The Spirit Of God Presented In The Epistle To The Ephesians
THE SPIRIT OF GOD PRESENTED IN THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
Ephesians 1: 13, 14; 2: 13-18; 3: 14-19; 6: 17-20
I have in my heart to speak of the Spirit of God as He is presented by the apostle in these passages in the epistle to the Ephesians.
The Lord is drawing our attention especially in these days to this epistle and to the importance for us to seek to penetrate the great thoughts that God Himself has communicated. It is a great thing to have the feeling that it is possible to enter now into what is future as to its perfect realisation in virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit is here, and not only here but dwelling in us. In reality, the characteristic feature of Christianity is that the Holy Spirit is here, God Himself is here, dwelling in the saints. This makes everything possible for us; not only is it a matter of understanding, but also of entering in power into what is our part.
The first passage read refers to the Holy Spirit of promise and speaks of Him as a seal with which we have been sealed, and as Earnest, found at the end of the paragraph beginning at verse 3, in which the apostle begins to bring out the infinite greatness of God’s thoughts in a spirit of worship. He is not establishing the truth in a doctrinal way, but he begins as we have often remarked by attributing praise to God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and recalling what God has been pleased to do. The apostle speaks as only spiritual persons can who in some measure at least have the enjoyment of the fact that they have found their place in relationship to God as being themselves associated with Christ, for he says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, an expression indicating clearly that the apostle, as well as those to whom he is writing, enjoys the fact that they know what it is to find their place in the presence of God known in this wonderful light: “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. It is not only the Lord Jesus Christ, but our, thus underlining the fact that Christ is known by the saints and that he is appropriated by them in a sense; it is thus that they were exercised and that they appreciate also what God is in relation to Christ.
It is in having this point of view before him that the apostle begins to bring out the thoughts of God and, as we know, he returns to what was before the foundation of the world. He directs our attention immediately towards God whose intention was to come in as He has done and to give us intelligence about what He is working; God’s end is indeed that we should be brought back to Himself, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a spirit of worship. This is why the apostle takes things from their point of departure and considers them from God’s point of view—what He was pleased to propose for His own satisfaction. He says: “he has chosen us in him (in Christ) before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love”. What is going to be realised is not only in the future, beloved, it is the pleasure of God that we should be such even now. It is said, “chosen us in him” (in Christ). Then he speaks about His purpose: “marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself”. Then we find the expression, “the Beloved”, and then “the Christ”—a remarkable presentation of Christ! First of all, we have been chosen in Christ, which is over against in Adam¸ and we have been predestinated to be adopted “through Jesus Christ to himself”, which suggests the means, that is to say, we have the thought of the incarnation and then going on to the wonderful thought contained in the expression “taken into favour in the Beloved”. This position is already well established for us. Is it not wonderful that it should be possible for us to consider Christ in this light, “the Beloved”? The One in whom God has had the perfect answer to all that He had desired to find in man—in truth, the Man after His heart. All that God had desired to find in a Son He has found in Him; the beloved Son of God. He is the One in whom we have the figure of both David and Solomon at the same time. The name David means ‘beloved’; David was loved for what he was—a man after God’s heart; and the name Solomon means ‘peaceful’, but his second name, Jedidiah, means ‘the beloved of Jehovah’. God said in chapter 22 of the first book of Chronicles, “he shall be my son, and I will be his father”. Solomon represents Christ in His character as “the Beloved”, this absolute appellation implies in perfection what was typified at the same time in David and Solomon. It is wonderful to consider Christ in this light, as the One in whom God has already made us fit, the result of the accomplishment of what was purposed before the world’s foundation.
The apostle goes on as far as what will be in the time to come. The extent of time considered in verses 3 to 14 is indeed remarkable; it goes from the foundation of the world and reaches to “the fulness of times”; that is to say, the period which is to follow the present time. God has His own thoughts as to the administration of these times: man and his own will dominate in the present time under Satan’s instigation, but in “the fulness of times”, God will entrust the domination of all things to Christ, Christ known by this official designation, the anointed Head of the system that God purposes to establish for His own pleasure in the ages to come.
Then, we having been given the light as to this, the apostle adds: “the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth”, so as to give us some impressions of the immensity of what God intends to place under Christ’s authority, He Himself being this Head over all things. The detail is not given as to these things, but it is said, “in whom we have also obtained an inheritance”, the Spirit having in view to place emphasis on this special portion that the saints have today in the mind and heart of God. He has not only chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, but He has also called us to have part with Christ in the fulness of times, the inheritance that He will have then.
What has been said in these several verses 3 to 13—some only generalities, but of prime importance—precedes the first allusion to the Spirit made in the epistle to the Ephesians. So, the apostle, after having blessed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has done for us all these wonderful things mentioned, adds, “in whom also”, (that is to say in Christ) “having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”. That is also what God has done. He has not only chosen us, not only has He conceived His purpose and brought it to light in its own time, not only has He accomplished the work of redemption in Christ, but He has sealed us, which signifies that God has set on us the mark of the fact that we are His possession in relation to the great thoughts that His love has conceived. Is it not wonderful to go through this world, beloved, with the feeling of having received the Spirit of promise, which has been promised long before He was given?
Having received the Holy Spirit, we have this imprint, this indelible mark that God has taken possession of us, so that we are designated as those who are His, that we belong to Him according to what His love has proposed. It is a thought to cherish, a question of an individual and intimate kind. Being “anointed” according to what is said in chapter 1 of the second epistle to the Corinthians (v 21) is more a public matter, it is what gives the saints the power to take on a position worthy of Him, the whole position that God desires to occupy; this is what the unction has in view and it is very important that, in all that is public, there is the evidence that we have been anointed, that is to say the evidence of something entirely different from what is of man, something which would impress those who see or who hear that what they see or hear is of God. Let us take care that the unction we have received should be in evidence in all that is public, whether in collective movements or our individual movements, the saints should be recognised as those whom God has anointed: “Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm”, 1 Chron 16: 22. As I have said, the seal is different from the unction because it is not a public question but a private, intimate one, which means that God can look down and see those who, sealed with His seal, truly belong to Him, and who walk through this world bearing this distinctive mark, God recognising them as His own. What a favour!
Then we read, “who is the earnest of our inheritance”, “the earnest” leads us to what I said at the beginning, that is to say that there is nothing which has to be future as to its realisation, nothing that we cannot know in power and of which it is not possible for us to have the enjoyment in the present time. This is what is suggested by “the earnest of the Spirit”. The Spirit of God as “earnest” introduces in the present, not only as light but as present enjoyment in a really substantial way, what as to its actuality is still future. For example, the relationship of sons as to its fulness is still future, the sons’ place is in heaven and the condition of sons is conformity with Christ as it is said in Romans, “awaiting the adoption” will be realised fully in the future. However, most of us know by experience that it is possible to know already this joy of the relationship of sons and in reality. The Spirit in the character of “the earnest of the Spirit” brings into the present what as to the present time is still future. Thus, beloved, this subject of earnest is very important, for it is because we have this “earnest” of our inheritance that the response in spiritual intelligence and in holy affection to God, what God is seeking, is assured to Him now. Nothing has to be put off to the future, everything must find a response in the present time, and it is this that makes the assembly such an important vessel. In a sense, there is nothing which is more stimulating in the time in which we live, in the presence of the power of Satan and the gates of hades, while we are assailed by all sorts of infirmities and weaknesses in a world of darkness, than to realise that it is possible for God, even in such conditions, to be assured of a response for Himself in spiritual intelligence in His saints, an answer of love which is going to satisfy His heart and which is worthy of Him. This response is not measured by the smallness or the weakness of our earthen vessels, but by the power which is found in the Spirit, who is “the earnest” of all that God in His love has given to us. Consideration of the Spirit as “seal” brings out the fact that God has placed the mark of His possession upon us; He possesses us in relation to the wonderful thoughts that have been revealed to us in this chapter, and “the earnest” expresses the possibility that we have entrance even now into these thoughts through real joy and intelligence, and to respond to it practically.
In chapter 2, we have another thing and I believe that the mind of the Spirit in this chapter is that we should be able to move together, and this is a very important subject for, if each believer has his own individuality, which he will keep as far as I know eternally, and if it is true that each believer will be a son, nevertheless, God is pleased to secure for Himself in the assembly a vessel composed of many members that move as being one, kept together under the influence of Christ as Head, and moving thus in the power of the Spirit. This is God’s great triumph, and it is even more blessed that it should be so for God Himself is One. There are three Persons in the Godhead, but they are characterised by the most absolute unity, without the least divergence of thought or affection or action between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; they are the most perfect unity. This is why I think that there is particular satisfaction for God in the fact that He secures in the assembly, a vessel marked by unity, the moral answer to what He is Himself.
Chapter 2 of Ephesians expresses this thought, for we must not forget that unity is something very practical. There is only one alternative in this domain: either we are united and move together as one, or indeed it is not so. Unity is not an abstract idea, but a practical subject, and because numerous elements are involved, the way to unity has to be taken and the power of unity must be realised.
So God, in the wisdom of His ways, having in mind all that He was going to do, was pleased to choose the nation of Israel and to endow them the particular privileges, making it a part of His instruction as to His people that they should be separate from the nations that surrounded them. This is why the world’s history is presented from this position, that is to say, the nation of Israel on the one hand and the nations that surrounded them on the other, the first having no link in common with the other, although a very pronounced intimacy is established between the nation of Israel and the other nations. But when the right time came for God to reveal His greatest and most blessed thoughts, it is found that the assembly was to be composed both of Jews and Gentiles. The two categories of people who up to then had been irreconcilably opposed were from then on to form just one body. How was this going to work?
It is a very practical subject; there might be a few Jews among us, perhaps we are all Gentiles, whatever we are as to our natures introduces differences of character, of temperament, different points of view, differences of education and yet other differences. At any rate, unless God Himself has established us together by means which are entirely of Him; it is impossible to move together in unity.
This chapter brings out the way used by God so as to bring together in one two things irreconcilable in themselves. This is going to provoke in us the desire to know how we are going to move together in the body which is the assembly.
The apostle insists to the Ephesians that they should remember what the nations were before: “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”. Such was the condition of the Ephesians as Gentiles, and such was our condition. But the apostle adds, “now in Christ Jesus ye who once were afar off are become nigh by the blood of the Christ”. Note well the expression, “in Christ Jesus”; but this is not the whole text. Without wishing in any way to diminish the value of the blood of Christ, it seems to me that the important point is, “in Christ Jesus”, there is a testimony to the fact that death has intervened, and I would like to suggest to brothers and sisters, to the young especially, for whom these subjects may not be very clear at first sight, to meditate at length on the fact that Christ has died, and that He has died for us; the blood is the testimony to it, it testifies that His death is an accomplished fact. He has laid down in death the life which He had taken in a condition of flesh and blood, and this signifies for us that before God we are dead, our condition as to the flesh has come to an end in death. Christ has taken this place for us. This forms part of the glad tidings of peace, which God in His grace has furnished as the only means by which it was possible for Him to bring together in one body creatures irreconcilably opposed, established in Christ Jesus. May every soul be firmly established on this ground of the glad tidings, wonderful glad tidings! that we may know very well as doctrine but what about the practical side? It is so important to realise truly that “now in Christ Jesus ye who once were afar off are become nigh by the blood of the Christ”. The blood of Christ testifies to the means that God has used to remove all that was an obstacle to approach to Him, and it is “in Christ Jesus” that He has established us, that is to say, in the life of another Man, the Man of His good pleasure; and it is in Him that we have been brought nigh.
So the apostle goes on and enlarges his thought. He speaks of Jews and Gentiles, “For he is our peace”, peace that is, it is not a matter here of the peace of God as it is spoken of in other passages of Scripture. It is a matter here of peace between Jews and Gentiles, between two brothers or between two sisters who would have been absolutely unable to walk together on account of their nature. It is grace that we are found with a brother or a sister who tests us by their nature, and to have recourse to the glad tidings. What is of ourselves has come to an end in the death of Christ and it is the same for the brother or sister, we are both therefore “in Christ Jesus”. If our souls are maintained in the light of the glad tidings as to its effect upon us, and we answer to it in the condition in which we are now established in relation with “Christ Jesus”, then, “he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of enclosure”. The wall existed, placed by God Himself, but in Christianity it is entirely annulled, Jews and Gentiles both having the benefit of the death of Christ. For the one who appropriates the death of Christ, all that attaches to him disappears, by this fact, in death. It is upon such ground that God has set us together in Christ Jesus: “… having annulled the enmity in his flesh, the law of commandments in ordinances”. The law and the privileges that belonged to the Jewish position have resulted only in enmity between Jews and Gentiles, but the two have been united together in the death of Christ. The enmity and all that it involves disappears, God so working that “he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace”. It is not here a question of peace with God but the peace between Jew and Gentile, between those who as to their nature could not walk together; this is why it speaks of “the glad tidings of peace”: “coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off, and … to those who were nigh”. The apostle then leads us to the point that I have especially upon my mind: “For through him we have both” (Jews and Gentiles)—that is to say, brothers and sisters who by their nature were unable to walk together—“access by one Spirit to the Father”.
I present these passages in their most practical aspect because unity among the saints is an essentially practical thing, and the secret of power to go forward together and to move together in the circle of God’s interests consists in cherishing in our hearts the glad tidings of peace, the value of the death of Christ for each of us, and realising then that we are established in power in a position of access to the Father, the Holy Spirit being the power to reach such a position: “For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”. It is not a question of having a right of access, but the apostle speaks to us of the access itself and the possibility of realising it in the power of the Spirit. It is “one Spirit”, the same Spirit in you and in me, in each of the beloved ones and in every brother and sister; the same Spirit in a converted Jew and in a converted Gentile, the one and the same Spirit by whom all have access before the Father. We have access right into the very presence of Him who is the source of all these thoughts of love, and we are there, before Him, in this blessed nearness in the Man of His good pleasure. This is the way that divine grace operates in view of unity.
I am assured that the more we meditate on these things, the more we will realise their importance. It is said in the first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 12: “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”; baptism always involves the disappearance of the flesh. All that is natural in us is submerged, we may say, entirely out of sight, and what each of us is spiritually is joined into one body by the Spirit. Thus closely bound together in one body, we are happy in the enjoyment of all that the Spirit is for us.
In chapter 3 of the epistle to the Ephesians, the Spirit is presented as the Spirit of the Father, and this with a view to making us able to possess Christ in our hearts by faith. The apostle prays; in fact, he makes more than one prayer: he bows his knees—an expression of the intensity of the exercise that was upon his heart. He had indeed set before us the light of the immensity of God’s blessed thoughts as to us and, realising that he was unable by himself, in spite of the light and the gift that he had, to lead the saints to this point that Christ dwells in their heart, he is assured that the only thing to do is to give himself up to prayer. This is why he says, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family” (not the whole family as is given in the King James’ Version)—there are several families—“in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory” (notice the expressions deliberately used by the apostle in this epistle, extreme expressions, but not exaggerated, although we often come to use expressions which entirely lack measure). The apostle states his object in bowing his knees before the Father, it is so that, according to the riches of His glory, “give you … to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”.
The Spirit of the Father is a wonderful thought, for it implies the fact that the Spirit is going to allow us to enter into the Father’s thoughts, and the father’s feelings as to Christ: what a vast subject! Our own thoughts are so limited, and we realise how poor our highest spiritual feelings are, but we have the possibility of receiving in our hearts the thoughts and feelings of the Father, being “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. It is a question of an intimate kind.
I ask myself if there is not some possible similarity between the Spirit of the Father and the servant in chapter 24 of Genesis, a chapter to which the Lord constantly leads our attention in the present time on account of the treasures that it contains. The servant had been sent on the father’s behalf, he was the oldest in the house, he had the government of all that was Abraham’s, and he was sent by the father with a determined object of finding a wife for his son Isaac. This is indeed like the subject before us: the apostle’s thought is that bridal affections should be formed in the saints, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”, that is to say the Christ acquires a place in the heart of the assembly from which He will never be excluded, just as a husband desires to have in the affections of his wife a place not shared with anybody else in the world. Christ is the centre of a system of glory, both heavenly and earthly, and we are destined to share this inheritance with Him in the same way as a wife shares everything with her husband. “The Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”. Such is the position. Everything had been determined beforehand by the Father: it was Abraham’s thought that a wife should be found for his son—everything proceeded from Abraham. We easily discern that the servant having found Rebecca, how she advances under his leading, occupying her with Isaac, speaking of him the more as they approached the end. He had to say that Abraham had an only son, the centre of his affections and to whom he had given all that he had. And as Rebecca listened to these revelations, we discern that her heart opened to Isaac, giving him a greater and greater place. So, beloved, there is such a thing as the Spirit of the Father, in order that “he may give you 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 your hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend …”. In what measure are we able to understand? If we understand the value of what the Father has given to Christ, we will understand also what is the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of the Christ. All that Christ possesses, as Man, is destined to be shared by the assembly. If we consider all this in relation to ourselves, our horizon is narrow, but in considering it in relation to Christ, we are associated with Him as being His assembly that He loves and for which He delivered Himself up, then we are given to understand what is the length and breadth and depth and height; Christ is the centre of it and the assembly is with Him.
So it is said, “being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may 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”. We are to know it, we should know this love in a unique way which rests upon us and of which we are the particular object—the expression of His love—and He is fully engaged with us at the present time, sanctifying the assembly and purifying it by the washing of water by the word.
Every time we hear the voice of the Lord, this should awaken in us the reality of the knowledge of the love of Christ. We have to acquire this knowledge and enter into it fully. We find our place in the love of Christ when we participate at the Supper. The Lord leads us to have the consciousness of the place that the assembly has in His love and the place that He Himself has in the love of the Father. Then we find our place in Him as the centre of all that the Father is introducing for His own pleasure. All this is in view of enriching us in our appreciation of the glory of the blessed God and to make us able to take our place in intelligence and affection in the service of God in the assembly.
In chapter 4, it is a question of the Spirit in two aspects. The passages that we have read go a long way to giving all the allusions made to the Spirit in this epistle. We are exhorted in chapter 4 not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God “wherewith ye have been sealed for the day of redemption”. It is another subject related to the seal and which is in view of the day when God takes possession of what he has acquired, when the saints will be delivered from their present condition and raised to a glorious heavenly condition which is none other than the relation of sons with the Father.
In chapter 5, Paul says to us, “Be filled with the Spirit”. This is not unachievable; it is in great measure a question about the thoughts with which we allow our minds to be occupied. The Holy Spirit will help us in this.
And in chapter 6, where it is a question of the complete armour of God, we read: “Have also the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit”, v 17. The helmet of salvation is for us so as to guard our minds which will be preserved from the attacks of the enemy in the measure in which we are maintained under the control of the Spirit. “The sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word” is indeed a powerful weapon. Whatever question, it is possible to meet it uniquely by this means: the sword of the Spirit. The more we go on in the realm of God’s things and in the truth of the assembly, the more we are impressed to consider the resources which the word of God furnishes to us if we use it in the power of the Spirit. It is uniquely in the power of the Spirit that the Scriptures really become the “word of God” for us. What a treasure on the one hand, and wonderful armour on the other!
There is not a single attack of the enemy that cannot be victoriously combatted by means of the Scriptures used in the power of the Spirit. With such a possibility, the saints are invulnerable. A difficulty arises and, if we are dependent on the Lord, the Scriptures will be our directive and in the power of the Spirit they will give us exactly what is necessary to face the position.
Going on from this, the apostle introduces a most important subject, prayer: “praying at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”, v 18. Well, dear young brothers and young sisters, and you older brothers and sisters too, allow me to ask you what are the subjects of your prayers? Do you pray only for questions of a personal kind, your temptations perhaps, your difficulties, or do you indeed pray on the line indicated in Ephesians by the apostle in chapter 3, asking the Father in private that He will give you “to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”?
He realised indeed that the ministry could not by itself give the saints the practical effect and enjoyment of the truths which he set out. This is why he presses us to pray, and to pray by the Spirit: the Spirit is here to help us, to show us the subjects of prayer which are suitable and useful and also to give us support while we pray; “praying at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”. The apostle enjoins us to persevere knowing how perseverance is indispensable in this realm. Satan uses all his effort to create hindrances; he knows to distract our minds; he finds artifices to deny us solitude with God. But the apostle says, “with all perseverance”, so exhorting us to persevere. If the Lord directs our attention in this way, He will accord us His support. The Lord says in chapter 6 of Matthew, verse 4: “your Father who sees in secret will render it unto you”. Prayer and supplication are for all the saints and not for ourselves only; all are in God’s heart and in the heart of Christ.
“And for me”, the apostle adds. It is very touching; the apostle desires the prayers of the saints, he felt the need of it. Whoever has an active part in the ministry constantly needs the prayers of the saints, and especially the servant to whom the Lord has given a particular place of leader in view of the edification of the assembly. “In order that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth … that I may be bold in it as I ought to speak”.
May the Lord help us indeed to understand the place that the Spirit occupies in relation to the great thoughts of God that are set out for us in this epistle.
KENNINGTON, LONDON
3rd August 1946
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’,
November 1949
WHAT MUST BE PURSUED AND THE RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE IT
I have the desire to speak of the things we have to pursue and the resources that we have if we firmly commit to this. The passages that I have read refer in their typical application to the establishment of Christianity under the ministry of the apostles, including Paul, and it is important to take constant account of what has been established at the beginning, because God’s mind is that what has been established at that time finds its full realisation in the last days among His people. It is not that we can pretend to a power and outward glory such as existed at the outset, for in the days that followed Pentecost there was a marvellous testimony in Jerusalem, a testimony in holiness and unity, and in love among the saints, just as there was in attachment of heart to Christ and fidelity to the testimony which, alas, is not seen in our days. But on the other hand, we have to recognise that the Lord is working currently in recovery of each feature of the truth, and since the moment of His return draws near, we must be in constant exercise as to what marked the beginning so that it may become evident in the days at the end. Faith is no doubt necessary to discern these features among the saints, but, thank God, they are visible: one can rejoice in the unity evidently realised among them, a unity greater in one sense than in the apostles’ time for there are currently saints all over the earth. The recovered truth has reached out and reached the souls of brethren in the East as well as the West, and this is why, in spite of an outward appearance of smallness and weakness, there is still in fact in the saints much of what in God’s eyes has a great and substantial spiritual value. It is very important that the eyes of all should be open to discern this, especially the eyes of the young, so that in seeing it they may realise that there exists on the earth what God desires that we should take to heart and pursue with perseverance until the end.
It is with such a thought that I have read these passages of Scripture. It is also good to have in mind that, if at the beginning at Jerusalem, and no doubt equally in Antioch and Ephesus, the truth was realised and found a practical answer in a very great measure; although even in those days this truth was the prerogative of some, a small number in Jerusalem, the saints being only a simple remnant of the people in that city. So it is that wherever the truth has been found implanted, whatever power there was, and whatever the pleasure that God could find, and Christ also, publicly the position was always more or less in a remnant. It is necessary to recognise this and that we willingly accept it, knowing well that part of God’s glory consists in realising the greatest things that can be conceived in apparently very small circumstances. In truth, dear brethren, nothing compares in smallness to the condition in which God came to us when “the Word became flesh”; is not the incarnation the most astonishing thing that could be conceived?
God can reduce the greatest things to a minimum and condense them when it pleases Him, and in a way which confounds us! The Scriptures themselves testify to this fact for they are a remarkable example of the way in which God can condense into a very small volume an infinity of what is the most marvellous. The quantity of facts and thoughts recorded in the Scriptures is small relative to all that is found written in men’s books, yet the Scriptures contain the riches of the whole revelation of God, a treasure and armour for His people, which is never exhausted. May the brethren therefore not be discouraged even if they find themselves in a place or conditions that are small, for it is part of God’s glory that He works the greatest things in conditions that are weak in appearance.
In chapter 25 of Exodus, we have the divine purpose as to the people, this people that He had brought out of Egypt: “And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them”, v 8. It is a divine desire that we should all cherish. It is not only by grace that we are invited to respond, but there is our responsibility to furnish conditions in which God can live and dwell among us with satisfaction. Such is divine purpose. This sanctuary had to be built according to the divine requirements, very precise indications were given, but all was to be drawn from what the people themselves brought. I will not enter into the detail about what was required, but we know that the first things mentioned were gold, silver, brass—three elements that undoubtedly refer to various ideas the saints may have of God.
Then come a certain number of offerings that refer in a very evident way to Christ; others yet are figures of the Spirit. But I want to emphasise the fact that the conditions for God’s place of habitation among His people were furnished by what the people themselves brought, and I think that what was brought represents in type what we are ourselves. Gold for example refers without doubt to the glory of God and to His very nature, that is to say love. There is no greater glory, no more blessed glory than love such as we see in God. It is this glory that will fill the universe; the divine glory is love, love expressed. How could there be conditions that please God, relating to His sanctuary, if we are not marked by love the one for the other? Thank God that we are taught of Him, by the Scriptures, to love one another—we know that it is a matter there of love between the saints, so love should abound more and more among us, not only for our own mutual comfort and encouragement, but because God desires to find among His people the conditions in which He can dwell and find His satisfaction. The essential condition for this is love, love for Christ, love for one another. The Lord says, “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” (John 14: 23)—every person therefore has the possibility of offering conditions such that the Father and the Son will have their abode in them—it is a marvellous suggestion! “If any one love me …”, if therefore love is there and is manifested by the fact of keeping His word, cherishing all that proceeds from Christ in the way of communications, and consequently of loving one another—for it cannot be enough to profess to love Christ without loving one another—if such conditions exist in one person, the result is that the Father and the Son abides with them. I do not suggest that this Scripture has an exclusively individual value, for I think indeed that chapter 14 of John to which I have alluded refers to what suits the assembly, but this affirmation by the Lord is individual, so that it may be true in its application even in the darkest days, the days of small things. However weak the outward conditions may become, just one faithful person can furnish conditions which assure a place of habitation to divine Persons.
It is a question then of the silver which always speaks to us of redemption, and I believe works in creating in us a spirit of forgiveness, a state of mind that is always ready to show itself when the occasion presents itself, for it is this that God has expressed Himself in redemption: a God of forgiveness. It is said in the epistle to the Ephesians, which treats of the highest truths, in a portion where it is said that we are made fit in the Beloved, “in whom we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of offences”, that is to say pardon. It is in this way that God has worked by the death of Christ so that our sins should never be a hindrance to our being in His presence; it is for this that He has exercised His rights in redemption, and He proposes that we should maintain the same spirit, considering it as a right and a duty that we forgive one another as God also in Christ has forgiven us. It is an evidence in us of the appreciation of the love which has worked towards us in redemption when this spirit of pardon marks us in all our relations with one another.
We come then to the brass which refers to the way in which God has judged sin without mercy in the death of Christ. It is necessary that we have this fact engraved in our souls. This also constitutes the necessary substance for suitable conditions where God desires to dwell. That is what I would like to leave on all our hearts, the fact that these are elements of spiritual wealth that God desires to find among His own for the construction and ornamentation of His sanctuary. It is not at all a matter of ourselves, or of our own enjoyment, or even of our mutual relations, but the fact that we have the precious privilege of being able to provide in an evil world conditions such that they allow God to dwell among His people and to find His pleasure there. Thus it is necessary to have a judgment of evil. We have seen what that consists of in a very striking manner in the death of Christ. The Lord has justified the rights of God in holiness by His death, although this meant for Him the complete forsaking and all the terrible sufferings of Calvary. But God has expressed there His judgment of evil, and it is fitting that we should have this in our souls, and that we manifest it in maintaining the judgment in ourselves and in being able to deal in power with evil if it manifests itself publicly among us, and this because we have first judged it in our own souls.
I will pass on quickly to the shittim wood, or acacia wood. The more we go on in the reading of the gospels, the more we have the clear impression that Jesus, Jesus Christ, differed as man from every other, and the more we see Him marked by incorruptibility; the temptations in the wilderness were a test of it: there where every other man would have failed, Jesus did not fail. Entirely governed by the word of God, having a perfect knowledge of His will and being subject to Him without reserve in all His movements and all His motives, Jesus was maintained in grace in the place He had taken as the humble Man, not however seeking anything for Himself outside the will of God. In the presence of such a Man, Satan had no leverage, no power. A man was come at last who was found incorruptible, to whom God could confide the testimony, the only Man in whom He could place His absolute confidence, Jesus. As we begin to think of this blessed Man, and contemplate Him, and appreciate and find our delight in Him—the Spirit of God teaches us to find our delight in Christ—we are progressively formed after this pattern.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, who in truth were marked by many features of the first man, and who had brought into God’s house many things that profaned it, and he could say to them at the end of the epistle: “examine your own selves if ye be in the faith; prove your own selves: do ye not recognise yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you”. There is such a thing as examining ourselves as those who are able to discern the work of God in our souls. Is Jesus Christ there? Is there a formation of Christ in our souls? Can we find an appreciation of Himself as the fruit of the Spirit’s work? If it is so, do we know to recognise it, and to be at one with this work and desiring to judge every element that is opposed to it, so that full room may be given to the Man who has the right to fill our souls, and to whom alone God’s testimony can be committed in full confidence. We can then bring the shittim wood; the question for us is to furnish suitable conditions for the blessed God, and I am sure you will agree with me in recognising that God has the right to decide what is suited to His sanctuary. Are we going to take account of all the divine requirements, and desire that in moving together, we should furnish the conditions amongst us such that God can have His dwelling?
Then there is a feature much in evidence in this chapter, that the ark of the testimony is the centre of the tabernacle, which suggests that Christ is enshrined in the affections of the saints as being the great subject of the testimony. We begin to have an appreciation of the shittim wood and in the measure in which we advance in this appreciation of Christ as the only Man to whom God has been able to commit His Name in full assurance, and His will and His glory, we are enlarged, especially if we apply ourselves to seek God’s presence—it is there that Jesus is found in all the abiding value of redemption—the Propitiator is there and on this ground God can justly introduce a new world, ourselves being included there, where all takes character from Him. The great testimony as to Jesus is that He found His delight in doing God’s will; that is of high moral value; whereas the world here is consumed by the will of man, God has introduced into such a world a testimony cherished in the hearts of those who love Christ: this testimony is that He has a Man before Him who abased Himself to accomplish His will and to lead us to Him according to the desire of that will. This is the same Man who is going to introduce a universe entirely for the will of God, a universe in which there will be no place for any other. These things are not a utopia but a reality. The more we come into God’s presence, the more we see clearly all that God finds in Christ for Himself and how, soon perhaps, He will introduce a world which will draw its whole character from the Man whom He has highly exalted. We learn from the epistle to the Romans that the will of God is “good and acceptable and perfect”, and in the epistle to the Ephesians we discover that the domain of this will is immense, encompassing a whole world composed of families brought entirely into blessing, God having realised all in Christ, and Christ Himself marking all with His character. This thought of His to procure a dwelling place is found in the New Testament and it was practically realised when the Holy Spirit descended upon the earth. It is for us to consider what has been established at the beginning, and to understand now in the days of the end that we are responsible to furnish the conditions required by God for His dwelling place, desiring that Christ Himself as the ark of testimony should be cherished in our hearts.
I come now to the passage we have read in Leviticus. In chapter 8, we have the thought of the service of God positively confided to Aaron and his sons. If God has His dwelling among His own, He certainly desires to be served, and served in holiness, for you know that Aaron who was established over the whole system of the tabernacle bore on his crown a plate of gold on which was engraved “Holiness to Jehovah”, signifying that God’s dwelling place in the present conditions as in these days had to be characterised by this feature: holiness. I desire to insist on holiness for it is a question relating to the present conditions in the wilderness. In heaven, holiness is inherent in all that is found there and nothing will be opposed to it, but in the present conditions, when all around us is contrary to it, it is indeed necessary to stress the fact strongly that “holiness befits God’s house for ever”. This is expressed by the plaque of gold set out on Aaron’s crown and which bore the inscription, “Holiness to Jehovah”.
If God has His dwelling among His people, He desires to be served by His own in this sanctuary and He desires that all should take part in this service. Aaron and his sons represent some in the midst of many in Christendom who have received the Holy Spirit. I ask myself if we have a due appreciation of the fact that we are of the same family as Christ? The sons of Aaron were like him; and for us, we have received the Spirit of Him who has gone up into heaven, the heavenly One, and we are partakers in His nature, we are like Him, as indeed we are born of God. The privilege is marvellous, and it is thus that we qualify for the service of God in His house, according to his desires. It is not a matter therefore of a service which we might neglect or only fulfil on certain occasions, but much rather a service which takes its character from the attachment of Christ Himself to God. We are impressed to notice in the gospels in what absolute way Christ was devoted to God and how He has worked so that the saints should be able to fulfil a service which may be for God’s pleasure, and this not in a formal way but as a consequence of their entire devotion to God who is revealed in Christ.
It is thus that the sin offering has to come first; we have to recognise the absolute necessity of it, and thank God this offering abides, the value of the precious death of Christ abides in perpetuity, governing the whole question of our guilt and equally of our condition. Then we have the burnt offering, and with it the marvellous fact that we are justified day by day in Christ in the value of His death.
But there is also the ram of consecration, suggesting what is especially devoted to God’s pleasure; the ram was slaughtered and its blood spread upon the altar, vv 23 and 24. The Lord’s desire was as we see here that the saints should be completely associated with Him in absolute consecration to God’s will, so as to serve Him in view of His pleasure; the ear is consecrated, the hand, and the feet are also consecrated in the same way—it is indeed good to meditate on this divine love which has bought us, and to let our souls come under the influence of the love of Christ expressed in His devotion to God. It is said, “by which will” (God’s will) “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ”, Heb 10: 10. Sanctified here has the sense of set apart. To what end? For the will and pleasure of God, in view of serving Him. Christ is the One who sanctifies, and we are the sanctified; He is not ashamed to associate us with Him in the marvellous service which He sustains on the earth according to God’s will. What a great privilege is ours that we should be able to serve God intelligently in holiness and in affection in the midst of a world of sin. The more evil develops, and the more that man sets himself in opposition to God’s will, the more the saints should devote themselves to this will. The evil all around us on the one hand, and the good in the saints on the other, have to grow together so that all the purpose that God had put in His heart should be fully assured in His own. How touching this thought is! The blood sprinkled first on Aaron, then on his sons, expresses indeed God’s desire; that we should be in perfect harmony with Christ as to God’s will.
It is added as to the ram of consecration in speaking of the breast: “it was Moses’ part”. I think that there is a particular joy for the heart of Christ to realise what is assured in the saints for God’s pleasure and the fruit of His own love. He has devoted Himself to us in love as much as to God; it is thus that the savour of the love of Christ fills the whole scene. Christ must be especially pleased with the fact that He has now and will maintain under His hand a company for God’s will and for His pleasure, a company which is the response to God’s desire, fruit of the love of Christ for His own and of His consecration to God in love.
Thus we learn to appreciate the love of Christ in a very special way when are together in assembly and we give Him the place and the free room to produce this harmony in love. Then, under His influence, we taste what it is to be in full accord with Him in all His movements in view of the service of God. What a portion returns to Christ from all this! Would we deprive Him of that? The occasion will soon pass. It is time for every heart that loves Christ to come forward and have his or her part in the desires of love divine, to serve the blessed God in His sanctuary, even in the very terrible conditions which surround us. And if there is in some heart either fear or even doubt, I would press you to go to God and confide all to Him, for He has the power to drive away all fear and to dissipate every doubt. There is neither difficulty nor fear from which God cannot liberate—if however we desire it—so as to be able from the heart to respond fully to His desires relative to His people.
Then Moses says, “Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and there eat it”. That is to say, that the priests had necessarily to feed on the love of Christ. It is not said to roast it with fire, but there is a certain attenuation in the fact of boiling, which is slower, which shows indeed that it is not a matter of the love of Christ expressed by His death as the judgment of evil, but of the love of Christ seen in the highest degree so that we respond to it to feed on the Lord and on what the priests fed upon. It is in making the love of Christ our habitual food that will form in us a response in love to His love and a fuller consecration to God. It is precisely thus: “and the bread that is in the basket of the consecration-offering … And ye shall not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting seven days, until the day when the days of your consecration are at an end: for seven days shall ye be consecrated”. And then it adds, “And ye shall abide at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night seven days, and keep the charge of Jehovah, that ye die not”. It is a matter of seven days, which is followed up to the coming of the Lord in our times, by night as by day; it is not a question of interruption in this sphere, or of stopping; we have a charge as much as the priests. It is therefore for us to see that the service of God is maintained, and for us to be vigilant as to our own souls, for it is said: “he that has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him”, 1 John 5: 18. It is assumed that we are able to keep ourselves, not by our own means, for we cannot have confidence in ourselves, but as a result of the power of the work of God in us and the help of the Holy Spirit. We therefore have the possibility of keeping ourselves and we are responsible to do it, our object being that the service should be maintained through the whole period of these seven days, day as well as night, until the coming of the Lord.
I pass now to the passage we have read in Numbers; that is to say, in the last part of the book where allusion is made to the assembly found in the wilderness, according to God. It is important to recognise that there is such a thing as conditions in the wilderness according to God, not only for us individually, but also collectively. The epistle to the Corinthians treats of this side of the subject; that is to say, the assembly of God which is in Corinth, and indeed just as much as the assembly of God which is in London, or Sydney, or Auckland … etc. There is the idea of the assembly of God which is found among men and having to be maintained there, not only conditions suitable for God but also a testimony for Him. The book of Exodus envisages the establishment of God’s dwelling place; the book of Leviticus what is going to fill His house in view of the service of God, according to His mind; and the book of Numbers puts before us the responsibility of saints as to the suited state in view of carrying and defending this marvellous thing which is God’s tabernacle, which has to be carried to the end without any damage. Satan seeks by every means to introduce worldly elements into it, defilement and corruption, the spirit of man and his own will, as well as features characteristic of the world. In the face of adverse conditions such as these, who will take to heart to maintain what is for God and the defence of His sanctuary? This is the question which is raised in Numbers and we are invited to answer it ourselves—not at all being enlisted against our will in such service, but taking it to heart and contributing joyfully as those who are entirely devoted to the Lord. It is thus that Numbers establishes an order and that the first thing mentioned is the numbering. God gives to each of the brothers and sisters the respective place which they should occupy in the testimony, which is carried on—this is what we find in the first part of the book of Numbers.
In chapter 5, it is a question of the trial of jealousy and we see how far the Lord resents the public unfaithfulness of the church at the present time; then the answer to unfaithfulness is found in chapter 6 with the Nazarite’s vow. The more aware we are of unfaithfulness, the more we have the desire by God’s grace to maintain ourselves in holy separation in faithfulness to the heart of Christ. Then at the end of the chapter, it is said of the blessing: “Jehovah make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace”—the blessing of the Lord is assured on the principle of separation for Him, maintained in the face of the general unfaithfulness.
So we come to chapter 10 where the moving off is given for the first time, the tabernacle leaves the mountain of God. It had been established, the service had been instituted, now this dwelling place of God among His people has to be carried in testimony through the wilderness.
And what do we then read? “And they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah and went three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them”. It is not said at first that “the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them”, as is sometimes misquoted, but it is said first that they went “three days’ journey”, and then “the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days’ journey”. The three days’ journey represents the complete exercise as to what the wilderness is, its tests, its exercises, its opposition. The normal order of movement had been that the ark was found in the midst of them, and yet here on its own initiative the ark goes ahead and takes its place before them. This is how the Lord would assure us that we can devote ourselves to God’s testimony without fear, for He will take the direction of everything, as the ark that went before them to seek out a resting place for them. The Lord seems to say to His own, I would that you should have rest, a rest you will enjoy, and which will be the immediate answer to My own movements in love.
It is indeed a matter of the movements of the love of Christ on account of the wilderness circumstances and in view of giving rest to His saints. This is indeed what we realise on Lord’s day morning: we come together in circumstances belonging to the wilderness, and we reach a place where we enjoy rest, the immediate answer to the love of Christ which has provided this rest and which is enfolded in such a blessed atmosphere. It is real rest which we enjoy for a moment, a rest in the wilderness. He has sought out a rest—blessed thought! I have linked this with what is said in chapter 13 of John’s gospel: “Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. It is as if the Lord said, I know well what the world is, I knew well what the wilderness is, I am going to be separated from you and leave you with the responsibility to carry the testimony in a hostile scene and to maintain it to the end.
The love of Christ is the great resource upon which we can count, and which will never fail. It is the supreme resource of saints who may rest entirely upon the sympathy and the support of the love of Christ. And it is said that the presence of God went before them by night as the pillar of fire and by day as the cloud. There is not therefore only the love of Christ, but the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have there what we can face every eventuality with—what resources we have in the love of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit!—but we will only have the gain of them if we keep ourselves in God’s testimony and are entirely devoted.
Moses also says: “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; And let them that hate thee flee before thy face”. We know well how they have been scattered, in what triumphant way the Lord Jesus has been raised from among the dead and is ascended to the right hand of God; we know also that He is occupied there with His own, in direction, sympathy, support, according to what is needed. He will never fail, either by night or by day. The Lord has sought out a resting place for us. We reach it on Lord’s day morning when we come together, where the triumphant love of God is known and where He loves to come to take His place among those whom His love has secured.
This is only a glimpse of the things that we must seek and the resources that we receive in pursuing them. May the Lord encourage us each to take our part in responsibility as in privilege for the love of His Name.
PARK STREET, LONDON
16th November 1946
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’, 1948
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