RESPONSIBILITY AND DILIGENCE
RESPONSIBILITY AND DILIGENCE
FER There seems an apparent contradiction in these chapters. In chapter 17 it says — “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17: 21), and in this chapter we are told that they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
DLH The one passage refers to what is moral, and the other to the display.
FER I suppose so, the one is moral and the other the revelation of the kingdom. You could not talk about the kingdom of God in the way the kingdom is spoken of here, i.e. ‘receiving a kingdom’, and that is the thought here, “A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return” (Luke 19: 12). Christ has gone to receive a kingdom and to return.
HCA What is the difference between that and “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child ..”.? (Luke 18: 17.)
FER That is a moral idea, but a nobleman going into a far country is not a moral idea. It is moral in a sense, but it is more than a moral idea: he receives a kingdom and returns.
JSO Is it a question here of recognising His title?
FER I think so.
DLH Does it correspond with “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 110: 1)?
FER I think so, and He returns in the power of the kingdom.
HCA He receives it when He goes there.
FER I think so, and then there is an interval [p. 272] which is filled up by citizens and servants. The citizens hate Him, and the servants trade.
TB Is there any difference in the character of the kingdom now and when He will appear?
FER I think so. We have the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens, but not the kingdom of Christ or of the Son of man.
AC What is the difference between the last two?
FER It is only that the Son of man takes up David’s kingdom; Christ as Son of man.
TB Is there a difference in the power that subdues then and now?
FER It is the Spirit of God in both cases.
TB But will it not then be more like Psalm 2: 9 “Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”?
FER Oh, yes, but that is connected with the manifestation of the kingdom, the Son of man taking up His rights.
JSO That is the power that deals with enemies.
FER Quite so.
Ques Is there any connection between the kingdom now and what will follow upon it when God shall be all in all?
FER If the kingdom is given up it does not seem to exist any longer “when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God” (1 Corinthians 15: 24).
Ques Is that in its dispensational character?
FER It always has a dispensational character, more or less. You may get it in a moral way, but the thought of it is dispensational.
HCA What is used in the trading?
FER I suppose money represents what Christ has left, the wherewithal and means to trade.
AC What is the wherewithal?
FER It is the pounds. It is rather difficult to attempt to speak definitely about it, but He has left wherewithal to trade with. It is not gift exactly, it is goods. The point is He has left the wherewithal to trade.
TB [p. 273] Does it correspond with the steward in chapter 16?
FER No, the steward used what he had, not Christ’s goods but his master’s.
G.J.S. Temporal things?
FER Quite so; these are spiritual.
DLH It is that we are qualified to be here in the interests of Christ during His absence.
FER I think so.
GJS Is there any difference between the pounds here and the talents in Matthew?
FER Not substantially. The thought here is responsibility and diligence; in Matthew it is sovereignty.
JSO Responsibility would extend to profession here.
FER Quite so, to every professed servant. Every professed servant of the Lord professes to trade with what is Christ’s.
HCA The present time is the increasing time for Christ.
FER Last time we saw that the kingdom of God was here for those who were low down enough to see it. We are waiting now for the glory, because Christ has not come, but the kingdom of God is here because God is here. The kingdom of the Son of man must wait until He comes, until you have the presence of the King. The passage we had last time and tonight are both explained in Titus 2: 11 - 13. We are waiting for the glory, and in the meantime we are to be here in faithfulness. In the end of the chapter Christ goes into Jerusalem and He is received, they say “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest” (Luke 19: 38). It is a picture of the King coming in.
DLH In this chapter you get an apparent connection between salvation and the being qualified to be here in the interests of Christ during His absence.
FER Yes, it began in the end of the previous chapter; witness is borne by the blind man to the Son [p. 274] of David; then in chapter 19 the Son of David is in the house of the sinner. It is all in the way of testimony. For the moment the Son of David does not take up the kingdom, but goes into a far country to receive it, and that brings in the reality of the present moment. You have the kingdom of God now, and not the kingdom of the Son of man. Testimony is given to the Son of David in the house of the sinner; it is what He came into — He came to bring salvation. In Scripture you find the most intimate connection between the Christ and the Son of man.
GJS What is the relation between the King and the Priest?
FER You cannot have the kingdom without the priest. The priest is essential to it.
GJS How does that bear upon us now?
FER There are two things connected with the kingdom, sway and confidence; and you cannot have confidence without the priest; the priest brings in confidence. You get two things combined in Melchisedec, he is king and priest. He represented the authority of the Most High God on the one hand, and he ministered support and blessing to Abraham on the other. He brought forth bread and wine and blessed him. The kingdom speaks morally of the sway of God. The priest represents the people, he is ordained for men in things pertaining to God.
HCA The blessed thing is they are both found in One.
FER Exactly, that is perfection. You have the One in whom God is expressed, and He is the Priest. The word of the oath makes the Son a priest, that is the point. The function of the priest is to give you confidence in the heart of God. He supports and intercedes in order that you may hold fast your confidence in God. He can have compassion on the ignorant.
HCA Priesthood carries you further than [p. 275] the kingdom?
FER Yes, because the priest is the minister of the sanctuary.
TB Do you not get the value of the kingdom and priesthood in Psalm 23, in the rod and staff?
FER I daresay; it is more as shepherd there.
HCA Do we get the good of the priest before we get the kingdom?
FER Oh no, it is because we are in the kingdom. Our only difficulty is to be low enough to see the kingdom. It is a very anomalous position of things, you are in the kingdom and yet you are waiting for the manifestation of the kingdom. The two things must go together.
Ques Is the kingdom of the Son of man the millennial kingdom?
FER Yes, we have the kingdom of God, but the Son of man is not present yet. I do not think that we have got to the bottom of ‘kingdom’ yet; you cannot have the kingdom without the presence of the King.
DLH In the present phase of the kingdom it is mystery.
FER Yes, because the King is not manifest. Mystery is in contrast to manifestation, which is connected with the coming of the Son of man. It is difficult for me to understand the kingdom without the presence of the King. Jew and Gentile are built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit, so that God is present now.
DLH Does not the presence of the Holy Spirit really constitute the kingdom?
FER The presence of God by the Spirit really brings in the kingdom. It was the presence of God in Christ that made Him say “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17: 21), but now God dwells here by the Spirit, and the consequence is you have the kingdom. You do not get the kingdom publicly in the absence of the King.
TB [p. 276] It is like everything else that has to be revealed, it is here in testimony.
FER Quite so, but the kingdom of God is a reality because God is present. Christendom has practically given it up, they have made a mustard tree of the kingdom, which shows they do not apprehend the presence of God. You would not have a mustard tree if they apprehended God.
JSO It is all morally made good by the Spirit.
FER Quite so, and the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”. (Romans 14: 17.) There is no truth that we are so unbelieving about as the presence of God, His dwelling here by the Spirit. It would alter everything with us if the reality of it came home to us; Christendom has lost it completely.
JSO You mean that you cannot speak of the kingdom of Christ, He, being absent, it is not a present thing, but you can speak of the kingdom of God because the Spirit is here?
FER Quite so, the only point for us is to be low enough down. There is another thing comes in here. A certain nobleman, Christ really, has gone into a far country to receive a kingdom and return; and this chapter unfolds the character of what goes on in His absence; His citizens hate Him, and His servants trade.
AC Is He king to His servants?
FER I think He is Lord to them.
TB Is that the connection of the house with the kingdom?
FER I think so, the very presence of God here involves the house, because the Spirit does not dwell in the world. The Spirit really came to make good the kingdom, and the house is consequent upon the kingdom.
TB Do you connect that with Matthew, the kingdom of [p. 277] the heavens?
FER Matthew brings in an important thing, the Church. The light of the heavens is reflected in the Church; if you want the light of heaven you will find it in the Church. The Lord speaks in chapter 16 about the Church, and afterwards He says to Peter — “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16: 19). The church is the essential thing; in chapter 18 you get the same thing; the subject is the order and economy of the kingdom of heaven, but the Church is brought in, and the Lord says — “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matthew 18: 18). That is given to the assembly in chapter 18, and to Peter in chapter 16. The Church was to be here the reflection of heavenly light; the light of Christ in heaven was reflected here in the Church.
DLH That is where the mystery comes in.
FER The King is in heaven, and the light of heaven is really reflected down here: there was that down here in which the light of heaven would be reflected. The fact is this, there are many things to which we have not given place enough, and one is the Church.
HCA And another the kingdom.
DLH We used to think that we knew something about the Church.
FER It is one thing to know the truth abstractly, and another thing to know it in its actual and practical bearing.
DLH The Lord Jesus does not stand to us in the relation of king.
FER No, it is as Lord.
AC There is a company on earth who recognise His claim as king.
FER But you cannot quite speak in that way because He has not taken up the kingdom. He is Lord and Christ, you are servants of Christ.
AC Are we not subjects as well [p. 278] as servants?
FER You cannot quite say that, because He has not taken up the kingdom.
DLH The illustration used here is ‘nobleman’.
FER Yes, He goes to receive a kingdom and return, but you cannot talk about the kingdom until He returns.
TB Does lordship involve delegated authority?
FER It calls out faithfulness in His absence. The conduct of a subject in the presence of a king is one thing, but the conduct of a servant in the absence of his lord is another. We never become exactly subjects to Christ, because in the kingdom we reign with Him.
JSO We are translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
FER That is more the kingdom of God; the argument is that He is God, the image of the invisible.
Ques Who are the citizens?
FER The Jews; they said ‘We will not have this Man to reign over us’. He was presented to them and they settled the matter at once. Full testimony has been borne to the Son of David by the blind man, and that is a matter of importance. Another thing is, the Son of David was found in the house of the sinner. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19: 10).
Ques What is the force of verse 24?
FER I do not know, I never was much of a hand at construing parables.
ERBR It was taking away the unfulfilled responsibility, and giving it to one who fulfilled it.
DLH There is an idea of reward.
FER I think so. He has received a kingdom and returns, and calls the servants to account. It brings out the principle of “Unto every one which hath shall be given” (Luke 19: 26). I think that the result of the judgment of the servants will be that we shall learn the lessons about Christ that we never knew before,
[p. 279] at least in the same way. I think the lesson that they had to learn here was sovereignty.
DLH And is there not another point to be learned, namely the character of the Lord? The unfaithful servant misjudged Him, and that regulated his conduct.
FER But really it did not regulate his conduct; a man cannot get on with a mistaken view of Christ, he will not be found consistent with his mistaken view of Christ. If there is the knowledge of Christ you are consistent with what you know of Him. If we had the sense of Christ’s pleasure in the faithfulness of His servants it would affect us greatly. The Lord has positive delight in the general path of faithfulness, even if you make mistakes. I think the Lord delighted in the pathway of Paul though he made mistakes; He is not an austere man, and yet people are never put off from their mistaken ideas.
JHK Is this the same as being manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ?
FER It is the King coming and reckoning. It gives me to see that what is left with us are the Lord’s goods; everyone of us has the sense that it is a time for faithfulness, which will be tested by His coming.
DLH It is the great opportunity.
FER It is, but just fancy the perfectness of Scripture which prepared us for the manifestation. The parable gives us a general picture and the end of it, but will not admit of its being worked out too strictly. It is not a question of time; it is moral, and that solves many a difficulty in Scripture. People of this world cannot understand Scripture at all, not even the most intelligent and instructed in the things of this world. The interpretation of Scripture and the removal of every difficulty will come to pass in the world to come, and you enter into Scripture just in proportion as you are in the power of the world to come; hence the criticism of this world is all rubbish. If people in spirit get into the world to come, it is astonishing how the difficulties [p. 280] of Scripture disappear. The subject of Scripture is all about the world to come, it gives us light about it. The conduct of the servant is in view of the manifestation of the kingdom. It is not that you expect to be recognised now, but you act in view of the manifestation of the kingdom.
B Moses stood in relation to Israel as king and prophet, and Aaron as priest. What corresponds to these now?
FER Christ is the only prophet now, Moses and Elias have gone. All the prophetic word comes to us in Christ. It is impossible that God should speak by anybody inferior to the Son, and all has come out in the way of gift. He ascended up on high and gave gifts, so you get the Prophet in that sense, but Christ Himself is the Prophet and He is the Word.
AC God has spoken in the Son.
FER Yes, and there is no more prophetic announcement.
Rem Because all the purpose and counsel of God has come out.
FER Quite so, and the substance and expression is Christ Himself; He is the Word.