WHAT IS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

P. Martin

Exodus 25: 10, 11; Genesis 6: 13–16; Revelation 3: 7–13

I desire to say a word as to this reference in Exodus 25, the inside and the outside. It comes in similarly in Genesis, “Make thyself an ark ... and pitch it inside and outside”. I have in my heart mainly to speak about the Lord Jesus because He was the same inside and outside, if one might use that expression. He said He was “Altogether that which I also say to you”, John 8: 25. What He was in secret was the same as what He was in public. Hebrews brings out that side, “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers ... has spoken to us in the person of the Son”, Hebrews 1: 1, 2. He spoke by men previously.

David says that. “The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, And his word was on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23: 2), but when it comes to Jesus the speaking was not by Him only, but it was in Him, “has spoken to us in the person of the Son”. What a Person! It could not be said of any other, that the fulness of what was coming out from God was expressed in Him totally. If one might say carefully, there was nothing in Him that was out of accord with what was coming from God; everything was there in expression in perfection. We often, in ourselves, may show one feature of the truth at the expense of another, but that was never so in Jesus. It has been said that you could hardly speak of balance in relation to Him, but every feature of the truth was there in perfection, except perhaps that grace was manifested over all. We often exhort one another that we need balance, but there was no need for balance in Him; everything was there in perfection.

When you come to the offerings in Leviticus, and the young people will know these things, because the scriptures are so interesting, and those early chapters in Leviticus are so full of teaching, you begin with the burnt-offering, and the burnt-offering had to be without blemish. That was seen outwardly. It could be seen by the priest and it could be seen by the offerer, it was without blemish and it was seen by God. There in the Person of Jesus, the One who lived for the Father’s delight, was that which had never been affected by the scene through which He passed; He was without blemish. We get contaminated by the scene through which we pass. We may get damaged by it, but He was never; He was without blemish. But that was not all, there were the inwards. It brings out the moral and holy perfection of Jesus, that in the inwards there was entirely what was in accord with what was seen outwardly, and God saw that. The inwards and the legs of the burnt-offering had to be washed. If you and I are to understand and appreciate what was there in the perfection of Christ, we need the sanctifying effect of the Spirit’s service so that we might rightly value it.

In the peace-offering, which has to do with fellowship, the inwards are there too, and the fat provides the food of the offering for God. And if we are to be rightly maintained in fellowship together, we need to eat of the flesh of the peace-offering. When you come to the sin-offering there is the blood in all its richness and the inwards are still there. But whether it is Christ in relation to God’s pleasure and entirely for His pleasure, whether it is Christ in relation to the sustaining of links together here among the people of God, or whether it is Christ in relation to my sins, what was seen by God was perfection in every detail. Indeed when you come to the burnt-offering everything was consumed except the skin. That was left here and the priest had the skin of the burnt-offering, that what was manifest in its perfection in testimony in Christ for God’s pleasure might continue. You get that in the law of the offerings (Leviticus 7: 8). It was the priest’s portion, and the priest was to take that skin; he would take it home and he would look at it, and he would desire to be in keeping with all that shone out in Jesus. He would desire that he would be in keeping with it, but he could only do so on the basis of the fact that the burnt-offering had already been slain, and that the offering had been burnt, and that the inwards had been seen. The priest would contemplate it, not as feeding on it, but contemplating it because it was entirely for God.

Now I touch on these things just lightly to give us something perhaps to feed our souls on. You think of the perfection of what Jesus is, and of what He was here, “holy, harmless, undefiled”, it says in Hebrews 7: 26, “separated from sinners”, and now He is “become higher than the heavens”. What a Man! I would say, whether young or old, feed your soul on the distinctiveness of Christ, the distinctiveness of that humanity, feed your soul upon it because it will build up a constitution that is in keeping with that order of man that was seen here.

Now I come to the ark, “And they shall make an ark”. It is wonderful when you come to these passages in Exodus. The Old Testament is so full that it quickens your affections as you read it. “And they shall make an ark”, Jehovah says. I think it brings out the feelings of God, “they shall make an ark of acacia-wood”. The whole tabernacle system was going to take character from it but Jehovah says to Moses, “they shall make an ark”. Is everything centring on Christ? It is for God, “they shall make an ark”. In the making of it (from chapter 36) there is the setting in which the ark is to be placed, first, but in the purpose of God the ark is primary in His thoughts. You can understand the blessed God speaking like that, He had waited for this moment. The children of Israel were on their wilderness history, they had come out of Egypt, they had proved what it was to receive mercy, they had proved what it was to receive the goodness of God, providing them with the manna, providing them with the springing well, the water from the rock, providing them with the power of the priesthood of Christ, providing them with everything that they needed to get through the wilderness.

Now God says, you bring Me a heave-offering and make Me an ark. Think of what Christ is to God, not only what He was here, but what He is. God has a system that is centred in Him. It says, “they shall make an ark of acacia-wood”; that brings out the humanity of Jesus, an order of humanity that is different from all that had taken place before, “they shall make an ark of acacia-wood”. What humanity it was! The Lord Jesus came into conditions not like yours and mine; we have come into conditions of a fallen race, but He never came into conditions of a fallen race. He came into a body that was prepared for Him, “thou hast prepared me a body”, Hebrews 10: 5. I have thought of the delight of heaven in the preparation of that body, that body that was prepared in all its distinctiveness for Christ; He was not of the sinful race. Men around say, ‘He was of the sinful race and bore the judgment of God in relation to His part in it’, but that is completely false. He was not of the sinful race and bore no judgment in relation to what was in Himself, save what He took on that was in us. What wonderful perfection! In coming into that body He humbled Himself. It has been said again that men came to Him to humiliate Him; Judas did that, one who had a part with Him, came to humiliate Him, he delivered Him up with a kiss. But what was found was a Man who had humbled Himself in the midst of that Roman Empire, that was thrusting forward in their pride to take over the whole world, and they found a Man who had humbled Himself. What a Man! You can understand that the gold would be laid upon that wood. It brings out the glory of who He is in His Person, that it was overlaid within and without, there was nothing in that humanity that was not able to sustain the gold being placed upon it. It was in perfect harmony. We sang on Lord’s day hymn No. 20 that ends, ‘Divine perfection in a Man!’ That was there in the ark, ‘Divine perfection in a Man!’, overlaid within and without with gold.

Now I come to Genesis. I was led to this passage, not because of the ark exactly, but Noah was moving through a scene of death and so are we. There is death on every hand, dear brethren, moral death. 2 Corinthians 5 says, Christ “died for all, then all have died” (2 Corinthians 5: 14). You think of the moral state of the world through which we are passing; it lies in that state still. But “he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who has died for them and has been raised”. O, dear brother and sister, I have to ask my own soul, Am I living to Him? You say, I would like to live for Him.

Yes, there are many who would like to live for Him, carry out great exploits for Him, and I do not despise that—but am I living to Him? Is He the object in everything that I do? “For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this”. Have you judged that, that One died for all? The love of the Christ has such compelling power in the soul that I come to it that One died for all and all were dead. I prove that there is a love that is greater than the whole world’s system around us that lies under the influence of death. Be exercised not only to be here for Christ, but to let Him be the object in everything, let Him be the One to whom we are growing up, that “we may grow up to him in all things”, Ephesians 4: 15. It will only be so as Christ is the object and as I judge this, “that one died for all, then all have died”.

Noah was moving through that scene; it was in moral death. Think of the darkness of it. God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is full of violence through them”, Genesis 6: 13. Is not that like today? is not that the present moment in which we are?

What violence there is in the world. This country is concerned about terrorism, every country is; it has violence within its own borders too as every country has. There is violence in families, there is violence in nations, there is violence throughout the whole system. God says, “The end of all flesh is come before me”. The whole system, God has finished with it in the death of Christ, He has finished with it all. Here it was removed under judgment but I am speaking of the One who came not by water only. If He had come by water only what happened in Noah’s day would have happened again, for all flesh would have been removed, but He came not by water only but by water and blood. What blood it is, you know, that blood that has redeemed me and has redeemed you at such cost, the blood of Jesus Christ. It was easy for the soldier to thrust His side with the spear, but was it easy for the Saviour? The blood came from the side of the dead Christ, the One who loved me and gave Himself for me. It was from His side that His blood flowed.

Now God says to Noah, “Make thyself an ark of gopher wood ... and pitch it inside and outside with pitch”. How was this ark going to get through this scene of judgment? God was moving in judgment and He has moved in judgment. The world lies in judgment now, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out”, John 12: 31.

That is the scene that is outside, “Now is the judgment of this world”. You say, Is that still today? Yes, it lies under judgment. How are you going to get through? How am I going to get through? because things appeal to older persons as much as they appeal to younger persons. I never used to think that but it is true that things have the same appeal. The only difference as you get older is that you have had more experience with the Spirit of God, and you come to prove the power that is available; but that power is available to the young as well as to the old. So God says, “Make thyself an ark ... and pitch it inside and outside”. I want just to touch on that for a moment because you might have said to Noah, It is very restricted in there! Of every living thing of all flesh were there with him in the ark. What restriction, two elephants, two giraffes, two rhinoceros; these were not small animals, he had small animals as well, but how compact everything must have been in that ark. You might say to Noah, There is not much room, you know. would you not like a wider vessel? No. Why would he say, No? Because the window was looking heavenwards. That is why he would say, No. The wider path is open, it is open because it leads into the scene where there is moral death and departure. So the ark had a window that looked upwards and there was a cubit above the ark. There is a lot of teaching in that but I do not want to go into that now.

It was to be pitched within and without. I would like to make a suggestion as to this. I think the pitching without relates to naming the name of the Lord. Whoever shall name the name of the Lord and depart from iniquity, that is the pitching without, and that comes to you as an individual, and it comes to me, to name the name of the Lord and depart from iniquity. There is salvation in that. It says that, “The name of Jehovah is a strong tower—the righteous runneth into it, and is safe”, Proverbs 18: 10. You know that, you have done it at work or at school. You have named the name of the Lord and proved the safety that is involved in it. So when we come to the ark and the ground upon which Noah was going to be saved, the pitching without relates to naming the name of the Lord. “But in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work”, 2 Timothy 2: 20, 21. Before that he said, “the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal. The Lord knows those that are his” (2 Timothy 2: 19). How thankful we are for that, “The Lord knows those that are his”. We do not know all those who are the Lord’s, we would that we did; we would that we knew everyone who is the Lord’s in Denton, we do not, but the Lord does. It says, “and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. That is the pitch on the outside, the ground that the believer takes up is separate from the world that is under judgment, whether that be religiously or morally he is separated from them.

But then there is the pitch on the inside. We may well ask, What is the pitch on the inside? We need the pitch on the inside because what is inside the ark is so precious, it is valuable. It is valuable to God and it is valuable to His own, and therefore the need is for the pitch on the inside. I believe that that relates to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, “in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body ... and have all been given to drink of one Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 12: 13. There is that there that is sufficient to sustain what is within the ark without anything being lost. There is that sufficient to keep out the whole world of judgment in the name of the Lord and the naming of it. You say, I know many believers who name the name of Jesus. Yes, so do I, and I am thankful that I know them, I would that I knew more; but naming the name of the Lord is more than naming the name of Jesus. It means that I have come under His authority and sway, and in the presence of what has come in to bring in mixture and division and corruption, even in that which professes His name, I am associating myself with Him, the rejected Lord; I am taking up my place with Him, and He is Lord to me and thus, in the scene of His absence, I want to be faithful to Him. That is involved in naming the name of the Lord. What a joy to be in such a company where persons are naming the name of the Lord. There is safety there, and there is the power to maintain and hold a whole system of life, without anything being lost, in the communion of the Holy Spirit. I just commend these things to us that we might desire increasingly to prove the reality and the power of it. The fact that they are in scripture, the fact that they may be on our bookshelves does not mean that I have it. I commend it to you that you might prove it, and find that the power of it might work in your own soul, as I desire that it might work in mine.

Now I come to Revelation, because in Laodicea it seems to me there was what was outward, and the Lord in the words of the overcomer speaks to them of what is inward. He says, “to him will I give to sit with me in my throne”, Revelation 3: 21. We cannot rest in what is outward. There must be what is right outwardly as there was with the Lord Jesus, for there was conformity in what was inward and what was outward, but we cannot rest in what is outward. What is outward must be right, but in Laodicea everything was outward, and yet when the Lord speaks to the overcomer He says, I will bring you into the enjoyment of what is inward, “to him will I give to sit with me in my throne; as I also have overcome, and have sat down with my Father in his throne”. But in Philadelphia what had been here was inward. It would soon be seen in display. The faithful heart for whom everything centred in Christ would soon be seen in display, “they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”, not that ‘I love thee’ but that “I have loved thee”. There was that proceeding in Philadelphia that drew out the Lord’s affections and the world knew nothing about it. He was manifesting Himself to them, they were living in the enjoyment of His love, keeping the word of His patience and not denying His name, everything for them centring in another Man outside of this scene. They were united to Him, and He says in that day they “shall know that I have loved thee”.

O, I would say to each of us, Go on in the secret enjoyment individually and collectively in what it is to be here in relation to Christ glorified. What a Man, He was everything to Philadelphia. They lived in the power of His life; that was Philadelphia, they were living in the power of the life of a glorified Christ. Everything for them centred in Him. He says, “thou ... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”. They “shall know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial”. You think of how Christ was everything; that is true assembly ground, if one might say that carefully. True assembly ground is the holding of everything in relation to Christ. You say, But what about us, could we not have it a little easier? Yes, if you want to you can, but you might have it without Him. O, dear friends, first love for Christ would mean that I have nothing outside of Christ. I need nothing outside of His love because His love is sufficient for the satisfying of everything.

So He says, “He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God”. You see what delight there is in the Lord’s heart here in the overcomer. There is a need for overcomers today; the enemy is set against everything that God has established. He is set against everything publicly that God has established, but he is set against everything that is inward that is of God, and therefore there is the need for overcomers. You know, there is not much glory publicly in overcoming but love for Christ would not have it any other way. He says, “him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God”. Everything now relates to Christ’s God for the overcomer. You see how rich the blessings are. We are brought right in in relation to that which is established for the pleasure of God and to live in the enjoyment of nearness to God Himself, and we are brought into it through identification with this glorious Person. He says, “him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out; and I will write upon him the name of my God”. There is something that can be written on the overcomer now, there has been something wrought out in him, as divine Persons delight to associate Themselves with him in such a way that “the name of my God” is written on the overcomer. How full that is! He says, “I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God”. You think of the feelings of the Lord Jesus here; He is not thinking of Himself, He is thinking of His God; the One who is great enough to secure and hold everything, for His God is the One who is holding men, overcomers, in relation to God Himself.

May we take it up, dear brethren. It has awakened a desire in my own soul to be here rightly, within and without, that what is manifest here in testimony may be in keeping with what was seen in the Person of Jesus. I leave that with us, the skin of the burnt-offering remained, it remained for the priest; and it is priestly persons who can take it up and express something of what was seen in evidence in Jesus which, in the burnt-offering, was entirely for God. You can understand therefore that when it comes to the Philadelphian overcomer He can speak so much of “my God”. The Lord held Himself, one might say reverently, entirely in devotion to His God, and He is holding men now as overcomers in relation to His God. May we be kept for this. May each of us be kept in relation to it, naming the name of the Lord, departing from all that is around us that does not honour Him and His rights and His authority, departing from it all, and being kept in the communion of the Holy Spirit, so that we might live in an order of life, eternal life conditions in which Christ is everything and in all. May it be so, for His name’s sake.

Address at Denton
26 October 2002