CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSION
In concluding, attention may be recalled to the importance of the truth of the kingdom as furnishing a necessary moral basis for the appreciation and present enjoyment of spiritual blessings. This moral foundation must be laid in the believer before he can advance to be built up spiritually in the superstructure of truth, the wonderful light that has been brought in consequent on the work of redemption, and the declaration of God in Christ, the thoughts and activities of divine Persons—the Father, the Son and the Spirit—and the intimate relations with them into which believers are privileged to enter; as for instance, to recapitulate a few examples, in relation to:—
(1)
the house of God, where He dwells in the midst of His people in the holiness suited to His presence, and where we have to do with that which is collective in character, being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit, Eph 2: 22. As righteousness (God’s will) is the fundamental law of the kingdom, so holiness is the characteristic law of the house, Ps 93: 5; Ezek 43: 10-12; Heb 12: 14.
It is built by Christ (Heb 3) and He is over it as Son and also as great Priest, ordering and maintaining the service of God in prayer, praise and worship by the Spirit, together 142
with a living ministry furnishing a supply of spiritual light and food, and maintaining also the testimony of God in grace towards men.
(2)
the family of God, His children who are a new generation born of God, the subjects of His work, and in the full light of God knowing Him as revealed by the Son. Thus being formed in the divine nature, holy love, we are set together in family relationship and mutual affection, 1 John 3: 14; 4: 7, 12, 16.
The Son gives to those who believe on His name the right to take the place of children of God (John 1: 12); the relationship5 is the gift of the Father’s love (1 John 3, 1); and the conscious knowledge and enjoyment of it lies in the inward witness of the Spirit, Rom: 8: 5 This relationship has been confused with what some people term ‘the universal Fatherhood of God’, but it is abundantly clear that these scriptures deal with something new introduced in Christianity, and very different from the common relationship by nature of men generally as “the offspring of God” as their Creator and Sustainer in natural life, Acts 17: 24-29. The apostle Paul in Eph 4: 6, speaks of one God and Father of all but this, though realised now in the Christian circle, has in view the vast divine system according to this epistle where all things are headed up in Christ, and where every family in heaven and on earth is named of the Father, Eph 3: 15.
143
16.
(3)
eternal life 6, in the Son of God, known and enjoyed as present blessing in the measure in which we become responsive to the love of God manifested in the Son, and are thus enabled to pass over into a spiritual sphere beyond the reach of death, 1 John 1: 2-4; 3: 14; 5: 11-13, 20. The Son is the true God and eternal life. In His Person in life and in death God has been fully declared, all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily; and there is also seen in Him a Man, perfectly responsive to the love of God His Father in which He has ever lived, John 6: 57; 15: 10. In the apprehension and appropriation of Christ in this way we have the knowledge and present enjoyment of eternal life, realised not only individually, but in relation to the children of God, a company 6 On the side of the kingdom eternal life is looked upon as the end to which the way of righteousness leads, to be entered upon by us actually (with all who have part in the first resurrection) when the body is quickened and what is mortal is swallowed up by life; and to be enjoyed by Israel and the saved nations in the new conditions of blessing on the millennial earth. In the writings of the apostle John eternal life is spoken of as present blessing to be reached spiritually here and now.
144
characterised normally by unity and mutual affection as brethren.
(4)
sonship, in its highest character, the heavenly position of dignity and relationship of affection in association with the risen and ascended Christ as the first-born amongst many brethren, into which the saints are taken by the Father for the satisfaction of His love, John 17: 26; 20: 17; Eph 1: 5.
All the vast range of the divine thoughts and purposes of blessing (“the breadth and length and depth and height”, Eph 3: 18) which find their centre in Christ and the church as associated with Him.
As we have already seen those forming the church have received such a rich endowment in connection with the indwelling of the Spirit that it is possible for them even now to enter in spirit into that which is heavenly and eternal, the thoughts and purposes of love which were in the mind of the Father before sin entered, now brought to light in the Son of His love. This is the peculiar blessing of the church, its own special place in relation to the Father and the Son.
These wonderful spiritual privileges can only be entered into and enjoyed as our walk and ways are in practical accord with the righteousness and grace of God which have been expressed toward us in Christ. So long as we are here in mortal bodies with the present mixed condition of flesh and spirit, 145
the constant maintenance of self-judgment is a necessity for true spiritual joy and progress, Rom 6: 6, 11; 8: 12-14; 1 Cor 3: 1-3; 11: 31.
Unless the necessary moral conditions are maintained the mere intellectual knowledge of the teaching of scripture, such as may be gained by the study of books, would only tend towards mental inflation rather than spiritual understanding.
It is significant in this connection that not only in corrective epistles, such as 1
Corinthians (chap 6) and Galatians (chap 5) does the apostle dwell on the character and walk suited and necessary for inheritance in the kingdom, but this is also found in Ephesians (chap 5), where, after unfolding the full height of the Christian position according to the eternal purpose of God the saints are warned against being deceived with vain words, and are called upon to walk as children of light, in goodness, righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable to the Lord by a walk which will stand the test of being manifested in the light.
Divine love was pent up in the heart of God until, at infinite cost, a righteous channel was secured in the death of His Son, by which His love might flow out towards us freely. The truth as to the moral basis of the kingdom, and the way in which righteousness has been established so that grace might reign, apprehended in the soul, secures moral conditions with us in accord with the death of 146
Christ, thus leaving the Spirit free having shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, to conduct us into all the truth; the blessedness of what belongs to the Son, committed to Him by the Father, John 16: 12-15.
A further practical consideration may be added, that where brethren seek to walk together in church relations and in accordance with the order of the house of God, difficulties sometimes arise through individuals being lacking or defective in the moral principles of the kingdom in their communications and dealings with one another, with the result that they are unable to go on happily together, and thus both fellowship and testimony may be hindered or practically destroyed.
Unless we are individually established in some measure in the truth of the kingdom, and our minds and wills thus brought into subjection to the Lord, we do not form suitable material for being built together in relation to the house of God. In coming in contact with one another we are often tested (sometimes with painful disclosures) as to the measure in which we are formed morally in accordance with truth that we may be quite familiar with as regards the terms. For instance, if the question as to who is to be greatest is raised amongst brethren, as with the disciples of old, by way of disputing and strife, instead of on the kingdom principles of humility and lowly service, enunciated by the 147
Lord in Matt 18: 1-4; Mark 9: 33-35; 10: 42-45; Luke 22: 24-27, the consequent spirit of rivalry is incompatible with the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4), necessary for the practical working out of true church relations.
In view of all this we need not be surprised that the kingdom should have such an important place in scripture, nor that it should occupy so large a part of the Lord’s service and teaching when here on earth, from the beginning of His public ministry (Mark 1: 14) until the day in which He was taken up, after being seen by His disciples during the forty days of His resurrection life on earth, when He spoke of the things which concern the Kingdom of God, Acts 1: 1-3.
The object of this book will be attained if the Christian reader finds that it assists to a more intelligent understanding of the teaching of scripture in regard to the kingdom, and to a fuller realisation of the present grace and power of the Lord Jesus, and also if it awakens or increases an interest in the divine thoughts with regard to the church, which is now Christ’s chief interest on earth and the subject of the present activities of His love Eph 5: 25-27. Owing to the disorder and confusion in the Christian profession, and the consequent necessity for separation from associations
involving
principles
and
practices which are seen to be not in accord with the truth (2 Tim 2: 19), very many of the 148
people of God are not available for practical fellowship, but it is well that we should look at them and think of them in relation to Christ as belonging to the church that is precious to Him, and thus invest them in our minds with the divine thoughts.
149
150
THE NEW COVENANT
By W. Fergusson
151
152
THE NEW COVENANT
INTRODUCTION
In the case of scriptures which are referred to but not quoted in full, it is strongly recommended to readers not fully conversant with them that the references should be looked up in the Bible and carefully read.
Quotations of Scripture are generally taken from
the
‘New
Translation’,
by
J N Darby.
Some introductory remarks may be made as to the thought of covenant in the scriptures generally. The word is of very frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, being first found in Genesis in the case of the covenant made by God with Noah (chap 6), and with every living creature (chap 9); and then with Abraham (chaps 15 and 17) both in regard to the promised land, and also the seed to possess it. The word is found in many different connections in most of the Old Testament books. In Hosea 6: 7 we find that the commandment of God transgressed by Adam in Eden is spoken of as a covenant of similar character to the Mosaic law transgressed by Israel. There is a reference 153
to this in Romans 5: 14.
The general idea is that of a bond or agreement between two parties. In the case of God’s covenants they set forth the terms on which God has proposed to establish relations with men.
The corresponding word in the New Testament (Greek, diatheke) has, in addition, another meaning. It includes both the idea of a covenant or agreement, and also that of a will or testament as showing the disposition of a testator. This has led to some obscurity in the Authorised Version where the translation changes in some instances from covenant to testament in a confusing way.
There seems to be no doubt that as indicating the connection with the Old Testament word and the bond between God and His people, the better translation is covenant in every case, except in Hebrews 9: 16, 17, where the context in verse 15, referring to the eternal inheritance, leads on to the thought of a testament or will, which comes into force on the death of a testator. The death of Christ fully disclosed the disposition of God and brought into force His will or testament.
Eternal
redemption
having
been
accomplished by His death, He has secured the promise of the eternal inheritance.
For the purpose of this paper, we may confine our attention to two covenants, viz., the Mosaic covenant made with Israel referred to 154
in the New Testament as the first covenant or the old covenant, and in contrast to this the new covenant prophesied of by Jeremiah 31.
This is also to be made with Israel in a coming day, but in its spirit and essential features, as we shall see from the New Testament Scriptures, it is to be known and enjoyed and answered to in a practical way by the people of God during the present period.
The literal terms of the Mosaic covenant introduced a system of legal demand, righteously due to God, whose law is holy, just and good, but the requirements of which Israel totally failed to meet. It is contrasted with the system of grace on the principle of faith, brought in by Christ and established by His death. In each of these two covenants we find there is a mediator, the full significance of which is seen in Christ, upon whom everything depends both for God and for His people.
It may be said that the Scriptures of the Old Testament (though looking on to Christ, and recording the unconditional promises of God and His purposes of blessing for His people) are in the main characterised by law, and the New Testament Scriptures by grace. Indeed, the name of ‘Testament’ which we are accustomed to use for each of the two great divisions of the Bible, is taken from 2
Corinthians 3: 14, 15 KJV, where the apostle Paul states that at the present time the veil remains upon the heart of Israel and their 155
thoughts are darkened when they read “the old testament” or covenant.
Whilst the old and new covenants are thus put in contrast to one another, it must be remembered that the institutions and sacrifices connected with the legal system, and the various dealings of God with His people as recorded in the Old Testament, are full of instruction for us as types which have their fulfilment in Christ and the system of grace introduced by Him, Col 2: 17; Heb 8: 5; 10: 1; 1 Cor 10: 11. These types have a very important place in the Old Testament Scriptures, but although occasional allusion will be made to them, it is not within the scope of this paper to develop in detail their teaching and application to Christianity.
It is also to be noticed that behind the letter of the law there was in measure a revelation of God’s goodness, mercy and love in His dealings with the people, which was appreciated and responded to by the godly remnant of Israel all through the Old Testament history. Reference may be made in this connection to the book of Deuteronomy and to the renewal of the covenant which had been made at Horeb, with some additional features at the end of the wilderness journey in view of Israel entering the land. The faithful pleading of Moses brought before the people the governmental blessings and curses of the covenant
following
on
obedience
or
156
disobedience, and also the provision in case of departure, for forgiveness and recovery by way of repentance and returning in heart to Jehovah, Deut 28 to 30. There are many instances of this recovery, as in the case of the Judges, and especially under kings such as David, Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah, and in the remnant brought back from Babylon.
THE INSTITUTION OF THE FIRST
COVENANT AS RECORDED IN
EXODUS
Before considering the present application of the new covenant in Christianity, it may be well first to call attention to the account given in the book of Exodus of the circumstances connected with the introduction of the law, in view of the fact that in the references to the new covenant which will come before us in the New Testament, there is both comparison and contrast in regard to some significant incidents in the narrative recorded in Exodus.
In the early part of the book, we have the intervention of God in raising up Moses, in order that His people Israel might be delivered from bondage to the Egyptian world-system, and be brought into the land of Canaan in accordance with His promise to Abraham.
This involved the judgment of the Egyptians and the salvation of Israel at the Red Sea, after they had been placed on the ground of redemption typically set forth in the 157
institution of the Passover. The song of victory in chap 15 brings into view Jehovah’s kingdom, His holy habitation, and the mountain of His inheritance into which He will bring His people.
The journeyings of Israel from the Red Sea until they reached Sinai were on the principle of pure grace notwithstanding their murmurings, but at Mount Sinai (chap 19) they were placed under the covenant of law, by which the blessing of the people was made dependent not only on the faithfulness of God, but also on their own obedience. They accepted these conditions saying, “all that Jehovah has spoken will we do”. The giving of the law was then invested with every circumstance that was calculated to impress the people with the seriousness of the conditions they had undertaken. They were kept at a distance and God descended to Sinai in a cloud of darkness. There were thunders, lightnings, fire, smoke and an earthquake, and even Moses the mediator, or intermediary between God and the people, was full of fear and trembling.
After the commandments and judgments were given to Moses, he wrote them in the book of the covenant, chap 24. He then built an altar with which all the twelve tribes were identified, and sent the youths of the children of Israel (typically signifying a new generation morally) who offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The blood of the sacrifices 158
was then sprinkled upon the people by Moses, who said: “Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you”.
This was followed by the remarkable incident recorded in verses 9-11, where the representatives of the people went up with Moses and Aaron and saw the God of Israel in peace. Thus, whilst in relation to the public governmental dealings of God, the people were placed under the responsibility of the covenant of law; they were also typically identified with the sacrificial death of Christ, which is the only secure ground on which the relations of God with His people can be established in blessing, however little this may have been understood by Israel at the time, Heb 9: 18-23.
Moses was then called up into the mountain to receive the commandments written on the tables of stone, and he remained there for a period of forty days, during which he received instructions as to the making of the tabernacle, according to the pattern shown to him, for God proposed that the people should make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell amongst them. Here we see the connection between these two important institutions in Israel. The law raised the question of righteousness, being the statement of the will of God to be fulfilled in obedience by His people. The sanctuary where God proposed to dwell amongst His people called for the holiness suited to His presence. The 159
tabernacle in its typical significance had in view the vast divine system which would find its centre in Christ, typified by the ark of the testimony where the tables of the testimony were to find a resting place. Whilst the covenant is to form the bond between God and His people, the testimony looks on to the day of display when the will of God as established by Christ is to be the moral foundation of the world to come.
Moses having received the tables of stone (chap 31: 18), returned to the camp of Israel, and found that during his absence they had made a golden calf and were worshipping and sacrificing to it. In anger he threw down and broke the tables, and judgment was executed against the people. Moses as mediator pleaded with God for them, identifying himself with the people that they might not be utterly destroyed. He then pitched the tent of meeting provisionally outside the camp (chap 33), pending the decision of Jehovah as to how He would deal with Israel and whether He would grant the favour of His presence with them. Those who sought Jehovah went out to the tent, and there He spoke with Moses face to face as a man with his friend.
Finding grace in God’s eyes and reassured as to the divine presence with him and the people, he asked to see His glory, confident that God had resources by which He could fulfil His purposes of blessing. God then proclaimed the name of Jehovah and 160
disclosed His goodness and grace in the sovereignty of mercy, but made it clear that whilst in long suffering He forbore with the people forgiving transgression, in His governmental ways He would not clear the guilty. As God’s glory passed by, Moses was allowed to see it from behind, for the day had not yet come for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The law was given the second time on tables of stone hewn by Moses (chap 34), and we see from Deuteronomy 10 that before the tabernacle had been made, he prepared by divine instruction an ark of wood (typifying the new order of humanity seen in its perfection in Christ) in which the tables were to be placed. When Moses returned from the mountain after a second period of forty days, his face shone as he came from the presence of God, reflecting the glory connected with the proclamation of Jehovah’s name. The people were afraid to come near him on account of the glory, and he put a veil on his face whilst he spoke with them.
In the second giving of the law, whilst the people were spared in God’s mercy, the principle of their responsibility was not changed. The subsequent record in the historical books of the Old Testament of God’s governmental forgiveness and long-suffering throughout
their
long
history,
only
demonstrated the more fully their total failure 161
and condemnation, as is pathetically described in 2 Chron 36: 11-16.
Along with the unfaithfulness of the people, the history recorded in Exodus not only shows Moses to be a remarkable type of Christ as Mediator, but also the Spirit of Christ is clearly seen in him, both in his faithfulness to God and his love for the people. The partial revelation of God’s glory looks on to its full shining out in Christ, and Moses, in view of the people’s failure, was conscious that God had hidden resources of wisdom and power which would come to light in His time, Deut 29: 29.
It was in the sad circumstances of the failure of Israel—kings, priests, and people—referred to in 2 Chron 36, that the prophet Jeremiah gave the message of Jehovah that the days are coming when He will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, the terms of which are that He will write His law in their heart, and that all of them will know Him from the least to the greatest; He will be their God and they shall be His people, and their sin He will remember no more, Jer 31.
The terms of the old covenant as summed up by the Lord in Matthew 22: 37-40 are, that
“thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding”, and “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. It came to men as a 162
righteous demand written on tables of stone, and it stated the conditions on which they were to live, Rom 10: 5. The new covenant begins with God’s “I will”, and instead of being a demand from without, it is a response created within being written by God in the heart.
THE NEW COVENANT IN ITS
PRESENT APPLICATION AS SEEN IN
THE NEW TESTAMENT
We may now consider the present bearing of the new covenant as presented in some of the New Testament Scriptures. Whilst these are in full agreement with each other as to the character of the covenant, there are some differences in the way of emphasis upon special features, which will come before us in considering the several scriptures.
The application of the new covenant in Christianity is more readily understood if we remember that God now has “a people” on earth, but with a heavenly calling, called out from both Jews and Gentiles, 1 Pet 2: 9, 10; Acts 15: 14; Titus 2: 14. They have taken the place of the nation of Israel which has been set aside by God for the time being, as “not my people”, Hos 1: 9; Rom 11: 25-27.
The establishment of the new covenant was necessary, not only in relation to the responsible daily life of the people of God at the present time, according to the type of 163
Israel’s journey through the wilderness, and for approach to God and priestly service in the sanctuary; but also as securing and maintaining conditions needed for entrance into the purpose of God, with the spiritual wealth typified by the land of promise—the present realisation and enjoyment of eternal life, and the spiritual blessings with which God has blest us in the heavenly places in Christ.
THE NEW COVENANT AS
PRESENTED IN THE EPISTLE TO
THE HEBREWS
The new covenant has a specially important place in the epistle to the Hebrews, which was written to Jewish Christians to establish them in the truth of Christianity. The writer tells them that they had not come to Mount Sinai with its terrors, but to the faith system connected with Mount Zion, the centre of blessing according to sovereign mercy, now seen in the risen and exalted Christ, Ps 78, 87, 132 to 134. He then gives a summary of the features characterising the divine system connected with Zion, closing with Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling, the basis on which all is established, Heb 12.
The main subject of the epistle is the greatness and glory of Christ and the perfection of His work in accomplishing the 164
will of God by the sacrificial offering of Himself. God has spoken in the Son who is the Apostle and the High Priest of our confession, and in the excellency of His Person, He supersedes all that had gone before. It should be noted that there is a definite statement of the Deity of the Son in chapter 1: 2, 3, as also of His incarnation in chapters 2: 14; 10: 5-10. He inaugurates and maintains the divine system, fulfilling all that had been typically set forth in Moses the mediator, and Aaron the high priest, and the system of offerings connected with the material tabernacle in Israel under the first covenant. The abiding perfection and finality of that which the Son has brought in is emphasised, in contrast to the temporary and provisional character of all that was connected with the legal system. He is the Author of eternal salvation, He has obtained eternal redemption, and the inheritance is also eternal. He has secured a flock for God in virtue of the blood of the eternal covenant.
In the teaching of the epistle the people of God at the present time are looked at in two ways, corresponding with the type of Israel in the wilderness:-
(1)
They are viewed in relation to the spiritual tabernacle as a sanctified people who are all of one with the Sanctifier, the great Priest over the house of God, and they have present liberty of approach to God in the holiest, chapter 10. This is a contrast to the 165
limitations of Israel under the Aaronic priesthood.
(2)
They are also looked upon as journeying through this life in the path of faith leading on to the rest of God. Israel’s failure through unbelief is recalled as a warning (chaps 3 and 4), whilst the numerous examples of faith seen in individual believers of old who acted in the light of the world to come (chap 11), are for encouragement to run the race with endurance, Jesus Himself being the supreme example, the Leader and Completer of faith.
The public position of reproach in identification with a rejected Christ “without the camp” (chap 13), goes along with the title by the blood of Jesus to enter the holiest.
The epistle shows the significance and importance of the new covenant in each of the above connections.
First: In relation to the question of approach to God, the greatness of Christ as High Priest is seen both in His Person as the Son and His present position as seated at the right hand of God, where, in accordance with Ps 110, He is constituted a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek, chap 7. This is contrasted with the weakness of the priest of Aaron’s order instituted in connection with the law introduced by Moses, the whole system being ineffective owing to the self-will of the people and the in-subject character of 166
the flesh. There was consequently a necessity that both the priesthood and the law or covenant should be changed. Christ therefore, in order to take up His priestly service as Minister of the sanctuary (or “the holies”), becomes Mediator of a better covenant, chap 8: 1, 2, 6.
The mediator and the priest of old were different persons, and the priest was not equal to the mediator, whilst the repeated sacrifices were only types, having no intrinsic value, being unable to clear the conscience from sins, or to meet the claims of God’s holiness or to establish His will. In contrast to this, all these types are now fulfilled in one Person, for Christ is both Mediator of the new covenant and the Son who builds God’s house and is over it as high Priest, having offered Himself to God a sacrifice perfect and final, by which the will of God was accomplished and eternal redemption obtained. His personal greatness is strongly emphasised, and also the infinite value and efficacy of His blood-shedding—the spotless perfection of the life which He laid down sacrificially. This is developed in chaps 9 and 10 by way of contrast with the sacrifices and the blood of sprinkling which introduced the old covenant in Exodus 24, and also with the sacrifice for sin on the day of atonement (Lev 16), when the high priest under the old covenant as representing the people, was allowed to enter the holiest once a year only, 167
with the blood of the sin offering, the Holy Spirit showing by this limitation that the way into the holiest had not yet been made manifest. The old covenant, the material tabernacle, the Aaronic order of priesthood and the continually repeated sacrifices all formed part of the legal system which has now been fulfilled and done away in Christ.
The Mediator of the new covenant by His sacrificial death secures for God and for His will a people who are delivered from lawlessness and who are bound to God in covenant relations in intelligent and responsive affection; for the death of the Mediator not only has efficacy for the removal of sin and sins, but it is the way in which God has become known in fulness of light, in righteousness and holiness and in His love.
Those who are taught by the Mediator to know God thus revealed have full liberty to approach Him in the holiest. Here we see the connection between the present bearing of the new covenant and the church or assembly as the house of God, where divine service is carried on in a spiritual way by those who know God, and who can approach Him with the sacrifice of praise in relation to the perfections of Christ, seen in making God known and in fulfilling and bringing to light all the typical significance of the various offerings of old.
It is because Christ is Mediator of a better covenant than that of Moses that He has 168
obtained a more excellent ministry than the Aaronic priesthood. We have a high Priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens; Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, a spiritual structure not of this creation, chap 8 and 9. He is thus able as great Priest over the house of God to lead in to Him by a new and living way, a people in all the value of His redemption work, who are of His own order as the Sanctifier, and whom He is not ashamed to call His brethren. He declares to them God’s name and then takes His place in the midst of the assembly and sings praises to God, chap 2: 11-12.
Secondly: The new covenant is also a necessity for the journey through the wilderness in the pathway of righteousness according to the will of God. The love of God being made known by the Mediator, He brings to God a people answering to Him in a living way, their hearts and minds being won in willing obedience. This was what was lacking in Israel under the first covenant, both in the wilderness journey and in their subsequent history, notwithstanding the faithful pleading of Moses. (See Deut 5: 28-29; 30: 15-20 and throughout the book.) There was a demand made that they should love God and obey His voice, but there was not a heart in the people to respond. Indeed, they hardened their hearts in unbelief, not hearkening to the word, Heb 3 and 4.
169
Those who have been secured by the Mediator of the new covenant as a people for God, and who seek to answer to His mind and will by a walk characterised by obedience and righteousness, have also the unfailing sympathy and support of Christ as High Priest, to maintain them in the path of faith all the way through to the end of the wilderness journey.
Consequent upon the death of Christ, God has now a company of sons whom He is bringing to glory through the difficulties and temptations of the pathway, the Leader of their salvation having been made perfect through sufferings, for Christ became Man for the suffering of death, chap 2. Although Son, yet He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, and having been perfected, became to all them that obey Him Author of eternal salvation, chap 5. He was tested and proved in His pathway of obedience and suffering even to death, and now as High Priest He is able in His place of exaltation and glory to sympathise with and help those whom He is leading on to glory, ministering present supplies of grace and power so that they may hold fast their confession notwithstanding conditions of infirmity and circumstances of difficulty and pressure, chap 4. Encouragement and strength are found to maintain us in this path according to the will of God, as we look steadfastly on Jesus, the Leader and 170
Completer of the whole course of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. The trials and sufferings of the way are to be endured as the chastening of God dealing in love with sons that we may be partakers of His holiness, chap 12.
There is a remarkable conclusion to the epistle at the end of chap 13, indicating how by the work of God the new covenant becomes effective in us in a practical way. As the God of peace, He brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the power (or virtue) of the blood of the eternal covenant. A flock has been secured for God bound to Him in this holy bond of love by the Lord Jesus, according to the abiding efficacy of His sacrificial death and its unchanging witness to the love of God. The end in view is that God might perfect us in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ.
We come under divine teaching that we may take character from the Shepherd, who has been here entirely for God’s will, and upon whom the heavens opened as the One in whom God was well pleased. The love of God which was brought fully to light in Christ’s death, thus finds a present answer in His people in their daily lives, as they are formed in response to His love for His will and 171
pleasure.
Along with the remarkable development of the truth according to the divine speaking in the Son, there is also running through the epistle a striking note of exhortation and encouragement. We are called on to give heed to the importance of what has been spoken, and to consider in His varied glories the One who is both the speaker and the subject matter of these wonderful communications, so that in the appreciation of what is set forth in Christ, there may be diligence and energy in following it up in full assurance of faith and of hope. We are not to stop short through neglect or slothfulness at what is elementary, but to go on to perfection or full growth according to the height of the divine calling, both in relation to the service of the sanctuary and to the end in view in the pathway of faith.
THE NEW COVENANT IN RELATION
TO THE LORD’S SUPPER
In the institution of the Supper on the night of His betrayal, the way in which the Lord referred to the new covenant has special interest and significance. He said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”. This is evidently a reference (both in fulfilment of the type and by way of contrast) to the blood of the covenant of which Moses spoke, as we have seen in Exod 24 and Heb 9: 18-23; and the teaching of the Supper (although having 172
a unique setting of its own) corresponds with the present bearing of the new covenant which we have considered as it is developed in the epistle to the Hebrews.
From the gospel narratives we see that it was when the Lord was gathered with His disciples to eat the Passover, which He was about to fulfil by His sacrificial death, that He instituted the Supper as a memorial of Himself. The typical meaning of the Passover—the sprinkled blood of the Lamb slain and roast with fire—speaks of the redeeming value and sacrificial efficacy of the sufferings and death of Christ as meeting the claims of God’s righteousness and holiness.
In keeping the feast of unleavened bread, we are to be maintained continually as a redeemed people in accord with the significance of the Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5; 7, 8), and thus in sincerity and truth we will be found in moral suitability when we come together to eat the Lord’s supper.
In the teaching of the first epistle to the Corinthians we see the Lord’s supper in its setting in relation to the church. The apostle Paul had received it from the Lord Jesus and delivered it to the church at Corinth. Their disorder in partaking of it when come together in assembly (chap 11), and the way in which some were compromising the fellowship by association with idolatry and idol sacrifices (chap 10), is the occasion for the apostle recalling them to the true 173
significance of the Supper. It was intended to be the expression of the fellowship or communion of the blood and the body of Christ. In partaking of it together, the saints as being part of the “one body”, are identified with the death of Christ, and engage themselves to be true to Him in His absence.
This gives the character of the Christian fellowship, not only locally but universally. It is contrasted in chap 10 with the communion or fellowship in Israel, where those who ate of the sacrifices, such as the peace offering, were identified with the altar, Lev 7: 11, etc..
Similarly in the case of the Gentiles in their idol sacrifices they were identified with demons. The apostle insists on the exclusive character of the Lord’s table as the expression of the Christian fellowship.
The loaf and the cup (Luke 22; 1 Cor 11) both present Christ as having given Himself in death. The one signifying His body devoted to the will of God and given for us, and the other His blood poured out, His life laid down for us. This speaks not only of the efficacy of His death in the accomplishment of the will of God, but it is also the abiding witness of the love of God in sending His Son that we might live through Him. It thus goes far beyond anything that could be set forth even typically in the sacrifices under the law, not only in that they could not take away sins, as is pointed out in the epistle to the Hebrews, but also they could not make God known nor 174
declare His love. Thus the Lord’s invitation to drink of the cup of the new covenant in His blood, introduces a new feature not found in the Old Testament type of the blood as seen in Exodus 24 and elsewhere. Compare the prohibition in Leviticus 17. Christ as the Mediator of the new covenant brings to God a redeemed people who know Him as revealed in holy love, the death of the Mediator having fully met every claim of righteousness.
The object of the Supper is that by way of His death we might call the Lord to mind during the time of His absence. We are set free in the abiding value and efficacy of His redemption work, to be occupied with the Lord Himself and the love made manifest in His death, but which abides unchanging in all its greatness in present activity towards His own. Until He comes again, we thus announce His death in the scene where He died.
The love of Christ as Mediator cannot be separated from the love of God, whose will He came to do. The Mediator of the covenant is the beloved Son whose love to God was the spring and motive of His devoted obedience even unto death. It is His Person that gives character and value to the work He undertook in the body prepared for Him that He might accomplish the will of God. He is Himself the perfect expression of the love He came to make known, and those whom He wins by the love declared in His death, He attaches to Himself and thus maintains them 175
as quickened in responsive affection in the blessing and truth of covenant relations with God. All this known and enjoyed gives character to the worship of God and of Christ when the saints come together in assembly.
In 1 Corinthians we see how the new covenant at the present time stands in relation to the church or assembly of God.
The apostle, in dealing with questions of church order (chap 10: 17 to chap 14), shows how the way of love (chap 13) which is brought before us so powerfully in the Lord’s supper is to regulate us when together in assembly, so that the exercise of gifts may result in edification.
In the weekly remembrance of Him in the Supper the Lord Jesus teaches us more and more of the depths of the love of God, and maintains it in freshness and power in our hearts. As we appreciate divine love in this way, the Supper becomes spiritual food by which we are sustained in mind and spirit in accord with the Mediator, taking character from Him so that we may be here not only when together in assembly, but in our daily lives a people in whom God can take pleasure as being morally in accord with Him.
The love which found full expression in the death of the Mediator still remains in all its greatness, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever. It is now radiant in His face, and as we look upon the glory of the Lord we are 176
increasingly formed in divine love—
transformed according to the same image, from glory to glory, as we shall see in considering 2 Corinthians 3.
While the Lord’s supper stands in direct relation to the new covenant, bringing afresh to our minds and hearts the way in which the Mediator made the love of God known to us by His death, it also prepares the way for our being led into another sphere of spiritual blessing and relationship. As the Lord teaches us the infinite depths of the love which reached us in His death, the Supper also becomes the entrance for us into the full height of the spiritual sphere of assembly blessing and privilege where Christ as Son and Head can lead us into the wonderful extent of the thoughts and purposes of divine love (the good pleasure of God’s will, Eph 1: 3-6), which He came to bring into actuality and which find full expression in Himself as the risen and glorified Man. The great Priest over the house of God, by whom we approach God in the holiest, as we have seen in the epistle to the Hebrews, is also the Son by whom God has been declared and by whom the Father’s name has been made known. He brings to the Father those who, being spiritually quickened, are such as He sought, true worshippers who can worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23); and who, being in the full light of the revelation made by the Son, and in present living association 177
with Him, can answer to the Father’s love in responsive affection and in the conscious knowledge by the Spirit of the relationship of sons, John 20: 17; Gal 4: 6. The Son has His own special place of pre-eminence in this circle of divine affections. If the Father has a company of “many sons”, Christ is Himself the firstborn amongst “many brethren”.
THE MINISTRY OF THE NEW
COVENANT IN THE SECOND
EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
The present application of the new covenant as seen in 2 Corinthians 3, introduces some additional features, and has special reference to the circumstances connected with the second giving of the law as recorded in Exodus 34.
The attempts made by judaising teachers to disparage the apostle Paul, and to undermine his work by bringing the Gentile believers into bondage to the legal system, gave occasion for him to explain the true character of his ministry. The Corinthians themselves were the undeniable proof of his apostleship. They were his letter of commendation written in his heart, for they were his beloved children. As being Christians, they were manifestly a living epistle of Christ, who had used the apostle’s ministry by the Spirit of the living God, to write Himself upon the fleshy tables of their heart, in contrast to the stone tables 178
upon which the law was written. Paul’s new covenant ministry was in the power of the Spirit who quickens or makes to live, in contrast to the law which was characterised by “the letter” that kills.
Ezekiel, who saw the glory of the Lord depart from His house at Jerusalem consequent on the iniquity of Israel (chaps 9 to 11), prophesied of the everlasting covenant that God will make with His people in a coming day, when He will take away their stony heart and give them a new heart and a new spirit, chap 36. The nation will then be revived out of its apparently hopeless condition of death as seen in the vision of dry bones, and will be made to live in response to God, chap 37.
Their hearts will thus be divinely prepared for the writing in them of the terms of the new covenant of which Jeremiah prophesied in chap 31. We can see how the spirit of these Old Testament prophecies has received a present fulfilment in Christianity.
The living character of the apostle’s ministry is developed in 2 Corinthians 3 by way of contrast to Exodus 34. When the tables of the law were brought down from Sinai the second time, the face of Moses shone. He had been in the presence of God who had made His name of Jehovah known in a new way as a “God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no 179
means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity
... upon the third and upon the fourth generation”.
The glory connected with this proclamation of Jehovah’s name was reflected in the face of Moses. The children of Israel could not look upon the glory of his face, for while it spoke of God’s mercy in sparing them and forgiving their unfaithfulness, it left the principle of their responsibility and of God’s ways in government unchanged notwithstanding His longsuffering forbearance. The long-continued and persistent rebellion of the people, in spite of all God’s patient dealings as recounted in 2 Chronicles 36, and confessed by Daniel (chap 9) and by the returned remnant in Nehemiah 9, ended finally in the nation’s rejection of Christ, and
“wrath has come upon them to the uttermost”, 1 Thess 2: 15, 16.
The law promised life on the ground of obedience and threatened a curse on disobedience (Gal 3: 10-12); therefore, although it was introduced with temporary glory in the face of the mediator, it became a ministry of death and of condemnation, for it came making a demand for righteousness from sinful men. The long probation of man
“in the flesh” under divine culture in Israel, ended thus in a full demonstration that “the mind of the flesh is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God; for neither indeed can it be: and they that are in flesh 180
cannot please God”, Rom 7: 5; 8: 7, 8.
There is a remarkable scene at the end of Exodus 32 after Israel’s sin, when Moses went up to God to plead for them, saying to the people, “perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin”. This, however, it was not possible for him to accomplish. It had to wait until Christ came as Mediator of the new covenant, “who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God” (Heb 9); “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Pet 2. What the law could not do was effected when God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh sacrificially in the Person of the sinless One, Rom 8. In the cross, where God’s righteous judgment against sin was vindicated, there was also the full declaration of His love. This is the abiding and surpassing glory of which Paul speaks in 2
Corinthians 3. It shines now in the face of the Mediator, and gives character to the ministry of the new covenant. Instead of death and condemnation, there is now a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness in virtue of the redemption work of Christ. It was when Jesus was glorified that the Spirit was given to be received by those who believe on Him, John 7: 39. The Mediator thus secures a people for the will of God, who know Him and live to Him by the Spirit in response to His love.
Israel is still in the dark with the veil on their 181
heart when the old covenant is read. They have not yet been able to see the end in view in the typical system connected with the law, which, having had its fulfilment in Christ, is now done away. When their heart turns to the Lord the veil is taken away. Psalm 118
looks on to the day when Israel, with a deep sense of divine mercy, will confess that Jehovah’s right hand of power has brought in salvation. They will then give Christ His true place as the headstone of the corner, saying
“Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah”, Matt 21: 42; 23: 29. In Psalm 119
there is a very full and remarkable expression of the exercises through which they will pass in connection with the writing of the law in their hearts. It is striking to see the deep-felt need for divine quickening (v 88, etc.), prayer for which occurs many times in the Psalm.
How different is this from the spirit of self-confidence with which the people undertook to obey in Exodus 19!
The Lord is the quickening or life-giving spirit of the covenant (verse 17, referring back to verse 6), and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the law of love and of liberty for God being known in His love, His service is perfect freedom. The apostle preached Christ Jesus as Lord (chap 4: 5), and it is remarkable how the authority of Christ is emphasised in the last three verses of chap 3.
The service of the Mediator becomes effective 182
by the quickening power of the Spirit in those who recognise and submit to His supreme authority as Lord.
The present end in view as the result of the apostle’s ministry is seen in the last verse of the chapter. The glory which shines in the face of the Lord Jesus is the glory of redemption. He came to do the will of God and accomplished it in His death, by which God’s righteousness was established and His love fully declared. The answer to this is seen in Christ’s present position of exaltation. The glory of Christ, who is the image of God, cannot be separated from the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, which now shines out in the gospel, 2 Cor 4: 3-6. There is no veil either on the face of the Mediator or on the heart of the believer. Those who stand in the righteousness He has accomplished, and who have received the Spirit are able to look upon the glory of the Lord, and are thus morally transformed according to the same image. This is well illustrated in the case of Stephen at the end of Acts 7. Being full of the Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus, and while his enemies stoned him to death, he prayed that the Lord would not lay the sin to their charge, thus manifesting the spirit of Christ under the most testing circumstances.
As believers continue learning more and more of the glory of divine love they become increasingly conformed to the image of the 183
Mediator, like the Lord and like one another, all taking character from Him, being thus perfected from glory to glory, answering to the mind and pleasure of God. Such a people have full liberty of approach to God by the Spirit in the light in which He has been made known by the Mediator.
THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW
COVENANT
The New Testament Scriptures we have considered show plainly how the new covenant is fulfilled in its spirit and essential character in Christianity. The question of sin and sins having been dealt with by Christ as Mediator, He has attached to Himself a people according to the value of His redemption work, and has brought them into the light of the knowledge of God, whose love has been declared in the death of the Mediator. They are delivered from lawlessness by the power of divine love made operative in their hearts by the Spirit, and are thus recovered for God’s will, taking character from Christ, whose delight it was to do the will of God.
Whilst the new covenant is final and abiding, having been established by the Mediator on the immutable basis of His sacrificial death, our present enjoyment of the blessings secured by the covenant depends on the maintenance of the conditions which the Mediator has brought in, viz., righteousness, 184
obedience and love. As we abide in Christ we are maintained in moral correspondence with Him.
Besides those New Testament Scriptures in which the new covenant is mentioned by name, there are also many others where its principles and spirit are developed, a few of which may be briefly referred to. The consideration of the various scriptures, though involving a little repetition in so far as they cover somewhat similar ground, may help to a fuller understanding of the true character and present bearing of the new covenant.
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
The apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans, written to establish believers in the truth and power of the gospel, deals with the position and normal experiences of those who have come to the knowledge of God through the Lord Jesus. By the sacrificial death and the resurrection of Christ, God is known in His righteousness and power in redemption, with the result that, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also access into the present favour of God and rejoice in hope of His glory.
Even in the endurance of actual conditions of tribulation we have full assurance of hope, for the love of God manifested in the death of 185
Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. In coming thus under divine teaching, the love of God is known and enjoyed as a present reality producing a living response in His people, chap 5.
By His death and resurrection, Christ has brought in righteousness and life for men. In attachment to Him as the new Head we are identified with Him both in His death and in His life, and are entitled to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We are thus enabled to yield ourselves to God as alive from among the dead, and our members instruments of righteousness to God. Having got our freedom from the dominion of sin, we have become bondmen to righteousness, and as bondmen to God we have our fruit unto holiness and the end eternal life, chap 6.
By the death of Christ, we are entitled to be free from bondage to the legal system of the old covenant, so that as joined to Him who has been raised up from among the dead, we might bear fruit to God, serving in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. The willing service of God under the new covenant springs from response to divine love, chap 7.
The power which makes good the realisation of our title to be free from bondage to indwelling sin lies in the Spirit. The people of God are looked upon as being in the 186
wilderness, according to the analogy of Israel in Numbers 21, after their failure under the law had been met by the provision of the brazen serpent. This typifies the condemnation of sin in the flesh (lawlessness thus being judged in its root principle) in the Person of the sinless One, the Son of God, who was made sin for us. This was followed by the song of Israel to the springing well, typifying the Spirit as power to live according to God. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the new Head, sets free from the law of sin and death, so that righteousness may be fulfilled in those who walk not according to flesh but according to Spirit, chap 8.
The unfolding of the gospel in the preceding chapters forms the basis for the apostle’s exhortation in chapter 12 to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our intelligent service, and instead of being conformed to this world, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
A leading feature of the epistle is the establishment of the kingdom of God at the present time in the Lord Jesus. Instead of the reign of sin and death, there is opened up to faith the reign of grace through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. His administration of grace brings believers under the moral sway of God, and in the confession of Christ as Lord, present 187
salvation and the power of the kingdom is realised in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. As thus subdued by grace, we become receptive of divine teaching, and the Mediator by the Spirit can lead us into the depths of the love of God. As attached to Christ and taking character from Him, we are formed for the will of God in the spirit of the new covenant. The presentation of the gospel as set forth in this epistle shows the connection between the kingdom of God and the new covenant relations established with His people.
The way is thus prepared for the apprehension and enjoyment of family relationships and affections as children and sons of God, known consciously by the Spirit, and for entering into the purpose of God which comes into view in chap 8. The sons of God are being led by the Spirit through the trials and sufferings of the present time, awaiting the redemption of the body and the day when the whole creation will be brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER
The apostle Peter, in his first epistle, addresses Christians from among the Jews, who had been going astray as sheep but had returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls. They had been born again by the 188
living and abiding word of God, and had been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
Knowing this, he can address them as “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”, chap 1. This is an allusion to the inauguration of the first covenant as we have seen in Exodus 24, when the children of Israel, as set apart for God nationally, were sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices and committed to the obedience of the law.
Christians are now recovered to God as set apart by the Spirit in all the value of the blood of Christ, in view of a new kind of obedience, that of Christ Himself, who lived by every word of God and whose delight it was to do His will. This is developed in the epistle in connection with the suffering involved in the path of righteousness to which Christians are called. Christ has left us a model that we should follow in His steps, chap 2: 21. As Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, we are called on to arm ourselves with the same mind, so that we may live the rest of our time in the flesh to God’s will, chap 4: 1, 2. Here we see that the Mediator of the new covenant is also the example, and He leads us in His own path of obedience.
The present end in view has a double aspect; first, in relation to service Godward, believers coming to Christ as a living stone, despised indeed by men but chosen of God and 189
precious, are also as living stones built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and, secondly, in testimony to men, we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession in covenant relation with God, to set forth the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness to His wonderful light, chap 2.
If the people of God are called on to suffer as Christians,
for
well
doing
or
for
righteousness’ sake, we are to accept it as being according to the will of God, and as sharing in the sufferings of Christ, with the day of glory in view, having the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon us, chaps 3 and 4.
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
The first epistle of John was written to confirm believers in the living character of the truth as seen in Christ, in view of the deceptive character of the world-system, and the presence of Antichrist and false prophets.
He writes to those “who believe on the name of the Son of God”, by whom the truth about God has been fully declared, so that it can now be said that God is “in the light”, chap 1: 7.
What is emphasised in the epistle is that “God is love”—that which He is in His nature. This found full expression in the sending of His Son, not only as the propitiation for our sins, 190
but also that we might live through Him.
“Hereby we have known love, because He has laid down His life for us”, chap 3: 16. God’s love has thus been perfected with us in that which it has wrought for us. Divine love has taken account of the whole of our responsible life and has dealt with everything so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, for we have been cleared of all that would have been a cause of fear in that day. “Even as he is, we also are in this world”, chap 4: 7.
“Perfect love casts out fear”, v 18. “We love because he has first loved us”, v 19. The proof that we know God is that we love Him; the proof that we love Him is that we keep His commandments;
and
this
is
His
commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another. “He that loves not has not known God, for God is love”, v 8. “If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us”, v 12.
In this we see the spirit of the new covenant.
The Son of God was manifested that He might take away our sins, and as we abide in Him we are delivered from sin or lawlessness, and we practice righteousness as He is righteous.
Divine love reached us in the death of Christ, and it is as knowing that we have been loved by God that we come under the obligation to love. As we give heed to the teaching of the epistle, and are true to the covenant relations established by Christ, recognising the 191
obligation, in the grace and strength supplied by Him, to walk as He walked in a pathway characterised by obedience, righteousness and love, conditions will be maintained for the present realisation of fulness of joy in the conscious knowledge of the possession of eternal life.
Along with the light of God known to faith, there is also developed in the epistle the thought of the work of God seen in His children—those who have been born of God.
These two lines, though distinct, are closely linked together in the teaching of the epistle.
Righteousness and love are the practical features by which the children of God are made manifest. That which was seen in its perfection in Christ when on earth is now being reproduced in us by the Spirit in answer to the new commandment. That which “is true in him and in you”, chap 2: 8.
THE SAMARITAN IN LUKE 10 AS
THE TRUE NEIGHBOUR
In the parable of the Samaritan (Luke 10) the Lord Jesus gives an instructive illustration of the spirit of the new covenant. In reply to the lawyer’s enquiry as to what he should do to inherit eternal life, the Lord asks him how he read the law, meeting him thus on his own ground according to the principle laid down, that the one who has done the things required by the law shall live by them, Rom 192
10: 5. The lawyer replies by giving a summary of the law: Man must love God with his whole being, and his neighbour as himself. This the Lord accepts as a right answer, but the lawyer seeks to justify himself by raising a question as to who is his neighbour.
The man in the parable who was going down to Jericho and was robbed, wounded and left half-dead, was in deep need of a neighbour.
He represents man’s true condition of utter weakness as fallen. The priest and the Levite are official representatives of the old covenant. They see the man but pass on, not recognising any obligation upon them to act a neighbour’s part. The law, taken merely in the letter as a system of demand, had given a character to the religious officials and leaders of that day which was displeasing to God.
They were ready to lay heavy burdens upon men, and were exact in minute details of religious observances, but left aside the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith, Matt 23. They had not learned the meaning of God’s word through the prophet Hosea: “I will have (that is, I desire) mercy and not sacrifice”, Matt 9: 13.
In the absence of suitable moral conditions, God has no satisfaction in a mere routine of sacrifices and religious ritual, Isa 1:10-17.
It may be remarked here that, as Christians, we need to be on our guard against this danger of legality which is natural to religious 193
flesh, and which yields neither mercy for men, nor pleasure to God. One may use even a knowledge of Christianity by way of exacting requirement and demand on others, instead of being morally affected by the grace seen in Christ, in such a way as to commend it to others by being an exemplification of it in oneself.
The Samaritan, who was outside the legal system of Israel, came to the man and raised no question as to whether he was a neighbour, but seeing his helpless condition, was moved with compassion, came up to him, met his immediate needs and, having put him on his own beast, brought him to the inn and took care of him. He left him in the hands of the innkeeper with provision for his further needs and a charge to continue the care, and a promise that whatever he spent more he would repay him when he returned. The Lord then calls on the lawyer to answer his own question as to who was the neighbour. He has to reply: “He that shewed him mercy”.
“And Jesus said to him, Go, and do thou likewise”.
The Jews refusing the truth presented by Christ said that He was a Samaritan (John 8: 48), and He did not refuse the name of reproach. Though He had “come under law”
(Gal 4: 5), He was morally outside the religious official circles of the day. He was the stone which the builders rejected, but He was man’s true neighbour and, moved by love, He 194
has met our need, for the law of God was within His heart. He teaches the new covenant effectively for we see it practically carried out by Him. The end in view for those who have experienced His gracious activities in care and healing and have thus come under the teaching of divine love, is that they should be established in the grace and power of the Mediator and taking character from Him be enabled in the power of love to go and do likewise. We may see the full answer to the lawyer’s first question, in that the moral conditions for inheriting eternal life are brought about in those who have been enabled to walk in the path of the will of God, as having come under the blessed hand of the Mediator of the new covenant. The innkeeper of whom the Lord speaks in the parable clearly represents His people, to whom, in view of His absence, the Lord commits the case of need with a charge to continue His care.
THE LORD JESUS HIMSELF THE
COVENANT
In Isaiah 42, Jehovah called attention prophetically to His Servant, “mine elect in whom my soul delighteth”, and He promised to give Him for a covenant of the people, vv 1
to 6. This is further developed in chapter 49.
Israel, who should have been God’s servant, had utterly failed, and when the true Servant of God came to bring in glory and blessing, He 195
was despised and rejected by the nation.
Consequent on this, Israel has not yet been
“gathered” for the promised earthly blessings of the covenant, but the way has thus been opened to wider and higher purposes of blessing at the present time, for Jehovah says to His Servant, in answer to Israel’s rejection,
“I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”, Isa 49: 5, 6; Acts 13: 46, 47. Isaiah 53 shows how, by His sacrificial death, Christ would establish the basis of the covenant in righteousness for the pleasure of Jehovah.
The New Testament Scriptures we have considered show how this has been fulfilled, and is to be known and enjoyed by believers during the present church period. The Lord Jesus is Himself the covenant. We have seen in Him One great enough in His Person to make God known in the fulness of His love, and also One who, as Man, perfectly responded to the love which He knew and revealed. Being in the form of God, He emptied Himself, taking a servant’s form in the body prepared for Him, so that, obedient even unto death, He might accomplish the will of God in redemption. He makes us to live in response to the love of God declared in His death, and He attaches us to Himself, leading us in the path of righteousness which has been brought to light in all its moral perfection in His own life of devoted 196
obedience.
As being thus secured by Christ for God in the bond of the new covenant, and answering to it in mind and heart in our responsible life of obedience in the path of righteousness, a people for the will and pleasure of God, there are also opened up to us, as we have seen, the assembly privileges connected with the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which constitutes the saints a spiritual house, the dwelling place of God, where divine service is now carried on after a spiritual order; also the present enjoyment of the blessing of eternal life, and the heavenly position and relationship with the Father of sons in association with the ascended Christ, the beloved Son, the Firstborn amongst many brethren.
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198
DIVINE LOVE
MANIFESTED AND
EXPERIENCED
By W. Fergusson
199
200
DIVINE LOVE
MANIFESTED AND
EXPERIENCED
DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE LIGHT
The apostle John tells us that “God is love”. 1
John 4: 8, 16. A simple but profound statement disclosing that which God is in His nature. Behind His attributes such as power, wisdom,
righteousness,
holiness,
faithfulness, truth and mercy, there is God Himself and in His nature He is love.
John also tells us that “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”, John 1: 18. The Word, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God, became flesh and dwelt among men, bringing into the world this wonderful light. Emphasis is laid upon the universal bearing of the testimony. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”. “The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens [or sheds its light upon] every man”. John 1: 4, 9. He could say, “I am the light of the world; 201
he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. John 8: 12.
Although the light which Christ brought into the world was the manifestation of God as love, yet it necessarily exposed the true state of men in their moral distance from God under the power of sin, for “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”, 1 John 1: 5.
The effect consequently of His coming into the world, was to disclose the terrible character of the moral darkness in which men were involved. “He was in the world, and the world had its being through him, and the world knew him not”. Even the Jewish nation, although for centuries it had been the subject of divine culture as seen in the Old Testament under the law and the prophets, was proved to be under the same condemnation as men generally, for He came to His own and His own received Him not, John 1: 10, 11. “And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil.
For every one that does evil hates the light”, John 3: 19, 20. The Lord told His disciples that the result of His ministry both in His words and in His works, was that men had seen and hated both Him and His Father, John 15: 22-24.
In the rejection of Christ, the irremediable character of sinful flesh was fully exposed.
This was not only the exposure of man’s sinful works, but of his sinful state. It agrees 202
with the conclusion reached by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans 8: 7-8.
Whether in Jew or in Gentile, “the mind of the flesh is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God; for neither indeed can it be: and they that are in flesh cannot please God”. The result of this exposure is anticipated from the outset of John’s gospel.
The great problem that sin had raised was now fully apparent and it seemed, humanly speaking, to be insoluble. Only the resources of divine wisdom could meet the situation. It involved a twofold necessity; the work of Christ for men in His death on the cross that they might be redeemed and reconciled to God, and also a divine work in men, in those who have been born of God. The latter will be considered in a subsequent section.
The love of God as a term which is found in scripture is popularly known in Christendom, but man in his natural condition, having no true knowledge either of God or of his own state as a sinner, has consequently no understanding of divine love. If he reasons about it without exercise of conscience, he will falsify the character of God by supposing that He thinks as lightly of sin as the natural man himself does, and that God’s love means that He will overlook men’s sins and will be too gracious to deal with anyone in judgment.
The true significance of the love of God is only known by believers who are divinely taught.
203
The more we know of the deep meaning of the cross of Christ, the more our hearts can appreciate the depths of divine love.
On man’s side the crucifixion of Christ was the final expression of his utter rejection of God come down in grace, but on the divine side the whole question of sin and sins was dealt with sacrificially in the vicarious sufferings and death of Christ, in devoted obedience to God whose will He came to do.
THE NECESSITY FOR THE DEATH
OF CHRIST
In view of the erroneous ideas as to divine love which are widely current in the Christian profession, it may be well at this point to refer to some of the scriptures which state clearly and definitely the necessity for the death of Christ, and what it has effected in the accomplishment of the will of God, and in meeting our need as sinners, for only in the solution of the moral questions which sin had raised, could sinful men have any true knowledge of God as love.
In the 24th chapter of Luke, the risen Lord met the difficulty as to His crucifixion, felt by the two disciples who were returning with sad hearts to Emmaus, by rebuking their unbelief in the testimony of the prophets, saying,
“Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory”?
Afterwards He reminded the company of 204
disciples gathered together at Jerusalem of what He had told them before His death, “that all that is written concerning me in the law of Moses and prophets and psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their understanding to understand the scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer, and to rise from among the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem”. In John 3: 14, the Lord told Nicodemus that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up”. In Acts 17: 3, we find that Paul’s custom was to teach in the synagogues from the Old Testament scriptures, “that the Christ must have suffered and risen up from among the dead”.
These quotations call our attention to the importance of the Old Testament scriptures both in their typical teaching and in their prophetic testimony in relation to the necessity for the sufferings and death of Christ.
The following New Testament scriptures witness to the efficacy of Christ’s work in dealing with the guilt of sins. “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”, 1 Pet 3: 18. “Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Pet 2: 24. “Christ died for our sins”, 1 Corinthians 15: 3. “God commends 205
his love to us, in that we being still sinners Christ has died for us”, Rom 5: 8. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins”, 1 John 4: 10. “He is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”, 1 John 2: 2. The one mediator between God and men is “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”, 1 Tim 2: 5.
The way in which God has dealt with the sinful state of man is seen in the following quotations. “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”, Rom 8: 3. Christ
“who knew not sin he [God] has made sin for us”, 2 Cor 5; 21. “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”, John 1: 29. “Now once in the consummation of the ages he [Christ] has been manifested for the putting away of sin by his sacrifice”, Heb 9: 26. In the bearing by Christ of the judgment due to sin, every divine attribute was vindicated, and God was glorified as to all the dishonour sin had brought in. When Judas went out on the night of the betrayal, Jesus anticipating the cross said, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him”, John 13: 31.
The sinful man of Adam’s order who was under judgment was removed sacrificially for God in the death of the sinless One. In the accomplishment of the will of God, Christ laid 206
down His life; the shedding of His blood being the witness of His death. This was the fulfilment of the sacrificial types of the Old Testament. “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul”, Lev 17: 11 KJV.
In the light of this we can understand something of the meaning of scriptures which speak of the value and efficacy of the blood of Christ. “This is my blood, that of the new covenant, that shed for many for remission of sins”, Matt 26: 28. “Whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”, Rom 3: 25. “Having been now justified in the power [or virtue] of his blood”, Rom 5: 9. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of offences”, Eph 1: 7.
“Having made peace by the blood of his cross”, Col 1: 20. “Without blood-shedding there is no remission”, Heb 9: 22. “Having …
boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus”, Heb 10: 19.
“Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”, 1 Pet 1: 18-19 KJV. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1
Theologians who have attempted to deal with the subject of the atoning work of Christ from a merely intellectual point of view have entirely failed to understand the scriptures 207
which speak of it, and they have endeavoured in vain to explain away the witness both of the Old and the New Testaments in relation to the blood and the cross of Christ. The truth as to Christ crucified is still an offence to the religious legalist represented by the Jew, and it is foolishness to the intellectual man represented by the Greek; 1 Cor 1. The believer who has been convicted of sin has no difficulty in this regard, for he finds rest and peace of conscience and heart and the settlement of every question between his soul and God in believing the divine testimony concerning the abiding value of the work of Christ, in the accomplishment of the will of God. It is in this way that we make our first approach to a true knowledge of the love of God in its wonderful depths.
Scripture presents divine love from different points
of
view
and
for
intelligent
understanding it is needful that we should distinguish them. In the following sections some of the leading aspects are briefly considered.
THE LOVE OF GOD IN ITS
UNIVERSAL BEARING TOWARDS
THE WORLD
Perhaps the most generally known verse of scripture speaking of the love of God is John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 208
believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. This remarkable statement gives us the widest bearing of the manifestation of divine love. It is universal, without limitation or distinction of nation or class, the testimony going out world-wide to whosoever believes.
The verse is very often quoted without any reference to its close connection with the preceding context: “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up”; and there are many Christians who have little entered into the profound teaching of this remarkable type of the crucifixion of Christ.
The incident referred to in Numbers 21
occurred towards the end of the forty years’
journeyings of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It was a time of crisis in their history. Their experience of God’s deliverance from the bondage of Egypt and His care and goodness in providing for their needs, and His longsuffering patience in His dealings with them during this period, when their obedience was being tested under the law, only resulted in a full demonstration of the persistence in them of “a wicked heart of unbelief, in turning away from the living God”, Heb 3: 12. They murmured against God and against Moses, and they loathed the divine provision of manna for their daily food.
This brought upon them the judgment of the fiery serpents, whose bite was causing the death of the people. In their perishing 209
condition they confessed their sin, and the prayer of Moses on their behalf was answered by God showing him His way of meeting the situation. Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole and every one who was bitten and looked upon the serpent of brass lived. The history of the people of Israel has proved what man in the flesh is under the most favourable conditions, when tested under divine culture, and therefore it has a universal bearing; 1 Cor 10: 11.
In the fulfilment of the type of the brazen serpent in its bearing upon mankind generally, we learn that it was necessary for the Lord Jesus as the Son of man to be lifted up on the cross and to take upon Himself the whole question of the sinful state of men; He the sinless One being made sin in order that sin in the flesh (traced back to its source in the serpent of Genesis 3) might be condemned sacrificially in His crucifixion and death. See also Rom 8: 3.
If John 3: 14 shows that this was required because of the state of men, verse 16 tells us that it was also necessary because of the love of God. “Thus must the Son of man be lifted up” ... “for God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son”. On the one hand a perishing world, and on the other the blessing of eternal life, the gift of the love of God to whosoever believes on the One who is both Son of man and Son of God.
210
There is an attractiveness and magnificence in the wide scope of these verses which have been felt by Christians generally, in many cases long before they have entered intelligently into their full significance, showing how God has dealt with the condition of men universally as perishing, and also the greatness of what was in His heart towards them in giving His Son.
John tells us that the object of the signs recorded in the gospel is that “ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name”; chap 20: 31. That death however might be annulled and life brought in, it was necessary that the sin question should be dealt with, for it was by sin that man became subject to death. Therefore after the personal glory of the Son had been shown in chap 1, He is presented as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and as the Son of man who must be lifted up.
The question raised by the entry of sin into the world in Genesis 3 with which the law of Moses had not been able to deal, owing to the character of sinful flesh, was now solved by the lifting up of the Son of man. On the ground of accomplished righteousness established by His death, the way to the tree of life, which had been guarded by the flaming sword of the cherubim, is now open to all who believe. They live in the light of the love of God which has been revealed in its fulness by 211
the Son; and they are maintained in the realisation of unfailing satisfaction and joy in the blessing of eternal life, as the living water springs up in them (John 4), and as they feed upon the living bread which came down from heaven, chap 6. Further unfoldings of divine love in the latter part of John’s gospel will come before us in a later section.
In the gospel of John we see that along with the light of divine testimony going out world-wide and the necessity of the death of Christ, there is also emphasised the necessity of a divine work in men, an entirely new beginning, a new birth, not of the flesh but of the Spirit; chap 3: 6. Those who are born of God come to light in receiving Christ and believing on His name, and to these He gives the right to take the place of children of God; chap 1: 13. Some further remarks as to these two lines of truth will be made in considering John’s first epistle.
In view of the question sometimes raised as to the meaning of “the world” (Greek, kosmos) in John’s writings, it may be well to point out that the context in each case generally suffices to make clear whether it refers to the place, the people, or the world-system. For example, it is clearly the place in John 13: 1
and 17: 11; the people in John 3: 16; 17: 21
and 1 John 2: 2, the whole world in contrast to limitations such as the Jewish people; and the system with its prince or ruler in John 12: 31; the moral elements making up the sinful 212
world-system being seen in 1 John 2: 15-17.
This system has been likened to a ship condemned and about to go down under the judgment of God, but during the present period of grace, there is salvation and life offered freely to every person on board who believes the testimony of God concerning His Son presented to men in the gospel. The Lord Jesus consequent on His death is now the Head and centre of the divine system, and draws all to Him without distinction of nation or class; John 12: 32; but persistence in unbelief involves both Jews and Gentiles in the same condemnation, as having common part in the world-system of which Satan is the ruler, for from this point of view in contrast to the family of God, “the whole world lies in the wicked one”; 1 John 5: 19.
DIVINE LOVE AS TAUGHT IN THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE
APOSTLE PAUL
The epistles being addressed directly to believers, their teaching as to divine love refers not only to its presentation objectively, but also to its being experimentally known and enjoyed. Paul’s epistle to the Romans was written to establish believers in the truth of the gospel of God. It is noticeable that he begins by demonstrating the responsibility and guilt of all men, whether Gentiles or Jews, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world be subject to the 213
judgment of God. He then develops the teaching of the gospel, prominence being given in the first place to righteousness as being its fundamental basis. Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, there is free justification for all. God has set Him forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood, for the showing forth of His righteousness, so that He should be just in justifying the believer. The righteousness of God revealed in the gospel and seen in the death of Christ, instead of being against men, is in their favour. Jesus our Lord who was delivered to death for our offences has been raised by the power of God from among the dead for our justification.
This is shown in the first four chapters, and the result as known in the experience of believers is seen in the beginning of chap 5.
Justified by faith, they have peace with God, also access into divine favour, and they boast in hope of the glory of God.
In the development of the apostle’s teaching thus far, God is known to believers in His righteousness, grace, and power. In verse 5
of chap 5 we come to the source of the gospel as originating in the love of God, and this as known experimentally, being shed abroad (or poured out) in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. This gives full assurance of hope, and enables us to endure steadfastly as we meet with tribulation in our pathway through this world, corresponding 214
with the type of the wilderness in the history of the children of Israel. It should be noticed, however, that the epistle contemplates what should be the true character of the Christian believer’s normal experience in the wilderness according to God, in contrast to the warning of Israel’s failure through unbelief as seen in Hebrews 3 and 4.
In the verses which follow in Romans 5
emphasis is laid upon the death of Christ as the witness to our hearts of the love of God.
In chaps 3 and 4 the death of Christ is seen in its efficacy as establishing God’s righteousness and meeting the need of guilty men. Here the wonderful character of God’s love is seen in relation to the condition of guilt and moral distance in which we were when Christ died for us. “We being still without strength, in the due time Christ has died for the ungodly”; “God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”; “being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son”.
God expressed His love when there was nothing lovable in us. If we ask for the reason, we are thrown back on God Himself.
He is love and He loves us because of what He is. That the love of God might reach us in the depth of our need necessitated the death of His Son. Appreciation of His atoning sufferings and death, which were anticipated in the agony of Gethsemane, and fully 215
realised when forsaken by God on the cross, has a profound moral effect upon us in the measure in which we are able to enter into their deep meaning, and the greatness of the cost to God and to Christ. The love which has been thus manifested remains unchanged, and the Holy Spirit makes it a present living reality in our hearts.
The result is that not only are believers established in the knowledge of justification and reconciliation, and the assurance of present and future salvation, but God being known in the depths of His love, we reach the climax of this part of the epistle: “We are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ”, Rom 5: 11.
In the second part of the epistle, chap 5: 12
to the end of chap 8, we have another side of the gospel presented, in relation to headship.
In contrast to the one man Adam who by disobedience brought in sin and death, attention is called to the one Man Jesus Christ, who is now the divinely appointed Head for all men. By His obedience unto death, He has brought in righteousness and life as the free gift of grace towards all. The end in view is that instead of the reign of sin and death, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; chap 5: 21.
In chaps 6, 7 and 8 we see the present results of the appropriation by believers of Christ as 216
Head. In the realisation of identification with Him we are set free from bondage to sin, the law, and the flesh, in order that in liberty and newness of life, in the spirit of the new covenant, we may serve God in righteousness and holiness. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the power to live and fulfil righteousness.
Being indwelt by the Spirit of God believers can be spoken of as having a new state, not in flesh but in spirit, corresponding to the change of headship from Adam to Christ. The Spirit of God leads us in the path of the will of God. We have also received a spirit of sonship whereby we cry “Abba Father”; also the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
In the latter part of chap 8 there is a remarkable contrast between the purpose of God that there is to be a company of sons all conformed to the image of God’s Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, and our actual present condition of infirmity as passing through the wilderness, in mortal bodies part of a groaning creation, and liable to suffer from all kinds of pressure and painful circumstances.
Having the first-fruits of the Spirit we can anticipate
with
confident
hope
the
accomplishment of the purpose of God, knowing that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
217
Here the apostle returns to the thought of divine love, but from a different point of view from that seen in chap 5. There we have the greatness of our need and the condition of distance in which the love of God reached us when without strength, ungodly, sinners and enemies. The knowledge of God revealed in righteousness and love, as seen in the death of Christ lays a moral foundation in the soul, and the realisation of deliverance in identification with Christ as the new Head, prepares us for the further light in chap 8, where we see divine love in relation to the purpose of God.
Believers are here looked upon as loving God in response to His love experimentally known.
This brings them to light as being God’s elect, foreknown, predestinated to sonship, called, justified, glorified. Every accusing voice is silenced. It is God who justifies His elect.
“Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who has died, but rather has been also raised up; who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”, v 24. Here we see the present activities of the love of Christ in His position as risen and exalted, on behalf of the saints for whom He died.
No conditions of bodily infirmity, or suffering, tribulation or persecution, can separate us from His love. This is the power which has carried Christians through persecution triumphantly, even when put to death for 218
Christ’s sake, being reckoned as sheep for the slaughter.
The apostle concludes his unfolding of the gospel in verses 38 and 39, by affirming his persuasion that no creature in the universe can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That which was accomplished by Christ’s death, both for God and for the redeemed, subsists livingly in Him, and as risen and exalted there is now seen in Him, in a new condition of manhood, the full expression of the divine purpose for the saints, that they are destined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. The love of God is known and His purpose is secured and established immutably, in the One who is the same, yesterday and to-day and for ever.
It may be noted that in the epistle to the Hebrews, the same trying circumstances of suffering and persecution met with in the path of faith (chap 10: 32-39) are looked upon as the chastening of God exercised in love towards His sons for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness; “for whom the Lord loves he chastens”. Though a matter of grief for the time, yet as we are rightly exercised taking it from the hand of God, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness; chap 12: 5-11. Chastening is thus part of the
“all things” which work together for good to those who love God.
219
THE LORD’S SUPPER IN ITS
RELATION TO DIVINE LOVE
We have seen in the epistle to the Romans how believers individually come into the knowledge and experience of the love of God, as made known in the Gospel. The Lord’s supper brings before us a further thought, in relation to what is collective, for the Christian believers came together in assembly in their several localities, on the first day of the week to break bread, as may be seen in Acts 20: 7
and 1 Cor 11: 18-20.
When the Holy Spirit came to the company of brethren gathered together at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the church or assembly was formed, to which the many converts through Peter’s preaching having been added, they continued in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers; Acts 2. This was the commencement of the Christian fellowship, communion or partnership, to which all believers are called by God. It is the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; 1 Cor 1: 9.
In Paul’s first epistle to the assembly of God in Corinth, we see from his teaching as to the Lord’s supper in chap 11 that it stands in 220
relation to the local assembly; and also that it is an expression of the Christian fellowship universally; chap 10. Further reference to this epistle will be made later on.
The circumstances connected with the institution of the Lord’s supper, as seen in the gospel records, are peculiarly affecting to all lovers of Christ. On the night of His betrayal He came together with His disciples to eat the Passover, the typical significance of which was so soon to receive its fulfilment in His death. He said to them “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer”; Luke 22: 15. The eating of the Passover was followed by the institution of the Supper as a memorial of Himself during the period of His absence, looking beyond His death, resurrection and ascension to the time of His return. “Having taken a loaf, when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”, vv 18-20.
It was a deeply affecting moment for the Lord immediately before His suffering and death, and that He should take this occasion for the institution of the Supper as an abiding memorial of Himself, is a deeply affecting consideration for those who love Him. It was intended to maintain a place for Himself in the hearts of His own; that in the freshness 221
and power of responsive affection, they might call Him to mind while they are left in the world where He was despised and rejected; and that they might thus be maintained in fidelity to Him during the period of His absence.
The Supper brings Christ’s death before us as expressing the greatness of His love, for no one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends; John 15: 13. It was love that many waters could not quench nor the floods drown; Song of Sol 8: 7. The loaf and the cup speak of His life laid down, and He desires to be remembered in this way, but in partaking of them as a memorial, it is the living One, whose love remains unchangeably the same, who is called to mind.
In its simplicity the Lord’s supper appeals to the affections of the youngest believer who knows something of the love of Christ, but our appreciation of the depth and fulness of its meaning continually increases as we grow in the knowledge of Christ and of God and of the divine thoughts in relation to the assembly.
The Lord lays emphasis upon His personal love for His own in saying “my body which is given for you”; “my blood which is poured out for you”. Knowing the efficacy of His work of redemption and what was accomplished by His sacrificial death, we can be free from ourselves and occupied in heart and mind 222
with the Lord Himself and with that which lay behind His devotedness in giving Himself and going down into death, not only to meet our need, but that we might know Him in the greatness of His love; as we often sing,
‘In that death all love was centred’.
The Lord’s word “my body which is given for you”, reminds us of what was prophetically spoken in Psalm 40, and quoted from the Septuagint version in Hebrews 10, “Thou hast prepared me a body”. “Lo, I come to do thy will”. The Lord was here in that body, a dependent Man, living by every word of God.
He could say “My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work”; John 4: 34. Anticipating the cross He said, “I love the Father, and as the Father has commanded me, thus I do”; John 14: 31. Also, “I have glorified thee on the earth, I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”; John 17: 4. In that body the Lord moved here in love to God and in love to His own. The will of God which He came to accomplish had relation to His people and the Lord went into death that it might be established. All the divine will and pleasure, all the counsel and purpose of divine love was carried and now as the risen and ascended Head we see in Him the good pleasure of God’s will secured and established for ever.
In taking the cup the Lord said, “This cup is 223
the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”. This speaks of the new bond which the Lord as Mediator has formed by His death, between God and His people. It refers by way of contrast to the sprinkled blood of the covenant which Jehovah made with Israel at Sinai, whilst it also speaks of the fulfilment of the typical significance of the sacrifices offered there, Exod 24. The terms of the new covenant as seen in the epistle to the Hebrews, chap 8 and 10 are: that God will be known by all His people, that He will put His laws in their hearts and minds, and their sins He will remember no more. The blood of the new covenant speaks both of the efficacy of the Lord’s death for the remission of sins, and also of its witness to the love of God. God being thus known in the greatness of His love, the Mediator secures for Him a willing people whose hearts and minds are won for God’s will in responsive affection.
As Mediator of a better covenant than that of which Moses was mediator, the Lord has now obtained a more excellent ministry than that of Aaron, for He is Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man. He leads in a people who know God and who are of His own order, all of one with the Sanctifier, and whom He is not ashamed to call His brethren, and He sings God’s praises in the midst of the assembly; Heb 2 and 8.
Whilst the Lord’s supper speaks to our hearts 224
of the depths to which divine love went down to reach us, it opens the way as the Lord may lead us, as Head of the assembly, into the full height of that which He has secured for the pleasure and glory of God, for His own satisfaction and joy, and for our eternal blessing.
Having followed in spirit and affection the movements of divine love as seen in Christ going down into death, we see in Him risen and ascended the triumph of love, and as taken into favour in the Beloved and associated with Him in sonship, it is our privilege to be led by Him into all the wealth of spiritual blessings in the heavenlies with which the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us according to His eternal purposes of love. This gives a wonderful character to the service of praise and worship of the saints in assembly. The love which has so richly blessed us in and with Christ is further considered in the closing sections.
Reference has already been made to Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians in which he reminds them that the institution of the Lord’s supper had been received by him from the Lord, and delivered by him to the assembly at Corinth; chap 11. Here we see its setting in relation to the local assembly, but in a corrective way in view of the divisions and disorder which were manifest amongst them when they came together in assembly.
Consequently, the apostle is mainly occupied 225
with the public order suited to and necessary for the occasion. He brings before them the significance of eating the bread and drinking the cup, as the announcement by them of the Lord’s death until He come, so that anyone doing this in an unworthy manner is guilty in respect of the body and the blood of the Lord, and brings judgment upon himself.
In chap 10 there is another reference to the significance of the Lord’s supper as an expression of the Christian fellowship or communion, which some were compromising by association with idolatry and idol sacrifices. The apostle corrects the tendency to looseness of association outside, by insisting upon the exclusive character of the Christian fellowship, which is that of the blood and the body of Christ, in contrast to the fellowship of Israel connected with their altar, and to the heathen nations with their idols. In partaking of the Lord’s table we are identified with the death of Christ, as being part of the “one body”, and this should govern us not only when together in assembly but at all times, that we may be in accord with the true character of the Christian fellowship, which is not only local but universal, for the assembly is one.
The apostle in dealing correctively with the disorder at Corinth does not develop the thought of love in the chapters we have alluded to, but after dealing in chap 12 with the spiritual constitution of the assembly as 226
one body, and the variety of gifts distributed to various members by the one Spirit, we find that the whole of chap 13 is devoted to the importance of love as a way of more surpassing excellence than the possession of the greatest gift. One may have gift, knowledge, and faith, but unless he has love he is nothing. After describing the character and qualities of love, both positively and negatively, the apostle sums them up by saying “Love never fails”, and he exhorts the Corinthians, while desiring earnestly the greater gifts, to follow after love.
He then develops in chap 14 the question of order in the exercise of gift, whenever the assembly come together for edification and ministry. There is to be room for prayers, singing,
thanksgiving,
teaching,
and
especially for the prophetic word in view of edification, encouragement and consolation.
These still continue, although speaking with tongues as a sign to unbelievers has ceased.
The end in view in everything is edification.
For this divine love is needed as the regulator of all activities. The way of love has been fully expressed in the Lord’s death, and in normal conditions He brings it powerfully before us when together in assembly to partake of the Supper, which thus becomes spiritual food for us, by which we are enabled as responding to His love to follow Him in the same way.
227
LIFE AND LOVE AS KNOWN IN THE
FAMILY OF GOD
John’s epistles were written in view of departure from the truth, many deceivers and false prophets having gone out into the world, resulting in denial of the truth as to the Father and the Son, and in unreal profession as to the knowledge of God. The first epistle is written to those who believe on the name of the Son of God.
Firstly that our joy may be full as having part in the Christian fellowship in the light of God fully revealed, chap 1.
Secondly that we may not sin; abiding in Christ the righteous One we are preserved from sin or lawlessness, chap 2.
Thirdly that we may know consciously that we have eternal life, having the witness or testimony in ourselves by the Spirit, chap 5.
For the maintenance of the truth against the enemy’s attack, a statement of it in terms only would not suffice. It has been livingly manifested in its perfection in a Person; and the apostles have borne witness of it as the life was seen by them from the beginning in the Son, Jesus Christ come in flesh, chap 1.
That we might have part in it, involved His 228
death for moral cleansing and for expiation, and now the Spirit bears witness with the water and the blood, that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life. The Son being the true God was able to declare Him fully, and He is also the eternal life, which is perfectly expressed in Him as Man for He is fully responsive to the love of God in which He ever lives; chap 5.
The conscious knowledge of the possession of the divine life is realised in the Christian circle, the family of God, in the mutual affection of His children. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”, chap 3: 14.
Some remarks may be made at this point in relation to the two sides of the truth which we noticed in the gospel of John, and which are very prominent in this epistle. On the one hand there is the light of divine testimony in the way God has been declared in the Person and in the death of Christ, which shines out universally, for “the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world”, chap 4. This light is presented to faith and is known in experience by the believer. On the other hand there is the work of God in those who have been begotten or born of Him—the children of God, who know Him and are made partakers of the divine nature. The relationship is the gift of the Father’s love. They are a new generation deriving their character from God as seen in 229
Christ, whose features are reproduced in them; chap 3.
The work of Christ for men laid the righteous basis for God coming out in favour of men everywhere. “He is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”, chap 2: 2. In His death we see not only the efficacy of His work in dealing with the question of sin and sins, but we see in it also the manifestation of the love of God.
The deeply affecting way in which God has become known to believers in the death of Christ produces in them responsive affection.
“Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”. His love was dearly proved, and our response must be genuine,
“let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth”; chap 3: 16-18. This finds practical expression in us as we keep God’s commandments and practise the things which are pleasing in His sight; chap 3: 22-23.
The work of God in men effectually secures in them that which is for the divine pleasure.
Every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God; and every one that loves and every one that practises righteousness has been begotten of Him.
John tests the reality of the profession of faith and a claim to know God, by the practical walk of the professor in keeping God’s commandments, abiding in Christ and 230
walking as He walked, in obedience, righteousness and love. The same characteristics are also the evidence making manifest that one has been begotten of God.
Both lines of truth work out in believers in the same practical results, which are the outcome of divine love, presented objectively in Christ, and produced subjectively in the children of God; that which “is true in him and in you”. If one overcomes the world (chap 5: 4-5), this is evidence not only that he has been born of God, but also that he believes that Jesus is the Son of God. When about to leave the world Jesus said to His disciples “be of good courage: I have overcome the world”, John 16: 33. Abiding in Him the believer also is enabled to be an overcomer.
It is to be noticed that John sometimes in speaking of divine Persons passes from God to Christ, using the pronouns He and Him, without distinguishing the transition of thought, as in chaps 2: 28 to 3: 3. God was perfectly expressed in Christ, and indeed the epistle closes with the definite statement that the Son is the true God and eternal life.
The remarkable place which love has in this epistle is especially noticeable in chap 4 from verse 7 to the end, where the word occurs more frequently than in any other part of scripture. What is emphasised is the reality of the love of God, as seen in the way it has been manifested towards us, and the consequent obligation to love on the part of 231
those who know God. This is particularly developed in relation to the circle of the brethren—the children of God—who should be characterised by mutual affection.
On the part of God there has been a full manifestation of His love in our case, in the sending of His Son so that the whole question of our condition might be dealt with, both as to the state of death in which we had become involved by sin, and also our responsibility as guilty sinners. The Son of God has brought in life for us, and He is the propitiation for our sins; verses 9-10. We have thus come to the knowledge of the love of God towards us, when there was nothing lovable in us to call it forth. This brings us under the obligation to love one another; and he that does not love has not known God, for God is love.
It has often been noticed that verse 12 is a remarkable counterpart to John 1: 18. In the gospel the statement that “no one has seen God at any time”, is met by the fact that He has been declared by the only-begotten Son.
In the epistle it is met by the statement that
“if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us”. God would thus be known now as seen in His children.
God has given us of His Spirit, so that we may know that we abide in Him in the blessedness of His love, and that He abides in us, forming us in character according to Himself as His love is perfected in us. The testimony thus 232
goes out to the world in a living way, and whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God has his part in the fulness of the divine blessing.
Divine love has been perfected with us, in that which it has wrought for us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Love had in view our whole responsible history, and everything that might have raised a question in the day of judgment has been met by the propitiation provided for us in the Son, by the love of God, so that even as He, the Son, is, we also are in this world—as clear of the judgment as He is. Thus perfect love seen in Him casts out fear, as we are perfected in the appreciation of His love. “We love because he has first loved us”.
The reality of our love to God is tested by our love for the brethren, and these include every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ. On the other hand the proof that we truly love the children of God is seen when we love God and keep His commandments. Thus the genuine character of divine love is distinguished from that which is merely human social amiability; chap 5: 1-3.
The keynote which runs through the epistle is that the truth as to God, who is love, has come into the world in a living way in the Person of the Son, who is the true God in contrast to idols, and who is also the true Man Jesus Christ who has brought in life for 233
men, in contrast to the first Adam by whom sin and death entered. Through the death of Christ, and the work of God in men, and the gift of the Spirit, the truth as to God is to be continued here livingly in believers in the power of divine love. By the true knowledge of God they are enabled to overcome the opposition of the wicked one who is the ruler of the world-system, and his emissaries the antichrists, deceivers and false prophets.
The object in view is that we should be enabled to realise in conscious knowledge the enjoyment of the divine blessing in a spiritual sphere beyond the reach of death, and also that the gospel testimony of salvation and life for men, “the witness which God has witnessed concerning his Son”, should be supported by the character of the divine life seen in the children of God.
THE COMPLACENCY OF DIVINE
LOVE
In the section dealing with John 3: 14-16 we considered the universal bearing of the love of God towards the world, manifested in His gift of the Son, that whosoever believes on Him may not perish but have eternal life.
Later in the gospel we have further unfoldings of divine love of a very remarkable character.
In chaps 13 to 17 Jesus about to depart out of this world to the Father, when secluded in the presence of His own for the Passover 234
supper, discloses to them after the traitor had gone out that the peculiar character of divine love existing between the Father and the Son is to be known and enjoyed by His own, those given to Him by the Father.
The primary application of these wonderful chapters is to the little company of His disciples who were with Him on the night of His betrayal, in contrast to the world which hated them, and into which He was sending them in testimony; but the whole company of His own was also in the mind of the Lord, including those who should believe on Him through their word; see chaps 10: 16 and 17: 20.
Earlier in the gospel we read that “the Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”; chap 3: 35: and “the Father loves the Son and shows him all things which he himself does”; chap 5: 20. If we ask the reason for this, the answer surely is, because the Son was lovable. He could say “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”; chap 8: 29. The disciples contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father. They also heard a voice from heaven,
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 17: 5. This is the love of complacency.
In chap 15: 9-11 the Lord says to His disciples, “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you: abide in my love. If ye shall 235
keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”. The Lord’s love for His own is in full accord with His thoughts about them as given to Him by the Father, but our realisation and enjoyment of this peculiarly precious character of divine love, depends upon our abiding in His love, and this is conditional upon our keeping His commandments. It was in this way that the Son kept His Father’s commandments, and abode in His love. How affecting for our hearts to consider Him thus! The one who had His place in essential Deity, and was loved before the foundation of the world, took His place as Man here in the form of a servant to do the will of Him that sent Him, and as faithful in His path of obedience as Man, was thus abiding in the enjoyment of His Father’s love. Christ’s desire for His own is that His joy may be in them and their joy may be full.
The Lord loved them as His friends, and He was about to give the greatest proof of His love in laying down His life for them. He had also taken them into the intimacy of friendship, having made known to them all things which He had heard from His Father. The same character of love is to be continued here during His absence, in the circle of His own who are to prove they are His friends by keeping
His
commandments.
The
commandment which the Lord specially emphasises in these chapters is that the 236
disciples should love one another as He had loved them; chaps 13: 34-35; 15: 12 and 17.
The Lord tells us in chap 14 that the evidence that we truly love Him is that we keep His commandments, and He challenges each individual disciple as to this in verse 21: “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”.
Answering to these conditions the disciple qualifies for the realisation of these wonderful promises. To the enquiry as to how it was that the Lord would manifest Himself thus, He replied in verses 23-24, “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him”. We may well challenge our hearts as to how much we have entered into the realisation of this character of divine love; that we should be loved by divine Persons because we are lovable.
As we have already seen, divine love first reached us when there was nothing lovable in us. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins”. It is because He has first loved us that we now love; 1 John 4.
Divine love being thus known and becoming effective in us, we are changed by its transforming power, and features are produced in us which are lovable. Taking character from Christ Himself we keep His 237
commandments, and we treasure His word, the divine communications which He received from the Father.
In John 14 to 16 the Lord dwells much on the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth who would abide with the disciples for ever, taking the Lord’s place as another Comforter, Advocate or Helper (Greek parakletos). He impresses them with the importance of the Spirit’s presence. He would teach them all things, bringing to their remembrance all the things Christ had said to them; chap 14: 26.
The Spirit would also bear witness concerning Him when He had gone to the Father; chap 15: 26. The Lord had many things to say to them, which they were not able to take in whilst He was with them, but when the Spirit of truth was come He would guide them into all the truth. He would glorify Christ, for He would receive of Christ’s things and make them known to the disciples; chap 16: 12-15. It was when Christ was glorified with the Father that the Spirit was given. Not until then could the disciples enter into the wonderful truth connected with this new and glorious position of Christ as Man, and their association with Him there.
In considering the Lord’s prayer for His own in chap 17 we should notice how much He dwells upon the fact (in relation to the divine purpose) that they had been given to Him by the Father. “They were thine, and thou gavest them me”. “They are thine (and all that 238
is mine is thine, and all that is thine mine), and I am glorified in them”. He anticipated His return to the Father after completing the work He had given Him to do, and He commits the disciples to the Father to keep them in His name, that they might be maintained in unity and be kept from the evil of the world into which they are being sent in testimony. The prayer for unity extends also to those who would believe in Christ through their word, “that they may be all one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou has sent me”; verse 21. This is not a mere external unity such as has been attempted by human religious organisations, but it involves formation in the divine nature, and the saints being united together in love.
Then the Lord anticipates their being perfected in unity when glorified, “that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me”; verses 22-23. This the world will know when they see the saints glorified with Christ; in glory love displayed.
In verse 24 the Lord still looking on to the future, says “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me”; a glory peculiar to the Son, which He speaks of as
“my glory”. It has been given to Him as Man, the One who was loved before the foundation 239
of the world. He desires that His own may behold that glory, with which the Father has distinguished Him in manhood.
In the last two verses of the chapter the Lord returns to the present position of His own in relation to the Father and the Son, in contrast to the world which had not known the Father:
“these have known that thou hast sent me.
And I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. The Father’s name had already been made known to them by the Lord, and in resurrection He made it known to them again in the message sent through Mary Magdalene. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”; chap 20: 17. He thus indicated the wonderful circle of divine affections and relationship into which He would lead His own in association with Himself as risen and ascended. The development of this and the disciples’ intelligent entrance into it, awaited the coming of the Spirit of truth as the Lord had said in chap 16: 12-15. Now that the Spirit has come all is open to us for realisation and enjoyment, and it is the divine pleasure that the saints should enter into it in the consciousness of the new heavenly position and relationship, that it might thus give character to their worship, practical walk and testimony.
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DIVINE LOVE ACCORDING TO THE
HEIGHT OF GOD’S ETERNAL
PURPOSE
This character of divine love is developed in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, a company for whom he gives thanks, having heard of their love for all the saints. The apostle feels the exceeding greatness of the things of which he writes as may be seen in the remarkable character of his language; such as “the riches of the glory of his [God’s] inheritance in the saints”; “the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe” (chap 1: 18, 19); “his great love wherewith he loved us”;
“the surpassing riches of his grace” (chap 2: 4, 7); “the unsearchable riches of the Christ”;
“to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge, that ye may be filled to all the fulness of God”, chap 3: 8, 19. He also feels that for the saints to enter into these spiritual realities they needed, in addition to his ministry, that they should have divine enlightenment, for which he prays in chapter 1 and again in chap 3 that they may be strengthened with power by the Father’s Spirit in the inner man.
The notable place which the Spirit has in 241
every chapter of this epistle, reminds us of the Lord’s words in John 14 to 16, as to the importance for the disciples of the coming of the Spirit, as we saw in the last section.
Indeed there is a remarkable connection between the Lord’s teaching in these chapters of John’s gospel, also His prayer in chap 17
for those the Father had given Him, leading on to the message to His brethren in chap 20: 17, and the apostle’s teaching in this epistle as to the wonderful place the assembly has according to the purpose of God, in relation to the ascended Christ and to His God and Father.
It should be noted that in the teaching of this epistle as to the church or assembly, it is not looked at in its public local administrative setting as in 1 Corinthians; but as a spiritual formation, the outcome of the work of God, as one whole actually existing in the saints now living; or as looking on to the future to its completeness in glory, whether in the world to come or in the eternal state, in the case of chaps 1: 22-23; 3: 21; and 5: 27. The truth taught in the epistle is to be realised and worked out practically in each local assembly, but as having all the saints, the assembly universally in view.
In considering the purpose of God as presented in the Ephesian epistle, it is helpful to distinguish it from its presentation in the epistle to the Romans. There as we have already seen the divine purpose is viewed 242
from
the
side
of
the
wilderness,
corresponding to the type of the children of Israel (but apart from their repeated failures) in their journey towards the land of promise.
The saints are looked at as part of a groaning creation, but having the first-fruits of the Spirit, and awaiting sonship and the redemption of the body. They look forward in hope to the fulfilment of the divine purpose, and are confident in the meantime, however adverse circumstances may appear, that nothing can separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the epistle to the Ephesians the apostle begins from the divine side with the full height of the purpose of God in relation to the spiritual sphere of blessing in the heavenlies.
In the Old Testament the land of promise was the height of the divine purpose of blessing on earth for Israel, but the present heavenly portion of the saints who are looked at in chapter 1 is that they are to be already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
The apostle begins this remarkable introduction to the epistle by blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he continues in verses 3 to 14 without a break, in one marvellous sentence filled with the spiritual wealth of the divine blessing which is according to God’s eternal purpose that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love, having marked us out 243
beforehand for sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself. It is how God has blessed the saints in Christ, that they may be before Him for His pleasure, for the satisfaction of His love, to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Nothing less than being taken into favour in His beloved Son would satisfy His thoughts of love
towards
us.
This
involves
a
corresponding state in the saints so that God may be complacent in us as formed in divine love.
We should notice how the apostle, along with these thoughts of divine purpose and counsel, touches upon our actual past condition as sinners, but as now having redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of offences according to the riches of God’s grace; and also how the Gentiles have been reached by the gospel of salvation, and having believed have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance, to be actually entered upon when the public heading up of all things in the Christ fulfils the purpose of God who works all things according to the counsel of His own will.
The apostle’s first prayer is that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give the saints the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, being enlightened in the eyes of our heart, so as to know what is the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the 244
saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe.
In the bringing to pass by God of His wonderful purpose, Christ is looked at as having died; and the operations of God are viewed as beginning from Christ as Man in death, but as raised from the dead by the surpassing greatness of God’s power which is also towards us who believe, and set at God’s right hand in the heavenlies in the supreme place of exaltation, and given to be Head over all things to the assembly which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all; Eph 1: 19-23.
The saints are viewed, whether Jews or Gentiles, as all having been dead in offences and sins, but God being rich in mercy, because of His great love wherewith He loved us, has quickened us (made us live) with the Christ, and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. The wonderful character of divine love manifested in the death of Christ becomes the formative power by which the saints are made to live with the risen Christ in responsive affection. We see here both the depth and the height of divine love, which reached us in the depth of our state as dead in sins, and has made us to live spiritually, and has brought us to the full height of the heavenly position, all being the outcome of the riches of God’s mercy and the greatness of His love; “that he might display 245
in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”.
The apostle emphasises in Ephesians 2 that it is by grace we are saved through faith, not on the principle of works, that no one might boast, for we are God’s workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for a totally new character of good works, seen in Christ Himself.
He again reminds the Gentile believers how they have been brought into this. They were once far off, but in Christ Jesus are now become nigh by the blood of Christ, for He is our peace who has made one both Jew and Gentile, and has annulled the enmity in His flesh, that He might form the two in Himself into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having by it slain the enmity. The result of the preaching of the glad tidings of peace to Gentile and Jew is that through Christ we both have access by one Spirit to the Father; also the Gentile believers are fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God; and are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
The apostle then, as intelligent in the mystery of the Christ, proceeds in chap 3 to show the special place given to him in the administration of the wonderful grace of God towards the Gentile nations; to announce 246
among them the unsearchable riches of the Christ, and to enlighten all as to the mystery (that Jew and Gentile should form one body) hidden throughout the ages in God, but now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit; so that through the assembly might be made known even to angelic beings in the heavenlies the all-various wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Feeling the greatness of the ministry committed to him, the apostle speaks of himself as less than the least of all saints.
We have then his wonderful prayer to the Father, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, that He would give the saints according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, that the Christ may dwell through faith in their hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order to be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge; that they may be filled even to all the fulness of God. The apostle feels the need for this divinely given state in the saints, that the Christ in all His greatness (the true ark of the testimony) the One who brings to pass for God all His purposes of love, may dwell in their hearts through faith during the present period, before the day of 247
public display, so that they may have ability to apprehend the greatness of the spiritual sphere of blessing, the vastness of the inheritance (in contrast to the length and breadth of the earthly inheritance promised to Abraham in Gen 13: 14-17); and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge; for the devotedness and self-sacrifice of His love has won for God the vast universe of bliss, and for the saints a special place in it in association with Himself. A universe of which He is the Head and the centre, and which He will fill with the knowledge of God and with response to His love.
As Man, all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily (Col 2: 9), and the end in view in the apostle’s prayer is that the saints may be filled even to all the fulness of God. These are wonderful thoughts, and it is significant that they are communicated to us by way of prayer, corresponding to the Lord’s prayer to the Father in John 17 uttered in the hearing of His own. We may feel how slow we have been and limited in our spiritual capacity to enter into their full meaning, but in praying for spiritual enlargement we are encouraged to know that their accomplishment depends upon the power and wisdom and love of God as seen in Christ, which are so prominent in the epistle. In concluding his prayer, the apostle turns to God as the One who is able to bring to completion His eternal purposes of 248
love, though far above all that we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, and he ascribes glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages.
It is helpful to consider, in conjunction with the prayer, the glorious fulfilment of the divine purpose in relation to the assembly, as seen by John in symbolic vision in Revelation 21. The holy city is seen from verse 9 coming down from heaven refulgent with the glory of God, in its place of administration in relation to the world to come; and in verses 1 to 6 as the tabernacle of God, when He dwells with men and all things are made new in the eternal state, when God will be all in all. As we are enabled to view the saints as the workmanship of God, already created in Christ Jesus, according to chap 2 of our epistle, we can understand how the present work of God is forming us in view of the final glorious result.
The last three chapters of the epistle are mainly practical exhortations. The apostle’s call for practical unity amongst the saints
“bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”, is emphasised by the fact that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. This is another instance of the link already noticed between this epistle and the gospel of John.
249
In John 10 the Lord spoke of bringing in His sheep which were not of the Jewish fold, that there might be one flock and one Shepherd, and in chap 17 He prayed that all His own may be maintained in unity, one in the Father and the Son, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. It is the mutuality of love that produces unity according to God; John 18: 34-35.
The statement that there is “one body”, the body of Christ, leads to the thought of Christ the Head from whom each of the saints has received a measure of grace. The One who descended is the same One who has ascended up above all the heavens that He might fill all things; and He has given special gifts,
apostles,
prophets,
evangelists,
shepherds and teachers, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying (building up) of His body; “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”; that
“holding the truth in love, we may grow up to Him in all things, who is the Head, the Christ: from whom the whole body fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love”; chap 4. Not only are special gifts given for the work of the ministry, but to each one of us is given grace, that each one may have his part in the 250
self-building up of the body in love. Christ lives in His body in the power of divine love, and it derives everything from Him who is the Head, in order that it may grow up to Him in all things and so be adequate for the expression of Christ on earth during the period of His absence. In its completeness in the world to come, it will be the full display of Christ as associated with Him in His universal headship, for the assembly which is His body is the fulness of Him who fills all in all; chap 1: 22-23.
The exhortations in the epistle show that this wonderful development of truth is not to be held merely in an abstract or theoretical way, but that it has a practical bearing, and is to find expression in the walk and conduct of the saints in every relation of life, whether in the Christian circle or towards those who are without. We are exhorted “to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called”
(chap 4: 1); not to walk as the nations in darkness and ignorance of God, but as the truth is in Jesus; having put off the old man and having put on the new man, which according to God is created in true righteousness and holiness (chap 4: 17-24): to be imitators of God as beloved children, and to “walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour”; chap 5: 2. “Walk as children of light”; chap 5: 8 and “Walk 251
carefully, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil”; chap 5: 15-16.
Indeed so filled is the apostle with the divine thoughts in relation to Christ and His headship of the assembly, that in exhorting husbands and wives as to their relative duties, he develops in a remarkable way the typical significance of the original institution in Genesis 2. Eve was derived from Adam, out of his “deep sleep”, that she might be suited to be united to him; and the wife is to be subject to the husband as her head, even as the Christ is Head of the assembly; whilst the husband is to love his wife, as the Christ loved the assembly and delivered Himself up for it.
The antitype necessarily goes beyond what was seen in Adam, for whilst he found the need of a helpmate, his like or counterpart, he had no knowledge or ability as to the supplying of the lack. Christ had the assembly before Him from the outset, with full knowledge as to the divine purpose that as Man He should have a companion in every way suited to Himself in affection and intelligence. He saw the assembly anticipatively, complete in glory as the holy city (the bride the Lamb’s wife) of Revelation 21, and He loved it and delivered Himself up for it. It had its origin and it takes character from the love which was expressed in the death of Christ. The assembly viewed as now 252
actually existing on earth is the subject of the present activities of His love in sanctifying and purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself glorious, having no spot or wrinkle or any of such things, but that it might be holy and blameless; Eph 5: 22-33.
This brief consideration of the way divine love is presented in the epistle, may serve to indicate something of its wonderful character in relation to the height of divine purpose as to the assembly. Prayerful meditation on the love of God and the love of Christ in their surpassing greatness, will promote that state of love in the saints which will be for the divine pleasure, and will enable us now in our measure to be true representatives of Christ in testimony. Attention may be called to the repetition six times in the epistle of the expression “in love” as characterising the state of the saints whether before God, or for spiritual intelligence, or for mutual relations between saints and for practical walk.
It should also be noticed that all the saints forming the assembly are in view in this epistle. Paul had heard of the love of the Ephesians towards all the saints; chap 1: 15.
In his prayer to the Father in chap 3, for the needed spiritual state in the saints, it is that they may be able to apprehend with all the saints, the full extent of the divine inheritance. In the statement in chap 4 of the divine intent of the gifts from the ascended 253
Head for the edifying of the body of Christ, it is until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ; and the whole body is in view as deriving everything from the Head for its self-building up in love. In the call to put on the whole armour of God, for ability to stand against the wiles of the devil, and to maintain the position according to the full height of the apostle’s teaching, he closes with the exhortation that continual prayer should be made for all the saints; chap 6: 18.
The divine thoughts as to the assembly had been obscured and practically lost since apostolic days, and their recovery during the past century came in concurrent with light from God as to the principle of separation from evil, especially in church associations where human systems do not give the Lord His place as Son over God’s house, and do not leave room for the Holy Spirit and His present voice to the assemblies. Comparatively few of the saints have accepted and acted upon this light for guidance in the last days, as given in Paul’s second epistle to Timothy 2: 19-22.
Those who have done so need grace to be preserved from the tendency to narrowness of outlook, so that this wonderful truth may be held not only in mutuality of love towards those with whom we are able to walk, but also in affections which have in view all the saints, the whole body of Christ.
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CONCLUSION
In concluding, attention may be called to the importance for us at the present time of the Lord’s message in Revelation 3 to the assembly in Philadelphia. This has special significance as indicating the moral features of which the Lord approves in a time of general departure from the truth, and it appears to form a link between the wonderful character of the divine thoughts as to the assembly, which we have considered in the epistle to the Ephesians, and the glorious completion of the purpose of God as seen in the holy city, the bride the Lamb’s wife in Revelation 21.
In the epistles to the seven assemblies (Rev 1
to 3) viewed in their prophetical bearing, we have the Lord’s searching scrutiny of the various phases in the whole course of the responsible history of the assembly, in its public position as a witness bearer symbolised by the seven golden candlesticks.
This is generally a history of decline, beginning with the fall at Ephesus in the loss of first love, the call to repentance and the threatened removal of the candlestick, and ending in the boastful lukewarmness and final rejection of Laodicea.
Before the end is reached, however, there is a remarkable recovery, having the character of a return to first love, in the case of the 255
assembly in Philadelphia, where instead of rebuke there is nothing but approval and encouragement. The Lord presents Himself as the holy and the true, and commends the assembly as having kept His word and not denied His name. The false pretensions of judaising religionists will be exposed, and they will be made to know that Christ has loved the assembly. Because it has kept the word of His patience, accepting His reproach in the world where He was rejected, and awaiting with expectant hearts the day when He will have His rights in the coming kingdom (Rev 11: 15), He will keep the assembly out of the hour of trial which is about to come on the whole world. The answer to this present identification with Christ in fidelity to His word, His name and the word of His patience, is seen in the remarkable character of His promise to the overcomer: “him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God”; “I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my new name”.
The outlook in this assembly has thus in view, according to the promise to the overcomer, all that is genuine in relation to the work of God in the whole assembly. This will be carried through (notwithstanding the public failure now so manifest in Christendom) and it will come down out of heaven as the holy city having the glory of 256
God. We may well desire earnestly to have the Lord’s present approval, and seek to bear the moral features of the Philadelphian assembly in view of His speedy return. “I come quickly: hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”; Rev 3: 11. In response to the presentation of Himself as the bright and morning star, the Spirit and the bride say, Come; Rev 22: 17.
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258
ZION
ITS PLACE AND
SIGNIFICANCE IN
SCRIPTURE
By W. Fergusson
259
260
ZION:
ITS PLACE AND
SIGNIFICANCE IN
SCRIPTURE
Zion has a remarkable place in Scripture.
Every interested reader must have been struck with the beauty of the language in which it is described in the Psalms. “The Lord ... chose ... the Mount Zion which he loved”, Ps 78: 68. “The joy of the whole earth is mount Zion”, Ps 48: 2. “Out of Zion the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth”, Ps 50: 2. “Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God”. “As well the singers as the dancers (or players) shall say, All my springs are in thee”, Ps 87. The attractiveness of the way in which Zion is presented, may well arouse an enquiry as to why it is spoken of in these remarkable terms—why it is an object of such deep interest both to God and to His people.
KING DAVID AND ZION AND THE
ARK OF GOD
Zion first comes into view in connection with King David in 2 Samuel 5, after all the tribes came to him at Hebron, and anointed him king over all Israel. He then moved to Jerusalem against the Jebusites and 261
captured the stronghold of Zion which he made his dwelling, calling it the city of David. It appears that the Jebusites had continued to maintain this stronghold in their possession, neither Judah nor Benjamin having been able to dispossess them, Josh 15: 63, and Judg 1: 21; and with vain confidence in its strength they defied David to take it. The capture of Zion may thus be looked upon as the decisive victory leading up to the completion of the conquest which began by the taking of Jericho, the first stronghold met by Israel on entering the land of promise. David’s throne having been established in this way in Jerusalem, he subdued the Philistines and the surrounding nations and brought them under his dominion, 2 Sam 8. This prepared the way for the peaceful reign of Solomon, 1 Kings 4: 21-25.
Zion has also special importance in connection with the ark of God. After the sad corruption and unfaithfulness of the priesthood and the people of Israel in the days of Eli, when the ark was captured by the Philistines, it found a temporary resting place in the house of Abinadab at Kirjath-jearim, 1 Sam 4 to 7. When David’s kingdom was established in Zion, he brought up the ark and placed it in the tent which he had prepared for it in the city of David, 2 Sam 6. On the day when it was finally brought up out of the house of Obed-262
Edom with joy, David’s feelings found expression in a psalm of thanksgiving and praise to Jehovah whose mercy endureth for ever, 1 Chron 16: 7-36. In 2 Samuel 7, we find David’s desire to build a permanent house for the ark, and Jehovah’s word through the prophet Nathan, assuring him of the continuance of the divine favour and the establishment of his throne for ever, but telling him that it was his son who would build the house for God to dwell in. Then follows David’s beautiful response in prayer as he went in and sat before Jehovah.
This outlines briefly the historical setting in which Zion is introduced in Scripture. To appreciate the divine thoughts connected with Zion it is necessary to have some understanding of the place David holds not only historically but typically in connection with God’s dealings with Israel. The repeated failures of the people under the various judges, when there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judg 21: 25), was followed by the grievous breakdown of the priesthood under Eli and his sons. Then Samuel was raised up as a prophet to maintain the link between God and His people. King Saul having been rejected by God, Samuel was divinely instructed to anoint David to be king, of whom God said, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will”, Acts 13: 22.
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The beautiful moral features seen in David, as presented in Scripture, often mark him out as rising to the height of a type of Christ personally as the King of God’s choice, under whose rule His people are to be maintained in true relation to God in view of divine blessing. The ark is also another remarkable type of Christ as the One who came to establish God’s will. It was the centre of the tabernacle system, where God dwelt in the cloud of glory above the mercy-seat between the cherubim, Exod 25 and Ps 80. In it the tables of the testimony were enshrined; Christ could say to God, “Thy law is within my heart”, Ps 40: 8. He is the power, the wisdom and the glory of God, and every divine thought is secured in Him for God and for His people. It is the bringing together of these two types of Christ in connection with Zion which gives it its unique character of blessedness.
GOD'S CHOICE OF MOUNT ZION IN
A key to the spiritual significance of Zion is found in Psalm 78, where the patient dealings of God with Israel are traced from the deliverance out of Egypt, and the journey through the wilderness until they were given the land as an inheritance, and the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh.
Generation after generation of the people continued to rebel against God; they kept 264
not His covenant and forgot His wonderful deliverances and His patient ways in discipline, until finally they provoked Him to anger, and He greatly abhorred Israel.
Then, “he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men, and gave his strength into captivity, and his glory (the ark) into the hand of the oppressor”, vv 60, 61. Israel had presumptuously taken the ark into the military camp, but were utterly defeated by the Philistines. Eli the priest and judge, and his two sons, died, and as his daughter-in-law died in childbirth she called her son’s name Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken”, 1 Sam 4: 22.
This has deep significance in the antitype.
The darkest day in Israel’s history was when Christ was given up to death by His own people. He could say to their leaders,
“this is your hour and the power of darkness”, Luke 22: 53. That Christ, the power and glory of God, should enter into death’s domain meant that the power of death was broken. It was not possible that He should be held by death, whether we consider the greatness of His Person, or the perfection of His devoted obedience as Man in accomplishing the will of God. He has annulled death and brought to light life and incorruptibility, 2 Tim 1: 10. The enemy could not hold the ark and had to admit 265
defeat by the God of Israel, notwithstanding their apparent victory. The ark did not go back to Shiloh. A new situation had arisen, and Psalm 78 reaches its climax in connecting the rejection of Shiloh and Ephraim, with God’s choice of Judah and Mount Zion which He loved, and also with His choice of David (meaning beloved) to be the shepherd of Israel.
There is established in Mount Zion the principle of the sovereignty of divine mercy, after everything had broken down in connection with the responsibility of Israel under the Mosaic covenant. By the death and resurrection of Christ a steadfast and abiding platform has been secured, God’s holy mountain on which He can establish that which is for His pleasure, and where He can rest in the blessing of His people.
The God of peace brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep in the power (or virtue) of the blood of the eternal covenant, Heb 13: 20. In Christianity we have not come to Mount Sinai and the law of Moses, but to Mount Zion and to Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant, Heb 12: 22, 24.
ZION AS PRESENTED IN THE
PSALMS AND IN THE PROPHETS
Before proceeding to consider some of the Scriptures which speak of that which is 266
established for God upon His holy mountain, it may be remarked that in the Psalms most of the references to Zion have relation to the divine thoughts in all their perfection and beauty as secured and established in Christ, which will come into display when He appears in glory in the world to come, but which subsist in Him now and are known to faith and realized spiritually.
There are also many references to Zion in the prophets but, in these, greater prominence is given to the actual condition of the people in their unfaithfulness, culminating in the despising and rejecting of their Messiah, in consequence of which Zion becomes a wilderness and Jerusalem a desolation, Isa 64. The prophets also look on to a future day when the divine thoughts will be publicly established in regard to Israel as a subject of divine mercy, the day of Ps 118: 24-26; then “the ransomed of Jehovah shall return; and come to Zion with singing: and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away”, Isa 35: 10 ; Rom 11: 25-36.
The divine promises could not be established in connection with a people according to the flesh under the old covenant. In the days of Jeremiah, as in the days of Eli, they were, notwithstanding their wickedness, presumptuously boasting in 267
having the temple of Jehovah in their midst, but the prophet warns them that what God had done to His house at Shiloh, He would also do to His house at Jerusalem, Jer 7. In even more solemn circumstances judgment was pronounced upon Jerusalem and the house by the Lord Jesus Himself, Matt 23: 34-39; 24: 1-2.
David, as we have seen, was often a beautiful type of Christ, but when in power and prosperity he forgot God, and was allowed to fall into sin, learning thus by bitter experience the terrible possibilities of sinful flesh even in a true saint. This is recorded in Scripture for our serious consideration and warning, in order that, walking in self-judgment and the fear of God, we may be preserved. He was forgiven and recovered through deep soul exercise, a subject of divine mercy (Ps 51), and in his last words he had to say by the Spirit, that the ruler among men must be just ruling in the fear of God. Although his house was not so before God, yet his whole confidence and salvation was in God’s faithfulness to His everlasting covenant, 2 Sam 23.
In a later day we find Ethan the Ezrahite recounting God’s past interventions in power for His people, and His glorious promises to David, Ps 89. He reminds God of His holy One, the mighty One upon whom He had laid help, of whom David was only a type, for everything seemed to have broken 268
down in man’s hands. The psalmist calls upon God to intervene, but he evidently feels, as indicated in v 48, that the judgment of death which lies upon men, as the wages of sin, must be dealt with for the fulfilment of the promises. The answer to these exercises is given by the prophet Isaiah, who, after calling attention in chap 53 to Jehovah’s righteous Servant who was cut off out of the land of the living, and whose soul was made an offering for sin, but in whose hand the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper, speaks in chap 55 of the everlasting covenant which God will make with His people, the sure mercies of David.
These have now been secured in Christ, raised from among the dead, as stated by the apostle Paul in his address at Antioch, Acts 13: 34.
Israel, having rejected Christ, has been set aside nationally for the time being, but none of the divine thoughts have lapsed. They are established in Christ on high, and are maintained here on earth at the present time by the Spirit in the church, that is, the assembly. As Christian believers, partakers of the heavenly calling, we are reminded that we “have come to mount Zion”, Heb 12: 22.
269
THAT WHICH GOD HAS
ESTABLISHED UPON MOUNT ZION
The glory of God having been secured by the death of Christ, and witnessed to in His resurrection, God now has a fixed and immutable basis, His holy mountain, upon which, on the principle of sovereign mercy, He has established that which is for His pleasure and for the blessing of His people.
This mercy is seen objectively in its perfection in Christ risen and glorified, consequent on the accomplishment of His work of redemption. As divine mercy is understood and appreciated, the believer is formed subjectively in accord with it, in relation to the wonderful system to which he has come and of which he forms part.
THE KINGDOM
The first feature of the divine system to be established is that of the kingdom.
Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of God’s throne, Ps 97: 2. “For righteous
is
Jehovah;
He
loveth
righteousness”, Ps 11: 7. “A king shall reign in righteousness”, “And the work of righteousness shall be peace”, Isa 32: 1, 17.
“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom”, Ps 45: 6. Without this there would be no stability or security for the maintenance of conditions for the pleasure 270
of God or the blessing of men. It may be remarked that while righteousness is specially prominent in relation to the kingdom, holiness also is characteristic of the whole system established upon God’s holy mountain. “God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness”, Ps 47: 8.
The connection of the kingdom with Zion is seen in Ps 2: 6. “I have set (or anointed) my king upon my holy hill of Zion”; or “upon Zion the hill of my holiness”. The following Scriptures also may be referred to:
“Jehovah shall send the sceptre of thy might out of Zion: rule in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power”, Ps 110: 2-3. “Let the sons of Zion be joyful in their King” Ps 149: 2. “Jehovah of hosts shall reign on mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients in glory”, Isa 24: 23. “Jehovah shall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever”, Mic 4: 7.
These Scriptures look forward primarily, in their dispensational setting, to the place which God’s King will have in relation to Israel, as the centre of world-wide blessing in the future kingdom to be established on earth when Christ returns in glory. There are many Old Testament scriptures which describe the future glory of the earthly side 7 Some further remarks as to righteousness and holiness will be found on pages 267, 8.
271
of Christ’s kingdom, in its righteousness, peace, salvation, prosperity, and blessing, as for example, Psalms 45; 72; 145; Isaiah 9; 11; 32; 35.
In Psalm 2 we see the rising up of the nations and peoples with their kings and rulers, in vain opposition against Jehovah and against His Christ or anointed One.
Jehovah has said to Him, “Thou art my Son”, and He is set upon Zion as God’s King in view of the day when all nations shall be possessed by Him, and all resistance be broken by irresistible power. The first three verses of the Psalm have been fulfilled in the rejection of Christ, as stated in Acts 4: 25-28. He now sits at God’s right hand until His enemies are made His footstool according to Psalm 110. He will then exercise His kingship in relation to the earthly Zion, as the centre of universal dominion in power and glory, righteousness will reign and all opposition will be put down in righteous judgment.
In the meantime Christians have come by faith to mount Zion in its spiritual significance, and to the divine and heavenly system based upon it. Righteousness has been established by the death of Christ, the One who loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and it has been witnessed to by His resurrection. God has now set Him forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood, for the showing forth of His (God’s) 272
righteousness, that is His rights in mercy and favour towards men; Rom 3: 21-26; 11: 32. Being justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, believers have come under Christ’s authority as Lord, and thus being subdued by the divine grace which reigns through righteousness, they enter into present salvation. The Lord Jesus has made God known in His righteousness, power and love, all being in our favour. He has in this way secured us for God’s will, and we come into the present power of the kingdom known as administered by the Lord Jesus in the peculiar grace which characterizes His authority during the present period, when evil instead of being put down by force is being overcome by good.
As we come under the influence and instruction of Christ we are led by Him in the path of righteousness. The Lord Jesus when on earth could say, “Learn from me”, Matt 11: 29. He was here for the will of God, in entire submission to Him, and actively carrying out His will as delighting in it. The moral character of the divine kingdom was livingly expressed in Him, and its principles and power were seen in His teaching and miracles. In meditating prayerfully upon His words and actions, His mind and spirit, and learning from Him as our living Lord and Teacher, we take character from Him as He is now known in the present power of 273
His kingdom as the reign of grace.
As exalted at God’s right hand He is now the true Melchisedec, King of righteousness and King of peace; One who is both King and Priest, who continues for ever and is able to save completely all who approach by Him to God, always living to make intercession for them. See Psalm 110; Heb 7; Rom 8: 34.
Corresponding with the present position and power of Christ as Lord at the right hand of God, the Holy Spirit is the power in the believer, to give him the victory over every adverse element within and without.
We can thus realise the present power of the kingdom in the Christian experience of
“righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, Rom 14: 17.
The future public establishment of the kingdom in the world to come, when Christ appears in glory after the first resurrection, and the place which the saints of the church or assembly will have as reigning with Christ on the heavenly side of the kingdom, is referred to in a later section of this paper dealing with the city of God.
GOD'S DWELLING PLACE
While in the kingdom we have the establishment of that which is fundamental in the way of righteousness, it is also a 274
means to an end. It secures and maintains everything in true relation to God and to His will, in view of the further thought connected with Zion which we find in Ps 132: 13-14. “For Jehovah hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his dwelling: This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it”. See Ps 78: 68-69; Joel 3: 17; and Zech 8: 3, where God is complacent in Zion as suitable for His dwelling, and where He can build His sanctuary; also Ps 36: 7, 8. “So the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house”.
In Psalm 132 we see the connection between the ark finding a resting place through the deep exercises of David, and Jehovah choosing Zion for His dwelling, His rest for ever, for as already remarked in referring to the typical significance of the ark, God dwelt above the mercy-seat between the cherubim. Righteousness and salvation having been established as we have seen in relation to the kingdom, conditions are suitable for God dwelling with His people. In the case of Israel God dwelt in a material structure, both in the tabernacle set up by Moses, Exod 40: 34-35, and in the house built by Solomon, 1
Kings 8: 10-13. This will also be so in the future, when Israel is restored to the land in the world to come, as seen in Ezekiel’s 275
vision of the return of the glory, and the description of the new temple.
During the present church period the house of God is not a material structure, but a spiritual one. The saints as holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, are themselves constituted God’s house. It is built by Christ, and He is over it as Son, Heb 3: 1-6 ; and as great Priest, Heb 10: 21.
Being Mediator of a better covenant than that of Moses, He has obtained a more excellent ministry than that of Aaron, for He is Minister of the sanctuary, or the holies, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched and not man, Heb 8.
The Scriptures emphasise holiness as being a specially characteristic feature of God’s house: “Holiness becometh thy house, O
Lord, for ever”, Ps 93: 5. Holiness is the law of the house, Ezek 43: 12. Jehovah will dwell in Zion, His holy mountain, Joel 3: 17.
See also 1 Cor 3: 17; Eph 2: 21. It is God’s pleasure to dwell in the midst of His people, but this necessitates the holiness called for by His presence, for without holiness no one shall see the Lord, Heb 12: 14.
A few remarks may be made here in regard to the distinction between righteousness and holiness, both of which stand in contrast to sin. Righteousness is opposed to sin as lawlessness, seen in fallen man going his own way and doing his own will, 276
regardless of God. In the believer it is the recognition and practice of what is right, doing the will of God; the fulfilment of obligation in every relationship. Holiness is opposed to sin as impurity and defilement.
It is the quality that delights in purity and repels evil as abhorrent. Sanctification8
involves the thought of being set apart for God. It is the state which is characterised by holiness, and also the activity which produces it.
In the cross of Christ the righteous and the holy One, the whole question of sin in its terrible character, whether as lawlessness, defilement or enmity, for “the mind of the flesh is enmity against God”, was dealt with judicially in view of redemption and reconciliation, Rom 8: 3-8; 2 Cor 5: 21; Heb 10: 10; Col 1: 21, 22. In the putting away of sin sacrificially God’s righteousness and holiness were vindicated, and in the cross where we see His judgment against sin, there was the full declaration of His love.
The whole situation has thus been met to the glory of God by the One who was God’s resource, the expression of His wisdom, power and love. Believers are recovered to God in the full light of the death, 8 In a few instances there is the thought of being set apart where evil is not in question, as in the case of God’s day of rest in Gen 2: 3; and the Son of God in John 10: 36; 17: 19.
277
resurrection
and
glory
of
Christ,
consequent on which they have received the Holy Spirit. Nothing can be added to the perfection of Christ’s work for us. The Holy Spirit operates in us to bring us into accord with it subjectively, both in regard to righteousness and holiness, as He occupies us with Christ in whom these qualities are seen objectively in their perfection.
Saints, meaning holy or sanctified ones, is the usual name in the New Testament epistles for believers, as those who have been set apart for God in Christ Jesus, on the ground of redemption and the reception of the Holy Spirit. They are looked upon in Eph 4: 22-24 as having put off the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts, and being renewed in the spirit of their mind; and as having put on the new man which according to God is created in true righteousness and holiness.
The great operative principle which is effective in bringing this to pass is love—the divine nature, seen in the wonderful way in which God has been made known to us by His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. By the Holy Spirit this love is made good in the saints by divine formation.
In the light of all this we can understand the pleasure of God in choosing Zion, where He can dwell according to His desire amidst the praises of His people, who are brought near 278
to Him in holiness, in the full light in which He has been revealed.
Peter tells us that the house of God is composed of those who have been born again of incorruptible seed by the living and abiding word of God, and who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, 1
Pet 1. Having come to Christ, the Living Stone, chosen of God and precious; the Stone He has laid in Zion; they themselves as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, chap 2. The building of this living and spiritual structure is a definite allusion to the apostle’s confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, and the Lord’s reply to him, “Thou art Peter, (a stone) and on this rock I will build my assembly”, Matt 16. Against this the enemy who has the power of death, cannot prevail, for the living stones partake of the resurrection life of the Son of God.
Paul tells us that believers, both Jew and Gentile, have been reconciled to God by the cross, and are now built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph 2); also that the house of God is the church or assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth, 1 Tim 3: 15.
The epistle to the Hebrews looks upon believers as a people set apart for God, 279
sanctified by the death of Christ, and all of one with the Sanctifier, who is not ashamed to call them brethren. We have title by the blood of Jesus to enter the holy of holies, by a new and living way which He has dedicated for us through the veil, that is His flesh given for us in death. Having a great Priest over the house of God, we are encouraged to approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
Giving Christ His true place of supremacy both as Son and as great Priest over the house of God, the saints are enabled to carry on the divine service intelligently in accordance with the mind of God. By the Spirit of God a living character of service is maintained
in
prayer
and
praise,
thanksgiving and worship.
The truth in regard to God as revealed by the Son, and in regard to Christ, fulfilling the type of the ark as the power and the glory of God, is to be treasured and guarded with intelligent affection by the saints as having part in this spiritual house. There the divine interests upon earth are cherished and a living ministry maintained by the Spirit in freshness and power, furnishing spiritual light and food for the guidance and building up of the saints. The testimony of the grace of God in the gospel also goes out from His house towards men universally with a view to salvation and blessing.
280
THE CITY OF GOD
Following upon the kingdom and the house of God, we may consider the city of God as established upon mount Zion, God’s foundation. All that we have seen in connection with the enthronement of God’s King, and the establishment of God’s dwelling place in Zion, gives character to the city, and constitutes the glory and blessedness of her citizens. Each one born in Zion is taken account of by God when He inscribes the peoples. Glorious things are spoken of the city of God, Jehovah loves her gates; “the Most High himself shall establish her”; the singers and the players say, “All my springs are in thee”, Ps 87.
“There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the habitations of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved”, Ps 46: 4-6. Jehovah is greatly to be praised in Zion. Beautiful in elevation, she is the joy of the whole earth. God is known in her palaces as a high fortress. The saints are invited to walk about Zion and go round about her; to count the towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, Psalm 48. The people will sing,
“We have a strong city; salvation doth he appoint for walls and bulwarks ... Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the mind stayed on thee, for he confideth in thee”, Isa 26: 1-3.
“Peace be within thy bulwarks, prosperity 281
within thy palaces”, Ps 122. The city is thus secured from every adverse element without, and preserved for the enjoyment of peace and prosperity within. See also the glorious description in Isaiah 60 of “The city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel”. His dwelling is called by Jehovah
“the house of my magnificence” and “the place of my sanctuary”. The beauties and glories of Zion give character to the whole of the city of Jerusalem. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth”, Ps 50: 2.
This will have its fulfilment in the earthly Jerusalem and in Israel, when Christ returns in glory, and the ransomed of Jehovah shall return to Zion with singing and everlasting joy, Isa 35. The name of the city as seen in Ezekiel’s vision is Jehovah Shammah, ‘The Lord is there’, Ezek 48: 35.
During the present period the earthly Jerusalem is in bondage with her children, born according to flesh under the covenant of law. They have stumbled at the stone in Zion, which the builders rejected, Rom 9: 33. Now the liberty and privileges of the city of God are to be enjoyed by Christians, who as born according to Spirit derive their being from Jerusalem above, the system of grace, which is free and which is our mother, Gal 4: 22-31.
In recognition of Christ glorified on high, 282
and in submission to Him as Lord, the One to whom all authority has been given, we come in the power of the Spirit into the present gain of the kingdom with all its security and stability; and in the recognition of the Holy Spirit as constituting the saints collectively, God’s dwelling place, we come into the present blessing connected with the house of God, over which Christ has His place as Son and great Priest. The divine service can thus be carried on after a spiritual order for the pleasure of God by those who know Him.
They are maintained in perennial freshness and joy by the living streams of the river supplied by the Spirit. As they value and treasure the truth of God and cherish the divine interests, the true citizens of Zion become a centre of influence and testimony, giving a true representation of God in His character and attitude towards men. As divine principles are thus maintained in the order and administration of the city, we understand how it can be said that
“Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion”, where the righteous enter into the city and where there is an administration of truth and justice. See Ps 118: 19, 20; Isa 26: 1, 2; Amos 5: 15; Zech 8: 16.
Looked at individually, each of the saints is a citizen of Zion, and is taken account of by God as born there. Looking at the saints collectively they constitute the city of Zion.
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The various features set forth in the different parts of the city, such as the walls, bulwarks, towers, palaces, and gates, represent moral and spiritual elements which are seen in Christ and learned from Him, and which are being formed subjectively in the saints, so that they may correspond collectively with the divine thought as to the city in its strength, beauty and glory.
The city of God is seen in its perfection and completeness as described symbolically in Revelation 21: 9 to 22: 5. In chapters 19
and 20 the marriage of the Lamb is followed by the appearing of Christ in glory with the heavenly saints, and the introduction of the millennial reign. The account of the course of events is carried on to the close of the 1000 years, and the final judgment of the great white throne, followed in chap 21: 1-8
by the eternal state when all things are made new.
The last vision of the book of the Revelation, in chap 21: 9, takes us back to the millennial kingdom, and John sees the church as the bride, the Lamb’s wife, under the figure of “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God”. It is seen in its place of administration, in relation to Israel and the nations in the world to come, and it is the heavenly counterpart of the earthly city described in Isaiah 60. In the twelve 284
foundations of the wall, with the names of the twelve apostles, in the twelve gates with twelve angels, and the names of the twelve tribes inscribed, and in the measurements; twelve times twelve and a thousand times twelve, emphasis is laid upon the number signifying the perfection of administration.
It is all the outcome of divine workmanship,
“a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. It is built of pure gold like transparent glass, and adorned with every precious stone, and each gate one pearl. The river of the water of life flows out from the throne, and the tree of life is beside the river, with its twelve fruits, and its leaves for the healing of the nations. The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face; and they shall reign to the ages of ages.
While this description refers to the future glory of the heavenly city, the work of God has already commenced, and the saints, as we have seen, are now being divinely formed and educated in view of the final result.
Having come to mount Zion, we have come also “to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem ... and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”, Heb 12: 22,23.
It is well to notice that the thought of the dwelling of God is carried beyond the mediatorial kingdom into the eternal state 285
when God will be all in all. In John’s vision of the new heavens and the new earth, in Revelation 21: 1-8, he saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and he heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God”.
Here we see the assembly still in relation to Christ as His bride, and also in relation to God as His tabernacle, in which He will dwell with men, when the former things and distinctions of the time scene, such as seen in Israel, and the nations will have passed away, and He makes all things new.
THE DIVINE BLESSING
The great end in view in connection with Zion is seen in Psalms 133 and 134. There the blessing of Jehovah is commanded, life for evermore. The establishment of the various
features
we
have
already
considered in relation to Zion, was necessary in order to bring to pass conditions under which Jehovah could command the divine blessing.
Psalm 133 looks at these conditions as having been secured, and attention is called to the good and pleasant sight of brethren dwelling together in unity. It is likened to 286
the precious anointing oil, that is, the Spirit, on the head of the high priest which ran down to the hem of his garment, and also to the refreshing dew of Hermon descending from above on the mountains of Zion. Psalm 134 calls upon all the servants of Jehovah to lift up their hands in the sanctuary and to bless Jehovah. The blessing of Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth goes out from Zion.
In Revelation 14: 1-5 John sees in vision the Jewish remnant, in anticipation of the time of Christ’s return to set up the millennial kingdom. They are seen as already upon mount Zion with the Lamb. They have been redeemed, the first-fruits of Israel to God and to the Lamb; they are preserved blameless in purity and truth, and follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes.
In the world to come all Israel redeemed and saved will enter into the enjoyment of the blessing on the millennial earth. The new covenant will have been made with both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, Jer 31: 31. All of them will know God, and they will be owned as His people. Both houses will thus be brought into unity as brethren dwelling together. Sectional rivalry and jealousy will disappear; Ephraim, that is, Israel, will not envy Judah, and Judah will not trouble Ephraim, Isa 11: 13; Ezek 37: 15-28. Zion the joy of the whole earth, will be the centre from which blessing will go 287
out world-wide, Ps 48: 2; 50: 1,2. All the nations will go up to Zion to be taught Jehovah’s ways, that they may walk in His paths and learn the way of peace, Isa 4: 1-4, 24.
As noticed in dealing with the city of God, heaven and earth will then be brought into accord, and God’s purpose for the administration of the fulness of times, will be fulfilled in the heading up of all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, Eph 1: 9, 10.
The assembly as the heavenly Jerusalem will form the link between heaven and earth, and the nations will walk by its light; and the kings bring their glory to it, Rev 21.
The whole scene will be characterised by light and life. The earthly city, like the heavenly one, will have its river of water of life flowing out and making everything live, Ezek 47.
During the present period, that of “God’s dispensation which is in faith”, 1 Tim 1: 4, all the divine thoughts of blessing connected with Zion are treasured by those who form the assembly of God, who have been baptised by one Spirit into one body and have all been given to drink of one Spirit, 1 Cor 12. The basis for unity is seen in the kingdom, where believers are all subject to the authority of one Lord. Also as coming under the quickening power of the Spirit, and beholding the glory of the 288
Lord as Mediator of the new covenant, we are all transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, all like the Lord and like one another, 2 Cor 3. The thought of unity is further emphasised in relation to the house of God. Jew and Gentile, having been reconciled by the cross, are formed in Christ into one new man. Being fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God, they are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit, Eph 2.
The Spirit of God by His work in the saints is the power to bring us now into accord with the divine thoughts established by Christ for the glory of God. Suitable conditions can thus be maintained in righteousness, holiness and love for the enjoyment of the divine blessing, God being known by His people in the full truth of His nature and attributes as declared by the Son.
Of the New Testament writers, it is John who lays special emphasis on the possession of eternal life by believers, to be enjoyed as present blessing. His gospel was written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His name, chapter 20: 31.
Christ is there presented to faith, as Son of God and as Son of man. He has made the love of God known, and to bring into effect 289
God’s purpose of blessing, He gave His life that the sinful condition of men might be dealt with, and the testimony might go out world-wide so that every one believing on Him might have eternal life, chap 3. He is the Giver of the living water, the Holy Spirit, which satisfies thirst for ever, becoming a fountain of water within the believer and springing up into eternal life, chap 4. He Himself is the living bread which has come down out of heaven, the food that abides unto eternal life; and He gave His flesh and blood, that in the appropriation of Himself as having died we might have eternal life, chap 6. When about to leave the world and go to the Father, He spoke to His own of the coming of the Spirit who would abide with them and be in them, and He said, Because I live ye also shall live, chap 14. Having finished the work the Father gave Him to do, the Son has now been glorified (chap 17), and from the glory He has given the Spirit to those who believe on Him. Such importance did the Lord attach to this, that He told His disciples it was profitable for them, that instead of Himself remaining with them, He should go to the Father and send the Spirit, chap 16. The Son now glorifies the Father in giving eternal life to all that the Father has given Him, chap 17.
2.
John’s first epistle was written to those who believe on the name of the Son of God, that 290
their joy may be full, chap 1: 4; and that they may know consciously that they have eternal life, chap 5: 13. Such are the children of God, a continuation of the company who were with the Lord when here, “his own who were in the world”, John 13: 1. They have been born of God and have received the Spirit. As abiding in Christ and keeping His commandments they are characterised by righteousness and love, that which “is true in him and in you”, 1
John bears witness in chap 1 of the epistle, to that which was from the beginning, the manifestation of life seen in Christ come in flesh, the eternal life which was here with the Father. That we might live through the Son, necessitated the death of Christ, chapter 5; therefore He also came by water and blood, cleansing and expiation; and now the Spirit and the water and the blood unite in witness to the love of God in giving to believers eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The believer has this divine testimony in himself by the Spirit, for the Spirit is the truth subjectively.
The Son of God having come has brought to us the knowledge of the true God, and we are in Him that is true, the true Man, God’s Son Jesus Christ. Being the true God, the Son was able to make God known in the fulness of His love. As Man He fully appreciated and responded to the love of 291
God in which He ever lives, and He is thus the perfect expression of eternal life.
It is in the mutuality of living affections formed by the Spirit under the influence of divine love, that saints can dwell together in unity as brethren. Conditions are thus maintained in which we may realise the possession and the enjoyment of eternal life. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”, chap 3: 14.
The importance of true unity according to God, as necessary for the enjoyment of divine blessing and also for power in testimony, is seen in many New Testament scriptures. It is prominent in the Lord’s prayer for His own in John 17, see verses 11, 21-23. In the early chapters of the Acts it is found actually existing, not only in the company of a hundred and twenty disciples who continued with one accord in prayer after the Lord’s ascension, but also in a very remarkable way in the thousands of new converts after the Spirit was given.
The difficulties involved in the practical maintenance of this unity soon became manifest after the early days of the history in the Acts; and they are also seen in the exhortations and rebukes in the epistles.
Reference may be made to the party spirit and strife amongst the Corinthians (1 Cor 1), and to the contentions amongst the 292
Galatians under the influence of judaising teachers, chap 5: 15, 26. Even in the case of such an assembly as that at Ephesus, there was need for exhortations to “all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”, and “Let all bitterness and heat of passion, and wrath and clamour and injurious language be removed from you with all malice, and be to one another kind and compassionate, forgiving one another, so as God also in Christ has forgiven you”, chap 4: 2, 3, 31, 32. To the Philippians Paul writes, “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; regarding not each his own qualities, but each those of others also”, chap 2: 3, 4.
These exhortations have great practical value, showing as they do the spirit in which alone the divine unity can be maintained. In giving heed to them there is preservation from fleshly activities tending to the break up of the unity. In the positive teaching of the epistles there is a ministry of Christ which supplies that which is needed for the carrying out of the exhortations. Divine love is the power to produce unity according to God, as we come under its constraining influence; self in its 293
varied subtle forms of self-consideration and self-exaltation, being thus displaced by the Spirit of Christ.
Eternal life is known and enjoyed as divine blessing, in the measure in which we know and respond to the love of God. The life thus enjoyed goes back to God in blessing, praise and worship, and it goes out to men in living testimony.
CONCLUSION
In our consideration of the spiritual significance of Zion, and its application in the present period, we have been mainly occupied with the divine thoughts as set forth in the various scriptures referred to.
The failure of the assembly on its responsible side, we should undoubtedly recognise, and feel deeply as forming part of it, but this should not be allowed to obscure or darken our vision of the truth on the divine side, for “the firm foundation of God stands”, 2 Tim 2. That which has been established for God in Christ remains intact in all its perfection, and the Holy Spirit is here as the Spirit of truth to guide us into all the truth, John 16. In subjection to Christ as Lord, and giving the Holy Spirit His place, every divine thought connected with Zion is open to us for present realization and enjoyment.
The maintenance of the necessary 294
conditions of righteousness and holiness, both personally and in regard to our associations, involves a narrow path, as indicated in the apostle Paul’s instructions in view of the last days in his second epistle to Timothy. Those walking together in this path, should, however, in mind and affection take in all the people of God, who have title to the privileges and blessings of Zion; although owing to the confusion and darkness prevalent in the professing church with its mixed associations, many of them have not the knowledge and enjoyment of what should be their present portion according to the mind of God.
In concluding, attention may be recalled to the fact that the wonderful thoughts of divine blessing connected with Zion as seen in the Psalms, primarily refer to Israel and the earthly Jerusalem. Whilst as we have seen, these scriptures have a very real present application to Christians, it is well to remember that the spiritual blessings which have been brought in by the coming of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, as the portion of saints during the present church period, in their height and fulness, go even beyond that which is presented in the Old Testament, in the way of divine blessing for God’s earthly people.
Having come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the assembly of the first-born ones who are 295
enregistered in heaven, we have been brought into privileges and blessings of a heavenly character. Not only did God send His Son into the world that we might live through Him, and has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (1 John 4: 9; 5: 11), but He also sent forth His Son that we might receive sonship, and He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts so that we may have the conscious knowledge of the relationship, Gal 4: 4, 6. Christ has brought us into the liberty of sonship in association with Himself as the Firstborn amongst many brethren.
In the epistle to the Ephesians Paul sets forth the full height of Christian blessing according to God’s eternal purpose. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, all being for the pleasure and glory of God, for He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love, and marked us out beforehand for sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He has freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved, Eph 1: 3-6. In the carrying out of the divine purpose, even when all, both Jews and Gentiles were dead in offences, God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, has 296
quickened us, made us to live, with the Christ, and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, chap 2: 4-6.
The apostle prays in chapter 3 to the Father that the saints being strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, may be enabled to apprehend the full extent of the divine thoughts and purposes of blessing, and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge, that they may be filled to all the fulness of God.
This is in full accord with the Lord’s teaching as to “the heavenly things”, John 3: 12, which none could disclose but the One who came down from heaven. The Son has made God known as Father in the fulness of His love. His prayer to the Father for His own in chapter 17, closes with the wonderful words, “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. This anticipated the completion of the work which the Father gave Him to do, and the establishment of the new relationship in association with Himself on high, so that on the resurrection morning He could send Mary Magdalene to His disciples, saying to her, “Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17.
Having gone to the Father He has sent down 297
the Spirit of truth, of whom He said, that He shall guide you into all the truth. He shall glorify me for He shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you. All things that the Father has are mine, John 16.
This wonderful circle of divine and heavenly affections and relationships is thus opened up to saints of the assembly for present enjoyment in the knowledge of divine Persons.
“To him (God) be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen”, Eph 3: 21.
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“WE DO NOT WELL”
“We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace ... now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household”
(2 Kings 7: 9 KJV)
“We do not well”; thus mused the leprous four,
Who tasted now a welcome, bounteous store;
Inside the city, famine, death, and fear, While safety, food in plenty, lay so near.
“We do not well”—good news had they to tell,
Mercy had come—God had done all things well,
They tasted joy, relief and kindness great, Others must share it, e’er it be too late.
“We do not well”—Oh, can it, can it be, I've tasted of God’s grace, so full, so free, Mercy has reached me, nigh the brink of woe.
Am I ashamed to tell the sinners so?
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“We do not well”—God's heart is open wide,
Love for the vilest case is not denied, He is in earnest, knows its worth—one soul,
Gave His dear Son, to make the sinner whole.
“We do not well”—time’s course is nearly run.
Eternity looms near—have you begun To tell the blessed news to all around, The worthy, precious Saviour you have found?
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”
(Rom l: 16 KJV)
W.F.
From Goodly Words 1928
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