THE NEW COVENANT - THE HOUSE OF GOD AND DISCIPLINE - UNITY - THE ASSEMBLY COME TOGETHER
[p. 238] THE NEW COVENANT — THE HOUSE OF GOD AND DISCIPLINE — UNITY — THE ASSEMBLY COME TOGETHER
The ministry of the new covenant leads us to the thought of the house of God. God makes known His disposition towards us, so that we may live with Him. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. That expresses His disposition towards man. It is believers who come into the good of the new covenant, but, at the same time, it is the expression of God’s disposition towards man in the widest sense. “God so loved the world”. The covenant will be established with Israel in the millennium, but it expresses God’s disposition towards men generally; it is established with a particular people, that they may be light for all. It says in Isaiah 55, “Ho, every one that thirsteth”, and then “I will make an everlasting covenant with you”. The covenant has a peculiar application towards Israel; but then, the disposition towards them made known in the covenant is God’s mind towards all.
Ministry is needful for establishing souls in the truth of the gospel; they have to be established step by step, and it comes in to the end that they may be enlightened and established. In the new covenant there is no demand from us on God’s part, but now that righteousness is accomplished in Christ, there is the ministry of what He is to us. What can be more important practically, in view of approach to God, than that we should know the terms on which God can be with us, christianity presents what is living and positive, not merely so many items of doctrine? The truth may be set forth in demonstration of the Spirit [p. 239] and of power, but God only can produce any effect in souls. God commands our love by making us effectually acquainted with His love. Acquaintance with the reality of God’s love is a step of the greatest importance in approach to God. “Perfect love casteth out fear”. If you fear, you could not be in liberty in God’s house. It is the knowledge of God’s love that enables us to accept His discipline. We would quarrel with His discipline if we were not acquainted with His love. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth”. If you know you are loved of God, then you can endure chastening. God’s house is composed of those that love Him, and they come under His discipline as a man disciplines his own children. God would have us to consider discipline as the proof of His love. If God has a house, it comes under His discipline. We can bear the discipline, because it is the discipline of His love. It leads us in the way of holiness “that we might be partakers of his holiness”: for it is all a question of approach to God, and when that comes in the question of holiness arises. We approach a holy God, and the love of God is a holy love which will not tolerate what is not according to itself.
In verse 17 we get liberty. That appears to be the object of the new covenant, in contrast with the first, which brought into bondage. In the new covenant God is intent upon bringing us into liberty by making known what He is to us. It is exactly the same in a family: the liberty of the children depends on their acquaintance with the parents. If the parents are austere and do not let their hearts out towards the children, you will not find liberty among the children. Love encourages affection, and we cannot have affection amongst ourselves unless we express it. I have heard people complaining that there is not enough affection amongst us; what such should do is to show it. It is no good complaining of other people; you won’t get very much love unless you express it. “We [p. 240] love him, because he first loved us”. When people are really in the enjoyment of divine love, they are able to overlook the peculiarities of one another.
What is prominent in this chapter is the ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness. It is the ministry of righteousness, because God gets His rights with regard to us, while at the same time He is making known His love. The ministry of righteousness expresses the way God has taken to secure His own rights; then we learn how He has expressed His love — you cannot separate the two. I think life consists in the knowledge of divine love. Love is really life — we can only live in divine love. Morally, we do not live on earth, because death is on us here, and we are not yet actually in heaven; but where we do live is in divine love, which has found its expression in the death of Christ. The Spirit of the new covenant is the love of God; in establishing that covenant God will have what is according to Himself. God puts His Spirit in people in order to bring about a right spirit in them. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.... A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them”, Ezekiel 36: 25 - 27. The whole principle and secret of the thing is that God puts His Spirit within them; and that is true in regard to us, in order that there may be an answer on our part to His love. God is going to put the universe right by imbuing it with His Spirit. It is not exactly the Holy Spirit personally; it is rather what is characteristic. The Spirit of God may be spoken of as characteristic; He is a Person, but often spoken of as characteristic, especially in the Old Testament. The fact is you break up the form of the first covenant entirely when you come to [p. 241] the spirit of it. The spirit of the first covenant was Christ.
When the proclamation has been accepted and the Spirit received, then we learn in the death of Christ what is in God’s heart towards us, and that inspires us with confidence towards God, so that we approach Him. Then in that connection we endeavour to maintain the unity of the Spirit and come together in assembly. All is based on the unity of the Spirit; we are members of the body of Christ and of one another, therefore we come together in assembly to meet one another as in that unity. It will not do to ignore this by saying that we come to meet the Lord and not one another. You hear people talk of coming to meet the Lord when they are at variance with their brethren. We come together because we love one another, and in coming together we realise our true spiritual stature in a way we should not do in our individual paths. We see ourselves in the presence of the Lord and of one another. You will not correct a low state in a meeting by trying suddenly to get high up; that is only a stilted state of things — it is a danger with us. If you want to correct the state of the meeting, you must correct the spiritual state of the worshippers.
“I ascend unto my Father, and your Father”, etc. (John 20: 17). The great point is association with Christ. It is all a question of individual spiritual apprehension. Take any meeting; how many in it have really entered the holiest? I contend that in coming together we are really brought together in the instinct of spiritual affection. When we thus come together we leave behind every natural distinction and should realise the Lord’s presence. He has said, “I will come to you”. In Acts 20 they “came together to break bread”. That is what we have before us; breaking bread is a confession of our common bond, it is the expression of our fellowship in Christ’s death.
[p. 242] The great point is that though Christ is not here the saints are here, and that is what tests us. If we appreciate Christ, we shall appreciate one another. Keeping near one another is a good test of our keeping near the Lord.