THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HEBREWS
Hebrews 2: 1-4; 3: 7-11; 6: 4-6; 10: 15, 16;
B.M.D. It would be clear that the Spirit will now engage us, I trust for our help and encouragement and maybe our searching. We have often been told that the epistles give us the teaching, the gospels the truth in a cardinal sense, and the types give us the picture and detail. So we appreciate that we have a good deal, I trust helpfully, to engage us. We should consider these four references to the Spirit in Hebrews. Firstly the distributions of the Spirit. Then in chapter 3 the voice—the voice of the Spirit—“To-day if ye will hear his voice”. In chapter 6 it is “partakers of the Holy Spirit”. Those three sections are all in an area of warnings which I trust He will be pleased to call our attention to, because, I would venture to say, these are very current things. It was remarked earlier, the Spirit is presented as the great answer to the tendency to slip away, which leads to turning away and finally to falling away. In, chapter 10 again it is the witness of the Spirit which brings us again to the great positive reality of the presence of that unspeakable free gift. I trust we will be helped together to see that the urgent need at the moment is the recognition of the Spirit. Then I thought the type would help us because it is like the recovery of the truth in the energy and power of the Spirit. These wells, that Abraham had dug, had been filled up with earth, and therefore were not operating, and the re-digging is like a getting back to first principles, and there is conflict until they reach Rehoboth. I do trust that we can reach something in this reading that may answer to a sphere where there is no strife. I believe the secret lies in the recognition of the Spirit. We have been favoured in our times to have had leadership which we greatly and rightly respected, but it was not that the Lord had to continue the testimony thus.
The feeling is that it would be in trusted and faithful persons He could maintain His testimony, as in the recognition, not only of the gain of the teaching, but the presence of the Spirit. My conviction is that that is how the testimony as to this dispensation will close.
P.M. We were reminded this morning of the personal glory of Jesus as over against what is official. Is the Spirit seeking an answer to what is personally attractive to Christ through individual links with Himself, rather than what is official amongst the saints?
B.M.D. Well, I would think that fully; the types again would help us in that regard in taking the unofficial form of the servant for instance in Genesis 24. You see He has never relinquished His commission, He will secure the bride for the heavenly Man. The public breakdown of the church will not in any way interfere with the divine objective being reached. Our concern would be in the grace of God to be identified with such a testimony to the end. It will go through in any case, it is not dependent on any one of us. How humble we should be as recognising the critical times we are in, and the grace that gives us such a privileged part.
E.C.M. Is that why in Timothy the Spirit speaks expressly? I wondered if that was the connection with the voice.
B.M.D. Very much so, because he speaks of how some shall apostatise from the faith and, therefore, our great reliance now, would you not think, is on the voice of the Spirit, extending to what He is saying currently to the assemblies? Our ears need to be tuned to that voice: the overcomers will get it, will they not?
E.C.M. Yes. Do you think what is really in the mind of the Spirit is that we should be here as overcomers?
B.M.D. Well, I suppose that is the basis upon which we are here, and how we are to walk together, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Oh to be kept in the lowliness of that spirit! Then from the divine side the furnishings are still there, the distributions of the Spirit; they came from an ascended Christ, they have not been taken away, they are still here in the Spirit, but alas how few available in the present testimony; how we mourn their loss.
P.M. Do you have in mind that the distributions of the Holy Spirit involve the gifts in the body?
B.M.D. In the assembly, yes, I wondered that. As we get them, the four, the universal character seen in Ephesians—some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists (we could do with some more), and some shepherds and teachers—one dual gift.
P.M. I wondered if the fact that it is personal to the Spirit here and as such making nothing of the gifts would help us to see the power in which every operation is to be carried through. Is it David who said, the Holy Spirit spoke by me, see 2 Sam 23: 2?
B.M.D. Well, it is very good to be reminded of that because the clerical element publicly has displaced the power of the Spirit. It is very solemn how Christendom generally is dominated by the clerical principle. We thought we were clear of it, but what happened? Let us beware of it, let us take the warning by the Spirit in case anything of that character should rebuild itself.
R.T. Is the idea of distribution to maintain one whole? It is a bit like the Levites distributed through Israel, is it? There is the one character distributed through to maintain the one whole.
B.M.D. Yes. That would give us the Ephesian view, universally, would it not? Gifts are not local, they are universal, the fact of four of them would strengthen that, but when it comes to the Corinthian side it is more detailed, coming down to “helps” and various gifts, more extensive, but they are set not in the body but the assembly. Is that how you would understand it?
R.T. Yes. I thought it was a divine Person, “distributions of the Holy Spirit”; that maintains a standard and maintains the unity, and maintains what is suitable to the pleasure of God.
B.M.D. I believe that, and it should affect us profoundly that two of the Persons have taken that mediatorial position in view of securing an answer to the purpose of God. I was thinking this morning of John 17 where the Lord said, “I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth”, v 19. It is unthinkable that that prayer to the Father will not find a rich and a full answer, and then the Spirit coming in and taking that third place in the economy to bring about a full subjective answer to the counsels of God.
R.E.T. Does the Spirit help us to see the need of what is priestly so that the greatness of all that we have been speaking about this morning, attaching to Christ, may be maintained and safeguarded. Believers have been endowed with much precious truth, although many may not know of it, and I think the Spirit would help us to get the preciousness of it, would He not?
B.M.D. Well, I like the reference to the priesthood because that is our measure you know, you are no more than what you are in the presence of God. In the recovery in Hezekiah the priest and the levite merge, it is very instructive. So we have got to see that these lines run along together, whatever would be effective amongst us must be in the power of the Spirit. There is a great need for effective ministry. We are not lacking in ministry, but alas, we do have to say humbly, is there a full subjective answer? How divine feelings must enter into that; we should be affected by it.
A.H.M. So the Holy Spirit took control at Pentecost, did He?
B.M.D. Yes, quite so, go on.
A.H.M. He has never relinquished His charge, but He has undertaken to bring about the purpose and counsels of God in the saints in this very scene.
B.M.D. I think we could safely say that; He has never relinquished His commission in that sense, and He will secure an answer finally, but do we not get the groanings of the Spirit, and do we not need to enter somewhat into the feelings of divine Persons, how they regard the whole position? If the Lord wept over Jerusalem, what does He not feel as to Christendom?
A.H.M. Would you be free to say a bit more about the groanings of the Spirit?
B.M.D. Well, it comes in Romans 8, does it not, “groanings which cannot be uttered” (v 26); it is a deeper thing, He searches the depths of God. It would be something reflected in ourselves as indwelt by the Spirit, if we can speak that way, because He is not incarnate—it comes out through the brethren. He can speak directly as He did at Antioch, but it would be through somebody. So that His feelings would come out in what is amongst us in the Spirit of Christ. I believe if we knew more of it, it would strengthen the inward bond of affinity spiritually with one another, because there is nothing like suffering to draw the brethren together in a tenderness of affection for one another.
C.C.I. Would the seven spirits which are before His throne link up with this idea of distribution?
B.M.D. Well, it would be the Spirit, I suppose, in a full sense, would it not—seven—but it would be the Spirit in a complete sense, and, as you say, bringing out variety in the distributions of the gifts. Is that what was in your mind?
C.C.I. To each assembly the Lord gives a specific word, but it seems as if the Spirit is left at liberty to work out His distributions that are necessary for each position or state of the assembly that was particularly in His mind.
B.M.D. I think we should be attracted by the idea of variety, because each gift has its own impress of Christ; it would give a certain character to His service, but then they perfectly merge, they are one, they came from the one Spirit. That of course is filled out in 1 Corinthians 12, it is the one Spirit or the same Spirit. These are not just things we look at at a distance, we see that they operate, they work organically, particularly in the local meeting, but even in a meeting like this, should we not have some sense of organic links with one another?
J.W. You spoke of the need to recognise the Spirit. Could you help us as to how we may recognise the Spirit? What would help us in that?
B.M.D. He is here, God is amongst us in the Spirit. He is here in this meeting, God is here; how careful we need to be in His presence; God is here in the full sense in the Spirit. We just need to recognise that. We would never ever be casual or negligent; God is here; that is what that man said when he fell upon his face, God is amongst you.
J.W. One evidence would be the word of God coming to us, would it, in the searching character, as that man found in Corinth?
B.M.D. In that case it was of a searching character, I suppose, but it is not always that, is it? It brings encouragement, and comfort, and should always edify. It is not always a searching word.
C.B. How many times do we sing the lines of that hymn?
God’s word obey, these wondrous blessings share—
The Spirit’s comfort, guidance, love and care.
(No.123)
We may sing it, but what about the experience of it?
B.M.D. Yes, He loves us too well to let us slip away, and the love of the Spirit is amongst the brethren, and it would come out in the genuineness of our care for one another; we do not want anyone to slip away.
V.E.W. Is there a constant need of sensitiveness and tenderness to be with us?
B.M.D. It means that we need to be near one another; get into one another’s homes, get close to a brother and a sister; maybe we learn to know one another in the meeting, but in a brother’s home you get nearer to him. It is like the extension of the family idea in experience and enjoyment.
B.E.S. Why do you say the word is not always a searching word?
B.M.D. Well, a true conscience would always be sensitive to adjustment—we would recognise that—but then the brethren need to be lifted up and cheered and encouraged. All I meant was there is variety in the way the word comes to us; you think it would always have an edge?
B.E.S. Well, it is living and operative and it discerns between even such close things as the thoughts and intents of the heart.
B.M.D. Yes, and it is sharper than any two-edged sword. Therefore it would have an edge especially to one who is in the closest links with Christ. Such would always be saying, What more could I do? Have I reached the divine end yet? Among the vessels king Cyrus brought forth were twenty-nine knives in the recovery in Ezra, a number you cannot divide, which supports what you say. So there would be an edge to the word, but remember, never leave the brethren depressed.
G.C.B. It is because it is the word of God and not the word of man.
B.M.D. Just so, and it is that He knows what we need: the Spirit knows what we need.
G.W.E. In Revelation it says, “What the Spirit says”. Would that be each occasion, because we limit it to the ministry meeting, but would it not be any occasion?
B.M.D. Surely, we should always look for the prophetic word. So that brings us to chapter 3, “To-day if ye will hear his voice”; that is what He is saying currently. Would we not hear what is prophetic in the morning meeting, or the prayer meeting? At any time you cannot limit the Prophet; thank God for the Prophet, He is always there, even since time began.
B.W.W. At Pentecost in Acts 2 the detail includes “as the Spirit gave them to speak forth”, v 4. There is remarkable detail in the words used there, and would make full room for variety as you have been saying, because there were many of them who spoke, and they would be speaking to considerable variety of need, and hence the Spirit being who He is could, through those: one hundred and twenty perhaps, meet vast need of varied kinds.
B.M.D. I think it supports the idea; there is variety, and we need sensitivity to discern that it is the Spirit’s voice.
E.C.M. Could you say something on the emphasis in chapter 3, that seems to be on the word “To-day”?
B.M.D. Well, how much further does faith look anyway? It is a day at a time. It means that the Spirit’s voice is always current, and the warning, if the brethren will bear with this, is, not to harden your heart. It is a very solemn thing, hardness of heart; it came out in the twelve, and if it came out in them; am I free? What is it, tell me, that keeps us tender and soft in our feelings?
E.C.M. I was struck by the word when it was read, “harden not your heart”. It is a very solemn word.
B.M.D. The intrusion is very subtle, as in the provocation, as if you may have much to complain about. That might not be the correct meaning but it might have an application. So easily the flesh will intrude, whereas the spirit of Christ would resolve the whole matter.
D.E.R. Is what you are saying illustrated by Stephen? They hardened their hearts and refused to listen to the Spirit’s present voice that day; of course he had to suffer, but it was the Spirit’s voice they were resisting, was it not?
B.M.D. It would not have been easy with those stones coming at him; just put yourself in that position. It would not be easy, but no vindictiveness. He was near his Master, was he not, in what he said, and he maintained the dispensation? In every issue is it not of first importance to maintain the dispensation? We never need to defend ourselves, but we always need to defend Christ.
R.E.T. Does Paul help us in regard to the way that he speaks, I myself with the mind serve God’s law, and his great love for Christ? It is independence that grieves the Spirit, is it not? Independence, in the mind of man and wilfulness; we are still in a mixed condition and we are not very far away from it, are we?
B.M.D. Well, that is the Philistine you see, philosophy and vain deceit, they are directly over against these wells that were dug. Abraham dug them but what did the Philistine do? Fill them up with earth. Actually earth may be a bit nearer to us than we think. I do not think there is too much difference between earthliness and worldliness, and they knock constantly at the door. Let us keep that door shut and make room for the Spirit.
P.M. You spoke earlier of the Spirit’s testimony; does the Spirit always give testimony amongst the people of God as to what is needed by direction and action at any time?
B.M.D. I am sure of that; there is always a testimony, someone is always in the secret. I suppose that would be the prophet. He does not hide, as with Abraham, what He is about to do, and there will be someone in the secret of the divine mind.
P.M. So we should never be at a loss as to what to do in any situation, but should have direction and the power to carry it out.
B.M.D. Surely. If our minds are subject as you say, with the mind I serve God’s law, we are governed by another principle, not the principle of flesh. Oh the lesson to learn to have no confidence in the flesh, it is a deep lesson!
C.B. He was in the good of those seven ewe lambs that you were telling us about the other night, so he digs three wells, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ abounding.
B.M.D. Yes, that is the answer, that is how the Spirit would show Himself, in the spirit of another Man. It is disarming, morally it is the greatest power in the universe, and within our reach as we humbly make room for the blessed Spirit. As our brother says, the assembly is never driven to the wall; Christ loves the assembly, and delivered Himself up for it. Paul says, We have the mind of Christ.
C.B. So Abraham brings in those ewe lambs, the grace of Christ, that effectively deals with the Philistine.
B.M.D. He met the situation as a giver, he had spiritual wealth to do so conclusively, and even with Lot he would not quarrel—you go that way, I will go another way—he would be pretty easy to get on with, would he not? I do not mean by that he would surrender a principle. As recovered, Abraham was no compromiser!
J.W. Would the Spirit’s testimony, which has been referred to, include the fact that the Spirit would make things known as they truly are, make things plain in that sense?
B.M.D. Well, exactly. So sometimes we have to wait on the Spirit, things do not always appear just on the surface. How we need patience with one another in things that come up, and let endurance have its perfect work.
Now in the next passage it is a warning (chap 6); maybe we need not spend too much time on it, but there it is in the Scriptures that it is possible to be a partaker of the Holy Spirit and yet, dare we say, be lost. Is that too strong? If it is not, it is very, very solemn.
B.W.W. Perhaps you would help us because it is very important that we should understand the meaning of the expression there, “partakers”, because from what you have said, quite clearly it cannot mean in a vital way, can it?
B.M.D. That is it, you may be partakers of it like Balaam was, and maybe others, but we would be very careful as to naming persons, as we were saying, but there is the scripture as a warning. I do not mean to say that one who is redeemed can ever be lost—far be the thought—a wonderful comfort, that one who is sheltered by the blood will never, ever be lost, that is the gospel. I may be lost to the testimony through my will and actions, but I think this goes deeper, he is a partaker outwardly of what is spiritual and what is heavenly, but is not indwelt by the Spirit.
B.W.W. It is most important that we should all understand this, because we are here in the region where the Spirit is operating, and in that sense would be partakers as this afternoon, but one who is indwelt can never be lost.
B.M.D. That is exactly the truth, and it is a great comfort. So the truth arrests us, challenges us; how we need to get to God because the reception of the Spirit is not automatic, it is a transaction and a known one; we should know that we have received the Holy Spirit, as Paul challenges those at Ephesus.
P.M. Does the reference “crucifying for themselves as they do the Son of God”, bring out that unless the Spirit has His place livingly in the soul, that blessed Man, that kind of Man, will not be appreciated or wanted by me at all?
B.M.D. That is very solemn. I do not suppose we should dwell too long on it but there it is in the Scripture. Let us just ponder it and maybe the meaning will come home to us, and let us be assured that we have received the Holy Spirit; He is the Earnest of our inheritance.
E.O.P.M. Those that are raptured when the Lord comes, those that form part of the assembly, will, I understand and have always believed, be those that are under the shelter of the blood and indwelt by the Spirit. Now there may be one who is under the shelter of the blood, who is not consciously in the gain of having received the Spirit.
B.M.D. Of course we would not know, but in any case they will receive the Spirit at some point; as I understand it every person in the assembly will have the Holy Spirit, we have been baptised by one Spirit into one body.
E.O.P.M. Yes, perhaps there is an element of mystery in how that would work out with many.
B.M.D. Yes, that is good; an element of mystery would be right, and yet not mystery in the sense that you are not sure. Every one of us here today should be assured that we have received the Holy Spirit. If not, get to God about it; what a Giver He is, but it is not automatic. You see the evidence in the fruit of the Spirit, and really we should not have to be asking one another, Have you received the Spirit? You would know it by the fruit. Someone said, any one who loves the brethren clearly has received the Spirit.
E.C.M. If one has not received the Spirit, it might involve another transaction with the Person, but we have no part or lot in the matter, do we?
B.M.D. It should come into the preaching, would you think?
E.C.M. I do.
B.M.D. And thou shalt receive the Holy Spirit—the forgiveness of sins and then the gift of the Holy Spirit. Well, perhaps we have dwelt a bit long on the negative side; we do not want to be too occupied with the warnings and yet we need them. These three warnings come in because these beloved Christians were slipping away. Where will slippage end? In character it leads to the apostasy, but it is only a picture, a dreadful picture, of what is happening in the so-called Christendom, of which we are a part publicly. In the midst of all that we get the sanctification of the Spirit in Thessalonians, and in the very setting where the man of sin is about to appear there are those who are marked by the sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth, and love of the truth. That means that such persons are holding the truth in love, not academically, but in their hearts and by faith.
Now this next, and last section is the witness of the Spirit. “And the Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it”; now could we enquire what this would mean?
L.E.S. In the previous section there is reference to “the heavenly gift”, as well as “partakers of the Holy Spirit”; would that link with this?
B.M.D. Well, say on.
L.E.S. What was said would convey something of that character, would it?
B.M.D. Yes, it would; I think there is something in the witness of the Holy Spirit, it gives added assurance. John in his epistle extends it, does he not, as to the witness, “the Spirit, and the water, and the blood”, and what he adds is, “and the three agree in one”, l John 5: 8. So I do not think when we come to this section we are just talking about unreal things; we are talking about real Christianity. Where is their agreement, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood? Where is the agreement? It is more than doctrine. It is in persons.
L.E.S. The Spirit is the truth.
E.C.M. The witness is in yourself.
B.M.D. Exactly. Someone mentioned Stephen; I believe there was the true witness of the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, in that beloved servant.
E.C.M. And we have nothing consciously apart from the Spirit, have we?
B.M.D. I do not think we have the consciousness of anything apart from the Spirit, including the forgiveness of our sins.
F.N.S. He witnesses too, does He not, that we are children of God?
B.M.D. Exactly, there it is, that is fine. So what a wonderful thing to make room for the Spirit at every point. He makes Christianity live, makes it vital, makes it enjoyable, it becomes your life.
F.N.S. I was thinking a few moments ago that each of the divine Persons of the Godhead, being God, Himself can do anything in a moment of time; the Spirit could be given and that person could be baptised into one body in a moment of time at the very last. Our concern and exercise would be, and I think you would promote it with us, to provide conditions where He is free to move, and impress us, and to write upon our understandings and our hearts.
B.M.D. That is it. The Spirit is our closest link with Christ. Really the new covenant properly does not belong to the assembly, it belongs to Israel; provisionally we are custodians of what belongs to Israel, but the assembly’s link with Christ is nearer than covenant; He has imparted His own Spirit. These are wonderful things we are just touching, and as we speak of these things, there is tremendous depth in them. The Spirit is the Witness.
D.E.B. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts, that is an individual thing that we know about, if we do; if we have got it, then is that a witness in our hearts?
B.M.D. Yes, you are quoting from Romans 5, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts”, v 5. Well, it would show it comes early in the believer’s history, and yet, of course, it goes through a believer’s history, because we never leave Romans behind, any of it, do we, we take it with us, everything, it is the seed-bed of Christianity. And, of course, when you come to Jude, which I suppose would link with this section, it is “keep yourselves in the love of God”, v 21. It is wonderful to live in the love of God. What else would you want? You are satisfied.
D.E.B. Having a witness in yourself would be a great help in its expression in testimony.
B.M.D. I suppose you would not know really, something would be shining out, it would be luminous. You meet brothers like that, do you not, and sisters too, it shines out of them? Moses did not know that his face shone. What made it shine? He had been with God. Walking with God is walking in the Spirit.
A.H.M. His face shone after the second time, did it, not the first?
B.M.D. No, what do you see in that?
A.H.M. God’s fresh relationship with His people based upon the death of Christ; that is what causes the shining, is it not?
B.M.D. Yes, you are right, constant occupation with that Person must have some reflection in our way of life.
S.B.H. Quoting from Ephesians 4, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which ye have been sealed for the day of redemption” (v 30); it would require some sensitiveness on our part to understand that.
B.M.D. Well, it would be a very sensitive thing to be conscious that He is un-grieved. It means, as we were saying earlier, constant and thorough self-judgment. If we know our hearts at all we know it is necessary to keep short accounts.
R.E.T. Would the Spirit help the young people especially, we all need it, but I was thinking of the young, to say, No.
B.M.D. The Spirit would help them to say, No; that is good counsel, just that one word and the enemy will take to flight—resist the devil and he flees. But he is a bit like a roaring lion sometimes you know, he makes a bold attack and he is always attacking the young people and his weapon is the world and ambition, and he holds out his fruits which may look all right; higher education and all those things; but you would have to look at each case. A Christian needs to be established in their links with Christ before they contemplate such things.
R.E.T. Does not Mr Raven say in some place that you become like what you are looking at? He also says that you become spiritual by desire.
B.M.D. That is very good; you become spiritual by desire.
Well, the verse in John’s gospel, Christ glorified and the Spirit here, is the present current position—never altered, does not change, Christ glorified, redemption accomplished and the Spirit here. It is like the centre of Christianity.
W.H.S. Do we see the feelings of Jesus again in this passage peculiarly? He stood and cried, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink”; and as you read in this passage it is the feelings of Jesus, is it, Come to Me?
B.M.D. Yes, Come to Me, what a word to us today! If any one is not sure that they have received the Spirit, what you are saying would be an encouragement, “Come to me and drink”.
W.H.S. Do you think it helps if we read that little passage in Galatians, have ye received the Spirit on the principle of works or on the report of faith (see chap 3: 2)? I can say simply that that scripture helped me, because I received the gospel on the principle of faith and the gift of the Spirit on the same principle. Do you go with that?
B.M.D. Yes, surely, and along with that God looks for obedience and genuine desire, but we each of need to have that conscious experience, the trans action of receiving the Holy Spirit. Well now, as we said, we have got a nice picture here in Genesis. Do not the types give us the picture in detail?
A.H.M. Yes, they certainly do. Only that we often treat them as a picture.
B.M.D. That is right, that is very important what you are saying, we are going to get behind the picture now and get into the thing, is that right? Now we can help one another because it means digging, maybe it means a bit of hard work and getting rid of a bit of earth, and a bit of worldliness too, because the well is going to spring up. As our brother says, we do not want to grieve the Spirit with earth or worldliness; He is there to spring up into eternal life.
P.M. Prior to this section we have got Isaac sowing and becoming greater, but would Christ as on high in a scene of fruitfulness for God be an impetus to make room for the Spirit here?
B.M.D. I am sure that is exactly it, it is not that Christ personally gets greater and greater, that would be unthinkable, He is always the same, yesterday and today and the ages to come; there is no change in His glorious Person, but in my appreciation of Him there is room for growth.
P.M. Is that not the present service of the Spirit really to make that Man greater in our affections, and that what should be seen in our walk is Himself reflected all over again?
B.M.D. That is just what He is doing today in these meetings together, He is promoting Christ. It would be an answer sufficient if He gained a little more place in our affections and lives. Would not the Spirit be content?
C.C.I. Would you help us a little as to this great matter of eternal life which seems to be connected with being fruitful in the land?
B.M.D. Well, I hope we can finish on that note as maybe we shall hear a little more about eternal life, but I do not see any short-cut to it; I mean you have got to go through this. They dug a well, and they went and dug another well, they kept digging wells until there was room made, there was no strife. I think it shows the delightful yielding spirit overcoming the Philistine element as they went on in the truth. The Spirit is always there helping us to reach a point where there is no strife and there is no opposition, but rather room for the enjoyment of eternal life.
C.C.I. So to confirm, in the Psalm it is brethren dwelling together in unity, “for there hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, life for evermore”, Ps 132: 3. Is that particularly from a practical point of view? Eternal life cannot possibly be understood or enjoyed unless these personal links are established one with another?
B.M.D. That is certainly right, and if it is not practical then what is it? We will not learn eternal life through doctrine, but rather through experience.
R.T. Does learning to dig in the valley help us to come to this springing idea?
B.M.D. That is right. We were speaking about the valley somewhere a few nights ago, you cannot bypass valley exercises. You go through the valley, you are learning in the valley; you learn Christ through moral exercises; you cannot escape going through those depths, but then you find that you have got a Deliverer alongside you; He is going to lead you through into the realm of the Spirit—the realm of eternal life. The Lord opened all this up to the beloved woman in John 4; the moral side was not protracted, but He took her through the valley, did He not? “Go, call thy husband”, He took her through the valley; what it must have meant to her; and He quickly discloses what is in His mind for her—a fountain of water springing up into eternal life, and immediately she seeks the company of others.
R.T. Paul speaks about the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, see Phil 1: 19. Would that be seen somewhat in Isaac’s shepherds, they do not contend, they go on digging in the valley, new supplies and new resources come up?
B.M.D. Yes, they keep digging. You cannot but help think of Numbers 21, where it is the nobles, they dug and hollowed it out, did they not, a springing well? So we need to persevere. In these valley exercises we could get discouraged, could we not? It could be like a valley of the shadow of death, but what does the psalmist say?—“thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me”, Ps 23: 4.
R.T. I thought there was some formation in Isaac’s servants and shepherds, something formed of the heavenly Man in these persons that they do not meet the Philistine by the Philistine, they meet it in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and go on digging, and they come to a place where there is room.
B.M.D. That is very fine; you mean they caught on the Spirit of the heavenly Man; I do not think the strife was from their side, I think it was a spirit of yielding; they knew there was infinite resource in the Spirit, all they had to do was to keep digging. I suppose they would say to those poor Philistines, We are sorry, but we are going on without you, we are going on with the Spirit.
E.C.M. I would like to be quite clear; you are connecting eternal life with the land; I was thinking of the expression, “and we shall be fruitful in the land”, it is in the land, eternal life connected with the land.
B.M.D. That is right, ‘An out-of-the-world heavenly condition of relationship and being’.
E.C.M. Yes, that has been well quoted and helpful too.
B.M.D. It is a touch of heaven down here. I feel convinced that that is how the dispensation will close with those found faithful, and also I believe it is the basis upon which assembly exercises can be effectively resolved.
P.M. Could you help us as to what is involved in digging?
B.M.D. Displacement, but you have got something on your mind.
P.M. No, I am asking; it is a strenuous work and I wondered if perhaps the danger often is to be too casual in what is to be for the divine answer. But would digging involve exercise of soul that what is there might not be a hindrance to the Spirit’s free flow at any time?
B.M.D. Yes, that is very helpful what you say; simply it is that you are making room for the Spirit, therefore you are sensitive to the slightest shade that comes in.
R.E.T. You may not come immediately to water. Mr Taylor once said he prayed until he got through. I think that would help us in regard to getting the mind of the Spirit: praying until we get through.
B.M.D. That is very important, so we are to persevere in prayer, and be conscious we get the divine ear. We might as well be simple, and admit we all know what it is to kneel down in prayer, and maybe not immediately have the consciousness that you have got through into communion. What do we do? Just get up? I think what you say is a word for every one of us here today, be sure that we get through to the divine presence. The holiest is always available.
C.B. We need to be taught how to dig, and go on digging and praying.
B.M.D. So Paul said to some, be my imitators. What sort of an example can I set in my local meeting? Then Paul quickly guards it, As I also am of Christ (see 1 Cor 11: 1); Paul never led any one to himself; he would never be a party man, he led them to Christ.
F.N.S. The context is different, but the Lord speaks about the man digging and going deep; do you think we do not want just to scratch the surface, it involves committed exercise and arriving at something?
B.M.D. That is good, it supports what our brother just said, you get down to the rock; there may be a lot of rubbish to get out of the way, but if you do not get to the rock what is going to happen in the storm? Inevitably as we are left here there will be storms; but we should not be thrown about by the storms.
F.N.S. The hymn writer says:
What though storms may rage against us?
(No 176).
B.M.D. Yes, exactly, you see the Lord rode the storm, blessed Victor, and of course the cross met every storm, where the whole question of good and evil was resolved for ever; but those disciples on the ship, they said they were perishing. We can do that, you know, things get difficult and we may think, It is all over—but it is not all over, there is some One walking on the water coming to them and they made way for Him. Peter went down too and walked on the water. In Matthew he began to sink, but His hand caught hold of him—More than conquerors! Thank God for every brother and sister like that; it is the strength of what the assembly is vitally, and even two such persons will maintain things for the Lord.
E.C.M. Would you connect that verse in Romans 8 with the exercise to make room for the Spirit? “but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live”, v 13. I think Mr Raven made a great point of that verse, the first reference to living; that we use the Spirit, the Spirit is available to us and we want to make use of the Spirit.
B.M.D. Yes, surely we do, let us walk in the Spirit and live by the Spirit, the Spirit being life on account of righteousness.
D.E.B. What they arrive at here is that “Jehovah has made room for us”; they have done some digging, but Jehovah makes the room.
B.M.D. Yes, will He not do that? I believe if we are consistently making room for the Spirit, these troublous elements, like the earth getting in, and worldliness, largely through our own minds, and the human intrusion, we will find strength to overcome in the power of the Spirit of Christ, and then there is room made, but there is more than that, there is life. Let us get some impress of what eternal life really is. If we do get a taste of it, we will not be content with anything less; but without it, I say again, I believe the basis of working things through assembly-wise is made very, very difficult. Please bear with the word of exhortation.
COLCHESTER
29th September 1984