THE MORAL GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

John 13:31,32; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 11:28-30; Revelation 21:9,10

M.B.G.      What is in mind is that we might consider the moral glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures we have read are just a few that we can consider together in that way. There are many other scriptures; we could select almost any chapter in any of the gospels and we would see something of the Lord’s moral glory, but I wondered if in these scriptures we could consider the Lord’s glory from that point of view, His moral glory.

The scripture that was mostly in my mind was in Philippians 2, because what we see from verse 6 are the Lord’s own movements – the down-stooping movements. They bring out the moral glory of the Lord Jesus. This scripture is one we often refer to and it always affects us. We see the greatness and glory of His person, “who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God”. That would underlie all that we consider. He “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death”. What moral greatness in these down-stooping movements of the Lord Jesus. This section presents those moral movements, aside from the scene of contrariety in John’s gospel.

In this section in John 13, the very extreme contrast is immediately noticeable between what proceeded in the previous paragraph between the actions of Judas and the movements of Jesus. It says, “When therefore he was gone out Jesus says, Now is the Son of man glorified”. In this section we see the Lord anticipating the cross, and the cross is really the greatest point of shame but also the greatest outshining of moral glory. I wondered if we could consider that and all that flows out from it in this section.

In Philippians 2 and in Matthew 11, I wondered if we could consider how we ourselves are to take these features on, in measure. In Matthew 11, Jesus says, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me”. We must learn from Christ if we are to be marked by these features. And in Philippians 2, Paul is exhorting the saints to be marked by lowliness of mind, “each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves”, then he goes on to say, “For let this mind be in you”. I wondered if we could get help together as we consider the Lord’s moral glory.

In Revelation 21, we see the great result of it. Jerusalem is the bride, the Lamb’s wife, the wife of the One who suffered and was here as “holy, harmless, undefiled”, Heb.7:26. And then you have “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. There is a great moral answer to be arrived at, and we are part of that.

A.D.M.      Do you think it is accentuated in the way the thirteenth chapter of John begins? The Lord laid aside His garments and washed their feet – that was really moral glory. He was the Creator of the universe, He was the Lord of glory in His person, but do you think this highlights the model that has been set before us in taking a lowly place, a place of service?

M.B.G.      That is good, He has left us a model that we should follow in His steps, (1 Pet.2:21). There are Christ’s personal glories and there are many other aspects to the Lord’s glories, such as His official glories. All these glories belong to Him alone, and in His moral glory He is unique; He wholly sets out moral glory in perfection. What you say is good, that He is a Model for us. If we think about the setting in which He does this, what grace was shown in how He was aware of what was proceeding. The chapter begins with “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end” (v.1), but then “the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon, Iscariote, that he should deliver him up …” (v.2), and yet the Lord is not disturbed by that. He takes up this service to His own.

A.D.M.      It would be helpful if you said what moral means. There are a lot of young people here today and it is encouraging to see them.

M.B.G.      One of my exercises is that our thoughts about what is moral might be elevated. We might think of what is moral as merely what people think of as moral, and I would not criticise that because we are thankful for persons who live upright lives as far as they are able to. But I think in relation to moral glory, it is first of all seen in perfection in Christ. It is really God’s holy claims in righteousness and God’s claims of love which have come together in a Man. In this chapter, you can see that; “Now is the Son of man glorified”. That is really a moral glory. What Christ was about to accomplish would resolve the whole moral question. Sin came into the race in the garden at the beginning of Genesis, and because of sin, man could not be in the presence of God. That was really a matter of God’s righteousness, but it was also a provision of His love, because if God had not done that, He would have had to come in in judgment. But then in Christ and His work we see the resolution of that whole moral question.

A.D.Mel.      There are glories of the Lord Jesus before which we can only stand back in awe and be in reverence of. But are you thinking that moral glories are what we can be involved in and emulate?

M.B.G.      That was part of my exercise. Of course, we would always have to say, ‘In our measure’, because He sets every moral matter out in perfection, but I think you see in Matthew 11 how we are to learn from Him and He says there “for I am meek and lowly in heart”.

J.T.B.      Not so much His official or inherent glories, but did He display everything that was proper to manhood in His life? Is that the moral side, do you think?

M.B.G.      Yes. It speaks of Him as “the effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance”, Heb.1:3. He was here as a Man; He was a divine Person expressing everything that was in the heart of God and also expressing God’s attributes. What you say is good; He was here also as a Man for God’s pleasure, so everything that God had ever desired to see in man was seen in Christ in perfection. Can you say more?

J.T.B.      It is perhaps anticipating your final scripture but in the reference to glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus” (Eph.3:21), is there something from the moral glories of Christ that shone out and produced glory to God in the assembly?

M.B.G.      That must be the case. The assembly is a mystery to unbelievers, but what is worked out and secured in the assembly is not a mysterious matter to divine Persons and should not be to believers. It must include being formed in the divine nature but also in these moral glories that belong to Christ.

T.R.C.      Do we see the Father’s appreciation of the moral glories of Christ at the waters of baptism and at the mount of transfiguration?

M.B.G.      Yes. Everything that God has desired to see in a man is seen in Him and the Father expressed His delight in His beloved Son at these points. Can you say more about it?

T.R.C.      Just linking on with what is being suggested, all that God sought – as the hymn says, ‘sought in man to find’ (Hymn 268) – He found in Christ, including in these hidden years that we know little about. The Father’s appreciation of the moral glories of that blessed Man were acclaimed, you might say, at the waters of baptism and then too at the mount of transfiguration. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt.3:17.

M.B.G.      We see it in Matthew 11. “Take my yoke upon you” would speak of His devotion to the will of His God and Father. But in the way He went about it, He displayed moral glory. He was here as a real man, sin apart, but then too displayed the love of God to man, and every action was marked by grace.

G.B.G.      I was thinking about how what is moral is valued by God. The Lord Jesus loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; they are moral features in the Lord Jesus. God values that and He values it wherever it is in measure in ourselves, do you think?

M.B.G.      It speaks in Corinthians about “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor.4:17); the weight would be moral value or moral glory. I think what you say is right, that there is what God values or appreciates in Christ that belongs to the Lord Jesus alone, but something of it is to be seen in us if there is likeness to Christ. It must be what is formed morally in us that is like Him.

J.C.G.      Doing good was a prominent feature of the Lord’s life. He went about doing good for God was with Him. It links on with what we have here that “God is glorified in him”, showing that what flows out from God through Christ as Man was displayed in fulness in that way. It was really goodness. He was able to display goodness and reject evil. What is moral is the difference between the two.

M.B.G.      That is good, and what He did flowed out from the perfection that was in Him. All His actions were marked by moral glory because of His moral perfection. One could say, “He does all things well”, Mark 7:37. What you say is right and it is goodness according to God’s standards. It was not merely good works, although they were good works, but they were according to God’s glory. It says in relation to us, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23) – that is our side – but the Lord Jesus as you say was inherently perfect and that came out in His actions.

D.C.B.      Is the thought of obedience important in it? It has been said that obedience is the essence of the perfect Man and that is what is brought before us particularly in Philippians 2.

M.B.G.      I think that is good to refer to that. It has often been said that, unlike us, He did not become obedient because of any disobedience in Him. That would be so on our part, but He came into a condition to which obedience applied. The way that this section begins should enhance to us that feature, that this Person was prepared to come in and take up that place of a man and become obedient. Have you more to say?

D.C.B.      Well, it is notable that that is where the first failure came in – Adam was in disobedience. Here is a Man come in to lead a whole life in which the excellence to God of obedience was seen.

M.B.G.      That is good and in John 13 we see what Christ, speaking anticipatively of course, was about to do to resolve that whole matter for those who were, as Ephesians says, “sons of disobedience” (Eph.2:2), without hope, without God. The Lord Jesus was about to resolve the whole sin question and God was to be glorified in Him. The moral result from Christ’s work is that there are others who come into the full blessing of God which has shone out in love. That is because of the work of Christ.

D.S.      Do you think that, as the Lord was tempted by the devil in these forty days, He, as full of the Holy Spirit, was dependent on the Spirit in that way as One whom the enemy could not deflect? As you said earlier, He has left us a model that we can follow in His steps. The features of the perfection of the manhood of Jesus were seen in that the enemy could not deflect a Man who was in dependence and full of the Spirit and in whom there was nothing to which the enemy could appeal; that shows perfection again in a moral sense. And are we to seek, with the Spirit’s help, to show something of these features in some little way in our walk?

M.B.G.      That is good. I am glad you referred to the Spirit because if we are to be marked at all by these features, we need to rely on the Spirit for that. And if we are to be formed in them, it would be the Spirit’s work that would do that. The Lord Jesus knows and understands all that we go through, our moral exercises, and He is able to sympathise with us too.

P.A.G.      Christ’s moral glory was proved under testing. His personal glory includes the fact that “he is before all” (Col.1:17); His official glory includes that He has been made “head over all things to the assembly”, Eph.1:22. God has done that; it cannot be changed. But the Lord’s moral glory was proved. Our brother has drawn attention to the temptations; His obedience was proved in perfection there. He did not rail against the rejection of Israel, He wept. He accepted the betrayal of Judas because it was the will of God and of the cup that the Father gave Him, He said “shall I not drink it?”, John 18:11. It was proved at every stage of His life that He was perfect in every moral feature that was seen in Him.

M.B.G.      That is good and that was for the delight and satisfaction of His God and Father. In Philippians 2 we have “Wherefore also God highly exalted him”. Do you think that is because of what was proved and came out in the Lord Jesus?

P.A.G.      He has highly exalted Him and as you read in John, He is glorified immediately. The assembly is the place where Christ is glorified; she rejoices in His moral glory and as your later scriptures have indicated, she becomes formed by what she takes account of. And thus, God is glorified in Christ and in the assembly and there is a great spreading out of the glory in order that God might be satisfied.

M.B.G.      We get some impression of that in verse 32 of this chapter, “If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately”. That was to be the answer to what Christ has accomplished.

A.P.G.      Psalm 1 brings out the moral glories of Christ. It says, “his delight is in Jehovah’s law”, Ps.1:2. In one sense, delighting in Jehovah’s law is more than obedience. Is Psalm 2 His official glory; it says, “I have anointed my king upon Zion” Ps.2:6)? That follows the moral glory.

M.B.G.      Yes. Psalm 1 was referred to on Wednesday evening in our ministry meeting and it says, “and all that he doeth prospereth”, Ps.1:3. As we have said already, He does all things well. In Psalm 1, it has often been said that what we read of there is set out in perfection in Christ, but it is really something that we can take part in, in our measure. We are to prosper as far as these moral features are worked out in us.

N.C.McK.      What do you say about “God also shall glorify him in himself”: do you have some thought about that?

M.B.G.      I would be glad of your help, but does that relate to the place of exaltation that Christ has been given and will always have?

N.C.McK.      I am looking for help but I think so. While His glory is not public yet, there must be a consequence if God is God. God must act to make much of this moral glory of Christ, and He has done that in glorifying Him in Himself. God could not leave that moral glory unanswered, could He?

M.B.G.      That is right, and it is immediate. It is not public yet, but it is answered to in the heart of every believer in some measure, and as our brother has said in the assembly too. There are those who appreciate this Person and His moral perfections.

D.A.B.      Do you think the Lord had that in His mind in His prayer in John 17? Apart from verse 5, the Lord’s concerns and His exercises in His prayer are for His own. He says there, “I have glorified thee on the earth, I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it; and now glorify me, thou Father, along with thyself, with the glory which I had along with thee before the world was” (vv.4,5). We cannot enter into verse 5, but I thought that the answer really is “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one” (v.22). There is an answer in His own. The Lord’s desire was that His glory might have a place in their affections. It is remarkable that His prayer was said in the company of His own and it was to have a result in them, do you think? What was produced as fruit in them became the nucleus of what would go through into the Acts in the assembly, do you think?

M.B.G.      I think what you say is good. I would like help on it myself because we always say, and it is right, that “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them” refers to the glory of sonship. But I think what you are saying would show that sonship is not only a position, but it is to be worked out in reality in us here.

J.A.B.      Should what our brother has referred to about the disciples being one be the result of what you are bringing before us? I was thinking of how Paul begins chapter 2 of this epistle by writing, “If” there are these blessings, then it was to be a “that ye …”, “having the same love, joined in soul”. Is that another way of saying “that they may be one”? The presentation of the Lord Jesus in the way that you are bringing Him before us should appeal to us, and I am sure it does to every believer here. Is that the key to being joined in soul and thinking the same thing?

M.B.G.      What you say is right. The scripture in Matthew 11 speaks of Him being “meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls”. If we are to enjoy together what the apostle brings out at the beginning of chapter 2 of Philippians, and if we are to be in any measure one, then those features need to be worked out in us. If anything contrary to that is operating then it will not be enjoyed. The Lord Jesus again is the perfect example for us; He is meek and lowly. It has been helpfully said that for us it is the other way around, it is lowliness first and then meekness, but those features are really what would help us work things out together. What you say is good.

J.S.S.      Do you have any thought as to why it is the “mind” in Philippians 2? It says, “let this mind be in you”, or as the note says, ‘be found amongst you’ (footnote ‘l’). Does it suggest what was characteristic? It obviously was always so with Christ, but do you think it is to be such with us, that what is to be characteristically found amongst believers is what is moral?

M.B.G.      Yes. At the beginning of John’s gospel, John writes, “for of his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace”, John 1:16. It has been said before that it is not simply grace to meet difficulty and needs but it is character, so what you say is right. If these features are characteristic with us individually and amongst us, then we will enjoy what the first five verses of this chapter encourage us to go in for.

J.T.B.      In the law of the oblation, all the males among the children and sons of Aaron were to partake of the oblation. It was a statute for all generations. Is it the assimilation of that kind of manhood into our constitutions that would help in this way?

M.B.G.      I am glad you bring that in. I had been wondering about reading some scriptures in relation to the oblation. What you say is helpful. It has often been said that all these beautiful moral features are seen in a perfect blend in the Lord Jesus; nothing was overly prominent apart from grace. We are to feed on these features, and we are to learn from Him, and then they become part of us and form us. That is what the divine intention would be.

A.D.M.      Would this section you have read in chapter 2 be a filling out of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that is mentioned in chapter 1? Someone referred to what was characteristic. It was characteristic in the Lord, it was seen perfectly in Him every day of His life, but do you think that, as we are occupied with Him, it would have an effect upon us in how we deal with one another and how we have respect for divine claims and divine commandments?

M.B.G.      I think so, because every true believer would say that they would desire to be more like Jesus. I am sure that is something that each one here would say. But if it is to be the case, then how is it going to be the case? It must be from occupation with Him, both while together with others but also primarily on our own and in our own secret histories with Him, do you think?

P.E.H.      Do we see that in Daniel? It says, “And Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the king’s delicate food” (Dan.1:8): does it involve a new food supply? The food supply is the Lord Jesus. Another thing that characterised Daniel is that he had his windows open towards Jerusalem. Do you think that would be part of what becomes morally constitutional?

M.B.G.      I am glad of what you bring in. Those two things, that matter of dependence and then too what we feed on, are vital. It is a wonderful thing to think of the Lord Jesus being here as a dependent Man, One so great and yet taking up manhood in perfection was here as a dependent Man. And in that way, He is also a Model for us. If we are to learn from Him, we must feed on Him. Naturally what we feed on is what constitutes us, it is what makes us. I think the same would apply in a moral and spiritual sense, that we are to be occupied with the Lord, and what an occupation it is. Think of the many features of Christ, the many moral glories that we can occupy ourselves with, and practically it takes time to do so. I feel very tested about that myself – about how much time I actually spend occupied with the Lord Jesus in this way.

J.C.G.      Paul wrote about the mind of the Spirit being life and peace (Rom.8:6). I was thinking about what you said as to “let this mind be in you”. It could only really be by the fellowship or communion of the Spirit as was mentioned earlier. Would relying on the Spirit be the way in which He would help us to be conformed to the characteristics of the Lord Himself?

M.B.G.      I think so. None of this would be possible at all for us if it were not for the Spirit. I wondered too whether God glorifying Jesus immediately might involve that – the Spirit coming and glorifying Christ in the hearts of believers. The Spirit is the One who makes these matters real in our souls subjectively, as we have often been taught.

G.B.G.      Being occupied with Christ gives scope to the Spirit to actually form us but we are also responsible, are we not, for what we are occupied with?

M.B.G.      That is why I read in Matthew 11, because the Lord says there, “Come to me”: that is an invitation to us to come to Him. I think what you say is right, it involves our responsibility.

G.B.G.      The Spirit has a very gracious way; He does not force Himself, as has often been said. He takes the place that is given to Him, which involves moral exercise on our side. Everything on our side depends on that. Actually it might mean sacrifice, giving up something I naturally like to do. That exercise comes into this, does it not?

M.B.G.      I think that is right. The fruit of the Spirit comes into Galatians 5, but we have to walk in the Spirit and we need to make way for the Spirit. As you say, it is very practical, it does require time and energy of affection to sow to the Spirit and for these moral features to come to light in our souls in a real way.

T.M.      So it is what God has done as the result of the moral glory and moral brightness of Christ: He has “highly exalted Him, and granted him a name”. In Psalm 45, it says, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions” (v.7). It is what God has done.

M.B.G.      I think that emphasises the point made earlier about what God values, that God has exalted the Lord Jesus Christ. The “Wherefore” really brings that out, does it not? It is because of His moral excellence that God has exalted Him, and He is therefore to be the Object of our hearts if we are to learn from Him.

A.S.P.      Is one of His glories being able to bear the glory?

M.B.G.      That is good, because if this matter of moral glory was to be filled out in perfection, it really required a divine Person to come into manhood and set out the whole thing in perfection, therefore He is able for it.

A.S.P.      Glory puffs up a man, does it not? But this is a Man who went down, and God has highly exalted Him: it is a position which God has given Him. He did not exalt Himself. I wondered if you could help as to what the “highly exalted” involves?

M.B.G.      I think first of all what you say about glory puffing up a man is sobering and helpful because we are to be marked by self-judgment in relation to that. Speaking very simply, if we were enjoying the things that are referred to at the beginning of Philippians 2, we might tend to be marked by spiritual pride, for example, because of what we are. But this exhortation, “let this mind be in you” really shows the example in the Lord Jesus of how to be preserved from that. “Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and granted him a name”. As to “highly exalted”, it cannot be limited but would it involve His present position and the place that God has given him? Please say what you think.

A.S.P.      It was a genuine question. It is how God will fill all things with Christ. As you say, I do not think we can limit the scope of the position He has been given, “ascended up above all the heavens”, Eph.4:10.

N.J.H.      Does the revelation of God require moral glory to accompany it? I was thinking that it is seen par excellence in Christ Himself – He had to be the Source – but the assembly will answer to it, having the glory of God. Does it come out in moral glory?

M.B.G.      That is good. We should be very interested in learning and growing in these features because there will be an eternal result from them. God will see to it that it is so, but our responsibility is to be exercised to come to Jesus, and to take His yoke upon us and to learn from Him. It is a test to me about how much I am doing that, but I think what you say is good, there will be an answer in moral worth and value to the revelation of God.

N.J.H.      It will not be found anywhere else. It shines in Christ as we have already been saying, but you do not get it in the world. It is not glory in man’s estimation: even Christendom is setting aside much that should be maintained in moral glory. But it is maintained in the assembly.

A.D.Mel.      Verses 7 and 8 protect the person of the Lord Jesus as to who He was, but it would seem as if the shining of this glory comes from His moral features. Being who He was, “Him who knew not sin” (2 Cor.5:21) and “in him sin is not” (1 John 3:5), He did not have to resolve moral issues in the way that we have to do, but He demonstrated it all through this characteristic of being morally perfect. Could you help us about that?

M.B.G.      You are right, and verse 6 really brings out the personal greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ who, “subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God”. As to His person, He is God. He “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”: that was His down-stooping movement into manhood and taking His place in the likeness of men. But as a Man here, as a divine Person in manhood’ He expressed to those He met all that could be known of God by man, He was “the effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance”. He did not come in some sort of unreal way, but was a real Man expressing all the moral attributes of God, and also the love of God. But too, He was here as a dependent Man, setting out all these moral perfections for the pleasure of God. Does that help at all?

P.A.G.      Do you think that the divine object in Christ being highly exalted leads on to God being all in all? The ultimate of God’s purpose results from Christ being highly exalted.

M.B.G.      I think so; “every knee should bow” shows that everything will be in subjection to Him and, as you say, that leads on to God being all in all.

P.A.G.      It is put here as being “to God the Father’s glory”; that will be demonstrated publicly but then the last enemy that is annulled is death, and Christ was great enough to annul death because of who He is personally. He is great enough to annul it because of who He is morally; He broke its power because it had no claim on Him. All will be put in subjection to Him, the enemy will be annulled and then God will be all in all. The perfection of everything that God does is demonstrated in Christ and then He will hand over the kingdom to Him who is God and Father. There is a glory that will last for ever. What you are bringing to our attention is drawing out something that will last for ever.

M.B.G.      What you say is good and for our encouragement. In our own individual histories, working out moral exercises might not always be easy but as you say, there is going to be an eternal result that will be for the glory of God eternally. So it is worthwhile.

J.A.B.      In relation to what our brother has said, it says of the bride in Revelation 19 that “it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen” (v.8). In a sense, the fine linen is a result of what we are speaking about this afternoon, “bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”. The result of seeing righteousness in Christ and desiring to take it on ourselves, is not only for this scene here, although it is, but is it to shine out eternally for God’s pleasure? It links with your last scripture, but I was just thinking about the bride’s clothing being “bright and pure”. Every time a believer decides to read a scripture or go to a meeting instead of doing something else, it will benefit them now, but the result of it will shine eternally.

M.B.G.      I am glad you bring that scripture in, as what you have referred to – the righteousnesses of the saints – was very much in my mind, emphasising that it is good for each one of us because the righteousnesses are not qualified. It is every righteousness, and it can be the smallest, simplest decision that is a result of some moral affinity to Christ in me in some measure. It can be a child who has a simple faith in the Lord Jesus and does some small act of righteousness that we might not even think much of, but all of these things will result in what you have referred to there, “that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”. It is tremendously encouraging to think of the eternal result from these simple things.

J.A.B.      Would that be part of what you had in mind in reading about the holy city? She comes “down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God” but then it says, “Her shining …”. There will be something to be taken account of by a wondering universe, the glory of God publicly seen in what is in the assembly as a result of the kind of things you are bringing before us today.

M.B.G.      That is right. I was not sure whether to read Revelation 19 or 21, they were both in my mind, but what you say is helpful because as you say, these things are not theory or imaginary, but there will be an actual eternal result in a substantial way. Christ is the expression of God’s substance and I think what our brother brought in would help us to see this, that there will be a real substantial answer to God in the assembly and as you say, it will be seen. The glory is a moral glory, and it is being worked out at the present time. We often refer to the pearl which has been produced in circumstances of pressure and testing at the present time – that will shine, as it says here. What you say is good.

A.D.Mel.      Does the Lord’s dealing with evil in John 13 as to Judas, and then where you read in Revelation 21 about the “seven angels which had had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues”, show us that evil is dealt with and then the glory is manifested? Would that be God’s glory being displayed in that way?

M.B.G.      That is good because we can see that John 13 verse 31 relates to the greatest point of moral glory. It must be so because of what has been effected there but also because of the great result from it. As you say, evil and sin have been dealt with, sin has been condemned and then God is free to come out in blessing. There is an eternal blessed result for God’s glory and also for our blessing and enjoyment.

D.C.B.      Peter says, “we wait for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness”, 2 Pet.3:13. There will be a whole scene where everything in Christ in the assembly, and all that is under the influence of Christ through the assembly, will be morally excellent.

M.B.G.      That is good. It might link with what is worked out in suffering, as we have referred to already – the eternal weight of glory. It is the substantial moral worth and value of what has been secured for God’s glory eternally.

D.S.      Does our enjoyment of sonship underlie everything we do morally? I was thinking of what we come into the good of in the Lord’s supper and what we come into the good of in sonship. The Lord, when He was here, was in a perfect relationship with the Father and that perfect relationship was consistent with the glory of what He was morally. Is our enjoyment of the Lord’s supper then underpinned by how we walk morally?

M.B.G.      I think it must be. If we are to enjoy the Lord’s supper and what flows out from it in the service of praise, then our state must be right. Paul says, “let a man prove himself”, 1 Cor.11:28. In relation to sonship, Paul says, “if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live: for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”, Rom.8:13,14. And then in Ephesians he also wrote of being “holy and blameless before him in love”, Eph.1:4. What is moral underlies our enjoyment of divine relationships.

D.S.      It shows that this great thought of what is moral has an end in view. It is not exactly an objective in itself but it has a further end in view in order that there may be glory to God in the characteristics seen in believers who walk in relation to the will of God. The thought of sonship is enjoyed in its fulness in that sense, do you think?

M.B.G.      I think so. What is moral and what is spiritual are very closely linked. Moral matters have to be resolved for us to enjoy our spiritual blessings and we need to be in a right moral state to actually enjoy the relationship of sonship. We are sons as the scripture tells us, whether we are enjoying it or not, but to enjoy it, there needs to be right moral conditions in us.

 

Grangemouth

12 November 2022