THE PLACE CHRIST HOLDS IN RELATION TO GOD AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

^[p. 244] THE PLACE CHRIST HOLDS IN RELATION TO GOD AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

1 Peter 2: 5; Hebrews 7: 25, 26; Hebrews 2: 11, 12; Romans 8: 34; John 14: 6

CAC What I had in mind, dear brethren, was that God would not have us to come to Him in any service or privilege without keeping it very definitely before us that Christ has taken up that service and that privilege. Our true apprehension of the service Godward depends on our seeing that Christ has taken it up, and it is not to be separated in mind for a moment from that fact. Any service or privilege that gets detached in mind or spirit from Christ has no value at all in the service of God. That is why we are so frequently reminded that things are “by him” and “through him”. I suppose we all understand that every feature of divine grace and blessing which has come to us from God has come to us mediatorially through the Lord Jesus Christ; but I was not thinking of that side, but of the side of things which is Godward.

Ques Would it be helpful to say a few words as to what the thought of the service of God includes today?

CAC I think it can all be condensed into one sentence: what is pleasurable to God on the part of His people. Whatever ministers to the pleasure of God constitutes His service. Many of us have derived great strength in our souls from seeing that it has all been taken up by Christ, and that whatever we take up, we take up with jealous care that it shall not be in the slightest degree detached from Christ in the estimation of our hearts. The words “through him”, “by him” and “by me” show how important it is that He should have His place before us in relation to those different things. Sacrifice is the first element in the service of God. When ^[p. 245] one entered the court of the tabernacle, the first thing one came to was the altar. The altar says, ‘Something for God’. That is the voice of the altar; it is not something for man; what is on the altar is for God, and what is for God is for God’s pleasure. If it is for His pleasure, it is part of His service. So Peter speaks of our “being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. It is the fact that they are “by Jesus Christ” that makes them acceptable. Anything that moves in our souls apart from Jesus Christ is unacceptable to God; we may as well accept that to begin with.

Ques. Is He the Altar?

CAC The thing is set out in perfection in Christ. From our side the epistle to the Romans brings us to the altar (chapter 12); we are besought to present our bodies a living sacrifice, which is our intelligent service. There is to be something for God, and if there is a sacrifice there must be an altar; and though the altar is not particularly mentioned in Romans, it is undoubtedly Christ, because the sacrificial thought has been fully set out in Him. He has sustained as the Altar every variety of the sacrificial thought, all that is pleasurable to God on sacrificial lines. We take up the thought of the mutual service of God, which is carried on amongst the brethren according to Romans 12, in the spirit of sacrifice. If the pleasure of God, that is, “the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”, is to be worked out, it is as a sacrificial service, at cost to oneself.

Ques You are beginning, then, in your thoughts of the service of God at Romans 12. Are you suggesting that it only applies to those who have travelled thus far, those who have received the glad tidings, and been delivered, and so on?

CAC That is where the service of God properly begins. God’s service to us in grace is a previous chapter of spiritual history, but what we are considering tonight is the thought of the service of God.

^[p. 246] Rem I asked that question because I had thought of the altar as first of all speaking of our need.

CAC I do not think the altar has anything to do with that, unless you think of the sin-offering, which amongst the people of God forms no part of the normal service of God; it means that something abnormal has occurred. What is for the pleasure of God is what is worked out according to His will; and therefore Romans 12 is where we begin.

We begin in our service amongst the brethren. God has given to every brother and sister faith to do something in His service among the brethren. People may say, ‘I do not know that I have faith to do anything’; but it says, “God has dealt to each a measure of faith”. If God says He has done so, you must not question it. We take up in faith our service among the brethren. We are members one of another; we are all set together as one body in Christ. There is a wonderful community and interworking of service in the different members. We are not exactly members of Christ according to this scripture, but members one of another; we are a necessity one to another. The service has all to be worked out in the spirit of sacrifice, in that spirit that was most fully manifested in Christ Himself. It is as taking it up in connection with Christ’s sacrifice that it has value, because it is the altar which sanctifies the gift (Matthew 23: 19).

Ques Is every offering on the brazen altar typically by Jesus Christ?

CAC That is the idea, and it is not to be disconnected from the completeness of the thought of sacrifice as worked out by Christ Himself. Everything is, in our thought of it, to stand related to Christ, and thus the pleasure of God is secured.

Ques Is that why Peter says, “By Jesus Christ”?

CAC I think it is the thought of the altar.

Rem The offerings went up as a sweet savour to God.

CAC Yes, that is it; and the smallest offering was identified with the altar. It is remarkable, to speak again of the ^[p. 247] sin-offering, that in Leviticus 5 a man is regarded as being so poor that he cannot even bring two turtle doves; he can only bring a tenth part of an ephah of flour; but a handful of it is put on the altar and burnt there along with the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. This little handful of flour is identified with all the sacrificial offerings by fire on the altar. When we bring our offering by Jesus Christ, it becomes identified with all the preciousness of Christ in the sacrificial service which is taken up Godward; because His sacrifice was Godward: He “offered himself spotless to God” (Hebrews 9: 14). His sacrifice is part of His service Godward; it is not only on God’s side towards us, but on our side towards God, and every sacrifice that we bring is to be identified in the thought of the offerer with all the blessedness of that. Peter had that in mind when he wrote, “To you therefore who believe is the preciousness” (1 Peter 2: 7). With all the wealth of the sacrificial idea in its completeness in Christ, and our offerings identified with that Godward, how acceptable to God that makes them!

Ques Would this be the answer to the mediatorial system?

CAC Yes, this is the answer. Generally speaking, Christians know less about this side of things than they do about the mediatorial side.

Ques What are these spiritual sacrifices which are referred to?

CAC All the sacrifices with which the Jews were familiar have their spiritual counterpart in christianity now. Now it is a question of spiritual sacrifices. God delights in our appreciation of Christ in sacrificial character. Whether we think of Him as the burnt-offering, or as the oblation, or as the peace-offering, or as the sin-offering, every apprehension of Christ is precious to God; but then it is to be brought to Him in connection with the altar. It is to be brought to Him in immediate connection with the fact that Christ has sustained in the holy purity of His own Person ^[p. 248] everything that is sacrificial in character, so that the principle of sacrifice has come before God in perfection in Christ.

Spiritual sacrifices are never to be separated in our minds from the full perfection of the thing in Christ, and if we come with that sense in our souls, there will be a great spring of liberty.

Rem We should not be unduly occupied with the feebleness of our measure of response.

CAC No, because we are thinking of the greatness of the altar by which we offer, and the altar sanctifies the gift. My gift may be a very small one, but the altar sanctifies it, and gives it the immense value of Christ.

Ques Is there any connection between what you are saying and the Lord saying, “Abide in me”?

CAC In John 15 it is a question of our spiritual joy. The Lord speaks of Himself there as the Vine, and the disciples are the branches. The use of the vine as a figure is significant, because its fruit is typical of joy. The Lord is presented in John’s gospel particularly as the Joy-bringer: His first miracle is to turn the water into wine, and in John 15 the fruit in which the Father delights is that spiritual joy of which Christ is the living Spring. That is by Him, and it is a delightful thing for the Father to witness our spiritual joy derived from Christ, so that we are not dried up; we are a joyful people. I believe the Father finds peculiar delight and satisfaction in the joy of the saints.

Rem We are being built up for the service you are speaking of.

CAC Yes, it is the very purpose for which the spiritual building is going on; it is all that we may become efficient in ministering to the pleasure of God. If we thought more of the pleasure of God and less about our own blessing, we should get on a great deal better.

I would like to suggest next that the intercessory element enters largely into the service of God, so the prayer meeting comes in there. The brazen altar is the place of sacrifice, but ^[p. 249] when we come to the thought of intercessory service we are inside at the golden altar. It is priestly service, and it derives its character from the intercessory service of Christ. Nothing is acceptable to God in our prayers that does not take character from the intercession of Christ. That surely must be the standard of divine pleasure.

Ques Is that why the Lord would give His disciples a pattern?

CAC The Lord’s own prayer is the most wonderful example of prayer that went up to the Father as incense. How acceptable! How full of holy fragrance that prayer was! But what comes more within our range is the prayers of the apostle. We should do well to ponder the prayers of the apostle as an indication of the true character of assembly prayer.

Ques Are you referring to any prayers in particular?

CAC I was thinking of all his prayers.

Rem I suppose there is something of that character in most of his epistles.

CAC There are no prayers in 1 Corinthians and Galatians. When things are wrong it is not prayer that is needed, but ministry of the word. There is no illusion to anything wrong in any of Paul’s prayers. It is most striking that he makes no allusion to any defect or infirmity or failure in the brethren; his prayers all have incense character. Every desire that Paul expressed in his many prayers would be positively delightful to God, because it was bringing before Him of His own great thoughts of love.

Rem It is in relation to divine purpose.

CAC Yes; you will remember that the prayers of Paul are all on the positive line, and that is incense. It refers to prayer that is outside the region of human necessity, but in the region of divine beneficence. True assembly prayer stands in relation to the wealth of divine giving rather than human need, and how delightful that is to God! The prayers of Jesus must have all had that character. They were the prayers of One who was in perfect knowledge of, and ^[p. 250] sympathy with, all that was in the mind of God. The prayers of Paul had that character, and I venture to say that Paul is not only our apostle, but he is our priest, and he indicates to us the kind of intercession that is pleasing to God in the assembly. We have not any prayer book in Scripture, but we get these spiritual hints. If I see how such a man as Paul speaks to God and to the Father, what an indication it is as to the true character of assembly prayer!

Rem It would very much limit our prayers.

CAC I thought it was just the other way about! You do not feel limited in Ephesians 3 in connection with the breadth and length and depth and height, do you?

Rem No, I am sure that is right.

CAC Assembly prayer should reach up to the character of the intercessory service of Christ, because not only has the sacrificial service been fully expressed in Him as the Altar, but the intercessory service has been fully expressed in Him as the intercessory Priest. It is noticeable that the golden altar is higher than the other vessels in the tabernacle.

The scriptures read from Hebrews 7 and Romans 8 show the height to which the intercessory service reaches in Christ; and it is all on our side, not from God to us, but from us to God; the intercessory service reaches right up to the right hand of God.

Ques Would you distinguish as to the suitability of addressing God as Father and Christ as Lord?

CAC In what we are speaking of we do not address Christ at all. The whole point of the service of God is that Christ has taken up a place Godward. It is quite right to speak to the Lord as to His interests and service, and as to the things that come under His hand, and in speaking to the Lord we are speaking to a divine Person, to God; but that does not enter into what we are talking about tonight. Christ has gone in priestly intercession to the right hand of God, and He is become higher than the heavens. It would help us ^[p. 251] if we thought more of prayer as part of the service of God; it is too much with us the expression of conscious need, but that is not incense. Incense is the bringing to God in holy, priestly service His own precious and elevated thoughts. That is what God can delight in. Such was the character of the prayers of Paul. When we get to that side, we do not address the Lord; we do not address the Golden Altar, but by the Altar we approach God. That is the true character of assembly prayer.

Ques What is the thought of praying in the Spirit?

CAC It must be all in the Spirit, because there is nothing right which is not in the Spirit. If we are not in the Spirit we shall not get hold of the thought of the intercessory service as carried on by Christ, and our service as held in relation to it. This would particularly apply to what may be called assembly prayer; it is by Him we take it up.

Ques Are you referring to His priestly intercessory service?

CAC Yes, and any intercessory service which is truly the service of God now must correspond with His, because it is by Him we approach God. There is no other way, whether it be for prayer or for praise. We take account of Him as the key to the position, and the measure of the position and the service. What an elevated idea it gives!

All these thoughts are taken up in fulness and perfection in Christ, but they contemplate the saints being identified with them. The thought is that the saints are to come into the service, whether the sacrificial service or the intercessory, but it is all to be identified with the perfection of the thing as verified in Christ.

Ques Is it in that way we are to be one with Him?

CAC That is the idea; we are one with Him in this blessed service Godward. We need to think more of His place of service on our side Godward.

We were speaking of the apostle Paul being like the Lord in the character of his prayers. To take account of his prayers ^[p. 252] brings it near to us, because he is not a divine Person, but a man of like passions with ourselves, and we see his whole soul imbued with this intercessory spirit. He speaks in some of his epistles as if he did not do anything else but pray; one wonders when he slept or ate!

Ques Do you think our lack of ability to take up this service may be due to lack of priestly character?

CAC Yes, I do think so. Priestly character would be developed by the consideration of Christ. The epistle to the Hebrews would help us much in this; we are to “consider well him”, and to consider Him in His relation to the service of God.

Rem Any Israelite might bring a sacrifice to the brazen altar, but only a priest could go in to the golden altar.

CAC I think that this is very important. I suppose the vast majority of the people of God today never get to the golden altar.

Rem I suppose the priest at the golden altar is not marked by a sense of need.

CAC No, indeed, the great point in priestly service is, “that he may serve me as priest” (Exodus 28: 1). The sin-offering of the day of atonement was no part of normal priestly service. The priest had to disrobe himself before he took it up; he was to put off all his priestly garments and put on white linen. He went in to make atonement in the moral beauty of holiness.

Ques Does the question of weakness and failure touch the advocacy of Christ rather more than His priesthood?

CAC Yes; and the sympathetic priesthood in the early part of the epistle to the Hebrews is not exactly the service of God. The sympathetic and compassionate priesthood is for us in our creature weakness and infirmity, and we do get Christ’s blessed service on that line, but in that He is serving us. He serves us in order that we may be made superior to our weakness and put on our priestly robes and take part in the service of God. There is a wonderful service of grace ^[p. 253] on the part of the Priest towards us, but the great thought of the Priest is the service Godward, “That he may serve me as priest”.

Rem Normally, the side of weakness does not enter into it.

CAC I am not wishing to shut out that side of things in the prayer meeting at all; but I would like a little more of the other side brought in. I have been in prayer meetings where the service of God was hardly touched from beginning to end. I do not think that God has pleasure in that.

Ques Does what we have at the end of Ephesians 3, “Glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”, enter into it?

CAC I think so.

Now we may pass on to the thought of praise. Praise is a most important feature in the service of God, and the assembly at the present time is the vessel of that service. God is not served in Israel; He is certainly not served in the world; but He is served in the assembly. But the service of praise takes character from the way that Christ sings, from His praise. He takes a place on our side, and I think there is wisdom in the Spirit of God concentrating our attention on the fact that Christ sings. He does not say anything in Hebrews 2: 12 about the assembly singing. The point is that the singing of Christ is to distinguish the assembly. If He sings in the midst of the assembly, everything that is right in the way of praise must correspond with that; but the Spirit of God does not say here that the assembly sings, because He does not want to divert us from the great and blessed place that Christ has. I am not critical about expressions that are used. It is right that His singing should give character to the praises of the assembly, but it is noticeable that Scripture says, “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, or, ‘hymn thee’. It is what Christ does. Anything that is out of tune with that is unsuitable to the service of praise; that is the point.

Rem It must be ^[p. 254] characteristically Christ.

CAC That is the character of the praise in the assembly. If Christ praises there, everything that is right and suitable in the character of service must correspond with His praise. Anything that does not correspond with the singing of Christ has no proper place in the service of praise. He is the pre-eminent One, and the whole character of the service is to correspond with what He does. There is immense leverage in the contemplation of Christ as the great Singer in the midst of the assembly, for it connects our thoughts of praise with Him.

Ques How do I distinguish His singing in the assembly?

CAC I think the singing of Christ can be easily distinguished by the spiritual ear, because it is a singing that magnifies God. Whatever speaks well of God is in keeping with the singing of Christ.

Rem It is marvellous how it is put: “Sing thy praises”.

CAC Yes, that is it; the great thing is that God is praised.

God is great; and it is God known according to the precious value of the sin-offering, because the words are quoted from Psalm 22. The One who has been the sin-offering comes out from the place of the sin-offering to sing God’s praises.

He had said in the hour of His sorrow that God dwelt amid the praises of Israel. He became the sin-offering in order to establish the praises of God in the hearts of His people; and He comes up in resurrection and praises God. God as in relation to creatures who have sinned is more fully known in the sin-offering than in anything else.

Rem So it is, “In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee” (Psalm 22: 22).

CAC It is a great thing to see that God is praised in the holy light of redemption. He is going to be praised eternally in the light of the fact that He has been glorified in holiness by the sin-bearing work of the Lord Jesus; and the One who glorified Him in holiness is the One who can praise Him ^[p. 255] in holiness.

Ques Is singing confined to when the saints are together?

CAC It says, “In the midst of the assembly”; it supposes a convened company. In Old Testament times God loved to gather the assembly together. The thought of the assembly is not limited to the present time. God had an assembly in the Old Testament, and He will have an assembly after the church is gone; but the church at the present time has that wonderful place; it is God’s assembly, the place where God is great, and God’s pleasure is served. All acceptable service to God is in the assembly; it is nowhere else now.

Ques Is that the height of the service now, that everything that has come in becomes an occasion of praise to God?

CAC There is nothing higher morally that the praises of Christ as having come up from the depths of the sin-offering sorrow. God is known as glorious in holiness, and He is moving in holiness according to the love of His heart. God is going to be known in that way in all the universe.

Ques In the type should we have to go to David in order to get what corresponds to that of which you are now speaking?

CAC David is the great singer.

Ques I was thinking of that verse in 1 Chronicles 16: 7: “Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to give thanks to Jehovah through Asaph and his brethren”. David is the mover in it; I suppose he would correspond to Christ; but it is “through Asaph and his brethren”; would they be those Christ uses in that service of praise? Then all the people join in and say, “Amen” (verse 36).

CAC I think that is right; so you can see the service of praise reaches a height when Christ takes it up which cannot be surpassed. The praise of the assembly is to come up to that.

Ques Do we see something of that in the end of Luke’s gospel? It says there that they were continually in the ^[p. 256] temple praising and blessing God. The glorious greatness of God had come before them.

CAC “All were astonished at the glorious greatness of God” (Luke 9: 43). There is nothing that makes God so great as the sin-offering, for it shows how God can move out from Himself, and through the precious work of Jesus He can glorify Himself in the whole universe about sin, and fill the whole universe with His praise as known in the holy light of redemption.

Ques Will you say a word as to “I will declare thy name to my brethren”?

CAC I think it is God known in the light of redemption; and God’s name as known in the light of redemption is very great.

Ques If this is the highest expression morally, what is beyond that?

CAC What I had in mind is John 14. You get an affectionate thought in the Lord’s words, “No one comes to the Father unless by me”. Now you have come into the realm of holy affections.

Ques Does that give us the family thought?

CAC Yes, and it gives us the thought of the wonderful place which we have with the Father in sonship having been first taken up by Christ on our side; we do not apprehend it aright until we see it as taken up by Him. The true glory and blessedness of sonship are only known as we apprehend it in Christ.

Ques Is that why He says, “Unless by me”?

CAC Yes, and He says, “I am the way”. That is not the Father’s way out, the way of revelation; but it is the way to the Father: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father unless by me”. It is the way in.

Ques Does Hebrews 10 connect with this?

CAC There the writer speaks about our “having a great priest over the house of God”, as much as to say that we could not approach if we had not a priest. He is over God’s ^[p. 257] house as Son and as Priest in order to make the thoughts of divine love dominate there. The great Priest secures a footing for us, so it is by Him we approach: “Let us approach”; it is put in a hortatory way. The writer does not say that we do approach, because he knew how few of us do.

Ques Would you say a little as to the distinction between the declaration of the Father’s name in John 17 and what we have in Hebrews 2: 12?

CAC In Hebrews it is God as such who is declared, and it is God who is praised. It sets forth God as coming out to make Himself known in love, and being known and praised in that light.

But when we come to John, it is the Father, and the Lord going to the Father; so that our place with the Father is determined by His place. He says, “I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself”. The Son goes to the Father representatively in John 14, as having His own in mind. He had you and me in mind when He went to the Father, and He was the first One to go into the Father’s house in sonship. He went into the Father’s house as Man in sonship, and He is going to bring us there; and He is the way. It is in the apprehension of how He has gone, and the blessed affections in which He has gone, that we can come to the Father; because in those early verses in John 14 it is not the Father coming to us, as in verse 23, but our going to the Father, and none of us go to the Father unless by Him. We come to the Father in the apprehension of the wonderful place which Christ has taken on our side so that the Father’s pleasure might be served by our going to Him in the Father’s house, in His circumstances and for His pleasure. I think that is the consummation of it.

Ques Is association with Christ previous to this?

CAC Yes, it is. This scripture shows how, as going to the Father, into the Father’s house in this blessed relationship of Son, the Lord had in mind to bring all His saints of ^[p. 258] the assembly into the same place, and to bring them all there for the Father’s pleasure, because it is the Father’s house that is in view, and we can be quite sure there will be nothing in the Father’s house that it is not for the Father’s pleasure.

Ques Does this involve the truth of sonship for us?

CAC Surely it does; and not only so, but unless we apprehend the thought of sonship in the Son who has gone to the Father, we shall not apprehend it at all. It will not be in our souls in its living reality except as we apprehend it in the place which He has taken on our side as having gone to the Father.

Ques How does the thought we have in John 20 — His ascending to His Father and our Father — stand related to John 14?

CAC I think it is as ascending that He enters the Father’s house, because the Father’s house is a heavenly thought, a heavenly association. When He actually comes and takes us there, we shall be in that heavenly place; but before we are actually there, we are with Him with the Father spiritually. It involves His going to the Father in ascension; the ascension shows the elevation of it. But it is the affectionate side of it in John 14.

The Lord spoke of the Father’s house, and the place He was going to take there. The apprehension of sonship as thus presented is very important because this is sonship apprehended objectively in the Son as having gone to the Father, and in Him we have the full manifestation of it. The Spirit is the Spirit of sonship; He has come into our hearts, and cries, “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4: 6). A babe who has the Spirit can cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8: 15), but he has not the full thought of sonship until he apprehends it in the Son as having gone to the Father. The full thought of sonship comes into view when we see the Son going to the Father in a heavenly scene, in a realm of heavenly affections, making a place there for us. We apprehend Him objectively in ^[p. 259] that scene, and we apprehend in Him the fulness of it. We shall never throughout eternity have anything greater than the place the Son has taken on our side with the Father.