THE FAMILY OF GOD

John 1: 11-13; 11: 1-6, 17-40; Genesis 44: 18-34; 45: 1-10

R.D.P. The brethren will have noticed in recent times that our attention has been drawn in ministry to the testimony: how we are to be kept in the testimony; the power that is able to maintain us in the testimony; and at Glasgow a few months ago, how the testimony is to continue in the face of apostasy. I think we would all be exercised about this. One thing we can be sure of is that the testimony of our Lord will continue. The question with me would be whether I will be here as having a living part in it.

I wondered if we might look at one of the basic things which I feel underlies the testimony, and that is the blessedness of our relationships and affections together as in the family of God. In the first scripture read John describes those who comprise the family of God: "but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God". John is very direct, beloved brethren. He cuts through very much by way of formality. He writes in a day in which breakdown had already set in. He starts quickly in his gospel without very much by way of introduction or preamble, and he introduces immediately the blessedness of the Man who fills the heart of God. I think that is how we get entrance into the family of God. We immediately have brought upon our view the greatness of Christ. You could speak to any true believer about the greatness of Christ and you will find that you have a link in the family of God. We can speak to every true believer about the blessed ness of what God has done in Christ and find that we have a link together in Him. I believe that John then shows us that the development of family affections and relations is not a matter only of our standing, but it involves a moral work in us. It is those who receive Him.

Then I thought in John 11 we have those who might suggest to us some who make up this family – Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They might be typical, I suppose. There is much in this chapter that I could not open up to the brethren, but there is just a suggestion that they are set together in family relations and the Lord wants to develop things amongst them. There are things that can be developed in the family that cannot exactly be developed in a more formal way. There is teaching in the family that is not formal teaching. There are affections and links in the family which you do not exactly get as convened as in the assembly, and I think the Lord may help us at the present time so that family affections and relationships are developed and maintained amongst the saints. John's epistle tells us that the two things which mark the children of God, the family of God, are that they practise righteousness and that they love one another (see 1 John 3: 10). Among the many things which are to be maintained among the saints is love and respect for one another, because the enemy will attack the testimony through this basic thing. So in John 11 we have the way that the Lord Jesus Himself works with them in the family to promote and improve their relations together and to open up the truth as to Himself and as to what is out of death.

Finally, in Genesis, the family side of things was completely awry. Let us make no mistake about it, beloved brethren, that if we allow unfriendliness and suspicion and all that is connected with that line of things amongst the people of God, it can quickly lead to a murderous spirit. That is what happened amongst Joseph's brethren; it says that they could not greet him with friendliness. These are very serious things. They start small, beloved, but I think it is a day when we need to be simple and plain about that because the enemy would attack what is precious to Christ. You find Joseph, typical of Christ, working with his brethren that they might be restored to him. Joseph is marked by that. He says "I am seeking my brethren", Gen 37: 16. We should all be doing that, not just those we are privileged to walk in fellowship with, but generally; with a heart that is in some way like the heart of God we should be seeking our brethren, beloved. Perhaps we could get help together.

J.R. It says "not of blood, nor of flesh's will, nor of man's will, but of God". That involves what is moral, does it not?

R.D.P. I thought so. As we have been taught it is not exactly only new birth. New birth is something mysterious, the work of the Spirit of God in relation to each one of us. It precedes conversion. But to enter into the relationships and affections of the family of God involves that there is a moral work with us. It involves that we receive Christ. Now that would not only be historical; that would be present too, and John of course brings out that it is very practical because he speaks about loving the brethren and links it with our love for God.

J.R. It says: "but as many as received him, to them gave he the right", and then: "to those that believe on his name". Are these two features which give us title to be children of God?

R.D.P. Yes, I thought that; and it shows too that the mere religious principle which marked the Jews at that time was such a wretched thing: "He came to his own, and his own received him not". There is nothing in mere religion, beloved. John sets all that kind of thing aside, the way that man would dominate the things of God; John cuts right through all that and gets to the heart of it – how we receive Christ. The vital thing at the end of the day is how we are in relation to Christ.

J.R. It would almost seem that those who receive Him and believe on His name are unlikely persons. The likely persons publicly would be "his own", would they not? It says; "He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him". They might be unlikely persons like ourselves, do you think?

R.D.P. Yes, "as many as received him"; God gave them the right to be the children of God. Is that not a very dignified thing, that God gives a right to persons who receive Christ? Think of His feelings for those who received the One whom the Jews rejected. It has been said that when the Lord Jesus was here He was acknowledged by Satan but rejected by men. Think of the feelings of God, beloved, that even the evil spirits in the gospels are forced to acknowledge Him: "I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God" (Luke 4: 34), and yet He was rejected by men. Think of the feelings of God as to anyone here, any young person who has received Christ: "To them gave he the right to be children of God".

R.S.R. In 1 John 3 it is 'See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God' (v 1), but in this passage: 'to them gave he the right to be children of God'. Now, what do you say?

R.D.P. Well, it is an interesting distinction. John's epistle brings out status; "See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called" that, but here I think it involves what is moral. It has been said that receiving Christ involves that there is some moral fibre in your soul that can be used

later in the resolution of good and evil. Would that be right?

R.S.R. That is very good. Do you think that the passage we are now considering would suggest what is substantial: "to be children of God"?

R.D.P. I think so. John has in mind the way in which the saints, the children of God are here in this world as representing Him. Pau l speaks about sonship, which is very largely the way the saints are in relation to the heavenly side of the truth, what they are in relation to God. But the children of God the family of God, is put down here , in the lace where Christ has been rejected, a testimony of the features and the characteristics of the God whose children they are. It is a very dignified side of the truth.

R.S.R. Would you think it elevates our view of one another, to view one another as in this wonderful family, children of God?

R.D.P. Yes, I am sure that is right.

W.D. Would not 'received' involve the affections as well? It seems to be implied in Romans 15 as to receiving one another, our affections go out to one another, and that would be related to the way we receive Christ into our affections, would you say? .

R.D.P. So the whole matter of the family involves affection, love expressed. Even in our natural families normally there are relationships enjoyed, there are things understood, there is always love flowing. The family side of things cannot tolerate distance or strangeness, can it? And this is a relationship into which God has brought us. He has given us the right to be it here. Now, how can we speak about the testimony unless our relations in the family of God are as they should be?

W.L. These verses come in in a very exalted setting. Up to verse 10 it is the greatness of Christ; then immediately again verse 14 returns to the greatness of the Person, but these two verses come in just at this point. It elevates the thought of the children of God to a very dignified level, does it not?

R.D.P. Oh, that is right, and how great Christ is! "The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man. You can speak to every believer and find out where the family is by speaking of Christ. If you go to someone and immediately start speaking about the claims of the fellowship you may find difficulty in making a contact but you can speak to anyone and find if they are true believers by speaking of the greatness of Christ. You will find too a link there in the family of God. Now you may find as you go further, as you will maybe, that there are things needing adjustment that involve our walk, but it is a precious thing to touch the family.

W.L. As we do that with persons you can bring them on to this elevated ground.

R.D.P. Yes, "as many as received him" would involve the resolution of things in me that are also alien to Him.

A.C.C. Why is it that such vital, important truth should be presented negatively, in these three negatives?

R.D.P. Will you help us, please.

A.C.C. Did the Jews not pride themselves in descent, lineage, culture and position, as if they had some right in the flesh, but, as you said, John sweeps all that aside. You cannot conceive of a human family like this, can you?

R.D.P. No, it is important to see that, that it is "not of blood". The features of the family come to light on this moral line, and there is something that has the characteristics of the Father really, born of God. It says: "not of blood, nor of flesh's will, nor of man's will, but of God". It is a very dignified and precious thing, and as you say, it is apart from nature. Now often we allow natural relationships – even in assembly- matters – to influence us and they always do harm. The older brethren here may feel that they are not affected by them any more. Well, let somebody say some thing against one of your children and see if you are still affected by it! Or about your brother or your father, you will know that this line, "not of blood", needs developing with us. That is what is characteristic of the children of God.

R.T. Is one of the first features of receiving Him displacement, one man displaced in view of another Man reigning?

R.D.P. There must be displacement. That is what we mean by what is moral. You can take things in mentally, but what is moral involves that there is a resolving of what is good and evil within, and what you say is right, that in receiving Him there is displacement. It is very practical too, because John tells you that receiving Him means receiving the brethren, means receiving those who belong to Him. Perhaps we should keep that in mind and go on to John 11, and consider the three persons there. We could also bear in mind the scripture in Luke 10 where Martha was distracted with serving. They really set out those who make up the family side of things, and they needed adjustment. I think it is a fairly normal sort of process here. They had come to know the Lord Jesus, He had a place with them, and that is a fine thing, but it needed developing. He speaks in this chapter as their Friend. That is a fine thing when the Lord Jesus is our Friend, but it is not the final thing. You come to the next chapter and He is their all, is He not? Jesus is their all. In John 9 we have the individual, then in chapter 10 we have the sheep and the One who cares for the sheep, the Shepherd, and so on, and here in chapter 11 we have the family. We may wonder why the Lord, the One who cares for the sheep, does not intervene here and stop these circumstances developing which bring in so much sorrow but He deliberately stays away because the features of the family of God are to be worked out amongst them.

J.R. Do you think in this chapter it may be somewhat the blood line? What I mean is the natural links are there. But in chapter 12 there is no mention of the natural links; it is for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified by it. What do you say about that?

R.D.P. I believe it sets out the condition that we have known ourselves and very often still do know, of persons who were together in a relationship that involved an appreciation of Christ. But the development of the family that is aside from the blood line required His own personal touch, and it is fine to see that He attends to it Himself. In the family the Lord Jesus Himself takes on really the r le of parent, it seems to me. Would that be right?

J.R. Surely. He calls His own 'children' in chapter 13 of this gospel. He is like a Father to them, is He not?

R.D.P. Then in both this scripture and the one in Genesis you get the overcomer. Mary is like the overcomer, and I think you need the overcomer in relation to family links. We may think of the overcomer as a very active person, perhaps one who speaks a lot and so on but Mary and Benjamin set out the overcomer in a certain quiet way. I think they represent devotion to Christ.

A.McB. In verse 4 He says "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it". Besides the power of what He did in raising Lazarus, are you suggesting that His glorifying is in. these persons, and particularly in the overcomer?

R.D.P. Well, I wondered that, but I would like you to say more.

A.McB. I think it is very fine. This has been equated to the mount of the transfiguration, has it not? This is John's presentation of it, and it is very beautiful to see what He is actually doing in these persons. His own glory is shining in these persons themselves.

R.D.P. Yes, and it is not exactly something for publication or memorial here. You do not get with Mary's action in the next chapter that "what this woman has done shall be also spoken of for a memorial of her" (Mark 14: 9), because it is the family; it involves the secret treasure of the children of God in relation to Christ. He makes Himself known to them here as the Son of God, and again it has been said somewhere that the peculiar treasure of the family is the knowledge of the Son of God.

W.D. Should not every exercise amongst us lead to the glory of God? That seems to be the theme that runs through Scripture even to the great climax of things in Ephesians 3; "glory to God in the assembly" is the great consummation of all the Spirit's work.

R.D.P. So earlier in the book you get the "works of God", do you not? In John 9 it is "that the works of God should be manifested (v.3), and here it is "the glory of God". All of us here know what it is to pass through various circumstances together that God allows in the ordinary course of things, and He would use it all that we might be developed in family relationships and a greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

R.J.C. Is it interesting the feeling way in which the Lord enters into these circumstances? I thought of what you said, He is the Son of.God. He could have exercised His power without expressing these deep feelings that come out in Him. Do you think we are intended to be affected by that in view of this kind of feelings working out in relation to one another?

R.D.P. I wondered that. It says that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus". He loves, we may say, the family idea; He loves every one of that family individually. His love was greater than their love, and that will always be, but what feelings are His set out uniquely here – "Jesus wept". Think of that! I know there is very much teaching connected with this chapter but think of Him working with these three people that relation ships might be adjusted amongst them, and His own place amongst them might be becoming supreme. I believe that is the family. As was said earlier, there are traces here of the family according to blood, according to nature, but as you come through to chapter 12 you are beginning to touch a holy, quiet, restful, appreciative, worshipful atmosphere in which there is something being expended upon Christ effortlessly in the automatic flow of love.

J.R. So, as you said, the Lord loved each one of this family; and they could count on that love because they said "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick". They knew it was a love they could count on.

R.D.P. What a fine thing that is! It is a love you can count on! He heard. The fact that He waited the two days was no reflection upon His love. The fact that He allows certain things amongst us, certain sorrows that sometimes, we may feel, He could have prevented in His power, does not reflect on the love of Jesus, but is intended to develop something amongst us which could be developed in no other way.

J.R. It says: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore he heard, He is sick". His love took them this way. In fact they could possibly have learned the Lord no other way.

R.D.P. I wondered that; I wondered if in some way the Lord is not passing us through a way of circumstantial pressure in these present days because we could learn Him in no other way. It is surely not without point, beloved, the circumstantial pressure and sorrow that the Lord is allowing some of the saints to pass through. Maybe it is that we can learn Him in no other way. It is not exactly doctrine, that is what I am trying to say; it is not exactly some point of truth. You can wrestle with a point of truth, but this is the knowledge of the One who is your Saviour your Friend, your Lord, and in the family relationship that is reflected in the way in which you treat those who form part of the family.

J.S. Do you think the appreciation of how He lo es each one should help us to appreciate those He loves, and respect and love them?

R.D.P. Yes, and of course that is not just the people we break bread with; it is the respect that 1s due to all those who receive Christ. The family of God is a very wide area of things and there is a respect due to every one in that family, because there are persons who have made a way in their hearts for Jesus.

J.A.G. All this would encourage exercise about the Spirit of holiness amongst us in a formative way. He is "marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead", Rom 1: 4. You can see that pervading chapter 12. I wondered if this is how we come to it.

R.D.P. So there is a lot of orthodoxy in this chapter. The Lord speaks to Martha of her brother rising again and she says: "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day". We can hold truth in a mere orthodox way. We know that we have a heavenly portion, but what the Lord is bringing in is that in the family the preciousness and tenderness of those links are to be known now. I like what you say about holiness because it involves clearing away orthodoxy, and John dispenses with it.

J.A.G. We can become very learned and yet have very little impartation.

R.D.P. Yes, very little impartation. It is fine to see how the Lord is working with this family. Go back to Luke and you find Martha cumbered with much serving and she criticises the Lord but she is not criticising here. She is not exactly right, but in the family things improve. They improve almost 1mpercept1bly as Christ is given His place.

J.H. In verse 20, as Jesus is coming, Martha went down to meet Him and it says: "but Mary sat in the house". It seems to be a characteristic feature with her. She, "having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word" ( Luke 10: 39), and here she "sat in the house". Would that be a good moral feature in the family?

R.D.P. I think that is right. Mary is the most spiritual; I am sure we would all admit that some are more spiritual than others. Mary represents a very spiritual feature. Martha is perhaps not so spiritual, but she is one whom Jesus loved, and there is something very creditable here, that she goes out to meet Him. Now, in the family, you make as much as can possibly be made of every feature of every member of the family. God loves to do that. He loves to make as much as He possibly can of every member of the family and every feature of Christ that · comes out in them.

J.A.T. Is our blessing in each member being in relation to Christ Himself? Not a lot is said about Lazarus, but in resurrection it is what is incorruptible, it is not on natural lines, but we must be in relation to Him to get the gain of one another.

R.D.P. I believe so. The three chapters 9, 10 and 11, are a progression really. In John 9 is the man who says "One thing I know that being blind before, now I see" (v 25). He grows in his appreciation through that chapter until he is introduced to the Son of God. He is a person who is solidly grounded in his own appreciation, in his own link with the Lord Jesus. We must have that. It is not a common link. And then in John 10 you get the flock and the Shepherd's care for the flock, but here you may say those persons are set together in relation to one another to work out things down here representative of God.

J.D.G. The overcomer feels the gain of "I am the resurrection and the life", does he not? That is the challenge the Lord puts out to Martha: "Believest thou this? "

R.D.P. Yes she says, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day". That is orthodox. That is something that we all hold in our hearts, I suppose, that there is going to be a time when the dead in Christ will rise. The Lord says "I am the resurrection and the life". Think of the power of the family imbued with the blessedness of such a truth as that, and the knowledge of it, and they were to prove it – "where was the dead man Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead".

J.D.G. The great exercise is whether we are living. "Every one who lives and believes on me shall never die". That is one side of it, but "He that believes on me, though he have died, shall live". The exercise today is whether I am living in relation to this wonderful family that you are speaking about.

R.D.P. I think it is, and I say it is true if it is true. Are we receiving Christ? To those who believe on His name – that would be, I suppose, His testimony, the testimony of Jesus, the One who was here. As receiving Him and believing on His name you come into this family and then there seems to be these gentle exercises in the family tha.t result in increasing spirituality.

R.T. You marvel at the Lord's patience with their questions. He bears with all that they say. He bears with the graveclothes, all these things. Would that not be to develop patience in the family, that there is what is right there but things come out, and they are led on to resurrection and life eventually?

R.D.P. Yes, I am sure that is right.

J.R. 1! was Martha who had this light, "I am the resurrection and the life", that wonderful statement; and then she makes a remarkable confession, does she not, in verse 27? She arrives at something of appreciation of Christ the Son of God.

R.D.P. "The Son of God, who should come into the world. And having said this, she went away and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, The teacher is come and calls thee". There is no criticism of Mary here. There is no, "Dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? " Luke 10: 40. You see, it is the family setting. As has just been said there is no impatience with them. You do not have that in the family. We sometimes get impatient with one another, especially if somebody seems to be not clear as to something, or perhaps less spiritual, but think of the patience of the Lord, and He just works quietly on with them. How do you work in your family? You do not say, Well, this one is much brighter than that one, I will concentrate on this. You build on the best features in all, and I think that is something that the Lord Jesus would do amongst us and develop in us.

R.T. It is a wonderful thing to maintain an ideal and yet have the patience to go through the exercises to reach that ideal.

R.D.P. Yes, we would need the Spirit of Go for that, would we not? Mary was a listener, she listened to His word. There is no progress in family relations unless we listen to Christ.

J.S. So when she moved she had to come to the place where Martha had met Him. Do you think that would develop this family line, that there is a respect for one another as having a touch with the Lord? We link on with that.

R.D.P. It is a very practical thing, respect for one another, and we need to be developed in it. It is no use merely saying that you must have respect for the brethren; let us find some thing to respect in them. If the work of God is there you will find that there will be some thing to respect; and Mary came to this place that Martha went to. She did not go her own way, she came to the place where Martha met Him. You have more to say?

J.S. I was just thinking in a simple way that Mary is the more spiritual and yet Martha has had a touch with the Lord and Mary would regard that rightly and link on with it.

R.D.P. Yes, that is good.

W.W. Would there be, in the family, mutual affection without partiality? The Lord loved each one individually – Lazarus, Mary and Martha – but there would be love circulating in the family one to the other. I was thinking of the way the Lord calls it a new commandment in chapter 13: "that ye also love one another" (v 34), and the standard is "as I have loved you"; and then again in chapter 15; "as I have loved you". "No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends", John 15: 13. He is the wonderful example for us in this expression of affection, is He not?

R.D.P. So love is the great operating principle. What makes a house into a home is when love is operating in the family, is it not? You can have a house, and it is a cold and empty and bleak· place unless love is operating there. That is what makes the family. If you were asked to write down what it was that turned a house into a home, you would be hard pressed to do it. It is the enjoyment of relationships, the experience of relationships and the experience of the warmth of love.

Perhaps we should turn to Genesis. Here we have the family of Jacob, and this is a far cry, you may say, from the situation at Bethany, because what had come into the family of Jacob was the spirit of murder, and they had actually taken Joseph their brother whom they had envied and hated because of his dreams, and they had sold him into Egypt. Only in the mercy of God had they been preserved from killing him. You say, could this possibly be, beloved? Well, I think we need to search our hearts and be alerted at the present time that the lack of friendliness that marked Joseph's brothers led them eventually to a murderous spirit. Here Joseph is coming to the point where, in all his operations with them, he is to make himself known to them, and he is bringing them to himself. The key expression in chapter 44 is Joseph "was still there". Wherever we may have been, wherever we may have gone, Joseph is "still there" – Christ is still there, and He is still working in relation to the family to secure them, you may say, on a right basis. What comes out here is the way that moral exercises have so worked that the features of tenderness that our brother spoke about are coming to light.

W.M.G. In Hebrews 12 we have the word, "watching lest there be any one who lacks the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it" (v 15).

R.D.P. Well, that is what had developed here. There had been a whole long line of love – Abraham's love, Isaac's love, Jacob's love – but what comes out in his family is hatred. It 1s a very sobering consideration that it leads them on this awful course, really a murderous course, but Joseph is still there. Surely we need to take care at the present time, beloved brethren, as to our relationships together and what we allow in our thinking of one another, because these chapters are a warning to us as to how far things can go when the spirit of the family is not maintained.

J,R. Judah comes to appreciate his father does he not? "My father", he speaks of and "our brother". Earlier they had said, "Discern now whether it is thy son's vest or not" (Gen 37: 32), but here he appreciates family affections.

R.D.P. Yes. You know, if someone does something personal against you, you can leave that with God because he will surely bring persons round to a right way of feeling. Judah had had to come a hard way. Judah had lost two of his own children in the interim. God had touched him where He knew it would affect him, so that the man who earlier had a art in the cruel report to his father now says, in effect: Ah, my lord, I would rather lay down my own life than that I should bring further sorrow upon him. Now, that is fine, beloved. "Jesus wept". Something of the tenderness of feeling that our brother was speaking of down here is beginning to come out in Judah. He really is ready to lay down his life.

R.S.R. And Joseph manifests such a marvellous spirit. He says; "And now, be not grieved, and be not angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God sent me before you to preserve life". That is the spirit of Christ, is it not?

R.D.P. That is fine; no condemnation, no reproach. There is just the gladness, you may say, that here at last family affections are coming out. Joseph had no desire that they should reproach themselves about the history, or to go over the cause of it all. God had used it all for the preservation of life. It is the family, beloved. There are persons here today who are affected in their own families, even naturally, and they know the wrenching of heart there can be. Think of the feelings of Jesus in relation to the family of God and the way that He would work so that true family affections might come to light. He is still there; Joseph is still there.

R.T. Joseph asks a key question: "Have ye a father, or a brother?" If we acknowledge that we have a Father and have a brother, we could not be independent in our thoughts or have our own opinions, could we?

R.D.P. That is fine. He is probing them gently, is he not? "Have ye a father?"

J.H-n. Part of the trouble at Corinth was not many fathers.

R.D.P. Yes, that is right, and it can be ours too unless there is a tenderness of feeling; it is very easy to become hard and let things just pass you by. God is not having that in His family. His family involves that the feelings of Christ are there, and He is going to work with us gently to bring it about. He may use what is governmental to reach His end with me. In a previous chapter Simeon ended up in prison because of this course of things, but eventually Joseph is bringing them to his house.

R.S.R. says in Acts 7: "and the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh" (v 13). Is that really what is in mind in the teaching you have. been bringing before us?

R.D.P. Yes, I think so. The family becomes known. There is something valuable learned in it that you cannot touch in formal teaching. You do not exactly teach your children advanced mathematics in the family; that is another sphere. But what comes out in the family is respect and love and a great appreciation of basic principles that work in the family in an unselfish way. It is a very wonderful thing when that is working fully amongst us and when each one is having his or her part in it.

D.L.S. Would you say something more about the place that Benjamin has in this.

R.D.P. He represents the overcomer, does he not? He represents, you may say, that link with God; when all was far away and broken and hardness of heart, Benjamin was there. He had no part in the guilt, no part in the shame of Joseph's delivering up. Yet what impresses me about him is that according to the record he does not speak. Think of the overcomer in a place. It may be a sister in whom there is an unswerving devotion to Christ that continues when the brethren are perhaps not together as they should be. Uncomplainingly and unknown the overcomer goes on and God is going to' work and use that feature in the restoration of family affections.

J.D.N. The Lord works through the overcomer, you might say, in these two cases: the overcomer in relation to Mary – when Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews with her weeping; and Joseph uses Benjamin here. Unless you bring Benjamin, the matter will not be resolved, will it?

R.D.P. That is why I wondered whether in these two scriptures you get the overcomer, but in a quiet way and in relation to the family. The thing with the overcomer is that he goes quietly on with what is of God. When all around, you may say, is breaking down, when persons even exhibit real bitterness, the overcomer goes quietly on holding what is of God, and the true family thought for God. Do you think that is right?

J.D.N. I think what you say is important. Neither of them say anything. Their influence is more than would be expressed in words. Would that be right?

R.D.P. Of course there is the side in which the overcomer is active. Other scriptures would bring that out, but I think there is the side in which the overcomer is in a certain way in quietness and devotion to Christ. Someone has said somewhere that devotion to Christ is very rare.

A.C.C. It is the quality in genuineness as Judah's exercises come out in the fact that as yet Benjamin is guilty. The matter has not been resolved about the cup, yet he steps for ward, prepared. Is that not a family quality and feature, prepared to take on the guilt and responsibility?

R.D.P. I think that is very helpful because as you say, the guilt was not resolved here. You m y have said, all the evidence is that Benjamin had taken this cup, all the evidence is that he was in the wrong and that he had forfeited his liberty because of what he had in one, but the family involves that you come in and take responsibility for it in the spirit of love, not for yourself but for others. I feel that, as a basis for having to resolve matters amongst us, we need that spirit. Would you say that is right?

A.C.C. Yes, that is what I thought. Even although matters may not be clear, you can count on the family character, the family spirit operating in view of carrying things through, pending the moment when things will be cleared.

R.D.P. Yes, and I do not know whether it was ever raised again about the cup in Benjamin's sack. It almost is just left there. It is like an exercise that is raised only so that relationships might be adjusted; and in the greatness of Joseph's reception the whole thing is carried through.

R.J.C. There was a basic affinity between Joseph and Benjamin, was there not? But he does not make himself known to his brethren when he sees Benjamin. I wondered whether he waits until, in a certain sense, the qualities that mark Benjamin come to light in Judah, a certain honesty and purity, transparency. It is when that comes to light in Judah, when something has been worked out in the family, that Joseph makes himself known to his brethren.

R.D.P. I think that is good. In this relationship that is what he waits for. He waits for this man. He says: "Ah! my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears". He says in effect: This is disastrous, it is going to result in my father's death, I would rather die myself than that the old man died. This is the spirit of the family. He would rather be a bondman for ever than that his father should suffer any more sorrow. How could you go on, beloved brethren, holding to your point of view and seeing your actions causing loss and sorrow amongst the saints, if you are in the spirit of the family, if you knew something of the heart of Joseph? And it is when this spirit comes out in the heart and expressions of Judah that it says, Joseph could no longer restrain himself and he made himself known to them. Beloved brethren if we are anything at all, it involves something of divine feelings amongst the saints.

W.W. Previously these feelings had come out in Judah. Remember when he says, "But let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh" (Gen 37: 27) and 1 Chronicles brings out that "Judah prevailed among his brethren, and of him was the prince", chap 5: 2. I wonder if the power able to prevail amongst the brethren would be dependent on our carrying things before God.

R.D.P. I am sure that would be so. There is no automatic power that we are entitled to· it involves what there is inwardly working out amongst us.

E.W.J. Would it be in so far as we have imbibed the Spirit of Christ? What the Lord has borne for us all! It seems to me that there is the character of divine love in a spirit which can bear things. There is no complaining but you see things and bear them. '

R.D.P. So that he really lays down his life for his brethren here. He says, Take me as a bondman.

J.A.T. Do you think there is now a compatibility between Judah and Benjamin? It would seem that something had been going on since Joseph was lost to his father, something was going on still at home in relation to Benjamin.

R.D.P. Yes, something was going on in Benjamin and something was going on in Judah. At times we all know what it is to be hard; perhaps we should say to one another: Have ye a father, or a brother? Do you appreciate the preciousness of the links in the Lord Jesus that we have with one another? We have been knowing what it is to suffer loss, losing some of the brethren at the present time. Have ye a father, or a brother?

J.A.T. In our localities where we are responsible it is not satisfactory just to say, "One is not".

R.D.P. It is a very interesting thing because in the goodness of Joseph's heart here he says, Do not reproach yourselves; God meant it for good. In the working out of things God will, of course, bring good out of everything, but it is always our responsibility. He brings the brethren through the preceding chapters to the point where they recognise and see their own responsibility in it. In fact in verse 16 of this chapter (44) they say: "God has found out the iniquity of thy servants".

R.S-e. Can you help us as to why the apostle Paul went first to Corinth before he went to Ephesus?

R.D.P. You say what you have in mind.

R.S-e. I was struck by that; he went by the upper districts to Ephesus. The Corinthian state must be settled first. There is no moral power or weight apart from separation.

R.D.P. I think that is right. What you say is good, that he goes by way of the upper districts. I just wonder how we would have resolved this matter of Joseph. He takes a period of time and he works away with them in their circumstances and upon their affections. This is a very blessed result here. This is not a partial recovery; this is not something where you may say, Well, he could have said something a little bit better. You could not have anything better than this. Judah says, Take me for a bondman, but do not bring my father's hair down to Sheol. It is a very fine thing. The feelings of God are coming out, and we can be sure of this, that God will work things out. There will be nothing left that needs resolving; it will be resolved, and at the conclusion of it we shall get these blessed words of Joseph: Do not reproach yourself; God meant it for good.

A.C.C. That expression in verse 14, "Judah and his brethren", comes into Matthew 1. Matthew speaks about "Peter, and Andrew his brother", "James... and John his brother", chap 4: 18,21. He makes a great deal of that, does he not? And then too, "If therefore thou shouldest offer thy gift at the altar, and there shouldest remember that thy brother has something against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and first go, be reconciled to thy brother", chap 5: 23,24. He is working with that all the time in view of the truth being worked out in the assembly.

R.D.P. I think what you say is helpful. We have relationships together in the assembly, and in the kingdom. These are all areas, you may say, slightly different from what we have here, but I believe this is one of the great basic matters· that governs us as we are together collectively, that we are together as of the family of God, and the relationships that are proper to that, you may say, underlie these other things.

R.S.R. One thing stands out in Judah: he is prepared to take the blame. That is one of the last things we are inclined to do, but it wins the day. It was thinking also of Abigail. She took the whole blame, and yet she was blameless.

R.D.P. I think that comes out in the family. That is Judah here; he had not taken the cup, he had not been involved in the matter, yet he comes forward when he did not need to come forward and takes the whole responsibility.

R.S.R. I was looking at that verse: "And now, let thy servant stay, I pray thee, instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren". That is a very fine spirit.

R.D.P. A very fine spirit! "And Joseph could not control himself before all them that stood by him... when Joseph made himself known to his brethren". I believe that the Lord made Himself known in John 11, and Joseph makes himself known here. You may say the setting is different, but it is the area of the family.

J.M. Is the motherly side important in regard to the family relations? It comes to light in the epistles and was seen with the Lord when He says, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ", Matt. 23: 37.

R.D.P. The motherly side is a very precious thing amongst us, because a mother does not let things go easily. A mother holds on to her charge to the very end and that feature is certainly part of the family.

D.McG. I wondered if what you said earlier in regard to something being instilled into our souls _ at the beginning of our conversion would help us later on in life. It says of Jacob that he was a homely man. I wondered if in th.at there was the background to the overcomer going on quietly in all the family vicissitudes and circumstances.

R.D.P. I think that is very good and helpful. He was a homely man and dwelt in tents. There were characteristics that came out in his brother which were opposite to that, but Jacob was a homely man. Even the very word conveys something. He was content to dwell in his home.

J.A.G. Would you say that, on the basis of this, God almost commits everything to Judah

- the sceptre, the lawgiver from between his feet, our Lord has sprung up out of Judah. It is out of this kind of setting, "for Judah prevailed among his brethren" (1 Chron 5: 2), not over them.

R.D.P. I think that is very helpful. "The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come", Gen 49: 10. Beloved brethren, how much God appreciates this feature of Christ coming out in the saints!

D.R. Does that confirm what you said at the beginning, that the testimony really draws its vitality from the family.

R.D.P. That is very good. All that is involved in the testimony of our Lord is treasured and held in His family, and the representation of God is here upon the earth. Sonship, Paul brings out later, graces the whole thing, but the basic underlying thing is the children of God, and what John does all through his gospel is to bring before the children of God a blessed Man; right the way through to the end you can trace the Man of John's gospel, and he sets Him before the children of God so that they might portray Him here.

D.R. A representation of terms in the testimony without affection would be powerless.

R.D.P. Well, that is a searching thing, and yet Joseph is going to work with them. He is still there, and Christ is still there after all these years, and thank God we can say that some of us in our experience, when we have been away, have proved that He has remained and He is still there today.

R.S. Would this make way for sanctuary feelings, do you think? It says, "When Israel went out of Egypt... Judah was his sanctuary, Israel his dominion", Ps 114: 1,2. Do you think these were the feelings beginning with Judah there?

R.D.P. I think so. That is very good.

 

EDINBURGH

1 January 1986

 

Key to initials

R.J.Campbell, Glasgow; A.C.Craig, Airdrie; W.Dickson, Edinburgh; J.A.Gardiner, Aberdeen; J.D.Gray, Edinburgh; W.M.Grosse, Edinburgh; J.Haggan, Newcastle; J.Harthill, Glasgow; E.W.Johnston, Edinburgh; W.Lamont, Cumnock; A.McBride, Grangemouth; D.McGregor, Lochgelly; J.Marshall, Edinburgh; J.D.Newberry, Hamilton; R.D.Plant, Birmingham; J.Renton, Edinburgh; R.S.Renton, Edinburgh; R.Stenhouse, Edinburgh; D.Robertson, Cumnock; D.L.Stewart, Edinburgh; J.Strachan, Dundee; R.Swan, Edinburgh; R.Taylor, Barnet; J.A.Turner, Chippenham; W.Wallace, Hamilton