THE JOY OF THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Isaiah 53:10-12; Hebrews 2:11,12; Ephesians 2:18
P.A.G. I would like to suggest that we speak about the joy that divine Persons have in receiving a response from those whom They have sought and found in love. In Isaiah we have the reference to the Lord seeing “the fruit of the travail of his soul”, and being satisfied. In Hebrews we see that the Lord has a company that He can tell His innermost secrets to, and in Ephesians we see that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are together in securing a response. Could we speak about that?
W.B. A wonderful subject; we could not speak about anything better! If God’s heart is satisfied, then our heart can be satisfied as well. He is great enough for the biggest and the smallest company.
P.A.G. I think it is good to start from the point of God’s satisfaction, because that lifts us up.
W.B. His satisfaction is in the sacrifice of Christ.
P.A.G. The scripture says, “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things?”, Rom.8:32. He gives us all things so that He might be satisfied.
A.M.B. It “pleased Jehovah to bruise him” would speak to us of God’s satisfaction as a result of the sufferings of Christ and of His death, but it is with a view to a great answer to God. Could you open that up for us?
P.A.G. In Leviticus chapter 1 verse 9, there is a reference to an “offering by fire to Jehovah of a sweet odour”. The sweet odour suggests the fragrance that rose up to God through the offering of Christ. That was the greatest offering, the supreme offering; there was no offering like it.
A.M.B. There was complete moral perfection, and do you think God rejoiced that it gave Him the basis for His heart of love and blessing to express itself?
P.A.G. Yes, when Christ died the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. It suggests that God’s heart was without restraint.
J.A.B. Would it be right to say that there could be no other way for God’s heart to be satisfied apart from the suffering which Isaiah 53 brings before our souls? All through the Old Testament, every sacrifice looked forward to the incoming and to the suffering of Jesus.
P.A.G. What you say is important; there could be no other way. God has to be satisfied and no one could fully satisfy Him but Christ. But now there are persons with Christ who are also satisfying to God because they are like Christ.
J.A.B. Is that what the end of verse 10 means, “the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand”? God’s pleasure is in the Lord Jesus, but would its prospering in His hand involve the saints? Would it be right to say that the saints in the appreciation of Christ’s sufferings are necessary for the full satisfaction of the heart of God? I was thinking of the psalm that says “In them is all my delight”, Ps.16:3.
P.A.G. Yes, to prosper means to grow or to expand. Christ’s brethren provide God with an opportunity to expand the sphere of His glory. So when the Father sees Christ with His brethren, there is something complete.
W.B. Can we also say that in each one there is something special wrought, a special glory which God has secured in each of Christ’s brethren for His pleasure?
P.A.G. Yes, “the fruit of the travail of his soul” is in persons, and each person has an individual appreciation of Christ.
U.P. This morning in the house, we were reading the first verses of John 12. It speaks there of the dead man, Lazarus, and of Martha and of Mary where “they made him a supper” and “the house was filled with the odour of the ointment”, John 12: 1-3. Would there be something “of the fruit of the travail of his soul” expressed in that?
P.A.G. Yes, and I think there is a connection between the house being filled and Christ being satisfied, because it suggests what is complete and excludes everything else. Also the odour of the ointment would suggest that when Christ has His portion, there is also what rises up to God.
P.v.d. B.jnr God loved Jesus from before the foundation of the world. Would you think that might extend to all those that He would secure for God?
P.A.G. God’s thoughts about us would come into Ephesians 1 verse 5, “having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself”.
J.A.B. Verse 10 refers to Jehovah, to what God has done; and then in verse 11 “the travail of his soul” to what Christ has done; “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant instruct many in righteousness”. Is that what is going on now under the hand of Christ?
P.A.G. Yes, the Lord when He rose from among the dead said “go to my brethren”, John 20:17. They were the fruit of the travail of His soul. He instructed His own during the forty days, and that instruction was to be opened up further after the Spirit came; so that would include us in the many.
J.A.B. I wondered if we should get a view of what the Lord Jesus is doing today. The opportunity in a meeting like this is to be further instructed in the joy of divine Persons. Although the service of God is not exactly a place for instruction, yet we learn there.
P.A.G. When the Lord says “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20:17), I think that is instruction in righteousness, because it is righteous that the Lord should ascend.
W.B. It is a wonderful relationship into which we have been brought. It is like the relationship between the Father and the Son.
P.A.G. The Lord maintains His own distinctiveness; He says “my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, but He also says in John 17 verse 26 “that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”. We spoke yesterday of dwelling, and this verse is really dwelling.
W.B. It would involve inner formation. These forty days were to prepare the disciples for the gift of the Holy Spirit; the Lord left a company which was ready for the Holy Spirit.
P.A.G. The Lord’s work is perfect, and the Spirit therefore came down to seal what the Lord had done. The “parted tongues, as of fire” (Acts 2:3) had in mind that everything should be perfect for the presence of God.
P.v.d.B.jnr It is amazing that in the verse you quote, it is the same love; “the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. The first reference to love in scripture is “thine only son, whom thou lovest” (Gen.22:2) and the second one is where “Isaac led her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her”, Gen.24:67. These are the first two mentions of the word, and they represent it very well.
P.A.G. In the Father’s love for the Son, He arranged matters so that the Son should have something for His own heart’s satisfaction. We sang hymn 121 today and it says of the Spirit:-
‘Thou dost know the Father’s feelings
Of affection for His Son’
The Father’s feelings of affection for His Son are bound up in the provision of the counterpart to satisfy the Son’s affections. So we can see that divine Persons act to satisfy One Another.
B.E.S. What does it mean “he shall prolong his days”?
P.A.G. I suppose that this day of grace is prolonged, so that there might be the fullest possible satisfaction for the divine heart.
B.E.S. I wondered whether it indicates the continuation of what was for God in those who are the Lord’s own on earth, now that He is no longer here.
P.A.G. That is right. In John 17 verse 20, He said “And I do not demand for these only”; that would be His disciples, “but also for those who believe on me through their word”. So the Lord is prolonging His days through those who come in through the teaching and fellowship of the apostles.
P.v.d.B.jnr The pleasure of Jehovah prospering “in his hand” would support what our brother says. It is not just prospering in Him, but in His hand; in the work that He has done with His hand.
P.A.G. We have spoken about what the Lord is doing now, and what is in His hand would suggest what He is still doing. I have the impression that His hand is not static, it is active.
R.J.F. He is the Chief Musician.
P.A.G. Yes, king David refers to “the instruments which I made”, 1 Chron.23:5. So the Chief Musician is still making His instruments, and He makes no mistakes in the instruments He makes.
R.J.F. He produces music from those instruments too.
P.A.G. Yes, He knows how to bring out the best chord from every instrument.
R.J.F. Sometimes that tone can be produced through suffering.
P.A.G. The Lord knows what is needed in order to produce the best in each one of us, and there is satisfaction for Him in seeing our love flowing towards one another; “if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it”, 1 Cor.12:26.
P.v.d.B.jnr The stringed instrument produces its music under stress, does it not?
P.A.G. Yes, and if the strings are not tightened, the note is flat.
N.F. I was thinking of the instruments in Psalm 150; they are to be used to praise God.
P.A.G. Yes, and that psalm concludes with “Let everything that hath breath praise Jah”. So the gift of the Spirit is not only to help us here in our circumstances, but is intended to produce praise towards God.
N.F. Were Paul and Silas experiencing something like that in prison, do you think?
P.A.G. Yes. It says of them that they were “praising God with singing”, Acts 16:25. That suggests that they were lifted up above their circumstances.
A.M.B. Their praise was marvellously effective in testimony.
P.A.G. It says that “the prisoners listened to them”, so we should remember that the world around takes account of what we do. The world is full of prisoners, and God would speak to these prisoners through the activities of the saints coming together.
A.M.B. The way a Christian bears suffering is also a great testimony.
P.A.G. Yes, we sorrow when a saint is taken to be with the Lord, but the world can see that we do not sorrow as those who have no hope. We can say “Where, O death, is thy sting? where, O death, thy victory?”, 1.Cor.15:55. God has pleasure in seeing persons who have the victory.
A.F. Who would play these instruments?
P.A.G. I think that the Lord plays the instruments. What do you think?
A.F. Yes, I think so. David played the instruments he made, so the Lord plays the instruments He makes for His own purpose.
P.A.G. 1 Chronicles 23 verse 5 says “and four thousand praised Jehovah with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith”. There were not just a few instruments, there were four thousand and it would seem that David made them all. He did not give them to someone else to make.
A.M.B. It is really “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”.
P.A.G. Those who compose the assembly are those who are Christ’s brethren, and they are all of one, which suggests to me that everything has its source in God. So the Lord says to the Father, “They were thine, and thou gavest them me” (John 17:6), and He brings them back to God as a praising company.
R.J.F. In 1 Chronicles 25 the service of music was under the direction of the king; the cymbals, the lutes and the harps with those who were skilful and instructed in the songs of Jehovah.
P.A.G. When we enquire together today, what is in mind is that we too should be skilful, so that there might be something fuller for God.
A.M.B. In 1 Chronicles 25 verse 8, it is “the small as well as the great, the teacher with the scholar”. Christ has the whole company in view, young and old, and sisters and brothers, those at the beginning of their Christian experience as well as those who have progressed in it.
P.A.G. So in Hebrews 2 verse 11, “those sanctified” includes everyone who has the gift of the Spirit, which means that there is room for everyone to play a part in response to God.
J.B. So God is heading up all things in the Christ; this is for the honouring of the Lord Jesus.
P.A.G. Yes, it is important to see that if we give honour to Christ, that is honouring to God also. So God takes pleasure in persons responding to Christ, and we would remember that the Holy Spirit also takes pleasure in that response.
J.A.B. I would like to ask you more about that. We need the Holy Spirit, and everything that we have been speaking about can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit. But say more about the Holy Spirit’s own affections; would it be right to speak of the joy of the Spirit?
P.A.G. Yes, it would be right. We should remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is God, and that God is love. The love of the Holy Spirit is characteristically the love of God, and although the Holy Spirit does not make demands, He does have desires. The servant says to Rebecca “Let me, I pray thee, sip a little water out of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord!”, Gen.24:17. She understood what would satisfy him.
J.A.B. The end of Genesis 24 has already been referred to, when Isaac’s heart was satisfied. Did you think that we can safely assume that the servant’s heart also was satisfied?
P.A.G. Yes, we can say that the servant loved Abraham and he loved Isaac. If we love someone, we are pleased to see them being satisfied.
B.E.S. The earlier part of that chapter brings out the first detailed example of thanksgiving in the scripture. Is that instructive? The service referred to in verse 27 was a completely selfless service; the servant was not thinking about his own needs or anything except the prosperity of what Abraham had sent him to do.
P.A.G. The motive for divine Persons serving One Another is love. We can see that the motive in bringing us in is love, and so what we are brought into is a perfect circle of divine affections.
A.M.B. The saints provide a circle in which divine Persons express themselves towards One Another. The saints are used for the glory of God’s grace. The Father has given us to the Son; the Spirit indwells us so that there might be a response to the Father, and then the saints are brought into the Father’s presence, through Christ and by the Spirit, as you read.
P.A.G. The Lord’s voice is heard through the saints.
A.M.B. We have in our hearts all the saints, every true believer with the Spirit since Pentecost as part of the assembly. We earnestly wish that there were more in this town who entered into the joy of these things.
P.A.G. The Lord always sees His assembly as complete, and He is able to embrace every one whom He has secured.
B.E.S. “The Lord knows those that are his” (2 Tim.2:19); we know what follows, but we must start with that.
D.McL. It says “in the midst of the assembly”; it was a suitable place. In Psalm 137, the captors wanted a song of Zion on a foreign soil, but you cannot sing a song to Jehovah there. It needs to be in a suitable place. In Luke 15, the younger son was still a son in the far country, but he was not giving the Father any joy there; he was in the wrong place. The father’s joy was expressed when the son came back to where he should have been in the house. .
P.A.G. We come together to break bread in the wilderness, but then the scripture says “And having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”, Matt.26:30. So the Lord leads us out, He leads us up, and He leads us in. As we read in Ephesians, it is through Christ “we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”. We have access; we are able to go into the presence of the Father, and this is what the Father desires, “the Father seeks such as his worshippers”, John 4:23.
W.B. This is the place where we can see Christ in all His glory, and in what He has secured for the Father.
P.A.G. Yes, we see Christ as the Father would have Him to be seen; we see Him where the Father has placed Him.
W.B. In the realm of eternal rest and satisfaction.
P.A.G. So when we see Christ, we see the glory of the Father, because God’s glory shines in the face of Christ.
P.v.d.B.jnr When Christ rejoices - God “has anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy companions” (Heb.1:9) - His companions come into this gladness, do they not? The oil of gladness is the work of the Spirit, is it not? I was thinking about Genesis 24, where the servant says “Jehovah has prospered my way” (v.56).
P.A.G. We could say that the Father and the Son and the Spirit all prosper in those who are brought before the Father.
P.v.d.B.jnr That is how the chapter ends, “to a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”.
P.A.G. So, although it is not the subject of our reading, there is a basis for the gospel to go out, because it goes out from the sphere in which God is satisfied. The habitation of God, God’s dwelling place, has in view that there should be a place from which God can reach out to men. We have referred to Luke 15, and there we see the operation of the house of God, having in view the blessing of men, but having in mind that they should come in to the house, to the music and the dancing.
P.v.d.B.jnr In John 1, the disciples find the house where Jesus abode, remain there that day, and meanwhile find their brother.
P.A.G. This is for all the saints, for every believer, so I have to ask myself, What will I do to bring them in? It must be God’s work, but I have a responsibility in relation to it.
J.A.B. So “ye also are built together”; this is going on now. This habitation of God will be complete in eternity, but the building together is happening now, is it not? And God loves to dwell where He finds His satisfaction, a place where He can dwell, is that right?
P.A.G. Yes, the house of God has the character of a present dwelling place for God, out of which His glad tidings can flow. When we look to what is eternal, we see that in character as the Father’s house, although we can touch that now in spirit.
R.J.F. Can we see the joy of God in the last few verses of chapter 3? It says “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”.
P.A.G. It is good to see that when we consider Ephesians 1 verse 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”, such an outflow of blessing produces the response that we see at the end of chapter 3. So David says “and of that which is from thy hand have we given thee”, 1 Chron.29:14.
Reading at Bad Endbach
24 February 2013
Key to Initials
J.B. James Bedford Dorking
W.B. Willi Becker Bad Endbach
P.v.d.B.jnr Pieter van den Berg jnr Pulheim
A.M.B. Alistair Brown Grangemouth
J.A.B. John Brown Grangemouth
A.F. Arne Finger Pulheim
N.F. Nelson Finger Walton
R.J.F. Roland Flowerdew Sunbury
P.A.G. Paul Gray Grangemouth
D. McL. David McLaren Dundee
U.P. Ulriche Pfeiffer Bad Endbach
B.E.S. Brian Surtees Colchester