THE SPIRIT AS THE POWER THAT WORKS IN US

2 Kings 4: 1–7; Matthew 25: 1–13; Ephesians 1: 13–19; 3: 14–21

RT I thought there may be profit for us in considering what it says in Ephesians 3, “the power that works in us”, a reference to the Holy Spirit which is in type and in actuality referred to in these scriptures, as able to carry us through in the full joy of the dispensation. The various experiences in the persons we have read of would relate very largely to the experiences of us all. There is a great tendency with us to look for some outward power to effect things. We can see that in the children of Israel’s history and in our own; we pray and ask the Lord to come in, and we look for something to happen. In these scriptures I think we can see that there is a power here to make things happen, it is within us. God said to Moses, “Ye have gone round this mountain long enough” (Deuteronomy 2: 3), and in some of these exercises, we all know something about, there is a need, dear brethren, for power to be operating.

As we see in the first scripture, there is power to meet the debt. We all have to learn that, and the earlier we learn it the better. In Matthew there is power to see the saints through, but they go to sleep; that shows there is a certain lack of respect for it. You can see in Ephesians the great power to bring us in to the enjoyment of our heavenly portion. Maybe the Lord would lead us, and the Spirit help us also, to have a sense of what is here and in us. The great feature of Elisha’s ministry is that he uses what is there. He says, What have you in the house? Even when it comes to death in the pot he says, “bring meal” (2 Kings 4: 41); it is just to hand, he used what was there. When it comes to the waters he says, “Bring ... salt”, 2 Kings 2: 20.

These were all things that they had. I believe we need to be awakened to the power that has already been given us, but there is a need for respecting it and making room for it. This woman was in a position at least of plenty of light, as we are dear brethren, favoured in God’s goodness and faithful love. There is no lack of light about things, but a lack of power to maintain sonship as in this woman. That was what was lacking. She more or less accepted the circumstances, that things were not what they should be, there was breakdown and there was a creditor at the door. And she says, Well we will just make the best of these things and go on quietly, and at the end she is facing death and accepting it.

Then as the prophet comes in, Elisha said to her “What shall I do for thee?” Well, she did not have great aspirations, she just said that she did not have anything of value, and yet there was power there to more than meet the debt, to maintain her in the level of sonship. I think these are exercises that we go through early in our histories with the Lord, but I think they come up now and again, and we are brought back through the prophetic word to see that there is something here in the house able to maintain us in the joy of our heavenly calling. I trust the brethren will be free to bring in their own experiences and exercises to encourage one another to be maintained, and to be going on in appreciation of what we have, in the Holy Spirit of God being here with us and in us.

ALMcK There seems to be power in opposition as well here; the woman was affected by that, “my husband is dead ... and the creditor is come to take my two children to be bondmen”. It seems he was right there at the door and she was overcome by that. As opposed to that she feels she has nothing at all, but what she has in the house is far greater, is it not, the power that is available to her?

RT Yes, the enemy is out to depress us and out to take our eyes off our heavenly calling. She said that her husband was dead and he had been of the sons of the prophets, but they were not too reliable. There are plenty of these influences not too far from us, that would discourage us about the heavenly calling that we have been brought into.

ALMcK You have mentioned a couple of times that we need to know the power and we need to respect it. Can you say something more about respecting it?

RT Well, she had plenty of the oil, it was there. The Holy

Spirit has come bringing the wealth of heaven with Him to meet the various exercises that we have in the path; and I think the Lord in the teaching in John is bringing the disciples on to that. He says, I am going away but there will be another divine Person here who will see the dispensation through; but she was lacking in her faith. I think we need faith in the Spirit. I remember reading that the Spirit operates within the realm of our faith. The Spirit was here in the house, in type, but was not able to operate because she did not have faith. She was not looking to the Spirit, she was looking to what was in herself, after the flesh, we may say, and looking on the public position, and she says, I have nothing, no power to meet the creditor.

JMcK She knew about the oil. The prophet says, “Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil”. Do you think we need to have a fresh appreciation of what the Spirit can do for us if we move in faith?

RT Yes, maybe she had grieved the Spirit in some things. Perhaps she was a bit lax in reading the current ministry and embracing it. I think we have had a ministry that would help us to value the Spirit in guiding us into our heavenly calling. But she did not pay too much attention to it, yet the resources are here. That is what marks Elisha’s ministry, there is power here to meet the exercises if we appreciate and make room for what we have been given.

FR Could you give us your thoughts as to the creditor, what the creditor represents?

RT I think we all know. We get converted, we embrace the Lord as our Saviour, and we sometimes think that when we have done that we will be good and we will have no trouble. We soon find out that the flesh comes up and we feel we are as bad as ever. I think it is what the brethren call Roman exercises. The flesh comes up and you find that you want to do something but you cannot; you know what you should be doing, but you do not have the power to do it. The creditor comes week after week and says, Here you are failing again, poor feeble sinner, and yet you say you believe in the Lord.

I think that is where we learn the Spirit as power to meet the creditor. So it says in Romans, “ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit dwell in you”, Romans 8: 9. There is power there to meet the debt, although I would say that is not His normal work; His normal work is to maintain us in the joy of sonship, but we must come to rely on the Spirit to meet the debt. So he knocks again at the door and you can tell him, I am no longer in flesh. We are still in flesh, but it does not dominate, does not keep me away from the meeting, or hinder me from enjoying the ministry. There is power in the Spirit to meet that debt and come into the joy of sonship. Do you believe that?

FR It speaks about Satan being “the accuser of our brethren”, Revelation 12: 10. I suppose that is what it comes to. You have these thoughts, your mind is on a lower level, really it is a state.

RT Well you have proved it in your own experience. That is where we learn the value of the Spirit, and the power that is in Him to bring us to live in the joy of His service to us.

RG Do you think we might be content to know something about the Spirit, without having the desire to have His presence and activity experienced by us?

RT Yes, the oil was there, she had it and she knew where it was, she knew something about it. She maybe spoke about it too, but it was not an active power in her life, she was not counting on the Spirit and making room for Him, to live in the joy of sonship.

CKR There is not going to be anything else provided. God has provided this, it is a divine power for us all to take full advantage of in order to triumph; far more than meeting the debt but to prove the victory of the Spirit.

RT Yes, “he has given to us of his Spirit”, 1 John 4: 13. It speaks too of the Spirit dwelling in us, and it is a very personal experience. We cannot do it for anybody else, it is something we have to do for ourselves, and that makes room for the prophet, whom she must have been ignoring. Elisha had been there before, and these sons of the prophets had their own ideas about things, how they were going to work out things, and there are many of them about. Elisha here comes in power, not as a son of a prophet, but he was the prophet; he was the one who knew something about Christ on high, and he is able to point to what was operating here to bring us into the joy of our salvation.

JAG “For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”, Romans 8: 15. We are to be free from burden and care, “the righteous requirements of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit” (Romans 8: 4), so that we are overcomers and wealthy persons.

RT So she is back in the same circumstances she was in yesterday, but in the power of another life. The creditor will come back in different ways but she has something in reserve to meet it, the power to meet it, so that she can live and her sons on the rest.

TDB Is it right to say that we are to use the Spirit? I was just thinking when a problem comes up to refer to Him. If He is the greatest Friend we have, He is the One to have the first call.

RT Well we know how sensitive He is. He can be grieved, and He can be quenched. I am sure this would bring up to us an instance where the Spirit was grieved. He was there available but not referred to, one day, the next day, the next week, so history goes on, without room being made for the Spirit of life, to give us power. I think there is the need for the power that works in us; that is what it says in Ephesians, “according to the power which works in us”. These great things are open to us as we use what is given to us.

JS The vessels had to be empty vessels. Do you think we have to learn not to rely on anything else, but on the Spirit alone?

RT Well tell us how we do that.

JS I think it comes into our experience, where perhaps we have relied on the activity of our mind to suppress things, but really you have to come to it that the only power that is effective is the power of the Spirit, do you think?

RT We have all gone that way. We have tried one thing, ‘turn over a new leaf’ is a common expression, we will do it next week, we will try this and we will try that, but we find that the flesh cannot be improved, the vessel has to be empty. So that is what we referred to in Romans, that “in my flesh, good does not dwell”, Romans 7: 18. We cannot get it by reading books, we cannot get it through trying moral reform, as men used to speak, we come to it that in me good does not dwell, but God “has given to us of his Spirit”. So we get the idea of sowing to the Spirit, leading us to see that there is a Person there, not only respected, but He becomes a resource, so that “he that sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life”, Galatians 6: 8.

JSp The Lord in speaking to the woman in John 4, says, “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”, John 4: 14. Is this life the divine answer to bondmanship?

RT That woman is a good example of the vessel being emptied. So the Lord says, “neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem”. She had her ideas of trying to improve things, and she had tried, I suppose; but it was to be neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem. She had come to see that all that has to be laid aside, and as we are often reminded, she “left her water-pot”. There is not only the vessel emptied but it is left; she had a new source of spring in her leading into the joy of eternal life. I think that is a very fine reference to encourage our hearts. There was a woman, a bad woman, you may say, but she is very quickly coming to realise the power that is working in us, and saying, “Come, see a man”.

ALMcK He becomes indispensable to us in that way. Paul speaks elsewhere about living by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.

RT Well these were Galatian exercises, sowing to the Spirit. It becomes a principle, we may say a dominating influence in our lives that we are walking by the Spirit. There is that guidance. That is what the Lord says about Him, “he shall guide you into all the truth”, John 16: 13. He will lead us in the highways of the truth to be in the joy and the liberty of our calling.

MGW Why does it say that she calls them children; he calls them sons, and he says “shut the door”. What is there for us in that?

RT It is a very personal exercise. You have to do it. You may hear about it in the meeting but you have to put it to the test. It is a very personal thing, “Go, borrow for thyself vessels”, there is a readiness of the brethren to help you, to facilitate exercise; then it says, “shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels”. I think she began to be amazed, one debt after another is met. Things that held us in bondage are written off to bring us into joy and liberty and the fruits of the Spirit.

RG What our brother said about the fountain of water springing up, that is going to continue, is it not?

RT The fountain will never run dry, will it?

RG That is what I wondered. What an encouragement it is if we make way for the Spirit that will never run dry, do you think?

RT So it says, live by the Spirit. There is a freshness, and we could do with it, dear brethren, a freshness in our outlook and in the service of sonship, drawing not from man’s abilities or man’s way of doing things. We are constantly ready to fall back on the way men would do things. I suppose she was surrounded by customs in these sons of the prophets about how things had been done all those years, but here is a freshness of life springing up in having these vessels filled and living on the rest.

GBG Would the Spirit help us in our right intentions? It relates to our responsibility, does it not? I mean the Spirit does not exactly do everything for us. Do you think if you are set for what is right, then the Spirit gives power for that? We have to have right desires ourselves, do you think?

RT That is a very important point you bring up. The Spirit does not take responsibility, but He helps us to fulfil responsibility. I think that is a very important lesson to learn, that you are responsible. The Lord in forgiving your sins has cleared that debt, that will never be raised again, you are

cleared from your guilt from that point of view. But there are things that rise up in your life, and you are responsible to make room for the truth. It is a responsibility as you come into the circle of the fellowship of God’s Son, to seek the things that are in the fellowship, and in the ministry and in the meetings. The Spirit lays that responsibility on you. It says, “walk”; that is using your feet. It is a responsibility, but as soon as you take up that responsibility you will find the power of the Spirit to walk in the joy of sonship. Is that what you had in mind?

GBG In that way these things become our life, and we prove what life is according to Romans, do we not?

RT Yes, I think it is important what you have said because, as I have said before, we are apt to look at things happening outside of us. If the Lord has brought you into the sphere of Christianity there is a responsibility upon you to be a Christian. If you take up that responsibility the Spirit joins His help to our weakness (Romans 8: 26). Even about our prayers. He joins His help to us that we may be in the full joy of what we have been called into.

TJH There is a hymn that says,

‘Sinner, see thy God beside thee,

In a servant’s form come near,

Sitting, walking, talking with thee!

Sinai’s mount no longer fear’. (Hymn 112)

We would generally think of that as the Lord Jesus, but I wondered if we could apply that to the Holy Spirit too, do you think?

RT Well it is primarily the Lord Jesus; He is the One that we have had to do with about our sins. But this sin operating in the flesh, and would seek to take over as it did with this woman, but there is power in the Spirit. He has come very near us and to be in us so that we may meet our responsibilities and live in the joy of sonship.

JAG She progresses to the wealthy woman of Shunem that makes way for the prophet; that is how progress is made in relation to the truth and the ministry, and we accommodate what the Lord has given us and seek to increase that accommodation.

RT Yes, your reference to the prophet is another bit of ministry. There is plenty of light, dear brethren, we are brought into a circle where there is much ministry, but do we read it? Do we make room for it in our affections? That is what she does here, it is a prophetic word. It has been in the revival and it is continuing in the meetings among the saints. The Lord would give a word to meet the state so that we may be no longer held in bondage, but be brought into the liberty and joy that He has in mind for us.

JS In Romans 8 it says not only do we have to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit and live, but it goes on after that, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8: 14). Do you think it is a matter of coming into the reality of living in sonship?

RT Yes, it brings you into Canaan, it brings you into the land. That is what happened in Numbers, as soon as the Spirit was made room for. He had been there, followed them in the journey for a long time, but as soon as He was made room for you find them journeying towards the land. They are coming into the area where the truth is in circulation and to be enjoyed.

JAG The land is a manifestation of the fruitfulness of the power that works in us. There are grapes, and other things, it is all fructification, and that is an evidence of power working, is it not?

RT And they are there for appropriating, are they not?

JAG There to enjoy.

RT They are there in freshness for the enjoyment of life. I think these things are very close to us, that there is a power in us. We are so often looking for something to happen, but the Lord would say, Well it is there in you, I have already given you what is needed to more than fulfil the debt, the debt is fully met so that you live on the rest.

TDB What would you say about the vessels being full? If a thing is full you cannot get anything more into it.

RT I think they were overflowing it seemed, but another day may arise when there will be something else to meet. I think full means satisfied.

JD I was thinking of Rebecca, individually she took on responsibility and it says “the man was astonished at her” (Genesis 24: 21), and then she says. There is room for you to lodge (Genesis 24: 25), and then later on she says, “I will go” (Genesis 24: 58). Do you think that would show progress in her links with the Spirit?

RT I think that is a fine word, “I will go”. As soon as she said that she found the power of the camels. She might have said, and Laban would have said to her, Look it is a long journey, it is a desert, what resources are there? But as you say, she had confidence in the man. He had spoken to her heart, and she said, “I will go”. Her committal silences the opposition. You will find that, dear brethren. If we make the stand in committal, as she did, the opposition is more than silenced, and there she is riding on the camels, and the journey became far shorter than the difficulties that were put in her way.

CKR Do you think too that her sons go through the exercise with her? As this potential is taken up and fulfilled, then sonship is secured in the oncoming generation as well. That must be very important in the days in which we are, is it not?

RT Yes, say some more about it.

CKR She is not just going through it herself, she is bringing her sons into what is going through. This would leave an indelible impression upon the whole household in the two generations being brought through, to fulfilling responsibility in the power of the oil, and living in sonship, and seeing that there is excess. There is more than just getting through. There is the side of grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life, is there not?

RT It is very fine to call attention to the effect it would have on these sons. They saw a demonstration there, and if we look into things, I think we can see a demonstration of how the Spirit has kept things alive. You think of the course of the testimony. It has been in vessels but the power of it was in the Spirit of God, bringing things through succeeding generations, and so we are to respect what has gone before. Our fathers went through a great deal of exercise about these things, getting free from the principles and formalities of the established churches and these things. They went through deep exercises and, I think we are to get the gain of them, and see how they took the responsibility to move out from a state of confusion, to come into an area where the Spirit of God is made room for, and into the enjoyment of the heavenly calling.

GB I was thinking of Naomi, she heard about her brethren and she moved from her place, she was added to immediately with the wonderful committal of Ruth, and then they are brought to the barley harvest.

RT Very good. She emptied her vessel, she moved. Orpah went away back, but you cannot work these things out in a Moabitish influence. Ruth says, Where you go I will go, where you die I will die (Ruth 1: 16). So there is a very good illustration of one committing herself in faith under a spiritual influence; and she comes to be the wife of the wealthy man.

Well in Matthew, it would just help us to see the need of reality. These persons all looked the same. I think the prudent did not keep very good company. They should have known the state of the other ones before this, but it seems that they were all very friendly. It says there were five prudent and five foolish, they all had torches, but some did not have oil in them. Should they not have seen that in their links with them? The Spirit as a living power had lost its impact upon them. Dear brethren, if we are not preserved in the joy and liberty of the Spirit’s grace among us we will fall into a social circle, into an area where things are spoken about but there is no power. If they had been talking about the ministry, if they had been talking about their experiences after the Supper, how would they have got on? Five of them might have entered into things. What could they say about the Lord in glory? The five foolish, what could they have said? It meant that their conversations fell to a very low level. Well these things are a warning to us. They looked very circumspect. It is a very telling word at the end of that chapter, “I do not know you”. They had never sown to the Spirit, they had never even been exercised about having Him as a living power in their lives. Well these things are to awaken us because it is coming to the hour of, “Behold, the bridegroom”. It says they all arose and even trimmed their torches, but what was the use of having a torch without oil.

JS I think it shows in view of the Lord’s coming the importance of seeking to keep spiritual company.

RT Yes, and vitality. As I said, their senses had got dulled. You wonder how far they had gone with one another. You see they all slept. We used to be told this illustration about the company we kept. A younger brother was talking to an older brother about company he was keeping, and the older brother said, No that is not very good company for you. Oh, he said, I am trying to help them. The older brother said to him, Stand up on that table. So he put the young brother up on the table. He said, Now pull me up. He could not do it. You cannot pull people up. You may try to help them but they can very easily pull you down. That was the illustration he gave us. Let us watch our company, dear brethren. Let us seek an area of things where the truth is in circulation. In the local meetings, the circle where the Lord is esteemed and valued and the Spirit is valued. That is what would encourage us, but there is a warning to us. The cry goes out, “Behold, the bridegroom”, and they all go forward, they go so far, but the vitality comes in lighting the torches. So let them be lit today, let them be shining. If the torches had been shining they would soon have shown up these other ones long before this.

EJM In 1 Corinthians 11, the apostle uses the words, “the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered up” (1 Corinthians 11: 23), does that show how much the Bridegroom is in the affections of the bride.

RT Yes, go on, that is fine.

EJM The call here is not so much that the Bridegroom is coming, but it is the Person Himself is it?

RT Yes, This do for a calling of Me to mind. I think the

Supper was not a controlling influence in these virgins’ lives, otherwise if that had been a matter before them they would soon have changed their company. They would not need to be aroused from their sleep. Sleep is just like grieving the Spirit. You fall into a routine of things, so easily done. We have all known something of these experiences, but I think the cry has gone out, “Behold, the bridegroom; go forth to meet him”.

MGW Is it very individual too? It does not say the five that were ready, but “the ones that were ready”.

RT Yes, each has their own torch, and it is to be kept trimmed. It shows that it had not been attended to for some time. It constantly needs to be trimmed. That means that it is ready to shine in its brightness. It is a daily thing, trimming the torches.

ALMcK It says, “they all grew heavy and slept”, so is it a process?

RT It is. If you miss the meetings one week it is easy to do it the next week, we can get into a routine. You can get into a routine so that it is not too important; we will go if we have time, so many things make demands upon us. I think these torches need to be attended to daily so that the Spirit is free and the light is burning.

ALMcK Could you say something more about the Bridegroom? That name is really calculated to touch our affections, is it not?

RT It is indeed. It is something that the Spirit would keep before us, Christ in His glory, in His beauties and excellencies. I think the normal service of the Spirit of God is to keep us fresh and living in our affections for Christ in His own glory.

APG So Paul says by the Spirit, “I have espoused you unto one man”, 2 Corinthians 11: 2. Is that the Spirit’s service? Paul’s service was in sympathy with the Spirit, was it not? The Spirit will bring Christ before us.

RT Yes, well that is the prophetic word coming in. It is the Spirit working through Paul, you may say. All the time he was writing to them in the first epistle he had in mind, that he

was espousing them as a chaste virgin to Christ. That is the level of the ministry. The Spirit is directing our attention to the heavenly Man.

JAG You might say he was trimming their torches at Corinth. Does that bear on self-judgment?

RT Yes.

JAG Trimming our torches must bear on self-judgment, it is a priestly action.

RT Yes, indeed, it is in view of the flame being kept in its brightness. We used to know these things. These lamps that needed oil, if the wick was not trimmed you got black smoke and poor light. It was a daily thing to be attended to. In Ephesians, the torches are trimmed, the vessels are full and running over, and we are brought into the area of “the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance to the redemption of the acquired possession”.

RG Is this like the woman living on the rest? I was just thinking about the positive side. Pay your debts, well that is a necessary obligation on us, but then to live on the rest brings us into the area where there is everything for our sustenance, and for our returning praise Godward, do you think?

RT Yes, it is interesting Paul connects it with the gospel. It says where we have read, “ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation”. It comes into the gospel that we are not only freed from our sins, and the debt is met, but we are living on the rest, as you say, and that is what the glad tidings would bring us into. The ground is cleared, the debt is met, but the glad tidings of your salvation goes on to “ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance”. I think we have the present joy of what we are waiting on, through the Spirit being actively enjoyed by us.

AMB It would link with what Paul says to the Corinthians too, would it not, as to receiving the Spirit, “that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God”, 1 Corinthians 2: 12? It is fine that God gives freely, but the Spirit is there so that we can know and appreciate and enjoy these things.

RT Very good. There, does he not bring in that the things of God knows no one except the Spirit of God, and it says He “searches all things” (1 Corinthians 2: 10). That is coming into the area where we are free from the debt, the torches are shining, and now we are seeing the glory of the heavenly position that the Spirit would bring us into the enjoyment of, while we are awaiting the actuality.

CKR Say a word on what the sealing conveys.

RT Well I think it too comes in through the gospel. That is what I am impressed with in reading this passage, “the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”. The sealing is the mark of divine ownership. The embracing of Christ as our Saviour brings us into an area where we are given resource. We may not enjoy it then, but these exercises we have been speaking of are to help us to get clear and to come into the joy of being sealed. It means, He owns us, does it not? And we own Him as our Lord.

CKR So God has great pleasure in doing it.

RT He has indeed. You get that in Corinthians, a touch of God’s pleasure in it when he speaks about, “he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”, 2 Corinthians 1: 22. It is God’s delight to do all that for us as we come into the joy of our sins forgiven and faith in Christ.

CKR That brings up another world with Christ as glorified as the centre of it.

RT Yes, and you see what it goes on to, that He would give you “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart”. I think our affections make room for the operation of the Spirit in this way, so that our eyes are opened and we are brought into the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints.

JSp The result of “the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe”—it is superlative language. Everything is God’s best, it is all for us, is it not? I think this passage of scripture shows it is all in the heart of God, it is all available in a risen Man in the power of the Spirit, do you think?

RT Yes, it says, “the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance to the redemption of the acquired possession”. You may say in reading that verse, what more do you need? The whole thing is there, the power for it is there to be enjoyed in our hearts.

JW I am sure it is very necessary for us to sow in this direction, and I am impressed with what has been said that the Spirit does not do it for us. I was thinking of that verse in Romans, “if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live”, Romans 8: 13.

We want to be persons that are living, do you think?

RT It is like giving you an inheritance and you putting it in the bank, and going on as before. You have the money in the bank, but you have to use it. Take those minas that the Lord gave them; one of them wrapped it up in a towel, he did not take responsibility for the mina he was given (Luke 19: 20). Another one took responsibility and he got five more. I think that brings up the point that you are speaking of, that the Lord has given us enough and more to meet responsibility and to bring us into the joy of our inheritance. To the man that had traded like that, he says, “Well done”. So we would like to get something of that by using what we have been given. Who was the happiest of these men? The man that wrapped it in a towel was not very happy, was he? But that man with the five, you can see he was the happiest of the lot. That would encourage us.

MRC I was wondering whether the sealing would be preservative. The vessel would be covered, would it?

RT Yes indeed. Well that is a great preservative. I can remember going out of the house and being told, Remember who you belong to. Let us remember that, dear brethren, who we belong to, where we go, what we are doing, how we are spending our time; remember who we belong to. That is the sealing. We have a mark on us, you know. If you have believed in the Lord Jesus you are His property, you are no longer your own, you have been bought with a price, we have been sealed. Let us look to the seal, that we live and walk in the enjoyment of that Name being named upon us. That brings you to Jacob, he says, they shall be mine and, “let my name be named upon them”, Genesis 48: 16. It brings us into this wonderful family with the eyes of our heart being enlightened to know the glory of what we have been brought into.

JAG Faith in, the Lord Jesus here is not historical, it is current and relates to administrative activities, would you say? And “love which ye have towards all the saints”

may touch upon His headship in function?

RT Yes, and faith gets stimulated among the brethren, as we see the experiences of one another, and we get the supply of grace from the Head. As we enjoy these things our faith is encouraged and strengthened so that we go forward into the hope of His calling. As we read these things, we may feel they are far beyond us, but there it is. He has given us “the spirit of wisdom ... being enlightened in the eyes of your heart”. That is referred to in both these scriptures in Ephesians, our hearts are won for Christ, to know the hope of His calling. It lifts us beyond this sphere of our responsibility into the area of divine privilege.

JAG We have a vision now.

RT Yes, quite a long one. There are no short-sighted people here, according to “the full knowledge of him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart”. Well I believe the Lord, as we make room for it, would nourish our affections. We have that in the next passage too. Paul’s desire is, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”. He says, you have been “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. There is a new identity there that is in the joy of the heavenly calling and in the joy of the fulness of the inheritance.

GBG The Spirit knows what is in the Father’s purpose and heart for us, do you think? It is the Father’s Spirit. He must know what it is in the Father’s love for us, and strengthens us in relation to that.

RT “To be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. I think that would give us something of the Father’s affections, would it not? The Father is pointing us to Christ, “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell”.

The Father is anxious, is He not, that we may have His views about Christ? No longer Christ meeting our needs, but it is the Son of His love, bringing us into the wealth of the inheritance.

RG Is it important that the Christ may dwell? He is not a visitor. He is dwelling, and He is indwelling persons so that as we come together we can appreciate then what it is to “apprehend with all the saints”, do you think?

RT Well the woman in 2 Kings 4 would be here, would she not? She would tread the journey. These five prudent virgins, they would be here, they are in good company, strengthened with power by the Father’s Spirit, which is a very touching reference. The Lord has helped us about the moral questions. The Father’s Spirit I think is telling us His thoughts about Christ, so that we are at home in the area of divine affections.

JAG “The love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them” (John 17: 26) would bear upon this.

RT It is like the mount of transfiguration I think, where the voice says, “This is my beloved Son”. It is the Father’s voice, but I think Peter would realise that that was a touch of the Father’s Spirit, do you not think?

JAG “Eyewitnesses of his majesty ... such a voice” (2 Pet.1: 16, 17), as though the Father could not express Himself enough as to His delight in Christ.

RT It is the area of the Son of His love. So here again it is “rooted and founded in love”. It is very stable. That is what we referred to at the outset, faith makes room for the Spirit’s activities and Christ is referred to as dwelling in our hearts, rooted and founded in love. There is no going back from a scene like this and, dear brethren, the more we experience this the less danger there will be of going back.

JS This matter of the Christ dwelling in our hearts, through

faith, would really give us a greatly enlarged view of Christ. Really He is the One who is the centre of a universe of bliss, that is held for God’s pleasure, do you think?

RT Yes indeed. It is another world you are brought into, though still left here fulfilling responsibilities. Ephesus was a locality, just as much as any of ours, a local company where things were being worked out, but what was the dominating influence in the local meeting was these relationships of love.

GB It was still necessary even in Ephesus to have overcomers. I was just thinking we can never lay aside the responsible aspect of our privileges.

RT I think the way to preserve us is to be occupied with what is positive, our heavenly calling. That is what comes in here. He says, “in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints”. He does not say, Look back, although we may look back and see how God has led us, but he says, “that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ”. I think he is looking forward. This passage was referred to locally during the week, and I got the impression that to apprehend the breadth and length and depth and height you have to be in the centre, otherwise you do not see these dimensions. You have to keep in the circle of the area of divine favour, the area of divine purpose, and then you can look all round about the breadth and length and depth and height; you see what is dominating is “the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”.

JAG As the hymn says, this is ‘the paradise of God’.

RT Yes,

‘Free, our peaceful feet may venture

In the paradise of God’. (Hymn 206)

You are brought into that area beyond responsibility because responsibility has been met, and in the power of the Spirit we tread that heavenly road so that you are in the area of divine affections, and know it. It is not a question that we are lost in it, it is not something beyond us, but it says, “according to

the power which works in us”. That was the oil in the vessel in Kings; that was the torches lit in Matthew; and here it is all functioning “according to the power”. That same power that helped me to pay the debt, and drew me out of unsuitable surroundings, is now working in me to apprehend the scene that is beyond human comprehension.

JS These great matters are in the context of Paul’s prayers. Would you say something about that?

RT Well I remember it being noted that you do not get Paul’s prayers in Corinth. I know that Paul prayed a lot about Corinth, but I think this is the level that our prayers should reach. We pray a lot about the sorrows, the weaknesses and the infirmities, but is this our view of the saints? Is this what we desire for the brethren, Is this what we are seeking for our local company? If it is we will be more and more in it. We are not just seeking to get clear of the burdens, dear brethren, but to come into the joy of our heavenly calling. Would that be right?

JS I was just impressed with this. It would seem to encourage us in our exercises to be moving on the line that God has before Him for all the saints, do you think?

RT There was a brother in Colosse who had that, did he not, Epaphras? Paul says, there is a man in your local meeting and this is what he is praying about for you. Paul was ministering it, but there was also someone else praying. This is what he wanted for the saints, not just that they would get better but that their eyes would be opened to come into the wealth of this and be “rooted and founded in love”.

ALMcK I was just thinking of that beautiful expression the Lord uses at the end of the gospel, “do ye remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high”, Luke 24: 49.

RT Yes, well I meant to refer to that. I think it is a very good reference, “remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high”. They could have gone out and made a name for themselves of what they knew about the Lord in His pathway here, but the Lord says, You wait till you get power from on high. That is how the testimony will go out in the Spirit’s grace and power.

JSp I was thinking of the Lord addressing the Father in John 17. Is that the level of prayer for us, as we are saying?

RT Very good. Well, I am not critical, brethren, but I think we need to have the level of our prayers lifted. Very often it is need, is it not? There is no need in this, it is just that we be “strengthened with power by his Spirit”. It is the Father with His sons giving us the wherewithal to be at home in this realm that is all divine. Well may the Lord just encourage our hearts to know something of the power that we have right now within us to come into the joy of what our heavenly calling really is.

Reading at Brechin
19 April 2008

KEY TO INITIALS

G. Bailey

A. P. Grant

F. Roe

T. D. Beveridge

G. B. Grant

J. Spinks

A. M. Brown

T. J. Harvey

J. Strachan

M. R. Cook

A. McKay.Jr.

R. Taylor

J. Drummond

J. McKay

J. Webster

J. A. Gardiner

E. J. Mair

M. G. Wood

R. Gardiner

C. K. Robinson