THE SERVICE OF CHRIST IN VIEW OF ASSEMBLY FEATURES
I desire to speak, dear brethren, of what the Lord is, and is ready to be, to His people as they cherish the thoughts of God in regard of the assembly. God intends that that which was set up at the outset by the work of the apostles should find a counterpart, at least in moral features and quality, in the last days, and I believe the Lord intends that we should have this definitely before us, as the end to which the Spirit of God is now working. The book of Revelation helps greatly in that connection, and in chapters 2 and 3 it shows us the history of the assembly in its public character, in its departure from the divine thought at the outset, but it also brings in light as to recovery, and closes with evidence of that recovery secured.
Now if divine thoughts are to be realised among the saints, they are realised by virtue of the presence of overcomers. It is of the utmost importance to lay hold of the thought of an overcomer. I understand that an overcomer is one who, in the presence of general departure from the truth, refuses to lower the standard or to give up divine thoughts. The history of Scripture shows us, not only as regards the assembly, but all down the ages, that the truth of God has been carried through on the principle of an overcomer, or overcomers, coming into evidence. Indeed, one might say that the book of Revelation, and in fact the whole of John’s ministry—this book, his gospel, and his epistles—has in view, among other things, the formation and testimony of overcomers. All through chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation there is a constant word to the overcomer. In the addresses to the first three assemblies, the word to the overcomer follows the injunction, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, but in the last four the word to the overcomer precedes the injunction, suggesting that it is only the overcomer who actually pays attention to the Spirit’s voice to the assemblies.
The importance of this address to Ephesus, in its application to us, is that it shows the beginning of departure, which consisted in the leaving of first love. That is to say, that while what was proper to the assembly was continued so far as outward appearance was concerned, the Lord detected that the spring of it in undivided affection for Himself and appreciation of Himself had gone; it had been surrendered. To the overcomer there the Lord says, “I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. We know that the tree of life is said to bring forth twelve fruits, in each month yielding fruit. It speaks of Jesus as the One who, in every changing circumstance, continually presented under the eye of God some fresh feature of fruitfulness for the pleasure of God, life showing itself in ever-varied features which each succeeding circumstance brought to light in the life of Jesus. He is not now down here; He is above, as it says, “The tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. It is a wonderful thought that there is the paradise of God, a scene of divine pleasure and rest, and Jesus is the centre of it. He is presented here, so as to be apprehended in that light, as affording in Himself in all the features of life, the varied fruitfulness which is adequate, in its blessedness and variety, to afford rest and pleasure to the heart of God. He is presented as food for the one who will not allow that the assembly can afford to go on as divorced in thought and affection from Him who is her Head.
The gospels afford us much instruction as to this as we take account of the varied features of fruitfulness coming to light in Jesus for the pleasure of God. As I said, He is not now here, but, as our hymn expressed it:
No trait is lost, each beauteous grace is found,
All brought through death to resurrection ground.
(Hymn 229—1932 revision)
And not only to resurrection ground, but where He is, “the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. Every feature of the all-varied fruitfulness which delighted the heart of God is there carried through, and is to be apprehended and fed upon in the power of the Spirit. I think as we contemplate Christ as He is presented in the gospels, and especially in the gospel of Luke, we become impressed with the sense that every succeeding circumstance brought to light its own feature of fruitfulness for the pleasure of God. The tree was always yielding its fruit, so to speak, month by month. If we think of the introduction of Jesus into this world, there was a Babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger, and immediately the angel had announced to the shepherds what had come to pass, it says, “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”, Luke 2: 13, 14. The idea of good pleasure in men had now taken shape in that lowly Babe. There was expressed there in Jesus, as soon as He had come into this world, the feature of supreme lowliness and complete dependence upon God, which yielded pleasure—there is no question about it—to the heart of God.
Then, if we trace the growing up of Jesus, as it says, advancing “in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men” (Luke 2: 52), we find Him, as Luke records, at the age of twelve, and He presents there these features of fruitfulness. Not that the others had lapsed by any means, but there at that age He presents features of fruitfulness suitable to that particular phase. There is on the one hand His Father’s business cherished in His heart, and there is the sitting in the temple among the teachers hearing them and asking them questions—all that is suitable to that phase of His holy life here presented under the eye of God—and, coupled with that, there was the most complete subjection to the position which God had ordered for Him, so that it says He went down with His parents to Nazareth and was subject to them. Not that there had ever been any trace of insubjection, but the Spirit of God loves to bring before us that combination of fruitfulness at that stage, the combination of intelligent delight in His Father’s business with the most perfect subjection to God’s ordering for Him as set out in His circumstances at Nazareth.
Then we hear but little more of the detail of the life of Jesus for eighteen years, but we may be sure that those years, characterised by patient continuance in those features that marked Him at the age of twelve, were delightful to the heart of God. We get an impression of that delight when, at the conclusion of those eighteen years, the heaven was opened upon Him, and the Father’s voice was heard saying, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, Luke 3: 22. Up to that moment there had not been any movement in public service. Think of the importance of this principle of subjection to the ordering of God for us, while cherishing the will of God, and of continuing in it until the moment comes to move out in service; think of the importance of those eighteen years of which we have no detail, save that we understand by the Spirit that they were filled up with the most complete obedience and subjection to the will of God in the humble circumstances appointed for Him, while at the same time He was cherishing in His heart the carrying through, to its completion, of His Father’s business!
Luke’s presentation of Christ shows Him as continually marked by the attitude and spirit of prayer, but in His praying there is no formality, no sameness. On one occasion we read that He withdrew into a desert place and prayed; on another He went up into a mountain to pray, as if different circumstances brought to light different features of intelligent movement which were delightful to the heart of God. It is for us to discern why on one occasion He went into the wilderness to pray, whereas on another He would go up into a mountain, but all I am drawing attention to is that all the varied circumstances of the life of Jesus brought out, each in its place, some fresh feature of life and fruitfulness.
So we may move on, and, as I said, the gospels afford contemplation for our hearts. We think of the scene in Gethsemane, a holy scene indeed; each writer that records it contributes some feature that marked that occasion. Luke tells us that He knelt down, and “being in conflict he prayed more intently”, Luke 22: 44. Matthew tells us that He prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matt 26: 39. That is to say, there was a holy shrinking from all that the will of God would involve for Him, and the liberty to ask that, if it were possible, the cup might pass from Him, but “not as I will, but as thou wilt”. Then Matthew again records that on the second occasion He prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass from me unless I drink it, thy will be done”, v 42. Each prayer brings into evidence some fresh precious feature under the eye of God, the holy shrinking from what was involved, the liberty to pray that, if it were possible, it might be removed, but with the most complete desire that no will but God’s should have place. And then, on the other hand, may I say reverently, the arriving at the point that there was no way out save His drinking the cup, and, arriving at it, He says, “Thy will be done”. We may well understand that there was infinite pleasure for God in all those movements and expressions of Jesus. Then Mark records further that He said, “Abba, Father” (Mark 14: 36), that holy expression of confident and dependent affection, so delightful to the Father’s ear, which the Holy Spirit is intent on producing in living power now in the hearts of the saints.
One would allude to one more incident. According to Luke’s gospel, as Jesus was taken by His enemies, His misguided disciple struck off the ear of the servant of the high priest, and at that moment Jesus said, “Suffer thus far” (Luke 22: 51) and He touched his ear and healed him. Think of such a circumstance bringing to light such a movement of love on the part of Jesus, that He would not allow that the grace of God toward men should be misrepresented in any way. He would rather suffer whatever happened in order that God might be rightly represented before men. I think I have said enough to indicate that as we feed on the “tree of life which is in the paradise of God”, we become imbued with a sense of the moral excellence that resides in Jesus, and the effect of it is that He becomes practically held as Head in the affections of the saints. I believe that is the effect of it, that the Lord rises more and more in the spiritual esteem of His people, so that they recognise Him as the One in whom every moral excellence resides, and it becomes their desire to come under His influence alone. It is only in that way that the divine thoughts in regard of the assembly can be realised, whether in its service Godward or in its testimony manward. It can only fulfil the divine intent regarding it as it is held livingly under the personal influence of Christ. I believe feeding on the tree of life brings about an appreciation of the One who is in the paradise of God as great enough in His own moral excellence to afford unbounded satisfaction to the heart of God.
You remember how when the tribes came to David to Hebron, they said, “Even aforetime, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel”, 2 Sam 5: 2. That is to say, that even when another man was outwardly and positionally their head, they all discerned a moral excellence in David that completely eclipsed Saul. The moment came when David was actually accorded his place as head to them, but it came about as the result of their having appreciated in David an excellence that eclipsed Saul; so it is with ourselves. The Lord graciously recovered, a hundred years ago, the truth that the assembly has a living Head in heaven, but He is practically given His place as Head in the hearts of the saints as we become impressed with the all-varied features of moral excellence that are found alone in Jesus. Before I leave this subject, may I just refer to the close of John’s gospel? I suppose it is generally believed that John’s gospel was the last of the inspired writings, and, if so, it is all the more remarkable that it closes with this word: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they were written one by one, I suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books written”, John 21: 25. It is as if the Spirit of God intends that that should rest as a final impression upon the minds and hearts of the saints, that there is an inexhaustible fulness in Jesus, and the assembly is intended to be the vessel, as having a living, adoring appreciation of Christ, in which all the varied features of life as seen in Jesus have practical expression. I believe all the movements of the saints, in so far as they are the result of their being in living touch with Christ, become the expansion, so to speak, of all the things that Jesus did. They present under the eye of God that which is morally and supremely excellent as derived from Christ and Him alone.
I refer now to the assembly at Pergamos, as it represents the phase in the history of the assembly in which worldliness began to come in, and hence what is presented to the overcomer is that which is calculated to counteract that element. I am sure, if we think it over, we would not desire that any element of worldliness should have place with us. We remember the words which the Lord Jesus spoke to the Father about His own, how He said, “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world” (John 17: 16), and again, the prophetic word given through Balaam in regard of God’s people that they should dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations. In Pergamos, the feature of worldliness was coming in. There were those who held the doctrine of Balaam. They were not as yet teaching it, but they held it. It was a question of what was being secretly held in the heart, the idea that it was permissible and perhaps even advantageous for the saints to be friendly with the world, but that idea cannot be held if the word of God has its place with us. We may remind ourselves of what the Spirit of God says through James, that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4: 4), and that “Whoever therefore is minded to be the friend of the world is constituted enemy of God”. We do not want to be enemies of God, beloved; we want to be among the thousands who love God. We need to come with the Spirit of God to a spiritual judgment of the world. As it is said, “The whole world lies in the wicked one” (1 John 5: 19), and again, that it is “called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified”, Rev 11: 8.
There is an overcomer in Pergamos, and it is said, “To him will I give of the hidden manna”. It is not now so much the presentation of Christ in His varied fruitfulness in every circumstance for the pleasure of God, but rather the presentation of Christ in the grace in which He has moved through the very same world in which we are found. He has moved in the same circumstances in which we have to move in the government of God, and He went through it in separation of heart to God, the will of God being that by which He lived, and “by every word of God”. There is nothing more touching, as having to go through this world, than to see the way that Jesus went through it, and to understand that He is available as food to everyone who is prepared to appropriate Him thus. This is a hidden matter. Christendom, alas! despises the manna, and the overcomer has to learn to cherish Christ in a hidden way in his affections; he has to learn to live by that which is hidden and secret. May I say that there can be no prosperity publicly if we do not learn to cultivate that which is secret; that is, the heart learning to withdraw itself from all that obtains in the world and the thoughts that are current amongst men, and to appreciate Christ and feed upon Him. The Lord Himself sought to cultivate with His own what is secret and hidden, what is secret between the soul and Christ, or between the soul and God.
In the instructions given to His disciples in Matthew 6, He emphasises the idea of cultivating what is secret. Whether it be in our giving of alms, or in our praying or fasting, we are to learn to cultivate that which is secret between our souls and God. He says particularly in regard of prayer, “When thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret”, v 6. That is to say, there is to be nothing casual about our praying, there is to be that which is deliberate, seeking the presence of God, joying in the sense that the Father sees in secret, and the readiness to place ourselves under the eye of God in secret, so that all our thoughts and desires may be laid bare before the eye of Him who sees in secret, and it says, “Thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee”. I only mention that in order to emphasise this idea of what is hidden as being an important factor in developing the power to overcome that which is around us.
In the record of Gideon we learn that he was threshing wheat to hide it from the Midianites. He had grasped the idea of hiding that which was most precious, and the angel of the Lord came to him and said, “Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”, Judg 6: 12. There was no outward appearance of might or valour in threshing wheat to hide it from the Midianites, but the angel said to him, “Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”, and Gideon said, “Ah my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why then is all this befallen us?” (v 13) and he referred to what their fathers had told them about what God had done for His people, and the angel said, “Go in this thy might”. In what did his might consist? I believe it consisted in this, that he was exercised to go on with the true food and to hide it from the Midianites; and coupled with this, that in spite of the outward conditions, he was cherishing in his heart God’s thoughts concerning His people. The angel says, Now you have might. If we are marked by these conditions, if we are feeding upon Christ in spite of the outward difficulties, if we embraced the idea of what is hidden and are cherishing divine thoughts, then these are the constituent elements by which the world will be overthrown.
In the word to Philadelphia I wish to speak only of one feature of what the Lord is to His people, which comes to light there, and that is the faithfulness of His love for the assembly. To this assembly He presents Himself as “the holy, the true”. He does not present Himself in any official or judicial way, but according to certain moral features of holiness and truth; holiness having reference to what is suitable to God, what is Godward, and truth having reference to fidelity in testimony manward, and perhaps having reference to the inner motives governing us in our movements. The Lord said of Himself in John’s gospel, “He that speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he that seeks the glory of him that has sent him, he is true, and unrighteousness is not in him”, chap 7: 18. What a great salvation it would be to us in all our assembly matters as well as in individual matters, if we embraced the idea of seeking the glory of God. That is what the assembly is here for, that God may be glorified, and the Lord presents Himself in that light, as the One who is holy and the One who is true. Philadelphia represents the great feature of assembly recovery; and the Lord is working definitely in these days to secure the recovery of every feature that is proper to the assembly for His own heart and for the pleasure and glory of God. Having secured it in Philadelphia, He says, “Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. He could not say it before. His love for the assembly has proved true through all the vicissitudes that have marked its history, but now a point has been reached when He can afresh disclose His love for the assembly. That is an outstanding feature of this our day. The Lord has graciously recovered in these last days the true setting of the Supper, and He maintains it for us in living freshness week by week, Lord’s day after Lord’s day, and as it is taken by us in simplicity of affection for Christ, He loves to confirm to the souls of His people that He has something down here in the assembly as to which He can say, “I have loved thee”, and He will make it known. It is to be cherished above everything else, that we should be consciously in that which is the present object of the love of Christ. There is nothing to exceed it, nothing more blessed than to belong consciously to the assembly, of which Christ is the living Head: and which is the object of His constant living ministrations now, to the end that every thought of the blessed God should find an answer in the assembly.
I do not say more in regard to Philadelphia, having in mind only to call attention to the outstanding feature of this present day, the fidelity of the love of Christ for the assembly, which is a known reality among the saints. It is that which is to be cherished, and the Supper is that by which our souls become nourished in it. Let no one despise the Supper; let it never enter the minds of the saints, young or old, to go for their holidays to a place where they cannot break bread. You cannot afford to miss the Supper, the present sense of the love of Christ for the assembly, the growing sense of all that He is to it, and how He has given Himself for it. How He reminds us of it Lord’s day after Lord’s day: “This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me”, 1 Cor 11: 24. He would maintain the assembly in living touch with Himself, whether it is in the consciousness of a love that is unchanging, or in the light of the moral excellence that shines in Him who took a bondman’s form for the will of God. He has served His saints and serves them still in love, and not only does He serve us in relation to His own love for the assembly, but He serves us in connection with the cup of the new covenant in His blood, in order that we may be continually and increasingly liberated in the joy of the love of God, as that by which every moral question has been solved, so as to be available under His hand for the holy service of God which is so dear to His heart. Let us seek help from the Lord to understand increasingly the value of the present moment, and the immense possibilities for the heart of Christ and for the pleasure of God that lie in the fact, on the one hand of the faithfulness of the love of Christ to the assembly, and on the other of the presence here of the Holy Spirit.
That leads me to the passage in Isaiah. You will notice that it commences with the words, “In that day”. It is an expression which occurs many times in this particular section of the book of Isaiah. “That day” refers to a day when God brings about recovery amongst His people, and hence it has a practical bearing upon ourselves. That its immediate interpretation is to God’s earthly people is of course fully recognised, but at the same time I think we can see that it has a definite bearing upon the present day, the outstanding feature of which is that God is working in recovery. It says, “In that day will Jehovah of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the remnant of his people”. The “remnant of his people” today are those in whom divine thoughts are cherished and in whom the features proper to the assembly are secured in a living way, so that the whole assembly can be accredited with them, for there is nothing less than the whole assembly in the mind and heart of Christ and in the minds and hearts of those who are near to Him; and it says, “In that day will Jehovah of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty”. I believe that the assembly has no greater crown than the consciousness of the love of Christ. The fact that Christ loves us, that He loves the assembly, that we have a living Head in heaven who is unceasing in His love to the assembly, is her crown and glory. He becomes a diadem of beauty, for the more the saints are held in their affections in living touch with their Head in heaven, the more does the beauty that is inherent in Himself, every feature of moral excellence, come into evidence as characterising His people.
Then He becomes more than that. It says, “And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment”. This is an important matter, that the assembly at the present time is a place where judgment according to God comes into evidence. As it says in the psalm in relation to Jerusalem, “There are set thrones for judgment”, Ps 122: 5. If the Lord allows difficulties to arise in local assemblies, it is in order that judgment according to God should come into expression, and the Lord is prepared to be “a spirit of judgment” to those who sit in judgment. Sitting in judgment means that the judgment is to be a deliberate and dignified matter. It is not to be brought down or lowered by petty jealousies and paltry things—there is nothing suggestive of a throne of judgment in such things. The idea of a throne of judgment is that in the judgment there is that which is expressive of God, and if the Lord allows difficulties or questions to arise among the saints, the intention is that it should bring into evidence a judgment that is according to God, so that God is expressed; and God, as it says, “in all things may be glorified”, 1 Pet 4: 11. The Lord says, “Judge not according to sight, but judge righteous judgment”, John 7: 24. How can we judge righteous judgment save as applying divine principles, and how can we apply divine principles rightly save as the Lord becomes to us the “spirit of judgment”? It says, “They that seek Jehovah understand everything”, Prov 28: 5. There is no matter that can arise in the history of the assembly which cannot be solved according to God by those who seek the Lord; and He is “a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment”, that is, to those who embrace the idea that things are not to be settled according to human expediency or human thoughts, but that every matter is to become an occasion for a judgment to be given that expresses things according to God.
Then it says, “And for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate”. What is the gate, beloved? The place where judgment is given, where things are judged according to divine principles. That is the gate, and we well know that when there is a conflict of any kind, one of the most frequent tactics of the enemy is to seek to becloud the real issue by bringing in all sorts of secondary and irrelevant matters so that the real issue is confused. In those circumstances no one can render a greater service to the saints than to turn the battle to the gate. That is to say, the real issue is made clear, and the great divine principles governing it are brought clearly into the light, and the Lord will be strength to those who do it. They may be attacked by the enemy, but the Lord will be “strength to them that turn the battle to the gate”. It is an assurance of victory. Every conflict that arises amongst the people of God is an effort of the enemy to bring in some corrupting influence so that the glory of God may be obscured, and what is essential is that the battle should be turned to the gate, whatever anyone may say, and the Lord will be strength to such.
I refer in closing to the last chapter of Revelation. The Lord has traced the history of the assembly, and now at the close, He says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel”—what a sense that gives us of the greatness of Christ—“to testify these things to you in the assemblies. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”, and as He thus speaks to our hearts, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. What is characteristic of the bride? She adorns herself for her husband. She is the exact opposite of the false system that adorns itself with every kind of false ornamentation and says, “I sit a queen, and I am not a widow”, Rev 18: 7. The bride is the entire opposite of that; she adorns herself solely for her husband. She understands that true adornment, true beauty, is just that which is according to the heart of Christ, indeed it is that which morally corresponds with the beauty which shines in Himself. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. Beloved, we want to be in every way in accord with Christ. If I have any other judgment than that which He has about a matter, there is evident discrepancy between myself and Christ. We want to make it our great aspiration to be in every way in correspondence with Christ. It says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. “He that testifies these things says, Yea, I come quickly”. If He says quickly, let us have no other thought; let us see to it that the things that are unsuitable to Him are judged at once in order that there may be no delay on our part. On His part, He says, “Yea, I come quickly”.
May the Lord grant, beloved, that we may be able, as found here cherishing all that is pleasing to the Lord, to say, “Amen; come, Lord Jesus”. That is what the Lord is looking for. May He enable us to say it in truth of heart!
GLASGOW
May 1936
From Ministry of James Taylor—Old Series, vol 136
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