Volume 2
Edited and Published by Andrew Burr
81 Roxburgh Road London SE27 0LE UK
available from www.lulu.com
2023
This is one of two volumes which collect the articles of ministry by our brother Jim Gray that were first published in two magazines, A Word in its Season and Notes of Ministry. Ministry published in periodicals becomes less available than what is issued in books, and I – and a few others - am concerned that some of this wealth of material should be available to different generations, some of whom would not ever have had copies of the magazines.
James Duncan Gray was born in 1931 and brought up in Ayrshire, Scotland, gathering with the brethren in Saltcoats. He married in 1956
and lived in Detroit for two years while completing a chemistry research assignment. He remembered this time as one of much personal spiritual formation. Returning to Scotland in 1958, he was local first in Musselburgh, and then the Edinburgh area for the remainder of his life.
Our brother came to the Lord as a young boy of seven years old, and was unwavering in his faithfulness to the Lord in spite of much personal bereavement throughout his life. He said that one of the things he treasured most was having a place in the body of Christ. From the age of fourteen, he fulfilled a life-long committal to remember the Lord Jesus in breaking bread, until illness prevented this at the end of his life.
One of his favourite sayings was ‘the first principle of the kingdom is righteousness’, and he held this fundamental aspect of Christianity with an integrity that bore a testimony to both believers and unbelieving work colleagues. He died in June 2017 after a few years of physical illness.
Jim Gray served the Lord in a priestly way in his local meeting and in teaching there and widely among the brethren, with a gift for being able to touch on the essence of matters; for which he had ready recourse to the scriptures. I remember appreciating his ministry for the clarity and freshness of the teaching given. The articles used here also show how free he was with practical exhortation. I trust others who are now able to read this selection will profit from it for the glory of the Lord.
ANDREW BURR
2023
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Introduction .............................................................................................. i
“That Which Was From The Beginning” ................................ 1
The Manna And The Tree Of Life ........................................ 21
The Love Of Christ ............................................................. 28
Preaching Of The Word Of God .......................................... 43
The Lord Jesus Christ And His Ministry ............................. 51
Philemon ........................................................................... 71
The Cup ............................................................................ 85
Jesus Out Of Death ........................................................... 91
The Loaf ............................................................................ 94
The Days Of The Son Of Man ............................................. 98
Life And Light .................................................................. 107
The Wilderness Journey .................................................. 128
Naming The Name Of The Lord ........................................ 133
By Him, In Him, To Him, With Him .................................. 153
The Believer’s Portion ...................................................... 157
The Lord Jesus Christ And His Ministry ........................... 161
The Lord Jesus Presenting Himself Living ........................ 183
The Spirit’s Service In The Present Recovery..................... 191
The Resurrection Of The Lord Jesus ................................ 213
Building A Christian House ............................................. 219
Image And Likeness ......................................................... 229
Companionship ............................................................... 233
The Divine End ............................................................... 238
How God Has Won Our Hearts ......................................... 246
What God Can Do ........................................................... 251
The Lord Tarrying ............................................................ 255
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“THAT WHICH WAS FROM THE BEGINNING”
J.D.G. I was thinking of “that which was from the beginning”, the certainty of what we have been brought into. My mind turned to John’s epistle and to Luke’s presentation of the transfiguration because I think there we get the introduction, as we have been taught, as to the fellowship of the Father and the Son which the apostles were introduced into, “they entered into the cloud: and there was a voice out of the cloud … hear him”. That leads on through John’s epistle to “hears us”, and then in 2 Timothy the man of God is exhorted to use as an anchor for his instruction those through whom he has learned things and also the Holy Scriptures. I thought we could consider these things together and get some understanding of them in relation to our present exercises.
The transfiguration has various aspects attached to it.
One thing was to confirm the apostles, particularly Peter, James and John as to who the Person was that was there, Christ. The lowly Nazaræan was indeed the King of glory.
Through their ministry they strengthened the dispersion.
Peter strengthened the dispersion in his epistle when he speaks about being eye witnesses of his majesty, and “this voice we heard uttered from heaven” (2 Pet 1: 18)—that was the Christ. Then there is the other matter of “hear him”—that was picked up by John and extended to “hears us”, and also picked up and enlarged upon by the writer to the Hebrews,
“God … has spoken to us in the person of the Son”, Heb 1: 1,2.
This is the introduction of that blessed matter that the Father insists on, the dignity and authority that attaches to His beloved Son, “hear him”. That is to carry on during the dispensation that we are in. We will get help as we go on to the other scriptures.
1 John brings out something of the glory of the fellowship from John’s point of view which is a little different from Paul’s point of view, but there is a merging together.
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D.T.P. There is a distinct purity that relates to what is from the beginning as we see it as God has set it out in Christ for us. It is very attractive because it is in that glorious Man.
J.D.G. That comes in in this section. I was also attracted to look into Luke’s side of things because Luke got his impressions from the twelve. Matthew has impressions which are personal, Mark may have got his through Peter, but Luke got it from eye-witnesses and attendants on the word (see Luke 1: 2), which would be the twelve. He brings in, as we know, in regard to the Lord’s supper a touch from his acquaintance with Paul’s teaching, but here he is giving us something that came from his conversation and enquiry with the twelve. At first Peter, James and John thought it was a wonderful matter for their Master to be speaking with Moses and Elias, and it was so. They were Old Testament saints, who will have a part and place in the kingdom, but divine Persons had more in mind.
We always have to be on the look out for what is coming in in the scripture because these are the holy Scriptures and we have the setting forth of and the opening up of the truth.
Moses and Elias did not, according to the scriptures, participate in the experience of being in the cloud. “And they feared as they entered into the cloud”, I understand that is Peter, James and John. They were being introduced into another fellowship. Judaism, as far as it was, was finished.
Moses and Elias would be linked on with Christ as speaking about His departure from Jerusalem in relation to what was going to be arrived at through death, the kingdom. They had their place in the kingdom, but they had no place in this blessed realm which attaches to Christianity.
R.G.
Do you think that as Luke presents “his departure”
there is more to it than just His dying, but it introduces what goes right through to His ascension, the coming of the Spirit, Paul’s doctrine and all that belongs to the mystery and is opened up in this dispensation?
J.D.G. I think so. That carries forward into John’s epistle too, “that which was from the beginning”, but it is going to continue. There is a fellowship being established which we are brought into as we will see when we come to John’s epistle.
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The Lord’s departure was out of this world, as John says in His gospel, to the Father.
R.G.
I was impressed with what you said about the relationship between divine Persons what they are introduced into, but now we should be in the fuller understanding, the Spirit having come?
J.D.G. That is right. In saying these things, it has been pointed out that they did not understand that they were being introduced into the fellowship of the Father and the Son. But when we come to John’s epistle they understood. They not only understood, they had experienced.
R.T.
I was thinking, “he went up into a mountain to pray”
would connect with the new system that is coming. Luke makes a good deal of praying, “and as he prayed”; there is some entrance apart from all that is around into this new system of things?
J.D.G. Yes. Prayer would carry Him in communion into the Father’s presence, and as entering in there, “the fashion of his countenance became different and his raiment white and effulgent”. It shows the power of prayer, which is another line, but it is an interesting line too that comes in here. We need to be sustained in the presence of prayer. Scripture shows here that there is a need for the Holy Spirit. The disciples are a little deficient in the passage, but what they communicate to us is right, as Luke affirms, “having fully awoke up they saw his glory”. Luke must have had that assurance from the three of the twelve who were in this experience, they were fully aware of what was happening. They were not fully intelligent. Peter proposes three tabernacles; Christ is distinguished, but that is not the divine mind: Christ is to be distinguished alone. There is the speaking in the dispensation which has its origin in the utterance in this passage where the Father insists that any speaking comes from Christ, the Spirit coming into that in His own way as He comes to take His abode in us, announcing to us what is to come, speaking about Christ.
M.G.W. Could you say something about the cloud?
J.D.G. It is evidence of the divine presence. The disciples would be partly acquainted with the thought because they are 3
Jews at this point, Peter, James and John; they are on their way to understanding things more fully regarding the Lord Jesus, but the cloud would remind them of the Shekinah glory.
The cloud that was there in the tabernacle in the wilderness; the cloud that filled the tabernacle when it was erected by Moses; the cloud that filled the temple when service took place.
Here they were entering into it; but they were to learn later that it was in a new way.
Ques. When it says, “hear him”, does that indicate the ministry of glory? They had heard His voice already. Was this something that was supreme?
J.D.G. The Father’s commendation, “This is my beloved Son”
and then ears are to be opened exclusively to His speaking, what comes from Christ. “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son”, Heb 1: 1. That is what is coming out in this scripture.
The Father’s announcement: the one who caught on to it was the writer of the Hebrew epistle in a very full way.
M.G.W. Is the Lord directing them to another order of things entirely that was heavenly? It was not an earthly inheritance, it was not all that they had in Judaism, but He is directing their hearts to another arrangement of things where He shines and He is the head and centre and there for us to view. Is that right?
J.D.G. I like your word ‘heavenly’, because it suggests that it is the heavenly atmosphere, it is an out of the world condition.
A fellowship that is an out of the world condition of relationship and being, centred here in the Father and the Son, and these men are brought into it. Moses and Elias are not brought into it; these persons are brought into it. It is Christianity in its essence.
J.S.
Do you think Mary had got the point of this when she was sitting at His feet listening to His word? The Lord commends that, He says, “Mary has chosen the good part”, Luke 10: 42.
J.D.G. It is a very fine example of one who has been instructed by the speaking of Jesus. It comes in after this—
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sitting at his feet listening to His word. It is a very fine helpful reference because it shows that she is in line with the Father’s thoughts about Christ. You can understand how the Lord says she has chosen the good part because it is the part that the Father would desire for all of us, to “hear him”.
D.C.B. Could you just say more about this chapter coming into your mind as “that which was from the beginning”?
J.D.G. The link between the two is the fellowship of the Father and the Son, “that which was from the beginning …
which we have seen … and our hands handled”. Here is the beginning of it. Gradually the apostles came into an understanding of who He was. What links Luke’s gospel with 1 John was the fellowship of the Father and the Son. It is an incipient matter here, not fully understood by them; there is the need for the Holy Spirit before you can understand it.
D.C.B. Does it emphasise that things are not added, there are no innovations since this, things are established—
principles especially—in hearing Him at the beginning and they continue from the beginning?
J.D.G. That is very helpful. It has been taught amongst us that at the time of John’s epistle there were those who desired to add some new opinions to what had gone before.
Christianity had become somewhat dated at the time of John’s writing, although that was not all that long after Christ, but John is affirming what began with Christ, and takes you back to the scripture in Luke, “hear him”. The link in my mind was the fact that this presentation by Luke is an introduction into the fellowship of the Father and the Son which John develops in His epistle.
C.K.R. Is light a characteristic feature of this fellowship? It is a bright cloud, it is light and they are not overshadowed by it, it is not a darkening influence, but the purity of divine light.
Is that not a characteristic and great blessing of this fellowship that has such a feature?
J.D.G. Yes it is. John says in his epistle, “in him is no darkness at all”, this is it in its essence. The cloud overshadowed them but it does not darken them. It is the presence of God, the presence of the Father, taking the form of 5
a cloud to express itself. They were aware that they were in another atmosphere, but there was also a voice out of the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son: hear him”. There is a mediate thought in the cloud because man is not able to be in the presence of God in absoluteness—“dwelling in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6: 16)—so there must be a mediate thought in the cloud that He was able to be there near to men, also expressed in Jesus, but there was an additional thought of the divine presence in the cloud.
C.K.R. There would be divine light and divine speaking. The source of that speaking now is the Lord Jesus Christ.
J.D.G. That is right, and by extension the Spirit speaks, and by extension those that know “God hears us”.
R.T.
The reference to “beloved Son” gives a distinctive character to the speaking.
J.D.G. There is only One, “This is my beloved Son, hear him”—there is only One, there is no other one in the mind of the Father. It is God speaking in Son that is being emphasised.
It was formerly through the prophets, now He is speaking in Son, and this is being emphasised here, but then a touch of the economy comes in here, not only the Person of the Son, but the relationship, “my beloved Son”.
Ques. Could you compare the side of the fellowship of the Father and the Son with the Corinthian aspect of fellowship?
J.D.G. I thought as we consider John’s epistle that that might come in. Paul came into the fellowship that was established by the apostles. I do not mean that he participated in their fellowship—I think that was exclusive to the twelve—
but he comes into the fellowship that they report to us, “(we have seen and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us): that which we have seen and heard we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ”. Then the message that comes in John’s epistle is “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”. That is where we are today. I think that is where Paul came. I think what he saw in Damascus was fellowship established in the 6
principle that “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”. He says, you have been called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Authority is emphasised, but I think he saw this fellowship described here which he came into, which he persecuted, but he came into it and the Lord helped him in developing the truth in his side of things. John is insisting on the maintenance of
“that which was from the beginning” and it speaks of Christ,
“that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life”. What a fellowship they had, they handled Christ, there was substance there, they saw the expression of eternal life that was with the Father. The days of His flesh would enter into that, but also the time of the forty days.
R.G.
It says, “last of all he appeared to me also”, but before that, he says He appeared to Cephas and to the twelve, so that the link with the twelve apostles is manifestly in Paul’s mind.
But then he speaks about his appearing to him. Is that the idea of the flesh continuing, “our hands handled”. That must have been before death and resurrection; after resurrection, and then in the scripture you read in chapter 4, you see the manifestation of the flesh in the way that it speaks of Him. It says, “every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God; and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God”. It is the same Man, but a different condition, but the same Man manifested Himself to the twelve, to Paul and now to us, do you think?
J.D.G. It is confirmation of what John says in his gospel, “the Word became flesh”, John 1: 14. At the time John lived there were those who were trying to say that the Lord was only an apparition, and was not substantially in flesh. According to the scripture, “the Word became flesh”; that goes through death and resurrection in another condition. The Lord Jesus is a real and living Man. We will touch on that in chapter 4, the necessity of understanding Jesus Christ come in flesh.
Here is an assurance, “we have heard …”, that is the twelve apostles. Most of them had passed off the scene when John wrote this, but he writes down his testimony.
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It is a beautiful reference, “which was with the Father”. Is that where it all began?
J.D.G. Yes, that is what I thought. That is why I was encouraged to read Luke’s presentation of “hear him”, because they entered into the cloud. The other writers do not give it in the same way, but there is an entrance into an area where they witnessed the character of life that was there. It is a sphere and character of life which was with the Father manifested to us, it was in Christ that it was seen, expressed in Jesus.
R.T.
I think it is very beautiful to think of the economy coming into view and this Man being here in these conditions.
It opens up the whole heart of God.
J.D.G. It is a very intimate expression of fellowship, Paul in the Corinthians is more a public side of fellowship, but this is an expression of what is within in the sphere of eternal life.
That has come down to us. We do not have fellowship with the Father and the Son as the apostles had, they had a distinctive fellowship with the Father and the Son, both in His sojourn here in the days of His flesh and also in the forty days. What they witnessed when He was in the spiritual condition, not in the body of flesh and blood but in the spiritual body, they became accustomed to it, but they saw something of the expression of a fellowship there that they entered into. What a blessed matter for men to share with the Father and the Son in the fellowship that existed between them. It is not deity, the Father is deity, but relationship in the economy involving Christ in His manhood. It is in His manhood. It is not something that existed before the incarnation, this beginning is a beginning involving the incarnation and not before it, “That which was from the beginning”, not “He was in the beginning”—that is John’s gospel.
R.T.
Is the power of this fellowship demonstrated in the early Acts in these twelve men and the way they conducted things in His absence?
J.D.G. Yes, they continued in the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and prayers. That is what flowed out from the intimate side. It became a public testimony that there was a fellowship there and persons were attracted into it.
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“What shall we do … Repent, and be baptised, each one of you”, Acts 2: 38. What a joy to Peter’s heart to proclaim the Lord Jesus made both Lord and Christ, then they came into fellowship with the apostles. They experienced these things.
G.A.B. Could we say that the twelve had a great advantage in entering into that fellowship, but we are not exactly at a disadvantage; we have fellowship with the apostles? Could we just get some help as to how we can draw upon what was there available in the fellowship with the twelve?
J.D.G. I think we draw upon it by the Spirit opening up the truth of scripture to us and by the experiences that we have in the power of the Holy Spirit as gathered together. This is no ordinary meeting, I do not mean it is special from any other fellowship meetings, but it is not an ordinary gathering together of men and women. The power of the Holy Spirit is here, who opens up to us the truth that is in scripture that gives us the power to enter in spirit into the fellowship that we have in communion with divine Persons.
G.A.B. There is a great deal conveyed to us in the scriptures which have been written, partly by the twelve, but it is by the Spirit that we can draw upon that.
J.D.G. That is right. If it is only our minds that are fed, there is no benefit to us. There would be nothing formed of God in me if I am only taking into my mind. It has been said, the Father did not give His Christ to suffer to become a plaything of the human mind. It is by the Spirit that we enter into these things. That is our link. As we have said already, when they were on the mount they did not fully understand, looking back they did, and when the Spirit came, their understanding was opened. That is when the thing became living to them.
R.T.
Would the names of the twelve apostles being in the foundations of the city show us how this is going through?
Would it cause us to appreciate the apostles’ teaching?
J.D.G. I thought that. They have a special place in the city.
We speak a lot about Paul’s ministry, and that is right, but these men’s names are in the foundation of the city: there is something expressed in them that is fundamental to the holy city. We have been instructed in Paul’s ministry involving the 9
walls and the gates, but the foundation was laid. What was morally and spiritually in these twelve men, that character of the fellowship, must go through into the holy city.
R.G.
Do you think it is significant that the foundation of the city is seen in the twelve apostles? The foundation is not normally seen, but the names of the twelve apostles are seen, so that what is built upon takes character in some sense from what the Lord was able to communicate to them.
J.D.G. So the ministry of John would contribute to what is fundamental in our souls? You find what is foundational in Paul’s ministry too, but this is the twelve, they are distinguished in that sense by the Lord in the city. You can understand how the fellowship is maintained to us. It is a very precious fellowship that we have, and the message that comes into this section is to help us to maintain it in a living way without shadows or dark spots in it all. There is the wherewithal to maintain it as walking in the light.
D.T.P. Does this really need to be laid hold of in the soul before the service of praise goes out? It really starts in the Acts and that would be essential for us as we lay hold of this; it really makes way for what flows forth on the first day of the week?
J.D.G. The foundations of the city are necessary for the structure and it is within that city that the praise of God is heralded forth. What we are speaking about is not imaginary, it is not “cleverly imagined fables” (2 Pet 1: 16), it is a real and substantial fellowship that has come down to us. The message confirms that, “which we have heard from him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth”. There is to be sincerity with us.
J.S.
Do you think that is why it says, “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”?
It means that our lives are governed practically by the light.
J.D.G. So that the experience of the cloud has a permanent effect on us, spiritual experiences, the divine presence has an 10
effect on us. We come out from there and walk in the light as He is in the light so our fellowship continues with one another.
J.S.
I was thinking of the light that has come down in that way, come down through the apostles and it should not be theoretical with us, but “if we walk in the light”—that is, there is a present practical answer to the light as it comes to us. We are governed by it.
J.D.G. That is right. We have to walk in the light, we have to be formed by it, “become sons of light”, be formed by that light.
Light becomes law, it becomes practice.
J.S.
I was thinking about what you were saying about the foundations. It says the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
I suppose that as we take on the apostles’ teaching it would be a foundation in our souls in the way of fellowship.
J.D.G. One fundamental aspect of the teaching is that you persevere in the breaking of bread and prayers, see Acts 2: 42.
That is a fundamental expression in our lives of our nearness to the teaching. It becomes practice—they persevered in the teaching, breaking of bread and prayers. There is some evidence of the fact that there is substance in our souls that belongs to the work of God.
R.J.C. There is no greater fellowship than the fellowship that we are brought into. We have the divine mind regarding it in Christ when He was here and when He rose again and ascended. These things are open to us as we apprehend and lay hold of the apostles’ teaching. There is something unique about their teaching.
J.D.G. You spoke of its origin being in the divine mind. On the mount there was a transfiguration in relation to the kingdom, but divine Persons had more in mind to bring forward than that and that is seen in Luke’s gospel, the expression of them entering into the cloud. They were to be introduced into Christian fellowship. They had a special place in it, the apostles, but what develops from that is Christian fellowship. There is no need to add anything to it as it came from the apostles, it is according to divine thought and then Paul builds on that.
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In 1 John 4 you have to be protected and protect the fellowship. There is a side of respect for the fellowship, a side of protection and there are many spirits gone out into the world. It is noticeable that they go out, because many are gone out into the world, they have taken something of Christianity with them and added what is not of God to it, what really belongs to Satan in its essence. Then there is the reference here, “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”.
There is a power within us to hearken to what is of God. It says, “We are of God; he that knows God hears us”. I understand Mr Taylor once said when he was speaking about
“hear him”, ‘and by extension ‘hear them’ . Here John is picking that up, what was really unfolded, Christ would speak and then by extension the apostles would speak, “he that knows God hears us” and then it comes down to our day in the Timothy epistles, who we have to hear and who we have to listen to. “He that knows God hears us”, that is characteristic.
I suppose it is what he speaks about in his epistle, begotten of God, born of God. We belong to the family, the children of God.
What is really in our hearts and souls we will have an ear for what is right and be attuned to understand what is right. We need to be kept.
Ques. In chapter 2 of John’s first epistle he says, “As for you let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you”, v 24. I wondered whether that was what you were referring to now? That which was from the beginning in chapter 1 refers to the Lord personally, but there is “that which ye have heard from the beginning”, and it is very much in the context of the unction, before and after the way in which things are secure by the Spirit and according to what was established at the beginning.
J.D.G. “Abide in you”—that is important, not only heard about it but “abide in you”. There is a need to be thorough in our committals and thorough in our exercises, that what is in us is of God, “he that knows God hears us”. There is much speaking in the world today and it is affecting Christendom and is affecting the truth. There are many of God’s people there in Christendom, in the churches of the systems of men, who are being exposed at the present time to all kinds of 12
influences where man after the flesh has been allowed to have authority and speak in relation to divine things. We have to be aware of that and not be influenced by such a spirit.
J.S.
Scripture says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Rev 2: 17.
J.D.G. You may get somebody in Christendom speaking the truth because morally he is personally right—although they may not be positionally right—but we are in a place where we have sought to exercise divine principles to separate from what is publicly going on with evil, seeking to go on with the truth.
We are in an atmosphere where the Spirit is free to operate in the temple. That is an important thing so the truth can come out as we converse together.
J.S.
Do you think one of the prime things for the Spirit to be free to operate in the temple is the recognition of the Lordship of Christ and His headship?
J.D.G. Yes, and where the foundation is Jesus Christ too.
J.S.
I am sure that would come into it. As you say the foundation is Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that is the disallowance of every other kind of man.
J.D.G. So the consequence of discussing the truth where man after the flesh is allowed is in direct opposition to what scripture exhorts, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, 1 Cor 2: 2.
J.M.
It says of the Lord Jesus, “He does all things well”
and in connection with that it says, “he makes both the deaf to hear, and the speechless to speak”, Mark 7: 37. I was thinking how hearing comes before speaking. If we do not hear right we will not speak right.
J.D.G. That is true in physical matters and it is true in spiritual matters too. It says, “he that knows God hears us”, that must be true too. There are all kinds of speakings in the world and young people have to be careful what they read. If you are reading anything that is ministry, you must be absolutely assured that the person is sound in the truth or you will become damaged.
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I feel challenged, have I got an ear for Jesus speaking?
It says of Him, “Never man spoke thus, as this man speaks”, John 7: 46.
J.D.G. We have to be exercised that “he that knows God hears us”. If they were that kind of person, of God, they would certainly have an ear for the truth. I say again, this setting here in the time of John is set in Christendom where there are those who are real and there are those who have gone out and carried the truth with them with which they have set up their own systems. The young people need to be careful what they read. I came across a reference the other day of Mr Taylor’s—
he would not read anything that was ministry unless he was absolutely assured that the person was fundamentally sound in the truth, see vol 7: 308. There are books published as ministry going around in the world and in Christendom, maybe some are all right, but you have to know who you learn things from.
G.A.B. Can you help us as to what is involved in “every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God”?
J.D.G. I would understand it to be the reality of His humanity. It is a very important matter, as I understand from teaching, to be clear about the insistence of “Jesus Christ come in flesh”. The incarnation was a real matter, a divine Person left His first estate and took up a body that was prepared for Him and became a Man. That humanity goes through death into resurrection. It says in Hebrews, He lives in the “power of indissoluble life” (chap 7: 16), that is a reference to Christ in His humanity not His deity. “Jesus Christ come in flesh”, or Jesus Christ coming in flesh, is an assurance that the Lord is a real and living Man. One day He will appear to us, one day we will see His face at the rapture, but one day He will appear to this world as a real Man. It is not an apparition. There were all kinds of teaching going on at the time when John was writing and he is seeking to rescue saints in relation to the errors that were going about because great failure came in after his departure. We know the church history and how the church publicly failed. It had not failed completely when John wrote. I think it is for our day that we may be preserved that 14
whatever persons say, “Jesus Christ come in flesh” is a real matter.
G.A.B. I think it is vital to grasp this. This was the beginning of what you have been speaking of earlier. Some have thought of Jesus Christ as perhaps an extension to Judaism, or some other description they could find, but this was really the beginning of something that was entirely new.
J.D.G. You are referring to the incarnation, what followed through from that? The holy Scriptures are accurate, “the Word became flesh”, John 1: 14. It does not say the Word became flesh and blood because that was not going to continue. That Person who came into manhood had in mind in accordance with the purpose of God to remain in that condition, a condition of flesh, not flesh and blood. The same order of humanity would go through into a spiritual body, but it is flesh.
R.G.
I think it is important, especially for younger persons, to realise that the Person of whom we are speaking is still alive.
He is in a different condition from what He was when He was here, either before or after resurrection, but His humanity continues and it continues in life and that is the One who speaks to us still. I am speaking about that because it is the contrast to every other thing that man might bring before you.
In other so-called religions, there is no life after death, it ends in death, but this is one where there is life continuing.
J.D.G. That is in the “power of indissoluble life”. It is in the Hebrew epistle. It is not a reference to His deity, it is a reference to the fact that His humanity continues. I think what we are saying is true.
J.T.B. There is a reference to, “we are of God”. Does it take us back to John’s gospel, “not of blood, nor of flesh’s will, nor of man’s will, but of God” (chap 1: 13), so as born in that sense we have links and desires according to what is brought out here.
J.D.G. That is what I thought was involved in “He that is of God” (John 8: 47), we have been born of God, we have a parentage that is of God. We are partakers of the divine nature and as born of God we have right instincts to listen to what is 15
true, but we need to protect ourselves. The Holy Spirit of God is the power that is within us. “Ye are of God, children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”. That is a great matter that young people can call on the power of the Holy Spirit and have power to go against the current of the world and all its thinking.
T.D.B. What would you say about what the Lord says in front of Pilate, “Every one that is of the truth hears my voice”, John 18: 37?
J.D.G. Do you think it would be in line with this, “he that knows God hears us”? There is something wrought—would it allude to being born of God, “Every one that is of the truth”?
T.D.B. Would it also carry the thought of those who are formed according to this order of humanity.
J.D.G. That would be right. New creation would be involved in that, there is a work of God in you. There is nothing of the old thing at all, there is something in the believer as the recipient of the Holy Spirit that is of God. There must be a work of God there before the Spirit is received. That would be seen when Peter was preaching to Cornelius and others, the Spirit fell upon them before he finished speaking because there was that ‘of God’ in them that the Spirit could identify with, even before they were baptised.
J.C.G. I was thinking of eternal life and the way in which we enjoy speaking of Christ through the Spirit. The epistle ends,
“in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life”
(chap 5: 20), so that the communications that we enjoy together with one another quite clearly have their origin in Him. There is an increasing need for us to work this out practically. We speak about hearing His, God’s, voice in the meeting for ministry but it would be much wider than that would it? We get communications from heaven on all occasions, do we?
J.D.G. I would not limit it to that, would you?
Communications from heaven are all the time, “He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep”, Ps. 121: 4. The Spirit is always available. You get impressions of Christ all the time, just flashes when you touch communion with a divine 16
Person. I am not being unreal, I do not mean we do not go about our businesses and do things, but you cannot limit the impressions of Christ coming into the soul. Communion is a state that should always exist in the believer’s life.
R.T.
Would all this remind us of the great resource there is in the fellowship? Not to think of the restrictions of it but there is a wonderful system of supply in the fellowship to maintain us apart from the world?
J.D.G. There is a wonderful supply of resource in the fellowship. There are resources in divine Persons, and there are resources in the saints as being formed in the work of God.
R.T.
“From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error”. There is the Holy Spirit within us and there is the need for using Him to test things so that we know what is right and what is wrong, we know what is in keeping with the family of God and what is not.
J.D.G. In 2 Timothy, where there are things coming in—
remember John wrote after 2 Timothy was written—what we have been speaking about remains. Paul writes in relation to a broken day but he is speaking about the continuance of the truth and he is trying to exhort Timothy, “thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering … But thou abide in those things which thou hast learned, and of which thou hast been fully persuaded, knowing of whom thou hast learned them”. That is one anchor for the soul, “knowing of whom thou hast learned them”. We might have read in chapter 2 as well where he says,
“the things thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, such as shall be competent to instruct others also”, v 2. The saints are the witnesses. There is a line of protection for us in ministry. Any one of us who seeks to minister, whatever aspect it is, in the local meeting or whatever, the saints are the witnesses. They are to protect us, keep us within the banks of the river, keep us saying what is right in accordance with scripture, carrying each one with him. Chapter 3 of this book is not gift that he is speaking about, it is man of God, and that is open to all the saints here in this room. “He” is not a masculine thought 17
exactly, it is expressed as a masculine thought, and maybe in a sense it applies more to brothers than sisters, but I do not think it does exclusively. The principle of a man of God could be in a sister because they are able to exercise themselves in their own sphere and protect the saints as well as nurture them.
M.G.W. Is the beloved apostle speaking not as the official apostle but as a man formed in Christ?
J.D.G. I think so. It has been remarked that when you come in contact with the apostles personally you find not just their authority as derived from the Lord, but their personality as formed after Christ.
M.G.W. Does not the apostle, talk about his ways in Christ,
“according as I teach” (1 Cor 4: 17), so that what he actually taught was the way that he lived?
J.D.G. We have a line of protection to help us at the present time in relation to ministry and in relation to the understanding of ministry, in relation to teaching. It is in persons, it is not just in a person, it is in persons. The early part of chapter 2 shows that—“many witnesses”, they are persons. They are existing at the present time.
J.S.
Do you think this is very important for us, especially when he says, “But thou, abide in those things which thou hast learned, and of which thou has been fully persuaded, knowing of whom thou hast learned them”? We have a great privilege of being brought into touch with these things that have come down from the beginning and there is a real need for abiding in those things at the present time.
J.D.G. I think so. We should treasure the teaching that we have come into the understanding of, in the light of what we call the light of the assembly. It is a very precious thought.
J.S.
I think of what you said about the saints being witnesses, we have not only had the ministry, we have had living expressions of what it means in the saints. We should value what has come down to us in that way, “knowing of whom thou hast learned them”.
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J.D.G. In Acts 1 it says, “Jesus began both to do and to teach, until that day in which, having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up; to whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs; being seen by them during forty days”, vv 1-3. The “many proofs” by extension is what is seen in the saints—proof of Christ’s reality, of His work, of the Spirit’s work, of the Spirit’s presence. There is a real and living work going on here by the Holy Spirit in the persons of the saints, men, women and children here in this room. We are just a small amount of them.
C.K.R. They would be among those who become “wise unto salvation”, would they not? The salvation would be the practical effect of all that, would it not?
J.D.G. It is good to refer to that, “and that from a child thou hast known the sacred letters, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus”, teach the children the scriptures. That is implicit. He was taught the scriptures, it was the Old Testament scriptures he was taught, but they were able to make him “wise unto salvation” when the Spirit came. Then he would also come into the gain and understanding of New Testament scriptures because they were extant in Timothy’s day. Peter refers to that, referring to persons who wrest the scriptures (see 2 Pet 3: 16), referring to Paul’s writing. So, teach the children the scriptures, teach them to pray and something will be formed.
God links on with our exercises.
D.T.P. There is teaching, but we need the purpose and the conduct too. These are important features because it shows that you are in accord with what is being taught. Children see these things in parents.
J.D.G. “Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work”. That will continue in exercised persons until the Lord comes.
R.G.
“These entrust to faithful men, such as shall be competent to instruct others also”, 2 Tim 2: 2. We have been 19
privileged to sit under faithful men who have brought the truth to us, able to instruct others also, but now the responsibility is on us to continue that line until the Lord comes?
J.D.G. Yes, you would take into account ministry accredited of God, faithful men, men who have gone before who have taught the truth and have obviously been approved of God as workmen, worthy of being paid attention to. The ministry is there. We would seek to link on with that ministry so that what is living is still here because the Spirit is here, but it is not diverse from that which was from the beginning.
J.M.
Would that, “which was from the beginning” help to keep us stable?
J.D.G. That is exactly what we intended to say.
KIRKCALDY
12th March 2005
Key to Initials:
T.D.Beveridge, Kirkcaldy; G.A.Brown, Edinburgh; D.C.Brown, Edinburgh; J.T.Brown, Edinburgh; R.J.Campbell, Glasgow; R.Gardiner, Kirkcaldy; J.D.Gray, Edinburgh; J.C.Gray, Grangemouth; J.Marshall, Edinburgh; D.T.Pye, Kirkcaldy; J.Strachan, Dundee; C.K.Robinson, Glasgow; R.Taylor, Kirkcaldy; M.G.Wood, Dundee 20
THE MANNA AND THE TREE OF LIFE
Genesis 2: 8, 9, 15-17; 3: 20-24
Revelation 2: 1, 7, 12, 17, 22: 1, 2
I would like to share with you some fragmentary thoughts about these scriptures, about the tree of life in the Genesis setting, the hidden manna in Revelation, the tree of life in the paradise of God and the tree of life in the holy city.
God made man. He was not made like the animals.
Chapter 1 of Genesis tells us, “God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth” (v 24), but man was not made like that.
Man was made of the “dust of the ground” (chap 2: 7), he has the distinction of God breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, “and Man became a living soul”, v 7. There is no other creature who went before like Adam. Young people may hear things at school about men that lived before, a long time ago, fifty thousand years ago, whatever they were, they were not Adam. The Adamic creation is the present one we live in and it is very recent, a few thousand years ago: God is very considerate for His creature Adam, He calls him, Man. What a joy to the Creator to see a being standing on his two feet with his face looking upward. There is no other creature that looks up as far as I can recall, they all look down to food that is on the ground. Man looks up and looks up to God.
God planted a garden in Eden, which means pleasure, or as has been referred to in ministry, paradise. Just note what it says here, “out of the ground Jehovah Elohim made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food”; there is a semi-colon there. I think it was to sustain man in his natural body. Then it says, “and the tree of life, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. There was no prohibition on the tree of life. Man was put under responsibility to obey God and he was not to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When he took of it he received a conscience, he became conscious of good and evil, he did not know that before. He never had a conscience before, there was no need for it.
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God offered man the tree of life. What is the tree of life?
I suppose here in the garden it was a tree, but it speaks of God’s Christ, it speaks of a life that God had in mind for man in purpose, that was going to come out in His Christ. He offered it to man in innocence. God held nothing back, He offered man the very best. Man in innocence was free to eat of the tree of life. Do you understand that? The man was more interested in the other tree, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. For younger people here I will say what has often been said—Mr Darby goes along with it—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is thought to be the apple tree, eg Collected Writings vol 19 p66. There is nothing wrong with the apple tree, but God said, Do not eat of it. To eat of the apple tree they disobeyed God, that was lawlessness, sin came in. I would like to say to you, do you not think that, if man had taken the opportunity to eat of the tree of life he would never have sinned? He did not take the opportunity.
Man sinned and he is driven out of the garden, out of paradise. Some have referred to it as the paradise of God, others to the paradise of man, in the sense that man was given responsibility in it to till it and to guard it.
There is a way back. It says, “he drove out Man; and he set the Cherubim, and the flame of the flashing sword, toward the east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life”. God protected it. There was a possibility that sinful man might stretch out his hand to eat of it, but God intervened.
I read the two verses as to Adam calling his wife’s name Eve, “because she is the mother of all living. And Jehovah Elohim made Adam and his wife coats of skin, and clothed them”. Adam, as I understand it, grasped something of the way that God is going to work things out. It says in verse 15
in regard to Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall crush thy head”. Adam grasped something of that, “because she is the mother of all living”. It is a prophetic statement because at the time she was not the mother of any person. Christ was going to come, “come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law”, Gal 4: 5. What an outlook! Adam 22
grasped something of that. God recognised that there was faith in Adam and he clothed them with skins. Redemption had to come in on our side. What a long arduous road before you come to Revelation, for man, maybe, but for God. It says in the scriptures, “thou hast made me to toil with thy sins”, Isa 43: 24. He was prepared to toil with our sins to make the way back for us to the tree of life. There is no change in the tree of life.
In Revelation I wanted to say a word as to the manna.
In Revelation the tree of life is in the paradise of God. What a place -
Sin-soiled have never trod
(Hymn 206)
It has been said that the cherubim guarded the tree of life until Christ was ascended and glorified, then that tree of life was in the paradise of God. Wonderful matters! God came into our circumstances in the arduous way that things are worked out in the scriptures in the manna. Have you ever thought of that?
The manna sets out God incarnate, come down as the bread out of heaven to sustain the life of the believer in the wilderness. The manna is in the wilderness. Persons who get the gain of the manna have had a certain history with God, they have been converted, they have eaten of the Passover lamb in Egypt. They have done more than that, they have put the blood on the lintel and the doorpost, they are sheltered by the blood of Christ from judgment. They are helped through the Red Sea, a way of escape for them from the life of Egypt with all its pleasures for human kind. You come into the wilderness, others may live in the same block, in the same street and go to the same place where you work, but you are different. Have you ever found out that you are different? Have you ever had a sense, dear younger brethren, of the time when you came to it—maybe just a flash—that you do not belong to this world? There is another world in view. You have to go through this world and He provides food for you in the manna, Christ in lowly circumstances. Pick up the scriptures in the morning and read a little bit, wherever it is He will minister to your soul, put you in touch with eternal things, put you in 23
touch with the God who is going to sustain you through the day. God was there in Jesus of Nazareth, the Nazaræan, a heavenly stranger who dwelt amongst men, touching everything you and I have to touch, (sin apart). That is the manna. Suffering Jesus! Are you a companion of the suffering Jesus? I trust you are. He says, “Reproach hath broken my heart”, Ps 69: 20. Have you ever tasted that? Been alongside Christ in reproach?
He is not here any more but He can still sympathise with us in all our sorrows, Christ understands them because He was once here in the circumstances in which we are, that is the stranger of Galilee. In Acts 8 it says, “who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth”, v 33. That is His generation in flesh and blood condition. As a young man I was taught that the One who did that was the Father, the Father took His life from the earth, “who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth” (it is a quote from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the scriptures).
The Father has translated that precious humble Jesus into His own presence and glory and that is the hidden manna. The memory exists of a once humble Jesus—the overcomer in Pergamos is promised to be given of the hidden manna, the Father’s treasured memories of a once humbled Christ.
Dear younger brethren, if you have not shared in the reproaches of the Christ here below, how can you share in the hidden manna? The hidden manna is given, it is a gift, “to him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna”. God treasures the memory of Christ’s life. These all have future bearings, the addresses to the overcomers, but the Spirit of God would make them real to us at the present time, in some measure. We share with God the memories of Christ. Then he is given a “white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it”. That is a stone which is an expression of divine favour to the believer who receives it. It has been pointed out for us that there are personal joys as well as collective joys. There are personal joys now in my links with my Saviour, with my God, which I have for myself, which you have for yourself. The white stone is peculiar to the individual, it is given to the overcomer. Oh to 24
be among the overcomers in the times of the breakdown of the church publicly in Christendom, to be a recipient of the white stone, “on the stone a new name written”. We will have that as individuals eternally if we are overcomers. You will have a joy with divine Persons individually which no other person will enter into. I will have joy and you will have a joy as an individual that not another soul will enter into. Nobody will be able to meddle with your joy. How blessed to be a Christian!
How blessed to be an overcomer!
The manna is not Christ as the tree of life. I have spoken about Him in that way to show how precious He was as the manna, but it is not the tree of life. You do not find the tree of life in the gospels, you do not find it in the wilderness, you may taste of it by the Spirit’s power in the wilderness, but it is not there in the wilderness, it is in paradise, in the paradise of God.
The Lord Jesus as presented in this scripture, “like the Son of man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet” (Rev 1: 13), He is overseeing everything. That is the One who will give the overcomer, “to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”.
Sin-soiled feet have never trod;
Free, our peaceful feet may venture
In the paradise of God.
(Hymn 206)
It is personal. What a hope in reality of feeding on Christ in the paradise of God. There is food for the believer in every circumstance. This is the food of an area of privilege. How it has been kept! God has worked out good and evil, He has worked that out in men and women, He has worked it to the divine triumph by the work of God in your soul and mine. We await bodies of glory conformed to His own body of glory, see Phil 3: 20, 21. We may taste by the Spirit’s power something of the tree of life in the paradise of God, but it does not come to us, we have to go there. It is not attainment, it is gift. What a thing to come in for a gift from Christ, to be given to eat “of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. It came into that hymn we sung: ‘Giver’,
Object of eternal pleasure.
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He is the Giver—how blessed to receive from Christ fruits of that tree. Mr Darby says, holiness, love and joy are the fruits of that land and that tree, to feed on Christ in heavenly circumstances.
I just say something in passing—the old corn of the land is also indigenous to heaven but it is eaten in an area where you have to stand for the truth; but this is not, it is past conflict: Safety—where no foe approaches;
Rest—where toil shall be no more;
Joy—whereon no grief encroaches;
Peace—where strife shall all be o’er
What an atmosphere to taste of it, to taste of the heavenly atmosphere but to be actually in it. God holds the treasure there, eternal food, food for eternity in a sphere which is vibrant with life. The paradise of God will be vibrant with life and that is to be our portion, but I say, you can taste it as an overcomer in some measure at the present time. I think it is experienced in the sphere of privilege. I do not say that exclusively, but I think you are sustained there by that tree.
Christ is more than the tree of life, you have to understand that, but I am speaking about Him as presented as the tree of life. The creature has not immortality, God alone has immortality, the creature is sustained eternally by the food of the tree of life.
In Revelation 22 you get the setting of it in the millennium, it is in the holy city. Never seen where sin is, always in its own environment. The tree of life was never lost, man was lost, the tree of life is for persons who are holy and blameless before Him in love—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; according as he has chosen us in him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love; having marked us out before hand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved”, Eph 1: 3-6. Sin is not mentioned. That is the atmosphere, the fruits of the paradise of God, the tree of 26
life is there for persons “holy and blameless before him in love”.
(It has been pointed out that the tree of life is not the fruit of redemption). The tree of life has never altered, never needed to be altered. God presented it in the garden in Genesis 2, presented it in the paradise of God in Revelation 2, unchanged and unchangeable. In the passage in Ephesians, persons “holy and blameless before him in love”; there was no thought of that in the garden, there was no person admitted into that position in the life of Christ here below, not until Christ was in glory and established there, was way made for the tree of life.
Revelation 22 is millennial—there is a very interesting thing here which has puzzled me for a long time: is grace operative in the millennium? You get asked many a time; righteousness reigns, yes it does, but is grace operative? “The leaves of the tree for healing of the nations”, that is grace functioning through the saints of the city. Only the saints of the holy city, as far as I can see and as far as I understand the teaching, eat of the tree of life. That is food for the holy city.
The twelve fruits it has been suggested are in view of administration that we will come into, we will need to be sustained in regard to it by the fruits of the tree of life. And then, “each month yielding its fruit”, but there will be no twelve fruits in eternity. Time will have ceased then, we will eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God according to Revelation 2
verse 7. But here it is a millennial scene, but there is no thought of sin in the area where the tree of life is, it cannot come. “And no curse shall be any more; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face; and his name is on their foreheads. And night shall not be any more, and no need of a lamp, and light of the sun; for the Lord God shall shine upon them, and they shall reign to the ages of ages”, vv 3-5.
I have shared some fragmentary thoughts with you, and I trust it has been of help and interest.
For His Name’s sake.
KIRKCALDY
12th March 2005
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J.D.G. Love is mentioned in the first three scriptures read.
In Exodus 21, Christ, in the type, gave all that love could give, coming in as a bondman as He did, rather than going out alone, He was prepared to carry through the will of God, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”. I thought in John 10 there is the Father’s love, “On this account the Father loves me”, in relation to His committal to go forward in the will of God, “because I lay down my life that I may take it again … I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again. I have received this commandment of my Father”; it draws out the Father’s love for Him. There are great matters in the minds of divine Persons and the Father indicated to Him that the time would come to go forward. It involved for Him His death on the cross, but the taking of His life again had in mind the securing of the harvest from the death of Christ. In Ephesians, “even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”. He did not deliver Himself up at the end of it, He loved the assembly and delivered Himself up for it. Christ’s love for the assembly expressed itself in the cross; it continues, it is a service that proceeds at the present time. Then I thought the culmination of it all is that the praise of God should be secured, that was in the Lord’s heart. I think we can see that it was in the Lord’s heart as coming out of death in Psalm 22 which is referred to in Hebrews 2 in the same context, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. I turned to 1 Chronicles 25 because all that has been secured out of the death of Christ is there ready to function at the touch of the king with a view to the praise of God. That was the line that was running through my mind.
D.T.P. I am sure there is much for our hearts that would help us because we always need to be strengthened in our love.
Love for the saints, expressed in Christ, does not think of itself.
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He is prepared for sacrifice but there is a great end in view out of it all. The fulness of that is something for divine grace.
J.D.G. That is right. The bondman, according to the scripture, has opportunity to go out free, “If he came in alone, he shall go out alone”, he has to go out alone. The Lord’s love comes out in it in type. It is an answer to all the commandments that were given previously. They are going to be filled out in this blessed Man to the satisfaction of the Master, the wife and the children. He considered for His God,
“Thou hast prepared me a body”, Heb 10: 5. He came in and accepted that body, He was prepared to go through with the will of God, “I come … to do, O God, thy will”, Heb 10: 7. Love was the essence of it, it was not an arbitrary thing. His affections as man for His God, His affections as man for His wife, what we speak of as the assembly, the Lord was prepared to undertake all that was necessary to secure it.
D.T.P. There is a wonderful sense of committal in it. How precious the Lord’s life was in the eye of heaven, yet there is a stedfastness of committal that could not turn away from it because what was to be secured was so great.
J.D.G. You wonder at it, but there it was in His mind; being a divine Person in manhood He knew all that was there, but what tremendous matters were to be secured out of this committal of one of the divine Persons coming into manhood taking a bondman’s form.
R.T.
From the passage of the book (see Ps 40: 7) it seems as if He is expected to do this, not to go out alone?
J.D.G. I think it is anticipated that there would be an answer because love was there. The whole thing seems to spring from the fact that when the circumstances are come into, it is not only the carrying out of divine will, but love was there. I think the passage in Psalm 40 suggests that, it is an answer in love to the divine requirements. He came into the bondman’s form.
Love existed all the time in that relationship. It is a wonderful thing at the highest level of it, “I love my master”, then “I love
… my wife, and my children”. There is no suggestion of any diminishing in that; His quality of love would be the same.
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Could you say something about the bondman saying,
“distinctly”? The Lord says, “not my will but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42?
J.D.G. Yes, that would be included in it. In John 10 it is a commandment he has received from His Father. I suppose it characterised His life all the way through, but perhaps in coming down from the mount of transfiguration particularly.
His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem would be one evidence of Him saying distinctly that He was committed to go there. Another scripture says, “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”, Luke 9: 51. Then Gethsemane was a full expression of the Lord saying distinctly. It was not that the Lord was shrinking from the Father’s will; what He felt was what He was going forward to undertake; the gravity of it.
J.P.
It was as a man He said that? He felt these things as a man.
J.D.G. It says, “he began to be sorrowful and deeply depressed”, Matt 26: 37. His love was there and there was no thought of turning back. The Lord was committed to go forward to the Father’s will. The essence of that was His love for His God; and then His love for His wife and His children—
He could not have them apart from death.
T.D.B. Would there be deliberateness seen in the way the Lord was here? I was thinking of the word, “he must needs pass through Samaria” (John 4: 4), there was nothing haphazard as to the way He lived.
J.D.G. That would be right. His committal was absolute, it springs from love, “I will not go free”.
M.C. It says of Him, “thou hast prepared me a body ... Lo, I come … to do, O God, thy will”, Heb 10: 5-7. I was thinking of the connection with the body and the bondman. It is very touching to think of the Lord taking up that position and having this capacity in love to fill it out.
J.D.G. “Hast prepared me a body”. He accepted that, it was a body in which He could express these things. The incarnation was necessary for the filling out of the divine counsels.
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M.C. His love could have stopped at that, “I love my master”, but it encompasses the wife and the children.
J.D.G. Do you not think it magnifies what was to come into the death of Christ? “I love my master” was filled out. The work of propitiation was such that God was absolutely satisfied with Christ and His work. The work of substitution has laid a basis for the many to have relationship with Him and be brought into it. Then there is a vessel that in the type comes out of His death through the rib taken from his side which involves divine purpose. It had no past history. The Lord loved the assembly and He had to go through death to secure it.
R.G.
Should there be some answer in response in our hearts to this? We can see it now. It says, “Wherefore also God highly exalted him”, Phil 2: 9. It says “distinctly”, God heard what He said and highly exalted Him. Do you think there should be then on our side, his wife and his children, who also hear, if we do hear, that word, “I love my master, my wife and my children”. If we hear that there would be an answer in response, do you think?
J.D.G. That is interesting—1 Chronicles 25 was in my mind from that point of view. It is the answering response in the hearts of the instruments that are there and the personnel that are there in view of the praise of God. It springs from an appreciation of the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge.
R.G.
They had been six years in His company but here was the acme of His love. What it must have done to them to hear Him say this. How He would be exalted in our souls; there would be a greater response there.
J.D.G. How He sought for them to understand that He would go up to Jerusalem to suffer and to die, He kept bringing it before His disciples. They seem to have had difficulty in understanding it, but finally they come into the appreciation of it, the love of the Christ, how far He was prepared to go, to suffer at the hands of the Jew and the Gentile.
R.T.
Do you think the love that was displayed in the six years continues after it, “he shall be his bondman for ever”?
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J.D.G. That is right. Mr Darby has a note on that in Luke’s synopsis (Vol 3: p259)—“coming up he will serve them”—he says bondmanship from that point of view goes right through into heaven, He will serve us and bring us into an appreciation of the Father’s love by serving us. Not bondmanship in subservient conditions or demeaning conditions, but then in conditions of glory, his bondmanship goes through there. They had been recipients of His bondmanship, He washed their feet to have part with Him in the Father’s house. What a touch to the service of the bondmanship of Christ, see John 13: 12. “I go to prepare you a place … that where I am ye also may be”, chap 14: 2. The washing of the feet in John 13 has in mind part with Him in the Father’s realm. That is very dignified bondmanship. He refreshed them and washed them.
D.T.P. They did not know really what He was doing to them, but there it was, the Lord in grace and love for them carries out the service. They came into it later and He leaves it with us to do these things to one another.
J.D.G. That would bring us on to Ephesians 5. The nourishing and cherishing would be included in the continuation of that work of the washing of the feet. John 10
brings out, “On this account the Father loves me”, that is a special expression of the Father’s love for Christ as the One who loves His Master, waits on His directions. It is very remarkable in John’s gospel where the deity of Christ is prominent in many ways, who the Person was, yet it strikes you how He waits on the Father so many times—“On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again”. That was looking forward to the door and the doorpost; his ear was bored through with an awl. He lays it down, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself”.
R.G.
It is a very fine thought, “I lay it down”. The life that was perfect, worked out everything to God’s satisfaction perfectly, He laid that down and took it again, the same life in a different condition. You can understand why the Father loves Him. Now He has a Man in His presence who has carried out everything for His pleasure.
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J.D.G. That is right, a life that was so pleasing to the Father, in flesh and blood condition; yet you see that the divine mind had other things before it. We are in the gain of it because it has been unfolded to us in the scriptures by revelation as to what has transpired through the death and resurrection and the ascension of Christ. Those who listened at that time would not fully understand that, so the disciples are grieved when He teaches them in later John that He was going away. He says to them that it is a benefit to you that I should go away. You can see how that is, but here he lays it down of the Father, “I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again”. There was another condition in which He was no longer straitened: He can still be of service to His own after that, indeed He is because we prove it at the present time. “On this account the Father loves me”, there is reciprocation and answer to “I love my master”.
R.T.
It seems like an added reason for the Father loving Him? It says, “I know thou always lovest me”, but here, is there something that draws it out in a very special way?
J.D.G. Yes, it is because it is the answer to the Father’s desires that He should lay down His life that He may take it again, “I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again. I have received this commandment of my Father”. The answer to that commandment was that He would proceed and lay down His life. It brings in an added matter, it brings out how the Father took account of the detail of what worked out in the life of Christ till this moment came and He receives this commandment. He is joying in that blessed Man; He was going forward under regulation of the Father.
R.T.
You would almost think that the Father sees divine purposes unfolding in those movements of Jesus.
J.D.G. I was thinking that, His ways are one thing, but His purposes and counsels are another. The time had come, the matter of the life of Jesus here below in flesh and blood condition had filled out all that the divine will required and now it was necessary to go forward. There were other matters in mind. As it says in chapter 12, “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 33
Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”, vv 23, 24. It was all in the divine mind, the Father’s mind, so that we should be able to proceed into what was out of Christ’s death, the challenge that came in through sin was to be fully answered, and there was a blessed Man going to be in the Father’s presence and not alone.
T.D.B. Would you say more about the expression, “I lay it down of myself”?
J.D.G. It is a very fine statement, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself”. There would be instruments that seem to be used, but we are in the secret of the matter here, “I lay it down of myself”. Do you not think that when it came to John 19, where He says, “It is finished” (v 30), that statement was uttered at the command of the Father, “It is finished”. I think of it as related to this scripture, “I lay it down of myself.
I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again. I have received this commandment of my Father”.
When He said, “It is finished” that was in answer fully to the Father’s commandment.
D.T.P. Does it show something of the personal side of the Lord with His links with the Father in that this statement that He makes shows the complete acceptance of the Father’s will?
He laid it down of Himself, and had His Father’s glory in mind in doing so? And clearing the ground for us too?
J.D.G. It is a very fine statement. From that point of view it was His own action in relation to the Father’s desires and His love for the Master. The other matters come into it too, “I love my wife, and my children”, that came out of His death, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself”.
W.K.C. Does Mr Darby’s note help us on the word
“authority”—the right to act as well as the power? It is an interesting note that. He had the power to do it and the right to do it.
J.D.G. He exercises that right, “I lay it down of myself”. It should enter into our affections that He did it Himself, but the essence of it lay in His love.
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This chapter is the break-point of John’s gospel, the change from what is individual to what is collective. Is that not involved in it? “That I may take it again”, there was a perfect life in the Lord Jesus here, perfectly pleasing to the Father, He lays it down, “that I may take it again”. What is coming to light in the rest of the book is what He takes again, that kind of life that will be seen in others who are like Himself in the other side of death, do you think?
J.D.G. Yes, “I sanctify myself for them” (John 17: 19), that is anticipative of His death. Ephesians touches on that fact, “that he might sanctify it”. It is the same thought that is in mind, He is now setting Himself apart for them. So, “Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”, that was love that was extant before His death, “I love my master, my wife, and my children” to secure them He had to go through death, He loved them, then He delivered Himself up for the assembly, “that he might sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word”. That continues.
M.C. Is there a difference in what has been said already and this remark, “has delivered himself up for it”? I was wondering what is involved in that statement in comparison to laying down His life of Himself.
J.D.G. As I understand it, He loved the assembly. You might say it was a divine concept that was there, but the Lord had a full appreciation of what it was going to be to Him, a counterpart. What was in my mind was that He delivered Himself up for it. There is the deep sleep in Genesis 2 and the bone was taken out of his side. It came to mind in giving thanks this morning, He showed them His hands and His side.
From that point of view He delivered Himself up for it, to secure it, because it had to be secured only out of His death, it had to be derived from Himself. That must come through death. I think this side of it is that He delivered Himself up for it, the Adam side of the deep sleep. In John 20, “go to my brethren and say to them” (v 17); it was persons who had derived out of His death, the host that comes out of His death, and does not look at us as having a past history.
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It is like the pearl, there was something there that was divine workmanship, and the Lord seeing that delivered Himself up to bring it into fresh conditions where it would be close to Himself?
J.D.G. Where He could have it for Himself—‘out of Thy death has sprung’. “That I may take it again” is another condition and it is in that condition that the assembly can have part with Him.
D.T.P. We have all come out of the death of Christ and that is part of the joy of John 10, as you have been speaking of it, because it comes out there in what the Father’s joy would be in Him taking His life again, what is brought out of death, for His own satisfaction and for the Father’s joy too.
J.D.G. That comes in in chapter 1 of this book, “which he wrought in the Christ in raising him from among the dead, and he set him down at his right hand in the heavenlies, above every principality, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name named, not only in this age, but also in that to come; and 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”, vv 20-23. That is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory who does all these things. What delight He had in Christ out of death in bringing forward the assembly, just as Eve was brought forward to Adam, in type “given to be head over all things to the assembly”. He is not given to the assembly, it does not say,
‘put all things under His feet and gave Him to the assembly to be head over all things’, that is not right, it is not gift to the assembly; “given to be head over all things to the assembly”, that is the place in which she presides under Christ administratively, He is there in headship.
D.Sp. Could you help us further as to the thought of the wife and the children? The Lord’s love which was there as going into death continues? It speaks here of, “the washing of water by the word”. Is there something seen in the Lord’s love continually in the purifying effect of the children? Could you help between the distinction of the wife and the children in that setting?
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J.D.G. I do not know that I could! Hebrews 2 refers to it,
“Behold, I and the children which God has given me”. I think it is a quotation from Isaiah: it may be a reference to Israel.
J.P.
I understood that the wife was the assembly and the children were Israel.
J.D.G. I think that is what we have understood, the wife is the assembly and the children are Israel.
R.T.
It would even go wider than Israel, would it not? It is all the spoil that has been gathered up. The wife is the assembly, and the children, Israel, but may even go wider, it is the whole fruit of that movement of love and the universe to come will declare it.
J.D.G. That comes into Psalm 22, “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it”, vv 30, 31. I think what you say is right. We want to see the width of Christ’s work.
What you pointed out is that love continues, “I love my master, my wife, and my children”; there is no end to that.
D.Sp. What you are bringing out is very helpful because it shows that that love which was seen so beautifully at the cross in committing Himself to the Father’s will is still here, and the saints know and experience that love. It is a wonderful strengthening to the soul to know that same love. The Lord is on high, but His love is the same towards the saints at the present time.
J.D.G. When He presents the assembly to Himself glorious, His love will be there and it will continue into eternity, “the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”. It will always be sustained. The fact, of course, is that eternity will be marked by love, it will be expressed fully in the economy that is there in the Father, the Son and the Spirit and in all the saints.
R.G.
It is all the saints, you cannot restrict it. “I love my master” was upward, “I love my wife” is horizontal, equal, the assembly is on an equal footing for all eternity “my children”, is downward, to the individuals that compose the assembly and goes wider, “every tribe and tongue and nation”. The 37
redemptive work of Christ downward reaches out to every soul, does it not?
J.D.G. Yes, I would go with that. The thought of children does not go through to eternity, we are using a figure of speech here. God’s love for every individual goes through to eternity, not exactly as children. His love for each individual goes through to eternity.
R.G.
It is the same love that takes on a different character according to what the need is.
J.D.G. That is right because “in order that he might sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word” shows that it is in a scene of contrariety, whereas, what He presents to Himself has, “no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things”. It has been said as to, (I do not wish to be misunderstood),
“presenting the assembly to Himself”, only a divine Person could do that. We are not united to Christ in His deity, we are united to Christ in His Manhood, but the glory of the presentation involves His deity. He is able to do that.
M.C. The Lord’s infinite pleasure in presenting the assembly to Himself is an object for our affections, the love that has been expended upon it that has produced the perfect answer to Himself?
J.D.G. He presents it glorious, “having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless”.
You wonder how it is done, but there it is, it will be a fact. The saints will be in bodies of glory then.
R.G.
Man did not present woman to himself, God brought her to man; but in this section, the Lord presents her to Himself because of who He is.
J.D.G. That is right. In the meantime His love considers for it, “the washing of water by the word”, that takes place in our gatherings. It purifies us too, the action of the Spirit would be involved in that, it seems as if Christ is doing it, but the economy of the Spirit would be there that this ministry might be effectual in me and in you.
As to Hebrews 2, I thought we should not finish without an understanding that all that has been secured by the love of 38
Christ for His master, His wife and His children is going to result in praises for His God, that the answer in the saints in fruitful results to all that has been secured would be the answer in recompense to all that has been done. That is why I read 1 Chronicles 25. The vessels there are instruments of music, everything is in order awaiting the touch from the king.
Everything is in order as if all the orchestra is together here in Hebrews 2, the conductor is there in Christ. 1 Chronicles 25
gives you all the detail, and the work that comes out is all skilled, there is not one unskilled person in this vessel who is unable to respond in their place to the satisfaction and heart of God.
M.C. Could you say something about the expression, “are all of one”? It seems to be a very wonderful matter.
J.D.G. “For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”, I have always accepted that it is the same order of humanity.
M.C. I was impressed with the absolute perfection in what is secured here. It is fully compatible with Christ so that the answer can be a very rich one as a result.
J.D.G. I am glad you say that: there is no estrangement, there could not be any thought of estrangement. “He that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”. It brings out the result that has been secured, “I lay down my life that I may take it again”. The answer in the saints is in full accord through that life that Christ has taken again.
R.G.
Is this the grain of wheat falling into the ground? It is the same character of wheat that comes out of the ground.
J.D.G. That is right. The much fruit bears the character of the One who died and rose again. It is a very wide thought,
“those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises. And again, I will trust in him. And again, Behold, I and the children which God has given me”. I suppose all that is out of the death of Christ must be in accord with Him.
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The King James Version says, “a corn of wheat”, Mr Darby changes it to “the grain of wheat”; there was only one,
“the grain of wheat”. That is the One you have been referring to in the first three scriptures, that character of Man, and out of His death, “he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”. They are all the same.
J.D.G. In the body of glory sin will not attach to us, sin in the flesh will not attach to us. It does at the moment, but it is kept in its place by the power of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Chronicles 25, these men were related to what is under Christ, the harps and the lutes would be persons, and then “under the direction of the king. And the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of Jehovah, all of them skilful, was two hundred and eighty-eight”. I cannot make anything of the number but just the fact that every one was skilful. All that has been secured out of Christ’s death He holds available for the praise of God.
R.T.
Is that Ephesians 3, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”, v 21?
J.D.G. That is right, “unto all generations of the age of ages.
Amen”. According to the power that works in us; there is a response, an answer in response in the hearts of the saints.
R.T.
Does what Chronicles brings out here bring out too the intelligence that marks the assembly, all was under instruction? There is wonderful order, the assembly as His counterpart is very intelligent as to what is needed and what is to be expressed?
J.D.G. Yes, we could have read more, it says also, “under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the harp, to give thanks and to praise Jehovah”, v 3. The whole area is replete with life and living conditions, persons who are alive under the touch of a divine Person to respond to divine Persons. What we are attached to is real and living. The whole matter is living, “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” is a thought of where life is, heavenly life. We touch that.
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M.C. It is always fresh then because it is under the direction of the king, the leadership of Christ in the service of song is a very wonderful thing.
J.D.G. “All these were sons of Heman and the king’s seer in the words of God, to exalt his power” (v 5), it gives a view that the whole touch is under Christ, what a variety of personality that can respond. What a scene the eternal day will be, but we can touch it now, we should realise that the reality is there with us particularly in the service of song, but not only there.
R.T.
It is a great combination, there is the direction of the king, but then it says, “all of them skilful”, as if there is almost a hidden secret, but very vital, link between the king and the responses of these persons, I would think spontaneously almost.
J.D.G. Every one of the saints, all of us here who are committed to the Lord, are helped by the Spirit to respond in the service of song, from the divine side we would regard it as skilful.
R.G.
In chapter 25 there are not trumpets.
J.D.G. Please say more.
R.G.
In another place it says, “the trumpeters and singers were as one” (2 Chron 5: 13), but not here, cymbals, lutes and harps. There is the human voice that God has given and then there are the instruments of music that the skill of the Spirit can play on as we in our answering responses to all that Christ has done can be acceptable to God.
J.D.G. It would encourage us all to participate. From the divine side we have been formed to be skilful, the grace of God has operated in our souls under the touch of the Spirit and the Lord to respond, bringing out the work of God that has been formed in us by divine Persons.
A.W. It is wonderful that we all get a touch from this King if we are available to serve under His hands?
J.T.
What an answer it will be for the heart of the Father, that all will be for His praise and for His glory.
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J.D.G That is good. What He has done is to bring out in us what answers to His own heart. It is expressed in vessels in whom His work has taken place.
KIRKCALDY
13th March 2005
List of initials – local unless otherwise shown T.D.Beveridge; W.K.Clark; M.Cowan; R.Gardiner; J.D.Gray, Edinburgh; D.T.Pye; J Pye; D Spinks, Grangemouth; R.Taylor; J.Thompson; A.Wilson
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I look to the Lord for help to preach the gospel from these scriptures. It is quite a responsibility to preach the gospel and it is also a privilege. As asked to preach you feel your own inadequacy, for it is a very great matter. It is the word of God.
That is why we read the scriptures before we say anything, because in reading the scriptures we are reading to you the word of God. That word can have its own effect without the preacher saying anything, other than reading to you the word of God.
I would desire a little help to speak about these scriptures—there is another scripture which says, “who of men hath known the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him”, 1 Cor 2: 11. I do not know what is going on in your spirit, and you do not know what is going on in my spirit, so you might think you are fool-proof, that no-one knows what goes on in the spirit of a man save the spirit of the man himself, but you are deluded if you think that. That is true in the things of men, we do not understand and we do not know what is going on in each other’s spirits or minds, but there is One who knows. Have you ever thought that God has a link with you through your own spirit? You know, young and older friends, God gave you your spirit. People speak about what is biological and all that side of things and the development of the child before it is born. What they do not believe, but what I believe and what scripture says is that God imparts life to a being. He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living soul”, Gen 2: 7. He imparts life—it is called quickening—He imparts life to the child that is to be born, and He has a link with every person through their spirit. Have you ever thought about that? Do you think you are foolproof? I might think that I am foolproof because nobody knows what is in my spirit save me, and the same with you, but there is One who knows. You do not have to be a believer for that to happen. All you have to be is a 43
creature, and you are a creature of God in the sense that you have your origin from Him. Your spirit you received from God, our body that we have carries the genes of our parents, that is biological, but, “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Jehovah”. He can look into your inwards, into your motives, into your thinking, into your actions, into everything that pertains to every one in this room, all of us, and every one that exists in this world.
God is able for that. You can go into cities and see people going past, millions, thousands, hundreds; you say, Where are they all going? Is no one taking account of them? Yes, God is taking account of them. Job says He is the, “Observer of men”, Job 7: 20. Not just what you see publicly, but He sees into the hearts and minds of every creature. God has given us a spirit.
That spirit is the “lamp of Jehovah”; it looks into all the crevices. He knows what you are doing, what you are thinking, He knows your motives, He knows your uprising, and He knows everything about us. That is not just theoretical, that is practical. We cannot understand it. There is a being who is infinite, that is God. We cannot understand infinity, we never will. As one dear man said, if the finite could understand the infinite, there would be neither finite nor infinite. Infinity is beyond the human mind. There is a being who is our creator and He has access to us through our spirits.
“Searching all the inner parts of the belly”, that is the whole being of a man, the whole motives of a man, not just his public actions, but his inwards, and there is a God who knows.
Would you like to come to the light? That is what John 3 says,
“For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shewn as they are; but he that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God”.
Which category do you belong to? Do you belong to the category that you would not want to come to the light, that you would choose darkness rather than light? Men have loved darkness rather than light. The world is full of that kind of man, men away from God who have loved darkness rather than light, “for their works were evil”—I ask again, which category do you belong to? Do you belong to the category that does not like to come to the light, does not want your works to be shown as they are? It is a challenge to you and to me and a challenge 44
too to every believer. Not that the believer belongs to persons who are lost because they have been saved by Christ, but what about the present state of you and me at the moment? Are we free to be in the presence of God? Are our works such that they can be shown to be wrought in God? The believer’s works should be shown that they have been wrought in God. It says,
“he that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God”. He has nothing to hide. “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanses from all sin”, that is available to you if you are an unbeliever, and it is available to you and me as believers. Not that we should continue in sin—Paul says, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? Far be the thought”, Rom 6: 1. Who here would like to continue in sin and say, Well, I am saved and Christ is my Saviour; then do what you want? No. That is not the thought, but I would like the word of God to challenge all of us today. It says here, “men have loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil”.
That is unregenerate man. Then it says, “For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shewn as they are”. Are you prepared to come to the light, believer or unbeliever? As a believer you should be in the light, I should be in the light as a believer, but is it true or have I a shady life? Are you a Jekyll and Hyde?
We do not want to be a Jekyll and Hyde, we do not want to be one thing amongst the saints and another thing amongst men: the word of God is searching us this afternoon as to where we are, where we stand.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son … For God has not sent his Son into the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him”. I want to touch our hearts with that, “his only-begotten Son”. If you know Christ as your Saviour as God’s only-begotten Son, the only one He had, that is the Saviour for sinners. Again it says as to persons, “because he has not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God”. How God regards that Name and that Person, the only-begotten Son of God! He takes account of you and me whether we believe on the Name of the only-begotten Son of God, or whether we do not believe on the Name of the only-begotten Son of God.
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He says, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. Maybe everyone here has believed on the Name of the only-begotten Son of God, put their trust in Him, they are not going to perish, but I say again, are you true to your Christianity? Am I true to my Christianity? Am I prepared to be exposed by the light? Maybe not to the brethren but to God, but He knows anyway, “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, searching the inner parts of the belly”. My spirit is a link with God and He can search me. As a believer you and I who are believers, and I trust all here are on that line, have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Is that true? If you do have the gift of the Holy Spirit, then you have a guest indwelling you. How are you treating that guest? If you are truly converted and have the Holy Spirit indwelling you He will never leave you. Is He dwelling happily within you? If my behaviour is such that I would not want it to come to the light, He could not be happy in me, He will not leave but He will be grieved. The Holy Spirit would be grieved in me. But the God who so loved the world has sent his Son; think of the love of God that He desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son”, the only one He had. These are not theoretical matters or religious matters, they are real and living affections that God’s Son came into this world, and He is the only-begotten One and He dwells in the bosom of the Father. What an intimate link He had with Him, and He gave Him to save this world. Do you know what it cost Him? It cost Him to fix on His Christ, His only-begotten Son, the condemnation of sin.
He bore the sins of many. He condemned sin in the flesh in His Son. He had to break communion with His only-begotten Son because He undertook to work out atonement and take the place of condemned man. The condemnation of sin in the flesh was laid on Christ, He was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Then, for those who lay hold of Him, Christ became their substitute. He bore the sins of many. To get the advantage of Christ as your Saviour you have to lay hold of Him, ‘I want you, Jesus, as my Saviour’. If you do not lay hold of Him then you do not get the blessing. It is not that His work is fractional or 46
limited, His work is such that He gave Himself a ransom for all. That means that every man can lay hold of Christ as Saviour. But if you do not lay hold of Him you do not get the blessing. He bore the sins of many. The many are those who lay hold of Christ. Dear friends, lay hold of Christ as your Saviour, He is a wonderful Person! It says of Him, “no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven”. That is a conundrum to the human mind. Who can limit Christ in relation to His Person coming into humanity and accepting its limitations publicly?
When I say that I mean, when Jesus was in Capernaum, He was not in Jerusalem, He accepted the limitations. His spirit is another matter, the Person and who He was in His deity, He never ceased to be what He was by becoming what He became.
He was perfect in what He became. He remained God, but He moved among men as a Man. Here he puts this to Nicodemus,
“no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven”. There is a mystery attaching to divine Persons.
In Revelation 22 Jesus is coming again. He has testified certain things to certain persons, He says, “the assemblies”.
There are assemblies of believers, (I use this in a simple way).
He is testifying to them, “to the assemblies” that are on the earth. He says, “I am the root and offspring of David”—do you know what that is? Do you know what the root of David is?
What is the Lord referring to when He says, “I am the root and offspring of David”? That was put to the Pharisees by the Lord Himself when He was here and they could not answer Him, that David calls him Lord, yet He is His son. How do you work that out? The root of David refers to the Lord’s deity. Jesus was a divine Person. The offspring of David refers to the fact that He came into manhood and sonship—very simple. “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”.
He is that. Is He a bright and morning star to you? Do you know what the bright and morning star is? In the heavens, in our part of the world, the morning star and the evening star is Venus, it is a planet. If you ever look up in the morning you will see Venus when all the other planets have gone, you will see it because it is so near the earth that it shines when daylight is almost there. It has been called the morning star—
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it speaks of Christ now. When Christ appears publicly the world will know it. He will take control and do two things. He will take the man of sin and the false prophet and cast him into the lake of fire. He will do that. That is a real thing and He will put Satan into the abyss. Scripture is very accurate, that is not the final place for Satan, but it is a temporary place where he can have no more action for the flesh in man and temptation in the millennial day. Christ is the bright and morning star for the believer. When He appears everybody will know it but is He the bright and morning star to you? You have to get up early to see the morning start literally—is He the bright and morning star for you, is He touching your affections? Is He Christ your Saviour? If He is your Saviour He ought to be the bright and morning star. We wait for the day of which it says “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. That would include both the rapture and the appearing; it certainly includes the appearing, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”.
You know, friend, there is an entity called the bride of Christ or the body of Christ? The Spirit is associated with the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. The body of Christ includes every believer. Here the scripture says, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. There is love for Christ. There are many true believers saying Come to Christ, we want you to come, Lord. Are you among those persons or would there be an intrusion into your life and your lifestyle if Christ came?
I was struck once in reading in John 12, “While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may become sons of light.
Jesus said these things, and going away hid himself from them”, v 36. He went out of their midst. How would I feel if Christ went out of my life? Young friend, would it make any difference to you if Christ went out of your life, would it really make any difference to you? Older friend, would it make any difference to you, would your lifestyle change, would your satisfaction change, would your joys change; or if Christ went out of your life would there be no change? What a thing. It says, “and going away hid himself from them”, He went out of their lives and it meant nothing to the Pharisee. He had no place in their affections. Has Christ got a place in your affections?
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Then it says, “let him that hears say, Come”. It is good to have ears to hear, someone is communicating it to you, you may not be immediately in touch with the bright and morning star and the Spirit and the Bride saying Come, but someone is saying Come. Christ is coming. There should be a response in every heart that hears in this meeting this afternoon to say Come. Then it says, “let him that is athirst come; he that will let him take the water of life freely”. Are you satisfied with life?
“let him that is athirst come”, somebody who feels that their lifestyle is not satisfying them.
That leads me to Isaiah 55, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat: yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price! Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not?”—are you spending your efforts for that which does not satisfy the soul? Have you got soul satisfaction? We can have good jobs and good money and all that kind of thing, and spend on things that do not satisfy the soul. That can be true of me.
As a Christian you have to keep judging yourself, you have to keep good relations with the Lord and with the Spirit, or I can be spending my life in that which does not satisfy my soul.
There was a man in the gospels whose harvest was good, nothing wrong with his harvest, but his motives were wrong, “I will take away my granaries and build greater … and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much good things laid by for many years; repose thyself, eat, drink, be merry”, Luke 12: 18,19. Is that your life? Is that my life? Am I a true Christian, are you a true Christian or are you using what you have acquired to buy that which is not satisfying to your soul? Young friend, take stock, “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. What an appeal to every believing heart that the emblems are. He leaves His Supper for us, for every heart that desires to remember Him. What a remembrance. Not only did He die for me, but also He lives for me, He is my life, “Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness”. There is life in natural things which to an extent we enjoy, but there is life in this world which will yield no satisfaction to the believer, the world and Christ do not go together.
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Wilt thou come, or wilt thou linger?
’Tis the Saviour calls
(Hymn 344)
I trust as He is calling today and that there will be answer to His word.
For His Name’s sake.
KIRKCALDY
13th March 2005
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THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS MINISTRY
Matthew 11: 20-30; 13: 1-3, 24-52
J.D.G. For those who were not with us yesterday, we began in Romans 15, verse 8, where it says that “Jesus Christ became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers; and that the nations should glorify God for mercy”. I thought we should consider the Lord Jesus Christ and His ministry, taking account of the fact that He limited Himself to His movements amongst the Jews, but there was to be a wider result than that, as we considered that the nations should glorify God for mercy.
We began our first reading with the thought of the Lord Jesus coming in (Matthew 3) to be baptised at the Jordan, then in the second reading we considered the mount of legislation and the persons who come to Him, persons who were convicted about the light that shone; the great light that shone affected them in their souls, they come to the Lord Jesus, come for further teaching, convicted as to who He is, the One who came in, who was Emmanuel, God with us. Then the Lord Himself took account of them, as the children that God had given Him, so that there was exercise there; He was able to send them out (Matthew 10) amongst the Jews to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It goes beyond that in its teaching; it is a chapter which has been described as producing moral fibre in the believer. There are certain tests, severe tests as to conditions that have to be attached to us as being in the testimony of the Lord Jesus. Today, we come to the matter that the ministry in Israel has been rejected.
Chapter 11 has been described by those who have gone before us as the turning point in the book of Matthew. There is a change of operations, going to the lost sheep of the house of Israel will be taken up again in a coming day, after the church goes, by preachers in Israel; God has not forgotten His ancient people. But now the Lord is going to open up another thought that was in His mind that relates to His thoughts as to the assembly. There are certain feelings that come out in Christ at that point, which Isaiah 49 brings out; we may consider them for a little, before moving on to Matthew 11 where He 51
turns to His Father. Then in chapter 13 where Jesus went out of the house and goes to the seaside and expounds certain parables that concern the public position in the Christian dispensation. Then He goes into the house and there are those who go in with Him; we want to be among those persons who are interested in what is so precious to His heart, particularly in the pearl, but also in the treasure that is in the field, and then too the matter of the gospel net, and the good being gathered into vessels. It is well-known ground we are going over, but I trust there is a measure of help for us as considering particularly the Lord Jesus in the whole matter.
J.S.
As to the part in brackets “(though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength;)”, do you think that would come out in chapter 11 of Matthew’s gospel, where He turns to the Father and says, “I praise thee. Father”?
J.D.G. Yes, I thought that was an interesting verse, “though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified”. I was turning over in my mind also the scripture in John 13, which is in line with what you are speaking about, where it says, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately”, John 13: 31, 32. Divine persons are not defeated, if Israel be not gathered, Christ is going to unfold something that has been hidden in one sense, has it not? It is a great matter; Israel will be brought back, it says in Isaiah 49: 6, “It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”. What an opening up of divine wisdom.
J.M.
Is there a hint in these verses of what was really in His mind, and comes out in Matthew? He starts, “Listen, O
isles”, and then, at the end of the section He says, “that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”. While, as you say, He has initially confined His ministry to the circumcision, what has come in is so great that it cannot be confined to that.
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J.D.G. That is what I thought. It is an expansive thought, it is very interesting in this section how He brings that out,
“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples from afar”.
Not now the Jew, but it is being addressed beyond that, so that the Lord is going to move after chapter 11 in relation to that.
Here, He feels the matter of what He says in verse 4, “And I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God”. It says in the note that it implies exhausting labour; what labours Christ put in to secure, if possible, the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but they refused Him. He is now anticipating something beyond that, to other peoples, looking for an ear, and men that would hearken to the glad tidings in due course.
J.M.
What has come in in Himself is so great that, if it is refused in Israel it cannot be hindered, it goes out into a much wider sphere.
J.D.G. That is right. Although He came in and limited Himself to begin with, yet you can see in Romans 15 that there was something else in His mind, that mercy would extend to the Gentiles. We spoke about it yesterday, there is a great result there. Here, He says, “Listen, O isles”. That is a word to us, whether there is a hearing ear here to what the Lord is saying, some appreciation of what His feelings were; He had deep feelings in regard to the Jew. He leaves the matter with His God, and then the conversation goes on here, from verse 5
to verse 6, showing that divine Persons had something else in mind that was far greater than what would be in Israel.
M.G.W. In Matthew 11, they had not been listening in Capernaum and in all the places where there had been works of power. In chapter 13 His disciples are listening and enquiring, and the more they enquired the more they get.
J.D.G. Yes, so I am sure that is a right principle, if we ask it will be opened unto us, that is the teaching in the early chapters of Matthew. So, if we are here with a hearing ear and an enquiring heart and mind we will get help from this scripture we are considering just now, Isaiah 49. It is good to consider divine feelings.
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J.A.G. It is interesting at the close of Matthew; the whole of the economy is related to the nations, “baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, Matt 28: 19.
J.D.G. Yes, I think it has been referred to, that from about chapter 11 or 12 of Matthew’s gospel it is like a parenthesis, the matter of the Jews being held in abeyance, and looks to the nations coming on to view. It has also been said that Matthew’s gospel was written like the book of Hebrews, to attract persons away from Judaism into Christianity, in line with “go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”, Heb 13: 13. In Matthew 11, it is “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened”. Those are the principles and feelings that lay behind the matters that are on the surface.
R.T.
It speaks of the Lord “who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame”, Heb 12: 2. Would what we are speaking of be the joy lying before Him?
J.D.G. Yes, I think that is right. “Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah”, that is a certain joy and satisfaction of Christ that He is going to be glorified in the eyes of His God, “my God shall be my strength”.
He could look forward to the joy that was before Him. He knew what that joy was, so His spirit is not depressed here, He was relying on His God, to use that expression, He understood the Father had greater things in mind. It may be a small thing to bring the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel, it is a far greater matter what is coming on to view now.
W.L. Do you think the Lord in His preaching in Luke 4 goes beyond the confines of Israel, they just could not stand that?
Does it show what the Lord had in mind even there?
J.D.G. Yes, that is right. They were not prepared for the gospel to come to the nations; what bitterness came out in the book of the Acts as the gospel went to the nations. The Lord Jesus said of Paul, I send thee to the nations afar off. All that was in Christ’s mind here, it was always in His heart. Although He felt deeply the matter that He had laboured in vain, spent His strength for nought, as He says here in the book of Isaiah.
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But He turns to His God, “nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God”.
D.B.R. The Lord is presented as God’s servant, could you say something about that?
J.D.G. Well, who else could He lay His hand upon but Christ?
Israel was supposed to be the servant, that was Israel actually as a nation, but they failed and Christ takes up the matter and becomes the true Servant. He is the One upon whom the Spirit could descend, the One upon whom the Father’s voice could be heard. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 3: 17. He is equal to carrying forward and giving effect to the full counsel of God.
D.B.R. That is helpful, it is most affecting too, perhaps the young could be encouraged to study, as you are suggesting, the years of the Lord’s ministry, and see how He never was once diverted from the divine will. Is that the glory of the servant, do you think?
J.D.G. Yes, I think that is very well put, because a lesser man might have been turned aside here, but Christ was not turned aside. He reproaches the cities in which most of His works of power had taken place, and now He has a resource in His Father that they knew nothing about. In verse 25 of chapter 11, He turns to Him, “Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father”, what an outlet for His affections.
R.G.
Is this pointed up in chapter 42 of Isaiah, do you think? “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth! I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations”.
J.D.G. It is remarkable how the nations come into the prophetic writings. It may have appeared to the Jew, in reading the Old Testament it was the nations set in relation to Israel in the millennium setting, but divine Persons had other things in their minds which were hidden in the Old Testament and now were going to come to light. I think we need to grasp hold of the fact that the Lord Jesus is rejoicing in heart here.
He is going to open up truths that were hidden from the world’s foundation, going on as we will see in chapter 13 to the mystery. It is all going to come out now, what a movement, let 55
us grasp hold of the magnitude of divine movements in these chapters!
J.S.
Do you think the way He refers to the Father as the Lord of heaven and of the earth would envisage what would be secured in the way of heavenly and earthly companies, all named of the Father?
J.D.G. Yes, that is good. It is good to explore the truth in these verses, like turning over a stone on the beach and finding life there, to use a simile. I think you are right in that, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”. There is going to be secured heavenly families and earthly families, all for the divine pleasure, all named of the Father. The Lord Jesus was in the secret of that; we have to understand the Lord had foreknowledge. He knew exactly what was going to take place, what was going to happen but, in His heart, He is bringing out what the divine mind is in these sections now, no longer as to Israel, but as to Christ and the assembly.
J.McK. Could you say something as to the idea of covenant in Isaiah 49?
J.D.G. Well, you will have to help on that one.
J.McK. It says, “and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land”. It is not simply the work that He has done but He is given, is that the emphasis?
J.D.G. Yes, it would carry with it the assurance of all going to be secured through Christ. Our brother is referring to verse 8 of chapter 49, “Thus saith Jehovah—In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages”. I think that is the assurance that Christ will bring all into the fulness of the counsels of God.
J.McK. I thought primarily the covenant was with Israel, but the principle of it carries forward, so that divine faithfulness is in the greatness of the Person who is given the assurance of everything.