The Assembly As The Pearl
THE ASSEMBLY AS THE PEARL
I desire to speak from these scriptures of what I believe God is working for at the present time, that is, to secure in the saints the feature represented in the pearl. It was one pearl, referring, I think, to the beauty that consists in undivided response to Christ. Everything for God in the assembly flows from that, and hence Satan knows well that if he can divert the saints from Christ, if he can bring in any other object, then he has secured his end. Everything in the way of suitable response to God, and of suitable administration for God, or testimony for Him, is secured and maintained just as the saints are held in undivided appreciation of Christ. Everything that is pleasing to God has been found in Jesus, and the great triumph of divine wisdom and grace is that in the assembly a vessel should be secured which is held in undivided affection for Christ and appreciation of Christ, and thus becomes formed according to Him.
The thirteenth chapter of Matthew is a chapter of great interest and importance; it gives us our bearings in regard of public conditions that are recognisable openly, and then lets us into the secret of what is being brought to pass in the midst of those conditions privately or secretly. The Lord starts with the parable of the sower, indicating that there will be nothing secured for God unless God Himself works. There must be the sowing, but the principle of responsibility is recognised, for there is the seed that falls by the wayside, the seed that falls on stony ground, and the seed that falls among thorns, none of which brought forth any fruit. These all raise the question with us as to what place we give to the word of God. Then there is the seed sown upon good ground which brings forth fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty-fold, indicating a positive result for God where His word is received. Then the Lord gives three similitudes of the kingdom of heaven, intended to set out in parabolic form the present conditions in Christendom, which is publicly the kingdom of heaven. Outwardly and professedly Christendom recognises the rights of the Lord Jesus; but what marks it is first of all that there are the sons of the wicked one growing up among the sons of the kingdom. That is the parable of the tares, and the householder says, “Let both grow together until the harvest”. The Lord is not intervening openly to eradicate the evil, but He is allowing the work of the wicked one to develop and grow up alongside of the work of God. The tares were weeds of no value whatever, but in appearance closely resembled wheat; they therefore represent those who take on the appearance of Christianity in good works and so on, and yet have no vital work of God in their souls.
Then the Lord likens the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which, it says, is the least of all seeds, but becomes a tree and the birds of heaven roost in its branches. That again is a picture of what the kingdom has become publicly in the world, for that which started so small has grown to a great thing, which affords a resting place for every kind of wrong doctrine and evil practice. The third parable is that of leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The woman speaks of a hidden influence, and that is exactly what marks Christendom; there is a subtle influence at work which is leavening the whole system, the leaven indicating that room is made in what professes the name of Christ for the first man, his mind, his will, his features, and his ways. That pervades the whole public body.
The Lord told those three parables dealing with the situation publicly; then His disciples come to Him in the house and ask for an explanation of the parable of the tares, which He gives them. Then He proceeds in the house privately to speak three further parables. The Lord would encourage us to realise that, in the midst of all that is distasteful to God because it speaks of confusion, there is what is secret, what God is carrying on for His pleasure, and He would have us to be occupied with that. So the Lord spoke a further parable and said, “the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field”. He buys the field for the sake of the treasure in it, and not only that; but the man when he finds it hides it. That speaks, I believe, of the Lord’s having accomplished redemption and thus secured rights over all men, the whole field, but with a view to the treasure in it. The work of God would appear and that is treasure, something He can use, something of intrinsic value. And He deliberately hides the treasure. I would stress the importance of being content to be hid, to understand that the greatest things are being wrought out by God in secret. We may get our eyes opened to it, to see what God has in the saints, and what He is effecting in them, but let us accept the position that what God is doing, what is of real vital importance is hidden from the eyes of men. It says in Proverbs, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the honour of kings is to search out a matter”. “Kings” here would apply to the saints in their dignity as sons of God. It is their honour to search out a matter, for they are intended to be able by the Spirit to understand what God is doing in secret, but it is God’s glory that He can conceal it, until the moment comes for display. It is for us to understand what is going on, and to be content with a position of being hid; to understand that it is in a hidden position that God is working out His great thoughts.
Then we have another parable, “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it”. It is a merchant, a man who knows his business. He is seeking goodly pearls, something that is not spurious. It says, “when he had found one pearl”, not a string of pearls, one pearl of great price. It speaks of the peculiar beauty that attaches to the assembly as having but one object for her affections. It is the beauty of undivided affection for Christ. That was of great value in the Lord’s sight, the idea of having a vessel of that character, and He was prepared to surrender all that was His legitimately with a view to securing this one object of His affections. Think of the joy it was to the Lord to live here as a Man ministering to the heart of God every day of His life, and conscious of His pleasure! Yet He would surrender that—He would go down into death for the sake of the pearl. Then He had rights in relation to Israel, but He would surrender those for the time being. This merchant sold all that he had, showing the intense value he placed on the pearl. That should impress us with the great importance of cherishing this idea. The idea of the pearl comes into prominence in Paul’s ministry. Precious stones come into evidence in the ministry of the twelve, for the names of the twelve apostles are in the foundations of the wall of the city, and the foundations are adorned with twelve precious stones, but in the ministry of the apostle Paul I believe we have the idea of the pearl. You remember that he was arrested on the road to Damascus, with a voice out of heaven, and the Lord said to him, “why persecutest thou me?”. He would have the sense at that time that there was something on earth which was so precious to the heart of Christ that the Lord speaks of it as Himself. Paul received that impression, and we can see that it gave character to his ministry even before he was formally separated as an apostle, for after he had laboured with Barnabas at Antioch for a whole year, it says that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. People took account of that company as really bearing the features of Christ. They had never called the saints in Jerusalem that, for they had certain Jewish features still clinging to them, but the result of the ministry at Antioch was that the saints so took on the character of Christ that people gave them the name of Christians.
Now the apostle went to Corinth to minister in keeping with this light that he had. In writing the first epistle to the Corinthians he says, “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ”, and he adds, “and him crucified”. He speaks of himself as a called apostle of Jesus Christ. How different He is, dear brethren, from every other man. Paul had gone to Corinth and presented in testimony Jesus Christ, the Man who could not be holden of death, God’s Holy One. Death had a right to, and power over, every other man, but there was one Man, Jesus Christ, who could not be holden of it, not only because of who He was, but because of His moral excellence. Paul had presented Him, and Him crucified. “Him crucified” involves the power of God for the setting aside of every other man. Do we love the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? We cannot fit suitably into the assembly if we do not love the cross. We are sure to bring into the assembly some feature that the cross has set aside if we are not formed in our affections and intelligence by the presentation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The love of Christ is a mighty lever to enable us to come to a right judgment of the first man and all that marks him, and the assembly stands in relation to the second Man, the Christ of God. Now the apostle had laboured thus in Corinth, but, alas, they had gone away from that—they were bringing back the man the Lord Jesus had died to set aside. The assembly in Corinth was becoming a vessel in which all the diversified features of evil that characterised the first man, were there in full expression. So you can understand the feelings of Paul. He had the light of the pearl in his heart, but how different was the state at Corinth from the idea of the pearl! “I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God”, he says, “for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. I believe that is the idea of the pearl—“espoused ... unto one man”—one Man before the heart of the assembly and, as a result, purity of affection maintained. That was what the apostle laboured for at Corinth. He says, “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. The suggestion is that something else is necessary in addition to Christ—that is constantly the danger. Young people think, and sometimes older ones, too, that Christ is not enough to satisfy them. Behind it is the working of the enemy, corrupting our minds from simplicity as to the Christ. Then perhaps, if we are intellectually minded, we think that ability of that kind will help in the assembly, and it all has to be discarded.
The world affords a school in God’s hands whereby, as judging it and in contrast to it, we can be developed on these lines. We see on every hand around us the features of another man in evidence, the principles which govern people, their ways, their speech, their spirit. They may be very tolerant, and one can easily be drawn into the current of the world when moving with people who are tolerant and pleasing to get on with. Behind that spirit of tolerance is disregard of the rights of God. You will find that if you stand for the rights of God people are not so tolerant.
How Jesus considered for God! He was indeed meek and lowly in heart, and He invites us to learn from Him, but He was as a lion who would not turn aside for any when it was a question of the rights of God. That was the foremost thing in His heart, that the Father’s name should be hallowed. Then the second thing was, “Thy kingdom come”. The assembly is to be formed after Christ, able in full intelligence and pure affection to respond to the blessed God, and to come forth as the holy city expressing, indeed having, the glory of God. If she is to be formed with that in view, it can only be as she is held in relation to the one Man.
I might refer to the seventh parable in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. It is an important thing that God has vessels. The local assemblies may be viewed in this character. God has before Him the thought of vessels in which that which answers to His mind is to be set, and everyone who loves Christ and has any sense of what he has been called to, should be concerned to have his place in these vessels in which all that is good is gathered. Such vessels can only be effective as they take character from Christ.
In Revelation 21 we again have the thought of the pearl. One of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues comes and talks with John—“Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. The idea there is secured. The angel had been one of those who had had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues; they were full of the fury of God, a most terrible thought. The fury of God will be poured out upon this world, as it will then have developed in utter refusal of God and of every feature of the truth. It will be the culmination of what has already for a long time been developing amongst men. John was shown the bride, the Lamb’s wife. She has come through with that character of undiverted affection for Christ; she is the Lamb’s wife, having proved faithful during the period of suffering. The Lamb is the One who suffered, and the sufferings of Christ really continue in the sufferings of the assembly throughout this period, a period that is dominated by the Lamb character, that of suffering defencelessly for the rights of God. How stimulating that the wife should come into view, one who is qualified to stand by His side. It says of the woman of worth in Proverbs, that she does her husband good and not evil all the days of her life. There you have the idea of the pearl. She is simply considering for Christ all the days of her life. She does Him good and not evil. She does not do what is displeasing to Him, or bring His name to dishonour. “Her husband is known in the gates”. Whenever judgment according to God is administered, her husband is known there. How good it is, as the Lord looks round on the local companies, and some matter arises that calls for judgment according to God, discernment between good and evil, if the Lord sees that the matter is handled in a way that really brings glory to God. Only in dependence on the Lord and singleness of heart can that be secured, but it is the end God is working for.
In this holy city were twelve gates—perfect administration—and the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl. The idea of the pearl is carried through, but it is seen in every gate. The twelve gates represent the places where judgment is administered according to God. All the judgment in the twelve gates was of the same character, one several pearl, and if that is going to be displayed in the coming day it must be secured now. Today is the time of formation, and hence God is allowing us to be exercised as to local assemblies, to take up the idea of responsibility for the truth of God in the place where we are, and to seek to maintain it according to this idea of the pearl. We are to be governed by one Man, to learn from one Man, to take on the features of one Man. That is the essential beauty of the pearl of great price, and, as it is in evidence, it will be found that matters will be handled in every locality according to the same principles, in the wisdom that comes from Christ; what is pleasing to Him and what has been learnt from Him will alone be done. Maintenance of what is due to God will be mingled with His grace. The Lord Jesus would not tolerate evil, but He Himself would lay down His life for us. We are to learn from Him how to administer in the same spirit, in the absolute refusal of evil, but yet in grace. Everything is maintained according to God, and in suitability to the spirit of Christ. May the Lord help us to do it!
CLACTON
3rd December 1938
From Words of Grace and Comfort
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EXTRACT
If we contemplate God’s way, and see how undiverted He has been in it, working in wisdom and with method from beginning to end, it will greatly enhance our appreciation of divine glory.
From Words of Truth 1938
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“I am the first and the last, and the living one”
What glory fills our hearts when we think of the Lord Jesus! “I am the first and the last”. It is a title that belongs to Deity: it is found in the prophet Isaiah. It refers to the Lord, to Him whom John knew well, to Him who showed His right over him, while saying “I am the first and the last”. We owe Him everything. He reminds us: “I became dead”. Nobody has known death like Jesus. But what a note of victory! “Behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and I hold the keys of death and of hades”.
From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle 1956
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