REVELATION - GENERAL AND SPECIAL
REVELATION — GENERAL AND SPECIAL
In what I have to say, I desire to point out the distinction that has to be made in the things of God between that which is general and that which is special. The declaration of God spoken of in John 1 is general, whereas that referred to in chapter 17, and amplified in chapter 20, is special. My impression is that Christians generally are content with the former, and, indeed, it is in a very limited way, that even that is understood. Now what is general is very wonderful in itself, for the revelation of God extends to all in this present dispensation, and will extend to millennial times in the future. It is not said to be made to any class in particular, it is for all. John tells us, “the only begotten Son ... he hath declared him”, without saying to whom; but when you come to chapter 17 the Lord is speaking to the Father, and the chapter, which stands by itself, discloses to us the breathings of His heart, not as regards the world, but as to those given to Him out of the world. He is thinking specially of them, and He ends by saying, “I have declared unto them thy name”. It is not simply “declared”, as in chapter 1, but “declared unto them“: and then in chapter 20 He enlarges upon this, when the hour of it arrives; that is to say, the enlargement or development of it is in spiritual surroundings in the upper room in Jerusalem. The difference in this way lies between what is in the upper room in Jerusalem and what is public.
The thought of the revelation in John 1 is typified by the sun in the heavens, and one would love to [p. 118] know more of it. It is impartial, for it shines on every man. No one in the good of the revelation of God could be a partisan; he would be in accord with God and therefore impartial. In this sense locality is nothing to him; he is not concerned about his own locality more than others; of course, local responsibility has its place in another connection. I say this, because of the great disposition of our hearts to be local. If you consider the development of church history and the Romish system, the latter claims to be catholic, whereas the very conception of it is local. Rome is a locality dominating a much wider area; that is the idea, but no locality on earth is great enough to dominate the house of God. The Son of God in heaven is over it; this is the thought presented in Scripture. Christ is Son over God’s house. Romanism is local in the conception of it, and is thus not in keeping with the revelation of God.
In John 1 we have that word, “The true light was that which, coming into the world, is light to every man”. John the baptist was not that light; he was a burning and a shining light, but his ministry, although it witnessed to Christ, was local as having reference to Israel. He was greater than all who went before him, but his light had reference to that nation. Hence he was not the true light. “The true light was that which, coming into the world, is light to every man”. That light was not partial, it was not local or circumscribed, but general. It takes account of every man, and shines for all; so the Spirit of God goes on to say, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. It does not say to whom; it is the plain statement of the all-transcendent, wonderful fact that the God, who had never been seen at any time, is now declared. The sun shines not only on every country, but on [p. 119] every man; and the knowledge of God in a man renders him a light, and no one is really such who is merely local in his feelings and aspirations.
Now it is in this connection that the house of God stands, and it must be that in which God shines out universally. It is not only a place in which He lives, but it is also a place in which God shines. It is said of the heavenly city that it “lieth four-square”, (Revelation 21:16) that is, it is universal. It has the glory of God; it comes down “having the glory of God”, (verse 1) and that must not be restricted. So the house is in the light of the revelation of God. It is not formally treated of in local epistles, it is a general idea; it is not centred in any locality, it is centred in heaven. It is spoken of as the “gate of heaven”, (Genesis 28). In “the gate” we have set forth all that is in heaven. The first mention of the house is in connection with a ladder set up between earth and heaven, giving the thought of communication with heaven. Jacob, when he awakes, says, “How dreadful is this place”. (verse 17) His statement indicates the state he was in, but he also says, “this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”. Heaven would have a means of communication with earth, and on earth man is the chief object. Therefore in 1 Timothy, prayers in the house have all men in view, kings and all that are in authority, “for God is one”. As revealed, God has not one thought for this nation, and another for that. “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”, (1 Timothy 2:5). That is what should mark the house, and I speak thus that in our souls we may be catholic, that we may emerge from being merely local; that while maintaining local responsibility we may have love to all the saints, and have all men in view for blessing. Paul speaks of the Colossians and Ephesians as having love “to all the saints”; so in Timothy the prayers enjoined indicated that those who prayed were sympathetic with God as dwelling in His house. Therefore we are neither to be local nor national, but catholic. I use the word catholic advisedly, as it expresses the idea that is in my mind; every part of the house is dominated by Christ, and each part is of interest to Him, He supports in His sympathy every one in it. He is the great Priest over the house of God in order that He may maintain our souls in accord with God; it is a great thing that we should be enlarged in our affections.
Now in John 17 the Lord is speaking, not of the world, nor of all men, but of His own. This is intensely interesting, involving, as it does, what is special, and it is not connected with any particular locality. It is general in the sense that it belongs to all that class of persons that the Lord has in His mind; that is, the apostles, and including “them also which shall believe on me through their word”.
In Matthew 16 He had raised the question with Peter and the disciples as to who He was; a question that tested their hearts. The Lord’s questions are generally intended as tests; He knows what answers will be given, but He propounds questions as tests by which our state and measure are disclosed. The test is as to where I am, and my speech indicates where I am. “Whom say ye that I am?” the Lord inquired. It was a question that no one but Peter could answer, and the explanation of his ability to answer it is, that the Father revealed it to him. There never had been such an one as he on earth before, a man who could be designated Peter. He was able to answer this momentous question, “Whom say ye that I am?” He said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. It was a perfect answer, and the Lord immediately responds, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and [p. 121] blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven”. It was a revelation; it was not a general revelation, but a private one, and we have to understand this, we have to understand what it is to receive light in our souls as to Christ from the Father. The revelation constituted Peter a stone, material for the building. His answer was unequivocal. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. It is as if he said, ‘I see a man through whom God can effect all His will, and in whom His power is set forth’. Have you seen Christ in this way? John the baptist said, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3) but Peter virtually said, ‘He is before me’.
The woman in John 4 said, “When he is come he will tell us all things”, and the Lord said in reply, “I that speak unto thee am he”. The Father did not tell her that. You may say it was a revelation; but no, it was the statement of a fact: it was light by the Lord’s word as to the Person before her, but not a revelation from the Father; she was not constituted a stone by that. Peter’s case was unique. When John the baptist saw Jesus coming unto him, be said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. In that blessed Man coming to him he saw in prophetic vision the One who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus was fulfilling all righteousness, and John sees in Him the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. That was the light, I repeat, in which Christ appeared to John when He walked towards him, as “he sees Jesus coming to him”.
Then the next day John “stood”. The Christ had come, the One through whom God would accomplish all His will had come, and John stands. He says, as it were, ‘my work is done, the Son of God has come, He will do everything now’. The woman in John 4 said, “he will tell us all things”, but John [p. 122] implies by standing that He will do all things. Then in chapter 3 John is listening to Christ; he was standing and hearing Him, but all this did not constitute John a stone, and this only emphasises the unique nature of the revelation to Peter. The revelation to him indicated a new beginning in which the Father took the initiative; He laid the foundation of a new structure. “The Christ” implies that God has in a Man one through whom He can effectuate all His thoughts; “the Son of the living God” is the vessel and expression of His power. The gates of hell cannot prevail against a building reared up on this foundation. “The Son of the living God” suggests the power of life.
There is nothing that abounds in Scripture more than this great theme of life; what exercise of soul must an Old Testament saint have gone through as he saw king after king and priest after priest die, sacrifice after sacrifice slain; one continuous course of death, death, death! The time of life had not arrived, but now Peter can speak of the “Son of the living God”. What a moment was this for Peter! This was a private revelation which he received, and it constituted him a stone. Peter’s confession represented the revelation he had received, and the Lord names it “this rock” on which He would build. His assembly. The Lord recognises that the revelation had been effective, and He takes account of Peter accordingly. Redemption had to be accomplished and the Holy Spirit had to be given before the truth spoken of here could become fully effective. The rock must be taken account of by itself. The Lord says, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee”. It is not now as in John 1, “the only-begotten Son ... he hath declared him”, it is, “revealed it unto thee”. There is first the revelation, and then Peter, as the one to whom it was made, is constituted a stone. I only mention this in order [p. 123] to distinguish between what is general and what is private or special. Matthew 16 was not general, it was not made to the eleven, but to Peter alone, and through him became light for all. Nothing could be more interesting, and the importance of it is what I would lay stress on, so that our souls might be on this rock, “the Son of the living God”. “Hades’ gates”, the whole system of satanic power, cannot prevail against it; it is invulnerable.
I pass on now to John 20. I would desire to show how the declaration of chapter 17 has a spiritual connection. “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it”, the Lord says; it is a lovely thought and the Spirit in chapter 20 connects it with what is peculiarly spiritual. John’s record has in view the establishment of a spiritual state of things among the people of God, that which is perhaps most lacking among us. Matthew in his gospel gives us political accompaniments of the resurrection; we have an angel with his countenance as lightning, which carries the thought of God acting on behalf of His people against the world. In Mark we get a young man on the resurrection morning, suggesting the energy in which the testimony is rendered and promulgated in this world. Luke gives us two men in shining garments, a heavenly and priestly suggestion; God had reached His thought of “good pleasure in men”. But John has no man in his record, he speaks of two angels, “one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain”.
It is noticeable that there is no reproof recorded in John 20; and while John speaks of Peter and of himself going to “their own home”, he mentions a good deal that denotes a certain spiritual element with them, and then goes on to enlarge on Mary, placing her first in reaching the tomb while it was yet dark, and drawing attention to her running to [p. 124] the others. She was in line with the “hind of the morning” (see heading of Psalm 22), and was in a position to receive a manifestation of Christ. Her affection led her into it. It may be said that she had not very much intelligence, but instinctively she was led into position. Shall we be in position when the Lord comes at the rapture, or shall our hearts be in the world? To be in position is to be apart from the world. May we be found watching! Mary is set before us as John’s great character, so to speak, and there she is at the sepulchre before it is day; she is not seen with the others, she is alone, as John is occupied with spiritual elements, and she sets these forth. In verse 2 she runs, as already said, to the two disciples, and then they come to the tomb, and they go in first; she was a sister, and brothers lead. They see the linen clothes lying and the handkerchief folded up by itself, all suggestive of the dignity of the occupant, but when Mary looks in, she sees more than they do. She wept, it says, and looked into the sepulchre, and saw the two angels in white sitting. The two disciples did not see the two angels, for they did not wait.
There are grades of spirituality, and Mary was more spiritual than the two disciples; she had more affection. The angels address her. They say, “Woman, why weepest thou?” But now, note what it says in verse 14, “she turned backward”. She heard what they had to say, but turned away from them; she placed the angels, one might say, in their own position, something else was before her, they were not what she sought. She is not affrighted as in Mark, she is spiritual and acts with intelligence. She “turned herself back”; it is a spiritual scene, and then she saw Jesus standing; she knew not that it was Jesus, but she saw Him standing; the fact is stated. Mary’s act in turning herself backward, as I understand it, was an act of spiritual instinct,
[p. 125] and how important, if we are to have special light, that we should have spiritual instincts! The angels here, as I said, did not terrify Mary, they did not disconcert her; she turns from them, and then she sees Jesus. What a moment for her!
I just touch on this in connection with the setting of the private declaration of which the Lord speaks. He makes Himself known to Mary, and then says to her, “Touch me not”, and immediately furnishes the reason, “for I have not yet ascended to my Father”. In the garden He places a barrier between Himself and her, and goes on to say, “But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. Thus we find Mary constituted, through her spirituality, a messenger in the spiritual area: it is not a question of assembly order, or what comes under the public eye, it is the spiritual area, and so the Lord says, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”.
I would couple with this for a moment the scene in Acts 1, where Luke, having told Theophilus of the Lord’s charge to the apostles, adds, “to whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs; being seen by them during forty days”. We know how the Lord came in and stood in the midst of the disciples, the doors being shut. He came in amongst them, and the doors did not open. He did it in order to suggest the spiritual. Thus He came in and went out among them for forty days, appearing to individuals and to the company, and what for? To impress them with the great fact that a living and spiritual order of things had been established, and they were to have part in it. The Father and the Son and the brethren of Christ indicate what had come to pass, the great and blessed relationship opened up and established.
[p. 126] How wonderful! I would say again, this is all private and special. “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it”, and to what end? “That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”, in other words, they were to be constituted vessels for the Father’s love. Think of that; that the love wherewith the Father loved Christ should be in us, and Christ in us!
Well, this is what I had before me, and I have no hesitation in saying that it is a very great exercise with me that saints should become accustomed to what is special, and the special thing about the assembly is that it is brought into relationship with Christ in heaven as being itself heavenly; all this is obviously spiritual. Matthew, Mark, and Luke deal with what is more public in recording the facts of the resurrection of Christ, but John is occupied with what is private and spiritual. It is a family state of things that is contemplated, and the Lord comes in, the doors being shut, and does so in this way, in order to impress His people with the fact that things are to be spiritual. Man in his natural effort and ability is outside of all this; it requires what is spiritual; so the apostle says, “we have received ... the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God”. He also says, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard ... the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit”. (1 Corinthians 2:9,10; 1 Corinthians 2:12) He has given to us His Spirit that we might know these things, hence it is through being under the control of the Spirit that we can participate in a spiritual order of things.