FORMATION OF CHRIST IN THE SAINTS
The present work of the Spirit has above all in view, alongside many other features, the formation of Christ in us, so that God should be able to find His pleasure in man. It is not in the angels that God desires to have what is particularly pleasing to Him, but in man formed according to Christ. God has taken us in hand to this end; this is what is presented in Colossians. Christ must be the perfect expression of God; He must also be the perfect expression of God’s pleasure in man. At this time, the body of Christ is being formed according to these two sides of the truth established in Christ. All that has been seen in Christ must be developed in the saints. This is a great thought to grasp in this day, this day that began at Pentecost and which will be prolonged to the coming of the Lord. May each of us be able to learn to co-operate in what God seeks to realise in us, not putting up obstacles by some measure of unbelief.
Luke shows that as soon as the Lord appeared, as the people were in expectation, all reasoned as to John the baptist, “whether he might be the Christ”. This gives John an opportunity to speak of Christ saying, “but the mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not fit to unloose”. John had intelligence about the greatness of Christ; if a Person of the Godhead has become Man, it is a matter of an order of man infinitely greater than previously. John goes on saying, “he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire”; so John envisaged the assembly, so to say, for baptism with the Holy Spirit is linked to the assembly.
In the first epistle to the Corinthians, it is recalled that “in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”. Baptism implies the removal of what we are naturally so that we should be united into one body in Christ, but there is what must be consumed by fire. The Spirit did not come on Christ in the character of fire, but at Pentecost the Spirit appeared to the disciples in this way, “parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”, for there was what had to be consumed, what had to be set aside. John says, “whose winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing-floor”. What is useless is blown away, every disciple goes through the threshing. This threshing is not undertaken as a chastisement, but it is the process followed by the Spirit that separates all that is not of Christ in view of His formation in the disciples. The Lord “will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable”. “Our God is a consuming fire”. God does not tolerate the flesh, but His pleasure is in Jesus by whom we are holy and blameless.
“And it came to pass, all the people having been baptised, and Jesus having been baptised and praying, that the heaven was opened”. This is very touching; Jesus had no need to be baptised but in grace He identifies Himself with those who were repenting. In this act, there was a foreshadowing of His precious death in which He is identified with sinners so that what we were should be set aside and that we should be able to receive the Holy Spirit. Luke underlines that the Lord was praying, God finds His pleasure in persons who pray, “and praying, that the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended … upon him”. God indicated thus that a Man was there for His pleasure; He could not confide His pleasure in any other man without reserve, but as to Jesus a voice comes from heaven saying: “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. It is a reference to the thirty hidden years, thirty years of secret life, each day bringing unequalled pleasure to the heart of God. The Lord has come into manhood, taking a form in which an entire dependence on God was expressed. He was pleased to take this form so that men, whoever they are, might live in a way that pleases God. This must be developed in the saints, the Holy Spirit is working to this end.
In the passage read in Samuel, we have the thought of the local company, and of the truth that is found expressed there, the local assembly being a vessel of testimony. The assembly universally is also the vessel of the testimony, but in fact everything is expressed in the localities where the saints live. It is there that what God can identify His Name with must be found, and what must be distinguished by other people around us. Hence the importance of our localities.
Bethlehem is taken as a type of local assemblies. In this chapter, God sends Samuel to Bethlehem. God had rejected Saul and had sought a man after His heart, chap 13: 14. In Psalm 89, He says, “I have found David my servant”, which corresponds with Luke: “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. In Psalm 78, God “chose David thy servant”—he had sought him, then found and chosen him. Samuel is seen as going through certain exercises, as also the elders; it is a matter of establishing the man chosen by God at Bethlehem. Jehovah says to Samuel, “fill thy horn with oil, and go … for I have provided me a king”. Saul is set aside; God has rejected him: would men accept David? This question is raised in each locality: are we going to reject the first man? Samuel recognised Saul’s hostility: he says, “How shall I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And Jehovah said, Take a heifer with thee … And call Jesse to the sacrifice”. The heifer is a suggestive allusion: Samuel must do what God showed him and anoint the one who would be designated.
Rem. This corresponds to what Paul says to the Corinthians: “Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear; for he works the work of the Lord, even as I. Let not therefore any one despise him; but set him forward in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brethren”.
A.J.G. When the elders go trembling to meet Samuel, he says to them, “I am come to sacrifice to Jehovah. Hallow yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice”. In a locality, we must have the same mind to present to God what is for His pleasure. This is a simple truth to grasp for God has set the first man aside. The Spirit is ready to help us in that, if we appreciate the death of Christ. The sons of Jesse came; Samuel sees Eliab and says, “Surely Jehovah’s anointed is before him. But Jehovah said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance … man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart”. This constitutes teaching for us. It is good to have in mind that God looks upon the heart, at the inward man. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us knows our secret thoughts and looks for hearts corresponding to Christ. Eliab is rejected, then all the others, some were attractive, others ordinary, they all had to be rejected. “And Samuel said to Jesse, Are these all the young men? And he said, There is yet the youngest remaining”, one who had the features of Christ, he was feeding the sheep, an occupation that required self-sacrifice. “And Jehovah said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. The seven sons had all been rejected, but when David is anointed, they are all there, they could be kept; and so the account finishes. In the same way, the Lord is not ashamed to identify Himself with His brethren. We are retained as brethren, this is the love on which the Holy Spirit operates, each of us can have part in that. This work of the Spirit is pursued in localities.
Substance of a reading
BEAUVOISIN
4th November 1954*
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’, January 1957
* The relationship is not clear between this reading and those following: this date suggests that they were at the same time, although not published together.
____________________