DIVINE OPERATIONS IN THE ASSEMBLY READING (3)

DIVINE OPERATIONS IN THE ASSEMBLY READING (3)

Matthew 5: 1 - 12; Matthew 13: 34 - 52; Matthew 18: 17 - 20

SMcC Our subject is the assembly. Yesterday we considered teaching and ministry in relation to it, and it is thought that today we should see how Matthew’s teaching is particularly intended to educate us in view of our part administratively in the assembly. This is a remarkable gospel in its teaching on the kingdom and the assembly, and it is important that we should understand the relation of the kingdom to the assembly and of the assembly to the kingdom. This is the only gospel which makes formal reference to the assembly. It is not proposed to consider the detail of the first passage, but to cover the verses in a general way as presenting to us the way in which administration is worked out in Matthew in the operation of the law of the kingdom set out by the Lord. As has often been noticed, He not only sets it out in teaching, but is Himself the embodiment of it. In Matthew 13 the assembly is brought before us in a choice way, and parables are introduced in regard to the truth, the whole range of things in Christendom being in mind in the parabolic ministry. The activity of man’s mind in the things of God necessitates parabolic ministry; the truth being set out in that form to cast us upon divine Persons, the Spirit especially, for help in understanding the truth. There is also what is linked with the house, suggestive of the assembly side where the truth is opened out. Finally in chapter 18 there is the place the assembly has, as it were, a great capital; it is a great extended thought giving us what is at the very centre of the kingdom of the heavens at the present time. The capital like Washington, London, or Berlin, is the capital of the realm, and the realm is the kingdom of the heavens. The expression of the administrative authority of Christ in the kingdom of the heavens is found in the assembly, the great administrative vessel, which has authority for binding and loosing.

I thought we might begin with the passage in Matthew 5, referring particularly to discipleship. This came into the reading yesterday, and allusion was made to the difference between the disciples in the Acts and in the gospels, and the saints and the brethren as referred to in the epistles. The place the disciples had forms a large part of the teaching of Matthew’s gospel, and it is important to notice the way the disciples stand related to the kingdom. Matthew makes a good deal of discipleship.

AEM You are alluding to the kingdom standing in relation to the assembly.

SMcC I think it helps us to see the power and authority which becomes a great strength and a bulwark in the operation of things in the assembly. The assembly, from one way in which the kingdom may be viewed, is within this realm where the full administrative authority of Christ, hidden in the heavens, is seen. It helps us in the working out of things in the assembly so that we should not come under the snare of the fear of man.

AEM You would say that, before we can take up assembly relations rightly, we must come under the kingdom and be subdued?

SMcC It is important to see that the full weight of Christ’s administrative authority, as Man exalted in the heavens, is operating with us in a subduing way. The glad tidings brings us under His moral sway to subdue our wills completely and set aside lawlessness in us. Matthew would show us, as things are worked out in the light of the kingdom of the heavens and the assembly, how much has come in through lawlessness in the things of God. It is important to see that in Matthew 13 lawlessness is linked with the things of God. In the parables it is covered in a religious way.

AJG So that it is the leaven that eventually leavens the whole lump.

SMcC That is the point. The great tree grows out of a small seed - the overshadowing influence of Christendom in which the lawless mind of man finds room for exploiting itself. All that is around us, but the Lord would help us as to that which is under His sway in a vital way.

LES Would that show the necessity of making disciples as is mentioned in the end of the gospel? Would you say a word as to the bearing of that on baptism?

SMcC I think Matthew helps us throughout in discipleship. It is introduced in the different chapters, because discipleship involves that we are not in the things of God in a haphazard way - one day up and the next day down, one week in things and the next week out of things. Discipleship involves education, training, and discipline, so that we become reliable persons who are amenable to the teaching and to the truth, and who allow all its authority in their souls.

EGJ Is the normal result of the gospel that the disciples go up the mountain to come under the teaching of the Lord?

SMcC The gospel has in mind, according to Romans, that we should be brought under the moral sway of God in Christ. It is a great matter that the truth of the glad tidings, the teaching of it, should have full scope in that relation.

AJG Does this passage show that it results in men who are entirely different in character from all that obtains in man’s world?

SMcC That is what is in mind. The passage draws attention to the great legislative position, as has often been alluded to by our beloved brother, Mr. Taylor. The Lord on the mount is taking up the legislative side and setting out the spirit that should mark us with the result that we are different from others. The subjects of the kingdom are to be different from other persons.

JSE Is it helpful to take account of the way the Lord, in chapter 4, authoritatively dismisses the devil before He goes up the mountain? Furthermore in chapter 16, before He raises the question as to who He is, it says, “he left” the hostile religious element. The note says that He left them absolutely. Would these two points help us in understanding the bearing of this legislation and administration?

SMcC Yes, because what comes up immediately is that “he went up into the mountain, and having sat down, his disciples came to him; and, having opened his mouth, he taught them”. The truth that is being brought out here involves this elevated side of things, and Matthew would impress us with it. This morning, at home, we were reading chapter 17, noting how Matthew gives us the mountain, the elevated side of things, and how the truth is carried forward on that level. Departure from the religious side of things leads to this elevated position where the teaching is on an elevated level.

JSE Could we say that the disciples who came to Him are representative of those who are in the gain of the Lord’s complete defeat of the devil?

SMcC From this section onwards, the disciples are coming into the gain of it. He is educating them in view of the complete breaking of the power of evil. Chapters 8 and 9 have a definite part in their education showing how the power of the enemy is broken. The effect of the power and the operation of sin is dealt with in type in persons who come under the Lord’s notice. There is not time to go into all that the Lord taught the disciples as they came to Him, but one particular feature is in verse 6, “Blessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew would help us in the matter of righteousness. Many of us may be inclined to link righteousness only with our businesses, or our houses, or the working out of things in our responsible lives in earning our livelihood, but Matthew would fill our minds with the thought of righteousness as he presents it. This has been alluded to as including ecclesiastical righteousness. Righteousness linked with the assembly, brings up the matter of assembly history and involves the pursuance of the truth in relation to the assembly.

AH Would what you have just said be in mind in what the Lord said to John Baptist in chapter 3: 15,

“Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”?

SMcC Yes, it would be included in that. The Lord is identifying Himself with the brethren, the state of the remnant, and is referred to in that way by Matthew. Attention is drawn to Him as it says, “This is my beloved Son in whom I have found my delight” (3: 17) - the One who identifies Himself with the remnant on this line of fulfilling all righteousness.

WH Would you say a little more as to what you have in mind in regard of ecclesiastical righteousness?

SMcC You feel the importance of the great subject of righteousness, and the Spirit of God would help us, through the Scriptures, to see the greatness of it. There is imputed righteousness, for instance, which is drawn attention to in the gospel; righteousness acquired basically and primarily on the principle of faith. There is also the great feature of practical righteousness, that we meet our obligations righteously before God and before men. And ecclesiastical righteousness is what we are in our relations together in the truth and light of the assembly.

GRC Would 2 Timothy 2 involve ecclesiastical righteousness? “Withdraw from iniquity and follow righteousness”. Would that include the recognition of the Spirit’s rights, the Lord’s rights, and God’s rights in the assembly?

SMcC I am sure it does. 2 Timothy 2 especially stresses the ecclesiastical side of things. The great house is also alluded to here, as the place where the lawlessness of man’s mind operates in the things of God. The call in 2 Timothy 2 is to those that name the name of Christ to depart from iniquity and pursue righteousness. All that bears on what we are saying.

PL And appears in the crown of the assembly’s history as the Lamb’s wife, “For the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints” (Revelation 19: 8). Mr. Darby points out that righteousness here is actual, not imputed.

SMcC That would bear on what we are saying. The matter of assembly righteousness should be a great concern with us. Think of all that has come into assembly history since the time of the revival when Mr. Darby was raised up! Ecclesiastical unrighteousness would be involved in the first division in relation to Bethesda, and in all the succeeding divisions, as the mind of man operated wilfully in the rejection of the truth. Ecclesiastical righteousness enters into the countering of all that, and we are to pursue it and thirst after it.

GMS The crown of righteousness is mentioned in 2 Timothy 4, following upon Paul having fought the good fight and having kept the faith.

SMcC It is interesting to see how Paul brings in that dignified thought as he contemplates the finishing of his path. “The crown of righteousness” - what a refined and dignified thought it is!

ACSP Does Paul’s word in Ephesians 4: 24 bear on it? “Having put on the new man which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness. Wherefore, having put off falsehood, speak truth every one with his neighbour, because we are members one of another”.

SMcC I am sure it does. We shall see in the scriptures that will come before us this afternoon, how, in administration working out in the assembly, that feature of falsehood is specially taken account of, and taken issue with, by divine Persons and the saints.

JLF When Saul of Tarsus was about to be baptised it was said, “Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name” (Acts 22: 16). Was that dealing with ecclesiastical unrighteousness?

SMcC Undoubtedly that would be involved in the way he persecuted the saints. It is well that we should not only take account of ecclesiastical righteousness in a positive way, but that we should understand ecclesiastical unrighteousness negatively. How much has come into the assembly through the mind of man in Protestantism and other systems, as well as the divisions which have been referred to. The mind of man operating wilfully and speciously in the things of God would involve ecclesiastical unrighteousness.

CAM Would not that great principle be connected with the top of the mountain as in Isaiah 2? I wondered if you had in mind to stress how wonderful this principle is as having everything right from the top down.

SMcC I am sure it is important, and I would add, not as detracting from what you have said, that it is good also to have everything right from the bottom up. A good deal of the difficulty in assembly life and history in recent years, issues from what is wrong at the bottom, either in the apprehension of imputed righteousness or in the working out of practical righteousness.

GMS It says of the man in Ezekiel 1, “And the appearance of his loins and upwards, and from the appearance of his loins and downwards, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about” (Ezekiel 1: 27).

SMcC Very good.

JSE Would you say a word as to the title, “the Spirit of God” in relation to this matter of righteousness?

SMcC We do well to see, in the light of Matthew’s gospel, that the Spirit stands related to the whole position. Administration, as Matthew contemplates it, is not just an administration in terms of the truth, but an administration involving power in the working out of the truth, and in the presence of the Spirit of God. What do you think?

JSE Our attention has been called to the Lord’s word, “Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3: 15). In the middle of the gospel He says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed is the kingdom of God come upon you” (Matthew 12: 28). I wondered if the term, “The Spirit of God”, as appearing only in Matthew, is to emphasise the supremacy of God in relation to this matter of righteousness and so the Spirit is said to be the Spirit of God?

SMcC I think that is right, the Spirit of God being a particular reference to Himself Personally. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Corinthians 3: 16), is a clear reference to the greatness of the Person who is there.

PL “Ye and my spirit being gathered together, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 5: 4). You have spoken of peculiar administrative power in relation to the assembly.

SMcC It is important to see that the whole weight of the authority and power linked with the kingdom of the heavens is working out for the protection of assembly righteousness, and assembly righteousness should be understood. Even the young people should understand where they are in regard to assembly righteousness. Joseph, who comes before us in the beginning of the book, is not an old man, but comparatively young, and he is concerned as to righteousness. Whilst it is right to be concerned about righteousness in our business, assembly righteousness is also important as involving our relations together in the light of the assembly, and in regard to the truth.

TM Do we see that working out in 1 Samuel 25? Nabal lost nothing, and obtained the benefit of the protective side of the kingdom, but Abigail, typifying the assembly, sets out the truth as to assembly righteousness.

SMcC That is a good illustration of how power and authority, in type in David, are working out for the protection of what is within its scope.

LES You have something else in mind as to Matthew 1: 19, “But Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man”.

SMcC If we are to have an effective part in the administration according to Matthew, we should understand the genealogy and the reason why Joseph is brought forward. The genealogy itself has to be understood, how persons fit into it, who is in it, and who is left out. Joseph is not only mentioned in it, but the Spirit of God enlarges in detail on this kind of man.

GMS Of Tamar, the first woman in the genealogy, it is said, “She is more righteous than I”.

SMcC That is remarkable. She was an intelligent woman as we know, and Judah had to admit that she was more righteous than he.

CMM Psalm 48, dealing with God’s city, says, “Thy right hand is full of righteousness”. Would that link with what you have in mind in Matthew?

SMcC It would, and it bears on what we are saying as to righteousness, the kingly side being in Psalm 48. The disciples, as following through the teaching that has preceded in Matthew, would understand the matter of the genealogy. Now the Lord brings them to the teaching, of the law of the kingdom, and how it works out.

JSE Were the disciples persons who were right basically in domestic and business matters, whereas the righteousness which is now before us is connected with what you have termed assembly righteousness?

SMcC That is it. One is particularly thinking of our relations together and the way the kingdom of the heavens is working out through the assembly. The first thing said is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. That is a true feature of one who is among the disciples and instructed and disciplined in relation to the kingdom of the heavens.

FM In verse 20 it says, “For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. The character of the righteousness has to surpass.

SMcC That is important, and includes the idea of there being a better righteousness; it is a comparative thought. Our righteousness in this way should exceed and excel the righteousness around us.

APCL Oftentimes we regard ecclesiastical righteousness as a matter of what is positional. We may be in a right position, but perhaps overlook what comes to light both in Joseph himself and in his concern as to righteousness. Moreover, he was amenable to the word from the angel.

SMcC Very good. That helps in regard to ecclesiastical righteousness. It involves that the assembly must be protected in view of its important and dignified position as the capital. It is the very centre of government in this great range of things, and it must be protected, not only as to moral evil and its encroachment in a defiling way, but also from the activity of the will of man in regard to the truth.

FM Is that how the kingdom of the heavens becomes the great bulwark of the assembly?

SMcC Yes. It supports and strengthens all that is working out in that realm. This is clearly seen in the epistles to the Corinthians, where practical matters have to be dealt with.

J van Z. Does 1 Kings 9: 16 - 19 help in relation to what you have brought before us? “Solomon built garrisons and he built stores”. He built all these things to protect the assembly.

SMcC I think it might suggest the kingdom of the heavens, in a protective way, working out in relation to the assembly.

WSS It says, “Blessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled”. I may have righteousness in a certain external way, but be lacking in fulness. The great thought is, “but they shall be filled”.

SMcC It is important that this side of ecclesiastical righteousness should be fully understood by us, because it involves so much. Think of what Mr. Darby had to meet in regard to ecclesiastical unrighteousness, and the great amount of labour and time he expended in countering it!

WSS He hungered and thirsted after righteousness and he was filled.

SMcC Very good. His hymns show that, as do also his doxologies in the Synopsis and the Collected Writings.

WSS I had in mind that, in stressing the line of righteousness, we may be in danger of being hard. Peace makers and merciful persons are linked up with it here, are they not?

SMcC The administration of the kingdom of the heavens has a heavenly character and is not on the legal, hard, demanding side, but rather on the supplying side. It says, “Blessed the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”. These are persons who bring right conditions into the environment where the truth is operating.

GRC Is it of note that the righteous man, Joseph, has his attention drawn to the current operations of the Holy Spirit? Does righteousness involve paying attention to the current operations of the Holy Spirit, and is it in that way that we are filled?

SMcC I am sure it does. If we refer again to Mr. Darby and think of all that he went through in his soul in combating specious error in the truth, how it brought out his love for the assembly and of assembly righteousness! We are all to be marked by the pursuit of righteousness in an ecclesiastical way.

TM Would you say that the law of jealousy in Numbers 5 shows how the assembly is pronounced clean and clear in view of her protection in that way?

SMcC Just so.

PL “The work of righteousness shall be peace” (Isaiah 32: 17). Is that the idea of a conquest gained through righteousness, and the spoil resulting - “then had the churches rest” (Acts 9: 31)?

SMcC That is it. The working out of assembly righteousness keeps the assembly realm clear and the saints are preserved in peace. It is a great matter that we should see the way the Lord has been helping us as to the assembly, and assembly righteousness, so that we do not allow things to encroach in the assembly realm. A brother was asking me whether scripture would warrant withdrawal from one who smokes. It certainly would. Smoking is an unholy, evil habit and persons who persist in it should be dealt with in view of assembly righteousness.

JSE I think we are being helped to understand why Matthew alone, of all the gospels, speaks of the kingdom of the heavens and of the assembly.

SMcC It is important that we should see that Matthew, on the one hand, brings out the beneficence of the kingdom of the heavens, and the benign influence that marks its subjects in working out the law of the kingdom. On the other hand, Matthew is severe; that is, discipleship and righteousness in Matthew involve severity and regimentation in our lives, our circumstances, and our assembly relations.

FM After the Lord had comedown from the mountain, “having dismissed the crowds, he went into the house; and his disciples came to him, saying, Expound to us the parable of the darnel of the field” (Matthew 13: 36). Are they concerned to understand certain features of the enemy’s work?

SMcC Matthew 13 is a wonderful chapter for helping us as to our present position in the dispensation. An interesting expression used five or six times in Matthew, but not in any other gospel except once in Mark, is “the completion of the age”. Matthew contemplates the completion of certain things. Morally, it would have an answer in the dispensation, the Lord contemplating all that has come into assembly history and all that has come in in the working of the mind of man in lawlessness in the things of God - all that Christendom is, especially in the religious side of lawlessness.

Rem In Matthew 28 the Lord says, “Fear not; go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me” (verse 10). Had the Lord in mind that assembly righteousness was to be under reproach?

SMcC I think that is a helpful reference, because it bears on the position of reproach today. Where do you see assembly righteousness? Certainly not in the high places. You have to go to Galilee where the testimony is in reproach, and there the Lord comes to us and sees and meets us, and there comes to us the wondrous light of the full name of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

AM Do we have a good example of learning from the Lord on the mountain in Hebrews 1? “Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness” (verse 9). The assembly setting comes in after that.

SMcC Very good. Hebrews 1 is a wonderful setting out of the greatness of Christ. We need to read it more, especially when things get around that would be derogatory to the Person of Christ. It has been said that scripture does not say the Son is God to us. That kind of thing has to be checked. At the beginning of Hebrews 1, it says, “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son.” Note what Mr. Darby says in his explanatory note, “It is God Himself who speaks; not by another; not as the Father nor in the person of the Father, not merely by the Holy Spirit, but as Himself a divine Person, and that Person the Son.” That is one chapter which presents God in relation to us, so that it is not in keeping with scripture to say that the scripture does not say the Son is God to us.

PL The scripture is full of it - He is the only true God and eternal life: He is the Alpha and Omega: He would be to us as God in revelation.

SMcC The greatness of the Person of Christ! How the Spirit is jealous of anything that would reflect upon all that belongs to His glory.

PL And if He is not God to us in that sense, have we any knowledge of Him at all as God? We shall never know Him other than God in humiliation as He was here, but now God in Manhood glorified. We shall never know Him in the inscrutability of His Person, so that if we never have His Deity as known to us in Manhood, we do not have His Deity at all.

SMcC Just so. The parable in Matthew 13 (verses 36 - 43) is dealing with the work of the enemy. We can see it abroad on every hand. It is in the wrong teaching in Christendom, and how we have all to be on our guard that we do not afford an opening for that kind of thing which would detract from the truth. “The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who has sowed it is the devil, and the harvest is the completion of the age, and the harvestmen are angels. As then the darnel is gathered and is burned in the fire, thus it shall be in the completion of the age.” This chapter would help us to discern between the good seed and the bad seed.

GRC Would the expression, “the sons of the kingdom “, provide a link with chapter 5? Does it suggest those who are formed in the features of which we have been speaking, and who are, therefore, ready for the assembly?

SMcC Very good; that helps. It is a question of what they are. Matthew is special in that way. “The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom.” They would be persons who have come under the teaching and who are formed in the spirit and grace of the kingdom.

MAW Is the thought of “the completion of the age” morally arrived at now in the assembly?

SMcC Yes, every executive action in the assembly in dealing with evil corresponds with the completion of the age when good will be relegated to its place and evil to its place. That is really what transpires in assembly judgments.

MAW When does that period actually come in? Would it be at the end of the millennium?

SMcC Verse 43 says, “then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father”. It would precede the millennium.

AH May I enquire as to the maintenance of right relations amongst the brethren in the assembly? Is this suggested in what is said about the man at the altar with his gift (chapter 5)?

SMcC Matthew’s teaching involves the working out of the truth with one another, and the importance of our relations being right.

RGD Would the knowledge that the Lord is leaving matters to the end of the age help us to be restful? Iniquity is inclined at times to test and affect our spirits, but we can be restful in relation to it.

SMcC That is very good. One was impressed with a remark in the ministry recently on Revelation 7 as to God’s number going through. It will go through. Every member of the assembly will be secured and that imparts restfulness to the spirit.

Rem Does the expression “He that has ears to hear” (verse 43) come as an appeal to us to take up these exercises now?

SMcC Yes. It suggests that we are listening to the Lord’s teaching here. We are not sitting by casually, but as hearing it and affected by it.

The Lord next opens up the truth of the treasure and the pearl, which really involves Paul’s ministry - the two great features of the gospel and the assembly.

AJG The parable of the seine points on to Paul’s ministry because the vessels into which the good are, gathered suggest local assemblies.

SMcC Just so. It contemplates the economy, and involves the working out of righteousness in our local assemblies. The good is put into vessels, and the worthless is cast out.

AJG In maintaining this principle of discrimination and refusing what is worthless in our several localities, we recognise now features of the world to come in what is already being worked out all over the world.

SMcC That is it. We not only have the elements of the world to come in a general way - righteousness, peace,

and joy, enjoyed in the assembly (as Mr. Raven suggests) - but we have also the saints sitting down together locally and working out the truth.

WH Is the difference that, in speaking of the extended sphere of the kingdom, both are allowed to go on together, but when we come to the capital or the assembly there is the discrimination and the refusal of the bad and the maintenance of the good?

SMcC Very good. So it is interesting that verses 47 - 50 do not come immediately after verse 43. We might have said, to keep the truth clear, we will put these two parables as to the treasure and the pearl last, and this one along with the others. I believe the Spirit of God is suggesting that an appreciation of true assembly values will help us in the working out of things in our localities, as brought out in Paul’s ministry.

PL In that sense the maintenance of assembly standards will give discrimination in regard of what is foreign.

SMcC That is it exactly. Verses 47 - 50 show that the truth is to be worked out in the light of the treasure and the pearl, and we are not to accommodate it to extenuating circumstances in which persons may be found.

WSS Does it show that the work of the gospel must be governed by the truth of the assembly?

SMcC I am sure that is so. Do you not think that it is important that the teaching of the treasure and the pearl should have full sway in our minds in view of this discriminating feature of administration in the following verse?

AA-s Is the importance of what you are saying brought out when Paul calls together the elders of the assembly and the leaders and points out to them that he had gone about preaching the kingdom of God? Then he refers to the importance of feeding or shepherding the assembly of God which He has purchased with the blood of His own. That is the importance of the kingdom of God and the assembly of God.

SMcC That would enter into it. What an impression the thought of the one pearl of great value would leave on our minds as to the assembly, enabling us to take up the disentanglement of good and evil, as in verse 47, in the light of positive appreciation of distinctive spiritual values. The treasure is undefined, but great potential is linked with it, suggesting what the glad tidings secure. It is undefined, but we have the greatness of the potential that is there. The one pearl suggests the distinctive, definite value of the assembly in the light of Paul’s ministry.

GRC Is the value of the assembly in that way an explanation of the severity to which you alluded earlier and which seems to come out in verses 48 - 50? Would you mind saying another word about that? I believe you used the word “regimentation” in connection with it.

SMcC I think that discipleship and righteousness in Matthew involve regimentation, because some of us are inclined to regard independent thinking as a kind of asset. It is a great matter that we should see the importance of discipleship in Matthew and how the truth is followed through in relation to it.

GRC While we deprecate regimentation, as seen in the world, do you think it has a bearing on divine things, and does not militate against the thought of spiritual variety?

SMcC Exactly. I am thinking of it in a moral and spiritual way, not in any official way among the brethren. Do you not think that it is of some importance that our lives be regulated in the light of discipleship and righteousness according to Matthew?

GRC I am sure that is right. We cannot allow any looseness on that line.

CMM Would local administration be in the light of one pearl? Each one of the gates respectively was of one pearl.

SMcC That would enter into it, the unity that marks all the gates of the city in regard to its administration.

AJG Do you think the parable of the pearl is the answer to the parable of the leaven? The leaven is the man that has been set aside in the cross but is brought in and introduced in Christendom until the whole lump is leavened. Does not the beauty of the pearl suggest that the assembly has only one Man before her, that is, Christ?

SMcC Very good. She has a distinctive apprehension and appreciation of Him as He had of her - one pearl of great value, the greatness of the man and the woman in that light over against what comes into the history of Christendom as in chapter 13.

JSE Does this allusion to the one pearl in chapter 13 help us more clearly to see why the Lord says “my assembly” in chapter 16?

SMcC I think it does. The Lord had delight in referring to it in that way. Matthew 16 is a unique reference, especially contemplating the way the gates of hades might operate against it.

AEM I think Mr. Taylor drew attention to the fact that the kingdom, in verse 44, is a current operation whereas the pearl was one operation.

SMcC That is important. Verse 46 is in the past tense - “and having found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all whatever he had and bought it”. It is a completed thought in that way, whereas with the treasure it says, “which a man having found has hid for the joy of it, goes and sells all whatever he has and buys that field.” It would involve in that way all the current operations.

AEM I would think that the current operations of the Lord are more testing for us to accept than the truth of the pearl.

SMcC That is interesting. Say something more.

AEM Many would accept the death of Christ as applying to the assembly which He loved, but they will not accept the current operations of the Spirit to bring it out.

SMcC Very good. The Spirit enters into the great service linked with the treasure hid in the field, the field alluding particularly to the Gentile world, the assembly in that setting and how things are working out there.

JSE Is the way the Lord speaks of the assembly as His in Matthew 16 to be noted? He claims it as His, and gives the reason for edifying it, because it is His. “I will build my assembly” (Matthew 16: 18). Does that fit in with what has been said about the pearl? We may accept the abstract truth of the pearl, but the “building” is our test.

SMcC That is right. The pearl is a definite conception according to the divine mind linked with purpose and counsel. The Lord is likened to a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. He had a definite conception before Him in His service, and He found one pearl of great value. The treasure alludes to the great extent of divine operations in relation to a specified area, a certain field. The Lord Jesus and the Spirit are both operating, the Lord on high, but the Spirit here, operating currently in regard to the treasure.

AR Did you connect the securing of the treasure with activities in the gospel? Is it the work of God, and God using activities in the gospel?

SMcC Just so. Think of what Paul, in speaking of current operations, says in Romans 15: 18, “For I will not dare to speak anything of the things which Christ has not wrought by me, for the obedience of the nations, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum, have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ; and so aiming to announce the glad tidings, not where Christ has been named, that I might not build upon another’s foundation.” That is, we are reminded of the current operations in the time of Paul, the Spirit acting mediatorially in them bringing about results in relation to the gospel. That is what the treasure suggests and it is going on now.

JSE You suggested that the field represented a specified area. Would it link on with the little open book in Revelation? The specified area where all this activity has taken place is to come under particular judicial action.

SMcC It is the same area in Revelation. The known history linked with the western world would be in mind.

JGM What is involved in that he went and sold all he had and bought the pearl? What is suggested in the idea of selling?

SMcC The allusion is to all that pertained to Him in the position into which He had come as Man. Think of the things He had! Things that pertained to Him in the position into which He came. He sold whatever He had and bought it, whereas with the treasure it is whatever He has and buys that field.

JGM Would it correspond with what we get in 2 Corinthians, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he, being rich, became poor”?

SMcC That would enter into it.