Acts 2:32 - 36; Isaiah 35:1 - 10; Isaiah 52:7, 8
I think, dear brethren, that we have been impressed during these days together with the greatness and glory of the economy which God intends to bring us into; the conscious joy and experience of what it is to be brought into the great spiritual climax of the dispensation. God is working to this glorious end. Let no one doubt it. God has provided every assistance, He has furnished the holy environment in which the precious testimony is to be carried through. It has been referred to several times as the circle of affection, the circle of the truth, and the circle of the fellowship. And what is in mind at the moment is, with the help of the Lord, to enable us to see that there is a moral process, a moral road, by which we come definitely and spiritually into this great realm where the glories of headship are known and answered to; that we might know consciously, what it is to have our part in relation to this great vessel, the assembly. We have been speaking of glory, our brother has helped in the thought of the glory of such a vessel. How relatively equal she is to Christ - His bride, His complement, a vessel in which His headship is carried through and displayed; the headship of this glorious Personage, our Lord Jesus Christ. God has given Him to be "Head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:22, 23).
He is Head to it, hence His supremacy, His glory and greatness, give impulse to the holy sphere in which everything comes under His blessed touch livingly; so that you and I may be equal in spiritual capacity to taking our place in relation to this great vessel.
The scripture we read in Acts 2 shows the way we begin on our side; we begin with the gospel. I want to be simple, to touch on what is elementary; to show that what we have been speaking of is not outside the range of any true believer, of any heart that loves Christ and loves God. If you have not touched it there is a reason, for it is available. I am impressed with what God has recovered to us, bringing forward in our day the top stone, the acme of ministry. It is the last hour, the last moment of this present dispensation. Do you, young or old, want to be out of it, outside the circle of affection in the sphere of the glories of that blessed Person, of His headship? Do we know what it is to be brought consciously and livingly into it? To be identified with all the holy and blessed features that mark the testimony? How they have been handed down and added to! What additional wealth and glories are seen in the position! God would not have any of His lovers to be outside of it; it is to our shame if we are. If there is anyone not moving happily with the brethren, his own ideas of matters standing in the way, though he may have difficulties and not know how to move, God is ready to assist him. In chapter 30 of Isaiah there is a remarkable word: "This is the way, walk ye in it" (verse 21), as if God would not allow any of us to walk without having a word. Maybe there has been no spiritual reaction to it. One has
been impressed with this word 'reaction;' if there is no reaction to the ministry in my soul, I become stagnant, and finally become attached in principle to what is eventually apostate. Reaction involves a good deal of spiritual heart searching, disposing of impediments, hindrances to what God is bringing His beloved people into. The spiritual reaction to the ministry involves a moral evolution going on inwardly. The testimony is a testing matter; it embraces every living, vital feature of the whole economy, all that God is opening up. God is bringing forward the best, the mesh becomes finer, are we ready for that?
I begin with the verses we read in Acts 2, "Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ". The power and unction in those who heard brought out this spiritual reaction. "What shall we do, brethren?" they said, (verse 37). Think of such a question in the presence of what Peter had brought forward; the Spirit poured out, giving a witness and testimony to the exaltation and supremacy of the lowly sufferer, Jesus! Now having been raised by the mighty power of God, the same God who has given Him to be Head over all things to the assembly, He has been made both Lord and Christ. If only we could reach the glorious climax, not nominally, but in the thing sympathetically with Him, in the mighty current of His operations! "They go from strength to strength: each one will appear before God in Zion" (Psalm 84:7). Why should I not be in it? I appeal to the youngest to take this matter up tonight. Have you fully recognised what God has
made Him, this same Jesus? It is One you love and whose name you love to mention.
This paves the way for Paul's ministry, for the understanding of the glories of His headship. This same Jesus made both Lord and Christ: what does this mean? It means that every other lord has to be disposed of; that the lover of Christ has to relinquish every other claim. No wonder that Saul, when he heard the words, "Why dost thou persecute me?" said, "Who art thou, Lord?" (Acts 9:4, 5). Not 'Christ' yet, but 'Lord'. What is bound up in that word "Me"? Paul is to be the minister of the assembly, to unfold the glories of it and set forth what Christ is as Head to it, and to bring us into living relation to Him as Lord, and Christ and Head. God has given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; God has made Him both Lord and Christ. Do you get on your knees and call Him Lord Jesus? No one calls Him Lord Jesus except in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me ask you, 'Is He your Lord?' Let me challenge my own heart, 'Is He my Lord?' It involves a subjective answer in my heart and in all my inwards, to come under His touch and power and own Him as Lord. God has made Him, not only Lord, but Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed, for light to one's soul. I know, like the woman in John 4, that He can do everything. She said, "Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?" He will tell you all things that ever you did. Has He come near to your heart to make way for the knowledge of His glorious Person in headship? He wants to bring all of us into it - which means that our wills, the source of all difficulty in our local
history and in the history of the assembly publicly, must be subdued. The source of breakdown is will, stubbornness, that which can be named iniquity. And so, dear brethren, the question is, how have we reacted to the gospel? Unless there is right spiritual reaction there can be no further progress.
To come now to Isaiah 35there God makes His proposals; He brings forward what He is ready to do, and He does it. There is no breakdown on the part of God in what He does; the breakdown is all on our side; it is because there is no reaction to the ministry. God has recovered every detail of the truth from the top to the bottom, and from the bottom to the top, and He intends to bring us to the top that He may be served, that He may have His rightful place in headship. "The wilderness and the dry land shall be gladdened; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose". Where wilderness conditions are, God loves to bring in fertility. It is His own precious work, and the end is that "they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away". Spiritual buoyancy marks the circle, joy and gladness obtaining, reached by the way of this moral process. This comes into view in a concrete way as His people take on these thoughts constitutionally. God makes Him both Lord and Christ. He would comfort, encourage, and stimulate, to see what is to flow out of His own blessed workmanship. "The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God". What does it mean, the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God? It means that He
would open up His work in view of bringing us into it consciously; into a realm where the glories of headship are known and answered to.
"Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the tottering knees". Are there any like that here, weak? What will be the result of these meetings together? It is to be the strengthening of our hands. We are small, in some of our localities only one or two; but, dear brethren, we are to strengthen one another. God delights to confirm His work, to add to it. On our side we are conscious of our weakness, but we go from strength to strength. Let us be increasingly available to our God, and serviceable. Let us not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some, ... and by so much the more as ye see the day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25). Let us get on our knees and bring God into our matters. In that day it will be said by Israel, "This is our God, we have waited for him" (Isaiah 25:9). Are we going to be less than they? The assembly, as divinely taught, will be able to set forth all the preciousness of what it means to be under our God, and under the headship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then, "Say to them that are of a timid heart, Be strong, fear not". What a word! All the great accumulation of the powers of darkness God will deal with. We should know what that power is, the power that usurps the authority of Christ. It has to be dealt with inwardly, and amongst us collectively in our local exercises, and the word is, "Fear not; behold your God; ... He will come himself and save you". God will come to take vengeance, meaning that every other head is to be
overthrown. The word to us is, "Be strong", for God will come Himself and save us, a glorious result!
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened". Let me ask you, are your eyes open? What do you see - men as trees walking? This means there are other heads on the horizon; Christ is not supreme. God would lead you to see the Lord Jesus Christ only, "and the ears of the deaf be unstopped". Take care how you hear; the world is full of poisoning influences coming from deadly sources. What do I allow to come into my ears, into my heart? How about the ministry? My heart is to yield abundantly for God; does it do so? May God grant it! If we are failing, do not think the truth fails. Thank God, He never indicates a path without it being possible to attain to it. Let me get to God, with Him all things are possible. If I am not in these things, what is the deadening poison hindering me? If I am not going forward I must have other circles in my mind; there must be self-will, stubbornness, possibly rebellion, not a full committal to Christ and to God, unjudged things in my own soul. If I have never dealt with them in my own heart, how can I deal with them in assembly matters? If we are not of one mind together, why is it? What questions there are to be raised if we are not moving forward!
"Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing". "The mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water". Think of that. Things becoming clearer, it is not a hazy kind of thing, as something passing away; we are brought into the divine economy marked by stability and finality. Things are made clear; we are to know the doctrine. Paul says to Timothy,
"Thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching" (2 Timothy 3:10). Why should I not know it and be in accord with what God is bringing forward? You say, 'I cannot face matters such as trade unionism, and other things of like character'. Is not God sufficient for you? Is not God the Protector of His people? What more do we want? Is not God able to provide, to clarify matters? We are not clear because our will is working. I must own His rights; I am His. Think of other heads interfering with God's rights! Let us be right in our relations with God. "And a highway shall be there and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness". Let us touch on that, "The way of holiness". Let no one doubt that it is there. You might say, 'I see so many diverse ways; I do not know which way to move'. Think of God's way; the gold is there; no unclean thing is there.
Chapter 30 refers to what is unclean, and to the judgment reached by us. We arrive at a judgment about it and say to it, "Out" (verse 22), and out it goes; it has no power. Headship is that which influences me and holds me, so I deal with it and now it is, "This is the way, walk ye in it" (chapter 30: 21). Can we put ourselves into the numbers that "go this way"? A way so plain that not even fools shall err therein. Oh, dear brethren, what is it to be a fool in the eyes of men? Think of Paul saying of himself, "Fools for Christ's sake" (1 Corinthians 4:10). How narrow, how exclusive! But this characterises the path of those that go this way. This highway, this holy circle of affection, is for those who are thus classified. It is how the world will class us as in the reproach of Christ. The reason so many of us do not move forward is because we are not ready to take the reproach of
Christ as those belonging to the assembly. It is a far greater system than Moses belonged to, and he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Why should we be afraid to accept the reproach of Christ? As a wayfaring man, why should we not take on the suffering, have part in it, like good soldiers of Jesus Christ? How do you think such soldiers suffered martyrdom? The glory of Christ was filling their souls, displacing every other object. This matter of reproach enters into this glorious circle; "But it shall be for these. Those that go this way - even fools, - shall not err therein". Are we prepared to take it on? Not only to come into it, but to take on the suffering. In Mark's gospel the Lord says to the young man, "Go, sell whatever thou hast", and he went away sad, for he had great possessions. He was not ready to bear the reproach; he had treasure he was not ready to part with. If we want what is of self in preference to what is of Christ, it is evidence of a moral lack in our constitution; in such a case, we shall not know the glories of this circle.
"The ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads". We experience this as coming under the beneficent sway and impulse of the headship of our Lord Jesus Christ, in view of serving God. We read of "the voice of thy watchmen, they lift up the voice, they sing aloud together" (Isaiah 52:8). What about our watchmen? They are seeking to help us move into this great matter. If you have your mind and I have mine, something is wrong. I may never have bowed to the supremacy of Christ, hence I do not know the effect of the glories of His headship. "They sing
aloud together; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again Zion". Oh, dear brethren, let us remember that Zion has come in. The truth of the matter is we are built together as taken account of in mercy by God, and brought into this holy circle where there is singing. Song of Songs 2:12, says, "The time of singing is come". Singing has come in, and what will be the result? That the blessed God is served according to His own rights in majesty and headship. God in His might, majesty, glory and splendour has His supreme place amongst us. So David, coming into the glorious presence of God and referring to His headship, says, "Thou art exalted as Head above all" (1 Chronicles 29:11). What a moment! May we reach it, and enrich the glorious service of our God. He would have the closing moments of the dispensation marked by glory, triumph, victory and headship. May we apprehend these things more and more, to the end that there may be a greater and more glorious answer to Him in our several localities. May each of us desire to go on, to consecrate ourselves afresh, living and moving in this glorious light, that we may not fall short and rob God of His portion. May God help us in view of His getting a greater response, and a more definite answer to the glories of His headship.
Indianapolis, November 1941
Revelation 3:19, 20; Revelation 4:1 - 5; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 22:1, 16, 17
The times that are passing over us are difficult, and it would seem that it may be the will of the Lord to pass His people through even deeper experiences than we have hitherto known. Some of us were standing recently by a grave opened for a triple burial of saints killed suddenly at one moment, a new and sobering experience having the appearance of calamity of which we felt it hard to speak. We hear from the war zone of several brethren being killed suddenly by bombs dropping from a great height. They might have fallen anywhere in a city, or in a field; but they fell on or near some saints of God. He could have deflected the missiles of death: He could control them and only He; but it was not His will to turn them aside.
I mention these matters because I feel encouraged to direct attention to this book of Revelation, which deals with great happenings, calamitous for men on the earth, involving suffering and death for some that have faith in God; matters which would teach us to have confidence in Him as He brings His ways to a conclusion. John, the chosen vessel for this revelation, is caused to pass through intense experiences that produce deep feelings in him. His feelings are capable of responding to what he sees and hears, even to the point of weeping much. As we understand the purport of this book in its relation to the assembly we
shall see that the Lord is educating us for great things, and that we might be with Him and trust Him for that which cannot, at the moment, be explained. The unexplainable, the mysterious, is always harder to face than the thing we know. The Lord could not allow that there should be any doubt in our minds as to His perfect goodness, or as to His wisdom or His sympathy; so that we are to learn to be with Him in all He has to do, whether in us or in the world. I suggest that verse 19 of chapter 3 covers this peculiar phase of the saints' experiences: "I rebuke and discipline as many as I love".
In the beginning of the book the Lord is presented judicially: His breasts are girded, His affections held in, as it were, and His eyes are as a flame of fire. He speaks with judicial appraisement of each assembly. To Ephesus, representative of the highest and the best, He speaks about having "left thy first love" (chapter 2: 4). He calls upon them to "Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (verse 5). Leaving first love was a fall, not a slight declension, but a fall. He who loves the assembly so well, who stands to it in the relation of Bridegroom and Lover, would measure this decline in first love as a fall. That was how He felt it; what it was to Him. As the book unfolds, the Lord speaks about other features of declension until the climax is reached in Laodicea where the condition is such that it is nauseous to Him; but even there He is a Lover. The circle of His love is not so large, He is not so free. He says, "As many as I love". The individuals are known and numbered, but they are to be the recipients of rebuke and chastening. Then follows a promise
to the overcomer "to sit with me in my throne; as I also have overcome, and have sat down with my Father in his throne". The power of the throne on which He sits and the effect of the rebuke and discipline are to produce overcomers, even in Laodicean conditions in which the outward public profession of Christianity is nauseous to Christ.
There are, I understand, two viewpoints of this book: one, that the assembly's history finishes on earth at the end of chapter 3; the other that the history runs through in a moral way so that we have analogies of prophetically recorded happenings for our learning. I am using the latter view as the basis of my remarks, and I see evidence at the end of the book that the rebuke and discipline have accomplished something with which the Bridegroom is pleased. In chapter 19: 7 it says, "His wife has made herself ready". Then in chapter 22: 16, 17 it says, "I Jesus have sent mine angel ... And the Spirit and the bride say, Come". How different this language is from what we have at the beginning! There is liberty now for what is intensely personal, "I Jesus". That is the Bridegroom speaking in love's intimacy and without reserve. The Bridegroom has waited and served in conditions that bring out His skill, but the time has come for the consummation of love. The only remaining reason for waiting is that "he that will, let him take the water of life freely" (verse 17).
Now what has been said will, I trust, indicate the setting for the subject, which is to call attention to the combination of the throne, the Lamb, and the bondman. These are basic thoughts for the conditions spoken of in this
book. It is a combination of power and suffering and unquestioned acceptance of the will of God. The throne is God moving from His own side. In chapter 4 it is the majesty and greatness of God, and the behaviour and words of creatures that are intelligent in what is due to His greatness. To Him they ascribe glory and honour and power. But in chapter 3 the reference is to the Father's throne; the Lord is sitting in it with the Father. The power of the Father's throne would be exercised in relation to love, but the throne in chapter 4 is the power that can and will deal with everything adverse on earth. The exercise of this power awaits the understanding that it is the moral worth of the One who suffered that marks Him as alone worthy to open the book and its seven seals. As this is brought out in chapter 5 the new song begins, and it is clearly seen that the throne and the Lamb are one thought. It is under this combined thought that we have the fulfilment, or partial fulfilment, of the prophecies recorded, which have the effect of bringing on the saints the discipline of love. As we understand this we can stand beside our dead in the midst of unexplainable calamity, and be restfully with God; knowing that the seemingly unexplainable will be explained; knowing that God is moving according to the majestic greatness that is His amidst a corrupt world. He uses angels and the nations of the world for the discipline of His saints. How comforting it is to see that the object of divine service at this moment is the assembly! God's ways with the nations have this ever in view. He has not given up any of His rights. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is able to carry on a
multitude of majestic activities at one time; but the central object of His service in this dispensation is the assembly.
Now out of the throne go forth lightnings and voices and thunders. These are mysterious features. Things may happen like lightning, but the voices may suggest the communications that may accompany the lightning, and are explanatory for the comfort of the saints. The thunders would terrify men, but the saints know whence they come, from the throne, a throne which is operating in relation to the Lamb. This beloved man John is conducted through scenes which, without divine support, would be over-whelming. His enquiries are answered. When he wept he was told not to weep, but to behold the Lion which is of the tribe of Judah. There are those ready to help him at every turn, to make Him intelligent and restful. What is set out in John is for us, that we may draw near the throne and be accustomed to lightning-like movements; to hear voices which proceed from the throne. The people of the world are accustomed to voices which come over the air, but we are to hear voices from the throne. They carry authority and comfort. The Lord's service of rebuke and discipline will be manifest, even in the midst of calamities, that it is love's service. The Lord may have to speak to a meeting; He may have to speak to the saints in a country; He may speak universally; He may cause things to happen in one place to bring out divine sympathies in another. The service of rebuke and discipline is to make things practical. The wife making herself ready is not only doctrine, it is practical righteousness. She is under the eye of the Bridegroom. It is a scrutinising eye.
Now returning to the thought of the throne and the Lamb, it is important to see that while divine power is being exercised in this world, it stands related to the Lamb, to Christ, to His sufferings and death. The mighty power of God can carry any matter through, and deliver, but "the Lamb" is an evidence that things can also be carried through in suffering. The Lamb is said to be standing as slain in the midst of the throne. It is a resurrection figure, death is behind. The One who suffered and died on man's behalf is alive, and all the power of God is operative in relation to Him. The power to intervene actively is suggested as sealed in a book, and only the moral worthiness of the Lamb can open it. It is the evidence that all that the throne demanded has been met in suffering. He will be equal to every requirement of judgment when the time comes, but while that moment waits He is equal to supporting the saints in suffering. Any situation can be met, either by the power of the throne to deliver, or by the support of the One who suffered. The position is impregnable. God does not need to shorten the dispensation because of the sufferings of the saints; He can prolong it for the sake of men, but at any moment He can bring it to a close. The Lamb's wife must be trained in suffering, else how could she appreciate the One whose part in divine counsels was to suffer? How free God is! His compassions shine now in testimony in the gospel, and while men do not understand the position, the assembly does. God is glorified and Christ is made great to us. The two things go hand-in-hand: the greatest power to deliver, and the power to carry on in suffering, for in suffering the service of discipline and
rebuke is in operation in circumstances that perfectly display the skill of that service. We may have to face more suffering, but what confidence is inspired in our hearts as we think of the throne operating in relation to the Lamb! Moral worthiness enters into all suffering that is characteristically like that of the Lamb.
The last thought, linked with the two foregoing, is that of the bondman. This book is written for such, that they might be intelligent as to the mind and ways of God. The bondman idea involves unquestioning subjection to the will of God. It is easy to speak about it, but hard when we go through the training of it, as the line of Hymn 85 says, 'In proving no will but His'. A woman bereft of her husband; children bereft of a father or a mother; they are going through deep waters. How comforting at such a time to draw near to God as a bondman, subject, restful, inquiring, perhaps, for bondmen are greatly privileged in heaven. Think of John being called up to heaven that he might see and record this revelation of Jesus Christ. It is given for bondmen. It concerns heaven, but how the concerns of heaven would lift us above the trials of earth! Heaven's concerns are great matters; and John is taken to a favourable viewpoint, the throne, to see certain things, to get the basis of heaven's activities in his soul. Then he is taken to another viewpoint, the sand of the sea, that he might behold a beast rising out of the sea; then to a mountain, to see the bride, the Lamb's wife. He is being personally conducted through this vision of divine activities and glories, which to a man without divine support would be overwhelming; but the bondman of God is given support
that he might be equal to these scenes. On earth we learn our lessons in small things, but as disciplined in love we are to be equal to the great activities of God as He completes His ways with the earth.
How quickly John reacts to what is presented to him! When he saw the Lord in His judicial garments, with evidences of His divine majesty surrounding Him, he fell at His feet as dead. What an experience that was! I wonder if we all have had to do with the Lord like that? We are so accustomed to thinking of Him as meek and lowly, and rightly so, that we might be in danger of forgetting who He is, and what surroundings He is entitled to, and that comely behaviour in the presence of such a manifestation is to fall at His feet as dead. What intelligence John gathers as he is passed through these experiences! He learns how God will deal with everything that has opposed Him and despised Christ. But he also learns how the Lord can deal with the false and apostate church, while recovering what is for Himself, the element that is responsive to His rebuke and discipline, held in attachment to Him because of His great love. That love is a holy love, and when the Bridegroom is pleased with His work it means there is nothing of unholiness remaining in it. The present result, a moral result, is that the bride is secured.
While the service of Christ is going on amidst these happenings, God is still working with men in grace. The water of life is here. It flows out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Have you noticed the speakers in chapter 22? In verse 6, "These words are faithful and true;" in verse 12, "Behold, I come quickly;" in verse 16, "I Jesus have sent
mine angel;" in verse 17, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come;" and again, "Let him that is athirst come". So it continues, many voices, majestic speakers, speaking of satisfying eternal things, all inviting men to come. We were speaking about the body, and how the thought of the body makes things practical. It attaches us to one another with right feelings. We may be sure there will be some reaction - of what sort I do not predict - that will bring the saints in the various parts of the world under the same discipline in view of sharing the same blessing. The Lord's thought for the assembly is one. He may work more extensively in one part of the world than in another, but we have seen, even in our time, how the Lord makes things universal; how the brethren have been unified not only as to holding the same truth, but in manners and ways. The suffering which is now specially on Europe may have some reaction on us.
May the Lord help us to share in what He is giving. If it is a hard and difficult time, let us remember the position of a bondman. Let us remember that special provision is made for such. There may be waiting periods when we know not what God is doing, when our faith is tested. A bondman knows how to wait, even if there is silence in heaven for the space of about half an hour; no speaking, no sound, just silence. We have to learn to count on God sufficiently to let Him have His way and to let Him move from His own side, not compelled to move by our crying, but knowing He can trust His people to trust Him, and to wait a word from Himself. The public condition of that which professes the name of Christ is dreadful beyond words. The Lord's feelings in relation to it have been
clearly indicated, but He has been working now for over a hundred years in recovery to bring about assembly affections. The Lord has the bridal thought before Him. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. Soon there will be the consummation of all love's desires. But meantime, the throne is in heaven, acting in power for the good of the saints. May the Lord help us to gain from all these things and especially from the service of the Bridegroom.
London, Ontario, April 1942
Acts 27:25; 2 Timothy 1:12; Philippians 4:12; 1 Corinthians 7:40
These personal confessions, as I might call them, of the apostle Paul, form a necessary part of his ministry and I refer to them for our encouragement and help. In dealing with the great expanse of counsel, he, thank God, carries us along with him. He does not isolate himself in connection with the plan of divine counsel. He thinks of the scheme in its greatness and brings all the saints with him as he says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). But in these instances I have cited, and there are others doubtless, he appears as bearing testimony as to himself personally; he purposely isolates himself in regard to what he says, when doubtless he might have included others with him. Luke secures this gem - "I believe God" - for us; the others are in the epistles. Unjealous Luke might well have been included in this first confession of the apostle, but Paul is alone in it. His confession is in the midst of an imminent ship-wreck and a number of souls are there - two hundred and seventy-six. We are not told of, nor does Luke record, any gospel meetings or other meetings on the ship, but he does tell us that in the midst of all the chaos, the apostle stands up and says, "I believe God". He might have included Luke in that;
Luke would have said the same, but he did not. Paul stands out amidst all that is going to pieces. And so it is today, dear brethren, whether it be ship-wreck or home-wreck or maybe country-wreck, what is to be looked for is a personal testimony to our belief on God. We are all here as believers, but in connection with the ministry, evidently it is essential that a man should be able to stand up himself and say, "I believe God". The need for it is great; unbelief is rampant; it lurks in our own hearts, but I believe God would help us with the ministry we have had to be held stable in our belief on God against all odds. In the crisis this man stands out; he has a message, a word from God, and he bears testimony to the fact that he believes God - not asking them to do it. Think of the great value of a man standing up in an issue, in a crisis with imminent disaster ahead, to give a rallying-point in himself, able to give comfort in such a distressing scene. "Wherefore be of good courage, men". It is not exactly an exhortation to believe on God, but as a man that himself believes on God. Think of the peculiar power of standing in a world of unbelief and calamity and being able to say, "I believe God".
In his letter to Timothy he does not say that; nor does he on the ship say what he says in 2 Timothy. The testimony was in reproach, and Timothy was liable to be ashamed of the testimony. As the Lord's prisoner, Paul says, "I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed". 'I know him', beloved brethren. We are believers, but can we stand up and say that we know Him - we know whom we have believed? What is going to stay us in the midst of all the testings of the testimony, but the knowledge
of the One we have believed? Thank God that knowledge will be ours in glory, but the knowledge of the One we have believed will preserve us here. How he came at it is another matter; we might see, perhaps, a little further as to that in Philippians. Still, the statement is made here, "I know whom I have believed". The apostle John said to the fathers that they had known Him. Indeed, whether he writes, or whether he has written, he says the same thing: "I have written to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning" (1 John 2:14). Evidently the knowledge of Him that is from the beginning constitutes a father - not believing on Him. All the family know the forgiveness of sins, dear brethren; that is essential, evidently, to be one of the children. The test is not only in our belief in our God - we may be tested as to that in certain conditions - but it is now that we know Him. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded". Think of the power of the knowledge that carries with it a persuasion - not objectively, but a suasiveness of heart - that God is able! My knowledge of the One on whom I have believed persuades me; brings my mind and consciousness along to know that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
Now a word as to Philippians. The apostle expands with wonderful liberty; he is unloosed in his affections in speaking to the beloved brethren at Philippi. He tells some secrets there. He says, "I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. In everything and in all things I am initiated". I commend that word to the brethren; the only time it is used in Scripture, as far as I know. "I am
initiated" - not merely taught, but initiated into the mystery of it. What is this mystery - this mysterious thing into which he is initiated? "I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound". How about that? Do we know that much? We may know whom we have believed, but do we know how to be abased and how to abound? Where does a man learn that? Not in always being on the crest of the wave; not in always being in favour, for he needs both positions. If I know how to be abased and how to abound, it is as having been in both positions - it is how to be there, and to be initiated, as he says, "In everything and in all things I am initiated both to be full and to be hungry". Can it not be, dear brethren, that these extraordinary conditions in which we now are - ourselves and the saints generally, for it is actually so in certain parts of the world, and we feel it in our spirits here - might be the initiation period for us? Many of our beloved brethren possibly have never known such adversity as we see them in today. They have abounded and have been full, but is not the process that is developing and is touching us here, too, having the effect of initiating us as to this mystery - how to be full and how to be hungry? How to be full! You may be full and forget everyone else. How to be hungry! You may be hungry and think of nobody but yourself. But to know how to be full and how to be hungry; both to abound and to suffer need, as Paul says, is not taught in ministry. It obviously is not that. It is not like the presentation of God to our faith. I believe God, as the light is presented. Then I know Him in experience, in all kinds of circumstances. I know Him. To learn these things, you cannot get them from books or from
one another. You have to go through it, and one feels that the extraordinary conditions through which the brethren are going, are to have us learn, to be instructed, to be initiated - how to be full and to be hungry, and how to abound. The apostle is not talking about himself because he wants to do so; he wants to show it is a possibility. In fact he is not speaking exactly as an apostle to the Philippians; he is a believer, and surely we would desire to learn the secret of being initiated in the extremes of these conditions. We do not know what we may have to face, but we have the sense that the same One that enabled the apostle to say that he could do all things, will enable us also to face the issue. He says, "I have strength for all things in him that gives me power". Surely the secret is there, to learn how to draw upon the mighty power of Christ so that we can say humbly and simply that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We should be prepared to face what is adverse - to be initiated into these things; surely we should have desires for it.
Then just the last word in Corinthians, is wholesome, I think. Great man that he was, he did not know everything. He is not posing as knowing everything. There is no scripture in which he sets out his authority more than in his letter to the Corinthians, but it must be suggestive, and important in his ministry, in the midst of that which he says is the commandment of the Lord, that he should interpose what is his judgment and what he thinks. He says, "I think". He refers to it earlier in the chapter too, but I just refer to verse 40. As much as he knows, and of course his knowledge of God and of the mystery is vast, it is here a
matter of judgment, and he just allows that he might possibly be wrong, although the fact that his word becomes Scripture shows that he was not wrong. In saying that he thinks, dear brethren, he only shows the importance of what he says when he does not say that he thinks, as well as giving us the value of his judgment when he does think. I suggest that we need to pay attention to that which comes with his definite apostolic authority, as the Lord's commandment. There is no option about that at all! So that when he varies for a moment, and says, 'This is my judgment', we may see the distinction between what is an apostolic opinion and the Lord's commandment. We may thus get all the gain of a spiritual judgment, which I think we may sometimes neglect. We do not want brethren to dictate to us exactly, but I think we will get gain if we seek the judgment of a spiritual man. With all that he knew, and all that governed him so definitely, the apostle Paul is not afraid to say, in connection with this simple family matter, "She is happier if she so remain, according to my judgment; but I think that I also have God's Spirit". He does not say, 'I know' in every case. These occasions do arise with us, and I just wanted to show the value of getting a spiritual judgment, even if in our case it be not final and without flaw. So he closes, "But I think that I also have God's Spirit". I do not think the Lord ever says He thinks. There could seem to be no question of thinking, in this sense of the word, in connection with the Lord. He asks a man what he thinks, but the Lord knows; He knows inherently. He knows all men; "Himself knew what was in man" (John 2:25). You cannot attribute the idea of thinking, in that sense, to a
divine Person, but to an apostle, as great as Paul was, is allowed the idea of thinking. I only suggest it to show that if a spiritual brother's judgment is available to us we should heed it, although it may not, perhaps, be absolute finality as the Lord's commandment.
From Notes of Readings in New York and Other Ministry, 1943
Mark 3:1 - 6; Mark 7:31 - 35; Mark 8:22 - 26
It will be apparent from the scriptures read that one has in mind to speak of moral adjustment in relation to the Lord's service; how He brought in adjustment in the several cases before us. The first passage opens with the words that Jesus entered again into the synagogue, indicating that He had been there before. That was in chapter 1, where we are told that as Jesus entered into the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit cried out, "Eh! what have we to do with thee, Jesus, Nazarene?" (verse 24). The Authorised version says, "Let us alone", and this is the sense of the exclamation. One feels assured that that attitude does not mark any of us here tonight. One would assume that we all are prepared to hear what the Lord has to say to us. There may be some gatherings in the religious world where it would be very disturbing for the Lord Jesus to come personally into their midst, but one would trust that no local company represented here is in such a state. Indeed, the very basis on which we profess to come together is that we expect the presence of divine Persons - that we welcome the Lord Jesus into our midst and recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord Jesus does come: "There am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). And as coming in He would come in to bless! This, of course, may involve adjustment
so that we can receive the blessing, but His primary interest is to bless His people. So that in reading these verses tonight it is to see how Jesus does things. The Scriptures are full of instruction with regard to moral adjustment, but the Lord's service in this respect in Mark's gospel is particularly instructive. Therefore we can find in the movements of Jesus instruction as to the basis on which we should move in any little service which it may be our privilege to undertake.
Now, we all know that Mark himself had come under the adjusting hand of the Lord Jesus. He had failed in service. But who has not? One would humbly say that there are few who have not failed in service time and again in a greater or lesser degree. But it is a wonderful thing to have the experience of the adjusting service of the Lord and to be able to speak with feeling of the perfect way in which He brings it about. This is one of the keys to Mark's gospel. The details in it are intended to help us.
The synagogue would suggest our meeting place; it is where the people of God come together. The Lord would come there to meet a situation which needs His attention. In this case it was a man with a withered hand. He had the hand, but it was withered. It means that a hand once used in service is now lifeless. Probably this brother was not living in the flow of current ministry. What causes a withered hand? The cutting off of the vital flow that is necessary to cause that member to respond to the head. It is like a break between the soul of the servant and Christ; and the result is that there is no longer the freshness of life in service. The hand is useless. He may still be an active brother, but there
is no freshness, no life, and therefore his service is marked by lack of power. It were better not to serve under these conditions. We cannot serve in power if we are not subject to Christ as the Head of the assembly. And so the Lord Jesus says, "Rise up". He has in mind that the man should be in the midst, where everybody can see him. For not only is the healing of the man in view, but there is also the question of getting this instruction into our souls so that we, too, will know how to do the right thing. We are all to profit by it.
But at once there is opposition. Why? Because they claim the Lord is spoiling the sabbath. There may be a condition like this in a meeting. Rather than stir up any trouble, the condition is allowed to go on and on. But the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath. If we are to come into true, restful, sabbath conditions, it must be as under His lordship. And He will not be satisfied to allow withered conditions to remain unadjusted. He told this man to stand forth and He raised a question as to principle: "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do evil?" - and they did not answer Him. It probably was not like them to not say anything. No doubt they had plenty to say before. But now they are brought to face the matter according to principle. The thing is not done arbitrarily. It is to be considered according to principle; there is to be a moral basis upon which it is worked out. If it is right, then do it! Certainly we do not wish to keep sabbath conditions if they have no right moral basis. If there is need for adjustment, let us bring the Lord into the matter. So the Lord tells the man to stretch forth his hand. He is now under the authority of Christ, and
when adjustment is complete he will be marked by freshness as coming under that authority; under the control of the Head. He stretches forth the hand and it is healed. The Lord Jesus would thus indicate the moral need of being kept under His authority in our service; otherwise, as being out of the vital flow of supply from the living Head, we will lack freshness and life in our service. This is a comparatively simple case. It is brought forward by Mark as a fundamental case, but as he proceeds he brings in more difficult ones. But let us hold to this sense of the need of coming under the authority of Christ, because any service or activity apart from that must necessarily lack life and power.
In the next passage we are introduced to a man who is not in the synagogue, which is a local idea, but who is in the district of Decapolis. "And they bring to him a deaf man who could not speak right". He is a brother who is in touch with other meetings, for Decapolis represents a place of ten cities, and therefore this man is related to an area or a district. It is not necessarily that he moves from city to city, but he is in touch with what is transpiring and is liable to have an influence for good or bad in other places besides his local meeting. He is deaf and has an impediment in his speech. There is something wrong, but the Lord is always ready to adjust what is wrong, if a moral basis is established on which He can act. He will come in on a righteous basis. This brother's condition was a concern to the brethren and they asked the Lord to lay His hand on him and heal him. But the Lord would have us understand that things are not done just that way. He would have us form a
right judgment of the things that caused the condition. He would have us pray intelligently in the matter. And so instead of just laying His hand upon him, He leads him away from the crowd and then puts His fingers into his ears and spits and touches his tongue. Now this is all a matter of detail, but important detail. It is a question of how things are done, so that if we have a case like this we will know how to pray about it. It involves much more than laying a hand on him. The Lord Jesus put His fingers to the man's ears. Not one ear, but two. I believe the touching of the ears would suggest that this man is to have balanced hearing. We are very much in need of this kind of hearing. If we are in touch with the testimony in ten cities, we must have balanced hearing; otherwise we will hear but one side of a matter, and that will lead to all kinds of trouble. We must hear both sides of a matter before we can form a proper judgment. How much trouble results from unbalanced hearing! God, in creation, indicates the need for balanced hearing in that He has given man two ears.
And then the Lord spits; suggesting that a divine Person has come down into lowly, humble circumstances - indeed circumstances of shame. But in that humble pathway it could be said of Him, in the Spirit, "Ears hast thou prepared me" (Psalm 40:6). That word, quoted in Hebrews 10:5 is rendered, "Thou hast prepared me a body". That indicates, I believe, the intensity of His listening. His ear was wakened to hear as the instructed, Isaiah says. His one intent, or purpose, was to hear the voice of God. Thus He could say to the tempter that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Truly, He could say,
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). But if our ears are tuned in to that which comes from the many voices that are in the world, it will be difficult to have them attuned to God's voice morning by morning. The use of the ears is one example that the Lord has set for us in His manhood here. And so, it is not just a matter of laying hands on this man, for He also touches his tongue; but not before He spits; it is after He has spit. How suggestive these things are! It is not now a matter of calling attention to what is instructive in creation. Nature teaches us, truly, but here He touches the man's tongue after having spit, to indicate, I believe, that his speaking is now to be in subjection to the One by whose touch his tongue is released. The Lord Jesus could say, "As the Father has taught me I speak these things" (John 8:28). It is controlled speaking that is in view here.
Then the Lord Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven and groans, indicating that this adjustment requires not merely power, but depth of feeling is involved. It is not a sigh, but a groan. It suggests how we are to enter feelingly into matters requiring adjustment, like Timothy would, of whom it is said that he cared with genuine feeling. But more than this, it gives us some little sense of how Jesus has borne our infirmities. It is a question of what is involved in bringing about adjustment; the great detail of it; the depth of feeling and pressure to be entered into in such cases. It is not merely a touch of power. And so, this man is adjusted; he can move in the district of ten cities with balanced hearing. And when he speaks, his words will carry weight; they will be balanced words. He will be a good district man.
Now, in the next case we have a man that is blind. Well, we might say, this is a simple case. Some such cases seem to be simple. Mark tells us of another blind man who sat by the wayside begging, whose recovery seems to be a very simple case. But that man saw far more than the crowd that was following Jesus. He discerned that the Man that was going up to the cross at Jerusalem was the One who had the right to the throne. Jesus said, "What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabboni, that I may see". And Jesus said to him, "Go, thy faith has healed thee. And he saw immediately, and followed him in the way" (Mark 10:51, 52). But the man we are considering here is not a case like that. This man is in Bethsaida, one of the cities upon which the Lord Jesus had pronounced great woes: "Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe to thee, Bethsaida! for if the works of power which have taken place in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes" (Luke 10:13). It is a curse - governmental pronouncement has been uttered upon Bethsaida. No wonder the man is blind! He represents the case of one who has no regard for disciplinary action. He is blind to it. There has been assembly discipline, you might say, and he is blind in relation to it. But the feelings of the people of God are expressed week after week for him at the prayer meeting. There is constant appeal for his recovery. It says, "They bring him a blind man, and beseech him that he might touch him". Again there seems to be a lack of comprehension of what is involved in recovery. They say, in principle, We have been praying for him for a long time. But what had
they been praying? That the Lord may touch him. But it is necessary, if we are to pray rightly, that we know what the root evil is; the detail of the matter; the history of the case; and what is necessary for his healing. Do we know the moral issue? Do we have a right judgment of what is involved? or do we just say, 'Recover our brother'. There is a history attaching to this man. Think of the mighty works of Jesus in this place, and yet the pitiful state of this man. Where was he when Jesus was performing His mighty works? The Lord Jesus takes him by the hand and leads him out of the town. That is the first step. Get out of a wrong position! This town represents the sphere of God's governmental dealings. Are persons in such a sphere conscious of where they really are, as having been the subjects of disciplinary action? I have heard of a brother who sat behind and ceased to break bread because of difficulties which had arisen in the meeting, and yet he wished to carry on certain services which had been entrusted to him. If we come under disciplinary action, assembly-applied or self-applied, we find ourselves in a sphere of God's governmental dealings. And so Jesus took him out of the town. "And having spit upon his eyes, he laid his hands upon him, and asked him if he beheld anything". Would we not be inclined to say now, that the man is healed? But we may be too ready to assume that healing has been completed. This is not a matter of immediate healing. There is a process of recovery to be gone through and we need to see what is involved in the process. We must not receive persons into fellowship, as recovered, if they have only had one touch when a process is necessary.
We will do damage to the Lord's work if we do that, for the case may be such that more than one touch is necessary. In this case the Lord Jesus spit upon the eyes that were to be healed. I believe it involves that he is to be helped to see by direct application of what was involved in the downstooping grace of Jesus. There was to be imparted an impression of the character of Man who stooped so low in grace to set aside man after the order of flesh and blood. It is perfectly evident that he had the wrong kind of man in view. That, evidently, had been his basic trouble. Now Jesus asks him if he sees aught. He is working in this brother, as we may call him, who had been under disciplinary action, in order to get him to judge the root error. He asks him what he sees, and the answer is, "I behold men, for I see them, as trees, walking". Now, that is a good start. The first use of opened eyes is to see where we have been wrong and to reach a right judgment of our course. It is not yet the ability to see what was in that lowly Man who walked here - who moved in lowly dependence upon His God - whose every move was under the control of the will of God, and yet He Himself God. But he has arrived at a judgment of the root error and he can speak about it. He says, in principle, I see that I had men before me - men who were out of true proportion in my mind. Then, you might say, he is ready for fellowship now. But no! the process has not been completed yet. It is good to have eyes opened to see the point of departure and to judge what brought in the blindness, but it is also necessary that the moral glories of the Lord Jesus shine into the soul to hold it as an anchorage against a repetition of the error.
Isaiah said, "When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and left alone of men" (Isaiah 53:2, 3). Why? Because the vision was filled with man after the flesh and his spirit of self-exaltation rather than the humble Jesus. "Having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). Does that Man fill the vision of our souls? That is the character of Man the spittle suggests; One who in His Person is God, but in manhood became obedient - even to death.
Then it says that the Lord Jesus laid His hands upon him again and he saw distinctly, and was restored and saw all things clearly. He is now ready to move happily amongst the saints. Not only does he see the sin of Bethsaida which had brought upon it the Lord's governmental pronouncement and had contributed to his blindness, but as having the second touch he sees all things clearly - in proper proportion. Think of the value of having the Lord's hands placed upon us in adjusting power; those hands that served so faithfully; hands that were available to men to meet their ills and woes; hands, the power of which, we might say, formed the universe and weighed the dust of the mountains; hands which were yet to be pierced by apostate and wicked men; those hands laid upon us to impart an impression that will remain upon and fill the soul for ever!
As we thus receive an impression of the Lord Jesus and the blessedness of His work, we are able to weigh things in relation to Him; in relation to the impression that has come into our souls. What a balanced condition is thus created! Our service will be balanced by that impression. So that the
man is told not to go into the city, but to his house. He was not sent out immediately to preach the gospel after his restoration. He is to move in the sphere where the impressions received are to be worked out practically; the sphere in which he is peculiarly responsible and where he can shed a right influence, thereby testifying to the reality of the adjusting power of the Lord's touch. And then, as that sphere is brought under proper regulation and control, and his manner of life commends him, the Lord would make available to him a wider sphere of service.
Well, one has felt the Lord's help in bringing these cases to our notice. They are examples of how He, in perfect servitude, would not only set out the detail involved in recovery, but the deep feelings which accompany such adjustment. Such cases are to be borne on our spirits. True feelings are necessary if we are to be of value in such cases. May the Lord graciously help us all, in working out the problems with which we are faced in our local settings, to have right feelings and a true appreciation of the process involved in recovery.
Calgary, April 1943
S McCALLUM
Acts 26:27 - 30; Philemon 4 - 12; 2 Corinthians 12:1 - 5
It is before me to speak a word on spiritual substance in the believer. One of the great features of the present moment is God's operations amongst the saints to augment this. He is using circumstances which, under the hand of the enemy, might hinder the work and retard development of what is for Him, to bring about enlargement in this great matter of spiritual substance. Christianity is not something ethereal; it lies in substance and has been presented to us in a glorious Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, in blessed substantiality. In Luke's gospel it is written of Him, as coming into the world, "The holy thing also which shall be born" (Luke 1:35). "The holy thing!" John's epistle speaks of that which we have handled. Both speak of the substantial side of Christianity, as expressed in Christ personally. I want to speak of it tonight as seen in a man of like passions as ourselves, so that we might be affected by it and take inventory to see whether we are marked by this substantiality of Christianity as seen in a vessel like Paul, or is our knowledge of God in mere words and thoughts of the mind? One loves to turn to this great vessel to whom was committed the great service of completing the word of God; as though God in committing the ministry of the assembly to him loves to bring to our attention the substantial side of His work, the product of real spiritual
experience in such a vessel. In the New Testament there is more said about Paul and his person than of anyone else, except the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of his hands, his feet, his eyes, his bowels, his voice, his clothes, his books, his cloak; as if God would bring these details before us to enhance the greatness of His work in an earthen vessel; in order that, as attracted by it, we might seek to lay ourselves out, too, in this path of spiritual experience, so that we might have substance in a similar way.
In the book of Job, God says to Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant?" (Job 1:8). Think of God coming into this city and taking up any one of us and saying to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant?' Think of God telling the people around us to take a good look at us. I wonder what they would find. I wonder what Satan would find. Is there a young brother or sister that is not wholly committed? Are you espousing some secret thing; some feature of evil? Christianity lies in spiritual substance in persons. I want to stress that. Christianity has been set forth perfectly in Christ. Let no one be deluded in regard of that. God has begun with perfection in Christ, and He is operating in us to bring us to that perfection. It is not that you and I make it; God is bringing us into it. In Christ as Man out of death - Christ in glory - we have Christianity set forth in perfection, but let us not forget what is down here. What is up there is wonderful, but think of what there is down here! God says, "The word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you" (Haggai 2:5). We must not press what there is at the right hand of God to the exclusion of what there is down
here. God has that in this city to which He can call attention.
In regard of Paul, you will have noticed the expressions in the scriptures read: "Such as I", "Such a one", and "Such a man". Speaking to king Agrippa, he says, "I would to God ... that not only thou, but all who have heard me this day, should become such as I also am, except these bonds". He does not say, such as I was, but such as I am, bringing in the very conditions in which he then was, the glory of all he was according to God's work in him, and all he had gathered up in the way of spiritual experience in the ways of God. Dear brethren, what are these ways yielding to us? Are they yielding substance?
Take the books of the Psalms: we have in them a great spiritual treasury in which God opens before us the wealth gathered in spiritual experience in circumstances which would naturally overwhelm us and bring our spirits down. But through the operations of faith in us and the Holy Spirit, the very circumstances the enemy would design to trip us up become the avenues in which, in many, there is gathered up that which enters into the divine treasury to minister to and augment the wealth already there.
And so he says, "Such as I also am". You may say, 'What ego!' What does he say in 1 Corinthians 15:10? "By God's grace I am what I am; and his grace, which was towards me, has not been in vain". Can we say that, dear brethren? Are we all making the most of the experiences through which we are passing? The circumstances in which God has called us may be naturally embittering to our spirits, causing grief, sorrow and pain. But are we
making the most of these things in the way of becoming enriched as to what God has for us in them, so that substance is built upward in us and the testimony is thus presented before the world? God has in mind that this should be not in words only but in all the substantiality of Christianity entered upon in living power, and experienced in a living way by the support and help of God. What a treasury Paul was! What possibilities lie in the working out of these things! How attractive the position is from this viewpoint! Paul says, "I would to God, both in little and in much, that not only thou, but all who have heard me this day, should become such as I also am". This wonderful vessel is viewed in trying circumstances as liberated in his soul in all the glory of the system in which Christianity is expressed. In his spiritual ardour and enthusiasm, he is serving in holy liberty unhindered and undampened, in the midst of all this great earthly pomp and glory. And we, dear brethren, as liberated in all the holy feelings that belong to this great system, in our testimony should radiate light and warmth, right thoughts and right feelings, so that we express God Himself.
You say, 'He just wants people to be converted'. But there is more than that in it, Paul was alluding to what he was at that moment. Some of us have to go back in experience to bring forward what we once were, but Paul before these authorities says, "Such as I also am". One thinks of our young people who have to testify before authorities, employers, in schools, and, indeed, all of us in our public lives. What can we say? What does Paul say? Is he quoting Scripture? Yes, but not that alone. Is he bringing
principles to bear? Yes, but not that alone. "Such as I also am", he says! I ask you, if tested and faced by the public in these matters, could you call attention to this fact as Paul did? The Lord Jesus said, "Altogether that which I also say to you" (John 8:25). How poor it is to say, 'I remember the day I was brought to the Lord; I was so bright my joy was full, but it has dimmed; I have lost the conscious sense of joy in my heart'. Why not be in the fulness and liberty of the glorious system that is here? God has committed Himself to it and is bringing it through in victory and triumph, however terrible the combinations of men may be in their systems. "Such as I also am". What a word! You may have the books of ministry, you may have every volume, but what have you in yourself? What have I? Is the position in our localities supported by just mental knowledge, by what we have in books, in Scripture, in literature, or can God point us out as substantially formed in the glory of the system? Paul had a chain attached to him and soldiers beside him, and we say that if circumstances were not so limited, how much more attractive our testimony would be. This man with the chain and the soldiers is God's servant, and God is helping him. I bring this forward to help any who may be faint-hearted.
In Acts 23 the apostle had a terrible experience at Jerusalem. It says that the chiliarch feared "lest Paul should have been torn in pieces" (verse 10). I think of the dear young men and what some may be going through in these days. Their lives in jeopardy; they do not know what will befall them - their lives perhaps taken at any moment. Think of God operating through all the different
circumstances in Paul's experience to bring deliverance: and so this word, "The following night the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good courage; for as thou hast testified the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so thou must bear witness at Rome also" (Acts 23:11). Is it not encouraging, dear brethren, the way the Lord stands by a man of spiritual substance? We might be concerned as to right expressions and mere principles, which are right in their place, but think what it is to testify out of the substantiality of a heart that knows God, like Paul did. He was a man like ourselves, but he had turned to good account every experience that had come his way; whether it meant loss or being oppressed in regard to things generally, he was buoyant as to his inward parts; he was liberated; he was in the glory of the system over which the Son of God is Head.
Now I want to pass from the side of public testimony to a more delicate, inward side. There is hardly anything more delightful to read than the epistle to Philemon as it bears on practical christianity and the workings of the system. The greater we are spiritually, the more simple we are in details and the practical matters of life. Paul is not unfolding the glory of heavenly counsel as in Ephesians, or dealing with his intelligence of the mystery, but is bringing to bear in this delicate situation help that comes of ripened experience with God. He says, "Being such a one as Paul the aged". Greater room should be made for this tender, refined side of the system, as in this epistle, for if christianity does not refine us, what will? Some of us try to excuse ourselves by saying we are rude, naturally, but christianity refines. It is a system of refined feelings, and
does not harbour or justify what is uncouth. This minister of the assembly not only unfolds the light of the assembly in Ephesians but embodies the grace of the system and the tender feelings that belong to it in dealing with what we might think of as a small affair - the matter of a runaway slave. Our spiritual greatness in the realm of divine things lies, not only in unfolding the glory of heavenly counsels, but in radiating the spirit of the system and bringing others on to that basis. I would dwell on this because, if we are to help one another, it is not done on the basis of principle only, which is right in its place, but on the basis of what we are substantially as filled with the fruits of spiritual experience.
In the previous epistle the apostle spoke to his child Titus in relation to a set of different conditions, showing how balance marked him. In the epistle to Titus he does not bring in the tenderness of love's expressions, nor the personality that he brings in in the epistle to Philemon. He says, for example, "For there are many and disorderly vain speakers and deceivers of people's minds" (Titus 1:10). He uses no uncertain language in dealing with principles of evil. There is no use of saying we must pour in the tenderness of the system in dealing with evil: there must be balance. He says, "Who must have their mouths stopped" (verse 11). And again he says, "For which cause rebuke them severely" (verse 13). In such conditions we have Zenas the lawyer and Apollos mighty in the Scriptures brought in, but when we come to Philemon, it is not Zenas the lawyer or Apollos mighty in the Scriptures. You do not secure a brother by arguing the pros and cons of the case merely.
Here we have Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, fellow-workmen, not that Zenas and Apollos were not, they were all essential and an integral part of the system. In settling the tender relations between brothers it is, "I exhort thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, once unserviceable to thee, but now serviceable to thee and to me: whom I have sent back to thee: but do thou receive him, that is, my bowels". Dear brethren, may we be helped in regard of spiritual substance in such matters as this in our localities and be more able to radiate the glory of the system in adjustment of relations with one another. Paul's ministry can rebuke, can speak sharply when needed, but can express all the feelings that have come to light in the mediatorial system.
"Wherefore having much boldness in Christ to enjoin thee what is fitting, for love's sake I rather exhort, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also prisoner of Jesus Christ. I exhort thee for my child ... whom I have sent back to thee: but do thou receive him, that is, my bowels". We have often seen the bringing in of this and that scripture in a cold, unfeeling way, to settle matters when perhaps the bringing in of the radiancy of the glory of the system, as seen in such a vessel as Paul, might have saved a delicate situation that sometimes arises - as in this scripture. Paul might have said he had enough to think about. What about Philemon and Onesimus? Let them work it out themselves; how often that marks us; but Paul comes into the matter in the wealth of refined spiritual experience, as substantially full of the knowledge of God, and uses his weight to bring about the enjoyment of these relations which are so refined
and precious. May the Lord help us more in regard to this side of the economy.
Now I want to finish with another feature, and one would speak humbly as to it. But I think we all would like to know more about it. Paul is speaking of an experience; it is not theoretical, or academic, or taught through the ministry, but he is bringing into the local position at Corinth the wealth of an experience through which he had gone. He says, "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven". It is as though heaven is so delighted with this kind of a man, a man who knew what it was to turn circumstances to such good account, that heaven can take him on. If we are found in the way, God will take us as far as we allow Him, just as Paul was taken. He was caught up; he did not go up. There was no earthliness, no worldliness or influences of the world holding this man down. No, he was caught up! Ezekiel was caught up by a lock of his hair. In Ezekiel 7 there is reference to the baldness of those who made much of wealth; they have no hair: such could never be caught up. But Ezekiel, who was not bald, had hair by which he could be caught up. I am alluding to spiritual life. If spiritual life is damaged by material things, in which is the life of the world, we will never be available for such a glorious experience as this. Paul was so light, materially speaking, that he could be caught up. The power of gravity could not hold him down; it might with some of us. Paul says, "I know a man". Think of him bringing this into a local assembly, as though he would say to the brethren,
'There it is'. What a treasury he is! He could bring into the assembly, not just what was unfolded to him in the way of divine counsel from a sovereign standpoint, but what he was as developed in manhood in Christ. He had to speak to those at Corinth as to babes in Christ, but in that environment he brings himself forward as a man, and such a one caught up to heaven. Dear brethren, what wealth he brought into that locality! What attractiveness!
I might say, 'I got a wonderful touch in that book I read the other night'. Thank God for that, but what kind of a touch have we had on this line of "a man in Christ?" "Such a one caught up!" What influence that would have in our cities! What power in the service of God! That is not mere words in our care-meetings or in assembly-meetings. Think of the substance lying behind "such a one caught up to the third heaven". What blessed knowledge he would bring out from such a realm to fill out in substantiality what he had to face in the position down here!
May the Lord help us in regard to what has been suggested: substantiality in regard to power with men, or in adjusting matters in brotherly love, or in bringing forward what we have in the way of spiritual experience as enriching the testimony.
Vancouver, April 1944
S McCALLUM
Acts 26:22, 23; Isaiah 6:1 - 8; Isaiah 7:3, 4, 10 - 14; Isaiah 38:1 - 6; Isaiah 39:3 - 6
I have been thinking of the need of help from God in regard of this meeting tonight, and so I have read the scripture in which Paul says, "Having therefore met with the help which is from God, I have stood firm unto this day". Everyone of us will readily admit that the day is one in which help is needed. I have particularly in mind our making use of help from God, and the results that come from it. If we are to be in the testimony, continuing in spiritual vitality involving personality and spiritual quality, it is essential that we meet with the help which is from God.
Now the one who spoke these words was the apostle Paul. What personality, what spiritual quality, are to be taken account of in that vessel! And he attributes all to this great fact of having met with the help which is from God. He met with other things, too, but he was not necessarily affected by them. In Philippi he met with one who had a spirit of Python, who represented what would hinder, not help. But having obtained the help which was from God he was able to continue. And dear brethren, there is help from God now to meet this kind of thing. The great enemy of the testimony knows every device to use as he moves to hinder us if he possibly can, but the great thing is to be in the position and the circumstances in which we can meet with
help which is from God, for we need it. Paul met this terrible thing at the very entrance of the testimony into Europe. He met it as he came out of Lydia's house! I would call special attention to that sister's house. "A certain woman, by name Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, heard; whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14). The house was baptised and Paul was constrained to remain there, and it was as coming out of that house, "as we were going to prayer that a certain female slave, having a spirit of Python, met us". I mention that because if we are not garrisoned by help which is from God it is possible that we might be entirely upset and deranged by the scheming activities of the enemy. He knew the form the truth was taking in Paul's ministry and intended to upset it; but though Paul was distressed, the testimony went forward in power. So that as Paul stands before king Agrippa he says, "Having therefore met with the help which is from God, I have stood firm unto this day". And that is what is needed today. The current of this world is fast leading to apostasy and we need the help which is from God. And in reality we are surrounded with it, for the Lord Jesus is on high for us and the Holy Spirit is down here, and we have the saints and the fellowship and the ministry!
Now the scriptures in Isaiah show by example how we may make the most of divine help, or how we may profit but little from it, or how we may not profit at all. The three persons of whom I have read all met with help which is from God. Isaiah got the most possible gain out of the help available. He tells us, "In the year of the death of King
Uzziah, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple". And then he tells, in detail, of the glory of that scene and the effect it had upon him. He said, "Woe unto me! for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips". He was having to say to the scene of God's presence, and he got a very definite sense of his own condition and state. This is greatly needed with us as we have to do, in the most intimate way, with the things of God and the realm in which God is known. The presence of God is holy! And it is essential that our moral state should be discovered to us. We cannot profit from the help that is coming from God if the springs of our moral being have never been touched. As Isaiah is in the holy environment of the presence of God, whose train fills the temple, he has the sense that he needs help. And with the flood of light in our day and the wonderful privileges that belong to us in serving God in His very presence, it is essential that our moral springs should be judged. Our moral state must be discovered. But let us not be afraid, for the position is filled with agencies of help! We do not have to go far, as Romans 10:8 says, "The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach". Someone here may have a concern as to his state. You do not have to go far for help, it is near to you. Isaiah did not have to go out of that holy sphere. And in the assembly help is all around us. Isaiah said, "Woe unto me! for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips". I want to stress thus the necessity of the discovery of moral state with us, for we may unconsciously take a position of not needing help. We may not be sensible of needing help. Peter, good
brother that he was, said to the Lord; "Thou shalt never wash my feet" (John 13:8). But, dear brethren, such a statement as that needs sifting. "Jesus answered him, Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me". It is a great thing to accept help, and to make the most of the help that is given. When Isaiah said, "Woe unto me! for I am undone", one of the seraphim flew to him, and he had in his hand a glowing coal. I want you to notice the urgency of this matter - how help came at once! So if any of us is suffering from unjudged conditions these agencies of help are available. From God's side the channels are clear, but from our side they are often stopped up. But the Lord would help us, for He desires that we go in for the best that He has in mind for us. He will take us as high as we are prepared to go, but dear brethren, we need help. So it says here, "And one of the seraphim flew unto me, and he had in his hand a glowing coal, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar". That represents help from God for Isaiah, and it is a challenge to us whether we are prepared to be thus served in the way of help when moral state is discovered and help is needed. Isaiah is in perfect submission to the help as it comes; "he made it touch my mouth". Isaiah had been speaking of the uncleanness of his lips. But the glowing coal which had been taken with the tongs from off the altar was made to touch his mouth. What a word that is! Our mouths - they need to be touched for the service of God in whatever form it takes. Isaiah was sent to Ahaz and Hezekiah and many others, but before he could serve them and be of help to them it was essential that his mouth should be touched. And we all need our mouths
touched in this way if we are to serve rightly. We cannot serve with unholy lips.
Now I want to point out that Isaiah, as having been helped, is available to help others. Because we are present at the meetings does not necessarily mean that we are available. There is a service to be performed and help has been dispensed, and Isaiah is ready for it. He says, "Here am I; send me". But we may avail ourselves of the help that is coming from God and not be available to do what God has in mind. Do we hear the query, "Who will go for us?" Isaiah says, "Here am I; send me". He did not wait for the seraphim to tell him to go. The work had to be done and it was difficult work, too. He was to bring home to the people of God a message that was not very pleasant. Do we turn away from this? Or do we make the most of the help which comes from God and do what He wills to be done? "Here am I; send me". What a word! Isaiah's moral state was discovered, help was given and was used, and the outcome is, "Here am I; send me".
Now a word as to Ahaz. His history shows how we may be surrounded with the most wonderful channels of help and be in the midst of the most wonderful environment and never profit from it. Such was Ahaz. He was served by Isaiah, a wonderful personality, who met him at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field. What surroundings of help for Ahaz! Isaiah was there to help this brother. He was fresh in the current of the help which he had received from God and was ready to help others, to be a channel through which that help could flow. Ahaz was surrounded by help. Think of the
refining process that is suggested in the fuller's field. And Isaiah was to take his son. His whole house is in the matter. His son is in it. His wife is in it; and she is called a prophetess. What a word to the sisters, for they too can be available in this great service of the help which is from God. Isaiah's wife would not be engaged with mere gossip, but would be ever ready to speak of the help which is from God.
Well, Ahaz was surrounded by all this help and when the prophet spoke to him he would not ask for a sign from God. It seemed rather pious. Taking the matter casually we might say that Ahaz was a pious man. But let us look into the matter. What underlies this pious expression? Does it mean anything? "Ardent lips, and a wicked heart, are as an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross" (Proverbs 26:23). Laban was like that. He says to Jacob, "Thou art indeed my bone and my flesh" (Genesis 29:14); it was a pious utterance indeed, but it must be weighed. We must not be casual. While we are to have confidence in one another and we must have confidence in one another, yet we are to have a judgment about each. And what does this amount to in regard to Ahaz? As we go into his history we find that he removed the lavers from off the bases and took the sea from off the brazen oxen in God's house. He was the kind of brother that would do away with the purifying and cleansing processes. No wonder he did not avail himself of the upper pool or the fuller's field! That kind of person cannot receive the help which is from God for he does not want it. He interfered with the great administration of cleansing and purifying; and although surrounded by help
from God, and having the great prophet Isaiah available, yet he profits not at all by all this. It is an entirely negative picture, as far as Ahaz is concerned.
Now, in Hezekiah we have one who profited in some measure from the help which was available to him. He failed later and received further help, but again he failed. The need of help, if we are prone to vacillate, is very great. We see Hezekiah experiencing great victory; then we see him weeping as having to face the will of God concerning him. Then he gets help again, only to succumb to the social side of the world as represented in the princes of Babylon. This, dear brethren, is a very humbling matter; one which we need to be concerned about. We need to stand firm. The apostle says, "Having therefore met with the help which is from God, I have stood firm unto this day". Standing firm is what is needed. Isaiah was such a man, but Hezekiah yielded. Think of his earlier history! We are told, "Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah" (Isaiah 37:14). Think of the help that he had as he did that! What an impression one would get from the part he would take in the service of God or in the prayer meeting! What priestly power he had with God! And yet, when it came to facing the will of God which involved his leaving things here, he turned his face to the wall and wept. But he got help again - the figs were used. Think of the slow painful process as the figs were applied to the boil! But then, he got help and he wrote a composition: "The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness" (Isaiah 38:9). But then he
succumbed to the influence of the Babylonish princes. Satan moved through this avenue and Hezekiah succumbed. According to Isaiah he never recovered from this. We hear no more of him in this book, save the word from Jehovah involving Israel's overthrow, and his own words: "Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken ... for there shall be peace and truth in my days" (Isaiah 39:8). May we be like Paul and Isaiah who made the most of the help available. Let us be concerned, therefore, that there may be full results from meeting with the help which is from God.
Winnipeg, April 1944
James 2:25; Acts 8:34, 35; Luke 20:35
These three scriptures will suffice to introduce the subject in mind, which is: another way, another man and another world. As together we have been enjoying real Christianity through the ministry, pure ministry from God and from Christ by the Spirit, which has affected each one of us. Our minds have been set in motion in the way of making holy committals to be more heavenly, and our affections have been stirred by the Spirit of God so that these holy matters shall be in our souls, not only in our minds, as we have had it, but in our souls, in our affections, our emotions moved by the great truths of Christianity. So that these scriptures came to mind to speak of tonight with a view that all of us here should be happy and restful and satisfied. God has introduced a system by which the human heart can be perfectly satisfied. There is no lack in that system. There is no need to go outside it for satisfaction. It is perfect and complete.
So I would speak first on another way. There are many ways in the world, some dark and devious and corrupt, but Christianity involves one way: the way. A synonym of Christianity in the book of Acts is, "The way". There were those who were of the way. So that James says of Rahab that "she had received the messengers and put
them forth by another way". The geography of that way is not recorded in this epistle, but it is a spiritual way. It is not an ordinary way, as Christianity is not an ordinary way. It is different; it is another, and yet withal it is "the way". So the Spirit of God through James records this great matter, that having received the messengers she put them forth by another way. In actual history, as you will remember, these two spies came to her house on the wall. They came to spy out Jericho. Great matters were in hand though obscurely performed, and yet not so obscurely that the enemy did not discern their coming; but he did not discern their going. He saw them coming but he did not see them go because the going back involves another way; and one trusts we might get help tonight on our goings back, that we might return another way. The messengers were going back; the eunuch, in the second scripture read, was going back, and now the inquiry tonight is, How are you and I going back? How are we returning? What did we have in mind in coming? Was it some social contact, or was it with the desire that we might be helped in this time of help when the windows of heaven are opened? As we have had it in these meetings, there is excess of grace that is operating towards us to help us on the heavenly line. She sent them forth another way. What comes to light as they were in her home is that she hid them, and that is the test of this other way: being hidden. Christianity involves hiding. True Christianity involves being hidden. This is the hidden way; the vulture's eye has not seen it; the lion's whelp has not trodden it; but, dear brethren, it is God's way. If I seek a reputation in it and seek a name in it, that is just the ordinary way, the world's
way. The way of prestige and of fame is to be seen and to be acclaimed, but this way is the way out of the world through Jordan.
So it says in Joshua that Rahab hid the messengers under the stalks of flax. The basic idea was there in her house; the basic element of purity was there even with such an one, and as the matter proceeds we discover that not only has she flax but she has a cord. The basic material now is being utilised. It is a cord to let the messengers down. It is part of the way; the men were hidden, they were let down and they were sent. She sent them to the mountains to hide three days - it is a Colossian position. She was taking on the features of a Colossian saint. She had the idea of being hidden, and that is one of the most fundamental teachings, I believe, dear brethren, in the Christian position, that we are not seeking to be great in this world; we are not seeking advancement unduly. If my work is thoroughly done and I come under the observation of my employer and he advances me, that is one thing; but we are not living, studying and anxious that we shall make a mark here. The "other way" would repudiate such a thought. It is to hide; it is to cross the Jordan; it is to be identified with Christ in His death. It is being hidden with Him; to come up with Him, indeed; to appear now in another light and in another world.
So these spies return another way; and these meetings, I believe, have tended towards this line. We have, I trust, a different outlook; we are not looking towards the world. Our faces are not set towards Egypt, or even towards the earth. There has been a change, another way has been
opened up to us: the way of surpassing excellence, indeed, the way of love. It is a hidden way. These meetings have not been published in the newspapers, nor our comings together. There is no idea of delegates, no idea of publicity. That is the ordinary way, but Christianity is the spiritual way, another line, and so Jericho comes down. The hidden way really reduces the world. That is, it does not do it now publicly, but to faith the world has been brought down. They say, 'We cannot understand you', or 'You are not like other people'. Nor should a Christian be like other people; not that we study to be different or peculiar; that dishonours Christ; but then, our objects are different. Our objects are in another world, connected with another order of man, and there is reproach on the name of Christ here. If one of His professed followers is just like one of the world, following in the way of the world, that never brings the world down; he may go down with it. Saved, as it says, so as by fire. But the sequel of this way involves that the world is brought down and that is in truth just what happens for faith. The world is reduced. Is it so? Is it really so to us tonight that the world, to faith, has been brought down? That Jericho has been brought down?
Well now, there must be more than the way. Christianity, as I said, affords scope for the renewed mind to operate. To the new man Christ is everything and in all. So the eunuch was returning too. He had come up to Jerusalem to worship and now he is returning. It says that he was reading. "And the passage of the scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he
opens not his mouth". He might may, 'What kind of man is this?' And he does enquire. He says to Philip, as he sits up with him in his chariot, "I pray thee, concerning whom does the prophet say this?" Who does the prophet speak about but Jesus? Who do all the prophets speak of but Jesus? They all spoke of Christ. "Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these" (1 Peter 1:11). He was speaking of the sufferings of Christ; a Man who was not insisting on His own rights, or His own way; who was committing Himself to God; who was trusting God. "In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth". I can well understand, and all of us here I believe can understand, how it was that the eunuch would puzzle over the writer. He does not know: so he says, "I pray thee, concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself ... ?" Is Isaiah talking of himself? If I talk of myself I am not truly representing the way. The prophet was speaking of Jesus. He was speaking of another Man. Dear brethren, that other way must be filled out in the graces and excellence of another order of man. This is the order of man: a Man who is going to the wall; a Man who is not defending Himself; who is humiliated and in His humiliation His judgment is taken away, and it would appear that He is to have no generation. The enquiry is made, 'Who shall declare it?' If the Ethiopian eunuch could be here in Montreal tonight he would see a generation who, in some little way, is declaring that generation, for we are
of Christ. We are of His order. We are saved in the power of His life and we are of Him. We belong to Him. So the urgency is that some of these features which mark that Man should mark us. His life was taken from the earth, involving that He is elsewhere. He is not on the earth. He has died! He died, was buried and He has been raised. Now He has a generation after His own order. They are persons like Him. That is, as I understand it, I should be more like Christ in a detailed way. And so we have the beautiful suggestions as to the mouth of Elijah on the mouth of the Shunammite's son; his eyes upon his eyes, his hands upon his hands, that there might be correspondence in a detailed way with the heavenly Man.
Well, God was operating in this eunuch. He may have gone to Jerusalem in just a religious way, for this is a religious setting. He had come up to worship; he is a worshipper. I suppose he had heard about Jerusalem and the glory of God and His temple there, but he is returning now and as he goes back to his country his thoughts are not about the glory of Jerusalem and the glory of the temple but about One who was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. Something by the Spirit of God was operating in that man. He was born anew. Had he received that in Jerusalem? Had he got that from the priest in the temple? They would be going on with their services, I suppose, as before, but now another Man looms on the spiritual horizon of this eunuch. What does the chariot matter? What does all the glory of being a man in power under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, matter? How differently would he view her
treasure now. What treasure was he now carrying back! He had seen another Man. He had found another way. That is the prayer of each one of us, I believe, and our desire that we, having been here at these meetings, might have seen the features of Christ in the ministry; that the Lord Jesus might become very attractive to us as the heavenly Man; as One who was cut off down here but who lives above; One who has our affection now where He is. "For ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). Well, in the light of all that, he says, "Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?" He is going that way. We need much water. Philip's ministry had water; John the baptist's ministry had water, and we need much of it because there is so much about us that requires cleansing. We have so many natural traits about us which need to disappear so that we might move in this heavenly way, in the company of a heavenly Man; for that is what it is - the heavenly Man.
Now the last scripture involves another world. The Lord is speaking to the Sadducees and He says, "They who are counted worthy to have part in that world, and the resurrection from among the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage". The Lord thus introduces the idea of another world. Has God the power to fill another world with men like Jesus? He has, and He is doing it. Oh, you say, I know that heaven will be a wonderful place. We shall all go to glory through the finished work of Christ. But that is not what is in mind. That other world is not a future matter; it is to be enjoyed now. It involves, dear brethren, the fellowship, and I wish, as the Lord helps, to work this out in the early section of the Acts where there are certain
who return to Jerusalem having seen a Man go up to heaven. Elisha was urgent that he see Elijah go up. Elijah was urgent that he be seen. Elijah was not tantalising Elisha when he said, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so" (2 Kings 2:10). God is not putting impossibilities before us. God is saying, 'It is all so simple', and we are to prove it is all so real; that the fellowship of the saints, the fellowship of the people of God, is the only real thing here below; that scarcely anything else matters but the fellowship.
So these persons, who are spoken of in Acts as men of Galilee, are addressed by the angel, "Why do ye stand looking into heaven?" They were looking into heaven. You say, 'That is a good place to look', but the enquiry is, "Why do ye stand looking into heaven?" That is like coming to these meetings and saying we had a good time. We can look, but how are we looking? Are we in faith? Have we met here in faith? Has the Holy Spirit been free in us? Have we made resolutions or are we returning just as we came? The spies returned another way. The eunuch returned with another Man, with the hidden Man in his heart.
Now I want to say something about these men of Galilee. They are not seeking prestige here. They are not seeking personal advantage. They are in reproach. They had no religious status: they were men of Galilee, acknowledged so by the two men, and the inquiry is, "Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up ..". Note a indicates that heaven could scarcely wait another moment until He arrived. It was
not a passive entrance; it was an active, energetic movement. He was drawn. He could have gone by Himself, but, as it were, speaking reverently, heaven could not wait another moment until He returned. He was cut off here, cast out here, but for heaven and heaven's affections it was urgent that He should return, and so He was taken up. It says, "This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven", from you, not from Jerusalem but from you, as if there were no one else from whom He had been taken but them. Think of these men; accrediting them with such attachment to Jesus that He had been taken up from them, and that was so. Mary says, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him" (John 20:13). She was possessive - she had affection for Christ, and if we do not have affection for Him where do we stand in this other world? God is peopling that world with those who love Christ. And so they returned, it says: "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the mount of Olives" - beautiful circumstances introducing the fellowship, the partnership which Christianity involves.
Is there a lonely Christian here? An isolated one? A Christian who has not found a home? Why not? Why not have a home where affections proper to Christian fellowship operate? There is none really in a sense more miserable than a Christian without a home. Ecclesiastically there is public disruption. There are many Christians who have no home. They do not know what family affections are. They are prepared to pursue an isolated, lonely course just waiting for the Lord to come; maybe grieving over conditions in their church, as many are, but not
understanding that there is a wonderful holy fellowship, the fellowship of God's Son, where they can find a home, a real spiritual home with all the furnishings. All that is needed to make you happy, restful and satisfied is found there. We know what it is and I doubt, dear brethren, that we appreciate it enough. Do we appreciate the labours that men of God have faced, labouring in the truth that we might have what we have today in Montreal and New York, Toronto, St. John, and other little spots throughout the country?
So it says, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the mount of Olives". The allusion would be to what is spiritual. It is a mountain and it is the mount of Olives. There is no mount like it. It is where Jesus had been alone. "And by night, going out, he remained abroad on the mountain called the mount of Olives" (Luke 21:37). "Abroad" is a spiritual suggestion. The disciples, I suppose, were at home, but Jesus was there all night alone. The disciples had been in that spot and now they go back. We are not to go back unchanged to our local settings; we go back with a spiritual touch, or else what is the gain of these meetings? If there is not some spiritual impression that we take back as in the fellowship, take back to the brethren, to our small localities, we have missed the true value of the occasion. And so they return. It says, "And when they were come into the city, they went up to the upper chamber". It alludes to what is heavenly: there is elevation; it is heavenly and is occupied with heavenly persons, persons who have been with Jesus. Earlier there were those who had been with Him on the mount, who had
seen Him in His own environment and glory: "Being with him on the holy mountain", says Peter (2 Peter 1:18). He speaks of the glory, the excellent glory, and he meditates upon it and his affections are impressed. He speaks about the excellent glory and says, "He received from God the Father honour and glory" (verse 17). The whole situation is glorious, holy and heavenly.
Now these men are coming back and going up to the upper room to be with the brethren. That is outside of this world; it is "that world", really. The world suggests where persons can move about and can become satisfied; where you can have what you wish. The Christian world involves the fellowship, and if you have any other world our desires are towards you in prayer that you might discover that God has another world, not only another way and another Person, our Lord Jesus, but there is another world in which there is great latitude for movement, holy movement, where you will find the brethren. So they go up to the upper room "where were staying both Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew", etc. They were staying there. I believe the word literally means living there; that was home. That was their world. Ah, they had seen another Man and their vision had been filled out in the beauty of that Man. Now He has gone up to heaven and they say, 'What is there to live for now but that Man?' We are not to go to heaven yet. We may go any moment, but now it is not only to be looking into heaven, but working out down here what is heavenly, and that is the test: to work out in circumstances of the wilderness what is heavenly; to be heavenly here below. It will be no challenge
to be heavenly up there because we will be suited for it perfectly. We will have bodies of glory like Jesus; the atmosphere will be conducive. You could hardly think of not being heavenly in heaven. But then, am I heavenly down here? I believe that the Spirit is indicating to us that we should be heavenly down here. So as they returned to that world, so full of opportunity, it was to experience in the fellowship a holy liberty and holy joy. They returned and found there Peter and John and others staying with them. It says, "These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer". They gave themselves. That involves that if we are to be marked by the features of heavenliness we are to give ourselves to prayer.
Well, in closing I would like to impress on our hearts the blessedness of another way - the spiritual way, which gives freshness to us as Christians here, who are led by the Spirit, and then that that other Man whose personal glory burst upon the soul of the eunuch may be seen in increasing measure in our manner of life and conversation, and that we may be truly at home in that other world which is available to us in upper-room conditions where those who love our Lord Jesus are engaged with what is heavenly. May the Lord bless the word.
Montreal, July 1945
1 Kings 6:4; 1 Kings 7:1, 2, 4, 5; Daniel 6:10; Proverbs 7:6, 7; Acts 18:1 - 3, 24 - 28
I have in mind, dear brethren, to say a word as to the bearing of our houses. The house of God should underlie the thought of the household in a locality. We should have in mind the way in which the heart of our God is rejoiced as He finds His pleasure where He can rest, in a sphere where all those blessed, holy activities find an outlet and a response.
Solomon, you will notice, provides time in which the house is built. It becomes a complete idea, a finished product of spiritual exercises. Solomon was seven years building the house of God. But I have particularly in mind the verses we read and the distinct contrast between what is said as to the windows of the house of God and what may mark the windows of our own houses. The windows of our houses are to be open, speaking of the outlook of the saints in the locality in which they are found. The windows of the house of God were closed - having fixed lattices. It is a spiritual matter. In the house of God we are together and not concerned about the outside world. But we are concerned about providing restful conditions into which the blessed, Supreme God can come and find His delight and rest. We would provide conditions in which God can dwell.
He delights to dwell amongst us. He dwells in His sanctuary. His sanctuary is made up of living spiritual material with spiritual feelings and affections providing a place for Him. Material things are shut out. There are closed windows with fixed lattices. We are not going to disclose to the world or let the world find an entrance into the precious, holy atmosphere of the house of God. We are together to provide pleasure, satisfaction and joy for God, the blessed Supreme One.
Our houses are to be patterned after the house of God. They are to reflect in some way every holy feature of the testimony of God and of His workmanship. Solomon was thirteen years building his own house. As if, dear brethren, it was a great matter for Solomon. What must have entered into those years! He was building the house of God, but at the same time he was concerned about his own house. He would pattern his house according to the impressions received from God's house. The exercises of every brother should be for his house to be on this line, but it will cost him something. It is a matter of sacrifice and energy. We cannot have our houses according to God without paying for them in real sober exercise before Him. But what is our outlook? They must have windows and, dear brethren, Solomon is greatly concerned about his windows. He would have them a certain way to let in the light. He speaks of them specifically, saying, "And window was against window in three ranks" - as if, dear brethren, it is not only that the windows let in divine and heavenly light but there is the reflection of that light in the home. The light of the glory of God not only comes in, but is reflected. The light
comes in and finds an outlet in relation to men and in relation to God.
In the further scripture in Daniel we have opened windows. Daniel's window implies spiritual feelings and affections. What God is doing in regard of universal matters is reflected in spiritual feelings in the household. His were difficult circumstances, like ours today. The testimony was in reproach. And we are in reproach! Our households cannot be classified as belonging to the world. God has placed light in our dwellings, and we find ourselves in a position of reproach. Daniel knew reproach. It means suffering, and Daniel knew it. In such a day our houses are to be marked by an increased spirit of prayer. "And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime". Think of what that means! His upper chamber, and opened windows. It was an open matter. The idea of what is 'opened' is wonderful. These windows of Daniel's were never shut. His outlook was toward Jerusalem, although accepting the government of God that His people were where they were. We need right assembly feelings in our prayers; feelings for the people of God, not only in our own city, but wherever the interests of God are. God's people are in reproach, and I own them as my people.
So Daniel's house is used in relation to prayer, referring to what is priestly. This would enter into one's desires for the houses of God's people; that they may be marked by the spirit of prayer, especially in regard to the
testimony universally. Daniel helps us in this regard. What spiritual refinement is seen as our minds are held rightly in relation to the current features of the testimony. Not only on Monday night should our prayers and heart outgoings be heard, but here Daniel in his own house reflects the spirit of the prayer meeting. So Daniel's household continues. Not one year or two years, but fifty or sixty years.
When we come to Proverbs we have a further thought of the window. We get another side. Solomon is in his house and he looks out of his window and beholds a sorrowful sight. This is our attitude toward the city, the city in which we live. Do our compassions go out? Do we pray in connection with the gospel and its activities in the place in which we live? Solomon looks and sees one passing down the street not held in relation to God, but held in the chains of sin. He marks that. He uses his window not only as an outlook for the reproach of the testimony, the reproach of Christ, but he is marked by right spiritual feelings, godly feelings of compassion for others - the simple, held by the chains of sin. The house would be available to every sorrowful soul - to every matter that reflects the testimony of God. We long for additions in our localities. How will they come? Perhaps through our families. Thank God for the children of the saints that are added. But there is another way that addition may come. We are to hold ourselves available in our houses to souls really interested in regard of God, discerning when there is some evidence of the work of God and praying for it. Is that the kind of outlook we have from our houses, dear
brethren? If our houses are available in this way, God will come in and richly compensate us.
In the last two scriptures read we have Aquila and Priscilla. Paul comes to Corinth and finds them. They were in reproach, as it says, "just come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, (because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome)". They were the beginning of the local setting at Corinth. Paul goes to Corinth in the governmental ordering of God and finds this couple. And you can depend upon it that this house was marked by having windows. The windows of Aquila and Priscilla were heavenward and earthward. I mean that their house had that bearing. Wherever the work of God was in that city they were available. So it says, "And because they were of the same trade abode with them, and wrought. For they were tent-makers by trade". As to their business, they were tent-makers. They lived in a very simple way, and were not hampered by great things. God will come in to give us what is essential in our houses, but we do not want our households open to the features of this world. They were linked up with the public position of the testimony. They would hold things here lightly. We do not want to allow what is merely natural to dominate us; we hold things lightly. We are to hold our houses in relation to the house of God, at the disposal of the testimony, for the comfort and welfare of His people. We may not be here long. I do not think we shall be here long. Then let us fill out our days that our households may reflect what is heavenly; delighting in every feature of the work of God; our houses available to one another, not having particular friendships, or selecting the company of some and not others, but held in relation to the work of God.
And then we have Aquila and Priscilla brought in in relation to Apollos. "A certain Jew, Apollos by name ... began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And Aquila and Priscilla, having heard him, took him to them and unfolded to him the way of God more exactly". Well, now, dear brethren, you see the spiritual activity of such a household. What a lot enters into such circumstances. Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos home with them. And the object was to unfold the way of God more exactly to him. What he would learn in that house, as found with Aquila and Priscilla! Priscilla had her part in it. The wife, the sister, enters into the matter. She is there ready to contribute to the wealth of the occasion. They take Apollos and unfold to him the way of God more perfectly. Think of what was seen through the windows of the house of Aquila and Priscilla! Look what they brought into their house, and see what went out. "And when he purposed to go into Achaia, the brethren wrote to the disciples engaging them to receive him, who, being come, contributed much to those who believed through grace. For he with great force convinced the Jews publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ".
Well, dear brethren, we would desire that our households might be available for the extension and enlargement of the work of God, with our windows open, available to receive every divine impression, and our outlook such that others may be attracted and blessed.
From Notes of Readings in New York and Other Ministry, 1945
Genesis 22:4 - 24; Exodus 33:18 - 23; Exodus 34:5 - 8; 2 Samuel 15:30 - 32
In each of the scriptures read there is the thought of worship. It is with this in mind that they have been selected, counting upon the Lord to see how experience and pressure are intended to enrich the service of God. The great end that God has in mind is that we might become true worshippers. We are told that the Father seeks worshippers. He seeks them! He seeks persons who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. The apostle Paul told the Philippians that "we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh" (Philippians 3:3). We worship by the Spirit of God. But we are also to be regulated by the truth. We are to worship in spirit and in truth.
It is in mind that as we come under the teaching and yield ourselves to the truth, we begin to know something of worship as related to the truth which experience works out in our souls. Experience thus gives substance; it adds volume and depth to our response to God, and that is what He is seeking, worship in spirit and in truth. There is the need for drawing near to God in the power of the Holy Spirit, for God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. We must have a sense of who God is: "He that draws near to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who seek him out" (Hebrews 11:6).
If He is known to us as God, His will must carry through; our welfare physically, personally, financially or otherwise, will be secondary; the will of God is paramount! What He says must carry, as it did with Job. He said, "Behold, if he slay me, yet would I trust in him" (Job 13:15). He knew God. He had said, earlier, "Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah" (Job 1:21). Do we know God as Job did? Should the wind strike the four corners of our houses, would we worship God? Could we worship God in the presence of the loss of all we possess? We can only do that as we know God as supreme! But pressures are intended to bring about enrichment of the service of God.
Do not think that I am holding out something impossible. We may never have the experience that Job had, but he had it and he worshipped God in the presence of terrible disaster. But then, God has not withheld His best. He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. So that the question may well be raised in our hearts, Are we withholding anything from Him? This query brings me to our scripture about Abraham. God put him through a very extended exercise. The features of fatherhood are seen peculiarly in him. Both his names - Abram and Abraham - involve features of fatherhood. And yet he had no son. He wanted a son. God had said to him, "I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1). And Abraham said, in effect, 'If you would reward me, give me a son'. And God did just that! But think of the long years that Abraham had to wait until that desire was realised. As each day passed the feelings of fatherhood were being developed; his
desire was to embrace a son! And finally Isaac was born. What a joy it must have been when Abraham could say, 'My son', and Isaac would answer, 'Father'. Think of the happy relations between father and son! And then God spoke to Abraham. In principle, He said, 'I have given you a son whom you love; now I want him'. Jehovah had given, and Jehovah was about to take away. Can Abraham, in the presence of this say, 'Blessed be the name of Jehovah?' What does he say? When he came near the place where he was to offer up Isaac, he said to the servants, "Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship". Worship! Can we enter into this feelingly? It was a matter of soul experience with Abraham. He knew God!
It may be that in our experience we have been brought to extremity. It may have been at the bedside of a sick child. As the little body wastes away we realise that only God can help us. What can we do? Pray? Yes. But can we worship? I do not mean after healing comes in, but when there appears to be no hope. As he went to offer up Isaac, Abraham had in mind to worship. He piled the wood on the altar and bound Isaac on it and took the knife to slay him. And as he did it there was worship in his heart! No wonder that Jehovah said, "Abraham, Abraham!" What pleasure he must have given to Jehovah! We are to learn what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Abraham is a remarkable example of one who had learned that. He was prepared to go through with all that that will required. Why? Because he knew God. "I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you". What faith! He knew God and believed Him. He knew that God could raise Isaac
up from the dead. But Jehovah did not require him to go that far. He said, "Now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me". What a wonderful end, we might say. But that is not the end. Abraham has in mind to worship. And how is he to worship? It must be with some fresh apprehension of God. It is to be in a fresh understanding of the truth. He calls the name of the place Jehovah-jireh. "It is said at the present day, On the mount of Jehovah will be provided". What a fresh outshining of the truth! And in the full blaze of it Abraham offers the ram, caught in a thicket by its horns; he took it and offered it up for a burnt-offering instead of his son. Jehovah received His portion!
I would like to dwell, for a moment, on this great truth that on the mount of Jehovah will be provided. I would like to understand it better. But there is a peculiar touch in it as we consider the greatness of the One who, as the ram, was offered. Think of those horns of strength! Think of the idea of maturity as set forth in the ram! It suggests the thought of the Son of God. He is not seen as a Babe in John's gospel where the great idea of the Son of God is developed. "The Word became flesh" (John 1:14). What majesty! And as we see Him at the grave of Lazarus, where the Son of God was glorified, we see the power that the horns might suggest, in that word, "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43) "Marked out Son of God in power ... by resurrection of the dead" (Romans 1:4). What a scene of power! But we are told that the ram was caught in the thicket by its horns. And I would suggest that we must go to Gethsemane for this. The One whose power was manifested at the grave of Lazarus is
seen in agony in prayer. "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: take away this cup from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:36). The horns are caught in the thicket of the divine will. The burnt-offering is provided. The ram is offered. God gets His portion.
Well, I pass on to Moses. It is not now a matter of personal or individual exercise, but a great assembly crisis. Moses had been on the mountain with God, and while there the people had turned to idolatry, and it was a question of how the divine Presence could be secured. Moses is concerned about the glory of the name of Jehovah, and about the promises to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. He is not an opportunist. Jehovah had proposed that He make of Moses a great nation. Instead of the children of Israel it would be the children of Moses! Satan was not making this offer. It was Jehovah! But Moses was concerned about the name of Jehovah - the testimony. And we can have no other motive in our hearts as we face assembly exercises! It is a question of how the divine presence can be held and the people preserved. Let it never be said, "Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land" (Numbers 14:16).
Moses acted for Jehovah. He pitched the tent outside the camp. God came down. The glory appeared. But before this the sons of Levi had slain three thousand in the camp. The righteousness of Jehovah had been maintained. And now the divine Presence is secured and the glory appears. The issue is settled, we might say. But Moses says, 'Show me Thy way, show me Thy glory'. He is concerned that there may be some fresh accession of light - some fresh feature of the truth as the result of the exercise. Jehovah
says, 'You cannot see My face. I will show you My hinder parts'. And so, at the divine appointment Moses went up the mountain and Jehovah came down and stood beside him and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. It was the name of Jehovah as applied to this crisis. Not that it applied to this crisis alone, but the crisis had brought out the occasion for this disclosure, and Moses, as sympathetic with Jehovah in the crisis, was prepared for this accession of divine light. "Jehovah passed by before his face, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:6, 7). I believe we can see how this name relates to the crisis. Slow to anger. But nevertheless His anger burned. Moses interceded, he reminded Jehovah of His promises. Jehovah showed mercy - keeping mercy unto thousands. He forgave iniquity, transgression and sin. But He was not clearing the guilty. Stephen tells us that Israel was carried beyond Babylon because of their idolatry. There was evidently an unjudged state with some of the people. And this leads us to examine ourselves, for we may pass through assembly crises and not thoroughly judge the sin that is involved.
And so, as Jehovah's name was pronounced, "Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped, and said, If indeed I have found grace in thine eyes" (verses 8, 9). What an apprehension he had of Jehovah!
How he had expanded in the truth! And so he worships Jehovah in this fresh light as to His Person: "Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger", etc. Thus it is that the issues amongst us are to yield fresh knowledge of God as we are with Him in them and our capacity to worship in freshness - "in spirit and in truth" is enlarged. But if matters go unjudged we must remember that Jehovah is "by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation". So that we not only stand in danger of losing our way in the testimony, but may be storing up God's government upon our children! But Moses made haste and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped. This is the great end to reach in these matters.
Now I go on to David. It is not here a matter of the assembly in the wilderness. It is the day of kingdom glory in the land. David has been used of God in bringing about the divine pleasure. It is not yet the fulness of things, but the power to subdue all things is seen in David and that power has been wielded and Jehovah has been with him and his enemies have been overcome. But Satan is always ready to attack, and he used a basic weakness to cause David to sin, and David must reap the harvest of that sin in the government of God. First of all we read that with Absalom went two hundred men that were invited who went in their simplicity not knowing anything. That element is carried away first, falling prey, without exercise, to a wrong lead - an anti-christian lead! Over against this there is a brother who had just come into fellowship and he sees the issue
clearly and commits himself and his little ones to the position without reserve. We think, sometimes, that the newly converted and the young will be discouraged when trouble arises. But Ittai accepts David's challenge and commits himself wholly. He is prepared to go up and down with the king and to die with him if needs be. How often the way is pointed out in the greatest issues by some young man coming forward at the darkest moment of unrest in a meeting and asking to break bread. A man that came but yesterday. How can he be right? But he is right!
Well, David has to flee. And the priests come out after him bringing the ark. It is all right for an Ittai to come out after David, but it is another thing to carry the ark from its appointed place. We need to be careful. Jehovah had supported David. But He had not committed Himself unreservedly to David. Jehovah had used David to bring the ark into its place, but that place is not to be surrendered because David has to flee before Absalom. And David is quick to discern, and says to Zadok, "Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall find favour in the eyes of Jehovah, he will bring me again, and show me it, and its habitation" (2 Samuel 15:25). Jehovah does not commit the testimony to any mere man. Joshua learned this when he asked the Man with the drawn sword if he was for Israel or for their enemies. Nay, said he, As captain of the armies of Jehovah am I now come. But what will become of the ark? It is well to see that we are brought into the testimony, through grace, but we are not indispensable to the testimony. The Lord Jesus said that the very stones would cry out if the disciples held their peace. The ark was not
overwhelmed in the temple of Dagon. Nor will it be in Jerusalem because David has had to flee. "From eternity to eternity thou art God" (Psalm 90:2). The position is impregnable. Well, David has all this in his heart, even though he is being driven out. And so we see him ascending the mount of Olives, weeping as he goes, having his head covered, and barefooted. David, the governmental hand of God is upon you! What will you do now? He worships! "When David had come to the summit, where he worshipped God ..". How he stands out here. As accepting the government of God, but nevertheless holding to the choicest thoughts of the rights of God, he worships. What must that have meant to Jehovah? Not only is David accepting his governmental stroke, but he is worshipping. From this point on, the outcome is certain. David is in command. His moral greatness outshines the darkness of the governmental storm. He is a worshipper! And his worship is coloured by his acceptance of God's government.
Think of the apostle Paul in the inner dungeon at Philippi. What had he done to deserve such treatment? His back had been lashed and his feet were fast in the stocks. He had but answered a cry of need to come over to Macedonia to help. But now he is imprisoned. What are his exercises? Would he go back in his thoughts to the time when he had caused men and women to be cast into prison because they were followers of Christ? How often he must have remembered that! He tells us that he was not fit to be called an apostle because he had persecuted the assembly. And now he is in prison! But he rises above the pressure.
He and Silas pray, but in praying they praise God. How rich would that service of praise be! As we measure ourselves in the light of these scriptures are we not ashamed of our poverty in praise and worship? Well, the Lord is prepared to help us in these matters.
It becomes increasingly evident to us that the truth must be worked out in us if we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. But what infinite skill is used in our formation! And the Lord is helping us to see that the end of a matter is not reached until we acquire a fresh disclosure of Himself, which leads to an increased ability to worship. It is a question of knowing God. We are prone to repeat expressions unduly in speaking to divine Persons in praise. Our language should not be stilted. And if we are with Him in the exercises which are constantly coming up we will be sustained in constant freshness each Lord's Day. Hymn 72 refers to God as, 'Our God whom we have known'. We are learning Him here in pressure, and in some little measure we are being formed to sound His praise. The praises of His people form His habitation, and will do so eternally.
Los Angeles, December 1945
1 Peter 3:1 - 7, Ephesians 5:25 - 33; Acts 18:24 - 28; Romans 16:3, 4
The thought in mind, dear brethren, is to speak a little about the grace of life. In our scripture in Peter it is connected with a husband and a wife. We may adorn our houses with pictures and ornamentations, but I believe the Lord would remind us that one great essential adorning to the setting up of the house is the spirit of the grace of life. The grace of life is what heaven desires to see coming to light in the young wife and the young husband. While the young ones are in mind particularly, none of us is beyond this. I feel afresh impressed as to the grace of life coming to light in regard to a brother in the great feature of obedience. But many of us may not have been obedient. Oh, dear husbands and brethren, let us search our hearts! How oft-times have we been disobedient to the word, to what the Scripture says? It is a searching matter for us as to current ministry - the maintenance of what is holy in regard to the fellowship. Mixed marriages - have we been yielding? Radios - have we been yielding? The question of unions - have we been yielding? Have we been disobedient to the word? I am seeking to engage our minds with the possibilities that lie within the scope of the manifestation of the grace of life, and the healing and recovery that can be effected by it. You say, 'How is it done?' Well, Peter was a
family man, and he would help us and encourage our hearts in regard to this. He must have known something of this experimentally. If a husband, a brother, be disobedient to the word he may be gained, he may be won, he may be recovered by the conversation of the wife. It is not the speaking, mark you, according to the footnote, but the evidence of the grace of life. Oh, beloved sisters, how have we sought to work out this great divine principle in relation to our erring husbands? I know it entails the presence of the Lord, but let me encourage your heart, dear sister.
The evidence of the grace of life can be the most effective thing in your relationships with your husband, affecting both the natural and the spiritual phases of our lives. There need be no compromise of what is naturally proper. That is prevalent in Christendom, but, dear brethren, I would to God that afresh it would be placed on our spirits that what God has joined together we should have no part in nullifying or dividing. Peter has before him the spirit that should mark a sister who is expressive of the grace of life. The grace of life could never come to light apart from a brother or a sister having this spirit. It is a wonderful thought - the grace of life. But it is a sister who is motivated by the power of this meek and quiet spirit who can be used to help her erring husband. Speaking reverently, the grace of life would never fail in its efforts in recovery if the Spirit of God were operating through us. How lashing we can be with our tongues! How unsympathetic we can be with one another! But the grace of life is not that; it is our manner of life. Romans speaks to us of the law of the spirit of life - the great sense of what has
set us free; but the grace of life is the manner of it; how it operates in us.
Dear sisters, I appeal to you tonight. Few have husbands who do not err, but here is a wonderful means of healing and recovery that may operate in every sister relative to her husband - the grace of life, the spirit of it. He comes into the house and takes account of his wife - that sister imbued with the Spirit - going about her duties in power, ministering to her husband. What an honour, what a dignity! And furthermore Peter says that "they may be gained without the word by the conversation of the wives, having witnessed your pure conversation carried out in fear". We brothers are often unwise, but there is perfect safety in this formula, dear sisters. You will never err on this line. No one will catch you in your words in this manner of life. It is the grace of life, and your erring husband, taking account of that and being held by it, will be recovered, not only as a husband but recovered to the assembly. Think of a sister with the ability to recover her husband to the truth of the assembly and all that that means! Would a husband not value such a wife? Indeed he would! What would God think of such a wife, of such a sister? Peter tells us - the adorning, the furnishings, which in the sight of God are of great price. Precious furnishings indeed! And then it goes on to say, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward one of tressing of hair, and wearing gold, or putting on apparel; but the hidden man of the heart". This word is to sisters: "The hidden man of the heart!" A sister may have a husband, but she has a hidden Man in her heart, none greater than He! It is what governs
the sister in relation to what is spiritual as she maintains the natural side. But the prosperity of what is spiritual lies in the hidden Man of the heart - the great appreciation of Christ in glory and the wealth that is connected with Him as having the assembly in mind.
So it speaks of "the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price". Does it not afford encouragement to you, dear sister, that the grace of life operating in relation to your husband can afford something for the heart of God? Is that not wonderful? The grace of life operating in the sisters, moving in recovery, and resulting in brothers being preserved in obedience to the truth must be of value in the sight of God. What valuation have we put on it in its operations in the sisters who are wives? I would encourage and stimulate their hearts in the service, having Christ in mind, the hidden Man of the heart, to bring out assembly features in us who are husbands. The grace of life operates over against the principle of what is dead; it is the Spirit of God operating through us in what we do as well as what we say.
Now Sarah is referred to and then it says, "Whose children ye have become". That is, it is not what we are naturally. This is what we are as under the power and influence of the Spirit. Sarah is seen in relation to Abraham, whose children we also are as of the household of faith. That is basic and the positive side, so that as his children we take on his features, we are marked by having faith, and what is spiritual engages us. But it says of the sisters that they have become Sarah's children, and it is in relation to the household and subjection to their husbands.
So that we would have a wonderful household where a sister like this is found. I suppose, in figure, Proverbs 31 would be an answer to all this. It is worth reading from the view point of the working out of the grace of life. You do not have an idle woman there. She is a housekeeper, and that is what we need in our days. We need housekeepers, houses set up to be kept, and kept in relation to God, like the house of Obed-Edom. The ark remained with the family, they were in perfect complacency with Christ. So one would covet to have a house like that of Obed-Edom, where the Lord would be free, and be at home as coming in to bless.
Now, I will go on to speak to the brothers. The brother is in mind in this scripture, also. Six verses are allotted to the sisters, but one to the husbands. "Ye husbands likewise, dwell with them according to knowledge, as with a weaker, even the female, vessel, giving them honour, as also fellow-heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered". So that when the husbands, the brothers, are praying there would be support from the sisters, from wives who bear the features of the grace of life. Think of the furnishings connected with such households - "fellow-heirs of the grace of life". This scripture is based upon the fact that the grace of life has operated in a household - Abraham's house. It is wonderful to think of the possibilities that lie in it, for there is the danger of matters going outside of the household and causing damage if this grace is not operating. Matters should be worked out there in relation to God. Confiding in others may sometimes bring comfort, but this is a matter into which the Lord is brought and into which God is
brought so that the grace of life is operating effectively and there are no negative results in such a case.
In Ephesians the brother is also in mind. Three verses are allocated to the wives here, but there are many more to the husbands. "Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly". Dear brothers, this is for us. We speak of this scripture rightly in regard to Christ and the assembly, but the governing principles of it are not to be pictures on the wall, but the grace of life operating in us. Husbands are in mind. The subject is not dropped; it is carried right through to the end of the chapter, showing that the spiritual relationship between a husband and a wife has to be maintained; and here it may entail correction on the part of the wife, as the great example set out in the chapter would suggest. If, dear brethren, the grace of life has operated in our wives to bring about recovery in us, think of the greatness of Christ and the assembly, and the operating principles that we have in this section. It is not tongue-lashing. Some of us may be good at that. But the flesh in me will never gain anything in another but flesh; but the grace of life operating in a husband may effect a great deal. This principle governed the great apostle himself relative to the saints at Corinth. Things were done in the grace of life, so that, in principle, none were lost. We often refer to what Christ is doing, according to this chapter, but the exhortation is to husbands. Have I been able to help my wife on the principle of the grace of life. That is how Christ operates in relation to the assembly, "that it might be holy and blameless". It is the idea of subjection in Peter, but it is love operating here. There is subjection with the wife in this
chapter too, but it is love in the husband, operating in relation to his wife. "Husbands, love your own wives". I believe, dear brethren, that brings us to what is spiritual; how things have to be done. The Lord is the pattern for us in John 13 - how He did things; and we are to do them likewise, as He says, "If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also" (John 13:14, 15). The Lord did more than that. He washed their feet and He wiped them with the linen towel wherewith He was girded.
I am not speaking abstractly, dear brother and sister; I am speaking of things that may actually exist among us, where the grace of life has operated in the husband and wife. Moreover, dear brethren, think of our localities, and what prosperity would be in them if the grace of life were operating more freely. So that I referred to the Acts to give a concrete example of how the grace of life operated in relation to a brother who was mighty in the scriptures. It might be said that no one can refute such a brother; no one can contend with such a one as Apollos. But at the time he had not gone far enough in the ministry, in the word of truth. But there were a brother and a sister, and the grace of life was operating in them so that they could approach such a one and help him and stimulate him in his ministry. How many of us, dear brothers and sisters, dear husbands and wives, have been able to stimulate a ministering brother and to add to what he has? But Aquila and Priscilla, moving in the grace of life, were able to help him and to stimulate him.
I just close by referring to the passage in Romans where this same beloved brother and sister are referred to, and the grace of life is again seen as operating in them. This is how Paul himself would regard them; not only coming under the appraisal of heaven, but their value in the testimony appreciated by the apostle and by all the saints. Oh, might I encourage the dear brethren tonight! God is afforded pleasure by the grace of life operating in us, but then the apostle says, "Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus, (who for my life staked their own neck; to whom not I only am thankful, but also all the assemblies of the nations)". Why are we not known, dear brethren, among the saints? Paul says, "for my life". Think of the life of the apostle! How do you regard him? How do you regard his ministry? The apostle says, Prisca and Aquila "staked their own neck". Not like Reuben, who, to preserve Benjamin would say, 'I will give my two sons'. Not that! It was not a matter of sacrificing others for the sake of the testimony. The principle of surrender is our own neck. So that the ministry of the beloved apostle was continued and the blessing of it has reached down to our day and will be continued until the blessed Lord Himself comes, and these beloved brethren had part in that because the grace of life was operating in them. May the Lord bless the word!
Westfield, New Jersey, July 1946
S McCALLUM
John 20:11 - 16; John 1:35 - 39; John 11:19 - 27; John 21:15 - 17
It is before me, beloved brethren, to speak a word on the Lord's interest in each of us as it comes before us in John's gospel, especially having in mind the help that flows out from His service connected with that interest. For the sake of clarity I desire to enlarge on four questions that come out in the passages that I have read. The first, "Whom seekest thou?" the second, "What seek ye?" the third, "Believest thou this?" and the last, "Lovest thou me?" The first and the last are connected in a peculiar way with the person of Christ; the second with the divine dwelling place; and the third with the truth. I mention this at the outset, for I would desire to stimulate with all of us greater affection for God, and for Christ; greater interest in the saints; love for the saints; and greater interest in the truth; feeling the importance of each one of us understanding and knowing the distinctive place that we have individually in relation to this service of Christ. So that we are not just lost in a glorious entity, however great that entity is, but there is maintained in our souls the preciousness of our links personally with Christ as forming part of that great vessel, the assembly. I am sure that we all
need to see this distinctive place, and be concerned to enjoy it as in the affections of Christ; because the greater our link personally with Christ, and the more we enjoy intimacy with Him, the better able we shall be to enter upon and to lay hold of, and to enjoy, the truth in all its greatness as it is coming before us in our time. One of the most affecting and interesting things about John's ministry is the place that individuals have in it, and the place that the service of our Lord Jesus Christ has towards them, even to the extent of devoting a whole chapter to one who is the subject of the works of God, and the object of the tender interest of Christ, the Son of God. We would like to instil into every heart, especially of the younger men and women, a sense of the interest that the Son of God has in every one of us, and John brings before us in his gospel the wonderful character of the economy of love into which divine Persons having entered are serving the saints, with a view to their being brought on to the glorious spiritual and heavenly levels of the truth that John has in mind in his ministry.
There is nothing more affecting than to take account of the economy of love as it is formally brought before us in this gospel: "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand" (John 3:35). The Son is operating in the economy, having in mind the variety of our needs, so that we might be helped through the service that He has come to render in the place that He has taken in this
wonderful economy of love, with a view to the best results being secured in each of us. God has in mind that the best should be brought out in each of us, and we have humbly to admit that we have not always furthered the divine interest in this regard, perhaps even retarding and hindering the service of divine love, but the Lord would help us to see the gracious and tender character of His service in this gospel as He moves in relation to each one.
I begin with Mary in chapter 20, desirous that we might be freshly helped in taking account of this one often spoken of in the ministry. The questions that the Lord raises are a delightful feature of the Lord's service in love in John's gospel; their remarkable character and brevity, yet their pungency. Who can put questions like the Son of God? This first question to this heart capable of such affection, and expansion in relation to that affection, stands related to Himself personally. "Whom seekest thou?" It is interesting to see how the Lord brings up the question of person in this inquiry, not what seekest thou, but "Whom seekest thou?" Did He not know whom she was seeking? He did indeed, but He loves to bring out from us you see in answer to His probings and to His questions, language that, as framed upon the lips of His lovers, is so delightful to Him. It is one way that the Lord takes in John's gospel of bringing out things, and it is an important matter that things should be brought out, that language should be framed in regard to what we are thinking. Many of us like to keep
things within, which is good in certain settings, but it is a great matter that things should come out, and there is nothing that moves the affections of our Lord Jesus Christ more than words framed upon the lips of those that love Him. Think of what He said to His own, "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" (Matthew 16:13), and when He was told, He said to those around Him, His disciples, "But ye, who do ye say that I am?" (verse 15). Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (verse 16). What must that have been to our Lord Jesus Christ, and what must it be to Him now in the midst of the rising tides of apostasy, when Christ is being given up on every hand, to find those upon whose lips there can be framed suitable language that can give expression to His worth, that can express what He is in their minds, and in their outlook and in their affections.
What did it mean to David in the presence of the worthlessness of a Nabal, to find an Abigail, attached publicly to Nabal, yet in her heart with affection for David. Think of what it must have meant to him to find one who could give suitable expression to his moral worth and choiceness. In this she undoubtedly represents the result of the prophetic service of Samuel. Does it mean nothing to our Lord Jesus Christ at the present time? Indeed it does not, and I should like every one of us to have a sense of this. We may think that we are only but one of a great number, and not much to be taken account of, but we want to see that we have all individually a part in this
great matter. The assembly knows and understands Christ; what comfort that is to His heart; as David could say to Abigail, "blessed be thy discernment" (1 Samuel 25:33). It is much to Christ to find in the assembly that wonderful intelligence which rightly appraises His work, and His glory, and His incomparable grace. The fruits of the Holy Spirit's operations in the assembly are bringing about a choice living appreciation of this glorious Person, whose service we are now drawing attention to in this wonderful gospel. I would encourage every heart as to the delightfulness of this, the expression of love's language, in love's appreciation of Christ, which will not be deterred wherever oppressing and antagonistic conditions obtain. In one such as Mary of Bethany in that holy scene in John 12, despite the unsympathetic character of what was in the environment, in Judas, she was unhindered, and I would say to the young brothers and sisters, in our various localities, that if personal, hidden, intimate links with Christ are livingly enjoyed, there will be no deterring of the flowing forth of the heart's appreciation of Him, whatever the circumstances may be. We are far too ready to blame the circumstances we are in, and to blame others for hindering us. If our links with Christ were greater and better and more living, we should be more in the holy living current of all that belongs to the closing days of this dispensation.
I speak thus, dear brethren, feeling the importance of the development in our souls of secret
intimate links with Christ, the need of understanding better the white stone and the new name upon it, that no one knows save he that receives it and Him that gives it, (Revelation 2:17). It is not anything to be brought out and paraded in household talk, or the like, but what is inwardly cherished and not known by any but by the loved one, and the Lover, Christ Himself. It is important in our localities, that we pursue the truth and the teaching with all eagerness, giving ourselves to reading and the like, but it is equally important, dear brethren, and especially would I appeal to the younger brothers and sisters, that from the earliest stages of our spiritual experience, there be promoted and developed with us, these hidden links of holy intimacy with Christ, that will stand us in good stead in all the constantly recurring crises in the testimony. There is nothing that will hold us like personal links with Christ; if they were greater and more livingly enjoyed, the progress in the truth would be more manifest and apparent with every one of us. For we must admit, dear brethren, that it is hard going if links with Christ are not known personally. How the Lord values these! Think of how He tested those in John 6; the teaching was becoming very involved, as certain thought, but the fact of the matter was that they were not prepared to go forward in the teaching, and it says of them that they went away back and walked no more with Jesus. And Jesus turns to His own disciples, and He says, "Will ye also go away?" (verse 67). And oh! that answer of Peter's, "Lord, to
whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal" (verses 67, 68). What was it that held Peter despite all his failings and his weaknesses, which are recorded for us for our profit? It was his personal links with Christ, and I would say afresh to the young brothers and sisters, as well as to all of us, that in facing the working out of the teaching of Paul's gospel, and all that it means in relation to deliverance and salvation, there is nothing that will help us like personal links with Christ, because we may come to a time, maybe in the throes of deliverance, when we feel like giving up. We wonder whether we have any link with Christianity at all. We wonder whether we will be able to continue, but oh! the link with Christ, how it holds, amidst all the horrors of the darkness, connected with the analysis of good and evil within us! "Whom seekest thou?" says the Lord to Mary. He knew whom she was seeking, but He wanted to bring it out.
The Lord wants to bring things out with us, and when we speak, you know, things come out. It may be bad things, but it is well that they should come out, in certain relations, because thus we get help; and Mary got help as she gave utterance to what she had in mind. And in this passage there is a certain amount of cloudiness attaching to Mary. Great unfoldings are before the Lord, but there is a certain amount of cloudiness in Mary, and not only in Mary but in distinguished persons like Peter and John, and is it not so with ourselves at times, dear brethren? Where was the teaching of John 13, 14 and on to 17?
Where was it in the souls of Peter and John when they went to their own home, relaxing in their own home? That was not the place to relax, when the Lord had been unfolding, as some of us have been having it, the blessedness of the home of love above; they went to their own homes, but Mary stood without. The Lord is bent upon helping all of us, but He helps Mary particularly here, because she is standing by, as it were, ready to be helped. There is a certain amount of darkness there, love for Christ, but darkness; she needs to be enlightened; she needs help in her mind. She has a heart that loves Christ, and as we look around this audience, how many there are who are known to have hearts that love Christ, but maybe minds that need to be enlightened; for love for Christ without enlightenment is not everything, although some of us sometimes would make it everything. The assembly is marked by intelligence, and those that form it would be marked by intelligence, and Mary's mind is to be helped, as all our minds are being helped in relation to the truth, and the question is whether we are prepared to take in the truth, to be taught, and to be subject to the teaching.
Mary was ready for it; it is a great thing to be subject to light as it is presented to us as the man that we were referring to in John 9. He was a subject of the works of God. The Lord said to him "Thou" when he heard that he was cast out. What a chapter depicting the personal interest of Christ. The Lord hears that he is cast out, and He finds him and says,
"Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?" And this man's answer is, "And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?" (John 9:35, 36). I would appeal to every heart; we have been under the present choice ministry, but are we standing by ready to take in the truth, or are we building up a barrier of mental resistance to the truth as it comes to us? That is insubordination. The Lord would help us to take on the truth as it comes out, to accept it and to expand in the knowledge of it; for that is what the Lord has in mind. And as to John and Peter, where were their minds? Had they not been under the teaching? I am speaking guardedly, soberly, in regard to these two beloved men, but these things were set down in order that we might profit by them. Often those who have part in labouring among the brethren may need help themselves, as these two, who were inclined to settle down in a position. Had they not been under the teaching in the closing chapters connected with our Lord's finishing service in this gospel? Where were their minds? Where are ours? We have the mind, the thinking faculty of the Christ, the capacity to think rightly, but speaking from what I observe in myself, we are sometimes too spiritually lazy and indolent to employ this marvellous faculty to help us in the understanding of the truth. The Lord says, "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". There is no end to what love in our hearts for Christ
might do, but then a heart that is charged with love in this way needs to be enlightened; it is a question of intelligence, teaching, in regard of the matter. "Jesus says to her, Mary". Oh! what a word. To think, amidst the throng here that each one has a distinctive place in the economy of love, and in the divine mind, and in the Lord's heart. Think of the personal link here. "Mary", just a word you see; the Lord did not have to take fifteen minutes or thirty minutes to give a long explanation, just the word. She turned herself, and said unto Him, "Rabboni". Now who are we seeking in the meetings? Is it just the meetings? Is it just the brethren, all right in their place? But is the Lord before us, and have we hearts that are seeking after Him? We may have minds that need to be enlightened, but we are in the place where we will get enlightened. Are we prepared to be subject to the teaching that is coming to us in this relation?
Now I pass on to speak of the next one, "What seek ye?" We find two who are affected by one who is ministering, and whose ministry leads to Christ. What a great matter it is, that the ministry of all who serve should lead to Christ. Why should we project ourselves into the service, dear brethren? All true ministry that comes from Christ, must lead to Christ, and if we project ourselves into the ministry, and becloud the greatness and the glory of Christ, we shall not help the saints in finding Christ, and in finding the home of divine love. It is important that the ministry should lead to Christ, and that is where
John the baptist's ministry leads. John the evangelist is wonderful in speaking about John the baptist; while he does not belong to our dispensation, yet his language is remarkable, not only in serving and in ministry, in pointing to the Lamb of God here, but even when he is brought into an argument, his composure is maintained and he speaks of Christ. In chapter 3 there was a reasoning among certain of his disciples as to baptism, and John is brought into it, and how he speaks of Christ! You see it is not only what we are on the platform, but what we may be as working out things in relation to one another in ordinary conversation in our houses or elsewhere. John was not reflecting on his past experiences, or relating any memoirs of exploits in the work of the Lord, but everywhere you see him he is pointing to Christ, and that is where all ministry should lead. So these two that heard are led to Christ. How delightful this is! But the question is, "What seek ye?" The Lord puts this question, not whom seek ye? but "What seek ye"? And the Lord would bring that out, you see. At this moment what are we seeking? Not only whom but what?
The Lord wants to know what is in our minds. We have been under ministry; what are we seeking? What have we before us? These two can put it into words. What you want to know, or what you understand, or what you have, or what you think should be; put it into words. Many, especially those of us who are younger men, think we know much, but
it is a challenge to think of the scripture that we know nothing yet, as we ought to know it (1 Corinthians 8:2). So these men here are able to tell what they want. They say, "Rabbi". They pay deference to Jesus in this way: "Rabbi ... where abidest thou?" And He said to them, "Come and see". And the Lord would say that to us. There has been open before our souls in these meetings the wealth of that home of love, close to the Person of Christ, and our place in it. What a home it is! I am just referring to the principle of it suggested here; "Where abidest thou?" John has a way of presenting the Lord Jesus Christ, the person of Christ, which the human mind cannot follow. You need spirituality, the help of the Holy Spirit, to understand John's ministry. He speaks of the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. The natural mind cannot understand that, you see. Similarly he records that the Lord said to Nicodemus, "the Son of man who is in heaven" (John 3:13); the natural mind cannot take that in. He says to Philip and the others there, in John 14:10, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?" The natural mind cannot follow John's line of teaching. We need the help of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is ready to help us, in regard of spirituality so that we might apprehend what is in mind in the teaching, in this exalted line of ministry that John the evangelist gives us.
Now I pass on to speak of the next question, which bears on the truth. "Believest thou this?" The
Lord is bringing much out. In this section He was operating in relation to a certain locality, and He had in His skill, and in His wisdom held up His movement to Bethany, in order that through the protracted exercise that would develop in relation thereto, there might be something additional brought out, some further expansion in the knowledge of Himself. Martha is like many of us, you know; we hear the truth and we go over it time and again. The Lord does not say, 'Hearest thou this?' She heard it well enough. The question, dear brethren, in the meetings is whether we are believing. "Believest thou this?" The Lord has something specific in mind. It is important in the presence of the wealth of the ministry that faith should be operating. It is very touching that in the epistle to the Ephesians, that is before us these days, Paul's parting salute to the brethren is, "Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father" (Ephesians 6:23). Why should he say that? You do not find it anywhere else in any of the epistles. Love with faith. Why bring it into Ephesians where all the wealth of the counsels of God is unfolded? Paul is really saying to the brethren, as he thinks of the importance of his ministry, 'You will not only need love, brethren, but you will need faith'. Peace first, restfulness in the soul, and love; but love with faith. If we are to apprehend and to enjoy the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, we need living, operating faith. It is said of certain, to whom in type the gospel of the glory came, that the word did not
profit them, the word of the report, because it was not mixed with faith, (see Hebrews 4:2). And all the light that is streaming so blessedly to us in the ministry at this time will not profit us if faith is not entering into the matter, if it is not "mixed with faith in those who heard". This is very important and Paul gives that finishing touch in the Ephesian epistle, "Peace to the brethren". What a minister he was! Your heart is stirred in the presence of a minister like Paul, and we are not without such ministers. So this matter of believing enters into John's gospel, faith, active and living faith, in relation to the Son of God, and not only love. In relation to all the questions, love is there; it is an integral part of the teaching, and behind the teaching, but then we need faith. "Believest thou this"? Martha comes out with that expression of faith: "Yea, Lord; I believe".
I finish with a brief word as to the last chapter, "Lovest thou me?" It is the last feature of the Lord's personal interest in us, in one like Peter, one who had erred. In the opening of the chapter Peter is moving, but how is he moving? It was an itinerary that led to nothing but emptiness. But the Lord was behind; He was on the shore. It is very interesting, that touch; it does not say He was standing on the land, He was standing on the shore, the shore standing related to the sea, where they had been in their fruitless efforts. Peter says, "I go to fish" (verse 3). And there were those that were going with him. A great deal of the difficulty and trouble amongst us is not only with a
leader who goes astray, but with those who help him to go astray. And it is very important that we should help one another on right lines, that we do what is right, and pursue what is right, whatever the cost may be. John, the writer, brings himself into it, not by his name personally, but as a son of Zebedee. But there they were; they were helping what was wrong, but the Lord comes in and He brings the matter up with Peter. The Lord has a right to bring questions up with us. Why should He not? But oh! the love that is the basis of the Lord's action! In adjustments amongst us it is important that love should be the basis, that we are not just criticising one another. The Lord is dealing here on the basis of the dining, and the "Lovest thou me?" He is dealing with Peter on the basis of love, and you know much can be worked out on that basis. Peter has to come to it; he found it a little irksome; but he has to come to what the Lord has in mind; and whoever we are, you see, we may have to be adjusted, but the Lord has a personal interest in us and He would help us to be adjusted, as He says to Peter, "Lovest thou me?" May the Lord help us into a greater enjoyment of His own personal interest in us, and what we are in the divine realm, as it says, "They go from strength to strength: each one will appear before God in Zion" (Psalm 84:7). All are the fruits of the service of divine love.
London, July 1946
Nehemiah 2:10; Esther 10:2, 3; Psalm 122:6 - 9
I was thinking of Paul's allusion to Timothy in his epistle to the Philippians, pointing out the care that he had as to how the saints got on. He was not referring to Timothy's ministry. There is the care in regard to ministry, but besides that - and ministry may be very full and serviceable to the saints - the apostle stresses a further feature with respect to him. From the ministerial point of view, he was anxious about his ministry to the Philippians, but he sent Timothy to them that he may be refreshed, knowing how they got on. It might be charged that ministers should have that care, but my concern is that here is a feature available to every one of us, and caring how the saints get on will carry with it spiritual prosperity. You say, 'I cannot do anything'. That is not my point for the moment. The point is, do I care? - not only in regard to my own city or my own section of the city - but do I care how all the saints get on? Do I care? That is on my mind for the moment, and I appeal to sisters and brothers alike. I commend it to the younger ones, to have an interest and concern not only in any particular section of the city, but further afield.
It is remarkable how, the more one extends his interest, the larger is the scope that he can take in. It will be so, that if divine interests are really with us we shall not stop
anywhere. It is marvellous what we have under God's hand to bring extension to us in a very practical way. On Monday nights at the prayer meeting, letters are read that stimulate practical care as to how the saints get on even on the other side of the world. What a wonderful system we belong to; that we can have a divine interest, and care, to have part in assembly interests. I may be a bed-ridden saint; I may be an obscure sister or brother; but my concern is, Do I care how the saints get on? Does it bow me when I see retrogression? Does it stimulate and refresh me when I see progress?
Nehemiah serves as a model. I do not think he is called a prophet. I do not think he is even called a scribe. He is referred to as governor. He had had an important position before the king, and was going about his business, but incidentally somebody comes from Jerusalem - his own brother. As my own brother comes to me, as engaged in a government office, what is my chief topic of conversation with him? We come together in each other's households - relatives after the flesh. What is the topic of our conversation? He says, 'Tell me how things are in Jerusalem - what is the position in the city?' "And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, Those who remain, that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire" (chapter 1: 2, 3).
It was after all this that he was performing his duties as the king's cup-bearer, and it might have appeared that
that was the end of the matter. He might have said, 'I am sorry to hear that'. It is striking that the apostle should say, "genuine feeling". I am inclined to think sometimes that we are weak about that. We have a sort of long-distance view. There must be some reason why he should say, "care with genuine feeling". What a man Nehemiah was, going on with his work every day but bowed in fasting and prayer, day after day. He is saddened and distressed about the report that comes from the land. But what can one man do about it? I think this ought to encourage us - the value of one person. Do not let us despise the value of one! Nehemiah makes a great point of it. Remember for me, he says. I do not suppose he thought the words would ever come into this extraordinary volume. "Remember for me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people" (chapter 5: 19).
We should be encouraged by the feelings of one person, and eventually it all shows itself. The king wants to know why his countenance is changed, but it only develops the genuineness of the feeling that is there. Oh! that we might take it on and share in the genuine concern as to how the testimony prospers. Then the way becomes opened under God's hand. We might think we are the very last persons to do anything, but God will intervene, not, however, if we have no feelings. In spite of the long distance, in spite of the importance of the position he was holding, results show that Nehemiah comes forward to put his hand to the work. "There had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel". It is remarkable that there should be anybody grieved about that, but there are men grieved about it.
You might think it would be a matter that would be approved by all to see the release of a man from an important position such as he held. Think of all that was involved in his leaving Shushan and going along to Jerusalem. Surely there would be no one that would be displeased with this thing! But there were - these two, Sanballat and Tobijah and others with them. Such usually run in groups. I am inclined to think that one is an Ammonite and the other a Moabite. They are not entirely foreigners. They are in the range of the matter. Indeed, they are related to the high priest. It says of this group, Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, that "it grieved them exceedingly". Let us shrink from contact with an element like that, that is grieved as a man devotes himself to seek the welfare of God's people. That element is in the position of relationship. It is Ammonitish and Moabitish, and it is there that grief always shows itself. These are elements that will show themselves antagonistic to a Nehemiah, but he says, 'We went on with our work and we finished the wall'. I am positive if we give ourselves to this great work our souls will prosper.
We see it in Mordecai - an extraordinary character he is. These things will be carried down and put on the divine record. Here is this man's record - "And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?" There is a divine record of all these wonderful acts, sometimes very much under reproach but coming out now in glory. "For Mordecai the Jew was second to king
Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the welfare of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed". There can be no question that if we devote ourselves more to the care of divine interests, and in seeking the welfare of God's people, we shall prosper.
The psalm we read from would confirm all this. It is a psalm we delight in. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee". There is room for increase, spiritual prosperity, and I am positive this is one of the ways by which it may be reached by every single one of us. "They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy bulwarks" - notice these "withins". In the maintenance of divine principles - the maintenance of righteousness - there will be peace, and not only peace but prosperity. There are palaces within the walls - residing places, where the inner movements of divine Persons express the divine mind - so that it goes on to say, "prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes I will say, Peace be within thee". And then above all, how wonderful the last verse is! "Because of the house of Jehovah our God I will seek thy good". That must be the topstone in the movement. There can be no question that in seeking the welfare of God's people, it will enhance the beauty of God's house: "Because of the house of Jehovah our God I will seek thy good".
I commend the word to us practically. I believe it applies to every one here, conscious that as we prove this we shall find that on the annals, or records, true spiritual greatness will be found. Read Mordecai's record, and you will see this devotion to the Lord's interests in terrible days and at
great personal cost, but eventually turning into prosperity. And, finally, "Because of the house of Jehovah our God". Think of adding to the prosperity of God's house, beloved brethren, having God in view now, not merely my brother. May it be so!
From Notes of Readings in New York and Other Ministry, 1946
(Extract from an Address)
2 Samuel 23:34, 37
Eliam suggests to us one who overcame in the sphere in which many of us have been tried - the home. He is said to be the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite. You will remember what happened when Absalom usurped the throne and David had to flee. One told David saying, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom" (chapter 15: 31). We may well wonder what David would say to this. But thanks be to God, David is reaching the apex of his spiritual career. He is reaching the summit where he worships God and not even evil tidings will sway him. What a word for some of us when we assemble with the disciples to break bread! How often some sorrow; some impatience; some fractious child affects our minds and hinders us from reaching the summit as David did. As David is on this holy ascent he simply says, "Jehovah, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness". This is one of the most swiftly answered prayers in Scripture. Immediately Hushai the Archite, David's friend, appears. Is he not a better friend than Ahithophel? He is David's friend; a man who is prepared to go into the city and still be David's friend! He was the answer to David's prayer, for he was used to turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. You know the history of Ahithophel, what a traitor he was, and his sorrowful end. There is hardly anything more pathetic
than David's breathings in Psalm 55. What touching phrases the psalmist uttered! "It is not an enemy that hath reproached me - then could I have borne it; neither is it he that hateth me ... then would I have hidden myself from him; But it was thou, a man mine equal, mine intimate, my familiar friend ... We who held sweet intercourse together" (verses 12 - 14) What a sorrow it was to David! Suppose that he had not worshipped. Suppose he had not taken part that morning and you had asked him, Why? Would he, as some, say, I was overwhelmed with sorrow? Remember the incident in Leviticus 10, when Aaron was overwhelmed by the death of his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, and Moses could not find the goat of the sin-offering because it had been burned instead of being eaten. Moses reproached him and Aaron said, "Such things have befallen me" (verse 19). He had suffered a most serious bereavement, but this is not intended to thwart or hinder the service of God. According to Deuteronomy 26, God is not to be robbed - not even in our times of sorrow and mourning. We are not to allow the dead to be a substitute for the service of God.
And so David reaches the summit, and Hushai the Archite, David's friend, appears. But what about Ahithophel? He was in the city with Absalom. He would support Antichrist! Think of going astray to that extent! Some go astray through indifference or petty grievances. They come to the meetings and sit behind. But not this man! He went the full length of evil, even to allying himself with an Absalom. He became Absalom's counsellor and friend. But God saw to it that he lost his power. I assure you that if anyone leaves the path of faith and holy separation to the
name of Christ, where light is, they do not carry the light with them. I have long since learned that persons who do that become darkened. The light in them becomes darkness. They not only lose their Nazariteship, but lose all trace of spiritual power and influence. Ahithophel was like that. He went the full length, but his son Eliam as much as said, 'My father is turning away to Absalom, a usurper, but I am clinging to the people of God and to David the king'. David would value that. I do not know what else Eliam did, but I know that he is in the list of David's mighty men, and I know that had he gone with his father, or succumbed to the honey of nature, he would never have been in that list. But he is in it, thank God!
I would appeal to anyone here whose wife, or husband, or other near relative is at issue with the saints and the principles of the fellowship. Are you going to compromise or weaken the position by pampering the sweetness of the ties of nature? Such ties will cease. They may be cut off abruptly, but they will certainly cease by and by. But your link with Christ and the people of God will never cease. I would like to be like Eliam - that what is next Christ's heart should have the upper place in my affections; that I should rightly value the people of God! It was evidently so with the one who wrote,
What is next Thy heart - Thy saints! The people of God were in Eliam's heart and he overcame in the home - the centre of natural affections.
And now we will pass on to the armour-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, and in doing so I want to speak particularly to the young brothers and sisters who are earning their living. Whatever kind of a master you may have, labour at your work "heartily, as doing it to the Lord, and not to men" (Colossians 3:23). Think of the possibility of serving the Lord Christ in your daily employment. You may say that your employer is an unconverted man and he does not give you your due. Jacob had ten reductions. Had they been advances he would not have said to Laban, "Thou hast changed my wages ten times" (Genesis 31:41). He had said to him earlier, "It was little that thou hadst before me, and it is increased to a multitude, and Jehovah has blessed thee from the time I came" (Genesis 30:30). God spoke to Laban saying, "Take care that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad" (Genesis 31:29). He would not have him hurt Jacob for he was as the apple of His eye. By and by the employer may confess that he has greatly benefited by having a Christian employee. Can your employer say that you give him more in value than you receive in wages?
Well, this man of whom we read was armour-bearer to Joab. Joab gets the medals; he sees to it that he gets the reward, not the armour-bearer. He was like the man of Colossians 2:8 - full of philosophy and vain deceit - the man who would not brook a rival. It is said of Joab that he slew two men that were more righteous and better than he. He slew them because he was afraid of being supplanted.
Your employer has not used such tactics against you. He may be forward, but you serve the Lord Christ! You can introduce into your employment, which seems so drab at times, all the dignity of the Colossian position. But think of the kind of employer this armour-bearer had. How he must have filled out that trying post! And he has a place amongst David's mighty men, but not Joab! Think of the employer being ruled out and the employee coming into a place of honour in Christ's day. See how your position may be presently reversed! You may have only a brief time to wait. If you are manifested in Christ's kingdom and have rule over a city, would not that be far better than ten advances under a benign employer? Well, whatever hardships the armour-bearer had to bear under one whom I judge to be a most unscrupulous employer, he is presently found in the number of David's mighty men. What an encouragement to apply ourselves to our daily duties with a view to serving the Lord Christ and awaiting His day of manifestation.
From Notes of Readings in New York and Other Ministry, 1946
2 Samuel 20:14 - 22; Acts 6:1 - 8; Acts 28:1 - 6
These scriptures have presented themselves to one's mind as bringing out that where love is, wisdom will operate in love, and situations will be met in a way that is for the glory of Christ, the pleasure of God, and the furtherance of what is of Himself in testimony.
So that in this first scripture we are considering there is the uprising of Sheba the son of Bichri. I suppose it is instructive that as soon as the matter of Absalom is completed, this matter of Sheba the son of Bichri arises, as indicating, perhaps, that we are not to look for or expect rest in a scene where there will always be militant exercises as long as the assembly is here in responsibility. That, I apprehend, is one great gain of the weekly city reading that is being so happily taken up in a universal way, in the spirit of subjection to light. That is to say, it is a militant matter, and the Lord would strengthen the saints so that exercises might be met; that our souls might be formed in the truth, and thus we might be helped in our responsible setting in the light of the assembly here. But Sheba arises and it is a difficult matter. Joab would have met it according to his own ideas, but he was a ruthless man, and ruthlessness is not compatible with love. There is no need for weakness because of the absence of ruthlessness, and Joab's conduct here, one would submit, was ruthless in character. Indeed,
he had just behaved in a ruthless way in relation to Amasa, which treatment of his brother brought the government of God upon him in a later day. For if we are ruthless with one another, and do not express as to our day what is in accord with the spirit of the dispensation, we shall assuredly reap some governmental consequence in our own experience as Joab did. But then there was one thing about Joab which I think we can commend, even though he was acting in a kind of official character and basically was wrong. I would just submit that, so far as I am able to discern, Joab turned the battle to the gate when he said to the wise woman of Abel, "A man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David". One feels, dear brethren, that a person like that is to have no quarter. Many things might be advanced, you know. The enemy throws much dust in the eyes of the saints in times of difficulty, but if it can be defined that one has risen up against the king, against David, that must be met unsparingly. That appeal - the name of David - would cause a response in every loyal heart in Israel, just as the name of Christ and the interests of Christ call for a response on the part of every heart that is loyal to Him. In principle, this is seen in our meetings of assembly character when matters come up. It is a question of David; it is a question of Christ; it is a question of the king; and I think that Joab rightly defined the position, although acting in an official way. He would have moved on lines that were ruthless, had it not been for the counsel of the wise woman of Abel, and that I thought, is where love came in. There was love there, dear brethren, before there was wisdom, for
divine wisdom is not a matter of human resource or human intelligence or human intellect. Divine wisdom proceeds from love. I am sure we would all agree that that is supremely so in connection with the way the love of God has found expression; the hidden wisdom of which Corinthians speaks. As we think of that place of a skull, Golgotha, suggesting no doubt the absence of wisdom on the part of those who should have had it, we realise that love was not there. It was the princes of this world in their fancied wisdom, with hatred instead of love, who crucified the Lord of glory. Is it any wonder that the prophet Isaiah says that the princes of Zoan are become foolish (Isaiah 19:13), for in that, dear brethren, was the utter folly of this world made manifest. But there was brought to light the wisdom of God that would recover man; that would bring to pass for His eternal pleasure every thought He had counselled, and what love lay behind it! So that the wise woman speaks to Joab. You will notice she has influence with him. I do feel that that is a matter to impress us: that love has influence. She says, "Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. And he came near to her". You will remember that when Martha met the Lord Jesus as He was coming to Bethany at the time of the death of Lazarus, she influenced nobody. Martha was orthodox. Dear brethren, orthodoxy has not much love. But when Mary moves, others move, and when Mary weeps, others weep - marvellous to relate even Jesus Himself weeps, and the depths of those holy feelings of His soul in sympathy with one who exemplified love are seen at that time. So that it is love that has influence, and this woman had influence, even with such a one as Joab.
Well, why make so much of love in connection with her? Because she was a mother in Israel. She speaks of herself in that way. She says, "I am peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel". I am sure any thoughtful person would be prepared to acknowledge that there is no human love so unselfish as mother love. The love of a mother is an affecting matter to take account of. The scripture says, "Had my father and my mother forsaken me, then had Jehovah taken me up" (Psalm 27:10). And Jehovah, speaking through the prophet (Isaiah 49:15, 16) says that a woman may forget her child but He has graven Zion on the palms of His hands. So that, dear brethren, you see one's point is that the love of a mother, and especially a mother in Israel, is an unselfish love - it is not seeking any credit. We are very much given, and one speaks as knowing one's own heart, to desire credit for what the Lord might help us to achieve. One thinks of Deborah in that relation, for Deborah is a lovely model to contemplate. She says, "Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel" (Judges 5:7). Think of the dignity and power she had as a mother in Israel, and yet I am sure Deborah would never have any regret or ill-feeling that in Hebrews 11 Barak gets the mention and she gets none. Read her beautiful song and you see how she magnifies the heroic actions of her sister Jael in the way she disposed of Sisera according to this very matter of wisdom of which we are speaking. How unjealous she was - how rich in features marking a mother in Israel! Thus, you see, there is the operation of wisdom in this woman of Abel - this mother in Israel. She goes to the people of the city in her wisdom and
the head of the offender is thrown over the wall. It is a matter of what is effected. Joab's methods might be effective according to his own mind, but he would have destroyed the inheritance of Jehovah, and the mother, or mother city, as it might read, in Israel. How beautifully she speaks as a true mother in Israel, for every mother in Israel has the assembly enshrined in her heart. She says, "I am peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?" Just one little city in Israel; not a very big one, surely; the city of Abel, although it appears to have been a very ancient one, I would judge, with a good history. But think of what the woman says, "A mother in Israel", "The inheritance of Jehovah". She has no outlook but the assembly. So as love operates in such a one as that wisdom is not lacking. She is one that is accustomed to having matters ended, "Just inquire in Abel; and so they ended". How often, dear brethren, things drag on year in and year out, they are not ended. Yet love is there, admittedly. No one would raise any question as to love being found among the saints. Whatever the extent of it; whatever the character of it; love is there, but what about wisdom, because wisdom is to operate through love, and the matter is to be ended. And the matter was ended when the head of Sheba was thrown over the wall, because, dear brethren, one would say humbly, that if the situation exists that a man has risen up against the king, against David, then there can be no other issue than that his head should be thrown over the wall. That is to say, the rights of Christ should be maintained and the glory of the Lord should be"AS MANY AS I LOVE"
A E MYLES
PAUL'S CONFESSION
A N WALKER
ADJUSTMENT IN VIEW OF USEFULNESS IN SERVICE
A B PARKER
SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE
"THE HELP WHICH IS FROM GOD"
ANOTHER WAY, ANOTHER MAN AND ANOTHER WORLD
R W STOLLERY
OUR HOUSEHOLDS - THEIR BEARING GODWARD AND MANWARD
L E SAMUELS
WORSHIP
A B PARKER
"THE GRACE OF LIFE"
A BROWN
THE LORD'S INTEREST, AND SERVICE TO HIS OWN
SEEKING THE WELFARE OF GOD'S PEOPLE
A N WALKER
OVERCOMING
J H TREVVETT
'Nor what is next Thy heart
Can we forget;
Thy saints, O Lord, with Thee
In glory met'. (Hymn 160) WISDOM THE HANDMAID OF LOVE
E A KELSEY