DIVINE IMPRESSIONS
[p. 127] DIVINE IMPRESSIONS
Ezekiel 11: 19, 20; Revelation 3: 12
The setting of these scriptures is in relation to a returned remnant of God’s people, and I have read them because they suggest an impressionable state brought about by God, so that He is able to impress them indelibly, and to make the impressions readable.
I bring these scriptures forward because of the shallowness (not that I am accusing anyone) which marks those of us whom God has sovereignly brought back from Babylon. There is a great want of material which God can impress indelibly, and impress so as to be readable, moreover, upon which He can write, or Christ can write (for that is the way it is put in the New Testament), the very greatest things. He would have us to be dealing, dear brethren, in these great things, and we shall be, as heart work becomes effective.
And so I read from Ezekiel because he has that in mind. If you read the chapter you will observe that he alludes to the time when God will bring back Israel, gathering them out of the nations. But He proposes to have them really, not merely in outward profession as of old, but real, and if God is to have us really He must have us heart-wise; there must be heart work. And if there is to be heart work there must be a heart other than the natural. God said that He would take away the heart of stone and give them instead a heart of flesh; this should be perfectly intelligible to us from the use made of it by the apostle Paul in writing to the saints in the city of Corinth, where impressions were taken on that were evidently of a shallow nature. Much was made of what they had externally, “in everything ... enriched in him,
[p. 128] in all word of doctrine, and all knowledge ... so that ye come short in no gift”, 1 Corinthians 1: 5 - 7. But what heart work? And so, as they were touched by his first letter, he could speak a little to them about fleshy tables of the heart.
In doing so he formulates a sort of balance sheet, giving them all the credit he can in chapter 7 of the second epistle. There were many debits, but he would balance the account as much as possible by all the credits there were, and what he alludes to is heart work, repentance and tears, and vengeance against evil. He would balance the account. The Lord does these things for us so as to set our hearts at rest with Him. Who but He could enumerate all the credits! May I not say He minimises the debts and magnifies the credits. There was much in the way that the apostle reserves for later, for the last two chapters, the last chapter particularly. Terrible debits against that company. Let no one think that he can escape, for the Lord’s vigilant eye passes over every gathering and detects where the real obligation lies. But it was creditable so far, and he gives them credit collectively. It was a matter of heart work; there was repentance according to God which was never to be repented of.
And so he can speak of the fleshy tables of the heart upon which the writing could proceed; upon which He can use, not only the finger, but the Spirit of the living God. The material was such as could bear the indelible impress of the Spirit of the living God. And this reminds me, dear brethren, of the difference between the time of the return of the captivity and of the initial history of God’s people, whether in the Old Testament or the New. At the outset there was broadcast testimony, as illustrated in the parable of the sower, the seed fell on different kinds of soil as found on the earth. As if God was testing everything on earth found in the nations, as [p. 129] He did. Whatever there was was tested by the word, and only one soil is fruitful permanently. Now that is not what marks the close. What marks the close is not a broadcast testimony. There is no need again to test out the roadside, and the thorns, and the stony ground. That is all done. But the finished matter, christendom, is the testimony to that. We need not spend our time, dear brethren, in that. It is a question now of heart work, of quality, of that upon which impressions may be made by the Spirit of God that are to remain (for of what value are they if they do not remain?) — and that can be read. They are not blurred, the very greatest things are to be read, as I hope to show. But God will make the best use of what there is; that is what I would specially call attention to, and I had in view the ministry of the apostle John.
He has a way of bringing every little bit, and every big bit, of the work of God in and making the most of it. It is he alone who tells us about Nicodemus. He was found asking questions of the Lord, and it was clear that, although he was a teacher in Israel, he did not know the ABC of spirituality. He came to Christ in the night, asked Him questions and listened to Him; he never showed one iota of opposition to Christ, great man though he was. He listened to Jesus. He was found in the council, his own spot; he did not give that up, but he had received some little impression of Christ and he lifted up a feeble voice, as it were, and from an unsuitable position in the council, in favour of Christ. And when I speak of Christ, beloved, it is what is here by the Spirit that draws out the opposition. Whatever little bit of Christ there is, never speak against it. John’s ministry indicates that heaven notices that, and so Nicodemus comes in well at the end.
And so in many other instances in John’s ministry, for we have things in his record that are not found [p. 130] elsewhere, which are just included in order that we might understand, in a time when his ministry specially revives every little bit as well as every big bit of the work of God, that all is taken account of and usable. We do not want to have our good evil spoken of; whatever little bit of good there is, let it be available so that it can be brought into the great writing material of God, so that He might write, and write the very greatest things upon us. We cannot afford to miss this, dear brethren; it is too great, too solemn to pass by.
And so I have referred to the overcomer in Philadelphia; that is what the verse alludes to which I read. You will find, in confirmation of what I have said, that Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, stresses the idea of life, not public order, not that that is cancelled. Nothing lapses really. Whatever God has brought in in His precious holy thoughts is maintained in some way in spiritual power. So that 1 Timothy does not lapse, it stands, but what is needed to maintain it is life. What he stresses is life. He refers to it at the very outset, the promise of life he was in the hope of it indeed. “Which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages of time”, Titus 1: 2. Life is the real thing. Life is never to be theoretical; it is always real. That is the great point with John. 2 Timothy links on with John’s ministry, assuring the maintenance publicly of 1 Timothy in the testimony of it.
And so in Philadelphia there is the outcome of all these things, for we have to understand the book of Revelation in its symbolical significance. It is a book of imagery. At the outset a blessing is offered to those who read and keep the things that are written. So that we are to understand, we cannot afford to miss the blessing. It would be interesting to follow up the word ‘blessing’ in Revelation, and see what a rich heritage there is that accrues to the [p. 131] reading and understanding of the things, and to the keeping of them. He is an overcomer. One of the greatest principles of the book is overcoming, hence the additional promises of blessing that are accorded to the overcomer in the different assemblies. Now the most casual reader of chapters 2 and 3 will notice that the overcomer of this assembly, Philadelphia, has the greatest blessing. It refers to our own time, and I urge upon you, dear brethren, to be alive to this. Let us not miss what there is for us. This assembly has the only promise to the overcomer involving writing upon himself. The overcomer in Pergamos has a stone on which a name is written, but it is on a stone, a white one; only on the Philadelphian overcomer personally is there any writing.
Now this is a very interesting and important fact, that I should be, and you should be, material upon which the Lord Jesus can write the very greatest things. And this material must be heart material, not external order, not mere intelligence. Writing is not in the head. I mean it is on the person, on him.
What a man he must be! What a person he must be! On him that overcomes, said the Lord, “I will write upon him the name of my God”. If we understand that spiritually we shall see that writing involves a moral process spiritually. God will use what there is and make the very most of it. I have no doubt that is what is meant in regard to the first tables; they were made by Himself and the best He could get. And the writing is by Himself, and that is perfect. But they were breakable, and they were broken. He used what was there, a solemn reference to the state of man as he was then.
The second tables were hewn out by Moses, typically this indicates that the Lord Jesus came in in principle in the meantime and He had material that would be unbreakable. And that is so; the second writing is typical of the Lord Jesus. And so [p. 132] Moses hews them out himself, bringing them up the mount. Can we not see, dear brethren, what the Lord Jesus has done in hewing out the tables Himself and bringing them up, so to speak? And then there is an ark of wood so that they can be contained. But God said, ‘I will write exactly what I want’, but the material is the sign of the Mediator, that is Christ as a Man. And at the end of this book of Revelation He Himself is written upon (Revelation 19: 16).
He would honour us by putting us upon that platform, the platform of impressionable material upon which God can write by His Spirit. So that the writing is obviously a moral process and that must be heart work. Hence Jeremiah tells us by the Spirit from the mouth of God that He would, in the new covenant, put His law in their inward parts. You cannot limit inward parts. Who knows the inward parts but God? He has made us, wonderfully made us; we have been curiously formed in the lowest parts of the earth. He knows every crevice of the inner parts. So that God can unqualifiedly put His law in there without any fear of it being damaged or adulterated. It is inner work that God is after now, and we do not want to miss it. “I will put my law in their inward parts”, Jeremiah 31:33. Very much like the Lord, He put it in there Himself, and magnified it, and made it honourable. He was the true ark of the covenant. The idea is trustworthiness, involving protection, and magnification indeed of the law, so that it did not become a dead letter. It was made a living reality in Christ.
But now we are brought to correspondence with that, even in a higher way than Jeremiah speaks, for the Spirit of God sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts. The inner parts are taken possession of in a most blessed way. There is no retrogression at all with the living God taking possession of the inner parts. “The path of the just is as the shining light,
[p. 133] that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”, Proverbs 4: 18. No man would ever say the former days were better than these. The Lord Jesus had not lost sight of the former days. They are maintained and, if I give them a place in my heart, all that was then is now, and more beside. So there is a moral process and that is the secret of the overcomer in Philadelphia, that he has gone in for greater things and is not content with the mere ABC of christianity (not minimising that, for the Lord is the Alpha and the Omega; we want to lose nothing). The overcomer in Philadelphia understands, he is a man that is the subject of the work of God in the heart in an inner way.
John understands that when the Lord says to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again”. You must be born throughout, the whole man has to be dealt with radically. Otherwise there could be no material upon which God, Christ, can write the very greatest things. The overcomer in Philadelphia is a man who has gone in for things. God has brought wonderful things to light in our time. How are we dealing with these things, what use are we making of them? We have wonderful writings, but that is not the idea of material. The best paper made will moulder and disappear, but not the material that I am speaking of. We may take the light of God in a shallow sort of way, but light will not always stand by me; I need heart work, and food, too, for constitution. And the overcomer in Philadelphia has gone in for these things, wonderful things. And the overcomer is not going to let one thing lapse, he will say everything is for him. It is the inheritance of the assembly.
And hence “the name of my God”. What do you think the Lord Jesus means by that, the name of my God? What do you think Mary of Magdalene would say? She would say, ‘I have heard the Lord Jesus use that very expression Himself’, “My God and your God”. Would she ever forget those accents, those words? What the Lord said would be indelibly impressed upon her. That is the idea, that His God is our God. Does that not enter into the inmost part of the being, the inner part, as the scripture says; such a precious fact that His God is our God? But then the writing is the name of “My God”. Not simply the name of God, great and glorious as that name is; there is no greater name. There are those who assume that there is a relative inferiority in that name. No, there is no greater name than God over all blessed for ever. But here He is speaking as Man, He says “My God”; “I will write upon him the name of my God”. How could He do that? The idea is a moral process in the soul, by the change of heart, the fleshy tables of the heart taking the place of the stony heart that we have naturally. Think, dear brethren, of having that name indelibly written by the Lord Jesus. But upon whom? Upon the overcomer of this particular assembly.
Then He says, “the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God”. Think of that, “the city of my God”. Notice the frequency of the word “my” in this verse; let us get near to Jesus. He would draw us near as His companions. If He sends the message through Mary to His brethren, He would draw near to them, “Come near to me” as Joseph said (Genesis 45: 4). So that we should understand that word “my”. How He regards things. And what is this city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God? What is this? Is it not that which the Lord is seeking to bring before us in our relations with one another? What the assembly is administratively, what it is maternally. What do we know about these things as administering a heavenly thing? And Jerusalem above is our mother. Need we be ignorant about it?
[p. 135] No, we need not. The teaching of it is abroad, and has been for one hundred years. The overcomer in the Philadelphian assembly would die for these things. It is the new Jerusalem which comes down from heaven from My God. It comes down, it is the glorious liberty which it has, it can come down; but the point is, it is from My God.
And then finally the Lord says, “My new name”. That is, He has got a new name. The Lord, I believe, has been greatly impressing on His people what is new. Not novelties, not that. Not imaginary things, but what is really new, that is to say, different. That is the idea, it is different. The name of Christ abroad, well, it is not new, it is public. As a matter of fact it has lost its power in the mouths and minds of unconverted people. The precious things that we get at the beginning are lost, they have become common. That is in the use of them in a profane way, the name of the Lord is profaned, has lost its power and character. The Lord Jesus makes everything new and fresh, for it is new, there is nothing about Jesus that is not new. The Lord Jesus brings in everything in living and spiritual freshness, and the overcomer understands, and hence the Lord can write — for that is the idea (there must be a moral process in us, for there is nothing but unsuitable material unless the Lord makes us suitable) — what things? His great and glorious things, “the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my new name”. If we take these three things together I believe that sums up all that God has given to His people; all else is bound up in them. It is a question of the revelation of God and the assembly, which involves the Spirit and Christ.
These are the things, dear brethren, and the Lord Jesus is looking for the material, impressionable material on which to write these things. It is found [p. 136] in the overcomer in this remarkable assembly which the Lord addresses in a most unusual way, saying “thou hast kept the word of my patience”, and “thou ... hast not denied my name. Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. That is the assembly, that is what the Lord has in His mind. The overcomer in that assembly understands, and hence the writing, and, as I said, it is indelible.
May God grant to us to go in for realities, dear brethren, because He is not mocked.