THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE TESTIMONY
[p. 267] THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE TESTIMONY
Revelation 11: 7, 8; Matthew 26:30; John 20: 17
I have in mind, dear brethren, to show from these three scriptures the present position of the testimony; firstly the outward circumstances of it; secondly, its spiritual trend, the mount of Olives denoting this; and thirdly the end or finality of it. The first is represented in Jerusalem as seen in the section of Matthew from which I have read. It is in that setting that the Lord’s supper stands. The Lord’s supper has become the public centre of the testimony. It was intended by the Lord to be this, and it became this more especially in relation to the ministry of the apostle Paul. This was subsequently obscured, but that was its setting, and its institution was outwardly in Jerusalem; that is Jerusalem as seen in the gospel of Matthew as the Lord came into it for the last time. He exposes it in the most scathing terms: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those that are sent unto her” (Matthew 23: 37). In His mind it was the concentration of all wickedness, particularly the wickedness that enshrouds itself in religion. That wickedness had become entrenched in Jerusalem.
The verses in Revelation allude to what Jerusalem represents in our times. The epistle to the Galatians pictures it as it was in apostolic times: “mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which is n, for she is in bondage with her children” (Galatians 4: 25). The verses I have read refer to it spiritually, and I may say, it is most important to learn how to read and think spiritually. We have in these verses the great city alluded to in which the testimony was. Its ministers lay upon the street of that great city which is said to be “spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified”. We have [p. 268] the history of wickedness in the most solemn way brought down thus from the days of Abraham until the last days, not only of our own dispensation, but of the dispensation that follows, that in which the ancient earthly people of God are yet to be gathered. Much time would be required to read and study the history of this world, but God is not concerned about all that detail. The history of Europe is given under the figure of “a little opened book” in Revelation 10. There is no need for us to dip into the details of wickedness; God is pleased to give us the great outline so that we may have sufficient by which to judge it, and by which to judge the world which is its theatre, a most important fact, especially for young Christians. So that we have the great history of wickedness gathered up in this verse which, referring to the great city says, it “is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified”.
Sodom may well be noted for a moment. Its position and character in Scripture is more or less familiar to us, but it is one phase according to this description of the world of wickedness. I am not occupying you, as you will understand, with wickedness, save to indicate the place it is intended to have in our intelligence. We read in the prophet Zechariah 5: 8, “This is Wickedness;” a certain system described under the figure of two women with wings actuated by the wind. It is a system which is supported by the devil, carried along by his power, and it is set on its own base in the land of Shinar. We are thus enabled to see how God disposes of Wickedness — how He exposes it and disposes of it, consigning it to its own place.
Sodom represents, as I said, one phase of wickedness. It is presented as a very wicked place in its first mention. It represents, among other things, the world in its allurements. Lot was allured towards [p. 269] it, a very solemn consideration for young people. Little knowing, perhaps, what was actually in Sodom, his eyes were attracted by the well-watered plain of the Jordan. His instincts, as unjudged, ungoverned by the light of God, led him in that direction, as separating from the household of faith. His eyes were cast towards it. He “pitched tents as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13: 12). The Spirit depicts the facts so that we may see the attractiveness, the alluring thing, and how by degrees the child of God was drawn to it. He “pitched tents” toward it; he was drawn irresistibly in that direction, because of his state. That is the secret. A true believer recoils from it, although the flesh hankers after it. The believer checks those tendencies and is saved. Lot was not true, so that we are told at the time of his capture, that he dwelt in the place. Now, I speak thus for the young saints, knowing well as I do, and as all of us older ones do, how shallow is our judgment of the world in our youthfulness. We are led on; the thing looks well: we excuse ourselves as we proceed towards it, until we are there.
Now, all that enters into the present moment, and the Lord’s supper stands in that very relation. Has it any counteracting influence with us? It should have; it is intended to have. “The love of Christ constrains us”, says Paul. The love of Christ is a great constraining power to keep us from those allurements. Sodom is linked with Egypt: “as one goes to Zoar” we read in Genesis 13: 10. Many of you have not been there; you have been brought up under shelter, and you are to be warned.
Egypt itself is the next thought mentioned, which means the world of the flesh which holds us captive. Lot is seen as a man to be desired in Sodom. Christians are; Christianity in a worldly person is [p. 270] an asset in the world; it is not to be rejected there. In a worldly person, it enhances the world, but it is not intended to do so. It is a discredit to us as enhancing this world. No doubt, Lot was an ornament in Sodom. When Abraham brought back Lot and his house and the others, the king of Sodom asked for the persons, including Lot. He was no refuse in the eyes of the king of Sodom; he was one to be desired. There is no intimation that Lot took sides with his uncle Abraham, the man of faith, notwithstanding he had been rescued by him. He was of value in Sodom, and sat in the gate.
In Egypt it is not so. The people of God are seen there as held in cruel captivity, with taskmasters over them. That is to say, the gratification of fleshly appetites is there, and they are held through it. What taskmasters our appetites are, beloved young people! Sweet is spiritual liberty that Christ has brought in for you! I am speaking now of bondage to the world through our lusts, through our desires. We are enslaved by them and unable to rescue ourselves. God alone can rescue us. If there is anyone in that state God is waiting to rescue you. “I am come down”, He said, “to deliver” (Exodus 3: 8). That is what He says about Egypt. It is very remarkable that He came down both in regard to Sodom and in regard to Egypt. As to Sodom, it was in fairness to see just what the wickedness was. As to Egypt, it was not to see what the slavery was, but to rescue. “I am come down to deliver”, He says. God came down in love to deliver from Egypt, and the great city that embodied Egypt exists today and, perhaps, with more power than previously. The great cities of the world enter largely into the enslaving properties of it.
Young people flock to them; they are calculated to enslave us, but God says, “I am come down to deliver” — He has come down in Jesus.
Then, the third thought is, “where also their Lord was crucified”, the witnesses’ Lord. Does that not touch the heart of any one here who may be enslaved in the world? It should. I scarcely ever sit down to partake of the Lord’s supper without thinking of the external surroundings. It is “where also their Lord was crucified”. Be it a city, or town, or village — whatever it may be externally, whatever transpires, whatever there may be religiously — that is the fact, a most solemn fact, that it represents in some sense the great city “where also their Lord was crucified”. Is not the line of demarcation most pronounced? It is. The Lord’s supper is no part of this world; it stands over against it. “As often”, says the apostle, “as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11: 26). That is the position of the testimony at the present time. The Lord has given His supper a most prominent place; He has brought it out in remarkable clearness, not only generally, but in detail, and it is intended to have a powerful effect on our hearts in relation to all these things. The position is clearly marked. As sitting down there, we are in a public way identified with our crucified Lord. All outside is under obligation in regard of that crucifixion. We have taken sides with the crucified Man. Hence, Jerusalem, as I said, is outwardly the place in which the Supper was instituted, and not the mount of Olives.
The mount of Olives comes into view there, and what is said is, “when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives”. I wish to speak of it just briefly, so that we may understand it as the system representing our spiritual resources — not yet heaven, but the mount of Olives; typically, a position linked with heaven. It does not represent heaven; it represents, to my mind, an out-of-the-world state of things. That may be [p. 272] negative in a way, and it is, but it is positive too, as I hope to show. But there is such a thing as being out of the world for the Christian. He cannot go out of it physically — as the apostle says, “then ye should go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5: 10) — but he may go out of it spiritually, and that is the point. The word ‘spiritually’ in Revelation 11 has to be borne in mind, and the mount of Olives represents the out-of-the-world state of things in a spiritual sense. That is a very real thing, and I just remark briefly on it, especially as seen in the gospel of Luke. Luke tells us of the Lord, that “by day he was teaching in the temple, and by night, going out, he remained abroad on the mountain called the mount of Olives” (Luke 21: 37). He was “abroad on the mountain called the mount of Olives;” He spent His nights there. What is meant is, that He had resources outside of Jerusalem. As a Servant here, and our Pattern, He drew from those resources and returned in the morning to resume His ministry in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the great theatre of the testimony publicly, the theatre for ministry. As of old, Elisha went to Samaria after, as seeing Elijah go up, he received a double portion of his spirit, so now the minister is in Jerusalem publicly. That is, he is where the need is, and where the opposition is. The opposition is concentrated there. Let us not be deceived about that. As we minister in any sense as Christ did we shall not fail to draw out opposition.
I am speaking now of what is intimated in the mount of Olives, a realm of spiritual privilege and resource. We have to understand that. John says that the Lord went there and others went to their own homes, but Luke says He went there at night, as if He went every night while He was in Jerusalem. You could not find Him anywhere in Jerusalem in the evenings, or at midnight, or in the small hours [p. 273] of the morning. I am referring to those parts of the night because they are so full of the wickedness of Jerusalem. They represent the world in which men and women are released from their ordinary circumstances and duties to give vent to their feelings and desires. The Lord is not found in Jerusalem, and, morally, that is the position of any person who is spiritual. You will not find him there; if he is released from his ordinary occupation, you will find him with his family, according to God, with the Bible, or with the brethren; you will find him on his knees; you will find him out of the world, in other words. That is the point, he is out of the world, and as there he is furnished with heavenly supplies. The springs of God are found there; he is maintained in freshness and satisfaction there, and he returns to the sphere of his responsibility in heavenly vigour and power. That is exactly in the fullest measure what marked the Lord Jesus as in such circumstances.
Now, the Lord’s supper leads to that. I read the verse deliberately from Matthew, and not from Luke, because we have in Matthew — and in Mark, too — what places us together as brethren in a spiritual way. As we sit down together, according to 1 Corinthians, we are there as men and women by divine appointment “in assembly” and, as in that position, we draw out all the interest of heaven. Would that I could convey to you what it is in the eyes of heaven, in the mind of heaven, for saints to be gathered “together in assembly”, as I may say, in Jerusalem. Heaven is most intent. What will it not do for us? The blessed Spirit is there, and it is His office to bring to our hearts the things that bear upon the position. The love of Christ bears upon it, not merely in theory, but in spiritual power. He is ready to do this, and He puts us in touch with one another in a spiritual way, so that [p. 274] we are really together, not only bodily, but in spirit, and there is a holy, mutual state of things there in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The movement is in that connection. “They went”, it says, “out to the mount of Olives;” they sang a hymn; they joined their voices unitedly in that hymn. It was real to them. Nothing is said of the Lord’s part there. He had already been speaking, conveying to them what the bread and the cup meant — especially the cup in these gospels, Matthew and Mark — and now it is as if He would let what He had said have its full bearing. The Lord would have the mutual effect of His supper come into evidence. What a sight for heaven, to see this holy, mutual binding of what had been presented come about! And then the singing, and the movement to the mount of Olives. As there, we are outside of Jerusalem; it is a spiritual, heavenly state of things. The world does not see that. It may see the emblems, but not that; it has no eyes for that. “How is it” said one, “that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?” (John 14: 22). The Lord says, “If any one love me;” that is the secret. The world’s eyes cannot follow that. It is spiritual. The Lord is aiming at making us intelligently spiritual, that the assembly may take a practical, concrete form in these last days. That is what He is seeking. The mutual state being there, the singing of the hymn expressing it, there is movement, a movement spiritually, you will understand, not physically.
“They went”, for us is spiritual; it is set in Matthew and Mark in that way. Luke defers the movement to the mount of Olives, and supposes the Lord as taking the lead in it, but not Matthew and Mark.
Now, the movement proceeding, the verse in John 20 fits, and I speak of it just for a moment. The words are well known, but what they convey [p. 275] is perhaps not so clearly understood, and I just wanted to point out one or two things as to it, in closing. The first thought I would mention is that the passage contemplates, not only love, but regulated, intelligent love — an important matter. That is what Mary represents. Love being there is not enough for the assembly, nor will it be enough for heaven. We must know what we do. Intelligence or understanding must enter into assembly service, and must enter into heaven, too. We are to be there as knowing why we are there, and how we are there — how it has come about. Had Mary gone into heaven as she came to the sepulchre, how great would have been her disadvantage. She is just a type; a wonderful person indeed, but, nevertheless, a type for us, that love is not enough. We need instruction; we are to be in the assembly, as in heaven, in intelligence.
So the Lord says to her, “Mary” — He had said other things — and she says, “Rabboni”, which signifies Teacher. That is word that young Christians ought to keep in mind in regard of the assembly. The first followers of Jesus, according to John, called Him Rabbi, and they also wanted to know where He dwelt, and they are examples for us. The Lord then says to her, “Touch me not”. The relations are not to be such as she might have in mind. They are to be according to heaven, according to the counsels of God — no less than that. We are on this platform in John 20. We are on the high level — a word we should accept — the high level of the truth linking on with eternal counsel which God would effect now as to our intelligence. Presently He will transfer us into heaven, but for the moment it is a question of our formation in intelligence. So that He says, “I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God”.
[p. 276] Dear brethren, I want to say in closing what I have more particularly in mind in this address, and that is, that God as God is the great end in view in all that He effects, and this is seen particularly in the higher features of the truth; when we get on to these high levels spiritually, the more God as God comes before us. It must be so. “Of him, and through him, and for him are all things” (Romans 11: 36). Hence, when the Lord says “Father” here, He intends what He is saying to be progressive; He intends us to move in our minds from that precious appellation of God to the other one which covers the whole Deity, the fulness of It — that is God. But what God? Not the God of Israel simply. It is the same Being, of course, the same God, but the truth as to Israel’s God is necessarily narrower in its bearing. The new covenant is made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but we cannot restrict God to any nation or even nations. God is God. John impresses us with this from the outset. He says, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1: 18), and, again, he quotes the Lord as saying, “God is a spirit” (John 4: 24). Why should he say that, save to accustom our minds to God. Paul speaks to us of the invisible God (1 Timothy 1: 17), and again of One “dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see” (1 Timothy 6: 16). Are these things written for nothing? No; they are some of the greatest things in Scripture, and God intends us to observe them, and to get alongside of Christ. If I am to know God aright, I must know Christ’s God, how as Man He regards God. Christ is God, of course, having part in the Deity, as we have often remarked. Indeed, He is said to be “over all, God blessed for ever” (Romans 9: 5), and how we rejoice in that! We have to understand things as Scripture presents them, and this requires that He always retains His absoluteness.
[p. 277] Hence, Paul goes on to tell us in 1 Corinthians 15, that when Christ has subdued everything, He will hand over the kingdom “to him who is God and Father”, and then that the Son Himself is placed in subjection to Him who has subjected all things to Him. And what for? “That God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15: 24 - 28). The preposition ‘in’ is one of power; God is all and is in all; He is in the universe in power. That is what is in view, and so the Lord, in speaking of the ascension — for that is the point — is leading us up in thought, not physically yet, but in thought: “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”.
It is as being alongside of Christ in the power of the Spirit that we grasp these things. What the Father is to Christ! He looked up to heaven, and said, “Father”. If you heard that, how impressed you would be! And here, He says, “My God”. It must have impressed Mary as He said, “My God and your God”. It is God in His infiniteness, as I have been speaking of it, and the more we progress in the truth, the more spiritual we become, the more God in that sense will be before us: “Of him, and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever” (Romans 11: 36). That is what will fill our hearts eternally; we shall be filled unto all His fulness, yet steady in the knowledge of Himself as Jesus presents Him to us, and in some little sense as Jesus knows Him, and as Jesus, our great Leader, speaks to Him.
These are the thoughts I had to present, and I trust that the Lord may bless them to us all.