FEATURES FOR PRIESTLY DEVELOPMENT

Doug Welch

John 6: 41, 42, 48-50, 60-63; 7: 17, 28; Luke 10: 38-42; John 20: 1-3, 10-11 (to “… without”), 15-19

Beloved brethren we have had a happy time today. I would like this address to merge with some thoughts we have had during the meetings.

What has been on one’s mind for weeks is the scripture in 1 Timothy 2 “Our Saviour God, who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (v.4). This is an expression of divine desire. Maybe we do not think of it enough that way; God has this desire and expresses it in scripture for us to think about. We have been speaking about the fundamentals of the truth, very great and profound, and the fundamentals come from God. Our brother said the fundamentals are not a matter of man’s thinking. These great and profound things come from God to us. Remember the beginning of Acts where, as gathered together they spoke the great things of God because the Spirit had come to where they were. Their speaking was the result of His incoming. We too have been speaking over great things, and the intent is to be in correspondence with God’s thoughts, His desire. How is it done? What is required? If we are to continue it will be by keeping the word of His patience, by keeping His word and not denying His name. Surely then that would be an exercise of all in this room. If so, we arrive at the most important aspect of our existence as Christians here and that is to maintain the testimony. That is not found with the evangelist, although a testimony of one seeking souls is seen, wonderful in its place and something we could all take up with more committal; but the testimony can only be found in the assembly. No, it does not lie with the evangelist, the testimony is in the assembly. If so, how are we going to fit into this wonderful Christian community we have been considering? The idea of community is to have a place to live in, something to do, have something to contribute; considerations that mean that I can no longer find my living in relation to the world. I may have once had a place there, where self was the centre, where the system as built by the devil was arranged with self being prominent, but a change came in upon conversion, a divine work began in our souls as sovereign love laid hold of us, but why? It is to come into the gain of these great things that we have been reviewing, and to get impressions for ourselves as the word comes into the meetings (we are to come to the knowledge of the truth). It includes our households too, as young and old merge into the heart of the assembly to contribute something. It is wonderful, this vessel of ministry, praise, administration and testimony, and it is worth living in now, here on earth; a new place to live where eternal life conditions are in contrast with the scene of moral death. We are to be finished with one scene in view of living in another and do it on the basis of righteousness; “the Spirit of life on account of righteousness”, Rom. 8: 10. It is where we learn the mind of the Spirit which is life and peace. We merge into this great vessel before the eye of God where great things proceed. To be in the gain of it, we are to find our life before Him, One who is greater than everything, greater than the universe. Divine Persons dwell together in love; they always have, but have made themselves known. The fulness of that waited in the divine mind until our day; all began with the incoming of Christ, followed by the incoming of the Spirit, and the great things include the excellent glory, the fulness of the present economy and the revelation of God in Christ. We thus baptise to the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are great things. So what am I do to, how am I to fit in? Romans 12 helps as we considered in the reading. Other bodies here go on in relation to the world but there is one body in Christ that goes on in relation to another world. That is what we belong to, that is where we fit in, we find our place there in that community and contribute to it, the one body in Christ. The exercise is to develop in relation to all these great things.

The four portions read relate to the development of a priest; the priesthood is really in mind for great things cannot continue nor can we enjoy them without a priestly character being developed. Things will go through as we consider for God in that which belongs to God. We are to have our part in that continuance and consideration. It is not optional. We have been laid hold of for this; a divine work was begun with us and the intent is for us to come into correspondence so that that work can be manifested. We see even in Job’s history the intent and result, a priest was developed. He was wrongly criticised and accused; persons thought to be his friends took Job judicially, saying surely there is something wrong with what Job has been doing! How does it end? Job prays for his accusers because he finally arrived at something in his soul. What he had thought was his righteousness was not at all; he puts his hand over his mouth and begins to accept things from God; he was taken up for our learning to suggest to us another order of things and another kind of manhood. A new kind of life and of man emerges, and he becomes a priest. Beloved young persons, you may want things to be made simple and say, How am I to enter into all this? Let us get help together as considering these four portions of scripture with the intent in them to exercise us as to the development of priests. The scriptures are as much for you as for me.

The first thing here in John 6 is discrimination; we have to learn to discriminate firstly as to our food. We have been taken up for life in Christ, and we shall be conformed to the image of Christ in glory. That will be accomplished, but we are to learn that there is no life now outside of Christ – “in Christ Jesus” – no blessing outside Christ, and it is a wonderful, fixed, secure position for us. Thus we learn that our food now is Christ Himself, the bread of life. Not exactly the manna in these verses, although that heavenly grace seen in Him is an aspect of food needed too, that ‘patient life to calm the soul’. We go in for heavenly food, Himself, and we behold His glory, draw everything from Him. He is the bread of life; it is because of His living that we live in this wonderful system, a wonderful living system, and the Spirit of the living God is there. We discriminate as to what we take in to sustain us, and we learn to appropriate Him as food. He has come within our range as Son of Man for our appropriation, coming in at incarnation. A blessed matter that He came into the scene of testimony; divine love was brought into the scene of death. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood – His death – is in view of another life, delivered from everything here that holds us because now, there is another kind of manhood, and we are to have part with Him where He is. As feeding on Christ, the food of life, we are able to discriminate as to everything else not in keeping with that kind of food, and able to judge everything that hinds us. As we read in verses 60-63, persons could not relate to what was spiritual; they thought along natural lines. We have to know Who is before us and discriminate related to what is spiritual as Peter did at the end of the chapter. This going away affected the Lord; some who were called His disciples went away back because they did not understand what food was or the Person who was their food; they could not take in what was spiritual. We spoke in the reading of the gates of Hades not prevailing against the assembly. It is not going to happen because what is living comes to light in priestly persons; the work of God comes to light and the devil is not going to overcome that! He cannot extinguish what is living or the concept in the divine mind because persons have part, however many or few, and the assembly goes through; we support it by heavenly food. What came down out of heaven and has gone into heaven (v.62) is what we live on. Thus that character, what is heavenly, abides.

“It is the Spirit which quickens, the flesh profits nothing”. We draw on nothing else than the Head and the Centre of God’s universe, the rock of our confession, our stability because our feet are founded upon the rock; “To whom coming, a living stone”, 1 Peter 2: 4. It says in that portion, “if indeed yea have tasted that the Lord is good” (v.3); every believer does that but coming to the living stone is a further exercise and involves discrimination for stability in testimony; and in view of continuing and with a deeper sense of His preciousness. We are to get a sense of what is precious to Christ too, and what is precious to God, coming out now. In Leviticus 24 there is mention of wheat, flour and the bread of remembrance (v.7); something of Christ is coming into the type and that is to come out now here. Christ is our life, and that is what John 6 is about, and the necessity to appropriate Him as food, and in that way we discriminate and develop in a priestly way.

Presenting these thoughts together (and again referring to Romans 12), John 7 was read. “Presenting your bodies a living sacrifice”, Rom 12: 1, we are to prove what is the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (v.2). This is by fitting in, finding our place in the body. We spoke together of works, something found in Sardis, although it was characterised as dead yet they were to strengthen things about to die, fundamentals but linked with the power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in charge not man; that is a fundamental truth. Affection for Christ sustains us as we feed on Him, but the affection is to include what the assembly is to Him. He delivered Himself up for it an act of devotion and love. Yes, these things are fundamental and we are to have them in our minds as the will of God requiring the presentation of our bodies begins to open up to us. A few years ago I belonged to many different groups in Christendom but was not intelligent as to the one body in Christ and the food was not suitable for that intelligence. What about belonging to the one body in Christ? I did not think about that – it is not really known. It is a great matter then, to come to the living stone, as associated with Him during His rejection and to take one’s place through discriminating exercises in the one body in Christ. The Lord says here, “If any one desire to practice his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God, or that I speak from myself”. We learn to discriminate by taking proper food, but then there is a burning desire developed with us; this too is a work of God coming out and this desire leads us further into the will of God. Men speak of themselves, the Lord Jesus was here as One who lived by every word that proceeded out through God’s mouth. He did all things to please Him, and this is the kind of life we are feeding upon; it is the kind of life we have. If God has taken us up for life in Christ, and He has, He is going to conform us to the image of His Son in glory – and He will – then we want to come in for that now through desire for it. Desire is an evident and important feature of priesthood; desire for the will of God. There is something coming out in the Lord’s words in this verse which I link with the impression of Philadelphia, where works are not incomplete as in Sardis, and it is where the Lord presents Himself to the saints in that assembly as the holy, the true, priestly appeal (see Rev 3: 7). That Philadelphia state is sustained by persons of priestly character who are in the gain of the way He presents Himself as the holy, the true, who are active there. The Lord further says, “He that seeks the glory of him that has sent him, he is true, and unrighteousness is not in him”. These things are to come to light in our priestly activities, Philadelphian-like persons whose works are complete because of their priestliness. So (as reference was made in one of the readings), if someone comes and sits outside a meeting room, the person sees happy people going up; persons set in life in the one body in Christ; maybe not specifically observed in service just yet, but observed in movement as knowing where their place is in life and observed as persons seeking the glory of Him; the very reason they come up to meeting. Why do you come to the meeting? We come to the meeting because of the Lord Jesus. Our desire for Him is involved and “he that seeks the glory of him that has sent him, he is true, and unrighteousness is not in him”, wonderful characteristics coming out in such persons!

We have had discrimination and desire as features for developing as priest and I would like to present to the brethren this further idea of determination. If you want to know how to exist, how to fit in, what to do and how to understand, determination is required. Mr Darby says:

Low at thy feet Lord Jesus,

This is the place for me.

There I have learned deep lessons,

Truth that has set me free.

As the Lord said, “the truth shall set you free”. Where are we going to get it? Where are you going to learn it? The verses read in Luke 10 show us. To be engaged in these great things, to find our place in the body and to begin to take in truth, to understand, to contribute to the one body in Christ, which is the divine mind for us, we must be determined to get the good part. What do we see here in Mary? We see a restfulness coming out in her and liberty to draw near to the Lord Jesus, never forgetting who He is, unique in His humanity, eternally divine. Determined to sit at His feet, she is esteemed (she chose the good part); He was her teacher, and as subject-minded, she is teachable. She knows who is before her and she is restful; marvellous conditions there and she is fed; on food contrasted with everything else in the scene of death – the food of life for her soul. Restfulness is there, liberty, life as in touch with this blessed Person, and learning from Him. She would be ready to take His yoke (see Matt. 11), and no doubt she would merge into the assembly at the incoming of the Spirit. She would be a trustworthy person because she has learned from the Master. This feature of priesthood is needed as things continue and we must have the Lord before us.

We have had discrimination, desire, and determination to get things from the Lord; in John 20 it is devotedness that comes out in this woman. She was a hopeless case in her previous history; surely we would have to say that about ourselves. Hopeless, undone, and in principle, possessed by seven demons; it was complete – seven – certainly in her, but we would have to say that of ourselves. Without hope, without God, without Christ, without life, without the Spirit, without the brethren. This is interesting because in the devotedness of this woman, what she is feeling is Christ’s absence, and that is what every devoted heart would feel, the absence of Christ. We spoke in the reading of the day coming and all believers who have the Spirit see that day; they love His appearing, the Prince of peace, the One who is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace”, Isa. 9: 6. When He shall bring in peace on the earth everything will be in perfect balance, and that is only to be found now in testimony, in the place you are occupying among your local brethren. The priesthood then, is a necessity for all these things to continue in testimony, persons considering for God, considering for the Lord and the brethren as being in the main line of the truth, the truth as is it in Jesus. That is what Mary of Magdala would learn in her devotedness to Him because she too would be ready to take up the truth of the assembly; precious, wonderful vessel formed by the Spirit, and she would find her place right there, in that wonderful vessel and as among the community of believers the one body in Christ. But here, in this devoted heart, Mary says something instinctively; she knows not where the Lord is and she says, “They have taken away the Lord” (later in v. 13 it is “my Lord”). Do you feel that way? They have taken away our Lord, but He is risen and has been taken up in glory; He is a living Priest there maintaining you and me for the testimony. Some of these priestly exercises are apparently being worked out in you and me because we had a desire to be here for these meetings. He is the attracting object and we are drawn to Him; something continually draws us to Him. Mary says things with a devoted heart to two prominent disciples; what we are to look for is the Lord and cannot rest until we find Him. The two went to their own homes (for the time being) but she continues to mourn His absence. What a moral ground that is, and she receives a message for His brethren. Everything begins to open up that pertains to Christ and His brethren. She said certain things instinctively in her love for Him, and now gets a manifestation that she can carry to Christ’s brethren; she comes in for His personal touch; it is the Lord Himself! She responds to the manifestation with something distinct, unique and original as the footnote shows – a word only used twice in scripture, my Teacher: she is taught through her affection and devotedness to Him. But what is it she learns? That she is to be in association with Christ’s brethren during His absence and contribute to that company, so she immediately is able to deliver something from the Lord to them. The Lord cannot stay away from devoted hearts who have affection for Him. She takes her place where she will be preserved saved in the absence of Christ, and that is among the brethren. “Our Saviour God will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”. Assembly conditions are seen here, and the disciples are providing the conditions. In the reading we spoke of a great crowd (Acts 11) and it was pointed out they were gathered together, and ‘they’ were disciples. Perhaps known as disciples first (as taking on the teaching and as those doing the teaching to the crowd), but then externally they were known as Christians. The disciples to whom the Lord came were behind closed door through fear of the Jews; nothing of flesh and blood or religious claim was going to be allowed into this great vessel to mar and hinder. Each one there, and each one of us as following that pattern, would be in self-judgment; more than confessing sins, although that is necessary. We seek to be those who honour the Lord Jesus, not ourselves; self-judgment does this. Self once had its place in the area of moral death, but now, as coming to the light among the brethren, those attached to Christ in affection and set up subjectively, seen in the feelings of this woman, devoted hearts gather together as waiting for Christ. You cannot stay away, and we will want this experience of true Christianity to continue in us. The footnote to 1 Timothy 2 says the verse (especially coming to the knowledge of the truth) means to possess the truth (v.4). In a sense it is our possession and we possess it as priests, but it belongs to the Giver; we hold everything in relation to Him. My Teacher, my Saviour, but His brethren; think how wonderful all this is, and we have been taken up for it all, and in relationships known and enjoyed in liberty. The Queen of Sheba was taken up with what she saw, and there was no more spirit left in her, especially as she observed the ascent of Solomon and his train, “happy are thy men”, 1 Kings 10: 8.

These four things came before me in relation to this meeting and from the readings too. The priesthood is the way through and that is by discrimination, desire, determination and devotedness as we find our place in the body, considering for God, finding my place of contribution and living among the brethren; we belong to them and we belong to the one body in Christ. That is our place of living as priests, that is where eternal life is going to be enjoyed in its fullest measure; it depends on where we are. John was on the Isle of Patmos and we get a touch of things as he went through the suffering of isolation because of his identification with the rejection of Christ. He would not give up, and what was in mind? The brethren – “I John your brother” – he was an assembly-person and that is what we want to be, priestly persons, assembly persons. For His Name’s sake.

Glasgow

August 2004