======================================================================== BIBLE HERALD (7 VOLUMES) by Various ======================================================================== A seven-volume collection of the Bible Herald periodical, containing articles, sermons, and studies on biblical topics. The Herald served as a venue for Christian teaching and encouragement. Chapters: 147 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Vol 01 - Being With the Lord 2. Vol 01 - Christ Himself Our One Object 3. Vol 01 - Christ Jesus Our Pattern 4. Vol 01 - For Me to Live Is Christ 5. Vol 01 - Looking for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior 6. Vol 01 - Ministry and Self-Sacrifice 7. Vol 01 - The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ 8. Vol 01 - The Model of Love 9. Vol 01 - The Seating of the Lamb on the Throne 10. Vol 02 - Fortified With Truth 11. Vol 02 - Hope to the End 12. Vol 02 - The Story of Grace 13. Vol 03 - Faith's Victory 14. Vol 03 - Fellowship in Rejection 15. Vol 03 - Man Glorified in the Heavens 16. Vol 03 - Spiritual Longings for a Fresh Action of the Spirit 17. Vol 03 - The World’s Manhood 18. Vol 04 - " Behold Nathan the Prophet." Rev_3:20. 1Ki_1:1-53 19. Vol 04 - " I Wait―I Wait for Thee." 20. Vol 04 - " Light Affliction." 2Co_4:17. 21. Vol 04 - " a Little Longer." 22. Vol 04 - " by Faith Ye Stand." 23. Vol 04 - " by Faith Ye Stand." 2Co_1:24 24. Vol 04 - "Christ Loved the Church." 25. Vol 04 - A Dying Paul 26. Vol 04 - A Fresh Action of God for the Blessing of His Saints 27. Vol 04 - A Man in Christ 28. Vol 04 - Association With Christ Where He Is 29. Vol 04 - Communion With God in His Own Joy 30. Vol 04 - Dies Iræ 31. Vol 04 - From Jordan, Through Shiloh, to Mount Zion 32. Vol 04 - Gathering for Worship and the Breaking of Bread 33. Vol 04 - Jesus' Love Shall Never End. (Joh_13:1-38) 34. Vol 04 - Learning in Exercises of Heart to Know Christ Himself 35. Vol 04 - Leviticus 36. Vol 04 - Leviticus 37. Vol 04 - Leviticus 38. Vol 04 - Leviticus 39. Vol 04 - Leviticus 40. Vol 04 - Leviticus 41. Vol 04 - Leviticus 42. Vol 04 - Leviticus 43. Vol 04 - Leviticus 44. Vol 04 - Leviticus 45. Vol 04 - Leviticus Aaron and His Sons Entering on Their Priestly Functions 46. Vol 04 - Leviticus the Consecration of Aaron and His Sons 47. Vol 04 - Light, and the Effect of Light Joh_8:1-13; Joh_9:34; Joh_10:4-19; Joh_17:9-25 48. Vol 04 - Monumental Aspect of the Lord's Supper 49. Vol 04 - On the Feast of Tabernacles 50. Vol 04 - On the Remnant 51. Vol 04 - One God and Father of All 52. Vol 04 - Ordinances 53. Vol 04 - Redemption 54. Vol 04 - Some Points as to the Offerings 55. Vol 04 - Sons of the Highest: " " Sons of Light." Luk_6:1-49; Luk_16:1-31 56. Vol 04 - Spiritual Strength 57. Vol 04 - The Birthright; and the Blessing. Gen_25:27-34; Gen_27:30-36 58. Vol 04 - The Bride as a Relative Title 59. Vol 04 - The Closing Days of Christendom 60. Vol 04 - The Divine Center of Unity 61. Vol 04 - The Father's Sheep 62. Vol 04 - The Four Shoshannim Psalms. a Few Brief Notes 63. Vol 04 - The Knowledge Of' the Son of God 64. Vol 04 - The Lord's Supper 65. Vol 04 - The Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge 66. Vol 04 - The Mind That Was in Christ 67. Vol 04 - The New Creation 68. Vol 04 - The Opening of a New Economy (Joh_13:1-8.) 69. Vol 04 - The Remnant 70. Vol 04 - The Shell and the Kernel 71. Vol 04 - The Singers of Zion 72. Vol 04 - The Springs of the New Creation in Christ 73. Vol 04 - The Table, the Confession of the Lord 74. Vol 04 - The Three-Fold Position. Eph_1:3-12; Eph_1:19-23; Eph_2:4 75. Vol 04 - The Tillage of the Poor 76. Vol 04 - The Transforming Power of Seeing Christ Where He Is. Act_7:54-60 77. Vol 04 - The Transformingpower of Seeing Christ Where He Is. Act_7:54-60 78. Vol 04 - The Triumph of Weakness 79. Vol 04 - The Wrath of God Is Revealed From Heaven 80. Vol 04 - True Condition of Soul in Order to Be a Worshipper 81. Vol 04 - What Characterizes the Christian Position. Luk_12:35-53 82. Vol 04 - What Redemption Involves 83. Vol 04 - What Scripture Says About the Coming of the Holy Ghost 84. Vol 04 -”A Bone of Him Shall Not Be Broken." 85. Vol 05 - " He Is Not Here." 86. Vol 05 - " I Have Planted." 87. Vol 05 - " the Spirit of Jesus." 88. Vol 05 - "The Supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." 89. Vol 05 - "Too Much Monotony." 90. Vol 05 - A Few Notes on a Pamphlet by Dr. Tregelles, Entitled-"The Hope of Christ's Second Coming." 91. Vol 05 - A Thought on the Hebrews 92. Vol 05 - Abide Among Us With Thy Grace 93. Vol 05 - Chapter 3-In What Christian Living Consists 94. Vol 05 - Chapter 4 - Grace With Spiritual Exercise 95. Vol 05 - Chapter 6 - Filial Relationship and Spiritual Liberty 96. Vol 05 - Christ Him Self Our Object 97. Vol 05 - Eternally Saved in Christ Jesus 98. Vol 05 - Faith and Works Inseparable 99. Vol 05 - Gone to His Rest 100. Vol 05 - Higher Christian Living 101. Vol 05 - Higher Christian Living 102. Vol 05 - Higher Christian Living. - Chapter 7-The Knowledge of the Mystery Essential to Resting a... 103. Vol 05 - Higher Christian Living. Chapter 5-The Effect of Association With a Risen Christ 104. Vol 05 - How to Speak of Christ's Servants 105. Vol 05 - Jordan, Gilgal, and the Old Corn 106. Vol 05 - Joseph 107. Vol 05 - Lev_23:1-44 -Continued 108. Vol 05 - Lev_23:1-44.-Continued 109. Vol 05 - Lev_23:1-44.―Contained 110. Vol 05 - Lev_25:1-55 111. Vol 05 - Lev_25:1-55 112. Vol 05 - Lev_26:1-46 113. Vol 05 - Lev_27:1-34 114. Vol 05 - Leviticus 115. Vol 05 - Leviticus 116. Vol 05 - Leviticus 117. Vol 05 - My Expectation 118. Vol 05 - Mysticism and the Things of the Spirit 119. Vol 05 - Perez-Uzzah and Baal-Perazim 120. Vol 05 - Portions of Scripture to Be Read 121. Vol 05 - Revelation―Personal, Written and Preached 122. Vol 05 - Seminal Sentences 123. Vol 05 - Sleeping in the Calm of Heaven 124. Vol 05 - The Ark in the House of Obed-Edom. (Chron. 13.) 125. Vol 05 - The Beseeching of Grace. 2Co_5:14-21; 2Co_6:1-2 126. Vol 05 - The Cross the End of the Old Man 127. Vol 05 - The Devoted Victim of Propitiation Remembered in the Lord's Supper 128. Vol 05 - The Father Seeketh Worshippers 129. Vol 05 - The Heavenly One and the Heavenly Ones 130. Vol 05 - The Man Christ Jesus - as Set Forth in Luke's Gospel 131. Vol 05 - The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon 132. Vol 05 - The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon. (Continued.) 133. Vol 05 - The Presence of the Holy Ghost 134. Vol 05 - The Present Substitute for the Feast of Tabernacles 135. Vol 05 - The Seeing of God the Abhorring of Self 136. Vol 05 - The Truth and the Spirit 137. Vol 05 - Why There Is a Lack of Fellowship 138. Vol 05 - Why We Do Not Say Heavenly Father, and Why We Do Not Pray to the Holy Ghost 139. Vol N1 - Christ and the Church 140. Vol N1 - Christ and the Church 141. Vol N1 - Christ and the Church 142. Vol N1 - Fragment 143. Vol N1 - The Work 144. Vol N2 - A Chime 145. Vol N2 - Fragment on Discipline in the Church 146. Vol N2 - Individual Stones; Or, Builded Together 147. Vol N2 - The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: VOL 01 - BEING WITH THE LORD ======================================================================== Being With the Lord My Loved Brother,--I think I have had my mind more occupied of late than ever with the subject which your letter suggests-the being with the Lord. I am sure it is deeper, happier, fuller acquaintance with Himself that our hearts need; and then we should long and desire and pant after Dim in such a way as nothing but His presence could satisfy. I know souls in this state; and yet it is not knowledge that gives it to them, but personal acquaintance with the blessed Savior, through the Holy Ghost. I alighted, as by chance, the other day on some fervent thoughts of an old writer, in connection with this dear and precious subject. In substance they were as follows, and almost so in terms, only I have somewhat condensed them: "It is strange that we, who have such continual use of God, and His bounties and mercies, and are so perpetually beholden to Him, should, after all, be so little acquainted with Him. And from hence it comes that we are so loth to think of our dissolution, and of our going to God. For naturally, where we are not acquainted, we like not to hazard our welcome. We would rather spend our money at an inn, than turn in for a free lodging to an unknown host; whereas to an entire friend, whom we elsewhere have familiarly conversed with, we go as boldly and willingly as to our home, knowing that no hour can be unseasonable to such an one. I will not live upon God. and His •daily bounties without His acquaintance. By His grace I will not let one day pass without renewing my acquaintance with Him, giving him some testimony of my love to Him, and getting from Him some sweet pledge of His constant favor towards me." This is a beautiful utterance. It expresses a character of mind which, in this day of busy inquiry after knowledge, we all need-personal longings after Christ. May the blessed Spirit in us give that direction to our hearts. It is a hard lesson for some of us to learn, to reach enjoyments which lie beyond and above the provisions of nature. We are still prone to know Christ himself " after the flesh," and to desire to find Him in the midst of the relations and circumstances of human life, and there only. But this is not our calling-this is not the risen, heavenly life. It is hard to get beyond this, I know, but our calling calls us beyond it. We like the home, and the respect, and the security, and all the delights of our human relationships and circumstances, and would have Christ in the midst of them; but to know Him, and to have Him in such a way as tells us that He is a stranger on earth, and that we are to be strangers with Him, " this is a hard saying" to our poor fond hearts. In John’s Gospel, I may say, among other things, the Lord sets Himself to teach us this lesson. The disciples were sorry at the thought of losing Him in the flesh, losing Him as in their daily walk and conversation with Him. But He lets them know that it was expedient for them that they should lose Him in that character, in order that they might know Him through the Holy Ghost, and ere long be with Him in heavenly places (chap. 16.) And this is again perceived in chap. 20. Mary Magdalene would have known the Lord again, as the had already known Him; but this must not be-this must be denied her. " Touch me not," the Lord says to her. This was painful, but it was expedient-good for her then (just as it has been already good for the disciples in chap. 16.), Mazy is now taught that she was to have fellowship to know that she was to lose Christ in the flesh. For with Him in the more blessed place of His ascension. So the company at Jerusalem, in the same chapter. " They were glad when they saw the Lord." But this gladness was human. It was the joy of having recovered, as they judged, the One whom they had lost, Christ in the flesh. But their Lord at once calls them away from that communion and knowledge of Him, to the peace which His death had now made for them, and the life which His resurrection had now gained for them. All this it is healthful for our souls to ponder, for we are prone to be satisfied with another order of things. The "sorrow that filled the hearts of the disciples" at the thought of their Lord going away-the " Rabboni " of Mary Magdalene-the disciples being " glad when they saw the Lord," show the disposedness of the heart to remain with Christ in the midst of human relationships and circumstances, and not to go with a risen Christ to heavenly places. How slow some of us are to learn this, dear brother! And yet our readiness of heart to learn it and to practice it is very much the measure of our readiness and desire to depart and be with Christ. But all this I say to you as one that suggests a thought -would that it were the experience of the soul! But I desire to have it so.-From Unpublished Letters of J. G. B. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: VOL 01 - CHRIST HIMSELF OUR ONE OBJECT ======================================================================== Christ Himself Our One Object SUCH words as we find here, are the expression of the Divine mind; not to be narrowed and cramped, as if they were the words of man. People come to this chapter with their own thoughts. When Paul wrote this, he did not suppose the state into which nominal Christianity has brought things now. But now, as then, if any come as ruined creatures to God, they will find what Paul found, just suited to him, in the Person of, that One who is at the Throne of God; that One who met all his affections. The Spirit of that Christ came into his heart, and he was perfectly satisfied with Him The Lord Jesus Christ, as a quickening Spirit, had laid hold of the heart of Paul, and that heart responded to Christ’s love. It is Christ, not only meeting need, as to sin, but Christ as our life, and that life to be manifested in all circumstances down here, which is often lost sight of by Christians to their great loss; not so with Paul, it was his one object to hew it out It was Christ that produced and led captive all affections in him. Christ, revealed to him as the anointed man gone up, had spoken to him from heaven, and directly he heard this Person, a bright light shone in his soul, and then, what became of Saul’s estimate of all that he, as a ruined creature, had been trying to do to accredit himself with God? He said " There, in heaven, is that One I thought to be an impostor, with thoughts about me, and wanting me to be a servant of His, and here have I been toiling to show my hatred to Him - utterly despising Him." Remark, verse 5, the excellency of the knowledge of a living Person called Jesus, that One presented so that Paul must say, He is my Lord. He found this Christ a life-giving Spirit, and himself as having one life with Him; and in Col., all the perfection of God’s very self is set forth in this Person; and here was this One, who had been rejected from the earth, the center of an entirely new system, in glory; One who could take up all He chose for servants and distribute gifts just as he liked. Ah when one gets to see the beauty of this Christ, how the heart owns it as something altogether matchless, in human form, with all the glory of God. He could not but be s forth in heaven and earth as the most beautiful of all beautiful objects. Paul said - " All of beauty, all of perfection is in Him, that living Man on the Throne, and He has looked on me and claimed me for Himself by letting the light of His glory shine into my soul. I will be. His all through my course. He, the One to magnify whom is my only end in life - He, the only One I want to be like! The doctrine of the gospel, as in the Person of Christ, is a lost thing in the, present day, because it always presented on the side that suits man, and not God’s side. If I know that One who is the darling delight of God’s mind, I do not want anything else. If my soul knows Christ, Christ is the answer to everything -I begin and go on with Christ, matchless in His beauty - and He goes on with me. Secondly, I desire to be His and nothing but His; and Paul presented Christ to others thus: he knew Christ to be the life giver and never stopped to argue about it, or look for proofs of having life; if Christ be my life, I act upon it, and do not stop to prove it, and if so acting, anyone will find themselves so occupied with doing things according to life, If indulging in worldliness, Christ will say to you, that is the flesh and not my Spirit acting in you; it must be judged - the life judges everything that comes in. But if I say Christ is mine, and I am putting forth in my little measure the life of Christ, I am not driven to try to prove that I have life. Paul beautifully carried it out. We get in him that sort of appreciation of the beauty of Christ that he could give up everything and count it all dung, to follow Him. He could say, I walked as this Christ could claim of me as being His - I have presented before them the manifestation of His life. Now people are not satisfied with Christ, only a place must be given for self, -and a large place in some way. If not identifying ourselves with Christ all the way, looking to bring glory to Him, we are not like Paul; not but that there will be self-conflict and warfare between the flesh and the spirit, at times very sharp indeed - the Holy Ghost finding in us everything contrary to his own mind I wonder if any here ever had such a want to live to Christ, that in connection with all they find in self contrary to Him, they are saying " That thing is only fit to be buried with Christ." The only thing that the Holy Ghost could do, to get rid of the old man, is to identify a believer with all the depths of Christ’s humiliation - "buried with Christ - dead with Him " if not realizing that, there is no rest of soul, in regard to the old man. "But what things were gain," etc. We have here the estimate of human righteousness. God provided Christ, and would you come in, with something of self, unlike Christ? Paul said, I count everything of self I gloried in but loss for Christ; He has claimed me, I am His, I love Him so much, because He loved me. He is the most attractive Person my heart can think of. " I count all things but dung, that I may win Christ." Mark! that I may win, for that brings out the character I of Paul’s gospel. What! a saved man talking of winning Christ? Oh! any who say that, do not understand Paul’s gospel - lie could say I have Christ before me, He has claimed me, and it is the beauty of that Person in glory that I want to see - I want to be with Him in a glorified body - God gave Him to me, and me to Him, before the foundation of the world, and He washed me in His blood. Is that all? No! that Christ has claimed me and I claim Him - He is before my soul as a claimer of the life He has given me. He is gone on high, and I want to run up to Him to win Himself. What a blessed thing when I am with Him. It was Christ in his heart, Christ his only object from first to last; and he could not be satisfied but to find himself with, and like that Christ. When people discover Christ, as a real living Person in heaven, it is like new revelation! What a different thing when people can talk of him, as a living. Person, occupied with them, searching their hearts; and when He is revealed for the first time, as a man in heaven, the beauty of that Christ gets hold of their hearts, and it is quite a new revelation. Paul could see Him, and knew himself to be connected with Him as a living Person, and that that person’s eye was ever on him, giving brightness to his heart, in all his circumstances. It was resurrection, as one of the great characteristics of redemption power, that Paul wanted to know, and he was pressing on to the time when. Christ would come, to pour out power from Himself, to give the fullness of eternal life to this body; but not only that, Paul said, but I want this body to be filled up now, that the life may shine out and if so,. Paul could not-be without all sorts of afflictions, that the power of life-might be manifested - tasting death and resurrection down here in a body of sin and death, what were difficulties and trials to Paul? He said, all I want is, for this earthen vessel to be filled with the power of life, so that Christ may shine out. Paul wanted fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. These sufferings were not all of one kind. 1st, there must be suffering from being in a world where none knew Christ, where all were under the prince of this world, and those around Paul could not make out what he was about. In connection with the sufferings of Christ Himself, in such a world as this, the divine perfection of His whole moral character, brought the vivid sense to His heart, as to what man was, in contrast with Himself. He knowing who He was, they looking on Him, only as " the carpenter’s son; " He knowing all the glory of God was in Him, and none here having a heart to recognize it. Again, what suffering to His heart connected with the rejection of the love of the heart of God, by man, He being sent, and coming with the message of mercy from God, and man would not have it, he had no taste for mercy. When it came to atonement, He was alone in suffering, no one could taste that - none take up the question of being a Sin-bearer save the Son of God. He did it, and was raised up to God’s right hand, Head of everything. And Paul was connected with this Son of God, and he wanted to show it to all, have all know what family he belonged to, wanted to be like Him in every part of his course, not only know Him in resurrection, but go down to His death. Have you known fellowship in suffering with Christ, known deep waters, you will have to go down to them. If you do not get sorrow in fellowship with. Christ, you will get it in discipline--if Paul had borne the mark of being a ruined creature, and Christ had taken him up to make him His would he not have a mark to reflect the person, who now said, you are mine 2 Not only did he wish to purify himself even as Christ is pure, but evidently in everything he desired the mark of being Christ’s, even the lashes. Something beautiful in the way he could glory in all that Satan or man could inflict, because he would be like his Master. When an object so glorious, so attractive as that Christ, was revealed to him, what henceforward could he do, but show what that object was to him. It is true with the hearts of men, when they have any object they love, they will accommodate everything to that object. It is impossible to say Christ has revealed Himself to me as the one who loves me, and has cleared me of all that God had against me, and yet not have it the one desire of my mind and heart, to set myself to be His whilst it is called to-day - living to Him. Paul loved his master, and could not help living to Him. I ask you to look carefully at this portion. It shows you the life of a man down here, who had one life with Christ, seeing all through his course its connection with this - I have made thee mine If a person have only one object down here to live to, that object will be his one desire. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: VOL 01 - CHRIST JESUS OUR PATTERN ======================================================================== Christ Jesus Our Pattern Notes of G. V. W.; Lecture on Php 2:1-30 I WAS looking last, time at the 1st chapter, as presenting the measure in which, by a man of like passions as we, eternal life was exhibited down here. This epistle being a sort of practical commentary of that word in the Gospel of John, "I in you." We find the power of eternal life in Christ dwelling in and being manifested down here in a man (Paul), and Paul could get into circumstances to write a letter to his beloved Philippians, and let out most strikingly this eternal life dwelling in him. In chapter 1: verse 20, he says, " In nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." In circumstances where everything might be supposed calculated to bow down the heart, but no! The only thought in that heart was, that Christ might be in him, magnified. We find in chapter 1: the principle of eternal life-" For to me to live is Christ; " and in the 2nd chapter the pattern of the eternal life in the blessed Son Himself. Here very remarkable words are used. It is not English to say " To me to live is Christ." Here it points to what was that life of the Son, in the 1st chapter, the power of Paul in manifesting that life. He could say truly " To me to live is Christ." As the hands of a clock tell of that which is working inside, so Paul’s life told of what was in his heart. He couldn’t have said " To me to live is Christ " without the throbbing of that life in his soul. Verse 1st. "If there be any," etc. Here he teaches notes well known to himself and these Philippians, calling on them to answer by a walk becoming the servant of Christ. He is a man full of the anointing, seeing everything in the presence of. God. " Fulfill my joy;" " Consider one another." Let’ every one be the mark of another, not occupied with self, but with those who are the objects of Christ’s love; If I see you’ trying to build one another up, it is the joy of my heart.,, Verse 5. " Let this mind," or, let this be minded by you. People read this, as if’ it referred to the power of God in the mind., but it, is very different; it is the power of intelligence as to’ the mind of God. He, has a ’mind of His own-man has not that mind, but he can understand the things of God. He has given us eternal life, we have the principle, and, are to exercise it as Christ did. From first to last, Christ was the servant, the Sent One, doing God’s will-" Let this mind be’ in you." It is the thinking, as Christ thought-not the mind of God-but the principle he has given, and what He is, ever sustaining. ’His name be praised, Christ’s whole heart was set on His Father’s mind. God had not two thoughts. He carried out the one, thought of -the Father’s mind, and to, do it, had to come down here, to the death of the Cross. If I want to be thoroughly ashamed of self, it is when reading this chapter, contrasting self with that Divine. One, He who_ through His whole course never had a will. Every day, as a saint, I find I have a will that’ must be kept under. Paul does not care what he suffers, or what becomes of him, so long as Christ be magnified in his body-he attained to an immense extent like-mindedness with Christ. We do not illustrate that eternal life Chris. It has given us, as did Paul, looking at the character of the glory of the Son here; it is not the humiliation only of the Son of man (the. Spirit of God, is very guarded) He being in the form of God, verses 7, 8. Who was that babe in the manger? Ah! that manger’ was a good place, by way of contrast with the glory of the titles brought out there. Who was that babe? The one over whom angel’s sung, the only begotten in the bosom of the Father. He came down and lay in a manger-the one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He emptied Himself, He did make Himself of no reputation, washing His disciples’ feet. This blessed One laid everything aside. All the divine power was in Him. He, the one by whom God made all things, ’when He came down and died, He laid it all in abeyance. I could not do that; if I tried to lay aside anything that distinguished me from others, it would be sure to come out, just when I did not want it to betray me, but He had perfect, absolute self control over Himself. I could not trust to your patience or forbearance with me, but I can trust God’s perfect patience. Where should you find a man that would willingly abide under a yoke? The will tosses there, and Christ has to put His children there, to break that will down, saying " Now, I have done that, you can walk under my yoke and find it easy." Who but God could have gone on 4000 years with man, finding nothing but sin, sin, sin, till His Son came, the only one without sin and (He having been put to death) going on again 2000 years longer, and at the end, still unwearied in patience and goodness. What a heart the Lord Jesus must have after 6000 years of nothing but man’s sin and the failure of His people, saying at the end, "Behold! I come quickly." He has a heart not like ours, but the contrast of all that we are. Adam’s desire was "to become one of us (Genesis 3:22.) The blessed Lord was the Son, and the object of all worship, not a thing to be snatched at. He was it. "Being obedient unto death," going to the cross, with the consciousness that He was the Son of the Father, in whom all the Father’s eternal counsels stood, and saying, " Lo, I come to do thy will." He could go down even to the death of the cross. He said, " I have power to lay down my life," etc. I do not bring in the thought of atonement there; it is the perfection there of obedience, spewing how entirely His mind was subject to God and the Father. Everything He did He did as the servant of God. We can turn to Him and say, there is One whom we Can trace from the manger to the cross, and never find but on two occasions the expression of a will of His own, and that expression each time was perfect. The first-when anticipating drinking the cup the Father had given, and it would not have been perfect unless thus..Was it nothing to that holy One to think of all the billows and wrath He was going to bear for sin? The Gnostics said he did not suffer at all-it was a dreadful heresy. If not there as sin-bearer, all the fruits of His having died would have been at an end. He would not take the cup from man’s hand, but at God’s. The second expression of His will is in John 17:1-26 th, " Father, I will," &c. What a blessed expression of perfect satisfaction in those poor things. He was soon going to leave them, and He could say, " Father, I have kept them in thy name," and I am coming for them, " and will that they should be with me where I am." He would not be alone in glory, He would have them sharers of it. You and I have wills that are constantly working. You should get your will judged by the contrast between you and Christ. Get the beauty of Christ coming cloven, without any will, saying, " Lo, I come to do Thy will, and but for that will having been perfectly fulfilled, you would have been writhing eternally in hell.: Adam snatched. after what he thought would better’ his circumstances, and he got Satan to be his patron, to get some thing for self. Christ walked down here perfectly will-less. Man had done what he liked, hut God had stood behind and given the cup (that was what man. would not see). The cup was not what He met with from the hand of, man, but from God. It was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God that He should die, and that as a man, because of carrying out all the counsels of God, he should go up to the highest place-everything in heaven; and earth to bow down to Him. Oh, how just God is! Did you ever snatch at a thing which God would have given you? Paul had a will, he would go to Jerusalem and had to go to Rome, but the Lord said, I shall go with you. Now will-less, I am as Christ, whose will it was to be the subject servant of God, nothing else, and there He is in the glory now, still in this character. How little one’s heart thinks of Him. Paul thought a great deal of Him. When could He get water enough, even to „turn that wheel? Water enough to keep his heart fresher and fresher as lie went on? Oh! It was the person of. Christ revealing ’Himself, that and only that, kept his heart fresh. That one, now on the Throne, in the highest place, because of His most perfect subjection: what a thought, that He is the eternal lover of souls, and all that I, have is in. Him; and it is all given me by the Father, and He will keep it.. The Holy Ghost sent down by. Him, seals it upon our heart, so that we can say, we know whose we are, that we are loved by Him-" God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." He would have a people, with all the freshness of the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ for them. If God is working in us, there: is no distance between the potter and the vessel; it is in the potter’s hand fashioning it and his hand is very close to the clay. It is very blessed to be a temple of the Holy Ghost, but we must take care to remember that it is God who is molding and working in us, as He did in Paul, that Christ may be magnified in these bodies, whether by life or by death. There is not a thing I may be doing, that is bright to me now, that will continue to look bright in heaven unless Christ be the object of it. It is the expression of the life of Christ in a person that must be made manifest, one may be in bed sick; another running over the earth preaching, another in prison, no matter where it be, if Christ be in him, that set of circumstances he is in, is just the place where the life of Christ is to break forth and to shine most brightly. If a believer bad to take to his bed, for six weeks, and came to Christ, saying " Lord fill this chamber with Thyself," what brightness theft:, would be You do not find with many now, that Christ is first, Christ second, Christ third, not the rock, whence all supplies are to be drawn, not all handed up to Him, as the one teaching His child to read. You do not find likeness to Christ coming out, not like a seal with a good engraving; from which; if you gave me wax, I could make a good impression. Let Christ be inside and Christ will shine out; but if you let your heart be filled with care and trouble Christ cannot shine out, you will know what joy is when He can shine out; " Work out your own salvation," and when Christ has revealed Himself to me as a Savior, and ’’I know the question of sin is settled, having eternal life, God says, " Now I shall teach you what a win you have, how unlike you are to ’my Son." God ’wants to have this body, soul, and spirit, all for Hiinself. If you see any beauty in Christ, and say "Ii would desire to have that," God’ will work it in you. In verses 15 and 16, we have a picture of what Christ was down here. Christ shined forth all through His course. We are called to follow Him-" to be blameless," &c. Paul adds, " that I may rejoice," &c. There is one thing very sweet, and that is the communion of the saints in glory. Paul could say, " I shall meet you in the glory, and I want your walk to be such now, that you may be my joy and crown of rejoicing in that presence." If Paul stand there, with those beloved Philippians and Thessalonians as his crown of rejoicing, the great principle is brought out, that everything done down here for Christ will then shine out, and people will have the joy of it coming out there. The real question of sin is, the wanting to have a will of your own. Christ had none. He never found anything to be bitter, because He took it all from the Father’s hand. We fret because we think things are so cruel, and complain because Satan has got such power; but all is under the hand of God, and there you get God’s love, God permitting these things for blessing afterward, as in the case of Job. When I have looked back, at trials, and I have seen how I wanted that process, and if inclined to glory in gifts-how God took away things to strip self of everything-that one might find Him enough, I got down on my face and there I found He was enough. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: VOL 01 - FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST ======================================================================== For Me to Live Is Christ Notes of G. V. W., Lecture on Php 1:1-30 THE definite notice we find in the beginning of this chapter relative to the former order of the Church at Philippi is remarkable, because the epistle is all about eternal life in the believer, and the heart of Paul laboring in prayer for these Philippians; and there he takes up the subject of the epistle-eternal life-displayed on earth so that people could see it; he was the servant of God in prison, and the eternal life shining brightly. I would refer to John 14:20 -" At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father," &c. It is not feeling but knowing that I want faith leading to action. Three things ye shall know "at that day "-1, "I am in my Father; " 2, " Ye in me," " I in you,"" and for their sakes I sanctify myself," &c. If Christ had not gone up, there could be no sanctifying for us now. Of all truth He " in the Father " is the most important. It is most brought out in Colossians and " Ye in me;" in Ephesians and " I in you; " in Philippians " I am in the Father," is the most important, and " I in you " next. Paul begins with " I in you." There is very little of that in the teaching of the present day, 1:e., a person walking down here; by Christ being in him and the Holy Ghost taking the direction; and 2nd, " I in him." People say responsibility must not be pressed. Truly, as descendants of Adam the first, you cannot give account of self, it would be low if so, but if you say God has no claim over a believer, and if you strip him of it, you cripple him. " Be ye holy," &c., not as a man could I do it, but as a command, in connection with light in me. , A believer says, when light comes on anything, shall not do that; it is not holy." The question of sin being entirely settled, God says, I have not a word against you as to that, but if you do a single thing Contrary to me you shall hear of it. It is a word that comes to a child from the Father-as one with the blood on me, I am to walk not as the world walks. Paul is in prison. Paul in this position is hedged up, everything against him, and yet how bright is his heart 1 If any saw it so in me, in sorrow or trial, might they not say, that is not what belongs to me as an individual?: The Lord knew Paul as Saul, and Paul was as unlike ’Saul as light is unlike darkness. There he is, and if surrounded by all the wickedness of men and of false professors, he cannot get his eye off Christ; that is not like Saul of Tarsus, it is a great deal too like Christ, to be like Saul of Tarsus! he says "the things that happened unto me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." What! to account being in bonds a good thing? Yes! it has stirred up the courage of believers without, who even passed through deeper waters than Paul 1 He was a model Man; he said, do not pity my bonds! It is for Christ’s sake I wear them. I have got the mark on me of following Him, and these bonds stir up the courage of others to witness for Him. If I get suffering here, I shall get glory with Christ. If trying, as is said, to walk to heaven in silver slippers, you will not have the thought of glory, as, had Paul. What! give up that, or the other! don’t say a word of it,--when Christ died and is up there, don’t say a word of all you can give up, when He is up there, saying, "if your shoulder is worn with the harness, mine was-that is the path ’I Passed through, and like master like servant." It is joy, not sorrow, if His gospel is ours, and we have to suffer for it. In times of persecution the gospel has been talked of; in the ears of those opposed to it-what then, " in every way," etc. Paul wanted the name of Christ to be announced by every means and everywhere. How is it your hearts are not full of Christ? thinking of Him in everything? He, the one eternal lover of your souls, who has borne with your bad manners, in the wilderness! the One, who is coming for you, on the cloud; now on the throne, occupied with you, and can you say, how could Paul be so full of this Christ? We think of paying out for Christ, instead of dwelling on what He paid in for us, up there divinely. When God calls a soul, He reveals Himself as entirely for that soul. Salvation is connected with three distinct things. We have the "soul" saved now, but not the body-that will (if the Lord do not come first) go into the dust; the purchase-money has been paid, but the application of life-giving power to the body not yet till Christ conies to raise the dead and change the living. Now, a process is. going on, God working to make me like Christ, and sorrows and trials are not only like sand and grit used to polish a stone, but that I shall be made to taste, through the troubles, what Christ is to me. The twentieth verse is very sweet-Paul’s " earnest expectation and hope " here, not the coming of the Lord, but another hope. He could count a place, where all were in darkness and the power of Satan rampant, a place of blessing if Christ might there be magnified in his body; and what ought a believer to be doing now if not magnifying Christ? Paul wanted his circumstances to make Christ much more tangible, and so it was: the anointing was so perfect on his eye he could not see anything but Christ, and in connection with those persecutors and false professors Paul said, it is Christ I want them to see; I want to be like a lens, to magnify Christ. It was what Christ was to Paul that is seen here. It is very important to let what I am taught of God and of Christ appear before men-because of teaching them what God and Christ are to me. Paul had Christ, in the power of His eternal life, so ruling every desire. and thought, that, with a chain on his foot and hand, all he thinks of, is, that Christ should be magnified; he wants Christ to be known. It was Christ he was suffering for, and he knew His heart was -hearing him; he, felt His love, he tasted it, he could say, did He not come and tell me He would go with me to Rome? Did He not give me a word, when all were in despair, to make all the people in the ship know that my God was everything to me? Which of you could say, there is that singleness of eye, that earnest desire to live Christ, saying, till Christ comes I want Him to be shining out? Some say it more than others. The Lord some day will have to put many into the furnace, to destroy what is of the world. You could not be a bit the same as Christ: He was holy and undefiled, you have the law of sin and death in your members: you can walk like Christ, but not be like Him. Paul could say, "follow me as I follow Christ." Paul had every evil in him (as we have), he takes care to show he was what we are on the bad side, let us take care to spew we are what he was on the good side. How blessed if any were -so walking that persons could say-looking at the walk of that one-I see more of Christ than I ever before knew. But if conscious of being under the eye of. Christ, one knows that He is taking notice of everything. Paul had to face persecutors and false prophets, but he knew the eye of One to be upon him, whose love would not let a single circumstance pass unnoticed (not even a gray hair); and that becomes the molding process of His love on me. If I live or die, in the act of departing I should find Christ there. In everything about me, I have the blessed consciousness of Christ being there. " To me to live," etc. Not a single thing that should not be the means of bringing out Christ. "To me to live is Christ," takes in more than the outshining of Christ into the heart, as the smitten one, whose blood flowed, to wash away all sins; to all who have faith in that blood light flows; one spirit with the Lord takes in all, not the question of my having life in Christ, but of manifesting it, as a saint. Have you a little stock of your own, to trade upon; or, saying no! nothing of my own; "to me to live is Christ " to-day. There is. a certain power of life in Christ, that is to be told out, in a very precious way, in each one of His own; "Having loved them, He loves them to the end." I am His; He had owned me as His, in all my wanderings, and He will love Me to the end. If an angel were to come to my bed-side, to tell Inc Christ was occupied with me, as a member of His body, should I be more certain of that love, than I am? It is no delusion, but a fact, that Christ loves me, and will love me right on to the end. He won’t cease making me to know it, till He gets me into the Fathers’ house, to be forever in the full fruition of it. He is in heaven now as our advocate with the Father. If occupied with the outgoings of self, it ’is like a great mountain of snow, but if I get into communion with Him, self cannot come in. You cannot say " To me to live is Christ," if you have not got the motive love to Him. If pleasing your father or mother, without a thought to please Christ, it is nothing, but if doing it, because of its being part of life in Christ, that you would manifest, it would be quite different Christ stands with His people. If you take up a thing in His name, you may be quite sure, He is near you, and will carry you through it, by His sustaining. power. If I were to die to-morrow morning, Christ would be in it. He puts us to school, and does not take us out till He leas done His work in us; then " to me to die is gain." We get a beautiful picture in the way in which the eternal life, which Christ had with the Father, before the world was, was brought out in the life of Paul. His eye ever fixed on Christ above, his whole soul knit up with Him in heaven; ever drawing: power out of that Christ, to live to Him. What a happy people we should be, if we were mirrors; reflecting Christ in the perfect consciousness of all our weakness, but looking at Christ in heaven, bearing up amidst all the evil coming in like a flood, because He is in the glory with God in heaven. Instead of gathering up all the imagery on earth, to be magnifying Him in these bodies, whether by life, or by death, ever our happy condition. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: VOL 01 - LOOKING FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR ======================================================================== Looking for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior Salvation, in this epistle, is always looked at as a future thing, " Whence we look," &c. The ground of that is expressed in the 12th verse, " Not as though I had." If the Lord Jesus Christ has taken possession of me for a certain thing, the question is, whether I have got it. The soul’s confidence is not shaken by a future salvation when I look at Christ and say He has taken possession of me and what is it for? the answer is in His mind, there has been no shadow over it, nor thoughts of turning in His mind, for 1800 years. Have I got it yet? No! Shall I have it? Yes! as certainly as that I am His. People do not see that Christ is the one to whom they belong, the one to whom the Father gave a people, before the foundation of the world. When was that understood? In the garden of Eden? No! God’s great dealing in the old Testament was proving that from first to last, the creature was so completely ruined, he could not hold any good thing in his hand, and often the very magnitude of the failure caused the good thing to be given. The Lord was pleased to bring out the question of will in the creature, and when this came out, sentence was pronounced against him, and from that time the creature was on the round of being completely ruined. Christ was not affected by it. He was the only perfect will-less man He met Satan, and Satan found nothing in Him. He went through the world absolutely perfect, before God. You are not the same; you are ruined; and the ruin is seen first of all within you, in self-will and the want of subjection to the will of God, and in not having any intelligence as to what the mind of God is. In the word, I find (as one who has life in Christ) that before the foundation of the world, God gave me to Christ. He did not come till 4000 years afterward, and having accomplished the work, to open the way into heaven. He went back to heaven, and sent down the Spirit, and He reveals God’s thoughts about things in heaven before the world was created. He had got a heaven which He purposed to fill with a people chosen and accepted in His Son, and given to that Son as a heavenly bride. The sons and daughters He would bring in there, were seen as clearly in His mind, without a cloud, before the foundation of the world, as when they existed on earth. Paul could say, He apprehended me for that glory, as clearly as possible. He saw Paul and each since that time, and each particular individual who is to make up the complement of that body, of which His Son is head. Each distinct member was ever before the Divine mind like the tabernacle, not a stitch not foreseen and worked out. He might have closed up the whole thing in Peter. From the time He took possession of you, the Father could say, that person belongs to the Son of my love, not a shade between Him and the angels, in their seeing Him occupied with poor things down here. We do not get occupied, as we ought, with God’s thoughts in heaven. In all the actings of Christ to Saul, He did just as He would to any other sheep down here. Principalities, and powers, and angels, have not been stupid observers of all the marvelous dealings of God with man. They saw Him who was in the bosom of the Father from all eternity, down here for thirty-three years, they knew Him in the three years and a-half of His ministry, and at the last, in that wondrous work, on which the security of redemption hangs. They saw the law despised; and the Jews having murdered their Messiah, they saw Him then quietly in heaven sending first to those Jerusalem murderers, and from that time waiting quietly till the time when He will come and take all up. The angels see us and know His dealings with us. He loves the whole family with the same love. Not only that love came out to the eleven, washing their feet, but He lets it come out to all. But if He does so love all, He has not got them with Him yet, but He means to get them where ’He will say, " Behold I and the children," &c, and they will be like Him He will " fashion these bodies of humiliation like unto His own glorious body." Is that done yet? No, but it is as sure as if done; but we have to wait. The guardianship of the Shepherd over the greater part of the flock is ended, but He has not yet brought all in. He waits to bring them, every one, in; and then He will come to take all up. In this chapter the first Adam was the center of the system of Saul of Tarsus, and he discovered that there was a Center in heaven - the Lord Jesus Christ - and in Him was eternal life. Christ came down, but did not take the place of Life-giver till smitten, and He has power to produce in believers the very eternal life He had before with the Father. He is the giver of it to us, as the smitten rock, whence eternal life flows down to us here. We get the character of it in the Apostle Paul getting a taste in the wilderness of that which is of all things the most precious, saying, As the Lord Jesus has taken possession of me, I shall have possession of Him one day. I shall run up to the goal, and see him at the end. The glorious body is to be given, but much more precious the blessing connected with what I get here, than what will be mine at the end. The heart of the Father will never be more set on me than now, but when I get to heaven I shall have a glorious body. Will it be the beauty of that or the Father, that I shall be occupied with? if the Father 1 have the best part already. Paul with that eagle gaze saw Christ up there. Did he think that when he should get there, the best part of it would be a glorified body? or being with Christ? Ah! He loves me - it’s not the glory but Himself - but then my body will be the medium to reflect Him better than this poor body. Here evil ’comes in, and this body wants a thorn to guard it. Not so in my glorified body. Do you not say, if you find a thorn, Oh Satan has done this. Paul saw that it was Christ’s love that permitted it; but when He brings you to heaven there will be no more thorns needed there, there will be no joint in the harness to gall the flesh; there, no heaviness. Poor Daniel sick, and John falling as dead at Patmos, but the body will become the medium of tasting perfectly what that Christ is, that followed with unwearied love the course of each down here. Is it the thought of any, that in the glory they shall be nearer Him than some then, or brighter than others. A h that is something for yourself. Paul won’t be among the eleven apostles. Will he say, Oh 1 what a place they have got! Paul has no place in Revelations 21:14. But if the Son takes him by the arm, and he walks into the glory, leaning on the Lord, or the Lord says to him, You Paul, get behind that pillar and look at the people you brought into the glory. Ali I Paul, I am the one that you alone desired to look at. Yes! Lord, Thou art the Lord who knew how to heap up things upon me, who kept pulling the vessel down into the waters and filling it up. A large vessel holds more than a smaller, but it is Himself, only Him, and Paul says I shall see Him one day and run right up in a glorious body, to be with Him (5: 18). It is a solemn thing, that these were not gross evil livers; there is not the question of putting them out, but certain ones of whom His heart stood in doubt. It is a searching! thing to all hearts. If I have Christ as the center of the system I am in, I have communion with Him, in the power of the eternal life He has given me, and I have to walk as one whom Christ knows to be in communion with Himself. People take the power of the Spirit to be marked by the manifestation of joy in a believer; so it is, but connected with it will be the fullness of self judgment. if near Christ, I shall see the utter contrast between Him and self, and self-judgment will be followed by fullness of joy in Him. The Church, as a system, is set up on earth, and soon there comes in corruption, and corruption of the highest thing is always the most disgusting. A sweet flower may become corrupt, but the corruption of that would be far less than the corruption of the body of a beautiful child. The corruption of Satan, as one of the highest angels, was far more dreadful than that of a subordinate creature. God chose a people, first of all before the foundation of the world; but second, there is the exercise of His grace and power in calling and bringing them out as His own people; as in the ease of Israel - God takes a people out of Egypt. When the power of God is put forth in revivals, people go out, but God passes them into difficulties. If He choose us, to bring us out, so He looks to see, afterward, whether we choose Him, and are separated from things down here, to go with Him He says I picked you up for the Son of my love to take you to heaven, and if so, you take care to go after Him. He sees all ruin in me, but He says you have not walked as you ought, but you are mine and I mean you to be there. If. God has given me salvation, He lays claim to me, as His own property. The way He shows His sovereignty you get in the call of Saul of Tarsus. Had not He a right to put two extremes together? Enemies of the Cross, they could hardly be inside the Assembly if they rejected Christianity, but they would not have the Cross between them and the world. The life of Christ was a life of humiliation. He came out of the Divine glory, down to the death of the cross, and if I have His life, I ought to want to carry that cross. I ought to want to have the same mind that He had. He came from off the throne eternal, from the highest to the lowest place, and I want His life in me, to act as His, I want it ta be a life of humiliation. Rome, as the system of corruption, sits as queen of the earth: and in Protestantism the monarchs of the land became nursing fathers of the Church. Henry VIII. became independent of Rome because he could not marry another wife: and if we look around, where shall we find the Cross and Nazariteship amidst the miters and jewels and costly things of those who are living like princes, in many instances, I doubt not, feeling it a painful duty to do it - but where shall we find all that in connection with the Cross of Christ,? And when we come to individual! believers, do we find the Cross coming in to separate them, from earthly things? Do many, so see the beauty of the Son of God coming down, making it manifest through His whole course, that He was not of this world, and ending it in the death of the Cross, that they are saying, Oh! I want to be like that blessed One. I want to reflect that meekness, that lowliness, and if so, what a crowding of other things saying, and in such and such a thing I want to be like my Master, showing Christ’s mind in everything, - all starting away and dropping off from you, that is not like Christ, minding God and the Father; on the other side everything crowding upon you in which to be like Christ in all you are passing through down here. How blessed that man up there, who has been most like Christ down here. Then, the next blessed thought is, "our citizenship. &c." We are there already in spirit, and we look for Him to come, that we may be there, body, soul, and spirit. There is something exceedingly beautiful to my own soul, that God gives us so little about to-morrow, except as connected with the coming of Christ. If translation could take place now, the expectation of it would take me off waiting for Christ to come as the Resurrection and the life, to fill up every part of me with the fullness of the power of eternal life. He soon shall come out of heaven to fill up every one now waiting for Him, and He shall bring them home as vessels filled up. He only is to do it. Something so sweet in God’s thought, waiting till His Son has gathered the last of the people given Him by the Father, before the foundation of the world. Soon He will come. He is to gather up all the sheaves, fitted by Himself, to go into the barn, and they will then know all His delight in them. As we look at these poor bodies saying now, I have a body where I have a thorn, where the law of sin and death remains, but I do not mind it, He meant it to be so till He come, and then what a blessed deliverance! What a thought of that Lord, before taking me home making this body like His own, by the working of " His mighty, power subduing," &c. Was dragging His people out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, All? No! He was going to take them into a land flowing with milk and honey, and He led them all the way. That is His thought, and He will not come till the work is done. He does not call Sauls and leave them to walk alone No! He is watching them day and night. But when He gets those people into the Father’s house, He will not be able to add anything whatever to them. The Father, saying of those people, after they are brought home, you are the fruit of my Son’s work, and His glory is to be displayed through you. It is a very blessed thing to feel as those to whom Christ has given the light of eternal life, that not only all our springs are in Him who died to give it to us, but that the light is so to shine out, that the path of each one, however humble, may be marked by the spark of eternal life shining out the whole way. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: VOL 01 - MINISTRY AND SELF-SACRIFICE ======================================================================== Ministry and Self-Sacrifice THE way in which the New Testament presents Ministry is truly wonderful. God is the Great Minister, surveying His creatures in their various orders and degrees of relationship to Himself, with corresponding blessings. Thus, He serves out to all the rain and sunshine, giving fruitful seasons; and to the Church, higher and richer blessings, as we know, for they stand in another degree of relationship to Him. The Lord was the great personal manifested Minister; in every passage of His life being the servant, knowing the while how entirely all this was answering the mind and the way of God, and that it could therefore only issue in His own final joy and glory, as we read in Php 2:1-30, and Hebrews 12:2. The Holy Ghost is now the great hidden and efficient Minister, constantly tending the Church, and serving forth to each saint the things of the Father and of Christ, sustaining him by His presence, and in all conflicts and sorrows, even by His own groanings (Romans 8:1-39). And thus we get a marvelous display of ministry in God: whether in the Father, as surrendering the Beloved; the Lord, in personal suffering and trial; or the Holy Ghost, in the constancy of His presence in a place that thus draws forth the groan and intercession. But we get ministry in the Church too-ministry that results at once from communion and peace with this blessed God; and which, therefore, shows this communion with Him, or is the necessary outflowing of it. It may have various forms; but it is divine ministry, • of that quality which we have seen in God, in the Father, the Lord, and the Spirit-ministry which serves others at a cost or sacrifice. Thus, the apostle speaks of the teacher, the exhorter, the giver, the ruler, and so on; but shows them each, in the exercise of his ministry, acting with respect to them as debtors to others, and not in honor of themselves. Each is to profit all, the whole growing together by virtue of each (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:1-32). Peter also shows that the ministry is to have two distinct qualities; 1st, according to the grace received from God, and not beyond that measure; 2d, according to the need of others, and therefore, as a steward not below that measure (1 Peter 4:10-11). But second Corinthians is the chief place where ministry is discussed. The apostle presents his own there, and shows it indeed to be one unbroken course of self-sacrifice and labor for others. For the nearer we get to Christ, the brighter this ministry shines; and an apostle like Paul stood the nearest to Him. There we see in him sympathy with every infirmity of the saints. Who was offended without his burning? The care of the churches came upon him daily; if he were afflicted or comforted, it was still for them-" All things were for your sake." He says death worked in him that life might work in them. Whether he were beside himself or sober, he could still account for it on self-sacrificing principles. He followed his Lord so closely, that while he says of Him, "He became poor that we might become rich; " he says of himself, "as poor, yet making many rich." He was ready to spend and be spent for them, and that too in the spirit of entire self-surrender; " though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." He wanted them to do no evil, though he should be himself as a reprobate; and he was glad when he was weak and they were strong. A blessed display of divine grace and ministry this. This epistle shows us ministry in the person of an apostle, as the Gospel of Mark shows it to us in the person of the Son himself, the one being behind, but still in the track of the other. But let us get more distant than an apostle; yea, as distant as we can among the ranks of the saints. We are bound to look for ministry of the same quality, if not of the same quantity or strength.’ Every saint has some office to fill in the great ministry of reconciliation; and thus, in a, sense, is an ambassador for Christ, or representative of God in grace, in some measure as Christ was in fullness. This is taught, as I judge, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. If I wash but a saint’s foot, it is still a part of the great ministry of reconciliation, for it is so far a reflection of the grace of God-a taking my place in the great embassage of the ambassador’s suite, which has come down from God to this world of sinners. Every man in Christ is thus to know all things in a new way-to see himself in the reconciliation, and go forth from that ministry according to it to others. And thus we have ministry down from God in the highest, to the weakest and most distant companion in the blessed ranks of the redeemed. But I would not omit that we have it in the intermediate hosts also. For His angels are all ministering Spirits, and those of them who stand nearest to God, like the apostles to Christ, are perhaps the most abounding in ministeries, as Gabriel. And it may be that Satan would not take his place in this great system of ministry or divine benevolence; he stood in pride rather than in service, and thus fell into condemnation (1 Timothy 3:6); lie abode not in the truth, refused to take part in the economy of grace and truth, which, as we thus see, occupies the service or ministry of God himself with the Lord and the Spirit, the hosts of angels above, and all orders and estates of men in the Church or on earth. And when the glory is revealed, and the heavens and the earth are filled according to God, ministering will still go on, and the less will still be blessed of the better; for the Heavens shall hear the earth, and the river shall flow from the Throne through the City, and the leaves of the tree in the heavenly Jerusalem be for the healing of the earthly nations. For ministry, while it calls for self-sacrifice, expresses also intrinsic glory and strength, and thus the less is always blessed of the Letter.-MS. of J. G. B. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: VOL 01 - THE EXCELLENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST ======================================================================== The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Notes of G. V. W.’s Third Lecture on Php 3:1-21 THERE is a peculiar order in this Epistle. Paul presents in it the mind of God in a peculiar way. We see, in himself, (as a model man), how all the principles of the life of Christ acted. In chap. 1: the leading thought in him was, that be had only one thing to do on earth-to magnify Christ, in that poor perishing body of his-in that body, chained to a solder. He would magnify Christ, whether he lived or died. Any one walking in the Spirit would say "what a wonderful place he had!" he saw that the whole heart of Christ was set on him, and his was set on Christ; and, if so, what else could he do, but in his body to magnify that Christ? As Christ was, when down here, the representative of God-so Paul desired to be the representative of Christ. Little do we know how the heart of Christ is set on a believer. Christ looks down on him saying, " There is one who was given to me, before the foundation of the world, I washed him in my blood, and as I died for him, I want him to live to me." It is this Christ, who is the fountain of life to a believer; and is it wonderful that Christ should look down, saying, I would have that one’s whole heart set on me? The 2nd chap. presents the perfection of Christ, in doing the work He came down to do. His whole course says, "ah! ah I ah!"to the first Adam. He had a will of his own, the Last Adam had no will of His own; He was the only will-less man on earth, all the time He walked down here, making nothing of self; all that the Father gave Him to do, He did, meeting the Father’s mind and will, and He the only doer of it. In the perfection of the way He did the Father’s will, we get the strength of God Himself as to salvation. If, as a sinner, I am connected with that work, I get into the very secret of the delight of the Father in Him, and invested with the whole glory belonging to His Son’s work; He would have me say " Abba," with my whole heart, making it known He is " Abba " to me, even as to that only Son of His love. I get the springs in Christ and the fountain flows from God, through Christ’s work and His having entirely met the Father’s mind. He can look on me saying, " The Father gave you to me, how can I but love you? " The results of the true circumcision as to walk, we find in chap. 2., but in this chap. 3, Paul gets to where he found these springs, in the revelation of the Christ, through the Gospel; then he goes on to the third part, 1:e., the Savior Christ coming to perfect the body. There are three parts of salvation. The salvation of the soul, you must know that; then, working out salvation by the power of God working in the believer; then, an end flows, from walking consistently, and that is the glorification of the body. One sees how an inclination to heresy comes in, from people losing sight of the sub-divisions marked in this chap. 3: People take up the notion, that God makes no difference in His dealings in giving salvation to an individual, and His dealings with that person afterward - but we get the difference clearly marked here. The first part of salvation is the poor sinner being brought to Christ, the Rock smitten. Ah! don’t we see how the streams flow forth - precious streams of living water gushing out - not to God’s people only, but to weary ones round about. We are so grossly selfish, it is always, where am I? what have I got? I stands up first, and that is the " old man " - but God does not begin with me, but with Christ. In the Father’s house, will it be I and nothing for the heart to be interested in, save things connected with self? or will you there find Christ so completely the Center of that scene, so completely filling it and His love so precious, that you cannot have the least thought about yourself - so wrapt up with that Christ in the very light of His presence, that you can find no place for the T, the self, that fills up the thoughts in the present time. We have two centers down here, and I comes in before Christ. Paul had two, and had to give up self. If you were to pick out the best down here to be a center, you would find in him only the first Adam. What a different center, to wind things round, is this Christ of God; if He made Himself the center, to wind a man like Paul round, everything that Paul passed through of sorrow and difficulty, only became the means of winding him more and more round this Christ in heaven; and depend upon it, the brightness of that Christ would come out, not only to the joy of Paul, but of God Himself, to find His servant letting it out in a place of all others the most, difficult. (ver, 3.) " For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." We have the mark of the people blest by God, "we are the circumcision." Here the Spirit and the flesh are contrasted; Christ cannot shine in the flesh; it is only in the Spirit He can shine. All connected with the first Adam, is a judged thing - the knife goes round to cut everything of flesh. In Eden, nothing that the hand of God could give enabled man to taste His redeeming love; but in the Paradise of God, we find a place of His own joy - a place where all His people will be gathered, and nothing to remind them of the first, save the name - not a place where man as a mere creature could find his joy. If we take the end of Revelation, and compare its descriptions with Eden, we find God in everything, showing the superiority. Beware of dogs "; this was very severe from the lips of a Jew; a dog - a thing unclean altogether. Jews turning back to their own works, were these dogs. Next see the biggest beads he can string together on this human nature, 5: 4, 5, 6. The first circumcision was like a finger-post, very important as showing that God would have a separated people, but that was practiced on Ishmael’s family as well as on Abraham’s. A Pharisee, means a separated person "Concerning zeal," &c. To the Jew it was blasphemy (and very naturally so) to suppose the Eternal Jehovah dwelt in the Nazarene. The very Jehovah of Isaiah 6:1-13 : tabernacling in flesh - was spit upon and buffeted. Paul’s zeal came forth to exterminate, if possible, the darling delight of God’s heart - the Church. This was the thing against which all the fiery zeal of Saul came forth, not only to, persecute, but in blasphemy and injurious words; he did not know any word too bad to give to Christ’s followers. Of course he did not, he could not have such a thought as He, the Eternal God, having left heaven, to become a man, a despised. Nazarene, to go to the death of the Cross, to deliver poor sinners from judgment, by bearing it in their stead. Yet utterly impossible to find any other thing than that He who hung on that Cross was the eternal God, or the most wicked impostor that ever lived. "As touching the law blameless." Afterward Paul discovered the law had claims on the inward man, not the outward, and that there is no power in a rebel to turn round to God and say, " all my springs are in Thee." He found the " law was spiritual," &c., " he, sold under sin," When the excellency of the knowledge of Christ came, what was all he had counted gain for Christ? He suffered the loss of all things. We see the contrast of the two Adams: no possibility of comparing them together. The thorough mistrust man had of God is a very painful thing; to feel that there is One that you cannot trust, that that One is the originator of whatever He likes; - that He is perfectly arbitrary and wills everything in the universe, and you cannot shut Him out. " If you take the wings of the morning and flee," &c., even there His hand will find you. He will turn everything to His own glory; His love to sinners being rejected, He knows how to throw back the whole of man’s shame on himself, and he, to have to say, I owe to myself all my ruin, I chose to perish in my ruin, rather than be carried off as a sheep on the Shepherd’s shoulder - the trophy of His love - I owe it to none but myself. Satan is not independent, he is subject to One who called him a "liar and murderer from the beginning." Neither are you independent, but you must either be subject to one who would like to tear everything to pieces, or to One who delights to bless; either you belong to Him, or if not, you will be spued out of His mouth. Every man living is in the one place or the other; you cannot be in both: either nothing but a football of Satan, or a poor withered flower, picked up to be worn by Christ, in His infinite grace. When Solomon had gathered everything that earth could yield of beauty and delight, the bubble burst, and all was vanity and death. What can suffice to fill the heart of a ruined creature (let everything be heaped up round him) if not subject to the One who came down, as the One in whom the heart can rest! What broke in on Saul was the beauty of the eternal Son of God, who had come to Calvary, shed His blood and gone back to heaven, and there that Son of God had a heart to look round the earth to appropriate to Himself, one who was an enemy and a blasphemer, to make of him a model man. Who was this man? and who the One who looked down on him 2 He was "the Resurrection and the Life," saying, "You Paul have death in you, and if you go to the grave, there is the second death and nothing else for you; but if I, ’ the Resurrection and the Life,’ have taken your shame, and have gone down into death and the grave and am risen up out of it, then you and every one, if connected with Me, will come out of the grave too." This blessed One was raised up and planted by God, at His own right hand, as the center of all, and of every heart. God said, "I have brought in a new man altogether." Have we got self as our center, or this ’One who is the center of all God’s dealings, and all His delight? a living man in heaven, making all new. This is the one presented in all beauty to Saul. I get the person of Christ in the gospel as the alone channel of blessing, the smitten rock from whence the waters are to flow, to prepare a people, so that He up there as ’first-born of many brethren, may have them with Himself in that scene of glory, where God and the Lamb will shine forth. In the present day we have got the gospel corrupted and brought down to an infinitesimal measure of truth. I rejoice that any one should get the feeblest ray, but that would not be any acquisition in a badly presented Christ, or an excuse for only presenting one point, and not presenting the whole truth of God, and leaving it to work in the heart. Paul knew, not only Christ’s blood as that which meets everything that unfits for glory, but he knew Christ Himself, as the center of the glory, and the one round whom all the counsels of God roll; he had Him ever fixing his eye, as the most beautiful of all objects; and he lived by the faith of that Christ who had loved Him, and gave Himself for him. And what was the end to be? A very blessed one. The Lord would come forth to change His body of humiliation, to make it like his own immortal glorious body. He gives it by putting forth power to subdue all - everything to be filled up by Him, by that mighty power. Is He the One who is to give me a glorified body, and what else? Ah! (Paul said), He is the one who has guided me all through the wilderness - what else? Ah! is not His living person up there ever spewing to his servant down here His perfect acceptance, saying, the whole question of sin is settled, and here I am occupied with you. No one knows the path you are to walk save me; you are to walk where I walked. " I shall put your feet into the prints marked out by mine." There is something very full in the "excellency of the knowledge of Christ." It is clearly the revelation of an object by God, on which his eye rests, an object whose beauty was beyond all thought of man; that Nazarene whom man despised, He it is who is there. He is my Lord. He loves me and I love Him. Do you know that Christ as a living person in glory as Paul did? and, if you do, is it the fruit of your own intelligence, or has God given you power beyond nature to look up and see Him, and as you do so, is it a place of gold - precious stones - that fixes your eye? No! it’s a person, one who sees me - one that came down here to die for me, one who loves me and allows my heart to twine itself round Him as a person to be loved. Two things: an object presented to the heart so really attractive that I desire to draw near it because so attractive; and that object the Lord Jesus Christ in all His beauty on the throne of God. Ought not I to love the One who had a longing about me before the foundation of the world as one given Him by the Father. If I draw near to God, it is because I find Him on the throne with everything, not only for perfect rest of soul before God, but having, in Himself, everything attractive to the heart. Poor pitiful things are we, but as a people connected with the Sonship, by the Father choosing us in the Son of His love, before the foundation of the world, the thirk„ that feeds our hearts, as it did Paul’s, is the person of that Christ, His love to us so realized, that it is the one object of our hearts to love Him. Not one weakness, not a sharp. flint to cut the foot - but He just lets us see how He is taking the occasion presented by it, to show His love. You, poor Peter, will deny me, but I shall come again to fetch you to the place I am going to prepare for you because I want you. What rest to one’s soul! What attractive power in His love! I find in self such waywardness of mind; I find things ruling me; I do not like walking here, I do not like the way I have to go; but what rest to know amidst it all, that He is up in heaven, and the flock under His hand and His power for them, as for a flock belonging to Him, and just where faithfulness fails His power comes in; for the sheep are His property, and He will surely guide and keep them to the end. And what is it when it is the question of suffering, or the loss of all - He is ours! What did Paul give up? God says Christ is mine - I gave Him up for you - what have you given up for Him 2 There is a cup of water. Now have you displaced the water by putting something heavier into the cup? If you have a heart full of lusts and vanities - well how are you to give it all up? it is by the precious gold poured inside the vessel, and all there, is displaced by it. If I had a few copper pieces in my hand and a purse of gold were given me, I should lay the copper pieces in the street where a beggar could find them. Don’t talk of what you have given up 1 If God have given you Christ - can you spare Him 2 Are you not obliged to say, Father Thou knowest what that gift of Thine is - Thou knowest about His cross and glory. And in the glory, oh what heart can conceive what it will be to look in that face What will you say then of the beauty of Christ? The woman of Samaria said, " Come and see a man," etc., He had talked at that well with her half an hour and she could say He read, not only this unclean heart, but all that I ever have done, and He hadn’t a heart to condemn me. Oh when we think of what that Christ is personally, who shall read the fullness of the Godhead in Him and not feel like a little child looking at the Father who gave Him, and feeling He knows all about Him, and there the heart rests. Evangelists say, How can the gospel suit a person that does not know he is a sinner? It did me. I found by it, that God had given Christ, and the Person of that Christ, as a living man, with all human affections occupied in heaven with me, was revealed to my heart, first bringing out a flood of affections, the rest came afterward, and I had to learn all my sinnership; but I got my heart caught by the beauty of that Christ. I have not got Him yet, but God has got Him for me; rays of light shine down from His face, but I shall not see Him till He come to take is up, but I can raise my voice and join the saints in songs of praise, till I see Jesus and am glorified together with them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: VOL 01 - THE MODEL OF LOVE ======================================================================== The Model of Love MAY we so live with Jesus that in aught but Him and loveliness we ever may see. May it be the very end of all other loves to reveal the immeasurable depth and tenderness of the love of Christ; may it be the model after which all other love is built-pure, unselfish, untiring, inexhaustible, and most tender. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: VOL 01 - THE SEATING OF THE LAMB ON THE THRONE ======================================================================== The Seating of the Lamb on the Throne "To another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit."-1. Cor. 12:8. In the Revelation, from beginning to end, we have a book of judgment. There we learn God. In the previous dispensation we learn the Father. The soul, in going on in inquiry after truth, scarcely likes to mark the passage from the first to the second character. The name of Father gives us His heart towards us. We scarcely like to take one step from the threshold. We like the atmosphere of the Father’s house, it gives rest to the soul, taking it away from the contention and evil that is in us and around us; but we have need of faith and patience, and God is to be learned as well as the Father. The book of the Revelation has nothing to do with the actings of the Father. In the first chapter we read, " The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him." This tells us how intelligently to open this book. There are two great spheres of judgment in it, the one of the candlesticks, the other of the world. First we find the priest in the sanctuary, not standing at the golden altar with incense, where God was, but towards the candlesticks, with golden snuffers, to see if the lamp of the sanctuary would yet burn worthy of God. He is not represented as standing there to replenish them with oil, but with the snuffers (Exodus 25:38) to trim them, and to see for the last time if they might be made to burn brighter, and if not to remove them. The end is here, as always in the book, not in the Lord Jesus ministering grace, but in the Lord as Son of man, putting the candlestick (1:e., the Church) on its responsibility. It is like Adam in the garden when the Lord said to him, "Where art thou?" or " Give an account of thy stewardship." From that day to this, the only place in which the Lord can own us is in being humbled and mourning, not lifting up our heads in the consciousness of not having answered the challenge of the Son of man. We may see a little bit of beauty here and there, but as having failed, our place is that of the shattered candlestick, and it becomes us to behave ourselves with humility. In the fourth chapter we have the preparation for the second part of judgment, that of the world, just as in the first chapter we have the preparation for judgment on the Church, so the fourth and fifth are preparatory to the second; then we get the judgment of the earth-the outer sanctuary. In the fourth, I judge, we get the throne of Him (5: 10, 11), to whom all blessing, and the very title of creation belong.; around the throne of such an one we see the rainbow, the sign of stability on earth, in the blood that the sweet-smelling sacrifice of Noah typified. Then we have the living creatures, the lightnings, the seven spirits, &c.; in all these we get the exhibition of the instruments to redeem the earth by judgment from under the power of Satan. The lightnings and thunders, the judicial acts by which the earth is redeemed from that power-the elders, &c., the exhibition of the power by which " the world to come " is judged. The Twenty-third Psalm starts with the flock of God on their journey homeward. Whatever the circumstances may be in the hands of the Good Shepherd-whether the rod or the staff, still " goodness and mercy follow them," &c., and they are led in safety to the house of the Lord. The character of this psalm sweetly harmonizes with the whole Gospel of John. But the 24th does not describe the flock going home, but the co-heirs of Jacob going up to the golden city. We have just this path prepared in the Revelation. Here in the fifth chapter we have " Thou art worthy to take the book," &c.-God’s title which Satan cannot touch, " He bath founded it on the seas," &c. But then, as of old, God set up Adam as head of the creation, so now He designs to set up the last Adam as head over the second creation. Then we have the question, " Who shall ascend," &c. Whom shall God put over the forfeited dominion of Adam? " He that hath clean hands and a pure heart," &c.,-Jesus. In the 23rd Psalm we have not the fullness of the Father’s house as in the 24th, it is only " He that hath clean hands," &c.; but, though " the Revelation " goes much farther and deeper, it is only the expansion of the same person unfolded in dispensation. John led us, in his gospel, no farther than to the Father’s house, but the Revelation prepares us to travel from the Father’s house to the golden city. The 24th Psalm ends with " Lift up your heads," &c., " The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory," and the golden city is the close of this book. There are two paths-that of the children home to their Father, and then as co-heirs with Jesus to the golden city. God’s blessed love has not only given us that beautiful golden city, and the Father’s hand leading us up to the Father’s house, but the Revelation displays those judgments by force of which the inheritance is redeemed into the hands of Him who made and redeemed it for His Church to rule over. One thing here strikes me, the connection of power with the government of the world (4-9.) We know from the eleventh chapter, that the government of " the world to come " will go on in this way; we have ourselves, in the persons of the cherubim, as attendants on the throne of God. In the holy place they were made of one piece with the mercy-seat, perfectly reflecting the mind of Him who sat between the cherubim. In the garden of Eden, when the Lord drove out the man, He placed at the east of it the cherubim and a flaming sword. Why was this? Because the attendants of God reflected His mind; but in the holiest the sword is gone, and they have their wings spread over the mercy-seat, and in delight searching into its secrets, tell us all the blessed joy He has in GRACE. Their full union with the mind of God is seen throughout the Scripture. In Ezekiel, Jerusalem being a defiled place, we do not find the wings of the cherubim stretched over the mercy-seat, but stretched forth to carry Jehovah away. In Exodus 24:1-18, the God of Israel rested, and the glory of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai; but now in Ezekiel the apostasy had disturbed the rest of God, and the aspect of the cherubim is quite different; their wings are down, and we see one of the cherubs stretching forth his hand to take fire to throw on the devoted city. In "the world to come " I do assuredly judge the attendants on the throne will no longer be angelic but human in their character, Hebrews 2:5. The first great glory is that we are co-heirs with the Son-the second, that we enter into the place of cherubim glory. The angels are made to open their ranks to let us in; the cherubim are not only in the midst of the throne, but in the midst of the elders. In the 5th chapter we have the title of the Lord Jesus to redeem the earth, and to occupy the throne, discussed and settled in heaven. In Daniel we find the Son of man brought to the ancient of days, &c., (Daniel 7:13-14,) and in Luke 19:1-48, the Lord likens Himself to a nobleman, who went into a far country to receive a kingdom, and return. The Lord’s title to the kingdom is settled in heaven, before the action of the book goes on at all; Jesus goes up to take the book from the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne, as owning the power to be in God himself, and God owns the power as being committed into the hands of Jesus, and allows it to pass from the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. Then every one in heaven, the Church, the elders, the angels, all own the title of the blessed God to take His place, and Jesus to have the scepter of righteousness, and nothing but joy runs through all. The Revelation shows us what the Epistle to the Ephesians tells us is going on (3:10.) The Church is now made the display of the manifestation of God’s grace, and this teaches lessons to the angels, but in the Revelation it will be the display of God’s glory. If the action of the book begins at the sixth chapter, where is the Church? Taken up at some indefinite moment between the third and fourth chapters. Why do I judge the Church is taken up after the third? In the fourth it is seen in heaven, and from the sixth to the nineteenth we find the Church never stepping down from this place of joy and intelligence in the heavenlies. Their continuous joy may be traced. In the seventh we find the angels sealing the tribes. Was there any delight in this? Surely, beloved; and we find the angels standing round the throne, and the elders and living creatures worshipping God, and saying "Amen" to the praises of the innumerable multitude themselves, breaking out into a song of praise; and in chapter nineteen, where the marriage of the Lamb is announced, we find an ecstasy of heavenly joy running throughout the whole sphere. Every now and then we find the expression of not an interruption, but an elevation of joy, not mingled with the earth, still around the throne. From the sixth to the nineteenth holds the same place as’ the book of Joshua in Old Testament history-it is the account of the redemption of " the Inheritance," and of its being taken out of the hands of the usurper, and made ready to be given into the hands of Man; it is " the root of David " (see chap. 22:), who presides over "the inheritance." The Lord will not resume Israel till the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. The Church is taken up before the second scene of judgments on the earth, in which the Church is not made an instrument. The Church will be made the instrument of RULING the world when it is brought into blessing, but not of reducing it. " In Judah is God known." These are the instruments of power, the Lord’s " goodly horse in the day of battle," " out of him " come forth " the battle bow " (Zechariah 10:1-12) The difference between the Church and the Jewish remnant is as that between Enoch and Noah. The first was rescued out of the judgment, the latter was preserved in it. Before the judgment came through which the other was carried, Enoch is taken out of the scene and translated into heavenly blessing. This, I believe, is shown in Thessalonians to be the case with the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:17.) When I reach the sixth chapter, I find my standing in. the attitude of the disciples on the Mount of Olives when they asked the Lord, "When shall these things be?" then we get the signs corresponding to those which the Lord gave in Matthew 24:1-51 I see the seals govern the action of the whole book, and are given in answer to the question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" The Church (which is in heaven) has no place in the action (which is on the earth.) Then it may be asked, "Why have we the book?" It completes the account of the actings of God. We do not exhaust the Lord’s mercy to Israel till we have passed through the book of Joshua-till He had proved Himself to be the redeemer of "the inheritance" as well as the heirs of it. We have the children of the Father brought fully out in John, and by the ministry of Paul fed and nourished, but however gracious this is, yet there is another thing in the mysterious actings of our Joshua that is most blessed. He takes us himself into "the inheritance." The bride of the Lamb is brought out as the golden city, That result we get in the twenty-first chapter. In the nineteenth we have the Lamb, and the marriage of the bride, which, I judge, takes place in the Father’s house. When speaking of the coming of the Lord, we look at it indistinctly if we speak of His coming to the earth. This is not what we look for, but for His descent from heaven-this is the first stage. Thus by the voice of the trumpet we shall be called up in joy of soul to meet the Lord, not in Jerusalem, but "in the air," there to be " presented to Himself," and be taken by Him, with all " the Church of the first-born," to the Father’s house, according to His own word of promise (John 14:3). Then in the Father’s house, " the marriage of the Lamb " will be celebrated. Do you think in the 24th Psalm their so often repeating the question, " Who is the King of glory?" was because they were ignorant who He was? No; but they delighted to hear the sound of His glory: so we " rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." We get in the nineteenth chapter the marriage celebrated, and the Church with the Lord prepared to take the glory, then we get into the kingdom in the twentieth chapter. This chapter is an answer to " Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" The Lord is there placed on His throne with His bride. Thus I conclude that the Church is taken up before the thrones are set and the judgment begins. All the judgments contribute to place the Lamb on the throne. What is the kingdom that we look for? Its influences will come just in an opposite direction from whence they do now. Now, the influence is from Satan to earth, then from heaven to the earth; the ladder will then take its right place: the top of it will be in heaven, the bottom on earth. Do you delight in the thought of the earth’s standing in righteousness? It will be so when the ladder brings down its influence from heaven, and earth ceases to be influenced from hell. The scepter of righteousness will be in the blessed hands of the Son of man, and the Church is brought into the place of government. In the midst of the glory I see a throne as in the fourth chapter, but it is the throne of God and the Lamb. The inquiry in the 24th Psalm and in the fifth chapter, " Who is worthy?" we see answered by this, the seating of the Lamb on the throne. The action confirms the result, and the action-vial after vial may be poured out, but all contributes to the seating of the Lamb on the throne-all to let " the King of glory " in through " the everlasting gates," all to give the Lamb the fruit of that title which is already His. May our hearts be right in the promise of the Lord, "Surely I come quickly," and may our cry be "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." If He presents Himself as our only delight, may our hearts be true to Him. It will be the joy of the Lamb’s bride to be side by side with Him who gave her everything. There is no surrender too great for the love He had to the Church -blessed be God for His grace-our hearts can taste this now. The Church not merely gets a husband, but one who has shown towards her a love that was stronger than death; this is He to whom she is betrothed, and this present time is the season (before the bride and bridegroom come together) when the lesson of joy under the teaching of the Holy Ghost, that we have to be learning, is all the grace and love that is in His heart towards us, as it is said, " Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." We have now to be learning the devotedness of the love of our expected bridegroom. We are nothing less than the Lamb’s wife, the bride of the One who gave His life for as! What a glory! what a joy! J. G. B. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: VOL 02 - FORTIFIED WITH TRUTH ======================================================================== Fortified With Truth WE need individually to be fortified with TRUTH. If we have not the TRUTH we may be made the sport of Satan to-morrow. I will give you An instance of it. The Galatians were an earnest, excited people (and I do not quarrel with revival excitement); they would have plucked out their eyes for the apostle. But the day came when he had to begin afresh with them from the very beginning • " My little children, of whom I travail in birth, till Christ be formed in e you." There was excitement without a foundation of truth, and when unbelief came in the poor Galatians were next door to shipwreck; and the Epistle to the Hebrews is a witness to the same thing. The Hebrew saints were unskillful in the WORD. But we must be fortified by TRUTH. A state of quickening wants the strengthening of the WORD OF GOD. J. G. B. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: VOL 02 - HOPE TO THE END ======================================================================== Hope to the End FAITH counts upon the end from the beginning. As our hymn has it- The guilt of twice ten thousand sins One moment takes away; And grace, when once the war begins, Secures the crowning day." This calculation upon the end at the beginning is a fine exercise of the soul. Faith knows what the end must be, from what the beginning has been. The journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan is a grand moral, as it has been, and is still commonly felt to be. It is not taken till the settlement of the greatest of all questions is fully and perfectly reached; the question, I mean, of relationship to God. In Exodus 12:1-51 that is the subject. The time of that chapter was no time of conflict, as between Israel and Egypt, but between Israel and the judgment of God.. It was like the question between God and us, as sinners. And the blood on the door-posts settled " The guilt of twice ten thousand sins One moment takes away." It is the sword of the destroying angel that is turned aside by the sprinkled blood, and not the sword of any Egyptian. That angel would most surely have entered, carrying death or the judgment of God with him, but for the sprinkled lintel. That blood was God’s provision for settling the question of life or death, of salvation or judgment, between Himself and Israel, in the doomed land. of Egypt. It effectually blunted the power of death. It was a moment when nothing but that blood would have done anything, but that blood did all which that moment demanded. It decided this, that Israel was to live and not to die. In such a character, Israel starts for the journey. The greatest of all questions was settled-their relationship to God. And well is it, where the soul owns that this is the first, the great, the chief, and the principal question of all questions, "How stands it between God and my soul?" Others are but second to that-and, accordingly, that very month, in which this was accomplished and done, was, by divine ordinance, the beginning of months with Israel. Thus at peace with God, as a redeemed, and purchased, and saved people, Israel begins the journey. Their character is settled and taken ere their history or action. begins. Soon they find themselves at their wits’ end. The strength of Pharaoh is behind them, and the Red Sea in front; and it seems as though it were only a choice of deaths for them-the sword or the flood. But He who was in the place of judgment with them yesterday, is with them in the midst of enemies and hindrances to-day. The angel of God can do the business now, as effectually as the blood did. it then. The pillar where the glory dwelt serves now, because the sprinkled lintel had already served. The angel defends, because. the blood had redeemed. Simple and precious! The blood, I may say, pledges all which Israel’s need de-. mands. For " Grace, when once the war begins, Secures the crowning day." Accordingly, the angel of God. comes between Israel and their pursuers. The pillar is darkness to the camp of Egypt, and light to Israel. And the hosts of the Lord go on and through the sea, and the hosts of Pharaoh, in all their strength and flower, perish in it. Thus is the journey commenced. It was a blood-bought people who were taking it, and it is at once seen that such a people shall be a defended people. The blood pledged the pillar. Redeemed from the judgment of God, they shall surely be more than conquerors over their enemies. " If God be for us, who can be against us? " The song on the eastern shore of the sea declares this. There had been no song till now. The hour of redemption from the judgment of the Lord had been passed in silence; this hour of deliverance from the sword of Pharaoh is celebrated in a song. Fitting and beautiful distinctions in the exercises of the soul I Israel in Egypt had enjoyed the certainty of the blood protecting them from the destroying angel, by feeding on the lamb in silence: they now see their enemies vanquished, and sing the song of praise. The silence of the paschal hour may have been of a deeper character-but silence was a better expression of the joy of such an hour, than this fervent triumphant utterance would have been. Redeemed from the righteous judgment of God, and defended from the attempts of the enemy who would have overwhelmed them, the Israel of the Lord proceeded on their way. A checkered scene they pass through. Necessities call for supplies, infirmities and trespasses call for healings and forgiveness. But the Lord proves His resources and His grace. He feeds them. He rebukes and chastens, but He pardons them, and still accepts them. Let the demands on Him be what they may, or repeated as they may, He never leaves them. If Israel bring a pilgrimage of forty years upon themselves, the Lord will be in the wilderness with them for forty years. He may be grieved, and have to express His °displeasure, but He never leaves them. Is Israel then, I ask, still a happy people? Are they a less happy people than when at first in Egypt they fed together under the covert of the blood, or at the sea sang their song of victory? Circumstances are changed indeed.; but is their God changed? They are, it is true, in the heart of the wilderness, but are they a less happy people? Can any reason be drawn from the cloudy pillar of the desert in proof of this? Are they more straitened in God now than they were at the outset? Is the pillar the witness of a different God from what the blood or the song had given them? No; they are not straitened in God-nor are we, be we on what stage of the journey we may. If we loved the Lord, the days of the pillar in the wilderness would be as welcome, in a great sense, as the earlier triumphant hour of the song on the sea. The wilderness, in all its circumstances, was given to Israel of old, and is given t o us now, for this end, to prove what is in our hearts towards God. (Deuteronomy 8:1-20) Should such an occasion be ungrateful or unwelcome? Would it be so to us in our human place and feelings, if we indeed loved another? Would we resent some call to serve him, some occasion to prove that there was something in our hearts for him? We know we should not. We know that we should give place to such opportunities, entertain them, and greet them. And, as far as we have occasion of showing a heart for the Lord, those wilderness journeys will not be resented. In themselves, they are not joyous. Nothing can make them, in themselves, other than what they are grievous,-these trials and sorrows, these journeys through necessities, through humblings, through shifts and changes, it may be in painfulness and weariness. But the pillar tells us of the presence of the Lord. And this tells us that it is a happy people we are to be all along the road. The blood, the song, the companion-cloud, are only divers tokens of the same Jesus. Just at the end of the road, in the high places of Baal or of Peor, a confederacy was formed against Israel, as at the outset there had been another on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea. It is a moment which gives the Lord occasion to prove Himself the very same to Israel as He had been forty years before, in spite of all their provocations. For however we may entertain these opportunities of proving our heart to Him, we may easily know how He entertains them when they would prove His heart to us. Israel is spread out in their encampment, in the valley beneath, when, in the high places of Baal and of Peor, the Lord meets the confederated Balaam and Balak, their altars, their victims, and their enchantments. The rest of Israel is not allowed to be disturbed by even the most distant report of what was happening, though in a great sense it was a moment of imminent peril to them. The Lord meets the king and his prophet all alone-and the tokens of the liars are frustrated. There is no enchantment against Israel. Israel may sleep on and take their rest, when the question is raised, " Can anything erase them from the palms of the hands of the Lord? " When the occasion is set for the proving of this, that the Lord has His Israel in His heart, as freshly and as warmly and as faithfully as ever, Israel may remain at home, and neither plead nor act, for the Lord will let the powers of darkness know the secrets of His bosom. Thus is it with Him, in valuing and using opportunities for proving what is in His heart toward His saints. And if we, beloved, did but value what we have in Him, if we but took account of our condition in relation to the Lord, and not in relation to drum.: stances, we should always be happy beyond. expression. Our joy would be full. But it is in that point we fail. We love circumstances. We live in the power of them too much, in the light of the Lord’s favor too little. And we are dull, and low, and half-hearted. Were it not so with us, the journeys in company with the cloud, checkered as they are, would find us and leave us still a happy, happy people. For it is one Jesus throughout, whether it be the day of the blood, of the song, or of the cloud, one and the same Jesus who was here with us in the circumstances of human life, in the dying love of the cross, in the life of intercession in heaven, and who will give us His unchanged self in glory forever. But, further still, for there is a stage beyond the high places of Baal, in the journey of Israel-there is the passage of the Jordan-the moment when the wilderness is to be put behind them forever, as there had been in Egypt the moment when it was all before them, and then (when they had crossed the sea) the times and the seasons when it was all around’ them. And now, so fruitful is the Lord of Israel in His resources, it is not the blood or the song or the pillar, but the ark and the feet of the priests, that are put in service for them. New occasions bring out new agencies. Fresh necessities display fresh resources. But it is the same Jesus. There are different administrations, but it is the same Lord. The arm is not shortened-and the help of Israel for the Jordan is as perfect as had been their help at the Red Sea. Not a wave of the swellings and overflowings of the river touched the foot of the feeblest or most distant Israelite. The waters were again a wall on their right hand and on their left.* The ark stations itself in the midst of the bed °Auto river, till all the company had gone clean over. Its presence encourages them as well as secures them, just at a moment and under an -exigency when nature would have smirk, and the heart would have had a thousand misgivings. " Would not those watery walls give way? Would not the river from above assert its right, and claim its possession of a thousand years? Would not the source of the river force its title against its trespassers? "-The calm and assured aspect of the priests; as they bore the ark, and stood with it there in the place of the river’s height of pride and strength, gave all such questionings their answer, and stilled every misgiving. The people were commanded to look at the ark, and then to pass on. And they did. so. They passed over dry-shod, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth gave them its presence, till all was accomplished. The waters would have been first in overwhelming the ark and its bearers, had they been able to touch even the sole of the foot of the feeblest of the tribes. And this crowning mercy visits them without the Lord calling to their remembrance a single evil His Israel had committed all along the journey hitherto. Read. Joshua 3:4, where the passage of the Jordan is accomplished, where God shuts out the wilderness forever; and leads His elect home, and you will End no remembrancer of one single misdoing. He sees no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. The Lord. giveth liberally, and upbraideth not. Everything is done for them that is needed, and everything that is done, is done by an arm of conquering strength, and by a heart of perfect un-upbraiding love-and. Israel passed into their inheritance under the same God. of all grace, by whom they had passed out from the place of death and judgment. The earliest pledge is redeemed at the latest moment-and the song, which at the first we sang in the spirit of faith, is sung again at the end, under a fresh breathing and impulse, in the power of the truth of it:- "And grace, when once the war begins, Secures the crowning day."J. G. B. (* There was no water at all.-Ed.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: VOL 02 - THE STORY OF GRACE ======================================================================== The Story of Grace THE heart, if I may so express it, enters heaven when it listens in faith to the story or tale of grace. The work and fruit of grace is all our title to heaven itself by and by. The story or tale of grace, listened to by faith is all our way, and our only way, into heaven in spirit now. The self-judgings of the holy principle, and the doings and obedience of the righteous principle, in us, are good and needful; but it is not the property of such things to lead us to, and seat us in heaven. It is the silent attitude of faith listening to the story of the grace of God, that constitutes the present heaven of the soul. We have some illustrations of this silent listening of faith, while grace is rehearsing or exercising itself, given us in Scripture. Look at Genesis 3:1-24 The Lord God speaks to Adam, among the trees of the garden, of present penalties on him and his wife; but in His words to the serpent, he lets fall on Adam’s ear the tale of grace, which told him that the charm of the serpent’s promise should be broken; that instead of alliance between the deceiver and deceived, there should be enmity; and that in that enmity the one who stood for the deceived (God’s gift also) should at all personal cost be fully and gloriously the conquerer. To this tale of gospel grace Adam listens, listens in silence. There is nothing else for, him. But through the Spirit, this so works on his soul, that he comes forth from his distance into God’s presence; and his heart is so filled with the tale of grace, and with that only, that he seems altogether to forget the present penalty. He comes forth, calling his wife "the mother of all living," thus owning the mystery which had been revealed to him, and that only. This is full of blessing. This is a beautiful illustration of the virtue that lies in a believing, silent listening to the tale or story of grace. Adam was borne in spirit, not only away from that distance into which sin and guilt and conscience had driven him, but beyond the fear or thought of present sorrow, to which his history in the world was about to expose him. He was as at the gate of heaven in spirit. Look again at Zechariah 3:1-10 Joshua is before the angel of the Lord, and Joshua’s accuser or adversary is there also. Joshua appears in all defilement and degradation. The tattered garments of a prodigal but poorly hide his shame and nakedness -nay, they rather witness it and publish it; he has nothing to say for himself, and his only wisdom is not to attempt or affect anything; he is deeply and thoroughly silent. But there is One in the scene who can speak, and does speak, and Joshua listens. And what does the listening Joshua hear? ’What tale falls on the ear of this polluted one, whose very pollutions make him dumb? The same precious story of grace. For Joshua (in his filthy garments) hears the Lord himself-none other or less than He-rebuking his accuser. He hears the same Lord humbling him as a brand fitted for the burning, no better than a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; but he hears at the same time that he was chosen, and that all the provisions of the house of the Lord were to be used for him, and the servants of the house commanded to be active and stir themselves for him. This was the tale of grace, which the silent, listening sinner hears. And what a gate of heaven that moment was to him! To Joshua, in spirit, heaven had now opened itself, and he enters and sits there. Look at the same heaven opened again in Luke 15:1-32 The earth had shown itself a scene of thorough weariness and disappointment to the heart and mind. of Christ, as we see in chap. 14. It was not because it was the place of either violence and fraud, of either lion or serpent. The varied moral scenery of chap. 14. had been laid in the religion and in the social friendliness of the human family. Nothing coarse or repulsive had marked it-no blood had stained it, or guile of the serpent disfigured it. But the heart of Christ takes its journey through it all, grieved, wearied, and disappointed, and nothing gives Him rest or refreshment, till sinners and publicans come and hear him (15:1). Oh, the blessedness of such an attitude and moment both to Him and to us! There it is that we (and the Spirit of Jesus wearied with man) gain the bright heaven of God. Jesus left the Pharisees’ feast and the company of an admiring, following multitude, and now found. Himself listened to by sinners, not followed by a crowd that had miscalculated their strength to be on such a road, but listened to by poor harlots and publicans, who had nothing to give, nothing to promise, nothing to -undertake or pledge for themselves, but who came only for what they could get from Christ’s stores of boundless grace, and therefore heaven opens itself-and the parables which listening faith is invited to hear tell of heaven’s joy over listening sinners. As a simple soul, soon after the word of grace had quickened it with the life of Christ, breathed out- " ’Tis not for what I give Him; It is when I believe Him, I feel this love, and hear Him Bid me be happy near Him." When the Lord had read from the 61st of Isaiah, that wonderful Scripture which publishes the riches of goodness or grace, He closed the book (see Luke 4:1-44) This action was full of meaning, and of comfort too. It tells us, that when Jesus had caused us to hear the tale or story of grace, He had discharged His ministry. And that story (if listened to and received by faith) would be everything to us; and, in a fine sense, we might close the book, as Jesus did; we might pause, and muse, and meditate, and again and again turn in our minds this one happy, powerful, elevating tale of grace. It would work liberty, and joy, and confidence, and real gospel sanctification for us and in us (through the Spirit), as it has done in thousands of sinners like us. But as this tale of grace is listened to in silence, so it is to be listened to in solitude. We are not only to listen while God Himself rehearses it to us in the gospel, but we are to be there alone with Him, apart from our fellow-creatures. It is to be between God and our own souls; we are not to think of others at all. It would disturb the soul in such a sacred moment. For the thought of others might ensnare us; we might remember their excellency and strength beyond our measure, and be led to fear and to unbelief. Therefore, as we are to be silent before God, thus speaking in grace, so are we to be alone with Him; that is, our fellow-creatures, as well as ourselves, are to be set aside; for God is to be to us everything when the question of our peace is to be transacted. J. G. B. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: VOL 03 - FAITH'S VICTORY ======================================================================== Faith’s Victory THE Patriarchs had come forth from the place of nature, or of the flesh, in the faith of a promised inheritance in the land of Canaan. And what is to be noticed in the strength and victory of their faith is this-they cling to that promise in spite of two very severe trials of it; that is, in the face of the poverty and sorrow and disappointment which they constantly experienced in the place of the promise, and also in spite of the desirableness and attractions and advantages which they enjoyed outside of it. This is much to be observed; and it may be encouragement to us in such a, time as the present. There was famine in Canaan in the days of Abraham, and again in the days of Isaac, and again in the days, of Jacob. Abraham, moreover, witnessed in that land the abominations of Sodom and the common strife and contention of the potsherds of the earth. Isaac is forced from one spot of it to another by the injurious treatment of the natives of that land; Jacob is forced out of it by the threats of his brother Esau; and, further, it was the scene of humbling and of discipline to each of them in their day, by reason of their own evil ways in the sight of the Lord. Such was Canaan to the Patriarchs. They were, I may say, dishonored and disappointed, and well nigh heart-broken in that land of promise.. But that which lay outside it was altogether different. It was just as attractive to them as Canaan had, been trying and humbling. Egypt, for instance, enriches Abraham when Canaan had left him at death’s door; and to Jacob -the same Egypt had become the scene and the occasion of all that heart or flesh could have desired, for he came to the end of a weary pilgrimage in that land. He had known plenty of sorrow in Canaan, both before he left it for Padan-aram, and after he. returned; but Egypt at last made up to him, and much more, for all his losses and sorrows. By royal grant he received the richest and fairest portion of it. He was honored and cherished there, and saw his family in increasing prosperity around him. The desires of his heart seemed all to get their answer there; and to crown all, Egypt restored to him what the wild beasts of Canaan had robbed him of-Joseph, whom he thought some wild beast in the former land had torn to pieces, was alive in Egypt, and the second man in the kingdom. Here was Egyptian flattery and fascination indeed-and that, too, in full contrast with all that Canaan had been to him. At evening time there was light: but it was an evening in Egypt. His eye must well have desired the lengthening and lingering of such a sunset, and his heart must have been tempted to contrast with it the clouds of his morning and his noon-day in Canaan. But faith is called a conqueror. It tries many a question with nature, and in some of the saints gets many a fair and brilliant victory. And so was it here with Jacob, though it may be humbling to one’s own heart to trace it. For we have here before us a beautiful witness that, in spite of all this, Canaan, and not Egypt, was the Patriarch’s object. This is the victory that overcame Egypt then, and overcomes the world to this hour. No recollections of sorrows or disappointments in Canaan, no present possessions of honors or wealth in Egypt, moved. him. The promise of God ruled in his heart. Of Canaan, as promised ’of God, he spoke; in Canaan he hoped; in the place of his present prosperity he was a stranger, and thought of home only in the degraded and impoverished land he had left behind him. It was in Canaan he would. be buried. It wan there he was in spirit when he blessed his children; and it was there he gave the double portion to his adopted first-born. There is something very fine in this; and, for us, something significant and seasonable. For I may surely say of the present time through which we are passing, there is the poor Canaan and the wealthy and important Egypt. That which, like Canaan to the Patriarchs, connects itself with God in the thoughts of faith, is in a small and enfeebled state, while the -world around is growing in its proper ’greatness and strength and dignity every hour. It may be hard to learn this lesson which Jacob practiced. We may see it on the page of his history, without finding it on any corresponding one of our own. Joseph, however, after Jacob, illustrates this same power of faith. Egypt had received him when Canaan had cast him out. Out of the one land he had been sold as a bond-slave; in the other he had been placed on the second seat in the kingdom. But withal (for faith is " the victory that overcometh the world") Egypt never became Canaan to Joseph. The promise of God lived in Joseph’s heart, as it had lived in Jacob’s. Disappointments and sorrows in Canaan, flatteries and successes and honor in Egypt, wrought not their natural results in that heart, because it was thus the seat of the promise of God. This was in the vigorous words of the Apostle (in the patriarchal form which such energy would take), a " laying hold of eternal life," which some of us know so little of. But I must observe something further. It is felt by us to be a serious and hazardous thing at times to let the poor world know that we have learned this lesson-that poor Canaan is better than wealthy Egypt. We fully understand that men cannot lightly have the good thing they are nourishing and improving thus slighted. It is a reproach on themselves when the world is undervalued. There was a moment in Joseph’s history, as I judge, when he felt this-when he had this experience of which I speak. Jacob, his father, when dying, had made him swear that he would bury him in the land of Canaan. When Joseph came to act upon his oath, he seems to me to feel this-that he was now about to venture on a. serious and hazardous matter. He evidently sets himself as before a business which had its special difficulties. He was high at court, as we may say, for, as we read, the physicians, the state physicians, were his servants (Genesis 1:2), and we know the resources of the kingdom, the strength and wealth of the realm of Egypt, were at that moment under his hand. But still he hesitates about the matter of burying hii father in Canaan, and gets the help and intercession of Pharaoh’s near kindred. Why all this? Was it not a small thing for so great a man to do? Yes; but a request to be buried in Canaan was in some sense putting a reproach upon Egypt. It seemed to say, after all, that the Canaan of degradation and poverty was better than the Egypt of honor and wealth; that the gleanings of such an Ephraim were better that the vintage of such an Abiezer. This was the language of Jacob’s request; and Joseph felt it to be a serious thing to convey such language to the ear of Pharaoh. But he did. Faith again triumphed-and after this manner, is he a witness to us that, we should let the world distinctly learn from us, that with all its advance and promise,. it is nothing to us, while CHRIST’S THING, THOUGH IN WEAKNESS, IS OUR OBJECT." "And this is the victory that overcometh the world -our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is THE SON OF GOD (1 John 5:4-5). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: VOL 03 - FELLOWSHIP IN REJECTION ======================================================================== Fellowship in Rejection My heart has perfect repose in the thought of being rejected. I only trust I shall always be able to bear it in meekness; neither in disdain turning from and scorning those who thus act, nor in self-vindication retaliating, but accepting all simply as that path in which we are to have fellowship with Jesus, who was so misunderstood, and whose principles were so little appreciated even by His apostles and brethren. It is so valuable a school to learn in; the one in which the more you love, the less you are loved, and still not to be faint or be weary. At times my heart is very sick at the aspect of things, such divisions, such jealousies, such evil surmisings; but then I think, thus it was with Jesus. If I am called a teacher of blasphemy, so was He; if I am called a Sabbath-breaker, so was He; if my authority to teach was questioned, so was His, though it was the wisdom of His. If He was neglected by His own people, so are we. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: VOL 03 - MAN GLORIFIED IN THE HEAVENS ======================================================================== Man Glorified in the Heavens THE second of St. Luke’s letters to his friend Theophilus, does not stiffly and formally take up the inspired narrative, where the first of them had left it; there is rather an easy and graceful intertwining or intervolving of the two: the second, going back a little into the scenes and the seasons which closed the first, giving them the same general character with a few faint distinguishing features. But each of these letters, "the Gospel by Luke," and "the Acts of the Apostles," has of course, as I need not say, its own proper subject. In the early chapters of the, second of them, that is, of " the Acts of the Apostles," and to which I am now, for a little, addressing myself, we get an account of Jesus as Man glorified in the heavens; as in the early chapters of the first of them we got an account of God manifest in flesh on the earth. I mean, this is characteristic, severally, of each of them. The Person is, surely, one and the same in both; the God-Man. We learn many things connected with the Son of Man in heaven, from the Evangelists, where that mystery is anticipated now and again. The Lord Himself tells us that He is to be seen there by faith all through this present age, seated at the right hand of power; and that in due time He will come forth from thence in the clouds of heaven. (Matthew 26:64.) He tells us also, that when He has come forth, He will sit or the throne of His glory. (Matthew 25:31.) These are but mere samples of the way in which this great mystery was anticipated. But the Person seen in the Evangelists is God manifested in the flesh, and as such in action on the earth. In these chapters in the Acts, which succeeds the Evangelists, it is, on the other hand, Man glorified by God in heaven, and acting there. In chapter 1, Jesus of Nazareth, who was God manifest in flesh here, is seen ascending the heavens. In chapter 2, the promised Spirit is given, and Peter begins his preaching by taking this gift, according to the prophecy of Joel, as his text. And after reciting it, he says, " Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." And he then shows, from the sixteenth and one hundred and tenth Psalms, that this Kan thus approved of God on earth, was now raised from the dead and glorified at the right hand of God in heaven. Thus the mystery is established, the mystery of the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, exalted in the heavens. Then, as the Evangelists had already looked at Jesus as He walked, and ministered, and toiled, and suffered here on earth, so now in his preaching in this and in the following chapters, Peter gives us some of the ways and virtues of this same Jesus now ascended into heaven. Thus, in this same chapter 2, with Joel still as his text, he tells us, that He is the God mentioned in that prophecy, who has now sent down the Spirit. According to Joel, therefore, it is the God of Israel who does this great Pentecostal wonder; according to Peter, it is the Man now in heaven that does it. This is surely a magnificent way in which to begin the story of the virtues and glories of Jesus of Nazareth, now glorified on high at God’s right hand; where also Peter declares Him to be seated, till the day come for making His foes His footstool, as the " My Lord," of the hundred and tenth Psalm. And then, on the authority of these things, he calls the whole house of Israel, to own the once crucified Man to be both Lord and Christ. And when a number of his hearers are aroused by this preaching, he publishes to them the virtue of " the name" of this glorified One, that it can secure eternal life and the gift of the Spirit to all sinners who receive it. Then, in chapter 3, this same Apostle tells us several other great things of Jesus in the heavens-that it was His name, through faith in it, that had just healed the lame Beggar at the gate of the Temple -that He was the Prophet promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:1-22 -that the heavens are now retaining Him, but that He is again to leave them in due season, and to bring times of refreshing and the restitution of all things with Him back to the earth. Then, in chapter 4, he preaches through this same Jesus, " the resurrection from the dead "-and further proclaims, that He was " the Head of the corner," according to Psalms 118:1-29, and the only One set of God for salvation in this guilty world. And toward the close of this chapter, he and his fellow-saints at Jerusalem lay the name of this same Jesus before the Lord God, the Maker of the heaven and the earth, as all their confidence and title to blessing. Then, in chapter 5, Peter and the other Apostles testify in the face of the Jewish council, that this same blessed One whom they had slain and hanged on a tree, God had exalted with His right hand to be both a Prince and a Savior, everything indeed to Israel, whether for blessing or government. After these manners, in the course of this preaching, we get a large and varied testimony to the Man in heaven. Well may it follow the ineffably weighty and blessed testimony of the Evangelists to the San of the Father, God manifest in flesh, on earth. But here, with this fifth chapter, the Apostolic testimony under the given Spirit ends. We pass from it to a vision. For after this hearing about the glorified Man, we are given, for a little moment, a sight of Him. Peter had been preaching Him, Stephen is now to see Him. They are alike witnesses, though in different ways, to the same great mystery, that the Son of Man was in heaven at the right hand of God. Stephen is borne by wicked men outside the city to be stoned, while his face is shining like that of an angel; and his eye is opened, and he looks up to and within an opened heavens, and there sees the glory of God, and Jesus, " the Son of Man," standing at the right hand of God. Thus is the Man in heaven testified by the eye of Stephen as He had been by the lips of Peter. The Spirit fills the one with an inspired tale about Him, and God opens the eye of the other with a glorious sight of Him. But the object is the same-the glorified Man, the Son of Man in heaven, Jesus of Nazareth at the right hand of the majesty on high-the One, who having been " God manifest in the flesh " here, humbled, serving, crucified, buried, and raised again, was now in His Manhood exalted to the highest place of honor there. One thing, however, still remains in the revelation of this great mystery. In chapter 9, this glorified Man comes down from heaven, and shows Himself, for a little moment, here on earth. In holy, peaceful glory, and in the attitude of one that was receiving him to Himself with a blissful and perfect welcome, He had just been seen, as in His due place in heaven, by His suffering saint. But now, in terrible majesty, in the burning brightness of judicial glory, He is seen by the persecutor of His saint, here on earth. He thus appears as One ready and all-powerful to avenge the blood of His slaughtered flock. Mercy indeed shall rejoice over judgment in the present case, and the persecutor shall become a Witness and an Apostle; but the vision tells us, that the Man in heaven waits there, as in other characters, so in this, the Avenger, in due time, of the wrongs done in the earth. This is so, and this is here pledged and foreshadowed. For we know that Jesus has ascended in various characters. He has ascended as to His native place, the glory He had with the Father ere the world was-He has ascended to prepare mansions in the Father’s house for the elect-He has ascended as their Forerunner-He has ascended to sit in the God-pitched Tabernacle as our High Priest-He has ascended as the Author and Finisher of faith, and as the Purger of sins-but He has ascended also to take His place as Adonai at the right hand of Jehovah, till He make His foes His footstool. And this last character He must return to earth to fulfill, as now He comes down to the road which lay between Jerusalem and Damascus to give, as it were, a sample of this, and to put the sentence of death in this persecuting Saul of Tarsus. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: VOL 03 - SPIRITUAL LONGINGS FOR A FRESH ACTION OF THE SPIRIT ======================================================================== Spiritual Longings for a Fresh Action of the Spirit " What is wanted in our day, methinks. if He is to be magnified upon earth ere He comes to fetch us, is a fresh action of the Spirit; it may be a hidden and quiet one, as that which wrought ere He came the first time. But there was in the temple Zacharias; and near it, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Anna, Simeon, &c., so there might be going on now a silent, formative power, preparing for the bright and Morning Star’s appearing. Do you judge that in heaven there is no sensational movement toward that hour? Surely it is the present mind of heaven that has acted upon us; the very mind that says, " Surely, I come quickly;" which has led to our saying, "Even so come, Lord Jesus,", and led to our looking at what there may be still around ourselves practically inconsistent with that hope.-G-. V. W. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: VOL 03 - THE WORLD’S MANHOOD ======================================================================== The World’s Manhood THIS is the time of the world’s manhood. All its elements are putting on strength and taking their full form. The civil and the ecclesiastical thing is asserting its manhood or full age. Vigor marks the progress of the Church of Rome and of the commercial spirit; governments linking themselves with the one for their support, and the people imbibing and breathing the other for their advancement. The world is thus stirring itself and playing the man.. But Christ is still the rejected Christ, and faith has to own a weak cause in the presence of an advancing world, and of strengthened apostasies. Thus it is, I judge, at this moment, and thus will it be. But judgment is to fall on the strong thing in the hour of its pride and vigor, and a glory (still hidden, but trusted and waited for) is to receive, to enshrine, and beautify, and gladden that which now walks on as the despised and feeble companion of a rejected Lord. All this may be serious to the thoughts of our natural hearts, but it is plain in the judgment of faith. It is the will of the Lord to let these apostasies grow up to manhood strength. The Apocalypse presents them to the eye in that form and condition, just when judgment overtakes them. The woman, or the ecclesiastical apostasy, is riding, just at the moment of her overthrow; and the beast is holding and managing the whole world, just as he is met in the day of the Lord. The Apocalypse in no wise shows us a weakened or depreciated condition of these great agents of the course of this world; but exhibits them in surpassing strength, and bloom, and honor, just at the end. We are not in the days of the Apocalypse, it is true, but we witness the energies (which play their part there in all this vigor and pride of manhood) getting themselves ready, and preparing to take their appointed place. The heart of the children of men is not aware of the true character of all this. Progress is desirable, as they judge. Man in his social place is advanced; and all his welfare in the human system around, with its securities, and peace, and refinement, and morals, and religion, is served. But what is there of God in all this? Were I to adopt the world’s boast, and go on with its expectations, I should be strengthening my securities; but I should, wit]i that, be losing my companionship with the heart and. mind of Christ, which is our only true dignity this side the manifested glory of the kingdom. God gives all spiritual blessings now, peace and joy and liberty, with promise upon promise. But He is not regaining the earth or its circumstances for our enjoyment. Judgment must do that. Judgment is to make way for glory in the world and peace on earth. This tries our hearts; we cannot but feel that it does. All things are not now disposed by Christ, though He is in the place and title of all power and authority. He does not affect so to speak, to have all that the heart or nature values at His present disposal. His present kingdom does not actually reach so far, though in title His authority is over all things. He does not speak of making us happy in circumstances; and it is for us to count the cost of this. It is for us to acquaint ourselves with what He is dispensing, and Men to ask ourselves, can we value it? And it is faith only that values it. Nature cannot; the heart cannot. -What Jesus now dispenses is exactly what faith, but what faith alone, can understand and appreciate. May we lay this to heart; and, in the midst of all the alarms and forebodings of this serious, solemn moment in the history of the world, say to our souls, the Lord is gathering out His elect, and leaving the great material around us for judgment. This is the way of His wisdom, and it promises us no security in present things, but will work out, for faith and hope, all their brightest thoughts and expectations. Might we, in the real power of our souls, say with another- " His wisdom over waketh; His sight is never dim; He knows the path He taketh, And I will walk with Him." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: VOL 04 - " BEHOLD NATHAN THE PROPHET." REV_3:20. 1KI_1:1-53 ======================================================================== " Behold Nathan the Prophet."Revelation 3:20.1 Kings 1:1-53 " The grace of God and the gift in the grace "-(Romans 5:15). SEE the palace doors unfolding― Opening to the power of grace; Anxious eyes are there beholding, Hearts recalling former days. See that foot that quickly enters, Well prepared with grace’s claim; Bright the light that round him centers As they herald forth his name. O ye saints, whose hands are falling― Tremblers in a heavenly calling, Scan it all, lest ye may lose Aught that fills such fruitful views. Will he bitter waters mingle,― He whose lips could tell a tale, Causing every ear to tingle; And the yearning heart to fail? Why not broach the buried story― Use it to enforce his words? What to him that sheen of glory, Or its retinue of lords. List, ye fainting souls in sorrow, Hopeless of a bright to-morrow, Gather near that ye may sing Round the dying grace-led king. He could send the pointed arrow― Strike it deep in hardened hearts, E’en dividing joints and marrow, Speaking to the inner parts,― Bring the balm; and, binding―healing, Leading to the house of God, Ceasing not till full revealing Mercy’s path before untrod As he " bows to earth," beseeching, Gracious majesty is teaching― Opening out the very thing Longed for by the shepherd-king. This is Nathan: well we know Him Who have learned the deeps of grace: Hearken then, ye souls who owe Him Never-ending songs of praise. Through the " Solomon" He gave us From His own exhaustless store, Givers, too, His love would have us, Praising still and praising more: In the fruit of grace He tended, Food from off the fire He handed; Davids, Peters, seldom miss Seeing depths in scenes like this. As our spirit looks behind us, Towards the days of shame and dust, Ile doth haste with grace to bind us, Lest His " Jacobs " might not trust. All we wrought-a desolation: Like an Abram on his face, Power divine in new creation Proves the rights of sovereign grace. Jacobs, Davids, tell a story― Grace’s ways that end in glory; Each has fruit that fills his heart: Show, " good Lord," how great Thou art. O, how little have we known Him In His patience heretofore, Till our opening " door " doth own Him As in love He chastened sore! Like Mephibosheth at table, Weak to serve, but strong to praise, Learn ye, that our Lord is able (On " the bed," in closing days). Gazing on that wondrous seer, Think on Jacob’s God at Beer, Telling sinners-Look and live, Telling " rebels "-" I will GIVE." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: VOL 04 - " I WAIT―I WAIT FOR THEE." ======================================================================== " I Wait―I Wait for Thee." I AM waiting in the midnight, In the storm and on the wave, Not for light, nor calm, nor haven, Though the winds and waters rave: ’Tis for Thee I wait, Lord Jesus! Light and port art Thou to me; Thou wondrous Sun of Glory! I wait―I wait for Thee. From the center of God’s glory, Shot forth a living ray, Piercing this heart’s mean dwelling, His riches to display; “WAIT―I WAIT FOR THEE.” Charged with the revelation Of Thee, His Son, in me; And there, His own creation, Forming, to wait for Thee. Oh what a tale of wonder, Oh what a wealth of grace, That ray disclosed!―revealing God’s glory in Thy face Telling, how His dread judgments Were spent upon Thy head, And how His glory seal’d Thee, “The righteous," from the dead. Telling of sin’s full wages All borne by Thee, who gave Thy life; then rose triumphant From judgment and the grave. Head of a new creation, Where “all things are of God," And Death’s dark reign supplanted By Thee―life giving Lord! Showing, that realm of glory My birth-place home to be; For thence, from Thee―its fountain, Life issues unto me. And there, e’en now, in spirit, Thy glory I can see; While, (mighty, gracious Savior!) On earth, I wait for Thee. O holy, quickening Spirit, What wonders hast Thou done!― To me Thou hast imparted Life―union with God’s Son, For Him the Father deems me Fit company to be; Thou " fullness of the Godhead! I wait―I wait for Thee. So I’m waiting in the midnight, But my heart is in the light, Until faith’s wondrous secret Be unfolded into sight. What more? Thyself, forever, This heart’s repose to be! My Lord―my God―my Savior! I wait―I wait for Thee. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: VOL 04 - " LIGHT AFFLICTION." 2CO_4:17. ======================================================================== " Light Affliction."2 Corinthians 4:17. LIGHT affliction for a moment, Working glory even now, Tribulation working patience, Through the desert as we go. Weight of glory, far exceeding All that ear of man hath heard, Present thing or things to-morrow, What can change His wondrous word? Had we looked at things now passing, Did we rest on nature’s shore, Lost we not the blest renewings, Day by day and hour by hour. Strengthened from the power of glory, Vessel-grace He’ll still bestow, As we bear the peerless treasure, All the checkereda journey through. Light we, freighted with such glory; Fainting not though weak within., Bright to faith, the blest to-morrow, Lost in love, at home with Him. Here we wander on with Jesus, Tourists once, but pilgrims now, Home to hope in sweet communion, Lights the path we onward go. There on high, our hearts’ affections Carried by Himself within; Here on earth the Christ’s rejection, Shrouding every earthly scene. There, Himself in all His glory, Satisfaction, rest, and borne; Here His cross, and shame, and sorrow, Bear we gladly till He come. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: VOL 04 - " A LITTLE LONGER." ======================================================================== " a Little Longer." A LITTLE longer yet, a little longer, And He whose right it is to reign shall come, The Savior, from our-crimson sins who washed us, Will leave His Father’s throne to take us home. A little longer yet, a little longer, To show His death―until that moment dear, While hosts angelic raptly are regarding― ’Tis thus the " babes and sucklings " praise Him here. A little longer yet, a little longer, The place of weakness, in the outcast’s name, But oh, forever in His cross to glory Whereby He put the world, and me, to shame. A little longer yet, a little longer; The Whole creation travails in her woes; But Christ, the great Deliverer, is coming, Earth, owning Him, shall blossom as the rose. A little longer yet, a little longer, And " Thou art worthy," shall be sounding free, Oh, holy One I Oh, true One! Thou art worthy! Through sorrow and’ in joy we sing to Thee. A little longer yet, a little longer, Oppression, and the countless shapes of sin; But wisdom’s city stands, with open portal, And He who builded all things dwells therein. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: VOL 04 - " BY FAITH YE STAND." ======================================================================== " by Faith Ye Stand." RARE are the occasions in which a Christian can venture to answer a fool according to his folly―yet on the fitting occasion the Apostle turned " the carnal weapons " (for irony the most delicate must so be be reckoned) with overwhelming power against those who had assailed him. What strange beings we are, readily succumbing to usurped authority which has no credentials from God, and at the same time questioning or fretting against that power which carries its own credentials as of God with it. What is it? Man hates to be brought into direct contact with God. This can only be done through faith in Jesus Christ―or else God comes into contact with men in judgment. How readily might the Apostle have vindicated himself from every ground of charge against him. He might have demanded maintenance, but he would not forego his privilege of preaching the Gospel freely. He might have appealed to the fruit of his ministerial labors, but he had rather glory in his infirmities. He might have broken silence as to the marvelous revelation vouchsafed to him, but he brings into, prominence the messenger of Satan to buffet him. He might have gone to Corinth at once, to prove the steadfastness of his purpose, instead of writing: " Behold the third time I am ready to come to you. This is the third time I am coming to you. ... I told you before and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time." He might have given them sensible proof of his power by its exercise in terrible discipline on themselves, but he had far rather that they should do " that which was honest," so that he needed not to exercise his power, although it left the question of his power unsettled. None but one conscious of divine power could have afforded to act in such a manner. None but one reckless of his own character among men, and yet conscious of acting before God, could have marked out such a way for himself. None but one having as a single and supreme object the glory of Christ in the saints, in other words, their edification, could have been content to leave himself and his authority in so questionable a position. It is written of the Lord Jesus himself―"’In his humiliation his judgment was taken away." Satan and Pharisees, tempting Him, alike demanded proofs of His Sonship and Christhood, which it was not consistent for Him, in having humbled Himself, then to afford. "His brethren " also (John 7:1-53) would have Him publicly show Himself to the world― publicly show Himself to the world―little thinking, if He had done so, it could only have been in judgment. But Jesus waited, and still waits (and His appeal―with what full credentials!―is still to the conscience of sinners), ere He appears in the irresistible glory of his own person in judgment. He, conscious of His own essential glory, did not need external proof for His own satisfaction. He could allow all His pretensions to be questioned by others, because of that which He really was. He left His claims unvindicated, save to faith and conscience, because He knew there was a set time in the counsels of Eternity for the public vindication both of His own essential glory and of every claim which He had preferred. Thus conscious, " He was crucified through weakness." Faith indeed looks to Him where He now is; faith now owns the glory of His person, faith rests on the value of His work―faith owns His work as the Lamb slain―faith owns now that all power in heaven and earth is given unto Him as the glorified man; faith bows now in the fullest acknowledgment of the name of Jesus. But Jesus himself is yet long-suffering, even though His long-suffering causes His own name to remain unvindicated, and His saints to continue in sorrow and trial. His long-suffering is to be accounted salvation. How marvelous, yet how gracious, is Thy way, Lord Jesus! and Thy " chosen vessel " did, according to his measure, follow Thee in this Thy way! He was conscious of the authority which the Lord himself had given to him; and on the ground of this consciousness he could allow his authority to be questioned. He, too, was " weak " with his Master, leaving the demonstration of his power to the fitting time and season. He, too, knew of a demonstration to the soul far beyond that produced by the mightiest external proofs. " He that believeth on the Son path the witness in himself," and the Apostle could appeal to such a kind of testimony. " Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.... * examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. (* Is not 5:4 parenthetical?) Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates; " without proof answering to their seeking " a proof." The Apostle appeals to their own consciences; if his authority was not commended there, the only resource must be in judgment. Were they in the faith? Was Jesus Christ in them, by revelation of the Holy Ghost? Then their own faith; the very consciousness of Christ in their souls was the irrefragable proof of his Apostleship, as he had before said―" The seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord." It was by the manifestation of the truth that he had commended himself to their consciences, and he could do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. God had once dealt with men by signs and wonders, with the most marked demonstration of His power, but conviction resulting from such evidence (such is man), lasted only so long as the demonstration itself of the power of God was before their eyes., " He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy; and the waters covered their enemies, there was not one of them left. Then believed they his words―they sang his praise. They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel." So, again, he visited them in after-time, and with the like result. The Israel at the time the Day-spring from on high visited them, Jehovah-Jesus, proved themselves to be the like faithless and perverse generation as their fathers in the wilderness. To this He speedily testified. Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, on the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them; " for he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man." He left them indeed without excuse, because they rejected Him, coming as He did with all the credentials of Messiah. But there was deeper condemnation than this, " they had seen Him and believed not." " They had both seen and hated both Him and his Father." God has left man without excuse―He has appealed to their senses, He has appealed to their understanding. He now makes His last appeal in the Gospel of His grace to the consciences and affections of men, and if this is rejected one solemn fact alone solves the phenomenon: " The God of this world hath blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them." Jesus, knowing His own essential glory, and the fullness that was in Himself, desired to be received on His own testimony rather than on the demonstration of His miracles. "Believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father in me: or else believe me for the Very work’s sake." Jesus presents himself, and is presented in the Gospel, to our conscience and affections, and this on the ground of his own essential being. If this claim does not commend Him to us, in vain would be the outward attestation, of His works. So His servant, Paul, conscious of the power given to him of the Lord, not anxious to prove it by judgment on others, sought to rouse the conscience of the Corinthian saints, and this being effected, he was content to leave his own pretensions in question, save that he was ready, in obedience to the Lord, to " use sharpness " when the time came. In this we find the real value of ministerial authority, it appeals to the conscience: the outward demonstration by the most convincing signs was quite a secondary thought in the mind of the Apostle. When the conscience of the most disorderly saint. is reached, what happy and gracious results follow; and Adieu the consciences of many are so exercised as to)rove them " clear in any matter," the weight of their ententes, apart from outward demonstration of power, will be felt by the disobedient and refractory―hr it is sanctioned by the Lord himself. There are two great hindrances to healthful" action in the Church of God―assumption of authority, and leaning on authority. These are connected; but, whether united or separate, effectually hinder “standing by faith " Pretension to authority in the Church is generally found great in proportion as it is lacking in divine credentials to the conscience. It never appeals to the conscience; it aims at domination over faith-it is used, not for edification, but for destruction. Of this character is the authority claimed by Romanists and Anglicans for a presumed sacerdotal standing. It professes to be of God, it boasts of wonders, it is loud, authoritative, terrifying. It appeals to itself, not to conscience. That they are of God is the point of faith, and not faith recognizing divine power, commending itself to the conscience by manifestation of the truth. But there is a charm in this usurped authority. Men, and men of superior mind and of high moral worth, will “suffer if a man thus exalt himself." Whence this phenomenon! It tends to lull all exercise of conscience towards God. It keeps man in his natural element of distance from God, while persuading him that he is honoring God. We have seen, at Corinth, authority most unquestionably of God refused, and usurped power acknowledged, the one appealed to the conscience to lead it into exercise before God, the other claimed subjection to itself and prevailed, and thus interposed itself between God and the conscience. Such usurped authority carries with it a strong conventional claim. Deference to it was early inculcated, and has grown with our growth, so as to become a settled habit. What if the holder of this presumed authority did not commend himself to our moral judgment? Still there was a sacredness attached to his office. In many instances, men who have had discernment to see through the hollowness of the claim have been too impatient to satisfy themselves as to the truth, too busily occupied with the world to step out of their vocation to investigate, as they judge, a mere matter of opinion, dreading the alternative of infidelity if they rejected such venerable authority, and have tacitly allowed the claim on the ground of decent usage and legal acknowledgment, which they thoroughly despised in their hearts. " They put away a good conscience and make shipwreck of the faith," for such is the force of educational prejudice that, in the minds of the majority, the claims of the authorized minister and the claims of Scripture rest on the same basis, so that to undermine the one would be to jeopardize the authority of the other. And when from time to time an independent mind, disgusted by assumption of authority, has carried out its own thoughts, it has only found in skepticism relief from domination over faith. Alas―that it should be so, but of whom shall the blood of such be demanded? They, indeed, are in awful condemnation; for God holds every one responsible to himself to hear what He says. But God will not hold those guiltless who have, by means of their system, hindered the direct exercise of conscience before God. It was a serious charge the Lord had to make against Judah. “In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, but by all these." And it is a very solemn thought, that the great professing body has used authority so effectually to hinder the exercise of faith and conscience, as to leave apparently no alternative between submission to its authority and skepticism. However definite may be the interpretation, the principle applies to the great professing body―" In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." Real Christians need serious warnings as to the danger of allowing their faith to rest in the wisdom of man, instead of in the power of God. There may be large dominion over the faith tacitly allowed by Christians, even when such dominion is neither sought nor asserted by their teachers. Man is impatient under the sense of responsibility. He would persuade himself that he can do things by proxy, and thus relieve himself from care. The Solicitor cares for his worldly interests; the Physician for his health; and the Minister takes charge of his spiritual concerns. The Lord, in His ministry, and His servants subsequently, warned against this tendency. We have the double warning―" Be not ye called Rabbi." “Call no man your father on earth"―and the direct acknowledgment of Christ Himself as Master of all, both of teachers and of taught, and confidential intercourse with the Father is the alone preservative. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." ", One is your Father, which is in heaven." “By faith ye stand." Relinquishing traditional authority, need not land us in skepticism. We assert the authority of God with whom we have to do; and if we claim independence from human authority, it is in order to be dependent on God. This is the point. On the one side, we find all that is merely conventional tottering; on the other, men promising themselves great things from the emancipation of man’s will from the tradition of ages. The very shaking of conventional authority has given occasion for the assertion of authority (as of God) over the consciences of men in a more undisguised manner in this land, than at any period since the Reformation; and the very fact of its not being politically asserted, gives more validity to its pretensions. On the other hand, a philanthropical theory is attempting, vainly attempting, to control the emancipated will of man, in order to produce " peace on earth," and " good-will among men," but entirely disregarding the essentials of Christianity. Between these two sections―the "little flock of God," to whom it is His good pleasure to give the kingdom, will be lost sight of Happy for them, if, in the midst of the disruption of everything, they seek not unto visible authority, as the basis of their faith, but " build themselves up on their most holy faith." Happy for them, if when the mind of man, emancipated from traditional authority, is running again its wayward course to folly, in the vain profession of wisdom, they be found’ with their consciences exercised before God, standing by faith in Him, and holding to the unshaken, eternal, and invisible realities, which the Holy Ghost Himself reveals to them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: VOL 04 - " BY FAITH YE STAND." 2CO_1:24 ======================================================================== " by Faith Ye Stand."2 Corinthians 1:24 IN the first recorded intercourse between the Lord and Moses, after Moses had pitched the tabernacle outside the camp, when "the Lord spake with him face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," Moses was emboldened to ask, "Show me now thy way." Surely, as Moses himself afterward testifies, " His work is perfect, for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He;" yet His way of dealing with His people after their failure, is strongly contrasted with man’s way, and proves that "His way is higher than our way," and blessed in proportion to its highness. This way of God is remarkably carried out by the Apostle Paul in his conduct to the saints of Corinth. The manner in which he addresses himself to deal with them, distracted as they were by divisions, debating even the fundamental doctrine of the resurrection, and conniving at a gross outrage on moral decency, is replete with instruction. Before he utters one word of direct reproof, he seeks to establish their souls in the faithful grace of God. He thanks God for the grace given to them by Christ Jesus. He acknowledges their many gifts; needed indeed for the time, but not essential; because there would be no need of such gifts at the coming (or, revelation, marg.) of our Lord Jesus Christ. He leads their souls to Him to confirm them blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, and reminds them of the faithfulness of God who had called them into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ. Surely this is the divine way. It is ever the way of man to reason from himself Godward, but the way of God is the reverse. He acts from Himself and for Himself. Christians are very apt to use the way of man, by reasoning from man to God-because the constitutional disease of Christians is unbelief. They are ready enough to doubt their own saintship; and when others would press on them their failures as a proof that they are not saints at all, they are thrown off their stability; and reproof and correction entirely lose their power. In this Epistle, although we find the absence of direct reproof at the outset, it is remarkable that, in the very act of establishing their souls, there is indirect reproof. The Apostle, under the guidance of the Spirit, could at a glance survey their condition, and whilst he thanks God for the grace and gifts bestowed on them―there is a silent rebuke of their short-coming in the grace, and misuse of the gifts. The Apostle could not say to them as to the Philippians; "I thank God for every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy, far your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now." He found cause indeed for thanksgiving in the grace of God to the Corinthians, but none for their fellowship in the Gospel. They lacked the stability in the grace of the Gospel which characterized the Philippians. Pride of knowledge and pride of gifts, made them forget that knowledge (at best but in part), and gifts of the highest order would cease at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was Christ Himself, and not His gifts, which would confirm them blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ; and it was the fidelity of God who had called them to which they had to look, and not to the acquirements of their teachers. After this (1 Corinthians 1:10) the Apostle plainly tells them of the report which had reached him of the disorder among them, but he makes no direct mention of authority ― till the end of the fourth chapter. "Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod; or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?" Instead of using direct apostolical authority, he addresses himself to their consciences pointedly and yet delicately. Thus, in the case of the incestuous person, he mentions the crime which they were tolerating as unheard of even among the heathen. They were puffed up instead mourning. He would have them act in concert with him―but he does not disturb them from their standing, as being unleavened. In the matter of going to law before the heathen tribunals, he shames them that they could not find a wise man among themselves to settle their disputes, and that they had forgotten their high destiny of judging the world; and then very justly indeed insinuates that there was defect in their apprehension of grace. Wearied almost, at the low tone of their questions, he interrupts his replies in the seventh chapter by the solemn and weighty sentence, ver. 29-32. The liberty resulting from knowledge he denies not, but he contrasts it with the thoughtfulness resulting from love, chap. 8. To the question raised as to his Apostleship, he appeals to their saintship as the seal of it, chap. 9. To guard them against the danger of relying on outward ordinances, chap. 10., he refers to the conduct of Israel, with the delicate introduction " I would not have you ignorant, brethren." Again, after the admonition" Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall "―with what address does he allude to their special danger of becoming involved in idolatry by the desire of social intercourse. " I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what I say." In noticing irregularities in their assemblies for worship, chap. 11., he praises them, first, for their general attention to his directions (ver. 2); and when he has to advert to their gross disorder with respect to the Lord’s supper, he commences thus: " Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not." In treating of spiritual gifts, where their very folly had marred their very end and use, he commences, “I would not have you ignorant” (chap. 12.); and in correcting their grievous ignorance of the resurrection, he introduces his discourse with the declaration of the Gospel he had preached unto them. Thus, where there was the fullest consciousness of authority, so that he might have carried it with a high hand, using the rod, there was the patient exercise of grace. His object was not the assertion of his authority, but the awakening of their conscience, and the calling out their faith into exercise. The immediate presence of the Apostle at Corinth would doubtless have had the effect of silencing faction. He might have authoritatively ruled the many points in discussion, some bowing through real respect, others through fear; but this would have defeated his object. His authority, and with it himself, would have come in between their consciences and God; and thus he would have habituated them to bow to some present authority, and to feel it as a positive need, so that conscience and faith would never be exercised at all. The Apostle, with unquestionable authority, and the full consciousness of the possession of it, saw the danger of this and avoided it. The history of the Church has too plainly proved the reality of the danger, by Christians doing that which the Apostle avoided. They have themselves constituted an authority to which they bow, but by the acknowledgment of which they effectually hinder the exercise of faith and conscience. Is there an ordered and regulated society of Christians to be found which has not interposed its own authority, where the Apostle would not introduce his, and in which personal influence is not extensively used? If personal influence ever could be safely used, it surely might have been by the Apostle; but he acted in a manner even to lose it, because his object was Christ and the real blessing of saints,―not himself and a party of Christians. The presence and influence of the Apostle had kept the Galatian churches from allowing the introduction of the Judaizing error. “It is good to be zealously affected, always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you." It was his presence, and not faith and conscience, which had kept out the evil; so that when he was gone, there was no real barrier against the evil. In the Philippians, we find the happy contrast to this: " Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Here we find faith and conscience in exercise before God. It was not Paul, but God who worked in them. Happy the condition of saints when thus their souls are kept by faith in immediate contact with God. They will then readily own any authority, and profit by any ministry which is of God; but they will not allow either the one or the other to displace God. The delay of the Apostle in carrying into execution his promised visit (1 Corinthians 4:18-21), had laid him open to the suspicion of fickleness (2 Corinthians 1:17, of being bold when away, cowardly when present, and of trying to terrify them by letters (2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 10:10-11; 2 Corinthians 12:14; 2 Corinthians 13:1-2). In the Second Epistle, he explains his conduct; it was regulated "not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God." He had to wait upon God and to do the work of God, in God’s way and God’s time. He might indeed apparently compromise his character for steadfastness in his purpose, but the grace of God and the wellbeing of saints were more in his estimation than his own character. His intention was to have visited them before this, that they might have “a second benefit "―and what hindered? Nothing positive―as when Satan had hindered his intention of visiting the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18); but God " waiteth to be gracious," and he had to wait. Doubtless there was wholesome discipline in all this to the Apostle. His letter appeared to have had no effect in arousing the consciences of the Corinthians. It had been written out of much distress of soul (2 Corinthians 2:4); and as he had received no tidings from Corinth as to how it had been received―this led to deeper anxiety―so as to make the Apostle for a moment to regret that he had written as he had done (2 Corinthians 7:8). It was thus that he who had the fullest confidence, that he was "nothing behind the very chiefest of the Apostles," was made to feel in himself, that he was " nothing." But how amply was his painful experience repaid by proving the God with whom he had to do, to be " the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;" and as the " God who comforteth them that are cast down." Had he either acted at the outset authoritatively, or had his letter produced an immediate effect, the burst of adoring gratitude, in the commencement of the Second Epistle had never had a place. He must needs learn his own personal unworthiness, and then he would be able to use his authority not only powerfully, but also discriminatingly,* " having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (* " Of some have compassion, making a difference ’ (Jude 1:22).) How admirably does the Apostle meet the charge of fickleness, by urging that neither with him nor any man was " Yea " and " Nay." That was with God alone―"with Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning; " but man is properly dependent―it is his blessing and strength to be so―and for him to arrogate " Yea " and "Nay" to himself, would be mere obstinacy. And how many a man has persisted in his purpose when he has found it wrong, in order that he might appear consistent; but not so the Apostle. The Corinthians might think him fickle, but there was no uncertainty in his testimony, in that which he preached to them. “But God is true: our word toward you was not Yea and Nay―for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you, was not Yea and Nay, but in Him was Yea." It was not the authority he had as an Apostle which established him, but God; and the same God could establish them. He sought to lead their souls to God, and not to come in between their souls and God. “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God." How readily will saints rest on derived authority, even when such an authority is only pretended; but it would be dangerous to rest on it, even supposing it to be real. God is a Rock, the only Rock, the only one who can establish. It was to this Rock the Apostle would lead the Corinthians. He solemnly calls God to witness, that it was to spare them he had not yet come to Corinth. There is patience with God; but there is severity also. What patience had God shown towards Israel during the long period of prophetic ministry, “rising early and sending " to them, " till there was no remedy," and then came " severity"―God showed himself in judgment. The Apostle had authority; but once and again he asserts that it was given to him "of God for edification, and not for their destruction." It was of God, and therefore not to be questioned. Had he gone immediately to Corinth, he must have silenced every gainsayer by the direct exercise of his power, which would have thus been used for their destruction. On the other hand, the Apostle dared not lord it over their faith. Submission to him personally might have hindered the exercise of faith in God. He would indeed help their joy by leading their souls to God―but he dared not to come in between their souls and God, for “they stood by faith." There is no place for faith in God where authority occupies the supreme place, which of right belongs to God alone. In his preaching, the Apostle guarded against the danger of the faith of his hearers resting “in the wisdom of man “instead of” in the power of God," and the like danger he sought to avoid in his conduct. Orthodox confessions of faith, and even valuable ministry, have often taken Christians off the ground of “standing by faith," which can never be ordered or ruled, although it may be greatly helped. An apostle could infallibly denounce error and proclaim truth―he could also authoritatively correct irregularities in the Church―but he could not command faith. In order to lead the disciples to stand by faith, he acts in a parental character, by seeking to get their souls into contact with God, and not to be awed into submission by the presence of apostolical authority. It is here we discern the divine way and order. God, who alone is Omnipotent, declares His name to be " gracious and long-suffering," however despised His name so declared might be. The Apostle, in the consciousness of power derived from God, could even allow his power to be questioned, and himself to be insulted, rather than use his power “for destruction," when God had entrusted him with it” for edification." Where there is power in the Church pretended to be of God, but really humanly derived, it is ever accompanied with the impatience of personal feeling, so as to require immediate bowing to its authority. Such humanly derived ecclesiastical power has for the most part been exercised against Christ, not for Him; for destruction, and not for edification. Those who claim it take the very place which the Apostle dared not take, as lords over the faith of the saints, so as to render it impossible for them to stand by faith, by this interposing their presumed authority. But this does not lessen the great sin of the professing body, in allowing the claims of derived authority to supersede the authority of God himself over their consciences. “By faith ye stand." Faith in a present God, able to meet the actual need of the soul, can alone produce healthful action in the saints. The exercise of apostolical authority to punish the refractory, infallibly to declare the truth, or to correct irregularities, was most legitimate: but if this was all―if contumacy was silenced, truth acknowledged, and decorum restored, by the actual presence of the Apostle, this would afford no ground for their continuance in a healthy condition. When the authority which had produced the reformation ceased to be present, a relapse was almost certain to follow, or else (what has actually taken place in the Church generally) the establishment of an authoritative ministry. Christians have themselves settled that which the Apostle so anxiously sought to avoid, a formally ordered and recognized ministry, in order to produce the end which faith in God alone could produce. The Apostle used his authority for edification. He had gained his point when he had led their souls up to God, so as to act in the acknowledgment of the rightful supremacy of God over their consciences. He dared not put his authority in the place of their faith, He dared not transact that for them which he would gladly do in concert with them. He would gladly " help their joy." Many among the Corinthians would readily allow him “to have dominion over their faith." This is what the saints have in all ages desired. They desire to be led by men―men of God, indeed―but they desire to be led,* and this when the higher leading of the Spirit of God is the privilege of each individual saint. (* Analogously, it is a rare thing in the world to meet with a man who dare think for himself.) There is no faith in attaching oneself to a gifted teacher, but there must be faith in order to be led by the Spirit. The Apostle knew full well the readiness with which saints cling to the lesser and forego the higher blessing, and he desired so to use his authority for their edification as to lead them to a higher blessing―to stand by faith in God. He hesitated not to depreciate (if the expression be allowable) ministers, where the Corinthians were so ready to “glory in man." “These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that ye might learn in us not to think above that which is written." Where there was authority unquestionably from God, and service the most devoted to God, the Apostle could see the danger of man displacing God, to the great damage of the souls of saints, " for," says he, " by faith ye stand." " The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people." It was fitting that it should be so, because it corresponded with his ministry, his glorious ministry. But when the excelling glory of the new ministry was introduced, it was the ministry itself that claimed regard, not the minister. The glory of the ministry was of that order that it could only be in safe keeping in earthen vessels, “that the excellency of the power may be of God," and not of the vessel. When the ministry exalts the person of the minister the ground of faith is lost―the man is admired rather than “the righteousness," and " the spirit," of which he is the minister. It is on the ground of that righteousness and that spirit that we have direct intercourse with God, and we “stand by faith." This is the great practical point. No present authority, however legitimate, no creed, however orthodox, no regulations, however wise, can supply the place of standing by faith, which is the ground of all healthy action in the Church. The Apostle gained his object with the Corinthians; he had so used his power that it was for their edification, but it was at the expense of deep exercise Of soul, and at the risk of personal character in the very point where a man is most sensitive, so that nothing short of the consciousness of acting before God could have sustained him. The Corinthians, aroused as to their consciences, were turned to judging themselves before God. Their sorrow was godly, and it wrought so in them (2 Corinthians 7:11ad fin.), that the Apostle could write to them on the subject of a contribution for the poor saints (2 Corinthians 8:1-24; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15.). The last four chapters of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians are very peculiar, but still bearing on the Apostle’s own conduct, which appeared to some so questionable as to lead them to speak most disrespectfully of him (2 Corinthians 10:1). His weapons were " not carnal," such as human wisdom, eloquence, power, influence, but " mighty through God; " and as he had wielded them effectually to the restoration of many to the simplicity of faith, so, when the time came, these weapons would be found effectual " to revenge all disobedience." In this we discover ’an important " way " of our God. When faction and dissension have come in among Christians, accompanied by strife and personalities, they often seek redress among themselves―but this is not the way of God. He waits for a while, obedience to him is thereby proved-and when the soul is brought into its right place before Him the time is arrived for dealing with refractory or disorderly individuals. We must set ourselves right with God before God will set us right one with the other. This is the way of God, hard to us indeed, because of our readiness to view personal offense in a much stronger light than that of the heart’s departure from God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: VOL 04 - "CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH." ======================================================================== "Christ Loved the Church." " CHRIST loved the Church and gave himself for it " " nourisheth and cherisheth it even as Christ also doth the Church: for we are members of his body." The great thought of "the Church" is in our Lord’s mind, and it is the Church he nourisheth and cherisheth, not a mere fragment of it, of which there is no word at all. We should avoid getting occupied with a thought which is other than that of our Lord Jesus. The Church as a whole is his object of love and care as truly as when the saints were " all together," and our thoughts should expand so as, with him, to take in the Church in its totality, not only those we might deem the faithful, the spiritual or a more holy portion of the saints. Constant occupation with the idea of a remnant, and the thought that we only are it, tends to obliterate from our minds the Scripture thought of the Church, and to endanger our settling down with the sectarian idea that we are the only people Christ is caring for at the present hour; and, from this to our degenerating into a sect with fresh ideas and correct views is not a great step. We should have a care lest we hurt ourselves and mislead others, by cherishing unscriptural notions; and, certainly, if we do not have the whole Church of God on earth in our faith, mind, and heart, in our worship, teaching, testimony and discipline we shall not answer to Christ’s mind regarding His saints. Let us beware of entertaining un-Christlike ideas and belittling the Church or Christianity, or Christ’s love, care, and work for the whole body and every member °fit. It is to be feared that most saints never rise worthily in their thoughts so as to take in Christ’s mind and heart for the Church, because of this constant occupation with themselves. The depreciating words which one sometimes hears as to the ungathered saints among the sects of Christendom as if they were not really the living members of Christ’s body, and equally precious to Him as objects of his present love and ministry are very painful, as they indicate minds and hearts not in concert or sympathy with the Lord’s thoughts. It is “THE CHURCH" Christ is to present to Himself, glorious, having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing; and there is no object so near His heart now as the Church, His body, and His Bride. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: VOL 04 - A DYING PAUL ======================================================================== A Dying Paul 2 Timothy illustrates the victory of faith and hope in Paul’s soul. He was in prison, forsaken by brethren, apprehensive of the ill condition and of the corning apostasy of the Church; but all was faith and hope in his soul, sure and bright; and in further proof of this victory, he is thoughtful of others. Hope has purified him See like victory in dying Jacob and in dying David (Genesis 47:1-31., &c.; 1 Chronicles &c.) See it also in the camp at the close of their journey (Joshua 1:1-18; Joshua 2:1-24; Joshua 3:1-17; Joshua 4:1-24). Faith overcame all accusing recollections; hope overcame all present attractions in Jacob and David. The sense of the glory lies so instinctively on Paul’s heart that he speaks of it as " that day " indefinitely (chap. 1:12, 18; 4:8). Faith and hope get their perfect victories in the soul of Christ (see Hebrews 12:1-2). See Him as dying (John 13:1-38, &c.; 19: 27). The Church is always to be thus (Revelation 22:17). " The spirit and the bride say, Come,’’ &c. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: VOL 04 - A FRESH ACTION OF GOD FOR THE BLESSING OF HIS SAINTS ======================================================================== A Fresh Action of God for the Blessing of His Saints THE returned captives in Nehemiah 8:1-18 being assembled at Jerusalem on the first day of the seventh month desired to have the law publicly read to them. This was done by Ezra and others for two consecutive days, and when its requirements were heard and their great sins and transgressions were thereby exposed and condemned, they mourned and wept: and quite right they should have done so. But Nehemiah and the Levites stopped them from weeping by telling them that the day was holy to the Lord, a day of solemn gladness, and not of mourning. It was the first day of the seventh month, the festal month of the year, and on the first day of it every seven years, it was ordained by the law, that the Scriptures should be publicly read to them. But the day being the first day of the feast of trumpets, the first day of the seventh ecclesiastical year, and the new year’s day of the civil year, it was on that account held as " a great day." It was the feast of trumpets which pointed onward to a fresh action on the part of God, and a new work of recalling His people to their own land in the future day which was symbolized by the feast of trumpets. The Lord, in symbol, coming in afresh to work a work of recalling which would bring back His people from all the lands whither they had been scattered, they were enjoined to be in keeping with the festal and joyous character of the day, and with the joy of heart of God who had made it; for it would be with joy of heart on God’s part and with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, they would return when the day of divine recovery, to which the feast of trumpets pointed, had come; and they must be in keeping in their hearts and conduct with the charater of the day. " This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not nor weep... Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto the Lord, neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them: " doubtless, about the day being holy to the Lord, which they were to keep as worshippers, and they were not to appear before Him as mourners. (None of His priests, who represented them, was allowed to put on the garments of mourning in His presence). The day, and not the law, was to form their hearts and minds, and control their doings. And on the second day of this feast of trumpets, as the reading went on, they found that the feast of tabernacles was to be kept on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and they made all due preparation for it, and kept it. This feast looked onward to the promised day of glory, when, with His returned people as a center and His Shepherd among them, He shall make a time of festal joy for the whole earth, during the period of a thousand years. When they had found the meaning of the feast of trumpets, they discovered also the feast of tabernacles that pointed onward to the period of predicted glory, and set about preparing for it; “and there was very great gladness." The few thousands of the returned exiles enjoying their feasts in the ancient capital of their kingdom gave presage of the coming glory when they shall be called the priests of the Lord, a center for the blessing and joy of the whole world. A recalled people under a fresh action of God look on to glory. There weeping was true and right; for unless they had mourned and wept over their sins as the law exposed them, there had been no basis in a convicted conscience and an exercised heart for their being formed by the grace of the day and finding the joy of the Lord to be their strength. This is ever the way of God, to produce a truthful, moral condition of soul, and then answer to it in His grace. Though there was no sin in Christ, in Psalms 22:1-31, yet in His experience when standing before the judgment of God for sin, the gloom came before the gladness, and the sorrow went before the joy. And this Psalm tells of the sure mercies of David, made good in resurrection and an assembling around God, acting in riches of grace in Christ, and circles of praise and blessing formed around Him and His redeemed people to the ends of the earth. The concluding portion of this Psalm refers to the time when the three feasts of the seventh month shall have their full realization. On the day of Pentecost when, by the coming of the Holy Ghost, a fresh work of God was inaugurated and begun, the grief went before the gladness. Peter told of a rejected and crucified Christ whom they had slain, but whom God had raised from the dead, and exalted, to His own right hand in the heavens; and they were pricked to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, " Men and brethren, what shall we do? " The provisions of the day that God had made, in that He had seated His Son in the delighted joy of His heart with Himself in heaven, were more than enough to stop the weeping, and to fill the penitents with joy; for through a Christ seated in glory repentance and forgiveness were preached, and by Him the Holy Ghost was given, and three thousand believers witnessed to the power of God’s joy in His glorified Son to tranquillize their consciences and fill them with divine joy and gladness. This was a fresh action and work of God, a recalling from moral captivity, and a setting of them in a new place around Himself in fullness of joy, for the day is holy to the Lord, and we read of the assembling of the saved ones around Himself. And this was as it always is for blessing and joy: so "they did eat their meat with gladness, aid singleness of heart, praising God." They were “filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." This was in principle the action of the first day of the seventh month, the calling out, the commencement, forming and filling of the church of God, according to the riches of God’s grace in Christ, and the joy of the Lord so possessing them that it was their strength. And now that the fair fabric of the church as a public body on earth has been for long ages broken to pieces and marred, and the saints have been carried into a worse captivity than that of the Jews in Babylon, what has been taking place for many years has been a fresh action of God’s Spirit, bringing the thought of the day of a glorified Christ and a present Spirit upon their souls. True, they have been passed, and rightly so, under deep exercise of conscience and heart, previous to their seeing by the divinely-anointed eye of faith God’s resource for giving the strength of His own joy in His risen and exalted Son to the feeblest of His saints, who have sought to be right with God in mind and heart about His Christ, and to keep the unity of the Spirit, and walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith they are called. Those saints who have thus departed from iniquity under the force of the word and Spirit of God have found themselves associated with God in His own delighted joy in Christ, as the heavenly center of worship and gathering. " Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ," and our joy is full. TE e Lord’s own word is―" For where two or three are gathered together to my name, there am I in the midst of them." And where is there joy like that of being consciously in the enjoyment of Him "whose presence gladdens heaven?” Even with regard to the gospel and oar salvation we have an example of the action on the conscience in conviction going before the joy in such Scriptures as Luke 14:1-35; Luke 15:1-32. In chapter 14. the Lord passed through scene after scene and by His varied swords and actions judged everything that came from man. The feast, the guests, the conversation in the Pharisee’s house were all distasteful to Him, for they all savored of man in his selfishness: and on leaving the house when the great multitude were giving Him an ovation in the way, He spoke this testing word to them-" If any man come to me and shall not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple, and whosoever does not carry his cross and come after me he cannot be my disciple... Thus then any one of you who forsakes not all that is his own cannot be my disciple. Salt, then, is good but if the salt also has become savorless wherewith shall it be seasoned. It is proper neither for land nor for dung; it is cast out. He that hath ears to hear let him hear." When tested by the Son of man expressing and dispensing the grace of God, and laying the necessary condition of one who could be His disciple upon their consciences man is seen to be mere savorless salt―good for nothing but to be cast out! But His words were not without effect, for the publicans and sinner drew near to hear Him, for they knew that they at least were " savorless salt" and good for nothing. Then it was, when they were hearing-not giving, as the people were in the different scenes in chapter 14:, that the Lord " spake to them this parable" of Luke 15:1-32 for it is one parable in a threefold aspect, giving the joy of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in saving and receiving the lost but returning sinner, who under God’s own gracious action was summoned from the far country to the Father’s house, to hear Him say, "Let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found; and they began to be merry." " This parable " tells of Jesus as the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep and the joy with which He does it; the quickening and saving of those dead in trespasses and sins by the action of the word and Spirit of God, and the joy with which the Spirit does this gracious work; the Father’s receiving of those whom the Son has redeemed and the Spirit quickened, and how the saved one is placed at the table as a son with the Father made meet for the Father’s presence by that which was found in the house and not what he brought with him, or felt within him, and he is satiated with the joy of that festive scene; for the joy of the Lord is his strength. And now for us, too, there is the strength and gladness of this divine joy, the joy of God in Christ; and there is no limit to what we may enjoy of the springs of divine refreshing in the Father and the Son, if we live in conscious enjoyment of the fellowship of the Father in His delight in His glorified Son, who, when on earth, maintained and retrieved His glory, who has entered His glory and joy in His presence in heaven, and who will, by-and-bye, make good His glory before the whole world; and that will be the day when the whole creation shall participate in the joy of God in His glorified Son. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: VOL 04 - A MAN IN CHRIST ======================================================================== A Man in Christ “I KNEW," says the apostle, “a man in Christ; " but this it often very vague in many a Christian’s heart. In paradise, without law, under the law, and through the presenting of Christ to him, man was responsible for his own conduct as a living man, for things done in the body. He was viewed as a child of Adam, or " in the flesh." He stood, that is before God, in that nature in which he had been created, responsible for his conduct in it, for what he was in the flesh. The result was, that in respect of every one of these conditions he had failed; failing in paradise, lawless when without law, a transgressor when under law, and worst of all, the closing ground of judgment when Christ came, proved to be without a cloak for sin, the hater of Him and His Father. Man was lost. In a state of probation for four thousand years, the tree had been proved bad, and the more care the worse the fruit. All flesh was judged. The tree was to bear no fruit forever. It was not all, that man fallen, and guilty, was driven out of paradise; but Christ, come in grace, was, as far as man’s will was concerned, driven out of the world, which was plunged in the misery to which sin had led, and which He had visited in goodness. Man’s history was morally closed. “Now," says the Lord when the Greeks come up, “is the judgment of this world." Hence it is we have “He appeared once in the end of the world." But now comes God’s work for the sinner. He who knew no sin is made sin for us. He drinks graciously and willingly the cup given Him to drink. He lays down the life in which He bore the sin, gives it up; and all is gone with it. The very life our sin was borne in on the cross was given up, His blood shed. He has put away sin for every believer, by the sacrifice of Himself, has perfected them forever. The death of Christ has closed for faith the existence of the old man, the flesh, the first Adam-life, in which we stood as responsible before God, and whose place Christ took for us in grace. What the law could not do in that it was weak, through the flesh, God sending His only Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and’ for sin condemned sin in the flesh. In that He died, He died unto sin once; in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. If we are alive, we are alive now on a new footing before God, alive in Christ. The old things are passed away, there is a new creation; we are created again in Christ Jesus. Our place, our standing before God is no longer ill flesh. It is in Christ. Christ, as man, has taken quite a new place, that neither Adam innocent nor Adam sinner had anything to say to. The best role formed no part of the prodigal’s first inheritance at all; it was in the Father’s possession, quite anew thing. Christ has taken this place consequent on putting away our sins, on having glorified God as to them, and finishing the work. He has taken it in righteousness, and man in Him, has got a new place in righteousness with God. When quickened, he is quickened with the life in which Christ lives, the second Adam, and submitting to God’s righteousness, knowing that he is totally lost in the first and old man, and having bowed to this solemn truth, as shown and learned in the cross, he is sealed with the Holy Ghost, living united to the Lord, one Spirit; he is a man in Christ. Not in the flesh or in the first Adam. All that is closed for him in the cross when Christ made Himself responsible for him, in respect of it, and died unto sin once, and he is alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He belongs to a new creation, having the life of the Head of it as his life. Where he learned the utter total condemnation of what he was, he learned its total and eternal putting away. The cross is for him that impassable Red Sea, that Jordan which he has now gone through and is his deliverance from Egypt forever, and now he has realized it, his entrance into Canaan, in Christ. If ’Jordan and the power of death overflowed all its banks, for him the ark of the covenant passed in. It is just his way into Canaan. That which, if he had himself assayed to go through, as the Egyptians, would have been his destruction, has been a wall on the right hand and the left, and only destroyed all that was against him. He was a man in the flesh, he is a man in Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: VOL 04 - ASSOCIATION WITH CHRIST WHERE HE IS ======================================================================== Association With Christ Where He Is Turn for a moment to Genesis 3:24, " So he drove out the man, and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." You observe, it is not only man is driven out; but he cannot get back. The Cherubim, and the flaming sword turned every way to guard the entrance, and prevent the possibility of return. Man is driven out of a place, and kept out of a place. The glory of God required this. Afterward, when we come to the thief on the cross, everything is cleared. What makes him fit to enter is effected, and the barrier to the place is removed besides, for our Lord says, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise;” in other words " a place with me in my place; " consequently, the flaming sword is gone. But at this point, what I wish you to note here is, that the glory of God drives man out and keeps him out. To take you a step further, I will not now refer to the glory in connection with the law. You will remember how, that, making a demand on man, he could not endure it, not even the reflection of it on the face of Moses. It said “Keep at a distance." Man could not draw near, lest he die. You might look, however, with me at Isaiah 6:1-8. There is Isaiah, a prophet of God, and of course converted, but the moment he gets a sight of the glory of God; he exclaims, " Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." It is clear he was not in it, when the very sight of it terrifies him, and overpowers him with the sense of his unfitness for it. But one of the seraphim flew to him with a live coal. Now, mark, it was a live coal, a burning coal. Observe the double action, he closes his mouth, and addresses his ear. He laid the burning coal on his mouth, and said, " Lo, this hath touched thy lips," that is, you are set aside in judgment, and your mouth is stopped; but now comes the story of grace, the tale of love, and from that very glory that so alarmed him, which is the remarkable thing: " thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." Now his fear is gone. If such a message has come from that very glory, there is no more terror in that direction, and when the voice of the Lord is heard saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go? " Immediately Isaiah cries, " Here am I, send me." No terror now; all fear has fled. Still, dear friends, blessed as this is, it was something from glory: he was not in the glory. There is no association, and could not be, for there was not even a man in that glory to be associated with yet. Next we shall look at Ezekiel 1:1-28., where we have a description of the glory of the Lord about to depart. In verses 26, 27, we find the wonderful circumstance related, that there is a likeness as the appearance of a man, conspicuous in the vision of this receding glory. The sin of the people is driving it from the earth.. Man is actually driving it away, and yet, marvelous to behold, in the very brightest spot of that retiring glory, shining with amber-colored brilliancy, is to be been the figure of a man. Not yet the fact; but there is the likeness of a man in the glory of Jehovah, as it takes its departure, never to be seen on this earth again, until the real Man is born into the world, that Holy Thing, born of the Virgin, and called the Son of God. Accordingly, we read in Luke 2:9-11. “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon (the shepherds), and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Then in verse 14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in man." At last we have the Man, God manifest in the flesh. One who glorifies ad in everything. Thirty years in private life He maintains a spotless walk, perfect in every detail, magnifies the law and makes it honorable. At the end of this period heaven opens upon Him, and announces its fullest delight. A voice proclaims the Father’s good pleasure: “Lo, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He goes forth to public service, is the obedient and dependent Man, whose meat is to do the will of His Father, and finish His work. He `ever does those things which please the Father; manifests God in every act, and word, and look; delights to do His will; glorifies God in public life, as before He had done it in private life. And in Luke 9:28 we find, that glory claims Him. On the transfiguration mount, " the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment white and glistering." As Peter says, " We were eye-witnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory; This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him on the holy mount." He could have gone to heaven then; the glory salutes and claims Him; but the astonishing subject of the conversation of Moses and Elias, who talk with Him, is death, not glory. “They spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Like the Hebrew servant, He could have gone out free, but He would have had to go alone. He says; “I love my master, I love my wife, and I love my children," and He gets His ear bored, ’ that He may have them with Him too. Was ever love like His? He descends from the mount; but He does it to die. In John 12:24, He tells us, ’` Verily, ’eerily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." He must abide the one, solitary grain, or go into death. No union with Him this side His grave; hence the impossibility of association with Him here. There is no getting others, who were lying in death, to be with Him, except by putting Himself first in death for them. Therefore, we find in the next chapter (John 13:31-32) Jesus saying when Judas had gone out, " Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." In the former chapter, thee Son of God had been glorified in raising Lazarus from the dead, but now is the Son of man glorified by going into death Himself. “And God is glorified in Him." He had glorified God in private life, He had glorified God in public life. Glory found its home with Him in Bethlehem, when born into the world; in manhood, when heaven opened to express its unmeasured delight; and when he had reached the close of His public service, God’s good pleasure is expressed once more, as the answer to that perfect spotless life, and from that holy mount He might have gone up into the excellent glory; but He would not go there alone, and the same Blessed One who was shining brighter than the sun on the mount, when the voice from the excellent glory claimed Him as " My beloved Son," now goes down to glorify God under all the terrible weight of judgment, and to enter an impenetrable gloom, without one ray of light, and to cry: " My God, my God, why halt thou forsaken me? " “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." God is perfectly glorified, sin perfectly manifested, and the work completely accomplished, which puts it away; in a word, God, in all that He is, glorified in the death of His Son. And what then? “If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him." The glory of the Father raised Him from the dead, and after forty days on earth He ascends. " He led his disciples out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them; and it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven." What a wondrous fact to contemplate. A Man has gone up into the glory of God, more than man surely, but a real true man. Imagine what a sight it must have been for the heavenly hosts to witness as this blessed One ascends. Higher and higher He goes, passing rank after rank; principalities, powers, angels, all left behind in the marvelous ascent, till He reaches the very highest point in glory. As Ephesians 1:1-23 puts it, “Far above all principality and power, might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." Where does Stephen see Him? At the right hand of God. Now I have got a Man in glory, and a Man who did not go there until He accomplished a work whereby I might be there too. Now there can be association, and you see, beloved friends, what a wonderful thing association is. I must first have the Man in order to have association with Him; but where? “At the right hand of God." Did it ever strike you how the Spirit of God seems to labor to educate the children of God on this very point? It appears as if He would spare no pains to get us instructed as to the exact spot where Christ is, and yet how little it is realized. Mark 16:19, " He was received up into heaven, and at on the right hand of God." Acts 2:33, " By the -right hand of God exalted." Twice over in this portion of Acts 7:1-60, which we are considering, we have “on the right hand of God." Romans 8:33, “Who is even at the right hand of God." Ephesians 1:20, “Set him at his own right hand." Colossians 3:1, “Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." Hebrews 1:3, “Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Chapter 8:1, “Who is set on the right hand of the throne in the Majesty in the heavens." Chapter 10:12, “Forever sat down on the right hand of God." Chapter 12:2, " And: is set down on the right hand of the throne of God." 1 Peter 3:22, “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject unto him." Is there no purpose in all this? Depend upon it, beloved friends, where Christ is, is of momentous interest to you and me. Why, the Holy Ghost could not be given, till Jesus was glorified, and there could be no union to Christ without the Holy Ghost. But why so careful to present Him in that special spot, “the right hand?” Because it is the very highest point in glory, and the moment it becomes a question of association, the position of the One to whom you are united determines everything. If I am on the shoulders of the Shepherd, the higher I see Him the higher I see myself, as there by His grace. The right hand is the place of honor, favor, and acceptance, and likewise the place of power, and, I ask, is Christ there for Himself? Nay, but for us. He might have remained forever in the glory He had with the Father before the world was, had it been a question of Himself; but He became a man, perfectly glorified God in life and in death here, and entered into glory as man, that He might share it all with you and me. Then if He is there for me, if He is my representative, am I not to get the good of what He represents? I am in the same favor, the same acceptance, for I am accepted in the Beloved. But how can I, a poor feeble creature down here, be associated with that blessed One up there? In no way, except by the Holy Ghost. And is not the right hand the place of power as well as the place of acceptance? Does not Peter tell me that it is the very spot from which the Holy Ghost, who is the uniting power, comes? “Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." What is the astonishing result? Poor good-for-nothing creatures like you and me down here, are associated with that glorious Savior up there. I am endeavoring to speak of it to you; but have any of us the sense of what association with Christ in glory really is? It is not merely some wonderful favor received from Christ, though the favors we have received from Him are unspeakable. Government might confer some remarkable benefit on me; but that would be a very different thing from me being in the Government itself, a member of the Cabinet. The Queen might present me with some precious jewel; but that would not be bringing me into the circle of royalty, or making me a member of the royal family. I am sensible, dear friends, of the poverty of the illustrations; for what illustration could adequately convey the full significance of the astounding reality? Poor sinners like you and me, not only cleared of everything in the sight of God, forgiven, and the recipients of the most wonderful benefits, but united by the Holy Ghost to Christ in the highest glory, a part of Himself, a member of His body, one Spirit with Him, associated with Him in the place where He is. Who is sufficient to unravel the depths of this? Still it is ours, and the enjoyment of it can only be known in association with Christ where He now sits at the right hand of God. The Spirit of God in us always directs the eye there. Here is Stephen, “full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus." (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: VOL 04 - COMMUNION WITH GOD IN HIS OWN JOY ======================================================================== Communion With God in His Own Joy THE threefold parable in Luke 15:1-32 gives the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in their various actings in redemption, quickening and salvation. The Lord says " this parable; " He does not call them three disjoined parables, but they are three in one. They tell of the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep, going as far as the cross that He might find us. Then the woman lighting a candle and sweeping the house, and searching for the lost piece of silver, represents the action of the Spirit by the Word in the quickening of the redeemed and believing soul, and thus he who was dead is made alive again, the lost i found. The father receiving the penitent, quickened, returning prodigal is God, the Father’s gracious reception to his embrace and favor, to make happy with Himself those for whom the Son has laid down His life in redemption, and whom the Holy Spirit, through means of the Word, has quickened and “found." The joy of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in saving lost sinners and receiving them to divine fellowship as worshippers, is vividly set forth in this great parable, and we lose sight of the happy son in our admiration of the merciful Father; and so we are left "giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins " (Colossians 1:14). But the father said to the servants, " Bring ant the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found, and they began to make merry.". The father said this to “the servants." Who are they? The house-servants, or teachers in the house of God? How very few are equal to this service, for how few present Christ for clothing and ornament to the repentant sinner, and have him suitably arrayed by that which. is found in the Father’s presence, for being happily with him at his table, lost in adoration of Him whose grace has covered him with kisses on the unwashed cheek, and provided for his being in His house, so free from any thought of self as to be able to feast in fellowship with the father on the fatted calf. For if He says, " Let us be merry," what is it but the Father’s joy in having the once-lost sinner with him as a worshipper, through what Christ is and has accomplished when " He, by the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God "―" loved us and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." We read of Israel keeping the Passover after they had crossed the Jordan, and were in the land. With what a different set of feelings would they keep it there from those with which they observed it in Egypt, before they, by divine redemption, were delivered from Pharaoh’s territory and his tyrant power! But even this falls short of feasting with the Father in his own presence, where it is God the Father’s love in rejoicing in His love in Christ Jesus over the lost one found, and feasted with Himself. It is most blessed, as it is most scriptural, to see how fully the work of Christ has answered for me before God as a judge, so that with a perfect conscience and a true heart, I may enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus―by the new and living way―through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God. The approach to God, as in Hebrews, is a grand reality; the provisions for it are all of God and divinely perfect. That which fits us for going into God’s presence, and for being in the holiest with God, has come forth from God’s presence. God has had no pleasure in all the sacrifices offered by the law, which could never make the worshippers perfect as pertaining to the conscience. The Son is sent a propitiation for sins. He also comes in devotedness to God’s glory, as well as for the sinner’s redemption and cleansing. “Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, 0 God ’... by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all." The will of God having been accomplished by the work of Christ, and the witness of the Holy Ghost being to the perfection of Christ’s one offering once offered, giving a perfect conscience to "them that are sanctified," there is " boldness " or liberty of conscience to enter in the holiest, and the exhortation of the Word is―" Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, [having been] sprinkled as to hearts from an evil conscience, and [having been] washed as to the body with pure water." There is nothing wanting of all that the brazen altar demanded to keep me at a distance; and seeing that Christ has glorified God in His nature and character in the place of sin; offering Himself without spot to God, and perfectly glorifying Him in His nature, while accomplishing all His will for our redemption, remission, and access into His presence in the holiest as worshippers, we are also privileged to have fellowship with the Father in His own delight in His beloved Son, whose devotedness to Him has been proved and manifested even in death, and is ever rising as a sweet savor before His face in the glorious home above, to the perfect joy of which we hope ere long to be removed, when the Lord’s promise to His own has been fulfilled ―" I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." The communion with the rejoicing Father in His joy in saving and feasting with Himself when the fatted calf is slain, is beyond the joy the sinner finds in the divine provisions for placing him before himself with. a. perfect conscience, through the perfect sacrifice of Christ accomplishing his will and eternal redemption. When heaven is opened in Revelation 5:1-14 (though the scene is different), the first object seen is " a lamb standing, as slain: “and the worship of heaven proceeds on the ground of this. " And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because Thou has been slain, and past bought to God by Thy blood." But this, as I have said, is not at the level of the Father’s house, and the slain "fatted calf" there. The discerning heart feels what is meant by this, and feels such delight that it would rather enjoy than try to express in words its deep, calm, heart-satisfying, and worshipping joy. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father " (Ephesians 3:18). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: VOL 04 - DIES IRÆ ======================================================================== Dies Iræ THE world is in dread of this dies irae; the terror of it pervades even the hymns of the period, as well as those of bygone days. Bernard sung: ― "Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt; vigilemus! Ecce minaciter, immanent arbiter, ille supremus!" another: " That day of wrath, that dreadful day, When heaven and earth shall pass away! What power shall be the sinner’s stay? How shall he meet that dreadful day? Oh, on that day, that wrathful day, When man to judgment wakes from clay, Be thou the trembling sinner’s stay, The’ heaven and earth shall pass away." again: "Day of wrath, oh, day of mourning, See fulfilled the prophet’s warning Heaven and earth in ashes burning. Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendeth, When from heaven the judge descendeth, On whose sentence all dependeth." (See 1 John 4:9-19. How different the Christian state and hope! The reader is invited to turn up the following Scriptures and to mark this difference: Php 3:20-21; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 9:27-28; John 14:2-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 1:3-9; 1 John 3:1-24. (Note to p. 204.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: VOL 04 - FROM JORDAN, THROUGH SHILOH, TO MOUNT ZION ======================================================================== From Jordan, Through Shiloh, to Mount Zion IF the line of Joshua and the sword (as in the book of Joshua) be insisted on without being accompanied with the line of the Ark, with its “cherubim of glory” and Eleazar, all must end in failure. Indeed, we see in the history of the route of the Ark-as in Jordan, to Shiloh; then, when Shiloh was forsaken by Jehovah (1 Samuel 4:1-22; Psalms 78:60-72; Jeremiah 26:6), carded to Zion (2 Samuel 6:1-23; Hebrews 12:1-29), where full and completely unlooked-for grace shone forth, when " worm Jacob " was wholly ruined; we see, I say, this remarkable feature in the Ark’s history ―it always brings out the glory of grace. On it moves, after its construction by Bezabel and Aholiab, until it frees Rahab (see Acts 15:11; Romans 15:15-16; Colossians 2:6, &c.); passing onwards, as it then vanishes in the book of Joshua, till Rahab’s son David (through Ruth the Moabitess and Boaz) dances before it; not with " those who delight in war," but with the harp, and timbrel, and trumpets. Such is sovereign grace on the basis of divine righteousness. Korah’s son (Numbers 26:11; 1 Chronicles 6:33-37; Romans 11:5-6) anoints Rahab’s son with the crown of " oil," and the God who dwells between the cherubim (Psalms 80:1-2) leads him on till he lays the Ark in its tabernacle on the height of Zion." “The sons of Korah ’ had songs " inspired for them also (Psalms 42:1-11 &c. &c.). Now, it seems to me, that, in Acts, we have the two lines divided-the line of Joshua and the sword, and the Ark and its " cherubim of glory " and Eleazar. This being so, Jerusalem becomes an earthly religious center; Paul is even snared thereby, and the apostle of the circumcision, Peter, is well nigh the ruin of Antioch (see Galatians 2:1-21); the assembly which gives us the line of the Ark and Eleazar, through Shiloh to Zion. Reuben, and all " the mighty men of war," had to move on before the Ark as it silently went round Jericho, and learn that they were not needed as warriors there. The shout when it did arise there, was the result of victory won―the Lord had given Israel the city. Rahab saw even more, as actually accomplished (Joshua 2:9). In 1 Samuel 4:1-22 we see an attempt made to have the shout first and fighting afterward, Reubenite fighting too (contrast 1 Samuel 4:5 and Joshua 6:10). The Ark in all its solitary power must do all, and hence the grace following must be magnificent. Rahab and her whole household come forth, and “the scarlet sign" has its wondrous effect. “In the midst of Israel " does she " dwell." Achan had, as it were, ruined the responsible camp-he who was the son of him (Zerah) who had the scarlet thread bound on his hand. Thus Rahab follows the line of the Ark; the power of grace and glory now on the basis of the silence of the cross. Such, I believe, is Antioch in Acts. Stephen sees the heaven opened; there “the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God " is displayed. In silence the weakness of the cross and the power of resurrection shall move on; the energy to pull down, nay, which ken pulled down Satan’s fortress, Jericho, is in glory (see 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 John 5:4; 1 John 4:4). Hence, as we follow Acts 8:4, then 11:19-26, we see the outcasts moving on, till the man of goodness and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, comes, and with gladness sees " the grace which (evidently) was of God." Barnabas carried away in the Jerusalem stream with Mark; we find a Silas and Timothy lei on in the blessed line of full grace and the energy of “the Spirit of Jesus." For, we are warned in Acts 1:1-26, that Theophilus was instructed in all that HE, “Jesus began both to do and teach" (Isaiah 42:1-2). Even " the apostles " then were painfully imbued with the desire for outward manifestation of things on earth; they said, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? " “Jesus" is the name to follow in Acts, * if we want the line of heavenly blessing and grace. Stephen saw “Jesus " in glory, and "the Spirit of Jesus " led Paul to Philippi. (* Let the reader follow the name " Jesus " everywhere it occurs alone in Acts (see correct Greek).) There we see the apostle among a few women-all weakness on man’s side. Down comes Jericho’s strength, and out comes the freed Gentile, too, as praises of triumph arise from Paul and Silas. They celebrate the victory of the Ark (utter weakness on the human side, full power on the divine side), and pass on. But, on the other hand, the history of Jerusalem in Acts is solemn. It is evident that " they who seemed to be somewhat " welt not warring (for men of war were needed in Joshua, if Shiloh and Eleazar and the Ark were fully owned), as coming out from the One " who dwelled’ between the cherubims "-HEAVEN being the place where the Ark rested―" the height of Zion " for us now (Jeremiah 31:1-40Hebrews 12:1-29). They sought to make Jerusalem a sort of metropolitan assembly. They slave to Peter and his line. Of course he had “the keys of the kingdom of the heavens” given him; * and very beautiful Acts 2:1-47. comes in in its place. (* Really, thin kingdom, in its "mystery ";now, is the expression of complete weakness and rejection on our side.) But Rahab must be acknowledged, too, and Achan is there (Acts 5:1-42).** Did not the apostles own Antioch? Yes. (**Sovereign grace fully set les " Achan” movements for the Lord’s host, in Acts 5:1-42) But we find Peter not acting as Barnabas and Silas did in Acts 11:1-30 How solemn. He was the first apostle; and he is carried away by ordinances and the outward; so that Paul has to " withstand him to the face." The earthly swayed him; he overlooked the Ark on " the height of Zion." The heavenly was fully owned at Antioch, and the earthly too (Acts 11:29; Acts 15:28-31). But even Shiloh was forsaken by Jehovah, and He “refused the tabernacle of Joseph." Yet the features of an Antioch can still be revived―like the remnant in Thyatira. Zion arose when Shiloh was forsaken. For, “ye are come "―beyond Shiloh―" unto Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Rahab’s son arose then. Richer blessing than ever sprang up then. A Hannah triumphs and gives the shout because she rejoices in the Lord’s salvation (1 Samuel 2:1). Is not this Rahab once more? Is not Samuel, the praying (not, as Samson, the slaying) Nazarite, the one of silent power? All was in ruin then, the outward crushing and warring, but not in the line of the Ark. The sword was owned, indeed, but―though ostensibly in Jehovah’s battles―it availed not. They had only an Ai in Judges (20). Hannah fought not with that line of things. Nay, she says and sings, “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength." The Lord does all for her; He kills, and makes alive; He takes up the poor and the beggar. “By strength shall no man prevail." The principle and grace of Antioch never can fail us. The crowd that believed there, clave unto the Lord, they had neither a Peter nor Paul there then. To " cleave unto the Lord" (it is the same form of expression as we find in Matthew 15:32), gets wondrous blessing. He may try our faith, as we " continue with (or cleave unto) Him the three days,’ and seem to get nothing." But Antioch got good food at last, even Paul was brought to them to aid. But what if we cannot have the line of the sword and the mighty men of war, as in Joshua’s days? What, if a Saul, as in Samuel’s days, monopolize it? What if a Joab take Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 11:6)? We can own the silent power of “the ark" still. Thus, “while kings with their armies flee apace, she that tarries at home" may have “spoil" to divide. The Ark is the theme of Psalms 68:1-35 A man―" the man Christ Jesus," was " crucified in weakness." Now, “He lives by the power of God." Weakness and need follows that line. This is the Antioch-lime. At first “those who were scattered abroad " (too weak to remain at Jerusalem), feared because of " the Jews " (compare Acts 11:19, and Revelation 3:9). Then “some of them” took courage (having, perhaps, no characters to sustain), and preached to any of the Rahab family they found. " The hand of the Lord was with them," and a blessed result followed. Jerusalem, it is true, gets uneasy; but sovereign grace conquers. Thank God we need own no Jerusalem now-a-days, even though a would-be Jerusalem arise. We have no apostles on earth who might act as Peter did then. Now their writings will not make us err, but we may profit by their failures, while grace would make us hide them. May we be warned by all that Luke wrote in Acts. He told Theophilus of " Jesus," and all He began to do, and teach; while he dwelt not on the failures―leaving silent spiritually to see them. Was it not as much as saying―" Even if thou findest Peter or a Paul, in my second treatise, wavering or going wrong, or forming any Jerusalem on earth, be warned. Go on with what " Jesus began." He is to lead on. I brought you to the rent wail in Luke 24:1-53 -displayed the ark and Eleazar, there, and " the chariot of the cherubim" too. Follow whither He leads, though in God’s rest there (Read Psalms 132:7-18), let thy Gilgal be a result be a relationship which the ark maintains whence He rests." David took Zion, Joab took " the Jerusalem which now is," " Shoshannim-Eduth " conquers in the end. He who uses either a Saul’s (1 Samuel 17:39) or a Joab’s (2 Samuel 20:8) armor needs beware. Such warriors’ garments must be relinquished if the ark with the cherubim and Eleazar is to be followed fully. " Thus saved by grace we’ll gladly sing, Till all tile heavens and earth shall ring With Grace triumphant reigns! " ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: VOL 04 - GATHERING FOR WORSHIP AND THE BREAKING OF BREAD ======================================================================== Gathering for Worship and the Breaking of Bread WE meet to worship God as redeemed by the blood of Christ, born of God, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and as members of the body of Christ, and members one of another, and professedly in subjection to the Holy Ghost, and in obedience to the Word of God. At the Lord’s table, then, none have really a place who are not converted. for how could any one be there who has not communion with the blood and with the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16)? How could any eat of that supper, showing thereby the Lord’s death, who has no part in redemption by His blood (1 Corinthians 11:24-26)? How could unsaved ones remember Him in this His own appointed way? Again by partaking of the one loaf we own that we, with all Christians, are one body, and thus show it (1 Corinthians 10:27). And the aspect in which the body of Christ is here viewed is the general, not the local, aspect of it. When writing of the latter to the Corinthians, the Apostle said, “Ye are the body of Christ " (1 Corinthians 12:27). Here he says, " We being many are one body, one loaf, for we are all partakers of that one loaf." In no other way, then, can we fitly and fully show that all Christians are one body, for in accordance with the truth of 1 Corinthians 11:1-34 there is but one Lord’s table on earth, however many may be the places in which Christians are gathered together around it. We worship, too, by the Spirit of God (Php 3:3) I as the Apostle, we believe, really wrote; consequently, the Holy Ghost must have room to act as He will, and subjection to His guidance should characterize those gathered together unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Further, the written word teaches us the character of the service at the table (1 Corinthians 11:24-25), that it is eucharistic, and how Christians should conduct themselves when come together in assembly, or worship (1 Corinthians 14:1-40), as well as the purpose for which we meet on the Lord’s day (1 Corinthians 10:1-33; 1 Corinthians 11:1-34, Acts 20:7). Fellowship, then, at the table with those who would allow the privileges of the body of Christ to such as have given no sign of being really Christians would be utterly wrong. Hence Christians should not, and if in subjection to God, would not, have fellowship with those who would allow it. Fellowship, too, with such as meet on denominational ground would be, on our part, a practical denial of the truth of the one body. How could we on such ground endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit at all (Ephesians 4:3). Again, fellowship with any who do not professedly submit to the guidance of the Spirit when assembled, or who do not own His personal presence in the Church of God (John 14:17, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:22) would be incongruous for those who profess to own both. And fellowship with those who are not really acting in obedience to the Word by allowing in themselves or others that which the Lord Jesus declares disqualifies the offender for the enjoyment of the privileges of His table, whether it be a question of doctrine or of practice, would be direct disobedience to Him whose children we are, and by whose word we profess to be guided. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: VOL 04 - JESUS' LOVE SHALL NEVER END. (JOH_13:1-38) ======================================================================== Jesus’ Love Shall Never End. (John 13:1-38) JESUS’ love shall never end― Perfect love to banish fear; Pow’r divine is in His hand― All resource for help and cheer: He it is, from glory’s seat, Stoops to wash and wipe our feet. While poor Egypt’s fare we bought, Purchased at its deadly cost, Jesus’ prayer went up, unsought, For the ruined and the lost: He it is, from glory’s seat, Stoops to wash and wipe our feet. When we groped in darkness drear― Sighing for delivering power, Did not Jesus then appear― Free us in the trying hour? He it is, from glory’s seat, Stooped to wash and wipe our feet. Satan vanquished, too, may plan (In his hate) to snare―defile Those in the triumphant Man, Waiting through the " little while:" Jesus still, from glory’s seat, Stoops to wash and wipe our feet. Every throb of grief He knows, . Every faltering step He sees- Ere the humbled glance arose, Or the weeper bowed his knees; Love and pow’r, from glory’s seat, Stoop to wash and wipe our feet. Watchful Shepherd, soon Thine own- Safe beyond the desert toil- Perfected, and on Thy throne, Garments never more to soil- Shall their Lord and Master greet- Him who washed and wiped their feet. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: VOL 04 - LEARNING IN EXERCISES OF HEART TO KNOW CHRIST HIMSELF ======================================================================== Learning in Exercises of Heart to Know Christ Himself IN the Song of Songs there is no question of the purification of the conscience. But it speaks of those affections of heart which cannot be too ardent when the Lord is their object. Consequently the faults that manifest forgetfulness of Him and of His grace, serve only to produce such exercises of heart with respect to Him as recall all the attractions of His person, and the consciousness of belonging entirely to Him― exercises that form the heart to a much deeper appreciation of Himself, because guilt before a judge is not the question, but a fault of the heart towards a friend ―a fault which meeting with a love too strong to be turned away from its object only deepens her own affection, and infinitely exalts, in her eyes, the affection of her Beloved (thus forming her heart, by inward exercise, to the appreciation of His love, and to the capability of loving and estimating all that He is). It is all-important to form our heart in this portion of the Christian life. It is thus that Christ is truly known, for with respect to divine persons, he who loves not knows not. The heart indeed is imperfect; it cannot love as it ought, and therefore all these exercises are necessary. We have the full knowledge of accomplished redemption, we know that we are sitting in the heavenly places in Christ. Our conscience is forever purged. God will remember our sins and our iniquities no more. But the effect of this work is that we are entirely His according to the love that is shown in the sacrifice that accomplished it. Morally, therefore, Christ is the all of our souls. It is evident that, if He loved us, if He gave Himself for us, when in us there was no good thing, it is in having absolutely done with ourselves that we have life, happiness, and the knowledge of God. It is on Him alone we find the source, the strength, and the perfection of this. Now as to justification, this truth makes our position perfect. In us there is no good thing. We are accepted in the Beloved, perfectly accepted in His acceptance, our sins being entirely put away by His death. But, then as to life, Jesus becomes the one object, the all in all of our souls. In Him alone the heart finds that which can be its object―in Him who has so loved us and given Himself for us―in Him who is entire perfection for the heart. As to conscience, the question is settled in peace through His blood; we are righteous in Him before God while exercised daily on that ground. But the heart needs to love such an object, and in principle will have none but Him in whom all grace, devotedness t) us, and every grace, according to God’s own heart, is found. The assembly―loved, redeemed, and belonging to Him―having, by the Spirit, understood His perfections, having known Him in the work of His love, does not yet possess Him as she knows Him. She sighs for the day when she will see Him as He is. Meanwhile He manifests Himself to her, awakens her affections, and seeks to possess her love by testifying His delight in her. She learns also that which she is in herself―that slothfulness of heart which loses opportunities of communion with Him. But this teaches her to judge all that in herself which weakens the effect on her heart of the perfections of her Beloved. Thus she is morally prepared, and has capacity for the full enjoyment of communion with Him when she shall see Him as He is, she will be like Him. It is not the effort to obtain Him, but we seek to apprehend that for which we have been apprehended by Christ. We have an object that we do not yet fully possess, which alone can satisfy all our desires―an object whose affection we need to realize in our hearts―an end which He in grace pursues by the testimony of His perfect love towards us, thereby cultivating our love to Him, comforting us even by the sense of our weakness, and by the revelation of His own perfection, and thus showing us all in our own hearts that prevents our enjoying it. He delivers us from it, in that we discover it in the presence of His love. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of cultivating these holy affections which attach us to Christ, and cause us to know His love and to know Himself. Only remark with what earnestness, with what tenderness He tells His loved one of all her preciousness in His sight, and of the perfection which He beholds in her! If Jesus sees perfection in us, we need nothing more. Now this love of Christ’s in its superiority to evil-a superiority that proves it divine-reproduces itself, as a new creation, in the heart of every one who receives its testimony, uniting him to the Lord who has so loved him. Is the Lord anything else than this for us? No, my brethren, we learn His love; we learn in these exercises of heart to know Him, Himself. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus WE now enter on the second great division of the book (11:-xvi.), which treats of defilements, and the legal manner of cleansing therefrom, and closes with the directions to be observed on the day of atonement. Sacrifices appointed, and the priests consecrated; Israel are reminded that they are a holy people unto the Lord, and must therefore guard against that which would defile, or be cleansed from defilements, as the case might be. And the first subject that is taken up is that of animal food, which necessarily points out the “difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten” (Leviticus 11:47). After the flood, God gave to man a grant of every moving living creature for food (Genesis 9:3). Here, under the law, He introduces restrictions. Were men, then, contaminated in their souls by the indiscriminate use of animal food? Was that a source of moral defilement? Demons would instil into man’s mind that it was. But the Lord has taught us (Matthew 15:18) from whence the moral defilement comes―even from out of the heart of man. Hence abstinence from meats will not promote true piety (1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:5). But why these restrictions? Because the law not only places man at a distance from God, and makes him conscious of it; but it also is meant to teach him the great difference between standing on the ground of its observance, and on the ground of grace. How simple and free was the intercourse between the patriarchs and the Lord Jehovah whenever He made Himself known to them; whereas, though He dwelt in the midst of Israel, it was in thick darkness, and they never could get personally into His presence. How free was the grant to Noah and to his sons? How stringent the restrictions placed on Israel! For, since it was Jehovah who brought them up out of the land of Egypt to be their God, they were to be holy, for He was holy (Leviticus 11:45). The privilege of being God’s people, which was great, entailed on them responsibilities which were not to be neglected. So it always must be By Israel, as we are told in this chapter, ceremonial defilement was to be carefully avoided. With Christians the danger arises from that which is within (2 Corinthians 7:1). The distinction between clean and unclean animals was known before the flood (Genesis 7:2). Here, however, the Lord for the first time gives marks by which to distinguish them, whilst in Deuteronomy 14:4-5, Moses, by God’s command, mentions the beasts that were clean. The distinguishing marks were two; the one relating to their habit, the other to something which characterized them in their walk. The habit was that of ruminating, or chewing the cud. The characteristic about their walk was that they parted the hoof, and were cloven footed. Thus the habit, and the character of the walk were common to all the beasts of which the Israelites might eat. Such comprised those of the herd, or of the flock, from which alone sacrificial victims could be selected, and the hart, the roebuck or gazelle, and fallow deer, the wild goat, the pygarg or antelope, the wild ox or oryx, the chamois, or perhaps mountain sheep. Of these the hart, roebuck, and fallow deer, were served up daily at Solomon’s table (1 Kings 4:23). The rest are not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. To be a beast fit for an Israelite’s table, it must have had both the above-mentioned distinguishing marks. The presence of the one without the other, whether real or apparent, would not suffice. We say real or apparent, because though neither the coney nor the hare chew the cud, yet they move their jaws in such a way that a common observer might class them as ruminants with the cow and the camel. So to instruct such as would never be naturalized, the law-giver uses language which is not scientifically correct. He spake in a manner that all could understand. This is often the way in Scripture. By the rules laid down, then, the camel, the coney, the hare, and the pig, were all excluded from the list of beasts fit for the people’s food. Of their flesh they were not to eat, nor their carcases were they to touch. They were unclean to them. These directions, however, about clean and unclean, rested not here. All animated nature was thus classified, and in a very simple way. Beasts, fishes, birds, insects, and reptiles, were arranged by the Creator in one or other of these classes. As to fishes, the possession of both fins and scales were requisite for any of them to be reckoned clean. Of birds, all were clean, except certain kinds which are enumerated. Carnivorous, omnivorous, foul-feeding birds, and night birds were unclean. By this standard, eagles, vultures, ravens, hawks, and owls, were shut out, as well as the ostrich, translated " owl " in verse 16, the gull, translated " cuckoo," the ibis, perhaps translated " swan," and the lapwing or hoopoe. Everything, too, which crept, though it had wings, was forbidden, except such as had legs above their feet to leap withal upon the earth, which comprised, it would seem, four species of locusts, among which the beetle could never be classed, for the word chargol, translated beetle (verse 22), must be taken as the name of some kind of locust. Of creeping things that creep upon the earth, the weasel (or perhaps mole), the mouse, and different kinds of lizards, translated in the authorized version tortoise, ferret, chameleon, snail, and the mole (or perhaps the chameleon) are enumerated as unclean. Besides, however, being merely unclean everyone was to be an abomination unto them, it was not to be eaten. " Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth on all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them shall ye not eat, for they are an abomination ’ (verses 41, 42). No one, then, of the common people, even when made acquainted with the marks which distinguished the clean from the unclean animal, need make any mistake. Scientific distinctions, however correct, or the classification of genera, however full, would have been here out of place. God could have given such by Moses, had it pleased Him! From whence has man derived his knowledge of the things of nature, but from the Creator? (Isaiah 28:26). But for the unlearned, the common people, scientific distinctions would have been of little use without a special education, and natural ability to receive it. Now, in no country are all the inhabitants capable of such an attainment. Yet it was necessary that every one in Israel, from the highest to the lowest, should learn about clean and unclean animals. Hence God directed Moses thus to classify them. For it is probable that a ready and a simple way of distinguishing what they might eat and what not, was all that they were intended to understand; coupled, however, with the reminder that enjoying the privilege of being Jehovah’s people, they were to keep themselves from being defiled by eating of animals of which Gentiles were free to partake. But we, who are taught in the New Testament deeper lessons than Israel ever were, may draw from these directions about clean and unclean, important teaching for ourselves, learning from the characteristic marks enumerated by Moses, what those moral features are, which in God’s sight are regarded as clean. To chew the cud and to be cloven footed, marked the clean beast. To ponder over the truth we receive, and to walk firmly, and after the pattern of the Lord Jesus, should characterize Christians. “Let this mind’ be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." “Be ye followers of me as even I also am of Christ." "Walk so as ye have us for an ensample " (Php 2:5, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Php 3:17). These, and kindred exhortations, treat of uniformity in walk. To have fins and scales characterized clean fishes. Motive power, and guidance to go even against the stream, and to pass through the surrounding element without being hindered by it; such features should be seen in Christians who are exhorted to overcome (Revelation 3:1-22), and to resist the snares and attractions of the world (1 John 2:5; 1 John 5:6; James 4:4). Carrion eating, foul feeding, omnivorous, and night birds, as well as everything that crept upon the earth, locusts excepted, which had legs above their feet to leap withal upon the earth, were unclean to the Israelite. So the loving of darkness rather than light must be foreign to a Christian; and the having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness must be wholly eschewed (John 3:19, Ephesians 5:11). Carnality, too, is to be avoided. (Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:3-4, Colossians 3:5); and that lack of discrimination as to teaching, so common in these days, with the imbibing of any and every form of doctrine, is to be carefully guarded against (1 John 2:20-27, 2 Timothy 4:3-4), and all groveling propensities are to be avoided (Php 3:19). Further, it should be noticed that, whereas the beasts which did not chew the cud, nor were cloven footed, were simply called unclean; the fish, the birds, and the reptiles that were forbidden the people are written of by the law-giver as abominations. Now, whatever the Israelite might have thought of this difference in terms, to us who get moral instruction from this subject, the distinction is intelligible. The absence of the characteristic features of the clean beast in any Christian would indicate something lacking in that person, whereas the presence in any one of such features as characterized the unclean fish, &c., would be manifested by ways and habits which should be wholly foreign to every one who fears the name of Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus BUT the directions in this chapter, not only defined what was suited for an Israelite’s table, they also taught him in what light he was to view the creature when dead. If a clean beast died of itself, contact with its carcass communicated defilement, and the one who had touched it had to wash his clothes, and to be unclean until the evening, 1:e., until the close of that period of time. For death is an unclean thing, being for man the fruit of sin, and Israel were always to remember that. Hence any man who eat of such a carcass was thereby rendered unclean, as well as the man who might have carried it, and both of them had to wash their clothes in water, and to wait till eventide to be clean (verses 39, 40). How easily defilement was contracted. Unwittingly, the Israelite might have touched the carcass, or perhaps necessity may have required it, yet, no matter from what cause, the effect was the same, the man was thereby rendered unclean. Suppose a festive occasion, on which the family and household were about to partake of their portion of a peace offering, any one among them who had touched the carcass of a clean beast that had died of itself, would on that account be shut out from having fellowship with the others. All the rest would be feasting on the peace offering, but he would be excluded from any part of it. Necessity might have brought him into contact with the carcass; nevertheless he was rendered unclean, and as such, shut out from the feast. How hard on him some might have thought, but that was not the real question. Jehovah his God was holy, and He could not allow anyone in uncleanness to have fellowship with Him. If such was the inexorable law regarding the carcass of a clean beast, which had died of itself, little wonder would be expressed, as a man heard of the regulations concerning the carcass of an unclean beast. Of course the person who touched such a carcass would be unclean till the evening (31). But more, " Upon whatsoever any of them when they are dead doth fall, it shall be unclean, whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water; and it shall be unclean until the even, so shall it be cleansed. And every earthen vessel where into any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it. Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which any such water cometh shall be unclean, and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean, and everything whereon any part of their carcass falleth shall be unclean. whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down, for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you" (32-35). Such were the rigorous directions of this law touching the carcass of any creeping thing. A man, his meat, his drink, his garment, or vessels for household work, all would be rendered unclean; and the ranges for pots, or fire hearths, had to be broken down, if a dead mouse, or lizard, or other creeping thing had fallen on any of them. Uncleanness was easily communicated, and the carcass of an unclean creeping thing defiled everything that came into contact with it, except it were a fountain or pit wherein there was plenty of water, or sowing seed intended to be sown, and on which no water had previously come (36-38). To an Israelite these exceptions might have appeared simply as positive precepts, the reasons of which were not communicated to him. To Christians they appear in the light of moral precepts, the reasons for which are apparent. For in the midst of this scene of moral uncleanness from the presence of sin, there is One who cannot be defiled, viz., the Holy Ghost, who is figuratively spoken of in the Word under the emblem of water (John 4:7). Undefiled was that water the Israelite learned. Undefiled, we gladly own, is the Holy Ghost, whether we think of Him as the Spirit of God coming from above, or as dwelling on earth in the assembly, and in the saint. There was something, then, which the carcass of the creeping thing could not make unclean. There is One who, though on earth, is absolutely pure, whilst the whole world lieth in the wicked one, and sin dwells in those in whom He also dwells. But He cannot be defiled, though man, alas, and even the saint can. And never does God allow this distinction to sink into oblivion. Even this chapter teaches it, as we read that, though the water in the fountain or pit was not defiled, the one who touched the carcass of the creeping thing which had fallen into that water, was thereby rendered unclean. What is man? A touch of the carcass defiled him. For but one man was there who could touch what defiled without becoming unclean, for in Him is no sin (1 John 3:5). With us, as with Israel, the case is different, for if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us " (1 John 1:6). Will this state of things then always last? It will whilst we are upon earth, but, thank God, a day is coming when sin shall no longer be found in the believer. By death, if he passes through it, or by the change that he will experience when the Lord comes, should he live to see that, sin, the flesh, the old man will forever be purged out of him. This deliverance our chapter also in measure teaches. "If any part of their carcass fall upon any sowing seed, which is to be sown, it shall be clean. But if any water be put upon that seed, and any part of their carcass fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.’ Definite surely are these directions. But why give them? The holy people had to keep themselves from uncleanness, and to separate between clean and unclean, for the Lord their God was holy. Again and again were they reminded that on such matters man’s opinion could have no weight. God’s character, with whom as His redeemed people they had to do, formed the groundwork for these requirements (verse 45). Any and every human standard must therefore fall short of that which God would set before them. Hence the Lord had to reveal what was requisite. Seed about to be sown was not made unclean, if the carcass of any creeping thing fell upon it. But, if water had already fallen on that seed, contact with the carcass would defile it. The moistened seed beginning to germinate could not die again. But the dry seed when sown would die, so it was not to be reckoned unclean. This to the Christian should be intelligible, for it is by death, if he dies, that he gets free from the presence of sin within, him. Nothing short of death can affect his deliverance from that defiling thing, the old man, the flesh, which we derive from Adam by the fall. When death comes in, then freedom from it will be effected. Till then, unless caught up alive to meet the Lord, that cannot be enjoyed. In this sense death acts as a purger from what defiled. Hence the distinction made between dry seed about to be sown, and that already moistened with water, is to us intelligible and consistent; and we cannot rightly read this chapter without being carried on in thought to the future. Now we contract defilement, though the Spirit of God in us, and on earth never can be defiled. But freedom from the presence of sin we await, and by death, if we die, it will be at once and forever effected. Thus, as far as we have gone in this book, we can trace out an orderly arrangement of teaching. Commencing with the Lord Jesus who came to die, and to be made the offering for siu, we next witnessed the introduction and establishment of priesthood, and now are reminded of the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth, and that freedom from the presence of sin which the saint is taught to expect. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus NEXT in order in the word, and in harmony with the order of the moral teaching just noticed, we read of, defilement from the working in one way or other of nature in man. Thank God we look to be free from the body of sin, the flesh. We have, however, to learn what the flesh is in God’s sight, and the working of it. What a humbling lesson for man is this! How the Israelitish man or woman must have felt it, when he or she was considered unclean from the action of nature within them, as set forth in chapters 12.-15; communicating, too, defilement to any places or things brought into contact with them (4:4-12). And we who never were of the seed of Abraham after the flesh, and were never placed under the law to prove the burdensome character of its ceremonial, we have each and all within us, and are to be aware of it, that hateful defiling thing called " the flesh," of which the, ceremonial purifications remind us. What came from an Israelite’s flesh defiled that person. What comes from the heart of man, the working of the evil nature within him, defiles the man (Mark 7:21). The Israelite’s nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did. So the flesh within us does not defile us, though the actings of it does. And God is holy. Compromise therefore, on His part with uncleanness is impossible, hence provision to cleanse the defiled one is made the subject of divine revelation, and that in both Old and New Testaments. In the cases of defilements treated of in chapter 11. no ’‘ sacrifice was required, ’only washing with water was enjoined. In cases, too, where a person unclean from the working of his nature, touched another, the one touched, though thereby defiled, needed only washing with water for himself or herself (15); but the person who communicated the defilement needed sacrifices to be offered up, before he could be clean. Nothing less than the death of Christ, as set forth in type, could avail, for such an one before God. What ruin has been caused by the fall, ruin irretrievable, unless God had interposed with the Lamb of His choice, His own well-beloved Son. Such, surely, must be the thought of anyone who ponders over these chapters in Leviticus on the one hand, and over the analogous New Testament teaching on the other. But viewing the provisions which God made in both Old and New Testaments for those who might be defiled, what harmony do we trace in His ways! By sacrifice and by washing with water was cleansing effected for the Israelites. To the teaching of 1 John 2:2, and of John 13:1-10, we turn for that which is needed for us, and learn of the untiring grace and service of the Lord, whilst in heaven, for, and to His people on earth. Light, too, is cast upon the Old Testament, as the ceremonial observances of the law are seen to be figurative of that which is really requisite for the Christian, whether the flesh has been working in him, or he has, been defiled by contact with something unclean from without. We say for the Christian, because in these chapters under review (12.-15.) the children of Israel, God’s recognized earthly people, are those for whom the revelations were vouchsafed. With purification after childbirth, this series of laws. Commences (12). For seven days, if the mother had given birth to a son; for fourteen, if, she bore a daughter, she was unclean. For thirty-three days more, or for sixty-six, according to the sex of the child, the Israelitish mother continued in the blood of her purifying, until the end, of which period she could not eat of hallowed things, nor approach the sanctuary. Her child, if a son, was circumcised on the eighth day. She, at the expiration of forty or eighty days presented herself before the Lord with the offerings appointed by this law. A lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtle dove for a sin offering. But if too poor to provide a lamb, she might substitute a bird for the burnt offering. To bear children was woman’s lot, yet that made her unclean, and she had to feel it and own it. She felt it, as she was debarred during the above-named days from partaking of the hallowed things, or of approaching the sanctuary. She owned it, as she drew ’near with the appointed sacrifices, which proclaimed her need of atonement and of a substitute to die for her. She who had brought a living creature into the world, had need of the death of the sacrifice on that account on her own behalf. The spiritual ’teaching of this for us we have already referred to. But this chapter is especially important in these days, for it gives the lie to one of the latest authorized dogmas of the Church of Rome-the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin Mary. Blessed she is, but immaculate was the, Virgin at no time of her life, and the ordinance appointed in this chapter (12), to which the Evangelist Luke tells us she conformed, plainly proves it. Unclean according to the law for seven days after the birth of her son, she came’ the expiration of the appointed forty days with two birds, the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sinoffering; and the priest, whoever he was, offered them to, make atonement for her. The offerings she brought ― two birds―attested her poverty on the one hand, and her condition as a sinful creature on the other. The low estate of David’s royal house, and direct line told a tale of the failure, great and grievous, of his offspring, who had once sat on his throne. Her burnt-offering and sin-offering spoke clearly of her condition as a child of Adam, but also of God’s grace, which could meet it by sacrifice. Her immaculate conception! How would she have recoiled at the bare idea of it! Mercy, favor too, unsought and undreamt of, she frankly and fully owned. But to the figment of her conception without a stain her offerings unmistakeably give the lie. What a position was hers that day. Her need of atonement by blood she confessed, as she stood before that altar and witnessed the death of the birds, but the occasion which thus called it forth was the birth of Him, by whom that atonement was to be really, fully, and finally accomplished. He was perfectly holy, and this law said nothing about the child. She was unclean as a mother, and nothing but blood-shedding could atone for her. We now come to the law (13.-14.) relating to leprosy, which was stringent and precise. It was stringent, for the Lord would have the camps in the midst of which He dwelt cleared of every leper (Numbers 5:1-4). It was precise in the directions for determining the presence of the disease, for a person’s social position was affected, and his ecclesiastical privileges remained in abeyance all the time that he was afflicted with it. Animals, it would seem, were not subject to it. Only man, and what was immediately connected with him, as garments and houses, were liable to it. Now the disease we learn was not unknown till after the Exodus (Exodus 4:1-31; Exodus 6:1-30; Exodus 30:1-38; Exodus 31:1-18). Nor was it peculiar to the Israelites, though to them only did God...give instruction about it. And never were they to forget those instructions, or to ignore them. In the wilderness, as we have seen, they were to put them in force. In the land, too, they were to observe them (Deuteronomy 24:8). Those which regard man, and garments are recounted in chapter 13.; whilst the cleansing of the leper, and of the house is set forth in chapter 14. The whole of chapter 13. forms but one revelation, and is addressed to both Moses and Aaron. In it the marks of leprosy are minutely detailed for the especial guidance of the priest, who was to examine the suspect person or garment, and judge, of the case; and from his decision there was no appeal. Momentous, indeed, were the consequences, for the garment might have to be destroyed, and the person shut out of the camp till the Lord, in his sovereign mercy healed him. Any mistake therefore in judgment would be fraught with most serious results. Hence the Lord gave those directions that no one should be put outside the camp, who ought to be in it, and that no one should remain Within, when it was clear that he ought to be out. In all this the priest had to act as guided of God. Suspicion would not be sufficient to brand the, person as a leper. Nor was the priest left to his own device to decide what constituted leprosy. The Lord revealed all that in His word, to it the priest was to be subject, and by it alone he was to be guided. Vesting the power of exclusion from the camp in the hands of the priest, a ailing sinful creature, it was of the utmost importance that it should not be abused; so Jehovah made known in his Word, which was within the reach of all, the arks by which the priest could discern whether the person, the, garment or the house was really smitten with this plague.. As regards man this disease ’had its seat in the flesh below the skin. To a casual observer a disease in. the skin might be mistaken for that of leprosy, and at first sight the priest might have been uncertain about Care was needed, so the person might have to be shut up a week for the priest to pass judgment on the case. And, if need be, a second week might be required ere certainty could be arrived at (13:4-8; 21, 22; 26-28; 30-34). If at the expiration of that time the disease had not spread, the man was clean; if otherwise, he was unclean. So if there was-raw flesh visible and, the hair had turned white, the person was a leper, and therefore unclean, for the virus was still actively at work. But if a leprosy had broken. out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy had covered all the skin of him that had the plague from the head even to the foot, wheresoever the, priest looked; then the priest was to consider, and. if the leprosy had covered all his flesh, he was to pronounce him clean,it had all turned white, he was clean (12, 13): Whilst, the disease was active the man was unclean; when it had ceased to work, and had all come out, he was clean. Anyone, at any time, as these. directions ’teach us, might become a leper. It might, be an old leprosy breaking out afresh (5: 11) or it might be a disease from which that person had hitherto been exempt; but whenever that plague attacked a person, and the priest had pronounced. him unclean, be had to leave his place in the camp, his tent, his social circle, and, everything he valued, and to be outside in the wilderness, with his upper lip covered, his clothes tent, his head bare, and crying, " Unclean, unclean!" dwelling outside and alone till Jehovah, in His mercy, should heal him. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus If leprosy appeared in a garment, whether of woolen, or linen, or of skin, the priest was to shut it up seven days; if the plague had spread in the garment that garment was to be burnt. If the plague had not spread they were to wash the garment. Then, if the stain remained indelible, the garment had to be burnt. If, on the other hand, the plague was somewhat dark after the washing of it, that part was to be cut out. If, after that, it appeared still in the garment, there was nothing for it but its total destruction by fire. Such were the directions for the priests of the house of Aaron. In what light are we to view them? Disease in the flesh of an Israelite might make him unclean. The working of the flesh in any Christian may render him unfit to be in the company of his brethren in the enjoyment of Christian privileges. But every disease was not the dreaded infliction o leprosy, so every outbreak of the flesh in a Christian would not warrant his exclusion from fellowship at the table of the Lord. Care was to be exercised by the priest, who had divine directions for his guidance. Care must be exercised by the assembly, for which guidance is also provided in the Word. Further, since it might have been an old leprosy breaking out afresh (5: 11), and since also it involved exclusion from the camp, till the person was healed, we shall miss the instruction of these chapters if we view leprosy as here typical of man’s condition by birth. It is not to one who has never been accredited as a Christian, to whom we are to apply it; for how put out a person who has never had a place in the camp? For usthen, this portion treats of discipline towards a Christ tiara, or one who has been reckoned as such, and not of the salvation of a sinner. But if, on inspection by the priest, the leprosy had covered the man all over, and had all turned white, he was clean. For him in that state no exclusion was needful. He was clean, and no clean person was put outside the camp; only the unclean were thus dealt with. So there are occasions when, if the sin is really confessed, all being brought out, and no longer working in him, that man is to be reckoned clean, and for him in that state excommunication would not by God’s Word be demanded. To this condition of the leper Matthew 18:17 may be analogous. If the offending brother leaves the church, the matter drops, and further proceedings are not called for. The leprosy in a garment may remind us of the circumstances, the surroundings, of a Christian, in which there is something clearly wrong. If that which is wrong can be cut off, well and good. If, on the other hand, that which is inconsistent with Christianity cannot be thus got rid of, the person must get out of the circumstances to rid himself of that which is wrong, as the Israelite had to lose his whole garment by fire, when it was found that nothing else would check the spread of the plague. Uncompromising was Jehovah, that Israel learned. But His ways of grace they had proved, and could speak well of. It might seem to some hard to repent outside the camp, for the working of that with in them which they derived from natural descent. It might seem, too, a hard sacrifice to part with the garment without any equivalent in money to buy another. But the Israelite was part of Jehovah’s redeemed people, and He was their God. What other nation was so favored? This might reconcile him to the loss of his garment, whilst the death of the bird and animals in sacrifice would show him at what cost, even the life of the substitute, the plague-stricken leper could be cleansed. Yet, till healed, his place was outside, to await the action of Jehovah in mercy and goodness to him. God’s holiness cared for by the exclusion of the leper from the camp, the Lord Jehovah again speaks, but this time only to Moses (14:1-32). Had the maintenance of this holiness been all that Jehovah was concerned with, the leper would have remained outside the camp in perpetual separation from the. Tabernacle, and from social intercourse with God’s people. But He cared for the leper, and provided for his reinstatement into a his privileges in the camp, if only he was first healed Then the priest came forward to readmit the one whose exclusion at the outset, and the continuance of it till then, had resulted from his judgment of the case. Money, entreaties, promises, efforts, all would be of no avail. Jehovah Himself must, heal the man, or he never could be cleansed. Hence grace had scope to display itself, when the claims of divine holiness had been acknowledged. But though the law provided for the leper’s cleansing, and assumed the possibility of Jehovah’s healing him, of which the law-giver himself had proof in his own’ personal history (Exodus 4:6-7), we read not in the Old Testament of any one in Israel, smitten by God, being healed save Miriam the sister of Aaron. And one only from among the Gentiles shard, that we read of, in Jehovah’s goodness in this respect during all that time, and that was Naaman the Syrian, healed in divine goodness, when the kingdom of Israel was in a state of apostasy from God. Yet the disease was clearly not so uncommon (Luke 4:27), though, from all that we know, recovery from it was rare, till He came, Jehovah Himself, who touched the leper, and by the fiat of His own will, being moved with compassion, healed him on the spot (Mark 1:41). Power, that leper owned, Christ had, but was He willing to heal him? That was the question in the poor outcast’s mind. He was willing. He healed him. Then what had been unknown in the days of Elisha, was frequently experienced, and the priests had to acknowledge it. Lepers were healed (Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22; Luke 17:7), for Jehovah had visited His people in grace, after the ministry of John the Baptist had proclaimed their utter and hopeless failure under the law. Till then it may have been like that which went on at Bethesda; that healing was but sparingly known. The people’s condition, however, manifested that God was free to act in the fullness of His grace. But to return. The leper healed, he remained outside the camp, until visited by the priest, who certified of Jehovah’s goodness, and in recognition of it took immediate steps for the person’s readmission into the camp. So he commanded two birds alive and clean to be taken for the healed one, with cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, the one bird to be killed in a vessel over running (1:e., not stagnant water), and the other to be dipped alive in the blood of its fellow. That done, the priestly work began by sprinkling him that was to be cleansed seven times, pronouncing him clean, and letting the living bird loose into the open field. Now the person could re-enter the camp, though as yet he could not go into his tent. Much more had to take place ere that could be allowed. But here let us pause for a moment. What lessons have we before us? The outbreak of sin in a Christian may necessitate his exclusion from our midst. " Put away from among yourselves the wicked person " (1 Corinthians 5:13), may be the direction I suited to the case. Then should grace work in that person, restoration would follow. Now living, as we do, in a day when no animal sacrifices are offered to God, we are in danger of forgetting, in a way an Israelite was not, the need of death and bloodshedding for restoration to Christian privileges. True, Christ lives to die no more; yet had He not died, and made propitiation by His blood, the offender could never be restored. Hence in thought we must go back to the Lord’s death and resurrection, as often as restoration is required. This the two birds typified, as the live one identified with the dead bird, by being dipped in its blood, winged its way into the air in all the freedom of life. For by His blood atonement is effected, and by His resurrection all who believe on Him are cleared from all charge of guilt that can be brought against them (Romans 4:25). Further, as the cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop were dipped in the blood of the bird that was slain, all that spoke of nature, the cedar, and the hyssop (the whole range of it as 1 Kings 4:33 views it), and what betokened the glory of the world, the scarlet, all were viewed through the medium of the death of the substitute. Has, nature, has the world been the occasion of a Christian’s fall, in what a different light is he to view them, as he sees them in the light of the cross. How easy it is to man to sin, because we are sinful creatures, having a nature which is only evil. But how much is needed for restoration to be known. For besides the Lord’s death and resurrection, which have taken place, the Holy Ghost must work on the conscience, and apply to it the knowledge of the efficacy of the blood of Christ. By the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14); so the bird’s blood fell into an earthen vessel of running water, the symbol of the Lord as man in whom the Holy Ghost was. And the blood and the water, it would appear, were both sprinkled on the one who was to be cleansed (5: 52), for it is only as the word is applied by the Spirit to the offender’s conscience, that he efficacy of that precious blood in God’s sight comes home to him. How much then is required. The true sacrifice had to be provided. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14). The Son by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to die. And the Holy Ghost has to bring home in power to the conscience the remembrance of the abiding value of the blood of Christ. Foundation truth thus shadowed forth, viz., the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the efficacy of His precious blood (1 John 2:2), who, is the propitiation for our sins, the man found that he had something to do. As yet what had been done, had been done for the leper. Now he washed his clothes, shaved off all his hair, and washed himself in water. Then he was clean, and could come into the camp, though he could not even yet re-enter his tent. Cleansing one’s self from old associations, putting away all appearance of natural strength, or of that in which one has prided one’s self, and separating by the action of the word from all that makes one unclean, such is the teaching to us conveyed in the directions furnished to the leper. Resting in the camp, but outside his tent, he washed his clothes, and his person, and shaved himself again on the seventh day. How complete was that work! The hair of his head, of his beard, and of his eyebrows was all shaved off, and he stood divested of, any appearance of natural strength or personal comeliness, to be restored on the eighth day to all the privileges of an Israelite, one of the redeemed people, but only after the appointed sacrifices should be offered up on his behalf. This time he brought his own offerings, a trespass-offering, a sin-offering, a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering mingled with oil, and one log of oil; * for from out of the five offerings enumerated in Leviticus 1:1-17; Leviticus 2:1-16; Leviticus 3:1-17; Leviticus 4:1-35; Leviticus 5:1-19; Leviticus 6:1-30; Leviticus 7:1-38, all typical of the Lord Jesus, were required for his full cleansing. (* The log of oil, only mentioned in this place, was the twelfth part of an hin, equal, it is said, to the contents of six egg shells.) Nothing could be effected for the man apart from the death of Christ on the cross. But the special features of the eight days’ ceremonies, were the trespass offering and the oil. All the other offerings were needed, though pre-eminence is given to the two just mentioned. The trespass offering came first, and rightly so, for whatever Israel may have understood of the value and import of the different offerings, we can see that since the leper typifies one who had sinned inside the camp and so had to be excluded, the trespass offering, which had its special place where God or man had beet defrauded of their rights (Bible Herald, vol. 3., p. 242), would here naturally come first." So the priest," we read, " shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering," &c. (14:12, 13). The priest bringing the lamb to the altar, waving it, and then slaying it, was a course of procedure peculiar to this occasion; for the animal, be it remarked, was waved before death, the token that the man here on earth, should be for God, as He was in His life of whom that he lamb was the type. Now in this it was that the man, viewing this history in its typical light, had failed. The lamb waved, the trespass offering was killed, and some of its blood was put on the tip of the man’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. After that the priest sprinkled of the oil before the Lord seven times. Next he put some on the healed one’s person, where he had just put some of the blood, and after that poured the remnant of the oil that was in his hand on the person’s head, who was to be cleansed, and made an atonement for him before the Lord, in token that he was to be, as it were, consecrated to God, and endued with power as such by the Holy Ghost. But for the atonement we cannot receive the Holy Ghost. Without the Spirit we have no power to serve God. Of these things the action of the priest here reminds us. But that action, though typical of these truths, must not be taken to teach the reception of the Spirit a second tithe. That cannot be any more than the Lord can die again. But the restored one surely has need to be reminded of that precious blood, and of the power in which alone he can walk, viz., that of the Holy Ghost. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus AFTER the trespass offering came the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the meat offering. Then the man was fully cleansed, and once more could enter his tent, from which, as from the camp, he had been banished for the time. How manifestly all was of grace, but how fully did divine grace provide all that was requisite. Jehovah healed when the case was otherwise hopeless! Jehovah prescribed under the law the requisite sacrifices; whilst in the Gospel we learn that He provided the true sacrifice; His own well-beloved Son. His Son’s death we needed for our salvation. The efficacy of His precious blood, then shed is equally needed for our restoration: no salvation, no restoration, apart from that atoning death. Nothing more, however, is wanted than His death, resurrection, and precious blood, as seen and owned by God, for all these sacrifices spoke of One, the Lord Jesus Christ. All having been duly offered up, the leper at length fully cleansed could enjoy afresh every privilege of God’s people, as much as if he had never been deprived of them. And surely it must have been with a chastened spirit and an overflowing heart that he found himself again in his tent in the camp, all trace, probably, of his leprosy removed from his person; for this could be the case, since (Naaman’s, flesh came again as the flesh of a little child (2 Kings 5:14). Witnessing, however, as the law did to God’s grace, it could not furnish the man with the means to get the requisite sacrifices. Those he had to procure, as best he could, by the eighth day, for without them he could not get back into his tent. The Lord, therefore, made provision for those who could not procure all that had been prescribed (14:21-31). The offerings appointed for the first day, had to be brought for every healed leper alike. The offerings appointed for the eighth day were modified as, to their pecuniary value by this special provision to meet the necessity of the case. Each one had to bring a lamb for the trespass offering and a log of oil, but the meat offering was reduced to one-tenth of an ephah; and for the sin offering and burnt offering birds could be substituted in the place of the animals. Thus God met the person according to his ability, though he could not dispense with one even of the offerings; for nothing less than the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ can enable God righteously to restore a soul to communion with Himself, and reinstate the person in his place in the company of God’s saints. All the offerings, then, called for from the richest Israelite, had still to be brought by the poorest. A trespass offering, a sin offering, a burnt offering, a meat offering, each had to bring; but the man’s pecuniary inability to bring the more costly ones was not to stand in the way of his coming with such as he was able to get. And all this took place on the eighth day, the commencement of a new period of time, from which the one cleansed was to be really for God upon earth. That eighth day betokened from whence that life of consecration to God was to start afresh, but it spoke nothing of its ending. Such was not contemplated in the type, nor is it limited by anything short of the duration of life on earth in the doctrine and teaching of the New Testament. We come now to a third revelation, given as the first was to both Moses and Aaron (14:33-57), and which treats of leprosy in a house in the land. Leprosy in a man, or in a garment could be known in the wilderness, that in the house could only be experienced in the land, and it was a direct infliction by the hand of God. " And I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession." The priest made acquainted with the occupant’s suspicion about the house, for it was the duty of one in it to acquaint him with his fears respecting it; he was to order them to empty it, ere he entered therein, that all in the house should not be made unclean. Examining the walls, he judged if the marks were in sight lower than the wall, 1:e., not mere superficial marks. If they were, he shut up the house for seven days, for it was the plague which had attacked it. Examining it again at the expiration of that time, if the marks had spread, the plague-stricken stones were to be taken out, the whole house scraped, new stones put in the place of the diseased ones, and the whole re-plastered, whilst the stones removed, and the scraping of the walls were all to be cast into an unclean place without the city. If the plague reappeared after that, there was nothing for it but the demolition of the whole building, and its stones, timber, and mortar, to be carried forth to an unclean place outside the city. Such a house was not to be suffered to remain in the land. What care was to be exercised, and what patience! The plague really there, as evidenced on the first inspection, the priest waited to see whether or not it would spread. If it did, he tried to save the house by the removal of the diseased stones. If, however, the leprosy still worked, unsparing was the treatment to be pursued. But should the removal of some stones be sufficient to eradicate the plague, the priest offered for the cleansing of the house the same offerings as were enjoined for the leper on the first day of his cleansing. Atonement thus made for it, the house was clean, because the plague was healed. These offerings, however, were to be offered only in the case of the plague having ceased to spread, after the stones had been taken out (14:48), and the house replastered. So it would appear that when the second examination of the house (1:e. that on the seventh day), showed that the plague had not spread since the priest had first seen it, no sacrifices were required. The house then was in a condition analogous to that of the man in whom the leprosy had all turned white (13:11). It was clean. Such was the law. To us this affords instruction in type, about an assembly in which evil has got a footing that requires to be dealt with. For the whole subject of leprosy in these two chapters provides us with principles applicable to the circumstances in which a Christian can be found. Is he himself leprous, the disease still at work in him? Then putting away from the fellowship of the saints is the proper Scriptural way of dealing with him, and the assembly, certified of his state, is responsible to act as the word directs. Are his surroundings such as God’s word forbids? He must get out of them at all cost to himself. Is any local assembly known to harbor evil, and which ought to be put out? The state of that assembly should be the common concern of all saints. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump " (1 Corinthians 5:6). If it purges itself, so that the evil ceases to work, well and good. But should the disease still work, the authors of it, and those infected, by it, must be put away. If that does not arrest the spread of the plague, the assembly must be broken up, 1:e., disowned as an assembly of God. Do any ask for an example in Scripture of the assembly in general disowning any local assembly? We must answer at once that there is none, though we can point to Corinth as affording instruction about the whole case. Evil, leaven was among them. The Apostle wrote to them about it. They dealt with it, and thus got clear of it (2 Corinthians 7:11). The visit of Titus, and his report about them, evidenced that to the Apostle. So he proceeded no further. But was Paul unconcerned about it? No. Did he take the ground, that none could urge a local assembly to act? No. And we may be quite sure that the one who could write as he did in 1 Corinthians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 5:13, would not have tolerated the retention among them of the evil about which he wrote. " A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," he writes, a very plain intimation of the character they would have borne if the evil had not been purged out; and if he insisted on their dealing with the offender, would he, could he, have held intercourse with them as an assembly of God, supposing they had refused to act? His language evidences in what light he would have viewed them. The Corinthians dealt with the offender, as the priest did with the leper. But they did not do it, till Paul, who was not locally connected with them (his language proves that, 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 5:13), pressed on them the need of action, and pointed out what should be done; and waited, and how anxiously, to learn what they would do. In this he acted somewhat like the priest, who inspected the house, and then waited a week to see if the disease was still working. As an Apostle, he personally could do all this, and take such ground with them about the evil in question, for he was an Apostle of Christ, and apostolic power was no light thing (2 Corinthians 10:1-11; 2 Corinthians 13:2-10; 1 Corinthians 4:21; 1 Timothy 1:20; John 3:10). (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus BUT what, some may ask, is to be done now, seeing there are no Apostles? John 20:21-23 supplies us with the answer. The disciples breathed on by the Lord Jesus, receiving from Him the Holy Ghost, were thereby authorized to act on earth for Him. That authority remains, and that is enough. The assembly viewed in its general character, has power to act for Christ, to care for His glory as much as the assembly, viewed in its local character. In both aspects it is the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1-32; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31), and in both it is regarded, as having all its members, and therefore it is competent to act. God’s word gives no sanction to the thought, that whilst the local assembly must keep itself clear, the assembly in its general character has ( no power to deal with evil. It is surely responsible to cleanse itself as the house of God, and has authority to act for the Lord Jesus Christ. We should also bear in mind the revelation of Leviticus 14:46-47, which tells us in what light those were regarded who went into a house after it had been shut up by the priest. They were by entrance into it made unclean, and had to wash their clothes in order to be cleansed. Would it, then, be fitting for any one, not locally connected with it, to have personal fellowship with an assembly in a state analogous to that of the house? We can all answer such a question. But we must remember that, till the priest examined the house and found it unclean, it was not shut up. So, surely, there should be an investigation into an assembly’s condition corresponding to that of the examination by the priest, ere so serious a charge as that of leprosy within it could be held to be proved. The subject of chapter 15 has been already briefly referred to (p. 135). The reader here need only be reminded, of the different ways of cleansing, appointed for those from whom the defilement came, from that prescribed for such as were made unclean only by contact. For the former washing was enjoined, and sacrifices as well, a sin offering, and a burnt offering; the sin offering here taking precedence of the burnt-, offering, because the outbreak of the flesh called for the sacrifices. In the latter only the washing with water was prescribed. Thus God maintained His own holiness, whatever might be the cause of the Israelites’ uncleanness, and however urgent may have been the call for an act on his part which rendered him unclean. But, though caring for His own holiness, the gracious Lord made full provision for His defiled creatures, that they might in righteousness enjoy afresh communion with Him. The sinner’s conscience set at rest by the knowledge of forgiveness assured to him on the grounds of sacrifice, and on the authority of the divine word, cleansing, too, from defilement, whether derived from his own person, or from contact with that which was unclean, having been also treated of in the written word; we are next taught of that which was requisite for the people, redeemed out of Egypt, to stand in acceptance before Jehovah’s throne. Now this involved propitiation by blood, without which there could be neither forgiveness nor cleansing (Leviticus 16:16). Viewed, then, in relation to God’s nature, propitiation is the groundwork of all the rest. But providing, as the Lord was, in the law for the guilty and the unclean, that which met such in their condition was first set forth, and afterward atonement in its fullness, as far as the Old Testament could treat of it, was made the subject of a special revelation. For under the term atonement there is comprised in this chapter the dealing with the blood of the bullock and of the goat in the sanctuary, as the Lord commanded Moses (16, 17); the dealing with the scapegoat (10), and the offering up of the burnt offering (24) as well. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus IN the mind of the sinner, when first convicted, his thought is naturally about himself: “What must I do to be saved?” But there is another, and in one sense a more momentous question: “How can God, consistently with His righteousness and holiness, accept, before Him one who has sinned?" It is of ’this that Levin. 16. treats, as it details the special service appointed for the day of atonement. We say special service, because there were ether sacrifices also appointed for that day, the same in number and character as those for the first day of the seventh month (Numbers 29:1-11). Of this special service, the first feature in the day’s ceremonial was propitiation by blood, and for it not merely a priest, but the high priest, was required. This service he alone could discharge, though not when he pleased, nor as he pleased, for both the time and the manner of his work were prescribed by the Lord. Brought out of Egypt by the arm of divine power, God was leading His people to Canaan, the land of 1 their inheritance. By power brought out, by power were they to get possession of the land, when the Lord their God should drive out its old inhabitants before them. The Red Sea, at God’s command, had opened to make a way for them. Jordan, too, would be driven back for the people to pass over dryshod. No enemy should stand before them in the land. Victories, crushing and decisive, over the confederacies in the south and in the north awaited them. Neither the Amorites in the mountains, nor the Canaanites with their chariots of iron in the plain should withstand them. Now what more could be wanted, some might have said, “Why not be contented with national existence, freedom, and the inheritance?" To man, nothing more might seem wanting. Such thoughts, however, shut out God, and ignore the creature’s condition, the consequence of the fall. God cannot change His nature, yet He desires to have His people, sinful creatures in themselves, at home in His presence; and to be able righteously to bless them. For this something very different from any display of power is requisite. Blood alone will meet the case. So this question is taken up now, and settled typically for all Israel, and by its teaching instructs us. Aaron, forbidden after the death of his two sons to enter the holiest at all times, was now instructed to enter within the veil annually on the tenth day of the seventh month. His entrance proclaimed that God would accept sinful people in the person of their representative, and on the ground of propitiation by blood. But his entrance each year proved that the real work of atonement was not yet accomplished, nor could it be whilst the first tabernacle had its standing; for during that time, the way into the holiest was not made manifest (Hebrews 9:8). Commanded to enter the holiest, he is told in what garments to present himself. In holy garments was he to draw nigh, but not in those of glory and beauty, in which he had been, and in which his successors were to be consecrated for their service. On this day he wore white linen garments, and clothed in them, having first washed himself with water, he was ready spotless his special work. His garments betokened the spotless purity of the Lord Jesus Christ. His washing himself with water previous to his putting them on, denoted that he was only a type of Him that was to come, who would need no washing to fit Himself to enter the holiest. But Aaron, unable to enter at all times, because the Lord would appear in the cloud of glory on the mercy seat, could not even, when washed and clothed, appear before God until he had killed the bullock for the sin offering. For guilty creatures there could be no access to the holiest, had not the death of the victim first taken place. In type we learn that here. In truth we see it established by the cross. And now another thing comes out, which no one, we may boldly say, who was then alive, could have foreseen: viz., that ere Israel, God’s chosen earthly people, should be brought into full blessing, consequent on propitiation for their sins having been made, others, not of the race of Israel after the flesh, should know what it was to have a’ perfect standing before the throne. So the Lord on that day made a difference between the offerings for Aaron and his house, and the offerings for Israel. Aaron brought a bullock for a sin offering, for himself and his house, and a ram for a burnt offering; and took of the children of Israel two goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering, to be dealt with on their behalf. The two goats formed in reality but one sin offering (verse 5), and all these sacrifices were types of but one victim, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of these goats one was to be slain, and the other was to be sent away alive; so it was called Azazel, the scapegoat, 1:e., goat of departure. But in this matter also the Lord directed; for Aaron decided by casting lots, which goat was to be offered on the altar as the Lord’s lot, and which was to be sent away. All duly prepared, Aaron next slew the bullock in the accustomed place, and proceeded with its blood inside the sanctuary. Here lost to view, as he passed within the curtains of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, which hung before its entrance, and with no one inside this outer chamber of the sanctuary, he prepared to do his work, first taking a censer full of live coals from off the altar with a handful of sweet incense beaten small, and entering within the veil with the fire on which he put the incense before the Lord, that the cloud of incense covering the mercy seat, he might not die. Then taking the blood of the bullock, he sprinkled of it on the mercy seat eastward, and seven times before it. After that he killed the sin offering for all Israel, and dealt with its blood, as he had dealt with that of the bullock for himself and his house, making atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins; and so for the tabernacle of the congregation that remained among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Besides this, he made an atonement for the altar that was before the Lord, that is, the golden altar, situated in the outer chamber of the sanctuary, according to the provision of the law in Ezekiel 30:10. * (* A question has sometimes been raised as to which altar is meant in verse 18. It will enable the reader to decide the point, if he keeps in mind, that hitherto in this chapter the thought of going in has been connected with entrance into the innermost chamber, called here the holy place, to distinguish it from the outer chamber, called here the tabernacle of the congregation. In verse 17 the going in refers to entrance within the vail; so the coming out in verse 18 refers to Aaron’s return into the outer chamber from the inner; no one was to be in the tabernacle of the congregation whilst Aaron was in the holy place.) Such was the work in the sanctuary, every act of the high priest therein witnessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of His death. Nothing could meet the requirements of God, short of that death, if grace-wks to flow out in righteousness to sinners. The incense indeed, betokened the sweet savor of the merits of Christ, but which was only given forth in its full fragrance, when kindled by the live coals taken’ from the altar, which spoke of Him as enduring the fire of divine judgment. Death, however, without the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat would not have sufficed, though nothing more than the due dealing with the blood was needful to make propitiation fir the sins of the people. It was a service, then, on that day inside the vail peculiar to itself. No prayer was uttered, no supplications were poured forth, no thanksgiving, nor any tone of melody was heard. It was a service carried on in silence, yet one most expressive to Him in whose presence it took place. It was short, and yet sufficient. The blood sprinkled once on the mercy seat, and seven times before it, was all that the Lord required. Once on the mercy seat, not twice, was Aaron commanded to sprinkle it. The Lord knew of what that blood was a type. No repetition of it could enhance its value. No effort on man’s part, by sprinkling it again, could make propitiation more effectual. The whole value of the service consisted in God’s estimate of that blood, which in type was brought into His presence, in anticipation of the day when the great high priest should enter in by His own blood. (Hebrews 9:12). Once sprinkled on the mercy seat, it was never wiped off, and the cherubim, whose faces were turned downwards, continually gazed on it as it were, so that the action of the throne, which must otherwise have been only in judgment, because the people had sinned, was arrested, and the people for whom propitiation was made, were accepted before it. So the blood was next sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat; betokening, indeed, the only ground on which those who had sinned could be there, but also telling of a perfect standing assured to them by it. That done, Aaron came out from the holiest, and after making atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he reappeared in the court, visible once more to the congregation, and now as the accepted representative on behalf of the people of Israel. He had gone in with the blood of the bullock for himself and his house. He had reappeared at the brazen altar to kill the goat for the people (verse 15). Now his reappearance, after all that had to be done in the sanctuary was completed, showed that he was accepted before God for the people, and that their standing before the throne was assured to them. But all was not finished for Israel. So Aaron took the live goat, and confessed over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on its head, and then sending it away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. The service within the sanctuary had been a silent one. The blood spoke to God as Aaron sprinkled it on the mercy seat and before it. Now in the court of the tabernacle with the live goat before him Aaron, it would appear, had to speak, but not in either prayer or worship. He opened his mouth in confession, and charged the goat with the sins of the congregation, to be borne away before the eyes of all into a land of forgetfulness. That goat went away never to return. Their sins were carried away on it never to come back. All could see the goat going aw all would know that it did not come back. For Aaron and his house there was no scapegoat provided. The reason of this is apparent to us. Israel will only know that their sins have been taken away, borne by the substitute when they see the Lord Jesus. To this Isaiah 53:1-12 and Zechariah 12:1-14 refer. The former portion tells what they will then learn about it, the latter what they will feel about it. How mistaken have been their thoughts about the Lord, they will then acknowledge. How grievous have been their sins, they will only understand when they look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn. But we know now that our sins are put away, as Hebrews 9:1-28; Hebrews 10:1-39 distinctly teaches. Learning then, as we do, full forgiveness, and the n)n-imputation of guilt to those who believe on the Lord Jesus whilst He is still in the heavenly sanctuary, we see the reason of God’s order in that day’s service, that the scapegoat was provided for the people and not for the priests. With us Christians who are a holy priesthood, the putting away of sins is a question of A faith, with Israel it will be a question of sight. Aaron after this re-entered the tabernacle, washed himself, changed his garments, and then reappeared at the brazen altar to offer the burnt offerings, and the appointed parts of the sin offerings. Then his special work in making atonement was over. Death, propitiation, substitution, and bearing the judgment of God, all these had been delineated in type, for all these are needful for atonement to be effected. Further we have set forth the defiling nature of sin, in that the man who led away the goat, and the one who burned the sin offerings, their skin, their flesh, and their dung, had each to wash their clothes, and to bathe their flesh in water, before they could come back into the camp. And what they ought to feel about their sins on whose behalf atonement is made, is also shown us, in that the people, who could take no active art in putting them away, had to abstain from all work on that day, as much as if it had been the weekly Sabbath. It is a great relief to learn that all has been effected by the death of the true sacrifice. What, however, necessitated the death of the Son of God should not be lightly regarded by us, as surely it is not by God, nor by Him who suffered once, the Just for the unjust. In the work, then, of putting away their sins they could take no part, but to th e heinousness of their cunt, and a true sense of what sin is, they were to be alive, and to show it. How fully will this be the case, when they shall look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn. “And the land shall mourn, every family apart... All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart " (Zechariah 12:10-14). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus WITH chapter 17 commences the third great division of this book, which terminates with chapter 23; and consists of laws concerning the worship, and daily life of the people when in the wilderness, and subsequently when in the land, with the calendar of their festivals to be observed, when they should have entered on their inheritance. Thus, throughout the wilderness journey, their inheriting the land was ever kept before them, and though utterly undeserving of it, as they proved themselves to be, yet the Lord having bound Himself by a covenant to bring them into the land in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had dwelt as strangers (Exodus 34:1-35), would surely fulfill it. Thus a hope was set before them throughout their wanderings―to the fulfillment of which they were constantly to look forward, just as we Christians are saved in hope (Romans 8:24), Israel were God’s creatures and Jehovah’s people, for He was their God. His rights as Creator were, therefore, to be acknowledged, as well as His claims as Jehovah. As Jehovah, the self-existing one, as the word means, He is the true, the living God. Plurality of gods there cannot be, though there are plurality of persons in the Godhead. One self-existing Being who is at the same time Almighty there is, but two there could not be. As the Almighty, He had made Himself known to their fathers, when sojourners amongst the nations of the land (Genesis 17:1; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 48:3). As Jehovah, He revealed Himself to Israel (Exodus 6:3), though Abraham knew He was Jehovah (Genesis 22:14), and the patriarchs spoke of Him as Jehovah; but God revealed Himself to the pilgrims and strangers as the Almighty One, whereas to Israel when the controversy about idolatry was to be decided, and they were called to maintain the unity of God, against the polytheistic notions of the heathen around them, the Lord made known to them that He, Jehovah, was their God (Psalms 33:12), and committed to Israel the responsibility of maintaining the truth of the unity of God (Deuteronomy 6:4). Consequently, idolatry was a denial of this fundamental truth. For those who practiced it, whatever they thought, did not worship the one living and true God. The heathen had many gods; Israel were to own, worship, and serve only the true God, and to be a witness for Him, and conservators of this truth amidst the darkness and degradation of the rest of the nations on earth. Previous, however, to being called out to maintain this, they had been accustomed in Egypt to witness idolatry, and had fallen into it themselves (Ezekiel 20:7), from which in the wilderness they had not got free, as the chapter of Leviticus now before us (17:7), indicates, and the prophet Amos centuries afterward declared (5: 25-27). Fundamental truth, with reference to God is therefore taken up in this chapter, in four proclamations contained in it, the two first having reference to His claims as Jehovah (2-7, 8, 9), and the two last (10-12; 13, 14), to His rights as Creator. For if they had nationally a standing in His presence, as Leviticus 16:1-34 teaches us, it became them to remember whose people they were, and that the Creator Himself was their God. In the first of these proclamations, addressed to Israel (2-7), the Lord would guard them from all inducement to idolatry in the days of their festivities whilst they were in the wilderness. Flesh they might eat when so minded, and of those animals, too, from among which sacrifices could be brought to God’s altar. But if they killed any of these―as an ox, or sheep, or a goat, whether in the camp or outside of it―that made no difference, its blood was to be brought to the priest to be sprinkled round about on the altar, and its fat was to be burnt upon the altar, an offering being thus brought for a peace offering, unto Jehovah. Thus God would guard His people from any approach to idolatry on festive occasions, and would connect such directly with the remembrance of Himself (5-7). Now this was not a permissive decree to which they might conform, but an imperative one, which they were bound to keep, on pain of death, as the penalty for their disobedience. Free to kill what they chose for food, those animals really belonged to God; so the people, when in the wilderness, were only to partake of them on terms laid down by God―the man who should refuse compliance with this command being reckoned as a shedder of blood, and liable to be dealt with accordingly, for God would impute to him blood. This law, the reader will remember, concerned the killing of clean animals for food, of which offerings could also be offered in sacrifice on the altar. The next proclamation concerned the stranger who sojourned in the midst of Israel (8, 9), as well as the Israelite, and treated of burnt offerings and peace offerings, which in the wilderness were only to be offered up on God’s altar, thus guarding them most effectually against idolatrous altars, as they journeyed from place to place. In the wilderness, gathered round the tabernacle, these laws could be carried out by all the congregation. In the land some modification was allowed with reference to the first of these (Deuteronomy 12:21-25), else it would have been practically a prohibition against partaking of their flocks or herds, except for the favored few in whose vicinity was the tabernacle or the temple. As regards the second proclamation, the reader must remember that it did not cancel the law of Exodus 20:25, which permitted the erection of altars, that might be built for the offering up of certain sacrifices on special occasions. Exodus 20:1-26 clearly provided for the erection of such altars; Leviticus 17:8-9. only forbade such whilst they were in the wilderness. Now, coming across at times, as they must have done, the nomad population of the desert (Deuteronomy 10:6), they were reminded by God, that no altar was it permitted them to use but the brazen altar in the camp; though, after they had entered the land, saints, as Samuel, David, and Elijah, acted when needed, on the permission granted to Israel in Exodus. Following close on the permission to eat flesh, comes the prohibition to eat blood (10-12). Not that this was anything new, for the Lord, who had given a full grant to Noah and to his sons, of all flesh for their food, withheld from them the blood. Now this is binding on all their descendants, even the whole race of man (Acts 15:20). In Genesis, however (9:4), no penalty was attached to the breaking of that command, a reason for it only was assigned, viz., that in it is the life of the flesh, so to eat of it would be virtually assuming that life belonged to the creature, whereas it belongs to God. In Leviticus a penalty is annexed to the infraction of the law by those who were therein commanded not to eat of it, and that penalty was death. “Whosoever there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people." In Deuteronomy 12:25, the Lord reminds Israel of it afresh. The prohibition given in Genesis, the penalty announced in Leviticus, the blessing, if obedient to the command, is set before Israel in Deuteronomy: “That it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee." Thus a prohibition to the whole race of man, was made a penal enactment only when given afresh to Israel. Truly, to be under law was no light matter. Yet there were advantages which, if obedient, Israel could enjoy,’ above any which Gentiles could expect. But another reason is given to Israel why they should not eat blood. “The life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, no soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood " (Leviticus 17:11-12). It is interesting to observe the divine wisdom in choosing the time to make revelations of God’s mind. The real atonement was just as much an event of the future, when Moses communicated this additional reason to Israel, as when the Lord spake to Noah and to his sons. But Noah and his sons could not have understood what then had not been demonstrated-the full need of atonement. Israel, however, with the laws concerning sacrifices before them, and the ordinance for the day of atonement fresh in their remembrance, could understand something of what atonement implied. So this additional reason given them for not eating blood comes in in its right order just after the directions for the day of atonement. Life belongs to God, so no one of the human race was to eat blood. The sinner, too, has forfeited his life, and can only live before God on the ground of the death of a sacrifice as a substitute. This Israel were ever to remember. But if forbidden the blood, they were reminded how that could speak to God on their behalf. The blood maketh an atonement for the soul. The blood shed, the life is given up to God, and that is precious to Him. No wonder, then, that bloodshed-ding formed such an essential part of the Mosaic ritual, for it spoke to God of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, given up to Him on the cross. Do any object to the truth of atonement by blood, as painting the God who teaches us of it in hideous colors, as they would term it? We would ask, if they have ever given to this chapter of Leviticus the attention which it deserves? For when we learn what blood is in God’s eyes, that in which is the life of the flesh, we see why He could delight in the blood of His Son, the witness of that self surrender, even to death, which must be so precious to Him. Of three important truths, then, the prohibition to eat blood reminds us. We are creatures, and must remember it. We were by nature sinners, and are to acknowledge it. We are indebted wholly to God for atonement by blood, and are ever to own it. Hence it is all of grace that atonement could be, and has been, effected. For the words of Jehovah are these, "I have given it (the blood) to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls." The One to whom life belongs has given it to be poured out for our everlasting blessing. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus The value and use of the blood having been thus declared, the next proclamation warned all against any inclination to be careless in the observance of the command (13, 14). Circumstances, the people would perhaps have thought, might exonerate them from the observance of it, and an instance of what might otherwise have been held to justify their neglect of it, we do read of in 1 Samuel 14:31-34. Faint from pursuing the enemy, the people flew on the spoil, and ate of the animals without killing them properly. But this command remembered, and attended to by Saul, the Lord’s interference in judgment was restrained, as His law was honored by being obeyed. In connection with this comes the regulation for those who had eaten of an animal which had died of itself, n’belah, or had been torn by a beast, t’rephah. In Exodus 22:31, in the covenant made with Israel on Mount Sinai, they were forbidden to eat of the carcass of any animal which had been torn by beasts in the field. In Leviticus 11:40, any one who ate of the carcass of a clean animal which had died of itself, had to wash his clothes, and to be unclean until the evening. Here (17:15) the purification enjoined on any one who ate of any animal torn or that had died of itself, is stated, with the penalty such would incur if disobedient to this ordinance. The Lord would not allow uncleanness in those connected with His camp to pass unchallenged, or unpurged. A difficulty has been made of all this to discredit the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. But, viewing this passage in its context, it may be that the law of Leviticus 17:15 had respect to the finding of any carcass in the open country when hunting, whilst Leviticus 11:41. treats of death among their flocks or herds. If this be the case they were allowed, under exceptional circumstances, to eat of that which had died of itself, or had been torn by beasts, subject to their compliance with the purification enjoined; whereas when they entered the land that which died of itself was forbidden them (Deuteronomy 14:21), as well as that which had been torn by beasts (Exodus 21:1-36), though a stranger might eat of the former. There, surrounded with plenty, no exceptional circumstances could be pleaded on their behalf. Jehovah, then, was their God―an immense privilege, as the Psalmist confessed: "Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance " (Psalms 33:12). But of His people, responsibilities rested on them to which other nations were strangers. Some of these we have looked at, and we come now to others which marked them out as a separated people, whether from the Egyptians, among whom they had dwelt, or from the Canaanites, into whose land the Lord was about to take them. So the ways, the habits, the customs of men, were no guide for them. How could they be? Israel were what neither the Egyptians nor the Canaanites could boast of, or ever become: the Lord’s peculiar people, whom He had chosen for Himself. Hence He thus addressed them: “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances to walk therein. I am the Lord your God. Ye shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 18:3-5). All men on earth ought to have served the Lord, but they did not, neither did they even know Him who is the self-existing one, the true, the living God. In what dense moral darkness was man, that Jehovah was to many unknown. In what depths of degradation and filth were they found, that God had to warn Israel against the ways of the nations of the land, both social and religious (18:24-28), because of which the land would vomit them out as a nauseous thing. What had man become, man made in the image of God, and originally after His likeness also? But how had this come about? Had he got into this condition, or was be originally made in it? Was primitive pre-historic man originally in a state of savagery, out of which he gradually raised himself by self-culture?" God made man upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Man before the flood was no savage, dwelling in caves or like habitations. Cain built a city. His descendants were noted for arts and musical instruments. Cain, too, at first tilled the ground, and Abel was a keeper of sheep. After the flood Noah became a husbandman, and Ham’s descendants were noted as builders, and rulers. Man’s primitive condition, whether before the flood or after it, was not a state of savagery, but quite the reverse. How, then, did he descend into the degradation and uncleanness characteristic of savagery and idolatry?’ As with earth, so with man, the chaotic state of the former, and the degraded state of the latter, were the consequences of causes at work after the creation of both the one and of the other. God did not create the earth a chaos (Isaiah 45:18), nor man a savage. This question, then, about man’s condition, which history cannot answer, nor can archeology solve, God in His word has cleared up to us. "Men when they knew God, glorified Him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies among them, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen." And again, " As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind," &c. (Romans 1:21-28). Savagery was the result of man’s departure from God. God did not create man in that condition, nor was he in it when Noah and his sons were blessed by God just after the flood. Men became vain in their imaginations, they became fools, their foolish hearts were darkened, not dark (see also Ephesians 4:18). Hence man’s degraded condition, whether as a savage, or an idolater, a condition out of which nothing can really bring him, but the converting power of the grace of God. What was the educated heathen, viewed morally or religiously, apart from the Spirit’s work on his conscience? Contrast Romans 1:32, with 2:14, 15. Surrounded as Israel were with all the filth of heathendom, they were to be for Jehovah, and to keep His commandments and His ordinances. As His people, He told them what they were to do, and what they were to be. Certain instructions for their camp life to guard them from idolatry we have looked at in the previous chapter of this book. We now approach the chapter which treats of marriage, for, as Jehovah’s people, He prescribed within what degrees of consanguinity or affinity, such unions would be deemed unlawful, and precursors of divine chastisement. Till Israel came to Sinai, we have no hint of any marriage law laid down by God. Before the flood, and certainly in the days of Cain, what the Levitical law ruled as incest, was lawful. Men married their sisters. And even in Abraham’s day such unions do not seem to have been unlawful. Sarah was Abraham’s half sister. Jochebed was Amram’s own aunt, his father’s sister. By the the law of Leviticus, such unions as Abraham and Sarah, Amram and Jochebed, and Jacob and Rachel, were distinctly forbidden (18:11, 12, 18). Thus the law introduced changes in the innermost circle of social life, and Israel, Jehovah’s people, had to learn from it what were the Lord’s ordinances relative to marriage, and in what light He would view any infraction of them as there laid down (20.). In certain cases it would be wickedness, and death was the penalty annexed; in other cases, to die childless was the penalty such would suffer (20:20, 21). What, then, was lawful to Abraham and Amram, was, to their descendants, by the law made unlawful. The marriage, of the former if he had lived under the law, would have been wickedness. The marriage of the latter would have entailed on him and Jochebed the bearing of their iniquity. Now this deliverance of the Lord on the subject of marriage, clearly concerns not only Israel, but Christians as well; and although the marriage laws of our own land are not wholly regulated by this revelation made to Moses, still, all that God has here forbidden is reckoned illegal, and no Christian would act aright, if he transgressed the regulations laid down, which plainly tell us what to avoid, leaving us to gather from the prohibitions herein stated what unions are not reckoned unlawful in the eyes of the Lord. Throughout the man is addressed, and never the woman, and the prohibitions are classed under three heads; first, what concerns certain blood relations of his own (18:6-13); next, certain relations in law (14-16); and lastly, certain relations of his wife (17, 18). Of his own blood relations, besides his direct line, 1:e., his mother or his offspring, collateral branches are forbidden to him reaching out to his aunts by blood, the sisters of his father, or the sisters of his mother. All within that range are near of kin, and as such are debarred him. And if a man went in unto his aunt by blood, they were both to bear their iniquity (20:19). Of his relations in law three were forbidden; viz., his sons wife, his brother’s wife, and his aunt by marriage, and all three on the ground that they had been wives of his relations by blood. Hence it is clear that relations in law were not put in the same category as relations by blood. The penalty for going in to his uncle’s widow was not the same as if he went in to his own aunt, who was near of kin to him (20:20). His son’s daughter was forbidden him, because she was near of kin to him; but his daughter-in-law was forbidden, because she had been his son’s wife. So whatever relation by blood. was forbidden to the man, the widow of the corresponding relations in blood was equally forbidden, but on the ground. that she had keen the wife of his near of kin. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus THUS we see that consanguinity is really the guiding principle on the man’s side, whether as regards his blood relations, or those relations in law, which were forbidden on the ground that they had been the wives of relations in blood. This last is an important point, and casts light on a question where men have added restrictions unknown to the principle laid down in God’s word. And we see how needful it is to come to the book to learn God’s mind in the matter, instead of drawing our own deductions, and putting relations in law as such, on the same ground as relations in blood. The reader may see by comparing 20: 12 with 20:20, 21 how needful it was to learn God’s mind from His own written word. Coming now to the wife relations, with whom the man is not at liberty to contract a marriage, her own direct line is positively forbidden him. This we can all understand. But here we have left the ground of consanguinity, for between a man and his wife there is, unless he marries his cousin, no blood relationship, and their union does not make it. They are one flesh, but between them there is no tie of consanguinity. Hence, besides the wife’s direct line, no collateral branch on her side is forbidden the man, except her sister during her lifetime. The Lord in mercy to the wife would preserve her by this law from the sorrow incident to her husband, following the example of Jacob. Beyond this God’s word does not go. The simplicity, the order, the rational character of these directions we learn as we study them; and this, too, we learn, that the wife’s blood relations, her direct line excepted, are not viewed in the same light as the husband’s own near of kin. Consanguinity, we repeat, is really the guiding principle on his side, whether it be as regards his blood relations, or his relations in law, On his wife’s side he was not to marry her sister during her life. Now were his relations in law simply as such forbidden him, his wife’s sister would be barred to him as much as his brother’s wife. Bu’-, it was not so. The brother’s widow, except to fulfill the peculiar condition of the levirate law, he never was to make his wife, but his wife’s sister he was free to marry after his wife’s death. Again, relations in law, even on his side, are not by God viewed in the same light as relations in blood, as we have already pointed out. Further, the man and the woman are not in the Old Testament placed by God on equal ground. A man was permitted to have two wives (Deuteronomy 21:15) by the law, but no woman was ever allowed to have two husbands. These simple facts kept in mind, we shall be preserved from drawing deductions, and imposing limitations on the creature’s freedom in the matter of marriage, which God’s word neither authorizes not countenances. But human law on this subject is not always in harmony with God’s revealed will. Restrictions which God has not imposed have been introduced, extending the prohibited degree of consanguinity beyond the limits laid down in the Word; and men have argued, and legislated as if relations in law, simply as such, were to be viewed in the same light as relations by blood. Were this in accordance with the word of God, the wife’s sister must be forbidden to the man as much as his own sister. Now to go in to the latter was wickedness (20:17), and public execution was the punishment awarded to both. To marry the wife’s sister was only forbidden to the man during the lifetime of the former, and no punishment is even hinted at if he married her subsequent to her sister’s death. We cannot, therefore, argue that the wife’s relations are placed on the same ground as the man’s own. In saying this, however, we would make it plain that we are not in the least advocating the advisability of such unions. It may not be expedient for first cousins to marry, but that is no reason why such unions should be forbidden by the Church of Rome, unless the parties get a dispensation from the Pope. It may not be expedient for a man to marry his deceased wife’s sister, but that does not justify the promulgation of a law which prohibits it, by regarding it as a nullity, refusing to own the wife’s status, and treating the children as bastards. Are we, then, at liberty to disregard human law on such a matter, because it may go beyond the requirements of God’s word? No Christian should accept such a proposition for a moment. We are to “be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13:1) We are to be obedient to rule (Titus 3:1); and to submit ourselves to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, as Peter (1 Peter 2:13) exhorts us. Are we, then, advocating a blind subjection to earthly rule?’ By no means. For when human commands conflict with the divine word this same apostle has taught us how to act, as he, with the other apostles boldly told the Sanhedrin. “We ought to obey God rather than men “(Acts 5:29). But in this matter there is no conflict of authority―God’s word does not enjoin on us the contracting of such unions as those of which we write, though it permits them. No one, therefore, is under divine obligation to do in this matter what the law of the land will not sanction. The Christian is clearly bound to respect such an enactment, though it may curtail the freedom allowed him by God’s word. For the Lord’s sake this law of the land should be respected by the child of God. Obedience having been insisted on in chapters 17 and 18 because Jehovah was Israel’s God, we come in chapters 19 and 20 to a fresh section of the law, the thirtieth according to the masora, which appeals to Israel to be holy, as the Lord was holy, who had separated them to be a people unto Himself. In chapter 19 we have drawn out somewhat in detail what they should exhibit, and in chapter 20 we read of the impurities which they were to avoid. In the former of these chapters we see the inculcation of holiness applied to the every day circumstances of the Israelite in his home life, in his worship, in his intercourse with his neighbors, in his cultivation of the ground, and in his behavior towards the stranger. Starting with a reminder to cherish filial fear, and to keep Jehovah’s sabbaths, two lessons which would have been practiced had the fall never been known, the law-giver goes on to warn against idolatry, and treats of the, spirit of worship, apart from which the Lord would not allow them to have communion with Himself by sacrifice (4-8). Then due care for the neighbor is dwelt upon (9-18), and the principle of separation which was to be carried out in various matters connected with the cultivation of the ground. Besides that, reverence for the aged is insisted on, just dealing with everyone is enjoined, and the showing kindliness to the stranger is impressed on them. To be Jehovah’s people was a privilege. They were to value it, and to exhibit by their ways what became them as such. Very useful, then, was this portion to them, and to us it is not without interest, since the Lord drew from it (5:18) part of His answer to the scribe about the great commandment in the law (Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31); and Peter it would seem referred to it when he wrote, " As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy " (1 Peter 1:15-16). And the " all manner of conversation," of which he writes is well illustrated by the details of that chapter of the law. In chapter 20 we have the avoidance of gross impurities insisted upon by all in the land, for it contemplates the people in the possession of Canaan. A peat deal of what is here forbidden was forbidden in chapter 18, yet chapter 20. is no vain repetition of it, for it tells us what the other did not―the penalties attaching to the various acts of impurity against which they are here solemnly warned. That men could practice such vileness was bad enough, and shows the degradation into which they got, the consequences of sin. But the warnings vouchsafed to Israel show us into what uncleannesses they were in danger of falling, if left to themselves, and that without a revelation from God they had really no right standard by which to regulate their conduct in that which so intimately affected their happiness and the purity of family life. Another sin against which they are warned is that of turning to those who had familiar spirits, or wizards, to go a whoring after them. Against such the Lord would set His face, and cut them off; and the wizard, or the person who had a familiar spirit was to be put to death by being stoned with stones (9:6, 27). God’s word does not become obsolete. Saul had put down such in accordance with this law by executing the judgment here laid down (1 Samuel 28:9), but he himself came under it, as set forth in verse 6 of our chapter, and the Lord in fulfillment of His warning executed the judgment on him. " Saul died," we read, " for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it; and he inquired not of the Lord, therefore he slew him" (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). None, not even the king, was exempt from the punishment threatened. “I will set my face against that soul, and cut him off from among his people," the Lord had said by the hand of Moses, and Saul proved the truth of it in his own death. There were sins for which under the law no sacrifice could be brought, and in this chapter we have some of them. I AM the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine, John 10:14. Yes, He is leading and watching every individual sheep. Not one lock of wool taken from a single sheep, that He does not see. Does He see rolling through my mind thoughts of Himself, and the glory awaiting me? My heart dwelling up there, and my walk corresponding? or like Jacob, halting on the thigh, because the flesh needs crippling. ACCEPTED in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6. God’s delight in us is connected with Christ and redemption. The blood of Christ has washed all my sins away. All my guilt and misery were judged on the cross. It sinks me into insignificance to be nothing, and Christ everything. God looking on His Son with ever the same delight, seeing His members, and loving them, as such. It is pure grace from first to last. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS AARON AND HIS SONS ENTERING ON THEIR PRIESTLY FUNCTIONS ======================================================================== Leviticus Aaron and His Sons Entering on Their Priestly Functions THE week of consecration over, the eighth day arrived, the commencement of a new period of time. Now fully consecrated, Aaron and his sons could enter on their priestly functions on behalf of all Israel, and, directed by Moses, Aaron provided the offerings fog: himself and his house; a young calf for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering. The elders of Israel, too, brought the sacrifices for the people, viz., a kid cf the goats for a sin-offering, a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt-offering, and a bullock and a ram for peace-offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a meat-offering mingled with oil. And now, for the first time in their history, and in the world’s history, was there a high priest duly consecrated, and able to make atonement by sacrifice for the congregation of the Lord. But how closely were they bound up with the high priest, who made atonement first for himself and them together with the young calf and the ram, and subsequently for them apart from himself with the offerings provided on their behalf. To see the glory of the Lord appearing without divine judgment overtaking them, these offerings were requisite. Atonement had to be made on their behalf, if that display of glory was not to consume them. Unless the people’s offerings were rightly treated, atonement could not be made for them; but, had not Aaron first made atonement for himself and them as well, how could they have been before God without judgment consuming them? They had a high priest to represent them before Jehovah; and they were to learn that their acceptance was bound up with his. Atonement he made for himself and them. Apart from the standing of Aaron as high priest before the throne, they had no standing. Apart from his ministrations separately on the people’s behalf, they could not have shared in the blessed results of atonement by blood. All duly offered for himself and his house, and for the people, Aaron, at the altar with uplifted hands, turned towards the people, and blessed them. Then coming down from the altar, he entered the tabernacle in company with Moses, and the two came out again, and together blessed all Israel. “And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; which, when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces “(9:23, 24). The moment that Aaron had finished offering the sacrifices, he could bless the people. Till that moment he never had so acted towards them. But all rightly offered, he waited not a moment. Teaching this is, instructive to us as well as to them, because it shows us on what ground it is that people can be blessed, viz., the acceptance of the sacrifice. Apart from Christ’s death typified in the offerings sacrificed, this could not have taken place. As soon as the sacrifice has been accepted, God is able righteously to bless. So the Lord could bless His disciples before He went to heaven (Luke 24:51). But the grounds of blessing, and the time of blessing, are two very different questions. For Israel, both are shadowed forth in this scene. We have seen the grounds on which it can take place, as Aaron blessed them whilst still at the altar. We next learn the time when Israel will enjoy it. For, coming down from the altar, Aaron accompanied Moses into the tabernacle, after which the two came out together and blessed all Israel. When within the sanctuary they were hidden from Israel’s gaze, just as the Lord now in heaven cannot be seen by them. He will, however, by and bye come out, and appear on Israel’s behalf. So, typical of this, Moses and Aaron came out, and together, as the king (Deuteronomy 33:5) and priest, blessed all the people. And the glory of the Lord immediately appeared, and the sacrifice and the fat all could see were consumed by the fire from heaven. Here, then, we have a millennial scene, depicting the future blessing of Israel at the Lord’s return from heaven, when they will have ocular proof that He was wounded for their transgressions, and was bruised for their iniquities, the chastisement of their peace was upon Him, and with His stripes will they be healed (Isaiah 53:5). Then will they know what Israel saw that day in type, that divine judgment, typified by the fire from heaven, was borne by Him that they should not endure it. And with Him in their midst, full earthly blessing will be theirs. A millennial scene it surely was, but only a passing glimpse of that which will be, and perhaps ere long. Bright with hope the eighth day had commenced, nor were the people’s expectations disappointed, for the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. But, ere night had set in, gloom must have enshrouded the camp by the death, under the hand of God, of the two eldest sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, for offering strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. Millennial days clearly had not yet arrived. Had the Lord now taken them unawares by thus dealing with them? They may have forgotten what Moses remembered, and quoted to Aaron, " I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified" (Leviticus 10:1-20; Leviticus 3:1-17). When God had said that does not appear. Exodus 19:22 contains the nearest approach to it. In what a solemn way, however, was it verified. But what had these two done to call forth such marked displeasure and immediate judgment from heaven? They had dared to kindle incense, which typifies the sweet savor of Christ, with strange fire, 1:e., not the fire which came down from heaven. That, God would not allow. No sinful creature is permitted to present the fragrance of Christ to God, apart from the acknowledgment that the One whose merits are a sweet savor suffered divine judgment. So at once the Lord acted. Fire had come down from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Fire came out from the Lord and devoured them. In both cases the fire symbolizes divine judgment. In the former it, consumed the sacrifice, in the latter it cut off the guilty ones, and made all see that no one, however close he had been brought to God, could escape judicial dealing when guilty of such a sin. All Israel must have learned that, as the bodies of the offenders were carried outside the camp by Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, whilst their father and brothers were not allowed to uncover their heads or rend their garments, on pain of death overtaking them, and wrath coming upon all the people. For if they had been defiled on this occasion by the dead, the whole service at the altar and in the sanctuary must have ceased. Obedient, then, to God’s injunction by Moses, they kept inside the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And further, Aaron held his peace, bowing to the stroke so unexpectedly inflicted upon him. But, if God smites, He can act in loving-kindness. And Aaron must have felt that, as the Lord now spoke directly to him, and not through the channel of the law-giver. He had cut off his two sons in their sin, yet He would not deprive Aaron and his remaining sons of their priesthood; and, that they should not at any subsequent time call down the like judicial dealing, the Lord warned them against the influence of strong drink, whenever they should enter the tabernacle of the congregation. His care for them was thus manifested. Neglect of this warning might entail on them death, or would hinder the proper discharge of their priestly functions in putting a difference between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean. At other times they might drink wine, but when discharging their sacerdotal functions, and especially in the sanctuary, they were to abstain from it. Though Nadab and Abihu sinned, the priests lost none of their privileges, and Moses reminded Eleazar and Ithamar of what was their portion out of the sacrifices which had that day been offered. Seeking the sin-offering which belonged to the priests, for its blood had not been brought into the tabernacle of the congregation, he learned that they had burnt it. Their spiritual instinct was on this occasion right, though the letter of the law they had thereby violated. But Moses was content when Aaron explained about it. With this the day ended. Israel had been blessed by the high priest. They had been blessed also by the king and priest together. The glory of the Lord had appeared unto them, and had consumed the sacrifice. All this was the token of Jehovah’s goodness to His people, and of His acceptance of the sacrifice on their behalf. But side by side with this, God’s character was maintained by the execution of unsparing judgment, whilst He proved Himself to be the Lord God merciful and gracious in speaking direct to Aaron, and warning him and his sons lest a like judgment should overtake them. With this millennial scene, God displayed as the blesser of His people, but as a judge likewise, the first great division of the Book of Leviticus is brought to a close. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: VOL 04 - LEVITICUS THE CONSECRATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS ======================================================================== Leviticus the Consecration of Aaron and His Sons THE next section of this book comprising chapters 8.-10., treats of the consecration of Aaron and his sons for their office of priests unto God, the holy priesthood, in contradistinction to the royal priesthood, which the Lord promised to the nation of Israel conditionally on their obedience.This priesthood was to be Aaron’s and his sons’ forever, “an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations “(Exodus 40:15). And though for centuries it has been in abeyance, the altar and temple having been laid low, by-and-bye, when both are restored in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the sons of Zadok shall resume their office, and discharge afresh their sacerdotal functions (Ezekiel 44:15). But since the Aaronic priests must have somewhat to offer, the offerings as we have seen are specified in this book before the consecration of Aaron and of his sons is detailed to us. Of the high priest’s dress, and the garments of the common priests we read in Exodus 28:1-43, and the procedure to be followed for their consecration, we also have recounted in that book (24:1-35.) But, as Exodus describes the setting up of the tabernacle, and all that belonged to it, we read also, in the chapter just referred to, the directions about the altar and the daily-and sabbatic burnt-offerings. In Leviticus 8:1-36, on the contrary, we are called, as it were, to witness the consecration of Aaron and his sons throughout the seven days that the ceremony lasted. Exodus 29:1-46 tells us how they were to be consecrated. Leviticus 8:1-36 depicts to us that being done in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, in obedience to the word of the Lord. Washed all of them with water, Aaron was next arrayed in the pontifical garments of glory and beauty, the colors of which are described in Exodus 28:1-43 But even the washing and dressing did not take place till the requisite sacrifices to be offered up had been provided. For, looked at as a man, Aaron was only a type of Him who was made priest by an oath (Hebrews 7:21). So at times what he was in him-self is set before us, at times he appears in his typical character. Viewed in the latter character, he stands out in this scene apart from the priests. Viewed as a sinful man, he and they are associated together. As a man, then, with them, one born in sin, he was first washed with water; then, to be seen in his special office of high" priest, he was dressed in his garments of glory and beauty, and anointed with the holy oil, before the other priests were aparelled, or any offering had been offered up on their common behalf. Arrayed in the long robe of blue, with the ephod upon him, and the breast-plate with Urim and Thummim (for these were distinct from it, as both Exodus 28:30, and Leviticus 8:8 intimate, since Moses put them to the breast-plate), and with the miter on his head, fastened to which was the golden plate, the holy diadem, with holiness to the Lord engraved upon it, Aaron was ready for the anointing oil, which Moses poured upon his head, anointing him, and that without measure, to sanctify him, after he had first anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and had also sprinkled of the oil on the altar and the laver, which were in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.In common, then, with the tabernacle and its vessels, both within the holy place, as well as in the court, Aaron, the type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as God’s high priest, was anointed with the holy oil, and that before any sacrifice was offered up on the son of Amram’s behalf. For the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost whilst still in life (Matthew 3:16, Acts 10:38), but His people can only receive the anointing on the ground of His death. A perfect man must be different from all other men. Such an one Moses and Aaron knew not, so of themselves they could never have planned this marked difference between him and his sons, a difference the more remarkable, because subsequently the garments of Aaron and those of his sons, as well as their persons, were together sprinkled with the anointing oil and the blood of the ram of consecration (Leviticus 8:30). At first, however, Aaron was anointed alone, when dressed in his pontifical attire, the garments of glory and beauty. How clearly was delineated the truth about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in that action of the law-giver. But, if Christ is High Priest, all His people are priests, so Aaron’s sons are next seen clothed, according to God’s commandment, in the dress prescribed for them to wear. Blue, purple, scarlet, and white, all these colors, each expressive of truth about the Lord (Numbers 4:1-49), were required for the high priest’s vestments. In white alone, it would appear, were his sons arrayed,* and with linen bonnets on their heads; for under the law men covered their heads before God. All this was appointed by God. In garments of L His choice were all His priests to be dressed. (* Blue, purple, and scarlet, with fine linen, tell us of the heavenly man who is High Priest, and who has stooped to death, and will by and-bye appear in all the emblems of sovereignty to reign over the earth, Himself pure, spotless, undefiled. The white linen garments of the priests remind us of the righteousness of saints (Revelation 19:8-14) in which all Christ’s heavenly people will in the future be arrayed.) Aaron and his sons properly clothed, the sacrificial rites of the day began. First the sin-offering was brought, and its blood duly dealt with for them, and for the altar, sanctifying it to make atonement (not reconciliation, as A.V. states) upon it. Here Aaron appears as a sinful man in common with his sons, the one sin-offering availing for them all. Aaron clothed, and anointed in connection with the sanctuary and its vessels, was a type of the Lord Jesus Himself. Aaron with his sons sharing in the results of the sin-offering, was really reaping benefits from the atoning death of Him, of whom as High Priest he alone was the type. A person without sin Aaron was not, but the Lord was (Hebrews 7:26); so Aaron was anointed previous to the killing of the sin-offering. But Aaron as a sinful man had need of a sin-offering, and here confessed it before all. Thus God’s holiness was maintained, Christ’s spotlessness declared, and man’s sinfulness met. Next followed the burnt-offering, which Moses offered in accordance with the ritual concerning it. After that came the special offering of the day, the ram of consecration, with its accompanying basket of unleavened bread. Here God’s order is instructive, That which we might have put first, the ram of consecration, really comes last; for as sinful creatures, they could not be consecrated to God’s service apart from a sin-offering, which met what they were, and from the burnt-offering, which foreshadowed the voluntary surrender to death of Him who was made sin for His people. Hence on this and on other occasions, such as the setting apart of the Levites for their work, as well as at the completion of the Nazarite’s vow, on the eighth day of the leper’s cleansing, and on the day of atonement, the sin-offering took precedence of the burnt-offering. On the chief festivals this order was reversed. Where man is the prominent figure, the sin-offering is generally made prominent where God’s favor to man, what God is to him, is to be set forth, the sin-offering can be put into the second place. But the sin-offering on any of the occasions noticed was not sufficient without the burnt-offering as well. The voluntary surrender of Christ to do God’s will in death was each time brought to remembrance before Him. Unless the substitute had died, the sinful creature could not be accepted before God; but the sacrificial victim must be one on whom death had no claim. So the burnt-offering had its place on each of the occasions above-noticed, but its place in the day’s ritual was regulated in accordance with the special character of the occasion. The ram of consecration, slain after Aaron and his sons had put their hands upon its head, the first dealing with its blood was to put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot. Next the blood was put in the same way on the same parts of the body of each of his sons, and then some was sprinkled on the altar round about, intimating that the ear, the service, and the walk of the priests were all to be consecrated to God, and for that consecration the death of the sacrifice was needed. Death, however, having thus been brought in, there could be no receding on the part of the priests from the position and condition they were placed in before God. With the rest of the animal Moses was now concerned. Partaking of the character of a peace-offering, the inwards, the right shoulder, with the fat and one cake of unleavened bread, and a cake of oiled bread, with one wafer, were put upon the hands of Aaron and of his sons, and were waved for a wave-offering before the Lord. The peace-offering character of this ram of consecration is both interesting and especially suited to the occasion. In the peace-offering, as we have seen (Vol. 3 p. 193), the energy of the one perfect sacrifice was in type, as consecrated to God. Here, then, when priests were to be set apart for God’s service, that character of sacrifice, all must see, was most suitable for the occasion. Further, all was here waved, not heaved, as in the ordinary peace-offering (7:14); for, though both actions signify dedication to God, heaving is used where a portion of anything is claimed for Him, but waving was the proper action where the whole of that which was typified by the thing waved was set apart for God. On this occasion, of course, the whole energy and strength of the priests was to be devoted to God. So all that was put into the hands of Aaron and his sons was directed to be waved, and waved by them, after which it was burnt on* the burnt-offering, for a sweet savor unto, the Lord. Then Moses himself waved the breast of the offering. That which expressed what the priests were to be for God, all of which Christ was perfectly, as His death and life fully declare, Aaron and his sons waved before the Lord. The breast, the common portion of all the priests out of every peace-offering, Moses had this once for himself. (* In Exodus 29:25, according to the Authorized Version, all that they waved is said to be burnt for a burnt-offering. That is a mistake. There is no difference in the original between Exodus 29:25 and Leviticus 8:28 and the language is clear as may be seen in English in the latter passage. All was to be burnt upon the burnt-offering, that being the basis, as it were, of all other offerings.) All now having been done at the altar which the Lord commanded, the last action of the day took place, viz., the sprinkling on Aaron and on his garments, and on his sons, and on their garments likewise, of the anointing oil and of the blood. Thus Aaron was sanctified and his garments, and his sons and their garments also. On Aaron the anointing oil had been put already, as we have seen. His sons are here, for the first time, sprinkled with it, but not without blood, intimating, as we can understand it, that no one of the holy priesthood can receive the anointing of the Holy Ghost (2 Cor. 2:21) apart from the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the Holy Ghost, true service to God, as set apart to serve Him, cannot be carried on; but to receive the Holy Spirit we must own and share in the results of Christ’s atoning death, here typified by the blood. Washed first, typifying the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5), which is connected with the new birth (John 3:5), and is part of the result of Christ’s death (John 19:34), the priests consecrated by blood, and then sprinkled with the anointing oil and the blood, were fitted for their work when the seven days’ service of consecration had ended. During that time they abode day and night inside the court at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. The camp was not their place during the week of consecration. Inside the court of the tabernacle they were to remain, to keep the charge of the Lord, that they should not die. And whilst keeping that, the Lord provided for them the rest of the ram of consecration, with the remainder of the basket of unleavened bread, being their appointed daily portion. A full provision this was, more than they could eat, so all that remained of it day by day was to be burnt with fire. On Christ consecrated to God in His death and in His life they were constantly to feed throughout that eventful week, after which Christ in His life, typified in their daily meat-offering, would be the example constantly set before their eyes. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: VOL 04 - LIGHT, AND THE EFFECT OF LIGHT JOH_8:1-13; JOH_9:34; JOH_10:4-19; JOH_17:9-25 ======================================================================== Light, and the Effect of LightJohn 8:1-13;John 9:34;John 10:4-19;John 17:9-25 I READ these Scriptures in order to bring before you what is most interesting for every one of us, a subject which no one can over-estimate in the history of the soul. It is most important for us at this moment, for though we must be zealous of ecclesiastical things, yet, supposing we had the most correct thoughts about ecclesiastical things, of what value is that, unless the soul is in a state to take them up? We are apt to approach things from the outside. God would have us approach things from the inside, not from without. That which we most need is a. better acquaintance with Himself. What are we left in this world for? Is it not to be simply for Christ? A correct ecclesiastical state may be reached without the corresponding state of heart which Christ looks for. The soul must first personally have to do with Christ, that is the beginning, the commencement. I mean, the soul must have the distinct sense of a dealing with a person, and not merely something about that person. Let us ask ourselves the question, How much do we know of that blessed One personally? How much have our souls passed from the mere outside knowledge which is open to every one, to that more wonderful acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ personally, so that we could say that we know Him better than we know any one in this world. We consider that perhaps a wonderful thing to say, and so it is, but is it not because we have dropped down to be satisfied with merely knowing things about Christ. The test of what you know about Christ is the expression you give of Christ. We just express what we know of Christ, and no more! I see in the 8th, 9th, and 10th of John, the subject is “light." It is light in the 8th, and light in the 9th, and the effect of light in the 10th. In the 8th of John it is the picture of the way in which a poor sinner comes in contact with Christ who is the Light. It is not that there is some radiancy of Christ shining into the heart, but here is a poor creature who has come personally into contact with Himself. She has nothing to say for herself, and everything and every one is against her, and she comes personally in contact with Him when everything was against her, and she was obliged even to witness against herself. She had never found one before who had absolute grace in His heart and goodness in His nature till her soul had reached Him. Have you ever traveled into a moment when there was not a solitary witness for you on this earth, when you stood alone before the Light of the World. That is the start. The 8th of John does not go beyond God’s government of this world. I cite it now in illustration of the way in which a soul comes personally in contact with the only One who is competent to execute the sentence of judgment upon it, but who would not! And I ask you, have you ever been in that moment? People say, " I can tell you when I was converted." I say, blessed be God for that; but have you ever had to do with Christ personally? While you know facts and truths about Him, have you personally touched the One who gave those facts power to your soul? Facts and truths must be about some one and something-and who is that One? The Son of God who traveled from the glory of God into a world of sorrow that we might have a Friend when no one else would stand for us in this world. You cannot make way against the ordinary sorrows and trials of this world unless you know Christ personally. I want Christ for my cares as much as I want Him for my sins; I want Him for my sorrows every day as much as I wanted Him for my guilt at first. That is what I mean by personally having to do with Him. If you do not know Christ personally, you are not satisfied in heart. What can you do in your sorrows and your cares if you do not know Christ personally? I know Christ makes all well every day, and the soul that makes this acquaintance with Him starts from a spot that leaves a stamp upon him. The 9th of John is the case of a person who not only has light for the eyes, but who is the subject of light. Here is a man, and he is the subject of the power of Christ, but besides that power that Christ exercised on his body he becomes the vessel of light in his soul. He gets his light as to his body, but Christ equally made him in his soul the vessel of that light of which He Himself was the source in this world. Then what comes out? The moment he becomes the subject of this light, there is not a single person for him in this world. If he had merely received benefit from this wonderful Savior, it would not have offended people, they would not have been hurt by it. The world and professing Christendom have no question about taking all the good they can out of Christ. If you go abroad and preach only salvation from hell through the blood of Christ you would find no one against you, but if you go out and press the claims of Christ on people, you have every one against you. People have no objection to accept the mercies of God, but they will not have Christ. This comes out in the 9th chapter. This poor creature is deserted by every one, even by his own parents. He pursues the light, goes on in his soul after that blessed One till he comes to say, I claim every one for Him! There is a great difference between saying, I have the most wonderful blessing God in heaven could bestow, and I claim every one of you for this rejected Christ-" Will ye also be his disciples?" What was the consequence of this? They excommunicated him, 1:e. they put him out of the circle of approved respectability! And what followed? Jesus found him! He pursued the light till man put him outside, and when man had cast him out, Jesus found him! Have you ever been thus found by Jesus? Jesus found him, that is the effect. Now you have an advance upon John 8:1-59 You have these two alone, and Jesus making a revelation to him. Do you not think this was a wonderful moment for this poor healed man when he had this revelation made to him? You are never in the place for a revelation to be made to you, until you have followed faithfully the light God gives you. The principle is, " To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he seemeth to have." Men’s hearts think they can take God’s things and make any use of them they please, turn them to any purpose without any reference to, or sense of responsibility to the One who has given them to us. Let us ask ourselves solemnly, have we fixed purpose of heart practically to carry out the truth we know? People say, " It is beautiful!" I do not question it is beautiful, but who will deny its intense solemnity? If I see a sword before me that is unsparing, shall I say, that sword is beautiful? I do not question its grandeur, do not question its beauty, but that is not the point when it pierces me through and through. Oh, do let us be solemnized about these things, do not separate the light from the effect of it, do not separate the salvation from the Savior. “The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Surely that is a perfect day when we get into isolation with the Son of God to worship Him. This poor man worships Him, and is retained. You will never be retained till you reach a spot where there is no one but Jesus. In our meetings, how is it there is so little worship? At times a little prayer, but so little praise. I feel we need to know the difference between ministry and worship. I may read a portion of Scripture and it may be very blessed, but that is not worship. What I long for is, not that we should have less Scripture, but more worship, like this man whose eyes were opened, when he gets the revelation of the Son of God to his soul, he worships. The 10th chapter points out our security, the 8th and 9th point out our separation, to Christ. There is our separation to Christ, this is the first thing in the history of the soul; and then in chapter 10 it is our security, for if I am separated from everything, a person may say, how am I to be secured? There was once a fold in Judaism which suited man in the flesh; there is no fold now, but there is a flock. How am I to know, then, that I am secure if I am thus outside all folds? Can you stand alone, apart from everything―alone with God? I ask you affectionately, could you stand alone with Christ and say, Yes, I know Him in all His blessed sufficiency, and though I am isolated, I am isolated with Him. What is our security? He says my sheep are in my hand, and if my person isolates them, my hand guards them. If my person separates you from everything in this world, you are in the sacred enclosure of my hand, " Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." And. He blessedly adds, “My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand." This is not only the poor sinner’s security in the face of hell, but the sheep’s security in the face of the wolf. I refer you now to John 17:1-26, for this reason; not merely is there separation or isolation in the history of the soul, but there is sanctification, and sanctification has this end, in order that we may be true representatives of Christ, for you cannot represent Christ rightly on this earth if you are not sanctified. It is a most solemn thing to be conscious that we are left here to represent Christ, and how can we represent a person if we do not know him? You may act for a person, serve a person, without knowing or representing that person. You may not be called to any public work for Christ, may not be called to preach or to teach, but there is not a saint of God who is not left on this earth to be a representative of Christ, and to be left on this earth to represent this glorified Man is more than any amount of gifted service we could render Him. We cannot represent Him without knowing Him, and we cannot represent Him without being sanctified people. There are two ways of being sanctified. First He says," Sanctify them through thy truth." Specially this was the truth about the Father, and I ask you, is not this a sanctifying thing―the blessedness of the knowledge of the Father’s love? If we know the Father’s love in our hearts, we do not need to turn to and seek our rights from the world? I ask, Have we the sense of the Father’s love in our hearts so that it separates us from the world? Do you walk about the world with the sense of this, my Father in heaven is thinking about me, watching me, cares for me. Yes, my Father is so thinking about me, so caring for me, that there is not one bit of comfort, not one bit of down, as it were, wanting, to make me sensible of how my Father’s love is concerned. If I have the sense of my Father’s love in my soul, it separates me from all the discontent, or murmurings, or repinings at my lot, or desire to change it. Have you ever had any doubt of your Father’s love? Have you ever thought him hard? Have you ever thought He might have dealt more leniently with you―might have removed the pressure? This truth about the Father, the knowledge of the Father’s love, is moral sanctification; the second is positional sanctification, “For their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth." Christ leaves the world that there may not be any object in it when He has left it, to detain our affections. Have we traveled with Him to that place where He is? He says, “I have left this world," and can we say, " We retire from it, too." If that person who alone can attract my heart, is in heaven, I walk through this earth, and things in it are distanced because He is not here. I believe the visible is the thing at this moment that is waging the deepest war with the saints of God. You indulge in it, and you find that something or other robs you of your power, you have been drinking the old wine, the old wine is nature, and your taste is vitiated, you do not straightway desire the new. May we cultivate the spiritual unseen where He is, and thus be of those who walk on this earth for Christ’s glory, and who seek to meet the desires of His heart. The Lord give us to know this journey of the soul of which we have been speaking, to know it for ourselves, and to know our true satisfaction in this world is this, that the knowledge of His mind places us in circumstances in which His heart would have us for Himself the little while we wait for Him. W. T. T. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: VOL 04 - MONUMENTAL ASPECT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER ======================================================================== Monumental Aspect of the Lord’s Supper THE Lord’s supper was instituted by the Lord Himself to keep Him in His death before the hearts of His own; and to be, in its public celebration, a publication of His death. The members of Christ’s body are on earth. The world rejected Him: they have owned him by faith God-ward for their personal forgiveness, redemption, and salvation, and have individually repudiated the counsel and deed of them who rejected and crucified Him by identifying themselves with the assembly of God, gathered out of the world by the action of the word carried home to the soul by the Spirit of God; but when the whole assembly comes together in a general meeting on the Lord’s day, and eats the Lord’s supper, they own Him publicly in the world, for by their assembling to His name, and common participation in the celebration of that Christian ordinance which sets forth His death, they there and then, and in that celebration, become a public monument before a Christ-rejecting world, by keeping alive the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they, in their enmity and lawlessness, rejected and crucified. The world would willingly forget its guile in refusing and slaying Him, but this perpetuation of the memory of the Lord’s death, and this public symbolic proclamation of it, by the church’s continued celebration of the Lord’s supper, when as a united body they publicly announce His death, the world is compelled to have their sin brought vividly before their very eyes in the silent act of the Lord’s followers in symbolically representing it in their solemn periodical exhibition of the fact in their joint-participation of the Lord’s supper. What the saints feel, think, have, and do in the supper is peculiar to themselves; but the public celebration of the Lord’s supper has the aspect of a public proclamation of the Lord’s death in the world. The love of Christ’s own draws them around Himself, to think of Him in His person, love and death; and they get such views of Christ their Savior there, as they get nowhere else; and they lift up their hearts in praise and thanksgiving, their eye affecting their heart and inflaming their love as they think of such a word as this: " Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God for a sweet-smelling savor; " but as the world looks on, the fact and act of celebration become a standing publication of the Lord’s death―a death which tells its twofold tale of forgiveness through Christ’s blood to every penitent believer, and of certain perdition to all unbelievers " who count it as a common thing." The very word " show forth" signifies, literally, to bring word down upon any one, that is, to bring it home to him. The celebration of the Lord’s supper is what the Lord has left as the public announcement of his death, as at once brought home for richest blessing and joy to the hearts of his friends, and the greatest terror and condemnation to His enemies; for if His blood be not on us for forgiveness, it lies against us for condemnation. Let us look a little more closely at the words of the Lord Jesus, that we may see how fully they go to establish what we have advanced as to one chief object in the Lord’s supper being the public announcing of the Lord’s death as well as the keeping the memory of the Lord Jesus alive and fresh in the saints’ hearts by the continued institutional and symbolical representation of His death in the Lord’s supper. The Lord Jesus’ words are these: ―" This is my body which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink, in remembrance of me"1 Corinthians 11:24-25). The apostle explains the meaning of the Lord’s repeated injunction―" this do in remembrance of me"― by referring the Corinthian assembly to their own actual practice, which confirmed it: ― " For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye proclaim the Lord’s death till He come" (verse 26). The Lord’s death was a public event, His coming again to the earth will be a public event, and the Lord’s supper which fills up the period between these two extremes is a public celebration. The church, which is not known by the world but rejected by it, as was her Lord, comes forth periodically and gives a proclamation of His death in its celebration of the supper, and thus it is a remembrance of Him. Whatever blessing, or joy, or effect on the spirit, soul, and heart the saints may have, and do have, in their eating together the Lord’s supper, yet the supper, in its nature, material representation, object, and end is not only for the believer’s private enjoyment, but also for the public proclamation of the Lord’s death as being a perpetual monument or keeping of that which partakes of the nature of an anniversary feast commemorative of the death of Him whom they slew and hanged on a tree. The words “to my remembrance" show that this is so? And, when we ask how we are to understand this, we have it explained to us by the apostle, “Ye announce the Lord’s death." To whom? To one another? To principalities and powers in the heavenlies? Or is it a public announcement on the earth where he was slain? We, of course, observe the Lord’s supper without any such thought, for our renewed minds are in full contemplation of the Lord Himself, the purged conscience is witness to the efficacy of His blood to atone for our sins and cleanse from every sin, and the renewed and satisfied affections witness to the perfect adequacy of Christ Himself to win our love by giving us to know in that which the bread and wine in the Lord’s supper represent―the depth, fullness, and perfection of His own; but eating the Lord’s supper on the ground of resurrection knowing the new place and relationship into which we are brought by Christ’s death and the power of the Holy Ghost, giving us the consciousness of the cutting of every cord that bound us to self or Satan’s world by this death of the Lord, we having the Lord’s supper that tells of His finished work and accomplished redemption as our rallying ground and common center: when we gather to His name and eat it together we give a public witness, or, we should rather say, one result of our being gathered for such a purpose is that the Christ who was slain is publicly kept in remembrance; and our having withdrawn from the world in realization of our new relations to Christ, risen and seated in heaven as members of His body, and our new relation to the Father as His children―and our being the flock of God―all on the ground of Christ’s death by proclaiming the Lord’s death in partaking together of the Lord’s supper―we announce that every link with this world is broken for Him, as for us, by this death, and that Christ is alive and glorified at God’s right hand. When He comes again it will be to take vengeance on them that know not God, and on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The object of the public celebration of the Lord’s supper is the remembrance of the Lord in His death. But our Lord is not dead, but is " alive for evermore," and all our relationships, privileges, and prospects are connected with Him where He is, in the Father’s presence, though we own that we owe all to His death, and participate with all believers in that supper that tells so impressively and solemnly of His death, and of this alone. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: VOL 04 - ON THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES ======================================================================== On the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-34) DISTINCTIVE is it to this feast, that it has no antitype. There were three great feasts-the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles; in each of these all the males were to present themselves at Jerusalem. Christ is our Passover; the Holy Ghost is our Pentecost; the feast of Tabernacles is not yet come, and nothing in the history of the people of God as yet answers to it. This feast occurred after the harvest and the vintage. The harvest is the end of the age, the ingathering and judgments of God which distinguish and sever; the vintage is the vintage of the wrath of God on the vine of the earth, whose grapes are ripe for the treading in the winepress of the wrath of God. The feast of Tabernacles cannot be kept save when Israel, after having traversed the desert, is in the land, in commemoration of which they were wont to pass seven days in tabernacles. Herein we have the joy of the people of God: it is not merely the joy in our hearts of salvation; but God, whose will it is to have His people around Him, attracts them by the love of Christ (the Passover), gathers them by the Spirit (Pentecost), judges the evil and delivers His people, in order to put them into possession of the joy of that promise (Tabernacles). Deuteronomy 16:1-22 gives us these three great feasts, with a difference, however, as to their moral object. There is, in a certain sense, joy in not being a slave in the land of Egypt; but then there is, at the same time, the bread of affliction. Precious is it when the means by which God will deliver us are before us; but inseparable therefrom is the thought, that we have been slaves in the land of Egypt. The leavened bread, which has to be put aside, recalls the prohibition: we are in haste; there is deliverance, -but after partaking we need to hasten home. The Pentecost goes a little further. The leading thought in it is joy and grace due to the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; and the name of the Lord is the center of the joy of the people who surround Him. By their very joy, the people are seen to be no longer slaves; this answers to that which is said to us about walking in the Spirit. In the feast of Tabernacles there is no longer need even to be on one’s guard. ’Tis pure joy, and the commandment is "to rejoice." When God has done all for the gathering of His people-when the people are in the enjoyment of all-when Satan, bound, can no longer hinder our joy-the joy will be without mixture, without fear, and without end. At the Passover there is the bread of affliction; at the Pentecost there is still need to be on one’s guard in this world of sin, to observe the commandments; but when we shall be gathered to God we shall be in possession of the promises, and the only commandment is to rejoice. The child of God is still in the position to remember the bondage of Egypt, and to watch that he may walk in the Spirit. He sighs for the time of the full blessing, and that so much the more, because we more fully understand the things which God has prepared for those that love Him. When changed, or raised from the dead, the more completely our hearts range abroad, the more will God be glorified. Now joy exposes us to the danger of a fall, if we do not remember our deliverance from Egypt, and if we are not watchful to walk in the Spirit, whilst we are still in the flesh. Revelation 14:15-20 speaks of the harvest and of the vintage of the earth; Isaiah 63:1-19 speaks of the wine-press of the wrath of God; Matthew 13:1-58 shows that the harvest is the end of the age: there is not merely judgment but gathering, separation of the tares from the good grain. The vintage takes place when that which remains is decidedly bad, and is trodden in the press of the wrath and indignation of God. It is after this that the fullness of the joy of the people of God takes place, when the evil which prevents us enjoying the goodness of God has been destroyed. Music and singing come after the judgments, and the deliverance of the earth laid waste by sin. The trumpets in the Apocalypse are the trumpets of woe; the seventh in the Apocalypse is followed by songs of triumph. The feast of Tabernacles is divided into two parts-glory terrestrial, and glory celestial. It will become Israel to remember that it has been in the desert. As for us, it is not sin which keeps us in the wilderness, it is Christ-it is our portion as being partakers of the sufferings and of the death of Christ, If death comes there will be naught but joy, if we walk faithfully in the wilderness. Such is our position. And it is on this account that there is added to the feast of Tabernacles an eighth day, commencement of a new week, into which we must enter by resurrection. The joy was obligatory; the great day of the feast all were there. It is something over and above the seven days which God gives to the earth, and it enters into a state of things into which resurrection’ alone introduces. John 7:1-53 gives us a commentary on this. It was not yet time for Christ to show Himself to the world; that will take place when He shall appear at the true feast of Tabernacles. His brethren represent the unbelieving Jews. Later He goes up to the feast privately; but the great day, the eighth day, He shows Himself openly, figure of what was to take place by means of His death and resurrection. He proclaims the river of living water for those who shall believe-He proclaims grace to whosoever thirsts. It was concerning the reception of the Holy Ghost, who is the earnest of that heavenly glory into which Jesus was about to enter, of which He spake. The Holy Spirit is the witness in our hearts of that glory of man-of the Son of Man-seal in our souls, earnest of the inheritance which is given to us while waiting for the full manifestation of the glory. It is not merely the Holy Spirit as the principle of life, that is given in John 3:1-36, but a river which overflows on every side of us, because we have the knowledge of that joy and of that glory which belongs to us. This it is which makes us sigh after the time when such things shall be ours, and when we shall enjoy, in liberty, all the fruits of grace. To the Christian, death is ceasing from death, dying is ceasing to die. Here death surrounds me on every side, in every form, and I am dying daily; but this ceases to me at death. Then I leave all that into which death and dying can enter, and I go there, where all is life. True, I shall not have my resurrection-body then, but absent from the body and present with the Lord, I shall be there where life is, and where life fills all according to its measure. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: VOL 04 - ON THE REMNANT ======================================================================== On the Remnant ONE or two readers have failed to see the meaning of our little paper on this subject in our April number and lest there may be more we give the explanation, we wrote to one of our correspondents. It read thus: ― “I observe that you fail to perceive our meaning or to see the distinction between Christian doctrine and moral practice. I also observe that you take for your text a statement or sentiment, by way of, in the B. H. for April, 1880, which does not exist. We write about ’ the Church:’ you put it as if we had used the term `Christianity.’ One could not work intelligently for the Lord who did not own that all professing Christians are not Christians in truth; and the closing paragraph of our article distinctly refers to that. A remnant of the Church is clearly a thought foreign to Scripture, as I wrote to you; for in one aspect of the Church, it is the body of Christ, and of that body there could be no remnant in the sense of which you write of one. You write about something of which our paper does not treat. As far as we are concerned, you are fighting a thing of your own making." In the paper our correspondent sent to us he quotes " the language of a beloved brother," which we give to show that (whoever he is) he is not in opposition to us in what we have said either above, or in our pages: "there clearly is a remnant in Christendom, that is, all nominal Christians will not possess the privileges of true ones. And they are in this sense a remnant. But the results being different, it seems different, because the Jewish remnant remains on earth to become as such the nation, whereas true Christians going up to heaven, never appear as a distinct body in possession of their privileges, as all the dead saints will be raised up and go with them. But in the time of faith, the faithful will be just as much practically a remnant as the Jews will be. To deny the thing is to make me stay in the camp, and go on with all evil. To say there is not spiritually a remnant in the midst of Christianity is to give up life and spirituality as needed, and makes purifying one’s self from vessels to dishonor wrong." We agree with the writer when he says: ―" In the time of faith the faithful will be just as much practically a remnant as the Jews will be." But “practically a remnant " and " a remnant in Christendom" point to another thing than our article treats of. It says " turning our thoughts to the Church [not " Christendom "], it is manifest the term remnant would not apply for the assembly is viewed as existing as a whole on earth. Much instruction we may surely derive from the remnant of Haggai’s days, but a remnant or the remnant, is a term one would not use with reference to the Church." But though this is so, one would not object to the use of it, by way of accommodation to faithful saints, in " Christendom " as when this writer says " There is a remnant in Christendom." Of the Church there can be no remnant. In Christendom there has always been what answers to one spiritually, and will always be: there have always been those the Lord owns and approves of in the midst of the great Christian profession, and those He disowns and disapproves of. We admit fully that there must be a company answering " spiritually to a remnant in the midst of Christianity" or else we and others gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, have been acting without any Scripture warrant. But the term remnant is not used of the Church of God, nor could it be used of that which in one aspect of it is the body of Christ. We have full Scripture warranty for part of any local assembly, or of the general assembly being viewed as the only faithful ones. See Revelation 2:24.* But the special feature of a remnant, as set forth in the paper referred to, all we think must see, cannot be predicated of the Church of God. (* The only place where we have " the rest," the nearest term to the remnant, it designates a faithful company in Thyatira, or " Rome.") ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: VOL 04 - ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL ======================================================================== One God and Father of All THERE is something very remarkable about what is written of "One God and Father of all," in Ephesians 4:6. (1) " Who is over all, and (2) through all, and (3) in all." I compare it with 1 Corinthians 15:24; "To God and Father," 1:e.,” to (Him who is) God and Father." It is very obvious that in 1 Corinthians 15:24, it is " God and Father " (of all), as in Ephesians 4:6―" One God and Father of all." It is not in either place the Father of Christians (though the same Person who is so), but the first Person of the Trinity that is designated Father..It is not in His relationship in Christ to us, but in His mode of existence. It is God the Father in His creatorial, providential, and all-pervading nature who is spoken of. He is no doubt all this to Christians, but there is their added relationship to Him as God and Father in Christ: "My Father and your Father my God and your God " (also see Ephesians 1:3-6). “In all " (Ephesians 4:6) is the true reading: not " in you all," which was the mere gloss of acknowledge, and because they did not see that it was " God and Father of all " in universal sovereignty as having all in His possession. They thought it must refer to the Church. But it is true that He who is God and Father of the universe, is He who in Christ Jesus is the Father of all who believe in the Son of God, and have the son standing. This (5: 6) is God and the universe, and shows the all-comprehending sweep and magnitude of that into which we have been brought in Christ Jesus. The unity is threefold. (1) One Spirit and one Body. (2)One Lord and one Christendom. (3)One God, who is Father of all, and One Universe. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: VOL 04 - ORDINANCES ======================================================================== Ordinances WITH the Apostle Paul, there was a great question between faith and ordinances―but he never surrendered the right of the one to the pretensions of the other. In the former dispensation, ordinances abounded. The soul, so to express it, was only on the way to salvation then; but now we are called to enjoy accomplished, perfected salvation, to know it by faith. Accordingly, all the ordinances of the house of God in this age are celebrations, and not helps. They are made to celebrate our redemption, and we triumph in them instead of being helped by them. Baptism celebrates our personal salvation, and the supper in the midst of the assembled saints tells of their redemption by blood, the blood of the precious Lamb of God. But so in like manner, other ordinances―the covered female and the uncovered male, and the presence of the Holy Ghost in the midst of the gathered saints, have voices likewise that are heard telling of salvation. And so outside or abroad in the world, all our service (being the service of love and gratitude), and the prospect of our souls (being in expectation and desire, and not fear), with equal certainty and clearness, tell the same mystery of full deliverance. We wait for the Son from heaven who has delivered us from the wrath to come. All, in a certain sense, though in a different way, celebrate salvation. The ordinances of God’s present house may remind us of the lame man who took up his bed and walked, as soon as Jesus had spoken the word of healing to him-for, in token of perfected health and strength, we hold up what once helped and strengthened, and sustained us. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: VOL 04 - REDEMPTION ======================================================================== Redemption REDEMPTION, as one has said, was no afterthought with our God; it was His purpose from the beginning. By the work of redemption He prepares the richest glory for His own blessed name, and the fullest joy for His creatures. “The morning stars sang together," it is true,” and all the sons of God shouted for joy," when the foundations of the earth were laid; but the shoutings of grace when the new creation is finished by the bringing forth of the Head Stone, will be louder still. Never were such music and dancing in the house before, as when the poor prodigal had returned, and been revceied as one alive from the dead. Never had such affections been awakened within him before. Never had the father’s treasures been brought forth till then: till then the fatted calf, the ring, and the best robe had been laid up; and never had the father himself so full a joy in his child as when he fell on his neck and kissed him. And so is it in the wondrous ways of our God. Creation brought forth the resources of His love, and wisdom, and power, and heaven on high was glad through all its order, and earth smiled beneath, the fair witness of His handy-work; but redemption has drawn forth still richer treasures that were lying hid in God-has awakened still more adoring joy and praise " in the presence of the angels," and has given new and diviner affections to the children of men. Everything is to stand in grace. Love was of old, because God is love, and love was therefore made known in the work of creation, and that by communicating goodness and blessing. But love has found a fuller scope for expressing itself in the work of redemption, in bringing grace and showing mercy: and this is its new character (see 1 John 2:8). Grace, the source and power of redemption, is “the glory that excelleth "―the light that shined from heaven in converting grace and power round Saul of Tarsus, was " above the brightness of the sun at mid-day." Grace is the fullest, and indeed the only worthy expression of the unsearchable riches of divine love. The heavens will rejoice in grace (Revelation 5:11-12); and Israel, as representing the joy of the earth, will, in the end, triumph in it also (Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 61:10; Zephaniah 3:14-15). J. G. B. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: VOL 04 - SOME POINTS AS TO THE OFFERINGS ======================================================================== Some Points as to the Offerings SOME points as to the offerings in Leviticus having been lately cleared up to me, and brought home to my ’heart, I trust I may say, in a way I had not known them before, I would simply name them, with references to the passages by which they are illustrated or proved. To many readers these remarks may suggest nothing that is new; but to some they may not have occurred; and even where they have, the mention of them may stir up to renewed consideration of the subject, and thus promote growth in the truth. How happy to be fellow-learners in the school of our Divine instructor! First.―The Lord’s part in the peace (or prosperity)) offerings being the fat of the inwards, and this being consumed on the burnt-offering (see Leviticus 3:5), and with the meat-offering (see chap. 7:12), the participation in the other parts of the peace-offering of the priest that offered, the priests at large, and the worshipper, really brought them, into communion with God’s own joy and delight, not only in the peace-offering, but also in the burnt and meat offerings, of which the fat of the peace-offering was " the food." Secondly.―The fat of all the sin-offerings (except the red heifer in Numbers 19:1-22) was consumed on the altar of burnt-offerings (see Leviticus 4:10; Leviticus 4:19; Leviticus 4:26; Leviticus 4:31; Leviticus 4:35; Leviticus 7:5; Leviticus 16:25, &c., &c.) Thus we see, that even in that view of Christ’s work, in which he was most actually and absolutely made sin for us, His own inward devotion to God, in which He was willing to be thus made sin, was infinitely pleasant and acceptable to God, forming thus a link between the sin-offering and all the rest. How precious, that at the very time when Jesus was really bearing the judgment of God for our sins; when it was impossible that God could manifest His favor to Him; when, in consequence, He had to cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? At this very time the link with God on ’His (Christ’s) part was still, as always, unbroken! Indeed, in what one scene do we so see His complete devotion to the Father’s glory, as that in which He bows to His Father’s will that He should be made sin and suffer without the gate? And even when forsaken, and asking " why," He calls Him " My God! " Thirdly.―The case of the priest (see chap. 4:) whose sin interrupted the communion of the whole congregation, or the similar case of the sin of the whole congregation, is what cannot now occur. The instruction, therefore, as often in Hebrews, is by contrast not comparison. Our Priest cannot fail; and all the sins, yea, the sin of the whole congregation has once for all, and forever, been so expiated, that nothing now can disqualify the whole Church as such for communion and worship. Fourthly.―As to the diverse force and meaning of the laying on of hands on the victim. In the one case, that of the sin and trespass offerings, a person came as a sinner, and placing his hands on the victim’s head, confessed his sins, and transferred, as it were, the load of sin to the victim that suffered in his stead., In the other case, a person came as a worshipper, and placed his hands on the head of the animal, in token of being himself identified with the acceptableness of the offering. How gracious of our God to condescend to teach us thus! May our poor hearts profit by these typical instructions, knowing, as we surely do, something of their import from the full revelation in the New Testament of the great and blessed Anti-type! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: VOL 04 - SONS OF THE HIGHEST: " " SONS OF LIGHT." LUK_6:1-49; LUK_16:1-31 ======================================================================== Sons of the Highest: " " Sons of Light."Luke 6:1-49;Luke 16:1-31 WHO are these with fruit and beauty In a famined earth? In the deeps of Grace’s glory They have had their birth. Fruit from off the Tree of Wisdom, (Gold could never price), In the garden God hath planted, His own paradise. In a richer grace than Zion’s They are sent to shine, Whence the ark itself is dwelling, He―the Life divine. Not Jerusalem that rested Neath Mount Zion’s care, Blest indeed, but Joab-builded, Soon his fate to share: Walled on earth, compact together― Unity of sight, Till the womb of counsel travailed With the sons of Light. Now, Jerusalem their “mother," From her timeless place, Gives to Zion, out from heaven, Treasures of “all grace." There they joy and there they worship, There, the Head and Spring, Rivers of whose living waters, They, the vessels, bring. Thence they live, in favor nourished, Children of the day, Meting with the wondrous measure Fit for such as they. Not a mere position only Have the Highest’s sons; They are " heirs through God "―His givers, Consecrated ones. Come―to prove they are His vessels, His, in -Whom is life, (John 1:4). Giving ’mid the wild commotion Of the people’s strife. Givers, like the sun in heaven, Silently below, Blessing even “the unthankful” Everywhere they go. Joyous, in the steps and errands Of the hidden Christ, Satisfied ere yet they served Him, With Himself sufficed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: VOL 04 - SPIRITUAL STRENGTH ======================================================================== Spiritual Strength No one will deny, and very many will sorrowfully own that Christian vitality is at a low ebb. On the one hand, there are numbers of true Christians scattered over the land; on the other, Christian life expresses itself but feebly. The doctrines of grace are widely known; great and glorious truths are on the lips of multitudes, but the practical exposition of the truth is little manifested. A few years ago the truth of, the coming of the Lord was, comparatively speaking, strange to evangelical Christendom; here and there one rejoiced in it; now thousands accept this truth. The believer’s standing in a risen and ascended Christ not so long ago, was almost unknown language to multitudes of God’s people, who at this present day accept the fact of this their position. We might enumerate other truths now generally received, which a few years gone by were only recognized by a handful of God’s people. In the presence of unquestionable evidence we have the acknowledged fact of knowledge widely distributed, and also of spiritual vigor feebly existing. Perhaps the solution to this anxious question may be indicated by the way in which truth is laid hold of. The few gained it by prayerful search, and by digging into the treasures of God’s Word for themselves; the many gain it by the means of availing themselves of the labor of the few. The race of Bible students is not numerous. That is but little valued which costs but little to acquire. Again, there is a vast difference between laying hold of the truth, and being laid hold of by it. The truth makes free those whom it actually holds. The truth, is strong and strengthens our spirits. There is, however, beyond these things a grave reality, to which we now desire to call our reader’s attention; that is, our reader, who sighs over the little spiritual power which he finds in himself and also around him. It is the fact that truth is frequently taken up into the soul apart from Christ Not that any Christian is without Christ, for he is in Christ and Christ is in him, but in the sense that " apart from me ye can do nothing," truth may be acquired. There are saints of God knowing their position in Christ, who are like men brought into a palace and told that the palace and its glories are theirs, and who rove from room to room astonished at its wonders. There are others, who, upon being brought into the palace, fix their affectionate longings upon the One who is its joy. We shall not value less the glories of the place into which we are brought, because we value more and more the Person of the Lord, who is the glory of the place. Now it must ever be to the law and to the testimony, in the word and by the word the remedy shall be seen and administered by the Holy Spirit. We would then inquire, whether the moral beauties and excellencies of the life, of Jesus are sufficiently engaging our attention? Surely we are set in the palace of heavenly blessings in Christ that we may better know and appreciate Himself. It is spiritually easier to comprehend doctrines about Christ, than to perceive the loveliness of His ways. We need, beloved, to have the evangelists more in our hearts, and not their histories, as unfoldings of God’s dispensational ways merely, but as life-words bringing to our souls, face to face, and to the eye and ear, the person of Jesus. “The life of Jesus! " How great is the moral glory of His silence when He answered His accusers never one word. Even Pilate, the gentile governor, " marveled greatly." Herod hoped to see some miracle wrought by the meek and lowly One, he hoped to witness a mark of external power, but the silence of Jesus before him was power more wonderful still. Herod was blind to the glory, and he and his men of war set the lowly One at naught and robed Him in gorgeous mockery, and then sent Him back to Pilate. But this silence of Jesus commands our adoring worship. And do we not read, " Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body " (2 Corinthians 4:10). Were His death truly reckoned on ourselves, His life would express itself, though feebly, we own, in our bodies. Behold Him at the grave He came to empty of the beloved brother of Martha and Mary. See the tears flow down His face, and note His groans. Thus do our hearts learn by the life of Jesus to weep with those who weep. There do we obtain from Himself the treasure of His sympathy. Brethren, how softened would our spirits become if we held more company with the Lord. The Jews said, "Behold how He loved him." The Master’s tears and sighs touched even their hearts. Oh! for bowels of Christ, His, who fills the palace of God’s glory with everlasting luster, and who fills broken hearts below with peace. It is only as in company with Him, and as bearing about in our bodies His death, that the life of Jesus shall be manifested in us. Yet without this manifestation, what is our Christianity 2 The religious world has its Christless Christianity; may not we be in a like danger! It is really futile to have knowledge at our fingers’ ends if Christ be not flowing out in our lives. The perfect Man knew no jealous feelings, and this bane of God’s servants will be abolished from their souls so long as they bear about in their bodies “the dying of Jesus." The simple reason why Christian vitality is at so low an ebb, is because there is so little of personal dealing with Christ Himself. We must get back to the gospels, beloved, if we would walk as Christ walked. It is in the evangelists that we trace His steps. God grant us t) study Him in His thoughts, His words, and His ways; to consider Him in His sighs and His tears, in His peace and His joy; to engage our whole souls with Him in His relationship to His God and Father, and in His ministry below. Our ambition should be that the life of, Jesus should be manifested in our mortal bodies. To attain to this we must know what the life of Jesus is; and to do this, must get into the very atmosphere of the four gospels. The epistles teach us what it is to bear about in our bodies His dying. Perhaps, with this doctrine we are familiar. We know that He has died, and that we have died with Him; such is our liberty―marvelous and most wonderful liberty― freedom from self-self―gone in the grave of Christ. Yes, beloved, but how shall we deal with this liberty is relation to our state? Ah! then the question is personal and practical. How, indeed? How shall we bear about in our body His dying, when the flesh would not keep silence? Try it; yes try it, and see how much you know practically of a crucified Jesus. Bring this to bear upon the worries of daily life, on life’s cares and follies, and see how much Christian vitality you possess. It is in proportion to the extent of your manifestation of the life of Jesus. Heat, clamor, evil-speaking, uncharitableness, an overbearing spirit, all witness to the little Christian vigor that exists. Many, who have physical strength sufficient to roll away the stone of Lazarus’s grave, lack the spiritual ability to weep with broken hearts. We need a humbler and more Christlike Christianity. We need go to the four gospels, brethren, for Christ. It would be a happy thing, indeed, if having by grace been brought into the glorious place of our heavenly privilege in Christ, our enjoyed privilege was to be solely engaged with Christ Himself, and " so to walk even as He walked." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: VOL 04 - THE BIRTHRIGHT; AND THE BLESSING. GEN_25:27-34; GEN_27:30-36 ======================================================================== The Birthright; and the Blessing.Genesis 25:27-34;Genesis 27:30-36 GOD’S ways and dealings with His own people are marked by strong peculiarities, and distinguishing blessings. As a rule, we are not sufficiently alive to them, and fail to realize that the one great object of Christ was, not only to redeem, but to purify for Himself a peculiar people. There are two distinguishing peculiarities which mark us in these relations to God, ―first, the birthright; second, the blessing. We find this to be so, even in nature. Ask a Scotchman what distinguishes him from any other man: and he will at once speak of his nationality, and tell you it is by his birth. To bequeath a blessing is beyond any earthly power to do, but birthrights are handed down from father to son. This is merely for the sake of illustration. There are, likewise, certain immunities and privileges peculiar to God’s people. Another thing we find is, that our experiences govern us in these matters a great deal. A believer has, or has had, two sets of experiences; as a natural man the experiences of the heart are shown by their fruit, viz., discontent, envy, bitterness, malice, etc. But do you think that a Christian can be destitute of right experiences? Can he have knowledge of Christ, and be in communion with God, and yet have no corresponding experience; and is he not nourished by what he has got? A Christian stands here as “peculiar, “for he cannot be a discontented man, because he has got Christ; and not only this, but God makes this a realized power, and it produces experiences.” I will dwell in you by my Spirit; “our bodies are only the vessel; but the Holy Spirit in the believer is the felt power. Where are we to look for our birthright? Not in this world, nor of man, for we are “born of God." Is not this peculiar? You are not merely something better than you were, but you must altogether refuse to acknowledge what you were as in the flesh, because you are “born of God." This is a distinguishing truth, and a fact, as you read in John 5:21, “The Father quickeneth.". In Israel’s days, many who were halt, and diseased, came to the pool of Bethesda, waiting for the angel,―but " My Father worketh, and I work," supersedes all remedial measures of the law; for this quickening power is the beginning of a new creation by birth. Is this not peculiar? People speak oftentimes of national creeds, and lean upon them; but a church-creed is not a life-giving power, whereas the word of God is a living word. “God gives life" through His written word. If we turn from all these considerations, to recognize others, and look on the great fact of God sending forth His Son, by the mystery of ’flesh and blood at the incarnation, will not this give a new object for faith, and bring experiences and feelings into the soul by the Holy Ghost? If not, then we can have no adequate conception of God’s unspeakable gift to us, and no experiences, except our own sinful ones, which fall to our lot through the first Adam and a corrupt nature. God creates and forms new experiences in those who are in Christ. We may have conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, and between the old and new natures in us, but conflict should never discourage; on the contrary, it is a good sign. The Spirit of God in the believer makes him live out the new life, which he has by birthright, as one with Christ, and transformed from the world. It is like the steam-power overcoming everything which is contrary, whether winds or waves, and the vessel reaching its port depends on it. Our right by birth is as sons of God, and heirs, and the pathway is to Christ at the right hand of God in glory. It is He who worketh in us to will and to do, and the Spirit is the power which leads us along through all the difficulties of the way; they only prove the mighty power which has surmounted them, when at their highest point of danger. Divine life in Christ is now the life; and our being partakers of His nature makes experiences in us of a new character. In this world, and amongst the generations of men, all the cultivation is given to the mind; they do not cultivate the heart. In Proverbs, I see: "My son, give me thy heart." Nothing here masters the heart; for how can man grapple with his own heart? It is God’s prerogative, and God takes this up. “Christ dwelling in the heart by faith," and” Christ in you the hope of glory," are our birthrights by the effectual grace of God our Father. " Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man " (Eph.), must produce many experiences of a new and right sort. The Spirit resists the lusts and desires of the flesh, and of the mind, and the bad nature; but here it is more. We have eternal life “to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." We are likewise strengthened with might by His Spirit to comprehend, etc., and to know the love of Christ; this is a new history, and it is our birthright. If we lose sight of our birth, and rights-by-birth through grace, and begin to look at ourselves, Satan says, Do you think this is your portion, are you pure and lovely? But the believer looks at what Christ is, and we behold ourselves in His comeliness, and we are blessed according to the Father’s love to Him. Nothing was too high for Christ; He is set at the right hand of the Father, and we are joint-heirs with Him. This is, then, your birthright, else you deny the love and grace of the Father, and you deny the efficacy of the blood of Christ, and the witness in you by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not by the will of the flesh, nor by man, nor of men, that we get our own right, for they are Christ’s rights, and His alone,―and this is a distinction. It is a great comfort that God insists on this with us, as the result of our redemption. We are spoken to as those who are “bought with the blood of Christ;" we are not our own, and belong to God; our bodies are His. All these new and divine rights produce heavenly feelings and affections (as they well may) in the believer’s heart, supplied through the Holy Spirit. “It has not entered into the heart of man, etc.,.... but God has revealed it by his Spirit." Moreover, the anchor to our souls is inside the veil; and when tossed up and down by the wind and waves, or by the wear and tear of the wilderness journey, we look where the forerunner has for us entered, inside the veil, and this hope is the anchor of the believer. There may be rough and stormy seas, but faith and hope work out their salvation by means of them, like a gallant ship which runs out her anchor in proof thereof, and swings quietly, and peacefully thereby. " We look at things unseen, knowing that things seen are temporal." If you drop these blood-bought peculiarities, you must take up with mere earthly experiences; and the heavenly ones will not govern you, and characterize you, and, may be, will not occupy you. In this 27 chapter, we see that Jacob and Rebekah valued so greatly the birthright and the blessing, that they falsified themselves to obtain them from Isaac. What a rebuke is this to us, it may be-if we ask, “How do we value that which we rightly and lawfully possess?" In verse 29 of the 25. chapter, Esau is guided by His own present experiences, for he was faint, and at the point to, die;―whereas his brother Jacob’s heart was set upon the birthright, though Jacob acted wrongly as a supplanter; and had he been patient, God would have given the birthright by election (see Romans 9:1-33), and bestowed upon him the blessing in His own way. Esau says: "What good shall this birthright do me," for I am faint, and he gives up his birthright for a mess of pottage. If you do no look at your birth by the grace and calling of God, you will undervalue the right, and practically you will give it up for what will suit your haste, and serve you at the present moment. Look to Christ, who gives the standard and value to the birth, and its rights, and the blessing, according to the purpose and calling of God, as displayed in the glorified Son, on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. We are to be like Him; so if faint, look to Him for strength. Of a natural man it is said, "When he dies, all his thoughts perish;" but the Christian’s thoughts get brighter and brighter. It is not I dying, but all that is of sin, and my former self is separated from me forever, and the Spirit goes to Christ. The flesh and sin are left behind, and this is how faith sees it now, and despises the mess of pottage. If God did not summon us in John’s Epistle to behold “the manner of the Father’s love" in calling us out to glory, and telling us we are” sons of God," we could not speak on this subject; but there can be no question about these blessings in and with Christ, any more than of our birth. Many a natural man is born without any birthrights; but where are the heirs of God to turn for their birthright as sons? Thanks to “the Father," we find the roll in numerous Scriptures. Take Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies." Here we get birth, birthright, and blessing. Our new experiences of ourselves are according to the new creation, and take their form from Christ where He is, and we learn there is something outside and far beyond Adam, and the first heaven and the first earth, and self. There is, therefore, a new prayer offered up ’by Paul for us in verses 15 to the end, because the birthrights, and the blessing go so infinitely beyond us all, so he prays for “the spirit of wisdom and revelation, etc." Do not be afraid to say you think it beyond all that your heart ever knew, or conceived in you, for it shows, at least, that you see the birthright is there, and think rightly of it. Take another Apostle, and a different Epistle, and see how Peter brings the inheritance down upon a level which shows that it is not beyond anyone. The fact is, that in chapter 1:3, we are viewed in our birthright and blessing “as begotten, by Christ’s resurrection from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away." Is not this wonderful? If I went to any conveyance and told him I came about an inheritance, he would ask me, “What is your title?" It is by death, I reply. Very well, he understands me so far; but if I add, and it is by resurrection, would he not look surprised, as indeed he well might? Suppose I went on to say, in further describing this inheritance, that " it was incorruptible (he never heard of such a thing), and undefiled, and fadeth not away;" he would tell me he could have nothing to say to me, or to do with my case. He had never drawn up a conveyance of such a character, or for such an inheritance, and it was quite foreign to all practice in conveyance in the courts below; but such is the believer’s birthright! Go about with this thought of Peter’s, that you are begotten to an inheritance reserved for you in heaven with Christ the heir, and that you are kept for it by the power of God through faith unto salvation; passing the time of your sojourning here in fear watching and looking for Christ, " as God’s obedient children," till He come. Beloved brethren, ye do not get this exhortation in 1 Peter 1:14, until the Holy Spirit has brought out the birth, the birthright, and the blessing; then ye are addressed as obedient children, calling upon the Father if “faint or ready to die." We are nearer to our inheritance by all the circumstances and personal experiences on the way. Nearer by death, than now; therefore it can have no terrors for us. One thing more, in Genesis 25:33, take care none of us do what Esau did, when he thought lightly of the birthright, for he sat down to eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way; Jacob loved the inheritance, and Esau despised it. Jacob saw there was one thing worth having between God and His purposes of blessing, and that was the birthright. In Ephesians 1:1-23, “Blessings in heavenly places” revealed to us as the heirs of God, joint-heirs in the glory; and this is told with all the freshness of the Holy Ghost’s unction by Paul, as he unfolds the Father’s counsels to us by the Spirit. This must produce feelings and affections. As to all else, everything worketh together (under the sun) for unmixed “good, to those who love Christ," and are the called according to His purpose. Touching our pathway with Him, Jesus said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, or whether I speak of myself." Obedience is the divine way of learning for us; and we know the Father by doing His will. The higher you mark and estimate your birthright, the more practically, and in character with it, you will walk down here, " as sons of God, without rebuke in the, midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world," etc. (Php 2:15-16). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: VOL 04 - THE BRIDE AS A RELATIVE TITLE ======================================================================== The Bride as a Relative Title Is not” the Bride " in the place and relation we should expect to find her in the apocalypse? " The Bride, the Lamb’s wife," could not be said were there no Bridegroom―" the Lamb." It is then primarily, in relation to Him, that the Bride is spoken of: for the Spirit says “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready;" and this is not as yet the government of the world. The marriage is celebrated before the Bridegroom and Bride come into public display, in relation to the reign in glory in the world. “The Bride, the Lamb’s wife," is heard of first in association with the Lamb personally and in the marriage scene, which is surely indicative of the deepest affection, before she is seen associated with Him in the brightness of displayed glory. First the love and then the glory! Indeed, this is how the Lord said the Father’s love should be demonstrated: but the love is there to be so (John 17:23-24). For is it not the glory given which displays the Father’s love, if not to the Bride, at least to the saints of His family ―" Hast loved them as thou halt loved me 2" The title " Bride " is given because there is a Bridegroom whose love has won her heart, and whom she loves with bridal affections. I admit that the title, Lamb (Arnion), in the apocalypse is a title made good only in the future, and which will come into display in relation to the glory and government of the millennial world. The rejected One shall be the reigning One. This title occurs nowhere else, as applied to Christ: but in the book of the Revelation, which contemplates the seating of the Lamb on the throne of God; and it is a remarkable thing that it should appear there as often as twenty-eight times. Might we not say that this intimates that "The Lamb” characterizes it? And I doubt not “the Lamb’s wife” is also a title of the future; and that, as such, she will be associated with Him in glory when He governs the world in righteousness. But it does not take much spiritual discernment to see that love is that which makes and unites a bridegroom and a bride. The devotedness of the love on Christ’s part is seen in what he has done and is doing: " Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it in order that he might sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present the Assembly to himself glorious, having no spot or wrinkle or any of such things, but that it might be holy and blameless." This is the love, and these are the doings of love, and the object of the love on Christ’s part: and surely, in each heart there is even now the reciprocal affection of the Bride, if there be not yet the preparedness, the marriage relation, or the glory. The love tells of present attachment to the Lamb the title “the Lamb’s wife " of her coming special relation to Him in His glory, when administering the blessing and government of “the world to come." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: VOL 04 - THE CLOSING DAYS OF CHRISTENDOM ======================================================================== The Closing Days of Christendom I HAVE just been thinking how the great apostate systems, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are destined to advance in strength and magnificence, as their day of doom and judgment approaches. Witness the condition of the Woman in Revelation 18:1-24, and that of the Beast in Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 19:1-21. And I ask, Is not this present moment, through which we are passing, giving pledges of this? Do we not see the great apostate ecclesiastical system advancing to occupy itself of the world, with something of giant strides? And is not the world, as a civil or secular thing, spreading itself out in improvements and attainments, and cultivation of all desirable and proud things, beyond all precedent? Are not these things so, beyond the question of even the very least observant? And are they not pledges that all is now on the high road to the full display of the Woman and of the Beast, in their several forms of greatness and grandeur, which are thus, according to God’s word, destined to precede their judgment? These things, I own, are very plain and simple to me. But again I ask―Is there any notice in God’s word, that the saints, or the Church, are to rise to any condition of beauty or of strength befitting them, ere the hour of their translation come? The apostate things, as we have seen, are to be great and magnificent just before their judgment―but I ask, is the true thing to be eminent in its way, strong and beautiful in that strength and beauty that belong to it, ere its removal to glory? This is an affecting inquiry. What answer do the oracles of God give us? Paul, in 2nd Timothy, contemplates “the last days," in their perilous character, and the ruin of the Church, which we have seen, and do see at this day, all around us. But what condition of things among, the saints or elect of God, does he anticipate as following that ruin? I may say with all assurance, he does not contemplate any restoration as to Church order, any rebuilding of God’s house, so to speak, any recovery of corporate beauty or strength worthy of this dispensation; but he exhorts the pure in heart to call on the Lord together, purged from vessels to dishonor in " the great house," and there also, together, to follow the virtues, and cherish the graces, which become them and belong to them. Peter, in his 2nd Epistle, contemplates " the last days " also, and very fearful unclean abominations among professors, and very daring infidel scorning of divine promises in the world. But he gives no hint whatever that there will be restored order and strength in the Church, or in corporate spiritual action; he simply tells the saints to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, and to be assured of this, that the promise of His coming and majesty is no cunningly-devised fable. He speaks to them of an entrance into the everlasting kingdom, but never of a return to a restored order of things in the Church on earth. Jude, also, in like manner, anticipates “the last time," and many terrible corruptions, such as “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness." But what then? He promises nothing in the way of restored beauty and consistency as in earlier days, but just encourages the " beloved " to build themselves up in holy faith, and to keep themselves in God’s love; but he is so far from encouraging any hope of recovered order and strength in the Church on earth, that he tells them to be looking out for another object altogether, " the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." John, in his way, gives us the judgment of the seven Churches in Asia, in Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22. It is a very solemn scene. There is some good and much evil found in the midst of them. The voices of the Spirit, heard there, have healthful admonitions for us, both in our individual and gathered condition. But there is no promise that the judgment will work correction and recovery. The Churches are judged, and they are left under the judgment; and we know no more of them on earth; the next sight we get of the elect is in heaven (see chap. 4.). All this is serious and yet happy; and all this is strikingly verified by the great moral phenomena around us, under our eye, or within our hearing, at this moment. For we know that the great apostate things, the things of the world, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are in the advance, ripening to full bloom of vigor and of beauty, while we see the true thing broken, enfeebled, and wasted, in no wise promising to regain what once it had in days of corporate order and power. But it is well. It is gracious in the Lord, thus to cast up before us, in His word, the high road along which we were destined to travel, and the sights we were appointed to see. And it is happy to know, that our translation does not wait for a regained condition of dispensational order and strength; for, according to present appearances, we might have to wait long enough ere that could be. But mark, further, on this, same truth. At times, when the Lord Jesus was about to deliver the poor captive of Satan, the enemy at the very moment would put forth some fresh energy of evil and his captive apparently be in its most grievous estate. This was another form of the same thing that we notice throughout God’s word―that the apostate thing is in peculiar strength and magnificence just at the time when its doom or judgment is at the door, and that Christ’s thing is in weakness and brokenness, just as the deliverance He brings with Him is at hand. Joseph, Moses, and David, are samples of this also. One was taken from, a prison, to feed and rule a nation; another was drawn forth from an unnoticed distant solitude, where he had the care of flocks and herds, to deliver a nation; another was raised up and manifested from under the neglect and contempt of his own kindred, to sustain, by his own single hand, a whole people and kingdom. And what may really amaze us in the midst of such’ things is this―that some of these were in the place of degradation and loss, through their own sin, and the judgment of God. Thus it was with both Moses and David. Joseph was a martyr, I grant, and went from the sorrows of righteousness to the greatness of the rewards of grace. So was David in the day of Saul, when David at last reached the kingdom. But David in later times was not a martyr, but a penitent. He had brought on himself all the loss and sorrow and degradation of the rebellion of Absalom―and the sin that produced it. all had this heavier judgment of righteousness resting upon it, " the sword shall never depart from thine house." Nor did it. And thus he was under judgment; he was in the ruins which his own iniquity brought on him; he was the witness of God’s visitation in holiness, when suddenly his house, in the person of Solomon: broke forth in full luster and strength. And so Moses before him. Moses was a martyr, I grant, in his earlier days, in Malian, and comes forth from the place where his faith had cast him, into the honor and joy of being Israel’s deliverer. But like David, in later days, Moses was under judgment, judgment of God for his unbelief and sin. He trespassed, as we know, at the water of Meribah, and so trespassed as at once to forfeit all title to enter the land of promise. And nothing to the end could ever change that divine purpose. In that sense, the sword never departed, from Moses’ house, as it did not from David’s. He besought the Lord again and again, but it was in vain. He never entered the land-and thus he was judged, and still under the judgment, when grace abounds; for he is (in principle) translated, borne to the top of the hill, and not to the fields of Canaan, to the heights of Pisgah, and not to the plains of Jericho and Jordan. These things were so, But it is better to be judged of the Lord, than to be condemned with the world: for the poor, weak, and judged thing is drawn forth in the light and redemption of God, while the proud and the strong bow under Him. So, I say, there is no New Testament promise, that the church shall recover her consistency and beauty, ere her translation comes. She passes from her ruins to her glory, while the world goes from its magnificence to its judgment―ruins, too, I add, which witness the judgment of God. The sword has never departed from the house, May I not say, beloved, in the light of these truths, comfort yourself as you look abroad, and see what it is that is strong now-a-days, and what it is that is weak. But let me add―let not the weakness of which I speak, the corporate or church weakness of the saints,. be the least occasion for personal moral relaxation. This would be a sad and terrible use to make of the truths we are speaking of, and gathering from Scripture. We are most surely, to be separate from evil as distinctly as ever, and to cherish all the thoughts and ways of holiness as carefully as ever. But further. We may find some hesitation in knowing exactly how to speak of Israel’s history, whether it be that of a martyr or a penitent. It has something of each in it, more, however, I judge of the latter. But whether or not, their recoveries and redemptions illustrate the mystery which we have now before us, that the apostate thing goes to judgment in the hour of its chiefest strength and greatness, and the true thing rises from amid its infirmities and ruins to its glory and blessedness. They were in a low condition in Egypt, as brick-kilns and taskmasters tell us, and the exacted tale of bricks without the accustomed straw, just as the Lord was sending Moses and his rod for their deliverance.-So again in Babylon. The enemy was insulting their bonds, making merry in infidel despite of the captivity of Jerusalem and her temple, when that very night, the Deliverer of Israel entered Babylon. So again in Persia. The decree had fixed a day for their destruction, and that decree’ would not, could not, be changed. Their Amalekite persecutor was in power, and all, as far as the eye could reach, was utter destruction―but Haman fell and the Jews were delivered. And so will it be again with the same people, (Deuteronomy 32:36 and Isaiah 59:16). " At evening time it shall be light." The city will be taken; all the people of the earth will be round it in its day of siege and straitness; half of it will go into captivity; the houses shall be rifled, and all will be waste and degradation―but the Lord from heaven shall, in that instant plead their cause. “At evening time it shall be light." The shadow of death shall be turned into the morning (see Zechariah 14:1-21) And again, Cesar Augustus was in strength and majesty. His proconsuls were in far distant provinces, his decree had gone to the ends of the earth, and the whole Roman world was set in beauty and order, just as Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-52). But the remnant were feeble. The family of David lived at Nazareth, and not in Jerusalem. The hope of the nation lay in a manger at Bethlehem. A devout, solitary, expectant saint or two frequented the temple, and it was shepherds during their nightly watches who had glories revealed to them. Israel had thus fallen, together with the house of David, and fallen, each of them, by their iniquity and the judgment of God. The sovereignty of the Romans could command the chief of Israel’s sons from Galilee to Judea, to be taxed and estimated, like the rest of Roman property. But the Lord was at hand. The child, who was to be for the fall and the rise of things, and people, was just born. Let us be emboldened according to God, and judge not according to flesh and blood, but by the light of the Lord. And again, I say, as the Apostle teaches, it is better to be judged of the Lord, than to be condemned with the world. Judgment has begun at the house of God. He abaseth the proud and exalteth them that are cast down. The candlesticks are visited in the keen and searching power of Him whose " eyes were as a flame of fire"-and as far as we know them here on earth, there they are left-but the place of judgment proves itself to be next door to the place of glory (Revelation 1:1-20; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 4:1-11) It is all right and comforting to faith; strange to the reasoning and religion of nature. The church will go from her ruins up to glory―the world will pass from its proudest moment of greatness to the judgment. God taketh the beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes. Would that the saints of God were apart from the purposes and expectations of the world. " Come out of her, my people." " The feeble saint shall win the day, Though hell and death obstruct his way." The Lord will vindicate his own principles, and establish His own thoughts forever, though the voices that witness them be feeble, and well nigh lost in the din of the world’s exultation. May the heart of the humbled, broken saint be comforted in Him ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: VOL 04 - THE DIVINE CENTER OF UNITY ======================================================================== The Divine Center of Unity THERE must be an intrinsic power of union holding it together to a center, as well as a power separating from evil to form it; and this center found, it denies all others. The center of unity must be a sole and unrivaled center. The Christian has not long to inquire here. It is Christ. The object of the Divine counsel―the manifestation of God Himself―the one only vessel of mediatorial power, entitled to unite, creation as He by whom and for whom all things were made; and the Church as its redeemer, its head, its glory, and its life. And there is this double headship, He is head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. This will be accomplished in its day―for the present we take up the intermediate period, the unity of the Church itself, and its unity in the midst of evil. Now there can be no moral power which can unite away from evil but Christ. He alone, as perfect grace and truth, detects all the evil which separates from God, and from which. God separates. He alone can, of God, be the attractive center which draws together to Himself all on whom God so acts. God will own no other―there is no other to whom the testimony could be borne, who is morally adequate to concentrate every affection which is of God and towards God. Redemption itself, too, makes this necessary and evident; there can be but one Redeemer, one in whom a ransomed heart can be given, as well as where a divinely quickened heart can give all its affections, the center and revelation of the Father’s love. He, too, is the center of power to do it. In Him all the fullness dwells. Love, and God is love, is known in Him. He is the wisdom of God and the power of God. And yet more than this, He is the separating power of attraction, because He is the manifestation of all this, and the fulfiller of it in the midst of evil; and that is what we poor miserable ones want who, are in it, and it is what, if we may so speak, God wants for His separating glory in the midst of evil. Christ sacrificed Himself to set up God in separating love in the midst of evil. There was more than this, a wider scope in this work, but I speak in reference to my present subject now. Thus Christ becomes not, only the center of unity to the universe in His glorious title of power, but, as the manifester of God, the one owned and set up of the Father, and attractor of man, He becomes a peculiar and special center of divine affections in man, round which they are gathered as the sole divine center of unity. For indeed, as the center, necessarily the sole center, He that gathereth not with me scattereth. And such, as to this point, was the object even, and power of His death. I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. And more especially, He gave Himself, not for that nation only, but that He might gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad. But here again we find this separation of a peculiar people. He gave Himself for us, that He might purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He was the the very pattern of the Divine life in man, separate from the evil by which it was universally surrounded. He was the friend of publicans and sinners, piping in grace to men by familiar and tender love, but He was ever the separate man. And so He is as the center and high-priest of the Church. “Such a high-priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners "―and, it is added, " made higher than the heavens." Here in passing we may remark, that the center and subject of this unity then is heavenly. A living Christ still became the instrument of maintaining the enmity, being Himself subject to the law of commandments contained in ordinances. Hence, though the Divine glory of His person necessarily reached over this wall as a fruitful bough of grace to poor perishing Gentiles without (and it could not be otherwise, for where faith was, He could not deny Himself to be God, nor what God was, even love); yet in His regular course, as a man made of a woman, He was made under the law. But by his death He broke down the middle wall of partition, and made both one, and reconciled both in one body unto God―making peace. Hence it is as lifted up, and finally as made higher than the heavens, that He becomes the center and sole object of unity. Let us remark in passing, that hence worldliness always destroys unity. The flesh cannot rise up to heaven, nor descend in love to every need. It walks in the separative comparison of self-importance. “I am of Paul," &c.” Are ye not carnal and walk as men 2 “Paul had not been crucified for them, nor had they been baptized in the name of Paul. They had got down to earth in their minds, and unity was gone. But the glorious heavenly Christ in one word embraced all. “Why persecutest thou me?” This separation from all else was more slow among the Jews, as having been outwardly themselves the separated people of God; but having fully shown what they were, the word to the disciples was, "Let us go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." The Lord, when as the great result He would have one flock and one shepherd, put forth His own sheep and went before them. Indeed, we have only to show that unity is God’s mind, and separation from evil is the necessary consequence; for it exists as a principle in the calling of God before unity itself. Unity is purpose, and as He is the only rightful center, it must be the result of Holy power; but separation from evil is His very nature. Hence, when He publicly calls Abraham, the words: “Get thee out of thy country, and out of thy kindred, and from thy father’s house.h fellowship with Him and walketh in darkness, lieth, and doth not the truth. Separation from evil is the necessary first principle of communion with Him. Whoever calls it in question, is a liar―he is, so far, of the wicked one, He belies the character of God. If unity depends on God, it must be separation from darkness. So with one another. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And mark, here there is no limit. It, is as God is in the light. There the, blessed Lord has placed us by His precious redemption, and hence, by that, the whole manner of our walk and union must be formed; we can have no union (as of God) out of it. The Jew could, because his―though separation, and hence the same in principle―yet was only outward in the flesh, and the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest; no, not even for the saints, though in God’s counsels doubtless they were to be there through the sacrifice about to be offered.and center of unity, but in the name of Jesus, of a people separated alike from Jew and Gentile, and delivered out of this present evil world into union with their glorious Head. By Peter, God visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a. people for His name; and of the Jews there was a. remnant according to the election of grace. As St. Paul, one of them, was separated himself from Israel, and from the Gentiles, to whom he was sent. And so was the constant testimony. He that saith he hath fellowship with Him and walketh in darkness, lieth, and doth not the truth. Separation from evil is the necessary first principle of communion with Him. Whoever calls it in question, is a liar―he is, so far, of the wicked one, He belies the character of God. If unity depends on God, it must be separation from darkness. So with one another. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And mark, here there is no limit. It, is as God is in the light. There the, blessed Lord has placed us by His precious redemption, and hence, by that, the whole manner of our walk and union must be formed; we can have no union (as of God) out of it. The Jew could, because his―though separation, and hence the same in principle―yet was only outward in the flesh, and the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest; no, not even for the saints, though in God’s counsels doubtless they were to be there through the sacrifice about to be offered. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: VOL 04 - THE FATHER'S SHEEP ======================================================================== The Father’s Sheep " My Father... gave them me."John 10:29. ".. Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father... We have been planted together in the likeness of his death."-Romans 6:4-5. Exodus 3:1. WHILE the outward fair creation With its Maker’s works doth shine, We behold a garden planted, Veiling mysteries divine: Thus, that solitude in Midian, Ere Jehovah’s ways begin, Shadows, too, a precious secret To the heart that enters in: Every shepherd superseded- " One," the Shepherd only seen. Far beyond the rule of Pharaoh, Tasting Grace’s soundless deep, By the streams of purpose-blessing, Jesus tends the Father’s sheep. In that desert of rejection, Listening only to His voice, Lying down amid His pastures, In His presence they rejoice; Knowing well the hand that blesses The beloved ones of His choice. Given to the Heir of counsel Ere the course of time began, Finding in’ Himself their portion, Buried from the world and man: All the Father’s love revealing To the captives of His spoils, All the Shepherd’s joy expending On the treasure of His toils; Rescued from the great destroyer, And the serpent’s deadly coils. In the rest the Father gave Him Ere His outward fame doth swell, Hidden from the scene external, There He is " content to dwell." Banished by " His own," He knows them In that garden love hath framed, Glory of the grace disclosing Where one costly pearl He claimed,― Waiting now, in hope, with Jesus― Hope that maketh not ashamed. There they fill His heart with gladness, While His patience follows them, Ere, in bright Jehovah-glory, He receives that priceless gem.―(Exodus 18:1-27) Meekness, gentleness, and mercy, Are the desert walls that guard In the reign of grace, well proving Why " the breast " was His award; (Exodus 29:26.) Power divine to life eternal Their’s―" through Jesus Christ our Lord." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: VOL 04 - THE FOUR SHOSHANNIM PSALMS. A FEW BRIEF NOTES ======================================================================== The Four Shoshannim Psalms. a Few Brief Notes (1) Psalms 69:1-36 th, a Psalm of humiliation, the Cross and rejection (Isaiah 53:1-12) The four gospels tell how the lilies of his graces in deep shades of the valley of humiliation grew and gave forth their lowly testimony to the altogether lovely One, the man Christ Jesus―perfect in all things, His beauty matchless, when He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (1 Peter 2:21-25). " Consider the lilies how they grow! Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." " Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself." Also Php 2:1-30, Hebrews 2:1-18; 1 Peter 2:21-25. The whole of the four gospels tell out the lily graces of the Lowly One. Perfect loveliness and perfect purity in the lowest place! There is only Shoshannim―the lilies, attached to Psalms 69:1-36 For " Himself " was the testimony to what and who he was: so "eduth" is not added: for He says, " I am the light," and He needs no testimony to Him―the lily grew in stature and in favor with God and men. His lowly presence in all the relations of life―His hiding Himself―His quiet, lonely course, " foxes have holes," &c.―"the Son of man hath nowhere to lay His head "―His perfectness with Satan in the wilderness, taking the lowly place of a dependent man living by every word of God. Perfect in His dealing with men―the suffering―the sorrowing, the bereaved―friends―enemies―reasoners―accusers―perfect in lowliness, in life―in Gethsemane―at Calvary―and in death "crucified through weakness." He " humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross." All that Paul says of " Charity " in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 was true of Him: and a thousand times more. " Yea, He is altogether lovely! " There is no Psalm so often quoted as Psalms 69:1-36 The Spirit in the New Testament refers to Him specially in His humiliation. For there His deepest glories shine in all their lowly lily beauty and perfection. It is quoted seven times in the New Testament, as the utterance of the Lord. There is seven-fold perfection in Christ in His life on earth; the one perfect, spotless Son of man is seen in His seven-fold loveliness of character. When our one life is detailed into seven foldness, the imperfections are seen at once, but every detail of our blessed Lord’s life was perfect as the lily! God delighted in Him (Matthew 3:1-17; Matthew 17:1-27.; see also Acts 2:1-47) The perfection of Christ in His humiliation and rejection, when all in Him was tried, was that of the divine and heavenly lily in all its purity in the most unfavorable circumstances. I have gone on so far with Psalms 69:1-36 (though the half hath not been told), that I must merely mention what is in the other three Psalms. (2) Psalms 45:1-17 is a Psalm of the kingdom, and the glory both of the Bridegroom and the earthly Bride. It is Shoshannim only, " The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land!"* (* " The Lamb is the light thereof!") In Psalms 69:1-36 we had the sufferings of Christ: here in Psalms 45:1-17, His glories. But we know the hidden glories―glories in the heavens―the things of purpose and counsel―" things above; " but where Christ sitteth in all His personal and official glories. The Epistles open the heavens to see the lilies there since He ascended, for " We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels crowned with GLORY and Honor "... "Consider the lilies!"... CONSIDER the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus! “Think of His glories as Head of all creation -Head of His body, the Church―Head of all principality and power; the glory in the Father’s house as Son of the Father, and His many sons―glory in the golden city, glory in Israel and the nations. " The glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.’ (3) Psalms 60:1-12 is a Psalm of warfare. Here we have " Shushan-eduth,"―the lily of testimony. Here we have the Lord as a man of war, and through Him His people doing valiantly. " We triumph in Thy triumphs, Lord," &c. The testimony is of the Lord’s triumphant conquest, and dividing the lands as the spoils of conquest. There is a banner to be displayed because of the truth. The truth is He has triumphed, not we. To us it is " be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might " &c. (see and read Ephesians 6:10-20). Then, as the Psalm is of Israel, the banner of the Lord will yet float over Mount Zion and Jerusalem, when He treads down all their enemies, and reigns before His ancients gloriously, &c. He subdues all through the millennium, and delivers up a peaceful kingdom to Him who is God and Father. " And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." This speaks of His lowly character when all His warfare shall be over for all his subjugation of the world will have been accomplished as servant of His God and Father, and not that he might retain the kingdom, but deliver it up to Him. Moreover, as Son He retains the place of subjection that this new kind of obedience―the Father commanding and the Son obeying-might have in Him its model and manifestation before the universe forever and ever. (4) Psalms 80:1-19 is a Psalm of failure; and the Shoshannim-eduth―the lilies of testimony to what God had done at the first grow in a very low valley. Only read this Psalm! It is a plaintive wail. It recounts Joseph-days, tabernacle-days, wilderness-days, when their camp was guided, guarded, and gladdened by His presence, " Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh," seeing the pillar cloud of the glory rise before them to lead them on their way (Numbers 10:22-24). " Shine forth! " Everything was freshly established then, and the testimony of the Psalm is to that―God’s past doing in view of man’s failure; and this leads to dependence for the present, and hope for the future. " Let Thy hand be upon the Man of Thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself," &c. Thus the very Psalm of failure is a Psalm of the Man of God’s right hand And where such failure as in the Church? And where does this lead us? To the Man in the glory―the Man of God’s right hand―strong by Himself, and back to that which was from the beginning! Blessed be His Name! Let us think of His lowliness and long-suffering that He still goes round the wilderness with us in all our failure, and waits patiently for the Father’s time to arise and hare His name vindicated! HALLELUJAH! (Matthew 11:25-30; 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Peter 3:18). SON of the Father hail! Son of God eternal! Jesus, the Sinners’ Friend, whose favor knows no end; Love made thee condescend, with man to make abode, And thro’ Thy precious blood, we’re now brought nigh to God. Thee, Savior-Lord we bless―our Lord Jesus! Full of truth and power; Highly-blessed, Blessed, evermore! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: VOL 04 - THE KNOWLEDGE OF' THE SON OF GOD ======================================================================== The Knowledge Of’ the Son of God WHILE I believe that we are called on at the present hour most carefully to weigh the doctrine taught, and tp take our share in the exercise of discipline, there is a present-day occupation for the saints, which few of them seem to be very fully engaged in. There has been ample teaching on the Church, and the coming of the Lord; but what we are called for to our blessed place in. Christ above, and our holy plane in the Spirit below, is not to go round and round in a mill-course of: well known doctrine; but, having got our place and standing, what is now to be our occupation? Is there no thing to be known or done further? Everything. For true Christian life now begins. The Father and the’ Son, into whose fellowship we have, been brought, are to be known (see 1 John 1:1-10). Place, doctrines, and things cannot satisfy either the mind or heart of the sealed saints of God. What Ephesians 4:13, teaches, points out to us our great present occupation to, be the seeking after more of acquaintedness with the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. We have learned a little of the unity of the faith from St. Paul: but is not the Spirit now pressing into prominence the full-knowledge of the Son of God by St. John? I stand with Peter to learn from his (Paul’s) epistles, what Paul teaches (2 Peter 3:15-16), but must I not also stand with Paul and learn further St. John’s teaching of the highest of all truth, the full-knowledge of the Son of God, leading on to. God in His nature, personality and relationships? This is, I think, the occupation for the present moment,, in the mind of the Spirit: a very different thing from pottering at a variety of worn-out ecclesiastical odds and ends, and living at the level of the zealous ecclesiastic. I write thus, dear brother, that you may, by getting this higher occupation, be delivered from your present occupation and bondage: for divine deliverance is what is needed in such cases. The Lord will enable you to throw all unprofitable discipline-engrossment clean out of your mind if you only ask Him. Making it an object it becomes a distinct " snare of the devil," set cunningly by him as " an angel of light," and the willing captive is held as by the very authority of Christ Himself, thinking he is bound by faithfulness to Him to make this his sole occupation! One never knows how deep he is in a pit until he tries to get out. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: VOL 04 - THE LORD'S SUPPER ======================================================================== The Lord’s Supper THE intention of our present writing is to consider carefully and closely what the Spirit, by the Apostle Paul, has given us regarding the Lord’s Supper, in the second half of 1 Corinthians 11:1-34 All that we shall do in this number, will be to consider the disorders connected with it, and the Apostle’s censure of them. "Now this I command [you], not praising you, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse." The Apostle’s praising (verse 2), and his not praising, are closely connected with the two parts into which the chapter is divided. (1) "Now I praise you that in all things ye are mindful of me; and, as I gave you them,’ that ye hold fast the traditions." He would praise them for holding fast the instructions, or directions, he had given them. But grave disorders had broken out among them at the love-feast, and the Lord’s Supper, and with regard to these he writes, " I praise you not" (or " not praising.") "Now this I enjoin (or command); " he does not say what, but goes into a detailed statement of the disorders he had heard of on their assembling together; and then, at verses 32, 33, he gives his injunction. There are some who think that the words, "Now this I enjoin," refer to what goes before respecting the veiling of Christian women. This does not commend itself to us as correct. It refers most distinctly to what follows, for his whole writing to the end of the chapter has the effect of an authoritative apostolic injunction, laying down positive doctrine, and rectifying their disorders. " That ye come together not for the better but for the worse." This appeared in their moral condition, and also in such things as are mentioned at verses 29, 30. There is no place where our state is more deteriorated by levity and irreverence of mind and act than at the Lord’s table. But if we observe the Lord’s Supper in a spiritual, devout, reverent frame of mind, really discerning the Lord’s body, being in contact with Him in His death by a living faith, and worshipping the Father with praise-filled lips, our souls and hearts, touched afresh by the love of Christ, we shall be perceptibly " better," and our whole moral state shall be elevated, and our spiritual tone improved. But it is a very solemn thing that, if we come not together for the better, it must be for the worse, and may even be " to judgment " (verse 34). That ye come together not for the better, but for the worse, is what he cannot praise in the Corinthian Church. He then proceeds to point out their faults in detail. " For, first, when ye come together in assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it." He had heard of their divided state of opinion (chap. 1:10), and had dealt with them regarding it, and their setting up of one leader against another; but here divisions had shown themselves in their Church meetings even when professedly come together to eat the ordinary love-feast, and partake of the Lord’s Supper, which then went along with it. " In the church" does not mean "place of assembly," nor " congregationally," but "in a church-meeting" or "in assembly," as the words literally read. " For first," de. Where is the second point? At verse 20? Not so, but at chap. 12:1; for Paul blames two evils in this assembly: (1) the degeneration of the love-feast (verses 8-34), and (2) the misapplication of the gifts of the Spirit (Chapter 12:1). There were divisions among the believers at Corinth, but they had not separated from one another externally as Christians have done in our day. There was a divided state of mind, heart, and feeling, leading to selfish and disorderly action when gathered together; and this, in turn, to deterioration of their spiritual state; but there were no outward separations. They all came together in assembly. They had unhappily more light and gifts than love and conscience; but yet they continued to come together in a church-meeting as one assembly. If there were mutual separations, they were within the assembly. The divisions or schisms were only separations through social distinctions, or alienated feeling; saints ceased to cleave to one another through want of love, or differing thoughts, or position. But the saints thus divided in thought, feeling, or by social distinctions, were still the one “Church of God at Corinth." But when this negative process of not cleaving to one another in cordial Christian love and sympathy goes on for a time, the falling away assumes a more positive and antagonistic form in the reunion of the disunited into cliques and parties, in accordance with the law of sympathizing selection. This is a necessity, in the nature of things, arising from the operation of divided opinion and alienated feeling; and then we have what the apostle calls heresies in verse 19, as the evil result. Schism is the inner disunion in the Church, which shows itself outwardly in heresies or positive divisions and factions, which would naturally lead ultimately to a position outside. "For there must be also sects among you, that they who are approved may become manifest among you (verse 19). " Heresies " here does not mean false doctrines, but false parties antagonistic to the assembly, or factious divisions in the Church. They separate themselves into factions, generally around some leader who has got some notion of his own outside of Scripture, which, if carried out to its logical issue, would lead him outside the Church on earth. Writing to Titus St. Paul gives this injunction: "An heretical man after a first and second admonition have done with, knowing that such an one is subverted, and sins, being self-condemned." A heretic is a man that sets up his own opinions, and by that means forms a party in the church, and sins, and is self-condemned; for by making a party for his own opinions he is not satisfied with the truth as God has given it, nor with the church formed by it, but wants to have a truth of his own, and a party around himself, and his own notions. The apostle writes to the Corinthians, ’ For it is necessary that there be also heresies among you in order that the approved may become manifest among you." The Lord said in Matthew 18:7, " It must needs be that offenses come," &c. The end to be reached by the presence of heresies among the saints at Corinth, was that the tried or approved ones among them might become manifest by their keeping clear of such factions. God permits such sects to appear in the church to test faith and fidelity; and how few stand such a test, and keep apart, especially when, as at Corinth, parties in the church are all but universal, and a saint is esteemed as of no account unless he be in connection with one or another of them! Yet says the apostle, by the Holy Ghost, the sects must be among them, that the approved―the persons who have stood the test and refused all these factions and parties-may become manifest. God’s approved ones are such as stand by God’s truth and God’s church, and refuse to be carried away by party agitation, or to be ensnared by the most subtle and specious heresies. The language here is believed by some to refer to the future and the coming of these "heresies," others, that the heresies were there. “There must also be heresies (as well as other evils) among you," and they are even now among you. But one would suppose from the " also" that there was also a stress to be laid upon the " heresies," as indicating something worse than schisms, and pointing to what would continue to happen in the future of the church. “For it is necessary that there must arise even heresies among you as an ordeal to test and make manifest those who are approved"―a truth which the whole history of the church has signally illustrated, and never more conspicuously than in our day. " When ye come together therefore into the same place, there is no eating of the Lord’s supper; for in eating each takes his own supper beforehand, and one as hungry, and another drinks to excess" (verses 20, 21). " Therefore" resumes, after the parenthesis, from verse 18; and the apostle now proceeds to the real object of his censure, " When ye come together" is followed by a phrase (epi to auto), which also signifies together, and never once means one place in Scripture: and this leads one to think that it must mean the same thing as, " When ye come together in assembly,," inverse 18. For this was the sorrowful thing that, meeting ostensibly, in a body, professedly as the church, and as a whole (see Matthew 22:34; Luke 17:38; Acts 1:15; 2:1; 44:47; 4:26; 1 Cor. 7:5; 11:20; 23), there should be such a want of heart and conscience among the saints, and such a lack of order and waiting for one another that " there does not take place an eating of the Lord’s Supper;" for after the custom of the men of their nation when they met at supper each of the better sort seemed to have brought bread and wine and meat, each for himself, which they did not set out for general use, as would have been done in a happier condition of things, but everyone generally ate his own, or that which he had brought. In this each one took his own supper as it suited him, not waiting for, or sharing his abundance with, others’; and so " one is hungry," the poorer saints, " and another is drunken," the better-off sort. Awful description! Dreadful state of things! And in this there was no eating of a Lord’s Supper, which was a common eating of all, but of that which was each one’s own supper, He therefore says, " It is impossible in these circumstances to eat Ethel Lord’s Supper." And not only was it impossible to eat a Lord’s Supper in that way; but it was a selfish way of eating even the social meal that, at that time, accompanied the Lord’s Supper, and which furnished the material elements for the latter, for the well-to-do took their own supper separately, even in the place of meeting, and left the poor in their hunger without any provisions. Love was gone from their hearts, and this allowed such ungracious conduct in their gatherings. How different this from the saints at Pentecost, when " all that believed were together, and had all things common;" and when they " broke bread at home," and at the same time " did eat their meat with ’gladness and singleness of heart, praising God!" " And the Lord added together daily such as should be saved." The apostle, then, brings home the disorder to the consciences of the Corinthian saints in a lively succession of questions, and shows them the awful character of such conduct in God’s assembly. “What, have ye not then houses for eating and drinking Or do ye despise the church of God, and put to shame them who have not? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I praise you not" (verse 22). As we have already seen, the early Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper at the same time that they ate the love-feast, so that the joint repast was one continuous feast after the pattern of the Lord’s doing at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, when He ate the Passover feast with His disciples, at the same time that He gave them the Lord’s Supper. Together, both love-feast and Lord’s Supper, were regarded as one feast and called “the supper belonging to the Lord " (Kuriakon deipnon, the Dominical supper). All the saints of God in a city being one in Christ, and " all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus "―one family, one church, they ate together the supper given by the Lord in this twofold aspect of it, as witnessing their unity and union for time and for eternity. This combination, although forbidden by the apostle for the assembly henceforth, continued down to the end of the fourth century. But at Corinth, where the love of the saints had evaporated through their too exclusive occupation with gifts and their division and forming of parties around leaders, the Lord’s Supper, which was to keep the Lord and His love freshly before their souls and hearts, thereby degenerated into a mere idion deipnon (one’s own supper), and was thereby deprived of its peculiar meaning and significance, and was so utterly unlike what the Lord instituted, and that which St. Paul had delivered to them from the glorified Christ in heaven, that it had become a personal eating which might as well have been performed in their own homes, for its assembly character and their common partaking as one body, had disappeared; and it was no longer a bond of union and a remembrance of Christ into whom they were baptized as one body, but a symbol of discord and a scene of disorder, selfishness, and shame. Such are the baneful effects of Christians having divisions among themselves, which tend to the isolation of individuals, and the forming of parties in the church. What! have ye not houses for eating and drinking?" If there is no higher Object than eating and drinking in solitary isolation, better far be in your own houses. If it is not an eating of the Lord’s Supper as a common and united feast in remembrance of the Lord Himself in His death for God’s glory and our redemption, the Lord’s body not being discerned―it must be a coming together " not for the better but for the worse"―not for edification, but for judgment! " Or despise ye the church of God?" of which the better part are the poor in this world, rich in faith (James 2:5). For it is not church-buildings, of which there were none (and better for the saints there had never been any), but the building of Christ and the living assembly, built of living stones on the living Stone, and partakers of all His preciousness by faith which is here called " the church of God." “Despise ye the church of God? Christ loved the church and gave himself for it," and do ye despise that for which He shed His blood that you maintain your divisive isolation even at the Lord’s table, that tells by its expressive emblems of that " Lord’s death" which gave it birth? “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Because, we, the many, are one bread, one body; for we all partake of the one bread (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)." Here is complete identification with Christ in His body and blood at the Lord’s table; and our unity is as complete as our identification, and we give expression to our being one body there (and nowhere else), in the very act of communicating, "for we all partake of that one bread." The saints being "one body" partake of the one bread, and drink of the one cup, and in doing this they manifest themselves as one body. “Despise ye the church of God " by eating in isolation, and not in fellowship? This is done wherever there is divided feeling such as to produce individual instead of united eating and worship, or to gender that isolation that keeps saints apart, or makes them refuse to recognize one another after the supper in the cordial greetings of Christian brotherhood. For is not corning together week after week for the breaking of bread, and yet refusing to shake hands with, or to speak to, each other at the close, in principle, a despising of "the church of God?" The assembly is God’s, for He has both formed it, and dwells in it, and has purchased it with the blood of His own Son. What dignity attaches to it! It is God’s new work in Christ, for which Christ died, rose, and went above, and the Holy Ghost came down to give it its existence and objective manifestation, and dwells in it to maintain it in divine power, in blessing and unity in Christ, that He may be glorified. Then, surely, wherever there is the slighting, or setting aside, of the poorest or weakest of Christ’s members as not worthy of eating with us, or of being recognized by us on the common footing of being Christ’s, there "the church of God" is despised. Any action of individuals of a slighting or isolating sort that offends against any of Christ’s little ones, or disturbs the unity of the assembly, is a despising of he church of God. When one does that apart in he church which he might do at home―eat his own supper, or break bread with no solemn sense of its being the Lord’s body-and eat in isolation without being cordial with all the saints, or in a real consciousness of " the unity of the Spirit " who gives us divine oneness in Christ, he despises the church of God. Again the apostle asks: Are ye the persons who cause the poor to be put to shame? The body is one, and hath many members, and as the great majority are poor, to shame “them that have not," 1:e., the poor, is to put to shame the great part of Christ’s members. The work of the Spirit of God in the church is so very fine in its texture that it is easily hurt. A wrong look, an unguarded word, a studied neglect, or setting aside, may deeply wound and shame poorer saints, and produce such dislocating feelings as may so dishearten, that at length Satan may obtain such advantage that those who have been thus put to shame-may, by-and bye, cease coming together with the saints to remember the Lord’s death. On the other 11 and, how delightful it is when saints are so full of Christ that self is gone, and they carry out such injunctions of the Spirit as these―"As to brotherly love, kindly affectioned towards one another; as to honor, each taking the lead in paying it to the other. Have the same respect one for another, not minding high things, but going along with the lowly. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting-bond of peace. Fulfill ye my joy that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing: let nothing be done in the spirit of strife or vain-glory, but in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other more excellent than themselves; regarding not each his own qualities, but each those of others also." The very reverse of all this was practiced in the Corinthian church, and the apostle having brought home to them their sad conduct, ends by asking: “What shall I say to you? Shall I give you praise? On this point I praise not." On other points he had already praised them (verse 2), on this point he could not do so. The deliberate and ceremonious manner of the apostle shows that, though his language is moderate, he meant them to feel that they deserved the very reverse of praise-that, in fact, they were very much to be blamed. “On this point I praise not." The ground on which this is said is given in verse 23, &c., where he refers to his revelation from the Lord, regarding the Supper which he had delivered to them. "For I received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you," &c. This made their disorder the more inexcusable, as it was sinning on their part with the apostolic declaration before them. They knew the right, and they did the wrong. It was impossible he should praise them. In a subsequent number, we hope to examine and state what we find in this peculiarly interesting communication of the glorified Lord to His holy apostle, in which we have at once the earliest recorded account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and the earliest recorded speech of our Lord; and also the full doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, as well as the final apostolic regulations regarding the due observance of the same. It is appropriate that our apostle who first saw the Lord in glory, and heard from His mouth of the oneness of Him and His saints, and received His gospel and commission from Him; and who was the minister of the church, should also be the on to receive and give from the Lord the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, the only ordinance which in its celebration gives a symbolic manifestation of the church in its unity as the body of Christ on earth (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: VOL 04 - THE LOVE OF CHRIST WHICH PASSETH KNOWLEDGE ======================================================================== The Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge " And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God "―(Ephesians 3:19). You will remark that the prayer of which this verse is a part, is consequent upon the counsels of God being known. That we have in the first chapter followed by a prayer which is accomplished when these counsels are learned. The first prayer is, therefore, in a certain sense, future. But this prayer in the third chapter is present. It is what is to be formed in me consequent upon understanding the height into which God in His counsels of grace has called me; I am to have a sense of the love of Christ. The idea is that if you have got in spirit into a scene where everything sets forth what God was and is, then you have, as it were, a good opportunity for understanding the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not Christ’s service that is here put forward to engage our minds and affections. Many are occupied with that, and rightly, too, in its place, but we must not forget that there is something else―Christ’s love. No doubt a mother has service for her child, but she has love also, and many a child knows the service of its parent who does not know the love that produces the service. When you have reached the consummation of all the work of Christ, when you have got into the knowledge of God’s counsels, and into the height in which these counsels place you―Christ accomplishing them all-there is still something further and deeper to learn, and that is where the second prayer of the Apostle comes in, " That ye may know the love of Christ." I have learned what His service is, and I am in all the benefits of it, still I am not occupied with the benefits that result from it, but with the love that produced it. And this is a wonderful comfort, and gives great elevation and dignity to a person. I am occupied not with what one did for me, but with the love that moved him. “That ye might be filled unto all the fullness of God," is a more exact reading of the second clause of this verse. It is the full expression of God―that is, Christ. What I propose to set forth now is the varied ways in which we learn the love of Christ, for we have to learn it practically. It is not by circumstances that we are educated in the love of the Father; on the contrary, it is the knowledge of that love that prepares us for circumstances and makes us superior to them. Circumstances would mislead you, making you very elated when they are pleasant, and depressing you when they are disagreeable. Whereas, if you knew the love of the Father, you might shun the very thing that promises ease and pleasure, and accept the trying circumstances as a check or hindrance to save you from some impending danger. The Father’s love puts you above the world. The world is that which is visible. The moment the visible thing comes in faith goes out; we judge according to the sight of our eyes. This is what the love of the Father saves us from. “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." The only one who can instruct me in that love is the Son. Now we come to consider His love-the love of Christ as distinguished from the love of the Father. The love of Christ puts me not so much above things as above man in every form. I have the knowledge of the love of a Person who knows me where I am down here. One of the ways in which He comes to us is by showing us that He has been Himself down in the circumstances that we are in. Nothing more affects a Person in this world than knowing that he has a heart thoroughly devoted to him. Is Christ’s heart devoted to me? Yes, and thoroughly devoted to you if you knew it. It is an immense thing to find, too, that the person so devoted to you is One who knows all about you. Such is the love of Christ. It is the love of One who knows all about me and the circumstances I must go through, and who makes Himself known in my heart just in proportion as I surrender the man that is against Him. You will never understand Christianity or the Bible rightly until you see that it is the history of two men. The first man failed in everything that God proposed to him. Another Man came in who met the mind of God in everything, and not only that, but when glorified in the mount―God’s acknowledgment of His satisfaction and delight in Him-He descended from that point of eminence to bear the judgment due to the first man who had never done the twill of God. The question then is, to which man do you belong? Belonging to Christ I am united to Him not by the flesh as to Adam, but by the Holy Ghost. I am “not in the flesh, but in the spirit " I have received the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not only man is out, but you have got a new power in you. I propose to show different examples of this. First let me call your attention to the difference between knowing the service of Christ and knowing His heart. I will take one example as to that before going into the examples in which we learn how the love is made known to us. I take the case of the woman who touched the hem of His garment. If you look at that case you must be greatly struck with the Divine light in her soul. She saw a poor stranger there in the crowd and she said, “That Man has got power to cure me, and not only that, but if I only touch him the cure will be imparted." Just imagine yourself for a moment in her position, and think what a feeling was in her mind, what a disclosure the Spirit of God had made to her heart. She saw in that Stranger there in the crowd One who not only had power to relieve her of this terrible illness, but also with readiness to use that power, not because of any desert, but simply by contact. Do you think it cannot be done now even more simply than it was then? Do you apprehend the Son of God as One who has all power and all readiness to impart it, not only to entreaty, but even to a touch? This woman surely then knew His service, and she is an instance of a person knowing the service of Christ-feeling the effectual working of His grace-and yet not knowing His love. She is afraid to come to Him. She has touched Him, but she has not confidence to come to Him; on the contrary, she is fearing and trembling and hesitating. Perhaps there are some souls here who have never traveled into the great reality of actual nearness to the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t say they are not converted, but they have not come to Christ. When the woman came to Him and owned to Him the blessing she had received, she gets a further thing. She learns now not His service, but His love. “And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." “Daughter! " What a feeling her heart gets now. She goes away knowing not only that she is cured, but that she is loved by the Savior. We get the same order in the third of Ephesians. When you rise to an apprehension of the height in which you have been placed by God’s grace, the great theme that is to be disclosed to you is the depth of the love of One who has been down here in all our misery and need. I will turn now to the examples of learning the love of Christ. The first is in Genesis 1:15-21, " And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, forgive I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin; for they did unto thee evil; and now we pray thee forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold we be thy servants. And Joseph said, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now, therefore, fear ye not; I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them." Every one amongst us knows pretty well the history of Joseph. He was represented to his father as dead. But when the famine came and bread was wanted, the father heard there was corn in Egypt, and sent down Joseph’s brethren. There it was discovered after a time that the one who had been reported dead was the one who had the bread of life. They were made acquainted with Joseph and received under his protection. It is all a figure of a greater than Joseph, and it sets forth the restoration of Israel to Christ. But the teaching of this passage for us is that it is possible for a soul to be acquainted with the service of Christ and to have received its benefits, and yet not know His heart. Nay it is not only possible, but it is a state of soul with which we are all conversant. They will speak warmly of the goodness and kindness of the Savior as to His service, and yet they do not know what the actual feeling of Christ is towards them, because they have never come to nearness with Him. Then nothing is hidden or reserved. It is often put off to a death-bed, Then, when everything but what is eternal is passing sway, the soul glances up into that great scene of eternal light and cries, " I am going to meet my Savior now," the reality of everything is out. In the ca se of Joseph’s brethren this began with very great anguish; for they say, " We have indeed behaved badly to you." They had been living for seventeen years under Joseph’s shadow, and no doubt they thought there never was such a brother as he was, but they did not know his feelings about them. That only came out after the death of their father, when they were forced to cast themselves directly upon Joseph, and had no one else to whom they could look. If you have not already passed through this, the day will come when you must do it. And then what comes out? That whilst there is the most thorough disclosure of what I am naturally towards the Lord Jesus Christ, the love that is in his heart for me shines out at the same time. What a blessed thing! “Joseph wept when they spake unto him." It was quite true, as he tells them, that they had behaved badly to him, but he loved them. That is what a guilty man finds when he really comes to close quarters with the Lord. As I have said to a guilty person, if you are really repentant there is only One with whom you ought always to be found, One who can see you without a spot. “Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more." If I am strongly sensible of my sins, the only one I can be happy with is the One who forgets them forever. “I will nourish you and your little ones." He takes them into his house, he spreads his wing over them. “He spake to their hearts” [see margin]. This goes farther than anything Joseph had done for them. This is what the guilty man finds when he comes near to Christ, not His service merely, but the love of the Savior’s heart. For another case turn to the second chapter of the prophet Jonah. Jonah is not exactly a guilty person. The leading thought in his case is that man disappears, and the practical working of Divine grace is seen. Man has fallen and failed in everything, and he must melt as a dissolving view from before the soul, that Christ may come in in the supremacy of His blessedness and perfection supplanting man in our heart. Jonah is not exactly the guilty man, but the willful man. He is told to do a thing and won’t do it, but goes his own way, and as is always the case he finds it a very foolish way, for in the long run it lands him in the mud. What follows? “I will look again toward thy holy temple.", If your wilfulness has brought you into such a position as that, when no one has a word to say for you, and you cannot say a word for yourself, there is only One to whom you can turn. The heart turns to Him and is not disappointed. This is what Jonah learned here in the hour of his extremity, when he could not say a word for himself, just like Peter. Whom did the Lord first go and look for when He rose from the dead? He goes to comfort Peter, and to let him know His love. Then He tells him how he is to serve Him. So here God tells Jonah, “Do what I bid you." I pass on to another example. Canticles ch. 5., "I sleep, but my heart waketh, it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying, open to me my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night (ver. 2). This is neither the guilty man nor the willful man, but the indolent one. Are you never indolent? How often do we hear saints say, " I am not so bright as I used to be! ") I have met many such cases lately, cases of very deep depression. Scripture accounts for it. You are inactive, i you are asleep. Sleep means inactivity. It is not inactivity in doing good works merely. To express Christ 1 is greater than any good work, and if you are expressing Christ you will not do anything badly. For, remember, it is possible to do a good thing badly. How often men do right things wrongly! The best thing is to have the glace of Christ, to be expressing Him; because if you are living Christ, when a good work comes in your way you will do it. Don’t think that I disparage good works; but I insist that there is a greater thing. It is often said that as a man’s knowledge increases his earnestness, declines. I cannot understand why it should be so. Yet I find many with a great deal of intelligence, but not a great deal of “panting " (Psalms 42:1-11). Why is this? Some intelligent man will tell me that belonged to a former dispensation. But I say it belongs to this. It is not true that as a person’s knowledge increases his earnestness must decline. On the contrary, I believe that the man who has the largest and deepest sense of the love of Christ can the least do without it, and will be panting and pressing most eagerly after it. Here is inactivity―sleep―and the Lord comes to awaken. It is by a knock, not a voice. A voice is from the Word, a knock is rather circumstances. She is aroused by the knock, and opens to her beloved, but finds He has withdrawn Himself (ver. 6). This is the depression that people complain of. There are very sad cases of it. What is it all for? The Lord wants to teach you what His love to you is, to bring your heart into a deeper knowledge of Himself. How are souls recovered from this depression? We find the mode of recovery in verses 10-16. It is by occupation with what the Beloved is, all His graces and perfections. There is an instance of it in the disciples whom the Lord met going to Emmaus. "He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." That is the point. That is what brightens up the soul. It is not seeking to find out how you fell into such a state. A man in a dark night does not watch the clouds that cover the moon, but looks for the moon that shines. Another example different from any of those already looked at, is found in 1 Kings 17:1-24 Here is a peculiar case, and one that you would not expect, but it explains a great many experiences. Here was a poor widow at the point of starvation relieved by a prophet sent from God. Her resources were almost exhausted, she had just enough for one meal, and then no other prospect but death. “But she did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house did eat a full year. (This is the reading of the margin, which I believe is correct.) Just think what a happy time that must have been. A prophet in the house, and there this woman went on whether it was winter, or summer, or spring, or autumn, without fear or care; an unfailing supply of all she needed. Thus she goes on for a whole year. This represents the case of a soul that has only learned the service of Christ-here, of course, temporally. To give you a very accurate example of it, it was how the disciples knew the Lord on earth. You do not lose this because you learn Him in a higher way. But if you only know Christ in this way a day will come when you will be in intolerable grief. The widow’s son dies. She comes to the prophet and cries, “Art thou ’come unto me to call my sin to remembrance." What! After the 365 days of direct sustenance by God? Yes. Christ was not known yet in resurrection (speaking figuratively). Elijah stretches himself three times upon the dead body of the child, and in answer to his cry the Lord revives him. Thus Christ connects Himself with death, and I see His power over it. I learn Christ outside all this scene of ruin in resurrection life. I cannot enlarge upon this subject. It is what we find in 1 John “He that hath the Son hath life." What did this woman learn in this? A deeper and fuller sense of who this man was, and of God (ver. 24). And did she lose the value of what she had already learned, his provision for her needs? Or does anyone lose the great love of Christ on earth by learning Christ in resurrection? Having got Christ in resurrection I am not merely under His protection, but I have passed with Him out of all the ruin and disaster that I was in, and I am brought into the wonderful elevation of His own resurrection, where no evil can come, and life is the perpetual enjoyment of Himself. This is what deepens my knowledge of Him, and my delight in Him, too. “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord" (after resurrection). Turn now to the New Testament for another case. Luke 5:1-39 You would hardly expect to find such a case here, still it is so. It is not a case of knowing Christ only on the earth, but of serving Christ with a fleshly sentiment. Here was Peter giving up his ship, his time, and his means for the service of the Lord. What more could be desired? The Lord tells him in effect, “You do not understand the right ground of service, you have not learned what I am yet." It is not denied that he was really serving Him. But you may see a man giving his time and means for the propagation of the gospel, and yet very possibly he has never yet comet to close quarters with the Lord. What is the effect when Peter recognizes who the Lord is. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Was he doing anything wrong? No, but the Lord is teaching him what He is and what Peter is. And He brings him to this: “They forsook all and followed Him." They never doubted his love afterward. Peter could cast himself into the sea to meet Him. People think you may bring human energy and zeal into the,, service of the Lord, but it will have to die out some ’.’ day. You must be brought to know the reality of what Christ is, and that will show you what you are yourself. The result is what we see here. “They brought their ships to land, forsook all and followed Him." In John 13:1-38 we learn the same thing in another way. Here we see Christ washing His disciples’ feet when the close of His life is near. “Having loved His own...He loved them unto the end." Did your soul ever taste of that love of Christ? Think of the love that a parent has for a child. I don’t look to see a blemish in my child. I may see it―it is poor love that does not, if it is there―but I don’t want any one else to see it. And this is but a faint picture of what Christ’s love is. He is satisfied with nothing for the believer but holiness―perfect holiness. And He is working to take away everything that would cause the slightest reserve between the soul and Himself. Hence in John 21:1-25 we see that He does not merely forgive Peter for what He had done, but He puts the trying question, “Lovest thou Me?” And He does not drop it till every reserve in Peter’s heart is removed. Then He tells him, “Feed my sheep." How do you know when a person is restored after a fall? If the Lord will use him. If ever you fall out with people and afterward want to show them that you are quite at one with them again, don’t offer to do anything for them but ask them to do something for you. So the Lord gives Peter work to do. He says, “I can trust him; he is a thoroughly restored man." It was, we may be sure, a delight to Peter’s heart to hear those words, “Feed my sheep." And can anyone read his epistles without observing how diligently and earnestly he sought the welfare of the flock that had been entrusted to him? There is one example more that I want specially to bring before you, John 11:33, &c., " When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled." I have already remarked that the One who knew all about us was the One who took occasion from His very knowledge of our circumstances to show us His heart. Nothing gives us such an idea of the heart of Christ as His sympathy. Fellowship is when He raises us up to His own level, sympathy) when He comes down to our circumstances, not to our level. He came down into our circumstances to bear our judgment, too, but He never was on a level with us. Now, having borne our judgment and delivered us, He can satisfy His heart by bringing us to His own level. It is sympathy that we have here. There are two sisters and their great stay gone. Whether man appears in guilt, willfulness, indolence, merely as a man on the earth, or in the zeal of the flesh, he must vanish. Here man dies, and what is se?? Christ. The Spirit of God alone can give us a sense of His love following us all along our path here and entering into all our circumstances. Can anything give such quiet blessed composure as to know that I am the object of perfect love, and that in One who knows all about... me? A mother with a peevish child may know the Lord’s sympathy in such a trial of her spirit If she loses her temper He does not sympathize with her; He must correct her. There are two actions of the Word of God. It corrects and it directs. If I am directed by the Word I have Christ’s sympathy. I am coming out of the wilderness leaning on the arm of my Beloved. If you want a figure of it, it is like a man in a wild mountain-forest; he sees a road through it; he follows that road, and he finds company on it. Correction is a different thing. As we see here the Lord corrects Martha, and does not move out of the place where she met Him; but He walks with Mary because she is subject to His word; she waits for it and acts on it. And He weeps. Can you form an idea of a heart that can stoop down to what is in yours, the sense of your bereavement, to use that as an opportunity for the disclosure of His love? The house of mourning is more welcome to Him than the house of feasting because it gives him an opportunity for disclosing His love? He comes and walks beside one, and can comfort the bereaved heart in the assurance that he is “a Friend who sticketh closer than a brother." Death had laid hold upon the stay of Mary’s heart, but death cannot lay hold upon Him. Man has failed, but the Lord fails not. One word more as to sympathy. Nothing softens a person but this. It is easy thus to know a man who has met sympathy. The tendency of trials is to harden, but sympathy makes a man mellow, if I may use such a word. Just as the apple of an old tree is said to be mellower than the apple of a young one of the same kind. Why? Because of what the old tree has passed through; its long exposure to all kinds of weather and to the changing seasons. What makes a man mellow is not trial in itself, but the sense of the sympathy of the Lord Jesus Christ in it. It is not relief. I need not say that in the trial we look for relief. A mother with a troublesome child would honestly tell me, “I wish this peevishness in my child should cease." But that is not the Lord’s way always. I say to her, “Turn your attention from this peevishness, and think of the Lord bearing you company in this trial! The principle of the world is think of yourself, take care of yourself, for nobody else will. But how different this is? What a different tone and manner it gives me to know that there is One who cares for me, with a perfect unfailing love! In Mary’s case the dearest object on earth is taken away from her, her prop and support is gone; but the Lord says, " I will use that to come in and acquaint you with my heart. ( He does not simply say, " I will raise Lazarus," though according to His wonderful grace He does raise him. What things Mary would have to talk of to her restored brother as they went along! She could say to him, " The Lord has given you back to me after teaching me how to do and bear without you; after teaching me that He can himself come in and with His wonderful sympathy supply the place of every loss." So the Lord in His varied ways is teaching us one great lesson which should give a character to every one of us; the all-sufficiency of His love. Hence I look at everything as coming from Him. If I meet with love I from any I welcome it; for just as philosophers tell you that there is no light in the world but what came from the sun, so there is not a particle of love in the heart of a saint that has not come from the heart of Christ. Do you complain of the lack of love? I have got more love than I can ever take in! My only regret is that I do not give out more. The cleverest man could not distinguish which lamp is lighting a particular spot in the room. They all are, they all combine. So it is with the love of Christ flowing through His people. It all combines. And there is more love in His heart than you can take in, more than you can practically understand; therefore, it is " the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." I trust every heart here can join in the language of the apostle in the close of Romans 8:1-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? " ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: VOL 04 - THE MIND THAT WAS IN CHRIST ======================================================================== The Mind That Was in Christ (Notes of Lecture by G.V. W, Priory, Jan. 1870, on " John 17:1-26") " FATHER.... glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." When I think of this in connection with Php 2:8, " He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." I say what a wonderful mind was that of the Lord Jesus Christ! But first let us consider for a moment the position we take as believers; we have "put, off the old man," we have "put, on the new." We have put off the old coat, as it were, and come out in this new ’livery. It is all in the past tense (see also Ephesians 4:1-32) God’s statement is, that we have put on the new man, that is life, not the Holy Ghost. We get the question of life in 1 John 1:1-10, the eternal life which was with the Father. In Corinthians we are seen as having the mind of Christ, we are looked upon by God as having done with the old life―and having life in the Son, who is with the Father―that life, having a mind of its own, and we have got it. I ’find in Christ, the mind of the Son coming out in the sent one. What I am afraid of in us, is, that we try to get rid of ourselves in ’ divine blessing; it is not the right way. All that He is become our shelter; but besides this, if we have this life in Him, we want to get His mind coming out in us down here, and by the Spirit working in us, it is the power “to walk, as Christ walked." How entirely I get the secret that was in Him―that “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." We see Him, as the Son of the Father, leaving divine glory, standing in the place of obedience. He can say, “I am King of Israel, owned as a King, riding upon an ass’s colt. Head, too, of the Gentiles when they come up: but if I am to bring to me the thought of my cross: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." That had a secret in it, which those standing round about Him did not understand, that He from whom He came was God, who " would have compassion on whom He would, have compassion " and who " would have mercy on whom He would have mercy " That His heart yearned to have many sons brought out of a world of sin, home to Himself, who should be able to say, what no angel or archangel could say, " I have tasted of a mercy which guided Him down to death and that, the death of the cross." No one was His counselor, no one understood His mind; but He knew all that was in the Father’s heart, knew every thought in the Father’s mind, every joy the Father had in that perfect intelligence. He knew all that the Father wanted to have done down here, and that one thing guided Him down here. If the Father wants to bring many children to glory it cannot be, save by my death. Oh, how beautiful, the fellowship with the Father’s mind! How beautiful the comprehension of the largeness of the Father’s heart! His heart took up all, and the mind of the Son, came out in His course down here; not in perfect service merely, but in seeing how the whole mind of God the Father, governed everything. Another has said, “He did not ask His disciples to take the lowest place, because He had taken it Himself." You may go down after Him but He has gone before you. This was not abstract service, but perfect fellowship, with the Father’s mind, which brought Him down, lower than any one else could go; but down to the very point where all the Father’s counsels could find’ their complete unhesitating expression, where it never could be said that God had not expressed fully His mind about Satan; about man’s independency, it was all fully and perfectly declared in that cross, and we see how His fellowship with the Father’s mind came out there. Directly the seventeenth chapter doses, we see Him going out into the sorrow, the hill cup of unmixed judgment deserved by us. He is about to take it. What is His thought? The Father’s glory―what was His mind? He raises His eyes to heaven, sees the whole arch of God’s counsels, all that was in the mind of God, all the germinating at that glory which would come out of His death, and ’in that quiet way, He could say, " Father, the hour is come." What complete clearness of all question about, self; we are unable to turn from one set of circumstances to another; we lose our temper, because we are subject to circumstances. He never was. He was always in that mind; that had no self to think of, no self to take care of. See also verse 5, and remark here what was the effect of walking in that mind! Alas! to have the mind, and to walk in it, are two very different things! Christ, having the mind, walked in it; there was no contrariety in Him to upset the perfect calmness of His soul. He could; say " Father, the hour is come," as reverently reminding Him knowing all that He had done, as carrying out the volume of S.S. treasures in His soul, and, as His eye glanced round on the cross, He sees one thing not fulfilled, and says, "I thirst." Oh! what an immeasurable thing that mind of the Lord Jesus Christ: no rolling back of the thoughts upon Himself. If He spoke to Peter or John, they would say, “What does that mean? " They could give no response to His thoughts, but this blessed outflow of thought to His Father there, was perfect response, full communion, and I do feel for ourselves that it is avery important question, whether really we have got that mind, and that only to form the power and expression of our whole walk down here. If He has given us the mind, we have to walk before God in Him. God looks upon us, as not in the old Adam, but in the new. Was it bondage to Christ, to carry out His mind? Is it bondage to the child to walk like Him? It was no bondage to the Son. If I have the mind of Christ, it is no bondage at all; if I have not, it is, most surely. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: VOL 04 - THE NEW CREATION ======================================================================== The New Creation “ BUT God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything but a new creature " (Galatians 6:14-15). The terms of this Scripture are very distinct and clear. I mention this because it is constantly quoted for another purpose than the apostle’s, and applied to the question of our sins. There is not a word about sins in the passage. It is perfectly true that the question of one’s sins is the first thing to be settled. Indeed, until it is, there can nothing further be enjoyed or entered into. There must be relief before I get anything beyond it, and previous to relief there must have been pressure, the sense of our sins, and then the knowledge of their removal. There are just two true states of soul―fear, and love. We find them in 1 John 4:1-21 " There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1st. There is the state of fear which hath torment. 2nd. That of the consciousness of perfect love which casteth out fear. If I meet a man and he tells me he has not feared, then I say, “You cannot have a true state of soul. If you have not feared, you have no true state, and you don’t know the perfect love that casts out fear." Freed from my sins, then, I must be. As Scripture puts it, “The worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sin," which I do not want to weaken in the least. But this passage does not speak of that at all. It treats of something further. It tells of what you are made by God when everything is removed. It is what takes place when the question of your sins has been thoroughly dealt with, and every opposing and contrary element swept clean out of the way. I get this beautifully exemplified in the case of the prodigal, in Luke 15:1-32 In that chapter we find Father, Son, and Holy Ghost engaged in the salvation of a sinner. I get the Son in the shepherd seeking the lost sheep. The Holy Ghost in the woman lighting the candle, and seeking for the lost piece of silver, and the Father receiving and welcoming the lost prodigal. Then I find the whole fulfilled in the thief on the cross. The Son dies for him to put away his sins, the Spirit works and operates in his soul, and the Father rends the veil to tell him to come inside. Look around on Christendom, and what do you find? You will find it never gets beyond absolution. I may as well make this plain statement at once. Absolution I get in Scripture, " Your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more." But that is the state you were in. It is all negative. What, let me ask, is your state now? This is what I wish to insist on your state now, and to make it clear. To explain it simply, let me give you an illustration. Look at a caterpillar. It lives a crawling life. That was your state. It becomes a. butterfly. That is a new, entirely new state, a different state. It crawled on a cabbage-leaf before. It now flies and dances in the sunlight. That is your state now, the new creation state. Now what I cannot understand is how people, after having emerged from the caterpillar state into the butterfly state, can go on or want to go on, as if they were in the caterpillar state. Yet so it is. People suppose that having come out of the old state into the new, they can still go on with the old. Scripture says, " No, you must walk in newness of life. " This passage, then, speaks of the new state, the butterfly state, if I may keep up the illustration I have used. " Neither circumcision " that is, self improved religiously, as in the Jew, " nor uncircumcision " that is, self whether civilized, polished philosophically, as in the Greek, or savage, as in the heathen, " availeth anything but a new creature." Sins are gone, then, completely gone, first. God could not have kissed me unless. God sent His own beloved Son who endured the judgment for me, bore my sins in His own body on the tree, and so completely satisfied―yea, more than satisfied―glorified God about my sins that not only can I go in to God. But God can come out to me and kiss me. The Father saw the prodigal a great way off, and went out to him. This is the sinner’s first actual contact with God, though grace had previously wrought in him, and what is it? The Father’s kiss. In John we also find that the characteristic of the babe is, he knows the Father. There is no difficulty about this. It is absolution, no further, and beyond which Christendom never gets. Consult all the books that are called orthodox, and you will get nothing beyond this. Absolution, absolution, a fresh recurrence t) the blood, but not a step in advance of it. It is blessed, beloved friends, to see how God, having cleared away everything that was contrary to Himself, can come out, and the very first impression one gets of having to do with Him is a kiss. In this kiss He imparts the consciousness that there is love in His heart towards me. A kiss is the intimation, the expression of affection, on the part of him who gives it. But that is not all. There is more. Though the Father, having first cleared away everything that was contrary to Himself, came out and kissed the prodigal, still there was the sense that he was not fit for the Father’s presence. “I am no more worthy to be called thy son." Therefore it is we get a further thing. We get a nature suited to God. “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him." Observe, the moment he got on the new clothes, he was in the house. Mark this carefully. “He was a great way off," when the Father ran to meet him, kissed him, and brought the robe to him, but as soon as it was on, he was in the Father’s house. This robe is what fits one to enter the house. It is the new nature. The moment you have the nature you are qualified to go in. Morally, as soon as the prodigal got the new clothes which fitted him for the Father’s presence, he was in His presence. Note, the word is, ".Bring forth the best robe." When you are inside a house you do not say bring forth a thing. You must be outside if it is to be brought forth to you. But the moment it is on, he is inside, and being inside, the word is, “Bring hither the fatted calf." Thus we get three things about him. He is first kissed, next robed, and then feasted. ’What is it that puts people into the 7. of Romans? The consciousness that they are not fit for God. What I want, therefore, to show you is, that not only is all cleared and removed out of the way, but that you get the new creation, you are fit for God, you pass from the caterpillar state into the butterfly state. 1st. What is the new creation? 2nd. How is the old creation done with? What is the new creation? I wish to insist on this, because where not seen, even a worship meeting is spoiled by having recourse to sins. It is going back to the caterpillar state. This new creation is from God entirely. There is no such thing, as brushing up the old clothes to make me fit for God. But the fact is, God clothes me. God robes me, and then I am suited for His presence. The clothes come from God, and can be worn nowhere but with Him. Let us now look at the passage carefully. “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." We find two things crucified that is judged by God. (1) The world is crucified unto me. (2) I am crucified unto the world. What, then, one might ask, is left? Why, you have nothing left but the new creation. What a blessed thing it is, as we see in Paul’s conversion, to stand out and see nothing but Christ. “Who art thou, Lord," asks Saul. The Lord says “I am Jesus." Just as if He had said, “I have done with man entirely, there is now no other man but myself." The same God who brought me into birth in connection with the old creation now brings me into the new creation where man is nothing, and Christ everything. In this same epistle Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ, liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." What matter, then, though things go here. Suppose everything went. What would be left? The new creation. It is a wonderful thing to be occupied with the development of the new creation. in this I get God’s thoughts and feelings about me which are a great deal better than my own. He says, “That which is born of God sinneth not." We are a new creation, having eternal life in Christ who is our life. Are you as much occupied with developing the new as you are in getting rid of the old. Let us see, then, what this new creation is. Turn for a moment to John 3:1-36 You will tell me that is new birth; every believer owns that. I know it, but there is more. Look at verse 12th: “If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things." He speaks here of a heavenly order of things-a new creation-but you could not have a new creation till you had the beginning. Christ is the beginning of the creation of God. There must be a new life for this, a new character of life, and Christ shows how it is to come about. " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." Christ dies for the caterpillar state, all that I was as connected with the first man and communicates eternal life, bringing me into a new condition, His own condition. I will trouble you to turn to another passage, John 10:10. " I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Note here life more abundantly. I will refer to it presently. Reid with me now John 12:24. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." It is not that He saves which is the thought here, though He does save, but that the corn of wheat shall have many grains. Christ while on earth was unique, alone, separate from all, but by dying He was to have, like the corn of wheat, many grains like Himself. Look now at John 20:1-31 where the Lord can speak of it, verse 17. He says “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." He had gone down under the judgment, and having now come’ out of it He becomes as risen from the dead the Head of a new order and for the first time can call these disciples " brethren."Hebrews 2:1-18, “He is not ashamed to call them brethren." He can speak of us now as of the same material as Himself, of the same stock and lineage. I am now to enjoy the same kind of life as Christ risen. Mark how in this chapter, three times over, Christ says, “Peace be unto you “verses 19, 21, and 26. And in verse 22nd, " He breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost." Here the Lord unfolds what He imparts to us as risen from the dead. He had not imparted this to any before. He is inaugurating the new condition. He is introducing them into the new ground. This is a new day, the dawn of the new creation, and He puts them upon a new platform. What, let me ask, has the risen Christ imparted to these disciples? Remember they were already converted. What is the meaning of His action here? He is bringing them into the consciousness of the new creation. This is life more abundantly. I ask the youngest amongst us to ponder what we have here. Think what Christ imparted to the disciples in that scene. What did He impart? Two things. Peace and life. Observe John always reverses Paul’s statements, always gives truth in the inverse order from Paul. This I throw out for students of their Bibles. The characteristics of the new creation into which we are here introduced are Peace, and Life. Everything cleared out of the way. Not a cloud to be seen. Peace above, peace below; and life, life more abundantly. They were already converted, mark; and note, too, that He only gives this once. He does not impart it twice. “But," says some one, “I have known a person lose his peace." Granted. I might lose my watch. But when I get it again it is the same watch. “God forbid," then,” that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, disposed of judicially by God, and I am now brought into this unparalleled condition-peace up, peace down, and a new life. There is a further Scripture as to this which will help to make it clear, Romans 8:6. "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace; or, as it should be, the carnal mind is death, but the spiritual mind is life and peace." Thus we find that the spiritual mind is made up of two qualities―life and peace. The very smallest atom of the spiritual mind has these two qualities. Take a fourpenny loaf. It is made of flour and water. Give me, then, the smallest crumb of that loaf, and it has both these―flour and water. If you have got a particle of the spiritual mind, you must have life and peace. There are two natures, certainly there are, and I find people admit two natures, but they are always occupied with the bad one. I turn you back for a moment to chapter 7:22. “I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man;" 24th, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me? “There is a moment in the history of the soul when it says, “I cannot tolerate the flesh, when Ishmael is cast out. It was not that Abraham did not feel it, but there is the superiority of Christ; I don’t mean to say he may not come in again. “Ishmael " knows the house well, and if you put him out by the door, he may come in by the window. But there is a moment when the soul will not tolerate the flesh, what I call non-toleration. Then when a person has got this new nature it will come out. Tribulation and circumstances bring it out, 2 Corinthians 4:16. “For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Whatever else is ill I have a nature that is not a bit ill. I may not be able to sing, speak, or read, but I have got a nature that is always well. The body, too, is the Lord’s, and if it is well it is a servant; if it is sick, it is a patient; and if it does not do its duty it is a deserter. The Spirit of God unites me to the glorified One in heaven, but I am of the same nature as the One to whom I am united. As is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly." Have you any conception of what sort a Being Christ is? We are, as new creatures, of the same order. But how is this new creation to be developed? By being occupied with the Head of it, of course. Where is it to be developed? Just down here in the surroundings, circumstances and relationships of the old creation. It is to be brought out in all these, and there is nothing to hinder but the will. For remember the same One who is Head of the new creation is the Lord of the old, and in the circumstances or relationships in which I am placed, is the new creation to be developed. Nowhere can it be better brought out. If I am a husband, I must be the best husband; or a wife, the best wife; or a child, the best child. I am to take all these up in a new way, and they become the fittest spheres for the bringing out of the new life. But I have dwelt long enough on this. What is the old creation? It is made up of weakness and defects. I will take two of its defects―temper and intemperance―they will serve my purpose. I am a new creature in Christ, but as to fact I am here in the old creation, full of defects. I don’t speak of the weaknesses, because they are not removed. Paul prayed for the removal of the thorn, but God did not remove it. He makes you superior to the weaknesses, and uses them for bringing into relief the new thing. He does, however, remove the defects. There are two ways of dealing with the defects of the old creation. Self-culture, the human way; the Spirit’s discipline, the divine way. The principle of the self-culture method is to bring the force of the will to bear on the defect. Take temper; a man may bring the force of will to bear here, and by self-culture make himself exceedingly agreeable, exhibit a beautiful, bland manner towards others, and say the most smooth things, while underneath all he may be in a rage―the nature is the same. He may make himself agreeable to his neighbors by this, but not to God. By the force of will a man might say, “I will not drink a drop." Many a one has done so for a wager. But does this give him a taste for sobriety? The Spirit of God would give him a taste for sobriety. He not only represses the defect, but He mortifies it. The Spirit gives the new wine and the new bottle, but how am I to manage the old bottle? Self-culture won’t do. I must have the Spirit’s discipline. The way He does is to bring out the nature of Christ. “I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." My nature is not improved, but the Spirit brings out Christ’s nature. Self-culture cannot create a virtue, the utmost it can do is to repress a vice. The Spirit brings out a virtue. There is not one who is walking with God who does not know his besetting sin from the way the Lord deals with him―by the word, circumstances, trial, and other things. There is a defect in that child of God, the Spirit says, “I can’t have that," "I won’t allow that," "I will bring out a virtue instead of it." Turn to 1 Peter 4:1, and see how the Spirit brings in Christ to repress sin. “Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." There is a child. It sees a lump of sugar and there being no one in the room, walks off with it, and thinks no one sees it. The child gets converted, enters the room again. Sees the lump of sugar. The temptation is presented, a struggle goes on in the child’s mind, it resists, and won’t touch it. The child has suffered in the flesh and ceases from sin. “Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind” as Christ: He is brought in. Again in Ephesians 4:28, I get a further thing. It is wonderful how the Spirit of God can so deal with a defect as to make it the safest bit about you. There is a boat with a hole in it. Before you go to sea you put a plug in the hole and keep your eye on the spot all the way. It is then the safest bit of the boat. How remarkably, too, the Spirit applies the word. I have known of a woman change her place four times at a meeting because she thought the speaker was talking to her. No one can apply the word. It is a mistake to think that we can. The Spirit alone can do that. Let us read this verse, " Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." This is a very remarkable case. “Let him that stole, steal no more." Here is where most people stop. This is only the law. I think he is a very poor Christian if he can’t get higher than the law. The Spirit says, “I repress the vice, I make him honest, but is that all? Further, I make him industrious, so that he does not need to take from anybody. But is that all? No, I will bring out a virtue where the vice was, I will actually make him generous, that he may have to give to him that needeth.’ “Instead of putting forth his hands and taking from other people, these very hands are working to give to others. The man that was a taker of what was not his own, I will make by his own labor a donor. I will remove the defect and bring out a virtue to adorn the spot where it was. One other Scripture as to how this life is to be manifested and I have done: 2 Corinthians 4:10, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." We manifest the life of Jesus by bearing about the dying of Jesus. The Lord lead our hearts in what this new creation is-what it reaches up to. I am more distinctly by divine power in the new creation than I am in the old. A new and more wonderful creation has been wrought in me than has been in making this world. I was a brother to the dying man, but I am a brother to the risen Man, the glorified Christ, and now I must walk like Christ down here. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: VOL 04 - THE OPENING OF A NEW ECONOMY (JOH_13:1-8.) ======================================================================== The Opening of a New Economy (John 13:1-8.) THIS is the beginning of an immense subject, never declared before, and which never will be again. It is in the central part of this gospel, a group of chapters is formed, which is peculiar and singular, as applying only to ourselves, as in Christ. The Lord (as about to depart out of this world) takes an entirely new position before God. So they speak to us of a rejected Christ on earth, and an accepted Christ in heaven; and therefore cannot belong to a previous people or time, or to a time and people yet to come. Jesus has been here, and is departed, and this gives things their present character to “His own," whom He has left behind in the world. We find in this group of chapters, therefore, a new economy―or, the formal “revelation of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." No other Scripture so declares, and brings out the Trinity, in relation and operation to us, who are one with Christ-or, “our part with Jesus," where He is gone. The revelation " of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost " in this distinctiveness, is the groundwork of Christianity; and their order of development is the formation of a new economy; otherwise, what has just been stated of this group is not true; and it does not apply exclusively to us. Nevertheless, these chapters are formed on the fact, that Jesus goes to the Father, and further, He that is gone to the Father, is the Son, and He who is to come down from the Father, and the Son, is the Holy Spirit. These changes of place, and of Persons, were necessary for the carrying forth the purposes of the Godhead-glory, and for unfolding God’s counsels with Christ. We are united “in grace," by God the Father, in these hidden purposes with Christ, where He is, and have thus a new calling, and portion with” the Son of his love." Another thing is obvious, that this change of place, by the departure of the Son to the Father, as the appointed center and Head over all things, and being nevertheless the glorified Son of man, into whose hands the Father had given all things; that such relations as these, must necessitate a change of administration. There could be no new economy, except as springing out of the fact, of this divine revelation from heaven, and these new relations “with his own," who are not after the flesh. In the other gospels we find Jesus, as the son of Abraham and David; and introduced by genealogy. In this, we have the account of the Son coming out from God into the world, and of Jesus “knowing that his hour was come, that he should depart out of the world unto the Father," and of our having " part with him " there, as His own whom He leaves behind, with the assurance of His " love to the end." When He comes, we are to go out, and up with Him to the Father, and the Father’s house! In this gospel “the Son” is presented in incarnation; and so we read “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, &c." And further, “that grace, and truth, came by Jesus Christ." Up to John 12:1-50, He has presented Himself, and been denied in all His titles and rights, as the King of Israel. Yet, though rejected and refused then, He has overcome every adverse power, by His death and resurrection, which He could not overcome in His life. “The death he should die," is the one great object before Him in chapter 12., for as " the light and the life," He closes Himself up, and in verse 36, we are told, " Jesus hid himself from them." Israel, and the world, have lost Him, and “his own” have got Him, for observe in the first verse of chapter 13. we have " the departed one," with the Father in heaven, as ours, and He owns this new company as his own," and as one with Him there. Besides this new revelation, and these heavenly relations, in this new economy, the Holy Ghost comes down to us, and dwells in us, to maintain this fellowship with the Father, and the Son―and to be the constituent power in operation, through living and loving affections, as well as for devotedness, in all that flows out by act and deed. May He deepen in our souls these realities of grace, and gladden our hearts by the fact John is anointed to give us out these new unveilings from above, and declare to us this divine relationship "of Father." Christ departs out of this world, to the Father; otherwise this relationship would be limited to Himself, had we only the account of His incarnation and birth into the world, as given us in chapter 1., by which He stood alone, as " the only begotten of his Father:, But here the Son is divine, and made flesh; He is the Son, in the bosom of the Father. This precious revelation of the Father and the Son, and of the relations of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,, are the forefront of John’s gospel. God is the Father, and Christ is Son of the Father; and in ’ chapter 13:, we are viewed as in this relation of sons-and are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and joint, heirs. It is not any longer a question of Israel and the Jews. After this anticipative departure, and His own exaltation, He puts us into this relationship, through death and resurrection. As He said to Mary in chapter 20., " Go tell my brethren, I ascend to my Father and your Father; to my God and your God." The Father is only revealed in this new economy. The Son has intercourse with the Father in chapter 17., outside, and beyond the world and its history, about the men whom the Father had given Him-" Thine they were, &c." With Him, in this gospel, there was no question of times or seasons. His times were according to the Father, who kept them in His own hands. It is otherwise with men who have twelve hours in the day, and who count their purposes and projects “under the sun," accordingly. Our Lord says to His brethren after the flesh, in chapter 7., " Your time is always ready; I go not up yet unto this feast." Beloved brethren, it is not merely that we are brought into relationship with the Father, but there is the truth peculiar to His own, that " we have part with Jesus," where He is gone! Christ departs as the Son, to the Father. " He came from God, and went to God." And I desire that this unexampled fact may take hold of our souls, for next to the mystery of His incarnation, comes this important and central truth of Christianity ―and all else, which waited on this " departure of the Son." “If I go not away, the Comforter will not come, but if I depart I will send him." It is this mission of “the Holy Ghost, the Comforter," which is the crowning glory of this present dispensation, and he characteristic of the new creation, as distinguished from the old. God then "breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life," and he became a living soul. This was the order in the original, or Adam creation; but now He associates Himself with those on earth, by redemption, and the gift of eternal life in His Son, and the baptism of His holy Spirit. " The Comforter will not come, if I go not away; " and, moreover, " it is expedient for you that I depart." Besides this, when I ascend, it is “to my Father and your Father, my God and your God." He loved His own which were in the world, and He loved them unto the end. There are two instances where He speaks of “His own" in this gospel, in the 1st chapter verse 11, we read” He came unto his own, and his own received him not." There, they were His own “after the flesh," His own nation, Jews. As the Messiah, He is seen in this prophetic character, and so in chapter 12., when He rides into Jerusalem, Jesus presents Himself as Christ, " the King of Israel." They were responsible to Jehovah, for owning their Messiah, the Son of David, “as his own according to the flesh," and to such Jesus said,” While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light." These words spake Jesus, and did hide Himself from them, " breaking asunder his staff, beauty, and bands," as the Shepherd of Israel, and refusing “to feed the flock of slaughter." As Jews (and as a nation) they have lost their Messiah; He has “hid himself from both the houses “of Israel. The vail is judicially " upon their hearts," and their sun has gone down, " till the morning without a cloud " shall arise, with healing in His beams―in their millennium days. But in chapter 13., we who are called out " to have part " with the departed One, discover our peculiarity of position, which is brought out to us, in and with the Son, who is gone to prepare a place for us, in the Father’s house. He has put us into relationship with the Father, and having done so, He now departs and leaves us, as " His own " in the world, with the promise that He will come again and receive us to Himself, &c. He will likewise, assuredly come again to the Jews, His own " after the flesh," that they may have all their promised blessings upon the earth, and in Immanuel’s land. We are heavenly, and we pass by a different calling, into the everlasting glory of Christ and of God. He loved “His own which were in the world, and he loves them to the end." We are the objects of this new and peculiar love of Jesus. He opened the wellsprings, likewise to us of the Father’s love, and shows His own delight in us, as the members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones; not as an earthly Messiah, but as the Son. He will come for us, “to present us in the presence of his Father, faultless, and with exceeding joy." But further, the Lord says to Peter, "If I wash thee not, thou halt no part with me." Part in what? “All that the Father hath is mine, therefore said I “he ’ the Spirit of truth ’ shall take of mine, and show it unto you." The Father hath given him all things, and all is put into His hands, and it is in this we have “part with Him." No one is competent “as a witness," to descend from the Father, and the Son, to declare and to tell us this, but the Holy Ghost. There is thus in these chapters another revelation of God, in " the Son of His love," consisting in new relationships-a divine economy-and another ministry from the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Ghost. The old-dispensation was through angels, at Mount Sinai, “the law was given by Moses," but since then, Christ’s own ministration, is “grace and truth." Beyond this, Jesus enters upon a new and loving service, “that we may have part with Him," where He is. So He rises from the table, and girds Himself with a towel, and washes the disciples’ feet, to keep them personally clean. Sometimes the question is asked whether this act is advocacy, or priesthood? Neither, strictly speaking, as I judge, for it is His own personal love to ourselves, though His personal glory and love are the basis of every office He sustains. We have advocacy, “if any man sin," in John’s Epistle, and priesthood for infirmities, in the epistle to the Hebrews, but here it is unfailing, and personal love, “He loved them unto the end." This difference will be plain, if you take an earthly illustration, when the Royal family see the Queen in her state-robes, which are suited to maintain Her Majesty and the dignity of the Throne, they, as her subjects, recognize her in that official character, and do her homage and reverence. But do you not think they like to be with her when, as their mother, she is at home with them, and all state is put off, and they enjoy her personal love? We cannot do without Christ in His official character, as both Advocate and Priest; but neither priesthood as such nor advocacy, come into this chapter. It is the personal love of Christ “to His own." It is consistent, too, with the one great object, viz. “that we may have part with Christ," for this is personal. Mark these verses: the 3rd shows the mind and heart of the Lord. “He knew his hour was come," that " God had put all things into his hand," and " that He came from God, and He went to God." Let us get these thoughts into our hearts, about His person and Himself, fresh and full, from His own love, and we shall then be astonished at this wonderful Lord who calls us, keeps us clean, and blesses us in the full enjoyment of all His personal love. It takes our breath away, as we think of it, were it not that He draws us to His breast to learn it, in communion with Himself! It was Jesus knew what was needed, and rises from the table. His actions are equivalent to His words; He does not ask them, but this is what He does. We are outside this chapter, if we introduce sin, and guilt, or cleansing by blood. There is no question of sins, it is a question of ministry “by the word, and by the Spirit; “as represented by water, and the towel. He shows forth thus His personal love to His own. Beloved brethren, we have communion with, and participation in, all He has! He came from the Father, to reveal the Father, and He has gone back to the Father, because " He has accomplished the work that was given him to do." The grave of Lazarus lay in the pathway of Jesus, as " the resurrection and the life," and this was a mighty triumph over death and corruption, as bringing to naught the power of Satan. So was “the transfiguration" on the mount, in the other gospels by Matthew, and Mark, and Luke; in manifestation of the righteousness of Him, who there and then, reached the highest place out of heaven, and was accredited by the voice from " the excellent glory." In John, our Lord is acting as " the word that was God," and in this title, as well as in others, " He gets glory for God," out of the vast ruin that lay around him, day by day, till at Bethany He reached the lowest place, where the enemy’s power was at its worst in corruption. But only to say, "loose him, and let him go." Jesus showed " the glory of God," at the grave of Lazarus-if He had not done this, He would not have left us a proof, that He was personally above all the power of Satan, and higher than sin and death, and corruption. He says, " If ye believe, ye shall see the glory of God," and in His title of " the resurrection and the life," He could say to Lazarus, " Come forth." Christ in His power and love, is ever watchful over His own, and stands between them and the foe, at all times. The Devil has done his best, and his worst, to break asunder the relation of Adam with God, and the disciple with Christ. After the sop Satan entered into Judas at the supper table, he is always “the adversary." It was then Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, and it was there Satan tempts Peter to say that the Lord “should never wash his feet." In the same way, he tempts people now, by saying they are too bad and sinful to have, and enjoy those things which Christ says are theirs. Satan puts it into the heart of Judas to betray the Lord, but eventually by this act, “the wise shall be taken in his own craftiness," through our Lord’s triumphant resurrection. It was in this stronghold of death and corruption, God had been glorified down to the lowest, and the devil been defeated, at Lazarus’s grave. This is why, in John’s gospel we have no account given of the temptation in the wilderness; because His divine glory in righteousness, or in authority, are supreme everywhere, and in everything. Instead therefore of the transfiguration on the Holy Mount, where Jesus reached the highest place under heaven, as in the synoptic gospels: here we have the social circle of Bethany instead, and Lazarus one of those who sat at the table with Him. Mary and the box of ointment, “speak of His decease " as really as Moses and Elias did at the top of the Holy Mount; and they alike declare a divine secret, for His cross and death, which opened another, and a very different path, to " glory in the highest," by means of His baptism of blood. He is anointed “for his own burial," by her-and Judas was the tool of Satan! It required the wickedest man on earth to betray such an One as Jesus, and to betray Him with a kiss. Judas alone could take, and make the step which leads Christ to His highest glory. Man in himself was not wicked enough for this, without being filled with Satan. If grace, which hands the sop, does not break the flesh down, the disciple must become a traitor to Jesus, by means of the perfection of love. The devil became a usurper against God, by the very goodness of God. If the sop when dipped, does not make sin terrible in our sight, and expel it, Satan will come in, and wickedness, superhuman and diabolical, will be done. Christ went to death, to overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil (as well as " to put away sin, by the sacrifice of Himself") and it is by means of the cross, that God has condemned sin in the flesh, and the flesh itself, by death, and raised us up together with Christ. The 13th chapter opens out to us thus, the character of His ministry, as "the departed One" to the Father, and by the towel, the water, and the basin. We are kept morally for communion-in this “part with Him" by the word and the Spirit. The Spirit, from the Father and the Son, is the Holy Spirit, and witnesses to the delight of the Father and the Son, and their mutual love to us. In the presence of such marvelous grace, one asks, "Where, and what are we?" He never parts company with, or from, His own. What manner of love is this? These chapters are full of this grace, and they show the new relations and operations of the Holy Ghost too, by which this love is maintained in fellowship with us, and that “His own " are the objects whom Christ loves. Another thing in this group is this―that in no other gospel is there any mention made of “The Father’s house." What new people is this, that the many mansions above are opened out to? What has He gone to do for us, that we should not be orphans? He has left us the assurance that He will come again, and receive us to Himself―that where He is, there we may be also. Besides this, there is the kingdom glory, for all Christ’s rights and titles have been refused by the world. God will in righteousness, put all this right by judgment upon His enemies, when the Church is gone up. There are many mansions, for nothing under the sun could be either a home, or a rest for us, as " One with Christ." There is nothing good enough for "His own "―nothing, but our being caught up, to meet the Lord in the air, and our presentation by Him to the Father, and then our happy settlement in " The Father’s house." He said, I will not leave you " orphans," I will come to you, for these disciples had preached " the kingdom as at hand," and expected it too. As yet, they had earthly hopes as Israelites; but a believer in a rejected Christ, in an ascended Lord, and the glorified Son of Man, has no expectations outside the " departed One " at His second coming, and is now an orphan." Looked at under " the light of the sun," his hopes are not in Israel’s restoration; for the veil is upon their hearts, till they nationally turn to the Lord; and till that day comes, they must abide " without a king" in Jerusalem, and without seraphim and priest. The climax of the world’s history, which will be the worshipping of the beast, together with the acceptance of the antichrist, and the false prophet, must yet be manifested to reach the full-blown blasphemies "against God and His Christ," upon which the apocalyptic judgments will then be poured out, and which they will then set aside. In the meanwhile the Spirit in living power, has a dwelling-place in us, or we should be orphans, and "without hope," because our portion is with our risen Lord, and where He now is; our only home is there. The devil tries to eclipse this bright light of the Father’s house and home, by making the present world attractive and ensnaring-or else by making persons skeptical. People pray for the Holy Ghost " to be poured out," as if this were the hope of the Church; but this should not be, for the Holy Ghost has come to prepare the heart of the Bride, for the shout of her Lord, and to enter upon those relations in heaven, which are formed by the Father, for " the many sons He is bringing to glory." Nevertheless, man and this creation have never been given up; only the scaffolding, as well as the various types and shadows, must give place, and come down, when "the building made without hands" is to appear. Heaven and earth " which are now," shall pass away, Peters says, that the elements shall dissolve with fervent heat. Paul says all shall be shaken, but we " receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved," &c. My word shall remain, and " I will come and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. I will not leave you ’ orphans,’ for the Father’s house belongs to the children of this economy." Thus we see these chapters of John cannot apply to the Old Testament saints, nor to the dispensation which preceded Christ; nor to the millennial kingdom and its throne of glory, which follows this; but they apply to a believer who owns a rejected Christ, and is come out to have part with Him, where He is. To all His saints who love this oneness there is a special circle of intimacy, and for the exercise of Christ’s love (See John 14:19-23). There are two abodes―we " have part with Him " in the Father’s abode, where He is―and to the man who keeps his words, " He and the Father will come, and make their abode " with him. " His own " have had to part with Him, for a time. Meanwhile, there are the operations of the Spirit, to make " this indwelling " vital to us; and these are wonderful links, which we must know and understand, in order to enjoy. He thus manifests Himself unto us, moreover, as He does not unto the world, for these are inward ties in life, with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost, too, makes His abode with us, though not visibly; but it is real, vital, spiritual, and understood, and known to us. In chapter 16:9, there is another, and a very opposite relation, and effect of the Comforter seen, viz., “to convict the world “of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. It is as Comforter to us, but as convicter of the world, and as a witness and evidence against it, that He appears below. The Lord gives us to see and feel His hand in grace (See chap. 16:12-15), so that we may be confident in His love and intimacy with us. He will keep my feet clean, and lay my head at rest on the unfathomable depths of His love― without a thought about security against judgment of sin―for we are redeemed by His precious blood for all that, and made whiter than snow. Finally, we must observe the energy and reciprocity of this sweet love; for John, the beloved disciple, who rested on the Lord’s bosom, was swifter of foot, and " did outrun " all, when there was a question of the Lord’s empty tomb by His resurrection. It is as beautiful as it is perfect, to see that the Lord on his part, commits to him His own mother. Thus, the disciple brought up upon the breast, was the quickest of eye, likewise, for it was John who saw and recognized the Lord on the shore, at the sea of Tiberias, on the morning of that eventful fishing. And now let us close these meditations by this, viz., that the confidence, and repose, and rest of love, are as precious between Jesus “and the beloved disciple," as were the energy and reciprocity by act and deed by John previously. What a proof of it was this: “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home." It is thus, the wondrous circle of the mansions, and houses, and homes, and abodes of love, above and below, are made perfect in this blessed gospel; between the Father and his children, or Jesus and "His own," or the Lord and His disciples! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: VOL 04 - THE REMNANT ======================================================================== The Remnant You ask about the term remnant. You are correct that it is used in. Scripture of God’s earthly people Israel, but not of the Church of God. Israel being God’s people not by profession merely, but in truth, whether they were individually converted or not, the Lord in executing judgment on them for their sins did not exterminate them, but left a residue, a remnant; in the land after the Assyrian invasion of Samaria, and will yet bring back a remnant when the time for their final blessing shall arrive. Now at no time since the capture of Samaria by Sargon, has the whole nation been in the enjoyment of divine favor; nor will it ever be, as a whole, though the twelve tribes will be preserved, and reinstated in the land, as Ezekiel states. But from him we also learn that not every individual among the ten tribes who will be recognized as of the seed of Jacob, will re-enter the land of promise; the rebels and transgressors amongst them will be purged out, whilst the tribes are on their way (Ezekiel 20:38). As to the Jews restored to their land in unbelief, two parts will be cut off and die, and only the third part will be finally preserved; so it will be in the future as it has been in the past, that only a remnant of the nation will share in the favor of God. From the days of Hezekiah the term remnant became applicable, and was used. He himself used it, asking the prophet to lift up his prayer for the remnant that was-left (2 Kings 19:4). The answer of God by Isaiah assured the king of that remnant’s then preservation (5: 31). Subsequently God announced, that the remnant was to be forsaken because of their sins (2 Kings 21:13-14). That took place under Nebuchadnezzar, whose dynasty falling, and with it the Babylonish monarchy, paved the way for a remnant to return in the days of Zerubbabel and Ezra, in order that the Messiah might come by whose death Israel will by and bye be finally blessed. Hezekiah viewed all that remained as only a remnant in his day. Ezra viewed those that returned in a similar light (Ezra 9:14). And Haggai and Zechariah speaking by the Spirit of God, acknowledged them as such (Haggai 1:12-14; Haggai 2:2; Zechariah 8:6), and the latter gave hopes of blessing for the remnant in the future (8:11, 12). These blessings will surely be made good, but it will be only to a remnant, as Zechariah 13:9, tells us. Meanwhile, a remnant still shares in blessing, and becomes part of the Church. Of this Paul was a witness, and, with all the other believers from Israel makes up the remnant, according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5). At whatever period then, of their national history from Hezekiah’s days and onwards there has not been, nor will there be, anything but a remnant, which will in the future enjoy all the national blessings of which the prophets have written. Turning ’our thoughts to the Church it is manifest the term remnant would not apply, for the assembly is viewed as existing as a whole on earth, though in one sense, as spoken of in Eph. 1:22, it is not all on earth at any one time. But in both its local and general aspects, it is regarded as on earth, and in the enjoyment of the privileges of the Church of God. There is, perhaps, a confusion in some minds between the remnant" and" the rest" (Revelation 2:24.). Addressing the local assembly at Thyatira the Lord distinguishes between those unfaithful and those faithful, and calls these latter " the rest," thus marking them off as distinct in His thoughts from those who aided and abetted Jezebel; but in doing that, He addresses the local assembly as a whole. Much instruction we may surely derive from the remnant of, Haggai’s days, but a remnant, or " the remnant " is a term one would not use with reference to the Church. We should deny thereby, the existence of the Church as a whole on earth viewed in its general aspect, about which Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:15. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: VOL 04 - THE SHELL AND THE KERNEL ======================================================================== The Shell and the Kernel ONE great result which God has made known to us in His word, respecting Himself by all His works, is that “the invisible things of Him” from the creation ’of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even " His eternal power and Godhead." Indeed, it is this very fact, which creates responsibility in this Adam-world, and leaves mankind “without excuse, for not glorifying God as God." This material system may, therefore, be viewed as the great outward sphere of His display in wisdom and power, by all that He has wrought Creatorially therein to make Himself known, and by what He has done, and is doing, and will yet do governmentally with it, as " the Judge of the whole earth." He works out His own ways, amidst all the confusions and delusions amongst men in this world, whilst Satan, the usurper, is its prince, and allowed to be at large thereon; and it is in this light, “the shell," which, nevertheless, holds the germ. The kernel (if we may so say) lies in this, that God has likewise revealed in His word the fact of His internally working out in it (though in mystery) all His secret counsels in Christ, for " the glory of God and his elect," in new creation power, and under another life and headship (with their divine relations) in the Second Man. The scale of this work, is “according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us, in all wisdom and prudence," and all such can say, as being in this secret of God, " old things are passed away, and all things are become new." These walk by faith, and not by sight, and look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen―" knowing that the things which are seen are temporal." God has likewise brought out from Egypt. by the hand of Moses a people for His name, and these are the Israel of Jehovah; moreover, He is ordering the world externally in government in reference to this people, and will again gather them together out of the four corners of the earth as a nucleus for the earthly and millennial blessing; " Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit." Obedience and dependence produce confidence; and these were normally the existing mad necessary elements in the creature, for any and all enjoyment, and intercourse with God from the beginning. This, Adam realized when he stood in innocency, and in the unsullied image of Him that created him. In an unfallen creation where " all was good," even up to the standard of what suited the Creator, for " His own rest "-such a perfect order of things, and such a state as this existed in Eden, though but for a while, and was, alas, speedily turned into a vanishing point, which declared tile distance of Adam’s moral departure from God. Life and liberty and happiness grew up together, and were then found and enjoyed in the presence of God, without any let or hindrance to the outcome of all the powers, and capacity for blessing in the creature. Before Satan and evil came in, and when God could, and did bless everything as He finished it, there was no occasion for any check to the energy, and outflow of all that was in the mind and heart of man, and which made him, in body, soul, and spirit, capable of unmingled joy and gladness before God, in the midst of everything that was made. But more than this, yea much more―the primary object of God in creation, was His own satisfaction and delight, in all the living intelligencies, whether angelic or human, by whom He was surrounded, and of whom He was the supreme and self existent center. Nothing short of His own glory, in all that He fashioned and made, was daily before Him, and thus even " the crowned elders" in the Apocalyptic -future, celebrate their Creator, saying, " for thy pleasure they are, and were created." What a source of blessing was this to every creature that could and would only live, because “the living God " lives. What a warrant and spring of joy to all in the heavens, and upon the earth, was God’s own delight in the works of His hands, and what a guarantee was this, for all besides! By the work of the six days of Genesis 1:1-31, the first five (wonderful as they were in their order and progression) were but prefatory to the bringing in of the representative Adam of the sixth day, who was “made in the likeness of God." All these six were only preparatory in their turn, and necessary to introduce, and then give place. to, that masterpiece and seal to all time, in the seventh day, or " the Sabbath of rest " which God sanctified for Himself. Thus, at the onset of this terrestrial Genesis, the outer creation was formed, and made to hold these sacred and glorious deposits of the sixth and seventh days for the Creator and for the image-man, who was after all of the earth and earthly. Principalities, and powers in the heavenly places, viewed these great and stupendous actings as further proofs of the majesty, and supremacy, of Him who made them, when “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." The Creator rested from the works of His hands, and found a rest for Himself in them. The creation was then God’s rest, and will be so for the Jehovah-Messiah’s millennial rest-though postponed (because violated by sin) and “groaning therefore at present under the bondage of corruption." Yet, nevertheless, “there remaineth a rest for God " with His redeemed people, and with those whom He will ransom from the grave, when this great external shell, which holds their dust, shall be called " to deliver up the dead " which are therein. If we pursue our theme of “the shell and the kernel," it will be necessary to quit this first circle of an unfallen creation, and its seven days’ developments, in order to learn other lessons from the historical heavens and earth, in their connections with " the fall of man," and the righteous government of God on account of sin. Such paths as we may have to follow (strange as they are, because of this awful rupture), ought not to be foreign, in their general outline at least, to any who have began to learn God in " his ways," towards the children of men, from the closing up of paradise-and more especially since "the translation of Enoch," out from its corruption, " before the flood." The grand principles of individual obedience and dependance (as we have already said) were essential for communion with God at any, and at all times, as well as for holding fast the subsequent testimony to Himself, through dispensed truth, which He has now committed to men. These principles are only embodied, as they are carried out a step further, and put into their proper form in us by some veritable act of separation from evil, and in the true confession of holiness, which are due to God. This was eminently so with Enoch, when the great external shell of " the world that then was," yielded out its first ripe fruit, in the man who walked with God upon it, and who carried about " the inward testimony that he pleased him." The one of that era “was translated, that he should not see death." Adam’s earth which was of old, with its inhabitants, perished by the deluge, only yielding eight souls as the nucleus of another formation. They went into the ark with Noah, out of that world of judgment, till the appointed time for them to come forth upon the next, as a new company under " the rainbow of God’s sure covenant " in blessing. Moreover, in following out this external history of creation, as under the government of God, we find that “the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." In fact, the 2nd Epistle of Peter puts the created heavens and earth (because of sin) whether before the deluge, or since, into one vast dissolving view; and then reveals " a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," and in which the tabernacle of God shall once again, and forever, be with men. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be... looking for, and hasting to the coming of the days of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." By such records as these, and from other Scriptures, we are taught that the heavens and the earth, and the elements, are viewed simply as a great and external shell, for the manifestation of God in His majesty, and providential goodness, to an Adam-creation, and then to a Noah-world, by which He " giveth to all, life and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth. He hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him: “and escape, through faith in Christ, out of its condemnation and coming judgment. The majesty and goodness of God were the attributes which he displayed in the first circle of creation, whereas redemption, as declared in the salvation of Noah, and all who were in the ark, out from the waters of death and of judgment, was displayed in this second circle, or " the world that now is." Again, in the first circle, God had manifested His wondrous actings as Creator, and formed a Sabbath of rest for Himself and a paradise for Adam, in the midst of a great celestial and terrestrial system, in which “God rested and was refreshed." Redemption was afterward brought out, and established in a still fuller way, by the deliverance of the nation of Israel, as the chosen people of God, out from the cruel bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. Of this redemption, the great and external Adam-world has become historically the object and witness, and ever will be, for the accomplishment of all the precious promises in blessing to Noah, and mankind likewise, and to the twelve tribes, together with the Gentile nations. This will be manifested in the bright millennial days of their future glory, with Messiah in “the city of the great king," or, as the Son of Man, when He sits upon His own throne in righteous rule over the world. But we must now take another view, and a far grander one, of the purposes of God to be wrought out in, and by “the Son of His own love," in what we have compared to the kernel. These great and external heavens and earth, or the shell, did not express His secret purpose, or disclose His hidden counsel of "Christ, and the Church," though creation might, and did contain this kernel, or mystery, and wrap it up. If we would become acquainted with these “deep things of God," which lay hidden in Himself, we must pass from these outward circles of God’s ways, whether in creation or government, by which He is carrying out His intentions on the earth, for His own glory with His chosen people Israel, and enter " the garden which the Lord God planted." It was here He wrought according to His Godhead counsel, and brought to light His hidden purpose in the mystic man; and the further one of a second Adam, as the beginning of the new creation of God, and “Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." How divinely and differently God wrought out these counsels, may well occupy us! These purposes which were fore-ordained from " before the foundation of the world," but have been manifested in these last times for us, and wrought out by the Holy Ghost come down from the ascended and glorified Son of man. In the garden we behold Him, as in a sacred enclosure, working by the mystery of Adam’s sleep (outside nature), that He might draw forth the mysterious rib from his opened side," out of which to fashion and form the woman, as an help-meet for the man; " and set up in type the master piece of Christ and the Church. It was to Adam she was brought by the Creator for a Bride, and as the completion of the mystic mart, that " they might be one flesh," as the last, and crowning act of divine wisdom, and power, and glory. And now, we may ask, what did these inner acts and deeds in." the garden” pre-figure, which the great outward world could not? What but the coming forth of the " second man " who was ordained from everlasting to descend into these " lower parts of the earth," to purchase and redeem it, and pass through His deeper sleep of death to gain His bride, and finally lead her forth by resurrection unto His own eternal glory. It was He alone who could change the sepulcher of sleep in His garden of Cedron into a birth-place; and on the morning of that third day, come forth as "the first born Son" in resurrection," the head of His body," the bridegroom, and " the beginning of the [new] creation of God." Again, what do all these silent, and inner acts, and deeds, mean when taken out of type, and figure, by the Holy Ghost, after this deep sleep in the womb of the earth―and then passing up into connection with the glorified Son of Man, at the right hand of God? What further can such works (curiously wrought out, in the darkness of the grave in death, and then illuminated by " the right hand of the Father" in glory) proclaim to us but the fulfillment of that blessed pattern, of the man and the woman set up before the fall―or, " the great mystery," of Christ and the Church, to be seen in the coming glory of the Father and the Son? If we have come out to learn God as one with Christ, not only in the first circle of Adam and his creation, with its Sabbath of rest-nor merely in the second circle, by a world after the flood, bright with its rainbow pledges, and covenants of promise to Noah, and the Patriarchs, and to Israel―but likewise in the inner circle of the planted garden and its mysteries―we shall find this disclosure can only be known by the revelation made to us by God in His word, and by being born again of the Spirit. " This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent "―and such are sanctified by the truth, and waiting to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, &c. Liberty from the flesh and the world and the power of Satan, by our death and resurrection with Christ, are thus found through redemption―and by the gift of eternal life in the power of the Holy Ghost. It is this transformation which separates us from our fellow-men, and is properly the birth-right and blessing of every believer in Christ. These peculiarities mark the state and ground on which we are set " before God our Father," as new creatures, by our union in life and righteousness with the Lord Jesus. We are thus born of God, and not of this world, but " translated out of darkness into light." It is only when so standing in grace, with " Christ the hope of glory" full ’before us, and in us, as our new stand-point, that we are able to look at everything above and below in the light of divine truth. We then learn our first, and early lessons of faith, by which “we call things that are not as though they were "―and growingly live in the power of " things not seen which are eternal." Consistently with this, as believers in Christ, we are called out from this present evil world, to walk " as beloved children" with God, under the anointing of the Holy Ghost; though we may be hidden in our turn for " a little while " in it, like men (as we have said) that wait for the coming of their Lord. It is true that the style and character of this life, and our walk with God (as such) must vary, and has become diverse-according to the name, and the relations, in which He may have declared Himself to one and another, throughout the varying dispensations, and the pathway therein, which He takes with His elect. " The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ " is the name in which He is revealed to us, whom He is now " calling out into fellowship," by the Holy Ghost, into another creation, in the second Adam at His right hand in heaven, and a new order of things, " kept secret from before the world was." We are coming historically to the close of the seven thousand years of old-creation reckoning, with all its characteristic responsibilities, and expectations. “The end of all things is at hand," and Babylon with the Gentiles must speedily go down into the dust, because " the time to favor Zion " is at hand, when Jerusalem and Israel " will arise and put on their beautiful garments," and pass once more into their highest places of dignity and glory under the sun, and shine brighter than in the days of Solomon. We, too, who are of " the planted garden," are passing out of the mystery form, into its accomplishments in the other and new creation, for " if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature " even now; and to such an one, " old things are passed away; and all things are become new," as headed up in Christ, at the right hand of God. These peculiarities of our heavenly calling, may have made it difficult for some Christians to connect the original principle of our separation from this present world (to walk with God, as the translated Enoch did)―with the practical confession of Christi anity to a rejected Christ below, and a glorified Lord in heaven. This path"(for the man of God now) is the more difficult to the uninitiated, because they find even the “wind and sea contrary," and they are themselves against the course of everything, and every one is against them, for " His name’s sake." Moreover, this is felt the more acutely in a time of declension like the present, as regards those who stood for a while in the truth of this confession of Christ rejected below, and glorified above, but have become weary "in well doing," and lost the power and joy of the blessed hope of the Church. Nevertheless, this demand is made on the faithful, by “Him that is holy and true," yea, even to stand apart from the ripening apostacy of these last days, in the actual possession " of gold tried in the fire," and that they should be clad in white raiment. God will presently, in supreme power and righteousness, take all into His own hands, and make the heavens which had long ago received the ascended Son of Man, open themselves out in like manner, as the pathway and home for the glorified Church with her Head and Lord. Meanwhile, the Holy Ghost is upon earth to form it! The counsels of God in their full accomplishment and manifested glory, will then find their perfection in the administration of the fullness of times,―" when all things shall be gathered together in one, even in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him." The new order of manhood in Christ, and the new creation of which He is the beginning and Head, will be established eternally.“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ." The new creation, with its heavens and earth, will ever after contain, and manifest to perfection from their new center―the kernel―which the old or former creation once had held, though hidden, till the opening mystery of "God manifest in the flesh." It failed to appreciate or retain Him, as He passed along through it, in the light of promise and prophecy, and purpose, but in the veiled glory of His manhood, that He might thereby descend into the lower parts of the earth, to win all back for Himself, and for the glory of God, by His mysterious sleep in death, and hold it by His triumphant resurrection at the right hand of the Father. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: VOL 04 - THE SINGERS OF ZION ======================================================================== The Singers of Zion " Now let me die." " And Jacob blessed Pharaoh." Hebrews 11:21; Jeremiah 31:11-12. " The blood... wherewith he was sanctified... Ye are come to Mount Zion." Hebrews 10:1-39; Hebrews 12:1-29 YE singers of Zion, His goodness retrace, And hide not His trophies of mercy and grace; His " plenteous redemption " with fullness proclaim, Forget not His " patience," deny not His " name." Now join in the lays of the weak ones of old,* Whose hearts were too big for the law-loving fold; Whose lips must confess, with rejoicing at length, That they who have "stumbled are girded with strength.’ (* Judges 5:1-31; 1 Samuel 2:1-36; Psalms 68:11-12; Zechariah 12:7-8) Say, who is this wanderer, homeless and lone, Preparing a bed with its pillows of stone? He dreams not of judgment, but heaven reveals A pathway of favor―the Blesser that heals. Where―where did he find out the oil that he poured,* Recording the grace he had learned in the Lord? A bright Ebenezer he ’stablished at length, Proclaiming, to us, who was girded with strength. (* Genesis 28:1-22; 2 Kings 4:2.) Then, tell of that wonder of power divine, Who proved His compassions could sovereignly shine, The one who beheld how He wrought at the Sea, And set His redeemed in the wilderness free: Yes, hide not the truth, how he shamelessly strayed, And gathered the sheep round the idol he made; Yet oh! as he bound on the ephod, at length His lips could declare who was girded with strength. And surely, we see, in this wonderful plan, The priest could announce-" Never glory in man; " The people had sinned: ’twas in vain they could boast, So all must be debtors to Mercy at last. Then pass on to Beer, when he at the rock Had failed to show grace to the wandering flock: " In them He is sanctified " richly, at length,* "The pole" is their banner, they’re girded with strength. (* Numbers 20:13; Isaiah 5:16; Ezekiel 20:41; Psalms 138:3.) And who is this marvel in Hannah’s bright day, Whose mouth can be filled with a similar lay― The offspring of Korah*―a debtor to grace, Who surely would join you in gladness and praise? Sing, sing, as ye see him uplifting the oil, To pour it on him who gave Grace’s full spoil; ** Tis Rahab’s great son he is blessing at length, And David could tell who was girded with strength. (*Numbers 26:11; 2 Chronicles 6:1-42) (**1 Samuel 30:20; 1 Samuel 30:26.) Of captives in Babylon, too, ye may sing, And ope the resources that Mercy must bring; The sword in their house, governmentally laid*, And yet what a witness their pathway displayed. Ah! little the boaster to Babylon knew, The wonderful blessing their God had in view;** That proved, in the end (to His glory and praise), When deepest the ruin, the power of His grace. (*Isaiah 39:1-8; Daniel 1:1-21) (** Isaiah 40:1-31) But, pass on from singing in Zion of old, And louder proclaim what your hearts must unfold; Say, who are those gathered in weakness and fear― Their souls little dreaming what blessing was near. The last time they all were surrounding the Head, They left Him alone: they " forsook Him and fled." Then sing as He breathes on those outcasts at length, That they who had "stumbled are girded with strength." Are they a-preparing for Galilee’s road, To seek the rejected―to find His abode? He comes to give energy ere they move on, To meet where the weak ones had told He was gone.* A Peter―like Aaron―shall echo your strain, To learn richer grace in that wonderful train; Oh, could not that company glory at length, And prove―that the stumbler is girded with strength. (* Matthew 28:7.) The name of their Purchaser, who shall remove From sheep that are branded from glory above? Despite all their failure, before all the world, Their calling, their standard, may still be unfurled. Yes, singers of Zion, now fully proclaim, The weakest is heavenly―bearing that Name; The height of that calling, the grace He can pour, Unite―as ye laud loving kindness’s store. The proud may refuse, but "the humble shall hear," * The wise shall " observe" why the needy have cheer:** If Hanun reject what a David doth send, Let heads, which He blesses, adoringly bend. *** " While kings with their armies are fleeing apace," We’ll sing all the louder of glory and grace; Just come to the end of the desert at length, Why should we not tell of the girdle of strength. (* Psalms 34:1-22) (**Psalms 107:1-43) (***Contrast 2 Samuel 10:1-19 with chap. 10) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: VOL 04 - THE SPRINGS OF THE NEW CREATION IN CHRIST ======================================================================== The Springs of the New Creation in Christ AT the opening of Exodus 12:1-51, we find, the beginning of the year changed. It is not said why this was to be, but simply, " This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year unto you." This was an intimation to the people of Israel, that they were to enter on some fresh connection with God, to take up some new character before Him, or to be recognized in some new relationship; and that this was necessary. " This month shall be unto you the beginning of months." And this was said to them while they were still in Egypt, the place of death and judgment, the place of nature or of the flesh. The intimation thus given at the very outset, was very quickly explained. “God is His own interpreter " ―for the very next moment the congregation are introduced to the Lamb of God, whose blood was to shelter them from the sword of the angel; that is, to be their full plea and answer to the throne of judgment where righteousness sits. This is simple and clear and blessed. Israel are at once taught this―that the new character in which they were now to walk with God was that of a blood bought people, a redeemed, ransomed generation. This was the form which the new life, the new year, on which they were now entering, was to take. This was their new creation, their second birth. We are new creatures, being reconciled sinners. This truth takes a New Testament form in 2 Corinthians 5:16-19. The new creature is that sinner who walks with God in the faith and sense of reconciliation. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who path reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ." This is man beginning the new year, entering on a new life, being a new creature, as a sinner reconciled by the paschal blood of Jesus. So in 1 Peter 1:25, he is declared to have been born again by the word which the Gospel has preached to him; and that Gospel is the message of redemption through the blood of the Lamb. By this he becomes a kind of firstfruits of God’s creatures (James 1:1-27) The early intimation of new creature hood which we had here in this twelfth of Exodus, is thus soon interpreted-and the interpretation is confirmed by one and another scripture in the New Testament. But there is much more than this in analogies between these chapters and New Testament Scriptures.* (* The structure of John 3:1-36 is like that of this Exodus 12:1-51 there the Lord begins by telling of the need of being born again, or of being a new creature, but does not, till after wards, interpret how that is to be. (See ver. 3, and then 14, 15.)) At the close of chapter 12., we find Israel, now redeemed themselves, acting upon others. They are taught how to deal with " strangers." They were to tell them that they were as welcome to come into the regions of the new creation as they had been―that they might eat of the Passover with them, or celebrate redemption with them; only they were to he circumcised as they had been. Sinners must renounce themselves in the flesh, or in the old-creation condition, and then they may enter on the new year, the new life, the new creation of God in Christ Jesus. There must be no confidence in the flesh, but a rejoicing in Christ Jesus-this is the circumcision (Php 3:3). The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, is the leading, formal witness and depository of this evangelic ministry of the redeemed. There the saints are seen addressing themselves to “strangers," and doing so in the simple style of this Scripture―13:43-49. So that we are still breathing the atmosphere of the New Testament when we read these verses. We are in company with the Spirit which afterward animates the Book of the Acts. In the reconciliation of the paschal blood, the blood of the Lamb of God, we tell all around us, that the kingdom is theirs on their being born again, on their faith in the One who died for our sins, and was raised again for our justification. “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us;" we still say to “strangers," " be ye reconciled to God." (See the chapter already quoted, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21.) How sweet, how convincing, how precious it is, thus to find ourselves in the mind and with the principles of the New Testament, as we read these very early oracles of the Old!―But there is more of this. The saint is to take heed to himself, as well as to address himself to “strangers." And to take heed to himself, order his ways, and nourish his soul, in the peculiarities of the calling of God, and after the mind of the Spirit. This we next find in chapter 13.; and this we also find, formally and characteristically, in the Epistles of the New Testament. In chapter 13., we see the Israelite of God, now redeemed by blood, and thus set in God’s presence and fellowship, carrying himself according to this his place and calling. He finds his springs in God, his motives and sanctions, and secret effectual virtues in that which God has done for him. He purifies himself-keeping the feast of unleavened bread; he devotes and dedicates himself―rendering up his first-born and his firstling to the Lord; and if he be inquired of, why all this cleansing of himself, why all this devotedness? He simply pleads what the Lord hath done for him, when he was in Egypt, a bondsman there in the place of death and judgment. This is all he has to say, though he be challenged again and again. His springs of moral life are known to rise in the salvation of God. This is truly blessed. This says to the living God, " All my springs are in Thee." And this is the language of the new creature in Christ Jesus, as we see him in the Epistles of the New Testament. So that in this thirteenth chapter, we are still, as I have said, in New Testament atmosphere. For there it is the we have received, the promises which have been made to us, the grace which has brought salvation, the fact that we are bought with a price, the great Gospel mystery that we are washed from our sins, a sprinkled, redeemed, sanctified people, which are recognized as the springs of all moral behavior and personal devotedness-of course to have their efficacy in us by the presence of the Holy Ghost. Proverbs 8:22-31. JEHOVAH possessed me the beginning of His way before His works of old. From eternity was I anointed, from the beginning, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountain, heavy with water. Before mountains were fastened (or fixed). Before hills was I brought forth. When He had not made earth, and fields (or uninhabited country), and the top (or head) of the dusts of the habitable world. When He prepared (the) heavens, there I was, When He decreed a circle on the face of the deep, When He made fast clouds above, When the fountains of the deep became strong, When He set for the sea His decree, That (the) waters should transgress not His mouth, When He decreed the foundations of earth; Then I was near Him, an artificer,* And I was (His) delights day by day; Rejoicing before Him continually, Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth, And my delights with the sons of men. (* About amen as you know, there is a great difference of judgment. Some take it as A. V. does, or 84 one who has the care of young people, a tutor like Judœo Spanish, which has ayo, others as artist, or architect. The sense would run well with A. V. or Judœo Spanish But for A. V. to be right, I suppose the word should be amun not amen. With the name, Baal-hamon, Song of Solomon 8:11 -Baal-amon it may be that artificer is the real meaning. But I cannot decide the point.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: VOL 04 - THE TABLE, THE CONFESSION OF THE LORD ======================================================================== The Table, the Confession of the Lord THE Lord’s table is spoken of in 1st Corinthians, chapter tenth, as the CONFESSION of the Lord by those who partake. Various, we know, is the aspect given to this precious legacy left to us of the Lord. Circumstances in the conduct of the Corinthians brought it into another point of view. The Israelites were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; God therefore vindicated His glory on many various occasions, because He was not duly acknowledged in His attributes towards His people. Subjection according to their deliverance was forgotten; “Remember how I brought you out of the land of Egpyt, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm," was the burden of the call of the Lord to Israel. “Now all these things happened to them as ensamples (for us), and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come." The Apostle argued, therefore, that as to join the altar of the idol was to have fellowship with the idol; that it could not be with impunity. To join the altar of the idol was fellowship with the idol; owned it, in fact, confessed it. If it were the table of devils, it was communion or fellowship (the word is the same) with them. Singleness of confession then was that which the Lord, strong as He was jealous, required.To confess any other lord was incompatible and impossible; and as a common act (which the introductory act of Christianity was not) it partook of the nature of a common confession. At the table of the Lord, the assembly was one bread in the participation of the one bread or loaf. Saved by grace, there was no question of salvation, it was-who was Lord? Whatever character, therefore, of worship, thanksgiving, or of memorial of the grace in the Lord’s death, was found in the Lord supper, it was the parallel between the example of the Israelites (separated to God in the cloud and in the sea) and the assembly, that the instruction given by the Apostle lies in this chapter. It is then the unmixed confession of the Lord by a practical separation to Himself, without any admixture of other subjection, that we find in this chapter. In the Hebrews, the Apostle says, "We have an altar (I do not suppose that this alludes to the table) of which those who serve the tabernacle cannot partake." It is a much more serious question, but which indicates the purity and singleness of the confession intended to be made by the table of the Lord. Christendom looks on Christ as commonly acknowledged within its bounds, as received on earth, and mixing Himself with the world. God looks not at it so. Christ was rejected on earth and received in heaven. If we would acknowledge and confess Christ aright, it would be as rejected on earth, and now at God’s right hand. If we belong to Him, we belong to Him there. He does not, as supposed, belong to us down here; we show forth His death till he come from where He is. This is the proper and true confession of Him, giving our confession its just significancy in the world; waiting for Him and separate unto Him in that expectation. This manifest instruction from this chapter shown in these observations does not, however, pretend to include other doctrine in the chapter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: VOL 04 - THE THREE-FOLD POSITION. EPH_1:3-12; EPH_1:19-23; EPH_2:4 ======================================================================== The Three-Fold Position.Ephesians 1:3-12;Ephesians 1:19-23;Ephesians 2:4 WE have in this epistle the three-fold position of the believer. 1st, his individual position as belonging to the family of God (5: 5); 2nd, his corporate place as belonging to the Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:19-23); and 3rd, as belonging to the house of God (Ephesians 2:19-22). This is the only position the Church of God has, in reality before God the only ground there is to stand upon. The professing Church has departed from this ground. If there is a company in this town gathered to the name of Jesus Christ, this company has professed to return to this ground, from which the Church as a whole has fallen; but this is still the only ground to stand on, all else is sectarian. It is noticeable that in the preceding epistles death is written on every form of the flesh Man iii the flesh has no place in Ephesians; the flesh is accounted a bygone thing. The death of Christ applies to everything, to every form of flesh; this we see in the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians. But in Ephesians there is no thought of man in the flesh; nothing of man is seen there, except as a bygone thing; the epistle begins with Christ in glory. It is of the greatest importance to see that we must understand the cross before anything else. To understand the Church without the cross is Satan. This is shown in Matthew 16:1-28 Peter gets a revelation from God about the Church; then Christ gives to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven; but immediately after this Jesus forbids his disciples to say that He is the Christ, and talks to them of the cross. Peter rebukes Irma saying, " This shall in no wise be; " immediately the Lord says, " Get thee behind me, Satan" (verses, 21-23). Far and wide we see this acceptance of positive truth without the truth of the cross. Christians’ talk of being in heavenly places, but when you press the cross as bringing in death to the world, the flesh, &c., they do not, like it. This is of Satan, and will be judged. We must hold the cross with the positive side of truth. In Romans 3:23-24, we see the first form of the cross: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"―" being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus," the cross meets us in our sins as guilty criminals. Christ laid down His life; His blood, was presented to God and became a mercy-seat, and through that God is just to forgive. We have the other side of the propitiatory sacrifice in Romans 4:23-25, when the sinner comes to God and trusts in Jesus and His blood, he finds that the blessed Lord has been to the cross, and borne his sins, and has been raised again, and the believer finds himself as clear before God as Christ Himself; alb sins put away, never imputed to him, never reckoned against him. Romans 1:1-32; Romans 2:1-29. give the condition of man; first, as the heathen judged by the light of creation and conscience, then as the Jew under law. The Gentile is proved lawless, and’ the Jew proved a law-breaker. In Romans 5:10, man is seen to be the enemy of God. His enmity mounted to its, height when Christ was crucified (see John 15:22-24). The Son of God spake words and did works which none other could do, and man rejected and hated Him. What a picture of mart’s enmity is that scene, where the soldier pierces with a sword the side of Christ, and from that side flows blood and water, the blood which meets the-question of our sins, and the water of the word of life which purifies and regenerates the soul, and daily cleanses us from defilement. This is the ground of peace with God. Thus the death of God’s Son meets our state as enemies of God. Romans 5:12; shows our state as born in sin. " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and thus death passed upon all men, for that all sinned." Verse 18 shows how the death of, Christ meets this state.... "Even so by one righteousness the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." God’s righteousness condemned sin in the flesh. Thus, not only our sins and our enmity were met by the death of Christ, but also sin in the flesh. At the cross man’s history closed, and we in Christ’s death are dead to sin. Romans 7:1-25 shows law as applying to man in the flesh, and it applies to the state of sin―the law gives knowledge of sin, and brings the sinner’s conscience under condemnation when sin has been brought to light by it. Without the law sin was dead. Paul was alive without the law once, before his conversion, but When the law came sin revived, and he died. The law which was for life he found to be unto death. Therefore, we must have deliverance from law as well as from sin; in Romans 7:1-25 there, is not yet knowledge of this deliverance. At the end of the chapter, it is a quickened soul, but not knowing deliverance from the law. In verse 14, reassuring himself by the law, he finds himself carnal, sold under sin. In verse 17 there is discovery of two natures; “It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." In verse 18 is the discovery that even with the ’new nature there is no power over sin. First, is the discovery that he is carnal; there -is no distinction between the natures; 2nd, that there is a new nature, distinct from sin in the flesh; 3rd, that there is no power; and 4th, he gives up and exclaims: " Oh, wretched man that I am," &c. (24 and 25 verses). Even with the new nature there is no power. Christ in glory is the source of power and strength; this is our new standing in Christ; not only all our sins are put away; and never can be brought up again, but the death of Christ gives deliverance from sin. And as to the law which could not give power to deliver or to serve God, he has died to it. In 1 Corinthians and Galatians, there is the corporate form of evil. In Corinthians the world is seen in its wisdom and power. In Galatians in its religion (read 1 Corinthians 1:17), “Not with wisdom, of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." (verse 19), " I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," &c. This is a prediction fulfilled at the cross; there, all wisdom and power is brought to naught. The Corinthian saints were copying the wisdom of the philosophers, the followers of Plato, &c.; and allowing the worldly element to creep in. This is the beginning of sects. The cross judges all the wisdom and power of the world. The Jews were looking for the power of a king, 1:e., for Messiah to come as a great temporal prince. When Christ came as a humbled man He was rejected. The Greeks sought after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified! It is important to learn that the beginning of sects was the human wisdom of the world. The saints were beginning to say, I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas. What is the meaning of all these different sects in Christendom in the present day, and all these learned colleges, all turning out ministers of different schools of opinion. It is all human wisdom! Of course the man that says this is accounted a fool, but it is better to be a fool with Paul and Christ, than to be the most popular minister in the world. They were saying at Corinth, " I am of Paul." "No," says Paul, ’" Of God you are in Christ Jesus. Of God, that is yqur origin; in Christ Jesus, that is your position." In the Epistle to the Galatians we have the religiousness of the world set before us, immediately after Paul, left. Judaizing teachers came down, speaking against Paul, and saying that besides believing in Christ the Galatians must be circumcised, and must keep the law. Judaism had now become the world as much as the heathen, having crucified the Messiah; this was the religious side of the world. Law was being mixed. up with grace. Paul says in verse 8, that they were to receive no other gospel than that he had preached unto them, not even though he preached it himself, or an angel from heaven. In chapter 3. We have the gift of the Spirit given, justification and the position of sons, and in chapter 5: the walk of believers all through to be on the principles of faith and grace and not on the principle of law. Law could not justify nor give life, it could only give the knowledge of sin. Our walk is by grace, by faith and in the Spirit, chapter 5. verses 5 and 6, and verses 16 and 17, and not by law. Only those who walk by faith, and in the Spirit fulfill the righteousness of the law. Look at the cross 6:12, 14, and we see the world crucified, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world." We are delivered by death from these two sides, human religion and human wisdom. At the cross the believer had his end as man. Do not say, " There is no harm in this thing or that, if I have died and risen with Christ I am a heavenly person; how, then, can I be happy, mixed up with the world Can I be happy frolicking and dancing and skating ’with those who are going on the road to the lake of fire? The last thing they are thinking of is Christ. Christians mixed up with the world are the unhappy ones. What is the result? When they come into the company of spiritual Christians they make them sad; walking with God is true happiness. Let us see how the cross separates us from everything here, it is like the Bed Sea separating from Egypt. The cross of Christ saves us out of a judged thing. Have we learned to see the world in this light? Judgment is on all. “Now is the judgment of this world" (John 12:31). The Epistle to the Ephesians views the believer set down in heavenly places in Christ. His new history begins with Christ in glory. What a blessed place! The Spirit accounts us as holy children connected with Him who is holy. He is set apart, and we are also set apart in connection with Him―children by adoption. In the 19th and following verses of chapter 1. is the exceeding great proof of God’s mighty power and love. Christ is taken from the dead and put "far above all principality"&c. above the highest archangel. Where were we as men? dead in trespasses and sins walking in the world fulfilling the lust of the mind; and God in His mercy raises us up out of this dark scene in the world, and the Church is seen in the Head, seated in heavenly places. The Church is related to Christ, we are all members of one family and one body, of which Christ is the Head. Ephesians 1:19-23; Ephesians 2:1-8. In the 2. Chapter 5: 19-23, the Holy Ghost is the builder and inhabiter of God’s temple. We want to realize the exceeding greatness of the power and the love which has put Christ as Man above everything, and which has ’ set the Church in union with Him. It is this same power and love that has brought back a few saints. Ibis Church ground. The only power by which this company can stand is that which is mentioned here. God has given man gifts of ministry in this day and we rejoice in them, but what we want particularly is to get back to the source of this power, to be dependent on the Head solely and wholly―the reality of the presence of the Holy Ghost in the house of God on earth. The 4. chapter appertains to the Christian’s walk. He is to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called. Thus in. the epistles before the Ephesians we have seen Christ’s death applied toevery form of man in the flesh, in that to the Romans the blood of Christ is applied to the sins; the death of God’s Son to our state of enmity this one act of accomplished righteousness to our condition as born in sin. We are also dead to the world by that same death which could only give the knowledge of sin, and bring in condemnation on the conscience of the convicted sinner. In the 1st of Corinthians the human wisdom and power of the world is judged by that same cross, and in the Epistle to the Galatians its ’religiousness. We who believe by the cross are crucified to the world, and the world is crucified unto us. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, cleared from all this we have the positive three-fold position of the Christian looked at individually and corporately; 1st, in relation to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. The Christian is thus a member of the family of God, and all God’s purposes and counsels are unveiled to him. 2nd, he is related to Christ as head of this body, as a member of that body. 3rd, to the Holy Ghost came down the builder, and inhabiter of the House of God. May the Lord lead each one into the full apprehension of this blessed place, so that each one may walk worthy of such a calling. Or course, Romans 6:1-23 does not speak of resurrection, for the question there is about sin. Colossians speaks of resurrection, because there we have the world. We get free from the power of sin by death with Christ; and from the world by resurrection with Christ, which takes us into a new region. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: VOL 04 - THE TILLAGE OF THE POOR ======================================================================== The Tillage of the Poor THE Lord abhors the trafficking in unfelt truth. In heaven there may be ignorance, or want of knowledge, but no such thing as the possession of unfelt truth. The angels are heavenly creatures, but they confess their ignorance by their desire to know (1 Peter 1:12). Ignorant of certain truths they are, but not uninterested about them. A little knowledge with personal exercise of spirit over it is better than much knowledge without it. As the proverb says " There is much food in the tillage of the poor." For the poor make the most of their little. They use the spade, the hoe, and the mattock; they weed, and they dress, and they turn up their little garden of herbs. And their diligence gets much food out of it. And we are to be these "poor Ones, ’Never to use divine Scripture as they carry out their tillage, and make the most of our little. It may be but milk we feed on, but if we use our diligence to put aside malice and hypocrisies and envies, and the like, we shall be really feeding and growing (1 Peter 2:1-25). And because of this much more savor of Christ do we often find in those we have less knowledge, for their’s is this " Tillage of the poor " (Proverbs 13:23). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: VOL 04 - THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF SEEING CHRIST WHERE HE IS. ACT_7:54-60 ======================================================================== The Transforming Power of Seeing Christ Where He Is.Acts 7:54-60 BUT we must look at the other side. The second characteristic is―THE POWER OF CHRIST WHERE CHRIST IS NOT. Stephen is not only associated by the Holy Ghost with Christ in glory; but by the Holy Ghost he has the power of Christ down here. The Holy Ghost is not only the bond of union with my representative up there; but He is in me, as the power to represent and reproduce Him down here. I have association with my Savior where my Savior is, and I have the power of my Savior where my Savior is not. What is the principle on which the efficiency of this power depends? How is it rendered operative? By looking. Nothing could be simpler. You get an illustration in the case of Elisha with Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-25). Elijah is ’ about to be taken up, and Elisha asks for a double portion of his spirit. Elijah replied, " Thou halt asked a ’ hard thing, nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee." The condition was, that he should see him taken, that he should fix his eye upon him as he went up. This is how the power is realized in us practically. The principle is, just open your eyes and look, dear friends. It is beautiful in its simplicity. You know that water always rises to its level. The same law holds good, here. Whatever you see of Christ you possess. The point at which you see Him is the point to which you are raised. If you are looking at Christ at God’s right hand, that is the height of your elevation. He, from where you view Him, is the measure of your power. It transpired that Elisha did behold Elijah taken, and what happened? His mantle fell upon Elisha while witnessing the ascending Elijah; and what, let me ask, was the first thing he did on getting it? Some one will answer, Ike crossed the Jordan! No, that was the second thing. Read it more carefully. He laid hold of his own mantle, and rent it in two pieces. He does not want his old clothes; he can dispense with them, he has got something better. He is the possessor of Elijah’s mantle, and in this new power he now walks. He can do what is supernatural: He crosses the river. How did he obtain it? Through simply looking at the taken Elijah. To make it still plainer, turn to Matthew 14:13-33. We have (1) the martyrdom of John the ’Baptist, and its bearing on the Lord. If they have dealt thus with His forerunner, what can the Lord Himself expect, but to share the same fate. If John has been put to death, what will they do to Jesus? He is apparently moved by it, and retires under the sense of anticipated rejection to a desert, where He (2) feeds the multitude. This is ministry; and I say we have this, and thank God for it. I was once at a reading where a certain clergyman read this chapter down to the end of verse 21st. It was evident what he read it for, because it referred to ministry. I said there is ministry, we are all thankful for it, divine ministry through instruments for the spiritual nourishment of the saints; but I said let us read the rest of the chapter, and we shall see another thing (3) the man of faith and power that leaves the ship to walk on the water. A path of pure faith and power, with no ship, no boat, nothing external or human. It is to this I invite your attention for a’ little. But you may say, " You do not expect us to do such an extraordinary thing as to walk on water." I reply I do. I maintain it, and I hope to demonstrate it, that it is tl only kind of walk suitable to the new power, which characterizes Christianity. It is not some high attainment of a saintly few. Many would like that very well, because they know, if they admit that this is the thing for a Christian as such, you have a pull on them if they do not exhibit it. This is all very fine you say; but if " I attempt to walk on ’water I will be sure to sink." Your flesh will, and a very good thing if it does; but I tell you this for your encouragement, there is one consolation, you never can be drowned. How do you make that out? Because your Had is above everything, and you never can perish with the power of Christ ever ready to support you. What do you mean? Where is your Head let me ask you? At the right hand of God. Do you think you would be afraid to take to the water now It is an immense thing, you see, to get hold of where your Head is, to begin with. Peter leaves the boat; and what is the boat? A boat is the natural contrivance of man to prevent him fromsinking in a fluid element. The boat is sense and sight, not power and faith. Anyone could cross a lake in a boat. There is no power other than what is natural to any man, whether he’ has faith or not, in doing that. Do you ’call that Christianity? Listen to our Lord, " Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy; hut say unto you love your enemies, bless them that curse you.... For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in. heaven is perfect." Christianity claims a great deal snore than the boat. Peter’s epistle tells the same tale. I admit the difficulties, I do not ignore them; but what I find in Christianity is, neither the removal of the difficulties nor the resort to human expedients to shirk them; but power to surmount them when they are in full force. It is power to walk on water in short. I grant it is above nature and above sense; but I deny that it is contrary to either. It is certainly supernatural; but any man of sense, not to mention a man of faith, can, see that all that is required to enable a man to walk on water is power. He may not see where the power is to come from; but given the power, there is not much difficulty in conceiving the accomplishment. It simply resolves itself into the question, is there power? I affirm that there is, and I am going to prove it. Look at Peter, and observe as to the actual walking, it is a matter of personal, individual faith in the Lord Himself. "If it be Thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." If it is not the Lord, there is no use attempting it for no power but His can enable you to do it; but He can and does enable Peter to do it. He says, ‘" Ha walked on the water to go to Jesus:" Do knot you say it is impossible, then. So long as he kept his ’eye on the Lord he walked ’as well as the Lord. Was that not power." the power of Christ? How could Peter walk on the water without the power of His Master? You get, besides, the principle of its operation, how it is actually made good in you, as an efficient. Realized once, viz., by beholding an Object outside you: as we have remarked already, it is by looking. But remember, the moment the eye is off, the Lord, you are in no laceat all for man to walk. It cannot be done-in any over of man, only by the power of Christ. Peter began to sink. He looks at the difficulties, gets occupied with the surroundings, and while his eye is on them, it cannot be on the Lord, and immediately he feels himself going down. Peter could have no more walked, on a smooth sea than on a rough one without the power of Christ; and with that power he could walk on a rough sea as well as a smooth one. It was a question of faith and keeping his eye on the Lord, not of the sea whether boisterous or calm. Even though he was sinking he was a great deal better off than those who had never left the boat. He experienced the power of the Lord which enabled him to walk while he looked, and when sinking he knew what it was to feel that arm lifting him up, the blessed grace of the Lord giving timely help, as well as learning from, the rebuke, the secret of his failure. Well, I see it is possible, says some one, to walk on water; but can it be done without sinking? I reply, of course it can. As long as Peter looked on the Lord there was not a symptom of sinking. Well but is it possible for any one on this earth to look so constantly as not to sink? I answer it is, and now I take you to Stephen to prove you that also. I am sure every one of us is conscious of how little he is up to it; but I will show you how it has been done; and moreover that it is characteristic of the Christian’s walk now.. You cannot say Stephen was in smooth water anyhow, for perhaps never has it been the lot of man on earth to pass through a more tempestuous storm, where the waves seem as if they had been running mountains high, and dashing in fury over him; yet, he sinks not, for his eye is never for a moment off his Savior in glory. “He, being full of the Holy Ghost looked steadfastly up." This is the difference between him and Peter. No looking at the boisterous waves here. There is undivided occupation, with an Object in glory; a fixed, unvarying, unflinching gaze on Jesus at the right hand of God, and there is nothing he is not competent for. He possesses the very power of the One he is looking at, by the Holy Ghost, and he is not only superior to everything, but he is the practical exhibition of Christ Himself down here. See how wonderfully like his Master Stephen is when we take Psalms 22:1-31 and note how much of what the Lord went through there is confronted by Stephen. There, are seven things in that psalm the Lord met. The first is sin; as to suffering for this of course Christ stood alone. The forsaking of God none but Christ could endure. He exhausted the judgment, and for Stephen all is brightness Godward. He looks up and sees everything clear, without the shadow of a’ cloud. Sin is completely gone, and the One who bore it is seen at the right hand of God. The second thing is " the reproach of men," " despised of the people." Stephen was surrounded by his countrymen, the people among whom he had lived, the elders and scribes whom he had been accustomed to look up to and revere; can he stand to be reproached and despised by them? Can he face that wave? Yes, by the power of Christ he can rise above that. The third point is the " bulls." " Many bulls have compassed me." Those religious magnates, arrayed in council to judge him, and gnashing on him with their teeth. Is he equal to that wave? By the power of ’Christ he can walk on that wave, too. Bodily weakness is the fourth thing in the Psalm. Christ said, " I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint." As regards Stephen, what about his poor body? His body is battered with stones, but, by the power of Christ, he is superior to it all. Then we ’get the " dogs " as the fifth thing. They were the ’Gentiles. In Christ’s case the Jews delivered Him to the Romans. In Stephen’s case there were no Gentiles, and this does not apply. The sixth point is " the lion’s mouth." Satan. All his power and wiles are brought to bear on Stephen to divert his eye from the Lord. He tempts him in this way and that to give it all up. By the power of Christ he fears neither man nor devil. Lastly, we get the " horns of the unicorn," supposed to represent the pains of death. What could be grander than the manner in which Stephen meets death.. A man on this earth, exposed to all the fury and rage of the multitude, gnashing on him with their teeth and knocking the very life out of his poor body with stones; yet borne, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, in the power of Christ, so astonishingly superior to everything and everybody, and so like his Savior that he actually spends his last breath in praying for the very people who are murdering him. So carried above all the abuse, shame, contempt, pain and suffering that man can heap upon him or inflict, that he forgets his suffering and pain, and even himself, to think of others. He knelt down and cried with „a loud voice, “Lord lay not, this sin to their charge. Having said this, he fell asleep." There is walking on water without sinking, because looking with a gaze that was unflinching on that blessed One in the glory of God, and filled with the Holy Ghost. I do not expect you all to be Stephens, God has not called us all to pass through such circumstances or suffer martyrdom; but in all the trials you have in your daily life you want ’the power of Christ to walk above them. Be it the tempers of your children, or anything else, you are not to be overcome by evil, but to be superior to it, to rise above all trials by the power of Christ? Re it -evil attractions, afflictions, sufferings of any or every description, and in every situation, what Christianity presents is not the exercise of power to remove these things out of your way, but allowing them to come upon you with unmodified force, supplies a power, the power of Christ down here, with whom you are associated up there, which makes you superior to them all, while you look steadfastly up to that blessed Object in glory. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: VOL 04 - THE TRANSFORMINGPOWER OF SEEING CHRIST WHERE HE IS. ACT_7:54-60 ======================================================================== The Transformingpower of Seeing Christ Where He Is.Acts 7:54-60 As in the thief on the cross I get the model sinner―the pattern illustration of grace, so in Stephen I get the model Christian―God’s pattern specimen of a saint on earth, linked with Christ in heaven. I show you a man of like passions with yourselves, going out of the world, and yet superior toeverything in the world, before he goes out of it. If Moses of old said, " I will turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt," we may well occupy ourselves for a little, with the wondrous nature and extent of proper, distinctive, Christian position and power, as exhibited in the Scripture I have read. We behold a poor, feeble creature like you or me on this earth, mark, in the midst of the most trying circumstances in which you could conceive a man to be placed, subjected to the uncontrollable fury of religious bigotry, issuing from the masters in Israel―the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries in the land―the victim of the ungovernable rage of a cruel and excited mob, thirsting for his blood; yet grandly borne by a power not his own, so entirely and magnificently above and beyond the whole concentrated strength of the opposition of the nation, that his very enemies have to own they see his face shining like that of an angel. Could anything exceed this-beloved? But what fills his vision all this time? On what is his attention rivetted? Is it on anything on earth? No; an all-absorbing, unparalleled object meets his entranced and delighted gaze, as he looks through the opened heavens. He sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Full of the Holly Ghost, his eye is steadfastly, undeviatingly, and unflinchingly fixed on this great, this stupendous sight, and lie is equal to anything, surmounts every obstacle, and is carried in triumph above every opposing element around him, He is lost in the contemplation of a Savior in glory. Does this exempt him from suffering, or make an easy path on earth? Let the gnashing of teeth, and the stones answer. Does the suffering or the persecution turn him aside from beholding Jesus, or divert his eye from that allengrossing heavenly object? Assuredly not. His occupation is undistracted and uninterrupted; and that, too, in spite of the most formidable, difficulties against which it’ is possible to contend. Nothing moves him. He is commanded and controlled by what he is beholding, and he practically reproduces on earth what he sees in heaven. Now, I ask you to mark this model, It is a picture you ought to have in every one of your houses. I do net mean materially, but you ought to have it before your minds. I direct your attention to a wonderful fact, in connection with what is before us, and press it. Heaven was never opened to a mere man on earth before. Enoch was translated, and Elijah went up in a chariot of fire.. The heavens opened on. Jesus when here; but He Was more than man. But never till this did heaven open to a man like you or me down here in this World, and, beloved friend it has been open ever since. From that moment to this it has never been closed. It is no longer what the angel said to the disciples in the first chapter, " Why stand ye gazing, up into heaven?" Then, the earth was not done with. In answer to the, prayer of our Lord upon the cross, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," God, in the riches of His mercy, gave the nation a further opportunity of receiving their Messiah in glory, even after they had rejected Him on earth. Alas, we know how they treated this additional token of ’God’s long-suffering patience, this lingering over them in love, and compassionate reluctance to give them up. They refused Christ in glory, as they had refused Him in humiliation. They would not have Him on earth, neither would they have Him in heaven, and Stephen is the messenger, they are about to, send after Him, to say: " We will not have this man to reign over us." But God had something in reserve. Failure hag succeeded failure in every dispensation in whichman has been placed here, but after each failure God has brought out some further blessing. To this very messenger, the sending of whom seals the nation’s doom., and leads to the definitive setting aside of earth, as a place of blessing for the present, heaven is opened before he goes, and the unfailing One is presented in an unfailing place, and, instead of it being said, " Why stand ye gazing up into heaven," that ’becomes the very thing for the Christian to do, for we read: " But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked ’up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Earth is closed, so to speak, heaven opened, and this is henceforth to be the Christian’s occupation. The remarkable change in the dealings of God in Acts 7:1-60, as contrasted with chap. it is of the utmost moment to note, if we are to answer to the thoughts of Christ about His, people now. I get even-a further thing in Paul still. In Stephen get heaven opened ’to a man on earth, who is going out of it, superior to everything in it, yet going out of it; but in Paul I get a man, who is caught up to the third heaven, and then sent back again to the earth to communicate to us the wonders of the place. Not only heaven for a saint going to die; but heaven for a saint going to live; and as to going, there are three states of soul, which I will enumerate, and give an example of each. In Simeon I find one who is ready to go; in Stephen, one who is happy to go; and in Paul, one who longs to go. I am anxious every one of you should clearly apprehend, that what we have here is the introduction of a new dealing of God. It is an inauguration scene. It is the opening out of what is distinctive. We always get the special features of a thing at the time of its inauguration. There are two characteristics which I desire to bring before you at this time, as taught here:―I. Association with Christ, where Christ is. II. The power of Christ, where Christ is not. Let me try, by God’s help, to trace for you first, the former of these two characteristics, viz., ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: VOL 04 - THE TRIUMPH OF WEAKNESS ======================================================================== The Triumph of Weakness DOES not Esther and her " seven maidens " excel all the remnant activity in time of old? Her heart went out after all the people of God in those days. And she was the means of saving all. If Biblical chronology is to be trusted, she was received into the royal house of Artaxerxes just after Ezra and his band started for Jerusalem. (Compare Ezra 7:8, with Esther 2:16). If this be so, little did Ezra and his company know that the intercessions of weakness were going on, not alone for him and his band, but for all the people of the Jews. The flesh, set at work by Satan, through Haman, scorned to do only a small work of malice (Esther 3:6); so all the people of Jehovah must be aimed at―destroyed by him. Perhaps Ezra knew nothing of this terrible intention. However this many may be, weakness learned the secret from Mordecai. Death was hanging over Ezra and all his and Esther’s people. Is it fighting and military prowess that is to triumph? No; " she that tarried at home " will gain a wondrous victory. Is not Esther beyond a Deborah? Then notice the place into which she goes. Haman may enter " the outward court." He is covered with outward glory, too―like the coming apostate (Esther 6:4). But Esther enters “the inner court of the king’s house." (See Esther 5:1, and Psalms 45:1-17 -upon Shoshannim, verse 13). It was death or full blessing to go thither (Esther 4:11). If the king “delighted” still in her (see Esther 2:14; Psalms 37:1-7), what wondrous grace (truly sovereign) would be shown her, and how widespread the blessing that should follow. She is too weak (Ruth-like―Hannah-like) to fight; but she is not too weak to reach the heart of the monarch of unlimited power. To " touch the golden scepter "-that would do all. That could only be done by entering his presence in the inner court. Remark, too, the greatness of her faith in her lord. She prepares a banquet for him; and does so before she presents her wondrous request. She let him see she expected him to come. Was this a trespass on his grace? Nay, it was a trial of his love to her; and all must share the blessing or none. It was either utter destruction or magnificent deliverance in royal bounty. Haman is to triumph supremely, or utter weakness bring in sovereign grace, joy and gladness, to all the people of God. Notice, too, how Haman is allowed to go on to a moment in which he is just about to place the crown, as it were, on his own head. But, like “the chief baker," in Genesis 40:1-23, he is hanged. Such will be the end of “that wicked " by-and-bye. But I am only illustrating the way flesh boasting at any time may come down in a moment. What a trial for faith to both Esther within and Mordecai in sackcloth without. She feasts within as he fasts without; for she must come as becomes the Queen of Ahasuerus when she enters there (see also Ruth 3:1-3). Ah! this place of utter weakness is a blessed one. If we feel we do not “delight in war," we may, surely, delight ourselves in Him who is “the Faithful and True Witness." Here is the golden scepter as it were, for us to touch. Really, all depends on Him now. But we must let our thoughts go out to all the people of God if we are coming towards " the inner court" in the time of the flesh’s boastfulness and pride. If the flesh can boast of its success (as Haman will manifestly do by-and-bye when the church is caught up (see Esther 5:2; Psalms 17:14,) still the moral truth of Psalms 17:15. is there for us now. The “As for me," there is the expression of weakness amid many foes around. May it be ours. Divine righteousness, can do wonders in the face of the enemy. " Grace reigns through righteousness" now. Ant remark, it was not only the valiant ones―the mighty men―who got the joy and gladness and feasting then. All got it―the deserveless, the weak, the outcasts, all in " the kindness of God." I think we see this largeness of blessing in Revelation 22:17. So “If any hear my voice," in 3:20. Jacob got this sovereign bounty shown him when he was carried on the wagons of Joseph’s providing to feast on the corn in Egypt; while all Egypt felt the fullness of the savior of the world then. Oh! this glory of grace. When all is in utter failure―death suspended over all, as far as our responsibility is concerned―what a moment for "rebels" to be gathered round " the well of Beer," that God may be sanctified in them, sanctified in the sight of His own enemies. (see Numbers 21:13; Ezekiel 20:41.) " Gather the people together and I will GIVE." Thus the Holy One of Jacob beholds those that erred in spirit coming to understanding, and those that murmured learning doctrine (Isaiah 29:1-24) This is deliverance and blessing according to His righteousness worthy of the Holy and the True, and "the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: VOL 04 - THE WRATH OF GOD IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN ======================================================================== The Wrath of God Is Revealed From Heaven IN such a place as Romans 1:1-32 you have the gospel of God ―the revelation of God’s way of saving believers; but in connection with this is revealed this other thing, the wrath of God against all unrighteousness of men. The gospel is power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. For the righteousness of God in it is revealed from faith to faith. For revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness (verse 19), because verse 21, and on to chap. 2:5-8: clearly the revelation of wrath is in antithesis to the bestowal of salvation. The gospel is God’s power unto salvation, because in it is the righteousness of God revealed on the principle of faith ―whoever believes enjoys it. We are saved in righteousness on God’s part, on faith on ours. Righteousness is revealed from heaven in the gospel of God saving every believer, but the righteousness of God without faith is condemnation to endure the wrath of God. It is now revealed from heaven, and existing, and about to be revealed in the future against sin, contemplates a specific class or classes we might say, those who had light and refused it; and very specially is it upon the "children of (the) disobedience " (John 3:19; John 3:21; John 3:36; Romans 1:18; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6). In Romans 9:22 vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (1 Thessalonians 5:9; see also 1:10), wrath to come (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10); the day of wrath (Romans 5:1-21; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 2:6). It is always (when looked at in antithesis to salvation) spoken of, you see, as in the future. Romans 1:18 by no means links wrath with the cross, as if it were revealed and visited on Christ there and then; though, until then, there had not been the revelation with clearness and sharpness of definite outline of the wrath of God from heaven, which shall come on all the sons of disobedience. Salvation is shared by all who are the sons of obedience; destruction comes on all others; and the revelation of God’s righteousness in the gospel has set the other in sun-light clearness. “We shall be saved from wrath through him." Romans 9:22 shows that wrath belongs to the end of the dispensation of grace (see also Revelation 11:18). In 1 Thessalonians 2:16 we have an instance not only of the revelation of wrath, but of its coming on the Jews in temporal judgment, which is to; the uttermost. Such as should be saved (see Acts 2:1-47) were taken out of the doomed nation, and added together―to be in this higher preservation, when wrath was on this people (Luke 21:23). That is a temporal instance and illustration, for had the nation repented when Peter urged them to it, the Savior and salvation would have come, and not wrath to the uttermost; and so (he that believeth not shall be damned) wrath, though revealed now, comes in the future, after the present day of grace is over; then Revelation 6:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17; Revelation 8:1-13; Revelation 9:1-21; Revelation 10:1-11; Revelation 11:1-19; Revelation 12:1-17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-20; Revelation 15:1-8; Revelation 16:1-21; Revelation 17:1-18; Revelation 18:1-24; Revelation 19:1-21 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17. will come and be fulfilled. Wrath is the active outgo of the inner affection (thumos) of righteous indignation, in inflicting punishment on such as have proved disobedient, and refused light, and truth, and grace. But what revelation of divine wrath is meant? Romanists and Rationalists of a past day said it was that which is made in the gospel, and that " therein" should be again supplied from verse 17. It is decisive against this view that "from heaven," just because it is parallel to therein, lays down a mode of manifestation quite different from therein. If the latter had been in Paul’s mind, he would have repeated it with emphasis as he has done the word revealed. One critic refers the revelation of wrath to be explained by verses 24, &c., in which is described what God in His sufficiently well-grounded (verses 19-23) wrath did (paredoken autous) gave them up. God’s wrath, therefore, is revealed from heaven in this way, (he says) that those who are the objects of it are given up by God to terrible retribution “in unchastity and all vice." But this hardly will do (not to say that these latter would still deserve wrath), for revealed is generally used of a supernatural revelation, and not of a revelation in fact in that to which our attention had not been previously called. Others think it an inward revelation of divine wrath given by means of reason and conscience, in support of which view they appeal to verse 19. But on the contrary, the word from heaven, requires us to understand a revelation cognizable by the senses; and verse 19 contains not the mode of the manifestation of wrath, but its moving cause (dioti). Others hold that the revealing of wrath here meant will be at the future judgment. But though the present tense might be used vividly to express the future, vet it would require (en auto) in it to be mentally supplied. But in verse 17, revealed is purely present, and so in 5:18. How, or by what means, then, is wrath revealed, if not in the gospel, which is a revelation of God’s righteousness. If saving men by faith in Jesus Christ by the gospel, wherein is God’s righteousness revealed, there is a plain declaration in connection with this, that wrath must have its way on all who refuse to yield the obedience of faith. In the New Testament revelation we have the double revelation of righteousness and wrath, and whereas God saves now in righteousness, the wrath is executed only after men have perversely refused to bow to the righteousness of God. The whole visible procedure of God in His moral government by which He displays and reveals His divine opposition and hatred of sin, may be said to be the revelation of wrath which would take in the impossibility of escape if we bow not to the gospel. It is either righteousness for our saving, or wrath for the punishment and destruction of the ungodly and unrighteous who hold the truth in unrighteousness. God’s dealing with sin in Christ leaves it not any longer doubtful what will become of sinners who refuse the gospel. But all this hardly accounts for the expression, from heaven. This is the connection: "is revealed from heaven," not " wrath... from heaven," nor " wrath of God from heaven," but " wrath is REVEALED FROM HEAVEN." It is the making known now what was not known before; and which otherwise could not be known, for it is "from heaven:" hence entirely supernatural. That all men are sinners the apostle proves (ch. 1:18 to ch. 3:20), consequently the sole means of salvation is faith in the gospel of God (3:21-31). No salvation to Jew or Greek but by faith! He proves this as to the Gentile world (ch. 1:18, &c); then of the Jews (ch. 2., 3) Jews and Greeks are all under sin (ch. 3:9). This being so, all exposed to wrath when it comes! This is a plain revelation, of wrath as the portion of all who are not saved by manifestation of God’s righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. God’s nature having been revealed in Christ and His cross, the issues of faith and unbelief are clearly revealed. The revelation of wrath will take place in its manifestation, as ch. 1:5 proves, " in the day of wrath and revelation of (the) righteous-judgment of God." The man who is now justified by faith in the dikaiosunee, or righteousness of God, shall not come under the dikaiokrisia, or righteous judgment of God in the day of wrath: but if the believer alone is saved, it is clear as the light from heaven that all others shall be lost, being the subjects of the righteous judgment of God. The dikaiokrisia, or righteous-judgment of God, the believer can look back and see executed at the cross on Christ, his substitute, and though the day of wrath is clearly revealed as coming with its " righteous-judgment " of God, he is in a state of peace with God, being justified by faith in Christ, giving him salvation in God’s righteousness, on the principle of pure faith. " Much more, then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved by Him from the wrath " (1:e., revealed from heaven) (Romans 5:9). I cannot but think that we forget that the time we live in is not an ordered dispensation at all, but only a period of divine forbearance, ere the execution of threatened and revealed wrath take place What was first revealed from heaven to the Jews on the day of Pentecost but the certainty of the coming of the wrath of God, that so seized their guilty souls that they were on the very verge of despair, when they were pricked in the heart and cried out in anguish, " Men and brethren, what shall we do 2" It was akin to what the men under the opening of the sixth seal will have enstamped on their consciences. " From the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" The alarmed Jews at Pentecost had nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries until Peter preached repentance, forgiveness, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. God’s throne is set for judgment; nothing but judgment for man as man the cross has shown, and the coming of the Spirit proved. His presence on earth proves the case against the world as to sin, righteousness, and judgment. But grace now reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. But judgment is still the world’s sentence. The revelation of the wrath of God from heaven comes in with a "for "Romans 1:18, showing that this was the grand revelation as to man in his sin (God having been manifested in His nature), for Christ was shown Lord and Christ in heaven by Peter: seated with a view to God’s dealings with his enemies by Paul (Hebrews 10:1-39): then this is a period of suspended " judgment " into which the Spirit with the gospel enters as Aaron with his censer between the dead and the living, that the plague might be stayed. The gospel message is only provisional: the wrath is the permanent revelation, and is revealed from heaven; and is only held back by God’s " long suffering," while sending forth a proposal of pardon to those on whom the wrath of God abides (John 3:36) and will, otherwise, eventually fall. The great thing, certainly, God is now doing is saving and gathering to his Son in heaven. Neither grace nor wrath were fully revealed from heaven until there was a glorified man at the throne of God. While Christ’s attitude to His enemies is that of judgment, " Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool; believers by the grace of God see Him in quite a different attitude and character-as the purger of sins their Savior, intercessor, advocate, &c., (see Heb. 1., 5., 7., &c., 1 John 2:2.). The solemn characteristic of the period, is that of the revelation of wrath from heaven a time of respite merely, and long suffering into which God sends His great message of reconciliation founded on the death of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:1-21). I speak in this as to the world; the purpose and counsels of God for the glory of His Son, are being worked into effectuation by the Holy Ghost come down: and, looking from the side of God in connection with the evolution of "His purpose and grace," a grander revelation is now being unfolded to the divinely-anointed eye-the children of God are gathered, the body of Christ formed, the Bride of the Lamb about to be presented to Himself in all her purity when he comes to receive us to Himself. There is thus by grace a little hidden company in the very world that is in open rebellion against God, and that has cast out and killed His Son, and refused to have Him back. What a scene we live in! A doomed world, over which the sword of judgment is hanging-on which the revealed wrath is about to be openly poured in awful manifestation. We now are in no darkness as to this (1 Thessalonians 5:1-28), for wrath is revealed (2 Thessalonians 1:2.), and it will be on the persons who hold the truth in unrighteousness as well as on the openly profane and immoral (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). That the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety of men and immorality, we have only to open and read the Revelation to be convinced of it. In the Apocalypse of St. John it is fully revealed, and revealed from heaven (Revelation 4:1); for a door was opened in heaven, and a voice said to the prophet, " Come up hither "; and the revelation is said to be that of the Christ after He had ascended to heaven (Revelation 1:1). "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants," &c. This whole interval between the seating and rising up of Christ is a period of forbearance and longsuffering; but "wrath of God is revealed from heaven," and that is the crisis, until which Christ is to sit on the right hand of God, and also the only thing the world has to look for. Christ " our deliverer from the wrath to come " is the one believers look for. But the impious and lawless world will feel His wrath " the wrath of God and of the Lamb." To give an idea of how I regard this present interval, I think of it as of the gracious moment that will be used between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals to seal the 144,000 of Israel. The four angels of destruction were to hurt nothing until the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads. So " the day of wrath," when that which has been revealed will be inflicted, is kept in abeyance, and the wrath revealed kept from falling on " the children of wrath " by the saving of believers in Christ; but when the last member of Christ’s body is gathered out of the doomed world, like Lot out of the wrath-marked city of Sodom, then the time of grace will have ended, and the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men shall have come; and it will go on until the Lord shall be in peaceful possession of His kingdom under the whole heaven. (See Note, p. 224.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: VOL 04 - TRUE CONDITION OF SOUL IN ORDER TO BE A WORSHIPPER ======================================================================== True Condition of Soul in Order to Be a Worshipper ’’’WORSHIP always supposes self-will to be broken. In the preceding chapters of Genesis Abraham is seen in Egypt, and we have observed that, while there, he built no altar; but Abraham left Egypt, and then, having given it up, he could build an altar to the Lord. When David saw the child he loved sick, he fasted and frayed, but he was wrestling with God―his will was of brought into subjection. When the child Was dead, David changed his raiment, ate and drank, and then he could come into the house of the Lord and worship; because the struggle in his heart ceased, and Lis will was broken. Job, after those heavy afflictions described in the first chapter (the loss of goods and children), rent his mantle indeed (ver. 20), (in all this he sinned not we are told―his sorrow was legitimate ―it was not wrong in him to grieve at the loss of his children); but he fell down before God and worshipped; The could worship, because in him self-will was broken, and he could say, “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” But, in this chapter, we find something beyond what we have seen in Job and in David. They indeed acquiesced in the will of God, but their submission was passive, requiring no act on their part. This is not the case in Genesis 22:4 Abraham is not only called to accept the will of God, but to act against himself. He is obliged, so to speak, to offer himself up, for to offer up his son was nothing less. God says to him, “offer up thy son, thine only son." The name of a person expresses to us all that concerns that person, and our relationships with him. Thy son! That word touched the tenderest feelings―and he was to offer up that son! That name, moreover, recalled God’s promises, and it was in this son that they were to be fulfilled, for God had said positively, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called." But he whose will is subject to God, rests satisfied with two things, “God will pro vide," and “I am with God." All hope in the flesh as to the accomplishment of the promises, must be given up, so that God may stand alone as the spring of life, blessings, and promises; as the one whose resources can never be exhausted, even when those means He has Himself pointed out fail for the accomplishment of His promises. Thus God tries the heart, in order to destroy all confidence in the flesh; but at the same time, knowing that the heart needs support in the trial, He sustains it by a new revelation, which enables him to conquer. Thus we see (Hebrews 11:19), that Abraham had a revelation of resurrection (which was then understood), in connection with the sacrifice that was demanded of him. Thus God causes us, in His infinite mercy, to I gain in Him what we lose in the flesh. It was apart from the servants, that is, alone with Isaac and God, that Abraham received this revelation, and learned to offer up the goat instead of his son, as he had himself said, “God will provide Himself a lamb." And it is in the secret communion with God that we learn most of Him. In Jesus, the true Worshipper of the Father, there was no self-will to be broken: the cup was (we know),) full of bitterness; but He, so to speak, forgets this bitterness in his desire to do the will of God, and exclaims, " The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it? " ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: VOL 04 - WHAT CHARACTERIZES THE CHRISTIAN POSITION. LUK_12:35-53 ======================================================================== What Characterizes the Christian Position.Luke 12:35-53 THE Lord had been warning the world in what precedes in this chapter. There was the folly of those who sought their comfort and pleasure in it; and He says, " Seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you; fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Now what distinguishes the Christian is this, that by the revelation of that which is not seen, he is borne up out of this world altogether. He has to pass through it; but, as a Christian, he does not belong to it at all. " They are not of this world, even as I am not of this world." Redemption is accomplished, and it gives us a title, like the poor thief, into Paradise, but still we are strangers as in Hebrews, and seek a country. There is nothing settled or established in this world, but its spirit from the very beginning is that of seeking rest where God in judgment has made us strangers. It was all over with Cain, and God said to him, and he said to himself, " A fugitive and a vagabond shall I be in the earth." He declared he was made a vagabond, and went and built a city in the land of Nod-i.e., vagabond. Man was driven out from Paradise, and Cain was jealous of Abel, and God’s judgment was come upon him; but he went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city and settled himself there, calling it by his son’s name. The next element is " cattle "-i. e., wealth, then artificers in brass and iron, and then comes the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. Sin made man a stranger to the Paradise of God, and so man sought to make for himself a rest. That is not quite all. When the blessed Lord came into this world, not only did man see no beauty in Him, but man cast Him out and crucified Him. And so, as to the world now, it is not only a world, the fruit of man driven out of Paradise, but the present state is the consequence of having driven God out of it when He had come into it in grace. This gave an occasion to God for the unfolding of all His ways; but when once the Son of God is rejected, then the moral history of this world is closed. Yet the Lord could say, “Now is the prince of this world cast out," and He broke the power of Satan, though he is still "the god of this world." “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." The world has not come to an end yet, but in the rejection of Christ, the blessed Son of God, man’s moral history came to an end, and he is now treated as lost; not lost so that he cannot be saved, but lost as to his moral condition, and he now stands so before God. God has come down to this world and said, not merely you have done this or that, but He has to say―not " Adam, where art thou?”―but, What have you done with My Son? That is what He has to say to the world now, and what can the world say? Christ came in goodness: even Pilate asked, " Why, what evil hath he done? " but man cast Him out. And I cannot take up Christianity now without saying, the world has rejected Christ, that is the position in which it is: it has rejected Christ, and man is lost. But God has said to Christ, “Sit at my right hand until I make Thy foes Thy footstool." And the Lord Jesus Christ, rejected by man, is sitting at God’s right hand, as man, expecting until His enemies are made His footstool. Patient grape is working meanwhile to call sinners to a knowledge of the salvation which He has wrought. First, He came to put away sin by the sacrifice or Himself, and then, to them that look for Him shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation. But, then, that will be judgment, surely, for those who have rejected Him. We stand between the first coming and the second coming, the first being that when He accomplished redemption, and the second being the full fruits of it, including also the judgment of the dead. Christianity is characterized by this position between the two comings. Now the prophets had prophesied beforehand of the sufferings of Christ. Look for a moment at that passage in Peter, 1 Peter 1-10, " Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." I only refer to this as to the order of things. The prophets before the sufferings (and so before the glory, of course) searched their own prophecies to understand them, and it was revealed to them, that they ministered them to us; and they are now reported to us; they are not come; so that Christianity is not the accomplishment of the things themselves; the things are reported by the Holy Ghost come down in the gospel, and, therefore, we are to gird up the loins of our mind, waiting for grace to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is simple and clear, they searched their own prophecies and found the grace they spoke of was not for them. But now Christ is personally glorified at the right hand of God, and the Holy Ghost has come, and we are here walking by faith, not by sight. When the Lord was going away He put the disciples into this place, knowing that the effect would be opposition from the world. Peter testified, “Him whom ye have crucified and slain has God exalted to his own right hand." And so the Lord says, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee." I have revealed Thee perfectly, but the world would not have the revelation, they rejected it. He had been faithful, and then He goes back through the accomplished redemption to “The glory which he had with the Father before the world was." We get, then, this great fact, that the Lord Jesus has gone back as man, having accomplished the work of redemption, to sit at the right hand of God. The Man upon whom all had depended, has finished the work, and has gone to sit at the right hand of God accordingly. He had finished it as regards His friends, and has sat down because it is finished. The old priests were ever standing, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which could never take away sins, but this Man when He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down-i.e., sat down in perpetuity-at the right hand of God. But He is sitting upon the Father’s throne expecting, until His enemies be made His footstool. And it adds, as regards His friends― 1:e., all believers, “For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." But then, in consequence, the Holy Ghost has come down. He never came until the day of Pentecost, just as the Son of God never came until the incarnation. There was a coming and a going, and so He says, “If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you." But before the Holy Ghost could come, man must be in the glory of God; and the great fact is that Man, the Blessed Man, the Son of God, had been glorified in the glory of God, before the Holy Ghost came. But He did come on the day of Pentecost to all them that believe. There we get the position. God had prophesied before of it, but God’s word is a different thing from the accomplishment of the fact. Looked at as promises, “Jesus Christ was the minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." But there is more than that; He was the object of the promises. There was no promise to us that Christ should die for us; it was not promised to us that He should ascend (Psalms 68:1-35) up into heaven. But He is sitting at God’s right hand. What was testified is, “Thou hash ascended on high." Christ has come down here, and dying and rising, is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. All was testified, and now all has been accomplished. The world rejected Him when He came, but God has set Him there in glory. Man saw no beauty in Him, He was wounded for our transgressions; but He glorified God in His death, and is now glorified of God at His right hand. So now, if my sins brought Christ to the cross, the consequence is they are all put away; “He bare our sins in his own body on the tree." I go and acknowledge that my sins brought Him there under the judgment of God, but if so, then they can never bring me there. The whole work is completely finished, finished not merely for lawless people, not merely for law-breaking people as the Jews (and practically people are now under the law), but God has stepped in to settle the whole question of sin: Christ has come, God manifest in the flesh, into this world and died, so that I might be able to trust God in love, that I might say, I can trust Him. I cannot trust man in the world, he is so vile, but I can trust God who sent His Son, and He has wrought such a work that He Himself who did it is at the right hand of God in righteousness. That is the fact; that is not a promise. There are precious promises to help us along the road, surely; but this is a fact. When I come honestly as a sinner to say, my sins brought Him to that cross, and then God carried Him to His right hand, then I know He is not sitting in my sins at the right hand of God; that is no place in which to sit in sins! He glorified God on the earth, He " became obedient unto death, the death of the cross, therefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." The more we look at the cross of Christ the more we shall see that everything that is in question as to good and evil, is all settled. I get in the cross, man in absolute wickedness―i.e., hating God present in love; He had not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The prince of this world came and stirred up both Jews and Gentiles to get rid of Christ; man is wholly against Him, and the devil is against Him: but Christ was perfect in it all, “That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." I have got man here in absolute (it is hard to say perfect) wickedness, with the complete power of Satan over the world, getting rid of the Son of God, and though they hated Him without a cause, yet He goes through all in perfect obedience, showing absolute perfection in Man. If I turn to God in this scene, I find perfect love to the sinner: there is all that man can be in perfection in the person of Christ, and all that God is in His holy righteous nature against sin, and in perfect love to sinners. So, in the cross every way, God is perfectly glorified, and every question was settled there; it is in God the perfect judgment of sin, and perfect love together. If God had cut off Adam and Eve it would have been all very right, but there would have been no love in that; and if he had passed sin over there would have been no righteousness. But in the cross, and nowhere else, you get all moral questions perfectly settled. It is the absolute bringing out of man and Satan too, and of God; and all is settled. Now God has owned that, and has raised Christ from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand as man in the heavenly pl aces, after He had by Himself purged our sins. This great truth remains, when everything was morally settled, man is found at the right hand of God; and God, too, has displayed His righteousness in it. Then the Holy Ghost is given upon earth: “and when He is come, He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." The Savior came in grace, but the coming of the Holy Ghost testified these two things,―that Christ was gone from earth, having finished His work; but also He was gone that God should set Him at His own right hand. In John He says, " Now is the Son of Man glorified," speaking of the cross, " and God is glorified in Him; if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him," Son of Man as well as Son of God. As God has been perfectly glorified in Christ on the cross, so God will perfectly glorify Christ. Then comes the work of the Holy Ghost given down here: the Spirit of God brings a man’s own individual sins to his conscience, but He convinces " the world of sin because they believe not on Christ of righteousness, because I go to the Father of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." There is the testimony and proof of righteousness, because there is one who is a man, who in the very place of sin, sinless, but “made sin," perfectly glorified God; and God has perfectly glorified Him. That is the whole thing. At His first coming, He died, was raised again, and was glorified in virtue of what He had done; all that was finished first, and then the Holy Ghost came down. Christ, the One who bore my sins, is, as man, at the right hand of God in glory, and the Holy Ghost down here is the witness that He is there. Now that is our place, the Holy Ghost is received, and through the Holy Ghost the knowledge of perfect love in God, that He did not spare His own Son, And what this accomplishes then, is this, it puts me in the place where Christ is, and, therefore, you get, even by John Baptist’s father, that it is "to give the knowledge of salvation to his people," and that is whence the knowledge comes: it is by the Holy Ghost that I know Christ is at the right hand of God. But that Christ is the Christ who bore my sins, and if the work had not been complete, finished, accepted, He could not have been there, but God raised Him from the dead. And that is where the Holy Ghost given puts those who believe. It is given only to believers, but it is the portion of those who do believe. The presence of the Holy Ghost gives me the consciousness of the place I am brought into. Here I get infinite love, perfect love, for God gave His Son to be a man, and He died for me that I might be in glory. And He told me when risen, “I go to my Father and your Father; to my God and your God." We “are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus," and that is the force of those words in John, “To them gave he power to become sons of God; “and then, “because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, whereby we cry, Abba Father." It is my place through Christ’s work, and the Holy Ghost has given me the consciousness of it, for God has sent forth the Spirit into my heart. I cannot call a man my father, if I do not know whether I am his child or not. And then I know another thing by the Holy Ghost dwelling in me, and that is, I know that I am in Christ, and that of course is perfect acceptance. John 14:1-31, " In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father," when the Comforter is come, they could not know it until then. " And ye in me, and I in you." People say, you cannot know; the Lord says, "ye shall know." Whom am Ito believe? "Ye in me, and I in you." Well, then, I know I am in Christ, and that is perfect acceptance. You must condemn Christ in glory, if you condemn the believer, for he is in Christ. The Spirit is given that we may know Christ is in the Father, " And ye in me, and I in you." But if Christ be in me, “The body is dead because of sin; and the Spirit is life because of righteousness." I get perfect acceptance, and so with it the character of responsibility; we are the epistle of Christ. It does not say, ye are to be, but, ye are, and the world ought to read Christ in you, as they might read the ten commandments on the two tables of stone. Mark, it is not responsibility as to our acceptance, we are in Christ, but if that is true, the other side is true also. “Walk worthy, therefore, of God, who hath called us to his kingdom and glory." And again in Colossians, where He speaks in the most definite way as to our acceptance, “Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, and He prays they " Might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." He takes the Lord as the One in whom it all is. There is another character of that in Ephesians: “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." Another thing, "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God." “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." There I get what constitutes the Christian; the foundation is in Christ, His “body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which we have of God. And after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." Having been washed from my sins by the blood of Christ, the Holy Ghost makes my body His temple. That is the Christian position consequent upon redemption, it is the Christian place, and then I have to walk as Christ walked. Forty days after His resurrection the Lord ascended, and He sent the Holy Ghost down here to dwell in those who believe, " Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you" And we know that He does dwell in us because we say, Abba Father. We look to Christ and know we are in Him, but the presence of the Holy Ghost characterizes the Christian, not in his inconsistencies, of course, but a Christian as such. How can you go and sin if your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and you are bought with a price? And so the believer is left here as the epistle of Christ in this world, and the life of Jesus is to be manifested in Him. That is his responsibility. He knows his place, cries Abba, Father; the love of God is shed abroad in his heart, he knows his relationship with God, and in Christ is sitting in heavenly places, while the Holy Ghost dwells in him as His temple. But if we are children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Through Christ being in me my business is to show out Christ down here, and then it is a privilege to suffer with Him. I cannot go with the Spirit of Christ in me-through a world of degradation, and sin, and misery, and pace through it, without, in a poor measure, but really feeling what I go through, and its opposition as well as its character. But there is where the Christian is, he has received the Holy Ghost, and he passes through this world as being out of it, having his conversation (1:e., living association) in heaven. Christ " gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil world; " but now He has to go through this world, and supposing Christ had been crucified last night-am I going on with the world that crucified Him, or am I going on with Him? Again, I must have the Holy Ghost to know that I am accepted. I cannot personally look up and say with joy, "Come quickly," without knowing that my redemption is settled; and then more, Christ is all, and in all, He is everything as an object to us, and He is in all as the power of life and joy. He is everything to my soul then, after He has washed me from my sins in His own blood. I cannot find a thing in Christ the value of which has not been spent upon me. One thing let me remark here, we know whom we love, even if we don’t love Him enough. If a person says, " I love my mother, and I think I love her enough," I say, "You deceive yourself, you do not love her at all." But the child that says, " Oh, I do not half love my mother, all her care, and painstaking and labor for me," I say that child does love its mother. So with the Lord and us, and therefore we long to see Him. And that characterizes the Christian position, the Holy Ghost has come down from heaven, and we know that we are sons. He dwells with us consequent upon accomplished redemption, but Christ has thus become precious to us, and therefore the second thing that characterizes the Christian is, waiting for Christ, and I say this advisedly. Look at a believer, in a known Christian place, it is not the knowledge merely that he has got hold of that characterizes him, but it is that he is waiting for Christ to come back. The Thessalonians were converted to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. Nothing can be simpler or plainer. All the various thoughts and feelings of Christians are connected with His coming again. Take the end of each chapter in 1 Thessalonians: the first connects His return with conversion, the next with Paul’s ministry, the next with holiness which will be manifested at His coming, then with the death of the Christian; the Lord shall come and the dead be raised first, and we who are alive shall be caught up with them; and the apostle says, " Comfort one another with these words," but if you go and say that to many a Christian now, he will think you out of your mind. I cannot go into all these points, but take one, “To wait tor his Son from heaven." It is not merely true that I shall be happy in heaven, but the Lord says, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." It is a striking thing, how it changes all a person’s feelings, whether, as they say, you are going to heaven, or Christ is coming for you. But going to heaven, as people use it, is never spoken of in Scripture. The nearest approach to it is to the thief, “With me in Paradise." But going to Christ is what you do get. “Absent from the body, present with the Lord," it is true, but that is not the same thought. Not that it is not true, but that it strikes Christ’s coming, out. If I die, then I go to be with Him, but if I do not die then He comes and takes me to be with Him. And, therefore, the calling of the Church, the hope, the object, the thing before us―and that is what a man lives by―is the Lord’s return, for what characterizes a man is what he is going after. What was the calling of the ten virgins? To go out to meet the bridegroom. But what about the dear good men who lived many years ago? They all fell asleep like the virgins, and what awoke them? At midnight the cry came, and they all arose and trimmed their lamps. The cry woke them all up. And this will be a test of a man’s state, am I ready to meet the Lord, supposing He should come to-night? I do not know when He will come. It says, “In such an hour as ye think not." But are your hearts, and thoughts, and affections in good order? Are your lights burning? Are you confessing Him before men? Are you like men that wait for their Lord? For such He comes and knocks, and opens to them immediately. But that is the character they are to have. Talking about prophecy is all very interesting in its place, but when a soul has got salvation, then there are two subjects in Scripture-the government of this world, and the sovereignty of grace which takes poor sinners, and sets them in Christ. Prophecy refers to the government of this world, and the Jews are the center of that; but with the Christian I get this, he is predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now when will that be? If I die first, I shall go to be with Christ, and blessed that is; but it is not all, it is not what Scripture calls conformity to His image. When will that be? “We know "―a word that Scripture is fond of, for the Holy Ghost is come―" we know that when he shall app ear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." That is when I shall be conformed to His image. And I am going to be really like Him. Meanwhile, we are to be like Him in spirit, and for that we get, " Our conversation is in heaven." We have, then, this blessed truth, " I am coming again to take you up to be with myself; and the Lord himself is coming to catch me up that where He is I may be also." Then again, I find that when the disciples are looking up into heaven, as the Lord was caught up, they were told, “This same Jesus which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Time will not allow me to multiply passages, but I get the calling of the Christian as such, which is to be waiting for Christ to come, “Ye as men that wait for their Lord." And I only ask you, if you were waiting for Christ, would you heap up money to meet Christ with? A word or two on the details about it here. He speaks of it in a double way to show how fully he would develop it. Those are blessed who wait for Christ to come. We belong to heaven now, and to what is eternal, but I do not know when Christ will come and take me there. Are our hearts so taken out of this world as a place from which He has redeemed us, as that we are watching for Him to come? It is called the word of His patience, because He is expecting, and if He is, of course we are. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness; the world is willingly ignorant, but the Lord is not willing that any should perish. And then, second, I find, “Blessed are those who are found watching." What characterizes the blessed one, does also those who wait for Him, watching to open for Him instantly as He comes. Then follow the accounts of the blessedness of those who are so watching. When the Lord cometh, “Verily, I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." He spreads the table in heaven for them, and then sets them down at it there. He spreads it with the best things of heaven, and not only that, but He will come Himself, and minister to them too. But now, He says, until I come, you must have your loins girded and your lights burning; presently, when I shall have it all my own way, I will have you sit down to meat, and I will serve you myself! What a thought it is of the love of Christ! Of course, it is a figure, but He will never give up ministering to His own the fullest blessedness. Now, the Father has given all things into His hands, He takes a towel and girds Himself, and comes, and washes His disciples’ feet, saying as it were, "I want to have you with me, and even while you are here on your way, you must be clean enough for where I am going." Again you find, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous."... When they are watching for Christ with their hearts on Him, He will make them all sit down in blessedness, and Himself minister to them. Here is, indeed, the reward of labor, and a wonderful place it is that we shall have in the kingdom, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. When He takes the power and reigns, we shall reign with Him. But as to our intrinsic blessedness, the Lord girds Himself, and makes us sit down to meat, and comes forth Himself and serves us. But when the Lord speaks of watching and waiting for Him, He appeals to the affections of the heart that we may wait, and then when He comes, He will make us enjoy the blessedness of heaven. He is not going to rule over the works of His hands alone; but we are made joint heirs with Christ, He is the firstborn among many brethren. Then comes one word of warning, which I must not enlarge upon: " But and if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming." This is the position of the professing Church; not that men say, “He will not come," they do not say this, but they do not look for Him as a present thing. " And shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken," 1:e., to go on ruling and governing and enjoying the world―" The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." He is in the place of a servant, but he says, “My Lord delays," and his Lord comes when he does not expect Him. It is the judgment of the professing Church. I get the broad fact, that when the Lord’s coming is deliberately put off in the heart, such an one has his portion appointed with the unbelievers. But in watching for Christ the heart’s affections are drawn out to Him, that is the one great thing, and the other is, He sets us down, and comes forth to serve us. Meanwhile, there is service for us here; but still His heart’s delight is to serve us; and Christ will never be satisfied, until He has us in the same glory with Himself. He is now sitting on His Father’s throne waiting, but He will come and receive us to Himself, this is all true believers, that where He is, we may be also. They were converted to wait for God’s Son from heaven, and when they went to sleep, and lost the expectation, the thing that woke them up was the cry, “Behold the Bridegroom! "And then comes the question, are we waiting and watching for Christ? I do not believe this has any relation to time at all. The government of this world is interesting in its place, but it has nothing to do with this. There is no event to be waited for between me and Christ’s coming. Plenty of events, but they all belong to this world, and we do not. How far are our hearts up to this is the practical question. The world has rejected Christ, but He will return, and we shall come with Him when He comes again, and the proper portion of the Christian is, that Christ takes him to Himself. We do not half believe the interest Christ takes in us. It is true of every one of us who through grace believe, that we do not trust half in His personal interest in us. The Lord only give us to be as men that wait fox their Lord, " Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." We have to go through this world, but can we say that we are watching for Christ? Do our hearts answer to the love that Christ has to us now? And are we answering to that love, by waiting and watching for Him, because He is going to have us in the glory with Himself? GOD forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14. How can self be denied, difficulties met, the flesh kept under? Only by the Cross. We must learn to say of everything that is evil, “I can have nothing to do with that, because my Lord was crucified on account of it." Ah! We shall go into heaven with faces radiant with glory, able to look right up, because of that Cross. God forbid that we should ever find anything in this world worth glorying in, any standard on which our souls can rest, save that cross! I HAVE fought a good fightHenceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8. This crown is not given for being a Christian, but for a faithful walk. Poor Lot will not have it, nor Demas. All will be in glory on the ground of free grace, but Christ watches to see if we run well, and will bestow a reward if there has been faithfulness, and a crown of righteousness to those who love His appearing. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: VOL 04 - WHAT REDEMPTION INVOLVES ======================================================================== What Redemption Involves God dwells with men only in consequence of redemption. He did not dwell with Adam in his innocence, r or ’with Abraham, walking by faith, and called of God; but so soon as Israel was redeemed out of Egypt we learn (Exodus 29:1-46; that He brought them up out of the land of Egypt that He might dwell among them. And He did so, sitting between the cherubim. When eternal redemption was accomplished, the same blessed result took place, as a present characteristic of it, by the coming of the Holy Ghost; nor will it be lost in eternal ages, bat fulfilled in a more glorious and everlasting manner. Redemption involves two things, perfect glory to God in all that He is, and clearing our sins away according to that glory, so as to bring us out of the condition in which we lay far from God, and with a nature contrary to and at enmity with His, into His own presence, to enjoy it in a nature morally speaking like His, partakers of the divine nature, holy and without blame before Him in love. But it did more, for the Word having been made flesh, man was in the place of Son, with God; and we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Hence, when red emption was accomplished, the risen Lord sends word by Mary Magdalene to the apostles, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." The work on which redemption was founded was complete, its results of course as yet not all produced, but every question as to good and evil brought to an issue and solved; every truth as to them proved and made good; man’s absolute enmity against God manifested in goodness; Satan’s complete power over man; in Christ, man’s perfect obedience, and love to His Father; God’s holy righteousness against sin in the highest way, and love to sinners. Here, and here only, could God’s righteousness as against sin and love to sinners coincide and meet, His majesty be glorified (Hebrews 2:10), His truth vindicated. The double question of life given and secured to man, and responsibility, had been raised from man’s creation, but never solved till now. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, involved the two points; and all depended on man’s obedience. He fell, and was shut out from the tree of life; he was not to fill this world with undying sinful men. It would have been horrible. The sentence of human death was not to be reversed; judgment would come after. The law raised the same question with men in the flesh, only accomplishment of responsibility came first: “Do this and live." It dealt with man’s responsibility as a still open question, testing man with what was a perfect rule for a child of Adam; but he was a sinner and transgressed the law. The coming of Christ not only proved lawlessness and law-breaking; but when these were already there, enmity against God manifested in goodness where they were. Promises withal were rejected as well as law broken. But then God’s blessed work in grace came out in the very act that proved this enmity. Christ on the cross not only (and that in the very place of sin, where it was needed for that glory) glorified God in all that He was, but He met our failure in responsibility, bearing our sins, and became the life of them that believe in Him. His death had a double character. He appeared once in the consummation of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and " as it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of m any." The work on which the eternal state was founded, God being perfectly glorified, was accomplished, and the sins of those that believed in Him put away so that they were gone forever. This is a work in which responsibility was met, and in a work whose unchangeable value in the nature of things could not alter, the sure basis of eternal blessedness according to the nature of God. But there is something more, the purpose of God. Christ by His sacrifice obtained for us, according to God’s purpose, that we should be with Himself and in the same glory, though He be the firstborn; that which God ordained before the world for our glory. If we look at ourselves an inconceivable wonder, but intelligible when we read that in the ages to come He should show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus: the wonderful but blessed mystery, that He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Let us see, then, where we stand now, how far the fruit of this great work which stands alone in the history of eternity, and fills it in its counsels, and its knits, is accomplished. The work is done, finished completely, and once for all. But more, it is accepted of God as adequate to His glory, as perfectly glorifying Him, (John 13:31-32; John 17:4-5), and Jesus the Christ has been raised from the dead, and set as man at the right hand of God in the glory He had with the Father before the world was. Man in righteousness at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, sits there till His enemies are made His footstool; has overcome and is set down as Son on His Father’s throne. Now first this meets perfectly the guilt of him that believes. Christ has borne his sins in His own body on the tree. They that are such are washed from their sins in His blood. All their responsibility as children of Adam―I do not speak of their responsibility to glorify the Lord as saints―but their guilt has been met. “When he had by himself purged our sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens;" "delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification." And we, justified by faith, have peace with God. The work that clears us as children of Adam is finished; believing, we are forgiven our sins purged; our conscience purged; we are, as regards our conscience and standing before God, perfect 1 forever by that one offering, and God will remember our sins and iniquities no more. The believer, as man connected with the first Adam, has by the work of Christ on the cross the whole question of his responsibility (that is, of his guilt) settled, through faith, forever. He is justified and knows it, has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ “who has made peace by the blood of his cross!” God has dealt with his sins there, and never fails to own the work of His Son who appears in the presence of God for us. Christ has said, “Thy sins are forgiven thee," " Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace." The believer is perfectly clear before God. But all this refers to his place as a responsible man, a sinner before God. But much more is involved in it. First, God’s infinite love. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." And " hereby know we love, that he laid down his life for us." But more, He has obtained glory for us, is entered as our forerunner. The glory which the Father has given Him as man, He has given us. We are to be conformed to His image; we have borne the image of the heavenly, and while we are before God even our Father as sons, shall reign, as joint-heirs with Christ of all that He has created, and inherits as man, with Him whom God has appointed heir of all things. Of this double character of blessing we have testimony in Luke’s gospel. In the transfiguration, Moses and Elias were on earth in the same glory as, and with, Christ, and there was the cloud whence the Father’s voice came, the excellent glory into which they entered also. So in Luke 12:1-59, there is the table spread in heaven for these who had watched for His coming, and rule over all for those who had served Him according to His will while away. But this is not fulfilled. In 1 Peter 1:11; 1 Peter 1:13, we get the order of these things at least as far as their development of this world goes. The Spirit of Christ in the prophets testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories which should follow. They found it was not for their day; then the things are reported, not brought in, by those who had preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and Christians have to be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The prophetic dealings of God before the sufferings and glories; the gospel, when the sufferings were complete, and Christ glorified on high, though the results were not yet produced, but reported, leading to sober hoping to the end for what was to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is true this does not present to us our portion within the cloud―the Father’s house―still it gives us very definitely the progress and order of God’s ways; the time of the gospel being the time of the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven, and the appearing of Jesus Christ being the time locked forward to in hope. Nothing can be more definite, and the prophecy in which holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, distinguished as quite another epoch from the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven; they have learned in their study of their own inspired prophecies, that they did not minister what they prophesied of for their own time. We get then, now, the sufferings accomplished and over, the glories which should follow not yet manifested, but the Holy Ghost sent down meanwhile, teaching us to wait for these glories, for the revelation of Jesus Christ. Nothing can be clearer or more definite. The coming of the Holy Ghost already fulfilled, and His abiding presence, and the waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ, constitute and characterize the Christian position. One, the fact which has taken place, the other, what we are exhorted to expect and wait for, while they throw back the strongest light on the efficacy of the sufferings. After, as we have seen, God had tried in every way the first man, and his responsibility had been fully put to the proof; first as innocent, then by all the means which God could use for his recovery, and, failure in man having resulted in manifested enmity, God did His work through the man of His purpose and counsels, fully tested indeed, but by it His perfectness proved, the work of redemption, in which God was perfectly glorified, and what we needed according to that glory perfectly accomplished, and man, according to the value of that work, raised by God, sat down in glory at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens; the blessed and eternal proof of the value of the work which He had wrought. A new estate to which the Lord often refers, man raised from the dead after the question of sin had been settled, death brought in by it overcome and left behind, Satan’s power annulled, a state founded on God’s righteousness, now fully revealed. Not a state of happiness dependent on man’s not failing, but a state of glory according to the whole nature and character of God who had been glorified in that nature and character, and that in the very place of sin (Christ made sin for us). Nothing remained to be done as to this; God put His seal of acceptance of the work in raising Christ, and showed the effect of it to faith in setting Him who had done it in His own glory, entered into the glory as our forerunner; the whole basis of eternal glory according to God’s purpose in man, and of the new heavens and the new earth, laid, and God Himself glorified and known as revealed in redemption and love. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: VOL 04 - WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT THE COMING OF THE HOLY GHOST ======================================================================== What Scripture Says About the Coming of the Holy Ghost CONSEQUENT upon the accomplishment of redemption, the Holy Ghost comes down, given to those who believe in Christ, and have part in this glorious work. Let us see the definite statements of Scripture as to this; the coming and presence of the Holy Ghost, not sent to the world which had rejected Christ, but to believers. Our theme is the presence of the Holy Ghost as now come, consequent on the exaltation of Christ as man to the right hand of God. Not as a Spirit moving the prophets or others, but come now, as the Son had come in the incarnation, another Comforter to take His place, when He was gone, with the disciples. In the Old Testament this was a prophetic promise; God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh in the last days; a promise, the fulfillment of which waited, in the wisdom of God who knows all things, the accomplishment of redemption. Christ, in John 7:1-53, at the feast of tabernacles, the antitype of which in the rest of God’s people is not yet come, on the last, the great day of the feast which He could not keep, nor show Himself to the world, declares that whosoever should come to Him and drink as a thirsty one, out of his belly should flow rivers of living water. “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they which believed on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified." What was called the Holy Ghost as known in the church was not yet. Every orthodox Jew knew there was a Holy Ghost who inspired the prophets and came on many of their judges, and Saul, and mop ei upon the face of the waters. But the Holy Ghost as sent down from heaven on believers here, was not yet, and could not be, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So as Jesus was " the Lamb of God who takes away the sin [not sins] of the world," so His other great work was baptizing with the Holy Ghost (John 1:33). And this character of Christ’s work was the more remarkable because it is connected with the Holy Ghost descending and abiding on Him as man. It sealed and anointed Him on the part of God and the Father. He was sealed by reason of His own perfectness. We could not be till redemption was accomplished, when we are sealed as believers and anointed. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone." So in the Old Testament the leper was washed with water, then sprinkled with blood, then anointed with oil. And the like essentially was the case in consecrating the priests. Aaron by himself was anointed without blood; when he and his sons were brought, for they could not be dissociated from him, blood sprinkling was employed. But more: the Lord tolls them in Acts 1:1-26, that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days after. Accordingly, the day of Pentecost, the second great feast of gathering, connected with Christ’s resurrection (the first of the first-fruits), but withal a distinct feast, but first-fruits still―the Holy Ghost came down from heaven. But with this another revelation came by the mouth of Peter. Christ had received it to this end afresh, consequent on His exaltation to the right hand of God. “Being," it is written in Acts 2:33, “by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye see and hear." It was not simply God, who put His Spirit into the prophets and others, but man exalted to glory, who received it to give it to others. Hence, in Psalms 68:1-35 it is said, “Received in or respect of man," as it is interpreted in Acts” for men; “but He received it as man for them. * (* In John 14:1-31 the Father sends it in His name. In chapter 15. He sends it from the Father.) So, though the prophets and righteous men were in an inferior position to the apostles who had actually Christ with them, yet so great a thing was the coming of the Holy Ghost, that it was expedient for them that He should leave them; " For," He says, " If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away, I will send him unto you." His coming was the testimony that man was at the right hand of God, redemption being accomplished, the world judged, and lying in sin, and Satan its prince, as having rejected the Son; but God’s righteousness revealed, as the portion of believers, manifested in the Father setting the Christ in the divine glory at His right hand (John 16:10). Of this the Holy Spirit’s presence was the witness. This was not for the world. Christ had come as its Savior, and they would not have Him; the Holy Ghost was for believers only; not as one working in them to make them believe, though that were true in its time, but because they did believe. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." He guided them into all the truth: He made them know they were in Christ, and Christ in them; shed the love of God abroad in their hearts for a witness with their spirit that they were sons. They were in the Spirit, as there stated, if so be the Spirit of God dwelt in them. If any man had not the Spirit of Christ, he was none of His (Romans 8:1-39). Christianity was the ministration of the Spirit as of righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:1-18). Paul (Acts 19:1-41), seeing something defective in some disciples, asks, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? “For after believing men were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. It was a true real presence of the Holy Ghost dwelling in the saints. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? “says the apostle. “How," he says to the Galatians, “did ye receive the Spirit?” Of that there was no question or doubt, bad as was their state. Fruits in grace were fruits of the Spirit; sanctification was sanctification by the Spirit. If convicted of sin, men asked what they were to do. “Repent, and be baptized," is the answer, " to the forgiveness of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," anointed, sealed with the Holy Ghost by God, as Christ Himself had been. The Spirit was the earnest of their inheritance, revealed Christ to them, and helped their infirmities. That which had been prophesied of in the Old Testament as to the outpouring of the Spirit, was accomplished in the New. The Christians as such were after the Spirit and minded the things of the Spirit. They lived after it, were led by it, were sent out and guided by it in their service. The flesh lusted against it. He made intercession for them in their hearts, with groanings which could not be uttered. The whole Christian life and state is characterized by His presence and activity in them. They were not to grieve Him in their walk, nor quench Him in His gifts. The Spirit searcheth all things; the spiritual man discerns all things. It is “an unction from the Holy One," by which we know all things. Christ is graven in the heart by the Spirit of the living God; they were changed into the same image by it. Love is “love in the Spirit; “fellowship was “fellowship in the Spirit." Their walk was to be a walk in the Spirit; by one Spirit Jew and Gentile had access to the Father through Christ. This presence of the Holy Ghost clearly and dogmatically taught as coming consequent on Christ’s exaltation as man, and not possible till then, ’characterizes in every detail the Christian life. His presence constitutes Christianity individually for a man; he is born of the Spirit; it is a well of water in him, and flows as a river from him, gives him the consciousness of his divine relationship and unites him to Christ: for " he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." Collectively, also, they are builded together as a habitation of God through the Spirit, are thereby the temple of God collectively (1 Corinthians 3:1-23); as individually (Chapter 6). I have not spoken of gifts, because there it is not denied that they were manifestations of the Spirit. Christianity is constituted and characterized by the presence of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven, consequent on the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ there. The consequence for the Christian was that he knew his relationship to the Father, and knew Him; knew he was in Christ, and Christ in him; was united to Him, the exalted Head in heaven: yea, knew he was in God, and God in him. If he sinned even in thought, he grieved the Holy Ghost; if he committed fornication, he defiled the temple of the Holy Ghost, and made the members of Christ the members of a harlot (Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:8, as to sinning against a brother in this respect). On the other hand, it was by the Spirit he mortified the deeds of the body and lived. Life, knowledge, spirituality, and power all depended on the presence of the Spirit who dwelt in him; with Him they were to be filled. I do not speak of gifts: these were confessedly the operation of the Holy Ghost. Such was then the present life and power of the Christian while Christ was sitting on the Father’s throne. The Jew must wait till Christ comes out to see and own and know Him! The Christian not, because the Holy Ghost is come out, and has associated him with Christ while he is within. When He comes out and appears we shall appear with Him. What then is his hope if this be the Christian’s present life and power? What is that in which he abounds in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost? The coming of the Bridegroom, when he will be conformed to the image of God’s Son, be with Him forever, and like Him. When and how shall this effect which is before his heart be realized? When Christ comes. The coming of the Lord. This is the object, and with it, the state to which the Holy Ghost directs his mind in hope; to see Christ as He is, to be with Him, to be with Him, to be like Him, and this is at His coming. He is always confident meanwhile (2 Corinthians 5:6), he knows that Christ being his life, if he dies before He comes, he will, absent from the body, be present with the Lord; but his desire is not to be unclothed, though in itself it be far better, but to be clothed upon, like Christ in glory. To see Christ who has so loved him, as He is, to be perfectly like Him, so that Christ shall see of the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. This fills his soul with hope, and he knows that all the raised saints (or changed, for we shall not all die,) will be glorified with Him, yea, He glorified in them, and His heart, and surely ours, satisfied. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: VOL 04 -”A BONE OF HIM SHALL NOT BE BROKEN." ======================================================================== ”A Bone of Him Shall Not Be Broken." THIS is how we read in the synopsis on 1 Corinthians 11:1-34 In the Lord’s supper― 1. The Lord’s death, His broken body, were brought to mind, and, as it were, made present to faith as the basis and foundation of everything. 2. The Lord’s body had been broken; wondrous fact,! to which the Holy Ghost was to bear witness, &c. 3. The heart was brought back to this. The body of the Lord Himself had been broken, the lips of Jesus had claimed our remembrance. 4. His broken body was the object before their hearts in this memorial. 5. It is a body broken and not glorified. 6. The broken body was, as it were, before their eyes in this supper. 7. If they despised the broken body and blood of the Lord by taking part in it lightly, chastisement was inflicted. (Synopsis Vol. IV. 256.) Scripture says, " A bone of him shall not be broken;" not that His body should not be; the saying of which would contradict the fact (see John 19:32-37) " They shall look on him whom they pierced." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: VOL 05 - " HE IS NOT HERE." ======================================================================== " He Is Not Here." " HE is not here!" I want Him every hour; My soul would weary of His long delay, Save that like perfume from a hidden flower, The fragrance of His spices cheers the way; Yet fills my heart with more desire to prove The fullness of Thy presence, Lord, above! "He is not here!" but where His steps have been We tread. Our home’s with Him our living Head, In you bright realms, whose floods of glorious sheen On lowliest path of faith their luster shed; Tracing with golden threads our way below, Till, in full blaze of light, as known we know. " He is not here! " He’s risen and soon shall call His bride, His undefiled one, to the skies. Then in full splendor reign as Lord of all, Where now, alas He’s hated._ and despised. Swell, swell the strain I bow down the head! adore The CRUCIFIED shall reign for evermore. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: VOL 05 - " I HAVE PLANTED." ======================================================================== " I Have Planted." -PAUL "planted" the Church of Corinth. "I have planted" (1 Corinthians 3:1-23). They could not have had a better planter; and there could hardly have been a more unsatisfactory plant. Thin it may be the case that a church does not always take its moral complexion from the man who plants it. He may be as good as Paul, and it may retain sin worse than the heathen (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). A church’s moral condition and walk are very materially influenced by the sphere of its location. The Assembly of Corinth was there! And Corinthian morality was horrible immorality. The Church was located in this abandoned city of courtesans and voluptuous luxury, and of philosophy, falsely so called; and those who were converted to the faith of Christ had everything to learn, even as to common Christian morality. They were full of " carnality," which displayed itself in ballooning with men, and living in fleshy lusts, and they had sin of the worst character among them; and yet they were so low in moral sensitiveness that they had no conscience about putting away " the wicked person " guilty of it, and would have gone on with it, had not the Apostle written to them about it, and roused them up to do their duty. Let the reader beware of falling under the influence of the prevailing sins of the locality where he dwells. Some are situated, like Corinth, where the sins of the flesh are prevalent: others, where self-will and self-assertion are the order of society; others, where disobedience to parents and masters, and " strikes " occur; others, where the lusts of the mind, philosophy, and vain deceit are the order of society, and where literature rules the thoughts of their circle, and not God’s word; others, where intense competition and rivalry in business exist, and keep men’s brains continually on the rack―and if Christ Himself does not become the real model constantly before the saints, and the Spirit be continually sanctifying by His Word and Person, they are certain, sooner or later, to sink to the level of the sphere they move in. " Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners; awake up righteously, and sin not, for some have ignorance of God: I speak to you as a matter of shame" (1 Corinthians 15:33-34). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: VOL 05 - " THE SPIRIT OF JESUS." ======================================================================== " the Spirit of Jesus." " The Spirit of God" shall descend below Prophecy’s valley His power shall know. (Ezekiel 37:1-28) Abraham’s seed shall arise and sing Myriads blessing their Priest and King: But while that seed in their graves still lie (Ezekiel 37:10-14.) The children of grace in their stead now cry. (Romans 11:1-36). Write, Lord on our hearts thy name so fair, " Jehovah-Shammah"―The Lord is there. (Ezekiel 48:35). "The Spirit of Jesus " ascended on high, Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie. (Exodus 37:1-29.) Under His breathing the heralds of peace (Acts 2:1-47) In faith, love, hope, and labors increase. (Acts 4:1-37) Hirelings’ before the great Shepherd now lie, (Acts 6:7.) While their inward emotion finds vent in the cry ―(Acts 9:6.) Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair― "Jehovah-Shammah"―the Lord is there. "The Spirit of Jesus " ascended on high, Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie. The fountains of life in the saints now spring, (John 4:14.) " Filled-full " in Christ the heart shall sing. (Colossians 2:10.) Formal professors are found on their knees The contrite prayer supplanting their " ease"―(Amos 6:1.) Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair― "Jehovah-Shammah"―the Lord is there. " The Spirit of Jesus" ascended on high, Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie. Now shall the worldling awakened be, (Acts 16:29-30). The dead shall live, and the blind shall see. (Ephesians 2:1-10). The careless and godless, the vile and profane (1 Corinthians 6:11). Shall cry as they gaze on the Lamb once slain―(1 John 1:1-10.; Revelation 5:1-14) Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair― "Jehovah-Shammah"―The Lord is there. " The Spirit of Jesus" ascended on high, Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie. Now a reviving of grace is begun, (Acts 2:1-47). And glory is given to God’s dear Son: (Php 1:20.) The fathers, the youths, and the children share (John 2:1-25.) And lift up to heaven the heart-felt Prayer―(Acts 5:14.) Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair― "Jehovah-Shammah”―Lord is there. "The Spirit of Jesus," ascended on high, Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie Fresh in the air of a heavenly Spring, (Song of Solomon 2:11-13.) The heart must love, and the tongue must sing. (Ephesians 5:18-19.) Dwelling in love and dwelling in God, (1 John 4:15-16.) The Bride’s heart leaps on the heavenward road (Revelation 22:17). To hail her Bridegroom of form most fair (Psalms 45:2) And prove in the Glory―" The Lord is there." (Revelation 21:22-23.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: VOL 05 - "THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST." ======================================================================== "The Supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." Exodus 30:32-38; Proverbs 27:9; Ezekiel 23:41; Song of Solomon 1:3. "THE Spirit of Christ," the anointing of grace, The oil and its fatness descending― The gladness come down from the heavenly place With " garments of praise " never-ending. The nature, another creation bestowed, Revealing its beauty and weakness, The rose and the lily adorning the road In holy dependence and meekness. The body on earth " full of light " on its way, The aloes and cassia pouring, That perfume which telleth what tongue cannot say, While upwards the heart is adoring. Expressing Himself in the pathway of love, " In His room" who is absent in glory; The voice of the turtle, the heart of the dove, Displaying the Lonely One’s story. The “flour of the offering the Spirit bore on, In manhood all-spotless to heaven (Leviticus 2:1-16), Now joined into one (from the scene where He’s gone) “The eighth day " told out in " the seven." “The Spirit of Jesus," the inner delight The " life more abundantly " giveth, " Spiced wine " of the pomegranate hidden from sight - The fruit His beloved receiveth ( Php 1:2). The joy of the life that delighted to do That " will " whose decree consecrateth The Isaac-Rejoicer whose spirit could view His " pearl "―ere the earth was created. (Proverbs 8:1-36; Matthew 13:16). That Father that saw in His " Joseph" below (Like gems by the ocean surrounded), A Treasure that man could not value nor know, By angels in glory unsounded (Isaiah 42:1). And yet―like that River " divided in four "― When down into time it descended― The Life was expressed as it carried the store Of wealth whence the spices were blended. And now " Jesus Christ " from His glory supplies His Spirit in fullness of blessing, The power to shine and the power to rise, His garment and person possessing (Romans 15:13; Romans 15:16; Romans 15:29) The Living One bid where the spices are stored " One pearl " there completing the story: The oil that on Adam could never be poured Displaying " the Christ" in the glory. “The Holy One " set in the heavenly place, "The feast-offering " is the dispenser Of joy to the praise of the glory of grace With measureless spice from the censer (Hebrews 9:13-14; Leviticus 3:1-17; Leviticus 16:12-13). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: VOL 05 - "TOO MUCH MONOTONY." ======================================================================== "Too Much Monotony." " Too much monotony." One writes, on March 17th, -" A thought has pressed on my mind for some time, to which I now desire to give expression-I mean in connection with the periodicals amongst us. I feel that there is far too much monotony-unscripturally so, I think." There is too much truth in this brother’s allegation. The whole circle of Scripture topics is not reflected from the pages of our periodicals, but we confine ourselves to the teaching of Scripture on a few select subjects which other Christians have omitted, or stated wrongly. If the periodicals be compared with Scripture there is scarcely any likeness at all to it in the way and manner, as well as the matter, of their teaching. We are vastly more narrowed in our range of subjects than the Scriptures; and we seldom descend to the homely ways of the Holy Ghost. We have, therefore, need to be admonished on this head, for there is immense variety in the Holy Scriptures, and by way of showing that we are amenable to brotherly admonition we have made a beginning of amendment by giving an entire change of subject in a few practical words last month and this. This may suffice meantime to relieve " the monotony," and prove a salutary word of needful exhortation. But this kind of writing the author of the " Hebrews " seems to think would not be generally received, and so he takes care to say, before he closes his epistle, " I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation." So says the Holy Ghost to-day, if ye will hear His voice. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: VOL 05 - A FEW NOTES ON A PAMPHLET BY DR. TREGELLES, ENTITLED-"THE HOPE OF CHRIST'S SECOND COMING." ======================================================================== A Few Notes on a Pamphlet by Dr. Tregelles, Entitled-"The Hope of Christ’s Second Coming." ACCORDING to Dr. Tregelles, p. 5, the Lord Jesus in the prophetic discourse of Matthew 24:1-35 applies ye and you not to the four disciples who had questioned Him, as Mark 13:1-37 informs us, but to the church of the first born, one body, and having one hope, of which these four were representatives. Let us test this. It is true the ye and you speak of a class rather than of the individuals mentioned, but the terms would be then used because the Lord’s questioners were in that class-the same class as that mentioned in Matthew 10:23; that is the godly remnant of the Jews, but not the church of God, although the ones that asked him, subsequently formed part of the church and the body of Christ. The saints in the prophecy of Matthew are viewed as in the main surviving to the coming of the Lord to earth in the clouds of heaven some being previously martyred (9). The ungodly will be taken away for judgment (Matthew 24:37-39), as it was in the days of Noah, and the righteous will remain on earth, like Noah and those with him in the ark, so we read, " He that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved " (13), and the " end " here spoken of is the Lord’s return to earth (14). Hence it is an earthly company which is there looked at as waiting for and found by the Lord at His coming. But Christians will come with Him when He returns to earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). How that can be brought about 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 explains. So Jude speaks of the coming with ten thousand of his saints, and Revelation 19:1-21 it confirms it. But this coming is subsequent to the marriage of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7. Now the heavenly saints who will come with Christ are divided into three classes in Revelation 20:4. First: those on thrones-the company seen in Revelation 4:5. Next: those beheaded for the witness of Jesus-those seen in Revelation 6:9, under the altar at the opening of the fifth seal: and lastly those who had not worshipped the beast, &c. The first of these classes are all raised and clothed with the white garments, Revelation 4:5 :, before those under the altar 6: 9, not then raised are seen at all. In 6 and 9, that sacred class there seen are not viewed as yet raised, nor is the company of martyrs there. complete. In which class of these three can we put Christians!? They cannot be in class 3, for the least has not yet been manifested. Nor can they be in the second, for all these are martyrs. Therefore: They can be only in the first. Then, there is an ascertained point of time of some saints, and of all Christian saints, before the Lord came with His saints to reign. For the return to reign cannot take place till He comes to destroy the beast (Revelation 19:1-21). Further, there must be a rapture of saints before the Lord comes to reign; for all Christian saints will not die (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Hence that prophecy in Matthew does not describe real Christians on earth, when the Lord returns; nor are the troubles there described when the abomination of desolation is set up those through which real Christians will pass. They will be away before that as Revelation 3:10, promises: "I will keep thee (out of) from the hour of temptation," not through, but out of; that is, they will not enter into it. And as the Body of Christ, how could they be in it? The judgments of that time, Revelation 6:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17; Revelation 8:1-13; Revelation 9:1-21; Revelation 10:1-11; Revelation 11:1-19; Revelation 12:1-17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-20; Revelation 15:1-8; Revelation 16:1-21; Revelation 17:1-18; Revelation 18:1-24; Revelation 19:1-21, are the dealings of God with the world-Jew and Gentile-for their rejection of Christ. How, then, could any members of His body be involved in that? It would be really, in that case, Christ judged again in the persons of His members, for what is done to them He regards as done to Him (Acts 10:21). Could any member of His body be in that judgment, then what the Lord has done is not all that had to be done. Such ideas would really deal a blow at the value of the atonement, and shows that the one holding them does not really understand what it is to be a member of Christ’s body. The first resurrection is not merely in relation to time, but it has to do with a class. All heavenly saints; all saints who have died, or will die; have part in the first resurrection, though all are not raised at once. Witness those saved after the Lord rose, and the saints whose bodies are still in the graves. It describes a class spiritually called " Blessed and holy " (Revelation 20:6). All remarks to discredit it as a second first; or the necessity, then, of a third coming, only shows that the one making them does not understand the question. As to the secrecy of the rapture the Word is silent-so one would not dogmatize; but it would not be out of harmony with that which has taken place. Witness the rapture of Elijah; and the resurrection: of the Lord. P. 9. There is no hope, Dr. Tregelles sets before Christians prior to the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven. Why, then, does the Lord introduce Himself as the bright and morning star; whereas, in Malachi 4:2, He is introduced as Sun of righteousness? Why, too, have we the promise of Revelation 3:10? And the revelation of 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17? And what is the meaning of the exhortation in 2 Thessalonians 2:1? But though the church’s hope is to be caught up the truth of His coming back to reign is brought to bear on saints. For responsibility does not end, as Timothy learned, till the Lord returns (1 Timothy 6:16), and rewards are only given when the Lord has received the kingdom (Luke 19:11-17). The Lord’s return to reign encourages saints when suffering from injustice (Jeremiah 5:7). It encourages them to be meek now (Php 4:8). Paul looked forward then to rejoin his converts (1 Thessalonians 2:18-19). It should bear on our walk (1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-10; Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:3); and act on the saint in service (1 Timothy 6:13-16; 2 Timothy 4:1-3). The coming for the saints has also its practical side. It differs from prophecy, as Peter shows (2 Peter 1:19). It warns against saying-" My Lord delayeth his coming" (Matthew 24:45 to end); and of profession without reality (Matthew 25:1-13), The blessedness, too, of being found watching and working, Luke 12:37-44 sets forth. How much is lost by not discerning the difference between the rapture of the saints and the Lord’s return to reign! Such, then, is the testimony of Scripture on the main points of the hope of the Lord’s coming, and as it is in contrast and antagonism with the teaching of the pamphlet, there is no need of going into a formal examination of it in detail. A few drops of bad water is sufficient for the purpose of testing it, so a few thoughts of an unscriptural pamphlet. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: VOL 05 - A THOUGHT ON THE HEBREWS ======================================================================== A Thought on the Hebrews THE stability of all that which Christ teaches is a thought which pervades the Epistle to the Hebrews. The mercies of David are sure mercies, made sure in it by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true David. The resurrection quickens for eternity all that it connects itself with, for it speaks the end of the reign of sin, or the destruction of the power of death. Thus, in chapter 1, the throne of the risen Son is " forever and ever." Heaven and earth may perish, but the risen Son " remaineth." In chapter 3 title to be of His house is settled by this-" If ye hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the life firm unto the end"-intimating that if the principle of enduring or continuance be not in us, we are wanting in that which is essential to all that is connected with the Son. So in chapter 5, 7. The priesthood of the Son is stable. It is " forever," after the order of Melchizedek. It is " unchangeable." It is in the power of " an endless life," and they who have it are in the joy of an " eternal salvation;" all are saved " to the uttermost." It is formed by " the oath" of God, by a decree which will never be "repented" of. The covenant, in like character, according to chapter 8, is ever " new," the covenant which Christ, the risen Son of God, ministers. It never is otherwise than new, never bears with it a single symptom of having run its course, or of being about to yield to something else, or better. And the precious offering was made in the very strength of eternity. Through the " eternal " Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God, as we read in chapter 9:-and then chapter 10: gives witness after witness, from the language of Psalms 40:1-17, from the session of Christ in the heavens, and from the words of the Holy Ghost in the words of the New covenant, that what He had offered through the eternal Spirit had settled the matter of sin, and answered for it to God once and for all, forever. And there is added to this, the thought, that to sin against this perfect sacrifice means a sinner without remedy. He is dead irretrievably, and nothing remains but that which sin unremoved introduces us to, a fearful looking for of judgment. Faith, the parent of hope, is then described in chapter 11, as ever eyeing the future, abiding portion in resurrection. The kingdom of the Son is, in like character, a kingdom " that cannot be moved," imparted, as it is to be, to all the saints, upon the shaking of everything else, all that is made. This part of the same great secret of eternity, or mystery of strength and continuancy, is declared in chapter 12. It may, therefore, be well concluded, as it is in chapter 13, that the risen Son remains, and that our business is to adhere to Him and His truth, and not to be carried away to any other object or confidence. " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." But this stability depends on perfection. All that Christ touches He makes perfect, or He does what He does so as to give the mind of God rest and satisfaction. And this being so, it abides, or is stable, and that forever. Accordingly, in another sense, this same Epistle is full of thoughts of perfection, contrasting what that belongs to, with what has imperfection in it. Thus-the law made nothing perfect (7:19)-neither did the sacrifices under it make the corners to them perfect, or cleansed their consciences (10:1). But this Epistle invites us to acquaint ourselves with it (6: 1) and opens it (2:10, 6:9, 10:14). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: VOL 05 - ABIDE AMONG US WITH THY GRACE ======================================================================== Abide Among Us With Thy Grace ABIDE among us with Thy grace, Lord Jesus, evermore; Nor let us e’er to sin give place, Nor grieve Him we adore. Abide among us with Thy word, Redeemer, whom we love; Thy help and mercy here afford, And life with Thee above. Abide among us with Thy ray, O Light, that lighten’st all; And let Thy truth preserve our way, Nor suffer us to fall. Abide with us to bless us still, O bounteous Lord of peace; With grace and lower our souls o’erfill, Our faith and love increase. Abide among us as our Shield, O Captain of Thy host; That to the world we may not yield, Nor e’er forsake our post. Abide with us in faithful love, Our God and Savior be; Thy help in need O let us prove, And keep us true to Thee. Stegmann, 1630. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: VOL 05 - CHAPTER 3-IN WHAT CHRISTIAN LIVING CONSISTS ======================================================================== Chapter 3-In What Christian Living Consists IT is delightful thus to find our salvation and security in God Himself, and all He has done for us in His own peculiar love in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are thus safe for eternity, so that we have nothing left us to do but be giving " thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." But, as I have been saying already, it is Time, and not Eternity, that is our chief trouble. We, who know ourselves a little, wish that we were as safe for Time as for Eternity. Our salvation and our security are in God’s hands, and cannot fail; but, though saved by God’s grace, and thus as completely delivered and brought out from beneath all our responsibilities as fallen children of Adam, as if we had never had any connection with Him; yet, now that all our sins have been forgiven, that we are justified from all things, and as to our consciences, so perfectly cleansed from dead works, to serve the living God that we have no longer to think of ourselves as sinners, but as characteristically saints-"Them that are sanctified," yet we are set up afresh in a new position, and with a new life in Christ, and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ; are sealed with the holy Spirit of God who dwells in us, sheds abroad God’s love in our hearts, causes Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith, is the power of the new life for endurance of trial, power in conflict, service, and prayer, is the Spirit of adoption and the earnest of the inheritance; and our new responsibility is to live, walk, work, and worship according to the place and portion we have in Christ, and the epistle of Christ written by the Spirit of God, seen and read as such by all men. Living by the faith of the Son of God walking in the Spirit, it is our new responsibility to be an expression of the grace, goodness, and holiness of God, in a world that is without God " or mortifying the deeds of the body by the Spirit, and walking in newness of life, having put off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ in having put off the old man, which is corrupt, and being renewed in the spirit of our mind, and having put on the new man which is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." "Risen with Christ, seek the things above, where the Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; have your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth: for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God." Our whole business is to fill all our relationships with the beauty and fragrance of the heavenly things, and enjoy the place, portion, and life we have in Christ “who is gone into heaven." The display of a heavenly life in the Spirit in this earthly sphere, where Christ is not, is now the privilege and requirement of our new responsibility, as those who have life in Christ glorified, and are blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings. It is the magnitude of our privileges, blessings, and prospects that render the discharge of our new responsibilities a matter of such grave solicitude. And the chief cause of our failure, perhaps, may be similar to our failure as already described, when struggling to do good under law, and without having a due sense of the necessity of God’s interference and divine deliverance. God did not only see His people’s sorrows in Egypt, and come down to deliver them, but He joined Himself to them as their Director, Guide, Protector, and Provider, taking them out of Egypt and into Canaan. He charged Himself in grace to do everything for them, and in the desert, for forty years, He led them about, gave them food from heaven, and water from the smitten rock, and when He took them miraculously across the Jordan and into the promised land, He appeared to Joshua, as the Captain of the Lord’s host, with a drawn sword in His hand, and He led them on to victory, and gave the land to them for a possession. “This people have I formed for myself: They shall show forth my praise." And just as really are believers of the present dispensation in their different position, as heavenly, taken in hand by God, not only for the deliverance which He gives in redemption and salvation, but for the life of faith, the conflict with wicked spirits, their testimony in the world, their service, walk, and worship. They are privileged to reckon upon God, and lean upon His grace in faith and prayer. This is God’s mind concerning us: " Ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his marvelous light: who once were not a people, but now God’s people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy." Out of His fullness have all we received and grace for grace. He was manifested in flesh full of grace and truth. We now in Him are left here as His representatives, and to display the same excellencies that He exhibited when on earth. For this we have the Holy Ghost enabling us, by abiding in Christ, to bring forth fruit. “Hereby is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples." “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control." God’s Spirit, in conscious union with Christ, is the source of this fruit-bearing. By His in-dwelling He not only acts in repression of the evil of the flesh (Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:16-17), but as the expression of Christ in His goodness, grace, and holiness (2 Corinthians 3:1-18; Php 2:15; Ephesians 5:1-33 ’2). The Christian epistles generally give us, in the beginning, a statement of the grace and privileges in which we have been set by God, and then follows a statement of the duties flowing from our new place of blessing. “It is God who worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure." “Grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation?" “For the grace of God that carries with it salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and piously in the present course of things, awaiting the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." As I have already said, grace sets us in a place of unspeakable blessing in Christ, but it also enables us in the happy liberty of grace, to discharge all our functions in all spheres, relationships, and circumstances, from new motives, with newness of spirit, and is newness of life; and with a new power, the Holy Spirit of God. We find ourselves here as members of Christ, and we have consequently our ecclesiastical responsibilities to " walk, worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and meekness. With long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." In the end of this same chapter, and in chapter 5:, we have personal and social godliness carried on, by the Spirit whom sin would grieve, on the model shown us of God Christ as Love (Ephesians 5:12), and as Light (Ephesians 5:8-9; Ephesians 5:14). And in the end of Ephesians 5:1-33 and beginning of Ephesians 6:1-24, we have Christians addresses in reference to their relative duties as wives and husbands, parents and children, masters and servants; the relationship of the Church to Christ lending weight to them all. There are earthly duties to be performed by the heavenly family, and these duties are to be discharged in the liberty of Spirit, and in the power of our new relationship to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. There is also the divine armor in chapter 6:, all of which is moral, showing us that good state of soul is required to maintain the Christian warfare which is with wicked spirits in the heavenlies―and this, too, is done as being in Christ and filled with the Spirit. If Satan finds the whole armor of God not put on he gains an advantage over us, for he would bring before us our bad moral state to make us doubt the goodness of our spiritual position and blessing in Christ Jesus. " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the panoply of God that ye may be able to stand against all the artifices of the devil." This is a specimen of the way the Spirit speaks of us, and to us, in the epistles. Our responsibilities as forgiven, justified, saved, and heavenly men, flow from our new and unvarying position and relationship, and we are also empowered by the Holy Ghost to discharge the duties of the abiding relationships of nature as new creatures in Christ Jesus. They are, thus, the privilege 3 and blessings in Christ, and the responsibilities which flow from them with the grace, power, and motives for the discharge of them: and whether it be ecclesiastical or personal godliness, as we have in Ephesians 4:1-32, or social and relative godliness, as in chapters 5: and 6:, the duties to be performed are to be discharged by persons set in the highest sphere, and blessed in the richest manner, by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and who have been under the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus, and united to Christ and made members of His body, the Church, and also an habitation of God in Spirit―and by the same Spirit having Christ Jesus dwelling in the heart by faith, rooted and grounded in love to enter into all our portion in Christ, and to enjoy according to the power that worketh in us our connection with all the fullness of God. Thus we have the grace and truth which was in its fullness in Christ (John 1:14) reproduced and expressed in the midst of the darkness of this world, and in the midst of the evil where the god of this world seems well-nigh triumphant. In our new state, sphere, and circumstances with the Holy Ghost in us as our living power, we are set down to glorify God in our body: and although it is desirable for our own happiness that we perform all our duties in the Christian life in the enjoyment of liberty and sunshine, yet it is a happy thing that the whole range of responsibility can be met and answered by us as honestly serving the Lord Christ, let the day be bright or cloudy, wet or dry, hot or cold; and whatever may be the state of joy or sorrow in which we find ourselves. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: VOL 05 - CHAPTER 4 - GRACE WITH SPIRITUAL EXERCISE ======================================================================== Chapter 4 - Grace With Spiritual Exercise But with regard to our spiritual state before God, if we find we are dry, dull, listless, stupid, and out of communion spiritually, we should seriously consider it, and not go on with a senseless, joyless, lifeless, condition. We should at once pull’ up, and place our souls before God. If our bodies were in a disordered state, and we were threatened with a serious illness, would we hang about, and put off using the needed remedies? And why not call a halt when our souls are out of order, and have matters set right before any severe spiritual disease overtake us? Just as deliverance from the law is by the knowledge of God in Christ and our death with Him, so deliverance from an unprofitable and unspiritual state of soul and heart, God-ward and Christ ward, can be remedied only by the Holy Ghost giving fresh working in the soul and fresh unfoldings of Jesus in His attractiveness to the heart: and when communion gets interrupted there must be confession, and under the gracious action of the heavenly advocacy with the Father it will be restored. The chief thing is to give over trying to get it ourselves. Confess the evil state, the weakness, the lifelessness, want of spiritual spring and joy in the Lord, and lay ourselves down before Him in all our unhappiness, but in the acknowledged recognition and confession of our real condition, and leave Him to deal with us as He sees best. If all be cast on God in the confidence of faith and real dependence, Scripture warrants us in saying that He will graciously give us clearance, and fill us with the light and joy of His own presence. If led to act thus of God the change may be instantaneous. The Lord may be working to bring us to our knees, because He means to give us fresh blessing in the Spirit. But this may go on for a time before the blessing of the Lord-which emancipates, brightens and deepens the divine work in the soul-be imparted. But when we are in despair of ourselves and have our faith more fixed on the Lord to whom we begin to turn and appeal in our felt helplessness, we may encourage ourselves in Him that even this is an installment of the blessing, for to be able to pray and long after fresh power of fellowship with God is surely of the Spirit. And even if there be delay, let us wait only upon God; the blessing will come in due time. We have a notable example of delay in the case of Daniel. " In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till the whole three weeks were fulfilled." Then the vision of a glorious one is given him, and he " alone saw the vision.” “I was left alone," he says, "and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me." He heard " the voice of his words," with his face towards the ground. A hand touched him and set him upon his knees and the palms of his hands. " And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for (now mark this) from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words:" The exercise went on for " three whole weeks," but now he is told his words were heard " from the first day." And I am come for thy words." " Words’ that he felt had been unavailing! But now, when the answer comes, he has no strength left to receive it, and it is only when freshly touched and strengthened that he could say, “Let my Lord speak; for Thou Nast strengthened me." And when he speaks, what does he say―" I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth." It is for this he has had to wait and pass through such a prolonged experience and exercise of soul. I have referred to this remarkable experience of Daniel to show that our "words " may be heard " from the first day," and yet the exercise of soul that crushes us to the ground, and takes away every bit of strength from us, may go on, and the answer come only after " three whole weeks," that when it comes it may be given us, and fresh strength to receive it, and consist in " that which is noted in the Scripture of truth," read in the light of the heavenly enlightener, and realized in this fresh strength which He has imparted. Let us not say this is Jewish experience, and such trying soul-exercise is not to be expected now that the Holy Ghost has come and abides in the saints of God: for we read of a Christian apostle that he passed through a similar exercise, and experienced similar delay. " He was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words." Yet he tells us, “Lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." He does not say whether, like Daniel, this extended over " three whole weeks; " but "thrice" tells of continuance of supplication, and delay as to the answer. And when it came it was not the removal of the thorn, but sufficient grace to bear it. " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak then am I strong." Paul received a much better thing than he had asked for; for the heightening of the power of Christ to bear the thorn, and, when consciously weak, to be strong in Christ’s power, were surely higher blessings than the removal of the source of his weakness. The thorn was such as led him to pray the Lord about it; the delay gave spiritual exercise of soul, and necessitated repeated prayer; and when the Lord’s voice is heard it conveys such an unlooked-for assurance that Paul glories in his weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon him. But whether it is " Daniel the prophet," or " Paul the apostle," the lesson is the same―that we are cast entirely upon the Lord as to divine dealing, spiritual exercise, and spiritual deliverance. We ourselves must be reduced to nothing ("though I be nothing," says Paul), that we should have " the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead." This is stated in a more detailed way farther on in the same epistle: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not from us; every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body; for we who live are al ways delivered unto death on account of Jesus that the life, also, of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh; so that death works in us." This tells us of “the sentence of death in ourselves,” and trust in God who raiseth the dead. This was the experience of the apostle in connection with the gospel of the glory of Christ and the ministry of the same. The “vessel " containing the light of the knowledge of the glory of God-the treasure of a glorified Christ-was broken in pieces that the light might shine out; and because He believed He spoke: "Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also through Jesus." His hopes were all in resurrection. " Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day." The more weight and pressure on the outward man, the more the life of Jesus was manifested; the more the vessel was broken, the more the testimony of Christ shone out; and the more the weakness of man was felt, the more the power of God was experienced. All free spiritual living is the consequence of the sentence of death in ourselves and trust in God, for it is in proportion as we bear about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus is manifested in our body. The Christian life was with Paul a very serious thing. “For me to live ―Christ." The Christian life with him was Christ―he was living a life of faith and communion, and he expressed the traits of Christ in his daily life. Our life, motive, power, object, and end is Christ. In Php 2:1-30; Php 3:1-21. we have the grace of Christ in being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and the energy of Christ in going through everything to gain Mtn. When we have an epistle of true Christian experience, as we have in Philippians, we have nothing at all about sin, but we have Christ before us as our Object and our Prize, and our joy is in Him. " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice." ―and the man who said so was at that time in prison! He showed such superiority to circumstances, in the divine energy which actuated him, that the prison was nothing to him. Christ was all; and his crying is to know Him-to win Christ! To reach the goal in glory, and have Him there as gain. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: VOL 05 - CHAPTER 6 - FILIAL RELATIONSHIP AND SPIRITUAL LIBERTY ======================================================================== Chapter 6 - Filial Relationship and Spiritual Liberty BUT we must now, for a little while longer, turn our eyes to the right hand of God, where the ascended One, who is man, now is seated and glorified with the glory He had with the Father before the world was. As we have already stated, God’s purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began is to have His own Son, the glorified Man as the center in glory of a new order of men (redeemed from the ruins of Adam and dead, and risen with Christ), united to Him where He is, and have a common relationship, place, and share with Him in all the glory, and blessing, wherewith His God and Father hath blessed Him in the. heavenlies. Consciousness of oneness. with Czarist, in glory, and the knowledge of the mystery, Christ and the Church give full deliverance of soul; and seeing that this is " the present truth " that needs to be insisted on with constant iteration, we would conclude with the presentation of a condensed epitome of the Christian position, and the importance for deliverance, freshness, and spiritual progress of enjoying in. the Holy Ghost that blessed glorified Second Man who has glorified God on the earth, and who has been glorified by God, and with God in the highest heavens. Where there is faith in a risen and glorified Christ there will be the conscious enjoyment in Him of divine life, filial relationship, and spiritual liberty. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and He is with all who believe the gospel of the glory of Christ. The Spirit of God is with those who accept the ministration of life and righteousness in Christ, from the glory of God, and He gives them to know Him, and what God has given us in Him. Trace the path of the Son of God, from His coming in flesh to His ascension into the glory of God, and think of Him as the humbled, victorious, and exalted man. " That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth." The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared Him. God has been revealed on earth as a personal God (for " God was in Christ ") and in His relationship as a Father in the person of the Son of Man born of the Virgin. He was born holy-" that holy thing that shall be born of thee." He lived a life of obedience, dependence and holiness, and as God’s Pious One, God the Father could claim Him at His baptism, as His by the voice from heaven. " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Heaven opened to Him and the Holy Ghost descended like a dove and rested upon Him, " for him hath God the Father sealed and sent into the world," and told forth at once His relationship to Him, and his well-pleasedness in Him. Thus attested and empowered as God’s Sent One, He " went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil, for God was with him; " and when man rejected Him God testified again from the holy mount, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." God owned Him at Jordan as His Pious One in His private life, when " He was about the age of thirty; " and now on the holy mount He owns Him in the transfiguration scene in His public life, as the Servant Son of Jehovah, the Messias promised to the fathers; and His place in the midst of His people in the kingdom is given Him in glory, and the Father’s voice from the holiest proclaims this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. From this place in glory which His own intrinsic excellence as Son of God, and His upholding the glory of God in Israel as the Son of Man, the Jehovah-Messiah had given him, we hear from the conversation of the glorious men who appeared, Moses and Elias, how that they talked of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem; and when the vision was past He descended from that " holy mount " to travel onwards as the rejected Son of Man to Calvary to accomplish His decease for God’s glory and our redemption; for, " except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone; but, if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.... Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.... And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what death he should die.... Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him." God has been glorified by Him in His holy life, and God glorifying death by which at once God in all He is in His nature, character and requirements was magnified, and His glory retrieved and established over sin and Satan, and in the very face of the enemy. God as love as well as light has been glorified in the death of Christ; and not only according to the requirements of man as represented in the court, and at the brazen altar, but according to the necessity of God’s nature as He is in Himself in the holiest of all, where all that the light of His glory reveals is of gold. God has been glorified about sin in the sinless One made sin for us; and where the first man was disobedient unto death, the second man has been obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He gave up Himself in obedience to glorify God, and God came in righteousness and in the might of His power wrought for Him and raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in His heavenly glory above every name that is named, both in this world and that which is to come, and has given Him to be head over all things to the Church which is His body the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. The old man came to the end in Christ’s cross, and we have died with Christ and are risen with Him, and by faith we are the sons of God and the Risen Man, the last Adam is our life as He is our righteousness. As in the old creation we were in our sins and guilty, and lost in our Adam-head, so in our risen Lord-the Second Man-we are forgiven, have redemption, are saved, and have justification of life; for, as by one man’s disobedience we were constituted sinners so by One Man’s obedience we are constituted righteous. And not only so, but we are made one with a glorified Christ by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. We are saved by grace-God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, not as incarnate, but as risen from the dead, for Christ in the flesh is known no more (for He is not here, He is risen) therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold they are become new, and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself by the death of His Son; and in this new, peaceful and happy condition we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. There is a new creation, and Christ glorified is the Head of it, and we, as individuals have our place in Him, and part with Him, for our new creation in Christ and union with him is individual. By the disobedience, sin, and fall of the first Adam, we all went down under death; by the obedience, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, the last Adam, we are all raised up with Him, and have life. In the beginning the heavens and the earth were created, and then man was formed on the sixth day, but all this is reversed in Christ, who dies for man on that sixth day, rested in the grave on the seventh day, and on the first day of the week was raised from the dead as the Second Man of heavenly origin, and constituted the Head of a new order of men who, it is God’s purpose, should be associated with Him, one with His own Son, the second Man, the last Adam, as the Son of Man but Son of God, in his Manhood as we are, and indeed more closely than we were with the first-not Christ, as is often stated, united to men before and without redemption, which gives us a place in the glory with Him, and He has done all that is needed to bring us there. Of old, before the foundation of the world, He rejoiced in the habitable parts of Jehovah’s earth, and His delight was with the sons of men. God prepared Him a body and He came in time, and to do God’s will in our salvation, becoming a man, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, and now crowned with glory and honor. As man in the glory He had with the Father before the world was, and having become our life, and accomplished the work of redemption on the cross, and gone into glory, gone up on high as man, He has sent down the Holy Ghost, Himself our abiding righteousness, that we might know that we are in Him, and He in us; not yet with Him, but in Him, and knowing it by the Holy Ghost (John 14:1-31), as it is written, " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. God has quickened us together with Him, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But, as said, not yet with Him, or partaking of the glory. Christ as raised from the dead is the head in glory, and we are members of His body. " He is the Head of the body the Church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence " (Colossians 1:18). It is a striking fact that Christ the firstborn from the dead is " the Beginning: " the Rock on which the Church is built is Christ: the Son of the living God, the firstborn from the dead. God’s risen Son is the Head of His body, the Church, the Beginning of God’s new work, just as He is as firstborn of every creature, " the Beginning of the creation of God," " for by Him were all things created-all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist," so as risen He is " the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead," that in all things He might have the preeminence. We who believe have our place in Him who is " the Head of His body, the Church, " and have all our privileges, and blessings in Him, and being united to Him by the Holy Ghost come down from Him to seal all believers, and be the earnest of glory with Him, we wait for His coming that we may be conformed to His image in glory. The Spirit contrasts the first Man, and the Second Man in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 The first man, Adam, was made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening Spirit.... The first man out of the earth, made of dust; the Second Man, out of heaven. Such as be made of dust, even also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly (One), such also the heavenly (ones). As we have borne the image of the (one) made of dust we shall bear also the image of the heavenly (One)." " For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be confirmed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." " Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to Himself a glorious Church not having a spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27). Whether as individuals, or as members of Christ’s body, our prospect is to be like and with Himself in glory. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: VOL 05 - CHRIST HIM SELF OUR OBJECT ======================================================================== Christ Him Self Our Object MORE and more I am made to feel that Christ does not have His proper place among the children of God. He is not the object. It is either a doctrine, a dogma, a party, my experience: something beside Christ. We seem possessed with very much the same spirit that actuated Peter on the mount, when he said: “Let us make here three tabernacles." The Father would remedy this. While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud which said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." And when the disciples heard it they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid; and Jesus came and touched them, and said, " Arise, and be not afraid;" and when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only.Matthew 17:1-8. Have you ever been in the shadow of the ".cloud"? Have you ever heard the “voice?” Have you been on your "face?" Have you felt the “touch 7" Then have you heard another voice, “Arise?” Do your eyes see “no man save Jesus only?" Many, perhaps, have reached the top of the mount; but few, very few, have been under the “cloud," have heard the "voice," have been on their “faces," have been raised to see “Jesus only." " Christ is all" (Colossians 3:11). Do we make Him this? Is it a question of our sonship? As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). Is it a question of experience? For to me to live is Christ (Php 1:21). Is it a question of service? I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me (Php 4:13). Is it a question of my path? I am the way (John 14:6). Is it a question of heaven the place to which my path leads? He would define it as where I am (John 14:3). O let us know more of that rich blessedness which comes of making " Christ all," of seeing " Jesus only." Our cry should be―" O, to know him" (Php 3:10). In our selfishness we cry and beg for blessings. It is the Blesser we need, HIMSELF. He is the joy of our Father’s heart. Let us taste with Him the delight He takes in His Son. Christ is infinitely higher than doctrine or experience. Experience we will have if we have Him, but only with Him can our hearts be ravished and raptured. Why is it we are not changed more from " glory to glory?" The wail has been rent; the blood has been sprinkled; the SPIRIT is given. The reason is we are occupied with ourselves and the work of the Spirit in us, rather than with Christ alone. This is the weakness in the wide-spread holiness work so much of which is superficial. Let us look more into that unveiled face from which streams the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 3:1-18; 2 Corinthians 4:1-18) All else will pale, and fade if we will but linger here. A word here. The Spirit never occupies me with His work in me. And if I am thus occupied I am out of the mind of the Spirit. The word is, "He shall not speak of Himself," nor yet concerning Himself. " He shall glorify ME." (See John 16:5-15.) To go further. The work of Christ, wonderfully blessed as it is, was never intended to be an object for my heart. It gives my conscience peace, but only His person can satisfy the heart. And O, how His person does it-ten thousand hallelujahs to Him! The Father would direct us to Him (Matthew 17:5). The Holy Ghost would occupy us with Him (Acts 7:55-56). The word of God would speak of Him (John 5:39). He is the object of faith; He is the object of love; He is the object of hope; and the faith, or love, or hope, that does not make Him the object is spurious and unreal. He is all for my path; He is all for my service; He is all for my worship; blessed, blessed be His name! He is not on the Cross; He is not in the grave; He is on the throne. Wondrous fact, a Christ in the glory of God, and that Christ my Savior; my Bridegroom; my Priest; my Advocate; the One who died for me; The One who lives for me; The One who is coming for me. It is not surprising that Peter should say, "Unto you, therefore, which believe He is precious." Both the worldly world and the religious world seem bent upon shutting Him out. The former is " reserved unto fire," the latter He will vomit out of His mouth. See 2 Peter 3:1-18; Revelation 3:1-22 Keep clear from them both, dear brother. If not clear, “Go forth unto Him" (Hebrews 13:13). He is enough,-glory to the Lamb,-and it pleases His heart for us to make all of Him. May it be with us Christ; our aim to know Him. You will not get a greater portion or place, than He got. Your portion here will be “food and raiment" your place " outside." There your portion is “all spiritual blessings," your place " In Him." And now, dear brother, let every affection, every desire, every thought be gathered in, and centered upon Him. “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: VOL 05 - ETERNALLY SAVED IN CHRIST JESUS ======================================================================== Eternally Saved in Christ Jesus THE Holy Scriptures affirm that, on believing in Christ, we have everlasting life. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God " (1 John 5:11-13). The following letter shows the terrible evil of being taught the opposite of this. Its importance leads us to give it entire:― DEAR SIR,―Having read your little book, the " Blood of Jesus," and derived much benefit from it, we feel very anxious to know if we rightly understand the sentence on page 67:―" What is needed is to know that we are saved―absolutely, perfectly, eternally saved." We take this to mean that it is a part of present salvation to know that we are from this moment saved to all eternity; that is, delivered from any possibility of apostasy. We think, if this were our privilege, it would be salvation indeed! Yet how are we to account for those who, having once enjoyed religion, have been finally lost. We think we have had sufficient evidence of the fearful existence of such cases, and therefore we can hardly venture to indulge such a hope. Our deep and long-continued anxiety on this and other points has induced us to trouble you. Our parents have carefully trained us in Scriptural truth, and we have from infancy sat under a gospel ministry. We should be only too happy to know that we are saved―ETERNALLY saved―but fear to cast off an old faith for one which would be much more agreeable. We have so often heard “the salt may lose its savor," and this makes us feel, when our faith is strongest, instant death is the most desirable thing, lest a continuance in this life should cost us our salvation. We each thought of writing, this having for some time troubled us, but feared to do so till, in a recent conversation, we discovered each other’s thoughts on the subject, and determined to write. We have not told our friends about the unsettled state of our minds, because we know if we did we should be advised to read books confirming us in their views; and we wish to avoid controversy, as it is only satisfaction of mind we desire on this, to us, very important point. We don’t know what apology to offer, other than that we are very anxious about it. With many thanks to you as the author of the " Blood of Jesus," and " Streams from Lebanon,’, believe us, &c. To this letter we gave the following answer: ― MY DEAR FRIENDS,―I received your sadly interesting letter; and as I could not answer it for a day or two, I sent you one or two things to read. I would. especially call your attention to the little book which I forwarded. That is the sort of truth you need to know now to give you divine emancipation from the legal bondage in which you are held by " the traditions of men." I do not think it would be of any use entering on the Scripture proof that would show you the impossibility of a divinely-quickened soul apostatizing and, being lost. The way to make you get out of the " old things" is to present the new―to tell you more of our precious Savior―that is what that little book will do; and if the Holy Ghost fill you with the truth that the believer and Christ are one―as the tract shows it―you will be so established in Him and in the certainty of your salvation in Him, that you would only smile at the unscriptural notion that Christ could lose two of the members of His body, for if believers, and having the Holy Ghost, you are members of His " body." (Ephesians 5:1-33) I remember when I was very ill, and could hardly walk, that I consulted one of the first physicians of the day; and after he examined me he said, " There is nothing organically wrong with you, but your constitution is extremely low; you have worn yourself down; you must go off at once to a watering place, and do nothing for some months, and you will get over it. Take also as much nourishing food as possible." I followed his advice, and eventually my local ailments ceased to trouble me as my constitution got stronger. This is your case spiritually: all local ailments will cease if your soul’s general health were improved by breathing the free air of full gospel liberty, and feeding by faith on Christ in all His fullness. When we know our oneness with Christ in this, that, on our believing, the life of Him who is risen from the dead and dieth no more, is communicated to us, so that the believer can say, " No longer live I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loveth me, and gave Himself for me "―how could one lose the very life of the rise’s Christ of God? As soon could Christ fall away and be lost as one of His members. But many preachers and teachers give us only a change wrought on our own nature, and they call that being born again; but that could not be, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and in the new birth a new nature or life is communicated, so that in reality, and, by no mere figure of speech, " Christ is in us," and we are one with Him in our being in Him " partakers of the divine nature." If you would look at the 1st Epistle of John 4:9-19, you would see how free, full, and sure the work of God for us poor sinners is:― (1.)In ver. 9 we have life. God is love, and He has manifested it in giving His only begotten Son, that we might live through Him. (2.)This love is shown in propitiation: " He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (3.)This love leads to the indwelling of God in us, ver. 12-16: " God dwelleth in us." He hath given us of His Spirit. (4.)This love gives boldness in the day of judgment because of our identification, our oneness with Christ: "Because as He is, so are we in this world." " Love with us "―God’s love in Christ, of which he has just been writing―" is made perfect; " it has reached its full limits in giving us an unfearing boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we―thus making us one with the risen and glorified Lord Jesus at God’s right hand. Perfect love like this on God’s part casteth out fear. You wish to know how you can reconcile the certainty of eternal salvation with the apostasy of those who have once enjoyed religion. There are multitudes who have enjoyed religion who fall away from that, but none ever fall away from Christ and the possession of divine life. " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life "―" shall not come unto judgment, but is passed from death unto life." Mere profession, or even the natural man worked upon by means of the powerful preaching of the gospel, will all come to nothing; but wherever there is the implantation of the life of Christ―we quickened together with Him―that will last forever. He calls it " everlasting life." There are two things in Scripture, God’s grace and man’s responsibility. God’s grace effectually and eternally saves every believer, and the soul manifests salvation by a life becoming the gospel, and following Christ to the end; whereas the mere professor, who anon with joy receives the word, and for a while endures, in time of temptation or persecution for the Word’s sake, falls away not from Christ, but from a profession of having Christ which had " no root." I cannot tell you how sad I felt on reading your letter, especially where you say, “We have so often heard that the salt may lose its savor, and this makes us feel, when our faith is strongest, instant death is the most desirable thing, lest a continuance in this life should cost us our salvation." We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. It is quite true that God addresses professing Christians as under responsibility, being set in the fullness of His grace, in the height of privilege, to show a corresponding life of holy fruit-bearing and obedience; but all real Christians will delight in this, and endeavor to answer the end of their high calling, not in order to be saved, but because they are so; while those who have only a name to live will fall away from their nominal Christianity. There has never been one soul who had life in Christ, who has fallen away and been lost since the beginning of Christianity, and none ever will or can. Just look at this word of our blessed Lord’s-" And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness: even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Sit down before such a precious utterance of the true and faithful Witness, and say, "O my soul, look at that, how true it is, that on the authority of my Redeemer thou halt everlasting life." What grace there is in this, that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord! How different from the legal doctrine man would teach me: That on believing in Christ I have life, and it will be made eternal or not, just as I behave myself! Surely this is not like “the God of all grace," who gave me His only begotten Son to die for me and rise again. This is not grace at all; it is merely tantalizing me with an uncertain hope―suspending my salvation on my good behavior, and not on the blood-shedding of Jesus. If I were saved thus I would not be able to join the new song in glory, and sing, as they all do there, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," for I would bring in the discordant note, and say, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain and my good behavior." Your sensitive hearts would feel horrified at such a thought; but that is what the doctrine would lead to if logically carried out. But " By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). There is salvation for you by grace through faith, and all as the gift of God; and it is everlasting, for " the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" on His part; that is, He does not change His mind and recall His gifts, and fall from His purpose of grace. What you should do is to continue to increase in divine knowledge of God’s grace and His testimony to His Son. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." There are vast fields of Scripture truth you have never explored, and of which you have no conception. Get up your constitution and your soul’s strength by living by the faith of the Son of God, and avoid all controversy with any one. It is the God-ward side of Christianity you need to know―the positive side of your blessing in Christ, as says Ephesians 1:1-23 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before. Him in love, &c.; wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Let Him. occupy your whole thoughts. See how frequently “in Christ," " in Him," occur in Ephesians. “Your life is hid with Christ in God." Do not think of yourselves at all, but get absorbed with Christ and let your whole aim be that I may know Him, and let your affections center in Him as your only object; be occupied. supremely with Him, and you will be filled with His fullness, and. be satisfied in conscience, mind, and heart. God rests in Him-in Him we rest. I deeply sympathize with you, and write this with much pleasure, and will be happy to hear from you again; while I pray the Lord to fill you with all knowledge and spiritual understanding, and give you to rest in the Lord Jesus as your Savior. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: VOL 05 - FAITH AND WORKS INSEPARABLE ======================================================================== Faith and Works Inseparable Is it not strange, that at so early a period as when James wrote, they should have begun to separate the faith from the obedience of the gospel? And if it required to be watched against when they had such living epistles around them, how much more have we need to watch, who scarcely see a ray of that self-sacrificing devotedness in which the primitive Church abounded? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: VOL 05 - GONE TO HIS REST ======================================================================== Gone to His Rest NOTICE OF MR. WILLIAM REID, LATE EDITOR OF " THE BIBLE HERALD." ON the 8th of August, the beloved brother, the devoted servant of Christ, and able editor of the " Bible Witness and Review " quietly fell asleep: On the afternoon of the 11th, in Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh, in presence of a large and sorrowing company, the body of our friend was committed, not to the dust, but to the safe keeping of Him who had redeemed him at such an infinite cost. The pale, calm countenance, has passed from our midst, but the name of William Reid will long be remembered, and his memory fondly cherished by many. His removal to the Lord’s immediate presence is surely his gain, his Master’s joy, and our loss; yet, if the standard bearers enter one by one into rest, the Church is more immediately cast upon the grace and resources of the living God, and He is enough, blessed be His name forever! Mr. Reid never excelled as a preacher, nor was he specially fitted to address large congregations, but of his godliness in private life, his self-denying labors of love, and devoted services to his Master, we might speak, and that too in terms of highest praise; but we forbear. His record is on high, and his name and deeds are there engraved on imperishable tablets. Christ will in the day of His glory and ours, publish the name and doings of His own. We have no wish therefore to laud our departed brother, but we may remark that his numerous works testify that he was possessed in a high degree of those qualities fitting him intellectually and divinely to minister Christ and grace to the Church of God. We know of no work of modern date and of like character which obtained such a worldwide circulation, and was so owned of God in blessing to souls as " The Blood of Jesus." We had a note from our beloved brother, penciled in bed, but a few weeks before he went to the Lord, proposing that the third volume of the "Bible Witness and Review" should be sent to the Presbyterian clergymen of Scotland. Shall not the dying request of the Lord’s servant be fulfilled? By voice and pen in various ways and measures the tale of grace is proclaimed far and near, but what will it be to gather around the Lord of glory while He tells of the wonders of His cross and love. O, how the music of that well-known voice will thrill our souls. We shall " talk " (Mark 9:4), and " walk " (Revelation 3:4) with Him in company with our departed brother in those deathless regions of eternal delight.W. S. 1 Peter 5:7. Lord, it belongs not to my care, Whether I die or live; To love and serve Thee is my share, And this Thy grace must give. If life be long, I will be glad, That I may long obey If short, yet why should I be sad, Since God appoints my day? Christ leads me through no darker rooms Than He went through before; And he that to God’s kingdom comes, Must enter by His door. Come! then, since grace has made me meet, Thy blessed face to see ’ For if Thy work on earth be sweet, What will Thy glory be? Then, then, shall end my sad complaints, My desert pilgrim days,- End in the triumph of the Saints- In endless songs of praise. My knowledge of that life is small; The eye of faith is dim; But ’tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with Him. -From BAXTER. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 100: VOL 05 - HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIVING ======================================================================== Higher Christian Living CHAPTER 1―THE ORIGIN AND SOURCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE THE Scriptures bring us the knowledge of a Savior, and of a salvation in Him with eternal glory, which places those who believe in God’s Christ outside " the world," and introduces them into a new world where they enjoy, in new creation, their portion in Christ glorified in the heavens, and their association with Him in that celestial sphere in which He now dwells. Christianity is entirely spiritual and heavenly. “How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” asked the Lord, at the time He was pressing such “earthly things “as being born of water and of the Spirit, and entering the kingdom of God. Even a Jew should have recognized the new birth according to Exodus 36:1-38. But Christianity has not only brought in “the Son of Man who is in heaven," but also the " heavenly things." “As is the heavenly One, such are they also who heavenly ones." A New Man―" the last Adam "―in life and righteousness, in the Person of the Risen Christ, has been introduced as the Head of a new race who are promised the heavens as their dwelling-place, and " the things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God " as their possession. " Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior," to save us out of this earthly scene by giving us glorious bodies like His own, and taking us to be where He is. He said to His disciples, “If I go away, I will come again, and receive you to my-Leif, that where I am there ye may be also." “Where I am," means the Father’s house in heaven―the blessed home of all the children God. This is the home of love; but there also is the seat of government and glory, the golden city, where the Lamb and the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, shall be displayed in glory. The knowledge of Christ personally in His life of grace, in his atoning death, and victorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, and where He now is, gives life and salvation. And the experience which flows from a spiritual acceptance by faith and in the power and grace of the Holy Ghost of the facts regarding " our Lord Jesus," and our identification with Him in position, life, righteousness, love, hope, and joy before His God and Father, affords a vantage ground of signal value, and gives a magnificent equipment for the every-day exigencies, difficulties, and trials of the Christian life. For an intelligent knowledge of Christ and Christianity tells us of every question having been settled when Christ died and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." And being begotten of God by the word of truth we are His children. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the children, of God." “Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it;" and we are “members of His body," whom He " nourisheth and cherisheth:" and He will one day present it a glorious Church to Himself. We begin our course as Christians as children of God and members of Christ, all that we are as children of Adam having been completely answered for and settled between God and Christ on the cross when He said, " It is finished, and gave up the ghost." We have now only to live by the faith of the Son of God, enjoy our portion in Him, and live so as to be a living expression of Christ. This can be done only by the Spirit of God keeping us beholding the glory of Christ and being changed into the same image. But this is not without its trials and difficulties. There is nothing more trying than to be incapable of enjoying Christ and not abiding in Him. The experience that is like wintry weather is very unpleasant―sun for a few moments, then clouds and rain, if not frost and snow, when Christ’s love should constantly constrain. The want of the continuance of a happy spiritual state is what greatly tries most Christians, and renders them displeased and disappointed at their want of spiritual life and progress. Their enjoyment of Christ is like an intermittent spring that for long seasons runs dry. Once the waters flowed forth in full stream, but they have now ceased thus to flow. They wish so much always to be enjoying that of which they have had soul-filling experience in seasons of near and real communion with God. It is more distressing to a true spiritual believer to have to go on from day to day in a dull, dry, sunless, and joyless state of soul and heart than were his body afflicted, or his temporal affairs in a depressed condition. There is, in fact, no trial so intolerable and depressing, as the want of conscious enjoyment of happy, holy, soul-filling, fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. Something has gone wrong in the soul’s condition, and what it is, and where, cannot be found out. For there is no conscience of indulging in any known sin or of retaining iniquity in the heart such as to make the Lord refuse to hear. Still there is a clouded state of soul, and no fellowship in the Spirit with the Lord. There is neither dew nor rain to make the garden of the soul fresh with budding life, and to send forth the fragrance of its spices scenting the genial air. The well-known scriptures no longer take hold of them, and prayer is like speaking to some one on the other side of a high wall whom they cannot see. To be thus in a state of distance, and seemingly shut out from society with God and Christ, and all holy, spiritual saints, by a soul’s very condition unfitting him for it is depressing in the extreme. Many Christians would not know the meaning of all this, for they have only had quickening, and have never had the enjoyment of nearness of communion with God in new life in a risen and glorified Christ in the power of the Spirit of God. But the soul that knows the joy of dwelling in God and God in us―of having fellowship with the Father and the Son and joy full, cannot be satisfied to go on without realizing it. Nothing else can satisfy. How are we to get rid of this sleepiness, unprofitableness, and want of spiritual freshness, lack of fellowship with God and joy in Him? It is not so easy to answer such a question without knowing the causes that have led to the sad state described. Also, God is so sovereign, and so surprises us by the communication of His grace in unlooked for ways, that he might set aside all our thoughts by the manifestation of the exceeding riches of His grace in Christ Jesus towards us. Possibly, in many cases, there may be the need of a deeper sense of sin, and the judgment of our entire evilness and lost state in God’s sight; for the root of sin in the old nature not having been dealt with, there may not be full deliverance of soul in the Spirit revealing Christ’s work and God’s condemnation of tale flesh in the sacrifice of Christ. This needs to be seen to as it is at the very foundation of living to God. (To be continued). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 101: VOL 05 - HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIVING ======================================================================== Higher Christian Living CHAPTER 2.―GOD’S WAY OF DELIVERANCE, GOD has provided for deliverance in the Epistle to the Romans, showing us in chap. 6. how we may get deliverance from the power of sin, of the presence of which every believer soon becomes painfully conscious. We have died to sin (6:2), we are here taught. By the death of Christ for us we have a perfect standing before the throne of God. By His death, as a practical truth applied to us, we get free from the power of sin. But this part of the teaching of the Romans flows out of our being in Christ, who has actually died, and has risen. Hence, as in Him, His condition as regards sin is ours. He has died to it once for all (10). We as in Him, have died with Him (8). Starting from this we are exhorted to carry it out practically in our walk, reckoning " ourselves dead indeed unto it, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord;" the assurance being added for the saints comfort and encouragement, " Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace" (19). Now this condition, viz., that we have died to sin, is true of every Christian, however little he may have known it, or heard of it. It is not a question of attainment, though the practical carrying out of it is a matter of experience. All the saints in Rome, once bondsmen to sin, were bondsmen unto righteousness, having obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine into which they were instructed (17). Hence they were exhorted to yield their members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness. Their condition, and that of every Christian, as regards sin, depends on the condition of Christ, in whom we are. The walk, the practice, is to be in conformity with it. We are not exhorted to walk so as to attain to it. Then chapter 7. tells of our deliverance from the law as a husband, and our being married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead " that we might bring forth fruit unto God," and " serve in newness of spirit." To this is added in the end of the chapter an illustration of how deliverance from the body of sin and death is accomplished, or rather it gives us the experience of a quickened soul struggling with sin under law, and always failing to do the good which is, with the mind, approved of and aimed at. “Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." The effect is to give a true knowledge of one’s self. “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not," &c. " I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The struggle is given up in despair, for deliverance from captivity is hopeless, as well as of being good or doing good. It is more difficult to convince a soul of being "without strength" than of being guilty: it must wade through the morass of its own experience to convince it of being " without strength: " and the more thoroughly the utter worthlessness and weakness of our own selves is learned experimentally, and the hopelessness of self-effort to give deliverance, or the possibility of deliverance being achieved while struggling against sin under law, the more entirely shall we abandon the conflict, and seek a deliverer. This struggle ends only in despair and wretchedness. But when the eye turns to God in Christ, thankfulness possesses the despairing struggler. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." For what the law could not do, God has done in Christ when made a sacrifice for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh by making Christ sin for us, that we might be made righteousness of God in Him, and thus find that deliverance is secured by our being in Him, and having in Him life and righteousness where no condemnation is. " In Christ Jesus," our new risen Head, we have life not in the flesh, and we have deliverance in the power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus: and this is made good to us practically as it was to the apostle―"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of s in and death." The law’s righteous requirements that never were yielded while the bootless struggle continued, are now forthcoming. God has condemned sin in the flesh “in order that the righteous requirements of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to Spirit." I have gone into the subject of deliverance in Christ from our sinful and lost condition more fully than I intended to do; but it is never out of place to " have these things al ways in remembrance, though ye know them and be established in the present truth." But the special pur pose of my referring to it is to bring out this fact, that when we come to despair of ourselves,, God undertakes for us. Whenever the man in the morass said, Who shall deliver me? he found a deliverer in God: and he says immediately, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He is a delivered. man, and " in Christ Jesus " risen from the dead, in whom there is "no condemnation, " and from whose love there will be no separation. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? “None “shall be able to-separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The love of God in Christ Jesus hath given us this new place, and this love will keep us in it. “It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God, and who maketh intercession for us." Our place is now in Christ risen, and this is known in the Spirit who characterizes it. “For ye are not in flesh, but in spirit, if, indeed, God’s Spirit dwell in you." But if that Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you,. He will at length give life to our mortal bodies, and there will be complete deliverance at the Lord’s coming. " Because whom he has foreknown he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." This conformity will be in glory and in body as well as soul. " Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be it has not yet been manifested; we know that if He is manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is; and every one that has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure." All is thus secured for eternity; and all is of God who "hath commended his own love towards us," wrought out all for us through His Son, and is Himself "for us." What shall we then say to these things? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 102: VOL 05 - HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIVING. - CHAPTER 7-THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MYSTERY ESSENTIAL TO RESTING A... ======================================================================== Higher Christian Living. - Chapter 7-The Knowledge of the Mystery Essential to Resting and Building Upon Christ A FINAL word is still required on the Church and the soul. " Christ and the Church " known in the grace and power of the Holy Ghost is essential to the setting of the believer in full liberty and perfect peace before God, and for giving him the full knowledge and proper life of a Christian. Before the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the baptizing of believers into one body, nothing higher was experienced than a forgiveness that rested on work yet to be accomplished; but by Christ’s coming, suffering, and death that work has been accomplished, and in the sphere of resurrection and glory the believer who finds Christ as his Savior, finds his place in the Spirit here as he finds his place and privileges in Christ where He is, and he finds that he is part of the new work, which God is accomplishing in righteousness for the glory of His obedient Son in calling out a people who shall be united to Him as His body, who has been baptized into One by the Holy Ghost come down as the assembly of God on earth. He is the Head in glory, believers the members on earth; and while they maintain personal piety, as they have individual relationship as children of the Father, they have this new relationship, also of members of Christ, and they having corporate privileges have also their ecclesiastical duties flowing from this which cannot be neglected if they would fully be the epistle of Christ or give a scriptural idea of Christianity to the world (John 17:21). if God has given me a place as a member of Christ, and made me part of "His body," there can be no longer any question as to sin or redemption, for all these matters have been fully settled by Christ, that we might be associated with Him in glory where He now is. " Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it," and now being His, He has it as His object to fit her here for presentation to Himself in glory, a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. God is working for the glory of His Son, and Christ is working for the presentation in glory of the Church to Himself, and if this is God’s purpose in Christ Jesus concerning us, shall it not be carried out to its consummation? Did you ever ask yourself the question, Why was Paul in an agony, and why had he "great conflict " for the saints when he observed any indications of " not holding the Head," and why so anxious they should be in possession of all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the full knowledge of the mystery of God? The answer is given by himself; " In which (mystery) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And I say this that no one may delude you by persuasive speech.... For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and ye are filled full in him." His agony for the saints is that they might know the mysteries of God which is Christ in you the hope of glory; " filled full in Him," they needed nothing from outside sources, such as philosophy and superstition. But there were men presenting these helps to faith which rationalism and ritualism supplied, and he knew that nothing short of full knowledge of the mystery according to the divine revelation for the period can preserve believers from the dangers of the day, and He keeps them to Christ the Head of His body, in whom the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily, and they " filled full " or complete in Him, and if they knew this and lived in the faith and consciousness of it they needed nothing outside of Christ. Then philosophy is of no use, they were full already, and had no room for it, even were it what it professed to be, and farther on he shows they had died and risen with Christ, and lived in a sphere to which ordinances did not apply, for ordinances are for men living in the world, but they have "died with Christ from the elements of the world." Holding fast Christ, the Head, they would find from Him all the body got that which made them to increase with the increase of God; not of man! In Ephesians the side of the mystery that comes first into sight is we in Christ; in Colossians it is Christ in us. " In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and Tin, you." This is the day when the Holy Ghost is giving this knowledge. Our position and privileges are connected with ye in me, and our enjoyment of them and walking in accordance with them are connected with I in you,. The first puts us in association with Christ in heaven, as members of His body: the other sets us down in the Spirit on earth as God’s habitation, and in fellowship with Him, for the conduct of the Christian life: and He presses upon us the absolute necessity of being in possession of the revelation of the mystery that by means of the full knowledge of the Christ whom it sets before us, and our oneness with Him, we may be consciously holding fast the Head, and finding the perfection of healthy Christian life which it affords. When this is known and realized in the power of the Spirit how perfect the deliverance of soul we experience! Could a question arise when the soul is enjoying all that is in Christ, the glorified Head of His body, the Church? " He is the Head of his body, the Church, who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that he might be first in all things." He who has been declared to be the Son of God (Cor. 1: 18), the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, the Creator, upholder and final cause of creation; " All things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and to him all things subsist." He is " before all things " in the old creation: and He is also before all things in the new creation; " the Beginning, the First-born from the dead," and " he is head of his body, the Church," as such that in all things He might be first. Paul seems to coin a word for first here: " He himself first," (proteuron). If God has given Him this place as the risen and glorified Man, and the Spirit in His word holds Him before us in this place of dignity and rank, it must be pleasing to God, and in the mind of the Spirit, when we give Him this first place in our souls as Head of His body, the Church, not as a mere floating theory in the mind, not meant to be carried out, but in full knowledge of the truth in the Word, and in the hearty experience of our souls who delight to know Him in this place of sovereign grace according to the Spirit’s latest revelation concerning Him: and there is nothing can give us such elevation of mind, joy of heart, and spiritual repose and confidence as our union to God’s Son in heavenly glory by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. This lets us into the secret of the Apostle’s " great conflict" for the saints, that they might have the full knowledge of " the mystery of God," for unless the Christ or the mystery is known in connection with His Church and His place of preeminence as Head of His body, the Church, as the glorified man be apprehended in the Spirit, He is not known at all according to the Christian revelation for " Christ and the Church " is the very fullness, core and center of it; nor is the believer in fellowship with the Spirit’s objects, who is not heeding the behests of His Church-calling (Ephesians 4:1) by neglecting to walk in accordance with the requirements of ecclesiastical godliness. There are great difficulties. No doubt of it: hence the Spirit says:-" Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit." Act on this as a basis if you would know the emancipation of soul from the thraldom of human views and systems. If one would not think of pleading difficulties as a reason for not observing the personal and social morality of the end of Ephesians 4:1-32 -not to lie, steal, slander; why plead difficulties as a reason for not observing the ecclesiastical godliness of carrying out the truth of the one body with Christ, its center in glory, and the Spirit, its bond on earth? That soul must be undelivered who ignores the fact that there is " one body and one Spirit," for he cannot know union with Christ above by grace, and a sense of it in the unity of the Spirit, who is not carrying it out in practice. The maintenance of the truth of the one body is essential to spiritual deliverance and Christian morality. I mean to say that the knowledge and state of soul in the consciousness in the Spirit of living oneness between the soul and Christ as members of His body are needful to our full deliverance, for then we live in resurrection and in conscious union with the risen and glorified One, who has a body down here that He is nourishing and cherishing as Himself, and an assembly that He is about to present to Himself all pure, spotless, and glorious like Himself, and which is to be His companion in glory when He reigns over" the world to come." Having this divine consciousness of spiritual oneness with Christ, and being part of His body here, and delighting personally so to act towards Him and His members as to evince my sense of the greatness of being a member of Christ and having a place with others in the body of which He is the Head, and the Spirit the living Bond, and of my privilege with all who call on the Lord out of a pure heart to give, let it be but the feeblest expression of this new, divine work by walking and worshipping with all whose hearts are touched in the unity of the Spirit, and to have communion of the blood and body of Christ, and show the unity in our joint partaking of the one loaf. When divine knowledge pours into the soul about the glorified Man, the Head of His Body, the Church, and the Holy Ghost gives living freshness and consciousness of our place in Christ, the holding the Head is not a mere doctrine, but a precious spiritual reality in which the free, happy spirit exalts and delights in knowing in enjoyed consciousness in common with all those whose eyes have been opened to see the glorious One " Head of his body, the assembly" at the right hand of God. This is the sphere of love as well as of glory, for to find Christ and have Him now as the Spirit reveals Him to faith, gives us a taste of love that surpasses knowledge, and we find ourselves at the center of a unity in glory whose dimensions are limitless; we know, also, that in Him we are in contact with all the fullness of God; and that God now dwells in the saints in the power that worketh in us and shall have " glory in the Church in Christ Jesus unto all generation of the age of ages. Amen." " THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME." (Galatians 2:20.)-When we come to glory, it will not be the golden city, nor what we are, but Christ Himself, that will be the absorbing object of our hearts. Even when down here in humiliation, do we not see that directly He appeared on the scene, no one could stand; He the alone One to open His mouth, to be listened to, and as they failed to see Him as the One, the All, so they failed to get blessing. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 103: VOL 05 - HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIVING. CHAPTER 5-THE EFFECT OF ASSOCIATION WITH A RISEN CHRIST ======================================================================== Higher Christian Living. Chapter 5-The Effect of Association With a Risen Christ IT generally happens that souls that are stranded need both more of the grace of God and of the truth of God. One told me lately of a ship stranded on the east coast of England which has occupied them all the winter in getting it off the sandbank on which the storm had driven it. They tried to dig it out, and they also tried to take advantage of the ebbing and flowing of the tide to accomplish their purpose; but had it not been for an exceptionally high tide they had never been able to get the vessel floated and saved from becoming a wreck. This tells of the need of special grace for stranded souls. Christians who get stranded need a high tide of God’s grace to get them off the sand-banks where they are lying in all their helplessness. But when the tide rises sufficiently high they have nothing more to do than spread their canvas and sail away from the place of their imprisonment into the deep waters of redeeming love. The state of the disciples at the death of Jesus is a picture of the state of many disciples still. They were completely confounded when He died and was laid in a sepulcher. He had told them repeatedly of His approaching rejection, death and resurrection, but His words seem to have made no impression upon them, and did not remain even in their memories. Those who came to the sepulcher had to be reminded by the angels that the Lord had told them " that he should rise from the dead on the third day." " Then they remembered his words." It is sad to reflect how slightly we hear " his words." Not a thousandth part of " his words " in the pages of the Holy Scriptures have ever touched our souls, or are even remembered by us so as to be available in an emergency! The narrative of Luke 24:1-53 is very interesting and instructive in regard to this subject. When the women came to the sepulcher and found not the body of Jesus " they were much perplexed there about." But as they were perplexed about Jesus He sends His angels to solve their perplexity by giving them " his words" about His rising again. " Why seek ye the Living One among the dead? He is not here, but is risen; remember the words he spake unto you." Angels may be the ministers, but the words of Christ are the means they use in their ministry, and these words accomplished their purpose. Resurrection was an entirely new condition before God; and were the fact of it possessing their souls, and they themselves knowing the meaning of it, their perplexity would be at an end. The cross shut the door of death upon all that man is in the flesh, and resurrection opened the door into a new condition, a new connection, and a new world. Christ in resurrection is the second man-the Last Adam, the Head of a new race; and after He had glorified God upon the earth, and finished the work given Him to do-in order that He might be glorified in regard to sin, and we redeemed from our state of sin-God raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand, and began a new and spiritual system with Him as its center, and all who now believe in Him as His members, and also associated with Him as co-heirs. The world had been made for man, and man had been made for the world. But man sinned and fell under judgment with its death-penalty; and the earth has been groaning under the weight of this primeval sin and its fearful consequences ever since man fell from his allegiance to God. Adam had been disobedient unto death; but Christ Jesus had become obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; and now, as set at God’s right hand, a new world is begun in connection with Him; and a new race of risen men, united to Him as their Head, is begun. The sphere of created man was the earth, but the sphere of redeemed man is not the earth, but the heavens. " The Man Christ Jesus " is there; and believers in Him are united to Him there by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven; and they are awaiting His return to take them thither in glorified bodies. Resurrection, then, is the door that leads into this new world; and the risen Jesus, assuming still the place of Teacher, leads His disciples into association with Himself by opening to them the Scriptures, and opening theit their hopes had been blasted, for they say to him that this prophet was He whom they had expected to redeem Israel, and now this was the third day since He was crucified. There was also a rumor that He was risen, but this had had no hold of their minds, else they had not left the city where He was likely to show Himself alive. They had looked for a living Messiah to deliver Israel according to the prophets-as Moses had delivered the people out of Egypt. But that either " the sure mercies of David " should need resurrection as a foundation for their realization, or that a new dispensation of a wider kind should be begun in connection with Christ risen from the dead-were things that they did not apprehend. Into this was the Lord’s intention to lead them, so He says, " O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into his glary. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." " But their eyes were holden that they should not know him." They were partially right. It was true that this was He that should redeem Israel; but it will not be now, but, when He comes in His glory. They did not believe " all that the prophets had spoken.." For then they must have seen that it behooved Him to rise from the dead. If the prophets spoke of death and glory, surely the natural inference was that resurrection must come as the link between them. Thus by their own Scriptures of the prophets the Lord led them on from the too great narrowness of a contracted Judaism into the wider regions of resurrection and glory, and all through solid painstaking, expounding unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. What a blessed time to have the Lord Himself doing this! And what a thought this gives of the importance of the Old Testament Scriptures! As we open them let us say to ourselves, " Here are the things concerning Himself." The travelers having now reached the village whither they went, the intelligent stranger made as though he would go further; for what title had he, a stranger, as he seemed to be, to obtrude himself upon them? What right had such an one to their house or table? If Jesus be but a stranger in our eyes He will still walk outside. Till we know Him as Son of God, the dead and risen Savior, surely He will not dwell with us. But the heart may outrun the understanding, as it did in the case of those two disciples. Their eyes were not yet opened to know Him, but their interest was concentrated in Him because their hearts were touched by the teaching of His lips and the attractiveness of His person. This made them constrain him to abide with them. " Abide with us; for it is toward evening and the day is far spent, and he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave unto them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight." He allowed Himself to be "constrained to tarry with them," for He could be with such as had an ear for His teaching, and a heart for Himself. But if He is with them, it is as their Master and Lord. This he showed them by assuming the Master’s place at the table. And when this was done their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. He was no longer the interesting and instructive traveling companion teaching them out of all the Scriptures; but He was now known as " Jesus Himself." What a revelation! What a discovery! He was indeed risen, and this was Himself sitting in association with them at the evening meal! His work for the time was done. He is now gone to appear elsewhere to others, and He would have them drawn to the spot, where He is to manifest His presence. After He had left them they continued to talk of Him as they did when He had joined them in the way; but how different were the communications! The Risen One has appeared to them. He has taught them the things concerning Himself. " And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened unto us the Scriptures? " Hearts are compared now. Their reasonings and sadness have left them, and their hearts are warm towards Him, for they have both seen His person, and heard His words. Then He was alive, and they had seen Him, and heard Him, until their hearts burned within them, and they felt themselves drawn to the Risen One. " And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the Eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread." When the Lord met them they were journeying to Emmaus-traveling from Jerusalem, the Divine center of blessing, and the place where the Lord Himself was to appear speaking peace. But the same hour that a Risen Savior is seen by them they hasten back to the city to tell their brethren the glad tidings that they may rejoice together. And when they reached Jerusalem they were met with the gladdening intelligence " The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." Then they, too, add their testimony, " And as they thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them." He comes into the midst of the disciples just as they are talking of Him as the Risen One. He delights to reveal Himself wherever His saints have their lips and hearts engaged about Him. He now speaks peace for He has made peace by the blood of His cross; and has already preached peace in the way by expounding in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself as the One who ought to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory. He confirms their faith by showing them His hands and His feet. " Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself," and when they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He took what they had, " and did eat before them all." What pains the Lord takes to give His people assurance of the fact of the resurrection and His identity. If they can be firmly established in this, then all their fears, perplexities, reasonings, sadness, folly, and slowness of heart to believe all will be gone; and He can lead them on to enjoy the new things in this new condition with Himself. He teaches them further out of Moses, the Psalms and the prophets, and opens their understandings that they should understand the Scriptures. " And he said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem, and ye are witnesses of these things. He promises the Spirit to give them power in testimony; led them out as far as to Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them, then as He was blessing them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned unto Jerusalem alone with great joy. The teaching and revelation of Himself as the Risen One leads His disciples on from fear, perplexity, sadness, slowness, trouble and terror, to great joy and continual praise. Te Parson and the word of Christ Himself, the teacher, are the certain cure for religious depression and lowness of spiritual conditions.e things. He promises the Spirit to give them power in testimony; led them out as far as to Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them, then as He was blessing them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned unto Jerusalem alone with great joy. The teaching and revelation of Himself as the Risen One leads His disciples on from fear, perplexity, sadness, slowness, trouble and terror, to great joy and continual praise. Te Parson and the word of Christ Himself, the teacher, are the certain cure for religious depression and lowness of spiritual conditions. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 104: VOL 05 - HOW TO SPEAK OF CHRIST'S SERVANTS ======================================================================== How to Speak of Christ’s Servants " IT is because I agree with you so fully on evil speaking that I write again so soon. Lamentable instances of false reports-and even slanderous ones, have been brought before me again and again of late; and I truly believe that the readiness with which these are received and circulated is fast becoming a crying iniquity, and one which the Lord will be compelled to step in and judge unless we repent. For a long time past I have been driven to refuse to believe a report until I have verified it for myself. Exodus 23:1―marginal reading―binds this responsibility upon us." To the letter containing this extract the following reply was given:―It is by upholding the good name of the ministering brethren that fellowship is promoted. I wish there were more " using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." I wish sincerely that all laboring brethren would learn of the Lord and His holy apostles to think affectionately and write and speak affectionately of one another, and thus show their superiority to everything affecting self, and their supreme occupation with the Lord and the word and work the Spirit is carrying on for His glory. I am sure we have been sadly lacking in this―the servant coming before us in his personality as a man, and not in his connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has glorified with Himself in the heavens―maintaining His good name there against a world of blasphemers and detractors. Every time I turn my eyes to the Son of God upon the Father’s throne I see, for one thing, God’s determination to clear His name ―"of righteousness because I go to the Father;"―and, knowing how near and dear His ambassadors of the heavenly legation of reconciliation are to Him it must be peculiarly offensive to Him, when the success of their ministry is hindered by raising against them an undercurrent of private calumniation`; and it must be gratifying to His heart when His ministers are so bent upon the advancement of His glory and so full of regard for one another, because they belong to Christ, that they are sensitively careful on all occasions to uphold their character, and discountenance all talebearers, insinuators, and evil-speakers. It must have a very evil influence among the saints when a servant acts so as to set himself up by putting others down, while all the the time he is preaching in the highest strain of Christ-exaltation. I am sure that the private intercourse of laborers of this sort with the saints when contrasted with the ministry of the highest things of the Christian system, which they hear from them in public must have a most ruinous effect; for the high things are neutralized by the low things, and the mind of the believer is set a-questioning whether there can be any reality in heavenly things when those who are the ministers of them are so very earthly―if not worse. The moral discrepancy between the public ministry of heavenly things and the private absorption in reporting or listening to evil and calumnious things must be very stumbling to souls who are tremulously sensitive for the honor of Christ’s" worthy name," and the good name of his servants. The Lord’s way of speaking of His servants is seen in the notable instance of John Baptist... " He was a burning and shining light, more than a prophet, for this is he... &c. Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." He had been the witness of " the true light," and now the Lord becomes a witness to him. The greatest preacher of his day, who was now in prison, has the Lord assuring him by means of His disciples, and witnessing to him before the people as the greatest born of women. " He must increase, but I must decrease," and when " that light " was shining in meridian splendor Jesus began to say unto the multitude concerning John―" He was a burning and shining light." He increased―not by depreciating John, but by his own intrinsic excellence and wonderful works witnessed to from heaven, earth, and hell! He did not leave the world until He restored His fallen disciple Peter, and expressed his confidence in him before them all by the work He gave him: and openly gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven on the Day of Pentecost, and maintained him in his primacy among the twelve, notwithstanding his terrible fall. He did not set him aside because of it as one who could not be trusted because he had so grievously failed. And this same Peter, forgetting the smart of Paul’s open rebuke given him at Antioch writes of him "as our beloved brother Paul." This is the Christian style of a true servant formed on the model of the Lord. Then Paul is a grand pattern. Time would fail to notice all the instances in which he speaks kindly and affectionately of others, and commends his fellow-laborers. One thinks of such lists as in Romans 16:1-27; 1 Corinthians 16:1-24; Colossians 4:1-18 But to select a few examples: Think of his confidential and private communications to younger brethren in the letters to Timothy and Titus, and the courteous epistle to Philemon. These show the father in Christ, and the true Christian gentleman, " Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow-helper concerning you, or our brethren be inquired of they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ." Of Timothy he writes, " I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord " (1 Corinthians 4:17): again in the close of the letter he adds, " Now if Timotheus come see that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. Let no man, therefore, despise him but conduct him forth in peace that he may come unto me; for I look for him with the brethren. As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren, but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time (1 Corinthians 16:10-12). He does not add―" Apollos is an impracticable man, always angular, I am sorry I called upon him at all." No, Apollos was the Lord’s servant, and was not serving under Paul, but under the Lord; and Paul recognized this, and owned his liberty to go or stay. H there was will in Apollos that was his matter, but there was neither will nor temper on Paul’s part. Paul has such confidence in Timothy that he couples him with himself in writing six of his epistles (2 Corinthians 1:1; Php 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; Philem. 1:1,1). Writing to the Philippians, he says, "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state but ye know the proof of him that as a son with the father he hath served with me in the gospel." And to the Thessalonians he writes―" And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow-laborer in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you and comfort you concerning your faith." When he writes to himself he addresses him, “Timothy my own son in the faith. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son" (2 Timothy 1:2), Such is the gracious, affectionate way the Spirit teaches us, by example, in His word, to think, speak and write of the Lord’s servants. They are dear to Him, and it must give Him peculiar pleasure to hear them well spoken of. As a domestic servant may be ruined by giving her a bad character, so a true servant of Christ may have his moral reputation and good character and ministry destroyed by detraction and slander. How sad, and how unchristian! If the wells of Christian integrity are poisoned, moral death is inevitable. I believe that it is just here, and in this very thing, that any recovery we may expect of the condition of the Church must begin. " Know them that labor among you... and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-28). Let every laborer think kindly and lovingly, and speak and write favorably of his fellow-laborer, and thereby unity will be promoted at its source, which is the ministry of the Word. If instead of proclaiming faults, making grave accusations, receiving and propagating baseless or venomous reports, every one carried with him the mantle of Charity that covers a multitude of sins, and he were to receive no evil tales regarding the Lord’s servants, but, on the contrary, discourage all tale-bearers and evil speakers, and cultivate a generous Christian love and care for his brethren’s good name, there would soon be a revival of grace in the ministry and a moral recovery in the Church. It is told of the mother of the most blessed servant in the Lord’s work in Scotland, within this century, that when any person, on calling, came out with some evil tale about a neighbor she said, " Hand down my bonnet, and we will go together to the person about whom you have told me this, and we shall see about it, and find out if it be true." By this faithful dealing she so frightened all the evil-speakers that she was not long troubled with their defaming stories! Her son’s life was characterized by the truthful nobleness of his mother, and when by God’s grace he knew the truth of Christianity, he became the center of that great spiritual movement which led not merely to the accomplishment of a great ecclesiastical event, but to the salvation of an untold multitude of souls. Let truth in the inward parts have such commanding effect as in this truth-loving mother and truth-commanded son, and this would work a moral revolution: for the laborers being set free from the supposed necessity of calumniating one another, and self-righteously bemoaning the course of this one and that one, would have their whole mind, time, and tongues, in readiness to be entirely occupied with Christ and good, and not with the failings, or supposed moral delinquencies, of one another. All evil-speaking among the Lord’s laborers would soon cease if the effectual cure of making the accuser meet the accused were adopted. But this might produce only an outward cessation from fear of exposure: the radical cure must be inward, and in the spirit-practical righteousness and practical love to the brethren, and the Spirit producing these are the divine proofs of being born of God in 1 John 3:1-24 It is sad to think that there should be a necessity for writing a word on this subject; but have we not been all guilty, more or less, of this unkind and destructive conduct which the Spirit has so emphatically condemned? I remember a quaint old Puritan book I used to hear my mother reading aloud in the family circle on the Lord’s day afternoons, called "Dyer’s Golden Chain," and though I was very young (only thirteen when she died), and could not take in the teaching of it, there was one singular expression that has stuck to me all my life, and acted as a beacon. It is this remarkable one, when speaking of the “angel of the Church," he says in his quaint but striking way, " Ministers are called angels because of their dignity: but when angels fall they become devils.’’ (1 John 3:8; 1 John 3:10). "Wherefore putting away lying, speak truth every one with his neighbor, because we are members one of another.... Let no corrupt word go out of your mouth, but if there be any good one for needful edification, that it may give grace to those that hear it. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by which ye have been sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:25-32.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 105: VOL 05 - JORDAN, GILGAL, AND THE OLD CORN ======================================================================== Jordan, Gilgal, and the Old Corn I FIND sufficiently palpable difference between the effect of the salvation that Christ has accomplished for us, and that which fits us for the enjoyment of things which are found in the heavenly country. The redemption of Israel was complete as to Pharaoh; it was finished forever. Israel is introduced into the wilderness perfectly redeemed. It is the same with respect to us. In traversing the desert Christ is given to us as cloud, manna, water from the rock―all that is necessary for us. This comes from the pure grace of God. There is no question of conflict in all that God gives; the needful cloud, manna, and water are always there. Christ is given to meet our every want, and to give us strength to journey through the desert. If we look to ourselves, we shall find ourselves incapable of enjoying the things which belong to us. Now, it is no longer the question of entering the wilderness, but of entering Canaan. The Jordan must be passed. Each fault we commit is committed in the presence of the enemy of our souls; it weakens us, and mars our enjoyment. The Christian, inasmuch as he is acting in the heavenly places, is in the enemy’s presence; and, if he is not faithful, he is incapable of enjoying the promises. We must cross what stops the way, Jordan, death. It is true that we find there all the power of grace, the ark in the midst of Jordan. Christ has made of death a passage, a way. Death is ours (1 Corinthians 3:22). We can enjoy the promises of God, only so far as we are dead to all here below. Man is accounted dead. Manna continues until Jordan. Christ is there to give us the strength to go onward. But there is something else, even the enjoyment of the treasures which belong to us in heaven, and to that end we must be dead to all here below. If to-day I do not realize this death, I do not enjoy heavenly things. It is one thing not to find in ourselves the activity of the flesh, and, as being in heaven, to eat the growth of the land; it is another thing to traverse the wilderness with Christ for all we need. We are called to the enjoyment of the heavenly places, and to do this we must have crossed the Jordan. It is there we eat of the fruit of the land of promise. The first thing that Joshua does, before he enters on the career of battles, is to circumcise Israel, which signifies the putting off of the flesh, that is, the reproach of Egypt. Before our conversion we were only carnal; it is the reproach of Egypt, the only fruit of that land. The Israelites are circumcised at Gilgal, which is the practical destruction of all that remains of Egypt up to that time. We must always return to Gilgal, always have the camp there; the evil must there be cut off. Afterward they celebrated the Passover, of which no trace is found in the history of the wilderness, where they were uncircumcised. There is real communion with what Christ has been, which can only take place when a man is circumcised, when the evil is taken away, and we judge ourselves. Here, in order to eat the Passover, this must be done at Gilgal. Holiness without this circumcision, is a terrible thing; with it, I enjoy the holiness of God in Christ. The roasted grains of corn represent Christ risen, without having seen corruption. We enjoy it. It is a thing where with we are nourished, and not only what is necessary to us while we are in the wilderness. Both for spiritual warfare and in spiritual enjoyment, we must be dead to this world and to sin; practically, there must be a stripping off of the flesh. We must return to Gilgal, to the judgment of the flesh. These things precede the manifestation of the captain of Jehovah’s host presenting himself for battle. When there has been circumcision, passover, we feed on things which, without that, would have been our death and condemnation (Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:48). Christ presents Himself to lead us to battle. Inasmuch as he is the Captain of the host, He presents Himself in the same holiness as when He said to Moses," I am that I am." When He leads His people, as when he accomplished our redemption in battle and triumph, He is equally the God of Holiness. This holiness is equally manifested in the conduct of His people. Because of the sin of Achan, He no longer goes up with His people. No difficulties can stand when God is there, and the people cannot stand before their enemies when He is not there. For the enjoyment of heavenly things there must be Jordan and Gilgal-death and the putting off of the flesh. There we eat of the fruit of God’s land. It is gain, and a precious thing to realize our privileges in having done with sin. These two things are true of the Christian life; the wilderness and conflict in Canaan. To be strong we must be dead to the things of the flesh. Then all is ours; Christ is ours, with His holiness and His resurrection. We have the Lord Himself leading us from triumph to triumph, and saying to us, " Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place thou standest on is holy." God grant us grace to profit by the death of Christ, to enjoy the fruit of the land, all we have in Jesus glorified. For this end, we must be dead, have the circumcised heart, and return to Gilgal, in order that we may possess in our camp the captain of Jehovah’s host. We are weak. What do I say? Weak, since Christ is our strength. May we enjoy what is given to us in our heavenly Canaan! (Please see, read, and study with the above remarks and prayer Joshua 5:1-15., and may the Lord give His blessing!) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 106: VOL 05 - JOSEPH ======================================================================== Joseph Read Genesis 44:1-34; Genesis 45:1-28; Genesis 46:1-34 SEE! his very heart is bursting, glory must unfold its store; Well he knows what hidden treasure from his fullness he can pour. Jacob, in the land, in famine, in the standing God doth own, Gazes on his state with sorrow―Joseph’s person, place, unknown. Mourners, tracing back your story know ye now the grace in glory As ye weep, distressed and lone. In his dealings " roughly " speaking, with a heart of love behind Patient, till the wondrous moment when Himself their hearts shall find. Like the God who spake from Sinai fiery words that crushed the man; Far above―from goodness giving thoughts that law could never scan, Not poor Aaron’s present story but of robes of grace and glory, And the Tabernacle plan. " Buy a little food!" O hearken, ye who sank from Abr’ham’s line! Know ye that the Living dwelleth in His sphere of pow’r divine― Like the rod that ope’d the holiest, bringing sons around the Son― Where He yields the wealth of wisdom, riches by our Joseph won. Wandering sheep may know a story learned in boundless grace in glory, When their wayward course is run. Grace is richest when the glory o’er its wondrous depths doth shine; Mercy everlasting blesses in a righteousness divine, Wine, the best when all is ruined, fullest fare when most we pined, When we thought we should be givers ’tis His " silver bowl " we find, And we sink our wretched story in the grace that flows from glory Leaving all our " stuff " behind. List! ye souls who seek His presence, let His voice atone be heard! All " interpreters " must vanish it your hearts would know your Lord Ah! He handed back our money since He wanted not our store Till He flooded us with favor and our hearts could ask no more: Jacobs have to tell a story, debtors to the grace in glory Not e’en Abraham knew before. Are we fainting since we lost Him, groaning as our ways we trace, Musing in our proud contentment, heedless of His outcast place? O the songs that grace abounding gives poor wand’rers at the end! O the streams of loving kindness God, the living God, can send! Jacobs, Jacobs, yours a story (told in grace and planned in glory) Only " dogs " can comprehend! Davids tell of “grace and glory," use the " key " they only know, Hope on earth forever ended, then thro’ death their praises flow. Grace it was that found the sinner gave the prodigal the kiss; Grace it was that robed and fed him blessed him with the children’s bliss. Jacobs tell another story, singing like a " worm " in glory― Never was there grace like this. Little did they know that Joseph waited till their strength was pastRiches won by Egypt’s savior―till their famined souls at last Once content with Shechem’s altar, and their Rachels on the road Noah’s vines and Eden’s fig-trees planted in their mean abode: Beer’s free and blessed story Joseph’s grace from life in glory, Still to come from Jacob’s God. See the pilgrim, in that chariot, bowing his adoring head, Asking there to die in glory in the scene where grace has led! ’Tis not now his need he measures, ’tis not now his vow he brings, Boundless grace with boundless blessings o’er its precious object sings. Jacob loses thus his story drinking of the grace in glory, Rising on the praiser’s wings. When the outward all is sinking Jacobs And the heart of God, Fed upon the corn that feasteth Her who dwells in Love’s abode. First the oil, the wine of gladness, first the “beast " which glory gave Then the " everlasting Father," full omnipotence to save. Savior of the world, this story of Thy mighty grace in glory Nothing less Thy people crave. Have we not been loudly boasting, setting all our wealth in view; Have we not been sounding trumpets where we move and what we do; Till at last our Joseph’s person faded from our faithless gaze, ’The His love amid our famine fed us through our willful ways? Ah! ye Jacobs, own your story and His grace in pow’r and glory, Own it all in closing days Righteousness of God has given all the corn to Joseph now, Justice to the Son of counsel makes the heavens to overflow, Ruined ones behold and worship, beggars stand and hopeful view, Lepers learn who now can bless them as they find the treasures too. Famined pilgrims end their story, humbled in the grace in glory Round the Faithful and the True. The accepted Sheaf has waited―sent before us―hid above, Though His weak, yet costly, members turned away thro’ earth to rove Now, Himself must end the story―gold and raiment, sight, then glory And His everlasting love. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 107: VOL 05 - LEV_23:1-44 -CONTINUED ======================================================================== Leviticus 23:1-44-Continued BLESSING is in store for Israel. God will not cast off His people forever. But blessing will-only be enjoyed when they really own what the death of Christ has done for them. That we know will not be, till they see Him (Isaiah 53:1-12). Hence the day of atonement was fixed to be observed between the memorial of the blowing of trumpets, and the feast of Tabernacles. No rest is there under the reign of their Messiah for them, till they have learned the value of His death on their behalf. But the Jews must first be back in their land, to see Him when He shall appear. Hence the order of events in this seventh month. Their national unfaithfulness and unbelief the Lord Jehovah foresaw, when they lay encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai, and this calendar of their festivals proves it. But it made no change in His purpose then. It will not alter one iota of His counsels regarding them forever. What thoughts, we may well conceive, will fill the hearts of the faithful ones, when they come to read in this chapter the outline of God’s ways with their nation in grace, see it all as mapped out by Moses, and point to portion after portion of it as having received its accomplishment, learning surely as they will, all about it, when the order for their sacred year, here given, will be no longer in force, as Ezekiel 45:18-25 teaches us. Following, then, on the feast of blowing of trumpets, typical of the return of the Jews and of their being owned by God as His people, comes the day of atonement, on the tenth day of that month, which for them will have its fulfillment, when they learn what the death of the Lord has done on their behalf. A day of afflicting their souls it was to be, and on it they were to do no manner of work. From evening unto evening were they to celebrate their Sabbath. And very stringent was the law here regarding it (27-32). The reason for their complete cessation from all work is stated in verse 28; the imperative necessity for all to afflict themselves, if they would be preserved alive on earth is set forth in verse 29; and the danger any one would incur, and justly, if he did any work on that day is plainly stated in verse 39. That person would be cut off from among his people, who did not afflict himself on that day. The Lord would destroy the one who should venture to do any work on it. Sin, and its consequences, are no light subjects in God’s eyes, nor were they to be in the people’s. How fully will they enter into that, when the mourning of Zechariah 12:10-14 takes place, as they look on Him whom they pierced. But their mourning will be turned into joy, for Messiah will appear for the joy of the remnant, and the ungodly shall be ashamed (Isaiah 66:5). In anticipation of this was the feast of Tabernacles, called elsewhere the feast of ingatherings (Exodus 23:16), which commenced on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and lasted seven days, and one day, more, the eighth, on which they were to have a solemn assembly, and to cease on it, as on the first day of the festival, from all servile work. A day of rest, Shabbathon, was the first day, and a day of rest, Shabbathon (verse 39), was the eighth day. The feast was to be kept for seven days (31, 36, 39, 41, 42; Numbers 29:12; Deuteronomy 16:13; Deuteronomy 16:15); with the eighth day connected with it, yet distinct from it, as verse 36 shows, and Numbers 29:35, confirms. In Deuteronomy 16:1-22 we have no mention of the eighth day at all. The feast was called that of Tabernacles, or booths, succoth, because throughout the seven days they were to dwell in booths, succoth (42), made of palms, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, nachal, in remembrance of their wilderness life (43), at the commencement of which they came to palm trees (Exodus 15:27), and found the close of it was at the brook Zered (Deuteronomy 2:14). Dwelling in booths seven days, they thus kept the feast, after they had gathered in their corn, and wine, and oil, resting and rejoicing when the toil of the year was ended; a foreshadowing of the rest that remaineth, and of the rejoicing that will take place when all their earthly troubles shall be ended, and Messiah be reigning over them. Then not Israel only, but those left of all nations who will have gone up against Jerusalem, will go up thither year by year, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. For whilst Passover concerns the redeemed of the Lord, and Pentecost in an especial manner those who are called out for heaven, Tabernacles will concern all on earth who will have had to do with Jerusalem in the past. (Zechariah 14:16).* (* The reader should remark that we have no rejoicing spoken of in this chapter till we reach the feast of Tabernacles (verse 48), whereas, in Deuteronomy 16:1-22, joy is a special characteristic of the feast of Weeks. Why this difference? In Deut. we have described the spirit in which each of the three feasts was to be observed. In our chapter of Leviticus we have God’s ways with Israel delineated. For the nation there will be no joy till they are gathered back into the land, and are keeping the feast of Tabernacles. Hence it would appear why it is that only at Tabernacles is rejoicing spoken of in this chapter.) And now just a word about the eighth day, connected with the seven; yet, as we have pointed out, distinct from them. It carries us on in thought to the beginning of that time of blessedness which will follow the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal state when the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will tabernacle not then over, but with them (Revelation 21:3). As the eighth day, it was the commencement of a new week, a period of time, one ’which, as far as the type is concerned, never ended. We come on to the commencement of a new week, but we never reach its close. Thus it symbolizes the eternal state, which will begin, but never end. Now it was on this day, the great day of the feast, that the Lord Jesus Christ in the temple court at Jerusalem cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink " (John 7:37). The place, the occasion, the time, all were in perfect keeping with the announcement He then made. In the temple precincts, where the people assembled to take part in the Mosaic ritual, at the close of the feast of Tabernacles, on the eighth day, He cried, saying, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Was there a soul which felt that the Mosaic ritual did not satisfy all its desires? Was there a person who confessed that earthly blessing however full, crops however good, vintage however fine, could not meet the deep yearnings of an immortal and sinful creature? He then offered to each and all on that eighth day, typical of the eternal state, everlasting blessing, to be enjoyed then and forever by each one who would come unto Him and drink. Who then accepted that invitation has not been placed on record. Who that hears of it now has shown a readiness to receive it? What answer can the reader give to this simple but important question? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 108: VOL 05 - LEV_23:1-44.-CONTINUED ======================================================================== Leviticus 23:1-44.-Continued THE work of God’s grace, in converting souls after the rapture of the Church who will have a portion in heaven having been just intimated, as we have seen, work more fully referred to in Revelation 6:9; Revelation 14:2; Revelation 15:2-4; Revelation 20:4; Psalms 79:2-3; we are reminded by what follows in this chapter of the Lord’s ways in goodness with His earthly people Israel, For He that scattered Israel will gather him (Jeremiah 31:10). So the prelude to their final blessing will be the return to their own and, and the knowledge pressed home on them by the Spirit of God of the beneficial results of the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews will first be brought back, the bulk of them in unbelief, to become followers of antichrist, and worshippers of the image of the beast. The ten tribes will return, but only to enter the land after the transgressors amongst them have been purged out on the way (Ezekiel 20:38). To accomplish, then, all this, God must take up afresh-His earthly people, for He will not forget them, but until He has done that, rest and blessing under the millennial sway of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be known upon this earth. In harmony with this we read, " And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath (rather, a rest) Shabbathon, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord," (Leviticus 23:23-25). At the recurrence of each new moon special sacrifices were appointed (Numbers 28:11-15); and trumpets were blown (Numbers 10:10)," but this day was a special one, marked by absence of servile work, kept as a day of rest, and characterized by the presentation of special offerings (Numbers 29:1-6), besides the monthly and daily sacrifices. What these were the lawgiver sets forth in Numbers in detail, viz., a burnt offering, consisting of one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs with their meat offerings and drink offerings, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. Hence we gather that as one bullock only was offered in the burnt offering, that memorial of blowing of trumpets directly concerns Israel, and Israel only. And tracing out their future history, as the divine word enables us to do, we can see that the day of blowing of trumpets was typical of something that they will some day, and perhaps ere long, know. The blast of the trumpet t’ruah on their solemn day was for a memorial before their God. For centuries the Jews have been scattered abroad, and for ages have the ten tribes been exiles, the whole nation regarded as "Lo-ammi " by God (Hosea 1:9), but His mercy endureth forever, as they will own, when gathered out of all lands, and the prayer of Psalms 106:47, is fulfilled, "Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto Thy holy name, and to triumph in Thy praise." Of that the entrance of the ark into Jerusalem under David was the earnest (1 Chronicles 16:34-35). How soon shall we from on high witness its accomplishment? The gathering back of Israel into their own land there will be, but as that cannot take place till all those who are to form the body of Christ have been called out to believe on Him, and the rapture has been effected, we have It considerable interval between Pentecost and the seventh month, during which we read of nothing about the people beyond the weekly sabbath, which betokens rest, and the monthly new moon, which tells of renovation. But with the arrival of the seventh month a great change took place. The silence was broken, and the Lord was once more occupied with His people, and they with Him. The memorial of blowing of trumpets inaugurated some further and fresh displays of divine grace on their behalf, consequent upon which those words of Psalms 89:15, will have their application, Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound, t’ruah, they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." What a time has elapsed since this revelation about the feast of trumpets was given to Israel; the witness, when as yet they were under the shadow of Mount ’Sinai, that the Lord would not forsake them, nor leave them to suffer forever the consequences of national unfaithfulness. “Ye shall be gathered one by one " Is the word of the prophet (Isaiah 27:12). " He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young “(Isaiah 40:11). An earnest of this future gathering together of His exiled people, we have in the return of the Jewish remnant under Zerubbabel from their captivity in Babylon. And it was by the commencement of the seventh month that they were once more in their cities (Ezra 3:1-6). Under Joshua the people had entered in Nisan. Under Zerubbabel they were back for the first of Tisri. Under Joshua they entered as the people of the Lord, to take possession of their inheritance which He had provided for them. So the first great feast which they kept after crossing the Jordan was the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread; the reminder that they had been sheltered by blood from divine judgment, and redeemed by the arm of God’s power out of Egypt. That if remembered, would nerve them for their conflicts, and the task which lay before them. In the days of Zerubbabel it was otherwise. They were coming back to the land they had once enjoyed, but now without a king, and without national freedom, though they had regained, in a measure, national existence and position. So they entered the land just before Tisri commenced; and the first great festival of the three chief ones, which they had to observe, was that of tabernacles, typical of future and millennial rest. Thus at this time, when painfully conscious of weakness, they could look forward in hope. How suited to encourage them was the time of their arrival, just previous to the seventh month! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 109: VOL 05 - LEV_23:1-44.―CONTAINED ======================================================================== Leviticus 23:1-44.―Contained AND what ware those sacrifices? A burnt offering with the accompanying meat offerings and drink offerings, a sin offering and peace offering. All these were required for these two loaves, the new meat offering unto the Lord. The burnt offering comes first, composed of seven lambs of the first year, one bullock, and two rams, a collection of sacrifices with which the people were familiar, but a selection peculiar to this occasion, and of course significant of truth in connection with that which by the two loaves was delineated. The seven lambs of the first year without blemish tell of the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God. At all the set feasts this number of lambs formed part of the specially appointed burnt offering, except throughout the first seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, when their number was doubled (Numbers 29:13-32). The bullock, as the largest animal offered in sacrifice, may symbolize energy and devotedness, whilst the ram is expressive of consecration. Now for some of the set feasts two bullocks were ordered (Numbers 28:19-27), at others only one (Numbers 29:2; Numbers 29:8; Numbers 29:36); and as for the ram, at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, at the blowing of trumpets, on the day of atonement, and on the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, one only was appointed to form part of the special burnt offering, though throughout the previous seven days, during which fourteen lambs were daily offered, two rams were sacrificed as well. But on the occasion of presenting the new meat offering, only one bullock was ordered and two rams; a selection this was, as we have observed, peculiar to this occasion. What was the meaning of it? Now at those feasts which typify blessings common to Jews and Gentiles, we find two bullocks were appointed for sacrifice; but at those which had reference to that which peculiarly concerned Israel, God’s earthly people, only one bullock was called for, and in harmony with this we meet with only one bullock appointed for sacrifice on the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, the type of the eternal state, a period begun but never ending, when national distinctions will have ceased, and the tabernacle of God will be, not as of old with Israel, but with men, and He will dwell with them (Revelation 21:3). So it would seem that as the two loaves typify the two companies of saints which together form the one flock (John 10:16), the one bullock, appointed as part of the burnt offering in connection with them, teaches us that they are viewed, whilst on earth, as comprising the whole company of those who are recognized by God as His people. But here we must guard the reader, by reminding him that we have nothing about the truth of the one body of Christ. We have before us the saints who form it, it is true, but as saints of God, and not as the body of Christ. And as saints taken’ out of Jews and Gentiles, they were equally consecrated to God, so two rams were offered on this occasion. Besides the burnt offering there was to be a sin offering, and a peace offering, one kid of the goats for the former, and two lambs for the latter; and all, it would appear, were waved together before the Lord, but after the death of the animals. All then together formed one offering, so all were waved, the token to us that those typified by the loaves are to be for God, as risen with Christ. And here we should mark a difference between Him and us. At the offering of the wave sheaf, as we have remarked, there was no sin offering required. The wave loaves could not be presented to God without one. Further, the wave sheaf, as already noticed, was waved alone without the sacrifices, which were to be offered in connection with it. The wave loaves were waved with the sacrifices. The Lord Jesus needed no accompanying sacrifice to make Him acceptable to God. We could not be presented to God, nor be owned as devoted to His service apart from the sacrifice of His well-beloved Son on the cross. But it is as risen with Christ that saints now are to be for God. This special service over, the other sacrifices appointed for the day’s ceremonial had to be dealt with (Numbers 28:26-31). And the people having kept the day as one of cessation from all servile work, the festival at sunset came to an end, and the males of Israel, who had appeared before the Lord with a freewill offering in their hand, according as the Lord their God bad blessed them, could depart home to wait till the seventh month arrived, on the first day of which there was to be a day of rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets. At this point, then, we may pause to review the outline of God’s ways as delineated in the chief festivals of the sacred year, as far as we have looked into them. The calendar begins with the celebration of the passover and the accompanying feast of unleavened bread. Of the need of the blood of God’s Lamb for sinners we are thus reminded at the outset, and that those who share in the blessings which result from it, should be holy in their ways. Next we are taught of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, the morrow after the Sabbath, and of His acceptance before God, who lives to Him in resurrection. Following on that, and closely connected, we see in type Christians brought to God, and to be for God, giving Him the freewill offering, according as the Lord their God has blessed them, the worship of the heart in the power of the Holy Ghost, who was poured out on the feast of Pentecost. Thus these feasts are seen to be typical of God’s ways in grace with His people, and as such have received their fulfillment, though the fulfillment is by no means exhausted. The rest of the festivals in the chapter typify blessings to be known by Israel, and enjoyed in the future. But before proceeding to a consideration of them, there is one more verse which must be noticed (verse 22). The hulk of the crop reaped, of which the two wave loaves had been presented as the first fruits, the people were warned against making a clean riddance of the corners of their fields, or gathering the gleaning of their harvest. “Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger." A merciful provision this was for the poor in Israel. But why is it introduced in this place? Why have we a caution only as to the harvest, and none as to the vintage? In Leviticus 19:9-10, they are warned about both. Why is the harvest mentioned in this way here? The answer appears to be because tracing out, as this chapter does, the outline of God’s ways with Israel, there will be found on earth after the church is taken away, saints who will have their part in heaven, so are part of the crop in the field, though they will not form part of the church. Hence this verse just comes in its proper place; filling up in the order of events, what, if omitted, would have left a gap in the history of Jehovah’s ways. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 110: VOL 05 - LEV_25:1-55 ======================================================================== Leviticus 25:1-55 THE Lord had spoken to Moses out of the Tabernacle of the congregation in chapter 1. He here (chap. 25.) addresses His servant in Mount Sinai, and gives him. a new revelation, comprised in this and the following chapter, which has special reference to the land and to Israel’s restoration to it in the future. For whatever any individual amongst them might do to draw down on himself divine wrath, Jehovah had bound Himself to give the land to the seed of Jacob (Genesis 28:13), and He would assuredly fulfill His word. Yet the land, though given them to possess, was never absolutely theirs. It was God’s (25:23). By-and-bye, therefore, they shall re-inherit it; none can override Jehovah’s claim to it. But if His, He had the right of prescribing certain conditions connected with the people’s tenure and the enjoyment of it. Of such we now read. The first of these has reference to the Sabbatical year (25:2), and the second to the institution of the Jubilee (8-55). As on the seventh day they were to rest from all their work, so in the seventh year the land was to have rest from cultivation by the husbandman, the term used of the one is that used of the other. It was to be a Sabbath of rest, "shabbath shabbathon." " The seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land―a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for the stranger that sojourneth with thee, and for thy cattle,, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat " (4-7). One-seventh of their time God did not allow them to use for their own ends. One-seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to possess as his own. Jehovah had a right to do that, and strict righteousness was manifested in this law; for whilst the husbandman had full right to the produce of his tillage, God only claimed as His to dispose of the increase of the land, on which the occupier had expended no labor. The land was to keep that year a Sabbath unto the Lord. The barns and the storehouses were not to be filled that year for the occupier’s profit. A cessation from all agricultural operations was to take place throughout it. The Sabbath day spoke of rest. The Sabbatical year spoke of it likewise, yet not to the injury of the cultivator of the ground, for his wants as well as those of his household, would be amply provided for; but the cattle and the wild beasts, God’s creatures, were to be cared for by the Creator no less than His intelligent creature-man. Of this year Jehovah had spoken, when communicating the terms of the first covenant made between Israel and Himself (Exodus 23:11). Man’s wants were first thought of, but those of the beasts as well. What the poor left, the beasts of the field were to eat. The Lord preserveth man and beast (Psalms 36:6). And just as the Sabbath day’s observance was not to stand in the way of that which was needful to be done in the sanctuary, and for the circumcising of those who were eight days old, so the ordinance of the Sabbatical year did not interfere with due provision for the people’s need. It may have been that a year of lying fallow was good for the ground, as it is said thereby to enjoy its rest (Leviticus 26:34; 2 Chronicles 36:20). But this law was a test to see if cupidity, and a disregard for others, would characterize the people, which the Lord had brought out of Egypt. How they would act in reference to it Leviticus 26:34-35, foretold. God well knew and forewarned them as to that which they would fail to do, announcing to the people as they rested under the shadow of Mount Sinai, but recently emancipated from Egyptian slavery, that the land should lie desolate, though not forever, keeping its Sabbaths, whilst exile was their lot. After the captivity the returned remnant (Nehemiah 10:31) remembered and observed this law, and that special feature in connection with it, namely, the release to be granted to every Jewish debtor (Deuteronomy 15:1-2; Deuteronomy 15:9), or as Nehemiah expressed it, " That we should leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt." This year, then, was one of great importance to all, and on the feast of Tabernacles, which fell within it, the law was commanded to be read to all the people (Deuteronomy 31:10-11). So whilst this institution tested their willingness to obey God’s commands, it also provided a suitable opportunity for reminding them all of God’s law, on the observance of which depended their continuance in the land. But if they should fail, as assuredly they have, and their present long exile witnesses of their failure, on what can they count if they can count on anything for happier times in the future, and the full enjoyment of Jehovah’s former blessing? The principle established by the institution of the Jubilee supplies us with the answer. Every seventh year was to be a year of rest unto the land. Seven times seven years were to roll by, and then would come the Jubilee. On the Day of Atonement, in the fiftieth year, the trumpet of loud sound Shophar t’ruahah was to be heard proclaiming the Jubilee, in virtue of which the chains of the Hebrew slave in the land were broken, and the claims of any one over the portion of land which originally belonged to another was extinguished, and to be relinquished. “Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession; and ye shall return every man unto his family" (25:10). A joyful sound it must have been. But this institution really furnished them with nothing new. It only restored liberty to the slave, and the land to its original owner. Restoration was its special feature, just that which suited a failing people, who by some means or other, really the fruit of sin, had lost either personal liberty, or their ancestral possessions. Israel were the Lord’s servants (25:55), so He thus legislated for them. The land was His (23), so perpetual alienation from its owner by any human claim Jehovah would not allow. How speaking will all this surely be to them in the future, when reaping the full blessing of restoration to that from which they have justly been driven because of their disobedience, and realizing the goodness of Jehovah to those who could neither ensure their personal liberty, nor the safe keeping of their patrimonial estate. Nowhere but in Israel was there such a provision made, for it was not man’s thought, but God’s. What a sight it must have been, the land in the Sabbatical year lying everywhere fallow, no sound of husbandry heard, the plow and the harrow laid by, no seed sown, nor field irrigated, the sixth year’s crop having been unusually abundant, providing sufficient for three years (20-22), so the wants of the population were amply provided for, and there was no shortcoming for man or beast. Who would have thought of this? Who could promise this? Who could fulfill such a promise, but one? He to whom the land belonged, the Lord Jehovah, the Creator. At the recurrence of the Jubilee this must have been still more marked, for no want, no stint was experienced by any living thing. (To be continued). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 111: VOL 05 - LEV_25:1-55 ======================================================================== Leviticus 25:1-55 WITH the Day of Atonement the Jubilee began, and on it was it proclaimed. With what gladness those benefiting by it must have kept the feast of Tabernacles, which began five days later. But surely the deep meaning of its being proclaimed on that day will be better understood by Israel, when they shall nationally come to enjoy restoration to the land of their inheritance, as well as full freedom from any Gentile yoke. Not only, however, will it prove an institution fraught with joy to the people as a whole, but to the Israelites in the land it was also of great importance, keeping alive as it did in the heart of the poverty stricken one, the hope of freedom, and clearance from all charge on his properties or person, and regulating the value of land for sale, and reminding all that the true owner of the soil was Jehovah. They were His tenants really. Would any sell his property, he could only sell it till the Jubilee, the number of years which preceded it, guiding the vendor and the purchaser as to the price to be offered and accepted. Thus they could never alienate their land in perpetuity. though but for this institution there was no obstacle, in the way of it. Perhaps to some Israelites this revelation appeared only as statute law, which did not concern him directly, unless he were a purchaser or a vendor. Many, perhaps, in these days will view it merely as a relic of by-gone legislation. But to the instructed Christian it surely speaks, reminding such of the danger, nay the certainty, there would be of losing his inheritance, if it was entrusted to his safe keeping, and of the grace of Jehovah which provided. for His earthly people that theirs should never be finally lost. To us, too, the sounding of the, Jubilee trumpet on the Day of Atonement tells its tale. For we learn that on no ground but that of the atoning death of Christ, can those who have forfeited all claim to an inheritance and blessing ever regain it; whilst for ourselves we have to own that but for His death we should have no portion, and no prospect but one of unsparing and everlasting punishment. Into their inheritance Israel will be reinstated on that ground by-and-bye. Of ours we have to say, in the language of the New Testament, it is reserved, or kept for us in heaven, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. What is entrusted to man’s hands fails, and no wonder. The saint needs to be kept, guarded himself by the power of God, if he is to enter on the enjoyment of his portion in heaven in the future. Certain details connected with the Jubilee follow, having respect both to the inheritance of the poor Israelite (25-34), and to his personal liberty (35-55). As regards the former, if from poverty he sold any of his possession, and that is the only ground here stated, on which he was permitted to alienate his patrimonial estate, the right of redemption, ere the Jubilee arrived, was reserved to him, or to his kin. If a kinsman came forward to effect it, this law empowered such an one to do it. If he himself had no kinsman to do it, liberty to redeem it was reserved to him. But on his part its redemption depended on his ability. The inheritance was to be prized, and none ought to have thought lightly of it, for it was God’s provision for His people. To part with it except under the pressure of circumstances, was not, therefore, it would appear, to be thought of. To redeem it, if able (26), it became the original owner. Naboth, who had not fallen into poverty, refused to sell his vineyard at the personal request of the king. " The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee " (1 Kings 21:3). With a house in a walled town it was different. The Israelite who owned it might dispose of it subject to its redemption within one year from the date of sale. If he failed from any cause to exercise his right within that time, the purchase stood good, and the title of the purchaser to possess it in perpetuity became indefeasible. Gracious, however, was the provision here made about the house. None were to be taken advantage of, or to be betrayed into parting with their house in a walled town, without the power of reconsidering their act; though, as with land, so with the house, human ability was an essential requisite for the vendor to repossess what he had sold. Where his land was in question, his kinsman might redeem it; where it was a house, the interposition of a kinsman is not, it would seem, provided for. As regards the Levites, the law was different. They had no tribal possession of land, as their brethren had; but their cities with the suburbs were assigned to them from God. Of these, their cities or houses could be sold, subject to the right of redemption at any time, and with the certainty of their going out free at the Jubilee, but the fields of the suburbs of their cities could never be sold, they were a perpetual possession (32-34). Thus those set apart to wait on the service of God could never be wholly stript of the possessions which Jehovah had secured for them. They were always to have their portion of the tithes, and to enjoy the produce of the fields of their possession. Next follow regulations concerning the person of the Israelite, and redemption from slavery. The nation had once been in slavery in Egypt, and this they were never to forget. So a poor Israelite was to be cared for by his brethren, and his wants supplied (35-38), and neither usury nor increase exacted from him. How the Almighty threw His shield around the weak one, that he should not be trampled on by his brethren. But if from poverty he was sold to an Israelite, he was to to be treated as an hired servant, and to go out free at the Jubilee.* For there appears to have been no provision made by the law for redemption from servitude to one of his own nation. At the Jubilee he went out free, whereas a bondsman from the nations, serving the same Israelitish master, remained a bondsman forever. For him no year of Jubilee with its welcome trumpet sound could ever be looked for. Death, or manumission by favor of his master could alone release him. How favored was the Israelite, who knew that no power could keep him in servitude after the trumpet of the Jubilee had sounded. Favored indeed he was, and especially watched over by Jehovah. (* This law does not clash with that of Exodus 21:1-36, Deuteronomy 15:1-23, which provided for the freedom of a Hebrew slave in the seventh year of his servitude. There, when he had served as a slave six years, he was to go out free on the seventh. A man might be sold by his creditor to another for debt (2 Kings 4:1), or by the judge for theft (Exodus 22:3). Under these circumstances it would appear he went out free on the seventh year, counting from the commencement of his servitude. Here, if poverty compelled him to be sold, he was to be treated not as a slave, but as an hired servant, and the Jubilee, not the seventh year, was the term of his service, and by its nearness or distance the price of redemption was determined.) That appeared further in the regulations laid down as to his servitude to a stranger or sojourner. In this case redemption was permitted. One of his brethren might redeem him, either his uncle or his uncle’s son, or any nigh of kin to him of his family, or if the man himself was able he could effect his own redemption (48, 49), the number of years from the next Jubilee regulating the equitable and only legal price. If not redeemed, he would go out free at the Jubilee with his family. Thus of his personal liberty he could not be finally deprived; and during his servitude the stranger was not to treat him with rigor. " For unto-me," said Jehovah, " the children of Israel are servants, they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God " (55). Redemption, then, from servitude to a stranger was permitted by the law, though the exercise of the right depended on the kinsman doing his part, or the poor Israelite acquiring ability to effect it for himself. If that hope failed him, he had always the Jubilee in prospect. So for Israel’s national restoration they have to wait till the year of the Lord’s redeemed shall come (Isaiah 63:4). For that, as the prophet teaches us, they will not wait in vain. The land was Jehovah’s. The people were His servants. The rights of God are inalienable. How comforting to the poor man must the Jubilee have been. How comforting to the people will these principles be found in the future. Jehovah’s people, Jehovah’s servants they are, and He will never give them up, nor forego His rights over them and the land. A bright side this is to this thought, that they are His, as the chapter points out. A dark side there is to it, as well, as the following one opens out. As His servants He will set them in their land free from the claim of the stranger and the oppressor. But as His servants He must first punish them for their iniquities. So the hope of restoration is treated of, ere their exile is predicted, to cheer them throughout it. (To be continued). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 112: VOL 05 - LEV_26:1-46 ======================================================================== Leviticus 26:1-46 Buy why should they experience the bitterness and degradation of exile? Why pine away in the land of their enemies? Jehovah was their God. Exile could never result from His inability to shield them from the invader, but it might from His unwillingness to do it. Under what circumstances that might be the case, the lawgiver next proceeds to declare, describing the different steps in God’s dealings in chastisements with the people, which would culminate in captivity, from which they could only hope to return after real confession of their sins. Brought out of Egypt by the exercise of divine power, brought into the land, too, in fulfillment of Jehovah’s promise, their entrance into Canaan, and their possession of it, did not depend on their obedience; though for their continuance therein, the keeping of the covenant was an absolute necessity. Placed before God on the ground of law, obedience was requisite, if the land was to support them, or to continue to be cultivated by those to whom Jehovah had given it. So from verses 1-13 we have enumerated the blessings which, on condition of their continued obedience, they would enjoy; and from verses 14-45, the different dealings with them in judgment, if disobedient, till exile should be their portion. Let us read in the words of Jehovah the various blessings that He promised them. " Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord." Idolatry avoided, the Sabbath, the sign between Jehovah and Israel duly remembered, and His sanctuary reverenced, the people would have kept themselves apart from other nations, and would have maintained the testimony to the one true God. Then if walking in His statutes, and keeping His commandments, God would abundantly bless them. " I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright " (verses 4-13). What a beautiful picture of a people enjoying the blessing of Jehovah, and of His delight in them is here presented to us. What they were especially charged to do we have seen in verses 1-2. Then, if they would walk in God’s statutes, and would keep His commandments, and do them, all these blessings would be theirs. Unsolicited by Israel God here offers to bless them, and that according to the desire of His heart. We learn, therefore, what He could do, and would do, if they should prove obedient. For an earthly people’s happiness, ere the kingdom was to be set up in power, nothing seems lacking. The fertility of the ground they could count on, and that which man cannot control-rain, God promised should not be withheld in its season. Of peace and plenty and security He assured them. No evil beast should remain in the land, nor should the sword pass through it. Power in victory should be theirs, and they should multiply in their inheritance. Further, God’s dwelling place should be among them. He would walk among them, and be their God, and they should be His people. As of old in the garden God had delight in men, so would He take delight in His redeemed people. And as then, nothing that the creature needed for his happiness was withheld, so would it be with the Israelites, though dwelling on an earth where sin is, and with nations around them not exempted from any of the bitter consequences of the fall. But all this was conditional. Did they ever enjoy it? Did they ever experience the fullness of it, the barns so filled with the new harvest that they brought forth the old store, and eat it; the crops so heavy that their threshing reached unto the vintage, and the vintage to the sowing time? Were they ever tree from idolatry when in their land as a whole people? Alas, No. They had false gods in the days of Joshua (Joshua 24:23). They forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashteroth in the days of the Judges (Judges 2:13); and the ten tribes were in a state of apostasy in the days of Ahab. The Lord foresaw it all, and warned them of that which He must do in righteousness, if they would not by their obedience allow Him to bless them in grace, and according to the desire of His heart. This is next set before them, and the lawgiver details the steps in governmental dealing that must be taken to endeavor to bring them to repentance, when they had failed, that they should not be driven out of their inheritance. These steps, as here detailed, are five in number. How they tell of the yearnings of Jehovah’s heart over His rebellious people, chastising them only so much as should be needed to lead them to repentance. (1) Sickness is threatened with slaughter by their enemies, and the produce of the soil, the fruit of their labors to be at the mercy of the invader (verses 16-17). This kind of dealing we read of in the days of the Judges, when different nations invaded Canaan. And, in the days of Gideon they had to hide the fruits of their harvest, if they could, from the watchful eye of their enemy (Judges 6:1-40). If that had succeeded in bringing them to repentance, God’s dealing in government would have stopped. But that failing, drought, and consequent famine, would be sent (18-20). In the days of Ahab Israel experienced this to the full, and proved too Jehovah’s willingness to relax His hand in punishment, when they confessed that He was God (1 Kings 18:1-46). But further, if such dealings should fail of effecting real repentance, then (3) wild beasts would multiply, which would bereave them of their children, destroy their cattle, thin the population, and make desolate the highways. To this infliction Ezekiel (14:15) refers. If still they would not be reformed by the Lord’s dealings with them, but would walk contrary unto Him, then He would walk contrary unto them, and would punish them seven times for their sins, bringing (4) a sword to avenge the quarrel of the covenant (5: 23-26), with its too frequent accompaniments, want and pestilence. Should that too fail, the Lord would walk contrary to them in fury, and (5) the people reduced to the last extremity should eat their own offspring, and the idols, demonstrated to be idols, Jehovah would destroy. The people formerly regarded by Him as the apple of His eye He would abhor, and their cities should be laid waste, and their sanctuaries should be brought unto desolation, the savor of their sweet odors God would not accept, but would bring their land into desolation, and would scatter them among the nations, terminating His dealings with them to induce repentance with exile from the land of their possession (29-33). That took place finally in the days of Zedekiah. The miseries predicted were realized during the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, as Lamentations 1:1-22, U. describe; and after the capture of the city the land rested, enjoying its Sabbaths, because it did not rest in the Sabbatical years when they dwelt upon it. To this passage in Leviticus (26:35) the chronicler (2 Chronicles 36:21) evidently refers. How ready was the Lord to bless His people! How full was the blessing He could give them, delighting as He would have done to have walked among them. But they would not. Judicial dealing, therefore, had to take place. Yet how slow to anger! He would only deal blow after blow when each preceding one had failed to bring them to repentance. At last exile had to be their lot. Then exiles and captives, Jehovah’s face, once turned towards them, would be turned from them, the sound even of a shaken leaf should chase them, they should flee as fleeing from a sword, and should fall when none pursued them, and perish among the heathen, and the land of their enemies should eat them up (36-39). Yet the whole nation was not to perish. God would not cast them away, nor would He abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break His covenant with them. For He was Jehovah their God. So, for their sakes, He will yet remember His covenant with their ancestors, whom He brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the heathen, that He might be their God (44, 45). But that can only be when they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with the trespass that they have trespassed against Him. If, then, their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled, and they shall accept the punishment of their iniquity, then will He remember His covenant with Jacob, and also His covenant with Isaac, and also His covenant with Abraham, and He will remember the land (40-42). The value of a covenant made with those who have died here comes out. The iniquity of the people in subsequent generations cannot set aside a covenant made with with those who have passed away, and which was not annulled before their death. Throughout this chapter the reader may remark that God’s dealings with Israel in their land, and His dealings with the land because of their sins, are the prominent features. In harmony with that, He here says that He will remember the land; but the return of the people, though hinted at, and that not obscurely, is not directly stated. That is set forth in Deuteronomy 28:1-68; Deuteronomy 29:1-29; Deuteronomy 30:1-20, which predict the fortunes of the people, whilst this chapter of Leviticus describes more particularly that of the land, and so comes, as we have seen, in close connection with the ordinance regarding the Sabbatical year, and the regulations about the Jubilee. The Lord will remember the land. Of this Ezekiel treats. The desolation of the land he predicted in chapter 6: of his book, its returning fertility, preparatory to the nation’s restoration, he announces in chapter 36:1-15. In the days of Joshua God brought them into the land with everything in readiness for their immediate occupation. So will it be in the future. " O, mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come" (Ezekiel 36:8). This has always been God’s way. He planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed (Genesis 2:8). The One who did this has gone to prepare a place for. His own in His Father’s house. The place, the land, is prepared beforehand, and then God brings His people into it. That being His manner of acting, and the prophetic word declaring it, we can understand the language and importance of Psalms 67:6, " The earth has yielded" (not " Then shall the earth yield") her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us." The returning fertility of the land is the harbinger of full national blessing. Jehovah, they will then own, has remembered the land. For Israel, of course, this chapter of Leviticus has special interest. For us in the present day it is not without interest, since we learn from the answer of Huldah, the prophetess to Josiah the King (2 Kings 22:16-17), that this portion of God’s word was part of the book, which Shaphan, the scribe, read in the ears of the King. The destruction of Jerusalem especially because of idolatry, was predicted, we are told, in the book that was read before the King, and that would certainly be carried out. Now Deuteronomy 28:1-68 predicted the sorrows of the people, consequent on their sins; but Leviticus (26: 31, 32) plainly foretells what Deuteronomy (28:52) only hints at-the destruction of their cities and of their sanctuaries, and that especially because of their practices of idolatry. The answer of Huldah makes it plain that the book found was not only that of Deuteronomy, a work which we are asked by some to believe was about that time composed, but it contained more than we have in the last book of the Pentateuch. It really was what it was called, " The book of the law of the Lord by the hand of Moses" (2 Chronicles 34:14). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 113: VOL 05 - LEV_27:1-34 ======================================================================== Leviticus 27:1-34 THE last chapter of Leviticus treats of vows, laying down Jehovah’s directions respecting them, and comes in in a natural order. For since, in 25, 26, we have Jehovah’s regulations about the land, and the provision for its restoration to its rightful owner, God’s claim as Lord of the soil being maintained, we are now instructed as to the permission granted to Israel, who were like tenants at will, to consecrate to the Lord by a vow, either of men, animals, houses, or lands; in a word, of whatever property they possessed. Owing all, as they did, to Jehovah’s goodness and mercy, and at times tasting in a special way of that goodness, it would be no wonder, if. moved by some marked favor shown to them, they vowed of what they possessed to God. Hence the directions concerning vows detailed in this chapter. Who were free to bind themselves by a vow we learn in Numbers 30:1-16, and the binding nature of such an engagement Deuteronomy 23:21 sets forth. Here we learn what could be thus set apart for God. Now in two ways might living things be vowed to Him. They might be consecrated to Him in life, or they might under certain conditions be devoted to Him forever. This last kind of vow is here called cherem (Leviticus 27:28-29). Men, animals, and also fields could be thus devoted; for such no redemption was permitted (28). As regards men, such a vow was probably intended only to affect those who were the enemies of God (1 Kings 20:42) and of Israel (Numbers 21:3), for their death was the only possible fulfillment of it. Of this the Canaanites are an example (Deuteronomy 20:17), as well as the Amorites under Sihon and Og, on the east of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 3:6-7). Later on the Amalekites were ordered by God to be thus treated (1 Samuel 15:3). So Samuel hewed Agag, their king, in pieces before the Lord, when Saul had in disobedience preserved him from death. To devote (charam) anything to God was a solemn and an irrevocable act, and this Jephthah learned to his cost; who, in accordance with his rash vow to offer up as a burnt offering whatsoever should come forth out of his house to meet him, if he returned victorious from the fight, felt himself constrained to sacrifice his daughter, who was his only child. His rash vow caused him to descend into the tomb childless, the bright object of that home having been immolated by the father’s hand. Jephthah had opened his mouth unto the Lord, and he could not go back (Numbers 30:2). But a man might vow to the Lord one of the human race without such being devoted to destruction. In such a case, a money payment was to be made; " the person," we read, " shall be for the Lord by thy estimation " (Leviticus 27:2). What that estimation was to be the Lord proceeds to declare, and from it there was no appeal. For the estimation was based on two considerations which never could alter, viz., the age and the sex of the individual vowed to God. These questions settled, the estimation of the lawgiver, as here laid down, decided the amount of the money payment that was to be made (3-7), unless the one who made the vow was too poor to pay the stipulated sum. In that case, but in that case only, the priest was authorized to appraise the value of the individual, according to the ability of him who made the vow to meet the payment to be made. Poverty, then, could never be pleaded as an excuse to bar God’s claim, or to shelter the one who made the vow from fulfilling it. No one was obliged to make a vow: " If thou forbear to vow, it shall be no sin unto thee " (Deuteronomy 23:22). But when once made the Lord would" require it. An engagement entered into with God could not be set aside at the dictation or caprice of man. The Lord would require the fulfillment of the contract; and since none but Levites could in person be engaged in the Lord’s work in the Tabernacle, we can understand why, on the one hand, a payment in lieu of the personal service of one of the twelve tribes was to be demanded, and why, on the other hand, when Hannah vowed to lend her child Samuel unto the Lord as long as he lived, she brought him to Eli the priest in fulfillment of it, and no money payment was thought of in his stead. Again, suppose a man desired to vow one of his animals to God, he was free to do it; but in accordance with the terms of this law, which made a marked difference between those beasts which could be offered in sacrifice, and those which as unclean could never be put on God’s altar. If it was one of the former, the beast, the subject of the vow, was given to God, and no exchange was permitted. If the man did change it, then both it and the animal substituted Jehovah imperatively demanded. Should he vow an unclean beast to God, the priest valued it, and if the man wished to redeem it, he had that privilege reserved to him on payment of the price at which the priest valued it, with one-fifth part more in addition. Redemption was thus permitted when an unclean beast was the subject of the vow, but had no place when a person consecrated in that manner a clean beast to God. For this last no redemption was provided. In the case of one of the human racer payment in lieu of personal service was demanded. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 114: VOL 05 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus RETURNING to Leviticus 23:1-44, we read that the sheaf was to be waved on the morrow after the sabbath, which was the first day of the week, waved to be accepted for the people, " for your acceptance," as the law-giver wrote. Sacrifices were offered for their acceptance, this was waved for their acceptance, and with it there was to be offered a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering, and a meat offering of two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, and for a drink offering, the fourth part of an him of wine. But no sin offering was appointed, a most significant fact, the importance and meaning of which we can now understand. The sheaf waved betokened that it belonged to God; and being the first of their reaping, the earnest of the coming harvest, it betokened that He of whom it was the type, would be raised to live to God. " Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once. In that He lives, He lives unto God" (Romans 6:9-10). As typical of Him as the risen One, for it was waved on the day of the week on which He rose, the offerings which accompanied it spake of Him the spotless, perfect One, who lived and died, and in whom God and the offerer can find joy without alloy. No sin offering, therefore, was in place in connection with this sheaf. He of whom it was the type was in Himself holy, and He was not here viewed as made sin for us, though the sheaf was waved for the people’s acceptance. For if Christ be not raised we are yet in our sins, but as risen He is the first fruits (1 Corinthians 15:17; 1 Corinthians 15:23), and He was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). To us all this is now clear, but by the people before the Lord’s resurrection it was probably not understood. But when Pentecost had fully come how clear and full of meaning must this service have appeared, a service, however, which had then lost its interest for those to join in, who knew not only of what it was the type, but Him, the risen One, therein typified. And what thoughts must have filled the hearts of those priests who became obedient to the faith, if they remembered the fact, that the officiating priest waved the sheaf of first fruits in the temple court on the very morning that the Lord Jesus had come forth from the tomb. The symbol was seen that day on Moriah, of what had really taken place in the garden, ere that morning had dawned. And which place was the place of interest for God’s true hearted people on that morning, the temple court or the garden where the sepulcher was? We know, and we know where the Lord was first seen. He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden, but was not seen by the priest at the altar. How full of meaning, too, must they have seen were the accompanying offerings-the lamb for the burnt offering, and the meat offering with oil, betokening as they did, what those who ministered at the altar were unwilling to admit, the perfectness, the sinlessness of Him, the risen One, whose death both priests and people had three days previously clamorously demanded, and whose dying agonies had been embittered by their taunts and revilings. But he was holy, spotless, acceptable to God, and One in whom both God and the believer can rejoice together. This the offerings typified, and that great company of the priests who became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7), as Christians fully owned. A point of interest in the meat offering must be noticed ere we proceed. Its measure, prescribed by God, was to be of two tenth deals of fine flour with a fourth part of an lain of oil. It was the ordinary quantity of oil for a meat offering which was offered with a lamb, but it was double the measure of flour generally appointed where a’ lamb only was offered. Why was this? A significance of course there is in it, for all God’s ordinances have a purpose and a meaning, whether we can discover that purpose or not. Now the measure of flour for this meat offering was the measure of flour appointed for the two wave loaves offered on the feast of weeks (5: 17). The Lord Jesus Christ is the life of His people, and He alone, as risen, is that, and as alive before God, their life is only} Christ, and nothing else. Hence, was it not that the measure of the flour of the meat offering which accompanied the wave sheaf, was the measure of the flour of which the two wave loaves were made, the new meat offering unto the Lord? Christ, and He only, is equally and solely the life of those whom the two loaves typified. The seven days of the feast ended, the males of Israel could return to their homes, to await the next appointed time for appearing before Jehovah, which had been fixed by the paschal sabbath, for on the fiftieth day dating from its morrow they were to keep the feast of weeks, on which day they were to offer a new meat offering to Jehovah, viz., the two wave loaves already mentioned, baked with leaven, first fruits to Jehovah. The wave loaves and wave sheaf bearing such close relation the one to the other, the directions about the former are given as we have stated, in the same revelation which tells us about the latter, and ere the lawgiver defined the character of that day (for the feast of weeks lasted but one day), lie set forth at length, that which we read not of elsewhere, the directions about these two loaves, and the offerings which were to accompany them. For the wave sheaf and the wave loaves are made very prominent objects in this chapter of Leviticus. In Numbers 28:26, the loaves are just referred to, but as a subject with which all were acquainted. Here only are they described. Prepared as directed, and brought to the officiating priest, seven lambs of the first year, one bullock and two rams were brought for a burnt offering, with their usual meat offerings and drink offerings. Besides this one kid of the goats was to be offered for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest was to wave them with (lit. on) the bread of firstfruits a wave offering to Jehovah, with the two lambs. " They shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest." These sacrifices were waved with the loaves, whereas the wave sheaf was waved by itself (11). The Lord Jesus was personally acceptable to God apart from any question of sacrifice. So the wave sheaf was waved before the sacrifices appointed in connection with it were dealt with at all. With the wave loaves it was wholly different. The appointed sacrifices were waved with them. The loaves could not be waved without them. A man there was and is, a risen man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in Himself is personally acceptable to God. Saints there are, whose standing before God is in resurrection, for the loaves were the firstfruits of the new harvest, whom God can receive, and who are to be for God, but only in the closest connection with the sacrificial death of the Holy Son of God. Apart from Him and His death they would not be presented to God. The loaves composed cf two tenth deals, typify that Christ, and He alone, is the life of His people, and that is not more true of one than of the other company, both of which the loaves typified, those who from Jews and those who from Gentiles are now owned as God’s saints. Hence, it would appear the reason for the number two. And baked with leaven they remind us that, though Christ is our life, we have within us that hateful thing, the flesh. The presence of sin, the old man, in His saints, equally true of all of them, God hereby distinctly recognizes and teaches, but thanks be to His name, its presence is no hindrance to their being brought to Him. The priest waved the two loaves before Jehovah, but waved them with the sacrifices. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 115: VOL 05 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus THE fourth great division of this book now commences. Throughout it we are carried on in thought to the future. From chap. 1.-16. inclusive God’s provision in grace to meet the sinful creature in his need, and to bless him fully is delineated, as we have pointed out in Vol. 4:, pp. 112-212. Thus far the spiritual teaching of the book has instruction for God’s saints during the present dispensation. From 17. to 23., however, we have traced out in the subjects treated of, and in the order in which they are presented, an outline of that which especially concerns the people of Israel. Called to maintain the truth of the unity of God, as His creatures, and as Jehovah’s people, they were thus to live in the wilderness, and subsequently in the land (17). Taken up, therefore, by Jehovah to be His people, what became them in their social life and in intercourse with each other is set forth for their instruction in 18-20. Then follow special directions for the priests of Aaron’s house (21.-22.). After which the historic outline of God’s ways in grace with His people is set forth in 22. Now in 24., we begin a new section of the work with the provision for keeping the people nationally ever in sight before God, though apostasy, when it manifests itself, must be rigorously dealt with. Again the Lord addresses the law-giver, “Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations." When in the mount with God Jehovah, gave Moses a command about this (Exodus 27:20) very similar in terms to that which he was authorized now to communicate to the people. Oil for the light was one of the items which the Lord then told Moses that Israel might offer to Him (Exodus 25:6). Communicating that to the people after his second sojourn on Sinai with God (Exodus 35:8), the rulers we read provided it, (5: 28), in response to Jehovah’s invitation. So in Exodus 39:37, we are told how all was in readiness for the setting up of the Tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the second year, dating from their departure out of Egypt. And in Numbers 4:16, we find that to Eleazar belonged the charge of the oil, when the congregation was on the march. Here in Leviticus the direction about the oil olive beaten appears in connection with the twelve loaves of shewbread, that were each week to be placed on the golden table before the Lord. From evening to morning the lamps burned (1 Samuel 3:3; 2 Chronicles 13:11). At the time of the offering of the morning burnt sacrifice, it was Aaron’s duty to trim them. At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, between the two evenings, it was his work to relight them (Exodus 30:7-8). Thus throughout the night of darkness the seven lamps burned, illuminating the chamber called the holy place, in which, just opposite to the candlestick which was placed on the south side, stood the golden table on the side of the tabernacle northward (Exodus 40:22-24). As long, therefore, as the lamps burned so long was the table with the twelve loaves visible by their light, which shone on them; a beautiful illustration of the twelve tribes being ever in remembrance, and as a whole in acceptance before God. For ages have the tribes been dispersed: but God has not forgotten them, as Paul reminded his hearers in the hall of audience at Caesarea (Acts 26:7). Of this, too, James is a witness, who addressed his epistle to them (James 1:1-27). In Exodus 25:30; Exodus 35:13; Exodus 39:36; Exodus 40:23, we have mention of the shewbread. Here we are told of the number of the loaves, of their composition, and of their arrangement on the table. The twelve loaves were arranged in two rows. Each row, therefore comprised six loaves, and each loaf, or cake, as it is called here perhaps from its roundness, was composed of two tenth deals of fine flour, the same measure as that appointed for the meat offering which accompanied the sheaf of firstfruits, that was waved before the Lord. Placed on the pure table on each Sabbath, with pure frankincense laid on the two rows of bread, there they remained throughout the week, the light from the candlestick shining on them, throughout each night that they were before the Lord. At the end of the week, those twelve loaves were removed, fresh ones being put in their place; the frankincense which had been upon them was then burnt, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah, and the loaves were eaten by the priests in a holy place, most holy they were of the fire offerings of Jehovah. Such were the directions about them. The twelve loaves, by their number, symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel, and they were placed on the pure table, made of shittim wood, and overlaid with gold, typical in itself of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. On the march, that table was itself covered with a cloth of blue, telling us thus plainly, by the color, of whom it was a type. But over it and the loaves which remained on it, was put a cloth of scarlet, indicating that the glory of earthly rule is His whom the Table prefigured, and that He will exercise that rule in connection with the tribes of Israel; for on the day of His glory the people will be named the priests of the Lord, and men shall call them the ministers of God (Isaiah 61:6). Then will be seen the perfection of administrative power exercised by man, and in connection with the tribes of Israel, whose names will be engraven on the gates of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:12), and after whom the twelve gates of the restored earthly city will be severally named (Ezekiel 48:31-34). But that power will really be centered in one man, the Lord Jesus Christ; so the composition and measure of each loaf have reference to Him as the perfect, spotless man. It is in connection with Israel, then owned as God’s people, that He will reign, and Jerusalem will become the metropolis of the whole earth, being the city of the great King, and the center to which the nations will turn, and from which the law shall go out,-and the word. of the Lord proceed. By the light, therefore, of the burning lamps, which kept the table and its loaves from being enshrouded in darkness, those in the sanctuary could see that God’s thoughts about the kingdom, though long deferred from being put into execution, must yet be accomplished. The night might be long, and the gloom thicken outside, but inside the light from the lamps steadily burning, would show the priests who entered the sanctuary that God had not forgotten His people, nor the establishment in power of that kingdom, of which He had spoken to men from time to time since the fall. Inside, then, during the night of darkness, by the light of the seven lamps which shone on the golden table with the twelve loaves arranged in order upon it there I was foreshadowed the future; but that could be seen, and was seen, only by the priests, who passed behind the curtain which screened the outer chamber from the eyes of those in the court of the tabernacle. And now we can understand the fitness of introducing the directions about the loaves of shewbread in the book of Leviticus, and especially in this part of it. For, coming as they do, just after the outline of God’s ways in grace with the people has been traced out in the order of their different great feasts throughout the year, the Lord, after reminding us by the feast of Tabernacles of Israel’s final blessing, would here tell us of the kingdom coming in power, which He has not forgotten, neither will He forever be wroth with the tribes of His inheritance (Isai. 63: 17). But Israel’s acceptance, as the frankincense on the loaves portrays, will only be by virtue of the sweet savor of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such, then, is some of the instruction conveyed by this passage in the book, instruction, too, especially suited for the present time, that we should not forget to give Israel their proper place in connection with the coming day of blessing for earth; for if we were to interpret all the blessings which are predicted by the prophets, as if they concerned the Church of God, and not the earthly people Israel, we should fail to give them their proper place, in the declared counsels of God. But how different the scene inside the sanctuary from that which could, and we here read did, go on in the camp. All calm and silent within, the testimony to the coming kingdom in power, and Israel’s connection with it being steadily kept in view, God’s purpose was thus seen to be unchanged and irrevocable; for the nation’s future is inseparably bound up with that which is due to the obedient man, the Son of God’s love. In the camp, on the contrary, there was strife, and one was found, then but one (though by and by it will be the many, the mass) who, of Israelitish extraction on his mother’s side, had the hardihood to blaspheme the name of the Lord. An apostate in heart and in act, he turned his back on Jehovah, and blasphemed Him who was Israel’s Creator and God. This man was the fruit of an alliance with the world, for his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan, but his father was an Egyptian. He has passed away from earth, his name unknown to us, though his crime has never been allowed to sink into oblivion, a warning, and surely a foreshadowing, too, of that which will characterize the mass of the Jews when antichrist will be their king and apostasy will be their crowning sin. Charged with the guilt of cursing the name of Jehovah, he was brought to Moses, and put in ward, till the mind of the Lord should be shown them. For that they did not wait long. Jehovah revealed it to Moses, and it was accurately carried out. For the apostate there was no mercy "Bring forth him that hath cursed," was the word” without the camp, and let all that heard him, lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him " (24:13-14). And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses. Condign punishment speedily overtook the offender. But this sin necessitated a new revelation, for God knew full well that though only one was convicted of blaspheming that day, others would subsequently be guilty of it. Hence the law here given, verses 15-22. which prescribed the punishment to be awarded for that sin to any who so offended: " Thus shalt thou speak to the children of Israel, saying, whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall surely be put to death." Further, any one who took the life of man, the right to take which belongs only to God, or to those to whom he delegates the authority to execute His commands, such an one was to be put to death. And any one who took the life of a beast b’hemah, 1:e., cattle, in opposition probably to chaiah, a wild beast, should make it good, beast for beast. And as for men, whosoever injured his neighbor, whether his eye, his tooth, or whatsoever it might be, he should be treated as he had treated his neighbor. Elsewhere these injunctions come in, the witness of the perfectly righteous rule established amongst them by the law (Exodus 21:1-36). But here they are introduced in connection with apostasy. If man would deny God His place, or attempt to deprive Him of His rights by apostasy, he might not be scrupulous unless thus enjoined to be careful of his neighbor’s life, or his neighbor’s rights, who in common with himself was made in the image of God. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 116: VOL 05 - LEVITICUS ======================================================================== Leviticus HOUSES and fields could be also thus consecrated to God. In these cases redemption was permitted, on payment of one-fifth part more in addition to the price at which they had been valued. The value of the house was to be fixed by the priest. The value of the land was fixed by God, and declared by the lawgiver, being estimated by the quantity of seed required to sow it, an omer of barley being reckoned at 50 shekels of silver. This determined the value of the land from Jubilee to Jubilee. But if the owner or occupier of the land sanctified it for a less term than the whole period from one Jubilee to the next, then the priest appraised its value according to the years yet to run, ere the Jubilee came round, abating from the estimation laid down by the lawgiver, according to the term of years yet unexpired. If redeemed before the Jubilee, the man preserved his property, but if not, he lost it forever, and the field became the Lord’s (21), as a field devoted, 1:e., irrevocably, God’s, who gave it to the priest. By the regulations of the Jubilee, as we have seen, man’s claim on another man’s property was extinguished. With God’s claim it was different. If it was not redeemed in time by payment of the stipulated sum, His claim on it would never be relaxed. And differing from the regulations iii chapter 25:, where the kindred of the poor man could, if so minded, come to his assistance, no one, it would seem, could satisfy God’s claim on the land but the maker of the vow himself, except in the case of a field thus consecrated to the Lord by its occupant, who was not its original owner, Where such was the case, whilst the occupier could vow it for the term of his occupancy, the field at the Jubilee reverted to its original possessor. The justice of this regulation is evident. So whilst providing for the outflow of a man’s heart in thankfulness to Him, God watched over the rights of His poor ones, and maintained likewise His own. For we read that no firstling, on which the Lord as such had a claim, could be the subject of such a vow, any more than the tithe of the herd or of the flock, which He had already bestowed on the Levites (26-32). The tithes of the land, however, could be redeemed, but only on payment of one-fifth more than their value (30-31). Here this book ends, which details statutes and judgments, and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses (26:46); as well as commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in that same Mount (27:34). In the opening paper on this book (vol. 3., p. 134), we pointed out the four great divisions into which Leviticus divides itself, 1-10.; 11-16.; 17-28; 24-27. We would now in conclusion briefly trace out the moral order in which the subjects it contains are brought out by the Spirit of God. We have already referred to part of it (vol. 4, pp. 112, 212; vol. 5, p. 140); we would now trace it out as a whole. Viewing the book in this light it divides itself into two great parts-1-16; 17-27. In the first we have set forth God’s provision in grace for souls, truth which concerns saints. In the second we see traced out His desires for, and His ways with, His earthly people Israel, from the Exodus to the Millennium. Commencing with the revelations concerning sacrifices and offerings which God could receive for the offerer’s acceptance, whether moved to bring an offering out of the fullness of his heart, or necessitated to come because he had sinned, we learn of the need of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, if any of the children of men are to stand in acceptance before God (1-7). But nothing more is wanted, than what His death and resurrection provide, and declare. For not only has He died, but He lives in resurrection, and has ascended into heaven, and consequent on this He has entered on His office of High Priest, in accordance with the teaching of Hebrews 8:4. So, following directly on the laws relating to the offerings, but not preceding them, we read of the institution of the Aaronic priesthood (7-10), in accordance with the character of which the Lord Jesus Christ now exercises His priesthood on high. Further, consequent also on His leaving earth, the Holy Ghost was to come and abide here; so we are taught in the next chapter of the presence on earth of that which cannot be defiled (11:36), and in connection with it, and closely following after it, we are reminded of freedom from the defiling presence of sin by death (37), for which, in its completeness, the believer now waits. The carcass would not render the fountain or pit in which there was plenty of water (lit., a collection of water) unclean, should it chance to fall into it; nor was seed, if about to be sown, defiled by contact with it. After this we have regulations about defilement (12-15), closing with the divine provision-propitiation by blood, to meet the cases before God of sins, and of uncleannesses (16). Now we may trace in all this, as set forth typically, New Testament teaching needful for God’s saints who form part of the Church of God. The death of the Lord Jesus in its various aspects, the priesthood of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, these are truths of primary importance for the saints; and connected with the coming of the Holy Ghost, teaching has been provided about man’s nature, the value of death with reference to it, and how fully the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ has glorified God, and met every need of the conscience (Hebrews 11:1-40; Hebrews 10:1-39). But Jehovah had an earthly people, once highly favored, though now, as a nation, disowned. Has He forever cast them off? No-By-and-bye He will take them up again, and bless them, when the number of the saints destined to form the Body of Christ is completed. Hence, following on after these fundamental truths for saints who form the Church of God, we have teaching which especially concerns Israel, taken up, and dwelt upon (17-27). But who, in the days of Moses, unless divinely taught, would have arranged for that which speaks of Israel to come in after that which concerns those who are the Church of God? We may boldly declare that no one in the wilderness would have dreamed of such a thing. Called out, as Israel were to be God’s earthly people, they were to be separated unto God, and to maintain the revelation which He gave them of Himself as Jehovah. This we have seen forms the teaching of chapter 17: But if thus favored, He would regulate, as became Him, the daily and the domestic life of both the people and the priests (18-22). After this, the history of His ways with them in grace as Jehovah’s people, from the Exodus to the Millennium, is set out in that ecclesiastical calendar, contained in chapter 23; for they would nationally be ever in His sight, even though apostasy might do its dire work among them, and meet with its due reward (24). Further, since God has taken them up to be people, He has provided for them an inheritance. We read in the next place therefore of God’s provision for the continuance of their enjoyment of the land, as well as that for the portion of any of His earthly people to return to its original possessor, if for a time he had (25). The institution of the Jubilee set forth, the people are warned of the certainty of governmental dealing with them, if they proved to be disobedient, a dealing which, if called for, would not stop short of banishing them from their land, though only for a time; since God assured them that He would remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He would remember the land, if they should confess their sins in the land of their captivity 26: so exile shall not be ever forever their lot. Restoration, then, they are taught to await, and a restoration to their land, never again to be dispossessed of it. And as God knew how divine goodness will act on the heart, when the people shall be in the enjoyment afresh of His favors, He has provided for the expression of it in the regulations that follow concerning vows 27, with which the book ends. But this chapter comes in as a kind of supplement, the book apparently ending with 26:40. The propriety of this, the moral order we have traced out makes apparent. Chapter 27 may be viewed in the light of a supplement, and as the commencement of a new chapter in their history when restored in grace, to which, as far as the Old Testament takes us, there is no end. Commencing, then, as Leviticus does, with the provision for the people to bring an offering for their acceptance, if moved by a sense of divine goodness, it closes with the provision for them to make vows, and to pay them, when especially sensible of divine grace. But in the beginning of the book the thought is kept before them of the sacrifice of Christ, because of which the individual could be accepted. In the close, standing as they will in the full consciousness of divine, and abiding favor, provision is made for the expression of the thankfulness of their hearts, but without any typical allusion to the need of the sacrifice of Christ. This is beautifully correct. In the first part of the book, then, we have teaching which concerns us. In the last part, God’s ways and desires for His earthly people are set forth. And Moses, guided of God, thus arranged the book, a witness to those who can see the moral order of its contents, that it was written in the order in which the Spirit of God was pleased to have it recorded. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 117: VOL 05 - MY EXPECTATION ======================================================================== My Expectation (Hebrews 12:1-29Psalms 62:1-12; Psalms 121:1-8) To God, my God, I lift mine eyes, A child expecting aid, From Zion’s hill to Zion’s God Who heaven and earth has made. Then thou, my soul, in safety rest: Thy Guardian will not sleep; From depths beyond mount Zion’s stores, Thy Father helps his sheep. Sheltered beneath His mighty wings, The Son of God thy rest- His Gift to thee and Hiding place. Eternally possest. " The City of the living God," To which we’ve also come, The glory of His grace unfolds, Whose love shall bear thee home. A Power down from heaven’s heights The feeblest lamb may know- " The Hope of glory," hidden there, Working in us below. Ere yet the covenant of grace Shall Israel’s sheep unfold, The Mediator we possess " His goings―from of old." Encourage, then, thyself in Him; His fountains drink, my soul, From whom thine expectation is Whatever surges roll. At home, abroad, in peace, in war, That God shall thee defend― Conduct thee through thy pilgrimage Safe to thy journey’s end. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 118: VOL 05 - MYSTICISM AND THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT ======================================================================== Mysticism and the Things of the Spirit WE must beware, of the mysticism which renounces all claims to doctrinal precision and refrain from abandoning ourselves to the impulses of feeling and imagination as if we should endeavor to sink into the abyss of that love which died on the cross, or think to find the true principle of redemption in the repetition in ourselves of the sacrifice once made by Christ, in the literal crucifying of our own flesh. The Word sets before us a personal Redeemer, and an accomplished redemption, but mysticism is the poison and death of all true Christian life and scriptural godliness; and, moreover, it is mischievously heterodox. The aim and aspiration of one of the most prominent of their leaders, we are told, was " to float in divinity, as the eagle in the air," and their teaching all tends to the erroneous doctrine of union with God. And yet their system is a human imitation of what the Spirit teaches of him who abides in love, dwelling in God, and God in him, of an assembly being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be scared from enjoying the legitimate teaching of the Spirit from a fear of being counted mystics. Union with Christ and fellowship with the Father and the Son must ever appear mere mysticism to the carnal professor. But, while mysticism, ignores as it does a personal Savior and an accomplished redemption, as well as new creation in Christ and the scriptural testimony to the person and work of the Holy Ghost, we are to hold fast as our very life " the things of the Spirit," and all we have in Christ and in the Spirit as God’s word reveals them, and faith receives them, and not allow ourselves to be scared from enjoying the highest reaches of a spiritual experience of the knowledge of Christ by the dread of mysticism. “The things that are freely given to us of God," by the Spirit, are such as these: " In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. If any one love me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him. That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us. God is love, and he that abides in love abides in God, and God in him. What, know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us." Such are the things the world calls mystical and transcendental. (1 Corinthians 2:14-15.) God grant that we may all know more of them! In Him I find mine exultation, My fairest visions of delight; I feed mine eyes, mine expectation, On Him alone, my Rest, my Light! Each heart will seek and love its own: My Object Christ, and Christ alone! His riches are too vast to measure; His countenance is as the sun; Apart from Him there’s naught of treasure; He is the Changeless Living One. Each heart will seek and love its own: My goal is Christ, and Christ alone! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 119: VOL 05 - PEREZ-UZZAH AND BAAL-PERAZIM ======================================================================== Perez-Uzzah and Baal-Perazim 1 Chronicles 13:14. DAVID calls the place Perez-Uzzah where the Lord smote Uzzah-that is, the breach of Uzzah; but where the Lord smote the Philistines he calls it Baal-Perazim -the Lord of breaches-and in this he puts the Lord first, as his thought was that the Lord had given deliverance from the Philistines. This outward hindrance was not only removed, but the Lord had done it; therefore David called the name of the place Baal Perazim, 1:e., Lord of breaches. When the Lord smote Uzzah, David was displeased and discouraged, and, having the breach most vividly before his mind, he called it Perez-Uzzah-the breach of Uzzah; but where the Lord is before his mind as deliverer from the Philistines, he calls the place Baal Perazim; and the Lord has so divinely helped him, that he is not only pleased, but encouraged; an d he bestirs himself to bring up the ark of God, and triumphantly accomplishes his willing and worshipping service. (The order of the narrative seems to show this). He had heard that the Lord had blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and this set his heart afresh in motion to get possession of the ark and have it with him in connection with God’s throne on Zion; but it was the discipline he got in connection with the pressure of his enemies upon him, and his dealings with, inquiries at, and leanings upon God, and the strength drawn therefrom, that inspired him with that divine energy that made him resolve to set about accomplishing his desire to have the ark, " the strength glory of Israel," in its temporary place, on the mount of grace―a new place given of God for the display of His royal favor in David, the man of His own heart, after all had been lost and ruined under the fallen priesthood and the rejected king. It is to be noticed that though David began wrongly in not consulting God at the first, and in taking their precedent from the Philistines; yet, having a true desire in his soul, God would not let him succeed in his enterprise until he had owned Him as the source of all wisdom and true guidance; and hence the breach upon Uzzah, which led to the delay of three months that he might find out the sources of his own weakness and failure, and set about doing the work on the warrant of the word, and in dependence on the grace and strength of God. God had had compassion on the Philistines who were heathen when they, out of their own thoughts, sent home the ark of God on a new cart drawn by " milch cows;" and He had even guided the cart so perfectly that they went straight on in a miraculous way until they placed the ark in safety in the hand of the Levites at Bethshemish. But David had committed two errors, for (1) he had consulted " with his captains " and " every leader," but had not duly inquired of the Lord; and (2) he had adopted a mode of conveying the ark borrowed from the Philistines―" a new cart and oxen"―and acted according to a precedent that God had blessed and made successful in heathen hands, but which He resented in His servants, who, having His word, ought to have acted upon it. They were His people, and they ought to have gone implicitly by the instructions of His word―" Only the Levites should bear the ark." The new cart and oxen had no warrant in God’s word, although God had overruled them in His ways, and made this the very means of restoring the ark to the land of Israel. But this tested David: the Philistines drove him to inquire of God; and bye-and-bye he emerges from Baal-Perazim to bring up the ark of God a humbled and happy worshipper, and his success is complete.,(So Chronicles seems to teach). God Himself is trusted, His word is obeyed, His glory is manifested, and His people rejoice in His presence. It is striking how the Lord does not at the very outset resent the action of David on account of his wrong beginning, and his following of a heathen precedent: yet He lets him go on until an act of irreverence brings divine judgment, produces displeasure and discouragement, and delays the work of bringing up the ark. The Lord may allow us to go on with good desires and intentions until, through divine judgment on some " Uzzah," our unsatisfactory state of soul and heart be discovered, and it be shown us that there had not been at the outset a true dependence on God, and an inquiry of Him. David took it for granted that because his desire was right, the way to carry it out was only a matter of course. But God taught him that He will not have His ark brought home to its place by Gentile means, but as the thing was good and right in itself, God has to teach by things very like judgment that the means of carrying out our service must be according to His mind, as well as our object and aim. Here was Uzzah, a Levite, who ought to have objected to the putting of the ark upon the new cart, knowing it should have been upon the Levites’ shoulders, yet acquiescing and merely steadying it where it was; and he was unmindful, too, that it was the symbol of God’s presence. It was more aggravated sin in a Levite than in any other, for he was there for the very purpose of bearing it, and he has the irreverence to put forth his hand to preserve the ark ion its wrong position. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 120: VOL 05 - PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE TO BE READ ======================================================================== Portions of Scripture to Be Read Psalms 40:1-17; Psalms 130:1-8. Song of Solomon, chap. 5.; Isaiah 63:15 to end, and chap. 64.; Daniel 10:1-21; Daniel 9:1-27; Hosea 6:1-4; Hosea 14:1-9; Jonah 2:1-10; Habakkuk 3:2; Habakkuk 3:16-19; Malachi 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 7:9-11; 2 Peter 1:3; 2 Peter 1:17-18; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-2; Jude 1:20-21; Jude 1:24-25. For atonement and approach to God by Christ, read " Hebrews," for salvation by faith in Christ read "Romans." For the new position of resurrection with Christ, and holding the Head and living in new creation, Christ as our life in us, and Christ at the right hand of God, our Object, see " Colossians." For union to Christ, quickening together, raising up together, and resting together with Him in the heaven-lies, and blessed there with Him with all spiritual blessings, see "Ephesians." For an epistle of Christian experience read "Philippians." As a beacon against carnal ballooning with ministers by flying one against another, see " 1 Corinthians "; for being an epistle of Christ written by the Spirit and ministered by the true servants of Christ, see " 2 Corinthians," especially chap. 3.-4.; for a warning against returning to a yoke of bondage under law, see Galatians "; for the coming of the Lord, see " 1st and 2nd Thessalonians "; for encouragement in trial see " 1st Peter "; 1 John gives the eternal life as communicated to us and the tests of having it. "Revelation" tells of Christ’s path to glory on earth through judgments executed on on an utterly apostate church and world. Our portion there is " Iam the bright and morning star "-Christ Himself, whom we have in our hearts, and with whom we shall be before the day of judgment sets in, see Revelation 22:16-17; Revelation 22:20-21. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 121: VOL 05 - REVELATION―PERSONAL, WRITTEN AND PREACHED ======================================================================== Revelation―Personal, Written and Preached GOD has been pleased to reveal Himself in the Person of a Man, and in the Writings of a Book. The Gospel by St. John is occupied with the manifestation of God in the Person of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost: the Word and Spirit declaring God as a Father. “He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." “In the beginning was the Word and Word, was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were created by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory (glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." This gives His incarnate character; and our connection with it is stated “out of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." The Word was “in the beginning; "―however far back this may go: this declares His Eternity; He was with God and was God. That He was " with God," declares his Personality; that He " was God," tells forth his Godhead. That he is called " the Word," because He is the Word in his being, and the manner of it, the expression of God’s mind, too. He is the essential mind of God, and He is the expression of it. Christ is the Wisdom of God, and the expression of it. The Word was God... the Word became flesh." In Him was Life, and the life was the Light of men. Light is the purest of all things, and it reveals what all things are." " The Word became flesh; " and then you get the aspect he wore: " We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten with the Father"―all that He was as that to the Father was there; His personal glory became visible in flesh. His attitude " full of grace and truth." " Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: " in His person. They came: a new arrival in our world: they never were there before. “No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him." The Son reveals the Father, as He knows Him in the divine bosom, and in His delight and love to Him. " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He declares Him, and we learn the revelation in Him by the Holy Ghost. In St. John this is the theme: " The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father" declaring Him; and when a disciple has a sense of who He is as God’s only begotten Son He prostrates Himself before him saying, "My Lord and my God"* (John 20:1-31). (*A Spirit-taught knowledge of the Son of God, as this gospel unfolds his glory, would effectually cure saints of the thoughtless irrevence of using such expressions as " Sweet Jesus," " Precious Jesus." Such persons seem to regard Him with familiarity and sentimentality as only human: not as the eternal “Word," who "became flesh," the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father and declares Him.) " THAT (what we have just been considering as to the incarnation of the Word and the declaration of of the Father by Him) " that which was from the beginning (of Christianity), which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, the Word of Life (for the Life was manifested, and we have seen, it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with 118, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." This, then, is the written Word. The Apostle John says in His gospel, " We beheld His glory; " now he gives his written testimony to the same glorious One, but beginning with his incarnation and manifestation in flesh: " that." Here He is called " the Word of Life," and " the Life was manifested, and we have, seen it," the Word became visible in becoming flesh. John’s Gospel gives the manifestation of the Life, in the Person of the Incarnate Word. His Epistle gives the communication and possession of the life by believers; and tests of having life. The word of revelation is used to testify of Christ, and by it we are begotten again, and it liveth and endureth forever. There is a personal Word and a written word. God is the source of revelation. It came not by the will of man, but holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Paul tells us " every writing " (he does not say writer) is theopneust; God-breathed, God-inspired. The writer is fallible, and may mistake in other things, but not the " writing " which God gives through his mind and pen. It is inspired and infallible, and may be fully trusted. God, by inspiration, gives revelation. The things of God the Spirit reveals, and also communicates in words the Spirit teaches, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. Then there is the word as preached; and the Spirit’s action in connection with it, in the preacher, and in the hearer. This gives the word its effect in the world and in the Church. In the first place it must be received by the Spirit by the preacher, in connection with his faith in Christ crucified, risen, and glorified. " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly (from his inmost seat of emotions,) shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:1-53)." In John 3:1-36 the Spirit and the water give life, in John 4:1-54 the well of water springs up and, there is communion; in chap. 7: the well flows out, and there are " rivers of living waters," in testimony to others in ministry, but what flows out is the result of drinking of Christ. His “mind " is given to the soul in the Spirit, and there is a spiritual solution (if one may so say) of what the word contains concerning Him, and the man who gives it out first enjoys it himself. Thus it was at Pentecost, when three words from Scripture were quoted and remarks made on them as to Christ in life, death, resurrection and glory. The Spirit made it come to their souls with power, and the result was 3,000 saved. In this instance, and in others recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Ghost fell on whole communities, and masses of souls were divinely quickened and consciously saved; being set free and sealed by the Spirit. And God is still, in these last days, causing His Spirit to fall upon whole assemblies who hear the Word, though it has now become a very rare thing. Yet, during the past years of this century, men have witnessed this, again and again. They knew the very moment when He came upon the congregation in overwhelming power. The audience seemed laid hold of by some great, unseen hand, and the Word flowed forth like rivers upon them, and in one moment hundreds of saints were touched by the Spirit through the Word, and hundreds of sinners were convinced of their sins and seeking salvation. The result was in every such instance that a decided work of grace followed, the fruits of which remained. It is well to look to the Lord for the conversion of individual souls through the quiet action of the Word and Spirit; but there are times when God sees that it is necessary for the glory of His Son that a multitude of souls should have the Spirit falling upon them at once, so that they should be moved simultaneously by His divine grace and power, " as the trees of the-wood are move d by the wind." He who works constantly in nature for the fructifying of the earth by the silent dew and the small rain, uses also the lightning’s flash, the thunder’s peal, and the sudden bursting of the drenching thundercloud. It is His witness in the heavens that " the God of glory thundereth." And so is it in His ways in grace, for the glory of His risen Son, whom He hath set at His right hand in the heavens, and crowned with glory and honor. The quiet conversion of one after another in the ordinary ministration of the Word, is His common method, but Pentecost, and Cornelius’ house witness to us that He also falls on communities in a moment, and brings swift conviction, repentance, and salvation to thousands as easily as to an individual. When God works by His Word and Spirit for the glory of His Son, nothing can withstand His grace and saving power. Let us live, and move, pray and preach, believe and hope in the fullest confidence of this, and walls of modern Jerichos will fall flat before the Spirit of God, and the ’giants of Canaan shall be as grasshoppers. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 122: VOL 05 - SEMINAL SENTENCES ======================================================================== Seminal Sentences 1.―ON FAITH. 1.―The moment a saint acts upon any object seen he ceases to act as a Christian. 2. To faith that which is unseen becomes as present and as real as though present to sight (Hebrews 11:1), yea, much more so because there is deception in seen things; but there is no deception in things communicated by the Spirit to the heart. 3. There are two things which faith recognizes; First, the blood of atonement, by which sin was put away; and secondly, a power of life by which we walk (not merely as His people but), with God. The result will be that the power of death is entirely gone. We are identified with a living Christ, as we are saved by the death of Christ. 4. Faith condemns the world (Hebrews 11:7). It is not merely belief in a sacrifice that saves, like Abel’s, and power for walk with God, like Enoch’s, but it was what God has said about the judgment of the world. The thing that is coming upon this world is judgment. 5. As sure as Christ rose from the dead, He is the ’ Man God has ordained to judge the world; ’ and so surely is there no condemnation for us who believe in Him. That by which I know there will be a judgment is that by which I know there will be none for me. How do I know there will be a judgment? Because God has raised Christ from the dead. What more has God told me of his resurrection? That my sins are all put away by the sacrifice of Himself. 6. There is the active manifestation of the power of faith. Abraham, when called of God to leave all and go out of his country, obeyed and went forth, not knowing whither he went because of his trusting the God that was leading him. 7. It is characteristic of faith to reckon on God, not simply spite of difficulty, but spite of impossibility. Faith concerns not itself about means; it counts upon the promise of God. To the natural man the believer may seem to lack prudence; nevertheless, from the moment it becomes a question of means which render the things easy to man, it is no longer God acting. It is no longer His work where means are looked to. When with man there is impossibility God must come in; and it is so much the more evidenced to be the right way, since God only does that which He wills. Faith has refence to His will, and that only, thus it consults neither about the means nor the circumstances; in other words, it consults not with flesh and blood. Where faith is weak, external means are, beforehand, reckoned on in the work of God. Let us remember that when things are feasible to man, there is no longer need of faith because there is no longer need of the energy of the Spirit. Christians do much and effect little―why? 8. The energy of faith is seen in not only being saints but confessing it; and that, as a consequence of being Christ’s, they are “strangers and pilgrims " here. And it will be manifested in the whole life; for the heart already go ie, it remains but to set out. The concealed Christian is a very poor Christian. The faith that does not profess Christ it is to be feared does not possess Him. 9. Perseverance of heart marks the Christian’s affections to be onward, his desires heavenly; and God is not ashamed to be called his God. He is never called the God of Lot, but of Abraham―for he sought for a heavenly city. Faith sets the saint’s heart on heavenly things. The desires, appetites, necessities and affections of the new man are heavenly. Christianity may be used for bettering the world, but this is not God’s design. The seeking to link ourselves with the world, and using Christianity for world-mending, are minding " earthly things." Faith links us with Christ and heaven. You must have heaven without the world, or the world without heaven. He who has prepared the heavenly city cannot wish anything for us between the two. The " desire " of a better country is the desire of a nature entirely from above. 10. Faith counts on God. God stops Abraham when he had offered up Isaac, and confirms His promise to the seed. In yielding the obedience of faith we get an acquaintance with the ways of God, of which, otherwise we should have had no conception. Unbelief causes us to lose joy, strength, spiritual life; we know not where we are. 11. The carnal heart uses the providence of God against the life of faith. Providence brings down Pharaoh’s daughter to the child Moses. In the midst of the world’s wisdom at the court of Pharaoh providence has placed him (as it might seem), to use his influence in Israel’s favor. The first thing faith makes him do is to leave it all. He might have been able to succor the, Hebrews by his influence but they must have remained in bondage to Egypt. Faith makes him forsake Egypt, and faith makes him return and lead his people out of the house of bondage. Called to glory faith, of necessity, quits Egypt; God has not placed the glory there. To be well-off in the world is not to be well-off in heaven. "All that is in the world! is not of the Father." Faith sees Him that is invisible, and is decided to forsake the world. When God is there, Pharaoh is nothing. 12. Faith ever leads into difficulty; but I have th) consolation of saying ’ God is there, and victory is certain.’ Otherwise, in my apprehension, there is some thing stronger than God. This demands a perfect, practical submission of the will. God may allow evil to have its course and test us, in order that we may understand that the aim of faith is not here at all, and see that in circumstances the most difficult God can intervene, as in the sacrifice of Abraham and the raising of Lazarus. To tarry in circumstances is unbelief, Satan is behind the circumstances to set us on; but, behind all that, God is there to break our wills. Leviticus 23:1-44 AGAIN the Lord speaks, and to the mediator, commanding him to communicate the revelations, concerning the festivals which follow, to the children of Israel. Times and seasons have to do with earth, and with them the earthly people are concerned. Days and months, and times, and years it behooved them to observe, but with such days and times Christians, as we learn from Galatians 4:9; Galatians 4:11, have nothing to do. Paul was afraid of the Galatian saints because they kept them. The Israelites would have been disobedient to God, lawbreakers, if they had not observed them. For the word of Jehovah was, " Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall call holy convocations, these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation, ye shall do no work therein, a sabbath it is to Jehovah in all your dwellings." This revelation then begins with the sabbath, which is here classed with the set feasts moadim (lit. appointed times) though generally it is viewed as distinct from them (1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Chronicles 31:3; Nehem. 10:33; Lament. 2:6; Hosh. 2:11). But in common with the set feasts it is called a holy convocation (5: 2), and in common withthe day of atonement it is called a sabbath of rest, shabbath shabbathon, for throughout it complete rest from all work was enjoined; first, because on it, as stated in Exodus 20:1-26, Jehovah rested; and also in remembrance, as stated in Deuteronomy 5:1-33, of Israel’s time and condition of servitude in Egypt. On the chief days of their appointed feasts rest from all servile work only was enjoined; and, though the first day of the seventh month, and the first and last days of the feast of tabernacles were called days of rest, shabbathon, to no day was the term Sabbath applied except to the seventh day of the week, and to the tenth day of the seventh month. Classed then as the seventh day was with the moadim (lit. appointed times), it also differed materially from them, and that appears from verses 4 and 37, 38 of this chapter of Leviticus. In verses 37, 38, it is mentioned as distinct from them. In verse 4 we recommence the subject, as it were, of which the lawgiver was to treat, viz., the directions concerning the set feasts, moadim, of Jehovah. But its introduction at the outset of this chapter was surely calculated to impress on the minds of the people, that no stated time of rejoicing, nor of any holy convocation, was to override the perpetual ordinance concerning the sabbath day, and its proper observance. For it was a sign between Jehovah and Israel (Exodus 31:13; Exodus 31:17; Ezekiel 20:12; Ezekiel 20:20). The set feasts moadim, varied with the year, since the Jewish year had an intercalary month, 1:e., an additional month inserted next to Adar, called Veadar, as often as was required,* for their months had to correspond with the seasons. (* In the modern Jewish calendar this month is inserted seven times in nineteen years, that period being what is called the Metonic cycle, when the lunations of the moon return to the same days of the month. No notice is met with in Scripture of this intercalary month, but it is plain they must have required it to keep the months and the seasons in harmony.) In Nisan or Abib, the first month, the barley harvest began to be ripe; by the middle of Tisri, the seventh month, all harvest and vintage operations had ceased. Hence the term med would especially apply to these times, whereas the sabbath came round regularly each week. Further, it may be observed, that the feasts of the new moons are not included in the appointed times treated of in this chapter. In all the four last books of the Pentateuch, the chief festivals are specially mentioned. First spoken of in the covenant made between the Lord and Israel at Sinai (Exodus 23:14-16), again mentioned in that unconditional covenant made by the Lord in favor of Israel after they had broken the first covenant (Exodus 34:18-22), we have them treated of somewhat at length in Leviticus 23:1-44; Numbers 28:1-31; Numbers 29:1-40, and Deuteronomy 16:1-22 In Numbers 28:29., the lawgiver lays down regulations regarding the number, variety, and character of the offerings at each of the feasts. In Deuteronomy 16:1-22 we learn the conditions of soul in which Israel were to keep the three great festivals of the year. Here in Leviticus 23:1-44 we have what may be called a kind of ecclesiastical calendar, which is really the history of God’s ways in grace with the nation from the day that He took them up to bring them out of Egypt, till the day that He will bring them into full and abiding earthly rest under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ; just as the blessings, wherewith Jacob blessed his sons, describe in prophetic outline the eventful history of the people in connection with their responsibility, till they finally overcome their enemies. The appointed feasts began with the passover, to be observed in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, “between the two evenings;" a term which Deuteronomy 16:6 helps us to understand, and Exodus 29:39 will confirm. The passover was to be sacrificed in the evening, at the going down of the sun, and the daily evening sacrifice was offered up " between the evenings." Clearly, then, this phrase cannot mean, as it has been sometimes stated, the period of time between the evening of one day and the evening of the next, speaking after the manner of our computation of time. “Between the two evenings" was a certain time on the fourteenth day of Nisan, and Deuteronomy 16:6 defines it as the going down of the sun. With this brief notice of the passover on this occasion the lawgiver passed on to the feast of unleavened bread, for the people had been fully instructed how to keep it in the wilderness in Exodus 12:1-51; though the condition of soul in which they were annually to commemorate it, when in the land, is not set forth till we come to Deuteronomy 16:1-22 So here in the wilderness it is but briefly noticed as the opening festival of their ecclesiastical year. After that, the feast of unleavened bread, which commenced on the following day, is brought prominently before Israel, and in this there is a significance to which Christians as well as Israel should take heed. For if shelter from divine judgment by the blood of the Lamb is known by the soul, leaven, here the type of evil, should be put away, the old leaven to be purged out, and the leaven of malice and wickedness kept out, according to 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, and the feast kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Hence, on the fifteenth day of Nisan, this feast began, and lasted a whole week, 1:e., a complete period of time. During its continuance they were to eat unleavened bread, and on each day of the feast special offerings were prescribed, of which -we read in Numbers 28:1-31 But though the same offerings were appointed for each day that the feast lasted, the first day and the seventh day were to be observed as days of holy convocation, on which na servile work was to be done. In this manner their ecclesiastical year began. A. people sheltered by blood from divine vengeance, proclaiming by the paschal supper what they owed to the sovereign power of their God, redeemed by the arm of His power from Egypt, they were keeping a festival unto Him, and eating of unleavened bread, betokening by that what becomes those who are in truth the people of God. After this comes a new revelation, not that the feast of unleavened bread was regarded as ended, for ere it closed a special service was enjoined, viz., the waving of the sheaf, the first fruits of their reaping.* (*The sheaf was probably of barley for that was the grain first ripe in Palestine. See Ruth 1:22; Ruth 2:23. And the mention of the sheaf in its place here we can understand, for no outline of God’s ways in grace with His people could be complete without a notice of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.) This new revelation, which here commences, embraces also the directions about the offering of the first fruits at Pentecost (9-22), the time for the observance of which was reckoned from the day that they waved this sheaf. And here for the first time do we meet with any notice about this sheaf. In Exodus 13:1-22, which treats of the institution of the feast of unleavened bread, there is not a word about it. In the wilderness this ceremony was not to be performed. It was only to be observed after that they entered the land, and in no other part of the sacred volume have we any direction about it, but Luke 6:1, as has been pointed out, most probably refers to it. For the " second first deuteroproton sabbath " as the word really is, implies the sabbath next succeeding that one which fell in the week of the feast of unleavened bread; the first sabbath therefore after the waving of the sheaf, by which the people were allowed to partake of the harvest. This interpretation is confirmed by the fact that, whereas the Pharisees found fault with the disciples for eating of the ears of corns on the sabbath, they did not charge them with the offense, which it would have been, had they plucked and eaten of them before the sheaf had been waved. Hence Luke marked the time exactly of that occurrence which he relates. The ripe grain was still uncut, but the wave sheaf had been offered, which left the people free as regards the prohibition of Leviticus 23:14, to partake of the fruits of the new harvest: ======================================================================== CHAPTER 123: VOL 05 - SLEEPING IN THE CALM OF HEAVEN ======================================================================== Sleeping in the Calm of Heaven That night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door kept the prison." (Acts 12:6). Psalms 62:8; Psalms 125:1; Acts 12:12. SLEEPING in the calm of heaven Who or what shall help him now? Hopeless, everything external- Death the stamp upon his brow. Ere, in peace, he closed his eyelids, Casting all his care on God (1 Peter 5:5-11) Little knowing of the angel Hasting on the shining road. Weakness, in the night is waiting, Like those Abel-men of yore, When the messengers from glory Told of Bethlehem’s hidden store. (Acts 12:7; Luke 2:9.) See! the hand of One from glory Wakes him from his blessed, sleep: ’Tis the Lord, who once said, " Follow "― "Feed my lambs," and―" Feed my sheep." Ah! those very days must tell him Of the love that could not die: Anniversary of sorrow, Yet of full, unclouded joy. (Mark 14:1; Mark 14:72; Acts 12:3.) Herod, ’mid the outward boasting, Fills his cup with dreadful wine, While the foot of Zion’s captive Passes on in rest divine. (Acts 12:9-11.) Richest aid, resource and blessing, Helplessness and trust shall find, When the visible is crushing, All its might and will combined. " Trust ye in the Lord forever,"- " Wait," I say, " on Him alone: He who showed the " fire " to Peter, Sends deliverance from the throne. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 124: VOL 05 - THE ARK IN THE HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM. (CHRON. 13.) ======================================================================== The Ark in the House of Obed-Edom. (Chron. 13.) OBED-EDOM was a man more in God’s secret at this moment and more peculiarly blessed of God than David and all his people; and he was a private person of a far-off town: " Obed-Edom the Gitite, or Gathite." There, individual piety found a place for the ark of God, when the great outward profession dropped off from it in demoralization and discouragement; and it was God owning the personal piety of this man and his house by the peculiar richness of the blessing bestowed, that induced David to make a second and a successful attempt at having the ark brought up to Zion for the blessing of his throne and of all Israel. There is mighty power in personal piety owned and stamped by fresh blessing to affect others. There could not have been anything smaller or weaker than this man’s testimony-but GOD was there! The grand procession of all Israel with the royal David at its head, having as its object the bringing up of God’s ark from its place of isolation, to its public association with the throne of. David established in grace in Zion, had suddenly been stopped by a divine breach upon irreverence, and the king, displeased, afraid of God and discouraged, ceases from his jubilant enterprise; the ark is left: and the individual piety of the obscure Obed-Edom gives it a home in his house. I believe that Church history would furnish many examples like this of public movements for securing great general blessing having been arrested in such a way that they were desisted from, and had to be taken up by individuals, and were only resumed and carried out after the blessing that attended upon them in the hands of individuals had been practically attested. " The oxen stumbled." Some irreverent hand had been put forth to steady the ark, and judgment had ensued, and it has been only after lessons of dependence and obedience have been taught, and blessings given to the individual who had faith to possess himself of the ark, that a longing is created to have the mighty boon of the Lord’s presence for all. Every fresh manifestation of grace in the Church has been enjoyed privately by individuals before it emerged into gracious publicity. The whole of Israel, the captains of thousand, and captains of hundreds, and every leader, and even the freshly crowned king himself, are discouraged, demoralized, and cease from the good work; and the ark of God would have been left exposed to more irreverent treatment had not the piety of Obed-Edom taken it in. And yet, though God, as in David’s case, gave signal victories when there was the spirit of dependence and obedience, yet the token of God’s presence, the symbol of God’s power and glory, in the midst of his people, as well as the bond of the covenant, " the ark of the covenant," was still absent from its prepared place on Mount Zion. This is, I believe, an Obed-Edom time when the ark rests with the individual who has piety and spiritual desire to crave and shelter the longed-for, yet deserted thing. David had a true desire to have it; so had many of the thousands of Israel; yet he and they left it in the house of Obed-Edom, and then dispersed to their homes in a state of unhappy demoralization. It reminds one of this word: “Every man went unto his own home. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." Jesus, the true ark, is now in the garden across the Kedron in the solitary place: there will the unsleeping heart find Him; and this is its peculiar privilege for the hour-to get individual blessing while yet the reception of open public blessing, power, and glory, tarries and is not enjoyed. Are there any who, like the people in the reign of Saul, are lamenting after the Lord, and who have not inquired at the ark in the days of Saul. Now is your opportunity to secure the personal enjoyment of God’s presence in the Spirit, giving fullness of blessing and joy. The way to promote the blessing of others is to be in the full enjoyment of blessing ourselves individually. There is nothing so impressive, commanding, and contagious, as living in the conscious enjoyment of the Lord’s presence and walking in the Spirit. " And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom, and all his household. And it was told king’ David, saying, The Lord path blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness." Before the coronation of David by all Israel, there were those who had separated themselves to him to “the hold in the wilderness," when the nation was still with Saul. It must have been peculiarly precious to David to have this practical token of their appreciation of him as God’s king when he was nobody, and had nothing to give them but a share in his rejection, privation, and suffering. How pleasant to hear such say: " Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers: for thy God helpeth thee." (1 Chronicles 12:1-40) And it must be peculiarly precious to " our Lord Jesus " in this the time of his rejection, to welcome to the outside place where He is, those who are drawn to Him by the secret attractiveness of His personal worth and glory; and who count His presence and blessing to be above all things to their souls. (Matthew 18:20.) Let us personally value His presence with us by His Spirit, as the godly Gitite showed his value for the ark of God, and, having taken it in, became the most openly blessed man in Israel, so that his blessing through his possession of the ark led to its being put within its curtains on the hill of Zion for the blessing of the king and all Israel. Individual enjoyment of Christ by the believer is the true secret of personal blessing and Christian influence. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 125: VOL 05 - THE BESEECHING OF GRACE. 2CO_5:14-21; 2CO_6:1-2 ======================================================================== The Beseeching of Grace.2 Corinthians 5:14-21;2 Corinthians 6:1-2 THERE is much done for perishing sinners: and surely there cannot be too much, for the time is short, the need is great, the redemption of the soul is precious, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 1. But shall we not also remember that there are perishing saints as well as perishing sinners? What! you say, perishing saints? I never heard of such a thing before. Well it may be for you that you should now hear of it, for it is a sad fact. Does not " the sanctification of the Spirit " make a saint? Assuredly even before he knows himself as such or has pardon and peace through the blood of sprinkling. But he is not in his true place of liberty and sonship until sealed with the Holy Ghost. It was “when he came to himself “that the lost son said,” How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare and I perish for hunger." And is not “I perish for hunger," the language of many a quickened but unsettled and uninstructed. soul? Yet there is a work of grace to bring out this cry (for dead souls speak not), and the quickened soul looks God-ward in a sense of His love, in expectancy, and then his word is, “I will arise and go to ray father.".. And he arose and came to his father," and when he met him he found a father indeed; and instead of merely finding bread to appease his hunger and save him from perishing, he found the kiss of reconciliation, the best robe, the shoes, the ring, and a feast on the best the father’s table could furnish. What a blessed thing when the perishing saint gets picked up by grace and gets that in the Father’s presence which all these things set forth and symbolize! What a contrast from " perish with hunger," which is, at present, the condition of so many who have life but not deliverance, when instead of continuing under legal exercise of soul like the man in the end of the seventh of Romans, there is such a knowledge of Christ given in life, death, resurrection and glory by the Holy Ghost as assures forgiveness, acceptance, meetness, and fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Ala! beloved, is it not a laudable enterprise to seek the rescue of the perishing saint as well as the salvation of the perishing sinner? And are there not "servants” mentioned in the parable to whop the father gives instructions, and who are to carry them out? And does this not tell of the ministry of reconciliation which God has put into the hearts and hands of his trusted servants, that all that is found in and around the Christ of glory may be given to bring saints into the Father’s presence, consciously blessed with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, and children of adoption to the Father to the praise of His glory-accepted in the Beloved, in whom they have redemption in His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. 2. Fallen saints. There is much done for our fallen world, and there cannot be too much. God has so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. And still we read of “the reconciling of the world," for through Christ’s grace the righteousness of God is unto all. The philanthropy of God toward man has appeared-of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. The fallen world claims our deepest sympathy and most fervent energy. Seventy out of every hundred of its thirteen or fourteen hundred millions have never heard the gospel of the grace of God. But if God loved the world and gave His Son: Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might have it as His own, suitable to Him, and with Him in glory, glorious like Himself. And is the blessed Head of His body, the Church, unconcerned about His fallen assembly? And is it not permitted to such as feel for the state of this assembly to have sympathies in common with Christ’s as to caring for the blessing of it, or if it be impossible to reach the whole, to have a, desire that there should be such a holiness, unworldliness, spirituality and heavenly-mindedness pervading those who have purged themselves from vessels to dishonor, and are gathered together to His name as He may be graciously pleased to use and turn it for a testimony to the glory of God, who has given Him as Head over all things to the Church which is His. body? While one must have deepest sympathy with the ministry of reconciliation to a fallen world, and while prayers and efforts are all too few for the salvation of the lost, yet surely it would be pleasing to the Lord if some few gave their thoughts, prayers, and efforts a little more intensely to a fallen assembly. But some might object that this is hopeless work, and work to which the Lord does not set us; but our work is to depart from iniquity, purge ourselves from vessels to dishonor, the teachers of error, who overthrow faith, in the great house of Christian profession. All true. But when gathered to Christ’s name on the basis of owning one body and one Spirit, surely we have morally the character, if not the complement, of God’s assembly. And it is just in this we may find not a few of the fallen saints of God. And this, too, even where there may be much that even the Lord Himself would commend. There may be much labor, patience, rejection of evil, and devoted unfainting labor for Christ’s name’s sake, and all the time there may be a worm at the root that makes the whole assembly droop, wither and decay. Let us not think that the word fallen is inappropriate as applied to assemblies; for the Lord Himself makes use of it. Are we better than the assembly of Ephesus, so fully taught of Paul for such a long period, and having such a spiritual condition that a letter full of the highest spiritual truth could be addressed to them, the epistle to the Ephesians? The Lord sends them afterward a letter from heaven with these words: " I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted." This is a remarkable commendation. What could the Lord want more? Yet with all this abundance of service there is the most serious flaw,―the spring of devotedness is gone, first love is left, and the reproach of unchanged love is " Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." The Lord cares for our service, but it cannot gratify his heart when He does not have our love. The work done in the past from love to Him is owned, but if our labor now want the motive, spring, and energy of love to Himself, it cannot be accepted. What love has He shown for the Church when He gave Himself for her? And love can be satisfied with nothing but love. He wants herself, not her work. Faith worketh by love. What would a husband think of a wife if fully occupied both in the house and outside, and yet had no love for her husband. He would not be blind to her good qualities, but he wants herself. All the activity a wife could show would not please a husband if love had grown cold. And if he would not accept a loveless service do you think Christ will? The fall of saints from first love is the heaviest and most disastrous fall they could have. Anything may be expected after this. Christ threatens to remove the candlestick, for it gives a wrong testimony to Christ’s love. The prayer of the 3rd of Ephesians may have been answered-that Christ may dwell in your hearts that ye may be rooted and grounded in love; but though Paul’s converts may have been bright with enjoyment of Christ’s love, and full of love to Him in the Church’s infancy, yet now a long time has elapsed, and a new generation has arisen, and, as no community enjoys the blessing in its original power beyond the generation on which it comes, so now in John’s day there is decline in love, and the Lord has to address them as a fallen assembly. And if the cooling down of first love to Christ be the fall, how many may now be similarly addressed! There has been a great awakening of the Spirit during this century, and many have been brought out to Christ with the freshness of first love and in real exercise of soul; but a new generation has come, and saints who have fallen from first love to Christ need the Lord’s word as truly as did the fallen Church of Ephesus. Is it not, then, a necessary work to think of a fallen assembly that has left its first love to Christ, and is in danger of having its candlestick removed? It is not unneedful for us to lay this word of grieved affection to heart. Are we better than others 2 Nay, but if there is a difference, it is that we have had the Ephesian truth and the full enjoyment of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and while others are regarded according to their own privileges, we shall have to answer for the highest privileges enjoyed by any people since the days of the apostles. It is evident that we greatly need to have our minds and hearts turned afresh to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, and no longer lie where we have fallen: and for this we require to sit less in our own house, 1:e., he rejoicing in a vaunting way in our privileges and saying, like Laodicea " I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" and to get into the Lord’s presence, and sitting before the Lord, hear what He, in His love, will do for us. He has made provision for having us with Him, and like Him in the glory of heaven, and for giving us to enjoy His love in the Spirit even now, when passing through the wilderness on to the many mansions in the Father’s house. Is it not for Christ’s honor that fallen saints should be ministered to as well as fallen sinners? And why not seek to have the fallen state of the assembly laid upon our consciences with a view to the recovery of souls? It is a work that is much in the mind and on the heart of the Lord, and for this the ministry is given for the perfecting of the saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God. The word fallen, referring not to outward falls, but to the state of the affections towards Christ, addresses itself to most part of saints, for how many have fallen from first love? how much they need the ministry of Christ’s love to them to fill their souls and hearts afresh with Himself who gave Himself for them, lives now in glory to care for them and bless them, saving them to the uttermost, and who has said, " I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." Fallen Ephesians need afresh the ministry of the Epistle to Ephesians in the living power of the Holy Ghost. 3. Dead saints. Much effort is used for souls who are " dead in trespasses and sins; " and it is most praiseworthy, for now is the time when the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live, and the Spirit quickeneth whom He will, and God, who is rich in mercy, hath quickened us together with Christ raised in us, and saved us by grace through faith and made us a new creation, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. We who believe pass from death unto life. All this is a settled thing before God for eternity, when it is real, and we are dead and risen with Christ, and as such can be addressed and called upon to set our affection on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. But as those who are set up as the house of God and a testimony to Christ in this world, we, as well as others, may be as good as dead, and require the rousing word, " I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead," &c. "Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light―shall shine upon thee, and having Him in His holy life before you, and now shining in glory in the highest heavens; if we listen still to the word, we will hear it say, Be filled with the Spirit, and thus we shall morally have Christ living in us and expressed by us, while the singing joy of happy spiritual life feeding itself on Christ will express itself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, while we make melody in our hearts to the Lord. The ministry that would thus waken sleeping saints and get dead ones to " be watchful and strengthen the things that are ready to die," and fill the saints with such enjoyment of life in Christ that the character of Christ should be put on, and the new life in Christ expressed in the saint’s life and walk, is surely as necessary as preaching to dead sinners of God’s love in giving Christ up to death for us, and raising Him again for our justification that we might have life and peace. 4. Unconverted Saints there are, too, in the sense of the term as applied by our Lord to Peter when he said: “When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." The Apostle’s self-confidence was greater than his courage. We all know the history of his denial of his Lord, and his repentance, recovery, and restoration. He loved his Lord vehemently, yet he denied Him shamefully. He put himself among the wrong company, at their fire of coals while Christ was being arraigned before the high priest. His eye was off Christ and on himself, and, being in difficult circumstances, Satan tempted him to save his life rather than lose it; and he denied his Master with oaths and curses. Christ turned and looked upon Peter: and what a look it must have been, for on receiving it Peter went out immediately and wept bitterly. But he was not yet converted, although he was now on the way to it. Although it could be said, “The Lord is risen indeed and path appeared unto Simon," neither did this convert him. Nor did the Lord’s message by Mary, nor His presence in their midst on the first day of the week. A saint’s conversion is more difficult work than most of us think, and needs special dealing. But when Christ appeared upon the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Peter threw his fisher’s coat around him to swim to Him, surely the ardent apostle must now be converted? No, not yet; but the grace of our Lord Jesus will now accomplish the work. " A fire of coals " led him to deny His Lord, a fire of coals is used by the Lord as he is advancing with the work of his conversion; but there is fish thereon. They had toiled all, night, and had caught nothing. But after the miraculous draft of fishes Jesus invites them to the feast He had prepared for them. He feasts him before He probes him. “Come and dine” is before His testing word to Peter, “Lovest thou me more than these?" Our Lord does not trust the conversions which consist in touched affections and gushing fervor. He thrice said to Peter, “Lovest thou me?" Peter had thrice denied him, and thrice He asks him, “Lovest thou me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Lovest thou me," and replied humbly, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." The conversion of a Christ-denying disciple is a solemn process. The conscience has to be dealt with until self-judgment fills the soul with poignant sorrow and self-abhorring grief. He deserved to feel thoroughly miserable in the presence of Christ, whose love had led Him to die for him, and he was most miserable. How few in their repentance are willing to go down to the misery-point. “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." The depth of Christ’s love necessitates the thoroughness of his work. "As many as I love I reprove and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent." He effects the backsliding saint’s conversion by means of the work of a thorough repentance. O my blessed Lord, if this be what Thou callest a lapsed saint’s conversion, how many of Thy dear saints and servants still need to experience the sub-soil plowing of Thine inexorable grace! Leviticus 21:1-24; Leviticus 22:1-33 FROM laws which concerned the children of Israel at large, we pass on to some which had special reference to the priests (21. 22.). Holiness and the maintenance of the revelation of the unity of God (Deuteronomy 6:4) having been pressed on the people, the Lord now directs Moses to speak unto Aaron, and to his sons. Hitherto, with the exception of the revelations given us in 6:25; 16:2, Moses was commanded to speak unto the people, or to the people conjointly with Aaron and his sons (17:2). But the priests being separated unto God, there were restrictions placed on their actions, from which the rest of the people were free. To be a priest unto Jehovah was a high honor, and none could share in it but those specially chosen for it by God. The Lord had caused the house of Aaron to come near to Him (Exodus 28:1). To be one of God’s earthly people was a great privilege, but even that involved the observance of restrictions, as we have seen (17.-20.), from which others were exempt. To be God’s priests, members of the holy priesthood, was a greater privilege, hence it would be no wonder, nor cause for complaint, if the Lord laid down rules for them to which the rest of Israel were not called to submit. These, which affected them in their family relationships and in their households, we have set forth in the revelations given by the Lord to Moses on their behalf. The first (21:1-15) treats of their defilement by the dead, and the range within which they could marry. The second (21:16-24) gives regulations concerning those priests who were blemished in their persons. The third (22:1-16) provides against profanation of the holy things which the children of Israel would offer to the Lord. Such, then, being their purport, their introduction in this part of the book is orderly and natural, appearing as they do in close proximity to those regulations which concern the holy people. A holy people all Israel were. A holy priesthood Aaron and his house were. In common with the rest of Israel, a priest might defile himself for the dead, though in his case it was only permitted for those near of kin to him, viz., for his mother, his father, his son, his brother, or his sister who had never been married. For other relations, or for friends, he was not to be defiled. How defilement for the dead might be contracted Numbers 19:11-14 declares. It might be by contact with the dead body, or only by the person’s presence in the house, or tent, at the time of death, or after it had taken place. Natural feeling might have prompted on the priest’s part the doing that which God’s Word here forbade him. He might have desired to be present at his friend’s death, or to soothe the grief of those bereaved by expressing his sympathy in person. All this would be natural and right for one of the redeemed people, but not for one of God’s consecrated priests. They were not to be thus defiled, nor profaned. The separation to God was never to be forgotten. To profane himself, being a chief man* among his people, was here forbidden him. (* This seems the most natural sense of the verse (4), giving a reason for the general injunctions contained in verse 1, the particular exceptions to which are noted in verses 2, 3.) Others of Israel’s seed could do what he could not. He was not to pollute himself, because he had been set apart for God’s service. Further, no mark of mourning was to be seen on his person (compare with verse 5, Isaiah 22:12; Amos 8:10; Micah 1:16); for he was to be holy unto his God, and was not to profane the name of his God, for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the bread of his God he offered, therefore he was to be holy (6). In connection with these directions about mourning, come those about marriage. With whom any one of Israel might not marry we have already had before us, Here the marriage law, as it especially affected a priest, is brought in. Neither one guilty of whoredom, nor a profane woman, 1:e., one who had been guilty of fornication (see 5: 9), nor one divorced, was to become the wife of a priest, for he was holy to his God. How his condition as sanctified to God was to govern his actions in times of mourning, and in the matter of marriage. He was a priest. He could not help it. He was such by virtue of his birth. He was, therefore, never to forget it, and conduct only such as became a priest was to be exhibited by him. Nor that only. Israel were to remember what he was, and to help, as far as it lay in their power, to maintain that separation to God which became every male of the house of Aaron. But there was one of that house who, by virtue of his office, was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We refer to the high priest. For him, therefore, no defilement for the nearest or dearest of his relations was to be permitted, and no one could he wed, but a virgin of his people. Perfect separation in the matter of, mourning and of marriage became him who filled that office. And one can see the propriety of this, as we know of whom as high priest he was the type. Under all circumstances does God teach us of the holiness of the person of His Son. If He rode on the ass’s colt, He rode on that on which no man had before Him sat. If His body was laid in the grave, it was laid in a new tomb, never till then tenanted; and though He died, He saw no corruption. So here, the high priest was to be defiled for the dead, and he could not wed as his wife one who had been married to another man. A widow any of the priests might marry. But even a widow was barred to the high priest (5: 14), The person of the Lord was ever, we see, present to the eye of God. A second revelation given to Moses for Aaron and his sons regulated the position of a blemished priest. Between a blemished priest and a defiled one there was a great difference. A defiled one became defiled by contact with uncleanness, by disease working in his body, or by his presence in a house or tent where death had recently taken place. A blemished priest was one in whose person there was some defect, or abnormal growth. Such an one could not minister at the altar. A priest he was, and always would be. The priest’s portion of the holy and most holy things belonged to him equally with all the other priests, but service at the altar was forbidden him, for he who served there, whether the high priest or a common priest, was a type in his service of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom there was no blemish. Here, again, we see that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ was ever present to God’s eye. Of Him we read in the New Testament that He was without blemish (amōmos) (Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19). Of Christians we read that it was God’s counsels to have them such before Him in Christ (Ephesians 1:4); and the Church Christ will present to Himself holy and without blemish (amōmos) (Ephesians 5:27) and the saints seen with the Lamb on Mount Zion, are described in the same way (amomoi) without blemish (Revelation 14:5). Besides this God desires that we should be without blame (Php 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, (amemptōs) and unimpeachable (anegklectous) likewise (1 Corinthians 1:8; Colossians 1:22; 1 Timothy 3:10; Titus 1:6-7) terms never applied in the New Testament to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amōmos is predicated of Him and of saints; amemptos and anegkleetos only of saints.* (*For the information of the reader we subjoin all the passages where these terms are met with in the New Testament: AmemptosLuke 1:6; Php 2:15; Php 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Hebrews 8:7. Amemptos1 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:23. AmomosEphesians 1:4; Ephesians 5:27; Php 2:15; Colossians 1:22; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19; Jude 1:24; Revelation 14:5. AmometosPhp 2:15;2 Peter 3:14. Anegkleetos1 Corinthians 1:8;Colossians 1:22;1 Timothy 3:10;Titus 1:6-7.) As blemished, then, the priest could not minister at the altar, nor serve in the sanctuary, yet he was not to be deprived of his birthright. The distinction here made is interesting. God’s nature never alters, so no one could approach him in priestly service who was blemished in his person, lest he should profane God’s sanctuary. The Aaronic service of the priest at the altar, and in the holy place was thus guarded most jealously till He came, the true priest, who has done all that had to be done of the Aaronic character of priestly work in connection with the sacrifice and the sanctuary. But the portion of a priest, God’s provision for a priest, the blemished one of Aaron’s house shared in equally with those in whom there was nothing lacking nor superfluous. Perfect in his person the officiating priest had to be. That we all understand. But as priesthood flowed from birth, nothing could make a man of Aaron’s house cease to be a priest. Thus on the one hand God’s unchangeableness as to His nature was declared, and on the other the unchangeableness of His purpose. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. By birth the sons of Aaron were reckoned amongst the priests. By right of birth believers now are priests unto God, a holy priesthood, privileged to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5). Defilement, however, was a very different matter. Though blemished, the priest as we have seen, shared in the portion provided for Aaron’s house. If defiled he could not have part in that, until he had been duly cleansed, and what that cleansing was to be Jehovah determined. Defilement then might happen to any of Aaron’s house, and where it existed, it incapacitated the one unclean from eating the holy things. This is next treated of in the revelation contained in 22:1-16, addressed to Aaron and to his sons, " Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord " (3) Various ways in which defilement might be contracted are then enumerated (4-8), illustrating most plainly the difference between a blemish and uncleanness, followed by directions for the cleansing of the defiled priest. But why this difference? The answer is obvious. To eat of the holy things typified communion with God. So none defiled could have fellowship with Him, that is clear. From defilement, however, a person might get free, if he acted as by the law he was directed. From the blemish he might never get free. Had the blemish barred the right of eating of the holy things, who could ever have had communion with God but one-the Lamb without blemish and without spot? We are without blemish, but as chosen in Christ. (Ephesians 1:4). Further, who in the priest’s house might eat of the holy thing is also set forth. Nothing of this was left to mar, to Aaron, or even to Moses, to decide. Jehovah alone determined such questions, and declared, too, what any one who had eaten of the holy thing inadvertently was to do (10-16). Thus carefully did God guard the privilege of having communion with Him, and defined by the law, mho those were who shared in such a favor. The priest’s family, and his daughter, if after marriage she was a widow, and living under his roof; all those born in his house, or bought with his money―these could eat of the holy things. But neither servants not born under his roof, nor bought with his money, nor a stranger, nor a sojourner with him, could partake of them. Birth or purchase gave the right, but nothing else could, to eat with him of the holy things. In close connection with the law regarding this privileged class, is the revelation addressed to Aaron, to his sons, and to all Israel regarding the blemishes, which, if found in any animal, would hinder its being offered in sacrifice (22:18-33). For a burnt offering it had to be a male without blemish. For a peace offering the animal had to be perfect, though the law allowed a bullock or a lamb that had anything superfluous, or was lacking (lit. lessened) to be offered for a freewill offering. Remembering of whom this sacrifice was a type, we understand these provisions of the law; and bearing in mind the fact that the law was given to an earthly people, we can apprehend the grace which provided a relaxation of the stringent regulation, if they were moved to draw nigh with a sacrifice for a freewill offering. But, whilst Jehovah thus provided for the freewill offering, He reminded them that they must eat it only on the day that it was offered. He had already declared this in 7:15. He here reminded them of it, lest they should forget it. How often have we need to remember that communion with Him to be acceptable must be real. It is not to become a form, it is to be a reality. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 126: VOL 05 - THE CROSS THE END OF THE OLD MAN ======================================================================== The Cross the End of the Old Man " THE end of man in the flesh in the cross " is said to be error! Romans 6:1-23; Romans 7:1-25 : do not say so. Nor does Galatians 2:1-21 " I have been crucified with Christ, and no longer live I," &c. Does not this Scripture prove what our paper affirms? Are you not too narrow in your views of the cross? By the cross God accomplishes a number of things-not atonement only, as you seem to think. The old man is crucified with Christ; the world is crucified to me; the flesh is crucified with the affections and lust; Satan is destroyed. This is the spiritual defect of many converted souls, that they have not seen by faith, and the Spirit that they come to the end of themselves in the Cross of Christ. They do not see that they have died with Christ to sin, and have got clear of its mastership, as well as that Christ has died for our sins to free us from our guilt. Death with Christ (Romans 6:1-23) is the only means of annulling the old man or bringing him to his end. It is sin that is the great giant that tyranizes over God’s saints until they see that he is to be reckoned as gone to death in Christ’s death on the cross (Romans 6:1-11), and that we are alive in Christ, who is risen from the dead. Up to Romans 5:11, we have sins, and propitiation, forgiveness, justification, peace, favor, hope of glory, reconciliation. From the middle of Romans 5:1-21, we have (Romans 5:12 to end.)― Deliverance from our Adam connection by death -we find a new headship in Christ " the Second Man," who was dead to sin and lives to God. Then in Romans 6:1-23 we have deliverance from our old master, sin, by death with Christ, and we have life in Christ Jesus, risen; and we are exhorted: “Yield yourselves unto God... For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace." In Romans 7:1-25 we have deliverance from the old husband, the law, and are “married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God." At chap. 3. he has written, " By the law is the knowledge of sin," but as the subject there was sins, not sin, he leaves the explanation of how the law gives the knowledge of sin till chap. 7. (when it is in place,) and this he does from verse 7-25. First, it gives the knowledge of sin to an unconverted man, verse 7-13 and it thereby kills him in his conscience, for he is brought in guilty. But, second, from verse 14-24, the law gives the knowledge of sin to a converted but undelivered man, in its only producing powerlessness to do good, or to get deliverance, and the man gives up at last in despair, crying, " O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?". He at once finds a deliverer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. “I thank God.... there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death." This is the rationale of the deliverance. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin-in-the-flesh." Sins are atoned for chap. 3., sin is condemned in chap. 8., in the-same sacrifice of Christ for sin. We are thus "dead to the law by the dead body of Christ," as says Paul in Romans 7:1-25 and Galatians 2:1-21 We are justified by His blood from our sins; we are " justified from sin" by His death. Death alone can deal effectually with a nature. God made Christ to be sin for us when He died; and now that He is risen and glorified we are made the 4‘ righteousness of God in him, and have justification of life." This is also set forth by the Spirit in 2Co 3:-5. The ministry of the Spirit is of life and righteousness in Christ risen and glorified. When we believe in Him and are sealed with the Spirit, guilt is not only gone, but we are in an entirely new place " in Christ Jesus," and living an entirely new life-the life of Christ risen from the dead, so that neither death, sin, nor law, have any claim over us, and we walk in newness of life " (Romans 6:1-23), and serve in " newness of spirit." 1. The guilt of our sins is gone through Christ’s blood-shedding and resurrection (for we are justified by his blood), and " being justified by faith we have peace with God"-" with God," mark; not a mere feeling of peace in ourselves, though faith enjoying peace with God or reconciliation will surely give a peaceful sense of the enjoyment of God’s favor wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and2. “When we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly." This is shown by our fruitless struggles to do good, under the law―no strength; `Romans 7:1-25 But in Christ’s death the life of the flesh, in which there is "no strength," and " no good thing," is „gone for faith, " condemned " with an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah, and we are " in Christ Jesus," in life and righteousness. We have a new life imparted, and are strengthened with all might according to the power of Christ’s glory. Now, this thing-the end (to faith) of man in the flesh in the cross, and death of Christ is, as you see, the definite teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and you’ll rejecting it shows inattention to the Word, if not the proof that you have not yet apprehended it, or accepted it, by faith in Christ Jesus. But it is as plainly in the Epistle to the Romans as is justification by faith through Christ’s blood from our sins. We have justification from sin, as well as from sins. For " He that has died is justified from sin." Christ has died: and so we also died with Him and are justified from sin. " We have died with Christ." This is not merely Christ dying for us: but we died with Hint out of the sphere where we were as living in the flesh under sin, His dying for us in rich mercy, and bearing our sins. has made an entire end of our sins before God; and’ we dying with Him makes as entire an end of ourselves, the old man having been crucified with Him. This is given us primarily not as matter of experience, but of knowledge. " Knowing this that our old man has bee ’ crucified with Him that the body of sin should b annulled, that we should no longer serve sin." We get out’ of the sphere of the mastership of sin, by death with Christ, just as the Hebrews got from under the mastership Cf Pharaoh by the Red Sea―death in figure. They were delivered from Egypt’s slavery by that which was death to the old tyrant and all his army. There was no more service of Pharaoh after he was drowned―so death and judgment have come upon the old master, sin. He was destroyed in the Red Sea. So the body of sin is destroyed in Christ’s death that henceforth we should not serve sin. Sin is gone as a master; and this is, for faith, a point of revealed knowledge. Do you know it? By God’s grace we have changed our place, and changed our master. We are in Christ Jesus. He alone is our Master, not I sin, and we serve Him. For we see that Scripture does! teach that the end of man-in-the-flesh has come to all who have faith in Christ Jesus, that they have died with Him to sin, and now live of his life (the old life having’ been annulled in His death)―" So also ye reckon/ yourselves dead indeed unto sin but alive to God in. Christ Christ Jesus." Blessed is the man who knows this; divine fact, and acts upon it. I have dwelt upon this subject at considerable length because of its great importance. For until this is known and accepted by faith there can be no Christian experience, and no spiritual progress. Wherever we may get to the knowledge of it―" Arabia " or elsewhere, it must be had, or else all pretense to live a Christian life is nothing worth: for Christ in heaven must remain unknown as our new head, life, center, and resource before God, if we have no knowledge o deliverance from our fallen, guilty, and irremediable condition such as the epistle of Paul to the Romans describes. If you are induced to look into the Word of God a little more closely on this all-important subject, from what I have now written, and get to see the end the cross makes of man in the flesh by a fresh reading of it I will be happy, and now, " I commend you to God and the word of his grace." " For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved we, and gave himself for me " (Galatians 2:19-20). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 127: VOL 05 - THE DEVOTED VICTIM OF PROPITIATION REMEMBERED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER ======================================================================== The Devoted Victim of Propitiation Remembered in the Lord’s Supper IT is good to remember that we eat the given body of Christ. One with Him in His glorious state, it is not of them that we partake in the supper. Enjoying vitally this position infinitely exalted, we remember the sufferings which have purchased it for us; our hearts, our consciences, our souls are nourished with the broken body; it is to Jesus dead that our thoughts recur, and to a love more powerful than death. If the body had not been broken, as Gentiles we should have remained strangers as regards the promises, and sinners destitute of all hope. A living Messiah was the crown of glory for the Jews; but, if He is lifted up from the earth, He draws all men. His broken body is the door for sinners from the Gentiles. On this the heart of the Christian is nourished, not merely as on manna come down from heaven, which typifies Jesus a man upon earth, nor on Jesus in the heavens (where we are one with Him)―it is there the hidden manna; but on the devoted victim of propitiation, which I see brought to the altar, and, there sacrificed, slain for us―a victim full of love and of devotedness. I pause before this mysterious scene, where He, all alone (for no man could be there save to bend his head and adore), where the victim of propitiation, the man Jesus, presents Himself before the face of Him, who, in His offended majesty, comes out to take cognizance of sin in order that we might find on the tracks of the righteousness of God which has burst forth and is accomplished, nothing but an infinite and immutable love; the love of the Father enhanced by the accomplishment of the eternal righteousness to His glory. It is the precious Savior, humbled to death, that we have here His body given (and one could not go lower down), and His blood shed out of His body. In that manifestly it is not a question of Jesus, such as He is at the present time; for He is glorified. This natural life He has left for us. He only presents it to God as a thing given elsewhere; but He speaks here of, a double effect of the blood which He has shed; first He speaks of it as the foundation or, at least, the seal, of the new covenant, and, secondly, as the foundation of the remission of sins of many: that is, the basis of the new covenant is now laid, and moreover it is not a question of an act which relates to Jesus only to show His obedience: this blood is efficacious for the sins o others. Although the covenant is not formed with us, it is established in Him before God, and we are in Him below. What is the consequence of it? We drink of blood. If a Jew had drank of blood under the old covenant, it was death. Could a man be nourished on death? It is the fruit of sin, it is his condemnation, it is the wrath of God, as the blood in the body was the life; and a Jew had no right to that. But Christ has suffered death. And can the Christian be nourished on death? Yes; it is salvation, the death of sin, the infinite proof of love. It is his life, the peace of his soul, the deliverance from sin, before God. What a difference! We drink of His blood. The proof of salvation and of grace, and the source of life. Nevertheless, it is Jesus dead of whom it is a question here. There is (Hebrews 13:20) another expression to which allusion may be made: God has brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. This shows us that Christ Himself is above, and has been raised according to the efficaciousness of the blood He has shed to satisfy the glory of God. He, the only and the beloved Son of the Father, charged Himself with our responsibility and our sins, and these with the, glory of God in this respect; and if this glory had not been completely satisfied, He could not evidently either rise again, or appear before Him whose majesty required that nothing should fail to the work. But He accomplished this work gloriously, and in that the Son of Man has been glorified, and God glorified in Him; and He is ascended on high, not only as Son of God, but according to the efficaciousness of His work, in virtue of which He appears before the Father, the everlasting covenant being thus established in His blood. The question here is not of an old, or of a new covenant, which refers to particular circumstances, but of the intrinsic and essential worth of the blood of Christ. We have, then, the blood of the new covenant and the remission of sins. The disciples were to drink of it, as they were also to eat of His given body, such is their portion: to be nourished on the death of Jesus, and to show it till He come. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 128: VOL 05 - THE FATHER SEEKETH WORSHIPPERS ======================================================================== The Father Seeketh Worshippers HAVE you noticed in your large acquaintance with Christian hymnology, the fewness of hymns addressed to the Father to be found in most of modern hymn books? What does this suggest but the great lack of “the Spirit of adoption" in Christian poets and in religious communities? And yet, if we study Romans 8:1-39, where true Christian position and state are characteristically laid down, we shall find that the presence and operation of the Holy Ghost are essential to the production of spiritual liberty and the experimental realization of filial relationship. The apostle John also says: " Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." " True worshippers shall worship the Father." The Father-and-the-Son truth of John give s a higher manifestation of God, and leads into nearer relationship and deeper spiritual enjoyment than the unfoldings of God’s counseled wisdom for Christ’s glory and " our glory" of St. Paul; for the former puts us into relationship with God in His nature (and God is love), the latter with God in His thoughts, purposes, and operations. Both are, beyond all expression, glorious, and in combination give us God fully revealed: for "God is light"―this is His character―and " God is love"this is His nature. But what I mean to convey is that we have few hymns in the full flow of the worshipping gladness of happy children in the conscious enjoyment of a known spiritual relationship with the Father―His children, too, not merely by eternal relationship, but by spiritual birth. “See what love the Father hath given us that we should be be called the children of God... Beloved now are we the children of God." (Tecna not huioi, for it is nature here: not dignity as in Romans 8:14). That there is not probably a dozen of good hymns purely and throughout addressed to the Father in the English language tells how little Christians have known their relationship or bowed their knees " to the Father" (Ephesians 3:14), and how very far off is the, worship of the great majority of the redeemed saints of God, although " the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared Him." Nothing more fully exposes the deficiency of Christian thought and the lack of Christian experience in its fullness of Scriptural intelligence than the hymn-books of the professing Church. The exact forms as well as the essence of Judaism have had their comprehensive and magnificent embodiment in the Hebrew Psalter; but Christianity in its depths and fullness, its form and expression, has never yet had a similarly adequate embodiment and representation in the Christian books of praise of any or all of the Churches. And I might add that the practice so common in many places of singing the Hebrew Psalter (though perfect in its place) as if it could give full expression to Christian worship tells the sad tale that they who do so do not experimentally know what true Christianity is, or what it is to " worship the Father in Spirit and in truth." "But," some will say, "how much unity in worship it would have produced had the Christian, like the Jew, had an inspired book of praise." To such we would say the Christian and the Church have that which is better than a book of praise, for in having the abiding Comforter-the ever-present Spirit-they have the well of living water. We have Christ, our life, and the Holy Spirit as a divine power for enjoying Him, and having fellowship with the Father and " through Him (Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father," and the Holy Spirit fuses all hearts in one and enables a whole assembly to worship, in spiritual-not mechanical―unity in compositions which the Spirit gives (Ephesians 5:19), " Singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Holy Ghost revealing Christ is both the power o Christian worship and the producer of the materials of Christian praise, if not in the sense of divine inspiration, yet in that of spiritual guidance, intelligent knowledge of God’s mind, and devotional expression of the worshipper’s delight in his nature, character, and love as well as the riches of His grace and glory in Christ. The saints in Christianity are trusted as full-grown men―not babes and minors like the Jews―and hence we have no inspired volume of Christian hymns made for us in the Christian Scriptures. Christians " worship by the Spirit of God" (Php 3:3). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 129: VOL 05 - THE HEAVENLY ONE AND THE HEAVENLY ONES ======================================================================== The Heavenly One and the Heavenly Ones I DO not see any difficulty in 1 Corinthians 15:47-49. Ek is the source, hence characterizes a thing in its nature. Ek pneumatos, e.g., so ex ouranou. One man is earthy dust, the other of heaven. It is not apo merely, that he come thence. Then 5: 48. As we are all what fallen Adam so our place, as in Christ, is to be just what Christ is. And as we have carried this in manifestation as Adam’, children, so we shall be manifested just such as Christ Himself, as man. It is the source, and so character, nature, and constituted condition, and, then, manifested form. Of course, we have to realize it now we are in Christ, sitting in heavenly places in Him: as He is, so are we also, in this world. This characterizes a class of Christians, the “perfect “as contrasted with forgiven children of Adam. But the state of the affections is not the subject here (1 Corinthians 15:1-58) but to be in glory like Christ acts on them now and here. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 130: VOL 05 - THE MAN CHRIST JESUS - AS SET FORTH IN LUKE'S GOSPEL ======================================================================== The Man Christ Jesus - as Set Forth in Luke’s Gospel This Evangelist writes as another witness of the same divine truths, joining in general testimony with those who had gone before him (1:1-4). But we shall find in him, as we do in them, something which gives his Gospel peculiarity and character, and which tells us that, though thus concurring with others in general testimony, the Spirit of revelation still has a special design by him. But all this different service of the same Spirit, by the different Evangelists, is not incongruity, but only fullness and variety. The oil with which Aaron was anointed, and which was mystically the fullness and virtue that rests on our adorable Lord, was made up of different odors, myrrh, calamus, cassia, and cinnamon (Exodus 30:1-38); and it is the office of one Evangelist after another, to produce different parts in this rare and sweet compound of the sanctuary, to tell out different excellencies and perfections in Jesus the Christ of God. For what one could tell out all? Surely it was sufficient joy and honor for one servant, however favored with such new revelations, to trace even one of them. The saint has the sweet profit of all together; and in language prepared for him, can turn to the beloved, and say, " because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth." Now in the midst of this various service thus distributed among the Evangelists, we shall find, I judge, that St. Luke occupies his peculiar place, by presenting Jesus to us as " the man, Christ Jesus," or the anointed man. The Lord in St. Matthew, meets the Jew as their Messiah; in St. Mark he meets a needy world as the servant of that need; in St. John he meets the Church or heavenly family as the Son of the Father, to train them for their heavenly home; but here in St. Luke he meets the human family, to speak with them as the one anointed and only sanctioned Son of Man. Indeed Son of Man may be considered as characteristically His title here, and it is a title of very extensive meaning. It expresses man in his perfectness, or man according to God. It tells us, as it were, that man stands " a new thing" in Jesus; and that in Him we see all possible human or moral beauty. He stood, if I may so express it, before the eye of the Spirit, while He was moving the hand of the Apostle to draw that picture of perfection in the human soul, which we see in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 But not only is all this moral perfectness expressed by the title " Son of Man" applied to Jesus, but all His suffering and all His dignities are likewise connected with Him as such. As Son of Man, he was bumbled so as to wonder that God should have any respect to Him (Psalms 8:1-9), but as such He is also exalted to the right hand on high (Psalms 80:1-19). As such He had not where to lay His head (Luke 9:58), but as such He also comes to the Ancient of Days to take the kingdom (Daniel 7:13). Judgment is committed to Him as such (John 5:1-47); He is Prophet, Priest, and King as such; Heir and Lord of all things; Head and Bridegroom of the Church, and more than tongue can tell. As Son of Man, He has power on earth to forgive sin (Matthew 9:6); and is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), though as the same He lay three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40). He was the wearied Sower of the seed, and He will be the glorious Reaper of the harvest, as Son of Man. He was crucified and raised again as such; but all the while, as such, had His proper place in heaven (John 3:13-14). And by and bye, as the Son of Man, He will be the center of all things, heavenly and earthly, in the kingdom (John 1:51). For it was in man that God had of old set His image; and when the first man, who was of the earth, had broken that image, the Son of God undertook to restore it; and thus to accomplish in man, the divine purpose by man, setting man in that place of honor and trust which God had of old provided for him.* (* Together with this restoration of man, Jesus brings with Him (blessed mystery!) all the value of His peculiar person as " Son of God," and " Lord of heaven.") Thus, this title or name of the Lord is an extensive one, ranging over and linking itself with His person, and with all His sorrow, and all His dignities too, save such, of course, as He owns in Himself, being " God over all blessed forever." As the Son of Man, therefore, He may be looked at in these three aspects. He is the anointed man,-the undefiled human temple raised at the beginning by the Holy Ghost, and then filled by Him (Luke 1:35; Luke 4:1). He is the humbled man, who traveled in sorrow here, down to the death of the cross (Php 2:1-30). He is the exalted man, crowned now with glory and honor, and by and bye to have all dominion (Hebrews 2:1-18). As the Son of Man, He deals with man; and in that action, I believe, our Evangelist specially presents Him to us. In this Gospel He converses with the human family; He knows man as a creature of certain faculties and passions, being Himself, all the while, the anointed man, the heavenly man, who came to exhibit man according to the mind of heaven, standing for the blessed God in the midst of the human family, who had deeply revolted from Him. He was the only fair untainted fruit of the human soil; and thus growing up in the midst, He exposes all beside. This was His purpose, and that He might do this perfectly, and exhibit in Himself man according to God, and in all beside, man departed into evil, He is eminently in this Gospel the social one. He is most generally seen here in human intercourse and in places of resort, carrying thus the anointed man everywhere, to be found and read of all. And sweet indeed would it be, if the saints read the holy lesson better. In walking before the world, their path would be the purer, in walking together it would be more refined and elevated. Not that they would put on the mode and sanctioned order of the world, but they would gracefully wear " the things that are lovely and of good report." And that would be the holy adorning of their doctrine. It would be the saint in the power of that love which behaveth itself not unseemly, but which exhibits the virtue and the praise that suits anointed men after the pattern of Jesus. As such pattern we have Him here in St. Luke. And there is beautiful order in the Gospels as they thus lie before us. The Lord had to enter the scene as to Israel, having a question with the people of His ancient election in the earth; but being refused by them, he takes His own most proper and undistracted paths, which in the Gospels, one after another, are still in order, each rising above the preceding one, and properly following it. For having tried the question with Israel in St. Matthew, he is the servant in Mark, the social Son of man in Luke, and the Son of God in St. John. He is first under as in service, then at our side in converse with us, and then above us in the solitudes of heaven. Being the rejected Heir of the Jewish vineyard in Matthew, He becomes the doer in Mark, waiting on our lower necessities, such as we have in common with other creatures, disease, infirmity, pain and want; the teacher in Luke, serving our higher necessities, such as are peculiar to us as human creatures, having human affections and faculties; the divine in John, forming for us heavenly associations as saints of God and children of the Father. This, I judge, is the characteristic order of the four Gospels. And as in the previous notices of Mark and John, I have observed the fitness of the penman to the peculiar task assigned to each of them, so do I judge the same as to Luke. We hear of Him in the divine history as the companion of the Apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 16:11, Colossians 4:2, Tim. 4, Philem. 1:1,24). He became associated in labor with one, whose ministry respected neither Jew nor Greek, but addressed itself to man as such. And indeed I believe that He Himself had been a Gentile. His name is of Gentile character, and He seems to be distinguished from brethren who were of the circumcision, as others have remarked, in Colossians 4:14. And now having thus gathered the general intent of our Gospel, and the person of its penman, I would follow it in its order. I might feel naturally desirous to do this, from previous meditations on the other Gospels. But nothing less than the joy of the Lord in ourselves, and His praise in the thoughts and delights of his saints,-should lead a step onward, even in such holy paths as these. But surely it should be the common delight of all His saints to trace Him in all His goings. For where are we to have our eternal joys but in Him and with Him? What, beloved, is suited to our delights, if Jesus and His ways be not? What is there in any object to awaken joy, that we do not find in Him? What are those affections and sympathies, which either command or soothe our hearts, that are not known in Him 2 Is love needed to make us happy? if so, was ever love like His 2 If beauty can engage the sense, is it not to perfection in Jesus? If the treasures of the mind delight us in another, if richness and variousness of knowledge fill and refresh us, have we not all this in its fullness in the communicated mind of Christ? Indeed, beloved, we should challenge our hearts to find their joys in Him. For we are to know Him so forever. And learning the perfections and beauties of His blessed word, is one of the many helps which we have to advance in our souls this joy in the Lord. May this present meditation serve this end in us, beloved, through the Spirit, for the Lord’s sake! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 131: VOL 05 - THE MAN OF SIN, THE ANTICHRIST, AND BABYLON ======================================================================== The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon When wisdom hath entered into thy heart, And knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, Understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man; From the man that speaketh deceitful things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the deceit of unrighteousness; Whose ways are crooked, And they perverse in their paths: To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the alien which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house leads down unto death, And her paths unto the shades. None that go in unto her return again, Neither take they hold of the paths of life. That thou mayst walk in the ways of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it. THE book of Proverbs is divided into five parts: the first of which ends with the ninth chapter, and treats chiefly about two women: the one called " the strange woman," and the other called the " wife." Which thing contains an allegory: for the wife (5: 8, 9) represents wisdom personified (1: 20-33; 8:-xi. 6); that is, the wisdom of God in contrast to the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God; and the strange woman represents the wisdom of this world personified. Both wisdoms are described in 1 Corinthians 1:1-31 " For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us that are saved it is the power of God. For it is written" I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the prudence of the prudent will I reject." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its. wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." All men in the world are the children of the one wisdom or of the other. We that have heard the voice of Wisdom calling to us and attended " are saved; " but those who refuse to listen to her, and disregard her, " perish," and Christ the embodiment of wisdomWill also laugh at their calamity, Will mock when their fear cometh; When their fear cometh as desolation, And their destruction cometh as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish cometh upon them, Then shall they call upon him, but he will not answer, They shall seek him earnestly, but they shall not find him. The " hidden wisdom " is veiled to those that perish, through the god of this world blinding their minds by unbelief. But unto us, the called, this Wisdom " was foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: " (which none of the rulers of this world knoweth: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); as it is writtenThe Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, From the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth; When there were no fountains abounding with water, Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: When he set a compass upon the face of the deep: When he established the clouds above: When he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree: That the waters should not pass his commandment: When he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth: And my delights were with the sons of men. When Christ was on earth he was the expression of this wisdom to men: but it was " hidden " from the wise and prudent of this world, and " revealed " only unto babes, like Peter of old, who knew Him by revelation, not of flesh and blood, but of God the Father in heaven. Let us, therefore, as many of us who are Wisdoms’ children, follow after and grow therein, let us put away all carnality and fleshly wisdom, which is incompatible with our spiritual growth, and press on from babyhood in Christ to full grown men. If any man thinketh that he is wise among us in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise: and let none of us glory in men. Who is wise and understanding among us? Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. But if we have bitter jealousy and faction in our heart, we are not to glory and lie against the truth. This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthy, sensual, devilish. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peacable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. Moreover, let as many of us as preach the gospel, preach not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but with demonstration of the Spirit and of power, conducting ourselves with " fear and much trembling " knowing the weakness of the instrument and the solemnity of the work: though as to the truth itself, we must have faith in God’s power and boldness of speech corresponding thereto). Picture to yourself a surgeon about to make a painful operation on a patient; does he not hold his breath, as it were, while executing his task, lest he make a wrong cut with his lancet, and so endanger the life of his patient? And how much more should a worker together with God take heed how he uses His word, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of both joints and marrow. In the foregoing passage quoted from James’ epistle, we have the sources of the two wisdoms traced out. The one " from above," the other " earthy, sensual, devilish." In Proverbs they are indeed personified as women; but these women, again, represent the two religions of the present day, and of all eternity-from Adam to the eternal state: (The one is the religion of Christ, the motto of which is " DONE; " but the other is that of the world, whose motto is " Do." The one is characterized by faith and godliness, the other by ritualism, ordinances, and law-keeping); and which two religions, in the form of women, are represented as having taken up their abode on earth in houses" Wisdom hath builded her house, She hath hewn out her seven pillars." Her (the strange woman’s) house leads down unto death, &c. The house of one is a spiritual house composed of living stones, even " the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." James, Cephas, and John were three of the pillars of this house. The house of the strange woman is " the synagogue of Satan," built with wood, hay, and stubble, and containing not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, even some to honor, and some to dishonor. To which of these two religions (for there are only two in God’s sight) do you cling, my reader? Do not deceive yourself; you must belong to one or the other; there is no neutral ground. When Christ was on the cross He wrought out our redemption, giving Himself a ransom for all; and He cried, " It is finished." He then finished all works required to be done to make us righteous, leaving us none to do. (" For not by works of righteousness, which we have done ourselves, but according to His mercy " must we be saved). And God was so satisfied with that one work or act of Christ in dying the just for the unjust, that He justifies all that believe in Jesus, and in the merits of that blood, which He shed upon the cross to make our peace with God-God who made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Abel was of the religion of Christ, he believed in sacrifice, a substitute in death. But Cain was of the religion of the world, he offered to God of the fruit of his own works, even the produce of his own cultivation of an accursed earth. If you, my reader, are of the religion of works, listen to these verses" Weary, working, burdened one, Wherefore toil you so? Cease your doing, all was done Long, long ago. Till to Jesus’ work you cling By a simple faith; Doing is a deadly thing- Doing ends in death. Cast your deadly doing down, Down at Jesus’ feet; Stand in Him, in Him alone, Gloriously complete. It is finished.’ Yes, indeed, Finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need, Tell me, is it not? Take heed lest you be deceived by the religion of works; for she is very seducing. " For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, And her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, Her ways are movable, that thou shouldst not know them." Hearken unto me, now, therefore, O ye children, And attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, Go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell. Going down to the chambers of death." This religion is also very plausible, showy, and clamorous: just suitable for all proud self-righteous men, who think they are all right, and on the right road, but who pay no particular heed to examine themselves by the light of God’s truth. " A foolish woman is clamorous: She is simple, and knoweth nothing; For she sitteth at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers Who go straight on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: And as for him that lacketh understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant, But he knoweth not that the dead are there; And that her guests are in the depths of hell." Moreover, let us Christians, who have believed in Christ, beware of this false religion; since it is one of ordinances and of the rudiments of the world. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and in Him we are made full and complete. Why, then, as though living in the world do ye subject yourself to ordinances, handle not, nor taste, nor touch, after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." This " strange woman " is really an adultress, who hath forsaken her true husband, the " guide of her youth," and forgotten the covenant of her God-the marriage-bond instituted of God. That is, this religion is departure or apostasy of the heart from God (which equals idolatry, see 1 John 5:21); and it is first manifested as such-I mean, the name "strange woman" is first applied to it-in the time of Solomon: Jerusalem being then the center of this religion. For the Jews were " going away backward " [lit " estranged " 1:e., they were becoming like a woman estranged to her husband, through having left him and gone to another man] Isaiah 1:4. Ezekiel says (14:5), " They are all estranged from me through their idols." Compare. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 with Jeremiah 3:1-5. Jehovah says to Israel:" For thy Maker is thine husband, The Lord of hosts is his name." " Wherefore, O Harlot, hear the word of the Lord: I will judge thee, As women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged." " Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, With abominations provoked they him to anger, They sacrificed to demons, not to God; To gods whom they knew not, To new gods that came newly up." " They like Adam have transgressed the covenant: There have they dealt treacherously against me." Adam was engaged to God as a friend or companion with whom to converse and commune by a covenant of friendship or peace, in virtue of creation; he, through transgressing it, became " alienated " or estranged in mind. Christ made up our peace with God by the blood of His cross, and now we even as many of Adam’s children who believe in the Lord Jesus, are reconciled. Israel was, however, engaged to Jehovah by a covenant of marriage in virtue of redemption from Egypt. The Jews turned their law into a wrong use; for they went about seeking to establish their own righteousness by keeping the letter thereof, and did not discern that the law was spiritual, and they carnal, sold under sin: whereas God ordained it to show man how weak and sinful he was, and to point him to Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. There never was a law made that could give either life or righteousness. They did not know the ways or heart of God: for He " desired mercy and not sacrifice." In Paul’s time the Jews sought to Judaize the Christians, 1:e., to unite the Christian faith with their religion, even to make the Christians circumcise themselves and keep the law: to whom Paul " gave place in the way of subjection, no, not for an hour; " that the truth of the gospel might continue with us. And he wrote strongly to the Galatian Christians, saying, " Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace." " I would that they which unsettle you would even cut themselves off." Peter rebuked the Judaisers sharply, " Now, therefore, why tempt ye God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? " Their religion is directly opposed and antagonistic to ours: they can never be reconciled together, though men may try to amalgamate them. Theirs is prefigured by Hagar the handmaid, who had a son born after the flesh-our’s by Sarai (who represents Jerusalem that is above, our mother); the freewoman, who had a son born through promise. " Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Howbeit what saith. the Scripture? Cast out the handmaid and her son: for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman. With freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage." But the time is quickly coming when the Church will be taken out of the world; then shall the Christian profession be overthrown; for Christ will spue it out of His mouth; and the apostasy-" the falling away " from the Christian faith to Judaism-will take place (2 Thessalonians 2:3). For " the Spirit speaketh expressly that in latter times some shall fall away [apostatize] from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines (taught) of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth." I would specially direct your attention to this fact, as to the apostasy; because the passage of Proverbs, chapter 2, quoted herein, properly applies to the period of time after the Church is caught up; though, of course, the teaching therein may, and does, apply in principle now. The metropolis of Christianity was first at Jerusalem; but when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, it removed to Antioch or Constantinople, and then afterward to Rome; and, lastly, when the Church is caught up out of the world, the metropolis of Christendom will return to Jerusalem-and, this is the apostasy. The Hebrew Christians or believers would, naturally speaking, be the first in danger of falling back to Judaism-their old religion. Therefore Paul in writing to them, says, " Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away (apostatizing) from the living God." " For as touching those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.... and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance." " Let us, therefore, go forth unto Him (Christ) without the camp (1:e., out of the Jewish fold or system of religion at Jerusalem). For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come." (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 132: VOL 05 - THE MAN OF SIN, THE ANTICHRIST, AND BABYLON. (CONTINUED.) ======================================================================== The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon. (Continued.) BUT it is a well-known fact, that the Jews will return to their own land, and build again the temple, and fortify Jerusalem, and there offer sacrifices, and perform the temple ritual as in days of old; for it will happen unto them according to the true proverb, " The dog turns to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire." This city, then, which they build up, is first of all likened to a " woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," which gives birth to a "man child " (for it is of the Jews as a nationality " whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever "). She flees by the aid of " the two wings of the great eagle" (the eagle represents the Roman power, whose standard was an eagle),, into the wilderness unto her place "-i.e., into Palestine -where she is nourished (1:e., strengthened and fortified), a time, times, and half a time. Then will all the kings of the earth go a whoring after it. It is figuratively called "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." The city is elsewhere called spiritually ‘` SODOM AND EGYPT," because there it is looked at in its relation to the Gentiles as such, and in respect to the governmental dealings of God, and not in its relation to Christendom. It is called " Babylon " because of the system of its religion which would lead men into independence of God and rebellion against Him. She is called a " Harlot " because of her persistent treachery against her LORD, Jehovah, the God Almighty. " How is the faithful city become a harlot " (Isaiah 1:21). For a description of the city in this last character read carefully the second and third chapters of Jeremiah, the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel, and the second, third, and fourth chapters of Hosea. It is called the mother of" abominations," because of its idolatry -they " worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which van neither see, nor hear, nor walk." This great city, the center of this vast system of religion-a religion that will sit as it were upon " many waters," 1:e., upon " peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," and " reign over the kings of the earth " (for by her " sorcery were all the nations deceived "), will ride upon a " scarlet colored beast " -a sovereign or emperor of great power. This beast will probably be an emperor of Rome, who, like Nero, will reign over Jerusalem, and support it by his great power and wealth. He has " seven heads," and " ten horns." " Horns " represent rulers of principalities, provinces, or dependencies. " Heads " represent " mountains," and also forms of government. Now Rome is a seven-hilled city; and it has also had seven forms of government; six had already existed in the time of John, the writer of the Apocalypse. They are, I think, the governments, such as the regal, the democratic, or republican, the decemvirate, &c. " The beast " will be of the seventh form revived, and will be of dreadful tyrannical power, cruel as a "leopard" with " bear’s feet " and a " lion’s mouth" (Paul, in referring to his first defense before the emperor, says, " I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, 1:e., out of Nero’s cruelty and power). Satan, the dragon, being cast. down out of heaven " as lightning," in thee midst of the week, will give his own authority unto the beast, who will carry on his career for three and is half years, that is, until he is destroyed by the manifestation of Christ’s coming. He is called " the man of sin, the son of perdition," and " the lawless one," in the New Testament; in the Old Testament, " the evil man," and " the wicked man," e.g., " to deliver thee from the evil man " (Proverbs 2:12). The Branch of the stem of Jesse "with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked man " (Isaiah 2:4). "Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man " (Psalms 140:1). " Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked man " (Psalms 140:4). " Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man " (Psalms 10:15) "The wicked man is snared by the work of his own hands " (Psalms 9:16). (The Septuagint has in this last quotation, instead of " the wicked man," " sinner," from which expression no doubt the words, " the man of sin " in New Testament are taken.) " Deliver my soul from the wicked man " (Psalms 17:13.) " For yet a little while, and the wicked man shall not be " (Psalms 37:10). " Attend unto me, and hear me; because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked man " (Psalms 55:2-3). "Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked man " ("sinner," Sept. Psalms 71:4). " Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be Jigged for the wicked man " (" sinner," Sept. Psalms 94:12-13). " Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; for the mouth of the wicked man (" sinner," Sept.) is opened against me " (Psalms 109:2). " Surely thou wilt slay the wicked man, O God " (Psalms 139:19). He is also called " the king of the north," because his dominion will be situated north of Palestine. The eleventh chapter of Daniel states a great deal about him. " The king will do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honor the god of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things." While he fights against "the king of the south " the ships of Chittim (1:e., English ships from Cyprus) come against him, " therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them (1:e., ally himself with them) that forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." The Lord warns the disciples saying, " Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved " (Matthew 24:9-13). " And it was given unto him (the beast, the above-mentioned king) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people, and tongue, and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain " (Revelation 13:7-8). He is also spoken of in Daniel 8:23. " And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power (1:e., it is by the dragon’s); and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; and he shall stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." He shall plant the tents of his camp between the seas against the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him," for the Lord Jesus will slay him with " the breath of his mouth," and bring him to naught by " the manifestation of his coming. It has been maintained by some, that this willful king is antichrist, the false prophet; but to a careful and unprejudiced reader, I think it will appear to be not so; for verse 36 resumes the thread of the history from verse 31, viz., " And arms shall stand on his part.... And the king shall do according to his will." Moreover, antichrist does not sit in the temple of God setting himself forth as God; but he only places the image of the beast in the temple to be worshipped; and acts as under the authority of the beast; whereas the beast himself magnifies himself above all, or that is worshipped, so that " all the earth worship him." This king is " the lawless one," the ringleader of the apostasy; whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish: because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe the lie; that they all might be judged who belies ed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness; " 1:e., judged " at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power, in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus; who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints in that day." The antichrist, the king of Jerusalem (Revelation 13:11), will be viceroy to this " man of sin," just as Herod was to Augustus, and Pontius Pilate to Tiberius. He is " he that denieth the Father and the Son " ("Who soever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also "). That is to say, he will deny that God is a Father, even. a Father that hath begotten an only Son, and that " the Son of man." In fact, he will deny the incarnation altogether, and will not confess that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." And in place of God the Father and His Son, " the image of the invisible God," he will cause all men to worship the beast, and his image, which he sets up. This is " the mystery of lawlessness," which " doth already work; only there is one (the Holy Ghost in the Church) that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way." " Even now have there arisen many antichrists." Nevertheless, " ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." The contrast to " the mystery of lawlessness " is " the mystery of godliness," which is-"God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory." The antichrist is spoken of in the Old Testament,. as " the man that speaketh deceitful things," " the unrighteous and cruel man," " and the violent man,’ &c., e.g., " To deliver thee from the man that speaketh deceitful things " (Proverbs 2:12). "Preserve me from the violent man " (Psalms 140:1; Psalms 140:4). " Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man " (Psalms 71:4). " Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; for the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me " (Psalms 109:2). "O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man " (Psalms 43:1). " Thou halt delivered me from the violent man " (Psalms 18:48. In the New Testament it is said of him: " He deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Christ exhorted the Jews that when this image of the beast, the abomination of desolation, was set up, to " flee to the mountains." But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! For then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now; no, nor ever shall be. And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened." This idolatry of worshipping the beast (and Beelzebub that works in him) is like the unclean spirit of a man which, when it is gone out of him, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. Then he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first." This passage applies to the Jews properly; but the Gentiles will turn out quite as bad; for men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof." Read carefully the seventeenth and eighteenth. chapters of Revelation. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 133: VOL 05 - THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY GHOST ======================================================================== The Presence of the Holy Ghost THE Spirit of God, as dwelling in us, may be considered in two aspects: for He unites us to the Lord Jesus, so that His presence is intimately connected with life, that life which is in Jesus. (John 14:19-20; Galatians 2:20). " He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit;" and further, His presence is that of God in the soul. The Scripture, speaking of Him in the first of these characters (which is sometimes linked to the second), says (Romans 8:2; Romans 8:9-10), that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees us from the law of sin; so that the Spirit is life because of righteousness. It is however, also said (ver. 9), " If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you; " and then His indwelling and action are blended, since (inasmuch as both are manifested by the formation of the character of Christ in the soul) " the Spirit of God" becomes " the Spirit of Christ." The " Christ in you" of verse 10 expresses the idea, more clearly, especially as the apostle adds, " if Christ be in you the Spirit is life." But in verse 16 the Holy Ghost is carefully distinguished from the Christian, for " He beareth witness with our spirit." In verses 26 and 27 the two characters of the presence of the Spirit are there remarkably shown out in their mutual connections: for " the mind of the Spirit," known to God, who searches the heart, is the life of the Spirit in the saint. But, on the other hand, " the Spirit helpeth our infirmities," and " maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God." The reason of all this is simple. On the one hand, the Spirit is there, and acts with power according to the mind of Christ; on the other hand, and in consequence of this operation, the affections, thoughts, and works, are produced, which are those of the Spirit; but yet they are also ours, because we are partakers of them with Christ, " our life " (Colossians 3:2-3), for " God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life." But the effect of the second aspect of the presence of the Holy Ghost is yet more important. The Spirit is the Spirit of God; He is God, and is, therefore, the revelation of the presence and power of God in the soul ―a revelation known through and in a new nature which is of Him. Consequently, that which is in the nature and character of God is developed where God dwells, that is, in the soul of the saint; not only is it produced in the new man, the creation of God, but it fills the soul because God is there, and there is communion with Him. For instance, the new nature loves, and this love is a proof that one is “born of God," and knows God. But this is not all: there is, moreover, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost―that is to say, the presence of the God who communicates this new nature to us. Therefore we read (Romans 5:5), " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." We are loved-we know it, and have the proof of it in the gift of the precious Savior, and in His death for us. (Ver. 6-8.) But there is something more; the perfect and infinite love shed abroad in our hearts (poor vessels as they are), and the Holy Spirit, who is God, is there (and is free to be there because we are purified by the blood of Christ)―He is there to fill these vessels with that which is divine, the love of God. It is also added (ver. 11),that we joy in God. Therefore, looking at the presence of the Spirit as demonstration of power in the soul, the Apostle John affirms that " hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath given us." (1 John 3:24.) But, as this might be applied merely to the varied energy. of the Spirit in the soul, it is stated, farther on, that " love is made perfect in us," namely, the love of God to us. Here it is no longer a question of us, of our affections; of our thoughts; but the soul is filled with the fullness of God, which leaves no room for anything else; there is no discord in the heart to spoil the essential character of divine love. God, complete in Himself, excludes all that is contrary to Himself; otherwise He would be no longer Himself. To avoid mysticism (the enemy’s corruption of these truths) the Holy Ghost adds by the same pen, " herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us " (1 John 4:10); and the proof of this is based on that which is above all human thought and knowledge, namely, on the acts of Himself in Christ. On the other hand, the presence of the Spirit is not given aim as proof of God’s dwelling in us, two things which are identical, but it is written, “hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." This presence of God in love not only fills our narrow souls, but places us in Rim who is infinite in love. United to Christ by the Holy Ghost, one in life with Him, and the Spirit acting in us, " we dwell in God, and God in us." Therefore it is said that " God has given us of His spirit; " that is to say, God in virtue of His presence and of His power, makes us morally partakers of His nature and character, by the Holy Ghost in us, whilst giving us the enjoyment of communion with Himself, and at the same time introducing us into His fullness. I would here just point out the distinctive characters of the Epistles of Paul, Peter, and John. Paul was raised up in an extraordinary manner for the especial purpose of communicating to the church the order, method, and sovereignty of the divine operations; and to reveal the place which the church holds in the midst of all this, inasmuch as she is united to Christ, and is the marvelous object of the counsels of God in grace; as the apostle says (Ephesians 2:7), " that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus," or by His dealings with regard to the church: the wisdom of God, the righteousness of His ways, and the counsels of His grace on this subject, are largely and (as all revelation) perfectly set forth in the writings of Paul. John takes up another point, that of the communication of the divine nature, what that nature is, and, consequently, what God is, whether in His living manifestations in Christ, or in the life which He communicates to others. Without this community of nature communion were impossible; for darkness can have no fellowship with light. But, as we have already seen, the Apostle goes still farther: we dwell in God, and God in us, by the Holy Ghost; and thus, as far as we are capable of it, we enjoy what God is in Himself, and become the manifestation of Him (the limit to this manifestation being only in the vessels in which God has taken up His abode). How great are the varied riches of the goodness of God! This communion with Him, which raises us as far as possible towards the fullness of Him who reveals Himself in us, is certainly something very sweet and precious; but the tenderness of God towards us, -poor pilgrims on the earth, and His faithful love, so needed in our weakness to carry us onward to the goal, are not less so. The testimony of Peter, in his first epistle, treats of that which God is for the pilgrim, and of what the latter should be for God. The resurrection of the Messiah has set the pilgrim on his road; and thereon are presented the faithfulness of God, and the encouragement which His power gives to our hope by this resurrection of Christ the Son of the living God, though rejected of men; and lastly, the apostle speaks of the walk, the worship, and the service which flow from it. John presents to us that which is most exalted in communion, or rather in the nature of communion; consequently, he does not touch on the subject of the church, as an object of divine counsels, but of the divine nature. Paul treats of that which is perfect, not in respect of communions but of counsel. In his writings God is glorified more especially as the object of faith, though he speaks of communion too. (Romans 5:5.) Where in the same chapter (ver. 11), he speaks of God as the one in whom the Christian is to glory, he places Him before and not as in us―as the object for faith to lay hold of and not as dwelling in the heart. This divine and infinite blessing―this love perfected in us, communicated by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and realized by our dwelling in God and He in us―has led some to think that, when this point is attained, the flesh can exist in us no longer; but this is to confound the vessel with the treasure placed in it, and of which it has the enjoyment. We are in the body which still awaits its redemption: only God can dwell in it, because of the sprinkling of the blood by faith. This sprinkling does not correct the flesh, but only renders testimony both to the perfection of the expected redemption and to the love to which we owe it. When in real enjoyment of God, we may for a moment lose sight of the existence of the flesh, because then the soul (which is finite) is filled with that which is infinite. But even in these moments of blessedness one cannot doubt but that the flesh is an obstacle to the larger and more intelligent action of love. Paul caught up into the third heaven (a privilege which the flesh would have used to puff him up with, and which made a thorn needful) is a proof to us that grace does not change the flesh. Alas! even the joy of which we are speaking, without watchful dependence upon Christ gives dangerous occasions of action to the flesh, because there is so much littleness in us, that, forgetting who gives the joy, we lean on the feeling of the joy, instead of dwelling in Christ, the Fountain-head of it. Nevertheless, it is certain that the love of God made perfect in us, is a reality, and the Christian is called to know God, and to enjoy Him as dwelling in Him. I have but one more remark to make. When we are full of the love of God, we enjoy it with a power that hinders our seeing anything, especially the objects of the goodness of God, save with the eye of divine love. But where there is a real knowledge of the existence and nature of this love of God, the walk will also be characterized by faith in that love, even though the heart may not realize the whole power of it; and, thus, we shall dwell in God and He in us. But since this fullness of joy can only be realized by the action of the Spirit, it is easy to understand that, if grieved, He will become a Spirit of reproof; judging the ingratitude with which such love, as the love of God is requited, instead of filling the heart with that love; though it is impossible for Him to cast a doubt upon it. It is evident that the love made perfect in us is the work of God; and this it is which forms the joy-the whole of the state. That which the Holy Ghost sheds abroad in our hearts is the love of God; and this love, powerful in our hearts, cannot but show itself externally. That which I have said does not, properly speaking, belong to the operations of the Holy Spirit, but the subject is of the greatest importance. And this importance, which is that of the fruits and grand results of the presence of the Holy Ghost (for by it the love of God and of Christ is glorified, as far as it is possible here below), seemed to render a few remarks upon this subject desirable. May God bless them to the reader! May it please Him to realize in us the things of which I. speak on the subject of revelation, and may He so bless us that the truth may have its full weight on the soul, so that we may know, with all the beloved church of Christ, what it is to have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us according to the power of the love of God! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 134: VOL 05 - THE PRESENT SUBSTITUTE FOR THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES ======================================================================== The Present Substitute for the Feast of Tabernacles THE Holy Ghost is spoken of as substituted for the last or eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles. But the Lord presents the Holy Ghost in such a way as to make Him the hope of faith at the time in which He spoke, if God created a sense of need in the soul. If any one thirsted, let him come to Jesus and drink. Not only should his thirst be quenched, but from the inner man of his soul should flow forth streams of living water: so that coming to Him by faith to satisfy the need of their soul, not only should the Holy Ghost be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life, but living water should also flow forth from them in abundance to refresh all those who thirsted. When Israel drank of the rock in the wilderness, there was no well in them or outflow from them. Under grace every believer is not, doubtless, a source in himself: but the full stream flows from him. This, however, would only take place when Jesus was glorified; and in those who were already believers, previous to their receiving it. It is a gift to those who believe. The Spirit is given in connection with the glory of Jesus. when He is hidden from the world. It was also on the eighth day of the feast, the sign of a portion beyond the Sabbath rest of this world, and which begins another period-a new scene in glory. Observe also that the Holy Ghost’s presence is the fruit of a spiritual thirst-of felt need in the soul, need for which the soul had sought an answer in Christ. Then a river for others. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 135: VOL 05 - THE SEEING OF GOD THE ABHORRING OF SELF ======================================================================== The Seeing of God the Abhorring of Self THERE has been in our day a blessed action of God’s Spirit for the glory of Christ and the blessing of God’s saints, bringing them into a state conformable to the greatness and glory of the testimony the Spirit is carrying on for the honor of His risen and exalted Son. There has been a divine energy of the Spirit in the ministry of the Word which has gathered out a mass of souls professedly to Christ and the things above, " Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," but wherever there is any extraordinary work of God it not only acts upon those who are its proper subjects but its moral force is extended to a " mixed multitude " who, from not being formed after a divine sort, but only in a human way, are carried forward in a natural manner; and instead of lending strength to the spiritual movement they become its weakness. And even when there has been a real work accomplished in souls, there has been another source of weakness introduced: the persons blessed clustered in a natural way around the instruments through whom the blessing reached them, and this became a snare to both parties, and weakened the power of the testimony to the Holy One and the True, the Sovereign Opener. God was not fully trusted, but there was a natural leaning upon an arm of flesh, and when this gave way, many blessed, but unestablished, saints who had been rejoicing in the new life in the Spirit, and fresh blessing, gave way: for where faith was only in a leader and not in the living God, if his faith failed, and he became discouraged because of some " Perrez-Uzzah," those attached to him had not spiritual energy to stand fast in the Lord, hold on, and go forward. " The children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth." As in human, so in spiritual " affairs," there is " a tide " which must be taken " at the flood " if any great spiritual achievement is to be accomplished. The flood came, but for lack of faith and " virtue " it has not led on to spiritual fortune, but has become dissipated into general failure. If a ship is seen to be going to pieces on the shallows, what is the great and uppermost thought in the minds both of those who are in the ship and on the shore? The rescue of the passengers and crew. Man the lifeboat, and strike out boldly through the stormy sea and save all you possibly can! And if there be religious shipwreck, is it not like God that there should be a fresh energy of the Spirit in rescuing shipwrecked saints, and bringing them to land? It was true moral condition that was wanting; and the pressure in ministry carrying many before it without chart, rudder, or compass, or the personal ability to profit by them had they possessed them, a break-down was inevitable; and it has come in the case of thousands. But is God to allow his children to perish in the storm? Will Christ Jesus not be seen walking on the stormy waves for the rescue of His imperiled disciples? A sure work of rescue is being done, in the riches of God’s grace, for such as have felt their misery as lost saints (has did Job), as truly as they had felt their misery as lost sinners. Job was what all would call a most beautiful character: yet it was a dreadful time to the " perfect " man of Uz when God allowed Satan to break him in pieces and his friends to charge him falsely, until he cursed the day of his birth; but it led to a blessed issue. Few saints have seen God and stood face to face with Him, until their utter evilness of, nature has been seen in a truthful and humbling way that led them to thorough self-judgment according to the holiness of God. But Job had this when he is led to exclaim: " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." He saw himself a ruined man in his circumstances when all the calamities detailed in the earlier part of the book overtook him: his friends, " miserable comforters " tried to ruin him in his character by proving to their own satisfaction that he must be a wicked man to be subjected to such judgments; but when he saw God it was neither in circumstances nor in character, he saw the ruin, but in himself. As Isaiah, when he saw God, cried out: “Woe is me for I am, undone," so when Job saw God he saw the utter worthlessness of self (which be had not seen when all was going well with him), and he said, " Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." In the presence of Satan when he smote’ him with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown, " he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes." But when he saw God there is no thought of sitting down "to scrape himself " but he says, " I abhor myself and repent "―judge myself utterly good-for-nothing, and not to be improved by any amount of scraping: " and repent in dust and ashes." A true sight of God exposes a saint to himself so thoroughly that good self and bad self are equally an abhorrence. “I ABHOR MYSELF." God must have reality in His saints, however grievous it be to Him to bring them through the terrible ordeal necessary to secure it That which they had, for faith, at the " Red Sea " must come in as trial, testing, and humbling in " the wilderness." By any means and every means: ruined circumstances, broken health, death in the family, character impeached by friends who profess to be " comforters," by inward agonies and outward neglect, Job had to be broken down, but it was a sight of God that produced self-abhorrence and true repentance. When he found out that he had been contending with God he said, “Behold Iam vile," but when his eye saw Him, he said, " I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This sheds wonderful light on the Lord’s words, " If any man will come after me let him deny himself:" let him deny there is such a good-for-nothing person. Saints who see God now see the end of man in Christ’s cross: " They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts," and thus, for faith, self is denied; and the man of faith speaks on this wise, " I have been crucified with Christ;" " Knowing that the old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed." Job made a fresh start from the grave of self, as does the Christian from the cross and grave of Christ, and "the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:" just as the saint of the present time makes a fresh start from Christ’s cross and grave in new life in " the second man," a new creation in a risen Christ. Not a few souls who had become stranded, when the testimony of God as to Christ and the restoring work of the Spirit for His glory was presented, and the end of self shown in the cross, were so deeply moved by it that they seemed on the point of being willing to descend into the grave of self and flesh; when all at once they started back from the fearful ordeal that stared them in the face, when they saw t hat the demand was to part with all that flesh holds dear, and have a glorified Christ, and all that one finds in Him instead of self and man’s world, including the world that is composed of a happy circle of saints. Being like Job, of a beautiful character and having a good reputation, and a circle of friends who would regard the devotedness that completely sets aside the first man and all his belongings, counting all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and being as singular as Paul who eventually lost all his Christian friends, and had to stand alone, only the Lord standing with Him, they shrank from being so literally for Christ, dreading the complete cutting off from the world which the cross gives, the entire abandonment of self as a thing to be abhorred, the parting from the delightful, yet self-centered, society of earnest Christian friends, and becoming " as little children," and as such to find themselves regarded as extreme, peculiar, assuming, or weak-minded by those who were wont to regard them with the highest respect and the most cordial affection. But there will be the abhorring and denying of self in every shape and form, if the Spirit give a true knowledge, spiritual apprehension, and enjoyment of Christ in glory. What was self to the angel-faced Stephen when he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God 2 Not so much as to make him distracted (though the stones beat upon his poor body) from exhibiting the power and grace of his living association with that glorified One, for he prayed for his murderers, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." What was self to the persecuting zealot Saul when from the brightness above the mid-day sun he heard " that Just One " say, " am Jesus whom thou persecutest;" or when, as the Apostle from the Christ of glory and pressing towards Him as his goal, he could utter as his watchword" That I may win Christ and be found in Him "" One thing! " I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. For our living association is in heaven, whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior." The divine exclusiveness of the Spirit’s action that leaves the saints with " no man save Jesus only," has proved too severe for even some of the foremost in zeal and service: they saw the consequences, stopt short, and failing in faith to go out stript and bare, the cross on a naked shoulder: their hearts failed them to become wholly detached from the first man, and live and move and have their being in a risen Christ in a new creation; they listened to the counsels of their own hearts, aided by the syren voice of trusted friends, and, with their desires for better things suppressed, they found their way back into the ordinary fellowship of unspiritual professors who refuse to allow that there is any higher enjoyment of Christ than they themselves have known, or any deeper work of the Spirit than they have experienced. This knowing of men " after the flesh " took saints practically off the ground of resurrection, or rather showed it had never been known in the power of the Spirit in their souls, and that life only in Christ and new creation, where " all things are of God," was practically unknown. Though they have come out to Christ, in heart they have returned to Egypt, and they have failed to experience as a living reality in their souls either the deliverance of the Red Sea with its triumphant song―the humbling process of the wilderness where the only resource is in God, or the divine entrance into the practical enjoyment of Christ in glory, and all spiritual blessing in Him, through the dried up Jordan, where the Red Sea and the Jordan coalesce, and death and resurrection with Christ are made good in the soul in the solemn moment when the ark rested in the midst of the river; they have neither come to the twelve stones set up in Gilgal, nor to what is meant by the twelve stones now hidden in the bed of the river where the feet of the priests that bare the ark rested until all the people had clean passed over Jordan. Oh, what a falling of carcases there has been in the wilderness! It is a solemn and salutary recollection for us all that only two men of the warrior host that came out of Egypt entered into Canaan: and that even the two most prominent leaders, Moses and Aaron, failed of entrance. God must have reality in His saints: and He will ensure the having of it even if it should be by “terrible things in righteousness." But if we " hear the rod and who hath appointed it," and humble ourselves un der it, we shall find that there is still the same mighty heart behind His " mighty hand." But whoever thinks of reaching the practical enjoyment of full blessing in Christ, while the world is clung to, self unjudged, and the holiness of God and the end of man in the flesh in the cross is not seen, and still to go on and prosper as if nothing had happened, will find that the Holy Ghost must refuse to have a heavenly Christ and His witness to Him identified with such lightness. God must have realities, and if His saints refuse to reach them in grace and by the Spirit’s unfoldings of God fully revealed in Christ, He will have to break them in pieces by judgment that we may not be condemned with the world. Whatever the means, God Himself must do all; and it will be accomplished by His grace. God may use a Jehu and his false zeal for the Lord to inflict His judgment upon iniquity; but it is a Hezekiah’s confession and" carrying forth of the filthiness from the Holy place " that He employs to initiate the return to the worship of God in His appointed way, and to bring about a fresh work of general revival and joy, the like of which there had not been " since the time of Solomon." And grace alone secures holiness. " Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all." Blessed iconaclasm! God secures realities by the fresh action of His grace. And when we read of Hezekiah that " he in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord," we are prepared to hear of the blessed time and work of grace that followed. His first concern was with the awful state of the "house of the Lord," and all his efforts were directed towards that which was central and essential―the having the house and worship of God in their midst according to His Word. His heart was set upon God Himself, and his soul was humbled by the utter desolation of His house; and while he makes the deepest confession of their sinful and miserable state, he set about having the worship of God in God’s way, “And when they had made an end of offering; the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. So the service of the Lord’s house was set in order. And Hezekiah rejoiced and all the people that God had prepared the people for the thing was done suddenly." It is the divinely-humbled soul God meets with His grace, and lifts up in the power of His Spirit, gives nearness to Himself in holy, happy fellowship, and uses for the blessing of others. “He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath sent empty away." “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." Christ hath not given up His assembly, but ever nourishes and cherishes it; and God has not given up His family, but watches over them with that same love that He had when He chose them in Christ, and gave His Son to redeem them, a love from which nothing can separate them. Yet there would seem to be an election according to grace now in a fallen Church, just as there was an election according to grace among the Jews when their doom as a nation had been suspended over them. How few have responded to the extraordinary grace of God in bringing out the revived testimony of the apostolic times. And how many who are professedly attached to it know nothing about it; so that the work that has brought the multitude together in acknowledged unity needs to be done over again in the power of the Holy Ghost, linking the soul of the individual in living and conscious association with Christ and heavenly things. It was so at the beginning, and it will be so at the close. The Spirit had baptized the waiting disciples into one body and made them all drink one Spirit. But the word. to the awakened Jews was: " Repent and be baptized every one of you, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." This was the individual work at the beginning; and " if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me," shows the individual character of the work continuing to the close. When vessels to dishonor, like Hymenæus and Philetus, appear as they now do in the house of God., grace acts in individuals to bring out separation by a personal purification, and we read, " If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good. work." (2 Timothy 2:21.) " These things saith he that is holy, he that is true; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth. I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and not denied. my name." The Word. and Name of the Holy and, the True, the Word as written, the Person as revealed, are all to the soul that knows the power of the gathering grace that causes saints to cluster around the glorious Son of God, and like the Annas and Simeons of the end of the Jewish dispensation " to wait for the Lord. Jesus Christ as Savior,” and the promised. " redemption" that shall be ours by resurrection or transformation when " the Lord himself shall descend from heaven" to take us in glorious bodies like His own to the heavenly home in the Father’s house, of which He hath spoken. But some will say, there is nothing new in all this: it is only that which has been sounding in our ears ever since we listened to the gospel of the glory of Christ. But the novelty is that by the grace of God it is going farther than the ears, for in the fresh power of God’s Spirit it is now sounding in convicted consciences, humbled souls, and bowed and melted hearts. “Has this been the case with you?" I would ask of such saints as are full of the recovered truth, position, and privileges, making them feel "rich and increased in goods," and having need of nothing. “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Are you convicted of never having seen God―never having had fellowship with the Father and the Son, giving fullness of joy? Has yours been a Christianity that is a mere Jewish thing―as if the veil were still unrent and God behind a curtain dwelling in the thick darkness? Have you a consciousness that you have never gone into the presence of God fully revealed in Christ and His cross and death, by the new and living way, new-made for us through the veil that is to say His flesh? And have you been convicted that, even though a saint, and loved. as such by the Lord. Jesus, you have never had personal intimacy and fellowship with Him such as this to which His own word of love calls you? Then may God grant that you may regard His knock, hear His voice, and open to a waiting, loving Jesus, and no longer have Him outside your door, but dwelling in your hearts by faith in the energy of the Spirit, that being rooted and grounded in love, and knowing the love Christ that passeth knowledge, ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Oh! that we may all give heed to the rousing midnight cry: " BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM! Go ye out to meet Him! " ======================================================================== CHAPTER 136: VOL 05 - THE TRUTH AND THE SPIRIT ======================================================================== The Truth and the Spirit " I SOMETIMES think that we are experiencing a little what must have been felt sorely by some at the close of the apostolic age, that after all the truth that had been taught it was little understood and could be, as it indeed was, quickly surrendered, and lost. Are we to witness this? May we be kept, for we cannot keep ourselves. How comforting are the closing words of Jude. ’ To him who is able to keep us from falling,’ &c” This excerpt from a brother’s letter is sadly true and suggestive. The ease and rapidity with which the most important truth is given up at the present hour are amazing. And even the truth of the unity of the body seems flowing out with the current. The leak is still increasing. A work of the Spirit is so fine in its nature and workmanship, that it is easily spoiled if human hands are laid upon it, and as the finest fruits when rudely handled never recover it, but soon go to corruption, so is it with the product of the Spirit if it is handled by human hands: it loses its freshness and beauty, languishes and ends in rottenness; and (as has been truly said), the corruption of the best thing is the worst corruption. That we may see this as to the Christian profession, let us read 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Jude; Rev. 2., 3., 17.-19. Receiving and holding fast the truth in the Spirit are ever associated with progress in spirituality, and excellence of moral practice. The losing of the truth tends to spiritual death and moral corruption. When some in Corinth denied the resurrection, it told on their morality. The Spirit warns of consequences when, quoting a heathen poet, he says, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." “Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake up righteously, and sin not, for some have ignorance of God. I speak this to your shame." Ignorance of God as a moral being accompanied the denial of the truth of resurrection. Adding law to Christ for the Christian life led the Galatians back practically from the Spirit to the flesh, and, in principle, from Christianity to heathenism, so that the apostle stands in doubt of them, lest he should have bestowed upon them labor in vain. Paul is in an agony for the churches he himself had planted, when he saw symptoms of " not holding the head," and he seeks with all urgency to detach the Hebrews from " ordinances," knowing how they were hindered by them from advancement in the truth and the word of righteousness; while Timothy is continued in Ephesus " to enjoin some not to teach other doctrines nor turn their minds to fables and endless genealogies, which bring questionings rather than God’s dispensation, which is in faith." The apostle had warned the elders of this church of grievous wolves coming in, not sparing the flock, and of men arising among themselves speaking perverted things to draw away disciples after them. The state of the church after the decease of the apostles as preserved in the writings of the apostolic fathers, tells of no gradual losing of the truth (that had gone on while the apostles lived), but of a complete and immediate descent, as it were, from heaven to earth! It is one thing to have the truth fully taught, but none except spiritual and exercised souls will receive and retain it: and they are always the few. Only a vessel formed by the Spirit can keep the precious deposit: and God’s assembly keeping it is the pillar and ground of the truth. Where the power of the Spirit is enjoyed, and all eyes are lifted up to the Lord on high, the saints are kept fresh in a living atmosphere of divine things, and the power of the Spirit giving a sense of the presence of God, is so sustaining that, like Moses on the mount, food may not be required―the food I mean, of a solid kind, can for a time be dispensed with, being made up for by the atmosphere of living truth with which souls are enveloped by means of the Spirit’s presence revealing Christ. The atmosphere in such circumstances is laden with nourishment: and the least portion of truth, in this spiritual diffusion can be made to fill the whole soul with the strength and sweetness of Christ. But when the’ Spirit is grieved, quenched or resisted, his strengthening and refreshing power is gone, and the more the truth presented the worse is the state produced: for ’nothing is more hardening than the loading of disordered minds with the strong meat of Christian truth that can be received with profit only by broken spirits and divinely exercised souls. Self and the things which nourish it allowed gives a disrelish for the things of the Spirit; and the glorious Son of God is only half a Savior to selfish souls. We have forgotten that Christianity was inaugurated with such a power of the Holy Ghost as to fill the whole of those brought under His influence with a torrent of spiritual fervor through their enjoyment of Christ made real in the Spirit such as led to the obliteration of selfishness, and the replacing of it by the love for one another that flowed forth in grace: and, under the truth preached, the Spirit led naturally to divine unity, happy fellowship, and refreshing worship. The presence of the Spirit revealing inwardly an exalted Christ became to the saints both truth and power. This is the secret of unity; and unless this be enjoyed the power of unity, communion and advancement in the knowledge of Christ is gone! and the efforts of human energy to supply its place only make matters worse. Neither the truth nor fellowship one with another can be had except in the living grace and power of the Spirit. What we want, then, is living faith, fervor and self-sacrificing grace such as the disciples had when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them, and they were breathing in the atmosphere that surrounds a heavenly Christ. A Spirit-given experience of Christ flowing from the precious truth we have received is a rich legacy for which we have great cause to be thankful, but has not the truth all but ceased to have its commanding power over us; and in order to have it coming afresh in all its pristine spiritual force we must look more in the expectancy of faith to the having’ of the Holy Ghost acting in His primitive energy in the midst of us, and filling the whole of the sphere of God’s assembly with the full spiritual flow of " the river of God," so that freshness of life in the Spirit, growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, practical beneficence and spiritual devotedness, liberty in worship and social gladness may be enjoyed as in those early days when the ascended Christ had been seated at God’s right hand and crowned with glory and honor. The wheat that had lain for three thousand years in the dried-up palm of a mummy’s hand had shown no signs, all those ages, of the life that was silently enwrapped in its every grain; but when it had " the scent of water," and was buried in a moist and cultivated soil, it germinated, sprung up, ripened, and propagated itself, until, in course of years, it waved in yellow harvests over the autumn fields, and fed the hunger of thousands of living, men. There is, also, life in every grain of revealed truth by which the Holy Ghost sets forth the heavenly glory and personal beauty of a risen and glorified Christ; but who amongst us is not sorrowfully conscious that even this divine seed, as now ministered, has become like the dry wheat in the ancient mummy’s hand, for it too often finds neither utterance nor entrance in the living power of the Spirit of God; and the good seed not finding the proper soil of good and honest hearts, there is not the return of thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold: Christ is not magnified: saints remain unrefreshed, and sinners unblessed. What we should covet earnestly, and pray for constantly, is that the truth of the gospel of the glory of Christ should be given forth by those who minister it in the power of the Spirit with the eye fixed, like the angel-faced Stephen’s, on a glorious Jesus at the right hand of God; and that it should be received into souls, and hearts, divinely touched, in the living power of the Holy Ghost as on the day of His coming to earth; for what is truth apart from Him who is the truth in the glory of God, or apart from the Spirit, " who is the truth " in the Church on earth? " It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is the truth.’ Christ Himself is the whole thing on high: the Spirit Himself is the whole thing on earth: Christ is the truth objectively: the Spirit is the truth subjectively and we must have both not only in object and witness, but in life and power, giving a conscious enjoyment to the soul of Christ and all that is in Him, so that He may dwell in the heart by faith and by the Holy Ghost, and our joy may be full. When this is so there will be a hidden spring of living water opened that will spring up unto everlasting life, keeping soul and heart fresh in a living enjoyment of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, so that the whole of the springs of God’s thoughts and affections being made common property in Christ by the Spirit in our souls and hearts, rivers of living water shall flow out from us to the refreshing of ourselves and others and the spiritual blessing of thirsty souls. Standing, some years ago, on the bridge of Motala, a town on the eastern shore of the great Swedish lake Vettern, that stretches about eighty English miles along the highest part of the middle of the country, and consequently receiving no great rivers, we were amazed to see the mighty river, crystal-clear, that flowed out in sparkling freshness from this calm inland sea. No great rivers flowed into it, and yet this great river flowed out of it! There was no visible supply. But the constant fullness of the lake and the outflow of the vast volume of its crystal river are accounted for they say by the fact that there are great hidden springs in the bottom of the lake itself, which ceaselessly send forth their copious supply of filtered waters. This furnishes a striking illustration of the hidden springs opened to us who believe, " in Christ in God," and of the living water of the inward well of life ever springing up in divine fullness of life, love, power and blessing when there is " the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," causing refreshing rivers of living water to flow out of us in a holy Christ-like life, and in a spiritual testimony that will minister richest heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus wherever the rivers flow. It was so on the day of the first Pentecost after Christ’s ascension, when the promised Spirit came and “they were all filled with the holy Ghost," and the disciples testified of a glorified Christ with such power that three thousand souls believed and " were added together " to praise and warship God. And as they continued to preach Christ, the only name given amongst men whereby we must be saved, “many of those who heard the word, believed, and the number of the men had become five thousand." And when the rulers thought to stop them, they appealed against them to the Lord, with whom is all power in heaven and on earth; " and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke the word of God with boldness... and with great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33). This ministry of the Spirit went on " and the word of God increased, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem was greatly multiplied, and a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith " (Acts 6:7). " And Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought wonders and great signs among the people," and so testified of God’s grace in Israel, and their resisting of the Spirit, and being betrayers and murderers of the Just One, that they, " hearing these things, were cut to the heart, and gnashed their teeth against him; but being full of the Holy Ghost, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God," when they rushed upon him, cast him out of the city, and stoned him, praying and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; and, having said this, he fell asleep." Full of the Holy Ghost, his eyes on heaven full of Jesus at the right hand of God, his was a ministry of living power of conviction and divine power of personal sustainment, and, like his Lord, he became so superior to his evil circumstances that he prayed for his murderers (Acts 7:1-60) When Philip went down to a city of Samaria, and preached Christ to them, the crowd with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip. The same evangelist preached Jesus to the Eunuch of Ethiopia, and he believed, was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:1-40). Saul, the persecutor, was converted by the word of power uttered from the heavens by Jesus in person, and immediately preached the faith which once he destroyed (Acts 9:1-43). As Peter was " preaching peace by Jesus Christ," and telling of his anointing, life, death, resurrection, and that through him all who believe should receive remission of sins, " the Holy Ghost fell upon all those who were hearing the word," and they " were baptized in the name of the Lord" (Acts 10:1-48). When some of those who had been scattered abroad by the persecution that took place about Stephen went to Antioch and preached to the Greeks also, as well as to the Jews, the gospel of the Lord Jesus, “the Lord’s hand was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord." When Paul and Barnabas were sent forth from Antioch by the Holy Ghost, and came to another city of this name, their word of salvation was with power, "and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 13:1-52). And wherever the river of God came this was the result. " But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and makes manifest the odor of his knowledge by us in every place " (2 Corinthians 2:1-17). " For our gospel was not with you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance." No fruitless preaching then! When the word was preached in apostolic times, there was a constant stream of living power in connection with it, Christ was magnified, and souls were blessed. And are there not some who can thank God for His grace that they have seen similar workings of the Spirit in our day. Whole congregations have been known to pass under His gracious power simultaneously; saints have been filled to overflowing, and sinners have been convicted and converted. In one hour His mighty energy has "turned the shadow of death into the morning," and caused a blessed time of refreshing to God’s saints, and of salvation to the lost. God’s ordinary processes in nature are carried on by quiet means: but at times He employ the earthquake, the hurricane, and the thunder-storm. So in grace His work is done quietly and silently His word distilling "as dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass," but He sometimes causes His Spirit to fall upon whole congregations like the bursting of the thunder-cloud, drenching the assembled multitude with divine power and saving blessing. Might not God in sovereignity, cause this action of the Spirit for Christ’s glory to be given now, when "the Churches" are departing from the faith, sinking into the world and losing the truth of God and Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the inspired word, and are rapidly going into religious infidelity, and when those who have been gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus so feebly witness either to His grace or glory, the unity of His body, or the purity and beauty of His bride? All things ecclesiastical seem fast hastening to ruin. Truth has been pouring out from the denominations like a river! The ease and rapidity with which they are giving up the distinctive doctrines of Christianity makes the faithful believer stand amazed. And the shattering of those gathered in unity on divine ground as by the shock of an earthquake has occurred simultaneously with this defection, and the objects for which they were gathered seem slipping away from their grasp also. We are in the very heart of an awful crisis, such as neither we nor our fathers have witnessed, and it becomes us to lay it to heart and give glory to the Lord our God before He cause darkness. Ere long God must interpose. Shall it be in giving fresh power in witness to " the testimony of our Lord," and a work of grace by the Spirit of God, or by the coming of the Lord and judgment on the world? The solemnity of the moment is unutterable! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 137: VOL 05 - WHY THERE IS A LACK OF FELLOWSHIP ======================================================================== Why There Is a Lack of Fellowship A SPIRITUAL believer and a worldly one are like oil and water, which may be together in the same vessel, yet do not make a mixture―far less a diffusion. The spiritual and the carnal may be together in the same outward fellowship, yet there s no inward communion. They do not have the same common elements before their souls, hence their spiritual communion is impossible. This is the secret of broken fellowship, and heaviness in worship. The instrument of praise has many strings out of tune, and hence discord arises. Saints who meet in the same assembly are not on speaking terms with each other spiritually. When they meet they have nothing to say to each other on spiritual things. They are not in the same spiritual condition, and their consciousness of the incompatibility shuts them up from each other in silence. And if they have nothing in common for spiritual converse, how can they have anything in common in prayer and worship? The one part of an assembly have Christ and the things above before their souls: the other part are in very broad and constant contact with the world: the consequence is the tone and spirit of the assembly are dragged down; and it may take a whole hour before the saints are brought up to a worshipping spirit: and very frequently there is no consciousness of Worshipping in one body at all. In saints being so generally mixed up with the world, and not separate from it and with the Lord in spirit outside of it in a new world, is the explanation of the moral deadness of assemblies and their incapacity for worship. That the world acts to lower the moral tone and to put saints out of living fellowship with one another, Scripture affords abundance of sorrowful illustration. Is it not remarkable, too, how strikingly the more prominent instances go in pairs? The mere statement of a few examples will show this:― 1. Abraham, the man of faith, had his Lot, who ultimately left him and went to Sodom. 2. Moses, the man of God, had his Aaron who, when he was on the mount with God, went into idolatry to please the people. 3. David, had his Jonathan, who, though he loved him as he laved his own soul, yet left his fellowship in the outside place to return to his seat at the king’s table. His heart was with David, and his fellowship with Saul! Alas! how many saints are like him. 4. Elijah had his Obadiah, who professed great respect for Elijah, yet, having been in fellowship with wicked Ahab, he felt that there was no communion between the separate "man of God" and himself when he met him. How small Obadiah felt to be looking after sustenance for Ahab’s horses and mules when he met the faithful man of God who had been in the outside place, entirely hidden and sustained by God at the time when he had been figuring as chamberlain in the king’s household. 5. Elisha had his Gehazi, who went after Naaman, and by his worldliness spoiled the prophet’s testimony to the grace of the God of Israel. 6. Micaiah had his Jehoshaphat, who went with King Ahab to Ramoth-Gilead, and nearly perished in battle, while Micaiah went to prison for his fidelity to the word of Jehovah testifying against the expedition. 7. Paul had his Peter, who went into dissimulation, and carried others with him―even Barnabas, and was rebuked by Paul before them all for not walking uprightly, led into it by his tenderness to those who represented religious worldliness. His old savoring of the things that be of men led him astray. Of our Lord Jesus it is said that all His disciples forsook Him, and left Him alone. Paul says, “No man stood with me but all forsook me, notwithstanding the Lord stood with me." An unworldly Jesus and an unworldly Paul were in communion with no moral distance between. What an honor and comfort to have the Lord standing with him when all the saints failed to do so. In evil days and seasons of moral crisis it must be the Lord and the witness though all forsake us. Those who do not deny themselves for Christ save their life, but lose it. It is very striking to see such pairs as we have mentioned in outward contact in the Word, but of different inward tone and spiritual decision of character. Such there are still in the Church of God, and hence difficulty arises There would be no difficulty were it only dissimilarity in knowledge, attainment, or growth, for babes, young men and fathers may be in the happiest spiritual fellowship as long as they are fresh and spiritual, but when there is lack of sanctification to a heavenly Christ and a willing cleaving to the world, there is an effectual hindrance to spiritual fellowship and to united worship, as well as to profiting by the ministry of the word. Two saints in the same earthly position, having like knowledge of the Word and walking professedly in the same path of separation from evil when thrown for a time alone into each others’ company, feel that they have nothing to say to one another. Neither ventures to make a spiritual remark. They cannot: they dare not: for there is a secret sense of more restraint; so, instead of speaking of Christ and Christianity, they speak of the weather, or the war, or the latest catastrophe. How do you account for this? How was it that Elisha needed a minstrel before he could speak? (2 Kings 3:15). It was because of the king of Israel in company with Jehoshaphat. So is it with saints who are spiritually sensitive and walking in the Spirit, when others who profess to be separate from sinners, and are not, are present. They are on different moral elevations, and in dissimilar spiritual ’conditions. The one is mixed up with evil, and is secretly seeking to make the best of both worlds: his more spiritual brother feels in his presence as if he would require the " minstrel " (the elevating converse of a Christ-enjoying saint) before he could utter a sentence on spiritual things. If the other speak, through a feeling of the necessity of saying something, he will likely feel the necessity for giving himself a character for conversions or good works like Obadiah (1 Kings 18:1-46) for having fed the spared prophets in the cave in the time of famine while living as chief administrator in the house of Ahab, while Elijah was in solitary separation with Jehovah at the brook Cherith; and, notwithstanding Obadiah’s good deeds, the Lord’s prophet was in the wrong place in the house of the wicked king, on whose account the judgment of famine had been sent: and when he met Elijah, good deeds and all, there was no fellowship, and Elijah let him know as much. Too many are Obadiahs! This worldly element in saints is the bar to fellowship and the cause of the ruin of assemblies. It is amazing the rapidity with which an assembly of God’s saints may be run down in its spirituality by the influx of the spirit of allowed worldliness. It may be in the full flow of spirituality, and in a year or two it has become languid and lifeless, the conscious enjoyment cf happy spiritual fellowship has ceased, and even when all continue to come together for prayer, worship, and breaking of bread as before, the spring, power, freedom, joy and brightness have gone, and the saints sit under the shadow of death. In such a condition of things it is also remarkable the suddenness with which the truth of the mystery of God and the place, character and calling of the saints as united to Christ in heavenly glory may be given up and practically surrendered by the mass. Fellowship in the conscious, living power of the Spirit being gone: the fine spiritual machinery of the Church having become deranged, the living power of the Word and the refreshing flow of the worship come to a dead stop, and there is no possibility of having it otherwise: for what use is it to turn the hands of a watch when the mainspring is broken? The conscious presence and power of the Spirit in better times revealing Christ and shedding abroad God’s love in the heart served for truth to many, and they felt strengthened, happy and united; but the Spirit being grieved and quenched, the divine power that held together being relaxed, or quiescent, the low worldly condition that has been secretly growing as spirituality declined, becomes manifest and increases with such rapidity that it cannot be arrested, for there seems to be no longer power in any to overcome it however much it may be tried by the few who feel it and mourn over it, for it is corporate declension, and will likely go on until things are brought to a dead-lock, and the demoralization is complete. Those who still walk in the Spirit feel the moral relaxation as well as the terrible barrenness and deadness, and bemoan their helplessness; and, the atmosphere being loaded with impurities, they themselves are liable to become injured, even when they long and strive to have it otherwise. The truth becomes powerless; growth becomes impaired, and freshness languisheth; the prayers and thanksgiving are the dry repetition of verses of Scripture or the formal review of the whole field of revealed truth in which there is nothing revealed to the soul, and the truth of God, not being in the Spirit, has no real power of cementing divine unity of an inner sort, and hence the bonds of Church fellowship become loosened and broken: for the vessel having ceased practically to be the witness of God’s love and goodness, and of the grace and glory of Christ, fellowship with the Father and the Son is not enjoyed, and, as a consequence, there is no longer conscious fellowship one with another; and we are in reality, back to the hollow formalism out of which we had come intensified in its baleful influence by this that it is practiced on the true ground of God for His Church. But continued faith in the Son of God and walking in the Spirit are essential to hold divine ground; otherwise both it and the truth may be allowed to slip away from us. When the Spirit is grieved and not acting in spiritual energy in binding souls in one, the truth for the hour is weakened, and bit by bit given up: fellowship in the Spirit is unrealized: united worship is an impossibility; and, instead of being exercised in soul by the sad things that are transpiring, and also by the things which affect injuriously the Lord’s name, the mass are so greatly benumbed by the frosts of the ecclesiastical winter that they cannot be roused from their moral torpidity, and be made to address themselves to a genuine and penitent confession of their evil state, or to active efforts at practical separation from evil ways: but for the sake of ease and peace they prefer to assume towards all persons and causes the attitude of a benevolent neutrality! (Read Jude 1:20-25; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 Peter; James 4:1-17; Titus 2:11-15; Titus 3:1-9; 2 Timothy 3:1-17; 1 Timothy 6:1-21; Colossians 2:1-23; Colossians 3:1-25; Php 3:1-21; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:1-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Galatians 5:1-26; Galatians 6:1-18; John 17:1-26). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 138: VOL 05 - WHY WE DO NOT SAY HEAVENLY FATHER, AND WHY WE DO NOT PRAY TO THE HOLY GHOST ======================================================================== Why We Do Not Say Heavenly Father, and Why We Do Not Pray to the Holy Ghost I AM pleased to see that you thought my remarks on the Father worth reading to your circle. The Lord Jesus in His valedictory address uses the word Father more times than it occurs elsewhere in the whole of the Gospels; perhaps oftener than it is used in the New Testament; but this I have not verified. If you begin at John 13:1-38 and underline the word Father on to the end of chapter 17. you will be surprised to find how very frequently the word occurs. When our earth passes through a part of her annual journey round the sun, she comes into a sphere bright with the constant darting of spots of light―the region of the shooting stars―they are there in great abundance, and not clustered together in any other part of its course: so we find this portion of John’s Gospel specially bright with the clustered frequency of the word " Father." The Lord is introducing “his own” to the Father who had given them: and in chapter 17. He addresses the Father about them, committing them to the Father’s care since he cannot remain longer with them to shield them beneath His sheltering wing. When it is the Son and the Father He simply says―" Father." When He commits the disciples to Him in the midst of evil he says, "Holy Father;” and when He casts a glance at the world that Had refused Him―and hated both Him and His Father; he says, "O Righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee." Why not say, " Heavenly Father," here? Because in John’s Gospel he is the Only Begotten. Son, who is in the bosom of the Father: consequently he could say, as Incarnate, “The Son of man who is in heaven." It is the Son and the Father in John: in Mathew it is Jehovah and Jesus, presenting Himself as Messiah, according to the Old Testament prophecies having been born King of the Jews in Bethlehem and among the people in the land of Israel, he says," My Father, who is in heaven," " my heavenly Father." Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Here we have distance and earth as his sphere―" the land of Israel " all so different from " the Son of Man, who is in heaven" in John. We are not standing in the Jewish position of servant, son, and subject―distance: but we, as believers in the Son, are made nigh through the blood of Christ―for by Him we have access by one Spirit to the Father.’ We have now the same position as we have the same nature as the glorified Son of God, and he has ascended to His God and Father, and by grace we who believe in Him are brought to God our Father in Christ where He is in the heavenlies: so being in conscious relationship to the Father the Spirit of adoption giving us a sense of His love and our nearness to Him being in the light, as He is in the light, in fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, we do not say " heavenly Father," but simply " Abba, Father;" for being in the enjoyment of the filial relationship, and being in the Spirit, and to faith "in the heavenlies in Christ " we are where the Father is, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. " Beloved, now are we the children of God." In the presence of our God and Father in Christ we could not say heavenly Father, as if there were all the distance between earth and heaven between us. My children do not address me as at a distance, but simply say " father," for they are with me under the same roof in this city; but if they were in a foreign land it would not be improper for one of them to write and use the name of the city in connection with the word father. “We have the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." As to the Holy Ghost, He is never the object of prayer, but is always spoken of in the Word as the medium and power of prayer, praise and fellowship, as also of suffering and service. Yet in hymns we find Him addressed as the object of prayer. If this be right in the Christian dispensation, why is there no instance of this in the Christian Scriptures? Because He is here and in the saints―" The Spirit is life: " He identifies Himself with the saints, and is the divine source, energy, originator, and power of their spiritual thoughts, affections, feelings, and emotions. Then, "praying in the Holy Ghost " is, " according to the Scriptures," not praying to the Holy Ghost. Adoringly do I own the Holy Spirit as one by the persons in the God-head, and when I pray to God of course it is as Father, Son and Holy Ghost, but then this is in regard to Godhead. But when it is the several persons in the Godhead in connection with the work of redemption and the church, we never find any example of prayer to the Holy Ghost, nor any injunction to pray to the Holy Spirit. He is in us: “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God?“ “The love of God is shed abroad. in our hearts by the holy Ghost given unto us." Strengthened by the Spirit he causes Christ to dwell in the heart by faith, and seeing that he now characterizes the new life which He imparts; we never find that He in us is the object of address in praise, prayer, or worship, for this would lead to pray to a power in ourselves: for morally He is identified with the new. life in Christ (Romans 8:1-39) Though clearly seen, even there, as distinct from the believer, He is not only a living force within us, but the living God as well. Hence there is a moral propriety in not praying to the Holy Ghost: but what commands our faith and practice is that in the Christian Scriptures there is neither precept nor example for praying to the Holy Ghost, and yet we find. this done both in prayer-meetings and hymns by unintelligent saints and poets. But Scripture is wiser than our hymn-writers: and it never tells us to invoke the Holy Ghost. " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord. Jesus Christ unto Eternal life (Jude 1:20-21). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 139: VOL N1 - CHRIST AND THE CHURCH ======================================================================== Christ and the Church Fragments from Notes. DOES the Head judge the members? (Whatever may be the incapability of the Church to take care of the members of Christ, I have seen that the feeblest soul is nourished and cherished, in the midst of all, by Christ Himself.) My feet may get soiled by my walk down here, and this ought not to be. Christ will wash them again and again, but He does not judge His members. I have been quickened and raised up together with Him, and that identifies me with heaven, and with the center of heaven itself. as apprehended of Christ for this place in glory. But is the heart really occupied with the glory we shall have? As a stream of heavenly blessing in all my troubles, is it the thought of my soul, I am to be up there with the Son of God in the glory. He has apprehended me for this, and my citizenship is there?’ Then amidst all the wretched short-comings of one’s own heart, I may have present rest and peace in Him who cannot fail. If I have a consciousness of my fellowship in life with Christ up there (Colossians 3:1-4), there will be a throbbing of joy in my heart, flowing from communion with Him, sitting on the right hand of God, and from setting my mind on the things that are above, a communion which is to flow on forever and ever, and which I date back to the quickening in His grave, His life then flowing back to us (El). 2: 5-6). If I love God I want to be holy, for He is holy. "Ye shall be holy, for I am holy." The desire for sanctification has thus no limit at all. The effect of God letting me know His plan of associating me with Himself hereafter is to associate me with Himself now. And has that Christ who has brought piece-meal to you this wonderful love of God, as you were able to bear it, has He no jealousy over you, think you? What is your present state? Does He see your heart’s affection linking itself round the God who has, by Him, associated you with Himself? Does He see the pulse of thought in you beating for God? You cannot hide yourself from Him. He, the good Shepherd, is leading and watching every individual sheep, and not a lock of -wool can be taken from one of them that He does not see. Does He, then, see welling through your minds unceasing thoughts of the glory awaiting you, your heart dwelling there, and your walk corresponding? Or is it like Jacob with you, halting on the thigh, because of the flesh needing crippling? God has spread an expanse of glory all wrapt up Christ for us. He has told of, and described the golden city, and the light and the joy of all there, and He would have us occupied with Him who is the center of all, the center of His mind, even Christ. Are we following in His wake? Is His center ours, and the hope of Christ, the hope of His coming connected with our every thought and Acts 2:1-47 There may be failure, there may be something clinging to you that would drop off in the presence of Christ, but He will not let you off that hope. Is the future of your mind at all like His? A poor reflection it may be, but a real one, having its source from the center of God’s mind, which is Christ. Has it ever come into your mind what a thrill the delight of God in Christ must cause in heaven? And is it indeed true that we are accepted in the Beloved, and that God loves us as He loves Christ, because we are in Him, and He in us? What in you or me shall interfere with the delight of God in His Son? His delight in believers is not in themselves, but in connection with Christ and redemption. His blood has washed all sin away; my soul is saved, is in Him, one with Him, all my guilt and misery judged on the cross. Oh, it makes one feel very little, it sinks one into real insignificance as being nothing, but then Christ is everything. God looking on His Son with ever the same delight, seeing His members and loving them. Ah! yes, it is pure grace from first to last. I cannot get anything like happiness without Him. How much happier a way of learning that our rest is not here is that thought, that nothing can make us happy till He comes. I may see what appears attractive down here, but looking up into heaven, I see Christ and feel that till He comes earth cannot be blessed. This world without Him is only a wilderness, no rest, for all earth’s blessings, as well as heaven’s, are shut up in Christ; all happiness and joy hid in the person of the Lord. It is all vanity, seeking rest whilst He is absent, filling our mouths with sand and gravel.. .. "I am the bright and morning Star." Does not God delight in seeing the Lord Jesus His people’s hope? When the hour is come, God will give the word, and Christ will leave His throne to bring up His bride. " The bright and morning Star " is not.for God, it is the hope for the bride in the dark night. This title does not come in once in the Old Testament. There we find the Sun of Righteousness; but this bright and morning Star comes before, to usher in the day, a morning without clouds. The Lord knows what the hearts of His people want here. It is Himself, His own blessed Person. Is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself looked for by us? It is not the glory, but Himself, that is put forth. " I am the bright and morning Star." And, oh, it is Himself that I want. What would glory be to me without my Lord? Just observe the sort of glory here. What is the shining forth of this bright and morning Star, as to glory, compared with the shining forth of the Sun of Righteousness? Ah! but they who love Christ now, during the dark, dark night, know the sweetness of this title. All their heart’s affections are bound up in His Person, it is that their love is set upon. How sweet to connect the hope of His coming, while in the weariness of all this wilderness scene, with " I am the bright and morning Star; and the spirit and the bride say, Come." In 2 Corinthians 11:2 we get just the true idea of this bride, a people affianced to Christ. How that title of " bride " supposes all affection on the part of Christ. He looks down and sees one here and another there, who believe in Him, poor feeble things in themselves, but He has washed them in His blood. If the marriage of the bride, the Lamb’s wife is to be (Revelation 19:7), and I am part of that affianced body, where can creature merit, or title come in? He has done all (Ephesians 5:25-27). What can He see in us but failure, but He has given us the Spirit, and made us one with Himself. He has the bride, a bride fit for God’s own dwelling place. If you do not know the personal love of Christ for His bride, you cannot invite Him to come. God did not stop when He had taken the bone out of Adam, but He builded the woman; so He not only calls and saves poor prodigals, but builds them a bride for His Son. The welcomed prodigal found he had all sorts of good things in the Father’s house, so the bride may have all sorts of precious things, but she herself is for her Lord. Wonderful that Christ should have all glory, but the best part-a bride of poor prodigals, sanctified and cleansed at the cost of His own blood. What! I, a poor thing, a leaf in the wilderness, carried here and there, can I say, Come, Lord? If God has given me the Spirit and made me one with Christ, I can. If He had shown me all the glory it would have had another effect on me altogether, but He brought the truth to bear on my heart. The Spirit of the living God brought, and is always bringing fresh tastes of the love of Christ to my heart. But, oh, how the Spirit is straightened in us, as He goes through the wilderness and finds so little answer in our hearts, and cannot get the waters to flow. Do not speak of self, be it failure or circumstances. Satan would always try and put these between us and Christ. But do set everything in the light of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and if you were but one alone in the world, the Spirit is sufficient to enable you to say, " Come." " The Spirit and the bride say, Come." Not the bride only, nor the bride named first, but the Spirit, knowing all the affections in the heart of Christ, says, " Come." Oh, it is sweet to have Christ wanting you to say, " Come." Have you known the sweetness, when in solitude, when none have been near, of the thought in your heart, hardly breathed in words, " Come, Lord, come." And shall the thought-I may be caught up now, at once, alarm? No. I am as sure of being His as Rebecca, led of Eliezer, was of being Isaac’s. Yea, more sure, as led of the Spirit; and so are all believers who can say, Come. " The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come." (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 140: VOL N1 - CHRIST AND THE CHURCH ======================================================================== Christ and the Church FRAGMENTS FROM NOTES.-(Continued.) WE are in the wilderness now, and so we count by weeks and days, and the time seems long; but look up to the Lord Jesus and you can forget all this, for He, up there, looks upon you and says to you, " Surely I come quickly." To you, looking on things here, it may seem long, but to Him it is but a little while, and He can make it so to you. Reckon on His love. " Having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them to the end." Is not this known to all who believe in Him, known from their own experience of that love? And, oh! how sweet is the experience of Christ’s love in this cold world. When the heart is chilled, and yearns for a little warmth, to turn to the. Lord Jesus to feel the warmth of His love! Looking up to Him my heart is always warmed. What an unfailing secret of purest happiness is this! And what is it that feeds His love to His church? From what source flowed the springs of that love? In the Epistle to the Ephesians we get the setting forth of that which would feed the love of Christ in regard to His church. In the first chapter we have the scene laid before time was (ver. 4). I am here taught that when the Lord Jesus looks at me, He sees me as one who was chosen by the Father before time was, to show forth the glory of that grace that could accept me in the Beloved. He sees not only the poor lost sheep to bring home, the poor prodigal brought into the Father’s house, but more, He sees, in me, one chosen of the Father, a secret purpose, He and the Father one in it. And can He have ought against me, or against you, poor saint, when He sat in council about us? And ought He not to have us seeing our association with these counsels of the Father in Him, before the foundation of the. world? But, secondly, His love is fed by the association of the Church with Himself, not only as one with Him, but as having Himself left all for it (Ephesians 5:28). In the devotedness of His heart, He gave Himself for the church. Having borne our sins in His body on the tree-God Himself laying on Him then your iniquity and mine-He places us now in His presence without any other thought than that of His love. And can we look upon Him up there, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and not feel the unspeakable grace, purest and richest towards us, that raised us up together, and made us sit together is heavenly places in Him? When the Lord Jesus looks in the face of a poor sinner, thus saved by grace, does He not in effect say, " I do, and I must love you, but I love you for My Father’s sake. I loved you because He chose you in Me before the foundation of the world, and I must love you to the end for His sake? As a child of God, wandering in the world’s wilderness, it is very sweet to have comfort poured down to me in all my circumstances and my exercises, from Him who is unceasingly loving me; but even this is not so sweet as the thought that I can, by His grace,. have fellowship with the heart of the Father, as to His thoughts about His only begotten Son, and His love towards Him. Oh, what can compare with this-to enter into the revelation of God the Father’s affection towards the Son of His love And this is where grace has placed us. " Ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." And, " Because ye are sons, God bath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Our hearts thus get rest, blessed rest, in sonship, simply by believing in Christ Jesus; and the Spirit of His Son in our hearts, enable their happy throbbings to find expression in this wondrous cry of " Abba, Father; " this new name, unknown to the Patriarchs or to the Jew. God has set us in His presence as sons, and life has flowed down to us, so that we can rise up and contemplate there the delight the Father has in His Son, and can have communion with the joy of the Father’s heart in the Son. This it is that gives the church its highest point of glory. Does the thought ever steal over your heart, Let things here be ever so clouded, there the Father’s heart is fully satisfied, for there the Son is, and there, in infinite grace, my portion is, for I can say, my Father. In this sense alone the Lord calls us His brethren, thus alone can we be in association with Him who is on the throne of the Father, and it is thus the Spirit can feed us, administering all the thoughts of the Father and the Son to our hearts. Blessed truth! that Son, the Lord Jesus, having become a man, and wearing man’s form up there, we as men are associated with Him forever. As man, that Son brought out the character of the Father, so that I, as a man, can understand it. Oh! how one ought to admire and adore the way Christ brought out the character of God on earth as love to the poor prodigal, and lost sheep. But He has given us to say, " His God is our God," and likewise, by His grace we-can say, " His Father is our Father." Thus we can look up and realize His present joy, even as He said, " If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father." Does it ever come to you what happiness is there? How happy God must be with such a Son! How happy Christ must be! No person save a child of God can be of the Bride, and it is the purpose of God that the Bride shall be shown out before the world, that the world may see the glory Christ has given her. The Father gave it to Him, but He cannot keep it for Himself. He must share it with those dear -CO Him (John 17:22-23). The world will be forced to admire the Church in glory, and it ought to be admired as bought with His blood, for the Father’s delight is in the Son, and there He is on the Father’s throne, claiming all glory to give it to His bride. But I do not find my deeper joy in this. I feel the Church’s glory will be, the sense of being loved by the Father even as the Son is loved. This will surpass all else. That One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, causing all the love of the Father, as He knows it, to flow forth to us, and making us capable of receiving and enjoying that love-this is the deeper glory, the joy that surpasses all understanding. We knew " the Lamb," worthy of all glory, but we also know Him under another title I can say, " I know Thee as the Son who has revealed Thy Father to me. All, all would be nothing to me did I not know Thee in the deeper glory, " the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." That name SON He ever bore. He bore it deep down here. He bears it high above in heaven. He is indeed the Son of Man, but this as having been made flesh. When He, as Son of Man, again enters this scene, why shall we fall down at His feet to worship? Because we know Him as the only begotten, Son, of God. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, before there was anything-there was the Son in the bosom of the Father. The Father’s house, the Father’s bosom must be the resting place of the church. Nothing can satisfy the Son but her being there, where He had rested from all eternity. But we have this place of rest, by faith, even now. I shall never be more a son than I am now, else where were the force of that word, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God? " I have got the best part now. He has made me a son. He has given me to see and to enter into communion with the. Father and with His Son (1 John 1:3). He makes me to enjoy the delight of the Father and of the Son as a fresh taste of heavenly joy in my soul day by day. If I am in trial down here, it is because this is no resting place for me. I know the Father is in perfect rest up there, and it is this that makes the heart happy, to have the same object and the same affections as He; for " truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. Very little is said about the Father’s house in Scripture, except in John 14:1-31 One is never weary of these verses, because they tell of the personal love of the Lord Jesus. But locality is not defined, nor the thought of heaven introduced as meaning any particular locality. In John 17:1-26 Jesus lifts up His eyes to heaven. Many found their ideas of heaven on some early association in their mind of a place of glory beyond the clouds, and connect it, more or less, with what the Word of God has made familiar to them. But breaking down all this would leave the blessed thought of the Son now upon the Father’s throne, and the Father setting them together in Him. Whenever my faith goes up there, what does it realize? The thought of One there who was once in all my circumstances of sorrow here, and the thought of home being up there with Him. Oh, what a warm, happy feeling the heart experiences at that thought. A man’s heart is in his home, not because of the place, but because the object of his affections is there. The same in regard to heaven. I find uncommonly little of detail as to circumstances there, but I find unfading reality in one or two simple verses. For instance that one, " If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said I go unto the Father." What a volume in that! The Lord Jesus Christ wanting us to enter into the joy of His heart at the thought of His being at home with His Father, saying, as it were, " I want to share the thought of my joy with you. I want you to rejoice with me, that so soon I shall be with the Father, and. not only that, but you shall soon be with me too." I: we could see all the glory of heaven it would be pool in comparison of seeing Him, the only begotten Son on the throne of His Father. G. V. W. (To be continued.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 141: VOL N1 - CHRIST AND THE CHURCH ======================================================================== Christ and the Church FRAGMENTS FROM NOTES-(Continued). IT is the heart God wants. He has done all that love could do, in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, to win the heart of poor sinners to Himself. He has, as it were, thrown the whole door open to receive us, and thus to draw us into joy and blessing. Oh, the rich unfoldings of grace in that fourteenth chapter of John; grace laying open the rich glories in the Father’s house for those who were ready to forsake the Lord (John 16:32). What a contrast we are to Him, and yet He is ever occupied in caring for us, in preparing joy for us. His eye is ever following us, and He knows well every beat of the heart and every thought. And shall I dare to say that He is more sympathizing to-day than yesterday, because I appreciate it more. Are not the sympathies. of Christ ever flowing, and is not our varied appreciation of them as if one lifted up a stone-in the desert and the water is seen flowing, and again lifting up a stone and it is seen flowing still? It would certainly be a much happier thing to be present with Him and absent from the poor body, but if it is the will of Him who loves me with a love that wills I should stay here, the sweetness of doing His will ought to be enough. Ought I to mind being here for a while, in the midst of all that tries me in every way, if I am to taste His love in it all? Then why stand still gazing up with tearful eyes, instead of pressing forward, full of joy? It is but " a little while." There is no selfishness mixed with the cry, " Come, Lord Jesus; " but if He were to rise up and come tonight, would He find many waiting for Him? I believe He would, and bless God it is so. It is distinctly manifest that God is now working. He never came of old without giving a testimony beforehand.... " We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." God is dealing with us now, and He would have us go forward with Him. He sets value on these works because they ate prepared by Himself. Is it nothing to have God working in us now, to will and to do of His good pleasure? Nothing that He should see in us the expression of the life of Christ? Think what it will be when we see the Lord Jesus, what it will be to have the life of Christ filling the body (Php 3:21), in a scene where all will harmonize. We begin in the wilderness to go on in the glory. The energy of God given to the soul, enables us now to walk in works which are the expression of that energy, and of our vital union with Christ. Is this only in the wilderness? No; it is to be carried on in glory, and forever. There is a specialty, too, of providence in connection with every individual. God is great enough to count the hairs of our head. You and I are too little for this. God is so great that He can count up the cups of cold water (Matthew 10:30; Matthew 10:42). We are too little to do so; we can only lay hold of general traits, and things and services more marked. Who marked the path for a Daniel or for a Paul in their day, and the early Christians in theirs? Who fixed the time of your birth, all your path in life, your sicknesses, your bereavements?-God, the living God. God comes in everywhere, in every thought, and step, and act of life, in every bit of testimony, to speak a right word to one in the street. These are works prepared of God that we should walk in them. - The thought of this will give. importance to many a thing little in itself; it will give sweetness to many a bitter cup, and stop many an act where self-will would come in and take the rein. Doubtless as you look back you will see much failure, much going after your own will, but can you not see that God was there to turn the page over (Genesis 28:16; Genesis 32:24; Genesis 32:30), to mark out again your walk with Him in the path prepared for you? You may be stumbling through your duties and going wrong, the thoughts taken up with this care and that trouble, but having loved you, His love changes not because of what you are. " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 142: VOL N1 - FRAGMENT ======================================================================== Fragment " The presence of God is a very real thing, even with two or three who are in the power of His name; and they get tokens of His presence. Such never could say, " We are His house, and His assembly " without arrogance and pride. If we assume it, we are Babel in spirit and mind.... If the form of two or three meeting occupy the mind, self and worldliness will be found in a new form, and that is all. But, if the purged people get together in the fear of the Lord, they will find the power of the Spirit, heaven and joy unspeakable." G. V. W. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 143: VOL N1 - THE WORK ======================================================================== The Work But The Work still remains for either, the interesting thing; since it alone has lasting connection with our Lord, and it will follow us into heavenly courts in many blessed ways, if it has been carried out under the Lord, souls saved through it, and built up through it-itself the expression of our own walk with God. G. V. W. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 144: VOL N2 - A CHIME ======================================================================== A Chime " To me to live is Christ, And to die is gain." Be this my, song and boast Spite of ev’ry pain. As brook of life on earth Till it reach its sea, As source, and stream, and end, Christ alone for me. ’Tis worth a while to bear Din and battle strife; Service and toil to seek, Christ alone for life. If body die, ’tweer well, Blessed Lord, for me; Ended toil I’d come With Thyself to be. I know not which to choose, Jesus, Lord! nor see; Then, let the Father do What is best for Thee. Since I am wholly Thine, One spirit, Lord, with Thee, Whate’er for Thee is best Must be best for me. Lines written to, and for a servant of the Lord, suffering at the time from a fatal disease, and now in the Master’s rest. By G. V. W.-1872. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 145: VOL N2 - FRAGMENT ON DISCIPLINE IN THE CHURCH ======================================================================== Fragment on Discipline in the Church MANY overlook the nature of the assembly of God down here. It is, as in 1 Cor., the house of the living God in contrast with the world (ch. 5: 12, 13). It may be owing to want of intelligence, or to want of carefulness. to Use language expressive of what they do see, that some speak of one put away from among saints, i n obedience to the word, " as a brother or a sister still."’ Paid never does so. If they are inside the house, they are of the household of faith, be they orderly or disorderly members thereof. If outside, he says, " that wicked person." But then again, many think of discipline as merely external, and vindicative of a breach against orderly government, and so look at the assembly as a court of law. If I admit that it is, in any sense, a court of law, it is the court of the law of eternal life as to those who profess to, have it, and that being therein, they and I must walk according to the divine nature and eternal life in us. How can any one walk, save according to the nature and life he has? Life within and action without go. together. I have human life, and my actions accord therewith. If I had a dog’s nature, or a sow’s, I suppose I should do as they do. If I have not eternal life, or if I will walk as the dog or sow, the assembly must patiently examine the case, and it is bound, if in me is too strong to bend, to put me outside as a wicked. person, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (still remedial even this). This is a characteristic of the extreme act of the assembly, as pronouncing on a wicked person out of communion. In Paul’s day he could say more, for he had a power which we have not, though power, we have to put out or keep in if we walk with God. Now observe-sins differ, though all be sins. At Corinth incest was defended as being in the assembly. In Galatia the foundation stone was given up. Paul tolerated neither sin, but went fully into the case. Through mercy, and his patient wisdom, success crowned his efforts. The incestuous man was put out, but the Galatian churches were not, nor was Peter, nor Barnabas, for the Lord granted restoration in Galatia, but not in Corinth without the final act, by the assembly of exclusion. Peter, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, sounded the case of each to the bottom, yet was not divided against himself; and when Paul could write 2 Corinthians 7:7; 2 Corinthians 7:12, he could not talk any more of coming down to break all up and make his power known. Nor could he have written 1 Corinthians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 5:5, if 2 Corinthians 2:7 had been the state of the one who had been an incestuous person. Thorough self-loathing and genuine repentance, not to be repented of, with true contrition of soul, blended with looking. to, and confession of Christ’s salvation as the rock, mark one whom the Holy Ghost would not call a wicked one, an enemy, one to be put outside as one at the present of Satan’s kingdom of darkness..... But the saints have to be as the mouth of the Lord, taking forth the precious from the vile. There was all this. in the judgment pronounced by Peter. Look through them in detail, they are not a few. Also by Paul, see the case of the incestuous person, kc. The case of each is unraveled first and then judgment takes its course, and the judgment varies in connection with the persons, whether deceived or deceivers. G.V.W. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 146: VOL N2 - INDIVIDUAL STONES; OR, BUILDED TOGETHER ======================================================================== Individual Stones; Or, Builded Together WHAT a difference it makes whether we look at ourselves as separate individuals, or as parts of the Temple, builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. When it comes to the individual the works may oft-times cause the cry, "’Unclean,`,. unclean; " but as parts of the temple this same people are precious stones, God’s own workmanship in Christ Jesus, and laid as living stones on that foundation, there to rest shining in all the beauty of another, even His own Christ; all the weight of the building resting on Him, the eternal foundation. There are these two things; first, God dealing with every individual heart; and, second, God counting you as a part of His building- a city where every stone is bright and polished, and each one reflects the glory of Christ. There every saint will show forth to the mind of God the Lord Jesus, because all will reflect His glory. Can you say I am a called one? (Jude 1:1.) What, then, is the hope of His calling? (Ephesians 1:18.) How does such a hope find expression here? " This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Nothing less, then, than reaching the prize of your high calling of God in Christ Jesus is your hope. It is a real thing that Christ is sitting at the right hand of God in all His beauty and glory, and the hope is seeing Him as He is, and being like Him (1 John 2:2-3). The Father of glory sees you in all your present weakness and failure, and calls you to such a hope. He will not leave His workmanship, or leave off His work till one by one millions shall be made like to Him who is now sitting at His right hand. He is molding all to the likeness of that One, and when we shall see Him as He is, these vile bodies shall be changed, and fashioned like unto His glorious body. What a thought! Each believer like a vase molded of God, full of glory. Thousands, thousands of vases, all filled with His glory. God will DA cease working till He has made me like His Christ. G.V.W. Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 147: VOL N2 - THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ======================================================================== The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ "Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." We are aware in how many different ways our fellow-disciples try and tempt us, as, no doubt, we do them. We see, or we fancy we see, some bad quality in them and we find it hard to go on in further company with them. And yet in all this, or in much of it, the fault may be with ourselves, mistaking a want of conformity of taste or judgment with ourselves, for something to be condemned in them. But the Lord could not be thus mistaken; and yet He was never " overcome of evil," but was ever " overcoming evil with good "-the evil that was in them with the good that was in Himself. Vanity, ill-temper, indifference about others, and carefulness about themselves, ignorance after painstaking to instruct, were of the things in them which He had to suffer continually. His walk with them, in its way and measure, was a day of provocation, as the forty years in the wilderness had been. Israel again tempted the Lord, I may say; but again proved Him. Blessed to tell it; they provoked Him, but by, this they proved Him. He suffered, but took it patiently. He never gave them up. He warned and taught, rebuked and condemned them, but never gave them up. Nay; at the end of their walk together, He is nearer to them than ever. Perfect and excellent this is, and comforting to us. The Lord’s dealing with the conscience never touches His heart. We lose nothing by His rebukes. And He who does not withdraw His heart from us when He is dealing with our conscience, is quick to restore our souls, that the conscience, so to express it, may be enabled soon to leave His school, and the heart find its happy freedom in His presence again. As sings hymn, which some of us know- " Still sweet ’tis to discover, If clouds have dimm’d my sight; When pass’d, Eternal Lover, Towards me, as e’er thou’rt bright." And I would further notice, that in the character which, in the course of His ministry, He is called to take up (it may be for only an occasion, or a passing moment), we see the same perfection, the same moral glory, as in the path He treads daily. As, for instance, that of a Judge, as in Matthew 23:1-39, and that of an Advocate or Pleader in Matthew 22:1-46. But I only suggest this: the theme is too abundant. Every step, word, action, carries with it a ray of this glory; and the eye of God had more to fill it in the life of Jesus, than it would have had in an eternity of Adam’s innocence. It was in the midst of our moral ruin Jesus walked; and from such a region as that He has sent up to the throne on high a richer sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor than Eden, and the Adam of Eden, had it continued unsoiled forever, would or could have rendered. Time made no change in the Lord. Kindred instances of grace and character in Him, before and after His resurrection, give us possession of this truth, which is of such importance to us. We know what He is this moment, and what He will be forever, from what He has already been-in character as in nature-in relationship to us as in Himself-" the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." The very mention of this is blessed. Sometimes we may be grieved at changes, sometimes we may desire them. In different ways we all prove the fickle, uncertain nature of that which constitutes human life. Not only circumstances, which are changeful to a proverb, but associations, friendships, affections, characters, continually undergo variations which surprise and sadden us. We are hurried from stage to stage of life; but unchilled affections and unsullied principles are rarely borne along with us, either in ourselves or our companions. But Jesus was the same after His resurrection as He had been before, though late events had put Him and His disciples at a greater distance than companions had ever known, or could ever know. They had betrayed their unfaithful hearts, forsaking Him and fleeing in the hour of His weakness and need; while He, for their sakes, had gone through death-such a death as never could have been borne by another, as would have crushed the creature itself. They were still but poor, feeble Galileans-He was glorified with all power in heaven and on earth. But these things worked no change; " nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature," as the apostle speaks, could do that. Love defies them all, and He returns to them the Jesus whom they had known before. He is their companion in labor after His resurrection, nay, after His ascension, as He had been in the days of His ministry and sojourn with them. This we learn in the last verse of St. Mark. On the sea, in the day of Matthew 14:1-36, they thought that they saw a spirit and cried out for fear; but the Lord gave them to know, that it was He Himself that was there, near to them, and in grace, though in divine strength and sovereignty over nature. And so in Luke 24:1-53, or after He had risen, He takes the honeycomb and the fish, and eats before them, that with like certainty and ease of heart they might know that it was He Himself. In John 3:1-36, He led a slow-hearted Rabbi into the light and way of truth, bearing with him in all patient grace. And thus did He again in Luke 24:1-53, after that He was risen, with the two slow-hearted ones who were finding their way home to Emmaus. In Mark 4:1-41, He allayed the fears of His people ere He rebuked their unbelief. He said to the winds and waves, " Peace, be still," before He said to the disciples, " How is it that ye have no faith? " And thus did He, as the risen One, in John 21:1-25; He sits and dines with Peter, in full and free fellowship, as without a breach in the spirit, ere He challenges him and awakens his conscience by the words, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? " Peter had betrayed special self-confidence. Though all should be offended, yet would not he, he said; and though he should die with his Master, he would not deny Him. But his Master had told him of the vanity of such boasts; but had told him also of His prayer for him, so that his faith should not fail. And when the boast was found to have been indeed a vanity, and Peter denied His Lord, even with an oath, his Lord looked on him, and this look had its blessed operation. The prayer and the look had availed. The prayer had kept his faith from failing, but the look had broken his heart. Peter did not " go away," but Peter wept, and "wept bitterly." At the opening of John 21:1-25 we find Peter in this condition-in the condition in which the prayer and the look had put him. That his faith had not failed, he is enabled to give very sweet proof; for as soon as he learns that it was his Lord who was on the shore, he threw himself into the water to reach Him; not, however, as a penitent, as though he had not already wept, but as one who could trust himself to His presence in full assurance of heart; and in that character his most blessed and gracious Lord accepts him, and they dine together on the shore. The prayer and the look had thus already done their work with Peter, and they are not to be repeated. The Lord simply goes on with His work thus begun, to conduct it to its perfection. Accordingly, the prayer and the look are now followed by the word. Perfect Master! the same to us yesterday, to-day and forever; the same in gracious, perfect skill of love going on with the work He had already begun, resuming, as the risen Lord, the service which. He had left when He was taken away from them, and resuming it at the very point, knitting the past to the present, service in the fullest grace and skill! J. G. B. "Not as Thy ways, our ways We bow before Thy face; Not like Thy thought, our thought, As by Thy Spirit taught." " Not as our ways, Thy ways! Savior, Thy name we praise; Not as our thoughts, Thy thoughts, Told by Thy love-work wrought." ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/bible-herald-7-volumes/ ========================================================================