DIVINE COUNSEL
P.H.Buchan
John 17: 1,4-11,20-23; John 20: 15-23; Acts 7: 55-60; 8: 1 (first sentence); 9: 3-5;
One has ventured to refer to these scriptures, beloved, not in any sense as feeling qualified to enlarge on them for I am well aware that we are treading on holy ground; and if there is to be any impression conveyed, one is very sensible to the fact that we need the Spirit's help. As we approach this first scripture it is in the recognition that we are brought very near to the presence of God, one glorious divine Person speaking to Another. How marvellous that is! It says "Jesus ... lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee; as thou hast given him authority over all flesh, that as to all that thou hast given to him, he should give them life eternal. And this is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God". How marvellous to think of the way God has been pleased to open up the greatness of this matter in this mediatorial setting: "that they should know thee, the only true God". As we think of God abstractly we are reminded that He dwells in light unapproachable (see 1 Tim. 6: 16). Think for a moment of the glory that attaches to deity; God will ever remain in that inscrutable realm of deity into which no mind of man can ever penetrate. But as we have been reminded in the ministry the link between what is absolute and what is relative is what God is in His own blessed nature, for God is love. How great that is - the way God has made Himself known, necessitating of course the incoming of one divine Person into manhood, coming into this mediatorial position to open out the blessedness of the economy of divine love. Is that not wonderful? While we ever bear in mind that God will remain eternally the "incorruptible, invisible, only God" (1 Tim 1: 17) "whom no man has seen, nor is able to see", (for God, in one sense, will ever be outside of our range in inscrutability); it raises the question as to how far we can go in spiritual apprehension, and that necessitates formation in love. It is wonderful to think that if God is really to be apprehended it is just as He has come within our range in this glorious, blessed Man.
One has been affected reflecting today on the way the Lord here speaks so freely to the Father. He says "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". Oh what a Person is Jesus! I feel we need constantly to reflect on the glory of the One who has come so near to us as Man. What an occupation as we think of the Person of Jesus coming so near! Think of the perfection of manhood, as seen in Jesus, coming into manhood just to set out what God has in mind in relation to men. That is wonderful to my mind. Yet here in manhood He just requests the Father to be reinstated (for want of a better word) in the glory that was His, what was personal to Himself before the ages of time. How marvellous to think of who Jesus is! Think of Him "who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman's form, taking his place in the likeness of men" Phil 2: 6, 7. He laid by, shall we say, for the moment that glory that attaches to deity to come into this mediatorial position to set out in manhood the greatness of what God had in mind in relation to men, setting out that wondrous feature of divine glory. It says "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father)", John 1: 14. Think of the choiceness of what God had in mind in those eternal counsels of divine love! How marvellous they are! You will recall wisdom speaking in Proverbs 8 (and when I refer to this I delight to think of how all God's operations have been in infinite wisdom): "Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from eternity, from the beginning, before the earth was.... When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he ordained the circle upon the face of the deep; ... when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him ... rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men" (vv 22-31). Wisdom is not a person, it is that quality in God by which means He secures the answer to His own eternal purposes. How wonderful to contemplate, dear brethren, that God has in mind to surround Himself eternally with men just like Jesus! I can understand then why the Lord, in speaking to His Father here, saying to His Father here, says "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. They were thine, and thou gavest them me". Then He says "Now they have known that all things that thou has given me are of thee; for the words which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have· received them, and have known truly. that I came out from thee, and have believed that thou sentest me. I demand concerning them, I do not demand concerning the world, but concerning those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine, (and all that is mine is thine, and all that is thine mine,) and I am glorified in them". Think of what the Lord had in mind in relation to these men that the Father had given Him, because what is coming on to view is an order of humanity morally like Himself. It is marvellous to contemplate the wonderful fact that He has nothing less in mind than that we as men should be fully conversant and intelligent as to the mind of God. They have received Thy word, He says - a wonderful fact! Then He says "I am no longer in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one as we". Think of the wonder of this, beloved brethren, that what the Lord has in mind is that there should be that seen among His own that reflects this glory of unity. "Keep them in thy name" He says "which thou hast given me". I believe it refers to the opening up of the blessedness of this economy of love in which God is known to us as Father, and in which Christ sets out the character of manhood that is so pleasurable to the Father's heart. I can understand then the importance and bearing of this because we have been taken into favour in the Beloved (see Eph 1: 6). Think of the wonderful thoughts of divine love, the purposes of God having in view that man should be brought into the liberty and joy of sonship, "marked ... out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved". Could there be anything more delightful than that we are to be brought in in holiness and love as taken into favour in the Beloved? I love to reflect on the infinite delight the Father has in Christ as Man. Think of the Beloved, how the Father found in divine perfection in Jesus all that He ever set His heart on in relation to man. And O the wonder! to think that God is going to have others morally like Jesus in the liberty and joy of sonship.
Jesus goes on to say "I do not demand for these only, but also for those who believe on me through their word". Think of the Lord Jesus taking account of our very selves - "those who believe on me through their word". How the Spirit is operating now to secure the same character of thing that was witnessed in these men continued in those that believe through their word that they may be all one "as we are one". Is that not something to covet, dear brethren, that in the recognition of the privilege that is ours as taken into favour in the Beloved we should be marked by this unity that reflects what God is morally? I believe that God has infinite pleasure in this. Then in verse 22: "And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me". Could there be anything greater than the conscious sense of what we are in the liberty of son ship? This glory, I believe, refers to our association with Christ in sonship - a wonderful thing! And then the Lord says "I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory". Think of the glory that attaches to Jesus personally as Man. I love to reflect on His glory as the only One that was capable of making God known. I believe it refers to His mediatorial glory: "For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus", 1 Tim 2: 5. And then the blessedness of knowing the Father's love! He says "I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them". God is going to have an answer responsively in those who are formed by the Spirit in this order of manhood seen in Jesus and who know consciously the liberty and joy of sonship. I believe it has primarily in view here what is for the pleasure of God Himself, finally seen when "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them ... and God himself shall be with them, their God", Rev 21: 3. It is marvellous to contemplate that.
But collateral with this there is another side to the truth and that is that it is not good for man to be alone. That is God's own thought and purpose as to Christ: "Jehovah Elohim said, It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate, his like", Gen 2: 18. That is, collateral with the great matter of sonship, there is to be an answer supremely for the heart of Christ in the assembly. The first words uttered by the Lord in resurrection, according to John’s gospel, are "Woman, why dost thou weep? Who seekest thou?" I believe that typically we have this great idea of what the woman is as the answer to the Man; how the Lord must have valued that as He says "Mary"! Think of what entered into His mind as securing that treasure, that pearl! How much the Lord set His heart in relation to that pearl of great price, having found one pearl, the product of suffering. I think those tears really reflected what she had gone through morally, but as a result of these exercises we see coming on to view this entity in which the Lord finds a perfect answer to His own heart. So He says, "Mary", the subject of suffering indeed. "Jesus says to her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God". Oh the marvel! There is now coming on to view this answer in kindred relationship to Himself - "my brethren". Could there be anything more intimate than association with Christ as His brethren? He says "go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. Mary of Magdala comes bringing word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. When therefore it was evening on that day, which was the first day of the week, and the doors shut where the disciples were ... Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace". Oh the tranquillity! Oh the joy, dear brethren, that flows from the consciousness of our part in association with Christ! He says "Peace be to you. And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side". Is that not calculated to move our hearts as we think of the service of Jesus? Think of the lowly grace that has come in to serve us as having this great answer to Himself in view. In chapter 13 it says "Jesus, knowing that he came out from God and was going to God ... lays aside his garments, and having taken a linen towel he girded himself". Think of the service of love, dear brethren! There is nothing more calculated to affect our hearts than the consideration of such love. Then "his side" reminds us of God's original thought: "It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate, his like". I have no doubt that as He looked at Mary on that morning He virtually said, This is just Myself. You will recall that it says "Jehovah Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Man; and he slept. And he took one of his ribs". I believe that is just what the Lord is calling attention to here. It is not the death of Christ in its penal character but as absolutely essential in view of this answer to His own heart coming to light; "Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone", John 12: 24. There is this answer seen in feminine affection. How much that is to the heart of Christ! I can understand how the disciples were glad as they saw the Lord. He says "Peace be to you: as the Father sent me forth, I also send you. And having said this, he breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". I believe the Lord is indicating how administration has to be taken on in the grace and Spirit of that heavenly Man. How precious that is! I can understand how insistent He is in chapter 17: "that they may be one, as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one" (vv 22, 23). I believe administration according to God will never lose sight of that, dear brethren.
I refer to the passage in the Acts to show how this works out in the presence of murmuring. You will recall that the apostles said, Choose you men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and it says that they chose Stephen, "a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit", chap 6: 5. That is remarkable, as though God is bringing forward the kind of man that is qualified to take up administration at the level of what is in His own mind. It says, "And Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought wonders and great signs among the people" (v 8) and you can understand how ready the enemy is to attack that. "And there arose up certain of those of the synagogue called of freedmen ... And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke". They brought him to the council and "all who sat in the council, looking fixedly on him, saw his face as the face of an angel". It was a reflex of glory working out in a man that was substantially formed in the grace and Spirit of Jesus, that heavenly Man; and it says that they "gnashed their teeth against him". They closed their ears and rushed upon him as he brings to bear on them the guilt of the nation in the crucifixion of Jesus. But Stephen, having fixed his eyes on heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus. Think of the glory of God in the face of a Man, and that Man, beloved brethren, is the One we know, the One who is still there, whom having not seen we love. Then Stephen says "Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. And they cried out with a loud voice, and held their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord; and having cast him out of the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid aside their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. And they stoned Stephen, praying, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit". Think of the delight the Lord had in that man! How delightful to think of a man's spirit so like Jesus that He has peculiar delight in receiving it to Himself. And that is our portion, dear brethren; "Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints", Ps 116 : 15. I can understand, as the work in one and another is complete, how precious it is to the Lord to receive that to Himself . It says that "Saul was consenting to his being killed"; the Spirit of God just refers to that.
Then chapter 9 opens with "Saul, still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, came to the high priest and asked of him letters to Damascus ... so that if he found any who were of the way ... he might bring them bound to Jerusalem". And just as he neared Damascus, suddenly there shone round about him this light out of heaven. Oh, what a light, dear brethren! Think of that light streaming now, coming down to us this very day, opening up the wonderful fact that there is a glorified Man in heaven. Think of the Lord speaking thus to Saul, in his opposition and murderous activity; He just says "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?" And Saul said "Who art thou, Lord?" Immediately he recognises the supremacy of that Man. And the Lord said "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest". That must have gone home to Saul's conscience for he had just witnessed the martyrdom of Stephen, he had seen a man reflecting the very character of Jesus, and the Lord virtually says, That is just the reproduction morally of Myself. That enters into the very constitution of the assembly. I feel the importance of what I am calling attention to, although very conscious of how far short one comes in apprehension, but I see this working out in Paul's ministry, the very one that was so much opposed. Think of the Lord selecting that man as an elect vessel. I believe he got the germ of his ministry in that manifestation. I refer to this only in passing, because we come to our own day, days of departure and ruin, when thing s outwardly are so small. John lived to see the complete breakdown of all that was established publicly by Paul. In the prophetic vision he looks on toward the end, and what does he see? The recovery of the saints to the truth of the assembly - an answer to Paul's ministry in our day. You say, Look at the breakdown, the ruin. It does not affect one iota what is proceeding under the hand of Christ on high and the Spirit here. So the Lord presents Himself in this way; and I am assured the Lord is presenting Himself today in a way we have never experienced. The Lord says "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies. I am the root and offspring of David". Think of the glory of this Person, Jesus; how remarkable that He asserts His deity. I believe there was never a moment when the deity of Christ is more precious to the hearts of the saints than today. He says, I am the root and offspring of David", ever reminding us that He has come into manhood to set out in Himself the character of man that is so pleasurable to God, the Man after God's own heart. Then He says "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come". Do you believe, dear brethren, that this call is proceeding now? I feel there is an urge among the brethren, we are so near to the end: "the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. Can you conceive of anything greater than that? a divine Person and a creature vessel here in unison, with one object. The Spirit is here in view of one thing, to secure an answer subjectively to the heart of Christ. Will He fail in His service? Do you think the Spirit could fail in this mission? "The Spirit and the bride say, Come", and immediately we have this answer: "He that testifies these things says, Yea I come quickly". Oh, dear brethren , what an objective we have! How near the Lord's coming is! I believe that one word sums up the desire of the Spirit and the bride: "Amen; come, Lord Jesus". May it be so for His Name's sake.
BROOKLYN NY
12 June 1976