THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD

^[p. 116] THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD

Romans 1: 4; Ezekiel 39: 11 - 16; Ezekiel 37: 1 - 14; John 9: 34 (last sentence), 35 - 38

From these scriptures I intend, by the Lord’s help, to say something about His sonship, having in mind to point out that the knowledge of Him as the Son is dependent on our being in the circumstances in connection with which that knowledge is disclosed. It will be found in the Scriptures, and by experience, that, in the unfolding of the truth, each part has its own setting, and the clear apprehension of it depends on our being in that setting. Defectiveness as to the truth is largely accountable to the fact that we do not get into the circumstances in which any particular truth is disclosed.

One would illustrate this important principle by pointing out that the light of the purpose of God was disclosed to Abraham as he was in the land, not in Mesopotamia; and so the light as to God and His name was disclosed to Jacob when he was in Bethel, not in Padan; and the light as to the divine dwelling in the tabernacle was not disclosed to Israel until they were in the circumstances of it, that is, in the wilderness. One could multiply illustrations of this principle; and the principle is intended to test us as to whether, if we apprehend any truth, we are ready to move into the circumstances in which it was primarily disclosed. Christianity is not an armchair matter, it requires movement, and sometimes movement involving the most humiliating and painful experiences, but we shall always prove that these experiences and these sacrifices are worth while.

Now this principle applies peculiarly to the knowledge of the Son of God; and I have read these passages to show how the first scripture works out. It is stated there, that the Lord Jesus is “marked out Son of God ^[p. 117] in power, ... by resurrection of the dead”. Inasmuch as death is on us all, and that physical death will take place — except the Lord comes, when what corresponds to resurrection will be necessary — it is evident that, to reach the knowledge of Him as Son of God, it is worth one’s while to accept definitely the place of death and burial. If I am to apprehend the Son of God, it is essential that I should come to death in my mind. Indeed, one might say that in a practical way the word of the psalmist, especially to those of us who are advanced in years, is always important: that we should be taught to “number our days”. Where a thing has to be taught, the suggestion is that it is not taken in very readily, and people do not take in very readily the nearness of dissolution. The tendency is to put it off, whereas we are to be taught to so “number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart” (Psalm 90: 12); and the greatest gain in this, I believe, is that it places us in circumstances in which, and in view of which, the Son of God was manifested.

As I learn to number my days, the thought of resurrection becomes more and more important. I do not know of anything that I desire more than to arrive at the resurrection from among the dead — that is what the apostle had in his mind. It settles a thousand difficulties if one arrives definitely in one’s soul at the resurrection from the dead: but for this one has to be, as it were, where the dead are. If one is to be taken out from among the dead, one has to be in one’s mind, at least, where the dead are, and that is what I had in mind in reading from Ezekiel.

I hope to show, from John 9, that there is another side, that is, that being an outcast in this world religiously places me in circumstances to which the light of the Son of God especially applies; but if I prefer to stay with the Pharisees, the accredited religionists of the day, I shall not come into this light. I may be orthodox, and I may be taking issue with those who ^[p. 118] have the light of the Son of God, but I shall not come into it, for it is the outcasts religiously who come into it.

The circumstances, beloved brethren, of absolute Deity are beyond our range; God makes that plain, so that to carry back the circumstances of revelation into the circumstances of absolute Deity is flying in the teeth of Scripture. The circumstances into which divine Persons have come in revelation must be left as they are presented in Scripture. We are brought into these circumstances, and I hope in a little while to show you how we are brought into them: that is, consciously brought into them; they abide, and we abide in them, as in the Son of God. But we are not introduced into the circumstances of absolute Deity: these are beyond our understanding, as it is said, “which in its own time the blessed and only Ruler shall shew, the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see; to whom be honour and eternal might. Amen”, 1 Timothy 6: 15 - 16. But then divine Persons have come into circumstances that are within our range, and the Scriptures open up to us the way into these circumstances, and no one can afford to be outside of them.

The Son of God is “marked out” we are told. This does not allude to the voice from heaven at the Jordan; it alludes to what comes into evidence in death, where death is, and where burial is, for death involves burial. So this land of Israel, spoken of in Ezekiel 39, is a territory in which unburied people are peculiarly obnoxious, even an unburied bone. It is a scripture that challenges us as to our position in a land of privilege. I am not now alluding to what it may mean prophetically; in this respect, these that were buried came from the far north. But everyone in the land of privilege has come a long way in a moral sense, and he had better go the whole way, that is to say, burial must take place.

^[p. 119] If I am to be in the light of the knowledge of the Son of God, I must take this position, it is imperative. It is imperative for other reasons too, reasons of common decency, that I should not intrude my unburied flesh in such a sphere. It is the land of Israel here. How much uncovered flesh stalks about in the great religious area called christendom! In a certain sense, it is divine territory; there is what is more specially divine territory indeed, but, in a certain sense, the whole area of christendom is divine territory, and it is to this territory that the Apocalypse refers; God takes up His rights in regard to it in the Apocalypse. Hence the voice to us of these verses in Ezekiel 39, is to see to it that we are buried, and it is the business of each of us to see that others who profess to be christians are buried. You will all observe how minute the instruction is in this chapter: “And all the people of the land shall bury” (the “them” in verse 13, should not be there) — it involves that all the people of the land are buriers. And then it says, “it shall be to them for renown in the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah”. This is an occupation that God would lay upon us, and it enters into the divine glory, that this service of burial should proceed. It goes on to say, “And they shall sever out men of continual employment to go through the land, who, with the passers-by, shall bury those that remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it: at the end of seven months shall they make a search”. This is not a pleasant service, but it is a most essential service, and one that God would put upon us, a service that is required, if we are to come into the clear knowledge of the Son of God. It is a service that is needed if we are to come to “the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”, Ephesians 4: 13. It is not the measure of the stature of the Son of God; the knowledge of the Son of God enters into the thought of full-growth, it is the great element in it, but then, there is what is knowable of the Son of God, and there ^[p. 120] is the unknowable. It is the knowledge of what is knowable of the Son of God that enters into the full-grown thought, but if I am to come to this knowledge I must have part in these burials — this service of burial.

I have no doubt that Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus are, in a sense, models for us; they come into view at a given time for a needed service. They were not employed by the saints as undertakers to bury the blessed body of our Lord Jesus; Joseph and Nicodemus come in at the end of John 19, and they bury the Lord Jesus. While maintaining what is due to the Lord personally, I have no doubt they set out this great principle of which I am speaking, for it is as having been buried that He was raised. They are at His grave in the evening, and Mary Magdalene is at His grave in the morning, and Peter and John — representing two phases of the believer’s position. There must be the burial if I am to come into the full knowledge of the Son of God, just as all the people of the land were enjoined to bury, according to this chapter.

Now, dear brethren, as we look round in our localities, are all the saints buried? Am I buried? — that is the way it comes to me. I am certainly in the land of Israel, the land of privilege, but I am offensive if I am not buried. I may be nice and amiable naturally, but I am offensive spiritually if I am not buried; and moreover I am not in the light of the knowledge of the Son of God, however orthodox I may be, for it applies to me as having died and been buried. It applied to Christ too, in that sense — “marked out Son of God in power ... by resurrection of the dead”. I do not say it was His own resurrection necessarily, although that is included; it says “dead” here applying to such as Lazarus. So that, dear brethren, you can see how this applies in our localities. If I am buried myself, the next thing is to bury the brethren who are not buried. You may say, ‘How can I do it?’ Well, it is a ^[p. 121] question of accepting the obligation; the acceptance of the obligation is, in a way, half the work. A man who loved his wife, said of her, “That I may bury my dead from before me” — that was spoken of Sarah. Abraham buried her to be raised; he buried her in the cave of Machpelah; and when she is raised, there will never again be a thought of her being put out of his sight. But at the present time, there is much among us that is obnoxious. And so the details of the instruction go on here: “And the passers-by shall pass through the land, and when any seeth a man’s bone, he shall set up a sign by it”. I should not like to be a man labelled by the brethren as having one of my bones unburied — maybe my head, or my feet, or my hands. A saint loyal to Christ, if he sees that, will put it out of sight; such an one is known by the spiritual, and when one comes to a locality one sees the sign — that brother is not buried, or is only partly buried. You see how this applies in this great matter of the knowledge of the Son of God, that the real difficulty lies in the state of the brethren, in not getting into the circumstances to which this blessed truth applies.

In chapter 37 which contemplates burial, that is to say, the national burial of Israel, we see how they come into the quickening power of the Son of God. For we have two thoughts in John 5: the first is that “the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live” (verse 25); the second is, “all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice”. The dead hearing the voice of the Son of God refers to men and women living here in this world, dead in their sins, dead God-ward, and they hear the voice of the Son of God and live. As soon as they do that, they bury themselves, that is the force of baptism — they begin to feel things, and that is what you get here, “Our bones are dried”, they say in verse 11, that is, they are feeling the state of things — the circumstances are felt. It says, “And he said unto me, Son of man, these ^[p. 122] bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off!” That is the feeling. One feels, dear brethren, there is a want of depth in the saints, a want of feeling about things; there is shallowness. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, he says, as it were, ‘I have come to an impassable point, I can get no further’, and he wept sore, and God heard him and saw his tears. It is in coming into the circumstances to which the truth applies, that I come into the truth. And so here, “Our bones are dried”, they said, “we are cut off!”; but God says, ‘I have got power’, it is the power of the Son of God.

And so the prophet is taken round about: an important service to go all round the saints in the localities, if one may speak simply. One comes to a well-known city, and one questions in one’s heart, ‘Is there any movement here? Is there any progress at all? How are the saints progressing?’ The prophet is to go all round the bones — ‘Oh’, he says, ‘these bones are very dry’. You find that often in meetings: the saints are very dry. Well, what is needed now is power in the ministry, “Prophesy over these bones”. The brethren may be dry, but then they are ready to listen, and that is a great matter — the numbers who so often come together now show that the brethren are ready to listen. So he prophesied to the bones, and presently there is a rustling and the bones come together, bone to its bone. One saint lives in fine circumstances; another lives in poor circumstances: how will bone come to bone? “The bones came together”, it says, “bone to its bone”. I am speaking now very simply and plainly — bone comes to its bone, none is out of place; there are no malformations in this great operation of God. You have one whole — the idea of the framework of the bones gives a whole idea; like the passover lamb, a bone of which was not to be broken; that is, it is a whole idea.

^[p. 123] But then, the valley of dry bones is a conglomerate idea, it is not the divine thought; it shows the terrible devastation of death; but in such a devastation, which makes the accomplishment of the counsels of God a necessity, He can call bone to its bone. The knowledge of resurrection is a wonderful thing! it is a question of the power of God, that He can bring bone to bone. No bone will be out of place. Then the sinews and the flesh came on them; sinews will be needed as means of action, concerted action; and the flesh comes on them to give form and fulness; and then skin, that is to say, the basis of beautification. How can we reach this point aside from taking the place of death and burial? It is that that gives God a free hand to bring bone to his bone, and to give sinews, and to bring up the flesh, and all the beautification that clothes the skin for God. Applying it to ourselves, we arrive by the power of God at the most wonderful formation in the universe, that is, the assembly. So that you see the importance of what I am saying, if we are to arrive at the knowledge of the Son of God; we must accept in our minds the place of death and burial, which implies the removal of all that would hinder bone coming to bone so that the whole thought of God should be reached, then the sinews and the flesh and skin coming upon them, involving form and general beautification: there is something pleasing to God by His own power.

Having said all that about death and resurrection, one can dwell on the thought of the Son of God, how He is in the minds of the saints marked out in power by resurrection of the dead. I believe that is where the testimony lies, where the truth of the assembly is reached in the knowledge of the Son of God — His person. Orthodoxy has no certainty in it, for the certainty is in the thing being brought to our attention in a marked way in the Lord’s Person, He has done it, we have heard His voice, He has made us to live; He is in our souls in that way; He is thus known in our ^[p. 124] souls as the Son of God. It is a certainty, nobody can take it away from us. He is “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”.

The other side of this matter is excommunication from the religious organisations of this world. John 9 brings out that faithful testimony rendered, as one has light, leads to one’s being cast out. If I remain in the religious system, it is just by accommodation; if I am there as a christian, I am accommodating error. The parents of this man knew that, if they confessed Jesus to be the Christ, they would be excommunicated. It is poor loyalty to Christ to stay where He is rejected; loyalty is in being faithful to the light you have, to testify to it clearly, and you will have either to withdraw or they will force you out. Here the man is forced out, they excommunicated him; and all such excommunications are recorded in heaven! Excommunications of this kind, because of faithfulness to Christ, are items of the greatest interest in heaven. And the Lord heard it; it was no accident that He heard it; it is put as if it were a matter of course — “Jesus heard that they had cast him out”. His excommunication brought the man into accord with Christ, for He is viewed in John’s gospel as rejected from the outset. The Lord would say to him in effect, ‘I know well the feelings you have, but you are now in circumstances to which the truth relative to Me as the Son of God applies. You will now come into that truth, you will now enjoy it: you will know more than the ancients; you will know more about it than the theologians: you will know what it is as in My company’. Believers like this man are those who understand the truth of the Son of God.

It is to be noted that Peter had the knowledge of Christ as Son of God before Paul was converted, but you never hear of him speaking of it in his preaching. Peter thus illustrates how the early servants of God could keep a feature of the truth until the time for it

^[p. 125] arrives. It applied to a certain condition; the saints being cut off from their national moorings and the acceptance of death and burial were necessary. The fulness of all these thoughts awaited Israel’s complete rejection of the early believers; and Peter kept this precious light in his soul, as far as the record goes, that Jesus was the Son of God; saying nothing about it in his public addresses, but when Paul comes in, he begins to speak about it at once. Peter was not commissioned to preach that Jesus was the Son of God: Paul was. He says, God who “called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations”. That was the thought of God; but it awaited the suitable circumstances in the history of the testimony, and a suitable vessel to announce it. So that we learn from the apostles how to keep things hidden in our souls, to learn from Mary, the mother of our Lord, how to become treasuries. In the pattern David had of the house, there were treasuries, that is to say, persons who can keep things and bring them forth at the suited time, so that they shine in their own splendour. The idea of a jewel is not only what it is in itself, but in its setting; and the setting of the truth of the Son of God is seen in Paul.

In order to have that precious truth, the knowledge of the Son of God, it is worth while accepting death, accepting burial, and accepting excommunication, so that you might be in it, and as in it, you know it, and it cannot be taken away from you! There are knowable things about that Person, and there are unknowable things, and you will not attempt to intrude on what is unknowable, but you will seek to understand fully what is knowable. What is knowable about the Son of God enters, as I have said, into my arriving at “the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”.

May God bless the thoughts to us.