he says, Go to His disciples and tell them -- he knew what they were after -- that the Lord is risen, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". It was love to make way for them to see the place where the Lord lay. "Go quickly and say to his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him". Then he says, "Behold, I have told you", (Matthew 28:6 - 7) that is authority. It is not Christ, but one accredited from heaven.

H.W.H. So that in Luke we have that authority in men; there are two men here, and they speak with authority.

J.T. Yes, but not in the same way as the angel. He says, Behold I have told you -- that is a person invested with all these symbols of authority, and the first thing he does is to roll away the stone. He would let love have its way; love in the women would see the place where the Lord lay. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". The Lord's supper is, you might say, a development of that, because it refers to where the Lord was and love would dwell there, so he took away the stone and they could see the place where the Lord lay. Then he says, "I have told you". Matthew greatly emphasises the idea of authority, for they were to go to Galilee and see the Lord, and He sends them to make disciples of all nations.

C.H.P. Is it rather suggestive that it should come in connection with the Supper; would that regulate all that goes on during the week?

J.T. Well, it is very significant that He selects the twelve to be there who had been with Him and under His influence, that they should be present. There can be no question henceforward as to what was done

and said. You have the thing authoritatively carried forward.

A.J.G. And what would you say the authority has in view?

J.T. Well, I think it is love's way; it helps to break down. It breaks down all that is against the working of the Spirit of God. You cannot have the development of the truth of the assembly aside from it, and from subjection to it.

H.W.H. You see great exercise of authority in the apostle Paul, and the moral power to carry it out.

J.T. I think that is seen working out in the first letter to Corinth. It is a question of his authority; but it was an authority wielded in the greatest consideration, it was not arbitrary; had it been he would have gone there with a rod, but instead of that he sends Timotheus -- a man timid and unpretentious, who, as he says, "shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ", 1 Corinthians 4:17.

A.W. Does Paul continue the element of authority in relation to the Supper -- "I have received of the Lord…"?

J.T. Yes, that is what I was thinking. "I have received of the Lord". He had already said, "This is not to eat the Lord's supper". 1 Corinthians 11:20 Their conduct was denying that, so he says, "I have received of the Lord" and what he had received was exactly what the twelve had witnessed, nothing different, there was nothing added to it; it came to us gentiles therefore without any human additions.

W.C. Is it wisdom on our part to recognise and accept it? I suppose there would be no moral power to exercise authority with anyone unless there had been first of all subjection.

J.T. That is right; unless there be love, one has no moral weight among the saints. Any authority exercised aside from love is but arbitrary and very often persecuting; in fact, in the history of christendom

that is what it has become. Authority taken up apart from love becomes like the scorching sun. The sun is benign till it becomes scorching, then it is an enemy. We see in the book of Revelation how it scorches people; Revelation 16:8.

H.W.H. You were coupling watchfulness with the thought of authority; I was struck with that, because under David, doorkeepers have a very great place.

J.T. Yes, they were of the same number as the musicians -- four thousand -- showing how important they are. The command is to them; He gives authority to His bondmen, but the command is to the doorkeeper, showing how imperative it is that there should be a doorkeeper. A doorkeeper would keep out from the Lord's supper and the service of God all the innovations that have been introduced since it was established, for want of a doorkeeper -- evil persons creeping in unawares.

Ques. What is the application of a. doorkeeper? Would it be an individual or an assembly?

J.T. It is an element inside that challenges what would present itself. The authority is inside -- to rule what is inside -- but the doorkeeper challenges what presents itself.

A.W. Then you would link the watchfulness of the doorkeeper both in relation to what might come in among ourselves, and people desiring to partake of the Supper?

J.T. Authority has to do with those that are actually there. The doorkeeper would, I judge, have to do with those who present themselves, would you not say?

A.W. Yes, I was just trying to link up what you said about human additions at the Supper.

J.T. A doorkeeper might tend to keep the meeting small. The introduction of a wrong element may mean a wrong person admitted.

A.J.G. It says, "the doors were shut where the

disciples were", John 20:19. Does not that introduce the element of doorkeeping?

J.T. It does; it was "for fear of the Jews", the reason is given, and it was for a good reason, too.

A.W. There seems an interesting touch in the thought of the functioning of the Supper, that room should be made for the saints to see where the Lord lay. Is that what you are pressing?

J.T. That was the angel's service; he rolled away the stone and sat upon it, as if to give notice to all comers that this is the way of love. These dear people are coming here and he saw to it that they saw the place where the Lord lay; that is really what underlay it. The world's power must not interfere with the way of love.

A.J.G. Had you in mind that one end in view in the exercise of authority is to bring in subjection according to God. In your prayer you made a good deal of the moral beauty of subjection as fitting saints for their ultimate rule.

J.T. I think it does. The assembly is subjected to Christ, not merely subject, but subjected, that is the way of wisdom, the way of love. For it to reign by itself would be lawlessness; so that headship, as seen in the creation, is introduced in 1 Corinthians before you have the Lord's supper formally introduced. The mind of God is that the assembly is subjected to Christ, there is moral order and beauty in that; it is the divine way. Now, in order that that should be maintained the Lord, I think, selected these men to be present, because His supper was to be the centre of everything during His absence. It is in His going away that all this comes to light, so that He makes His own selection. On various occasions He had made selections from the twelve -- threes and fours -- but here He has all the twelve, a complete administrative number, to be present at the moment when the Supper was instituted.

A.W. Does Proverbs 30 challenge our hearts as to "What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?" Proverbs 30:4 Then in chapter 31 you get the assembly really in figure subjected to Him.

J.T. I think so, quite. The king, in the beginning of the chapter, and the virtuous woman go together. The authority and moral weight supplied by love within, is that, I think, which as representative of Christ, maintains this subjection; for nothing can represent Christ aside from love, it must be that. Hence in John He breathes into them His Spirit and says, "As the Father sent me forth, I also send you". John 20:21 He brings us into correspondence with Him, but then He qualifies us in our spirits for that.

T.J.M. So if we see the Son taking the subject place in eternity, would not that help us to accept the authority today, and to be formed in subjection?

J.T. It is very beautiful to see how subjection marked Him. It is not an arbitrary thing imposed on us; it is the divine way. Hence the order in 1 Corinthians 11 -- the head of Christ is God, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. So that subjection is seen perfectly in Him; it is not arbitrary, it is learnt in Him.

P.L. "He learned obedience from the things which he suffered". Hebrews 5:8

J.T. He learnt it, quite, so we ought to learn it from Him.

A.J.G. So that the coming in of Christ in that way in subjection, and then the assembly brought into subjection to Him, is the way God takes to recover everything for Himself -- the whole universe.

J.T. Hence the immensity of the subject of subjection; that is how things are worked out, the Son Himself becomes subject in the end to Him who is God and Father. Why should not we be subject to Him who is God and Father? Think of what that means, the great source of all subjection, to Him who

is God and Father -- so we are subject to Christ; He is entitled to it.

A.W. So as you were remarking in prayer, the day to come will be the result of what is being worked out now.

J.T. I think the element of subjection will mark the assembly as it comes down from heaven; it is in liberty, but it will be seen that it is entirely subject to Christ, and it will be representative of Him in the creation, because it is formed in His nature. You see it in the thought of the twelve, for that is the thing to follow up. They are twelve; it is a number that can be manipulated more than any other. You have the thing substantiated, not only in the abstract but in the most concrete way. You have the number twelve so as to be manipulated by love, it is entirely available to Christ -- that would be the idea. The immensity of the moral system will be dominated by this; it is all under Christ. He can send you there and me here, and so on; untold millions of people formed in the divine nature entirely subject to Christ. There should never be a question in anybody's mind as to what he is to do; he knows what he is to do.

Ques. Will you say a word about the manipulation?

J.T. If you have twelve, you can divide it up into two parts, or into three parts, or into four parts, into six parts, and so on -- it is the divisibility of the thing. Now if you apply that to an immensity of persons beyond our computation -- what it is in the hands of a divine Person; it is what love can do with those who are thus formed.

A.J.G. So that it stands for administration that is perfect without being rigid, but wonderfully flexible in love.

P.L. Does Moses' blessing of the twelve tribes prefigure that idea? Yea, he loved the people; his love found expression in the twelve.

J.T. Yes, Jacob blesses them, but having in view the incongruities that marked them -- most terrible things, but it is a question of what God can do even with such; they are all blessed in spite of their incongruities. That is what Jacob sees in them. Moses sees nothing in them but what is of God -- that is the other side. Moses' blessing, I think, lets us into the thought of the heavenly city; there is nothing there to interfere with the work of divine love. The supper is obviously the centre whence all that springs, so with any one of us attempting to exercise authority, it must be co -- relative with our love, or it has no weight.

Ques. Would that be seen in the third epistle of John? Diotrephes was exercising his authority arbitrarily. The apostle says "Beloved" three times. Would that be the exercise of authority in love to counteract the evil?

J.T. Very good, and John would deal with Diotrephes, too. He says, For this reason if I come I will bring to remembrance his works which he does, that is to say, John would use the power that he had to deal with that, just as the angel did, to make way for love, for after all, the authority that is exercised in the assembly is to make way for love, to keep love's way clear. What can there be for God save in the way of love? for that is what God is. So Paul, in dealing with the Corinthians said he had in "readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled", 2 Corinthians 10:6.

F.S. At the end of the first epistle he told them to be subject to the household of Stephanas.

J.T. That was a good household to be subject to. You see how these dear women in the gospel came into it, showing what it is to be in subjection, so that authority marks those who are right according to God. In Matthew the angel says, "I have told you", "fear not ye"; they are moving under authority,

representative authority, and as moving in that it says, "Jesus met them, saying, Hail!" Matthew 28:9 He greeted them. So here in Luke as the men speak to them, they go "to the eleven and to all the rest". That is, where people are right, where the work of God is taking effect, the persons know where divine authority is vested. You know where to go, and you go there.

H.W.H. Does what you are saying about subjection account for the vast amount of discipline the Lord is exercising among His saints in the way of suffering?

J.T. You can reckon on that, too. It says, "For this cause many are weak and sickly", 1 Corinthians 11:30. We are not vessels in God's hands unless we are subject.

A.S.M. Would the contemplation of the pathway of subjection as seen in the Lord in Philippians greatly help us? The apostle says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus". Philippians 2:5

J.T. Just so, and thus they could work out their own salvation.

P.L. So that the Son in love will embody this great feature eternally. He will lead in subjection, will He not, the whole universe? "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", 1 Corinthians 15:28.

J.T. There it is in eternity; it is very wonderful. The principle of absolute subjection has come out in Christ, therefore we can easily learn it, learn it from Him.

P.L. "That God may be all in all". Is there any open door for God to come in without this feature with us?

J.T. That is how it stands, I think. We were speaking of it elsewhere, as you know; in 1 Corinthians 11, it is "I have received of the Lord" -- it is a question of authority. "If any one think to

be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God". 1 Corinthians 11:16 There is no room for contention, for the exercise of individual wills in the house of God -- we have no such custom. Now the next chapter is the Spirit. As we are subject, the Spirit is free to work out features of Christ, the anointing, that is to say, that with which God is identified, the anointed vessel, the Christ -- "so also is the Christ". Then in chapter 13, the way of love, that is to say you have a vessel for it -- the way of love: Not that the Corinthians were that for the moment, but the apostle was that. He says, "Yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence", but normally the assembly, the anointed vessel, is that, the way in which the love is shown, or God would not commit Himself to it; that is what He anoints. Then in chapter 14, you have the intelligence that marks the saints as they come together, the five words, and "I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray also with the understanding". 1 Corinthians 14:15 All that is developed in the chapter hinges on what we get earlier. You can see what is available to us now in subjection, the anointing and thus the way of love. God has something here, however little, in which He can develop the way of love, and that is seen in various ways. But chapter 14 is what we are when we come together, and it seems to me that, if we had the anointed vessel, so to speak, we should have room for open meetings, for meetings in which brethren are so subject to one another and so sensitive that they can discern when there is a revelation to another sitting by, and sit down. There is the beautiful sensitiveness that the Spirit gives us as to that which He is doing in others. Thus you have the way of love seen.

Rem. So that the eleven have added to them the impressions that the women had, and then the two going to Emmaus, they come and deposit their impressions with the eleven.

J.T. Yes, that is right. It would add to the eleven. It was right that they should come to the eleven, because they represented Christ, but then the contribution would simply enhance their position.

P.L. Sensitiveness that is the fruit of subjection to Christ is a great contrast to the hardness of spirit that marks the organisations of the will of man in christendom.

J.T. You cannot have anything mutual in those organisations, you cannot have the way of love in them. If the assembly is anything at all, it is a vessel for the way of love, and that implies subjection and mutual consideration for one another, so that in chapter 12, "in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body". 1 Corinthians 12:13 We are merged in one body, but we are happily in it for we have drunk into one Spirit; it is not irksome to be there.

A.W. So that love would leave room for every contribution in the assembly.

J.T. Exactly; hence the two going to Emmaus have a very great contribution; they bring in the idea of the breaking of bread, the Lord is recognised by them in that.

Ques. In regard to the open meeting, would the readings together help us in that way to learn subjection to one another's thoughts in relation to Christ?

J.T. They should. They ought to tend to develop sensibilities, so that I know what is in your mind and I am ready to give place to it. If there is a revelation to one sitting by, the Holy Spirit intimates that He would like to have that. He might reveal something to you, and I might not detect it. That requires great fineness of spiritual sensibilities, and the courage to sit down when I detect that.

H.W.H. What you are saying is very exercising, for one is conscious of an unreadiness to receive the thoughts of others, however desirable. Owing, I suppose, to want of subjection, I am not perhaps

prepared to make room for the remark of a brother. Would that account for it?

J.T. Quite, very good.

P.L. A company of this character would provide the Lord, the chief Musician, with a well -- tuned instrument of ten strings.

J.T. That is what the epistle to the Corinthians, I think, would do. Chapter 14 is very fine as showing what is in the mind of God -- what He intended to have here.

P.L. You might almost say you have the music that greets the prodigal as he comes in; he falls down spell -- bound by the music; see 1 Corinthians 14:24,25.

J.T. Quite; he is a hardened sinner if he does not -- like the elder brother.

A.J.G. The fact that the two when they returned, found them saying "The Lord is risen indeed" would indicate that they had appropriated the message brought them by the women and valued it.

J.T. And you will observe in the first instance, the eleven are not said to be gathered together; in the opening verses they told the eleven and the rest, but what happened during the day brought them together, showing it is the same thought; the light of God coming in leads to their being together, and as together, the mutual thing is developed, so He says, "Have ye anything here?" He is, as it were, referring back to the experiences of the day. It was a marvellous day for them, but now, what have you gathered up? "Have you anything here to eat?"

P.L. Would you say that the distinctive light of the moment is that which consolidates us together in an authoritative way? We have something to give now; after all, it is concentrated in the present light for the day, the Spirit's voice in the house of God that finds us moving together.

J.T. Yes. There is the element of authority. It is not arbitrary but in love, and you cannot but

respect a man who has shown you that he loves you. What he says has weight with you, it has certainty, and authority could be on no other basis. If it is, it is arbitrary. Then, too, the spirit of subjection and the exercise of authority would be found alongside in the same person.

Rem. One who rules his own spirit can rule others.

Rem. The One that rules over God's house is the Son.

J.T. It is very remarkable that in 1 Chronicles, before you have anything about the ordering of the courses by David, you have Solomon on the throne. In chapter 23 David makes his son Solomon king before he institutes the courses, showing that it is that kind of authority. The moral weight was in David because of his experience, but the official side is in the son, and the two merge. All merges in the son, one in that relationship, that is the book of Proverbs. Hence the rule of the house of God is the rule of the Son, that is, One who is Himself brought up and nurtured in affection. Outside the Lord, and perhaps John the baptist, I suppose there is no more remarkable babe in Scripture than Solomon. We are told that Jehovah loved him.

P.L. Do you have this in the first three chapters of Hebrews; in the first God speaks in the Son, is that Solomon on the throne? Then in the second, you have the Lord qualifying in His path here of experience with God for His place on high in priesthood; and then the two thoughts merging in chapter 3, the Son over God's house.

J.T. Very good indeed; He is over the house as Son. I think you were remarking about the combination -- "Consider the apostle and high priest". Hebrews 3:1 The allusion in the apostle is to Moses, he had the light, and, in the high priest, to Aaron, who had the love. Aaron kissed Moses when he met him; there was the perfect combination of light and love, that is in

Christ. They are a figure of what has come in in Christ -- a perfect combination -- and the rule is in the one who represents the light.

H.W.H. There were thirty years of subjection in the case of the Lord Jesus before heaven opened on Him and the Spirit descended.

J.T. What years those must have been; they are secret history. As in the case of Aaron, he is abruptly introduced to us as "Aaron the Levite" -- that is really secret; it is what he is secretly with God, known only to God Himself. Mary had the greatest opportunity of knowing all that, but she did not gain as she might have done, but anyway it is secret history. It is to that that God commits Himself -- He anoints Him. It is the secret history with God that tells. So we have nothing about Aaron till he is introduced as "the Levite" and he was then eighty -- three years of age (he was three years older than Moses) but how did he become the levite save that God knew him? The Lord said to Moses, "when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart", Exodus 4:14. He was a heart -- man. God deals with hearts; it is what God knows that He anoints -- secret history with Himself. God made no mistake, He knew Aaron and He called him the levite from the start. Why should not Moses be called a levite, he was a son of Levi, but he is not called such.

H.W.H. You were referring the other day to the fact that God knew that he could speak well, would you say a little more about that?

J.T. That brings out God's acquaintance with us in our private history.

P.L. Speaking to God, I suppose.

J.T. Very likely. No doubt God had heard him speak privately.

Ques. Why is not Moses called the levite?

J.T. Well, all these things have a spiritual significance. It is a question of what God knew about

Aaron, not a levite, but the levite. As Mr. L. suggests, possibly he had spoken to God many times, and learnt to pray. He was born into a remarkable house. His parents had discernment; they had seen that Moses was a proper child and had hidden him. It was a spiritual household. Then Miriam their sister, she was on the alert, she could look after her brother; she was a remarkable girl. She says, 'I will provide a nurse'. What wisdom. So Aaron was brought up in these surroundings, and God knew it.

Rem. Moses was taken up as the leader.

J.T. Yes, he had the light. Aaron's subsequent history, of course, beclouds this, but that does not alter the fact that what God intended to set out at the beginning is there.

P.L. "Aaron the saint of the Lord", Psalm 106:16.

J.T. Just so, and when God speaks of him, to make him a priest, He says, "take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother", Exodus 28:1.

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ACTIVITIES IN RELATION TO THE GENTILES

Acts 8:29, 39; Acts 10:19, 20, 44 - 46; Acts 13:1 - 4

I have in mind to speak about the Holy Spirit, as His activities are seen in relation to the gentiles. Earlier He was engaged with the believers from among the Jews, coming in to the one hundred and twenty as they were all together with one accord. In that initial introduction we have what is worthy of note that the Spirit takes account of all, that no one, if we are to have the whole gain of His activities, is absent. So they were all together in one place with one accord, in the company with the evidence of power, as it says, "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting". The incoming of the Spirit is accompanied by evidence of power. Notice is taken by him of each person present. Each one had a known reputation in heaven, and so He appeared unto them (as yet it was on the principle of what could be seen) as "cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them". Each one was taken account of and the state of each, under that form having with Him the means of dealing with all the impurity of the tongues He was about to use, parted tongues like as of fire. He had the means of purification -- fire, the most drastic purifier. So He is employed with the Jewish believers, great power marking the testimony, for each one spoke as the Spirit enabled him to speak. The speaking is to be in the power of the Spirit and it was, as the Spirit sat upon each of them.

Now we arrive at the incoming of the nations as before God, that is our forefathers. It had been made known that the veil which hid the gentiles should be

removed. Simeon in the temple as the Babe was brought in by His parents, takes the Child in his arms and says, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the gentiles". Luke 2:29 - 32 A light for the revelation of the gentiles that is what Christ was. In Him as Man, the gentiles as being men all come into the view of God. The veil that shut them off was removed in Jesus becoming Man. As becoming Man, in the mind of God He stood in relation to men. As Peter put it to Cornelius, "I myself also am a man". As Cornelius so was he, both men. So in chapter 8 we are approaching the incoming of the nations to blessing. Many of us here, especially the young, have no idea what the sphere of blessing implies, into which we have been brought. The gentiles were about to be introduced into it and so we have the peculiar service of the Spirit in that relation. That is what I want to dwell upon. So I take up Philip first in relation to the Ethiopian eunuch who may be regarded as a gentile, though doubtless a proselyte as he had been up to Jerusalem to worship. Notice the peculiar activities of the servant -- I speak in particular to any who serve in any way, so that we may be concerned that what we give should be spiritual and therefore representative of Christ and God, for God is a Spirit. We need to take notice of the imperativeness of being spiritual whether in work or service. Philip may be taken as an example. He had no special service to God though he was a deacon. He was not recognised among the apostles as gifted to preach. It is a question of using a brother developed into doing the work without any form of recognition by the saints. He was a deacon. He went down to Samaria and preached Christ! Excellent! More than that, there was result from his preaching. I need not go over the work at

Samaria. He had a wonderful time there. And then the angel of the Lord said, "Go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went". No questioning! It is one thing to preach Christ and get converts but it is another thing to obey a divine command peremptorily. It says, he arose and went. You see he is qualified. It is delightful to heaven to have Christ preached. Paul says, "we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish". 2 Corinthians 2:15 But what marks me after successful service? Am I to live in those plaudits? Satan suggests it and it has been the ruin of many. Note, it is not the Spirit yet; it is a providential thing, an angel, but the servant is obedient. Wanting in obedience the servant may miss much. How much would Philip have missed if he had remained in Samaria to continue his successful work? But being obedient the Holy Spirit says, 'I will honour you'. He is told to join the chariot. The Holy Spirit tells us who the occupant of the chariot was, he was in charge of a queen's treasury. God had His eye on this man and He would have Himself rightly represented. I urge at the outset obedience, or we cannot convey the right thought of God. Philip preached the Christ in Samaria; he had that impression in his soul. He would convey that. But now he is directed by the Spirit of God to join himself to a chariot occupied by this African, who was a noted man. He ran at once, under the influence of the Spirit's power. You see God is about to impress this gentile with His idea. God has only one idea before Him -- Jesus. Philip had preached the Christ at Samaria; to the eunuch -- Jesus. Here I like to stop for a moment to dwell on the way God introduces Jesus in Acts. "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up". Acts 1:1 - 2 Then the witness of the two men,

which stood by the disciples, in white apparel: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven". Acts 1:11 And again Peter in his address: "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ", Acts 2:36.

So Philip joins the chariot under the command of the Spirit of God, and the man is reading the Bible. One may thank God for the number of Bibles there are today, but one has to own that it is less read. This authorised version we have was appointed to be read in churches in England, and one is thankful for every church in which it is read. You may read it in a legal way because you have been brought up to read; thank God if you read the Bible. Alas, we know it is less and less read, but here was a man who was reading it. You may say, 'I have little time to read the Scriptures'. One often hears complaints about too much written ministry. No time: what about the time spent in the street cars, etc.? This man might have excused himself that it was no time to read the Bible. Doubtless the sun beat down upon him fiercely -- but he was reading the Bible. The Holy Spirit is interested in everyone reading the Bible even if unconverted. So the Holy Spirit says, Join yourself, there is a link between the christian and every man who reads the Bible. I always feel safe spiritually as I show my Bible in the open. This great statesman was not ashamed of the Bible. But now I want to urge the understanding of it. It is not to be read scholastically but with the understanding, and so he says, "How can I, except some man should guide me?" (So the speaker is concerned that the Bible readers should understand.) What was he reading? He was reading about Jesus, one of the most touching scriptures in the whole Bible. But I do not stop to dwell on that -- I am speaking about the Spirit. Philip preached unto him about Jesus

from that scripture. Possibly never a sermon like Philip's, one would like to have heard him. You can see at a glance that it was no stock sermon. He was under the command and influence of the Spirit and such a man is always ready to speak from any scripture. He "preached unto him Jesus". And as they went on their way the eunuch said, "here is water; what doth hinder me ... ?" It may be some here were hindered. One could furnish a list of hindrances. One meets souls year after year who make no headway at all, and one wonders what is hindering. But the eunuch says, "what doth hinder me?" Philip does not say anything about the water; the man was profoundly affected by the preaching of Philip -- and they went down both together; on the one hand a soul touched by the influence of Jesus, on the other hand one who could represent Him here. They went down both of them lovers of Jesus, going down into that which symbolised His death. How the force of those words would come home: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ...". He was taken from oppression and from judgment, "his life is taken from the earth". That life is gone from the earth and the eunuch says, 'Mine must go, too'. Philip's was already gone. It was a fine sight for heaven -- those two men in the water together.

But when they came up the Spirit caught away Philip and the eunuch saw him no more. How is this gentile to get along without his preacher? Some people say: My preacher, my minister, my clergyman. This man had to get along without his preacher. If he had been governed by natural feelings he might have asked Philip to come along with him. As it was in the days of Judges, they hired a man to be a priest. But the Holy Spirit says you are to get along without the preacher, that is His business, you do not need him more. The Spirit of the Lord caught him away. What spiritual impression that man went back

to Ethiopia with. Would he not go home with the feeling that there was a spiritual realm? We look not on that which is seen but that which is unseen. He went on his way rejoicing -- not sorrowful that his preacher was taken away from him.

Happy for Philip that he was in such a state that the Spirit of the Lord could catch him away. The Lord is going to do that for us shortly. I speak about the rapture; that is what it means. If I am on material lines I shall be greatly surprised when I am raptured. But not Philip; he was not surprised when the Spirit caught him away. The Lord Himself shall descend and we shall be changed and caught up. Who can say about the actual power and means used? What an impression the eunuch would carry into Ethiopia. He might tell her Majesty the details. She never heard anything like that, it would impress her. Christianity is a spiritual realm. We have principles and doctrines but if you take away the Spirit it will soon become an outward form.

Now I go on to Peter to show how the company at Caesarea was impressed. We have much of the experience of Peter in the Scriptures. This is a unique one. While they were preparing a meal for Peter, he went up on the housetop to pray. It was a preparing time. While he prayed he became in an ecstasy. I know little about these things, but there they are. He was beside himself, lost to seen things; and he saw a sheet come down from heaven. God said, as it were, that he was not simply to be prepared for but he was to be prepared. If we are to have any part in this service there must be divine service; you must be prepared or you can never represent Christ. It comes down, and Peter says, "It came even to me". What for? To prepare Peter to represent God to us gentiles, that the truth might come to us in a proper spiritual way. Peter pondered the vision, as Mary of old kept the things in her mind, pondering

them in her heart. And the Spirit of God says to Peter, "Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them". People had been sent from Caesarea to come to him and heaven began to prepare Peter to receive them. We hear nothing of the dinner that was being prepared for him. What was of account was that Peter should be made ready. I am to be made ready if I am to represent God. The Spirit says, "Go with them, doubting nothing, because I have sent them".

Dear brethren, the Holy Spirit is here and operating, and if we have the light of God, He will send people to us. We may be sent on the one hand to receive them. Think of the Holy Spirit sending a soul to you to enlighten him. Peter was praying, but while he was waiting for that meal God said, 'Are you ready?' and when the men came the Holy Spirit said, "Go down and go with them ... . I have sent them".

So Peter went down to Caesarea and Cornelius met him and was so affected he fell down and did him homage. Peter's successor (so-called) at Rome would be glad of such a thing; he would not lift him up and say, "I myself also am a man". But Peter says it and lifts him up -- the spiritual man rightly representing God and representing heaven says, "I am a man". It is well to know if we are serving God how to go down to people. If I am anything different it is because God has made me different, and being thus it is easy for me to go down. So they went into the house talking together. The Jew and gentile together as men; and then Peter opened his mouth and preached. It is what the Spirit is doing, he is speaking of Jesus, and while he was speaking the Holy Spirit fell on them that heard the word. Let not any preacher think he does the thing; the work belongs to God. Speaking of it afterwards Peter says,

God gave them the Holy Spirit as to us at the beginning. See how the Holy Spirit laid hold of these men. Jew and gentile, he has made all one body. Nevertheless the gentile is brought in as distinct -- the Holy Spirit lays hold of them. They are not brought in at Jerusalem; the sheet represented the mind of God. "Ye also are builded together". Ephesians 2:22 As the Jews were built in so are we. Today whatever building there is, is in the gentiles; that is the feature that remains. We are builded together for an habitation of God in the Spirit. A wonderful time. The Holy Spirit fell on all these. Like the prodigal they are brought into a place of love -- the love of God. The kisses of the father to the prodigal denoted this.

In closing: what is found at Antioch? The notables. Every christian is marked by notability. As is said in Psalms, "This and that man was born in her". And when God writes up His people, He says -- Psalm 87:6, "This man was born there", taking account of what is characteristic of each one. We want to be notables. The Holy Spirit makes no note of one because he has money or social position. The notables at Antioch were spiritual notables. The first was Barnabas, another Niger -- a coloured brother amongst them, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen the foster-brother of the tetrarch, lastly Saul. They were in the assembly that was there, as if God would dwell on His princes. They were ministering to the Lord and fasting. These two things go together. If we attempt to carry on ministry without fasting we shall corrupt the ministry. So in that condition locally the Holy Spirit had asserted His sovereign right. The Holy Spirit says, "Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them". The Holy Spirit is speaking as to missionary service. The church never sent out missionaries; the Holy Spirit does it. They fasted, and prayed and laid their hands on them, but they were the choice of the

Spirit and He says let these men go. Not a bit of jealousy in their service, they let them go -- they do not send them; the Holy Spirit sent them. They are the missionaries of the Holy Spirit in His activities in relation to us gentiles, so that there might be some little representation of Christ in the ministry, that what we are going on with is no human system -- it is a spiritual thing or nothing. So if we do not make room for the Spirit it must disappear, for the Spirit cannot support anything that is of man. So the testimony will go on until the Spirit and the bride say, Come. The Spirit has the bride with Him and "the Spirit and the bride say, Come". Revelation 22:17

SOUL SALVATION

1 Peter 1:9,22; 1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter 3:19,22; 1 Peter 4:19

You will observe the words 'soul' or 'souls' in these verses. We are dealing with soul salvation, the salvation we can enter into now. We shall come into body salvation later; we shall not be saved absolutely until our bodies are saved. The Lord is the Saviour of our bodies as well as of our souls, and the whole result of His death includes both, but we have to wait for body salvation, as I may call it.

It is a certainty, for whether we wake or sleep (die) as believers in Jesus our bodies shall be saved. If we are awake, or alive, here as believers when the Lord Jesus returns, we shall be changed. He shall come Himself. The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with archangel's voice and assembling shout and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. That is to say, they come out, they rise; the grave shall be opened; that will be the resurrection from among the dead. The Lord will signify to His own, in answer to His own voice, that they are to come out, as He says, "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth". John 5:28 The power of God shall become effective in them so that they come out, as Lazarus came out of his grave.

And then it is said also as to those who are alive and remain that they shall be changed. This mortality must put on immortality, so that our mortal bodies shall be changed. That is a very real victory, a victory which can never be snatched from us. Believers are already saved in hope of this, but the present salvation is soul salvation, which we receive, which is offered in the gospel. It is to be received. So that Peter says, "receiving the end of your faith,

even the salvation of your souls", referring to what we are inwardly, as our bodies refer to what we are outwardly. The one is as real as the other. My soul is just as real as my body, only it is not material, it is that part of me which in this sense refers to a man's inner being, that which abides. It is not mortal; the body is said to be mortal, the flesh is said to be mortal, but this is never said of the soul. Hence the vast importance attaching to it in the Scriptures. As we read from the Lord's lips in the gospels, "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26 You see, people do not think of that. Attention is given to the body. Any one is interested in the relief of the body, but proposals with regard to the soul are generally uninteresting, whereas the soul question is the important thing.

The man of whom the Lord speaks in His parable in Luke had his attention drawn to his soul. The land yielded abundantly, but the land yielded only the material thing. He could not house all that the land supplied, his barns could not contain it all, he was a very prosperous man, so that he had to take counsel with himself as to what to do with his property so as to settle down here and enjoy material things. Whilst he speaks to his soul and says, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry", Luke 12:19 he refers to his body, not to his immortal being, not to that in which he had to say to God eternally.

And he had prepared himself material for many years, but the word of God was, "Fool". It is not an unkind word. It is not an ungracious word in these circumstances; it is not intended to be an offensive word; it is a word to convey kindness, to save a man from folly. It is not unkindness to call things by their proper name if by so doing you can save a man from eternal darkness.

And so the word was "Fool, this night thy soul

shall be required of thee". Luke 12:20 You see, God has a right to that which is responsible to Him. It may be required of you tonight, as it was of that man. Are you ready for such a call? "Thy soul shall be required of thee". Called away! You may not have thought of such a call. Whither going? To where is it called? You have to be ready to settle that with God. You have neglected to settle this matter, to attend to the soul matter, and now the hour has struck; the time is gone, and your soul is required. Think of it, it is required of thee; you have to yield it up. When that hour comes the best medical skill, the most skilled nursing is valueless; the most intense affection of parents, or wife, or child, cannot hold you "this night thy soul shall be required of thee".

Whither goest thou? Where is it to be found? To be attended to in another world, in kindness? No, beloved friends, the day has gone for that. For the Lord in another remarkable parable tells us of a rich man who died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, not his soul, meaning that his soul is himself. He lifted up his eyes. Is it not urgent therefore that matters should be settled with God in this hour? Soul salvation! And so Peter says, "receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls". It is a question of soul, not body, and they were receiving it, and so I would ask you to put out your hand today and receive it. It is being proffered to you in the gospel.

Now, to take the next point of importance; in this case it is that it comes to you. The general thought is soul salvation, it comes to you by obedience to the truth. "Having purified your souls", be says, "by obedience to the truth". Now the truth is a very wide suggestion. What is alluded to here is obedience to the truth of the gospel.

You remember how the apostle, in writing to certain christians at Corinth, said that he had delivered

to them the gospel, "How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures". 1 Corinthians 15:3 You see there how the truth of the gospel is presented. The Corinthians had received this gospel, and having received it as the truth they were saved by it. Have you received it? Or, I should say, Have you bowed to it? You may say that your will is standing in the way. It is obedience to the truth, "Having purified your souls", he says, "by obedience to the truth". Not only reception of it -- your assent to it as a matter of scriptural statement -- but your obedience to it, for the gospel is on the principle of faith to faith, it is for the obedience of faith among all the nations. That is, disobedience to the truth is what hinders many. You may accept in terms, but what about obedience to it, when the heart bows, acknowledging its state before God as sinful?

You see, Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. What about your sins? Forgiveness is offered, but then forgiveness to whom? To those who repent. It is sins repented of really that are forgiven, sins repented of. What about your sins? What about that wicked heart? You remember in the gospel of Luke how the Lord alludes to something that Satan had done in a certain woman eighteen years before -- a long way back! You see, you look back, for God requires that which is past, and something has happened that you have never repented of. The thing stands between your soul and God. You lose power, even if you are a christian; for she was a daughter of Abraham, but something had happened eighteen years before and she was bowed together, she could not so much as lift herself up.

God requireth that which is past. That is, your soul has to say to all that -- the purification of it by obedience to the truth. "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37 says the crowd of people, thousands

of people, as I may say, to Peter. "Repent", he says; "repent, and be baptised". Acts 2:38 You see, it is having to do with God, and God requireth that which is past. He has dealt with what is past in the death of Jesus. The death of Jesus is the door for the guiltiest wanderer, but there must be repentance, and as there is repentance and obedience to the truth, the soul is purified, fit to enter into the presence of God.

As the Lord said to the thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise". Luke 23:43 Think of entering with Him into paradise; purified in your soul by obedience to the truth. And in keeping with that, in the next chapter you have a word that is very important to young christians -- to all, but particularly the young, for today it is specially lusts which war against the soul. As you come into purification through obedience to the truth of the gospel you are not going to settle into things that you once revelled in, fleshly things which war against the soul.

Now, the next point is in the end of chapter 2 "Ye were as sheep going astray". How true that is of every one of us -- "as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls". Thank God, most of us here have returned to the Shepherd.

Should we ever have returned had He not, as He says in that beautiful parable, left the ninety and nine and come after us? That is His side. Most of us have experienced that, how the Lord came after us and bore us back; we were lost sheep. Here it is stray sheep. Who today can be regarded as straying? Ye were as sheep going astray. What about that, young man or young woman, who has been turned aside, something has come in. This meeting is an appeal to you, it is for you to move. We know not what has brought you here, but you are here, and that is so much to the good. We would appeal to you to turn to God, to commit yourself to the Lord

definitely. If you are in the world, you will find it extremely difficult to turn to the Lord. The whole atmosphere is against you, but not so in this room, for the Holy Spirit is here, the intense desire of the saints would be that God is here.

To return to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls -- two beautiful expressions designating Christ. As Shepherd He would come after you, and He will receive you graciously, but the Bishop would rule you. We have neglected that. As Bishop He has authority, you see, the authority of love, and so the appeal now is to return. In His love there will be no distance; He would bring you under rule. He says, "Take my yoke upon you", Matthew 11:29 His yoke is easy and His burden light.

In the gospel of Matthew, where you get that expression, immediately after He goes through the cornfields, and His disciples began to pluck the corn. He leads you in the way of food, where there is liberty. His disciples had plucked the ears of corn that were there, the standing corn, the Lord led them into liberty. I do plead with you young people who may have turned aside to return with your heart and mind to the Shepherd, to come into the good of His care. The word 'Bishop' really is 'overseer'. Think of having Him overseeing your soul. The body is His, to be sure, "the body is ... for the Lord", but the point is the soul, He oversees the soul. He watches all the inner movements of the soul, you see, and He knows the rebellious and crooked way.

Well now, I come to another point that is very interesting to me, and I am sure it will be to you, and that is to see how few are saved. You say, I thought a vast number were saved. Yes, the number is beyond any calculation of man. "Who can count the dust of Jacob ... the fourth part of Israel?" Numbers 23:10 The number is beyond calculation, but then there is the idea of fewness, and so in chapter 3 we have a passing

allusion to the deluge, to the ark, and we find that the Lord is said to have preached to the spirits in prison, a very touching thing for us. "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water". How many? Eight souls. You see, there were multitudes of people there, but they were disobedient. "All day long", says God, "I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people". Romans 10:21

How applicable that is to the present time; how few that hear! And yet there was the preaching, the Spirit of Christ in Noah speaking to these people as He is speaking to you today. It is the same Spirit, the one that preached through Noah to these people, a disobedient people, while the ark was preparing. Now, it is "few, that is, eight souls". Just a few.

What a privilege to be amongst them. One said to the Lord, "are there few that be saved?" Luke 13:23 The point is, see to it that you are saved. It was a question of privilege.

Think of those multitudes of the people in those days of the deluge, on the hillsides; as the water drove them out and they looked on the ark they would say, 'Would that I were in there, but I am not. I am with the crowd to be sure, I am with the many, but look at Shem there, look at Ham, look at Japheth'. There were only eight of them. Picture yourself one of these as the waters rose on the earth until there is no escape, and there are the few sheltered from the flood, water-tight, no possibility of shipwreck. It was rendered safe by the pitch, and God had shut them in. How many would have said, 'Lord, it is good if I were there with that few'? What advantage was it that multitudes were together? No advantage whatever.

And so now, you see, you may look upon us and despise us. As you see the millions in this great centre of population you may look on us and despise us because there are but few, but we are the few of privilege, and we beg you to join us.

These were saved by water, it says, in the ark, in that which was absolutely safe, and so here, baptism, the like figure, doth also now save us. How about the question of baptism? Is it a mere rite or ceremony? No, beloved friends, it is more than that. "He that believeth and is baptised". It is not simply that he has been, it is that he is baptised. He is saved. And so Peter says, "Repent, and be baptised". And so with Paul, "Why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptised, and wash away thy sins". Acts 22:16

Is the world holding you? You cannot have Christ with the world. Heaven is outside the world, you need deliverance from it, from this present evil world by the death of Christ. Saved by water. Not only were Noah and his house saved in the ark, but they were saved from the world. That world was swept away by the deluge and they reach a new world, they came through the deluge. And so we; the death of Christ takes us out of the world. "Baptism doth also now save us ... by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him". You see what power is in your favour now as accepting baptism, all the power of Christ. You have to reckon on that. Baptism is a public thing, and the Lord will come in to help us with all power. Well, how blessed to be amongst them. Let us beg you to join us, I mean, join as saved. That is the thing; the answer of a good conscience. The word is really 'demand' of a good conscience towards God.

Well now, this may bring in suffering, for that is the will of God. So that the next passage is, "them

who suffer according to the will of God". There is such a thing as that. In fact, we are called to that here and we are sure to come in for it as we accept our place with the few among those who are saved.

We expect it. "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator". Commit yourselves, it says, in well doing as unto a faithful Creator.

Now may God help us to lay hold of soul salvation, so as to be saved. Do not forget that. I know that it is not only the time of soul salvation, but the time in which souls are being saved. Then the point for me is to be sure that I am in it, that I belong to the few. And so it is a time of souls being saved. Every day, every week, God is saving precious souls. What about yours? Will you have to say to this matter? As I said, accepting the thing, receiving, as Peter says, the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

ANGELIC APPEARINGS

Judges 2:1 - 5; Judges 6:11 - 21,24 - 26; Judges 13:3 - 5,15 - 20

I am thinking this evening of divine or heavenly appearings. These date from Abraham's time according to the well-known utterance of Stephen, who said, "The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham". Acts 7:2 From that point onwards we have continuous appearings. A most interesting subject as you will readily own, and these appearings imply that the people of God were not simply to be possessed of knowledge and light but that they were to take on of the divine and heavenly character, and that this was to be maintained in freshness; hence the continuation from Abraham right through. The apostle Paul, as you will remember, specially dwells on the appearings of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection, the object obviously being to impress His own according to the features in which He appeared to them; and this continues in a spiritual way, not in the miraculous manner of Old Testament times, or even of New Testament times, but in a spiritual, but not less real, manner; so that the saints of God should take on the divine and heavenly in continued freshness. Now this will appear, as you may have time to look into it, in all the typical books, and I might say right through, but particularly in the typical books and those immediately following. And so I have selected these three scriptures in Judges as illustrative of what I have said. They present to us angelic or, in principle, divine appearings. The first is in the chapter I read, chapter 2, and as you might expect these appearings have to do with recovery. If there is to be recovery from a position into which the people of God may have descended or fallen, it is on the principle of something better than that from which they fell.

God would impress us with what is superior -- with superior things. You will all be conversant with the greatness of the word 'better' in the epistle to the Hebrews, an epistle that corresponds to this book. It is a recovering epistle and on the principle of there being better things. To illustrate what I mean, dear brethren, I refer to the gospel of Luke. You will remember how angelic appearings and communications are stamped on the early chapters of Luke, as if God in introducing the gospel as He does in that book in a unique way, would impress us, not simply with the terms of it, but with the company or realm into which the gospel is intended to introduce us. The gospel is intended not only to deliver us through the power of the kingdom from this world and keep us from evil in it, but to introduce us into what is heavenly, so that we really need to read Ephesians with Romans. Luke goes much beyond Romans. And so, immediately you have in Luke as shepherds were abiding with their flocks by night -- while others were occupied with worldly things in the cities and towns -- the angel of the Lord is there by them as if to say, 'You are here unselfishly engaged with your flock, and we will give you excellent company, we afford you heavenly company. Others are enjoying themselves, the mass, in the towns and cities; you are here unselfishly and I will afford you heavenly company!' That is virtually what the angel implied, and then the glory of the Lord shines around. What glory in any town or city in the world would compare with that? So that the very best thing, you see, is introduced at once by Luke, what God has for man -- heavenly companionship, heavenly communications and heavenly glory shines round about. And then a multitude, as it says, suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host were there, and what they were saying! What could the orations or the entertainments in any city of the empire be compared with what they were

saying? Think of the language of angels, the manner of angels' communications, how they would speak and then what they were saying, what was engaging them -- "Glory to God in the highest" Luke 2:14; that is to say the greatest possible elevation. What was going on and what is going on in the cities today, as then, is the depths of moral degradation, whereas they were occupied with the heavenly, the highest. One could say much more about these opening chapters of Luke, but what I have said serves to indicate how God would encircle us not only with heavenly light but heavenly companionship.

Well now, that is the principle in all these appearings, and so what we find in chapter 2 is the movement of the first angel mentioned. He comes up from Gilgal. That is a matter of immense moment in view of the conditions depicted in the first chapter. It meant that the angel said virtually, 'You have gone and I am coming', for God will not give up His people even although they depart from a great spiritual position. Gilgal was a great spiritual position. It is indeed, for it is the very key to the position, the holding, the maintenance of heavenly ground. There were at it the symbols of Israel's unity, not as they came out of Egypt, but as they came out of death. What we want to see, beloved, is an Israel out of death, as the apostle says, "the Israel of God". Galatians 6:16 Circumcision avails nothing nor uncircumcision but new creation. There are those who walk by this law, peace be unto them. The Israel of God is the spiritual, the saints viewed spiritually come up out of death, as I might say, and come down from heaven. That is what really enters into Gilgal, for not only are we as the antitype of Gilgal a risen people but a heavenly people, for it is there the reproach of Egypt is rolled away, and they take on the heavenly; they belong to the land; they eat heavenly food, the old corn, what had been there, they take on that and the

reproach of Egypt is rolled away. The position was therefore supremely spiritual, but they had left it and God is not going to stay there alone. Such is His consideration for His people. He would pursue them, but to a point. Bochim signifies weeping, as you will know. And so the angel comes up from Gilgal to Bochim and he reminds them of the love of God. Why should we move away from a position assigned to us by the love of God? "I will never break my covenant with you". God is God. His gifts and calling are without repentance, but His very love implies that He must be severe, and so in His government, you see, He allows to remain as chastisement what they in their negligence and fleshly feelings and desires retained. He reproaches them with what they had not done. They had not thrown down the altars of the Canaanites or the people of the land and He says, 'Now they will remain with you'. God will turn, you see, in His love, to good effect the fruits of our own negligence and carelessness; the things which we should have dealt with remain as thorns in our sides; but God remains. It does not say the angel left. They called it Bochim. It was the place of weeping. They had wept there. They spoke of what they had done but it was not Gilgal. I may weep and God accepts my tears, but they may not fully express what is required, but there it is, you see. The angel went from the one point to the other point and reminded the people of their negligence, what they had not done, and the consequence of it was that they are forced to dwell with the Canaanites who had become the occasion of discipline in the hand of divine love.

Well now, the next appearing is that to Gideon, for these three appearings are beautifully constructive. God is on the up line. He has got some better thing. Now Israel is again in straits through the Midianites, not now the inhabitants of the land but another foe,

an ancient foe, but retaining his power and his multitude for they overran the land. The people were nigh destruction for want of food, and so God sent a prophet, but a prophet is not an appearing. A prophetic ministry is invaluable; thank God for it. It is God convicting the conscience, but not an appearing. So you see in the chapter God sent a prophet to reproach the people again, but an angel of Jehovah sat under the terebinth; that is another matter. It is Jehovah Himself as the passage shows. "Jehovah", it says, "looked upon" Gideon -- the presence of personality. No one stood out in chapter 2 in the passage I read. All Israel were there -- no one stood out to lead in anything. We may thank God for the general effect. It is a very fine thing, the general effect of an appearing. All Israel were in view and all Israel were affected. They all wept. But now we come to personality. Weeping is not enough. Tears may quickly dry and never come again. Under certain influences we weep, but we want that steadiness which belongs to manhood and that is what Gideon presents to us. He presents manhood. At the present time what is needed among the people of God universally is just that; it is maturity. We have here, to illustrate what I say, a bullock, the second. The young bullock he is called and yet he is the second and he is seven years of age, which literally is not a young bullock. It is a remarkable combination, a young bullock, the second bullock, seven years. What is it, beloved, but a combination of maturity, of fully developed maturity, seven, and yet youthful freshness and added to that divine sovereignty. He is the second; he is divinely selected. Now you see what we are in the presence of in this appearing, and how essential these things are, the recognition of divine sovereignty in selection, leadership and what is required in leadership, full maturity, not simply one year as the passover lamb nor three years as in

Abraham's offering in Genesis 15, but seven. Seven is complete exercise in the way of maturity, for seven years in a bullock means much more than in a man. And so we find in the book of Exodus the three great leaders whom God set before His people, Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Moses and Aaron are said to be eighty and eighty-three years of age respectively and as far as the record shows Miriam must have been much older, and yet in Moses there was right to the end of his course freshness. His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. The unabatement of natural force signifies full physical power; he retained that. But you have here, in the grouping of these features, recovery in view, a very great personality, an extraordinary personality. Gideon shines in this book above all others for personality. The brothers who are like him, all of them are said to have been as the children of a king. That is personality -- persons with great moral force and presence before whom there was no rising up. That is what is needed throughout the world, ever needed for recovery and for the maintenance of the mind of God. And so, the angel sat there as if he had come to stay. It is not a passing thing. He is greatly interested in this matter. Things must be put right and he sits down.

It is a matter of consequence. I cannot go into the details, but Gideon replies in a measure of unbelief and ignorance, but it says that Jehovah looked upon him. What delight there was at least potentially for God in that man. God knows the end from the beginning, as in the case of David, the Spirit of God says, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he". 1 Samuel 16:12 Jehovah looked upon him. It is personality. There is a great difference in the New Testament in material for the assembly as in Peter. "Thou art Peter". Matthew 16:18 That is not his name; that is what he was, whereas in John's gospel the Lord looked upon him and said, "Thou shalt be called Peter". That is personality, persons,