THE HEAVENLY CITY
Revelation 21:9-27; 22:1-5,14-17; 3:7,12; 21:1-4
C.C.D.R. I wondered, dear brethren, if the Lord might help us to enquire as to the heavenly city. At the beginning of chapter 21, in the first four verses, we see this glorious, precious vessel coming out as entering eternity. In the verses we have read in chapter 21 and chapter 22, the heavenly city is presented to us in her millennial character. For the sake of those of us who are younger, that is the thousand years in which the Lord Jesus will reign over the earth with His saints. I have been struck with the solid, substantial character of what is portrayed to us here. We could look at this in the light of what we have in Psalm 48, which I will read, “Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: count the towers thereof; Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces: that ye may tell it to the generation following” (vv.11-13). I wondered whether we could, under the Spirit’s guidance, proceed through these verses in Revelation, in which we see firstly “a great and high wall”. We then get the twelve foundations, and the twelve gates; we then get the dimensions of the city. John, who is portraying this for us, is very accurate in his details. He goes on to speak about the street of pure gold, and what struck him was that “the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb”. Then flowing out of that is “a river of water of life”. We then have “the tree of life producing twelve fruits … and the leaves of the tree for healing of the nations”.
There is that which is being substantially formed in the saints today which will come out in this wonderful, glorious city. I then wondered as thinking over this, who is going to inhabit the city? Who is going to be there? It will not be a city just with a structure and nobody living in it; it will be a vibrant, living city with persons. In chapter 22, “his servants shall serve him” (v.3), but then I read on to the end of chapter 22 because it speaks there about those who have washed their robes and “have right to the tree of life”. Focal to this city is the tree of life, and there are persons who can have entrance to the city and enjoy the tree of life. We see in verses 16 and 17 that there are those who are in the gain of the city and of the tree of life. This can be known now as the Spirit has His place.
I have read of the references to Philadelphia because it struck me that there is what is substantial: “He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar”. That to me is substantial, it is structural, and where is it going to be? I will make him a pillar “in the temple of my God … the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name”. That is why I read the section in chapter 21, because what is being formed of Philadelphian character is going to go through into the heavenly city. It is what is substantial, for there is that which is being formed in the saints today that is of an eternal and living character. So chapter 21 says, “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God”, shining eternally.
K.M. There is quite a bit about foundations here and, as you have said, there are people in this city, and that suggests fellowship. I was thinking of 2 Timothy 2 where it speaks of “the firm foundation of God” (v.19), which really governs fellowship; it is what is secure.
C.C.D.R. Yes, and as we go through the detail of the city, we can get the impression that we could not do without one bit of it. There are the walls, there are the gates and there are the foundations. In man’s world, things are built and the foundations are proved to be ineffective, but what God does is on a righteous foundation. Here we can see how the whole city as a cube is held together.
K.M. Why do the walls and gates come before the foundation?
C.C.D.R. In today’s world, the foundations are not seen, but as we see the detail here, they are beautiful with all these different stones. It seems to me that there is this whole substantial building. You cannot have the walls, you cannot have the gates without what is foundational.
J.R.W. I was wondering in that connection that it is as we find this attractive, that we will be more concerned about the moral exercises that are involved in relation to entering into it. So that what is presented first is the wall and then the gates; that is what is seen and is attractive. But then as we are attracted into it, we find, as you have said, what a firm foundation it is built on. The apostle says that “other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.3:11), so that would bring the glory of Christ before us, would it?
C.C.D.R. Yes, and I like the way you have spoken about attraction. “And there came one of the seven angels … saying, Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city”. There is something attractive about that. You get some impression of the way in which the Spirit of God would love to lift us up to the great and high mountain to have a fresh look at this glorious city which is secure, and founded on what is solid and immoveable.
P.J.W. So it is a living city composed of living persons. It is not bricks and mortar. I was thinking of the reference in Ephesians, “being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”, Eph.2:20-22. That is this city being formed now.
C.C.D.R. That is exactly what I was thinking. What we see here is an answer to Paul’s prayer. As you look around a room like this today, you can take account of the saints, and they are but a very few of the myriads who will fill this city which is living and vibrant.
D.A.B. The foundations of the wall are linked to the apostles. I wondered if that shows that God has been building something in us that has a living connection with what can be traced back right to the beginning. We may think that the day in which we are is different, but the building continues; it is the same building.
C.C.D.R. I am glad you refer to that, because not only do we have the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, we also have the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. They have their part as well. Referring to Paul’s ministry, you can see how he loved Israel and he spoke as to the whole twelve tribes (Acts 26:7). The twelve apostles will have their part in this city, as you say. What the Lord formed in those twelve persons will have its part livingly and foundationally.
D.A.B. It is often remarked that it is unusual that the foundation of the wall can be seen, because it is usually underground. Maybe that is something we lose sight of in the day in which we are. We think the foundation is subterranean and we have to get on the best we can, but is it all part of one great design. The wall and the foundations all belong as one piece.
C.C.D.R. Yes, that is right; and the whole thing is attractive. I have in my mind the section in Isaiah 60 which is a prophetic reference to this, “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory” (vv.18,19). I was struck with that reference, “thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise”.
D.A.B. That is very interesting, that there should be something in the believer that is saving. It is easy to think of salvation in an objective and external way, but something has been built up in the believer which itself has that character.
C.C.D.R. Perhaps when we are younger we might think about the walls and the assembly, and what we enter into in a negative way, but I think that as we go on in our soul’s history, we see that the walls are for salvation; we need the walls. The gates are for praise; I wonder if we can link that on with the service of God as we come together tomorrow morning, “thy gates Praise”.
T.J.H. I was thinking of the service of God. We often think of gates as where you go in and out, but should we think of gates more in relation to praise?
C.C.D.R. Yes, there is something beautiful about them; at each gate there is a pearl. I thought of that lame man lying at the gate (Acts 3:2) who was strengthened and he praised God.
T.J.H. Mordecai was always at the gate.
C.C.D.R. Another man like that was Boaz. He was known in the gate. We look forward to the Supper tomorrow, and I think it is becoming more and more precious to us. It is all part of the functioning and living character of the city.
J.R.W. It seems in verse 25 as though the gates are not shut. Does that help us as to how it links on with your impression about praise? “And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there”. The gates are constantly open. There is a sense in which we can, by the Spirit, be sustained in relation to praise, do you think?
C.C.D.R. I do. This city will have its influence upon the world to come, as we speak of it. The blessing of the city will flow out to those upon the earth. I like what you say, that we should be kept in that spirit of praise.
A.G.S. It is interesting that in both accounts, at the beginning of the chapter and here, she is coming down from heaven. I would be glad of your thoughts as to that, but do you think it would include the fact that she is divinely formed? It is wholly the work of God, therefore it must have the glory of God.
C.C.D.R. He “shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. I am glad you referred to that because we sometimes forget that what is being formed here is heavenly in character and destiny. Here she is seen as being in heaven, and then she is coming down, and bringing the atmosphere and the environment of heaven.
A.G.S. I am enjoying what you say. So there is no failure, there is no shortcoming, it is complete. It is a wonderful testimony to what the Spirit of God has done in His work in this dispensation.
C.C.D.R. Yes. This whole section begins, “Come here”. Perhaps we can be elevated in our thinking as to what is being formed substantially today of a heavenly character, real and solid.
N.J.H. It is only available to us in the Spirit. We say that we wish to walk in the light of the assembly. That can only be done in the Spirit.
C.C.D.R. Quite so. “He carried me away in the Spirit”. We are speaking here about what is spiritual, and John tests our spirituality. But we can gain from the spiritual thoughts that will be seen in beautiful display in a coming day because they are being formed now in the hearts and the souls and the lives of believers.
D.J.W. What is being formed now is being formed through suffering. The title of the Lord as the Lamb is prominent, and then there are the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The Lamb speaks of Him as the suffering One. Would that encourage us to be sustained at the present time of pressure in view of what God will finally secure?
C.C.D.R. Yes. The apostles suffered deeply. I have been thinking about these various precious stones that are seen in the foundation of the walls; they are produced under pressure and heat.
A.M. I was wondering whether what is seen now in moral excellence will for ever then be shining out in glory. “Her shining”; is that the result of what is being formed?
C.C.D.R. Yes, so what is worked out is maybe in secret and in suffering, but here it all comes together and is seen in its true worth. Not only do these individual stones shine in all their different colours and in all their different worth, but one thing that strikes John is that the temple “has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb”. It is like refracted light; there is light shining from within. To get the best of a jewel, a light is shone onto it, but here it is shining from within as refracted light. This whole thing comes together in such beauty.
P.M. Is what makes this city so glorious, that not only is it of God but it is the dwelling-place of God Himself?
C.C.D.R. I was thinking that. What impressed John was that “I saw no temple in it”. I suppose he had been used to seeing the temple as the centre of the earthly Jerusalem , but here he saw no temple. “I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple … And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb”. Do you think that this is being worked out today? Light from God has shone into our hearts “for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2 Cor.4:6.
P.M. I wondered if every feature of the formation that is going on now, and is seen in this chapter, is in keeping with the moral presence of God Himself. Nothing else would be suited to God.
C.C.D.R. That is seen at the end of the chapter, “And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations to it. And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it; but those only who are written in the book of life of the Lamb”.
D.J.R. Is it noteworthy that the city is a cube? Really the glory permeates the whole place. In a typical city everything is on the surface and lit from outside, but this is, as you say, internal, and the whole city and everything that is there takes character from that glory.
C.C.D.R. That is right. It is a cube; it is as long as it is high as it is wide. We can work out the huge dimension of this city, but it is not beyond our reach. I was struck by that verse, “And he that spoke with me had a golden reed as a measure, that he might measure the city, and its gates, and its wall … And he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, a man’s measure, that is, the angel’s”. It is a man’s measure that we can enter into, and it is the same golden reed.
R.D.P-r I was thinking of the substantial character of the work of God in the saints; it is all going to be transferred to glory. It would give us a valuation of one another, because the work of God in the soul is tremendous and we cannot disregard it. We perhaps do not appreciate how great the work of God is; it might be in a simple soul, but it is something that is going to shine for the glory of God eternally.
C.C.D.R. One thing you see throughout is that her shining was like a most precious stone. The saints are precious, the work of God is precious. We need to value and respect it, yet there is this variety. I do not know what all the colours of these stones are; there is a great variety, but the one overriding colour seems to be jasper. That in itself is perhaps a mixture of colours but we get a whole blending together to form the beauty of this city.
D.A.B. The jasper stone is like Christ, according to chapter 4; “upon a throne one sitting, and he that was sitting like in appearance to a stone of jasper” (vv.2,3). Whatever colour it was, it was the same as the One sitting on the throne.
C.C.D.R. I noted that; “Her shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone”. I wondered if that reference that you have made earlier in the book shows that everything speaks of Christ.
D.A.B. Yes, I thought it was very interesting that something so substantial should be His counterpart. It shows what an intense impression of glory you would have in looking at Christ Himself. This rainbow is similar. It is not composed of all the colours like the ones we see, but it is like an emerald, it is green, and that also takes its character from the One that sits upon the throne. The whole scene in that sense is filled with Christ, and you might say, how intense it is if it can be portrayed on this scale.
C.C.D.R. You have enlarged what I had in my mind.
J.R.W. Paul speaks of apprehending “with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height”, then he says, “and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”, Eph.3:18,19. I was thinking of the dimensions; we get the breadth, the length, the depth and the height.
C.C.D.R. Exactly. The love of the Christ gives some sense of the whole working of the city amicably together. You have the street, which is pure gold and what is absolutely pure; we could think about that, and then “a river of water of life”.
N.J.H. The assembly is already united to Christ in this view.
C.C.D.R. That is absolutely true, and from that flows everything. There was no need of the sun or the moon. Where do we get our guidance from? Where does she get her guidance from? She has no need of the sun or the moon. At the beginning in Genesis they were set there for signs and for seasons (Gen.1:14), but here there is no need of that. “And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it”.
P.M. Does it require the city to be of such proportions to display the glory of what was seen in the lowliness of the Man who humbled Himself? It gives us some impression of what the Father found in Jesus.
C.C.D.R. Yes, very good. You are thinking of One who came into such small conditions, but who should be expressed in such a vast, expansive way now.
D.J.W. It would take the whole assembly to reflect fully what is seen in one glorious Man. Is that seen here?
C.C.D.R. Yes, and it goes back to what we were saying as to the foundations having been written on with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Think of what was worked out in those twelve tribes, and what was worked out in the twelve apostles. We can be thankful for those that have gone before. Here we are now, almost on the eve of the time when this vessel is going to be seen publicly shining. We are looking here in this room at a small sample, but as our brother said, it will take all the saints to encompass it all.
P.T.v.d.B. It is such an administration of blessing. You were speaking about the gates not being shut. The gates are there but there is no night, there will be no effort needed to keep out what is evil because it says, “nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it”. There will be such an impression of the glory of the Lamb that evil will have no more place and would not even enter into it. Those “who are written in the book of life of the Lamb” are not spoken of as going out, but as entering in.
C.C.D.R. I think what you say is right. Coming back to what we were saying as to the walls, if we get some impression of what is within, and of what we can value in one another, the preciousness of the saints, then that value forms this structure. That is the positive view of looking at the walls.
J.R.W. What we get predominantly in chapter 21 is the thought of light. What we get in chapter 22 is the thought of life; we get “a river of water of life”, and we get “the tree of life”, which you have already made reference to as being central. Can you give us a bit more of your impression in relation to that?
C.C.D.R. I wondered whether we could get an impression of it. John was shown this in chapter 22, “And he shewed me a river of water of life”, and then he was impressed by the midst of this street, which was of pure gold, “and of the river, on this side and on that side, the tree of life, producing twelve fruits … and the leaves of the tree for healing of the nations”. We have spoken already about this whole city being a city of life and activity. There is all that is needed for the maintenance and sustenance of this city. As we come together, all the resources that are in the assembly should mark our occasions in view of the maintenance of life. And if we have been feeding on this tree of life, that is Christ exalted, we have all we need.
J.R.W. Yes, I was thinking of that hymn,
‘Lord, in Thee we taste the sweetness
Of the Tree of Life above;
Taste its own eternal meetness
For the heav’nly land we love’. (Hymn 50)
Is that really the way in which the Spirit can make these things real in the heart and soul of the believer?
C.C.D.R. Quite so. Do you think that “a river of water of life” might refer to the Spirit?
J.R.W. I was wondering that; open it out a bit more.
C.C.D.R. As we are enquiring, we are experiencing something of the water of life, and the feeding on the tree of life as the saints will do that in the coming day.
B.E.S. According to what the Lord says in John 4, that is available to us now, “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life” (v.14).
C.C.D.R. Yes.
A.J.McS. It required Christ to be glorified before the Holy Spirit flowed out. I was thinking of John 7; “for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (v.39). He has been glorified at God’s right hand, but the question for me as an individual is, is He glorified in my life, because until He is glorified in my life there are no rivers of living water flowing forth.
C.C.D.R. So as we come together and as we give Christ His place and glorify Him, then the Spirit is free. Our occasions should be marked by life. If deadness has come in, something of what you are speaking of, it shows that we have not been drawing on Christ, we have not been giving Him the place that we should do. The Spirit is water, “a river of water of life, bright as crystal”. There is the pure sparkling water derived from this living source.
A.M. The river is available, it is going out of the throne. The tree of life is always available, “In the midst of its street, and of the river, on this side and on that side”. It is available to all in the city.
C.C.D.R. What do you think about these twelve fruits?
A.M. Does it suggest freshness and variety?
C.C.D.R. There is enough for everybody. This city will be sustained for a thousand years. That which was barred at the beginning of Genesis is now freely available to be taken.
A.G.S. She will be as fresh and as glorious at the end of the thousand years as she was when she first descends.
C.C.D.R. Yes, exactly. In chapter 21 she is still shining; “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. She is in untainted glory.
N.J.H. The Old Testament saints will enjoy the fruit. The “leaves of the tree for healing of the nations” will be for those on the earth at that time, but will the Old Testament saints come into the city and enjoy the freshness and fruitfulness?
C.C.D.R. Yes, they will have their part and the twelve tribes of Israel will have their part in it. How great are God’s ways.
D.A.B. One of the things I find difficult to understand is that the trees were bringing forth fruit by months, but there was no moon.
B.E.S. It does not say there is no moon, but the city has no need of it. There will be a sun and moon for the earth, and the fact that the fruits are produced every month shows that they are adapted to the needs of the earth although their source is in heaven.
C.C.D.R. Does that answer your question?
D.A.B. I am glad to be adjusted. I think you said just what I was thinking really, that in a sense there are those two sides to the believer’s life. We have circumstances here in which to work things out, but we touch not only what is spiritual but because it is spiritual it is eternal. We need to allow one to govern the other really, do we not?
C.C.D.R. That is right. What we are speaking of here is a millennial city, and it blends into what is eternal. What we are looking at here is John’s description of this glorious vessel, and we should gain these spiritual thoughts and impressions that are eternal in character.
P.J.W. As our brother said, there will be a wonderful physical effect on the earth. I was thinking of Ezekiel where the waters issued forth, and wherever they went the dead of the sea became living (Ezek.47:8,9). Paul speaks of the groaning creation being brought “into the liberty of the glory of the children of God”, Rom.8:21. So there would be a physical effect on creation from this city and its influence. There will be no disease, there will be no pain, no cry nor distress; it will all be held in check. It is not that these things will not exist, as will be the case in the eternal day, but there will be a physical effect in the creation.
C.C.D.R. It would seem so. I was noticing “the leaves of the tree for healing of the nations”. How much healing is needed on the earth; it is crying out, but there should be the healing power even now in the assembly. How much healing is needed.
A.J.McS. The condition that the Lord is in at this time is different from what He was while here on earth. The order of manhood is still the same. You get some sense in reading the gospels of the feelings and compassion that entered into the Lord’s heart when He healed persons, physically mainly, but sometimes in a moral sense like the woman of John 4. The assembly is the fulness of the One who fills all in all. Should the same compassion and interest in persons be with us now,?
C.C.D.R. How the Lord felt it. With the woman who had a flux of blood, He knew that someone had touched Him. Power had gone out from Him, He felt it.
D.J.W. The overcomer in Philadelphia entered into these things. By the promise in verse 12, he really enters into what is eternal. Is that what you were thinking, that this would be an exercise for us to enter into in the height of the service of God?
C.C.D.R. That is exactly what I was thinking. The tree of life is available for all. This water is flowing out, bright and clear; it is available. That is an exercise which we need to enter into; “they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life”. It involves the washing of the robes, “that they should go in by the gates into the city”. Then I was thinking of what is present. We have referred to the Spirit already, and “the bright and morning star” (v.16). There is a living response at this present moment from persons who are waiting for this One who is coming, crying out “Come”, and then there are those who are athirst; “let him that is athirst come; he that will, let him take the water of life freely” (v.17). But then, as you were saying as to the Philadelphian overcomer, “him will I make a pillar”. I wondered if we could get help as to that. “Him will I make a pillar” is not exactly in the millennial city but there is that which will go right through of an eternal character. Is that what you are thinking?
D.J.W. Yes I was, and I feel exercised as to how much I enter into it. It says, “and he shall go no more at all out”. There is a certain climax in the service of God, where one day we will go no more at all out. I wondered whether it linked with the aspect of the Supper you were speaking of, as being the first day of the week. It is a new beginning and it culminates in what is eternal.
C.C.D.R. We touch what is eternal at the end of the Supper as we worship God. We come to the end of the service of God, and there is a pause. We do not just get up immediately. We do not immediately start shaking each other’s hands. There is a pause. I think there is power in that pause. We have touched something almost like this in measure, which is so great, and yet we have some apprehension of it.
P.M. Do you have some impression of these references to “my God” in this address to Philadelphia?
C.C.D.R. It comes in three times; “him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God … and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God”, and then finally, “which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name”. I wonder whether we could get a little help as to that. I am thinking about the overcomer as having been made a pillar. God has had to do with him; he had been written on by the Lord Jesus.
B.E.S. Does it connect with what we get in Ephesians, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Eph.1:3? I could not say much more about it, but there is plenty of help in the written ministry about it. We get “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph.1:17) and “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph.3:14); the same Person but different aspects to the way that God is brought before us.
C.C.D.R. Does that help?
P.M. Yes it does. You were speaking of the service of God, and I wondered if in Philadelphia, bearing very much on the closing day in which we are, there is some appreciation of what God means to the Lord Jesus as Man, and what as Man He has secured for Him. I wondered if there was a touch that we might get at the close of the dispensation, of the Lord Jesus as Man in relation to His God.
C.C.D.R. I was wondering that, although you are taking it beyond my thoughts on “my God”.
P.J.W. Do you think Paul was a Philadelphian overcomer? I know it would be a different phase of church history, as we speak, but he is one of the very few that speaks of “my God”; “my God shall abundantly supply all your need”, Phil.4:19. I wondered if he was conscious of being a pillar, of having the name written upon him and the name of the city.
C.C.D.R. This is eternal, is it not? My mind was going to what the Lord said on the resurrection morning about “my God and your God”. “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20:17. The Lord had spent those years in which He was declaring the name of the Father to the disciples, the apostles, and there was now what is structural and what is substantial built into this city that is recognised as having had to do with “my God”. The Lord is writing on the overcomer “the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name”.
T.J.H. These persons will be made a pillar in the temple of my God. The note speaks of it as ‘the inner shrine’. We might look at the little diagram of Ezekiel’s temple in the back of our Bibles and find there are eight steps there. Many of us might make the seven steps to the outer area, but I think what we are touching on now is making those eight steps to the inner shrine, and that persons can be made a pillar and have a full part in the service of God.
N.J.H. “A habitation of God in the Spirit” (Eph.2:22) is now in time, but finally it is the residence of God. Is that the greatest thought? It has often been said that “my Father” involves relationship, a relationship which the Lord Jesus had, and which we through grace enter into. When it comes to “my God” it is as Man that He is speaking to God.
C.C.D.R. Absolutely.
A.G.S. Is it interesting that each of these things is written? Would that carry with it some thought of God claiming it as His own possession?
C.C.D.R. That is exactly what I was thinking. Speaking reverently, God has had to do with that pillar, and His handwriting is there; it bears the mark of God’s writing. We are touching what is very great, but as looking around a room like this, we get some impression that persons who have had to do with God, and God has had to do with them, will be placed, as our brother has said, right in the inner shrine and have to do with the greatest service there will ever be, the worship of God eternally.
B.C. I was thinking that the overcomer has had to do with God. He overcomes not in his own strength but he is proving the resources of what God can be to him, and there is what is substantially worked out in his course and path, and there is formation. The pillar is a very substantial thing.
C.C.D.R. And there is always a need for an overcomer; this promise is to the overcomer. There is that which we always have to overcome. The Philadelphians peculiarly knew the presence and the love of the Lord Jesus. They had that secret, they had known that He had loved them. They are kept out of the hour of trial, but there was need of an overcomer.
P.M. There was a writing before the foundation of the world. This is the substantial answer to it and God is fully justified, is He not?
D.S.B. Why is it a pillar? He does not say, I will make him part of the foundation or I will make him part of the wall, but “him will I make a pillar”.
C.C.D.R. I was thinking of it as what is conspicuous. It is what can be seen. What has struck me is that this pillar was not covered with beautiful stones or anything like that, which might be seen outwardly, but there is that which is substantially built and bears the hallmark of having had to do with God.
P.T.v.d.B. So in Psalm 23, with all God’s dealings with David, he said “I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of the days” (v.6). There is no going out.
C.C.D.R. And there are other psalms, there is Psalm 122, which speaks about the pleasure of Jehovah being in this city. Have we answered your question?
D.S.B. You have. I was wondering whether it would link with the boards in the tabernacle. They were made of acacia wood, which is Christ formed in the saints, and overlaid with gold, which is Christ. They were set in sockets of silver, which is the work of Christ; nothing of myself. There were bars that held them together which is how we are bound together.
C.C.D.R. I noticed as we read it, “He that overcomes, him will I make …”. It is nothing that you or I have done. God has taken us up and established us.
J.R.W. I was thinking of that in relation to what you said as to what is substantial and stable. We need to keep in our minds the glory of the One who is speaking. “These things saith the holy, the true; he that has the key of David, he who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open”. Is there something of that character in the pillar?
C.C.D.R. Yes, I think that it is true.
R.D.P-r. Also there were two pillars in Solomon’s temple. They were not for support, they were for glory; and I think this person here, made into “a pillar of the temple of my God”, is for the glory of God. It is in a sense ornamental, but it brings glory to God.
C.C.D.R. It does, “and I will write upon him the name of my God”; there is no doubt about that, “and the name of the city of my God … which comes down out of heaven”, a heavenly vessel, “from my God, and my new name”. That would mark this pillar off.
R.D.P-r. I was thinking it would mark it off as being for the pleasure of God. God is pleased to put His name on this pillar; it is something that reflects Himself.
P.T.v.d.B. The making of a pillar is a process. It is divine formation by God having to do directly with you in your life and your soul, would you say?
D.A.B. Is this entirely future, or is God pleased in His temple to take account of people who ornament it, in line with what we are saying now?
C.C.D.R. I wondered whether we see the pillars now.
D.A.B. I was thinking of churches which have memorial stones to people who are dead, people who have been buried in the churches. But it is the living God’s temple, and I wondered if the ornamentation that our brother speaks of is something which we should understand that God is taking account of.
C.C.D.R. There are many psalms that bring that out. God has a delight in Zion.
M.R.C. The Lord spoke of “the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; but he is not God of the dead but of the living; for all live for him”, Luke 20:37,38. It is all praise.
C.C.D.R. Yes.
T.J.H. I was thinking of the reference to “the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Tim.3:15.
B.E.S. I was going to refer to that same scripture, “that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”, and then it goes on to the great mystery, the person of Christ.
C.C.D.R. Could we read that?
B.E.S. Paul says “but if I delay, in order that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. And confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh”, or more correctly, He who has been manifested in flesh, “has been justified in the Spirit, has appeared to angels, has been preached among the nations, has been believed on in the world, has been received up in glory”, 1 Tim.3:15,16.
C.C.D.R. Say a little more.
B.E.S. We have been speaking of individuals as pillars, but also the assembly is the pillar and base of the truth at the present time. I think the allusion is to the pillars and boards in the tabernacle; they were there to uphold the hangings which formed the dwelling-place of God. The maintenance of the truth provides suitable dwelling conditions for divine Persons, and the assembly is to be viewed in that light even at the present time.
C.C.D.R. I wonder whether we could get that into our souls, that what there is here livingly in the assembly is the custodian of so much. Do we appreciate it? Do we know how to behave ourselves in the house of God? It is the house of the living God. I am linking that in my mind to the walls and the foundation. There is that which is substantial and there are boundaries. It is not lopsided; everything is contained in this glorious vessel.
B.E.S. Yes, and the glory of Christ is the mystery of piety. It is to be maintained by the saints. Being who He was, a divine Person, He could carry everything by Himself, so to speak, but He was here as Man in dependence on God. That is the mystery of piety, but it led to His being received up in glory.
C.C.D.R. Very good.
A.M. I was going to ask whether the reference there to “my God”, would convey the holiness that is pleasing to God.
C.C.D.R. Yes.
A.J.McS. The writing now is by “the Spirit of the living God … on fleshy tables of the heart”, 2 Cor.3:3. That is the writing intrinsically in the fleshy tables of the heart, and it is connected with the ministry of the new covenant. Is somebody on whom God has been writing characterised by the features of the new covenant?
C.C.D.R. They are distinctive as having had to do with God. May there be more evidence of that with us. Our brother has been speaking about piety and our links with God, and what we have been custodians of. We have so much to treasure and it is all held in this glorious vessel.
D.J.W. I was wondering whether the overcomer would be one who would “hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”.
C.C.D.R. I think so.
G.C.B. Further to our brother’s reference to the holiness of God, and these references to “my God”, can Christ speak of “my God” in a way which is beyond what we can? Perhaps it is something to think about at the end of the service of God.
C.C.D.R. I was thinking of that. As we have been speaking, I, and perhaps others, have felt measured when we touch the holiness of what is of “my God”.
K.M. In your last scripture you get “their God”.
C.C.D.R. Chapter 21 verse 3 says “and God himself shall be with them, their God”. At the end of time, eternity will be ushered in and God shall be so close; this glorious vessel will still be there, “the tabernacle of God is with men”. The very dwelling-place of God will be with men; how close, how precious!
P.J.W. I was thinking of what our brother said earlier as to God and man, “God himself shall be with them”; that is with men as “their God”.
C.C.D.R. Yes, how close.
Reading at Maidstone
12 December 2015
KEY TO INITIALS
D.S.B. D Stuart Bodman Dorking
D.A.B. D Andrew Burr London
G.C.B. Geoffrey C Bywater Buckhurst Hill
B.C. Brian Clark Tunbridge Wells
M.R.C. Martin R Cook Folkestone
T.J.H. Trevor J Harvey East Finchley
N.J.H. Norman J Henry Glasgow
A.M. Andrew Martin Buckhurst Hill
K.M. Keith May Maidstone
A.J.McS. Alan J McSeveney Twickenham
R.D.P-r. Robert D Painter Yeovil
C.C.D.R. Charles C D Remmington St Albans
D.J.R. Daniel J Roberts Strood
A.G.S. A Grahame Smith Sidcup
B.E.S. Brian E Surtees Colchester
P.T.v.d.B. Pieter T van den Berg Pulheim
J.R.W. Jim R Walkinshaw Maidstone
P.J.W. Philip J Walkinshaw Strood
D.J.W. David J Wright Havering
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