6

6

It would be false to plead grace if we are hiding evil and are

not welcoming the holy gaze of the Lord’s eyes of fire. It is a

holy gaze. Do we wince when thinking of the Lord like this?

We cannot be overcomers if we are not looking at things as

the Lord does. It is a solemn thing to touch any divine matter,

and in particular an assembly matter, if we are not first under

His scrutiny, whose eyes are as a flame of fire. John was as

one who was dead—this was the effect of coming into the

presence of the Lord thus. But the Lord does not leave us

there. He lays his right hand upon us and helps us in viewing

things as He views them. Our God is a consuming fire. The

fiery sword at the garden of Eden must first be passed if we

are to taste life. Sooner or later—at the judgment seat of Christ

if not before—our judgment and His will be perfectly one.

The next feature is, “his feet like fine brass, as burning in a

furnace”. The Lord moves among the assemblies in this

judicial character. We are not here viewing the assembly as in

the purpose of divine love, nor is Christ presented as the

Bridegroom, but judicially, as claiming things for God. So the

Lord moves here, His feet as fine brass, testing everything as

He walks. Brass speaks of the testing character of divine

righteousness. The Lord is moving amongst the assemblies

testing everything. It is necessary to know the Lord in this way

if we are to be overcomers. The Lord tests all as He moves in

the assembly.

Then we read that “his voice as the voice of many waters”. It is

a divinely powerful voice.

It reminds us of the voice of a king. With the word of a king

there is power. When that voice has spoken things are settled.

I expect we have sometimes seen things fluctuating one way

and another and no settlement being reached, and then a

brother speaks, one who has moral weight and possesses

features of Christ as under His influence, and the matter is

settled at once. The word of a king has power and, if we are