Acts 8:4, 5, 12, 25, 35

What is in mind in this address is that the various features of the gospel presented in this chapter should come before us, and that in considering these five features of it everyone present may in some way be helped, those who have believed and are established christians, those who are young in the faith, and those who are not in the faith at all. The last are the ones that are particularly in mind, with the desire that this remarkable chapter, affording so much instruction as to the gospel, should yield much for them.

I shall first speak of the gospel mentioned in its general bearing in verses 25 and 40. Following on that in the spiritual order is verse 12, which speaks of the glad tidings concerning the kingdom of God. In verse 5 we have another side of the great testimony that God is presenting, the preaching of the Christ, a Man who can do things for God and for men. Then we have in verse 4 the term "the glad tidings of the word", meaning the word of God. And finally in verse 35, the most attractive term of all, "the glad tidings of Jesus". Under these five designations of the gospel I propose by the Lord's help to speak to you. There are other designations of the gospel in the Scripture that are not in this chapter, but this is one of the richest that I know of in such designations. There are thirteen or more in the New Testament, and each one of them has a distinct import which is to be learnt and profited from by believers.

Now the first is the general thought, beloved friends, covering the whole dispensation in which we are, and reflecting the great, divine thought, the simple word "the gospel". It is a word that is taken up in human language and human thought, but

rarely in this sense conveys what Scripture conveys as to it. The Lord Jesus Himself, indeed, sometimes personifies it, it had such a place with Him, and it has still such a place with Him, and in the mind of God, as meeting human ills, as meeting man and relieving him from the effects of sin and fitting him for the presence of God. "The gospel" is a word having a great place in the divine vocabulary in that way and the apostle Paul, reflecting this, almost always speaks of it in a personal sense, exhorting Timothy to be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. So that the preparation of God in view of the gospel must have been very great, resulting in what is so carefully devised and featured in so many ways, so that no human being should be unable to understand it. Whilst the thought of it is not generally seized among men, yet the very use of the word is a testimony, and the Lord intended that it should be, a testimony that there is such a great thing as the gospel, and that testimony is in full force today, notwithstanding the disregard of it that is so prevalent.

There is no change at all in the attitude of God expressed in it. It remains as fresh and as wide as it was when Christ became Man and ascended up into heaven and the Holy Spirit came down. It retains its power and freshness in the divine mind, and the Holy Spirit being down here, it is still presented in freshness to those who will hear, however small and however few. That is one great thought one has in mind, that it should be presented in the freshness of the Spirit at this time, so that no one here should be afraid of the great general term of the gospel. There are those here doubtless who have never yet appropriated it. Millions have and many round you are appropriating the salvation and blessing available through the gospel, but you have not appropriated it yet.

The apostle Paul was the outstanding preacher and the most effective of all preachers, save the Lord Himself. He says to a number of converts of his in the city of Corinth, "the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received", 1 Corinthians 15:1. He had been there eighteen months in this wonderful service, and he tells us that during that period he had preached to them, making a careful selection of the features of the truth which he should present. And he says, 'you received what I preached unto you'. Now what is important in regard to what we are here for this afternoon is whether we have received the gospel, and as having received it, what effect it has had on us. He says, "which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand" (1 Corinthians 15:1), and then he adds a very sorrowful word, "Unless ye have believed in vain".

Believed in vain! Let that touch anyone here who thought he believed the gospel years ago, and it has not been effective in him. We cannot say that anyone is really saved, either potentially or actually, in whom the gospel has not become effective. The apostle mournfully has to add that word, "Unless ye have believed in vain".

Some of you may never have heard such words as that, but the apostle Paul used them in writing to these professed believers at Corinth. It may be there are those here who have thought that they believed to their salvation, and yet there is no effect of the gospel, no change of outlook, no change of life, no change of associations, no thought whatever of coming out of the world. The fact that you say, I was converted at such-and-such a date, by such-and-such a preacher, is not enough. The apostle raises a serious doubt with these christians: "Unless ye have believed in vain". He goes on then to state the terms that he had presented. He says, "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: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve [that is the twelve apostles]: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once ... .. After that he was seen of James; then of all the apostles" (changing the word from "twelve" to "apostles" ). "And last of all he was seen of me also", 1 Corinthians 15:4 - 8. You received what I presented to you, and he adds significantly and sorrowfully, "unless ye have believed in vain". These terms, if received in full in the soul of a believer, man, woman, or child, will save him. "That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures". There is no doubt that the idea of the gospel had been foretold or foreseen of old. The prophets witnessed to it. They searched "what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (1 Peter 1:11), and Peter goes on to say that this testimony, the gospel, was preached unto them "by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven". Think of the wonderful provision God has made, first in the gift of His beloved Son, in the death of that holy Person, who died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and appeared to all these people. Think of the pains that God has gone to, in order that men should have a clear testimony to what He has provided; that they should be saved, for He is not willing that any should perish. He has gone to infinite pains that the testimony should come to you of the wonderful provisions that God has made that you should be saved.

The first is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. There is no question about it. The Scriptures have foretold it and it has become a fact, that He died for our sins. Why should you or I

die for them? Thank God I shall not, for the Lord Jesus says, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die", John 11:26. You say, 'That is denied every day'. It is not denied, it is the truth, for the Christian does not taste death. He falls asleep in Jesus, only awaiting the resurrection shout to take him out of the grave, for that is the resurrection part of the gospel: "He rose again the third day according to the scriptures". He was raised first; "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming". The saints will be raised by the same power that raised Christ. The present time is the time of the soul's salvation; presently we shall have body salvation; so that a saint falling asleep and buried like others is not subservient to death, it is only a little moment and he comes into body salvation, he is only awaiting redemption, the redemption of our bodies.

The first great thing is that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures. If there is anybody here troubled about his sins, I say it is well to be troubled about them and to confess them, but the gospel is that you might be relieved from all pressures as regards sins. There is forgiveness with God in order that your heart may be relieved from your sins, for Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures; and secondly He was buried. You say, 'What has that to do with redemption?' A great deal. It would be utterly derogatory to Christ our Saviour to say that He was in the grave in any other sense than vicariously. He must be there vicariously; burying was necessary. It is a very solemn thing that God said to man, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return", Genesis 3:19. One of the most terrible things to the unregenerate mind is the grave and God intended it to be so. There is no discharge in that war. What can you do? You are utterly powerless as dying in your sins and buried in your sins. You

are held in the grip of death, and it is the judgment of God that man should lie in the grave and return to the dust.

Not that that is the end of man. It is utterly false to assume that that is the end. Not at all, for we are told that the dead in Christ will rise more than a thousand years before those who die in their sins. Then, after the thousand years, there will be the judgment of God, for we are told that death and hell were cast into the lake of fire which is the second death; that is a most terrible thing. The grave is as nothing compared with what will come after the grave! If the grave were the end of everything then I could understand how men would think nothing of it; but it is not the end, it is only a means to an end, as we have in the awful picture of the rich man who died and was buried, and who in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment. Do not tell me that is only a figure; it is a fact. It is from the lips of Jesus who is the truth and the fulness of it! Death is not final. It is not Gehenna. It is the grave -- Hades. Gehenna is the full thought "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched", Mark 9:44. You say you are preaching judgment. Why should I not? It is only to warn you. The apostle Paul says, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven", Romans 1:18.

So you can see how Jesus was buried vicariously so that, as He came out of death, so shall we. Christ is viewed as taken out of the grave. "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming". That is in 1 Corinthians 15, a very long chapter. These long chapters suggest that the truth is so important, so vital to every believer, that God spreads it out for us, and I would urge everyone to read that chapter and ponder it prayerfully. It finishes up with "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory". It is a triumphant chapter and it begins with the verses that I quoted, relating to the

terms of the gospel "by which also ye are saved ... unless ye have believed in vain". We are saved as receiving these wonderful terms on the principle of faith, first "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures"; and secondly, "that he was buried", and thirdly "that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures". Paul himself says elsewhere, He "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification", Romans 4:25.

Think of the Spirit of God writing all this down through the apostle, as though the death of Christ was for nothing else than for our offences. How God would impress upon us that He was thinking of the load of sins that sinners would bear, and that He delivered Christ for those offences in order that there should be a perfect clearance. He "was raised again for our justification", mark you, as if there was nothing else but our sins to be removed and our justification. Of course, there is much more in these things, but the Spirit of God in preaching the gospel would impress upon every man, woman and child that God was thinking of him in the death of Christ. "Delivered for our offences and ... raised again for our justification". And then there is in that wonderful verse, Romans 5:1, a triumphant "therefore": "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand". Is there anyone here a non-participator in these things? Our hearts would yearn for you. There is such folly in turning a deaf ear to, or treating lightly, these wonderful things that God has provided in the death of Christ and formulated into what is so commonly called the gospel.

Then there are these witnesses -- Cephas, the great apostle Peter, and twelve chosen men, and then five hundred brethren, every one a witness by his own eyes of the resurrection of Christ. These five hundred

brethren were there all at one time. Can anyone be so foolish as to deny such adequate and overwhelming testimony of the resurrection of Christ? He was seen by over five hundred brethren at one time, and by others, too, James, and the twelve apostles and then Paul himself, the greatest witness of all coming in last but seeing the most. He comes to tell all that he saw, and he saw more than the others, for he saw a glorified Christ, a Christ who appeared to him out of heaven. Such is the gospel, beloved friends. Can you wonder that those of us who seek fully to preach Christ are full of triumph as we do it? It is the most triumphant thing that has ever been devised for man. There is the gospel, the mystery of it, the terms under which it is presented, such as the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, the glad tidings, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Think of all these terms intended to fill the minds of believers and make them triumphant!

Well now I have dwelt upon this first point in verses 25 and 40, the gospel mentioned separately. The next word I present is "the glad tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ" (verse 12). After a person believes, according to what I have been saying, he needs protection, and not only that, but he needs subjection. Protection and subjection are the words I should use in connection with the kingdom. There is enjoyment in the kingdom, but the idea of the kingdom is that when men and women as believers in Christ come into the good of forgiveness, and know that they are clear, that they are justified, the next thing they need is the Spirit of God, and we are carefully told "that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved", Romans 10:9.

It is not only believing, but confessing, and what that implies is the gift of the Holy Spirit; and so we

are told in this book of the Acts that all who are subject to Christ get the Spirit. There may be delay, for God reserves His own liberty in regard to the gift of the Spirit. It is a gift, and can never be automatic, but in a general way we are told that those who obey Christ get the Spirit. No one ever gets the Spirit otherwise. It would be utterly incongruous to think of God giving His Spirit to a disobedient person. He gives the Spirit to those who obey Christ, and so Christ is said to have been made both Lord and Christ as ascended into heaven. He was always that personally, the testimony of the angel was that "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord", Luke 2:11.

Personally He was that, Christ the Lord, but in Acts 2, Peter tells us "God hath made that same Jesus ... both Lord and Christ"; that is to say, He is established in heaven as the Man who does everything for God, and as the Man who rules; and what He is doing now is ruling persons. He will rule the universe presently, in the meantime He is ruling persons; one of the most important things is for a believer to come under the direct rule of Christ, and as coming under it to take up that attitude and say "Lord". "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved", Romans 10:9. Now that implies that you get the Spirit. There can be no salvation today without the Spirit. Some may have a meagre thought of salvation; it is not merely a ticket to get through and escape judgment to come. It is a present thing; hence we are told that Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present world, and to give us the Spirit. He gives us a good conscience and forgiveness, and then He gives us the Spirit, and so Peter says, "Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father

the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear", Acts 2:33.

The Spirit is here from a glorified Christ and a constituted Lord in heaven, and He is here to bring all into subjection to Christ; and let me assure you, whatever you are told the gospel is, that aside from subjection to Christ and the presence of the Spirit, there is no present salvation. It is soul salvation. You will get body salvation by and by. The Lord Jesus will raise you from the dead and quicken you, but in the meantime you want soul salvation, and there is no soul salvation apart from the ground of subjection to Christ and the Spirit received, and confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. That is what I understand by Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God. One would love to have heard what Philip said. It is a divine subject to contemplate; he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Now, thirdly, in verse 5, we have the preaching of the Christ which, as I understand and have already intimated, alludes to Christ as the One whom God has anointed to do everything for Himself and everything for us. Think of having a Man in heaven who will do everything spiritually needed! He is our High Priest up there, and we are told, "He ever liveth to make intercession for us", as if He were not doing anything else. I would like you to get that thought, beloved friends, that there is a Man living night and day to make intercession for you, and so it says, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him", Hebrews 7:25.

What a salvation, beloved friends, and what a Saviour! That is Christ. Then the next thought is "the glad tidings of the word". In the New Translation you will see that verse 4 says they "went through the countries announcing the glad tidings of

the word". They were unofficial persons, scattered persons, and yet were preaching the glad tidings of the word. You say, 'What is that? What more do I need, than the glad tidings, and the glad tidings of the kingdom, and the preaching of Christ?' Well, the Spirit of God thinks you need more, and that more is 'the word'. You have got a mind, and Romans teaches you that that mind is to be renewed. It is the greatest faculty a man has, a mind; God has given it to him. In a believer it is renewed, and there are great things open to him. It is not simply that you are saved out of this world; you are saved for another. Did you ever think that God has another world? It is utterly out of all keeping with what is morally right to connect God with this world. He is seeking to save men out of it; doing all in His power to save men out of it. He is not willing that any should perish, but then He has another world. The Son of God has inaugurated another world and that world is for the believer, and you ought to be instructed in it. It is infinitely more important to be instructed in the world that God has opened up to you. Even if you knew all the sciences, all that is to be known, what would it be? It would all die with you. It has nothing to do with God's world but His word discloses all that this may mean for you.

The glad tidings of the word would be that the mind of God in the gospel should enter into our hearts. What can be greater as a matter of understanding, as a matter of study and contemplation, than to see what God has in His mind for us? And that is what these scattered saints in those early days were concerned about, the glad tidings of the word. It would deliver us from all novel-reading. Young Christians are damaged beyond words in devouring lies. There is unmitigated judgment meted out on persons who believe and make lies. The novel-reader and writer are classed together. God hates it; but even young

Christian people go in for it. Now these glad tidings of the word would deliver you from all that, because they open up God's word where everything is true, where we have "a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb", Revelation 22:1. Everything is open and above-board, perfectly clear. There is hidden wisdom in it, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Can we afford to be without these things as Christians? The glad tidings of the word, in the sense in which I am presenting it, changes our minds; it turns us away from the things that men would present to hold the minds of the unregenerate. The newspaper and the monthly magazine, and all these things that men of letters produce, are intended to hold the mind of men in contentment with this present evil world. It is all to pass away, the whole of it, learning and all, passing away for God's world. We are told, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him", 1 Corinthians 2:9. Can you afford to be ignorant about these things? I certainly cannot, and many here cannot, and God is appealing to all these young people, for we are nominal Christians, and really so, I hope. God is appealing to you now as to these glad tidings of the word. The gospel is opening up the mind of God to you so that your mind shall be full of it, in glad appreciation of all the priceless worth of it.

Finally, and perhaps this is most attractive, in verse 35 we get the glad tidings of Jesus. It is the most beautiful expression. Doubtless most of us have heard the gospel preached many times from this remarkable passage which concerns the Ethiopian eunuch, a remarkable man among the many distinguished men that this book of the Acts speaks of that were saved, for God is no respecter of persons. He would save the Prime Minister of Abyssinia as quickly

as He would save the meanest person in Abyssinia, and this man was as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and he had been up to Jerusalem to worship. He was a proselyte to the Jewish belief, and was returning from Jerusalem. He had gained little by going there. There is not a word of him having gone to find the apostles or the Lord's people. He was returning and he was reading the Bible, we can thank God for that! He was sitting in his chariot and reading the Bible, and the Spirit of God had him in mind. He was a distinguished man of this world but has now become a distinguished Christian, a man to be spoken of for generations in the gospel. He is reading a Bible and the Spirit of God brings this obedient servant, who was directed to leave an important work in Samaria and go down to the desert near Gaza, and as he is there the Spirit says, "Join thyself to this chariot" and he does it quickly and is invited up by the exercised man.

Philip says, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" The eunuch says, "How can I, except some man should guide me?" How simple he was! How free from haughty pride! He is a humble contrite man, and that is the man the gospel would take up; Heaven watched his chariot from the time it left Jerusalem. It watched him reading that book and was pleased with him, and sent this servant to speak to him about his soul and instruct him about Jesus. There are many of us here; if there is an exercised person who wants to come into the truth, we would love to tell you about Jesus. Philip was a ready vessel, a true evangelist, and began at that scripture, Isaiah 53, the very heart of the prophets. It is about Jesus, the lowly Saviour, the Person that is in mind who grew up here in this world before Jehovah "as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground". The eunuch is reading this verse, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth".

And Philip began at that scripture. He was fresh, ready, as every evangelist should be, for any emergency, so as to take up a soul where he is, even if he only has a little light about Jesus, like a handful of meal. But true faith in the deity of Christ is enough to save one. A handful of meal refers to His Person, not His death. I am not saying that His death is not essential and will come into it. But the point is to get in touch with Jesus in your soul just where you are. He is the most attractive Person in the universe. He took little infants in His arms. That is Jesus, and He is ready to take you today. It is the glad tidings of Jesus in verse 35. How one would love to have heard Philip the evangelist preach Jesus to this great man!

Then as they went on in the chariot together, the eunuch says,"Here is water". Philip was not preaching baptism to him. I have no doubt he had done so in Samaria when telling the glad tidings. They believed and were baptised, both men and women. And so it is, as Jesus is fully received, you say, 'I do not want to stay in the world that has rejected that Man'. The Lord would appeal to you. Jehoshaphat of old was an honourable man, but he had affiliated himself with a people that hated God. He had affiliated himself with Ahab. The Lord says through His servant, You "love them that hate the Lord",

2 Chronicles 19:2. Do not forget that, young man or woman, when you link yourself up with worldly people.

Now the eunuch is virtually saying, 'Christ for me and the friends of Christ for me; I am going to be baptised, I am turning my back on the world'. That is what it means; it is deliverance from the world, that you may live to Christ. You want to be with Him, you do not want to be with His enemies, and so he says, "Here is water". What is the scripture? "He was taken from prison and from judgment",

Isaiah 53:8. That holy precious life is taken from the earth. How can you stay in the world where that life has been cast out? When Pilate brought Him forth, they said, "Away with this man", Luke 23:18. The eunuch says, 'I want to be with Him', and "Here is water" -- marvellous thing that it should be there in the desert! God provided that water, as He provided the blood of Jesus, for that eunuch. He provided that water that he should be baptised. It is really a symbol of Christ's death, and he appropriated it, as he appropriated the gospel concerning Jesus. He was buried; and our burial is part of the gospel. That is, we are privileged to do it in figure in baptism so as to be with Jesus. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection", Romans 6:5.

In the meantime we walk here in newness of life with Jesus through the desert. And He is walking with you, too. Now Christians, are you ready like the Ethiopian eunuch? He is a leading man in this part of the truth. It is not Philip here, but the eunuch who calls attention to the water; but Philip is ready to use it. He says, 'I will go down with you', and he went down with him into the water. What a sight! He had done that before; he had been planted before in the likeness of Christ's death; and now he would go down again with this new Christian, this fresh young soul in the faith. How lovely to see those two as they went down together! It reminds you of Elijah and Elisha going down to Jordan together. Elijah wraps his mantle together, and smites the water, and the waters are divided; and after they had gone over the Jordan they went on and talked. Is that not attractive to you, to be in company with those who can walk and talk as it were in communion? What would be their theme? What would Elijah and Elisha talk about now but heavenly things? And so these two, presenting such

a beautiful picture for us, go down into the water. What a sight! And Philip baptised him after announcing the glad tidings of Jesus to him, and the eunuch went away rejoicing.

May God grant that someone here may take sides with Jesus in baptism. It is association with Christ; it is definitely turning your back on the world that hated Him, and association with Him and with His people. As another said, "Thy people shall be my people", Ruth 1:16. That is, the Lord's people are available to you, and the great heritage that God has provided for His people is the saints. May God bless these words to us for Christ's sake.

THE GLORY IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (1)

John 1:14; John 2:11; John 7:39

J.T. I thought we might look at the glory in the gospel of John. What is in mind is to dwell on these three verses speaking of the glory of Christ. It is significant that the idea of glory is so prominent in this gospel. Its setting and place generally in the Scriptures are intended to attract and to draw us out of the world, whatever form of it may be holding us. We find Stephen saying, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran", Acts 7:2. So, throughout, the introduction of glory and the thought of it seem to have movement in mind. Those who were moved by it, we are told, "had had opportunity to have returned; but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly" country -- the home of glory. So that "God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city", Hebrews 11:15, 16. We know that the city of God is the residence of His glory. It is said that it descends from heaven, from God, having the glory of God. It is significant that John speaks much of it, more than the other evangelists do; linking Revelation with the gospel we shall find that there is a very frequent use of the idea of glory. Exodus in the Old Testament is peculiarly marked by it; it is the book which treats of the outgoing of God's people from the world and the building up of a system of things in which His glory resides, or was to reside His glory filled the tabernacle. John has in mind the people of God being delivered out of religious settings in this world, and he stresses the thought of glory, particularly as centred in the Person of Christ. Indeed nothing can be more attractive than what he says: "we have

contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father", John 1:14. It is as if he were to say, 'We -- some of us, anyway -- were drawn to it, were occupied with it'. And that is how the matter stands at the present time for those who value what has come within our range in the Person of Christ; and those who do value it would call the attention of others to it. John alone alludes to this, and the link between it and Exodus is that Moses turned aside to see the bush, and as Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, He called out his name twice, as if to honour those who draw near to contemplate what God has for us in the way of glory.

J.C-S. I am sure that is very helpful. Especially the idea that this glory is to so affect us, to so lay hold upon our souls that it draws us completely out of this world.

J.T. That is what is in mind manifestly. So that the Lord Himself pursues the thought in this gospel, even back to the glory that He came from, the glory of Deity; that is, the full range of glory is brought before us from this verse to the end of the gospel.

E.E.S.L. The enemy fears its effect upon those who are in this world. He blinds their eyes lest the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God, should shine forth.

J.T. That is a good thought. The god of this world would guard and enlarge the glory of this world. He brought the Lord to the top of a mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of this world and their glory, claiming it all as his but exposing himself as to his methods. His methods continue, and young believers are ensnared by these dazzling things in this world. The ministry of John would eclipse what there is. We have this in the apostle Paul's allusion to the glory of the covenant; the first has no glory, he tells us, in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. So that the glory of this world is of

no account at all by reason of the glory that excelleth; the apostle Paul speaks of an exceeding weight of glory.

E.E.S.L. I suppose the glory so outshone everything for Paul that he was blinded for the moment to the glory of the world.

J.T. Well, that would be to prepare him for the full view of the true glory later. It is in this process, I suppose, that he was led into the city as blind, but his eyes were opened in the city. I suppose the idea would be that he was there in the midst of the brethren. It is there that the idea of glory begins to dawn on us, in the midst of the brethren.

J.C-S. Is this glory that is seen shining in Christ in the various presentations calculated to supersede every other kind of glory in our souls?

J.T. Well, that is what I think we may see. First the peculiar glory that shone in an only one, "an only-begotten with a father". It is characteristic, it is not with the father, but with a father, and it is that kind of glory which is perhaps the most attractive of any that is mentioned.

E.S.W. Does this passage give us the whole system of glory centred in a Man, in the Person of Christ?

J.T. Well, it is rather the family side of it. That is, it is that feature, the peculiar family feature, an only one with a father, an only-begotten with a father. It is the radiation of glory and affection really between a father and an only one. Not the radiation of affection only; affection and love must be the body of glory always, for glory, whatever it may be, refers to what the person is, what is presented. Here it is evidently the family, the radiation of affection between a father and an only one -- an only-begotten.

E.E. Is the contemplation of the Person of Christ in this connection to mark out the affections that belong to the family?

J.T. Well, that is the idea. "We have contemplated his glory", it says, "a glory as of an only-begotten with a father". That is, the persons who contemplated it have testified to it, so that we have testimony to it.

J.S.D. Is this a kind of secret glory, one that could only be contemplated by those who have, at least in measure, been formed in love?

J.T. Yes, evidently. It is not what was public.

It is "we" -- certain ones. Certain ones saw it.

J.F.S. Do you think that the "we" gives it a family character?

J.T. I think the "we" is meant to convey that there is abundant testimony to it. "We" would be the "we" of authority, the apostolic "we", although John does not stress that side. Evidently the allusion is to those who were competent witnesses, so in the epistle John calls attention to what they had seen and heard.

J.F.S. Does that cover the twelve?

J.T. Well, I should say so.

G.C. Would it be right to say that it is only seen by those who turn aside? It is unique in Him, that is Christ.

J.T. That is manifest.

When the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight" (Matthew 3:17) there is a suggestion of what we have here. The apostle John does not record that incident, but I think we have the introduction of what is alluded to -- the Father's voice from heaven addressing the Son.

E.B.McC. This would be purely manhood, would it not?

J.T. We can see nothing of divine relations save in manhood.

E.B.McC. I was wondering why it is connected with the "Word became flesh, and dwelt among us".

J.T. Well, it is just as we were saying, it depends on manhood, on the incarnation, if we are to see the relations between divine Persons. It has come within our range in the Lord Jesus becoming a Man -- "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us", that is, He came into ordinary human life. He dwelt in Capernaum, for instance; He came into ordinary human life so that He could be seen, but evidently ordinary eyes could not see Him. "Blessed are your eyes", the Lord said to His disciples.

G.H.C. Does it contemplate a relationship known in the human family?

J.T. Quite so, well known. As far back as Abraham, the idea of an only-begotten was known. That would be the thought. It was an only-begotten with a father, as for instance, with Abraham and thousands of others, it was a well-known relation, but it is the glory of "the Word become flesh" that is in mind.

E.S.W. Is there something peculiar attaching to the relationship of an only-begotten with a father?

J.T. That is what I thought. As we are remarking, it is an only-begotten such as Isaac was to Abraham; and those who turned aside to see would have some understanding of what the mind of God is in the incarnation -- in the formation of a family -- for we are brought into the love that was there, the glory that was there. Indeed, the Lord says, "the glory which thou hast given me I have given them".

P.L. Do you think that our current vagueness as to glory is disposed of by that priestly appraisement of John, his spiritual and discriminating taste, so that after referring to His glory he comments upon it in this exquisite character?

J.T. Quite so. He is really, you might say, the representative of the ministry for the family, and hence, we are told of him, that he was "the disciple

whom Jesus loved"; he understood that love, and reposed, we are told, in the Lord's bosom.

A.M.H. How do you connect "the glory which thou gavest me I have given them" with this?

J.T. I think it is the glory of sonship; I mean it is the family of God; I apprehend the family thought.

A.M.H. Is sonship foreshadowed in this incident?

J.T. Well, I thought so. John does not enlarge on sonship, as we have been remarking. He does not mention it at all formally, except in the book of Revelation, but the substance of it runs through his gospel -- I mean the substance of it, not only as to Christ, but as to ourselves. Then the second verse read speaks of the effect of the signs, "This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him". Manifestation is another thing, that is testimony so as to induce faith.

E.E.S.L. Does that mean that He showed Himself to be equal to any occasion?

J.T. Well, quite so. The occasions were, no doubt, divinely ordered. This is a divinely ordered occasion. I mean that divine testimony is the setting of it.

E.E. Is this glory an expression of the ability of the Lord to lift off all that which lay on those who were going to be of the family of God?

J.T. Well, it is a family occasion; a marriage is a great family occasion.

E.E. I was thinking of the "beginning of signs", and it was that He was bringing in that which would be superior to all that lay upon man in weakness or power.

J.T. Well, we get that thought more accurately in chapter 11, I think. Here it is the poverty of the family. In chapter 4 we learn that although this occurred in Cana, a family there was invaded by sickness, which is an additional thought. Here it is

poverty -- the wine ran out -- it is relative poverty, and the Lord comes in to turn the water of purification into joy. That is, He touches on the real cause of the weakness in family matters -- the need of the water of purification: purification is so needed in the family.

E.S.W. Is this an indication of what you were saying earlier in the meeting -- that the first covenant really has no glory by reason of the glory that excels, which God had in reserve?

J.T. Well, it is that sort of thing. The wine that was there was hardly worth speaking of. Wine became deficient. Mary says, "They have no wine", as if the Lord did not know. The Lord knew better than she; the natural is introduced by the Lord's mother here and would mar what He had in mind, for we cannot improve things. In her it was an effort to improve the position.

J.C-S. Do you think the second chapter emphasises the deficiency, and the first chapter gives us the fulness, the substance that He is bringing in here?

J.T. You can see the great difference between this and what is suggested in verse 14 of chapter 1, the richness of the relations between a father and his only-begotten son. What a rich radiation of affection! There is no suggestion whatever of any want there. Here whatever affection there was was marred by impurity, so that the wine became deficient, and the Lord's mother instructed the Lord about this, saying, "They have no wine". She spoke on natural lines manifestly.

J.C-S. Is it John's habit to draw upon circumstances here which really serve as a background to emphasise the fulness and sufficiency that are displayed in the One in whom this system of glory is radiated?

J.T. Quite so. They are selected circumstances and evidently for testimony, because the word

"signs" is to call attention to what is spiritual; the mother of Jesus would mar the thought by introducing the natural, her natural right to speak to the Lord, to suggest to Him that the matter should be relieved. But He repudiates that by introducing what is spiritual, based on purification. The family is to be purified.

E.E.S.L. I suppose a sign is intended to arrest attention, is it not?

J.T. That is the intention of it manifestly.

P.L. Do you think that you have the glory on its own divine level, so to speak, in the first chapter, and then that glory stooping in service in the second to meet conditions in order to lift those served into what true glory is?

J.T. I think that is so. The circumstances afforded what is needed, so that there were, it says, standing there six stone water-vessels. They were standing there, and they are to be filled up with water, meaning, I think, that with the brethren, or with our households, there was a low state of things. What is needed is to fill up with the water of purification. Purity is the real difficulty in family life. The real difficulty is in maintaining what is in the mind of God, so that the circumstances here were designed to provide what, was needed; for if the Lord is dealing with His people at any time, the external elements are present, and He uses them to get to the root of the difficulty. The root of the family difficulty is impurity.

A.M.H. Do you think the waterpots there indicated that there is always a possibility of purifying the family?

J.T. I think so normally, although things may be very low, as at Corinth. That is the externals are there amongst the saints and may be used. It is well to keep the externals in mind, even although the state may be low.

E.E.S.L. The Lord might have supplied wine in many another way than that which He chose. Do you suggest that He does this in order to convey to us that purification must precede a right elation which the wine would bring?

J.T. Yes. Otherwise it would be an assumed happy, jubilant state of things. Unless there is purification this is objectionable, as the apostle Paul says, "ye have not rather mourned", 1 Corinthians 5:2. And Peter says, "I stir up your pure minds". He could speak to the saints in his time as having pure minds.

J.F.S. You are suggesting to us that moral state is a necessity for the outflow of that new wine which was coming in?

J.T. Well, that is manifestly what is here. The real difficulty is impurity, where family conditions are not realised, as at Corinth; the family feelings, the family state of things, were marred manifestly, but the externals were there, more or less, and the apostle uses them.

J.F.S. Would it be right to say that "signs" call attention to the greatness of the Person, more than to what He does?

J.T. Well, that is the intention here, His disciples believed on Him.

J.F.S. You suggested at the beginning that the presentation of the Person in His glory calls for faith.

J.T. That is what is stated here. "His disciples believed on him". People generally did not believe on Him. At the end of the chapter "many believed on his name", but Jesus did not commit Himself to them, so that the point is really faith in the family. Impurity is a terrible thing, often allowed, and God has to put His hand out to touch it, and it is exposed, but when it is exposed we are reminded to see to ourselves as to it. So that we have the vessels filled to the brim, and the servants do what the Lord directs

here. He says, "Fill the water-vessels with water", and they filled them to the brim, and He says to them, "Draw out now". The servants do exactly what the Lord wishes. Where the wine is deficient you may be sure that this is the secret; and there are servants -- in Luke 15 there are bondmen -- there is no question about them being there; they are there. And so here, there are servants, and that is the great element of salvation for the saints in any difficulty, if there are servants they will carry out the Lord's wishes.

E.E.S.L. Is this purification reached by self-judgment, or is it analogous to what is in the expression: "purifying their hearts by faith"?

J.T. Well, self-judgment must precede that"repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ". That is a principle that the water of purification requires, that what is impure is to be judged, judged in the roots of it.

G.C. Is the manifestation to strengthen what was already there in the disciples in that they believed on Him?

J.T. Well, quite so. It was intended that they should believe -- His disciples, notice, not men generally, because the suggestion is that the brethren in these cases are wanting in faith, and the real difficulty lies in purity.

E.S.W. Would you suggest for us what are the elements that are necessary for purification that should always be at hand?

J.T. It is a question of persons really. It is the principle of being filled, I think. The water-vessels would suggest something durable, the divine thought of durability -- stone -- stone water-vessels. It is a permanent idea that is in mind. It is the presence permanently of vessels that can be used in an emergency, because emergencies are the commonest things amongst the people of God, and this denotes what

may be used at any time, the permanency of water-vessels. There are six of them here, meaning, I suppose, double testimony. There is no question about it in this case as to what had happened.

P.L. Would Chloe be one of these water-vessels at Corinth?

J.T. Well, that is exactly the thought. There was somebody there that the Spirit of God could employ, and doubtless there were many others that are not mentioned.

A.M.H. Is the filling with water some form of ministry?

J.T. I think that is right, that is how God would meet a situation of this kind.

J.F.S. Would it be a ministry connected with the death of Christ?

J.T. Well, there can be no purification without that. It is introduced here before we get the application of the idea of purification in a believer through the operation of the Spirit of God. In the next chapter the thought of an emergency arising is introduced, but there is present what can be used to meet it.

G.H.C. Would the work of God underlie these stone water-vessels?

J.T. Quite so. It anticipates what we get in the next chapter. But it is here on the third day, to bring out the great testimony under the numeral three in the gospel. It is on the third day; there is that present that is needed to meet the emergency, both in the way of servants and in the way of water-vessels and the water, all the items are there.

E.E.S.L. Is the expression "according to the purification of the Jews" a contemptuous one? Are not expressions such as "Feast of the Jews" through out the gospel generally so? The Jew is generally connected with that which the Lord would repudiate.

J.T. I do not think it is that here, because they are usable, and are used. Dispensationally it is the millennium, of course, the third day working back to the second and the first.

P.L. Is their usability more in mind than their capacity? It says, "holding two or three measures each".

J.T. I think that is good. Capacity is not stated exactly.

E.E.S.L. I was struck by the fact that they were not full. I thought that in that way the purification of the Jews referred to something which was not full, something which God could not honour. Before the Lord would use these water-vessels, He would have them filled to the brim.

J.T. They were not being used. Their general capacity is mentioned, but as has been remarked, it is their usability, they were there. If we look at it dispensationally we can understand that it is a reference to Jewish items coming into evidence again and used by Christ, which is really how the millennium will be introduced. We have in the next chapter a question about purification between the disciples of John and a Jew. But that would show that there was decline; there is not much in disputing about purification.

J.J.J. Ministry has been referred to. That would come in in 1 Corinthians 14, where two or three speak.

J.T. I think that is a good suggestion, because the Lord is helping the brethren in localities in their recognition of the whole thought -- "If therefore the whole assembly come together in one place". That is to say, the meetings in a large city are not federated meetings, there is only one assembly in a place, and unless we realise the fact of the one assembly in the city, we shall lose the idea of it and lapse into independent meetings. Although we may hold the theory,

we lose the fact, and I believe these meetings which the Lord is bringing into being are being blessed, because they afford the Spirit of God an opportunity to speak and call attention to needs and the way to meet them, that is by the prophetic word. I believe these meetings will prove, as the brethren pursue them in dependence on the Lord, to be the means of our salvation, by virtue of the prophetic word, in the continuance of the testimony. Prophetic ministry deals with a root condition. Things happen amongst us like eruptions in the body, but they only denote a condition that is existent, and that might be exposed and dealt with were prophetic ministry in full force.

J.C-S. So that this chapter would really give us the facilities that are ever present in the assembly to meet these eruptions, and the pollutions of the inward feelings.

J.T. I think that is helpful, and especially now that there is faith there. Faith is introduced -- His disciples believed on Him. The meeting of the difficulty induces faith, so that the Lord becomes better known and believed on.

E.S.W. Does the coming of Christ into any given set of circumstances, such as these meetings, depend upon the persons in the meetings, on vessels such as these, the more the better?

J.T. Quite so.

E.B.McC. You spoke about coming together in a city for the meeting for ministry -- would that bring in the reading on Lord's day afternoon as well?

J.T. I think unless we do realise in a practical way the oneness of an assembly in the city, the subdivisions become practically separate meetings.

J.C-S. Do you not think that sometimes as a result of that, you have meetings being built up on special lines, which does not fit in with the general need in the city?

J.T. "Thus I ordain in all the assemblies", 1 Corinthians 7:17. It is a poor thing to see meetings with different customs, different ways of doing things.

P.L. And does it also make available to the saints in the city what the Lord has given in the way of gift there?

J.T. Well, quite so. If gift be local, that is, if there are brothers resident who have gift, the whole assembly in the city generally should get the benefit of these gifts. And, of course, the same applies to eldership, or any other ability to serve, it belongs to the city.

J.S.D. You spoke of the result of the manifestation of His glory -- the disciples believed on Him; you referred also to the end of the chapter -- many believed on His name -- what is the difference?

J.T. In chapter 20 it says of the signs that "these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name". Here it is, as you say, in verse 23, when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, at the feast, "many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he wrought. But Jesus himself did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men, and that he had not need that any should testify of man, for himself knew what was in man". It would look as if a reflection is cast upon the effect of His works, miracles and signs in Jerusalem, in the religious centre that would be affected by signs, but the Person Himself seemingly was not believed on, although believing in His name is quite a right thought, provided reality goes with it. Many are apt to be affected by that without being affected by the Person Himself.

Religious leaders, specially, are ready to accredit anything in the way of extra power, extra exploits. We know from chapter 1 that Jerusalem was ready to recognise John the baptist; the Jews sent messages to him which he declined. I think the allusion is to

what religious people are given to, a readiness to recognise any special ability without being generally affected by it; affected, I mean, in a moral sense.

E.E.S.L. They would consider perhaps His miracles as accrediting the religious system in Jerusalem.

J.T. Well, they might. He had come up to Jerusalem at the passover. He was there in a Jewish capacity, you might say, and they were ready to accredit anything that would add to themselves. Of course, we know how brethren of ability are recognised, but that does not always prove that we are divinely affected by what is said.

P.L. Are we not more affected by the external expressions of power in gift, and so on, than by this great contemplative line of glory suggested by John?

J.T. Exactly. And the servant has to watch that. You cannot be sure of the effect of what you are ministering by what is said. If it is in power the admiration of it is apt to go beyond the real state of those that speak of it.

A.M.H. In chapter 2, when He says, "Draw out now", does it rather suggest that the glory of the Lord was to be manifested in the resumption of the flow of affections amongst the family?

J.T. That is a very good suggestion, because we certainly should be able to draw out the affections of one another. It is very beautiful, the suggestion is there of the radiation of affection. It is a manifestation of the glory of Christ in principle, because that is exactly what marked Him as incarnate. They contemplated His glory, the glory as of an only one with a father, the radiation of affection.

E.B. Is that the way the deficiency is made up?

J.T. Well, that is the thing. In an emergency things come up that cause sorrow, and there is a root behind it all, and it is met under the Lord's direction. Then the flow of affection is resumed, which is normal. "Draw out now", He says.

P.L. Would you say this radiation of affection is seen in the second epistle to the Corinthians, "messengers of assemblies, Christ's glory", 2 Corinthians 8:23? Would it be possible to view the water in the first epistle as something pertaining to the wine in the second?

J.T. I think the first epistle is the water of purification. The second shows that there is a resumption, to some extent, of family feelings, because the message brought by Titus greatly affected the apostle as to how the Corinthians regarded him then.

C.I. Would you say a little more with regard to the servants and the part they had in it?

J.T. Well, that is another item. The vessels are one item, and then the servants, and they do what they are told to do. Indeed Mary herself is brought into that, she is suggestive of a person who is amenable to recovery. She says to the servants, "Whatever he may say to you, do". That is, she is in accord with His mind now, and the servants do what they are told to do. And then in verse 8, "he says to them, Draw out now, and carry it to the feast-master. And they carried it"; it showed that they are true servants, however few or many they may be, they are doing what they are told to do. Unless there are some like that, how can the Lord carry on at all? However few there may have been at Corinth, there was one anyway in Chloe and doubtless many others like her. Here they do what the Lord directs, and it says, "But when the feast-master had tasted the water which had been made wine (and knew not whence it was, but the servants knew who drew the water), the feast-master calls the bridegroom, and says to him, Every man sets on first the good wine, and when men have well drunk, then the inferior; thou halt kept the good wine till now". That is the end. Then it says, "This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory;

and his disciples believed on him". So that the whole procedure, although many had part in it, is the manifestation of His glory.

Verse 39 of chapter 7 alludes to the glory of Christ, not in the exercise of His testimony, but His presence on high, His exaltation, as attested by the Spirit here.

G.H.C. Is this official glory?

J.T. I think so. It is the Lord being "exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear. For David has not ascended into the heavens, but he says himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I have put thine enemies to be the footstool of thy feet. Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ", Acts 2:33 - 36. But it is seen connected here with the Spirit's presence -- a very great fact that dominates the whole dispensation, the scene of the Spirit's activities in grace, for what is in mind is not exactly seen in public, but in the believer, for the expression of grace. A very great fact for us, the glory of Christ in its bearing on the inauguration of this dispensation.

P.L. Would there be in that way the three circles -- the glory, the inner shrine, so to speak, in the first scripture read, and then the adjustment in the family circle, and condition set up there, and then here the outflow among men?

J.T. Well, that seems to be the position. These three references to the glory of Christ, I think, may be said to inaugurate, and to enter into the glory of, the dispensation.

G.H.C. Is there any difference between the water in chapter 2, and the rivers of living water in chapter 7?

J.T. I think the idea in chapter 7 is refreshment, for satisfaction, as the counterpart of chapter 4. The

well of water in chapter 4 springing up into everlasting life is evidently for satisfaction. In chapter 7 it is the Spirit about to be received, not asked for, so that what is enjoyed by the believer is made available to others for their satisfaction in the sense of rivers -- in great volume. The water in chapter 2 is apparently for purification, it becomes wine. Wine is not the same thought as the water of refreshment in chapters 4 and 7. Chapters 4 and 7 deal with water as symbolical of the Spirit as satisfying us. Wine is for stimulation, it is really an earthly thought, belonging to the thought of the fruit of the vine.

P.L. Have we got these three circles in John's epistles, the first one in the allusion to the contemplation in the first few verses of the first chapter, and then the flow in the christian circle, laying down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16), and then the end of the epistle, the testimony from that circle that the Father gave the Son?

J.T. Very good. "This is the witness"; it is the public witness.

THE GLORY IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (2)

John 11:4; John 13:31, 32; John 16:14; John 17:1 - 5, 22, 24

J.T. We might continue our subject of yesterday -- the glory of Christ as mentioned in John's gospel.

J.C-S. Would you be free to give us an outline of the last meeting?

J.T. We read from chapter 1, dwelling on verse 14, which speaks of the glory of an only-begotten with a father, which John and his fellow-apostles contemplated. It was thought that it conveyed the radiation of affection between the Father and the Son as introductory to the great family thought that runs through the gospel of John. And then in chapter 2, the verse read spoke of the manifestation of Christ's glory in the signs which He wrought. "This beginning of signs", in chapter 2, alluded more to public testimony, particularly towards His disciples. It says they "believed on him". And then chapter 7: 39 speaks of His glory as received, His exaltation into heaven, in consequence of which the Spirit is here and flowing out from the believer in testimony, the testimony therefore coming out immediately, that is, through the saints towards the world, as rivers of living water.

I thought that these three passages open up the dispensation in which we are, the dispensation of grace, which has been called the day of the Spirit, the Spirit's day in the sense of testimony in grace, not in the sense spoken of in chapter 1. Later the Spirit is seen as a divine Person here under the title of Comforter or Paraclete, leading to the inner features of the truth, standing indeed in connection with what is before us now, that is, these features of the glory of Christ bearing on the assembly. The first is chapter 11; the verse read says, "This sickness", that is the sickness of Lazarus, "is not unto death,

but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it", so that it is the Son of God, not in the sense of chapter 1: 14, but evidently in power. In chapter 1 it is the affection between the Father and the Son, the Son viewed as the Only-begotten. Here it is Son of God, a title which has a great place in Scripture, even in the Old Testament. The epistle to the Romans (laying the foundation of the gospel) says He is "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead". That is what is here before us now as the first phase of our subject.

A.M.H. Are you viewing this sickness as indicating conditions that exist among the saints as taken up by God, and in which God is going to be glorified?

J.T. I think that is good. It is a question now of the family. We are told at the beginning of the chapter that there was a certain man sick, Lazarus, in the village of Mary and Martha, his sisters. It was "that Mary" who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother was sick, and the sisters send to Jesus. Then we are told, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" (verse 5). That is, they were a family in the sense of brother and sisters, not in the sense of a household with parents, but it is a selected circumstance as we had yesterday. It was a family circumstance in the sense of a marriage in chapter 2; in chapter 4 it is a family circumstance in the sense of a child ill in the house; here again it is an illness, in a brother of two sisters. In chapter 4 it is a parent concerned about a child; indeed the idea in chapter 4 is the son; the Lord says, "thy son liveth". The Spirit says at the outset, introducing the subject, "there was a certain courtier in Capernaum whose son was sick", and the man calls the son a child; but the Lord says, "Go, thy son lives"; the thought of sonship is there in a family. Here it is the brother,

and it would be in this chapter an allusion to a condition arising amongst us, the condition serving as an occasion for the glory of God; that the Son of God should be glorified.

J.C-S. So that the disabilities or disqualifications that might exist amongst members of the family become an occasion for the exhibition of divine power.

J.T. Well, that is what is seen in these instances. The Lord goes beyond the actual meeting of the conditions; there is excess here; there is glory, the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God, here. A condition therefore of this kind involves an increase of spiritual wealth.

F.W. Have you in mind that this is something beyond physical sickness?

J.T. Well, it has just been suggested that it is an allusion to a condition that may arise in the family. In chapter 2 purification is stressed because of the conditions that arose, the wine failing, running out; here it is not that side. The Lord states that this sickness was for a specific purpose, namely, for the glory of God and that the Son of God should be glorified by it.

J.C-S. I think you have already remarked that John seems to select circumstances and puts them into settings that will bring them under tribute to glory in that way.

J.T. That is what I think is seen throughout this gospel. Here there is no blame implied. It is what is common, that is, sickness and death; but in this instance it was in the family, sickness and death were invading the family, those whom Jesus loved, and the question arises how He may be reckoned on to come in in an emergency.

G.C. Does that suggest that the glory of God is connected in resurrection wholly with the Spirit's sphere?

J.T. Well, it shows that the glory of God is connected with it. To say all is connected with it is a little more than should be said, perhaps, for resurrection is not finality, you know. The culmination of this incident is in chapter 12, seen here on earth, not going as far as the heavenly calling of the saints. It is on the way to the full thought of God. Paul spoke about it, desiring to attain to the resurrection of the dead, to arrive at it; but then he proceeds to speak of the "calling on high of God in Christ Jesus". The latter goes further; it implies heavenly glory, that is the accomplishment of divine counsel and God shining out in that connection. There is glory attached to His power, His love entering into it, but there is glory attached to His counsels.

J.C-S. I quite follow you. Speaking of the Lord coming in in connection with some circumstances as found in the family, do you suggest that is the outcome of concern which exists on the part of members of the family inviting Him to come in to deal with the situation?

J.T. Hence it says, "The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick"; that is, they put the matter on the ground of His love. It is not the one whom we love, or our brother, it is "whom thou lovest", an understanding of the place that the sick person had in the affections of Christ, a very important matter in these things, and what the person is who is affected, what he is in the affections of Christ.

F.S. Is it significant that the sisters send?

J.T. Well, quite so. They were all loved. Martha is mentioned first, for love, I think, as seen here is to equalise conditions amongst the brethren. Mary had a place; she is mentioned first as the one who anointed the Lord -- "that Mary" -- showing that her action in chapter 12 is in mind and there is to be a great result from this -- worship really is to be the outcome,

a very great result. But still the equalisation of things amongst us is important, so that we may not rest unduly on distinguished persons amongst us. I think that thread runs through the chapter. So Martha is mentioned first. It says, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus". When we come to chapter 12, we have Lazarus mentioned first as in the town, and then Martha, then Lazarus has his place at the table, and then Mary is mentioned. I think there is a thread running through, the instruction of equalisation. No one in the circle of fellowship should be lost sight of, nor obscured unduly. So that when the Lord arrives at Bethany, Martha meets Him first and He stays there where Martha met Him, until Mary arrives. He does not go to where Mary is; Mary has to come to where Martha met Christ. I think the glory of the Son of God would mean that the most is to be made of every saint. Although some may exceed in measure, the most is to be made of every saint, no one is to be lost sight of.

P.L. So that we have in Philemon, "Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus" (verse 6).

J.T. That is right -- "every good thing". However minute a good thing may be, it must be made the most of: "If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise".

P.L. For "the gold of that land is good".

J.F.S. The point you are stressing is what they were each to the Lord. "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus"; they were all on an equal footing in the consideration of the Lord.

J.T. They were all loved by Him, and the most is to be made of what there is. The equalising principle brings into evidence what there is, though it

may be small and apt to be discounted and neglected, but the glory of the Son of God will bring everything there is of God into evidence, and make the most of it. The "little sister" is to be in mind. And so Romans stresses the need of watching one that is weak in the faith; the most must be made of him. It is a question of the work of God.

P.L. "And the brother Quartus", Romans 16:23.

J.T. Quite so -- the brother. The glory of the Son of God would bring out and make the most of the gold, what is in that land, but then there is the operative side. When we come to service, to operations, a man or a brother is what he is; the glory of the Son of God will maintain fully what the brother is, even if he be discounted by the brethren; the Lord will see to it that his full value will be recognised in time. So in chapter 12 where we come to operations Lazarus does nothing, he represents dignity, he sits at the table with the Lord; Martha serves and Mary worships. That is, the quality comes into evidence when they make Him a supper; when something is to be done for Christ, measures will soon come into evidence, and that is what is so important in local assemblies, to make room for life. Eldership and government are only in the sense of keeping and dressing a garden, and certainly not to dwarf any growth in the garden; that would be contrary to the divine appointment, it is rather to make room for growth so that there should be the fullest development. And if room is made for the working out of life then we have each one's measure -- and we can see it if we go into the garden; if there is no one interfering with the growth of any tree, or plant, or flower.

P.L. "And the four living creatures said, Amen; and the elders fell down and did homage", Revelation 5:14. Is that the thought of the elders making room for life and the fruit of it?

J.T. I think that is what those chapters in Revelation teach us, the elders are twenty-four in number and greatly dignified, for they have golden crowns and thrones. They are fully owned as elders but the living creatures are allowed full play. They cease not day and night to say, "Holy, holy, holy" to God, and when they do that the elders fall down and worship, that is chapter 4. In chapter 5 the living creatures are mentioned first, for now it is a question of life and energy, the Lamb slain standing in the midst of the throne and of the living creatures and of the elders. It is a question now of energy, and full scope is given to the living creatures and elders, and there again we get worship. It is to maintain the balance between government in the house of God and life. These chapters in Revelation work this principle out so very instructively. Life must have full scope and if life is of God, God is behind life. If there is no hindrance, then each plant, or each tree, or each flower, whatever it be, is on its own and we get the full result.

P.L. Would this poise between government and life be illustrated by Peter and John as found together in the beginning of the Acts?

J.T. Quite so; that is the best combination possible in Peter and John. They are seen together and move together in service, but then in due course they come back again unto their own. "Having been let go, they came to their own" after their sufferings. Then we see the full merging of equalities. They shine by themselves, but in the company others shine too. But all the apostles come into evidence in chapter 4. It is a great principle, this principle of equalisation, which implies there is full scope given to the working of life and what goes with life, that is intelligence.

A.W. The Lord could say of Lazarus, "Loose him and let him go".

J.T. That gives him scope, he can be trusted, and the early verses of chapter 12 are to bring out the results of letting him go. There are other allusions to glory that have not been read in this section in chapter 12. There is the remarkable fact that in verse 16 the disciples remembered that these things were written of Jesus when He was glorified. The glorification of Christ is connected with the ability of the saints to remember what is written of Him, that is, the Old Testament is brought into view, and apprehended in the light of the glory of Christ. In Luke 24 the Lord is risen and beginning at Moses He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself; the exposition was on the ground of resurrection, but the apprehension, the recalling of the things is after He is glorified, showing that glorification is the grand end in mind; the full result is in the glorification of Christ.

C.C. Is your thought in these meetings that we should be instructed as to the fulness of glory which is ours to be soon manifested?

J.T. I think that is the result we should reach. Full scope is given to the glory of Christ even as to our understanding of the Old Testament. The bearing of the Old Testament is the glory, it is not simply that things are to be on the basis of resurrection, but on that of the heavenly position, the full heavenly thought, for the tabernacle was a pattern, a figurative representation of the things in the heavens and therefore it was filled with the glory in Exodus.

C.C. That is particularly necessary in this day of brokenness and confusion outwardly.

J.T. You can see how powerful an incentive it is to leave the world. A great part of the world has become christianised, and the glory of man fills it, and God's people are in it; it is really Babylon, and God presents to us the glorious system of things outside of it, in order to maintain us in this system.

P.L. As to this golden thread of glory running through the Old Testament, is that thought confirmed in chapter 12: 41, "These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him"?

J.T. I was going to remark on that. It brings in the thought that there were those in the Old Testament that saw the glory -- and as seeing it they spoke of Christ, suggesting to us that no one can rightly speak of Christ except as they see His glory: "These things said Esaias".

P.L. Are not the whole levitical credentials in 1 Corinthians 4 based on the beholding of the glory of the Lord and Paul further saying, "Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" 1 Corinthians 9:1?

J.T. Very good. As if the Lord had in mind that in seeing Him he should have a right basis for his ministry, the ministry of glory. Then chapter 13 brings out the moral glory of Christ. When Judas went out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately"; the allusion evidently is to the cross, Judas being instrumental to the Lord being crucified, and that the Lord should show in His death the place God had with Him. He would go through in entire submission to the will of God, and carry out the will of God, another great thought for us, as we might say, on the down line, the glory in going down to the will of God.

A.M.W. Have you in mind man going out in degradation in Judas, and the true Man coming in in glory in the Son of man?

J.T. I think that is good. The Man who is morally glorified in going down into death -- Judas affording the way; a sorrowful reminder of the history of christendom is that the Lord has been betrayed. If we take John as coming in in the last days when the Lord has been betrayed, we have to do with the

result of that and how moral glory shines in going down. There is no other way to meet this situation and the immediate glory follows. "If God be glorified in him" -- it is the Son of man here -- "God ... shall glorify him immediately", that is, God glorifies the Son immediately on account of this.

P.L. Would you say that the spirit of going down with us would bring its harvest of glory in fresh light from God as to Christ and the assembly? Is that not the heritage of a suffering remnant that has afflicted its soul in these dark days?

J.T. I think you get immediate results, though there are things we have to wait for. Jacob brings in the idea of waiting; he said, "I wait for thy salvation" (Genesis 49:18), that is, our patience is tested by waiting. Here we have immediate results, an immediate answer to the downward path. The Lord had not to wait for the full glory, He would be glorified at once by the Father. He would get immediate glory.

P.L. So that if the downward path of 1 Corinthians 13 is taken, there is moral glory in chapter 14.

J.T. I think so. I think that is what God is working out, how He is known. "Yet chew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence", the way of love, the downward way. Then what there is in the assembly as such is contemplated in chapter 14, and there you look for the upward way. It is a poor thing if one has to take the downward way among the brethren; it is not that one should not do it, but the assembly should afford opportunity for the up line, that is where love is. Conditions in the assembly ought to be in accord with God in honouring those who serve, those who go down for the sake of the testimony. The assembly ought to afford conditions for the up line -- "The man whom the king delighteth to honour". So in chapter 14 you see, I think, the prophetic ministry -- "rather that ye may

prophesy". In prophecy there is glory. What can be more to be desired than to bring God in, and in that, even simultaneously, the distinction that God puts upon a prophet.

J.C-S. The glory that will distinguish him in that way will be commensurate with the measure in which he has gone down.

J.T. Well, that is how it works, so that chapter 14 says, "If therefore the whole assembly come together in one place", and then later it says, "each of you has a psalm" and so on. That is, one is tested by what one has, and it would become manifest because the others are to judge to see what is there, the wealth that exists there. In Exodus the glory comes in in relation to the anointing, each part of the tabernacle being in its place and functioning in its place; but the glory comes in in 2 Chronicles on account of the wealth that was present. There were distinguished persons. The glory in the temple stands in relation to the wealth of distinguished persons rather than to anyone there. God will see to it that distinguished persons are owned. In Exodus it is that each has cost half a shekel in the tabernacle in that setting, and the tabernacle is anointed; but in 1 and 2 Chronicles it is a question of personal wealth, as if God would honour personal wealth in relation to the temple.

J.C-S. I take it that the persons who are distinguished in that way have gathered up the wealth by having already gone down, so that glory comes in.

J.T. David leads in the way of glory in that setting. He speaks of one hundred thousand talents of gold provided by him, and then a certain amount of gold of the finest quality, and then princes are to provide. It is not the mutual side, as we call it; great stress has been laid lately on the mutual side, that is, every brother and sister brought into the working of the assembly; that is really Exodus. In 1 and 2

Chronicles it is personal wealth, that is what is acquired by going down; by conflict, by personal suffering.

G.C. Does all this come to light to call our attention to the Son of God, the way He moves, so that we might be encouraged to go that way?

J.T. That is the idea, and how, as we have noted, He is glorified immediately. That is how God carries on, that you may be sure that God will take account of you.

E.E.S.L. How is it that in the resurrection of Lazarus it is the Son of God that is glorified, that is God Himself, and when Judas goes out it is the Son of man glorified?

J.T. The Son of man lifted up is the line of truth running through John, and I think having in mind His sufferings, the Son of man is lifted up in chapter 3. In chapter 1 the Son of man is to be the object of heaven, the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man (verse 51). In chapter 3 He is lifted up "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness" (verse 14). In chapter 8 He is regarded as lifted up by the Jews, and in chapter 12 we have, "I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me" (verse 32).

It alludes to His sufferings, I think. The line of truth in connection with the Son of man involves the humiliation sufferings.

E.E.S.L. I thought He undertook this on behalf of mankind.

J.T. I think that is right. The wide bearing of the Son of man is the whole race of mankind.

J.F.S. Does the Son of God suggest the up line, and the Son of man the down line?

J.T. Well, generally I think it is connected with the humiliation sufferings -- the phrase "lifted up" meaning the ignominious death by which He died. "This he said signifying by what death he was about to die" -- that is, the death of the cross.

J.F.S. Would the glorification of the Son of man be seen in relation to the world to come, and the glorification of the Son of God more in relation to what He is doing in the assembly?

J.T. I have no doubt that the allusion to the Son of man in chapter 1 is millennial, the wider glory. Nathanael recognises Him as the King of Israel, not as Son of man. The Lord goes wider and says, "Thou shalt see greater things than these". The angels were ascending and descending upon the Son of man. I have no doubt the millennium is in mind there. The Son of God is in relation to the counsels of God, the effectuation of the counsels of God.

J.F.S. Would the Son of God be a more limited idea than the Son of man in that way?

J.T. Well, the sense in which Nathanael spoke of it would confine it to Psalm 2, but the Son of God as presented by Paul would be for the effectuation of the counsels of God, particularly for the establishment of another world, that is, a spiritual world. But Son of man is on the line of carrying out divine thoughts on the earth as seen fully in the millennium, how man will be blessed nationally. So that chapter 17 brings out the full thought in that sense, "Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee". And He is to give eternal life to all that the Father gives Him, having authority over all flesh, that is, He glorifies God in that way. Chapter 16 is the presence of the Spirit here, not now water flowing out, rivers of living water flowing out as in chapter 7, but the personal glorification of Christ. The Spirit is set for that in the ministry, the personal glorification of Christ.

J.F.S. I was wondering why the thought here as "Son of God", or "Son of man" is dropped, it is "Glorify thy Son".

J.T. Here it is the glorification of the Father. The Lord has in mind the glorification of the Father

as based on the Father's glorification of Him. You can hardly think of the Son of God as a Man being brought in there, it is a question of divine Persons, One glorifying the Other -- remarkable truth! -- the Father glorifying the Son, and then the Son glorifying the Father. We have the Spirit glorifying the Son in chapter 16, and we have God glorifying the Son of man in chapter 13, but here it is the Father glorifying the Son, so that the Son should glorify the Father.

We are on a very exalted plane here.

J.C.S. Is it not very affecting to think of Him as desiring to be taken out of the conditions of humiliation that He might still go on in the glorification of the Father as He had done here in the days of His humiliation?

J.T. Yes, we are at the end of this chapter of instruction that John alone gives us -- on the eve of the Lord's departure out of this world. He is going to the Father, He says. Chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 deal with that, the mighty current flowing in the Lord's mind culminating in this chapter. Then having said these things, that is the things related earlier in the long discourses, He "lifted up his eyes to heaven".

Now we have interchange of thought between the Father and the Son, not that the Father is speaking, although that is the suggestion. The Son is speaking, but to bring out the exalted relation in which He was in this active service -- that it is the Son here serving the Father -- and now the time has come for the Father to act and glorify Him, and then there would be a further glorification of the Father.

J.C-S. Do you take it that He does that in the assembly at the present time?

J.T. Well, I think in the gift of eternal life, as it says, "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,

whom thou halt sent". He has in mind the thought of eternal life -- a very great thought that perhaps is very little understood after all we have had as to it.

C.C. Why is it that we as creatures are permitted to hear this if it is a transaction between divine Persons Themselves, the glorification of Each Other?

J.T. Is it not very elevating to be permitted to hear it, and the Spirit giving you understanding that you are in the audience of these words, leading up to verse 5, which is the highest thought suggested anywhere, that the Lord should return to His own place and be glorified with the glory which He had along with the Father before the world was. I think, as alongside of Christ, we touch the Absolute in this way.

S.F. Would you suggest that heaven was short of some special point of glory and triumph until that blessed Man ascended there in manhood where He had been eternally in Deity?

J.T. Yes, I suppose you are entitled to say that He carried humanity back into that, although the Person is more in mind. "The glory which I had along with thee before the world was". The Person is more in mind, I think. If He said "the Son of man", or if He said even "Thy Son" the thought of His humanity would be stressed, but when He says "I", I think we ought to just confine it to the Person as touching the inscrutable, not that humanity is laid down or that it is ever suggested that it is, but still there is the inscrutable and the return to conditions of Deity. These are thoughts that are beyond us. We are just let into the Absolute alongside of Christ; He speaks of His Father and His God. We are permitted to be alongside of Him in His words that we might get some little inkling of what is beyond that, of what belongs to the Absolute, the link really is with Him. The link between the Absolute and Relative is in Christ.

E.E.S.L. Is that why the Lord uttered these

things to His Father, but in the presence of His disciples? I think verse 13 would throw light upon it -- "that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves".

J.T. That is true. Is it not so that as we are permitted to hear what passes, that joy is occasioned in our hearts, but still there it is? The Lord in His remarks here touches on the Absolute -- "The glory which I had with thee before the world was". There is a link there -- you feel you are there, but you cannot participate in that. It is beyond us. He speaks about the glory He had that had been given Him (verse 22), and then again in verse 24, "that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me". These are the glories. The first we participate in, and the second we behold, but verse 5 is beyond either of these, but you know it is there, and you are brought, as near as the creature can be brought, into touch with the Absolute.

J.F.S. Would that come in as to the thought of association that the Lord is leading up to in the chapter? Would it lend dignity to it? I refer to the Lord's desire that we should be found with Him in the same place, and loved with the same love wherewith He is loved. That leads us to the thought of association.

J.T. Well, now, let us see. In verse 22, "the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world". I am not so sure that we should use the word 'association' in the ordinary sense of our being His brethren there.

J.F.S. I was thinking of verse 26 particularly. "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them".

J.T. Well, that is the love of the Father, the kind of love the Father has for the Son. There are three kinds of love really as we are together in the assembly. There is the love of Christ, and in the covenant the love of God, and then there is the love the Father has for the Son, and this last verse shows that we should have the same kind of love; that is, the kind of love the Father has for Him. The love the Father has for the Son is not covenant love; it is the love of a father for a son, and we are to have a similar love, but it will, of course, take the form of our being the Lord's brethren. I mean that we should love Him in that sort of way -- we are in family love -- but I think that His desire that they may "be with me where I am" goes beyond what we get in Romans"firstborn among many brethren". That is properly association. Here it is to behold His glory. I do not know that I have made that clear, but it seems to me that this chapter is unique, and although it touches on other things and may include them (such as Romans 8), yet there is a peculiar distinction attaching to Christ in all that you get in this chapter.

J.C-S. He is alone here, not exactly as a pattern, but what He is in Himself in that association with the Father.

J.T. Well, you notice the distinction He has. He does share a certain glory that the Father has given Him with us, that is, His disciples, in verse 22, but in verse 24 He says, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou halt given me". That is, He has in mind that He may be beheld in a peculiar glory the Father gives Him which they can see. It is not a glory that they

participate in, but which they behold. It does not go so far as verse 5 where He links it with the love the Father had for Him before the foundation of the world. Verse 5 is the highest in this set of glories; verse 24 is the next, and verse 22 is the next. I should like to know what the brethren think about that.

That is, the glory He had along with the Father in verse 5, then the glory they are to behold, which He links with the Father's love before the foundation of the world in verse 24, and then the glory that is communicable to us in verse 22. I think there is a gradual rising from verse 22 to verse 24 and then to verse 5.

A.M.H. Do you think that verse 24 indicates the place love had assigned to Him "before the world was", and implies affections in relation to that place for Him even in eternity?

J.T. I suppose that is right. It is something that the creature may behold, and it is linked with the love the Father had for Him before the world was, so it must have an allusion to the counsels of God, the distinctive glory He has as Man in His counsels.

A.M.H. Manhood is in view, although all that is spoken of transpired in eternity.

J.T. Quite so.

J.F.S. Do you think that John 17 carries us beyond the thought of association?

J.T. I think it does. I think we should see that, too.

J.C-S. I think it is an important distinction. Those verses have been confused somewhat in placing them on that footing.

M.B. Are verse 5 and verse 24 parallel with Proverbs 8, what is set up from eternity?

J.T. Proverbs 8 treats of wisdom. We begin in Proverbs 8 with the thought of wisdom -- wisdom is in mind. If we look at the passage for a moment we shall see: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning

of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was" (verses 22, 23). The original words here are not great enough to cover the Person of Christ in this setting.

"I was set up"; 'anointed' is the word. It is the same as in Psalm 2:6, you will notice. "From the beginning, or ever the earth was"; it is an official thought, and we have a word in this passage, in verse 25, "Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth". "Brought forth" is not an expression great enough to cover the Person of Christ in the Deity. The enemy has used that to rob Him of His glory, the glory of Deity, as suggesting that He is brought forth. The truth is that it is wisdom that is in mind; it comes into evidence as God begins to operate; wisdom comes into evidence. "Jehovah" here is really Christ Himself.

E.S.W. Is this great dignity of beholding Him peculiar to the church?

J.T. Well, to the persons who form it, I should say. It comes in after the Lord says in verse 19, "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth". Sanctification here alludes to His personal place in glory as answering to the divine thought for man, so that we should reach it now. So that verse 24 would have in mind, I think, those who are of the assembly, those who form it.

Rem. Would you mind saying a little more about "the glory which thou hast given me"?

J.T. We have in verse 22 "the glory which thou gavest me I have given them", and in verse 24, "I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory". Verse 22 would seem to be the glory of sonship. We share in that, but then in verse 24 there is an additional glory. We are not said to share it but to behold it, but it is conferred glory in both cases.

S.F. So in verse 5 there is no thought of what we have been given; it is what He possessed eternally.

J.T. That is what I thought. It is the glory that He had as belonging to the Deity; it is not shared by us nor do we even behold it.

J.S.D. Does the thought of glory in verse 5 involve the display of something and the existence of an intelligence capable of apprehending that?

J.T. Well, it is quite obvious that it is so. The glory is the shining out of what the Person is, so these glories involve some display of what enters into the particular position indicated, and if it be a question of our participating in the glory as in verse 22, it involves what our brother says, that we have intelligence as to what it means. Then if it be a question of beholding it, the same would apply. We are supposed to have intelligence as to it to behold it. I think we have been prepared here in this chapter, for the most exalted relations and affections, touching on the very Absolute itself. The link is the Lord Jesus personally.

E.E.S.L. Do you think the apprehension of the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ to have His people in glory would lift them out of all that is low and mean and prepare them for elevation?

J.T. That is right. "I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth". We should be exalted in mind to the full place man has in the counsels of God, that is, what Christ is at the present moment. He sets out the full divine thought.

P.L. So that His supremacy and activity in this realm of glory so varied and blest is to assure dignity and elevation and suitability to His own in the testimony of God here, and above all in view of the service of God upward.

J.T. Quite so. You feel you have gone out of the world altogether in mind and affection (not in a corporeal sense) in this wonderful chapter. We have

been brought into such an array of glory, the chapter is full of it, even linking on with the glory of Deity in the Absolute. You feel that you come to finality here in mind and affection.

F.W. In verse 22 the glory of sonship is communicable; and in verse 5 it is the glory of Deity in which we have no part. It touches the Inscrutable. Would you say what is the characteristic of the glory in verse 24, which is to be beheld?

J.T. Well, it is to be in keeping with the statement of the Lord having pre-eminence in all things. In all things He must have the pre-eminence. So in Psalm 45, "therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows". It seems to embrace that feature of truth, something that belongs to Himself, and yet of a kind that we participate in, but belonging to Himself in an exalted and personal way, such, for instance, as sonship. We do not share it as He shares it. Sonship in Christ is peculiar to Himself, and yet what we are brought into is of that kind. In all these things the Spirit of truth will glorify Christ (John 16:14). Chapter 16 always contemplates Christ as glorified. He is never brought down to our level; He is glorified, and yet we are, in some measure, brought into what He has, though we are always under limitations. The more we love the Lord, the more we make room for His pre-eminence.

M.B. The sense of that produces worship.

J.T. Quite so.

VESSELS

1 Thessalonians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:20, 21; Romans 9:23, 24

These scriptures speak of vessels; the idea is prevalent in the Scriptures, as most of you will be aware, and indeed has often been presented in ministry amongst us by one and another, and profitably but not exhaustively. No spiritual subject can be presented exhaustively. Spiritual subjects are in such settings as to preclude exhaustiveness; we never reach the limits or depths. The Spirit of God has indited the Scriptures and presented the subjects in their own proper settings, and they belong to what we may call the depths of God. There are the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, so that we can only speak of them in part at any time, and that is what I would aim at in speaking of this subject, to bring forth what may be applicable to us in a prophetic way if the Lord gives force to the words; what may be remarked at the outset is that the idea of vessels is that of persons, for in the spiritual realm that is how matters will stand; instrumentalities will be persons, and so it is now. Another remark important to be made is that we are living in remnant times, mourning times, in which some have been recovered from Babylon, from the religious world. We should not have been there, but some have been recovered and the idea is that each is to be usable. He is not only recovered for his own enjoyment, his own benefit, but to be usable, available too, for use; and so we find that in the recovery in the Old Testament a great deal is made of vessels; and the deliverer of God's people at that time, Cyrus, who not only released them but directed their way, and delivered them, a great monarch who had

prophetic mention long before he was born, had in mind that if God would have His people delivered out of Babylon or captivity, He needed them. This is an important word in a practical way for every person here, that he is to be usable and available for divine purpose, for divine service. The first scripture read contemplates the believer in this way, not that he is yet God's vessel, but he is his own vessel; that is, he has a vessel, which he is to possess in sanctification and honour. He will understand something of God owning him as a vessel in time, as he begins by regarding himself as his own vessel.

The verse indicates to us what is in mind in the use of the word in Scripture, how one begins as a believer to regard himself, that is, viewed as possessing organs and faculties and qualities and affections; that all these are wonderfully blended by the Creator and intended to be usable to the person, for enjoyment depends on these faculties and qualities that God has so wonderfully combined in the human being. They are for his use. They may seem to function automatically, as indeed they do in a babe and a child, but presently the person wakes to consciousness and understanding, and begins to see that he is master of the institution, as it were, and as a believer he is enjoined here in regard of this. As born of the flesh, one finds these functions, qualities and capabilities are almost certain to be used for the natural will, working out in uncleanness and viciousness, but, as born anew, the person begins to discern, to be conscious of instincts of another kind, for he is not only born of the Spirit, he is born of water. He is born of the Spirit and there is spiritual substance involved in that, but there is accompanying it the idea of purification. One of the greatest essentials, initial at least to the believer, is the idea of purification, and following on that, the idea of holiness, and following on that, the idea of honour. God has in mind that this

wonderful mechanism is to be for His glory; but the possessor of it is to work it out in this way in sanctification and in honour, so that he is, as it were, morally fitted for the realm of God.

I want to show later from Romans how he is a vessel of mercy fitted for glory, which is another great thought, another final thought indeed, but young people here will do well to pay attention to what has been said as to this idea of sanctification and honour in regard to the vessel that he possesses. So with this in mind we see that the epistle to the Romans, on the doctrinal side of it, works out how a believer begins to reckon as baptised, and how his members are, through the gospel, through the light and the power of the Spirit, to become released from the domination of sin, that his members are not henceforth to be yielded as instruments of unrighteousness -- they have been, but are not to be henceforth -- and so the apostle proceeds as he does in such an orderly way in Romans 6, 7 and 8 to deal with what is inside of us. In chapter 6 he deals more with what is outside of us, what would affect us externally, and sin as a principle, but in chapter 7 he deals with what is inside of us. One of the most crucial lessons to be learned by the young believer is in that chapter, and the more he goes on with God, the more he discovers it, how utterly mean he is, viewed in this way. The analysis brings out what he never thought existed, the further he goes on with God, the more he walks with God, the more he discovers it, what is utterly mean, and how it comes up with abhorrence at times when it should be far away, this unutterable meanness that belongs to us in a variety of ways, operating even without our wills, operating automatically through our organs. It is a great lesson often alluded to, perhaps not so much as it used to be, and young people do well to look into this matter, because the enemy is working, and working

silently but steadily, and presently something happens if we are not on our guard, and find our feet, as the writer does when he says, "With the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin", Romans 7:25. Not that "I myself" serve with the flesh; that is what it is; it will never do anything else but serve sin. But he has found his feet and is victorious to that extent that he has reached a decision through a spiritual analysis. That is to say, the mind is enthroned. "With the mind I myself serve the law of God". "I myself". The mind has got its place, the place it should have. The apostle makes provision further in regard to that by the renewing of the mind, but I cannot go over that ground, only to suggest a few thoughts in regard to this matter, to lead up to a thought in Romans 8 which says, "If Christ be in you". That is put hypothetically. "If Christ be in you, the body is dead on account of sin". I apprehend that is what is in view in the body being brought to that, Christ having a place in the believer, and the Spirit as life on account of righteousness. "The Spirit is life".

There are potentialities to be worked out. The Spirit is life because, or in view, of righteousness, on account of righteousness. That is what God will have, and He has done His utmost, and His utmost is perfect, to constitute the believer in a position to bear fruit in that way, to be righteous.

And so as to illustrate that verse often quoted amongst us, one would refer to the well-known character, the woman of Sychar, as to what is meant by Christ being in the christian. The story is well known, it is one of the most used, and always fresh; it was the Lord's conversation, the Lord come down in wondrous grace to her and sitting on the well. He made no effort to disguise His weariness, but says, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have

asked of him, and he would have given thee living water", John 4:10. Who it is; God was there. She is in the presence of the Deity. He puts it to her. However little she could understand, it was there. One would love to convey that thought -- Who it is. He came so low to get her soul, and He reached it, so that Christ was in her. He had not died nor had christianity been established; He had not died yet, but we get things in the principle of them in the gospels. Christ was in that woman. She left her waterpot, which meant she understood that the vessel was herself. The waterpot was a vessel, she understood now that she was that, and she went her way into the city to the men. They knew her, but then another Man had come into her heart and mind; Christ was in her. I hardly know of a better illustration of that verse in Romans; it means that Christ has got His place, and no other man can influence her.

The Colossians were in danger of being influenced by men. This woman was immune from the influence of the men. She went to them and said, "Come, see a man", and that Man was filling her mind. What a woman she was! If you were to meet and accost her on the way back, how different would her countenance be, how different her gait, how different her manner! What a change, beloved friends! Christ was in her. "Come, see a man", she says, and Christ was in her in such a way as to convey to them, as she spoke of Him that He had had to do with her in regard to her internal relations. She had had to be searched out. He "told me all things that ever I did", John 4:29. He had created a place for Himself, her mind was now pure, it had been impure, her mind had been rendered pure, it was become a vessel of righteousness, not as hitherto but a vessel in which righteousness was working unto holiness, a vessel unto honour, now being held in sanctification and in honour, and hence utterly immune from the influence

of the men of the city. She had influence over them. She directed them to another Man, and that Man was not simply sitting on the well; He was in her heart, He was there. She did not have the Spirit, of course, she did not know redemption, but the Spirit of God puts the things in John in their own settings, and the thing is manifest that that woman had Christ in her heart. Her body was dead -- gone -- I do not mean literally, for it was possibly coming up again, but that is what is presented to us, that she was no longer governed by the old emotions and affections -- her body was dead, and the Spirit, in principle, was life in view of righteousness. She was righteous, she was working righteousness, she was calling attention to Christ, and was superior to the influence of sin.

Now what I am saying is most important for us all, but especially for young people, that each should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and in honour, and as he does, he will begin to see that God has rights over that vessel, too, that "ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price", 1 Corinthians 6:19,20.

So the next verses I read, those in 2 Timothy, bring before us the idea of a vessel for God, and the passage contemplates what I have been saying. It is not here the question of the doctrine of Romans, it is a question of having to do with religious associations, and how we are to become vessels unto honour in the service of God, "sanctified, and meet", as it says, "for the master's use". The master -- that is not yourself, it is another. He has use for you -- He has need of you; He has need of His own. Indeed, of the colt the word was "the Lord has need of it",

Mark 11:3. The Lord has need, and if there is anyone here who is religiously linked with associations that are not of God, or who is linked with persons -- that is the point here -- who are perhaps teaching modernism, denying, it may be, the authenticity of

the Scriptures, eliminating certain books as uninspired, perhaps casting doubt on the deity of Christ, or denying eternal punishment, or any other such person, if there are any here linked up with such, this word is for you. "If a man therefore purge himself from these". One good translator says "in separating himself from them" -- I have no doubt that is what is meant -- "he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work". There is a call in this. The Lord has need of you, but on His own terms, and what one is exercised to say, dear brethren, in regard to this great matter of sanctification and honour and service and usefulness, is as to how much the Lord has had to put up with him as a vessel, and how much the brethren, too, have had to put up with him. There are things in a vessel that he cannot overcome. A man might be a stammerer, for instance, and yet have gift from the Lord. Well, the brethren would have to put up with that. He cannot help it, maybe.

Paul's eyes were in such a state that they must have been a cause of concern to the brethren. There are some physical conditions that cannot be overcome, and the brethren, of course, may complain. It is perhaps a little unfair for me to complain about the brethren complaining, but I do say that brethren are often very unfair in their complaints, especially in regard to hearing. If a brother has gold, pure gold, then you will have to bear a little tax to get it. I do not mean on material things, these are nothing. The apostle says, "I seek not yours, but you". It is a question of you, and certainly if gold is available, you deserve to be taxed a little to get it, not in a material way, but if it is gold it is gold and it is worth getting. Gold diggers have to suffer if they are to get to gold.

They sometimes have to go down six thousand feet to get to gold, and if things come too easily to us we do not value them as much as if we have to pay for them.

The time comes when the Lord says, "I counsel thee to buy of me", Revelation 3:18. Pay for the thing. Well, this buying may imply things you do not like in the ministers, but then, on the other hand, why should the brethren suffer, for after all, the ministers are yours, as the apostle says, "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas ... all are yours", 1 Corinthians 3:22. Certainly it is a little incongruous if the possession of your property in this sense should be occasioning you discomfort. It is obligatory on the servant to consider the served. "Ourselves your servants", and the minister can never forget that, so that he does not make the tax too high, and he is concerned, too, that there is no moral effect after his ministry, which is the most important thing of all, the after effects detracting from the ministry, as it were. The minister certainly as a vessel, should not force the Lord to have to put up with too much. The Lord is wonderfully gracious and puts up with much in one, and I do not know of anything that has challenged one more than this, how much one has forced the Lord to put up with. But He does bear with us. It will do Him no harm, so to speak, but there are things that may do the saints harm, and that is what the vessel should have in mind, that he should see to it that he in no way causes harm to the brethren. Physical effects they can stand, but the moral effects are the dangerous ones. What I am saying includes every person listening; each is to be a vessel. Each has to consider for himself how much he is forcing the Lord to put up with (and the Lord is obliged to do it, and does it) and how much the saints have to put up with. This works out in a variety of ways and one challenges oneself -- why am I forcing the brethren to put up with things that they should not have to put up with?

All this enters into the idea of the vessel, and I believe it is not without divine wisdom that the great

servant, that is, Paul, is the only one formally called in the New Testament "a vessel", I mean as a servant. Every person is a vessel, and the sisters, the women, are said to be weaker vessels, which has also to be borne in mind, but the apostle Paul is called by the Lord Jesus "an elect vessel", Acts 9:15. What consideration there must have been beforehand in view of the servant, his ancestry, his parentage, his schooling, his experience! Everything was forced to serve the great divine thought in this matter. He "is an elect vessel to me", says the Lord. I doubt not the Lord had in His mind in this great vessel, 'Well, I will not have much to put up with in him', nor had He. Not that the apostle Paul is immune from criticism, he is not indeed, but I am speaking now in a general way of what the Lord had in mind. He would say in effect, 'I will not have much to put up with in him'. I am sure that the Lord Jesus had perfect delight in the apostle Paul. I am assured that the Lord had pleasure every day while that man lived as His servant. One would like to be a little like that in the service, that one should not be compelling the Lord to put up with things, but affording Him pleasure in one's motives, in one's manner, in one's ways, and in the way one speaks in the ministry and in the ministry itself, for a meeting like this is not exclusive of Christ. He is here to help us, but He is here to enjoy. Do not forget that. Whatever is to be enjoyed, He enjoys it more than any one of us, and why should it not be so? Why should there not be history made in heaven constantly by us in relation to what divine Persons find in us, and what the Lord must have found in that great servant! He says, he "is an elect vessel to me". Was it just then? The Lord had it in His mind long before, that this man should appear on schedule time, and should stand out as fully answering to the divine requirements. He is according to pattern, the pattern is Christ

Himself. And so it is in Luke we have such a beautiful presentation of Christ as the Minister. Heaven announced, at the very outset, its delight in Him, but now men have delight in Him. They are not affected spiritually, yet they "wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth". Luke 4:22. Every movement came under their notice, every movement in the synagogue of Nazareth. Was not heaven delighted in that scene? That was a great day for heaven, the infinitely perfect ideal of heaven was there. He was there before men in ministry. Luke loves to dwell on that throughout his writings, and the apostle Paul was according to that pattern -- "an elect vessel to me", the Lord says.

Well, so much for the ministers, and now for the eternal state of things. The epistle to the Romans, in the verse I read, brings forward the saints as vessels of mercy fitted for glory -- "Even us", says the apostle, both the Jews and the gentiles. God had called out persons from among the Jews and gentiles who are designated here as vessels of mercy fitted for glory. This is the sovereign side of the subject. The other two verses deal directly with our responsibility, but here we are directly on the line of God's sovereign selection in mercy. And how expanding and stimulating the thought of sovereignty is, dear brethren, that God has taken us up separately in His sovereignty"according to his mercy he saved us", Titus 3:5. We are told in Titus how it happened, the instrumentality, but here it is "vessels of mercy". That would mean that God has taken us up in relation to these faculties that I have been speaking of, and using them now in that relation, but with a view to our eternal relations. And what a thought! -- "vessels of mercy ... prepared unto glory" -- that one is to be there equal to the glory. We had glory before us this afternoon, and the Lord would keep it before us. Christianity is inaugurated in glory; the Spirit here

is the Spirit of glory, and indeed in Romans 8:30 it says God has already glorified us as having justified us. The idea is that we are to understand how to bear glory, the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon us. How one can carry such thoughts as that! What a vessel one is who can carry such thoughts as that, as referring to himself, and how delivering the thought is from all human glory, as the apostle Paul says, an "eternal weight of glory". But what I am speaking of is a vessel fitted for glory, already bearing it here in a moral way in the reception of the Spirit, the use one makes of Him, and the use the Spirit makes of one. We have the idea of glory resting upon us. What dignity! Where is all the glory of this world in relation to this? One is constituted a vessel of mercy fitted for glory, so that one learns how to wear his dress. It is said of Moses and Elijah that they appeared in glory. The heavenly saints will have that dress actually; they will shine out actually fitted for it. It will not be beyond us, we shall be equal to what the apostle Paul calls an "eternal weight of glory". We learn how to bear the glory.

Time has gone, but how much could be said of this great matter of being fitted for glory. How delivering it is from the petty wretched things that are presented to us -- the tinsel of this world to attract us -- how poor when we see that we are fitted for glory! That is, the glory of God, and to learn to wear that dress now! So that as entering into our own realm, as glorified together with Christ, as suffering with Him, we are glorified together with Him. It says, "glorified with him" -- as we enter on that which is not new to us, we have already learned something of bearing the glory, of wearing that heavenly dress here, as fitted for glory. I have no doubt that the present allusion is to the Spirit. The Spirit here is the Spirit of glory, and in the Spirit we are "clothed with power from on high". It is the glorious dress in

which we are here, and in which we are about to enter as fitted to enjoy our portion above, in full ability to shine in the place that eternal counsel has designed for us. May God help us in this! I feel encouraged to bring it before you so that we may get a little more on what we call the 'up line'. The Lord is aiming at it in view of the imminent translation of the saints from earth to heaven, that there should be some little indication of the realm to which we are going, and the weight of glory that is designed for us.

"THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM"

Galatians 3:6 - 9, 13, 14; Luke 19:1 - 10

These scriptures furnish a wide platform from which to announce the gospel; that is why they have been read this evening, the thought being, too, to link on certain remarks, certain evangelical testimony with Abraham. It is convenient to link the passages in Galatians with Luke 19 in this respect; it opens a door to speak a little on Luke, who is peculiarly the evangelist; he makes more of Abraham than any of the other so-called evangelists, and yet his object is to reach the whole of our race. Hence he alone records for us what the multitude of the heavenly host were saying in regard to Jesus as He was born. They said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men", Luke 2:14. Following on that, Simeon took Jesus in his arms as a Babe -- for Luke loves to dwell on the babehood of Christ -- and blesses God in regard of Him, saying, "mine eyes have seen thy salvation"; and then, putting the gentiles first, he says, "a light for revelation of the Gentiles". So that Luke has a wide outlook; he presents Christ in relation to mankind; and yet he brings Abraham in; and so does Paul, enlarging on the subject in his doctrinal way, showing that the blessing of Abraham had the gentiles in mind. The promise to him was that he should be heir of the world -- a very wide thought -- not as circumcised, but uncircumcised.

So that he stands in relation to the race of mankind, but the race more particularly as divided up into nations. And this opens up a very important truth, namely, that in Abraham's setting, the reconciliation of the world is seen. You can understand the heir of it would think favourably of it and especially

that through him it should be blessed, all the nations should be blessed. How favourably he would take account of them, but not any more than we today who are, as his sons, blessed with believing Abraham. We also look upon the nations favourably, whereas he who is national in his outlook confines himself in his thoughts to some special nation. Such a one is not characteristically a son of Abraham. It was through Abraham the nations were to be blessed, so how could he but think well of them? So Jehovah says of Abraham to one amongst the nations, the Philistine king, Abimelech, "He is a prophet, and will pray for thee", Genesis 20:7. And so it is that the sons of Abraham now are enjoined to pray for kings. We are enjoined by Peter to "honour the king" (1 Peter 2:17); he is concerned about the government of God; but Paul exhorts us to pray for kings, and to give thanks for them, too, and for all in authority. This, he says, is acceptable to God, "who desires that all men should be saved". And so the Spirit of God proceeds to tell us that God is One, that His mind is one, and that that mind is favourable to all the nations. The Mediator of God is One -- not two there are not two mediators; no nation has a mediator of its own. The sons of Abraham regard the nations and their rulers, and there is one Mediator, "the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus",

1 Timothy 2:5. That is how every true christian -- called conveniently in Galatians, every true son of Abraham -- is universal in outlook and sympathetic with men, desiring as God does, but in his little measure, that no one should be lost, but that everybody should be saved. And that is why we are here tonight, sympathetic with God, and as I said, understanding that the governmental ordering of God is in favour of the gospel. It is intended to make a way for the gospel. God could not allow the terrible state of things that exists in the world to continue, beloved

friends, were it not that He had some purpose of His own to reach. Why should He raise up four great monarchies to rule the world in the times of the nations save that He had some great purpose in mind? And that purpose is to make things as tolerable as possible, so that the truth may have access to the nations, that the highways in the world should be open to the evangelists, the servants of God, and not only so, but that it should be understood that God is not against the nations but that He is for them. He is sending down His rain and causing His sun to shine in His kindness, so that men should not be prejudiced against Him, but that they should rather be thankful; that there should be occasion for thanksgiving.

And so there is with Abraham intercession for the nations, and indeed a sort of military establishment, not to provoke war, but to rescue needy ones out of the world. Such was Abraham; he was confederate, too, with certain ones, not surely to be a mere worldly man, but in view of what I am speaking of; in view of the great war at that time, he was watching, considering for God, and as the opportunity arose, he rescued his brother, at great hazard, at great cost and fatigue; and not only that, but he asked God about Sodom, the wickedest city of the day. We are living in a day of great cities; it is a city period and there are wicked cities, too. We as christians are not against cities, against cities in which we reside; we do not close our eyes to the wickedness that is going on, but still, like Abraham, we are concerned about them. Abraham says to God, "Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?" Genesis 18:24. He does not ask God to deliver the fifty righteous out of the city; why did he not do that? He was thinking of saving Sodom. And God says, 'I will do it', "I will spare

all the place for their sakes". Now, think of that, beloved friends. How it reminds us of the need of sympathy in regard to men in spite of the wickedness. He says, I will save it, I will forgive them all, if there are fifty righteous. You see how the great heart of the patriarch expanded and acted on light in principle. He was heir of the world -- what a place he had! He was a prophet and a priest and he took advantage of his office, of his great access to God, to intercede for the wickedest city of the day. Did he mean to condone the wickedness? Not at all. He was thinking of the righteous, but then he asked about the wicked, he asked God to spare the city, and God said He would do it for fifty righteous; He virtually says, I am thoroughly with you; you are entirely according to My mind; I will do all I can, for that is the order of the day; it is a question of the salvation of the world. There is no change, beloved friends, in spite of the terrible state of christendom, there is no change in regard to the heart of God; it is a question of salvation -- that God is "not willing that any should perish". Think of what counsel goes on in heaven (I speak reverently)! Some of us think of heaven as a far-off place with little or no idea that it is a place of counsel, that it takes notice of what is current on earth. This is a great occasion in heaven, this occasion here now. I am not speaking theoretically; I know well that it is; and heaven is intent on this matter. There are other places like it. Meetings of this kind are being held for hours to come throughout the world, as the sun goes to the west; for many hours to come heaven is intent on all these meetings and God is saying as He did to Abraham, I am thoroughly with you in all you are doing; I am holding things for you, while the times of the nations are running their course, so that you might carry on; and I am carrying on. And so it is, beloved friends, if there is one here tonight who is not a

christian, not a son of Abraham as a believer, this is your opportunity. Heaven is intent that you might turn to God and as soon as you do, there will be joy there, history will be made there; as soon as you turn to God and repent, even as you sit there in your seat, you make history in heaven. You may not make much history on earth, as far as the world is concerned; the event will not be recorded tomorrow in the papers, but it will be in heaven, and not only so, but there will be a movement there. Such is the attitude, beloved friends, of God in regard to this matter.

And so the apostle brings out here, as I read in verse 6, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness". The allusion is to Genesis 15, a chapter in which, as some of us know, we get for the first time the "word of Jehovah". Now that is what these meetings are intended to be; they are to be occasions for the word of God; it is a question of the word of God. We have indeed in one of the terms covering the gospel in the Acts, "the glad tidings ... of the word of the Lord", Acts 15:35. God would speak and He spoke to Abraham in chapter 15 of Genesis and it says Abraham believed what He said. Now some of you here may say to me, 'I cannot believe; I have tried, and I have tried, and no change has happened'. But then, perhaps it has never occurred to you that what you are unable to believe is what God says -- in other words, you are not just taking God at His word. It says, "The word of Jehovah came to Abram" and the passage in Galatians citing the chapter says, "Abraham believed God". Why should he not believe God? If I do not believe God, I cannot really believe anybody; I am inconsistent in believing anyone if I cannot believe God; but Abraham did believe God and God so valued that act of faith that He reckons it to him as righteousness. Is that not simple? And so he is

called here "believing Abraham". There are two phrases that go well together -- a "repenting sinner" and "believing Abraham". Abraham is held out in that way, beloved friends, as a leader; he is a leader in faith and he is honoured as the father of all believers in that sense; God, I say, so honours him that He regards him -- He reckons him -- as the father of all believers. He "believed God", the apostle says, "and it was reckoned to him as righteousness", Galatians 3:6 (see also Genesis 15:6).

Now may I not urge you here such as I have referred to, who say 'I cannot believe' to face this matter? If you say 'I have not been hitherto able to believe', or if you say 'I have not been hitherto interested enough', will not you face it now, for God is speaking? God speaks now through men. The Holy Spirit sent down from heaven is the power by which the gospel is preached, as Peter says, and the voice of the preacher, energised by the Spirit, is the voice of God. It is not a question of the speaker being infallible, the point is that it is the word of God, that God is speaking. What I am saying to you now is the word of God; I have no hesitation in saying that. "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness".

And that is intended to be God's word for any indifferent one, or for any exercised one here. It is the word of God; do not put it aside. It is a terrible thing to resist the word of God. Many fell in the wilderness because of not hearkening to the word. That is why they fell, not because of bad conduct. It is a terrible thing to refuse to hearken to the word of God.

And so the apostle goes on to say in verse 7"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,

In thee shall all nations be blessed". Now that verse 7 is what I have been already alluding to and I would urge it upon you, "they which are of faith"I believe most of us here are of faith. I have not the slightest difficulty in preaching to the Lord's people; I have more pleasure in speaking to them than any; they are the best listeners, characteristically, to the gospel, and it is well that they are. We need it every one of us needs the gospel. So here those that are of faith are reckoned as sons of Abraham and blessed with believing Abraham. Now, as I have said before, Abraham has a great place with Luke. Luke records what John the baptist said to the Jews who were claiming that they were sons of Abraham after the flesh. He disallows that, he challenges that, but he holds Abraham in his place, he gives Abraham his full place. He says, "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham", Luke 3:8. Abraham will have children; if I am not one of them, others will be; God will see to that. And Luke in his record draws the curtain aside from the unseen world, and shows you Abraham. There he is and he has got a bosom and there is a person in that bosom. You see how God brings Abraham to us in the gospel of Luke. It is really to bring the truth down to our level, that we might see in a man of like passions with ourselves the confessions of God, the interests of God, and the place there is for the blessed. So that Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom. You say, 'Well, that is only a figure'. Well, it is a figure, but then it is Abraham, you see, and Abraham understands the Scriptures, too. They were not written in his day, there is not a line of Scripture spoken of in the book of Genesis -- I mean to say as to the time it is treated of -- the history was written by Moses some hundreds of years later, but Abraham understands the Scriptures. That is to say, if you find your place, as I hope you never will, as I hope no one here ever will find himself

in such a position as the rich man, who in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment -- if you find yourself in such a place as that, you will discover that a man like yourself will condemn you there, and he will condemn you by the Scriptures. Here is the poor sufferer, the Christ-rejecter who is in hell in sufferings -- let nobody make little of that; it is the truth of God -- and he says to Abraham, "I have five brethren", Luke 16:28. He remembered that, the memory does not die. He remembered -- the poor sufferer for whom there is no hope at all; he had left the region of hope for the region of eternal doom, and he remembered his brethren, and he speaks to Abraham about them. And Abraham says to him, 'Those brethren of yours have Moses and the prophets; and if they do not believe Moses and the prophets, they will not believe a person who rose from the dead'. Now, look at that. Here we are tonight. If it were a person come back from the dead who was standing here instead of myself, his testimony could be no greater than the testimony that I am presenting to you. It is a testimony by the Spirit of God come down from heaven; it is a testimony from the Scripture, and Abraham says to the doomed man, to the lost soul in hell -- "They have Moses and the prophets" and "if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead", Luke 16:31. You say, 'That would not be my case', but it would be your case if you should persistently refuse the testimony of God -- the gospel preached by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; you would not believe even if a person rose from the dead. Abraham says you would not and Abraham is quoted by the Lord Jesus as saying so, and Jesus says the truth and Abraham says the truth; and if you reject what I am saying and die tonight, you will find your place where that poor lost sinner found his place -- in hell. Hell is not Gehenna;

it is Hades; it is a place of torment, anyway, soon to be "the lake of fire", in which all the rejecters of Christ, all the ungodly, all the refusers of the gospel, will find their terrible lot eternally.

And then the apostle goes on to say in Galatians, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law". Think of the preciousness of that statement, "being made a curse for us" -- not only that He died for us, but He was made a curse for us. What does that mean? Well, it means that we were subject to the curse -- not only to death, but to the curse of God. The allusion of course is to the Jew, upon whom the curse came. But then the principle holds, Christ was made a curse for us, so "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith". Jesus hung on a gibbet. Men put him there, of course, but it was under God they did it; "him, given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" they crucified and slew. God turns it round and says, That is what man deserved and My Son died vicariously, and now He is not willing that any other one should die like that, but that all might be saved and come to repentance and be like believing Abraham, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it says, "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles ... that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith". It may be there are some believers who, through imperfect teaching, or it may be through worldly associations, have as yet never received the Spirit, and yet this is the great blessing attaching to the gospel. I would urge believers to see to this matter. I call you believers -- not by courtesy, but by fact, for you do have some little faith in Jesus, but you are remaining in the world, or perhaps through bad teaching, you have not received the Spirit. The Spirit is a gift, but not an automatic gift. God's

gifts are not automatic; God gives what He gives of His own volition and in His own time. He loves to do it, He glories in doing it; His glory shines in doing it. And He would offer Him to you tonight; that is, He is for you, the Holy Spirit is given to all those, we are told, who are subject to Christ. If you have not got the Holy Spirit, you should look into your history; you will find that the real cause is insubjection to Christ; you will have been insubject to Christ. This often works out in insubjection to your parents; you have light and yet you turn away from your father's house; you turn away determinedly from the place of divinely appointed rule, and you are not happy and you have not got the Spirit. You are not a saved person characteristically; you need salvation in the sense of the reception of the Spirit, He is the power of God here to keep us out of the world, for Christ "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world", Galatians 1:4.

Well, now, in Luke 19, we have an illustration of a son of Abraham, of what the term signifies. Some of you here might be a little interested, and might like to come in with us as sons of Abraham. "Abraham's sons" in Galatians really means "God's sons". The truth is brought down to us today, that we are all sons of God "by faith in Christ Jesus", Galatians 3:26. Glorious statement that we christians delight in, and we would love to have you join us. We would say, indeed, as Moses did, "Come with us, and we will do thee good" (Numbers 10:29), not that we can do it of ourselves; but God is with His people. They have come into the good of heaven and are, characteristically speaking, really and truly the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Now this man Zacchaeus is a good example. He is a little man; he is a rich man, a tax-gatherer, and he wanted to see Jesus who He was; that is a true mark of the work of God in a soul. If God is working

with you as you sit there tonight listening to me, you will want to know who Jesus is. It is a very great matter at the present time, because there are so many voices in the world; the Lord Jesus says to His disciples -- "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" (Matthew 16:13); this one said that, and another said something else, but the Lord says, "But ye, who do ye say that I am?" and so I say to you tonight, 'Who do you say Jesus is?' Your salvation depends on a right answer, because there is so much darkness abroad as to the Person of Christ. If you do not believe that He is the Son of God, if you do not believe that He is "Over all, God blessed for ever", you are a unitarian and you cannot be saved. There are such people as that, persons who do not believe in the deity of Christ cannot be saved. There is no salvation aside from faith in the Person of Christ; and then the next thing is there is faith in His work. There are those who believe in a bloodless religion. Christianity depends on the blood; "without shedding of blood is no remission". Christ suffered vicariously, He died vicariously; it would be derogatory to Him to say He died otherwise, that He was buried otherwise than vicariously. But He died and He was buried and was raised again according to the Scriptures, and faith in Him in this sense is salvation. "By which also ye are saved", says the apostle.

And so Zacchaeus is one of these sons of Abraham the first great mark with him is that he wanted to see Jesus who He was; it was not a matter of curiosity; why should he be so concerned? Well, because God had something to say to him in spite of the fact that he was a man that would take more than he deserved in his tax-gathering. It is such men that God takes up, you see, to show that He can save people in spite of such conduct as that. However bad your history, God says, 'I can save you in spite of that'. If you

were to go over the list of the people God has saved, you would be surprised and impressed with the wonderful selection He has made -- and why? So that you, however bad you are, should be saved, too. Your badness should not hinder you. Bad as you are, you may have some little thought about Jesus right down in the bottom of your heart -- some little hankering after Christ -- and you will be glad to get out of your associations, glad to get out of things that hold and darken you. God knows that, God values that, and, if He were speaking to you personally, He would give you credit for that. This man wanted to see Jesus who He was. Was that nothing? It was something and the Lord knew what was in his mind, and He saw him running ahead. He was a little man. It is interesting to notice the people of Scripture that are spoken of as running; this is one of them. I think heaven saw this running: "he ran before". There was something in that man that the Lord knew about and that was not of nature, it was of God. He wanted to see Jesus, who He was, and so he climbed up into a tree. The Lord moved on, too. This man made no mistake as to the way the Lord was on -- many of you do -- many of you do not take account of the way, but he made no mistake, and Jesus came actually to that tree, and when He came to it, He stopped and looked up at Zacchaeus. That is exactly how it is here with you tonight. A crisis has come in your history and the Lord is looking on you and He would say to you, 'Come down, come down from that position'. Your position is wrong, and the Lord says to you tonight, "Come down". He called this man by name. Do you not think heaven heard when the Lord said, "Zacchaeus".

Oh l all heaven was in that; that man became famous at that time and so will you as just turning to God now in repentance; you will become famous in heaven -- "There is joy in the presence of the angels

of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10), one repenting sinner; a repenting sinner is a characteristic man; he is not merely an historical repenter; he is a characteristic repenter, and heaven records, registers all these people, repenting sinners; there are myriads of them there; and so it is here when the Lord says that Zacchaeus is to make haste and come down. He called him by name and He says moreover, "Today I must abide at thy house". I hope what I am saying has appealed to some heart here. Some may think in their heart, 'The Lord is very gracious to me in telling me these things and I think I will move'; but Zacchaeus made haste, and I urge you to do the same, whatever position you may be in -- it may be an exalted position in which you have set yourself up; whatever it be, leave it; you are looking down on Jesus in it. I believe most of the religious organisations today look down on Jesus, I do indeed, and I tell you why: it is because man has had a finger in them -- man as such, and if he has a finger in anything, it will result in looking down on Jesus. Men like to dress Him up, so to speak, in their own clothes, to make Him respectable as they regard respectability, but it says of Jesus that He sat just as He was on the well, there was no change, no attempt to alter anything, and moreover it says of His disciples, they took Him just as He was in the ship, there was no attempt to alter Him at all. I do not believe there is a single organisation of men, beloved friends, that does not look down on Jesus. Though they have Jesus, they have Him according to their own thoughts; they make Him respectable according to their own thoughts. I do not mean to say that Zacchaeus intended to be disrespectful, but there he was in a false position looking down on Jesus, and Jesus looked up to him in grace; how many He has looked up to, making due allowance for them, out of Rome or any of these organisations, calling them out!

The Lord will do anything in His own way to get at your soul; He wants you; He wants to extricate you from a false official position if you are in it. He says, 'Make haste and get out of it and come down'. Zacchaeus did so, and he received the Lord in his house. What a great matter if some of you did that tonight! Some of us here would just love to surround you and speak to you, we would love to hear you saying, 'I receive the Lord at this moment'. A man said to the Lord, "help mine unbelief" -- he said it with tears (Mark 9:24). He had said to the Lord, "If thou couldest do anything", but the Lord replies, 'The "if thou couldst" is "if thou couldst believe"'. It is a question of faith, and he says, "I believe"; he says it tearfully; it appealed to Christ -- "Help mine unbelief", he says to the Lord, and the Lord did; a crowd ran up at that time, and the Lord saw the crowd running, that is, as one might say, a crowd of thoughts; the devil would fill your mind; do not listen to what is being said at all; but the Lord cast out the demon, as the crowd ran up, to forestall the workings of the devil who would shut out the light from your soul, that you should not be a believer.

And so Zacchaeus received the Lord gladly. What a time it was! Luke loves to paint these beautiful pictures of buoyancy in the salvation of souls; Zacchaeus received Him gladly. It was a buoyant time, a time of reception, of extension of hospitality to a great Personage. There were complainers, they complained about this; 'He is a sinful man', they said. 'Did not the Lord know that?' Of course He did. Zacchaeus says to Him, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor", and further, 'If I do anyone an injury I restore him fourfold'. He told the truth. We cannot believe for a moment that the Spirit of God would record it if it were not true; it was true, and the Lord says, "he also is a son of Abraham".

Now you see I am going over this ground, so that any of you who may be concerned by the words I am speaking, may see how you come into this thought of sonship of Abraham, that you might be blessed with believing Abraham; that you might belong to the household of faith, which means all christians, all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; we belong to that household, and we long to see you join us. It is on the principle of faith, and the Lord says, "he also is a son of Abraham". Were there not others? There were millions, but "he also". How the Lord would love to say that to you -- that little word 'also'. We want you, the Lord wants you, heaven wants you also, with all the myriads.

You will be blessed, as I said before, with believing Abraham.

MATERIAL FOR DIVINE WRITING

2 Corinthians 3:2, 3; Revelation 3:12

What is in mind is to speak about material for divine use, particularly for divine writing. The idea, of course, is old, coming into view as God began to operate; we know nothing in the way of material prior to creation. It would appear that God made something out of nothing, but that He made something is a certainty, but there are in the creation two ideas. The first is creation, involving, as I remarked, something out of nothing, which belongs to God alone, and the second is formation, involving material, the latter having in mind development, and development having in mind what God is in the way of feeling and affection.

The first chapter of Genesis shows that things were created and made, and they were pronounced "good" and "very good", especially as man was created. But then the second chapter involves development, and we have a new title taken on by God in view of this. So that chapter 1 in general is the material -- material with which God is pleased; He pronounced it "very good" in a general way. The second chapter resumes the divine account, and speaks about "the histories of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day that Jehovah Elohim made earth and heavens", Genesis 2:4. The words "heavens" and "earth" are transposed here, meaning that the earth is immediately in mind for the development. Jehovah takes the name of "Jehovah Elohim", the title employed some twenty times in chapters 2 and 3, manifestly suggesting that God is now acting in a feeling way, having results through development in mind; but first the material is clearly there and pronounced "very good".

We have the histories of the earth, the heavens, and of the plants and herbs, as it is said, "before it grew", a remarkable thing that God can give histories before things are recorded as existing! He can give them anticipatively, and so we find that in the second chapter of Genesis we have a history. "In the day", it says, "that Jehovah Elohim made earth and heavens" -- as if things were to be recorded in an orderly way; then we are told that He formed man by himself, that is, Adam. He was using material already there; we are told He planted a garden, using also the material that was there. We are told that He caused a river to flow out of Eden, to water that garden, also out of material already there, and that He set Adam, or "the man", not only in the garden, but then over it, to dress it and to keep it -- guard it. And then He caused the creatures formed out of the ground to come before Adam, and Adam named these creatures. And we are told that Adam was deficient in that he needed a help-mate, and so God (Jehovah Elohim is the title) caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and He took a rib out of Adam, and with it built a woman and brought her to Adam, and he named her.

Now I have gone over that chapter designedly, dear brethren, so that we may see how a feeling God takes up material He already has, and works it out with the deepest interest. Everyone must understand that the deepest divine interest entered into all that, God beginning to cause things to operate with a view to the satisfaction of His own heart, and causing glory to shine -- parental glory, bridegroom glory, bridal glory, family glory, the glory of the plant, the glory of the rivers. So in that chapter we have a wonderful, yet brief, opening up of what has been going on ever since, and will go on until God accomplishes every thought in His heart and mind for His own satisfaction, until He reaches the domain of

unending glory, ever-radiating glory -- all the result of divine workmanship and development, but all, as I said, based on material already there.

The next chapter continues with Jehovah Elohim coming into the garden as if He would come in to share the glory assumed to be there, because it was becoming a scene of glory, not that the word is used yet. I think God reserved the word for a people called out, which we do not get in these chapters -- the principle of separation. It was the God of glory that appeared to Abraham. We are not told it was the God of glory that made the heavens and the earth, but still the garden and the whole realm of creation radiated with glory, with the glory of creation; the second chapter of Genesis particularly presents the divine workmanship and development from material, suited material, already there. The breakdown came when God found Adam in a very different setting, alas! But still He kept on, and clothed Adam. He clothed Adam, as naming his wife Eve. This he did without being asked to name her; he named her rightly. It was an evidence of faith. Although there is no place for him in the list in Hebrews 11, we cannot doubt that the naming of his wife and the new name that he gave her indicated that he understood something of God coming in to meet the disaster and to resume His workmanship, leading up to the accomplishment of His counsels. He named her Eve, meaning the mother of all living, not the mother of all dying. God can make nothing of those who are dead; He is the God of the living, not the God of the dead.

Well now, having said so much on that point, I proceed to my direct subject, but I do hope the brethren can follow what I have said, because it implies two things, that if we are to be material for God's workings He has to be pleased with us (at least in principle, if not in detail) for He does not

propose to operate with us to His displeasure. There is therefore the idea of righteousness, and being accounted righteous. Now these two thoughts are worked out, dear brethren, in Romans, and I touch on that epistle for a moment, so as to make clear what I have in mind in the two scriptures read. Romans contemplates men and women coming in under God's eye suitably attired; He attires them Himself. "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood ... so that he should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus", Romans 3:24 - 26. That is, He removes all encumbrances from us and looks upon us as clothed, robed in His righteousness through faith -- "having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God"; Christ being delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification, we have been justified by faith and have access into this favour in which we stand -- that is, God is pleased with us. That is a matter of faith, not yet of works, but of faith. And then the next thing is that those so regarded are more or less satisfied with their position. It is a poor thing if people talk about being justified, if they are not more or less satisfied as to their position, for God accompanies this wonderful position in the way of clothing, that is, righteousness, with a certain means of satisfaction, and so He sheds abroad His love in our hearts by the Spirit. The writer of the epistle says that not only have we access into the favour, sensibly pleasing to God, but we glory in tribulations, a remarkable thing! And the reason is given that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, for the love of God is to be in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. Therefore, you see, dear brethren, that God accompanies this wonderful clothing which

pleases Him with the means of satisfaction. I hope every christian here is satisfied with the new position. I am leading up now to the idea, not of our blessing, but of material that God can use. And then the Spirit goes on to say that we have received the reconciliation -- we have received it -- that is, we are moving inwardly, and appropriating what there is, and grace is reigning through righteousness unto eternal life; the whole problem raised by sin is settled on the divine side. So we may well be satisfied.

And then in chapter 6 the Spirit of God through the apostle brings up the question of baptism so as to bring out this matter of material, for the epistle to the Romans is to bring out material for God's use, and one great thought in it is that we are to recognise the rights of God, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable and intelligent service, that we "may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God", Romans 12:2. Now God would say, 'You are material that I can use. I have a great many things in My mind, but I am waiting on you. I am ready to use you, but I have My own mind about material, it must be according to My mind (at least in the principle of it) and I am waiting for it'. That is the epistle to the Romans which contains many other things, of course, thank God. I am only touching on two points -- the clothing and the satisfaction, and then thirdly, I should say, the acknowledgment of the rights of God. Chapter 6 shows how a believer takes account of himself as baptised, as God's property; he yields his members as instruments of righteousness unto God. He has his own fruit, of course. All through these chapters the believer is taken account of, for God would have us to understand He is not thinking of Himself only, He is thinking of us, and the believer is always provided for, so it says, "ye have your fruit unto holiness", Romans 6:22. Ye have your fruit, and the

end, too, is everlasting life, hence the whole matter is settled, so that the saints should be entirely free for God's use; and He is ready to use us.

Well, now, this raises a very important question, dear brethren, as to how we stand in regard to the rights of God. Romans develops this great principle, and, as accepting it, we prove "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". Based on it, we are said to be "one body", not yet the body of Christ; Romans does not say that, but one body in Christ; that is, we are lifted out of all other bodies into a status described in this remarkable phrase -- one body in Christ; and the intent is to clear us, as a ship clears her berth when in port so that she might proceed on her voyage and God would clear us of everything that holds us here, so that He might have us for His great purpose; "we, being many, are one body in Christ", and that negates every other body; whatever name it may hold or bear, we are clear of it. Not simply that we should be one body, but we are. God has given us such a status that there is clearance from every body here, from every organisation here that would claim us. This matter is urgent, for God has His great purpose, dear brethren, to work out, and He is looking for material, and He is prescribing what the material is to be, that is, we are presenting our bodies a living sacrifice -- living, you notice -- "that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". A wonderful path opens up to the christian, suffering, of course, but, as I said, suffering or tribulation worketh patience; it becomes one of the workers for our blessing.

Well, now, the second letter to the Corinthians brings in this question of writing, and speaks of it as an accomplished thing in regard to the Corinthians; it shows that the christian has a heart different from the unbeliever's; he has a heart different from the

heart he had before he was converted; he has a heart different from what it was before he was born again. In other words, he has a heart of flesh, as it is called here. Hitherto he had a heart of stone. The Scriptures not only speak of man's heart being adamant (or stone-like) naturally, but man makes it that, too; he hardens it -- a terrible process, the hardening of the human heart. God says He has a means of breaking even that, for His word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. But still there is the process, the solemn allusion by the Spirit of God to the hardening of the human heart by the person who has it; he does it himself. Pharaoh did it, as you know, and most of us no doubt have been guilty, and we are enjoined as christians not to do it. A solemn example of what happened to persons in outward relation to God who did it is spoken of in Hebrews, and we are enjoined not to do it -- "Harden not your hearts", Hebrews 3:8.

Well, the Corinthians are regarded as having hearts of flesh. Of course, you say, naturally that is so. We have to understand words in their context in Scripture, and the fleshy tables of the heart here manifestly allude, not to the natural heart of man, but to the heart softened by the work of God. The Old Testament spoke much of this, God saying that He would give His people a heart of flesh. He said He would take away 'the heart of stone', and He has before Him, beloved brethren, to take away all the stone hearts presently, so that His laws shall be written on every heart -- "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9); what a prospect! He has begun to do it, and I believe the Corinthians were intended to be an epistle of Christ to remind men that He is doing this sort of thing. An epistle is an important thought -- being "manifestly declared", says the apostle, "to be the epistle of Christ".

That is the Corinthians, but, before I enlarge on that, I want to speak about those who minister, what kind of hearts they should have -- surely not less softened than the hearts of those ministered to; and hence the apostle refers to some of them who were saying he needed a letter of commendation. Just think of the hardness of the brethren, so-called, in that city! That they should turn in their minds against the very man whom God had used to convert them, to bring the light to them, and classify him with the most unknown person in their midst, and say that he needed a letter of commendation! He says, "Ye are our letter". Oh, you say, would they have to come to Corinth to read Paul's letter of commendation? No, they did not. He moved about. He moved about very much, and he says, "Ye are our letter, written in our hearts". What a word for those who seek to serve the Lord's people! What a challenge to the place the Lord's people have in our hearts! The more you serve them really, the more you love them. You would never call them rebels, nor would you speak ill of them. If you have to speak the truth about them, that is another matter; Paul did that, but it was not characteristic ill-speaking, no, never. He says, wherever I go, I bring you up, you are written in my heart; I cannot help it, as it were, and you are known and read of all men. Not only do I speak about you, but the people I speak about you to, see you are in my heart. If I heard Paul speak about the Corinthians I should say what a love he had for them, what a love he had for those saints! He had been eighteen months with them. I know well enough the difficulty in getting to know the brethren personally, for the reason that one has so little time to be with them. Eighteen months certainly gives you an opportunity to see the varied beauties of the work of God coming out in the saints. The more you see that, the more you love

them, and that is exactly how it was with the apostle Paul. He loved them and he says, "Ye are our letter". Who could question that he was an apostle, that he was fit for fellowship, a man that could speak of the saints as he could, and did, and show that he loved them, for you could read in his countenance what his heart was in regard to those saints!

Well, what a delight that is to heaven in regard to the ministers! And then he says,"Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart:" The last clause brings me to what I have in mind for old and young here about these fleshy tables, and about this clearance from earthly associations that I have been speaking of, about this status that God gives us collectively in this world, "one body in Christ". Is it to be marred? Are we not to retain softness of affection for Christ and for one another? If we leave the thought of this holy status, this holy elevation the Lord gives us, we merge into the world and the hardening process begins. It is as sure as anything can be, that if I slip back in any measure into the world, the hardening process begins. "Harden not your hearts", says the Spirit of God. But the world has that effect upon us in spite of ourselves, hence the need of keeping clear and of maintaining the status we have, the initial status we have collectively, according to Romans. That is, we are one body in Christ; we are in association; christians are an association in that sense, but not a partisan one; they have a status outside the world -- one body in Christ.

Now see what divine hands can do with us; there can be divine writing, for God can write and He has now material that He can use. How one would like to be able to convey what that thought is, the divine lettering, the writing of divine thoughts on the saints,

and that not with ink or on tables of stone, but on fleshy tables of the heart! It is a matter of life, that God can write on men, as it were, write down His mind on us so that others can read it. How important it is to be clear of worldly associations! To be material for this writing, it is essential that we should be clear of them, whether we are in them in a voluntary sense, or an involuntary sense. The divine intent is that we should be clear in the matter; cost what it may, we must be clear. God says, 'My rights require it, I need you for writing, and you must be clear in the matter', clear for what He has to convey in His writing; it is not simply the Bible, but on the fleshy tables of the hearts of christians. So that the epistle of Christ is readable. We may see one part of the letter in one brother, and another part in another, and the more you know of the brethren, the more you will understand what is intended to be conveyed so as to be readable, as seen in the saints. They are softened, mellowed, subject to God, subject to Christ, and subject to one another, so that the Spirit of the living God is free to use whom He will to minister in this way, the writing of Christ. If it be a question of what is local, God has something to work out. In the economy of christianity there is only one assembly, but it is subdivided, and we have the plural in the use of the word 'assemblies'; we never have the plural in the use of the word 'house' or body of Christ. The "house of God" is one idea and the "body of Christ" is one idea, but the assembly is subdivisible. And so we find in a city like this that there are those that God can write upon. He has something to work out in this city. I believe -- the more I look into it, dear brethren -- the cities of the world have a great place with God, and He intends to work out in every city what is needed as a testimony in that city, and for this He requires material. He says, I am ready to do it, I am here always to

do it. But it is a question of material and the material is to be, as I am saying, marked by righteousness, by imputed righteousness on the ground of faith, the ground of the death of Christ and reconciliation, so that God is complacent in us. And secondly, that we are living, that we are alive, so that the Spirit of God has liberty to operate, especially if there is nothing in us, in our ways and associations, that calls in question the rights of God. God says, I am ready to do it, and it is a question of material"ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart".

Well, now, in the second scripture I read in the book of Revelation, we have this remarkable writing that the Lord speaks of. It is a writing that applies to remnant times, and it is an exalted kind of writing. I do not know of any other writing so exalted as is contemplated here, save that which is on Christ Himself. In chapter 19 of this book we are told that the Lord Jesus is coming out of heaven, in a military sense, with the armies of heaven following Him to do battle with the rebellious nations of the earth. When He comes out He has a name written; it does not say who wrote it, but it is written, and no one knows that name but Himself. That is to say, we are in the presence of the inscrutable. That must be the most exalted thought in writing, and then again, we are told, He has a name on His garment and on His thigh -- "King of kings, and Lord of lords". It does not say who wrote it. It is there, it is indelibly there. Writing from God's point of view is to remain; it is indelible, and no one can question that great 'General-in-chief' and the great "King of kings" in that day. Christians look with great encouragement to that great war, that can only end one way, when the beast and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire and their armies consumed

in a most humiliating way. Such will be the issue of the conflict against Christ. But He has those names written; this book speaks much of writing, and it raises the whole question as to our position at the present time. There is the writing; there is the seal of the living God spoken of, put on the foreheads of the bondmen of God in chapter 7; there is writing on the foreheads of the one hundred and forty-four thousand in chapter 14, too; the name of the Lamb's Father -- what a beautiful thought that is ! Again we find in the very last chapter the name on the servants of God, on their foreheads, for they serve Him and shall go no more out. I refer to these as showing how prevalent the idea is in the book of Revelation.

And then over against that, we have the sorrowful thought of a mark -- a mark, not writing -- a mark of the beast, a terrible thing, coming, and already come, too, in principle today. Satan is working with a view to that end. It is a mark, as if there is not much intelligence in it; there is arbitrariness in it; there is ferocity in it. The point is, it is a mark. Do not forget it, it is his mark, the mark of the beast, and of his name, and of the number of his name. God takes issue with that in the next chapter; He takes positive issue with that thing and challenges those who have got that. He abominates it, He hates it, and enters into the lists to deal with it, and with all those who have it. It is a mark. I do not say there is not the writing; the name of the beast must be written out; the number of his name is given us indeed, six hundred and sixty-six, but the mark has not much intelligence. Writing involves intelligence, and, as I said before, outside of what I have already alluded to in chapter 19, I believe this writing in chapter 3 is the most exalted kind of writing; it is that of Christ Himself on the overcomer in Philadelphia. It is one of the most interesting phrases I know of; He says, "He that overcomes,

him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name". Let us in a spiritual way abstract ourselves in mind and heart, and contemplate what the Lord means. He means you, or me, for He is speaking to us now and He is saying to each one of us that the overcomer of this particular time is going to come in for this. The overcomer of this particular time understands what I am saying, that is what the Lord says in effect. He is speaking to people who understand what He means. He never offers a reward save as it is understood and appreciated. That is the general thought, that you understand the thing and appreciate the thing. He knows you do, and He knows you appreciate it, and He loves to go over it and impress upon you that He knows you appreciate it. So He says, "him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more ... out". Did you ever think of that wonderful phrase, "the temple of my God"? Did you ever think of that phrase "my God" on the lips of Jesus?

What does that mean? Four times over He used it here. What can it mean, dear brethren, but that the Lord is taking account of the light that is coming to us, and of our reception of it? He means that the thought of God is clearly before us, and that it is not only the Creator God, nor the Redeemer God, the Saviour God, but Jesus' God, Christ's God. These expressions are not accidental; they are used with the greatest care and accuracy, and the Lord has in mind to encourage us inasmuch as He has given us light, and we have received it, and He is honouring us. I do not wish to arrogate anything at all; what I am speaking of refers to the assembly, but it is a question of "overcoming" here and the Lord saying, as it were, 'You have taken in the light and are

responding to it, and I know it, and I propose these things to you, and I will make you a pillar in the temple of My God. You are going out now; you may have to suffer; you are suffering, but the time will come when all that will end and I will write upon you the name of My God'.

Let us stop, as I say, and think of all this spirituality -- what it is to stand alongside of Jesus and hear Him say, "My God". What a current (to speak reverently) is flowing Godward in His heart! He knows God; He knows the absolute as well as the relative; He is part of the Deity. He knows it, but He has taken man's place, and He says, "My God". He never says our God; it is "My God and your God". He knows Him in a way we cannot know Him, but still it is the same God, and what a wonderful thing it is, what privilege, what education, what formation is implied in standing alongside of Him, hearing Him say this! What feelings, what affections! And He would draw us into that, you see. He says, "I will write upon him the name of my God". He does not say what that name is; it is a question of your understanding; He is appealing to your understanding: "the name of my God". It is what is radiating from that term, from that appellation used by the Lord Jesus, "My God" -- Jesus' God. And then the name of the city of My God. That is to say, He contemplates, He gives us to understand that He assumes we value the idea of the city, the city of God. It began early, the early saints looked for it; God prepared it for them. Now He says it is "the city of my God". He prepares it for us, but it is the city of "my God". "And I will write upon him the name of my God"; you already understand it. I believe the Lord alludes to the great care He has encouraged us in, the care for one another, and the light that should radiate from us in our taking counsel one with another, for "in the multitude of counsellors

there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14), and He teaches His senators wisdom -- and there is light radiating from the brethren at the present time, and we in this way know what He is speaking about. It is the city of His God; that is what it is. The Lord takes up whatever little knowledge we have and accredits us with it and conveys to us the whole thought: "I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name".

Does not all this require the best kind of writing material? I think it does, and the Lord would have us to understand that in everything, whatever it be, there is refinement; there are grades, so that we, too, judge of and approve the things that are more excellent. And what honour, dear brethren, is involved as we yield ourselves to Him in this way, so that He may write upon us these great thoughts of His in these last days! Is it not in His mind that there should be a permanent testimony while we are here, a steady testimony of these great thoughts? It certainly is in His mind that the thing should be fixed, as it were, that these great thoughts should be fixed as written.

Well, all I have said is what was in my mind, dear brethren, and I commit it to the Lord, and to yourselves, and to oneself at this particular juncture.

THE DIVINE LEGALITY OF OUR POSITION

Matthew 3:13 - 17; 2 Timothy 2:19 - 22

J.T. These scriptures are suggested only as initial. Others are in mind, the intent being that we might consider evidences of the legality, the divine legality, of our position in these last days. Matthew carries that thought in view of the assembly and in view of remnant times, too, so that the assembly should not be lost sight of; so that there should be the moral evidence of its identity; and the genealogy or generation of Jesus Christ in this gospel is intended to show the legality of His claims as appearing in Israel. The gospel, of course, was written long after the Lord went to heaven, and it had christianity in mind. You have forty-two generations, "wholly a right seed", showing how the seed in the royal line came down incontestably. It was not written, of course, for earthly people, but for exercised and honest souls, so that they might be assured that the ground on which they then stood was of God.

The line runs down to Joseph, husband of Mary, as we are told, of whom was born Jesus, and Joseph was a righteous man. And then Jesus was righteous and the ground He took was to fulfil all righteousness. That was the ground He took and the setting of it is in the announcement from heaven of its delight in that Man. So that righteousness is the keynote of the position and the second letter to Timothy shows that it is also the keynote today of our position. The foundation of God stands, having a seal on it that the Lord knows those that are His and that everyone that names the name of the Lord is to depart from iniquity. The Old Testament furnishes remarkable illustrations of this principle of establishing legality to what is of God; what is current and professedly

of God. As for instance in the days of Jephthah in the book of Judges, the Ammonites disputed certain territory held by Israel. Jephthah showed it was held by Israel legally, given to them by God as the result of the conquest of an enemy devoted to destruction. And in the days of Ezra, a search was made and showed that the building of the temple was a legal action and brought to light that Cyrus had ordered the building of the house, so that those who wrought at it were able to proceed with confidence.

P.L. Would the title deeds which were put into the earthen vessel in Jeremiah's day be in accord with that?

J.T. I think that is right. Those that were open and those that were sealed. Perhaps you will tell us a little more about them?

P.L. Faith's confidence in the faithfulness of God.

J.T. It is a very important point to keep clear before us, for many are not too sure. It is important to be on sure ground, using the word 'legality' in a more or less metaphorical sense. The position is divinely legal, of God, having in it inherently its own title deeds.

A.M.H. Is it your thought that we would have more power in testimony if we were more firmly established on divinely given ground?

J.T. Some move along with others who are sure the path is right, but perhaps they do not have their own feet on the foundation of God.

E.B.McR. Joseph, although he was the son of David, got assurance from God by the angel in the dream.

J.T. That is good. There was a moral link. Not only was he in the line, but he was a righteous man. He could say, as Peter did in regard to the sheet, "it came even to me", a very great fact. The generation given reached down to Joseph, but then he had the accompanying moral element in him,

namely, that he was a righteous man and faced a difficult position; he knew what to do, following on the word from the angel. It says, in chapter 1: 20, "While he pondered on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream", so that he had the conscious assurance of things, being a righteous man. We shall not come into divine assurance now by angelic means, but by the Spirit and only as we are righteous. Righteousness is the moral basis.

J.C.S. And being in touch with heaven, receiving divine communications.

J.T. God recognises righteousness. He is, as it were, bound to it.

J.C.S. Would the acceptance of the legal position save us from being governed by what might be natural?

J.T. We do not need to have recourse to any human expediencies as knowing our ground. Heaven recognises righteousness, and aside from it heaven will not be pleased, nor will there be any assurance.

W.W. It would lead to much greater liberty amongst us if it were so.

J.T. We would have more power in speaking to our brethren. You are on a sure footing if you have the seal. It is a sort of inherent feature of the foundation.

This position of Joseph is peculiar to Matthew. It is mentioned, of course, in Luke, but is stressed in Matthew as the line comes down to him. He is the great end of the line, being the husband of Mary, of whom is born Jesus. Joseph is representative outwardly of the line of the generation of Jesus Christ and he is righteous and if he is righteous he is ready to sacrifice. He would do what was right, though it was a difficult matter. Righteousness will never take short cuts, it will do what is right.

Rem. Righteousness exalteth a city.

J.T. So that a king shall reign in righteousness and princes rule in judgment. Those coming in in relation to the Lord know how to maintain judgment in the light of His righteous rule. Righteousness is the key. What you see here is that heaven honours a righteous man. An angel of the Lord appeared to him saying, 'Joseph, son of David'. He is owning his royal relations as belonging to the royal line. It would be incongruous to address him in this way aside from righteousness, nor is there any moral or royal dignity attaching to us aside from righteousness.

J.C-S. Do you think that if a difficulty arises, pondering would bring in the answer?

J.T. The pondering is to be noticed. Joseph did nothing hastily. It was the pondering of a righteous man. It was a great delight to heaven and an angel immediately appears to him.

Ques. Would you say a righteous man was of great value in the assembly?

J.T. That is what I thought we might see, it is a question of the assembly. Matthew has the assembly in mind in this wicked world and how it is to act there, and go through.

A.M.H. This man acted in a way legalising the whole position for Israel.

J.T. Exactly. Who could challenge the generation of Jesus Christ as seen in such a man? Who can challenge the position today if those holding it are righteous?

J.C-S. Do you think that at this point the legal line is hanging on a very thin thread while Joseph ponders?

J.T. Outwardly it is generally so, especially in remnant times. There is always enough in remnant times to give the enemy opportunity to act.

W.W. Does Matthew here indicate that in a difficulty the answer must come from heaven in relation to the assembly?

J.T. This gospel makes a great deal more of heaven than any other gospel and the assembly is to be representative of heaven. Peter tells us of what happened in Joppa, he says the vessel came even to him. Well, did it find a response in him? Is he to respond to and to be characterised by the vision of the vessel coming even to him? If he carried on in his Jewish narrowness and exclusiveness, then the appearing would be futile as far as he went. But he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Heaven looks for that, for subjection and obedience.

In what follows much comes out in regard to Christ. It is a wonderful unfolding of His deity, in such a small compass. "All this came to pass that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord, through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, 'God with us"'. And that really is the sequence of all this. There is not only the recognition of righteousness, but God identifies Himself with righteousness -- God with us. Having awakened out of his sleep, Joseph did as the angel enjoined him. He was obedient. What wonderful light, what richness of thought we have here! A righteous man is very rare in this world. Heaven peculiarly values a righteous man, especially in a day of unrighteousness like this.

P.L. Did God commit himself unreservedly in His conversation with Abraham to save the city for ten of them?

J.T. Ten righteous men? Quite so.

W. W. Does trustworthiness go with righteousness?

J.T. That is what comes out in the next chapter. Joseph has qualified so that he is now entrusted with the little Child. Even in Egypt he is entrusted with such a treasure by heaven, and that is the idea of the testimony. It works on these lines, of trustworthiness

and obedience; and the treasure is the little Child in the second chapter, involving a measure of maturity in the testimony. So that he shines in chapter 2 as a custodian of the testimony of God, and what a great thing that is as developed out of practical righteousness.

J.C-S. Does practical righteousness mean that we are right in our relations with God, with men, and with one another?

J.T. Just so. Here it comes out in a man's relations with his wife. All relations are to be right, including business relations.

Rem. Joseph was prepared to accept responsibility.

J.T. Yes. He maintained the relation into which he had come. He knew how to keep a covenant.

Rem. Does it mean that we need to be careful that our relationships are righteous in every sphere?

J.T. That is the teaching of these chapters, and they are very significant because Matthew has the assembly in mind, particularly at a time when Jewish teachings would disallow the claims of christianity in those early days. This gospel is to establish the rights of Christ. This element of righteousness is most important. Morally we cannot be aside from righteousness and hence it is the leading thought in 2 Timothy 2.

J.C-S. That is what is alluded to in the firm foundation.

E.B.McC. It would come in in the thought of Emmanuel, God with us. While it alludes to Christ, is it not a continuation of having God with us?

J.T. That is the order of the truth. It is taken from a section in Isaiah which contemplates the remnant. Emmanuel as a Babe, God with us. It corresponds with what there is now by the Spirit in any gathering of God's people where righteousness is manifested.

W.W. "Lo, I am with you ... unto the end of the world", Matthew 28:20.

J.T. That is the carrying out of this thought. It is the very last statement in this book. It is remarkable how Matthew introduces his treatise by the word 'book'. The word 'book' is the first word in this account of the Lord's ministry, death and resurrection. It is significant, because the idea of a book is that the record or evidence is there. As the Lord says Himself, "In the roll [or the volume] of the book it is written of me". Anyone can see it.

W.W. Would that be like the charter of our position?

J.T. That is the idea. The record is there.

J.C-S. Is it that the record can be appealed to at any time in regard to any question?

J.T. That is the meaning of it spiritually. "Book of the generation of Jesus Christ", we cannot take it up literally. I suppose it would cover the whole of the treatise here, and confirm what we are saying, that the thing is available. Evidence is available the title-deeds are available -- as to the position being divinely according to God, legal.

J.C-S. Does the Lord coming in in this chapter suggest the seal of these records?

J.T. I think you have the full thought, as you might expect, before He enters on His service.

"Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness". Joseph could not say that, still there it is as a standard set up by the Messiah, by Christ, before heaven honours Him, too. An angel appeared to Joseph as a righteous man but now heaven is opened to this Man -- to Himself, as if to assure Him of its delight in that word "all righteousness" -- fulfilling all righteousness.

E.B.McC. Then you have the record, too, in chapter 2, concerning Bethlehem of Judaea, written

through the prophet, and giving the true account of the Lord coming in.

J.T. Matthew makes much of quotations from the Old Testament.

A.M.H. Would that help us to see that we use Scripture in connection with what we do and take up?

J.T. Matthew has a way of speaking in connection with the Old Testament being fulfilled by such and such an action; it is to make the link strong, for the testimony of God is one.

Ques. Would you show how the citation of the position by Jephthah bears on this matter of righteousness (Judges 11:14 - 27)?

J.T. It is an important side of it because it alludes to an attack that may be made upon us at any time. It illustrates what we are speaking of. It was an attack by the Ammonites on the territory that Israel held from God. Jephthah carefully goes into the matter; he must have had the books of Moses and he knew them. Morally he gained his point and the matter was settled in that he could establish the divine legality of the position. If we establish righteousness God is sure to support us in that position. The matter is really morally settled. He appeals to Jehovah the Judge.

J.C-S. Would you enlarge on this, "it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness"?

J.T. "All" is stressed, all righteousness. Righteousness entered into His accepting baptism. Not that He needed it at all, but it was in relation to others; He identified Himself with those who turned to God.

J.C-S. Giving them a lead on that line.

J.T. Exactly. In Luke, as all the people were baptised He comes in at the end as if to confirm all they did. If you are moving on right lines the Lord comes in to confirm what is done. Sometimes He comes in before, and sometimes after, in confirmation.

E.B.McC. The position was disallowed by the Jews. He came from Galilee, not from Jerusalem.

J.T. Matthew makes a point of Galilee. That is where the Lord saw the disciples after He arose. It is the remnant position, the place of religious reproach.

E.B.McC. I thought in that way it would set forth our legal position today. It is not official, but it is legal.

J.T. The fact that we are from Galilee does not cast a shadow on our position. If we are under reproach from the religious leaders of the world, we may be sure we have the mind of God.

P.L. The passage in 2 Timothy shows how outward circumstances of reproach are bound up with the position.

J.T. Prison might cast a shadow upon Paul in the minds of some, but he had finished his course and he, too, is concerned about books.

W.W. Is the thought that as we move this way, we see things in connection with the assembly? If you are moving along these lines the Spirit of God makes things clear to you.

J.T. That is the point, and heaven's owning the Lord here is very significant in the sense that He is assured. Of course He would be assured personally, but the manifestation is for us. The heavens were opened to Him and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him. He was the object of heaven; that was for Himself. Then the voice is, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight"; as we are assured in our own souls, heaven calls our attention to Him.

Ques. Have you any special reason for referring to books?

J.T. It is important that Paul sends for them. He directs Timothy to bring them and the parchments which, he says, "I left behind me in Troas at Carpus's". The connection is very remarkable; the

connection of Paul's treasures with Troas, when you think of his presence and long discourse there.

A.M.H. Is not the thought of books important? We do not take some new ground. We go back to what is recorded in Corinthians as establishing our position.

J.T. Very good. Books would convey the idea of complete or varied testimony. There is a constant appeal to books in the Old Testament; certain books are named. If you are needing confirmation go to these books. What good furnishings from one and another of His servants are available to us on these lines!

You reach the value of them in the library of God. It is not only book, but books; we should know how to use them. Books are authoritative. "I understood by books", Daniel says.

F.W. We might be content to rely on books, especially those of us who are brought up in a favoured position.

J.T. The suggestion in Timothy is the library of God; there is such a thing as that. Travelling gives opportunity for looking into books. No doubt Timothy would bring those books; they were not to be shipped or mailed to Paul, they were to be brought so that the books and the parchments and the cloak would all afford something for Timothy to think of as coming to Paul.

Ques. What would the parchments have reference to?

J.T. They suggest something to write on, possibly further writing. Paul was not giving up those, though he was about to go to be with the Lord, having finished his course.

J.C-S. How are we to understand the Spirit descending and coming on the Lord Jesus in this connection?

J.T. It is heaven's committal. It is the voice of the Father, heaven's committal; He is owned. His

deity, of course, enters into it. You have the Deity here, the three Persons, speaking reverently. These things are written, not only in regard to the Lord Himself, but they refer to what we ourselves are brought into, the link with, and acknowledgment of, heaven. It is a question of moral qualities, heaven finding its delight in what is here.

A.M.H. Have you something similar in the Acts? In the first chapter in connection with right dealing in regard to one of their number; in the second chapter the Spirit filling the house, and in the third the word, "Look on us", Acts 3:4.

J.T. The result of the Lord's own work is seen in the first chapter during the interval of ten days before the Holy Spirit came. It is seen by itself and in the second chapter heaven owns it. The best sample of it is in Peter and John going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. Peter says, Look on us. There was something there in testimony.

Ques. Is the voice from heaven public? You spoke of the dove being personal to the Lord.

J.T. Well, the voice says, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight". The heavens are first opened to Himself. "He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him". The second part is for testimony. If heaven is pleased with us it will call attention to us; that is the principle. What a sight Peter and John must have been to heaven! I think the force of the record in Acts 3 is they went up together. A beautiful bond is between them.

E.B.McC. "It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness". The Lord moves on that line with John the baptist.

J.T. He does; only the latter is not included in heaven's recognition. John in his gospel gives a beautiful touch about John the baptist, that he saw the Spirit descending on Christ, but heaven does not

include John the baptist in its remark. The point is that heaven calls attention to what it is pleased with.

J.C-S. Why is it in a different order in Luke? It is Himself personally in Luke.

J.T. It is to make it more personal. Luke has that in mind. The Lord began to be about thirty years of age, it says, as over against old people. But now heaven has got exactly what it sought in testimony.

J.C-S. Is there any suggestion here that God has anointed and marked off One who is to stand in the relation of King?

J.T. You get that throughout this gospel. After this He is tested and ascends the mount of legislation, unfolding, as King, the principles of the kingdom. Chapter 4 brings out His answer to the testing in the wilderness, and then His position at Capernaum as residing in a city -- another point in regard to our testimony as in the city -- light sprang up there, we are told. That is the order of the testimony, light springs up.

W.W. Do you suggest that these things should be worked out in our local companies?

J.T. That is what is in mind: all righteousness and heaven's delight taking that on, pleased with it in testimony; then how it answers to the test here in the temptation; and then what there is in a practical way, light springing up. If these circumstances are amongst us there is a living state of things, light and life.

J.C-S. Thus the position is valid. Who could question it?

J.T. It is unquestionable.

Rem. In chapter 4 the Lord uses the words "It is written" every time.

J.T. In 2 Timothy we read, "those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart". It is a moral state of things and you have to know the persons pretty well,

for it is not merely a question of saying they are in fellowship, but it is a question of their hearts, not simply that I am following these things mentioned, but with these people; it means that I am industrious in finding the people that are described here. It is not a great public position; you have to find these people.

J.C-S. Righteousness is emphasised as coming first.

J.T. In keeping with what we are saying it is the leading thought, the first thing to think of, especially in our times -- remnant times.

J.C-S. Does it apply to what we might speak of as religious associations and so on?

J.T. More particularly, only the word "youthful lusts flee" is a suggestion of the continuance of the testimony, that it is not in old people, though, of course, they would be valued. Luke shows that the Lord began with old people, Zacharias, Elizabeth and Simeon and Anna, but it says, "Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years old", Luke 3:23. That is the divine ideal. In Luke 2 He is seen as a boy of twelve. I think that the Lord is speaking to the young at the present time. It is remarkable how many are coming out, and it is very encouraging, but the testimony requires them to flee youthful lusts.

The word "flee" is remarkable. I think Joseph in Genesis is a great type for all young believers in the testimony: he fled the danger. It is urgent if we are to be in the testimony, because the testimony requires young people if it is to go on.

W.W. Is that suggested in the word "pursue"? Only young people can pursue.

J.T. It is an energetic idea. "But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart". The two words "flee" and "pursue" point to energy, energy negatively and positively in young people.

J.C-S. Do you think youthful lusts would suggest what is natural in the young man and what he is to provide against? He is to be prepared to flee them.

J.T. Energy is what is needed. As sure as you dally with evil it will catch you. It is energy that is needed, as seen in Joseph.

J.C-S. We are told in Romans to make no provision for the flesh, but this goes further than that, does it not?

J.T. Then there is the pursuit of righteousness. Make that your first point. Whatever the application may be, see that you are right.

Ques. Would you help us in balancing the two features, the young and the old?

J.T. You mean young brothers and old brothers. That is a very important enquiry, and Scripture abounds with help. Beginning with Genesis we find it is an old man's book; old men are prominent in Genesis, but Joseph represents the youthful side, beginning at seventeen; and the spiritual touch is seen in relation to him at the time of his birth. Jacob says, 'I must go back to my own country'. At the age of seventeen Joseph is in the testimony. He represents the youthful side and is said to be a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. He has got sap and his roots are rightly set. Then in the book of Exodus I think Joshua is the personal type of youthfulness. The first mention of him shows that he is trustworthy; he is entrusted with the formation and leadership of an army. Moses says, "Choose us men", Exodus 17:9. It is us. He is to do it for all Israel, not for himself, not as a partisan. Then Joshua is seen later as abiding inside the tabernacle so that he qualifies in the ministerial books to become a leader into the inheritance. Another feature of Exodus is that the youths of Israel are called upon to offer sacrifices; they act as priests. You could not have these things aside from what is

mentioned here, the fleeing of youthful lusts. The old man's side is also seen both in Genesis and in the ministerial books because Moses suggested to Jehovah to set a man over the people and Jehovah selects Joshua, a man who has the Spirit. It is quite apparent that Moses meant that in speaking to Jehovah, and Jehovah directs him to stand before the tent with Joshua; so the old brother and the young brother are there in the presence of God. And Moses has not lost vigour; he wrote a song that very day. Moses does it immediately and well, so that he is not retiring as an old man with no power. It is a question of the will of God. An older brother would be quite content to see any movement going forward in the hands of the young, the old ones quietly giving the young ones room, so David takes Solomon on the throne with himself.

J.C-S. How do you account for such a state in the meeting where you have the young and old in conflict?

J.T. It is a sorrowful state. The young qualify by fleeing youthful lusts as Joseph, and Joshua and Samuel.

J.C-S. You mentioned Samuel. It is beautiful to see how he grew up with Eli and there did not appear to be any resentment on the part of Eli, and Samuel is never at any point in conflict with him.

J.T. God entrusted Samuel with His mind about Eli. Sometimes we might think the young should not be allowed into the counsels of the brethren in the care meeting, but Jehovah saw fit to allow Samuel into His counsels when he was very young.

Rem. Youthful lusts are what the flesh is capable of, especially in the young. But are not the old liable to them? This passage concludes with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. That seems to govern the situation.

J.T. The pure heart.

As we were remarking, you

have to know people to find out their hearts. We cannot walk at a distance but must keep near to them to know the state of their hearts. Those of us who have been young know something about youthful lusts. No one needs to go very far to find out what that means if he searches his own history. They may continue to our old age.

E.B.McC. Does this declare our legal position and would it cover chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew?

J.T. These chapters on the mount deal with all these things in us; they deal with the roots of all these things.

J.C-S. Instead of shutting out young men from care meetings, if we appealed to the books we would find it is perfectly legal for them to be there.

J.T. They are entitled to establish their legality to a position in the care meetings. It is not, of course, that they should take a lead in the counsels among the Lord's people. Other scriptures provide for the elders. Grey hairs have no value aside from moral qualities; a man is what he is, and he must have moral qualities to give him a standing in the council of God. Joseph was to teach Pharaoh's senators wisdom, showing how a young man may do that. Calling on the Lord out of a pure heart might describe qualities that may be alluded to. God calls attention to what He is pleased with.

G.P. Would it be set forth in 1 Timothy 4:12, "Let no one despise thy youth"?

J.T. That is your own business. It is for a young man to see that he has moral qualities so that no one can despise his youth.

Rem. Matthew speaks of the foundations being on a rock.

J.T. That is in mind. As regards a pure heart, the Lord includes that in what He says in chapter 5"Blessed the pure in heart, for they shall see God". These people with whom we are walking will see God,

a very great matter surely. We bring that into our assemblies, seeing God, having pure hearts.

J.J.J. Is the calling on God an energetic thought?

J.T. It means that we do not rely on man or on ourselves, we invoke the Lord. In Corinthians we read, "All that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ", 1 Corinthians 1:2. The allusion is there to the general profession, but here it is dealing with remnant times and you must become personally acquainted with each believer and find out what is in his heart. It means intimate acquaintance with the brethren.

J.M. Would you explain how it works out in practice, to see God?

J.T. It appears in our assembly meeting. The way we come into it corresponds with John 14, 15, 16 and 17. This scripture links on with John 14. The Lord there, having spoken about coming to the disciples, refers to the one who keeps His commandments. "He it is that loves me", He says, and He will manifest Himself to him. That alludes to the time of the remnant. And thus the question is raised as to how He does that and not to the world and the Lord says, "If any one love me, he will keep my word ... and we will come to him and make our abode with him", John 14:23. The Father and the Son come to us if tabernacle conditions exist. I think these verses contemplate tabernacle conditions. We see God. It says in Exodus 24 that they saw the God of Israel. That was necessary in view of the tabernacle. It is in the tabernacle that you see Him. It is where He shines and would love to be seen. "To behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple", Psalm 27:4.

W.W. God's love is known in the covenant; "They saw God, and ate and drank", Exodus 24:11.

J.T. It is in view of tabernacle conditions, they saw Him up there.

"HE TAKES AWAY THE FIRST THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THE SECOND"

Hebrews 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:47 - 49; 2 Chronicles 21:1 - 15

I intend to refer to other scriptures, that will be known to you as I mention them, to make clear what I have in mind, but I confine myself to the reading of these. What is in mind is the statement in Hebrews 10, "He takes away the first that he may establish the second". The great culmination of that is in the passage in 1 Corinthians 15, which I shall touch on later.

The statement in Hebrews 10 is a great general principle which has marked the dealings and ways of God since sin came into the world. The necessity for the taking away of the first was evident from the very outset, and in effect was there when Adam was driven out of the garden with no possibility of return, as of "the first"; and what is to be observed is the failure of the men of faith, the most distinguished of them, to observe this principle.

I read of Jehoshaphat's failure, hoping to dwell upon it at some length, but failure is also seen in such a great servant as Abraham, who would retain Ishmael, saying to Jehovah, "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!" Then as the true character of his son Ishmael as a persecutor was disclosed, Abraham was slow to remove him. Then another great servant, Isaac, failed in trying to retain Esau, the first-born. And even Joseph, great and relatively free from error as he was, failed on this point. So did Moses in regard to the circumcision of his son, and so did Samuel, a man who had all these examples before him; yet he would have anointed the firstborn, Eliab, in the house of Jesse. I mention all these

things, dear brethren, because of this ever recurrent danger and tendency with us, even if spiritual and experienced; and the secret of the weakness amongst us, and the errors, too, and reprehensible conduct, is the failure to carry out this great outstanding principle.

I shall touch on a few of these instances in Genesis again to bring out the positive side, but I wish to show how this failure I have alluded to is particularly exemplified in Jehoshaphat. We may take him to be representative of conditions in most of our meetings at the present time, and indeed of the history of the assembly as more or less recognising the rights of Christ and recognising the Spirit, for Jehoshaphat was a good king. He loved the Lord. There can be no church status at all aside from this, for it is out of love to God and to Christ that we show our loyalty, keeping His commandments and practising righteousness. Aside therefore from love to God there is nothing. If we have not got love, it says, we are nothing. In however little a measure it may exist in a company or a person God owns that company and that person. He has them always in His mind and they have first place with Him at all times. Lovers of God, according to Scripture, exist at all times. You will remember how He spoke of them at Sinai, when demanding love as He had a right to do; in asking that, He spoke of the thousands who love Him and He has them in His mind; they are the positive side to God's operations. They afford Him constant pleasure; they are the drink-offering all the time to God and He puts up with much because of them; but then He never conceals any discrepancies from those who are responsible. Love will not fail to bring forward discrepancies, because it is not love at all to pass them over. God is slow to anger, we are told, but still He never forgets anything in this sense. He requires what is past, and the Holy Spirit

being here, He has perfect first-hand knowledge of what exists in every gathering and in every person. So that the process goes on all the time. Heaven is intent in all these things and has its pleasures, but there are these discrepancies and in such great servants of His they are marked out, even in a Joseph; he does not get off. It culminates here in Jehoshaphat who is spoken of as one who loved God and was a good king and God honoured him. But he made unholy alliances, and perhaps one might say that there is not a gathering of the saints of God that is free from this. One person in the fellowship contracting an unholy alliance affects everyone in it, and so as regards other discrepancies. Obligation rests on us all wherever there is such an alliance, all are affected, and so though Jehoshaphat was particularly marked as a good man in the main, yet he entered into an unholy alliance. The result is seen in Jehoram, who is made king, but not because he had any kingly qualifications; there is no word said about these. Qualifications must precede the idea of office, if we are to follow the mind of God. That is to say, the moral state must be there before the official. The first Psalm is the moral side of the whole book, the godly man, and the second Psalm is the official side. It is a most important thing to remember that the moral side comes first. Now Jehoshaphat makes nothing of the moral side at all; he is going on with the first in this matter; he stresses the firstborn. He had other sons, and according to Elijah's testimony they were better than this one, but Jehoram was made king because he was firstborn. That is to say, Jehoshaphat is running contrary to the mind of God in this matter, he is considering for nature; he is considering for the first and not for the second. He is establishing the first while God is establishing the second. And this truth comes home to every person here; first as to the disallowance of the first

in yourself -- the epistle to the Romans teaches how that is to be done -- and then if there be a family, the disallowance of the first in the family; if there be acquaintances the disallowance of the first there; and if we are in the fellowship of God's Son, the disallowance of the first in that. So that the principle runs through in the history of the believer in all his relations from the time he becomes a believer until he comes to the end when he is conformed to the image of Christ, the heavenly, for as we have borne the image of the earthy -- that is the first -- we shall bear the image of the heavenly. That is the great positive objective that is in God's mind; He has reached it in Christ and He is looking for correspondence to His mind in us and is not deviating from it one iota.

You see it in the book of Job. God takes away the first family with a stroke because Job had allowed them to pursue their way on the principle of the firstborn. They were feasting in the house of the firstborn when the wind came and destroyed them all. God took away the first but in order to establish the second, and this is done in the last chapter of the book. It is a most important and serious matter for every father and every mother, as to what they are going on with in their house, whether with the first or the second. Baptism implies the second is for you, and the first is to be taken away. God is doing it and you are doing it.

Jehoshaphat failed lamentably. The names of his other sons are given. Why so? There was something good in them. Elijah says so in his writing; they were better than Jehoram. Apparently Jehoshaphat made the selection of the worst man in the family. It was not because Jehoshaphat was a wicked man but because he had refused to accept this principle that the first is to be taken away and the second is to be established. It would seem that he even took on

Jehoram before he died, he handed the kingdom over to him because he was the firstborn. The names of the others are given and he loved these sons apparently; he took care of each of them and gave them great gifts but his prime thought was the firstborn. He was running contrary to the mind of God. The natural mind says, Of course the firstborn should be king, but the spiritual mind says, Of course he should not be king; he is the last man that should be made king; he should never be made king; he is a murderer. Our natural hearts are so mean; they are capable of murder, and that is exactly what took place with Jehoram. When he was established in his kingdom he slew his brothers. He was marked by hardness of heart and that is what the first man is and he is in me and everyone here; he is capable of murder. If one hates his brother, we are told, he is a murderer, and every one of us is capable of hating. There is no mistake about that; it is a feature of the flesh -- "hateful and hating one another" -- and the allowance of that in me as a christian means that I am capable of murder. You say, 'That is very strong', but it is the Spirit of God that says these things. The flesh is no better in a christian than in an unbeliever and hence the importance for young christians and all of us to begin on these lines; to set aside the first, to do it methodically, constantly, and with power. You have the Spirit to enable you to do it and hence you need never be guilty of hatred. There is no such thing as assuming that anyone would murder another literally but it is the state of the heart that it in view; it is capable of this.

What comes out here, if we apply this, shows what God is going on with; and that is exactly the side I think, because Jehoram sits on the throne of David. God says in effect, 'In spite of this murder and hatred I am going on'. If it were not for this grace of God there would not be a gathering that would

stand today. It is because He is going on from His own point of view, because of the covenant He went on in spite of the murder. God goes on with us because of Himself -- we marvel how He does it. The Lord would not destroy the house of David because of the covenant He made with David. He has the means of going on consistently with Himself because He has set up a wonderful system in heaven in Christ, and the Holy Spirit is here to carry on the principle of self-judgment with us so that God can go on with us. He does this from His own point of view, and hence hundreds of meetings exist that He is going on with. It is most encouraging in spite of the hatred and murder. Is He then to let it go on? He forgets our sins on the ground of redemption, but He does remember them as His governmental ways go on; He forgets nothing, He requires what is past.

Where these conditions exist among the saints generally or in a gathering, Edom gets rampant and rebellious. That man is the characteristically false brother; he will show his hand. These broken conditions amongst us open the door for Edom to rebel. He should not have rebelled. The blessing of Jacob required that he should rule over Esau but Esau insisted on a blessing and of course the blessing he got suited him. He roams about, he lives by the sword -- he is always ready for a quarrel -- and he essays for the dominion as soon as he can and whenever he can.

So here the Edomites surrounded Jehoram. It is a terrible thing to be surrounded by false brethren, creeping in unawares. Jehoram overcame Edom but never recovered his dominion. It is a very solemn thing because the broken conditions among us, arising from lack of love, are certain to open the door to rebellion. I think this incident is intended to illustrate the culmination of what I have been saying on the negative side, the disregard of the principle of

setting aside the first so as to establish the second. There is no establishing here at all. The only ground on which God can go on is the ground of what He is Himself, and that is a poor thing from our point of view. It is a great thing from His point of view, that He can retire into Himself and go on with His people in spite of conditions.

It is a sorrowful thing that there is no establishing here of anything at all for God; even if there are some little exploits there is no establishing the second. So what we get is a writing from Elijah. It might be difficult for most of us to find out how Elijah wrote this to make it fit historically, but it is the spiritual side we have to consider. It is a written testimony. Not that we have anything on record of Elijah's writing, there is no book of Elijah such as the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The bearing of Elijah's ministry was current. This writing is a sort of treasure, it deals with the final end of the first, the utter shame attaching to those who go on with the first. Jehoram is really antichrist. He is the full-blown representative of the first, the man after the flesh. He was very like Judas; he is a sort of counterpart of Judas. The bowels are alluded to, the want of affection, the want of right feeling, the want of sympathy with others.

It is very beautiful to consider David's compassions for Saul after all he endured from him, and how he composed an ode to him. What beautiful feelings stirred David as he reverted to the history of Saul, in the book of Jasher, "He bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow. Behold, it is written", meaning that it is a question of uprightness to be able to compassionate our enemies and not to slay them. This writing from Elijah represents the written testimony of the prophets to the culmination of the allowance of the first -- shame and degradation. It stands, it is a testimony to the want of compassion.

Let us not be wanting in compassion. "I beseech you ... by the compassions of God", says the apostle. How he experienced those compassions and encouragement! We are encouraged of God that we may be able to encourage others.

Now the positive side comes out in the book of Genesis, where we see how the second is maintained and the first set aside. We get the best illustrations of Scripture to show how the thing is effected. So I would allude first to Sarah, the mother, when Isaac was born. Ishmael had been born some thirteen or fourteen years before, he was the first and had been in the house all those years. Abraham had prayed for him, 'Jehovah, will you not take on this firstborn of mine? Let him live before Thee'. That was Abraham's mind. He was going on with the first, but as soon as Isaac comes in -- that is Christ in a spiritual sense -- Ishmael's character comes to light. I am saying what may apply to that which is spiritual in any one of us, in a family or in a meeting. He that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit. It goes on in a meeting according to Galatians and it goes on in a family as with Joseph. What is to be learned here is the mother element; that is the spiritual maternal feeling that is proper to a company of saints walking professedly in the light of the assembly. Jerusalem above is said to be our mother, not Jerusalem in heaven; the thought is elevation, as Abram, which means 'high father'. Sarah took on the thought; she refers to the spiritual instincts, the motherly instincts that are proper to a gathering of saints professedly walking in recognition of Christ as Head and of the Spirit and of one another. We do not want the first; we do not make special friendships with brothers or sisters because they are likable to us in a natural way or because they are of the same spiritual status. The disallowance of the first means that I renounce all

personal friendships. Love makes the most of every member of the family. Personal friendship is according to the man after the flesh. So Sarah says, 'Cast out this handmaid and her son; for he shall not inherit with my son'. That is what the assembly says. Secondly you get the paternal side, the element of eldership which speaks of responsibility; the leader or male side is the responsible side. No one can exempt himself from that, and it appears in Jacob. He set the first aside for the second. You will have healthy conditions if these two things run together, that is, the responsible element represented in the father and the maternal instinct that discerns when there is a persecuting spirit against the spiritual. If we have these two things running together the second will prevail and be established.

Then thirdly we have Jacob viewed not as a parent, but as a brother. That is at the outset of his existence. He took his brother by the heel. That alludes to spiritual instincts in a christian amongst the brethren. He sees the first asserting itself, it may be in himself, it may be in another brother. I am not to bow down to something in another that I refuse in myself. If I recognise that the first is to be disallowed in myself I am not going to allow it in another. That is the basis of his name, Jacob, a supplanter. The idea is, I am going to be spiritual, I am going to displace the first element that is so prominent among us. The spiritual is sure to overcome the natural if I insist on it. So Jacob takes his brother by the heel, and that was the end of Esau. Of course the mind of God had put them in that position. Jacob did not know that; his mother knew it but not he. It is a question of instinct. If a brother or a sister is endeavouring to prevail on natural lines, you can displace that by spiritual power; it is a question of spiritual instincts. I am not going to let them have that ground. I am going

to displace them. The spiritual overcomes the natural. That is exactly what Jacob did. He resorted to a subterfuge, I admit, but he gained his point. It was the mind of God and he had begun to act according to the mind of God, before he knew it. It was a question of instinct, and in the end God says, "I loved Jacob". Occupy the ground spiritually and to that extent you will negate the first and establish the second. The history of Jacob shows how the second was established in him. What a history it is! That family of twelve sons and four mothers required the greatest patience to work it out. But in result it was worked out and we shall see the names of the twelve patriarchs in the gates of the heavenly city. The "second" is prevailing, the "second" is established, and it began when Jacob as a babe supplanted the first.

That leads on to 1 Corinthians 15. It is a great fundamental, stimulating chapter, finishing with this, "But thanks to God, who gives us the victory"

(verse 57). I want to be among that "us". It is not the first; it is not persons on the line of the first who get the victory. Paul represents the second; he says, "Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me ... for when I am weak, then I am powerful", 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. He was establishing the second, and begins on that line with the cross. The cross is the full thought of God in setting aside the first; it is His judgment of the first. And that is what the apostle is insisting on. "I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified", he says (1 Corinthians 2:2).

His crucifixion is the vicarious setting aside of the first in order to make room for the second. The whole earth and the heavens, beloved brethren, will be filled when the second is established. We want to join in this now, to be in accord with God in the setting

aside of the first for the establishing of the second. So here we have, "The first man is of the earth, earthy": it is not his wickedness, it is what he is made of. The second is the Man out of heaven. As it further says, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly". How very searching that is, as to whether I am earthy in my outlook, in my books, in my service, in my way of living, in my business, or in the bringing up of my family. If I am earthy, how significant it is, "as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy".

And then he goes on, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly". Bearing the image of the earthy is not the same thing as being earthy. Being earthy is characteristic; bearing the image of the earthy is simply physical. As we have borne it, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly, but already the thought of our being heavenly is made known to us and the intent is that we should not be characteristically earthy, but heavenly. And as heavenly here we set out the mind of God as to the second; we establish it. I would like to enlist the sympathy of all the brethren here on these lines. If we have not begun intelligently we can begin now. It is a question of attitude of mind to begin with; the principle is laid hold of in the soul and accepted definitely and worked out. God is with us day and night as we take up this principle and this attitude of mind, and the Spirit is with us supporting it. It results in the second being established in me, in my family, in my business, and in the meetings amongst the brethren, so that in accord with heaven we move on in view of the Lord's coming, when He shall change our bodies of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory. That is the full thought, dear brethren. The second is to be established in us in that way by the

power of God, in our being either raised or changed in an instant when He comes.

This should help us in the solution of the difficulties which exist in every gathering that I know of. It is a question of facing all this and finding God with us in power, the second being established and the first taken away.

A SINNER CUT OFF AND A SINNER CONVERTED

1 Kings 20:35 - 43; 2 Samuel 12:1 - 13

You will see, dear friends, that I have read about two kings: one of them, Ahab, who is spoken of in the first scripture, was an inveterate sinner. He is said to have been the worst of all Israel's kings; having added to his wickedness an alliance with Jezebel who was a murderess. The other monarch, David, well known, was not an inveterate sinner, but a great saint, a prophet, too, and a psalmist, but also a sinner. He had after his conversion committed two great sins, one of which is mentioned in the passage I read. I will come to him finally, but the similarity in these two passages is striking: the one king, Ahab, guilty in the passage mentioned of failure in trust, a common thing amongst men; indeed, it has marked men from the beginning; the other, David, guilty of covetousness; he had been enjoined not to covet his neighbour's wife, and he did, and his covetousness led to murder.

Ahab's sin particularly in view here is failure in a trust, as I said; such is very common; it began indeed with Adam and Eve, and has marked perhaps every man and woman ever since to some extent. Adam, as you will know, was entrusted with dominion, and with the care of the garden; he was to dress it and guard it. And we are told later that he transgressed in this respect; he was put under covenant in regard to the garden, and he transgressed. He was covetous, too, and he failed in trust, and that is the particular sin spoken of in this passage I read in regard of Ahab. It is for each of us to see whether it applies to us, as unconverted, if indeed there be such here. I hope there is not. You may say to me, 'Well, we would expect that you would be glad if

there were those unconverted here'; but I cannot but be glad if they are all converted. If every single person in this room is converted the more thankful I am, and it will not in the least interfere with what I am saying. If there are any unconverted it is for you to challenge your own heart as to why you have failed under this heading. There are many counts against you, but God is often pleased to take up one particular count; in these scriptures it is one sin, in each case. David's was a dual sin, but it was really one, covetousness begetting murder. It is God's way indeed to convict under one heading.

The number of sins of which Ahab was guilty would be beyond count as far as we are concerned. The Spirit of God stresses that he was an exceedingly wicked man, but He confines Himself here to this one count, that he was untrustworthy in a trust committed to his hands. He had had wonderful consideration from God and if there is one unconverted person here tonight I can say the same to you, that you have had up to the present time wonderful consideration from God. You may have never thanked Him once; the air you breathe, the food you eat, the sun, the clothes you wear and thousands of other things are evidence of God's consideration for you; and so it was with Ahab. It is indeed striking that God spoke so often to him, and that kindly, giving him support in two instances, so that he was able in war to overcome vastly superior armies to his own. And in many other instances God showed consideration for him in spite of his wickedness. And so it is that God is showing consideration for the Ahabs at the present time, particularly those in responsibility. In a sense Ahab represents the whole christian profession, he represents the responsibility in the profession, while Jezebel, his wife, represents the corrupting element in the profession. He is responsible for her. He, Ahab, is particularly responsible,

and God is constantly showing him kindness and consideration, supporting him against his enemies. And so today God is working in christendom, for the preaching is in christendom; this is not a partisan meeting, it is not sectarian. The gospel preached here tonight is in relation to the whole testimony of God and every meeting like this has the same character. They carry with them the evidence of God's consideration for christendom. In such meetings as this there is a clear sounding out of the testimony of God in the gospel and that testimony is for the Pope, for the Archbishop, for every dignitary in christendom, as well as for every poor man and beggar, for God is no respecter of persons, and the testimony today is for the whole profession. God is carrying on in spite of adverse conditions and apathy on the part of those whom He would serve, and so in this particular instance God is focusing his testimony on Ahab under the count that he is responsible for a charge. And so this prophet suffers in order that the testimony that God intended should come to him. No one is rightly affected if not in some sense characterised by suffering. Paul said he endured all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

So this prophet says to a man, "Smite me". Normally it would be 'Do not smite me'. But here he is a witness for God ready to suffer. He would present to the leading man in the profession the divine thought. In order that there should be salvation for men, and a gospel testimony, there must be suffering. There are those who advocate a bloodless christianity, who would either deny the atoning sacrifice of Jesus or becloud it, but God is insisting that the only ground on which man can be saved is through the atoning sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how can we present it more effectively than by suffering ourselves?

Those who present the testimony are to have some sense of this characteristic. So this man says to his fellow, "Smite me". The man says, 'No, I will not do that'. Possibly he was a unitarian, one who would say, 'Why should a loving God cause anyone to suffer?' But then, beloved friends, if we are to be exempt from suffering someone must suffer; that is the gospel, that someone has suffered, "that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried", 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. He "himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24); the Lord Jesus Christ entered into death and not only death but crucifixion. He suffered. So this servant of God asked a man to smite him. 'No', he said, 'I will not do that'. He did not believe in an atonement through suffering, that is the spiritual meaning of the passage. He was in accord with the king, who let the king of Syria, the enemy of God, off without penalty, and this is what we are doing if we are not converted up to the present time, we are letting the culprit off without suffering and talking of the world as if it were not under penalty. God is calling to account about it. He would say, as here, 'You have let a man go whom I have appointed to destruction; you are giving him full rein -- as far as you are concerned'. This man says, 'No, I will not smite you, christianity does not demand that'. 'Well', the prophet says, 'If you do not smite me, you will be smitten'. If you refuse the atoning sacrifice of Christ, that it meant suffering from the hand of God, that a just God must punish sin; if you refuse that you will suffer and you will die in your sins without hope. You will be raised in them, and consigned to eternal punishment in them. It is a terrible thing to deny the atoning sufferings of Jesus; there are those who do it. Well, presently a lion came and slew the man according to the word of the Lord, and then the prophet said to another, "Smite

me", and he smote him violently. That man believes that the Lord Jesus was smitten violently; he believes that the Lord Jesus endured unmitigated judgment as the Sin-bearer, that He endured the cross, that He endured the forsaking of God. That man smote the prophet violently and wounded him; he is now in correspondence with Christ; he conceals himself and waits for the king. You may be just like that, in that God has had an ambush here waiting on you. The prophet knew the king would pass there; that man was unfaithful to God, and this testimony of God was waiting by the wayside. You may have been invited to come here tonight, and the testimony is waiting for you; this meeting here tonight is in order that there may be a word for you. So here is this man, he is thinking of the sinner who has failed in his trust, who is unfaithful in his covenant, and he says to the king, 'A man brought me a man, and he told me to keep him, and that I should pay a talent of silver if I did not keep him; I was busy, and the man is gone'. He is excusing himself. What is he doing that for? He is putting the thoughts of the king into words which immediately came into his mind. God, as it were, would apprise you of the thoughts that arise as the testimony is brought to you, as you are convicted and as the light strikes you. If you wish to resist it you will excuse yourself, you are 'busy', but you cannot get off like that, you know; God will not let you off. In this gospel period God is aiming at man's conscience; you may trifle, you may excuse yourself, but He will not let you off; He has a way of keeping the thing on your conscience that you may confess. If you do not confess as time after time God has brought it to your conscience you may be like Ahab, suddenly cut off, and that without remedy. Ahab says, 'Well, you condemn yourself', but the prophet says, 'It is you'. It may be there is somebody here that will criticise

others in order to screen himself, but the testimony of God is that you are the person. And Ahab went to his house sullen and displeased; there was no self-judgment with him, there was no heart humbling with him. He had allowed the king of Syria his liberty although he was the enemy of God and the enemy of God's people. Is that a small thing? No, God says that is a great thing and Ahab's life hung upon it, and he was cut off without remedy. How solemn that is! He had another opportunity, it is true. He was covetous, and his wife relieved him by killing Naboth, and God again convicted him and Ahab humbled himself, but it meant very little, as the next chapter tells us that he was cut off without remedy. He is a striking example of hardness of heart in men who even know something about humbling themselves, and yet pursue their wicked way and are cut off without remedy. May I appeal to anyone like that here tonight. You are particularly guilty, in that you have transgressed in this way, if you are not a believer in Christ. God is calling upon you to judge yourself. Do not be like Ahab and return to your house sullen and displeased. Humble yourself before God for it is a question of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I go on to David and here the case is very different. David, although guilty of great sin, knew how to judge himself. What is so remarkable about David is that he is said to have had a seer, his name was Gad; he had him almost all his life. We read of him in the cave of Adullam, and we read of him late in David's life when he sinned in numbering the people. Why bring that in, you say, what has Gad got to do with this? It means that David always allowed something near him to prick his conscience, he would never have a seared conscience. The real difficulty with many christians who sin, and they do sin and need to be converted when they sin, is that

they do not keep the conscience right. David never dismissed Gad. So when he committed the great sin of numbering the people Gad was there, and God used him. So it is when anything happens to any of us, if I have a conscience, if I maintain my conscience, if I do not disallow my conscience, then I am safe, for God can get at me. If I harden my heart, if I steel my conscience, as they did in the wilderness, then there is no hope. We must keep on our Gads. Gad was said to be a seer. He was a prophet, of course, but he was a seer, and the idea of a conscience is that it discerns when we are unfaithful to God. We may be untrue secretly or publicly, we may dismiss our Gads, and go and do as we please and the course may be long and the end sorrowful, but if we retain our Gads as accusers we are all right. We read indeed of consciences that excuse, but they are not divinely given consciences. David kept his Gad with him, he was a man that would accuse David when a sin was committed. Here you have Nathan. David never complained about Gad or Nathan, he was always ready to listen to them. He had committed a great sin; he had coveted, and he had committed murder to cover his covetousness. He had not judged it; he was guilty of it and God held him to it, for He requires what is past even in a christian. Nathan is available to God and he comes in fearlessly to the king, and speaks his parable. How gracious of God to get round us in that way! "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing at all but one little ewe lamb". How affecting! It was such a parable as would appeal to a man like David. God knows how to speak to us as sin occurs; He knows just what will reach your conscience and He prepared His servant Nathan to speak this beautiful parable to the sinner. How gracious! David deserved to be smitten; it was a

terrible sin, but David loved God at the bottom, he was a true believer.

It may be there are those here who are true at the bottom but who have turned away and committed sins, whose consciences are not clear. A christian will not get clear until he confesses. If we confess our sins He will forgive us; God forgives confessed sins.

So Nathan goes over the ground touchingly, and David said, 'That man deserves to die!' So he did, but he did not die; God was gracious to him. You may have confessed Christ in earlier days but now something has happened. God is peculiarly concerned about those in whom He has wrought. The woman in Luke 13 was bound for eighteen years. So here the devil tempted David to do this great sin, and it has not been settled. God is now approaching the sinner that the sin might be judged and forgiven.

There is forgiveness for you on the sure ground of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. God had forgiveness in mind in sending the prophet Nathan to David, but not until confession was made could this be realised.

So the prophet speaks his parable, and says to David, "Thou art the man!" I may be speaking to some one here tonight who would judge in someone else the very thing he is guilty of. That is exactly the case with David. He not only took the wife of Urijah but he slew Urijah, though he condemned with anger the man who took the ewe lamb from the poor man.

God is here tonight to get at some conscience, to get you to turn and judge yourself instead of someone else. David could judge somebody else well, but Nathan says, 'You are the man'. David does not go to his house sullen and vexed; that is the great and glorious difference between him and Ahab. He says, "I have sinned against the Lord". I do not ask you to come out here publicly, but get to God and tell Him about the matter. It may be an old thing of eighteen years ago as in the case of that woman in

Luke 13, or it may be a recent matter. Whatever it is and whenever it happened, God is calling on you tonight to judge it, and to be free in your soul before Him, and before your brethren. God is calling upon us as to these things, and if we are true men at bottom we will come forward and tell God what David told Him, "I have sinned" -- there is no palliation, no excuse. I would allude to Psalm 139, in which the psalmist appeals to God to search his heart. He appeals to God to try him and to search him to see if there be any wicked way in him; to lead him in the way everlasting. And then Psalm 51 -- the psalm every one of us should study, for our hearts are extremely mean, and we need to be constantly in self-judgment -- that psalm is like a bath that we should take now and again and we should maintain the effect of it always. "Blessed are they that wash their robes"; that psalm is excellent for that. The historic psalms are always helpful because the heading tells you the circumstances in which they were written. The heading of Psalm 51 is just those circumstances I have read about tonight. David had committed a terrible sin, and the psalm shows how deeply he felt it, but he went to the bottom and reached Zion. So it is if anything happens to us, we come back to the counsel and mercy of God, and we shall see that God has had in His mind to bring us back, to restore us to privilege. The psalm shows us how David reached Zion. He had dreadfully dishonoured Zion, he had caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, but he stands out as a glorious contrast to Ahab. He is a type of a believer who gets away from God, and is recovered. And now God is speaking to you to bring you to your senses, that you may confess to Him, and come out in repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Spirit of God would appeal to you. The apostle Paul reasoned with a man about righteousness and

judgment to come and the man was moved. So, too, with Agrippa. "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian". What force there was in the apostle's appeal! One would love to know of anyone needing an appeal, anyone who would say, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian", Acts 26:28. But you need more than that, you need a complete breakdown as to God, a complete persuasion that neither death nor life nor any other creature can separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:38, 39). That is the kind of persuasion one would seek for your soul and it comes by repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. David says, "I have sinned against Jehovah", and then Nathan says, "Jehovah has also put away thy sin; thou shalt not die". What a beautiful word! There was no such word to Ahab, as he returned to his house, sullen and vexed. David did not do that, there was restoration of soul. The chapter goes on to tell us how beautifully David was restored, he moved in the light of the grace of God. And the grace of God is here tonight in a far greater way than it was then. David arrived at a point where he could bless God. May God bless his word to all of us.

THE ELEMENTS THAT MILITATE AGAINST THE FAMILY OF GOD

John 1:11 - 13; John 9:35 - 38; John 11:5

I wish to speak of the family of God as presented in this gospel and of the elements that militate against it; more particularly of the elements that militate against the ministry intended for its instruction and guidance and refreshment. In view of speaking of the latter I shall have to refer to other scriptures besides these three, but I thought of confining myself to these three as on the positive side of the subject and to refer to others as the address may require.

We shall find what intrudes in chapters 2 and 7. These negative features may be divided into natural relationships and religion as currently accepted in the world, and will be spoken of under those heads. The enemy is inveterately active to becloud and spoil the family of God. John has it in mind throughout; he was a suitable vessel unto the Lord for this purpose, one who valued affection, valued love. John pours contempt upon any system or person devoid of love. Judas is outstanding in this and John never fails to cite the Lord as knowing Judas. The Lord was never in the least degree unaware of Judas, who he was and what he was. No love is negative, but hatred is sure to be there along with such a condition. Before John proceeds very far in his gospel, he reaches the main point, namely the family. He speaks of the Lord in these early verses as no other scriptural writer speaks, establishing incontestably His deity and speaking of Him not simply as a phase of the Deity, but as a Person in it, One who is designated as God. The Word was God. And he pursues the thought as to the Lord here in flesh, saying, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew

him not". The Person here in flesh was the Maker of the world. It did not know its Maker. What it must have been in the Lord's mind in this relation is to be meditated upon, how He felt in regard to His own work. He was in the world, and it knew Him not; He made it, but it knew Him not.

And then, He came unto His own. There were those that were His own, involving the whole testimony rendered in regard to Israel. All the beautiful expressions and pleadings under the title Jehovah in the Old Testament come into this. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. That is how the matter stood.

And then the divine family, the family of God is introduced; they are marked off as receiving Christ. It may be there are some here who have not received Christ. "As many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God". It is presented in this way: they received Him. It marks the family of God; it marks the members, that they receive Christ. And they are accorded the right, as it says, to be children of God. A right is something that is to be taken up and if God accords us a right He loves us to take it up. He has accorded those who have received Christ the right to be His children, and lest it might be in any way disparaged, for we are apt to belittle our greatest privileges, John says, "See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God", 1 John 3:1. All the dignities of heaven would bow to that, would recognise our rank. We are called; that is our rank here; we have the right to take the place. And then John shows that we believe on His name and that we have been born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That is our lineage, it is indisputable. Lineage, birth, is greater than creation; we are the creatures of God, too, but birth is greater: we are born, as it says, of God. Our

position therefore is indisputable. It is not adoption; children are not adopted, sons are adopted. The only son not adopted is Jesus; He is born. "Thou art my Son; I this day have begotten thee", says Jehovah (Psalm 2:7). He is unique in that as in many other ways. We have received the adoption, the sonship, but we are born children, and hence the peculiar kind of dignity attached to the family viewed in this way. Nature goes with it; the divine nature goes with it, that is, the family feeling and instinct and nature. So that you say that person has not only the right to be a child, he is called that, and he is that. The word 'called' does not mean that I am called into it, but I am addressed in that way and I am that. "Now are we children of God", it says (1 John 3:2).

Well, now I want to make this work out in the local setting, because that is how christianity becomes more tangible and concrete to us, especially if we are not travellers. It is what you see worked out in a company of believers in a locality. John works it out in chapters 9 to 12 and later in its general bearing, culminating in chapter 20. They were not called children there, but the brethren of Christ, the family thought. That thought runs through into eternity, dear brethren. "Go to my brethren", says the Lord to Mary, "and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God". Those very words may be used, and will be used in the eternal state of things. Think of those words being used in eternity -- "My Father and your Father", "My God and your God", "My brethren". He will be the Firstborn amongst us, anointed with the oil of gladness above us as He is now, but still that is the setting, My Father, your Father, My God, your God. All that enters into John's gospel, and I want to show how it works out locally; so chapter 9 takes up a man who is an outcast.

He is outside all worldly religion, not by his own

act but by the act of that religion. The family cannot be developed in the accepted religions of this world. You may take that as an absolute truth; not that you may not get light, for there is light in religions professing Christian ground. Wherever doctrines of Christianity are held in any sense, even in a creed, there is light and God works in relation to that. Most of us, perhaps, would not be here tonight as we are, were it not that God operates in relation to those systems, but now we have nothing to do with them because they are not according to Scripture. But God is greater than all, greater than our unbelieving hearts, and He rises above all these incongruities and iniquities that exist in Christendom and operates in spite of them, as we see for instance in Moses and Aaron, who were at one time typical of lawlessness. Moses called the people of God rebels and he smote the rock contrary to divine command, and yet water flowed in spite of that. And so today in spite of man's lawlessness, God is operating, and the water flows and the light shines and the Spirit operates and men are born again. That is going on all the time; but notwithstanding all that, you may accept as absolutely true that the family of God cannot be developed in a humanly organised worldly religion. Given all credit possible, it is absolutely true that there are no conditions for the development of the family of God in a humanly organised and humanly recognised religion. Hence this man was still among the Jews in Jerusalem in chapter 9. The Lord opened his eyes in Jerusalem. Many of us have had our eyes opened in these circumstances, but his faithful confession of Christ as a Man who had opened his eyes, led to his being cast out. And that is another absolute truth, that if, in any of these organised religions of the world, a believer is faithful to his light, he will be cast out. If he stayed there it must be a compromise between

truth and evil; if I am loyal to the truth there can be no room for me there.

Now, the Lord heard it. These are great incidents in heaven, great items of news up there. When a man is cast out of a humanly organised religion for his defence of Christ, it is a signal matter in heaven.

It is put that way, that Jesus heard it. Heaven has got ears as well as eyes. Of course God is all-knowing, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and the Holy Spirit is here having first-hand knowledge of every transaction, small and great, and yet it is put that way, that Jesus heard it, and He moved according to what He heard and found that man. He is looking for such men; such men are of the greatest interest to heaven and as soon as the Lord hears of any He finds them.

He found this man as an outcast. Now the Lord says in effect, This is the kind of man that I can use in the family, he belongs to it. This is the beginning of a section that culminates in chapter 12 where the Lord comes deliberately to the town of Bethany six days before the passover; coming in relation to Lazarus and others of the family there. The subject begins here. That is, the Lord is seen as over the house. He had said in chapter 8 that the Son is over the house and that if the Son sets you free ye shall be really free.

Now this man is cast out, and the Lord says, 'This is the man I want'. If there is one here tonight moved in any way by what I am saying, I would tell you the Lord is interested in you and He will move towards you and give you to understand there is a place in the family for you.

The first thing here is, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" The Lord does not say, 'Do you believe on Me?' Volumes of truth are wrapped up in that question. The Son of God is to be believed on, and as you take that ground as the man did here,

the Lord will instruct you, and qualify you, educate you and furnish you so that you may be in the family, in holy liberty and dignity in the family of God.

And then chapter 11 brings before us that the members of this family are loved personally. They are loved as a family, but they are loved severally, a very precious thought.

First of all the sisters send to the Lord saying, "He whom thou lovest is sick", and He loved that message. I am sure it was a delightful message that somebody knew that He loved somebody. How precious it is to know that you are loved personally by Jesus and others know that you are, and they tell Jesus that He loves you. "He whom thou lovest is sick". And then we are told that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus", so that there is no mistake about it. The sisters were right. They did not say to the Lord, 'You love us three', but, 'You love somebody and that somebody is sick'. But the Spirit of God does not leave it at that but goes on to record that Jesus loved each member of the family. Table talk amongst us is very often unedifying, degrading indeed; this young sister or that is engaged, that is very interesting, and so on. But do you ever hear it said that the Lord loves that young sister? It is a beautiful word, that the Lord loves that person, and then again that she loves Him. That kind of a conversation is listened to in heaven; heaven can join in that. As it says, "They that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another" (Malachi 3:16), it does not say what they said, but it does say the Lord hearkened and heard. He was pleased with what they said.

We might multiply suggestions of that kind so that the brethren might be more elevated in their table and supper talks, because the holy things ministered to us in these meetings are very often annulled by these talks and laughs and jokes. In order that it might be understood that these sisters were right, the

Spirit of God says that the Lord not only loved Lazarus but the two sisters as well. That is the family; that is the family at least in the sense of its members in a locality. That is what is in view in this section. Something was to happen in this locality that should glorify the Son of God, that should glorify God, and this shining out of glory should be in relation to love already known and there, Christ's love to these three. Love is the shining out of the divine glory.

The Lord remained away for two days deliberately and then He went to that town, and one of those sisters that was loved, heard that He was there and she went out to see Him. It was a great matter to her. She is the one that we should regard as the least spiritual of the three. The Spirit of God mentions her as the first of the three. Luke mentions her and leaves her grumbling with a rebuke from the Lord. But the rebuke was not for nothing, for John mentions her as a good sister, a lovable sister that the Lord Jesus could love. The Lord has a keen sense of lovableness. If Martha was loved in this way it was because she was lovable. His rebuke had been effective; she was a different woman now from what she was when the Lord entered her house first. This time she came to meet Him outside, but undoubtedly she was the least spiritual of the three, all facts considered. I am saying that because we are prone in our localities to attach undue importance to certain ones, and perhaps no importance at all to others; almost intimating that we would be just as well without them, a very sorrowful feeling to have.

Martha meets the Lord and she says certain things to Him and a conversation ensued of great importance, and it culminated in this, that Martha says, "Yea, Lord; I believe". Like the man in chapter 9 who said, "Lord, I believe", and worshipped Him, Martha says, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of

God, who should come into the world". The Lord said certain things to her and added, "Believest thou this?" and she says, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world", and she left with that confession; it does not say she worshipped Him. She went and told her sister about the Lord. She says, 'Mary, the Lord asks for you'. She does not pretend that the Lord was satisfied with meeting her, she says the Lord "calls thee". There was not a bit of rivalry in Martha's mind. But the Lord did not come to Mary. She was still sitting in the house. It looks as if she was the spiritual one in her own mind and she sat there.

We are not to rest too much on reputation; the sense of reputation is dangerous. I am not casting aspersions at this beautiful sister, for the Spirit of God exalts her, but she did not go to the Lord until He sent for her. It does not say the Lord told Martha to call her; it is as if the Spirit of God would say, 'Martha is not an envious sister now at all'. She gives her sister to understand that she has a great place with Jesus and that He is calling for her. All that makes for beautiful local conditions. It is the members of the family making as much as possible of each other. But the Lord says, 'I am not going to Mary', and He remains in the place where Martha met Him, as much as to say Martha has established the great general principle of the locality and Mary has got to come here. If you follow what I am saying, it works out locally in brethren making as much as possible of each other, as members of one family, having the same status, all called children of God.

I need not go further into this well-known chapter, only to point out that in the next chapter the Lord comes again. He comes now into the locality in view of Lazarus; particularly in view of Lazarus, but not, of course, ignoring the family. It was a

question of the family, and "there therefore they made him a supper". You will observe the adverb of sequence, "therefore", indicating that everything is working as it should work. Affections are free, light is governing the position and there is no rivalry in the family. You say, I have been in such a place and really it was delightful; everything was as it should be, one thing leading up to another and conditions such that divine principles and instincts operated perfectly, with the great and glorious result of the Lord Jesus being worshipped, worshipped in a higher way than the blind man worshipped Him. He is worshipped by a person in the family who sees that an opportunity has arrived, and seizes it, and in seizing it, acts in a most seemly way, having got what is just suitable for that particular opportunity. For the house of God is a place of opportunity; it is a living state of things, and a living state of things occasions opportunities, and if we are in accordance with the position we shall seize the opportunities and act rightly and in a seemly way, as Mary did here.

So we are told about Lazarus and then Martha and then about Mary, what she did. And in order to bring out more clearly that she is the one who did this, it says (chapter 11: 2), "It was that Mary, ..." and she is in mind in the whole narrative. Jesus is everything to her. She apprehends that He is going to die, and anoints Him in view of that and the house is filled with the odour of the ointment. Everyone there got the benefit of her action, that is the idea. The thought of the family is worked out in one member filling the whole house at a given point.

That is how it works out in a locality. Opportunities will offer and someone is ready. Watertight compartments are not suitable to the assembly of God. It is a living state of things and if I am ready to seize an opportunity I will fill the house, and this is the line on which things proceed.

We do not want to mar that, Judas marred it here, we do not wish to be in the company of Judas. He was the first one to break the silence, and what a voice! A wretched covetous critic of a worshipper of Jesus! That is how the matter stands. It is intrusion. Judas has committed the most abominable intrusion in an assembly meeting one can conceive of. Talking commercially in an assembly where Jesus is made much of and worshipped, where the house is filled with the odour -- think of a man talking commercially at such a time!

I come back to the two points I made negatively. The first is the natural link. One is thankful as one moves about for the family links amongst the brethren.

You get them in every town where the saints are, and if we are to marry within our tribe it must be so. Such links are ordained of God, right in themselves, but at the same time they may become an intrusion. They may become material in the hands of the enemy to spoil the family of God, to rob us of our privileges as of that favoured family, and here in chapter 2 the mother of our Lord, the most honoured of women, is seen acting in this way. It was a marriage, a time which always calls forth these natural feelings, and they have to be watched against. She says, "They have no wine". Now you might say that was seemly enough, but the Lord did not think so and I prefer to take His mind rather than listen to any other. He was very displeased about it. Some mother telling her son, who has a gift, to do this or that -- the Lord does not like that. Some sister, some wife whose husband is supposed to be a leading man, urges him to assert himself -- the Lord does not like that; and so one might multiply suggestions of this kind. If the Lord did not like it in His mother, He will not like it in your mother, wife, child or sister. And we do not want to displease the Lord. The Lord says to her, "Woman". Some people would say that was

very rude, that she was not doing anything out of the way, but if we think thus, it only means that we are not spiritual. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, God manifest in flesh, He must determine everything.

And Mary came to that at once. "Whatever he may say to you, do". She was adjustable. He had said, "What have I to do with thee, woman?" What a remarkable word that was in the mouth of the Son of God to His own mother after the flesh. We have to be spiritual to understand the force of that, and if the Lord felt in that way towards His own mother, you may depend He will feel exactly the same way towards you, or any mother who influences her son, or wife her husband, in relation to the things of God.

The next intrusion on the natural family line is in chapter 7, where we have the word "brethren", the brethren of Christ. These relatives were unbelievers, for it says (verse 15), "neither did his brethren believe on him". I have been speaking of one, a mother or sister or wife, in fellowship, but now we are dealing with relatives who are unbelievers, and their advice, of course, was worldly. They would say to a man of ability, 'Why do you not go and make a show of yourself? Get to be known in town as a preacher'.

That is exactly what they said here: "Remove hence and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see thy works which thou doest; for no one does anything in secret and himself seeks to be known in public. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world". Any such suggestion is want of faith.

It is what has built up christendom, falsifying christianity and making a show of it in this world. The Lord says to them, "My time is not yet come". The time of show is coming. We shall have show and dignity, and the world will see it. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory". But our time is not yet come. This time

is marked by concealment, hiding as far as we are personally concerned. "Your time is alway ready", the Lord says to them. The whole history of the world in every country makes room for this kind of thing -- 'make yourself prominent; be somebody'. And that is from persons who are related to us after the flesh, but they are unbelieving and we are not to trust them. They are instrumental in the enemy's hands in flattering us and they become a snare to us. "Woe to the world because of offences!" the Lord says. It is that kind of thing that is in view, and we have to be on our guard against our relatives who are unbelievers. In Mark 3:21 it is "relatives", a more distant thought than brethren, and they go so far as to say the Lord Jesus is out of His mind. That shows how little you can trust a kinsman. Spiritually it is hopeless to expect anything of a man after the flesh even if he be your nearest kinsman.

Finally we have the religious element. In chapter 1 instead of persecuting John the baptist, the leaders in Jerusalem sent a message to honour him, as much as to say, 'We are ready to take you on'. And they will, too. The leaders of the religions of this world are ready to take on christians, godly men; the more godly you are the more suitable you are, provided you recognise them. I have known of that -- godly men drawn aside and becoming officers in worldly organisations. You ornament the world by doing that. The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John, "Who art thou?" That was a great honour in those days. It was as if the Archbishop of Canterbury sent a message, 'Who are you?' conveying to me that he is ready to honour me, being in a position to do it religiously. How flattering that is, how deceptive it is!

"And this is the witness of John"; it is as if the Spirit of God is delighted to write such a record of a true servant. It says, "He acknowledged and denied

not", as if to suggest that he was too great a man to fall to that; he is not going to be taken in that trap -- flattery. It works ruin without a doubt.

So he confessed, "I am not the Christ". He was a witness of Christ, that is his business; he is here in that relation. And then they say, "What then? Art thou Elias?" He says, "I am not". If he had wanted to accept a little flattery he could have said truthfully, 'Yes, I think I am Elias'. But he did not, he was a true servant, loyal to God who had called him into service. "He who sent me to baptise with water". He was consciously a man sent from God. Flattery from the religious world is not good enough for a man sent from God; he will not accept religious honour. In verse 22, they say, "Who art thou?" "He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the path of the Lord, as said Esaias the prophet". Is not that glorious? I think John the evangelist, under the influence of the Spirit of God, just loves to put forward this great servant, John the baptist. John does not record any failure marking him; he gives us the bright side. He tells us of John the baptist as passing out of this scene, that he said of Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease". Jesus was all and in everything for him. That is John the baptist.

And so finally he says to them, "I baptise with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose". These verses from 19 to 28 are the Spirit's record of this great servant, how he refused to be moved in the slightest degree by religious flattery. He is the example for us in this gospel, the gospel for the family, that we should not come under religious influences or flattery of any kind, or we shall to that extent spoil the family.

May the Lord use the word to help all of us to

maintain the family, that we may keep it clearly in view, and disallow all intrusion, all that casts a cloud upon it and hinders its working, its enjoyment and affections.

HOW THE ASSEMBLIES ARE TAUGHT TO WALK

Acts 13:6 - 12; Acts 14:8 - 23; Psalm 80:1 - 3

J.T. The object in these scriptures being read is that we may see in them how the assemblies are taught to walk. It is said that God taught Ephraim to walk, and the passage in the psalm indicates his position in relation to the tabernacle in the wilderness. It was immediately behind, west of the tabernacle, and in the journey through the wilderness he came immediately after the ark. So that we have the idea of his position in the locality, but in relation to the whole position, not independent. Although seemingly at a disadvantage, being behind to the west, he was nearer the ark than any, and the psalmist calls upon Jehovah to shine forth before Ephraim and Manasseh; so that I think we have in the setting in the wilderness the idea of being taught how to walk, collectively. The tribes were set round the divine dwelling sovereignly and were represented on the breast of the high priest accordingly. They were loved and sustained in that way, according to the divinely given setting and position; thus the position assigned is to be accepted, and all that enters into it, whether joy or sorrow. We may see in these chapters in the Acts, and particularly in Paul's service, how intelligence is in mind, and how the material in view is to be according to that intelligence. So that the first person secured in this missionary service is an intelligent man who is amazed at the teaching of the Lord; he is ready for it, wonders at it and admires it, and the man at Lystra corresponds in that he heard Paul speak, and had faith to be healed. Paul saw something potential there and he spoke to him accordingly, bidding him stand upright on his feet.

It says in the passage that he had never walked but now we are told "he sprang up and walked". Then the apostles' ordination or selection of elders in the last verse read in chapter 14 shows how the assemblies were provided for. "And having chosen them elders in each assembly, having prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord, on whom they had believed".

A.M.H. Would you say a little more as to being near to the ark? These three tribes were together at the rear of the tabernacle and nearest the ark.

J.T. Well, it indicates that the position that might seemingly be at a disadvantage is really, through that very fact, advantageous.

A.M.H. The Lord makes Himself near in an apparently disadvantageous position.

J.T. Where there seems to be a disadvantage it only brings out the more the provision made.

P.L. Would Stephen illustrate that? Is he divinely set to westward in his martyrdom but he sees the glory of God and Jesus? Would that be like a view of the ark?

J.T. He developed from a westerly setting. The Hellenists were murmuring because of the neglect of their widows in the daily ministration. He arose out of that circumstance and developed out of it; he did not arise out of favourable circumstances. There are those who come in out of favourable circumstances and there are those who come in from dark and difficult circumstances. Stephen was a man marked by the Spirit and faith, and able to go through the conflict. Instead of being behind he soon comes to the front. You are in the front either sovereignly or morally. A man is what he is.

P.L. Gideon coming from one of these three tribes would illustrate the same thought?

J.T. You mean he was one of Manasseh and the least in it? Quite so. His father was poor, there was

nothing advantageous outwardly and he was working in very limited circumstances in the wine-press.

F.W. Would the cherubim have a specific bearing on the character of the ark in the psalm?

J.T. They represented the immediate government of God. Not only did He dwell there but He governed there. Cherubim in Scripture involve authority or government; God has to say to us if He is dwelling amongst us. We must bear that in mind.

F.W. I thought that had a bearing as to the movements of local assemblies.

J.T. Definitely. The psalmist begins with the Shepherd of Israel: "thou that leadest Joseph like a flock". And then, "thou that sittest between the cherubim". That is a solemn consideration, because the cherubim from the outset involved judicial dealings, beginning with Eden.

W.R.J.L. Had you in mind that these tribes were placed in a locality and the government of God was there to help them?

J.T. Quite so, and the shining comes in -- a beautiful thought.

A.M.H. Is there intelligence in that one is able to take account of when God moves and of His government?

J.T. That is the thought. "I speak as to intelligent persons". We are to discern the Lord. What precedes this passage is in the end of Acts 11, where we are told that Barnabas and Saul taught a large number of people in the assembly. They were taught in the assembly, it is the best place to be taught. Now in the assembly in chapter 13 there were certain whose names are given, who were recognising the rights of the Lord, serving Him. That was not to be detracted from, that was to enter into the service that was to go on. We can understand that as Paul and Barnabas went about, the converts would enquire as to Antioch and Jerusalem, and they could speak of what was

there, and that would involve teaching in the assembly, and understanding and intelligence as to it. It seems remarkable that we have this man, said to be intelligent, at the very beginning of Paul's mission. It says, "And having passed through the whole island ... they found a certain man a magician ... who was with the proconsul ... an intelligent man". The proconsul was an intelligent man.

J.C-S. It is often pressed that affection is preferable to intelligence, but must they not go together?

J.T. You will not have the assembly if you do not have them both.

J.C-S. Sometimes we deprecate intelligence, whereas the divine thought is that we should be an intelligent company.

J.T. I think that comes out in John 20. It is said of John that he looked into the sepulchre and then went in, and saw and believed. He believed through his intelligence. He saw the position of the graveclothes and went home. Going home is not a credit to him, but it is a credit that he judged things intelligently. He saw the graveclothes. Mary failed in that and you cannot have an assembly just with persons like Mary. She had love, of course, but she did not have faith and intelligence and she could not judge of things by what she saw in the sepulchre.

E.B.McC. It says of this man he desired to hear the word of God.

J.T. Very good. Having called Barnabas and Saul, he desired to hear the word of God. It is not a mere matter of curiosity. It is not, "What would this chatterer say?" as they said at Athens. He discerned that there was something more there. The word of God appeals to the intelligent.

P.L. The expression in this psalm, "Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved", is brought in three times and seems like a refrain running through the psalm. These three tribes were shut up to the

shining of God Himself, their great advantage in spiritual intelligence. Does "thy face to shine" bring in the intelligence?

J.T. It indicates that our position is not merely theoretical. We come together to stated meetings, week after week, and proceed on the same lines. There is a shining which involves freshness. Every meeting should afford something in the way of shining forth.

A.M.H. Would that have some bearing on the local conditions? The word of God would shed light on what was right and on the position locally.

J.T. So that in all our meetings, if a difficulty exists, you feel that on the coming first day of the week, maybe, the Lord will shine in this matter. Something will move us and clear the matter. The meeting for prayer is not simply a meeting to tell God about our burdens but shining takes place; it is the place where He makes us glad. His house of prayer cheers us. A good state of soul is a great matter in settling difficulties, the shining reflects that. There is intelligence and freshness and the light shines.

Rem. A Benjaminite would be a great help in that connection. As linked up with the two tribes mentioned Benjamin would come in with the intelligence of his father and bring in, not only weeping, but compassions.

J.T. I think Benjamin's history and the history of the tribes would have a great place in Israel. Benjamin would represent initially the overcomer in a dark day.

E.B.McC. This man in Acts 13 would take account of these two men shining out. There was the shining forth in Barnabas and Paul of the word of God. You take account of vessels.

J.T. That is how we should look at it. Benjamin stood out in a dark day. Ten brothers were murderers

in the household of faith, a terrible state of things. But he was not a murderer. I have no doubt that his history would be known. Each tribe had its history. He was associated with the house of Joseph and Joseph is mentioned in verse 1 of Psalm 80. Ephraim and Manasseh were the house of Joseph. They had an excellent history, these tribes -- I suppose they had the superiority in that way -- they were adjusted by the sovereign touch of Jacob. It is well to keep history in mind. On the other hand, it is what a man is now that tells, not what he was, but what he is now. But history has a place with God, genealogy has a great place with God.

E.B.McC. Barnabas was a man of compassion.

J.T. He had a good history, he was a son of consolation. These men issued forth from Antioch, where they must have had some excellent times.

In going through Acts we have to read between the lines or we shall never get the full truth, we must see things as a spiritual person would see them. What times they must have had in Antioch, and the Spirit speaks to them under those circumstances: "Separate me now Barnabas and Saul". The Lord had said earlier that Paul was an elect vessel to Him. So here they go forth throughout the whole length of the island to Paphos. It would look as if they were to be tested as to their service and it was not the proconsul they found first but this man, Barjesus as he is called, who was with the proconsul. Thus the position is very difficult. This man that the Spirit of God had in mind and who is described as intelligent, was with such a companion. How is he going to be dissociated from him?

F.W. Why is it that the Holy Spirit sends them forth and not the Lord?

J.T. It is to bring out the position of the Spirit here as a divine Person; that He is acting of Himself.

F.W. In the difficulty of the case I wondered if it

would need the Lord and His authority to deal with it, but it is the Holy Spirit.

J.T. It is to show that the conditions were subdued; a state of things existed in which the Spirit of God was free. It means when He speaks freely in this way conditions warrant it. That the Lord's authority does not need to be asserted is a very great thought.

J.C-S. This intelligent man represented that which would be in affinity with that, but he was under an influence which was going to hinder him and sometimes you may find that in the local assembly.

J.T. It is mentioned at the very outset of the service of these men, at the beginning of the preaching to the gentiles, that God was taking out of them a people for His name, really the assembly. That this combination should be met with is intended to show that any such combination in the assembly is a serious matter. They would say, We hope we will not meet this again. This man Elymas is not an ordinary enemy. He is sailing under false colours, his name is Barjesus, son of Jesus. He is a magician. His name is interpreted -- it indicates what the man really is; he is with the proconsul and he opposed them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith.

P.L. Such are found at the beginning and also found at the end, those who "say they are Jews, and are not", Revelation 3:9.

J.T. The Lord has brought the danger of the Jewish element before us lately. This is the most pronounced feature of it you can get in one man and we have to watch it in our meetings.

J.J.J. How would we see it in our meetings?

J.T. It is usually seen in persons taking advantage of their position and privileges to give effect to their own feelings, gratifying themselves.

P.L. It led to the crucifixion. "We have a law".

J.T. Quite so. They had a certain right according

to the way they spoke to Pilate, recognising his right as representing Caesar. They had a privilege and law to ask for one man to be released, which they used; not Jesus, but Barabbas, another son.

J.C-S. "Perverting the right paths of the Lord", the apostle calls it -- the paths in which He would teach them to walk.

J.T. I suppose this man represents the Jewish element which is seen at its worst in opposing Paul's ministry. Paul was the last and best word from heaven and yet he would turn that aside.

E.B.McC. Paul names it here: "full of all deceit and all craft".

J.T. "Son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness". It would be hard to get anything worse than this.

J.C-S. I suppose such a state is possible amongst the saints in a person who may be very refined and cultured and yet have this moral feature about him.

J.T. It is well to see it in its true setting; it represents the official Jewish opposition. It was seen at the cross at its height but now it is taking form against Paul, against the last great testimony of God here and it is found in one person.

W.W. Is the suggestion here that we need to be intelligent to discern this kind of thing in our midst?

J.T. It is a very subtle thing, this judaism. It comes up in a thousand ways in our meetings though not in its gross form, and it is always against the last and best word that God is giving. It would show itself in turning the saints away or keeping them engaged with something that was given earlier, so that they might lose what God is saying now.

J.C-S. Was there something of that in Corinth?

J.T. That was the same sort of thing. Are they Israelites? So am I. Undoubtedly the most acute opposition arose from these.

A.M.H. Paul fixed his eyes on the man. Some movement may call our attention to what is said or a course taken. We should give attention to discern what spirit is behind such movement and the name it comes under. Outwardly one might be orthodox.

J.T. Paul fixed his eyes on him as if to say that is the opposition at the moment. In chapter 14 we have the Romish system in this idolatrous proposal to make the apostles an object of worship. You have foreshadowed the great Romish system in Christendom, setting aside the true idea of the assembly.

P.L. Would scrutiny, suggested in the apostle fixing his eyes on him, lay bare the power of evil on the one hand and embrace the good on the other? Does all that go with the scrutiny, whether of evil or good, connected with the cherubim in the psalm?

J.T. That is good. Fix your eyes on evil. When anything occurs there is evil somewhere, but then there is good too. Chapter 14 shows that Paul could discern what was there. He fixed his eyes on a man who had faith, there was material there for the matter in hand.

E.B.McC. It would be a terrible thing not to see the sun for a season.

J.T. He is out of the way of the great testimony that God is now proceeding with, and Satan has to do something else, to build up the Romish system, but in either case it is a question of setting aside what God is doing.

J.C-S. In locating evil the difficulty sometimes is to deal with it and hold the person.

J.T. You do not want to lose anyone. This man Elymas was an out and out child of the devil, an enemy of all righteousness. He represents the Jew as put aside for a season, he will be brought in again. It is tempered with mercy because it is a question of the promises made to the fathers. The Jews are out of the way in a most effective sense now. Blindness

has happened to them, the veil is on their hearts, and thus Satan sets to work in Lystra to introduce another thing. They could not set aside what Paul had done in this man, but they would make the saints an object of worship and would sacrifice to them. That is full-blown now around us. That is what Satan has done, and the servants of God are stoned if they refuse to be worshipped.

J.J.J. You have the teaching of the Lord (verse 12).

Does that suggest ministry that is a corrective for that condition of things?

J.T. It is the teaching of the Lord, meaning that it is authoritative teaching and it is to be wondered at. Facts are given as they are to call attention to this teaching, and what intelligence is required to meet the situation! It needs authoritative teaching, and that is our salvation. What principle governs this position? What truth governs this position?

The intelligent look for that. They say we are not going to be governed by our feelings, we are going to be governed by the law that governs this position.

Rem. It is not only a matter of dealing with evil, but a question of teaching on right lines.

J.T. Teaching is important. It is not merely the knowledge of facts but what is pressed into your soul by the Lord, as in the school of Tyrannus. It involves power.

J.M. Was Paul's chief aim so to deal with Bar Jesus as to enable the proconsul to use his intelligence in a priestly way?

J.T. To use it free from this influence, too. Peter refused recognition when Cornelius did him homage.

"I myself also am a man", he said. That is the attitude of a servant and so the angel says to John in Revelation that he is his fellow-servant -- like himself.

He is serving in the testimony of Jesus. "Worship God", he says. The servant disappears behind the truth he is presenting.

J.C-S. We might have this kind of thing in a modified form in a local meeting, where you can trace the origin of the thing to what is devilish.

J.T. That is what will come into evidence. Here you have the worst kind of the thing in one man and it is dealt with and put out of the way for the time being, because the promises of God are involved in this man's position, and God is true to those. This intelligence that God is bringing in should have its place; it never could have shone under Jewish conditions. Paul stands for that in which intelligence shines. That is, the assembly is the great vessel for the shining forth of intelligence, in fact, of glory in man.

W.W. Being intelligent, do we understand that the question is that the Lord has gone up, but these in chapter 14 say the gods have come down? As having gone up, He is working with His servants.

J.T. The very word 'gods' is connected with idolatry.

Ques. The assembly is here for God, the place of safety and security. Is the assembly in moral correspondence with heaven?

J.T. I think that is exactly the setting of the truth of the assembly. It is the reflex of heaven. It contains conditions for the divine dwelling and is here in accord with heaven. It is great enough to be the divine residence on earth now, and also the vessel of divine service showing forth intelligence. So "Paul and his company" (an expression you get only here) would mean that there were those associated with him as representing this great thought that was coming out, the mystery. The Spirit of God writes this down in view of what had come out; it would suggest that already the idea was taking form. Not that Paul was to be head in the assembly, but he had companions who would be in accord with what he represented. They would speak about what was at

Antioch. I believe that is how the thought expanded, it requires intelligence. Intelligent persons are needed. We need love, of course, in the assembly, but we need intelligence so that we know what to do, and I believe that in this man in Lystra the apostle saw the kind of thing that was needed. He saw that he had faith to be healed. He had never walked; that is not said of the man in chapter 3 who had been lame. He had never walked. It is a question of God taking up this kind of thing, making him to walk. That is to be seen in regard to the assemblies formed, in the apostles going back to see them, choosing them elders in each assembly, not in each city, but assembly, such persons as would convey their thoughts, and the thoughts of heaven, and maintain them, not impeded by what had been introduced by judaism and Rome.

We have been having a good deal about order and procedure in assembly, but all that goes on is really in the hearts of the saints. You must look out for such material as this -- material that is available for the Spirit of God to operate on, producing feelings and thoughts that are needed for assembly service, and having found the material, he would have it delivered from the Romish ideas.

W.W. They stoned Paul.

J.T. 'If you do not allow us to worship you we will slay you', that is the attitude -- a terrible thing.

They stoned him and the stoning only brought out all the more what was there, what Paul did. It is put that way. "But while the disciples encircled him, he rose up and entered into the city". His mind and instincts are not impaired, he goes into the city.

He was told to do that at the very beginning, and he knew what that meant. He goes in again, as alive, where the evil was, but encircled by the brethren; you have the brethren around you, not to do you harm, but to create an atmosphere, a favourable state

of things. He was more like Jesus than ever before; it is a great thing to be brought into the realm of the living, like Lazarus and Tabitha.

J.C-S. Do we encircle Paul now, as representing the mystery?

J.T. He comes out with wonderful things in his heart. Some say he was caught up into the third heaven while he was stoned. If that is true he certainly comes out with wonderful things in his heart. What thoughts he had! He is very urgent that they do not worship him. What would he think, if he were here, of the place he is given in christendom? What if he saw St. Paul's or if Peter saw St. Peter's? We would like to hear what they would say, indeed we can well imagine what they would say. Paul would say, I was stoned because I refused that.

W.W. Is it the normal thought here that there is a circle of affection round that which is the answer to the living God?

J.T. That is the idea, to rally round the vessel of the light. It is the idea of the assembly now, those whom God will use, it is a question of what is living.

Paul rose up while they encircled him.

W.W. This circle would be composed of intelligent people.

J.T. His going into the city means that there is no impairment as the result of the persecution. It is a matter of testimony to cities. You might have thought he would flee from it, but he goes, as if to begin where he had left off, and you find him coming out, establishing the assemblies, and providing elders for them. The assembly did not choose elders, the apostles chose them, they would provide what is needed. Every local assembly is to be provided with that element, the element of rule and the element of correction. The care meeting would be a counterpart of that in our day. It is a question of experience and what God provides for the rule and government of

His house. The elders were left amongst them to maintain the government of God and the care needed in the assembly. It is the last touch.

J.C-S. A case might transpire in a locality, for example, a difficulty between two brothers, and the thing cannot be solved. This would be rare.

J.T. If God has His way there will be a solution. These elders represent that. They are chosen of the apostles, those that represent God. God puts them forward, and provides them.

F.W. The weakness of the position is seen in the apostle having been stoned, but the strength in his rising up.

J.T. It shows the power of God that worketh in us. It is not any new power, it is always here.

REPRESENTATIVE TESTIMONY

Acts 1:1 - 4; Acts 3:4; Philemon 8 - 17

I have in mind to speak simply, and briefly too, of what the mind of God is as to what is to be presented on His behalf in the way of representative testimony. His thought is that whatever is presented should be commensurate with the need or the circumstances in which the testimony is presented; this includes all the saints, whether it be a father in his house, or a mother in her house, or a child in the same house, or a master in his business, or a servant of that master, or a neighbour, and above all, a minister, one who would take the place of serving in the gospel or in the truth in any sense; so you can see that what I have in mind includes the oldest here, whether brother or sister, and the youngest, too. For testimony is to begin immediately on the confession of Christ. Confession itself is a testimony. Numerous examples can be furnished of very young people employed and used of God and effective in that use. Indeed the Lord Himself furnishes us with an example, as in all instances, for the young in the seemliness in which He was found in the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve. His mother and father had travelled some time without discovering that He was not with them, a very extraordinary thing and a voice to every mother and father as to their children.

In spite of the announcement made to Mary about the holy Child she could afford, as having visited Jerusalem, and religiously too, to return for some time on the way back and be unaware that her Child, of whom so much is spoken and upon whom so much hung as regards God and His testimony, was not with them; it is extraordinary that she and her husband Joseph could afford to travel even for a moment without being assured that He was in the

company. But they travelled a long way before they were aware that He was not with them; then returning to Jerusalem they found him in the midst of the doctors in the temple. Not in a curious way, but sitting deliberately there as if He understood what that conclave meant. He was hearing what they were saying and asking them questions. All that was a testimony. Whatever the doctors may have discerned, the day will come when heaven will say to them, 'You knew all this, that Child was there, never did you see such a Child, never did you hear such a Child of His years speak as He spoke, never did you see such demeanour'. He was a testimony to them, and so it is with a child today; the child of christian parents goes forth to his school and is a testimony there. It is his opportunity, and so in a multitude of ways one could cite how representation of God is to proceed in this world at the present time.

That is what I have in mind, and to open it out in this book entitled the Acts of the Apostles. It is not an inspired title. In truth it is what was done and taught, first by Christ and then by His apostles and others, of course; the Lord Himself takes the lead in these early verses. Luke, in his inimitable way, inspired by the Spirit of God, opens his second letter to this distinguished believer called Theophilus, linking on what he is about to say with what he had written to him in the first letter. All things, he says, which Jesus began not which He finished, but began -- both to do and teach. It was only the beginning, the beginning of what has continued on, mediately, i.e., through others, till now. The book ends with the Lord's greatest vessel, that is Paul, who, after extraordinary vicissitudes and sufferings, sufferings beyond the power of any pen to describe, is found in Rome in his own hired lodging. He attempts to outline those sufferings himself, but only what befell him early in

his life, only a part of his sufferings. He is seen at the end of this book in his own hired house in the metropolis of the world. He is carried there a prisoner from Caesarea; he is the great representative of Christ in Rome, and it says that he received all that came to him. The emperor, no doubt, would have his levees and receptions, he would receive at stated times the magnates of the empire, generals and so forth, but here was a man transcending by far any dignity and office and power under Caesar and he is receiving all who come to him. I suppose the poorest christian in Rome could knock at Paul's door and it would be opened to him, for he received all that came to him. And his occupation, according to what is recorded, was preaching and teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God. That is continued for two years, in his own hired house, but still as a prisoner. It is possible that he was released but it would appear from the divine record that he was never free in Rome. And yet what is to be noticed is the wonderful providential way in which his imprisonment is modified, how he has a hired house of his own and how he is free to receive anyone that comes to him, no one forbidding him. These are very significant facts as ending up this remarkable treatise called the Acts.

It begins with the Lord Jesus presented, as I have said, by Luke according to what He did and taught, and ends with His greatest servant carrying on the same sort of work in the capital of the world, with the significant evidence that he was free to receive and that no one forbade him. The devil did not have all the say in the matter. Had he had his way, Paul would have been beheaded, or at least bound fast, and no one would have been allowed to see him. The way was kept open as it is at this very moment, even in a more extended way, so that we are here today, free to meet in this hall without a licence from

the Crown or the religious dignitaries of the country, at liberty to speak freely to one another about Christ and God and divine things. It is a wonderful thing although we perhaps scarcely stop to think of it.

But what has led up to it is well worth our consideration and the more we consider it the more we should avail ourselves of opportunities to speak often to one another. I do not believe the door will be closed to the church. "I have set before thee an opened door", Revelation 3:8. No man can shut it, but God can shut it and if we neglect or disregard our privileges, it may be shut. That is the solemn side of the matter. He acts judicially as His people disregard their privileges. But here no man forbade Paul.

The first thing I wish to point out is what the Lord Himself did, not what He did and taught before His death but what He did after He suffered. That is how it stands. He presented Himself living to the apostles, after He suffered, with many proofs. It is not simply that He was there to be seen, but He presented Himself. That is to say, the Lord was concerned that these great servants whom He had been fitting to be His apostles should just see Him as He intended them to see Him. There are many ways in which Christ is presented to His people. One has often pointed out that men would present Christ in a garb with which they clothe Him. I might cite the different denominations as we call them, each has its own garb in which to clothe Christ so as to present Him. If I were to take Rome, the Vatican has a way of presenting Christ but not as the Lord would present Himself. We shall never get a true view of Christ in testimony save as we allow Him to present Himself to us. So that you may say, 'Take away your own clothes, take away these habiliments you have spun and made for Christ. They do not fit Him, nor do I see Him properly in them'. Pilate brought the Lord

forth clothed in a gorgeous robe, a purple one, but it was put on in derision. We have to watch for that and say, 'Let me see Him as He would present Himself to me'.

Here it says He presented Himself alive. Not only that He is a living Man, but He is presenting Himself; He intends to impress these men with Himself. He has His own conception as to how He is to be apprehended in your mind and He presents Himself in the particular way in which He wishes you to apprehend Him. The bride in the Canticles perhaps comes nearest to this; she describes her beloved from the head downward, and I do not believe there is the least discrepancy in her description.

And so as seeking to present the Lord, one would do so as He would be presented. Here it is "living" after He had suffered. And then it is said "with many proofs", so that there is no doubt left in the mind. That is another thing we should be concerned about -- that what is said about Christ does not leave a doubt, that it is clear to the spiritual mind and not lowered to the level of man's mind, and then, so as to complete the position He assembles with them; He is to be apprehended in that way, for the idea of the assembly is to enter into this book. The assembly is in prospect and in presenting Christ we have this in mind, that He stands in relation to the assembly, not in relation to any human organisation at all. He repudiates every human organisation, however friendly they may assume to be, or however they may appear to honour Him. He has His own organisation. He has His own clothes, His own organisation, the assembly, and He says in effect here, 'I want the servants to see Me in assembly', for that is to go forth in the testimony. We are not to forget it.

Now He says in Luke, 'Do not leave Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high'. He is so concerned that the testimony shall be such as

to rightly represent Him, hence we are not to move out of the city. That is where we are until the clothing comes, it is clothing from on high. Here it is the promise, "Wait for the promise of the Father which, saith he, ye have heard of me". That is another thing, that it is the promise of the Father; in the earlier treatise they were to wait for the clothing. We were already speaking today of the dispensation in which we are, it is a dispensation characterised by the Father, an economy which the Father dominates, and the promise of the Father is to come. So that man's education and equipment for the testimony of God are seen to be unnecessary; it is what the Father provides that alone suffices for this wonderful period. It is a period in which the Father is known, that is to say, God in grace. The Father signifies in this sense that it is God known in grace, not in judgment, for the Lord says expressly that the Father judges no one. It is not that there is not judgment in this dispensation but I am speaking of what characterises it, that it is the Father's dispensation and the Son is set on the Father's throne. The testimony is to go out on that understanding and in order that it should be a testimony suited, we must make room for the promise of the Father.

The next thing is how do these apostles stand after the Lord has ascended, for after He leaves they are tested? Chapter 3 brings out particularly the persons, not their office, but what they were themselves. Hence you find Peter saying to the lame man, "Look on us". He expected to get money, for the world is bankrupt; there can be no doubt that he represented that state of things in the religious world at that time. He was at the Beautiful gate of the temple, carried there in order to receive alms; he was representative of a bankrupt religion. That was the world religiously then and it is the state of the world religiously now, too, and God knows it and

He would remind us that if we are to be a testimony in it we are not to be bankrupt. Literal bankruptcies have been very prevalent during the last seven or eight years, causing much sorrow to the people of God, and it is possible they signify spiritual bankruptcies. Peter and John were not bankrupt; they had nothing of this world's goods but they were rich men. "Silver and gold have I none"; "Look on us", Peter said. If they had been bankrupt they would not have asked a poor beggar to look at them. They were consciously at the source of all divine riches. The Holy Spirit was there in power. In the previous chapter the Spirit of God Himself presents us with the state of things that existed at Jerusalem consequent upon the coming down of the Spirit of God. There never had been such a state of things. It represents the wealth over against the wretched bankruptcy that existed at Jerusalem spiritually; it is the unlimited wealth of heaven come down -- rivers of water flowing freely, everything fresh in Jerusalem. And now here are the two leading apostles, as you would say -- heaven's best in this sense. Jesus was up there, the Holy Spirit had come down and here are these two men going together at the hour of prayer to the temple, and they say, "Look on us". Dear brethren, I am speaking not to interest you in historic matters, but to impress upon you and myself that the state of things today is bankrupt spiritually in every town in christendom. And the question is, what am I, and what am I doing and what am I saying?

First, what am I? What kind of person am I? "Look on us" does not simply mean look on two officials, but two persons in the bonds of affection, full of the Holy Spirit. It is not drawing the picture too large to say that their faces were radiant; these men were attractive. Had you seen them walk up to the temple and heard them say, "Look on us",

you would have been affected were you possessed of spiritual instincts.

The testimony today requires not only what we are able to say, and what we are able to do, but what we are, what is to be seen. That, of course, raises the question in every setting in which I may be, what is to be seen? Can heaven point to me? Heaven will surely call attention to any person or persons who are in any sense capable of representing it in some way or other. Even if it were by calamity, attention will be called to us. "Hast thou considered my servant Job?" God said. Heaven has its own way of calling attention to us. If a calamity happens, what am I in it?

The next point is in Philemon, referring to the child. Paul calls Onesimus a child. My child, he says. We do not get much of Peter's children, although he does speak of one, but Paul speaks of several children of his, and in each case the child is a representative of the father. So that the question arises as to what is to be continued after us. One generation passes away, we are told, and another comes. But then normally the generation that comes is from the generation that is passing away. So that the question arises as to children. What are they? What is the current generation that is coming What is the generation that is passing away? Paul says, "being such an one as Paul the aged". Not simply such an one as Paul, but Paul the aged, that is, he is passing away. The epistle to Timothy expressly states that he is passing away. There are a few of us here that certainly can be called aged, but then what about the name of the aged person? Age, of course, in itself, means nothing; years mean nothing in themselves. Methuselah's age, for instance, nine hundred and sixty-nine years, meant nothing as regards actual value. "Being such an one as Paul the aged", it is a word to every aged person. Paul

would not be more than seventy, perhaps not seventy, so that he is not a very old person in years, but it is such an one as Paul; and in his old age he had a son. While he is in Rome this happened. You will understand that what I am seeking to press is the importance of experience with God in the generation that is passing away, in order that the generation that is coming should take on something of that, for responsibility attaches to the generation passing away in regard to the generation that is coming. What are we leaving? I believe that this letter is to convey what should be left by the aged. Here is an apparently young man that had fled from his master; he was a slave and he came within the range of Paul. Doubtless Paul preached Christ to him but that is not simply the idea of begetting a son. He says "my child"; stress is laid on the "my". I am sending him to you, he writes. What would Philemon think about this? He may have been a man of years, and possibly had a family. What does Paul mean in writing to him like this about a child? Surely Philemon has to remember that children are to take the place of their fathers and their mothers. Onesimus is to take the place of a father and who is that father? It is Paul. Timotheus is to take the place of Paul, and Titus also, they are all Paul's children. What a variety he had!

Take Timothy. He is sent to Corinth expressly to represent Paul, who says he is "my beloved and faithful child in the Lord", 1 Corinthians 4:17. I have sent him that you might know by looking at him what my ways are in Christ, and the apostle had such confidence in that child that he commits to him certain things which he is to pass on to others, faithful men, and they are to teach others also.

Then we have Titus; he also is Paul's child. He says in writing to the Galatians, I took Titus up to Jerusalem with me, and they did not compel him to

be circumcised. They might have compelled others, but he was so like Paul, so manifestly a child of his father that they would not dare to insist on circumcising him, he was already spiritual. Circumcision is simply a type, it is the negation of the flesh. If it has already taken place, why apply the type, when the antitype is effectively there? They could not match this young man in Jerusalem.

And now we have this remarkable child who was a runaway slave, brought up as a slave, I suppose. Slavery has a most detrimental effect on humanity. The marks of slavery still remain in the republic of America, especially in the South. Governmentally the effect of slavery is most degrading to the human race, and this young man was a slave. But now he is to be Paul's child. What exercises will this great father have, to make a child of his out of that material! He says to the Galatians, "I travail in birth again". He had to do it twice for them, they were going back into slavery. The apostle must have been in throes of anguish about this young man as God put it upon him that he was to be a child of Paul's; this means formation, it does not mean simply that Paul preached the gospel to him. Every spiritual father and mother understands that, if we are to have children for God, there must be the most profound exercises. We are passing away, and is the ground to be held in any less dignity than we held it? Paul is much concerned that this young man should be a true child of his; my child, he calls Onesimus. Think on me, he would say to Philemon, that I have a child, and that that slave of yours is now a child of mine. "Receive him, that is, my bowels". He is to be inwardly formed with feelings and affections like Paul, and would reflect him in anything that would arise among the brethren at Colosse; I have no doubt he lived at Colosse; the apostle in writing to these believers says, I am combating for you. He never saw

them. What an advantage it would be to have that young man sent there to be on their doorstep, so to speak, a brother beloved, no longer bearing the degrading traces of slavery but a liberated christian among the saints of God, with the stamp of Paul. As if the apostle would say, 'He has the same kind of affections as I have. If there is anyone in trouble he will yearn over them'. In some places the old brothers say, 'We do not want the young men in the care meeting'. Think of Philemon saying, 'Onesimus is too young to be in the care meeting'. What folly! These young men are capable of vision. We cannot do without them. Solomon was not more than twenty years of age, as far as I can reckon, when he was put on the throne of Israel. He says, "I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother", Proverbs 4:3. That is how he was formed. And so Paul sent this one, once a slave, now a liberated son; but the stamp of Paul is upon him. 'The yearnings', Paul would say, 'that you see in me you can see in him'. Young people should learn how to officiate, how to take up troubles in the assembly and carry them before God in their youthful hearts. What a privilege! Young people can carry these things in prayer before God.

That is the contribution from this house in which Paul lived two years in Rome, that is the contribution that he made, among other things, to that assembly. How enriched they were to have a young man like that! Is it not apropos of our present circumstances? That in relation to fathers and mothers, whether we are viewed literally or spiritually, there should be the formation in the children so that they are not simply children of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So, but children of spiritual parents, spiritual persons who are yearning that their offspring should carry on the testimony; as we are taken away, they should occupy the ground as was intended by the Lord during this whole dispensation.

MAINTENANCE OF THE TESTIMONY BY MEANS OF MATERNAL INSTINCTS

Judges 4:4 - 9; Judges 13:15 - 23

J.T. What is in mind is that we might see how, when the paternal feature of a position is very weak, the maternal comes into prominence and is used to maintain the position designed of God in testimony.

The paternal side includes those who, according to divine ordering, should take the lead, representative of God. The maternal refers to the saints as a whole but as exercised and possessing feelings and affections proper to the mother; the idea of the mother from this point of view is set out in Galatians; Jerusalem above is our mother, she is the free woman, and, as free, is uncontrolled or uninfluenced by natural feelings. We have natural feelings which tend to bondage. This book sets out these two thoughts particularly.

It begins with the full representation of the fatherly thought in Caleb, but this lapses, as is evident, and consequently we have the successive sorrowful invasions of evil of one form and another. Evil finds its place amongst us on account of weakness on the paternal side and so Deborah is referred to as the first to manifest these instincts which are in mind in the thought of a mother, a mother in Israel. The idea of women in the things of God is seen perhaps in its most exalted way morally in this book and on the other side, alas, in the most degraded way. The book affords examples of the most degraded feminine features, so that it corresponds with the history of christendom. We have the feminine side in the assembly viewed in a motherly way, as in Galatians, Jerusalem above, moral elevation and liberty by the Spirit. On the other hand we have, in Jezebel and in Babylon, the most degraded thoughts spiritually.

So that we may be helped in looking into the history of two women who are spoken of as over against the men associated with them. Both men are recognised as having leadership, both Barak and Manoah, but they are inferior morally to the women. The womanly side is used of God to save the position.

A.M.H. Would you say a little more as to how the womanly side works? Is it through the sovereign activities of the Spirit?

J.T. It is manifested first in moral qualities. Deborah represents victory, she sat under her own palm tree. It was her own and those who sought judgment came to her, not that she was an official but one who had moral qualities. Wherever these are, whether in man or woman, they are observable by the spiritual, so that I think the Spirit of God works in the saints as a whole in a subjective way so that we gain victory over ourselves and take that ground, and it becomes observable. Even if the fatherly side is weak or false the ground is held.

A.M.H. Is that indicated in the beginning when Adam fails to lead, and the blessing is connected with the seed of the woman, but she has to learn to name the right child, and recovery is effected on that line, so that finally Adam names his last child Seth, and now all is reckoned from Adam anew?

J.T. That is right. Eve mistook the child, when Cain was born, she said, "I have acquired a man with Jehovah", Genesis 4:1. She was the first to use the title Jehovah in Scripture and in this very relation, no doubt, too, having in mind that He had spoken of a seed as He did. The remnant will say, "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given", Isaiah 9:6. She evidently had thought that the seed was there; it was still a long way off, but it would come that way by the help of God.

E.B.McC. Deborah was living in liberty. She was free in that way to command.

J.T. She dwelt under her own palm tree, the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment -- up to her.

E.B.McC. They were being oppressed mightily, but she seemed to be above the oppression and she is living in a fruitful place.

A.M.H. Does going up to her mean that the saints get to know if one has an elevated outlook and is able to throw the light of God upon matters?

J.T. The door is open to all, especially to sisters.

Scripture abounds with illustrations as to how the mind of God may be found amongst them. Therefore the rank and file of the brethren ought not to rely wholly on their leaders. We are to follow and know and respect our leaders but each is to have his own relations with the Lord, to stand on his own feet and move on in that way. They came up to her as recognising that there was something there. She judged Israel.

Rem. There is something spiritual. The needs amongst the saints have to be met spiritually and the service of God has to be carried on as well.

J.T. Quite so: especially to get judgment. One of the most difficult things is to get judgment that is according to God, because today the conflict generally throughout the history of the brethren is in maintaining right principles as over against natural feelings. I believe that that is what this book is helpful in, the idea of judgment.

J.J.J. Would it be an element, rather than an individual, an element of the spirit of judgment in the locality?

J.T. In each local meeting it is developed under this head, but it includes the saints. It refers to the saints viewed in this feminine way, as acquiring moral superiority over the flesh. The evidence of power is seen in the palm tree, so that each local company is

able to move and meet its exigencies under the Lord. What is seen in Deborah would preclude mere natural feelings. Personal feelings and what I have known of the persons beforehand so becloud every issue that comes out; it is not that one's knowledge of brethren is not of importance because we should humbly in love have a judgment about each other before the Lord. But when we come to judge and administer we have to deal with facts, not feelings. I do not believe that Deborah would listen to a sister who came to her and told her something disparaging about a neighbour. She would send her back for facts and to bring another sister with her.

J.W. Is it important that they had to come to her for judgment instead of Deborah going to them?

J.T. It shows the place she had acquired on moral grounds. The fact that they went up to her shows that she had become known as a person to be relied upon, and an element to be relied upon.

Ques. You spoke of the paternal side being weak. Is the paternal side able to judge?

J.T. It should be. Judgment was given over to the head, the man. So that Barak is weak here although he is amenable to help and that is a great matter in a meeting. If there is anyone ready to be helped, most of the saints see the thing and encourage him to go forward in the right way. It may come out in the prayer, reading, care or ministry meeting to indicate what is to be done.

Rem. What is the force of stating that she was a prophetess?

J.T. It is to bring out the feminine side. The note indicates that it is a 'woman prophetess'. That would be redundancy if it did not mean that great stress is being laid on the feminine side. The Lord is called the 'male son' in Revelation 12, on the same line. That is to stress the male side.

Ques. Does it suggest that being a woman prophetess

and the wife of Lapidoth and dwelling under the palm tree of Deborah, she moved in the orbit allotted to her?

J.T. That is the meaning. It is not simply a historical fact that she is the wife of a certain person but the stress spiritually is that she was a wife, not simply that he was her husband.

Rem. She keeps to her orbit in not leading. She does not go as a leader.

J.T. A very retiring person you mean, a woman that does not push herself at all. Nor does she mean that the victory will be attributed to her; it is to Jael.

Ques. Would this maternal element in a locality be more an element amongst the saints, including both brothers and sisters who are prepared to suffer for the saints?

J.T. The assembly includes both, and the feminine side is just the relation in which the assembly as a whole stands to the Lord. The Lord represents the male or governing, leading element, represented, of course, in certain ones.

Rem. When it was a question of military action Deborah would still retire and put Barak forward.

She would not step out of her place in public.

J.T. She would go with him to encourage him according to his request, and the way she alludes to Jael is significant as pointing to the absence of rivalry or ambition to shine herself. She makes much of her sister.

E.B.McC. As she is able to take up judgment in the assembly she can receive a word to liberate her people; that shows the position she held before God.

J.T. That is right. Therefore her word fits in with our own times peculiarly. "He that has my commandments and keeps them", John 14:21. Such a one will insist on the commandments, the law of the house, or the law governing any matter that we have

to do with. Our salvation lies in finding that out and abiding by it. 'It is not my proposal, it is the Lord's', she says in effect.

Ques. Does the reference to Barak in Hebrews 11 relate to this instance? Deborah is not mentioned there.

J.T. Deborah was in keeping with that anticipatively. She had no thought of being spoken of as possessing faith. Barak had faith but he was weak and she pushed him forward so that the divine principle was maintained.

Ques. Is he the product of Deborah's exercise?

J.T. That is saying a little too much. He must have had faith personally. The Spirit of God would not have presented him in Hebrews 11 if the element of faith were not there. The word was from God "Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded? Go and draw towards mount Tabor". There was something there or God would not have called him into this great service. He was to take ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun, and Jehovah would give the enemy into his hand. He needed this support and so the brethren generally ought to support a brother amongst them if he is disposed to go on. They ought to support him to the utmost and not go beyond him.

Rem. She sent and called Barak. Would the spiritual instincts of the saints know whom the Lord was about to use and able to use?

J.T. You can see that. The divine current was there, and she was in it.

Rem. Her greatness was inside; it was not greatness on the battlefield.

J.T. I think she adorns the position. The idea of adornment is in relation to the feminine side very much.

Rem. It sets forth a meek and a quiet spirit.

J.T. Quite so. Our sisters are said to be daughters

of holy women whose adorning was not in the plaiting of hair, but in the hidden man of the heart. Deborah had the hidden man of the heart. Barak was the only one to represent that, as it were. It is a question of Christ and the assembly.

A.M.H. She must have seen some kind of quality of leadership in Barak, and if we get victory over ourselves as dwelling under the palm tree we shall be able to bring leadership more into evidence.

J.T. And support it where it is at all in evidence and make the most of it.

E.B.McC. It is important that one should have a judgment. She had a judgment about Barak, Naphtali and Zebulun. She knew where to put her hand for spiritual men.

J.T. In the next chapter the song of Deborah and Barak brings out the judgment that they had, but particularly she, as to all. The whole field is reviewed, and where praise is due it is given and where it is not deserved, it does not come forth.

J.J.J. Would Deborah stand for a spiritual element in the meeting?

J.T. I think so. It is what is in the assembly as such; not merely in the leaders, but in the company, whether in brothers or sisters. So that it ought to work out in the meetings for deliberation as well as in meetings for executive purposes, so that we know what to do.

A.M.H. Is it not a fact that spiritual qualities in the saints need direction to give them their best effect? You have a great deal brought out in the third day in Genesis, but the multiplying of living things is consequent on the sun and moon being set in the heavens.

J.T. That began on the fifth day. The ordering of things is on the fourth, and the living creatures are on the fifth day. Thus life comes into being, and order, as we have Christ owned in heaven, in authority.

E.B.McC. Barak was wise to have Deborah go with him. She was the spiritual element. It would be scarcely right for him to have gone without it.

J.T. Barak says, "If thou goest with me, then I will go: but if thou goest not with me, I will not go". So that the position would be absolutely lost unless she went. He is acknowledging his weakness and she says, "I will by all means go with thee, only that it will not be to thine honour upon the way which thou goest". It is the "way which thou goest", he is the leader in it; it is not 'the way in which we go', but "the way which thou goest". She is pushing him into the lead in spite of himself.

J.M. Had Deborah a truer judgment of his qualities than he had of his own?

J.T. Very likely. It would be great encouragement. It is the way thou goest, as if he knew the way. John says the young men are strong and the word of God abides in them -- it abides; that is, there ought to be courage in the strength, and guidance. The word of God abiding in you would indicate things to you. There is the readiness for every emergency in that way, in the young as well as in the old. The meetings that we have are undoubtedly blessed of God, and extra meetings in which there is opportunity for a prophetic word greatly aid in these matters, in view of exigencies arising that may baffle us; we may see no way out and yet there is a way out. Deborah indicates here that Barak knew it. She is giving him credit for that: "the way which thou goest". She was with him in it. So that the thing is to get the clue as to the way we have in this book. Take the way to the city of Luz; they were to take the city and a man guides them in (Judges 1:25).

You get the clue. There is a way. If we are simple enough there is always a way out or a way in.

A.M.H. Do you think that in meetings for ministry light would be thrown upon difficulties that exist

amongst the saints apart from their being taken up in care meetings?

J.T. If we are intelligent as to the meeting the Spirit of God, as choosing the prophetic word, may throw light on the whole position and you feel the Lord has just given it for the occasion.

A.M.H. That would be "Hath not the Lord commanded?"

J.J.J. In referring to the prophetic word in ministry are you alluding to 1 Corinthians 14?

J.T. Yes. That is the main point in the chapter.

It may be in a little way a brother says something that gives a clue.

Ques. Would this suggest that there is more than one way to do a thing? Barak goes his way. A thing may be done sometimes on a lower level, sometimes on a higher level; it would be done but would not produce the same result.

J.T. I am sure that is true. The Lord is very gracious and helps us.

Rem. This would be acceptable to Jehovah but Barak could have gone on a higher level with greater faith.

J.T. Yes, if he had gone himself. But the way he goes is the way Deborah is honouring. She does not undertake at all to advise as to the way.

Rem. This was his measure. Sometimes we have to do things according to our measure and feel it.

J.T. I think it is very beautiful to see the skill and seemliness with which she moves. She says, It is your way, as if to say, You will be at a disadvantage.

E.B.McC. It is well to see that he does not go beyond his measure. He had his measure and he went according to his measure with Deborah.

J.T. The general idea of leading is to go on yourself, and if anything is to be done, not to wait too long until the saints are all ready to move in it. In

most cases if you are with the Lord and exercised and you move, the others will move with you.

J.M. Was she recognising that he was in command?

J.T. I think so. He is moving under divine commandment. She says, "Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?" So that the position is a good position. But we are not to overlook the weakness in Barak because the Spirit of God is speaking to him, and to you and me, and every brother here, and saying, 'Do not do that. See to it that you have courage'. Courage is the great feature of our position. Be strong and very courageous.

J.M. You could not have true courage without a legal position as you said the other day. Is that right?

J.T. That is right. You need the assurance that it is the divine way. Even so, he was failing in courage although evidently he discerned that it was the Lord's word to him.

A.M.H. How necessary it is to take action directly He does call! You get Naphtali and Zebulun heartily responding; it just needed faith to call them.

J.J.J. Does light always govern the position, the moral side?

J.T. It always resolves itself that way. Light governs the position; that means the principles governing it.

A.M.H. That is what you call the male side.

J.T. Brothers ought to be able to lay out what should be done.

J.W. "Is not Jehovah gone out before thee?" Deborah is in the mind of God.

J.T. She has put it to him that way. It is very beautiful to see how David prayed in his conflicts and God graciously says, in effect, 'It is not to be just as it was the other day but this time you are to wait for the sound of marching in the mulberry trees; that is the assurance that God has gone

before you'. The burden of our prayers in all these matters is that God should go before us.

J.M. Do you think that Barak had recovered from his weakness when he sang the song of Deborah? "Then sang Deborah and Barak".

J.T. They had a good meeting, did they not? It is a song of triumph, full of instruction too. The victory is complete; it is a well-known history, but Deborah's prophetic word is justified now. Sisera was sold into the hand of a woman, as she said, "Jael went out to meet him, ... and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the pin was in his temples". She had won the victory, and "God subdued on that day Jabin king of Canaan before the children of Israel".

Before we proceed to chapter 13, there are other women to be noticed, the mother of Gideon who could not be classified with Deborah, and the wife of Manoah. The men slain at Tabor are said by their slayers to have been like Gideon, every one of them resembled the sons of a king and Gideon says, "They were my brethren, the sons of my mother", Judges 8:19. They suffered. Persons who suffer are representative of the mind of God at that particular time.

These men were like Gideon, but it brings out that the ideal of Gideon's mother must have been beyond her husband, for they resembled the sons of a king.

If we have to suffer, I think it is well to have that in mind, the dignity in which we suffer.

J.M. You mean there is a touch of royalty in suffering?

J.T. I thought that. It made the murderers more guilty. Those who attacked the assembly at the beginning saw that sort of thing. Saul went into houses and dragged men and women to the tribunals.

There was resemblance to Christ in them which made the thing more serious. Correspondingly, it is incumbent on us to carry that resemblance in conflict.

A.M.H. Would you say in a way that what they

suffered in dignity is bearing fruit now in Gideon's day? Leadership is the result.

J.T. It brings out the excellence of this mother. What a family she had! What reserves there were in Gideon's day! There were more than come out in the details of the conflict; there were others like him.

Rem. You mean the suffering is due to the fact that they bore a resemblance to Gideon?

J.T. That is the way it is put. The Lord would remind us at all times that He is never limited to one; He has got reserves. The obvious lesson for us is to be like that. It is a great voice at the present time to young men. The Lord is calling them early. It is as if He intended the testimony to proceed a little longer, but if not, if He comes at any time, He would wish it to be manifested that He has enough to go on with. He may come at any time but He has resources.

A.M.H. They go from strength to strength.

J.T. An abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom is to be furnished. Peter brings that side out.

Rem. In referring to the sons of a king, did you have in mind that these features should mark the saints on the public side? The sons of a mother would be more the inside position.

J.T. The idea of a mother is seen in the children. All these exercises of the assembly would be to bring forth what is like Christ. He represents the paternal side. You get paternal terms in the gospels.

Rem. The scripture says, "each one", not 'they'.

J.T. Each one as he was put to death would be a testimony against his murderer.

Jotham in chapter 9 stands on mount Gerizim and makes a speech calling attention to the murderous character of Abimelech. He slew seventy persons on one stone. What a hard-hearted murderer he was! They were his own brothers. It shows what we are capable of -- what a hard-hearted brother is capable

of doing; there was no softening as one after another was murdered -- seventy of them on one stone. Another thing that is to be noticed in the weakness of the paternal side is the incident of Jephthah's daughter. Jephthah was an effective leader but was wanting in a right spirit, wanting in wisdom, marked by rashness -- a rather unsuitable feature for leadership. He was rash in his words although he was a man that was careful to utter "all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah". We are reminded of the need of wisdom in leadership so that no one should be sacrificed unnecessarily. There was no sense at all in his vow. It was rash, useless and unwise. The result of the victory ought to be increase, not the destruction of a potential mother through his rashness. You have to consider what the bearing of your words may be. They may seem sacrificial words, but who is to sacrifice? Is the sacrifice to be yourself? If I talk about sacrifice I ought to think whose the sacrifice is to be. The destruction of a virgin was contrary to all right thoughts.

Then we come to Manoah. He is mentioned much in the chapter in which we read. His wife's name is not given, but the facts show that she was the more spiritual of the two. All this is to show that the order of God had been lost in these circumstances. The order of God seen in the selection of elders in the early days of the assembly has been lost and God has had recourse to the saints as a whole.

-.D. Does Deborah in a way stand in contrast? Her husband's name is given, Lapidoth.

J.T. His name is an honourable one, signifying 'torch' or 'light'. It would mean that she, in principle, would have Jehovah as her Helper, He is represented there.

A.M.H. Is your thought of Manoah that although a lead is being maintained it is not very spiritual?

There is a lack of Nazariteship in it.

J.T. That is what I was thinking. Like Barak he is fully recognised but not until he prays. An angel appeared to the woman (verse 3); she told her husband, and then Manoah prayed. She discerns him as a man of God, an angel, showing that she is spiritual, but it is wholesome to see that Manoah prayed. If you are being eclipsed in any position, why is it? God respects prayer. Manoah is praying in relation to his position as husband, but not excluding his wife, and we have the answer. "The Angel of God came again to the woman whilst she sat in the field". He comes not yet to the man, but to the woman. All this is to remind us that we are behind a little and there is need to stir ourselves up. Why is it so? Why is God acting thus? What comes out here and throughout the book is the idea of a man and that God would provide someone. Here it is Samson, the last of the judges. There is a great deal made of him. Hannah prayed that a man child should be given, but here God is providing Himself what is needed for His people and He is moving in relation to what is most spiritual. Why should He not be moving in relation to the leading brothers? Why is not something being done by them? They ought to be in the front and everything come through them. Why is it otherwise? Manoah misses it right through, although he prays, which is good. In his remarks to the angel he is behind his wife and at the end he said they were going to be killed. He was wanting, he was unspiritual. His wife says, "If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and an oblation at our hands". What an excellent speech! It is a deduction from the knowledge of God that she had. She is speaking now not from any direct word, but from her knowledge of God. That always stands by us.

Rem. God will carry these things through, although we find ourselves in a day of weakness.

J.T. If there is one overcomer in the place He will stand by him in victory. He will move in that relation. He is very slow to pass by anyone that is a leader. If He does so it is because there is a secret cause. It is beautiful to see how the feminine side is ornamental in both these instances. There is no thought in either case to becloud or eclipse the man.

The head of the woman is the man. You see that maintained in Deborah. Barak was not her husband.

Headship is always found in the man even if he is not the husband.

Ques. Is it important to see that time was needed to work out the result of this visit?

J.T. Yes, the ordered time. God does not work aside from His own appointed order.

Rem. I was thinking of the years it would take for Samson to grow before there was result.

J.T. The exercise was there. Deliverance has come morally if God's man is on the scene, so it says the woman bore a son. The Spirit of God soon began to move him and to call attention to him and the child grew, so that the hope of Israel was there.

One often looks at young brothers, they are the hope of Israel. Every young brother and sister should be looked at in that way. And from that point of view if they take it in and move according to the instructions given here as to nazariteship the Spirit of God will soon come upon them and the victory is complete.

A.M.H. This careful instruction given us is that we may see that self-indulgence is the hindrance to leadership.

J.T. Flee youthful lusts. The light that God gives as to young people implies that the hope of Israel is there, because one generation passes away and another comes; and now this father and mother are already in possession of the light of God as to the position, and victory is certain.

J.W. What we have portrayed here is her true subjective state in moving with her husband.

J.T. True womanly qualities. Not a hint that she suggested to her husband that she got the visitation. A wife is apt to say things of that kind but there is not a hint of that here.

Another thing is the remarkable way in which the angel behaved, so as to induce spirituality and expectation of divine movements. "He did wondrously". So that we are prepared for great things. I believe that is what the Lord is doing, preparing us for great things.

J.M. Does she lead in spirituality and foresight in naming the child, instead of Manoah doing it?

J.T. Well, Manoah ought to have done it. It says she did it. The Spirit of Jehovah began to move Samson so that now we have the Spirit of God coming in definitely.

Ques. Is it one point that the witness is maintained right through? God operates in this way through the woman and by increase that there may be a testimony rendered right through.

J.T. It answers to what is coming on. God is endeavouring to bring us back to His order. The order of God in the assembly would be seen, not only that the enemy is to be overcome; that, I believe, is what is in mind in stressing the weakness of the leaders in this book.

Ques. What is the suggestion as to the name?

J.T. Whatever the name means would be ex pressed in me. The name usually conveys what is to be expressed in a person. The angel's name is secret. I suppose it alludes to what is inscrutable, God come out. Manoah was rather light, if not irreverent. He says, "Art thou the man that didst speak to the woman?" It does not seem to me as if he is just spiritual.

J.W. Would it be a lack of spiritual sensibility?

J.T. That is what I was thinking, and the angel's answer indicated that. "How is it that thou askest after my name, seeing it is wonderful?" There is a certain distance. It is irreverence or want of spirituality to assume to be able to compass what God is doing.

Rem. That is a particular feature of the present day. There has been that element seeking to compass what is beyond being found out. Wonderful things have come out since.

J.T. Every step of the Lord here from His birth onwards is incompassable. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is". Even in His manhood we cannot compass Him. He is beyond us and that ought to produce solemnity and reverence.

-.D. It is one of the names of the Lord in Isaiah.

J.T. "Wonderful".

Rem. Is the woman's superior intelligence shown in that she says, "A man of God came to me" in the first place?

J.T. That is what I was thinking. And he seemed to have the appearance of an angel to her.

GOD'S END ATTAINED ON THE LINE OF SUFFERING

1 Samuel 1:9 - 18, 24 - 28; 1 Samuel 6:10 - 16; 1 Samuel 30:6 - 8

What I have to speak of is suffering, but in a particular connection, for the subject is far too large for one short address. I wish to speak of suffering as the means or the way by which God reaches His end, and through which we reach God's end, whatever subdivision there may be; that is, if we regard the need, it is reached through suffering. The Lord had spoken on this point particularly to His disciples before His death, indeed He says, "before I suffer". He had not only spoken and foretold His apprehension and suffering but He taught the disciples that He should suffer. He taught them, and He had in particular tenderness spoken about their sorrow on account of His arrest. He said, "Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:20), and further, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you", John 16:22.

But the sorrow should be endured. He had taught them about His sorrow, but theirs also had to be endured. "And ye now therefore have sorrow". This subject is enlarged on in the book of Psalms, especially in those called the sorrow psalms. The book of Psalms is a field of immense import to us. As Peter says, we read of the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. The prophets, including the psalmist, spoke much beforehand, long beforehand, of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. They witnessed beforehand themselves, and indeed these prophets all partook of the sufferings of Christ beforehand. "Which of the prophets", says Stephen, "have not your fathers persecuted?" But the Lord,

as about to be arrested and crucified, spoke with peculiar tenderness to the disciples of their sufferings, and in that connection spoke of the result -- a man born into the world. That would be the end, it was what was needed.

I link on John 16 with the passage in chapter 1 of this first book of Samuel. What is in mind is a man.

A man is needed, and if one were conversant with the actual state of hundreds of gatherings of the saints, perhaps one would find that that is the crying need in most, the need of a man. And whatever insight Hannah had as to the state of things in Shiloh, that was the burden of her heart, that there should be a man, a man child that should be devoted to the Lord.

As we read the book of Samuel now we see that her exercises coincided exactly with the mind of God at the time and with the need that was publicly so apparent, the need of a man, not in the literal sense, of course, but in the sense of what was needed in Shiloh at that time. The situation was distressing.

I need not cite the passages in the succeeding chapters depicting the state that existed, but the state was distressing; it was scandalous. There was the absence of a man according to God in the place. The apostle seems to have the same exercises in writing his first letter to the Corinthian saints. There was the need of a man, or men. And so with Hannah, circumstances under the government of God brought her to these exercises. It was not accidental, it was of God; for God works in us so that we might come to an appreciation of what He has got to give us. He hates want of appreciation of what He has got; He knows the value of His things, and He does not care much about presenting them to unappreciative hearts. And so He allowed, in His government, these difficulties in the circumstances of this saint in order that she might value what would ultimately meet the current need, that the need might be met suitably,

that the offerings to God might be priestly, might be with intelligence and feeling and made in a suitable manner.

So she is found in Shiloh in prayer, and the facts show what I have been saying, that the end to be reached is through suffering, suffering of the bitterest nature. For there was an adversary, and a personal adversary is the occasion of the keenest kind of suffering. A personal adversary is one with whom you have to do day in and day out. If it be in the meeting the contact may not be so frequent, but in her case it was constant, and the adversary made sufferings the more poignant by the way she acted. And Hannah was a sensitive person. All exercised persons, persons exercised before God, are sensitive. We shall never have part practically in the wonderful sensitive organ that God has here on earth unless we are sensitive too, not in a fleshly way but in a spiritual way. No one was so sensitive as Jesus. I do not suppose there was anything in the nature of suffering intended for Him that He did not feel in the keenest way. His sufferings were constant; it is doubtful if, as in flesh, He was ever released from them. Sufferings that no pen of man can describe were there.

Hannah had part in this; being a sensitive person she felt the keenness of the persecution that was levelled at her day in and day out, but she did not succumb, and that is the word for us; we are not to succumb. Patient endurance is the word. "By your patient endurance gain your souls", Luke 21:19. To lose our balance and to become soured in spirit is to serve the enemy. Thus one who rules his own spirit is greater than he that takes a city. In spite of the keenness of the persecution levelled at us we should be able to maintain spiritual equanimity, spiritual balance, so as to defeat the work of the devil. It was so with her. She calmly goes to Shiloh, which was the house of God at that time, and she

prays. In Isaiah we are told that God makes His people joyful in His house of prayer and that is what happened. She was persecuted, even whilst praying, by the high priest. One so acutely sensitive and so spiritual is apt to come in for persecution from those who should know better, and who do not really intend it. Eli was not antagonistic to her, but being so dull he lent himself to the enemy for the moment to persecute this saint of God as she was praying. Think of persecuting a saint of God while praying! He was attributing drunkenness to her. But she never faltered. She said, "I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit". She was in the making, one of the finest products of the Spirit of God that we get in the Old Testament. She was in the making, a woman of a sorrowful spirit who was finding relief in the house of God. Anyone in such circumstances will be wise to follow her example and repair to the house of prayer. However low things may be, and they cannot be much lower than they were in Shiloh, she has recourse to the house of God and to prayer in it.

We are told, as you will observe, that she "went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more as before". What a great change! Where did it take place? It took place in the house of God where she had an outlet to Jehovah. She had the assurance that, in spite of the persecution and the sorrow, her prayer was heard. If we know that He hears us we know that we have the petition we desire and that is the end of the matter. The whole matter was settled in her soul. She "went her way ... and her countenance was no more as before". She had been in the presence of God, she was conscious of having been heard, although only her lips moved, for "the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. But he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God",

Romans 8:26, 27. There is perfect representation by the Spirit of the state of our hearts and Hannah was conscious of this and she went away and did eat and her countenance was no more sad. She had now become, before the actual literal request was granted, a victor. It is one of the finest things that you can get, that you are victorious anticipatively. You have got into the presence of God and you know that you have been heard, and that God is true. "Let God be true" (Romans 3:4); He is faithful to His promises. Every promise that He makes is yea and amen in Christ so that we have strong consolation even before the things we so much need are actually granted to us.

So we read in the second passage that Hannah, after weaning the child, brings him back. What a triumphal march that was up to Jerusalem; and she took three bullocks, one ephah of flour and a bottle of wine, and Samuel, the one she had asked for, with her. The treasured answer had been actually granted, actually received at the hand of a faithful God in answer to prayer, and now she is on the march up to Jerusalem. What a triumph! Is she going to make this boy some distinguished person in this world? Many a boy is ruined as his parents think of him in that way, in relation to something that distinguishes him and distinguishes the parents, too, it may be, and thus he is almost sure to be ruined. But not so Hannah, "there shall no razor come upon his head", meaning that there is to be no crown of worldly glory on that brow. He is to be glorified in the house of God where all true lasting glory is for old and young. One can see the victory in her countenance as she brings up the suitable offerings. How expanded her affections had become as she received at the hand of Jehovah this answer to her prayer, a man child. One can hear the note of triumph as she says to the old priest, "For this boy I prayed; and Jehovah has granted me my petition". She is not reproaching

him in the least for calling her a drunken person, she is too great a woman for recrimination; she is a spiritual woman full of grace. She is a great priest herself, a greater priest than Eli, but she recognises Eli and she says with respect, 'This is the child asked for and he is for the Lord'. "For this boy I prayed".

She has made a complete change in the house of God; even the old priest is brought to worship in the presence of such spiritual power and wealth. Is this not a lesson for the youngest here, brother and sister alike, as to how matters can be improved? How can I add to the position instead of criticising?

She went to the house of God burdened, she came away with her countenance changed; and now she has come back with wealth and altered the whole aspect of Shiloh. That is what any one of us may do. It is a question of seeing the thing and resolving to improve it. As soon as you resolve to do anything for the Lord He will be with you in it and make a way for you, and change the whole situation.

What is to be learned in chapter 6 is the same lesson, only from the standpoint of spiritual instinct.

These cows are not, of course, persons, they cannot talk as we do, but a cow has instincts as much as a person and God uses these cows to illustrate and represent what is so needful in the circumstances, namely, right instincts. The ark had been taken.

It is not now simply a male child that is needed, what is needed now is a fully developed man. That is, it is Christ that is needed, Christ in His full strength as a Man here for the will of God. This initial change that we get in Hannah in the first chapter manifests the great change that had come about, for we have a wonderful contribution to the treasury of God in her prayer in chapter 2, which is a song of triumph; like Paul and Silas, in prayer she praises. There is hardly a note of prayer in the second chapter; it is

praise. She is full of what she had acquired from the Lord. The whole aspect is changed initially; not only is Samuel there now but a wonderful contribution is made to the treasury of God.

But now we need Christ in another sense, not simply as young. He is called a Child in Matthew, a Babe in Luke, but Mark puts it, "Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God", Mark 1:1. There are wonderful things in the house of God -- from glory to glory in the house of God, and what is needed now is the glory of God and the power of God. Shiloh needed these two things, and is there a meeting in the world that is not in need of these two things, the need of the apprehension of Christ as presented in the ark of the covenant, the ark of God?

The ark is the power and glory of God. That is the point of the ark of God and I do not believe there is a meeting anywhere not in the need of this.

It had been taken by the Philistines in battle. Another mother appears in chapter 4, and she is dying. Her son is born and she dies at his birth, saying, "The glory is departed". Were there such wails in sorrowful times in our meetings we should soon get an answer and deliverance. Ichabod -- the glory is departed, the ark taken. She understood, she is in advance of Hannah. She is the wife of the wicked priest Phinehas, and she is speaking of the ark of God. There is no glory amongst the saints if Christ is not amongst us. As Paul says, "Christ in you the hope of glory", Colossians 1:27. It is His presence in us. "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me ..." Christ spoke in Paul; He was there in power in Paul and that is what is needed. And so these cows are used of God to show how He can recover things where someone feels the loss, as that woman did in her wail of sorrow when the ark was taken.

Now the ark is coming back. Most ignominiously

from the outward point of view; sent back by the Philistines in a cart drawn by two cows, a very humiliating state of things. But God sees, whatever you may say about that position, that there are instincts there that are not natural but representative of what is spiritual. You might question how a cow can have a spiritual instinct, but what is impossible with God in these circumstances? What made these cows go on by the straight way when their calves were kept behind? If their natural instincts are to govern them, they will turn back. As it was said of saints of old, they had opportunity to return but now they seek a better country; their instincts are right. Is it out of the range of God to put spiritual instincts into cows? The dumb ass with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet. Where did he get that voice? He got it from God; where did the cows get their instincts that led them to go along the one straight way? From God. One can always count upon God to show Himself even if spirituality be low. What can He not do? As the Lord says, all things are possible to Him.

And so the kine lowed as they went. They were suffering, in obeying the instincts there, for sufferings accompanied the instincts. They had motherly feelings for their calves, but the spiritual is greater and that is the point. It is the allowance of the natural and the allocation of the spiritual to the background that is the cause of all our difficulties. Personal preferences, personal links with one another, are merely natural and worldly. These cows overcome that. They went to Beth-shemesh by the one highway in spite of the drawing natural power behind them. They felt it; they were not insensible to their calves, to their young, but the power of the spiritual was greater. That is the great conflict that is ever amongst us, the spiritual versus the natural.

The kine go along the one highway -- they would

not take another; they went straight along that highway. You say, It was a miracle. Do not miracles belong to God? They do. John says "signs", not miracles. The Philistines' decision was if the cart went by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then it was the hand of God -- God was in all this. They went by the one highway. What a sign, a remarkable thing! The Philistines went after them. There are Philistines all around us. They sometimes come to our meetings to spy out what is going on, as the apostle says, "False brethren brought in surreptitiously, who came in surreptitiously to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus", Galatians 2:4. The Philistines were looking on. They seem to know the history of God's people. You will be impressed by the remarkable kind of understanding they had. It looked as if God was inclining even these hardhearted Philistines in a right direction. What can God not do? A man may come in to spy out our liberty and stay to pray; he may be convicted while he is in. We need not be afraid. If God be for us, who can be against us? The daughter of Zion laughs the Assyrian with all his multitude to scorn. She despises them.

So those Philistines follow up the cows, the cart and the ark upon it. Where are they going? They are going in the direction of the land to which the ark belonged. It was going to its own place. Many years, alas! still had to pass before a David arose, who says, "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob ... . Behold, we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood", Psalm 132:4 - 6. That is what we come to here.

The ark had to wait, and God does wait, as John refers to the kingdom and patience in Jesus. He has all power in the kingdom and yet His patience is

commensurate with that. The more power we have spiritually, the more we can wait; the man without power cannot wait. The waiting time may have to be years. "I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah", Genesis 49:18. It is the present state, that one is patient, one is waiting for God, who will shortly come in. The ark had to wait for many, many years but it had begun to move, it was moving in the right direction, and David installs it in its own place in Jerusalem, where the power and the glory of God can shine.

That is what happened here; and so these cows suffered as they went. I am speaking of suffering, it is the order of the day in this book of Samuel, a transitional book beginning with failure and disaster but ending in everything recovered. What a book it is! I would urge every young person here to read the book of Samuel. It is a book of recovery beginning in a small way in the exercises of a persecuted woman, and ending with David recovering all. The second book is the ark installed in Jerusalem, but the end here is David recovering all. So it is a book to be studied in our assembly difficulties; we should see if we are true like Hannah, like these cows, like David; we shall reach the divine end, but through suffering. These cows suffered as they went. They felt the loss of their calves, and at the end of the journey they were sacrificed. They laid down their lives in principle. It is not too much to be expected from any one of us. We are to lay down our lives for the brethren. We are told that one man must die for the people. As a rule that is what is needed in all our sorrows: one man to give way for the sake of all, to suffer for the sake of all. These cows were put to death, and the ark was taken down by the Levites, those that should handle it, so that now it is in safe custody.

The final point is in chapter 30; perhaps one of

the most distressing pictures you can get is this account of the burning of Ziklag by the Amalekites, a vicious thrust of the devil at an opportune moment. David had failed; he had turned aside to Gath, and the enemy took advantage of the position, carried away all and burned the city. But there was mercy, as is usual. No one was put to death. Is that not miraculous? Is that not a sign? Certainly. God comes in and the enemy is not able to do all that he wished to do. God holds back the sword of the Amalekites. God says to Satan, You can touch Job, but do not touch his life. Satan can come so near to me as to put boils all over me, but God's hand comes between His child and Satan and he cannot take my life. Satan can only do so much and so it was the Amalekites could only do so much. Abigail was not put to death. None of David's wives nor of the women and children was put to death; all were spared. How touching that is! How it ought to encourage us to have confidence in God that even if we fail He comes in in mercy and the disaster is not nearly so bad as it might have been. I suppose we can all say that, how infinitely worse it could be, and God loves that. I saved your wife and children, He would say; I did not allow the Amalekites to touch a hair of their heads. How touching that must have been to David! But still he went through the sorrow, he wept until he had no more strength to weep. I wonder if any of us has ever had such an experience as that. And the people thought of stoning him. Such a loved leader as he was, and rightly so, yet his followers could even think of stoning him! -- they spoke of it, we are told. What a time it was! But he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. You see, God never intends a calamity to be overwhelming to His children. He intends us to feel it and go through it to the bitterest end, but He will save us in it; He will make a way of escape.

And so David went through the bitterest sufferings. The very thought of his people stoning him must have been dreadful to him. Not that he feared death, but their hearts were so changed towards him.

Now he is like Hannah, he has recourse to the ephod, to prayer: not ordinary prayer. There are many who pray in the ordinary way. I suppose there is hardly a christian in human organisations that knows anything about the ephod. "Our Father which art in heaven", what is called the Lord's prayer is said by hundreds of mouths, but the ephod is not understood. It is not properly a christian prayer, if you will understand me. It is Scripture, of course, and intended for that time, and will be comprehended later. But it is not the prayer the Lord taught His disciples when one said, "Teach us to pray". He there touched on what I might call a christian's prayer. He says, "When ye pray, say, Father"; that is a beautiful address. I do not suppose any name is so delightful in the ear of God as the name Father, spoken to Him by the Spirit of adoption. It is in that connection that the ephod stands today. It is brought to him by Abiathar. We read in Mark 2:26 of "the section of Abiathar the high priest", as if to say it is the christian position in type; and David is intelligent as to that, and has recourse to it; God heard him and answered him. As He answered Hannah He answered David.

And He says, David, you will recover all. What victory there was in that! But he had to go through the sufferings, and I am persuaded, dear brethren, that all our church affairs and assembly sorrows are educational. How frequent they are and how current they are at the present time! But as going through the thing, every sorrow is an education, and if we disregard the education the sorrow continues. It is as we accept the education and feel the sorrow and weep until we have no more power to weep that God comes

in. We arise from our weeping to approach God by the ephod and God hears us and the answer is clear and complete. He recovered all (verses 18, 19).

First of all you have the man brought in, and then you have Christ typified in the ark, the power of God and the glory of God, and then you have all. That is, we do not want to lose a saint. No person who loves God and Christ and the saints wishes to lose a saint; he wishes that all should be recovered. That is the line we are on. As we feel the loss we shall turn to God. As we tell the Lord there are many absent, and we feel it, the Lord will respect that and there will be more and more recovered, but understand recovery means on the Lord's terms, not on the terms of the one who has departed. Everything in the house of God must be on His terms. He must have His own way, His own principles and order in His house, and those who love Him know that the more there is of that the better for themselves.

"PART WITH ME"

John 13:1 - 8; John 14:15 - 26

J.T. I believe that this section has largely in view the procedure and possibilities connected with the assembly, the saints as in assembly position. The leading thought in my mind is having part with Christ. What is to be observed is that what happened was before the passover. John avoids mentioning the actual occasion of the Supper in the chapter. The allusion is to the Lord being there during supper and that before the feast of the passover, and then that He was departing out of this world to the Father and that He had come from God and was going to God. The setting and facts presented would indicate that the public religious observances are wholly ignored; that they have nothing to do with what enters into these chapters, which lead on to the very highest thoughts of the relations between divine Persons and what share we have in these relations. That is found in chapter 17. The position involves the type of Aaron and his sons, Aaron being seen alone in the prayer in chapter 17. Chapter 13 would therefore correspond with the court as preliminary, as the place of sacrifice, the preliminaries of entering in.

A.M.H. Is that why you have connected the feet-washing with the movable lavers in Solomon's court?

J.T. I have thought of that. I think it is right. It is that side that we get here; a movable vessel, not a sea containing a large quantity of water, but more like the laver with wheels.

A.M.H. The lavers were for washing the sacrifices.

Does that imply that we are brought into accord with what we are saying as presenting Christ?

J.T. Quite so. I suppose the wheels would point to portability, that love might be freer to move about

in its service. The Lord moved around the table evidently at supper time; He would move round to where they lay. The chapter contemplates the court, what is within man's view, but also looking toward the holiest, the inner parts of the tabernacle; but love is to be amongst themselves. The chapter requires that.

A.M.H. Is your thought that the supper here is just a time of family liberty? Is that as far as the figure goes?

J.T. That is how it stands. It is an occasion for love and the display of familiarity and the Lord shows how a lead may be given in such circumstances, so that love radiates as preliminary to the higher thoughts and privileges accorded us. So that, following the thought, our meetings are not regulated by ordinary religious observances at all. Sometimes, of course, the brethren meet at the same time as other persons who are so regulated, but not in any sense as having a time for the observance, but according to what is convenient and affording the most advantage. There is one thought attaching to the assembly, that it is not regulated by ordinary religious customs and observances at all, that is, if we view it from a spiritual standpoint. It has its place, of course, here in the public testimony of God. Rebecca is led into Sarah's tent -- that was the public position -- and loved in it, but John is not concerned with that side. Luke is, and I suppose Matthew and Mark are, but John is concerned about life and the inner side of things, what leads inward to eternity. Hence he gives us so much from the Lord at this particular juncture. These chapters all enter into the time immediately before the Lord's death.

Ques. What do we gather from the fact that Peter did not understand what the Lord was doing at that moment?

J.T. It refers to the fact that he had not the

Spirit. You find as looking through the section references to "that day", also it says "the Spirit was not yet". The full position of Christianity is alluded to. "That day" in John 14:20 refers to the Spirit.

E.B.McC. You said the type of this is Aaron and his sons, and the thought is to have "part with me". Does that go on continuously as far as the Lord is concerned, answering to Aaron in the type?

J.T. It runs on to chapter 17 which involves our most exalted privileges. The facts mentioned preclude our being too strict and literal regarding the Lord's presence in assembly. If He be amongst us these chapters would show that He is in charge, as Aaron was at the sanctuary, and that it is a question of what He may lead in. Chapter 13 is preliminary and I think involves the moral side of our position. He must attend to that. We must not assume that everything is ready-made in the assembly. Whilst we are down here the state of things changes. We must leave room for the Lord to take account of all that, and conditions that may exist. He has the means of dealing with all incongruities.

Rem. Peter's condition suggests an ignorance of the Lord's service.

J.T. That is right. Peter represents that side; he would not at first allow the Lord to wash his feet. That was assuming that he was more spiritual than others, and if others denied the Lord he would not. The Lord has to put up with and deal with all these things amongst us. The Lord goes on; He is not going to be stopped; He has the means of dealing with all these things.

E.B.McC. It means continuous service for the Lord and also for the saints. The saints go on, too, in the service.

J.T. We go on, although we sometimes have to wait as Israel had to wait for Miriam (Numbers 12:15), and we are enjoined to tarry for one another.

A.M.H. Are you viewing the assembly as convened?

J.T. Just so, as to the principle.

A.M.H. I was just wondering how you applied this washing of the feet. Is it done by some member or is it the Lord's own act?

J.T. It is done mediately now, it might come in at the outset. We come in and sit down and various conditions are amongst us. This chapter announces that the Lord has knowledge of everything. It is stressed: knowing everything, knowing how matters stood. In a general way the position is clear; He is going to the Father; He came from God and is going to God. Judas was there, supper was there, and it was a time of privilege, and it is how He moves and how the whole position is met by Him.

Ques. Is all this that He knew involved in having "part with me"?

J.T. You are assured at the outset that everything is fixed from His point of view. The matter is clear; He is going to the Father; that is the leading thought. It is not here going to heaven, but to the Father; not ascending, but that He came from God and went to Him. He is going to Him, and it is not a fixed feast, not an external celebration. It is before the passover. In chapter 12 He came to Bethany six days before the passover. Here it is just stated that it is "before the passover". So that it is His own selection of circumstances, outside of all religious matters. It is from His own point of view; it is what He has in mind and how things are to be done.

Rem. It is a great thing to be in the current of His mind.

J.T. That is what we are coming to. There is a strong current flowing here, and He would draw us in. You begin with the thought that you do not belong to the religious world at all, neither are you doing anything in that relation.

Ques. Is that why the doors are shut at the end of the gospel?

J.T. That is the thought carried through. Here they are not shut but the facts show that what is current is outside all religious observances. In chapter 20 we are on such exalted ground that what is Jewish must be shut out.

J.M. Would you explain the difference between going to God and to the Father?

J.T. That raises the question of the appellation 'Father', what it means in this gospel. It is used some fifty times in chapters 14 to 17. That is enough to show what is in mind, that the Lord is keeping the Father before us. We have been noticing elsewhere that in the types in the chapters in Genesis you have the Trinity (see Genesis 18); three men come to Abraham -- three. And then we have opened up the history of the patriarchs, the three patriarchs, or fathers as they are called constantly in Scripture.

Evidently the Spirit of God in the type there is stressing that the Deity is now to be known in that relation, in that family setting, and I think John is used by the Spirit of God to bring this before us. It is the dispensation in which the Father is especially seen. The term not only involves family relationships, but involves grace, and excludes judgment. "Neither does the Father judge any one", John 5:22. So that going to the Father would mean a relation into which God has come. He has come into that relation, a relation already known among men from the outset; from Adam down the relation was known and it is somewhat more limited, but more familiar at the same time, than the full title of the Deity, when we say God, involving the full thought of God, including judgment. God judges, the Father does not, and this leads up to the absolute relations of the Deity, as the Lord says, "The glory which I had along with thee before the world was", John 17:5. That must

allude to the absolute relations of the Persons of the Deity. But we have the Father first here, that the Lord should depart out of this world to the Father, and then in verse 3, that He came out from God and was going to God. Coming out from God is more the moral side of the position, I think, God having to say to everything.

J.M. Does neither of them suppose His going back to heaven, neither going to God nor to the Father?

J.T. Well, it is not put that way. He was departing out of this world to the Father (verse 3); He "came out from God and was going to God"; it does not say 'going to heaven'. The position is so clear. The Father has given all things into His hands, so that it is a dispensation of grace administered.

Ques. Does it suggest what we can enter into at the present time? He is not going to heaven but to the Father.

J.T. Quite so, in view of having part with Him.

But notice it is the Father first and then God and that is the order you get later: "My Father and your Father, my God and your God"; until chapter 20 He never says 'your' Father to us, always "my" Father, or "the" Father. So that the thought is rather education in grace, until chapter 20. This education in grace enables us to take up the relationship that the Lord indicates.

J.M. So that in each case it is moral and relational rather than positional.

Ques. Is the whole of this section we are considering connected with the thought of the Father and does it involve the idea of the family?

J.T. I think it is more to stress the thought of grace in the Father, for, after all, we know very little of God and we need the education and the instruction as to grace to know God in this relation in His dealings with us. "The Father himself has affection for you".

J.W. Is the thought that the Father would be available as the Lord had been?

J.T. Yes. The Lord says in the next chapter "He that has seen me has seen the Father" (verse 9).

That is why we should become acquainted with what the Father is because if we skip these chapters and go direct to John 20 we shall be stilted. We must get to know God in grace. One says, "Show us the Father", and the Lord says, "He that has seen me has seen the Father"; and yet He does not mean that He is personally the Father but He is setting out what the Father is. The Father is a Person as well as the Son. It is to stress what the Father is as brought so near to us in Jesus, in a Man; in seeing Him you see the Father.

Ques. Is that the meaning of chapter 1: 14, "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us"?

J.T. That is His relation as the Only-begotten, it is His relation with the Father as an only One. But chapter 14 is that that Person in manhood represents the Father. We shall never understand chapter 20 unless we become acquainted with the Father as seen in testimony here; what He is. It is not so much who He is as what He is in chapter 14. What Jesus was, He was.

Rem. "I and my Father are one".

J.T. That means that They are one in thought and purpose; not the same Person but two Persons, and the Son perfectly represents the Father in character; not the Person of the Father because He, the Father, speaks from heaven. "Am I so long a time with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father". It is very important not to assume that the Lord means there that the Father and Son are one Person. They are two Persons, but One, the Son, perfectly represented the Other, the Father, in character.

Rem. Is the Father known in grace somewhat akin to the thought of God known covenant-wise?

J.T. That is not properly John's ministry at all. The covenant is between God and the people, not between a Father and a family, so that it is not properly John's ministry. Still, all that God is in grace shone out in Christ, and that is what we need to be instructed in to have part in chapter 20.

R.S. "I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters", 2 Corinthians 6:18. Is that a different idea of Father from this?

J.T. That is what He is in His care for us in everyday life, so it is not merely sons, but sons and daughters. It all comes in, it is what God is in grace. The Father judges no man. That helps as to what is meant. It is not God fully, not God in all His attributes; it is God in a more limited way but in a way more intimate and more intelligible to us, tending to promote confidence.

A.M.H. We have to give careful attention to chapter 12 and perhaps particularly to the signs, to understand the Father. I was thinking of the second chapter in which the Lord shows how He can bring in what altogether surpasses nature. That is in relation to the Father, a spiritual realm, bringing our souls into what surpasses all that nature could ever enjoy here, an initial apprehension.

J.T. Your thought is that is runs through from chapter 12. In the end of chapter 12, the Lord says, "I know that his commandment [that is, the Father's commandment] is life eternal". That gives you a clue as to the first twelve chapters. Life eternal is a commandment, showing how strong it is in the mind of God, that it must come about. It is not simply a gift but a commandment. These chapters are education in grace mainly, to qualify us for chapter 20, which leads into eternity. It is a question of our relationships with God eternally. But these chapters

are to form us and to build up a constitution in us so that we might be equal to chapter 20.

J.M. Would you say that He came out from God and the Father to reveal Him under those two names and went back that the revelation might be made good in us?

J.T. His going back would mean the coming of the Spirit. Here He is going to the Father and to God and so the implication is that I must become acquainted with the Father, in so far as the thought applies, and I must think of God, the moral effect of God here. Jesus came out from Him and now He is going back, and He is opening up a way for others, showing that part with Him has a place. Part with Him is not being translated as in chapter 14, but having part with Him during this dispensation. The whole dispensation is in His mind with the saints having their part with Him in what He is going on with, outside religious circles and observances. He has inaugurated something of His own altogether, ignoring all that man is doing.

E.B.McC. Do you get the agreement of that in verse 31? He is glorified in that company, is He not?

J.T. It involved that He would die, that He would be betrayed into the hands of men and in that position glorify God. The Son of man would be glorified in glorifying God. I think that is what He had in mind: "Now is the Son of man glorified".

A.M.H. Following up your reference to Aaron, might this be the ark coming into view?

J.T. That is just what it is; the power and glory of God going into death to overthrow it. Judas going out implied that that was now the moment, and if Christ glorified God, God would glorify Him and do it at once. The glorification at once is not only His exaltation but what He has during the

dispensation, what He is going on with, involving the assembly here.

E.B.McC. "Come from God, and went to God" -- is that a certain Person of the Godhead, or God in the absolute, involving His own place?

J.T. It is God in the ordinary sense of the word God, involving the three Persons, but the revelation in the economy implies that one of the Persons has remained in the absoluteness of Deity, and that is the Father. That is how the matter stands. The Son and the Spirit are here in subservience to that.

J.M. Does the Son of man glorified (verse 31) and God glorified mean that They would now be known as They could not have been known before?

J.T. Yes, known through death. God could never have been known really except in this way.

Ques. The question has been raised as to whether part with Me would take us much beyond covenant relationships.

J.T. I think it does. It involves all He is going on with, and enters into our position in the assembly, which opens up much. Our wisdom is to discern the Lord as come in and then see what He proceeds with. That is why I suggested the passage in chapter 14, because it brings in the Spirit. In order to know all that the Lord is going on with we must recognise the Spirit. The Spirit is the medium here for all that He is going on with inasmuch as He has now gone to the Father. When He was here literally what He went on with is what is described in chapter 13, but chapter 14 contemplates His going up, and if we are to have part in all that He is going on with now we must be dependent on the Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Comforter.

R.D. Does that passage in Ephesians, "through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father" link together both these passages?

J.T. Yes. Christ is the High Priest, and the Spirit is the power in us.

R.D. We need both; the help of both these divine Persons in this matter.

J.T. That is what we should learn in the introduction of the Spirit in John 14:16. Chapter 13 generally speaking is the court, involving the moral state in us which needs adjustment; whilst the opening of chapter 14 is to encourage us in an objective way "Let not your heart be troubled". The Lord assures us as to our place above and that He is coming for us, but then the knowledge of God, the knowledge of the Father -- His character, what He is, not who He is -- follows on that. So that we know Him as we see Him, as it were. All this is needed for our testimony here, as well as for our place eternally. What the Father is -- that is, it is not that you see the Person of the Father, who He is -- but you see what He is in the Son.

J.M. Would you explain a little more the difference between who He is and what He is?

J.T. Who He is is the Supreme. It is God, but coming into the more limited relation of Father, not to judge, but to minister grace and form us in that, having given all things into the hands of the Son. The Son ministers to us so as to form us in the knowledge of the Father.

J.M. Would what He is be more connected with His attributes, as revealed?

J.T. More than the attributes here, because the Lord says the Father is in Him. The Father works that is the idea. We have to follow all these expressions, what the Father is and then that He is there personally in an inscrutable way in the Son. The very works the Son did are of the Father. All that brings out the Father's dispensation and establishes the fullest confidence in our hearts.

J.W. Is the Father peculiar to this dispensation?

J.T. I think the thought runs on including the millennium. I suppose the term in Isaiah 9, the Father of eternity, will be the thought of Father expressed in Christ in the age to come; He will represent that thought. Moreover it is said that the Father names all families. Every family in the heaven and on the earth is named of the Father. I suppose, therefore, that the Father will regulate all in giving the assembly its peculiar place and Israel its peculiar place, and angels their peculiar place and even the nations the peculiar place they will have in the universe. John, by the Spirit of God, is aiming at instructing us as to the Father, not simply our Father, but God known in that relation. The Lord explained that He does not judge any one and so we are in the presence of unmixed grace. That is what is needed in our hearts, to be established in grace.

J.M. Does the Father of eternity imply that all that is suggested in the name Father will be seen only in Christ?

J.T. That is the meaning of it. He uses parental terms. In chapter 13 He addresses the disciples as children.

J.M. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father". Do you apply the word 'representative' there?

J.T. Representative is the proper word to use there, but when He says, "The Father that dwelleth in me", you have the Person of the Father in some way dwelling in the Son. "Ye in me", we are in His affections; "I in you", He is in our affections.

Rem. It is more intimate.

J.T. The Son is dwelling in the Father and we are in the Son. You are impressed with the need of subjection and spirituality to take in all these things. What is opened up to us here is all in view of our education so that we may take up the relations in chapter 20, "my Father and your Father, ... my

God and your God"; so that there is no discrepancy, we are not stilted in using that wonderful scripture, but built up in the knowledge of divine Persons. What is so needed is to be built up in grace, to banish all this hardness of spirit and to be formed in what God is in the name of Father.

Rem. The knowledge of the Father as known in grace would help us to move freely in that relationship.

J.T. That is right. You are equal to it.

E.B.McC. In chapter 4, where the Lord is speaking of the Father seeking such to worship Him, and saying that God is a spirit, you get the two thoughts, My Father and your Father, My God and your God.

J.T. You might bring chapter 20 into that passage. The Father seeks worshippers -- the persons He is seeking are in that attitude. But "God is a spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth", John 4:24. I think that we might emphasise a little the position of the Comforter in relation to all this. The Father is known in character in grace, and then the Comforter is introduced. The word means that another divine Person has come down and He is here to take charge of matters. At a meeting like this the Comforter is present. He makes everything that is said go for good; He works everything in and makes it profitable; and then in virtue of this fact that He is here, the Son can come to us and the Father can come to us (verses 15 - 23).

Ques. Why is it the Father that sends the Comforter?

J.T. He is the Supreme, although the Son does, too. In the end of chapter 15 we read, "when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you". The Son sends Him too. We can see how the Persons are bound up together and that the idea of the Deity attaches to each One.

J.W. Is it that the three divine Persons spoken of are moving in unity to gain a divine end?

J.T. That is it. You feel that is what runs through these passages.

J.M. Is there a sense in which Christ receives the Comforter as from the Father before giving Him to us?

J.T. Well, "I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter". The Father sends Him there and then in chapter 15 the Son sends Him. It does not say the Son received Him here, but it does in the Acts, "having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit".

J.M. "From the Father" it says in one place.

J.T. In chapter 15: 26. In Acts 2 Christ receives Him and sends Him forth Himself.

A.M.H. "From with the Father", is it not? Is that another reference to the Spirit's place as introducing this relationship? The Father is seen and enjoyed in the Son here, the Spirit being the link.

J.T. It is a remarkable form of expression, "whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father". From with the Father seems as if what is in mind is that the Spirit has first-hand knowledge of what is there, all the Father's thoughts of the Son. The Spirit witnessing means that what He has to present is infinite. The twelve also are to witness, "because ye have been with me from the beginning". They would witness to what they saw, which was necessarily limited to what was within their range, but the Spirit comes out from with the Father with infinite capacity to convey all that is up there; to bring down here all that is up there.

Rem. It is not apart from the Father. His going forth is from with the Father.

J.T. The word means that. Firstly the Lord says I will send Him to you from the Father. You may introduce into that Acts 2, where He received of the Father the promise of the Spirit and sent Him forth.

But here you have an additional thought, "the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father". That is, the Spirit Himself moves from with the Father and as having knowledge of what is up there -- His thoughts of Christ up there, and hence the heavenly aide of the truth has been fully unfolded, involving, I believe, Paul's ministry. What a marvellous range! He searches all things, even the depths of God. What a range of things is available for us in the presence of the Spirit here, as coming forth from with the Father!

D.B. Ephesians refers to the Father's Spirit.

J.T. Quite so, the Spirit of the Father. No doubt that alludes to the Holy Spirit.

J.M. It might help us to think of the Son in the inscrutability of His Person, though we are not able to pry into it.

J.T. It is right to think of Him.

J.M. Both the Son and the Father -- it does us good to think of Them both though we are not privileged to look into the ark, as it were.

J.T. You know it is there. He has come into our range as a Man, sitting, walking, talking with us, but inscrutability is always there: "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is", John 4:10.

J.M. The angels on the mercy-seat would imply that somewhat: "Which things the angels desire to look into", 1 Peter 1:12.

J.T. These angels, these cherubim, are symbolic of divine authority. They saw God in the incarnation, they did not see Him before. "Seen of angels" is the incarnation. The point therefore is that they did not represent the angelic family there in the holiest, but represented the divine attributes and authority.

E.B.McC. The Father sends the Spirit in the Son's name, and then you have the expression "my Father is greater than I", showing, I suppose, how divine Persons work together (John 14:26, 28).

J.T. How remarkable He should be sent in the Son's name! It refers to remnant times. The change comes in in verses 21 to 26 and involves remnant times. It is significant that it is in His name. Philadelphia has not denied Christ's name and the Spirit is here in that setting and teaches us all things so as to render us independent of the hierarchical system. The reason of all these meetings is to make room for the Spirit to bring to our remembrance and teach us all things.

A.M.H. "From with the Father": is it that the Spirit brings to us the Father's thoughts and pleasure in the Son as down here? Of course He comes from heaven, but He bears witness to the time of this relationship, does He not?

J.T. Quite so, the Spirit presents that side, what heaven's thoughts were, and the twelve testify to what they saw in Him (chapter 15: 27).

Ques. Would the passage we have been considering, "from with the Father" imply that whilst the Spirit is here in a representative way, still He is on terms of absolute equality with the Father?

J.T. Quite so. He is a divine Person who took a lower place of subservience. The economy is one of the greatest things to get hold of if we are to be blessed in our outlook and service. God has been pleased to come into this economy. He has come into these relations in order to get near to us. They did not exist before.

J.M. Would it be right to say these chapters prior to the seventeenth were like the Urim on the breastplate while the seventeenth is the Thummim?

J.T. Quite so. Both thoughts are seen in Christ.

The Urim is light, the Thummim perfection. In the allusion to Levi in Deuteronomy 33, the Thummim is put before the Urim; I suppose it refers to Christ as representing the true Aaronic thought; perfection was there before He started out in testimony. It is

remarkable that this comes in at the end of the wilderness journey in the type, meaning that God had wrought something; He had reached some formation. The Thummim was there and the Urim seen -- light shining from perfection. At the beginning of this gospel we have, "in him was life". That would be substance, a perfect state of things in a Man, and the life was the light.

J.M. I suppose we are moving today in the fragrance of that prayer, in chapter 17.

J.T. It runs right down to us. We can say it comes even to us, as Peter said of the sheet -- it "came even to me".

THE CRIES OF JESUS

Matthew 27:46; John 11:43; John 7:37; Luke 8:8

All these scriptures speak of the Lord Jesus crying, not in the sense of weeping or sorrow, but with a loud voice; with a voice that intimated deep feeling and urgency. There are other scriptures that speak of Him in this way which I have not read but which I may feel it necessary to allude to later. These suffice to show how feeling our Saviour was as here in these circumstances. He is not any less feeling now, although never again will He utter those words that He did on the cross, as recorded in Matthew. No words can be found with deeper meaning; no words can be found with deeper feeling. So significant are they in the mind of the Spirit of God that He gives them in the actual vernacular in which the Lord of glory uttered them, then in their translation into Greek, and later we have them in our own tongue. In only a few instances have we the Lord's actual words, the actual vernacular in which He spoke given to us, and they are indeed treasures, kept in the treasury of God. These exceed all in depth of meaning and feeling for they convey the Lord's deep sense of being forsaken. He was forsaken of God only once, never again, and no words, as I said, have such deep significance and feeling and no words should appeal to christians with more force. And indeed to any person convicted of sin, these words will come with peculiar force as they really refer to the Lord's vicarious position, that He was suffering under the unmitigated wrath of God for us. He was entirely immune from such sufferings on personal grounds. "Him who knew not sin", we are told, "he has made sin for us", 2 Corinthians 5:21. The forsaking was on account of the sins He had taken on, and it was that

we might never be forsaken. Forsaking, that God should hide His face for ever from us, was right, was due, was our deserts. And so it would have been. We should be shut out eternally from the holy presence of God; His countenance would never shine upon us; we should be shut out eternally, were it not that God devised a way whereby we should have access to Him and be before Him eternally. It was a great matter with Him and it involved that One of the divine Persons should become a Man, should become one of us, one of us! Holy, harmless, indeed, we are told, and separated from sinners, but nevertheless a Man, for it is said that He took a bondman's form, that is, a form in which He could serve, and then it says that He was found in the likeness of men. You cannot find two men exactly alike; each differs from the others; and hence when it is said He took His place in the likeness of men, we are to understand that He was amongst men as one of them. Marvellous condescension! So He could be found in Nazareth in Galilee as one among others, a carpenter, a son of Mary and Joseph by repute, One who had brothers and sisters. That all this should be so is marvellous and is to be received into our souls as truth, as formative truth for christians. The Lord Jesus was really and truly a Man and yet He could at any time say, as He did say in one instance, "Before Abraham was, I am", John 8:58. And again to a poor outcast, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water", John 4:10.

If thou knewest all this. So that He was compassable outwardly; anyone in those days could have seen him for thirty years in ordinary life. You could have seen Him and perhaps assumed that He was just another of the human race, but He was not. He was another in outward form and likeness, but in truth,

the "I am". It is inscrutable that He should come into such small circumstances. What compression there is, beloved friends, in God in that sense becoming flesh!

But it was, as I said, the outcome of the most careful thought and counsel, behind which was love, for God so loved, we are told. He so loved the world that He gave. Love was behind it, He gave His only-begotten Son. And now Christ is on the cross, He is actually to die; and He feels His position. It was vicarious, I repeat, it could not be otherwise. No such position could overtake Him as regards Himself.

'No man taketh My life from Me', He says. No one could, but He submitted Himself, as we are told, to carry out the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, to be crucified and slain by the hands of wicked men. They did it but it was all carefully planned by the Deity and worked out in infinite accuracy, so that at the right moment, the moment planned, He is actually there on the cross, with hands and feet nailed to it by cruel hands. There He is, beloved friends, in a vicarious position, that is, in our stead. For, we are told, "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time", 1 Timothy 2:5. This moment belongs to that time when, in some little way, a testimony to the vicarious death of Christ is presented to needy souls; and in no way can I present it in such feeling words as in the Lord's own, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" Those words rang out in heaven as upon earth and under the earth on that day of days, and the Spirit of God has brought them down to us in their infinite meaning, that God had forsaken Jesus so that we might never be forsaken; "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life", John 3:16. One man hanging by His side, as Luke alone tells us, believed on Him in this moment. May some here be turned

to Jesus! You are not suffering on a gibbet like that poor thief, you may be comfortable as regards your physical position, having everything that a great beneficent Creator can provide. You are comfortable, provided for in every way, and as here tonight it is your opportunity, your privilege to turn to the Lord as that thief did and say, "Lord, remember me".

That thief had already said that he was receiving the due reward of his sins. He confessed that he was a poor gibbet-deserving thief and he was enduring the penalty of the law which he deserved. His acceptance of that is a suitable introduction to what he is going to say to Jesus. He has spoken to his companion thief the other side of Jesus, he confers with him across the Lord; the Lord was between the two.

What a scene it was! Two wicked men suffering, the one railing on Jesus and the other saying, No; we indeed justly. We are receiving the due reward of our deeds but "this man hath done nothing amiss", Luke 23:41. It might be said to him, 'Did you not know that this One in the middle had been tried at court? -- that He had been before the high priest who condemned Him and that the whole priesthood and all the leaders and elders of Israel said, Away with Him?' Surely the unrepentant thief might say, 'There must be some truth in the accusation, there must have been a good cause for their attitude'. And what could the repentant thief say? He certainly could not say anything as to the facts of the case as he was not present, but light had come into his soul and that is what made the difference between him and the other thief. And that is what makes the difference between most of us here and you if you have not confessed the Lord. Light is in our souls, and not in yours. We received and believed the gospel and we are saved. It may have come to your ears but you have shut it out, you have not as yet received it.

And then the repentant thief turns to the Lord. There is no argument about it, no facts adduced, light is in his soul at the moment. What a moment it was for heaven! A poor thief deserving the gibbet which he was enduring, turning to Jesus as it were and saying, 'Lord, will You not do this?' He confessed with his mouth. He unfurled his standard as at the side of Christ there on the cross. Will you not join that thief? The Lord said to that man, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise". They did not go together, of course, to paradise. The Lord Jesus must always have the pre-eminence. No one went to paradise with Him, He went alone, that was His right. He must be first but the thief followed Him, for Jesus died before the thief. If He had not, the thief could not go to paradise. The thief could only go there in that Jesus had died. You will remember that Pilate sent to enquire if the Lord were already dead and He was. It was unusual. The thief died later. But he went to paradise; so if anyone here now who has never confessed the Lord, confesses Him, you will be in the company of that thief. You will go to paradise if the Lord orders it that you die before He comes. He says, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise".

The Lord is saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" He was saying it with a loud voice. It was to be heard. It has come down the ages to us in its power, and myriads have heard and have turned to God. He was being forsaken so that the blackest sinner might go to paradise and be with Him there. Is there anyone here that is moved in any way in regard to this? There were those standing by and they did not understand the words; they thought He was calling for Elias. Elias was a mere man who needed the Saviour as much as the thief alongside of Jesus. He was a great prophet, of course, but he was a poor sinner at one time. The Lord Jesus was not appealing

to the saints. No, those who pray to the saints are in the dark. Hundreds of millions of people pray to the saints, and these bystanders thought the Lord Jesus was praying to Elias. Bad hearing, you know. That is the difficulty, poor hearing. The Lord says Himself, "Take heed how ye hear". As I am speaking tonight, that is a word for you. How are you hearing? Were I standing at the cross with my present hearing, I should understand that Jesus was speaking to God. Eli is not Elias; Eli is God. My God, my God It was God who was forsaking Him and Jesus knew it. He was forsaking Him that the thief might not be forsaken.

Another man stood by, the centurion, a Roman officer, and he took notice of what happened. The Lord cried out twice according to Matthew, first in the words we have read, and then when in a loud voice He cried and gave up the ghost. The first, His forsaking by God in His unmitigated judgment against sin; and the second as He terminated for ever, in His own body on the tree, the man that sinned. It was done for ever and the Lord cried as He did it. The man that sinned was dealt with judicially and ended in the laying down of that precious life on the cross.

The next scripture is in John 11. It refers to the power of Christ in resurrection. Matthew 27:46 refers to the death of Christ and the forsaking by God. If the Lord had come down from the cross without dying, there would have been no atonement. The forsaking in itself would not do, so we have the second cry, as I said, in Matthew, when the Lord actually died. There must be actual death. The penalty is death and so the Lord went to the full extremity when He died and uttered a loud cry in that connection. He was buried for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. All that had to do with the great vicarious work of Christ, beloved

friends. It is now available to every guilty sinner so that he might not come into judgment but pass from death into life, for He who knew not sin was made sin for us, "that we might become God's righteousness in him". The result is wonderful. As you sit there, however black your history has been, the gospel brings the good news to you that on the simple principle of faith, all is changed. Not only are we given righteousness but made the righteousness of God in Christ. It is a solid foundation on which we christians rest for we shall never come into judgment. We are not only clothed with righteousness, but made it.

Now John 11 gives another cry which alludes to the Lord's power in resurrection. The same lips were used, with a loud voice, as on the cross. Only now it is to call a dead believer out of the grave. The Lord loved him. What a word for us! But I would enlarge on it, not simply as the power applied to ourselves but the power of God in Christ raising Him from the dead, for indeed in this gospel the Lord says, "Destroy this temple", meaning His body, "and in three days I will raise it up", John 2:19. He is "marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead", Romans 1:4.

That is the next thing I want to present, the power that is presented in the gospel of raising the dead. First, Christ is raised for our justification. Romans presents that side. The point there is not to emphasise the exceeding greatness of God's power but is to meet our conscience and it is presented as if He were raised for no other purpose. Marvellous way of presenting it! Delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Does it not come home to you that God has such an interest in you that He has raised Christ for your justification? Let it come into your soul that He did it for you! Chapter 6 of Romans

says He was raised by the glory of the Father. The Father delighted in Him; but He was raised for us! Let it into your soul that God is so interested in you that He raised Christ for your justification!

Here it is a question of Lazarus, and the Lord cries with a loud voice, "Lazarus". How comforting this is, should the Lord be pleased to take any of us by dissolution, as indeed is likely; it is quite likely. Not that I am putting off the coming of the Lord but as far as I can discern it is quite likely that most of us will die as Lazarus did. The Lord told His disciples that Lazarus had died. You might say He was acknowledging His inability to keep him from dying. No, not at all; He stayed away that he should die. He wanted to show His power and His power was the expression of His love, for He loved Lazarus. I do not think Lazarus would ever regret having died. One would like to have spoken to Lazarus. It is never once said that Lazarus spoke. The point is a risen man speaks loudly, the very fact of his resurrection speaks volumes. He is not said to have preached, but people believed on Jesus on account of him; he was a witness of the power of Jesus. Would you not like to come into the circle of those loved of Jesus and who shall in due time hear His voice even though they be dead? His voice cried, "Lazarus, come forth". Lazarus would never forget that. I should like to ask him, when I meet him, how it was. You must not think I am fanciful. I expect to meet the saints. I shall look up Lazarus, speaking humanly. What a history he had! Four days in the grave and now the loud voice of the Son of God addressing him -- "Lazarus, come forth", and he came forth. No power in the universe can keep him there if Jesus says, "Come forth". What a gospel that is! I mean gospel in regard of future circumstances -- the solemn circumstance of the grave. It is part of the gospel that the Lord Himself shall

descend from heaven with archangel's shout and the trump of God and that He shall call forth the sleeping saints by name. So here -- "Lazarus, come forth. And the dead came forth, bound feet and hands with graveclothes", but he came forth. What a testimony to the power of Christ, expressed as I said, in the loud cry!

Am I appealing to anybody here? Are these transcendent facts of any interest to you? Is there anyone here who has no interest in them? I know most have. I know most are delighted, for they revel in these facts. It may be there is someone careless. God forbid! I would urge you to hear aright tonight. Let the voice of Jesus speak to you! He would call you by name.

The third scripture is in chapter 7 of this gospel, and is founded on the other two. The first scripture referred to the death of Christ, the forsaking of God, His vicarious death; the second includes, according to what I have been saying, His resurrection in power, applied in due course to the saints. The third is a wonderful message of grace to living persons here. It is a religious setting. The first is in a judgment setting, the second in a resurrection setting, the power of Christ applied to men in death, for the testimony is, "that one died for all, then all have died", 2 Corinthians 5:14. The third is a religious setting, christendom, the great religious setting today, five hundred million people nominally christians. The work of the gospel today is in that setting, in the religious circle, and the setting of this passage in John 7 is that the religion of the day was bankrupt. The greatest day of the feast it was, the very best day, and they were bankrupt! The Lord knew it and it is as if He were to say to men and women, boys and girls of Jerusalem, 'You have nothing in that feast, there is nothing for you, you are living without any satisfaction. It is the last day, you will be going home tomorrow to

your residence in the country. Turn to Me. Come unto Me'. That is what the Lord means. His voice is resounding through christendom this very day calling attention to the poverty of mere worldly religion and urging people to come to Him. "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink". Are you thirsty? It may be that you are clear as to the judgment of God. I hope there is no one here tonight not clear as to his sins being dealt with by Christ, but even if this is so, you may be thirsty and unsatisfied. The gospel for you tonight is to make you satisfied. "Come unto me". There is nothing for you where you are.

And then the Spirit of God tells us what He meant. It means the Spirit Himself. "But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive". All we christians here have received the Spirit of God. Speaking generally, christians have the Spirit of God and they are satisfied. It says of the saints typically, the trees of the Lord are satisfied. And you are not satisfied, the reason is that you have not come to Jesus. He cries in your ears tonight, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink ... . For the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified". But He is given now; He is here in this room. I am not merely theoretical. Not at all. I am as sure of it as I am alive. The Spirit of God is in what I am saying. It is the voice of Christ, nothing else. "If any one thirst". Do not stay away, do not be thirsty. Do not be disgruntled with your wife, mother, children or neighbours, come unto Jesus and He will satisfy you. It is the Spirit of God that satisfies.

Then there is the passage in Luke 8. The setting of this is the various states of soul that are present when the gospel is preached. The Lord had been speaking a parable, the one we call the parable of the sower. Matthew gives it at much greater length than

Luke, but Luke quotes the Lord as urging in the parable the idea of good ground. There are different kinds of soil, it may be they are all represented here tonight. The first one the Lord mentioned was the wayside. As He sowed the seed fell on the wayside and was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. That is, there was no result. Maybe there is someone like that here, with a superficial apprehension of the word that I am speaking but like the seed on the wayside, there is no soil in which it can germinate. You have never once confessed your sins to God, never come to see that you are a poor lost sinner. There may be some little effect produced in your mind, but when you go out of the room it disappears. The devil, the demons, the servants of the devil, are watching you lest any little grain might get into your soul and cause faith in Christ. That is the first kind of soil.

The second is the rock. The seed fell on the rock and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away because it lacked moisture. That is another kind of soil, there is nothing there to cause it to grow. In the first case the fowls of the heaven took it away. Then in verse 7 some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. Now the Lord enlarges on the meaning of all this later but we have not time now to read what He says. Thorns allude to someone here who has got sickness, it may be. It means something has happened causing worry and whilst you are interested in what I am saying, when you go out you forget all about it. You are just choked with your cares, the cares of this life.

Whereas this is the one thing needful. All others are secondary and the one thing needful now is your soul. Your everlasting soul is at stake; whether you are to believe and be among christians with Christ for ever, or remain an unbeliever and be among the lost for ever, outside in the lake of fire in unbelief.

That is the position. The one thing needful for the moment is to close in with this matter, to forget your cares and decide, like Mary, to commit yourself to Christ. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house". All your cares, too, will be looked after.

Now when the Lord comes to the finish He speaks about the good ground in verse 8, it bore fruit one hundredfold. There is no variation here. Like gives you the full result as if to say that it is worth your while. Matthew gives the descending, Mark the ascending line, but Luke is the full result all at once as much as to say, 'Can you resist it?' That is what the Lord is saying. What is the good ground? An honest and good heart. One of the most difficult things to find today is an honest and good heart. That is what the Lord calls good ground. And so, when He had said these things He cried. If I am urging you now, it is just the same thing. If I could cry louder I would urge you as to this matter. The Lord is urging you about it. He cried and what are His words? "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear". It is a very solemn thing if anybody in the reach of my voice is not affected. It means that you have not ears to hear. Your ears are just dull natural ears and the Lord feels it. He felt it then undoubtedly. The crowds around Him suggested to Him that there were very many deaf ears, and He felt it. And He feels it every time He has approached a sinner and is repelled, and He would utter a cry saying how urgent it is. And so I would reflect His cry, and say, It is urgent that your ears be turned to what has been said, and your heart opened to receive the word, so that you may bear fruit one hundredfold.

THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AND THE RIGHT HAND OF MEN

Revelation 1:17 - 20; Revelation 5:1; Revelation 10:5 - 7; Revelation 13:16

These scriptures, as you will observe, dear brethren, speak about the divine right hand; whether it be the right hand of Christ or the right hand of God; and in the last scripture it is the right hand of men in all grades of society, that is, small and great, rich and poor, free and bondmen: "that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead". That is the mark of the beast.

I wish to speak of these scriptures almost entirely from the standpoint of the divine right hand as it is seen in this book of Revelation, a book which has a peculiar application to our times. The things contained therein are about to be fulfilled, and consequently there is need of knowing what the right hand of God or of Christ implies. It is God's best in the way of strength in service to us; that is what the right hand manifestly conveys, and it is very touching that it is so prominent in this book. It is indeed a mark of the whole dispensation in which we are, for it is the period of Christ's session at the right hand of God; meaning that He is in the place of divine strength: that is, all the power that wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead, "the surpassing greatness of his power" (Ephesians 1:19), is available here on earth, and not only that, but is working, as it is said, "the power which works in us",

Ephesians 3:20. It is not that 'which should work', but "which works in us". God operates for us according to our prayers, but He operates "far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us". That is what marks the whole dispensation and the Lord would

give us to understand that it holds in remnant times, that it holds notwithstanding that the public profession has failed. For God has not failed, and His right hand is available to all who are ready to avail themselves of it. That is His very best; there is no fag-end with Him or with His people. No one who loves God and Christ would think of giving only the fag-end of their life to Him. As we love God and Christ we give the whole of our lives to Him, and that means that we give our right hand. The beast would take charge of our right hands according to the last scripture that I read, but those who love God and Christ say, 'Our right hands are for God, and not for men'. And God says, 'My right hand is for you too'. And so John, who is the representative Christian or believer in this book, is called a bondman.

The book, I may suggest, at the outset, dear brethren, involves a certain distance. It is not a book of nearness, such as the epistles to the Ephesians, the Colossians and the Thessalonians. These epistles suggest nearness, the nearness of the saints to God, and indeed union with Christ; union is not only nearness, but organic oneness with Christ. That is what the epistle to the Ephesians contemplates.

This book, however, is a book of graded distance; that is, God gave the revelation to Christ, and Christ signified it by His angel to His bondman John, who testified the word of God. So it is God, Christ, Christ's angel and John, and then the book is written to the seven assemblies, meaning the whole professing body.

Now, John tells us that he was the brother of the saints and their companion in tribulation. That is the kind of thing that you get with all true servants, the bondmen of God or Christ; they are sufferers.

Our idea of leadership is often mistaken. We assume that the term applies to the brother or brothers who take part in the reading or in ministry. But, in truth, the idea is that the leader goes before according

to the pattern of Christ, and in doing so, he suffers. There is a very beautiful touch in Numbers 10the ark was to be carried in a dignified way on the shoulders of the Kohathites, following on Reuben, Simeon and Gad, and followed up by Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin. But then instead of that, the ark goes forward before all the tribes and it is to seek out a resting place, that is, to bear the brunt of the opposition. Whatever the opposition may be, the ark confronts it. That is how our Lord Jesus Christ led. We are enjoined to obey and remember our leaders, but be sure to remember "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever",

Hebrews 13:8. He is the great Leader and the way He has led is in suffering. So John here is in suffering, but he is in a true Christian state, and he is in the Spirit on the Lord's day. He is ready for all that enters into the Lord's day, so far as it was available for him; he was an isolated prisoner, but he was in keeping with the Lord's day. The Lord had opened the way to him in regard to His Spirit; no one could close that way; it is always open to God. He had not made a way out of prison at that particular time, but He had made a way for him to God. The Lord's day implied that there was a way open to him into all that belonged to the first day of the week, the Lord's day. It was surely that; for the Lord was manifestly in power in regard to God in keeping the way open for him to be with his God. John says he heard a voice behind him, meaning that his face was towards eternity. He was in the Spirit; the Spirit links us on with eternity. The great type that pointed to the day of the Spirit was the feast of Pentecost, there is no time limit to it at all. It looks into eternity and that is what John was enjoying in so far as he could, as having the feast of Pentecost. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and he heard a voice behind him, that is, he was called back from

that position to see things in relation to the public profession of christianity. Notwithstanding the failure of the public profession, the Lord is saying to John, 'I am going on; whatever others may be doing, whatever difficulties may arise, I am going on with something; I am going on to finality. In spite of apparently insuperable difficulties, I am going on to the end, and, John, I want you to be with Me in this'. That is how the book stands. John hears a voice behind him, and he turns to see the voice which spake to him. The point is what is being said -- the voice. When he turned he saw a wonderful scene "seven golden lamps, and in the midst of the seven lamps one like the Son of man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle: his head and hair white like white wool, as snow; and his eyes as a flame of fire; and his feet like fine brass, as burning in a furnace", Revelation 1:12 - 15. What can stand before all this? Nothing. There He stands, and in His right hand He held seven stars; He had them in His right hand. And when John saw Him he fell at His feet as dead. This leads me to the first point that I wish to stress, namely that the Lord laid His right hand on John. "And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and 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". That is the hand laid on John, and it is the hand we may look to; without it we can do nothing at all. We shall be as one dead. We may talk and attempt to do things, but we are as one dead, and as such we can do nothing at all really. So the right hand is laid upon John and what this implies to us is love. It is the touch of the right hand of power to infuse life, to stimulate what is stagnant or dead, to make it living. This is the thing that the Lord begins with; He is about to operate according to His mind, and

He begins with John. He begins with those who love Him, with those who are humble, and those who fear; those who are sensibly without strength in the array of judicial power that is presented in this glorious Person. What can one do? One has to be set up afresh in relation to the judicial power of Christ. His face had been set benignly towards the world. John had been set up with his fellow apostles in that connection. John developed the great thought of love as none other of the twelve did. His epistles testify to the attractiveness of love and its effectiveness in life, for it is he who develops the great thought of love and eternal life. Now he is in the presence not of evangelical power but of judicial power and angelic power, too. The dispensation is not changed yet, but the book of Revelation looks on to another dispensation, beginning in this one and preparing for that one, that is the coming dispensation of judicial power. God is intervening to deal with opposition even in the profession. How are we to be in that? It is no longer apostolic, it is no longer the exercise of divine power and love for the salvation of men; it is a question of the judicial dealings of God with the rebellious profession, that is what is in mind. How am I to be in that? We have to be ready for divine changes of attitude; we have to be ready for this dispensation, for it may burst upon us at any moment.

The tenth chapter shows that the Lord has power when He swears to bring the whole matter to an end. The date is on the calendar and He has power to bring it to an end at the minute. So that looking towards this judicial state of things, how am I to be in it? In whatever movement the Lord is leading, I have to enquire how am I to be in that? Am I equal to this new movement? Am I to be behind, to be a derelict in failing to see what the divine mind is, and to fall in line with it?

John is not in this class. The divine countenance is

towards us in unfailing love. John loves the Lord and the Lord knows it, and although he falls at His feet as one dead, the Lord says, 'You are not to be dead, you are to be alive, and you are to write a book'.

Some of us were speaking about the distinction between a chronicler and a scribe. John is not exactly a chronicler, but a scribe; he has a great deal to say about books. When he writes his gospel he says, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they were written one by one, I suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books written", John 21:25. That is what John says. He had a greater idea of books than anyone. I do not suppose any librarian ever had such an idea as a world full of books. Not that John says it would be full of books, but he does imply that a world full of books, written about the things of Christ, would be embodied in Christ. There is enough in Christ to fill a world with books. I do not suppose there was any scribe who knew more about books than John. He was a scribe, and the Lord here had in mind that he was to write; it is not a question of preaching, but of writing. I dwell a little on this because many of our dear sisters and brothers are taking down notes and they sit up at night to copy them, and others revise them and so on, involving very great labour, much more than those who have not to do it realise; the Lord has in mind here that John is to be engaged with that sort of work. That is the particular work he is to be engaged in according to this book. It is not apostolic; it is prophetic; he is a prophet, a bondman of God, but his work particularly is to write. And the Lord says, 'Now John, if you are to do this work properly, you are to do it in love, you must do it in life, in a living, feeling way'. And that is a word that applies to every bit of service that is to be rendered to the saints of God and to the Lord at the present time;

it is not to be carried on in a perfunctory way, but in the energy of life; that is the thing, the feelings of life and love. So the Lord laid His right hand upon John, and He says, "Fear not; I am the first and the last, and 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. Write therefore what thou hast seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to be after these". There is to be one book written under these three heads. The Lord gives him the subjects; He leaves it with him to subdivide the subjects. We have them in twenty-two chapters, but there are three heads, three subjects, "what thou halt seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to be after these". These are the three headings and in every one of these headings the Lord implies that you are to instil the thought of life. You are to be in the energy of life, you are to be in the feelings of life, and the love that belongs to it, and I may add in the intelligence of life, for intelligence is a feature of life in man.

Now you can see the effects of all this. We are not all scribes, of course, but it is incumbent on every true lover of Christ to be engaged in the Lord's service. There is something to be done and the lesson is that it is to be done as we receive the touch of a living Christ, and of a Christ who has the keys of death and of hades. One could say a good deal as to the idea of the power of hades. There are those who pretend to have access to those who have departed through death; it is a manifest fallacy. The Lord is not opening the door of hades for such. He has the keys. Where can one get in and how get out? Is the Lord at the beck and call of any? The whole thing is a lie. I am speaking of that only by the way. He has got the keys of death, too. Later He says He has the key of David. That is, He has power to restrain all evil, to keep it under for the moment, and

He is doing it. And then He has the power to release good. He opens and no man can shut, and shuts and no man can open. That is the position in this book.

The next thing is that He has something in His right hand. He has seven stars and is holding them in His right hand. This is not a judicial thought, although those concerned are the angels of the seven assemblies. Although they are responsible and the Lord sends to them one after another this position is not judicial. Their position is supremely advantageous, it could not be more advantageous, considering the matter as a question of those of us -- and everyone is included -- who are responsible at the present time. The term "angel" here has often been commented upon as having place in Scripture. The Lord, for instance, says of children, "their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10); that is, they are represented in heaven, and represented in such a way that they behold the face of the Father. This has to be understood spiritually, and we read of messengers of assemblies, Christ's glory (2 Corinthians 8:23), manifestly representatives of the assemblies. These were men carrying the bounty of the saints to where it could be used in love, a wonderful service. The glory of Christ shone out in the assembly, in these ministers carrying money from certain points of the west to Jerusalem to meet in love the need of the saints of God. Such, dear brethren, is the way the Spirit of God presents these services. Here we have seven stars in the right hand of the Lord Jesus, that right hand of power, and, as I said, the position is supremely advantageous. That is to say, for those who love the Lord and who care for His interests, who in the wakeful hours of the night, pray to Him to preserve the faith of His people, mention the meetings, mention the leading brothers, mention the saints. These are

the ones. Others of them have a like position even though not so prayerful, not so considerate for the Lord, but still they are included in this position in the right hand of Christ. All of us who are responsible to the Lord in a district represent the responsibility of the assembly, and accept it, too -- some more and some less; but whether more or less, we are in that position. The Lord gives us to understand that we are in that position, and that we can reckon in that position and in that service, on the unlimited power of God. How great this is as we bring it down to practical cases of care! It has its own place amongst us. It is not work that is very dignified, as perhaps sometimes we have thought. I illustrate this from Luke 10, where the Lord says to the inn-keeper, "Take care of him". That is the idea. Is there any christian here who cannot take that simple thought in? Is there not a neighbour of yours to whom you can extend a little care? Even a child can extend a little care to another christian child. You begin to be an elder in that way. The thought advances so that one learns how to take care of the assembly of God. That is the great thought. There is not anything in the whole universe so deserving of care as the assembly of God, not your own family, not your business, not anything in the whole universe is so deserving of care as the assembly of God. But if we are to be caretakers of the assembly there must be a certain qualification, for the apostle says that if a man does not know how to conduct his own house, he is ruled out, he will discredit the service (1 Timothy 3:5). I am only speaking as Scripture does, but what I have in mind is the care meeting as we call it; those who cannot take care of a single saint such as the Lord indicated in Luke 10, are not much use in the care meeting when brethren are met together. I would seek to convey what is meant by this, that the Lord holds the stars in His right hand (Revelation 2:1).

I want everyone here who has any little thought of serving another, or doing any little bit of service to his neighbour, to realise that the Lord is thinking of you, and He will give you to understand that you have all His power behind you, and the more you use that the better He loves you. You are taken notice of in heaven.

What I would speak of now is not simply a question of being alive in the service, but the ecclesiastical position. The ecclesiastical position is more properly presented in the seven golden candlesticks, the Lord is walking in the midst of them with feet as brass. They are under His eyes for judicial dealings, and nothing can escape those eyes. He walks in the midst of them and what power He has! The second and third chapters show how scrutinisingly He walks. "Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation", Revelation 2:22. He has done that. That is the situation in Rome; the Lord has dealt in power. He cast her into a bed, it is a judicial act; and so in other instances, but in every instance He holds those who care for His people. The candlesticks are the great ecclesiastical position in the midst of which Christ walks. There is not a part of it exempt from His scrutiny, but then, there are those, as He says, who care for one another, and who say, I am responsible. So we are responsible as to all this, even as to all the christians in the system of Rome. I am responsible for all of them, I may feel powerless in regard to it, but the Lord says, 'I am taking notice of that'. As in Ezekiel, there were "the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof" (Ezekiel 9:4), so any brother or sister, feeling bound hand and foot and not able to do anything, can sigh and cry for the abominations, and the Lord says to such, 'I am with you, you do not need to be there, you cannot change things; the time of

reformation is past, it cannot be altered, but I have opened a door for you to get out of it'. That is what the Lord has done, and that is for us here. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins", Revelation 18:4. He has made the door open for us so that we are here at this moment in glorious liberty. He has taken notice of those who feel for His people and their interests, and sigh and cry for the abominations. He would say, 'My right hand is with you, and I am holding you, and am opening a door for you to come out'. If there is anybody held in these systems, I would urge you to hear His voice, "Come out of her". He knows you, He claims you, and knows where you are, and what you are suffering, and as you move out, He says, 'All My support is behind you'. That is the position as to the star. The angels of the assemblies represent, as I said before, the responsible side and those who accept the responsibility. The Lord beautifully combines His thought in writing to Thyatira, the most responsible of all the churches, the church that was guilty and that had the responsibility of having tolerated Jezebel. The Lord changes His words and He says, "to you I say, the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I do not cast upon you any other burden", Revelation 2:24. That is to say, the Lord changes His words, and addresses the remnant in the midst of the apostasy. How precious it is to be addressed in that character, singled out as overcoming and feeling things! He says, "I do not cast upon you any other burden; but what ye have hold fast till I shall come". That is the remnant position.

Now in chapter 5 we have a book in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. It is the book of God's rights; that is, God holds the title deeds to the earth; it is all His. As the ark went over the Jordan it was the ark of the Lord of all the earth.

And so the Lord Jesus rejoices in spirit and He says to His Father, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth", Matthew 11:25. We want to get this great thought into our souls that God the Father is Lord of heaven and earth. There are those who would let Him be in heaven, and say, We do not want Him on earth. They give glory to the God of heaven but the point of this book is that He is the God of the earth. He is worthy; He has got the title deeds and the book is in His right hand, not in a strong box, but in His right hand. He is going to use all His power to assert His rights below and it is all on the ground of redemption; it is all effected by our Lord Jesus Christ, seen here in the midst of the throne as a Lamb slain. God asserts His rights but He says it is all on the ground of redemption. And so the seals are opened, one after the other. God has asserted His rights, but He asserts them in grace, and in the opening of these seals, He is thinking of the saints; the saints are to suffer the least possible in every judicial action.

Chapter 10 shows the Lord Jesus putting His right foot on the sea and His left foot upon the earth, and crying as a lion roars. But now it is not simply a question of the title deeds of the earth, but it is the Lord coming in Himself to take possession. What an operation is here ! Then in verse 5 it says, "And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer". He calls attention to the Creator, and that there is to be no longer delay after a given event. The day of the winding up of everything is fixed on the calendar, and as soon as the hour strikes there is power to effect it. So that the Lord says,

"in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets". That is for our encouragement that we may not be discouraged by the constant drive of evil men doing their own will in this world. The Lord is swearing here in confirmation for the assurance of the saints, for the establishment of our faith. He lifts up His right hand, all that He is enters into the oath. It is a fixed matter on the calendar, the finishing up of everything. After a certain event it will occur, so that we are to be quiet and restful, and to put on the helmet of salvation, knowing that our redemption draws nigh.

Then there is the final word that one touches very hesitatingly, and that is the mark of the beast. His requirement is that his mark is to be on the right hand or on the forehead. The mark on the forehead is that you are publicly seen and known to be on his side; and he so regards you whatever your resources may be, this mark evidences that you are on his side and you will be taken on and conscripted personally. So that the point is to see to it that nothing like this mark is on the forehead or on the right hand. The latter means that I hand myself over in all the power that I have to this power. There is no hesitation; no reserve. It is my right hand. That is what the beast means. He says, 'I want you, and all that you are, I am going to make you a superman, and I want all the power you will have as a superman with all that education'. In the wonderful systems there are to be men with six fingers and six toes, supermen. The beast says, 'I want you, and I want all the power that you have'. That is the thought of the right hand.

In the next chapter God takes up that challenge. This is the great issue with God, it results in unmitigated punishment (see verses 9, 10). I am speaking of the evil that is ordinary. To get to the root of the

thing, is to get it in the abstract and that is what is presented here. God says, 'I take up that challenge. If the beast challenges My creatures in this way, I take it up and I challenge each, and say that anyone who does homage to the beast shall drink of the wine of the fury of God'. We can see how the position calls for suffering, it is either one thing or another. Everyone, young or old, should understand things in their abstract relations, and John's writings enable us to understand things in an abstract way. The position calls for suffering. It is either suffering now or unmitigated suffering later on. "The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus", Revelation 14:9 - 12.