MATTHEW 19
CAC These things belong to the wilderness side of Jordan. Things are adjusted now in heavenly light; marriage gets its original dignity as of God among the saints. You occupy your own heavenly position as risen with Christ; you go on with the wilderness side in the light of the heavenly. Marriage is quite on a different footing now. No christian would think of having more than one wife. It was quite in order for David and Solomon to have more — God in a way sanctioned it. The earthy relationships are now taken up in the light of the heavenly.
Rem They are taken up in the light of the economy of grace and of the assembly.
CAC Yes, so you go back to the beginning. For a woman to have her head uncovered is a flagrant violation of the divine order; it is the giving up of divine authority altogether (see 1 Corinthians 11). When we see what is of God it puts us on a divine platform, as it were. You would not think of a spiritual person readily taking advantage of the Lord’s permission to divorce an unfaithful partner; he would think of the original character of the bond. In Mark it is not allowed at all; in Matthew He does not allow it except for fornication. The law system dealt with man after the flesh; if he did certain things he would live, therefore certain things were permitted. In the Old Testament we find saints telling lies and so on.
Rem Christianity brought in power. In christianity a new thing is brought in.
CAC As to the application of “one flesh”, we have, “He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6: 17);
[p. 143] that is another bond superior to the natural but which would govern everything in the natural. The highest instruction about natural relationships is in Ephesians and Colossians. It is not until the heavenly position is brought in that you get it; we should have thought it would be in Romans.
Rem Paul handles the matter with the same delicacy in 1 Corinthians 7. All is touched in divine wisdom so as not to bring any into bondage.
CAC It might work the other way; some might have a superiority over the natural relationship of marriage, but it would need to be taken up in spiritual power. The Lord does not argue with them; He does not put the disciples right but uses it as an opportunity to bring out a principle. To think that Emmanuel, the Lord of glory, God manifest in flesh, should be accessible to a little child! There is nothing more beautiful in Scripture. The only importance of a little child is that it is the subject of love, and the kingdom of the heavens is made up of people like that who are content to have, as their only distinction, that they are the subjects of love. The only importance really that attaches to me is that I am a subject of the love of God and of the love of Christ. I am of importance in the universe because it is so. All the principalities and powers would agree in that.
Rem It would all develop out of that.
CAC If we could only carry in our hearts all the time, if I can only carry in my heart all the time, that “The Son of God, ... has loved me and given himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20), 1 should be equal to everything. You must have a little child before you have a man.
Rem The children would not forget that touch.
CAC I have no doubt at all that they would be found in the assembly later on.
Rem It speaks of laying holy hands on and praying.
CAC It shows they were persons of very [p. 144] good understanding.
With all the elements for good in the young man he had not really discerned the Lord. The disciples had followed Him without thinking of what they had left. Though on the line of goodness the young man had to learn sorrowfully that he was not good nor did he really wish to be good. What advantage is it to have great possessions if the One entitled to everything was just about to be crucified? There was One there who was the great exemplification of all divine goodness and who proposed that he should follow Him but that was nothing to him. There may be commendable qualities naturally which when tested by Christ turn out to be very shallow indeed.
Rem In all false religions there is the thought of merit by doing something which leads to an undervaluing of Christ and a readiness to turn away from Him.
CAC He was really governed by the selfishness of human nature; the Lord exposed the depths of his heart; he never thought of it before; he was not ready for the exposure. The image and likeness of God was there in a Man and would have been extremely attractive to any heart that was alive to God — like the disciples who had left what they had. Mr. Stoney said that they left a few old boats and nets but they gained infinitely.
If the young man had said, ‘I am greatly humbled because I am not a bit like Thee’, the Lord could have done something with him. What the disciples looked upon as a great mark of God’s favour might be a great hindrance. There was one thing lacking and that was appreciation of Christ. There are many like that now, with a certain appreciation of Christ but with no true sense that He is from God, come down in grace to undertake for His poor bankrupt creature. We see how far it is possible to go on the line of natural goodness in Saul of Tarsus: “I have walked in all good conscience with God unto this day”,
[p. 145] Acts 23: 1, yet he had been hating Christ!
Rem Things are to be held in right relation to Christ.
CAC Paul says, “On account of whom I have suffered the loss of all”, Philippians 3: 8 — it just slipped out. This young man in Matthew 19 might have been Saul of Tarsus for all I know! — he is very like him, I mean; all that was connected with the righteousness of the law he was very zealous in, until the sting in the law found him out, until it convicted him. “The commandment having come, sin revived, but I died”, Romans 7: 9. He suffered the loss of all things through appreciation of Christ. When we find the exceeding preciousness of Christ, the Person of Christ, who He is and all connected with Him, could any heart put anything in the world against Him? All the world, what is that put against Christ? Peter says, “We have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God’’”, John 6: 69. The next parable opens out that we come in on the line of grace, and God is so good that He will give a whole day’s pay for an hour’s work; He is a Master worth looking after. These things are left (verse 29) because of the power of His name and the return is “a hundredfold”. There was never an investment like that! “Shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit life eternal”. It is not acquired in a legal way but the incentive is in the power of His name, and all such would tell us they got a hundredfold. The Lord made it as attractive as possible yet the young man’s native selfishness was too much for him. As natural men we are all exactly alike, self rules; a man cannot deliver himself from himself. The disciples with all their defects were perfectly convinced that Christ was the One who answered perfectly to the satisfaction of their hearts, and His attractiveness caused them to leave their nets. If this young man had been looking for redemption he would have got what he wanted.
Why does the Lord change His expression into “the kingdom of God”? There are the two sides, all that is [p. 146] connected with Him as in heaven and then what was down here corresponding with it — the kingdom of God, that is, the control of God.