RESPONSE FROM KNOWN RELATIONSHIPS
[p. 133] RESPONSE FROM KNOWN RELATIONSHIPS
Revelation 3: 9; Revelation 19: 7, 8; Ezekiel 16: 6 - 14; Hosea 2: 14 - 23
These passages of scripture remind us that God intends us to be in a present known relationship with Him, and that there should be affections in keeping with this relationship. I refer to these scriptures because there is so much indefiniteness amongst us as the Lord’s people; there is so little understanding and realisation of the relationship or relationships into which we are brought.
I have read from Revelation first before I come to the types, because it bears directly upon us. It is light for us, especially in these days. It enlightens us in regard to the history of the assembly, so that we need not go outside of Scripture for that history; and, moreover, it enlightens us in regard to the history of the world in which we are called to move. We get instruction as to the history of Europe and its outgoings, and incidentally, too, as regards the heathen world, so that the believer understanding Revelation is instructed in everything. He has understanding of the times and he knows what Israel ought to do. What Israel ought to do is disclosed in the message to the assembly. There we have outlined the history of the assembly as it is under the eye of Christ, and we cannot have anything more accurately presented than what is presented thus. It is presented as under the eye of Christ, not as at a distance in heaven, but as walking “in the midst of the seven golden lamps”. He is not indeed seen in heaven; for John turns round to see the voice, as he says, and he sees the Lord in the midst of the seven golden lamps.
[p. 134] The Lord in His seven messages to the assemblies conveys His thought of them. The Holy Spirit, being the One whose word we are especially called upon to hear, is also here upon earth, and is active, amplifying, and, as I may say, particularising, and applying what the Lord says authoritatively. So the attentive reader and listener is not at a loss as to the history of the assembly, nor is he at a loss as to the particular period in which his lot is cast. He knows where to begin his dates; like Ezekiel of old, he dates from the captivity; he humbly accepts the captivity, a solemn fact! and dates from it.
And so when we come to the church in Philadelphia we are able to see that certain assembly affections, as I may call them, have been brought about. You may say, It does not say that Philadelphia loves Christ, but it does say that Christ loves Philadelphia, and that surely is a greater thing; and although we are not told in so many words that Philadelphia loves Christ, yet it says so in unmistakable facts, and thus He says to her, “and hast kept my word”. It is a stronger way, indeed, to put the fact that she loves Him, because the Lord says, or said to the disciples before He left them, “If any one love me, he will keep my word”. So that the fact is undeniable that she loves Him. She has come back to a knowledge of known relationship, and to the affections that belong to it. And so the wife — another important feature of this book — “His wife has made herself ready”. Is not that a proof of known relationship? Thus we see that the book of Revelation takes account of recovery, not only of the light in Romans — the light of the gospel as in earlier days — but also of the light of Ephesians.
It is that epistle that brings out the known assembly relationship. Romans lays the basis for it, as it does of everything — as the apostle says, “That ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead”. And so in Corinthians, the second letter, Paul says, “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. These epistles lay the basis for the relationship, but Ephesians gives it to us in its fulness. He loved the assembly, we are told there, and gave Himself for it. He prepares it by “the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing”. That was said to Christians who not only knew the love of Christ, but who loved Christ. The Lord, referring to that later, says, “Thou hast left thy first love”, not My first love. The most wonderful work of God appeared in that company. The testimony was presented in such power in their midst that the saints collectively were brought into direct relation to Christ. They loved Him with first or fresh love. If you were to ask me for the proof of it, I know of no better evidence than what is recorded in Acts 20, for Scripture loves to illustrate. We have direct statements in Scripture upon which we may hang our faith with certainty, but we also have the most perfect illustrations, and so that chapter in the Acts brings out that the Ephesians loved Paul. They wept when he left them. “They all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him”. He was the representative of Christ to them; he had brought the testimony of Christ to them; he was, as I may say, the personal representative of Christ. He represented Christ personally in regard to the assembly. He had the greatest possible trust committed to him, and that was the administration of the assembly. He brought the assembly to Christ by his ministry, and the saints loved him. The Ephesians loved him. The chapter abounds with expressions and evidences of love.
Now Revelation shows that there has been a return to that, not in quantity, surely, but as I may [p. 136] say, in quality. I want to show from the types in the prophets how this has come about, for, as I said, the prophets of the Old Testament illustrate things for us; they bring in details that we do not get in the New. If we read them in the light of the New Testament they amplify the New, and bring them out, but if we approach the New from the Old, we shall subvert the New, and that is what Christendom has done. If you take up any thought in the Old Testament and carry it through into the New, it will subvert in the New what it typifies. If you take up the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament, you have details of what is definitely intended for our instruction in righteousness. So I refer to Ezekiel. I take him to represent in the Old Testament what corresponds to John in the New.
As I have already said, Ezekiel almost habitually gives dates from the captivity. He in no wise sought to hide the shame of the captivity; and so it is our wisdom to recognise at every turn the captivity of the assembly, so to speak. Ezekiel throughout his book, as you may see if you look into it, gives date after date from the captivity. The last date referred to is the twenty-fifth year of the captivity (see chapter 40: 1), and in that year the prophet is brought by the Spirit in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and set upon a very high mountain. He is brought into the full light of divine thoughts. How very fitting that he should connect the captivity with that! It is as we humbly bow to the discipline of God in His governmental dealings that we are in a position to get light as to the purposes of His love.
I refer now to chapter 16 of this prophet, and wish to show how he speaks of the beginnings of Jehovah’s relations with His people; how that He entered into a definite relation with them, but He did so on His own terms. “Yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee ... and thou becamest mine”. Let us never forget that He entered into covenant with her. He made her to live, He beautified and ornamented her, and it was the time of love; like Ephesians, there was affection, as He says in Jeremiah, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals”. There was love there, and so He took her up and entered into covenant with her and she became His. How precious is that! For I need not say that it was written for us, to remind us of what the assembly was to Christ at the beginning; how she was made to live, how she was decked with ornaments and was “exceeding beautiful”, so that she was suitable to be united to Him.
It is well to be reminded that the Lord is not satisfied with any appearances that we may put on. One is humbled at times in contemplating what is presented to Christ. The Lord’s supper is that which is specially designed to lead us to take up these covenant relations. The Lord is not prepared to be satisfied with anything. We see in this passage in Ezekiel how particular Jehovah was. If He entered into a covenant with her, it was as having a beauty which was perfect, through His comeliness which He had put upon her. The Lord looks for that in us, and so one desires to sit down and partake of the Lord’s supper as being of the assembly — of that which He has made to live, which He has washed, and anointed, and clothed, and decked with every ornament of beauty, so that it is befitting, and moreover that it should be the time of love, for that is what He looks for. That is what marked the beginning when the Lord appeared to above five hundred brethren at once. What a moment it was for Him as for them! They were brethren. They were brethren in His account. They were brethren in Paul’s account, for it is Paul who tells us of that appearing. What a moment, I repeat, it was for Him and for them! May I not say that it is the time of love?
[p. 138] What response He gets! for they were brethren, not in name only, but in reality. They were those who understood Mary’s message. That is who they were.
Now I want to show you for a moment how recovery is brought about. Hosea contemplates recovery. Jehovah says, “Behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart”, and Israel shall say, “I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now”. How many of the Lord’s dear people on earth at the present time, if they only had the light of the assembly’s pristine relation with Christ, would truthfully be able to say this? One feels for the poverty that marks many of the people of God, and so the ministry of the moment is, I believe, outlined in these verses. He says, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness ... . And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope”. That is His proposal. The ministry that is proceeding, dear brethren, is on this line. God is leading His beloved people into the light of known relationship with Him, and into the light of the assembly in relation to Christ. That is what the ministry is leading us to, if we have not yet arrived at it. “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness”; that is to say, we are separated from the world. It is not geographically so, as of old; it refers to the change in our souls. The things that interested us in the world interest us no more. The testimony of Christ has come to us, and the allurement of Christ, and the compelling power of God, would bring us outside the world as to the state of our souls so as to be brought consciously into a known relationship with Christ — a present, known relationship. She is united to Him — union is known as a present reality. And so He says, “I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth”.
Abroad in Christendom terms are being used by [p. 139] people referring to God and referring to Christ that might with equal force be used in heathendom; corresponding terms, indeed, are employed in heathendom for their deities. It is simply that the world has changed its deity, carrying over the same terms without any real understanding or knowledge of God or Christ, and that is truly nauseous to Him. So He says, I do not want that, I want terms indicating a known relationship. The Lord looks for that, for expressions disclosing what is in our hearts, not borrowed ones, not terms that can be used in the current legal systems around, but expressions which are from the heart. Hence He says, “Thou shalt call me Ishi”, meaning my husband!
In the address to Philadelphia you will note how the overcomer is promised things that belong to Christ. The terms, “the temple of my God”, “the name of my God”, “the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God”, are all a question of what belongs to Christ, and the Lord looks for expressions that come from the heart that express a known relationship with Him. Any others are objectionable to Him. Take an expression like ‘The Lord Jesus’; the apostle says, “No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit”. It is not, of course, that the words may not be employed, but it cannot be said in the sense in which the Lord accepts it, except by the Spirit. How often do we speak to Him consciously by the Spirit?
Now what we find in Romans is the action of the Spirit to bring the love of God into the heart. That is the first great service of the Spirit in Romans, and that is the basis of all further operations. The love of God is brought into the heart, because God intends to be in known relationship with us on His own terms. So the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit and in chapter 8 we cry, “Abba, Father”,
[p. 140] by the Spirit. We thus see that God would have us in conscious relationship to Himself, and that the terms expressing the responsive affections that belong to it are by the Spirit. How living, therefore, everything is! Christ’s relation to the assembly, and as between the Father and us. We say “Lord Jesus” by the Spirit, and we say “Abba, Father”, by the Spirit. So He says; I will remove all else, “I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth”. You are to say Ishi, my husband. Then He says that the relationship is to be fixed, that is, it is to be unassailable. The passage shows that the relationship is to be unassailable in the sense that a marriage bond is celebrated and no one present is to forbid it. He says, “I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies”, even also in faithfulness; He says, “I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness”. You see how impregnable the position is. Do we not need to be purified in our souls by these unassailable things? God Himself has done it. He has betrothed us to Himself, as He says, in righteousness and in judgment and in loving-kindness and in mercy and in faithfulness. Can any one forbid it? No! Just as in Romans 8 no one can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, so no one can forbid the holy bonds into which we are brought.
I think you will thus see that what God is aiming at is to give assurance of soul in the relations in which we are set, and that in these relations the Holy Spirit is the power so that there may be response in intelligent expressions, respectful surely, reverent surely, but terms that express affection and loving response to the Father and to the Son. In order to fortify us still further God makes a covenant for them, as He says, “with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground”, so that He might make them lie down safely. Such is the way in which God would encourage us and fortify us in recovery, so that we may proceed unharassed in the enjoyment of our relationship with Him.
Then it says, “I will sow her unto me in the earth”. I apprehend that by sowing He desires that there should be multiplication. For unless there be sowing, there will be a drying up and dying out. Nothing can save from natural death unless there be sowing, and so the Lord says, “I will sow her unto me in the earth”. There will also be in that day a line of communications; He says, “I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel”. He provides everything for our nourishment in this way. Have we not proved it? He is looking for the maintenance in our souls of these direct communications. We need no indirect ones. The saints have direct access to God. “I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel”. Thus there are communications; so we are not dependent upon anything in this world. We are set up in complete independence of it, in the corn and the wine. “I will sow her unto me in the earth”. The Lord is looking for multiplication, for fruit, as He said to His disciples, “That ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain”. The Lord is helping His people to increase on the line of sowing; and this involves death. That is the principle.
Although God is looking on to the day of public recognition, yet He would not give us to understand that He recognises us publicly now, because we have to accept the shame of the departure, and to reckon our dates from the captivity, but He is looking on to it. The Lord says, “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee”. What a prospect! When He says, “that I have loved thee”, He means the assembly. Nothing less than that is in His mind. Thus here He says, “Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God”.
The Lord give us the sense of it now. We know that He loves us, but He is going to make it public, and those who are of the synagogue of Satan (a terrible word!) shall come and worship before our feet (when I say ‘our’ I mean the assembly). Thus He proves that what He was to her at the beginning He is to her at the end. It is coming to light now, and so we read, “His wife hath made herself ready”, and further we read, “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints”.