RECEIVING CHRIST
[p. 207] RECEIVING CHRIST
Luke 9:47,48; Luke 9:51-53; Luke 10: 38; John 1: 11 - 13; John 5: 43
I have before me, dear brethren, to speak about the reception of Christ as seen in these scriptures, and others to which I may make reference, having in mind that the subject has a very direct bearing now, as I hope to show. Luke gives the general outline of the subject; the verses read in chapter 9 give a lead as to it. I cannot refer to them seriatim but according to the place the subject has in one’s mind, and that is that Luke in a positive sense stresses beforehand the time of Christ’s receiving up; that is, he would bring forward heaven’s thought or part in the matter to shed light on all the features of the subject, for heaven does that. It indicated from the outset what was present in Christ among Israel, secretly first and publicly. As He entered upon His service heaven opened upon Him and a voice announced both to Himself and to others who He was and how He was regarded up there. So as the service proceeds, there should be a termination of it, an end, not only to the service but to the path entered upon. There was, as it were, a vacancy up there, for although, as He said, He was “the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3: 13), yet on becoming Man Christ was here corporeally on earth, and as far as Scripture shows He never entered heaven corporeally until He was raised from the dead. He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Before He was raised He did indeed go to paradise, as He says to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”, but that is never spoken of as heaven in the full sense of the word, nor is the place of the departed saints ever so spoken of; it is a provisional place. Heaven is finality and administrative. So our Lord becoming Man here, His place was up there and a place awaited Him.
[p. 208] He entered there according to John and according to Hebrews in His own right, but according to Luke it was a question of His reception there, to bring heaven’s appreciation of Him more into view. Paul expresses the thought in a most striking way, “Received up in glory”; that is heaven’s side. Luke says He was carried up, and again, in the Acts, he says He was taken up, a cloud receiving Him from their eyes, marking the finish of the period here of sight for the moment. A cloud received Him, and Peter follows that up by saying that the heavens must receive Him. The ‘must’ there in no sense means compulsion, but rather that the divine thoughts for the moment require His session there. He is not only there but He is there in session, sitting at the right hand of God according to Mark, and according to His own words to Laodicea He is the Overcomer there; He is sitting with His Father in His throne.
So that there is no time at all lost; there is no suggestion, dear brethren, in divine arrangements and movements and appointments of any lapse or void, all is filled out with infinite accuracy and in love. All divine movements are in love, even in judgment. The activities of love are probably one of the greatest themes to be considered. So that our Lord Jesus Christ tonight is there on the principle of reception: “Whom the heaven must receive”, says Peter; that is, divine requirements are involved in the ‘must’. Heaven loves the thought of His presence; He is there with acclamation; every intelligence there would move, you may be sure, in that reception. He is there in that way and there is no staleness at all in His session, in His state there, for He is engaged in love, as He said to His Father, “Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee”. That is going on now, but the principle of reception is there all the time, and Luke says that the time for it had drawn nigh, and hence the Lord [p. 209] would move. He had been near it on the mount, but He had come back. All the features, you might say, were there: the heavenly saints, Christ Himself, not in His lowly guise here below but transfigured, the Father’s voice and the earthly saints; all the whole thought of God was there in miniature, one might say, at least in principle. The Lord had just come down; heaven was not strange to Him, dear brethren, even as Man. According to John and Hebrews He went there to His own place, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?”. He sat Himself down there, acclaimed according to what He is, but He would go out via Jerusalem. The time of His receiving up was in the Spirit’s mind, and the Lord would go to Jerusalem.
Well now, I shall come back to this text again for other reasons, but I go on to John to show that, whilst Luke would bring in the receptiveness of heaven, heaven’s value of this glorious Person who belonged to it, John would show that He had been here amongst His own in the world. He says, “The world was made by him”. John is very condensed in his opening verses (1 - 13), which are a sort of preface to his whole book. He combines the actual creative thought, the world in its physical form, with the moral side. He says, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him”. It was not made in the moral sense but it was in its physical character. “And the world knew him not” — that is the moral side. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not”; “his own” might be rendered, ‘that which was his own’, that is, it is the neuter, involving something that was His special possession, properly His. All right thought and feeling would recognise this, a strong expression of ownership, “And his own received him not”.
I will come back to this negative side in a moment, but I want just to dwell on the great fact of the [p. 210] matter, namely those who did receive Him. I will come back to the detail later, but I want to stress for the moment, dear brethren, the result of receiving Christ. How God watched the course of things; and He watches the course of every one of us. He watched the course of things in relation to Christ. All those thoughts that John compresses so wonderfully were in the divine mind in that wonderful course of Christ’s pathway, and God would say, ‘There are those who are receiving My beloved Son’, receiving Him, not simply believing, that is mentioned too, but they are receiving Him. It was a matter of history, history in heaven as on earth. He came forth in that way, not only that they might believe for the forgiveness of sins and the like, eternal life as John presents it, but that they might receive this glorious Person. This has a present bearing, dear brethren, which I hope to come to, but I am speaking of the general position, what it was to heaven, what that history was as one after another received Him.
I am stressing this because we have to distinguish between receiving and simply believing or being among the number known as believers, even in the fellowship, for we may be in the fellowship and be short of this properly. Our treatment of the brethren, our reception of the brethren, is an index as to where we are in regard of Christ, as sure as anything can be. He is the test of our standing and our state. As He draws near to us our state is exposed, whether it be directly by the Spirit, or even in His own presence here, or whether it be in the saints. The presence of Christ in the saints is a test to us, how we regard them, how we think of them and speak of them and treat them generally, particularly how we receive them, or whether we receive them and for what reason we receive them. All this is a test. There is no one here that is not tested, whether we are conscious of it or not. Very often we are not conscious of [p. 211] conditions in ourselves but others are quite cognisant of them, and it is as we observe the course of people day by day and week by week that we come to a conclusion, and I have no hesitation in saying that we should have a judgment about each other. It is a safe way. It is definitely required that we should have a judgment about one another, not a hostile judgment, not critical, but a sober estimate according to God of what is there in each person, especially what is of the work of God. The epistles abound with evidence of this; the apostles had a judgment about the brethren.
Well now, I have this verse in John particularly in view in what I have to say, “As many as received him ...”. It is not a question of collective reception although there is that. What times they had in the forty days of the Lord’s sojourn here from the day of His resurrection to the day of His ascension! They were unique days. We have others mentioned, such as Moses’ forty days on the mount with Jehovah, and Elijah’s experience, and other experiences, but never such a period of forty days as those with Christ risen. The brethren were all ready. Paul omits the perturbation that Luke records because he is not speaking of assembly privilege in 1 Corinthians 15, he is speaking from another point of view, namely, that Christ was indeed risen, a fact that we do well to take into our souls and keep there freshly. They were saying it at the beginning, “The Lord is risen indeed”. What I am stressing now is that we might keep the thing there freshly, that He is indeed risen. Not that He has risen, that is not what they are saying, but that the Lord is risen; it is a present, continuous fact to be maintained freshly in our souls, and that is why the apostle brings in the appearance to Cephas and then to the twelve, and to five hundred brethren at once, to James, and to all the apostles, and then to Paul himself. Paul’s experience, of course, must be outside [p. 212] the period of the forty days, but there it is. The main thought is what came into those forty days; it is not simply the doctrine of the resurrection — that, of course, is important — but the fact that the person is raised. “Now is Christ risen from the dead”, says the apostle. “The Lord is risen indeed”. It is a present fact, and what a fact it is. From the power standpoint it is the foundation of everything, for divine power wrought then and it is towards us, dear brethren.
But I am speaking now of what ought to affect our hearts, that the Lord is risen and indeed He is risen. So that the saints were kept alive as to it, and they were ready for Him in time to come amongst them. We are told in Acts 1 that He presented Himself alive. That is a beautiful thought. Think of the Lord designing a certain aspect of Himself to appear before them. We know He appeared in other forms to others, He can do that. The book of Revelation shows how He can change His form, and it is a solemn act, because instead of dove’s eyes, His eyes are a flame of fire. He could make all those changes, but Luke says He presented Himself living: “To whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered”. All that is touching. John says the disciples were glad when they saw Him. I mention all this as to the forty days to show how the idea of receptiveness was there, the thought of it, the fact of it. The Lord was delightful; as He came in they were glad and He was glad, too, that they were glad, that they seized the position. That is John’s point of view, they grasped the greatness of it and were glad. They were not perturbed in John’s record. And He says, “Peace be unto you” twice. I believe that the Lord means that as joy; joy comes into our hearts; it is to be consolidated, we ought not to let it go, but consolidate it, hold it there, and Paul would say, “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice”, “Rejoice evermore”. So that the state of receptivity of Christ was there in fulness and that is what I am aiming at now. They had received Him, so that one can understand with what pungency of spiritual power John would speak of this, for he was there when the Lord came in after He arose, so he says, “As many as received him ...”. How he would say, I belong to those. Let each of our hearts say it in honesty, that I belong to those who receive Christ, not only believe on Him or believe Him even, but receive Him. Then we have added by John, “To them gave he the right to be” (that is, take the place of) “children of God”, not ‘sons’, the word is ‘children’; it is a dignified word for children, that is, that we really belong to the family, are born into it, the youngest, as it were, having the same status as the eldest; there is no difference in that sense, “To those that believe on his name”. That is not to be left out, because as John is writing this, Christ has gone to heaven and His name is here. That is the test at the present time, the name. But then the birth — “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”. What a distinction: no angel can take up this right. It is a question of the right; it is not here that the thing is conferred, dear brethren, that is from God’s side; what is in mind here is active interest in the divine calling, in what is in the mind of God for us.
So John would have us always living; it is one of his main points that I live; life is active in us, so that he says it is your right, your title, to take that place. Why did He do it? — because we received Him. One can understand this thought as it came in to the early christians, as the Spirit of God gave it power, for that is the principle, not only that light comes into my soul but that the Spirit of God enlarges it. That principle is seen really in Ezekiel’s river. It is a very small thing at the first, it is not even called a [p. 214] river but just water, or waters in the plural, issuing from the house from under the threshold, from the right side of the house on the south side of the altar, and then a good time elapses so to say, and Ezekiel is taken round by the north gate to the outer gate, by the way that looked eastward, and he sees it again and it is larger. That is the principle, that is the power of expansion. A new thought is definitely placed in our hearts; let us let these thoughts expand, dear brethren. The Holy Spirit in us is, so to say, compressed. And that is really the secret of so much that causes sorrow; one has observed it in persons who have not the Spirit, or at least do not know the power of the Spirit. Let the thing expand itself. Paul uses that very word. Let your hearts expand themselves; be ye also enlarged. The more scope, the greater is the thought that comes into the soul; it comes in as light, too; then the Holy Spirit takes it on, faith operating and scope given to it, and it expands and expands.
So it is with the thought of the reception of Christ. Think of that word, the reception of Christ, that it could be applied in regard of my soul! How would heaven receive Him? Well, I want to be like that, receive Him in glory. Do not be ashamed. How can I receive Him in glory in my heart if I am ashamed of Him, ashamed to speak of Him to my companions in the works or elsewhere? Receive Him in glory, He is worthy of it. Heaven regards Him so, and so does everyone who loves Him. The assembly becomes expanded as Christ comes in spiritually, not actually. The appearings that Paul records are corporeal appearings, but I am speaking now of what is spiritual. It is just as real, and every time it is recognised there is expansion. Let our hearts expand themselves.
So, as I was saying, the divine thought of reception came in as light. How it would affect such as John and the others, and how the Holy Spirit has come in [p. 215] from Christ in heaven, taking it up and causing it to expand. That is really the antidote to spiritual smallness and stuntedness; there is a great deal of that. Let us make full allowance, dear brethren, for a divine thought; it comes in as light and faith, but the Spirit expands it. There is no limit to that in a way, I mean what the thing is in itself, for Ezekiel says it was a river he could not pass over, but he does not stop there; he says it cannot be passed over. It is his judgment in the matter and we want to have a judgment of things; we are dealing with infinite things, let us never assume to compass them, let us give place to the Spirit and we shall be filled with all the fulness of God, but never to compass it. We are still creatures, but we are happy as we are subject and allow the Spirit to expand and expand the divine thoughts in us. We are not like the old bottles, no matter how great the expansion of thought is, the new bottle does not burst. The more you think over anything that has come into your soul, the more you meditate upon it, the more it expands. “He that has wrought us for this very thing is God”, so that we are great enough for any thought which God gives us and for the Spirit to expand in us.
Well, that was the state of things, the state for the reception of Christ marked the saints at the beginning and commensurate with that was this great matter that they had the right or title to take the place of children of God, and then the Spirit gave them to know and realise that they were not born of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That is the main thought that I had in mind, that we might get it into our souls and understand our status now, as John gives it again, “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God”.
Now I go back just for a moment to speak of the details, and the first is the Lord’s face was, as it were,
[p. 216] turned towards Jerusalem. He was going out that way. He is not going out by a society or any distinction in this world. Let us learn to leave all those things, the Lord loathes them all. Let us loathe any copying of this world, however small. He was going out by Jerusalem, and He sends certain before Him to prepare His way, for He is a great Person, and of course if He comes into a town like this, to prepare His way means the brushing aside of all worldly things, all borrowed things or imitations of this world, none of that for the Lord. Luke makes much of this matter of preparation for the Lord’s visits. This meeting enters into the thought of preparation for Him. We are told of a certain Samaritan village that they would not allow Him to come that way, they would not receive Him. They would say, Present Him in another way, let Him come in another way with some little recognition of Samaria. As the woman of John 4, how much she had in her mind: ‘I belong to Samaria’. You can hear her say it. How often this local or national thought appears in us, dear brethren! it is a shame to us. They would not receive Him. His face is in that direction towards Jerusalem. Ministry indicates that. What a direction it is, a way of suffering! It is the way of the cross; the way to glory is by the cross. Dear brethren, let us join in that way and not fall out of it, let us go the whole way; it is the way to glory by the cross. Samaria says, No, we will not receive that Man.
Now another thing comes out in Martha. She did receive Him and she received Him into her house. Well, I may do that; Simon the Pharisee also received Him into his house, but it was not because he loved Him, it was because He was in his mind somewhat of a distinguished Person, and he thought he could not go very far wrong in inviting a man so distinguished into his house. The Lord submitted to it,
[p. 217] having more in view than Simon had in view. Glory came into that house and glory went out of it, not only in Christ but in the poor sinner that was forgiven. “Go in peace”, says the Lord; she went out gloriously; the Lord went out gloriously, too, but she went out before Him gloriously. That is what the Lord can do, even in such circumstances. He is always triumphant, He never takes up any position or goes any way that does not end in triumph, whatever other people may have in their minds.
Now the sequel shows that Martha was different. It is John that gives us the sequel of Martha, not Luke. She would be a poor sister in our minds had not John come to her rescue. He takes up every bit of the work of God, wherever it is and in whomsoever it is, and makes the most of it. The Spirit expands the work of God in our souls, but love also expands the work of God as we speak of it publicly. Paul’s affections for the Corinthians were expanded and they were publicly made known, “Known and read of all men”, and I think that is more like John’s gospel, where we have the real Martha. The abstract Martha is developed into a concrete sister, serving in love, she is in her place, though it is much as it is with many of us. At first she received the Lord into her house, but she made it very uncomfortable for Him in the house. That is a poor thing, it is indeed. Well, the Lord accepted the invitation and the reception, and the glory came out. John gives you the glorious side. Bethany is a glory scene in Luke too, but John gives the full thought of God as to the work of Christ in that town. It is a love matter.
Well, I am speaking now, dear brethren, of the matter of receiving, not Christ personally, but those who are like Him. That is the point, for in our passage in Luke 9 He sets a little child by Him, as much as to say, He is before your eyes objectively. It is not what you see every day, but it is what is [p. 218] alongside of Him, and what he is in keeping with Him. That is the idea. Now He says, “Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me”. So that this enters into the reception of those who serve the saints; are they not worthy? The Lord has set them alongside of Himself. He says, ‘Look at Me and look at him’. He said to Simon about the woman, ‘Look at this woman. I am looking at her; she has qualities that are of Me’. It is a love matter, and of course love must enter into all divine service, however small or great. I wish there were more of it. So that is the test, it is a question of how you receive the person with whom the Lord identifies Himself. What you do to him you do to Christ; it is a question, as I was saying, of a state of receptivity of Christ, that is the test, not simply that a man has gift; of course that has to be respected, that is of Christ, too, and has its own place, but with this little child it is not a question of gift but of quality, likeness to Christ, and as I receive that little child I receive Christ.
The other side is what I want to finish with. It is a terrible suggestion of the Lord’s in the verse in John 5; He says, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not”. He is not saying, I have come here in the works of power or in likeness to God, representative of God, but “I am come in my Father’s name” — it is a question of the Father — “and ye receive me not”. All that I have been saying now enters into this verse, because we are on the very eve of the coming of the person to whom the Lord alludes, the antichrist. It is most solemn. These things are no longer prophetic thoughts that may be taken up in a sort of academic way; they are at our very doors; they exist in principle. Antichrist does not exist; I mean there is no suggestion of that in what the Lord says and what I have in mind, but John says, “Ye have heard that antichrist comes”. We know that, every christian should know it and accept it and frame his course accordingly. “Even now”, he says, “there have come many antichrists”, 1 John 2: 18. That is, the thing is always there; it is as apprehending the thought that I am able to count the number of his name. “The mystery of iniquity doth already work”, says the apostle (2 Thessalonians 2: 7). John says there are many antichrists, so that the thing is always among the saints. We have, for instance, antichrist typified in Absalom; he did not prevail, but the thing was there, he is a type. The thing is here, whether it be political or religious, because those two sides enter into the antichrist, the political side and the religious side, for he sits down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The religious side is there, and the religious side has been with us all the time since Paul wrote. The continuance of the imperial side is existent all the time, so that it is not a matter ever to be taken up merely as a theory, as a thing to be discussed as science could be discussed. The thing is with us always, dear brethren, but antichrist is another matter, he comes, and the Lord is here referring to that terrible and solemn fact, and it is only as we receive Christ, receive Him in the sense, dear brethren, of which I have been speaking, as a present reality in our souls, that we are immune from every influence of the antichrist that is to come. It does not touch us as we receive Christ and our hearts are fortified and antichrist is foreign to us, we do not allow his influence, we do not take on the number of his name, we do not take on any badge. I hate badges, representations of human organisations and human methods. They are not of heaven. The only badge that Scripture speaks about is a spiritual one, namely a tassel on the borders of our garments; that is the kind of badge of a heavenly character,
[p. 220] that is what commends us as representative of heaven, but not a wretched badge representing some society or some greater thing such as trade unions and the like. These are all foreign, dear brethren, to the reception of Christ. The admission of them means that the reception of Christ in our hearts is minimised, and would gradually be non-existent; so that I urge on the brethren this thought of the reception of Christ. So He says, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not”. But there are those who have received Him, and how delightful they are, as I have already remarked. May God bless these things to us.