DIVINE DISCLOSURES

Luke 19:11; Genesis 18:17-19; John 14:1-3; 20:11-18; Proverbs 31:10-12

I seek help to say a little as to divine disclosures and the character of persons, or attributes displayed in persons, to whom divine things can be made known. We cannot of course limit divine Persons; They are free to disclose things to whom They will, but we have read of features that are seen in these types of persons. First of all in Luke 19, there are persons who are listening, then in Genesis, Abraham is someone that is trustworthy and faithful. Then we have the disciples in John 14, and a lover of the Lord Jesus in John 20, and then there is the woman of worth as a confidante.

In Luke 19, there were persons who were listening: “as they were listening .... he added and spake a parable”. They were persons who gave the Lord an opportunity to add something to what He was saying. What comes out is a parable; it is not exactly open to everyone. The Lord’s ministry in parables was hidden from the merely curious, or the uninterested. We know that the Lord spoke in parables and the meaning was hidden from the Pharisees; the Lord in some cases was speaking about them. But here there are persons who are listening. It is a good thing to listen. We are all here this afternoon, the speaker as well, to listen to what God is saying. There are all sorts of speaking in this world, but if God is speaking, if the Lord is speaking, then we need to listen because what He is saying is important. The Lord speaks a parable here because what He brings in is adjustment, maybe correction. We may need that, and it is good to be adjustable. None of us would ever claim that we do not need adjustment. Where it is necessary, the Lord in His grace would bring it in; He does that in such a beautiful way to those who love Him. So “as they were listening” – it is good to listen. You get something, then you get something else; persons who are interested receive things. The Lord could say, “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and ye shall find”, Matt.7:7. That is how divine Persons work – They delight in persons who are interested in what They are doing. They would delight to open things up and then you would receive something more. What the Lord brought in was in relation to the fact that He was going away, and there was going to be a period when He would not be here. The disciples thought that matters were going to work out differently, and we are often like that. We think things may work out differently from how they do, but what is the Lord saying about it? So “he added and spake a parable”. I trust that we may be persons who are characteristically listeners, and I trust too that we may be characteristically subject. It is subject persons, interested persons, who receive things, and that is a good state to be in if you are exercised to receive something.

We read about Abraham in Genesis. Abraham was a wonderful person; he is spoken of as being the father of the family of faith (Rom.4:16), and he was at the beginning of that whole line. He was not the first person who was marked by faith because Adam was marked by faith, and Eve too was marked by faith. There was a line of faith, but Abraham particularly was marked by faith because he was called out from a scene of idolatry. He was called out and went out not knowing where he was going (Heb.11:8), but God spoke to him and told him to move, and he did move. His whole pathway was marked by faith. He was a faithful man, someone who was faithful as well as being marked by faith, and he was trustworthy. God could trust Abraham, and he is spoken of as “Friend of God”, Jas.2:23. God could say things to him because He trusted him; Abraham was His friend. How wonderful that is! So here it was a matter as to judgment, a matter as to government. If God was free to open up something to Abraham in relation to government, how much more so in our day. He is free to open up things to those who are trustworthy persons. Abraham had moved out and he had travelled to Hebron; he dwelt at Hebron by the oaks of Mamre. Hebron is in the type a wonderful place for a believer to dwell because it speaks of the purpose of God.

What a place Abraham was dwelling in; Hebron is spoken of as being built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (Num.13:22). Zoan represents the intelligence and wisdom of this world. How old some of the universities of men are; where we come from the university was instituted over five hundred years ago. That is the world of man’s wisdom, represented by Zoan in Egypt. But Hebron was built seven years before it. That speaks of the perfection of the purpose of God that goes back before time. It was there before this world was made, before man and his wisdom was there. Abraham was dwelling in relation to God’s purpose; he was dwelling in Hebron by the oaks of Mamre. As we read through these chapters, the oaks of Mamre are referred to often. Abraham would have got up in the morning and gone out of his tent, and he would see these oaks of Mamre: they were there. What does the oak speak of? The oak speaks of stability, it speaks of what is rooted in the purposes of God. The oaks of Mamre have been likened to what is spoken of in Romans; “Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren. But whom he has predestinated, these also he has called; and whom he has called, these also he has justified; but whom he has justified, these also he has glorified”, Rom.8:29,30. Believers are called according to purpose, predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, justified, glorified – these things are represented by the oaks of Mamre where Abraham was dwelling. As dwelling in an area like that, then God was free to open things up to Abraham, matters in relation to government and in relation to judgment.

God says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?”. It is wonderful to be able to be in the current of the divine mind. God does not speak to Abraham of what He was going to do, but of what He was doing. God opens up things to believers, to persons who have received the Spirit; things are opened up to them. You can see the whole scope of God’s plan, what is going to be done by Him, what lies ahead once the Lord comes to take the church away. The book of the Revelation tells us about the judgment of this earth in God’s ways; we can read of what is going to happen. But “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” – it is wonderful to be so close to God that you are in the current of the divine mind. God could open up to Abraham what He was doing because he was faithful and he was trustworthy. God could commit things to him.

If you read on, you will find that Abraham was going to pray for his brother. God could trust Abraham, and He knew what Abraham would do. Lot was living in Sodom, speaking of the world and all its depravity. Earlier, Abraham had given Lot a choice about where he wanted to live, and Lot took the wrong viewpoint and chose to live in the valley. Then we find that he went nearer and nearer to Sodom and eventually he lived in Sodom. I do not suppose he intended that at first. We need to be careful, if we move away from where God is operating – who knows where we might end up. I do not suppose Lot ever thought he would end up in Sodom, but Abraham interceded for him, he prayed for his brother Lot. That is one of the reasons why God opened up to Abraham what He was doing; it gave Abraham an opportunity to intercede for his brother. How pleasing that would be to God. God wants us to know something of what is in His heart so that we may speak to Him about it. The divine channels of communication are open. So Abraham interceded for Lot, and his intercession was effective because Lot was preserved. That is a wonderful thing, to be a trustworthy person like Abraham.

We read in John’s gospel chapter 14; in it, the Lord was free to open things up. In chapter 13, He had washed the feet of His disciples and Judas had gone out so that what was opposing had gone. Now we have the inside position, a scene of love. The disciples were there and the Lord was free to open up His heart to them. He was going away. They had been with Him for these three and a half years and they loved Him, and now the Lord was free to open up what was in His heart. “Let not your heart be troubled”; think of the Lord’s consideration for us. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me”. The disciples believed on the Lord Jesus when He was here; they had been with Him and seen what He had done, seen the way He had moved about, but He was going away. So He says, “ye believe on God”; they had faith in God, they had faith in the Lord Jesus as well. But the Lord was going away, and they were to believe on the Lord as they believed on God. There was to be a change. They were not going to see the Lord any more, so in that sense He was to be the object of faith for them; “ye believe on God, believe also on me”.

Then He opened up something else: “In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you”. The Lord was free to say that if these things had not been so He would have told them but He was opening up what was in His heart. These chapters from chapter 14 to the end of chapter 17 are what is in the Lord’s heart for His own. Then “In my Father’s house there are many abodes”; the Father is the Father of every family. The Father’s house speaks of the redeemed universe , it speaks of what is eternal. There are going to be heavenly families and earthly families; how many families there will be and every one will appreciate the Father. But the assembly, composed of believers like you and me, beloved, will have the greatest place. No other family has a place prepared in the way that the assembly’s place is prepared. “I go to prepare you a place”; that is what we were speaking about in the reading – prepared from eternity, but we could not be there without the Lord Jesus. The Lord had to go in first and He has His place. Then, I “shall receive you to myself”; that is the assembly’s place. No other family has the indwelling Spirit, no other family will have the Spirit of sonship as have those who compose the assembly. The assembly is pre-eminent amongst all the families; “I go to prepare you a place” is special to the assembly.

These things belong to eternity, and the Lord here is opening them up in His love for His own; He is disclosing these things. What a place the Lord has, but think of the assembly’s place – what a place it is. It is a wonderful place, and we are given the power to appreciate it. It is a tremendous thing that we are given the power to enjoy the place that we are to have with Christ. “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, that where I am ye also may be”. Think of what was on the Lord’s heart for His own, and He was opening it up to them. What did it mean to them? It awaited the Spirit’s coming for them to understand all these things that He spoke about from chapter 14 through to chapter 17. The Spirit would open these things up to us, not just in an objective way, wonderful as that is, but open them up to us so that they can be enjoyed, so that we can know what it is to be in spirit in this place. We will be in it in actuality eternally, it will be our eternal portion, but by the Spirit we can touch these wonderful realms at the present time.

We read in John 20 about Mary, and the outstanding feature in Mary is love for her Lord. Not that Peter and John, the two disciples mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, did not love the Lord Jesus – they did, and things were opened up to them in a wonderful way too. They looked into the tomb and they believed; they had intelligence as to what had taken place. John ran; it does not say that John ran faster than Peter so that we should think that John was a faster runner, but it showed the energy of his affection for the Lord, energy to proceed quickly. But when they got to the tomb, Peter went in further; you might say that he was able to go deeper, and the result is that they saw and believed. They were witness to what had taken place and that the Lord was not in death any more. The Lord was out of death! So they believed, but then they went to their own homes.

But Mary also was there at the tomb. She was where she had last seen the Lord Jesus, she knew where she had last seen Him. That is a wonderful thing. Mary went back to the place where she had last seen Him and she was distraught. She said, “they have taken away my Lord”; she was weeping and her affection was unmistakable. You might say that she did not have the intelligence of Peter and John, and that might be true, but what marked her was love. We have gone over these verses many times, but what the Spirit would bring before us is the need for increased affection for the Lord Jesus. Mary waited and she was weeping, she was bereft because the Lord had been everything to her. And now He was gone; how she felt that! So the Lord gave her this message, He opened up something to her that He did not give to Peter and John: He gave it to Mary. It is not intelligence that gets this message, it is love. He says, “Mary”; He speaks to her as an individual. First of all He says, “Woman”, and then He says “Mary” and she turns round. That is what turned her round, because she was facing in the wrong direction. The Lord was not in death any more, He was risen, and Mary had to turn round and face Him. She had been looking into the tomb, but now she has to turn round towards the living Lord Jesus who has defeated death. So she turns round and she gets this wonderful message.

The Lord says to Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”. She knew the Lord Jesus in His condition of flesh and blood, but now she had to appreciate Him in a new way. He was now in a different condition, this One who was about to ascend to the Father. He says, “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. This is something entirely new. The Lord in John’s gospel had spoken about the Father, He had spoken of Him as “my Father”. In this, John is different from the other gospels, especially Matthew in which the Lord often spoke to the disciples about “your Father”. He had said, “your Father who is in the heavens”, which was because what He was speaking about was the fact that as here in this scene, they were children of the Father. But in John’s gospel it is more elevated. This reference the Lord makes belongs to purpose because He refers to His own as His brethren; “go to my brethren”. Again, this is different from the synoptic gospels because the brethren of Christ in the synoptic gospels are those who do things; there is a moral aspect to it. The Lord says that “My …brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21); there is an evidence of the fact that they are brethren of Christ because they listen to His word and they do it. But when it comes to John, the reference is to brethren in the light of purpose; “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father”. They, and we, are brought into a new relationship, a relationship that they did not have before, brought to share in the relationship that Christ enjoys with the Father. He is ever unique, of course He is, and that is guarded here because He says, “my Father and your Father”. It has been pointed out He does not say ‘our Father’; He is always distinctive. So he says, “my Father and your Father”, but the relationship and the love that He enjoyed with the Father are given to His own to enjoy.

This was entirely new, it was entirely different, and it belongs to what was in God’s purpose from before time existed. The Lord Jesus, as coming out of death, was free in His heart to open this up, and who does He open it up to? He opened it up to one that loved Him. So Mary was a trustworthy person too. She comes bringing word to the disciples “that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her”. That is wonderful! She gets a message, something that is committed to her and she delivers it, and it has an effect because the disciples are together then and the Lord is free to come in and make Himself known. He is free to open up more to them. He shows them His hands and His side; that is something further. He manifests Himself; a manifestation is something that is special. There are three manifestations at the end of John’s gospel. The first one in John 20 is normal, the Lord is making Himself known, but then He is bringing in something that is new in each one, some new feature of Himself that would affect the hearts of His own, bring out response and love for Him. What a One He is, and these things are open to persons that love the Lord Jesus.

Proverbs brings in what is collective in the woman of worth. The Lord is on high, the Lord is in glory, but the woman of worth represents the assembly, and her responsibility at the present time. We have touched in John 20 on the side of privilege, which is wonderful, but there is the side of responsibility too. The Lord is absent, He is on high but His assembly is here. “Who can find a woman of worth? for her price is far above rubies”. The Lord has secured the assembly for Himself. He saw what was precious to Him; Christ “loved the assembly and has delivered himself up for it”, Eph.5:25. He has her! There is what He is going to do, He will present the assembly to Himself glorious (v.27); that is what He will do. In the greatness of His own Person He will do that, He will present the assembly to Himself, and we are given the secret of that. The Lord will have the assembly eternally for Himself. But the Lord acts in the present time in order that He might “sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word” (v.26). That is what the Lord is doing at the present time in His love for His assembly. He has been doing that today as we have been together – the washing of water by the word, the gentle action of the word.

So “a woman of worth” is the Lord’s estimate of His assembly, a woman of worth, “for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband confideth in her”. The Lord loves His assembly, His wife, one who is trustworthy, and He is opening up His heart to her – all that is in His mind, all that is in His heart, all that is in His affections. He is opening it all up to her so that she knows what to do, she knows how to act. How is she acting, and who is she acting for? She is acting for Him because He is the One in whom she is interested above all others, although she cares for her household. She is interested in her Lord, interested in her Husband. “The heart of her husband confideth in her, and he shall have no lack of spoil”. It is not that she will not have any lack of spoil, but “he shall have no lack of spoil”. As the Lord makes things known to His assembly, she acts for Him. That is really the great end, that there is something for the heart of Christ now, not waiting for a day to come, but something for the heart of Christ now.

May we be helped in these things. Divine Persons are not wanting to hold anything back, and if we are marked by these features of listening and being interested, and trustworthy and faithful, being lovers of Christ, then what we may receive is limitless. May we be encouraged in these things and helped in them for His name’s sake.

Calgary

28 September 2019

Bill W Lovie