THE BELIEVER MADE PART OF THE DIVINE SYSTEM
[p. 20] THE BELIEVER MADE PART OF THE DIVINE SYSTEM
John 3: 35; John 4:10 - 30; John 4:39 - 42
What I have in view is to say something about the divine economy, a word which perhaps some here may not have connected with divine things, but a very good word, as conveying the order or system of things which God has set up and into which He has come. Some may not have thought that God has come into a system of things, many assume that revelation means that the veil has been removed, so that we might look unto God as He ever was, know Him as He ever was; the word ‘revelation’ indeed means unveiling, but there is another word used also, namely declaration, which means the bringing out. Both words apply in regard of this matter of economy, and in speaking of God coming into what He has ordained creationally, one needs only to refer to the first chapter of Genesis, to show that He did come into something that He had not been in before. He came into time, for instance; He created time. It stands related to the creation, it was one of the first things mentioned after the general statement of the creation. The Spirit we are told, the Spirit of God (that is God Himself in that relation) was brooding over the face of the deep; the divine feelings were active and in the darkness that prevailed “God said, Let there be light. And there was light ... . And God called the light Day”, and that became a measure of time into which God entered and worked. He came into that day, such is God in the activities of His love.
Then again as to the earth, we are told that God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth. It says the earth was without form and void; it does not say the heavens were, although in the order of things God evidently created the heavens first, for it [p. 21] is said, as the foundations of the earth were laid, “The morning stars sang together” — they belonged to heaven, they were there — “and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38: 7); they were there. A happy state of things came into evidence as this orb on which we are, on which God was operating, began. It became affected obviously by sin, according to Genesis 1, so God had to begin over again, and He began feelingly; He created another heaven called the expanse. He created it in relation to this earth, and He came into all that and operated too, brought everything into the order that He had in mind, which the psalmist describes. Psalm 104 describes the order of things that God had set up on the renewed earth, the recovered earth, streams, valleys, and rivers, and so forth, so that it should be ornamented and furnished for Himself, with growth and sustenance, but not without work, nor was it left to carry on itself. God operated in it and is operating in it at this moment. He has come into it in each of us, I am speaking now as to the creation, for “in him we live, and move, and have our being”. God is in it as its Creator, and keeps it going. It will not continue for ever as it is, but He is keeping it going for a purpose. He operated for six days, we are told, and on the seventh day He was refreshed; it is a most touching matter for us how God comes near and is near as the Creator. We are here tonight, as all men are in their places, sustained by God. Not simply a God at a distance, but actually here, actually come in and operating.
Well, having said all that by the way, I come to John 3: 35 to show that there is another order of things inside of the physical, dependent on the physical, for, as far as we are externally concerned, the physical serves the spiritual, but the spiritual is within the range of the physical for the moment, and so you have the Father and the Son, which we do [p. 22] not get in the Old Testament formally, for the Son was yet in the Deity, in absolute Deity; indeed He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, which we should always bear in mind. He is always the operative One. We are told that He made the worlds, and without Him was not one thing made that was made, but then it is also said that God made the worlds by Him, that He acted in that sense in a mediatorial way, yet retaining His place in the Deity; never inferior, neither in person nor in status until He became Man, and even then He is not inferior. He retains His status personally, although He has taken a place in order to effect this great thought, the economy for the moment, the provisional economy, so that God might secure what He has counselled to bring about, and on the other hand that He might be known in the gospel. So John’s gospel brings out this strikingly in his own language, especially used and specially fitted of God for such a service as this gospel testifies to. It is a question of love, dear brethren; power, of course, but it is a question of love, active love; power available in the love, but active love. Hence we get in this verse, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. That is the position. The Father has not retired into absoluteness, out of view, the Father is seen throughout this gospel as active in it, as the Son is, and as the Spirit is, hence the Lord says, “My Father worketh hitherto”. He was active all the time, but now as in the economy He is active in relation to the Son, and we are in the thing.
What I wish to show in what I have been saying, is the result, that we are secured through the economy on the principle of faith, we are made immediately part of it. That is the impression I would like to leave with all; many have it already doubtless, but I should like all to have it, that as secured by the economy, by the operation of it, we are made part of [p. 23] it; what is called popular evangelism is short of the truth; persons are converted and allowed to go as they will and where they will, and link themselves up with religious bodies which in no way represent the economy of God, whereas the true gospel, which this book of John implies, is that we are brought into the thing through which the light of the cross and the power of the deliverance have come to us. We are brought into that, and we are imbued with the spirit of it, so that we seek that others should be brought into it. So the first chapter is marked by an evangelical spirit. John the baptist presents Christ as moving, as active. Spiritual inactivity is abhorrent to the spirit of this gospel. John is active, he sees Jesus active, and as he sees Him coming to him he says, “Behold the Lamb of God”, and others move to the Lamb of God. Jesus becomes the centre, and those who come to Him first address Him as Teacher, because what I have been saying requires teaching. The most urgent need, dear brethren, is teaching, divine teaching. So in this book the Lord (quoting the prophet) says, “They shall be all taught of God”, and I do not want to be outside of that divine teaching. No true christian would be outside of it, “they shall be all taught of God”. They called Him Teacher and asked Him where He abode, and He said, “Come and see”. That is the next thing. It is what exists today, that is the point that John has in mind, it is what exists; what is of God is worthy of observation. No one who is of God is ashamed to call attention to what is of God, however little it is, for as of God, it is worth seeing, it is a testimony, “come and see”. They came and “abode with him that day. It was about the tenth hour”.
So down the chapter you will observe this idea of activity, they have come into a system of things perhaps not yet intelligible to them, but suppose we picture the two disciples in the place where Jesus [p. 24] abode — spiritually what did they see? They would see Jesus in it all — you will understand I am not speaking in any way discreditably — but anything that is in His surroundings is of Himself, that is the principle, that He surrounds Himself with witnesses to Himself, so Peter says, for instance, to the lame man, “Look on us”. He is not diverting the man from Christ, he is attracting the man to what testifies of Christ, to what enhances the glory of Christ, for they were two apostles, Peter and John. So you may say they might have seen much in the surroundings in which the Lord abides that is not disclosed to us. John is writing of the last days, and of course that would bear on the last days. Where does the Lord abide? Where can He find a resting place today? that is the point. If there are a few in this town who love Him, and as loving Him keep His commandments, and have no notions of their own, but determine everything by Scripture; if they love Him they keep His commandments and if you want to see where He abides, that is the place. Of course, He is in the Father’s affections above, in the Father’s bosom, but as regards the testimony, which is the point now, it is where the Lord has a resting place here, where He can be seen, where He abides: “Come and see”. The conditions in any or every locality among those professing to be of the assembly, ought to be such that we may freely invite people to see; it is a question of what Christ has effected or it is nothing at all. It is nothing at all morally if Christ has not effected it, but if there are those who love Him and keep His commandments, they, however few, even one according to John 14, would invite anyone that wants to see where Jesus is; He will be there spiritually, you understand, “Come and see” is one of the leading thoughts in John’s gospel.
So that, as I said in that chapter, it is continuous movement. Andrew was one of the two; we are not [p. 25] told who the other one was, I have no doubt it was John himself, but that is only a conjecture, save that we arrive at it by his way of referring to things that refer to himself. He keeps himself in the background; it is a question of adequate testimony as to where Jesus abides. Andrew went and found his brother Simon; he is potentially of the system that I am speaking of; he and John together according to Acts could say “Come and see”, but Andrew found Simon and brought him to Jesus, and the Lord named him in relation to the system; He named him Cephas, and the Spirit of God tells us it means a Stone. The Lord had in His mind a structure, and there it is in Simon. “Thou shalt be called Cephas”; that is, in the testimony people would call him that; he would be known as a stable, reliable man, and there can be no structure without reliability and stability, and that is what the word ‘stone’ would indicate. The Lord found Philip and Philip found Nathanael, and Philip says to Nathanael, “Come and see”. He might say, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, but Philip would say, ‘Well, do not be too sure’. It is a very unsafe thing to judge at a distance either persons or things or places; hence the word is “Come and see”. Do not have preconceived thoughts as to what is of God, come and see; Nathanael did come, and the Lord saw him coming. It is now a question, not of what Nathanael is to see, but what the Lord sees in Nathanael. The matter is turned round, because if you are coming with any interest at all, you must come under the eyes of the brethren, under the Lord’s eyes, for examination. It is not all one-sided; it is not that you are patronising the Lord if you come to hear the gospel or hear the word of God, there is another side, that you have come under His eye, and He has to carefully look over you. You may think it is an optional thing with you, but it is not, the Lord says, I have to pass My eyes over [p. 26] you; so He scrutinises Nathanael, but not until he began to move. It is a question of movement, and so when He saw Nathanael coming to Him he said, “Behold an Israelite indeed”. That is another testimony: how few there are in whom there is no guile! They are very rare. The Lord saw that. He named Peter and called him Cephas, and He named Nathanael “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”.
That is how the matter stands in John, so that Nathanael is part of the structure, because he is a guileless man, but he is an Israelite indeed; that is a spiritual thought. He is not an unsteady sort of man, he is a real person, and he is recognised by the facts that the Lord knew as to him, for He judged him right through, and His judgment brings out Nathanael’s confession that the Lord was the Son of God and the King of Israel. You can see what a delightful man he would be in the system. The Lord is looking for such, for stable people, people that do not waver in their thoughts, not unduly critical in questioning, but submissive, for men like Nathanael; he is an Israelite indeed, a genuine man, a transparent man, there is no guile in him. The Lord says, ‘You will see greater things than these’. People who are questioning all the time never see anything, never learn anything, “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”. But not so Nathanael for the Lord says, “Thou shalt see greater things than these”, and he had said that Christ is the Son of God, the King of Israel.
I have perhaps said too much on that line, but it is in order to make clear what is in view, that there is an economy composed of such persons and that the Son of God is the great central thought. If you read down the first chapter of John you will see the many titles by which He is known, all bearing on His glory, His glorious Person. He is worthy of our attention: He says later, “I, if I be lifted up out of [p. 27] the earth, will draw all to me”. If there is anyone who has not been drawn to Christ then it is evident that God is not allowed to work in you; you are not like Nathanael, he came to Jesus, he came to see. He was asked to come and see, and he came.
Now in verse 35 the position is defined. It is a question of love. The Father loves the Son. Why should this be said, because it is already said that He dwells in the bosom of the Father? Surely He is loved there. It is not that He was in the bosom of the Father; it is the present tense, as we have often noticed, “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father”. It is a question of what He is as Man, the delight the Father has in Him, and it is expressed in that unmistakable way, “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. It is a position of love, that is what it is. The Son is in the bosom of the Father, and now in order to make that applicable to the economy that God has set up, it says here, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. It is the singular, to set out the official position, as you might say. Everything is to be in His hand. It is the general position, but it is given over in love; it is a question of the Father loving the Son. The next verse says, “He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him”. That is a most solemn word, because it alludes to the Jews, the reprobate Jews, which this gospel contemplates, the Jews suffering; in fact nothing could be more severe than this verse, that the wrath of God abides, not ‘will abide’, but “abides”. Paul confirming this says that “wrath has come upon them to the uttermost”, a most pitiable thought, because we see it, dear brethren, all around us at the present time. God has put a mark upon them as He did on Cain, and He will see [p. 28] to it that anyone who damages them will come under His judgment, but still there it is, and the economy and the administration goes on in the hands of the Son whom the Father loves.
Chapter 4 is to work that out and to show how those brought into the system are brought into it livingly. There is no question here of the forgiveness of sins; that, of course, is implied, but the point in the administration of chapter 4 is that the person who believes is brought into the system in a living way. Many are brought into the system outwardly, merely by baptism, and in that respect I wanted just to say a word as to those who are, or were then, the official servants of Christ, that they are out of this whole chapter 4 as to their work, a most solemn thing. We may have the reputation of holding things and being near the Lord, and yet the real living thing and the result He is securing are outside of us; we are not used at all. The disciples were doing something, but what were they doing? They baptised; we are told that the Lord did not do that Himself; the disciples did it. It is not very much (understand I am not disparaging anything that the people of God may do for the Lord) but it is not very much to be baptising. They were doing that, it says that Jesus Himself baptised not but His disciples. That is they carried on the outward thing. There is no life in that for life is not communicated by baptism, whatever orthodoxy says; it is but an outward thing which admits me outwardly into the profession, but it does not in itself admit me into the spiritual realm. I need the Holy Spirit for that, I need new birth for that, and all that the gospel proposes I need for that; an unconverted man may be baptised; we all know that. We are in the midst of the profession of millions and millions of people who have been baptised. Well, there is no credit to be attached to any baptism in that sense.
[p. 29] Another thing they were doing was that they were providing provisions for the Lord; at least it does not say they were for Him, but why should they all go to buy bread, or whatever they needed. It says, “A woman comes out of Samaria to draw water. Jesus says to her, Give me to drink (for his disciples had gone away into the city that they might buy provisions)”. Where the money came from to buy the provisions it does not say; it was there, they simply were buying the provisions, there is not much in that. If it be only baptising and buying provisions then the system is not being built up at all, but the Lord is building up the system, that is the point, a new system of things; He is building it up livingly, that is the word. He would do it Himself; it is remarkable how much He has to do Himself in this gospel: here He talked to the woman. They did not understand it; they wondered why she was there. Why not? She was, as it were, the symbol of the harvest; ‘the fields are ripe’, He said, but they did not see it. I am speaking thus that we might be on the alert that whatever we are doing must be a living matter or it is nothing, a mere outward official work without the Spirit is nothing. That is what marked these disciples here; I am not saying a word against them otherwise, but the Spirit of God gives us this remarkable picture, they baptised and bought provisions, and they did not understand why the Lord should be speaking to this woman! They were spiritual men, of course, the great founders of the system, but for the moment John is presenting them in this light. In the last chapter he presents seven of them in another light to bring out that the official position is not trustworthy in itself, it must be in the energy of the Spirit; that is why we get the living water here, to bring out the living character of things, otherwise we have nothing.
[p. 30] So the Lord raises the question about drink. He had in mind to bring out this living thing, that the Father loved Him and the Father had given everything to be in His hand. Well, He says, I will bring about something for the Father, for everything must be for God; if there is no result for God, what is there? There is nothing morally. Hence you get sonship in this chapter, statements that you get nowhere else, and they are spoken to a despised Samaritan, a wicked woman. So the Lord goes on to speak about the living water, I cannot say much more, but it says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. What is needed, that is virtually what He is saying, is that, to work out what is in the mind of the Father; it is a living system and a living system must have a living state of things, and as we come into it we are made part of it. How wonderful it is to have part in this living system! The woman did not understand; she has to be instructed, that is another point, to be led out of the channel of her own natural thoughts, religious thoughts; she had no reputation really, she did not deserve any recommendation religiously, but she had religious thoughts, and she refers back to the father Jacob; such people always refer to the past: I have not anything myself, but my forefathers were something. But it is a question of what I am now; that is the thing in the new system, and so the Lord proceeds to enlighten her, to lead her out of the channel of her thoughts. I can never be in the new system without that, I judge everything, the thoughts I have been engaged with whether morally or religiously; and ultimately the Lord discloses everything to her, exposes her to herself, not to anyone else, and she says, “I see [for that is the word used] that thou art a prophet”. I wonder if everyone here [p. 31] sees that. You say, Of course the scripture says the Lord is a prophet, but she did not quote Scripture, she was speaking from her own soul, from her own discernment. How did she come into it? God worked with her as Jesus spoke to her and she said, “I see that thou art a prophet”. Then the question of worship comes up. Many have said, Why did He speak to such a woman about worship? How incongruous it seemed! But it was not so, because she saw He was a prophet; she had come under prophetic ministry. God had come into her soul, and enabled her to see everything; she saw herself, but she saw also that that Man was a prophet; she did not go beyond her measure. I should like to have heard her say that; the Lord loved to hear her say it. It was not a natural thought, it was a spiritual thought; she is coming into the new system and I must learn Christ according to my measure, bit by bit. Well, the conversation goes on and the Lord says wonderful things to her about worship, which we often quote. Probably there is no passage with which we are more familiar in relation to the service of God than the conversation between this woman and Christ, a wonderful thing, “God is a Spirit”. It is not said anywhere else as far as I know, and He says it to point out that if we worship Him it must be in spirit and in truth. It is not a question of physical places, mountain or Jerusalem, it is a question of spirituality.
Well now the woman is led on, and she comes to it; and when the disciples come back they are out of the whole matter; it is a very solemn thing for them. It is one of the most interesting episodes in the history of Christ on this earth, and they are out of it. The reason is obvious: they were unduly occupied with their official position. They baptised and they bought provisions. What were they doing in the town? Were they evangelising the town? There is not the slightest evidence of that; the work [p. 32] was going on by the Lord Himself. He found this woman, and when the disciples came on the scene I believe the conversation had ended, the whole matter was settled before they came. Had it not been they would have interfered undoubtedly, but they did not, they merely marvelled that He talked with the woman, that was all, and that was not any help at all. If I am in a meeting, if I say anything I want to help the brethren, not hinder them; there was not a bit of help in this remark. They marvelled that He talked with the woman. Why did they not say to the Lord, Is this a convert?. Is this woman interested? I am not disparaging the sensibilities of these men, because they were most wonderful men; I am not saying I would have been any better than they, but the picture is at their expense, so that we may not be found in such a case. Why should I not say, if I see a woman like this talking with the Lord Jesus or with a servant of Christ. Is she a convert? is she interested in the truth? No, they did not say that, they wondered why it should be. Why should it not be? And so the Lord says to them, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of”. It is a scathing remark, showing that they were out of the thing. Why should I be out of the thing? If I am with God I will be in it. But He says, You do not know this matter.
Now I come back to the woman just to point out that she came into the system. It says “The woman then left her water-pot”. The word ‘then’ is to call attention to a spiritual movement, as over against the attitude of the disciples. There is no spiritual movement with them at the moment, but there is in this person, the Lord has done His work and the effect of it is that she left her water-pot, for that belonged to the old system — it is a type of it — and she went away to the city. It means that she understood that the water that He gave her, the [p. 33] living water, was to be in her, that she was to be a vessel in the divine service, that is the idea, a containing vessel, but a vessel that can be used for the help of others, for later it is said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”, and this dear believer becomes a containing vessel, a dispensing vessel. That is the idea in John; it is all a living matter, dear brethren. Then she goes after the men and says, “Come, see a man”. She is an evangelist. It is again “Come and see”, as much as to say, I have discovered who He is, “Is not he the Christ?”. It is a question not of doubt, but of certainty, and they came to him. “Then they went out of the city, and came unto him”. That means they are leaving their moorings.
Then later it says, “Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did ... and many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world”. Would she be jealous about that? that they did not believe as much because of her as they did because of Jesus? No, she would say, That is exactly what I expected. What can be more desirable in testimony than that you direct souls to Jesus? “Come, see a man”. And they went, they left the city, too, meaning that you leave your natural environments and moorings, to go to Christ, “Come, see a man”, and they went. Then afterwards the Spirit of God would comment on this woman, that many of them believed on account of her. He would honour her as in the system; she is now doing the same work as Christ, and yet the disciples are out of it. The Lord is rebuking them in what He is saying after she left, but she is carrying on, and that is the point. As come into this thing through Christ, through [p. 34] His servants, through the gospel, I become part of it, and I go on in it, and then my body that was once dishonouring is now constituted a vessel, a containing vessel for the greatest thing possible, the living water; it is springing up into everlasting life, God-ward, but it is flowing out to men too, and God honours this woman and the Spirit of God says many believed on Him because of her word. They believed, but they say, ‘we believed more after we heard Him’, and that would delight any true servant of Christ.