THE EXPANSE (4)

THE EXPANSE (4)

Revelation 12: 1 - 12; Revelation 21: 9 - 27; Revelation 22: 1 - 5

SMcC These sections that we have read in this book introduce us to a great realm of administrative and governmental glory; first as seen in Israel, if we take account of the actual symbolic meaning of the woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, though we may apply it in relation to what is seen in the assembly. The male son which the woman brings forth, that the dragon is ready to devour, and which is caught up to God and to His throne involves, as we have often heard, not only Christ, but the assembly; Christ and the assembly. And immediately that is so, the presence of Christ and the assembly there, we have the clearing of the expanse. There was war in the heavens and Satan who had entered the expanse, with the many votaries of his activities and power, is cast out into the earth. He had sought to interfere with the great operations that the expanse was designed in view of. Then in the last section we have the way that the assembly, the Lamb’s wife, as the holy city, comes on to our view in connection with the millennial scene. Everywhere the relation of the city is seen in connection with the earth. God’s prime thought in connection with the expanse, as we contemplated in Genesis 1, is now arrived at in the final side of things in the Revelation. We have Christ and the assembly associated with Him in the blest administration of that day, culminating in the service of God, as in the last section that we read in chapter 22; and the thought of the Lord God shining upon them and they reigning to the ages of ages. We thus see how the whole challenge which evil has thrown up is met, and met victoriously, and the saints come into it.

It is a wonderful thing that we should get a hold of in our souls, how the saints come into it. The travail in chapter 12, no doubt suggests the suffering way in which the saints come into it now.

JMcK Would there be some answer in this chapter to Genesis 1, in that the fourth day, with the heavenlies, the sun and moon and the stars. God is committed to that before He makes man? I was thinking of the way you are speaking of, that this position in the heavenlies is rectified; the other sign in verse 3 of Revelation 12, and the imperial character it takes in the heavenlies, is answered by the male son.

SMcC Yes. It is striking how the chapter opens with the great thought of the woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and the twelve stars; but the great objective is the male son who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. That is, the objective is arrived at through this range of glory linked with the woman in the suffering position. The side of suffering of course does not come into Genesis 1, but abstractly the great realm of administrative and governmental glory in the sun and the moon and the stars is before us on the fourth day. The suffering involves what followed in the way that evil raised the challenge.

LWT Is it striking that the matter of travail followed the introduction of evil? Has the matter of travail here a positive bearing?

SMcC It has, having in mind the great matter of heavenly rule and influence which the expanse suggests in relation to the earth. So that the process is in mind in this chapter, from the divine view. That is, it is not the detail that we find in other chapters as to the beasts, the Roman Empire, and the man of sin; we do not get all the detail gone into here; but we get the abstract view given to us. Yet, while it is an abstract view, it involves such practical exercises, such concrete matters with us.

WWS May I ask if the bringing in of the thought of Christ and the assembly in the presence of such opposition as set out in the red dragon, must essentially involve suffering?

SMcC I think it does. The suffering line is present from the beginning onwards.

AJG As soon as sin entered the world, God said that the answer to it would be in the seed of the woman. Does this line of travail come in with the saints as self is more and more displaced by the work of God, in order to bring in the features of the true man?

SMcC It is very striking in that way how these thoughts that appeared in the early chapters of Genesis now reach a full positive result in the end of the Revelation. They are met by divine supremacy, you might say; not only divine supremacy in relation to the throne in the heavens, but divine supremacy in what the woman suggests.

AJG So that the great vessel of administration in the end, in the millennium, is entirely a creature vessel, which is a remarkable triumph for God, is it not?

SMcC It is. That is the wonder of what we have in the Revelation, that God in His supremacy meets the whole challenge of evil in a creature vessel, but such a creature vessel that is perfectly competent to be alongside Christ in the administration of the glory.

RHJr Why do we get the full title of Satan here?

SMcC So that we do not mistake who is in mind. Whatever form Satan takes, the Spirit of God through John His servant, would impress us with all his characters, diverse as they are.

MPS May I ask as to the persecution? The great red dragon stood before the woman, in order that he might devour her child. After he was cast out of the heaven, he persecuted the woman.

SMcC There are two things to notice: in the beginning of the chapter he stands before the woman, he is in front of her, but in the end of the chapter he is behind her, and he is following her with the great stream of influence by which he hopes to divert her and overthrow her. I refer to verse 15, “And the serpent cast out of his mouth behind the woman water as a river, that he might make her be as one carried away by a river.” He could not hinder divine supremacy as it manifests itself, as he stands before the woman, so that, in the latter part, he tries to move up behind.

RDH Is there a link with 1 Thessalonians 4, where it says: “we ... shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,” and then in chapter 5 it says, “When they may say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child; and they shall in no wise escape”?

SMcC I would like to get the link more clear as to the one in travail.

RDH I was thinking of the contrast, we have the travail of the woman in Revelation, but then the travail comes upon the enemies.

SMcC That is, the position is reversed, the travail there is not, as we have it here in the woman; it is the governmental side in those that refuse the truth.

JAF Is there any connection between the exercises at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel and what we have here? I was thinking of the line of Joseph’s exercises bringing to light a situation of which it could be said, “God with us.”

SMcC There is a distinct link between Matthew’s gospel and what we have here in these earlier chapters,

because we know that the feature of the dragon is there, ready to devour the male son. Israel is in mind, of course, in the woman, in the mother here, but then, Matthew being the assembly gospel, we are at liberty to transfer these thoughts (keeping before us what actually is in mind) to what works out amongst the saints now. If government and administration according to God are going to reach a completed result, we must be prepared for the line of suffering and travail.

LWT Do you think that the reference in verse 12 to the devil knowing that he has a short time, might have some application, in an anticipative way, to the present time in the closing moments of the saints here? May we have to face some special attacks of the enemy, knowing that his time is short?

SMcC Yes, and particularly the direction of his hatred and enmity towards the woman which bore the male child. No doubt, he realised what the woman meant, and he could see, in what was transpiring, that his whole position of supremacy in evil was involved. And when he fails through being met by divine supremacy in what is good in the catching up of the male son to God and to His throne, he turns his attack upon the woman which bore the male child, that is, what the saints are as in this line of suffering.

RGB Is there a tribute to the greatness of divine power to preserve what is of God in the reference to the place prepared by God in the wilderness?

SMcC That is a beautiful touch, “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has there a place prepared of God.” We often delight to speak of the place that the Lord has gone to prepare for us in the Father’s house. He has gone to prepare us a place; how precious that is, we shall soon be there, but do we think sufficiently of the place that is divinely prepared for those faithful to the truth here below and that are prepared to stand by administrative and governmental principles that make way for divine supremacy? Do we realise that sufficiently? It is a great thing for the young ones that are coming on to realise that. They are coming out of school and they have got to make their living and it is a very difficult time, for there are these associations and unions and the like. What shall they do? Well, we cannot hold up our hands and say that nothing can be done and that we will just have to take the line of least resistance; there is a place prepared of God, in the wilderness, where we will be nourished.

AB Is that same principle seen with the midwives in the beginning of Exodus? God prepared them houses.

SMcC Does it not show how God is prepared to take care of those who consider for Himself and who are prepared to suffer at the risk of their lives?

CRB I wondered if we could also think of Ephesians 6 in connection with our struggle, and the allusion there to the spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies. The exhortation is, “brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength” (verse 10). Is that something like the place prepared in the wilderness?

SMcC Very good. “The might of his strength.” It is not in the might of our own strength or resource; everything hinges for us, in these difficult circumstances, in the might of the Lord’s strength. I think it is a very fine reference. And the woman was not told to go there; that is the interesting thing. It says, “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has there a place prepared of God.” Apparently she knew of it.

AWGT Who are the ‘they’ that nourish her there? It says, “that they should nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

SMcC Well, these ‘theys’ are very interesting. They are like the nameless ‘theys’ in the Chronicles, who buried the kings; they are able to take account of the history of each and bury him accordingly. There are other ‘theys’ that we find in Scripture, those who are God’s secret reserves, so that however difficult the position is, God has His secret reserves.

ECM Does it fit in a little with Matthew, again, the One who has all power given into His hands in heaven and upon earth is the One who says, “And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age.” I am thinking of the link with “all the days.”

SMcC Yes. We can count on the Lord’s support in the testimonial position every day.

APCL Is there a link in any sense with the abode of His holiness in the wilderness, in Exodus? Would this place that has been prepared on the public side help us to fit in with the abode of His holiness in the wilderness?

SMcC I think it would, because you can rest assured that this would be a clean place, a holy place. It is not any kind of place, but it is a place prepared of God. You are thinking of what it says in the song of Moses, in Exodus 15, as to the place prepared. There would be a link in that way with what we have here.

WJT Would you say a word as to “the two wings of the great eagle,” according to verse 14?

SMcC That is another link with Exodus, for all the imagery that we have in the book of the Revelation links with the historical books, with Exodus and with Kings and with Chronicles and Ezekiel. It is as if John is drawing from the vast reservoir of what there is in all these phases of the testimony and clothing the expressions here with them.

FCG What is in mind in verse 16, “the earth helped the woman”?

SMcC It says in verse 15, “And the serpent cast out of his mouth behind the woman water as a river, that he might make her be as one carried away by a river. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” It is a very interesting thing to see how the earth functions at different times. In the time of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, the earth opened its mouth to receive the lawless persons. But here, the earth is helping the woman. It is some reference to what is in the providential area that makes way for the woman as persecuted by Satan.

CH Could we have a little more help as to the question of tribulation, or travail, connected with the male son?

SMcC I think it is a very important thing in regard to all the exercises that are being faced universally in the working out of matters in our localities. It becomes very real. The brethren will recall the address given by Mr. Taylor at Croydon, after the meetings there, on ‘Generations in the Book of Genesis,’ as to the sober side of things linked with travail in this setting, and how tribulation enters into all our current local matters, in view of a completed result for God. What would you say yourself?

CH I was wondering whether it particularly had in mind the idea of representation and the continuation of the testimony. It is not just a question of the feminine side involving the formative work of God in the soul, but rather that work taking shape in the testimonial sphere.

SMcC Just so. And the male son has in mind the continuation of things on the administrative line here. It is not exactly the service of God, it is the administrative line, the line of rule and government.

LGB In that connection, is it interesting that there is power to bring forth? You reminded us in London, last year, of the scripture in Isaiah 26 where they had brought forth but wind; but here there is power to bring forth.

SMcC We have often noticed how the enemy would seek to hinder things from being completed, from coming to a full result. He stood before the woman who was about to bring forth. That is, he is ready to interfere immediately and he will be satisfied if matters are not completed; because if matters are not completed, the enemy really has gained the day.

CH Pharaoh did not seem concerned about the feminine children, he was concerned about the male children. Is it that that he really fears? He cannot really touch the subjective work of God, but he can hinder, if he is allowed, the representation of God here.

SMcC He can.

AH Would you say a word as to the first part of verse 4?

SMcC That is a very serious thing to take account of, for it involves what we have been saying throughout these readings, how the enemy has entered the expanse and his influence has been extended in it. It says, “his tail draws the third part of the stars of the heaven; and he cast them to the earth.” That is, he is out to interfere with the great elements of rule in the expanse.

CMM Do we gather from this chapter that the assembly, being a heavenly vessel, as going to heaven, there is no more room for Satan there? The assembly belongs to heaven and is now taking up that place.

SMcC It is very striking, is it not, that immediately you get the child caught up to God and to His throne, you get war in heaven? It says, “Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon.” That is very striking. We get no instruction afforded us as to any command or anything; it is the catching up of the child to God and to the throne that precipitates this action, “Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon.” It shows what is linked with the place of Christ and the assembly in heaven.

JMcK Why is it in the hands of angels? Does it imply a wonderful intelligence on their part, that they know what the issue is?

SMcC I think it does. It is all the more striking in that Satan himself, having fallen from his first estate, and angels also having left their first estate, that we should get Michael and his angels going to war with the dragon.

JMcK Do you mean that God meets the issue where the defection came in?

SMcC That is it. That is, where things began originally, defection was found in Satan, as the prophetic scriptures point to.

JB Could we have a word on Mr. Darby’s foot-note to ‘fought’ in verse 7? ‘They tried to hold their ground, did not flee.’ There is a lesson for us in that. It says, “Same word as ‘went to war,’ but this is the attack. Hence I have said ‘fought.’ They tried to hold their ground, did not flee.” The result is that “he prevailed not, nor was their place found any more in the heaven. And the great dragon was cast out.” The ground was held by Michael and the angels and the dragon finds no more place. It is very striking that so much is made of place in this chapter.

AWGT Does this warfare at all connect with the divine strategy? The woman does her part and then flees into the wilderness; then this angelic holding of the ground follows that. I wondered if it is one great coordinated movement.

SMcC It does, and it shows a link between heaven and earth. That is, what is going on in the opening of the chapter, while it is a heavenly view and an abstract view of glory in Israel in a governmental position and administrative position, and Christ coming of Israel, yet it is what is happening on the earth. But then the movements in heaven are coordinated, so that Michael and his angels come into the conflict. It shows that the conflict is one, it is not one battle above and one battle below; the conflict is one.

APCL Do you think that this place that you have referred to should be more in our minds? I am thinking of the way in which Satan evidently mingles with the sons of God, according to the beginning of Job, and how in this section he is said to be the accuser of our brethren. But he is not only there in an aggressive way, do you think?

SMcC No, he found a place there. Now that is a very searching matter as to how he found a place, but he did.

LWT So is any accusation against the brethren here below really part of the conflict and the enemy’s activity?

SMcC We want to see that. Because he is anti-priest here as has often been noticed. Christ in His priestly station in the presence of God intercedes for us, but here we have got one who is against the brethren, as it says, “the accuser of our brethren has been cast out, who accused them before our God day and night.”

JM Is it not instructive to see that before Satan is finally overcome and cast out, he is overcome by the brethren here? It says, “they have overcome him by reason of the blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony, and have not loved their life even unto death.”

SMcC Just so. This great voice in heaven that enters into this whole paragraph is very interesting, because it involves those that are there, that is, the saints are raptured in the light of the child caught up to God and to His throne. And the voice that is heard in heaven proclaiming this, “Therefore be full of delight, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them,” involves those that are there, the saints.

ACSP Does the reference that there was no place found any more in the heaven for the devil and his agencies suggest that God is reaching a full result, and using all the room He made now for His own pleasure?

SMcC That is it. The expanse, in its original and primary setting, was that God should have full room for the vastness and greatness of His operations, especially involving Christ and the assembly. But the enemy entered into the expanse and sought to hinder the operations, although God continued with them. But now we are reaching finality and there is no place found any more for him in the heavens.

KFS Could you explain why John, just in this scripture, uses the plural word, saying, “be full of delight, ye heavens”? John usually uses the singular; He speaks of heaven and the heaven.

SMcC I think what is in mind here is the full thought, involving the whole heavenly sphere. As we know, there are different heavens. Paul speaks of the third heaven, for instance, indicating that there are other heavens. The expanse is linked, no doubt, with the atmospheric heaven, physically. But this has in mind the whole heavenly sphere.

APCL He personifies it, too, does he not? He says, “Ye heavens,” as though it is something that in God’s mind should be responsive to Himself as cleansed.

SMcC Yes.

JBS Would you say that God deals with evil in a certain sense in stages, first of all in heaven, and then Satan comes down to the earth and he is dealt with there?

SMcC Yes. As evil comes up, it is dealt with in that sense, and as the enemy transfers his operations to the scene here below, he is met down there. So that while it is Michael and his angels above, when we come down to the latter part of the chapter, it is the providential agencies that are used to make way for the persecuted saints.

JMcK So that the war is continued with “the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus.”

SMcC And it is very striking the change of strategy. Mr. Darby says in the Synopsis on Ephesians 6, that we should be more afraid of the enemy’s stratagems than of his power. In the first part of the chapter he stands before the woman that he might devour her. That is, it is a violent, ferocious action; but when we come to the latter part of the chapter, it is a very subtle action. The river speaks of influence, it always does in Scripture, an influence for good or an influence for bad. Sometimes we may be preserved in a ferocious, violent attack of the devil, but we may succumb to the more gentle side of influence, which the river suggests.

GEE Is that why all these titles of Satan come in in verse 9, suggesting a variety of activity?

SMcC Yes, so that we should not be deceived with any of his strategies. Whether it is in the form of the dragon, or in the form of the serpent, or “he who is called Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world.” Paul says, “We are not ignorant of his thoughts,” 2 Corinthians 2: 11.

MPS Would you say something about the two things in verse 11, “the blood of the Lamb,” and “the word of their testimony,” in connection with what you have just been saying?

SMcC It is a very touching reference, “the blood of the Lamb,” and it would help us to see the great leverage that the blood of the Lamb has in the souls of those that overcome. The Lamb is a touching reference to Christ who suffered even to death, and the blood would affect those that had been in the position of suffering. So that they overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony.

AJG Does not the blood of the Lamb provide a perfect answer to all the accusations?

SMcC It does. You mean the accusing them before our God day and night?

AJG Yes. There is a perfect answer to all the accusations, and although some of the accusations might be true, they are met by the blood of the Lamb, and they can afford to go on with the word of their testimony, can they not?

SMcC That is right. Because we know that in accusations, if it were not for the blood of the Lamb, where would we stand? There is nothing, of course, more demoralising in conflict than an accusation which cannot be met, but this is met by reason of the blood of the Lamb which has cleared them entirely. Now we go over to chapter 21, which gives us the great final thoughts as to the expanse in relation to the millennial world. It is very affecting to see how the assembly, as the Lamb’s wife in the form of the city, is moved on to our view. We see, too, its relations with the earth, because the nations walk by its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. As has often perhaps been noticed, the assembly maintains her own heavenly distinctiveness; whereas, on the earthly side, in Jerusalem below, according to the prophet, the nation that will not serve the King, Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem, will perish. But in the heavenly city, the assembly, we have her true distinctiveness in grace maintained, so that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

GHSP Is it at all significant that the angel which shows John the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is specifically said to be “one of the seven angels which had had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues”? Would that suggest that there must be some appreciation with us of God’s governmental and judicial dealings preparatory to the appreciation of the real glory that comes before us now?

SMcC I think it does. That is, in meeting evil’s challenge God would have us with Him in it, so that we fully understand what is being met, and it has an answer in our souls. It has been met in our souls, in the truth of the glad tidings, and in the assembly exercises. The challenge that evil has thrown up is thus met in our souls individually and in the assembly in our corporate relations. So that we are with God in the matter of the expanse and His great thoughts in it.

CH Is the reference to “a great and high wall” part of the meeting of all that has come in, so far as the saints are concerned?

SMcC Yes. It is very striking that what is distinctive about that wall is that its building was jasper. We were reminded of that, although we did not allude to it, in the first scripture we read this morning, where it says, “and upon the throne one sitting, and he that was sitting like in appearance to a stone of jasper and a sardius.” That is, there is an affinity in the wall with God Himself, and the outshining of His glory.

WGJ Is this affinity seen in her shining? It is like “a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone.”

SMcC Just so, and also, it says, “the first foundation, jasper,” It is very interesting that the first foundation is jasper, and the last foundation is amethyst. The amethyst pointing to the heavenly side.

CH Is the great triumph that she comes down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God?

SMcC I think so. And the glory of God no doubt is reflected in all these stones and their variegated beauty.

FCE Could I ask about verse 1 of this chapter, where it speaks of “a new heaven and a new earth”? How does that fit in in relation to the expanse that we are speaking of?

SMcC The expanse that we began with in Genesis l, literally of course, involves what is physical; and all that is terminated, that passes away. The millennial scene brings in God’s complete triumph in relation to it, that what He began with, He ends with in His ways. In the new heaven and the new earth, we do not get any detail as to what composes it, but we do know that the assembly, in her heavenly position and place, carries through. So that spiritually, the thoughts of the expanse go through on the inward side; not on the outward mediatorial side of administration and rule, but in the inward side, what is linked with God’s glory in it.

ECM Is there something in the fact that John was carried away in the Spirit? I am thinking of the difference between “I became in [the] Spirit.”

SMcC Yes, it is an interesting reference here, that he does not become in Spirit here. “He carried me away in the Spirit,” and then you will notice, in chapter 22, as has often been noticed before, “he shewed me a river of water of life.” When it comes to the final view of things in relation to the expanse, and its relation to the earth, it is not a question exactly of what we voluntarily come into, it is a question of what we are drawn into, brought into. God will bring us with the Lord when He comes again. We may think of our coming again with Him, but you will notice that in Thessalonians the word is, “For if we believe that Jesus has died and has risen again, so also God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” That is a divine action that comes into the final side of things linked with the appearing and the display of the glory.

AH Referring to the stones once more, is it not instructive to see that the anointed cherub is invested by God with, I think, ten different stones, whereas when we come to the wall of the assembly, we have twelve? In both instances it says, “every precious stone,” but the assembly exceeds what God had committed to the anointed cherub originally.

SMcC It is very striking that we should have the link in the stones in this section and in Ezekiel. It shows God’s complete triumph in the expanse in relation to him who had found such a place there, and God has reached His triumph, as was pointed out earlier, in a creature vessel, but such a creature as the assembly is, so near to Deity.

RGB Would the references to “the Lord God Almighty is its temple,” and then “the throne of God and of the Lamb” being in it, stress the outstanding distinctiveness and quality of vessel that the assembly is, and its nearness to God?

SMcC It does, I think it specially helps us to see that in the assembly we have got the acme of divine workmanship. What has resulted from divine operations is seen in it, “The Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb,” We have got a creature vessel great enough for the Deity to be its temple. It is a marvellous thing when you take account of it in that sense.

CMM Would you say a word about the golden reed please? Would that be in accord with your thought as to everything being secured according to divine glory? Will everything in that scene stand the measurement of the golden reed? Could you link it with Ephesians 4?

SMcC Just so. The golden reed as a measure is very interesting and then, corresponding with that, the cubic measure, the length and the breadth and the height of it being equal, is very interesting too.

There is a link in that way with our first scripture, where we have the divine side in the woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, but then the travail and the result brings in the substantial side, the cubic side; so that what we have in the city is not just an abstract thought, it is a substantial thought.

WF Evidently in the holy city everything is measured by the golden reed, whereas in chapter 11 the court is cast out. Would you distinguish there, for us, please?

SMcC The court in chapter 11 has to do with what is without, whereas the golden reed has to do with the city which, of course, is of God and heavenly.

WF Is it a great triumph that everything in the city comes up to the divine standard?

SMcC Just so. Mr. Darby makes a touching allusion to the city as of God and as heavenly. He says, ‘It might be of God, and earthly. It might be heavenly and angelic. It is neither. It was divine in origin and heavenly in nature and character.’ That is very fine in regard to the city.

AJG So that even in writing to the Corinthians, Paul says, “Of him,” that is, of God, “are ye in Christ Jesus.” That brings in the heavenly side, does it not? Is he not seeking to impress them with the dignity of their position, as of God and in Christ Jesus?

SMcC It is very striking how Paul moves on that high level towards the Corinthians despite what marked them. The way he views them and clothes them is like what we have in the beginning of chapter 12, and also what we have here in the city. He approaches them from that high level.

APCL In verse 23 it says, “for the glory of God has enlightened it.” It is not only that it is a vessel, of which the lamp is said to be the Lamb, but the glory of God has enlightened it. Would that refer to all that has been done substantially in its formation?

SMcC So that that would have a backward, retroactive reference, would it not?

APCL I thought that, and bearing even on what you were saying as to the exercises in Corinthians.

GEE What is the force of so many references to the Lamb put alongside these exalted thoughts as to the glory of God?

SMcC Have you ever noticed in Mr. Darby’s hymns, so exalted in their sentiments, how the Lamb is brought in? It is very interesting to notice that, because I suppose if some of us brought in ‘the Lamb’ in assembly service, we might be thought out of place. But the Lamb is a touching allusion, I think, to the One who is the Centre of the sphere and the realm, who has acquired the place in our affections by the way of suffering love.

CWO'LM Is there any teaching for us in that connection in the fact that on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel are inscribed, while in the foundations, we have the twelve apostles of the Lamb? Is administration to be carried out in the dignity of sonship, but underlying it all is the thought of suffering?

SMcC I think it is. And I think also added to that great thought is “the glory of God has enlightened it.” That is, the names of the twelve sons of Israel being inscribed in the gates, means that the assembly is intelligent as to every thought of God that has come into His ways, and the assembly cherishes every thought of God. And then the angels are at the gates. Well, what a touch that is! The angels are the great agents of providential government and administration and, in their original place, were higher than man as to rank, but now they are subserving this creature vessel, attending upon it. What a touch it gives as to the great result of God’s workmanship in the assembly, the city!

APCL It appears that this is not seen as a result of going into the gate, and heaven; but it is from the great and high mountain. Is this possible therefore, for us to view now as it comes out actually?

SMcC I think it is. That is, we have got to get on to this elevation. The mountain would link us on with what is heavenly, but it still is the link with the earth, in that way.

GHSP Would the mountain at all link with the thought of the overcomer, and the way the name of this city is written on the overcomer in Philadelphia?

SMcC I am sure it would. One was thinking earlier of the link between the promise to the overcomer in Philadelphia and what we have here. That is, it is like a mountain in that sense. It is an eminence that stands out, a pillar in the temple of Christ’s God, the name of Christ’s God written upon him, and the name of the city of Christ’s God, and Christ’s new name. What an eminence it constitutes, as you think of it! And from that exalted view, the line of overcoming, we can take account of God’s complete triumph, that in the expanse, into which evil entered to impede the operations of God, evil has been completely cast out, and in its place is this benign influence for good that sheds its rays on the whole scene below.

LWT Is the triumph over evil emphasised in the last verse of the chapter? “And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it.” It is as though evil cannot enter into this creature vessel. Is that a wonderful triumph for God in the expanse?

SMcC It is. It helps us to see the impregnable character of the city. It is not a question of doors or gates or bars to keep out things; it is what the city is as formed in the divine nature. The holiness that is there, and the love, would be repellent of anything that is not in keeping with it.

DWG And as we see that, are we really brought to the moral exercise of verses 14 and 15 of chapter 22, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loves and makes a lie”?

SMcC Just so. Who would not like to go in by the gates into that city? Well, are we prepared to wash our robes? And the last verse that we read, “And no curse shall be any more” is very fine, because it is still the millennial scene, and yet we get this remarkable reference, that “no curse shall be any more.” If we look at the historic side and the prophetic side, the armies will still be gathered together against the beloved city, but from the heavenly side you see the city’s benign influence, “no curse shall be any more.”

JM Is that where the triumph of God lies, that He brings in that which is eternal into the time scene?

SMcC That is it. The assembly comes into the millennium from the eternal scene. She enters upon what is eternal at the rapture, and she comes into the millennial scene from that position, to influence it for God.

LWT Is that why we get the new heavens and new earth anticipated in Isaiah 65, which would really be a millennial matter?

SMcC Just so. Isaiah’s new heavens and new earth do not take us beyond the millennium, but you can understand it in the light of the city, and the presence of the city in it as we go back into Isaiah with the light we have in our souls as to the city of God.