SOME FEATURES OF SONSHIP

Galatians 3: 25–29; 4: 1–7, 12; 2 Samuel 9: 9–13; 19: 30; Proverbs 2: 1–9; Malachi 3: 13–18

APG These scriptures refer to sonship and I thought we might enquire as to some of the features that mark sons of God. These scriptures also draw our attention to persons who are in the good of sonship. Verse 26 of Galatians 3, “for ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”, gives us the light of sonship. The passage goes on to refer to the Spirit, “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”. Sonship is not a matter of attainment, as we have been taught, we come into it by faith in Christ Jesus; but we might not be in the full enjoyment of it. Sonship has been set out fully in the Lord Jesus in manhood. Although referred to in the Old Testament, it was not seen properly until the incoming of Christ, “Thou art my son; I this day have begotten thee”, Psalm 2: 7. Believers come into sonship through adoption. The glory of this dispensation involves that we come into sonship in a distinctive way firstly for the pleasure of God. I was thinking of the delight that God has in a company of men in sonship in sympathy with His own thoughts. The thought in sonship is that God has persons who are in sympathy with Himself and with His own thoughts. As we see in Ephesians 1: 5, we are marked out “beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself”, in view of the pleasure of God, but it is also a great blessing for men, and it is to be enjoyed. I trust that we can encourage one another in view of coming into the full enjoyment of our place. We are all God’s by faith in Christ Jesus. There are no classes of sons, we are all on the same ground. Paul says, “Be as I am, for I also am as ye, brethren”. Paul was a son and, as writing this epistle, he was clearly in the joy of sonship; and he is encouraging the saints not to drop to a lower level but to come into the full enjoyment of their place.

I thought that in 2 Samuel in Mephibosheth we see the elevation that marks sons. He likened himself to a dead dog, and yet he was elevated to the king’s table, he became as one of the king’s sons. He was not only in David’s thought for this blessing, but he came into the enjoyment of it. I thought that in chapter 19 we see how a son would speak. He had been slandered but Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take all”.

The book of Proverbs is written by a son. Solomon says, “For I was a son unto my father”, Proverbs 4: 3. There is a good deal of instruction in this book for sons. Another feature of sonship is intelligence. That would be a help to us particularly for the young. “My son”—what affection lay behind that expression! We do not attain to sonship, but we can increase in intelligence and in our understanding of divine thoughts. In Malachi it is an attractive reference at the end of the dispensation, which corresponds to the present time, that there are those who God speaks of, “I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”. It is in God’s heart that sons should serve him at the end of the dispensation. He still has that thought before Him even though there may be only a few. Perhaps we could get help on these lines.

JS It is a great matter to realise that in the present dispensation we are really in the time of sonship. We have the status of being sons through faith in Christ Jesus, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us in the enjoyment of what is proper to sonship, do you think?

APG Yes, it is helpful to see that. Every one who has put their faith in Christ, every believer in the Lord Jesus has a place as a son. God has no lower thought for men. It is the highest place that a man has been given, and then we are not only to be content with the light but would desire to have the conscious enjoyment of our place. “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”. That is distinctive to this dispensation.

JS The matter has been set out for us in Christ coming into manhood in sonship, as we take account of Him too as exalted, we come into the gift of the Spirit as a result of that.

APG We have the full thought of sonship in Christ as exalted. I think that is helpful.

GBG Is God ensuring from His own side that He will have what His heart desires in sending out the Spirit of His Son into our hearts?

APG Yes, that is good. God “sent forth his Son”, and He “sent out the Spirit of his Son”. It is what God is doing for the satisfaction of His own affections. This cry, “Abba, Father” is a cry of affection from sons to the Father.

MGW Would it bring into our souls such a sense that we are loved? You think of the Father in His salutation, “This is my beloved Son”, Matthew 3: 17. One who has such a Father is very much an object of the Father’s affections as brought into this relationship; and then I am brought into the wealth of God’s love for me. Is that the idea?

APG It is good to see that. I was thinking of that scripture, the perfect delight the Father has in Christ. John says, “we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”, John 1: 14. What a contemplation for our affections, and we are brought into the relationship of sonship.

JCG It is a wonderful blessing that “ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”, the Man in that position in glory. Maybe you could help us as to what follows, “For ye, as many as have been baptised unto Christ, have put on Christ”. Can you help us as to the putting on of Christ? That would surely refer to the features of sonship coming to light in the saints, would it?

APG The following verse helps, “There is no Jew nor Greek”. There are no other distinctions; they would disappear as putting on Christ. Paul says in Colossians, “Christ is everything”, Colossians 3: 11. Have you more to say?

JCG I was just thinking of the importance of this reference to the death of Christ in baptism, and then followed by putting on Christ which is really very important for us practically, in the way that we find our place before God and are pleasing to God as sons.

APG Yes, that is the objective; what pleasure God has in this relationship and especially as we are in the enjoyment of it. God can view us as sons in Christ.

JSp The Spirit crying, would that imply deep feeling? I was thinking of when the Spirit came in Genesis, hovering over the face of the deep; there was darkness and distance, but here there is something that will ensure an eternal response for God.

APG That is very helpful, so there is feeling in these words. It comes in in Romans 8 too, the cry, Abba, Father. So it is a feeling that belongs to sonship, that the Spirit brings it about in our hearts, our affections have been secured.

GCMcK It is not the spirit of sonship exactly which is stated, but the Spirit of His Son. What do you think of that?

APG I would be glad of your thought about it.

GCMcK It seems so distinctive, that very Spirit, the Spirit of His Son. It brings it in not only in dignity as associated with Christ, but with the same feelings, something of the same enjoyment of relationship, do you think?

APG One of the main thoughts connected to sonship is liberty. I think that would be involved in it, liberty with the Father. It says, “Then are the sons free” (Matthew 17: 26), referring to Peter as associated with Christ.

NJH Could we have sonship without Christ being Son? I was just thinking, Jehovah said, “Let my son go” (Exodus 4: 23), but you could not exactly tell by the relationship in which Israel stood that they understood what sonship was, but now that Christ has come in we come into that relationship, is that right?

APG I am sure that is right. It was not fully understood in the previous dispensation, but since Christ has come it has been fully set out and we come into it. It is through the work of redemption that we come into it. It says, “that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship”.

JAG Could the inheritance be linked with it, “but if son, heir also through God”, and in Romans, “Christ’s joint heirs”, Romans 8: 17?

APG Mr Darby’s hymn says, ‘but shares All it possesses with its loved co-heirs’ (Hymn 249). Everything that Christ has as Heir, we have been brought to share. Heirship is for our enjoyment, do you think?

JAG We are wealthy enough to enjoy the intimacy of the relationship and the warmth of it.

APG It has been said that it is like an income that goes with the status, so that we can enjoy the relationship, but the inheritance which we have is associated with Christ.

JAG The glory is linked with it. He says, “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one”, John 17: 22.

APG Yes, that is helpful.

JS I think in this reference to “when the fulness of the time was come” you might say God was looking on to this time when He would have men in sonship for His pleasure.

APG That is interesting. It is of great moment, the dispensation which is in faith, when God has this answer in sonship in the saints. It is the greatest dispensation. It says, “before faith came” and again “But, faith having come”, so it is the time of sonship.

JS Do you think it is a great matter for us to realise that when we accept the gospel in faith we come into this relationship of sonship?

APG And then we come into the liberty of it, and have liberty in the service of God, do you think? We cannot have a part rightly in the assembly apart from sonship, and being in the enjoyment of sonship.

CKR Would you include sonship in the preaching of the gospel?

APG Yes, I think that is good. It has been remarked that only a son can preach the glad tidings.

CKR Would that dignify and add a fulness to the preaching of the glad tidings?

APG The Galatians were going back to a system of demand but you could never preach the glad tidings from that point of view, could you? The glad tidings is the richness of God’s supply in Christ.

MGW Could you help us further on what it says, “So thou art no longer bondman, but son; but if son, heir also through God”?

APG The Galatians had gone back to a system of bondage, what belonged to a previous time. It is interesting that the singular is mentioned in that verse; “but if son, heir also through God”. God’s thought is that there should be a company of sons, many sons brought to glory, but there is also the individual side suggested in that verse, which is very attractive.

MGW I have often wondered how long it takes me to get to this. I would have settled happily for being a forgiven sinner, and taken away from judgment, and being blessed in Christ, but there is a tremendous expanse in the relationship and the affections that belong to sonship. In what way can I continue being a bondman as if I have to slog at Christianity instead of enjoying it?

APG Do you think that the secret in being free from bondage is in the Spirit? In 2 Kings 4, the woman was brought typically into the enjoyment of sonship through making room for the Spirit. Her sons were to be taken into bondage. She undervalued what was in the Spirit, saying, “Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil”, 2 Kings 4: 2. But she had a pot of oil in the house, and she learned how to make room for the Spirit. That was really the secret of her coming into the enjoyment of sonship.

DCB Does it help to see that the distinct purpose of God in sending out His Son was that we might receive sonship? He does refer to redeeming those under law, but really what God has in mind in the whole incoming of Christ was the bringing in of sonship.

APG That is a very attractive thought. The footnote refers to a gift; ‘Receive’ has an active force here. What a gift it is; “God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship”. That is the objective, is that what you are thinking? Receiving suggests some appreciation on our part.

GBG So we are sons all the time, not just when we are gathered together. You mentioned the service of God and the fulness of enjoyment of it. God’s inheritance in His saints. Believers have to do with the Father, giving thanks for our food and all that kind of thing, and I wonder if it is included in God’s inheritance in the saints. There is a great yield for God with persons in liberty in relation with divine Persons.

APG I think that colours everything in our lives. If we are in the good of sonship it would colour our relations with one another and in our testimony too. There cannot be a testimony apart from it.

JS Do you think Paul in calling attention to himself, “Be as I am” would be to help us in our understanding of sonship? It would affect his own manner of life, not only the mystery but his whole manner of life; the evidence of a man moving in the liberty of sonship.

APG That is very helpful. In Galatians 1, Paul says “God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me” (Galatians 1: 15, 16). This line of teaching was mainly brought out in Paul’s ministry and he expressed it in his ways too. He told Timothy to take account of his ways.

JAG “Be as I am”. Paul was the expression of all that is to be enjoyed in the Father’s house in Luke 15.

APG Luke 15 is a good scripture to think of. The son’s recovery was for the Father’s pleasure.

JAG You can understand it was the Father’s disposition and longings which are related to the glad tidings. Our brother spoke about what we preach. One of the hymns says, ‘Peace, sonship, joy, the Holy Spirit giv’n’ (Hymn 123). It is very comprehensive.

APG ‘God’s secret things, long treasured up in heav’n’. The elder son was not in sympathy with the Father.

JCG The reference to “Be as I am” brings out the inward feelings and would confirm what was said earlier as to “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. That involves that the person is secured, his affections are secured. It is very close to Romans 5, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5: 5), but it involves that there is affection in relation to what God has gifted me.

APG That is an interesting connection, as to the Spirit operating in our hearts and in view of responsive affection crying “Abba, Father”, the words that the Lord Himself used according to Mark’s gospel.

JCG I thought that the reference in Luke 15 helps, because the younger son wanted to come back and confess his sin, and be a bondman, but he did not realise the greatness of the Father’s thoughts. They were expressed in the Father’s compassion and the Father’s kisses. It showed that he had been brought back into the true position of being a son.

APG So there is always the danger that we might take lower ground, do you think? The Galatians were dropping to a system of bondage. Any departure from the truth would always be away from the glory of this dispensation. This would maintain us in what belongs to the dispensation.

GCMcK So sonship is heavenly then, a heavenly relationship which is superior. Dropping down to the thought of a bondman belongs to what is on the earth. We enjoy something so vastly superior that it must cast its light on what we are down here, do you think?

APG Yes, that is a good way to put it. It belongs to heaven and it is eternal. It is a permanent thought, there is no possibility of losing our place as sons. We are children of God down here, but as you say sonship belongs to heaven.

JM I was thinking of what we have been taught that sonship involves intelligent affections. That is that God brings us into His own realm and His own thoughts; therefore the inheritance referred to is really our inheritance.

APG Yes, that is helpful. It comes into Ephesians 1 that intelligence belongs to sonship. Think of the Father’s delight in Christ, in the Beloved, and He has a company of sons who find delight in Christ too! I thought that Proverbs would help us as to intelligence, and that we may be exercised to increase in the intelligence that belongs to sonship.

JM Therefore we can be responsive to God at His own level of thought. It is really not only for our enjoyment, but it is for God Himself that we should be intelligent as to what is in His own mind.

APG We are to have some intelligence as to His purposes and counsels, do you think? Sons would have an appreciation of these glorious things.

JSp Would it also involve that we are sympathetic with divine operations? Initially, even in creation, the sons of God shouted for joy. They were angelic beings, but the thought of being intelligently sympathetic with all that God is doing is a fine feature.

APG Yes, that is an interesting scripture in Job. It says, “all the sons of God shouted for joy”, Job 38: 7. There were none missing. But at the present time think of what God is doing, and there are persons who are sympathetic with Himself, in what He is securing at the present time for His own pleasure.

MGW Not only do I come into a relationship and an arrangement of things where I am very dearly loved, but the Spirit works in my soul so that God has a response in affection. We are secured as those who love God through all this, and I think you had in mind that Mephibosheth was a classic example of that. David secured his heart that day, a heart that loved him and was true to him through some of the most sorrowful chapters that succeed through to 2 Samuel 19, do you think?

APG Yes, it would be good to think about Mephibosheth. He referred to himself as a dead dog. We see the riches of divine grace, the kindness of God according to Ephesians.

CKR Would you say a word on adoption? Could you help us to understand that a little, for we come into sonship through adoption, do we not? What does that mean?

APG The scripture would help us where Jacob said, “Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon”, Genesis 48: 5. Christ was born into the relationship. “Thou art my Son; I this day have begotten thee” (Psalm 2: 7), but we come into it by adoption. Can you help us?

CKR I wondered whether Mephibosheth is a good example of that because it says he was “as one of the king’s sons”. He was not that naturally but he is elevated to this level to the king’s table. Adoption is an elevated thought, is it not?

APG Yes, that is very helpful. I had not thought of that but adoption comes into this chapter. As you say it is very elevated, “from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy, To set him among nobles”, 1 Samuel 2: 8. Mephibosheth was lame; it was not what he could do for David exactly, but that he was enjoying his place at the king’s table.

JSp There is a distinct personal side here. David just says one word, Mephibosheth, just his name. That is beautiful, is it not? Every one has been marked out beforehand personally by God.

APG It is interesting to see that there is an individual side. It is God’s thought to have a company of sons but we come into it individually. It says in Galatians, “but if son, heir also”, and here one brought into it, an example of what divine grace can produce. It is what God is securing for His own pleasure. Mephibosheth clearly appreciated it. The Galatians obviously were not appreciating their place.

GBG Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem.

APG That would be the centre, where David was. It really suggests the assembly for us, do you think?

GBG Do we need to enjoy sonship to have a living and right part in the assembly. It is sons who form the assembly.

APG It is helpful to see that. We have all been given the same Spirit, there is only one Spirit. “He has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. We have all been given the same Spirit so we have a link with one another. So sonship underlies the enjoyment that belongs to the assembly.

JS Matthew’s gospel would confirm that, if we are to enjoy our place in the assembly and fill it out rightly. In chapter 17 the Lord says to Peter, “Then are the sons free” (Matthew 17: 26), and in chapter 18 He opens up the truth of the assembly.

APG That is very good. Earlier in chapter 17 when they are on the mountain of transfiguration we have the Father’s voice, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight” (Matthew 17: 5). Then the Lord instructs Peter on the liberty of sonship saying, “Then are the sons free”, before teaching about the assembly in chapter 18.

JS It says, “he did eat continually at the king’s table” there in Jerusalem. Would you say something about that?

APG Well, he was maintained at that level. We may be influenced onto a lower level, even Peter was in Galatians. He came under influence; even David was in 2 Samuel 19. He was influenced by the legal line which Ziba would represent, but Mephibosheth was maintained at the level of the glory of the dispensation, do you think?

JS I think it is essential for us therefore, that we receive this kind of food in order to be sustained and become well nourished in sonship.

APG Yes, that is good. The food really would be Christ.

TDB Could I ask if you would say more about liberty associated with sonship?

APG It is really one of the main thoughts in sonship. We would enjoy liberty in the service of God; we would encourage the younger ones to have part in it. We may enjoy liberty in the prayer meeting, but to have liberty in the service of God is the greatest portion for sons. It might seem a small thing outwardly, but God has great pleasure in our enjoyment of sonship, so that our affections are engaged in response to Him. I would be glad of your own thoughts as to it.

TDB The Lord says, “I knew that thou always hearest me” (John 11: 42) referring to prayer.

APG That was sonship in Christ. He was always pleasing to the Father; He was always heard.

GCMcK The son has rights and privileges in the house. That would be associated with his liberty. That is something a servant cannot have but the son has rights. He belongs there, he has a dignity and status there, do you think?

APG That is good, you are thinking that the Son abides in the house for ever. It is the Son there who sets free (John 8: 36). We have spoken about liberty and it is under the touch of Christ that we come into liberty. We need to prove that ourselves, that touch from Himself that would set us free.

GCMcK Yes, what prerogatives he has in the house. He is the Son so if He sets us free what great liberty we are brought into.

MGW Do you think that as he took this on it was a tremendous step forward? The instruction to Ziba was “And Mephibosheth thy master’s son shall eat bread at my table continually”, then the last verse says, “for he did eat continually at the king’s table”. He was as one of the king’s sons, was he not?

APG Yes, that is good, he actually came into the enjoyment of it. It was not just David’s thought. Then we see how he shines in chapter 19.

JAG Do we learn this at the Lord’s supper, David’s sons were chief rulers, persons of great influence for good. I suppose Mephibosheth would have learned something far greater than the mere materialistic side of things. He had the king himself; he would never get anything better than that.

APG That is good. He was feeding at the king’s table and as a result expressed these features which belong to sonship.

JAG Such royalty is manifest in the loaf and the cup.

APG So in chapter 19 he says, “Let him even take all, since my lord the king is come again in peace to his own house”. Ziba had spoken against him but Mephibosheth was concerned that David had his place, that his rights were acknowledged. He was not concerned about his own rights. I think that those who enjoy sonship can speak in that way.

JAB Could you just expand a little on that? Sons behave in a certain way, do they not? Say some more about how sons behave.

APG They would be completely free of any petty feeling, and the spirit of retaliation; there was nothing of that with Mephibosheth. His only concern was that Christ, in type, should have His place. David was the man after God’s own heart and Mephibosheth was really in sympathy with that. David had his place; that was his only concern. Can you help us more?

JAB I just feel the test of what you are saying. We all know that what you are saying is true but the test for me is, How do I behave? Not just when I am at the meeting either, because as has already been said this is all the time.

APG I think what you say is a very good exercise for us. The test is to be maintained at this level, we can so easily drop. Even David lowered the level here, coming under Ziba’s influence, but Mephibosheth was maintained in what belongs to the glory of the dispensation.

JS Was he concerned about David’s place? It is Christ’s place typically; “the king has come again in peace to his own house”. Sonship would operate, do you think, towards that end?

APG Yes, that is helpful. Christ is to have His rightful place and sons would appreciate that. Could we just have a word on Proverbs? There is instruction for sons in Proverbs, especially relating to what is adverse. Solomon is speaking and he says, “For I was a son unto my father” (Proverbs 4: 3), suggesting one in sympathy with God and His thoughts. The father’s interests would be his interests and he is making an appeal here, “My son”. It is mentioned many times in this book. He refers to “my commandments” and to wisdom and understanding and discernment. He says, “if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures”. These things may not be on the surface, but exercise is required to go in for these treasures.

JSp The thought of discernment is needed in these days, is it not?

APG It comes into the scripture in Malachi too, discernment as to those who serve God and those who do not serve Him. It is an important feature where things are mixed. They discerned what was in God’s mind. I would be glad of your help.

JSp We are in a very mixed state of things where things are confused, and the enemy is adept at putting a face on things, but we are to see what is of God. The son would know automatically what is of God and what is not, what is of man. He would be able to make that distinction very clearly.

APG Yes, that is helpful. We have been speaking of the Spirit and He would help us in understanding. The Spirit is really the secret of understanding divine things rightly. It is impossible to understand them rightly without the Spirit’s help.

MJH The Son teaches us the greatest things. He is protected; “no one knows the Son but the Father”, but then “nor does any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him”, Matthew 11: 27.

JAG Do you think the better we know the divine standard the better will be our discernment?

APG Yes, that is helpful. As we are occupied with what is right and what is according to God’s thoughts we are able to discern anything that is out of accord with it.

MGW What would you say about the remarkable energy, faith and purpose of heart with the son here; the son would want to please his father, would he not? “Thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and thou apply thy heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after discernment and liftest up thy voice to understanding; if thou seekest her as silver”, and so on. In a way divine things have come to us from the divine side and they have poured down on us in blessing. Is this another side of the truth where the son who loves his father would in real earnest of purpose seek these things to discern and have wisdom and understanding?

APG Sons would have an interest in divine things, the things which belong to the Father. We may have the status of sons but have little interest in the Father’s things; we might be over interested in earthly things, or things in the world. We are to be set free from all these things and find our interest in what belongs to the Father and the Son.

JCG You mentioned at the beginning that this scripture brings out the intelligence of sonship. There is frequent reference to understanding. Is that part of the bearing of intelligence of sons, not so much that there is wisdom and knowledge, which comes in as well, but understanding seems to be highlighted here?

APG I think understanding comes from the affections. We

have reference in scripture to an understanding heart. Lydia’s heart was “opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul”, Acts 16: 14. She had an understanding of Paul’s teaching as her affections were secured.

JCG The queen of Sheba came to Solomon who explained everything that she asked him; there was nothing hidden, showing the great understanding that God had given to him, and really reflects the position of sonship with us, do you think?

APG Yes, Solomon is particularly marked by wisdom. He was the object of affection, God loved him and wisdom flows from love; that is now seen in the assembly.

JS He asked for “an understanding heart”, 1 Kings 3: 9. Do you think it is a matter of how our desires are set in this direction? The book of Proverbs comes in to help us in the detail of how to arrive at that, do you think?

APG Yes, there is a great deal of help in these chapters, especially as to understanding, and being kept in the pathway that is pleasing to the Lord. There are so many things that might divert us.

CKR Are you feeling that there is an exercise for fatherhood in our local meetings, to go in for this line of intelligence and affection and conduct, so that the whole aspect of the testimony is being enhanced by some display of sonship?

APG Yes, that is helpful. Paul says to the Corinthians, “yet not many fathers” (1

Corinthians 4: 15), but Paul himself was a father. A brother said recently that if there was not an older brother in a locality there was a lack, as older ones would particularly express that feature.

CKR There is more needed than affection; affection is very important but the side of intelligence and understanding of the truth is also absolutely essential, is it not?

APG One of the main features of sonship is coming to the full intelligence of God’s thoughts.

GCMcK It is noticeable that Solomon in speaking to his son is actually speaking as a son.

He says, “I was a son unto my father”, Proverbs 4: 3. I was thinking of the remark as to what is transmitted in the spirit of it. I would like help on that.

APG Yes, he was a son unto his father, a son of David. He was also king of Israel, so there is authority in it too. One of the first things he mentions in this section is the commandments having a place in view of wisdom and understanding. Paul spoke of the Lord’s commandment.

NJH We should look for these features in the fathers. I was thinking of what has been said, and Paul wrote, “thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching, conduct”, 2 Timothy 3: 10. We should look out for these features.

APG Yes, that is good. I would just refer to Malachi. This prophecy was at the end of the dispensation corresponding with our own time. The background is that there were those who were saying “It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we keep his charge ... ?”, an indifferent attitude to what is for God’s pleasure. But the prophet draws attention to those that feared Jehovah, “Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”. It is a very attractive suggestion, “his own son”, an expression that is used as to Christ. These persons are marked by features of sonship in sympathy with God’s feelings, God’s thoughts, and were concerned as to what was pleasing to Him.

GCMcK It was his own son who served him, so really what we are in dignity and affection in intelligence as sons, should lie behind all service, do you think?

APG Yes, that goes back to Exodus, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”. Any true service could only be in the spirit of sonship.

GCMcK It lies behind priesthood too. You get that thought in the sons of Aaron, it is very wonderful to think of it, everything being enriched from that point of view, by what persons really are, do you think?

APG These persons here were faithful at the end of the dispensation. There is a link with the beginning of Luke’s gospel in Simeon and Anna, persons who were marked by sympathy with what God was doing in the greatness of the incoming of Christ.

MGW It is a different speaking, is it not? “Your words have been stout against me”, and sadly like the other matters. How do you make that out? They did not know, it was a lack of understanding, but now there is a different speaking, they “spoke often one to another”. What a lovely affectionate mutuality there is about that and they had great things to speak about, had they not?

APG They would not be speaking at the level of the world but at the divine level. Our occasions are marked by that, conversations as to divine things.

JS They are marked by this feature of discernment which was referred to earlier, “ye shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not”.

APG Some were outwardly marked by serving God but there was no pleasure for God in it; other persons were genuine, they were faithful. They were like Philadelphia, do you think? They had not denied His name, they kept the word of His patience. These were the features that are seen here, Philadelphian features.

JS So they would be able to discern what was pleasing to the Lord. Heaven was taking account of these persons, “a book of remembrance was written”.

APG It was “written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. It was in view of God’s pleasure. It is a link with “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom”, Proverbs 9: 10.

JCG It is very fine that when God presents the fact that what is wrong in verse 13, there is the answer in “them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. That dependent attitude of believers in the light of that brings out God’s appreciation, and really sets the saints in a heavenly setting, do you think? What God says there, “a peculiar treasure” and “I will spare them as a man spareth his own son”, and then discerning between the righteous and the wicked, it is God’s appreciation of the way the saints are going on and fearing Him and thinking on His name. Is it an encouragement for the present time?

APG I thought it is an encouragement for us at the present time to be maintained in faithfulness to Himself.

JAG Even thinking on His name is taken account of, “Jehovah God merciful and gracious ... keeping mercy unto thousands”, Exodus 34: 6, 7. Nothing at all that is positive in the saints is lost.

APG The reference to treasure shows how God values these features in the saints.

NJH The Lord was really discerning in John 8 based on sonship by their works, and it is interesting that it comes in here at the end of Malachi.

APG You mean they were not in keeping with their claims as to being Abraham’s children.

NJH They were not doing the works of Abraham. There is a certain proof of sonship by serving God.

APG God has in view sons serving Himself. It is a privilege to have a part in that. It is only in liberty that we can serve Him in affection and in the feelings that belong to sonship. The background at the present time is Laodicea where there is indifference to what is for Christ, and the features we are speaking of are especially attractive to divine Persons at such a time.

JS They shall be unto Me a peculiar treasure, My own possession, there is something that God really values.

Reading at Dundee
10 March 2007

KEY TO INITIALS

T. D. Beveridge

G. B. Grant

C. K. Robinson

J. A. Brown

J. C. Gray

J. Spinks

D. C. Brown

N. J. Henry

J. Strachan

J. A. Gardiner

G. C. McKay

M. G. Wood

A. P. Grant

J. Mitchell