Genesis 19:27 - 29; Genesis 21:8, 9; Genesis 22:9 - 13; Genesis 24:61 - 67

J.T. My object in proposing these scriptures is that we might see how the believer comes into the assembly in the place of testimony here, that is, Sarah's tent as the position of testimony. Other scriptures may come into view besides those read. I would first call attention to the judgment of the world, which helps us to understand in a preliminary way the position of the church in the world. Then in chapter 20, which is familiar to us all, God calls the attention of the Philistine king to Abraham, that is, to His people here in faith, as it is said, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm", 1 Chronicles 16:22. It is God intervening, and giving the believer room in the world. "God is not ashamed to be called their God", Hebrews 11:16. Then in chapter 21 we have the promised seed owned fully in the household of faith; a feast is made for him when he is weaned; that is, Christ's Person is seen in full view. In chapter 22 the idea of resurrection comes in; in chapter 23 the death of Sarah; that is, the decease of Israel in the place of testimony, and in chapter 24 Christ and the church Rebecca is led into Sarah's tent.

E.W. Why do you emphasise the judgment of the world?

J.T. It must precede the formation of the church in the new position as the vessel of testimony. The church is consequent on that, this world is already judged: the Lord Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out". And in John 16 the Spirit is to "bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment". Therefore it is a judged

world that we witness in, which makes the position of the believer in the world serious. God has judged it, and we take the issue of God's judgment.

E.W. It would help to deliver us from this present evil world which is dominated by the wicked one if we saw that God has judged it.

Ques. What is the position of Abraham in these chapters?

J.T. In the early section of chapter 18 the heavenly man is brought out, who is able to entertain divine Persons here. God had enjoined circumcision, and Jehovah went up from talking with Abraham (chapter 17: 22). Abraham carried out the injunction exactly the selfsame day. Then we see him in a certain position at Mamre honoured with three visitors, Jehovah and two others, whom he entertained. Then follows the announcement of Isaac in the next year. Then Abraham's priestly qualifications are seen in his interceding for Sodom because of the righteous man in that city. Abraham was accounted righteous on the principle of faith; he was a righteous priest. He goes from fifty down to ten, and God owns his priestly intercession. All this takes place in response to Abraham; he sees the judgment from this standpoint. Every believer ought to take this standpoint. The world is bad; God has judged it after the intercession of Abraham to save it.

Ques. Is it essential, in order to take our place intelligently in the assembly, to begin with judgment regarding the world?

J.T. You see things as God sees them from that point of view; Abraham stood where he had stood before Jehovah.

Ques. You would try and link up the church and the world otherwise?

J.T. You would save the world if you could. Abraham was not wanting in patience in view of the righteous, but there were not ten found. When the

Lord destroyed the cities wherein Lot dwelt, He remembered Abraham, and sent out Lot. It brings out what Abraham was; he would save the world if it could be saved. He had power with God; Lot was saved through his intercession.

-. S. It is a very serious thing and should affect us much that God has judged the world.

J.T. God spared Lot. He "is longsuffering ... not willing that any should perish".

-.S. Abraham was with God about the matter.

J.T. That is the ground we all take as believers, and from that standpoint get God's view of the world as judged; Abraham saw the smoke go up from there. There is no question about it.

-.K. The judgment was more fully seen in Christ's death.

J.T. The Father and the Spirit all bring condemnation on it. In John 12 we have the death of Christ "I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me". Then the Spirit, when He comes, will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8). Then there is the epistle of John. The judgment is evident, for the smoke goes up as the smoke of a furnace. The Holy Spirit has come in and brought demonstration into the world by means of the saints; at Pentecost they were convicted. There are those in whom the Spirit today convicts the world. Anyone going into it is doubly responsible as there are those through whom the Spirit convicts.

M.W.B. Corinthians begins with the cross of Christ as the ground for refusing the world. Then the Spirit refuses the world; so in a double sense we are responsible not to go into it.

J.T. In another place Paul says he is crucified to it and it to him. That is a further thought.

M.W.B. Before one can entertain the thought of the church with reference to testimony, one must see

that the world is judged, and the double demonstration of it in the witness of the Spirit.

J.T. It is the sphere of judgment; therefore it is doubly serious to go into it.

F.W. Have you any thought why Abraham is allowed to go down to Gerar?

J.T. It is so in the overruling of God. He went down into Egypt; God allowed that in His overruling. I think it affords an opportunity to bring out what He thinks of Abraham; we should not have known that God called him a prophet but for that. It shows God's thoughts of him, and also brings out what we get in another place, "Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm", 1 Chronicles 16:22. He would tell the Philistine king His thoughts of Abraham through this occasion. Abraham is superior to him. Chapters 20 and 21 bring out the place the man of faith has with God. He is a prophet, and is in moral superiority over Abimelech; he gives him sheep, and he reproves him. He puts seven ewe-lambs by themselves, indicative of the spirit of Abraham, as witness that he did dig the well; that is on the line of Romans, overcoming evil with good. It shows how the man of faith qualifies to occupy the church position in the place of testimony; superior to what Israel ever was.

J.O.S. We need to learn that the world as a system is judged before we can understand the assembly.

J.T. What the world is has come out through the Lord's presence here; what it really is. The presence of Christ here tested it.

J.O.S. The world as a system lies in the wicked one.

F.W. We need encouragement if we have been on the downward grade to see that God will never depart from the anointing; He has in view our recovery.

J.T. God is justified in what He had accomplished; Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and all his people. Abraham was a priest, for he had spoken to God about Sodom; now he prayed for

Abimelech, and God answered him. What a great place faith has in a world that is judged! God can go on with the world provisionally, and the gospel can be presented to it. It is a great honour to faith. God calls the attention of the king to Abraham in that way. It shows the place we have in relation to the world; we pray for those in it. What moral superiority it gives to the Christian! After Isaac is recognised and Ishmael cast out chapter 21 brings out how Abraham is growing in moral power. It is no use to talk of the testimony aside from moral power; or of the church position, if my business affairs are not right. It is the poorest thing to be only nominally in the position as Israel was. There must be practical righteousness.

M.W.B. Is that why the elder must "have a good report of them which are without", because he stands in a certain public position in connection with the testimony?

J.T. They look at you, of course.

M.W.B. You learn to overcome evil with good.

J.T. Stephen was known as a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit. The armour of Romans is the armour of light, and it is connected with righteousness. There is no light in anyone aside from righteousness.

"Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness", Psalm 132:9. You cannot pray in the prayer meeting for the nations unless you are clothed in righteousness.

J.O.S. That is why it says in Romans 13, "Owe no one anything".

Rem. The injunction in 2 Timothy 2 is "Pursue righteousness ..."; righteousness is first.

Jos.T. To be here for the will of God would be fulfilling righteousness, would it not?

J.T. The Lord says, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness". And in Romans we read, "In order that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit". Before the world we

must be characterised by righteousness. In John eternal life is the testimony, in Romans righteousness.

J.O.S. Righteousness involves being subject to our limitations: they come in as the will of God, and we learn to accept them.

M.W.B. Why did you emphasise the weaning of Isaac?

J.T. The thought is that we should be detached from the natural. The setting is John's gospel. In John 2 the Lord's mother says to Him, "They have no wine". His answer is, "What have I to do with thee, woman? mine hour has not yet come". He was detached from her. Faith begins to see Christ apart from what He was here in the natural setting. The Lord alludes to this when He says, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad". Christ being detached from the natural should so affect us that we should not be so under its sway.

Rem. In Genesis 22 we have the offering up of Isaac. Even he has to go.

J.T. The weaning is not so far as that; that is a further thought. The weaning is that we are detached from the natural. "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more". And even He has to go in death, and be offered up, to reach the thought of God. He has to be surrendered in death. Abraham received Isaac back from the dead in figure. That is what the believer has. He is filled up with Christ! Full of Christ he can come into the place of testimony here.

M.W.B. That is how you view the history of Abraham: what the believer has.

J.T. These chapters bring out how the man of faith, the heavenly man, qualifies for the place of testimony, that is, Sarah's tent. It must be occupied; it cannot be empty. Men of faith, heavenly men, are to occupy it and grace the position. What do you think, Mr. W.?

E.W. That would be further progress made by those who see the world is judged. I am following with interest what you say.

J.T. The natural is the old things: "Old things have passed away". We may have faith, but it takes us a long time to get clear of the natural. Even Abraham wanted to retain Ishmael in spite of the mother and the mocking.

J.O.S. Does he get clear of the natural when he calls on the name of the eternal God?

J.T. Quite so. Eternal is in contrast with natural.

E.W. The natural is often a great hindrance to us in spiritual relationships.

J.T. You will find in the most spiritual that adjustment as to the natural is needed. It is so hard to get rid of. But it hides the full position of Rebecca; she was led into it; it is a position we take up from the divine side. We are led into that position. The Lord led His disciples as far as Bethany, to that point. That is not fully Sarah's tent; Rebecca is the full thought of the church. The church is not a remnant of something else; it is something entirely new, though there were a few at the beginning who were a remnant of Israel; the testimony was continued on for some time in that setting. Rebecca is the full thought of the church, Paul's church, not the pentecostal church.

W.J.T. Would that correspond with the epoch of Abraham, who was the heavenly man?

J.T. From Abel to Noah we have men for the earth. "While the earth remaineth", there would be certain conditions. Noah was recovered for the earth, then God called out another man, who was to be heavenly, alluding to the church. Noah was not that. Isaac was offered up upon the mountain; there is no record that he came down. He occupies that place alone, and the church is brought to Him. She is taken into Sarah's tent by the heavenly man.

E.W. She is "of Christ", of His kindred.

Ques. Would you say a word about the pentecostal church?

J.T. The pentecostal church is not that seen in Revelation 21; that is the external view built on the foundation of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Their ministry is there. See the grace and liberty she has! Rebecca is led into Sarah's tent. You have the full thought there.

F.W. The Pentecostal church, I suppose, is based on Peter's ministry.

Jos.T. Would Sarah's tent be like Paul's hired lodging in the end of the Acts, when he received all who came unto him and spoke to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God?

J.T. His testimony was that the salvation of God was sent to the gentiles. Sarah's tent is a definite place of witness; a well-known place occupied by the church.

M.W.B. Isaac led her into that from his exalted plane.

J.T. The servant's name is not given. It was not Eliezer (as is generally supposed); he was a domestic, a servant of the house; Abraham spoke of him as "this Eliezer of Damascus". In chapter 24 the servant chosen is said to be the eldest of his house, the ruler over all that he had. That is a big thing; and he was a person of great dignity, over his house. He was put under the solemn charge of not taking Isaac back.

That is Paul's ministry. Christ is not taken out of heaven, but as the heavenly Man, the church is brought to Him. Then we have Isaac coming into the field to meditate at evening; that is, Christ represented in perspective for faith. Rebecca springs down off the camel. The Spirit of God depicts so beautifully the heavenly position. She is led into Sarah's tent for testimony.

M.W.B. Meeting with Isaac is the heavenly position; she comes from there to the place of testimony

previously occupied by Israel. That is the peculiar position of Sarah's tent. It is reached on coming down, not on coming out of Syria.

J.T. From chapter 15, as we move on in faith we are led on to that ground.

B.A.H. To be a comfort to Christ. Sometimes we are not.

J.O.S. The last few verses of John 15 concerning the Spirit as the Comforter and the Witness, and "ye too bear witness", would cover the beginning. Then Paul's testimony follows.

Rem. It would enhance the character of the testimony if it is carried out by those who are heavenly.

J.T. We see what a great place the church has.

She was of Isaac's kindred. Before the servant set out to find her she was known to be there. At the end of Genesis 22 it was told to Abraham that she was there, in the line of Nahor.

Rem. You feel that the testimony goes out, but we need to be exercised as to how far we testify on that line.

J.T. The gospel is preached on the line that Rebecca is there. That is the point in the genealogy in the end of Genesis 22. It was told Abraham that Micah had borne eight sons to Nahor; and the Spirit of God adds, "And Bethuel begat Rebecca". She was there. No preacher would doubt that; he must get her. The church is brought to Christ that way. Isaac is out of sight; he does not come down from the mountain; the Holy Spirit presents things in that way to us. Abraham was told about her; and he must get her.

Rem. That is what the man of faith does.

M.W.B. The omissions of Scripture are very wonderful. That is the point of view the Spirit wishes to emphasise.

J.T. That is the way Scripture presents things.

F.H. The Lord said to Paul about Corinth, "I have much people in this city".

J.T. Paul did not labour in vain.

Ques. Would you say a little more on the difference between leading Rebecca to Isaac, and Isaac leading her to the tent?

J.T. Christ will give us our place in the testimony. It is not so much the line there; she is led into the tent; she became his wife and he loved her; these are general facts mentioned. The Lord fixes our position; He must dispose of us. Rebecca was leadable; she did not say, 'This tent is not suitable; I want a better tent than that'. It is a question of the Lord disposing of us.

E. W. Does the thought of union enter into this?

J.T. Oh, yes. "It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a help-mate, his like". But Christ as the heavenly Man is in dignity, self-contained.

Isaac felt the loss of his mother, Israel. He had come from the well Beer-lahai-roi; he had plenty of resources. At eventide he was walking in the fields to meditate. When the servant said, "That is my master!", she recognises his position and acts becomingly. He leads her into his mother's tent. The Lord is assigning the church her place here in testimony. Not that He is going to reside with her there always, but she is to take up that position.

F. W. "Behold, I and the children which God has given me"; Jehovah had given them to Messiah.

J.T. That does not take you off Israel's ground. Rebecca is a new person to take up the position of testimony. It is not the final position.

Rem. The servant had so magnified his master that she, on meeting him, covers herself.

J.T. The thought is that Abraham was his master, carried forward in Isaac. All that we know of God is in Christ; we never regard Christ in any other light.

"That all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father".

M.W.B. In Colossians the greatness of the Person is brought before us. The church here in Israel's position comes into that.

J.T. It is well to keep in mind that it is another, not Sarah. She is brought in the Spirit's power to another man. When she sees Isaac, she springs off the camel. She does that in her own power.

Rem. So the tent is a provisional thought.

J.T. Israel will come into it again; but today the testimony runs on. Israel has been in that tent and will comes into it again; but it is now occupied by the church. The church holds it today as Israel could not hold it; we see the superiority of the church in every way over all other families.

H.W. The ark was in a tent provisionally, the tabernacle.

J.T. Yes; like that, it is a provisional thought and runs on. Israel was in the place of testimony, now it is taken up by the church. All we get in the Old Testament is seen in a greater way in the church than ever it could have been seen in Israel.

E.W. Perhaps it would help if you would say what is in your mind as to the testimony.

J.T. It is what God set out.

E.W. Is it what God has here?

J.T. It is illustrated in Ephesians 2:4, "God, who is rich in mercy" and "His great love". They are seen in the way He has taken us out of death. We were "dead in trespasses and sins", far away from God, degraded. But without anything to commend us to God, God has quickened us. That is what God has done. He does it. "God ... has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus", in order to set forth the riches of His grace. He has prepared good works beforehand that we should walk in them.

E. W. It is God's work; He started it and He will finish it.

J.T. It is seen in the assembly, which is Christ's body.

M.W.B. If it is not diverting you from what you have before you, may I ask what is the connection of eternal life with the testimony? You referred to it earlier in John's epistle.

J.T. That is a very important matter, and one we all need help on. You will have noticed that the Lord touches the subject in John 3 where it is a question of dealing with our state. He says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up, that every one who believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal". That, of course, refers to the brazen serpent. In Numbers 20 the children of Israel, after they had drunk water from the rock which Moses smote twice, instead of speaking to it (nevertheless the waters gushed out), send a personal message to Edom, saying, "Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country"; we will pay our way, go on our own feet, by the king's highway, and so on. In great dignity they tell Edom all that God has been to them; how He brought them out of Egypt, and led them through the wilderness. But Edom refused, so they had to go by the way of the Red Sea and round the territory of Edom. Now suppose the brethren ask me to do something unreasonable; for Edom compelled Israel to take a detour round by the Red Sea. Well, Israel were grieved, and complained, and spoke against God and against Moses! You can hardly credit it! It indicates that people who could send that beautiful address to Edom spoke against the God who had been so good to them! The incident brings out something that was there, that they did not know was there, that was very bad. We are capable even at the advanced stage of christianity of speaking against God! We have not discerned

yet how bad we are, and what we are capable of! Even a spiritual man, who could go on his own feet, and pay his way, if the brethren ask him to do something unreasonable, speaks against God and against His servant! Therefore the fiery serpents are sent, which bite the people, and they were perishing. Then the serpent of brass was lifted up. It is the terrible state of the flesh that we are so slow to discern. The Lord alludes to this when He says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up, that every one who believes on him may ... have life eternal". It is a question of life in the sense of fulness of joy and superiority over death. The testimony of John is that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

M.W.B. We become available thus in testimony here in the world on behalf of God.

J.T. Those who enjoy it.

Rem. It is a living testimony in the saints, and is the result of arriving at that judgment.

J.T. "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren".

Rem. The love of the brethren becomes a testimony.

J.T. John says, 'I write unto you because ye know'. That word 'know' is conscious knowledge. The saints know they are in superiority, because they love the brethren.

Rem. Israel was in the place of testimony; now we become the testimony.

J.T. See how these christians love one another!

M.W.B. I like that thought. Then as we are in the enjoyment of spiritual things now we are brought into the region of the testimony.

J.T. In John 3:12, "Earthly things" refer to the serpent being lifted up, "heavenly things" to eternal life. Heavenly things belong to the One who has ascended up. He has been down and has been "lifted up". That is the fulness of the thought.

M.W.B. That is a matter of concern and spiritual apprehension to link eternal life to the One who is in heaven.

J.O.S. In John 6 the Lord Jesus says, "Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?". The Lord suggests that everything is outside flesh and blood condition.

J.T. He belongs to Canaan. Eternal life is for the earth. We are blessed "with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ". They are enhanced in us while they are not seen in Israel. But they will be by and by.

Rem. John desires that our joy may be full. Lack of joy is the cause of testimony being so poor.

J.T. Eternal life is the blessing. It is difficult to appreciate it if we have not discovered what we are capable of, that is, speaking against God and against Moses!

E.W. What have you in mind about chapter 22?

J.T. That is to bring out that the heavenly man, that is, Christ after the flesh, must be surrendered in death vicariously if faith is to reach the goal. It is a supreme test to Abraham, but he answers to the test, and heaven speaks to him twice; thus it becomes one of the great landmarks in Scripture. You too have to pass that way. Sarah dies. We have to go that way if we make any headway. I think Abraham understands eternal life, because he is seeing about burying her. Why does he want to bury her? Faith sees resurrection. In the light of faith Isaac is raised; that is, Christ is in heaven; we bury our dead in the full confidence that they will be raised.

M.W.B. "I will raise him up at the last day"?

J.T. The whole of chapter 23 is taken up with the burial of Sarah. The field is bought, the trees bought, not for display; the field is bought for the cave that is in it, that Abraham may bury his dead out of his sight. The field becomes the occasion of the display

of eternal life. Nowhere does life come into evidence more than at a burial; it is for testimony and display. The brethren are there; they are not under the power of death; they are living. You bury in faith. You bury a person because he will be raised, in view of the resurrection. The hymns are hymns of praise and victory, for display of the testimony of divine power.

Saints are buried in the light of resurrection. Else if there is no resurrection (as some say) Paul says, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die". But it is not so. Tomorrow we shall be raised. The trees are for shelter.

M.W.B. In the light of resurrection you would say it is very unbecoming for a Christian to be cremated.

J.T. Oh, certainly. Burial is the thing, because they "shall come forth", superior to death. Sarah is the first person buried.

J.O.S. Hebron is the light of another world.

J.T. Hebron has in view the cave of Machpelah. "All these died in faith".

J.O.S. They had a view of "the land" afar off.

J.T. Genesis 23 is introduced into Hebrews 11, and into the section of the bush. Jehovah said to Moses, "I am ... the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob". The Lord Jesus tells us that God "is not God of the dead but of the living-, for all live for him". They were living though they had all been buried. That is the realm of life of Hebrews 11.

Rem. "Abraham rose up from before his dead".

J.T. That shows the power he had. Jacob "gathered his feet into the bed, and expired". It shows the power of life in the saints. It is only a little while we shall be buried. That is faith's point, and the believer has it.

Rem. The testimony is before all who went in at the gate of the city.

J.T. Verse 17 describes the position. It was a great public testimony. Why does he buy the field and trees? Faith is the answer. There is nothing without it. We live in the faith period. "Without faith it is impossible to please him". We are "risen with him through the faith of the operation of God". We come into it by faith-into all we have spoken of.

FIELDS

1 Corinthians 3:6 - 9; Genesis 27:26, 27; Proverbs 24:27

I have the scriptures in Corinthians especially in mind, and have read in the Old Testament to amplify, and perhaps clarify, what is said there by the apostle. The scriptures taken together treat of the idea of a field, that is a portion of the earth which is set apart as profitable, which may be sown in and reaped with a view to a crop. The thought of a field has a wide and varied meaning in Scripture. In Matthew 13:38, for instance, it is said to be the world, so that it is very wide, the world viewed as capable of cultivation, capable of receiving seed and producing a crop. Then we find it also as containing treasure secured by purchase, so that rights are acquired over it. Then we find it in many other connections, that is as characteristic of what is convertible, the beasts of the field. We find, as already alluded to today, the field of Ephron, a field that commands peculiar interest as, whilst it is a burying-place, it points to resurrection. A wide area is secured, at least an area called a field, called that several times, and the trees in it, all that was in it secured with care, money paid out for it, a testimony as we have already had today to the power of God, whilst it has the grave too, in the light of the death and resurrection of Christ, who as it is said, annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel. That is the field, whether it be where the saints as together bury a loved one, or whether it be whence the saints who are buried come forth at the quickening word of Christ to resurrection, to life. The Lord through redemption has rights, which He now uses in respect of the burial of loved ones, for they are all His, His dead, but as "the section of the bush" proves, as He called it Himself,

it is the life realm, all live to Him, He says. God is not the God of the dead but of the living, so they are all as good as raised. Faith understands that and that field will glow in life and glory as the Lord Jesus descends from heaven and awakes the sleeping saints and changes the living. No one will see anything, the whole scene will be dominated by the power of God; no power can cope with that and we shall go up without any molestation or hindrance.

Then there is the field of Hanameel which Jeremiah bought, pointing to the future when fields and vineyards shall be bought and sold and the title-deeds secured. There are no title-deeds mentioned in regard to the purchase of the field of Ephron, but it is a public matter. We are told the price secured; it is a public matter secured to Abraham, secured to faith; in other words it cannot be infringed upon or interfered with, a matter that should be in our hearts as we bury our dead. The field of Hanameel, on the other hand, is sealed by writing, part sealed and part open. The deeds, as I may call them, are lodged in an earthen vessel, no doubt alluding to the living saints today who have the treasure in earthen vessels, keeping every thought of God in their hearts; whether for themselves or for Israel all the promises are yea and amen in Christ, cherished in the hearts of the saints now, so that the title deeds of the field are always secure. Everything thus is viewed, dear brethren, for us; victory is in all these things, but it is all a matter of faith, faith sustained in life by the power of the Spirit of God.

These two fields, as I said, present certain features, but the verses I have read refer to the saints, the saints viewed as a field, or husbandry. Husbandry is a similar thought, an area cultivated by God, and in which He is operating. Even in a debauched worldly city like Corinth God would have what He regards as His husbandry treasured. No one can infringe upon

it with impunity. As the apostle says, "Having in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled", 2 Corinthians 10:6. There were those who were entrenching on the rights of God there, but they should come in for their deserts for God's husbandry is not to be touched by a foreign hand.

Well now, I want to comment on the verses in the Old Testament so as to lead up to this point, so that the brethren may see, whether it be in Cambridge or any other city or town or village where the saints are, that God has His husbandry. As the Lord Himself says in another setting, "My Father is the husbandman", a very solemn fact and yet very comforting, for a father suggests, grace, and yet severity. Love indeed must be severe where there is that which damages; it is not love to treat lightly that which may be in the child or the saint and which damages the vineyard or the husbandry. It is not love at all. There must be skill in the way love acts, but love will act with the utmost severity, as the apostle says, "I would that they would even cut themselves off who throw you into confusion". So the Lord announces to Paul, "I have much people in this city". That is what He alluded to, He had them, not yet actually, but potentially; that is to say, it was like a field, as I hope to show in a moment, a field prepared of the Lord. There is the smell of it, not yet a crop, but the smell, known to God, of a field that was to be fruitful. Now these remarks bring me to Genesis 27, a well-known scripture and one which fits peculiarly in what I have in my mind; one may touch, in dealing with it, on the individual believer, in the manner in which Isaac regards his son. The affection conveyed in Isaac's invitation to his son is touching, and I need not remark that it is not a mere historical matter, but one to be used at any time, bearing indeed directly on us, for these two men so prominent in the chapter are,

as the sequel shows, the true or real brother and the false brother. This thought runs down the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, and indeed from Matthew to the Revelation, the thought of the genuine brother and the false brother. A comparison of the blessing will help us; the scripture says that Isaac blessed them both by faith, but a comparison of the blessing will show how the one is the real brother and the other the false, although Esau had every opportunity as every normal brother does. Heaven spares nothing that would help him, to make him real, so that Esau is blessed but he is not kissed, he is not said to be kissed, nor is he called near, and his blessing is just what he should have without any thought of giving, whereas Jacob's blessing is all a question of gift. Esau shares in great advantages in the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven, but says Isaac, "It shall come to pass when thou rovest about, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck", that is Jacob's yoke. "When thou rovest about" meaning what we call loose or independent brothers. I am not saying they are not christians; I am only speaking of the character of roving about, no submission to heaven, or ordering by heaven; none takes his place by divine appointment, thus each becomes independent; he breaks off the appointed yoke, which is very common in our days, a thing to be avoided. Is anyone here on the line of roving about? It is a warning; you may think you have got liberty but it is simply independence. On the other hand Jacob is called near by faith, for now Isaac is in the full position of faith and blesses, as representative of God. He draws near, how touching for young people, how God would call you near. "Come near ... my son". Then he says, "See, the smell of my son", a word that has to be quoted because smell is a matter of great sense and helps as to decisions, the smell you find. Here it is the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed, that

is to say it is a christian, it is a christian acting in the divine nature, not yet perhaps having the crop in view, but potentially the thing is there. "The smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed", pointing to a future crop, and what a crop!-the crop is sure to come. And in the end we have the solemn fact that Esau is hated; there is no crop. Jacob is loved. "I loved Jacob", alluding to what came out in his history, whereas Esau is hated, alluding to what came out in him. He had every opportunity to bear a crop, for God is wonderfully gracious to Esau making provision for him, as in the book of Deuteronomy he was not to be touched, but later the prophetic history denounces him. No nation is more denounced; we see God's hatred of falsity among brethren. So there is urgency that young brothers and sisters should see to it that there is the evidence initially, in our faith, of the blessing of God, that is to say that kind of blessing which ensures a crop and makes you worth while for the virtuous woman to add you to her territory. It says, "A woman of worth" in Proverbs; she considers a field, she does not take on any field. Esau was a man of the field but he is not said to be a field which the Lord has blessed; a common man, he is not himself a field. The point is today whether the person himself is a field, that is what Jacob was. Faith makes the person himself a field, something that God can cultivate with a view to the crop. There is always seed-time, and seed-time is utterly worthless unless there is harvest time, seed-time and harvest. Sowing seed, except we get a harvest, is futile, and there is no harvest except the field is blessed of the Lord. There must be the latent power and activity in the field and that can only be by the work of God; so the virtuous woman considers the field. That is, the brethren enquire about anyone who seems to be blessed of the Lord; she considers a field and then acquires it, not joining

"field to field" as we are told elsewhere, selfishly to add to our glory, but acquiring something for God that is the value of a field; the saints are of value in this respect; there is something, some crop, for God. God sows the seed of what He intends to secure; the earth is to bring forth. The farmer sows, but he does not know how the crop comes; the earth has latent power. There it is and the virtuous woman acquires a field: she has a crop in mind. Well now, that leads to Proverbs, to the verse I read. We are enjoined "Prepare thy work without, and put thy field in order", that is yourself according to what I am saying. The brethren of course are to look after you as you come into fellowship; we see there are elders in the church and they would have an eye to the field, but then the point here is yourself. You are a potential field; there is a crop in you, as it were, but initially something hinges on yourself, it is your own responsibility: "Prepare thy work without". It is a public matter evidently, I suppose including confession. No true lover of Jesus would fail to make known publicly his allegiance to Jesus, and he would have other public things in order, the regulation of his conduct, his business affairs, family affairs, and personal affairs, for remember too, there is a scrutinising eye in the assembly, so that a time will come for those eyes to look over you. In fact, you are better known in heaven than you may think, and in the assembly too, for they have been watching you; the field to be acquired. It may be that the time will come when you will have to show yourself, that is another thing. The Lord says to the cleansed leper, "Go, shew thyself to the priest". Jehovah says to Elijah, "Shew thyself to Ahab", as if to say, Elijah is a greater testimony after going through the experience of 1 Kings 17. Show yourself; God is concerned about our public appearances, and how much the question of practical righteousness enters into this! It is forced upon us

at the present time; so much has happened to discredit the testimony. The garment of the wife of the Lamb, the fine linen, is the righteousness of the saints. How dreadful is the opposite of that, unrighteousness of the saints; it is a dreadful, sorrowful, subject; so that one is to see to oneself. John says, "If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him", 1 John 2:29. It is a trait of the divine nature in us, so that you have this thought as I said, "Prepare thy work without, and put thy field in order, and afterwards build thy house". How much might be said of that, as applying to an individual christian! For building is by love in relation to the brethren; they build by love. "Love edifies". Let us not assume that without things being right publicly, things in order.

These remarks I think you will see, dear brethren, connect with the verses I have read in Corinthians, which verses contemplate the idea that I am speaking of, husbandry, or a farm, or a field, as collective, the saints collectively, not an individual but the saints as a whole in that town, and what brings the subject up in the apostle's mind is that there were partisan conditions in Corinth; such are wholly inimical to the idea of a crop. What can you have with such conditions? Where partisan conditions exist the door is open for the enemy; there were wicked persons in that meeting; it was in a vile state, so that the apostle is led on to speak about this matter of husbandry by the fact that some in the place were saying that they were of Paul, and others of Apollos, or perhaps other names which he does not use. Now Paul planted, that was all he did in this respect, a great work, of course. The Lord had told him that He had much people in that city, that is He had husbandry in His mind and Paul was to sow the seed which would bring in the crop, and the crop would come. It was a very fine work and took eighteen months, I suppose; the idea was to

see the time for a crop, seed-time and harvest. We must remember the harvest; so Paul stayed there eighteen months, and the crop was there. It says Paul planted, but Apollos came in; there was no divergence between Paul and Apollos. It is very beautiful to think of two labouring brothers united in their labours, just aiming at one thing, that is the crop. "The planter and the waterer are one": that is very fine. Oh, that that were so, that every one in the field today was actuated by that one thought. "The planter and the waterer are one". To illustrate the fact Paul says that he begged Apollos to go to Corinth and that he was not minded to go. You might think he was not one with Paul but he was; it was the depth of sympathy that he had, that he would not go lest there might be this very thing, putting him up against the apostle; love would not admit of that, taking advantage to obtain a reputation among them. It would quickly put him into prominence if he were to intimate that he was not quite with Paul, but he was with Paul. Thank God they were one, dear brethren. We must be on our guard against putting labouring brethren against each other in our minds; it is a sure way to put them against each other, even if they are not so already. It says, "comparing themselves with themselves"; it is not love doing this in regard of work being carried on. If a man can do a thing well and do it in love, let him do it, give him scope to do it; that is the principle. Paul had scope at the beginning and he planted; Apollos came in and he watered. It would look indeed as if in the Acts the apostle Paul was comforted as he arrived at Ephesus. I believe he had a sense that Apollos, as far as he could, was holding the ground for God in the husbandry. It is very beautiful when brethren can move thus. The planter and the waterer are one; the increase is from God. It may be planted and watered but there can be no increase without God, that is the

correct thought, it is what is for God, so that he says, "Ye are God's husbandry, God's building", that is what they were and the same thoughts apply as in Proverbs 24, that the field is to be put in order. The enemy came in and damaged things at Corinth and so in many gatherings that one might name; the field has to be kept in order; love must prevail, whether in those who come and water, seeking to serve the saints, or whether in those that are prominent locally. The field has to be kept in order and I believe that is why the letters to Corinth are so full of order, so full of directions, the public aspect of things must be right. It is futile to talk about building unless we have public order, unless the field is right, so to speak; so you have the apostle giving instructions when he was there and he praised them because they kept them.

It is a question of the field. Then he wrote other instructions, and says, 'I will give you more when I come'. It is to keep the public state of things right, including practical righteousness and order and then the building. They were God's building, but there could not be much said about it; there was only the foundation but the foundation was there, thank God, and well laid. He was a wise architect who laid the foundation. "Other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ". That is a question of apprehending, dear brethren, the kind of man in Christ, that is the foundation at Corinth, not the Son of God, Christ the Son of the living God as in Matthew; that is not the side presented. The foundation is the order of man that shone out in Christ, Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation; it is a public matter, what comes under man's eye. Paul could speak about the foundation being there; it was there. No one else could lay another, but as to the superstructure he could not say anything; he makes no special mention of that but he goes on as to building. Now building is by love, building or edifying

one another. Let each take heed how he builds; there is the thought of that in every locality, dear brethren. The word is as to the field, the husbandry, and then as to the building. The husbandry must be taken care of, the field must be put in order, which involves practical righteousness, and then the brethren getting together in love, edifying one another, as it says, in love.

Well, that was all I have to say, and I think you will have followed. The Lord is helping the brethren and is greatly desirous of building, as it says in Ephesians, a beautiful expression, being edified in love. It is a poor thing to be burdened, to have a beautiful house but with the lawn and garden and walks, everything in disorder, irregular; it is incongruous; have the field in order, have the public side in order, then the living conditions, the house, building in love, so that there is no incongruity about the position of any gathering, but everything pleasing to the eye of heaven.

PHASES OF DIVINE LOVE

Genesis 22:2; Genesis 37:3; Exodus 21:1 - 6; Exodus 28:1 - 4, 40 - 43

J.T. I thought it would be helpful if we have before us the great thought of love, and how it works out in dignified and holy service Godward. We have parental love in the first scripture, paternal love. Love originates in God, and in the New Testament the love of God for man is seen: "God so loved the world". It is parental love for His people as such. Then there is the love of Christ for each of us, for the church. All these are references to phases of divine love. We have in a typical way parental or paternal love in Abraham, typically God's love for Christ, which I suppose we may regard as the highest order of love. The Lord speaks Himself about it, "That the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them". Then there is in Isaac the type of Christ's love for the church. These are the two great thoughts of Genesis. Following upon that there is preferential love, that is Rebecca loved Jacob. That was preferential. And you have Jacob's love for Rachel; he loved her more than Leah. Then we have also Jacob's love for Joseph which is preferential. In all these cases the object draws out the love.

In Exodus we have love in bondslave conditions. It is a matter of the deepest interest as entering into the present time, and the service attaching to it brings us into bondslave conditions but it enhances the love "I love my master, my wife, and my children". It was active; it was not a theoretical love. Then the service that is seen there takes up another form, the priestly form, which is not in bondslave conditions, but in dignity and holiness. It is not that our Lord's love in bondslave conditions was not dignified and holy, but I am speaking now of how it is presented.

The difference lies in the description of Aaron and his sons as over against the bondman in chapter 21. So that as we understand the bondslave conditions and the love in spite of them, we shall understand something of the priestly and dignified side.

Ques. Have you in mind that the Lord has a responsive, holy love in service as a result of His own love in this way?

J.T. Yes, that is what I thought. The reference first is in the bondslave conditions, and having in mind the order in Romans 6 we see how love worked out in bondslave conditions. Romans brings out love in the bondslave form in us. We are said to be bondmen to God. Then it also works out in the higher order, so to speak, of service, that is that he might serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. "I beseech you therefore, brethren ... to present your bodies a living sacrifice, ... which is your intelligent service". Sonship comes in in chapter 8. Priesthood is based on sonship.

Ques. In what aspects do we understand preferential love?

J.T. Well, it is seen in Rebecca first. Many of us are too promiscuous, I believe. We are to learn to appreciate what is lovable according to God, not what is lovable after the flesh. Isaac loved Esau. So that we have to test our appreciation. Why do I love a person? Rebecca loved Jacob, and the sequel shows that she was in the mind of God in loving him, because God hated Esau. It is a very solemn thought if I am found loving those whom God hates. They are corrupt in that way.

Ques. Would what she says, "On me be thy curse, my son", show the extent to which her love would go for Jacob?

J.T. Exactly. It was a love which would accept the curse for its object.

Ques. Do we not have a very high character of preferential love in the gospel of John as to the disciple whom Jesus loved?

J.T. Yes. He was lovable. There is a distinction between brotherly love and love. "Have ... in brotherly love love". Of course we may find ourselves preferring one whom God does not love. The Father's love for the Son is seen typically in Abraham. It is the first great feature that we get. "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac". And then the next great thought is Christ's love for the church, which is seen typically in Isaac. These are two great primary thoughts. Preferential love arises on account of sin working in Esau, and especially in Esau because it does not say that Rebecca loved Jacob more than Esau; it does not say that she loved Esau at all. She was entirely in line with God in discernment. And then as regards Leah and Rachel, it does not intimate that Jacob did not love Leah, but he loved Rachel more. Israel is first loved; it is an appeal to Israel. He loved her first and he loved her best. Although she is rejected today, it is not His thought. Even Paul, the emissary to the gentiles, showed his preference to the Jews in going to Jerusalem. That would be a love of counsel more. Then there was the love of Jacob for Joseph. It is not that he did not love the others, but he loved him more.

Ques. Does that correspond with what the Lord said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him"?

J.T. Quite. He comes especially under the Father's eye. "The Father himself has affection for you, because ye have had affection for me".

"Joseph, being seventeen years old", and then it says, "Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was son of his old age", which has its own meaning. All these conditions of love are of very great importance for us.

Now when you come to Exodus, we are on the line of service. The service is urgent and the difficulty is great, but these things enter into the bondslave service, service worked out in difficult conditions, but worked out nevertheless.

Ques. Are you moving now from Genesis, the complacency of love, to the setting where the sufferings of love are found in Exodus?

J.T. Yes, we are brought down in Exodus to the sufferings of love in service. Things are urgent; the bondman is there. He may go out free, but he has to serve so many years.

Ques. Why do you speak of preferential love?

J.T. So that we may then cultivate a taste according to God, because we are too promiscuous, too undiscerning.

Ques. Would you say that the salutations, the different way in which Paul refers to saints, suggest spiritual tastes and values?

J.T. Yes, I thought so. The salutations and commendations in the epistles are varied. We are to learn to recognise the worth, integral worth, and love what is lovable and not to love that which is not lovable, that which is merely natural, but we are to be found in the mind of God. Very often we get into church difficulties because of preference in the wrong direction, and are not discerning in love. We love all in a certain way, but we must not overlook preferential love; God does not.

Ques. Do the two scriptures in Genesis suggest to us descending love and the scripture in Exodus ascending love, so that it is responsive?

J.T. You have in Genesis descending love in Abraham, and horizontal love in Isaac. The love of a husband for his wife is not descending; it is horizontal. "I love my master"; that is ascending love; 'I love my wife'; that is horizontal; 'I love my children'; that is descending love. Ascending

love must be the great thing in service. Christ's love for the saints is hardly developed in Exodus; it is the priesthood. Horizontal love contemplates people of equal rank, and I think the wife relationship is on that line, equality. So that the servant is sworn not to secure a wife for Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites.

Ques. Is that brought out in the type of Adam and Eve? Eve was presented to Adam, "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh", bringing out the greatness of the church?

J.T. Yes, she was to "be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man", and it is in that connection that union lies. There could be no family link between Adam and Eve because there had been no parents, but with Isaac and Rebecca there was the family link. The family link comes out in Abraham, so that we are sons. Sonship underlies Rebecca, the type of the church. So that in chapter 22 of Genesis Isaac does not come down from the mount after he is offered up. Abraham came to his young men, and came to Beer-sheba.

When we come into Exodus, while we have the descending, horizontal and ascending love in Christ, what is developed is the ascending love, but developed in priesthood. It is love in priesthood, this love in sonship, whether in Christ or in us. So that John works out the great thought of how the Son loves the Father. "That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do", John 14:31. Now you come to the ascending side, and that is what we may see in Exodus 28 and 29.

Ques. Would you just say a word as to what you have referred to in Isaac not coming down from the mountain?

J.T. It means that Christ has risen on high for us, that Christ is in heaven.

Rem. I was wondering what was the force of Genesis 22:19: "Abraham returned to his young men". It does not imply that Isaac was there.

J.T. Scripture is intended to produce impressions.

No doubt he came down, but it does not say so. So that Christ not having come back to earth again, not having come down to the open testimony afterwards, the church is brought to Him as in heaven. "I ascend to my Father". The omissions of Scripture are quite as important for us as the statements. How much could be written! and that which is written is intended to produce impressions in our minds. So Isaac did not come down; the work of the Spirit is to take us out of this world, detaching us from all our natural settings and giving us to understand that we are companions for Christ. Abraham in verse 5 says to his young men, "Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you". The omission referred to is therefore all the more significant.

It is interesting to note the garments that are mentioned here in Exodus. In John 13 the Lord laid aside His garments. These garments would hardly fit a bondman, and yet they are on the bondman; it is the same Person. We must understand bondman conditions, because not only was he in them, but his wife was in them and his children were in them. We have to understand how to serve in these conditions. Bondman conditions are limited, and we are under pressure, but love is there.

Ques. Would you say that we have bondman conditions during the week, and priestly conditions on the Lord's day?

J.T. Well, it is the state of bondmanship in your spirit, the acceptance of bondmanship Godward in your spirit, and we shall not arrive at priestly conditions otherwise. The paternal thought comes in after chapter 24, where you have the priesthood alluded to

under the guise of the young men. They are used in chapter 24. I think that is just a form of advance on the bondman. Moses sent his young men and they offered sacrifices. I think we have to learn as to the bondman in chapters 21, 22 and 23, and then the advance, inasmuch as the people are ready to enter into a covenant with God and are certainly elevated. The people entered into a covenant with God. Here you have the covenant on God's side, but it is entered into on the people's side. He is pleased to bring in the covenant and makes it effective through death on His side. If we understand that we shall see that we are elevated, not theoretically, but in our souls. They are brought into liberty, and that lays the basis for the material of the sanctuary. I am to serve Him with the knowledge of His love in my heart. I am elevated, morally, actually. Then there is the necessity for someone to minister at the altar. It is not now a bondman, it is not now a question of youths, but great personages outlined in Aaron and his sons.

Ques. What would the youths suggest as in contrast to what you have been speaking of as great personages?

J.T. There is no great distinction; all that is said of them is that they are youths, or young men, a step in advance of the bondman.

Ques. Are these sons consciously and morally bondmen?

J.T. I think so: I think that is the way it works out. But in the types you approach the sanctuary. There are steps; there is the bondman, and there is the youth. "Aaron thy brother", that is the mediator. The mediator represents God. Now it is, "Aaron thy brother, ... that he may minister unto me in the priest's office".

Ques. Do we find bondman conditions in John 15 where we experience the hatred of the world?

J.T. The bondman relation has to do with God.

It is a question of my relation with God, not that I may come into a state of slavery but that I may come under the control of God. It is not a slave state of soul; it is a question of being bound to God, having no will of my own. Service should take on bondman character. I am absolutely for another. So that the Lord Jesus being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking a bondman's form. It is the setting up of a position where I am absolutely at the will of another. The Lord has laid the way for this; He was here for the will of God and for no other. When that is worked out it never ceases, but other features come in, namely, the youth side. I am under the direction of Moses, but I am used as a youth, as one who has living energy, and by the Spirit I am able to do these things in an active, energetic, living way. And then I am robed for this dignity in relation to Aaron, in relation to Christ as the High Priest in heaven. It is a question of taking hold of the steps which lead up to this service to God. It is dignity based on sonship. This priestly service is available for all. It says, "Thou shalt take thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel". It would suggest that we are all open for this service. The bondman idea is that the Lord Jesus has gone even unto death. The position is retained; we never lose it. It is not derogatory; we are absolutely for the will of God, having no wills of our own. But then I go on to the setting of a young man, that is energy and freshness in the things of God, and finally I come into the dignity of priesthood, love and bondmanship. There is nothing derogatory to be here for the will of God, having no other will. It is all for God.

The workmanship of these garments referred to is most interesting. It says, "And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments

to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen". These colours denote the various glories of Christ. In Hebrews 2 it says, "We see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour". We see Him there.

Ques. Would the first feature of the bondman be that of subjection, and the next feature that of the youth, suggesting freshness and energy? Would both blend in the third feature in giving character to the service Godward?

J.T. Yes, I thought so.

Ques. Would the Lord's movements suggest to us that the bondman's place is the proper place for man? Adam was not made a bondman, but we see the moral necessity, sin having come in, for man's taking that place.

J.T. I do not think you will ever arrive at the priesthood before going through the bondman's way -- that you are absolutely for God's will. "Not my will, but thine, be done".

The youths' coming under Moses' direction indicates a service without a name attached to it. But Hebrews develops the great thought in sonship: the Priest is the Son. So that the two thoughts run together.

Ques. When the Lord Jesus said typically, "I will not go free", had He in view that moment when He could say, "Behold, I and the children which God has given me", and then what is said in Psalm 22 showing that the wife and the children are carried over? He has secured them as a bondman.

J.T. They are carried over, so that He sings in the midst of the assembly. But the great point of our reading is how love works, how it works in the bondman conditions, and how it develops as in the youth and then in the priesthood where we serve God in all the dignity of sons, as these garments represent. The high priest has got them all; he has got them on his shoulder; he has got them on his heart, and then the sons are brought in with their high caps and their dress. Then there are the linen breeches or trousers, meaning that if we are to be brought into this service we are to be brought into it soberly. The linen means sobriety, that we are kept under His control.

Ques. Are you suggesting that the great motive which should move us in all these conditions is love?

J.T. Yes; that is what I have in mind. What a great thing it is, and how it works out in bondman conditions, and is then developed in these beautiful conditions of youth and priesthood. I think chapter 28 would help us out of clericalism and sectarianism; if we studied that we should see that the service includes all saints, but it includes them in love; they are on the breastplate. The thought of the priesthood is that it cares for what is due to the nature of God-the holiness of God. It goes right through into eternity.

Nothing is derogatory about the bondmen. We connect the bondman with righteousness and the priesthood with holiness. Service is morally glorious, all founded in sonship. In Ephesians 3 we read, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God".

That is the crown of this wonderful service.

MATERIAL FOR WRITING AND FOR BUILDING

Exodus 34:29 - 32; Exodus 35:1 - 9; 2 Corinthians 3:2, 3; Revelation 3:12

I wish to say a few words about material as it is presented to us in the scriptures we have read. In the beginning when things were made, material necessarily entered into the primary creation. There can be no making without material, and so we have the great creatorial thought in Genesis and the moral redemptive thought in Exodus. Exodus in that way is greater, but it is a question of building, what is said in Hebrews to be figurative representations of the things in the heavens. Alongside of that in Exodus we have writing material, which is what I want particularly to stress as having a direct application to us now. I wish to speak particularly of writing material because the writing refers to Christ. Man according to God is set out figuratively so that he may run who reads, and if God is pleased to take us up for this purpose, it is obvious that we should be wholly available, that there should be something to be read written in us. I dwell for a moment on Exodus, specially to call attention to the setting of the actual supply of material in this book. First of all we have the building material, what is required for the tabernacle. In chapter 25, as we will all remember, the special requirements for the sanctuary are given, God proposing the thought Himself that He should dwell among His people, and that they should supply the means for the dwelling. Nothing could be more appealing to those who love God. Jacob's first thoughts of Bethel were not very pleasant ones; he said it was a dreadful place, for God was there. Later he came back to it soberly;

indeed the next morning he named it soberly, indicating that he was beginning to value it. Later he could return to it and God talked with him and stood beside him. At first it was on the top of the ladder and Jacob at the bottom, but now He is standing in Bethel showing that a great change had come about.

At best, the actual house in Genesis is abstract. There is no concrete house at all. God went up, we are told, whereas in Exodus we get the concrete thought, and that appeals to love; it appeals to those who love God. Let no one be in any doubt, there are thousands of them, those of whom God speaks at the beginning, the thousands of those that love Him. That is a great thought. It underlies in a certain sense the provision of the material. Whatever I or any of us could be, let us be assured that there are thousands who love God, and to all such the thought that God is simply to be in heaven and man on earth is not good enough. God is in heaven; that is not enough for love. Love wants to be where He is lovers of God want God. They want Him near, and they want Him not in an abstract way but in a concrete way, in suitable surroundings, congenial circumstances. That is what Exodus typically supplies, and hence it is a figurative representation of things in the heavens. That is to say God's circumstances above are brought down here so that He may be here, so that He may dwell here.

Now it is love that makes the provision. The Lord Jesus says, answering Judas, not Iscariot, "If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him", John 14:23. Now that is a very suitable statement; it includes Exodus, for the word is the unfolding of the mind of God in conditions suitable for God, so that He can come and abide with one.

Conditions are suitable. Now that is what we get in Exodus; I will come and dwell with you. The Lord

Jesus says to Laodicea, "I will come in unto him and will sup with him, and he with me", but the tabernacle implies more than that. As loving Him there are conditions so that the Father and the Son come and abide. Well, what I wish to point out in chapter 34 in regard to material for the building is that the actual supply is in the presence of the shining of Moses' face. There was no supply immediately upon the first giving of the law. Indeed the hearts of the people had been diverted to idolatry, so that the first effected nothing; it is the new covenant that effects what is in the mind of God, and in chapter 34 we have figuratively the new covenant. I want to dwell on this because it has so much to do with the material. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory". The material lies there. It is a real change; it is not an external change; it is a real substantial change. That is what is meant. Mere application externally is not enough. We need substantial change of material, and so we have this shining. And as Moses came down his face shone, and so the next chapter in view of that stresses the idea of what is to be done on the sabbath. It is in Exodus we get the first mention of the sabbath by name. We get it in relation to the manna, on mount Sinai in chapter 31, and then in relation to the shining of Moses' face. Now to get the benefit of the shining I have got to read, I have got to keep my sabbath. Beloved brethren, you will understand that I am not legalising laziness amongst us; there is too much of that. People portion out a little time for God and the rest of it they devote to pleasure. There is too much of that. I am not speaking of that at all; I am speaking of sabbath according to God. We are first told to keep it. We read that God rested on the seventh day; He was refreshed. It is very important that the saints should be refreshed, and if I am to be refreshed

I am to be acted upon. Refreshment is from another; I am acted upon, and so in regard to the material it is a passive type here. I am to be constituted material by being acted upon, and I am to be used as material. He was refreshed. A meeting like this is refreshing. There are other things, of course, but all are passive, and with us it is a question of being passive and receptive. There is something going on all the time. If we keep sabbath rightly something is proceeding. Our eyes are not closed; our ears are not closed; our sensibilities are all awake, they are not asleep. It is the idea of intelligent restfulness in the presence of the greatest thing, in the presence of shining, in the presence of God as in Christ shining upon us so that there is observation of what is presented to us. That is what is material for God. The sun shines on the land, the dew which God has provided in His goodness comes down and causes the land to be enriched, and so the sabbath, the keeping of the sabbath, implies that we are not to sit lazily but to sit with active hearts and minds to take in what is presented. And what is presented has to be continuous. There are these special occasions, of course, but the shining is constant.

Now I think that Moses gives us the key to all this in Exodus. He is the great feature of Exodus. Now we read that he journeyed to Midian, and arriving there he sat down by a well. What thoughts filled his heart and mind, as he sat in that distant land separated from his parents, from his family, from his nation! He delighted his heart in God. He sat by the well. It is a sort of key to the whole book, both with regard to the ministry of the truth and with regard to what is said, the ability to sit down, and to sit down where there is a means of refreshment, the well, the spring.

The activity is to be in the spring. It is for me to sit in the presence of it and absorb it. Then in the next chapter we find that Moses is on the mountain of God.

What a place to be in! He saw the bush burning and

the bush was not consumed. And he says, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt". You can see him there. What a vision it was! A burning bush and fire in it and yet the bush was not consumed. There is material, material which exists in the judgment of God. Fire is active.

What an impression it would make on Moses. "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight". How God would speak to us in turning aside to see.

And so here it is the shining. Most remarkable thing; so remarkable was it that "when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them"; and they returned to him. The Lord would say, "Come near". It had already taken place with Joseph. Aaron came near and all Israel came near that the shining might have the full effect upon them. They came near, and then the injunction is as to the sabbath. Work must be done, but it had to be done on the six days, and the seventh must be kept rigidly. Not even a fire must be lighted; that is to say, that you must bask in the light, according to the blessing of Aaron, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee ... and give thee peace". What a word that is, beloved; it urges upon us the necessity of being passive in the sense of which I am speaking, and let the fight come and let it shine in all its life-giving power, the life-giving power of the rays that shine upon the face of Jesus. These meetings, of course, are for refreshment. They accentuate the thought that the Lord in John 13 laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself and washed His disciples' feet. He refreshed them. They were doing nothing; they were lying at table. It is the principle of letting the Lord do things for us, so that He can impart to us His own virtue. Well, that is what He does.

Now I must pass on to the New Testament. The thought of building material is a very common thing in the New Testament. Peter is the great representative of it. He was passive. The Lord says to him, "Flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father". One would urge it upon the brethren to be passive and see what God will do, what God will bring into the soul, so that the material is there; and when it is there, we get "Thou art Peter". One would challenge each one of us here. It is not a question of your activity, it is a question of God's activity-letting God act upon you. "Thou art Peter". As one moves about amongst the brethren one is reminded of the need of this material. "Thou art Peter". Something that can be used and of a permanent nature. Well, it is the work of God. "Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon". I am sure that this material is very scarce amongst the brethren today, the kind of material that is in keeping with the foundation. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ".

Well now, in regard to the writing-the writing material. Exodus is the first book to bring that out too. The first material was made by God Himself. He made the tables, and He made the writing, but the second tables were made by the mediator; they were made by Moses. God made the writing, but Moses made the tables. That enters into 2 Corinthians, and what comes out as a result of the instruction is that those who were served so well and so lovingly were questioning the great servant by whom they had been served. If we serve we must learn to suffer, as Paul says, "Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved". One must learn to be hurt by those whom we serve best. And the beloved apostle could say, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men". A word too for those who minister. Let them take heed that they do not speak

ill of the brethren. A critical minister-one who is critical amongst the brethren-leaves a very poor impression. It gives a chilly impression to speak ill against the brethren. We have to be faithful, but that is not speaking ill about them. It is as though Paul would say, 'You are speaking ill about me, but wherever I go I bring out beautiful things about you. You yourselves are my letter'. There was much that could be said about the Corinthians. The apostle says much to them, but about them is another matter. 'I have brought out every good thing about you; ye are my letter read of all men, written in my heart'. How he corresponded with the great High Priest in heaven! Now what is written in my heart I am sure to speak about, and that is the idea of the writing; it is what I speak about, "Known and read of all men". And then he explains, "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart". Now he comes down to ourselves as to whether we are material, whether the Holy Spirit can indite something about Christ, can write something of Christ in our hearts. Fleshy means that they are impressionable. The people who go in for polish of this world, beloved, are not such material as is spoken of here. The harder the stone, the better the polish it takes, but the writing is not polished writing. Writing is what God would have to say to us. There is nothing more practical. We send a Bible to the heathen, but the divine thought is living witnesses, living epistles of Christ, as it is said, "known and read of all men". Oh, that we may receive some reflection of Christ to take it in passively by the power of the Spirit of the living God!

Then I wanted to refer to Revelation to show how this specially works out in our time-which is the time of overcoming. These verses relate to the overcomer

in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is overcoming, but the idea is an overcomer. It is a person, the individual that overcomes. The maintenance of what is of God depends upon the overcomer, and the overcomer in this chapter has a peculiar honour conferred. He is to be a pillar in the temple of God, but he is to be written upon. Now there is writing paper and writing paper; paper for documents which are to be held for a long period of time requires to be specially made. It is a question here not only that I can be written upon, but that this particular thing must be written upon me. I am special material; I am a special kind of paper, such writing material that the Lord can write upon me the name of His God. Think of that! Think of the Lord Jesus writing the name of His God and the name of the city of His God! Then He tells us what that is: "New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God". That is to say, 'I am using you virtually for the greatest position, to be written upon, for the things relate to Myself, My own matter, the name of My God'. Think of what God was to Jesus and that I am capable of receiving an impression of that in my soul. As He says when praying to His Father, "That the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them", that the highest form of love may be in my heart and in your heart. "The name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem"-the overcomer of this church understands this thing. He understands the name of Jesus' God. He understands the name of the city of God. Then He says, "my new name". Think of being material for that! It is most practical. I think the Lord would appeal to us to take a passive attitude, beloved brethren, so that conditions may come about that I absorb what is needed to be able to take on such impressions as these, and there should be something seen in me, something read in me, the name of Jesus' God, and

the name of the city of God and His new name. How great the thought is! So I leave it, that we might learn something of this blessedness of being in the presence of the great thoughts of God, actively presented to us in the power of the Spirit.

GOD MOVING WITH HIS PEOPLE

Philippians 3:12 - 16; Numbers 9:1 - 14; Numbers 10:33 - 36

J.T. What is in my mind as to the principles set out in Numbers 10 is that as we move, our way being clear, God moves with us. It says, "And they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah and went three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting-place for them". That is, the undertaking is definite, a three days' journey, and the ark joined in to lead in the three days' journey. I thought we might be helped in linking on Philippians, which is an epistle involving this thought of movement. The apostle himself leads the way, using strong terms, the word 'pursue' having a definite end in view. As he says, "I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus". And then he says, "As many therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you. But whereto we have attained, let us walk in the same steps". There is the thought of movement. Paul uses strong terms as to himself, but he thinks of the saints moving together and urges the same steps. According to what point we have reached we may move together. So with all this in view it is the thought that the passover in its setting here in Numbers might be considered as entering into this matter of unity, of walking in the same steps.

It will be observed perhaps by some of us that the date given in chapter 9 is earlier than the date given in chapter 1; that is, the book begins at a later date than is mentioned in chapter 9. In the first chapter it says, "And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second

month, in the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt". So that this particular instruction is reserved by the writer of the book to insert in the section that speaks of movement. That is what I was thinking that we might look into.

P.E.H.W. Does the recognition of the truth of the passover mark the first movements in soul history?

J.T. Yes. It is the beginning of months and is calculated to set us together in self-judgment. For there is no other ground of being together save in self-judgment. The passover deals with that side.

F.W. The passover, in the three places in which it is brought forward, has always movement in view. It seems to set the people together.

J.T. Yes. That is what is stated in Exodus. It says in Exodus 12:37, after the instructions for the passover are given, "And the children of Israel journeyed". The same principle comes out that we alluded to in Exodus 13:20, "And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, at the end of the wilderness. And Jehovah went before their face by day in a pillar of cloud". That is the principle; they are moving; the way was plain. They had to move out of Egypt but Jehovah joined in as they moved. But it was as keeping the passover that they moved.

H.W.R.S. With regard to self-judgment, would the fact that unleavened bread and bitter herbs are mentioned in the case of one that was unclean emphasise that?

J.T. Quite so. Where there is a defect in the person there is nothing to be left out, nothing in the ordinances governing the passover to be omitted. It says, "With unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it". It is more important in the case of a person or persons who are defective and have to delay a month in the taking of it that they should preserve

every part of it, because you may be sure that they needed it more than the persons who took it the first month.

C.R.W. Would you apply that at the present moment?

J.T. That is what it is written for. These types are all for us. It is very interesting that this particular instruction is inserted in chapter 9 as the time of movement had arrived, so that united movement should be according to God. We should not appear to be moving and not be united. The passover is to settle these matters that hinder unity.

F.W. Does it suggest the settlement of moral questions?

J.T. That is the intent, so that nobody is to be debarred. These men had been defiled and Moses carefully asks Jehovah about it, and He says, "If any one of you or of your generations be unclean by reason of a dead body or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall hold the passover to Jehovah".

Ques. They had to put away all leaven before they could keep the passover. How do you apply that?

J.T. It is very simple. The interpretation is given in the New Testament. We are to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. God saw to it that they did not have any leaven because He did not give them time to put it in when they were leaving Egypt. He forced them out. It is sincerity and truth that is needed, that is really the point. So that if there be any cause at all which might debar one from the ordinance, that is the solution of it: go back to sincerity and truth. Why should one be among the dead? He was defiled by a dead body. Why should a christian be among the dead?

C.R.W. What would correspond to that today?

J.T. It is affiliating with the dead. Our relations are among the living.

E.J.McB. That would indicate that movement had ceased altogether. There is no movement with a dead person.

C.R.W. This was something that debarred them from the passover altogether.

J.T. They thought it did, but it did not according to the word of Jehovah. He said they should keep it.

C.R.W. They could not keep it while they were defiled. They had to be cleansed first, did they not?

J.T. The cleansing is in the keeping of it. If you go back to the beginning, that is the death of Christ. Let us keep it, but keep it with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Rem. There was provision made for one that was defiled for a near relative, a father or a mother.

J.T. We are not to be defiled at all. If any one claims licence to be defiled we have to look into his case. The matter is solved here. They are to keep the passover; Jehovah says they are to keep it.

C.R.W. Would that be on a line with what the apostle says, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat"?

J.T. That is it. Keeping the feast with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" is the great objective side of the feast. My part of it is the unleavened bread. That is what the believer has to bring. There is no movement according to God in walking together aside from this sincerity and truth.

H.W.R.S. The person may be defiled, there is provision for that, but there is no allowance of that condition of things remaining. Anyone forbearing to keep the passover was to be cut off.

J.T. Other scriptures provide for one defiled by the dead, but then it took time, according to Numbers 19, to bring about the cleansing. That is not inserted here. The point here is that the feast must be kept. If you cannot keep it the first month, keep

it the second month. It is imperative that the feast is to be kept.

-.V. There was something in the desire of these people to keep the passover. They considered for Jehovah.

J.T. God took account of that. They say, "Why are we kept back, that we may not present the offering of Jehovah?". They get an extension of a month, but the feast must be held, otherwise there is a penalty.

F.W. Is not the whole question of fellowship involved here? If he does not do it he is to be cut off from the people.

J.T. The unity is essential in view of our moving together, and that is the great idea in the wilderness, moving together. This instruction is inserted here just as they are about to move, so that the movement should be of a united character, because the passover was intended to put the people together familywise. It was a uniting thing, but uniting in self-judgment, uniting in the disallowance of sin. Any other kind of unity is abhorrent to God.

W.J.T. Would it be connected with the longsuffering that Peter speaks of-"not willing that any should perish"?

J.T. It is on that principle, God extending the time in mercy.

P.L. Would Peter himself be an illustration of it? He had kept company with the dead and denied his Lord, and so he waited another month and the Lord waited upon him in the passover character of His suffering love in John 21. So that Peter follows later; there is movement and he has to learn to follow John and others.

J.T. That is so. The Lord looked on him immediately after the sin but that was not the completion of the matter. The Lord had in mind that Peter should be in the front rank. He was not to be behind; the Lord was very concerned that he should not have to

be behind. He looks on him; that is the first thing. At the exact time that the cock crew the Lord turned and looked on him. It was, as it were, on the calendar that this thing should happen and as it happened His power was there, exactly at the time. Then Peter went out and wept bitterly. That is the first movement on Peter's side. There was no time lost, because as soon as the cock had crowed the Lord turned and looked on Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly. Then as He arose from the dead it says He appeared unto Simon. That is the principle, I think, that the Lord is urgent that we should be in the ranks, that we should move on. Peter was not behind when the time of movement came, because the real time of movement was Pentecost. He was not behind then; he had kept the passover. He was in accord with the death of Christ. The Lord saw to that.

Ques. You said that this was on the calendar. Would the keeping of the passover save us from things that otherwise would be on the calendar?

J.T. Just so. The thought of the divine calendar is very helpful in this subject, because it is mentioned specifically in Exodus 12. It was four hundred and thirty years to the day that Israel should go out of Egypt. The movement was exactly according to time.

Ques. I do not know whether I exactly got your thought as to the calendar in regard to Peter.

J.T. The Lord had said that this would happen. Anything that is definitely stated to happen is on the calendar in time, because things are kept most accurately. It was as the cock crew. The cock crowing is like the clock, the hour of the day or night, and as that happened the Lord turned and looked on Peter. So in Exodus as the children of Israel are moving out it is four hundred and thirty years to the day, which is indicated in Genesis 15. Everything is moved by the divine calendar, and therefore every one of us is in the divine mind. We want to be in the movement,

because movement is in time, so that you do not want to be behind, you do not want to be out of rank. Peter was not behind; the Lord saw to that, He brought him up to time.

E.J.McB. You mean that in divine things nothing happens before its time and nothing happens after?

J.T. That is right.

E.J.McB. I think this principle would greatly help our local care meetings because we should have no matters to deal with if we judged ourselves when matters turned up. If we took up the question of unleavened bread in ourselves we should always be in rank with our brethren.

J.T. That is right. Here is Paul; look at him.

He is pursuing. I must keep my eye on the ark or on the cloud moving and I must keep up with it. When it comes to the tribes there was Judah and his company, Ephraim and his company, Dan and his company, all to march together. When the march begins I must be right. That is what the passover is for, that I should be right. If I am not right, then the Lord is very gracious, He gives me a month.

F. W. How beautifully that is seen in the Lord in Luke 22. The hour was come. He did not miss the appointment on the calendar.

J.T. They were all there; the twelve were there. And so at Pentecost they were all together in one place. It is the missing ones, that is to say missing spiritually, that are not keeping the passover.

P.L. So that Thomas would get his month allowed him and he is found when the Lord appears eight days later.

J.T. I think that is good. But he missed the main thing. I do not think the Lord took the same pains with him as He did with Peter. The Lord made great efforts with Peter. Peter had a place that Thomas did not have and the Lord would have that place filled.

Ques. Have the early verses of Philippians 3 any connection with the passover? Were those features which Paul speaks of as marking him things which we have to judge in the passover?

J.T. You mean circumcision and the legal side of things. All these things would be just the working of the flesh. The Lord would bring us up to time, because the march is according to His order, the movement is according to His thought and even if we are slow in it, "Whereto we have attained", the apostle says, "let us walk in the same steps". Let the ranks be kept.

Ques. Do you get the thought of the ranks in the children of Israel going out of Egypt?

J.T. They did not go out as a mob. It is stated that they went out in rank. I think it is just to credit the spiritual condition that was there. There was faith there. That is the one thing that is said of them; they crossed the sea by faith.

In Exodus 12, 13 and 14 there are remarkable spiritual touches. Whilst you have the most precise directions, yet you find things that are not exactly by direction. When Moses tells the people about the passover he puts it all in his own language. If you look at chapter 12, the instructions are from verse 1 to verse 20, whereas Moses' speech to the people is between verse 21 and verse 27. It is put in his own way. It is the true ministerial thought. He knows how to present the thing to the people, to present the mind of God in an abridged way. Then too in regard of the ranks, five in a rank. It was not stated that they were to go that way but they did go that way. It was to bring out the spiritual formation that was there at that time. If a young believer is going out of the world, if he is of any value at all, there is something spiritual there. They did not go out as a mob. You look at all the saints; as soon as you are converted you think of the nearest christian. That is what is meant. That

is the commencement of better things. God loves that.

E.J.McB. You have your place; you are in rank.

J.T. You will always find that is the mark of a true convert. He has got some spiritual instinct and he sees that he should be linked with the christians near him.

M.D.H.W. Would the four gospels help us to be maintained in the good of the position? There were four days in which the lamb was in the house after it was taken out from the sheep or goats; it was a perfect one.

J.T. You mean that the Lord Jesus is seen in the gospels under the eyes of men, and then He is taken and slain? That is very touching.

Ques. Do you think that the two going to Emmaus were recovered in view of the momentous events that were to take place in Jerusalem? The Lord rebukes them for being slow of heart and speaks of the Christ having to suffer, and He breaks the bread before them. That touches their hearts so that they instinctively go and find the eleven.

J.T. You are stressing the "slow of heart"? They were not in the ranks. If we are slow of heart that is slothfulness. So He moves them by the breaking of bread and they return at once to Jerusalem. As soon as the movement begins they are there, they are alive. I believe the passover has a great place in our local settings as to moving together. The breaking of bread is the external expression of our unity, the Lord's supper, "we being many are one bread", but the passover is the secret state of things amongst us. Unless the passover is kept, public unity is not of much value.

Ques. Is that the reason why it comes in 1 Corinthians 5? Paul reminded them of the calendar at the outset.

J.T. It is in view of the Lord's supper. Chapter S is dealing with evil and chapter 11 presents the Lord's

supper. Secret unity is brought about by the passover.

Rem. So that in Philippians 4 the movement was held up; it was hindered by two sisters not being of the same mind.

J.T. Just so. That is the great feature of the epistle, to bring that about. Great as the assembly was at Philippi there was a measure of division amongst them, not as bad as it was at Corinth, but they needed to be of one mind and to think the same thing, not only to speak but to think the same thing. I believe the passover brings that about. It deals radically with the state we are in. It is a sorrowful thing to be assuming to be united when there is no real unity. It is the state of our souls that is the real difficulty; we are not sincere in relation to one another.

Rem. The Lord's prayer in John 17 would bring in unity: "That they all may be one". The passover embraces all the saints of God.

J.T. It does. It comes in as you go out of Egypt and it comes in as you enter the land. It must be present at every phase of our position.

I thought that, having dwelt on the passover, we might see how beautifully, as we move together, the love of Christ comes into evidence. There is a definite movement from the mount of Jehovah for three days. It is a definite period of time. It is not a question of the distance. Distance geographically is taken account of in verse 11, "The cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony. And the children of Israel set forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud stood still in the wilderness of Paran". That is the public position, but now it is the private thing. The spiritual side of it is this three days' journey from the mount of Jehovah, and as they took that three days' journey the ark took the same journey. That is the love of Christ; we cannot afford to be without that. We may have the first great movement to Paran, that is the cloud,

but the movement of the ark is what we want to get hold of; what it did outside of any previous announcement. You never can tell what love may do for you. Love looks for definiteness, and it moves definitely too. They moved a three days' journey; it is a purely spiritual matter.

C.R.W. Would the three days be connected with the Lord's journey through death and resurrection?

J.T. That is the thought. It is that kind of journey you are set for.

E.J.McB. The Lord refers to it, does He not, when He says, "I must needs walk today and tomorrow and the day following", Luke 13:33. He would lead us into the realm of spiritual blessing in resurrection, and He would give us credit for moving in the same direction ourselves.

J.T. It took them more than three days to go to the wilderness of Paran; that is a public thing, like Corinthians, which is the public side. Ephesians is the spiritual side. The ark goes before you there and you get rest on that line.

E.J.McB. There is no knowing what you may be led into on that line.

J.T. If love goes before us we get somewhere. We are not to awake love till it pleases, but if you let it go before it will take you somewhere. We cannot afford to be without the resting place that love gives.

Ques. It says in the Song of Songs, "Come with me ...", Song of Songs 4:8. Would you connect that with this?

J.T. Just so. What is so beautiful about it is that there is nothing said about this movement before. In these typical books, where you get nothing said about things before, the incidents allude to spirituality. Without spirituality the externals must be dead. We may have meetings at set times but if there is no three days' journey there is no spiritual power.

E.J.McB. Do you mean that there are certain instructions which we are bound to abide by, but then there are spiritual things that are opened out to those that follow them?

J.T. Yes. The instructions are like the banks of the river, but if love moves it is never to be restricted.

It is to be allowed to have its full scope. It falls in with me. I am going a three days' journey; that is my mind. It is death and resurrection really and I am going that way, but the ark goes before me and it leads me somewhere that I had not thought of.

E.J.McB. "Taken possession of by Christ Jesus",

Philippians 3:12. The power of the love of Christ really held the apostle's mind.

J.T. That is very fine.

Ques. Is it important to see that they set forward from the mount of Jehovah?

J.T. Yes. That is the place of resources. If you are going to take three days' journey you must have resources. You must be furnished. That is the thing to look for with the assembly, this great movement that is not spoken of before.

-.V. In Jeremiah God speaks of Israel going after Him in the wilderness (Jeremiah 2:2). That is a spiritual movement, is it not?

J.T. That would be more the general thought of the cloud; as it moved they moved. But here they are moving after the ark; that is something to get up to. The ark makes a way. As you move, it joins in and finds a resting place. We need a point of rest for our souls. The Lord says, "Ye shall find rest to your souls", Matthew 11:29.

Rem. Moses would have had the son of Reuel, his father-in-law, to lead them, but it is the ark that leads.

J.T. Yes. Moses had thought that Hobab would be eyes for them. I have no doubt that the ark here is the answer to that.

Rem. You were speaking just now about moving together. If everyone had the mind that was in Christ Jesus, that would produce unity, it would move us together.

J.T. Yes. That is the idea in Philippians, the mind that was in Christ Jesus; not merely our profession, but our thinking the same thing.

E.J.McB. Does not feeding on the passover form the inward state?

J.T. There is the thought of a whole in it "Neither shall ye break a bone thereof". The saints are to do one thing, to eat one thing, roast with fire.

Rem. The instruction that not a bone shall be broken occurs in the second passover.

J.T. Yes, it is remarkable that it comes in in the second passover. It is mentioned in Exodus 12, but it comes in in the second month. That means that the unity is to be kept. It is a whole idea, not a broken thought. It alludes to the church, but it is all inward; it is what you eat.

P.L. Can you have the ear of God about enemies unless you are moving with the ark? Difficulties prowl round us, but can we expect deliverance for anything less than what is here set out, moving in affinity with the ark, in relation to the desires of Christ for the assembly?

J.T. I think that raises a very important question how the deliverance comes. When the ark set forward Moses said, "Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered". The ground is cleared; the ark sets forward and Jehovah rises up and our enemies are scattered. Then when it rests, "Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel". It is a poor thing to expect God to be amongst us when we are not united. It is not respectful to God to expect Him to come in. Not that He does not come in, for He is more gracious than any of us, but if we invite

Him it is to the place of unity, to a united state of things.

C.H. Does that flow out from a movement on the part of the people towards the thoughts of God? The three days' journey was a movement towards the thoughts of God.

J.T. The spiritual side in all these types is interwoven with spiritual things of which you get no account before. You cannot get any previous account of what is spiritual. It is beyond us but it shows itself and we should be looking for its manifestation. A three days' journey occurs in Exodus 15; that is a spiritual thought. As you are spiritual there is an increase of spirituality in the movements of the assembly.

C.H. They are not warring here, they are journeying.

J.T. They are journeying definitely and in spiritual conditions. Journeying to Paran is a question of territory, but this is a spiritual matter. It is not a question of territory; it is inward, more like Ephesians.

C.H. It does not exactly give a destination but it speaks of a rest, so that when we come to spiritual things, are we not always given the impression that there is something beyond?

J.T. This movement leads into eternity. It is love's movement; you will never get the compass of that. It is Ephesians really.

P.E.H.W. Would the unleavened bread be entirely negative and this be taking possession of the thoughts of love?

J.T. Quite so. The ark has its place so that we are now moving spiritually.

Ques. Are these two movements seen in the close of John? The Lord presents Himself in the midst.

J.T. John 20 is the second word of Moses here.

John 18 is the first word, when He says, "I am". That is the secret of the ark. The ark is always a mysterious thing, but if it moves you are being led on spiritually.

Ques. Is it important to see that in the epistle to the Philippians two sisters are spoken of and exhorted that they should be of one mind in the Lord? I was wondering if the sisters would help as being of one mind in the Lord.

J.T. Just so. It is remarkable how they are brought in. There is generally a tendency amongst us to leave everything to the brothers. You will find if you ask how many are in fellowship you will be told how many brothers are in fellowship. That is not the way to put it. Not that the brothers are not distinctive, because the Spirit of God makes them distinctive, but we must remember that the sisters count, and they certainly count in spirituality.

Rem. I thought it would imply that these two sisters were not getting on together and the apostle would adjust that.

J.T. It does imply that. It is very often that a difference amongst the brothers arises from the sisters. It is sure to show itself in the brothers.

Rem. We get true fellowship in judges 1:3, where Judah says to Simeon, "Come up with me into my lot, and let us fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot".

J.T. That is the idea, it is the mutual feeling.

W.A.T. I suppose as being under the sense of this latter part of the chapter we should be more in order in regard to the other part. It would greatly help us in our meetings to come to the spiritual side.

J.T. Yes. It is "Rise up, Jehovah", it is the spiritual thing. What are our meetings if God is not with us? Is God among you? That is the great

thing. The outward order is nothing unless God is with us. "Let thine enemies be scattered"; not mine, but Thine. It is a question of God and His assembly. And then, "Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel". So that God has a place of rest among us.

NAMES IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

John 17:26; Genesis 35:6 - 15; 2 Kings 2:4

I wish to speak about the idea of a name as it is seen in the Scriptures, and of how, as regards God and as regards ourselves as believers, it enters into God's house. The idea of a name is, as it were, stamped on the house. I hope to show how it applies to every believer from the divine standpoint. The name of each is called as he is baptised; he is baptised "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". The great thought of name is before him as seen in a divine Person in revelation. His own name is mentioned, but only in a potential way, for before baptism there can be little worth naming in the believer. What is in the divine mind, which is to be developed always, corresponds with the great thought of the name as presented-"the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". The thought of the name connects powerfully: the nations are to be baptised unto it. The nations have each their men worthy of distinction and renown, and their names have a great place in the nation as unregenerate, but baptism implies that they are now regarded in their true light; that is of no value morally. The believer would never seek a place nationally. The idea in baptism is another world. God always had the idea of a world in His mind, it has taken form already in Christ, involving renown, and a name according to God. So all our thoughts as to name are henceforth, as baptised, to be in that relation. God's world takes form now in the house of God, which is a provisional thought, and belongs to circumstances relating to us; it affords present enjoyment of what we go on to finally. All the features of that world are to be known now in the house. I may say here, that

baptism does not of itself introduce into the house, but it introduces into the realm in which that name is prominent, the divine name, for there is only one name, that of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; it does not say names (see Matthew 28:19). Baptism introduces into that, and it sets the believer up in that relation; he finds what the name means for his own soul. The Lord says, "I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known", it is one thing to be baptised unto the name, and another that it should be made known by the One who alone can make it known, that is the Son. "I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known"; that is, there should be absolute certainty that it is made known in us; and then He adds, "That the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them", John 17:26.

The believer is thus brought into that which is the highest order of love, namely, the love the Father has for the Son; that kind of love is to be in them, "the love with which thou hast loved me", and correspondingly He adds and "I in them". The Lord is in us, in our affections as thus known, in such an exalted love as that, that which the Father has for the Son. We are able to love the Son in some measure as the Father loves Him: it is that kind of love. Therefore, dear brethren, that is the way the name comes out, it stands in relation to love; everything must work back to that, to what God is. Each of us acquires a name of distinction in that way, and what a variety there would be, each having his own distinction; I want you to take that in to begin with. Christianity began with the assertion that there were a certain number in the upper room in Jerusalem, "The crowd of names who were together", not a number of believers, or saints, or brethren, but of names. Everyone had a distinction, and that is what is meant in the salutations in the epistles, as bringing out the distinctions in the

brethren in each locality, that distinction being the outcome of love shown in some particular way. If I do not love I am nothing; if I do love, it is noted in heaven.

I want to show you how all that worked out in Genesis, so that we may see how we come into the realm of love, which is the house, where these great thoughts have their fulness. You will remember how the thought of name arose with Cain. We have the thought of the giving of names from the very beginning of creation: "the darkness he called Night" and so forth, but when we come to man, He "called their name Adam", Genesis 5a. That is said of the man and the woman: He "called their name Adam". But as yet there are not exploits or distinctions acquired through exploits; Cain begins that; he built a city and the idea of name comes into evidence, for he called it after the name of his son. There you get the germ of the word, in the idea of a man calling a city after the name of his son, and that thought runs on to Babel, where men said, "Let us make ourselves a name". Over that God writes confusion "Therefore was its name called Babel"-confusion. Men give titles but there is nothing moral, nothing that deserves the recognition of heaven in them. Christians aspiring to them just add to the confusion. If a christian aspires to something to which a man who has no regard for God aspires, see the company he is in! Confusion is written over it, whether it applies to a christian or an unregenerate man.

So you get the idea first with Cain, then with the progeny of angels and the daughters of men; these were the men of renown, the heroes of ancient times. Men have searched into these things, and have spent their lives to establish facts in regard to these matters, but the further to the root of them we get, the more objectionable they are found to be, the less fit to be named in the mouths of holy men and women. "These

were the heroes, who of old were men of renown", men whose names were revered and even worshipped down the ages, but whose origin is enough to show anybody how unfit they are to be regarded by those who love Christ.

Then we find the thought carried through to Babel, the idea showing that collectively what is seen in every nation in the way of patriotism and nationalism has to be discounted, along with the other names of which I have spoken; baptism requires it. "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, the top of which may reach to the heavens; and let us make ourselves a name". There was no thought of going through into heaven, it was simply for conspicuousness; and God has written Babel, confusion, over it. That is enough for the christian. He comes to see negatively that divine distinction is not confusion. You leave all that which is marked by Babel behind, and enter upon that which is marked by divine order. Although the word 'crowd' is used by the Spirit in Acts 1, in connection with names, it is no discredit to the hundred and twenty; heaven has put honour on every one of them, that is how it will be in eternity; each will be marked off by the evidence of love, and the work of God in them. However great the number, and it will be great, there will be no confusion. Everyone will be like Christ, but everyone will have his own distinction and be recognisable, so there will be no confusion there.

Commencing with the name given to the city we have the use of names according to God on moral grounds; there are names given creationally, and there are names that come out in a moral sense. Seth calls his son's name Enosh, that is no distinction, he is just a frail, mortal man; there is no distinction. What intelligence that implies! That is where baptism fits in; he would claim no distinction. Graveyards show that death is very callous and makes nothing of men.

Enosh is a landmark, dear brethren, and each of us has to understand what it means: mortal man, dying man. There is no distinction. And the scripture adds, "Then people began to call on the name of Jehovah", Genesis 4:26. It is a matter of no distinction, people began to call on the name of Jehovah. The name of Jehovah is set over against a name that means nothing as regards distinction! That is an epoch, you begin there: "Then people began"; it is on the divine calendar. That particular time was the beginning of a great era, when man, hitherto dark, had begun to call on the name of Jehovah. I hope everyone here understands that we have to call on that name, for that is where we begin to get distinction, and a distinction that runs on into eternity. It is implied in baptism.

Then as you come down the line you come to Shem, who was contemporary with the men of renown spoken of in Genesis 6. His name means 'name or renown', it is something; and his father's name was something, for Noah means 'rest'. Shem means renown but not as we have been speaking of it in connection with Cain and Babel. Shem was the second son of Noah, he was said to be the brother of Japheth the elder, and Ham was the youngest. I want you to notice that, dear brethren, because the line of Shem includes all the names of glory in relation to Abraham's line; so that the name given to him was substantial; there was something there. Shem led in the hiding of his father's nakedness, an important matter in this thought of name. Anyone given to exposing, or criticising, or making little of the brethren, or doing or saying anything that discredits the brethren is unworthy of a name; that name shall perish. Shem was the opposite of that, and so we find that when the genealogies are given with Japheth and Ham, Shem's is given last in chapter 10, but then it is given by itself in chapter 11. That is to say, the true idea of

name is brought in by the Spirit of God as Babel is written on all else. We want to get on to that line, dear brethren, and remain in it, there is renown and increase in it: "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem", Genesis 9:26.

I want to dwell upon how it works out in Jacob, that is the manner in which it is worked out in each believer. Jacob is the believer viewed as difficult to manage; every true believer says, 'That is I, difficult to manage'. You must never say a brother is beyond managing; he may be difficult, but he is not too difficult for God. Alas! for him if he is especially difficult. Jacob was a difficult man and his family was a difficult family, yet you get the house of God in connection with him. It is as if God would say, 'Difficult as he is, I will make him a trophy to shine in My house'. But then he has got to come to it that he is a difficult man. The most difficult man is the man who has not come to it; but Jacob did come to it. There is no time to go into details, but he came to it that he was a very difficult man, a man making a name for himself by riches, a man who went into business to build a name for himself. Jacob did that for twenty years; he went into business and was successful in business. But then success in business will never give you a name in the house of God; it will only detract from any little spirituality you may have. So when Jacob came back from Padan-aram, he sent a message to his brother and gave him an inventory of his wealth. The messengers returned to Jacob and told him that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men, which did not bode any good for Jacob! The great wealth of Jacob could be of no avail when Esau met him with four hundred men. So God meets Jacob, and He cripples him. That is what I want to speak of, dear brethren; a man may spend twenty years and make great wealth, and come back with it with the thought that it will add something to

him spiritually, whereas it is the very opposite; it all has to come down, it is absolutely useless in the house of God. Difficult as Jacob was, he was not too difficult for God; God loves to show how He can take the most difficult, and make him shine in His house in spite of the difficulty. That is what God is doing today. Who is not difficult? If you say you are not difficult, you cannot bring greater evidence as to how difficult you are! Some people are amiable, nice and genteel, and they think that is something for God; but it is just what they are naturally, and that has to go, it is no good for the house of God. So God meets Jacob, and cripples him; you know the history. God takes on this difficult man definitely, but then Jacob puts himself in the way of being taken on. He prayed, and God met him.

I want now to come to Jacob's entrance into the house, and what is more beautiful than to see a christian, hitherto difficult and occupied with moneymaking, to see that man brought into accord with the mind of God, wending his way to the house of God? That is chapter 35. Jacob is on his way to the house; I hope everybody here tonight is! There are many nominally in fellowship who never have wended their way by the Spirit of God into the house, or taken their place in it intelligently according to God. See how Jacob after all this extraordinary experience at Peniel built a house for himself at Succoth! A man makes his pile and builds his house, gets a bit of a show-place; he may have an altar there, may even have his Bible reading in the morning; he may attend the meetings, and call his altar by the name of El-Elohe-Israel, God, the God of Israel. You may say, 'What a fine man that is; he does not go in for the world'. But there he is at Shechem, he is not in the house. He may attend the meetings but he is not in the house characteristically. He may be in it abstractly, but he is not in it characteristically.

We see that God loved Jacob in spite of all, even though he was a difficult man. God loved him, and says to him, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there". Genesis 34 is full of disgrace, but God takes advantage of the disgrace; we may thank God for it if it leads Jacob into the house. We would not encourage the conduct seen in that chapter, but God uses the very disgrace to induce Jacob to go into the house. God makes His own terms, He says, "Go up to Bethel ... and make there an altar unto the God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother", Genesis 35:1. That is to say, God is now linking on two things; He is linking on Jacob's first spiritual experience in connection with the house, with the second spiritual experience into which He is going to bring him. When you reach the house you get your name and you begin to review your history from its beginning. I urge on everyone here to do that. Go back over your history, and see how God has worked with you with the result that you abominate your conduct, and magnify the work of God. You never cease while here to be a repentant sinner.

Jacob goes to his household and says, 'Put away your gods'; no doubt he knew they were there 'Purify yourselves and change your garments', and they did it. Then he goes to Luz, that is Bethel in the mind of God. God would have the idea of Bethel, the house of God, in our minds prominently. Jacob builds an altar there, and calls the place, not the altar, El-beth-el. At Shechem he called the altar El-Elohe-Israel, that was what he built; but he did not make the house of God: God makes the place, so he calls the place El-beth-el. The Spirit of God says of El-beth-el, that it is where God appeared to him when he fled from his brother. The brother is a link all through, as if throughout these chapters God would have Jacob never to forget his brother; that is essential.

It is as if God would say to Jacob, I would never have you forget your brother and his wrath, and how you fled from his presence, but I stood by you. If the brethren hate me, God stands by me, but I must not forget. Jacob called it El-beth-el; he reverted back to chapter 28, connecting the whole matter with the wrath of Esau and his fear of it. He was not a fit person for the house of God when he was fleeing from his brother; that must be settled first. It was, thank God, for he met his brother and was figuratively reconciled with Esau before he reached Bethel. That is one side of the picture, that is chapter 33. Then in chapter 35:9 - 15 we have a paragraph which gives us God's view of this whole matter; it is an abridgement of what happened after Jacob came back from Padan-Aram, without giving the details of the history belonging to it. I wish, dear brethren, to point out what these verses really mean. They are the bringing together of the revelation of the divine name, the name of God, and the name of the believer, to show that they agree. The house of God is where God is, and where there is nothing that is not in accord with His mind; that is what the house of God really is. It is the bringing together of God Almighty and Israel. Almighty means He is here in the power of the Spirit, the power that wrought in Christ in raising Him from the dead. The almightiness of God is the power of the Holy Spirit that is here today; that power works in us, the believer is in accord with that; he is a prince. God has almighty power, He is God Almighty! He is in the house, and the believer has power there of that kind, not of any other. If one says, "Lord Jesus", he says it in the power of the Spirit of God; if one says, "Father", he says that by the Spirit of adoption; if he ministers he speaks in the house by the power of the Spirit of God. We may carry that on to the New Testament; the Lord says in John 17, "I have made known to

them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them". The complete correspondence there is in the way of love between the Father and the saints. The same kind of love, the most exalted, is the love the Father has for the Son, and that is in the saints. Christ is in the affections of the saints, as He is in the affections of God.

So you find here it does not say that Jacob names the place Beth-el, because it is where God appeared to him when he fled from his brother: No! that is shut out in these verses; Esau's wrath has gone into oblivion, it has no place in the house. It would be a terrible thing to bring the idea of hatred among the brethren into the house, it has no place there. Why then does he call the name of the place Beth-el? Because it was "where God had talked with him" (verse 15); that is the place now, the place where God speaks with us. Have we all understood this experience? It is a question of the place where He speaks with us. He has had us in the house on His own terms; it is a place suitable to Him, and He speaks in that place, Beth-el. The house of God is the place where God speaks to His people, and goes up from them. I hope the Lord will help us to see what it is to be in the house, not in the place where He appeared to me in relation to the wrath of my brother, but where He speaks with me Himself, telling me about Himself. What does He say about Himself? He discloses His name, He speaks about Himself; and then He speaks about Jacob, and changes his name. He says to Jacob, Under these circumstances you can multiply. Think of a multiplication of a Jacob like this! That is the kind of thing in the house, the multiplication of persons: "Be fruitful and multiply". This corresponds with Psalm 113:9, "He maketh the barren woman to keep house, as a joyful mother of sons". Here it is not only the housekeeping, but

the person in it, such a person as God could speak with, in a place suitable for such holy conversation. Think of the holiness involved, the disclosure of the name of God, and then the disclosure of the believer's name, of how heaven regards you! I do not know anything more interesting and important than that we should understand this; hence Jacob not only calls the place now by its proper name, but he sets up a stone pillar. It is not a stone to he on, as in chapter 28, but the point is the material of the pillar, a pillar of stone, it is durable, something to last. I see now that I am to last, not only in the house, but that I am a stone in the house. The Son abides for ever in the house. The idea of a stone is permanency. Then Jacob pours on the stone "a drink-offering, and poured oil on it". He not only anoints it but he says virtually, I am going to stay, and God is pleased to have me stay. The Son abides in the house for ever. "If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free", John 8:36. I am free in the house. Now I want you to see what Elisha is in Bethel, in 2 Kings 2. Elisha is the believer, and Elijah is the representative of God. The time had come for Elijah to be taken up to heaven in the whirlwind. He went from Gilgal to Bethel with Elisha. The first point reached is Bethel, then Jericho, and then the Jordan from where Elijah ascended. But I am speaking now of Bethel and I want to link Bethel here with Genesis 35. There are two persons here in Bethel and in Genesis 35 we have two persons, Jehovah, God Almighty, and Jacob; and they are conversing at Bethel. That is not at the street corner, nor is it the worthless talk which, alas!, is often current among us. The conversation at Bethel means spiritual, holy converse. Now Elijah is speaking to Elisha, and for the first time he addresses him by name, he says, "Elisha". That is a beautiful thing to understand in the house of God. The representative of God is there in Elijah,

and myself. I am addressed by name, I am known now; it is not simply 'that brother or sister who was converted at such and such a place; I do not know his name'. Heaven never speaks like that, heaven is perfectly conversant with you from your beginning; heaven knows your name and regards you according to the work of God. You need have no feeling because this or that brother does not call you by name; that is his limitation, not yours. We must all admit our limitations, but heaven has none; your name is known there, everyone is known in heaven. In heaven there is no such thought as confusion as at Babel; everyone has his own distinction. There will be myriads there, and everyone will be distinguishable. So in the house, Elijah calls Elisha by name, he says, Elisha! It is the only mention of it in this section, and it brings out what I am saying, that your distinction is known, and the house is the place to call attention to it, the distinction is recognised. You will find that constantly in the New Testament. Take "Simon, a Cyrenian, coming from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus", Mark 15:21. Who are they? Known persons; they would not be mentioned in that way if it were not so. Everyone is known according to his spiritual distinction; the point is to have a spiritual distinction. Elisha had a spiritual distinction.

That is what I had in my mind, that we might understand how names enter into the house, the thought of a divine name-the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then the names of the saints. God help us to take up these things and understand how spirituality enters into the house.

BRETHREN, TRUE AND FALSE

Malachi 1:1 - 5; Malachi 3:10 - 12, 16 - 18; Malachi 4:2 - 6

J.T. This prophet has the character of the addresses to the assemblies in Revelation, and has a voice as coming in at the end of the last recorded appeal to Israel, as recognised of God in the Old Testament. I thought it would serve to furnish a word for us today, first, in regard to the idea of brethren. The ministry of the book is resultful, in that we have alluded to certain who "feared Jehovah" and "spoke often one to another". Those who feared the Lord are referred to in other prophets, but in none of them have we this touching characteristic, that they "spoke often one to another", meaning that the idea of brethren had a place with them. So we may perhaps be free to consider this subject of brethren as seen here in Jacob and Esau. They represent the brethren on the one hand in Jacob, as those whom God regards and loves, and on the other hand in Esau, as the false brethren. God said that He hated Esau and loved Jacob.

There is much in the book about love; it ought to have a great place with us. God calls attention to His love, the extent of it: "I have loved you, saith Jehovah" (chapter 1: 2), that ought to appeal to the brethren. The lovableness of the saints as indicated in Jacob is a matter of great interest; and the unlovableness of those who pretend to be brethren is of sorrowful interest but is also necessary to consider.

Ques. Have you in mind the mutuality of converse amongst brethren?

J.T. Yes, that was what I thought. We are not told what they said here, but we are told that they conversed often one with another; it is a mutual state of things.

W.S. What was there in Jacob so that God could say, "I loved Jacob"?

J.T. That is a most interesting enquiry, it takes us back to Genesis 25 where it is said that Isaac loved Esau because he partook of his venison. Esau was an object of love on natural grounds, and for natural reasons; whereas it is said of Rebecca that she loved Jacob; that is, there was, at the outset of Jacob's history, one who was in accord with the mind of God. It does not say at the beginning that God loved Jacob and hated Esau; it was when the characteristics of both became manifested, but we get the root of the matter in Genesis 25. Although Jacob was naturally a more undesirable, unlovable man than his brother, it is not a question merely of nature, but of what is of God, and what is of the flesh. What was of God came to light early in Jacob: he was a supplanter. He began early to show his disapproval of the natural in his brother. He was a plain man dwelling in tents, whereas Esau was a man of the field.

H.E.S. Are you suggesting that in principle Jacob valued what was spiritual? In regard to Esau, what was natural came to light, whereas with Jacob what was spiritual came to light; he was appreciative of what was of God.

J.T. Yes. We should all take notice of what marked Esau, which worked out later in such a way that God has to say He hated him. He is marked as a man of the field; it would be well if the young people would particularly notice this, for he would go in for what marks the field, sports and the gun and so forth. He was occupied with the natural tastes of Isaac, whereas Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents, he had a pilgrim character. His mother, who had communications from God about both of them, was affected by these communications, and she loved Jacob, and went so far as to be ready to be a curse for him. So we have at that early date, the idea of

what God loves in the brethren. They value what is of Him, and retain simplicity in their dwelling and occupations, while valuing what is of God. Jacob valued the birthright, and he secured it. Esau went in for royalty and earthly glory at once, whereas Jacob says, "I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah". Instead of going in for things in natural energy, he waits for God. These are the general traits of Jacob; there was much otherwise, but God takes account of what was of Himself in Jacob, and how it worked out down the ages in the brotherly spirit; whereas Esau was increasingly unbrotherly. Although he affected to be reconciled to Jacob, yet he was always ready to take advantage of an opportunity to attack his brother, although God gave him every occasion to manifest the spirit of a brother; yet down the ages he got worse and worse. The Spirit of God writes largely about the conduct and spirit of Edom before God says anything as to His hatred of him. We have the whole book of Obadiah calling attention to Esau, and it is well to have this in mind, because today we are in the presence of the same spirit. Paul speaks of "false brethren", not our brethren around who are not walking with us, but that there is a spirit abroad like that of Esau. God is calling attention to it, and says He hates it; but He also reminds us of what He loves, so that lovable features should be with us. That is what the book of Malachi would point out. Although we may not have the spirit of Edom, yet there is great carelessness in the way we take up divine things; the trend of the book shows their carelessness as to God and His rights.

Ques. Does the spirit of a brother come out in what the Lord said to Philadelphia in Revelation 3?

J.T. The word 'Philadelphia' means brotherly love and so comes in very appropriately here; there is nothing there of the traits we find in this book, nothing is said of carelessness as to the rights of God, in the

address to Philadelphia. God begins in Malachi 1 with His own love, as if He deserved better service. He says, "If Edom say, We are broken down, but we will build again the ruined places,-thus saith Jehovah of hosts: They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them the territory of wickedness, and the people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see it, and ye shall say, Jehovah is magnified beyond the border of Israel". God calls attention to His steady opposition to the spirit of the false brother; they say they will build, but God is against them.

H.E.S. Have we to especially notice the strong expression God uses in regard to Esau, "I hated Esau"?

J.T. It is a very strong expression, you would not use it against any persons now. It is a question of the spirit that marked Edom down the ages. For instance, when Israel was about to enter Canaan, he addressed Esau very courteously and respectfully, asking the privilege of going through his territory on the highway, but Esau would not allow it, he was unreasonable, and Israel had to go round. God did not like that; He does not like unreasonableness among the brethren. The point is, what is this Edom feature? It is unreasonableness, and it may be found in any of us today, causing our brethren to go round, affording them inconvenience, when there is no ground for it. It was not going to cost Edom anything; Israel was going to pay for all that they used.

Ques. What would be the difference between them and Laodicea?

J.T. The Laodiceans were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing, they were neither cold nor hot.

We find in Esau's later history, that he had hatred to his brother Jacob, and became more and more resentful of his brother. When we come to the

prophets we find that one and another call attention to the unreasoning hatred of Edom.

Ques. Would you say this feature culminated in Herod when he slew John the baptist, the most precious thing in his kingdom?

J.T. Yes, he was an Edomite. He represented the Edomite in the times of John the baptist, and of Christ, and in the time of the apostles, so that though he had the most lovable persons to deal with, yet he treated them murderously. It culminated in the fact that the One to whom heaven opened, and to whom the voice came, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight", became the object of Herod's bitterest opposition and hatred. That is the history of Edom. In the Old Testament his history is prolonged and extended and called attention to on every side, to impress upon us what God thinks of the unbrotherly spirit, so that we may judge our hearts of everything that is unbrotherly.

Ques. Was Judas a false brother?

J.T. No one had a greater opportunity of proving real brotherly feeling than Judas. He had the place of friendship with Christ, "Mine own familiar friend", the Lord calls him (Psalm 41:9), but in spite of that he was the traitor. There is nothing arbitrary in God saying He hated Esau: it is slow in coming to light and extended over a long period, which proves that God gave him the fullest opportunity to show the brotherly spirit; but Esau disliked Israel, and would not let him pass his territory, so Israel turned away. The brotherly spirit was there, but Esau did not reciprocate it.

C.O.B. Is it a question of election?

J.T. That is the accumulation of divine sovereignty alluded to in Romans 9. There it is a question of election. God's choice proves to be right, a very comforting consideration. You say, I know that in result God will bring me round to His thought; but

the point is that I should be proving God's choice now, that it is acceptable to me, that there is no mistake. Hence we have, that "the elect ... may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus"; all proves that the choice is right, that God made no mistake. It is very humbling if we do not answer now to the election of God.

Ques. Is it right to discern between the natural and spiritual brother?

J.T. That is what this book does-it discerns between a brother marked by appreciation for what is of God and by lovableness, and a brother who is governed by natural propensities, which Esau represents. God has given us an extended public history of Edom, and He finishes up with this terrible word, "I hated Esau"! It is not arbitrary, because he was hateful, whereas Jacob was lovable and God loved him. It is a question of lovableness in the true brethren, and hatefulness in the false brethren.

Ques. We are dependent on the work of God entirely to be delivered from the Esau features, and formed in the Jacob features?

J.T. Yes, that is the point. The Lord takes the matter up in Matthew; He takes it up immediately on the mount, and says, "If therefore thou shouldest offer thy gift at the altar, and there shouldest remember that thy brother has something against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and first go, be reconciled to thy brother", Matthew 5:23, 24. The Lord takes up the subject immediately, showing how Matthew links on with the Old Testament. It is a question of giving a brother every opportunity if he has something against you; you are to try your utmost to secure him: "Be reconciled to thy brother".

Ques. The Lord would not have a single exercise or question left between brother and brother?

J.T. That is so. The question between Esau and Jacob remained for twenty years. Jacob had incurred

Esau's hostility and it was a hard matter to settle it. It was settled externally as far as Esau was concerned, but it cost Jacob a great deal of thought, sorrow, and anxiety, before he was able to secure his brother; he had to wrestle with God. Jacob agonised in view of meeting Esau, but God answered him, and Esau was met and reconciled. I do not say he was really affected; but God allowed the thing to take place as a type of how the brethren may be secured, and thus Matthew 5 may be carried out.

Ques. Is it like 1 Corinthians 13? If love is lacking I am nothing; I may have other things but love is the great thing.

J.T. Yes, it is a question of love. The book of Malachi begins with that, God is calling our attention to the fact, "I have loved you". The sense of this had waned in Corinth. Paul speaks much of the love of God: "The Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me", Galatians 2:20. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins", 1 John 4:10. That is testified to in Corinth; the new covenant is brought in there, too, but there was no outward response; they had not love amongst themselves; there were parties among them. Therefore 1 Corinthians 13 is a very important scripture. The apostle has to speak of love in the abstract, he cannot say it characterised them.

Ques. Was Judas Iscariote a false brother?

J.T. Yes, he was. When he went out the Lord enjoined love among the brethren, "By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves", John 13:35. Love among ourselves, is love among the brethren. "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren". Two things were to mark them: they were born of God, and had the spirit of love; there is nothing else like that in heaven or earth and it

marks the brethren of the present dispensation. The Lord said of the remnant of Israel, "In them is all my delight", Psalm 16:3. The idea is that they were delightful, they were companionable spiritually; that is what Malachi leads us on to: "They ... spoke often one to another"; their converse was so delightful that heaven took account of it.

Ques. Did the undercurrent of hatred run through Esau's life?

J.T. It soon began to show itself; he professed to be reconciled, he took that ground, according to Genesis 38, but as Israel began to move spiritually towards the land, his enmity was aroused. The spiritual movements in the true brethren are sure to draw out the Edomite character in the false brethren. As soon as Jacob moved towards the land, Esau showed his disposition, he would not allow Jacob to cross his country, a most unreasonable rebuff from a brother. From that day onwards God enjoins Israel not to interfere with Edom; He said, "I have given mount Seir as a possession unto Esau" (Deuteronomy 2:5), and you are not to interfere with that. Yet as Jacob moved on into the land, Esau's especial opposition began to show itself, and from that day he showed nothing but opposition against Israel.

The two lines may be understood in the two blessings; it says, "Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau". It may be enquired, Why was Esau blessed, if he was a false brother? There are thousands of brethren who have been blessed; everyone in christendom is blessed in a sense. We are in a favourable land. It says of Edom, when Isaac is blessing Esau, "Thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth"; that is profession. With Jacob it is what was given to him, the blessing of Jacob is on the principle of gift. The blessing of Esau lies more in outward facts; he was to dwell on the fatness of the earth, but he would be ruled over by his brother, though in time he would

rove about, and break his yoke from off his neck; that is what the false brother does. We are enjoined to be subject to one another, but what Esau did is the history of false brethren throughout; they roam about and throw off the yoke.

Ques. Are the sons of God affected by this?

J.T. I think all that is in this book as marking Israel is simply the Edomite character, showing how the features of Edom may be found amongst those who are true brethren.

Ques. Is it the same principle that is found in the world, the spirit of violence and corruption as found with Edom in the Old and New Testament?

J.T. Quite so. Violence and corruption is what Edom has fully expressed.

In regard to the remaining features of this book, the Spirit of God calls attention to the gross negligence, you might say profanity, in the way the things of God were dealt with in Israel; but in spite of this God calls attention to His love for them and His preference for them. There is the love of preference as well as the love of sovereignty. God preferred Jacob, and He regards this little remnant at the end of the Old Testament as worthy, He treats them with the greatest respect, and not merely the remnant but the nation itself, although they were marked by the grossest disregard of the rights of God in their service to Him. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with that, the priests especially being taken up in chapter 2. In the presence of that God says, "From the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nations; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure oblation: for my name shall be great among the nations, saith Jehovah of hosts". That is very comforting, God will have His rights answered to, and it is our privilege now to answer to them.

Ques. What had you in mind in referring to the majesty of God as a correction?

J.T. It says at the end of chapter 1, "I am a great King, saith Jehovah of hosts, and my name is terrible among the nations". God would remind us that He would be increasingly great in the eyes of some of His people. Is He great in our eyes?

Ques. Would the fear of the Lord be a recognition of His majesty?

J.T. Exactly. The fear of the Lord is the recognition of His majesty; He is a great King. It is time that we should begin to think about that. Paul says, "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?", 1 Corinthians 10:22.

H.E.S. Do we have the same thought as in Corinthians, whatever they were, God is faithful?

J.T. That is right. You find it all through the two letters: "God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord"; we can rely on that. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able to bear". "God is faithful".

Chapter 2 takes up the priests and brings out what they are, and what they were at the time the prophecy was written; it is distressing. God had made a covenant with Levi of life and peace. The priest's lips should keep knowledge; the priests normally should provide for the rights of God, and look after what is due to Him.

-.Y. Is the fear of the Lord what constitutes the fellowship?

J.T. It has that in view. As we get in 1 Corinthians, we come into the fellowship and we have to do with the Lord and with the brethren too. The fellowship implies that we have to do with the brethren; we are obligated to the brethren. In dealing with the subject the apostle runs on to the thought of the Lord; we cannot escape the eye of the Lord, we are not

stronger than He. The fear of the Lord is an important matter in the fellowship, if my conduct is not in keeping with the fellowship. The priesthood in chapter 2 is to secure the rights of God; the priest's lips should keep knowledge; the Lord is holding them, it is a question of the mouth. The priestly element is what should have to say to the carelessness, negligence and disrespect to be found among us. This book of Malachi is so comprehensive, showing such respect on the part of God for His people; He brings in the creation as a testimony. He goes back to Genesis as to brotherly love in chapter 2: 10, "Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal unfaithfully every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?". It is striking that the compiler of the prophecy has unfolded the respect on God's part for His people; they are clothed with these great creatorial and covenant thoughts, thoughts of love. In the last chapter we get what God commanded from Israel in the mount. God clothes us with these thoughts to encourage us to answer to His mind.

Ques. If we see how God respects His people it would make us respect them?

J.T. Yes, indeed, and have respect for Him too. The two things run together-reverence for God, and respect for His people.

Ques. Should "Sanctify the Lord the Christ in your hearts" govern our relations together?

J.T. Quite so. We have often said you can never love a person if you do not respect him. God showed that His love for Israel required respect; He accorded full respect to them as His people, although they were only a handful of the original. He did not regard them as babes, He brought in His great thoughts from creation down, even as to marriage in chapter 2, "Jehovah hath been a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt

unfaithfully: yet she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not one make them? and the remnant of the Spirit was his". It is the original institution, and God brings all His great thoughts to bear upon it, and clothes us with ability to take them in, and answer to them. Why not? We have the Holy Spirit; God would bring us into full manhood to answer to His great thoughts. That is what He has in mind, all His great thoughts are to find response among us, to be received and carried out among us.

C.O.B. So we should learn to discern between the two lines?

J.T. Quite so. We are reminded in chapter 3 that God makes provision for any overture. He sends a messenger, "Behold I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me". God constantly prepares His way among us in the way of ministry; and then He says, "The Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the Angel of the covenant, ... ; behold, he cometh". That is solemn; things would happen suddenly after warning. God says in chapter 3, If I am dealing in a disciplinary way with you, "Ye are cursed with a curse" (verse g). Why is this? Because "Me ye rob, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house". That is, God would have a people that were not half-and-half people, He would have people who were whole measure people. "Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I open not to you the windows of the heavens, and pour you out a blessing, till there be no place for it" (verse 10). I do not know anything of more interest than this; it is a question of what I bring into the house, whether I am a half measure or a whole measure person. The first man in Scripture who offered, after the flood, was an unselfish man: he offered of every clean beast and fowl; he did not reserve a thing; he

was an unselfish man. The poverty in the meetings is because of the want of the whole tithe.

H.E.S. Are you speaking of what is material in relation to the tithe, or of what is spiritual, or both?

J.T. Both, it is a question of love. Love may find occasion to express itself in a great variety of ways. It is a question of love, after all; that is what God thinks about, and it is behind all I do.

H.E.S. Is that why in Corinthians Paul finishes by a collection for the saints?

J.T. See how much he makes of the material side, but only because it is the occasion of expressing love. We were speaking this morning about the widow who gave all her living, and also about Paul's saying he would most gladly spend and be spent for the brethren. One might spend a fortune on a brother and never spend oneself, because after all it is not what I spend, but what I leave. If I have abundance left, I have not spent myself, there is no expenditure of self in that. The apostle says, "I shall most gladly spend and be utterly spent". To spend myself, that is the great thing. After all it is the person God wants; my means may be the opportunity of expressing love, but I must be spent myself.

Ques. Is that why it says that the Lord loved the church and gave Himself for it?

J.T. Exactly. The thing is to bring the whole tithe. I must get in my mind what God wants; He will take anything, He took the tenth Jacob offered.

Rem. Paul says, I have heard of your faith and love.

J.T. Quite so. Love is the thing.

Ques. Was that seen in Psalm 133, the anointing of Aaron and that God there commands the blessing?

J.T. Exactly. The blessing is secured by what we do. Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house, that there may be food there. That is a good reason, but the point is the thing should be there; God can add to that, but the idea is that you are doing it, a

very fine thing; it is your opportunity, but as we move, God moves; God adds to it.

You will find in the Acts how the thing progresses; the crowd of names in Acts 1 means distinction, that is equal to wealth, then the Holy Spirit coming, added three thousand to that. Then when Peter and John go into the temple there was something to look at, "Look on us". Next Barnabas comes in; he lays what he has at the apostles' feet, so it increases after that. At Antioch a large crowd were added to the Lord through Barnabas's preaching (chapter 11). Then chapter 13 brings out what was there, the assembly was much the richer spiritually for the five remarkable brethren mentioned in verse 1. I believe there would be greater gift among us were this principle of giving followed out on the part of the brethren, the full tithe.

Ques. Peter said, "Silver and gold I have not; but what I have, this give I to thee", is that the thought?

J.T. Quite so. It shows there was something there.

H.E.S. In a summarised way in this book of Malachi, do we get love in result, and hatred in result?

J.T. Yes, that is how it works out in the whole tithe being brought to God's house, "Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts". God has it in mind to enrich and beautify us, so that the whole tithe will be brought in. God will be so delighted with the love shown in this way that all this will ensue.

Ques. "Present your bodies a living sacrifice"; would that be the whole tithe?

J.T. Yes, everyone has his body, that is more than money. Paul said, "I shall most gladly spend", that may be my money, "and be utterly spent", that is myself.

Rem. The widow in the gospel did not contribute much in money but infinitely much in intrinsic worth.

J.T. That is how the Lord regarded it; He looked up and saw her. Malachi 3:16 brings out great results for God in persons who feared Him. Others feared Him before, but we do not get this beautiful touch, "They that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him" (verses 16, 17). Israel is spared as a man spareth his son, God speaks of their preciousness to Him in the day He has prepared; they will be a peculiar treasure to Him. In God's great preparation day, His grand display, Israel will have a peculiar place as His treasure.

C.O.B. Do you get God's respect for Israel in chapter 4?

J.T. Yes. We see how God regards them; what He commanded for all Israel ought to be remembered. The last verse of chapter 3 should be especially noticed, "And ye shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not". I think that is one of the greatest needs, for those who return to discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.

F.W. Is that how we are to discern our brother?

J.T. I think that is the way. A true brother is one who serves God, and he is not only a brother, but he is a son too, a son serves.

This last verse of chapter 3 is a moral thing; we are able to discern those who serve God. Many of our brethren are affiliated with a service little better than judaism, and in some instances even paganism; they cannot serve God in these circumstances. "Come

out from the midst of them, and be separated". Service can only be carried out on God's terms.

F.W. It needs spirituality to be moving on these lines?

J.T. That is what it culminates in in the closing verses of chapter 3; we reach a moral basis, arrived at by discerning those who serve God and those who do not.

The Edomite may be found among true brethren; we have to watch against it. The allusion to the son that serveth Him is very touching. He spares him "as a man spareth his own son that serveth him". The service of the son is very striking coming in here, and the ability to discern one who serves God, and one who does not.

In the next chapter we get a beautiful encouragement and announcement, "And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves". That is future; it is the hope we have and in which we are to abound. In New Testament language we are to "abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". "Unto you that fear my name", that is a certain class of people, all who are looking for Him. Many take up the thought of the Lord's coming without corresponding to it, but here it links up the thought with fearing His name.

Ques. Why are Moses and Elias brought in at the end?

J.T. Moses represents the rights of God: "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel". Elijah represents recovery, a remarkable thing at the end of the dispensation; "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers"; it is a household matter. The great servant Elijah is here linking up households, bringing parents and children into right relations with

one another, and surely according to God in a spiritual way.

Rem. Paul says, in Acts 20, "Take heed therefore to yourselves", and calls attention to his hands.

J.T. Yes. In the second part of the chapter which records that memorable night when Eutychus was restored and they were comforted, Paul says, "Take heed to yourselves". He would say, You are to see that this mutual state of things continues, you are to watch yourselves so that mutual conditions can go on. "These hands ministered to my wants".

Whose hands? Paul's hands.

Ques. Are the results seen in the next chapter of the Acts?

J.T. Yes. They went down with their wives and children.

THE PRACTICAL WORKING OUT OF SONSHIP

Galatians 3:25; Romans 8:14; Matthew 5:9, 44, 45; 2 Samuel 7:12, 14, 18

I have before me, dear brethren, to speak about sonship, often spoken about indeed, and yet I can hardly say well known. It is much spoken of in our holy conversations, and much sung about, included in our songs of praise, but I cannot say from observation that it is well known. I venture a few remarks on it, if possible to elucidate it and simplify it, without bringing it in any way within the level of our natural minds. The principle of ministry is faith, from faith to faith, so that we should be practically in the dispensation of God which is set up in faith. This subject of sonship brings in the sphere of faith in the most pointed manner. The apostle in writing to the Galatians occupies the whole of chapter 3 in enforcing the thought of faith. He treats of it as belonging to a certain era, as over against a previous era which was marked otherwise: hence the question of time enters into this chapter peculiarly. Indeed, dear brethren, when I speak of time, I may turn aside for a moment to point out that God does not just reckon it as we do, as men do, that is to say by the revolutions of the earth, as we understand it, or the sun. He has in mind His own work; He reckons time in relation to that. So that the first divisions of time are by God Himself, "And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day"; that is before we have any mention of the sun. So each day was a question of what God did, and that is how heaven is occupied with time; it is a question of what God has done, is doing, or will do. Hence we have the lives of men given so that we might reckon time. In Genesis 5 we have not the lives of the descendants of Cain, but of Seth; that is to say, it is the life line; and so from

Abraham to Christ, it was a question of generations not years. In regard of sonship, which is also of faith, it must be a matter of the work of God. You will observe the expression in verse 23: "before faith came", and then in verse 25, "faith having come", the allusion being to time, but evidently not as we say A.D.-so-and-so, but as a question of the work of God, for faith is the work of God. God is occupied with what He is doing, and faith took form in man. I quite own that faith was in Jesus; but I should not call it the work of God there; Jesus is the Inaugurator of the great era of faith, He is said to be "the leader and completer of faith", but in us, it is the work of God. So the division of time in this chapter is before faith came, and after faith came. Now we live in the era after faith came, a great and wonderful dispensation is the dispensation of faith. I mention all these things so that you may have in view the place time has at the moment, in regard of what I have in mind. Faith having come, sonship has come, for sonship belongs to this era. All who have faith are sons, "Ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus". It is a very great fact for everyone to take into his soul, that it is his privilege to live in sonship, faith having come; it may be very little known in some of our souls, but it is true. If faith be true, then you come in for what belongs to the era of faith and, above all things, for this great relationship and dignity called sonship. "Faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor; for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus".

Now, that is the first thing I wanted to lay down, so that each may be able to follow intelligently as seeing that what I have to say is directly for him. The Lord would press upon you again, if He has done it before, this great fact that sonship is yours, and it is yours in that you have faith. It is not that faith was not a necessity in Old Testament times, far otherwise; it

existed from the very beginning, but it is scarcely mentioned there, perhaps once or twice, for it was not the principle of God's dealings with man. It was there, and as real then as it is now, and equally of God, but it was not His public way of dealing; He was operating on the principle of sight, to bring out that, given every advantage, nothing can be made of the man after the flesh. Even the law, perfect as it was, "holy, and just, and good", perfected nothing, but faith having come, we have arrived at a period of perfection. Perfection is in the Son, finality is in the Son, and so the Son of God here upon earth, Jesus, inaugurated the great period marked by perfection and finality in which we have part. It is a period in which we have, as I say, perfection; we are enjoined to go on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1).

The Holy Spirit here, the Son having gone to heaven, has inaugurated the period of faith in a peculiar way. He is out of sight but the Holy Spirit is here operating, so that faith is specially the era to which sonship belongs. The Holy Spirit has come in to maintain it in a practical and living way, so that the mind of God is answered to. There is nothing in the Old Testament that concurs with the truth of sons; it was a time of children, a nursery time. That is what the apostle says in Galatians 4, "We also, when we were children, were held in bondage ... but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship. But because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So thou art no longer bondman, but son; but if son, heir also through God", Galatians 4:3 - 7. The position is most clearly stated, so that is every believer's relationship before God, however little his faith may be.

I want to show you from the passage in the Old Testament how this typically affected a man who

himself had faith. He nevertheless cannot be on the footing of Galatians, he was not. He belonged to the era of sight, when God was operating on that principle, yet he typified at least what I am saying. 2 Samuel 7 speaks of the desires of David to build a house for Jehovah, a most laudable thought. A thought which he poetically expresses in Psalm 132:4, 5: "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob". That is one of the finest statements in the Scriptures! Nevertheless all David was able to do was to spread a tent in mount Zion for the ark. He deplored the accommodation offered to God, it was so mean, his own accommodation was much better. It happens often so with us, our personal accommodation is much better than what we offer to the Lord. David felt that, he said to Nathan, I would like to build a house for the Lord, and Nathan answers, "Go, do all that is in thy heart; for Jehovah is with thee". But a message came that night to Nathan, that he was to tell David that he was not to build the house. It must have been a humbling thing for David that God had to tell him what was in his heart was a right thing in itself, but he was not the one to do it. It was a humbling but wholesome thing to be told this; it made nothing of him. Christianity is far from being a one-man affair as regards our service down here, it is a mutual matter, and a matter of variety. God loves to have variety; David had to accept the message and he did so with the most beautiful grace. Instead of retiring to his house sulking like Ahab, as a disappointed man defeated in his great purpose, he does the very opposite to that. This is a thing every one of us should understand "King David went in and sat before Jehovah". He grasped the thought in the message sent him from the Lord by Nathan, the thought of sonship. He did not understand it as we do, but the Holy Spirit presents

facts to us in Scripture to elucidate a certain thought. There is a thought conveyed here in the message sent to David which inspired in his heart the sense of liberty with God. God tells him, "Thy seed ... it is he who shall build a house for my name"; if David's seed was to be a son, there was some encouragement for him in that. The Holy Spirit tells us in Psalm 89 that David was a son. God says, "He shall call unto me, Thou art my father, ... I will make him firstborn", of course the allusion is to Christ, but nevertheless in principle it referred also to David. So he gathered up the promise; it is a great principle in the things of God to be able to gather up things, to get impressions and move in them. A divine impression is calculated to move me, what I do immediately after receiving it proves where I have got. So it tells us that David went in and sat before the Lord. It is the only place where we are told that he did this. Speaking is stressed here, and I call attention to it as the first feature of sonship characteristically. As the light of it comes into my soul by the Spirit I am adjusted, and the next thing is liberty; I have liberty with God. Many of us are bound in our souls, unable to speak to God in the assembly. I do not mean we are ashamed, but we are unable to speak to God as He should be spoken to, in the power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is down here in order to serve us in every possible way, and one way is that we might learn to speak to God, to cry "Abba, Father". That is in principle what comes out in David. He "went in and sat before Jehovah". It does not say that Jehovah sent for him; that would be another matter; if Jehovah had sent for him as His servant, he would go in and stand and await orders, that is what properly belongs to the servant: he awaits orders standing. We are not told what David entered into here, the point is he went in; it is the inwardness of the thing. That is to say, dear brethren, we have got to learn to

be spiritual and to leave aside material thoughts. David is the great representative of inwardness; he built inwardly. So here, David went in. How good it is to go in, to retire in the power of the Spirit into the presence of God in the light of sonship. As David sat, the light shone over him; would that we might experience this! The word 'sat' is used in the sense of 'tarried'. How delightful it was to God! David had accepted the will of God, although it had cut athwart his thoughts and ambitions to build the house; he accepts it and humbly enters in and sits before the Lord and speaks thus beautifully to Him.

The next feature I would dwell upon is in Romans 8:14. If I get the light of sonship in the period in which I am, the next thing is that I move in it in the spirit of adoption, and then I am to be led. The movements of David are not suggestive of the movements of the Spirit, they are his own movements; he moves of himself. But then there is such a thing exemplified in Scripture as a person moving by the Spirit. We have it in the Lord Jesus Himself, He was "led by the Spirit in the wilderness", according to Luke 4. It concurs exactly with what comes out in the types; according to Numbers 21 when Israel recognised the well, they sang, "Rise up, well! sing unto it", and after that they moved. The type answering to what I am speaking of is divinely fulfilled by the Lord Himself, and now by ourselves, in the measure in which we understand being led of the Spirit. So Israel went from point to point, pursuing a straight course until they reached mount Pisgah. There is nothing said about the ark, or the tabernacle, or the cloud; they had reached new ground, that is to say, the ground of inward acknowledgment of the presence of the Spirit of God. They moved on until they reached the top of Pisgah, which as it says, "looks over the surface of the waste", Numbers 21:20. On the other hand, it looks outward on the land,

though it does not say so in this place. The Holy Spirit would say, 'You must learn to let Me lead you and I will bring you to this point. The outlook from this point is on the land. Moses saw it from this point. I want you to look backwards, to take a retrospective view and see what God has been to you all these years, that you might love God'. The Holy Spirit does not make Himself a point in it, He is God, but He is here in a wonderfully lowly way to serve us, to bring God and Christ before us, so that we might love God. So the top of Pisgah looks over the surface of the waste.

We have the corresponding thought in Christ according to Luke, He was led in the wilderness for forty days. It would appear from Luke's presentation of the temptation that it lasted forty days, and afterwards He hungered. But the point is to see a Man led in the wilderness by the Spirit, not merely for Himself; no, beloved, it was for us. He was an example for us in everything. It says in Romans 8:14, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God". Do we want to be like Jesus in the wilderness, led of the Spirit? We shall not be tempted of the devil; He was, in order to bring out His perfection. But there is the great principle of being led of the Spirit in the wilderness, so that we are marked off as sons of God. One could say much more about this matter of being led of the Spirit; it is one that deserves the greatest consideration, for the sons of God, and how they move, is not only for the wilderness, but goes on to eternity. The Holy Spirit is in them; He can lead them; they are entirely amenable to His manipulations, that is what enters into the assembly. What I have been speaking about is the wilderness and being led in it, but the assembly is Godward, it is not simply Pisgah. It is not what God has been to me in the wilderness, but God as known in heaven. This is one of the greatest suggestions conceivable to

the relation; how can I know such a relation save by the Spirit? He alone can give me interest, feelings and affections suited to that. What you get in the assembly would be a question of the Lord, He has to do with the approaches to the assembly, and to the assembly proper. You know how in the types, the approaches were presented both in the tabernacle and the temple; the temple proper was by itself, it was always an inner thing. We must not stop with the mere approaches, or even with the porch; we must get inside. The great thought of the Spirit is to lead us in, like David going in and sitting before the Lord. So when one says, 'Lord Jesus', that resounds in the precincts of the house. No one can say, Lord Jesus, but by the Spirit, and in the spirit of adoption, and that makes me recognise the authority of the Lord.

Then the next thing is, I can say, 'Abba, Father'. How do we do that? The word 'Abba' is not an English word, it is an Aramaic word meaning 'Father'. It is the very word the Lord Jesus used (Mark 14:36). It is to be treasured in that sense. The word 'Abba' brings into the scene the very voice of Jesus; the assembly will resound with that utterance, "Abba, Father". That is the thought the Spirit is leading me to; according to Galatians 4 "God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father", which is in accord with Romans 8:15, "Whereby we cry, Abba, Father". Now, dear brethren, you will, I am sure, agree that this deserves our most profound consideration and attention, so that we may be in the assembly according to God, that our voices may resound in the approaches, and in the inner place; the very heaven itself is affected by the voices of the saints.

Now I come to the practical side in Matthew s, where the Lord is dealing with the darkness that came in through the tradition of the elders. The disciples were found among these things: the thoughts of

God handed down from Moses and the prophets had become darkness. I want you to understand this section; the Lord is speaking authoritatively on the mountain, glorifying the whole environment for faith. He stands out in it as the great Inaugurator of the new order of things, giving the word of authority which settles everything. What a great thing that is! Among the things He speaks of here, we have what we are to be called on a given occasion. The people of God are to be called "the sons of God". I may tell people I am a son of God, but if they are unregenerate it would be like casting pearls before swine; that knowledge does not belong to them; sonship belongs to another world. But there is to be a testimony here; the Lord says, "Blessed are the peace-makers". It is one thing to be a son of peace, and an important thing, too. There is no local meeting without a son of peace. The Lord says, 'If you find a son of peace, stay in that house, let your peace be on it, do not leave it, do not go from house to house, make it your headquarters in the place'. That is what it means, there is a place known, a peace-tent, and you stay there. The local assembly enters into that thought of a son of peace. But the son of peace is not necessarily a peace-maker; a maker of peace is a very great personage, one cannot be that who is not a son of peace. But one may be a son of peace, and not a peacemaker; that is to say, one to bring brethren together, to work with them. How can one do that, save as one gets down below them? In Judges 8 the Ephraimites say to Gideon, 'Why have you not called us? We are a great people'. There is often that kind of thing in large meetings, and meetings where there is a gifted brother, but gift is not the idea for a local meeting; it is not intended for that, it is for the whole assembly-a gift has a general setting. Well, the Ephraimites disputed sharply with Gideon; they told him they were a great people and could do great

things. Gideon says to them, "What have I done now in comparison with you?". That is a peacemaker! Gideon had not broken the peace; he had got a great victory for Israel, yet he had to submit to these men who thought they were greater than he! Gideon became a peace-maker, he was a son of peace, but he was a peace-maker too. He appeased the brethren and established peace where there might have been war. A peace-maker is a man of immense importance; the Lord Jesus says of such in Matthew 5, "They shall be called sons of God". God is a God of peace, He made peace Himself, and imparted it to us, and would bring us alongside Himself to teach us how to be peace-makers, that we might become repairers of the breach, able to bring brethren together, to help them judge themselves and get together. Moses attempted to do that at the beginning of his career and failed. He said, "Sirs, ye are brethren", which was a good remark for a prince in Israel to make about slaves. But the one who did wrong was a very hard man and Moses could not do anything with him, so Moses fled. It is very humbling to find brethren you cannot do anything with. Gideon succeeded; he was a peace-maker. "Blessed the peace-makers, for they shall be called sons of God". In 1 John 3:1 it says, "That we should be called the children of God", but here it is sons of God; we are marked off in this practical way as sons in the sense that we have taken on the character of God as the great peace-maker and thus help to establish peace among our brethren.

The last point is at the end of Matthew 5, "I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father who is in the heavens". In the early verse it is, "They shall be called", now it is, "That ye may be the sons of your Father who is in the heavens"; it is a thing held out to you as characterising

you in an entirely new relationship. What a God He is! Look up at the sun in the morning as it rises-one often thanks God for it!-it is God's sun, and He makes it rise on evil and good. What a God He is! He is our great example; think of His bounty and beneficence! Ecclesiastes 1:5 says, "The sun also riseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to its place where it ariseth"; God is with every movement of the sun, with every blade of grass that grows, and with every seed planted on the earth. God brings up the sun and makes it to shine too, "He makes his sun rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust". I want to be like that God. It is a great aspiration which is set before us here, "That ye may be the sons of your Father". The Lord in Matthew stresses our relation with the Father, John says He is our Father only once in his gospel, but Matthew does very often. Think of God in heaven being my Father, how I should desire to be like that God! He makes His sun to rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust. What am I to do now? The Lord says, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father who is in the heavens". Well, dear brethren, the Lord has put this great thought within our reach; He has given us the light of sonship in our souls and hearts, so that we might accept the characteristics of our Father who is in the heavens, in regard to our enemies. The point here is in regard of those who hate and persecute us; they are not wanting, alas! but God turns circumstances into an occasion for the manifestation of Himself in His sons, "that ye may be the sons of your Father who is in the heavens".

It is thus we see what sonship means, and how it works out in a practical way here, so that we may really be the sons of our Father who is in the heavens.

MOUNTAINS

Genesis 8:4 - 12, 20, 21; Genesis 12:8; Deuteronomy 33:15; 2 Peter 1:16 - 18

The thought that I had in mind to enlarge on is mountains. The first of the ancient mountains as mentioned in the verse in Deuteronomy refers to Joseph's land. Those of us who are conversant with that wonderful chapter will know the setting of the remarkable statement, "Blessed of Jehovah be his land!". Joseph, in that chapter, comes in for the most extensive, exalted and precious features of divine blessing. He represents Christ. To Him the inheritance belongs; the birthright was Joseph's. So that he sets out the thought of Christ as the heir. And Moses calls for the greatest blessing in the most priestly way, on that land. That land, dear brethren, is not to be inherited alone by Christ. We are joint heirs with Him, heirs together, it says, with Christ. This brings in suffering, that as we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him. For the blessing is for Joseph who is separated from his brethren, separated not by his own wish, but by their hatred, but he would not be alone. Indeed, the Lord Himself says, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit". The "much fruit" is ourselves, the myriads of the redeemed who shall share that land with Him. So this should be of the deepest interest to every one of us. How richly that land is to be blessed! "Blessed of Jehovah be his land!".

But I wish to confine my remarks to the mountains -- the ancient mountains and the everlasting hills. Now in referring to mountains, dear brethren, I may remark that they have a great place in Scripture. They are first mentioned, as far as I remember, where I read

in Genesis, and they are mentioned by name. Their tops pierced the flood as it receded by the power of God, and we are told that the tops of the mountains were visible. All these mountains were taken into account. Scripture abounds with allusions to them. Ancient and everlasting ones are all in mind. The tops of them have just come into view, emerging from the deluge. As the earth emerged from the earlier deluge according to divine ordering in the first chapter, nothing is said about the tops of the high mountains. No doubt they had appeared first but there is nothing said about the mountains in Genesis 1; but in Genesis 8 the tops of the mountains appeared, as if the Holy Spirit fixes the mind upon them, and they are never to be lost to view henceforth. Scripture never loses sight of them. Indeed the gospel that is marked mostly by them is Matthew. The first one mentioned is used by the devil; it is a solemn thing to see what God intended to be in the mind of faith emerging from the deluge, giving way to the power of the devil, so that he uses it to take the Lord Jesus up to it and show to Him the panorama of this world and its glory, and he assumes that all that was his. Christians have to realise that the enemy has power to use the mountains, to give you a mistaken view, a panorama of the world to decoy you, to bring you under his power. He does not go to the extent of offering it all to us, but he will offer bits of it. Many have fallen under his power in that way, so that young men are enjoined to "love not the world, nor the things in the world". All the other mountains in Matthew are engaged with what the Lord Jesus would use. The mountains to which the enemy takes us afford us no precious things. There is no blessing from that quarter.

Well now, in making these remarks I wanted to stress that another feature in the mountain is that it is moral elevation. You see how much the judgment

rested on the level as compared with the mountain in Genesis 8, so that the higher the elevation, the more what is morally degrading is withdrawn from. Hence in Matthew the first mountain the Lord went to, He sat there. It is a permanent thought and the disciples came to Him there; that is a key really to the subject in Matthew, the Lord sitting on the mount and the disciples coming to Him, and as they arrive He opened His mouth and said "blessed" nine times over. You can see how great the elevation is, and then there is the sense of instruction, a sense of blessing, a sense of quality there, for those nine cases of blessing are nine cases of quality, the fruit of the works of God, and as the Lord proceeds, you remember, three chapters 5, 6 and 7, are employed by the Spirit of God to give us an epitome of what He said on the mount, and the more you look into them, the more clarified your vision becomes as to everything. The most important thing in regard to the assembly is to have clear vision; that is what is needed, especially in relation to the assembly. It is a great thought in Matthew.

Now to go back to Deuteronomy, it speaks of the chief things, or the best things, or the head things, of the ancient mountains; that is, there are better and best in this. Now the word 'ancient', of course, is to direct your mind backwards. The next statement is the precious things of the everlasting hills; that is a forward thought, "the everlasting hills". Now I hope to be able to show a comparison, not minimising the best things of the ancient mountains, but you can see that that word 'precious' is a stronger thought than the word 'best', and so I proceed to consider the first mountain, which I take the liberty of regarding as the ancient mountain. The chapter affords us the things that the Holy Spirit has in mind, the best things, the best things of these mountains, not of all mountains. I want you to follow, dear brethren, what these best things are and share in them, and to share in them

now. Nothing we are to have in the future is to be unknown now. The principle is, that I have everything now, not in its fulness or in its blessedness, but I have it in principle, and if I have it in principle or, as it were, by sample, then I know that when I have it in its fulness it will not be unknown or strange. I shall be a stranger to nothing there, and that can only be by the earnest. God has given us the earnest into our hearts and that means that in principle I have everything that I will have in the future, so that I will be stranger to nothing, so that if I am to understand these things in the ancient mountains, I shall be obliged to look into them and see what they are, and so the Spirit of God tells us that after the long dreary days of the deluge (and one often tries to place oneself alongside of Noah in the ark-what an experience it must have been until the ship grounded. It was no such grounding as the apostle Paul experienced. There was no such pressure at Ararat), the judgment was resting where the ark grounded. It was resting, a very precious touch. We should learn rest, dear brethren, after judgment, after it is spent. That is to say, one can understand the joy, the thrill of salvation as we are grounded firmly on the mountains of Ararat. The great ship found a resting place, with its precious freight of living beings; foodstuffs and the like were not mentioned in that connection at all. We have to learn things spiritually. Food is not the point; the point is life, the matter of the people being alive.

What a thrill in every intelligent person there. What a thrill as the ark grounded firmly on the mountains. Why mountains? It is a spiritual thing, the sure foundation, you see. Well, that is one thought, and it is one of the chief thoughts of the ancient mountains. I ask you to picture it in your own mind what it was to Noah and his sons and their wives, to look out and see the glorious panorama of the tops of the mountains, never again to be out of view, always to be in

the view of faith henceforth. And then, dear brethren, another thing comes to light on Ararat besides this precious rest of soul after the judgment is spent, and the precious view, this grand vista of glory; we have to picture and consider ourselves for nearly a year in the deluge-what the vista was!-what was to be seen! And then going further there is the test of love, who was who. It was a question of species of life. Noah sends out the raven, meaning that species of creature. He is to be tested, for if the best things are to be brought into view, we have to be tested for our value.

It is a question of species, the raven. It would be carried through in all these trials as of value; now he is going to be tested. Every one of us has to be tested and these best things come out of the tests. That is where quality comes to light in a test, and God will test us. He does it constantly. The raven goes out and never comes back. There is not much in him.

Where is his love? He went to and fro; well, that is not much. There are some christians going to and fro; going hither and thither with no resting place at all, no place of life. Look at that ark resting on Ararat, a place of life. You cannot get the life else where. It is a question of the assembly. Thousands of christians can go in there. He sends out the dove, another species, that kind of creature is going to be tested, for there is treasure in this test. Now we come to one of the best things; would you not like to be like that, bringing in something like that, some indication of life, such as the olive leaf? He sent out the dove, it was a link with him. This is one of the best things of the ancient mountains. We should be like the dove; she found no resting place for the sole of her foot. It is a moral thought. There is nothing fit for me. When I scan christendom, I see nothing fit for me. The dove could find no place at all, so she came back. There is no time given, but she came back, so Noah put his hand out and took her in to him.

Then he waited and sent her out again. This is another test. What will she do now? The waters are abating. Well, you have the time spent out mentioned this time, a day's work. Every spiritual person thinks of a day's work. We like to be like God, and work by the day. The dove could do nothing the first day outside. The second visit she did something. She came back, and it is very beautiful; the spiritual person coming back to where his love is after his day's work. Barnabas and Paul went out and the brethren laid their hands on them, and they came back with something in their mouths, some evidence of the work of God. Sometimes the brethren come back and say, 'I do not see much change in him': that is a poor thing; when the dove came back she said, 'There is the result of my day's work'. It was a sufficient one! Where did it grow? The ground was covered with death. It must have grown quickly. That was the move of spiritual energy. The corn dies, or it does not bring forth any fruit, so however you look at it, it is a wonderful thing. Here is life spoken of, as if spiritually she recognises life. There was growth in spite of the deluge, and the true workman would go back to his post having accomplished something; otherwise we are just roaming about like the raven.

God is a God of order. Well, she comes out a third time and she does not go back. That is perfect, it means that the judgment of God rests. These are some of the best things of the ancient mountains which we have to bring into Joseph's land so that there may be blessings there. How great is that thought, dear brethren.

The third thought is the altar. You can have nothing without that. In all these mountains I have read about there is an altar in each of them, and here Noah places an altar. We are told that he offered up of all clean fowl and of every clean beast on that altar. That means that Noah was an unselfish worker at

Ararat. And that is one of the best things that I can learn, that is to be unselfish. I hold nothing back from God. The last book in the Old Testament tells how unpleasurable the worshippers were to God, how they dishonoured Him by the kind of offerings they brought. Selfishness marked their offerings. So one of the best things of the ancient mountains is unselfishness at the altar, and God is pleased, for He smelt a sweet savour and He established a firm order of things. That is another good thing to see, the fervency of the divine order of things.

Well, now I go on to the second mountain. It has no name but it is on the east side of Bethel. That is the position in proximity to the house of God, and in gathering that is the place where brethren should pitch their altar. In that vicinity it is blessed. That is one of the best things of the ancient mountains, and that is that I pitch my altar at the mountain in proximity to the house of God. This mountain was not yet named, but the Spirit of God moves Abraham to this mountain. It is faith moving in relation to the house of God by instinct. In fact, I believe we know things by name as we know them in our souls. Abraham had thought extensively, so he pitched his altar at the mountain, on the east side and then in Genesis 22 we have, I suppose, the climax to this subject. We have a mountain later where you get a heap of stones, a witness between two brothers that they should not pass to each other. Think of putting up a heap of stones that I should not pass to you, or that you should not pass to me. Of course they should pass, but that is not the idea. That is not one of the best things, but this mountain in chapter 22 is a chief mountain. God has a great deal of interest in this mountain. "One of the mountains which I will tell thee of" is in "the land of Moriah", which means a place where things are shown. Some say that this is the mountain on which the temple was built. Well,

that is questionable. The idea was that it was shown. This is in the land of Moriah, "one of the mountains which I will tell thee of". I would that we should get that into our souls. We have the great principle set up, the mountain of Jehovah on which will be provided. It is a mountain of Jehovah. You say you would like to get to that mountain. Well, so would I.

The Spirit of God would show it to you tonight. So Abraham and Isaac set out and he sees the place afar off. What I want to bring out is the unfaltering faith of Abraham, and his faith brought him to the point of correspondence with God. Now I want you to follow this. It is the mountain of God in a spiritual way, which is reached by faith. Thus God is reached in this chapter. But it is wonderful as you dwell on this chapter. Isaac is bearing the wood, a type of the Lord Jesus who bore His own cross. Abraham takes with him all the necessaries for the sacrifice. What a test to his faith! God would test Abraham. Is he equal? We come to one of the finest and best things of the ancient mountains with which the land of Joseph is blessed: faith that will go all the way, even to become correspondent with the blessed God Himself, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us. That is Abraham. That thought is one of the best things of the ancient mountains. I think it is as God brings us to that, that we find the rich lands. That means that our meetings, our assemblies, should be rich. Abraham walked in love. He never stopped on that way, as he went to Moriah. He walked in love. He would give up his best to God. He who loves God is to keep His commandments. There is no other way to show our love, than by keeping His commandments. If I do not keep His commandments, it is useless to talk about love. Abraham carried out the divine thought perfectly. He was an imitator of God, and walked in love, even as Christ offered Himself up.

That is the mountain. Think of him piling up the

wood! It means that there was plenty of it there. His son was to be offered and the wood was piled up, the son was bound to the altar, the knife was in the hand, and the hand was lifted up to slay his son. That is the best thing.

Dear brethren, let us enrich the land of Joseph with these precious things; these best things of the ancient mountains. Well, the time is gone, but let us look at the everlasting hills. I must just say a word and I do not think I can select a better scripture than the one read in Peter. None is more competent to speak about it than Peter, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty", 2 Peter 1:16. That is a precious thing of the everlasting hills. That is Peter's word too, it is a choice word with Peter. "We ... were eyewitnesses of his majesty". He does not say anything about his own failure. That is not anything for Joseph's land. You do not bring self into Joseph's land. Peter slept with the others on the mountain, but he does not mention that here. He speaks about the precious things of the everlasting hills, and he says, "We ... were eyewitnesses of his majesty". What a thought of the majesty of God! Those who know Him love to consider it. There shall be no end to His majesty or His glory; He is Lord of glory. And then he goes on to say, "Such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory".

That is a precious thing. How one would love to hear that voice, as a voice from the "excellent glory", one of the precious things. Think of the man who used to be a fisherman, having the vocabulary of heaven from the "excellent glory". He says, "Such a voice being uttered ... . This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight". That is a precious thought of the everlasting hills-it is an eternal thought. It never ends. It is the delight of the Father in the Son.

He does not say here, "Hear him"; he leaves that out. That was the point of the mount, to hear Jesus, but Peter leaves that out here. He is talking about precious things, and the precious thought is that the Father loves the Son, and that the Father says, "This is my beloved Son". That is an eternal thought. "Hear him" is not the point in this chapter, but we should hear Him now. The point here is the delight of the Father in the Son, and that belongs to Joseph's land. How often we stress it in the assembly as we are gathered together-"This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight". That would be eternal. That precious thing of the everlasting hills is shared by us. Let us bring it into the assembly now, into Joseph's land, the blessings of the everlasting hills. The assembly comes in for a share of all these things, and we are to understand the majesty of Christ and the delight of the Father in Him.

Well, that is all that I had in mind, and may God help us in these matters to be drawn into moral elevation and eternal relations.

TRANSITION FROM THE REALM OF SIGHT

Luke 24:1 - 12; Acts 1:9 - 13; John 20:11 - 18

I purpose speaking of these scriptures, dear brethren, in the order in which I have read them. My purpose is not to dwell on them in any historic sense, or even in a doctrinal sense. My purpose is, by the Lord's help, to speak of them in their moral bearing, that is, in the sense in which they may enter into current exercises and conduct, or practice, among us. Indeed Scripture is never read aright, or studied aright, save as we keep the moral bearing in view. That is, they always speak to the reader.

Now what is in mind is the transition of the saints from the realm of sight to the realm of faith and the realm of the Spirit. This transition is needed by all of us at all times but by some in an especial manner, for we are exceedingly prone to walk by sight, to read Scripture on that principle, to attend meetings like this on that principle.

I have read from Luke and John because the witnesses, or persons at the sepulchre and at the ascension, in questioning the saints convey censure. What I have to say centres around the questions asked by the heavenly witnesses in these scriptures. You will observe they are in twos in Luke and John. Luke and John had in mind, under the guidance of the Spirit, the spirit of the dispensation. They are peculiarly feeling men, one greatly imbued by grace and the other by love, and they had in mind that the dispensation should carry on in the spirit proper to it. That is to say, Luke would maintain the spirit of grace sustained by the Lord's supper, and John would maintain the Spirit of Christ, which we get in Philippians, "The supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (chapter 1: 19). So in Luke as the saints are together

they are speaking about the Lord having appeared to Simon. That is grace, and immediately it is added "And they related what had happened on the way, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread", Luke 24:35. Then in John, on the other hand, the Lord "breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit", John 20:22. That is to say, His own Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is to mark us. As I said, Luke and John are particularly feeling men and they inject into the dispensation these features. And so the witnesses are in twos. It might be assumed that Matthew and Mark would be severer than Luke and John, but the angel in Matthew does not censure the women. He does not even question them. Others might fear, but he says,"Fear not ye",

Matthew 28:5. Stern as he was, his countenance like lightning so that the guards trembled and became as dead men for fear, he says to the women, "Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one". You see how a heavenly representative can change his tone, can change his appearance and his attitude when speaking to the saints. To the guards and others that countenance was repelling, corresponding with that of our Lord Himself in the book of Revelation where He says to John, as He touched him with His right hand, "Fear not", Revelation 1:17. The attitude is changed at once as the saints are seen characteristically. Matthew is pleased to convey to us that heaven regards these women in their characteristic features, not in the immediate unbelief that marked them. It is surely obligatory upon us, in dealing with the saints, not to stress too much the immediate thing, if it be an offence, but regard what they are characteristically, or I may say, abstractly. Indeed, I doubt that one can help the saints save as one is able to take account of them abstractly. If I clothe them in my mind with the current thing, bad as it may be and needful as it may be to deal with it, if I clothe them with that in

my mind I shall not help them. I shall shrivel them up and discourage them. Whereas if I clothe them in my mind according to what they are characteristically, I shall help them because I afford to them a measure of moral power, that such a one should not be swallowed up with grief. Severe as Matthew is in dealing with Jerusalem, he would bring in the kindly thought of heaven in that stern angel who turns to the woman and, emphasising the pronoun, says, "Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one". He gave them credit for what was uppermost in their hearts, they sought Him indeed, not alive but dead, but still they sought Him and they are accredited with the thought. And he adds to that, "He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay", as much as to say, You have not come for nothing. The journey taken, although in unbelief, is not for nothing. It was worth while seeing the place where the Lord lay. Mark, as usual, agrees with Matthew in his account, not that he copies Matthew. There is no such thought in the evangelists. If anyone here has that thought that the evangelists copied, or borrowed, from one another, banish the thought! Each is taken up by the Spirit of God and caused to write what the Spirit saw was necessary. And so Mark is independent of Matthew as Matthew is independent of Mark. Each was taken up sovereignly by God. Mark follows closely on Matthew, only instead of a stern angel you have a young man. The word 'angel' is not employed. And he has no censure for the women although Mark makes more of the unbelief and rebukes it later. Yet he has no censure for the women. He says, "Ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene" (he adds that) "the crucified one. He is risen, he is not here", Mark 16:6. And then in both gospels they are sent with the message.

But Luke, gracious as he is, records what implies censure. And the result proves that the censure,

mild though it was, was worth while. There are two men here and they appear suddenly. One might introduce the thought of an assembly gathering. The women came with others. They had seen where the Lord had been placed in the grave. They were interested, intensely so, but the record shows that we may be intensely interested and yet dark. The record, therefore, is to rebuke the darkness so that it should be replaced by fight in our souls. Hence you have two men in shining garments. Heaven is greatly interested. Heaven is intensely interested in meetings like these, dear brethren, that where there has been darkness and confusion of thought there should be light. There is much more of it than we are aware of. So heaven thinks it worth while to delegate these shining ones. They bear the heavenly hue. They are shining, in bright garments, shining garments, and truly every minister is bound to consider whether he has these garments. Without the heavenly touch the clearest presentation of the truth must be wanting. It is the heavenly touch that elevates and there they are. They appear suddenly. The women come with prepared things which, in a certain way, may be right, but when we bring things for a dead Christ when there is no dead Christ, we are burdening ourselves unnecessarily, wasting our time. There is no dead Christ now, beloved, nor was there then. There never will be a dead Christ! These spices they had prepared were useless and worse than useless. They were the product of unbelief, the product of confusion, and so it is, that too much preparation for the assembly has the same character. Very often it denies, in effect, that there is anything in the assembly. They denied the riches of the assembly. Bringing these things with us may be right under certain circumstances but wrong under others, denying the unsearchable riches of Christ. The assembly is full of riches. It is a question of coming in a fit state, to be taken and

employed in the distribution of these riches. They had brought these things. They had prepared them carefully and they had brought them, but they found no dead Christ, no Christ at all. It is a sorrowful thing to come with our bundle, having Christ in mind, but in confusion, and we find no Christ at all! It is an empty state of things. If there is no Christ there is no assembly according to God.

So these two men in shining garments appear suddenly and they ask the question. I want you to fix your minds on this question now. There are three, perhaps four or five questions in the passages altogether. The first question here is: "Why seek ye the living one among the dead?". The living One, that is not just any living person; it is the living One; it is Christ. When you have an article in that way, it denotes the Person and Him alone. "Why seek ye the living one among the dead?". How many are doing that? You will bear in mind that I am speaking in a moral sense, making the thing applicable, not the doctrine side nor the historic, but the moral. How many there are in confusion, seeking the living One among the dead! These are most estimable people.

They are the excellent on the earth. The Lord Jesus called them that. There is no question of belittling anyone in saying what I am saying, but there are many seeking the living One among the dead. You will never find Him. He is not among the dead. He is alive, He is risen. He told you so, the men say. He told you in Galilee that He would rise. You are unbelieving about it; yet how much ministry God has given to His people these many, many years back, dear brethren! We have been told these things about Christ and the assembly, and yet we are overlooking, or ignoring, or forgetting! He told you so. He told you so in Galilee that He would rise. Let everyone search his heart as to the things he has been told, divinely told, and has forgotten, or neglected, or

ignored, perhaps refused. He told you, the men say, that He would rise. And they are looking for a dead Christ, looking for the living One among the dead! In their minds it was Christ dead. Let all of us look into our own hearts and see how this that we have been told divinely, fits us, whether it affects us, whether we are moving in it! This resulted well.

Well, I just wanted to show that these women went off and told the apostles and it says, "And their words appeared in their eyes as an idle tale". That is not very good, but it is not without some effect. That is to say, if the Lord adjusts me and I speak accordingly, I may count on something. They thought their tale was untrue but then it says, "But Peter, rising up, ran to the sepulchre". There is someone moving. I speak thus, dear brethren, that we may take heart. If we get one man, one brother or one sister, moving as a result of all that we have had these few days, something is effected; it is not lost. Peter is the leading man. He ran to the sepulchre. We are not told that he believed yet, but he noted how the clothes were lying, and if we follow up the history we shall see that his faith was affected. He believed, but for the moment he is running. There may be someone who has been hesitating in these meetings. We have not been in the custom of running at all. I doubt that there is much spiritual running today. It is rare to find it. We find Mary Magdalene running, and Peter and John running, and here Peter running alone. That is something. If there is someone here that has been hesitating, how great will be the joy of the brethren in hearing of you moving. May God grant it!

Well, Luke is aiming at the spirit of the dispensation. That is to be marked by grace and the Lord's supper is to sustain that. So he gives us again two men, not now at the grave-side but as Jesus ascended. Perhaps we are more unbelieving as to that, the heavenly side

of things, than as to the resurrection. You will remember how the sons of the prophets, in the days of Elisha, would fain have Elisha give up his faith, his belief, in the ascension of Elijah. They sent fifty strong men to verify that possibly "the Spirit of Jehovah have taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some ravine", 2 Kings 2:16. That was unbelief, not only unbelief as to themselves but influencing others to unbelief.

Now these two men are on the opposite line. They are to ensure faith in the heavenly, and that our dispensation is not only to be a dispensation of grace sustained by the Lord's supper, but a dispensation of faith. As Paul says to Timothy, "God's dispensation, which is in faith", not in sight. We are apt to come to meetings like these in sight, young ones especially, and you miss it. They are intended to build up faith. The dispensation of God is in faith and that is what these two men are here for. The disciples had been listening to the Lord and He had been taken from them. They saw Him go up, a cloud having received Him out of their sight. All that is to establish faith, to show that the era of faith had begun, that is, the present time.

So these two men in white garments this time say (this is the second question), "Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking into heaven?". That is the question. Men of Galilee-I suppose none of us here would repudiate the stigma of Galilee. "Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galilaeans?", Acts 2:7. It had a stigma, it had reproach, Men of Galilee. These two men are heavenly representatives, but called men, in white garments, and they say, 'Men of Galilee, why are you doing so-and-so?'. That question is asked today, whatever it may be, whatever you may be doing that is not according to the light furnished, because these questions are instructive. They are educational. They allude back

to things already spoken, to light already given. "Why do ye stand looking into heaven?". How were they gazing up? With their naked eyes. If they had had telescopes I doubt not they would have used them. The astronomers gaze into heaven today. What do they find? Very confused things, and they are constantly changing their minds about them. Powerful though their telescopes may be, they are most unreliable. They admit it. "Why do ye stand looking into heaven?". Your natural eyes have seen a cloud that has received Jesus and you will never see Him again in that way. He is to be seen henceforth, during this dispensation, on the principle of faith. "We see Jesus", says the writer to the Hebrews, "... crowned with glory and honour" (Hebrews 2:9); it is not on the principle of sight but on the principle of faith and by the Spirit.

So the Lord honours faith in a striking way in speaking to Thomas who would continue the era of sight, the era of natural sensibilities and natural understanding. The Lord says to him, "Blessed they who have not seen and have believed", John 20:29. We want to be among those, dear brethren, who believe without seeing. These two men in white garments are there to introduce that, that henceforth these men of Galilee should be men of faith in keeping with the dispensation, as I was saying, which is one of faith. The result in their case, too, justified the testimony. Divine operations in this way are always resultful. I say this for our encouragement that our "toil is not in vain in the Lord", 1 Corinthians 15:58. We can reckon that something will come out of every bit of labour rightly exercised. It is "not in vain in the Lord".

So it says, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath-day's journey off. And when they were come into the city, they went up to the

upper chamber, where were staying both Peter, and John, and James, ... with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren". That is another thing we should notice. Tonight we are about to disperse and perhaps we are relieved that we can. I mean to say that three days of meetings such as we have had suffice. There is abundant testimony in them from God, and there is a certain amount of relief with us in returning to our various localities.

Perhaps we cannot stand more. It is well to admit it.

But not so in the early days. It is as well to admit facts. They were staying there. You cannot say that the three hundred visitors here are staying in Toronto. You cannot use that word. They are barely visiting, but these dear people, full of holy love for God and Christ and for one another, were staying in that room. They were staying in that room in that building.

Staying in a seemly manner, of course, but they were staying; they were not in a hurry to get away. Heaven will not be a place where we shall have any desire to separate or retreat to our own places. Love will pervade. We shall "be filled even to all the fulness of God", Ephesians 3:19. Everyone stayed in it, infinitely satisfied in it. And that is the point here. They went to that place. Not to their several houses in Jerusalem, nor to the temple, but to the upper room.

It has a spiritual meaning governing the whole dispensation. It is over against man's conception of religion, man's heart; it is over against the whole religious system. It is the upper room, the moral superiority of christianity to all that.

Finally I want to show how John confirms all this and leads to results that also mark the dispensation and that are even superior, in a sense, to what Luke presents to us. He is concerned about the spiritual, not only that we should have faith but that we should be spiritual. We find that Mary remains after Peter and John go home. It says, "But Mary stood at the

tomb weeping without". Well, you say, There is not much christianity in that. What is there in that to evangelise the world? What is there in that to make disciples of all nations? No weeping woman would make disciples, certainly if the tears are tears arising from unbelief. It is well to face facts and however estimable this dear woman was, or is, she was weeping in darkness. There was no occasion for it. It was the wrong time. If she were weeping for an erring saint, it would be in order. If she had heard of Peter's denial of Christ, it would be in order, but not because of an empty sepulchre. And so she looks in. That is a movement that has its reward. The sepulchre anyway was something to her. The angel indeed had encouraged her in that: "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". Here it is two angels in white sitting. They are not weeping, they are not doleful, they are not disconsolate. One is placed at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. They are in order, they are sitting in respect for the One who had been there, not the One who was there, but who had been there. He is elsewhere, but they respect the position. Two angels in white, not men but angels. John would say now, There is distance here in spite of your tears. There has been distance somewhere. God is not near in this. He is dealing with you at a distance. Not even two men with their sympathies but two angels in white.

And now the question: They say to her, "Woman". Not 'Mary'; that would not do. It is a question of distance. They do not call her by name. They say, "Woman, why dost thou weep?". This is a question. If we are weeping, if we are oppressed, if our tears flow, why? That is the question. Are they tears of darkness, of confusion, tears that should never flow? There are many such tears that should never flow. And there are tears that should flow every day, but

there are very few for the divine bottle. These are tears in regard of the testimony. "Why dost thou weep?". She says, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him". She is in unbelief. Who are they that have taken away her Lord? She could not tell. Possibly she would say, These guards, or these wicked Jews. But the Lord Jesus had risen triumphantly. No one had taken Him away! The clothes lay there as they had been about His body; there had not been a struggle. He arose Himself, according to John. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up", John 2:19. He came out of the grave triumphantly.

Well now, the time has gone but these questions are not for nothing. Mary looks around. If there are any here in this case in any way, grieving in unbelief and in confusion of thought, well, maybe you should look around; you have been looking in the wrong direction. She looked around and she saw Jesus standing. I beg of you to note the 'know nots' here. "Having said these things she turned backward and beholds Jesus standing there, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus says to her, Woman, why dost thou weep? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing that it was the gardener, says to him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus says to her, Mary". The Lord has a word for someone here tonight. You, Mary. You have been in confusion of thought. You love the Lord and He knows it, but you have been in confusion of thought. You have wept unnecessarily. He would say, "Why dost thou weep?", and call you by name, Mary. Then she turns all the way round. That is the point. You have to take up a new attitude. These turnings here are most instructive, these movements. That is my point, as to whether they apply and whether I am making room for them. "She, turning round, says to him in Hebrew, Rabboni".

That word means 'My Teacher', as much as to say that all these tears and sorrow and agony of soul are due to the want of teaching. Not that the teaching was not available but she had not appropriated it. There is no lack of teaching and light today, but the lack is in the appropriation. She says, My Teacher. The end is reached. Although she would touch the Lord, He says, "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father". What precious thoughts are wrapped up in that word! "I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God". And she went. The result is according to the Lord's design. She went to the disciples and told them "that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her". One would venture to suggest to the brethren as to these meetings, What will you carry away? What will be the result of them in your case, or in my case? The Lord intends results. What will you carry away to the saints? He says, "But go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God". It is the heavenly side of the truth, eternal relationships. That is what God is aiming at. She went to the disciples and told them that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things to her. Perfectly comely and suitable and, I may add, effective, for the next verse says that very day ('late in the night' as the word means) He went to the disciples where they were and the doors were shut. I believe the shut doors may be coupled with the message. She made the brethren exclusive. The adjustment of this woman led to a message being sent by her that made the brethren exclusive. We must not be afraid of the word 'exclusive'; not to be used in the narrow sense with which some charge us, but "through fear of the Jews". All the religious element, the accredited religious element, is shut out

in the doors being shut. We have often said, and it is well worth repeating, that the word 'doors' is in the plural. Spiritually there were as many doors as brethren in the place where the disciples were (the word 'assembled' should not be there). They are enriched by the message and the message makes them exclusive. If we can carry messages back to our meetings, making the brethren exclusive in the sense that it is to shut out what is religious in a worldly sense, we shall certainly reach the end the Lord has in mind. The result is that we have the Spirit of Christ. The way is made for the Lord, the true Solomon, to come in to establish peace, to bring into the company peace and joy. It is an exclusive company, filled with holy peace from the lips of Christ, from the presence of Christ, and with holy joy, for they were glad when they saw Him. Then He says to them, "As the Father sent me forth, I also send you. And having said this, he breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". I believe as the exclusive character of the thing is maintained with us we shall have the Spirit of Christ, and the power for ministry too, and forgiveness to our brethren all around us. "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". The Lord indicates His confidence to us under these circumstances.

I thought we might see the adjustment in the closing chapters of the gospels, how we are carried over from the realm of sight to the realm of faith and the realm of the Spirit.

THE SIGNS OF THE COVENANT

Genesis 9:8 - 17; Genesis 17:7 - 14; Genesis 21:28 - 32; Genesis 31:44 - 53

J.T. The first two scriptures we read refer to covenant relations on the part of God; and the last two on the part of men. The idea of covenant relations between God and His creation and with His people is a subject that runs through Scripture; and I thought the signs attaching to this in Genesis would occasion inquiry that may be helpful. And then covenant relations between men and men and between brethren is also a theme in the Scriptures; so I thought these two instances in Genesis would also help in that relation.

A.F.M. How do you understand the term 'covenant'?

J.T. Well, on God's part, as in Genesis, it is One entering into an engagement, having blessing in mind.

J.S. An engagement on God's part?

J.T. Yes, involving His faithfulness; and with regard to the new covenant, involving His love. It is entirely dependent upon Himself, and so the covenant in Genesis 9 is perhaps the widest we have. It is a great public matter, the sign being visible in the creation during all these centuries.

C.A.M. Why is the covenant accompanied by a sign?

J.T. I think it shows God's consideration for us, to keep the thing before us that we should know we are under that covenant. It should increase in value to us. It wears well. We find an allusion to it in Revelation 4:3, where it speaks of the appearance of the rainbow like unto an emerald. That would indicate that it wears well, retaining its freshness.

C.A.M. Being preserved in heaven after all the history?

J.T. That is the idea in Revelation 4. It is what God has there that John saw as he was caught up into heaven.

C.A.M. Would it refer to life, being like an emerald?

J.T. I thought that. I suppose green would mean that it has not grown old or faded or lost its value.

J.S. Would it, as seen in heaven around the throne, be a testimony to the faithfulness of God in government?

J.T. Just so. John, the prophet, saw an order of things in heaven by which God will fulfil His engagement; that He is the covenant-God of the creation. Creation itself is to be delivered; because the covenant was not only with Noah and his sons, but with the earth.

J. S. Is that why the throne comes into view at that juncture?

J.T. I think so; also all that goes with it. There is also a collateral idea in the elders in connection with the throne, God carrying down from the earliest days the idea of His relations with men themselves; now He is about to fulfil His engagement.

C.A.M. Would you say that whatever God had in history, whatever He set forth, would be preserved in heaven?

J.T. Yes; what is in heaven from the created things, intimates that God has preserved the thing.

J.S. And this sign, the rainbow, has been witnessed by men right down through the ages.

J.T. Yes; everywhere, in every clime, it has been a universal witness.

A.F.M. The testimony of the rainbow around the throne would have reference to the world to come; that that blessing will be fulfilled; life is to be behind everything on earth, vegetation, and everything. Is that your thought?

J.T. Yes, death will be annulled for the moment.

A.R.S. Every time the rainbow appears, it is really God speaking to men, reminding them of this covenant; but they do not regard that apparently.

J.T. It is not a cloud, not what might portend evil, but a bow. There it is; you see it.

A.R.S. I notice God makes a covenant not only with men but with the beasts as well. His whole creation, every creature, came in.

J.T. That is what I was saying; the whole creation is to be delivered from the bondage of corruption. This is a very important matter, because we, ourselves, have the firstfruits of the Spirit, but we anticipate the deliverance of the creation. The gospel, according to Mark, is to be preached unto all the creation. I think that links on with the thought of the covenant in Genesis 9.

F.H.L. With men a covenant means an undertaking between two parties, but the divine thought is a little different: it is what God undertakes.

J.T. God proposed the thing. This covenant was certainly not proposed by Noah. Genesis always presents the great initial thought of things, God acting of Himself, and, here, in relation to creation; so that, on the basis of Noah's altar and what he offered upon it the relations of God with the creation henceforth are enhanced, because it is not merely in creatorial relations, but in deep redemptive relations. He smelled a sweet odour and on account of that He would not again cause a flood to come upon the earth, or curse the creation.

G.MacP. The covenant, as established for creatures, is redemptive?

J.T. On the basis of the altar, the offering of Noah.

J.S. The covenant begins with Noah and with all those who went out of the ark; I suppose with creation.

J.T. That is what it is. It is man and beast and the earth; the whole creation is affected. It is a great matter. If we are with God, we cannot help but

feel the groans, and this bow is to remind us of coming deliverance.

Ques. You were referring to the matter of the cloud signifying trouble. It says in Psalm 77"The thick clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound, yea, thine arrows went abroad" (verse 17). Would that indicate that the idea of trouble lies behind the thought of the cloud?

J.T. Yes; therefore the bow is all the more encouraging to man.

Ques. The covenant would be unconditional here?

J.T. Yes; it is God engaging Himself and furnishing the sign that He will carry out His obligation; and so the bow appearing in Revelation 4 is, of course, the confirmation that God is coming in to fulfil His engagement.

R.W.S. This covenant is with the fowl, the cattle, the beasts, and all that came out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Is there any force in the fact that this covenant does not include the fish of the sea?

J.T. Well, the deluge did not affect the fish of the sea but only what breathed. I suppose the fish of the sea would be the element of the work of God that is underneath, going right through in all weathers. It is an abstract idea of the work of God.

Ques. Might it have reference to the thought of heaven coming in, in contrast to the ordered sphere in which Noah had principal control?

J.T. The fish of the sea are indeterminable to man; no census can be made of them. But the Lord knew about them; He could command the fish.

C.A.M. I suppose the signs God gives us correspond with the things He is giving. The impressive nature of the signs themselves shows how immense is this covenant. Only God could give such a suitable sign.

J.T. Yes, you have seen rainbows on the ocean sometimes. The bow makes a complete semi-circle, a

very fine sight! It is like God Himself, like the creation itself. It is correlative with the creation.

J.S. Does not the value of it lie as coming in subsequent to judgment?

J.T. I think so.

A.R. It is when God brings clouds over the earth that the bow is seen; so that in Revelation 4, the bow is seen around the throne, as if to show that God was remembering His covenant in the midst of judgment. I thought Revelation 4 would suggest God taking up again His relations with the earth; and, of course, judgment must precede His setting up of the kingdom; but it is suggested there that you have the idea of God being true to His word.

J.T. He is bringing thick clouds now; they are already visible, you might say. Terrible things are coming in; but, to faith, this bow is the guarantee that God is behind all that.

J.E.H. "On account of the elect those days shall be cut short", Matthew 24:22.

J. S. The moment the church is taken out of the world, the whole heavens will become overcast; impending judgment is imminent.

J.T. When the Lord upbraided the scribes for being able to read the face of the sky, He did not allude to the rainbow; but the faithful, the remnant, would understand. "On account of the elect those days shall be cut short"; that is, God is behind the scenes, and the bow is visible on the face of the cloud; hence, faith is sustained by the thought of God. This is a very great matter with the saints today because we are in the presence of such extraordinary exigencies arising in national, social, and economic affairs; and it is well for the saints to be intelligent as to this great thought of God for His creation, how He is behind everything.

C.A.M. We can commit ourselves to God as the faithful Creator. I was wondering whether the rainbow

in Revelation 4 would be of special interest to the living creatures. I suppose you would say that they would be sympathetic with what was going to follow.

J.T. I think they would; that is the idea, life in the creation. The element of life is sympathetic with all that; and so, also, the element of experience in the twenty-four elders. That is the point for us today: to come into accord with the elders and the living creatures, indeed, into accord with the whole scene.

C.A.M. Do you not think that the idea of the covenant and the rainbow, being unconditional on God's part towards man, would be emphasised in a very peculiar way? The attitude of man would be so terrible and so opposed to God in every way, but God remains true to His covenant in spite of what men are and will be in the coming day.

J.T. John is caught up into heaven and saw it up there, which is very comforting; and it is for us to understand that whatever clouds we may see, the bow is there.

W.C. Is not the sun shining somewhere, when the bow is seen?

J.T. I suppose that is the idea, something like a prism, the rays of the sun form it. The sun is always shining; even if there are clouds, the sun is always behind.

W.C. I was thinking that the bow could not be seen were the sun not shining.

Ques. Would you say being "in the Spirit" (Revelation 4) is like being behind the clouds, in a sense, with God, having an inside view of things?

J.T. So the light involved in the bow is from the Father of lights; all light comes from that direction.

J.T.Jr. The elders are sitting in white. Would this answer to the position of the saints today?

J.T. Well, you are restful in the knowledge of what is there. The means that God has of carrying

out His thoughts and effecting His will makes us restful; but then they cast their crowns before the throne. They are very reverential and worshipful. All that involves what we are going on with now. All those interested by the Spirit, are brought into the secret of all that.

Ques. How far back would the idea of the twenty-four elders go?

J.T. I think back to Abel.

A.R. This covenant was made with Noah and his sons. He spoke to them as if they were with Him in that. Would not the elders represent that, that they are with God in it?

J.T. Just so; the twenty-four elders and the living creatures denote the result of the testimony in men. The elders have experience with God, and the four living creatures would be the testimony that God has life in creation. They were reverential and worshipful. That is what God is doing now; He is forming the elders and the living creatures.

There would be enough in these scriptures for three or four days' meetings, but it is just to get a cursory view here. We shall have to go on to Abraham, where the believer has the sign in himself. The covenant is carried down to a person.

J. S. Is that how we would couple the two covenants together?

J.T. Yes, I thought so. Now God is dealing with one man; and, in a way, any of us might say, God is dealing with me. It is a covenant between "me and thee"; so there is a sign in yourself; you do not have to go far. "For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh". That is the idea; it is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer that is a sign. God has entered into a covenant with him.

J.S. Would this be in keeping with Genesis, "The end of all flesh is come before me" (chapter 6: 13)?

J.T. Exactly; and the sign is in the believer. The Holy Spirit enables him to terminate the activity of the flesh in himself. That is a very important sign because it looks on to the day, of which we have already spoken, when all flesh will be brought down.

A.F.M. It is elective in that way; whereas, the first sign was universal. The second sign is personal and to a limited number.

J.T. That is how it stands. The bow is for the whole creation; circumcision, for the person that has it.

A.N.W. Has it a negative rather than a positive bearing?

J.T. I think so. Romans 8 is the power to put to death.

A.N.W. Worshipping by the Spirit of God would be positive.

J.T. I think the general thought is that we are to control the flesh; you have the power to control it. What legislators have been unable to do in all ages, the believer has the power to do.

J.S. "Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth", Colossians 3:5.

J.T. That is right, putting off the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ. The death of Christ gives you the power to do it.

W.B-w. Philippians 3:10 says, "To know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death". Is that the idea, that we might be able to walk before God in perfection?

J.T. That is the thought. He is giving this to Abraham on the principle of covenant and intimating that it is to be held on this principle; that is, what we are coming into is to be held on this principle, the disallowance of the flesh.

Ques. Is Romans 7 entirely individual, like this covenant?

J.T. Quite so; it is a covenant matter, one going through the experience by which he arrives, through analysis, of what he is inwardly, disallowing the flesh and maintaining the good. That is the principle, and the Holy Spirit enables you to do it. You cannot do that without circumcision, that is, aside from the Spirit, which enables the believer to maintain what is effected in the death of Christ.

Rem. Romans 7 is the struggle, and Romans 8 is the enjoyment.

J.T. Yes, the victory, the power to overcome.

A.F.M. Where does Gilgal come in? Many important things were brought about there.

J.T. That is the putting off, the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt. They were circumcised a second time. It is the application of death. The principle is there, but the Spirit recognises and implies that it is confirmed; so that there is a rolling away. The sharpness of the knife means that the thing is thoroughly done. It is not concision, but circumcision. That shows the thing is thoroughly done.

C.A.M. The difference of the signs is very impressive. We had nothing to do with that marvellous rainbow, but this thing has severity in it. There is intensiveness; it is an individual thing. You feel how perfectly God makes the sign according to the end He has in His mind.

T.H. It is a sign of righteousness to Abraham. How do you account for righteousness?

J.T. It is the seal of righteousness there, which he had on the principle of faith. The point is that he had righteousness on the principle of faith, and the seal was to confirm it to him, which would be this circumcision.

A.N.W. Would you say how it stands in relation to baptism?

J.T. Well, there is a very close relation with circumcision, involving the Spirit. There is no way

by which I can control the flesh and hold it in the place where the judgment of God has put it, save by the Spirit.

Ques. Does baptism involve the thought of leaving the world, whereas circumcision has to do with ourselves in the flesh?

J.T. Yes, the first scriptures in Genesis 7 and 8 involve baptism; and circumcision is in Genesis 17. The covenant is the ground on which the inheritance is to be held. The inheritance promised is to be held in relation to the judgment of the flesh. God is not giving the inheritance to Ishmael, a man after the flesh; He is giving it to the child of promise, to those who are heirs according to promise: but then that is objective. Circumcision is the subjective answer, that I am disallowing the flesh daily.

A.R. Does not circumcision come in in the light of Isaac's being promised; that is, Christ coming into view, the heavenly Man? If I am a christian, I make myself a sharp knife.

J.T. Quite; the chapter is very instructive in that Abram carries it out immediately. God had come down to speak to him about it, and then breaks off the conversation and goes up. Abram applied it at once; there is no delay; and then God comes again and resumes the conversation; so that God honours us in that way, as we maintain this sign. You look at a brother and say, That man has the sign that he is walking in the Spirit; he is not walking after the flesh. You do not have to put a sign on him to show he is not buried, as in Ezekiel 39:15, "And the passers-by shall pass through the land, and when any seeth a man's bone, he shall set up a sign by it". He has a sign that ennobles him; he is an heir according to promise.

J.E.H. What about the monks in monasteries? What are they doing?

J.T. That is not controlling the flesh. You do not need to go into a monastery for that; the Spirit of God enables you to control the flesh. "Since then ye should go out of the world", 1 Corinthians 5:10. They assume to go out of the world, but circumcision does not involve that; it implies that you are here where evil is and that you stand against it; you disallow it in yourself; and that is by the power of the Spirit.

C.A.M. The epistle to the Colossians refers to that monastic situation; whereas this is the genuine thing.

J.T. That is right. Monastic orders are condemned absolutely in chapter a, the very chapter in which it is said that it is the circumcision of Christ, "in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ" (verse ii). The putting off of the flesh in its totality is done by the Spirit.

W.B-w. The Philistines are called uncircumcised Philistines.

J.T. Constantly.

A.F.M. I suppose the monastic orders would be connected with the expression 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch'. That is putting oneself under the bondage of the flesh.

J.T. It is the gratification of the flesh, really, in these orders; it is the flesh in another form, the flesh fed in another form; whereas christianity is great enough to enable the believer to face the evil as it is and overcome it. He overcomes it in himself by the power of the Spirit.

Ques. This was illustrated in what David called Goliath. The sign about Goliath was that he was not circumcised. David called him an uncircumcised Philistine because he defied the armies of the living God. Would he be a type of flesh in activity?

J.T. He is a full expression of it. David was nothing but a stripling, and Goliath looked upon him with the utmost disdain, but David was in the power of the Spirit typically.

W.B-w. David used a stone.

J.T. I think the idea of the five smooth stones that he used would emphasise the action of the brook or valley. The action of the word on a soul makes it living and operative.

Rem. The idea of sanctification, too, would come in. It is not a promiscuous use of the Scriptures.

J.T. No, it is five smooth stones.

Rem. I was thinking of Paul at Corinth: "And my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith might not stand in men's wisdom, but in God's power", 1 Corinthians 2:4, 5. He had to do with an uncircumcised state there.

J.T. He was distinctly a circumcised man, moving in the power of the Spirit of God.

W.B-w. Among the Philistines?

J.T. He said so, "For I think that God has set us the apostles for the last, as appointed to death",

1 Corinthians 4:9. God set him in that relation-"appointed to death".

C.A.M. That is a remarkable allusion to a practical matter among us. If a brother evidences the sign, I suppose it would give you confidence in him. He would bear some feature of this thing.

J.T. I think that is the point in the sign. A sign is something that can be seen.

R.A.L. What are the brands of the Lord Jesus?

J.T. That is in Galatians. The judaisers were insisting on literal circumcision, but the apostle Paul's body was covered over with marks and scars indicating what he suffered for the Lord Jesus. The Lord says, "For I will shew to him how much he must suffer for my name", Acts 9:16. If you looked at that body, you would see the marks. He said, "From the Jews five times have I received forty stripes, save one",

2 Corinthians 11:24. Five times forty would be two hundred. What a terrible state his body must have been in!

That is what he means when he speaks of the brands of the Lord Jesus, over against the judaisers who were insisting on circumcision literally.

A.F.M. Was it not an honour to be linked with the apostle, according to the verse in Philippians "We are the circumcision"? It is an honour to be linked up with such a servant. I was wondering as to the practical results; that is, whether we take that position and can say "We".

J.T. That is the point. If I look at you and you look at me, we say, We have the sign; we have the evidence of the Spirit. That is the thought, that you have no confidence in the flesh. The worshipper must serve God by the Spirit, boasting in the Lord Jesus. In any brother or sister marked by these things, there is a sign that they belong to those who are under covenant with God, in connection with whom God has entered into a covenant.

Ques. Do you think it is possible for us to miss in discerning? It says in effect here that God and the individual are together, because the covenant is between "me and thee"; as if to say, God is able to detect the measure in which circumcision is carried out.

Rem. Moses's wife was getting some help on this matter.

J.T. Well, she was when it was applied. She said, "A bloody husband indeed art thou to me!", Exodus 4:25. That is what the Lord is to us. He understands all this. It is remarkable that God was about to kill Moses. He meant to do it unless circumcision was there.

J.S. Does this show the wisdom of the ways of God; that the inheritance is not to be had on the line of flesh, but in those that disallow the flesh?

J.T. God is not giving the inheritance to a man after the flesh. He would put the heir to death, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours", Mark 12:7. God is giving

the inheritance on the principle of sovereignty to those who disallow the flesh.

W.B-w. Do you think Moses fully understood after the circumcision of his sons, for he was going to be used in going back into Egypt and delivering the people?

J.T. That is what God is insisting on. It is a family matter really. That is how it is introduced here. Abraham was to do that and his whole house was circumcised.

Ques. Does the eighth day suggest a new beginning-from eight days old?

J.T. That gives a person individuality. It typifies the ego inherent in the person. Spiritually, you come to yourself, "I myself"; that is the sense. You accept that this must mark you. "So then I myself with the mind serve God's law", Romans 7:25.

Rem. A person eight days old can hardly circumcise himself.

J.T. That is not the idea. Eight days old spiritually is that you have come to the idea of personality.

T.H. Does Peter arrive at it when he says, "I am a sinful man"?

J.T. Quite; he saw how sinful he was. He was the circumcision. The sign stands connected with the Spirit as judging the flesh.

A.R. Is it not remarkable that the Spirit of God puts on record that Ishmael was taken first, and he was thirteen years of age?

J.T. That is to bring out the completeness of Abraham's obedience; that the thing is brought in on everyone in his house, from himself down.

Ques. Is the next visit based upon his obedience here?

J.T. Quite so; God breaks off the conversation here, and Abraham obeys, then God comes back to him.

R.D.G. Would it appear that even such a servant

as Moses was lax with regard to the covenant, so that God had to call it to his attention?

J.T. It shows how every one of us in the Lord's service needs to have it called to our attention. The reproach of Egypt rolls away when you apply it a second time. It is a very drastic thing. It remains as a sign. The person is marked off by this sign, which means that he is disallowing the flesh; he is walking in the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.

A.F.M. I was thinking of this visit to Abraham.

He gets his name changed, in this connection. It is a remarkable visitation. Is not a lot in the way of light and blessing missed because we are not circumcised the second time? I think the thing is not carried out; it is accepted as a principle but not carried out.

Galatians insists on things being carried out. "For we, by the Spirit, on the principle of faith, await the hope of righteousness".

J.E.H. Would it correspond to going back to Gilgal?

J.T. Yes; that is the idea. One very interesting thing about Gilgal is that Judah and Joseph got their inheritance there. The others got theirs from Moses and at Shiloh, but Judah and Joseph got theirs at Gilgal, meaning that it is in that connection that the people are laying hold of the inheritance, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; so in both these types you get persons that value the inheritance themselves, Caleb and the daughters of Zelophehad.

Now as regards the other two scriptures. The first relates to a beautiful feature of circumcision; that is, we have a circumcised man, and he sets seven ewe lambs by themselves in the presence of a Philistine, this big man that trusted to the flesh; and Abimelech says, What do you mean by these lambs? Well, Abraham says, I want them to be a witness with you that I dug this well. These ewe lambs would typify

the moral greatness in Abraham. It is a question of the Spirit.

J.E.H. Tell us about the significance of the ewe lamb.

J.T. I think the female usually stands for affection in the believer; that is, you serve by love. They do not represent the military, fleshly, energetic, aggressive spirit in us. The Philistine means that, a big man, a forceful man, a man that will take every opportunity to reach his ends. That is what he is; but a godly man, a believer in Christ that accepts the death of Christ in spirit is not that. He is of another spirit, but he is gaining on the Philistine. The Philistine has to come to that. What is the explanation of these seven ewe lambs; how do you account for them? Abraham says, That is my witness. They are not pugnacious; they are rather sensitive, retiring, and mild. It is the meekness of Christ. The apostle says, "But I myself, Paul, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ", 2 Corinthians 10:1. It is the power of God, but in that aspect.

Rem. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit", Zechariah 4:6.

C.A.M. The very thing about the people of God is the sign. If we think of that, we will be nothing.

J.T. That is where our victory lies. 'Through weakness and defeat He won the meed and crown'. He was victorious, and that is what Abraham says he meant by the ewe lambs, and he gave them to Abimelech. That begins the history of Beersheba, the place of the oath.

G.MacP. Would it be the Spirit of Christ reflected in Abraham?

J.T. That is the idea; it is written for us. It is a very beautiful suggestion, these seven ewe lambs put by themselves in the presence of that big man and his captain. What would they be in the field of battle; what would they be in the mind of this Philistine?

Well, Abraham says, That is my thought; that is the secret of my power, and you are coming to me as captain.

J. S. "When I am weak, then I am powerful", 2 Corinthians 12:10.

J.T.Jr. Would that come out in the Lord's testimony before Pilate?

J.T. That is where you see this fully exemplified.

Pilate says, "Behold the man!". He was affected himself by it.

And now in connection with the last scripture, here we have two brothers, two difficult brothers these are. The subject begins in chapter 31: 44: "And now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones, and made a heap, and ate there upon the heap". Now what is to be noticed is that Laban began the thought and Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar; that is, he is acting in a dignified way in taking a stone. He had done it before in a more exalted place, that is, at Bethel. But then he asks his brethren to gather stones. "And they took stones, and made a heap". I think this second movement of taking the stones and making a heap is a very discreditable thing. There should be nothing of this sort between brethren. The idea of a pillar set up is really a dignified thing, but there is nothing dignified about a heap of stones.

J.T.Jr. It says they ate over it.

J.T. It is not like the christian altar.

T.H. In Ecclesiastes it says, there is "a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together" (chapter 3: 5).

J.T. What I think we might notice is not to dwell too much on the discreditable side, but on the spiritual side. It is honourable and dignified enough as Jacob begins, setting up a pillar. That had been done

before, and later on in chapter 35, in a most dignified way; but this heap of stones is what is undignified.

A.R.S. Why is it that Jacob falls down in telling them to gather these stones?

J.T. He told them to gather the stones, but they made a heap. He did not tell them to make the heap. The Holy Spirit says they gathered stones and made a heap.

A.R.S. What would they do with them when they gathered them?

J.T. Well, it does not seem that they waited to ask Jacob what he had in his mind. Why did they not follow the lead he set?

W.B-w. There was a great distance between Laban and Jacob because Jacob had fled from Syria and Laban had followed.

J.T. Yes, there was. It was mutually understood that the distance was to be permanent, which is a most sorrowful thing. How poor this is! But Jacob gives a lead, and they do not take any notice. The important thing is if you get a lead, take notice of it. You may not have to do the same thing, but there is something that would be in keeping with it, and certainly a heap is not. "For the time shall be when they will not bear sound teaching; but according to their own lusts will heap up to themselves teachers, having an itching ear", 2 Timothy 4:3.

J. S. There is nothing of any intelligence in a heap.

J.T. No; there is something in a pillar, something signified.

W.B-w. It says Jacob took a stone, and said to his brethren, Gather stones.

J.T. Well, you give a suggestion and this is what you get.

A.F.M. Why a covenant at all under such conditions? It looks as though Laban started it, not Jacob.

J.T. Well, if we have to make an engagement, well and good, such as Abraham and Abimelech did. And

so the importance of calling attention to this heap and how unbecoming it is amongst brethren. We want something distinguished, according to God, something that has some form, some symmetry, something that indicates pattern or definite thought. There is nothing at all in a heap.

J.S. Laban gives a good lead, "Come, let us make a covenant", and Jacob gives a good lead, but there is a complete falling down.

J.T. It is the brethren that are at fault, the ones that gathered the stones. The Holy Spirit says they made a heap, and that word runs through all that is said afterwards. They descend to the level of the heap. The whole scene is on very low ground. It is only to avoid the thing that one draws attention to it.

It is in keeping with the whole circumstance. They are going to be separate, and they are complaining against one another.

W.B-w. Apparently there was no brother there to right the situation.

J.T. There was no one there to do it. The thing is just accepted. These things drag along, and everybody knows that there is nothing in it, and that it is not according to God, and yet they act as if it were, the word 'heap' running right through.

Ques. Would Laban's past history with Jacob enter into that?

J.T. I suppose the whole circumstance is linked with it. Things happen in our histories that indicate what is underneath. This public testimony, as a witness to a covenant, is just a heap. If you ask somebody to go and see it, well, what is there in it? If I go to see Solomon's temple, I would see something, or the tabernacle: but there is nothing here but a heap. Certainly it is a sign, but it is no credit to either, as far as I see. It is called "Jegar-sahadutha", which is said to mean the same as "Galeed", a heap

of witness. The Spirit of God lets us have it, and then the word is used right down through the passage.

Ques. Would you say that there may appear to be a settlement in a locality, and it may be spoken of as a settlement, but still it may be a settlement on the basis of a heap rather than on a divine basis?

J.T. That is the idea, I think. We can learn something from this. It is not just what should be found among the people of God. It denotes a very low state of things; Jacob gives a good lead, and these brethren heap the stones together. Jacob does not take action, nor do they ask him or say, What is in your mind? Stones are very suggestive as types.

They are used in Peter as types of christians. The Lord uses them, too, as types of christians.

Alec R. Would that show the significance that when a brother gives a good lead, others should be prepared to follow instead of acting on different lines, as the heap would suggest?

J.T. That is what I was thinking. If you give a lead by a remark in a care meeting, a word that strikes me, I would want to follow that up. Perhaps you have more in your mind, and I would want to follow that up and have you say something more about it. It seems to me these brethren would have done well to say, Jacob, 'What have you got in mind? You have something on your mind'. They did not say that; they just made the heap.

A.N.W. Jacob's pillar remains distinct from the heap, throughout.

J.T. Jacob's act stands.

J.T.Jr. There is a distinction between what is right and what is wrong.

J.T. You feel there is nothing in a heap, no wisdom, skill, ornamentation, architecture, or anything.

A.R. It is there because two brothers are not reconciled.

J.T. It is God allowing the thing to happen as permanent testimony of what existed between these two brothers. There is no change at all.

A.F.M. Laban denoted the terms of his covenant and said, "Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee: let this heap be witness, and the pillar a witness, that neither I pass this heap to go to thee, nor thou pass this heap and this pillar to come to me, for harm" (verses 51, 52).

Is that the secret of it? Would you say Laban was not reconciled?

J.T. It really was a testimony to what had gone between them.

A.R. The matter was not properly settled.

J.T. That is what I thought.

A.R. There was a tendency to compromise.

Rem. The heap had two names. It is rather poor business to have two names for a place.

J.T. Well, there is a further thought, watchfulness "Let Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we shall be hidden one from another" (verse 49). That is a poor thing. Why should we be hidden from one another? We want to see each other's faces.

J.S. Should not this have a direct application to our local meetings?

J.T. It is the sort of thing to be avoided; it is not an example.

C.A.M. Otherwise you will have an ungainly sort of sign.

J.T. Whenever you see it, it is a heap, a heap of witness.

Rem. A witness that keeps the brethren separate, keeping them apart.

J.T. "When we shall be hidden one from another".

Rem. The highest thought would be endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit.

J.T. Quite so; that is, face to face. John talked about the face. He said, "I would not write with

paper and ink; but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full", 2 @John 12. Even writing is not so good as seeing a man's face.

N.W. Is there any record that this was straightened out?

J.T. No, it is never straightened out. There it is between Laban and Jacob.

Ques. Do you think there are things in our local meetings that never get straightened out?

J.T. It is just a suggestion, and we want something more dignified. The pillar is dignified, but the heap is nothing at all. That is where they ate, on the heap.

That is a poor thing. It is an agreement to differ.

Rem. The brethren at Antioch would not have a heap. They looked into the matter and sent Paul to Jerusalem to get the matter straight.

Rem. When Peter came down, there was no heap there.

W.B-w. In 1 Corinthians Paul was not allowing a heap. He brought the matter before the brethren to put away that wicked person.

J.T. All to the end that there might be the unity of the Spirit.

SEEING WORLD CONDITIONS FROM THE DIVINE VIEWPOINT

"I will go down now, and see" Sodom, Jehovah said to Abraham. Think of God saying that to an actual man today; I am going out to see what is going on in England, in the world; to see what France is doing; what Italy is doing, or America. Is that not what God says, in effect? It is that exactly. God is concerned about all these matters. The two angels looked towards Sodom, and went towards Sodom. Jehovah looked towards Sodom, too. He was going that way. And then He says, 'I will tell Abraham about it'. Well, I pray to God regularly and ask Him to tell me about these things. God is concerned about international conditions. He has set up gentile monarchies and they are running their course. Has God forgotten what is said in the book of Daniel? No, beloved. The book of Daniel, and what is recorded in it, still exists. The monster that God showed Nebuchadnezzar still exists, in part. The monarchies are running their course: they are about at their end, and God would take us into His confidence as to what these things mean. It is most important that we should be with God about these things, to be instructed about them. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?".

So God spoke to Abraham about Sodom. And then it says that "Abraham drew near". How beautiful that is! And he said to God, "There are perhaps fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not forgive the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are therein?". 'Yes, I will spare for fifty', God said. What a wonderful conversation that was-Abraham interceding for the world, with a

view, of course, to saving his brother Lot who was in it. Should we not intercede for the world, with a view to our brethren in it, our Lots that are in it, that they might be rescued out of it? Well, God said that He would spare Sodom for fifty. Then Abraham said, Will You not spare it for forty-five? Yes, for forty-five. For forty? Yes, for forty. For thirty? Yes, for thirty. For twenty? Yes, for twenty. For ten? Yes, for ten. That is God, beloved, speaking to His friend. Abraham did not venture to go below ten. And so God left Abraham; the conversation was ended. That is how it stands; God did not break it off; it was a finished matter. "Jehovah went away when he had ended speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place".

Presently the flames of Sodom arose and a smoke went up from the land as the smoke of a furnace. The world is doomed; we may as well accept it. But what I am at is that Abraham went to the very spot where God had spoken to him; that is to say, the place of his nearness to God, the place of dignity too, the dignity of God having spoken to him about the matter. It was from there that he looked toward Sodom. Abraham recognised the place. I have no doubt he would often think of that spot, the very spot where Jehovah had spoken to him. It is well to keep in mind where Jehovah speaks. Where does He speak today? Hs speaks in the assembly. That is where His communications are made, in the temple. Paul says, "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?", 1 Corinthians 3:16. That is where God speaks.

Well, that is the place to go to. Abraham went to the place where God spoke to him and saw the destruction of Sodom from that point. I do not believe we see anything aright save from that point. There we see things as God sees them. It was from there that Abraham saw the destruction of Sodom.

That is all I had to say, just to stress the thought of speaking in nearness, and in a certain place, and that we should have recourse to that place so as to be in the mind of God and get the gain of divine speakings.

SPEAKING TO GOD IN SECRET

No one will ever understand speaking to God in the assembly until he understands speaking to God in his closet. I believe the closet is less understood than the holiest, at least mentally. The first thing is the closet, that is to say, the door shut to all others save God and yourself; you speak to God in secret. No doubt Moses had been accustomed to do that; he could never have become the man he was in the service of God had he not been accustomed to speak to God in secret. His brother Aaron too could never have had the place he had as priest in Israel save that he had been accustomed to speak to God in secret. God says, "I know him", one of the finest things that could be said of any of us by God. If any man love God the same is known of God, and we become known to God as we, as it were, knock at His door. As we seek access, He opens it; the door is opened, as I have been saying, and as you enter your closet and shut your door and turn to God in the light in which He has drawn near to you in your circumstances; you will soon find the holiest, and you will soon find that your closet has become the holiest. The holiest is the presence of God, but in Jesus; it is what Jesus is before God. It is as if God would say to you, 'These are the things that engage Me, and Christ is the centre', and you take a place there. You are not the centre; the more you draw near, the more you see that Christ is the centre and all around is holy. Like the holy vessels of the sanctuary, all were anointed and all were in perfect keeping within; they stood in relation to the ark. So that it was no new thing for Moses to speak to God; he was accustomed to do it. Nor can any serve God or be honoured of God save one who speaks to Him, who makes everything a matter of speaking to God.

GOD, COME DOWN

Genesis 11:5 - 8; Genesis 18:20, 21; Exodus 3:7, 8

The link in these scriptures lies in the thought that God coming down is in each. In the first and second, He comes down judicially, and in the third He comes down in mercy to deliver. That God should come down judicially is right in the eyes of all who think for God, whose consciences have become affected by the knowledge of God, who have not elected to exclude God from their knowledge. The fact that He comes in judicially is not against man. Law and justice are not against man, but when we think of God as the Executor of justice, we readily see that it is for us. And so, whilst the Babel builders may have complained that it was inconvenient to be unable to understand one another, yet this apparent inconvenience had in mind that man, segregated into families and nations, should be reserved in these limitations so that God might visit them in grace. Now, that is not against us. On the contrary it is in our favour, however inconveniencing it may have been. God has segregated the human family into subdivisions and has visited these subdivisions in time with the gospel. It was in mercy that God came in at Babel. It was extremely considerate of God to act thus. If the President of this country were to say, I am going from Washington to New York to see exactly what the trouble is there, that would be consideration, surely, on his part. How much more so with God! He came down at Shinar. It is not that He needed to come down to gauge exactly what was current there. He knew perfectly what was current there. But He would give man to understand that He is exceedingly fair. He would come to our way of thinking and would give us severally to understand that it is not beyond Him to come into each one's circumstances. He does it.

The Lord Jesus came down from heaven to one man outside the gates of Damascus. He could have converted Saul of Tarsus without coming down. He has converted millions without coming down, but He came down to meet that man. It is recorded to convey to us that it is not out of keeping with the present position of the Lord Jesus to come into any of our circumstances. Later, Paul tells us that the Lord stood by him and strengthened him. So that whilst God may come near to act judicially, and to see how things are with us, He also comes near to us in grace -- like the Samaritan who came where the man was who had fallen among thieves. And it is not too much to say that the Lord of glory may come into this room to have to do with some of us who are here. He has His own way of doing it, and we expect Him to come in order to find an inlet into hearts. He is here for you!

Now in the first of these scriptures the name 'Jehovah' is used. That is the covenant God, the God who has entered into covenant and makes engagements. And He came down, according to chapter ii, to look at the world structurally. I suppose I could hardly refer to this subject in more suggestive surroundings. I am thinking of the great buildings around us here. This city is suggestive of the world in a structural sense as no other city is. It is famous for its buildings, it bridges, its subways and other structures which are representative of the great things that the children of men can do. Also, there are the great combinations of men, great monetary combinations, commercial combinations, political combinations and religious combinations. This city is representative of all these things in superlative degree. So that from our text it is apropos that I should apply this matter so that we should place ourselves, as it were, in the plains of Shinar, where Jehovah came down to see what the sons of men

were doing. And has He not come to New York? He has indeed! He has come down to survey what the sons of men are doing in this very city, which is a most conglomerate combination of the human race, representing, I may say, all the families that were scattered at Babel. God has followed us here. His eye watched the craft that carried Columbus to this great continent, and the thousands of craft that have brought myriads of people to these shores since.

Not one of them has been lost sight of by God. This great continent has been opened up in mercy for His creatures, to provide for the overflow of the Old World. God is a faithful Creator, not only to His children, but to all men and tribes and nations. We all live and move and have our being in God. He provides for and preserves all men, especially those who believe.

In the next scripture the Spirit of God pictures Jehovah walking along the countryside with the great patriarch Abraham, as if they were two men walking together. There was Jehovah and two angels and Abraham. Just picture such persons walking across the countryside! Where were they going? They were going in the direction of Sodom. I have spoken of New York representing the world structurally, but there are other terrible features attaching to this city. The wicked features of Sodom are attached to this city also. A certain city is spoken of in the book of Revelation as being "spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified". Is New York exempt from this? No, sad to say, the great cities of this world are rather representative of it. Sodom represents the wicked side of the world. And who of us has not had to do with that? having our part in building it up? Who of us is not honest enough to admit that? The scripture says, "All have sinned".

The sinners belong to Sodom, in principle. But it is most interesting to picture Jehovah and Abraham and

the two angels there in the vicinity of Sodom. It is said to be the vicinity of the Dead Sea now. Abraham did not live in Sodom; he lived in the plains of Mamre. And Jehovah and two angels came to visit him there, but now they are moving on toward Sodom. The Sodomites were sinners above all: the scripture says they "were wicked, and great sinners before Jehovah". Doubtless they were carrying on as usual. There was no diminution in their sin. Lot was there, sitting in the gate, but he could not alter the character of Sodom. Rather Sodom altered his character, alas! No christian can alter the conditions of this world. The Lord Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world". It is under judgment. Sodom's judgment had not been pronounced as yet when Jehovah came to visit Abraham. Abraham was a praying man. There are many like him. We have prayed about this meeting and about those who have come in. Prayer is a great matter, as we will see with Abraham. The two angels went on to Sodom, but Abraham drew near to Jehovah. The doom of Sodom was imminent, for that matter had to be settled; and it was settled. And the doom of this world is a settled matter. God waits in grace and long-suffering, but its doom is fixed! That day is on the calendar; God has appointed it. And when it comes, the Man whom men have despised and crucified will take the judge's bench and judge the world.

Well, it says that Abraham stood yet before Jehovah. How beautiful that is! Last night, at many meetings for prayer, many of the Lord's people stood before Jehovah and told Him about the world and about the need of men. And He has heard. He heard Abraham. Abraham began his prayer in a most priestly way, saying, "Wilt thou also cause the righteous to perish with the wicked?". And he goes on, "There are perhaps fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not forgive the place for the sake of the

fifty righteous that are therein? Far be it from thee to do so". God was delighted with that. What a matter it is to speak to God as a known God! And so he says, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?". Was not God pleased with that? He was, indeed! Abraham knew it was not like God to destroy the righteous with the wicked. God is not doing that; He is lengthening out this wonderful period of the gospel that no one need be destroyed. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And to that end God is lengthening out this wonderful day, this acceptable year of the Lord, so that you may not cry, with others, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved".

Well, I do not proceed further with Abraham's prayer save to say that God hearkened to him while he brought his request down to ten. The nearer we get to God, the more urgent we are in our prayers. He asked that Sodom be spared for fifty at first, but that it may be spared for ten righteous at the end. He stopped at ten; God did not stop him. God waited till Abraham finished. And so God waits while His people pray. What a God He is! Sodom was destroyed, but it was because there were not ten righteous in it.

I hasten on to the third scripture because it speaks of God coming down in mercy. Luke tells us that as the Lord Jesus was born into this world in Bethlehem, there were certain shepherds caring for their flocks by night, and that the angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. What a beautiful scene is depicted by the evangelical writer! And the angel said to the shepherds, "Behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy ... for today a Saviour has been born to you in David's city, who is Christ the Lord". No mere babe that! Avoid any such thought of His being a mere babe, or that

Jesus was a mere man, He is Christ the Lord. It was not that He was to be, or will be. He was the Lord, then-that holy Babe was the Lord. He was not yet anointed, but He was, personally, the Christ. He was and is a divine Person-He is God! And then they were told, "And this is the sign to you ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger". There was never such a Babe on earth as that! It was God come down-not judicially -- here in grace as a Babe. There is nothing to cause fear; it is God come down in grace. We are told that the grace of God which carries salvation for all men has appeared. It is for all men. But how has it appeared? It has appeared in Jesus! And then we are told that a multitude of the heavenly host was there. What a time it was! And they were saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men". Heaven came down to express its feelings about what had happened; that God had come down in Jesus, the Saviour. Can anyone do without a Saviour? The soul needs a Saviour. "Ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift: not on the principle of works, that no one might boast".

Well, the passage in Exodus is the same idea as I have been expressing. Jehovah says, "I have seen assuredly the affliction of my people ... and their cry have I heard ... for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them". It all foreshadowed what would be accomplished through God coming down in grace in Jesus, through His death and the completion of the mighty work of redemption. It has all been accomplished and angels and principalities are now subject to Him. And the Holy Spirit is here, sent down from heaven. God has thus come down in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, the power of God to save. It is for every one. May God grant it.

CHRIST AS KNOWN IN THE ASSEMBLY IN THE WILDERNESS

Acts 7:37, 38; Deuteronomy 9:7 - 9, 18 - 29; Deuteronomy 10:1 - 11

J.T. Attention is called to Moses who, as it says, was in the assembly in the wilderness, and the thought is that we might dwell a little on that this afternoon not simply the wilderness as applying to each individual among the saints, but how we are to be in it collectively and how, according to this type, Christ is to be known in the assembly in the wilderness. He is to be known in the assembly in heaven: God and the Lamb are said to be there. How He is to be known in the wilderness in the assembly is perhaps a thought not much before us, but Stephen by the Spirit alludes to it; having spoken much of Moses, he refers to him, "This is the Moses", and then, "This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness". That is, it is a matter of how He is to be apprehended in the local assembly and how He is to be apprehended in the assembly as a whole in its wilderness setting. Deuteronomy, I thought, especially in the verses read, opens up to us what Moses was himself. It is a retrospective view; the Spirit, through Moses, goes back on the history, calling attention to what the people were under the different circumstances mentioned and what he was amongst them. That was what I had in mind for our consideration.

E.S.H. The intercession of Moses on behalf of the people is very beautiful. Is that a suggestion of Christ in the assembly?

J.T. Yes. He is seen in an intercessory way, but he is also seen, as you might say, in an atoning way, throughout the book. God was not only angry with them, but He was angry with Moses. In Numbers He is angry with Moses because of Moses's own

conduct, but not so in Deuteronomy; there He is angry because of the conduct of the people; so Moses is viewed vicariously in Deuteronomy and also in an intercessory way. It is a great and wide subject in regard to Christ's atoning work, but what one would like to reach is its application in the principle of it now. How are we to get on without "this Moses"? We should be just tossed about as a ship without a rudder or compass is in the storm save as we have "this Moses" in the assembly in the wilderness, and save as things are in His hands. Moses never lets things go.

Rem. It is what Moses is personally.

J.T. Yes, Deuteronomy gives us the words of Moses in a certain position, and we have geography and time in this book. It says, "These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red Sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban ...", Deuteronomy 1:1. It is at the confines of Canaan and after the forty years in the wilderness, but still in the wilderness: he represents Christ in the wilderness, that is, in the place of contrariety. Stephen draws attention to him in the assembly in the wilderness; that is what I apprehend we might be profited by, to apprehend what He is in the wilderness.

E.S.H. Is intercession based on atonement having been made?

J.T. I think the fact brings out the exigencies of the position. Atonement was made typically in Egypt, but its application is acquired in the wilderness in that Jehovah was angry with Moses on their account.

Moses has to stand in the breach. There is constant occasion for anger, for, after all, "Our God is a consuming fire", but there is always Moses in the assembly standing in the breach.

Ques. Have you in mind that matters of administration and discipline cannot be rightly carried out unless we recognise Moses in the wilderness?

J.T. I thought not, Moses in the assembly in the wilderness.

Ques. Would it work out in the spirit of Christ as those who are intelligent in the assembly are with the Lord in this way?

J.T. I think so. 1 Corinthians opens it up to us "When ye are gathered together", the apostle says, "and my spirit"-that was the kind of spirit that was needed to deal with evil. There was no compromise with Paul's spirit. But, "with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ"-I think that gives what is meant. The history from Exodus to Deuteronomy inclusive brings out what the people were, and Moses reminds them here of that. He says, "Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness".

Ques. What are we to understand by the wilderness here?

J.T. For our subject this afternoon, it began at Horeb; for the individual christian, it begins at the Red Sea as crossed. Horeb is where divine principles and requirements are formally introduced, that is where the conflict against the assembly begins properly; the assembly has the mind of God. The wilderness is the world, it is just where we have been in our unconverted days, the world of contrariety. That is, its principles are directly opposed to what is inaugurated at Horeb, or, as we may say, at Pentecost and in 1 Corinthians. It is a matter of the apostles' teaching and fellowship, how the saints are to be maintained in such a contrary element. But this Moses is in the assembly in that position; not only has He received living oracles, as Stephen says, but He is there to enforce them. I think when Paul says, "With my spirit", he means that the spirit of authority must be there and there must be subjection if we are to get on, to prove what our Moses is to us in the assembly in the wilderness. In Hebrews He sings in the midst of

the assembly, "In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises", the Lord says; that is not in the wilderness properly, that is in the land, but our subject now is the assembly in the wilderness and how we are to get on in the wilderness in assembly with our Moses.

Ques. Is that why Paul says, "I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud ... and were all baptised unto Moses", 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2?

J.T. Yes, I think so; we are brought under his authority, and he manifestly had access later, at Horeb, to the holiest at all times. They were "living oracles", that is, immediate communications; immediate communications marked the whole wilderness period; hence the constant repetition of "Jehovah spoke to Moses saying ...". One can understand the freshness and power with which Moses would come out and speak the mind of God freshly received; but why should it not be so now? It is only a type of the present time, of the continued presence of the Lord in the assembly in the wilderness.

Rem. So that the mind of God is being made known in a fresh living way amongst the brethren in the assembly.

J.T. Quite so.

Ques. You referred to the anger of Jehovah being against Moses. What did you mean by that?

J.T. Well, the thought of the vicarious sufferings of Christ is brought in; the sufferings of Christ are not merely historical, they are ever present. How can God go on with us? It is only on that ground. Of course it is historical, but it is also a present thing, carried right through Deuteronomy, as you might say.

G.A.v.S. Is the assembly of God in the wilderness to be sustained by the sense, in its own practical experience, of how the Lord came into the conditions where He, having been tested and suffering in His

own spirit, constitutes an occasion and reason why the people of God are being carried through it?

J.T. Yes, He encountered the thing here where He asserted the will of God. He was here in holy submission and carried every thought of God through infinitely; and then He took full account of the broken law in Israel's history, as entering into death. It is thus following Him that we get the vicarious thought, the Sufferer, the sufferings of Christ as He vicariously came under wrath. Well, that is ever present, because the crooked ways of Israel in the wilderness are but a type of our own, of what is current; the sense of the vicarious sufferings of Christ is to be ever present with us. I do not think we get a true judgment of things otherwise.

Ques. Is the assembly rightly held together on that principle?

J.T. I think so. There was present in Israel in the assembly in the wilderness a man who had endured divine wrath, in his measure. Typically it is Christ He was "angry with me". And this man who is speaking is in their midst. The sense of it is there.

Ques. Should the thought of "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7), be ever present with us?

J.T. Quite; the sense of what God is as against sin is never to be absent from us in wilderness conditions. So that he says here, "Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread

nor drink water". He brings forward what he endured; it is the presence of this man that keeps things alive, that keeps the right feelings present as to what was due to God. That is what is needed in every locality, to feel things with God.

Ques. And to have these feelings in a suffering spirit, would you say?

J.T. Exactly, that is the point.

Ques. Would you say the features that shone out in Moses should be seen amongst the saints?

J.T. That is what I thought we might reach. Paul says, "When ye are gathered together, and my spirit", that kind of spirit, the spirit of authority, yet the spirit that feels things with God.

Rem. In reading Moses we realise he had feelings with God against evil.

J.T. That is exactly what comes out. He speaks of not eating for forty days and hungering and of falling down before Jehovah. Well, it is the present Moses who is talking, not an historic Moses merely; it is Christ present in this way. How can we maintain discipline otherwise? I thought we might see in chapter 10 how, with all this, terrible as the conditions were, Israel journeyed spiritually. In the parenthesis, that is, verses 6, 7, "The children of Israel took their journey ... there Aaron died, and ... Eleazar his son ministered ... in his stead". And "from thence they journeyed ...", until they came to a land of waterbrooks; that is, I think, dear brethren, what is so beautiful and precious, that is, there is positive movement in presence of all this lawless conduct. And how important the maintenance of discipline and holy order is so that we might reach the land of waterbrooks and come in for the guidance of another Priest, that is, Christ in another way in relation to heaven. Why should there be that parenthesis? It is thirty-eight years historically after what Moses was speaking about-why should it be there? It is to encourage

us in our maintenance of discipline as to what may be reached through it. The Israel of God is there, and God comes in for His portion, a Levite that He can recognise, and He takes up Levi for His inheritance at this point. So we have a dual state of things: the internal condition of things, and what God can delight in through our heavenly Priest, that is Eleazar.

Ques. Would the land of water-brooks indicate the Spirit Himself active in ministry to the conditions of the people after they had faced the discipline of the wilderness?

J.T. That is precisely, I think, what is meant. We come in for positive ministry in movement in the Israel of God in the midst of all these things. It is to encourage the maintenance of discipline and divine order. You can see how Moses is being honoured in this wonderful spirit of intercessory love for the people that they might be preserved. You can see how God honours a man who comes forward and takes up matters and places himself in the front in suffering, accepting responsibility.

G.A.v.S. Would you say it was really the intensity of Moses's affection for the people that led him to go so specifically through the rebellions of the people, and,. having thus exposed them, bring them to the recognition of that, on the one hand, and the reception of the ministry in the power of the Spirit, on the other hand?

J.T. You can see how that works out practically in our meetings when discipline is maintained; as the apostle said, "My spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ". What ministry you get, refreshing things! and we are led into the land of the waterbrooks, which is, of course, Canaan in principle, though still the wilderness position; it is one of the features of Canaan. So I think Moses is honoured in this chapter in that God says, "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first", as though it is the Lord's

matter now. We come to apprehend how the Father has given all things into the hands of the Son, and we are well off, for it is at this juncture, according to Exodus, that Moses comes down with his face shining; it is the principle of the new covenant.

Ques. Would that answer to 2 Corinthians 3? The covenant is referred to, and then it says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty".

J.T. I think so. That is what 2 Corinthians brings out, the liberty of the Spirit; it is through maintaining order and discipline. When the ark came to rest it is emphasised that there is nothing in it but the two tables of the covenant that Jehovah gave at Horeb.

Ques. Would you say that the spirit of suffering that the Lord gave to Moses was a necessary accompaniment of the wilderness position if the two tables were to be carried all the way through in the sense of what God gave at Horeb?

J.T. I should think so, the spirit of the vicarious Sufferer. No one felt things as Moses did; he was a type of Christ personally. The point, I think, in our localities is being in accord with that, feeling things, and taking them on in relation to the gathering; and I think then God comes in, things are dealt with, and there is a refreshing ministry. Discipline is maintained in the assembly; were it not, there would always be a drag, perhaps the mere repetition of things; but we want water-brooks.

Ques. What would you say the discipline is?

J.T. Well, dealing with evil. We are all under discipline personally, the Father disciplines us severally; but what we are dealing with now is Christ, our Moses, in the wilderness, and what is maintained collectively. The more we are with God the more discipline there will be, because we shall not be afraid to speak to one another. The deeper the love, the greater the knowledge of God in the covenant, the more readiness there will be to discipline one

another, and then, if it be necessary, to exercise collective discipline, and to exercise it in a dignified way.

Ques. Will you explain discipline in the assembly, and the other kind of discipline?

J.T. Well, each one who is with God has a judgment about every brother he knows; I have a judgment about every brother I know. I am sure Moses had; he knew the elders of Israel well, he had a wide acquaintance with Israel in the wilderness and he had a judgment about them. Well, my relations with that brother would be according to my judgment about him, and that is an advantage to me if I am a spiritual man. My relations with him, my attitude towards him, will be governed by my judgment about him.

Ques. Elders who had experience with God and exercised rule were to be found in every city. Would it come in in that way?

J.T. It works out that way no doubt, but we have a judgment about one another. Think of Romans 16; what a judgment the apostle had about the brethren at Rome as we see in his salutations. His judgment was of their good qualities; that is all he mentions. But were you to ask Paul about Phoebe, for instance, 'Why are you speaking so well about her?', he would say, 'Well, I know her; she is in the church at Cenchrea, which is only a short distance from Corinth where I was for some months, and I acquired a high estimate of her'. Well, that is the basis of his commendation of her. And so throughout the list. He might have told you many things about this and that one: 'There are things I have serious concern about, but I have them in mind. I have had relations with this and that one'. If any of us come in for assembly discipline, then it is a question of the whole assembly, because, when Achan was stoned, Israel was to stone him, not the elders only; the whole assembly is to

execute the judgment, and each one ought to have a knowledge of the person.

Ques. Would not that principle enter into giving letters of commendation?

J.T. I thought so. What remarkable knowledge the apostle had of the different persons when he wrote to Rome; and were he to write to other companies, I suppose it would have been in the same way.

Ques. There is a character of discipline that does not go so far as stoning; would you say a word about that?

J.T. Yes; but I think we ought to get clear about this matter of eldership, that is, whilst the younger, and necessarily the sisters, do not take part in the proceedings, they are in the thing; they have a judgment, or they are of no value whatever in the administration: unless we have a judgment we are of no moral value in the administration.

G.A.v.S. Is having a judgment of persons or things a part of the education towards eldership?

J.T. I think it is. How beautifully the neighbours of Naomi, for instance, spoke to her. They knew about her and about Boaz and Ruth; they knew Naomi, she was an old resident in the place: she is thoroughly in fellowship now, and they are altogether with her in the blessing of God. I think that is the way matters should stand; we know each other.

Ques. Is that the attitude of John when he addressed his second and third epistles to the elect lady and to Gaius? He addresses them both as elders; he had a judgment about the conditions in the two places, had he not?

J.T. That brings out what we are saying, that a sister may have part in the administration of discipline.

Ques. Was not Israel's stoning of Achan the outcome of what they had received through Moses as to

the mind of God? Is that where the eldership comes in?

J.T. Quite so; the elders come into the knowledge of things through experience. The qualifications of an elder are generally moral. In the first epistle to Timothy and in that to Titus elders were to be appointed, but in Acts 20, they are made by the Holy Spirit. That implies first-hand knowledge definitely of the person; they are qualified. It is not merely a matter of years, but of moral qualifications, and the thing should come out in them formally, but then they are not the only ones who cast a stone.

Ques. Psalm 19 speaks of the judgments of the Lord as being "true and righteous altogether". Would that characterise the judgment in a local assembly?

J.T. Exactly. The Lord said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment", John 7:24. If I am to cast a stone, I ought to have a judgment of the person and of the guilt.

Ques. You mean instruction in what is pleasing to God?

J.T. Yes. What is the discipline? and what is it for? what are the principles governing it? Each case of discipline ought to leave its results in education. I believe that is how eldership is promoted.

Ques. It says in connection with the sin of Achan that "Israel has sinned"; has that any bearing on the matter?

J.T. That is another side. It is the obligation of each of us, for the matter has taken place in the midst. The onus is on the company, and we can only clear ourselves by the execution of discipline.

Ques. In the case of Achan, there was no confusion in relation to it; why is there often confusion with us in regard to these matters?

J.T. A meeting for discipline very often takes on the character of a meeting for deliberation. It is not an occasion for deliberation at all; it is for the

pronouncement of the judgment of the Lord in the assembly. It is not a time for hearing evidence; it is a call for a spiritual, dignified announcement of the evil, the discipline that has to be executed.

Ques. Judgment is that which is come to in the assembly meeting; is it reached there?

J.T. The matter has been diligently enquired into by the brethren in care; a so-called care meeting cannot reach conclusions, the conclusion is in assembly.

Ques. But nevertheless you would go from the care meeting with a judgment arrived at in order that there might be the execution of judgment in the assembly?

J.T. Well, there can be no judgment arrived at in care other than what is tentative; administration belongs to the assembly only.

Rem. Judgment cannot have a collective effect apart from the assembly, but in the care meeting individual judgments are found to be more or less in accord.

J.T. Yes, we reach a judgment tentatively, but our Moses is with us in the assembly in the wilderness, that is, where the saints are convened for discipline and the like. "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them", I think would apply.

Ques. Would not the matter of confusion that was referred to be due to a very large extent to the lack of an individual apprehension of the real character of things as detailed by Moses as he recited it to them in the wilderness?

J.T. We see very plainly his own feelings about this; but it is a mischievous thing amongst us to assume that the brethren in care administer decisions reached. The Lord does not like that; it is not our Moses in the assembly in the wilderness.

Rem. The Lord is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints.

J.T. Just so.

Ques. Should the accused person be present when the matter is taken up?

J.T. Certainly; if he can be induced to be there he should be there.

Ques. And you would not get a judgment till he has given an answer or replied to the accusation?

J.T. I do not think there is any need for that. That raises another question, as to the priestly character of the brethren. The judgment of the assembly does not hinge on anything he might say; the brethren are acting with a perfect knowledge of things. It is not a court of deliberative judgment; that leads up to it; it is simply for the pronouncement of the judgment of the assembly; it is no place for deliberation. It is a dishonour to the Lord to have discussion of pros and cons when the assembly is convened for the administration of discipline. It is not a deliberative court where we have the witnesses, and the case is gone into. The apostles and elders, it says, came together to enquire into the matter, they reached a judgment, and it was ratified. "It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28): to the assembly, that is final. 1 Corinthians 5 is a brief statement of the case; it is brief 'The case being such as it is, I have delivered such an one unto Satan; there are no witnesses to call; the matter is settled'.

Rem. The apostle, in that way, has a judgment, but he links himself with the saints in pronouncing it.

J.T. Just so.

Rem. A sense of the vicarious sufferings of Christ would enable us to handle these matters rightly.

J.T. That is the reason why I think we should pay attention to Moses's remarks about himself. If we have not a sense of the vicarious sufferings of Christ, I do not think we are qualified to exercise discipline.

Ques. Do you look upon the assembly as being an executive body in this matter of discipline?

J.T. That is right; the deliberations are all tentative. The Lord is in the assembly to convey His thought of it; our Moses is always with us in that sense; He is there with us to convey His thoughts.

Rem. That means you would not, as a matter of practice, have a meeting of that kind until all the deliberations were clear.

J.T. Quite so. That would rest on the priestly character of the brethren; the saints as a whole, sisters and all, have confidence in the brethren in the exercise of priesthood; they are to be relied on; heaven relies on them: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them". Heaven has confidence in us in that light, so should all the sisters have too; but nevertheless there is that which the Lord so values in an administrative body here in carrying out the will of heaven that it should be carried out in a dignified way. Dignity attaches to the assembly as having the anointing.

Ques. You would regard Christ, who is spoken of so many times in Corinthians as the Lord, as being parallel with the suggestion of Moses in these scriptures?

J.T. That is what I thought, exactly.

Ques. I suppose it is important that if the assembly comes to a judgment, it is binding, even if we are not clear about it.

J.T. Yes, and if I am not with the brethren in it, it is a question of where I am spiritually. Why am I not with my brethren?

Ques. Would you say that what led Moses to take up these thoughts was that he saw the people in relation to God? He could say to them, "Ye are my people", so he could form a judgment of the people as God would look at them.

J.T. Yes. I thought at the outset we are in danger of losing sight of the great gain of this movement of Israel as a thing concurrent with the exercise of discipline; this parenthesis (verses 6, 7) shows the gain there is and the incentive to maintain discipline, because why else should it be brought in here?

Ques. Why is the death of Aaron brought in in that connection?

J.T. I think it contemplates that the brethren are coming to see Christ in His heavenly relations in the assembly. It is another Priest, what He is in the wilderness, entering into all these things with us. Moses is said to have married a Cushite or an Ethiopian; the Lord continued His marital relations with us notwithstanding the ugliness that comes out; He maintains His relations with us. But then there are the inner relations that are not ugly, but very beautiful; what He can see abstractly in His church, He can identify Himself with unreservedly and lead the true assembly spiritually into that land of water-brooks. It is Christ in another way, as the One who sings in the midst of the assembly, but it is brought in there, I think, to encourage us to maintain discipline, for as we maintain it we come into this.

F.I. There can be no movement apart from discipline.

J.T. I think that is right. It says, "The children of Israel took their journey"-they are able to journey-"from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera; there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters". And then it says, "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance

with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance". I think all that is beautiful as the heavenly side of things, what we come into, and what we are in measure, I am sure, coming into; but we cannot come into it aside from discipline and the judgment that these chapters assert.

Ques. Does Eleazar represent the service of Christ in assembly privilege?

J.T. That is as I understand it. It is more Hebrews 2, Christ singing in the midst of the assembly. It seems very encouraging that, in spite of all that is current outwardly, there is this inner state of things that the Lord is maintaining. Then another thing that comes out is that God has His portion in spite of all these ugly things; He separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant. God is very particular; He separates this tribe so that the ark is carried; there are no irregularities at all. Levi represents spiritual intelligence amongst us: "To bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to do service unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; Jehovah is his inheritance"; that is, they are a heavenly people, it is the heavenly side of the truth that comes in here.

Rem. And it is absolutely necessary that that principle of separation is established in the hearts of the people of God before they are able to support what is in the heart of Christ down here.

J.T. Yes. The tribe of Levi is the heavenly side, according to Joshua and Hebrews 12, "the assembly of the firstborn". What an exit that is from the public state of things contemplated in this chapter.

Rem. The change of priesthood makes the priestly service here on earth effective.

J.T. Quite so. I find in my little experience amongst the brethren that after a care meeting where matters have been gone into and dealt with, and

pronouncements reached in the assembly, there is usually more liberty in the Lord's day morning meeting. I think the Lord honours the taking a care of things, that they are not allowed to drag on, but are dealt with as they come up. God gets His part. Levi represents the saints viewed in their heavenly relations, the firstborn ones enregistered in heaven.

Ques. We have here the peculiar mention of the ark of wood linking with the closing words of Nehemiah with regard to the wood-offering.

J.T. It is a question of the kind of humanity, I think, the new order of man; Moses saw to that, that it was there; it is not a mere theory, 'It is there', he says; the ark is there in its proper setting.

Ques. Would the end of Matthew fit in with the thought of the Lord in the assembly in the wilderness, "Behold, I am with you all the days"?

J.T. That is it: "All the days", every day of the week there. When the brethren come together to see that things are adjusted properly, I believe the Lord always honours us and we reach the land of waterbrooks.

Ques. Did not great prosperity follow Peter's taking up things in Acts 5?

J.T. That is an illustration of it.

Ques. Should the judgment arrived at in an assembly meeting be announced to the saints gathered on the Lord's day morning?

J.T. What need is there for it, if the assembly is the assembly?

Rem. Some have thought that perhaps because publicity has been given to the evil, publicity should be given to the announcement that such a person is no longer walking with us.

J.T. I do not think we should publish evil, or that the world is entitled to any knowledge of what goes on amongst us. Suffice it that the saints have a

knowledge of what has been done, that they have a judgment about it.

Ques. Should the one being dealt with be notified?

J.T. He ought to be there; if he is at all an honest man he would be there; certainly he should know what the judgment of the assembly is.

WOMEN OF WORTH

Matthew 28:5, 6; 2 Kings 4:18 - 24, 30 - 37

These scriptures, as you will readily notice, concern sisters in the Lord; they concern them greatly, but they concern all, in view of the significance of the feminine element; that is, it refers to what is effected in us by the Spirit of God; if it be in a bad sense, it refers to what is effected by the spirit of the world.

The book of Proverbs contemplates both these features, it contemplates the wise woman and the foolish, it contemplates the woman of worth. It is in this latter sense that I would treat these scriptures, as referring to the married woman of worth, according to the end of the book of Proverbs. It is a matter of great importance that there is that in this world, heaven looking down cognisant of their worth indicated, the opposite of which is a deep ditch, as Proverbs teaches us, of wickedness. Regarding this woman of worth, or virtue, as implying the assembly, the matter becomes of the very greatest significance as to the circumstances under which this formation and development or growth, proceeds; that is, there is what is objective, for God works in us according to what He presents to us. The passage in Matthew is significant as in that gospel. The objective side in chapters 27 and 28 is of the most solemn and searching nature; nothing could be more solemn and more searching, more subduing, than the objective facts presented to us in those chapters. Matthew 27 has, at the close of it, certain groups. The great objective fact is the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, crucified-the Lord of glory that He should be seen in the most ignominious position, marked by the most excruciating sufferings, inclusive of that one great occasion of suffering, the forsaking of God, transcending all else, calculated to

affect every intelligence in the whole universe. But there were certain groups, I think: the first, a jeering group; the second, a believing group, persons who were affected at the moment who had not hitherto been affected; the third, a group of women, "many women" standing afar off from the cross, but standing in relation to it: He who hung there was supremely their object. John says they were standing by it; Matthew says many of them that had come from Galilee were beholding from afar off, they had been accustomed to minister to Him who hung there of their substance. Then, in the close of the chapter, we have one man, a rich man, burying the body of the Lord. So that you can see, dear brethren, what groups there are at that solemn moment in relation to that cross. These women are most interesting, not only on their own account, but on account of whom they represent; they were to become, at least in principle, the great maternal element in the structure that was about to be reared up by the Spirit of God, by the Lord, by God Himself. They were to represent that in its maternal instincts and feelings and affections; these were to be begotten in the presence of the most momentous occurrence in all history, in all time, in all eternity; they were to be affected and the formation was to be in accord with what was presented to them objectively; they were, as it were, begotten spiritually by the elements presented to them. There were no such women, no such persons, in history as these. The Marys were all there, that is, those who understood suffering, bitterness. John would tell us there were three Marys there, as far as I read; and Matthew says there was the Magdalene there and the other Mary, as if there were just two outstanding Marys. Now these are the ones, dear brethren, and the angel, representative of heaven, knew all about these women. The communications of angels to women in the Scriptures form in themselves a subject

of the deepest interest, direct communications of angels to women. I believe all of them have in mind what I am speaking about, the formation of that side that endures, that goes through all circumstances out of affection. A Ruth, for instance, would not be turned aside, she would go through the full way, the whole way, of love. And so all culminates, I believe, in these women, these Marys. The name, I believe, arises at the Red Sea, the bitterness of death experienced, the waters of death round; these are the ones, the church is formed, fashioned, in this way, she is to be the bride of the Sufferer, and the Lord is speaking to our hearts, dear brethren, at this present time, as to correspondence with Him in this respect. This Mary and the other. And now the angel, whose look caused terror in others, would occasion no terror in their hearts: he says to the women, "Fear not ye"-'I know what you seek'. How very touching and comforting that he knows, heaven knows-for that is the idea in the knowing-an angel conveys what is in heaven, heaven's thoughts. "I know", he says, 'what you seek', I know. Whatever others may think, how comforting that heaven knows what is in the depth of our hearts. He says, "I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one". What was in their hearts was in correspondence with that, the crucified One. What an appeal that is as to what is going on in our hearts, as to what we seek. "I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one"; there is no occasion for you to fear. And then he says, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". That is what I want to direct your minds to, where He lay. Heaven is inviting them to see the place where He lay; this place is to enter into later instruction; it is of great spiritual significance, the place where the Lord lay. Were it known now, how sightseers from the ends of the earth would repair to it! The crucifixion has become an incident in human history; human history is not

fit for such a jewel. It would command the greatest interest from sightseers were it only known where the Lord lay. It is known to heaven, it is known in the heart of the church; it will not be sought there, the church in its true significance has no interest for the world. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". They had come to see the sepulchre indeed, a poor thing in itself, but still, that was what they had come to see; but the angel said, 'I know what you seek. You seek not the sepulchre alone, you seek Him whom you think is there': but, he says, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". That is the end for faith, that is the end of all the trouble, the vicarious burial of Christ. His burial was vicarious-why should He be there otherwise? "Where the Lord lay". Why should I look down to where He lay? His position there was vicarious, it was my place; the church understands; baptism places us there. "Identified with him in the likeness of his death" (Romans 6:5); that is not the position on the cross, it is the position in the grave. Not indeed that we are not crucified, for Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20); but where He lay is the end of all moral history here; I mean to say, it is the end of all the trouble. The church begins on that foundation, in one sense, and the understanding of it would be the end of all the trouble personally and collectively, locally and generally, amongst the saints. And so, dear brethren, one would invite you, as the angel did here, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". It was the Lord of glory, but Matthew is concerned about authority; the Lord lay there; He is not there now, He is made Lord and Christ in heaven, but it is where He lay. And so these women form that element that goes through, that virtue that corresponds with Christ; they have gone to the bottom of things-that is the idea of the Son of God, the rock. But there is the termination of the moral element that causes the

trouble, the thing that causes the trouble. David was conversant with it; he was a son of peace indeed, but he, at one time, became a troubler of a most serious nature. We are all liable to that, the most spiritual. He lay on the earth while the child lived. That child represents the trouble. There was a dead Urias. Think of that, a devoted man, one of the mighties! Think of being the occasion of the death of Urias on the field, slain by the sword of the children of Ammon at the behest of David, the trouble-maker for the moment. The occasion of the trouble has to be dealt with and the child dies. 'The child is dead', says David, 'he will not return to me, I shall go to him. I go that way'. No doubt he had felt in his soul, 'I should have gone before him!', but he says, 'I go that way'. And Solomon is born, and he says,'Peace'; what a change from the trouble, the working of the flesh, of which we are all so capable! What a change! Immediately he says, "Solomon", meaning Peace now; the occasion of trouble is gone. That is what God is constantly, day in and day out, dealing with amongst us; He is dealing with the occasion of the trouble to make room for the Prince of Peace. How the Lord loves to come in in His Solomon character, how He loves to come in and say, "Peace be unto you"! 'See where He lay', the angel says: the vicarious death and burial of Christ is the termination of all the trouble for the glory of God, and these women saw that. Would that every one of us, every sister and every one of us, might see that. It is the great feature of things foundationally amongst us, how the trouble is dealt with; these women saw that place; they saw the darkness, they heard that loud cry, they saw the place where He lay, shown by heaven. We hardly ever see anything rightly except it is shown us: "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". But the Lord presently appears to them, as the chapter shows, but I do not go on to that. I am

speaking now of this important principle so essential to us in dealing with the occasion of the trouble, so that there shall be peace, the Prince of Peace. David says, "Solomon", God says, "Jedidiah", that is the beautiful thought of the Person of Christ apprehended in resurrection. Peace-Jehovah loved him-He would take us from the occasion of the trouble into a realm of peace and love. That is the realm proper to the assembly; the Lord says, "Peace be unto you", and it says, "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord", a great matter. It is the service of Jesus to gladden our hearts. Much is on this line, dear brethren. The Lord gladdened their hearts and said "Peace" to them.

Well now, I want to show how the Old Testament exemplifies this in the history of this remarkable woman called the Shunammite. It is not now a question of a trouble-maker; Achan is the great troubler of Israel, he represents the trouble-maker, and all Israel had to say to him in the valley of Achor, but it becomes the door of hope. You see the process is going on, merging from sorrow to joy. This boy, or child, as he is called, is not an Achan, he is a Colossian believer, to be simple. The history of this chapter in 2 Kings embodies the truth of Romans in the paying of one's debt by the Spirit, and the truth of Colossians, seen, as I hope to show, in this child, and the truth of Ephesians in the man from Baal-shalishah. God studs the whole face of Scripture with His own thoughts, dear brethren, if we only have eyes to see what He sets down before us. One has been greatly struck lately with the thought of the land, how God stresses it from the very outset of its introduction after the flood, the land. The adjectives in the language are exhausted in the vocabulary of God to stress the richness and greatness and beauty of that land, to allure our hearts out of this world to the realm of His purpose, into a land of water-brooks,

deep water-springs and hills and valleys. The Spirit of God uses such descriptive words to lead beyond what Palestine ever could be or ever will be; it is just taken as a figure by the Spirit of God to lead our hearts into what is altogether beyond what any territory on earth could ever be, this spiritual realm that God would allure our hearts into, and the Scriptures are full of it. Colossians is not exactly the land; it is entering into it, it is a tentative epistle, if you understand. It is collective, but it is a tentative sort of position. You are going in, you may not go in, but you are just crossing over; it raises incentives presented objectively in Christ. "Seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God. When the Christ is manifested who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory". It is to draw us in, that is the thought of Colossians, and to adjust us according to God by the application of the death of Christ, the circumcision of Christ and the burial of Christ, in baptism. That is what Colossians is; it is, as I might say, where the Lord lay, it is the end of things here. "Buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead". Quickened with Him, too, out of death, made to live with Him. And so it is the closing of the door-that is the idea; John 20 is the closing of the door and 2 Kings is the closing of the door. It is a secret matter, it is not exactly dealing with trouble-makers, but with the power of death working. It can only be cured in one way, by being brought into correspondence with Christ. It is no question of paying debts, beloved brethren; it is a question of a dead boy or a living boy. That is Colossians, and we see the agonies of Paul about the

Colossian saints. They were a very remarkable company, like Laodicea, which place Paul had apparently never visited, but he had agonised about the saints there. What is needed is that sort of thing, dear brethren, to get the saints into life by placing them where the Lord lay, so to speak. And so I would point out that this remarkable woman is equal to this experience. She was promised this boy, and she had him presented as the prophet says, "Thou shalt embrace a son"; he knew what that would mean to her heart, not simply 'You will have him', but, You will "embrace a son". A son is worth embracing; a woman is not worthy of the name of a mother if she does not embrace a child; it is the affections that are proper, and especially in a spiritual sense; to embrace is the expression of affection. "And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head". This boy is in a serious condition, it is a head condition. Young men and women should take notice of this, because our heads are very often much in advance of our feet; I know that well; each of us knows it. And the father's side could do nothing; he knew enough, however, to send the child back to the mother; he was promised to the mother, not to the father. What is to be done is to be done by her; it is all a question of the development of the truth. Here is a great woman, she is devoted to the testimony, what is to be done for her? Give her a son, she is to embrace a son; that is spiritually, dear brethren, the assembly; you can see the force of it, the supreme object of affection. But there is this trouble, and the father sends him to his mother by the hand of a lad-it is a youthful state of things-and the mother takes him on her knees and he dies at noon; when he should be in vigour, he dies; when we should hope, death comes in-these are sorrowful considerations! What exercises the people of God

have to go through, and where are we in regard of these exercises? The formation is in relation to these exercises, persons who have feelings, who go through things. Well, she knew what to do; and that is the point, dear brethren, that the mother knows what to do. It is a question of the local assembly knowing what to do. What am I going to do in this? It is not a matter to be dealt with in discipline, it is a question of a state; not conduct, but a state. Well, there is a man of God who has got a bed; it is where he lies, where he lay; he is not lying there now, he is in Carmel-a very different position, the place of fruitfulness, the place of victory, too, denoting the intelligence of heaven, for heaven is ready to intervene whatever it is. We are never pushed to a wall, heaven will come in. It is a good thing to turn our face to the wall, like Hezekiah, at times saying,'I can do nothing'; but heaven can do much. So she puts the child on the bed of the man of God; she laid him there. That is a very important reflection. "And she called unto her husband and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God". Her husband is a poor sort of man, he did not look after the reapers; it is the responsible element, very often extremely lacking, unable to do anything spiritually. And here this husband says, "It is neither new moon, nor sabbath"; he is a sort of ceremonialist, a man who observes certain things, very important in their way; the new moon, the recovery of Israel by-and-by; and the sabbath, a future thing. But it is a question of the present thing; what am I going to do now? What God will do in the future will involve the exercise of mighty power bringing a nation into power in a day and restoring everything: but here is a dead boy on whom the affections and the hopes of this dear woman were set, and her husband is talking about set feasts. Set feasts are valuable, of course (like this one) the

Lord specially works in them; but it is a question of every day, this happened "on a day", it says, on an ordinary day; what am I going to do? Well, there is a man of God; the hope of the universe, as it were, is here. We have been speaking about Moses; it is Moses that is talking. The man of God is not here where the child died, or perhaps the child would not have died. Well, he is in Carmel, he is reachable, and this man's foolish obstacles are just brushed aside. "She saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward". The man of God here drops below the level of Christ, for the Old Testament types do not always hold. He thinks Gehazi and his staff will do. No, the door is shut-it might as well have been shut to Gehazi, he did nothing, nor did the staff do anything. There was little link between Gehazi and the staff of the man of God; they are occupied with external things-spiritual men often drop to that too. But there was the mother of the child. The great thought in Scripture is that she is not going to leave; she has no confidence in that staff; such measures are not to be trusted; we want more than experience now; I have no doubt that is what the staff means. But this is a new matter, and the woman was above them all; she was more spiritual than any of them at the moment. She says to the man of God, "I will not leave thee". She would bring Christ in, and Elisha goes with her. "He went in therefore, and shut the door". I beg of you to notice this, dear brethren, shut the door; that is Colossians, corresponding with the raising up of Jairus's daughter. It is the elimination of what might, what would, hinder, and the retention only of what would help. It is a spiritual matter, and Elisha has to go through the thing too, for in these cases we, through the grace of God, are brought into correspondence with Christ, we are forced into correspondence with Christ; there is no way out of it otherwise. The Lord says, "I am

the way"; there is no other, and Elisha recognises this. He stretches himself on the boy; well, he becomes warm, that is something, a little bit of heat where there was coldness. Young men and young women often get away like this with their heads; and it is touch, direct touch, spiritual touch, that is needed. The man of God has to walk up and down the house; what kind of house is it? He can see all that is in the house, not only in the room. Maybe there are things there that have to be dealt with; but he walked up and down the house. Suppose his eye rested on a novel! There were certainly none in the room that he occupied, it was no lavishly-furnished room. Suppose his eye rested on any other thing that the enemy might have brought in that house! "He went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands"; how personal it is! He is brought into direct touch with Christ-the man of God is typically Christ. He is lying there in the place of death, as it were, and he is now concerned about the boy, "And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes", and he delivered him to his mother. This is one of the most interesting incidents of the kind in Scripture, and it is needed every day amongst us. The Lord would give us understanding of this maternal formation and the instincts and the intelligence and decision, the knowing what to do, that belong to it and are not to be turned aside, even by a husband. It is not any particular day, it is "one of the days", and she is going to attend to it on that very day, and she does, and the end is reached. "Take up thy son", says the man of God, and she "took up her son, and went out". What would he have been to her!

That is all I had to say. I hope the Lord will use this line of thought as to local companies dealing with evil according to what is presented in the cross, where

the Lord lay, the termination of everything that causes the trouble; and that love would have a son to fill the house, not only a son living, but a son having died; not only a son given, but a son having entered into death and come out of it. The mother of the child took the boy and went out-she had got him.

May the Lord give us to understand. "Whoso is wise, let him observe these things, and let them understand the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah", Psalm 107:43.

HOLY BUOYANCY

Psalm 108:1 - 9

This psalm, as possibly some may be aware, is partly taken from the earlier Psalm 57 and Psalm 60, which are in the second book. They are historical psalms, in the sense that they bring into view certain circumstances in David's history in regard to his sufferings, lending great interest to them; for the sufferings of David thus foreshadowed the sufferings of Christ in which we are privileged to have part. The repetition of certain passages in the psalms would remind us of the resetting of precious stones; they shine, they retain their lustre in every setting, but especially in their final setting as in this last book of Psalms. They refer to fineness of thought, which should not be foreign to us as christians; indeed, as partaking of the heavenly calling, we are to "judge of and approve the things that are more excellent", to compare and define what is excellent and what is more excellent. The more excellent a thing is, the more it can be employed in testimony, whether it is by a christian, or in the Word itself.

The same excellence and variety seen here is found throughout the Scriptures, so that we may have the same thought in Romans or Colossians or Ephesians, but the setting is different in each epistle. Timothy was sent to Corinth to represent what was spiritual amongst persons who were far otherwise, and hence he is selected for a mission to Corinth, under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, not only for what he could say, but for what he was. Were we to see that man sitting in Corinth at the reading meeting, we should be affected by his whole deportment, how he would sit and how he would speak. And in the Lord's own service in the synagogue at Nazareth, the

Spirit dwells on His movements, His personal movements, then on His words, then on His mouth; the words He speaks are "gracious words". The same words, of course, would be gracious on the lips of the saints, but they are particularly so in connection with the lips of Christ: no setting could be greater than that. "His mouth is most sweet"; there is no mouth like it; the setting of the quotation from Isaiah 61 in Luke 4, is therefore unique.

So these sections of the Psalms set together here are to be considered as to what the setting signifies. It is the last book of the Psalms; a book full of jubilance, which, though having its own place in the testimony, is arrived at by the way of David's sufferings and rejection. This fifth book is full of buoyancy, spiritual buoyancy, ending up with Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! So that praise is the leading thought of this book, and I believe what was included in the praise which accompanied the institution of the passover, and the inauguration of the Supper by the Lord, was taken out of this book. So while these earlier psalms have to be understood in their setting in relation to the sufferings of Christ, that is, the sufferings of David entering into them, it is not so here in Psalm 108. The point is not suffering here, but the outcome of suffering; and so though the setting in the first place is in relation to the suffering, the jewel of praise retains its radiance and beauty in other settings. The outcome of sufferings, beloved brethren, will appear in eternity, not necessarily as connected with the sufferings, but as the product of the suffering. The lustre and value of the psalms is thus secured eternally.

So the psalmist here begins with the statement, "My heart is fixed, O God". We are often very vacillating, and in a sense nothing is more required than fixity with us, but when everything comes clearly into view as in relation to Christ, then you fix your

heart and say, "My heart is fixed, O God; I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms, even with my glory". This is, I think, what God is doing at the present time among many other things, He is bringing about fixity, steadfastness and stability in us. Aside from this the testimony in our hands must lose lustre at times, for we are liable to become discouraged, and dejection is a discredit to the position, but as we see all things clearly established in Christ, we are fixed. Clarity of view is one of the greatest things needed. Part of the Lord's great service in Matthew is to give His disciples clear perspective; He took them on high for that. On the level things were exceedingly weak, but He took them up and the perspective is clear, and He is the centre of the picture. You see Him impressing the principles of His kingdom in chapters 5, 6 and 7, the Lord standing out in great majesty, so that the disciples understood; and as they descend there is a certain fixity in their affections and in their minds, which is what the Lord intends.

So in this Psalm 108, there is this fixity, as you will observe, not as in the earlier psalms where great need existed, but the heart being fixed, he says, "I will sing psalms, even with my glory. Awake lute and harp: I will wake the dawn". There is a great suggestion there of what can be brought about in great persons as the outcome of sufferings. It seems as if the psalmist had in mind that whatever the darkness of the night, he would be there in His praise with the awakening of the morning. That is pre-eminently seen in the Lord Jesus on the morning of the resurrection, and He will yet come out with healing in His wings in a coming day; but I refer to what is here, to show the great thought of His securing this praise for God; and surely great thoughts belong to us: no other family of any of the families of God should be more capable of great thoughts than the saints today! John would press that, the greatness of the saints, that

it needed the great persons to bring in the great thoughts of God. So here these thoughts are Godward, as if he would wake the dawn, the glorious morning with songs of jubilee; like the birds in nature who awake the dawn with their songs. How beautiful is this suggestion of life showing itself in this variety in the praises of the believer in the dawn of the morning! How suggestive all this is! How stimulating to our hearts! Lest we should be looking to the west and the setting sun, instead of to the east and the sunrising. When the church comes into view we look towards the east! The tabernacle looked toward the east.

We have suggestions in some of the psalms of David as to what he would do. His influence extends, as the influence of the christian is extending, but his thought is not to exalt himself, but to exalt God. God gave him victory among the nations by which he secured right of way for his brethren, but in it all his desire was not to make himself great, though it did make him great, but to exalt God. God does widen our influence if we are faithful, but the thought here is to celebrate God in the saints. So he says, "I will give thee thanks among the peoples, O Jehovah; of thee will I sing psalms among the nations: for thy lovingkindness is great above the heavens, and thy truth is unto the clouds. Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and thy glory above all the earth. That thy beloved ones may be delivered". Now, dear brethren, this is a very important matter, for there are so many needing deliverance; the enemy is attacking in various places amongst us, holding people in bondage, hence the need of deliverance for hundreds of our brethren. How can we deliver them except in buoyancy, spiritual buoyancy? As it says, "That thy beloved ones may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me". We see the exalted feelings of the psalmist, dear brethren, "Be thou exalted above the heavens". God

loves that thought! Jesus has gone beyond all that, "ascended up above all the heavens", but faith loves to see Him there, exalted above the heavens, for the service of man. So that there are results from the glory on high for the deliverance of the brethren. They are all dear to Christ, "the Lord knows those that are his".

Then the following verses from verse 7, are what God says: "God hath spoken in his holiness". The point is to emphasise that the speaking is in holiness; I speak now of what is unfolded in these verses, that is, God coming in and asserting His rights. There are different international settings among men which are always difficult, because it is all a question of man's selfish will. The believer learns that they have to surmount their selfish interests, that there is such a thing as superiority to international considerations; but that is "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts". The mountain may seem insuperable; it may indeed be called "great", but God says, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou dost become a plain". That is, nothing is impossible as we recognise the rights of God in Christ; everything gives way before the power of the Spirit. So that in our service we can look north, south, east and west, and the Lord has right of way everywhere. That is, dear brethren, the testimony is secured; the affections of the saints are widening and becoming universal instead of national. "The eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth"; He is Lord of all the earth, and He asserts His rights; He has right of way there-a very great fact.

So here we find God speaking in His holiness and saying, "I will exult, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth" (verse 7). It is the blessed God full of holy buoyancy in what He is doing. He has got the right to man, and He exerts that right with joy; He rejoices over His saints with joy: as it says

elsewhere, "He will rest in his love; he will exult over thee with singing". He is full of exuberance, and we, as it were, enter into His enjoyment. What He says is, "Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine". That is God speaking, that is what He says in His holiness; He is in perfect consonance with the psalmist. It shows how God comes in and identifies Himself with us, that is victory indeed for those who serve, to see that God is working. So He says, "I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth", no one can stand in My way! Can anyone say to Him, This is my territory? Presently the Lord Jesus will come down from heaven, as a mighty angel, and will set His foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth, and who can say Him nay? Shechem and Succoth? He has rights there. However difficult the position, He has got rights there: "Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is the strength of my head"; it is as if God would allude to the wisdom of His people, they are "the strength of my head". He has got that; He has got something here, and we want to be in that to which He alludes here, whether it be Gilead or Manasseh or Ephraim. They all belong to God who is exalted above the heavens; that is elevation, and He speaks in holiness. Then He says also that He has got a lawgiver, that is Judah.

Then finally, He has a "wash-pot" in a place of reproach, that is Moab, but it is useful. It is not what we might call a refined thought, but it is very necessary. We all know what Moab stands for: "We have heard of the arrogance of Moab-he is very proud", but God may use even an abominable element like pride for our purification; He can turn it into a wash-pot, a means of purification. And then, "Upon Edom will I cast my sandal", as if He could do anything with that. Edom is the haughty brother, but who can say nay to what God does? And so, "Over Philistia will I shout aloud"; that speaks of the great

leaders in christendom today. So that the psalms are full of holy experiences for us, and God joins Himself to these experiences of His saints and gives effect to them. If David's influence is extending, God says, 'I will give effect to it too: I will give the same kind of victory'. "My grace suffices thee".

SYMPATHY WITH THE DIVINE CURRENT

Acts 9:3 - 5, 32 - 42

I had in mind to show how the work of God moves with the light, and how what is spoken on God's part at any given time affects those who are with Him in any measure, particularly now those who minister.

They should be the first to sense the divine movement, they should not be behind; at least they should, like Jacob, observe what may come to their ears. Jacob, you will remember, observed the saying of Joseph.

Joseph had dreamed about his brethren, symbolised in their sheaves; as his stood up, theirs stood round.

They did not like that; those whom the sheaves represent did not like to be eclipsed; they did not like to be outrun, to take the second place. But, in the wisdom of God, we may have to take the second place, or the third, or the fourth, or the eleventh, or the twelfth, and occupy it happily. Elisha, we are told, was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth; there was no evidence of complaint in that. There could be no doubt that his furrows were equal to those of any of the others.

Then Joseph dreamed of the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. That was more difficult, and even drew out his father's disapproval, though not exactly his opposition. The brothers of Joseph, other than Benjamin, who is always the overcomer (a most important man to keep your eye upon, a man who can hold aloof from partisan activity, for partisan activity even formed against what is wrong is wrong itself, but if formed against what is right, how much worse!) the ten brothers of Joseph were partisan against him.

Their ire was aroused, for his dream about them was true; they had to come to that. It is better to come to things at once than to defer. Joseph dreamed about

heavenly things, and spoke his dream, and drew out the disapproval of one who loved him; for Jacob loved Joseph. We need not have much fear about the disapproval of one who loves us, even if his disapproval may not be well founded; he will come round, for love never fails, and love according to God is a stranger in a party; it has no part there, in fact. But his father observed the saying; and that, dear brethren, is what saves us-to observe what is said. It is worth thinking over; God will help you, and we are enjoined to prove all things and hold fast what is good. God gives us ability by the Spirit to discern, and it is well to observe the sayings and try them: "Doth not the ear", it says, "try words?". After all, there may be something worth observing.

Now I speak thus because of Peter's part at the end of this chapter. He represents the ministers; he is, indeed, the leading minister in relation to the twelve, and what comes out is that he senses, so to speak, what the current is, what has come in. Something had come in, and that a long way off; why should not the new thing come in at Jerusalem? It was at Damascus, a city that had no claim on Jerusalem; really it was an ancient rival, we may say. It was a long way off; faith had made the journey before, Abraham made it from Hebron to save his brother, and he succeeded. So that what enters into this period is a matter of distances. The apostle Paul later speaks of these distances, saying that he from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum had fully preached the gospel of Christ. He knew what journeys meant and did not hesitate to make them, certainly not from religious prejudice. To hesitate to visit a district from religious prejudice is foreign to the spirit of Christianity. But religious prejudice existed, and existed strongly in Jerusalem, and God was breaking in on it. The scattering by persecution after the death of Stephen was an intimation of this. We are told

that the apostles remained in Jerusalem, and now in these circumstances the Lord moved out of heaven, as we might say, or in heaven, but in relation to a territory far away from Jerusalem, and in relation to one man, too. There was the light from heaven shining round about that man, and there was the voice calling him by name and questioning him. Think of heaven questioning a man as to what he was doing! Does heaven not need to question us, beloved, as to what we are doing? It is a challenge to every heart as to what I am doing.

The Lord says, "Why dost thou persecute me?". Now that question, as we have often had it, enfolded a truth. That little pronoun 'me' embodied a truth of far-reaching importance. It included every person in this room tonight who is a believer in Christ. Such was its importance. It implied journeyings; many of these members were far away, ourselves included. The Lord had every one of us in mind: such is He. John says that He died to "gather together into one"without mentioning the body-"the children of God who were scattered abroad", John 11:52. John mentions that; and the Lord, in the use of this personal pronoun, as referring to His suffering people, conveyed the thought of the body, His body, whether it be viewed in the local sense or in the general sense. The Corinthians were viewed thus in a local sense, and that is what I have in mind. He says to them, "Now ye are Christ's body, and members in particular",

1 Corinthians 12:27. That is one of the statements in the epistle that are foundational; that is, a large structure is reared upon it. "Ye are Christ's body": the Lord had that in mind, and it involved journeyings. He appeared to Saul (and it was a long distance away from Jerusalem) and announced it to him. I have no doubt the apostle Paul would never forget that, as the truth was unfolded in his soul and as he applied it to others; these words with heavenly warmth would never be lost to him. We are told elsewhere that it was in the

Hebrew tongue-as if to enlist his sympathies; as much as to say, 'Saul, I do not want to prejudice your mind'. "It is hard for thee"; that shows the sympathy, the divine sympathy, that accompanied the light and the instruction bound up in the word 'me', whom Paul was persecuting. How did it react upon him, and how should it react upon us, too, if in any way, by word or deed or attitude, we are persecuting the Lord's people? We slip into it very easily, for though we may have good reason to speak against a person, at least from our point of view, yet in that way we may be persecuting him.

Now Peter, in what happens here, senses all this. It says that he went through all quarters. The word 'quarters' is not there in the original, as if, it seems to me, to make the force of the word 'all' stronger. It is a sort of indefinite thing, without limit. He is in accord with the Lord's mind. I do not suppose that if we had been there with Peter he could have told us much about the body of Christ, but he was in the sense of the thing, involving that the ministry implies journeyings; so he went "through all [quarters]". His mind was in that direction, ready for anything that God might require. We have no word of command given to him at this time; it is mentioned in such a way as to show how a minister comes into the current. He cannot afford to be out of it; if he stays out of it he will come into stationary waters and become waterlogged. Peter says, 'I do not want that': he is in the current. He descended, we are told, to Lydda, and he finds Aeneas lying on a couch, paralysed for eight years, the Spirit of God reminding us of how accurately heaven takes account of these conditions.

As you move about in any little way, you may think and say, 'This local condition has been going on now for several years', which is sorrowful. This man's condition had lasted eight years. Peter could not explain it to you as I can explain it now; I mean the

spiritual bearing of this occasion. It was in relation to what had happened at Damascus, as in the mind of God. What had happened there implied the church in its character as the body, universally and also locally. It was to be seen thus in hundreds, and even thousands, of places on earth; that was the mind of the Lord when He said "me". He meant the saints whom Saul was persecuting, and these saints were to be found in an ever-widening area. They are found today in this town here, and in many other towns, and as far west as the sun sets there are saints. This passage bears directly on the present moment as to local conditions, the paralysed condition. And Peter says, "Aeneas, ... rise up, and make thy couch for thyself". The figure refers to local conditions, the lying on the couch, implying that somebody else has to do the work. It may be visiting brethren, and the one who is using the couch is, so to say, paralysed, and does not lift a hand to do anything. Peter says, "Rise up, and make thy couch for thyself"; that is to say, 'Make the condition for yourself; do not expect others to do it'. But how do you make the bed? Make it properly, as it should be made, surely. You cannot suppose heaven asking us to do something other than to do it properly.

We have often alluded to this passage; the Scriptures are infinitely profound; we never get to the bottom of them; they are intended to be so. They wear and wear and wear, and apply to varied conditions; so that it is a question now, as the Lord seems to suggest it, of persons who are in the local setting church-wise, as we speak, that they should not expect others to do things that should be done, certainly not to do things for their own comfort, but that they should do things themselves. The idea is, as Acts teaches us, the reflection of what is in heaven, heavenly conditions. That is what is in view in Acts; hence we have the light from heaven, the voice from heaven

and, earlier, the sound from heaven, and later, the sheet from heaven. It is heaven conveying what is up there; and, if I am in accord with heaven, I want heavenly conditions. I will soon expose myself in my making if I am not heavenly: I will make my bed in an earthly fashion or a worldly fashion; but if I am in the light of heaven I will make it according to heaven's requirements.

Then, as if the spirit of instinct was followed in the verses, those who dwelt at Joppa have a circumstance. It is a female disciple, not simply a certain disciple; that is to be noted. Aeneas means the side of authority, "a certain man". As we find in the gospel of Luke (who wrote this book), every convert through the gospel is to be material for the assembly. In his gospel we find one after another, each conveying, as helped by the Lord, some feature of the assembly. Amongst those is a woman who had an internal disease (chapter 8); before her we have the account of the man who had been a demoniac and he is sitting clothed at the feet of Jesus, in his right mind; that is to say, he represents the mental or intelligent or authoritative side-and how much he is needed, sitting clothed and in his right mind! A balanced mind is one of the greatest needs amongst us, sitting at the feet of Jesus; he is not yet like Mary, hearing His word, but the point is his restfulness and balance, and his respectability spiritually. He is a very important man, a man to be respected spiritually. Then the woman had an internal disease, and Mark mentions her body; Luke speaks about her transparency. She represents what is secretive, for she purposed to enjoy the benefits and say nothing about it. She is not church material; she is an opaque person; she is not outwardly what she is inwardly. A member of Christ must be transparent; there must be that through which Christ, as it were, can shine; and that is what she comes to. She represents that sort of church

material, and she falls down, we are told, in the presence of all the people and told all the truth; that is, everything is out. Then the maid of twelve years of age would represent in that chapter the youthfulness and freshness of the material of the assembly. It is a beautiful combination, man and woman and child; and it is right to speak of it now because of this word, "a female disciple". She represents the feeling side of the position. If it be spiritual, well and good, but if the feeling side is not spiritual, it is ill, it is damaging. I often say that in our comings together there are three phases of the meeting: first the sitting down, when we speak together of the things of the Lord with a measure of sobriety; then the meeting at the back of the room where we talk freely, and feeling comes out, the sisters having as much to say as, or more than, the brothers. There we may have complaints right away, when we have been talking together about the Lord, when we have been seeking to be sober and spiritual, at least externally, but now feeling comes out, sister against sister, or brother against brother; one brother may be taking another up who said too much, and he did not have enough to say. Then on the street we have perhaps fewer, but perhaps more secretive talkings, some brewing of trouble, it may be. I only suggest that we avoid these things, that we take care of our feelings, for one of the last great features of the Spirit is self-control, that by the Spirit of God I can control my feelings and my words. Thousands of things may be said at the back of the room that should not be said, for they have no edification at all, but just the opposite.

This was a female disciple and she was a worthy person according to the usual estimate of widows, a garment-maker; that is, she dealt in externals. Externals are right in their place, but you want the internals, the secret parts. To put beautiful clothes on a brother or sister who is not right inwardly will

not do. It is well to clothe the saints with our affections, but do not overdo the feeling side, do not put on clothes that do not suit; that is what a woman like Dorcas is pretty certain to do. She was dealing in externals. God, of course, dealt in externals, for He was the first clothes-maker, but He made clothes from skins; the material was out of death. Dorcas did not use that material. In the next chapter we have a tanner; he corresponds with Genesis 3, and Peter was in his house. There is no tannery needed for these clothes, no death is needed for Dorcas's garments, and yet she is a respectable sort of woman, well thought of. She sickened and died. We have spoken of sickness and dying: how much of it there is! We have in Luke sick persons and diseased persons. This is a sick person. A disease may be a sort of epidemic in the place, more dangerous and contagious. I know of places where these diseases exist; they are contagious. This is a sick person, there is nothing about contagion here, but she just sickened and died.

The other disciples in the place were in the current of things in some little way, for they washed her after she died. Why did they not do it before? The Holy Spirit would not mention the fact of washing if it were a mere physical thing. They laid her in the upper chamber, which alludes to the current God has introduced; indeed it had been introduced from the time of the institution of the Lord's supper. It appears earlier in the Acts, where the disciples abode, and many dear women were there who were not just like Dorcas, for we do not hear a word about garments being made in the upper room at Jerusalem. Now they place her there; they are in accord to that extent with the current of the moment-a most important thing-and they send two men for Peter. That is another point with Luke-two men. Two men would signify adequate testimony given with all right feeling, manly feeling. We have them, as we know, in chapter 1, at the

ascension, at the sepulchre and at the transfiguration in Luke. Now we have them here. Do we not need them? There are so many rumours; the conflicting stories we hear are most painful; we need these two men. Let us have recourse to these two men; no matter what we hear about our brethren, get the facts of the case!

Peter came with them. Peter is that type of a servant, ready for the service. He did not say, 'I will follow you'; he came with them, and he came to the upper chamber. He would be at home there, for his own mind was in that current; indeed it was moving on towards heaven, for the heavenly thought had come in. The women are there, weeping widows, soft-eyed persons-not that I speak disrespectfully of any one-but the Spirit of God has this in mind. It is just natural feeling, in a way to be respected and yet not to be respected, for it is out of place here. Peter put them all out. You may say, 'That is very severe, to put dear people out like that'. Many would say today as to that, 'You have killed the servants of the Lord'-it is the natural mind resenting the judgment of God. He put them all out. There is no evidence of any ceremony about it; he would remember what the Lord did in regard to Jairus's daughter. I believe that Peter is on the up line here, and I am speaking now with servants in mind, to be in the current of the mind of heaven for the moment, not to be behind. Peter's epistle confirms all this, how he came into it. Then he knelt down and prayed. What a beautiful example of service! What can he do, a mortal man, about to put off his tabernacle, soon to die himself? He can do nothing more than any of us, but God can do much-what can God not do? All things are possible with God, the Lord said, when the disciples were puzzled. Peter knelt down and prayed, and then he turned to the body. I want you to notice that, and remember what the Lord said to Saul, that word

that had been uttered from heaven-'me'. 1 Corinthians is the opening up of the doctrine of all this; our very bodies are said to be members of Christ. How essential, therefore, that our bodies should be washed with pure water!

1 Corinthians 6 should be read in this connection, for we are living in a polluted world. The Corinthians had just come out of polluted paganism, and the apostle has to instruct them as to the pollution of the world; so today the world is becoming pagan in every way, alas! All the laws and principles that should govern christendom are being cast to the winds. How important, therefore, that Christ's own should hold themselves and their bodies so that they can be used as members of Christ! Think of the exaltedness of the fact that our bodies are members of Christ! So Peter, having this in mind, turns to the body. He says to her by name, "Tabitha, arise". She looks on him. It was well that he was there to be looked upon, not those weeping widows; they could not help her. They were occupied with the garments; they had them all there, an exhibition of what she used to do. But she sickened and died by that; she is lost to us. God only can bring her back, and He does bring her back, and her eyes were opened on Peter. She is to be here henceforth as representative of God. Peter gave her his hand and lifted her up. That is what is needed in our localities in many instances. It comes in here as in keeping with the current of things. A present current is running and we do not want to be out of it. All this happens to show what God is doing in these circumstances.

Peter presents the woman living. What a fine person she is now! She is like the Lord, who presented Himself living. The word 'presented' is used there, and so here, "He ... presented her living". We have a living sister or brother henceforth. That is what is in mind in view of Paul's ministry that is to

follow. The lesson for us is to keep in the current; if you are with God you will be sensitive as to whatever God has brought in. It will not surprise you; you will be thankful for it, and you will move in relation to it, and thus you will be serviceable to the Lord.

HEAVEN'S OPERATIONS

Luke 7:44 - 50; Luke 10:38 - 42; John 11:23 - 27

J.T. These scriptures are very familiar to us, and we may see from them how any current testimony, any special feature of the truth stressed, is effective, at least in some, if only in one. The special truth in Luke 7 is the gospel, and the woman is the characteristic effect of it. Nothing is said of this person being evangelised by anyone, the chapter is intended to convey to us that the gospel was prevalent, not only the service of it verbally, but the testimony of Christ as relieving man spoken of freely. John having heard what the Lord was doing, the Lord directs his messengers to tell him what was current, and moreover, it is said that the publicans, the tax-gatherers and the like, justified God, having heard; that is what was current. This woman represents the result of what is current. And then Mary, in chapter 10, represents the result of what had been announced from heaven on the mount of transfiguration, "This is my beloved Son hear him"; she was affected by that, she was listening to Christ. Martha was not affected here, but in a later testimony, that is the special testimony to the Son of God in John 9the Lord calls attention to Himself in that chapter as the Son of God, and He is worshipped as such: that is the truth that governs that section. So that Martha, in her confession of faith, recognised that. The Lord had challenged her as to what she believed, whether she believed what He said just then, that He was the resurrection and the life; her confession was, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world". She was affected by the current testimony; she believed it; she makes a confession of her faith, and that is in relation to what is current, what is

special; and then all these instances lead to what is systematic or collective in the testimony, and in Luke 8 we have the Lord, at the beginning of the chapter, moving in the cities and villages systematically, regularly; the twelve were with Him, and certain women also were with Him and ministered to Him; that is, there is a public systematic testimony collectively. In chapter 11 we have the local setting of the saints, the Lord seen praying in a certain place; and the outcome of what we get there is John 12, that is, the state of things at Bethany; the local conditions at Bethany are the result of the special testimony. There is always a special current, and the result bears on something for God. That was what I was thinking of.

M.W.B. Would the fact that each testimony in its true result is found in what is collective imply that if we have not reached what is collective we have not reached the desired end that the Lord has in view in the testimony?

J.T. That is what I was thinking; the result must culminate in what is collective and, we may say, local. Any special testimony, if it affects us rightly, must bear on that. If what the Lord is helping us in in our own times is effective, it will bear on what is general and what is local too; what is for God and for general testimony. It must bear on these things and give character to them, that is, if it is effective in us. The point in these passages is not that any of these persons were special subjects of testimony or service at the moment, but they come into the current of things.

M.W.B. Does the fact that they were three women suggest that it is the subjective result that is manifest in them?

J.T. I think that is plain. These are two of the five women in Luke who bear on assembly formation. The first is in chapter 4, where the Lord stands over the feverish woman and rebukes the fever and she serves them. The second is here in chapter 7, where

we have a lover of Christ; He turned towards her, indicating that that was what was in His mind. The third is in the next chapter, the woman who had the issue and who fell down and told all the truth -- transparency. The fourth is Mary, this one in chapter 10, indicative of intelligence, for she listened to what the Lord was saying. The fifth is in chapter 13, where the woman had been crooked, that is, the devil had affected her; the devil had made a speciality of her in bending her over so that she could not look up. The Lord released her, laying His hand on her, meaning that He is identified with that feature, and she glorified God. That is the full thought, a vessel in which God is glorified. These two are selected today, not so much for that side of the truth, but rather to show the effect of what is current.

Ques. Do you suggest that the gospel rightly received produces a lover of Christ?

J.T. Yes, that is the thought. There is a great deal current today that many are oblivious to; they do not read, they do not make enquiry much, they are more or less formal in their attendance at the meetings, and they do not come into the current of things unless there are people who tell them things specially. Thank God, there are those who do tell us, but that is not enough. There are saints who are intelligent, and they reach the full results; otherwise they do not. No one should say, 'I did not know about these things': if you do not know, it is that you are not attentive enough. There is not the slightest evidence that anyone evangelised this woman, yet she loved Christ and served Him and the Lord turns to her, as much as to say, 'That is the result I am seeking'.

Ques. Would she be one of wisdom's children always attending at the posts of her doors?

J.T. That is it.

F.S. Would the fact that she came to such a

household suggest that if you are after something you get it?

J.T. It suggests she was not oblivious to the current of opposition, she brooked it; it was to bring out the effect of the testimony on her.

Ques. Have you in mind, in pointing out this woman, that there was not only the fact that she loved but it was seen and known so that the Lord points it out, turning to her?

J.T. Quite so. The fact that He turns to her is, I think, to call attention to what is there; He could occupy Himself entirely, for the moment, with it, as if to say, 'This is what I had in mind'. As (to use a figure) with any one who produces things, he has an idea to produce something, whether it is the contemplation of vegetables or trees or flowers, or anything else; he has an ideal, and when it is reached, he is occupied with it and will occupy others with it. This woman is the result attained, and I believe she is brought in to remind us of the importance of being engaged with what is current, and never to offer an excuse as to not knowing: things are to be known, and, if they are to be known, I should know them.

Ques. When you say 'what is current', have you in mind what God would occupy us with at the moment?

J.T. Just so. What was prevalent was affecting people here. The Lord's message to John is calling attention to what anyone could see; they were to go and tell John what was happening.

Rem. Even a man like Herod heard what was going on.

J.T. Quite so. The Lord said, "Blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me", but there is nothing new said to John; it was what was current, what anybody could see.

Rem. It is only as we are alert that these things are discovered to us.

J.T. Yes, you have your instruments set, as it were, to what is current; you have an ear to hear. It says in Acts 11 that certain "things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem"; that is, the church had ears.

M.W.B. I suppose it discloses a lack of interest if we do not move ourselves so as to be acquainted with what is going on, spoken of in general terms.

J.T. I think so. One is speaking now in a very practical way; if others know, if others speak of these things and are affected by them, they are common things, in a sense; why should they not be so to me? Why should I not be listening? The Lord will turn to me if I am listening, He will call attention to me.

M.W.B. So it is a question of the violent taking things by force; there has to be energy exerted, otherwise things are known in a general way but never taken up.

J.T. Quite so.

Rem. Two of John's disciples heard the testimony of Jesus and followed, and the Lord turned to them.

J.T. Just so. John did not specially preach to them there; it was the thought of his heart he gave out for anyone who had ears to hear; they heard it and they moved and got to the place where the Lord resided.

Rem. And the woman in Luke 7 would be the normal result for everyone.

J.T. That is the thought, she is the full product; He turned to her and said to Simon, "Seest thou this woman?"-the Lord, as it were, was thoroughly committed to the result and pleased with it.

F.S. And would He in grace make an appeal drawing attention to the woman so that we may follow the lead she had given in that direction?

J.T. That is the thought, I am sure, in the record. It is a wonderful gospel picture, known to us no doubt, but the product is perhaps not examined

thoroughly, how the Lord turns to her and speaks of her as a lover of His own.

Ques. Why did the Lord go over this detail again, in reference to what the woman had done?

J.T. It was so delightful to Him, is it not so? And He uses the superlative degree, "She loved much".

Ques. Is it interesting, in that way, that her love comes out in what might be called a background of Philistine opposition?

J.T. It is. I suppose it draws out the strength of her love. She might have avoided going into that house and waited for another opportunity, but she overcame the current against her, for the feeling against her in that house must have been very keen. It is the setting of love that overcomes that.

Rem. It meant great reproach for her to go into Simon's house; we avoid reproach sometimes, but the Lord would have us accept it.

J.T. To bring out the setting of love she had.

M.W.B. Do you think the Lord allows circumstances of a testing character in order to bring out the love that exists there?

J.T. I think He does.

Ques. So would Simon suggest what is current in christendom generally, whereas the woman is moving in the current of what is spiritual?

J.T. Yes. We see the readiness of the Jews to come to Jesus on behalf of the centurion and what happened in Nain: "This report went out in all Judea concerning him, and in all the surrounding country"; it was a widespread matter. And then it says, "The disciples of John brought him word concerning all these things: and John, having called two of his disciples, sent to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that is coming, or are we to wait for another?", and they repeated John's message to the Lord. "In that hour", it says, "he healed many of diseases and

plagues and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight. And Jesus answering said to them, Go, bring back word to John of what ye have seen and heard that blind see, lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, dead are raised, poor are evangelised". That was what was going on. And then the Lord speaks about John and shows in His remarks that the tax-gatherers justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John; they heard. "All the people who heard it, and the tax-gatherers, justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John"; that is, they were affected by the current testimony. And then we have, "Wisdom has been justified of all her children", and this one is brought out; it is a question of what is going on, and wisdom's children coming into evidence, wisdom's ways in the chapter; the effect is in this one, this special case.

Rem. Simon really had not got hold of what was current, so he falls into the category in verse 30.

J.T. Yes, he renders null the counsel of God; he is in another current; that is not wanting today. But there is a spiritual current, and if brethren are not alive to it we cannot say just what will happen, but they are certainly losing and they are not a testimony to what is current.

Ques. Do you regard John as one who had dropped out of the current for the moment?

J.T. Yes, although he knew what was current, but apparently his faith failed.

Ques. Sometimes the gospel is apparently received without the lover of Christ being produced; would you help us a little with regard to that?

J.T. Well, that is the thought. If a lover of Christ is not forthcoming there is not much, however much may be said about confession and forgiveness. There is something here today that the Lord turns to. In chapter 10 He turns to the disciples; in chapter 22 He turns to Peter when he is confessing, and the cock

crew; there is something going on that is interesting to heaven when the Lord turns to it, and this is par excellence what He has in mind, a lover.

Ques. Would you say that a divine Person came into manhood in order that He might be loved? Is that right?

J.T. I think that is a fair way of putting it.

Rem. And here is the result of it.

J.T. A lover in the presence of fierce opposition, of scorn. What a wonderful result she was! Then you find in the next chapter the Lord "went through the country city by city, and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with him, and certain women who had been healed of wicked spirits and infirmities, Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to him of their substance"; that is, the bearing is a collective systematic testimony, which is the first thing we get in these three instances. There can be no doubt that this woman represents what is seen publicly with Jesus, ministering to Him; and then here we have those who ministered to Him of their substance.

Ques. What would the substance be?

J.T. I think what this woman had, for after all, what is there but love? No doubt they were material things, but then spiritually what is the Lord thinking about now? What love supplies.

Ques. Would you say that John raised the question as to whether he was to wait? The woman refused to wait, she takes her alabaster box now.

J.T. Very good. John was not ministering to Him; how could he in a state of unbelief? The Lord speaks to the woman of "Thy faith"; she was a possessor of things, she had love and she had faith and she had myrrh, all these things.

Ques. Is love indicated in the bringing of myrrh? She brought an appreciation of His suffering love and was prepared to suffer to bring it.

J.T. That is it, she was in complete correspondence with Him. He was suffering; she knew that. She knew those feet had carried grace to her involving His sufferings. On the other hand, He would sympathise with her, for she was suffering too; hers was a suffering love; the myrrh was quite in keeping with her state. The opposition must have been extremely severe in that house; she was under scorn. Think of what was going on in that Pharisee's mind, what feeling there was! She brooked all that; she carried on her service to Jesus in spite of all that. It was the love that would suffer for Him that He might be ministered to.

Ques. She "has not ceased kissing my feet", what would that indicate?

J.T. It is the persistency of the love, I think; it is continuous.

F.S. So is the Lord going through the country city by city and village by village to encourage and minister to all those who are effected in the same way?

J.T. Yes, I think the effect of that ought to be seen in the kind of testimony that is carried on publicly. This is the order, "city by city, and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings ... and the twelve were with him". That is the idea, that the love is now operative in them; they are with Him in this position. These women show the subjective feature. The twelve are the authoritative side, but the women supply the comforts, the joys: they ministered to Him of their substance.

Ques. Would it indicate too that they moved in a mutual way?

J.T. Well, the movement here, I think, was in a way that indicated that the Lord is organising, that He has certain under His hand. It is not Himself

alone now, He has the twelve, those who will carry on under His orders, representing His authority, and those who, at the same time, have affection and are showing it by ministering to Him.

Ques. "That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance"; is this an instance of that?

J.T. That is it.

Rem. Then how Hiram, who was ever a lover of David, would minister to him!

J.T. Quite so.

M.W.B. And both are the result of what is ministered in the previous chapter, both the ministering to Him and being with Him in His movements evangelically.

J.T. I think so. These twelve are, of course, qualified persons who will join in in a public testimony, preaching and healing, but the women have the supply of what the Lord needs. What does the Lord need? Who knows what He needs but those who love Him? He has needs. We think we are the only ones who have needs, but He has needs: they ministered to Him.

Ques. Would administration come out in connection with the twelve?

J.T. Yes, it is an administrative number. It denotes that love is current, and not only in the women, but in those who have ability and gift. It is not perhaps so easy for those who have gift to serve Christ and move together with others, but here they do; it is a beautiful scene, and manifestly the outcome of chapter 7.

Ques. With regard to the Lord's needs, an instance is seen of that in John 4"Give me to drink".

J.T. Quite so.

-.M. Would David's three mighty men indicate those who were prepared at great suffering to minister to the Lord's heart when they drew water out of the well of Bethlehem?

J.T. That is a beautiful example. So much did

David value that that he poured it out before the Lord.

F.S. Unless we are moving in the sympathetic current of what has been given we shall not be able to detect what the Lord needs.

J.T. It hardly enters into the minds of any of us that the Lord is needing anything; He is just looking after our needs, of course He is, but He is looking for affection.

Ques. Is it what the Lord ministers to us in this way that produces a company set together who learn to move and minister to Him, and thus there is something for the glory of God?

J.T. Just so. First we have the kind of persons. Mary is mentioned as one out of whom seven demons had gone. Some think she is the one mentioned in chapter 7 and no doubt, in principle anyway, she is; a person who had been entirely possessed by Satan, seven demons, she was a person of that kind. Then you have others, such as the wife of Herod's steward. It is very much like Acts 13 where you have a variety of persons ministering to the Lord and fasting, some from the lower classes and some from the better classes, as we speak, showing how the gospel affects all kinds of people; and now they are together ministering to Christ. It is assembly formation, as the apostle says, "Consider your calling, brethren", the kind of persons that are called.

Rem. It is "many others", we should covet to be one of the many, should we not?

J.T. Yes. Without their names being mentioned.

M.W.B. Why is it in this order here?

J.T. I think it is the administrative order; not only have you love, ministering to the Lord, but qualified persons to help men. Subsequently these men are sent out to do the same things as the Lord is doing. I think it is the public testimony; it is independent of the world, they did not have to make public collections to carry on; these women supplied

what was needed. It is a self-contained thing, taking nothing from the world, as John says.

Ques. How would you distinguish between the preaching and the announcing?

J.T. I think the preaching is more the exercise of gift, it is one who is sent that preaches. Announcing is not just the same. It is remarkable we have the two words.

Ques. Is it seen in its dual character in Philip? He preached "the Christ" in Samaria, but to the Ethiopian eunuch he "announced the glad tidings of Jesus".

J.T. Just so.

F.S. Would this give us the right setting for the gospel, that it is in an atmosphere that ministered to Him, not simply ministering to the needs of men?

J.T. Yes, the twelve represent what ministers to men in the system; the women represent what keeps it going independently of the world.

M.W.B. Might we move on to the next point?

J.T. Yes. I think it is interesting to link this section up with John ii. Martha got nothing in this section, as Luke presents her; but, if the Spirit of God introduces her, she will not pass out of the scene without some divine effect being produced. She is not equal to this testimony; she is not prepared for it; hence it is that many miss the blessing, because of unpreparedness, self-occupation; another alongside them, who was ready for it, gets it; Mary was ready for it. The announcement from heaven in chapter 9 was not in her ears; it was in the ears of Peter, John and James, but it was a current testimony, and she was equal to that, so that the Lord commends her; He says of her, "Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her". I think He would call attention to what is current and raise the question as to whether we are all getting any good of it, whether

we are affected by it; if so, the Lord would call attention to us.

Ques. Would Martha, up to this point, be listening to the teaching of the law, which has now been set aside?

J.T. That is right. She is on the old line, which is also current of course. It is not what is of God for the moment; that was the announcement from heaven on the mount. We might say, 'Well, how did Mary know?'. That is the point; she did know, she was acting on it-she was listening to Him.

M.W.B. She was in exact keeping with what the Father said. We would desire to be in keeping with what the Father wishes as to Christ.

J.T. Yes.

Rem. It was a wonderful thing she had got, something that would not be taken away from her.

Rem. In speaking to Martha there is a peculiar appeal on the part of the Lord to bring her into it.

J.T. Undoubtedly, and, knowing the end from the beginning, He knew she would come into a testimony, but not this one; she missed this one; we do not want to miss anything the Lord is stressing. In that section in John the Lord calls attention to Himself as the Son of God; heaven had already done this and directed that we should hear Him; Mary came into that, but Martha missed it. But now the Lord calls attention to Himself; He says to the blind man whose eyes had been opened, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"; it is the Lord calling attention to Himself as Son, and He is doing it now.

M.W.B. In the instances we have looked at: in the first, it was what was generally current, the evangelical thought, what was available; in the second, it was the distinctively secret information as to the Father; then it was the Lord drawing attention to Himself.

J.T. Well, the setting in John 9 is that the blind man is cast out; this testimony is to him. It is not so public as Luke 7, nor is Luke 10 so public as Luke 7. As you say, Luke 9 is the Father's voice on the mount; here it is the Lord's own word to an outcast for his consistency with the truth, his consistent assertion of the truth as it came to him. The Lord heard that man was cast out and He found him, and said, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?". He was equal to the test: "that I may believe on him", he was ready for it, but he had not the testimony of the Son of God as yet: as soon as he heard it, he worshipped Him. That governs this whole section, I believe, till you come to chapter 12, where you have this wonderful scene at Bethany. I suggested these verses because they show that Martha's confession of faith includes what the Lord said to this man, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world"; that is her confession of faith. The next chapter shows she was equal to that; she was in her right place; she had lost the spirit of complaint and was ready to serve now.

M.W.B. Mary is listening in Luke 10; would that be essential if we are to follow on the lines of John 9 to 12?

J.T. I think the listening is part of the local furnishings. The Lord "entered into a certain village; and a certain woman, Martha by name, received him into her house"-the house was Martha's. And see what comes out! Mary was sitting at His feet and listening to what He was saying; that is the element that is essential to a local assembly, that is, are we intelligent?

Ques. Does it not in that way bring out the great feature of headship?

J.T. I think it does; it is the kind of thing that is

needed in the assembly for assembly service. What He was saying would be the disclosure of His mind. What is His mind? 'I cannot afford to miss one word', she would say; she was in the attitude of hearing all He said. She was not asking questions; it is right enough to ask questions, but better, if the Lord is speaking, not to interrupt at all; let Him say what He will, and in that way we get all that is in His mind; what could be greater than that! How essential it is to our local companies that this kind of thing is there. Judas, not the Iscariote, said to the Lord, according to John 14, "How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us and not to the world?". Well, that was a good question. The Lord's answer is, "If any one love me, he will keep my word". It is not 'my commandment' here; He had already spoken of that, but now it is "My word".

Ques. The "word" here is in the singular. Would it be that listening to His word would be everything that would express Himself?

J.T. I think that is right; not any particular word, but what He had to give.

Rem. No doubt there would be the word of the Father too.

J.T. Yes, there is the Father's word. "Sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth"; there is that. I think the Lord would bring us to what is in His own mind. Now, take the saints together in assembly, what is in the Lord's mind? His word indicates to us what is in His mind. If we take John 13 to 17, we get an example of what is in the Lord's mind. Well, we want to follow that current, what is in His mind; His word declares what is in His mind, and Mary would get that. Were she in assembly she would know what was in the Lord's mind. So the Lord says, "If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him".

His word implies tabernacle requirements, what divine Persons require, the Lord's word would disclose that; you find out what is required as in His mind. There are conditions there for Them to come, and with one person.

Ques. Would it be right to say that this village did not get its name until Mary and Martha came there?

J.T. The idea is that it is a place, every city and village; in Luke 10 it is "every city and place" that all bears on this section, which includes local conditions. How can there be local conditions suitable to heaven save as we understand what is in the Lord's mind? He has a mind about the saints in assembly, how we are to proceed.

Ques. Would you think a company of listeners would get the Lord's mind in that way and move from Luke 10 to John 12, where it is no longer her house, but "the house"?

J.T. That which was filled, you mean?-quite. "The house", not Martha's house, but the house where the Lord is being entertained.

Ques. And were they not all of one mind there, men and women of substance?

J.T. Quite so, the order is perfect there. He came to Bethany six days before the passover, meaning He is not observing man's days; He has a time of His own, not regulated by man's pleasure, and surely the Lord has a right to use time at His pleasure; it was He who inaugurated days, working in each of them; He should be free to use them as He pleases. Hence our first day of the week is the Lord's day, it is His using a day as He pleases; it is not the sabbath; He passed by that, and selected the first day of the week. He came to Bethany six days before the passover. So in chapter 13 He was not observing the passover, no doubt He did, but it was "before the passover" that certain things happened. Our feast days are not the feast days of the Church of England, or any other such

days; they are the days the Lord has selected. So Jesus "six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was the dead man Lazarus". He came in relation to him. So you get this beautiful state of things which is all the result of what we have been speaking of, that they had all become affected by the current testimony.

M.W.B. Why is it particularly the Son of God in that part of John?

J.T. I suppose the time had come to bring that out. The washing in John 9 is not washing off anything that was in itself impure; it was what the Lord Himself had made and put on the man's eyes. That is, it is the removal of the world in which Christ was in His flesh and blood condition, He took flesh and blood to set aside in fact the whole order of things into which He came.

M.W.B. "A man called Jesus", he says, "made mud"; you would make a distinction between Jesus as here in the world of divine ordering as it was then connected with judaism, and this new title of Son of God?

J.T. Yes. The time had come for Him to bring this out as to the world into which He came. Of course He greatly added to it. Many say they would have liked to have been here when the Lord was here; but the Lord died out of that condition, never to resume it, and the title "Son of God" as brought in there has to do with another condition of things. That is something it is important for us to get hold of. I think in that section it is not simply the revelation of God, as earlier in the gospel of John, but that He brings in another world. The man whom He takes up and who worships Him is representative of the sheep that the next chapter brings out, the one flock, and that for the moment is provisional, the new order of things involving the assembly, pending the coming of the Lord when we shall have an entirely new world

regulated by the Son of God. I believe that is what is in mind, not this world, even with Christ in it; that has to come to an end; it is Christ in another world with Christ in a new condition, what He is now.

Ques. So that the washing of the man's eyes would be not knowing "Christ according to flesh"? "Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new".

J.T. That is it.

M.W.B. So it is not exactly the view of the Son of God as spoken of at the end of Matthew 14, for instance, where they worship Him in the boat, or in Psalm 2, which speaks of the Son of God. It is the same Person but in a different setting.

J.T. I think so. He is the Inaugurator of another world, He is in a new condition.

Ques. Would it be the same thought as John gives us, "This is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith", that is, the faith of the Son of God?

J.T. Yes, and "Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?", 1 John 5:5. It all goes with this, I think. Then the Lord opens up the truth of the Shepherd to this man, in the next chapter. I believe the one flock is provisional, the new order of things; but we are concerned now with the effect of it on Martha; in her confession of faith she says she believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God who should come into the world, and she goes off to tell Mary, and the Lord does not check her. I believe that is the end reached in her.

Ques. It says in Proverbs, not only that substance is inherited, but "I will fill their treasuries". Does Martha come in now as being a treasury, like Mary?

J.T. I think so. The Lord does not put the words into her mouth; they are manifestly the out come of her own faith. He says, Do you believe this?

He challenged her as to what she believed, and her answer is her confession of faith, and it is in her own words, but the words correspond with John 9.

Ques. Does sorrow, in that way, make room for enlargement in the thoughts of Christ? There was no room for enlargement with Martha in Luke 10 for she was encumbered. Does it not set our sorrows, as moving together, in a wonderful light as making the way for the Lord to make disclosures to us?

J.T. Yes. If He takes any one of us up, He may have to wait, but He will reach His result. Staying away for two days was deliberate; and we may make up our minds that, if He has come to us at all, He will have His way with us; and we may as well bow at the beginning that He may not have to inflict such severe things upon us; but He will reach His end.

Ques. Martha adds "the Christ" as well as "the Son of God"; is that the full thought reached?

J.T. Yes, the full thought of what Christ is for God.

WHAT IS SAID IN THE HEART

Psalm 10:6, 11, 13; Genesis 8:21, 22; Romans 10:6 - 10

These scriptures speak of what is said in the heart. There is much around in the world in the way of speaking and writing that is public, public oratory and newspapers. Every morning brings its quota of this, and men, women and children are occupied with what is presented. The morning newspaper is now regarded as essential to what is called the life of the world as are the accompanying things, such as books, whether they are true or false. The world is going on on these lines and others like them, but these things do not always set out what is going on in men's hearts. God is taking account of what goes on in hearts; so Psalm 10, the scripture of the wicked, gives us something of what goes on, and what is being said, in wicked hearts. God would not occupy us much with what men, wicked men, are saying in their hearts, save that many of those who are to be saved are at the moment wicked, and may have part in these very remarks, may be saying these very remarks.

In Psalm 14 we have the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God". He may not say it openly if he seeks to please a christian; he perhaps would not say it to a christian, but he says it in his heart, and the saying of it proves that he is a fool. I do not suppose anyone here would say that there is no God; you would hardly be here if you were saying that in your heart an hour ago; it is the fool who says it, and he is shown to be a fool because it is characteristic, as if no one but a fool would say it. Christians, indeed, often say things that are the height of folly, for a christian may be very far away from God, and be characterised by folly. God knows what you are

saying in your heart. It may be that you have said things in your heart about some other person; that is, it is folly to say it, saying it in your heart is the height of folly; God knows what is said in your heart. Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 represent a fool particularly characterised by such folly as to say in his heart, "There is no God". I suppose it suits him to say that; it is according to his feelings to say it. But the man in Psalm 10 is not called a fool, but he is one, only that the point in Psalm 10 is that he is not described as a fool, but as a wicked man, and what he says in his heart. He does not deny that there is a God, but he does deny God, and he does say things in his heart that are according to his feelings about God, that suit him; what he says in his heart suits his state, his ambitions, his outlook; he speaks in his heart in relation to his calculations, to his ambitions, to his outlook, and, whilst he does not deny that there is a God, he misrepresents Him totally. In the first verse I read it says, "He saith ... I shall not be moved". I shall not be moved! Overlooking that great rulers are moved, men whose position seemed impregnable, overlooking one overthrow after another that is current, he says, I shall not be moved. Is there anyone here who has such assurance as this? who does not know God? who is not a converted person? It may be that you are assured that your business matters are good, the position is sure, your salary is assured, your health is good, your outlook is good, and you are saying in your heart, "I shall not be moved". God would say to you tonight that that is the language of a wicked man. Whatever your public history may be, that is the language of a wicked man. You look at the graveyards and the constant flow of the dead into those graveyards, and you would say, I shall not be moved? God would upset you in your calculations this very night; He would call you a fool too. But I am speaking now of the language of a wicked person,

a wicked man, and you do not want to be classified amongst them. But if that is the language of your heart, it is the language of a wicked person, and God would upset it. He may tell you that this night your soul shall be required of you. Does that move you? You are hardened to that? You say, I have often heard that; and the more often you have heard it, and it has had no effect upon you, the harder you are. But God would dislodge any such thought this very night, that you shall not be moved. How easily God could change it all if He were to say, and act accordingly, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee". Not your body. If you are a christian God requires your body; He claims your body, as a christian's body. The epistle to the Romans brings out that truth, that the christian's body is claimed by God. But if God has to speak to any person who has such folly in his heart as to think, 'I shall not be moved', He would say, This night thy soul shall be required of thee. What for? Why should God require your soul? In the gospel of Luke such requirement implies judgment. How solemn it is that God should require a man's soul in judgment. What will He do with it?

Does God need it? This night, this night, thy soul shall be required of thee. That is, you have got to give it up.