DIVINE PATTERN
[p. 9] DIVINE PATTERN
John 13: 13 - 15; Exodus 21: 1 - 6; Luke 7: 44 - 47
These passages present to us the idea of a model or pattern. In moral things God works on the principle of a model or pattern. We cannot say that He worked on the principle of a model primarily in the physical creation, although He necessarily had a plan in His own mind. The word in Proverbs would indicate that He was the Artificer or Architect of the universe, and as the foundation was laid, the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, so that evidently what was in the mind of God was understood by intelligent beings even then. Then in accordance with this, it is said, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11: 3), and further it is said, “He spake, and it was done” (Psalm 33: 9); that is, His mind entered into it; all was done in divine wisdom.
When we come to moral things, we have a definite pattern indicated, and so in the book of Exodus the injunction is repeated, “See that thou make them according to their pattern ... shewn to thee in the mountain”, Exodus 25: 40. Hence no one but Moses really could construct the tabernacle. It was not simply a question of dimensions or measurements, but of the pattern, and the pattern was only seen by Moses. The dimensions were given, and the wise workmen that were employed knew what these measurements were, but measurements or dimensions are not a model or pattern. In the model or pattern of the tabernacle we have Christ personally indicated, and that, dear brethren, is what I wish we should have clearly before us in this meeting. Christianity is not simply a matter of doctrine or precepts; it includes all these things, but it contains what is substantial; that is, to say, what came out in the [p. 10] Person of Christ here on earth. Hence in the epistle of John we have, “That which was from the beginning”, 1 John 1: 1. What is alluded to is the manifestation of life in a Man down here in this world before men’s eyes, and it is from that model or pattern that God is working with all of us. God has brought in in Christ what represents His own mind, what is called the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ (Ephesians 4: 13).
I suggested the passage in John 13 because it presents what I have been saying in the most concrete and touching manner. It is the Lord Jesus here in the character of the servant; the chapter presents Him in that way. He was sitting at table, and it was two days before the passover. He was not governed by ordinary religious customs in that which took place. In becoming Man He was to be a model, and so He was not restricted by current religious observances in what He was doing. God’s thoughts, dear brethren, cannot be worked out in relation to humanly accepted religious customs. Judaism, indeed, had been ordained of God, but it had dropped to the level of an accepted worldly religion. So that in John the feasts are generally called the feasts of the Jews; they are not called ‘feasts of Jehovah’. The Lord was not restricted by them, hence it is said in this chapter that it was before the passover, and what He does here is of Himself in the liberty of His own Person. In John He constantly speaks of Himself as coming into this world from God. He is here therefore in the liberty and dignity of His own Person as the Son of God, and all His works and services are in that liberty. Hence in this gospel He does not wait for John to be cast into prison before He begins to serve.
We have the Word become flesh — the Son of God — acting here in that dignity and liberty, God manifest in flesh. In a Man things are being worked out according to God’s eternal purpose, and according to His own nature. And so as sitting at table in the dignity of His Person, He lays aside His garments and takes a towel and girds Himself; He is taking on the attitude of a servant. Then He pours the water into a basin; He does it Himself, and moves around to wash the feet of His disciples. No high priest in Jerusalem, no Rabbi or Pharisee would do that. It was a new thing being introduced; it was an example or model. And so, having washed their feet He puts on His garments again and resumes His place at table. He thus takes on His dignity again so as to impress upon His disciples the lesson He intended to teach them. He says, “Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am so”. He impresses upon them that whilst He did that wonderful act of devotedness, He was still the Teacher and the Lord, and they called Him these. Now then, He says (He transposes the words), “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”. He says further, “I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also”. You see dear brethren, He gives the example and then retires, as it were, into His own dignity and authority to enforce the lesson.
Authority may be irksome to a pupil, but at times it is most essential to the education of the pupil. That pupils or scholars should be allowed to learn as they please, or come and go to school as they please would be most disastrous as regards their education. Instruction requires authority in the teacher. It is really no hardship, but an element brought into the service which is most essential. Hence the Lord takes them up on their own profession; they called Him Teacher and Lord and He says, “I am so”. That is, ‘You call Me what you ought to call Me, what I am entitled to, but I am [p. 12] not occupied with the dignity of it, but that you might learn your lesson’. He is the model and He is the Teacher; He uses Himself as the example, and He teaches us from that example. Nothing, dear brethren, is more detrimental to us as christians than the use of latitude and licence in the things of God. Many assume that our position in regard of the things of God is optional, but it is a vital mistake. God will never deal with us on optional lines; our God is said to be a consuming fire. It is not simply that God is that, but our God; that is to say, the God we know in Christ is a consuming fire, meaning that He will not tolerate our wills. So that it says, Let us have grace to serve God with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12: 28). So here He says, ‘Ye call Me Lord, and I am Lord, and what I say has the authority of the Lord’. So that He says, ‘Ye ought, as I have washed your feet, to wash one another’s feet’. That is to say, it is not that it is optional, that I may do it or I may not do it; I must do it. If I do not do it, I am disregarding the authority of the Lord, and yet I am calling Him Lord. As He says elsewhere, Why do ye call me Lord and do not the things that I say (Luke 6: 46)?
Now I come to the well-known type in Exodus 21 — the Hebrew servant — and what is to be observed is that the law had just been given. Chapter 20 contains the ten commandments, and the next chapter contains the model as to how these commandments are kept. You will remember how in the New Testament it is said that love is the fulness of the law — of the whole law (Romans 13: 10), so that as God gives the law, He gives in the type an example as to how it is to be fulfilled. I am not wishing to suggest that we are under law — although its righteous requirements are fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit — but I am only calling attention to this type as illustrating [p. 13] the idea of a model. God commands love in the law, and in the type in Exodus 21 we have one saying, “I love”. God commands it, and we have Christ in type saying, “I love”. And it is not simply saying it. He plainly says it, and He shows in the most positive way that He meant what He said. You see, the type means that Christ came in free, and He could have gone out free. As He came in from God, He could have gone out in the right of His own Person, but instead of that He plainly says, ‘I love My master, My wife and My children’. Thus you see, dear brethren, alongside of law demanding love from man, God has set down a model of one who said, “I love”, and who did love; He loved God, He loved His wife, and He loved His children; that is to say, you have ascending love, horizontal love, and descending love. You have thus the length, the breadth, the height and the depth in love; it is the perfect expression of love in Christ. He loved God; He would go down into death to fulfil the will of God. And so the wife, and so the children. He gave Himself for us; He loved the assembly and gave Himself for it, and also for the saints viewed as children. You see what a model we have here, and moreover we have the great principle I am seeking to emphasise, that if God brings in law demanding love, He shows you how the thing is answered to.
In the gospel of Luke I want to show how this may be seen in one christian in a locality. I want to show the importance of even one in a locality whom the Lord can call attention to as known in the locality. I do not know anything that one would covet more than to be a model that Christ can point to — a model of the truth. You see, if things be not right locally, it is not simply that I am to say what is right, but to show what is right. Many can say what should be, but, you see, the principle is not in [p. 14] saying what should be, but in being what should be. Hence the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, “Yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence”. Earlier he says, “For this reason I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ”. Paul not only wrote the letter to tell them what to do, but he sent his child Timothy that he might exhibit in their very midst what was right. He says, “My child Timotheus”, that is, the child was like the father; so that Paul, the father, representing Christ’s authority, sent the child so that the Corinthians might see Paul’s ways as they were in Christ.
If I were in Corinth at that time and had never seen Paul, and I went to enquire of some godly saint, What kind of a person is Paul? he would say to me, Well, the best illustration that I can give you of Paul is Timotheus. Then, if I wanted to know something of Paul, I would take good note of Timotheus. More than this, Christ is the image of God here; He brings God to us; we learn God in Christ. “No one has seen God at any time”, but the Lord says, “He that has seen me has seen the Father”. And so it is that the assembly is like Christ; it is the fulness of Christ. And in a smaller way, one saint who is in the power of the Spirit is like Christ. Hence, you see, in this woman in Luke 7, the Lord is calling attention to one person. It says, “He turned to the woman”. If things are not right in a meeting and there be one who is right — one who is walking with God — the Lord will draw attention to him. Paul, for instance, says, “Ye became followers of us” but then he adds, “and of the Lord”, for Paul never wished to be a party leader. He represented Christ and souls would follow him, but as they learned Christ in Paul, he would direct them to Christ. And so, dear brethren, the true way [p. 15] of recovery in localities is by a model; that is, some person to whom the Lord can point as representing Him in some way.
In this chapter 7 the Lord turns to the woman; He turns to her as if His heart rested there. But then He says to Simon, “Seest thou this woman?”. He called Simon’s attention to her, but He was turned to her Himself. And so He goes on to call Simon’s attention to what he should have done, but did not do, and the point is, that what others are not doing, am I doing? If there is one person who is carrying out the will of God, God can help others through that model. Now let us dwell for a moment on what this woman did. She represents, as I may say, what Luke’s gospel would produce in us in a subjective way. Every book in Scripture is intended to present some feature of the truth, and usually the women that are presented in the book convey what is to be effected in the book, so that this woman may be taken to represent what Luke would bring about in our souls. What it says is that she loved much; it is not simply that she loved, but she loved much. If I have not got love, I have not anything spiritually. That is what the apostle says about love; he says, if I have not that, I have nothing. But with this woman it was not simply that she loved, but she loved much. And what was the evidence of it? That she had feelings and tears! Perhaps the scarcest thing amongst us is tears. I do not mean natural emotions; we are all capable of that, but this woman’s tears were the fruit not of natural emotion, but of deep spiritual feelings. In a word they were the fruit of true self-judgment. She was forgiven much and the grace that brought forgiveness to her affected her heart; hence her tears are used to wash the Lord’s feet. One would love to be able to convey the depth of the spiritual feeling expressed [p. 16] in this woman. I dwell on this because we are so extremely superficial.
In moving about in this world and noting what exists among the saints, what one observes — and one includes oneself — is that we are so unfeeling, and hence there are no tears that can be put into God’s bottle. There are doubtless plenty of tears in the world, for it is a world of woe, but tears that are fit for God’s bottle are rare. But these tears were such; they were such as could wash the feet of the Lord. And then her hair is used to wipe His feet; it is the complete devotedness of all that she might treasure for the refreshment of Christ. And so the Lord goes over the ground pointing out that what Simon failed in, this woman provided; Christ was supreme in her heart; He had won a place down there in the very depths of it. And so He could turn to her and call attention to her; He says, “She loved much”. And why? Because she was forgiven much! Luke gives us the effect of grace.
Well, dear brethren, that was all I had to present. I am sure you will see the force of it in localities in which the people of God are, how, if there be only one who is right with God, God can use that person as an example; He would call the attention of all the others to him. Matthew speaks about two — “two of you” he says. There you have the principle that if two of you agree on earth as touching anything, they shall ask and it shall be done unto them. Thus you see how one or two in a locality may become under God the means of complete recovery.