Genesis 2: 24, 25; 24: 1-6, 54-67; Hebrews 2: 8-12

THE ASSEMBLY FOR CHRIST AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

J.S. I wondered it we might consider the place the assembly has in the divine scheme of things, both as a vessel that would minister to the heart of Christ and one that Christ would use, if I could use that term, in praise Godward. These are very familiar scriptures, and often spoken about with profit, but I trust that, as we enquire, the Spirit will give us a fresh and deepened impression as to the greatness of what the assembly is as having its origin in the purpose of God and formed by divine Persons themselves. It is not only a counterpart to Christ, a suitable counterpart in every way, but an assurance that the praise of God will be maintained in freshness as Christ will use it, to praise God eternally. These are simple impressions but we might get fresh help in them as we follow up what the Spirit may bring in.

A.McB. I think that sounds fine: we will get help as we speak. Does the greatness of the assembly come into this verse with which we began, "It is not good that Man should be alone" - he needed a companion - "I will make him a helpmate, his like" (chap 2: 18)? There is to be in the assembly something that answers in every way to what Christ is as man. What would you say about the "helpmate, his like"?

J.S. It is a vessel that is fully compatible with Christ. Paul brings out that truth in Ephesians: "I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly" (chap 5: 32). It is not only after His order but it is formed in the moral features of Christ. I think the thought of likeness and image would run into that. There is something that is of Christ's order but it is formed in features which are wholly suitable and able to minister to His affections. It is interesting, and often noted, that it is God Himself from whom this suggestion comes. God taking account of what the heart of Christ would require and making provision for it. Everything stems from God Himself.

A.McB. Coming in as it does before the introduction of sin, would it show that the assembly for Christ is a primary thought for God and will go through eternally?

J.S. We need help to see that God had His thoughts in purpose before sin came into the world, and the assembly had part in them. These are things of great importance. We, as forming part of this great vessel, were in the thoughts and mind of God before even the foundation of the world.

E.D.A.S. The deep sleep is emphasised here. It involved death, the way that the Lord Jesus went, but as to the purpose of God, the assembly, in the type, was here out of man "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh". There is something intrinsically perfect in what has come out of Christ. It is for the glory of God and the pleasure of Christ.

J.S. That is very fine. Every Christian would know something of the death of Christ as meeting the moral question and resolving it to God's glory. This is the foundation that our blessing is based on. But there is an aspect of the death of Christ that formed a basis for the fulfilling of the purpose of God and that is something we need to set ourselves to understand. I would like to understand it better myself, but I think I can see that it brings things on to a new platform. The first order of things was only provisional. The physical creation and man as part of it, a provisional order of things. But what God had in mind in His purpose was an order that is based on the resurrection of Christ. His final thoughts are linked with that, as is the assembly.

E.D.A.S. That would be perfect in itself without past history.

J.S. Exactly. It is good to think of that. Another thing that is difficult to understand is that, as individual believers, we all have a sinful and sorrowful history and we come in on the basis of the redemptive work of Christ, but the assembly as such has no past history, its origin is in the purpose of God. I trust that we will feel free to speak simply about these things. I would like help on them myself.

N.J.H. Is it right that the man cannot do without the woman, according to the mind of God?

J.S. Please help us.

N.J.H. The type implies that Christ cannot do without the assembly. It is a "helpmate, his like".

J.S. In verse 26 of chapter, "Let us make man in our image": I understand that involves the woman too. The man is not complete without the woman. We speak carefully and reverently, but the fulness of Christ is seen in the assembly, "which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all", Eph 1: 23.

N.J.H. He anticipated His like during His life, did He not?

J.S. Say more, please

N.J.H. I think you can trace that in the gospels. If you look through them, you will find that He is anticipating "his like". He speaks about "the men whom thou gavest me out of the world" (John 17: 6), but it is "his like", the assembly, that is in mind.

J.S. That is very good: so there is not only a likeness in divine purpose, but a moral likeness and you can see how that was coming to light. The Lord was looking for it: in the purpose of God, it needed His death and resurrection to establish it.

J.T.B. Do you think that the bringing in of the assembly results in the expression of a fresh glory of Christ? The word for man is changed at this juncture: it changes from the "The Adam" to "Ish", the husband. It brings out a fresh glory. The assembly was necessary in view of that.

J.S. Yes, it is a new name that is given. That is very good, and the assembly is part of the glory of Christ: "but woman is man's glory", Paul says in Corinthians (1 Cor 11: 7). The setting there may correspond to the wilderness, but there is a very fine, precious truth in it. The assembly is the reflection of Christ. It would lead us into the truth of the body as being the expression of that heavenly Man.

D.A.S. Why did He take a rib? Why did He not take two ribs?

J.S. I think it is to bring out the derivation of the assembly. It is derived from Christ. There is nothing in the assembly that is not derived from Christ. Do you not think that these things have a great moral effect, because if anything is introduced into the Christian circle that is of man, it is not of Christ and cannot be accepted?

T.C.M. Earlier it says, "And Jehovah Elohim formed Man, dust of the ground ..." and the "mist went up from the earth" (chap 2: 6,7): but this is from Himself. Does it bring out the distinctive character and special place that the assembly has as derived from Christ?

J.S. That is exactly what it is. It is completely from Christ. It is derived from Christ. These are things that we need to contemplate prayerfully as to what they mean, because we are dealing with the purpose of God and seeing that it was in God's thoughts that there should be a vessel, a bride, suitable for His Son that is completely of Himself and for Himself.

M.C. Would it be the glory of divine workmanship? I was thinking of the word "built". It is what is formed divinely and is perfect. It is only what is perfect that is suitable for Him.

J.S. That is very suggestive. There are some things that are touched on only in a suggestive way that are filled out further as we follow up the truth, and the thought of building comes into it. It is a new word again: it is "built". It means that workmanship is involved. Paul says in Ephesians, "For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works", Eph 2: 10. That is the filling out of this thought of being built.

R.G. Do you think that Paul had to have an appreciation of that when the Lord says to him at the outset on the Damascus road, "Why dost thou persecute me?", Acts 9: 4? It was from heaven. The perfection of the assembly was brought immediately before Paul.

J.S. That is very beautiful. That is what made me suggest that if we follow this thought through, it leads us on to the thought of the body, the complete expression of Christ, and that is here, is it not? That is a very wonderful thing. We are speaking about things that are not only abstractly true or true in the mind of God, but they have been brought into being here by the Spirit.

A.McB. Say more about the aspect of the death of Christ related to purpose. We are much more familiar, perhaps, with the thought of His death in relation to ourselves and our moral state - the state of the world, indeed - but here it is the perfection of divine purpose, and yet death came into it, the "deep sleep"; not exactly the penalty side, but still the idea of the death of Christ. It is real.

J.S. I would like to know more about that and I am enquiring along with the brethren.

A.McB. I am affected by it, as we are speaking. What you are bringing out enhances the greatness God's thought as to the assembly, that it required this. It was not an act of power; it was not evolution or any of such things; it was as a direct result of the death of Christ that the assembly has come into being. Is that right?

J.S. That is very fine. The thought I had as to it is that it brings us on to new ground. It required the death of Christ, which meant the removal of all that had failed in the way of responsibility. I suppose that is the end of the line of responsibility. Man failed in that. Man was set up and given every advantage: God had placed him in the most congenial of circumstances and the history of humanity shows that he failed. It grieved God in His heart that He had made man, but then the death of Christ not only resolves the moral issue but brings us on to new ground, ground that relate to the purpose of God. Everything that is final related to that. As I say, the first order was provisional, but when He comes to what is second "He takes away the first that he may establish the second", Heb 10: 9.

A.McB. It involves then that the assembly is a feeling vessel as reflecting on her origins. The death of Christ means that the assembly is capable of entering into the feelings of God in regard of Christ.

J.S. I think that is a very important aspect of it. We find through this book that we get the feeling of God. It comes out at the beginning - the feelings of the Spirit as He hovered over the face of the waters: then God taking account in a feeling way of the needs of the man - if I can use that expression without lessening the glory of it - the desire of the man to have a helpmate. She is able to enter into that in a feeling way.

That might lead us on to Rebecca because there we have the way it is worked out. Again, the thought comes from the Father, as Abraham himself is a type of the Father from whom all these thoughts emanate. This chapter - a long chapter an often spoken about - shows the feeling way in which the assembly is formed by the activities of divine Persons themselves.

W.S.W. I am impressed by that, the matter coming from God:

What raised the wondrous thought,

Or who did is suggest ...? (Hymn 92)

and it goes on to say,

O God, the thought was Thine,

Thine only could it be ...

J.S. We need to see that all these thoughts emanate from the heart of God. We speak about the purpose of God but we could say it is the heart of God.

J.A.B. You are speaking of these types, but could you say something about the link with what you are bringing before us and the Lord's words to Mary in resurrection? There was a woman who no doubt represented something, who in love for Him had stayed there when the responsible element had gone home, and she was given that message. Could you say something about the link between what you are saying now and that resurrection scene?

J.S. She had a great love for the Lord, as we all know, but she would have detained the Lord as she knew Him and the Lord has to say, "Touch me not", John 20: 17. I think it bears on what we are saying. He has another scene and another order in mind. He says, "Touch me not". He does not allow her to have a link with Him down here. That is finished. Paul says, "but if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer", 2 Cor 5: 16. Even Christ after the flesh did not set out the purpose of God. It is Christ in glory that answers to the purpose of God. And the link was to be here: "I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God", John 20: 17. Mary's place was among that company of whom that could be said.

R.G. Is the link with Mary in the last verse that you read, that he "was comforted after the death of his mother''?

J.S. Say more please.

R.G. I was thinking about the greatness of the day into which we are introduced as Gentiles. In the beginning of John's gospel, "He came to his own, and his own received him not" (chap 1: 11) , but by the end of John's gospel He has a vessel, you might say, that is of a new order, after His own order, that is going to go through into eternity, and He will take her with Him into the praise of God eternally.

J.S. That is very fine because it bears on our own day. A tent is not a final idea - it is a provisional idea - but think of the Lord being comforted. I was thinking, as our brother was speaking, that the link between Mary with her sinful history and the new area the Lord is opening up is love. That is the link between us as sinful creatures and the purpose of God. It is love that goes through.

E.D.A.S. Does the "like" - "a helpmate, his like" – go beyond what is derivative? I am thinking of the woman of worth: "She doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life", Prov. 31: 12. "The heart of her husband confideth in her, and he shall have no lack of spoil", (v 11). There is that which is of Himself, but it can bring comfort to Him and reflect something of His Person, and is responsive under His hand. There would perhaps be some link with that and your scripture in Hebrews 2.

J.S. I think we see the progression in these thoughts. "Like" is to my mind a moral thought, and I think we see moral likeness in Rebecca. We know the chapter well - I did not want to read too much - but it says that the Spirit in type, the servant, wondered at her. There was something there not only of kindred, but she proved her kindredship by her actions and her readiness typically to respond to the prompting of the Spirit.

E.D.A.S. "I will go" (v 58).

J.S. I wondered at it as I read it before I came out. "Perhaps the woman will not be willing" (v 5). Maybe that is the negative side, but it brings out the positive side in the willingness and readiness of what is morally like Christ. There is an area here that is not evil but would detain her, the area of her father's house, and we know what that is. There is what is related to our responsible life that is not evil: it is legitimate but it is not to hinder us from this journey to be with Christ.

D.A.S. This man was well qualified to go on this expedition, if we might call it that. He was "over all that he had" to begin with and then he was over all "the treasure of the master", so that he would have the discernment, be qualified to do that. How precious, therefore, the type is to us, of the Spirit in the present day.

J.S. That is very beautiful. The Spirit came "forth from with the Father'', (John 15: 26), and not only has He the intimate knowledge of the feelings of the Father's heart, but the wherewithal to adorn and beautify the bride. I think we need to see how these thoughts are filled out in this dispensation. "The treasure of this master", mean that He has every means under His hand to beautify and adorn the bride for Christ.

D.A.S. Has He not been bringing out those treasures since Pentecost?

J.S. Indeed, He has.

D.A.S. He brings them out, one at a time maybe, or more than one at a time. It is all an adornment, is it not?

J.S. When we gather in temple character like this, would we not look for some of the treasures? They are not just to be admired; they are to be taken on.

A.D.M. Would you say something more as to kindredship. It is specifically referred to in verse 4: "...Go to my land and to my kindred". Could you help us as to how we would understand that today?

J.S. The only way I can see it is to link it with what is moral. The Jews claimed kindredship with Abraham, but there was nothing moral underlying it and the Lord discounts it. He says, "If ye were Abraham 's children, ye would do the works of Abraham", John 8: 39. Kindredship in our day must relate to moral qualities that have been wrought by the Spirit. I would be glad of your thoughts.

A.D.M. I was linking it with what our brother said earlier as to when the Lord went through the gospels. There were elements that came to light: the woman in Matthew 15 - "O woman, thy faith is great" (v 28). It was the recognition of the kindred side. Perhaps persons did not have the light of it then, or did not know the doctrine of it, but the features of it were there. Do you think that should encourage us today that as we are captivated, as we had quite distinctly this morning, by the love of Christ, these features are there? There is that in the assembly which would captivate Him.

J.S. The woman in Luke 7 was captivated by Christ and the Lord is able to point to her: "Seest thou this woman?" I think the link between purpose and responsibility is love. She is captivated by the love of Christ. She had a deep and full appreciation of the love that came down to meet her in all her sins, and you can see as following it through the gospels, that that is the kind of person that forms the nucleus of the assembly.

M.C. Is the service of the Spirit enhanced to us as we consider the detail and the way in which the servant operated in securing Rebecca and, you might say, bringing out the best features in her that would be suitable for the man? The chapter always impresses you as to the operations of the servant, speaking of the Spirit. I just thought it helps us to appreciate His service as we see how skilful He has been, and is, in bringing out these features currently too.

J.S. He is taking account of her. He is observing. He is seeing the position she has taken, sitting by the well. These are all thoughts of which you can see the force. She is characterised as one who is committed to the Spirit and He is able to take that and adorn it for Christ. That is what we want to see, and especially on a Lord's Day morning, that there is something there that is of a real and tangible character that is the result of the operations of the Spirit.

R.G. I was thinking that God's sovereignty has gone ahead here. There is a work of God in this woman. She pours all the water out for him, but not only for him but for his camels, but then there was a period when she had no company at all but the Spirit in type. She had left her parents' house; she had not yet reached Isaac; and she was on this journey and the only person she had to talk to was the Spirit. Now the Spirit brings to our remembrance the things concerning Jesus and that is what forms us for the service of the Lord in the seclusion of the tent, and then further on into the service of God.

J.S. I think there is a lot in that, the journey to Christ and the disclosures of the Spirit, so that when she says, "Who is the man ...?" he says, "That is my master!" "Then she took the veil, and covered herself' - she was not told to do that - she said as it were, This is the man who the Spirit has been speaking about. It has been pointed out that there was no veil on the journey; there was in type complete intimacy between her and the Spirit. The veil came when Christ came on to view: it means that she is exclusively for Christ.

A.M.B. We carry in our thoughts, too, the sense of urgency that the Spirit has. You spoke earlier about things that, though legitimate, would detain us and we have to face up to these things, but in order to enter into this wonderful journey, His urgency has to be realised and be made way for.

J.S. I am very glad you mention that because when we speak of these holy heavenly things, we have to give them a practical bearing. We can speak of things but if our life and motives and objects in life are different, we will know nothing about them. There is an urgency at the present time: the Lord's coming is near. This here is typical of a provisional time, but soon the full thing will be coming in and we need to make way for the pleadings of the Spirit.

A.McB. He needs to have, in some sense, the privacy of the journey. I think what has been referred to that there were just the two of them is beautiful. He needs to have that in our affections, untrammelled by anything else.

J.S. I think that is a very important principle because there are so many influences that hinder. We all know our own weaknesses and we know what things do hinder, but we need to give place to the Spirit in an intimate way, set aside time and allow the spirit to bring the glories of Christ to us.

N.J.H. Laban says, "Let the maiden abide with us some days, or say ten"; we might say that they would have been detained over the Lord's Day.

J.S. That is very interesting, the ten days. It is something that would have hindered what was for Christ and we need to think of that. If there is anything in our life that hinders what the heart of Christ longs for, we need to be ready to set it aside and have this willing spirit: "I will go".

N.J.H. The Lord's Supper and the service of God, is the Spirit's mind, is it not?

J.S. Everything focuses on the Supper. I have been thinking recently that there is far more in the Supper than I understand. Everything for the believer focuses on the Supper. It is the bond of fellowship, but then it is the occasion, where Christ Himself comes to His own. It is a unique occasion and there needs to be a state of readiness to receive Christ.

D.A.B. Do you think that is borne out in the way that Rebecca moves at the end of the journey, springing off the camel? We often speak of the agility of love, but do you think the assembly would be ready to meet Christ and greet Him in this way as Rebecca did with Isaac? It is interesting that of Isaac it says that he saw the camels, but Rebecca lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac.

J.S. I am sure you have proved, as I have, that you have, maybe, come to a meeting and been rather sluggish and had things in your mind that hindered this readiness. It would bear particularly on the Lord's Supper, no doubt, but it would bear on every occasion. At every occasion the Spirit would be ready to bring a fresh manifestation of Christ to us.

T.C.M. Do you think it is a very great matter to see the way that the Holy Spirit typically is looking for confirmation all the way through this journey? Do you think we need to set ourselves to be material that would confirm the Spirit, you might say, in His mission? Things are not left to chance. If it is the central purpose of God, which somebody has said about the assembly, a divine Person Himself has entered into the matter that the whole thing might be secured.

J.S. Do you not think that every believer is not only a subject of divine interest but a subject of divine conversation in heaven as to what progress they are making? Do you think that is taking things too far?

R.G. When the Lord went to heaven, what did He speak to the Father about? I have often thought about that, that the Lord must have spoken to the Father about those that He had left down here. That is what you are saying, and then, by extension, that continues and, in another way, it continues in the Spirit coming here, as the Spirit still has access to the Father and to the Lord.

J.S. Do you think that John 17 prefigures what takes place all through this dispensation, a conversation between divine persons about His own? Mr Darby says it is the heart of the Lord poured into the heart of the Father concerning His own. That is very beautiful. It shows the place we have in divine affections. If we have that place in divine purpose, surely it is no less now when it has all been set on.

R.G. I was thinking about it just now. There were three divine Persons talking about us were there not - if we put ourselves in the position of the disciples - at the end of the gospels. When the Lord went to heaven, the Spirit was still in heaven; the Father was in heaven; now the Lord is in heaven as a Man; and they are speaking about what? About those that had been left and those that they would be adding to. We become included in that through mercy and through grace.

J.S. That is very fine. He says, "And I do not demand for these only, but also for those who believe on me through their word" (v 20). We had a very fine touch as to what the disciples had in the first epistle of John, fellowship with the Father and the Son, and then they extend it to us. You could perhaps repeat what you have quoted from Mr Darby as to the Father and the Son.

J.A.B. It was a remark that impressed me about what communion with divine Persons means. He said communion is having the same thoughts and the same feelings and the same joys as divine Persons - a most profound thing. I have sometimes thought of communion simply as access to God and the ability to speak with Him - and it certainly includes that - but to have the same joy as the Father and as the Son, just as we are speaking of it now; what goes on between divine Persons. The Holy Spirit is here to bring these things to us, and as we are in the secret of that, the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we can know what that level of communion is.

J.S. It brings us into the very circle of divine affections. You can think of John 14 where the Lord says, "He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me ..." (v 21) and then it says, "and we will come to him and make our abode with him" (v 23). You think about that precious way that divine Persons would bring us into those inward holy joys. I hardly know what words to use for it: it is just so fine to think about it.

N.McK. I was thinking about the assembly in Corinth. I wonder if it all ended in what we get in Ephesians: "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages" (chap 3: 21).

J.S. It is very beautiful. Everything culminates in that. We are in a time when things are being gathered up: they go through to eternity and we will eternally enjoy that precious position of intimacy. But it can be known now. That is the glory of the present time.

A.McB. The verse that was quoted is preceded by "the power which works in us": that is another blessed aspect of the Spirit, is it not, in relation to divine service in the assembly?

J.S. "The power which works in us", and the power that is towards us, is the power that raised Christ from the dead, the greatest expression of the power of God. In chapter 3 it works "in us". Now, we want to know these things. We do not want them to be just something that we can speak about but something that is open to us.

A.McB. I wondered, when you spoke earlier about the Supper and the importance of the Supper, whether that is another aspect of it. It opens the way into divine purpose. We will hardly get into divine purpose otherwise, other than by apprehending in our mind, but experimentally it is the way into the realisation and enjoyment of divine purpose, and therefore we come into the benefit of every divine operation.

J.S. That is important. There are many believers who have the Supper at the end of the service, but the Supper is at the entrance of it, and it links with what we said before, that the link between responsibility and purpose is love. It is love in Christ and love in the saints: that is the link; that is the way in.

J.A.B. Does what you are speaking of now give us some impression of the scope of what lay before the Lord as He went into death, that there should be this answer to His heart? But not only that, that there might be an answer to God and to the Father in the assembly, as in that verse that has been quoted. I was thinking of that verse, "who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the same", Heb 12: 2. That was that He would have this answer but Hebrews 2 also brings in the praise in that vessel. The love of which you have been speaking goes through and results in eternal praise for God, does it not?

J.S. It does indeed. Maybe we should turn to Hebrews 2. I read the first section - I had in mind primarily verses 11 and 12 - but I thought we should go down and see the way that it has been arrived at: "But now we see not yet all things subject to him, but we see Jesus, who was made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death". I think we need to start from the bottom. We need to see where God began and the suffering that entered into it. That promotes feelings so that it is never just technical. It is a time when there is holy emotion and the service of God reflects that because we have a link with that precious One who went to the bottom of the mountains for our sake.

J.A.B. Psalm 22 would show us that - the depth and severity of what the Lord took on but the immediate release in response to God: "And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel" (v 3).

J.S. Very good. That shows what was immediately in the Lord's mind. That links with "the joy lying before him".

T.C.M. Does the tasting of death suggest that the Lord entered into something more than we ever would? Peter speaks too about "having loosed the pains of death", Acts 2: 24. These are expressions which are unique to Christ and His death, are they not?

J.S. You feel you are on holy ground speaking of that, but the Spirit of God would enable us to have some apprehension of the depth to which the Lord went. Again that brings us to the elements that are in the Supper, the path of devotion that took Him into death. Everything for the glory and praise of God is based on that.

N.J.H. Would glory too involve His place in the midst of the assembly? It says, "in bringing many sons to glory" and then He is viewed in the midst of the assembly. I wondered if it is on the same level.

J.S. Very good. We were affected at the Supper with the love that went into the place where we were and took on our liabilities, but what we enjoy is love in its own dwelling. That is where the purpose of God is. It is enjoying divinely appointed relationships where God intended them to be enjoyed. I would be glad if you would say more.

N.J.H. I was just seeking help. She is the vessel of glory, is she not? It is not the assembly in the wilderness here. I wondered if the assembly is in keeping with the whole scene of glory. For such a One not only is suffering involved - the suffering of death, for instance - the expression is, He is in the midst. It is a wonderful scene, is it not?

J.S. It is indeed. Do you not think that it would link with the adornment of the Spirit as we are occupied with the sufferings and death of Christ and allow them to affect us deeply? It forms a basis for the Spirit to work with us to open up the glories of Christ. That makes the assembly a fitted vessel to augment the whole scene where Christ is everything and in all.

A.McB. We are taxed to hold in our minds the relationship of the assembly to Christ as His bride - the Rebecca aspect of it - but also as a vessel of praise?

J.S. I suppose we have to distinguish between union with Christ and association with Him but the thought is carried through, no doubt. Union with Christ is the man and the woman, but in association with Christ we are with Him Godward, which in a sense is the greatest thing.

D.A.B. Can you say something further about that? It speaks of declaring "thy name to my brethren" but "in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises". Say something as to the difference between union and association with Christ.

J.S. Union is what we enjoy in marital relation with Christ. We may touch that early in the occasion of the Supper: the Lord comes and claims His own, claims His bride, and the Spirit helps us to enter into the feelings of Christ as He has His bride. But the Lord takes His place in headship as the Minister of the sanctuary, and we know what it is to be alongside Him as He leads towards the Father, and that is really the greatest thing. We are with Christ as we approach the Father - "through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father", Eph 2: 18. That must be greater than union.

D.A.B. So why does it say here, "in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises"?

J.S. I think everything is carried through; there is nothing lost. The precious link with Christ will be eternally enjoyed but it leads us on to what is further - looking on the glory of the Lord, we are changed from glory to glory. There is a certain ascending line as we move forward in the service of God.

M.C. The assembly is capacitated to expand His praise and in which the Lord has liberty: "in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises". She is really one with Him in that matter.

J.S. It is very fine that the Lord has a vessel where He can sing praises to God. We touch it a little on Lord's Day - would to God we touched it more! - but it is very precious to be brought into the liberty of being accepted in the Beloved, knowing that Christ has full liberty to use this vessel in praise Godward.

R.G. And is there an ever-widening sphere in our approach to eternity? The assembly is the only vessel that enjoys union with Christ; many families will enjoy sonship to some degree, but with the Firstborn, of course, we will have the first place. And then these features will be enjoyed together as men come before God, do you think? They will never be lost. There will be nothing lost of what the assembly and those that compose it have enjoyed in union and association when we come to the ultimate of man's relations with God.

J.S. That is very fine and extensive and reminds me a little of the winding stairs in Solomon's temple. You go up by the Spirit, suggested in the winding stairs. You are led through Christ by one Spirit. But I am glad you mentioned what you did because we need to be expansive in our mind. Once you get into the realm of the Father, you are coming to the Father of every family and touching the eternal day. But, as you say, the link with Christ is always maintained.

J.A.B. Would the absorption of the reality of that in our hearts help us in responding to divine Persons in relation to their thoughts in purpose, because all that you are bringing in was in the purpose of God before time was? We so often are impressed - and no wonder that we should be - with the greatness of our place. We speak to the Father about what a wonderful thing it is that we have been lifted up and brought into His presence and what a wonderful portion we have, and that is fine and the Father appreciates that appreciation, but what you are speaking of now would, as it were, lift us on to another plane of response and the Holy Spirit would sustain us there.

J.S. Yes; we get the reference in Ephesians to the breadth and length and depth and height and yet "to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge ", Eph 3: 19. That shows that Christ is there to sustain us: we could not enter into it without Him, the precious link we have that goes through to eternity. But as alongside Him we get help by the Spirit to expand in our thoughts and affections and see the whole universe of God, everything yielding in praise to God. We really should touch that every Lord's Day morning.

J.T.B. The tabernacle of God is with men, according to Revelation 21. That is in the context of the praise.

J.S. Very good. Well, that is finality. He is with men but in family relations. Every circle gathered round Him will constitute a family that has some knowledge of the Father.

R.G. So we have gone full circle in a certain sense: we are back to where you read at the beginning, but not on earth now - in heaven.

J.S. Very good - and greatly expanded.

R.G. Yes, manhood after Christ was for heaven, was it not?

J.S. Yes, indeed.

C.S. I was just going to say:

The grace that sets out souls on high,

And love that brings us nearer still.

(Hymn 116)

J.S. Well, we need to ponder these things. I trust that what has come before us will stay on our spirits and that we may follow it up and get some more depth in our souls.

 

GRANGEMOUTH

20 September 1998

 

Key to Initials

D.A.Brown, Grangemouth; J.A.Brown, Grangemouth; J.T.Brown, Grangemouth; M.Cowan, Kirkcaldy; R.Gardiner, Kirkcaldy; N.J.Henry, Glasgow; A.McBride, Grangemouth; N.McKay, Glasgow; A.D.Munro, Grangemouth; T.C.Munro, Grangemouth; C.Spinks, Grangemouth; D.A.Steven, Grangemouth; E.D.Steedman, Grangemouth; J.Spinks, Grangemouth; J.Strachan, Dundee; W.S.Wallace, Grangemouth