CHRIST AS LORD, AS SON OVER GOD'S HOUSE, AND AS HEAD
Acts 2: 34-36; Hebrews 3: 5,6; Colossians 1: 18,19
P.v.d.B. I thought we might consider the place that Christ has as Lord in relation to the kingdom, as Son over God's house, and as Head of the assembly, His body. It is a great thing to come under the authority of Christ. We are in 2 Timothy days. "The sure foundation of God stands"; it relates to the purpose of God and "the Lord knows those that are his". The truth of that epistle is to bring us into the light of the assembly, the house of God. The house of God is the house of God: the breakdown has not affected that. In 1 Timothy it has not become the great house, it is where God dwells by the Holy Spirit. The kingdom is in view of the house of God. Publicly we are all part of the great house, which is the present situation of Christendom, but through the kingdom we come into the light of the assembly. It has been said that we should lay it well to heart that the idea of the assembly as a corporate responsible body is in view from the outset in 2 Timothy. God has not given up His thoughts as to the assembly, and in the grace of God the recovery has brought us back to it. No doubt the Lord anticipated the breakdown and He has provided for it. Particularly in John's ministry we have the family conditions in which these great truths can still be worked out in the midst of that public breakdown. So that in 2 Timothy we have the calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, involving the kingdom. The Lord appeared to Paul on the way to Damascus, He said "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?", Acts 9: 4,5. He recognised Christ as Lord, and the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest". What a touch of the body he received there. I thought we might come to that in Colossians, that Christ is the Head of the assembly, His body. We might first consider the kingdom. The leading principle in the kingdom is righteousness, "a king shall reign in righteousness", Isa 32: 2. It is not publicly established yet, but it is here in the power of the Spirit. We pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart and it leads on to conditions of peace. The kingdom was finally established under Solomon in conditions of peace.
R.T. In the settings of these scriptures is there a beautiful combination of both His authority and His love, and the spheres where that is to be enjoyed?
P.v.d.B. I am sure: we have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
D.J.H. It has been said that authority has been placed where it is most attractive?
P.v.d.B. Yes, it is wonderful, is It not, to be in the light and warmth of the sun. Mr Raven spoke about light, atmosphere and rule.
D.E.B. You have begun with the kingdom, and are referring to lordship in relation to the kingdom. It might have been thought that the significant influence in the kingdom was the King. Is there difference between the King and lordship?
P.v.d.B. I do not think there is very much. You get an impression of the King in Matthew's gospel. The thought of administration is more connected with the King. The kingdom involves the rights of Christ, the rights that He has in His lordship. They will soon be established publicly in the world to come but "we see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour", Heb 2: 9. The administration will be in His hand and the church will come out with Him in the administration. He has been given "to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body" (Eph 1: 23), and the assembly will share with Him in administration in the world to come.
R.E.T. Does the kingdom bring in light and protection?
P.v.d.B. It is very important that there should be light and protection in the assembly. The enemy has no place or power in the kingdom, where we come under the benign authority of Christ. In Corinthians, Paul says that what he writes to them is the Lord's commandment (1 Cor 14: 37); it is very important to recognise the Lord's authority, the Lord's rights in relation to each local assembly.
S.D.K.R. Would the kingdom bring out in connection with lordship that He has complete control over us above every other control?
P.v.d.B. That is right.
S.D.K.R. That would help us in relation to the assembly.
P.v.d.B. Yes, it says of Joseph that no one was to lift up his hand in the kingdom without him; he was lord in Egypt. Everything has been given into the hand of Christ, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand", John 3: 35. Think of "the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Col 1: 13). Everything is in the hand of Christ, and we are not to go outside of that in our administration. We are dealing with the Lord and the distinct rights that He has over us.
S.D.K.R. So that righteousness is not only paying what is required, but it is owning the Lord's rights.
P.v.d.B. That is right. In the world to come the saints will be seen as God's righteousness, "Him who knew not sin he had made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him" (2 Cor 5: 21). That bears on the world to come. God will display His righteousness in His saints, and the church will be seen as the Lamb's wife and clothed in fine linen which is the righteousnesses of the saints (see Rev 19: 8). It will be a display of righteousness. What will be displayed then is here in the assembly now. It is important to be governed by His authority. As has been remarked, it is a very attractive authority.
R.E.T. Is righteousness the ruling power in the kingdom?
P.v.d.B. It is the leading principle in the kingdom: we need to see what governs in the kingdom. It is not a kingdom like the kingdoms of this world. The Lord said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18: 36). He stood there as giving witness to the truth.
R.T. The entrance into the kingdom involves being "born of water and of spirit" (John 3: 5), does it? The understanding of that would prevent the allowance of anything that is out of keeping with the principles of the kingdom.
P.v.d.B. Very good. That is how God works, and it leads on to the assembly. It is a great thing to see the assembly in relation to the kingdom.
R.T. Yes; it is not that we come into something to subdue us exactly, but we are already subdued through the appreciation of the work of Christ, so that we become amenable and righteous persons.
P.v.d.B. Very good.
M.W. Would the thought of subjection come in here?
P.v.d.B. Yes. Finally the kingdom will be handed over to God the Father, and subjection will enter into the eternal state in that the Son will be placed in subjection to Him who put all things in subjection to Him that God may be all in all (1 Cor 15: 28). That will be the final setting; the kingdom will be given up to Him who is God and Father in view of God being all in all, and the Son's subjection will give character to the eternal day.
J.W. Was Peter seeking to get his hearers on to the line of righteousness when he said, "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit", Acts 2: 38? "Each one of you". Do we come in on that line as individuals?
P.v.d.B. That is right, as individuals. The kingdom involves righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, (Rom 13: 17); it is a happy kingdom, a kingdom where love prevails. 2 Timothy 2 does not leave us as individuals, it has in mind to set us up in relation to the assembly. In the kingdom we own the Lord in the authority that He has as Lord and as Christ.
D.E.B. In the last chapter of John's gospel, when things were a bit out of order, it is "the disciple whom Jesus loved" who said, "It is the Lord" (v 7). I wondered if our love for Him, and His for us, is the basis of the recognition, so that we could say, "It is the Lord, and submit to Him.
P.v.d.B. I think so. It was a question there of nearness to the Lord. There is always a tendency to departure, but the Lord is faithful and ready to recover the situation. Later He was probing Peter as to his love for Him, "lovest thou me more than these?" (v 15). John was very close to the Lord, He was in the Lord's bosom, leaning on His breast. He had, as it were, the breast of the ram of consecration. The Lord was about to go into death in His devotion to the will of God, and John was very close to Him. When there is departure, what will recognise that it is the Lord, the element that discerns the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate? (see Numbers 27: 21).
E.F.W. How would you recognise the Lord? I was thinking of Saul's conversion, to which you have referred. He himself had authority, did he not, but he recognises that there is One who has supreme authority. Then in John 21 they recognised that it is the Lord; but how do we recognise His movements in that way?
P.v.d.B. There is what is sovereign in it, of course, and the sovereign work of God in new birth as was remarked earlier but along with that is our responsibility, the two go together. God's sovereignty is His side of the matter, and responsibility is our side. Saul recognised Him as Lord, "Who art thou, Lord?". He had been under the authority of darkness, and now he was translated into "the kingdom of the Son of his love", and straight away he preached Jesus in the synagogues that He is the Son of God.
R.T. Light seemed to have a great part in that setting of Saul recognising the Lord, did it not? He speaks time and again about the greatness of that light. Would not that be a great thing in the kingdom that the whole thing is illuminated: we have not only principles but we have light to walk by?
P.v.d.B. Quite so. 'Light, rule and atmosphere'. There was light, and then there was rule, "What shall I do, Lord?", Acts 22: 10. The Lord will not leave us in doubt as to what we are to do; then Paul was to come into atmosphere, "Saul, brother", Acts 9: 17. He came to the local company in Damascus, he came into the right atmosphere. The Lord gave him that distinct ministry in relation to the assembly as an elect vessel to whom He would commit the truth of the mystery, the whole extent of the counsel of God, all that it involved. We need to see that we are in days of public departure, and there always is a tendency to departure from divine principles, but "the firm foundation of God stands" (2 Tim 2: 19). Whatever there may be in the way of breakdown, the sure foundation stands and it is related to the purpose of God and "the gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance" (Rom 1: 29). There is to be no uncertainty as to divine principles in matters that may come up. Peter's ministry bears on the kingdom, and priesthood goes with it. He speaks of what will give us an "entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ", 2 Peter 1: 11, and he refers to the mount of transfiguration. He was an eyewitness of His majesty. It was very powerful with Peter at the end of his course when he was about to put off his tabernacle. The Lord had said that there were some standing there that would not see death until they had seen the Son of man coming into His kingdom (Matt 16: 28), and Peter saw it. He saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom, and the voice out of the cloud was, "This is my beloved Son, hear him", Matt 17: 5.
D.J.H. You referred to the city coming out in display. It says that is measured with "a golden reed as a measure", Rev 21: 15. Is that the divine standard, and is that what we are to maintain even in days of brokenness?
P.v.d.B. I think that is important, that we have the pattern of the house as in Ezekiel 43 and measurements in relation to it, its goings out, and its comings in, and all its forms and all its statutes (vv 10,11). It is to be maintained at all cost and not compromised in what governs us in the assembly. There is nothing greater than the assembly next to divine Persons.
D.E.R. In 2 Timothy days, to which you have referred, I think we can see afresh the importance of what you are bringing before us, because we shall not find our way rightly if we are not in the gain of His lordship and of His headship, both His rule and His influence.
P.v.d.B. That is important.
G.C.B. I wondered if the maintenance of divine principles, which we often speak about and are quite clear as to it, would include the willingness and humility needed to review things if necessary.
P.v.d.B. What we need to see is our position in the public breakdown in the church, and the breakdown there has been amongst brethren, too, in the history of the recovery, resulting from not holding the Head. Mr Darby said that the brethren were speaking about the kingdom, and that we would be a testimony in holding the Head, but that it has been because of not holding the Head that the brethren have become a testimony to failure and breakdown; and publicly we have to say that we are a testimony to the breakdown. Inwardly the light of the assembly is to be maintained, and it will be maintained in those that are true to the Lord in the midst of all the public breakdown. In Numbers 18 the sons of Levi were to unite with the priests in bearing the iniquity of the sanctuary. The Lord is the One supremely who bears the iniquity of the sanctuary. Aaron was to bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. It is in that way that things are to be maintained.
S.D.K.R. The principles would have a universal aspect, would they not, in the assembly?
P.v.d.B. Surely. We are not independent units. The tendency when we depart from the truth is perhaps to confine ourselves to evangelical activities and the like, but God's prime thought is the assembly. That is what the Lord had in view in the recovery, that He might have His people in the light of the assembly, and He has brought out the truth of it in our day. The Holy Spirit is the bond between all believers, but we are not able to walk with all. If all the believers in Barnet were in one place, how would you work that out?
R.T. We would be very happy to try it!
P.v.d.B. Yes, but we need the kingdom, divine authority. If you are to have the saints together it must be in the recognition of divine principles.
R.E.T. Is that why the Lord preached the kingdom?
P.v.d.B. The announcement of the kingdom was very attractive in Jesus. The kingdom was amongst them in Himself.
R.T. The verse you alluded to in Peter is very beautiful, "the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ", 2 Pet 1: 11. So that in the kingdom the Person becomes the attracter; that brings out the influence of the Person. There is only one kingdom, but the influence of the Person pervades it, does it not?
P.v.d.B. That is right.
P.M. Is the establishment of the kingdom in order that there might be one will in the universe? And are not divine principles in view of the working out of that will in the assembly?
P.v.d.B. That is good. Would that be seen in the pattern? It says that Moses made all things according to the pattern. We cannot afford to deviate from the pattern. If Moses had deviated from one of the items of the pattern that was shown to him on the mount, the glory would not have filled the tabernacle. Seven times it says in Exodus 40 that Moses did as Jehovah had commanded him. The gate was the last thing to be set up, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle, consequently the divine speaking is no longer on the mountain, but from the tent of meeting, the order of things that had been filled by the glory of Jehovah. We must never deviate from the divine pattern in days of breakdown. The truth is the truth. The Spirit of God is here, there is One Spirit and there is one body, and that is unaltered.
R.T. It is of all importance what you say, so it was the man who was on the mountain with the pattern who took the tent and pitched it outside the camp. It was only in the light of that that he was able to take that position, was it not?
P.v.d.B. Very good, he had right instincts.
R.T. The danger is that there have been many tents set up without the pattern and without being on the mountain, and it has brought in the confusion you speak of, but it was the man who was with God who pitched the tent outside the camp.
P.v.d.B. Very good, and God confirmed it by His presence, speaking with Moses face to face, Exod 33: 10,11. There was a young man there, Joshua, and it says that he did not depart from the tent of meeting. That is a word for our younger brethren, and a word for us all, not to depart from the tent of meeting, and that so much more as we see the day drawing near. The day is drawing near. We have the prophetic word, as a lamp shining in an obscure place. There is prophetic testimony in the Old Testament which bears on the kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom publicly, but the morning star is rising in the hearts of the saints. It is the outlook of the assembly. We anticipate the setting up of the kingdom publicly, but we have the rapture immediately before us, the coming of the Lord.
J.W. Could you help us as to how we get this view of Christ as Son over God's house?
P.v.d.B. I think it is in the recognition that in the assembly we are on divine territory. The house of God is not an independent believers' meeting. Mr Stoney said that in a believers' meeting I come to enjoy myself and I may have a good time, but when I come to the assembly I meet Christ as Son over God's house, and I may not have such a good time.
C.J.B. What makes up the assembly?
P.v.d.B. Abstractly, it includes all the believers who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, they are the redeemed company and they form the assembly. It will include finally the saints who have gone to be with the Lord, and all those that may yet be added. But when it comes to the working out of the great thoughts of God in relation to it you find that not all your fellow believers are available. God has given a distinct recovery in the time in which we are in which He has brought us back to these great thoughts that so little known among our fellow believers, and the charge has been given to those who have responded to the truth to maintain the testimony. We are responsible persons because of the light that has been given.
J.W. As Son over God's those things are there according to God's mind, are they not? He has built it all, has He not?
P.v.d.B. Yes, Timothy was to know how to conduct himself in the house of God which is the assembly, the pillar and base of the truth. The truth is upheld in the assembly, and we need to have great regard for it, great regard for the local assembly because we are in very small days and we are vulnerable in the sense that there are very few available in many localities, as in Nehemiah's days. The people who were on the wall were few, and we are in such a day, the day of small things. Inwardly there is a glory that we apprehend that is very distinct as we near the end of the dispensation. It is seen in the part that the saints are taking in the service of God. I think we can take account of something that is moving among them that was perhaps not so evident when there were bigger numbers. The responsibility that has come in in smaller meetings has brought something of what we are speaking of.
R.T. You have said a few times that the house of God is the house of God; it is not the great house. Would you distinguish that for us please?
P.v.d.B. The great house is the public profession of which we are all part and we have humbly to take a place in the corner of the housetop if we are to work out what we are speaking of in relation to the assembly, what would govern us in the house of God according to 1 Timothy, because the house of God still is the house of God. The truth of the local assembly comes out in 1 Corinthians, the assembly of God in Corinth, the local assembly, and although breakdown has come in it does not alter the principles that are set out there. It is the Lord's commandment.
S.H. Does it not make the meetings very important?
P.v.d.B. Our comings together are very important, we need to be in family relations, together in the enjoyment of eternal life. We are in a dispensation in which grace is reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. The kingdom is the moral rule of grace; it is through righteousness that it reigns. Grace in the priesthood goes together with righteousness in the kingdom.
D.E.R. The house is where God dwells, is it not?
P.v.d.B. It is where He dwells here. It is not in heaven, it is here.
D.E.R. That would make it a very attractive yet a very sobering consideration.
P.v.d.B. Yes. The kingdom is here and the house of God is here, but when you come to the body you come to relations that are beyond death. Christ is Head of the assembly. He is Lord in the kingdom, He is Son over God's house, and He is Head of the body, the assembly.
P.M. Are we always in the house of God, not just when we are at our gatherings?
P.v.d.B. Twenty-four hours in a day, we are always in the house of God.
C.J.G.B. Does your reference then to 1 Timothy show the importance of that, "how one ought to conduct oneself in God's house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth" (chap 3: 15)?
P.v.d.B. Yes. It goes on to the mystery of piety, "confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh" (v 16). The presence of God was here in Christ and now the assembly is here where He was. It is connected with the mystery of piety, God manifest in flesh.
R.T. Does it bring us into family relationships which the kingdom supports, that Christ as Son over God's house brings us to enjoy the family atmosphere?
P.v.d.B. Yes, quite so.
R.T. Would the lack of the family being enjoyed point to lack in the kingdom? The kingdom helps us that there is this family atmosphere and Christ has the liberty to act as Son over the house.
P.v.d.B. That is very good, you can see what God has given us in the distinct ministry of the apostle Paul. Peter relates to the beginning of the dispensation and gives us more the kingdom, and in John you get the end of the dispensation and the family relations, Paul's ministry gives us the distinctive light of the whole counsel of God, the mystery, sonship, what the saints are in the purpose of God. Sonship is our heavenly place in association with Christ in glory. The kingdom is to lead us to it. In John in the end of the dispensation, in which we are now, we get family conditions in which the truth that is set out in Paul's ministry can be worked out in the smallness in which we are.
R.E.T. Would the sensibility that we are always in God's house be through Christ?
P.v.d.B. Yes, in our deportment we need to be in the consciousness of that. We are not of this world. So in Colossians we have the distinctive glory of Christ, Christ as "the head of the body, the assembly". You could not think of a greater Head as a resource for wisdom, power and food, One in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells. That goes beyond the kingdom. The body operates here from what our position is as set out in the land, in our heavenly relations. It is through the work of Christ that we are reconciled to God, we are set together in one body.
R.T. In speaking of these things as we are, they are not separated, isolated compartments but they all flow together into one great thing?
P.v.d.B. It is all in the same Person. He is Lord in the kingdom, He is Son over God's house, He is Head of the body, it is the same Person, the same Jesus.
G.C.B. Say a bit more about this being beyond death.
P.v.d.B. It proceeds from an order of things that is beyond death. The assembly in union is one with Christ where He is, and our place in sonship, too, is over Jordan. Matters in responsibility here should work out from what our position is in the land. I think we are very much behind in entering upon the purpose of God, eternal life, what we lay hold of in that area, and how that operates in a practical way in meeting matters as they come up amongst us in responsibility. Responsibility is equal to privilege, and our privileges lie beyond Jordan in the part we have with Christ beyond death. The land and the wilderness go together, they run parallel in our experience.
J.W. Is this more the hidden, secret side of things which supports the public aspect?
P.v.d.B. I think so. The body is for the expression of Christ.
J.W. Our privilege is something that cannot publicly be taken account of, but it is something to be enjoyed secretly, is it not? But it would give power and support to what is public. The house of God may have a more public bearing, but it gives support to the privilege side.
P.v.d.B. That is right. When the Lord came in amongst His own in John's gospel, He said, "Peace be to you" (chap 20: 19). Reconciliation being effected, the result is peace, and the Lord comes in amongst His own and He says, "Peace be to you", and "he shewed to them his hands and his side". His hands had served His own in washing their feet in order that they might have part with Him in that realm of privilege, and His side involves the assembly, what is of Him in union where He is. "He said therefore again to them, Peace be to you: as the Father sent me forth, I also send you" (v 21). That is responsibility, you proceed in responsibility in the sense of what you are in privilege.
J.W. We are speaking of an area of things where Christ is supreme, and it brings out the necessity of the exercises of Colossians, that we are dead with Christ and risen with Him, that He is supreme there.
P.v.d.B. That is it. The Colossians were in danger, they were turning to human wisdom, to another head, to man's wisdom, philosophy and vain deceit according to the teaching of man, all that was threatening, but the apostle shows how all that had been dealt with in the death of Christ. He is Head of the body. We need to recognise the headship of Christ; it is only as holding the Head that we can be together in the light of the one body.
R.T. Does the Lord's supper, the first day of the week, emphasise what you have said as to going into responsibility from the sense of our place in privilege? In the service of God and the Lord's supper we have a sense of our place in privilege, and then we proceed in the week in responsibility filling it out at that level?
P.v.d.B. That is very good. It works out from our heavenly place and privileges, and then we would be effective in meeting matters in responsibility.
D.E.R. The Colossians were in danger of not holding fast the Head, and does all disunity flow from that? Would this cause exercise with us all that we might ever be under the influence of Christ in that way?
P.v.d.B. That is the thing. If we do not, there will be a moving away from the light of the assembly. We may go on with gospel activities and other things to make up for it, but you cannot make up for it. What God has in His mind supremely is the assembly, it is the greatest vessel in the universe. Next to divine Persons it is the greatest of what there ever will be, a creature vessel, nearest to the Deity; one with Christ and every other family will be in relation to it, not only in the world to come but in the eternal state when the tabernacle of God will be with man, everything will be in relation to that. This is not just something to be a wonderful outlook for the future, what eternity will be, and what the world to come will be in the display of all these wonderful truths, but these things have a practical bearing on the present time in the working out of things in the assembly now (see Eph 3: 20).
J.H. What would help us to hold fast the Head? It is perhaps an individual matter, but is it laid upon us all?
P.v.d.B. It is laid upon us all. It is the truth that the Lord brought out at the beginning of the recovery, that Christ is the Head of the assembly, and it was in answering to that truth that light was given, prophetic light was given and the saints began to see what a distinct vessel the assembly was as over against Israel in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament God had dealings with man here, but now we are in unique dispensation. In the Old Testament God was in heaven and man was here, but in the New Testament God is here in the assembly in the Person of the Holy Spirit, and Man is in heaven in the Person of Christ.
P.M. Could you help us practically? How do we hold fast the Head?
P.v.d.B. It is not something that is given to us: it is our responsibility to hold Christ as Head. He is the Head of the assembly, we do not turn to any other source, we do not turn to human reasoning or natural feelings, as our tendency may be; we hold on to Christ, as Head of the assembly, and as holding Him, the Head, we can draw on Him for wisdom, power and food.
R.T. Was there an example of the working out of it with Ananias in Damascus in the way in which Saul was received? Ananias had his own thoughts about this kind of man, but did not the Head tell him what kind of a man he was, and he was helped as under the influence of the Head to receive him?
P.v.d.B. Very good, that is where the adjustment was. The headship of Christ goes beyond the leading of the Spirit. The Spirit's leading is mainly in the wilderness, but in the headship of Christ you touch the land.
R.E.T. Is it not the recognition of lordship?
P.v.d.B. That is on the way to it. The kingdom is on the way to it, but the headship of Christ goes beyond authority. In the body you come under the direct impulse from the Head in glory, it goes beyond the leading of the Spirit.
P.M. The reference to Ananias is helpful because his relations with the Lord were such that he could tell the Lord exactly what he felt, and he was adjusted in the presence of what the Lord knew.
P.v.d.B. Very good. You get in a nucleus what Paul's ministry would be in that chapter in Acts, the kingdom, the body, and the way he was to go into the city to the street called Straight, and how the brother met him, "Saul, brother", the atmosphere that we have spoken of, and the way Paul preached Jesus “that he is the Son of God". You can see how it all bears on what that vessel was going to be in the Lord's service, a distinct vessel, and how much he was to suffer.
S.D.K.R. In the working out of the headship of Christ, is it not important to keep the whole assembly before you?
P.v.d.B. We must always have the whole church in our affections and in our outlook. We have, for instance, to have feelings just now in relation to our fellow believers in China who have now been forbidden to come together in the houses. There has been a long history of suffering there and elsewhere, too, and I think we should have an outlook in relation to these things. Whilst we seek to maintain what is extremely precious and distinct in what the Lord has given us to maintain, in going the narrow path we must have a wide outlook as to the Lord's people, and maintain the truth that applies to them all, and it is maintained for all. We are not claiming to be Philadelphia, but what is maintained in Philadelphian conditions is maintained for the whole church on earth.
J.W. Would holding Christ as Head involve that we have before us His interest, as bound up with the body? Holding fast the Head connects with the increase of the body and we become a joint of supply in that way.
D.E.B. Is not the use of the word 'fast' significant? I can never really say that I have reached a permanent position of holding the Head, because I might be tested and find that I am not holding fast. It is an ever-continuing pressing exercise, is it not, that we need to be secure in that position and not let go?
P.v.d.B. That is very important. We are also exhorted to "hold fast the confession", Heb. 4: 14 and the Lord says to Philadelphia, "hold fast what thou hast", Rev 3: 11. These things belong to our responsibility.
D.J.H. Is it the same as what the Lord Jesus Himself said, "Abide in me", John 15: 4?
P.v.d.B. That is the secret of it, “for without me ye can do nothing" (v 5). We could not do it without Him. We have His priestly grace, and we have the help of the Holy Spirit to do it.
G.C.B. Would it be good to remind ourselves that we do these things if we really appreciate Him? Is that why He is presented in the first chapter in His greatness and His attractiveness as Head?
P.v.d.B. It is the secret of it, the place that Christ has in our affections. The Spirit would help us to have the Father's affections for Christ, that these affections might be in us too, “that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them", John 17: 26. Everything flows from that. The Father's Spirit would strengthen us, that Christ may dwell through faith in our hearts, that we may be rooted and founded in love, and that we may come to an apprehension of these great matters in purpose, “the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge; that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God", Eph 3: 19. And then it goes on to say, “to him that is able". You are cast back on God who is able 'to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us" (v 20). These things are not impossible, not beyond us. They are there for us.
D.E.R. In the human body the head exercises an influence everywhere. Is it not important to realise that rightly the Head is to influence us individually in every aspect of our lives every minute of the day, and that should apply to each one of us?
P.v.d.B. And to be in body feelings in relation to one another. If you hold Christ as Head and I hold Christ as Head, I shall be in the current of the body, but if I do not hold Christ, where would I be? It is in holding Christ as Head that we come to the practical working of the body. It has been secured in reconciliation, the distance removed. There is no distance in the body of Christ. We tend to have feelings one way or another, but we have to see what has been drastically dealt with in the cross, the enmity has been slain, what stood in the way has been removed in the death of Christ. We have been reconciled to God in one body.
R.T. The end of the verse says, "that he might have the first place in all things" - very testing, but it makes room for this very blessed relationship of the Head and the body, does it not?
P.v.d.B. Very good, Christ is to have the supreme place, and He has His own ways to effect that, that He may have the place that is due to Him.
BARNET
12 February 1994
Key to initials
C.J.Brown, Barnet; C.J.G.Brodie, Ealing; D.E.Burr, Redbridge; G.C.Bywater, Buckhurst Hill; D.J.Hutson, London; J.Harvey, Barnet; S.Hewison, Dorking; P.Martin, Colchester; D.E.Remmington, St.Albans; Dr.S.D.K.Roberts, Croydon; R.E.Turner, Bexley; A.Taylor, Barnet; P.van den Berg, The Hague; M.Ward, Bexley; E.F.Woodford, Dorking; J.Wright, Redbridge