THE END OF THE DISPENSATION TO AGREE WITH THE BEGINNING

^[p. 265] THE END OF THE DISPENSATION TO AGREE WITH THE BEGINNING

John 1:29 - 37; John 3:35; John 12:1 - 3; John 20:21 - 23

These scriptures are all peculiar to John, and, like others in his gospel, they bear on the last days of our dispensation. His writings indicate, with other prophecies of the New Testament, that there was to be a revival and it has come to pass; it is no longer a matter of prophecy but of fact, of history, past and current; a revival, not only of light and knowledge, but of affections, of the living features of christianity. While John in his gospel thus provides for the last days, he does not deal solely in last day events, but links on these events of the last days with the very first events. No one indeed goes back further than John, no one could; he opens with an allusion to the beginning of the divine operations, telling us that, in that beginning, the Word was, Jesus was; so that it is very comprehensive. In going so far back, he presents to us our Saviour in the Deity, personally existent there, but also operative there, whatever was made, was made by Him; and I need not say that John takes us on to the future as far as anyone else does. So that, whilst he bears, as I said, on our times, there is an immensity behind and before, and an immensity present. However he views Christ, whether in his gospel or in the Apocalypse, we are impressed with this One “who is, and who was, and who is to come”.

Having these thoughts in one’s mind, great as they are, and as feeling them to be great in some little way, I call attention first of all to John the Baptist’s testimony of Jesus in these early verses: he uses the word “Behold!” Pilate uses it also, and presents Christ, saying, “Behold the man! John 19:5” You can understand, dear brethren, how different would be the voice, how wanting in spiritual ^[p. 266] feeling and holy sentiment would be the voice of a Pilate when he said “Behold the man!” He spoke of Him thus as persons in authority may do now; Christ was, as it were, in his custody; and, in one sense, through the failure of the assembly, this is true of some of the authorities in christendom today; and they, in a certain way, call attention to Christ, but their appeal is of little interest to the circumcised ear and heart of the lover of Jesus; he prefers a John the baptist to speak of Jesus. Moreover, Pilate had just scourged Him, the soldiers had plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head; they had clothed Him with a purple robe, and had buffeted Him. The heart is touched in alluding to these things — to what befalls the Lord, at the hands of such men as Pilate, notwithstanding that he had no special hatred of the Lord. There are others unfavourable; but we do not wish a presentation of Christ such as Pilate can give; for a Christ scourged and persecuted generally by the one who presents Him, a Christ with a crown of thorns, with a purple robe put upon Him ignominiously, a Christ with the world’s clothing — that is not the Christ that love seeks! Love to the Person seeks Him, but we want Him in His own clothes, not in theirs. How different is the voice of John the Baptist! He sees Jesus coming to him, a significant movement, that the Son of God, as presented in this chapter, should thus come to John. When John saw Him coming to him, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. How different from Pilate’s presentation! and how different is the presentation today by any such as Pilate, whatever the motive, from a presentation of Christ by a lover of Christ! God intends, dear brethren, that the testimony as to Christ shall be presented by those who love Him. So that when John sees Him moving towards him, or if any minister of Christ sees Him moving towards him, well, there is something in mind in the heart of Christ for him. All true ministers of Christ look for this, each ^[p. 267] looks for a movement towards him, otherwise his service cannot be effective. The Lord is pleased to move towards those who serve; and whilst, in moving towards a minister, the minister is necessarily prominent for the moment, he will not be prominent long — Jesus will be prominent. The minister will soon hide behind Him, soon, be as it were, in the shadow of His hand for that is how one should minister, under the shadow of His hand.

John sees Jesus coming — glorious sight! — the lowly One coming thus to a servant, to a minister — volumes enter into that! — and John stood. This is no less than He who takes away the sin of the world — none less than that! John draws attention to Jesus; he saw Him coming to him, and, not only so, but he saw the Holy Spirit too. None of the others speak of having seen the Spirit descending from heaven. John the Baptist is let into much. These two divine Persons who would be together in infinite unity in subjection to the supreme will of the Deity — he saw that! Each minister is to see that, to see Jesus, who is so depicted earlier, coming to him; and then, as He went up out of the waters of baptism, to see the Holy Spirit coming upon Him! Could any view be greater than of the two divine Persons who had come in with a perfect intimate knowledge of the divine will to be carried out here? The baptist sees this, he sees the one — Jesus — and he sees the other — the Spirit — they merge, as it were. The Spirit comes upon Him, and, using the evangelist, He retires, and speaks of Jesus. The Spirit Himself, in the evangelist, speaks of Jesus, in the testimony of John the baptist — “I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God”. For, although the Holy Spirit is seen by John, in perfect seemliness He keeps out of sight, to bring the more into view Him who came into a sacrificial position as the Lamb of God. The Holy Spirit is in perfect keeping with this position, but the Son of God has taken a sacrificial position. How ^[p. 268] important for every minister to see Him thus, and we need the action of the Spirit in relation to Him. No one can serve according to God, save in a sacrificial spirit, and that is what John represents; he appreciates the sacrifice, the sacrificial attitude assumed by the Son, the Lamb of God. The word for Lamb here, is a mature word; the point being not so much His sufferings in themselves, but that He took this sacrificial state to carry out intelligently the divine will; that is what He will do. So it is a mature thought, He knows what He is doing.

Then, to add to this, the baptist on the next day sees Him again, and again he is impressed, as the testimony is here — with what he saw. That is another touch in regard to ministry, to be impressed. John is impressed with what he saw, going over it doubtless in the night — and what a night it must have been to that holy man, after the wonderful sight that he describes! The next day he sees Jesus walking, and he says again, “Behold the Lamb of God!” He is standing himself, and who would not stand, beloved brethren, in the presence of such Persons in active service? for the Lord is actually coming to John, and the Holy Spirit, after He is baptised, comes upon Him, “descending”, as it says, “from heaven”. Great matters are in hand! One would love to get a little record from John the baptist of that night — of what he went through that night! The following day opens up, as it always does to the workman. What may enter into it! John the baptist is standing; he is not active. The impression has not waned, he is so full of the impression of the previous day, he has gone through his night. It was truly in the morning, one day in the Baptist’s history exceeding perhaps all others — but he is standing. It requires spiritual power sometimes to stand, as it does to act — he stood in spiritual power, an important matter. It also requires spiritual power to sit at times. But John “stood... and looking upon Jesus as he ^[p. 269] walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” That is all he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” and, as we have often heard, the two disciples follow Jesus. That is the position.

Having arrived thus at the position the Spirit of God intends to convey to us by the baptist’s testimony, I would dwell, for a moment, on the perfection presented. God begins with perfection; there is no idea of development in Jesus as presented here, there is no such thought in the testimony presented, it is all perfect there. Who could undertake to add to this scene? — to that glorious Person who is there, with the Holy Spirit upon Him for ministry. The testimony is that this is “he ... who baptises with the Holy Spirit” — that is to say, He takes away the sin, the cause of the trouble, He is the taker-away of it, and He is the Introducer of the means of joy for God and man. The scene is perfect! There is no evolutionary thought here at all; that is banished for ever from the mind of the believer as applying to what God presents in christianity; it is a perfect state of things set up by God, one divine Person coming into a place of subservience to the divine will, but retaining His equality in the deity. That is the position. It is therefore, as I said, the mature side of things that the Holy Spirit would imbue our souls with at the outset. As it was in Genesis, so it is in John’s gospel; there is a remarkable link between Genesis and John’s gospel. In Genesis everything is done in the six days, and all is “very good” — God’s own pronouncement. Adam was not a development from babyhood to manhood, he was made a man — so too Eve was made a woman. Everything from the hand of the Creator is as it should be, not as it would eventually be, but as it should be; it was there in perfection. It must be so from the hand of God. That answers to what you get here; and the Spirit would fill our souls with the glorious perfection of the position in the Persons presented.

^[p. 270] Well now, in chapter 3 the Spirit would tell us that this Person is not only admirable to John, but “The Father loveth the Son”, verse 35. He is admirable to the minister, that is what is in mind in John the Baptist’s testimony. It is not a question of christian state so much as the ministry, to find the minister that is pleasing to God as knowing how to speak of Jesus as seeing Him — that He is “the Son of God”; one who knows how to speak of the Spirit as seeing Him, and who readily retires, saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. So that the Spirit of God goes on from John’s remarks in chapter 1 till he is brought in again in chapter 3, and he says there just what he said in chapter 1, he had not changed his mind about Christ one iota. It is a great matter to maintain or rather to increase in our apprehension of Christ. John introduces a beautiful background for this statement of the Spirit, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand”. I apprehend in this, that the administration is in the hand of One who is loved, the Son is loved. As in the case of David, the Holy Spirit came upon him as one who was loved. (”David” means “beloved”.) The first mention of David is as the Holy Spirit came upon him, the one who is loved; he is the one who is to do things, he does all the will of God.

Now the Son having all things in His hand, what is He to do? what is going on? That is what John is occupied with, a loved One, the Son loved of the Father, and all things in His hand; the Father “has given all things to be in his hand” — now what will He do? There is a wonderful work going on, dear brethren, and the Spirit of God would impress upon us that it is still going on. So that the next chapter, one of the best known in the book — chapter 4, gives us an account of the meeting of the situation occasioned by sin, by this Person who is loved and entrusted with everything. What will He do now? Well, what appears is a great administrative service to be rendered to the ^[p. 271] woman. This leads me to remark that, what I have in mind in regard to chapter 20 is, that the Son is now occupied in bringing about results. There is no development in Him, but there is development in our being brought into accord with Him. That is what is in mind; a state of things here on earth, in these last days, that is in accord with this great position. Could anything be greater, dear brethren, than to have this before us in our service? To bring about a state of things, in any given locality, such as at Bethany, in which divine Persons are thought of, in which They are considered for, so that They can be present with undisturbedness — that is what is in mind!

In chapter 4 you have the Lord on a journey. We may thank God for the way we may use the great highways of the world so that the saints can move about — a most needful liberty if the service is to be carried on effectively. Jesus was on a journey, and He was weary with it. What heart that loves Jesus is not touched by the beautiful incidents recorded by this evangelist whom Jesus loved? “Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well” John 4:6. The word “thus” expresses simply that He was wearied and did not disguise it. Think of the lowliness of this great Person into whose hand everything is given by the Father! He is wearied and does not disguise it; He “sat just as he was” on the well. And then follows the conversation between the great Administrator of all things from the Father, and the poor outcast woman. Is the Lord casual? No, the Lord is never casual; in what He said He had one thing before Him, to carry out the Father’s will and to bring about what the Father seeks. That is the great mission of the Son and the Spirit, and that is what is going on, dear brethren. So the conversation moves in a simple way, but unerringly towards the great end in view. The Lord never wasted time. His disciples were not there, they were elsewhere, He is alone; but the time is not wasted,

^[p. 272] and one person is secured through this conversation for the great scheme in mind; a poor woman, an outcast, a self-confessed wicked person, is secured for the great scheme in mind. Let everybody here understand, that if he is converted, if he is secured at all, he is secured for a great divine purpose. Water-carriers are necessary for the great scheme in mind in its present form, and this woman became in herself a water-carrier; she left her literal water-pot and went into the city. So far something is secured, a great principle is established, a most important principle, that is, that believers are to be water-vessels. You may think that is saying too much, but not at all, dear friends; John goes, as you might say, to the limit in speaking of what the saints may be for God; and he pursues the subject here until he shows you this woman moving away and leaving her water-pot behind her; and she goes to the men — she carries water, as it were, a testimony of Jesus to them, and they move. Now that is the principle of what is going on every day, even today — it is written for this very purpose that this thing is going on, and the principle is widening and widening, one and another are being secured for the new order of things.

So I ventured to read the verses in chapter 12, because there you get a collective scene, not exactly an assembly scene — and yet it bears on the assembly. It is a most restful scene .”The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20) — that is the world, but how great a thing for God to have a scene like this, an untroubled, holy, restful scene! Let us understand, dear brethren, what is being brought about, what is being aimed at, a holy, restful scene, composed of persons; one man risen from the dead, passed from death to life, sitting at the table with Jesus, in principle, they were all that, that is the thought. “The dead man Lazarus”, as he is called, was there — it is the local position — and yet he is the most living man in the town. It seems paradoxical,

^[p. 273] but it is the effect of testimony, the “dead” man is the most living of all in the town — he has passed out of view of the clubs, of the social affairs, of all that would give a man distinction in any way in the town, he is dead as to all that; but he is alive, he is quickened together with Christ, as it were. Such is the divine objective today, and all things being in the hands of Christ, is to that end. All is centred on this one thing now, to bring about a state answering to what is presented in chapter 4. That is the thought of the Father the Father’s desire.

We were speaking today of what God said in His heart in Genesis; in John 4 God says, ‘I want worshippers’. It is now told out, and it is told out to that woman, He seeks worshippers, and the Son will bring that about. So that, when we come to chapter 12, it is a restful scene, it is a scene out of death. This is a great day for pictures, many people have cameras, but they do not get with the camera any scene expressing what is presented here, it is a scene out of death, that is the idea, it is a resurrection scene. How glorious it is! — the handiwork of Christ, developed in the most careful way. I beg of you, dear brethren, to consider the carefulness of the Lord’s movements prior to this, staying away some days so that a certain condition — even death — should arise to suit His purpose. A death happens to suit His purpose, He stays away that it might happen, and it does happen, all this is the result of the most careful operations. Now He comes back, as we may say, to find the result, and He finds it. Martha is changed too. Luke tells us about her, and gives a rather poor picture. Luke tells us about Mary also, but he does not tell us the finish, it is for John to give us the finish. Luke is the evangelical side, the presentation of the gospel at the outset. We want the finish; he does give us the finish from his point of view, but he does not give us the finish in Mary and Martha. We want the finishing touches in ^[p. 274] these women, and we get them here. That is what is going on, dear friends, the finishing touches, and the greatest care is to be used. The Lord shows in the record here the great care with which He reached this end; and I believe it has a voice to us as to the carefulness with which we should move in His service. The Lord is calling attention to accuracy in divine things, even in small details; and these chapters would support that, in the detail with which things are mentioned, even as to the place where Martha met Him; He does not move from it, Mary has to come there. That is to say, the Lord would say to us, the person in the town that you may think least of, is not to be omitted or slighted. Martha meets Him first, and the most spiritual person in the town, who was, I apprehend, Mary, has to come there. That is how the Lord does things. He is calling attention to accuracy, to carefulness in dealing with His things if we are to reach perfection, if we are to reach the finishing touches as the subjects of divine grace. So that we get Mary measuring, and Martha serving. The way service is often carried on is distressing to heaven, as Martha’s was at the beginning, as Luke presents her; she served, but grumblingly, complainingly, criticisingly. The one who had chosen the good part is here. We want John’s finishing touches; John’s Martha is to abide, and his Mary too. Luke’s Mary began well, and that is the secret of what we get here — she sat and listened to what Jesus said. But now she has got something herself, that is to say, John’s Mary is the great result of the Lord’s administrative service, so that she has something; she is found measuring things, all of which is in keeping with what I am saying; she is a woman who can weigh things and select what is needed and so we have this ointment kept by her for this great occasion. It cost her much, but she has it, and she has it at the right time; and in it she provides this fragrance for the One she loves, and all those present share in it — “^[p. 275] the house was filled with the odour”. What can be a greater objective, dear brethren, for any of us than service of this kind? I am speaking of it now, not as accrediting her, but as accrediting Christ into whose hands the Father has given all things.

Then finally, in chapter 20, we have the continuation of this in the sense of confidence — “The Father loves the Son” — He has the utmost confidence in Him. There is no reserve in the Father’s giving to the Son, it is “all things” without reserve. There is to be correspondence in the ministers with this; that is, there is to be confidence, there is to be that which the Lord can trust, dear brethren; the more there is of it, the more we shall have, for it is “to every one that has shall be given” Luke 19:26. So that the point in chapter 20 is to bring about correspondence with Christ in the sense of trustworthiness, so that things can be given over without any restraint. I do not know of anything more assuring for servants, than that the Lord hands things over without any restraint, He leaves it with you. How blessed to have the sense of this. ‘What you do’, He says, ‘I will support’. Whoever’s sins you remit, I will do it too — “they are remitted to them”, verse 23. I may go about visiting the brethren clumsily, but I have in mind that sins should be remitted; the Lord has intimated that what I do, He will do. I want to think of how He did that, how He remitted sins. What a great position to be in, to exercise administratively the grace of heaven in regard to one who has sinned; so that we know from the Lord that, if we do it, He will do it. Who can tell what He will do in the meantime, so that there may be the carrying out of His promise — who can tell what He will do with that sinner in the interval so that he may indeed be worthy of forgiveness? But forgiveness is put first here, in keeping with the great position, for surely remission is the great thought! The end of the dispensation is not to be any less than the beginning of it, and, while Luke says much about forgiveness, he does not ^[p. 276] say anything like this — he does not put it into the hands of the saints to forgive without any restriction, whereas John does. It is to bring about in the ministers, in those who serve, in those who are responsible in this world, a state that can be trusted; so that, “whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted” — the Lord says. Sometimes the Lord has to bear much in carrying out this promise, but He never fails to make good the judgment of His people in regard to these matters.

That is what I had in mind, dear brethren, that the end should be as the beginning. God presents perfection, and He will bring it about, in correspondence with the beginning.