FOOD TO BE EATEN ON THE SAME DAY

Exodus 12: 1–11; 16: 13–23; 29: 31–35; Leviticus 7: 11–18

GCMcK The matter that is common to all these four scriptures is what is in mind, that is, what is partaken of has to be eaten the same day and nothing has to be left over until the morning. My exercise is as to the way that we might be kept in the immediacy and power of divine things, that they never ought to become historical to us. We are greatly blessed in our gatherings and in the light that we have, but the force and power of what we have to do with has to be maintained with us. The lamb, the passover lamb, was eaten the day that it was slain, the day that it was roast with fire, and that night, for it was slain in the evening, and anything that was left over had to be burned with fire. There is no question then of that element of the death of Christ, which is presented in the passover lamb, becoming historical, becoming weakened in our souls. The manna is different, it was not an offering, and it did not speak of the death of Christ, but of His life here and the grace that is ministered to us in the wilderness. But again the question is of receiving something and appropriating it the same day so that there is instruction in that for us. One or two exceptions come in of course in the scriptures read but the principle is that what is offered has to be appropriated the same day; it has not to become historical. It seems as if even to be one day old was too old. Then we read in Exodus 29 of the ram of consecration and again the same matter applies. It is a different aspect of the death of Christ, underlying the consecration of the priestly family. The appropriation of Christ as the ram of consecration has to be kept fresh with us so that our priestly activities are kept in power. In other words, we do not get very far from the death of Christ at any point. And then the matter of fellowship in Leviticus 7 in the peace-offering, the offering of thanksgiving. There is the suggestion again that in our enjoyment of things in an occasion such as this there should be something fresh about it, that we understand that what we are enjoying derives from the death of Christ. That is where all the blessing comes from and it causes thanksgiving in our hearts and we do not stray from that. We eat on the same day that the offering is made and enjoy things freshly. That was the line of things that I thought we could perhaps speak a little over.

JS I think it is a very valuable line. We are not just living on history but things are kept living and fresh in our spirits and our souls. The Holy Spirit would have His part in maintaining freshness in our souls, do you think?

GCMcK Yes, I think that is right. One of the great activities of the Holy Spirit is to bring things freshly to us. He is here, for example, to bring in freshly the glories of Christ on high, to bring down immediately what is on high, and so it is in His power that we appropriate these things and are kept in the power of them. There is much in these four scriptures, we can hardly even attempt to cover the scope of what is involved in them all, but I wondered if in just focussing on this point we might get some touch as to the bearing of them on us.

MGW One of the things the Lord had to contend with in a rather terrible way was the tradition of what Israel had dropped into, and the Pharisees and their history and all that had been divinely accredited, but it certainly was never fresh. I take it what the Lord had to contend with was the deadness that was there in Judaism; we want to be preserved from that, do you think?

GCMcK Yes, indeed. So that is one illustration of how things so quickly become formal to us or even can be taken up in a natural way, in the flesh. It is very easy to slip that way and of course Christendom is marked by it, and we ourselves can readily be too, but we are to be kept near the death of Christ. I think there is an intensity about this eating. There were four days when they could observe the lamb that was taken and its perfection, but the actual exercise of slaying and roasting with fire and eating was an intense exercise and it involved one night and nothing was left until the morning.

MGW Does this matter of soul hunger have anything to do with this appetite for all these things that speak of Jesus and the enjoyment of them, so I am not going to leave any of this until tomorrow; I am going to feed on this and enjoy it? is this the attitude in spirit, do you think?

GCMcK The thought is that the passover lamb had to be eaten, all of it. It had to be fully appropriated and there had to be exercise to do this. Think of what the death of that lamb involved and then the roasting with fire. Think of the wrath and judgment of God falling on Jesus. So we do not lose our sense of what the Lord Jesus bore for us and the intensity of that. It never becomes historical to us.

GBG Has this offering a sin-offering character?

GCMcK It is Christ who is bearing our sins, suffering for our sins. Yes, that is right, and all around judgment was about to fall. The eaters were conscious that the destroying angel was coming, conscious that they had to be sheltered by the blood of this lamb. Then we are to be conscious, as we apply it to ourselves, of what it cost the Lord Jesus so that we might be sheltered from the judgment.

JS The intention was to get out of Egypt; they were to go out in haste, were they not? They were to eat in haste and go out as strengthened by this food. Do you think that is to be kept current in view of going out of the world and being kept out of it?

GCMcK Yes I think so, very much. If we really appropriated the fact that the Lord Jesus died so that we might not come under the judgment that is going to fall on the world, it would mean that while we are under the shelter of the blood we would not want to have part in what the judgment is going to fall on. Then they had to eat it with their loins girded and their sandals on their feet. This was no ordinary meal, partaken of during the night, dressed as to go out, eaten in haste, eaten with bitter herbs; it was no ordinary meal and therefore there is a force in it, not to be diminished by partaking of it during the next day.

NJH Jehovah’s words were “that night”—the death of Christ is very fresh to the heart and mind of God. It says in verse 8, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night”. That is the word of God. It shows how God views the death of Christ and we have to be kept in freshness ourselves. Is that your thought?

GCMcK Yes, that is right. What a night it was, the night that judgment fell, that was the night.

NJH It was Jehovah’s passover. What that night meant to God! What it was intended to mean to Israel!

GCMcK Quite so, what it meant to God, what was foreshadowed in that passover lamb, what cost—so that the people might be secured. So divine feelings enter into these things that we have read; the death of Christ enters into them. Of course the manna does not speak of that but the other three speak of the death of Christ, and the thought is then that we should have a keen and fresh sense of what that death means and in its various aspects.

JAG It would help us to maintain a deepening sense of God’s mercy and draw our hearts nearer to Christ.

GCMcK Yes, quite so. Well, we are not speaking of the Supper, the passover is preparatory to it, but really I think this leads in that direction. We gather as ready to respond to the love of Christ, having some sense of the privilege of that occasion, and able to enter into what God has in His heart for us. It is all leading to that direction, is it?

JAG We might say sincerity and truth in its fulness in the lamb; we appropriate that.

GCMcK Yes, “our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”, 1 Corinthians 5: 7. That brings it into New Testament language. How that must affect us. That has happened; He has died, has been sacrificed. So we keep the feast and the corresponding matter on our side is keeping the feast of unleavened bread.

JS The exhortation for us is, to celebrate the feast with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Do you think the way that is said indicates there is no time exactly, it would suggest that it is a continual matter?

GCMcK Yes, I am sure that celebrating the feast would be that, it is something that we are maintained in. The unleavened bread was eaten in the seven days. I suppose it was a continuous exercise the whole week, the whole period. So we do not leave this behind; we often say the passover was celebrated not only in Egypt, but in the wilderness and in the land later. We do not leave this aspect of the death of Christ behind. It forms us in self-judgment and in love for Christ, in view of the other things that God has in His heart for us.

DER So tomorrow morning, if the Lord will, we shall call to mind the Lord Jesus as He is currently living, not an event which happened over nineteen hundred years ago.

GCMcK Yes, quite so. Of course in the Supper we remember the love that lay behind what He did. Here we are feeding on the passover lamb, we are feeding on the suffering lamb, the grace of the suffering lamb. That prepares us to enter fully and freshly into a sense of His love at the Supper.

CKR In Deuteronomy 16 there is a reference to the passover, “that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life”, Deuteronomy 16: 3. Is there something similar in that, the experience is to be remembered and also to be a fresh motivation to us?

GCMcK Yes, quite so, “all the days of thy life”, so it never becomes historical in that sense. You might say each day freshly we can thank God for what Christ suffered for us, how our sins were covered, how we were sheltered from the judgment. Our affections are formed further, but that remains a great foundation in our souls.

MGW What you have just said about the blood, and we are under the shelter of the blood, that maybe had a lot of weight in many of our souls and in my soul too, but it is not only being under the shelter of the blood that you are concerned about but actually feeding on this matter.

GCMcK Yes, feeding on it. The lamb was there for the four days; think of what was involved in the household to see that lamb slain, the lamb that had been there, and then it was roast with fire, and then you would eat it in a certain way, it was a memorable feast. It is to bring this aspect of the death of Christ forcibly into our hearts so that, as our brother says, we want to get out of the whole realm of sin altogether. We want to get out of this whole scene because Christ has redeemed us in view of that.

JS It was not to be eaten raw or boiled with water, but roast with fire. Do you think it is to impress us with the severity of the judgment that the Lord Jesus bore?

GCMcK I think that is right. The boiling would mitigate it by the indirect application of the heat. Boiling has its own place in the offerings, we read of that elsewhere, but roast with fire and eating it with bitter herbs, it really comes into your own heart and conscience, that it really was for you, so there is self-judgment involved in it. It is a pungent exercise I think to be kept freshly in our hearts.

NJH While John does not refer to the passover in the beginning of Revelation, “To him who loves us” means that things are very fresh in his affections, “and has washed us from our sins in his blood”, Revelation 1: 5.

GCMcK Yes, quite so, it causes an outflow of praise and thanksgiving and it proves that the thing is never left behind. We continually carry this great matter forward and in carrying it forward it does not become historical; eating it the same day suggests that it never becomes historical. Yesterday’s impression will not do, it has to be today’s impression.

DBB “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear”, Isaiah 50: 4. It is something fresh we need every morning, is it not?

GCMcK Yes, we get that especially with the manna. This morning in Exodus 12 was the morning of leaving Egypt. When the morning dawned then they went; they did not wait any longer. They were getting clear of Egypt, they were moving towards the Red Sea and out of the power of Satan. That was it figuratively. So the morning is an important point. We could dwell on that as to the manna, what comes freshly every morning.

DBB I was thinking of your exercise that you cannot keep it until the morrow, you cannot store it up, you have to have what is fresh each day.

GCMcK Well, I think that is right. With regard to the manna, it would keep you in complete dependence knowing that next morning there would be a fresh supply of grace. The morning can be a difficult time; you might waken up in the morning and things may seem bleak. You look over the wilderness with a difficult day ahead of you, but as you look over the wilderness it is covered with the manna. You say, there is a provision there. These are exercises we face.

GBG Is not self-judgment really moment by moment; it is not simply in the morning is it, it is constant?

GCMcK Yes, repenting sinners we often speak of. It is a thing that deepens with us, do you think?

GBG Yes, I think so, but the enemy of our souls is against us all the time. The severe judgment of God against sin in the death of Christ is educative for us. You see what God thinks about sin and you judge yourself in the Spirit’s power in the light of it. It is moment by moment, is it not?

GCMcK Yes, I think that is helpful. As has been said, I think by Mr. Stoney, if you want to see what God thinks about sin you do not look at the lake of fire, you look at the cross. The whole wrath of God was poured out on Christ there for us that we might be sheltered. So that is to enter into our constitutions, because this matter of eating means that it becomes constitutional with us. We feed on this food and we are formed by it in our affections and consciences.

JAG Do we understand and appreciate what holiness is, what God’s nature is, and then the fulness of His grace is going to come out towards us?

GCMcK Yes, quite so, because that same sacrifice that involved such sufferings for Christ, involved that the fulness of the love of Gad came out. That is where it came out. The only way you might say that the love of God in its fulness could come out was that Christ died.

JAG And so the lamb is extremely attractive. That is where we begin to appreciate the attractiveness of the Lord Jesus.

GCMcK Yes, quite so. These four days, we often speak about them, possibly rather like the four gospels. There is plenty to contemplate in the Scriptures in regard to the attractiveness of Christ in His pathway here, the holy One and yet He had to die. That is what they would think, the lamb did not deserve to die, but it had to die.

JS It was such a One who had to die.

GCMcK Yes, such a One, the only One who had a right to live before God. He was the One who had to die on our account.

CKR Have you something in mind in Exodus 12, it is the household setting?

GCMcK No, not specifically. The whole assembly is in view, of course. It is really preparatory to the assembly but it is a household exercise. I think that everybody in the household had to be affected by this, down to the youngest. What would you say?

CKR The bearing of that is the environment where it can be appreciated, is it not, where the death of Christ can be the subject of conversation for instance?

GCMcK I think that is good. As part of the household constitution for a household has a character, and households are given character by this feast.

AMcK The neighbour is brought in in the first scripture. It involves that it is going to take in the whole fellowship. You look at your neighbour and you get the same impression as he has, and you help him if his house is too small.

GCMcK It is a matter that unites us. The truth does unite us, and this particular exercise unites us because we all needed that Lamb, every one of us, every household. They all had to eat the flesh that night. They would become united in this exercise, they were all repenting, they were all being deepened in the matter.

MGW What we have in the manna seems to be the special goodness and grace of Jehovah in response to

murmuring among the people, a kind of discontentment and dissatisfaction. Is it rather a lovely way that grace seeks to help us to feed our souls, it puts an end to being unsettled and disquieted and grumbling about this, that and the other? There is a glory that appears in connection with this too. Can you help us as to that?

GCMcK Well I can see that in this section they are typically young believers just out of Egypt and God is very gracious with them. They can murmur but God will provide for them. They demand flesh and He will give them flesh, and there will be no punishment with it.

Then He brings in what is really in His heart for them, suppose it is the grace of Christ that is in His heart for them to sustain them in the wilderness. It is Aaron speaking that turns them towards the wilderness and they see the glory. I suppose it is a priestly touch that affects our hearts.

JS Does the manna suggest the feeding on what Christ was in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life according to the will of God?

GCMcK Yes, that is what I understand. He was here in ordinary circumstances, the son of the carpenter. He was here, sin apart, but in the ordinary circumstances of life. He knew what it was to be in a household, for example, where Peter’s mother-in-law was in a fever, laid down. He knew all these circumstances but He brought divine grace into these circumstances and that becomes food for us.

JS Would that help us to accept the circumstances where we are set in the will of God? We do not try to improve them. It says in Psalm 16, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places” (Psalm 16: 6).

GCMcK I think that is the manna psalm. It really speaks of the spirit of Christ as dependent. “I trust in thee” (Psalm 16: 1), he says. It would keep you dependent then, not storing up for tomorrow’s problems but getting help for today. It is a day-by-day exercise with divine grace coming in to help you and it comes in as our brother was saying in the morning.

JAG Our motivation then becomes like the Lord’s motivation, it causes us to do things.

GCMcK Yes, the will of God becomes important to us. We begin to see the beauty of the One who did God’s will in every circumstance here and that becomes a motive to us, does it?

JAG Yes, I thought so. They all have a staff, they all have experience with God, and they are increasing in their experience as they feed upon the manna, and everybody gets the same. No matter how much you gather you just get the same amount; children, grownups and everybody; they all get the same amount.

GCMcK Yes, I suppose it means that you get as much as you are going to need for that day. Whatever is going to arise that day you have enough manna to get you through it. Is that the thought?

JAG Yes, I think so.

MGW Israel had never seen this before, they said, “What is it?” It is a lovely question, “What is it?” Can we search that out? It was something fine, granular, fine as hoar frost on the ground. The children of Israel saw it and said to one another, “What is it?”

GCMcK Yes, eventually they gave it a name. It shows the thing had to be proved, it had to be experienced. It is a good question to ask. You might think it portrays ignorance but it just means that you are going to be ready for this experience and to find out what it is. It is the grace of Christ that is displayed in His pathway here, that is what it represents. Actually it comes down from heaven, it comes down and lands on the dew every morning; there is a heavenly supply of that grace.

DER Manna was available every day but exercise was required on the people’s part in order to go and gather it, to find time to go and gather the manna and appropriate it. Could you help us as to that?

GCMcK It is just a practical matter but it does need energy. The dew just came, they did not have to do anything, nobody can; that is just the divine side, that would bring refreshment into our souls, to prepare us and give some sense of divine grace to help us, so that we might be exercised to go and be energetic in getting the manna each morning.

JS It was to be gathered before the sun was hot. Does that mean that we need it freshly and quickly in view of what may arise in the day?

GCMcK Yes. Sometimes in practice some of us fail in that and the heat of the day arises and we are caught out, we are not equipped for it; but think of the grace of God that would say that whatever is going to arise in your everyday life, I have a supply for it. It is there for you, you just collect it, it will come down on top of the dew, it will be there, just collect it every morning. There it is for you, you will get through the wilderness this way. What grace was in it!

GBG Is it when it affects my spirit that I am actually partaking of the manna; it needs to affect my spirit?

GCMcK That is helpful, I am sure that is right; say some more.

GBG I might read a scripture but if it does not by the Spirit affect my spirit in relation to the heavenly order of manhood that was here in ordinary circumstances I have not really partaken of the manna.

GCMcK Yes, I can see that that is right because what is going to arise in your wilderness path is going to test your spirit, going to test you in possibly quite a deep way, but then having fed on the manna you will have imbibed from that spirit some of that grace that was in Christ.

GBG So that is the grace affecting your spirit, is it not?

GCMcK That is right. So it was not to be left over; Moses was wroth with those who left it over. What was left over stank, worms bred in it. It is the immediacy of the thing. I think it is important to be reading the ministry. I would stress that too, but we need a fresh touch in our souls each day. You may get it through reading the ministry, of course.

MGW Do we need to think sympathetically about our beloved brothers and sisters who have to get up and go out to work in the mornings?—retirement is wonderful. We can pray and look into the Word without one eye on the clock, but for these other beloved brethren in employment, it is not always easy, the children have to be cared for too. We can maybe think about them in our prayers in this regard and in our local meeting that they will get this touch, but I need to be restful and quiet in my spirit to get that special something that the Lord would give me every morning by the Spirit, do you think?

GCMcK I think if you are committed to it the Lord will give you the grace to do something. It is the household head’s responsibility to get something for the household, an omer a head, to make sure that everyone gets a little touch in their spirit. It does not take much to do what our brother is saying, to affect you in your spirit. It just needs a touch, something comes into your soul of divine grace, some touch as to Christ.

GBG It can proceed throughout the day also. A test might arise throughout the day and you might need the manna just right there and then to help you in your spirit. You might be tested at work and you need the manna in the wilderness surroundings to come out in the Spirit of Christ.

GCMcK Yes, that is good. If you have received the manna in the morning then the supply is there and you know it is going to last you the day. We are sometimes in difficult times, people working and family difficulties and so on; you wonder how you are going to get through the day but there is divine provision for doing it, for meeting it without showing anything but the Spirit of Christ.

JS It came down on the dew, what does that mean?

GCMcK I can see that the dew is just there, but you have to go out and collect the manna. You do not do anything about the dew, it just comes. It seems to be something sovereign from on high, that God gives you as a touch in your soul.

JS I was just thinking that from the divine side it comes down on the dew. Is there a suggestion of the freshness of the Spirit in that?

GCMcK Yes, it might well be that one of the best things to do when you waken up is to turn to the Spirit immediately. That would perhaps make way for the touch of refreshment in your soul, and then you will find the energy to go and fetch some manna. There are exceptions to this matter, for on the sixth day they were to gather twice as much. It seems that there was spiritual energy needed to make special provision for the sabbath showing that the manna and the wilderness stresses that we go through, are not unrelated to the rest we want to enter into on the sabbath.

JAG Taken with honey it would be pretty tasty, it would really be a stimulant.

GCMcK Yes, I would think so. If you look at the references to cakes in scripture they all seem to suggest substantial goodness, and you get strength from them and the honey would be specially sweet.

JAG Yes, I think so. I do not know if they ever tasted honey in Egypt but they can certainly name its taste. That is what its taste is; as the hymn says, ‘Whose faintest whisper makes our souls rejoice’ (Hymn 213).

GCMcK Yes, very good.

JS When you think of this suggestion of the double quantity of manna gathered on the sixth day, we are thinking of more than just getting through the wilderness, we are thinking of entering into this great matter of rest, do you think?

GCMcK Yes, the wilderness is not the ultimate. We have to go through it, we have to face the exercises, but there is something in your heart that is beyond that, the rest of God in Christ which we are privileged to share. God is delighting in His rest in Christ. So in our wilderness exercises we are looking forward to that constantly. We are going to enter into rest too.

JS So that would take you in your spirit beyond the wilderness to where God finds His settled rest in Christ.

GCMcK Well, there is quite a lot to cover in the other scriptures if the Lord gives us a touch. In Exodus 29 there has already been a great deal said about the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the offerings of the bullock and the two rams and so on. There is much that can be brought out; the second ram, the ram of consecration, the blood of which is put on the ears, toes, thumb and so on; then there is the application of the blood and there is the offering of it to Jehovah too and Jehovah’s portion. Then where we read it comes to the question of boiling the ram of consecration and eating its flesh in a holy place, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. I understand that this ram of consecration represents Christ in His entire devotion to the will of God to secure the saints for God as priests. So we have to take character in our priestly exercises from the ram of consecration. We are to be devoted in a similar way in our affections to what is for God. The eating of it would be a very important matter.

NJH It says in verse 33, “They shall eat the things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to hallow them”, so it has a very great effect on the state of the participants. Is that right?

GCMcK Well, that is the thought. When they filled their hands with these gifts in the previous section, with what was presented to God of the wave-offering, that means consecration; the word means their hands were filled. They are identifying with these beautiful features of Christ, but then they had to eat of the ram of consecration, eat its flesh, so that they take character from Christ in this way. Again it is an immediate thing, it is not to be left over until the morning, so that our priestly activities are never to become formal or to decline, because we keep near the death of Christ and the ram of consecration.

JAG I was thinking of Mark and how he came back to this. He gives us the straightways and the immediatelys of the Lord in His service, and that is consecration, is it not?

GCMcK Yes, no hesitation, no turning back. Mark had known what it was to turn back, but consecration is the opposite of that and he came into that as recovered.

JAG Thoroughly enjoying it.

GCMcK Why should such a person be given the privilege of writing such a gospel? Well, it is divine grace but no doubt his experience equipped him to do it, what he had passed through.

JS This was at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Had you something in your mind about that?

GCMcK Well, it is not the household matter that the first two scriptures we read allude to. It is connected to the service of God and the tent of meeting, so therefore it is eating that has in view the service of God, our praises and our worship and our conduct in relation to His service, do you think?

JS So do you think that would have in mind that it is to be sustained in freshness as we feed on Christ in this way, the whole priestly service is for God’s pleasure?

GCMcK Yes, I think that is right. The service therefore is maintained in true priestly character as taking character from the ram of consecration, the ram and the bread too.

MGW The death of Jesus and the sufferings in death and the shedding of His precious blood brings me into a standing in comfort before God totally acceptable. The priesthood is mine, this is what grace has done for me. But this side of the truth, is this to maintain me in the good and the state of soul that should be mine as one so greatly blessed, so greatly accepted, set up in Christ before God? This would maintain me in a state proper to that and in the joy of it too, do you think?

GCMcK That is right, it would maintain me in a state and in an activity that corresponds with the privilege that I have of being a priest. The priesthood in the service of God is not formal, and it does not decline because you eat of the ram the same day. They eat it seven days as far as I can see. They were consecrated according to verse 35 seven days, so there was a lot of eating, they kept near the sacrifice, I suppose, for the whole seven days.

MGW I think you are putting your finger on something quite vital here. I think we have to blush, we do in this locality anyway, looking back on some of our so-called priestly activity when we have not been near enough to God because we have not been feeding. We have taken up the position which belongs to us, and especially in the administration and so on, but to administer and enjoy in deep soul satisfaction and in a way that is according to God, this would all come about by truly feeding on this ram of consecration, would you think?

GCMcK Yes, indeed it would, and on the bread too. So what they presented to God and what they ate was to give them character. There were these cakes of oiled bread. There were these features of the manhood of Jesus that were being brought out, a cake of oiled bread. It is the Lord Jesus as the blessed anointed One; you get these features in the basket that were presented so we have an appreciation of that too, and then the ram involving its devotion unto death to secure a priestly company for God.

JS So do you think the death of Christ as presented in Luke’s gospel corresponds very much?

GCMcK That helps, the priestly gospel; say more.

JS I was thinking of His words, “but then, not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. Then His sufferings on the cross are not presented with the same intensity in Luke’s gospel as they are in the gospels of Matthew and Mark.

GCMcK It is not so much a question of the intensity of the Lord’s sufferings as in Matthew and Mark, but the suggestion I think is that the love and devotion that lay behind what He did is to be appreciated.

JR Is the ram of consecration seen supremely in the bread, the body in which the will of God was carried out, and according to Paul, “my body … for you”, 1 Corinthians 11: 24?

GCMcK Yes, I think these scriptures, especially these offerings, would lead us in the direction of the Supper, and in our experience, as we take up these exercises before us this afternoon, we would have a deeper appreciation of what the Supper means, including the offering of the Lord’s body in entire devotion and consecration.

NJH Can we really have proper assembly conditions, local assembly conditions, without going through this matter of consecration here?

GCMcK Well, characteristically the assembly is a holy and spiritual place. It is what is priestly that governs. Is that what you think?

NJH Reference was made to Luke. There was evidently a priestly company set out there, Simeon and Anna for instance, but it sets out the conditions that are required. It does not depend, in one sense, so much on what is levitical; it is priestly. Is that not the condition that the local assembly should be supported and sustained in?

GCMcK Yes, I would think that. Luke has in mind the house of God, he has in mind the public aspect of the assembly in his gospel, and that there should be a priestly state underlying what happens, so that the service of God in His house is suitable in every way, as spiritual.

JAG Paul’s handling of Onesimus and Philemon is surely a manifestation of this, and the feeding upon it would help us in how we move and handle the local brethren or any of the brethren really.

GCMcK Yes, we are very much tested when it comes to practical matters as to the priestly display of things, but the consecration of the priesthood is to bring all the wealth of what Christ was in His devotion, and all the beautiful features of His manhood into our constitutions. So that all contributes I think to priestly skill.

JS Do you think if we appreciate the devotedness of Christ to the will of God, we will also appreciate that feature where it has come to light in the saints?

GCMcK Yes, so we can look on the priestly company of Aaron and his sons. Think of the dignity of the saints, Christ you might say and the assembly, the brethren in their full dignity as taking character from Christ, their priestly service taking character from His.

EJM Does Romans really develop priesthood? In Romans 6, “ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life”, beginning there really (Romans 6: 22).

GCMcK I suppose there is an appreciation developed in Romans of Christ’s death, and the activities of divine grace being towards us to meet our need in the first instance; but then to set us up in life and develop priestly instincts in us as linked up with Christ, the new Husband. I rather think it is like the priest, you are linked up with Him in your affections, and you become priestly in your exercises. So I think it all contributes to that.

JAG Aaron and his sons in Israel were really the ruling class, and feeding upon this extends their influence, and what is influential among the brethren cannot be overlooked, cannot be denied. I mean it is so obvious, you cannot miss it.

GCMcK Well, I do not think this would be a mere ceremony for Aaron and his sons; it would mark them for the rest of their lives, the experience of this. It would come out in their conduct among the saints, among the people of God. Well perhaps we should look a little at Leviticus. There again we have the thought of what is eaten; it is the peace-offering in Leviticus 7: 11, “the law of the sacrifice of peace-offering”. In verse 12 it is presented by someone for a thanksgiving. It is the prosperity offering; the idea is that you have such a sense of divine blessing that you want to bring a thanksgiving offering; and not only that but you want to share it with others too. So no matter what you offer it would no doubt involve an appreciation of the death of Christ as the source of all our blessing. If we are enjoying anything today, dear brethren, it has its source in the death of Christ. That is where it came from, the sacrifice of Christ. That is why you bring your sacrifice of peace-offering and we can feed on it.

JS Do you think that is why the matter of fellowship in 1 Corinthians 10 is related to the death of Christ?

GCMcK Yes, quite so. “The cup of blessing which we bless”, that is the blessedness of the fellowship. That is what belongs to us, a great privilege, but then it is the fellowship of the blood of the Christ, so we have to understand that it has its bearing on us, and delivers us from all other fellowships and relations so that we might be happily enjoying the peace-offering among the brethren.

JS We should be concerned that what we have, what we do, where we go in the way of fellowship involves all the brethren and really has to be consistent with the death of Christ, do you think?

GCMcK That is right. If we drift away from a sense of the import of the death of Christ, both as a means of bringing in all the blessing that we are enjoying, and also as separating us from the world and evil associations, then the fellowship will decline, things will become weaker, we will not enjoy true Christian fellowship, for the fellowship is a real thing, not just a form.

JAG “Lazarus was one of those at table with him” (John 12: 2), involves fellowship.

GCMcK Yes. Lazarus was there. We do not need to say anything to enjoy things. Maybe we need to sharpen up in our vocabulary as to what a fellowship meeting really means, do you think? It means we are all sharing, from the youngest to the oldest. We are sharing one another’s appreciation of Christ and the blessings that He has brought us into. If a brother makes a remark that brings in help, we all share what he has.

JS Do you think that as we appreciate the point of that sharing, in this mutual sense in divine things, that it would help us to appreciate maybe more than we do the point of fellowship meetings?

GCMcK Yes, I think so. They are meetings for enjoyment; this is one of the most joyous of the offerings, I think. It is an opportunity to enjoy things and nobody is barred, every one who is clean can eat of it. It is open for everyone to come in and enjoy it.

CKR Paul really appreciated the Philippians, do you think something of this was arrived at in Philippi? I think right from the start the jailor took them the same hour of the night and washed them from their stripes in Acts 16, as though things were set on there; but was there some currency there as to the peace-offering conditions in Philippi that Paul particularly appreciated?

GCMcK Yes, I think that is right. There were special felicitous conditions in that locality which involved joy, and I think the peace-offering involves a certain joy in our hearts. It is in Philippians where we get some beautiful allusions to the Lord Jesus in the second chapter, as treasure brought out to be enjoyed among the saints. I think that is why Paul was so concerned about unity in Philippi, not to spoil this enjoyment of the fellowship, because lack of unity of judgment in outlook could spoil it. Nearness to the death of Christ removes the disparity between us, and we are one in our judgments and in our enjoyment of things.

GBG So the earlier exercises we have spoken of today in an individual way really underlay the enjoyment of fellowship, would you say? What am I introducing among the saints? What is my spirit like? Have I a priestly outlook? That kind of thing all underlies what I contribute when we are together, do you think, in our mutual relations?

GCMcK Quite so. If you look abstractly at these things, if our households were fully in the gain of the passover lamb and the unleavened bread, and we were sustained in reaching the end of the week, sustained by the manna each day, and if we have a touch in our souls as to the consecration-offering, we will arrive at this offering. What richness would be with us! It would surely be an offering of thanksgiving. We would be thankful, giving thanks to the Father.

JS The first part is to be for God, the heave-offering. I think it is very important for us to realise that in this matter of fellowship, we are thinking first of all what is for God.

GCMcK I think that is very important. I am glad you say that, and that is what we must not get away from because the offering for God involves the altar. The fat was to be burned on the altar first as an offering by fire to God of a sweet odour (Leviticus 3: 3–5). So I think God gets His portion and then we are preserved and enjoy ours.

JAG It is very precious and a wonderful privilege that God partakes of it along with us.

GCMcK Yes, and that preserves and maintains the

level of it. It does not ever become just a friendly thing between brothers or a kind of social thing; it is a holy matter.

JAG So in the local meetings and meetings like this there is wonderful liberty because everybody is appreciating the same thing; if there is bondage there is something wrong.

GCMcK I think that is right. We do not want anything like bondage; we want everybody to be free, and not only free as they come to the meeting and enjoy what is said but free to contribute. That is the spirit of this peace-offering, you contribute. You say I have something to share too, I have some appreciation of Christ, I have something to give thanks for, and you let the brethren share it, do you think?

JAG That is how things increase.

GCMcK Quite so, “our commonwealth”; it is what we all enjoy together in the dignity and greatness of it.

DER So before the reference to the presentation of the offering of the sacrifice of peace-offering, there is the presentation of leavened bread in verse 13.

GCMcK Yes, leavened bread comes in in connection with this offering; say more about that.

DER Does that show that where fellowship can be rightly enjoyed the flesh must cease to work?

GCMcK Well that is right. It is very testing. You just have to acknowledge that the flesh is in us. It is a question then of what is available to us to meet the matter of the flesh and sin so that it is not active amongst us at all. We have fellowship with one another as walking in the light “and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1: 7), so there is clearance. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”, but then “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” in view of enjoying fellowship with one another.

MGW So that really we have a sacrifice here that God is enjoying, the preciousness of what Christ was to God, but we are enjoying that too, so in a way we have that common joy with God, speaking reverently, in a delight in all that was in Jesus.

GCMcK That is right, and you are eating it the same day it is sacrificed, as fresh in your affections, the sacrifice of Christ and all the blessing that He has brought us into, and all that He has done for God. We are eating it the same day although again there is an exception, because in verse 16 it says, “if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or voluntary, it shall be eaten the same day that he presented his sacrifice; on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten”. So in this particular case there is a possibility of going on another day with it.

The person making this offering has made a vow; there is some kind of intensity of exercise about this offering that means it can be sustained a little longer. Would that be right?

JAG Yes, I think so. He is so committed that he can sustain it, he can be sustained. I think your reference to John’s epistle is very good, about the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleansing us from all sin, so that we are available at any time for the fellowship, and then “our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we to you that your joy may be full”, 1 John 1: 3, 4.

GCMcK Yes, very good. So that is Philippians again, the joy among the saints where these things are rightly appreciated.

JS To go to John’s epistle again, “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”, is that a matter of being governed by the light that has come to us from God?

GCMcK It is indeed. You might hardly feel able for it, to “walk in the light as he is in the light”, but that is the level of the fellowship; but then there is provision for cleansing so that we can enter into this fellowship and, to be in the gain of that provision, I suppose we have to keep near to the death of Christ. The judgment of sin that is expressed there too is to be consciously with us always, so that we never enter into fellowship and enjoyment without some sense of the bearing of the death of Christ.

NJH The communion of the blood of the Christ comes first as we know in 1 Corinthians 10. That is important, is it not? It is what that death closed up, finished in the death of Christ, we have to be in accordance with. You might pick certain attractive beautiful features of His life, but it is done through the communion of the blood of the Christ; is that right?

GCMcK Exactly, and that very cup of blessing which we bless expresses that, the shedding of His blood. We can eulogise that cup and say much about our blessings, but then the corresponding balancing thing is that we remember it is the communion of the blood of the Christ and that separates us from every other earthly association so that we can enjoy this chapter. There is no question of eating anything the third day—however devoted the offering, on the third day you cannot eat it. If you do it goes on to say that “it shall be an unclean thing”. It is like the fellowship becoming just formal and declining because there is nothing fresh, we have not been kept near to the peace-offering.

CKR It says as to John the baptist, “Again, on the morrow”, it is almost like a touch of the second day, is it not? “Behold, the Lamb of God”, John 1: 35, 36.

GCMcK Yes, very good. It is almost as if he was increasing in his enjoyment of the thing as the days passed. I think it is for the divine pleasure that these things are maintained in freshness amongst us, not only for our blessing.

Reading at Dundee
28 June 2003

KEY TO INITIALS

D. B. Bodman

A. McKay

J. Ritchie

J. A. Gardiner

G. C. McKay

C. K. Robinson

G. B. Grant

E. J. Mair

J. Strachan

N. J. Henry

D. E. Remmington

M. G. Wood

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