(1) THE SERVICE OF CHRIST
([p. 68] 1) THE SERVICE OF CHRIST
I want to bring before you the service of Christ. Everyone has some idea of it, but I do not think many quite discern its character. I distinguish between the priestly service of Christ, and the revelation to us in Him of God. The two things come out in one Person, and it is the fact of everything coming out in one Person that brings in perfection. In times gone by, to represent anything like completeness, two had to be taken into account. For instance, in Israel there was Moses the apostle and Aaron the priest. In the prophets we get Elijah and Elisha; and so on throughout the Old Testament. But when we come to Christ we get completeness. To take the figure I have employed, of Moses and Aaron: in Christ we get both; He is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, and therefore we get completeness. What has come to pass in Christ, and what brings in perfection, is the fact that approach is equal to revelation. You get revelation by the apostle, and approach in the priest, and in Christ the approach is as perfect as the revelation. It was very different with Israel. Moses was the mediator; the communications of God were all by him, and he was faithful in the setting up of the tabernacle. But Aaron failed at the outset, and made the golden calf; therefore you do not get perfection. The approach which was typified in Aaron was not equal to the faithfulness of Moses; hence in that system there was imperfection.
[p. 69] Now it is important for us to apprehend that in connection with Christ, perfection has come in; the priest is equal to the apostle. You can understand that, because Christ is both. I wish to bring before you that we have the service of Christ in both lights. In this gospel (Luke) and the following one Christ comes before us in two different lights; but we need to put the two together, each is essential. In John, Christ speaks of His body as the temple; the Jews had defiled God’s temple, and the Lord says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. His body was the temple, and what followed upon that was, the oracles of God were there. When the Lord Jesus was here upon earth, the disciples had not much idea of going to the high priest to get the oracles of God. They had the sense that the oracles were there in Christ. But in Luke, Christ is presented as the anointed Man, who, in result, is the Priest. He is the anointed Man with knowledge, and, in result, going up on man’s behalf to God. At the close of the gospel Christ is not looked at quite in the light of the victim, but as the offering Priest. In Matthew and Mark we see Him more as the victim; in Luke He is the offering Priest; and we get the perfection of the Offerer. We have not there the record of His being forsaken of God; and in the last chapter, in the act of blessing His disciples, He is parted from them and taken up into heaven, in order that He might communicate the promise of the Father. He goes up to God on behalf of man in the value of His offering. That is all priestly. The Apostle is to make God and His mind known; the Priest is what Christ is on man’s behalf.
I call your attention to a passage in Luke 4: 16 - 19. I wish to contrast that with what you get in John. It is not in Luke a question of revelation; the point is not of the temple, nor the oracles of [p. 70] God; but of the Man anointed with the Spirit, who has come close to man with the object of announcing the truth and bringing it home to man — to preach glad tiding to the poor, to serve the poor; I have no doubt there is in that the thought of the priest. The priest’s lips kept knowledge, and the law was sought at his mouth, and here was one with knowledge, the anointed Man, come close to man in order to bring to him the knowledge of God. It is not difficult to distinguish between the two things; they are combined in Christ; He was the Temple where God dwelt, and He was the anointed Man, diffusing the light, bringing close to man, by priestly service, the knowledge which was proper to Him.
I think the same thing is in a sense true in regard to the church; the church is the temple of God. The apostle says to the Corinthians, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” The Spirit of God dwells in the church; it being the temple of God, the oracles of God are there. Whatever light there is of God is in the church by the Spirit. But there is another truth connected with the church: the church is the body of Christ, where gifts are set, where there is the word of wisdom and knowledge, in order that the light may be diffused, may be brought to man in the way of service. In 1 Corinthians 3, the apostle says, “Ye are the temple of God”, and in chapter 12, “Ye are the body of Christ”. That is what we are called to down here. Service is more than levitical; rightly understood, it is priestly. The service of the Lord Jesus was not simply levitical: it was priestly, and had in view the offering up of a remnant of the people. That came to pass on the day of Pentecost; a remnant was offered as a result of the service of the Lord Jesus here on earth.
[p. 71] Now I want to touch upon the priestly service of Christ in regard to man. The objection may be raised that Christ is only Priest on behalf of His people; but at the same time there is a light in which Christ can have to say to all men. If He gave Himself a ransom for all, to bring home to man the knowledge that is His own, this ministry is priestly service on the part of the Lord.
First I will say a word in regard to the tabernacle of testimony. All the detail of the tabernacle was given to Moses, and Moses had to set it up according to the fashion shown to him. The first things about which God spoke to Moses were the ark and the mercy seat; I go no farther than that. Evidently the ark and the mercy seat were connected with the revelation of God. Everything was thus set forth in the way of figurative representation. The time was coming when God would put Himself in communication with man by the mercy seat; all was connected with revelation. But then, in connection with the tabernacle of testimony there was the priest; people often take up the tabernacle of testimony and the detail of it, but the priest was an essential part. Suppose there had been no injunctions about the priest, what good would it all have been to man? There would have been no approach to God. The furniture of the tabernacle was connected with God’s way of approach to man; but that would not be of much value to man unless there were with it the thought of man’s approach to God, and you get that in connection with Aaron and his sons. When God gave directions as to the tabernacle and its furniture, He gave directions for Aaron and the garments of Aaron; in order to make a system complete, you must have not only revelation, but also approach to God, and that was set forth in Aaron.
[p. 72] All that was typical; now we have come to the reality of things, and what is brought to our view is not simply revelation, but that the approach is equal to the revelation. You cannot understand approach except in Christ. You must remember that He has gone in as Priest; and, as to its application to us, we are taught that “through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father”; it is through Him, the One who has gone in. This is brought out at the end of the gospel of Luke. The Lord in resurrection brings home to the disciples the reality of His being Man, and after He had commissioned them, a cloud received Him out of their sight and He went up on high, in order to communicate the gift of the Holy Spirit. All that has been fulfilled; the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat are no longer typical. We have the temple and the oracles of God; God’s mind is declared in Christ, and, on the other hand, approach to God is perfect, because Christ is the Priest.
Now in Luke I think we see priestly service on the part of Christ. I want to show you the way in which Christ waits upon man, to bring home to man the knowledge of God. We are in a world where we have to meet a great many things; the conditions of man’s life are complex; we have to meet vicissitudes, disappointments, trials, sorrows, bereavements, weakness, and many other things. Now, if you are to pass through these things, what is going to be your stay in them? I only know of one thing that is available, and available in everything, and that is, the knowledge of God. Hence one can see the grace connected with the priestly service of Christ, who waits upon man, in order to bring home to man the knowledge of God, so that, whatever we have to meet down here, we always have a stay — and that is God. It is not [p. 73] only (I venture to say) that Christ has revealed God; the point is that, having revealed Him, He attends upon man, to bring home to him the knowledge of God, in such a way that it should be the stay of man in every circumstance.
I dare say you will remember that there is a succession of parables in Luke peculiar to that gospel. I refer to one in chapter 7: 41 - 43. I read one also in chapter 10, then I turn to Luke 14: 15, and following. The final one is in chapter 15. Now we see in each of these Christ waiting upon man, to bring home to him the knowledge of God, because that knowledge is to be the stay of man down here. I may remark in regard to these parables that they are not found in the other gospels; they are peculiar to Luke, and connect themselves with the particular way in which Christ is presented in that gospel. I may say another thing: as you increase in the knowledge of God, you increase in the sense of blessing. If your knowledge is elementary, you will not have any very great sense of blessing. God is intent on blessing, He is called in Scripture “the blessed God”; hence the more we increase in the knowledge of God, the more we increase in blessing. What I understand by blessing is, God brought near to man, so that man may be conscious of being in the favour of God.
I take up two of these parables now, the one in the seventh and the other in the tenth chapter. They are progressive; I will first touch on the four and note the progress.
The first unfolds to us the attitude of God toward all men.
In the second there is an advance on that, and that is the resources of man in the knowledge of God.
In the third, the supper, man is called to have a part in a great divine celebration; therefore in [p. 74] connection with the supper you get the thought of joy.
In the fourth, chapter 15, is the climax. The prodigal is brought back to the Father’s table, to be conscious that the Father has complete complacency in him. What a wonderful thing it would be for us if we were conscious of being with the Father in such a way as to know that He has entire complacency in us, and that there is nothing to interfere with the complacency. That is what is presented to us in the thought of the prodigal. He is at the Father’s table, they began to be merry, he is conscious of the Father’s complacency in him, and that nothing interferes with it. I think you will be prepared to allow that there is progress in what is unfolded in these parables. The first thing that Christ sets Himself to bring home to man is the attitude of God toward man. That comes out in the parable of the creditor and the two debtors. The mind of the creditor was alike in regard to the two debtors. The two debtors represent all men. In that particular case they were intended to represent the woman and Simon, and the parable brings out that the mind of the creditor was alike to both. That is a great lesson to be brought home to man. The Lord had a very inapt pupil, for Simon was the one for whose benefit the parable was spoken. We do not hear much more about him; but, so far as we can tell, he was sceptical about Christ. He was not very sure whether, after all, Christ was a prophet. What marked the Lord was priestly grace, and therefore He could attend on Simon and bring the truth before him. It was a reproach to Simon, but we see the grace of the Lord who could utter such a parable for such a man. Christ was attendant upon man, in priestly grace, His lips keeping knowledge, to bring home to man what at that particular point was the attitude of [p. 75] God toward all men. It is a lesson which the Lord would bring home to all of us. I cannot conceive anything more important than to apprehend what God’s attitude is, without reserve, at this present time, not only toward the repentant, but toward all men. The secret of it is that Christ has given Himself a ransom for all, and thus every man comes into the view of God, and God is propitious toward every man. Christ is the propitiation; that is the light in which God is presented at the present time.
I pass on to the second parable, Luke 10. The priest and Levite pass by the half-dead man on the other side, because they had to make room for the real Priest. They were the official men. Experience has taught me to distrust officialism. The moment you find officialism in divine things there is danger. In Judaism there was officialism; but it broke down, and I do not think God intends to repeat that. They passed by on the other side, but they made room for the one who was really the priest. The priest’s lips are full of knowledge. Here again, the Lord had a very inapt pupil: the pupil was the lawyer. The lawyer was tempting Christ; there was nothing encouraging about the pupil, yet Christ attended on the lawyer. Lawyers and Pharisees were not very hopeful; but the Lord sought to bring home the truth to the lawyer. The question here is not of God’s attitude toward all men, but of God found as a resource for man down here. There are few people who have not moral wants; what is going to heal them? The knowledge of God. What is going to carry you along? The knowledge of God. What is going to comfort you? Because you will certainly now and then need comfort. I know only one thing, and that is, the knowledge of God. Whether it is support or comfort in the pathway here through the wilderness, Christ supplies all,
[p. 76] and supplies all by the knowledge of God. The apostle John said to the babes, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things”. The man that fell among thieves found everything by the Samaritan, and Christ is waiting upon man to bring home to him the knowledge of God, in such a way that it will suffice him in every circumstance and exigency in which he may be down here.
How important the knowledge of God is to us! How important that we should be set upon it! Christ is set upon it; He will serve you in that way. We do not want to be sceptical like Simon, or like the lawyer, tempting Christ. There needs readiness on our part, and we have to look to God for grace that the one thing we are athirst for is the knowledge of God. What we really want to know is divine love in its application to us in our pathway here. That is the first element in the knowledge of God. It is not the knowledge of God in the highest sense, but in the most important sense in regard to us. It is the apprehension of divine love in connection with our responsible life. I dare say I have before pointed out how this comes out in 1 John 4. The apostle takes up the love of God in its application to saints all along their responsible pathway (verses 7 - 12, 16 - 19). It does not talk about the love of God to us in heaven, as in Ephesians, where God has set the saints in heavenly places; it does not go beyond our responsible pathway here, closing up with the day of judgment, and in that connection you get the love of God. It runs parallel with what the apostle Paul says at the close of Romans 8. It is very wonderful to see the application of divine love to us, even in the way of discipline. It comes out in that way; God has to discover to us something in ourselves which has an undue place in the heart; some idol perhaps; and love is in the way of discipline. But it is also in [p. 77] view of the day of judgment; because “as he (Christ) is, so are we in this world”. Not in heaven, but as in this world; it is divine love in its application to us down here. What can be so important to us as the knowledge of God? I mean the knowledge of God in that which He is toward His people here upon earth. I think we may also know God in another light; we are privileged to be led into the knowledge of God in the counsels of His love. It is a great point to be with God, to get an insight into His things. When I speak of God’s things, I refer to what the Lord said in John 16. “All things that the Father hath are mine”. The Spirit of God would lead us into the land of promise, and give us an apprehension of all the things of which Christ is the centre. God has made known to us the mystery of His will, and the Spirit of God would lead us into the knowledge of God and of the counsels of His love.
One point more. It is a point of the greatest interest for the soul to be entering into God’s things. You will not enter into God’s things if you do not see how God enters into your things. Unless you apprehend God’s love to you down here, it is futile to expect to be led into the range of God’s things; but if you are led into that great circle of interests, that universe which is centred in Christ, you have to learn the capability of God to fill it all. The universe would be no good unless it were filled. Our physical universe would not be of much account unless the sun filled it all. Hence there is fertility and life. God has a universe; a vast system consisting of all things, and all centred in Christ. But it is a very blessed thought that with God there is the capability to fill it. I would not care about the thought of a universe unless I knew how it is to be filled. God has not only devised and brought to pass a universe, but He is capable of [p. 78] filling it. Christ is to fill the universe of God (like the sun fills our universe) with the light and knowledge of God.
I think there ought to be with us a readiness to be led on in the knowledge of God. Grace and peace will be multiplied to us in it. Christ is waiting upon man in priestly service; there is wonderful grace about Him, though we may be dull and inattentive pupils; yet He is waiting upon us. It is a great thing to know that you have a support and a source of comfort in whatever you may be exposed to here. If you lose the dearest relative, you still have a stay and support in the knowledge of God. Christ takes care of us, and the proof of it is in bringing home to us the resource that we have in the knowledge of God. It is a great thing to be led on in the apprehension of love in the details of its application towards us. And the Spirit will lead you further into those things which are centred in Christ.
If the enemy is coming in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a banner against him. Where is it to be lifted up? In the saints. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the knowledge of God by the Spirit. That is the thing which is impregnable. You never had a single bit of knowledge of God except by the Spirit; but the gates of hell will not prevail against the knowledge of God. I desire that we might be led into it by the grace of Christ, so as to have more sense of its applicability to us in our circumstances here. Thus we shall be proof against the assaults of the enemy.