OUR PRESENT POSITION
Reading 1
A.J.G. Some of us were occupied yesterday evening with Bartimæus and Mary of Magdala. Both called Jesus Rabboni. We remarked that we need to come under the Lord’s teaching; Rabboni signifies instructor, a master who teaches; it is the testimony that is the point in the incident of Bartimæus, and the service of God that is in view in John 20.
Now I thought that we could have some light in considering the history of Elisha; our present position being in view, Christ being in the presence of the Father and the Spirit down here. The service of God really forms part of the testimony. It clearly involves what is for the pleasure of God, but also what is taken account of by men. The testimony is indeed a very extended thought and from one point of view it encompasses the service of God. The history of Elisha has a particular significance because his ministry took place in the kingdom of Israel, that is to say among the ten tribes who were estranged from the divine centre and who had set up a rival system of worship. In consequence, the application of Elisha’s history to ourselves relates to what is for God down here in the power of the Spirit, in the face of all that is formal and contrary to the truth in Christendom in general. However, there is much power with him. Elisha is not exactly a figure of the Holy Spirit personally, but rather what is now here in the power of life, in the power of the Spirit. I think that we could therefore see the application in our day. I thought that in considering Elisha’s history a little we could be helped to maintain the service of God in the face of the apostasy which surrounds us. It seemed to me therefore that we should begin by considering the fact that “Jehovah would take Elijah into the heavens in a whirlwind”. We are led to this particular fact that a man has been raised up into heaven; that is what should impress us, and what characterises this period of Christianity, that is to say that man in the Person of Christ, according to divine counsel, has taken His place in the presence of God, and divine power enters into this matter. This is developed at the end of the first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians when it speaks of the might of God’s strength that has raised Christ from among the dead and the excellent position which He is given in exaltation. I think that we need to keep this in mind continually, to know that Christ is above and it is there that God’s good pleasure for man comes into view. That is to say, it is a matter of knowing how we are to hold ourselves here in this light and in power. When Elijah went up into heaven, Elisha had to go on down here and this chapter has in view how the position is maintained. So Elisha begins in going with Elijah. It is said, “Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal”.
Elijah constantly put Elisha to the test to know if he would remain with him. This links with what is said in 2 Chronicles 15: 2: “Jehovah is with you while ye are with him”. It is very important for us to know that the Lord is with us if we are with Him. We therefore need to be with the Lord in His movements in relation to the testimony and with new developments in the truth. We have to follow Him and assure ourselves that He is with us if we are with Him. I think that this is emphasised in the first part of this second chapter. Elisha began in going with Elijah, but three times Elisha is put to the test by Elijah to know if he would continue with him.
R.B. Is it important for us to realise that the Man who is gone up into heaven is the Man who also descended from heaven?
A.J.G. Yes, I think so. There is therefore a manhood of a glorious character in the presence of God, and also in the position of Son.
R.B. Do the movements of Elisha with Elijah suggest that we are with a Man who has come down from heaven?
A.J.G. I think that the movements of Elijah here had in view that Elisha should have Elijah’s perspective on each position. He would go to Bethel, that is to say to the house of God, the assembly, for the house of God is the assembly. The Lord would have us to begin with the perspective that He has the assembly, the great vessel that is under His hand here for the service of God and the dignity and liberty that are proper to it. We must not simply come to meetings, but we have to keep divine thoughts as to the assembly before us; we must think of what it is for God and of the pleasure that the Lord has to have what can be for the service of God.
A.G. Is it in contrast with the thought of the sons of the prophets who are brought out several times?
A.J.G. Yes, the sons of the prophets are mentioned several times as being those who are with Elisha; they are marked by a lot of unbelief and weakness, and this raises the question that should concern us: are we marked by unbelief? If we are truly affected by the fact that Jesus is in the presence of the Father and that we are linked with Him above and that it matters now when we may be found there with Him, that will have a great effect upon us. We are to be impressed by the dignity that marks the assembly and also the liberty that belongs to it. “If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free”.
S.C. I think that there are difficulties in realising this place as having our liberty to enter into the holy places where Christ is found.
A.J.G. It is the reason for which the Spirit has come so as to give us the feeling that we are linked with Christ. The Lord has indeed said in John 14: “In that day”, speaking of the day of the Spirit, “ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. Let us think of things and examine them. “I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. You could not have a more glorious position with God than the position that the Lord occupies as Man. He is personally equal to the Father although in the Economy He has taken a subordinate place. But it is there that Man is found in relation with the Father and we are united to Him: “ye in me”. It is the most glorious position that could be. That is to say, it is question how far we realise the position in waiting on the Lord.
P.F. The Lord speaks of the truth that sets free and the Son who sets free.
A.J.G. Yes, indeed. The truth sets us free in that we are liberated from all that is contrary to the truth; but the Son sets us free so that we are consciously in association with Him. As we said yesterday evening, we learn the truth in Christ. So He says, “my Father and your Father” and “my God and your God”. We have therefore to consider Christ in relation with the Father and understand that grace has been given to take a place at His side. Then we have to consider Christ in relation with God and understand that grace has been given for us to take our place at His side. I believe that is the idea conveyed in the expression, “the Son shall set you free”. It would not be simply the fact of being free of what is contrary to the truth, but to be led positively in real blessing, in liberty. In Luke 15, the Father says, “Bring out the best robe … and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet”, all that so as to be in real liberty. He was already free of the far country where the swine were, but the question is to be in real liberty in the presence of the Father. I believe that is the idea in “the Son shall set you free”.
E.J.S. Is there an analogy between the fifty sons of the prophets and in Timothy where it speaks of those who are always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, because they have not been set free?
A.J.G. I believe that these sons of the prophets progress as the account goes on. This is what should concern us. It is why the Lord is bringing out so much the thought of the Spirit in our day, so that we should not only have a certain understanding of liberty but that we should prove it in power and enjoyment.
S.C. There were things that the disciples could not understand at the time, but when the Spirit came, they could grasp them.
A.J.G. I am sure that is important. It is what makes the present moment so distinct: man in the Person of Christ is in the presence of the Father and a Person of the Godhead is down here in the Person of the Spirit. This makes the present moment distinct from what has gone before; it is the culmination of God’s ways.
P.A.N. Would the position of Mary seeking the Lord correspond to the position of the prophets seeking Elisha?
A.J.G. I would say that Mary was much more advanced than the sons of the prophets; of course, she was still ignorant, but she had much affection for Christ, while the sons of the prophets seem very poor in this chapter. Elisha seems to indicate that it was a matter of affection and feeling. I think that that is what he means when he spoke thus: “I also know it: be silent!” He knew that Elijah was going to be taken up from over him; he felt it: “I also know it: be silent!” This therefore raises the question of knowing how far we have Mary’s feelings, feeling the absence of the Lord. It is in this way that the truth is developed.
Then Elijah leads him to Jericho, so that Elisha must have Elijah’s view of Jericho. We have to consider this world as the Lord sees it. It is one of the things of which the Lord spoke in the gospel of John that the Spirit would give us. He said that, when He is come, “he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”. And John in his epistle says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one”.
He also says, “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world”. The children of God must have the Father’s judgment of everything. It is a means by which we can judge the world. In a family, if the conditions are as they should be, the children have the same point of view as the father as to all that is presented to them; if there is something that displeases the father, it displeases the children. It is the same for the children of God; we have to study what the Father loves. That is manifested fully in Christ. We have therefore to love what the Father loves and to hate what is hated by the Father. That gives us the Lord’s judgment of the world.
R.B. Does Jericho suggest not only the world as a system from which we have been delivered, but the principles of the world in ourselves?
A.J.G. That is very important. Egypt is a figure of the world as a system, and I believe that most among us are delivered from it. But Jericho represents the things of the world, the principles of the world, which tend to get into the Christian circle, and we have to overcome to be a heavenly people here. So it is that it speaks to the young ones in the epistle of John, not only of the world but the things that are in the world.
Then Elijah leads Elisha to the Jordan so that he should understand the power of Elijah over death and he was to be drawn to cross it with Elijah.
R.B. What does the Jordan speak of to us?
A.J.G. We have to follow the Lord in our affections. He has not remained down here; He has left this scene and in His power, He has brought to light for us a life by His death, so that we must no longer find our life in things down here. That casts us upon the Spirit to enter into the things that are above. It is not simply a question of being delivered from the world but delivered from earth. Paul speaks of those who are earthly in Philippians, and he says, “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”.
E.J.S. Is that why there were no sons of the prophets at Gilgal?
A.J.G. Elijah had to be in Gilgal in order to leave. It is said, “Elijah and Elisha departed from Gilgal”. It is the point of departure; Gilgal represents the judgment of the flesh in us and we cannot enter into divine things if we do not accept that.
P.V. Why did Elisha ask for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit?
A.J.G. I think that emphasises for us the importance of the Holy Spirit. It is important for us to think that we are here in the place where the Lord has been for God’s pleasure; being now risen on high. He has left His saints down here to occupy the position under God’s eye, for His pleasure, as being those who are heavenly. But this position can only be occupied in the power of the Spirit. The fact that Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit shows how incapable he felt of holding the position by himself; this is why he felt the need of a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. That also refers to the dignity of those who belong to the assembly; we are all firstborn. It was only the firstborn in the Old Testament who had a double portion. That might be to emphasise the dignity of the saints of the assembly; we are all firstborn.
R.B. The Lord says in John’s gospel: You will do greater things because I go to the Father.
A.J.G. Yes indeed. And the important point is “if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so”. You can understand how dependent Elisha was, not allowing the least distance between him and Elijah.
G.R.W. It is important to notice that he says, “thy spirit”. You have spoken of being drawn to Christ, and he says, “thy spirit”.
A.J.G. Yes, the Spirit of this Man who is in heaven. It is the Spirit of the heavenly Man and the Spirit of God’s Son. The Spirit of God’s Son gives us liberty in the service of God and real feelings and affections as to God. The Spirit of God would give us the assurance that we have everything in a way acceptable to God. That is how the Lord breathed into them: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained”, which shows that the Lord had confidence in them in the things they would be going to do in a way that was worthy of heaven and would express God, underlining particularly the grace of forgiveness..
P.A.N. What corresponds to the garments rent in two and Elijah’s mantle?
A.J.G. It is said that Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it, and then in verse 12, Elisha “took hold of his own garments and rent them in two pieces”. That is final. He abandoned all his natural characteristic features; this is real self-judgment effected in the power of the Spirit. It is in two pieces, that is to say a final thing. It is not only in little pieces, but he put it in two pieces as something that had ended; then he takes up Elijah’s mantle. The mantle is the measure of the man; he would have nothing else before him, nothing less than the measure of Christianity seen in Christ Himself. This is the measure of the Man.
R.B. We read yesterday evening that Bartimæus cast aside his garments.
A.J.G. Bartimæus cast aside the garments of a beggar. It is very important that there should be no brother or sister in the position of a beggar, that is to say, persons who receive and contribute nothing. If I come to the meeting just to receive, I do not have the Lord’s mind as to the assembly. The Lord’s mind as to the assembly is that there are living stones there; all those who are found there have living affections for Christ and for God; they can therefore contribute to the service of God.
R.B. Is that the thought we have in Acts 1: 21: “It is necessary therefore, that of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us, one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection”?
A.J.G. The mantle that fell from Elijah is the measure of the Man who is in heaven. That is what we have to keep before us. It is the idea that Paul followed in writing to Timothy; he says “The cloak which I left behind me in Troas”. It is the mantle of Paul’s measure and Timothy had to have it with him: Timothy had to continue when Paul would have been taken to be with the Lord. Paul was taken possession of by Christ, that is why he could speak of his cloak, his measure, and Timothy had to bring it with him. It is not exactly said that Timothy had to wear it because he would not have had the stature for that, but he had to have it with him and keep it before him. That should be before us to maintain our position down here.
E.J.S. Would you say something about the passage: “My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!”?
A.J.G. It is the impression that Elisha had of the power available to take up Elijah. He says, “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”. Israel as a whole were estranged from Jehovah, and nevertheless Elisha says, “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”. That shows that there is an infinite power which is available if only we are at the disposal of the Spirit. It is in this light that Elisha took his clothes and rent them in two pieces; then he took up Elijah’s mantle.
P.C. Would you say something about the fact that it is chariots of fire and horses of fire?
A.J.G. This shows that the divine character as a consuming fire is maintained. The Spirit is God Himself and He is spoken of as being the Holy Spirit. In the Person of the Spirit we have God Himself, but He is presented in the character of the Holy Spirit. All that links with the moral conditions of which we have already spoken. We have a lot of light as to divine thoughts, but what we have particular need of is the power and liberty that correspond to the light. That raises the question of moral conditions which have occupied us.
P.C. In another circumstance, Elisha sees the chariots of fire around him: the young man did not see them, and he prayed that his eyes should be opened.
A.J.G. That is very interesting. Elisha did not need to have his eyes opened, but he prays for Jehovah to open the young man’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. It is in the measure in which we are ready to walk in the Spirit, seeking to answer to divine thoughts, in the power of the Spirit, that we realise that the Lord is on our side, holding back the influence of the world, so that the testimony and the service of God can continue until its fulfilment.
B.O. Why is the Holy Spirit called the Spirit of promise in the first chapter of the Acts (see also Eph 1: 13)?
A.J.G. The Lord had promised the gift of the Spirit, He desired that His own would appreciate the Spirit. There had been the promise of the Spirit in the prophet Joel and the Lord had said to them that the Father would give them the Spirit. The Lord desired that the disciples should really appreciate the value of the Spirit with them. That is to say, it is a question if we appreciate Him. We know that the Spirit is with us, but we have to apprehend and appreciate His presence and realise what He gives us: liberty, power, enjoyment. At the end of the last paragraph read, we see the unbelief that characterised the sons of the prophets, a very important question to raise, to know if we have faith, that is to say is faith active in us? The Spirit works in relation with faith. If we allow our minds to be occupied with earthly things, the Spirit is hindered; He cannot help us. But the Spirit communicates His power where faith is active. That is why Paul says that we look on the things that are not seen and eternal; that is to say, that faith is in activity in Paul.
Here the sons of the prophets are unbelieving as to the fact that Elijah has gone up into heaven; they suggest that Jehovah might have cast him upon some mountain or into some ravine. That shows the unbelieving conditions that can attach to us. Apparently Elisha was the only one who had faith.
E.J.S. Faith works through love. We see love in the expression, “My father”, and faith in the expression, “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”.
VALENCE
1st November 1952
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’, May 1953
____________________