THE LAMB’S WIFE
Acts 2:42-47; Revelation 19:6-9; 21:9-37; 22:1-5
A.M We were glad to be occupied this morning with the Lamb of God, “Behold the Lamb of God”, John 1:36. How worthwhile it is to rest our eyes on Him. What led me to it, as I said in my opening remark this morning, was this verse, “I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. There is one who is suited to Him; she is His counterpart. I thought we would read these verses in Acts because this is the beginning. The assembly had just been formed, where it says, “the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”. At that time, you could take account of the whole assembly on earth and there were wonderful conditions which marked it. Those who comprised the assembly had been affected by the teaching of the Lord Jesus. They had been affected by the fact that the Lord Jesus had gone into death and was now in heaven; they had been affected by the fact that there was a living testimony from the Holy Spirit here. The beginning of the chapter gives us the coming of the Holy Spirit, and now there was a vessel formed, a vessel upon the earth, a creature vessel which was entirely in keeping with Christ. Is not that wonderful? You may say, How do you know that? Well, the Holy Spirit had come down – where was He dwelling? There was a vessel which was suited to be His abode, and you can say that as the Holy Spirit came down, the assembly was formed as a divine dwelling-place for God. A wonderful thing took place here. You think of the great milestones that have taken place since the creation, the greatness of the incarnation and the greatness of the death of Jesus, and the greatness of His burial and His resurrection and His ascension. These are great milestones, and another which stands alongside them is the greatness of the fact that the Holy Spirit came down and a vessel was formed. A vessel existed upon the earth, a creature vessel, divine in concept and in purpose, but a creature vessel that could be identified as the assembly.
Now, that was the beginning. In Revelation, we see the final display, and that is a wonderful thing to lay hold of. I would just say simply, beloved, that we know what it is like when thinking of the assembly to think of what is public – how men see her:-
‘Though with a scornful wonder
Men may see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed’. (S.J. Stone)
That is what men see. But lay hold of what God sees! What God has in mind, and what He will bring through, and what will be manifested to the whole universe, is what John saw here in Revelation 21, “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”, coming out in glory – a wonderful vessel. We read first in chapter 19 that the bride has made herself ready, and that is what is going on now. What I wanted also to bring out in chapter 21 are the things that are true of the assembly which will be seen then in a coming day. They are things that are being worked out now and they do not get worked out easily. Pure gold, for instance, is refined in a furnace. The ore is mined from the earth and put in a furnace, and the heat separates the dross from the gold. These are things that are being worked out and, I might say, when the mighty divine Refiner applies the heat of the furnace, He is not thinking so much about the heat, He is thinking about the gold, the pure gold. These are just the thoughts that are in my mind and I trust the brethren will help.
J.W. They persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. The apostles were the handiwork of Christ, so that what was of Christ is carried forward, and what is added in that sense would be of the same standard.
A.M. They were His own personal handiwork. You can understand the reference to the apostles’ fellowship because they were with Him and they were the product of His own handiwork, and yet what was set on there was going to continue. Is that what is in your mind, that it is the beginning, but it continues? There is a work which goes on and will go on to the end of this dispensation, a work which will culminate in a vessel being seen in which Christ is glorified.
R.D.P. I was thinking of the word in Hebrews as to the “great salvation”. It speaks about “which, having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard”, which I suppose was the apostles, “God bearing, besides, witness with them to it, both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to his will?”, Heb.2:3,4. But what you are reading about is earlier, confirmed by those that heard.
A.M. Yes, that is good. There is abundant witness, there is abundant testimony; it has been set on and it is now continuing. It has continued down to the present day, it has continued through times of great weakness. There has never been a moment when there was not some expression of the assembly: it must be so because the Holy Spirit has remained here. Where could He have dwelt if that which spoke of the assembly had disappeared. We speak of the Dark Ages, but something went through and it has continued, and I might say in Peter’s words that it has continued “even to me”, Acts 11:5. Let each one of us get a sense of that; it has come “even to me”.
D.A.B. Was it in your mind that we should see that the One John said was “the Lamb of God” was also marked out by the Holy Spirit? I was thinking of what you are also stressing that the Holy Spirit came upon a company that was morally equivalent to the One He had marked out in the gospels.
A.M. That is right. Jesus was anointed, and there is an anointed vessel now. The Lord Jesus Himself was the anointed vessel when He was here, He was the vessel of testimony. He had been anointed by God; it was a wonderful scene on the banks of the Jordan. But then there was a wonderful scene in the upper room, hidden from the eye of the world, but it was wonderful – a vessel that was anointed by God.
D.A.B. Israel was taken up as a nation who were in the flesh, and God worked with them to bring them into accord with His thoughts, but what we see in this company here is a company that has come out of the death of Christ. The descent of the Spirit shows that it was in accord with divine thoughts.
A.M. Yes, the four thousand years that preceded this, in which God’s patience was extraordinarily seen, were really to prove that man in the flesh could not please God. He could not come up to God’s thoughts. Think of God taking four thousand years of time so that we should have the proof that man in the flesh is incurable. But now we have a company whose origins are in the death of Christ, in the death of our Lord Jesus. We know Him as having gone into death and risen again, and we are associated with Him as risen, and such a company is set together here as a wonderful vessel, an entity that has been anointed by God and continues.
P.J.W. I was thinking, as you spoke of the assembly as God sees it, of the Lord’s own words, “on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”, Matt.16:18. During those two thousand years, hades’ gates have done their best to prevail, but He says that they will not prevail against it.
A.M. That is right. He does not say they will not assail; they certainly assail and the enemy is relentless, one thing after another, but they will not prevail. The assembly is founded on the rock in that scripture. It is a very precious thing, and the rock is not Peter or anyone else, the rock is Peter’s confession of Christ as the Son of the living God. Christ Himself is the Builder.
J.A.T. This company was still on earth, but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were conversing in heaven about these persons who were praying and fasting, awaiting the Spirit’s advent.
A.M. They would have been in heaven in their spirits. That brings to my mind that the assembly is heavenly; it is a heavenly vessel. It was formed on the occasion of a divine Person, the Spirit, coming down from heaven, and the assembly will be caught up to heaven. It is then seen in Revelation coming down again in relation to the world to come. It is heavenly, and those who have part in the assembly are heavenly. We are heavenly people. Our place is not on the earth; we are a heavenly company.
Q.A.P. The Lord expresses a particular desire in His prayer to the Father in John 17, “that they may be one, as we are one” (v.22), and that is seen here at the beginning when they “had all things common”.
A.M. Yes, and in the fulness of time failure came in, but then we have Paul’s ministry. He brings before us the fact that we have responsibilities and we are stewards of what we have. We do not have apostles, we do not sell our houses for the benefit of an earthly centre, but we are responsible, and that involves the working out of assembly life on earth.
Q.A.P. And then there is “using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit”, Eph.4:3. The oneness is there inherently in the Spirit.
A.M. That is right, yes.
A.E.M. In that respect, while “all that believed were together” was physical, is there is a wider implication? Is that still the divine view?
A.M. Yes, that is right, because every one that believes and has the Holy Spirit is united to Christ. Every one is united to Christ; “he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit”, 1 Cor.6:17. The Holy Spirit who you and I have received is the same Spirit that was on Jesus. There is that unity which exists and nothing can affect it. Practically, difficulties do come in, but we are not here to dwell upon them. There is that abstract view that there is a unity in the Spirit which nothing can change. The unity of the Spirit exists.
A.E.M. I was thinking of that in relation to the anointing that you referred to. It has to be so; it is of one origin and it is held together in that way.
A.M. Yes. Our brother here was helping us a little while ago as to the beginning of the time in which we are – the last two hundred years or so – and how this truth that we are united to Christ was one of the great and prominent features that affected the saints in the early days.
D.A.B. Yes, I think that is recognised by the Spirit. He came upon something that was like the One He had come on before. It was light to Mr Darby, and it affected his view of the gospel, that he was united to Christ. Then he made a later comment that something more than union is presented, which is that we are in Him. That is very precious. There is no relationship in nature that corresponds to that, that we are in Him.
A.M. And therefore there is no real type in the Old Testament of being in Christ; there could not be. These things are important and, as you say, this was something which came out in the early years of the nineteenth century. We need to know our background, brethren, we need to know our history. Most of us were born into families with parents who were breaking bread, and as we grew up we knew a circle of brethren. We could settle down in that. But how did it come about? How did that circle exist? We have here the very beginnings of the assembly. Follow the history through, it is worth following through. You find early departure, the breakdown; these are things that took place in the days of the early church in the first century or thereabouts. Breakdown came in and then all sorts of things came into the church; man’s mind was working and things were introduced which continue today, but then you find that light started coming in. It was like the psalm, “Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man …” (Ps.78:65). He awakened the heart and conscience of Luther, a German monk, and gave him light as to the fact that justification was by faith. Luther laid hold of that, and that was a great step forward; and then there were more steps forward. Some got light as to being united to Christ. Then light came that if all believers who have the Holy Spirit are united to Christ then there must be something here, a vessel of which He is the Head, and that was a further step. There was another step that came later when it came to light that we can enjoy eternal life now. It is worth going over the history and getting it into your soul, asking, How is it that I am here? Where has the Lord placed me? What is the background? How did it come about?
D.A.B. Is it the activities of the Holy Spirit which need to be traced? Brethren came to that belatedly, that He was to be recognised. I was glad that our brother prayed to the Spirit at the end of the previous reading. That was a pointer that all these things could be livingly entered into, but we must give Him His place.
A.M. We must, and it is significant that brethren came to it that the Holy Spirit must be given His place in deity and were free to respond to Him. After that, there was a movement among the brethren about the service of God. There was that amongst them that was in exercise, and the order of the service of God became finally established among the saints. The ministry of the Holy Spirit, it seems to me, led to that, so that an answer should be secured in suitability to divine Persons.
D.A.B. There is a young generation well represented here. They could be the brightest there has ever been if they give the Holy Spirit His place.
A.M. It would be a wonderful testimony here if we give the Holy Spirit His place. Who can say where He will lead us to?
T.J.H. What brethren have come to, as helped by the Spirit, is in response to the teaching of the Lord, which is to be found if we look diligently in the Scriptures. But can you help us about the “fellowship of the apostles”? Are the teaching of the Lord and the fellowship of the apostles both important?
A.M. The “fellowship of the apostles” was in a sense distinct. They knew the Lord Jesus according to flesh. We do not, and Paul did not, “if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer”, 2 Cor.5:16. The apostles had actually been in His company, they had spoken to Him, they had been with Him, and there was a peculiar bond; and yet John says in his epistle, “that which we have seen and heard we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us”, 1 John 1:3. It is that character. John is writing for the last days; it goes through.
T.J.H. There is someone carrying it. One instruction is that we are to follow a man carrying a pitcher of water (Mark 14:13). He is a type of the Spirit, and we have been speaking about the Spirit guiding us, but there is someone carrying the pitcher of water.
A.M. We should be exercised that each one of us is livingly giving place to the Holy Spirit so that things should be carried.
J.W. Thinking of the exercise raised as to giving place to the Spirit, we first have to learn to do that individually. The exercises set out in the epistle to the Romans would help us in that, as we go through them, but then we have to learn to give place to Him collectively. I was thinking of the value of the temple. Much of the truth you refer to has come out in the temple.
A.M. That is helpful. We were speaking of the passover this morning, but that was immediately followed by the feast of unleavened bread. Now the feast of unleavened bread involves that there is nothing that ministers to me in the flesh, so that what is going to sustain me is the place I give to the Holy Spirit. Then we have the temple working in Antioch, “as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”, Acts 13:2. He speaks in the temple.
D.J.W. The recovery really was based on God’s faithfulness. Is it maintained, do you think, as indicated in 2 Timothy by our faithfulness?
A.M. Yes, that is Ezra and Nehemiah. In Ezra, you get the recovery based on God’s own sovereign activity; in Nehemiah, you get the exercises of one man coming in, and recovery there being secured on that basis. You need to have both. It is no good just sitting back and saying, ‘God is faithful and we will leave it there’. I have to be faithful. Things have come down to us, and I have to be faithful to them.
A.J.McK. Is that the force of the word “persevered”?
A.M. Yes, that is what took me to this passage.
A.J.McK. We have to work at this. You have said that hades’ gates will assail, but will not prevail. We have that great strength and that great comfort, but they will assail, and that requires our perseverance in these days. That was the case right at the beginning; how much more important it is for us now.
A.M. I think that is why we need to think of this scripture and Revelation together, because hades’ gates will assail, they will not give up. What is in our minds when we encounter the force of the enemy? Is it a comfortable life down here? Or is it a glorious vessel that is going to be seen coming out of heaven?
A.J.McK. We sang of a ‘residence of glory’ (Hymn 221). That is what needs to fill our minds.
A.M. Exactly.
R.D.P. The assembly was formed here before Paul came on the scene. He was directed to go into the city (Acts 9:6) and there was something already there. Does the assembly as “the Lamb’s wife” particularly come to light in the ministry of Paul? She is His wife here in Revelation, and she is in relation to the One who has been set “at my right hand until I have put thine enemies to be the footstool of thy feet”, Acts 2:35. That is the greatness of Christ in the position which He is in, while the assembly is formed here. Does that particularly precious touch as to the wife of the Lamb come out through Paul?
A.M. I think so. Although there is reference to the assembly here, I do not know how much the assembly would have been understood before Paul’s ministry. These disciples did not hold anything as their own; the spirit of sacrifice was there, but the light of it really awaited Paul’s coming in. Who suffered like Paul? Who sacrificed like Paul? I was thinking of reading in Philippians 3 – how much he sacrificed. They were good things he sacrificed, they were not bad things. Bearing in mind that Paul was a law-abiding Jew, he says, “as to circumcision, I received it the eighth day; of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee … as to righteousness which is in the law, found blameless”. These were all commendable things, “but what things were gain to me these I counted, on account of Christ, loss”. The apostle goes on, “surely, I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all”. He might have been asked: Paul, do you not regret it? But he says, “and count them to be filth”. He says in effect, ‘All the things which would have been to my benefit naturally would only be a hindrance to me in divine things, they would only get in the way’. He says, “that I may gain Christ”, Phil.3:5-8. He might have been asked, Paul, what do you have? You do not have a home; you are walking miles over the mountains to see these poor little companies of people; what do you have? He would say, I have Christ. What more could he want? What more could he have?
D.A.B. It says, “that I may be found in him”, Phil.3:9. Is that union, as enjoyed individually? I can be found in Him. As Mr Stoney taught, you cannot unite to Christ anything that He died to remove, and that is why Paul let it all go for the sake of the place He had in Christ. That begins individually, which is how we enter into the company.
A.M. I think the expression you have used is key, that Christ died to remove things. All that belongs to nature, He died to remove it. He has established a heavenly order of things.
J.A.T. It was a heavenly company Paul was addressing there; it was heavenly light. If the truth is to be worked out together in the unity of the Spirit, there is a great need for us to keep before the saints what we are, so that as we come into troubled waters, the Lord can help us.
A.M. If you are in troubled waters, the thing is not to look at the waves!
J.A.T. Mr Darby said as to our Lord Jesus that if His power is not there, we sink in the calm as much as in the storm1. The enemy would disturb the waters, so we have to keep our eye on Christ and seek the help of the Holy Spirit.
A.M. That is right, in view of what is of Christ being formed here substantially, so that what is formed of Him may be found in the saints. Whatever else may occupy me or deflect my attention, may I be helped to put it away, and may what is of Christ go through so that there is that which is worthy to be united to Him.
I.McK. This character of gladness is interesting. Do you think the apostles must have seen it in the Lord? I was thinking of Him as being anointed with the “oil of gladness”, Heb.1:9.
A.M. Yes, we see it in the Lord Jesus Himself. In Matthew 11, His disciples were away in service and John the baptist had started to doubt Him and question whether He was really the coming One. He was alone. What does He say? “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”, Matt.11:25. His heart was lifted up in His joy to the Father. He knew what the Father was working out; He knew what would be accomplished.
D.J.W. Paul says it was given to him to complete the word of God. What was there at the beginning was perfect, it could not be improved on. It did not need any modernisation for our day, it was all foreseen in the divine mind.
A.M. That is right. The word of God stands, it is unshakeable. It is living and it is powerful, and it awaited Paul’s ministry to complete it. How precious Paul’s ministry is, and it came from one who suffered. If you turn to the Colossians, you find that it was given to him to fill up that which was lacking of the sufferings of the Christ. Think of all that was wrought out in Paul’s life. The truth has not come easily to us; it has come by way of suffering.
D.J.W. The young people may ask, Where do I start? Do you think it helps to follow up an impression from a meeting like this, or from the Supper?
A.M. That is the way to get the most gain. If you get an impression that affects you, it has come from the Lord. Follow it up. What have others said about this? What did other brethren think about it? Some of us started to read the ministry because we found that our own interpretations of the Scriptures were faulty and we felt the need to understand what the truth really is. Then we found we developed an appetite for the truth; we started to find that there is something living. It has come from the Lord Jesus in heaven; He has placed it in His assembly. It has been not been brought to us easily. Take Mr Raven, for instance; his time of ministry was only a few years, his life was not very long and it is thought that this was due to all he suffered in his faithfulness in bringing the truth to the saints despite conflict. Think of the cost of his ministry coming down to us, and to think we might just leave it on the bookshelf unread!
R.D.P. I suppose all this comes under this heading of perseverance; they persevered. It is like the Scriptures. When little children start off, the Scriptures are a story book, but then we progress to the fact that we learn moral lessons from the Scriptures. We persevere and realise it is even more than that. We find in the Old Testament the shadow of what God was going to produce in Christ. Perseverance leads on to teaching; this is perseverance “in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”. These persons had been baptised, they were “saved from this perverse generation” and added to the assembly. This was their life, their company.
A.M. Yes, we might just think that this is a beautiful picture. It is lovely to see all these brethren behaving like this. Why does it say “persevere”? There was plenty to turn them aside from it. We once had valuable three-day meetings in London on perseverance, based I think on these verses.
R.M.B. Would it be right to say that whereas the breaking of bread and prayers were for particular occasions, persevering in the apostles’ teaching and the apostles’ fellowship is something which they were, and by extension we ourselves ought, to be doing all the time?
A.M. Yes, I am glad you say that. The breaking of bread and collective prayer are for particular occasions, and that developed so that there is order in the assembly, when we meet together on the first day of the week to break bread. But do you think that perseverance in the teaching is more than just getting to understand it? Does perseverance in the teaching involve applying it to oneself?
R.M.B. Yes. It struck me as we have been speaking that there are perhaps those two sides. Persevering in the apostles’ teaching and the apostles’ fellowship would on the one hand involve growing in our understanding and appreciation of those things, but then on the other hand would there be the constant exercise to be true to those things in practice.
A.M. Yes, that is right. We had reference recently in our local meeting to the Rechabites. We do not often speak about the Rechabites. If you look at Jeremiah 35 you will find a reference to that family and the prophet was told to put certain things before them, and they said they would not touch them. They had a word from their forefather. He had lived about two hundred and fifty years before, but the word had come down, and not only did they know it but they acted upon it; they would not touch what was put before them. There was a man who had seen the effect of natural energy, and he gave a warning to his family that they should never have their judgment obscured.
J.W. There was obviously authority in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. The apostles would denote that. What would you say about “teaching and fellowship” today?
A.M. I think that if I receive something, then it puts me under obligation. If the Lord is saying something, if I go to any meeting and the Lord speaks to me in the meeting, I am obliged to take it to myself. I am obliged to say, How does this apply to me?
J.W. Yes, and do you think it is an exercise to trace things to their source? If it is from the Lord in the power of the Spirit; there is authority in it.
A.M. Yes, exactly.
B.H.C. I was wondering why it says that there was fear upon every soul. I was thinking of what you have just said about judging what we are in the flesh. I wondered if it was a godly fear, a fear lest there was anything allowed that might spoil what was being entered into livingly and enjoyed
A.M. Yes. I read an interesting comment of Mr Darby’s. He said that an unconverted man may have a sense of God and he would fear that, for they try to block God out of their thoughts; but they do not fear Satan. However, a believer is not afraid of God, but he is afraid of anything that Satan would bring in that would spoil our communion with God.
B.H.C. Is it a healthy fear developed in God’s presence, because there we begin to understand His holiness, what marks God brought out there?
A.M. Yes, we learn in His presence what is suitable to Him.
G.C.B. Is there a fear that brings us into liberty in contrast with the fear that brings us into bondage?
A.M. That is right. People speak about fear as if it is a bad thing, but even physically, it is one of the creature’s protective mechanisms. You avoid danger. How much more the believer would turn away from anything that would spoil our liberty with God.
Q.A.P. Later in the Acts, Lydia very beautifully says, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord”, Acts 16:15. I wondered if that is really the character of the bride, the Lamb’s wife, that she has been faithful to Him in the scene of His absence.
A.M. Yes, that is right; the wife is faithful. In the absence of the Bridegroom, everything is maintained as He would have it if He were present. Proverbs 31 shows us her activities, and how precious they are. It says, “her husband … praiseth her”, Prov.31:28. You think of that, “her husband … praiseth her”. Think of the Lord in that sense speaking well of the assembly; He praises her.
H.T.F. I notice that the note to persevering in the teaching takes us to Acts 13, where one of the effects is believing, “the proconsul, seeing what had happened, believed, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord” (v.12). I wondered if the matter of believing is very closely linked with perseverance. Is my attitude one of characteristically believing the truth?
A.M. That is a challenge to us. We may assent to things, but if you believe on something, you lay hold of it. You make it your own; no one will take it from you.
D.A.B. These things we are speaking of must be going on, because they will be manifested in this huge building. It will be enormous. It will dwarf anything that man has made, but it has been formed in the way you have been describing.
A.M. Exactly. We ought to be clear that the language in Revelation is symbolic, but it is symbolic of something. If you were to take this literally, you would be talking about a city which is a thousand miles long, wide and high. This is a symbol of something which the earth has never seen, a glorious, divine creation.
D.A.B. But it has been formed here. The world has not seen it, but here it is under their noses, and all the afflictions that are being passed through currently, the trials and tests of our faith and of our unity, these all have potential in the Spirit’s hand to add to this structure.
A.M. Yes, that is right. We feel very hesitant to talk about sufferings and trials because our experience of them is so limited, but we do know that if you go through an experience with the Lord, you do not go through it alone. Go through it with the Lord – then what you will get out of that is not the sense of bitterness that natural man might get, but a sense of the greatness of the One who has brought you through. You get a sense of how glorious He is, and how attractive He is too. He draws you to Himself.
D.A.B. Is that seen in this suggestion that the city has no need of a lamp? You might say, that is what you have experienced in your exercises, that you had your lamp. It was the Lord Himself. He entered in while this formative process was going on. It is not as if the light is a last-minute installation but it has characterised the personalities that are represented here.
A.M. So really the whole city is light; “Her shining”. She does not need a lamp. It is that shining which has been produced in the saints as a result of going through things with the Lord and divine formation in the saints.
D.J.W. Is that what the expression “bright and pure” means in relation to the fine linen?
A.M. That is good, because in chapter 19 she is clothed with “the righteousnesses of the saints”; that which has been wrought by herself. That is everything that has been worked out in the present time – it has all been woven together. We had a word recently on the weaving together, and it has produced this wonderful material, “bright and pure”. If you were to get a piece of white material, you might say, It is clean. But what has been wrought out in the assembly is greater than that, it is bright, it has its shining; and it is pure. There is not any inconsistency, it is “bright and pure” and it has been wrought out through the righteousnesses of the saints. This is given to her, she is clothed in this. In the next chapter, she is adorned with the glory of God, but this is what has been wrought out here.
D.J.W. Is that connected with Ephesians 5, “the washing of water by the word”?
A.M. I was thinking of that; “Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it, in order that he might sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless” (vv.25-27). It is the present service of the Lord Jesus; He is in glory but His service goes on now. It is going on in this occasion, that there should be what is preventive, which would provide a resistance to anything that might defile.
T.J.H. The word you referred to spoke of the warp and woof, and that includes principles; the fabric is interwoven including these principles. I wonder if that follows what our brother has spoken of in Ephesians as to “the washing of water by the word”.
A.M. Yes, and it is the working out of these things that has produced the fabric.
P.J.W. This fine linen is intrinsically bright and pure. It is not that it has had to be washed or altered or improved, it is intrinsically that, because it is the righteousnesses of the saints.
A.M. That is very good. I think that when ordinary material is woven, it would then be cleansed; the fuller would do that. It would be whitened and impurities removed, but no impurity has been woven into this; it is perfect in itself.
P.J.W. It reminds you of the Lord’s garments being bright and effulgent as no fuller on earth could whiten them (Mark 9:3). Is it the same here?
A.M. It is, yes, and then later He went to Bethany and Mary opened that ointment of pure nard and poured it on His head. That was one of the righteousnesses of the saints.
J.A.T. There is correspondence between what the bride is wearing and what she is inwardly.
A.M. “Bright and pure”, and then when she appears, it speaks of “Her shining”. She is not dressed up as something else. That is a feature of the world. She is different; she comes to light here in Revelation 19 when every rival is exposed and overthrown. Then we get this great celebration. The rival systems of Christendom and of man’s religions and everything else has been overthrown, and we get this great cry, “Hallelujah … the marriage of the Lamb is come”.
J.A.T. In the beautiful occasion when the Lord was anointed by the woman in the gospels, He stood by her. It is wonderful that we have a Head and a Bridegroom who would stand by what is of Himself.
A.M. He said, she has done a good work (Mark 14:6).
R.D.P-r. A lot of this would have gone on in obscurity, and persons who we do not even know about will be part of the adorning. We do not want to limit it, do we?
A.M. We cannot limit it. The assembly consists of every one who believes and receives the Holy Spirit from Acts 2 right up until the Lord calls us away – every one. I do not think we have any idea of the greatness and glory of what that will be.
R.D.P-r. Should we think of that at the Supper when we see the loaf. Every one that belongs to the Lord is involved in that.
A.M. It is “the communion of the body of the Christ”, 1 Cor.10:16. We see the emblem of His actual body there, so that having gathered together, as we take account of that loaf, we hold in our minds every one of His own.
J.W. A good deal has been said in this reading about suffering, and your impression is as to the Lamb’s wife. The way the Lamb is presented in this book is the Sufferer. We had the sacrificial side this morning, but the Lamb in Revelation is the One who has suffered for the rights of God. Has His wife also suffered here in view of maintaining the rights of Christ and the rights of God?
A.M. That is what I thought as to the features that mark the city. The pure gold, for instance, is the result of intense heat; the precious stones intense pressure and intense heat. This has all come through and is seen in display, and she is seen then and recognised as the wife of the suffering Lamb.
B.H.C. I was thinking of verse 15; it says, “And he that spoke with me had a golden reed”. It is such a vast and huge city, but I was thinking of the detail. We see that God does not only work in huge measurements, but when it comes to our appreciation, do we have a sense of what the golden reed means?
A.M. That is good, yes. It says, “a man’s measure, that is, the angel’s”. It has come within our grasp, to take account of this, and yet the gold would signify the divine standard as he measured it. It is to bring out the greatness and the extraordinary character of this vessel.
D.J.W. Have you any thought as to why he not only measures the city but its gates and its wall? In verse 9, is administration in view? I wondered if it showed that there is what she is intrinsically, “Her shining”, but also that she is intelligent, she knows what suits the protection of such a vessel.
A.M. Yes, that is right. That is the thought of the wall, to protect what is inside. That is really the main thought of the wall; it is preservative.
J.W. Is your thought that these things are not just put on the assembly in the coming day, but they are being worked out now according to the principle of separation and protection? It will be displayed then.
A.M. Yes, this is the display of what is being wrought in the present day, and it is a wonderful thing to see it. In Nehemiah, we see that the wall is maintained bit by bit; everybody did their bit.
R.D.P. As you said, this making of herself ready is seen subsequent to the fall of Babylon, and it is remarkable that right at the end, the last cry as to that place is, “Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins”, Rev.18:4. There is obviously something there right at the very end that is still absorbed in it; but it is during the time of Babylon’s increasing to its maximum in its commerce, its money and its glory, that she has made herself ready.
A.M. Yes. Babylon was man’s creation. It started with Babel, to see if they could build a tower that reached up to the heavens. That came to nothing, and then that great king said, “Is this not great Babylon, that I have built … ?”, Dan.4:30. In that same hour, God’s voice came out from heaven, as if to say, ‘No, no other man is going to assume dominance in My world’. Finally, Babylon is overthrown, it has no place, but there is a vessel which has been formed in secret which is going through and will appear in wonderful and glorious display. Dear brethren, we have the opportunity to have our part livingly in this.
2nd Reading at Witney
7 November 2015
KEY TO INITIALS
D.A.B. D Andrew Burr London
R.M.B. Richard M Brown East Finchley
G.C.B. Geoffrey C Bywater Buckhurst Hill
B.H.C. Brian H Clark Tunbridge Wells
H.T.F. H Tim Franklin Grimsby
T.J.H. Trevor J Harvey East Finchley
A.M. Andrew Martin Buckhurst Hill
A.J.McK. Alastair J McKay Witney
I.McK. Ian McKay Witney
A.E.M. Andrew E Mutton Witney
R.D.P-r. Robert D Painter Yeovil
R.D.P. Ron D Plant Birmingham
Q.A.P. Quentin A Poore Swanage
J.A.T. John A Turner Malvern
P.J.W. Philip J Walkinshaw Strood
D.J.W. David J Willetts Birmingham
J.W. John Wright Witney
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