THE FULNESS OF HIM WHO FILLS ALL IN ALL
We are already engaged, dear brethren, with the way in which God is working currently in view of the achievement of His work as to the assembly. We have spoken of the fact that He has for a long time focussed on the thought of the assembly and how His present interest is to furnish the substance, the answer, of His desire in this regard, so that not only should we have the full thought as to the assembly, but that we in some measure should ourselves become the answer to what He has proposed through a substantial formation according to Christ in liberty and spiritual intelligence and by holy affections proper to the assembly. So that the truth of this subject should not only be in terms, but the substance should be evident for the pleasure of God. We must have in mind when we speak of the assembly that it is made up of persons—all the saints who have the Spirit form part of it—that is why, if certain results are to be arrived at in the assembly, it is in persons that these results must be completed. An isolated saint is not sufficient by himself to be “the fulness of him who fills all in all”; the full result requires the whole assembly, the body of Christ. The formation must also go on progressively in each saint and the perfect Model of this formation is Christ, Christ Himself. So it is with Paul: he presents in the epistle to the Ephesians the final end of all ministry as being the perfecting of the body of Christ, that is to say the assembly; but in the epistle to the Colossians he says that he works to present “every man perfect in Christ”, showing that his end was nothing less than to lead every believer to Christ Himself by his ministry.
God has given us the means to have concrete impressions as to His thoughts; that is to say, from the beginning He brought the heavens and the earth into being. Without any doubt, He had much in mind when He created the heavens and the earth, but among other things, He uses the comparison between the heavens and the earth as a means to give us some impression of the immense superiority of His ways as being above our ways, even as His thoughts are above our thoughts. He says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”, Isa 55: 9. And the intention is that, each time we consider how the heavens are higher than the earth, we should be impressed by the fact that God has thoughts which are immensely more elevated and greater than our thoughts. And that will lead us to look into what those thoughts are and to consider the power, and faithfulness of God; that same power and that same faithfulness which is able to produce in us a response that corresponds to them. What I have just quoted is a passage from the book of Isaiah, chapter 55; in Psalm 103, it is said, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving-kindness toward them that fear him”. I mention that incidentally, for by the contemplation of the heavens, God reminds us of His ways, His thoughts and His goodness.
We are in days when God is bringing heavenly thoughts before us. He has blessed us, it is said, with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”. A day is on the point of breaking when He will establish an order of blessing on the earth. There will be certain degrees of blessing here, for the thought of God is to bless other families as well as the heavenly families, but His present work is limited to presenting what is essentially heavenly, and which takes this character, I need not say, from Christ. Let us keep in our minds that we are in the presence of this remarkable expression of divine wisdom and glory, that is to say that one of the Persons of the Godhead has become Man. What sort of Man do you think a Person of the Godhead here must be? How infinitely greater the Man Christ Jesus is in moral excellence in all that is secured for God’s pleasure, than all that God has found hitherto in relation to the first order of man! And it is this Man who is found before the apostle’s heart in this passage in Philippians. He is full of the thought of the Man Christ Jesus; “… Christ Jesus”, he says, “my Lord”.
I have read these passages because they indicate the end set before the mind of Paul on the one hand, and of Peter on the other. In the case of Paul, he had been, it seems to me, strongly impressed by the greatness of the Man Christ Jesus his Lord, not by a special word from Him, normally in relation to the revelations that had been made. But in Peter’s case, he had before him what the Lord had given him to know, to him especially, by a definite word. And it is a good thing for us to have a Model or a goal definitely before our minds. It is because that is lacking that there is such indecision among the saints. In chapter 3 of the epistle to the Philippians, Paul is entirely definite, and the reason for that is that he had as his goal to be found in Christ, and what is true for Paul is true for each of us, that is to say, that he had been “taken possession of”, as he says, by Christ Jesus to the one end, to be found in Christ. What does that imply? The end of the chapter shows us, that is to say that even as to his body, the goal is that he might be in complete conformity to Christ, his body being conformed, he says, “into conformity with his body of glory”; which also signifies that what Paul was as to his spiritual formation would be in perfect correspondence with Christ. And if it is to be so, it will need a body of glory like Christ’s body of glory in order to express fully what has been formed in him. To be found in Christ signifies therefore that each of us possesses the life and moral features of the Man Christ Jesus. It is good to have that before us. I said a moment ago that what is heavenly is infinitely greater than what is earthly and it is also morally superior. Think of chapter 15 of the first epistle to the Corinthians. It is said, “the first man out of the earth, made of dust”—nothing more than that. He was a marvellous specimen of mortal man, the most perfect of this order that God had produced, but nothing more than that, “out of the earth, made of dust”. “The second man, out of heaven”. We therefore have a Man now in Christ personally who is the beginning of a new order of manhood, infinitely superior in all His features to what might be attached to the first order of man. It is absolutely necessary to grasp this thought in our minds and not to hold, either in our own point of view, or in our affections, what God has resolved to reject entirely. Once God has introduced a second order of man, it is not possible for Him to maintain the first man alongside the second. He was introduced first by way of testimony, but actually, He had the second man out of heaven before Him and the Spirit is here, dwelling in each of us, so that we should have the power to maintain the divine Model before our hearts, and that we should be led into correspondence with the Man from heaven. This is what is fully expressed in Paul. It is remarkable and interesting to see what the apostle had before him in this epistle, for the end of his days was approaching and he knew it. He had been devoted, more than any other, in service and activity, but now he is in prison, limited, according to the will of the Lord as to him. As to outward circumstances, they were testing for his spirit in every way, for he found himself in prison and was there unjustly; in such a man that would very much have affected his spirit! From another point of view, naturally, he considered it as a privilege; he says himself that he is “bondman of Jesus Christ”, and prisoner of the Lord; but from a human point of view, he was found unjustly in bonds, and the enemy was resolved to make the conditions as difficult and testing as possible, even bringing before him the fact that certain brethren preached the Christ in a spirit of contention to arouse tribulation for his bonds. Such were the outward conditions; but they did not turn Paul aside from having before him the goal to which God had destined him and for which he had been taken possession of by Christ. And, to show that, he gives us an account of what he had been and what could have given him some distinction as a man in the flesh; but with the light of Christ in his soul, he considered all that might have added some distinction to him in the flesh as a loss, as filth, in comparison with what he possessed as a result of God’s grace and of which he spoke in saying, “the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”.
And he says, “But surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all, and count them to be filth, that I may gain Christ; and that I may be found in him”. Not a trace of the natural features of Saul of Tarsus, Pharisee, Hebrew of Hebrews: nothing of the man who might have had a just right to pride himself in all that; blameless as to the righteousness which is by the law; he no longer rested a single trace on that man. But Paul was the same individual, with the same personality and the same affections, the same man, but found in Christ. Do our hearts appreciate such a position, dear brethren, or do we cling on to some consideration of rank or a little pride, or the desire to have a place in the world? To be found in Christ eclipses all that. In chapter 15 of Luke, the father says, “bring out the best robe, and clothe him in it”. Then the father goes out to the elder son who says to him, “Behold, so many years I serve thee, and never have I transgressed a commandment of thine”. Supposing that was absolutely and literally true: had he acquired any right whatever in virtue of having served so many years and never transgressed the father’s commandments? Had he a right to the best robe? Absolutely not. Even if we are or have been all that it is possible to be as to man after the flesh, would we have a right to any title whatever? But the Father’s grace provided the best robe: to be “found in him”. It is as was said: even if all that had been true, why not come in and have the best robe? It is what has been put in reserve to be produced at the right time, what the Father would furnish in pure grace, and nothing could surpass the best robe in value—to be found in Christ, “not having”, as the apostle says “my righteousness which would be on the principle of law”.
If Paul had arrived at being found in Christ with his own righteousness, there would have been glory for him, but he says, “not having my righteousness”. It is infinitely better to be found before God and to have the consciousness of it in a condition where all is of Christ, rather than to introduce some small element of oneself which ruins the whole position. So the assembly must be characterised by such features. The apostle speaks of this in chapter 3 of the epistle to the Ephesians: “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”. What a dignified vessel the assembly is in Christ Jesus! composed of people of whom each one is “in Christ Jesus”, not only as a question of position but also of formation. What a glorious vessel, the complement of Christ, the fulness in moral features and in spiritual intelligence and in holy affections, of what Christ is as Man, “the fulness of him who fills all in all”. So the assembly must be in view in “Christ Jesus”, not only as to position or spiritual formation but as implying the fact that there is the power, the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s Son, to move in the affections and intelligence of Christ Himself in the service of the blessed God.
Dear brethren, all this is before us now, it is for this that we have been taken possession of, it is to this end that the Spirit of God is working currently. The final work relating to the making of our bodies conform to the image of Christ’s body of glory is a very simple question, a question of power which only requires the twinkling of an eye; but this formation according to Christ Jesus is the displacement of all that is not going to have part in this formation; it is a matter that needs time, and the Spirit of God perseveres in working to this end. That is to say, it is a question up to what point we think we are in line with what the Spirit is seeking to effect, and how far we help Him in His work; or indeed if we hinder Him. Paul did not hinder Him. First of all, he says, “to know him”; that was his goal. How remarkable it is to hear Paul say at the end of his days that his goal was to know Christ. You could have said to him: Surely, Paul, you have known Him for many years, and better than many; and that would have been true, but Paul says, “to know him”, as having the feeling that that was all that was worth knowing. As John says, “I have written to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning”, and then he repeats, “I have written to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning”. It is not necessary to add anything else except “abide in him”. If someone has reached this point that he knows characteristically One who is from the beginning, and he continues with that, abiding in Him, then in a certain sense, nothing more is necessary. So John had no use for saying anything else to the fathers although he judged it opportune to say a lot to the young men and the little children.
And Paul says, “to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death”. You will notice that we find the adjective “his” throughout. I believe that Paul contemplated the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from among the dead and what had preceded it, that is to say His sufferings and His death; he saw in all that a moral glory which greatly attracted him, and having thought of it in some way by the Spirit, he would be led himself to be in correspondence with that glory.
The resurrection of Christ was “from among the dead”, God manifesting His power in raising from the dead the only man who was full agreeable to Him while leaving every other man lying in death. How many great men, Nimrod, Alexander the Great and many others who men consider as great, were lying in their tombs, and God has left them all there, except Jesus. God has raised Jesus, manifesting thus the supreme satisfaction of heaven in the moral excellence and perfection that God found in the Man Christ Jesus, One who must fill the universe of God. And we have been taken possession of by divine grace and constituted His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. So our resurrection will be from among the dead. It is necessary that we have this thought before us. Paul took account of the resurrection of Christ and said that he desired to arrive at being in accord with it; there is a moral way to reach this and it is the fellowship of His sufferings. It is not at all a question of suffering on account of evil actions; why is that so? We have been redeemed and we have the Holy Spirit. If we suffer for the truth, in harmony with God’s mind, a special glory attaches to that. So Paul had before him the sufferings of Christ and being conformed to His death, a death that implied the most entire consecration to the will of God. Paul discerned in that a great moral excellence to which he desired to be conformed and it was therefore his goal for the rest of his life down here; his goal was, “to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death”.
Then he adds humbly, “Not that I have already obtained the prize, or am already perfected; but I pursue …” and he illustrates his thought by comparison with a race which consists of reaching an end and of receiving a prize when the end is reached.
Have we in this way a definite thought, dear brethren? The whole question is indeed settled in Paul’s mind; is it in our minds?
He says, “Brethren, I do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing—forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before”. “Forgetting”, that is to say that we are not occupied with what marked us in the past, the advantages of which we have renounced, perhaps; they cannot be compared with the goal for which we have been taken possession. We have the right to forget the things which are behind, unless of course there is some moral question which we have not faced, if it is so. God will not allow us to forget that until it is settled. Joseph’s brethren had to settle the moral questions which they had not faced for many years, Jacob also had to settle moral questions he had not judged for twenty years. If there are such things which ought to have been settled and they have not been, God will not allow us to forget them; but if there is nothing like that, the important point is this: “forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. I am assured that the prize is just this: to be found in Christ. What a comfort this will be to be free for ever of the flesh and all that we are by nature, free from all that would give us importance, whether in a contrary way or whether it may be from our point of view appearing to add something to what we are. We have the right to be free of that from now on, by the power that the Spirit of God furnishes to us, so that we have before us the only suitable object, and nothing will then help us more to occupy the position which belongs to the assembly, “the fulness of him who fills all in all”, than having before us, each individually, that for which we have been taken possession.
Then Paul goes on to say: “As many therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded”, that is to say that he has the collective thought in mind, he presents to us how the exercise must be taken to heart individually, but he always has in mind the collective thought, the assembly. “As many … let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you”. Then he says, “But whereto we have attained, let us walk in the same steps. Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus …”. Paul appeals to all of us, old and young, brothers and sisters: “Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model”. Then by contrast, he speaks of some on whose account he weeps, and he mentions what characterises them: “who mind earthly things”, and who are “enemies of the cross of Christ. That is to say that they refuse to recognise the cross in their own souls as the means by which God has condemned the history of the first man and has finished with him, not only the first man with his bad features, but also with his agreeable features. You will remember how Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah. I suppose that in ordinary society Agag was an acceptable person, a man who attached little importance to things and turned them perhaps to pleasantries, a facetious man. He came to Samuel gaily and said, “Surely the sting of death is passed”; he passed superficially over things, but Samuel, it is said, “hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah”. Samuel was in perfect accord with the cross of Christ. But those of whom Paul spoke were, he says “enemies of the cross of Christ”; he goes to the very root. They deliberately refused to accept the significance of the cross of Christ. The Spirit is continually in activity to lead us to be more and more in accord with the cross of Christ but there are those who refuse, those who have their minds on earthly things, “their glory in their shame”. Then the apostle says, “for our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”. If this is so, we must apprehend what is suitable for the heavens and that is seen in the Man Christ Jesus. As I have said, this is Paul’s goal, a heavenly perspective, for it is to Paul that the heavenly portion reserved for the assembly has been specially revealed.
But Peter also has a goal; morally, it was not different from Paul’s, there is nothing incompatible between the goal that Peter pursued and the one Paul pursued, only their point of view was different. While Paul’s point of view was the heavens, Peter’s was the earth. Paul directly envisaged finding himself at the goal in the heavens in correspondence with Christ; Peter only envisages progressing as far as finishing the race down here. The two viewpoints are important. Our end of course is heaven and to be found conformed to Christ in everything, but whoever desires to be faithful to the Lord Jesus also loves to be exercised as to knowing how he must finish his race down here in the testimony. To finish well, we have to be careful to go on day after day having this end before us. Peter was a man of energy and a remarkable devotion, but he was also marked by a lot of self-will and self-confidence, very occupied at one time at least with what he could be and what he could do. But if such features mark us, they will be opposed to God’s glory. We sometimes sing –
O Mind divine, so must it be
That glory all belongs to God
And that is true, but we do not always keep that truth in our view, we often have the tendency to keep something which we think might add some distinction to us; we could even take up the service of God and think secretly that that will add some dignity to us, or elevate us; that is then our own glory that would govern us and not the will and glory of God. Peter was marked by such features for a long time at the beginning. Not that I want to speak of him deprecatingly: the Spirit of God relates his history to us so that we may learn from him and know ourselves. In chapter 21 of John’s gospel, we find a very encouraging aspect in the history of Peter. The Lord speaks to him when he was still relatively young, about when he would be old. So, I suppose for twenty or thirty years, or more, Peter would keep in his mind what the Lord had said to him on that occasion, before Pentecost when he was not old. He had indeed to keep this word of the Lord to him: “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst where thou desiredst; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and bring thee where thou dost not desire”. I suppose that the thought of girding oneself has service in view, the Lord referring to the fact that in his youth, Peter had desired to serve and he had served. He had been with the Lord and an eminent disciple among the others, and from the day of Pentecost, as indeed before then, he was considered as the disciple who led. And it is to him that the Lord says these words, and he adds: “But he said this signifying by what death he should glorify God”. What an encouragement, dear brethren, that such an end should be proposed as to the responsible side in relation to our course below, that it should be possible for us to reach an end that glorified God. Not a trace of whatever it might be that gives us distinction, or even of what we have had and what we have done, but “what death he should glorify God”. The secret was that in his death he would be led into perfect conformity to Christ, and not only that, but in perfect conformity to His cross, for that is what the Lord meant to convey in saying “thou shalt stretch forth thy hands”. The Lord referred to the fact that Peter would be crucified. As we learn from history Peter had the privilege of ending his days down here on the cross, which signifies that he had been brought to be in perfect conformity to Christ. Marvellous triumph! This is the main point that we must have before us: a complete conformity to Christ, and you can see how that enriches the idea of the assembly, His body, because the body of Christ has the possibility to express Christ, being in truth the fulness of Christ, in the same way that God brought the woman to the man in Genesis 2 and, as it has been said, Adam could see himself in the woman. This is a reproduction of myself, thus God has formed this marvellous thought in relation to the assembly, Christ’s fulness. And that means that this thought must become a reality, each of us must have this moral conformity to Christ before us, and at the end corporeally, it must be the great goal before us all. So with Paul, it is Christ in glory; with Peter, it is Christ in His faithful acceptance of death according to God’s will with all the reproach that that brought.
The Lord, having spoken thus to Peter, says to him, “Follow me”, as if He wanted to add to him, You need to keep your eye on Me and follow Me in your mind and in your affections if you are going to reach such an end. Paul received the authority of the Spirit to present himself as model; he says to us “Be imitators all together of me, brethren …”. It is very remarkable that Paul should be formed to that extent after Christ that he could present himself as model and invite the saints to follow him. But in speaking to Peter, the Lord says, “Follow thou me”. Peter immediately turned round. It is remarkable: how superficial we are! We may have received an impression and have been affected for a moment, but the next minute we turn round. The Lord goes to the trouble to give this instruction to Peter and to say to him, “Follow thou me”, as soon as Peter turns round; and what meets his gaze is a disciple who was following, as if the Lord had prepared this so that Peter turning round could see what would immediately recall His word. He saw a disciple following; one who kept near to the Lord and followed Him, who leaned at supper on the Lord’s breast and had said, “Lord, who is it that delivers thee up? He was indeed a supporter of the truth. Peter was not as near to the Lord; he had made a sign and asked who it was of whom he spoke, and the Spirit of God reminds us of that here. Peter sees that disciple following and he says to Jesus: “Lord, and what of this man?” and Jesus says, “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”. It is as if the Lord would say to Peter: I have shown how your course must end, and if you are to reach such an end, see that you follow me. And it would result in this that Peter was going to be in perfect conformity to Christ as being entirely given up to the will of God, even as to death and committed to the cross. But even after that Peter gets away from the truth of the cross for a moment, which is what we find in the epistle to the Galatians, when Paul has to recover him. Why? Because Peter made a distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles and thought that the believing Jews had a certain superiority over believing Gentiles, and in this he was completely away from the truth of the cross. So we must indeed grasp the truth of the cross and, if Peter for a moment gets away from it, Paul can recover him. And in the same chapter, Paul affirms the truth: “I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me; but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Gal 2: 20. That is to say that, under the influence of the love of the Son of God and the light of the glory of One who has loved us and given Himself for us, we are ready to accept what the cross means, and in doing so, we will be helped to go on in the direction of this conformity to Christ, which is the end to which the Spirit of God seeks to lead us. Nobody, even Paul, pretends to have reached this end, but the apostle presents himself as an example of a saint who does not depart from this goal. And this was although he is put to the test in prison, and the enemy tries to bring upon him a spirit other than one of happy acceptance of God’s will in the way of obedience. Paul shows himself superior, he has Christ as the Object of his heart, and his one desire is that, whether by life or death, Christ should be magnified in his body. He faces circumstances in this spirit and with this perspective, counting on the prayers of the brethren, and the “supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ”.
May the Lord help us in this sense, so that the present work of the Spirit, which is concerned to furnish the complement to the substance required for the body of Christ, is pursued without hindrance in each of us, for the love of His Name.
FOLKESTONE
7th July 1951
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’, April 1954
MEETINGS IN VALENCE
1st-2nd NOVEMBER 1951
(THURSDAY AND FRIDAY)
PRESENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE FEATURES OF THE HOLY CITY
Reading 1
A.J.G. I thought that we could consider some of the features of the bride, the Lamb’s wife, and see how this thought should affect our local companies currently. The bride represents the full glory of God’s work in the saints and she is presented here as the city. It is not only a great vessel of influence and administration, by means of which God will be properly represented in the world to come. We are being trained now for the future, and the way in which we are placed in our local companies is to achieve this great result, namely that God should be known and glorified in all that is done. In addition to the city presented as coming down out of the heaven from God, the Lord Himself has come down, “I am come down out of heaven”, he said, “not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me”. The Spirit is also presented as having descended. John says: “I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him”. And so we see this in the city, descending in its own liberty and its own grace, as having learned Christ and as having come under the influence of the Spirit, so that God is glorified, as Peter said in his epistle: “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ”. He applies it to the most ordinary things, as in the case of someone speaking in the assembly, or who ministers a gift to others, 1 Pet 4: 10, 11. Everything must be done so that “God may be glorified through Jesus Christ”. The wife is identified as “the Lamb’s wife”. She represents, I think, something very special. We have few allusions to the bride in the Scriptures; as far as I know, there are only three. In John 3: “He that has the bride is the bridegroom”; then this verse: “I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”, and in the next chapter: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. At the beginning of chapter 21, we read: “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”, but in that passage, the word ‘bride’ is rather used as a figure. So I think the thought represents the wonderful glory of the woman. God’s work is in the saints, which constitutes a true ornament; and that is what is formed which can give pleasure to the heart of Christ, for the bride is adorned for her husband. If we consider the life and movements of Jesus, we are more and more taken up with the thought that He had always had before Him that God should be glorified. This must affect us practically in our movements and in our relations with each other in our local assemblies, as in our testimony before men.
It is said, in the passage read in Philippians, that this company of saints was already marked by what was shining (chap 2: 15): “among whom ye appear as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life”. Similarly, the first feature mentioned as to the city bears on what its shining is like; and in the first chapter of John’s first epistle, the accent is on the importance of everything being in the light, and marked by transparency.
Rem. In verse 16 of Matthew 5, it is said: “Let your light thus shine before men, so that they may see your upright works and glorify your Father who is in heavens”.
A.J.G. That supports what we are saying now. God revealed Himself in Christ, and then He chose the assembly to be the fulness of Christ, so that the light of God should be presented to men in a vessel composed of people; God extended the mediatorial thought in this way; it is by a vessel composed of people that He is going to be represented in the coming ages; and not by means of a great number of individuals, but by means of an entity, a vessel, suggesting conditions of mutual affection. That must come into evidence now in our local companies, it is great divine wisdom which has set the saints in assemblies.
Ques. Is the thought first found in the passage in the epistle of John, where it is said: “God is light”?
A.J.G. Yes, it is a “message”, not simply a point of truth presented in the ministry. John says: “And this is the message which we have heard from him”—it is a matter of prime importance—“that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”. This is the prime central feature related to the city: its shining was like to a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone, thus accentuating the thought of transparency. It is all in the light. We read in the first book of Samuel (chap 18: 16): “But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them”. All his movements were done in the sight of all, so that he had the confidence of all; and he was earning their affections, because he did nothing in secret. It is a matter of knowing if, among us, God is glorified in all things, in our movements before men, in all that we do.
Ques. Could you say a few words about the expression: “having the glory of God”?
A.J.G. It has it in a substantial way. It is not only that she reflects it, but she has it substantially as having been formed in love. The glory of God is really love in its expression, love that never fails, so that the apostle insists on the importance of love among us. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, who represent the local assembly in its position of testimony down here, says: “If ... I have not love, I am nothing”; and at the end of the epistle: “Let all things ye do be done in love”. Peter says in his first epistle (chap 4: 8): “but before all things having fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins”. John stresses in his epistle the importance of love, and the Lord himself commands His own to love one another; so that we must not consider these things as theoretical, but understand that God has placed us with each other so that practical love can develop. This is the first thing that must appear in the city, the glory of God. We learn love in Christ. It is said: “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”. When He was about to leave the world, He gave a great example of love: He laid aside His garments, He took a linen towel and girded Himself with it, He poured water into a basin, and began washing the feet of the disciples and wiping them with the linen towel with which he was girded. He went round the circle of disciples, without any bias, each taking advantage of the service of His love. He was going to leave this wicked world where His disciples would still remain, and He sets this example before them.
Similarly, when Abigail learns that she is to become David’s wife, she says, in chapter 25 of the first book of Samuel: “Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord”, v 41. That is what she wanted, in going with David’s men. It would be a good thing if all those who come into fellowship had that same thought.
Ques. How do you understand love which “covers a multitude of sins”?
A.J.G. “We all often offend”, James 3: 2 says, but if love is in exercise among the saints, it will not be made too much of. What God likes to see is love in activity. Obviously, if my brother sins against me, the first thing is that there is forgiveness towards him in my heart; it is always necessary to maintain in one’s heart the spirit of forgiveness, because that is the way in which God in Christ has forgiven us. If my brother has sinned against me, love in me will strive to adjust it so that he is restored and does not continue with a bad conscience. That is why we have the provision in Matthew 18. If my brother sins against me, I must go and take it up between him and me alone; and if he hears me, I have gained my brother. The important thing is to win the brother.
Rem. “He that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins”.
A.J.G. If someone is brought back from the error of his way, he has obviously come to repentance. He has judged himself, and the multitude of his sins is covered. I believe that if we hold on to this thought, that God in all things must be glorified, we will be helped. Paul addresses the Corinthians as “the assembly of God in Corinth”. The population of Corinth comprised Jews, Greeks, and the assembly of God; but, in God’s assembly, we must receive the right impressions of God.
Ques. Is it not striking that John introduces light in this epistle before talking about love?
A.J.G. Very striking. When God began His operations, He introduced light. “Let there be light. And there was light”. God first introduces light, to operate then in the light, and, the only way to gain each other’s confidence is to do everything in broad daylight; it is the only way that will produce conditions in which God will be glorified.
Ques. Does James support this thought, when he speaks of the Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shadow of turning?
A.J.G. It is very comforting to think that there is no variation in God. So we can have the most complete confidence in Him. And the Lord has come down from heaven so that God may be perfectly expressed. The Spirit has come down from heaven too, and the saints are seen as coming down out of heaven from God. Our rapture to heaven, to be with Christ, is something secret; the world will not see it when it happens, as it did not when Jesus was raised to heaven. The rapture is a secret matter, and this thought applies to us even now, when are caught up in the power of the Spirit. But what needs to be seen is what comes down. It is striking that these things are shown to John by one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the last seven plagues. He had been the executor of God’s judgments on the world in which man had given free course to his own will and sought his own glory. This must have been a real joy for this angel to show to John the city coming down, the angels having so much interest in God’s work. It is spoken of in chapter 11 of the first epistle to the Corinthians as to sisters in the assembly. It tells us, in the first epistle of Peter, that angels desire to look closely into these things, and we also have the mention of angels in chapter 3 of Ephesians as learning in the assembly “the all-various wisdom of God”. Our minds should be affected by the interest of angels in the current work of God in the assembly, this work whose full result is given to us in this chapter 21.
Ques. Could you say something about the great and high mountain?
A.J.G. It speaks of elevation presented in the power of the Spirit; it is well above the level of this world. However, we are still here on earth. A great and high mountain does not set us above the earth, but raises us above the level of what is around us, and that is what we must arrive at in the Spirit. So the first epistle of John occupies us with what was “from the beginning”, that is, what has been presented in Christ. We need to keep that before us, because that is the level of what God does and of what was presented in Christ as a Man here, that is what He is seeking to produce in the assembly. This is what He has been occupied with for two thousand years, and that shows how great is the substantial work of God in the assembly, since it has taken, speaking reverently, two thousand years to bring it to completion, while if it is a matter of changing our bodies, He can do that in the twinkling of an eye. Thus, the apostle John, in writing his first epistle, goes back to what was from the beginning. “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, that which we contemplated, and our hands handled”. In Jesus, they had seen “the word of life”. And it is to be noticed that this same expression itself is found in our chapter in Philippians, where we read; “holding forth the word of life”, that is the living expression of what it is according to God. It is life in man, but it expresses God. And so the apostles had actually seen Jesus and touched Him, showing how real and substantial it was; and that is really what is incumbent on us, in our local assemblies, that the truth be seen substantially in ourselves, and not just in what we say. I think that we are seeing more and more the importance of the local company in which the truth must be substantially in evidence, and at the same time, what is for God in His service and what God is for man in testimony.
Rem. Love, which is shed abroad by the Spirit in our hearts, has its source in God.
A.J.G. God is love, and the Son of God came down from heaven to bring it to us. We learn it in Him in a substantial way; then the Spirit came down from heaven; and God places us together in His wisdom, so that love may develop among us in a practical way. It is only that way that we learn what it means to come down from heaven having the glory of God.
Rem. It is by appreciating the Holy Spirit that we abide in love now.
A.J.G. Yes. I do not think anything makes us understand the love of the Spirit better than the fact that He remains with us forever, both with each of us individually and with the saints together. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God: it is the service of the Spirit to each of us individually, and He abides with us. Although our bodies become weak, and we even may lose our mental faculties, the Holy Spirit of God never leaves us. He abides in such a temple. I do not think anything can make us more aware of the love of the Spirit. Then as regards the saints as going on together, the Lord says He will be with us forever, so as to guide us into all the truth, and I believe that we can conclude from John’s second epistle that He abides with us in this character for all eternity, for we read, in verse 2: “for the truth’s sake which abides in us and shall be with us to eternity”. The Spirit is the truth, and He abides with us for eternity.
Ques. The expression, the love of the Spirit, is unique in the scriptures.
A.J.G. The Spirit is not only an influence. He personally has a place in Deity and remains in us forever; He loves to serve Christ and He loves to serve the Father. He retires to serve in love.
Ques. Can we, in this light, see the activities of the Spirit as giving all God’s mind?
A.J.G. I believe that what marks the city is not so much perhaps the thought of activity, although this shining is seen in all the activities in which it is engaged, but it is said: “Her shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone”. The emphasis is especially, I believe, on the fact that there was no dark part. Thus, the first chapter of John’s epistle shows how we can keep ourselves in the light. “If we walk in the light … we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”. Then there is the confession of our sins; “God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, so that we can move forward with a pure conscience, finding ourselves with each other in pure relationships.
Ques. Would you say why the blood of Jesus Christ His Son is introduced here?
A.J.G. That is the great basis: it “cleanses from all sin”. The blood testifies to the fact that death has intervened; but when Jesus died, it was for us, not for Himself. That is why we have the right and obligation to appropriate this death. It means that what comes from the flesh is not tolerated but kept in the light of death. The Spirit is the power to achieve that, and we learn to be under the influence of Christ. And so the life we live is characteristically life in Christ Jesus.
Ques. Could you say something about fellowship? It speaks of having fellowship “with us” (v 3), “with him” (v. 6) and “with one another”, v 7.
A.J.G. In verse 3, “that ye also may have fellowship with us”, the apostle alludes to the fellowship that was special to the twelve. They had had personal contact with Jesus, and in chapter 17 of John, speaking to His Father, He says (v 8): “for the words which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have received them”. These are the communications that the Lord was constantly receiving from His Father and that He passed on to the twelve; they thus had a fellowship that was special to them; fellowship that was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, because they were always in contact with the Lord and constantly received from Him the communications that He received from His Father. But now, John has written them down so that we too may have fellowship with them, that is, with the apostles; and we read in the beginning of the Acts that “they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles”. Is that what you were thinking?
Rem. Yes, but I would also like a few words about the two other expressions, especially on that verse 6: “fellowship with him”.
A.J.G. We should know what it is like to have fellowship with the Lord; but this also is conditional. “If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie”. It puts us to the test: do we actually always walk in the light? If we actually walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another together; so this fellowship is also conditional and depends on our walking in the light. Everything God does is in the light, and everything we do has to be in the light.
Ques. Would that not save us from pretending to have fellowship with the Lord, and then not have fellowship with our brethren?
A.J.G. Certainly. It is to preserve us from mere formalism, without reality.
Rem. “If we say”.
A.J.G. That is so; we take a certain position.
Rem. Ananias and Sapphira, in the Acts, did not act consistently with the fellowship; their action was not transparent. It is said that they lied to the Holy Spirit.
A,J.G. We could perhaps see that this afternoon and consider the importance of the early chapters of the Acts. What has been seen first in Christ, to which John refers in his first epistle, finds its answer in the saints at the beginning, and God is working now to produce what corresponds to the beginning.
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