THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS MINISTRY

Isaiah 49: 1–6; Matthew 11: 20–30; 13: 1–3, 24–52

JDG For those who were not with us yesterday, we began in Romans 15, verse 8, where it says that “Jesus Christ became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers; and that the nations should glorify God for mercy”. I thought we should consider the Lord Jesus Christ and His ministry, taking account of the fact that He limited Himself to His movements amongst the Jews, but there was to be a wider result than that, as we considered that the nations should glorify God for mercy.

We began our first reading with the thought of the Lord Jesus coming in (Matthew 3) to be baptised at the Jordan, then in the second reading we considered the mount of legislation and the persons who come to Him, persons who were convicted about the light that shone; the great light that shone affected them in their souls, they come to the Lord Jesus, come for further teaching, convicted as to who He is, the One who came in, who was Emmanuel, God with us. Then the Lord Himself took account of them, as the children that God had given Him, so that there was exercise there; He was able to send them out (Matthew 10) amongst the Jews to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It goes beyond that in its teaching; it is a chapter which has been described as producing moral fibre in the believer. There are certain tests, severe tests as to conditions that have to be attached to us as being in the testimony of the Lord Jesus. Today, we come to the matter that the ministry in Israel has been rejected. Chapter 11 has been described by those who have gone before us as the turning point in the book of Matthew. There is a change of operations, going to the lost sheep of the house of Israel will be taken up again in a coming day, after the church goes, by preachers in Israel; God has not forgotten His ancient people. But now the Lord is going to open up another thought that was in His mind that relates to His thoughts as to the assembly. There are certain feelings that come out in Christ at that point, which Isaiah 49 brings out; we may consider them for a little, before moving on to Matthew 11 where He turns to His Father.

Then in chapter 13 where Jesus went out of the house and goes to the seaside and expounds certain parables that concern the public position in the Christian dispensation. Then He goes into the house and there are those who go in with Him; we want to be among those persons who are interested in what is so precious to His heart, particularly in the pearl, but also in the treasure that is in the field, and then too the matter of the gospel net, and the good being gathered into vessels. It is well-known ground we are going over, but I trust there is a measure of help for us as considering particularly the Lord Jesus in the whole matter.

JS As to the part in brackets “(though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength;)”, do you think that would come out in chapter 11 of Matthew’s gospel, where He turns to the Father and says, “I praise thee, Father”?

JDG Yes, I thought that was an interesting verse, “though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified”. I was turning over in my mind also the scripture in John 13, which is in line with what you are speaking about, where it says, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately”, John 13: 31, 32. Divine persons are not defeated, if Israel be not gathered, Christ is going to unfold something that has been hidden in one sense, has it not? It is a great matter; Israel will be brought back, it says in Isaiah 49: 6, “It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”. What an opening up of divine wisdom.

JM Is there a hint in these verses of what was really in His mind, and comes out in Matthew. He starts, “Listen, O isles”, and then, at the end of the section He says, “that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”. While, as you say, He has initially confined His ministry to the circumcision, what has come in is so great that it cannot be confined to that.

JDG That is what I thought. It is an expansive thought, it is very interesting in this section how He brings that out, “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples from afar”. Not now the Jew, but it is being addressed beyond that, so that the Lord is going to move after chapter 11 in relation to that. Here, He feels the matter of what He says in verse 4, “And I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God”. It says in the note that it implies exhausting labour; what labours Christ put in to secure, if possible, the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but they refused Him. He is now anticipating something beyond that, to other peoples, looking for an ear, and men that would hearken to the glad tidings in due course.

JM What has come in in Himself is so great that, if it is refused in Israel it cannot be hindered, it goes out into a much wider sphere.

JDG That is right. Although He came in and limited Himself to begin with, yet you can see in Romans 15 that there was something else in His mind, that mercy would extend to the Gentiles. We spoke about it yesterday, there is a great result there. Here, He says, “Listen, O isles”. That is a word to us, whether there is a hearing ear here to what the Lord is saying, some appreciation of what His feelings were; He had deep feelings in regard to the Jew. He leaves the matter with His God, and then the conversation goes on here, from verse 5 to verse 6, showing that divine Persons had something else in mind that was far greater than what would be in Israel.

MGW In Matthew 11, they had not been listening in Capernaum and in all the places where there had been works of power. In chapter 13 His disciples are listening and enquiring, and the more they enquired the more they get.

JDG Yes, so I am sure that is a right principle, if we ask it will be opened unto us, that is the teaching in the early chapters of Matthew. So, if we are here with a hearing ear and an enquiring heart and mind we will get help from this scripture we are considering just now, Isaiah 49. It is good to consider divine feelings.

JAG It is interesting at the close of Matthew; the whole of the economy is related to the nations, “baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, Matthew 28: 19.

JDG Yes, I think it has been referred to, that from about chapter 11 or 12 of Matthew’s gospel it is like a parenthesis, the matter of the Jews being held in abeyance, and looks to the nations coming on to view. It has also been said that Matthew’s gospel was written like the book of Hebrews, to attract persons away from Judaism into Christianity, in line with “go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”, Hebrews 13: 13. In Matthew 11, it is “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened”. Those are the principles and feelings that lay behind the matters that are on the surface.

RT It speaks of the Lord “who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame”, Hebrews 12: 2. Would what we are speaking of be the joy lying before Him?

JDG Yes, I think that is right. “Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah”, that is a certain joy and satisfaction of Christ that He is going to be glorified in the eyes of His God, “my God shall be my strength”. He could look forward to the joy that was before Him. He knew what that joy was, so His spirit is not depressed here, He was relying on His God, to use that expression, He understood the Father had greater things in mind. It may be a small thing to bring the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel, it is a far greater matter what is coming on to view now.

WL Do you think the Lord in His preaching in Luke 4 goes beyond the confines of Israel, they just could not stand that? Does it show what the Lord had in mind even there?

JDG Yes, that is right. They were not prepared for the

gospel to come to the nations; what bitterness came out in the book of the Acts as the gospel went to the nations. The Lord Jesus said of Paul, I send thee to the nations afar off. All that was in Christ’s mind here, it was always in His heart. Although He felt deeply the matter that He had laboured in vain, spent His strength for nought, as He says here in the book of Isaiah. But He turns to His God, “nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God”.

DBR The Lord is presented as God’s servant, could you say something about that?

JDG Well, who else could He lay His hand upon but Christ? Israel was supposed to be the servant, that was Israel actually as a nation, but they failed and Christ takes up the matter and becomes the true Servant. He is the One upon whom the Spirit could descend, the One upon whom the Father’s voice could be heard. This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matthew 3: 17. He is equal to carrying forward and giving effect to the full counsel of God.

DBR That is helpful, it is most affecting too, perhaps the young could be encouraged to study, as you are suggesting, the years of the Lord’s ministry, and see how He never was once diverted from the divine will. Is that the glory of the servant, do you think?

JDG Yes, I think that is very well put, because a lesser man might have been turned aside here, but Christ was not turned aside. He reproaches the cities in which most of His works of power had taken place, and now He has a resource in His Father that they knew nothing about. In verse 25 of chapter 11, He turns to Him, “Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father”, what an outlet for His affections.

RG Is this pointed up in chapter 42 of Isaiah, do you think? “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth! I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations”.

JDG It is remarkable how the nations come into the prophetic writings. It may have appeared to the Jew, in reading the Old Testament it was the nations set in relation to Israel in the millennium setting, but divine Persons had other things in their minds which were hidden in the Old Testament and now were going to come to light. I think we need to grasp hold of the fact that the Lord Jesus is rejoicing in heart here. He is going to open up truths that were hidden from the world’s foundation, going on as we will see in chapter 13 to the mystery. It is all going to come out now, what a movement, let us grasp hold of the magnitude of divine movements in these chapters!

JS Do you think the way He refers to the Father as the Lord of heaven and of the earth would envisage what would be secured in the way of heavenly and earthly companies, all named of the Father?

JDG Yes, that is good. It is good to explore the truth in these verses, like turning over a stone on the beach and finding life there, to use a simile. I think you are right in that, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”. There is going to be secured heavenly families and earthly families, all for the divine pleasure, all named of the Father. The Lord Jesus was in the secret of that; we have to understand the Lord had foreknowledge. He knew exactly what was going to take place, what was going to happen but, in His heart, He is bringing out what the divine mind is in these sections now, no longer as to Israel, but as to Christ and the assembly.

JMcK Could you say something as to the idea of covenant in Isaiah 49?

JDG Well, you will have to help on that one.

JMcK It says, “and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land”. It is not simply the work that He has done but He is given, is that the emphasis?

JDG Yes, it would carry with it the assurance of all going to be secured through Christ. Our brother is referring to verse 8 of chapter 49, “Thus saith Jehovah—In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages”. I think that is the assurance that Christ will bring all into the fulness of the counsels of God.

JMcK I thought primarily the covenant was with Israel, but the principle of it carries forward, so that divine faithfulness is in the greatness of the Person who is given the assurance of everything.

JDG I think it would carry forward in our own time, “give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, Go forth”. Well, has He not released us?

RT You spoke about the unfolding of the divine mind, is that all looking forward to the death and resurrection of Christ? Is that what has made the great change to the whole unfolding of everything?

JDG Yes it is. What is in mind this afternoon, if the Lord will, is to look into the Lord’s death.

RT He speaks Himself of being straitened, does He not? The resurrection of Christ has put everything in its place as to Israel, and brought to light a new generation in these babes.

JDG Yes, it is in mind, if the Lord will, to look into that, because it is after He brings forward the thought of building His assembly, He brings forward the necessity of His sufferings.

JSp There is some indication of this in God’s dealings with Abraham, dust of the earth, but then it extends to the stars of the heavens. Do you think we see how God gives indication very early on as to what His great thoughts will be?

JDG That is helpful. We were looking at that last Lord’s day in our local meeting. In Genesis chapter 15 it is dust of the earth, then in chapter 17 it is the stars of heaven. What is going to come out of the loins of Abraham from that point of view, he is father of all those who have faith. So, there will be variety in families, there is going to be the distinction of the heavenly and the earthly families. Well, it is a great matter to understand we belong to a heavenly family. It has been said that Abraham will belong to a heavenly family, but he will not belong to the assembly. He will have access to the city of habitation that God promised him, but he will not belong there. Somebody else said it is one thing to have access to the assembly in its heavenly sphere, it is another thing to belong to the assembly; we want to grasp hold of that. Maybe we will get help today on that, what it is to belong to the assembly, it is a distinctive heavenly family.

JM Do you think that this change that you referred to in chapter 11 of Matthew really proceeds from these holy intimate affections between the Father and the Son? So that what is coming out is the very best that is in the divine mind.

JDG Yes, it is very interesting. We should consider that how the Lord, at the time of His rejection of His ministry, compares the gravity of what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah. He says “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in judgment-day than for thee”—that is Capernaum, the place where we might say, Emmanuel lived there and preached there. Then He says, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”. I would like to ask if this is the first address of the Lord to the Father in the gospel.

JM I think it is, but does it not bring out a beautiful setting because He goes on from that, that no one knows the Son but the Father, and the Father but the Son, and so on, as though what is in His mind is a company of persons that can be brought into these holy relations that exist between the Father and the Son in love. That is a tremendous matter, is it not? I doubt very much whether Israel would ever have been able to enter into that, would they?

JDG I think what you say is right, but is it not the babes that enter into it?

JM That is just it, it is revealed unto babes, that is not the diminutive idea about babes, but it is persons who are in a suited condition to receive it, the very great things that the Lord is about to bring out.

JDG It is interesting the word “revealed” comes in here, because it is a new thought in the gospel, I think, the principle of revelation (which is going to occupy us later on in chapter 16) but it says “revealed them to babes”. I think revelation and the principle of being revealed, involves that there is a work of God in the persons to whom it is revealed. So the babes are not immature persons but persons who, in the simplicity of their hearts, are prepared to receive Christ and what He has to say.

JM I think really the magnitude of it should seize hold of us; you think of what has come in in these holy affections that flow between the Father and the Son, and we are brought into that, brought into the joy and the blessedness of it and the gain of it, and therefore the exercise is to be babes in our spirits, is it not?

JDG So that before He brings out, as we go on in chapter 13, the matter regarding the assembly. He brings out the intimacy and holy relationships of divine Persons in the economy; that is very important to grasp hold of because He looks later on for the Father operating in Peter to reveal things. But here He brings out the essence of His relationship with the Father; “no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him”. What an opening up of the divine mind that there are going to be persons now to whom these things can be revealed. I think what you have said is very important; Israel would not be equal to that.

GCMcK Does it mean something to us that the Lord Jesus is praising the Father here? We have been speaking of His feelings in regard to His service, but here He is praising, a remarkable thought, is it?

JDG He felt deeply, as we saw in Isaiah 49, “I have laboured in vain”. He leaves that with His God. He turns to His God, you might say, “I praise thee, Father”; there is a recognition of the Father operating, “thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes”. There would be a reason for that; the wise and prudent would be the scribes and the Pharisees, I suppose in the previous part of the gospel, but revealed to babes are those who were looking for the pure, mental milk of the word. That should be our attitude; we have to be in this state, not an immature state, but the thought of babes that are looking for the pure, mental milk of the word, affected by what the Lord opens up here as the greatest matter involving the economy, the Father and the Son. The Spirit is not mentioned but as our brother referred to the baptism at the end of the book, the Spirit is there, in the one name, the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What wisdom enters into the Lord Jesus unfolding in His ministry that He brings this forward at this time, before He proceeds to open up what is further in the divine mind.

WL Is the order in the economy seen at the end of the book? The Lord says here, “Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”, Matthew 11: 25, and at the end of the book He says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”, Matthew 28: 18. Could you comment on that?

JDG Well, we often turn to the Father as the One who is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth, things are in His hands; that would be all-embracive, would it not? Then the Lord says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”, that is His place in manhood, but for the moment He is sitting on His Father’s throne. From another point of view He has sanctified Himself for the saints. So, He has not taken up His operations fully as being given power in heaven and upon earth. Is that right? Would you go with that?

WL I certainly would, but it is there, He has it, it has been given to Him. When He arises from His Father’s throne He will exert that power, do you think?

JDG Yes, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that is the power in heaven and on earth will be operated by that Person, known in John’s gospel as the Lamb of God.

DBR Divine wisdom has brought in this great matter of the economy, and I just wondered if you would comment at this point on the place the Father has in it. It seems to me that it gives a great stabilising touch, because as we have been taught, the Father represents deity in the economy, He retains that place. Is the Lord recognising that here, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”? Do you think that brings a sense of stability into our beings?

JDG Yes, that is helpful. The Lord says in John’s gospel, “no one shall seize them out of my hand”. He also says, “My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father”, John 10: 28, 29. What security there is, that He holds everything in control. I think what you say is important. The Father has not taken a relatively inferior position, He retains what is equal to the sphere of Deity. So, it has been pointed out that in the service of God we address the Father then we address God, it is not going higher, it is the same level of things, the Father retaining Deity. Is that right?

DBR I think that is most helpful. I think too it is timely, because in the presentation of the economy, God known in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the answer in the saints and in the assembly must take that in. The final thing is God known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, do you think?

JDG Well, you know it has been said that the revelation of God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit is for finite hearts and minds, something that comes within our range. We can know divine Persons affectionately, having made themselves known in the name of Father; what a tender name, then the Son, the One whom we know with affection, then the Holy Spirit, that guest that indwells us.

WL The person of the Son is not revealed, what would you say about that?

JDG It is too glorious to be revealed, but there is something revealed about Him in chapter 16, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Matthew 16: 16. That is a revelation about Christ, is it not?

WL Well, this produces worship; we began with the greatness of the person of Christ. While the order that we know, as we have been saying, in the economy, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, does not in any way detract from the greatness of the person of Christ.

JDG It is good to be affected by all these things, and then the Lord Jesus says, “Come to me”. I thought that was a very fine invitation to these babes, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”. What questions would arise in their hearts, knowing the failure of the ministry to Israel, now a completely new sphere is being opened up to them. I noted that Matthew’s gospel was an address to the Jew to leave Judaism; I wondered whether in that setting Matthew was saying that there is a Person we can all come to, we have to go forth without the camp bearing His reproach.

PJH When He says “and I will give you rest”, is that a hint as to the giving of the Spirit?

JDG Well, maybe, but I am not too sure. I think it could include that in the divine mind, certainly the Spirit is a Comforter, that is what would be in your mind. It says, “Come to me ... and I will give you rest”, it is coming to a Person, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and for ever, He remains the same. We can always come to Him; if you come to Him you are going to be attracted to go into the final house, in the next section we have read.

JAG “And ... give you rest” and then “rest to your souls”; perhaps there were Jews there with the Lord and concerned about His rejection, and their affections all torn, you might say. Is this all the rest of sonship; we have to learn that in this section? I think the Lord is manifesting the blessedness of His relations with the Father, which is far greater than service, and then He brings them into the liberty of it in the next chapter.

JDG Yes, I like that reference you have made; it is sweeter to Christ than service, His relations with the Father. So, what is sweeter to us than service is our relations with Christ, rest to your souls.

JAG He came out from God.

JDG He came out from God and was going to God, came out from the Father too.

DFH There was a remark made as to relative inferiority, I did not quite follow that.

JDG Well, the Lord Jesus has taken a mediatorial place, the service of the Spirit too as taking a mediatorial place; a place, as I understand it, relatively inferior to the Father, the Father remains in Deity, does not move out of that sphere. The Lord Jesus has come into manhood, so that would involve moving into a relatively inferior position, coming into manhood. The Spirit has taken His abode in believers, He serves in a hidden way, He does not promote Himself exactly in the Scriptures, it is the Lord Jesus that promotes Him.

RG It has been said that by coming into a relatively inferior position, as man, it does not negate or reduce in any way the glory of who He is as God.

JDG No, but you would go along with the thought that He has come into a relatively inferior place. Is that right?

RG That is in the economy.

JM That remark is confined to the economy, is it not? I think it is important to set our brother’s mind at rest that what we are speaking of is confined to the economy.

DFH That helps to clarify it, thank you.

JDG I think what has been said is right for us to grasp hold of, relative inferiority in divine Persons involves movements into the economy.

JM It is important to carry that in our minds, because in the Persons there is no suggestion whatsoever of inferiority, and that really involves, as you say, both the Son and the Spirit. In the economy they have taken positions relative to the Father, and it bears on what you said earlier that the Father retains (even in the economy), He retains that thought of Godhead.

JDG I think that helps. Well, we should move on to chapter 13 to get a few words on it before we close. The Lord Jesus moves out in chapter 13, verse 1. He moves out from the house and sat down by the sea, that is a movement into another area where then He expounds, and He begins to sow the seed. He is no longer looking for fruit from Israel after the flesh. He is sowing the seed which is the word of God, and there are hearts and souls responsible for how they receive that seed. The first parable brings that out; there are various conditions attached to souls that receive that seed; there was nothing wrong with the seed. We want to be among those, according to verse 23, “he that is sown upon the good ground—this is he who hears and understands the word, who bears fruit also, and produces, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty”. That is encouraging for us, for me anyway, maybe I only bear thirty, but it is good seed, good fruit, it is pleasing to the heart of Christ; it would be better to be a hundredfold, still the Lord appreciates us, whether sixty or thirty. Then He opens up the parables about the public side of the present dispensation. We see how rapidly things have moved now from the Jewish setting over to the present dispensation which would be completely new to these dear brethren, these disciples. There are more than the disciples, the crowd is here, the matter is open for all who have ears to hear or are desirous of listening. Then He moves from verse 36, into another house but there are those who move with Him. Do we want to move to listen to the Lord in the intimacy of where He can teach? Just as Paul moved the disciples later, bringing out Ephesian truth, into the school of Tyrannus. It has been pointed out by others (I say this for the younger ones) when He left the house in verse 1 of chapter 13 He was leaving the Jewish house, that is teaching, and He is by the sea which is looking for fruit from the nations. All we have been speaking about, what the nations mean, the whole scope of what is going to be secured in the dispensation from the nations, and then there is the public setting of things. Then He moves the disciples into another house, that is the privacy and exclusion of where we are under His hand as Teacher.

JS This house in verse 36 is where the disciples can come to Him and make enquiry of Him, an intimate, privileged setting, is it not?

JDG Well, have I a desire to move from the one sphere, where it may be more public, speaking in parables that I may not understand fully, but the movement of the Lord Jesus into this house did not exclude anyone, into the house in verse 36. It was open to all who were concerned and exercised to know further the truth concerning Christ and the assembly. That is the question that comes up; am I here today because we are concerned and exercised about coming into the truth, not only in public matters relating to the Christian dispensation, but the secret side of what is so precious to Christ?

JAG What a cheer to the Lord’s heart to have here people asking Him to expound.

JDG That is what I thought. That is a principle that gathers us today. Paul filled it out in Acts 20 after he had addressed them, they conversed together until daybreak. There is a setting where we can ask one another questions, and really it is asking Christ.

JM I was just going to point out from the early part of the chapter, it says He spoke a parable, He spoke another parable, and when you come to what He says in the house, in verse 36 onwards, there is no mention of a parable. It is a very intimate area, is it not, where there is a state of things to receive what the Lord is saying directly? Should we be exercised that we should be in that area, do you think?

JDG Well, that would be what I would carry in my heart, and all the brethren would carry in their hearts. There would be some desire with all of us, including the younger men, and women too.

WL Why do you think they asked “Expound to us the parable of the darnel of the field”?

JDG Well, they had not yet heard the other matters the Lord was going on to, they were puzzled, I suppose, by what happened with the sowing of the seed and then the darnel coming in, so the Lord gives them an understanding as He would give us an understanding. What do you say about it?

WL Well, I wondered if they would be concerned about admixture. When we were young, when certain exercises came up in the local assembly a brother spoke about this parable and said, Oh just leave it, the Lord will sort it when He comes. That has no application to the present day has it?

JDG I think if we take the parable of the darnel by itself it is the scene in Christendom in which the Lord has sown good seed but the devil is sowing seeds so that sometimes you might think a person is a believer, and is not a true believer; they are affected by schisms that are not according to the truth. But we have to leave the public side, we cannot go rooting them out, but where the matter appears within is another matter, and that is what you are speaking about.

WL That is my point. Like Paul to the Corinthians, those without God judges, do not ye judge them that are within? So, when a moral matter arises, it must be faced up to.

JDG That is right. We are going a bit further ahead than I intended, but that brings up the seine net cast into the sea of nations, it brings out good and bad, but the good is gathered into vessels. Maybe there has been a certain lack in what was selected as good, maybe in the case you speak about.

JS I wondered if the Lord gives these parables about the treasure and the pearl to show really what the assembly is in His thoughts; the value of it to Him and what we may do in deliberation in this way seems to sort out the good and the bad. It really is to be carried out in the light, and be governed by what the Lord has given as to the treasure and the pearl, do you think?

JDG Yes, I think we should speak about that. The Lord Jesus tells them about the darnel; you have to leave the public side for Him to act upon. And then He says, “The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hid in the field, which a man having found has hid, and for the joy of it goes and sells all whatever he has, and buys that field”. The Lord Jesus was not looking for the treasure in the field, He was looking for the pearl. He found the treasure and He hides it for the meantime, but He has to sell all whatever He has and buys that field; He has to give up certain rights He has as to Israel and other rights to buy that field, involving His death. I was interested in a comment I came across in reading, that the Lord found some features of the assembly in His own in the remnant of Israel, something that was beyond what should have been there. If I have gleaned it right, something of the truth of the body, but it was not time to bring it out, it had to be left, but He saw that in His disciples.

That may be confirmed by the fact that what was available for the Spirit when He came in Acts 2 was one body, which was Christ’s work. Now, that was after His death, it was all brought together. Here, too, the pearl is to give us some appreciation of the value that the assembly was going to be to Christ which you have to wait for development in Paul’s ministry.

DBR One pearl. We used to speak about two brides, there is one bride, one pearl, it is really the glory that is opened up in Paul’s ministry, the glory of Christ and the assembly.

JDG Yes, I am sure of that. I say, for the sake of the younger brethren, fasten on to what the climax is in this chapter we have been reading, as to the fact of whatever the public side is, there is something the Lord treasures, He is going to have it, He has paid a price to secure it that no other could pay.

RT There is no thought of breakdown attached to these two parables.

JDG No, bringing out what we said earlier, the security of what is in the divine mind, do you think?

RT The other parable says it has become, but these two say it is like. Something there that is beyond breakdown, it is treasured in the Lord’s heart and should be treasured in Ours.

JDG The treasure hidden in the field is going to be His and the pearl is going to be His, an entity in all its beauty that was in the heart of Christ, and He was looking for that and He found it. There is some evidence of it, perhaps in His disciples, but He found that pearl. It is not going to break down; there may be a public side of breakdown but going through it all, maybe in mystery in some sense, but not mystery to us because we should see something of the reality of it in those who are gathered here.

NJH He ends with the thought of the scribe. Does He look for persons that will retain His teaching in what is opened up in the chapter?

JDG Yes, and it is remarkable that he brings out of his treasure things new and old. What an opening up of the truth has come out in the Old Testament now the Spirit has come; it was hidden there in the old times but there is much of the truth come out in type as to Christ and the assembly, but I am going to ask you a question—Does the truth of the body only come out in the New Testament?

NJH You have something in your mind?

JDG You get the types, you get the thought of brethren, and the thought of the assembly in the Old Testament, and you get the types as to Christ and the assembly, but the truth of the body was hidden until brought out by Paul. Would that be right?

WL That is absolutely right. Many types of Christ and the assembly, but none of the body. Why do you think that is?

JDG Well, it is the wisdom of the divine mind.

JAG You cannot get the body until the Head is glorified. The pearl is an entity in itself, it needs no attention. Do you think the treasure might need a bit of cleaning up before it was hidden again? How do you understand it?

JDG I do not know. The scripture does not speak of it as needing any attention, it comes under His hand, He finds it and then He hides it. What is in your mind?

JAG I just wondered, the treasure might, finding it in the field as He finds us in the world, need a bit of cleaning up, through the gospel and the teaching. It is still the treasure and it is in earthen vessels too. The pearl is an entity, complete in itself, it needs no attention.

JDG That is good, I think the brethren should pay heed to that.

PJH So the pearl would be identified and handled by the connoisseur, would it not? He would have actually felt and just evaluated it from every aspect.

JDG Yes, but it has no past history or any deficiency, and the assembly as out of the death of Christ has no past history, she does not need anything other than the adornment; to use the type in Esther, she had everything she received from the Spirit in type.

RT His heart is specially moved in relation to the pearl, he sold all that ever He had.

JDG Yes, it seems a momentous transaction, does it not, it would involve Philippians 2, His down stoop into manhood, taking a bondman’s form, being found in figure as a man?

RT Nothing left but Christ and the assembly, He has nothing else before His gaze, it is His whole occupation.

JDG Yes, that is right, and that is the Lord’s attitude at the present moment. He is wholly taken up with the assembly and assembly matters. Like the type in Deuteronomy 24: 5. He is freed from military business for a year, and that year runs the whole dispensation, to attend to His bride. I think we want to grasp hold of that, the Lord Jesus is not taken up with matters in the world exactly, He is taken up, according to Ephesians 5, with nourishing and cherishing His bride, in view of the moment of presentation.

JAG To gladden the heart of His wife.

JDG That is right, so is He gladdening her heart today?

JM That should have a reflection in us. It says every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens. These are great things, we need to be thoroughly committed to them, do we not? Not half-committed, but thoroughly committed; as the Lord is to the care of the assembly in this dispensation, so I think that should find an answer in our affections, should it not?

JDG That is very good. In verse 52 He said to them, “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”. The scribe is a man of accuracy; I think there is a need with us, particularly younger men, whom the Lord may have to use in days ahead, if He tarry, to be scribes and be acquainted with the Scriptures and divine teaching.

JM If you are a disciple that makes no room for casualness, does it?

JDG No. Is not disciple used in business terms, you may be training as an accountant or something, you become a disciple, that has to be your whole occupation? Is that right?

GAB I would like to be a scribe and I would like to be a disciple as well, but it is very testing what you have brought before us.

JDG Well, it is not beyond us, the Spirit of God will help any one of us to be a scribe and a disciple. I think I would be like you and desire to be one; if you desire to be one you commit yourself, you will re-order your life so as to make time for acquiring this wonderful knowledge, not just in your mind, but you will find as you pray about it, it enters into your affections.

RG Has the babe become a man now? What we had yesterday was revealed to the babes, the revelation now causes growth, does it not, formation; the man brings out of his treasure things new and old?

JDG Yes, the man has taken on responsibility. There is a need to take on responsibility; the Lord may put it on you but you need to take it on. This man had a household, a householder, his arrangement was such that he could bring out from that sphere things new and old.

JAG What, would you say about writing things down, the scribe would write things down?

JDG Zacharias asked for a writing-table, and wrote, “John is his name”, Luke 1: 63. There was going to be accuracy and an indelibility for what he was writing down was according to God.

GCMcK It would be very comprehensive, would it? Things new and old, would it embrace, you might say, all these things the Lord had in His heart to bring about for God, do you think? Things new and old, whether it be the blessedness of the truth of the assembly, or Israel going to be retained too is brought out, do you think?

JDG I suppose what we have been speaking about is what the Lord would have in mind, things new and old would involve the complete thought of divine counsels, made known in the Old Testament and in the New; but going into the Old with the help of the Spirit of God, what a mine of wealth is there.

DBR I was thinking of the end of verse 35, it says, “I will utter things hidden from the world’s foundation”. In one way bypassing all the historical details of the previous dispensation; what we are linked on with now is the whole counsel of God.

JDG I think that is what the Lord is bringing out here.

3rd Reading at Dundee
13 August 2005

KEY TO INITIALS

G. A. Brown

D. F. Hugill

D. B. Robertson

J. A. Gardiner

W. Lamont

J. Spinks

R. Gardiner

G. C. McKay

J. Strachan

J. D. G ray

J. McKay

R. Taylor

N. J. Henry

J. Mitchell

M. G. Wood

P. J. Herbert