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SPIRITUAL QUALITY (8)

SMcC While in the readings that we have had before we have considered the thought of quality as seen specifically in certain named persons, such as John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Mary, Zacharias, Simeon and Anna; in Luke 15 there is no person named, and therefore we have to keep before us in our enquiry that it is more a general thought rather than in specifically named persons, although we shall see the suggestion of quality in the service of divine Persons themselves in Luke 15, and that their service has in view certain definite, known features of quality in the saints, as in the sheep, and in the lost drachma, and in the younger son. Then, in Luke 24, the book ends with remarkable suggestions of fulness on the line that we are considering. Simon is specifically named in the passage that we read - choice vessel that he is - and we shall see in that portion the added thoughts which come into view and which involve in the saints added enrichment in the service of God, just as in Luke 15 too, in the quality of the service and in the quality of the results, there is added enrichment in view of the divine pleasure being secured in the service of God. We shall see in Luke 24 how the Psalms are added, and how the scope of the preaching comes into view; how the thought of power from on high is added; and then the final touch as to our Lord Jesus Christ, which gives us a wonderful sense of what marks the whole dispensation, as He goes up with hands uplifted in blessing. That in itself is to put an impression on our spirits in view of our part in the dispensation. In Luke 15 we should keep before us now, not just the thought of sinners away from God, getting their sins forgiven,

but Luke 15 presents the highest point in the gospel from one view-point, it corresponds with the teaching of Ephesians. So that quality is in mind in the teaching of it, and what should affect our hearts is that the whole Deity is engaged in this matter of securing in the saints that which is so essential for the service of God, whether as in the sheep, an object of care; or the drachma, an item of value in the house; a figure of that which is linked with the system of circulation, with the trading or purchasing power of the system that the house suggests; or in the younger son, upon whom is put the best robe (itself a marked suggestion of refinement and quality) and the ring and the shoes. That is what is in mind to pursue in our enquiry. The Deity is to be viewed by Itself in Its own abstract greatness, as in light unapproachable, but It is also to be viewed in Its operations in relation to creation, and also in relation to redemption. And our subject in Luke 15 brings up the matter of the Godhead in relation to the salvation of men, involving that men are set up in the blessedness of known, happy relations with God.

RAE Is that why in each case here the service issues in the house?

SMcC I thought so. The current evangelisation around us failed in that great respect. All the service of grace, linked with the system of grace, has in mind the idea of the house, the assembly; the very word ‘dispensation’ in 1 Timothy 1, as Mr. Darby points out, carries that thought. The meaning of the word has the thought of what is house-wise in it.

BStJ The Father seemed to know that the son was coming, he was anxiously awaiting him and he went out and met him.

SMcC The whole chapter should affect us as charged with the holy interest and feelings of each of the Persons of the Deity, employed in this matter of securing us in relation to the assembly, for the pleasure of divine Persons. Whether it be in the thought of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Shepherd, or of the Holy Spirit typified in the woman, or in the thought of God the Father, as is before us in the father in the last passage.

HOE Have you any thought why the Persons of the Godhead are typified in that order?

SMcC Well, it is very interesting that they are not presented in the order of Matthew 28. The Name of God in Matthew 28, involves the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But in Ephesians, which is our heavenly light, you will find that the order corresponds with what we have in Luke 15, “Through him (that is Christ) we have both access by one Spirit to the Father.” Ephesians corresponds with what we have in Luke 15 in a remarkable way in the matter of drawing near in relation to the service of God; whereas in the revelation of God in Matthew 28, introducing the baptismal formula, it is the Father, the Son and the Spirit. When it is a question of the revelation of God, what is coming toward us, it is presented that way, but I think in Luke 15, the great thought is to secure us on the inward and upward line.

SK Would you say that the first case of the shepherd seeking the sheep shows it is the purpose of divine Persons to maintain “flock” conditions?

SMcC The sheep in that way represent the great idea of the work of God in the saints, and what the saints are as the subject of divine care. We are living in a day of recovery, and the great end in recovery is not to low levels as man thinks of it - that man’s need should be relieved - but to the exalted level of the pleasure of divine Persons. A knowledge of the Psalms and the reference that is made to the flock in the Psalms would show how the thought of divine pleasure is linked with it. For instance, in Psalm 68, where David seems to have such peculiar liberty, reference is made to the flock in a wonderfully refined and glorious setting.

CBl Would the shepherd seeking the sheep correspond to the death of Christ according to the purpose of God?

SMcC No doubt the purpose of God, from the standpoint we are considering it, in relation to His pleasure, would be the background of all in this matter, but the moral side is particularly in mind in this chapter. The very word ‘recovery’ contemplates the moral idea.

AKH Would you be free to allow the suggestion that the feature of the sheep and the drachma and the son, correspond to the three things to which we are said to be called in 1 Peter? In reference to “called to suffering” - “for to this have ye been called,” and later on in the same section there is the reference to the sheep; and then, “to show forth the excellencies of Him who has called you,” the thought of the excellencies in connection with the drachma; and then it says, “called to blessing,” that we should inherit blessing in chapter 3.

SMcC I am sure that is very interesting, and I think there is something in what you say in regard to the matter of suffering, because Paul says, you will remember, quoting from Psalm 44: 22, “For thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for slaughter.” He quotes that in Romans 8. The thought of suffering is peculiarly linked with the idea of the sheep, and there is something about the drachma which is important to notice, and I think it fits in with the thought of quality in the passage you referred to in Peter. It says of the drachma first of all, “What woman having ten drachmas, if she lose one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek carefully till she find it?” In that passage in 1 Peter 2 it says, “That ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light” (verse 9) that is, the lighting of the lamp is to be noted, because it is not just a question of looking for the drachma in the darkness, it is a question of lighting a lamp, and sweeping the house, and seeking carefully till she find it. So that I think that what you say fits in in some way, and may become enlarged as we think over it.

AT The drachma does not lose its own value although it is not in circulation?

SMcC No, it does not. Its value is lost to the house; that is, the saints, the assembly loses its value for the moment. Because if anything gets out of circulation we know that there is a definite depleting of the resources. We can take account of that financially and otherwise, in material goods, that when things get out of circulation, it depletes by so much the purchasing or operating power of the system. And that is what we want to note here. There are many who might say, it does not matter whether they are doing much or whether they are in circulation or not, but it matters a good deal, because there were ten before and there are only nine now, and that means that the purchasing and operating power is depleted by that much.

SK It would seem then that divine Persons cannot afford to lose a thing, they are bent on recovery?

SMcC I think so, and I think that the great thing in the chapter is that we should be affected by the concentration of feelings in this chapter, because it is a chapter that is filled with feelings as to the matter, in divine Persons. So that as we think of the brethren, especially as the subjects of recovering and restoring grace, as is in mind in this chapter, we think of them on exalted lines.

HOE Is there something to learn from the distinction of the numbers here, a hundred, ten, and, one?

SMcC I think there is, that as the chapter proceeds from the standpoint of shepherd care, through the careful searching of the woman in regard to the piece of silver, down to the matter of the person, it comes down to two. When we come to the idea of actual persons we come down to the number two to show us the concentrated interest of God in this matter of persons.

CBl What is the suggestion of the woman searching for the piece of silver as connected with Christianity?

SMcC Well, in the way we are now thinking of it, we are thinking of it in relation to the Spirit in the assembly, and how the Spirit has part in the great matter of what is taking place in relation to the assembly, in the securing of what is essential to carry on the affairs of the house, the service of God in other words.

CB Is what is said in verse 2 an answer to the statement, “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” divine Persons going about recovery in this way so as to bring into effect the recovery in man, in spite of all that man has fallen into, all the degradation, divine Persons are moving to bring about recovery independent of that?

SMcC Exactly, and to get man on to the elevated line, the heavenly line of divine thoughts in this chapter. It is a wonderful thing to see the elevated line that is running through this chapter, that it is not just a mere question of the extrication of man in view of his relief, but the pleasure of divine Persons, “Rejoice with me” is the word in verse 6, and in verse 9, “Rejoice with me,” and then again in verse 23, “Bring me the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry.” That is, it is a matter of divine joy in this setting. We do not think enough of divine joy, of the joy of Christ, of the joy of the blessed Spirit and how He would speak to us, how He would call us into having part with Him in the wonderful joy of the maintaining of the complete idea in circulation.

MSS Would it be right to suggest that the actions of divine Persons here are intended to serve as examples to the saints, in relation to each setting? For instance, the service of the Lord as an example to us in connection with the sheep, and the example of the father in causing the son to be clothed, would that not suggest that we are to clothe one another with divine thoughts? As being taken into sonship ourselves we are to act like God Himself?

SMcC Well, exactly, and that is what I meant by saying that we are to be affected by divine feelings as entering into this chapter, so that we ourselves become marked by the same kind of feelings. The very words “Rejoice with me” in these sections that we have alluded to, “rejoice with me,” show that divine Persons are bringing us alongside of them in this matter. The preposition ‘with’ is to be noted.

RAE In the matter of securing men for the pleasure of God, would it be right to say that the Lord Jesus has taken the lead in His lowly stoop into manhood, and in all the grace and service that marks Him from that time onward?

SMcC Well, I think that is interesting in regard to Mr. E.’s remark as to the order of the chapter. It is interesting to see that the Lord Jesus came into manhood on the line of recovering man, and then the Spirit comes in in Acts 2, but then the supreme idea in the economy heads up all in the Father, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8: 6, “Yet to us there is one God, the Father.” So that the Father would be the fountain-head in the chapter here.

ELE Do you not think Luke got a good deal of what he wrote from Paul? I mean the tenor of his thoughts, their moral quality, and so on?

SMcC He did, and there is no doubt that the Gentiles are in mind in this chapter. Paul’s light as to the assembly as presented in Ephesians, I think, is covered in this chapter. We are not to be content with less than what our light, Ephesians, has in mind.

ELE “Arise, shine, for thy light has come.”

SMcC Exactly.

LAC Does it appear that God is bringing in and developing this matter of quality on the lines of recovery, that which is indicated in this chapter seems to be that which is got on the line of recovery? I am thinking too of chapter 10, where the man who was on a wrong course is brought under the influence and care of the inn-keeper.

SMcC I think there is something in that. It is a very interesting thing that in the great chapter of the cleansing, the restoring and cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14, the great thing to see is the sympathy that enters into his restoration. We might just refer to it now as we are talking about it. It says in verse 10, “And on the eighth day.” We saw yesterday how Luke would give a touch as to the eighth day. He only of the evangelists mentions the eighth day in regard to the mount of transfiguration, that is, he links us with another world and the eighth day here is linking us on with another day, a new day, the eighth day, as it says in verse 10, “He shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one yearling ewe-lamb without blemish, and three tenth parts of fine flour mingled with oil, for an oblation, and one log of oil. And the priest that cleanseth him shall present the man that is to be cleansed and those things before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” Now notice at the beginning of the chapter, it has been the leper until now, it says in verse 1, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing,” and in verse 3, “when the priest looketh, behold, the sore of leprosy is healed in the leper,” but notice when you come to verse 11, it is not “shall present the leper” but “shall present the man” - “How much better is a man,” the Lord said, “than a sheep,” Matthew 12: 12. We are now in the presence of the value of a man, “present the man that is to be cleansed and those things before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” Then in verse 21, where provision is made in a certain way for a poor one, it says, “But if he be poor, and his hand be not able to get it, then he shall take one lamb for a trespass-offering, for a wave-offering, to make atonement for him; and one tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for an oblation; and a log of oil.” What one would like to point out is that there is no difference in regard to the log of oil. Whether it be in the one who has the means, or whether it be in the one who has not got the means, when it comes to the log of oil, the measure is the same, which I think points to this element of quality that we are now considering, linked specially with the Spirit. The log of oil, as we know, is a twelfth part of a hin. That is, it is part of something else, part of a whole idea, and that is what this chapter is impressing us with. While persons get estranged from whole ideas, the whole bent of divine activities is to bring us back to these whole ideas - a hundred sheep, or ten drachmas, or the two sons, while the elder one elects to put himself out of it, that is his matter.

MSS Would there be a similar thought in connection with the redemption money, which was all the same, and which, if I remember rightly, was half a shekel, a fraction?

SMcC I think that is right. There is no disparity in the standard in that relation, be it rich or poor. I think divine Persons would specially impress us with whole ideas, deliver us from individuality, in the sense in which it would lead to isolationism. We are to see that we are a part of a system, part of a house-system, part of the assembly, and brothers and sisters alike are all to be in it for the service of divine Persons, filling their part in the quality that belongs to each feature of the service as seen here, whether it be a sheep, or a drachma, or the younger son.

TG Is that why Paul was able to speak to the Corinthians in that way, as having arrived at the thoughts of God in the service he then seeks to bring them in line with it? He clothes them with the value of the thoughts of God?

SMcC Well, it is interesting to see how he approached them with whole thoughts in mind, they had divided thoughts among them. Some were saying they were of Paul, others saying they were of Apollos, still some more saying they were of Christ - these are all divided ideas, but the great thing that Paul keeps before them is whole ideas, “If the whole assembly come together in one place,” and so on, that could be referred to.

NM The references to “I” are very distinct; “I perish,” “I have sinned,” “I will arise” - would you think it suggests individual exercise?

SMcC Exactly, repentance is always on individual lines. It is a question of each one of us getting help in our souls on the moral line.

JM What do you think about the best robe?

SMcC The best robe is Christ. God has the best thoughts in mind for us, and what could be better than Christ? God has this in reserve, held for the opportune moment, so that in Ephesians the saints are presented in all the value of what Christ is to God, they appear in that - “accepted in the Beloved.”

SK Would you say that this is sonship’s robe?

SMcC Well, it is the robe of righteousness, I would say, and Christ is our righteousness. Mr. Darby, you remember in his wonderful hymn.

says, “God’s righteousness with glory bright, which with its radiance fills that sphere - E’en Christ of God...”, he says, “Our title is that light to share” (88:4). I think it is a question of righteousness, the robe is the robe of righteousness and Christ is our righteousness.

AT Would you say the clothing of the son here is for the Father’s pleasure?

SMcC Exactly.

LAC You mentioned the value of man as stressed by Luke, and the remarkable way in which it comes into the gospel, “How much better is a man than a sheep,” and again it mentions, “How much better are ye than many sparrows,” and again in relation to the clothing, “how much rather you.” Is that what is stressed particularly in relation to man, that God has set a value upon him, and is pursuing it?

SMcC Well, I think so, and it would specially help us in regard to moral exercises, the matter of expending time and labour. It would help us to see the need to promote the moral line, the repenting line. Not that these persons are viewed as coming back on their own terms, or being set up in relation to God on their own terms, but the repenting line is the great balance and there is nothing like proper and right clearance on the moral line to give tone, and value, and quality to the service of God. You will always find that where gatherings are weak on the moral line they are weak on the upward and heavenly line.

MSS Is that thought not seen in the chapter to which you referred, about the leper? Before the eighth day he had to go through a process of seven days in relation to his tent, would that not suggest the completion of moral exercises?

SMcC Oh, I think so, that chapter is remarkable in that way in the wealth of it, its typical teaching,

and it is to impress our hearts with the pleasure that God has in each one of us as set up, delivered from sin and its awfulness, its workings, set up in happy, known, blessed relations with Himself, because that is what is in mind.

RAE I would like to enquire about verse 9, the woman says, Rejoice with me, does that indicate merely the general pleasure that the Spirit has in securing men for God, or would it be a warrant for us to see that there is a specific portion for the Spirit in the service of God on the Lord’s day morning?

SMcC Oh, I think so, I do not think that we should ever lose sight in our souls that the Spirit should be specifically referred to in the service of God. Not that we are suggesting a specific phase of the service to Him, but that He should be specifically before our minds, and references to Him specifically, not in a kind of general way only, but in a specific way, “Rejoice with me,” He says.

HLH In a specific way, but at any time in the meeting?

SMcC Exactly. Whether at the beginning, or the middle, or the end.

JM Is the best robe for the son’s pleasure or for the father’s pleasure?

SMcC Well, it says, “And the son said” - we are now in sonship’s realm here, the sons says in verse 21, “I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am no longer worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his bondmen, Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it,” it is not a question now of infantile thoughts, or undeveloped thoughts, it is a question now as to the full thought as to the best robe, and the ring, and the sandals on his feet. “And bring the fatted calf,” another full thought and another suggestion of quality, “and kill it and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found.”

AY Would you say that this is a service now into which we have been called, along with divine Persons, to clothe persons with the thoughts of divine grace? He says to his bondmen. Bring out the best robe - Christ.

SMcC Exactly. So that there are those around in the realm that are working with God in what He is doing. But as to this matter of the Spirit, which we have been diverted from once or twice, I think it is important, the “Rejoice with me” in verse 9, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.” We are inclined to lose sight of the personality of the Spirit. The personality of the Spirit! “I have found,” “Rejoice with me.” As we have often said, the Spirit is not just an influence. He is not just some operation of divine power, He is one of the Persons of the Godhead, He has a distinct personality, and He is equal in deity with the Father and the Son, and these pronouns “Me” and “I” stress the personality of the Spirit in the figure.

LAC The Lord Jesus as typified in the shepherd, and the Spirit as typified in the woman, would stress the idea of what is connected with the economy and their relative places, would it?

SMcC I think it would. We have always got to keep in mind that the Spirit has taken a place of relative obscurity in the system, serving behind the scene, so that in 1 Corinthians 8, in the statement as to the economy He is not mentioned. And in Colossians, where His work so wondrously appears He is only mentioned once, and we have always to keep in mind in the order in the Trinity as in Matthew 28, that the Spirit is last. He is not first, and there is something in that that would regulate us as to the place that the Spirit would have in the service of God, so that there is a proper balance.

RS I suppose you would remind us that while it is a fact, borne out in Scripture, that the Spirit has taken a relatively inferior place, nevertheless it is a place and we speak to Him according to the place that He has taken? Because the place is relatively inferior, our tendency is not to notice the place at all.

SMcC Well I am sure it is important that we should see the place that He has taken, because it is a balance in the service of God. And it is well for us to keep in mind too that while He has come into a subordinate position it never changes who He is. His Person is unchanged and unchangeable. He is God, and it is not correct and intelligent to speak of the Spirit leaving the Deity any more than it is correct or intelligent to speak of the Lord as leaving the Deity.

RAE You have said that in the service of God there would not be a phase to the Spirit but that He might be addressed at any time, do we understand from that that when the Father is before us or when the Lord is before us it would not be what we speak of as oscillation, to speak to the Spirit?

SMcC No, that is exactly what is in mind, that there is liberty to refer to the Spirit at any time in the service of God, bearing in mind His augmentary service, whether as the Lord Spirit, in relation to the dominical side, or whether as the Father’s Spirit or the Spirit of adoption in relation to the side of sonship. At the same time, always keeping in mind that He Himself is God, and therefore may be addressed in that light too.

SC Could we say that the Spirit was always in service but we knew nothing of it till the Lord Jesus became Man? In Genesis we get the Spirit hovering over the waters, etc.

SMcC Well, I think, of course, that we have to keep in mind that everything contemplated Christ coming into Manhood. Even the Spirit’s place as we now know it hinges upon the incarnation, on the manhood of Christ. But everything looks back, of course, the divine Persons acted mediatorially in creation, in different ways, but that in itself did not necessarily mean that they were in positions involving inferiority, the mediatorial operation does not always imply inferiority in place as to the Persons that are acting.

HAL Would you say, in view of the question that Mr. E. asked, about the order in which they come in this Luke 15, the Lord is the first one to move in the economy, to come into a position, and then the others take their relative positions as soon as He moves?

SMcC Well, it was referred to a little while ago, that as the Lord Jesus comes into Manhood, then the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, and then the Father’s voice is heard; we get the inauguration of the economy. And then we have the Lord, moving in service and going out by way of death, and the Spirit coming, and then the service of God established with the Father in the prime place of God in the economy.

Ques What is the difference between “There shall be joy in heaven,” and “there is joy”?

SMcC Verse 7 says, “I say unto you, that thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner,” he says, “Rejoice with me for I have found my lost sheep,” he is referring to what is in the house down here. And he says then, “I say unto you that thus” - that is, corresponding with the joy in the assembly here there is joy in heaven. And then in verse 9 it says, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost. Thus, I say unto you, there is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner,” We are now reminded of the place the angels have in this great matter.

SK Would you say these things take place in the assembly and heaven rejoices in it?

SMcC Well, exactly, we can see how near heaven is to the whole matter, as in Matthew 18, whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven, that is, there is no distance morally, you might say, in relation to heaven and the assembly. Heaven is interested in all that is transpiring, so wondrous is the assembly’s realm.

RS So that shows that in the repenting sinner already material is secured for the assembly?

SMcC And that is what should be in mind, do you not think, in all our service, especially in the preaching of the word of God, that we have nothing less than that in mind.

RS The material is thus followed, the case is followed right out to a conclusion.

SMcC That is a good way to put it, “followed right out,” and then the whole chapter is impressing us with the care that is spent in regard to following the matter right through. We are very careless at times as to matters on moral lines, the thing is to follow the matter right through to a heavenly level as the chapter has in mind.

HOE Are we not in the spirit of repentance right through our lives, carrying an appreciation of Christ with it?

SMcC Very important that, because where the moral side is maintained, as we were saying earlier, it is an effective balance in the service of God. You remember in the Old Testament in regard to the musical instruments that they were seven on the Sheminith and eight on the Alamoth. The seven on the Sheminith are linked with the lower octave, that is the basic idea as connected with the moral side in our souls, whereas the eight on the Alamoth are linked with the upward, the soprano voices, the higher side linked with the assembly.

RS Voices of the young women.

SMcC Yes, and it is important to keep that in mind. And another interesting thing in the types is that in the very height of the festive year the day of atonement was set. It was not set in the month Abib, it was set in the seventh month, the crown of the festive and spiritual year, right in proximity to the feast of tabernacles, and that is something to bear in mind, as Ephesians 2 impresses us, that we are not on heavenly ground in a kind of stilted, academic way, there is a moral background to the whole matter.

HOE “In whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins.”

SMcC Exactly, and even in chapter 5, which we were looking at the other night, where we get the assembly presented in such a wonderful way as the object of Christ’s love, the value of that vessel and what it was to divine Persons, yet the moral side is blended into it, is it not?

ELE That is why he says to the Ephesians, “Wherefore remember”?

SMcC Exactly, that is the whole point, it is a balance, it saves us from mere mental phrases, and an academic way of carrying on the service of God.

DLE With reference to what you mentioned as to what is moral just now, would you say that as we go on we get more sensitive to what is evil, and it is not like a building where our foundations are built once for all? But they are carried forward and bolstered up?

SMcC Oh, I think so, I think we never really leave the foundation in that way, the foundation is always there on the moral side, and the line of repentance is ever deepening in our exercises and our links with God. That can be traced quite easily in Paul’s history, it seemed to deepen with him all the time: not only did the light increase on the one hand, but the sense of his own sinfulness increased on the other.

ELE He says, “Sinners, of whom I am chief,” not ‘I was.’ Exactly, that is what I am referring to. Now in Luke, chapter 24, just to refer to it briefly, we can see how in the matter of the Lord’s service the whole service of God, and the fulness of its scope, is enriched by what He does and the way He serves them, and in the added touch as to the Psalms, in verse 44. There would first be the bringing into the assembly of the touch that these two had, and then the touch that Simon had (verse 34), and now the Lord comes in among them and He finds certain things there, and then we get the enlarging of knowledge as to the word of God, the Psalms, verse 45, “Then he opened their understanding to understand the scriptures,” then you get the scope of the preaching, the wealth of the preaching, that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem,” verse 47. And then you get the thought of power from on high, and then the thought of the blessing, the whole section from verse 50, charged with the idea of blessing, so that you are impressed with the fulness on the line of quality that enters into the closing of the gospel.

MC So you would say that divine feelings are in full circulation in connection with the recovery of man?

SMcC Exactly, and these feelings are to be in circulation in the assembly.

JM The gospel was to start first at Jerusalem, the place where He had died.

SMcC In the place where the guilt was greatest, that is the point. It is to intensify in our souls the grace of the dispensation. Never let us forget that - the grace of the dispensation - how it can overcome the bitterest and vilest opposition.

SC Would we see God’s love shining out there as He said the gospel should begin from Jerusalem?

SMcC Well, in John 3: 16 it is a great system in mind, it is not the world in moral corruption, it is an ordered system of things that God has in mind, that He had, and that sin had marred, but that He will ultimately secure again. As the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. God will again have before Him an ordered scene in which His pleasure is found. That would be the idea of “God so loved the world.” In the glad tidings here the operations would have in mind the securing of man in relation to it.

LAC Is it not very wonderful to see the close and climax at the end of this gospel which has taken up and dealt with so many persons of various characters right through, most of them taken up from the lowest reaches of humanity; persons from the street and under the power of demons, and others, and now resulting here in this blessed climax of divine power so manifestly seen?

SMcC Well, I am sure there is something in that. It is to impress us with the greatness of divine operations and what can be done, and what a help it would be to us in the matter of our having part in the economy, because the economy not only involves divine Persons, it involves the saints, that the saints are doing things but they are doing things on the lines on which divine Persons are doing things.

MC Would the “ye” in verse 48, refer to the saints?

SMcC I suppose we might by extension think of the saints, but I suppose it particularly alludes to the apostles, “And ye are witnesses of these things,” as being particularly linked with the inaugural side of the dispensation.

AKH You referred to the Psalms as linked with the prophets and Moses. Had you in mind that that was referred to only when there was a company present? With the two going to Emmaus it was Moses and in all the prophets, but later in the chapter when the company is there the Psalms are included. Would you say just a little what you had in mind in stressing the Psalms?

SMcC Well I was thinking of the service of God particularly, the Psalms link with it. The Psalms are part of what is generally known as the Hagiographa, which includes all the poetical books. Of course, it includes more than the actual Psalms, it includes Chronicles, and the book of Ruth, but it is specially dealing with all the poetical books where the service of God is particularly enlarged upon. There is a particular wealth and bearing on the service of God.

HAL Would you say too that the personnel, the two going to Emmaus and Peter, would have experiences that would be valuable linking on with the Psalms?

SMcC I think so, so that the Psalms intensify the moral side. The Lord spoke in the fourth of Luke of the acceptable year, and now as He is finishing His service we can see how the matter is crowned as He ascends with His hands uplifted in blessing.

MSS Would there be a suggestion in the ending of this book of the local position giving way to the universal, suggested in the last verse, their being in the temple praising God? Although we know it is limited to the Jewish setting, would it suggest, following on to the room to which the Lord came, the local position, that as being led on by Him we reach the whole sphere of the service of God in the assembly?

SMcC I think so, and especially alluding as it does to Bethany, the place of love, we know how wide the outlook of love is, love is not limited in its outlook, and Bethany would stress that side, “Having lifted up his hands he blessed them.”

AT We get earlier in the chapter, “The Lord is risen indeed,” and then, He showed them His hands and His feet. Would you say that knowledge and feelings would enter into the service of God?

SMcC I am sure it would, and the wealth that these experiences bring should give character to the service of God, should lend itself to its enrichment.

Chapman Street, Bridgetown, Barbados.

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