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EPHESIANS 5 (READING AT HEDGE END, HANTS, 5 MAY 1936)

CAC It was on my heart that we might consider a little the love of Christ to the assembly as His wife, and that we might see the measure and character of that love and what it has in view. Then I thought we might see how it is worked out in pattern in a company of men in this world in the gospel of John. For John has a great place in the wisdom of God as filling out and developing what has been presented by Paul.

Ques Is the relationship of wife to be known ^[p. 77] by the saints now?

CAC I thought that the assembly is the wife before she is the bride. The bride is more for display, but the wife is for the satisfaction of the Husband. And Christ is serving the assembly in His unlimited love with a view to a complete result. The thought of perfection is being reached in the object of His love — she is to be completely satisfactory to His own heart.

Ques Is that what is developed in verse 32 — a great mystery?

CAC Yes, the natural relationship of husband and wife is introduced, but only to bring out what is connected with Christ and the assembly. We see the extreme devotion of Christ to the assembly: He delivered Himself up for her. That is not the thought of atonement. When it is a question of dealing with sin, the action is that of God; God delivered Him up for us all, and it was Jehovah who made his soul an offering for sin. But He delivered Himself up by His own act and with a view to a complete result; she will be satisfactory in every way to His own heart. “Christ ... delivered Himself up” is a statement that occurs only three times in Scripture. It occurs in Galatians 2: 20 where Paul says, “The Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”; it is the same word. It also occurs in verse 2 of this chapter, “Christ ... delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”, and it occurs here in relation to the assembly. It is the unreserved devotion of His love and His thoughts and service toward us at this moment are according to the love in which He delivered Himself up for us.

Ques Is the sanctifying and washing the present service?

CAC Yes, it is, but it is the thought of a completed result. We have been looking at the prominence in Scripture ^[p. 78] of the thought of a complete result. We were looking at it in connection with the kingdom; “first the blade, then an ear, then full corn in the ear”, Mark 4: 28. A complete mature result is secured on earth, not in heaven but on earth in the kingdom. And when the complete result is reached He puts in the sickle. The washing of water by the word is adequate means to bring about a completed result; and I would suggest that it is set forth in pattern in the men that we see in the gospel of John. The completed result was there so that they were morally quite suitable to be with Him in glory and to see His glory.

It is rather remarkable that in Scripture when it is a question of making ready for the marriage it says, “His wife has made herself ready”, Revelation 19: 7. There is a moral force in that; it is the exercises of the wife, and all that has come out in her as the wife in the place of responsibility, that have made the wedding garments, because it is the righteousnesses of the saints. She appears as the bride in the value of all that she has acquired as the wife. There is a certain intimacy about a wife that there is not in a bride. A bride is one newly come to the position, but a wife is matured in her appreciation of her husband and in her affections and in her knowledge of his mind; if you could think of a perfect husband and a perfect wife, she would come up to the full measure of his thoughts. That is the idea in Ephesians 5; the assembly, through the washing of water by the word is to come up to the full measure of His thoughts so that He can present her “to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things”; she is “holy and blameless”.

Ques Is it a similar thought to “The heart of her husband confideth in her”, Proverbs 31: 11?

CAC Yes, she is the worthy recipient of his confidence.

^[p. 79] If you read what the Lord says about these men in John 17 you will see He says nothing about a spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He has in His mind and before His heart a washed and purified company in whom there is neither spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but which is holy and blameless; He can commit all His interests to them. It is a mature result; they are men. Now I think the Lord would exercise us as to whether we have really apprehended the thought of His love to secure a mature result morally now so that we fill the place of wife in a way that is completely satisfactory to the heart of Christ.

Rem He says, “Ye are already clean”, John 15: 3.

CAC That indicates to us the wonderful power of the word by which He washes us. I think we sometimes get the idea that this washing goes on piecemeal; a little bit cleansed here and another little bit cleansed there and a good deal of imperfection left. But that is not the Lord’s idea of washing at all, for He says, “He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet, but is wholly clean”, John 13: 10. Is not that a complete result?

Ques Is the wife always ready to be presented?

CAC I think the divine conception is that the assembly should be at any moment suitable for presentation; and is not there a presentation every Lord’s day morning? If the Lord comes to us there is a certain presentation of the assembly in a spiritual way now.

Ques When the Lord speaks of giving Himself, is that the complete thought?

CAC It was a complete dedication of Himself in the self-sacrifice of love. The same word is used of Barnabas and Paul. The assembly at Jerusalem commended them as men that had “given up their lives”, Acts 15: 26. It is the same word. It is devotion that knows no limit and no reserve. I think we see in the gospel of John, particularly in chapters 13 to 17, that which in this world was His ^[p. 80] own flesh. It was not strange or alien to Him. He says, “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world”, John 17: 16.

Ques Does Adam give the idea, “Bone of my bones” Genesis 2: 23?

CAC Yes, she is his counterpart. If the assembly is the counterpart of Christ, that is the complete result. This washing of water by the word is very important, because I am afraid we often think of it as if it were a service that deals with what is objectionable in the saints piecemeal, a bit at a time, but I do not think that is the idea. It effects a complete result at once, so that as the Lord sat down at the supper table, He was surrounded by a cleansed and purified company. Not all of them, I admit, because Judas was there, but the company as a whole was clean; the complete result had been reached. Think of what the word is, the washing of water by the word, it is the blessed testimony of the Father communicated by the Son and that communication is essentially pure and holy. It makes no account whatever of the world, or of the natural man or of the man after the flesh. It makes everything of what God is and of what He has secured in Christ. Now it was that powerful testimony of what was in Christ that cleansed them, and it had brought a new element into their souls that had no taint or blemish upon it. In the view of the Lord that characterised them. What they had received had been applied to them by the washing of water by the word and that characterised them.

Ques Would that be the way in which He could say, “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you”, John 15: 9?

CAC That is very beautiful and it helps very much because that is the love of complacency. If He loved them as the Father loved Him, He was able to view them without “spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things”.

Ques Is it the thought of presentation in chapter 17, “Be with me where I am”?

CAC There is no disparity, they can be introduced into a scene of glory where the Father is glorified in the Son and all the Father’s purposes and counsels are brought to fruition without the slightest taint of disparity or unsuitability. To really enjoy our place with the Lord and with God in the assembly we need to apprehend that; that is partly why I suggested it, because if there is not the sense of this complete cleansing by that which has been brought to us through the word, we shall not be thoroughly at home with divine Persons. The word that He had spoken to them brought in entirely new elements. It was not a modification of the natural, or an improvement of it or something added to it; it is entirely new elements. The Father is revealed in the Son and the Son expresses the Father and delivers Himself up so that everything connected with sin and defilement might pass out of sight. In this gospel the Lord is seen bearing His cross and going forth to the place of a skull. What an end of all that man is! His great thoughts and pride and everything else — what are they in the place of a skull? And in John’s gospel there is a beautiful touch: it says there were two others crucified with Him; it does not say anything about their character or the history of their souls, but just the fact that two others were crucified with Him. It is the testimony in these two that there was to be an end of the man after the flesh. Now if that man is ended and all that is of God is brought in and brought to bear upon our souls by the love of Christ, it is a complete cleansing. It is what is entirely new, it is Christ and the Father’s love. How pure and holy is a company of persons who are cherishing that! The washing is by the introduction of something altogether and divinely new ^[p. 82] and perfect and it sets aside by its power, when applied by the love of Christ to the soul, everything that was there before, and elements come in in which Christ can delight, which become suitable for presentation to Himself.

Ques What would you say as to feet-washing?

CAC That is a very important and necessary question, because the feet-washing shows how the love of Christ considers us in our present position in a scene of defilement. We cannot put our feet down on a spot that has no defilement. Now the Lord considers for the saints, so that we may not be hindered from enjoying this complete purification which His love has brought in. The more we are conscious that we are without “spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things” the more we feel anything which would soil, and the feet-washing comes in in connection with that, so that we may not be distracted from the sense of being perfectly at home with Him.

I suppose the service is continuous, because as long as we are in the scene of defilement we need the service of feet-washing. The Lord has inaugurated it, but He has shown, at the same time, that He has others that can do it. If He can wash feet, they can wash feet; they are His own flesh.

Ques. When is that done?

CAC I suppose it is really a continuous service which is carried on as we understand the nature of the complete cleansing. We must understand the nature of the complete cleansing in order to be able to do this service which only applies to the feet. It is done in the intercourse of the brethren one with another, and it is done in the meeting, and it is done by the ministry of the word. We have known what it was to be affected by the circumstances we have passed through having lost the sense of entire suitability, but as we come to a meeting there is a cleansing process ^[p. 83] which bears witness to us of the love of Christ. It is a purified and cleansed company who alone can understand feet-washing. If we do not know the complete purification and cleansing effected by Christ for the assembly we shall not apprehend the feet-washing; we shall not know the character of it. I think it is most important to see that all the elements that have come in, the knowledge of the Father and the knowledge of Christ, have come in through the incarnation of Christ and have no connection with the fallen man whatever; they have come from heaven and are entirely of God. There is no admixture of these things with the fallen man or the fallen state. Think of that passing in cleansing power over our souls by the love of Christ!

Now I wanted to say a little as to the nourishing and cherishing; I think the Lord would not have these to be vague thoughts to us. The nourishing is the idea of sustaining and support. I believe the Lord sustains and supports and nourishes His wife with that which He has proved to be of the greatest power for sustenance Himself.

Ques Do you refer to the verse in John 6: 33, “the bread of God”, come down from heaven?

CAC I think it refers particularly to the verse there where the Lord says, “As the living Father has sent me and I live on account of the Father” (verse 57). What a secret support that was! As a Man in this world He lived by the Father. Now I believe that is the character of nourishment that He would minister to His wife. 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. That was more in connection with His service; He had food in His service in finishing the Father’s work — He was sustained and fed. Now that is the character of food which the Lord would in His love make a great ^[p. 84] reality to us. So that the gospel of John, and particularly these chapters at the supper table, are to be greatly studied in connection with the way that He brings out the Father. There is no greater source of sustenance and strength for the assembly as the wife of Christ than the knowledge of the Father. It is the greatest spiritual nourishment possible. The Father is that particular revelation of God which marks the present time; it is that manifestation of God which has come out through the Son, so that there is a peculiar quality about it. As has often been said, the Father is the name of grace. And the Lord tells us distinctly that His words were the Father’s words. Now the love of Christ would bring the nourishing power of the Father’s words unto His wife to nourish her, that she might be nourished and strengthened and fortified by all that which is the joy of His own heart. How else could she be suitable to Him? And so, great importance attaches to the Father being brought in very distinctly and blessedly in the assembly, because the strengthening of the assembly as the wife is dependent upon the knowledge of the Father. Not that it is exactly an advanced thought, because John says little children know the Father; but it is a most nourishing thing. Can you think of anything more pure and holy than a person detached from the world and nourished by the words that came from the Son? A complete result, surely!

Then another great point in the nourishing seems to be connected with the presence of the Comforter. I do not know anything more sustaining than the presence of the Comforter. The Lord realised that Himself — the Spirit of God descended and abode upon Him. It was a great support to Him. I say that with reverence and advisedly — it was a great support to that blessed One when the Spirit came down and abode upon Him. There was nothing to disturb the rest of the Holy Spirit in that blessed Person,

^[p. 85] and He could speak of Himself as the One whom the Father had sealed. It is said, too, that the Father gave Him the Spirit without measure. I suppose that could never be true of any other. But what strength there was in it! What sustainment and support! And so when He speaks of the Comforter coming, it was a Person well known to Himself, in all the blessed support that the Spirit could be to a holy Person down here. Remember, we are talking about holy persons now, who correspond with Christ, who can do as He did and who can love as He did and be hated as He was. It is that holy, sanctified, purified company which constitutes His wife, His assembly. Think of the effect on such a company as that of having the Comforter. One who comes close beside you: that is the idea, that the Holy Spirit comes close to your side. Now the Lord nourishes His wife by bringing these things in continual ministry before us. These things are being woven into the warp and woof of our spiritual being all the time, and constitute our spiritual strength.

Then another source of nourishment would be the sense that we have of immediate access to the Father and the Son. We can ask for anything connected with us as the wife — there is not a single thing that belongs to us as the wife of Christ that we cannot ask for and get immediately. He does not put in any conditions; He says, ‘I will do it’ and He says the same of the Father, ‘He will do it’. I may ask a great deal connected with myself, but that is not the wife. The wife has no interest but His interest, no matters or business of her own; and it is beautiful to think that the Lord has no business but the assembly. The man in Deuteronomy 24 who marries a new wife is exempted from all military duties and all business that he may pay all his attention to his wife and gladden her. How precious to think that Christ at the present time is exempt from all governmental concerns!

^[p. 86] He is carrying on no warfare, He is giving His undivided attention in love to the assembly.

Then there is the thought of cherishing. That is, by the manifestation of His love He cherishes the proper affections of the assembly as His wife. He knows how to express His love so that He can call upon them in John 15 to love one another as He had loved them. That is, He appeals to the experience they had had of His love. Now it is a poor thing if the Lord cannot appeal to some experience of His love in our hearts. We do not know much of the place of the wife if He cannot appeal to an experience of His love. He says, “As I have loved you”. They had experienced it in the feet-washing and therefore I think it is a serving love, love to the brethren that would serve them at personal cost. You can always serve the brethren; you cannot always be complacent in them, perhaps but you can always serve them. But in chapter 15 it is complacent love. What a wonderful thing to hear Him say that the Father’s love to Him was the measure and character of His love to them. It shows how entirely they were in His view without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Now, He says, “Love one another, as I have loved you”. All that has been expressed in Christ as the Husband is to come out in the assembly as the wife. I believe the thought of Christ is that the beautiful movements of holy and spiritual affections that make manifest that she is His own flesh should come into expression here in this world before we are in heaven. I believe it is the divine thought that the wife should come into actual expression here in this wonderful activity of holy affections which make it manifest that she is His own flesh. And I think if we study these chapters in John we shall see that the assembly is there, you might say, essentially. John does not give us the assembly formally but He gives us the very substance, the very nature of it. In John 17 ^[p. 87] the Lord does not ask for the Spirit to be given to them, which is very suggestive, because I believe the Lord was speaking to the Father in the light of the complete result of all that He had done and of His being glorified, and therefore He regards them in His prayer as having the Spirit. He can commit them to the Father as those whom He had guarded and carried through in the fidelity of His love. And now He turns them over to the Father as suitable persons for the Father to keep and to sanctify and finally to place in His own presence in suitability to be there. When the Lord delivered Himself up for the assembly He had seen it in its true spiritual character and value in the men whom the Father had given Him out of the world; He had seen it and He had loved it. The love of Christ is not a sovereign love, it is a discriminating love and a selective love, a love that loves what is lovable. And it is very blessed to see that we have the assembly in John, not formally but vitally and substantially, in a spiritual way.

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