HOLD THAT FAST WHICH THOU HAST

^[p. 186] HOLD THAT FAST WHICH THOU HAST

... The word for brethren now I feel is: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3: 11). It is evident from this that there will be an attempt to deprive us of the joy, the crown. The way to foil the enemy is to “hold that fast which thou hast”. We are told here of the nature of the enemy’s attack, and we are told the way that we shall be able to overcome him. The highest and best bit of truth, hold fast to that; you will always find that when declension sets in, the first mark is that the highest truth is as it were nipped, as if by frost, whereas when you are progressing — really prospering in soul — the highest truth is the very one you are looking to the Lord to help you on in! May you both find it so, for that is real growth.

As to intercession in Hebrews — intercession is the normal ministry of our Lord. Advocacy has to do with sins; we always require intercession, for we are weak, and grace is ever flowing to us, for we cannot be for Christ here until in the power of the Spirit we are superior to every obstacle here in our own circumstances. There is often, I believe, more power required to raise us above our own circumstances, than to conduct us into co-operation with His. I think that you are on the line for all blessing when you maintain intimacy with Him. No one can do this merely in service, or merely in reading the word. It is soul-work, you must go to “the mountains of myrrh”. It is most blessed when we know anything of that intimacy which He can promote between Himself and us, and it proves very distinctly the difference between the church and the saints in the kingdom. How touching the words, And now, children, abide in him. Children there includes fathers.

In Hebrews, through the effect of Christ’s company known here, we are running on to heaven; and as to our position here, we are outside the camp bearing His reproach,

^[p. 187] while in Ephesians, being united to Christ in heaven, we are descriptive of Him here in every detail, and able through His power to maintain our heavenly position in moral superiority to all the wiles of the devil. In the one we are running on to heaven, in His reproach here; in the other, we are coming from heaven superior to the opposition here. As to man, we bear His reproach here. As to the devil, we stand for the heavenly Man in spite of the devil. As on the earth, we are bearing His reproach; as from heaven, we are descriptive of the exalted Man in the scene of His rejection. Who is sufficient for these things?