Romans 9:1 - 5

J.T. It might be very profitable for us to consider the place of Israel in the thoughts of God. The first few verses of Romans 9 seem to me to indicate the place of Israel in the thoughts of God.

J.P. I suppose the tendency with us has been to be so engaged with our own blessing that we have overlooked a great deal that belongs to the truth of God.

J.T. I have been thinking too that perhaps most of the things that we speak of as blessings which we have come into in christianity, we find in Scripture to be primarily connected with Israel.

Ques. For instance, sonship?

J.T. Yes, that is the first thing mentioned: the adoption belongs to them.

J.P. And the adoption is sonship. I believe what is so important and so helpful to us is to apprehend the greatness of God's purposes, not simply to take in our part, but to apprehend God's purposes in their entirety. I think that everything then falls into its own place.

Rem. Whether as regards Israel or the church.

J.T. Yes, and it is not only that these things are presented as a subject for faith (that is, as something to come in in the future) in the Scriptures, but I think that every element is available at the present time.

W.C.R. What do you mean by that?

J.T. Well, take the first one here, the adoption; it is not simply represented as a matter of faith, but it is available, as is clearly shown in chapter 8. It is not simply that you are in the light of sonship, but that you have the spirit of sonship: "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God".

J.P. What about the glory?

J.T. I suppose that also is connected with the Holy Spirit. He is the "Spirit of glory", 1 Peter 4:14.

Ques. You mean that those things are available now?

J.T. Certainly; I think that this is exceedingly practical, because it shows that the thoughts of God have taken form, every one of them. Of course, where it says, "according to flesh", you cannot apply that to the church; he is speaking here of the things that particularly distinguish Israel. What may be called blessings apply to the church now.

Ques. Will Israel pass through death in the same manner in which the believer now does in order to enter into these blessings?

J.T. Israel is viewed as dead, and they come into resurrection. The figure in Ezekiel is very clear "These bones are the whole house of Israel", Ezekiel 37:11. That is what was said to the prophet, and verily they assume form and come to life.

G.R. It is national resurrection; they are not in view today.

J.T. They are only in view in the assembly now. In the assembly proper there is neither Jew nor gentile, but the remnant of Israel is maintained there. That is the point the apostle makes in chapter 11: he adduces himself as a proof of it. Indeed the apostle goes so far as to say elsewhere that not only the remnant shall be saved, but that the whole twelve tribes were "instantly serving God day and night" and that they hoped to come to the resurrection (Acts 26:7).

Ques. I do not quite understand how they are preserved in the assembly. You mean that there are Israelites coming into the light of God's favour now?

J.T. I think so; a remnant of Israel is merged into the assembly; they are so taken account of.

Rem. God added to the assembly such as should be saved.

J.T. Yes, the spared remnant of Israel.

Rem. Then their place is far better than Israel nationally.

J.T. They come into heavenly glory in result. In spite of the national breakdown God preserves the true Israel in the church. Nothing that God introduces here can lapse.

J.D-t. It is always deeply interesting to me to see the work of God among the Israelites; the faithfulness of God is really what carries them through in the church.

J.T. That is the idea; the church is where things are preserved. Take the law; it is maintained, only that it reappears in a better form. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not according to the flesh but according to Spirit (Romans 8:4).

J.P. I was just thinking how the Lord is causing the truth of the assembly to grow in our souls; it is really marvellous. You know all we think of is that we have got a little blessing for ourselves, but if it were not for the assembly, where would the character of God be maintained? Really everything is maintained in the assembly.

J.T. Everything. There is a very interesting point in Isaiah 8, where, in view of Jehovah hiding His face from the house of Jacob, it says, "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples" (verse 16).

J.P. And does not the Spirit of God take up that scripture in Hebrews 2?

J.T. He does: "I and the children which God has given me". They are to be for signs and wonders to Israel. And then in the same chapter (Isaiah 8) the law and the testimony are the test of everything, and they are the test of everything today. For faith everything is intact.

A.R.S. Suppose some person came to you and said, 'But the church has failed'. What would you say to him? What about the shipwreck in Acts 27?

J.T. Well, the shipwreck did not take place until they got close enough to land to get ashore. Every single passenger on board that ship upon which Paul sailed got to land safely.

J.P. There are things connected with the church on the divine side according to the purposes of God which never fail.

J.T. In view of the breakdown of the assembly the guarantee for everything is in Christ, the faithful and true witness. Directly the breakdown of the assembly comes into evidence then Christ becomes prominent as the faithful and true witness.

Rem. I was thinking with regard to the shipwreck that God said to Paul, "God hath given thee all them that sail with thee". Their salvation was bound up with Paul.

J.T. Quite so. While the ship was at sea the only salvation for the passengers was to abide in the ship; but directly it got close to land, their salvation depended on leaving the ship and going on to land. I think Christ becomes the land.

J.B-t. I think that is a very important point for souls, because they have to learn to rest in Christ; everything is maintained in Christ.

J.T. Things are maintained down here at the present time for the reason that the Holy Spirit is here; they are not maintained in what is ecclesiastical. The ship refers to what is ecclesiastical.

Rem. I have heard it said that too much is made of the assembly, and the assembly has been put in the place of Christ.

J.T. I do not think you can make too much of the assembly, because God has placed His testimony in the assembly, and so far as I see it will be there eternally; I do not think there will be any change. What God has placed in the assembly here will come out in it in the future. It is not the saints as dissociated from the Lord. If it is a question of

ecclesiasticism, you may make too much of it, as in Rome. The idea is that the assembly is Christ morally. In 1 Corinthians 12 the term, "the Christ", includes the assembly; it is His body.

J.B-t. I look upon it as the Person of Christ first, the assembly second.

J.T. But that is not it. It is all right in a way, but at the present moment Christ is expressed in the church; you cannot separate them. The Lord is not acting on different principles now than He did in the beginning.

O.R. God will never give up His thoughts.

J.T. You cannot dissociate Christ from His body.

Ques. If everything is maintained in the church, how does that connect with chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation?

J.T. There it is the public, historical thing that is in view, that which was established to bear the light of Christ to the world during His absence. Then you must remember that Philadelphia comes into view, and I have no doubt that Philadelphia represents the church according to what it is to Christ. You get the overcomer, of course, in all the phases of the church, but what He says to the overcomer in Philadelphia is very different from what He says to the other overcomers. He speaks of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, and so on. The thing to see is that although the ecclesiastical and official thing has broken down, yet the Holy Spirit is here, and the saints are here, and if the Lord is acting down here at all He is acting in connection with these, and that is what the gates of Hades will not prevail against.

J.P. That about the overcomer is very beautiful.

There were the three 'mys' on their side, and He answered with all the 'mys' on His side.

J.T. And then as you proceed with the message to Laodicea, the Lord is standing outside; but where is

He outside? What I understand is that He is outside the ecclesiastical system, and He is found among His people, those who are morally outside. I think Thyatira is the ecclesiastical system. The Lord recognised the assembly ecclesiastically until Thyatira; in that church a remnant is recognised, and that involves separation morally.

G.R. But I have heard it said that the church never was ecclesiastical; it was always in the power of the Spirit.

J.T. That is true, but there was that which was public and official, and with which the Lord had been identified, which had the place of the candlestick.

That is what I mean by ecclesiastical, the proper church position publicly. I think the Lord suffered the church up to Thyatira.

G.R. One would see it in the early chapters of the Acts outwardly.

J.T. That is the idea. But to return to Israel; God had reserved a remnant, and the apostle Paul was the testimony to it. He says, "I also am an Israelite ...", Romans 11:1.

Rem. We get that in Ephesians 1, too: "We ... who first trusted in Christ".

Ques. As a principle, do not the remnant always come in for the best?

J.T. They do. They always come in for what is better than that to which they were previously attached.

The remnant of Israel came into the church. But then in these chapters it is not the church in its heavenly character as connected with the divine counsels, but as the gentiles occupying properly the place of Israel down here. Israel is set aside, and it contemplates the setting aside of the gentiles also.

G.R. But they are grafted in. I think this chapter is very wonderful; it is most important to see the consistency of God with Himself.

J.T. So you get the doxology in the end of chapter 11: "O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! ...".

F.L. It looks as though the apostle, when he got to the end of the theme, was overpowered with the grandeur of it and he breaks out with the doxology.

J.T. It is the glory of God that is in view, and the glory of God is in resurrection. What is really involved is the bringing in of Israel into resurrection, and in that way God's glory is brought to pass.

Rem. Can you say a word comparing the place of Israel and the place of the church? Will not the church enter into more than Israel will enter into?

J.T. The church has its distinct place in the divine scheme, but it is not so contemplated here; it is not even called the church. It is simply the gentiles that are in view here and they are occupying the place of Israel, so that Israel is cut off. But the point is to show the faithfulness of God in regard to promise "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance", and so it says, "All Israel shall be saved",

Romans 11:26.

J.P. There is a divine needs-be for these chapters; we get to the middle of chapter 3 and it looks as though Israel's fate is hopeless; then another line is followed out and the Spirit of God takes up the threads, unites them, interweaves them and brings them out in the fulness of time.

J.T. You get the gentiles here coming into the goodness of God; their salvation depends on their continuing in this goodness, and if they do not continue they also will be cut off.

J.B-t. What a wonderful chapter this is!

J.T. How contracted our minds are! We are so accustomed to what we regard as distinctive to ourselves that we have lost sight very largely of the divine scheme, whereas it was God's thought that all

His plans should be preserved and cherished in the affections of His people at the present time.

J.P. Do you not think that the verses from 11 to 16 inclusive in chapter 11 are very wonderful? They show what a wonderful place Israel as such has in the purposes of God. God has taken occasion from their fall to accomplish certain purposes in regard of the nations, and the force of the apostle's argument here is that if in connection with their fall certain things have taken place, how much more when God takes them up again!

J.T. What will it be? "Life from among the dead".

J.P. "Have they stumbled in order that they might fall? Far be the thought: but by their fall there is salvation to the nations to provoke them to jealousy. But if their fall be the world's wealth, and their loss the wealth of the nations, how much rather their fulness? For I speak to you, the nations, inasmuch as I am apostle of nations, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I shall provoke to jealousy them which are my flesh, and shall save some from among them. For if their casting away be the world's reconciliation, what their reception but life from among the dead?".

J.T. I think it brings in the wonderful resources of God. It might appear that in the breakdown of Israel God was defeated. I have no doubt at all that Satan's intent was to set Israel aside, for he knew perfectly well that thus the testimony of God would be set aside. He could not effect through Balaam what he could through the corrupting influences of the Moabites, and his point was that God would be puzzled to save His character; to do so He would have to destroy the people as thus corrupted. Phinehas saved the day and the plague was stayed. In rejecting Christ and the Spirit Israel is set aside. But in setting Israel aside the nations are enriched in the wealth of God, so that Satan did not gain his point; all that

which God intended for Israel is preserved in living power among the gentiles.

J.B-t. It is all spoiled now.

J.T. It is in a public sense, so that the nations themselves come under the judgment of God, because they continued not in the divine goodness. It does not say the church; it is the gentiles in contrast to Israel. At the same time the remnant of Israel is included; they are grafted in among them.

G.R. There is a very interesting passage of scripture where Jehovah asks, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away?".

J.T. Christ has never given up His affection for Israel; He feels the loss of Israel just as Isaac felt the loss of his mother; but He got comfort in the church.

J.B-t. I was telling a Jew on board the boat last week how greatly God loves His people and what their prospects are in the days to come, but it did not seem feasible to him.

J.T. If he had had any idea that you were in a sense the custodian of Israel's blessing for the moment, he would no doubt have been quite interested; and it really is true.

J.B-t. It is very feasible that there is nothing failing at all; it is all being carried on divinely, although it is not manifested outwardly, but by and by it will be manifested and then all will see it.

J.T. But I think we should bear in mind that God wants it cherished here where the defeat came to pass. Every christian at the present time should be deeply concerned in regard to the divine counsels.

J.P. Is it not a wonderful thing when you come to take account of an epistle like this? It is written by appointment of the Holy Spirit; hence we are bound to believe that everything is in divine order. I think we have had a wrong thought about the three chapters, the 9th, 10th and 11th; we have regarded them almost

as though they were an intervention, but it is the perfect order of the Spirit of God.

J.T. Unquestionably. In the first chapter it is, "The gospel of God ... concerning his Son ... made of the seed of David according to the flesh". Do not forget that He is made of David's seed according to flesh, and if He is of David's seed according to flesh, it means a great deal. Look at the end of Revelation: in that last presentation of Himself, He says, "I am the root and the offspring of David". Does that look like ever giving up things here? Never.

J.P. A man that can speak like the apostle does in the closing verses of chapter 8 of Romans certainly is interested in the divine counsels: nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord".

J.T. Hence those chapters are in perfect order; they are what affection looks for, what a man looks for who is in the good of chapter 8. Those who love God want all His counsels and thoughts maintained. A man who can speak as the apostle does in chapter 8 is concerned about every single thought of God. The apostle could wish that he were accursed from Christ for the sake of Israel.

Rem. Moses wished himself blotted out, but not the people.

J.B-t. It is a proof to me of the wonderful grace of God that He should be communicating His counsels to His people now.

J.T. It is wonderful favour on the part of God.

J.P. I think we ought greatly to appreciate it.

J.T. He communicates to affection; it is people that love Him that He speaks to.

Rem. I think these chapters are not a break but a link with what you get after chapter 11.

J.P. Yes, we are educated in the love of God to the end of chapter 8, then comes the link, and then

you get the chapters that really bring out the characteristics of the kingdom.

J.T. Affection ever looks for divine thoughts; affection is in sympathy with every divine thought, and God looks for it. The Lord looked for friends.

G.R. It is just the difference between a servant and a friend.

J.T. A friend is one whom God takes into His confidence.

G.R. Abraham was God's friend.

O.R. Hence what you find is that christendom is filled with servants and not with friends.

Rem. They are in the world, like Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom. The angels were sent to Sodom; but Jehovah says, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?". At Sodom the angels wanted to stay outside; Abraham was outside.

G.R. Is it not interesting that He gives a moral reason for it with regard to telling Abraham, for He says, "I know him that he will command his children and his household after him"?

J.B-t. It is a proof of God's confidence in His friends. You communicate what is in your mind to your friend, because you take for granted that he is interested in all that you are interested in.

J.T. I hope that the Lord will revive an inquiry into prophetic subjects, for interest in prophecy indicates affection for the Lord. Prophetic subjects may be taken up as a matter of theory, but prophecy is for those who love God. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. Directly the Lord presents Himself as the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning star, then the bride says, "Come"; she is engaged in all that with which He is connected.

J.P. We should be asking more about the security of divine thoughts. I ceased preaching about the believer's security a good while ago. I do not believe

in rocking the devil's cradle. It is people who do not know God who want all this to be sure and secure.

J.T. I am sure what should engage every christian at the present moment is the security and maintenance of divine thoughts; that is to say, all the testimony of God in the assembly.

Rem. The time is drawing near when all these things will become actual.

J.T. But it is a wonderful thing for God that they should be maintained and cherished in the affections of His people now.

O.R. Divine thoughts are not far off at all.

J.T. No, they are in the sphere where the Holy Spirit is.

B.T.F. You get the will of God mentioned in chapter 12; what would you say it refers to there, that perfect and acceptable will of God?

J.T. It refers to the christian's walk down here that he might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God; the point is to prove it.

J.B-t. Experimentally, that is after our own will is gone in the living sacrifice.

J.T. Yes. I think it would be a good thing for us to enquire whether we have paid our vows. We have all taken the ground of giving ourselves up to Christ; really we do it in a sense in our baptism; the question is whether we have paid them. It says, "God ... hath no pleasure in fools", Ecclesiastes 5:4. If you have made a vow, Scripture exhorts you to pay it: and that means that you recognise God's claim over you; that you present your body "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service", Romans 12:1.

B.T.F. What do you think chapter 12 is based on? In the beginning of the chapter you get the word: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies ...". What do you think that refers to?

J.T. I suppose it refers to what is developed in the earlier chapters, inclusive of the 9th, 10th and 11th. If you follow these chapters out, that is, the 12th to the 15th, you get pretty much what came out in Christ as Man down here.

J.P. Do you not think there is a very distinct moral order to be seen in chapter 12? You see, it begins with God; as you say, there is the paying of the vow; you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service. The second verse no doubt is connected with the first, and then he goes on in the third verse, "For I say, through the grace which has been given to me, to every one that is among you, not to have high thoughts above what he should think; but to think so as to be wise, as God has dealt to each a measure of faith". Then he proceeds to our relationship to each other as in the one body. I think there is a clear moral order here in this chapter.

J.T. I have no doubt that the idea is that the saints are to be here for the will of God, and that involves the body. God would bring out publicly in the wilderness what His will is, but that means that every other will has to be given up. Baptism involves the renouncement of our own wills. Heretofore you yielded your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin; now they are to be yielded to God. The question is, what will God do with them? He will set forth His will down here in them.

J.P. And that in the sphere of relationships where He has placed us.

J.T. It is a wonderful triumph on the part of God.

Rem. The idea is practically to set forth in the body of Christ what was set forth in Christ. On the coming of Christ it appeared that in sacrifices for sin and in burnt-offerings God had no pleasure: "Lo, I come ... to do ... thy will". A living sacrifice is what God finds pleasure in, and He was going to find

in the body of Christ (the saints) the sweet delights that He had found in the Person of His Son.

J.T. Quite so. Take a dozen men and women and put them together, their own wills gone, and see what God will do with them. You will find a wonderful delineation of the divine mind in them. The thought of God for the moment is not to take us out of this scene, but to delineate His will in us, and that means that you give up your own will.

Rem. And so the thought in Hebrews 10 is, "I delight to do thy will, O my God".

J.T. What are we here for? For the will of God.

You yield your body. If you let God take up your body, you will prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God. That is the true road to happiness. If anybody wants happiness, that is the idea.

There was never anything in the universe like the assembly. Here is a company of men and women who were going on after the course of this world in whom God began to work; He transformed them into a vehicle of His power.

Rem. When every thought of God had failed in the flesh, He takes up a people for the delineation of His will.

O.R. God will get true service.

J.T. God will do wonderful things when He gets a company of people like that. There are many members in the body, and all the members have not the same office, but all are members one of another. That is how the will of God is delineated. God's intention is to put us in relation to one another and every one is to serve according to his measure of faith.

Rem. In the first verse it is acceptable unto God, and in the second acceptable unto us.

J.T. You prove the goodness of God's will by giving yourself up to God. Every member is occupied with the good of the whole body.

Rem. It really brings us to the point of Romans 6.

T.A. Does not this chapter bring out that each and every one takes his true place; no one is seeking to be here and there, but each one just finds the place that God has put him in?

J.T. God's thought is that His will should be expressed down here and I think all these wonderful traits put together form a delineation of this.

THE RIGHTS OF CHRIST AS CREATOR AND REDEEMER

Ruth 4:1 - 22; Exodus 30:11 - 16

I desire to say a word about redemption. There is only one Person who has the right of redemption, and that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ. As believers we stand in relation to Him as our Redeemer. But Revelation 4 shows that He is also entitled to us as the Creator, a title which the creation, as made to live by Him, fully recognises. The creation is represented in the living creatures; they fully recognise God's title. The believer is entitled to regard himself as in relation to God's creation, and made to live by Christ. He recognises Christ as his Creator. Then chapter 5 shows that a believer stands in relation to Christ as his Redeemer. The Lord has title to him as having redeemed him. We are to hold ourselves as believers in these two connections. Firstly, we are the first-fruits of God's creation, a wonderful position to occupy. The Lord Jesus Christ, as the Head of that creation, has breathed into us the breath of life, so that we are made to live, and as living, we represent the creation, so that already He is owned in His creation. The testimony went out to the creation; the Lord Jesus says in Mark 16:15, "Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation", and then as having accomplished redemption, He was received up and sat at the right hand of God (verse 19). He sat there, so that all creation should hear. He directed the apostles to preach the gospel to every creature; and in order that every creature should hear, He sat at the right hand of God. He is in a place of supremacy, and so, as His emissaries went forth to preach, it says, they went everywhere and the Lord went with them, "the Lord working with them"

(verse 20). So that the Lord Jesus Christ is in charge of the gospel. He is the Head of the creation. He has wrought out redemption, too; accomplished the glorious work of atonement, and satisfied God in respect to all the sin of creation, and has gone on high, so that all creation might hear. We believers own this, we own His rights over us as Creator. He made us to live, and it is His thought that every creature should hear the glad tidings.

But He would have you to know something of His appreciation of you, and it is in that connection you need redemption. Redemption is the right that belongs to one who is a kinsman. Now I want to show you how redemption evidences the Lord's appreciation of man. He would secure man as a right as a property, and therefore I have read the passage from Ruth as showing how the Lord was set in motion (if I may use such an expression reverently). Naomi says (chapter 3: 18), "Be still, my daughter ... for the man will not rest until he have completed the matter this day". That is to say, Ruth came to his attention. She came on to his field; we are told that it happened that she came on to his field, she became acquainted with him. I could enlarge on that in chapter z, but I only touch on it now. She became acquainted with Boaz on his own field. That is the most wonderful field that man can put his foot on. It refers to the present situation. Christ is risen and there is a platform in resurrection, which is available for man. Ruth becomes acquainted with Boaz on his field, and from that moment Boaz became interested in her. She happened to come on it, under God's direction, as it may be with some individual here. You are in a wonderfully favoured position. It is like Boaz's field, a position of privilege, and the Lord would introduce Himself to you. Read chapter a and you will be struck with the grace of Boaz. If you see Christ on His own field, so to speak, you will see Him at His

best. There is a beautiful touch in chapter 2. He greets his reapers, "Jehovah be with you!"; he was a mighty man of wealth, but a gracious man, and they had full confidence in him; their reply was "Jehovah bless thee!". The point is to establish confidence in the soul that is enquiring. So if you have come in here as a matter of 'happening' the Lord would disclose Himself to you. Following on that Boaz speaks to Ruth, he speaks words of comfort to her; he encourages her, with no reproof for being a Moabitess; he speaks of what was commendable in her. The Lord will never discourage you with reproof. Whatever there may be of God in you, He will take account of it. You may think you are very poor and despicable, but He has other thoughts of you. Ruth felt so. "I am a foreigner", she says, but Boaz says, "Jehovah recompense thy work, and let thy reward be full from Jehovah the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge". There is no evidence that she had come to trust the God of Israel, but he gave her credit for it, he gave her credit for more than she would accredit herself with. I speak of it to show the dealings of God with man. The result is she has confidence and goes down to the threshing-floor to see him. She claims him as a kinsman, and that is what Christ appreciates. She goes down to that threshing-floor at the expense of her dignity and that is what we have to do. At the expense of her dignity as a woman she went down and the Lord appreciates it. "The man will not rest"; one had come into evidence whom he would have as his own, and he would redeem her. "Shall I not seek rest for thee?", Naomi says. You know you have not got rest. You have no certain dwelling place. Ruth had none; she was dependent on the leavings of the reapers; her property was mortgaged, and she was a beggar dependent on the benevolence of others, but the light of God in Naomi suggested rest. You know you have not got

rest. You are interested in Christ and in His people.

Ruth was. Naomi represents His people. I am speaking of the book in a practical way. Naomi represents those in whom light is, the people of God. Her word is always right, she understands the situation. I refer to that so that you may understand the point of redemption. The Lord redeems what He prizes, so chapter 4 is redemption, and in the passing over of the first kinsman we get what refers to the law. It could not give life, it had no power to redeem such an inheritance as was Elimelech's; there was not only a necessity for redeeming the land, but life was necessary, so Boaz accepts the position accorded to him. He accepts the right of redemption.

Now that is the position of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of Israel. The remnant came to His attention. He valued them. So also in a wider sense man came before Him. He would have man. He has most of us tonight. He valued us before He bought us or He would not have paid the price. So the Lord valued Israel. He valued the remnant, and He gave Himself for them, for He died for the nation, and not for that nation only, but that He might "gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad" (John 11:52), those that were of value, those that were worth having.

Redemption is a transaction in public, not a private one. The Lord desires that the saints should be known publicly as His property, hence the transaction took place in public, "in the presence of the inhabitants, and in the presence of the elders of my people". The Lord would have a people on earth as His, and hence He redeems them in public.

There are different lights in which redemption is spoken of. In Genesis 23 you get the redemption of a field; that was also public, but the principal point there was that the price paid was current with the man who knew the value of it, with the merchant. That is

not the point in Ruth, however; the point in view there is that it was done in public and after the manner and custom of Israel. I want you to get the light of this. It was legal. Things must be legal if they are to be established. You do not want the title deeds of a house to be questionable. That is the point of view in Ruth. The Lord died for us publicly so that there is universal witness to it, and secondly what He did was legal. He had the right to do it. The first kinsman gave way in His favour. Applying that to the antitype, the law had to give way. The power of Christ made it manifest that it was impotent, the law gave way morally. Christ's works gave Him the first place. He is the only One who has ability to redeem, and the first kinsman gives way. Firstly, He redeems publicly; secondly, legally. So it says, "This was the custom in former time in Israel". It is what was necessary for confirming things. Death was the great means by which everything was established. I need not enlarge on it. Even the books of the law and all things under the law were sprinkled with blood. All was confirmed under that principle. The custom was there had to be death. The Lord by dying has secured His inheritance and established it on legal ground.

Boaz's title to Ruth was indisputable. Christ's title is also indisputable. So Boaz took off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour. The Spirit is alluding to the death of Christ. He came to a point where He stooped and took off His shoe, He exposed His foot, He died, and has paid the price. That was all I wanted to show from Ruth. He has established it on legal grounds, according to the requirement of what God had established in Israel. I want you to question your own soul, as to whether you are on that basis with Christ, that He has secured you. Boaz called the attention of the witnesses to it, that he had that day redeemed the inheritance, and taken Ruth to be his wife. The christian, who recognises the rights of

Christ over him, realises that he belongs to Another and that Other takes you to Himself so that you may be "to another, who has been raised up from among the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God", Romans 7:4.

Now to refer to Exodus 30. Each believer has to appropriate redemption for himself. When the people are numbered in Scripture it means God is taking account of them. It is precious to think God is taking account of us. He takes account of each of us. Your name is written in heaven. He makes known to your soul that He is taking account of you and you respond and recognise at what cost you have been taken account of. Now here is half a shekel (verse 13), what is current, not with the merchant but with the sanctuary. Many believers never arrive at this, they are satisfied to know their sins forgiven, but God takes account of you, and the answer in your soul is you recognise at what a cost you have been secured, at half a shekel, and Jehovah says, "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less". You have cost the Lord Jesus as much as Paul cost Him. He said, "Who has loved me and given himself for me", Galatians 2:20. That was the price, the half shekel of the sanctuary. Paul understood it. How much do you understand it? It was to be a heave-offering, referring to the affections begotten in the believer in the light of the price at which he has been secured. Do you understand you cost the Lord as much as the apostle Paul? "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less".

One word more: that offering which you give (which refers to your affections), the answer to the price, is used for the sanctuary. The aggregate of half shekels is appointed for the sanctuary, "and thou shalt take the atonement-money of the children of Israel, and devote it to the service of the tent of meeting". I only indicate that to show the connection between

the redemption and the sanctuary. You will remember that the sockets of the tabernacle were embedded in silver, meaning that the divine structure is founded in redemption; and the appreciation of the believer who is in the fight of the half shekel, who responds to the price paid, which is not less than Christ Himself, that appreciation of Him which is really the fruit of the Spirit, is interwoven into the sanctuary. The believer, so to speak, is woven into it, for the aggregate of the half shekels of the 603,550 males in Israel (Exodus 38:26) was used for the tabernacle. So, I say, as believers we are woven into the sanctuary, "the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own", Acts 20:28. As such they are precious and are built into the divine structure.

May the Lord give us fully to own His rights over us, and not to fall short of the sanctuary!

THE KING

Psalm 68:18; Luke 19:37, 38

I have been seeking to show on a previous occasion how all the forces of evil were banded together against God when He intervened on earth in the Person of Christ; how all the forces of evil were banded against God and against Christ, and how God answered that by setting His King upon His holy hill of Zion. That was God's answer to man's hostility. And then I tried to show that what follows upon this is the preaching, that the Preacher is King, that it is necessary to have one supreme power in order that the preaching should become universal. So Solomon, who is the typical preacher of the Old Testament, says of himself that he "was king ... in Jerusalem". In spite of all the antagonism of the world, God has set His King upon His holy hill of Zion; and instead of meting out judgment to His enemies He preaches to them. The King, instead of executing wrath, becomes a Preacher. God has made this same Jesus, whom the world cast out and crucified, both Lord and Christ, having all power in heaven and on earth; and instead of wielding that power against His enemies He preaches to them. When the apostles were sent out they were enjoined to preach the gospel to all people, beginning at Jerusalem with His own enemies. Solomon tells us that "I, the Preacher, was king ... in Jerusalem"; it is not that the king was preacher but that the preacher was king. I want to emphasise that, that the Lord Jesus Christ, instead of wielding the sword of authority for the execution of wrath, became a preacher instead, and He is preaching to you tonight. By His kingly power He holds in check the forces of evil in order that He might have an opportunity to speak to men. Now that is the present dispensation,

that is the gospel day. The Preacher is King, and hence He has universal right to speak to men.

I wish to proceed a little further on that line to show you something of what is involved in the preaching. I shall perhaps be a little detailed in what I say, but I want to convey to you if I can what obtains in heaven. It is really what is announced in the glad tidings. If I could convey to you the wonderful place that man has in heaven in the Person of Christ, you would understand the gospel. This is what I had before me in the passages I have read. You will remember the heavenly multitude were praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men". That is, they were engaged with Man upon earth. The wonderful thing to be announced was that God had come into manhood in the Person of the Son. The incarnation did not take place in heaven but on earth. That glorious Person had passed through myriads of angels. He descended to Bethlehem and He became Man there, identifying Himself with perhaps one of the poorest and most despised families in Israel; and He was laid in a manger-there was no room for Him in the inn. Such was the reception accorded this heavenly Visitor by humanity. There was no room for Him in the inn. It mattered little to the angelic host whether He was born in a mansion, a castle, or a manger; the fact that they were engaged with was this, that there was "good pleasure in men". Hence their delight. They saw in that Babe the guarantee for a race of men on earth that should be to God's good pleasure. That was the situation in the second chapter of Luke.

In chapter 19 we have another company celebrating the praises of Christ. A great deal had intervened since chapter 2. He was no longer a Babe, He had grown into Manhood, doing good, anointed by the Spirit. If there was one thing that marked the Lord,

it was activity; He went about doing good. I cannot begin to dwell in detail on the activities of the Lord Jesus; the apostle Peter puts it in small compass when he tells us that He "went through all quarters doing good, ... because God was with him". So in chapter 19 there was this company at mount Olivet, and we are told that "all the multitude of the disciples began, rejoicing, to praise God with a loud voice for all the works of power which they had seen". The angels did not celebrate any great works; they perceived in that Babe a guarantee for the maintenance of the divine glory. "Glory to God in the highest". The angels saw all that in the Babe. The multitude of the disciples in chapter 19 were engaged with His mighty works. It seems to me as if God had arranged this testimony divinely; it seems as if this multitude of disciples were constrained to praise. It does not at all appear that it was pre-arranged by them. On the surface it is clear that it was God that brought it to pass as a testimony to the mighty works of Christ; but these works were rejected, the mighty Worker Himself was rejected-indeed men attributed the works of the Lord Jesus to Beelzebub, a terrible testimony to the state of man upon earth.

The multitude of the disciples, whether intelligently or otherwise, cried with a loud voice, "Blessed the King that comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven". The effort at the present time is to bring peace on earth, and I need not tell you that I am not in that. The great ones of the earth are in it, those who possess means are in it, there is a drawing together of the governments of the world to bring to pass universal peace. A grand project that, but it is not God's project; it is God's project to begin from the top. The Lord came into the world, "the Prince of Peace", and He preached peace, but they rejected Him; and now He has gone to heaven and the earth is left in a state of turmoil, in a state of moral chaos,

and yet men today are aiming at universal peace. It is a supreme delusion. Peace has to come from heaven now; the opportunity for peace on earth has passed; it can never originate on earth since the Prince of Peace has been rejected. I want to explain that if I can, but first of all I want to make it clear that since His mighty works have been refused, peace as having its origin on earth is an impossibility. The Prince of Peace is gone up to heaven. Luke shows us in chapter 2 that the mind of God was peace on earth and he shows us in chapter 19 that it has been abandoned and substituted by peace in heaven; and then he shows us at the end that the Lord Jesus is carried up into heaven. He is carried up. If you are going to visit a person, you take a train to his town and a carriage to his house-you are doing all that. No doubt he will receive you kindly, but if he has a great interest in you he will send a carriage for you. That testifies to you that the person wishes to have you visit him, and that he is anxious to make you welcome. That is Luke's side of the gospel. In John we are told that he "ascended" up into heaven, and in Mark that he "was taken up"; but in Luke he is "carried up", as much as to say that when earth refused Him heaven delighted in Him.

I want to go through the cloud, as it were, to show you what went on up there. We are entitled to look through the cloud. You remember in the first chapter of the Acts we are told that a cloud received Him. There were souls that were gazing after Him into heaven; they appreciated Christ, and Luke tells us that they were gazing up after Christ into heaven. A cloud is a symbol of distance, for it was that which overshadowed the tabernacle of old. We are told that "a cloud received him out of their sight", but I want to show you that you can look through the cloud. "We see not yet all things subjected to him, but we see Jesus", Hebrews 2:8, g. Stephen says, "I behold

the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God". When the Lord entered, heaven was in a receptive mood, there never had been such a day in heaven as that day! Paul says that He ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. What I want to convey is that having passed through a cloud He receives gifts. You may say, That One who received the gifts was God! But what the Spirit says was that He received the gifts as Man; that it was not simply as a divine Person, but He received the gifts as Man. The Man is in heaven, and He has received gifts for men. In Psalm 8 it says, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?". The Lord has a wonderful place as Man in heaven, all the gifts of heaven are given to that Man and He receives them as Man for man. Now that is what I understand by the gift of the Spirit. The Lord received it as Man and because He was Man; it is as if no other order of being should receive it, and He received it, not for angels but for man. What I want to ask at this point is, Are you interested in this? He has received wonderful things in heaven and He has the gifts for man. The Lord, in spite of your rebellion, has a gift for you. He has received gifts for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Would you not like to be a dwelling place for the Lord God, that He might dwell there?

Now peace has been established in heaven, and He receives gifts from God there and He distributes them on earth so that there might be a dwelling place on earth for God. God will never dwell except in a desired abode. He speaks of Himself as having a desire. What would God desire? Certainly God would not dwell in one in rebellion; it is impossible that God should dwell in us whilst we are in rebellion. It is evident that our wills have to be broken, and hence Christ is announced as Lord so that there might

be submission to Christ. Is there? I believe that the most difficult thing for a soul is to submit. Even after the light of God has dawned upon us, the will is the last thing to surrender. Directly the light came into the soul of Saul of Tarsus the Lord spoke to him and said, "Saul, Saul": and what did Saul say? "Lord". His will was broken. That man was brought low; he says, "What shall I do, Lord?". The Lord had received a gift for Saul, He had received the gift of the Spirit; He intended that in Saul there should be a dwelling place for God and hence Saul is broken down.

Is there one here tonight who has not submitted to Christ? Remember, it is not bowing your head, that is not the kind of submission. He looks for submission in your heart and soul, bowing to the Lord from the heart. When one is broken down and submits to Christ, God delights in that man. He desires to have you now. He says, "Here will I dwell, for I have desired it". He has a gift for you. The question is, Will you have what Christ has to offer? He has received gifts for the rebellious. It is evident that God will not dwell with you unless He has pleasure in you; He must delight in you before He will enter in to dwell with you, and is it not wonderful that God should have delight in such as we? How is it possible? It is through the death of Christ that He delights in us, and the next thing is that He says, "Here will I dwell, for I have desired it". Now are you content without God dwelling in you? It is one thing to have your sins forgiven, and to have hope of heaven, but it is a wonderful thing that God delights in us and still more wonderful that He dwells there.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL

Hosea 6:1 - 3

We need to be reminded that the gospel going forth into the world assumes that God goes before it sovereignly in order to prepare the way for it. Every intelligent christian recognises that and counts upon it. If the gospel is to be effectual, God has to precede it so as to prepare souls. He acts sovereignly, as of old; the Spirit of God is said to have been hovering over the chaotic state of the earth before it was called into its present form or order. The Spirit of God hovered over it; that is to say, God was here in a sovereign way by His Spirit, with the end in view to bring in order. Now I liken the state of humanity morally to the physical creation in Genesis 1:2, before God begins to act upon it; the state of the race may be described as being darkness and chaos, but the Spirit of God is hovering over it. We are little aware of the fact that God's Spirit is now here, hovering over the race, ever waiting for an opportunity to act on your soul. From the moment that a man is born into the world, God shadows him. He takes account of us from our infancy and waits upon us, so that He might have an entrance into our hearts. Now, that is a very touching thing. When we knew nothing about God, had no exercise and were totally indifferent to Him, God was concerned about us. I make bold to say God thinks of every man that comes into the world, and His thoughts of us are thoughts of good and not of evil. "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil", Jeremiah 29:11. Whatever your thoughts may be, God thinks of us for good.

A moment then comes when God commands light. He said at the beginning, "Let there be light. And there was light", Genesis 1:3. He commands light, and

there is light, as the apostle says, "God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 4:6. God has shone into the hearts of christians.

Think of that! A moment comes in the history of a soul when God commands light, and that light penetrates into the darkest crevices of the human heart; the sun in the heavens cannot do that, but "All things", says the apostle, "are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do". It says in that same passage, "The word of God is living and operative, ... penetrating to the division of ... joints and marrow"notice that, the surgical operation of the word-"and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart",

Hebrews 4:12. You might find it difficult to discern between these things, thoughts and intents. Happy for us if many of our thoughts were allowed to remain as thoughts, and if many of our intents were allowed to remain as intents, and never to become actions!

There are thoughts, intents and actions. We look at one another, and can only judge of the actions. I can say little as to your thoughts and intents, but I can say something as to your actions. Then it says, "There is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do".

Now, the entrance of God's word, we are told, giveth light, and the question is, What are you to do with the light? What does it disclose? It discloses a horrible condition. You remember when the Lord gave signs to Moses, the second sign was to put his hand into his bosom, and when he drew it out, it was leprous. There is nothing in that heart of yours but leprosy. "Out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts ...", Mark 7:21. There is leprosy within, and what proceeds out? Nothing but corruption!

However fair your exterior may be, and however well

you may pass muster according to the rules of this world, when God's light shines in, there is nothing but leprosy disclosed; and the leper's place is outside the camp! Peter discerned the leprosy when the Lord borrowed his boat, and he said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord" (Luke 5:8), and the next character that appears is a leper, but the Lord touches him, and the leprosy departs. The light of God shines in, and if you are honest it produces a bad conscience. If you have never had a bad conscience you will never have a good one! First it must be purged. The light of God penetrates, exposing what is inside, and the effect of the exposure is a bad conscience. A wounded stag wants to be alone. The leper should be isolated, and he desires to be isolated. His place is outside the congregation of the Lord. A bad conscience drives you to isolation, but a purged conscience prepares you for the congregation of the Lord, where you are no longer in isolation, but in company.

The first part of the passage I have read contemplates that the speakers are convicted, and that by the light of the Lord. Now what is the effect? The effect is that they say "Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up". He smites the conscience of the sinner, and the sinner who is enlightened knows that only God can heal. The effect of the word is a surgical operation and produces a wound, and God alone can heal that wound. The speaker has light not only as to his own state, but as to God, and that is the gospel. It says in Genesis 1, "There was evening, and there was morning-the first day", not 'morning and evening'. The light produces a state in your soul that corresponds to the evening, and after an evening comes a morning: the morning is filled with hope. The evening is the end of a day, and the end, in a sense, of the hopes connected with that day, but the morning is full of hope

so the answer to every evening in the soul is a morning of light. The reception of the gospel may lead to an experience which corresponds to an evening, but that results in a morning of hope. Genesis 1 depicts the history of your soul, till you arrive at the end, where there are no more evenings but a continual day in the presence of the full light of God. Paul did not contemplate any more evenings; he contemplated a continual morning. He was in the good of the light that shines in the face of Christ.

The speakers here in Hosea have light as regards God. They say, "Come and let us return unto Jehovah". If the light comes it finds you a good distance away. Astronomers speak a good deal of the distance between the sun and the earth, but the light of God travels more quickly than the light of the sun.

Morally, the distance between God and your soul is immeasurable, but light travels quickly. In the tabernacle the cherubim of glory were looking down, whereas in the temple they were looking out, as if God had changed His attitude on account of the mercy-seat. He is looking out now on the race, and directly He sees a movement in any man's heart He is interested and He moves. Not only does the light travel but God travels, I say it reverently, and He travels rapidly. He ran to meet the returning prodigal, and He will run to meet you; you will not have far to come! The book of Chronicles contemplates that in principle God looks out on the race, and directly a movement takes place in your heart, He can see it, and to see it is to induce Him to move. I love to think of divine Persons moving. They reserve the right to move, and they move towards man. The speakers here knew that; they have light and say, "Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up". What a different operation now! no longer surgical, but bandages! You need those bandages, and the

nurse knows so well how to apply the bandages. It is like the Samaritan in the parable binding up the man's wounds, pouring in oil and wine. God alone knows how to do it for He has created the wound. Who among us has not had a wound? Scripture says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend", how much more so are God's wounds! He wounds you to bind you up, and in that you learn His care and love for you. Well, now they have got more light than that; they go on to say, "After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face". It is God's thought for man, that he should be revived. I still pursue the illustration of a patient in a hospital; it is one thing to be bound up, but another thing to get out of the bed and walk! All that applies to the christian; in other words, you have to be revived spiritually. Note the intelligence the speakers have here; they say "After two days will he revive us". 'Two' represents adequate testimony; 'three' represents complete testimony. Now God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, as the apostle tells us, for He desires "that your faith might not stand in men's wisdom, but in God's power", 1 Corinthians 2:5. Hence the manner of Paul's preaching was not after man's wisdom. He desired that his converts should be established on a firm foundation.

Much of the preaching of the present day leaves the convert in a hospital bed at best! You want a firm foundation; you need to be established, and God would establish you in His power, and in the full light of His nature. The "two days" refer, I think, to the Lord's testimony in the flesh; "Go, tell that fox", the Lord says, "Behold, I cast out demons and accomplish cures today and to-morrow"-a double testimony-"and the third day I am perfected", Luke 13:32. What was the Lord here for? He was here in testimony: He says, "If I by the Spirit of God cast

out demons"-what is the testimony following on that?-"then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you", Matthew 12:28. The power of God was present in the Lord's ministry. What was the object?

To establish those who had faith, to let them know that God had come in. Peter understood it when he said the Lord Jesus went about doing good, "because God was with him". God had visited His people.

Those two days have their place on the divine side, and represent the ministry of Christ, but they also have their place in the soul, in your history and mine. You want to have your soul established in Christ's ministry. You want to understand the gospels, and to see the foundation on which christianity is reared up.

Paul says, "Not in wisdom of word", 1 Corinthians 1:17. You want to have your faith established on God's testimony presented in Christ. "After two days" the testimony should become effectual in their souls. Put yourselves in the company of those who heard Him.

What an effect on your soul! I think I should have said, 'This is the Hope of Israel, all the hopes I have gathered up from Moses and the promises are all centred in this Man'. There were those who said "Search the scriptures", that is quite right, but the Lord says, "They it is which bear witness concerning me", John 5:39. There is no profit from the scripture, unless you see the testimony of Christ. When you come to the gospels, you get Moses and the prophet on the mount speaking with Christ, but they disappear, for all their testimony was personified in that Man; they disappear, and the Father says, "This is my beloved Son, ... hear him", Matthew 17:5.

Let me appeal to you to hear the voice of Christ. If you want your soul to rest on a solid foundation, let it rest on the testimony of Christ.

Then they go on, "On the third day he will raise us up". Wonderful words!-to be revived and raised up, and made to live in God's sight. I take "the

third day" to indicate the death and resurrection of Christ. "The third day", the Lord says, "I am perfected"; and He went through all that had to be gone through to take man's place. He is perfected in resurrection. As you see Christ in resurrection you are entitled to regard that as your own resurrection. Do you regard yourself as risen? As a believer you are entitled to. It is no question of actuality, it is a question of faith. Abraham believed God who "calls the things that be not as being"; that is what faith does. It takes account of God. I see in the death and resurrection of Christ my own death and resurrection. We are entitled to see that. The leprosy is removed by the touch of Christ; but in order to remove it, He had to go into death. The leper is thus cleansed and made fit for the congregation. "On the third day he will raise us up", so that faith in the remnant goes on to the full end, and recognises there is recovery for God.

"And we shall live before his face". You are made to live, but not for yourself. God loves to look into our souls and to see that the pulsations of our heart are Godward. "Thou hast in love", says Hezekiah, "delivered my soul from the pit of destruction".

"The living, the living", he adds, "he shall praise thee", Isaiah 38:17, 19. Then there is a point further, to show how faith goes to the full end of the truth "we shall know,-we shall follow on to know Jehovah; his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth". It is not 'if we follow on'; it is "we shall follow on". If made to live before God, you want to know that God. Here the covenant comes in; God opens up His heart to you, and His disposition towards you, and thus you come to know Him. There can be no greater thing than that. He has relieved us of pressure, and death, and now we are made to live before Him-"we shall

follow on to know Jehovah". One deplores the inertness and sluggishness of believers; how little exercise there is as to the knowledge of God! The knowledge of the Lord is to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Our souls are to be illuminated by the light of His nature. That is God's thought.

There is nothing God delights in more than disclosing what is in His heart; and when you know that, you have absolute confidence. Delilah said as to Samson, "He has told me all his heart", Judges 16:18. There was no longer any hesitation; she was assured she had the secret. Alas for Samson, she had the secret! But now, you have the secret of God, and the knowledge of His heart. You have never any difficulty as to anything after you know His heart. One is completely emancipated; one is never disturbed about anything after that. How much christians are disturbed and harassed, tossed about like a bark on the waters, but if they had the secret of the knowledge of God in their souls they would never be disturbed. You take account of everything that happens to you in that light. If there is a cloud, you see the bow in the cloud; it is put there for the encouragement of your heart. You are like mount Zion, which represents the sovereignty of God; it cannot be moved. It abides for ever. What a point to reach! "We shall follow on"-they never stop until they reach the end-"to know Jehovah".

One point more: "His going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth". What an expectation! It is, no doubt, an allusion to Christ gone on high. He went there to influence the earth; not simply for Himself, but on account of His people, in order that there should be the sun in the heavens and rain on the earth. "His going forth", says faith, "is assured as the morning dawn". David said that the King should be "as the light of

the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds", 2 Samuel 23:4. Christ is like that, and that morning never has an evening! Then, "He will come unto us as the rain"; that is ministry, refreshing ministry from Christ. Rain comes down on your soul, and produces fruitfulness. You find out all about God, then there is fruit. Such is the position that christians are placed in; and one would appeal to souls, as to whether we are in the light of these things. Are you made to live? That is, are your affections quickened in regard to God? Raised up is a matter of faith; you take account of these things as Abraham who believed God, who calls those things which be not as though they were; and so can you and I. But we are to live! Your affections are to be all quickened Godward, and all the movements of your heart hereafter are to be toward God. Then there is "the rain"; that is the Spirit comes down with all the gracious ministry for your soul, so that there shall be fruit for God. It is the latter rain here, not the former rain; it is not promiscuous; it is just what is needed. Ministry is divinely applied and regulated, and fits in where it is required. The end in view is fruit for God.

THE SON AND SONSHIP

Romans 8:14 - 29

I do not intend, beloved friends, to add a word to what has been said but rather to suggest a thought which had a place in my soul. The spirit of sonship has been introduced. While I can scarcely venture to add a scripture to what has already been given I should like to speak of the truth in connection with the Son as spoken through the one whom Jesus loved. I have been distinctly impressed with the opportuneness of the word exemplified from John's position. Some of us have been dwelling on Paul's position.

What a vessel he was, how divinely fitted to set forth the full scope of the divine mind! As an architect he completed the structure in which every thought of God should find a place, a man divinely qualified not only to give expression to the divine mind but as architect and builder to carry it all out here. That was Paul. And then there is one in contrast to Paul whom we have seen coming in at the end to bring forth the glorious Person of the Son, Him whose dignity and beauty lend lustre to the whole system. Such is the Son, and how admirably suited and fitted that beloved disciple was to bring forth the truth of the Person whom he loved. I suppose that was his own estimate of what came to light in the Son. But there is the church. The apostle Paul by the power of God and wisdom of God had reared up that here in which all that which came to light in the Son should find a home.

I should just like to add a word as to sonship. The thought of the Son necessitates the idea of sonship and I wish to refer to it for a few minutes. Some of us were looking this morning at the setting forth of that part of the testimony which has reference to

heaven on earth. Ephesians introduces to us that part of the testimony which has reference to heaven. You can readily believe that is a big thought, that and the responsibility together have a very wide scope, but you have the testimony, beloved friends, and we want that. A remark I would like to make is that the truth contained in both epistles (Romans and Ephesians) was set forth in the Lord; that is, the thought of man here upon earth in relation to God was set forth in Christ. That is the epistle to the Romans. In the Man He introduced what man should be. That which God has lost in the Garden of Eden is in a way received back in christianity. Man is again in relationship with God so that God has His true place in that Man. Well now we have something added to that in Christ, a Son with a Father. Now it is that that I wish to dwell upon for a moment. I feel it is important to call your attention to the fact that the spirit of sonship was introduced before the fact of sonship was set forth in the Lord here below. Scripture speaks in various ways about sonship. There is no subject more interesting. The initial thought connected with it is that of sympathy with God. When the foundations of the earth were laid "all the sons of God shouted for joy". There was intelligent sympathy with the sons and all were interested. That does not convey to us the dignity connected with sonship nor the peculiar affection God has for the Son. When you come to the application of the term 'son' to men it applies primarily to Isaac: "Take now thy son, thine only son". It came in afterwards in respect of Israel. I am speaking of Isaac as typical. We are entitled to take account of and speak of things typically. "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest". That is Christ: sons of God do not convey the idea of Christ. Whatever applied to Christ must have a unique bearing. Abraham had other sons. "Take now thy son, thine only son,

whom thou lovest". You have the idea there of the place the Lord had with the Father. We must understand the difference between the thoughts of God and man, and of Father and Son. The question of righteousness and life has reference to God and man. It is a question of the reinstatement of men here in regard to God. The Lord said in resurrection "I ascend to my Father and your Father". That conveys the most intimate relations of divine Persons, "I ascend to my Father and your Father". Think of it! He says also "I ascend ... to my God and your God"; that has reference to man, it has reference to a place before God for man. The idea of relationship to the Father is to be in the family circle. The Lord has been on the earth in the consciousness of that relationship; He could look up to heaven and say, "Father". That was the relationship in which He stood to God; He was in the intimacy of relationship with the Father. The Father belongs to the most intimate precinct of that abode. The Spirit of that Man has been given to us. Romans lays the basis for Ephesians. It shows us man with power to discharge every relationship in the Spirit. These persons are in relation to God as God. Chapter 8 is to show what the Spirit is to us to enable us to fulfil every moral requirement. The Spirit is given to every justified person so that we might maintain righteousness here.

Justification enables us to look up in His face. God has a people for Himself; they are for God. That same Spirit enabled the people to live, enabled them to live where everything is death. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God". What kind of people are they? They are sons of God, that is dignity.

God has a company in whom every moral requirement is fulfilled as they move about in the dignity of sonship. What He has given to us is a spirit of adoption. What does that Spirit do? That Spirit

cries "Father" twice. He not only enables us to discharge every obligation and walk in dignity as God's sons, but He enables us to respond to God, to answer to the name of the Father. What a thing to have your soul in the full light of the revelation of the Father: "Abba, Father". What a portion God has in those who are set up in the relation of sons before Him! "God has sent out the Spirit of his Son ... crying, Abba, Father". But there is more than that. The Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand. The Father is going to bring a company into that place the Son has here. The end of all ministry is to form the saints after Christ. God has brought everything in in Christ. God sets to work to effect that in those whom He has set in relation to the Person. Moreover "whom he has predestinated, these also he has called". He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. God looked down here on earth and saw that everything was well pleasing. Think what that was to God, One who not only maintained what was due to God, but One in the relation of Son. 'I will bring in a race of men just like that suited for heaven'. Hence God is leading many sons to glory, so here He intends to conform us to His image that He might be the Firstborn among many. That great end of God is a family relationship, and that brings out what the nature of God is. He is to have a family and that a holy one. That Son is to be the Firstborn among many. God grant this might be the result of the ministry! God has brought in His Son and He intends to fill the scene with beings formed after the image of that glorious Person who has been here on the earth.

THE GOSPEL IN CONNECTION WITH BAPTISM

1 Peter 3:18 - 22

I desire to present the gospel, as I understand it and in the measure in which I am able, in connection with baptism. I do not wish to preach baptism, but to show the connection between it and the gospel.

You will observe how it is alluded to here in the passage I have read, in a very remarkable way, as foreshadowed in the deluge, and it is spoken of as a means of salvation. Whilst not emphasising baptism unduly, I would remind you that the Lord said, "He that believes and is baptised shall be saved", Mark 16:16. Especially as in preaching today we frequently preach to people who are baptised, it becomes an exercise to raise the question in souls as to how far there is correspondence with their baptism. It is a very interesting subject in the Scriptures and one which is largely spoken of; and as each one here has been baptised, it is worthy of consideration as to how far each corresponds to it.

The command which the Lord gave on leaving the apostles was, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", Matthew 28:19.

Then I would remind you of Peter's commandment at Caesarea to the gentile believers to be baptised "in the name of the Lord", Acts 10:48. What is contained in the Lord's injunction to the apostles and Peter's to the gentiles enters into one's own experience as a baptised person. Another question arises unfortunately the rite is often administered by those who themselves are not in the good of it, so that the true import is not conveyed to the baptised person.

I would cite Philip as one who performed the rite in

keeping with the message delivered. Philip was an evangelist; evangelists are not plentiful, yet the spirit of evangelisation was brought in by the Lord, and it has been continued. We should note specially His ministry as recorded by Luke, for Luke presents God drawing near to man in a Man. The first evangelists in Luke are angels; the angel said to the shepherds, "Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people". Then there was a multitude of the heavenly host in complete sympathy with the message given by the angel "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men". Men are to be brought in under God's eye for His pleasure; that is the end of evangelisation. It is not only that He should be infinitely delighted in Christ, as He was here, but that He should have pleasure in men. The Lord Jesus took up that, and in Nazareth He stands up to read in the synagogue; what words of grace! "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor; he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind sight, to send forth the crushed delivered, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord", Luke 4:18, 19. Peter calls attention to Him, and says, "Jesus who was of Nazareth ... God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went through all quarters doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him", Acts 10:38. I wish you to bear that in mind in connection with evangelisation. In a Man you have expressed here the true idea of evangelisation, and that is to be continued in men here.

Philip was an evangelist, and it was, perhaps, the most critical moment in the history of the assembly as attacked from without. The enemy had made a tremendous onslaught in Saul, but Stephen, in the face of fearful opposition against him was able to rise above it and express the spirit of Christ. He says, "Lord,

lay not this sin to their charge". Think of the power required for that: a man of like passions to our own, facing his persecutors without recrimination, in the spirit of Christ! Stephen dies, but the spirit of evangelisation lives, and Acts 8 testifies to it! Saul would destroy every vestige of the assembly, but the supreme power was vested in the hands of Christ, and His emissaries went everywhere preaching the word. It is in that connection that we find Philip the evangelist, his heart filled with the message, preaching intelligently, preaching suitably to his audience that Jesus is the Christ. The Lord had announced it to the woman of Samaria, and Philip was in accord with that. Then, entirely subject to the Spirit, he leaves his great work, not choosing for himself-another great mark of an evangelist-and goes to the wilderness. There he met the eunuch and preached unto him, not the Messiah, not the Christ, but Jesus. The eunuch needed that; he had no difficulty as to Jerusalem; he had recognised it as God's appointed place for worship. So, from Isaiah 53 Philip preaches unto him Jesus, the Person. Every evangelist should be acquainted with that scripture. It is the beauty of Christ: "He shall grow up before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground". Where all else was sterile, there was fruitfulness, under the eye of God, though to men there was nothing outwardly attractive. Men look for a military man, a man of outward power and lordliness; the coming man will be all that. There was none of that with Jesus. He appeared not very different from the fishermen around Him.

What an opening for an evangelist! How much happier to be entirely under the Lord's hand than marking out one's own course as a servant. Philip, it says, "beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him". He went a step further; he completely won the eunuch's heart for Christ! Is your heart won for Christ? You require two things

first, to know Jesus as the Person, the One in whom is every divine beauty, and then to know Him officially, for God has a system of His own, and He has anointed Jesus to carry out all His will. As attracted to Jesus, you are delighted with every official position He fills. The eunuch says, "Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?". Virtually he is saying, 'I want to die'. Then it says, "And they went down both to the water". That may be where the difficulty lies with many, for baptism signifies your death with Christ, your complete severance from this world. Young people complain of want of companionship, and the cry is raised that there is not sufficient provision made for the young. But the Lord is extraordinarily interested in young people, and has omitted nothing for their happiness. He has not overlooked them; but the question is, Is your heart really won for Christ? If so, baptism has a place; you regard it as a necessity. The eunuch says, "Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?". He was thinking of Jesus; His life was taken from the earth, and he virtually says, 'I want to die, I want to be in correspondence with that Man'. He was like Ruth, who said, "Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried", Ruth 1:17. Philip and the eunuch went down, both of them together. Philip had doubtless been there before, for no man is fit to be an evangelist if he has not tasted death; it is inconsistent of him to baptise another, unless he has done so. You remember Marah; the waters there were bitter (see Exodus 15:23). It means that the judgment of God rests upon you as born in this world, and you must accept it. Philip had accepted that, and more, the waters had been made sweet for him. The wood cast into the water speaks of Christ as having borne the judgment, which the taste of the waters suggested. The waters were no terror to Philip, and he went into them with the eunuch, who was baptised and then went on his way

rejoicing. That narrative is set in Scripture for our learning and comfort, if we desire to take up the place of discipleship. The eunuch went on his way happily; I do not suppose he relinquished his high position in Ethiopia. You may not need to relinquish your position but, as a baptised person, you will fulfil your duties the better. Think of the change in the eunuch, in his spirit and demeanour! What a testimony he would be! He had doubtless plenty of companions in his high position, but they were no longer of any value to him for he had found Christ. He had been attracted to Him and had accepted the death of Jesus, and then had gone on his way rejoicing.

Philip had no official position; the keys had not been entrusted to him. He was simply a deacon, but he exceeded his office, spiritually, and was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord. Peter was an official; his commission was to baptise. In Matthew 16 the Lord raised the question with the disciples as to who He was, and Peter makes his remarkable confession "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". That man, you might assume, is the great vessel to be used in building the assembly. If the truth of the assembly is opened up, it must have a universal bearing. Israel was limited by divinely-set bounds; and the gentiles were prohibited by these same bounds. Now, the Lord commits to Peter the keys; He intended Peter to be the vessel by which these restrictions should be removed from the gentiles. The Lord said to Peter, "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens". Virtually the Lord is saying, 'Now the light of the assembly is out, every restriction must be removed, and removed by divine authority', and in Acts, Peter is taken up by God in that connection. He preached to Cornelius and his company, and, while he was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word-a most remarkable thing!

In Acts 2 Peter preached a model sermon, and in

answer to their question, "What shall we do ... ?" (it is a good thing to raise questions) replies, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". There Peter puts believing before the gift of the Spirit. That was essential to the Jew; but to the gentile, God acts. They said nothing, though there may have been much said in the heart. Heart movements are for God; He takes account of them. In the burnt-offering, typically the more the light shone upon the inwards, the more were the infinite perfections of Christ disclosed. But when God looks in upon your heart and mine, what does He see? "The word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart", Hebrews 4:12. If there is a movement towards Him, He takes account of that. It says in Romans 10, "With the heart is believed to righteousness". The gospel is addressed to the heart, but you must confess with the mouth, otherwise you are never saved. You must raise your standard where the opposition is. The congregation at Caesarea did not speak; it was not for them to speak, but God spoke to them through Peter. And not only did He speak, but He acted; the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Now Peter acted at once. God had done something; now he must do something. He was divinely commissioned to remove the restrictions from the gentiles; and he commanded them to be baptised. It is a question of commandment, and in the name of the Lord. The meaning of being baptised "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" is that you are introduced formally, into the full light of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just as a Jewish proselyte was introduced into the Jewish economy. Think of what you are introduced into, the revelation of God! Do not talk

of lack of companions! You are introduced into that sphere where the full light of God is; you are baptised to that.

Peter commanded them to be baptised "in the name of the Lord", Acts 10:48. I understand by that, that in removing the restrictions, he brought them under the wing of the Lord; the "name of the Lord" signifies that you are supported by all His power. You are introduced into the full light of the revelation and entitled to claim all the power the Lord Jesus wields. Prove it! It is worth proving! Prove that the Lord has power, for it says, "Every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved". Prove that in your daily life! The point is to raise up the standard of Christ, to give notice publicly that you are on that side. The Lord is then (I say it reverently) morally obliged to support you.

It is a wonderful thing to be consciously under the wing of Christ in your daily life-that One who has attracted your heart in the gospel! Under His wing there is nothing to fear. "Jehovah is for me, I will not fear; what can man do unto me?", Psalm 118:6.

It is in that connection that Peter refers to baptism in this passage (1 Peter 3). He says, "Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God". It is a very poor thing if christians have to suffer for sins-"being put to death in flesh, but made alive in the Spirit". In the gospel all stands on a spiritual platform, in the power of the Spirit-"in which also going he preached to the spirits which are in prison, heretofore disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, into which few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which figure also now saves you, even baptism, not a putting away of the filth of flesh, but the demand as before God of a good conscience, by the resurrection of Jesus

Christ". A good conscience demands it. Baptism is negative; there is no power required for that, but salvation requires power. Hence it goes on: "Who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him".

That is the position in which we stand; we have accepted death here with Christ. That means you sever your connection with the world; it is essential to salvation to have a true estimate of the world. John says, "The whole world lies in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19); every element of it is evil. John also says, "Love not the world, nor the things in the world ... because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world", 1 John 2:15, 16. If you judge it thus, you accept baptism and come into the good of the Lord's present place.

Peter exults in the thought, "Gone into heaven". It is more than what he saw in Acts 1. In Acts 2 he says, "Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God", but in the epistle he says, "Who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him". Now you come into the good of all that, and, as a baptised person, it is a question of putting to the test what Christ can be to you. The Lord has salvation, and "Whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved". You want to do that! No better advice can I give, in having to do with a world that hates Christ, than to count upon the Lord's word in little things as in great.

Then in connection with the testimony, if you are exercised, the Lord will support you. Paul could say, "The Lord stood with me, and gave me power",

2 Timothy 4:17. It is an immense thing to put the Lord to the test, and prove how He will support you. The Lord make us to know the power which is at our disposal!

ESTABLISHMENT

Psalm 125:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

My thought is to say a word in regard of establishment. It is a great thing that souls should be established; that is established in regard of God's mind, and in regard of their place in the counsels of God. I should like to explain that to you. Some of us have already been dwelling on Hebrews 11; it refers to faith in the Old Testament, how faith grew, and as a whole this indicates how the believer grows, gathering up all the previous light until he is settled as before God. In Abraham you see the faith that reckoned on God's power. He had a son who was everything to him, an object of his affection, and God called upon him to give him up. Abraham gave him up on the principle of faith, counting that God was able to raise him up. That is faith, reckoning on God's power, counting that God was able to raise from the dead and to place him in the sphere assigned by God's counsels. Joseph, by faith, gave commandment concerning his bones; he made mention of this at his departure. Now bones are of no importance except in the light of the power of God. They will become dust and, except in the light of God's power, have no importance. Hence Joseph was in the light according to God in giving commandment concerning his bones. He had faith that God could place him in the sphere designed for him. In contemplating his death in Egypt he had the faith that God could remove him to the sphere designed for him in God's counsels. But what comes in between? The resurrection of Christ now and our resurrection still in the future.

Now there is the path of responsibility, the period in which the believer is to be for God, where he is blessed of God, in the midst of a constantly changing

scene. It is here you want to be established in your soul as to that. God has raised up Christ from the dead and placed Him at His own right hand; it is the place designed for Him in His counsels. None of us are very sure about these things and about the present, and Moses furnishes us with that side, for the faith that came out in Moses has reference to the present. God is able to keep us at the present moment. Moses's parents were not afraid of the king's commandments.

Why? Had Pharaoh not power? Pharaoh was all-powerful in Egypt; it was a pharaoh that knew not Joseph; you could not reckon on his sympathy. As a believer you cannot reckon on the sympathy of this world though you may secure it. The world had no sympathy with Christ. Do you accept the support of the power of this world? The powers that are in this world do not know Christ. They may have a certain knowledge historically, but they have no sympathy with Him. As a follower of Christ, you do not seek this sympathy. Do you look for protection in the world? Believers have at times formed alliances with the world for protection, but true believers refuse to seek sympathy in the world. The parents of Moses could not count upon it. That was the king under which Moses was born; he was hostile to God's people, yet Moses's parents were not afraid of the king's commandment.

You often find that young believers are afraid of that form of power, that is, whatever you are in touch with; I want to deliver you from that, for while that exists, you are not at rest, you are not established. The parents of Moses were not afraid of the wrath of the king. Why did they not fear? They had faith that God would intervene for them. What is your faith? The apostle proposed faith for the jailor, for he was exercised as to salvation. Man's exercise is first to be right with God, and the jailor was assured that something was against him. There was something

that had shaken the prison, and it was not the power of this world. The power that moved that prison was greater than all the power of the world or empire, and he felt that power was against him. Personally the jailor represented the power of the empire and he had the servants of Christ under his control. He could not define his feelings; he felt things were not right and he cries, "Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?", Acts 16:30. It is remarkable that he should address his question to them. The apostle proposed faith in a Man who had power. He does not say, Believe on the Nazarene, that was the point in Jerusalem. That is not Paul's answer here; it is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus". Have you got that kind of faith? I think it is a wholesome thing to enquire as to what kind of faith you have. Paul proposes faith, but in a Man who has power. He could say, "I am not ashamed of the glad tidings", Romans 1:16. When he went out from Jerusalem highly elated with his commission he was armed with authority to capture the followers of the Lord Jesus. He was armed with all the power of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was supported by the power of the Empire. He recognises in principle the power of the world. He was a very good official, quite equal to his commission, but when he got the commission from Christ, the light from heaven, he goes out to the gentiles and he can say, "I am not ashamed of the glad tidings".

Think of Christ, beloved friends, going up to heaven; the gates were thrown open and He entered! They gave way to Christ; He ascended up far above all heavens. This is a great day for exploring the air, but can you think of a Man going into heaven? He has "ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things", Ephesians 4:10. From there He arms that man, He takes him up from the earth and gives him His Spirit. He imbues the apostle Paul with His own Spirit, and sends him forth into the gentile world.

What dignity attached to that position! How he would expatiate on the glory of that One! He preached a Man he knew, and he proposed faith in that Man, and now all nations are called upon to have faith in that Man. Paul could say, "I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me", Galatians 2:20. He could also say, "Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first", 1 Timothy 1:15. That is how the apostle Paul could speak to people. He would propose faith to you; he would have no hesitancy or reluctance. He would not have you with doubt, he would say, 'You believe in this Man!'.

How real are the arms of the Lord about us and the power of the King! How real to believe, just to believe on that Man and be saved! The idea of everything is to get light as to Christ. If you get the light of Christ in your soul then you get movement. What movement there was in the jailor! He got light and he asked questions. What an effect the light had for that man! He had faith; he believed in God, rejoicing with all his house. He believed all that the apostle presented to him, he believed the whole message; and that laid the foundation of the church at Philippi. If ever there was an assembly established it was the Philippian assembly. The foundation was connected with Lydia and with the jailor; it was the first foundation in Europe, and the jailor was secured for Christ by that message. What a beginning for the West! Light shone into his soul with regard to Christ and set his soul in movement. The apostle's message to the jailor had reference to the present moment. The question was, "What must I do that I may be saved?"; and the answer was,'Believe on that Person!'. I want to know if you have such a trust as that. I do not mean the soul's salvation in Christ, but faith for the present time. "They that confide in Jehovah are as mount

Zion, which cannot be moved". Where are you in regard to that? This is a rushing age; everything is marked by the rapidity of change. Where are you, beloved friend? Are you moving with the masses? Every wind that blows makes a change; that is what the ocean is, but now you have a mountain; and the mountain remains unchanged. "They that confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved". As I said before it is all a matter of what kind of faith you have, whether you are perfectly calm and undisturbed by the prevailing condition of things.

If you go back a few psalms in this book you will find that a course of experience is entered on in Psalm 120. First the speaker says, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!". That is the experience of many souls, but the next psalm says, "I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: whence shall my help come? My help cometh from Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth". That is the language of faith! He looked up for support in Psalm 121. Then in Psalm 122 he had the house of God before him. He had light as regards the house of God, and he was glad when they said, "Let us go into the house of Jehovah". In Psalm 123 he is waiting on the Lord "as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters".

How is that? He is attentively waiting on God for deliverance. In Psalm 124 he finds the Lord is on his side, if not he would have been swallowed up. It is a happy thing to have the apprehension that the Lord is on your side. Then in Psalm 125 we have "They that confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved; it abideth for ever. Jerusalem!-mountains are round about her, and Jehovah is round about his people, from henceforth and for evermore".

Now you can understand the difference between that and dwelling in the tents of Kedar! We have

one trusting in the Lord, and the Lord round about His people as the mountains are round about Jerusalem. One need not have a thought in regard to the present in the light of this. The enemy remains, but the Lord is round about His people from henceforth and for evermore. What a stay that is to your heart! The surges may roll around you, but the Lord is round about you, as the mountains are round about Jerusalem. That is what the jailor experienced, as answering to the apostle's proposal, "Believe on the Lord Jesus". That Man has power!

The apostle in writing to the Corinthians was desirous that they should be established. If they were as mount Zion they would be established. If you were established, nothing here would affect you or move you. Things may exercise you; everything that occurs in your life should exercise you, but exercise brings strength. If a man exercises and eats food he will be healthy and strong. Coming in contact with adverse circumstances will not move you, but exercise you. If you have suited food, exercise will develop you.

Paul had exercise but it did not move him. He could say, "Be firm, immovable", 1 Corinthians 15:58. It is painful to see believers carried about with every wind of doctrine. When Elisha prayed that the eyes of the young men might be opened it says, "He saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17), and the psalmist could say, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands", Psalm 68:17. It is God's invisible protection! "Jerusalem!-mountains are round about her, and Jehovah is round about his people, from henceforth and for evermore".

Now the apostle wished to establish the Corinthians, and he says, "He that establishes us with you in Christ". Think of the grace of the apostle in speaking thus to them! God would establish you as well as me, he says. God does it, and He does it by bringing

light to bear upon your soul. You want to accept everything that God has done. "Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts". God has done all that; God is bent on establishing souls. Then He anoints you, and anointing means that you are to be distinguished. God puts something on you that distinguishes you, that is the Spirit of God. God puts the Spirit of God on the believer; it distinguishes him. You are marked off by God, distinguished by God!

Then He seals you. What does this mean? God puts His stamp on you, showing that you belong to Him; you are the property of God. Then it says, "And given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts". He gives you something for your enjoyment. There are many things in our heart and mind that we abhor; it is a fountain of all that is evil. God gives "the earnest of the Spirit" in our hearts. See what the Lord said to the woman in John 4"The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life"-springing up, that is the Spirit! Think of what it was to that woman, a fountain of water which would spring up, spring up to God! The countenance of man was made to look up into God's face, and by spiritual affection the countenance is turned Godward.

May the Lord affect our hearts!

RIGHT RELATIONS WITH GOD

Exodus 4:1 - 9

The book of Exodus is perhaps as well known as any section of the Old Testament, and the same may be said of the epistle to the Romans in the New Testament. One is thankful that it is so, because aside from a right understanding of Exodus and Romans we can never be in right relations with God in our souls, and God's thought is that we should be in right relations with Himself. It is His thought that His relations with man should be adjusted, and this book, taken with the epistle to the Romans, enables us to understand how God has effected His relationship with men. God desires to be in relationship with you. Do you desire this? God has been at great pains, as it were, to make it possible for Himself to be in relationship with men and yet to be consistent with His own nature. God proposes this. There are many here this evening who know God as the only true God and who know that they are acceptable to God in Christ, but the thought in a meeting like this is that all should be in relationship with Him.

The door is kept open by the Lord for the gospel, so as to increase the number in relationship with God. God's thought is to have man reinstated in relation with Himself. The door is held open by the power of God so that light should be set before souls. The object is to cause exercise. We never get the mind of God apart from exercise. If we are not exercised we can never be right with God. Exercise is wholesome, though it may be very painful, but no one learns reinstatement with God apart from painful exercise. The soul enters on a period of darkness. Abraham had experience of darkness. People are extremely

careless at the present time. They come into a gospel meeting as a religious duty, but there is nothing in that at all. What have you before you? Have you turned in here to hear of God? to hear of Christ? God is interested in you. God will never disappoint you; there will be something to answer to your desires. God is interested in His people. Moses essayed to deliver the people by his own strength, but he found in the wilderness that God was infinitely more exercised than he. God says in chapter 3, "I have seen assuredly the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard on account of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. And I am comedown to deliver them", Exodus 3:7,8. God proposes to do it, that is the great thought! God came down to earth in the Person of Christ to effect the deliverance of His people. One would seek to impress this on your heart. God came down to effect your deliverance; God came down. He saw and He heard and He came down to deliver. It would be in a human vessel; God was here in a vessel. I speak reverently, but He became Man so that there should be an adequate vessel here for God to speak through; and more than this, a vessel adequate for Him to act through. That was the Person of Christ here; God acted in Jesus and He spoke in Jesus, and we have that foreshadowed in this passage. Now Moses is selected to undertake the mission, and he says, "They will not believe me". Many a servant has had that feeling come over him. But then the Lord says to Moses, 'I will give you three signs'.

I want to dwell upon these three signs, to open up to you, if I can, their bearing. God gave Moses these three signs, in sending him back from the wilderness to the land of Egypt for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. First, God says, "What is that in thy hand?".

God takes up what you have, whatever the thing may be. Moses had a staff, and that staff had a

spiritual meaning. I have no doubt it represented what man was entrusted with here on earth, for the authority of God was invested in man. We do not naturally love authority. In connection with creation, God introduced the idea of authority, and authority invested in man. We must have to say to God on the ground of authority. Moses' rod represented the principle of God's authority here on earth invested in man; but that became satanic. We have to do with the world, and today, as it stands, the authority is in the hands of those alienated from God, for the authority in the world is, in principle, under satanic influence. Of course, there is God's overruling hand; for God is restraining Satan's influence, but the history of authority is the history of satanic influence.

Thus the word is, "Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent". Think of the power that is active in that! That staff in man's hand became a serpent. Such is the world, and it is only waiting the moment when the full satanic power will show itself. Well might Moses flee from it! The spiritual mind recoils from satanic influence exerted in authority. Pharaoh was the embodiment of satanic influence vested in authority, and the Egyptians were under this. Where are you? Think of being under the influence of a serpent! Passing out of the hand of God to Satan, you find your place in the world, and that world is under the domination of the serpent. Were your eyes open you would recoil from it. The power of the serpent becomes evident; well might the spiritual mind recoil from that. The hissing serpent was there, the governing power in the upper region of society with Pilate, at the death of Christ, a terrible terminus of authority committed to men's hands! We have to do with that kind of thing. Souls are stupid in the indulgence of self-will which is the very essence of sin in the presence of God.

Is God going to suffer this? He says, "Stretch

out thy hand and take it by the tail". Moses took the serpent by the tail and it became a staff in his hand. What I understand by that is that God took up man afresh in Christ. God has not surrendered His idea, but He takes up man again in Christ, and, if you take in this thought, you get deliverance. The staff in His hand became the symbol of divine authority, the instrument in God's hand for the deliverance of the people throughout their history. It brought about the overthrow of Pharaoh's power and the deliverance of the people of Israel. What is the rod of God to you?

Do you ever think of it? Christ is the rod of God-a wonderful idea! What is authority in the hand of Christ? The sin of the race is implied in the indulgence of the will of the race, but God has taken up the authority in Christ; it is in His hand.

Now what is the character of the authority in Christ? I should like to refer to the case of Saul of Tarsus as an illustration. The Lord Jesus had died, had risen and had gone into heaven, and God had made Him both Lord and Christ. God had taken up the idea of authority in that Man and authority is invested in that Man in heaven. It waited for God to show what kind of authority was in that Man. There is a time coming when He will have a rod of iron and will rule the nations, but Christ did not rule Saul of Tarsus with a rod of iron, nor you, nor me. He said, "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?", Acts 9:4.

Has the Lord ever spoken to your soul? If He speaks to your soul, it is to assert His authority in your soul. If so, you may become rebellious, but He overthrows your will. If ever the will of man was in activity, it was in Saul, but the Lord's authority is greater than his will. He says, "Saul, Saul"-that is the rod of Christ! That is how He exercises His authority at the present moment. He speaks directly to your heart, He calls you by name! If the Lord spoke to you tonight by name would it not touch your heart?

If He singled you out and called you by name, it would make an impression on your heart and establish His authority there.

He extends His kingdom in this way. The ruling men of this world are always concerned about extending their kingdoms. Before the kingdom was limited to Israel, God intended that His kingdom should be correlative with the universe. The Lord would extend His kingdom in your heart and would assert His authority in your soul. In the words "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?" there was the Lord extending the benign influence of His kingdom. I suppose none ever understood the kingdom better than Saul; he constantly preached the kingdom. For him to preach the kingdom was to announce a Man who loved him; so he says, "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord"; that involved the authority of Christ in the soul of man. What souls suffer from is the activity of their own wills. Let Christ speak to you, call you by name; He will undertake for you! The next thing therefore you find is that the Spirit of God was given to Saul.

If the light of Christ enters into your heart you die as to your spiritual condition; so the second sign is, "Put now thy hand into thy bosom". You may well consider your work and activities as under the Lord's eye. What are your motives? Do you find them in your own natural heart? What is in the heart of man?

Every evil and corruption is there, it is incurably wicked! What are the governing motives of men? What can they initiate? Where would it end? There is nothing but corruption, men acting from their own bosoms, that is motives, and leprosy is written over the whole. That presents the world in a very peculiar light. In Genesis 6, God says, "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually". The hearts of men remained unchanged by the flood, for the hand that built Babel was leprous. But then

Moses was told to put his hand into his bosom again. The second bosom must be the bosom of Jesus. There was no corrupting there; every motive was pure; every movement of that blessed heart was Godward. The hand comes out as the other, the leprosy gone! I see work proceeding for God, no ambitious thought, no desire to be conspicuous. Every movement of that heart is Godward. That is the idea. God has received the hand that is not leprous. The hand of Christ was not leprous; He touched the leper and the leprosy departed.

I have said many times that the thought of God was to bring man into accord with Christ. If the gospel is announced to you, that is the thought. What is leprosy? It is sin. Whatever is the working of will, that is leprosy. The Lord brought leprosy to light in Peter; He asserted His authority, and there was a great draught of fishes. What was the result? Peter was discovered to be a leper. You are discovered to yourself, not to another; you are the leper. Peter said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord", Luke 5:8. See how he recognises the Lord's authority! The light of the authority of God shines into his soul and he appears leprous. Man becomes leprous when he disregards the authority of God in a Man.

Disregard of the authority of God, as presented in Christ, is leprosy. But instead of the iron rod to destroy the sinner, leprosy is removed. In Luke 5, Christ touches the leper and the leprosy departs.

How great is the present moment; one would love to make it clear. It is the moment of the authority of Christ in a benign way, the reign of grace. Divine authority has taken this form to bring in conviction to the consciences of men-to show them they are lepers. Grace removes the leprosy it discovers!

What wonderful signs to take to Egypt! What testimony to ensure his being received from Jehovah!

The second lesson is Jesus' bosom. The love of God to sinners, lepers, involved His death. How otherwise could it be removed? We see this in all the ritual applying to leprosy in the book of Leviticus; there had to be the death of one of the birds over running water. Leprosy has to go representatively. Your leprosy can only disappear in the death of another. Jesus took it upon Himself. I dwell upon it in reference to the hand being put into the bosom a second time; a different bosom it must have been, the leprosy was gone. God has in Christ another hand acting in resurrection power, and the divine thought is to bring us into accord with that. If you are doing anything now for the Lord it is not from selfish motives, but you are doing it for the Lord as Paul did. I warn you to be on your guard about the leprous hand, that is accomplishing things for selfish motives. That is a sweeping statement, but unless you are doing it as the outcome of the love of God in your heart, your hand is leprous. If you are under the influence of the love of God in your work, then your hand is like the hand of Christ; it carries out the will of God from pure motives.

The third sign has reference to life and its connection with Egypt. The life of the inhabitants of Egypt depended on the river. Apart from this river Egypt was a desert. Here is the benign influence of the authority of Christ in the gospel. It has been presented all these centuries and has been spurned. The result is that which is refreshment to you now becomes your judgment. The dispensation is not to continue; it is to terminate and that soon. That rod of blessing becomes the rod of iron; that which is the support of life to you becomes judgment, for the water is turned into blood. That is the end, a very solemn outlook. What is now the expression of the love of Christ in the way of cleansing and life-giving is reversed and becomes the expression of God's judgment.

The two first signs refer to the testimony of Christ and His cleansing power. If you reject those two signs, as the Egyptians did, they will become judgment to you, the unmitigated judgment of God. May the Lord deliver us from this!

RECOVERY

Song of Songs 2:8 - 16; Song of Songs 8:8, 9

It may seem a strange scripture for a gospel preaching, but this is a day of recovery. Probably there is not one in the room here who has not heard the gospel and who knows that Jesus died and made atonement for sin. There is scarcely anywhere in the world where the gospel has not been preached, indeed, the evangelist Mark says it is to be preached to "all the creation" (Mark 16:15); and Peter says, "Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, ... being put to death in flesh, but made alive in the Spirit", 1 Peter 3:18. What Spirit does he mean? The Spirit of evangelisation. And then he goes on to say, "In which also going he preached to the spirits which are in prison, heretofore disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah" (verses 19, 20). Hence all one can do today who seeks to do the work of an evangelist is to seek to recover. There is no new ground now, such as Paul desired (Romans 15:20), to speak where Christ had not been named. We must speak where He has been named, and hence, if He is not known by you, it shows the need for recovery.

This is so especially with the children of christian parents. Christ's name has been called not only where you live, but upon you. It has been called upon you in baptism, and if now there is the need for conversion it is evident that there has been departure from that, and hence the need for recovery. So perhaps you have come into fellowship; that was what Moses did. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25, 26). I know your parents are responsible to bring you to Christ; that is what parents did in olden days, that He might put His hands upon the

children. No right-minded father would want to see himself reproduced in his child. That is what a man does see naturally. Leave a child free, without cultivation, and your traits will come out in him. But with a right-minded father that is a shame to him. He has judged himself and does not want to see himself reproduced in his child. A self-important man of the world might, but a christian father desires to see the impress of Christ coming out in his child. He brings him to Him for that. What would Christ put His hands on your child for but to leave His own impress there? But your child can come into fellowship himself as soon as he comes to years of discretion.

Moses did that. He "refused to be called son of Pharaoh's daughter", not simply would not be it, but would not be known as such; the idea of a name is in it. His faith was of two kinds, he did not fear the wrath of the king, that is, it had reference to the power of the god of this world against the people of God, and also that he kept the passover (Hebrews 11:28); that had reference to the delivering of the people of God from the power of sin. His faith had reference to this world, therefore the record is so useful for us; it is not like Joseph, whose faith had reference to resurrection, so that he gave commandment as to his bones (verse 22).

The moment you move towards Christ you find the whole power of the world is against you, but the greatest power against you is yourself. Here, in the Song of Songs, the call is to rise up and come away (verse 10), but if you do you will find everything against you, but principally yourself and your own desires and ambitions. Rahab in speaking to the spies mentioned two things: how Pharaoh was overthrown in the Red Sea, and how Sihon and Og were overcome. Og exceeded the natural in size; he was a giant, the size of his bed is given, the only man in the Scriptures the dimensions of whose bed is given, for he was apparently

slothful and loved ease, like you and me, a picture of us. But if the power of God could overcome these two, they could be overcome by you; the power of God can support you against yourself. If the call comes to you, "Rise up ... and come away", you need not fear, for support will be given you. And who would be without the support of the Lord? So we see the bride in the last chapter of the Song coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. This book depicts the triumph of Christ in recovering lost affection. It is much harder to recover what has been lost, than to win love at the first, "love of thine espousals". So this is the greatest of Solomon's songs, the greatest of the one thousand and five. Where are your affections? The Lord misses them if He has not got them. If you belong to Him, He misses you every Lord's day morning from the breaking of bread. You may think the responsibility too great, but the responsibility is yours anyway if you are a believer, and you are simply missing your privilege. The Lord remembers any spark of affection you had for Him; you may have forgotten it but He has not.

See, in the verses I have read, how He regains affections. He calls; she knows His voice. This shows that there had been affection or she would not have recognised His voice. Then He shows Himself through the lattice. You know what the lattice is in your case, I do not; you know what there is in your circumstances that shuts out Christ. But no matter how close the lattice is, He shows Himself through it. Then, as soon as He gains her ear, He begins to speak of the land. It is not the wilderness now; she had followed Him there in the strength of her own affections, "I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness" (Jeremiah 2:2), but now He speaks only of the land. He says, "The winter is past". What was the winter except when your heart

was cold towards Christ? And there was rain there, too, but "the rain is over, it is gone". Now those are all past, and He speaks of flowers and warmth and festivity. Then He says, "Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice"; the countenance is what God takes pleasure in; God had lost man's countenance in Genesis 4, when sin had come in. Man was made upright to look into the face of God. But God regains man's countenance in one indwelt by the Spirit. So with the voice; there is something peculiar and special about the voice of a spiritual person.

In the last chapter we see the affections regained. The bride comes up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved. She has learnt His love and that she cannot trust her own, but must lean on His; she says, "Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm", as if to say, 'I cannot do without you, I must lean on you for ever'. She has learnt two things, love and jealousy, because she has learnt His love. She has learnt that it is stronger than death. He has told her of her own fairness, and she told His to others. That is fitting; there is mutual admiration.

Then "We have a little sister". She has learnt that what He values is affection, and now that is all right with her, her thoughts go out to her little sister, who is lacking in affection; she represents really typically Judah going out in affection to the ten tribes. It is really Judah that speaks throughout the Song of Solomon. Judah had the birthright; it had come to him at last. Esau had it first, then lost it and it passed to Reuben. He lost it and it passed to Ephraim. Again it was lost and passed to Judah and he held it, so that Christ sprang out of Judah. When he is restored his thoughts go out to the ten tribes. Here we see that one sign of a person restored in affection is that his thoughts go out to others: "If she be a wall", and, "If she be a door". I do not know your idea of a door, but mine is self-judgment. A door is

a means of ingress and egress. "I am the door: if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture", John 10:9. It conveys the idea of shutting out what is contrary to God and letting in what is in accord with God. That involves self-judgment. If there is any sign of that in a man, affection would enclose him with "boards of cedar". I do not know what they may be, but evidently they speak of dignity. Then, "If she be a wall"; a wall is for preservation and protection. If a man protects the truth, one can count a good deal upon him. One has seen such, men who lack in affection, but who value the truth and protect it; one can build a good deal on such a one. Here it says, "We will build upon her a turret of silver"; that is evidently something very great and imposing.

I am doubtless open to the accusation of not having preached a simple gospel, but the gospel as to the atoning work of Jesus and what He has done to put away sin is known to everyone present. What I would like to impress you with is that He wants your affections, and how He has laid Himself out to gain them.

THE PREACHING OF CHRIST

1 Peter 3:18 - 22; 1 Peter 4:1 - 6

One has in mind to call attention to the preaching. You will observe that, where we began to read, it says that the Lord was put to death in the flesh but was made alive in the Spirit, and in that Spirit He had preached to those who were disobedient in the days of Noah. You will understand then that He had been active to preach in the Spirit in Old Testament times, and that, in becoming Man, He was anointed with the Spirit in order to be a Preacher. "Being put to death in flesh", it says, "but made alive in the Spirit". He arose in that same Spirit. He arose in the Spirit of preaching, and that Spirit of preaching has continued up to the present time, and it will continue to the coming of the Lord. So that, beloved friends, you can see that a long period of time is covered by the preaching of Christ. There has really been no other preaching than that, and we would desire to be in accord with it at the present time. As it was active then, it should be our interest now, that it may continue in those that succeed in the Spirit of God, that is, in qualified vessels.

Now this subject is a very great one, and of very wide bearing. The Lord Jesus Christ has died in the flesh; He has suffered that He might bring us to God. That was the object in view, to bring men to God. But in order that we should be brought to God, there has to be the announcement of the glad tidings of God, so that all may hear. The scripture says, "How shall they hear without one who preaches?", Romans 10:14. Faith cometh by hearing; that is, hearing the word of God through the preacher. That is the divinely appointed way for the present moment. However weak things may appear to you, to those who

have faith it is a very great moment; it is the moment in which the Spirit of Christ is active in preaching in sympathetic vessels, vessels divinely qualified, hearts touched with love, preaching that which might bring men to God. Peter puts it here, "Who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him". That is not apparent publicly. He has gone into heaven in the same Spirit in which He was made alive, and He is at the right hand of God. What is He doing? The power at His command is being exercised so that there might be an open door for the preaching. This is a great comfort to those in the service of Christ. They have not only the Spirit of preaching, but they have His power as at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. All are subject to that Man, and He is holding the door open for the time. He is waiting for you tonight! The Lord, in that marvellous place, is waiting for you!

The preaching contemplates that the world is alienated from God. Perhaps you have not accepted the fact that the world is alienated from God. The first mention we have of preaching has reference to a time when the world was alienated from God. I refer to Genesis 6. Genesis 5 is typical of the christian period. It refers in the end of Genesis 4 to Seth, the appointed one, appointed in place of Abel. It is a very remarkable thing that we frequently refer to Genesis 5 to prove that death is universal upon men; but at any rate there was one man immune from death, and that is like the present moment. It is a solemn fact that death exists, but in regard to those who have the Spirit of God, we have a testimony of life. It says in Hebrews 11, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; ... for before his translation he has the testimony that he had pleased God". So in Genesis 5 it says of Enoch, "He was not, for God took

him". It is what I call the lifeline, not the death line. The oldest man died but Enoch did not die, he walked with God three hundred years and begat sons and daughters, and God took him. Chapter 5 is the testimony to life, but chapter 6 gives the other side of the picture, the corruption of the world.

Are you in the world? The first occasion of preaching has the world alienated from God in view. Are you in the world? You may have it in your mind that you would like to try it. There are many enticing things there, many pleasant things; perhaps you would like to have the opportunity of proving them for yourself. God has taken account of that exercise; looking on to the gospel day, He brought a man into the world and endowed him with everything this world could give. He exalted him to the throne, giving him the means of acquiring everything in the world; there was nothing he could not command, for "What shall the man do that cometh after the king?", Ecclesiastes 2:12. Solomon not only had all this, but also had divine wisdom given to him to derive satisfaction out of these things, if satisfaction were in them. You have not that. If you had all the wealth of the richest man in Great Britain, would you have divine wisdom? Would you have God with you in it? No, you cannot get out of it what Solomon got out of it. Why? The reason is Solomon had God with him in it all. If you want to try this world, you must try it alone. What was his verdict in his unfailing wisdom? "Vanity of vanities! all is vanity", says the Preacher. Do you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? It was written for you who are seeking to satisfy yourself in this world. God brought that man in to prove there was nothing to satisfy there. "What shall the man do that cometh after the king?". There is the testimony of God in the kindness of His heart; He has set that testimony there that you might not be deceived, and so that all after-comers should not be deceived.

Deceived you are, if you go in for the world. The man who had all that experience is set up as the Preacher, a sort of beacon-light: 'I have been there; don't come this way!'. It is a book worth reading; it was written for after-generations.

The Lord Jesus Christ, who was really the Preacher, rose from the dead in the Spirit of preaching; and so, in regard to Genesis 6, there it was that the Spirit of Christ first became active; it was in the presence of a world alienated from God. God says, "The end of all flesh is come before me". He had feelings about it for it says it grieved Him at His heart. He looked down on the children of men and saw nothing but evil continually. The Spirit of Christ appears on that scene; it is almost a repetition of the first chapter of Genesis, where the Spirit of God was hovering over the deep, as though God was waiting to bring order out of chaos. So when we come to the moral chaos that had come in we find the same idea: "My spirit shall not always plead with Man". During those one hundred and twenty years, that Spirit in which Christ rose from the dead was active preaching to those disobedient people. One wonders what effect it has on souls now! The Lord goes to great pains that the gospel should reach you. How do you treat it? The difficulty often is that there is no exercise. Now if you are not exercised by the light, you will never get any good from it. The object of light is to illuminate the soul, that the soul might be set in movement. "Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God". This is almost a quotation from Exodus, where it says, "I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself", Exodus 19:4.

See the pains God took with Moses that he might be a qualified vessel. It is said of Moses, "By faith he celebrated the passover", Hebrews 11:28. What did he have in view? You remember in the earlier part of

his history, Moses slew the Egyptian. In doing that Moses anticipated the destroying angel, but Moses was not constituted the destroying angel, and hence Moses had to flee to the wilderness. He learned that he too had to go in judgment as well as the Egyptian. The destroying angel has reference to you too as much as to the Egyptian. Have you accepted that Moses did not at first. He had to go substitutionally in the passover lamb. You can never be brought to God unless you accept that. Moses had more than that in view. The destroying angel had reference to every Israelite; there was no difference, for death rested on them all. "By faith he celebrated the passover and the sprinkling of the blood"; that was for the outside that the destroying angel should not enter.

That was what Moses did by faith. There is no deliverance from the world unless you accept the fact that death is upon you. The next parties who had faith were the Israelites themselves. "By faith they passed through the Red Sea", Hebrews 11:29. That is the only thing we read of that they did by faith. How did they get that faith? Moses imparted the light in himself to the people. They crossed the Red Sea by faith, the only thing they did by faith, but it was a very wonderful thing. This, translated into the language of the New Testament, is, "delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification",

Romans 4:25. That is the death of Christ presented objectively to your soul. Then Romans 5 begins, "Therefore having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God", Romans 5:1.

The first eleven verses of Romans 5 show what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the result is we are brought to God; the first thing is to be brought to God in your soul. "I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself". If brought to God, He will dispose of you. God has a world of His own; the whole universe is God's, and

there is a place in heaven for men! It is entirely a question of God's pleasure as to what He may do with you. When God proposes a covenant He says, "All the earth is mine" (Exodus 19:5); it is entirely a question of God's pleasure. The gospel of Luke is really that section of Scripture which supports the gospel which Paul presents, and shows us there is a place in heaven for men. If you are brought to God, what will He do for you? When the seventy returned to the Lord they rejoiced because the demons were subject to them, which was a very great thing, but the Lord said, "In this rejoice not ... but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens". That indicates they were to have a place on high, a confirmation of the doctrine Paul preached. With Israel it was rather a question of God's faithfulness, that they should have that land according to the promises to the fathers, but with regard to the christian it is, "Because of his great love wherewith he loved us ... has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus", Ephesians 2:4, 6. That is the place God has for us, the divine thought for us; it is the place of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. All you can do is to sit down in the presence of it and give thanks to God. The end in view is that in the ages to come there should be glory to God in the assembly. The exercise of divine grace is to take up such as we are and give us this place. God is entitled to do this and He will do it by His kindness in Christ Jesus. Such is what your soul is brought into as brought to God.

The apostle here as he touches on the Spirit of Christ is led to refer back to Genesis 6. He touches on baptism, and brings in the truth that covers the present position of the believer. One would not engage you now with the divinely appointed ordinance, but with the spirit of it. "Which figure also now saves you, even baptism". Baptism saves us. Are

you baptised? If so, are you in accord with it? This has nothing to do with what is within you; that is all dealt with in the passover. Baptism judges what is outside of you; it is the answer of a good conscience towards God. A good conscience in a believer demands that he should be apart from the world. Perhaps you are saying, 'I love the Lord Jesus and His people, but giving up all those things, I do not know about that'. If you go in for the world, you go in for it at your own expense; but if you give it up, it is at the Lord's expense. You may say, 'I do not see the way'. Try it: if you give up the world, it is at the Lord's expense, not your own: He will make it good to you.

If you do give up the world, and confess the Lord publicly, you will bring down the reproach of the world upon you, but this reproach will be your salvation. There is something wrong if you have the favour of the world. Peter tells us that as a matter of course you will come into trouble, but adds, "The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you".

Can the world give you the Spirit of glory? The Lord Jesus can. The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you. Could you desire more distinction than that? You cannot conceive of greater distinction than the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resting upon the person who suffers reproach.

Angels, authorities, and powers are made subject unto Christ, and as you accept His rejection, the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you. There was not a more distinguished man than Stephen. His face was like the face of an angel: it shone with celestial glory. There was in that man the reproduction of Christ. The great end of the gospel is to reproduce the Lord Jesus.

When you come to the next chapter, you get the path of a christian opened up to you. It is not Peter's point to take you out of the world; it is that you should continue in that Spirit in which the Lord

ministered here. He died in it and rose in it. Now it is to be continued in those who live the rest of their time here to God's will. For the thief on the cross, there was no "rest of his time", but Peter contemplates a certain length of time to be lived down here to the will of God. That is the only object for which one can conceive the christian being left here-and it is a good purpose! We are left to continue the will of God, and as we do so we become vessels of that same light that shone in Christ.

One especially feels for young people. If the enemy cannot get the old, he will get the young. The continuance of the testimony is a divine principle, and the normal way is from father to son. The apostle handed it on to faithful men. It is for you to prize it. The effort of the enemy is to capture the youth by the principles of the world.

May the Lord grant He may have your heart!

DETACHMENT AND ATTACHMENT

Zechariah 12:9 - 14; Deuteronomy 33:7

I desire to show that the light of the gospel is intended to effect detachment and attachment. In other words, the light of the gospel coming into the world has the effect of detaching the heart, the soul, and the mind of man from all that he may be attached to hitherto, of completely isolating him. On the other hand it has the effect of attaching him to another system or order of things. So it becomes obvious that if we are to be in the good of what the gospel proposes we must be detached from things here. I refer to things used to render man self-supporting. You will recall that man deliberately gave up God. So in Romans 1:28 it says, "And according as they did not think good to have God in their knowledge"; this is a remarkable statement: men put God from their minds; it was a matter of choice; they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and God gave them up. God having withdrawn His support from man, man had to cast about for support. God would have supported Noah's line on the earth. What a wonderful position he would have had! God made a covenant with man, and God would have supported him. We should have had a world established by divine support, but men decided to eliminate God from their knowledge, and God gave them up. Man was left without support, and the result was the banding together at Babel, "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower ... and let us make ourselves a name", Genesis 11:4. I refer to that as the origin of the world as we have it today, when each nation desires to be self-supporting, unconscious of the need of divine support.

On every hand we see it in the brotherhoods established; not only one huge brotherhood of men, but

subdivisions appear, especially in the present day. You remember Jacob's prophecy in Genesis 49:5, "Simeon and Levi are brethren". The idea of brethren is beautiful where love is; such a brotherhood Christ has established; but it goes on to say, "Instruments of violence their swords". The prophet's eye sees them, but he sees cruelty there. What does God think of these brotherhoods? They are avowedly for self-support. Why self-support? Because they have no divine support. So the Spirit of Jesus is presented to that brotherhood saying, "My soul, come not into their council", but what do men think of that? So at Babel the families of the earth were dispersed. Every foreign tongue is but a token of the judgment of God, barriers contrary to love. In Acts 2:8 we read, "And how do we hear them each in our own dialect ... ?"; there are no such barriers where love is. There is a terrible day coming; the day of sentimentality leads on to that of apostasy and finally to open antagonism.

What did God say? "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel".

When light comes into our souls we begin to think of these things. Today God has given Jerusalem up, and the assembly is now the object of attack. There is a day coming when God will revert to Jerusalem, and then it will have enemies, God's enemies. When the light of God penetrates into your soul, Satan will begin to attack you, as it will be with Jerusalem. Satan stands to resist, and so it is with every soul, as soon as God begins to work, Satan begins to resist. See what the Lord does, "Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan! Yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee!", Zechariah 3:2. The preacher here speaks from the Lord, for He is on your side. Jerusalem is lying waste now; when God reverts to it, the enemy will stand to resist; that is all future, but I refer to it now to show how God works. God raises the question with Jerusalem herself, with every family and with every individual.

There are great advantages in belonging to a christian household. The gospel announces blessing to the household, "Thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house", Acts 16:31. The head of the house may trust in God, and what God proposes in the gospel, He will carry out. As belonging to a christian household you are very near the house of God, but you have to do with God yourself; each member has to repent apart. Your father can have you baptised and count on God for you, but he cannot repent for you; you have to do with God for yourself. The light of the gospel is to separate you from others so that you may be alone with God. You have to get alone with God; that is the effect of light.

There is separate wailing and mourning for the Messiah. Each family and each member of that family repents for his guilt before God. God gives the spirit of grace, and it requires grace to judge yourself, "But he gives more grace", James 4:6. There is no lack. He says, "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications".

The whole of your past history comes before you. The woman of Sychar says to the men, "Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done", John 4:29. She had judged all; it was all out. In the case of the leper when the leprosy was all out the leper was clean. That woman was clean when she went back to the city. Wonderful grace! Not only does God forgive sins, but He gives grace to confess them. Man naturally would not own he had sinned, so we cover things up, but it is just as well to come to the light at once. Then you learn the means of removal. The effect of the spirit of grace is to lead to isolation of soul. You get into a corner by yourself and tell it all out to God. When the leprosy covered the man, he was clean. Hide nothing; tell it all out to God; the blood is there. Leviticus 14 is the answer to

Leviticus 13, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin", 1 John 1:7. The conscience is set up in the light of the death of Jesus; such is the effect of the death-the blood-of Jesus.

The passage in Deuteronomy shows the effect in the individual; it is the blessing of Moses, the man of God. In Genesis it is the blessing of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, speaking prophetically. In Genesis Judah is like a lion, "The sceptre will not depart from Judah ... until Shiloh come" (Genesis 49:10); royalty is there: Christ is the gathering centre, and Jacob sees this in Judah. It is the hope of Israel as seen in Christ. But when we come to Moses the man of God, Judah is seen in weakness. It is the experience of a repentant soul. There is repentance, a cry, and Moses, as it were, hears that cry, "Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah". If there is that cry, there is the intercession of Jesus. He has taken up a position in regard to men; you may reckon on His support in the faintest cry which He hears. You are detached, and now you want to be attached. God designed man for society; we all love companionship; this desire is in the heart of every man. It is God's thought to detach you from the brotherhoods of this world, and then your voice is to Him. My impression is souls do not cry to God enough. God will make out your cry, "Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah". He knows what you need. The light of God renders your conscience bad; the blood of Jesus makes it good. You want society; you can be attached to the Lord Jesus. What is said of Judah? "Bring him unto his people". If there is anything to be desired, it is the fellowship of God's people. Judah has his people, "bring him unto his people". There is to be a living link between your soul and Christ, but you want society, fellowship, companionship. God can give all this. You lose nothing, but gain everything. You are brought into a living system; the power of

the Spirit of God is there. One loves to see young Christians coming into that. There is a living order, and God would bring you into it.

In the case of the leper outside the camp the effect of the judgment of his sin is that he was not fit for the society of God's people. Remember what Ruth said, "Thy people shall be my people", Ruth 1:16. The Lord knows all about you; you come to know Him and you say, "Thy people shall be my people". Every society in the world is banded against Christ. Is it not a great thing to be linked up with a people that are living though hidden? Our time for display will be when Christ is manifested. Meanwhile He supports you. The Christian has His Spirit. The Shunammite woman, who is called by the Spirit "a wealthy woman" (2 Kings 4:8), is a continuation of the widow with the oil. Not only were her debts met, but she became a woman of wealth, and lived off the balance. If you recognise the Spirit you are spiritually wealthy. There is no claim against you, not a moral charge, if you live by the Spirit. That is your income, you live by the Spirit, and so you have a wealthy woman, but not too great to live amongst her own people. Judah is to be brought to his own people. You recognise the Holy Spirit, and now you have your hands, "May his hands strive". The Spirit of God becomes your means of support: "Be thou a help to him", that I take it to be the kingdom established in Christ. The Christian has the support of the Spirit and looks to the Lord for protection. You will be in reproach if you associate with the Lord's people, but you pray and the Lord protects you. It is by the protection of the Lord Jesus you are here looking to Him now; it is wonderful how He comes in for you, so that you are protected and supported.

HOW GOD HAS BROKEN OFF ALL RELATIONS WITH THE WORLD

Zechariah 11:4 - 14; John 10:10 - 16

I have before me tonight to seek to show how God has broken off all relations with the world. There have been three worlds with which God stood connected. The first was that which was before the flood. It was owned in a certain relation as proceeding from Seth, the man whom God gave to Adam and Eve instead of Abel. His name signifies that he was appointed, and his posterity is given in Genesis S. God stood in a measure related to that world. There was one man in it who walked with God, and in that way maintained what was due to Him, no doubt as a testimony. That man was translated, and another appears to take his place. The appearance of Noah became a resting-place for the heart and mind of God, and in Noah He perceives one in whom He could inaugurate and set up another world; hence He breaks His relations with the first world. He gave men one hundred and twenty years, and during all that time there was one man who was endued with the Spirit of Christ; he was endued with the spirit of evangelisation. What grace on God's part; but all in vain! There was a complete termination of that world; but then it was replaced by another, for Genesis 9 records the establishment of another world. It was set up on another work, but owned of God, and He entered into a covenant with it. That would receive divine support. There was in the cloud the token of God's covenant. What was the result? We are told that men deliberately chose to eliminate God from their knowledge. The men of that world, in spite of all the kindness and power that God showed them, deliberately chose to eliminate God from their

knowledge, and God gave them up. He then called out Abram and, in calling out Abram, He judged the second world, and, in the seed of Abram, God established another world. God never gives up the idea of a world; He loves the idea of a world as it says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal", John 3:16. So that there is "the habitable world which is to come, of which we speak" (Hebrews 2:5), a world that abides, "the world of our Lord and of his Christ", Revelation 11:15. God never severs His connection with that world, but I want to show that God severs His connection with the world He established in connection with Abraham's seed.

If God gives up a world, what will men do? Men are banding together; what they did in Genesis 11 is what they are doing today. If God withdraws His support, what will the world do? It must become self-supporting. It is a solemn day we are living in; it is a day of brotherhoods. But God not only severed His connection with the world, but He says, I will break up your brotherhoods (Zechariah 11:14). What are brotherhoods for? To make man self-supporting. They say in Genesis 11, "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, the top of which may reach to the heavens". Towers are witnesses to the esteem in which men hold themselves; their object is to exalt men to heaven. "Let us build ourselves a city"; it is the idea of centralisation, not simply binding together, but making themselves conspicuous. God paralyses the system. How easily God can do it! You remember what took place at the tomb of Jesus, as recorded by Matthew. It says that they sealed the stone and set a watch. What did the seal mean? It represented all the Roman power. But an angel came down and he set aside all that power! It says he "came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it",

and none dare touch him! He could have smitten all the legions of Rome. Do you remember how many one angel of old slew? A hundred and eighty-five thousand! (See 2 Kings 19:35). So the angel sat upon the stone at the sepulchre in solemn irony. Suppose you take all the armies and navies of the world and bring them together, and God was to use lightning-the angel's look was as lightning-how quickly He could obliterate them! In a moment He could do it. But for the time being all are allowed to continue, and God uses all that power in support of the gospel. The Lord in resurrection sends the apostles to disciple the nations, not to destroy them, and says, "Behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age", Matthew 28:20.

Now the prophet says, "I took my staff, Beauty". That staff represents what was in the mind of God with regard to Israel. They were taken out and set above all the nations, and divine beauty put upon them; the proposal of God was that Israel should be a nation of priests. Think of the beauty of Aaron's garments! That was what was in the mind of God for Israel. The Lord came, not to break up that covenant, but to make it effective. "I have given thee", says Jehovah, "for a covenant of the people". He came in as the expression of the heart of God for the people; but there was no response. He found the shepherds murderers and thieves, and as to the people, He says, "We have piped to you, and ye have not danced". Have you ever 'danced' to the gospel? David danced before Jehovah when the ark came into the city of David (2 Samuel 6:14). Christ came in with all the affections of God for the people. When He drew near to the city of Jerusalem He wept. He felt their sin, but what He did feel specially was their indifference. He says, "How often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!", Matthew 23:37.

And so He breaks off His connection with them. There is one other staff remaining, the staff that symbolised the unity of Judah and Israel. If you maintain relations with each other when unity with God is broken, it is iniquity. Unities today are to render man independent of God. Where are you? Are you connected with any unity, any society, any brotherhood in the world? Jacob says, "Simeon and Levi are brethren"; the name is external, for it goes on, "Instruments of violence their swords". The name is deceptive, even if divinely given, when it is connected with what is contrary to God, "For in their anger they slew men, and in their wantonness houghed oxen". Self will is the order of the day, and God intends to deliver men from it. Jacob says, "My soul, come not into their council; mine honour, be not united with their assembly", Genesis 49:6. Whatever may be the pretensions, it only remains for God to bring in Christ, to bring out what is there. All will work out in the support of Him who comes in His own name. What are you going to do with Jesus?

He says in the language of the prophet here, "Give me my hire". Are you going to sell Him? Are you going to barter Him?

I would appeal to the young. Satan is seeking to gain your soul by something of this world, but the Lord puts Himself before you. What are you going to do? His voice appeals to you tonight, "Give me my hire". And so it says here, "They weighed for my hire thirty silver-pieces". What are you going to sell Him for? Are you going to give up Jesus for the world? The Lord had nothing but kindness in His heart for Judas. How much has the Lord given for you? I love to read Peter's writings for one reason; he uses adjectives by which he shows his appreciation of Christ. He speaks of "precious promises", and of being redeemed by "precious blood". He says, "Ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as

silver or gold ... but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ". Has that any weight in your soul? Did you ever admit the Lord's title to you? He has redeemed us and He lays claim to His property. Do you admit it? If there is one thing I glory in, it is that I belong to the company of the redeemed. Young people are in danger of despising christians because they seem to be in the minority; but they are really in the majority. Enoch was in the sense of it when he says, "Behold, the Lord has come amidst his holy myriads", yet he was alone at that time. The prophet John too saw vast multitudes; can you number them? There are those who have admitted the Lord's claim and as recognising that they are His by right of redemption, He puts His seal upon them. The seal is the gift of the Spirit. Have you received it? At the end of John 3 we read that "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand". That is what I would call an economy of affection.

Now, what is the result? In chapter 4 the Lord's proposal is to give living water to the woman at Jacob's well, and the giving is equal to the authority.

I want, in closing, to refer to the flock in John 10. It was God's mind that His people should be banded together. The covenant is divine beauty put upon us; that is the staff called Beauty. Then there is the staff called Bands or Binders. What are the binders? The unity of the Spirit. In Zechariah 11 God scatters, but there were "the poor of the flock". I used to be ashamed of the poverty of the Lord's people; but the Lord says, "The poor of the flock that gave heed to me". In John 10 therefore the Lord brings in a brotherhood. In chapter 4 He gives the Spirit and that Spirit in you produces certain affections. You have the same Spirit with which Jesus was anointed, and Jesus gives it to us. The Spirit forms affections; and these affections crave kindred affections. Christ

as the Shepherd calls His own sheep out; He does not leave you alone, He gives you the Spirit, and He will care for you. The voice of the Shepherd is the voice of affection for your soul. But what will He do with you? It says, "There shall be one flock, one shepherd". Sheep are defenceless creatures; they allow their wool to be taken away. It says of the Lord Himself, "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth", Isaiah 53:7. But they cannot touch you spiritually; you belong to the flock, tended by the Shepherd. It is unity, unity of nature. That is the thought of unity in John's gospel. And you have the society of those that have the same affections as yourself.

May God bless the word.

DIVINE INTEREST IN MAN

Genesis 28:12 - 17; Genesis 32:1, 2, 24 - 31; Genesis 35:9 - 12

My thought is to speak about the divine interest in man. It is important, I think, to remember that whilst God's interest in His people is necessarily special, He is interested in all men, and for the reason that they are men, and I wish to show that His thought is for the moment to bring man into His house. The great evidence of His interest in His people is that He has got a provisional place for them now, pending the coming of the Lord when we shall be taken up to heaven. God has a house and distinction is seen between the two thoughts; that is to say, between our place in heaven and the provisional place which God has instituted down here. The distinction is seen in the two gospels-that of Luke and that of John.

The house from John's point of view is the Father's house; that is to say, it is the sphere of the family. The house according to Luke is God's house, the provisional order of things set up here in relation to the gospel. Hence it is that into which God would introduce man, and that is what I want to dwell upon, beloved friends, if the Lord help me.

I want to show you the interest that God has in man and I venture to select Jacob, because whilst he is a man of promise, the seed of Abraham and Isaac, yet he is a type of man that in no sense merited anything. Jacob in no sense presents to us a man that in himself merits anything. It is well to begin in that simple way lest you might have the thought that you cannot be included among those in whom God is interested. It is well to have the light of God, for there has been your past history; it is well to have it judged, but I do not dwell upon that. I wish you to understand that your past history has nothing to do

with God's interest in you; the occasion for the moment of God's interest in you is that you are part of the human race. That is a most comforting thing, to my mind, to receive into the soul. The fact that Jesus has become a Man and that God has placed Him in the highest place in heaven shows that it is the day of favour, all men are taken into favour. It is not the day of imputation, of reckoning, of judgment; it is the day of favour; that is to say, God would make it as easy as possible. He would remove every possible hindrance out of your way so that you might come into touch with Him. I have often compared the difference between the cherubim as seen in the tabernacle and as seen in the house according to the books of Chronicles or Kings. In the tabernacle the cherubim looked down upon the mercy-seat; in the house they looked out toward the door of the house. The position was thus changed; that is to say, on the ground of the sacrifice of Christ, the blood of Christ being placed on the mercy-seat, God is free now to look out and, beloved friends, He has a long look-out. He looks out toward the door of the house, which really implies that He is looking out upon humanity and His eye reaches to the utmost bounds of the race; there is none that escapes His notice. He looks out upon the whole race of man. On the ground of the death of Christ, the blood having been carried into the holiest and placed upon the mercy-seat, the cherubim of glory are now enabled to look for blessing, not for judgment, and directly there is a move in your heart Godward (and I would define that to be that you begin to think aright, you take account of things as they are in the world, and in yourself, and in your circumstances), directly any movement of that kind takes place in the soul, God sees it.

When you come to the New Testament, it is not only the look-out of the cherubim of glory, but there is God the Father, viewed as the father of the prodigal,

He is looking out. Wonderful thought! God is on the watch! The Old Testament speaks of being on the watch tower. Now think of God having placed Himself in that position! He is on the look-out and He is the first to notice a movement in your heart. He knows more about that movement than you do. He knows just what has brought that movement to pass there; He knows how to interpret it and He does not wait for you to come. It is not now simply that He is looking out; He moves out, He runs! Think of God running, beloved friends! I am using the figure. I am referring to things that are very simple and well-known to you all, but it cannot but be affecting to think of God looking out, and directly there is a movement-it may be of the tiniest nature -- He takes account of it. The prodigal made a speech as you remember, and God took account of that, but it says, "While he was yet a long way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and covered him with kisses", Luke 15:20. I only touch on that to show you the situation, that God is looking out on the race of man, and He takes the whole race in His view. You remember what Simeon said of the Child, "A light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel", meaning that the gentiles have come into view; the cloud is lifted. Christ has brought them into view; they have come under the divine notice for blessing.

Well now, as I said, I would encourage you if there is a movement in your heart; it may be very tiny, it may be just this, that you have come to think of things seriously; you have been in the habit of looking at things in a very trivial sort of way, taking things up lightly, but you have become serious; it may be that you have begun to pray a little. God notices that prayer of yours at night, He takes account of it. Satan has not brought that to pass in you. God brings it to

pass in you. There is a certain regard for the things of God, a certain fear has entered your heart. Well now, in view of that change in your heart, God sets things in movement. A movement in God's heart in heaven is sure to bring to pass a movement on earth; the whole moral system is affected. I am not exaggerating, beloved friends, "there is joy before the angels of God"-not for one saint, but-"for one repenting sinner". There is a movement in the heart of God, and a movement there is sure to bring about a movement elsewhere.

Now see Jacob. I refer to him in Genesis 28, to show you what divine interest is. Here was a lone man with a character not worth having! There was no merit whatsoever in the character of this man; he is a supplanter; he is a liar; he is a deceiver. I am not speaking now of the purpose of God, I am speaking of Jacob's conduct and what he was. He is fleeing from the wrath of his brother-a lone man with a stone for his pillow! Think of him there, endeavouring to go to sleep, and he did go to sleep, on that spot. Now think of the divine interest and of what ordering there was, as seen in the angels attending, the swift messengers of the divine will. They were attending and all their movements had in view a poor man lying on the earth with a stone for his pillow. He had nothing, no character, no friends, save his father and mother, and those who knew him best hated him! Think of that! You are not worse than Jacob. Think of the activity in heaven and that ladder being set up and, more than that, angels of God ascending and descending upon that ladder. And what was it all about? That man lying there on the earth, with his head on a stone and no one with him. Doubtless his father and mother had sympathies, but the world knew nothing of that man; there was no sympathy there. Look at the wealth of what is here, the angels of God ascending and descending upon that ladder,

and that lone man lying there, the object of all that attention! Does it not affect your heart? Christians ought to be profoundly affected by the thought of God's interest in them long before they knew Him. Alas! how little we do appreciate it. That same attention goes on day by day and night by night; it never ceases.

Now this was God's interest in Jacob when he was setting out, as you may say, to make his mark in the world. He was setting out as young men do; every young man has his own prospects, his own desires and expectations; he has got something before him. There were twenty years ahead of Jacob; God knew all about that. His heart was bent on something, but that did not prevent the divine interest in him. No waywardness, no crookedness, no wilfulness, can interfere with the interest of heaven in us. I am not encouraging these things, you know, I am only showing you what God is. God's interest was in that man, be that man's motives what they were, God had set His heart upon him. Jacob was in a poor way to appreciate it all. How many are like that! He says, "How dreadful is this place!". He had a right judgment of it, he knew what it was. I have seen many young people-they knew well enough where the truth was -- they knew the people of God were right-they knew the gospel was true, but it was all dreadful. Such was Jacob's state. This is a dreadful place!-and yet he gives it its right name: "This is none other but the house of God". God is in this place. Little he knew about God; he really knew nothing about God. Had he known the heart of God, he would not have thought of using the word 'dreadful' in regard of His house, the home of divine affections, but that was his judgment. But then that did not interfere in the least degree with God's interest in him. He says, 'I am going to be with you, Jacob, I know what is in your heart; you are going in for things, you are going to

have something'. Sure enough he did have something, he did not serve his twenty years for nothing. He got his salary; it was changed ten times; God allows that. Many of us have been permitted to secure something; we have set our hearts on it and we have attained it. It is remarkable how men attain to things, but what I desire to show, beloved friends, is that, whilst all that is not excusable in the least degree and you have to judge it, yet God's interest remains in you. He never gives you up. He allowed Jacob to go to Syria and to remain there twenty years, but He had placed in Jacob's heart an impression that he never got rid of; that is the effect of the gospel.

The light of God entering your soul places an impression there that is remaining; that is the work of God. That vision was not for nothing; there was a foundation laid in Jacob's soul that God could refer to twenty years after. God knows just what He has done; He produces an impression in your soul by the light, and that impression is there for ever. It is the work of God. Your will may be stronger than it for the moment, very often it is so; it was so in Jacob's case. Our will may be stronger than the light we have; it may be too strong for us and we go our own way; but God says, 'I am going to be with you'. The government of God is inexorable; nothing fails it; it touches you. But God's interest remains in you and He never gives you up till you are brought back to the first impression produced in your heart by the light of God. You are never recovered till then. Now in chapter 32, Jacob is on his way back. He has flocks and herds and wives and children; he is a wealthy man; he is well off. We must not think that because a man is wealthy God is not interested in him. Jacob was wealthy, he had not spent his time for nothing, but God's interest remained. What we find now is that Jacob returns, and he is met by two camps of angels-that is the word "Mahanaim". I

just want to dwell upon that, for it is, as it were, a full testimony of the interest of God. It says, "The angels of God met him". What a moment for Jacob; how he would be reminded of that night! He had seen those beings before; he had seen them on the ladder. Now he meets two camps of them, they come to meet him. I do not know exactly what I may call them in regard to the history of believers now; angels usually set forth what is providential. God gives providential evidences of His interest in you, but that is not Him self; He has not met you Himself yet. At Luz God was at the top of the ladder, but He did not come down then; the angels came down, there was testimony of God's interest, but not God Himself yet. So with Job, God testifies to Job by one instance and another, but finally He spoke to Job Himself. When God meets you face to face, and touches you, all is over with you; you have no more to say. You notice here that having met these two camps of angels, Jacob still speaks. He is wealthy, he would send to Esau a testimony of what he was, no ordinary man; he was not a poor man now. He was a man of means; he had secured wealth in this world and he would have us know about it. He was simply full of himself and his acquirements and even the meeting with the angels did not displace this in his heart. But all the droves of cattle and the wives and children go over the brook and Jacob was left alone, but left alone with God. No angels now, for it is really the Lord Himself.

Let me enquire as to whether you have had a direct transaction with God. It is of moment that you should hear the preacher, for the preacher is sent, such as an angel in that sense, the evangelist is exactly that, and it is well to listen to the preacher, but then the preacher is not God. It is well to get the light and to let it have a place in your heart, let it bring about repentance, but do not stop there, let God have to say to you. I do not undertake to tell you how; He has

His own way of getting at the soul. He allowed Jacob to get all that made him great in the world, but that had gone, gone over the brook, and he was left alone, but he was alone with God. Now you come to what Jacob really is according to God. God had been with him and had been working in him; God had produced an impression in his heart at Luz that never left him; it was divine. Now he wrestles with God till the breaking of day. How in earnest he was! Would that there were a soul in such earnest as Jacob now! He positively refused to let go until He blessed him. How one admires that! I believe it was delightful to God. It was God Himself there, and Jacob was so intensely interested now in the presence of God that he wrestled till the breaking of day. The man said, "Let me go, for the dawn ariseth", but Jacob says, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me". How delightful to God that was! You remember what Elisha's prayer was-I admire it! He said to Elijah, "I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me". A double portion! One cannot but admire the boldness of that prayer. If there is anything God delights in it is boldness in prayer on the part of man-you cannot ask too much! Elijah said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing". Nevertheless it was not denied him; he received it. It was a marvellous prayer! I believe Elisha understood what was coming, for a double responsibility was to lie upon him; he was to maintain the testimony of grace in the presence of Ahab. Elijah maintained the testimony of judgment, and Elisha was not to set that aside. But while that was maintained, he would add to it the testimony of grace and, in the double portion of Elijah's spirit, he had the means of maintaining it in the presence of the house of Ahab. You remember the house of Ahab remained during all the testimony of Elijah. Elijah was sent to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and

Elisha to be prophet in his stead, and him that escaped the sword of Hazael Jehu was to slay, and him that escaped the sword of Jehu Elisha was to slay (see 1 Kings 19). Now what happens? Elisha's administration comes in first. All that is understood instinctively by the prophet and he asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. That is to say, he maintained the testimony of grace in the presence of the house of Ahab and when the reign of grace was over, he anointed Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab (see 2 Kings 9). That was Elisha's prayer.

Now look at Jacob here, he refuses to let the angel go until he blesses him. How one would encourage individual transactions with God. Turn to God, He is there to meet you. Jacob says, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me". Then he is asked, "What is thy name?". And it is all out; Jacob has to make a confession. You know we are often depressed in our souls and hampered, and progress hindered, because we do not make confessions. Now Jacob's confession of his name was really to confess that his whole course was a crooked one, Jacob, the supplanter, a crooked scheming man! He told it out to God.

What a relief! I believe it was a positive relief to his soul to have it all out. That is the end of Jacob's history as a crooked, scheming, wretched man, all that he was as a man in the flesh. Now God gives him a name. I would desire greatly to be able to convey to you the import of the name that God was pleased to give Jacob. He says, "Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob". What a change! What, am I to be relieved for ever of all the shame of my past history? Is all that to be cancelled? Yes, beloved friends, cancelled for ever as far as God is concerned! That name is cancelled: it is no more yours. You have owned to it; you have had it all out with God. Now it is blotted out for ever, the name and all the sins attached to the name gone into oblivion for ever!

That is the grace of God. He says, "Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob". Never mind what men call you, it is a matter of no consequence, it is a question of what God calls you. He only can give you a name that is to endure for ever. Now what was the name? It was 'a prince'. The word 'Israel' means that. What elevation! He says, "Thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed". Would that one could convey to you what the word 'prince' involves. Christians are in God's account princes, because their names have been changed. God has changed our names and the new name involves that we are dignified and qualified for a place in His house. What I understand by that is that God gives us the Spirit. The past history is cancelled. God could not give the Spirit with that history. He could not seal that history; it must therefore be cancelled vicariously in the cross of Christ before God could give the Spirit. The death of Christ cancels that history for us, beloved friends, and so God gives the Spirit to us. Now the possession of the Spirit involves power. It says here, "Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed". The possession of the Spirit enables the christian to prevail, so that he not only has the title, but he has the power. He has that which supports the title. One would enlarge upon that. You see a christian moving about in this world, entirely independent of the world, entirely independent of the flesh; he has access to God; he can, as it were, move God, speaking reverently. He has influence with God, he has prevailed; he has power with God and then, on the other hand, he has power with men. A christian is a man who has power with God; he has access to God, he prevails with God and with men. He has got very little if he has not power with men. If you have not power with God, you surely have not with men; but as having

power with God, you have power with men, and as having these things you are a 'prince', your name is 'Israel'.

Well, in this passage, Jacob has not arrived at the house yet, but he is on the way to it now. He is not yet qualified for it. I want you to see what I am saying, that God would bring you to His house; that is the great end here. Now Jacob asks, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name". But God denies him His name now, but it was a desire that God did not spurn. God loves our prayers. He does not always answer them when we make them, for He reserves His right to answer them as He pleases, and what He pleases is perfect. Jacob's petition to know Jehovah's name was not answered till he arrived at Bethel. I need not turn aside to the sorrowful history of chapters 33 and 34. Alas! there is many a counterpart in christians! Instead of going straight to Bethel, he turned aside and bought a house; he came short of God's purpose for him. God had a house, and God had produced an impression in his soul twenty years before as to that house, yet Jacob turns aside to build one for himself. But God finally says, "Arise, go up to Bethel". That is what God would say to you tonight, wherever you are-"Go up to Bethel". I just hasten on to show you how Jacob buried the idols at Shechem and how he set out for Bethel. Now notice, directly he moves to Bethel, the terror of God is upon his enemies. God is bent on that man arriving at Bethel and the enemies are all terrorised: the terror of God is upon them.

Now upon Jacob's arrival at Bethel, God appears to him again, and He answers the prayer that he had made at Penuel, and that was that Jacob should know God's name. Have you such a desire? It is a most wonderful thing to know God's name!-the God who has interested Himself in you, the God who has given His Son for you, the God who loves you! Do you

want to know His name? Jacob desired it and God waited till he arrived at Bethel to answer that prayer. What you notice in verses 9 and 10 is, "Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel". The name is confirmed at Bethel, that is to say, in the house of God. The new name is confirmed to you so that you are certain about it; you have no doubt about it; you are in the presence of God in full suitability to God. Dignity is conferred upon you that constitutes you equal to the position. But now, God does not stop there, He said unto him, "I am the Almighty God", as much as to say, 'That is My name; your name is Israel; that is power, but I am Almighty power. You have power; My power is Almighty'. What a meeting that is! Those who inhabit the house of God are constituted men of power by God. Their name signifies that they are princes. They know God's name, and that name is Almighty God. I need not add that in christianity we have the name of Father. Here it is simply, "God said to him, I am the Almighty God". In order to know God's name and all the affections and the relationships that are involved in it you have to go into the house of God; you do not get that outside. God reserves His right to answer your desire in His house. If you want to know a man, you know him in his house, and when Jacob arrived at Bethel God disclosed to him His name. He opens up His heart to us; His name has been declared by the Son so that it may be known by us. In Luke 15, the prodigal is inside and the Father's affections flow to him. What a scene it was! What kind of a son was he? He was a living son. He had been dead, but he was living. Such was Jacob in principle. The prodigal was a living son. The elder brother is not called a son, although the Authorised Version uses the word in verse 31, and Israel after the flesh had that place

with God. But it really is, "Child, thou art ever with me". The prodigal, however, was a son, and a living son. Such are the inhabitants, those who dwell in the house of God and they know God's name.

Well, all that is to show you what divine interest is and how it pursues its object until it establishes him in the house.

May the Lord bless the word to us!

HOW GOD MEETS IMPERIALISM

Acts 2:1 - 13, 33 - 38; Revelation 19:11 - 16

My thought in reading these two passages is to show you how God meets imperialism. I refer to that because it is in imperialism that Satan has sought to set aside the divine thought in regard to the race of mankind. God interfered with men when they sought to combine in a unity, and He set up barriers, so that the combination should be prevented. God will not allow of any universal combination of men, except as it is under the influence of Christ. He will not admit of any other, and any attempt to bring it about, He regards, to use a military term, as a declaration of war. Any attempt to bring about a universal unity, God regards as open opposition to Himself. Men may not intend that it is in opposition to God; they may endeavour to hide the real motive, or in other words, men may not quite know what the power by which they are controlled intends in the attempt; they may not be aware of it, but Satan is aware of it. Men do things that they are not quite intelligent about; they are impelled to do them by a power that is outside them, for there is a power in this world which is hostile to God, and its imperial motives always are antagonistic to God. All will appear nakedly in the future, when it succeeds in unifying the different nations of the world under one head. When the enemy succeeds in doing that, he comes out openly. That head is supported by him, whose names are given to us in Revelation, "The ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan". He has got a variety of designations, and they are all given in that passage, so that there might be no mistake as to him, and he gives all his power to the beast. So that it is all now manifested. His great aim from the building of the

tower of Babel unto the end is to bring about a universal unity of mankind in opposition to God's designs. That is his aim.

Now God regards that as an open declaration of war, and the issue has existed from the kingdom established by Nimrod and will continue until the end of the present order of things. Nimrod's name signifies that he was a rebel, that is to say, he rebelled against the revealed mind of God. He controverted the revealed mind of God and he established an empire at Babel. Where God limited the nations, and circumscribed them, Nimrod attempted to unify them, and bring them under one head.

That is perhaps something that you have not thought much about, but that is what obtains in the world at the present time, an endeavour to bring about a universal unity. I want to show you that God has met that in Christ. It is always attractive to be diverted from what Satan is doing to what God is doing, and what God is doing is all centred in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus appearing in this world was for God's pleasure. He is the Man of God's pleasure. We read in Acts 17 that God is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness, and it is by the Man whom He has ordained, that is to say, by Christ. Then it says, "giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead". Now, in that sense, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was God's way of emphasising His approval of Him. The approved Man is raised, beloved friends, the approved Man! Now why was the Lord Jesus approved? We are told that He loved righteousness-He loved it -- and He hated lawlessness. He was the opposite of Nimrod. He was the opposite, in fact, of all the great rulers of antiquity. They did not love righteousness. Now what is said of the Lord Jesus is that He loved it. That came out in His path here; it came out in all His ways. Many of us are young people, and, I speak

feelingly, young people do right because they fear the consequences. Now I should not weaken that, beloved friends. It is well to do right, even if fear be the motive, but you can see at a glance that it is quite different to do it because you love it. Now what came out in Christ was this, that He loved it; He loved righteousness, and He hated lawlessness. Now, that Man is approved; the Man who loved righteousness and hated lawlessness is the Man to rule. Hence we read that God has undertaken to "judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead". In other words, the Man who is approved is the Man who is to rule.

Now, what I want to show you, beloved friends, is that He brings in a unification Of the race On the principle of blessing. That is Acts 2. In Revelation 19 it is the same Person. In other words, the Person who gives the Spirit is the Person who destroys antichrist; it is the same Person. If He destroys antichrist He will destroy what is opposed to Himself in me and in you. The Person from whom I have received the Spirit is the Person who destroys antichrist and He destroys him by the Spirit He has given to me. He destroys him with the breath of His mouth. Now, is He going to allow anything anti christian in you? Is He going to place you and me On the ground of anything in the flesh? Is it possible that I have received the Spirit from Christ, and yet be allowed to pursue my own course Of self-will? No! dear friends, it is not possible; my will has to go.

Now, how is that brought down in us? I do not know of anything more interesting than the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus from heaven brings about His sway in the heart of man at the present time. He proposes to bring about His sway in your heart and in mine, and, in effecting that, He brings about universal unification. His thought in the gift Of the

Spirit is that, that the barriers that had been raised up among the nations should be overthrown. If God raises up a barrier, He will not allow anyone else to overthrow it. Any attempt to overthrow it He regards as rebellion, but He has got title to overthrow it Himself.

Now what He does is this. He brings in a Man, and that Man becomes approved. I would advise everyone here to study the gospel Of Luke, and what the gospel of Luke presents is man reinstated. You will all remember Genesis 40, where Joseph is found in prison with the two servants of Pharaoh. One is the chief baker of the king and the other is the chief butler Of the king. They were both found in prison with Joseph. What a wonderful thing to be found in prison with a man like that! More than that, Joseph was attending upon them. That is the present moment outwardly. Well, now, what I want to show you is this, that the light that came out in prison, the light that shines in that chapter, is that man is reinstated. But in whom is he reinstated? He is reinstated in Christ. That is the gospel of Luke. A Man appears whom God approved; God approves the Man, as Luke presents Him. After thirty years of private life it is announced from heaven that He is the Son of God. "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight", Luke 3:22. On the mount Of transfiguration, in chapter 9, He is owned as the One who is qualified to speak; He is qualified to be heard, the One who should be heard, and, in the last chapter Of the book, He is carried up into heaven.

Now, think of that, beloved friends! Think of the reinstatement of that Man in the presence Of God! He is reinstated. Does not that encourage your heart? Think Of a Man now extending His hands in blessing. That is what the last chapter presents to us. It says, "He led them out as far as Bethany, and having lifted up his hands, he blessed them" (verse 50).

What a Man He was! His hands extended in the blessing of men. That Man is carried up into heaven.

It is not simply received, but carried up into heaven.

Does that not encourage your heart? A Man who is engaged in the blessing of men here upon earth is, carried up into heaven. I have often thought of the breastplate. The breastplate signified that the Lord loved the saints, and the breastplate was for God. It was that which met the eye of God when the Lord was before Him. That is the Man that God delights in. A Man that loved the saints on earth is carried into heaven. Think of heaven being occupied and dominated by a Man like that!

You all remember Psalm 24, "Be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in". The everlasting doors were opened to a Man like that. He was carried up into heaven, not only that He went up, as John presents it, for it is not a question of the dignity of His Person, but of a Man who can love. Is that how you apprehend the Lord Jesus? That is how I apprehend Him, a Man who can love, a Man that has got the breastplate with all the saints' names there. That is the Man who is carried up into heaven. Is that not glad tidings? That is the approved Man. He is carried up into heaven, and He dominates heaven!

Now, when He goes there, the sphere of the blessing necessarily becomes extended. He intends to influence, in blessing, the whole race of mankind. The whole race of mankind is to come under that influence.

Suppose they turn their back upon that influence?

Alas! many are doing that. Suppose you turn your back upon the sun? It continues to shine upon your back! That is the present dispensation. The whole race of mankind is to come under that influence. I wish I could make that plain to you; it is the influence of a Man whose hands are extended in blessing, and that is what comes to light in Acts 2, when the Holy

Spirit comes down. What does that mean to you and me? It means to me that Christ's influence in heaven is unlimited. You see what Peter says here: "Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God". The approved Man is exalted, and, being in the highest place, He receives the gift of the Spirit, and the gift of the Spirit here implies that the blessing is to be universal. "How do we hear them each in our own dialect?". What language! and there were those hearing "from every nation of those under heaven". There are none others! Every nation of those under heaven. Who is in heaven? Christ is in heaven. And every nation under heaven must be influenced by Him. Bethany was necessarily a limited spot, although it was a very precious spot to the heart of the Lord. The blessing began at Bethany, but it was limited there. The Man who began to bless at Bethany is exalted to the highest place in heaven, and He continues to bless. Has He blessed you? That is the question. If you have not received the Spirit, I advise you to pray for Him. One loves to hear people asking, "What shall we do ... ?". The present is a time of giving. It is not a time of demanding, it is a time of giving. His hands are stretched out to bless. What an Administrator the Lord Jesus is! What are you going to do with such light as that? It is a time of giving, that is what it is, and giving from such a position.

I love that word, 'Heaven'! I do not know what you think about it. You will find here in the opening of this chapter that the sound is said to come out of heaven. Now suppose you had loved Jesus on earth; suppose you had loved Jesus as Peter had loved Him, and John and the other apostles, and you had seen Him go up to heaven as they did. What would you expect the next thing from heaven to be? What would you look for? I would look for some sign that would suggest something as to the One I had seen going in there. I would look to hear of something

changed there. There was a change in heaven when Jesus went in there; the One who dominates heaven is the Blesser. What an influence! What an influence upon earth! "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades ... ?". You cannot bind them. The influence of Christ is irresistible; you cannot bind it. It is the influence of the Blesser. Well, the question is whether you have come under it. The Lord wants to influence us. Have you come under the influence of Christ in heaven? The sound, it says, came out of heaven. Oh! what a sound it was! It was no bruit of war. No! beloved friends, it was the Holy Spirit of God, and He came down in such wise as to fill. It says, "There came suddenly a sound out of heaven ... and filled all the house ... . And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit". The Lord Jesus showed by that one fact that the reign of blessing had begun. Now, I would appeal to you, have you received the Holy Spirit from the Lord Jesus? That is the greatest possible gift that He can give you. "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". He received Him, and shed Him forth. It was the administration of blessing. Now, what I want you to notice is that the gift of the Spirit here brings about the overthrow of human imperialism. If you are not possessed of the Spirit, it is as certain as anything can be that you will be incorporated in some society of this world. You will find yourself involved in it in some sense. The only hope for you is to come under the influence of the Lord Jesus in heaven. The gift of the Spirit implies complete deliverance from worldly combinations. You can understand these men of Jerusalem raising the question of what they should do. They were convicted, pricked in their hearts. It was one of the

most remarkable addresses that ever had been. There could not have been such a sermon preached before. It was the first sermon preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Peter says that later, "declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven", 1 Peter 1:12. I want you just to ponder the situation. Peter stood up with the eleven, not with the one hundred and twenty. The one hundred and twenty had received the Spirit, but they were not all preachers. They were not all commissioned to preach. The twelve were commissioned to preach, and the preachers are to stand up. Peter stood up with the eleven, with the commissioned preachers. They were entrusted with the preaching. It is entirely a mistake to say that the assembly is entrusted with the preaching. Peter stood up with the eleven; he had the support of the eleven preachers.

It was a wonderful address. He preached the gospel by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, and we are told that they raised this question, "What shall we do, brethren?". They were convicted, and Peter's reply is, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you". There is no such thing as repentance in companies. There is such a thing as love in companies, but there is no such thing as repentance in companies; it is each one of you.

I wonder if anyone is convicted? Do you know what brings conviction? The goodness of God. And here was the most remarkable expression of the goodness of God. The Holy Spirit had come down from heaven. Jesus had received Him from the Father, and had shed Him forth, and there He was in their midst. It was the goodness of God. "We hear them speaking ... the great things of God". Suppose you search the profane histories of the world, what do you find? I do not say that we ought not to be acquainted with the histories of the world, in a sense, but you will find the record of the exploits of the men

of the world, the wonderful works of men. What is going to be the end of all that? Not one trace of it will remain, not one trace! Beloved friends, not one trace of the exploits of a man like Napoleon will remain. His name will never be remembered in the world to come, nor any other here before him. Every trace of these men and all others will disappear.

Now, what about God's imperialism? What about God's Emperor, I may say, because that is what the Lord Jesus really is? He is "King of kings, and Lord of lords". What about the record of His exploits? They will be the theme of our conversation in that day. And so it is now: "We hear them speaking in our own tongues the great things of God". That is the Christian's employ; it is what we are engaged with, the great things of God, and it is by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Those who have received Him are engaged with the great things of God. What employ that is! That is what will engage us in the future day. The records will be kept (there is no question about that), and the histories in that day will disclose to us the wonderful exploits of the Lord Jesus, what He did in the domain of death!

You remember in Numbers 21 it says, "In the book of the wars of Jehovah". Did you ever read that book? It is the Christian's military literature. "The wars of Jehovah"-it is what He did. What did the Lord Jesus do? He went down into the domain of death, and He fought there. He went there for us. He met the foe there, and we are told that He annulled him through death: "Through death he might annul him who has the might of death". That is what the Lord has done for us. I advise you to read the book of the wars of the Lord. It will have a great place in the library of the world to come, and it will be a well-read book, but we have it already. They were speaking of the great things of God. In regard to that, unity is brought about just in that way. It is "from

every nation of those under heaven". I do not say that all the nations were brought in yet. That was looking forward to the ministry of Paul, when all these nations should be visited with the gospel, and should receive the Holy Spirit. Paul said "that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable". The apostle Paul received a commission from Christ, and he went out amongst the gentiles; he preached the gospel to them, and they were converted and received the Spirit. All the nations were represented, and were brought into a unity. They were sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they were offered up to God, so to say, as a sacrifice: "carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God", Romans 15:16. Now that is what was effected, and we have come into that. It is a unity. What kind of a unity? A unity of spiritual affections. That is what it is, and that is the great testimony to the imperialism of the Lord Jesus. I use that word advisedly; it is perfectly scriptural. Imperialism in the hands of the Lord Jesus implies a unity in spiritual affection. Who comes into that unity? Peter indicates here how it is come into; he says, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you". Repentance is toward God; it sets you right with God morally. Baptism cuts you off from the world. Every Christian should be baptised. If you read the gospel of Mark you would be led to believe that, if you were not baptised, you could not be saved. "He that believes and is baptised shall be saved", Mark 16:16. Repentance sets you right inwardly with God. You know that God has rights over your soul, and God forgives you, but baptism is the counterpart of that. Baptism is not for God; baptism is for man. Baptism sets you apart here in this world. It means that you have severed your connection with the world. You receive the Holy Spirit, but is it to set you up in this world? Is it to make you a great man in this world? Not at all; it

is to enable you to be true to your baptism. So he says, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you". Many a man is content with repentance, without the confession that is involved in baptism, and so he never comes into the good of salvation. Baptism is a public severance from the world. It is "for remission of sins". You get a good conscience from God through the blood of Christ. I have often said you never get a good conscience till you get a bad one. The light of God shining in gives you a bad conscience. You are convicted as a sinful man, as Peter was in the boat, but the remission of sins through the blood of Christ gives you a good one. A good conscience implies that you can lift up your face in the presence of God as perfectly free in His presence. Then there is not only a good conscience but a full heart, for it says, "And ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". What will the Holy Spirit do for you? He will fill your heart with joy and peace in believing. I do not say there are not other things, for there are. But it implies that He will fill your heart with Christ. You have got no more links with the world. He maintains you in accord with your baptism. You do not want the world now.

Were these people sorry for their decision? No, beloved friends, they were happy; they were contented; they were partaking of their food with gladness of heart. They were happy in this wonderful gift, in the remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit. That is the effect of the Lord's presence in heaven; it brings about unity here, the unity of spiritual affections.

Now, what is He going to do in the future? He is going to exercise the same power as He is exercising now. It says, "Whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath" or spirit "of his mouth", 2 Thessalonians 2:8. It is the same Spirit as He breathed into His disciples. He has not two spirits. It shall be His instrument of destruction. What is toward men now

in blessing shall soon be against men in judgment. It is because of open revolt against God. Now I want to make the point clear in Revelation 19. The Lord Jesus comes out as the divine Emperor. The gift of the Spirit implies that He has power to bring about divine unity in blessing. In future, He comes out with the name written upon His garment and upon His thigh-"King of kings, and Lord of lords". He is upon a white horse, which is symbolic of imperial power, and His armies have white horses, all significant of imperial power. In connection with the opening of the seals in chapter 6 we have a black horse and a red horse, and so on, but Jesus has a white horse. It is significant of imperial power, and he who sets himself up as the antichrist is consumed by the spirit of His mouth.

My time is gone, but I want to make clear to you how God in Christ has met the conditions that have arisen in the world through imperialism, how testimony is seen now in the different nations being brought into blessing representatively and brought into unity in the power of the Spirit, and how in future when the mystery of iniquity comes to a head, it will be destroyed by the spirit of Christ's mouth. It will be destroyed by Him who comes out as King of kings and Lord of lords. It is here now, but it has not yet come to a head.

May the Lord give us, before that time, to receive at His hand! His hands are outstretched in blessing, and our part is to receive. May He give us simply to receive the blessing, and come into that blessed unity of spiritual affections!

THE VOICE OF GOD

Genesis 3:8 - 10; Song of Songs 2:8 - 14

It is of great importance to recognise that God has a right to a voice. The garden which God planted in Eden afforded Him an opportunity to assert His rights. God planted the garden. Adam did not suggest it; it was God's suggestion, and it was God's work. He designed it and He planted it. All the trees were trees of His planting. And having planted the garden, He caused a river to flow into it, thus asserting His right to influence the garden. It is a great thing to recognise that God has creatorial rights. All the planets and stars recognise these rights. The heavenly side ever remains intact, for in the heavens are placed powers of influence which men can never touch. Men may alter the course of rivers, but they cannot alter the course of the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon both exert an influence on the earth which is a testimony to God's creatorial rights. God thus holds in His hand the power to influence the earth.

So, in this way, the river in the garden testified to those rights. God's influence was to be supreme in the garden. It was as if God said to Adam, 'Dress the garden and keep it, but My influence is to be supreme'. And so the river flowed into the garden and out of it.

I do not wish to speak at length on the river, but you will notice that, after leaving the garden, it was parted into four, not one. This gives the thought of universality, and here you get a remarkable prophetic testimony. It typifies the downcoming of the Holy Spirit from heaven, producing an evangelistic spirit in man. That was the effect of the divine influence, beloved friends; and that evangelistic spirit went out north, south, east and west, especially to the west.

Thank God for the heart of Paul and for Peter, even if the latter was slow to act; thank God for his heart. Paul thought of every gentile; that is, the influence and power of the Spirit led him to think of all men. There was not a man in the west that Paul did not think of. I refer to that to show at the outset how God asserted His rights for good. Think of the sun! It indicates God's rights! It moves around; but what is the effect? It is for good; so with the moon and stars. All are for good. The psalmist understood something of this. He had interest in regard to them. Would that we had that interest! In Psalm 19 he says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse sheweth the work of his hands. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge". What do the heavens declare? The glory of God! That declaration cannot be detrimental to man in any sense. Then in verse 3 it says, "There is no speech and there are no words, yet their voice is heard". How loudly that voice speaks everywhere!

What is the voice that speaks? It is the voice of God's creatorial rights, and it extends to the utmost limits of the human family, to every nation. None but are acquainted with the sun, and moon, and stars, all of them speaking one language! All have their distinctive voice, a voice of goodness! Paul appeals to these things when speaking to the Athenians. He tells them that God is not far from each one of us. He says, "In him we live and move and exist", Acts 17:28. He puts himself among them-he says, "we". God is not far from each one of us. In that sense God was as near to the Athenians as He was to Paul. The very breath we breathe comes from God. We live in God, move in God, have our being in God. He fills our hearts with food and gladness. That kind of voice, the voice of God's creatorial rights, is in the world, whether men take account of it or not. One loves to think of it-the sun with all its

regularity and heat, and the moon, both witnessing to God and His eternal power. Every time a believer looks at the moon it should remind him of God's goodness and His creatorial rights. So in the garden you get a testimony to God's rights.

Now God walked there, but it does not say Adam heard Him walking. He did not hear His footsteps. It says, "They heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim, walking in the garden". It is a remarkable expression. It does not say, 'They heard Jehovah Elohim walking in the garden'. It says, "They heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim, walking in the garden". It was God coming into the garden and asserting His rights there. It was as if He said, 'I have a right to speak here'. Have you recognised that right? Where did God walk and speak? He walked and spoke in Jesus. John the baptist was the best testimony to that walk and the best testimony to that voice. He looked on Jesus "as he walked". He admired the walk of Jesus. Now to admire the walk of Jesus, and to see that walk, you have to read the gospels. John, looking at Jesus as He walked, said, "Behold the Lamb of God". Chapter 1 is God's account. In chapter 3 John rejoices because of "the voice of the bridegroom", and he says, in effect, 'That voice is all I want; it satisfies me'. He says, "This my joy then is fulfilled". What marvellous progress he made! I have often thought of John the baptist and Moses -- what remarkable men they were! Of all the men who had the greatest opportunity to make much of themselves, they were perhaps the first, yet each of them disappeared in the presence of Christ, and disappeared in entire satisfaction! There will be no grumbling in Heaven, no complaints there! Men disappear in satisfaction! What was the cause of their disappearing? The voice of the Bridegroom! "The friend of the bridegroom", John says, "who stands and hears him, rejoices in heart because of the voice

of the bridegroom": and John's joy is thus fulfilled, and he says, "He must increase, but I must decrease". John disappears, but disappears as satisfied with the voice of the Bridegroom. If you could but hear that voice, if you could but see that walk, if you had but a heart like John, you also would disappear! I often think of John, the greatest born of women! What a splendid opportunity of exalting himself he had! John had the opportunity of being regarded as the Messiah. Yet in thinking of the coming One, he says, 'I am only a voice'. In chapter 3, you see his growth. No doubt the voice which he was in himself was important, but he heard another voice. He tells us that he had heard the voice of the Bridegroom. There is no voice like that. That is the voice of affection! The blessed Man, who has that voice, has the bride, so John can disappear, and he does so as perfectly satisfied. I have no doubt in eternity heaven will be filled with people like that, people who have disappeared in the presence of Christ, and disappeared with satisfied hearts.

But to return to our chapter. In connection with Adam, I should like to call attention to the misuse he made of the trees. The trees were never intended by God to hide sinners. Trees were created by God to give pleasure and satisfaction to man, so that you find Adam was taking advantage of God's goodness to hide himself from God. Every one of us is surrounded by the goodness of God. How are we using it?

There is the voice; it is audible. Paul says, "Have they not heard? Yea, surely, Their voice has gone out into all the earth", Romans 10:18. But hearing is not enough. The very hearing may lead you to hide, that is, to use those things which God has given you for your comfort to hide behind from Himself. Are you doing that? You may even hide behind your parents. Perhaps you are using them as a place of concealment. It is quite right to respect your parents,

and great rewards are promised to those who do so, but parents cannot give you a good conscience. They can pray for you and influence you, but they can never give you a good conscience. Adam here understood the voice. It was the voice of God. If you are to have a standing with God, you must have to do with God. Your parents can keep you from the world, but they cannot give you peace with God; they cannot give you heaven, nor can they give you the best robe. A christian household is a wonderful blessing, but you may hide from God behind your parents. Come out of your hiding-place! I have the greatest possible respect for christian parents, but they cannot give you the best robe. They have not got it in their houses!

It is in God's house. If you are to be clothed for God, He must Himself do it. Come out of your hiding-place! Adam said, "I heard thy voice in the garden". He was utterly inexcusable. Paul says, "There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of undistinguishable sound. If therefore I do not know the power of the sound, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks a barbarian for me", 1 Corinthians 14:10, 11. It was not so with Adam. He understood the power of the sound, the voice of God, and he hid himself behind the trees which were intended, by the goodness of God, for his comfort.

I would strongly advise you to come out and meet God for yourself. It is wonderful to be prayed for, to be taught and nurtured in christian principles; but, remember, you have to do with God in your own soul, if you are to be clothed divinely and have any standing with God. If your parent was Peter or Paul, it still remains true that "that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit". Who can bring that birth about? Only God.

Who can give you a good conscience? Who can clothe you with righteousness? Only God. The

righteousness of God is "towards all, and upon all those who believe". It is wonderful to be a believer in God. And who is a believer in God? One in whom God has wrought. "The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes: thus is every one that is born of the Spirit", John 3:8. Satan has his winds. When the Lord and His disciples were in the boat on the sea, Satan acted on the wind, and the wind acted on the sea, and the sea in turn acted upon the boat and the disciples cried out for fear. That was Satan's work; that wind came from Satan. But God has His wind, and God's wind comes down. Satan's wind did not come from heaven, but at Pentecost there was "a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing". We are familiar with the effect of a wind. It overturns and brings down houses, trees, and so on. We can see all these things around us. In the same way God's 'wind' brings down men. We can see, for example, when a young man is brought down he has given up his vaunting, his ambition to be something in the world, and love for God's people has come in instead. How is this bringing down brought to pass? No power in creation could effect that, nothing but the wind which came down from heaven. Nothing can stand before it. You cannot tell "whence it comes and where it goes: thus is every one that is born of the Spirit". You can tell the effects of the wind in those who are the subjects of it. The heart now has distinctive longings after God. You do not want to hide now. God is your Friend! What is produced refers to God. It is "spirit". You may not know this, but others know and rejoice in it. You remember in Acts 2, those who were affected by Peter's preaching said, "What shall we do, brethren?". They did not run off to the high priests and ask them what to do, nor did they go to the scribes. They asked Peter and the other apostles

what to do. They knew instinctively whom to ask. So a soul turns to God, and also to those who believe in God, for they can answer his questions. Peter can tell them what to do. He has the Spirit and he says, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". I would advise you to come out of your hiding-place and turn to God. The voice of creation ought to lead you to know that He is only thinking of you in goodness.

When you come to Pentecost it says, "There came suddenly a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing, and filled all the house". Thus the voice of the gospel has filled all creation already. The Holy Spirit has caused the sound of the heavenly testimony to be heard everywhere. The testimony of the gospel is a voice of love. How attractive it is! Again, Saul was brought down by the voice. Think of it as it addressed Saul! How full of love and consideration it was for the most obstinate of men! "It is hard for thee", the Lord says, "to kick against goads". What attraction it possessed! Nothing commends the voice of Christ to me more than that. There is the utmost consideration in it. "It is hard for thee to kick against goads". So it was, and it is hard for you to go on year after year refusing the divine voice that calls; to go on hour by hour and day by day refusing the light. It is hard, and the Lord Jesus, in the consideration of His heart will tell you so. Saul was brought down. How? By the voice from heaven. Saul heard a heavenly voice, and the voice spoke in the Hebrew tongue, the tongue he respected most. Thus we see the Lord's consideration for Saul in speaking in Hebrew. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a most patriotic man, and he respected his tongue, and the Lord had regard for that. He had the utmost consideration. There has never been anything in the ways of God to compare

with the gospel! Whatever right thing you may have respect for, God respects it so as to gain you, and thus Saul was brought down. He says, "What shall I do, Lord?". What a lot there was to be done! But how glad the Lord was to hear Paul's voice. The Lord Jesus had the delight of hearing his voice; and I believe that Saul's voice contained more music for God than God's voice did for Saul.

To refer to the passage in the Song of Songs, the Lord typically says, "Let me hear thy voice". The voice of whom? Of the very one who had said, "The voice of my beloved!". How He longs to hear your voice! The bride recognised His voice. How different the effect from that in Adam's case! He said, "I heard thy voice ... and I feared", and well he might have feared, for what could the trees do for him? How foolish to think that the trees could hide him from God! His wisdom was to come out into the open and there meet God; when he does that God clothes him. How different with the bride! A feminine expression is used. It refers to what shall be brought to pass with men like ourselves in the future. If they come out of their concealment, God will meet them and clothe them, and then they who had said, "There is no beauty that we should desire him", will come to see that there is beauty, such as Isaiah saw in his vision, "Mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts", Isaiah 6:5. How like our experience! We may get tired of listening to our parents talking about Jesus. We may wonder why they go to the meetings so often. They have seen the Lord! He has become the treasure of their hearts! "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation", Simeon said. So it will be with the remnant of Israel in the latter day, when God will work with them and they will see beauty in Christ. And so those who said, "There is no beauty that we should desire him", call Him their 'Beloved', and know Him so well that the very sight

of His hand will lead them to delineate His whole Person! What a change to effect! If there is one people more than another far away from Christ at the present moment it is the Jews. But there is to be a mighty change! And how will this change be effected? By their seeing Christ and hearing His voice. God shall bring them to see Christ whom they crucified.

They shall wail because of Him. They shall see the beauty that Isaiah saw, and shall read in chapter 53 of his prophecy with delight. It is like the eunuch (it was remarkable that he should be reading this chapter), who asked the question, "Concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other?". The answer is, "He saw his glory and spake of him". So the remnant of Israel shall read that chapter, and will know. They shall feast their eyes by faith on the Man outlined there, and shall come to love Him so that His voice shall be to them "the voice of my beloved". Instead of hiding, they will delight in the voice of the Bridegroom.

Now, supposing you love the Lord, how different everything is. Instead of hiding, you delight in His voice. You sit down now with your parents, and listen to the word with delight; you listen to the voice of the Bridegroom, you are not hiding now.

The bride knew the "power of the sound". It was her Beloved's voice, and she distinguished it and says, "The voice of my beloved! ... My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart". How swift that is! Asahel was likened to a gazelle; he was swift of foot. That is just what Jesus is spiritually. He is attending on you in all the agility of His affection for you. Supposing you have soul trouble (and you will have-who has not?-there is far more of it than we allow to be known-far more soul trouble than is spoken of), do you think the Lord does not know? Of course He does, and He is attending on you in regard of it. You do not have to send for Him. In all the agility of His

affection He is waiting on you. Is there any sorrow or affliction you have passed through (I am speaking now to believers), which was not lit up by the light of His love? In every circumstance, "He looketh in through the windows, glancing through the lattice". But there is more, for the circumstances of the speaker in this passage are not right; her associations are not right. The remnant of Israel shall find themselves in associations not according to Christ. So with a young believer. It is almost a certainty that you find yourself in circumstances not according to Christ. Now, your love is tested by His voice: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away". He says, "Come away"; the Lord looks for movement. Do not rest content with faith in Christ and the guarantee of a place in heaven. Move out now! The Lord looks for a movement, and if you do not move, you will have no joy. Indeed, the little you do have by faith at the moment will become dim. Look at the passage, "He standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, glancing through the lattice". He shows Himself. It may be in some affliction or circumstance in which you are bound up. He shows Himself to you. He wants you to see Him. He seeks to become attractive to you, and then He speaks, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away". It is not His voice now simply, but what He says. You must make a difference between the two. He has something to say to you now. "My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away". Perhaps laziness and satisfaction in your present circumstances may hinder, but the word is "Rise up", and what also? "Come away". Mark that He does not say 'Go away'; He says "Come away". He offers His companionship in the journey, and it is a journey from your place of slothfulness to His abode, but He will be with you. You will not go alone. He supports you as you move. Did you ever try? Perhaps

you may say, 'It is too difficult, and more than I can undertake. See what confronts me!'. But you try! He says nothing about any difficulties. However dark and dreary the path may be, you will never be alone, for He will always be with you. The Lord says to you, "Come". If you come, you will be conscious of His support. And then He gives you the reasons why you should come away with Him. He enlarges on the reasons why the Bride should come; there are flowers, birds, the voice of the turtle-dove. How encouraging! Never a word about difficulties. You may speak of them, but all is bright on His side. "For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over, it is gone: The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing is come, And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land: The fig-tree melloweth her winter figs, And the vines in bloom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away!". Who cannot testify to all the Lord indicates here? What sorrow have you been into that has not been lit up with joy? What difficulty where you have not had the company of the Lord? Did He ever forsake you? Never! Whatever you may think of your deformities, to Him you are a "fair one" -- "For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely". He wants your companionship. He wants to have you all to Himself. He wants to hear your voice.

I add a word on the other side. He says (verse 14), "Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice". He would have you all to Himself. The Lord loves to hear one pray for the first time. He loves to look into the countenance, for the first time turned upward. "Sweet is thy voice", He says, "and thy countenance is comely". Where did He find His beloved? She was "in the clefts of the rock", a most dangerous place. If you are hesitating between this world and Christ, you are in a dangerous position. So He says

to you, "Come away". Will you not give Him your companionship? Will you not come to where you can be alone with Him? He longs for you. We must all give an account of ourselves to God, and how much better to do so now while His voice is heard in grace.

You will see that I have connected my remarks all through with the idea of a 'voice'. It is encouraging to see that though the Lord's voice causes fear and terror to begin with, yet in the end it is a source of delight. It becomes "the voice of my beloved". Instead of man hiding now, you have man speaking to God. Man can speak to God, and God delights in hearing man's voice. Thus you see the great end with God, according to Balaam's statement, "At this time it shall be said ... What hath God wrought!".

Numbers 23:23. So with every one of us. Take a man or a woman formed after Christ, I say, "What hath God wrought!". See the handiwork of God. He has so wrought for His own pleasure and satisfaction, that man can be His companion. Will you not leave your shelter? Will you not come away? May God enable you to do so! May He give us to hear His voice and come out from everything that hides us from Himself, for His name's sake.

THE COMPASSIONS OF GOD

Luke 7:11 - 16; Luke 9:37 - 42

My thought is to say a word to you about God's compassions. I have selected these two passages because they serve, among many others, to illustrate what I have on my mind. The one, as you will observe, refers to a mother, a bereaved mother, a mother deprived of her only son by death. The other refers to a heartbroken father, a father whose heart was broken by the influence of Satan on his only child. In other words the attack in both instances was carefully made. Death attacked the woman's heart and was successful. Satan attacked the father's heart and was successful. There are many parents here, many children here. Mothers' hearts are attacked through their children, and fathers' hearts are attacked through their children. I desire to show you, if I can, how God meets that.

God, beloved friends, had compassion. Those of us who are in the blessing of the truth of Romans will understand the compassion of God. The apostle besought the Roman church "by the compassions of God" (Romans 12:1) as something well known to them; he besought them by that which was known to their souls. The gospel, having become effectual in their souls, enabled them to understand the compassion of God. There is nothing that can touch men more than that it had pleased God to be sympathetic with them.

I used the word advisedly. It came out at the beginning: although God had to pronounce sentence on sin, He feels for the sinner. His government moves on: you sow your seed and you reap bitterly, but God feels for you. He felt for Adam, and made him a covering. Adam devised an apron (the first invention in Scripture was the invention of an apron), making

a device to cover up sin, to cover nakedness! Every sinner is a deviser in that way. Every sinner is an inventor; he devises something to cover every sin he commits, unless like a swine he revels in his pollution! Adam and Eve would live in respectability in spite of their sin; therefore they devised a covering. The whole system, religious, political, and social, with which we are surrounded, is a device to cover up sin. But your sin is there, whether a month ago or a week ago; it is there and God requires it; He brings it to light. But He has provided a covering, or you would suffer under it. God felt for Adam as He drove him out of the garden. His majesty required that the garden should not be occupied by such a creature, but He sent him out covered with clothing. Even for a man like Cain there was sympathy with God. 'Why is your countenance fallen? Why do you droop? There is a sin-offering at your door'. You have committed a sin and God knows it; He has put a sin-offering at your door. In spite of that word of comfort, we read, Cain talked with Abel his brother. Outwardly, he was quite brotherly, inwardly he was a murderer; it was deliberate, consummate wickedness. Think of God looking on! Think of all the violence going on now in the world! Great diplomacy between nations, but the murderers' heart beneath. In spite of Cain's murder of his brother, God put a mark on the man to stay the avenger's hand. Such is the compassion of God with regard to man!

Anyone can have compassion on a widow who has lost her only son. It is very much easier to weep with those who weep than to rejoice with those who rejoice.

So we find this widow at Nain had a goodly company with her at this funeral. We read that much people of the city accompanied her to the grave with her son; it was a very commonplace occurrence. I passed three funerals today here in Belfast. It is only neighbourly to attend a funeral. Many sympathised with

her to the extent of attending the funeral of her son. The Lord Jesus met her and met them. He met the funeral; He was not alone. At Jacob's well He was alone. Here there were much people with Him; He had a company with Him. Thank God, He has them now! One takes pleasure in being there. The Lord is not alone now; He has those whose hearts are actuated by His Spirit. One is met not only by Christ but by a company with Him. You remember how Jacob was met. Laban was not a man of much sympathy; he was a selfish man and Jacob had very little sympathy there, but when he returned, in Genesis 32, two hosts of God met m; they were sympathetic. It is a great thing to be surrounded by sympathetic hearts. God has no sympathy with your worldly calculations; He had no interest in those flocks and herds of Jacob. Jacob had got wealthy during those twenty years, but the two hosts had no interest in this. They had interest in Jacob, and so it is tonight. Every saint is genuinely exercised about you; there is sympathy with regard to your soul, with regard to your spiritual requirements.

So here, much people were with Him, we are told.

The Lord looked into that widow's heart, and He looks into your heart now; He knows the desolation there, and He knew that widow would return to that city alone. When the funeral had dispersed, she would go home to a husbandless, sonless house; the Lord Jesus knew all that. The pall-bearers thought nothing of that, but the Lord Jesus looked into the widow's desolate heart. The compassion of God moved Him; He had compassion on the widow, divine compassion. Who has not lost a loved relative?

Presently this woman would return to her house, a house without a husband, without a son! What a fit illustration of man, bereft of every affection of his heart spiritually! God has compassion, and the compassion of God flows out in the heart of a Man down

here on the earth. His compassion was for the widow, "Youth, I say to thee, Wake up". The young man "sat up and began to speak". I know of nothing more interesting than that he began to speak! One loves to hear a young christian begin to speak. Do not be timid! The evidence of intelligent life is that you begin to speak. The Lord would illuminate that desolate house by listening entranced to the conversation between the mother and raised son. Who can conceive it? He is going to speak to her now; it is recovery in Luke. In John, Lazarus, when set free, went to the supper table with Christ, but this young man is given back to his mother. You are never fit for the assembly till you are right in every natural relationship. God has respect to everything He has created, and we must get right at home first. The Lord will reinstate the object of that mother's heart. He "began to speak". Are you accustomed to speak?

Are you converted? Tell your parents about it. You must recognise every divinely instituted relation ship. There was no defect in Lazarus; he loved his sisters, he owed nothing to them in that way, but he owed everything to Christ; he became a witness to Him and is found at the supper table. You can go to God, and adjust matters with Him; but see to it that you adjust matters here first. This young man was brought back from the dead by His word. He is a speaking young man; there are no foul words in his mouth; his spirit is pure. He was alone in that widow's house by reason of his conversation. What tales he would tell her! What experiences he would relate! The Lord Jesus having raised him up from the dead lays no claim on him, for the mother must have her right place. Do not presume to serve Christ till you recognise every natural claim first; God adjusts everything on earth first. He brought the young man back from the dead, speaking, and delivered him to his mother.

In chapter 9 we have a father, not a case of desolation as pathetic as in chapter 7. There are two enemies: "The last enemy that is annulled is death", 1 Corinthians 15:26. Death is treated in Scripture as an enemy of man, and is the last one to be destroyed. The young man in chapter 7 was simply taken out of it. Christ in coming out of it annulled it, and He will take all His own out of it presently-"the last enemy". So this chapter 9 shows an emissary of Satan, a demon. Satan is a being who is head of a principality with many ramifications; he sent one of his agents to attack this father. "And lo, a man from the crowd cried out saying, Teacher, I beseech thee look upon my son, for he is mine only child: and behold, a spirit takes him, and suddenly he cries out, and it tears him with foaming, and with difficulty departs from him after crushing him" (verses 38, 39). Such is the picture presented here, and the Lord Jesus takes account of that father's heart.

Mark tells us of the man (chapter 9: 22 - 24) that he cried and "said with tears" beseeching Jesus, "if thou couldst do anything ... help us". It was the cry of despair. Was there ever such a cry escaped from your heart? "If thou couldst do anything ... help us". How much can Jesus do? He upholds all things by the word of His power. "If thou couldst believe" is the reply; "all things are possible to him that believes". The Lord says, "Bring him to me". How one loves that thought! Parents, bring the children to Christ! "Bring him to me". We are told that, as he was yet coming, the demon threw him down. Did you ever try to come to Christ? I believe in exercise; you do not get anything without it, you do not really. Directly the exercise begins, Satan renews his activity; he left him as dead; he stayed long enough to control him. Sin is intermittent; presently Satan may come back. He may depart for a moment but returns; how is it? Arise, make a

move toward Christ! Directly the exercise begins, you are conscious it is not simply a propensity to evil, but Satan's power actively dominating your spirit. He may depart for a moment, but only to return. Sometimes God in grace gives you a long respite. We read of the evil spirit actually going out of a man, but, returning and finding the house swept clean, brings in seven more demons. When God gives you respite from Satan, draw near to Christ, or Satan will return with sevenfold power, and the case at last becomes hopeless.

He came to Jesus, but as he came the demon threw him down and tore him. Think of the satanic opposition to the relief brought in by the Lord Jesus Christ! That continues; it is as active now, as then. Directly there is a bit of exercise for relief, Satan throws you down and tears you. Think of the soul agony of many. It is Satan's opposition to the compassion of God in Christ. The Lord "healed the child". How many truths in that word! He simply healed the child. When God has to do with Satan, the work is short. Christ lay dead in the tomb; there was no struggle at His resurrection. Look into the tomb: everything is in order there. And so as faith exercises the soul, it is the same. He "healed the child". What a sigh of relief comes into the heart as the gospel is received and the soul is healed and is set at rest. There is no struggle, He simply heals the child. One loves to dwell on the superiority of Christ in all His doings. Satan's power is broken; the avenue by which he came in is closed, for self-judgment has taken place. He "healed the child and gave him back to his father". What dignity marked all His doings! Things were done in the most dignified yet superior fashion. "Gave him back to his father"-what a happy man now! The compassion of God works out in recovery. Things are reinstated; they are set up as they came from the hand of God. Everything is adjusted, and

recovered according to God. What would that father do with that child? What would that mother do with that son? She is a type of a relieved person. If the Lord gives everything back to you, what are you to do with them? Give them back to Jesus! The power of the father could not keep that evil spirit away, so he gave him back to Jesus for safe keeping. He reinstates the child in the house. Luke does not present the side of what the father would do with the child. If you could trace the history of men whom God has used, you would find they were children who had been delivered up to God. If God comes in on the line of compassion and heals the child, give him back. Do you undertake to protect that child? Only the Lord can keep him. Hence the woman would deliver that speaking young man back to the Lord.

He is now to talk of Christ.

A woman is fever-struck; that is Luke's presentation. The Lord stands over her and commands the fever to stop, and she arose and served everybody.

He sets her up in service. So He took Peter, 'I will make you a fisher of men'. If the Lord restores the child to the parent, the parent's wisdom is to give it back to God. If you cannot protect the child in its childhood, how can you in its full age? He has respect for your exercises and answers them, but He can do much better for you than you expect.

The compassion of God is seen in what it worked out in Christ for the recovery of man, in the mother's heart and in the father's heart, for the restoration of human conditions as God ordered them at the beginning. May we each know the compassion of God!

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BELIEVERS

Luke 8:41 - 56

My exercise in regard to this meeting is that there are many believers in Christ, who are private believers, whereas the Lord's thought is that one should be a public believer. The instance of this girl of twelve years, and her resuscitation, shows that there is a great deal that is private, but the Lord's intention is that every believer should be public; that is to say, you should be ranked among the public followers of Christ. If you are a believer He will expose you; He will not suffer you to remain hidden. That is what I have in my mind.

Now Christ has what is private. He works in private, especially in households. Household affairs are not to be published, but individual believers must come out into the open in order to be led into the private apartments of Christ. There, you will be clothed in raiment of embroidery (Psalm 45). "All glorious is the king's daughter within" (within the private apartments of Christ). "She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of embroidery". The Lord will not suffer you to remain in your own private apartments! If your faith is genuine He values it, and it is so precious to Him that he desires it to be displayed, to be known. If this is not the case with you, He will drag you out of your hiding-place through some course of dealing. How much happier to begin with some public acknowledgment of what Christ has done for you! The Israelites did not go out privately. They are, as we know, typical of a believer in Christ at the outset of his faith, going out of the world. Did the Israelites go out privately? They went out "in the sight of all the Egyptians". They were not ashamed; they were very glad to get out. Now,

before proceeding further, I would say, you will never experience the full joy of salvation until you come out into the open. Are you timid, fearful, afraid to say a word for Jesus? You will never come into the good of His protection, nor will you realise His sympathy, till you come out.

To refer to Jairus (as the woman with the issue of blood comes in incidentally), he was a remarkable man, and the Lord's thought, in reviving the girl, was to re-establish conditions that existed here according to God. Luke gives this side; John gives the heavenly side, the new order. In Luke, the Lord re-establishes relationships which God had formed on earth, then He leads men to the light of the heavenly. Jairus' daughter was only twelve and she was about to die.

It does not say she was his only child, but she was his only daughter. In the next chapter you get an only child. Luke presents the effect of sin in extreme cases.

In chapter 9 the man who brought his son possessed with a demon to the Lord, says, "He is mine only child". In chapter 7 you get an only son and the mother a widow; in other words, the incident in that chapter presents an extreme picture of desolation and destitution, a widowed heart, bereft of everything, bereaved of an only son. In the case of Jairus' only daughter, there was disease working, but in chapter 7 there was death, absolute death, and the Lord met the funeral. Death had done all its work, and as the dead man was carried out "a very considerable crowd" was with the widow, and "a great crowd" too with the Lord. The daughter of Jairus had not as yet died; she was about to die; all that appeared to be life was ebbing away. Her father Jairus was a man of note, a ruler of the synagogue, and he falls at Jesus' feet and beseeches Him that He would come to his house. It is a household affair, and the Lord's intervention here is of a private nature.

Well, I leave that for the moment, but I would

like to call attention to the remarkable way in which children become a means, in the Lord's hands, of reaching the parents. It is very humbling to admit it, but it is found in Scripture; the Lord uses children to get at the parents. Very often it is because the children are regarded in the light of nature, for, at the outset, parents take them up on the ground of nature. Take, for instance, Job; he had seven sons and three daughters, a very creditable family, as regards numbers! We are told of them after we read that Satan got his commission from the Lord, for we must remember he did get a commission from the Lord as regards Job. Satan is only a servant in that way, and will do his worst; he will go to the utmost limits as regards that, if allowed by the Lord. After he received his commission, the first record we have is that, on a certain day, all the children of job were feasting in their elder brother's house; Job was not present. There was some discrepancy there. Why was Job not present? Evidently the family thought they could get on without him! When such is the case there is something wrong. It was not the divine intent, for they were not married, but what you notice is the feast was celebrated in the house of the elder brother; it was all on the ground of nature. All seemed very fine, seven sons, and three daughters, but they left their father out. You may depend upon it, God is displeased with that. It is to Job's discredit, but much more to the discredit of the family. And I would say this, any son who disregards father or mother is apostate in principle. God has placed authority in the parents where it is most likely to be sympathetic, in the one who loves you most, and the disregard of that is, in principle, apostasy. "Without natural affection" (Romans 1:31) is one mark of apostasy in the last days. I warn you, if you are a child, that if you disregard the authority and the claims of parents, you disregard the claims of Christ.

I warn you to regard authority and recognise divinely ordered relationships. Satan struck that house, and Job suffered in his fine family. It was wiped out, and Job was left alone. God did not charge the "wicked one" to spare Job's children; He charged him to spare Job. Job was preserved and the family goes. It was not destroyed first; it was destroyed last, for the flocks and the herds went first. Pious as Job was, his greatness was all based on nature. The feast was in the elder brother's house, as I was remarking. The elder brother nearly always goes wrong in Scripture, not the younger, because the firstborn is always certain to be taken up on the line of nature. The eldest son of Abraham and the eldest son of Isaac were born after the flesh. Jacob just narrowly escaped: he was a twin and was crooked, but he was not the firstborn. The eldest brother is almost always marked by want of sympathy with his father; that is what you find in Luke 15. Not to have sympathy is next door to apostasy, and, as a matter of fact, the elder brother of the prodigal was left outside. It is dangerous to be in the elder brother's house, for the influence of the elder brother is not to be trusted. The father's house is the place for you. I am not speaking literally, remember, but rather of the spirit of things as presented in Scripture; that which is first is natural, always; and beware of it!

Now job's recovery was marked by a household.

The household was restored; thank God for that!

There was the same number of sons, and the same number of daughters, and the latter were the fairest in all the land. It does not say anything about the eldest son in the last chapter of Job, and what you find is that the daughters are given an inheritance by job among their brethren. In the first chapter he did not direct his children to meet in their elder brother's house, whereas in the last chapter all is directed and regulated by Job. He "gave them inheritance among

their brethren", not in their elder brother's house. All is now on the ground of purpose; the second family are given an inheritance entirely on the ground of gift, not on the ground of nature. When Job is restored, all his relatives come to him, his brothers and sisters and acquaintances; then his family is reinstated according to God. It says, "Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning", so that in the last end of job he was blessed, and he had his place in his house. God restored him, but He also restored his house to him, and job had his place there. He gave a portion to his three daughters amongst their brethren. His family is now regulated by himself, and the divine institution established in man is recognised and recovered. Then Job having his place, his daughters are richly endowed amongst their brethren; that is where we ought to be endowed spiritually, among our brethren, not in the world. The Scriptures are not meant to be read in the letter, but in the spirit. All is brought in on spiritual lines. Satan attacked Job through his children but God came in and restored everything; the family is brought under the authority of its proper head and Satan is completely defeated. Satan was only a servant, but God used him, and allowed him to do his worst on Job. Then God deals with job directly.

Now, in the incident in Luke 8, the house of Jairus is invaded, and the Lord is on His way to re-establish things as they ought to be. I will come to that presently. Incidentally, this poor sin-diseased woman in the crowd touches the hem of his garment. 'My disease is private', she says, 'and I want to get relief privately and to go home and enjoy the relief and say nothing about the Reliever'. Is it so with you? I am persuaded that there are a great many private believers, and the Lord wants you to come out in the open, and to confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord. You say, 'My quiet and unobtrusive life is enough'. Is it

enough? Certainly, in a woman nothing is more delightful than a meek and quiet spirit. God loves that; it is the spirit of Christ, and, in the sight of God, it is of great price. But what about those people who live near by? Yea, what about the throng of people-for here, there was a crowd-what about them? Apparently they were getting no good from the Lord. Peter said, "The crowds close thee in and press upon thee", but no one got healing. If you have got healing, why not make it public, so that others can see how it is to be had? If you have got it, tell it to the next person you meet! There is a crowd; those who compose it are not changed; they are simply curious. Millions of people are interested in God in some way, but they are not changed a bit. Why not let them know there is a change to be had, that there is virtue there? Tell them how to get it.

Well, the Lord said, 'Something has happened'. He was the only One who knew-thank God He did know. I believe in having a secret with the Lord; that is what the "white stone" sets forth, for there is a white stone spoken of in Scripture. No brother is any good unless he has such a secret, but the white stone, I need not say, is not conversion. It refers to some exploit of your own, when you stood for Christ, that only He knew about. The world knew nothing about it, and you did not want them to know. That service you rendered, you did not want any to know but the Lord. But this peculiar disease others have, others are suffering just like you. All the crowd has it! If you have got healing, then let others know. Power, however, has gone out; "Power has gone out from me", the Lord says. In spite of Peter's protest the Lord held to it, "Some one has touched me". Who that someone was, is another matter; He sees to it that she comes to light.

"The woman, seeing that she was not hid, came trembling, and falling down before him declared

before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was immediately healed". She did not say first of all that she was healed; she tells the cause of her coming first, she tells Him all that He knows; that is self judgment. There is the frank acknowledgment of the secret trouble you had; others did not know of it; your walk was fairly commendable, more or less righteous, but there was this secret disease which was not known. Men are very superficial; it is wonderful how people pass muster before an unexercised crowd, but are we to pass muster before the eye of God? "We must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of the Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10), we are told. The word also says, "Each of us shall give an account concerning himself to God" (Romans 14:12), and that "the Lord shall ... make manifest the counsels of hearts", 1 Corinthians 4:5. So too, "what ye have spoken in the ear in chambers shall be proclaimed upon the housetops" (Luke 12:3), where the congregation gather, where the gossip goes on. "All things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do", Hebrews 4:13. It does not simply say 'open to God', but "to his eyes with whom we have to do". He sees it all.

So here, the woman turns and tells the Lord before all the people what had taken place. The Lord did not take her aside and say, 'Tell Me privately'. We might have said it was rather hard on the woman, but the Lord loved her, and He wanted her to get all the benefit of her confession, of her light; and you want to get it. So "falling down", it says, "before him declared before all the people for what cause she had touched him". That is, she proclaimed before the Lord and before the crowd all about that secret disease, that sin that worked within her members, in spite of her fair exterior. That sin working in your members, the Lord forces you to tell it all out. She told "for what cause she had touched him". It was

a frank acknowledgment of the inward sin-stricken state of the woman. It is not here a confession of sins; the woman was not marked by transgression. It was a question of an inward secret state, sin working in the members, and she told the Lord all about it, why she touched Him, and that publicly. She told Him, too, how she was healed. Others would get the benefit of that; it was as good as a gospel address, better in fact. We do not know how many were there, but there was a crowd there, and the woman was forced to tell out what was wrong and how she was healed. Suppose there was one there like her, such an one would get the benefit of the secret. How important to make a public confession! In Romans 10:9 we read, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord". I would not disparage the testimony seen in your life; if there is not that you are not a christian at all. God will use your life, but confession is with the mouth and public. It says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart is believed to righteousness, and with the mouth confession made to salvation". You believe in the heart, but confession is public. The woman was as justified and healed before the confession as after. Belief of the heart sets you right with God, but confession sets you right among men down here. You do not want to be numbered as one of the world, and you are until you confess publicly. To refer to the type, you have gone out in the sight of all the Egyptians. The Lord went out of Jerusalem publicly, but He did not go to heaven publicly. There is plenty that is private; the Lord went to heaven privately; there is much that is private, shut in with Christ, but the Lord demands the public things. I would add another word, He calls her 'daughter'. You own Him publicly, and He owns you publicly, it is the beginning

of relationship. The Lord is not ashamed of you now. He would have been ashamed of you with that foul internal sin working in your members; but He is not ashamed of you now as healed, for it implies the gift of the Spirit. No one is fully healed except by the gift of the Spirit.

To go on now to the girl, she was twelve years of age, and the woman had been ill twelve years. This girl was the only daughter of her parents, so it was an urgent case. It was a household affair, and most urgent. So we find the Lord is on His way to it. When He comes He assures the father, "Fear not only believe, and she shall be made well". Then it goes on, "When he came to the house he suffered no one to go in but Peter and John and James and the father of the child and the mother". It is now entirely different, the crowd is shut out; even the friends are shut out and only the parents and Peter, John and James are admitted. The Lord takes with Him His three great apostles and the parents of the maiden. It is quite obvious that it is a private matter. The maiden is simply a continuation of the woman, healed as regards the working of sin, but now made whole, revived and brought into life. You make a public confession and the Lord owns you publicly in relationship with Himself. 'Now', He says, 'I want to introduce you to what is private'. The public are shut out now; they are not to hear what is going on inside. Family relationships are private, not public; family affections are all private. He took the father and mother, Peter, John and James, and put the others all out. Well! He takes the girl by the hand saying, "Child, arise", and then it says, "Her spirit returned, and immediately she rose up". She was made to live in the family circle. You will get all that is private there; there is no need to say much. The girl is set in relation to her parents in life. It really is a continuation of the woman with the issue of blood; she is

healed of a disease and made to live in family relations. One other thought, the next thing is "he commanded something to eat to be given to her". In spite of the fact of being healed and made to live, she must eat. The question arises as to what kind of food you are to give your children, or to have in the assembly. It is quite obvious that you must eat; if not, the life will ebb out again; it must be sustained. What one finds is that a great many christians devour poisonous food, and it really eats the vitals out of them. Satan is dealing out literature at the moment, positively poisonous; if he cannot keep you from confessing Christ, or from the family circle, he will endeavour to poison your mind with bad literature. You may be subject to your parents, and yet devour poisonous literature. "He commanded something to eat to be given to her". The parents are the best judges as to the best kind of food. You should not take any food which your parents do not pass. So, in another sense, God provides food, and it is life-giving, health-giving, "the bread withal which I shall give", Christ says, "is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world",

John 6:51. He gives His own flesh; He comes down from heaven and dies that we may have food to eat, so that we might live.

What a remarkable girl this was! We find in Luke that where children are restored, the responsibility remains with the parents. In chapter 7, the young man is given back to his mother; in chapter 9 the boy is restored to his father; and here it is the same, the girl is left in the house. In John's gospel, it is the reverse, the point there being, you do not go back to nature. Thus Lazarus in John 12 is found with the Lord. It is not the reinstatement of divine institutions, but the becoming attached to Christ. He is the great centre in John, and if Lazarus is let go, he is found with Jesus. So that John gives us that point of view, whereas in Luke, it is the gospel, hence relief,

and if a parent's heart is wrenched, the Lord will restore the child. So here, the young girl is revived, made to live, and was to be sustained by good food. The Lord only can supply good food, and it is for each of us to see to it that the light He has given us should be sustained by good food. Let us seek the food Christ provides!

THE RICHNESS OF DIVINE THOUGHTS IN BLESSING

Zechariah 3:1 - 10

I suppose the duty of the preacher is to make things clear. He can do no more than that-to make the situation from God's side clear so that it is comprehensible; and not to overlook the conditions on man's side, for they have to be made clear, or rather exposed.

'Exposed' is the best word for that, for the true conditions in this world are not always on the surface.

The veneer has to be removed, and I understand that that is the duty of the preacher. God, in His government, allows things to occur which tend to destroy the veil that covers over the actual state of things that exists. It is a very great mercy from God when He allows the actual seething corruption that is below the veneer to break out. In that way people are aided -- some of them aroused and awakened from among the dead. There are many sleeping among the dead among God's people, and these governmental occurrences wake them up, and that is a mercy! Then men generally are aroused, so that it becomes a sort of extremity, which is always an opportunity for God.

Now, the conditions under which God carries on His work in our favour, in man's favour, are clearly set out in the passage I have read from Zechariah.

God is acting, that is the first thought. I believe that ought to be made clear-becoming Man, and anointed by the Spirit. We are told that Jesus went about doing good, for God was with Him. His good works were the good works of God. God was acting and the actings of God were all in man's favour.

Now, if God is acting Satan is acting. This is a fact clearly indicated throughout Scripture; so that Satan always attends gospel meetings, at any rate,

meetings that are characterised by any measure of divine grace and power. Satan is always there, we may be sure of that. And so, if God is working with any individual, Satan is active; he soon perceives it. He quickly perceives whether you are growing discontented with things in the world, whether you have begun to pray, perhaps privately it may be, unobserved by any but God Himself, yet observed by the wicked one. He observes a discontented air about you where hitherto you had been satisfied with things, indeed enjoyed things, in the world. If thus as a christian, you are moved a bit by the testimony, by ministry, and God becomes of importance in your mind, you think of God a little, you take Him into your calculations; you begin, in other words, to be godly in some measure, Satan will take in all that, too. In fact, he takes note of every item of the divine work, whatever it is, his great aim being to resist what God is doing.

Even if, as we see in the book of Job, the sons of God come up before God, Satan comes too! So you see his incessant activity to resist the work of God.

Well now, beloved friends, I want to show you how God, in carrying out His work, has set up an order of things down here which enables Him to carry it on without being disturbed; there is that which represents God down here in the way of power. I hope you have got hold of that. It is in the light of the kingdom that every intelligent preacher stands up; in other words, the preacher is clothed with salvation.

He himself is free; he lifts up his head; he has got the helmet of salvation on: that is to say, he is in the light of the kingdom, he knows the kingdom. It is a bulwark here against attacks, so that he carries on his work in the Lord's name and is unmolested: the Angel of Jehovah stands by, that is the comfort.

One, such as Paul, was not sent out into the gentile world, as it were, alone; there was One who stood by "The Lord", he says, "stood with me, and gave me

power, that through me the proclamation might be fully made", 2 Timothy 4:17. He had the helmet of salvation on, the Lord was by, and so Paul carried on his glorious work. He went to Corinth, a town of Greece, and the Lord says, "No one shall set upon thee to injure thee", Acts 18:10. What a stay to him!

But what for? He says, "I have much people in this city"-'they must be all secured for Me'. Therefore, if a gospel meeting is of any account it secures something for the building, for God is aiming at securing material. So the apostle laboured on under the wing of Christ, and all the power of the empire of that day could not touch him. Even when he stood before the emperor himself, whose mouth was like the mouth of a lion ready to devour him, he says that the Lord stood just there by him at the lion's mouth, and the lion's mouth was powerless, just as powerless as were the lions in the den with Daniel. The Lord stood just there and delivered Paul. "I was delivered", he says, "that through me the proclamation might be fully made". The Angel of the Lord is standing by. I would not venture to stand up before you here did I not believe that; I do believe it. I believe, so to say, that the Angel of the Lord is standing by.

Now, there may be some Joshua here, who has had a place of dignity, but whose clothes are tattered, whose dignity is lost and has departed from him; in fact he is one who is in the fire; he is in terrible straits! The Angel of the Lord is standing by for your deliverance! It says, "He shewed me Joshua the high priest". The sinner is in the eye of God; man, in his dire necessity, is first in the divine mind. Joshua the high priest is seen, it is said, standing before the Angel of Jehovah; so far, so good. Thank God, you have come into the meeting, at any rate. It is of great importance to get souls in under the sound of the gospel. You may have come by invitation, but if you have come out of exercise so much the better. I

would remark that there is nothing without exercise, nothing for God without that. To one who has come in to hear the message, under exercise, I say, you are an object for the mind of God; the attention of heaven, in fact, is called to you. Here the prophet's attention is called to Joshua, not to the Angel first, but to Joshua. It is Joshua that is before the mind of the Spirit. The next object is the Angel of Jehovah; the Angel of Jehovah is there and Joshua before him. Have you ever been before God? For the Angel is simply God Himself, representatively. It is God with whom we have to do: "All things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do", Hebrews 4:13. Those garments that you are wearing may suit outside, but not under God's eye.

But before I come to that I want to speak a word about Satan. He is the adversary; he too is there, as I was saying, and he is there to resist. Beware! Beware of suggestions whilst you are before God. Satan whispers things to you, for he is there to resist. It is a great encouragement to me that Scripture does not close without giving us full light on the end of Satan. He is but an instrument in the divine hand for the carrying out of God's government. Such is the greatness of God that His arch-enemy is an instrument for carrying out His government in regard of men on the earth. So you see at the end an angel with a chain-what irony is in that! We read in Scripture of God laughing, "He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision", Psalm 2:4. There are those who would break the bands, the divine limitations which are really a mercy for man, for all divine limitations are simply to restrain lawlessness, "Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us!", Psalm 2:3. But what about the chain that the angel in Revelation 20 has? Satan is bound; then the beast and the false prophet are taken alive. There is no chain needed. Think of

the power in the hand of Christ! All the political and military power of the world centred in two men and they are cast alive into the lake of fire; not stricken with death, but taken alive and cast into the lake of fire! Where is the pretence now of breaking the divine bonds, the divine limitations? What derision on the part of God! These two men in all their boastfulness were cast into the lake of fire. In the first verse of that chapter an angel with a great chain comes down from heaven and the arch-enemy of God Himself is bound. He has not merely been marshalling human kings, and potentates, but marshalling the unseen hosts against God and against Christ. But an angel comes, one angel (one angel, you know, scattered 185,000 Assyrians at once; 2 Kings 19:35), here one only takes that mighty being, the adversary, and chains him. What a testimony to power! Just as one angel sat upon the stone that sealed the tomb of Jesus, as if to dare the power of the empire! What irony, but how encouraging for us who believe in God! What can Satan do with that chain which the angel uses to bind him, to limit him for a thousand years? It is simply a limitation by God, beyond which he cannot go for a thousand years.

God allows him at this moment a wider area, although his head is crushed; in fact, his power is annulled for the believer, for faith. He is now allowed down here for the carrying on of the divine government amongst men; that is what Satan does. Nevertheless, beloved friends, his virulent opposition to God is in him; there is no change, his true character is ever-present; he is the adversary. Well now, what I want to point out is that the Lord said unto Satan, "Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan!", and then it says, "Yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee!". Jerusalem is the great divine centre on earth, I need not remind you; it is that which will presently become the great centre on earth. But our Jerusalem

is above; and if God is selecting now, if He is drawing souls out of the fire now, it is for the heavenly Jerusalem, not for the earthly. It is that you and I might shine there. The heavenly Jerusalem is composed of such as you and me, drawn out of the fire, beautified, mitred, clothed with festival robes; such are they that shall inhabit the heavenly city. Hence it is said, "Jehovah rebuke thee!". The Angel does not, it is the Lord Himself that rebukes the wicked one.

Well, Joshua is there, Satan is rebuked, and the work goes on. It is a happy stage in your soul when it is so, when you have, as before the Angel of the Lord, recognised your true state, for you are shorn of all your dignity. True humility, true self-judgment is to acknowledge that man is shorn of all his dignity, it is all gone! His clothes are tattered, are soiled, unfit. It is a great moment when you arrive at that stage; for the Lord has His eye on you. He has a place for you somewhere; He loves you! He is going to dignify you, He is going to beautify you, He is going to clothe you, and He is going to place you! How wonderful it is to be thus in the divine mind-that the mind of God should be so set on every one of us! It has been so with every Christian here, however little we have accepted it. Even the very initial movements in your soul exercise are taken note of there in heaven; they are the occasion of joy there! You will observe it says, "And Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the Angel. And he spoke and said unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from off him". There are those that stand before you, for God has His own agents through grace down here and they are a great aid. You know that, in the case of Lazarus, the Lord did not take off the grave clothes. There are certain things that God allows those that stand before you to do. Would we were more up to it! The Lord says of Lazarus in John 11, "Loose him and let him go".

Now, these filthy garments have to be removed. How removed? Their filthiness has to be pointed out; and surely all these righteousnesses of yours are nothing else than filthy rags, as the scripture says. There is an attempt you know at robes; the idea of clothes began in Genesis 3. I have often pointed out that the first device of man was to make clothes, the first invention was clothes-making, making aprons! Many others followed, but this was the first. The law helped on that line, so the Old Testament supposes a wardrobe, a place for clothes; Job of all men had access to such a wardrobe! But what did he have, and what had you got, if you have been clothing yourself out of the wardrobe of the law? Poor tatters they are! It has to be pointed out to us. Thank God for the light! The Lord would use one and another that stand before you to point out the filthiness. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags", Isaiah 64:6. It is well to admit it.

Now, the Spirit of God addresses the individual; it says (verse 4), "And unto him he said ...". How precious it is to be spoken to directly! There is the Angel, and Jehovah Himself, and Satan. But here now Jehovah speaks directly to the soul; the Spirit speaks directly to the soul; I do not know exactly how it happens, but there is a direct speaking to the soul. He said, "I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I clothe thee with festival-robes". Such is the magnitude of the divine proposal! And what a robe it is that God proposes for us! For He has His own wardrobe, as you all know. In Luke there surely was a wardrobe, for the best robe was carefully kept; "Bring out the best robe", the father said; and the servants knew where it was. It was as if it were something well known in the house, kept in reserve: how wonderful is the richness of the house! Mark you, presently Joshua was to rule in it! Presently he is to see to it that others are to be robed, and he is to have

fellows. But how rich is the house, stored up with clothing! But there is the best one! I do not doubt but what there will be an inferior robe for others in a future dispensation, reserved for them too, and suited to them, suited to their station. It is a wonderful thing to get into your soul the idea of rank. God has the idea of rank or status in His mind. And how rich the best robe! We can dwell on the superlative, when we think of Christ, of the dignity of Jesus, of the life of Jesus, of the walk of Jesus as a Man down here. He was a Man out of heaven, "the second man, out of heaven", not that He has come out of it-that is not the point-but He is of it. He belongs to heaven; it is His own place. "If then ye see the Son of man ascending up where he was before?", John 6:62. There He is as Man!

The Spirit brings in that Man, and clothes you with His worth. There is the testimony of His death, for there could be no clothing without death; God made that clear. The moment that clothing was introduced in Scripture, God made it clear that if there is to be clothing according to Him, it must be through death. Genesis 3 does not speak of the beauty of the clothing; it does not present clothing in the way of adornment; if a person is naked, it is not a question of adornment; it is a question of covering the nakedness. But with Joshua it is more than that; it was not simply a question of covering the prodigal's nakedness; it was a question of adornment according to his rank, according to his station. In the mind of God we are called to heaven. He has nothing lower in His thought in the gospel at the present time, and He has laid the basis for that in the death of Christ. So that everything is adjusted down here in your soul through the righteousness of God revealed in the death of Jesus. No one dare point a finger at you; with garments of righteousness you are invulnerable against all attacks. But then you have garments of glory and beauty!

Think of that, beloved friends! There is the mitre; it is really a diadem, alluding to the priest, to the dignity that God puts upon us. What is the dignity of the believer? That he is a son of God; that is his dignity! Well, I must not linger on that, although it is most precious. There is a fair mitre put upon his brow. Where is the dignity of this world when com pared with that, beloved friends? A fair mitre put upon your brow by the blessed God! You are a companion of Christ! You are a son! Your place is in the house for ever, as it says, "The son abides for ever", John 8:35.

I want just to say a word more about Joshua. It goes on to say in verse 5 that the Angel of Jehovah stood by. The protection is there during all this wonderful procedure in regard of Joshua. How restful the soul is as God carries on His blessed work with the believer; the Angel of Jehovah stands by. And then it goes on to say, "And the Angel of Jehovah protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts; and I will give thee a place to walk among these that stand by". Some of you here may think that what I am saying is for the people of God only; but the gospel supposes all these things. If you are taken up at all, you are taken up for the house, and not to be a servant in it, but to be in it in dignity; and you view all the Lord's people who are there in the dignity that belongs to them. Joshua is mitred, and he is clothed, and now he is to rule and to order the house of God. Think of the honour put upon us down here! Then He says, "I will give thee a place to walk among these that stand by". You are now among those that are standing by! I love to be amongst those that are standing by; if I am not preaching, at any rate, I am standing by, I am supporting it and protecting it and aiding it in

every possible way. God would have His people to be evangelical whether they are preachers or are standing by. You can easily stand by. Joshua is to be privileged to have a walking place amongst such. Such is the order of divine development in connection with the gospel; you are amongst a company. Joshua is to have fellows, or companions, and they are men of portent, they are signs. What are we in this world? Part of it? Going on with it? We are set here to be signs, signifying something. 'Men to be observed' is the rendering here, men to be noted. Such is the divine thought for us, beloved friends! How great is the proposal!

Then following after all this great privilege that is accorded to us in connection with the gospel, we are to be caught up into glory, to be received up into glory presently and presented faultless in the presence of it!

I cannot proceed further, but I desire to leave it with you, how God, in taking you up, proposes that you should have a place of dignity in the house. How many of us are content with a servile place, afraid to lift up our heads, whereas God would have you with a mitre! One loves to see a company of mitred people, diademed people! It is not now the helmet of salvation, that is, for the outside, to resist attacks. A diadem is not for that. A helmet is for war; a diadem is for dignity! What a company! Heaven will be adorned with mitred people, people dignified after the pattern of Christ! What a glorious proposal! how the Spirit of God would magnify the gospel! The great divine thought of snatching a brand out of the burning, and dignifying him, giving him a place in the house and a place to walk in according to his dignity! Where do you walk? What kind of society do you keep? If you are a christian, if you are snatched out of the fire, where do you walk? Here it is said to Joshua, "I will give thee a place to walk among these that stand by". Is that where you walk? Do you

find your society amongst those that stand by the testimony of the gospel, those who would stand by and see a soul snatched from the fire? Is that where you walk? That is where you are called to walk; it is your privilege to walk there. You are in the company of the Angel of Jehovah, for He was standing by. What glorious company! We may say it is the Lord Jesus now, for who but He could represent God in His glorious work? Only He! It is not entrusted to angels now; they are sent out as ministering servants to those who shall be heirs of salvation. But Jesus is our Captain: He is the Captain of our salvation. He is the One who stands by us, and if you want to walk amongst these that stand by, you will find yourself walking in company with Him, for He is standing by.

Now there is just one more thought in the passage. You will think I am simply giving you an exposition of the passage, but it is not my thought at all. I want to show you how God works, and the development of His work, and how His work leads to completion. What marks the present time is incompleteness; "I have not found thy works complete", was said to Sardis. Come on to the end, beloved friend, let God lead you on to the end. And so He brings in the "Branch", that is the next point. Christ is brought into evidence now, and what marks the whole scene is dependence on God; dependence on God is the idea of a branch. A branch is dependent. The blessed Lord took that place in grace, He was dependent down here, and now He calls us into that. It was dependence on God that marked Jesus when He was down here. Then you have other wonderful things that I cannot dwell upon, but they are worthy of note. "For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua -- upon one stone are seven eyes"; there is every perception now! Things do not pass unnoticed now; alas, so much passes unnoticed! But nothing passes unnoticed by the eye of God, depend upon that!

The rims of the wheels of God's government, we are told, are full of eyes (Ezekiel 1:18). There is not a thing happening under the sun that is not noted by God, and there is nothing that comforts me more than that; He takes note of everything! But how important that there should be a stone laid before Joshua, laid before this brand plucked out of the fire, and the stone with seven eyes upon it; it is "the seven spirits of God", it is the all-seeing discernment of the Spirit. How wonderfully fortified is the position! So that there is watchfulness.

Finally, you have the principle of care for others, for the passage goes on to say, "In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall ye invite every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree". There is the thought of care. How great the design on the part of the blessed God to take up any one of us, to take up a brand like this which is plucked out of the fire, in His faithfulness, and set him up in relation to all this! Where are you in regard of all this light that God is pleased to vouchsafe to us in these last days? Have you responded to it? You may depend upon it that God is acting governmentally, and He is acting by the Spirit for the deliverance of men at the present time. We must not overlook His governmental dealings. He is taking note of everything, but in the midst of the wheels, you know, there is the figure of a man, and the hand of a man, and above it on the throne there is the appearance of a man. There are all the sympathies of Christ in the government of God. In the midst of the government of God there is the Man; and it all, for the present, is in view of the rescuing of men. Then there is the blessed Spirit operating directly in the Lord's people so that you might be brought into all this glory, to all this dignity and blessedness.

May the Lord bless His word to each of us!

GOD'S PRINCIPLE OF RULE SET OUT IN CHRIST

Mark 1:27; Mark 4:41

I want to say a word tonight as to the effect of the Lord's ministry on the lives of those who heard it, to say a word first as to the impression it produced, that it was new, different from what had preceded it.

Now the ordinary religionist may have his peculiar religion; but on general principle he is simply a religionist. Religion is very old. Of course the very word used for it is of God, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world", James 1:27. But religion by itself is a very old thing in the world and will remain in the world even when God is refused and the Holy Spirit is refused. When the Holy Spirit shall leave the world and the church shall leave, religion shall remain; but not the "pure religion" James speaks of. "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father" will not remain; that is dependent on the presence of the Holy Spirit. "To visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world" belongs only to christians; only christians are religionists after that fashion.

But there is the other religion of Cain which is equally old with the pure religion. Cain's religion, as you know, was made dependent on cultivation. That was not pure religion but it was religion; it was a recognition of God and of God's rights to receive a sacrifice; but it was not pure. It was impure; but being impure it nevertheless is old, and continues in the world until this time. Very often it is seen in people who come to gospel meetings out of custom, because it is customary to spend an hour or two on Sunday evening at a meeting. Now, beloved friends,

I would like to be very simple, and I would say to you, if you are here tonight on those lines, there is nothing new in that at all; it is as old as Cain. It is seen in China, Japan and other heathen countries; it is doing things out of custom. The Lord found it at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was full of it; they were religionists, they went to the temple, they kept the passover, there was the synagogue in which the Lord cast out demons. The synagogue was not new; a man possessed of a demon, that was not new; but one thing was new, and it was recognised to be new, and that was the doctrine the Lord Jesus Christ taught and the manner of His words. That was new and it was recognised to be new. As you will observe, it says, "What is this? what new doctrine is this?".

Now it is a very good thing, even if you are a religionist, to begin to enquire, "What is this?". It would be a very long address that would answer that question. It takes all the ministry of the twelve apostles to answer it, and added to that it takes all the ministry of Paul to answer that. It is a very great thing. I wonder if you know anything about it? This thing is very wonderful. "What is this?" is the question in the synagogue. Has it been answered to your satisfaction? It is different from what you have been accustomed to. What is it? It is the presence of the Son of God here in this world. He who by His Spirit hath garnished the heavens; He by whom it says, "all things were made"; and He by whom they are upheld. They are upheld: "upholding all things by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3), by His power. "He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast", Psalm 33:9. What God speaks is the expression of His mind; His commandment is that it should stand fast. The expression of God's mind must stand, and it stands fast. Other things may go; but what He commands, what He has spoken, stands: "He commanded, and

it stood fast". Take the very best watch made, in time it goes wrong. Consider those marvellous heavenly bodies; our chronometers are to be regulated by them, they are fast in their orbits; accuracy marks them; inaccuracy would bring confusion and destruction. Well, they are held by the word of Christ's power. This is the Man who is speaking to the demon in the synagogue. Do you not think He does it in a new way? It must be so. Think of the Person who was there! The Son of God in the synagogue! The synagogue was a sort of branch of the temple; the temple was the centre of the synagogue. The Lord went into the synagogue, a meeting house in Capernaum, but a new thing was there. "What is this?", they said, "what new doctrine is this?".

Now have you made enquiries like that? Have you satisfied your soul about them? For this thing has come into the world. Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun", Ecclesiastes 1:9. The gospel of Mark is the counterpart of that. Mark shows that there is something new under the sun, and that new thing is Christ casting out a demon in the synagogue. And that "new doctrine" is what He spake. It was new. I ask you here tonight before God, Have you settled this question? In other words, are you converted?

We are living in a time in which great influences are at work in order to affect people. I was only speaking today about Jephthah, the Gileadite, one of the judges of Israel (Judges 11). A section of Israel in his day was attacked by the children of Ammon, and they had a considerable array, there was no lack of men; but there was a lack of one man; what man is going to lead? That sort of thing is going on at the present time. There is no lack of men: there are some fifteen hundred millions of men, women and children in the world, but there is no man, people say, no one

man. There is going to be one! That is the danger that is ahead of us and I want to speak seriously tonight to you, that you may be sure that you have got the right man in your soul. I have seen it lately in public print, the demand for one man; it is perfectly intelligible, they want a man, they want a leader. Now you want a Leader in your soul; Jephthah was the leader the Gileadites selected. I wonder whom you are going to select for your leader? It is a serious time for the world; the danger is making room for antichrist. He comes, we are told, "in all deceit of unrighteousness", 2 Thessalonians 2:10. That is how he comes, and he soon discerns there is a place for him, there is a vacant seat. People are saying so, and we are all apt to be carried along with the tide, and I speak to you in the way of warning, especially to the young people here.

But God has brought in a Man; according to Mark He began in a synagogue in Capernaum; He went in and cast out a demon; He did not touch the demon, He commanded the demon and the demon went out, hence the question, "What is this? what new doctrine is this?".

Now the "man of sin" shall come and he makes an impression. We are told he comes "in all deceit of unrighteousness", he sees and seizes the opportunity. His coming is said to be "according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deceit of unrighteousness"; that is how he comes. Well, the seat is vacant (the leadership is there) without an occupant; will he take it? He does take it. He does not content himself to be simply a man, but he "opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God",

2 Thessalonians 2:4. Think of the presumption in a man; but men want that, they want a leader. They want their man and they are going to get him. God can

forestall that; He has forestalled it in my soul, through the gospel!

Some of us were talking this afternoon about the superman (a current expression in the world) meaning a man that is more than a man, he is a product of development. He is a man who will have six fingers on his hand and six toes on his foot; it is not natural but moral. His number is 666; he is a superman. Have you not heard that expression? It is worthy of note; it is a sign of the times. He is a man who can marshal the forces of nature, who can harness them. He is evidently scientific, utterly without principle, has only one aim and that is his own advancement, like Simon Magus, "saying that himself was some great one", Acts 8:9. He is called a beast in Revelation 13:11 - 14, and God permits it to work "great signs, that it should cause even fire to come down from heaven to the earth before men. And it deceives those that dwell upon the earth", Revelation 13:13, 14. Do you think you can stand it? Now if you reject Christ you can never stand against that, you will submit to it, it is just what you will desire.

We are on the eve of these things. One would like to tell these things to every person in christendom if one could; but one feels one's obligation to tell it everywhere one can, as we are on the eve of these things. The vacancy is there only waiting the man to come forward, and Satan will bring him forward. He will be an advertiser saying, "that himself was some great one". He is a superman, as I have said, prefigured by the man in 2 Samuel 21:20, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. The Lord Jesus came on the line of seven, and what you get here is the power of the Spirit. "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons" (not by the power of Satan) "then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you", Matthew 12:28. In Revelation 5:6 it says "I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four

living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as slain" (wonderful expression), "having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God". How attractive a Lamb is, nothing to repel! He had been slain, He had been down into death.

The antichrist will not go down into death for anyone; there will be no marks of suffering in his hands, nor spear mark in his side; alas, many will have been pierced by his spear! The Lord Jesus came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them, and He gave Himself a ransom for all. The antichrist comes to kill and destroy. He rises to the zenith of man's glory over many a corpse, but the Lord is seen in the midst of the throne standing as a Lamb slain. He has "seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God which are sent into all the earth". To slay? No, to enlighten people, to bless people. It is the perfection of spiritual power exercised by such a one as He. Every one who is a believer on Christ knows what perfection of spiritual power is in the hand of the Lamb; He "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 in perfection, perfection of divine power exercised under the Lamb, that is the Lord Jesus. He is the great opposite of the superman that is spoken of later in the book of Revelation.

Now, "What new doctrine is this?". It is this Man's doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. "The Son of God has come", 1 John 5:20. "Jesus Christ come in flesh", 1 John 4:3. Do not receive anyone who does not bring that doctrine. "Do not receive him into the house, and greet him not; for he who greets him partakes in his wicked works", 2 @John 10, 11.

The doctrine of Christ is new; it is to be received implicitly in the soul of the believer. "Jesus Christ come in flesh", come "by water and blood", 1 John 5:6.

Shall the antichrist come that way? No, he does not come that way. God's Man came that way; He came by the means of expiation, the means of cleansing for your conscience and your heart; He is God's Lamb. It is He who takes the book, it is He who opens the seals thereof; He has title to do it, for He came and died. That doctrine is to be received implicitly in your heart and conscience. The water flowed from His pierced side, and the blood, too. In the gospel it is the blood first, expiation is first; the conscience is relieved by the blood, and the affections by the water. The christian has a purged conscience his sins are all put away by the death of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness that they are effectively put away. A christian has pure affections; he loves the brethren, he loves them for their own sakes and for Christ's sake. Brethren are lovable for their own sakes, for they are born of water and the Spirit; they are pure, and he loves them. A purged conscience and love for the brethren mark a christian. It is a man after Christ. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved friends, effects that for you.

One loves to think of the Lamb standing as slain in the midst of the throne, having seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God. He is seen in the perfection of spiritual power as having effected atonement. That is the Man that is presented to you in this "new doctrine", so gloriously for the christian. Paul says, Ye "have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed", Romans 6:17. Have you obeyed it from the heart? Paul says, "from the heart", heart-wise, from the inside, not from the outside. Earthly religion operates from the outside, it does nothing permanently, but God works from the inside; there is the blood for the conscience and the water for the heart. The heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience, and finally the body washed with pure water, so there is a man here for Christ.

In the fourth chapter we have this word, "Who then is this?". What sort of man are you? In Matthew in the parallel passage the word is "sort", "What sort of man is this?", Matthew 8:27. What sort of man are you? The only way to find out is to come and live with you; you have to live with a man to know what kind of a man he is. It is one thing to see you at the meeting; what kind of man are you at home? In the second chapter of Mark the paralytic was raised up and the Lord said, "Arise ... and go to thine house". 'Be a man like Me there first; shine there'. "Who then is this?". That is the question raised. It would take a long address to answer that question, What sort of Man is Christ? We shall know what He is like presently in the glory, in the Father's house. What a future is before the christian! We shall see the Lord there. He is chief in the Father's house, He orders everything there, He gives me my place and gives you your place. That is what is before us. What tenderness of affection; we shall see all the Father's affections on Him and His affections on the saints. What sort of Man was He down here? That is the question to be answered for the moment, and it is to be answered, among other things, because the believer himself is to be after that sort.

Gideon said to the kings of Midian, "What sort of men were they that ye slew at Tabor?", Judges 8:18. They could give an account of them, "As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king". Would to God men could talk of me as they did of them; they were forced to confess they were after the pattern of a king. How one would love that the enemies of the Lord's people at the present time should be compelled to make a confession like that, if the question was raised as to what the saints are! Alas, we are so often unlike the Lord Jesus!

What sort of Man is He? The four gospels answer that question, and Paul delighted to bring Him forward.

"For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus", 1 Timothy 2:5. The Man, that is the One "who gave himself a ransom for all". That is the sort of Man He is, "Who gave himself a ransom for all". That is the kind of Man. He dies, not only for the saints but for all. And then the apostle says elsewhere that 'this is the One Man I desire to know'. "But surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ... to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death ... I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus", Philippians 3:8 - 14. That is what Paul wished, his heart was enamoured with that Man!

That is the sort of Man Christ was, beloved friends, and, as I was saying, the effect of the gospel rightly received is to bring about a man like that, in measure a man like that. The idea is to bring in a man like Christ, not a monstrous man like the Philistine giant, not the result of cultivation and the like, but a spiritual man. See therefore that you are spiritual. One looks at the Lord's people and feels for oneself how unspiritual we are. We look at things in such a natural way. The Lord never did. The Lord always looked at things spiritually. He had seven eyes, spiritually, of course, "which are the seven Spirits of God which are sent into all the earth". If one has seven eyes, what are they for? To meet the need of the world. I was referring to Gideon and I do not know of any better illustration. Gideon said, "What sort of men were they that ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king". These Midianites were enemies of God's people. So there are today enemies who would slay us, if they could; but they were forced to confess they were like Gideon, "each one resembled the sons

of a king". Gideon's father was not a king, he was a poor man of Manasseh; he was no king, but Gideon was like a son of a king. He had that likeness from God. "And the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also; for thou hast saved us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah will rule over you". Show me a professing Christian who wants to rule and I will show you a thorn bush; show me a Christian who is content to be ruled by Christ and I will show you a vine. So in the next chapter, Judges 9, Jotham speaks of the vine, saying, 'I will not be a king over the trees, I shall stay just as I am, I will furnish wine which cheers God and man'. "Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave over the trees?". That is a spiritual man's judgment. The fig tree said, "Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?". But the thorn bush said, 'I want to be king'-a bush that tears and scratches-that is antichrist.

So do not desire to rule, desire to be ruled. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler, He is the appointed Ruler among men. He is that among men. He has died for us. He has title to our affections. He has title to rule us, and if we retain our place of subjection we are beneficial to others and minister joy to God and man.

THE SPEAKING AND THE BLESSING OF GOD

Zechariah 12:1, 7 - 14; Zechariah 13:1

There are three points that I have on my mind to speak to you about. The first is the title that God has to address men; the second that He blesses on the ground of sovereignty, and the third is the means by which He blesses. The title that God has to speak to men in this chapter is founded on very great things. Firstly, that He stretched out the heavens; secondly, that He laid the foundations of the earth, and thirdly, that He formed man's spirit within him. No one has such title to speak as that. So we would be encouraged to bring forward these great thoughts, for the things that God refers to here are witness to Him.

One cannot enlarge on the points; but the stretching out of the heavens is a very interesting thing. It has reference, I suppose, to house-furnishing, as the foundation has reference to building, whereas the spirit of man being formed refers to the inmates, to those who are to dwell in that which is built and furnished and ornamented. So that God in laying the foundation of the earth has wisdom by Him. I do not know that the foundation was laid by pattern; I do not think so, for where you come to pattern you come to moral things. Christ is pattern of everything in the moral system. The physical is very much like the scaffolding of a building, that is, it is that by which God brings about a system that is to abide. And when the moral structure is builded, the scaffolding will be removed. But then the scaffolding is very wonderful, and indeed, as one may say, it was a sort of prefigurement of the spiritual. The tabernacle was to represent all things and He who builds all things is God. But I do not suppose there is anyone who has

got eyes and ordinary intelligence but who admires the wonderful sight that the heavens present; when the clouds disappear and one looks up into the firmament, the sight is indeed glorious, the infinite variety of bodies, denoting this wonderful stretching out that is alluded to here, by the hand of God. David admired it in a spiritual way. He says, "When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers" (Psalm 8:3), and, "In them hath he set a tent for the sun, and he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he rejoiceth as a strong man to run the race", Psalm 19:4, 5. This wonderful curtain, as one might say, stretched out, as it is said elsewhere, "By his Spirit the heavens are adorned", Job 26:13. That is the first point. God is here addressing men, every one of whom can see that He has a right to speak to them on the ground of this. Then as regards the foundation of the earth what a wonderful conception it must have been, from the standpoint of height and measure. Think of the wonderful poise by which God has manipulated all these uncountable bodies, and the earth that is prepared for the children of men! He brought it forward in speaking to job, and when He had finished His address to Job on the ground of His creatorial power and rights, Job put his hand upon his mouth; he had no more to say.

What is puny man, dear friends, as one looks at these things, as one sees the sun in perfect regularity, and the earth, all moving according to infinite accuracy of time! Who in his senses could doubt the intelligence that is behind it all? But when you come to man, you come to what is poor physically as compared with all these things, and yet of him alone it is said that he is "fearfully, wonderfully made"; he is the divine masterpiece! The "potter" is the allusion that the apostle makes to God, who takes a piece of clay and forms it; that was Adam, God making a vessel. It is one thing to make these great orbs in

the heavens, and the earth, but to make a vessel which He is to use for His pleasure, which He is to have in His house, is something different. And what a vessel! His countenance denoted the intelligence that God had placed within, his very physical structure suggested that he was to look into the countenance of God, that as God looked down, man could look up, for that was the divine design. God could come into the garden, and He sought man in the cool of the day. I have often remarked that Adam was never a boy; he was formed, but the passage here does not speak of the physical formation of Adam, but of the spiritual. God formed man's spirit within him. It is God's portion of the man. The body returns to dust, but the spirit to God who gave it. You have got a spirit, even in your unconverted days, formed in you by God. You did not get that from your parents, for the man's spirit is derived from God; God gives it to him, and that returns to God, and in that he is responsible to God. Hence there is that in me that answers to God, even beyond my parents. If I derived my spirit from my parents, then I would be responsible to them, but I get my spirit from God, and hence I am responsible to Him and that responsibility remains for ever; you can never escape it, it is with you in your unconverted days and your converted days. God warns you in regard of it; on account of that spirit you have an intelligence that the lower animal has not, and so you are responsible for whatever you do now. The remarkable thing is that God in giving man a spirit also gave him a conscience. One may speak of three things in a man: his spirit and his soul and his conscience. The conscience, I suppose, is bound up in the spirit of a man. Of course there is the body, too, "spirit, soul and body" is the formula that the Spirit uses; but in the spirit that He has formed, He has set a conscience, and that conscience, if left to itself, is a constant accuser of the man. If

you take Romans 2:15, the thoughts of heathen are "accusing or else excusing themselves"; that is, in the Greek philosopher, his thoughts either accused or else excused him. The conscience continually accused, for God had that witness there. Thank God for that; were it not for the witness that God has set down here in men, what would the world be! In the darkest parts of the earth there is some recognition of God. So that God has an avenue by which He approaches man with His message.

But now when a man is converted, or rather, when a man is born anew, it is not only that he has a conscience, the conscience remains, the spirit remains, but he is born. Mark, it is not only something in him; it is something in him, but it is not only that; the man is born; every fibre of his being comes under the influence of the new birth. It is not simply that the natural man receives light and makes up his mind to confess Christ; it is not that; the natural man is unable to discern what is of God; he is unable to take it up, although the conscience accuses him. It is only as I become a subject of new birth that I have got divine sensibilities. Now, if there is one here tonight who has been brought up under light, I would appeal to you as to whether you are conscious of divine sensibilities. You may enquire what I mean by divine sensibilities. Well, are you happy with the Lord's people? Is the fear of God before your eyes? Do you pray secretly? All these things, if they are found with you, are an evidence that God has been there, and so there is hope for you. I say that for your encouragement. If you have got these divine sensibilities, they are not to the flesh, they are a fruit of the work of God. So that as God formed man's spirit at the beginning, He works again in a man. "The wind", says the Lord to Nicodemus, "blows where it will", John 3:8. Man cannot effect it; all the legislation in the world could not change the

course of the wind. Hence, it is a suggestion of the sovereignty of God. Man cannot interfere with it. That is one of the greatest comforts that we can have as engaged in the service of God. "The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes: thus is every one that is born of the Spirit". That is, he is born of something that man cannot account for; it is outside the range of man, nevertheless the effects of it are apparent. The effects are seen in the way of divine sensibilities. There is a sense of sinfulness before God; there is a desire to be near God, and to be near the people of God, and so the gospel is for you; you may be one of the elect, but you are not to rest there.

Well now, in the next passage that I read it says, "Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first". If He has wrought in my soul sovereignly, then He saves me, and He does it according to His sovereignty. If there is one thing next to what I have been speaking of that encourages, it is the thought of God's elect.

I do not know them. In the second epistle to Timothy the apostle is exercised about them, and one is encouraged to believe that that is what should be upon our hearts now, the principle of a lighted candle, sweeping the house in order to find the lost piece; that is the elect: "For the sake of the elect", says Paul, "that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory", 2 Timothy 2:10. What a thought he had! Not simply 'Some lone place within the door', but "Eternal glory". And so here, God says, 'I will save the tents of Judah first'. Judah in the Scriptures stands for God's sovereignty, for God's counsels, and so, if you have got these sensibilities of which I have spoken, you are a subject of divine grace; God has begun with you. But then He presents to you the light, the gospel, and as Paul says, "For Moses lays down in writing the righteousness

which is of the law, The man who has practised those things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks thus: Do not say in thine heart, Who shall ascend to the heavens? that is, to bring Christ down; or, Who shall descend into the abyss? that is, to bring up Christ from among the dead. But what says it? The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved", Romans 10:5 - 9. Mark you, the word being in your mouth and in your heart will not save you. What saves you is that which becomes active in you, that which produces an effect in you, so that you use your mouth. The word being "in thy mouth" is a negative idea; it is just there, you are not saying it; and "in thine heart", it has not taken root there; you have got to confess. If you are to come into salvation you must confess. "For with the heart is believed to righteousness". God has wrought in you sovereignly. He has put the word in your heart; He has put it in your mouth; what are you going to do with it? You say, 'You are preaching works'. No, I am preaching from the scripture and the scripture says, "If thou shalt confess ...". That is public. Let your christianity be public. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered publicly. He died for you publicly, and He looks for you to make a public confession. "For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation". The apostle is referring to what was going on in those days, and what, thank God, is going on now. Men are believing unto righteousness, and they are confessing the Lord Jesus publicly. "God has made him ... both Lord and Christ", Acts 2:36. That leads to baptism. But everyone is baptised in these countries, you may say. That will not do. It has become a

dead letter, there must be more than that. Baptism is not with your mouth; in fact, you do not baptise yourself at all; somebody else does it. Nevertheless you are committed to the death of Christ in it. But you must confess with your mouth besides that.

Let me appeal to the young people here tonight. Have you confessed with your mouth? Do you say, Must I tell the Lord Jesus? Yes, I do mean that, but tell your parents, tell your friends, make the thing known publicly, but be sure that you believe with your heart. As I speak to you tonight, God is looking into your heart, not into your countenance simply, although I love to look into your countenance, and so does God, but He searches the heart. He says, 'I have put My word into your heart; I want to know whether you are believing it'. What use are you making of the light you have got? Believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth, you come into salvation. So He says, 'I will save the tents of Judah first'. The principle of priority is a great principle with God. It cuts across all human thoughts; it is not what you expect; it is what God does. As I said, you are conscious of divine sensibilities; these are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit, for that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; that is, it is naturally so. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and you can do nothing with it at all. God has shown that in the Old Testament, so that now He has brought a new principle into man, and that is the principle of spirit. I am not now speaking of the spirit that every man has; but a principle that is brought in in the new birth that that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and it answers to God; so that if you are conscious of divine sensibilities there is great encouragement for you, you belong to the tents of Judah and God is going to save 'you first'; He is going to save you now; I suppose "first" was that very minute, it is not tomorrow; there shall be many saved before tomorrow, that I am

assured of. God is prepared to save you now; there is no waiting with God really; it is the swiftness of the eagle with God when work has to be done, and work has to be done if you have not yet confessed Christ with your mouth and believed in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead. So that He saves on these principles.

I have anticipated somewhat what may be the next part of what I had in my mind, namely, the pouring out of "the spirit of grace and of supplications"; that is what God does too. He stretches out the heavens; He lays the foundations of the earth; He saves the tents of Judah and now He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications on the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It is not universal. If God did this universally, then I suppose everybody would be saved, but God works on the principle of sovereignty, and, at the same time, He addresses Himself to all men. The "righteousness of God" is "towards all, and upon all those who believe", Romans 3:22. The principle of sovereignty is behind it, so He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Has He poured it out on you. It is an additional thought to the new birth. It seems to me that God has to give a man a spirit to enable him to judge himself. I would urge you to ask God to help you to judge yourself. You need to judge yourself, as I do, and one is really not able to do it without the help of God. So He pours out the spirit of grace and supplication. The spirit of grace, that is a very good expression and alongside of that is the thought of supplication, that is to say one turns to God. And now the judgment is in regard of Christ. How have you been treating Christ? Every time you refuse the offer of salvation in the name of Christ, you have ill-treated Christ; you have despised and disregarded Him. "They shall look on me whom they

pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn". You may have turned a deaf ear to His ministers, but how have you been treating Christ? The spirit of grace and supplications which God gives you enables you to recognise not only that you have been depriving yourself of the blessings of the gospel, but that you have been ill-treating Christ; and so you judge that.

Then I wanted to show you that whilst that is poured out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem only, yet it has to take a regular form -- you have to judge yourself alone. "The land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart". The royal family, the prophetic family, the priestly family, the levitical family all have to come in before God separately. The husband and wife are not to come together. The father and child are not to come together; each one is to do it for himself, that is the divine order, and so it was when Peter preached in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. The thought of this comes into the heart of the listeners. I suppose God had poured out the spirit of grace and supplications, and so they were pricked in their hearts, a remarkable way to put it. I suppose the pricking was through the conscience, but the point was that they had put that blessed Man to death, and that is what many are doing in principle today, and so they say "What shall we do, brethren?". You are talking about 'doing', you say. Scripture talks about doing. The element of responsibility in a man necessarily raises the question: Peter did not say to his hearers, 'You must not say that'; he says, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you". That is what you

have to do. And then he says, "For remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". Have you got remission of sins tonight as you sit there? As a known thing in your soul? and have you got the gift of the Holy Spirit? These are realities. I am not speaking of something that is merely theoretical. One knows what it is to be forgiven by and through the blood of Christ, and one knows what it is to have the love of God in the heart by the Holy Spirit. These are wonderful realities, and they are presented to you now in the gospel.

Think of a man going about the streets of London with the consciousness in his soul that God has forgiven him all his sins! What do you mind what the world thinks about you? The Spirit witnesses that our sins and iniquities are remembered no more; you have the consciousness in your soul that you are forgiven through the blood of Christ, and you have the consciousness at the same time that His love is in your heart. It is wonderful that one's heart is actually receptive of the love of God by the Spirit, and so in the first verse of the next chapter, it says, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness". Whether it is what one may call primary cleansing or whether it is the effect of the death of Christ on one daily, there it is, a fountain is opened.

Now all this is from the divine side: the stretching out of the heavens, the laying of the foundation of the earth, the spirit of man formed within him. He saves the tents of Judah first; He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications and He opens a fountain; all that is done by God on our behalf through the death of Christ and it is available. Now our side is that the thing is brought by God Himself into your mouth, the testimony of it, that is, and into your heart; now what are you going to do with your mouth and with your

heart? God says: I want both. I want your heart to be receptive of My love; and I want your mouth to be a witness to it. Are you prepared for that? God grant that you may be! He wants the vessel. Paul says, We are "vessels of mercy", fitted for glory. The answer to that is that one has a treasure in one's heart, the love of God in Christ, and one has to be a witness of that, and confess Christ as Lord. I put these things before you, especially the young; because I notice in moving about that the enemy is especially after the young; he was of old, when the people were about to leave Egypt; Pharaoh proposed to Moses that they should go and leave the young behind. That is Satan's proposal. No right-minded father and mother is prepared to leave his or her young in the enemy's land. The Spirit of God is working with the young so that not a hoof should be left behind; we want all gathered in. We have reached the borderland of the "world to come", the coming of the Lord, and we do not want a single hoof to be left behind. We want all gathered in. This chapter speaks about families, every family apart; the families must all be saved. I may tell you frankly that I much prefer hearing about the blessing of a child of a Christian than even those outside. One wants everybody; everyone who loves God wishes that men should be saved. But I regard a child of Christian parents going into the world as a double triumph of the enemy. It is very serious if you have been brought up in the light, and the word is in your mouth and in your heart; it is for you to use that heart and to use that mouth for God.

May God bless you!

"THY NAME, O LORD, ENDURETH FOR EVER"

Exodus 2:23 - 25; Exodus 3:1 - 15; Psalm 135:13, 19, 20

I thought that the Lord might help us in considering this section in Exodus in connection with the psalm. Exodus presents things as it usually does from the divine side and the Psalms from our side. The Psalms present the result in those who wrote them of what God presented on His side, so that the psalmist says here "Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever, and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations". The psalmist says it endures. That is, he has found out its durability as compared with seen things, things that pass away. He had found out the durability of the name of Jehovah, and that His memorial should remain. So the Psalms are our side, the result, so to say, of what we have found God to be; whereas the Pentateuch, the books of Moses, presents things from God's side.

The section I have read brings to our attention the sympathies of God in connection with the sufferings of His people. In a way nothing could be more touching than the fact that it is said that their cry came up to God by reason of the bondage. That is the power of the cry: "God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them". That was His side. The cry was so real, so genuine that it came up; it ascended to where God was. This is what God intends. God allows affliction, and He intends that it should be felt. It should not be accepted lightly, but it should be felt as sent of Him, and the cry produced ascends up as it says, "Their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage". The cry was so forceful that it came up unto God.

That refers to how much they felt things. Then verse 24 says God heard. He heard their groanings and then He remembered His covenant. That is He remembers what He said to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.

I commend to you, dear brethren, the importance of feeling a thing rightly, taking it rightly from God and the result of that is that there is a force to the movement of your heart. As it is said, the Spirit makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. Those are movements in the souls of God's people that are the outcome of pressure, the sense of the impossibility of the situation unless God comes in. So there are feelings and exercises which cannot be expressed in words. The Holy Spirit in us expresses them with groans, and the groans come up before God. So it says, "He who searches the hearts" God looks into your heart and searches it and it pleases Him to find groans. The groan is through our hearts. The Spirit makes intercession in our hearts. "He who searches the hearts", it says, "knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God". And then we have that simple statement that although we do not know what to pray for in detail, yet "we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God". This is common to all christians. "We do know that all things work together for good to those who love God". And so God, it says here, "heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them": it mentions His hearing and looking upon them and His respect unto them. They come before Him now in the light of His covenant. They were children of promise. I refer to all this because it brings before us the idea conveyed by the name 'Jehovah', His faithfulness. We rest

in that, so the next chapter brings out the situation as regards the people: they were suffering people. The Lord's people are ever that in truth; it marks them. The bush suggests that thought; they pass through affliction; they are not consumed. Thus that is the difference between the application of judgment to God's people and to others. "In the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble". The bush burns and the bush is not consumed. That is a sign to Moses. That is so to speak his gift, the impression God would produce on His servant: there should be continuous fire but although it burned it should not be consumed. All extraneous matter would be burned up. The bush would represent what is of God, because it says, "When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush". He does not call out of heaven. "In all their affliction he was afflicted", Isaiah 63:9. God is with His people throughout the whole of the desert journey. Although there is discipline, and God never withdraws His hand in that respect, yet He is in the midst of those whom He chastens. The principle is that a father chastens a family. He dwells with them and as dwelling with them they come under His discipline. God is with us.

Although He chastens He is with us. "I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee". He is with us in the thing. Although you take it from His hand He goes through it with you. He spoke to Moses from the midst of the bush. Very touching. "The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed". And Moses said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt". That is what struck him. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, He called to him out of the

bush. And now He outlines the thoughts He had about the people, that He had surely seen their affliction and had heard their cry. How very touching that is. I "have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters", and so He says, "I am come down". There is another beautiful thought. Not, I have sent down, but, I am come down. God came down in Christ to effect deliverance. It is a principle of His ways with us that He comes in Himself. He does not send; He comes in Himself. He comes into our circumstances to effect deliverance. But in coming in He does not spare the flesh. The fire keeps burning.

He goes on to the thought of His name. His name is bound up with all this. God would have us to know Him in all this discipline. He has got His name before Him. He would have us to know that it is a question of His name. And so when Moses questions He says, Go to the people and say to them, "I AM hath sent me unto you". Then "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations". God has His name. He gives us each a name but evidently the first thing is His name and discipline, so as to bring about in us a clear knowledge of God. A knowledge of God involves His name, and discipline clears the vision; so it says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. We come to see the Lord in all that but it is only as we have holiness. One might say that, perhaps, that which is least known among the Lord's people is holiness. Righteousness is generally apprehended and love is apprehended, but holiness is perhaps that which is least understood among the people of God. So that the necessity for it is in view of the discipline in order that we might be partakers in His holiness, and so as partakers of it we see Him. Now seeing the Lord does not refer to

God, it refers to Christ. It is the holiest. God is apprehended in the soul as one draws near, as one draws near in holiness. You cannot be at ease in the holiest without holiness, and discipline involves that one is qualified to enter the holiest and to look there to see what God is in Christ. Nothing can be more wonderful. I believe it is that which stamps the christian; he has seen the Lord. As David says, "I have seen thee in the sanctuary", Psalm 63:2. God is seen in His attributes and nature as shining in Christ. I refer to that because of the great value of holiness in the believer as fitting us to see the Lord. That leads me to the psalm which as I said presents just that side. The Psalms may be said to be the product for God of the light vouchsafed in the Old Testament. One ought to read them in that way and ask oneself, What is there in me that corresponds to that? I believe we should be psalmists. "I speak of the things which I have made touching the king", Psalm 45:1. There was something which he could speak of that he had made, had composed himself. It was that which he had composed touching the king. The Psalms suggest that the people of God should have a psalm; each has a psalm. It is an experience, dear brethren, with God, and when we come together each of us has a psalm. Now you bring forward a psalm. The thing is to have one. There is a yield for God. And so in this psalm the psalmist says, "Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever". You will remember the passage in Exodus 3, "This shall be the sign to thee ... ye shall serve God" (verse 12). That would be sign. That is, the result in them of the deliverance would be that they should serve Jehovah upon that mountain. There would be a return to Him from those who were delivered. He looked for a return from Jacob, and there was a drink-offering. Where He discloses His name, where He reveals Himself, He looks for response. The sign would be "Ye shall serve God upon this

mountain", that is Horeb, the place of the covenant. It is one thing to speak out of Sinai, and it is quite another to speak out of the burning bush, that is God Himself in the midst of His people enduring things with them. He looked for a return for that, that they should serve Him "upon this mountain". How much went between we cannot go into. Just one point when they were going out of Egypt Pharaoh said, "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in". Satan judges of us as if we were men. He cannot take account of us as born again or weigh the instincts of the divine nature in us, for he judges according to the flesh and he says virtually, 'That young man cannot go into the wilderness, he cannot live without the things of the world'. The christian can live without the things of Egypt; he has got other instincts. The desert does not shut him in at all. The desert is the place for him now because God is in it. He has got the meetings, the brethren, and above all he has got God. The wilderness had not shut them in. Instead of the wilderness shutting them in we find God in it. The psalmist here is looking back on the results that flowed from Exodus 3. God had said, "I AM". He is the unchanging One. The covenant held good, "Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations". He is not giving up. Christianity remains. The Holy Spirit is here. The apostle says, "Our word to you is not yea and nay ... but yea". The name of God is bound up with His everlasting faithfulness; for the Son of God that was preached by Paul, Silvanus and Timotheus "was not yea and nay, but in him was yea". Every promise of God is secured infallibly in Christ. So the psalmist is a spiritual man. Now the memorial should appeal to us as christians because it is bound up with the Lord's supper. It is not only what Christ is to me but what God is to me in Christ. Therefore we have the

Supper weekly. We look upon it every week as the evidence of the unchangeableness of God in Christ. His love is in our heart and it does not grow old; it remains for ever. We regard the Supper in that light. It is a memorial to us of what God is to us in Christ. The Supper is a memorial to us of Christ, and then in the cup we have the love of God in Him. Every time we drink out of the cup we realise its freshness.

All of us can verify this. We may say with the psalmist, Thy name is for ever and ever and Thy memorial unto all generations.

This psalm, which is a praise psalm, comes in after the purpose of God is established in Zion, through the Songs of degrees. Psalm 134 is the service of God carried on in night: "Bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord". It is, I suppose, suggestive of our position during Israel's night. Psalm 135 continues it in verses 1 - 3, where the service of God is carried on in the sanctuary. "For the Lord is good sing praises unto his name". See how the name is before the speaker. And when idolatry has been disposed of, in the end of the psalm, he says, "Bless the Lord, O house of Israel; bless the Lord, O house of Aaron; bless the Lord, O house of Levi; ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord". That is, he calls upon us as viewed in different aspects in which the christian is to be viewed down here, as the houses of Israel, Aaron and Levi. The house of Israel is what we are viewed as as having the Spirit. The saints of God are dignified in the possession of the Spirit ("A prince ... with God" ) and in that capacity we are called upon to praise Jehovah. The house of Aaron refers to us as all being priests, and as such we are to praise. The house of Levi views us as servants, for every christian is a servant in some sense. Every christian is a levite. He is held from infancy by the

Lord so that He can put His hand upon him when needed. He has a result from us as viewed in these three characters, as princes, priests, and levites, serving the saints. And then it says, "Ye that fear the Lord". What is that? It is your ordinary employment, however menial or dignified. You are regarded as one that should fear the Lord. It is the beginning and end of wisdom. It applies to us all. In the presence of evil we are to fear God, not in the sanctuary, mind you, because there you have boldness, but outside. We have to fear God in view of the flesh, but in that fear to be something for God. We are called upon as those that fear the Lord to worship Him and to praise Him, and then it says, "Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem". He comes back to the great thought of God's purpose. I suppose that should ever be in our hearts. I ever revert to the thought of God's purpose in whatever circumstances and nothing can change it. God dwells among His people in connection with mount Zion. "Here will I dwell; for I have desired it", Psalm 132:14. Why does He desire it? Surely there must be something there that pleases Him, and in applying it to ourselves there is something that pleases Him, what we are as subjects of sovereign mercy (John 3). He has a company founded on sovereignty.

Well I thought, dear brethren, it would help and encourage us to see how God is with us in the sufferings and in discipline for through them we acquire a knowledge of Himself. His name is revered in our hearts. It becomes a memorial and it endures. We look at it from the experimental side, and we see what it is. A memorial should be in our hearts, a memorial of what God is in Christ. May God bless the word.

PRAISE ARISING FROM PRESSURE

Jonah 2:1, 2, 7 - 9; Acts 16:25

I thought it would encourage us to look at these passages as setting forth the way in which the praise of God ascends to Him out of circumstances extraordinarily trying to the flesh. We are reminded of the Lord's word to the woman in John 4 as to the worship of God, "Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem". No, it is not a question of place but of the state of the worshippers: "They ... must worship him in spirit and truth".

These three men furnish us with examples of that state of soul which answers to God's mind, and that not in easy but extremely trying, indeed unparalleled circumstances. Certainly Jonah's position was a unique one although it was a fish "prepared"; it is well to note that he had to accept the judgment of God, denoted in the "waves". They were more powerful than the men's oars, and were God's means of thwarting Jonah's self-will. Jonah accepted the judgment of God. God had anticipated him, and had prepared a fish to swallow up Jonah. In that way it was a vessel in God's hand for the preservation of His servant, but, though an instrument of salvation, it was also one of discipline to him. Jonah had to learn in those extraordinary circumstances the bitterness of his own way, what folly it was. But in learning he turned to God "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God". Jehovah had not ceased to be his God. He prayed to God out of the fish's belly. What extraordinary circumstances! Yet the work of God in him was such as to enable him to recognise Jehovah as his God at the bottom of the Mediterranean, for he says, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains". The circumstances were not great enough to prevent

his crying to God; the light was not dimmed, rather the reverse: Jehovah is before his soul, "Jehovah his God"; as Paul says, "My God". Jonah cries out of the fish's belly: "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me". I want to notice that among other things the worship of God is not affected by outward circumstances. It is the state of soul He is concerned about; circumstances may be used to bring to account, but what He thinks of is His own product that He has formed within. It is that formation He takes account of. So Jehovah heard. Then Jonah says, "Thou heardest my voice", not only prayer, but "my voice". It was altogether outside the range of science, it could not be heard naturally, but Jehovah heard his voice; it was pleasing to Him: "Let me hear thy voice", Song of Songs 2:14. He loves to hear it, and Jonah is conscious of that, and so he says, "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord". There was first the affliction and then he begins to faint in such unparalleled surroundings, consciously alive in the fish's belly. But, "I remembered Jehovah" overcame the fainting: "And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple". Though he is in the fish's belly, his prayer finds its way into God's temple. It is not an outward visible building, but ourselves, the church; it is not controlled by place. God's work in the soul finds connection with His temple. So it must be a prayer devoid of all selfish motives to find a place there, in His holy temple. There was no disparity between the prayer and the temple. The product of the work of God in him becomes at home in that which is of God. I speak of that because of what holy prayer is. God is before his soul.

Now look at verse 9: "I will sacrifice ... I will pay that which I have vowed". He resolved to do that, so God brought about a worshipper, not only a servant. The circumstances in which we are help us

not only to be in subjection to the Lord, but to be constituted worshippers. The result is a voice, not only in prayer, but of thanksgiving, not words but a voice. God loves that. Hence our hymns afford means by which our voices are heard by God, tuned by the Spirit and mingled together by Him.

So I go on to Psalm 22, where we get a parallel; our Lord is heard from the horns of the buffaloes. Think of such circumstances; caught in the horns of the buffaloes. That is where He was. But He says, Thou hast heard me from there. Again it is not out ward position that is of account, but state. The Lord was heard from there. Now the next verse, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee". Now He is in the circumstances of praise in which He desires to be, leading the praise in the midst. He declares what He knew infinitely. He prayed to the Father from the cross. Now in resurrection He declares the name to His brethren, so that all may be in accord with His thoughts. There is no discipline in singing. The praise of the assembly is conducted by the chief Musician, and God now dwells amid the praises of the assembly. That is where praise is henceforth.

And so it occurred to me that these cases in which worshippers are seen, show us that our outward circumstances, though used in discipline, do not interfere with God's obtaining from us what He seeks "The Father seeks such", John 4:23.

I might add that in Revelation 11:1 the worshippers are measured, not only the temple and the altar, but the worshippers themselves. That is they correspond with the temple, all divinely measured. It is very comforting.

So I would link on Acts 16 as a further illustration of praise ascending to God from circumstances of adversity. It says, "Paul and Silas, in praying, were praising God with singing". They were conscious of

need but their prayer led to praise, and the prisoners listened to them. And God was listening too. The praises of the two martyrs found their way into the holy temple and were fragrant to Him. Their prison, so to say, becomes a temple; there is complete triumph and the prisoners get the benefit of it. The words show it was not forced on their ears; they listened. It was a pleasant sound.

This is all intended to encourage us to see what a yield there is to God in adverse circumstances. They are intended to bring that about. The "sweet psalmist of Israel" was a great sufferer. "Remember for David all his affliction". Great sufferers spiritually are great singers. In them God gets His pleasure.

It will help to have this before us. The circumstances here are extraordinary but they have served to draw out the sympathy of the saints; I speak from personal knowledge. You are much on our hearts. But it is the divine yield, that which is for God, that is the great thing, and we are encouraged to believe that it is so with you, that He is getting His yield, and that it will be so.

THE SUCKING LAMB

1 Samuel 7:9

When the Philistines came up against Israel such was the confessed weakness of their position that Samuel, instead of arming himself, ceased not to cry to the Lord for them. In keeping with the situation and their condition, he offers up a sucking lamb as a burnt-offering to the Lord. It was that which spoke of the preciousness of Christ to God. God was the Judge, and the action was in keeping with the condition which existed. "And the Lord heard him".

MEMORIAL

Exodus 3:13 - 16; Psalm 135:13; 1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26

J.T. What is to be remarked in regard of Exodus is that in it God prescribes or stipulates what things are to be. Whether it be a memorial or an altar, or whatever it be, He stipulates; He does not leave things to His people. Whereas in Genesis, generally speaking, things are left with the saints. Wherever an altar is built there is nothing said about a specification; nor did Joseph suggest anything to the chief butler as to what means should be employed to remember him. In Exodus it is not the subjective side that is in view, but what is from God towards us. And so with regard to the Lord's supper, the Lord did not leave it with the disciples to devise something whereby they should remember Him; He Himself devised that which was to convey what He was towards them, and what God was towards them.

J. S. Would it be connected at all with the fact that in Genesis there is no system set up by God? He did not come out setting up the tabernacle system, whereas in Exodus He did. Also in Corinthians there is the assembly of God in the place. Do you connect it at all with that?

J.T. Yes, and what is to represent God must be according to His specifications. If God leaves me to do anything, what I do tests my spiritual stature.

W.H. And as it is towards us no conditions can come in in any way to alter it; whereas if the truth is on the other side we have to take into account the conditions that exist in christendom in carrying out the divine mind.

J.T. Yes.

-.W. Does it not help therefore to remember that the books of Moses stand in relation to the rights of God?

J.T. Well, they do, especially what is called the law, including Exodus.

-.W. I was thinking, with regard to what Mr. S. referred to, that what is set up here, if it is to be representative of God, must be expressive of what He has stated.

J.T. The memorial must convey what He is and His name; it is not what we are; it is not the stature of the saints. The memorial is in regard of what He is: "This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations". He had taken a new name, a name which included the promises of God, and the power and patience of God.

J.S. "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob": Abraham, the promises, Isaac, the power, and Jacob, the faithfulness of God that went on with the crooked man. Is that the memorial?

J.T. Yes, that is what is referred to here; but we have more than that, have we not, Mr. B.?

R.B. Surely, since a divine Person has become Man.

-.P. I would like to ask, Do you connect what you were saying as to these three features of the name of God with "I AM"?

J.T. Yes, but He is also Jehovah: "Jehovah, the God of your fathers". That was new. His memorial must carry with it in what it represents the revelation as far as it has gone, and hence when you think of the Lord's supper you can thus appreciate what is in it. Moses was concerned as to what he should say when the children of Israel enquired, "What is his name?". "And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you. And God

said moreover unto Moses ..." (verses 13 - 15). So Moses may be taken here as a type of the Lord Himself; he is to be fully acquainted with the revelation, so that the desire to convey the name was a very right one on the part of Moses, and God evidently valued it. Therefore in addition to the thought of "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", there was the thought of Jehovah, meaning that He was now come to fulfil His engagements; that is what the new name means. It is everlasting faithfulness: "Jehovah ... hath sent me unto you".

J. S. Was "moreover" an expansion of what is contained in "I AM"?

J.T. Yes, it was an expansion of the thought of "I AM". "I AM" is the ever-existent One-the same yesterday and today and for ever. But you see, although He is the same yesterday and today and for ever, the time had come when He would fulfil what He had promised: His power and faithfulness on their behalf was to be shown them.

J.S. How should we get on without His being the same yesterday, and today, and for ever; but then He waits on one who is never the same any day, like Jacob, and brings such an one into blessing?

J.T. Quite.

-.P. How is that name to be the memorial for ever? Do you say that the name was the revelation of God up to that time? Does this verse suggest that the name is to be a memorial for ever?

J.T. What He is in Himself as revealed. I think it is the name 'Jehovah' He refers to when He says, "This is my name for ever" (see verse 15, New Trans.). God never recedes from the position He has taken up; hence when He brings in the word 'Jehovah' that is an advance; it means to abide. The law, and the prophets and the Psalms would only attest it, would only fully develop it, so that in Nehemiah's time after many hundreds of years of Israel's unfaithfulness,

one says, "Thou art the Same". That is the One Israel recognises, the speakers recognise; they had come to that, in spite of all their errings; the reality of the presence of God remained for faith.

J. S. Whatever they had been doing in the interim?

J.T. Yes; God remained; what He was remained a memorial, and that is so in the psalm that we read from (the Psalms come last-in the last division of the books of the Old Testament). The Psalms show that faith had respect to the primary institution and valued it.

R.B. The allusion you made to Nehemiah is a wonderful illustration of what you are saying, because when things had been forgotten they were remembered again and a memorial was kept; the idea of the memorial is that the revelation, however far it may be, is kept, is remembered.

J.T. Yes; do you not think that is one great feature of the Lord's supper at the present time, Mr. B., that it keeps ever fresh in our souls the fulness of the meaning of the death of Christ, in which His love is disclosed and the love of God; these are kept fresh before us?

R.B. Exactly, not only when we eat the Supper, but all the time the memorial is kept; that is what you mean?

J.T. Yes. "He is the true God and eternal fife",

1 John 5:20. The knowledge of the true God is preserved amongst the saints in this way. "I AM" is a primary thought of God, His memorial unto all generations. So that if the Lord's supper is apprehended, it preserves the true knowledge of Himself amongst His people. There is doctrine; there are doctrines in all the denominations, but the doctrine in itself does not convey God. The Lord's supper and the Spirit of God with it would preserve the true knowledge of God amongst the saints. No one can convey a right idea of God, a right impression of God,

except in that way. "He is the true God", it says. John enlarges on the fact, as we know. He says, "We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal fife". So he says, "Children, keep yourselves from idols". I think the Lord's supper would fit in there because it keeps the true God before us.

-.W. In that way it is in the Supper that the apprehension of the true Man and the true God appear to us.

J.T. I think that is very good. What comes before us is what Christ is as Man, and what God is in Christ. "That we should know him that is true ...", meaning that the true God is there in Him, because it is in the covenant really that the true God is apprehended; that is, God in love. The true God is the God whom we know in Christ.

-.W. So that your thought is that, until the soul has reached the point conveyed in the Supper, the true Man and the true God are not fully apprehended.

J.T. No.

-.P. The Supper then preserves the death of Christ before us; love keeps us in our affections free from false gods.

J.T. That is just what it is. It preserves the soul in relation to God in the death of Christ; it preserves it in constant freshness, so that it is not simply a doctrine or a system of doctrines, but living persons in their specific relation with Him, that is what christianity is essentially.

H.W.S. It suggests the necessity of a memorial; it is in view of what we are.

J.T. Yes, and in prescribing what the memorial should be God would have Himself fully before us. It is His own device. If we had been left to devise what the memorial should be it would be very defective;

it could be only our conception, man's art or device, as it says. That is what you get in the cathedrals, things that are intended to remind people of God and divine things; they are only human conceptions and very defective; some of them are pagan. Whereas what God devises is complete; He presents Himself from His own side.

W.H. So that His people say, 'This is our God'; they recognise Him.

-.R. Human devices appeal only to the sentiments, but divinely ordered things appeal to divine affections and produce response.

J.T. My appreciation may be less than yours, or vice versa, but the thing, the memorial, is there in its completeness; it is from God's side and in making a specification God intends that the thing should be presented from His side.

W.H. The question of apprehension does not come in there.

J.T. No, it is the thing from God's side; the stature of each one may differ, but the thing itself is from God's side and therefore perfect. It is a full memorial of God in Christ. God and Christ are kept before us fully-the true God. That is what God intends, would you say that, Mr. B.?

R.B. I would, quite.

J.T. Do you think it important to have it from that point of view?

R.B. I do, otherwise we should become lawless or get astray.

-.W. Is that why the Spirit of God has laboured so much of late years to get the saints into the good of the Supper, so that the memorial might have its proper force and right place in our hearts?

J.T. Yes, and it results in church affections in us, and in affection to the people of God as well.

-.S. Do you think that in the psalm you get the appreciation of it on the part of the people?

J.T. I think the Psalms represent that. The Psalms represent the subjective result, therefore the writer of this psalm shows that he valued what God said to Moses.

R.B. Is it not a most affecting thing that God should have placed a memorial with us, that He should desire to be known and to be remembered? It affects one's heart very much to think that God should place a memorial with us, does it not?

-.R. The perfection of the memorial is true to us by the way that it appeals to our hearts and if our affections are preserved in that way, are not our feet preserved?

J.T. Yes, quite so, and when you speak to God, as the psalmist does here, you indicate just how much you appreciate what is presented in the memorial.

-.W. Did Abraham, in Genesis 22, in relation to what he had, have some idea of what you have been bringing before us, an enlargement of things in connection with the name that you spoke of, "Jehovah-Jireh ... On the mount of Jehovah will be provided"? Did he see the expansion of the thing coming in, in that way?

J.T. Whether he understood it or not, he prepared the ground for further developments. It is an extremely touching narrative, and its being given by Moses makes it all the more interesting, because he had already had to do with God on the mount; in fact what is recorded here took place on the mount, the mount of God, which conveys a moral thought as well as a geographical thought. It says, "And Abraham ... took Isaac ... and rose up, and went to the place that God had told him of", and "on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar". It was a spiritual journey that he took with Isaac. "And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here ... and I and the lad will go yonder and worship". 'Bow down' the literal word is,

meaning worship God. Then it says, "they went both of them together". That is what it says in that short record. And Isaac said, "Where is the sheep for a burnt-offering?", and Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself with the sheep". So that there is a spiritual development in view of something later. And he binds Isaac and takes the knife, and then the angel calls out of heaven to him, and the ram is seen caught by his horns in a thicket, and he offers the ram. And then it says, "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh", meaning 'Jehovah will provide', and then the writer Moses adds to that "as it is said at the present day". That is after the forty years. He had been there forty days, and another forty days, and had received all the wonderful communications from God, the wonderful provision that God had made in the mount of the Lord, so that you can understand the expression "as it is said at the present day". So that Numbers 10, Mr. W., would refer to all that had come out on the mount of Jehovah. It says, "they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah" (Numbers 10:33), and there is all that entered into this wonderful name of Jehovah. It is not simply the mount of God, but the mount of Jehovah; it involves the full revelation of God up to that time, so that they moved from that point, and then "the ark", it says, "went before them in the three days' journey".

R.B. You connect the thought of the covenant with the mount of Jehovah. I think you referred just now to the thought of God's engaging to carry out all that He had intimated, so do you connect the thought of the covenant with it?

J.T. Oh, clearly. The covenant was given there, and it is remarkable that it says, "God is faithful, by whom ye have been called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord", 1 Corinthians 1:9. That is set down at the very outset of the epistle, showing that

it enters into what he had to communicate, that the Lord's supper carries with it what God is in His love and faithfulness; hence he says in the second letter, "For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for the glory to God by us". Every promise of God has been verified; Christ is the 'yea' of it and the 'amen' of it, and therefore the faithfulness of God, necessarily, enters into the truth of the Lord's supper, what God is in Christ. In the first letter he says, "This is the new covenant in my blood", because the Yea and the Amen is there. Then in the second letter we have not only the new covenant, but the spirit of it, the administration of it; the Lord administers it. He has made the love of God effectual in dying. But I think the mount is the way that He brings the love of God into our hearts, so that all the people say 'Amen'. I say 'Amen'; it is through Christ's administration. What do you say to that?

R.B. Yes, I see that, and the new covenant is connected with the memorial which we have, but we have very much more, would you not say?

-.P. I was just going to ask, Mr. Taylor, if you connect the memorial with the name of 'Father'?

J.T. That is the family thought.

-.P. I wanted to be clear, because you said it was the revelation of God up to a certain point.

J.T. The thought of 'Father' comes out in revelation, but I think the death of Christ has to do with God more; the truth of the 'Father' came out at the Lord's baptism.

Ques. Would not that name involve all that God is? I was thinking the memorial is a very wonderful thought in that way, as conveying what God is in a name.

J.T. The name of 'Father' necessarily carries with it all that God is.

-.P. I was not thinking of the name of 'Father',

but the name here; you said there was something further than what we have here.

J.T. I was going to say that the 'Father' includes all that God is, only it is God on the side of grace, not family affections; because it does not say that the Father judges anyone; it says that God judges. -.R. Do you mean that in the Supper God is distinctly before us?

J.T. That is what I intend to convey. 'God' enters into the covenant; the 'Father' would go beyond that.

B.I. So that in giving thanks for the cup, would you address God, really, and not the Father?

J.T. Well, I think so, because it is between God and the people, not between the Father and his children.

B.I. So God is before you in giving thanks for the cup?

J.T. Yes.

-.W. That helps in regard of what you brought out some time ago as to the difference between family relations and covenant relationships.

J.T. Yes, and it is a very important distinction.

J.S. I have connected family relationships more with the Lord's message, "Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend ...". "The Father" in a way connected with God revealed: "To us there is one God, the Father"?

J.T. Yes, John never refers to our Father, except in that one instance in chapter 20, so far as I remember. J. S. "One God, the Father" is connected to a certain extent with revelation.

J.T. "The only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him", John 1:18. It is that Person in the revelation of the Godhead.

J.S. Would you say that when the time comes for

God to be fully known in all that the memorial suggested, He comes to light as the 'Father'?

J.T. Yes, that is the memorial; we are speaking now of the covenant that God has entered into, where it is God more that is before us. Still, there is one God, the Father, and when it has the article before it, it is God, that Person viewed as God.

Rem. It does not say the 'Father' and 'a people', but "God and his people".

J.T. Quite. I think that is scriptural. An important point to remember in connection with the 'mount' is that it is said that "on the mount of Jehovah will be provided". That was a saying current in Moses' time, and a saying which he had fully verified as no other could have done, because he had seen what God was to His people on the mount; they had pitched before it, and remained there a long time, and in that long encampment God discloses what He was to them.

-. R. Would that be in the way of encouragement, that God had pledged Himself to carry out His thoughts in regard to His people notwithstanding all their crooked ways?

J.T. That is what I think comes out at the mount. The word was current; they referred to it.

Ques. Does the memorial suggest the way that things are maintained?

J.T. I think it does, and God having prescribed it, they would be maintained in a spiritual way. Of course christendom is a testimony to the departure from this; they have taken things up on their own plane.

-.R. You mean that in the bread the love of the Lord Jesus towards the saints is before us, and in the cup the love of God towards us is before us?

J.T. Yes, and it is the "new covenant in my blood". The memorial is fully maintained, essentially, not generally. It is preserved in however few, but the point is to have the thing; it is nothing less than

that. I often feel encouraged in that way, that what we have got is nothing less than what the Lord instituted; if it is not that it is nothing.

R.B. That imparts great preciousness to it.

-.S. The Lord, as it were, conferred the privilege of a memorial on Mary: "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her", Mark 14:9.

J.T. It is as if He would have that devotedness preserved here; it shows how He valued it.

-.W. Is that why you say sometimes that the covenant is formative? Does the Lord bring it out in its fulness in that way?

J.T. It is formative, only the movement from the mount would signify that the people had spiritual power; they were to take three days' spiritual journey, showing that we go beyond the mount spiritually; then it says, "The ark ... went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them". That gives the Lord Jesus His own distinctive place as leading us in a spiritual way.

-.R. Does He find a resting-place in the affections of His people?

J.T. Well, it was to seek out a resting-place for us, and a resting-place for Him. I think they are found together. But if He is seeking out a resting-place for us, where will He lead? He will lead you to the very best according to His own thought. "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a little",

Mark 6:31. He knew the kind of place to take them to. We might say a desert place is not a desirable place for rest, but spiritually it is, because there is nothing in it for the flesh; it is well there should not be, because if the flesh is enticed there will not be rest.

W.H. I think you intimated that God was pleased with Moses' movements at this point and that he was a type of the Lord; would you say the same in regard

of the Lord Jesus instituting the Supper? Would it be a pleasure to God-bringing the disposition of God to the people?

J.T. Moses wanted to be in a position to speak definitely-"What shall I say unto them?", Exodus 3:13. But then if you apply that to the Lord, He did not have to be told anything. I am not referring to what you were saying-it is only to bring out a point myself. The Lord knew the Father perfectly; that is what gives the gospels such wonderful interest "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen". The Lord spoke with the authority of one who knew, so it says, "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". And he says, "I have declared unto them thy name". He could do it very definitely, and He did. The gospels, of course, give us the details as to how He did it. Then He says, "and will declare it", because the declaration makes room for more, "that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them", John 17:26.

R.B. Would you say just a word additional to a remark you made as to the Mediator; that is an interesting point in connection with the memorial?

J.T. Yes, "The new covenant in my blood", it says. That is His part in it.

R.B. So that in viewing the cup, and in partaking of it, our thoughts are not wholly of God, but of the Mediator through whom God is known.

J.T. Quite, because the Mediator is the true God. The Lord has His own place there. He fills His part in it too.

J.S. Question as to partaking of the loaf and the cup-as to whether there is the element of food in it. In the three days' journey they were to eat and drink. Would you say the Lord strengthens us in that way?

J.T. I suppose there must be support. You

remember that Elijah in going to the mount had to be supported.

J.S. He went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights.

J.T. Yes, he received two breakfasts, as someone has remarked, and went in the strength of that forty days and forty nights to mount Horeb; that was a humiliating situation (see 1 Kings 19). Numbers 10 tells us they moved from the mount; there was no need to go back to it, I mean in the sense that Elijah went back to it. He went back to say to God that things were hopeless; he says, They "have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life". He did not say, "On the mount of Jehovah will be provided". He had lost that, whereas God says that virtually to him. God says, 'You have given up, Elijah; I have not given up'. So He sent him back to Hazael and Jehu and Elisha; 'These', He says, 'will carry out My will'. And they would carry it out according to that very provision which is in the mount of Jehovah. Because Elisha is the great one of the three; he is the final, and he sees through all that the others leave; but how?-on the principle of grace.

-.R. Would the three days' journey suggest movement from covenant relationships to something beyond?

J.T. That is the significance of that particular position. It is not that you leave the other in a definite way; it is simply that there are two lines running together; if you leave the mount of God, the covenant line, it is to go into something beyond for a moment, because you cannot leave it permanently while down here. It may come to an end finally, when we enter into our eternal portion. I suppose the mount of the Lord will not be in evidence then. We have the family relationships for the moment, however short.

The experience you have there lends a wonderful colour to all that you do here in the wilderness.

-.R. When David recovered the ark he wanted to find a place for it. Would that answer to having a permanent place in the affections of the saints?

J.T. I think there you come to the other side. Numbers 10 is His finding a resting-place for us, but in Psalm 132 David finds a resting-place for God, "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength".

J. S. I was going to remark, that when the ark goes before to seek out a resting-place for them, it is a moment, however blessed, in the provisional period here. The primary eternal portion of the church is not exactly 'rest'. But, being introduced in this blessed way, during our sojourn here, it is called "a resting-place".

J.T. Yes, it is provisional; "Rest a while", He says to the disciples.

J.S. Properly speaking the millennium is the rest answering to the intrusion of evil into creation.

J.T. The resting-place is a provisional thing, and it keeps us going in heavenly lustre and power.

Rem. The psalmist says, "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand", Psalm 84:10.

J.T. Just so, a day in them.

-. R. If we take the three days' journey and find that rest, does not the Lord find something to rest in then?

J.T. I think He does rest when we rest.

R.B. Do you not carry the thought "On the mount of Jehovah will be provided" along with the memorial? If we come together with a sense of the memorial we can ever count upon provision, so that we need to wait for the provision to be given.

J.T. There is always the sense of that, you mean, there is a new supply always which keeps you fresh.

R.B. The memorial is there, but there is the sense of waiting, is there not?

Rem. When the Lord says, "My Father and your Father", does He give you the thought of the covenant?

J.T. Oh, He does, but I think that is God as we shall know Him eternally.

Rem. That would be connected with the three days.

J.T. That is the way you are led into it. John 18, 19 and 20 present the New Testament answer to Numbers 10. The Lord had been speaking to the disciples inside and unfolding the divine thoughts to them and then having spoken these things He moved out and the enemy comes, and He says, "If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way". He had provided for them, so that nothing happened to them, and then in resurrection He goes the three days' journey Himself and He brings them into the result of it in chapter 20.

J.S. "If therefore ye seek me"-the ram was caught in a thicket. It says the sheep will be provided, but it turned out to be a ram.

J.T. But the point in John 18 is power, because the ark is not held, that is not the idea of it: "Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered".

J.S. I thought perhaps it was the Lord held by His affections for them.

J.T. That may be. That would probably come in in Luke, but the ark is the power of God; it is not held, it is power to go forward. "They went backward, and fell to the ground", it says. "Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thy face"-and they fled before Him, so to speak. They were not destroyed, because it was to make a way for the disciples; that was all that was needed then.

LETTER ON CONVERSION

464 East 26th Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. October 8th, 1922.

My dear Brother,

I have your letter of September 20th and I am interested in its contents. The expression that the children of the saints do not need conversion is misleading and indeed literally untrue, as many, alas! get far astray; but even as to those who do not go into the world the statement is misleading, unless guarded. I do not recall making this statement-if I did it would be to call attention to the difference between those wholly away from God and the children of believers who have proceeded outwardly with their parents in the truth. It is really a question of the right use of words. The word 'convert' or 'conversion' has reference to persons who by profession or conduct are wholly away from God. The word therefore could hardly apply to Timothy, for there is no evidence that he had turned away from the faith of his mother and grandmother.

But then "that which is born of the flesh is flesh", and hence the children of believers need to be born again as others, and this, I think, is what needs to be pressed. The fact that the flesh profits nothing should be pressed on children and the necessity not only of being born of the Spirit, but also of water. It is in the evidence of possessing spiritual instincts and pure instincts that the children of believers, who have not by word or deed adopted the world, should be accepted as eligible for christian fellowship. And I believe a young person should be able to give some account of when he began to experience the effect of the work

of God in him. Besides, as you say, most young people commit sins of various kinds secretly and are sinners according to Romans 3 and so are in need of the change effected by the work of God in them as others.

With love in the Lord, I am, Affectionately in Him,
(Signed) JAMES TAYLOR.

DISCIPLINE

2 Corinthians 4:1 - 18

The chapter shows that discipline is the order of the day. God's way is that we should all go through discipline. It is the feature of the testimony. The apostle was going through things, and he wished they might be comforted as he was. We are brought together on the ground of mutual acceptance of discipline. The apostle did not escape discipline; he was brought low to death, and he recounts it all; he is not writing from a pinnacle, but from the lowest point, like Jonah; he is writing from the depths, and recounts the comfort and mercies of God. The soul of the apostle is full of the sense of mercy. No one is effective who has not been down. The Lord Jesus first descended.

The apostle links the saints with himself in what he was passing through. In christendom the clergy are above the laity, but the Leader of our salvation is made perfect through sufferings. He descended first. He takes the lead in suffering, "As the sufferings of the Christ abound towards us", the apostle says. The thing is to accept discipline, and to see how blessing comes in by going down. The apostle despaired even of life. Discipline is preservative and formative. In bereavement or sorrow, we may go down to the gates of death; we may even be brought down to that ourselves. Hezekiah is an instance, but he comes up with a sense of the love of God. So the apostle goes down and this characterises his letter. In the ways of God the apostle has to go through this. Reduction has to be effected, and we are all drawn together in our spirits by the discipline of God.

Take Jacob: discipline was the feature of his life, but at the end he speaks of "The Angel that redeemed

me from all evil". He sees things aright and worships, and he blessed the sons of Joseph. The sun goes down, but we know that it will rise again. So in the end of Genesis, Jacob and Joseph both die, but they have resurrection in view; and Jacob calls upon all his sons and says to them: "I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days"; he knew the end. He knows the God of resurrection, and that God is faithful. In the discipline, God brings into evidence His faithfulness.

THE ASSEMBLY AT CORINTH IN ITS INITIAL FEATURES (1)

1 Corinthians 1:26 - 31; 1 Corinthians 2:1 - 16

It will be observed by most of us that this epistle opens as an address to the assembly of God at Corinth, hence all the teaching has reference to that position, and in reading this letter it is helpful to connect with it the initial work at Corinth, the apostle's early circumstances and work there. It says in Acts 18:2, he found "a certain Jew by name Aquila, of Pontus by race, just come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife". I thought it well to call attention to that as it sheds light on the epistle. The Lord had the formation of the assembly in view, and the architect was known at the outset as a tent-maker, and lodged with Aquila and Priscilla, who were not Corinthians at all but Jews by race belonging to Pontus, who had been ordered to leave Rome.

So the three are in no way such as would be held in favour at Corinth. Their rank would be nothing beyond that of trades people and their trade of no special consequence to a town built up on architecture. It is as if God would begin in this unpretentious way where His assembly should be set up. It was the word that was exercising the apostle, and it was a question of teaching the word of God.

The thoughts of God should take form in the assembly. The simplest person in Corinth would have access to those three people. The question might arise, 'How is God to work out His thoughts?'. In Exodus, which corresponds with this, His greatness is called attention to, the elders go up to the mountain to see the greatness of God before He requests the people to build Him a tabernacle. But He virtually says after that, 'I am to come into very small circumstances

in order that you may know Me and My thoughts'. To become poor deliberately requires very considerable greatness. Accessibility was the great feature of Luke. Even in Matthew the royal Child was available to those that were wise, but Luke particularly emphasises that. This Man receiveth sinners-that was the testimony (chapter 15: 2). Wherever any sought Him He was accessible. The action of the woman in Luke 7 would have been resented by an ordinary man; it would compromise his dignity. So here the fact that the assembly of God is in view emphasises what comes before us as marking the assembly. Coming into that assembly one would discover that God was there. He was setting up the assembly and what was necessary for that was the word of God, as the thoughts of God should be there. In the tabernacle the Lord Jesus expressed the thoughts of God. The tabernacle was anointed and Aaron with it without the necessity of death. The assembly is set up in these thoughts: "I speak as to intelligent persons", 1 Corinthians 10:15. Chapter 1 shows the kind of material. Chapter 2 brings out the hidden wisdom and the things the Corinthians had got involved the Lord of glory. What Paul taught has to be entered into by the Spirit. The tabernacle was made in parts. So now we have got what answers to that, and the word of God links it all together and it is called the assembly of God. Colossians goes further; it treats of the mystery in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Those epistles fit in in regard of what is spiritual, but the first thing is the word of God. So the tabernacle in the wilderness contained the divine thoughts but in order to understand them it required the spirit of wisdom and revelation. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God".

But the first great thing is to apprehend the littleness of the material according to man, then to apprehend the word of God, then Colossians and Ephesians give the privileges involved. The assembly is the vessel of divine glory of the ages. It is God acting in Romans and Corinthians; these epistles have things in this world in view. Romans is adjustment for the individual, and Corinthians is that same individual set up with others in intelligence in the things of God. It is a collective view; God is seen in Romans in righteousness and love; in Corinthians in order. Romans provides the boards; Corinthians puts them in relation to each other. We are not well versed in the word of God. His thoughts are seen in figure in the material universe; you see the order God delights in. He is the God of order in all the assemblies. So the word of God as known in our souls regulates us. From Exodus 25 to 33 it is "Thou shalt make", then from chapter 36 onward it is, "And he made". This is what the apostle laboured for during those eighteen months; that much people must be secured. They are set up in dignity spiritually. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption; that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord". The dignity they had was from God. We are set up of God in dignity for His building; nothing else is taken account of. This is the groundwork of all that follows; those things ennoble us for God's system. "In Christ Jesus" is our status. Poverty does not qualify you for the tabernacle any more than riches. We are ennobled by being put into Christ. It is objective, what is in Christ Jesus, think of the range of things. Manhood is in Christ. Think of what that is, typically the cedars of Lebanon, the full thought of God in man, and not only so, but man anointed, "In Christ Jesus". That is the anointed man, the greatness of that is what the

Holy Spirit would present, that is the hidden wisdom that is referred to. The world has its wisdom; we would be regarded as quite unsophisticated if we had to do with religious and scientific societies, but has God no wisdom? Wisdom was by Him when He laid the foundations of the earth; so He says, You are to be wise. You begin with the thought that all divine wisdom is in Christ. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Abstractly every christian is wise. Wisdom is justified of all her children. God is saying virtually in verse 30, You must have these things, but you cannot get them yourself, so I will supply them, I will make Christ them to you. God has done this Himself.

In connection with chapter 2, the apostle says, "We speak wisdom among the perfect", as much as to say, Even if we do not speak it to you, you must not think it does not exist. "We have the mind of Christ", the apostle says, that is, the means of thinking as wisdom does. The mind here is the thinking faculty. Proverbs helps greatly in regard to wisdom, written as it is to sons, and by a son, showing that wisdom requires the family relationship for the full bearing of it: it is there it has fullest play. Wisdom was there when the foundations of the earth were laid, and rejoiced before God. Wisdom works out in the family. Solomon was his father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother; then he speaks to sons. The primary thought of God is the family and it is not simply that love requires it, but wisdom is love's handmaid and love has free play in the family. The relationship itself induces love so that in regard of revelation it says, "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him", John 1:18.

The assembly of God at Corinth refers to all that God is in the way of public manifestation. His wisdom and order are to be taken account of. The

assembly is adorned by these things, hence the great necessity of spirituality and of understanding the epistles to the Colossians and to the Ephesians. The assembly is greater inwardly than outwardly. While Paul was there you could see expressed in him the divine thought. Inwardly the tabernacle contained things that were infinitely great but outwardly what was it?-badgers' skins, rams' skins and so on: all that met the eye referred to death. So here you get what corresponds: "I determined not to know any thing among you ...". The apostle sustained that truth in his preaching; this is the bearing of what he would give out. It is knowing the truth of Colossians and Ephesians that enables you to take this up. A believer is set up here in what God has got, but what he is set up in is already sustained by spiritual power.

"We speak wisdom among the perfect". What an incentive. Romans is the adjusting epistle and one who is adjusted is enabled to take his place in relation to the assembly of God.

Then the thought of the temple comes in. As saints recognise the temple of God how things are opened up to them! It is really in the light of Ephesians that you understand the whole of Scripture. The light of the heavenly enables you to see everything in its true relation. 'Heavenly light makes all things bright'. The Lord greatly honours all who come together in the light of the whole church, the Holy Spirit acts in relation to that. Romans brings in what is of God; then you find He has prepared things for us, things which eye has not seen nor ear heard. Think of preparation expressly for those that love Him. Nothing touches us more than that divine Persons should be preparing for us. God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit; "For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God". It is a remarkable expression, the depths of God.

THE ASSEMBLY AT CORINTH IN ITS INITIAL FEATURES (2)

1 Corinthians 3:1 - 23

Ques. Can you describe a spiritual man for us? What would characterise him?

J.T. An unspiritual man, or a babe in Christ, is one who sees men as trees walking; men have a great place with him. So there were those at Corinth who said, I am of Paul, and so on. A spiritual man sees all things clearly. In Mark 8 the Lord first touched the man, who then saw men as trees walking, but after the second touch he saw all things clearly. So the apostle says, "The spiritual discerns all things",

1 Corinthians 2:15. One is reminded of the wheels in Ezekiel 1there were eyes in every part, hence we learn that it is necessary that one who takes a lead in the house of God where the government of God is seen should be spiritual; he should see things as they are and be uninfluenced by the natural.

Ques. Would the babes to whom John writes be spiritual?

J.T. Well, as governed by the anointing they would be. More is said to the babes than to the other two classes; they were so exposed to antichristian influence. The apostle says, "Now these things, brethren, I have transferred, in their application, to myself and Apollos, for your sakes, that ye may learn in us the lesson of not letting your thoughts go above what is written, that ye may not be puffed up one for such a one against another", 1 Corinthians 4:6. He was concerned that the Corinthians might learn not to set local leaders one against another. Men are not trees.

Mark 8 is the end of a section in which the Lord acquired His own place in the mind of the disciples. He says (verse 27), "Who do men say that I am?".

The disciples reply, "John the baptist; and others, Elias; but others, One of the prophets". They would surely put Him amongst the 'big men', just as you see His name in the museums alongside that of Zoreaster and Plato, but the Lord says, "Who do men say that I am?". And Peter answers, "Thou art the Christ". In Mark it is the anointing that is prominent. The antichrist is set over against the Christ. The anointing enables you to apprehend the Christ, and the man at Bethsaida would be led on in that way. So long as men are seen as trees, the Lord is not much taller in your eyes, but when you see Him in His right place you recognise that men have no place beside Him. 'Big men' is a Philistine idea. It is a mistake to put up local leaders one against another. Paul was little (his name means little) and that is how he appears in these epistles. The results of a spiritual man's life, scarcely understood by his own generation, are felt later. The import of Abel's testimony was not understood in his own day, but he now speaks. The voice of the men of faith goes on.

One's thoughts in regard to this section were connected with the temple; the Corinthians had to learn what they were. The apostle brings out at the end of the chapter that all the levites were the property of the saints, "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things coming, all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's". It is the opposite to the clerical thought which is that the flock is the property of the clergyman. The ministers subserve the assembly, so the levite is on a lower level than those to whom he ministers. The main point here is what the Corinthians are; thus they would understand the relative value of servants. The moment you see men as trees walking, you lay the basis for the clerical principle.

Priesthood is greater than what is levitical. The levite is personally a firstborn one. In our service we are

given to the priests; we can stoop because of our greatness. Seeing his calling the apostle was great enough to be the least of all. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building, Apollos and myself are just labourers, he says. It is what the saints are to God that is the great thing. It is beautiful how he connects himself with Apollos; there is no rivalry there. In most, if not all cases, where servants have been uplifted, the saints have helped in that; hence the danger of the babe state. A babe says, What a preaching that is! and is carried away by the sermon and the preacher. As you get older you see there are others in God's plantation.

Ques. What is the thought of the temple? What is the practical application?

J.T. You would not need to go out of the company to get the mind of God. The temple had been at Jerusalem; now saints would see it was amongst them, that they themselves were it. So they come together in the recognition of this. In Exodus God was to speak to the people off the mercy-seat. Moses went in and heard a voice. All he received would be on that principle, as I understand it. It comes out locally where saints turn to God about matters. It is a great thing for every local company to recognise that the light of God is in the company. God will not fail to convey His mind to us as coming together in this light. The Lord went into the temple; according to John 2, the word used describes the general building, but when He says, "Destroy this temple ...", He uses another word, the shrine. He had in mind the thought of light. No one who sought light from God would fail to get it. Light would radiate from the Lord's words. The Holy Spirit has come down, and now the body is called the Christ, the anointed vessel in which the light is diffused. The temple is a place of enquiry: "And to inquire of him in his temple"; the temple underlies the body. In the millennial

day things will not be arbitrary, but intelligible. People will know by enquiry, they will see the rightness of things.

Ques. Is the temple in view of administration?

J.T. Yes, in a sense, the mind of God is there and the church of God is to express that; it is the rule of influence. Attention is called to what the Spirit says, and yet He does not speak specifically, as things are to come out from time to time. In 1 Corinthians 3 a builder may be saved even though he puts in bad material, but the corrupter of the temple is not saved. The foundation is the order of man, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What a Man He was! Paul would put that in the souls of the Corinthians by testimony and teaching; those who followed were to see to it that they put nothing else in. It is so easy to put in extraneous matter.

Ques. What is the thought of a corrupter of the temple?

J.T. One who brings in someone else's light, something that seems to be light but is false. Babes are exposed to that. Satan assumes to be the temple himself. One has known men who professed to have light from God from the moment, whereas they are corrupters. We have to do, not only with men's intellects, but with evil spirits. This is that spirit of antichrist. They deny Jesus Christ come in flesh that order of man. They are not ordinary men. We are told to try the spirits. "Every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God; and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God", 1 John 4:2, 3. There is the testimony of the apostles and of Jesus Christ come in flesh. You will always find that these false teachers are building up on the wrong man. One would be alive to the danger of so-called evangelism. Souls are undoubtedly enlightened but the features that go with the work are of man and entering into the building

they prepare for its corruption. Souls do not get a right conception. Satan is at the meetings and the preacher is sowing seed that will bear a crop later on. All ministry is subject to test. If any one is transgressing the Scriptures he ought to be pulled up; however powerful what he says, he must be amenable to the judgment of his brethren. The idea of the temple is that the light of God is here. The body is more an external thought; the temple is inside. The light of the body shines in the world, whether men want it or not; but the temple is light to the saints, "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God ..?". That is the way the Spirit is spoken of in regard of the temple, but the anointing is public; it is the dignity of that vessel in which the light is set. The end of the chapter contemplates saints in a wonderful position; everything is ours. It saves one from the modern thought of a shepherd and a flock, the clerical thought; the flock is too great for that.

ADMINISTRATION IN MATTHEW 2

Matthew 2:1 - 23

This chapter suggests the condition of things into which the Administrator is introduced, and which He has to deal with. It is the state of things in Israel, officially or nationally, and is in great contrast to the godly remnant which we see in the first two chapters of Luke.

There should have been light in Jerusalem, but there was complete breakdown in regard to God's thought for Israel, so that we see the sovereign operation of God outside of Israel, in bringing in light from heaven. The star appearing to the wise men suggests this. From the official element in Jerusalem they could get scriptural information, and they were able to use and apply this in the heavenly light they had received. Israel had the oracles of God in Scripture but the Scriptures are only understood in the heavenly light which has come in through the church. Going to Jerusalem exposes the darkness there, but it was also an intimation to the nation that God was moving.

Wisdom is a great necessity in administration hence the wise men. In Luke the shepherds suggest God's care for man, as God would still have men as His flock. The star coming in here in connection with the King suggests the Star and the Sceptre in Balaam's prophecy (Numbers 24:17). The star, too, announces in a dignified way the arrival of the King.

Administration in the first chapter would appear to be in connection with the rights ("Son of David" ), and promises ("Son of Abraham" ) of God. In the second chapter the introduction of heavenly light suggests the administration of His glory. The administration is to be from heaven. There is light from heaven to bear on everything here in connection with the exercises of administration.

In Matthew things are viewed in responsibility. We see that God is going to assert and maintain His rights through the King. There is in the King the solution of every difficulty that is raised in connection with the condition of things found here (Ecclesiastes 8:4).

Two important features of the administration are suggested by the twofold way in which Christ is presented. First as "the little child"; then as in verse 15, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son", (compare Isaiah 9:6).

The expression "the little child" occurs very frequently and suggests the spirit that should mark the administration of the kingdom. It is the only kind of spirit that is suitable to the kingdom as seen in Matthew 18:1 - 4. Solomon speaks of himself as a little child on taking up the kingdom (1 Kings 3:7). The great failure in man's administration in the world today is that the people cannot be controlled and led. But in the coming day of the kingdom "a little child shall lead them".

The thought of sonship is developed in Matthew in connection with the administration of the kingdom. There can be no right administration apart from the sense and liberty of sonship. Saints are sometimes almost afraid to touch matters connected with divine administration because they are not in the liberty of sonship. "David's sons were chief rulers", 2 Samuel 8:18. Who would have more care for the interests of the kingdom than the king's sons?

The three cities mentioned seem to answer to the three divisions of the generations in chapter 1. The first division would bring you to Christ, under His authority, which answers to Jerusalem the city of the great King. In Bethlehem, which was "little", we have suggested the absence of anything in the way of outward show, which corresponds to the breakdown of the public aspect of things marked by the Babylonish

captivity. The brethren come to light here in a very special way (chapters 1 to 11).

W e find the brethren, it may be said, compassionately in connection with the kingdom in Matthew. Peter's line discovers to us our need of the brethren in this way. In Colossians on the other hand, we find the brethren constitutionally on the other side of Jordan.

In Nazareth, "He shall be called a Nazaraean", you reach Christ personally as the One who is not accepted publicly and you accept that place with Him. So you are in line with the whole spirit of prophetic ministry in regard to Christ as rejected.

It is when we feel most the state of captivity that we get most light as to Christ. Compare Daniel in Babylon, Paul in prison, and John in Patmos.

Chapter 1 may be regarded as presenting the kind of man and chapter 2, the King. There is a suggestion of the two pillars of the temple, Beauty and Strength.

Matthew does not refer to the Babe; Luke does because he is presenting the Lord Jesus as Man. In Matthew it is the King. The thought of Emmanuel in Matthew, God with us, is God with His people in support, whereas John presents God come in a Man.

The gifts of the wise men are suggestive of the divine glory of Christ (the gold), His perfection and fragrance to God as Man (the frankincense) and His sufferings (the myrrh). The first may also suggest what God is towards man, the second what man was in Christ to God, and the myrrh His sufferings as Man with men.

It is instructive also to note the circumstances in which the Lord Jesus is "found" in the gospels. In Matthew, with His mother in the house, a circle of affection is suggested; in Mark Peter and the others found Him in prayer (Mark 1:37), indicating levitical exercise; in Luke in the temple (Luke 2:46) there is what is priestly; in John He is found in connection

with the home (John 1:39 - 45). Psalm 132:6 also bears on this.

The weeping of Rachel is full of suggestion. It was Rachel who said, "Give me children, or else I die", Genesis 30:1. This is a good exercise. She would not be comforted. Everything was secure in Christ, but there should be exercise and travail to see a generation like Christ. We see, however, that the children are brought in by Christ in Matthew 11:25. He brings them in. They are brought in by the King and in connection with the travail of the saints.

The Lord going down into Egypt may be regarded in different ways. It suggests the Lord identifying Himself with Israel in their whole course from Egypt to "the land of Israel". It may suggest also the Lord putting Himself in a place in which we all are, starting from a point where all may be reached. The reference to Egypt in Isaiah 19:24, 25, suggests God's providential goodness to Egypt for providing shelter for Christ.

We must know Bethlehem before Nazareth. The house of bread suggests support in view of the place of reproach.

The house in verse 1 I suggests the church as the house and the position of the star as over the house suggests the present position in a beautiful way. Heavenly light directs attention to Christ cherished in the affections of the saints in the house.

The house suggests the public position of the saints; the star the kingdom of the heavens.

In reaching Christ you come under divine instruction (chapter 2: 12); and you go back by a different way from what you came.

THE LORD'S SUPPER

Matthew 26:13, 26 - 30; 1 Corinthians 11:17 - 26

J.T. It occurred to me that the light that shone from heaven around Saul enters into everything that he treats of, and above all, the Lord's supper. There is nothing perhaps that has occasioned more controversy among the people of God than the Lord's supper and yet it is encircled with the greatest light, as if the divine intent was that there should be no doubt or shade of doubt as to its meaning and bearing. So that, in introducing it in this epistle, the apostle regards the saints as intelligent persons and as such they were to judge what he said. As we remarked, Matthew and Mark do not speak of the Lord's supper as a memorial; they speak of the woman who anointed the Lord in Simon the leper's house as to be remembered: what she did was to be spoken of as a memorial of her wherever the gospel should be preached. Luke alone speaks of the memorial of Christ, and he presents the subject evidently as supporting Paul's presentation of it. An understanding of the memorial of what the woman did would lead to the conditions suitable for a memorial of the Lord's supper. Perhaps we have not thought much about this memorial of the woman.

G.W. Not in connection with the Supper, I am sure. Perhaps you would say a little as to how what the woman did prepares us for the memorial of the Lord's supper.

J.T. I was thinking the Lord's supper has become enshrouded with the greatest darkness among the people of God generally. As we all know, it has become degraded into idolatry in some; the grossest darkness enshrouds the institution in others; and then with others, there are uncertainty and materialism. So the obvious reason is that what this woman represents

has not been observed. The Lord enjoined here that what she did should be spoken of as a memorial of her wherever the gospel should be preached. If what she represents were announced in the ministry of the gospel, the converts would be prepared for the memorial of the Lord's supper; because in Matthew she represents one who regards the Lord Jesus as the only One fit to govern and rule, and in Mark she would look for the levitical service as seen in Christ. I think if christians generally understood these two features the memorial of the Lord's supper would be seen in its proper setting. The government of the church of God is in the hands of men who are in many instances perhaps not christians at all, so what can you expect but darkness and uncertainty? Then the ministry too is carried on by men who are not christians, and how can they comply with what the woman would look for? So that the government of the church and the ministry are in the hands generally of men who are not really christians, and hence the darkness. So that evidently the Lord's injunction in regard of her has been overlooked, disregarded.

G.W. The moral import of it evidently has been very much overlooked. It has been more looked at as an act of devotedness.

J.T. It was an act of devotedness, but it was devotedness marked by intelligence. She knew what she was doing; she anointed His head.

Ques. Are you connecting that with what Paul said, "I speak as to intelligent persons", 1 Corinthians 10:15?

J.T. Yes.

W.F.J. She was commended then and distinguished for it.

Y.Y-L. May we go back a point: would the gospel produce this kind of person?

J.T. I think it would, rightly presented: but it is spoken of as an addition. "Wheresoever this gospel

shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her". That is, if you preach the gospel and carry this out, you would speak about this woman, and you would have to make plain what she had in her mind.

Y.Y-L. I wondered if you were going back to the origin of the thing, that the kind of gospel that is preached, if it is the gospel of God concerning His Son, would produce this kind of convert, and have in view that we might be intelligent in our minds in regard to the Supper.

J.T. Yes, that is what I thought. The convert would be told by the evangelist something of the import of the gospel of Matthew.

Rem. The evangelist would lead the convert to an intelligent appreciation of what is presented.

J.T. Yes. He would be saved from a human organisation. He would look for the kind of government that Matthew presents; and in Mark, he would look for the kind of ministry that Mark presents and would not recognise the clerical system as it is.

Ques. Would Matthew present the thought that only Christ is to be distinguished?

J.T. Yes, as regards government. So that the hierarchical system would be undermined at once: it is not the idea in Matthew; nor is the clerical idea the idea in Mark.

G.W. Therefore the importance of the man who preaches being himself intelligent on this fine or he will only misdirect those to whom he preaches.

J.T. Yes. Many a preacher sends his converts to the systems; he does not think of the woman and what she did.

Ques. Why does she anoint Him for His burying?

J.T. That governed the position at that time: He was going to die to establish these things. They could only become effective thus. She saw that He was going to die; it was a very great thing that she did

discern this. A preacher is a former of assemblies really, according to Ecclesiastes, and if I have the assembly in view in my preaching I will make a good deal of this woman, for she prepares the way for it. So the assembly Paul speaks of is an assembly formed of such persons. When you come together in assembly, the first thing before you is the Lord's supper. If we are in the light of what this woman did, we shall be fit for it.

Ques. Do you think that the woman was in the full enjoyment of what she did in intelligence?

J.T. Evidently she was intelligent as to what she did; she anointed His head. Luke speaks about an anointing of the feet and John speaks of an anointing of the feet, whereas in these two gospels it is the head, referring to the mind of God set out in Him officially in the two relations of which we have been speaking, because it is no less than the mind of God.

Rem. Although she anointed Him for His burying, she knew He was coming in glory, as you get in the previous chapter; she was in the light of that.

J.T. No doubt.

Y.Y-L. After the convert is delivered from the systems of men, a good deal has to be taken down before the structure can go up. Is that the work of the preacher or the teacher?

J.T. I suppose the teacher would come in, but I think the gospel should lay the basis in the soul for everything that is to follow. If you present Christ aright, and present this woman, what she did, I think the foundation is laid for the structure of the assembly. That is where the popular gospel comes short; it does not lay the basis for the church. Hence the Lord says, "I have not found thy works complete before my God" (Revelation 3:2), meaning that protestantism has never laid the basis for the church in the preaching.

G.W. Would you say the preacher's work really is to introduce souls consciously to the Person concerning

whom the teacher unfolds all the moral excellencies and bearings, so as to affect him? The preacher is not satisfied until the soul is really introduced to the Person.

J.T. The Person, not only in regard of what He is Godward, but what He is officially. I think Matthew and Mark enlarge on those two features: what He is in government and what He is in ministry, or what He was, for we have to learn the mind of God from Christ and the four gospels give us it in its completeness, but particularly these two, because they make way for Luke.

W.F.J. Neither of those two speak of remembrance, do they? It is only Luke who speaks of it.

J.T. No.

G.W. You mean that until we have apprehended in some measure what is presented in Matthew and Mark, we are not free to take up what Luke presents?

J.T. Yes. Matthew and Mark help us to emerge from the complicated state of things at Jerusalem. The passover and the Lord's supper merge, according to the records of these two evangelists, and you see the necessity for that. It seems a bit difficult perhaps for many to dissect, but we have to make room for the patience of God, and that is where His government comes in. The government of God required that Jerusalem should be owned even after the Spirit came down, so that the assembly is a separate entity here, as it says, the Jew, the gentile and the church of God (1 Corinthians 10:32). The announcement of that was deferred, because the patience of God required that He should continue with Israel, that there should be the fullest opportunity given for them to accept the glad tidings, and so Matthew and Mark, I think, have to be understood before we can see how the assembly is to be regarded as a separate entity here according to 1 Corinthians, and I think the understanding of this woman's act helps.

W.F.J. In regard to the gospels, is not the Luke mission carried on in the Acts?

J.T. They all have their bearing; you would not leave out any. Luke is the standpoint of the pure grace of God, but you have to take account of the government of God as well, otherwise you would not perhaps make allowance for the patience of God on the one hand, and for His retributive judgment on the other. Our dispensation is not strictly a dispensation of judgment, but judgment did enter into it in the government of God: it came on the Jew even in our own dispensation, so there is overlapping, and in order to reconcile these things you have to understand Matthew and Mark.

G.W. Wrath did not come upon the people fully until they rejected the testimony of His having been glorified; it was essential that should be presented to them. That was the final testimony to them.

Y.Y-L. You mean, the refusal of the Spirit, the testimony to Him as a glorified Person by the Spirit.

G.W. Peter said, "And he shall send Jesus Christ, ... until the times of restitution of all things", Acts 3:20, 21. They refused Him in His glorified condition.

J.T. They said, We will not have this Man to reign over us.

Y.Y-L. How are you going to bring in the government of God in regard of the gospel of the grace of God?

J.T. What this woman did would help you. You see that in the government of God certain parts of humanity are in view. You see that two-thirds of the human race is left practically in the dark. You can only account for that by the government of God; you cannot explain it. Europe has been wonderfully favoured. Well now, the government of God relates to those two things. If Europe has been favoured,

the government of God is sure to follow the rejection of the truth.

Y.Y-L. In what way do you present the government of God as to individuals in the light you were speaking of? What a man sows he reaps.

J.T. Quite. The Jew is not addressed as a Jew now; you deal with him as a man. God is not recognising him as a Jew now; that is His government; whereas in Saul's time he was dealt with as a Jew.

Ques. How do you deal with the gentile?

J.T. As a man.

Ques. Does the government of God come in in Matthew 28 where it says, "Go into Galilee"?

J.T. Yes, there it is again, meaning that Jerusalem is disregarded.

Ques. Would you say it would be out of keeping to have a special mission to the Jews?

J.T. Yes, that is out of keeping with the moment.

Ques. You link that with the Mediator?

J.T. Yes, that is the position now, "There is one God; and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus", 1 Timothy 2:5. So that prayers are for all men and the Jews are included necessarily.

Ques. Would Paul be presenting something of the government of God when he said to the Jews, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you", Acts 13:41?

J.T. Yes, the government of God was overtaking them.

Y.Y-L. You had this on your mind in connection with the coloured races?

J.T. You cannot ignore that: they are facts. They do not shine in the assembly much, even when they are converted.

Y.Y-L. But a thoughtful and intelligent christian-

a coloured man-would accept the situation and be blessed accordingly.

J.T. Yes, exactly so. The Syro-Phoenician woman accepted the position: she had no claim on the Son of David. So the Samaritan woman accepted that salvation was of the Jews. And later the Samaritans had to accept that they did not get the Holy Spirit until Peter and John came down from Jerusalem. I wanted specially to show that what this woman did, as rightly understood, it would save us and deliver us from the darkening influences that surround the Lord's supper, so that we should have it as it is in the light of Paul's ministry, for he emphasises the light: the Spirit of God says, "A light from heaven". That is the light in which we ought to understand the Lord's supper. Paul speaks of it as "a great light", and again as "a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun", and that should govern the Lord's supper. The thing is as clear as noonday, but the darkening influences that have come in hold most of the Lord's people.

Y.Y-L. So we suffer in consequence in regard of it. What do you think was in the mind of the Lord in the confirmation of this from the glory to Paul?

J.T. I think that the thing should be seen in its proper setting in relation to the assembly. It is a light from heaven to govern the assembly. The position at Jerusalem tended to complicate the Lord's supper and indeed, everything. There was a complicated state of things at Jerusalem because of the longsuffering of God: He was loath to give them up, but the light from heaven meant that all that uncertainty should disappear, and I think that is what you get in Paul's ministry. It is a complete disentanglement of the truth and all that stood connected with it from Jewish settings, and so today from religious settings, for that is where the darkening influences are. So we have in Luke an upper room.

Instead of what this woman did, we have in Luke that the Lord sent Peter and John to prepare. I think that would correspond administratively with the light the woman's act conveys. Peter would shut out all human innovations, for he had authority, having the keys of the kingdom, and John would insist on family conditions. Peter and John were sent by the Lord in Luke.

G. W. How do you connect that with the woman as to John?

J.T. I only mean in a general way; that Peter would insist on the government as the Lord Jesus set it out-he represented the Lord; John would insist on family conditions.

Y.Y-L. Though he does not give us the Supper.

J.T. No, but he was sent with Peter to prepare for it, and he does prepare for it now. John 13 is most essential to the Supper, as we have often remarked. John speaks of the things without naming them. As we were remarking this morning, "Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, which go up from the washing", Song of Songs 4:2. That is the principle of John 13.

Y.Y-L. In that way the service of Christ leads Peter much to the same goal as the Supper. You have the thing that goes with it-the atmosphere of it.

W.F.J. John 13, 14, 15 and 16 were all said at the Supper table.

J.T. Quite.

G.W. What you are saying now is that we should be exercised that each one of us might be delivered from these principles that are going to cloud the Supper in our souls: principles which are abroad in the world and which our own hearts naturally turn to when we get down in our moral condition. Has not that been really the reason things have come back to the hierarchical and clerical system? A worldly principle

has been taken up to make up the lack of what there should have been spiritually.

J.T. Neither Peter nor John mention the Lord's supper formally, but they really prepare us. Peter's epistles are governmental and they make for the support of Paul's doctrine. Peter writes his letter from Babylon apparently: a very suggestive thing, for what is Babylonish is coming in, and he writes therefore with authority. I do not know who carried the post, but evidently it was carried straight across Palestine to Asia Minor. He is speaking from Babylon to the Jews of the dispersion in Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, and so on, the provinces of Asia Minor. These are the provinces in which Paul's labours began and in which God blessed him, in which the assemblies were formed. Paul habitually went to the Jewish synagogues first but the time was passing for that, and the believing Jews of the dispersion were to learn that it was no longer a question of the Jew first; they were to learn not to look to Jerusalem any more. They themselves were living stones and had to come to Christ, not to Jerusalem. "Yourselves ... are being built up a spiritual house", so they should not have to go to Jerusalem any more.

W.F.J. They got the support of the Spirit; those who remained in Jerusalem did not.

J.T. Just so. You can see how Peter's epistle as it was received and understood would make way for Paul's ministry.

W.F.J. It is very interesting that Peter and John should both take up things in connection with Paul's ministry.

J.T. Yes, it shows how God maintained practical unity, and how Peter and John prepare for the Lord's supper as Paul gives it to us.

E.M. What does the apostle Paul refer to in speaking of what "I also delivered to you"? Had he told them about these things beforehand

J.T. He evidently delivered it to them during his ministry amongst them, and he reminds them of that now.