THAT WHICH DESCENDS

J. Wright

Ephesians 4: 8–10; Luke 3: 21–22; Revelation 21: 2

I felt led, beloved brethren, to say a word in relation to that which descends, that which has that character of descending. Naturally, as fallen creatures, we take character from what is fallen, but I believe what we are being encouraged with in these meetings is to take character from that which descends. We have been taught that what descends is illuminating, but that what falls is darkening. It is an affecting thing that two Persons of the Godhead are spoken of in this way as descending. It would affect our hearts as we think, beloved brethren, that the Lord Jesus has descended into the lower parts of the earth. He has been lower than any. Think of the grace of the Lord Jesus in that. This is in a setting of victory and of triumph, for the One who descended is the One who has ascended far above all heavens, and He has great spoil as the result of His victory. Think of the spoil the Lord has, and He is devoting that spoil toward the assembly. For these gifts, which are part of His spoil, are devoted to the assembly, for the upbuilding of the assembly, that which He

delights in, that which is to take character from Him. And the end in view, as we were reminded today, is “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”.

Well, beloved brethren, the character of that manhood is that it descends. The impression I have is as to how it was exemplified in the apostle Paul. At Troas, in relation to Eutychus, it says he descended. The Lord Jesus is mighty in His victory, but how the glory of the moral excellence of His manhood comes out. It is not just an arbitrary matter that gives Him this place of supremacy, it is because of the moral worth and excellence that are in Him. Moral excellence is developed on this line of descent. It, is emphasised in the epistle to the Philippians as well; moral excellence was seen in that company, and in the way that the apostle Paul speaks of the mind that was in Christ Jesus, the mind to go down. How different from the mind to go up which has marked Satan and marks man as fallen. The mind to go up takes character from what is fallen—but how beautiful it is to see that which takes character from Christ in this way, that which descends.

Then, too, we have been speaking of the lowly place the Holy Spirit has taken. I have been affected by that. Really, if we move in the grace which was seen in Christ, if that feature is to be seen with us, it can only be as we are committed to the Holy Spirit and He takes charge of us.

We know from the good teaching that the baptism of the Lord Jesus was when the economy came on to view for the first time.

What a marvellous dispensation we are in, beloved brethren, when God has revealed Himself in this way in the economy, as we speak of it, this wondrous economy of love; and God has a part for us in this economy, a part for men. We have been called to the greatest things. Oh, beloved brethren, think of the greatness of divine things, the greatness of the way that God has come out to secure our affections, to secure our confidence and to secure our trust in every way. It says that “the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove” upon Jesus. In all those movements of grace seen in the Lord Jesus He moved in the power of the Holy Spirit. He says to His disciples in John 14: 17, concerning the Spirit, “Ye know him”. What wonderful grace there was about the Lord Jesus in His movements; and the Spirit was with Him in those movements. The Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon Him, pointing out, I believe, the lowly place the Spirit has taken in this wondrous economy. What lowliness marks the blessed Spirit of God! We think with reverence of the glory and greatness of His Person, of who He is, One with the Father and the Son. How it behoves us to be reverent in the presence of the Spirit of God. But how lowly He is, and how He delighted fully to identify Himself with the Lord Jesus. Then there is the voice out of heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”.

I desired just to point out, beloved brethren, the place the Spirit has taken; the way that He has come, too, to take His abode in the assembly, the way He came at Pentecost—what a descent that was!

So I believe that the grace in which the assembly moves shows the way in which she takes character from Christ, and takes character from the Holy Spirit. John says in Revelation 21, “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God”. She comes from God, descending out of heaven, illuminating everything. What a wonderful thing it is to have part in this glorious vessel. We are being formed now for our place eternally in this city, the city which has this character. It does not say that she came down, it is “coming down”, as if it is a characteristic feature with her. We are being formed to have part in this wondrous vessel now.

I feel my limitations in speaking of it, but it is what marks this glorious dispensation. It has marked divine Persons Themselves that they have descended, and it marks the holy city, new Jerusalem. What a wonderful thing it is, beloved brethren, to take character from divine Persons. We have been speaking about taking character from God, as being His children. The Lord Jesus has set things out in perfection, and then also we can learn the blessed features of the Holy Spirit through the manhood of Jesus.

May we grow in acquaintance with the Lord Jesus. What depths there are to learn in the knowledge of Him, the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and the knowledge of the Father. May we be helped in it, for His name’s sake.

12 April 1974