THE GLORY OF CHRIST (4)
[p. 133] THE GLORY OF CHRIST (4)
John 16:13,14 John 15:26,27; John 14:26; John 13:31,32
JT In our subject we have before us the Spirit here in the living water consequent on the glorification of Christ. Our instruction should show us the effect of the Spirit as glorifying Christ. He is here because Christ is glorified, but as here He glorifies Christ, according to our first scripture; so that we have before us a range of truth that includes Paul’s doctrine. In the second scripture read the Lord said He would send the Comforter from the Father: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me”; and then He says, “and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from the beginning” (chapter 15:26,27). That is, He distinguishes between the Spirit’s own testimony and the testimony of the twelve; the former would include what was subsequent to the testimony of the twelve, as in Paul’s ministry. Then in the third scripture read we have what would fit in in the last days, that is, when the things of Christ are either beclouded or forgotten. He says, “but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you” (chapter 14:26). That would be another ministry of the Spirit whereby He would glorify Christ — to bring things forgotten, beclouded, or distorted back to their original form, back to the remembrance of the saints. Fourthly we have the glorification of Christ in a moral way as Judas went out: “When therefore he was gone out Jesus says, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately” (chapter 13:31,32).
[p. 134] This is the most touching perhaps of all, because it alludes to the actual death of Christ brought about by the betrayal of Judas.
AR Do you have something special in your mind in commencing with chapter 16 and going back?
JT It opens up a wide field of truth, as I said. “But when he is come”, the Lord says, “the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you” (chapter 16:13,14). The chapter contemplates the Lord’s rejection, and the rejection of the saints too, because He says, “They shall put you out of the synagogues; but the hour is coming that every one who kills you will think to render service to God” John 16:2. And then He says, “But I did not say these things unto you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go to him that has sent me, and none of you demands of me, Where goest thou? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I say the truth to you, It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you” John 16:4 - 7. That is the position in this chapter and it is very marked; it is the position we occupy only on the militant side, the public militant side; and the Spirit being here glorifies Christ in unfolding all the truth, guiding us into all the truth as receiving of Christ, showing it to us and glorifying Christ in that way.
JWD Is He regarded in this passage as indwelling the saints? He hears — is it through the faculties of the saints, or something outside of the saints? It says here, “But whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak”.
[p. 135] Would that be as indwelling, and hearing through our spiritual faculties?
JT It is not through our faculties, for He is here as a divine Person, but in such lowliness! He has ears and hears what He is going to say. It is a very touching matter that He is so lowly, that He hears what He is going to say. I should not like to say that He hears through our faculties, because He has faculties of His own through which He hears.
CAM In Romans 8 it would appear that the Holy Spirit hears from heaven as well as being aware of what goes on in our own feelings.
JT Yes; He brings in what He hears so as to use us to announce the things. The announcement, I should say, would be through Paul, through chosen persons. The word ‘announce’ is formal; it is said in the note to verse 13, ‘The Greek has the sense of “reporting”, “bringing back a report”’. Here it is a message brought from another, as Acts 20:20,27. The Spirit receives and hears. He receives what He says, He hears and announces it. The announcement would be through the faculties of the person employed, such as Paul; but if He heard with Paul’s ears, then Paul would be the direct source of supply himself. It is, I think, the Spirit in His own inscrutable way in the assembly here, individually and personally and freely, and in direct communication with heaven.
SP Would the faculties link with the word ‘guide’ — “shall guide you”?
JT Yes; that is through one another as at a meeting like this. What we may say to each other may be used of the Holy Spirit to guide us into a particular phase of the truth; not teaching, but guiding, so that we do not go astray in our minds.
Ques Is there any connection with what the Spirit says to the churches? “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Revelation 2:17.
[p. 136] JT There we are to hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. That would be also through ministry, that you hear what He says. But then, the point is how the Spirit hears according to this chapter. Does He hear through our hearing faculties? There is no reason why that should be, because He is a divine Person, and He has means of hearing. The Lord Himself when here heard from the Father; correspondingly the Father hears; and so I would say the Spirit is here, a divine Person, but taking a lowly place, the place of hearing; and as hearing He uses vessels in announcing things. It is more than saying, it is announcing.
WL Would you say that He is the present link between the ascended Lord and the assembly?
JT That is true, of course; it involves the organism. But still, there is the fact that a divine Person is here below. “But I say the truth to you, It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you. And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye behold me no longer; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming” John 16:7 - 13.
EP Is the position here somewhat like that before Jericho, the man with the drawn sword in his hand? The demonstration to the world just preceding [p. 137] Jericho being taken? Is that the position of the Spirit in chapter 16?
JT Quite so; it is a militant position. The appearance of the man with the drawn sword glorifies the position. He comes in at a certain time and says, “As captain of the army of Jehovah am I now come”, Joshua 5:14. The Lord says here, “But I have spoken these things to you, that when their hour shall have come, ye may remember them, that I have said them unto you. But I did not say these things unto you from the beginning, because I was with you” John 16:4. But now a particular time has come at which a certain thing is brought in; so that corresponds in that sense with the man with the drawn sword — “am I now come”, — at this particular time, the time for that demonstration.
EP I was wondering whether the Lord had in His mind the importance the Spirit of truth would assume in our minds in relation to this great matter?
JT I think there is a marked correspondence, because this chapter is militant; it contemplates suffering. There is a time for it; they were not equal to it before, nor was it necessary because the Lord was with them. Now He is no longer going to be with them, “But now I go to him that has sent me” John 16:5. The Holy Spirit would be here in a militant way and would bring in demonstration; it is not only that He says certain things about the world, sin and Satan, but they are demonstrated, the things are set out. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit began to bring out in a demonstrative way that the Lord Jesus was right and the Jews were wrong. It is the Jewish world that is in mind. That was the issue at the cross: if He trusted Jehovah, they said, let Elias come and take Him down. The issue was whether Christ was right or the Jews, and the coming in of the Holy Spirit would bring out publicly that the Lord Jesus was right. “And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye behold me no longer; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” John 16:8 - 11.
[p. 138] These things would come out in a palpable way in the ministry of the Spirit beginning at Pentecost, that Christ was right, the Man whom the Jews rejected is with the Father. That is righteousness; not only has God done it because of His relationship with Him as Son, but because of righteousness. That was the issue, Christ was right and the world wrong.
AB “Has been justified in the Spirit”, 1 Timothy 3:16.
JT That is what is meant: “God has been manifested in flesh, has been justified in the Spirit”.
JST Do you get it carried forward with Paul in 1 Corinthians? “Not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” 1 Corinthians 2:4.
JT That is it. “But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you” (verses 13,14); “shall announce it to you”, not simply telling us. Mary “told the disciples” in chapter 20 John 20:18; it is a similar thought, only there the word ‘announce’ is not used. It would hardly be suitable for a sister to take that position of announcing as a special messenger; although she was that. But the Holy Spirit has a unique place, He announces: “He will announce to you what is coming”, and “He shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you”. So that the things are kept before us, the coming of the [p. 139] Lord and all that is coming. It is a striking word as arresting attention as to these matters.
JTJr In the Acts numbers are converted; on the other hand there are the Sadducees and chief priests who are distressed by the preaching; but large numbers are being converted, and the Spirit is guiding.
JT I think that helps. The first day of the preaching brought in such results, and the leaders of the Jews took account of it in that way; they were being judged. Demonstration was being brought in in regard of sin, righteousness and judgment. The whole world was exposed because of what was happening.
CAM That this evil power is still allowed to work would magnify the greatness of God.
JT It does; it brings out what the Spirit is as here, what He does. We have already dwelt on the glorification of Christ as affording the Spirit to us, but now the Spirit is here glorifying Christ. It is not Christ glorified as the Father glorifies Him, and puts Him down at His right hand; the Father does that, but the Spirit glorifies Him here in exposing and contesting an issue in favour of Christ.
JWD “He shall receive of mine”, that is, the heavenly things that are in His hand as the glorified Man. In chapter 13:3 it says, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he came out from God and was going to God ...”, John 13:3.
JT It is what can definitely be called Christ’s things. The Spirit brings them out to us. The servant of Abraham spoke about Abraham himself, but then he spoke about Isaac too, which would be to affect Rebecca peculiarly. The Spirit has great pleasure in endearing Christ to us and magnifying Him in our eyes, so that we can love Him better.
AB He calls them both ‘master’, Abraham and Isaac too.
JT Abraham merged in Isaac’s mastership. The last word about ‘master’ is when Rebecca says, “Who is the man that is walking in the fields to meet us? And the servant said, That is my master!” Genesis 24:65. He does not say, My master’s son.
JWD Paul speaks of announcing amongst the nations “the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ”, Ephesians 3:8.
JT Quite so. It is a remarkable thing that you get verses in Scripture, particularly in John’s writings and also in Paul’s, that convey without formality the deity of Christ. Who else but a divine Person could be spoken of in that way? In John’s writings, especially the first epistle, sometimes the pronouns may refer either to the Father or the Son. The Holy Spirit keeps the deity of Christ before us, taking of His things and showing them to us. The servant of Abraham spoke about his master Abraham, but then he speaks about Isaac by himself; the last word as to mastership is Isaac’s, so that the assembly has the full thought of how Christ is regarded above. The nearer you get to heaven, the more you see what a place He has up there.
Ques Does the Song of Songs fill this out? “My beloved is mine, and I am his” Song of Songs 2:16. The Spirit would operate in the saints peculiarly after the Supper.
JT Quite so. The whole of the book is between the bride and the bridegroom. There is only one allusion to Jehovah, the word Jah; it is the only allusion in the book. That brings out what we are saying, that under certain circumstances the deity of Christ shines out, not simply in an abstract sense, but because of what He is. Certain things have come out in Him personally.
JST “And his desire is toward me”, Song of Songs 7:10. The Spirit would carry that to us.
JT He would. The Holy Spirit should have great pleasure in the service of God in that way. We begin with the fact that the Spirit is always with us, “For he abides with you, and shall be in you”, the Spirit of truth. Now when we come together in assembly at the Lord’s supper you can understand how the Spirit has the Lord exclusively in His mind. He is stressing the dominance of Christ, and proceeds until we come to the new covenant, and then to the marital side. The Spirit is peculiarly at home in all that; it is Genesis 24 when you rise to that level, “That is my master!” Genesis 24:65. The Spirit makes everything of Christ, makes Him lovable to us, admirable to us, and brings things forward to affect us so that marital feelings arise. The Canticles are particularly intended for that part of the service.
JRH It is very affecting that He only speaks what He hears, and announces what He receives.
JT He brings in here what is going on in heaven; that is the point, what is going on in heaven; heaven is not sitting dormant, it is always aglow. Think of Christ as Man up there in that way, the history that is made there every day!
EP Do you get that suggestion in Luke’s gospel, “a multitude of the heavenly host” Luke 2:13, and the announcement to Mary and Elizabeth?
JT Luke especially brings that side in: “A multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace”, Luke 2:13,14. Later the scene is changed and the multitude says, “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”, Luke 19:38. That is what is going on up there.
AAT The Spirit is bringing down at the present time what is going on in heaven. Is that through prophetic [p. 142] ministry?
JT Well, it is more than that. It is seasonal too, the months of the year denote variety of fruit; that is brought in here, every month has its own fruit, so that there are seasons of enjoyment as well as the prophetic ministry. Prophetic ministry contemplates the moral side of the position down here; but then there is that which delights Him, what is going on up there; there is always joy in heaven, peace and glory in the highest; from the time the Lord Jesus went in, there has been that wonderful occupation, and the Holy Spirit brings all that down here. There is wonderful mutuality there between divine Persons. The Lord would say, I will send the Spirit too as having been with the Father; that is, He has got first-hand knowledge of everything, of the Father’s thoughts, He comes down “from with the Father”; it is a peculiar translation, but this is how it reads: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me” (chapter 15:26). He is from with the Father and knows all the Father’s thoughts. He would know them as a divine Person, but as a servant He has been with the Father, and knows exactly what the Father’s thoughts about the Son are. The Son has already gone up there before the Spirit is sent down. The Lord says, I send Him from with the Father, and when He is come “he shall bear witness concerning me; and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from the beginning”, John 15:26,27. He is with the Father up there and He will bring down a true report of what is up there.
CAM The book of Revelation was given since the Lord was here on earth. That is one thing He has brought to pass.
JT It is said of the Apocalypse, “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to shew to his bondmen what must shortly take place”, Revelation 1:1.
[p. 143] That was something additional that the Lord received from the Father there in regard to coming events; but these communications refer to how Christ is regarded up there, so as to form the affections of the assembly that the proper affections for such a Person should be promoted.
EP Would the carrying of the ark around Jericho imply that there is a corresponding movement on earth to what is in heaven?
JT Quite so. It is carried around Jericho, that is a militant thought; still it is the Kohathites carrying the ark. Actually in the antitype it means how we appreciate Christ. They are called priests there; when they get into Canaan they are promoted, they are called priests.
JWD Would you limit the thought of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to our being in the wilderness, or does it go beyond it?
JT The word implies, as you know, One who will take care of everything for us in the absence of Christ. That is what is contemplated in the word ‘Comforter’. The Lord is no longer with us: it is another Comforter; but He is the same Person when He takes us into the land. He is with us still; He takes the form of the Spirit of adoption and the Spirit of Christ. The general thought of ‘Comforter’ is that He is here while Christ is there.
JST Do you get a suggestion of “from with” in Abraham speaking to Isaac, saying, “My son”; and then in the son speaking to his father and saying, “My father”? Genesis 22:7,8. These feelings and affections are brought down to us in the Holy Spirit.
JT Quite so. How do we know what goes on up there except by the Spirit? We get impressions from the Spirit.
JRH It is “all the truth”.
JT Quite so. The article is before it. This is one of the most important phases of the truth we can [p. 144] be occupied with, how the Holy Spirit brings down from heaven all the light and truth, and what feelings exist up there too; how Christ is regarded, because to get a true estimate of Christ you must go to the Father. He has taken pains to tell us what He thinks of Christ; when Christ was here He opened the heavens and told us what He thought about Him, and now He is up there and the Holy Spirit proceeds from with the Father, sent by the Lord. He comes down here to bring knowledge of what the Father thinks of Christ. We shall never get a full estimate of Christ except as we get it from the Father. What does He think of Him in all the wonderful environment of glory up there?
JWD I suppose the highest feature in our worship would be to apprehend the Father’s appreciation of Christ, and then to enter into the Son’s appreciation of the Father and His thoughts of the Father. Is that not greater than our appreciation of Christ and of the Father?
JT Chapters 13, 14 and 15 unfold to us what Christ thinks of the Father. He is extending His remarks far beyond what you get in the synoptic gospels at the same period. He wants the disciples to have a true thought of the Father. According to these two verses in the end of chapter 15, He sends the Holy Spirit out “from with the Father”, not simply to tell us about the Father, but He says, I am sending Him out that He might bear witness of Me.
CAM In connection with our church music and the hymns, it would not be too much to say that what the Spirit brings among us is a present note in heaven.
JT I think so. The assembly is the reflex of heaven. What is going on up there is brought down here.
AB How does this bear upon, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son but the Father”, Matthew 11:[p. 145] 27?
JT It is all the more reason why we should pay attention to the Spirit as He is taking up these things and showing them to us. The Spirit glorifies Him in our eyes. There is no formal revelation of the Son, it is negative in the scripture: “No one knows the Son but the Father”, Matthew 11:27. There is not a word said about the revelation of the Son; the Father knows, but wonderful things come in by the Spirit, for the Spirit knows because He is with the Father. What thoughts there are! They are inscrutable but still you get inklings of Christ, of His deity, by the Person of the Holy Spirit. Throughout John’s epistles you can hardly tell at times to whom the references refer, whether to the Father or the Son. Antichrist denies both, because it is Deity in that wonderful way, in the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit knows everything as coming from the Father. What inklings we get from Him!
EP Not being made a subject of revelation, is it something very intimate?
JT Well, it is who the Persons are. If you could see as John speaks of it “(we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father)” John 1:14, what inklings you would get in looking at Them in their relation to One Another! The Holy Spirit knows all that, because Christ was exalted before He came down. Abimelech says to Isaac, You told me your wife was your sister, but I see by your relations that she must be something more (Genesis 26). The Spirit sees everything of Christ divinely, but He has taken the place of servant and hears, and what He hears He speaks. He comes out from the Father, and knows the relations, the feelings and affections that are there; He conveys inklings of all that the names Father and Son imply.
JRH Chapter 1, verse 14 says “(we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father)”, John 1:[p. 146] 14.
JT That is what they saw, but here it is “from with”; only the Holy Spirit could see that, because He was in heaven; the apostles were down here. “From with” means He has come from that place or state.
JW Would there be a link in the apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3? “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father ... that he may give you ... to be strengthened with power by his Spirit”. Ephesians 3:14 - 16.
JT Very good. Profound exercise is meant in that, but it is to the Father in regard of the testimony.
AAT Paul speaks of the Father in Colossians 1.
JT The epistles of Paul are all covered in what is said here, that “he receives of mine and shall announce it to you” John 16:15. It involves the mystery, the whole range of Paul’s doctrine, as over against what the twelve had.
AR I suppose in the main in our assembly service there is a great tendency to refer to the Lord as He was here, and very little as to what He is up there.
JT That is just the point, what He is up there.
JTJr In the book of Revelation, John “became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” Revelation 1:10, and he sees One sitting on a throne.
JT What he sees is in relation to the book of Revelation, but the Spirit brings down through Paul’s ministry the mystery, what exists between Christ and the assembly organically, and so enlarges on Christ; the Spirit has come down from the Father and He tells the saints who form the assembly what the Father thinks about Christ. You must have all the greatness of Christ for assembly relations; only the assembly is capable of taking that in — what Christ is. We are told “a woman shall encompass a man”, Jeremiah 31:22. There can be no doubt there is the [p. 147] idea of the assembly encompassing Christ, not in the inscrutableness of His deity, but according to all that is revealed and made known of Deity, and the Holy Spirit is here that we might encompass Him and have affections suitable for such a Person.
JW I suppose in the setting in which He says, “I sanctify myself” John 17:19 He will convey to us in some sense what the Father thinks of Christ, the great Person He is, and that draws out the assembly’s affections. The Holy Spirit keeps that constantly before us. The Father alone has a right estimate of Christ. The Holy Spirit is capable of conveying the Father’s thoughts and He is down here doing it all the time “He shall glorify me”.
CAM In the expression of the woman encompassing a man, you are showing that what was true of Israel in an earthly way, we can regard as the same idea glorified in connection with the assembly?
JT I think so. Let the Holy Spirit make Him what He will, and He leaves nothing out of the glories of Christ The assembly is able to take that in. It is wonderful that it is to be understood, that we are to see what is going to be eternally, the thought of a bride coming down adorned for her husband, suitable to Him, able to reciprocate His affections and His intelligence as well. The Holy Spirit impresses us with the glory of Christ. The Lord says He announces what He sees, and what He hears He speaks “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you” (chapter 16:14). That is not formation; formation is another form of the Spirit’s service. ‘Announce’ means something presented, an objective thing to you, to your intelligence. It may happen in a meeting like this; I hope it is so. The Spirit of God is presenting to us something of the greatness of Christ according to heaven’s estimate of it; not according to an estimate [p. 148] that I might form from the gospels, but according to heaven’s estimate of it. That is the true estimate of it. Of course the Father gave a true estimate of Christ down here, but it is the glorified Christ who is the climax of everything. We are to be like the glorified Christ, and the Holy Spirit is here to present these things to us that we might receive them into our minds and contemplate them, and as we do we shall be formed accordingly.
CAM Paul’s view of Christ was a heavenly one, giving us another status.
JT Paul’s is a heavenly view of Christ; He is a Man up there. That is the secret of the understanding of the assembly. Abstractly He is God. There is what He was down here, then the forty days, and then what He is up there. That is what the Holy Spirit is occupied with, to present Him as He is up there so that the assembly might be equal to Him in that position, for she is going to be there with Him in heaven eternally.
WL Is there a suggestion of limitation here as to what the Spirit receives for the assembly?
JT Whatever He receives He lets us know about in the most pronounced terms. The apostle Paul was wonderfully qualified to speak of divine things; what power of communication he had! He was qualified to bring out the greatest things, and they are spoken of distinctly so that they can be understood.
JTJr In Hebrews we do not have the writer’s name, but you see Paul in what is said.
JT Quite so. He does not write his name; it is a question of the speaker. The prophets spoke, but in the last days God has spoken to us in Son. The article is left out, it is God Himself speaking in Son; the epistle coming through Paul by the Spirit. Hence the wonderful ability for communicating things! His opposers said, “His presence in the body weak, and his speech naught”, 2 Corinthians 10:10. You [p. 149] can see the devil was seeking to becloud what Paul said.
JW I believe he uses the word in Acts 20, “How I held back nothing of what is profitable, so as not to announce it to you” Acts 20:20.
JT He uses it twice in that chapter. Acts 20 is the acme of the teaching of the Acts, it is full of love. “For I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God” Acts 20:27; whereas in Corinth he was withholding a lot, but not at Ephesus.
NB You have been speaking of Him as known as He is in heaven. We have certain thoughts of Christ before the breaking of bread; but after He is made known to us in the breaking of bread sometimes hymns are given out in relation to Christ above, addressing Him as above when He should be known and enjoyed by us in the midst.
JT Yes, I am glad you brought that up. It takes the two emblems to bring Him in. The idea of remembrance is attached to them both. It is not in the gospels, but in 1 Corinthians 11 the idea of remembrance is attached to the cup as it is to the bread. You want to bring Him in fully, that is, the mind remembers Him, is recalling Him fully; that is our part, for the remembrance of Him. But then there is His part, when He comes in; He comes in all glorious. He comes in from heaven, and then the speaking to Him is not as above, He is there; it is the Christ that has the assembly that comes in, and the Holy Spirit would occupy us with Him as the heavenly One. All our remarks should bear that in mind, that we are now in the marital position, Christ and the assembly. What a scene is implied in that! In order that the assembly’s affections should be stirred we must keep before us what the Holy Spirit brings in; the heavenly Man comes in, not even the Man of the forty days, but it is the Man as above. “For our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory”, Philippians 3:20.
[p. 150] That is Christ, and we are to be conformed to His image, the image of the heavenly. All that is essential to the church’s formation, so that we may be in heaven with Him in suitability to the environment. I believe that ought to enter into what is said after the Lord’s supper is over, and scope should be given for reciprocation of marital affections between Him and the assembly, but on a heavenly line.
AR Have marital affections any connection with past history of sin?
JT She is taken out of Christ, she has no sinful history as in heaven, she is really out of Christ. Adam is the great type, Eve taken out of Adam. Adam and Eve are the great type of Christ and of the assembly as she will be eternally.
AR Paul in his ministry to Ephesus goes back to Eve, “concerning Christ and the assembly”, Ephesians 5:32.
JT Quite so.
CAM Otherwise we could never understand the thought of a woman encompassing a man.
JT So that if you have a great Man, you must have a great woman, a woman equal to that place in heavenly glory. We are dealing with matters that belong to the eternal counsels of God.
JST Jehovah Elohim walked in Eden: now He has secured the man and the woman.
JT They are not hiding. The Father’s delight is found in Christ and the assembly. These scriptures would suggest that the Holy Spirit is here in relation to a glorified Christ, and He brings in heaven’s thoughts about Him, what the Father thinks about Him up there, so that we might gradually be formed to the heavenly ourselves in intelligence as well as affections.