EXTRACTS

Daniel brings this matter, not into a local incident amongst us, of which there are many, alas, but into eternity. It is a beautiful passage which we have often alluded to in chapter 12: 3.

Daniel is very much signalised in the book. I have no doubt that John the prophet in the Revelation, as led by the Holy Spirit, took somewhat from Daniel, and also from Ezekiel.

Why should he not do that? They are the handiwork of God. All these great servants are the handiwork of God, and no doubt John, in his young days, admired Daniel. So have I admired Daniel and I hope every brother and sister admires Daniel as the workmanship of God. He was a great man needed at a most important and critical time in the history of God’s testimony, and so Daniel says here, “I Daniel” (Daniel 12: 5). John says, “I John”; Paul says, “I Paul”; and the Lord Jesus Himself says, “I Jesus”. So I have no doubt as to who is who in those cases. Who is Daniel? Why should I not be like him? Why should I not be loyal to the truth as to my food, as to my associations, as to my ministry, as to my services in various ways? Daniel is to be admired. The Spirit of God sets him before us to be admired. He says, “I Daniel”. The word to him is, “Go thy way, Daniel” (Daniel 12: 9).

You say, Why did the Lord not say, My way? No; it is “thy way”. It is a very great honour paid to Daniel that it is his way; he is a reliable man, a trustworthy man; one of the most trustworthy, “Go thy way, Daniel”. God would say, It is all right with you. I have no doubt about what you will do. There are others to whom I will not say that. “Sin no more”, He would say to such. You are in danger of sinning; I can hardly trust you out of My sight. “Sin no more”. But not to Daniel; not to the woman of Luke 7; not to Lazarus. There is divine confidence. Heaven’s confidence is expressed in that and I want to be among them. “Go thy way, Daniel”—I am looking after things. That is the divine work in verse 9, so that the matter is kept secret divinely. The time will come for its disclosure. We have to wait for much in that respect. God will see that things are disclosed when necessary, so that we cannot make prophecy an academic matter at all. It is a question of God and what He will let loose and unfold at a given time to us. That is, He takes us into His secrets. How lovely it is to be amongst those who have the divine secrets! God makes His confidants of certain persons.

J. Taylor (Vol. 13, pp. 418,419)

... The assembly is the home of divine affections down here

before you have the home up there. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”. One grows in that home.

In the assembly gathered together?

Yes, that is where you find it, but I do not think the assembly ought, in a sense, ever to be apart; there is only one assembly meeting, and it ought to go on all the week long, if it were possible, which it is not down here.

When does it terminate?

The first day of the week we begin again, that is God’s order. We shall have a long first day of the week in heaven. That will be the eighth day.

The state of the assembly is the state of the persons composing it; we ought to be individually in touch with the Lord and with His love. We must realise the love of the Lord before we can touch the assembly.

Yes, that is where the Supper comes in. Chapter 13 is intensely individual and subjective. I have been greatly struck by the saying of another—‘What is presented to you in testimony becomes the power of life in you’. The way in which God makes Himself known becomes the power of life in you. We see it in the case of Paul, the revelation to him became the power of life in him. Light becomes life in us. That is what I understand by the word being living and powerful, it is living in the saints.

It is being perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

You have the light of your Father, and that is the result of it. The Holy Spirit works in that way; He makes it life in us. Is not the word living in itself apart from the work in us?

The word of God is the revelation of God, and the revelation of God is life in our souls; it is in the saints that it is living, if you take the Bible it is the letter. Christ is the expression of God to us. I do not know a surer verse than “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected”.

F. E. Raven (Vol. 10, pp.92, 93)

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