PROPHETIC COMMUNICATIONS
[p. 105] PROPHETIC COMMUNICATIONS
Acts 11:5-7; Acts 22:17,18; Acts 22:21; Revelation 1:9,10
One is thankful to be reminded, as we have been, of the importance of prophetic communications, for they are, I think we might say, communications of the mind of heaven at any particular moment. Nothing is more to be desired than to be recipients of communications that give us the present mind of heaven, and as being of the assembly we are in a position and in relationships which make it a delight to God to communicate His mind to us.
I ventured to read these three scriptures because Peter and Paul and John were men who were of great interest to heaven, and the Lord did not leave them without the communication of His mind. In each case they received communications; two of them relative to the beginning of things in the assembly period, and John receiving what refers specially to the close of that period, which brings the experience of John in a definite way to our own time, and to ourselves. What I have specially in mind relates to what our brother referred to as the capacity to receive. We may be assured that heaven is ready to communicate; that is, divine Persons are ready to communicate; but the more special and exalted the communications are the more special is the condition of soul that is required to receive them. I feel as to meetings of this character (I may say this is the first of such a character at which I have been privileged to be present) that spiritual capacity to communicate will be found perhaps in two or three, but it is of immense importance that spiritual capacity to receive shall be found in all, otherwise these meetings will fail of the divine intent.
You will notice that in each case these great servants of God speak of special communications, but at the same time they call attention to special conditions on their part which qualified them to receive divine communications. Peter speaks of it very simply to the brethren; he says, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in an ecstasy I saw a vision”. Paul tells the crowd at Jerusalem that as he was praying — notice again, as he was praying — he became in ecstasy: and John, who is the vessel of the divine communications and prophetic word of the last days, uses corresponding language; he says that he “became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”. These statements [p. 106] are not to be regarded lightly, because I cannot suppose that ecstasy is limited in the divine mind to the apostles, nor that being, as John says, “in the Spirit” is restricted. What I understand by it is that, if we are to be spiritually capable of receiving communications from heaven, there must be a state and abstraction of mind which would somewhat correspond with what is referred to in Scripture as “ecstasy”. I do not mean to suggest anything mystical or fanciful, but a sober, spiritual reality; and we may notice, as helpful to us in this regard, that the prayers of Peter and of Paul tended to ecstasy. It is a fine suggestion for us, beloved brethren: it was private prayer, whether on the housetop or in the temple, but the prayers of these two great servants led to ecstasy. I take it that ecstasy is a condition in which the mind is abstracted from the natural and human influences that would normally act upon our minds and our spirits. Ecstasy implies complete freedom from all that, and indicates a state which makes room for the reception of the mind of heaven. I am sure we are all convinced that such a state is extremely desirable, indeed it is essential, if we are to have prophetic communications in the assembly. Such communications are of such an exalted character that they require entire immunity from the influence of the conditions that normally act upon us here. It is encouraging to note that private prayer on the part of Peter and Paul tended to that condition; so that the importance of prayer in relation to such meetings as this is very great. We should come to them from intercourse with God, and with our minds free in a special way. There are special things and states in Christianity as well as what is, I may say, ordinary in a spiritual sense; and we should cultivate that special condition of soul that is peculiarly free to receive divine communications. Paul, as we know, speaks in another scripture, of being beside himself to God. One covets the realisation of such a state as that; it is very much the thought of “ecstasy”. The soul is free from self-consideration and thus prepared for the communication of God’s mind.
With Peter and Paul it was the communication of the mind of heaven at the beginning: the gentile was coming into view. The gentile was being revealed as in the light of God’s purposes, cleansed and fitted for a place in the spiritual house which Peter afterwards ministered; they were to take up the holy service of God. It was a wonderful flood of heavenly [p. 107] light into the soul of Peter. Then, in relation to Paul, the word of God was to be completed, the whole counsel of God was coming out, the full height of all that was in God’s mind, the truth of the mystery, the assembly as the body of Christ and as the habitation of God in the Spirit: it was all coming out, but the intimation of it came to a man in ecstasy. I cannot but think that God greatly values a condition of soul which is free from the normal influences that act upon us as living in this world. He would have us free so that we might come into the mind of heaven, as receiving communications that come to us from God.
Then John’s experience brings us to our own time, because, as we know, the revelation of Jesus Christ refers to the end of the assembly period, and to that which will follow. John tells us in chapter 1 that the things are “shortly to come to pass”, and he says, “the time is at hand”, so that the Revelation is to be read as specifically applying to the very time in which we find ourselves now. Here is a blessed servant of God suffering for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, and that is the moral qualification to receive further light. I believe that at the present time those who have received light from God are those who have been prepared to suffer for what they already know. I believe if any Christian is prepared to suffer for what he knows, he will get communications from heaven. They come to people who value the things of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ so far as they may have understood it, and who are prepared to suffer for it. Such persons do not find it difficult to become “in the Spirit”. John says, “I became in the Spirit”. He is not referring to the Christian state as described in the eighth chapter of Romans, but to something special. I believe, dear brethren, we ought to lay ourselves out for what is special. As being “in the Spirit” John gets wonderful communications; and these communications, so far as they relate to our period, relate to local assemblies, bringing out the special interest of the Lord in local assemblies. Chapters 1 and 22, the beginning and the end of this book, make clear that the Lord has before Him the thought of local assemblies. It is not the truth in a general way, or abstractly, but it is the thought of the truth of the assembly as worked out in a concrete way in localities. I think we must accept that; and I take it, beloved brethren, that what is prophetic in any local company or companies [p. 108] must of necessity have a bearing on the local conditions of that company. The Lord is specially testifying things in the assemblies. “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”. The Lord is contemplating that the assembly period shall end as it began. He tells us He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; the end corresponding with the beginning. We have been already reminded that the mind of God does not change; what was in the mind of God in the beginning, communicated through Peter to the Jews and through Paul towards the gentiles, still remains true. Paul set the local assemblies in the light of the precious ministry which was committed to him; he set all the local assemblies in the light of the kingdom of God, and the house of God, and the body of Christ; that was his ministry, and he set the assemblies in that light at the beginning, It is to be noticed, too, that Peter addresses in his epistle the sojourners of the dispersion in the same area geographically as the seven assemblies of Revelation 1. The truth of a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, was to take form in the five provinces named. He clearly had local companies in view as found in a large area.
I believe we have very little idea of the importance to divine Persons of our coming together (no matter how few or how feeble outwardly) in the light and faith of the original and unchanging mind of God with regard to His people. As thus coming together the prophetic word will confirm every exercise that is of God. I would say in this connection that ecstasy does not set aside personal exercise. We find in the case of Peter and Paul that personal exercises came into expression even when in ecstasy. We find these two great servants (just like the brethren of today) not at once prepared to receive divine communications. They both reasoned against the divine communications, and entered good arguments against them. So you see the element of personal exercise goes on; but if we are really in a state which at all corresponds with ecstasy we shall not find it difficult to judge any action of our own minds and our own wills. These great servants were not disobedient to the heavenly visions; they accepted the light. As we walk together in local assemblies we find that exercises come along, and they test and humble us. The effect of divine communications in a day of departure must always be humbling; they will always have the effect they had upon [p. 109] John; when he saw one like the Son of man he fell at his feet as dead. Prophetic ministry comes to search us, to go down to the very roots of our moral being to find out our motives and feelings and thoughts: but if we are in the Spirit, we shall accept adjustment. One great mark of one who has known what it is to withdraw into this peculiar abstraction of mind involved in being in the Spirit, is that he is amenable to adjustment; the mind of heaven carries his conscience and his affections.
My thought was to add a word as to the spiritual condition that would give us capacity to receive communications of the mind of heaven. It is an extraordinary moment, because one cannot think that the Lord will leave any part of the truth altogether ineffective before He translates the assembly to Himself. He will make every part of the truth effective, and He will make it effective in local companies; so that this has a very practical bearing on us as walking together in local fellowship. The Lord will help us as to His mind, even though we may have to fall at His feet as dead. I feel sure I am speaking to many who, like myself, have had to taste in some small measure an experience like that. But we have always found, and shall find, that the One who searches is the One who supports, and He teaches us that we can only follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, as calling upon Him out of a pure heart; that is, He alone is our resource and strength. If He gives us the mind of heaven, it will search and expose a great deal that has been in ourselves, but He will make Himself adequate and sufficient for us, so that in the very last moment of the assembly’s history there may be something very bright for Himself.