THE ANTICIPATION OF WHAT IS FINAL
THE ANTICIPATION OF WHAT IS FINAL
FER We might go on with what we had before us yesterday.
The present moment is peculiar in a way; although we have not got things in their final shape, yet we have come to the end of things. Take a simple thought — to have put off the old man, and put on the new (Colossians 3: 9 - 10). Well, that is not final or absolute, and yet it is true. We have come to what is final, in a way, and yet not in an absolute way. We have come to it in spiritual power. So again — “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places”, Ephesians 2: 6. We have in a way come to that, and yet not in a final way. We await the actuality. The Spirit has come down to lead us into the anticipation of what is final. All is final that is established in Christ; it is all according to God’s purpose, and in that way final; and yet we have not come to the display.
Ques “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” Romans 6: 11?
FER The “reckoning” is possible, because Christ has brought in all that is final; all that is final is brought in in Christ, and therefore we can reckon it to be true of ourselves. We have the Spirit of Christ, so that we can take account of things according to Christ; you can take account of things differently from what they actually are. We are not “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (Romans 6: 11), but it is true of us in Christ, and we can be in accord with that by the Spirit. What has been reached in effect and fact in Christ, has to be reached in us, in mind. Christ has been crucified and has died; that is true in effect and fact, but we reach it in mind. So the putting off the old man and putting on the new is the “truth in Jesus”. Christ has reached it in effect and fact, but we reach it in mind. We could not reach it in mind unless it had been brought to pass in [p. 72] Christ, and we reach it, by having the Spirit of Christ.
Ques How does that bear on the holiest?
FER I was thinking of it in connection with “no more conscience of sins”. When you have found that the sins belonged to another man, and you get free of that man, then you have no more conscience of sins. We get sanctified by being apart from the man. Conscience is no part of a man, it belongs to neither the old man, nor the new; it is the connecting link. It is no part of a man, because you cannot control it; it is a witness-bearer. Conscience will bear witness, whether man likes it or not. Keep yourself right.
Ques What is a “seared conscience”?
FER It is when a man is so demoralised that his conscience does not bear witness; the man then comes to the level of the beast. A man can violently silence his conscience. “No more conscience of sins” is arrived at, when you are apart from the man that sinned, and that is very intimately connected with “reckoning”. You cannot take that ground unless you have reached it. If you are formed in the divine nature, you are another man. There is another man then, and there is no more conscience of sins: the divine nature is the evidence that I have put on the new man. It is impossible to have no more conscience of sins, unless you are apart from the man that sinned. It is then “no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me”. We come to that point by the process described in Romans 7. I distinguish between myself and sin. If I think of the old man I only think of him as put off.
Individuality is character. If you have put off the old man, and have put on the new, then you understand it. It is the same person who puts off and puts on. Another nature means another man.
Ques. What is purgation?
FER We get “purge your conscience from dead works” in chapter 9, but these chapters show the extent of the purgation. We are “sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ” — we are apart from [p. 73] the old man, and the new man is put on; sin does not attach to us. “Dead works” are works done while a man is in a state of moral or spiritual death. There are plenty of dead works going on today; there are religious works carried on by the old man. The new man does not sin; the new man is “created in truthful righteousness and holiness”, Ephesians 4: 24. The new man exists in the mind of the believer. The whole extent to which I go is that I have put on the new man. I cannot say that I am the new man; if I were I should never sin; but I put on the new man; he controls my practice: the new man is the “truth in Jesus”, not in us. What is final and established in Christ is reached in us in mind; that gives christianity its peculiar form. “As many as walk according to this rule” (Galatians 6: 16), i.e., of new creation. We walk according to the rule of new creation; that is the rule of the new man. My practice is controlled by the new man, and therefore in character it is “after God”. In Christ risen we see Man according to God, but on the cross all the state of the old man was condemned and removed, and so in Jesus you get the putting off of the old man, and putting on the new.
Ques Why are sins spoken of here, since underlying it there is the removal of the man?
FER Because when it is a question of entering the holiest all that is connected with your responsibility is put away; it has nothing to do with it. We should not confound the meeting with the holiest. If you enter the holiest, and your mind reaches the holiest, things are entirely settled for you. You are occupied with what God presents to you, and you meditate. I believe that is the proper qualification for priestly function. It is what you have seen in the holiest that qualifies for worship. We are encouraged to enter the holiest to learn the secret of God. Entering the holiest is individual, and the part you take in the assembly is to be the effect of your having been in the holiest. People either come to the meeting as believers or as priests. You can tell by what people do whether they are there as priests or believers.
[p. 74] All are believers, but all are not priests. You cannot discharge priestly function without being qualified. The sons of Aaron could not officiate until they were consecrated.
You are not going to get something wonderful in the meeting unless you bring it there.
Everyone comes to the meeting according to his measure; everything has to contribute to the priest — tithes, etc. — the priest is to be nourished and fed. If a man comes to the meeting merely as a believer, he is not in accord with Christ. He may come to Christ as an object of reverence. If you are there as a priest, you are kindred to Christ, and that is entirely different ground. “Yourselves also as living stones”, 1 Peter 2: 15. He is a Living Stone, and you come to Him as living stones; you enter into the holiest to get perfect assurance of heart. On the mount of transfiguration the disciples were in the holiest; they heard the “excellent voice”. I would not confine the holiest to the present moment. God will be revealed in the world to come.
We have to recognise that everything had to be contributory to the priest. The great point to which we are called is priestly service. We are called to serve the living God. We get tithes from everything which contributes to us as one who serves the living God. The priest is to serve the living God; and then there are things in service which have priestly character. You learn in the holiest what you cannot learn anywhere else. It is there we learn what Christ is, not for us, but for God. We know Him as the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. It is where God has established every purpose of His heart according to His nature, and that is a very big thought. The Lord took up the three disciples to the mount of transfiguration that He might give them assurance of heart. The holiest is full of glory. Man despised Christ here, but the disciples went up where they “saw no man save Jesus only”. The man who had not come under the new covenant could not enter the holiest, so Hebrews 8 precedes chapter 10. If we have [p. 75] learnt what it is to be in the holiest, then you can bring all the effect of it into the meeting. We cannot enter the holiest en masse.
There is a great difference between the sanctuary and the holiest. What you get in the holiest is what you can use in the assembly. A priest is not a priest without training. Hebrews 10 is the climax. Chapters 11 and 12 bring in the path and the life of faith. Reverence and worldliness may go together. I care for no reverence except what is produced by the sense of the presence of God. I do not care for anything which is not moral. I do not care for what is formal or reverential. These are often united, and there is the form of piety which is often imposing, but it is really what I spoke of as attitudinarianism. On the other hand, there should not be irreverence, but, as I have said, it is the sense of the presence of God which produces real reverence.