CAPACITY

^[p. 345] CAPACITY

Genesis 44: 1 (first clause); Ruth 3:15 - 17; Exodus 16:16

I have in mind, dear brethren, to speak about capacity; and I began with Genesis because it is a question of as much as we can carry. The setting is in the ministry of Joseph, one who represents the Lord Jesus in His present administrative office. The great feature of Joseph’s ministry was food; not as growing promiscuously out of the earth according to the fruitfulness that the Creator had endowed it with: that is Genesis 1, there is no idea of control in Genesis 1; it is simply the fruitfulness of the earth as providing for man and beast. But under Joseph we have control of food, and the section of Scripture which treats of the subject unmistakably points to Christ’s present office in heaven, as in control of divine resources, particularly in its gentile, or worldwide bearing. Israel had to come to Him in that position: as it is now, Israel, or the remnant, has to come to Christ, not as at Jerusalem, but among the gentiles. His position is changed from what it was. He is, as Colossians puts it, Christ among you the hope of glory (see Colossians 1: 27) — a very touching matter, especially in view of what passed before us this afternoon, that each of us is among the brethren “every one among you”. The Lord of glory is pleased to be among us, so that the position is great enough for the greatest, and not too great for the least believer; as it says, “The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all” Proverbs 22:2. Christ is among us, so that the fellowship is “the fellowship of God’s Son”, and that is great enough for the greatest, great enough for Michael the archangel, for Christ has passed above all heavens in His greatness. That is, He has passed far beyond the created sphere,

^[p. 346] and that denotes His deity. No creature can go beyond the created sphere; a divine Person can, and yet He comes in here, and, according to Colossians, is said to be among the gentiles, “Christ among you”; well may it be added, “the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27. If He is among us, we may well hope that God will do for us as He is, “the hope of glory”.

Well now, there is a bountiful supply, but it is dealt out in wisdom; not in carelessness, but with wisdom. Anyone who reads the section will understand that whilst the earth brought forth by handfuls during the seven years of plenty, every care was bestowed that nothing should be lost, that all should be garnered, and so available for the years of famine. The time would come when the need would be for every bit of corn. But the principle comes out in this verse that certain persons who came for corn, were to have as much as they could carry.

Hence, it becomes a question, dear brethren, as having to do with our Joseph (for that is why it is recorded; not as a matter of mere history), it is a question of how much I can carry. There is plenty; hence it is a question of capacity: that is to say, of the size of the sack that each of the sons of Jacob had. It was useless to come down for corn without a means of carrying it back. And so, in encountering christians, one thinks of how much they are carrying. A brother said to me the other day, after a Bible reading, ‘Things are carried too far sometimes’ — and, of course, there is such a thing as that, of carrying things too far — he meant that people are extreme in their way of presenting the truth; but he was not one that ever carried anything, as far as I know, in the way of divine things; he was not in fellowship, or is not. So that my reply was, ‘Better to carry them too far, than not at all!’ Some people do not carry anything at all; that is to say, they are irresponsible, and have no sacks, so to speak. They ^[p. 347] pretend to come to Joseph to pray. I hope everybody here prays, secretly as well as publicly. But if I come to Joseph, that is, to the Lord in heaven, without a sack, without the means of carrying, well, I cannot carry anything; I go away as I came, and I cannot carry anything, like Ruth, to my mother-in-law, and I cannot represent the Lord, because He would not send me away empty. The Lord would never send anyone away empty who came to Him, and there can be no testimony to Christ in heaven, to His bounty, unless I have something in the way of a sack, or a vessel to carry things to someone else who may be in need. Jacob had that thought when he sent his sons down for corn; he had in mind that they should bring it back, for what would be the use of going to Joseph for corn without the means of carrying it? I do not say that Joseph could not give them the means, but he refers here to the sack that each one had. The Lord can supply means, of course; He can supply the sack as well as the corn. But if I go to Him for something, it is obvious I should be able to carry it back, so to say, and the word here is “as much as they can carry”. It is a question, therefore, of capacity. What capacity have I? Not mental capacity, I mean, mere natural ability; that will not hold any, corn, because I am speaking spiritually. A great mind in itself is incapable of taking in divine things. “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God ... he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned”, 1 Corinthians 2:14. A Nicodemus could not take it in. He says, “How can these things be?” He could not take them in. Did the Lord not make it plain? — were he to go back to his class, for he was the teacher of Israel; Nicodemus was not an ordinary rabbi, he was the teacher — and yet he could not take in the initial thoughts of christianity. “How can these things be?” John 3:9 And the Lord says, “Thou art ^[p. 348] the teacher of Israel and knowest not these things!” He was alluding to the capacity of Nicodemus. He went back apparently. He was born anew, because he came to Jesus by night, but apparently went back to his own set, for he was in the council. He was in the council, and lifted up his voice in favour of the right when the Lord was being attacked. “Doth our law”, he says, “judge any man, before it hear him?” John 7:51 Well, that was something. He was a secret disciple. He was hidden in the council; that is, he belonged to the world outwardly, whatever his regard for Christ, as far as his external setting he was not on the side of Christ, and could not carry things. Were he to carry the testimony that the Lord opened up to him on that occasion, he would have no place in the council; they would do with him what they did with the man that had been born blind — they would cast him out. Happy to be cast out for Jesus’ sake!

It is a question, therefore, beloved brethren, in our prayers, when we go to the Lord, in our prayer meetings, too, whether they are just ordinary religious affairs, or whether, when I bow my knees to the Lord at my bedside, it is just an ordinary religious duty to relieve my conscience, or whether I have a sack for my corn; asking the Lord for food. Whether in the morning I can open my Bible with my family, and have a bit of corn to deal out to the household; for that is the point. It was a question of the household with Jacob. And if my household is to live spiritually, I must get corn from the Lord, and have a sack to put it into.

And then, beloved brethren, what is most beautiful, and what has often been alluded to, is that the money is also put into the sack. I may go poor, and it is right that I should feel so, and when I come to Christ He fills my sack, and He puts the money into the mouth of the sack; and besides that He puts the ^[p. 349] silver cup into my sack. That is to say, I get far more than I had expected. And that silver cup is the one whereby He divines; something distinctive, by which I come to know things. It is a testimony to His love. It was only in Benjamin’s sack that it was found. That is to say, the believer, as he comes to the Lord in his need, comes to know that he is one of the loved ones; because there are more than one. It is true that Benjamin was the loved one in the family, but, spiritually, I may be that. Why not? As I have to do with the Lord, the true Joseph, and have my sack, and have capacity, and He sees that I have capacity, that I can be used, He fills my sack. And then He tells me that it does not cost me anything; but it has cost Him something; the money is there. It is called the “corn money”; that is to say, it was money that Benjamin had devoted to buy this corn. The Lord says, That is yours. And more than that, there is this loving cup, this cup that Joseph, or the Lord Himself, uses; a touching allusion to the place of distinction that I have, or that you have, in His mind.

Well, now, that is this passage, and I want to show you, dear brethren, how in Ruth’s case she had evidently more capacity than was needed; that whilst the Lord gives according to capacity, yet He gives by measure. There are no loose ends with God; whatever my capacity, in result it is according to divine appointment. What I shall be eternally is exactly according to divine appointment. God sees to that.

Now, Ruth is a well-known character in Scripture, one of the best known. It is well that she is, especially by sisters. She grows steadily, spiritually. She gradually grows and grows until she comes to have liberty with Boaz, that is to say, with Christ. And that is a practical matter, as to our prayers. We begin, it may be, with a few words, a few formal ^[p. 350] expressions, in speaking to the Lord in prayer, but the oftener we go, the more liberty we acquire, the more He conveys to us the sense that He loves us to come. You cannot come too often. We are to “pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and the more there is, the more the liberty. Ruth acquires increasing liberty with Boaz, and she knew that he was a man of wealth, and he was a relative through her husband. He had the right of redemption. That is to say, He has the right to take on all my affairs. That is a great thing to get into the soul. The Lord has a right — not that He does not love to — but He has a right. He transgresses nothing in doing it. He takes me on, and all my affairs.

And at this final meeting, where there is liberty, Boaz says, Now, bring your cloak. It is a big affair; that is to say, the size of it would indicate her capacity. We have to understand these things spiritually the letter kills. To read the book of Ruth in the letter kills, but to read it in the Spirit is most instructive, and, indeed, delightful. So that it is a question of her cloak. Boaz says, “Bring the cloak ... and hold it”. There is nothing said about Benjamin holding his sack; it was all done by the steward; it was a matter of service, but, As much as he can carry, give him, fill the sacks up. But now Boaz says, You hold it. I am standing up, so to say, in the presence of the Lord, and I have got my capacity in my hands, what I can hold, what I can contain, and I hold it. If this were a test of fellowship, I am afraid there would be very few in fellowship, very few. But it is not a test of fellowship; far otherwise, the smallest vessel, the least bit of the work of God, is sheltered in the assembly; the assembly is the place for it, everything is garnered there for Christ. The weak brother in Romans 14 refers to the smallness of the work of God. He would not be a brother at all if he were not the subject of the work of God. It ^[p. 351] denotes the smallness of the work of God, and yet it is looked after. “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye” Romans 1:14; “receive ye”, not simply open the door and tell him to come in. There is affection in the reception. With Onesimus, had he come back ordinarily to Philemon you would not have the idea of reception. Reception is properly indicated in David’s action as he went out to meet his brethren, the men of Judah; David received them in dignity. And so we are to receive one another, and that includes the weak brother, “as Christ ... received us to the glory of God” Romans 15:7. That is the standard. So that the smallest bit of the work of God is received in the assembly; no unrighteousness, of course, the doorkeeper would keep that out. But if there is the work of God, he is to be received.

So that, if, as I said, this question of holding up your measure to contain what Boaz would put into it, if that were the test, our numbers would be very, very small. But it is not the test. The work of God is what we take notice of; however small, it is the pure gold, and that has to be taken care of. It is precious.

But then, this question of capacity will come up. You cannot be in fellowship ten or fifteen years without having capacity. I am not worthy of the place if I have not spiritual capacity; I am a discredit to the place.

Now, Ruth is an example of growth; she grew in her soul; and so the type shows. Boaz says, Hold the cloak — hold it. And it does not appear that he filled it. You say, Why did he not fill it? He could have filled it; there was plenty of corn there, but he did not fill it, as far as we can see. He measured what he put into it. It was large enough to receive his measures. I believe that indicates what each of us shall be. The divine measure denotes the divine mind. God is the God of measure, and every one of us is measured; I mean to say, what is put into us;

^[p. 352] and what is put into us is the divine thought of what I am to express, the place I am to occupy in the divine scheme; that I am not out of proportion with the mind of God. All will be in proportion with the mind of God. But then, you say, Why should there be any suggestion of capacity? It is to bring out another thing: how steadily and rapidly she grew. Growth is a great matter.

Well, now, to support this I read in Exodus, so that we may see how the divine standard is reached in the believer. Ephesians says that the gifts from an ascended Christ are for the work of the ministry, the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ, “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” Ephesians 4:13. God has no less than that for any one of us. It is collective, but we are all to come to it. And the gifts from an ascended Christ are to that end; and when I say ‘an ascended Christ’ I am not simply using the language of Scripture; I want to convey to you, beloved, the idea of the ascension of Christ. The ascension of Christ is far beyond our ascension. We shall ascend; I mean we shall be caught up; but we do not go beyond the created sphere. We are creatures, we cannot go outside the created sphere. We cannot take in infinitude, or live in infinitude; we are creatures. But Christ went beyond the created sphere. He went, we are told, “up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things”, Ephesians 4:10. He comes back into the created sphere. He sends gifts down here. “He has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers” — no sign gifts, as I may call them. That is, it is not a question of working miracles in Ephesians. The casting out of a demon does not build a person up; it is negative. “With a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body”, that is positive. The gifts are here on earth, according to Ephesians, to the end that we might all arrive at the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man. The word for ‘man’ there is a distinguished word; it is a word that denotes distinction. “At the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”.

Well now, I want to show in a simple way, that in Exodus 16 that is what is in view, that God has no thought but one measure for each of us. It is “an omer for every man” (verse 16). You say, What about the children? Because a man having a house, may have children, many children, young children. There is no reduction of provision for children in the manna. It is the same provision for a babe as it was for a father, the eldest person in the house. An omer for a person: there is no other measure. That is the measure, and that was the measure that was put into the pot. It is the measure for a man, a man according to God. If God is pleased to take an omer to indicate His measure of a man, well, that is his measure. We accept that. I can understand that Israel, those two million people or so in the desert, had they the Spirit, had they been like ourselves, would need Bible readings to teach them what this meant. But this chapter is written for us, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning”, Romans 15:4. And the Bible readings are for us. That is what is in view. I doubt if there was a single Bible reading — it was a poor state of things. It would not appear that there was a single voluntary offering made to God in the wilderness during those forty years; in other words, the flesh profiteth nothing. It was the patience of God with His people that was manifest in those days, looking on thousands of years to a time like the present — “upon whom the ends of the ages have come”. That is our position.

^[p. 354] Is God going to let this time pass by without some little measure, some little offerings? The New Testament shows that you get supplies Godward, there is response. God says, in the prophets, that they offered to the idols in the wilderness. There were no Bible readings in the sense in which we have them, in the sense in which the Spirit of God brings home to us the spiritual meaning of things, and forms us accordingly. It was the days of the flesh, the sight period; and the flesh profits nothing. Ours is the time of results for God, the results of one’s spirit. So that the Bible reading is today. God would tell us the meaning of the omer, and the meaning of the manna, today. The Holy Spirit come down from heaven is the means of understanding.

And so we are instructed, dear brethren, that whatever number of children we may have in our houses, there is only one measure for each, according to the poll. In other words, in the household there is one standard, whether the children are converted or whether they are not, as we speak. The parent who knows God has in mind the one divine standard, and that is Christ. It is potential. The omer is potential. It is a question of the mind that is behind it, what is in view, what God would bring every one to in the household; the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. If he gathers much, he has nothing over; if he gathers little, he has got no lack; because it is all a question of what is there in the way of capacity. The manna disappears if it is not eaten, because there is no capacity for it; but God says, The omer is My thought, whatever your thought may be, it is My thought, and if you have not got it in your house I have got it in Mine. So that the pot containing it is laid up before the testimony. Before the ark was formed, before the tabernacle was built, there was this thought that God would have in His house, before Him perpetually, this omer as a ^[p. 355] memorial; as if He were to say, If you have not got it in your house, I have got it in Mine; and it is there, it is the measure of a man according to God. It is what Christ was here upon earth, and that is God’s standard; what He was in everyday circumstances. That is the idea of the manna. It was on the face of the desert. Wherever you looked in the morning, there it was, volumes of it. But your measure is the omer. When the sun arose it disappeared. There it was; you could see a man bring it into his house. If he had a dozen children, he had a dozen omers, and an omer for himself as well. There was the one idea in the eating. It is the Christ that was here in lowly grace in this world, and it brings about the life of Jesus in the believer, the eating of this food; and no household can be without that measure. It is not number 666, but the number of a man according to God. If I let the things of this world into my house, through the radio, through the novel, through the magazine, I get another measure than the omer. That is not the food whereby the stature according to Christ is built up. It is the omer, the life of Jesus.

And so as I grow old I begin to see more forcibly than ever that my body is mortal; young people do not see that so much. What are we to do with our mortal bodies? Clothe them with the life of Jesus! “Bearing about”, we are told, “in the body the dying of Jesus” — the mortal body — “that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”, 2 Corinthians 4: 10, 11. What better use can they be put to? No better use! Not that we are looking to die, not that we may be unclothed, but clothed upon. But, nevertheless, we are conscious of the mortal body. But be clothed with the life of Jesus, that is the testimony. And the older we are, the more the force of that comes to us. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which ^[p. 356] are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”, 2 Corinthians 4:18.

But there is every day the life of Jesus, and that can be supported only in our mortal condition by the manna, by the measure of the omer. God says, I have got it in My house, so to speak. There it was before the testimony, and in every tent in Israel there was that which corresponded to that measure in the tabernacle. Every child in every tent was to be brought up in the light of that measure in the tabernacle. He is to have a part in that before the tabernacle. So that he has, as I said, according to Ephesians, got that measure; the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ.

Well, that is what I had in mind, dear brethren, in these verses; so that we might be impressed with the need of capacity in the things of God, and see that God has a measure for us, and that He has furnished us with the means of attaining to it; the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ.