THE LORD JESUS SPEAKING DIRECTLY

R. Taylor

Acts 1: 1–5; Revelation 1: 17, 18; 3: 17–20; 22: 16, 17, 20

In each of the passages we have read the Lord Jesus speaks directly and He would have His own touch in each of the speakings. We are thankful for the Scriptures and for the ministry too, all of which the Lord would use, but in these passages there is a distinct presentation of Himself. They cover from the beginning right to the end of the dispensation. The Lord exercises His right to give His own word and His own particular appeal in the way He presents Himself, as taking account of the conditions and the state we are in. The Lord’s word is never superfluous. It is never too general either; it is specific. The Lord’s word is related to the state of our souls and the condition of things we are in; He is moved to say a word directly to help and strengthen us that we may be preserved in relation to Himself. You can see when the Lord was here He was moved as He saw conditions. He saw people listening on one occasion and He added and spoke something else.

In the first passage we have read it is said He presented Himself living to these anxious souls.

Luke writes this second book as if it was not enough to leave things as they were recorded in his gospel which ends with the Lord crucified, raised and carried up into heaven. Luke, as it were, says, That is not all the story, the Lord’s service did not end then. The world largely looks on Christianity in a historical way, something that began in the Lord when He was here, but they know very little about what has continued since the time of His ascending up. Luke would say there is a need to know more than a historical Jesus. Luke writes this to tell us that He is a living and blessed Man, active in relation to the conditions which are here. It says, “he presented himself living”. What a touch that must have been to present Himself living. The whole world around, under Satan’s influence, said He was crucified—He was dead. They said His life was ended but here He is. To His own He presented Himself living. The Lord is active no longer in relation to this world; He has left it.

He is not putting things right in the world that crucified the Lord of glory. It says, “He came to his own, and his own received him not”, John 1: 11. He came to this world and would have put things right. He did this for some; He touched the lepers, He raised the dead, He gave sight to the blind. These were specimen cases. The Lord as here would have put all things right but they rejected and crucified the Lord of glory. He has left the world. He will soon take things up again, but for the moment He presented Himself living after He had suffered. Oh, what a touch of His grace! He would show them that the suffering was not the end of it. After He had suffered, there He is living. The same glorious Man who was here, but living no longer in relation to putting the world right, but living in relation to His saints.

It says too that He was speaking to them of the things which concern the kingdom of God. Scripture says, “he lives to God”, Romans 6: 10. He is living in relation to another order of things entirely, but mindful of His own, these few disciples who were, no doubt, very concerned, and tested by the circumstances in which they were. But there He was, presenting Himself living, after He had suffered, with many proofs. Oh, how He would come down to their condition! If it was a doubting Thomas, one who would hardly believe, to him He says, “Bring thy finger here and see my hands; and bring thy hand and put it into my side”, John 20: 27. What grace in a living glorious Saviour, coming down to these doubts and fears that marked them, as they do ourselves. But He says, I want to direct your attention to a sphere of things in which I am now engaged. He was speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. As He takes His part livingly in relation to another order of things altogether, He is directing our hearts and

minds away from what is here to a kingdom, where other principles apply, where other joys are known. The kingdom of God is not an onerous thing. It has laws, it has principles, but it is a system of blessing, a system of divine satisfaction enjoyed by men. He would attract our hearts into this kingdom where we are livingly sustained by His own presence.

One great feature of the kingdom of God is that the King is loved. You cannot have a kingdom without a king and what a King He is! In this kingdom everything takes its character from Him, the blessed and only Ruler (1 Timothy 6: 15). His speaking of these things would fill their heart. Perhaps they felt they had lost everything, but He says, No! There is a whole new order of things being opened up in the kingdom of God. Then being assembled with them, He commanded them not to depart. They are under orders. They are not to go back to those things which He has left. The Lord has left the world, it is left to its own devices, and how sad a state it is in. We see it all around us, but in the midst of it there is the kingdom of God. It is not eating and drinking. That is what men would make their kingdoms—eat, drink and be merry—but what death lies upon that. The Lord brings in another order of things—

“righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, Romans 14: 17. Faith’s system of rule is a system of enjoyment. I would like to emphasise that the kingdom of God is that. We are apt to think of it as a rigorous matter, but it is a great area of blessing, where the King is enjoyed and where He has liberty with His subjects. It is a wonderful ordered sphere amidst man’s confusion.

The Lord is speaking about these things and you can see it working out through the Acts of the Apostles. Jerusalem was all upset and confused, but there are these disciples going on their way in peace, ready to bless, preaching the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. They were opening a door of hope to men amidst all the confusion. They put Peter in prison, they put Paul in

prison, they tried to silence them, but there the kingdom of God is operating—a sphere where the Lord’s rights are owned and where divine power is known. The kingdom of God goes through because of the One who has suffered once and is now living in relation to the things of God. The Lord’s great occupation is the kingdom of God. So we are encouraged to seek it.

The Lord says that in the gospels, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”, Matthew 6: 33. He sees what we have need of in the circumstances here but He appeals to us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He would exercise our hearts that, in the midst of what is in the world today, there is a kingdom of God where His rights are known, and above all where He is honoured, where divine love is enjoyed. There is a great protected area within, where the strife and confusion that is in the world does not enter, but where peace is known, where the King is enjoyed. I trust we are encouraged to seek it, and to live in this area where divine communications are proceeding.

The course of history goes on and the Lord presents Himself differently in Revelation. Where I have read the Lord is speaking in relation to the great things that are yet to take place but He speaks here very distinctly to His servant. He would use this word, I believe, at this time to stabilise our hearts with regard to the confused circumstances that are abroad. John was about to see great happenings. He was about to have an insight into the great ways of God, things that would normally overwhelm us. We are in the presence today of things that may well overwhelm us. It is the great effort of the devil to upset our faith. The Lord Jesus presents Himself to John as He would to us, I trust, today to steady our hearts, to hold our minds and affections in relation to this great sphere of the kingdom of God. John says that when he saw the Lord like this he fell at His feet as dead. He saw the Lord in judicial garments and if we only knew Him as a judge we may well fear and tremble.

But the One who will be the Judge of the universe is the Saviour of the world. The One who was presenting Himself here in relation to the things that were to take place on the earth was known by John, who had already leaned on His breast and been in His bosom.

The Lord, in spite of these garments, comes to touch His beloved servant, saying, “Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living one”. The Lord would turn our minds for a moment to see that whatever forces there are abroad, whatever powers of darkness are working, He is in control. The One who was once clothed and mocked by soldiers, upon whose brow there was once a crown of thorns, is showing here that all majesty and all power and authority belong to Him. There is no authority above Him. John sees something of the Lord here judicially but majestically, His hair white like wool as snow, His eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. There is majesty and authority and power in Him but He is the same blessed Man whom John knew in His pathway down here, in different circumstances, in different garb, but the same Jesus. Now He touches John and says, “Fear not”, I am able for all that has come into the course of history. He would say to you and me today that He is able for what comes into our history. We may fear and tremble; certain things come into our lives at times that we are hardly able for. The Lord says, “Fear not”. He is just saying, as it were, Come nearer to Me, I am the living One. He says, “I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages”. The Lord very graciously here shows to John His power to deal with the powers of good and evil. He says, “I became dead”. He took the power and authority out of the enemy’s hand. It is like David cutting off the head of Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17: 51). There He is, blessed Saviour, by dying He has taken the power and authority out of the hands of the devil.

That is what He is saying to John. “I became dead”; but death could not hold Him. We were speaking the other night of the Lord Jesus lying in death. How affecting that He

should be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt.12: 40)! We were reading about Jonah, typically speaking of the Lord, the weeds wrapped about his head (see Jonah 2: 5). The Lord anticipated what it was going to be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. He says, “I became dead”. But it was not possible that death could hold Him. He says, “I am living to the ages of ages”. That goes beyond time, and He is above all that is coming into time. He is above all that is coming into your life and mine however testing the circumstances may be. He says, “I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of hades”.

The person who has the keys of a thing is in control, and He is in control of death and of hades. He uses them to His own end. How comforting this must have been to John. I am sure that he must have fallen back on those words when he sees the judgments and the woes that are coming upon this earth. He sees that there is One who has the keys of them all. The key to understanding Revelation, I often think, is that there is a Man in heaven and nothing happens on this earth throughout this whole book unless there is a movement from heaven. The great movement from heaven will soon be that the Lord will call His church to be with Himself. It is the great thing that we look for. That is the power which He will exercise very soon. In the meantime, in the midst of these powers of darkness and of evil, He is in perfect and absolute control. May our hearts confide in His ability and in His grace and in His love to see us through, to support and strengthen us, and to hold these forces in check. There are myriads of angels at His behest, all doing His will and exercising their power as this book shows, but the Lord is active in relation to His own and He would let us into the secret of it amidst these confused and dark times.

I have read from the Lord’s word to Laodicea which represents the days that we are in. He presents Himself

to these other churches and there is great instruction in them all. But I read of His appeal to Laodicea because we are in a time of general departure. It is a time of coldness and indifference, when men are vaunting themselves in their own pride and ability. The Lord says, because they are in that state, “I counsel thee to buy of me”. That is a fine touch of His grace, that amidst the darkness, the indifference and the coldness that is abroad. He presents Himself as a counsellor. It is a very fine thing to have such a Man, such as One as a counsellor, somebody who gets alongside you. He is able to touch us in every infirmity. He is not a high priest who is not able to sympathise but He has been in the circumstances where these things are prevalent (see Hebrews 4: 15). That is the Counsellor we have. Because you think you are rich and you are proud and you are independent of Me, He says, I have come near to you in my counsel. The Lord feels the general state but it comes down to us individually. There is something here, I believe, that every one of us would have touched at times. May the Lord speak to us afresh to awaken our hearts as to the coldness and indifference that comes in. We were speaking in the reading about persons who would have a way of life apart from Christ. That is what He is addressing here, persons who can find their home where He is not. He wants to give you the very best and to furnish you with everything you need to be at home in the divine presence.

And so He says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire”. I would just apply it for a moment as divine righteousness. It is righteousness that you can have as your own. You might say, How am I going to buy it? I think the Lord would help us to buy it through self-judgment. That is the great currency in this section here that persons come to judge themselves. They come to see that they have been cold in their affections. They come to see that they have been indifferent to the appeals of divine grace. They see that they have turned away from the Saviour who had bought them, and that

they had become independent of Him, and they judge themselves. That is the currency the Lord would have you use and He says, “buy of me gold purified by fire”. It is a righteousness that comes through judging ourselves. Paul was working at this in Corinth. His great effort in Corinth was to get them to buy gold purified by fire. These persons who had been reigning as kings without Christ and without Paul, he would bring them to judge themselves so that they might have this righteousness. He says, “and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest”. The Lord would bring us into these things. He would cause us to come into them.

It reminds me of that young man who said to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee”, Luke 15: 21. The father says, “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet”. Oh, the grace of Christ to a departing church! May I say the grace of Christ to you and me in our indifference, our waywardness, and the coldness that may come into all our hearts. So He is encouraging us to come near Him and buy these things. These are things that stand in the presence of God, “that thou mayest be rich ... and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see”. He has everything that you need. He says, Come into the area where it is all freely available and enjoy the great wealth of divine blessing. Then He says, “I rebuke and discipline as many as I love; be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking”. He has appealed already to buy these things and they still have not answered. So He says, “I stand at the door and am knocking; if any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”. He is knocking at your door and mine that it may be opened.

This is a door that you and I may build up. This is a door or barrier that we put up between the Saviour and ourselves. How sad, but there it is. It may

not be evil things, but there is something that has come into our lives and it is a door. The Lord does not have free access to my affections in the way He should have, perhaps in the way He used to have because of this door. He stands knocking, He is not kicking it down, but He is knocking.

I see Him knocking in John 21. Think of these beloved disciples. They had gone back to their fishing. You might say that was not a bad thing; but they had gone into a way of life that was shutting the Lord out. What does He do? He knocks at the door when they had toiled all night and had caught nothing. They were skilled fishermen using all their energies and all their resources to try and catch fish, but to live without Christ really, and they caught nothing.

What a loud knock it was as they pulled in the net empty. Then He says to them, “have ye anything to eat?” There is another knock, His voice. They said, “No!” He said, “Cast the net at the right side of the ship and ye will find”. They cast therefore and it was filled. Then one of the disciples says, “It is the Lord”. There was the door opened. Divine grace was knocking with its gentle touch, and He says, “Come and dine”. They had nothing to offer Him, but He says, You come in and sup with Me. They were hungry and cold but there was a fire of coals and fish laid on it. “Come and dine”, that is the Lord in His grace appealing to every one of us, I believe, for this is something that we all have known in our histories. May the Lord encourage our hearts to open the door today.

‘Swing the heart’s door widely open!

Bid Him enter while you may!’

is what we used to sing. Let us break down these barriers and open the door so that there may be room for Him. Another verse says,

‘Room for pleasure, room for business;

But for Christ, the crucified,

Not a place that He can enter,

In the heart for which He died!’.

He says, “If any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”. May we encourage our hearts to open the door, to come into the great wealth and blessing of His company and presence.

He does not want to be kept knocking, but to be speaking; He wants us to be supping with Him, enjoying these great thoughts of divine love, presenting Himself living in all His normal features as He does at the end of the book. He says, “I, Jesus”. In the beginning of Acts He presented Himself, and here at the close of the dispensation it is, “I, Jesus”. What an appeal that Name has to every lover of Christ.

‘How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds

In a believer’s ear!’. (Hymn 54).

He sent His own angel to testify these things that were in the book, but He says the great thing that is in My heart is to appeal to you in my personal Name. Here He is speaking about Himself. It is very fine to be in an area and in circumstances where the Lord Jesus can speak about Himself without having to raise questions. He says, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. He is speaking about Himself in all His attractiveness.

There is no man in the Old Testament more attractive than David; here Jesus says, “I am the root and offspring of David”, the One who is loveable and attractive, “the bright and morning star”. He takes account of the darkness of the time we are in. The Lord Jesus speaks about Himself, as this chapter shows, in a way that no other can speak about Him. We are thankful for what Paul says about Him, and Peter and the others, but the Lord Jesus is able to speak about Himself in a way that others cannot. He says things about Himself that we would not dare to say, and here He says, “I am .... the bright and morning star”. Peter says He is “the morning star” (see 2 Peter 1: 19), but the Lord adds His own touch. He says, “I am ... the bright and morning star”. It is there shining still. If persons are asleep they do not see the morning star. It is gone

before they get up. Persons who are looking for Him see it amidst all the darkness that exists on this earth. This star is shining above the earth, in the heavens in all its splendour, and what is it saying as you look at it? It says, ‘I am coming’. There above all that is current on the earth. He says, “I am ... the bright and morning star”.

The great answer to that is, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. The bride is in unison with the Spirit; indeed the bride here is formed by the Spirit, with affections that are looking to Him; as they see that star shining in all its lustre they are saying, Come. They are not saying, Come to take us away from this awful earth and out of these circumstances. They are saying, Lord Jesus, come; come to reign, come to enjoy the rights that belong to You. That is what the Spirit and the bride are saying. He says, “Yea, I come quickly”, and they finish with these words, “Amen; come, Lord Jesus”. May it be the language of our hearts today as we are looking for Him, waiting that glorious morn. At the rapture we shall see Him, but we are looking far beyond that to a time when He will be enthroned in His own glory and His own majesty. In the meantime, He would present Himself to your heart and mine, that He may be enthroned there in all His glory, so that our affections may be kept livingly engaged with Him and that we may hear His voice. Soon it will be to see His face—“whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom though not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory”, 1 Peter 1: 8. May our hearts be drawn to Him to hear His voice amidst all the confusion that is abroad. May our hearts be open and in unison with the Spirit, saying,

“Amen; come, Lord Jesus”, for His name’s sake.

Address at Liverpool
17 October 1998