THE SPIRIT’S SERVICE AT THE SUPPER

Esther 2: 15-18; Romans 8: 15; Ephesians 3: 14-21

J.M.        I was thinking of the Spirit in His service to us in view of the Supper and the service of God. The verses in Esther would suggest typically the service of the Spirit that the assembly might be entirely suitable to the heart of Christ: “She required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed”. That is that the Spirit is able to serve us so that there is everything there for the heart of Christ. It came into the hymn that we started with:

Oft has the Comforter spoken of thee,

Now with this treasure our spirits are freighted        (Hymn No. 4)

The service of the Spirit is towards us, prior to the Supper, so that every grace that is pleasurable to the heart of Christ is wrought out among the saints and can be given expression to as in the presence of the glorious Man

The teaching in Romans has a moral character about it, and I do not deny that; that is the primary setting of it. But this verse refers to the reception of the Spirit of adoption. That would include the Spirit’s service to us as we are in relation to the Father. So that while we have the title of sonship through our Lord Jesus Christ, He the firstborn and we brought in through adoption, the Spirit of adoption would give us the feelings and the intelligence of sons. Sonship is a feeling and an intelligent relationship.

Finally in Ephesians 3, being strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man has in view reaching on to the full thought of God and what is for God’s own heart, “glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. That, of course, reaches on to eternity.

J.A.G.        The Spirit in type here has developed these precious refined affinities that are equal to the king so that she is quite competent to have the royal crown put upon her head and exercise queenship, a holy consort to Christ.

J.M.        I think so. The service of Hegai and the adornment and the refinement that He produces, are particularly suggestive of the Spirit producing beauty and refinement and adornment, “by his spirit he garnished the heavens”. Because of that she would not feel a stranger in such a place, she feels perfectly at home, because she is perfectly suited to the king himself and to the environment that surrounds the king.

J.A.G.        So the Spirit would come from Christ glorified. It is something to think about because Christ is in final conditions of glory and the assembly is being made competent to fill out that both dominically, and also from the point of view of what is bridal and wifely for the satisfaction of His own heart.

J.M.        We would encourage one another that we might make more room for the Spirit’s service to us through the week producing spiritual substance, spiritual adornment and spiritual beauty that can ravish the heart of Christ. It is very beautiful to think of the unselfish character of the Spirit’s service so that Christ might have His portion from the assembly.

J.A.G.        So it is a feature of royalty to open up the well “which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out”, Num 21: 18. It is getting what is earthly out of the way so that the Spirit might have free course as presented objectively.

J.M.        Your reference to royalty is very helpful, because it is the princes who digged there. As we fill out the week at work we get involved in commercial things, or whatever our work involves; there is always a danger of that taking over our whole being, but the Spirit would help us, even in those circumstances, to take on spiritual adornment so that as we come up to the Supper there is something that has been secured through the week that is going to be for the heart of Christ.

D.D.        The Lord speaks about the Spirit in John 16. He says, “He shall glorify me” (v. 14). That is the first thing He says, then “for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you”. But the fact that He has referred to his glorifying Christ, is that what is in your mind in this particular setting?

J.M.        In Genesis 24 the servant’s bringing out of his treasures very much reminds us of that verse in John 16, “he shall receive of mine and shall announce it”, John 16: 14. The service of the Spirit in Genesis 24 was to make Isaac precious to the heart of Rebecca. She had never seen him but by the time that journey was over, through the service of the Spirit typically, Rebecca would be well acquainted with Isaac, and the Spirit would serve us through the week so that we are ready, as we come up to the Supper, to yield what is precious to Christ for His own heart.

H.T.        Is it something vital in the Spirit’s service in that way?

J.M.        I do not think you could do without it. The Supper is the Lord’s consideration for us. That comes into that section in John’s gospel. He looks through the whole dispensation and He feels what it is for us to be orphaned, and the Supper is inaugurated in order that our affections might be sustained, but then there is another side to the Supper, that is that the Lord is looking for what is for His own heart. The Spirit particularly serves us to secure that. Coming from the exalted Head and taking of the things that are Christ’s and showing them to us, shows that He knows exactly what is suited to the affections of Christ and He produces that amongst the saints.

H.T.        ‘Bowed at thy feet and the fragrance set free’ is the result of the Spirit’s touch.

J.M.        That is it, ‘the fragrance set free’. It strikes me more and more that the main point in the Supper is what is for the heart of Christ, not that in any sense you set aside love’s consideration in Himself for His own here in His absence. That has a prominent place, but the main point of the Supper is what is for the heart of Christ Himself. That comes about as room is made for the Spirit’s service through the week.

J.A.G.        So his heart is won here, “And the king loved Esther above all the women”.

J.M.        She is equal to the relationship into which she is brought. She shines in her beauty in that relationship and there is no disparity whatsoever. It is very beautiful that the Lord finds here, through the Spirit’s operation, a vessel that is entirely suited to Himself and is able to enter feelingly and intelligently into His own affections and to be responsive to them.

J.A.G.        This great feast would be the result of that. He wants others brought into the greatness and blessedness of it, “the king made a great feast to all his princes and his servants, Esther’s feast”.

J.M.        It is very touching, the way that it is referred to as “Esther’s feast”, as though it is to bring out his appreciation of Esther, and that because of the service of Hegai. The keeper of the women, Hegai, gives her all that is necessary of the fragrant graces that are pleasurable to the heart of Christ.

J.R.C.        It says, “instead of Vashti”. You are speaking about the world, the world is going on but there is no place for Christ there. So that what Vashti represents is set aside.

J.M.        She was really insubject, she was not suited to be the wife of the king. What has been referred to as the royal features were absent in Vashti but everything that was absent in Vashti is see in its beauty in Esther.

J.R.C.        That is pre-eminently for the heart of Christ, is it not?

J.M.        Therefore the verse we often quote, “He shall drink of the brook in the way”, Ps 110: 7. The Lord is moving on to finality when He will have the assembly entirely with Himself and there will be nothing to hinder reciprocal affections. But the Supper affords Him a foretaste of it and the Spirit’s service as underlying our coming up at the Supper produces all that is necessary that His heart should be ravished.

A.B.        In Genesis 24 there are certain characteristics in Rebecca that were there before the servant made himself known to her. I was thinking of how she fulfilled his prayer, “Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also” (v 14), but then when the servant makes himself known there are adornments brought out and there is movement imparted that the Spirit typically brings in, He leads the bride in movement.

J.M.        Rebecca was a person who had a history in relation to the well before the servant comes on to view. What was in her was the product of the Spirit’s work. Genesis 24 is very beautiful because it brings out in an extraordinary full way, the types of the Spirit and it seems that Rebecca was a person who had given herself over to the Spirit entirely so that the beauty that was seen in her was the result of His operations. That provides a basis for the servant to bring out and clothe her in these things that he brought from his master.

A.B.        It says “all the treasure of his master was under his hand” (v 10).

J.M.        Then in Genesis 24 you come on to the journey, involving the camels and the company of the servant. There would be no topic of conversation there outside of Isaac, he would have been the sole topic of conversation so that when she comes to the end of it, she is ready for him.

J.A.G.         You cannot separate Esther from Mordecai. Mordecai is the background for this. No doubt Vashti might be the Jew, but this is something very precious. A man like Mordecai who is called a Jew and is the Jew, and he took her for his daughter, so from that background she ready for the Spirit’s service.

J.M.        Mordecai is a very beautiful character. I do not want to go into the detail of it, because it was really what she was for the heart of Christ, what she was for the king that was in mind, but you can see that Esther is going to shine out in true assembly features. She was under the tutelage of Mordecai; she put herself there. He is a beautiful character in that sense because he knows what is needed and he serves her in view of producing that so that when the crisis comes she is equal to it, equal even to taking her life in her hands.

D.D.        In Ephesians it says, “the assembly which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all”, Eph 1: 23. The Spirit’s service is essential in that. He shares His headship with her. It is a tremendous matter. In Colossians He is head of the assembly, that is headship personally, but in Ephesians it is headship officially, and He shares His headship with her.

D.D.        Because of the Spirit’s service, the assembly adds to Christ by way of expression.

J.M.        She is equal to the position that she is given. That section brings out what was in the divine mind in the very beginning in man, “Let us make man” (Gen 1: 26). That involves the man and the woman, and she fills out the position that she is given. There is no question about it, that what lies at the root of that is the Spirit’s service to her.

The epistle to the Romans is generally moral teaching and I have no doubt that the verse that we read has a very strong moral bearing. But I thought we might just look at it from the point of view that the Spirit of adoption is service us. The Spirit of adoption is His character and He is serving us with the result that we cry “Abba, Father”. “Abba, Father” is the most affectionate way of speaking to the Father.

F.G.        Is it, Father, Father?

J.M.        That is right, but it is even more than that; it is difficult to get it into expression just to find language. It certainly is Father, Father, but it is the most intimate expression of the relationship of a son to the father. I do not think it is a cry of need. It is the Spirit producing affections in us that are bursting to get out into expression. That is the idea of the cry here. It is worked out inwardly by the Spirit and it cannot be withheld, it cannot be restrained.

J.A.G.        Does it help to understand and appreciate the intensity of the relationship and learn the compassions of God? We are going from here to chapter 12, but, as we know, the relationship and the greatness of it and the liberty of it and the marvel of it sets us completely free.

J.M.        And there is that expression of affection for the Father in the saints that is entirely suited to the relationship. We not only have the status of sons, but we have the feelings and intelligence of sons.

J.A.G.        And the wherewithal as we go through the chapters to live at this level because we are heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ?

J.M.         Mr Stoney said, we are called to sonship, and the great privilege is to live at that level, but we often act as beggars. You are enriched, you could not be more enriched. There is a dignity, and almost a royalty about the sons.

W.L.        To live at that level, is it as we had this morning as to digging the wells?

J.M.        I think it is making room for the Spirit. The Spirit of adoption will produce these feelings in us so that as we come to the service of God flowing out of the Supper, there is in our hearts what cannot be contained and it breaks out Godward. I often think of this passage in relation to the three mighty men of David. They broke through and brought the water that is by the well of Bethlehem to David. This is not to the king, this is to the Father, but it is the same idea. There is that energy of affection produced by the Spirit that cannot be contained.

H.T.        Our status is a very wonderful thing; it is a great honour, but it is unfulfilled without the Spirit.

J.M.        The fulness of it is given expression by the Spirit of adoption in us so that there are the feelings that are suited to sons. This, “whereby we cry, Abba, Father”, is not a cry of need, it is an answer to the Father’s own affections.

G.C.        It says in verse 15 “For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear”. Can you say why the apostle speaks like that?

J.M.        I suppose that what might be in the apostle’s mind is the old dispensation and the legal system. In Exodus 19, verse 16 the people trembled. They were not set at liberty, but the great point of sonship is that we are set absolutely free.

G.C.        Do you think then, Paul is writing this, (he was well versed in all the Jewish things), but on the road to Damascus, something must have happened within that man? Can you help us along that line?

J.M.        Mr Darby says that on the Damascus road, all that Paul was morally was smashed. The whole moral being of the man was brought down, and he is set up in another Man altogether. That is what we speak of as really true conversion. What had you in mind yourself?

G.C.        It was the fact that we have been brought into the Spirit of adoption. I was thinking of Paul coming to realise, maybe as he went into Damascus and saw certain things, that there was an area of liberty which was directly in touch with heaven, and therefore there was a part to played, but there was also a part to be enjoyed by persons who even were afar off but had been brought nigh.

J.M.        It is a matter to be enjoyed. The Spirit of adoption, among other things would bring home to us that we have absolutely no title to it. But, nevertheless we are brought into that relationship of sons. Christ is the Son. He stands out in His own dignity and His own uniqueness and that is His place, but then His place becomes our place and the Spirit of adoption gives us the feelings and the intelligence that is necessary for the filling out of that place.

D.D.        In John 20 He says to Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father” (v 17). It seems to stand by itself, but then He says, “but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father”. Do you think that would bring in the Spirit of adoption?

J.M.        That is the most important message He could ever have given to His brethren and He entrusted it to a woman. That message opens up the whole truth of sonship. John’s gospel generally does not deal with sonship in us, (it is mostly children of God in John), but that section is unique and it opens up the truth of sonship as it relates to us and what there is for the Father’s pleasure.

D.D.        There are certain things in which the Lord Jesus stands alone, but when it comes to that point, we are brought in on the line of adoption.

J.M.        That is why it says, “my Father and your Father”. It is wholly wrong to say here ‘our Father’. Some do, sad to say, but that is not the truth, the truth is “my Father and your Father”. Nevertheless, although sonship is uniquely His, we are brought into the affections that are proper to that relationship through the Spirit.

A.B.        I was thinking of the scripture in Galatians, it says, “but because ye are sons, God has sent out the spirit of His son … crying Abba, Father”, Gal 4: 6.

J.M.        That is a parallel passage. He sent out the spirit of His Son. You have the feelings of Christ. There are certain terms that we use and I sometimes think it would be a good thing if we stop and just enquire whether we understand what they mean. In the Supper we experience union with Christ and it is quite remarkable that it is from the position of union with Christ that we move by way of the worship of the Spirit, to sonship. In union with Christ we have an entrance into the heart of Christ. We discern the things that Christ loves, we know the persons that He loves, and we love like Him. I do not think that is too much to say, is it?

J.A.G.        I think the service of God the Father proceeds from union; it cannot carry on from any other position.

J.M.        And it involves that we have the feelings and the intelligence that is proper to that relationship. We gain these through union.

J.A.G.        You must be in tune with the Chief Musician.

J.M.        That is right. We have a certain order in the service and we would all agree that the order is the right order. The order has not always been that way. Some of us can remember when things were a bit different. But the present order is right. Nevertheless order is not the substance in the service of God. Substance in the service of God is really acquired through union with Christ. Then the Spirit comes, as He does here, to help us and to give us the real feelings of sons.

J.A.G.        Paul helped bring Philemon on to this level in case there might be any trace of the spirit of bondage again for fear, and his account is able to cover anything owing, and we should have an account like him.

J.M.        That is beautiful. He says, put it to my account; he has substance there. That is a very good illustration because he was anxious that Onesimus should have the real feelings that were proper to the position into which he was seeking to be reinstated.

In Ephesians we get the touchstone. He is speaking of being “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. In Daniel 9, Daniel had no strength because he was convicted of the sin of the people and he puts himself in that category, but in chapter 10 the reason for him not having strength was the greatness of what God was presenting to him and he felt the need of power outside of himself. The answer to that is here, “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man” gives us the power to grasp hold of the greatest thing. So, while the service of God elevates us to the greatest position which creature could ever be, there is power to sustain us in that.

J.A.G.        It is “according to the riches of his glory”, a remarkable expression.

J.M.        That links with your reference to Philemon. It is a bottomless account; an account that never runs out. It is the way God has affected things for His own pleasure. There is no shortage of resource with Him to bring things through in a substantial way.

H.T.        The result is what is substantially in the hearts of the saints.

J.M.        That is right. It is coming out, glory to God in the assembly. It is a very beautiful thing, and that is realised now because the Father’s spirit would serve us “in the inner man”, so that we might answer even now to this great matter of glory to God in the assembly. “That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”, that is the first thing, and then “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”. What great things we are brought into, but we are given the power as being strengthened by the Father’s spirit to fill out these great matters.

H.T.        It refers to substance.

J.M.        This is remarkable substance. It is not just a matter of doctrine or a matter of theory, it is a very substantial matter.

J.A.G.        Say something about ‘the Christ’. Why is the Lord Jesus called the Christ here, “the Christ may dwell … in you hearts”, and the “love of the Christ”.

J.M.        It is quite remarkable, especially the reference to the “love of the Christ”, that comes in only twice in scripture. You get the love of Christ, but “love of the Christ” comes in only twice in scripture and the reference here - “the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your heart” – I think very simply it is the anointed man, it is the One who is securing everything for the pleasure of God, but we are brought in to know Him and to know the things that He is securing for the pleasure of God and to have a part in them, do you not think?

J.A.G.        I think it is tremendous that this Person, the Man of God’s purpose, dwells through faith in your heart; you are fully established in it, and may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints the whole scope of the realm into which God has come and to be sustained in it by the love of the Christ.

J.M.        You may recall it used to be a very common expression, that we are lost in eternity. Adjustment came in that you are not lost; you are actually fixed in eternity, and we belong there. It is a very great matter.

A.B.        In writing to the Corinthians Paul speaks of “the Spirit searching all things even the depths of God”, but then he says, “we have been given the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God”, there is no limitation on that.

J.M.        He searches all things, even the depths of God. Here you are into the heights as well, “breadth and length and depth and height”. There are the four dimensions here so that you are brought into the fulness of all that God has had in mind for man. So many Christians go no further than the forgiveness of their sins, and yet what great things God has in mind for men, and He has given us the power that we might actually grasp them and enter into them and be responsive in them.

J.A.G.        While all this is so, He is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think according to the power which works in us, which is the Spirit.

J.M.        That is right. That is very beautiful because you get the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge. You might think, the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge is a contradiction, but here you come to this, “to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us”. You can see that there is a power, which lies in the Father’s Spirit. That is much greater than any conception that we can have of it and it is there to bring us livingly, intelligently and responsively into this great area of glory.

J.A.G.        Perhaps one of the things we need help about is that we judge God from our own point of view and consequently we are so limited. It would greatly broaden and enlarge our outlook to see things from God’s point of view, and to see the joy and gladness of His heart that He has come out in this way. It is a joy to His heart to bring us into it.

J.M.        The Epistle to the Ephesians commences with that, it is what has been in the mind of God before sin ever came in. In chapter 3 we are actually reaching it.

D.D.        In Revelation 21 it is not an empty vessel: the dimensions are there but it is full. Do you think that is what is brought out here, “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”, everything that has been absorbed in the present time is seen there in substance. Is that right?

J.M.        That is right. The difference between Revelation 21 and what is here is that in that section the vessel has the glory of God. That is in view of it shining out in testimony, but here it is actually glory “to God”. We are touching here the highest point that creature can ever touch. It is really the acme of Paul’s ministry. It is the acme of divine thoughts.

D.D.        Glory in testimony and privilege has been spoken of. Glory in testimony is Revelation 21; this is glory in privilege.

J.M.        This is what is really for the heart of God Himself. Unto all generations of the age of ages is the nearest you can get in finite language to express infinity. So what we are touching here is really eternity.

H.T.        We have been taught that the response will be equal to the revelation because Christ is in it, but the Spirit is in it also.

J.M.        We have come to see that there is a subjective answer in the operations of the Spirit, additional to what Mr Raven says as to the response being equal to the revelation.

J.A.G.        We are getting some idea about the third heaven and paradise. It is so very beautiful and full and no doubt it affected Paul’s ministry, things which he was not allowed to utter, yet the effect upon him comes out in these chapters.

J.M.        The remarkable thing about it, and I say this without any shadow of doubt, is that we can touch this in the service of God on Lord’s Day morning, but the actuality of it is very near.

J.A.G.        When the Lord comes you are in it.

J.M.        I think that the Lord’s coming is very near. Somebody might say, With all the conditions that there are among the saints, I think the Lord’s coming is very near.

D.D.        “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages” – is it right to think that the assembly will be an influence by way of the service of God extending to other families?

J.M.        I think so. One has to be very careful because the mediator of God and men is One, the Man Christ Jesus, so you must always carry that in your mind and respect it, but I do not think it is wrong to think of the assembly as having a kind of a mediatorial service, I think it is fully justified in the ministry and the scriptures.

D.D.        In Revelation 21 the tabernacle of God is with men. It seems that she spreads a benign influence and it involves other families. She is distinct, of course, but it stands related to other families.

J.M.        That is right. She will enjoy a unique place in eternity as the nearest family to deity. That kind of service will be carried out by the assembly.

J.R.C.        Is there mention of that in verse 14 “of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”? That is quite a remarkable thing. Maybe the assembly is in a prime position, but everything else according to God’s thoughts of family are carried through.

J.M.        It is “of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”, and I think there will be a response from every family according to the light that is given to that family. You get a similar expression in Timothy when he speaks about the “king of the ages”. Every age will have its own quota of glory. When you come to the assembly, all these responses are gathered up in one vessel. I do not think there is anything that any family will have in the way of knowledge of God and response Godward that you will not find in the assembly.

J.R.C.        I am sure that is right. Along with that every thought of God in regard to this family position is carried through.

J.M.        It is very comforting and exercising too that God eternally will dwell with men family-wise. What is going to predominate in the millennium is the kingdom. But, when you come to eternity, what will dominate is the family idea, that goes right through.

J.A.G.        Growing to a holy temple in the Lord; that great area of divine light must bear upon what is mediatorial.

J.M.        I think that is right. I do not want to get too much into it, because I want to be preserved in what is right. I think that is quite clear and it is a great thing to seek the Spirit’s help to appreciate the unique position in the divine scheme of things that is given to the assembly.

J.A.G.        “The glory of God doth enlighten, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb”, that is all mediatorial.

J.M.        As you know we will be dependent upon the mediatorial position eternally. It was said some time ago that when you get the tabernacle of God with men, that was outside the mediatorial position, but it is not. We will need the mediator right throughout eternity. But, I think the assembly has a kind of mediatorial service to perform.

J.A.G.        It has got to be because the economy remains.

J.M.        That is right. If the economy did not remain where would we be? There would be no place for us.

J.A.G.        Persons say that the mediatorial ceases: that must mean that the economy ceases but it cannot be.

J.M.        That is impossible otherwise there would be no place for us. God has come into a mediatorial position in order that He might be known of men. That must go through eternally.

J.R.C.        It says here, “to him be glory in the assembly”. What is your impression of that phrase, “glory”?

J.M.        I used to think, “to him be glory in the assembly” was something beyond the matter of praise – glory to me seemed to be a matter of substance, but then the Psalm says “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me”, Ps. 50: 23. It must therefore involve the praises that are ascending from the assembly, as well as the former.

J.R.C.        We read it quickly, but then you say, what is really in the fact of glory.

J.M.        I think it must involve praise. You come to the last Psalm “Let everything that hath breath praise Jah” (Ps. 150: 6), that is what it ends with, but it starts in the centre and widens out through all the circles, and you can picture that, as the hymn writer says:

Every circle gathered round Him                (Hymn 83)

You can picture the whole universe being affected in the way of praise to God. I think that is included in what it says here, “glory to God in the assembly”.

J.R.C.        And Christ is the centre of all of it.

J.M.        That is quite clear, “to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge. That is something that you might have difficulty in understanding. We generally think of the love of the Christ being His love towards the assembly, but the love of the Christ, the perfect Man, which surpasses knowledge must include His love for His God. That opens the thing up, otherwise how could we have the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge. When you come to His love for His God you are really touching infinity. All that enters into this section involving what there is in the way of an answer for God Himself. Do you think that would be right to say that?

J.A.G.        I think without being misunderstood it is the general position in the assembly, everything is glory, “in his temple doth every one say glory”, Ps 29: 9.

J.M.        You might say, wherever you look, whatever you touch, is glory, but the glory here is glory to God, it is an answer, as we remarked Revelation 21 is the glory shining out testimonially but this is flowing responsively.

J.A.G.        David says, “of thine own have they given thee”, everything here is of God.

J.M.        Everything is of God and everything is for God, so that you are touching the divine end that God will be glorified.

 

 

ABERDEEN

6 May 2001

 

Key to initials

A. Brown, Grangemouth; G. Coull, Aberdeen; J.R. Cumming, Edinburgh; D. Duthie, Aberdeen; F. Gardiner, Aberdeen; J.A. Gardiner, Aberdeen; W. Lovie, Aberdeen; J. Mitchell, Chester; H. Taylor, Aberdeen