THE GLORY OF CHRIST (5)

THE GLORY OF CHRIST (5)

John 1: 14 - 18; John 3: 35, 36; John 5: 19 - 23; John 17: 22 - 26

SMcC In referring to the glory of Christ, it seems fitting that John’s gospel should come into our minds before we finish this series of meetings. John’s gospel was written in view of the last days and contemplates degeneration in relation to the truth. The Person of Christ is thus peculiarly presented in the gospel as an off-set to the conditions of the last days, and especially in view of detaching us in our affections from an order of things that incurs divine displeasure, for the Jewish side is very prominent in John’s gospel. I suppose religious flesh is the worst character of flesh that Scripture calls attention to; and therefore the bearing of the teaching in John’s gospel is always on the way out of the world, and we see how persons are detached in John’s gospel as the Person of Christ and His glory comes on to their view. From chapter 1 right through the gospel we see persons who leave one order of things and come into the order of things that is linked with the Son of God. Some are cast out as we see in chapter 9, because of the way they were affected by the glory of this Person who served them, and I have no doubt that that operates today too. We begin with the section we read in the first chapter which calls attention to the Lord Jesus Christ in the love position, and all these sections that we have read speak of the Son of God in that love position, the position of affection. We were remarking at the beginning, that in Revelation 22 we are in the presence of one divine Person speaking to Another, along with the assembly, and saying to the Lord Jesus “Come”. It is particularly affecting that in this gospel there should be brought on to our view two divine Persons and their relations with One Another as contemplated in these scriptures, One being peculiarly the Object of attraction to the Other, as the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father would point to. I thought we might get help in conversing about these sections, so precious, in John’s gospel, because the whole bearing, as I understand them, is that we might be drawn into the great environment and sphere, where such love and affection are operating. Certainly the only-begotten Son would not be a reference to Deity, although only One who had part in Deity could be the only-begotten Son, but it has a reference to the peculiar divine arrangement as J.N.D. speaks of it in “Notes and Comments”, the holy covenant into which divine Persons had come in their relations with One Another. While the Spirit, of course, in some of these passages is not formally on view, yet He lies behind all, for He is the One who is inditing the record of them and He is, of course, the great binding power in the economy between divine Persons and between the saints. This passage here refers to an only-begotten with a father, which is a figure of speech in verse 14, and then in verse 18 the formal reference which is not a figure of speech, but an actual reference, “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father” is surely calculated to affect us, particularly, I think, in view of the service of God in the assembly. Terms of richness and substance should thus enter into it, as by the Spirit we are formed intelligently in the light of these wondrous relations between the holy Persons of the Trinity.

GHSP You remarked in the second reading that Hebrews was probably written just before the overthrow of Jerusalem, are we right in thinking that this gospel was written after that? Is that at all significant as the Spirit brings the imperishable glory of the Son of God forward, and this love position in contrast to the breakdown of what might be official?

SMcC I think that is the whole point of John’s gospel. The answer to departure from the truth and degeneracy in it and its terms, the setting up of creeds, and rite and ceremony all around, is what we have here. Love really is the answer to all, for love never fails, and love is projected on to our view between divine Persons, so that we might be affected by what goes through unimpaired by whatever comes into the dispensation.

MJ Did you refer to the blessed Spirit as the link between the Father and the Son?

SMcC Well, we know that the oneness that is referred to in the latter section of this gospel must bring the Spirit in, because, as F.E.R., J.T., and others pointed out, the Father and the Son are One in the unity of the Spirit. In the economy which comes on to our view these holy Persons are viewed as bound up together in this holy love that is referred to with such mutual regard for One Another in it. All this is calculated to affect us in its reaction in our souls as to our relations with one another, as to whether unjealous love exists between one another, as to whether the mutual conditions of holy love, seen between the Persons of the Trinity in the economy, exists between us as brethren. I think it does in measure, but I think there is always room for improvement in it.

RGB Is there a link with the great love section in Genesis 22 - 24, where we have a suggestion, in the types, of the consideration of divine Persons for One Another, and the realm of reciprocal love in which divine Persons are moving together?

SMcC I think that is one of the richest sections typically that we have in the Old Testament that points us to this great matter. What references we have in the type there to God’s Fatherhood in Abraham and Christ’s Sonship in Isaac in such terms of love as are referred to in that section.

SHN Do the company at Bethany which we get in chapter 11 speak of that reflection of this scene of love amongst those who have been moved by the attraction and greatness and grace of Christ?

SMcC So that the chapter opens with great references to Christ’s affection for those in Bethany and that comes out in the depth of their sorrow, when it says that Jesus shed tears, for the real force of the word ‘wept’ is that Jesus shed tears, and they said, “Behold how he loved him!” (chapter 11: 36). That is there is a testimony, an evidence publicly of His affection for those in Bethany, so I think it links with the section that has been referred to, for it is into that section that Rebecca comes. The assembly comes into a realm of spirituality where the divine economy comes so peculiarly on to our view in the Father and the Son, seen in type in Abraham and Isaac, and the Spirit in the steward of Abraham’s house.

EBS You referred to the Spirit having part in all these passages. Would it be right to think more of the pleasure of the blessed Spirit in the relation of Father and Son?

SMcC Well, it is to impress upon us the economy in that sense, the unjealous way in which divine Persons serve One Another. What a model for us, what a lesson for us, would that our spirits drank more into the spirit of it, the unjealous relations between the Holy Persons in the holy covenant that comes on to our view in this gospel!

LWB Would there be a way in which the contemplation in verse 14, would greatly help us; His glory is for our contemplation, but as to His fulness, we receive it?

SMcC I think so. I think that is the way we are affected so that it is particularly interesting to see that Rebecca comes into this wonderful section in Genesis, the richest section that we have in the Old Testament, along with what comes out in David and Solomon, but particularly rich in Genesis in God’s Fatherhood in type in Abraham, and Christ’s Sonship in type in Isaac.

AHG Would that be in mind in chapter 3, “He that has the bride is the bridegroom” (verse 29)?

SMcC It is interesting how that indirect reference to the bride comes into this section. You do not get that reference in the synoptic gospels. In the synoptic gospels we get the great provision made, the wedding feast of the king for the son, but no mention of the bride, but when you come to John’s gospel, the bride is introduced, although we might ask, where is the bride?

WMcK Have you got in mind, that in the introduction of the assembly, there is a creature vessel now, as capable of responding to these holy affections in the Father and the Son?

SMcC Yes, and that love is not only to be contemplated by the assembly, but it is to operate in the assembly because the Lord says in the last verse that we read, “that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. That shows how the assembly comes into this great matter, and how that love is to operate in the assembly. It is to operate in relation to our houses, it is to operate in our local meetings, and it is to operate in the assembly generally.

CMM Would the declaration of God from the place of love, involve that if we are to know that God, it must be by way of love? We cannot learn to know that God theologically.

SMcC That is very important because that has been where the great error has come into the dispensation. In the early church councils over theological matters, in their desire, as they thought, to preserve the truth, they set it and encased it in the creeds, and the result was, of course, that error came into it. The truth can never be preserved on theological lines, and this verse 18 helps us to see how the knowledge of God, as He has come out in Christ, is to be apprehended.

JWD Is the thought of “I in you”, the Lord’s scope in the assembly; is this the beginning in this chapter 1?

SMcC I think we have to take the whole gospel, viewing it as written in view of the last days, as affecting the assembly from beginning to end in that way that the Lord contemplates being in the assembly as known and apprehended in this light.

ECM Would it be right to say that the understanding of the declaration of God lays the basis in our souls for worship?

SMcC How could we worship God rightly apart from the knowledge of Himself in that sense as declared or revealed?

RHS What is the bearing of the witness of John coming into this section?

SMcC I think it is to help us in regard to what has run through our meetings, that we should be detached from ourselves and our own importance. It says, “John bears witness”, it is a bracketed remark, you will notice, as if it is something introduced that was not originally in the writer’s mind. “John bears witness of him, and he has cried, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me”. I think if the constitution of John marked us we would not give much trouble to one another, or in the assembly.

ACSP Does the reference in John 17, “thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” show how what is so great is brought within our range in this medium of love?

SMcC Just so, because while we cannot enter into absolute conditions, being of creature understanding and capacity, yet there is a link between what is absolute and relative, and the link is in this great thought of love, the love that is seen here.

EJB Is this added touch in verse 18 as over against verse 14, “who is in the bosom of the Father” very affecting?

SMcC It is, indeed. As you would know, the word ‘bosom’ in the original conveys the thought of a receptacle, that is the word carries the thought of receiving, and the preposition ‘in’, “who is in”, is “eis”, which, in the original, has the force of ‘motion towards’. The reciprocity in the verse, the mutual relations conveyed in the verse, is thus very affecting. It is not only that the Lord Jesus moved into that place in coming into manhood, but that the Father’s affections received Him. Think of the joy of God in this paternal relation, receiving Christ in humanity in this wonderful place of affection.

JTS Mr. Taylor said many years ago, that it was a received place and one felt that it prepared us for the reception of the truth as to the Lord’s sonship.

SMcC Just so. Mr. Taylor pointed out, you will remember, that the prepositions in the first chapter of John’s gospel were like a sword turning every way to protect the Person of Christ.

JTS In connection with the remark you made as to the knowledge of God not being preserved in creeds, it says, “He that loves not has not known God; for God is love”, 1 John 4: 8. The knowledge of God is where love is, are you saying?

SMcC That is it, and the measure of our spirituality, as you would know better than I do, is the measure in which we are formed in love. I mean especially with those of us who serve in any capacity, there is no use thinking our ability is the measure of our spirituality, because it is not. You may have a most unspiritual man with gift and ability, but not formed in love. The measure of the spirituality of any one of us and of the ministers, is the measure in which we are formed in love.

JTS So that conversely if I “have not love, I am nothing”, 1 Corinthians 13: 2?

SMcC Just so.

RGB Do we have to learn love at its source in seeing these holy relations of love between the Persons and are we formed in love as we are drawn into the sphere of love in an increasing way?

SMcC I think so. We get the pure stream of it here, flowing between the Father and the Son and the Spirit in it, because we cannot, in our thoughts, elect the Spirit out of this. The Spirit is in this holy matter, although reference is not made to Him, but it is pointing to the wonderful divine arrangement in the economy.

AHG And this is what we come into as detached from the world.

SMcC Exactly. Where would you find the knowledge and enjoyment of this? You would only find it in persons detached from the world, and this knowledge is not only to enter into the high levels of assembly service, but it is to enter into our houses in our relations with our wives, and vice versa in our relations with our husbands, and as fathers in our relations with our children, and mothers too, and children in their relations with their parents. All this is to enter into and affect these settings.

JWD How would it work out?

SMcC In deliverance from legality, and all the bondage-engendering elements of it. There is nothing stifles spirituality more than legality amongst us, do you not think?

SHN Is it suggested in the home to which the Lord could commit His mother?

SMcC It is very fine to see that. John is the one to whom the Lord committed His mother at the end of the gospel, the Lord attended to every matter. He attended to matters that the scripture might be fulfilled, but He attended to other matters that the scripture does not refer to, such as the incident you allude to, as He commits her to John, John the one who is writing this, John who lay on the bosom of Jesus. The Lord commits His mother to John, and John took her to his own home, not to someone else’s home; he took her to his own home.

WMcK Is there in that sense, in view of the spirit of apostasy coming in, a need for a certain protective element around these holy matters?

SMcC That is what I am thinking of very specially in referring to our houses.

WMcK I was thinking of what it says in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”, as if there was a certain protective element around these things.

SMcC Tabernacled among us, how very affecting that is! In the Acts it says, “all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us”, chapter 1: 21. It is very affecting to think of the Lord in the practical conditions of life amongst the disciples. He ate at the same table with them, He ate out of the same dishes with them. We speak reverently and soberly, but in those circumstances there was the testimony to eternal life. That is an order of life that the spirit of this world or the power of death in it could never touch.

AWP Has the apostle Paul got these thoughts that you are speaking of when he touches the marital relationship in Ephesians 5, and uses the word ‘own’?

SMcC You mean, “Husbands, love your own wives”, Ephesians 5: 25. That is a great matter, you do not want to love someone else’s wife, you want to love your own wife. It is a very humbling thing if a brother thinks more of somebody else’s wife than he does of his own wife. So Paul stresses that we are to love our own wives, but what is in Paul’s mind is, “I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly” (verse 32).

SEW What about the environment of chapter 12? It is Bethany, it does not say where exactly, but “Bethany, where was the dead man Lazarus” (verse 1).

SMcC That shows you how we have persons in a locality affected by the peculiar attractiveness of Christ. “The only-begotten Son”, it is the peculiar attractiveness of Christ. It is not the Father, it is not the Spirit, Christ is the only-begotten Son. We could not carry these thoughts into Deity, it is a question of the divine arrangement into which God has come that we should know Him and know love, “hereby we have known love”. How have we known it? We have known it through this divine arrangement in that He laid down His life for us.

SEW So does the whole divine arrangement take character from this place in chapter 1: 18?

SMcC It shows us what the very centre of that arrangement is, the Father and the Son are referred to so peculiarly in it, and then the Spirit bringing all this on to our view, because it is the Spirit who does that.

RHS So does the Spirit feelingly bring the Father and the Son into our view in these verses read in chapter 3? “The Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in his hand”. Would the Spirit feelingly bring that before us?

SMcC Yes. He does, that is we come to the words of John the evangelist in chapter 3. John the baptist has been speaking about the greatness and glory of Christ as coming from above, and after John finishes, the Spirit of God, through John the evangelist, immediately refers to “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”.

Now the focal point was the bosom of the Father in the first passage, and the only-begotten Son in it, now the focal point is the hand of the Son, that the Father loves the Son and has put all things into that position in the Son, the hand of the Son.

GHSP It speaks there of the Spirit descending and abiding on Christ. Does not that peculiarly bring out the pleasure of the Spirit in the manhood and glory of Christ? Is it not affecting that that Person, the Spirit, is still with us, the very same Person who descended and abode on Jesus?

SMcC Exactly. How affecting it is to take account of that section! The very words, “the Spirit descending as a dove” (verse 32), fits in with the great restfulness of the thought, “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father”, as if the Spirit is coming in to mark it off, that is the point. This refers to what the Lord says in John 6, “for him has the Father sealed, even God” (verse 27). This is the sealing here as the Spirit comes in and descends as a dove upon Him.

EJB So it is notable that the verses you have read at the end of chapter 3 are preceded by a reference to the measureless giving of the Spirit.

SMcC Very striking, is it not, because it shows how important the Spirit is in this regard. And not only does the reference to the measureless giving in regard to the Spirit precede, but what follows is a wonderful opening up of the truth in regard to the Spirit as the living water.

AHG In this matter of the “all things” given into His hands, would that include also the circumstances of the believer? I was thinking especially of John 11, for instance.

SMcC I think all that would enter into it, although there are certain things that are reserved; that is, we would have to take the scriptures in their context and bearing. For instance, the Lord says later on that not even He knows the times and the seasons, they are in the Father’s hands. That is rather remarkable, but it is all to bring out the glory of the economy of love into which the Persons have come, Two of Them subject to Another. It is remarkable in that way, but I think the “all things” here in the working out of the administration would involve the scene at Bethany.

JTS Would it imply what the Lord is saying in the next chapter, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (chapter 4: 10)? Would that enter into the all things?

SMcC I think so, that would be one of the prime things. The gift of the Spirit is one of the prime things in mind in the administration that comes on to our view in this divine arrangement, and then the fact that it is a woman. We have been referring to Rebecca coming into the wonderful arrangement between Isaac and the son and the servant; well, it is striking that immediately we get John 4, we get a woman coming into this wonderful arrangement. Not only to contemplate the economy or the arrangement, but she becomes part of the arrangement herself.

SEW Could I refer to a verse I have been impressed with all these readings, “And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. And to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and, while he yet lived, sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward to the east country”, Genesis 25: 5, 6? Does it suggest the merging of Rebecca?

SMcC You mean the sons of the concubines are sent away. Any alien influence or alien feature that would detract from the glory of Isaac is removed from the position. Is that what you have in mind?

SEW Yes, I have been impressed with it all the readings.

SMcC Well, detachment has been the thought running through all these meetings, detachment is not just by legal principles enforced, but by the power of affection for Christ, and every lover of Christ will have regard for the commandments of Christ. He will never depart from the commandments of Christ, as the Lord indicates later.

SR Would that be seen in the 10th chapter where the attractiveness of the shepherd leads the sheep out of the system?

SMcC Just so, that is He goes before them, and His sheep follow. We had a good lot this morning, in the meeting where one was, about the sheep. Christ’s love for the sheep and the sheep knowing Him, and following Him, and that is very affecting and is really a test to all of us, as to whether we are really Christ’s sheep, because the reference to Christ’s sheep in John’s gospel is not to a nominal position, that we might be in, it is a reference to the characteristics and constitution of persons who hear and listen to, and are subject to Christ’s word, the voice of the shepherd.

LGB So do we need to understand that John’s sheep are not straying sheep, but intelligent sheep?

SMcC Yes. Well, this matter of the women and the worship of God as coming into this next section, following the reference to the Father loving the Son, and giving all things to be in his hand, is important as showing us how one of the prime things in relation to the subject in John’s gospel is how the assembly comes into it, because I believe John’s gospel has in mind from beginning to end, Philadelphia. That is how the assembly comes into these holy wondrous matters and stands in them responding to the heart of Christ as appreciating the things that are so near His heart.

RGB So is it like the administration set up under David and Solomon resulting in the establishment of the service of God in glory in the assembly?

SMcC That is it.

JWD And is the rapidity the same today, a possibility?

SMcC Well, I should think it is. In fact John’s gospel having in mind our own times would emphasise that. What do you say about it?

JWD I think it calls for more faith in the ability of divine Persons to effect Their will if we are subject.

SMcC I think where we are tested, do you not think, is in regard to subjection, whether we are subject to the Son, the One who has all things in His hand. What tested the Jews was the Son, and things given into His hand; they thought that things were in their hands as they one time were, whose are the covenants, the glory, the adoption, but now there has been a transfer into the hands of the Son, and the Jews are tested, and we know that they have to go out as the Jews will always have to go out when it comes to this matter.

RHS Why is it that in chapter 4, in answer to the woman’s request, the Lord says, “the water which I shall give him”, He does not say, the water which I shall give you, but “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water”?

SMcC Because it is an abstract allusion that the Lord is making. He is saying, “Every one”, He is speaking to her directly, but He is drawing attention to an abstract thought, “Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever, but the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. The believer is in mind in that sense.

WMcK You referred to Philadelphia, do you think that John’s gospel would show us what enters into the constitution of the overcomer in Philadelphia?

You referred to constitution yesterday as a very important matter.

SMcC I think it does. So that you can understand in the light of what F.E.R. said, that John saw what Paul never saw, how his gospel would take colour from that, bearing in mind that the Spirit is inspiring the holy record. John is writing under the influence of the Spirit, but you can see his gospel would take character from that, that he saw what Paul never saw, that is saints in revival standing in the truth of the assembly as Philadelphia contemplates, and his gospel would have that in mind all the way through.

ECM Does Philadelphia in that way stand for the very best in the way of quality and spiritual refinement?

SMcC That is it, and that is why quality is stressed in John’s gospel, the quality of the relations between the Father and the Son, and the Spirit, moved on to our view, and then the quality of the worship, and the worshippers, “the Father seeks such as his worshippers”. It is the quality of the worshippers - “the Father seeks such”.

HAH Is the extension of lovability seen? Whilst specifically in the Son, is it seen in Philadelphian conditions, the lovability that can be entrusted with administration?

SMcC Well, that is what is in mind. Philadelphia means brotherly love, so that really it is a love letter that we have in the word to Philadelphia, the Lord is so pleased with what He sees there as the assembly comes under His eye in the features that stand out, and it is all linked with the quality of the love that John is referring to in his gospel. That brings us to chapter 5, where the word ‘love’ is different from the word ‘love’ in chapter 3. In chapter 3 “The Father loves the Son”, the word ‘love’ is ‘agapao’ - the word of settled disposition,

but the word in chapter 5: 20, is ‘phileo’ - the love of attractiveness, the love of friendship, and you get that in Philadelphia. It is not only the thought of the settled disposition of love, but the attractive features that draw out the love of Christ in Philadelphia. This has in mind the operational side here.

EJB Why does it go on to quickening in that setting?

SMcC I think it is very important because we can never be rightly in the service of God apart from quickening. Quickening involves the divine operation by which we are affected subjectively and brought into correspondence with Christ. It is not a question of what we know, it is not a question of what faith can take in, quickening is never viewed by faith, quickening is by the Spirit. It is how the believer through the sovereign divine operation in him is put subjectively into correspondence with Christ.

ECM Mr. Raven’s remark as to quickening helps in that connection, the quickening power of God fits me in sensibilities to live in the closest relationship with God. Is that not in mind, the relationship in John, and quickening essential to it?

SMcC So that the quickening helps us to be at home in all the refinement and quality that is seen in the relations of the Father and the Son, “For the Father loves the Son and shews him all things which he himself does”; that is very affecting, that One divine Person should come into a position where He is shown things because the Father loves Him in relation to the great operations that are at hand.

JWD Is quickening permanent, is it once and for all?

SMcC I think so in its bearing, but we need to be sustained in the gain of it, do you not think?

JWD I was wondering whether this word ‘constitutional’ would mean a great deal more than Lord’s day morning.

SMcC I think it does. We need more help to see that it is not only a question of what we are on Lord’s day morning, but a question of what we are all the time. With the Lord Jesus there was not any difference between what He was in the temple, and what He was outside in His relations with men, the holiness was the same, and so it should be with the saint, with the believers.

EBS Would you say another word on the Father giving these things to the Son, and “all things” in chapter 3, and “all judgment” in chapter 5? He has given, it says, in both cases.

SMcC It is helpful to see this here now that you have referred to it, because we were referring to certain limitations in connection with the Son that He did not know, as He says, in a certain relation, not even the Son knows. Now we come to certain limitations linked with the Father. It is a remarkable thing and it should help those that think that the thought of the Father covers everything because it does not. The thought of the Father is a limited thought, as it says here, “for neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son”, that is, the Father does not judge any one.

EBS Is it a certain limitation by His own doing, would you say?

SMcC Every limitation seen in relation to a divine Person is through His own voluntary action. It never could be otherwise, whether it is the Father or the Son, or the Spirit.

EBS Does that not help us to understand it?

SMcC Well, it does. We can never bind upon any divine Person a limitation which He voluntarily assumes and takes on Himself.

RGB Does not that make the thought of the arrangement that you referred to earlier, the covenant into which divine Persons have entered, a very wonderful and attractive thought?

SMcC Well, it does indeed, and especially the unselfishness in it. How we need to learn the unselfishness of love as seen in the divine arrangement! We are so selfish, so self-centred naturally; how this would affect us, so that when we come to John 17, we see the blessedness of the covenant, that is the arrangement, the covenant as J.N.D. alludes to it, the bond between the holy Persons in the divine arrangement. How lovely it is, as we see it in John 17, as the Lord speaks to the Father, and then the subject of the speaking is the saints. The chapter begins with the thought of eternal life, and ends with the thought of sonship, and in between these two outstanding features of blessing in the dispensation, the Lord is speaking to the Father about the assembly, about the saints.

JTS Just in passing, would you mind saying one word as to the Father quickening, and the Son quickening and the Spirit quickening in chapter 6?

SMcC Well, all the holy Persons have part in the matter of quickening. The Spirit will have part in the quickening of our bodies, according to Romans 8, one of the last features of the operation of the Spirit, in regard to our present temporary condition, will be the quickening of our bodies.

SHN Could you say something as to the character of this glory which is given to Him, and which He has given to us?

SMcC Well, that brings in the great thought of sonship, the glory of sonship, “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one; I in them, and thou in me”. How fine this is as showing the unjealous, holy relation between the Persons, the perfect state of love implied. How could Persons be in one another unless you have a perfect state of love?

RHS What is the force in this connection, first of all “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”, and then “that the world may know that thou hast sent me”?

SMcC Well, it is looking on to the millennial day, of course, when there will be the great testimony rendered in public display as to where these matters have stood in relation to the Lord’s service, and the bringing in of the saints. The world will know where the whole matter stands, and the believing is an abstract thought again.

RHS I wondered if there was behind it, the thought of oneness being a matter of power in relation to testimony to the world.

SMcC Well, it involves that. That is our holy concern in regard to the brethren in their approach to the government, that there should be oneness among them. How can we approach the public side of things in testimony unless there is oneness amongst us? It immediately brings in weakness where there is diversified thought and opinion in regard to matters in approach to the public position in the testimonial setting.

AHG Would this perfect state of love you have referred to, underlie this matter of oneness?

SMcC Well, it does, because it involves unjealous relations, and we do not need to draw away from this matter of unjealous relations, because we know that naturally in our hearts, there is a good deal of jealousy, and it has to be judged and kept where it belongs.

LWB Would that be the answer to much of our difficulty about detachment? If the thoughts of Heaven were current in our souls, the question would be solved, would it not?

SMcC Well, just so. So that the chapter finishes with the wonderful reference to the Father: “And I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. Think of how the Lord would whet their desire, in the “will make it known”. He had spoken to them about the Father, that crowning feature of our dispensation, the name by which God is specially known in our dispensation, the name of Father, the choiceness of it, and the sweetness of it. He says, “I have made known to them thy name”, but then He says, “and will make it known”; involving what is wider and greater as the whole divine arrangement would affect us in relation to what He says, “my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God”, chapter 20: 17.

JTS You do not make the “will make it known” the name anything less than what you have just referred to?

SMcC No. It has in mind that we should reach God in the fulness in which He is known, as we know Them by the names They have taken in the divine arrangement, God known in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

WMcK Does the last reference in the chapter to “the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them”, refer to the assembly coming into the economy in an active sense?

SMcC That is what I had in mind in referring in the type to how Rebecca comes into it, and how the assembly comes into it now, that that love, the quality of it, is in the assembly. And it is not only that, but the Lord says, “I in them”, particularly linking on with “my new name”, and “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Hebrews 2: 12. That is what it has in mind.