DISCRIMINATIVE JUDGMENT
[p. 286] DISCRIMINATIVE JUDGMENT
Revelation 18:20; Revelation 15:5, 6; Revelation 17: 1 - 7; Revelation 21:9 - 14
The message I have, dear brethren, has reference to judgment, not exactly punitive but discriminating judgment, the judgment that enables us to name what is in view whether it be good or bad. You will all recall the requirements in early Genesis as to names, for in the environment in which we are set everything in God’s mind has a name, but in the case of living things Adam named them and apparently the names were in keeping with the mind of God for He altered none. If we misname things today spiritually God will not commit Himself to misname them. He will quickly indicate to us that the name is not just right; but in the naming of the creatures there was no change, as if God were to signalise the great intelligence vested in Adam. The host of heaven He had named Himself, not only names given in a promiscuous way but He calls the stars by name, He calls them. The calling is active, for nothing in God’s realm is intended to be dormant or inactive. He calls the stars by name. The whole realm, beloved friends, of physical creation is named and so is the whole realm of the spiritual; every person and thing will have a name, and as God signalises Adam in allowing him to name the creatures, the living creatures, the land creatures, He intends to accord to us the honour of naming what comes within our range. It is so with God Himself, for the names accorded to divine Persons, to God, in the Old Testament indicate man’s apprehension of Him. I can only name a thing according to that, whether it be the Supreme or the Almighty or the I AM. These names indicate man’s apprehension of God. And so with our Lord Jesus, whilst His birth was announced — “that holy thing [p. 287] which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” — Luke 1:35 yet the Lord challenged His disciples, “whom say ye that I am?” Matthew 16:15 How great is that position, dear brethren, to be called upon to name that glorious Personage — a word that should go home to every heart, “Who do ye say ...”. You may refer to the Bible rightly but that is not the question the Lord raised with His disciples, not what the Bible said. It had its own designation. It was not what the Bible said but what they could say. And so with regard to all that comes within our range on earth there is to be discrimination on the part of saints, ability to name what they see — and so in regard to what is good and what is evil. Ability to know good and evil was there in Eden in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but it was not to be acquired by man. They were to remain in innocency according to the divine order, but the forbidden fruit was eaten and so the knowledge of good and evil came into the realm, into our realm, the knowledge but no ability to take up the good and to follow it, no ability to name with feeling and with interest and with admiration the good; but in the coming in of our Lord Jesus Christ we have the food, “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good”. Isaiah 7:15 That is, we have a need given to us and the principle that for the choice of good and rejection of evil a certain food is needed. And so in the New Testament we have the idea of the word of righteousness regulating the ability to distinguish the good from the evil. We are not to be babes. Babes are such as are not instructed in the word of righteousness, the word of it, mark you, not simply the thing but the word of righteousness, that which conveys it intelligently to us so that we should be no longer babes calling good evil and evil good but have our senses exercised for the distinguishing — for that is the word; it means careful discrimination by features [p. 288] presented of good and evil. Otherwise as we walk through this world the selection of the footsteps of Jesus is impossible.
Well now, I want to apply all this to good and evil in their most highly organised forms, not in detail. The verses I read in chapters 17 and 21 treat first of organised evil and second of organised good, and I would desire, dear brethren, that we should note the word ‘organised’ because organisation has a great place in Scripture. It has a great place in the development of this world and the most potent opposition to God and His interests is in organisation, and the most highly organised, and the most skilfully organised system of evil is depicted in these chapters 17 and 18. Its roots extend back; it is spoken of so early as Paul’s ministry, the mystery of iniquity, its roots extending away back, you see, developing really out of that great imperial system at the hands of which our Lord Jesus was crucified, as we get so graphically presented in this book referring to the great city, this spiritual Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified; but that has a present virulent, almost universal existence in christendom and is one of the most solemn things to be considered. Heaven looks on all the time. Not that I wish to occupy you, especially the young ones here, with the evil; that is not the intent. I wish to occupy you with the one who shows you the thing here, this angel and whence he comes. You see he intends that we should have a judgment about things and that is why I read chapter 18:20, because at the destruction of this system heaven is called upon to rejoice, the saints are called upon to rejoice, the apostles are called upon to rejoice, the prophets are called upon to rejoice — rejoice at what? That God has judged their judgment upon her. That appeals to me very powerfully. It lays it upon me that I should have an accurate judgment as before God, so accurate that God can commit [p. 289] Himself to it. God has judged their judgment. You see what a place it gives us, beloved, to be brought into accord with God in His judgment of this longstanding iniquitous system, this great corruptress of the earth, this mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, that God is pleased to call us aside and to intimate to us that our judgment has been carried out. We cannot raise a finger now to deal with it effectively. We have to leave it. “Come out of her, my people”, He says. If there is one here in it that is the word for you. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins”. That is the naming voice, the voice of God penetrating as it were the whole system — “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins”. She is the enemy of heaven, she is the enemy of the saints, she is the enemy of the apostles and of the martyrs of Jesus, she is the enemy of the whole testimony of God; so that we are called upon to judge and to judge of evil, as I said, in its most highly organised form. As I said, the word ‘organised’ is to be noted. The gospel of Matthew deals with it. It began at Babel and God would meet it by organisation. The great gospel for the assembly, in its true sense, is Matthew, and so you find that he brings evil in in a combination, that is in two, particularly two demoniacs. They were exceeding dangerous, it says. It is well to be aroused to the danger of combination even although it may be two brothers or two sisters. Any combination outside of the assembly is dangerous. Two of you, not two of the evil combination, two of the assembly are honoured in heaven, their prayers are; whatever they shall ask “it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven”. Matthew 18:19 Any combination outside, however small and obscure or despicable apparently, is evil and dangerous. It is said that no one could pass that way. You see, nothing is to interfere with the way, the way of God, for that is the designation of the fellowship [p. 290] in the Acts. Anything that disputes that way disputes the rights of God. No one could pass that way. You see, there should be a way for God and for His people, I mean in the church sense, in the assembly sense. Anything that blocks the working out of that is dangerous and it should be named. God has His organisation of the highest kind as you might expect. The assembly is the most wonderful organisation but in infinite righteousness and holiness. In that God will meet and break up every other. You may be sure of that. So that, beloved, what we have here in one or two is seen in its most inveterate character in this system in these two chapters. These two chapters are not written for nothing. Let no one hesitate in looking into them. They were written with the greatest possible intent for good, and the angel who undertakes to show us — see whence he comes, see who he is: he is one of those with the seven vials — the last, the final judgment of God under which this system comes down. But he says virtually, ‘Before it goes out of sight I want you to see it. I will show you it’. There is no danger in his company. He will not lead you in the dangerous ways of this system but will keep you out of them that you may not be caught in them in any way, that you might hate them as he does. He comes out of the temple. We may thank God for the recovery of the temple. One of the greatest features of these last days is that we are brought back to the temple. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16 So you see whence he comes: he comes out of the temple, and look at his clothes, pure bright linen, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. There is infinite purity and a refusal of all that is evil, no addicting of the affections towards what is evil. The affections are bound up, you see, against it — a word for the young. As moving about in these conditions we need our affections carefully [p. 291] guarded with what is of God. Nothing else will do; no kind of human legislation or rule can save us — but what is of God, the divine nature. Love from God is holy and he that is born of God keeps himself. The affections are kept, they are not flowing loose. That is what this angel would remind us of. He says, “Come here”. Let no one turn a deaf ear. There is a voice from God: He would say, “Come here”. He cannot show you where you are — “Come here” it requires movement. It is a time of movement. It is not a time of settling down in any sense; it is constant movement. “Come here”, he says, “I will shew thee”. The prophet moves and the angel carries him away in the spirit. I do not know if any of you young people have any experience like this, being carried away in spirit. You will never get into the realm of the spiritual without tasting something of being carried away in spirit, carried out of the realm of nature, to learn what it is to be spiritual — “Carried me away in the spirit”, it says, “into the wilderness”. Nothing inviting in this, but most important that I should be in the company of an angel so clothed to be shown. I may read all the histories of the church that have been written and they would never show me what this angel shows. It is a spiritual transaction — the importance of beginning to be spiritual — that you should get a spiritual impression of things. It is a question of angelic teaching and showing, that is to say, of spiritual showing in all purity and affection, refusing evil and holding fast the good. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness” and showed all this. I do not go into details. I wish to press the importance of the spiritual, of being spiritual, of being shown things spiritually, and, as having them shown, being able to name them. Hence you find in this book so much of written names; it signifies what is apprehended, and so God would say, ‘I want to show you the thing so that you will know the meaning of the name’. The book makes great allowance for the ignorance and darkness that exists, hence the number of names written. And so the prophet is taken into the wilderness, nothing there to charm, nothing in the wilderness, but it is where she is. There is not a spring of God there in spite of the great pretence; there is not one spring from God; it is a desert spiritually. That is where she is and so there you view her and form your judgment of her and God will judge that upon her. “God has judged your judgment upon her”.
In chapter 21 we come to the good. One would love to speak entirely of the good; but it will be no honour to you to assume that you are not able to look upon the evil or see the evil. It is no honour to us; it would be to say that we are babes unskilled in the word of righteousness and not fit for the assembly, not fit for administration in it, whereas we are called upon to administer and you know that begins with oneself. I can never administer with regard to evil in the assembly unless I begin with myself. That is Romans 7. “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. When I come to that I am ready for the assembly. I do not enter into that with any thought of being thought much of. “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. As I work that out I am fit for the assembly. If I serve the law of God I am fit for the assembly. That is to say I begin to administer discriminating judgment; I begin to administer in the light of the thing that I discriminate. If I discriminate in a brother something wrong I begin to administer. Matthew 18 teaches us that. Administration begins very early in the history of a believer; it begins almost as soon as he believes. So that in the assembly I serve the law of God; I reject all else, as the Lord says, “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”. John 14:21 It is a wonderful position — the position of [p. 293] administration. Let us not make it too great for it is not beyond us. I begin with it in myself. “He that ruleth his spirit” — what is that but administration? is better “than he that taketh a city”, Proverbs 16:32 and if a brother is offended he is like a defenced city. That is administration. It is the exercise of wisdom and power in the believer; and so we gradually come into great admiration for good. The epistle to the Romans which is the epistle for the young particularly teaches us how to overcome evil with good. There is therefore no circumstance or combination of circumstances that could effectively thwart the believer in his path; he can overcome; there is a way out; that is how I understand it. And so the possession of good makes me remarkably superior; and so I come to chapter 21 where you find one of the same set of angels, and he says, as it were, ‘Come and I will show you something different. I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife’. Is that not appealing? Is it not worth moving for that view? He says, “Come hither”. Let the angel say to you, let God say to you, ‘I will show you what is good’. Let everything be determined by that standard. God has brought in a tangible standard not only in Christ but in the assembly; she is not divine, she is His body. And so the prophet is taken to an exceeding high mountain. That is to say you are not to get a view of the good in the desert. No, beloved, the true assembly is not in the desert. She has got springs from God. I do not mean to say that we are not walking through this world, but the assembly is seen there, not here. She is seen coming down from God. Think of the view, the embodiment of all that is good organised by God. It is not an immature thought here; what is carried over from our dispensation into the next is not immature; there is nothing immature in it. In the ark of Noah there was nothing immature as far as we can see, no multiplication either; there are no children mentioned or [p. 294] young of the animals either. That is God had placed there the making of another world, but it was mature; out of that will develop a multitude; out of that God will build, but everything is mature. How important it is to be mature. We are to be no longer babes. We are not fit for the ark unless we are mature. God is operating for the finished thing so as to display it, and this is what the prophet sees, the glorious finished thing coming down from God, the product of God out of heaven. Oh, beloved, let me intreat you just to come as the angel says, “Come here, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”; he carried him in the Spirit to a great and high mountain; he says, “in the Spirit”. It is a spiritual matter, and he showed him the bride the Lamb’s wife. It touches your heart — the sufferings of Jesus — for it is the glorious bride, the finished thing, so to speak, coming down from God. What has she got? She has got the glory. It is intended to lift us out of this world to God, to attract our hearts out of it to see what is in store for us. How appealing it is! How exhilarating to think that I am called upon to see in a spiritual way that in which I am going to have part myself, coming down from God out of heaven having the glory of God; her light is like a jasper stone most precious, and then her wall, the first thing mentioned. These are the first things mentioned — a wall great and high, having twelve gates with twelve angels and the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, and on the foundations of this wall the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. What a group of things! How appealing to our spiritual instincts that they should be grouped in our minds, the idea of the holy Jerusalem, the precious light and the wall great and high and the twelve gates, three at every point of the compass, and the twelve foundations and the twelve angels and the twelve tribes. What a living glorious holy set of things grouped [p. 295] together for our souls! And you know, beloved, it is not simply to draw you away to the future but to show how all these elements come into the daily, the weekly experience of the saints in this city and in every city wherever they are, that the good may triumph, that we may know how to put names on things and to glory in the good and to maintain the good and refuse the evil. And another thing comes out most prominently: it is the idea of transparency, that is to shine in the most striking manner; the city itself is like pure glass, it is gold but like pure glass, transparent glass; and the street — there is only one. Oh, beloved, there is a great deal in that, that we all walk in the one street; it is a question of mutuality — no better living streets than others, no poor streets, there is just one and that one is transparent; it is like transparent glass. Every step taken on it is seen clearly, no devious ways; all is happy; so that happy, healthy relationships are maintained continually there. Well, dear brethren, that was all, and I do commend these two features, the service of the angel in showing us that we might name things, the good and the evil, and as I was saying, to refuse the evil and choose the good.