CHRIST'S ASSEMBLY AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
CHRIST’S ASSEMBLY AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
FER The point that presented itself to me for our reading was Matthew 16 — Christ’s assembly and the kingdom of heaven.
This begins with the confession of Christ according to the truth of His Person. Everything is now viewed from the divine side. We get three great thoughts: (1) the treasure, in a way, “I will build my assembly”; then (2) the keys of the kingdom of heaven given to Peter; and (3) the kingdom of the Son of man. The keys of the kingdom mean the administration of the kingdom. The assembly is what Christ builds — the treasure — you get thus the inward and the outward thing. He buys the field for the treasure; Matthew 13: 44.
Ques You would say “my assembly” and the kingdom spoken of here both began at Pentecost?
FER The assembly was there in a sense before the Holy Spirit came. It became the house of God then, for God dwelt there by the Spirit. Peter had the administration of the kingdom; the administration of the kingdom took place when Christ went on high, else it would not be the kingdom of heaven. The assembly which Christ builds is really mystery — He hides it.
Ques Would it be that the Holy Spirit came and sealed what Christ had already built?
FER Yes; Christ built the house for God; so in Peter it is spoken of as a spiritual house. Christ is not exactly going on building, but in the power of the Spirit the building is expanded or extended.
Rem In John 20 they were all of one.
FER Yes; Christ had held them together; when [p. 388] He was here on earth He was doing, to a large extent, the work of the Spirit.
Ques Does not the public proclamation of the gospel cease from this chapter?
FER No. The proclamation that Jesus was the Christ ceased, was sealed up, and Christ builds the assembly.
Ques What is the value of it?
FER We get an idea of the character of the assembly from the foundation, the rock on which it is built; but the value of it is that in it you get His mind. It is in a sense what the Urim and Thummim were to Israel. We can get His mind by being in the truth of it. It is not an outward, public thing, as saints gathered together at Corinth; in that we see the outward form of the assembly.
Rem We have thought of manifestation, something to be seen, but it is the treasure, something spiritual.
FER Yes, I think so. It is a great thing to have the mind of Christ down here. Who would understand the bearing of the truth of the seven churches except one in the truth of the assembly? It is a great point to see what the mind of Christ is at any given moment. We want to know what Christ thinks of things. We shall not get that if we are not in the truth of Christ’s assembly. The appreciation of Christ, of what He is divinely, gives the foundation.
Rem It is like Psalm 73, going into the sanctuary.
FER Yes, you get His mind.
Ques Would it be something like the oracle?
FER Yes, I think so.
Ques Would you say a word about the temple and the house?
FER House is more the social aspect of the church; the temple more the shrine. The house of God is the place for which a man learns how to behave himself; 1 Timothy 3. The oracle is connected with the temple. I think God’s house is His household. The [p. 389] church is the pillar and ground of the truth; the truth of God is deposited in the church; that is, connected with its responsibility. In what we have in Matthew 16 is involved the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is here, and there is a way in which it is gained. You come across Christians still entangled in the world and worldly associations, and they have not the mind of Christ. It is dependent on what Christ has built. You do not get His mind if you are not kindred to Christ in nature.
Rem That is the relation in which Eve stood to Adam.
FER Exactly. She knew his mind. If you are kindred to Christ in nature you know His mind. There is a response on our part.
Ques Is that what Peter refers to in his first epistle?
FER Exactly. As living stones you are built up; you are kindred to the Living Stone. We appreciate His love and we love in response to it. We are one with Him in that way. It is no good talking about our being kindred in nature if there is not mutual affection. Abiding in Christ is being under His influence. It is in the kingdom that He builds His assembly.
Ques Is there any thought connected with Christ’s assembly except getting His mind?
FER I think that is the great thought, no other suggests itself to me.
Rem Israel had the mind of God.
FER Yes; they were Jehovah’s assembly.
Ques What is the application of Urim and Thummim?
FER That is the divine judgment of everything.
Ques Does the Lord refer to it in John 15, “I have called you friends”?
FER Exactly.
Rem In Philadelphia they have the mind [p. 390] of Christ; a true Philadelphian would be one who understands the truth of the assembly.
FER Yes, I think so. There are not many scriptures which present the assembly in this point of view. The truth of Christ’s Person comes out in Peter’s confession. Peter confesses Him by the revelation of the Father. The Lord takes the name of Son of man with regard to Himself. The Son of the living God has to do with the assembly; the Son of man is the title connected with the kingdom. What comes in between is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven indicates the light which subsists for every man, like the sun rules in the heavens. The kingdom of heaven is preached to every man. The thought in it is not that you get the mind of Christ, but that you see your way. When Peter opened the door of the kingdom to Cornelius and his friends they saw their way. The kingdom of heaven is light by which man can see a way through this world. Light is set in heaven to bear rule on earth. Man has no light in himself. A man may be wise enough in things of this world but at the end may be a fool. Man has no light in him and so must walk in the light of the sun.
Ques You connect the kingdom more with Christ up there and the church with the Spirit down here?
FER Yes, I do. The church is the mystery, the mind of Christ resides there. The kingdom of heaven subsists and is preached for every man. In its application it is individual. I can find a way through the world. How can a man who has no knowledge of God’s will take a way through the world? The planets have each an orbit, but all have reference to the sun. Christ is our sun. The planets have no light in them; they have light relatively to the sun. Men are brought into the kingdom by receiving it. The subject of testimony is Christ in heaven as a light for men; if a man receives that, he comes into the kingdom and finds a way down here.
I order my path in God’s will. You must apprehend Christ in relation to all men, like the sun in the heavens. The proclamation of forgiveness of sins is in connection with the kingdom. God has set a great moral light in the heavens on the ground of redemption to be there for every man. The apostle preached the kingdom; everybody who preaches now preaches the kingdom — that Christ is light, on God’s side the light is there for every man. In the first part of Psalm 19 the sun is seen as set in the heavens; then there is the law and testimony of the Lord, etc. It is first Christ as light, then Christ in the heart. Christ is a light for every man. This comes very close to the truth of headship. The sun is the great head of the universe, so Christ is the great head of the moral universe.
Ques What is the difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God?
FER One is perhaps more the objective side, and the other the subjective: the kingdom of God seems connected with the Spirit; the kingdom and the assembly are always kept clear; there is what is individual and what is corporate. The kingdom does not raise the question of our relation to one another, it is light for our individual path here. The kingdom of heaven will apparently in the future take the character of the kingdom of the Son of man. He purges it.
The everlasting gospel is hardly the gospel of the kingdom, but an appeal to men to fear God because the hour of His judgment is come. The Lord is now in heaven, not here, and that gives character to the kingdom. The Thessalonians were evidently in the good of the kingdom. The power of the kingdom of heaven is moral; in the kingdom of the Son of man the power will be also actual and evident. The kingdom of heaven is light: man has no light in himself, he is dependent on light that comes from another [p. 392] scene. If you are in the light of heaven — that is, in the light of Christ — you will know that God is going to head up all things in Christ, and will order your path in reference to that.
Rem Every one must be in the kingdom before he can be in the assembly.
FER Yes, morally. The kingdom, as I said, has its relation to us in our individual path. You must get out of lawlessness into the light and rule of the sun.
Ques Is the Son of man coming in His kingdom what we have in the beginning of chapter 17?
FER Yes, everything is then subjugated. The power of evil must be cast out of heaven before you can get the kingdom of the Son of man. What Christ is in heaven has relation to earth. The effect of casting out of the evil in heaven will be the heading up of evil here, and that will be the fitting moment for setting up the kingdom of the Son of man.
The Thessalonians were waiting for the public manifestation of what they were already in morally. But their part will be not to be in the kingdom, but to reign; the righteous will shine forth as the sun; we do not do that very much now. I am now better off than the most able man in this world, I do not stumble, I have light and I know where the way leads to. God has made known to us the mystery of His will.
Rem That involves the denial of self.
FER Yes, and that Christ should be everything; it is blessed to see how everything is secured morally. God has been pleased to introduce in Christ three things: rule, atmosphere and light. God on His part begins with bringing in light. But in our apprehension we come under rule first, then we get life in the Christian atmosphere and then light. The first thing God said in Genesis was, “Let there be light”. Light is the last thing we really enter into; it involves spiritual intelligence and the entering into what God [p. 393] is in His own nature. It is the knowledge of God in what God is to us down here, as seen in 1 John 4.
Rem Then we believe the love.
FER Exactly. Love is perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Until a man is under rule he is in lawlessness. The first thing is for him to get out of lawlessness. The point of departure is the point of recovery. The devil led man into lawlessness, and the Son of God came to undo the works of the devil.
Then the next thing is the Christian circle, you love the brethren, and in this we know that we have passed out of death into life. Love is the atmosphere in which you live, there is no life outside it. Then the last thing is light, that is, the application of love to the Christian in all his path right up to the day of judgment.