"*I* JESUS ... AMEN; COME, LORD JESUS"
“I JESUS ... AMEN; COME, LORD JESUS”
Revelation 22:16,17; Revelation 22:20,21
I was confirmed in the exercise that I have had this evening by the hymn that we have just sung; that is, that part of it that contemplates the incoming of the divine thoughts as to Israel. These thoughts are without repentance: “The gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance”, Romans 11:29. God has His thoughts as to Israel and they go through. We shall see that as to Israel there are eternal features; God alone can bring them about. So His thoughts will not fail; they will come out in due time and Israel will be apprehended and understood. Why should there be so much said about Israel unless there be some eternal feature that will go through? Zion is a word that has a great place in Scripture, a peculiar poetic place, a thrilling place, too, when we think of what Zion is and the unfailingness of God’s purposes as to it. So I have ventured to read these verses. The brethren will understand that I hope to be brief, but at least to convey something that will tend to enhance what has already been before us; for it has been a remarkable day, if I may venture to say so. It has been a day of impressions that will remain with us, I fully believe, and bear on the moment, for it is a peculiar time.
And so I have read of the Lord addressing Himself to someone — whom, we just cannot say — but He is addressing Himself in an emphatic way as the pronoun would show. He says, “I Jesus”. A peculiar charm attaches to the thought of the Lord, as it were standing up and addressing Himself to His people. I do not venture to say to whom the address was directed, but we shall come to it presently, for the Lord is addressing someone, saying; “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”.
It is “in the assemblies”, notice. That is, the Lord is standing out, we might say, before the universe at such a time as is now before us, and addressing us. It has been going on all day, too. And the word has come very forcibly this evening, being stimulated by the hymn that we have sung, involving Zion, a word that reverts back to historic Old Testament times but comes down into New Testament times. But in these verses the Lord Himself is speaking to us in an emphatic way and addressing Himself to us: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”. It is not in the assembly, as you will notice; it is in the plural. The Lord is addressing the assemblies. No doubt He refers to the seven assemblies, and the word as to them is: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”. That is going on all the time. It has been going on all day in this hall, I do not hesitate to say that. There has been an address to the assemblies; the word of God has come to us, as I believe fully, in an authoritative way directing us to something, and that something will be worked out I believe in our souls presently. But what I want to point out now is the peculiar position the Lord is taking up in this address, the peculiar position; it is one of the most peculiar that I know of, because it is Deity coming down to the level of the creature state. Now I trust that you understand what I am saying; I am sure you do. We have come to it that there must be something of this kind before we get through with the Bible, before we get through with the ministry. There must be some form of link between the Deity — with God the Father, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit — and the creature; there must be that, and I can hardly think of anything more important to be brought before the brethren at this time, for there is a goodly number of us here from various parts.
And so the Lord says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel”. I cannot say who the angel is; that is not stated, but it is the Lord’s angel, His own angel, one that He had employed in this book. And He goes on to say, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. Now I dwell for a moment on what the Lord speaks of as the “root”; that He is the root of David. He is “the root and offspring”, but the root, and that must involve Deity. I trust, dear brethren, you will understand what I am saying, but if you do not, it will have to be considered and weighed before God. We have come to a time in which we can speak to one another, having confidence. There is holy confidence among the brethren. I never knew a time in which there was more confidence among the brethren. I have been about a good bit recently, and there is great indication of confidence, confidence begotten of love, love working in our hearts. One of the greatest things that one can speak of is love working in the hearts of the brethren, involving confidence, and conversation. And then we might say ministry too, authority for ministry, liberty for ministry. We have had much of it today; but I thought I would bring in, in a confirmatory way at this time, what there is amongst the brethren in the way of confidence. And therefore I believe the Lord seizes the opportunity at the end of this wonderful book to speak to us in this way. He comes down to speak to us, and it is marvellous that He does. God has come down, as the hymn says, ‘God come down, a heavenly Stranger’. (112:2). Think of it, that God Himself has come down. I am reminded again of the service of God, and how much the service of God has taken form in hymns, holy compositions for the saints with which to serve and praise God. It is a time in which hymns have acquired a great place, and I may add that they are going to be extended. A meeting was held recently [p. 65] in England to discuss the matter of hymns in view of revising the present hymn book. I believe that the service of God implies the feelings of the brethren, the very soul of the brethren being brought into it. And that enters into what I am saying now, as to the Lord Himself coming down, no less than the Lord Himself: “I Jesus”. His name was to be called Jesus. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins”, Matthew 1:21. Wonderful fact!
But now I proceed to say further what is in my mind. The Lord says, “I am the root and offspring of David”. We have spoken of the “root” which means Deity. “Offspring” is simpler; it shows that He was born of David. The word is indeed, “It is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Juda”, Hebrews 7:14. Judah was His tribe. Remarkable thing that that should be said; that the Lord should take that place; that it should be said of Him that He sprang out of Judah! And now, in the last chapter of the Bible, He says, “I am the root and offspring of David”, The word “root” conveys Deity, and I hope the brethren understand that. Who could be the root of David, except God? We are all said to be God’s offspring, in another sense, but it is not said that God is our root. Jesus says, “I am the root and offspring of David”, one of the greatest men to appear on the page of Old Testament Scripture. He is mentioned several times in this book and spoken of specifically as a leading man. But the Lord says, “I am the root and offspring of David”. You will pardon me for repeating, but the root refers to Deity. Only God could be this; but it is Jesus. He speaks of Himself as Jesus: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”. That is where the conversations proceed; the assembly is the place of confidences, of confidential thoughts, where things can be said openly but in confidence. And the brethren [p. 66] are coming into this great matter of confidence. And Jesus says here, speaking openly to those that were responsible and whom He loved, because it is a question of the assemblies, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright ... morning star”. The word ‘and’ should not be there as far as I understand. It is simply ‘the bright morning star’. That is the great point, it is the morning star, the luminary; we are coming to luminous times, not dark times but luminous times. There are terrible times ahead. The great apostasy is yet to come, but the meantime is luminous; the Holy Spirit is here, and the Sun is in the heavens; the Lord Jesus Himself is above in the heavens; God is shining in His face; the glory is shining there. It is a wonderful time, it is a luminous time. And so He says, “I am the bright ... morning star”. It does not say He is the sun; it is more the idea of a star. The Lord Jesus is subject, as it were, subject to God, subject to the Father, and He speaks of Himself as a star. We read in Genesis 1:16 that God made the stars. God did that; but the Lord Jesus, spiritually, is the bright morning Star.
Now I am not going to proceed very much further, but I just want to make the point clear to you that is in my mind. And so the next thing is what the Spirit says, and what the bride says. So we come down to the idea of the creature. The most wonderful creature of the whole creation is the bride of Christ; she is the most wonderful creature of the whole creation, in the universe. She is a creature, but she is presented in this way. She is the most wonderfully glorious creature that there is. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. I am speaking now about the bride. I have been speaking about the root. It is God, it is Deity. And the “offspring of David” is Christ in manhood. But then the next thing is “The Spirit and the bride”. I might say, properly, that the Lord has brought the Spirit forward.
“The Lord is the Spirit”, it says in 2 Corinthians; “Now the Lord is the Spirit”, 2 Corinthians 3:17. The Spirit takes that place and we love to think of how He has asserted Himself in recent times and become familiar to us. The communion of the Spirit is a wonderful thing. If we do not understand it, I would urge the brethren to think of it. Ponder over it; ponder the idea of “the communion of the Holy Spirit”, 2 Corinthians 13:14. He is so near to us, so ready to converse with us, and to commune with us. That is the time in which we are living, dear brethren, a wonderful time! And “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. The bride is the assembly. I have already remarked that it is the greatest creature. The assembly is the greatest creature, but she is a creature. I speak very reverently, but I note that she is so closely linked up with God Himself, although a creature. It says, “The Spirit and the bride”. The Spirit is mentioned first; that is God, but then it is, “the Spirit and the bride”. She is a creature; the Spirit is divine; the assembly is the greatest creature in the whole universe. And we belong to it, beloved! I use the word ‘beloved’ because the brethren deserve it; you are all beloved, thank God. It is a time of love — the time of light, but the time of love. But I am engaged with what the bride is, that she is the assembly, but the Spirit of God comes down, almost, you might say, to the level of this creature. I do not know how to put it; it is wonderful to be able to speak of it; but I think in what I am saying you will all understand that the Spirit, a divine Person, comes down to the level of the bride, so that they are speaking the same thing. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. They are saying the same thing. The bride is brought into unison with the Spirit. Wonderful that it should be said!: Brought into unity in that one word — “Come!” And I hope the dear brethren will just be able to ponder all this, although perhaps imperfectly [p. 68] spoken, but I think you will all see now how much there is involved in it, and that you will all take it to heart, and get to the Lord in prayer to find out if each one has his part in all this. I would assume that all here are the Lord’s and that you have part in all these wonderful things, and that we all know that the Lord Jesus comes to us, even as we are here today in lowliness, to enter into our matters with us, and yet He is God and we are creatures. The assembly, great as it is, is a creature. But the Lord Jesus is speaking, and He is God — God over all, as Paul says, “Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever”, Romans 9:5. What phraseology! That is the great point for the moment.
And so I proceed to finish. The next thing is, “And let him that hears say, Come”. That is liberty, the liberty in which we are. “Let him that hears say, Come”. You hear the bride speaking, you hear the Spirit speaking, but you are at liberty to speak too. And then it says, “And let him that is athirst come”. See the liberty that we are brought into! “He that will, let him take the water of life freely”. But I finish with that, dear brethren, because I trust others will speak, but I just want to say that it is a time of liberty; it is a wonderful time, and our time together today has been wonderful. Perhaps things are coming to us in a way that we have never had them before. These great things are coming within our range, for it is a time of liberty as suggested by the words of the Lord Himself: “And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come; he that will, let him take the water of life freely”.
And then, finally, “He that testifies these things ...”. That is the Lord Himself. There can be no question about what is being said and who says it. “He that testifies these things says, Yea, I come quickly” — not simply that I come, but “I come quickly”. And then someone says, “Amen”. Who [p. 69] says that? I should think that we all say it! “Amen; come, Lord Jesus”! Who can hesitate to have part in this wonderful, “Come, Lord Jesus”? He says, “I come quickly”. There can be no doubt that it is to be very soon — very, very soon; “for the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh”, James 5:8. But do we love it? I think the person who speaks here loves it. The “Amen” is from one who loves it; “Amen; come, Lord Jesus”.
And then the final word, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints”. That is the word to everyone here, dear brethren. We belong to the saints. It is a saint time, a wonderful time; it is a time that belongs to the saints, but we belong to them; we are among the saints; we are of the body of Christ. Not that we are the body, but we are of the body. These are all wonderful facts! He says, “I come quickly” and the answer is, “Come, Lord Jesus”. And He will come; He will be sure to fulfil His word.