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THE PRESENT ACTIVITIES OF THE LORD JESUS

J. Spinks

THINGS THAT ARE MORE EXCELLENT

J. C. Gray

SECRET HISTORY WITH GOD

J. Renton

Words at a Burial

REMEMBER YOUR LEADERS

R. S. Renton

GOD MAKING ALL THINGS NEW

J. Marshall

EXTRACTS

J. Spinks

2 Samuel 8: 1, 2, 13–15; 5: 6–10

I wish to speak about the exploits of David as typifying the present activities of the Lord Jesus. We have been engaged with the beautiful features of manhood that were seen in the Lord Jesus, and the way that God has honoured Him. Because of these moral features God has placed Him in the highest position of authority in the universe. Every true believer rejoices in the thought that Jesus is enthroned in glory. When the Father gives the word, He will come for His own, and then He will take up His rights in this sad world. In the meantime, however. He is not inactive. He is sitting on the Father’s throne awaiting the Father’s time, but that is not to say that He is inactive. Indeed the very opposite is the truth, the Lord is acting in a very real and effective way at the present time, and it is good for every one of us to be conscious in our own souls of the activities of the Lord Jesus.

In 2 Samuel 8 we find David taking the power of the capital out of the hand of the Philistines.

I believe it refers to the way that the power of the enemy has been broken. Of course it was initially broken at the death of Christ. I suppose David smiting the Philistine is a wonderful type of that; how the Lord came here and met the enemy and broke his power, and He brought about a great liberation. He annulled him who had the might of death and He set free all those who through the whole of their life were subject to bondage. I trust that every one here knows the blessedness of being liberated by the precious work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has gone into the sphere of death; it was not a light matter for Him. To break the power of death, He had to go into the place of death. He went there as a blessed Man. What a Man He is! How the heart loves to think of the glory of Christ as going into death and breaking its power!

So David takes the power of the capital out of the hand of the Philistines. Satan in his activities acquired certain power, including the power of death. It was not given to him by God, but God allowed it. He obtained an inroad through the fall of man and acquired a certain power and authority over man; that power and authority is very evident at the present time.

By faith we can see that there is One who has broken his power. The Lord could say when here, “I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven”, Luke 10: 18. That is to say that the place that Satan usurped, the place of power and authority, must be yielded to Christ. While that will be literally so in a day to come, when Satan will be cast down to the earth and bound for a thousand years, for faith all these things are true now. All power is now in the hand of Christ; the Man whom God has appointed. It is a very wonderful stay to the soul to realise that all power is now in His hand. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, John 3: 35.

So David smote the Moabites, “and measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive”. What does it mean? I believe it means that man has been measured. Initially, the law measured man; it was given by God as a means by which man could be in relation to God. In itself it was perfect, and just, and good, and given by God as a rule and a governing principle by which man could live happily in relation to God, but it found man out. It measured man and all were found wanting. So really instead of a principle of life it became a principle of death because no one could answer to it.

Think of the humiliating character of this—these Moabites lying on the ground and being measured—“two lines, to put to death”, representing man coming under the measuring line of the law and being found wanting.

Then the incoming of Christ measured man in a far greater way than the law ever could; the holy perfection of His humanity involved the complete exposure of man. How sorrowful the situation! Think of man as unable to justify himself, unable to act in such a way that would justify God’s blessing, and unable by his own power to escape from the righteous judgment of a holy God. But then there is, “one full line to keep alive”. I love that scripture, that full line, it is how God has come out in grace; how Christ has met the requirements of the law.

What the law could not do Christ has done. His death has removed us from under the bondage of the law, and He has brought in a full line to keep alive. I would love to think that we are all in this full line. It is made up of those who, by the acceptance of Christ, have come into the divine family. It is a wonderful thing, and I trust it will stimulate every one of us to make sure that we are in this full line to keep alive. We come into it by repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. The Moabites were inveterate enemies of David, but they came to be David’s servants and brought gifts. What does that mean? Does it mean that certain things were demanded of them? No, it does not mean that. The law made demands, but those who are brought into this full line do not need to have demands made upon them, their hearts are filled with Christ. He is the One who has met every liability and brought in infinite blessing.

The Lord Jesus has brought in life and incorruptibility through the glad tidings, so that instead of being under the sentence of death, you become a contributor to this wonderful divine system which is all centred in Christ. This section of scripture is really typical of the kingdom of God; the operations of Christ to bring about subjugation, not through enforcement of law, but by acting in grace. Paul says to the Corinthians, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he, being rich, became poor, in order that ye by his poverty might be enriched”, 2 Corinthians 8: 9. How enriched we have become, beloved brethren, by the death of Christ. How it would make our hearts long to yield more to Him. Of course, the greatest thing we can yield is our bodies, that is Romans 12. You begin in Romans 6 by yielding your members as instruments of righteousness, then in Romans 12 the whole body is presented on the altar as a living sacrifice. In the light of the sacrifice of Christ, would we seek to hold anything back? Far be the thought. That again is a Roman expression, far be the thought. Let every one of us, dear brethren, be stimulated to yield more for the pleasure of God as contributors to this wonderful system of grace.

Then it goes on to say, “And he put garrisons in Edom”, that is to say in typical language, that the territory Christ has regained in the hearts of you and me, is never intended to be lost again to the enemy. I believe that is what it means, there is power to hold the ground for Christ.

When God secures a man, or a woman, or a boy or a girl through: the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; He gives you the power to hold yourself exclusively for Him, and that brings in the gift of the Holy Spirit. I trust this is intelligible to every one of us because it is very important. The garrison involves that your body becomes a vessel for the Holy Spirit. Of course, we can extend the thought to include the local assembly, but I want to set out the principle. The principle is that ground that has been recovered for the glory of God is never to be lost. So Paul says, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? Far be the thought”, Romans 6: 1, 2. God has given us the means in the blessed Spirit to hold the ground for Christ.

What a triumph it is, that these bodies that were once under the domination of sin, can be held for the divine pleasure. God is going to populate a universe for His own pleasure with persons who have been recovered by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are persons who have known the blessedness of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so that, instead of being bondmen of sin and enemies of God, they have become contributors to this wonderful system of grace. There is nothing to compare with the divine system. In man’s administration they try one thing after another; they use every kind of expediency to bring in something for the benefit of their subjects, and it all fails. When Christ returns He will set up an administration publicly that will be for the blessing of all, but believers presently can know the blessedness of coming under His benign sway.

In 2 Samuel 5 there is another reference to territory held by those opposing David. Jerusalem has a great place in Scripture as being a centre of rule and administration and blessing, as it will be in the world to come. For believers, of course, the centre has been transferred to heaven, where Jesus is. We read earlier that David took the head of Goliath up to Jerusalem (1 Samuel 17: 54); that means for faith that not only has the enemy been overthrown, but a new Head is introduced. God has introduced a new Head in Christ, and every man can get the benefit through the glad tidings. Christ is available to every man. We need to know more of what it is to draw on the resources and the wisdom and everything that has been invested in Christ. It says, Christ Jesus “has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1: 30); “made to us”—that is believers, it is the Christian circle. That is to say we can presently enjoy what is going to be known, in the world to come; we come into the blessedness and the privileges of those who give Christ the first place.

So David encourages his men to take the city. He is opposed by the blind and the lame who say, “David will not come in hither”. Persons may say, I do not see this, and I do not see that, my opinions are as good as yours. What is really behind it all is the will of man and it will not give place to Christ. It is something that we all have to come to in ourselves, our own will is inveterately opposed to the sway of Christ. Let none of

us be like those who say, David will not come in hither. But David takes the ‘stronghold of Zion’ and says, “Whoever smites the Jebusites and gets up to the watercourse”, which is another reference to the Spirit. The Spirit is not only the power to maintain us in relation to the will of God, but He is the power for entrance into the whole divine system. I think the watercourse involves that; it is a question of what God has opened up in the death of Christ.

Not only have our sins and liabilities been righteously met, but there is a whole new order of things and the Spirit is the power for entrance into it. David takes the stronghold of Zion and says, “Whoever ... gets up to the watercourse”. Zion is the place where Christ is supreme, and the Spirit leads us into that realm.

In verse 9 there is a reference to David building inwardly, “David built round about from the Millo and inward”. That involves, dear brethren, that we know what it is to go in. According to the note, the Millo is the rampart or citadel, and would refer to what is protective. The fellowship carries the idea of what is protective, and I trust that every one here values the fellowship. It is the fellowship of God’s Son, a wonderfully dignified thought. Let no one be minded to move away from this great sphere of protection. It is where Christ is honoured; it is where nothing that is not in keeping with the divine mind is allowed; it is a safe place. It says,

“David built ... inward”. Christianity involves what is inward. If you take it in its essence, it is what has emanated from the heart of God, that is really what it is. The glad tidings of God, in all their liberating character, where did they come from? Are they just something that God has conceived for the liberation of man? No, they relate to the very inwards of His heart, and when God acts from His own heart of love. He introduces something that will be for His own pleasure and glory eternally. When the tabernacle was set up in the wilderness, outwardly it was not a very imposing structure. It really spoke of death, and of course, that has its own teaching, but to the

Onlooker or uninterested observer, it was not something that would be attractive. The badger’s skins were there, and other things that were not really attractive to the flesh; but if you were to go in through the entrance, you would find that the further in you went, the more glory you would see. It is like Christianity, the further in you go the more glorious it is. We only speak in measure because I think that most of us would have to confess that we have not gone in very far. It is all centred in one blessed Man. What a Man He is, He fills God’s presence and He is soon going to fill the universe.

To refer again to the stronghold of Zion, it is a place where Christ permeates everything. You come into the local meeting maybe feeling a little tired or jaded; someone gives out a hymn and immediately you feel your heart warming toward Christ. Someone stands up and prays and you feel, Where else would you be? Then the scriptures are read; maybe you had read them before you came and wondered, What will we get out of this chapter tonight? Then Christ comes in, and you find the whole thing opens up. You are drawn further and further in and when you go away you feel, is there anywhere on earth like that? No, that is the local meeting, it is really like the stronghold of Zion in its local character, it is where Christ is honoured. I trust that every one here has a real appreciation of their local meeting. There may be only a few brethren with all their faults and failings, and the enemy is not slow to occupy us with them, but it is a place where the Lord loves to manifest His glory. Soon the whole universe will be filled with the glory of Christ, but I feel the Spirit would help us to be more engaged with His glory now. We read about, “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him”, 1 Corinthians 2: 9. You say, That is future. Maybe it is in its fulness, but it goes on to say, “but God has revealed to us by his Spirit”, and I believe the local companies of the saints are where you find these precious things.

I have been thinking a little about the two disciples of John who were affected by his testimony as to the Lord, “Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speaking, and followed Jesus”, then the Lord asked them, “What seek ye?”, John 1: 36–38. It is a good question to ask ourselves. Let us examine our own lives. What are we looking for in this life? The Lord must have loved the answer they gave, “where abidest thou?” He says to them, “Come and see ... and they abode with him that day”. I think that would be like the inside; it must have been a wonderful experience. It was about the tenth hour; I suppose it really referred to the Lord’s pathway here, there were only two hours remaining of that dispensation. We are coming to the end of this dispensation, and that invitation still stands, “Come and see”. Let us be among those who are interested in what is inside. There are things which are in one sense beyond what the human condition can take in, but the Spirit is the great power for access into them. I would, appeal to the dear younger brethren to use your time profitably. You may say, I am a busy man, I have a lot of pressure at work and so on.

Spend even ten minutes on your knees, or ten minutes reading the scriptures or the ministry and you will get something. The Spirit will open up this great realm which relates to the glory of Christ. I trust the Lord will bless the word for His name’s sake.

Address at Aberdeen. Scotland
26 June 1993

THINGS THAT ARE MORE EXCELLENT

J. C. Gray

Hebrews 11: 4; 1 Corinthians 12: 31; 13: 1–3; 14: 1; Philippians 1: 9–11; 2: 3

Only God can effect what is more excellent. I seek

The help of the Spirit to say a few words in relation to these four instances of which we have read. All of them are the writings of Paul, assuming that he wrote the epistle to the Hebrews.

We have “a more excellent sacrifice”; then “a way of more surpassing excellence”; then “that ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent”; and “each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves”. I think these things come from God and relate to God, and are to occupy and characterise the saints. In the parable of the Samaritan in Luke 10, when the man was taken to the inn something was paid and then there was a blank cheque provided. The word used by Luke is, “whatsoever thou shalt expend more “(Luke 10: 35).

You will find that the word used for “expend more” is not much used, and I think it relates to this subject of what is more excellent.

We have in Hebrews that “Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice”. He offered the firstlings of his flock and of their fat (Genesis 4: 4); he learned that from his parents. That was what God found acceptable and suitable. Cain deemed that he would do his own thing, as men say, and bring what he could provide according to his own thoughts. Scripture says that Abel’s offering was “more excellent”. Now it is because it speaks of Christ; that is why it is more excellent, because it speaks to God of Christ. What a wonderful thing it is if we can always revert to the sacrifice of Christ; if we can always find that what we bring to God is more excellent. What you may say or what you may learn, as you will see from the Corinthian scripture, is one thing, but will it be on the basis of this more excellent sacrifice?

Abel seemingly came to it that God had in mind a Man who was more excellent, far superior, far more refined than anything that the endeavours of man could produce. We can look at the sacrifice of Christ in that way, that it provided a fragrance for God that exceeded and excelled anything that had ever been seen before, or will ever be seen again. All the fat of the offerings was put on the altar of burnt offering and offered to God; that is the fulness of perfection that was found in Christ, what was far above any other man, was for God. He smelled the fragrance of that and found it delightful. Let us see that what we provide is more excellent—the offering of Christ. Abel learned by instruction from his parents, and it may be that the young people get ideas of their own and grow up with a natural tendency to think that way. You will find that in the things of God that what believing parents have learned by experience, and instruct you in, is correct and worth listening to. If you offer Christ as shown by the Scriptures, and as instructed by your parents, God finds it more excellent. I would encourage each one to have a fuller appreciation of the more excellent character of the sacrifice of Christ.

Now when you come to Corinthians you find that Paul was speaking to saints who knew the truth well but were struggling in relation to working it out practically. Paul encourages them to find this way which he calls, “a way of more surpassing excellence”; that is, the way of love. As we think of the more excellent sacrifice we think of the Lord’s words, “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you”, John 15: 13, 14. That supreme sacrifice was the way of more surpassing excellence, the way of love. Paul was showing them it. He says, “yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence”. And he encourages them in the next chapter to “Follow after love, and be emulous of spiritual manifestations”. It is as if this ingredient, if I could speak of love in that way, is available, and Paul is encouraging persons to go after it, to have it as an ingredient of their spiritual and Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 13, he starts off with three verses which indicate what persons may do or know, without love. It says, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels”; he is taking it to himself of course, “If I speak”. He is not accusing these saints of anything, but he is pointing out the truth, and no doubt the truth came home to them

very forcibly. “If I speak … but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” There may be a lot of noise but it is rather empty. That is what he is saying. Then he says, “if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith”.

These are commendable things, but, they are not very noticeable if there is no love. He says, If I have not love, I am nothing. That is a very strong allegation to make. Persons may do this and do that and have faith, but is there love? It is the way in which we move. It is the way in which God has moved towards us “a way of more surpassing excellence”.

Paul, as it were, is beside himself in trying to entice these Corinthian saints into this way of love; that they might find it; then that they might follow after it. He goes on to speak about all these wonderful features of love—having long patience, being kind, not emulous, not insolent and rash, not puffed up—these of course were seen perfectly in Jesus when He was here.

Now that we have been endowed, beloved brethren, with the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Spirit, we have every benefit that God has showered upon us. Is it not incumbent upon us that we add this ingredient in the way that we walk? Follow after love, find that it is a way of more surpassing excellence, far above all the hatred, the jealousies, and other such features that are in the world. Love stems from God Himself, and He has been pleased to make it known in Christ, in a Man. It is far superior to all these things that you find in the world. God is about to fill a new world with it. He is going to have a world in which love is the motivating factor—“a way of more surpassing excellence”. Let us walk in this way. It has often been said that in chapter 12 we have the parts of the body, and in chapter 14 you find the body is working, but it would not have worked without love. It is like, as has been illustrated, a car engine. All the parts can be set out and put together, and you can start the ignition, but it will soon come to a, stop if there is no oil to get the parts moving smoothly.

Love is like the

oil, the way of more surpassing excellence. Well, can we find this way? Can we walk in it?

Can we demonstrate it? Can we show that we are following after it? The things that we speak of, whether it be the sacrifice of Christ; or the kingdom into which we come and find our Lord as we are first converted; or the new covenant as God comes out to us; or reconciliation; or the enjoyment of eternal life; or sonship as the basis of what is for the pleasure of God; everything has divine love for its motivating power. So let us find this way, and follow after love, and find that something spiritual comes to light as a result.

In Philippians we find Paul is encouraging saints to “judge of and approve the things that are more excellent”. I would like to concentrate on this expression. The judging of a thing requires discernment, and I think that increasingly, as we are helped by the Spirit and the Lord, we shall use discernment. We need exercise to discern the things that are more excellent. It has been said that it is very easy to discern or judge of the things that are wrong, but can we judge of and approve the things that are more excellent? What are these things?

The things that are more excellent would start with righteousness. He tells Timothy that there are four things, righteousness, faith, love, peace. Dear young friend, that is a start.

Righteousness of God is made known, it has come to light in Christ offering up Himself. It has come to light in that Person, that Man Himself, but particularly in the offering up of Himself on the cross, and His going into death, the righteousness of God was established. The new way that God is operating is not the way that men operate, righteousness is the basis of it. There are innumerable blessings that we have been given. There is our inheritance, that is what God has given us to enjoy. Then there is God’s inheritance in the saints, that is what God enjoys in you and me, what He has done of His own workmanship. Then there is sonship, what it is to be sons of God. These are some of the things that are more excellent.

So we are to judge of them, we are to have discerning minds and hearts in relation to these things that are more excellent, and reject the things which are in the world. Things that are in the world are obnoxious things, “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2: 16), causing avarice, jealousy, hatred, murder. Look at the epistle to the Galatians and you will see a list of things that are against the Spirit of God (Galatians 5: 19, 20). These are the things that the world goes on with, but believers are to go on with what is more excellent, what relates to God, what is superior and refined, above everything that man can even think about, because what is in us is implanted there by God Himself. Let us judge of these things.

Then he says, “approve the things”. How do you approve these things? I think it means that you demonstrate it. If you approve of a thing you go along with it, you confirm that it is right, and that is in our walk. It is what we do, where we go, and what we say. What it is to judge of and approve the things that are more excellent and find that you are there at the Lord’s supper, and then in the service of praise, participating in it as a brother. The sisters, of course, have the more silent part, but their spirits are with the brothers in the response, and in participating in singing and saying, Amen. But we show it in other ways; we come to the meetings through the week. That shows we judge of and approve the things that are more excellent. Then we are representatives of Christ; going about amongst men, it will be seen what we judge of and approve, and then we can tell them about it. Why is it that you do not have the television? Why is it that you do not do this and that? Why is it that you are such a peculiar kind of people? Because we are occupied with the things that are more excellent, relating to thee things that are in heaven where Christ is in glory, the things which the Spirit brings to us now. The Spirit would endow us with these things; He would bring them into our spirits; He would imbue us with them, so that they percolate

through our beings, in the same way as He sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts. How great these things are! It is wonderful to come into them and enjoy them, things far beyond anything that is in this poor weary world. Peter says, “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same sink of corruption”, 1 Peter 4: 4. They think it strange, because they think that is the normal thing; that is all they have—O, how sad! It would strengthen our endeavours, I believe, to be representatives of Christ as we show this way of more surpassing excellence, and then judge of and approve these things that are more excellent.

In chapter 2 he says, “let nothing be in the spirit of strife or vain glory” (Philippians 2: 3).

How obnoxious that is in the things of God, that is thinking something of myself. The enemy is always at us to try and dig out something whereby he might mislead us. Be assured it is not of God; it is not of the character of what is more excellent. Of course, later on in the epistle, he speaks of a disagreement that two sisters had, and it may be that what he says in chapter 2

as to lowliness and humility, exemplified in the way in which Christ has been here in manhood and has gone down into death, was the basis on which rectification could be made.

What he says about the need to esteem each other as more excellent than themselves is an indication of the way the matter between these two sisters could be resolved. It works the same way with brothers; it does not really make any difference whether it is brother or sister; what he says is, You take the lowest place. You will remember in the Lord’s ministry, He indicates it is a terrible affront when you are invited to a wedding and you take the first place, and the person who invited you says, “Give place to this man”, Luke 14: 9. You might have to go further down the table, you might take the fourth place, or the sixth place and find you have still to go down. What Paul is saying is, “each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves”. Can we do that, beloved? It becomes a big test, but as the Spirit helps us in this

matter of the more excellent sacrifice; as He occupies us with the way of more surpassing excellence, and helps us to judge of and approve the things that are more excellent, I think we shall find that we begin to esteem ourselves as the lowest.

Paul took up that place even as an apostle, it says, “and last of all ... he appeared to me also”, 1 Corinthians 15: 8. He took the place also of being “less than the least of all saints”

(Ephesians 3: 8), and that is a safe place to be in. But “esteeming” is more positive perhaps.

That is the way in which we regard a brother or sister; not having the spirit of strife or vain glory; that is the thought may enter into your mind and you become characterised by it. Paul says, “let nothing be in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves”. That is that I take the last place. I take on this feature of lowliness myself. I esteem my brother as above myself. How excellent that is, and how swiftly things would move amongst us in a positive way if I found that in my heart and mind every brother and sister was far better than I am. Paul is exhorting these saints that they might act in this way, “each esteeming the other”, that is that it is individual. It is how you appreciate one, how you appreciate another, how you appreciate each of the saints in your own locality. Then, of course, that extends to the saints in other places. It is a feature that shows you appreciate the work of God in that brother or that sister. May we be helped in these things, and may the Lord bless the word for His name’s sake.

Address at Dundee, 30 October 1993

SECRET HISTORY WITH GOD

J. Renton

Daniel 6: 10, 11

I am wondering, dear brethren, if Daniel 6, verse 10, gives us the secret of Daniel’s faithfulness from the very beginning. He was carried away in the first captivity, that is, he went through the whole seventy years of the captivity. He must have been about ninety, I suppose, when the recovery took place. But he is one of the princes, one of the nobility, not only was he born one of the nobility but he was morally one of the nobles of Israel. He was carried captive, a teenager I suppose, a youth, and his faithfulness was remarkable all through. What caused him to refuse the king’s delicate food and to prescribe the pulse and water? I think we get the secret in this chapter 6, where it says, “he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem”. That is, they would not be windows like we have now, they did not open as windows, these windows apparently were always open toward Jerusalem, he had this kind of outlook. Jerusalem was not destroyed when Daniel was carried captive, it was not destroyed until some years afterwards due to the unfaithfulness of the king Zedekiah. So he would recall Jerusalem as he left it, and no doubt the house of God was intact, but his windows being open toward Jerusalem, that was his outlook, and it says, “he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God”.

That is, he had Jerusalem in mind, but then he knew his God, and that is a very important matter, he came before his God. They found no fault with him except in his relations with God, he was known as one who knew God. Now that is the most important thing we have, the knowledge of God. I remember a brother visiting another brother a few hours before he died, and his last

words were, ‘The only thing we take with us is the knowledge of God’. How true that is!

Daniel “kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime”. He had been accustomed to praying to his God. And it says, “But those men came in a body, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God”.

That is piety, knowing God, living in the fear of God, living consciously under the eye of God, that was the secret of Daniel’s course; why he refused the king’s delicate food; why he selected the pulse and water; how he was able to approach God with his companions, and then get the secret of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The secret was that he had a secret link with God. When I was young we used to hear often about soul history with God. We do not hear so much about it now, and that is a pity. Daniel had soul history with God and nothing replaces that, nothing makes up for it. I suppose our knowledge of God is really our measure.

We know God by being close to Him, by speaking to Him, praying to Him, getting answers to our prayers, depending on Him. Daniel knew his God. Paul in the shipwreck said, “an angel of the God, whose I am and whom I serve”, Acts 27: 23. Can we all be like that, more and more alone with God, and get to know Him, as Daniel did?

No doubt he increased in this. He began faithfully as a noble, a prince of the land, not only naturally but morally; he appeared before his God, and his outlook was Jerusalem. All these seventy years, he must have been interested in Jerusalem, in all that was going on there. But then later on he understood by the books that the time was about to come for the accomplishment of the desolation of Jerusalem, and he was before his God in chapter 9 in humility, he represented what the nation ought to. This is one who knows God and his aspect is toward Jerusalem. I suppose Jerusalem for us would be God’s chief interest. We often say it is the assembly. Then the assembly abstractly is one thing, but we are living in times of public confusion, public

fragmentation. I suppose Jerusalem would be for us, “let us go forth to him without the camp”, Hebrews 13: 13, it is where the Lord is, where the Spirit’s voice is heard and where the Lord’s rights are recognised, where God is rightly and suitably served. I suppose for us that would be Jerusalem; that is to be our chief interest, the centre of our interests, and to govern us in all our activities.

So may the Lord help us, especially in this matter of our knowledge of God, growing by the true knowledge of God and having this outlook. We often speak about the assembly abstractly, but then there is nothing for the Lord’s heart in what is abstract. What is for the Lord’s heart is in what is actual, in affection and reality. Let us be interested with our outlook toward what the Lord is doing at the present time. The Spirit is operating in order that the Spirit and the bride may say, Come. We are living in the last days of the dispensation, I am sure, when the Spirit is putting the finishing touches to the assembly. Let us have our outlook in that direction and increase in the knowledge of God, for the Lord’s name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry, Edinburgh, 14 December 1993

REMEMBER YOUR LEADERS

R. S. Renton

2 Samuel 3: 38 (from “Know ye not”); Matthew 25: 21; Hebrews 13: 7, 8

I have read this first passage because of this expression, “a prince and a great man”. I think that is appropriate to the life of our beloved brother whose body is before us today. It reflects not only his greatness but the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ who has produced

such a product. We do not wish to unduly eulogise our brother, but as I have said, we magnify the grace of the Master who could produce “a prince and a great man”. We are sustaining a double sorrow in this city, as Paul says, “sorrow upon sorrow”, Philippians 2: 27.

We do not question what the Lord has done, for we should have loved to have retained our brother for the help and lead he has given us, but the Lord Jesus has seen fit to put him to sleep; he has “fallen asleep through Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4: 14); that was the Lord’s personal service to our brother. His work is over; he laboured long, sustained through many years of service to the saints, particularly in the preaching of the glad tidings. Now he is with the One whom he loved, he has fallen asleep through Jesus. The time of reward is coming and I think our brother will receive the Lord’s own personal commendation, Well done. Even in the hospital he was speaking to patients; he was speaking to the staff and reading hymns to them, hymns he himself enjoyed. Some of us have been local with our brother for many years, and, if there was one thing we noticed above another, it was the evident maturity towards the end of his life. I have often remarked, that while still here, our brother was over Jordan. If there is an unbeliever here, I commend to you our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour; for He is a Saviour all the way. Our beloved brother is now free of pain, free of weakness, he is now with the One he loved. What a triumph! What a triumph is Christianity!

I read this passage in Matthew, “Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things”. The day is coming when there will be rewards for faithfulness. The measure of our faithfulness while here will be the measure of our reward in the day to come, and then it says, “enter into the joy of thy lord”. Our brother is now in bliss; he is now enjoying the presence of his Master.

Then this final passage is for those of us who love

our Lord Jesus and remain—a call for all of us, particularly in this city, young and old alike,

“Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God”. The Lord Jesus is the Leader and Completer of faith. When it speaks of ourselves it is always in the plural, leaders,

“Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God”. Then it says, “and considering the issue of their conversation”, or their manner of life. We can take account of the manner of life of our beloved departed brother; he was consistent, steady, always ready to speak of his Lord and Master; he started early in the Christian pathway, and devoted himself.

Now his service is over, he is at rest. Then we read, “imitate their faith”; if there is one thing that marked our brother it was faith. There is one thing that will carry us through, if we are believers, that is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. That marked our brother. But now, our anchorage in the little time that is left, for some of us, at most, it will be a little time—“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”. That is our anchorage, beloved brethren. Leaders may come, and leaders may go to be with the Lord, but there is one thing that is constant, that is Jesus Christ, who is “the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”. May we freshly devote ourselves, that Christ, that glorious Man who secured everything for the will of God, may be our Object, and may we be found consistently in the testimony until the Lord calls us home, for His name’s sake.

GOD MAKING ALL THINGS NEW

J. Marshall

Revelation 21: 3–7

We have tears today, beloved friends, the time will be when we shall not have tears. It says here that God Himself “shall wipe away every tear”, that is what God

will do. Tears are a very interesting subject in Scripture. In Revelation 5 it is said of John that he “wept much because no one had been found worthy to open the book” (Revelation 5: 4), but then as the scripture proceeds it says, “Behold, the lion which is of the tribe of Juda has overcome so as to open the book” (verse 5), and then it goes on to say, “they sing a new song” (verse 9). I would just like to say something about what is new. There was much sorrow, then there was a new song because One was found worthy. Our brother whom the Lord has taken ever sought to make much of Jesus. We have referred to his being a great man, and true greatness lies in making much of Christ, that is true greatness.

We are here today with a sense of tears, and yet we have a real sense that God only makes all things new. One has referred to John that he wept much. There was also a woman in scripture, of whom it was said that she was a sinner, and it also says of her that she washed the feet of the Lord Jesus with her tears (Luke 7: 38), it is very interesting what is said of that woman, that she washed His feet with her tears, and perhaps there is someone in this gathering who has never known such tears. These were tears of repentance, and the Lord valued them. Do you know what is said of tears of repentance? They bring joy in heaven over one repenting sinner. The reason that she repented was because she knew the One whose feet she was washing with her tears; He was going into death for her because she was a sinner.

Wondrous fact, dear friend, that if you are without the Saviour He has died to save you. So if you have not begun to repent may you do so.

So in this scripture it says that God Himself “shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress”. Then it goes on to say,

“Behold, I make all things new”. There is nothing left out in what God is going to do. The scripture continues, “And he said to me, It is done”. Our brother went in the conscious sense it was done. He

knew something of what it was to be looking on the things that are eternal; he had the conscious sense that it was done. Only divine Persons can speak that way. The Lord Jesus could speak of the cross anticipatively, He could say, “I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”, John 17: 4. That is what He said before He had endured the cross, He could say, I have completed it. Divine Persons are going on to completion and here it says, “It is done”. I would just like every one to realise the greatness of what God has in mind; how there is going to be a scene where there will be no death; there will be no sorrow; there will be no tears; there will be no pain. All these things will have passed away, and believers may have the conscious sense that it is done. Who could limit divine Persons when they say, “It is done”, and say that it will not be done? Whatever divine Persons say, They will also do, and that is what is in mind that all things will be made new. Our brother knew something of this, as the scripture says, “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”, 2 Corinthians 5: 17.

We think of our sister, we think of her tears, we think of the tears of the brethren too, how real they are! One feels what it is to lay hold of this, to look beyond the sorrow, and see what God has in mind, that God Himself will wipe away every tear. Precious words! You think of the revelation of God, how it speaks about the Lord Himself, and the Spirit Himself, and the Father Himself, and then we come to God Himself who will wipe away all tears. I just leave that simple impression, “Behold, I make all things new”. Amen.

Words at the burial of Mr W Dickson, Edinburgh, 7 February 1994

EXTRACT

John begins his narrative with the “beginning”—not

the beginning of Israel’s history, nor does, he state of what it is the beginning—he just says,

“In the beginning was the Word”. Then he goes on to say, “and the Word was with God”—

indicating thus the separate and distinct existence of His Person; and he adds, “the Word was God”. Now that is to be known at the outset, if we, are to understand John; He presents this as that which is to be laid hold of by us at once, and tenaciously held to. Then that One—“the Word”—has become flesh, John 1: 14, and was apprehended or seen by certain persons who could say, “we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”. It is in that relation with the Father that He is contemplated, a relationship which brings Him within the range of men. No creature could take in His relations in the Godhead as seen in verse 1; that He was “with God” is stated, but what the relations were is beyond us to name.

Scripture does not name them. Suffice it for us to accept that the Person was there, and there in the “form of God”—for He “was God”. But now we come to His being apprehended by men in the light of relationship as “an only-begotten with a father”—that is, as a Man with the Father. What the affections expressed were I do not attempt to say, but those who contemplated His glory had some conception of it. What an impression it must have made on those who saw the Lord in His relations with God! He was to be seen in other relations, too, of course—in sufferings, in reproach; coming in and going out amongst them in His service to them; all this was educational for them, particularly His service to them seen in chapter 13

of this gospel. The view of Him I have called attention to has not reference to that, however, but to His relations with the Father—that He is in the bosom of the Father. He is there according to verse 18; not He was, but is; “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, “he hath declared him”. That is His position in Christianity, as John presents it.

J. Taylor (Vol. 69, pp.380, 381)

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