GOD HAS BEEN MANIFESTED IN FLESH

Ephesians 1: 17–23; Matthew 16: 15–19; Esther 2: 8, 9 (from ‘Esther’), 15; Revelation 21: 10–17; 1 Timothy 3: 14, 15

NJH These are well known scriptures, but I would like to get something fresh out of them for our own souls. We have already spoken of God manifested in flesh, involving the Father and the Son and the Spirit; One taking that condition of course, but the three Persons made known in the revelation of God, in Christ. We have touched on many things which we need to be lifted up in our valuation of and attention to, and I thought, especially for younger ones to realise in a broken day, that we need to be revived and maintained in our view of the assembly. If we are walking rightly we are walking in the light of the assembly. These scriptures bring out how the Father and the Son and the Spirit are involved in the securing of that vessel for the heart of Christ. No other family is brought in on that basis. Every family is named of the Father so that they must come into sonship and they must have, in some sense, known the outward power of the Holy Spirit. Previously God was revealed by angelic representation. When it comes to the assembly for Christ, to be united to that heavenly Man, the three divine Persons are involved, the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

Ephesians 1 refers to, “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory”, and evidently His work is to raise the view that the Ephesians should have as to the exalted Christ, and the assembly given to be with Him, as it says, “has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all”. That is a tremendous thing to think about, the Father of glory, the source of glory as it were, and the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The assembly was always in the heart of Christ and in the heart of the Father and the heart of the Spirit; and that is a wonderful thing. We must commit ourselves to the truth of the assembly.

In Matthew’s account, the Father acts sovereignly there in the revelation, and the Lord takes that matter up in speaking to Peter, “on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. I think that is a very confirmative matter; that Christ is building on what the Father acted sovereignly in.

In Esther, it struck me that she was moved to the best place of the house of the women, as typifying the assembly’s place. There is nothing to equal the assembly among the families. She had been moved to the best place of the house of the women, and there are all these preparations for purification. It is something like what takes place in Ephesians where it is “washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5: 26), there is purification going on. She was beautiful already but this was to make her entirely suitable to be united to the heavenly Man. What a union when you think about it, that a creature vessel could rise to such a level.

When you come to Revelation 21, it says “he carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”; now it is a divine glory. I might even suggest that the Spirit must be involved in this glory, because she acquired that on the journey; moral glory acquired on the journey with the Spirit, to be eventually presented to the heavenly Man, so it says, “Her shining”, how she had absorbed what had come to her. I think that the reference to walls is fine, it is not that she could be polluted, the assembly as presented there is beyond contamination; what a wonderful vessel she is coming down from God. I think it is to show to the eyes of the other families, the place that she retains in the divine system; she retains her integrity there.

In first Timothy, it speaks as to the assembly being “the pillar and base of the truth”; that is a very comforting thing. We cannot recognise the assembly publicly today in its entirety; even the apostle had to say, “The Lord knows those that are his”, 2 Timothy 2: 19. There must be a link between the pillar and base of the truth, and the foundation in 2 Timothy 2. When all is broken, what is of God stands and cannot be altered, therefore those that are walking in the light of the assembly are linked with that, and they act according to it as we have in 2 Timothy 2.

JS While we feel measured and challenged in regard to coming into these great and glorious things, do you think it is encouraging that the same power, which was exercised in the raising of Christ from among the dead, is towards us to help us to come into them and to arrive at them, do you think?

NJH God knows that we need power and it is there for us. He grants it because He knows we need it. As to such a concept we need enlightenment, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart”. I think we also need to see the assembly as peculiarly a product involving three divine Persons.

JS Perhaps you would say something about, “being enlightened in the eyes of your heart”.

NJH It is “God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory”. I think the Father of glory suggests that He is the source of it. He knows what we need to rise to these glorious thoughts, and we need spiritual perception, spiritual eyesight. We cannot see them without the help of the Father’s Spirit.

JS Do you think this matter of the eyes of our hearts would really involve our affections?

NJH Yes, it is not just the mind only. We have to receive things, like light comes in through the eyes. We have spoken about the ears already, but the heart has to be affected. I cannot see how you can hold the light of the assembly without it being in your affections. God spoke to Moses about his bosom, carrying the people in his affections (Numbers 11: 12).

GBG So it is the Father’s activities all through this section, is it not? It was the same power that raised Christ, the same power that set Him down at His right hand. And it has also in view, “gave him to be head over all things to the assembly”, so the assembly is in mind.

NJH You can see He is working out that great thought in the divine mind, “gave him be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all”; what a place! That cannot be said of any other family.

RT Is the assembly essentially the product of divine workmanship? Israel had Abraham and the covenants, but they broke down. The assembly is essentially the divine conception, is it not?

NJH That is very fine. It is the product of divine purpose. We are not sustained by promises, not that we do not have promises; but Israel was maintained by or lost to the promises.

RT There were certain clauses you may say in Israel, the covenant and these things, and that meant man had a hand in it, so it was bound to break down. But God has worked from Himself and by Himself to bring this glorious vessel that is entirely suited as a companion for Christ.

NJH Yes that sums it up. She is a divine product.

RDP Why does it call for this matter of the spirit of wisdom and revelation? This is Paul’s prayer, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ ... would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation”. I was thinking of what you spoke of as the affections; it seems this is not something that can be acquired by study or application exactly, the spirit of wisdom and revelation is quite a distinctive thing is it not?

NJH Yes, wisdom has always marked God as we see in Proverbs 8: 22–26. From the very beginning wisdom was there, wisdom is of God. It is not human wisdom, that is empty and worthless, and it is set aside as we have at the beginning of Corinthians. But here it is divine wisdom, the spirit of wisdom is what comes in from God, what God’s thoughts are and His mind, they have not altered through the centuries.

RDP I recall a remark somewhere in ministry that this is beyond where ministry can reach; this involves something more than ministry, so Paul prays. It is as if He accepts that ministry can go so far, but this calls for the spirit of wisdom and he prays about it.

NJH Yes, in other words it is not mentally acquired, it is really a sovereign matter. He puts that into persons and it becomes formative in the characteristics of the persons, does it not? It is producing something. The assembly involves that, “her shining” means that she has actually taken something in and it has formed her.

JDG Does Peter set it out in the example in Matthew 16? The Lord shows the Father had part in the revelation there, sets the thing out in principle, something comes direct from the Father.

NJH He is accredited with that, the spirit of wisdom and revelation actually came into Peter.

JDG He did not get it from books or from anything he read; he got it direct.

NJH Yes, and as well as that he is immediately called Peter, which is a ‘stone’, so there is something solid in the person that has come from God, it has formed the person.

JDG Something formed in the person that receives it.

NJH Yes, exactly.

RDP He uses the word “wrought” here, does he not? I know as to Christ “he wrought in the Christ”, a very strong word, is it not? I was thinking of what was said as to what is being worked in persons. We could apply ourselves to gain all the knowledge and so on, but this calls for something else, to hold that in our affections calls for something else.

NJH If you look at other scriptures, He raises Himself according to John 2: 19, and then in Romans 6: 4 He is raised by the glory of the Father, but here the Father has “wrought in the Christ”. While He personally was raised then, the same power is to be towards those who believe. It was the greatest expression of divine power, “the first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”, 1 Corinthians 15: 23. We are in principle taken out of death in that operation. It refers directly to Christ here of course.

JCG The greatness of Christ as Man is stressed here, and what God has done and His central point in the purpose of God. It was therefore becoming that He should have a vessel as consort suitable for Him. The greatness of Christ is stressed, His majesty and what God has provided by way of glories as Man and the assembly alongside of Him, that she should be suitable for such a One.

NJH Exactly, and equal to Him. She is referred to as His body which means that she is equal to the position, that Christ is going to be seen in His body; that is the great thought of the body.

JAG That seems to be so necessary if we are going to know what is the hope of our calling, He would have us in the full appreciation and understanding of what sonship is, so that we understand “what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”.

NJH You can see the effect it should have on the soul when that light comes into it. Your whole being is radiated when you think about it. That is what we want for all here, to be radiated with the glory of this, that God’s inheritance is in the saints. He is opening up this whole thing and says “what is the hope of his calling”; God’s calling, not as calling Abraham out of idolatry, this is not the calling here. He is bringing, forming you might say, these persons into this glorious body that is referred to, His body which is the assembly. I think it must be a very blessed hope.

JAG It is what He has for the heart of God Himself, “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”.

NJH You can see the Father’s portion is clearly before the apostle when he writes that.

DBR It is something that surpassed everything that had gone before. It speaks about the “surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of the might of his strength, in which he wrought in the Christ in raising him from among the dead”. The surpassing greatness of His power wrought in the Christ, and it is now towards us who believe.

NJH Death has exercised its power over the race, but here it is completely broken in the work of Christ, “the surpassing greatness of his power” brings men into a new order of things.

DBR It is what “he wrought in the Christ”, a wonderful thought!

NJH Well we are touching holy ground. It was one thing for Lazarus to be raised, but that was into the condition into which he was before, but what was wrought in the Christ had a great world of life before God according to purpose.

GBG Is this known at the present time in quickening? It says, “he wrought in the Christ in raising Him from among the dead”; resurrection is literally future for us, but at the present time that same power operates in the way of quickening.

NJH It has been said that quickening brings us into the same state that Christ is in. It must be that “wrought in the Christ” is to give us some impression of the concentration of divine power in that action. Then being “towards us”, means that we are brought consciously into a scene of life, a realm of life in the assembly.

RT Is the assembly really designed for the eternal day? That is what this is all about, is it not, preparing us for the eternal day? To speak reverently, divine Persons need the assembly in view of it being worked out.

NJH That really helps, to focus on what is in the divine heart and mind, and it meant not only meeting what was wrong, that is not even touched here, we are on different ground in Ephesians, but there is so much being wrought in the personnel and the assembly itself for the eternal day.

RT So the importance of the present time, we are being prepared for eternity, not for this world.

NJH Yes that is good, that lifts up our eyes.

JAG All this seems to be included in the service of the Father’s Spirit, in Ephesians 3: 16, because it is “according to the riches of his glory”.

NJH Yes, “according to the riches of his glory”. You can see the divine purpose working out, and we need to come into it dear brethren. The Father is looking for some answer to that, what will be finally, as has been said; the Father wants to see us coming into the wealth of that now.

RDP Do you think we might sometimes get a lower view of the assembly? The assembly is here as His wife, in view of Israel’s defection and so on; but this is glorious, like an enhanced or extended view of the assembly. Do you think it is really important to get that? not only the immediate application of what we might understand as here, but this advanced view.

NJH Many have lost sight of what the assembly is according to the divine mind. I think we need to keep these truths before us.

JS Does this have in mind how the assembly will be fitted, suited to share with Christ in the administration of the world to come?

NJH Yes, and into eternity too, our place is unique. I love to think of having part in such a vessel, brethren. Israel will come into a portion, come into sonship as named of the Father. All these different families will come into some understanding of blessedness, but there is nothing to compare with the assembly, she will be united to Christ and she will represent Christ. Mr. Raven said that Israel will see Christ only in the church (Vol. 4, p.44), that took me rather aback, but you can see the point. It is His body, “the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all”. The church will be the means of display of Christ to the universe (FER Vol. 16, p.257). You can understand the place she has is unique.

PM Is there a link with the deep sleep in Genesis 2 and what was wrought in the Christ? I am asking for help, but I wondered if the power in which He “wrought in the Christ”, related not only to His personal resurrection out of death, but what was coming out of that death for the pleasure of God? that there was something coming out of the death of Christ which had never been before.

NJH Yes, and an order of life that had never been before. Think of that, there is an order of life now before God that He never had before. You say, Well Christ was perfect. Yes, He was, when He was in flesh and blood, it was a perfect sinless life; but He was raised in a new condition. God now has a condition of life before Him that He never had before; I think that is tremendous, I love that thought.

PM And a life in which He came out of death in which others would share with Him, and in which the assembly will have a part in association with Himself.

NJH Then He could say, “my Father and your Father”, John 20: 17. How could He have linked persons before His death with such a high level? He says “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. It is a whole scene of life, and that scene of life is what will be held eternally for the heart of God.

JAG Man said, “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”, Genesis 2: 23.

NJH We have often been told He used a new word that was not there before. It is a type of what is out of death in Christ and the assembly. The first sign of life out of death is Eve.

AMB I was wondering if you would say more of what is in your mind as to the “fulness of him who fills all in all”. It is a very elevated expression as to the assembly and it is full of meaning. The One who fills all in all draws our attention to the greatness of the person of Christ. God is going to head up all things in that One, and everything is going to be full of Him, characterised by Him, but the assembly is His fulness; that seems to relate to completeness in some way, would you say?

NJH We were speaking about what fills even to the fulness of God in Ephesians 3: 19; that is not deity I understand, that is what is revealed in Christ. In Ephesians 1 the assembly is the “fulness of him who fills all in all”. As you say, it is the completeness of what is presented, that is why there is representation in the body, and I think that is a very blessed thing. So in one sense when you see the assembly as His fulness then you see Christ; it is His body.

PAG Is there any link between that and what we were speaking of earlier, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him”? “The full knowledge of him” would suggest everything that the creature can know, so the assembly has the capacity to take in the fullest expression that can be known. She knows more than any other family of God.

NJH Yes that is very helpful. Mr. Raven said that the church will be the lesson-book to the universe (Vol. 15, p.150). Other families will learn from the assembly because she has spiritual intelligence, and the formation that is in the assembly is unequalled among creature families. It is worthy of God.

JW The assembly as the fulness of Christ, is the outshining of Christ; in that way I wondered if the whole universe is filled with the glory of Christ?

NJH You mean through the assembly. She shares in His headship, so she must have part in that outshining to the universe, I would think. The city does not actually come down to the earth, it descends but does not come to the earth.

JW The whole universe will be under the influence of Christ and the assembly. Christ filling all, but the assembly is essential to that.

NJH She has part in the tabernacle too of course in Revelation 21: 3. I think what you say is right, she will share in it, and she will have part in that radiance of Christ over the whole millennial scene.

RT The assembly is the Lord’s sole occupation today, and He will not take up His rights in the world until He has the assembly with Him to take up those rights.

NJH Yes, and Satan is to fall out of the heaven to make way for the assembly. The Lord needs the assembly, it is like Joseph going out over Egypt. I know it represents the Gentiles there, but Joseph went out over Egypt after he got Asnath, a type of the assembly. So the assembly is essential to Christ in view of His reign. These are wonderful thoughts to my heart and I am sure to all of us.

JDG The type that has been referred to, “It is not good that Man should be alone” (Genesis 21 8), enhances what we are saying as to the assembly filling out the greatness of Christ in some sense of reflected glory. Before that it says, “let them have dominion” (Genesis 1: 26), that would bear on the way in which Christ has the assembly as coming out in power and greatness publicly.

NJH It is man that is referred to first, which includes male and female, the masculine and the feminine. I think that is important, coming out, set over and dominion is linked with it. All the families that have lived from Adam down, those from before the flood, and then the other families, yet there is only one family which has a type before sin came in. Just hold that in your thoughts and your affections, that only Christ and the assembly have a type in Adam and Eve before sin came in, no other family has that. That shows from the outset this was the great thought with God.

JBI I was wondering about what you were saying earlier as to the Father giving the assembly to Christ?

NJH Well I think it is beautiful, God brought her to man. He brought the animals to man to see what he would call them, but I think the Father was sharing in the scene of joy that was there when He brought the woman to the man and He saw the effect, that Adam said “This time it is bone of my bones ...”, and he uses a name, Woman, that had not been used before; God must have delighted in that scene. When God breathed into Adam, He was thinking of Christ. When He brought Eve to the man after that deep sleep, He was thinking then of Christ and the assembly.

QAP There is a distinctive reference in 2 Thessalonians 1: 10, “when he shall have come to be glorified in his saints, and wondered at in all that have believed”. Does that link with the assembly being His fulness?

NJH Well it will have part in it. It affects those that have believed, but it is a wider thought eventually, it goes over the whole. If you read the second part of Revelation 21, where it is placed over the whole scene, the nations walking by its light and so on, it is a holy scene.

RHB In chapter 3 of Ephesians there are bodies to whom wisdom is made known now through the assembly (Ephesians 3: 10). How do you understand that?

NJH You mean to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies? Well the angels are looking on and seeing it.

RHB Yes it says, “in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God”.

NJH Think of the angels taking account of that, taking account of how we gather. I think the all-various wisdom of God must come out in the way we deport ourselves, come together, sit suitably, at any meeting. Think of the assembling, that affects the angels; instead of seeing lawlessness, man set against man, here are persons formed in love, in devotion to Christ, and in intelligence. They are learning by it, in other words we antedate the millennium now, we are not fighting, we are not taking up arms and so on, we are not fighting one another either, or devouring one another as you get in Galatians 5: 15, but I think they see an area of peace among the brethren, do you not think so?

RHB Yes, I was thinking of what you said earlier as to the heavenly city, its glory being formed in the time scene. The features that come out in the passage you read in Revelation are to be seen substantially in the assembling of the saints, and in the street of transparent gold; that would affect our administration. The great and high wall is to be maintained although hades’ gates are active. These features are to be seen, maybe in an obscure place, but there is something to be taken account of by these great powers and dignitaries.

NJH Yes, it is not only the intelligence that Paul had in the mystery which has been given to us, and we should delve into it as much as we can, but that part of the epistle is the administration of the mystery. You say, how is that going to work? That is going to work out in simple godly relations, persons following righteousness. I think the lives of the saints are viewed by the angels.

RT Would there be something expressed in the way in which the service of God is carried out, in the Spirit’s power? There is some assembly expression in the service of God.

NJH I am glad you brought that in because that is rightly called the assembly occasion as we gather together at the Lord’s supper, it is the way that persons are brought under the Lord and they sit together and the assembly is subjected to the Christ, that is characteristic; it comes out in expression as we are walking in the light of the assembly.

RT The service of God has been developed and the way it is carried down, amidst the breakdown and all that has come in, how precious that must be, not only to God, but a demonstration to the angels, that there is something here that is heavenly in character.

NJH Yes, and subjection and obedience. Think of the angel strengthening the Lord at the time of great pressure. It was their privilege to take account of it, and an angel was allowed to take account of it and minister to Him. As we are under the eye of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, we also remember that the angelic beings are learning what is happening in the assembly.

RDP It says in 1 Peter 1: 12 that angels desired to look into things. So not only is there demonstration for the angels, but the angels are fully sensitive to this, they are interested in it.

NJH That is salvation referred to there, is it not?

RDP The glad tidings from heaven by the Holy Spirit.

NJH “Concerning which salvation prophets, who have prophesied of the grace towards you, sought out and searched out” (1 Peter 1: 10), and in verse 12 it says, “who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, which angels desire to look into”. Well I am sure the results of the glad tidings are what they love to look into.

GBG In regard to the all-various wisdom of God; Satan has always been against what is for God, and it is a triumph for God that the blessedness of God fills men’s hearts. God’s wisdom is seen in that, is it not?

NJH The mystery of piety is great; it is seen of angels. They observed the life of Christ, what was there; God manifest in flesh, they must have wondered at the whole presentation, God manifested in flesh. But then they see a continuation and I think bringing in the service of God is important. We have part in this glorious administration that Ephesians 3 goes on to “But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen”.

JS We were speaking of the all-various wisdom of God being made known through the assembly; it involves all the details of how divine wisdom has operated to bring things about, “according to the purpose of the ages”.

NJH It is God’s workmanship. What they see is actually what God has done in His people, it is not conforming to any rules or anything of men, but it is actually what God has done that is in expression, and that leads on to the service of God.

PM Does that all-various wisdom come into expression through the headship of Christ in the vessel here at the moment? Is that not a wonderful thing, that angelic beings see the headship of Christ operating, maybe in a company that is very small?

NJH I am glad you brought that in, it is the result of divine workmanship, and the influence of the headship of Christ.

PAG We worry about things we pray about, maybe we talk about them in our houses, but does the all-various wisdom of God mean that there is nothing insoluble if we are rightly linked with the headship of Christ?

NJH Without question, but why are you asking that?

PAG Well we might look at things and say, How is this problem going to be solved? But the all-various wisdom of God is available in the assembly, and if we take things up under the headship of Christ, I do not know what the answer will be, but I know that there will be one, and I know that there will be one that is according to the mind of God.

NJH The answers to all things are with Him, everything will be resolved, there are no problems unresolved morally in the light and sacrifice of Christ. But every matter that comes up in the pathway of the assembly has a solution in Christ. The mind of Christ provided the solution at Corinth. We should take the matter in simplicity before the Lord first before we pass a judgment. I think it would give tone even to what we say if we prayed more.

JAG Is all this on the other side of death, which is a wonderful thing, because we are still in flesh and blood conditions, but this is going on and it is eternal, is it not?

NJH Exactly, it goes on to that, we can take that ground, spiritually now.

I thought Esther is a type of the assembly from which we can draw. She is brought into the custody of Hegai the keeper of the women. No doubt we could read into that a type of the Spirit, she is in the hands of the Spirit. There is this purification going on and Hegai moves her to the best place of the house of the women.

WMP We have been speaking a little of the assembly as a complete thought, but now in Matthew it is being built, and we have the thought of purification in Esther, so would you help us as to how things are proceeding at the present time?

NJH You tell us your own thought about it because building is going on, the Lord says, “I will build my assembly”, Matthew 16: 18.

WMP Well I thought it was quite striking that we have to hold these things in our minds together, that the assembly is a complete thought in the mind of God, but then there are the present activities of divine Persons, so what about you and what about me, are we going to set ourselves to be in the matter at the present time?

NJH Yes, the building in Matthew is in the presence of evil, hades’ gates. They will not prevail, but it is in the presence of it. In Matthew 16 what Christ is building will withstand the attacks of the enemy; that is one thing to get into our souls. It will not be overrun. I might lose my way, but it will not be overrun. When you come to Esther I think it is likened to the Lord’s work and the washing, that He might present the assembly glorious. Now that is not in the presence of the world as such, that is the secret expression of the love of Christ that she might be presented to Himself, He presents her to Himself “glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things”, Ephesians 5: 27.

RT She is replacing Vashti who had been disobedient and lawless, but here was someone with moral features. She was disadvantaged, she had no pedigree, she was a Jew, but she had moral qualities that attracted the King’s eye?

NJH She is already beautiful, but this purification is going on so that she is entirely suitable for the King.

KM Would Mordecai be one who day and night was concerned as to how Esther did? It seems that at that time there was nobody else around that was interested particularly, but Mordecai was. Do you think in the day in which we are, it is a day of small things, that we might look for that kind of devotion, as Mordecai sets out?

NJH I think it is set out in the overcomer to the churches. The overcomer in principle defends the truth, he is not going to give in and that is what everyone should do, we are setting ourselves we are not going to give in, we are going to defend the truth, and that is how we are going to be kept to the end. I think Mordecai is presented as a faithful man in keeping with what would really meet the heart of the King and Esther. He did not surrender to Haman. I think the overcomer to the churches sets that out.

DBR When the inwards of the burnt-offering were washed it was not to remove defilement exactly, it was to bring out the beauty. That would be the Spirit’s service today that something of the beauty of the assembly is unfolded to us, to our hearts, helping us to be committed to it and giving it the best place as you were saying. We want to give it the best place, that is the place that belongs to the assembly, do you think?

NJH It is worthy of the best place and it should have the best place in my affections, however small it may be. The reproach of the Christ and the power of the Spirit are the two things that are needed to continue. The reproach of the Christ can be testing, but we should have the assembly in the best place in our hearts because that is where the Spirit would put it.

DBR We need to seek help from the Spirit to keep it in our minds. It says in the prophet Jeremiah, “let Jerusalem come into your mind”, Jeremiah 51: 50. We want that these days, do you think? So when we come together to break bread, we break bread in the light of the whole assembly.

NJH There is one body.

DBR If we do not break bread in the light of the whole assembly we are just making ourselves a sect; we want to maintain true Christian ground and that is the ground of Christ and the assembly.

NJH I would fully go with that. We have spoken a little about Revelation, but the reference to having the glory of God in chapter 21 must be a reflection of the blessed service of the Spirit, who has been faithful throughout the dispensation, and has had to do with the forming of the assembly in the dispensation. It is not that she acquires that glory from being in heaven with God, which is a very short time; I think moral glory has been acquired throughout this dispensation in which we have part.

RT If she is reflecting glory she must have absorbed it first of all to reflect it. That is going on now.

NJH We are apt to think we are the source of light, but God is light, the light is in God. If you want the living water referred to in John 7: 38, “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”, the believer is not the source of it, he is the channel for it. And I am sure that “out of his belly” means he is formed by what he has taken in. Here it is the city shining as she has taken in the glory and absorbed something of it.

JS It is a very substantial thought this, is it not? A cube of twelve thousand stadia on every side, about one thousand, five hundred miles, it is a very substantial vessel, having the glory of God. It is the glory taken on formatively, substantially, do you think?

NJH The measurement is really vast when you think about it, but it brings out the totality of what God has secured. It is only symbolic, but shows the totality of what God has secured in the dispensation of the service of the Spirit.

JW Is what you are saying confirmed by what we have at the end of 2 Corinthians 3 as to beholding the glory of the Lord, and being transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)? I was thinking of what you were saying as to the service of the Spirit in acquiring glory; there is the looking on the glory of the Lord but the glory is taken on through the service of the Spirit in that way.

NJH Refractory is the word that has been used, is it not? It means the light has been absorbed in some way and is reflecting it; so it is something formed through it, the glory of God in the vessel and her shining expressing it.

JW I was wondering if that is how the glory is taken on now?

NJH Yes that is a worthy word for us. “Looking on the glory of the Lord”, does not mean we speak. I always remember a brother saying, ‘It does not say we speak, but we are looking on the glory of the Lord and we are changed’.

PM Does the glory of God link with His nature?

NJH The outshining of His love, do you mean?

PM Is not this vessel formed by divine Persons in relation to the love of God? It does not exactly have the divine nature does it, but it is formed in relation to it.

NJH Yes, I think finally God all in all must be that the divine nature has an answer in all that belongs to Him as under Him.

PM Yes, that helps. It is a wonderful thing it is not just that it acquires knowledge, it has knowledge, it is intelligent and can have its part alongside Christ intelligently, but it is formed in the divine nature.

NJH Yes, that is very good.

RGr Does this show then or suggest to us how substantial spirituality is? In 1 John 1: 1 it refers to what our eyes have seen and our hands handled. But that works out finally in the assembly in what is seen. It would help us to get some impression of that at the present time.

NJH John refers to “our fellowship” which was actually the apostle’s fellowship, but we cannot say “our fellowship”. When the apostle says “our fellowship”, it relates to the twelve that witnessed what was presented in the beginning of Christianity in Christ, but we have fellowship with them. But you think it is something being substantially worked out in our souls through that?

RGr Yes I do, and I think it follows on from the reading that we had this morning regarding the work of the Spirit, the activities of the Spirit. If we continually speak of glory, young persons might wonder well what is glory anyway, how substantial is it? But glory has power, it was the glory of the Father that raised Christ from among the dead. Glory can change us, glory makes a difference; it is the power of the Spirit.

NJH In one sense divine love is the most powerful thing in the universe. His will serves His nature and His power serves His nature, but the most powerful thing is actually love. Look what love has secured, look round this hall and see what divine love has actually secured. The glory of God shining out has secured persons.

JCG The city lies foursquare therefore; what the Spirit works in the saints spiritually for the beauty of Christ and the assembly, relates exactly to what the purpose of God was, is that the intent of it?

NJH You mean there is a universal bearing on it? Is that what you mean, foursquare?

JCG Yes what God set out, the length and the breadth are equal. What God set out to do is done fully and completely according to what He desired. The working out is now and we need to be involved in that, do we not?

NJH Yes and it is measured by a golden reed. You see the standard is God’s standard. You cannot measure or have any apprehension according to nature. It is measured by a golden reed; it is a divine measurement. It has come within man’s range, but it is how we look at divine things. I think today we are really trying to get help through divine measurement. The assembly involves divine measurement and we need to be able to take account and apprehend something of it.

RT Each one of the twelve gates was one pearl. Wherever you go, the pearl at each entrance would remind us that the administration of the city is to be governed by Christ’s valuation of the assembly.

NJH That brings out the appreciation of Christ. Whatever way you come into it you must be affected by the appreciation of Christ, because He was seeking beautiful pearls, “and having found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all whatever he had and bought it”, Matthew 13: 46.

RHB Does the measurement with the golden reed convey the thought of the result being worthy of God? Our brother has spoken of it as a divine conception, but does this scripture bring out that the result is one that is worthy of Him?

NJH Yes, it says “a man’s measure, that is, the angel’s”, and it says “he that spoke with me had a golden reed as a measure”. I think it is meant to come in in some way into our spiritual apprehension. It is not infinitude, it is something to measure, but it is the greatest thought in the divine mind that is coming into man’s mind and heart.

RHB It brings out what God purposed before time began; what He has secured fully answers to that. There is nothing that has failed of what was purposed before the ages of time.

NJH That brings up the completeness that we referred to earlier, that every thought of God finds a complete answer in the assembly.

DBR It says “the length and the breadth and height of it are equal”. I suppose the height of it would be the thoughts of God’s purpose, and I wondered if the length and the breadth would be the operational measurements. We began with Ephesians 1 and then Matthew 16 and then the Spirit’s service. These great operational workings of God are securing His purpose so that the length and breadth and height are equal, do you think?

NJH I am glad of these things opening it up, that helps. We come to the length, the breadth, the depth and the height you might say, in the presence of God. But here we have this creature vessel being filled with divine glory, it is a tremendous answer. We are not deified, but we are filled with all the glory of God that was expressed in Christ, in this city. RDP It is remarkable that the length and the breadth are fifteen hundred miles, but the height is the same. I think man could even try and compass the length and the breadth, but the height is never approached. It represents the greatness of God’s thoughts.

NJH It shows what men could not take account of according to nature, it is special, it is spiritual. It is spiritual measurement really, divine measurement, and yet taken account of by man.

RT What do you say about the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb being on the foundations of the wall? It is very touching that it comes back to that.

NJH Yes, the sufferings of Christ must be inferred there; it is the Lamb.

RT It is a love matter behind the whole thing.

NJH The base of the wall, its foundation is that, the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

RT That has been contested through the dispensation. But there it has stood and come through.

NJH Yes, and even though it is not directly applicable it shows the rightness of starting the service of God with the Lord’s supper, involving His suffering love.

PAG Does the equality of the measurements suggest then that the bride is the perfect counterpart to the balance seen in Christ? He was entirely in tune in everything he did. He said, I am “Altogether that which I also say to you”, John 8: 25. So she too is perfectly in balance as His counterpart.

NJH Yes, you mean she has arrived at it morally. He was essentially that; altogether that which I say to you. But the assembly is brought to it morally. There is no taint, she is perfect and she is in perfect suitability to be the counterpart of Christ. These thoughts are wonderful! Before we enter the service of God the foundation is there. Being marked by the apostles of the Lamb, involves the authority of the Lord and the sufferings of the Lord are before you. Not suffering for sin, but suffering because of His love.

RT After Pentecost they persevered “in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”, Acts 2: 42. And you may say there is a culmination of that seen in this.

NJH That is how it started and how it should finish.

GBG The foundation of the apostles was their testimony to the resurrection of Christ.

NJH The Lamb is there, it is the suffering side, the pathway He took to it. If there was no suffering there would be no sacrifice. He had to taste death. He had to suffer to be a sacrifice.

PM Could you say something as to the great and high wall? The city is fifteen hundred miles high, but the wall is only a few hundred feet, what is the bearing of that?

NJH It goes back in my mind to your word last night as to confiding in His own in John 20. I do not think it is because there is a possibility of polluting the city, but I think it is to maintain her uniqueness in that scene. The assembly stands in its uniqueness in that holy scene, others that do not belong to it will have access to the city, but they will not be part of it. I think the wall suggests its uniqueness.

PM I think that would help us in our present situation, would it not? The wall is not the main part of assembly life, but it is essential to it. The main part of assembly life is heavenly, and if the wall is not there we shall lose what is heavenly.

NJH Yes, and lose the uniqueness in that sense, which is for all saints; but if all are not coming into it, those that are going on with it now must be kept pure.

JW Are all these things that are seen in this city being brought about now? We see what our brother has been saying just now, the principle of separation is working something out that is going to remain, is it not?

NJH Of course now we can be polluted, that is why separation is vital. But the city in Revelation 21 is beyond pollution. She has been with God, and she is coming down and her influence can be felt.

JW I was thinking of the working out of these things now; it is working something out morally and spiritually that will remain.

NJH That is right.

Reading No. 4 at Dundee
7 April 2012

KEY TO INITIALS

A. M. Brown	R. Gray	R. D. Plant
R. H. Brown	N. J. Henry	Q. A. Poore
J. A. Gardiner	J. B. Ikin	D. B. Robertson
G. B. Grant	Martin	J. Strachan
J. D. Gray	K. Marshall	R. Taylor
J. C. Gray	W. Patterson	J. Wright
P. A. Gray

EDITOR’S NOTE

I regret that the date of this series of readings appeared wrongly in the February and March 2013 issues of this publication. The correct date is 6–8 April 2012.