THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY FAMILIES
THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY FAMILIES
JBS My object in reading these verses is to show that there are two families, the earthly and the heavenly. There was a different offering for Aaron and his house, and for the whole congregation. The bullock was offered for Aaron and his house, and the two goats were for the congregation. It is upon this principle all Christendom is formed; a consecrated company called the priesthood, and the laity. They are before their time. The earthly company has not come yet. The priestly company has come.
GeoC The millennial reign has not come; the congregation to whom Melchisedec will come.
JBS There are two sacrifices in the type; I need not say only one in the antitype, for both fulfilled are in Christ.
FHB Why is there no scapegoat for the priestly family?
JBS The bullock included everything for God; it was inside the veil. The scapegoat refers to the earth, to the administrative forgiveness of sins. To this probably Ananias referred when he said to Saul, “wash away thy sins”; he was all right within the veil. The offering of Christ is only one, but here there were two offerings to show the twofold application of it. The only point of similarity between the earthly and the heavenly family is the virtue of the blood.
FER What do you make of the blood of the goat being carried inside the holiest?
JBS It is the witness that God has infinite satisfaction in the work of Christ. God can do with man now according to His will. The heavenly family [p. 325] is of a new order - a new creation. The earthly is man made capable to keep the law of God here on the earth; they get a new heart and the like.
FER One point I would like you to speak about; in a sense do we not come into certain outward things incidentally as being yet on earth?
JBS Yes, everything belonging to God we enjoy. He has given us everything richly to enjoy. There is nothing according to God that He does not give us to enjoy. We enjoy earthly blessings. Many would like the word ‘possess’ instead of ‘enjoy.’ “Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches” (that is, possession), “but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy”. I come into everything according to God, and therefore taste of every blessing that belongs to the earthly family. We enjoy the earthly blessings incidentally, but they are not our possession. I only come into them incidentally, passing by; the new covenant and so on. We enjoy God’s blessings, air, and light, and all His works. We could not have the “upper springs” without “the nether”.
FHB Why does Paul speak of the “new covenant in my blood” in 1 Corinthians 11?
JBS The new covenant is God’s new relation with man on the earth. The virtue of the blood is alike to both families.
GG The blessings belonging to both companies rest on the one sacrifice.
JBS In your own house you may take Psalm 128. It is applicable to a man in his own house. The Lord, if fully accepted, rules in my house now, though rejected on the earth, and then I obtain His blessing.
FHB There are two spheres where He should rule, my house and the assembly.
JBS Yes; but in my house it is my things. In the assembly it is His things. The more I give Him the reins in my house, the better it will be. He is [p. 326] refused in the world, but He reigns in the believer’s house.
FER Is not that (owning the authority of Christ) a point of similarity between saints now, and in the millennium?
JBS Yes; but I am owning it now before the time. His rule will then be coextensive with everything; no evil then. The kingdom of heaven is the rule of the word without the king, in the absence of the king. Nothing is said of the Holy Spirit in the kingdom of heaven. He is in the house. In John 15 the Holy Spirit was to come to “you” - that is, the eleven apostles; they were to have the Holy Spirit, and not the world outside. A protestant (I mean a political protestant) will talk of having “The whole Bible”, never of having the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is limited to the eleven in John 15. They would have the Holy Spirit, and the world would hate them. Christ is Head of the assembly and Lord of the individual. He is Lord in connection with administration.
FER It has been said that the name of Lord is introduced in connection with the assembly only when evil existed. It is the difference between the assembly and the individual as such.
JBS As I understand it, I am the Lord’s servant; and if He chooses me to take a part in the assembly I am His servant, and I take it as directed by the Head, and that will be good for the whole. I act because He is the Head. He is not the Lord of the assembly, but the Lord of the individual. As the Lord I am His slave; everything I have belongs to Him.
JD Who is in the midst? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. You must take in the whole of His name. He is not in the character of Lord though He is in the assembly.
JBS Personally He is in the midst. He is Lord of every individual there; but He is Head of the assembly. He says, as it were, ‘If you do My pleasure in the assembly it will be profitable to all’.
FER There are two distinct things in the assembly. One what is Godward, to the Lord, and the other what is from the Lord - what comes from the Lord, and approach to Him. Ministry and the like are from the Lord; a man has to receive this in responsibility to the Lord. When it is approach it is another thing; a man is the mouthpiece of the whole assembly. That is different from ministry when one speaks from Him.
JBS The first point of contrast between the earthly and the heavenly family is acceptance. The acceptance of the heavenly family is “in the Beloved”. You cannot get higher than Ephesians 1. There you are brought into the highest position individually before you get one word said about union. “Accepted in the Beloved”. The acceptance of the earthly family is “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. “I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord”.
THR Does not the incense give more the thought of acceptance in the Beloved? You come in in the cloud of incense according to all the personal perfections of Christ. It is a great help to get a true idea of the difference. It would be a great help to us practically.
JD Is not new birth a point of similarity? It is as necessary for the kingdom as for us.
JBS I do not touch that at all. When I get to the virtue of the blood I am beyond new birth which is necessary for the kingdom. We are all looked at in this chapter as redeemed, having new birth; it is approach here. New birth makes them of the family; this is farther on. Until the day of atonement God could not bless the people as He wished. He can do His will now; He has got rid of man in the cross, and can set us up in any order He likes. He puts us within [p. 328] the veil in Christ in a new order altogether, morally apart from the man here, and the place where Christ was rejected. Man will come out in a new way in the millennium.
The next important difference is with respect to the Holy Spirit. He is in us, and on them. Peter makes the addition in Acts 2: 33. Jesus being exalted, he established the fact of the Holy Spirit coming down - what was expected by Israel according to Joel. He then speaks of the “promise of the Father”, which carries us back to John 14: 17, after he had quoted the prophecy of Joel to prove that the Holy Spirit was to come down.
Ques What is the difference of the Holy Spirit upon them?
JBS I think it is immense. He is in the assembly, and in that sense also on those there. He does keep order no doubt in the assembly.
FER In the millennial day, when every person will know the Lord, He has control; He will set them all in a right direction; Psalm 133.
JBS Yes; but that is all outside, like the wind to a ship; the Holy Spirit on them. In Hebrews 6 it says, “partakers of the Holy Spirit”, because they are in the house.
FER The result in Psalm 133 is, that they dwell together in unity, that is unity in the great congregation. The result in the assembly is unity. The Holy Spirit will not indwell the believer in the millennium.
JBS The wonderful position for us is that we are morally outside of everything, man and the earth, and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us while on earth. In Hebrews 6 they were in the place where He was. It is very rare for a man to leave Christianity for paganism or simple Judaism. When we use the word ‘assembly’ in a wide sense as the house of God, it takes [p. 329] in profession.
FER The assembly brings in the idea of the body as well as of the house.
JBS When you speak of the house you do not necessarily bring in the body.
FER There is another point with respect to the Holy Spirit dwelling in us: we live in the Spirit.
JBS Yes; we shall come to that when we come to the difference between the way we have eternal life and the way they have it. Many do not understand the Holy Spirit, but as an influence. Wesleyans regard Him as the motive power. He is more than that to me, He is the spring of everything; we live in the Spirit. I have nothing on earth but the Holy Spirit, and so far from that meaning that I am short of anything, it is the magnificence of my position. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”. The Spirit of God does not connect me with earth, He connects me with Christ in heaven.
THR It is a great thing to see that the Lord in John 20 came into the assembly, and then in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit came to that same company, and made it His dwelling place. That gave it a character it had not before. Therefore it introduced a new thing that never had belonged to saints before.
JBS By-and-by even all creation will feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.
FER In John 20 they had the Lord actually present, risen from the dead; they had a mission then which none had before.
JBS It was not established till the Holy Spirit came, but this was the pattern of the assembly. The next difference is, all our blessings are inside, heavenly; theirs are outside, earthly.
JRB Does the “inside” represent heaven?
JBS Inside is heaven, all our blessings are there. Someone who denied the priesthood of Christ once asked me, “What did the priest do when he came out?” I said, I want to know what He did when He went in; He is within now: -
“In Him we stand a heavenly band
Where He Himself is gone”. (12:2)
A man not priested in the Church of England cannot pronounce the blessing. Where did they get that idea from? When the priest came out he pronounced the blessing; Leviticus 9. It is assuming the ground of the earthly family; and, though we are quite beyond that, it is wonderful how much we are drawn away by the blessings of the earthly family.
Ques What do you mean by that?
JBS Well, it is humbling to confess it, but I have before now wished to be of the earthly family, for the enjoyment of earthly things.
TM It is difficult to withstand the influence of these things.
JBS Yes; unless you are in the power of the Spirit you cannot withstand the natural influence. You never give up till you get something superior. We have a life that belongs to heaven. I can understand a monk or a nun shutting out the world, but he does not shut it out of his own heart. I used often to say to a brother, You are only a monk - you are like a man in prison shutting yourself away from things here, and yet when the light comes in through the keyhole you say, What a beautiful thing! Paul said, “what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ”. It is easy to understand a man giving up his sins, but to give up the “things that were gain to me”! The beauties of nature, your tastes, etc., would all be included in that. It is not, what harm is there in this or that? But the things that were gain to me, those I count loss.
GeoC You were speaking just now of enjoying that tree outside.
JBS Yes, I enjoy it, but I do not possess it; all is given to me to enjoy. We have to take care that we [p. 331] do not minister to our tastes. The Corinthians were doing so when the apostle said, “Ye have reigned as kings without us”.
Ques May we take it as a settled thing that Aaron and his sons represent the heavenly family?
JBS Yes; Aaron and his sons always represent the consecrated company, as in Hebrews. Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his house. Aaron offered for himself and for his sons. Christ is Son over God’s house, “whose house are we “. There will always be the priestly family even when the congregation comes in.
THR As far as I understand it, the glory comes down to the temple. I believe that is the new Jerusalem.
Ques It will not be on earth?
THR No; but I think it will be the new Jerusalem coming down, the heavenly company. It comes down to reveal God; it connects itself with the earth, having the glory of God; it comes down.
JBS It is the heavenly city which all the patriarchs looked for. I am very ignorant on the subject, but the more we look at it, the more it will open out. The more we look to the Lord, the more we get the ‘capacity for reception.’ I was sorry you did not tell us yesterday how we got the ‘capacity,’ I believe it is in keeping a good conscience.
THR You would connect administration with the city? You were speaking of Aaron and his sons?
JBS Yes; but I think they minister grace to all ages.
THR The glory of Ezekiel and Isaiah is a little different. One is more governmental glory; the other (in Isaiah) is more the shadowing of heavenly glory. It is the glory connected with the seraphim, what God is in His own nature. In Ezekiel it is the cherubic glory connected with government. Angelic glory comes in there. In Ezekiel you get “the place [p. 332] of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet”. In Isaiah it is far more what God is in Himself. It is a beautiful thought in Isaiah of the heavenly glory shining upon the earthly. All the glory of the Father’s house; that is what it will be. That connects itself with the heavenly city.
FER What is characteristic of the heavenly city is divine righteousness.
JBS “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory”. All that we are speaking of connects itself with that. The first verses of Revelation 21 are the eternal state. The new Jerusalem comes down in the millennium, and the new Jerusalem is in the eternal state. E.H.C. In the millennial description it is only called the “holy city”,; “new” in connection with the eternal state. The promise to Philadelphia is in connection with the new Jerusalem, eternal in its character.
JBS The next point of distinction is relationship. We are sons; individually we are sons. In Ephesians we have the adoption of children by Christ Jesus unto Himself. I get the very highest possible relationship with God, a son. Before a word is said of union with Christ, I am in the highest relationship as a son. When we come to relationship here, I should think we are members of Christ, and they are subjects of the king. If we were not sons and were not accepted in the Beloved, we could not be qualified to be united to Christ. Son is heavenly relationship, so is union; but unless I am of the same order I cannot be united to Him.
FER I am not a son as a man down here.
JBS No; it is, chosen in Christ before the world was; outside the course of this world altogether. Abraham and Sarah are an illustration of it. Sarah was of the same stock as Abraham. I spring from Christ; it is the great subject in Hebrews, we are [p. 333] companions of Christ. If you are not fit to be a companion of Christ, there could not be union; you would not be suited for it. If you do not understand this, you cannot understand union. There must be suitability.
Ques It is a heavenly relationship though a son on earth?
JBS Yes; but our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ in heaven.
“Our hearts resort to where Thou liv’st
In heav’n’s unclouded rays”. (25:2)
FER If you come to sonship in its true power you have neither male nor female; Galatians 3: 28.
Ques “My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”?
JBS That is in connection with natural things down here. We are “brethren” in the assembly, not brothers and sisters that is a natural distinction. Sons now. In the kingdom they are subjects. Pious people now speak of the King, not of the Head of the church.
Ques The epistle of John is to a lady?
FER Yes; but that is to an individual. Even in the assembly the woman has to bear the mark of God’s order here, and has to keep silence.
JBS They maintain their divine position. Until Christianity came in, woman was never put on an equality with man. The most enlightened nation (the Greeks) never put the woman on equality with the man. When Christianity came in, it did. The woman always came in when there was a lack in the man. She comes in in a crisis. You find it continually, as with Mary Magdalene, Sarah, Rebekah, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, the great woman of Shunem.
As to sonship, although we possess it on earth, we must be morally outside of earth to enjoy it. Christ teaches it you Himself. Christ was a Son here on earth, and instead of looking to His Father for something [p. 334] here on earth He was ever receiving from Him in order that He might be superior to everything here. Paul in prison could say, “as to me, I have learnt in those circumstances in which I am to be satisfied in myself”.
FER Paul uses the terms “son” and “child” almost interchangeably.
Ques Does not ‘child’ carry the thought of nature; ‘son’ of position? You might have position without relationship. Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
JBS “Son” is relationship. We are predestinated to be sons, or to sonship, by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the Spirit of adoption.
Ques Were the Old Testament saints children but not sons?
JD In Galatians they were babes. There a child means one under age, a minor. It is not a question of relationship. “We have received the Spirit of adoption”.
FER They are sons of the resurrection. It says they are sons of God, being sons of resurrection; Luke 20: 36.
JBS Adoption means a real son in Scripture. The word there is not used in the way we use it. In a certain sense Israel could say, “We have one Father even God”.
FER In sonship the thought is, you are placed before God as the fruit of redemption. Children is more what you are from God; born of God, etc.
JBS Now we come to the difference of standard or rule of life, with the character of holiness belonging to it.
The rule of life, or holiness of the earthly family is the law. The mass of Christians think they would have perfect holiness if they kept the law. Even those who set up a system of holiness by faith have no idea of holiness beyond the law. In Christian holiness, Christ is our rule of life. See John 17: “Sanctify them through thy truth”. There you get the personal sanctification of the believer on earth. The other sanctification is positional, “for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth”. In the first (verse 17), I am a different kind of being here, though I am on earth amongst others. It is my constitution. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God”. The world knows us not; Why? Because you are a new order, therefore the world does not know you. It is not only that you are personally entirely outside what is here, but you are called to be outside of the place. “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth”. I am outside the place. I remember once saying to Mr. Darby, “Then holiness is immeasurable?” ‘Yes’, he said, ‘it is immeasurable’.
Ques What is “partakers of his holiness”?
JBS That is most abstract - God’s own holiness. We all more or less appropriate what belongs to the earthly family. I am quite sure the thought of holiness amongst us often does not go beyond that of earthly holiness. A beautiful nature, lovely ways, all go for nothing. Unless you have holiness according to John 17, you have not the right thought of it.
GH It says, “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”.
JBS That is another word, sanctification, not holiness in the abstract.
JRB In John 17 is the first sanctification what God works in me, and the other what He has become for me?
JBS Yes; exactly.
JRB The one is practical day by day.
JBS Yes; as I go on God helps me. When you feel a thing in the way He helps you by removing it. “We which live are alway delivered unto death”. I do not think, as a rule, God removes a thing from [p. 336] us until we feel it is in the way; then He takes it away. A person may attain to any amount of holiness, according to common notions, and yet not touch the holiness of John 17. The young man in Mark 10 had nothing beyond man. The Lord put to him the five commandments connected with man. Many could say that much. The Lord did not put the other five to him; none relating to God. Paul could say, as regards man, according to his natural conscience - “blameless”. We shall not have holiness fully till we reach Christ where He is. The last breath that was knocked out of Stephen accomplished it for him; he was dead. The moment I learn the fact that it is through death I reach heaven, I come back as one ready to die a martyr’s death. You come back to die, not to live.
DG Is the measure of sanctification Christ in heaven?
JBS Yes, exactly. It must be so. He is the holiness of God.
Ques What is the difference between the new nature and a clean heart?
JBS As regards the earthly family, God gives them a new heart, writes the law in their hearts. It is not the law in my heart, but Christ! That is more than the law. “They shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest”. I do not think they know anything about Romans 7. I think their inclination is to do right; for them it is said, “No more offering for sin”. They are there with a nature inclined to do good. They are there rejoicing in the fact that they are cleared from everything, and they will delight to do what the law enjoins.
DG Will they be free from an evil nature?
JBS If they have a heart of flesh instead of stone (see Ezekiel 11: 19; Jeremiah 31), I cannot see that you can talk of an evil nature. Satan bound, too; no evil one to work upon them; God governing;
[p. 337] they living under the rule of God, and enjoying the earth and everything to their heart’s content.
GeoC What of those who are cut off?
JBS They were never born again.
FER The Spirit of God will be over them; not a wicked spirit corrupting them, but the Holy Spirit poured out on them, and the administration of heaven to the earth. We have no idea what it will be then.
JBS Now God has removed for us everything of the first man in the cross, and we have Christ. The goat was burnt outside the camp as well as the bullock. What God does for me is to say - you are entirely independent of everything but Christ; apart from man altogether. With the millennial saints Christ comes to reign on the earth. God makes the man a subject for Christ on earth in the millennium. Christ will be here reigning on the earth.
FER We have to remember there are the two things: there is the new birth, and the law written in the heart.
Ques Why could righteousness not dwell in that state of things?
JBS Because sin can come in. There will be those who are born during the time; when they sin they will be cut off at once. The greater the power in the church now, the speedier the judgment. They will have both new birth and the law written in their hearts. Christ having a place in our hearts accomplishes this for us.
Ques The vast numbers of those on earth will not be born again at all, will only yield feigned obedience.
JBS I am speaking of Israel and Jerusalem; the blessing which centres there and extends to the nations. Those that apostatise in the end are not Jews, but of the nations. None born again would go wrong; they go into new creation, the eternal state. In the new creation, as I understand it, they enjoy eternal life in completeness. They are not in the [p. 338] scope of eternal life till the new creation, the eternal state. When the kingdom is given up it will be all according to God’s pleasure. There will be no possibility of defilement then. Everything here is against us now but everything then will be in their favour.
THR The heart is the centre of the man; it is used constantly in Scripture as understanding, intelligence, “Keep thine heart with all diligence”. The promise is “the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God”, Deuteronomy 30: 6.
JBS There is a vast deal to learn on the subject.
The last difference, as far as I know, is the character of worship. They celebrate the Lord’s glory; we celebrate or remember His death. In nothing perhaps are we more deficient than in worship. Our worship now often does not go beyond the worship of the millennial saints. Their worship is always remembering the benefits of His death; and under the shelter and benefits of His death they enjoy the earth.
Ques With them the sacrifice will be commemorative?
JBS Yes; but they remember the benefits; we have intimacy with the Person inside; we worship there; we not only begin with the blood, but the cup of blessing is the fellowship of it; they begin with it. We have boldness by that blood to enter the holiest and enjoy Him where He is. We are inside the veil; they are under His rule. The veil will still be up. They could not see Him save in the new Jerusalem. He is now the Lord of glory. They do not see Him as such. He goes once through the gate and then the gate will be shut for ever; Psalm 24; Ezekiel 44: 2.
Ques “Every eye shall see him”; His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives?
FER “He comes to be glorified in the saints and admired in all them that believe”, but there will not be access. He will appear: “Thine eye shall see the king in his beauty”.
JBS It is through the assembly, the city, His glory will shine. When He comes out they will see Him, but it is only once He will appear. In Ezekiel 44 He enters in, and the door is shut.
FER The point is, they have no access.
Ques Who is the Prince (verse 3)?
JBS One of the house of David.
Our worship is to worship the Father. How can you worship Him unless you are where He is? You do not get so far as that in Hebrews, but you get the way to it. If you do not learn the way you will never know where He is. Their worship will be according to the levitical order, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. They are commemorating what has been done for them.
FER The state of things will be totally different.
JBS They see His glory, but not Himself, as far as I see.
JB I think they will be disappointed if they do not see Him.
JBS My object is to show what we have, not to limit what they have. We worship the Father in spirit and in truth. How little we know of worship shows where we are. We rejoice in the benefits which Christ’s blood has conferred upon us, but even at the Lord’s table we are more occupied with our gain than with remembering Him. They will be rejoicing in all the benefits which Christ’s death has conferred on them. I suppose the prodigal son, after he was feasted in the Father’s house, began to worship; it was what he knew of the Father made him worship.
THR Saints have so little sense of the presence of Christ, we are so little in His company.
Ques Would you worship Christ in the assembly?
JBS Certainly; I begin with Him, and He leads us on to worship the Father. They celebrate His glory,
[p. 340] we remember His death. It is not remembering His sufferings but His death; the terrible thing to me is - Christ died - is dead as to the earth. I do not separate them, but it is His death that is before me. He has broken the link with man here. “The golden bowl” is broken.
FER They celebrate what they are in communion with, we remember or celebrate what we are in communion with.
Ques You would not shut out His sufferings from the table?
JBS I do not shut out anything, but there is the greatest suffering - His death. At the table His death is before us: we are in the place where He died; nothing equals His death; we remember His death till He comes; that shows He is not here now.
FER The fellowship of His death is different from the fellowship of His sufferings.
JBS His death puts this world in quite another light to us.
Ques What is the place of worship?
JBS The presence of Christ. In Christ’s presence when we worship it is morally heaven. Christ’s presence brings heaven morally into our midst. I must be as fit for His presence now as for heaven. His death puts this world in quite another light to you. Christ comes into the midst as the heavenly One. As I draw near to Him I am morally in heaven.
FER It is the contrast of Hebrews 9 and 10. He is actually in heaven in chapter 9. We have boldness to enter the holiest in chapter 10, that is, morally. The holiest is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. I have the presence of Christ, who is the minister of the holy places. “The house of God” could not be heaven. We have a great priest over the house of God.
JBS One point more. Some might say that they are better off than we are! Not at all! The nearer we [p. 341] are to Christ now the nearer we shall be to Him, and the better off; when He reigns we shall reign with Him. Every one will be in relation to Christ in the kingdom as he works for Christ on the earth now. All will be alike in heaven; the youngest babe will be in heaven as the most advanced, as the apostle Paul. It is on the ground of His work that we go into heaven. All on the same ground. But we are on the earth on the ground of our righteousness.