THE GLORY OF DIVINE OBJECTIVES
A. J. E. Welch
John 16: 12–16; Revelation 3: 11–13; 21: 1–3
It is believed that the Spirit would give us some impression of the divine objectives. We must determine our objectives according to what God’s objectives are. It is clear that God is giving us remarkable experiences; that is what we prove in every local assembly. The time of the Supper is more precious than ever, the impressions the Lord leaves among His own are richer than ever, and I believe the service Godward is sustained more richly than ever, too.
We see, therefore, how the Lord is preparing us for what is eternal; He is detaching us from everything here. I believe that is His present objective, to secure in us what will go into eternity, and to set us free from what would hinder us from entrance into it. He would free us from every element of worldliness and earthly-mindedness, not only from the evil things, from the unrighteousness things, but from what is earthly, that we may enter into the heavenly. We should be in the constant enjoyment of the heavenly, and entering into the praises of God in the assembly, marked in these days as true worshippers. The Lord Jesus could speak in chapter 4 of this gospel of “true worshippers” who “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4: 23); that is a great divine objective, “The Father seeks such as his worshippers”.
But I read this passage because it shows how the Lord is preparing His disciples for this wonderful time of the Spirit. God would give us to value this most wonderful time in His ways with men here. It is a time when Christ is gone to the Father, and when the Spirit is come from Him to be here with the saints and in the saints. The Lord is preparing His disciples for that time. You can see how all His thoughts are focused upon the time that came into view when He came out of death, when He said, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17. What a remarkable time that introduced; it is with us still, and the Lord would use these remarks in this passage to give us an impression of what this time of the Spirit is. I believe that would be His objective in this meeting. We need to see that the Lord would have an objective in every meeting; He is not moving among His own without purpose and definiteness. He is moving amongst us with definite ends in mind.
So He says, “I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now”. The Spirit was not yet come. The disciples were there. Jesus was there. Himself the expression of the precious truth, but the Spirit was not yet come, so He says, “Ye cannot bear them now”. But then He says, “But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth”. That marks this present time. The Spirit of truth is come in answer to the Lord’s word, and He is guiding the saints into all the truth. We have noticed that expression, “all the truth”. It would remind us that there is no aspect of the truth about which the Spirit is not able to speak to us. Are we ready to be guided? Are we marked by holy energy to come into the truth, the wonderful truth which the Lord has brought in through the Spirit? Do we value this remarkable revival during the past one hundred and fifty years?—a
remarkable action of the Spirit. We are made to realise that in that revival the whole truth has been in view. We see how men who laboured for God among the saints have embraced in scope the whole truth, reflecting the service of the blessed Spirit. God has an objective, and the objective is to secure His saints in full sympathy with all His thoughts.
How wealthy the truth of God is! Remarkable features of the truth have been opened up to us. I think, for example, of the truth of eternal life, which was contended for in 1890 and later years. What have we made of the truth of eternal life? Do we know the experience of eternal life? I quote that as an example of the great wealth of truth that has been opened up to the saints. Have we understood the truth as to the Person of Christ as Son? Have we answered to the truth of liberty to address the blessed Spirit? Have we learned to give Him His full place? These are remarkable elements of the truth, but the Spirit has guided the saints into them. It is a guiding; it supposes a readiness to move on the part of each of us. Are we willing today to move into the full extent of the truth? It will require sacrifice on our part, but how richly rewarded that sacrifice is as the whole heavenly truth is opened out, and as we see where the assembly belongs, where Christ is.
We prove the great supply in divine love, the supply of that by which the saints are sustained; but do we know the love itself? There is love in the Father’s heart, a love that is in the heart of Christ, the love of the Christ for the assembly, love that is evident in the Spirit’s service, love that is brought about in the hearts of the saints. What a realm of love we are brought into! That love would have in mind holiness too. Love and
holiness go very closely together. It is in holy conditions that love is enjoyed; that love becomes the great stimulus to maintain what is holy and according to God. What do we know of these things? Thank God, I believe we do know them, but we see that the Lord’s objective is to bring us into them in a yet fuller way.
It says of the Spirit, “he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak”. Then the Lord speaks of the Father’s things; He says that they are His things too. What wonderful things the Lord is speaking about, bringing into view what we speak of as the economy of love—the Son in relation with the Father, but the Spirit in relation with the Father and the Son, a glorious economy in which we can know the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Then we can respond, speaking to the Father, speaking to the Son, speaking to the Spirit, speaking to God in the assembly in all His blessedness and greatness. What wonderful subjects we have, beloved brethren, affording such scope for worshipping hearts, and the divine objective is to bring us into these things. The Lord is speaking to His beloved disciples in the intimacy and privacy with which He was with them; the adverse power of the Jews was very close, and soon He would be betrayed and put to death, but the Lord is showing what His objective is, to bring His saints into the choicest and best.
It is said at that time that He had many things to say to them, but they could not bear them yet; but we, dear brethren, are in this time in which all the divine thoughts for men are being disclosed. Through the Spirit’s grace we can bear them. The Lord said, “Ye cannot bear them now”, but the time is come in which they can be borne. The Lord would go away, as He says, “A little while and ye do not behold me; and again a little while and ye shall
see me”. That is the time in which we are. The Lord says, “Ye shall see me, because I go away to the Father”. The Lord had His going to the Father in view. Now He has gone to the Father. What a message of triumph it was which He sent by Mary, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. The time for that came when the Lord had triumphed over death, bringing in resurrection and ascension, among the greatest thoughts of God. We could not bear these things without the Spirit, but the Spirit is come now that we may enter into them. The divine thought is that we should enter into them; that is, might I say, His objective in this very meeting. This is very much on the side of privilege.
What we have in Revelation relates to our responsibility. The Lord is speaking to the assemblies, appealing to responsible persons in them. He is speaking plainly about the real conditions that He finds. He is showing that He can deal with those conditions. Then in each of the seven assemblies He refers to the overcomer—a most encouraging feature, because it shows that He has prominently in mind that negative conditions shall be overcome. If there are negative conditions the overcomer will overcome them. It is very remarkable how the Lord speaks to the overcomers, but it is part of the Lord’s objective that we stand as overcomers in every kind of adverse circumstance. There are many negative conditions referred to in these seven epistles, but in respect of all the overcomer is presented to us. What an Overcomer Jesus was!—“I have overcome”, as He says in another passage (John 16: 33), and how hearts true to Christ would strive to overcome. The Lord makes plain what is to be overcome. We have all noticed how very plainly the Lord speaks in these seven letters; with love and with skill
He deals with the negative things, and with appreciation He speaks of the positive things; but He shows what the real conditions are—for the Lord is doing that, He is showing us what the real conditions are so that He may bring the overcomer into view. I believe this is a very current matter in many parts of the world where conditions exist which for the time being are difficult.
There is a wealth of appeal in the Lord’s word, “Hold fast what thou hast”; how much, beloved brethren, God has given us. What a wonderful revival He has called us into! But He is seeking to preserve us fully in it; He would also strengthen our sense of responsibility— that is a very important point. The Lord would strengthen our sense of responsibility that we may stand faithful to Him and to every thought of God. So the Lord says, “Hold fast what thou hast”; let no diversion come in. Let us hold it fast. One thing the enemy is attacking is the truth as to separation. We find the enemy would have us have some part in all kinds of things that dishonour Christ, but the Lord would have us to be overcomers. He would make this very attractive to us in this meeting that we may appear as overcomers who answer to His word “Hold fast what thou hast”. These matters of separation, dear brethren, are not new ones. Some speak of them as if they were introduced not many years ago. These are not new things. We go back in the history of the recovery and see how current they were many, many years ago. I say that by way of practical warning, that we may remain true to Christ, true to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. The Lord would reach deeply into our affections at such a time and say, “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”. The crown, I suppose, is the crown of reward for faithful continuance to the end in the light of every divine thought as to the
assembly. Let us allow no divine thought to fail. Let us not be found lacking in faithfulness to Christ and faithfulness to the truth. The enemy draws very near sometimes; he would seek to take this crown away; but let every heart true to Christ resolve that it shall be held fast, as Christ’s lovers continue in faithfulness to the end.
I do not speak of them in detail, but there are wonderful promises to the overcomer. Read them, and see what wonderful objectives the Lord has, and relate it especially to the divine glory and the divine thoughts in their full extent. One great thought which comes into view at the end is the city, ready for eternity. We can see this as the great objective in the divine mind, for God in His faithful love shows us the objective. He would give us those verses (Revelation 21: 2, 3) to engage us with what is going into eternity in the assembly. What a vessel the assembly is in His sight! This is to attract our hearts to the wealth of God’s objective, and to keep this objective before us at the present time, that it may constantly affect us, constantly elevate our thoughts, and strengthen us in a heavenly course that is proper to God’s assembly. Can we link anything unclean with such a vessel as this? Can we link anything earthly with such a vessel as this? We are given briefly, but powerfully, a view of the assembly where God reaches His ultimate thought—“The tabernacle of God is with men”. This is His ultimate objective, beloved brethren, and we see how it is reached and carried through in the assembly, all on the basis of what God’s glorious Son has effected, and that through the service of the blessed Spirit; but it all brings through in a heavenly vessel a full answer to divine thoughts. This is the ultimate objective, a vessel in which God Himself is glorified and in which everything of Him is carried into eternity.
So may we have the divine objectives before us, the Lord’s thoughts as to this wonderful time of the Spirit, the appeal to us as to our responsibilities, “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”, and then the ultimate objective of God in view of His eternal glory. May we be found answering to these things, for His name’s sake.
Address at Cologne
3 January 1976