Reading 4
A.J.G. In verse 5 of chapter 22, we arrive at the end of what was shown to John, and the rest of the chapter is a series of exhortations that follow. I thought we could be helped, in studying the chapter, to discern what is in view in the whole book, especially by the fact that John presents himself as a bondman. It is important to consider what a bondman of God is. Romans 6 deals with this subject, showing that the purpose of the gospel is to make us all bondmen of God. This chapter relates to our baptism and brings us back definitely on this thought, for having been baptised unto the death of Christ, we have been “buried with Him in baptism unto death, in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”. We are therefore obliged to hold ourselves “dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”. This is what we are to be down here, in our path of responsibility, “alive to God in “Christ Jesus”. We are now entirely regulated by a whole new influence, which is the influence of Christ, One whose language was, on entering the world, “To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart”, Ps 40: 8. Thus, our profession indeed to be Christians implies that we are now bondmen of God, and the epistle to the Romans goes on to teach us that we are dead to sin and dead to the law, “to be to another” (chap 7: 4); Christ is presented to us as the new Husband. It can therefore be said that the principle of a Christian’s life is entirely contained in the fact that he belongs to Christ. Chapter 8 then presents the power that is in the Spirit, the complete thought being that all those who belong to God’s people should be secured here on earth for Him as His bondmen. The final chapter of Revelation shows that all those who have had part in the testimony of God, at all times, are considered to that light, for the angel says to John, in chapter 22: 9: “I am thy fellow-bondman, and the fellow-bondman of thy brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book”. So, being identified with the testimony of God here on earth, we are in the company of angels and prophets. Only, the present testimony should be brighter and more faithful than in the past dispensations, because the assembly is Christ’s “wife” and “bride”. The idea implied by the word “wife” is that she is entirely with Him as to His interests. The idea of the “bride” is that she has the desire to adorn all the characteristic features in which the Lord may find His pleasure. So we see that the testimony of the assembly at the present time should correspond to Christ’s personal testimony, for John says these words to the seven assemblies, showing that it is a matter of the full thought of the assembly seen in its position of responsibility. It is said of John that he “testified the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ”, that is, God could make His mind known and affirm it in the presence of opposition. Then Christ is placed before us as a model of the kind of man to whom such a testimony can be entrusted. The book of the Revelation is filled with the thought of God’s bondmen, and it is essential that we become such to be delivered from any form of iniquity and self-occupation, and fully available for the testimony of God.
Rem. It has been said that the epistle to the Philippians is the epistle of Christian experience, and Paul presents himself as a “bondman”.
A.J.G. Each of the five apostles who wrote an epistle presents himself as a bondman, namely Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude. They all speak about themselves either as a “bondman of God” or “bondman of Jesus Christ”, which shows the importance of this feature.
Ques. Is this feature seen in the Hebrew servant?
A.J.G. He said, “I love my master, my wife and my children”. So he devotes himself in the giving of himself, first to God, and then to those whom God has given him. It is really on this principle that we are secured and preserved for God. Also as soon as the Lord is mentioned in this first chapter of the Revelation, John says, “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father”. It seems that before any development of the thought of being in the testimony, John presents the fact that we have been secured for the service of God, having been washed of our sins: we do not return to our former sins, we are kept now in power. He has made us a kingdom, so that God’s service may be maintained; at the same time, the testimony of God must continue.
Ques. Is it not to be noted that the bondman, in the gospel of Luke (chap 19: 15), is considered to have responsibilities?
A.J.G. Responsibility is attached to all of us, and that of the bondman is absolute. He is the absolute property of his master, so he must not take into account any interest contrary to those of his master. That is the idea of being bondmen: we are all entirely for God’s will and for His pleasure. We have been washed from our sins: it is like an appeal to us, that Christ loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood, so that we should be absolutely subjected to the will of God, as the Lord Himself was.
Rem. At the birth of the Lord, we see Him surrounded by such people; there was Mary, who calls herself “bondmaid” and Simeon who says: “Now thou lettest thy bondman go in peace”.
A.J.G. The gospel of Matthew shows that the Lord was born into circumstances of hostility, but Luke’s gospel presents sympathetic circumstances. Both sides are true, obviously, and it is a matter for us to furnish the sympathetic side, but we can only do it properly to the extent that we are bondmen to God. To be here for God’s will and testimony could cost us our lives; that may not be the case, but it has been in the past years, and it will happen again when the assembly is gone. I think it is for this reason that the angel says to John, in verse 6 of chapter 22: “The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets”. Their bodies can suffer because of the testimony, but it is taken account of in their spirits. That is why the first martyr, Stephen, said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. He had a spirit that could be presented to the Lord, as being in every way acceptable. The Father, God himself, is presented as the Father of spirits. It is with our spirits that He is occupied.
Ques. Why did the Lord say, in John 15: 15: “I call you no longer bondmen ... but I have called you friends”?
A.J.G. Because He was ready to make them to know all His mind. He said: “I call you no longer bondmen, for the bondman does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all which I have heard from my Father I have made known to you”. He calls us friends in contrast to what are as bondmen, because He is bringing us into His confidences; but the previous verse indicates that His friends are really the ones who have agreed to be His bondmen, for He says, “Ye are my friends, if ye practice whatever I command you”. He is the One who commands, and everything He commands is done by His friends; they are actually bondmen before being friends: it is because they are His bondmen that He made them his friends. For many of us, there is a lot of reservation about being fully subject to God and His will. The time is short now, and it is a matter of finishing the testimony in real wifely features, and the condition of bondmen of God is the basis.
Ques. Can we say that the condition of a bondman is connected with the body?
A.J.G. It certainly develops in the body, as is seen in Romans 6, which treats the issue in a very practical way. It says, in verse 19: “yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness”, and shortly before that, in verse 13: “Neither yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as alive from among the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God”. Our members are our hands, our feet, our eyes.
Rem. In Chapter 12 of Romans it says: “I beseech you ... to present your bodies.”
A.J.G. In the days of the apostle and in Old Testament times, bondmen were bought and sold; a bondman became the absolute property of his master. It is this figure that is used in Christianity. It is clearly presented in chapter 7 of the first epistle to the Corinthians: “Hast thou been called being a bondman, let it not concern thee; but and if thou canst become free, use it rather”, v 21, “For the bondman that is called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; in like manner also the freeman being called is Christ's bondman”. That is our position; we have been called as free and became Christ’s bondmen. The one who is called as a bondman, is freed from bondage in coming under the Lord’s control. But the important point which we feel is the end of verse 22: “The free man being called is Christ’s bondman”.
Rem. The price was paid: “Ye have been bought with a price”, 1 Cor 6: 20.
A.J.G. And that is also just, because of our relationship with God as His creatures, that we may be fully at the disposal of His will, as it is said at the end of Chapter 4 of Revelation: “for thy will they were, and they have been created”; but redemption establishes the thought in a complete way. The passage we have read in the last chapter emphasises the fact that “the time is near.” Three times the Lord said, “I come quickly”, vv 7, 12 and 20. He pronounces a blessing on “he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book”, We have noticed this morning that keeping His word is a sign of our love for Christ. “If any one love me”, says the Lord, “he will keep my word”; but now we must keep the words of the prophecy, the book of Revelation. This will bring us into greater sympathy with Christ concerning His interests, because we are not only given the light of the assembly during this period of testimony, but also what relates to other families who will be on earth after our translation. The Lord desires us to be intelligent as to all of His interests and sympathetic with those who will suffer when we are gone.
Ques. What is to be concluded from the fact that “I come quickly” was written many years ago?
A.J.G. The scriptures always have a current voice for those who read them. It is a feature of the living word of God; it is addressed to the one who reads it. It has a voice for us when we read it because we wonder if everything in us is as we would like it to be when the Lord comes. Daniel had to seal the words of prophecy because a long time still had to pass. Now the book of Revelation is given to us, and it says: “Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, the time is near”. As Peter says, “the longsuffering of our Lord is for salvation”. The first time the Lord says, “I come quickly”, He immediately adds: “Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book”, as if He desired that the imminence of His coming should raise interest in us to read the Book of Revelation. The second time, He says: “I come quickly, and my reward with me, to render to every one as his work shall be”. It is an encouraging word, if we have to suffer in any way in the testimony, the time of recompense is near. But the last time He says “I come quickly”, He adds nothing; it is just Himself, and there is an immediate response; “Come, Lord Jesus”. It is important to see that the Spirit and the bride do not say ‘Come quickly’, but simply: “Come”, that is ‘Come now’. The Lord says: “I come quickly”, and He would like this to lead us to be ready and waiting, while saying to Him, “Come”. In verse 11 of chapter 22, it seems that at the end, there are states that are fixed in God's government, and evil is allowed to continue in the world around us. “Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still, and let the filthy make himself filthy still”; on the other hand, “Let him that is righteous practise righteousness still, and he is that is holy, let him be sanctified still”. It is a word that must both encourage us and exercise us to give nothing up, to be overcome by nothing. “Blessed are those who wash their robes”. It is a resource for those who have the exercise of separation from evil; they can find their lives in the assembly; they enter through the gates into the city.
Ques. Would you like to elaborate on that thought a little bit, to enter “through the gates” into the city?
A.J.G. They must enter in the approved manner. The gates represent where the doorkeepers are. So if a person wants to identify with us, we seek to discern. If they are sincere, if they have the Holy Spirit, if they stand separate from evil. If so, they are entitled to the tree of life. and can enter into the city, but they must enter it “by the gates”, passing the doorkeepers.
Ques. What does the expression mean: “those who wash their robes”?
A.J.G. The robes represent that in which we can be seen, our associations, what we go in for, and so on.
Rem. The washing of robes must be done continually.
A.J.G. And those who wash their robes have a right to the tree of life. We do not confer anything on people that we receive into fellowship; we recognise their right. It is up to them to establish “their genealogy”, according to Nehemiah; by the path they follow; by separating from iniquity and pursuing righteousness, they show that they are entitled to the service of God.
Ques. Would you develop what is implied in “have right to the tree of life”?
A.J.G. It seems to me that the assembly is where Christ is known and appreciated, while all around is evil. Thus, whoever washes his robes establishes his right; it is a right acquired on a moral basis. At the end of verse 16, the Lord presents Himself as “I, Jesus”. In the first chapter, He is presented in an official way and John falls at His feet as dead. But here it is as if the overcomers have been brought to light, and the Lord can present Himself in this personal way. “I am the root and offspring of David”. Mr James Taylor said1, as we know, that “the root” is seen in the gospel of John, and the “offspring” in the gospel of Matthew; that is to say that “the root of David” implies that He is God, and it is in this light that the gospel of John presents the Lord; while “Son of David” is the way Matthew presents Him, so that this gospel begins with the genealogy establishing that the Lord is truly the seed of Abraham and really the Son of David.
Rem. Three times it says, “Come,” in verse 17.
A.J.G. The response is enlarged. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come”. Then the Spirit of God said, “Let him that hears says, Come”, as if He considered those who might get an impression; there is a movement among the saints, desiring that the Lord should come, and others are invited to join them. Then there is an evangelical call: “Let him that is athirst come; he that will …” So the Lord raises exercises among us today in relation to the preaching of the gospel. I do not know to what extent this would be possible in this country, but in England there is a real exercise to proclaim the gospel in the streets, so that “he that is athirst” may come. These evangelical activities seem to go hand in hand with the awakening of wifely affections for Christ; they are really part of God's testimony, even if no one responds. Peter said, in his first epistle, that the Spirit of Christ was preached in the days of Noah, and only a small number, eight people, were saved. One might think: what a poor result from preaching in the power of the Spirit of Christ, since there were only eight people saved! But the very fact that this preaching was undertaken by Noah, this preacher of righteousness, justified God in making judgment fall on the world. At the same time he was building, he “preached to the spirits that are in prison”, 1 Pet 3: 19. This does not mean that they were in prison at the time he preached to them, but they are in prison now because they have been “heretofore disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah”. So there was an effective preaching in Noah's time, in the Spirit of Christ, though the very words are not reported; and this highlights the importance of the preaching now.
Translated from ‘Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle’, April 1958
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