2 PETER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 295] 2 PETER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques Do “these things” in verse 12 refer to what has preceded? “I will be careful to put you always in mind of these things”.
CAC It shows the importance of continued ministry of the things we know, reminding us of the tendency of our hearts to let things slip away that have been known and enjoyed. We need to be preserved in our minds by the continual presentation of them.
Rem That would be one great value of reading the Scriptures, as we are doing this afternoon. I suppose Peter would leave these things on record for the saints, passing on the greatest and best impressions of the Lord Jesus Christ. He would leave what he had so much enjoyed of the Lord Jesus himself, for the inheritance of the saints.
Ques Would it be part of Peter’s shepherd care? It seems to establish a very important principle, that we should be continually reminding ourselves and others of these things. We should be continually going over the ground, not excluding anything, so that things would be balanced with us.
CAC I am sure it is very important that no part of the truth is allowed to fade in the minds of the saints; not even the most elementary things should be forgotten. So we read the epistle to the Romans with increasing delight each time we read it.
Rem Mr. Kingscote, towards the end of his life, felt the benefit of bringing forward the elementary truths as he went round the country; he found it greatly freshened the saints.
CAC I suppose the special impression that any of us may get from God is to be regarded as a holy trust, and passed on to others when opportunity occurs. Every saint exercised and answering to the Lord in his affections gets a special impression that answers to what they saw on the [p. 296] holy mount. They got an impression of Christ glorified. It was beforehand, really before the time. What a good thing to have such an impression and to pass it on!
Rem Such an impression should shine forth now for the edification of our brethren. We get an illustration in the precious stones, each having a peculiar ray, not all alike.
CAC One of the first impressions made on me after I was brought to the Lord was through the ministry of a brother about the white stone and on it something written which no one knows but the one to whom it is given (Revelation 2: 17), and I think that ministry gave character to my prayers for years.
I craved to have a special secret with the Lord, something like the disciples on the mount. I have always looked back at that as a very good impression for a young believer to get.
Ques I suppose this epistle is peculiarly in view of what shall be established in secret and come out openly. That is, it is a matter of testimony, is it not?
CAC That is, he speaks of the day dawning and the morning star arising in our hearts. Does he not look for that to be brought about in the saints? That which belongs to the coming day should arise in the hearts of the saints now.
Ques Does the thought of the Holy Spirit being the earnest of our inheritance come in in this connection? We have in the power of the Spirit what is coming out in its fulness later.
CAC Yes, and it would seem to be especially connected with the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rem The expression “the present truth” would seem to show that he is in the light of the truth of the moment and in the power of it.
Ques What do you understand by “the present truth”?
CAC Mr ... ., that is a fair question for you to answer!
Rem I would like light and help. I am enjoying what you were saying about remembering the things we know. Our forgetfulness causes depreciation in value. There is [p. 297] reference to an entrance richly furnished into the kingdom; we are always to be in the state of readiness to be ushered in to add to the glory of the kingdom; forgetfulness weakens all that.
CAC Yes surely, and it is the kingdom of the Person, “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”; it is all connected with His majesty, what they saw and heard on the holy mount. All that must have been the great dominating power in their hearts, bringing by its impressiveness and glory the power of the kingdom to bear even now.
Ques Would it be something akin to “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1: 7)?
CAC What is coming out publicly has already come into the affections of the saints privately, the day dawning and the morning star arising in their hearts.
Rem Peter would never forget that word, “My beloved Son”; he is engaged with the Person, and says, “Our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 14). Several times he uses the expression.
Rem We would be glad of the answer as to what “the present truth” is. Would it be really the truth of christianity? Peter being the apostle of the circumcision, this is in contradistinction to what has gone before. There is the danger with us of reverting to a previous dispensation.
Rem At the end of chapter 3 he brings in what Paul has written; it was given to Paul to complete the word of God.
CAC Well, it is really connected with the present place and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose that is the great point; before He has any public glory in the world, He is glorified by God, and there are hearts in this world given the light of it. So that Christ glorified is a greater reality to the saints than the whole system of seen things, which is thrown into the shade for those who are “eyewitnesses of his majesty” and who hear the wonderful voice uttered from heaven. It is really a transcendent moment this; it is far beyond the world to come!
[p. 298] Rem You mean this will go on into eternity? If we had a distinctive sense of Christ, it would contribute to the response that God and the Lord Jesus Christ are so worthy of. “Richly furnished” would be not on our own account, but going in as adding to the wealth of that sphere. It would encourage us to treasure the impression we have, so that it might be enlarged. So Peter passes on his.
Rem I was thinking of the treasure-store; in it are things new and old, what has come out already as well as what has come before us quite recently. Some have a greater scope than others and can make use of things. I wondered if Peter had something like that in his mind. So that it is not only a question of the current ministry, but all that has come out should be a matter of exercise with the saints, and its rehearsal would be a service to be rendered at any given moment.
Rem Yes, I think so. Peter’s ministry seems built up very largely of the Lord’s own ministry in the gospels, and is increased.
Rem Diligence is urged by Peter — “Use diligence ... for doing these things ye will never fall” (verse 10).
Ques Is the idea as to the “entrance” that the Lord Jesus Christ has been given the kingdom? “For he received from God the Father honour and glory”. What is conveyed in that thought?
CAC The whole thing has been seen in the threefold presentation that comes out in the gospels: a kingdom in prospect in Matthew, the Son of man coming in His kingdom; and then the kingdom in power in Mark; and the pattern in Luke. It is all brought together, it seems to me. If Peter saw and heard, he passes on to us what he saw and heard, so that it all may become a reality to us as it was to him. I should think that is the thought.
Rem The note says, ‘”Admitted into immediate vision of the glory”, a word used for full initiation into the mysteries’ (note f, verse 16, Darby [p. 299] Translation).
CAC That is, what is invisible to the natural eye is brought into clear vision spiritually.
Rem Peter had the vision to pass on to the saints.
CAC And as we sing sometimes,
‘The Spirit brings Thy glory nigh
To those who for Thee wait’. (81:2)
It comes very near.
Rem It is remarkable how he refers to “the putting off of my tabernacle”.
CAC The eternal scene fills his soul. It is remarkable that Peter had the thought of the tabernacle on the mount; and all the precious vision of the kingdom had been enshrined in Peter as a tabernacle. The saints were to be the tabernacle of the glory, and now Peter about to put it off is anxious that the tabernacle thought should be transferred to the saints, and that all the saints should be tabernacles of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is necessary for it to be tabernacled now; it has a mysterious character. It was in view of the saints who are here present now, as well as myriads of others, being a tabernacle in which the glory dwells, all unknown, unseen and unsuspected by the world, tabernacled in the affections of the saints; what Christ is manward — that is, His majesty — and Godward. He is the beloved Son, He is the object of God’s affections. It covers what we know of Him. “His face shone as the sun” (Matthew 17: 2); that is, all that God is, shining forth in Him. But there is something more blessed still, and that is what He is Godward; and the saints are to have part in both, are they not? There is an excellent glory; it is remarkable that He should speak of it in that way. There was something that surpassed what could be seen, something not seen but heard.
Ques Does one follow the other? If there is a condition able to see His majesty, the other side follows, what is heard?
CAC And the excellent glory is the glory of the Father which surpasses everything. It says, “Uttered to him by the excellent glory”; Peter is using it as relating to the Father. That is, he is leading us to the top note.
Rem There are eyes to see His majesty first, those who take account of Him as far as discernible to man; they will hear this voice uttered by the Father.
CAC I should think this is something like the course things should take when we are together in the morning meeting. Are we not constituted eyewitnesses of His majesty, the glory that shines forth so majestically in Him? We worship in the presence of that. But He would lead us on to see what He is to the Father, and how He regards Him; so it is what would engage us in the assembly when we come to the full height of privilege. We regard the Lord according to what He is to the Father, and what the Father finds in Him, and how He can sing in the midst of the assembly. I think the thought of His leading the singing spoils it.
Rem I should like help on it.
CAC Does Peter not take pains to let us see no man but “Jesus alone” (Matthew 17: 8)? That is the wonderful thought of what He is to the Father, and what the Father is to Him, and how He can express to the Father how He knows Him — the full response that is seen in Him. If we thought of how it relates to Him, we should come into it in a fuller and better way. So that it is, “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises” (Hebrews 2: 12). You see the “I” in the second part is as personal as the “I” in the first part. “I will declare thy name to my brethren” is very personal, and it is just as personal in the second case; but the assembly surrounds Him to have the blessed experience of how He sings to God and the Father; the assembly listens to it. So that really the excellent glory brings the Father into it. The majesty they were eyewitnesses of does not exactly bring the Father into it.
Ques How do we sing praises to God and the Father?
CAC If we hear how He sings, that will bring us in too; that is, He will take a place on our side to express all that is due to God and the Father in that way, and it is perfectly [p. 301] expressed. And we surround Him in the midst; it implies that the assembly is capable of taking in what He sings and how He sings. It is Himself, so to speak; it is “the love with which thou hast loved me” — not “them” (John 17: 26) (though that is true too, as it says in verse 23, “Thou hast loved them”). It is that the love with which the Father regards the Son may be in the saints, and the Son in the saints. It brings us into the presence of the excellent glory, and that surpasses everything else. The saints’ hearts are filled with the utmost satisfaction to see what an Object the Father’s heart has in the beloved Son, and the Son answers to those affections perfectly, and can sing; that is, God is celebrated.
It is very remarkable that as to the first song recorded in Scripture it says, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel”, but it is “Then sang Moses” (Exodus 15: 1)! How long the blessed God waited for the song!
Ques It speaks in Job 38: 7 of “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy”; where would you put that?
CAC But is was outside this scene altogether. It is the song of unfallen creation; the intelligent part of creation breaks forth in melody to God when they see Him laying down the stage, so to speak, where He was going to perform His great and everlasting wonders.
We get the thoughts in our minds of all that we can link up in Christ, and of all that stands connected in Him with God; so we get at the Supper all that can enlighten and rejoice us in Christ, but we must not stop there — there is the realm of the Father, “the excellent glory”.