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  WRITINGS OF J S BERTRAM
  by J.S. Bertram
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A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by J.S. Bertram,
compiled for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 28

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00.00. Bertram, J. S. - Library
    2. S.   A Thought or Two on the New Creation
    3. S.   Attraction and Attachment
    4. S.   Boldness in the Day of Judgment
    5. S.   But ye are come to Mount Zion.
    6. S.   Grace and Glory
    7. S.   Harps of God
    8. S.   Jacob
    9. S.   Jacob; Part 2
   10. S.   Life
   11. S.   Nicodemus
   12. S.   Some Thoughts on Joh_5:1-47; Joh_6:1-71; Joh_7:1-53.
   13. S.   The Conqueror
   14. S.   The Father's Ways of Grace.
   15. S.   The Lord's Pathway in Luk_22:1-71
   16. S.   The Lord's Resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew
   17. S.   The Nearness of the Glory
   18. S.   The Resurrection of Christ
   19. S.   The River of Eden.
   20. S.   The Salvation of God
   21. S.   The Silver Cord Loosed.
   22. S.   The Spirit, Initial and Resident.
   23. S.   The Throne of the Universe."
   24. S.   The Two Eagles and the Vine
   25. S.   The Two Tribes and a Half; Part 1
   26. S.   The Two Tribes and a Half; Part 2
   27. S.   The Wondrous Works of God.
   28. S.   Winter, Spring, Summer, Harvest.

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  CHAPTER 1: 00.00. BERTRAM, J. S. - LIBRARY
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Bertram, J. S. - Library

S. A Thought or Two on the New Creation

S. Attraction and Attachment

S. Boldness in the Day of Judgment

S. But ye are come to Mount Zion.

S. Grace and Glory

S. Harps of God

S. Jacob

S. Jacob; Part 2

S. Life

S. Nicodemus

S. Some Thoughts on John 5:1-47; John 6:1-71; John 7:1-53.

S. The Conqueror

S. The Father’s Ways of Grace.

S. The Lord’s Pathway in Luke 22:1-71

S. The Lord’s Resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew

S. The Nearness of the Glory

S. The Resurrection of Christ

S. The River of Eden.

S. The Salvation of God

S. The Spirit, Initial and Resident.

S. The Throne of the Universe.

S. The Two Eagles and the Vine

S. The Two Tribes and a Half; Part 1

S. The Two Tribes and a Half; Part 2

S. The Wondrous Works of God.

S. Winter, Spring, Summer, Harvest.


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  CHAPTER 2: S.   A THOUGHT OR TWO ON THE NEW CREATION
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A Thought or Two on the New Creation THE death of the Lord Jesus was at the end
of the old creation. In resurrection we see Him as the beginning or foundation
of the new. (* From an unpublished MS.) The old was not allowed to pass till it
had been fully vindicated, as it was in the Person, character, ways, and life of
the Lord. He stood as the immaculate and perfect sample of it, in the midst of
all the ruin in which it was involved. But having been this, and done this, He
died, as under the doom of the old creation" the Just for the unjust "-and in
Himself, as risen from the dead, He laid the foundation of the new creation.

Let me, however, as I pass, suggest this. His resurrection stands in four
relationships: to God, to the world, to sinners, to believers. In relation to
God, it is the display of His glory and of His purposes. It is His victory. In
relation to the world, it is its judgment. It tells them there is a question
between God and them about Jesus-that they cast out the crucified, the One whom
He has raised and glorified; and that judgment awaits the world because of this,
as Peter preaches in Acts 10:1-48, and Paul in Acts 17:1-34 In relation to
sinners, it tells them of redemption, that the sacrifice which puts away sin has
been accepted at that very throne which holds the balances that try the claims
of God, and weighs the utmost of His demands in righteousness upon sinners. In
relation to believers, it pledges, as firstfruits, their own harvest, or
resurrection in glorified bodies.

It is the one thing; but it has these various aspects, and stands in these
different relations. The angel that witnessed it in Matthew 28:1-20, accordingly
changes his aspect, when turning from the keepers of the stone to the poor
women. In their sight he had descended in terror,. an earthquake attending him,
and the lightning expressing him, and his appearing put the sentence of death
into them-for they represented the world who had crucified the Lord of glory.
But on turning to the women, this same angel is all gentleness. His terror does
not make them afraid. The light is one to guide and gladden, not to alarm. It is
the resurrection in the sight of poor, anxious sinners, as the other was the
resurrection in the sight of the world. This twofold aspect of the resurrection
may be seen again in the appearing of Christ Himself to Saul of Tarsus. The
risen, glorified Lord, I may say, descended, as in lightning and earthquake, on
the road which lay. Between Jerusalem and Damascus. Saul was then representative
of the world’s enmity-as the keepers of the sealed stone had been-and the glory
of the risen Jesus throws him to the earth, and lays the sentence of death in
him as it had in them. But quickly it becomes a. guiding, gladdening light; for
it tells him of his own hopes and services and securities under this same risen.
Jesus. (Acts 9:1-43; Acts 22:1-30; Acts 26:1-32) But this, rather, as I pass on.
The resurrection is the laying of the foundation of the-new creation, as we have
already said, and such foundations are immovable, as is all that rests on them.
It is the Son of God in victory. The old creation rested on the tested Adam; and
falling in the temptation in his,encounter with Satan, the creation fell, and
became a mighty ruin. But the Son of God has come, the Repairer 4)f the breach,
and has stood where Adam fell, has conquered where Adam was defeated, has broken
the gates of hell, and in Himself and in His victory has laid the foundation of
an unassailable creation, which is a new, a redeemed creation, and which is to
get its beauty as well as its strength from Him.J. G. B.


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  CHAPTER 3: S.   ATTRACTION AND ATTACHMENT
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Attraction and Attachment

John 1:1-51.

J. S. Bertram.

God has given us marvellous illustrations of His way with His own, impelled by
the mighty force of divine love In relation to the two disciples which were with
John (the man sent from God) in John 1:1-51, there are three distinct matters
come before us, leading up to this, John give presentations of Christ which
brought about decided results. In regard to the "Lamb of God that beareth away
the sin of the world" (5: 29), that finds its complete solution in Him, whether
ultimately in the clearance of every trace of evil from the universe, or as to
the present relative to the conscience. In type we see it on the great day of
atonement when sins were borne away on the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:1-34.). Now
that the conscience is freed from every charge of guilt, we are free to be
engaged with the adorable One who has effected such a wonderful work. As John
and two of his disciples were together he looked upon Jesus as He walked. What
an object to gaze upon with rapture! What delight was brought to the Father’s
heart in that walk of perfect obedience. "I do always those things which please
the Father." With what ecstasy John exclaims "Behold the Lamb of God," the One
who was the delight of all heaven was now presented to His own. Note that the
two disciples who heard John speak "followed Jesus." They were drawn by that
mighty constraining power which they then could not interpret. These matters
have a present bearing on us. "Drawn by such love we onward move." It is a grand
thing to be attracted to follow Jesus. In discipleship there is something
positive, we cannot deny ourselves and follow save in the power of attraction.
As they were attracted they followed, and as they followed their interest
increased. They desired to know where He dwelt; they were encouraged with "Come
and see." What a welcome! How the Lord encourages interest and brings His own
unto His very presence. They abode with Him that day. They were brought to know
something of the inner circle. Doubtless the Lord unfolded something of the
Father’s bosom wherein He dwelt. In that sphere His own glory shines out; as the
result there was affection for Him. Our course is not merely to follow Jesus
(blessed although this is); but He brings us into the circle where divine
affections flow, in that atmosphere of holy love, where the Father loves the Son
and the Son loves the Father. We are the objects of that same love; "that the
love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them" (John 17:26).
There is an answer to that love, "We love because He first loved." Love
permeates that blest abode. What holy communion and intimacy are there where
love divine rests. "Bright inlet to the light of heaven above." There we shall
bask eternally in the sunshine of that love, the love of relationship. Such a
hallowed experience does not lead to self-complacency. In the case of Andrew, it
led to fruitful activity, He was able to give a definite statement as to the
person of Christ. He found his own brother and brought him to Jesus. The Lord
addressed to the latter the striking words, "Thou art Cephas, (a stone)," He
knew the import of that later, in epistle when he wrote of the living stones
which form the grand edifice instinct with divine life, being reared to the
Glory of God. All true evangelism works out from the divine centre and completes
the circle in bringing in the trophies of grace.


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  CHAPTER 4: S.   BOLDNESS IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
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Boldness in the Day of Judgment

John says, teaching us under the Holy Ghost, "Herein is love with us made
perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is so
are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). A most wondrous and very blessed Scripture.

John himself afterward experienced the boldness of which this Scripture speaks,
in a very remarkable way; he had his own doctrine made good to his spirit by the
same hand that brought him the doctrine. In the Isle of Patmos he was introduced
to a day of judgment. The Revelation he got there of the Lord Jesus Christ was a
revelation of Him in judicial glory. He saw the Son of Man standing among the
golden candlesticks, with white garments, eyes of flame, a voice as of many
waters, a countenance as of the sun in his strength, and with feet as though
they burnt in a furnace. A solemn, terrible exhibition of Christ in the day of
judgment all this was. John falls to the earth as one dead. But the Lord tells
him not to fear, speaking to him as the One who had been dead and was alive
again, having the keys of hell and death. That is, He imparts to the spirit of
His saint, then in the presence of judicial glory, all the virtue of His own
condition. Jesus was there, through death and resurrection, holding in His grasp
all the power of the enemy, for He had the keys of hell and of death. Such an
one speaks comfortably to John. He imparts, as I said, the virtue of His own
condition to His saint, though in a day of judgment. "As" He himself was, "so"
would He have John to be, even in the place of victory, the other side of
judgment. (Revelation 1:1-20) This was surely wonderful and full of blessing,
and John at once feels the power of it and acquires "boldness" in that "day of
judgment." For, though the Son of Man is still before him in the same attire and
character as he had already seen Him, in judicial glory, with eyes of flame, and
feet as though they burnt in a furnace, and a countenance like as the sun
shineth in his strength, John has boldness. And then he listened to the voice
challenging the Church again and again, but he remains unmoved from beginning to
end. This is very beautiful, and has a great character in it. But still more:
another scene of judgment succeeds this, of the Son of Man walking among the
candlesticks, and John is yet in the presence of it.

He is carried or summoned by the sound of a trumpet to heaven, preparing itself
for the execution of judgment. The thrones were there, thrones of judgment-for
the elders are seen clothed in white raiment, befitting those seated in
judgment. Voices, lightnings, thunders, instruments of wrath, or witnesses that
the Lord was rising up out of His holy place for judgment, proceeded out of the
throne; and from thence, as we proceed through the book, all that succeeds is in
character, trumpets, vials, fire, smoke, earthquakes, and other terrible sights
and symbols, enough to make another Moses quake, as in the day of Sinai. But
John maintains the "boldness" he has already acquired, and all through is as
unmoved as the divine creatures or crowned elders themselves. They were on high,
but he was still in "this world;" they were glorified, but he still in the body;
yet he is as calm as they. As they were, so was he. And when the terrible sealed
book is seen in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, and a loud voice,
as of a mighty angel, challenges all to loose it; instead of dreading the moment
when such an awful volume should be opened, he weeps because no one was found
equal to do so. He longs to have the secret of the throne disclosed. The day of
judgment has no terror for him. He is "as" Christ, and has "boldness." But this
security, God’s own calmness and assurance in the day of judgment, has had its
witness, or expression, in different forms, again and again, in the course of
God’s dealing with his elect. As in the time of the flood, in the day of the
overthrow of Sodom; at the time of the Exodus; and also at the time of the
passage of the Jordan.

These were days of judgment, but the security thrown round the elect on each of
them was divine; it was God’s own safety which He then imparted to His people.
They were in the world when its judgment was executing, but we may say, "as He
was so were they." His safety was theirs. The "Lord God" shut Noah into the ark
with his own hand ere the waters began to rise. The waters were there the
instruments of Divine wrath, but the Divine hand had shut the door upon Noah;
and surely these waters of judgment could no more prevail against the hand of
God, than they could against His throne. And therefore, as the Lord was, so was
Noah. Their safety was a common one, wondrous to tell it: so even such an one as
Lot in another day of judgment. He was saved so as by fire-out of the fire. A
salvation in no wise glorious to himself. He suffered loss, for his works were
all burnt up. But the angel said he could do nothing till Lot was fully and
clean delivered from • all possible danger from the judgment. The angel could do
nothing till then; and, I ask, was not this Divine security? In the night of
Egypt, He who carried the sword had already appointed the blood. He, to whom the
vengeance belonged, the judge who was conducting the judgment, had ordained and
pledged the deliverance: "When I see the blood, I will pass over." Was not this
imparting His own security to His people again? The Lord must deny Himself-and
this He cannot do-or Israel must be safe. Israel may have the same "boldness" in
that "day of judgment" as the Lord himself in the world through which the sword
was going.

So, in the passage of the Jordan. The waters were there, as in the day of Noah,
ready to overflow their banks, as in the time of barley harvest. But the priests
were in the midst of them, and the Ark or Presence of God. And there they stood,
the ministers of God in the presence of God, till all the people had crossed the
river. Jesus was in the vessel, and He must sink if the disciples did. The
safety of the Ark was the safety of the camp. As it was, so were they. Nothing
less than Divine security was that of Israel amid the swellings of Jordan. The
judgment of Canaan was about to begin, but Israel was in God’s sanctuary.

All this sweetly witnesses how the Lord imparts Himself, or shares His condition
with His elect-and that, too, in the day of their most solemn necessity, so to
speak. He is beyond judgment, above it., the executor of it; but the value of
His own place He communicated to those elect ones in days of judgment. But this
boldness of ours has a new character in it. It flows from " perfect love." God
has put the value of the Son of His bosom upon us; and it is not possible for
love to take any higher counsels, or do any more wondrous works than that. The
love that has set the value of the Son upon us is a perfect love; and our
boldness, therefore, is conferred not merely by the hand or by the ordinance, of
God, but by His heart. Noah, or Israel, or even Lot., in their several days of
judgment, might have said, " as He is, so are we." God’s safety was theirs. But
we rest our security now with the love of God, as they did into the hand or
ordinance of God. The security is equal, but ours is the witness of a nearer,
more affecting title. Ours is personal-Noah was in the Ark; we are in God. " He
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God," and in a new sense we say, "as he is, so
are we." We are loved as He is, not merely secured as He is. We bear an element
of full personal affection, investing our spirits, as well as an element of
boldness. J. G. B.


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  CHAPTER 5: S.   BUT YE ARE COME TO MOUNT ZION.
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But ye are come to Mount Zion.

J. S. Bertram. The blessed God would have us to know where in infinite grace He
has brought us; but infinite grace on the part of God avails us nothing unless
faith is active on our part for the laying hold of these matters. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, so God by His word is the producer
of faith. Grace on the part of God, and faith on their part linked the worthies
of Hebrews 11:1-40 with an order outside the sphere of nature, where everything
was stable! Abraham looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and
architect was God. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all
the treasures of Egypt; he had learned not to trust in the shadow of Egypt
(Isaiah 30:2), although brought up in all the learning of Egypt. The light of
another day and order had dawned on their souls and enabled them to make
calculations according to God. Now in faith we come to something positive, a new
day; a new order; another world (the world to come). Alas, to many Christians
the world to come remains such, in place of allowing the Spirit of God to make
future things (which now obtain the Spirit’s realm) present to our souls. The
apostle says, "Ye are not come to Mount Sinai, which brings to light God’s
righteous claim relative to man, man’s unsuitability to Him, and maintains the
distance already brought in by sin, whence comes the ministration of
condemnation and death. But "ye are come to Mount Zion" (Hebrews 12:22),
introduces grace and gives righteousness, 1:e., something positive. Here is a
moral journey; not only come to Jesus the Saviour, thank God for that step!
Mount Zion is where God has chosen to put His name, it speaks of Christ risen,
all the era of shadows gone, the dawn of a new day, having its inception in His
resurrection. After His resurrection Mary would have embraced Him as previously,
His word to her was, "touch Me not"; that order was past. He was now graciously
and tenderly leading her and eventually the other disciples into the light of a
new day which must essentially take its character from Himself risen, not only a
new day, but a new order and system, the city of the living God, which reflects
the glory of God, the new seat of authority. When the people, the priests, and
the king had failed God introduced Mount Zion and Jerusalem, wrested from the
hand of the Jebusite as the seat of authority and the centre of the kingdom. In
the new day, the seat of authority is in the city of the living God on the
heavenly Zion. As heavenly in constitution, it is independent of outside
contribution, self-supporting, perfect in harmony, and administration. Our souls
derive from such now, whose builder and architect is God, in which there is the
consummation of that hope connected with faith referred to in Hebrews 11:1-40;
they looked for a city; the day of display will bring all this out to a redeemed
universe. Connected with the city is the innumerable company of angels, the
servants of the Divine Will, swift to do His bidding, messengers of mercy, a
"vast universal gathering" (J. N. D. Tr.). The apostle in the thought of the
city seems to touch on the line of the other apostles relative to the kingdom,
now hid, but known to faith, and soon to be seen in display. He then comes to
what is peculiar to his own ministry, viz., the church of the first-born whose
names are written in heaven; this surely connects us with the eternal purpose of
God, 1:e., His thought from the outset relative to Christ. No power in earth or
hell can erase these names; the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Now we come to the supremacy of God, who is Judge of all, manifestly relating to
the world to come, but at present evinced in connection with the spirits of just
men made perfect. That perfection could only be imparted in virtue of
redemption, God must be just to the work of Christ, How this enhances the
perfect work of Christ, hence God is the great discriminator, His word is final.
What follows touches the depths of our moral being. Jesus the mediator of the
new Covenant (what He has done, and what He is in Himself) has endeared Himself
to our hearts. He is the centre of all God’s thoughts. In Him alone there could
be a perfect display of all that God is. The terms of the new Covenant (the new
conditions on which God can be with His people), are all of grace, forgiveness,
and moral suitability to Himself. The writing of the Spirit of God on the fleshy
(1:e., the impressionable) tables of the heart, implies that capacity in the
Spirit for the reception of the revelation.

Finally we come to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. The blood of Abel cried for vengeance. "The blood of thy brother
crieth out of the ground." The earth was not to yield its strength to Cain on
account of his foul deed. The blood of Christ speaks of cleansing, and
sanctification. The better things speak, too, of the bringing in of the world to
come on the sure foundation of the precious blood of Christ. All now known to
faith in Mount Zion shall be in manifestation in that morning without clouds,
when the curse shall be removed, and the earth shall yield her increase, and be
in accord with heaven. The desert shall blossom and all shall know the Lord from
the least to the greatest. What a place of privilege is ours to be in the light
of these things. May we then in these days of constant upheaval live in the
constant good of these superb matters!


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  CHAPTER 6: S.   GRACE AND GLORY
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Grace and Glory When we think of grace, we think of our interests in Christ;
when we think of glory, we think of our interests with Christ. The first subject
is really the deeper, the more personal and affectionate- it takes us to the
heart of the Lord. The second takes us to His circumstances. J. G. B.


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  CHAPTER 7: S.   HARPS OF GOD
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Harps of God

ONE wondrous thing which may present itself to us in the Apocalypse (or Book of
Revelation) is the combination of joys and terrors. This book is full of this;
and yet to nature, to the sense of flesh and blood, to the common sensibilities
of the heart, this combination is strange. And yet so it is. Seals are broken,
and judgments take their course; trumpets are blown, and again judgments follow;
vials are emptied of their terrible contents, and the horrors of the scene are
only aggravated. But joys, and songs, and shouts of congratulation, and the
harps of harpers, are heard throughout from beginning to end, and all along the
line of these awful visitations. From the Doxology that we listen to in Chapter
1 down to the abounding and repeated exultations in Chapter 19, we listen to
these joys and praises.

Bit further, in the progress of this book we may see the furnishing of the
heavens and the earth as they are to be in the Millennial age. Of old, heaven
was the dwelling-place of angels-I mean, that is he condition in which we see
the heavens in. Old Testament days. Jacob’s vision of the ladder and many other
scenes, as well as passages of Scripture without number, let us know this.. But
when the Lord Jesus had ascended, heaven became the dwelling-place of glorified
Man, as well as of angels. This was a further furnishing of it. Stephen saw it
in that condition. As soon as we read the 4th chapter of this book of el
elations, We find that the same heaven has become the habitation of translated
saints, The Living Creatures and the Enthroned. Elders are there; and all
through the action of the book, from that moment, they continue there. Then in
the 14th chapter we find other companies of saints joining them, and harping
round the Beast and the Elders, as. well as the Throne. This shows us heaven in
new and wondrous conditions, peopled with more than hosts of angels, who excel
in strength, and kept their first estate, even with redeemed sinners the
witnesses of grace. Earth is to be furnished as well as heaven. The opening of
this 14th chapter shows us the beginning of that work; for there we see the
"first fruits "-the pledge and sample of that people who are to fill and furnish
the earth in the days of the kingdom, or, as we call it, the millennium.....
They are learners of the song that is sung in heaven; they know the joy of
listening, if others know the higher joy of singing; and not only do they
listen, but, as we said before, they learn. They know what is harped on the
harps of God on high. With such a people as this, the earth begins to be
furnished for its millennial condition. This company of 144,000 is the first
fruits of those who are by and bye to occupy the footstool in the days of the
kingdom. And here we may observe there will be a link between the millennial
heavens and earth; and the Lamb forms it. It is because this company on Mount
Zion are with the Lamb that therefore they understand and share the joys the
heavens know. As there will be a place on earth for the eye to feast itself in
the sight of the heavenly glory; so, as we see here, there will be a place for
the ear to delight itself in the hearing of the heavenly music. The nations that
are saved shall walk in the light of the Holy Jerusalem. The company with the
Lamb on Mount Zion listen to the harps of the harpers round the throne on high.
But of these harpers themselves we must speak a little further. As I have before
observed they are not before " the throne " only, but before "the four beasts
and elders." They form a new company in heaven, being (as I judge) the saints
who have been martyred before the fifth seal, and to whom “white robes" had been
given (Chapter 6:9-11). They were raised and glorified-translated to heaven; and
there were (as we find from this Scripture-Revelation 14:2) given to them harps,
like the beasts and elders themselves, and like them, also, were singing the new
song (see Chapter 5:8,9, and 14:3), with this difference, as I have just hinted,
they sing it round the beasts and elders, as well as round the throne. The
beasts and elders had sung it as they fell worshipping the Lamb. Perfect and
beautiful in its variety, as well as in its order, is all this heavenly scenery.
But as we look off the harpers to consider the 144,000, we still see something
beautiful and perfect in its place also. This company is in the midst of
troubles; the vials are about to be discharged, as the trumpets have now all
been blown. They are in the thick and midst of fearful sights, troubles,
visitations, and judgments, such as might well occupy the heart and fill it with
terror and forebodings-but they are at leisure from it all, free in their
spirits to listen to the voice of joy and worship in heaven. They have deeply
retired into the presence of Christ, and their hearts arc at leisure to be in
company with the calm and the sunshine of heaven, though earth and its terrible
circumstances are around them. This is blessed. How little we know of such
leisure by reason of retirement into the presence of Christ! How quickly does
the presence of circumstances get the mastery and give all its occupations to
our timid hearts. Jehoshaphat’s army knew this! The Psalmist now and again seems
to anticipate the way and experience of the remnant (the saved remnant of
Israel) in these closing days of their history, ere the kingdom comes. Isaiah
says:-" And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord
shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps " (Isaiah 30:32.) But
this as we pass on. At 5: 6 of this chapter we are in the world again, neither
in heaven with the harpers, nor on Zion with the 144,000. Upon this a voice from
heaven addresses John, and says to him, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth;" the spirit affirming this, and giving this
blessedness its character, saying, "Yea, that they may rest from their labors,
and their works do follow them." That is, those who are martyred in that day,
who "die in the Lord," are to enjoy an order of blessedness beyond those who
outlive that day, inasmuch as they have reward as well as rest. John is then
given another vision. He sees the reaping of the earth, and the casting of them
into the great wine press of the wrath of God, by an angel. These actions, I
believe, symbolize the setting of the earth in holy order, and in righteousness
as for the kingdom. This is as the severance of the tares from the wheat, or the
gathering of the good into baskets, and the casting of the bad away, as we read
in Matthew 13:1-58 It is the full furnishing of the earth-it is the harvest
after the "first fruits," which had, as we saw, been gathered in the time of 5:
1.-(This harvest appears to be the fruit or result of the preaching of the
everlasting Gospel, as we read in 5: 6 of this same chapter.)-And these actions
of reaping the harvest, and gathering the vintage close chapter 14.

After this we are called for another moment up to heaven again, such is the
varied action and scenery of the book. A sea of glass was seen before the
throne, in Chapter 4, but it was then unoccupied; now it is filled, as this
passage (Chapter 15:1-4) shows us-filled, I judge, by a company who have been
sufferers unto death, under the Beast; and therefore it is that this sea of
glass is seen by John as "mingled with fire," for those who stand upon it are
not merely conquerors, but conquerors through death-martyr conquerors, through
martyrdom, or fire: they had refused to take the mark of the Beast in the crisis
of the world’s history. They owned Him from whom the world had revolted, and
which world was then in its hour of fullest pride and daring. They had fallen
victims to it, having loved not their lives unto the death. Like their Lord,
they had resisted unto blood; Like Him they were martyred, and, accordingly,
they stand in triumph now before the throne on high. This is like Moses and the
Congregation of Israel on the Banks of the Red Sea; they, therefore, sing his
song as we read here,-" the Song of Moses "-that is, the song of victory. But
Moses and the congregation were not martyrs; they had not fallen under the sword
of Pharaoh, as this company had under the sword of the Beast. They were at the
Red Sea a living people, which had left Egypt in defiance of all the strongest
enmity of that land, and it was their foes, not themselves who had perished. But
this company on the sea of glass had been slain-martyred for their faithfulness
to Christ-which Moses and his company had not been. They have therefore a song
beyond the “Song of Moses," even "the Song of the Lamb." This song is a song of
victory through death. Debtors to the blood of Jesus through redemption, and for
all things, still, as saints, like their Lord, they had overcome the world by
dying under its hatred and persecution; accordingly, they sing the " Song of the
Lamb," as well as the " Song of Moses." Theirs is a richer song than that of
Israel, just as they are standing on higher and more wondrous ground-not only on
a "sea of glass," but a "sea of glass mingled with fire."... But now, when we
reach this point, heaven is, I may say, fully furnished, as we saw at the close
of Chapter 14 that earth was. The best companies have now reached it. The sea of
glass, vacant before, is now occupied and, like their brethren who were on high
before them, whether the living creatures or crowned elders of Chapter 5, or the
martyred saints under the 5th seal, this conquering band now receives harps to
harp withal! But here fresh wonders break upon the apprehension of the soul.
These harps are called “Harps of God." Wondrous surely! Harps made for their
joy, now that they are enthroned in glory in heaven. As of old, at the
beginning, coats had been made for their nakedness, when they were in their sins
on earth (Genesis 3:21), God Himself, as with His own hands, makes robes of
righteousness to adorn us, to clothe us worthy of His own presence, sinners in
ourselves as we be. And God Himself again, as with His own hands, makes
instruments of joy to gladden, as to fill His own courts of Glory with suited
pleasures.... God Himself serves us at the beginning of our history as
self-ruined sinners, and at the end of our history as glorified saints! He
serves us in our ruins and in our glories! As the Lord, in the day of His
ministry, had healed us, and fed us, and washed our feet, so did He anticipate
His ministry in the coming kingdom when he said of Himself, and of all His
people, " Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself and make them sit
down to meat, and will come forth to serve them." (Luke 12:37.) And if the Lord
thus anticipates the day when He will serve us in our joy, we ought to
anticipate that joy itself, and even in spirit take our harps and sing,- Lord, I
believe Thou hast prepared, Unworthy though I be, For me a blood-bought, free
reward, A Harp of God for me!

’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, And formed by power divine, To sound in
God the Father’s ears, No other name but Thine.

-J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: S.   JACOB
========================================================================

Jacob

Jacob had offended the Lord, having taken the way of nature, listening to the
counsels of unbelief, and thus departing from his path and his call as a saint
of God. He is therefore put under discipline-for he has to learn the bitterness
of his own way. His place, on that very night on which he left his father’s
house, witnessed therefore the hand of the Lord, who still loved him. It was, no
doubt, the fruit and wages of his own transgression, but it told also that God
was his God, for He was visiting him in fatherly chastening. It is, accordingly,
such a place as God may own. It was not sin, but discipline, which marked it.
Had it been the tent where he and his mother had dressed the kids for Isaac’s
feast God could not have owned it, for deceit and fraud were practiced there.
But at Luz, where Jacob is under chastening, the Lord can be, and He does come
and manifest Himself there.

He comes to make glory a great reality to this poor, solitary, disciplined
saint. He does not come to soften his pillow, or to change his condition, or to
send him back to the home of his father and the care of his mother. He leaves
the present fruit of Jacob’s naughtiness just as bitter as He found it. But He
does come to make glory and heaven a great reality to him.

Onwards, therefore, Jacob goes, and, as the story tells us, he served ’twenty
years under a certain hard taskmaster in Padan-aram. But the Lord blesses -him
there, and he conducts himself in the fear of the Lord there, and all is well.
In due time he is on his way back to Canaan. But, indeed, it is a different
Jacob, as well as a different journey. He was an empty Jacob at Bethel, he is
how a full Jacob at Peniel. He has become two bands. Flocks and herds, and
servants, and wives and children tell of his prosperity. He had been on that
road twenty years before, unprovided and alone, with a staff in his hand but now
we see him thus accompanied and surrounded. He has become a rich man. He has a
stake in the world. He has something to lose, and may be a prey to others, as he
surely must be an object with them. We hear of Esau coming and four hundred men
with him. He trembles; lie fears for his cattle, his people, and his life. He
manages as well as he can, and religiously commits all to to the Lord; but
unbelief has mastered his heart, and he is in fear. of Esau. The Lord comes to
him therefore this second time, now on his journey homewards, as He had been
with him on his journey out. But it is in a new character. He was only under
discipline then; lie is in the power of unbelief now: and the Lord comes not to
comfort, but to rebuke and restore him. "There wrestled a man with him until the
breaking of the day." This was the Lord in controversy with Jacob. his
unbelieving fears touching Esau and his four hundred men had provoked the Lord
to jealousy, and He withstands him. But what is the issue of all this? Grace is
made a great reality to Jacob here, as glory had been at Bethel. The wrestling
Stranger, in abounding grace, allows Himself to be prevailed on by the weak and
timid Jacob, and the Spirit works revival of faith in his soul. "I will not let
thee go, except thou bless me," says he. He comes " boldly to the Throne of
Grace." Faith is decided, and a blessing -must be imparted, and Jacob becomes
Israel. Grace is now made a great reality to him, as before glory had been. It
is now the unbelieving Jacob restored, as then it had been the chastised Jacob
comforted. The Gospel is pressed on his soul here; Heaven had been opened to his
eye there. There lie walked as at the gate of heaven, and in the house of God;
here he walks under the shinings of the presence of God. There Christ was making
him promises; here Christ is giving him fresh embraces of love.

Such was "Bethel" on his. way out. Such is " Peniel" on his way home. Such is
God to him according to his need and condition. Heaven in its bright enriching
glory was shown to him in the day of his sorrow. Christ, in His precious
restoring grace, is given to him in the day of his failure. And these things are
what we want-To have both grace and glory realized to our souls; to walk by
Bethel and by Peniel. They sweetly vary the journey; but it is the one
unchanging God that opens His house to us, and sheds the light of His face upon
us.-J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: S.   JACOB; PART 2
========================================================================

Jacob; Part 2

Jacob had offended the Lord, having taken the way of nature, listening to the
counsels of unbelief, and thus departing from his path and his call as a saint
of God. He is -therefore put under discipline-for he has to leant the bitterness
of his own way. His place, on that very night on which he left his father’s
house, witnessed therefore the hand of the Lord, who still loved him. It was, no
doubt, the fruit and wages of his own transgression, but it told also that God
was his God, for He was visiting him in fatherly chastening. It is, accordingly,
such a place as God may own. It was not sin, but discipline, which marked it.
Had it been the tent where he and his Mother had dressed the kids for Isaac’s
feast God could not have owned it, for deceit and fraud were practiced there.
But at Luz, where Jacob is under chastening, the Lord can. be, and He does come
and manifest Himself there.

He comes to make glory a great reality to this poor, solitary, disciplined
saint. He does not come to soften his pillow, or to change his condition, or to
send him back to the home of his father and the care of his mother. He leaves
the present fruit of Jacob’s naughtiness just as bitter as He found it. But He
does come to make glory and heaven a great reality to him.

Onwards, therefore, Jacob goes, and, as the story tells us, he served ’twenty
years under a certain hard taskmaster in Padan-aram. But the Lord blesses him
there, and lie conducts himself in the fear of the Lord there, and all is well.
In due time he is on his way back to Canaan. But, indeed, it is a different
Jacob, as well as a different journey. He was all empty Jacob at Bethel, he is
how a full Jacob at Peniel. He has become two bands. Flocks and herds, and
servants, and wives and children tell of his prosperity. He had been on that
road twenty years before, unprovided and alone, with a staff in his hand; but
now we see him thus accompanied and surrounded. He has become a rich man. He has
a stake in the world. He has something to lose, and may be a prey to others, as
he surely must be an object with them.

We hear of Esau coming and four hundred men with him. He trembles; he fears for
his cattle, his people, and his life. He manages as well as he can, and
religiously commits all to to the Lord; but unbelief has mastered his heart, and
he is in fear. of Esau. The Lord comes to him therefore this second time, now on
his journey homewards, as He had been with him on his journey out. But it -is in
a new character. He was only under discipline then; he is in the power of
unbelief now: and the Lord comes not to comfort, but to rebuke and restore him.

" There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." This was the
Lord in controversy with Jacob. his unbelieving; fears touching Esau and his
four hundred men had provoked the Lord to jealousy, and He withstands him. But
what is the issue of all this? Grace is made a great reality to Jacob here, as
glory had been at Bethel. The wrestling Stranger, in abounding grace, allows
Himself to be prevailed on by the weak and timid Jacob, and the Spirit works
revival of faith in his soul. "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,"
says he. He comes " boldly to the Throne of Grace." Faith is decided, and a
blessing must be imparted, and Jacob becomes Israel. Grace is now made a great
reality to him, as before glory had been. It is now the unbelieving Jacob
restored, as then it had been the chastised Jacob comforted. The Gospel is
pressed on his soul here; Heaven had been opened to his eye there. There he
walked as at the gate of heaven, and in the house of God; here he walks under
the shinings of the presence of God. There Christ was making him promises; here
Christ is giving him fresh embraces of love.

Such was "Bethel" on his way out. Such is "Peniel" on his way home. Such is God
to him according to his need and condition. Heaven in its bright enriching glory
was shown to him in the day_ of his sorrow. Christ, in His precious restoring
grace, is given to him in the day of his failure. And these things are what we
want-To- have both grace and glory realized to our souls; to walk by Bethel and
by Peniel. They sweetly vary the journey; but it is the one unchanging God that
opens His house to us, and sheds the light or His face upon us.-J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 10: S.   LIFE
========================================================================

Life

Life is a sacred thing. It belongs to God. Man lost it at the beginning, and it
then turned to God: so that, when now enjoyed, it is received from God. Adam, as
soon as he lost it, was taught to know that he could never of himself regain it.
Cherubim, with flaming sword, were set at the gate of the garden, to keep every
way the way of the tree of life. He might, and he did receive it, through the
Word of Truth, the promise of God, the gospel of a bruised and yet victorious
Jesus, a dead and risen Savior. But in himself he had it not, and of himself he
never could regain it; and as surely, never transmit it to us. God took it back
entirely to Himself-it belongs to Him-and we who have it, have it by gift from
Him. This is afterward told to Noah, though by another symbol than that of the
cherubim guarding the way of the tree of life. Flesh was given to Noah to eat;
but the blood was not given with it, for the blood was the life, and man had
lost that, and could not recover it, (Genesis 9:1-29) and this same ordinance,
that blood was not to be eaten, was continued under the Law, to the same end.
(Leviticus 17:1-16)

We, therefore, as of Adam, ought to be full of thoughts of death in ourselves;
but Christ may be full of thoughts of life in Himself. Nay, He must be so. We
may see the proof of this presently; but here we may just say, it becomes Him to
be as full of thoughts of life in Himself, as it becomes us to be full of
thoughts of death in ourselves.

Accordingly He gives blood to us to drink, saying, "drink ye all of it"-" except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you." And so when He had risen from the dead, this life which He had pledged
from the beginning, He actually, really, solemnly, and formally imparted,
breathing on His elect, and saying, " receive ye the Holy Ghost." This is life
which cannot be touched. The murderous stones may disfigure Stephen’s present
tabernacle, take it down roughly, or tear it to pieces; but his life in Christ
is unharmed, his spirit takes its journey homeward-" absent from the body,
present with the Lord"-there awaiting a clothing worthy of itself-eternal life
itself-" that immortality may be swallowed up of life." This life is hid. God
has put it where of old He put His own law, in Christ, the ark. The life was
forfeited by Adam, and God has secured it in Christ. The law was broken by man,
so that Moses cast down the tables at the foot of the hill, and God put them
into the ark. His honor and our life are thus secured alike.

God coming into this world, where death is reigning, must come as the living
God, as the one who purposes to overthrow death and to give life again. Life, in
victorious strength, to those who had been the captives of the power of death.
Surely, we may say, it is in such glory as this that He must act and show
Himself in such a world where sin is reigning unto death. And so we are taught
to know it to be. And the faith that apprehends Him, the faith that is of the
operation of God, knows Christ, and sees Him in that glory.

Peter represents or utters this faith in Matthew 16:16; and Jesus at once seals
him as taught of the Father. And this is "the Rock." It is God in victorious
life, and the church is built upon Christ as such Rock, as the Lord of Life in
victory over the power of death. And, therefore, it is unassailable. The gates
of Hell shall not prevail. Life in Adam was to be tested, it was tested, and
yielded to the power of death. The life we have from our Rock has been already
tested and proved, and stood in victorious strength, so that we get eternal,
infallible life. " The last Adam was made a quickening spirit." And, as we said,
it becomes Him to be full of thought of life in Himself; and John’s gospel shows
our Lord to us as taking this knowledge of Himself. This gives that gospel its
precious, characteristic glory. The Spirit, in the evangelist, recognizes this
at the beginning, for, speaking of Jesus, he says, (Chapter 1:4), "in Him was
life." In Chapter 2:19, the Lord Himself recognizes this, saying, " destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up," and He spake of the temple of His
body. In Chapter 3, after teaching the need of being born again, He anticipates
his being lifted up on the cross for the purpose of imparting “eternal life;"
and, immediately afterward, speaks of the Father’s purpose in the mission of the
Son being for the same end. In Chapter 4 He speaks of Himself as working in the
track of the Father, as the source and communicator of life. In Chapter 6 His
thoughts are all about life, I may say it is His subject throughout His
discourse to the people. In Chapter 7 He stands as at the head of the river of
life, ready to turn its abundant streams through the bellies of all thirsty ones
who will come to Him. In Chapter 8 He declares Himself to be the " Light of
life," and announces the blessed, victorious character of that life which He
carries, and which He imparts, saying, "if a man keep my sayings, he shall never
see death."

Chaps. 9, 10 close His public ministry: and, as commenting upon what it was, He
says, " I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly." But after this, in a retired scene of service, at the grave of
Lazarus of Bethany, we find the same mind in Him very fully expressed. All
around Him are full of thoughts of death. Disciples, Martha, Mary, their
friends, all alike are talking of death. But Jesus has no thought but of life.
This is most blessedly characteristic. And in order to display the life that he
carried in himself for sinners in its full glory and triumph, He remains where
He was till the sickness of His friend had ended in death; and then He goes (as
God Almighty to Sarah) as the quickener of the dead-" the resurrection and the
life." This is abundant to show us, as I said, that life is what the son of man
sees in Himself, and through Him imparted to others, all through this gospel of
John. He surely was entitled to be full of thoughts of this precious mystery,
and He was full of them. But I would add, that when at the end of this gospel,
the evangelist himself speaks again, as he had done at the beginning, it is of
life connected with Jesus he speaks. "These things are written that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might
have life through his name." J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: S.   NICODEMUS
========================================================================

Nicodemus

WE do not find any miracle in John 1:1-51 Andrew and his companions, Peter, and
Philip, and Nathaniel, were all brought to Jesus without miracles. The work was
in their souls. The word "behold the Lamb of God" had awakened their going to
the Lord-and to seek Him as "the Lamb of God" is to seek Him as sinners, as
those who have discovered their moral condition. This is far different from
having been drawn to Him by a wonder (see Acts 8:13), and the difference that
followed was great. The Lord gives Himself to them who seek Him, and reach Him-,
in ch. 1:; but He will not commit Himself to those who believe on Him in ch. 2,
believed on Him because they saw His miracles. So again we may observe, in ch.
4, there is no miracle under the eye of either the Samaritan woman, or the
villagers of Sychar. Conscience was stirred. They _receive Him as "the Savior,"
and He is at home with them at once. He commits Himself to them, as He does not
to those in eh. 2:; but as He received Andrew and his companion to His
dwelling-place in ch. 1, so now He goes to the dwelling-places of the Samaritans
in ch. 4.

Such, however, is the beautiful variety of moral illustration in the Book of
God, that in ch. 3, in the midst of all this, we get Nicodemus occupying his own
peculiar place. He was attracted by the miracles, as those of ch. 2 had been,
but then his soul was reached, as theirs had not been. It did not end with him
as it had begun. He did not merely wonder and believe, but he wonders, ponders,
is exercised in his soul, and seeks-timidly, indeed-but still he seeks, rind
seeks Jesus. The miracle had put him on a journey to Him who had wrought it as
something more than a mere worker of wonders, and the result is peculiar as is
the thing itself. The Lord does not take him to Himself at once, as he had done
those in chs. 1 and 4, nor does He refuse to commit Himself to him, as He had
refused to do with them in ch. 2: He is patient, and yet decided. He exposes
him, forcing him to learn himself; but still He goes on with him, in a measure
committing Himself to him. But here let me ask, as in ch. 2:24, what is
committing Himself to others? It is this-Forming real, living alliance with
them; consenting to know them as with personal knowledge, and in the bonds of
fellowship. Jesus cannot do this with one who believes in Him merely
historically, as it were, or by force of evidence, as the multitude in Jerusalem
then did, and, as Christendom 71070 does. It is with a sinner He has come - to
form alliance, and friendship, and fellowship for eternity! The fragments of
convicted hearts must be the links between man and Him, and the outgoings of
divine saving grace. Our need and His fullness-we as sinners and He as Savior
-must form these links. And such links are, at the end, I judge, formed between
Jesus the Savior and Nicodemus the sinner.

He is seen a second time, in ch. 7., standing for righteousness in the person of
Jesus, in the midst of the Jewish Elders. But this seems to me to carry him but
a little beyond where he is in ch. 3. He is still the companion of the Jewish
rulers, acting with them, though, doubtless, under some misgivings of soul; and
timidly still, as the one that had before come to Jesus- by night; and in small
measure owning the Righteous One. But in ch. 19. he has surely advanced. Here He
puts Himself on the side of the world’s victim. He stands as with God Himself,
in relation to Jesus there. God will provide that blessed Sufferer with a
glorious resurrection by-and-bye; Nicodemus and his companion, Joseph, will, in
their way, provide Him with a tomb and grave-clothes now. Their spices shall
perfume that sepulcher, which ere long divine power shall rend asunder.

Surely Nicodemus was now occupying the place to which the early word of Jesus in
ch. 3 had told him of. Is he not now, in spirit, looking at the uplifted
serpent, the crucified, healing Son of Man? And may we not judge that from
thenceforth he was one to whom Jesus committed Himself? Do we know that Jesus
has committed Himself to us?

J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 12: S.   SOME THOUGHTS ON JOH_5:1-47; JOH_6:1-71; JOH_7:1-53.
========================================================================

Some Thoughts on John 5:1-47; John 6:1-71; John 7:1-53.

J. S. Bertram. In John 5:1-47 there is a marvellous setting-forth of the Glory
of Christ as Son; in John 6:1-71, of the Father in rich grace; and in John
7:1-53 of the Spirit as the power for testimony. In John 5:1-47 the personal
glory of Christ and His work shine out in contrast to the Law and man’s
condition. The blessing which the Law promised was like fruit on lofty branches
which fallen man could never reach, hence the Son had come in rich grace as the
communicator of power and life. What the Law could not do has been effected by
God sending His own Son (Romans 8:3). The poor man in his despondency in
Bethesda (the house of mercy) at the five porches (weakness) said, "I have no
man." He was completely unable to avail himself, or find help to do so, of the
limited remedial measures provided in the mercy of God, who never left Himself
without witness even although there was such failure in Israel. This case
depicts man’s moral condition, but as in Israel’s thirty-eighth year in the
wilderness, and consequent upon the brazen serpent incident (which in type sets
man aside) they journeyed forward, so in this man’s case which is also typical,
law and his condition are set aside completely and the Son comes into prominence
as the communicator of power, "take up thy bed and walk"; he is now transferred
from law to Christ. Such a mighty work only brings a storm of abuse from the
Pharisees, which in turn brings into relief Christ’s personal glory as Son, here
in manhood working in conjunction with the Father for the blessing of the
creature, the object of the Father’s love, the Father loveth the Son, and as the
Father had life in Himself so had He given to the Son to have life in Himself,
He stands alone in His holy dignity, the Giver of life. The hour is come and now
is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall
live. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son
quickeneth whom He will, it is the Son’s divine prerogative in that he has taken
up manhood. He has also been delegated of the Father to execute judgment. The
chapter concludes with a fourfold testimony as to Christ, that of John, Christ’s
own works, the Father’s testimony from the opened heavens and the scriptures;
"they are they which testify of Me." The two incidents in John 6:1-71 are again
typical, the first setting forth Christ’s perfect administrative power for the
present, and sufficient left over for the world to come. The second sets forth
the moment when He will join the remnant in their hour of affliction and
bringing them safely to the haven of rest. These become the occasion for the
enforcing of the grand fact of His incarnation and precious death and ascension
as man. Thus He becomes available to men for life and the object of faith, these
great matters but serve to bring to light the Father in His rich grace, the
source of all blessing. The Father sent the Son 5: 28 points out that God the
Father sealed Him, and that, as Son of man in regard to the giving of
everlasting life. V. 32, the Father is the giver of the true bread from heaven.
It is the Father that draws to Christ; and the Father that gives to Christ. This
leads us to the grand fact of the Father’s will, His pleasure which Christ came
to do. V. 45 points out that they who have heard and learned of the Father come
to Christ. V. 57 is most remarkable. He is spoken of as the living Father, and
Christ lives by or on account of the Father and as a consequence of our eating
we live by Christ; a divine order where divine life permeates all, when we are
brought to live with or in divine persons.

John 7:1-53 gives us the great fact of the Spirit being here resident in the
believer, the intimation of this was made on the last day of the feast, the
eighth day, thus connecting matters with resurrection glory. The Lord although
making Himself available to the thirsty soul on the last day of the feast was
speaking and acting in view of an accomplished redemption, and His having gone
on high a glorified man, 5: 39 bears this out, "The Holy Ghost was not yet
because Jesus was not yet glorified." Thank God for the Spirit here, the grand
witness to a glorified Christ there. There is nothing vague about it. Out of the
inwards of those who believe shall flow rivers of living water, this spake He of
the Spirit, rivers of blessing, the celebration of the glorification of Christ,
carrying the knowledge of God, and refreshment for the soul in its mighty onward
flow. Such is known now to faith in a specialised way. "There is a river the
streams of which make glad the city of God" (Psalms 46:4). In the celebration of
the feast of tabernacles in the world to come the river shall flow from the
throne of God and the Lamb. There shall be universal blessing. At present these
matters are known only in the Spirit sphere.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 13: S.   THE CONQUEROR
========================================================================

The Conqueror THE Lord God, of old, entered on His rest, or Sabbath, as Creator.
He had ended His work, and on the seventh day He rested. We know that this
Sabbath has been lost by man, and the rest of God disturbed. We know also that
another rest, or the keeping of a Sabbath, is in prospect. In what character, we
may ask, will it be entered ’?

Scripture tells us, by a Conqueror. (See Psalms 47:1-9; Psalms 48:1-14; Psalms
92:1-15; Psalms 93:1-5; Psalms 94:1-23; Psalms 95:1-11; Psalms 96:1-13; Psalms
97:1-12; Psalms 98:1-9; Psalms 99:1-9; Psalms 100:1-5 Revelation 19:1-21) These
Psalms, &c., intimate that the Lord had just displayed Himself as a Man of war,
stilling the noise of waves or the madness of the people, and was now keeping
the Sabbath of a Conqueror, or enjoying a triumphant rest.

David making way for Solomon is the type of this.

Solomon was the Peaceful-a name which implies not abstract rest, but rest after
conflict. In such a dignity the Lord enters His second rest, or Sabbath. The
first had not been the rest of the Peaceful. It was the rest simply of the
Creator-of One who had ended a work. It was not a triumphant rest. It was not a
rest that bespoke previous glorious warfare. It could not have had the presence
of a Conqueror to adorn and gladden it. But still more. Heaven has anticipated
this joy and this ornament; for it has already received a Conqueror. Jesus is
there in this character, though never till He ascended had heaven known such a
character. The Lord God had filled the heavens, and the angels that excel in
strength had attended. Some may have been cast down who kept not their first
estate, and others have sung together, as when the earth’s foundations were
laid. But never, we may say, had a Conqueror been there till Jesus ascended. But
He, through death, had destroyed him that had the power of death. (Hebrews
2:14.) He had led, captivity captive. (Ephesians 4:8.) He had made a show of
principalities. (Colossians 2:15.) After the type of Samson, He had borne the
hostile gates to the top of the hill. He had overcome ere He sat down on the
Father’s throne. (Revelation 3:21). The grave-clothes had been left in the empty
sepulcher. (John 20:6-7). As Conqueror, therefore, Jesus ascended. Heaven had
already known the Living God, but now it had to know the Living God in victory.
The Lord returned us in triumph, and filled heaven with a new song, " The
Conqueror’s Song." And in spirit this song is sung every day by all the saints
now gathering. And we enter heaven and the Kingdom as conquerors also. "To him
that overcometh will I grant to sit on my throne, as I also overcame, and am set
down with my Father on His throne! (Revelation 3:21). We rise as shouting, " O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?-thanks be to God who
giveth us the victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). This is the language of
conquerors, as the rising ascending saints will be, in their day and way and
measure-as their ascending Lord has already been in His day and way and
measureless glory.

It is the kingdom of Conquerors that is to be thus displayed and established;
and it will be therefore an irreversible Kingdom. Unlike the Garden of Eden; for
Adam entered it in order to be assayed-that the Serpent might try a question
with him, and put creature integrity to the proof. The Kingdom is to be entered
and taken by conquerors-by those who have been proved, and not who are to be
proved. And the earthly places will be of the same character; for Israel will
already have been proved, and refined, and brought forth, and stablished in the
faith of the victory of Christ; they will have been already made His " goodly
horse " and " weapons of war." This is, indeed " a new song," the Conqueror’s
song: and heaven and earth will witness and celebrate it; their history must
have taught it to them. The old song, like the old work, was not a Conqueror’s.
The Morning Stars sang over the work of Creation; but that work was not, as I
have said, a Conqueror’s work. It was not victory, but creation. It was not
glorious peace after warfare, like Solomon’s, but simply rest and refreshing
after labor. And therefore the song of the Morning Stars-the old song-was
according that, simple joy over the grand foundations of the earth being laid.
But the song which ushers in the Kingdom will be that of Conquerors, and thus
new in its strain and burthen. The first "corner-stone" was simply "laid" down
by a Creator (Job 28:6-7), and angels sang. the second " corner-stone " shall be
brought in as Victor, and Israel shall shout I (Psalms 118:1-29)--J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 14: S.   THE FATHER'S WAYS OF GRACE.
========================================================================

The Father’s Ways of Grace.

(Notes of address by J. S. Bertram at Galashiels).

All movement in relation to the accomplishment of the Father’s will must
essentially emanate from the Father Himself, hence the Father sent the Son, and
it is the Father that draws to the Son. It is not in man or of man to come to
the Son, it is the Father in absolute grace that draws to the Son. What a
constraining power! That power draws from the distance and darkness into the
light which exposes and into the love that dismisses all dread. "No man can come
unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Thus drawn to Christ,
the Son, the new centre, He must displace all that has gone before, whether
place or system. Having been drawn to Him, we are also given to Him of the
Father, 1:e., the Father’s love gift to the Son. Seven times over in John
17:1-26, we have the Lord addressing the Father about "those whom Thou hast
given me," as such we are the objects of His interest and care, so much so that
He prays for them. "I pray for them," what a place we have in His heart of
infinite love; all that He has here are those who have been given to Him of the
Father, and in this connection He says "all mine are thine and thine are mine."
What oneness obtains between the Father, and the Son! This speaks of a divine
capacity to be in accord with the Father’s appreciation of the Son consequent
upon His accomplished work. He has received from the Father a specific glory,
this He shares with His own. "The glory which Thou hast given me I have given
them" (John 17:22). That shall be seen by a redeemed universe, as presented in
the precious stones in the foundation of the heavenly city, for they reflect
that acquired and shared glory. The saints become the vessel of expression
thereof. The Lord Jesus desired of the Father that His own might be with Him.
Love cannot rest apart from its object. What a delight for the blessed Lord it
is to have His own with Him, whom He has conducted and befriended through the
long night of His absence, not only to be with Him but to behold His glory. That
unique incommunicable glory shines forth in all its majestic splendour; the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. We shall be free then from all the
frailties which at present mark us, to be absorbed with that divine glory. In
that circle of the Father’s love is the Son’s portion and the portion of His
own. Then love and glory find their eternal home. All the seeming mishaps of
time but serve the Father’s ways. Since everything has been given to the Son
there is going to be a complete recovery in the last day. And we shall dwell
with God’s beloved Through God’s eternal day.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 15: S.   THE LORD'S PATHWAY IN LUK_22:1-71
========================================================================

The Lord’s Pathway in Luke 22:1-71 In this -particularly fine and solemn
chapter, we may see the Lord in four connections, so to speak,-with the sorrow
itself that was awaiting Him,-with His disciples,-with the Father,-with the
Enemy. Verses 1-23.-As far as He is seen here, He is seen as looking directly,
fully, and advisedly at the sorrow that was awaiting Him. He sits at the Paschal
Table, the witness of His coming. ’’ sufferings, and He tells of His body given,
and of His blood shed; at the same time refusing for the present the paschal
cup, the expression (as I judge) of Israel’s joy on the accomplishing of their
redemption. Thus we see Him in full, advised anticipation of His sorrow, looking
at it directly and without the least shrinking; refusing a single thought that
could qualify or reduce it. Verses 24-38.-In this part of this great chapter, we
see Him with His disciples, but we must remember, carrying in His bosom the full
sense of the sorrow He had just been foreseeing and counting on. But it is,
beloved, a great sight which these verses give us of Him. I mean in this
character. When any trouble is upon us we judge right easily and without rebuke,
that we may think of ourselves. But here, Jesus thinks of others. The condition
of His disciples is the anxious, diligent object of His various affections and
sympathy. He warns them where their souls are getting wrong. He lets them know
that He was praying for them, and providing strength for a coming hour of need
and weakness. He teaches what changes they must now reckon upon, and how they
must get themselves ready-thus, carrying as His heart did, a grief which might
well have commanded or absorbed, He could, as though all were quiet within,
spend His various cares, His sympathies and attentions, on those who were around
Him. If there be a moment in human history when selfishness is even vindicated
by our moral sense, it is the moment of personal grief. We instinctively allow
man to think of himself in such a moment. But at no other moment was the Lord
Jesus even more thoughtful of others than in the hour of Luke 22:1-71 It was not
the hour of Sychar’s well,-It was not the two days spent amongst the
Samaritans,-It was not the season when Mary was sitting at His feet; or when the
family of Bethany was at the table with Him. It was not such a moment as when
the Centurion accosted Him in the language of -a faith greater than what He had
found in Israel; or as when the poor woman touched Him in the crowd; or as when
the Syrophenician clung to Him in spite of apparent slight and indignity. Such
occasions were moments of deep joy to the heart of Christ, and no wonder; to
speak as a man, He was free to wait on the occasion, and serve them, and think
of others in them and through them. But it is the Paschal Jesus we get here. It
is the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It was natural for this Jesus
of the house of Bethany to sit and teach,-but this was the Jesus of the last
Passover; and knowing, as one does, the absorbing selfishness of times of
sorrow, this path of the mind of Christ through this part of this solemn chapter
reflects something perfect and beautiful. Verse 39.46.-Here we have the same
Jesus in company with the Father,-the same Jesus. He had just been serving. His
disciples in all the various conditions and need in which He found them; warning
them, praying for them, teaching them, providing for their blessing in every
way. And so now He is surrendered to the Father’s will, with the same
self-sacrifice as He had been serving thorn. The moment is full in its
terribleness, but the surrender of Himself to it is perfect. The mission of the
angel to strengthen, tells that the cup was not to he taken out of His hand. He
knew this, and felt it in the agony of that solemn hour. But nothing touched the
spirit of self-sacrifice. The will of the Father was supreme with Him now, as
the need and conditions of His poor disciples had just been, and He surrenders
Himself to it all. Verses 46-71.-In these closing verses, we find our Lord in
His last condition in this chapter, as the prisoner of His enemies. We have
already seen Him in the gaze and near sight of the sorrow itself,-Then in
company with His disciples, making their need and blessing all His thought, as
though h o. He had no sorrow of His own,-Thou in communion with the Father,-and
now in the midst of His persecutors. There was nothing here for Him A mid and
rude rabble, set on wickedness, was making Him their sport and their captive;
and then a wily and murderous, though in its way, refined Court of Elders (in
its character more contrary to His spirit even than the others), purposing His
death under guise of law and religion. But in Him it is a blessed path we trace.
He had been in communion with the Father. He had met this hour there. He had
surrendered Himself, as we saw, and in that surrender there is victory, in that
communion there is strength. And now that He is in the battle-field itself, He
is more than conqueror. He may be borne through files of the enemy. He may meet
the occasion in different characters of it; but all is strength and. calmness of
spirit. He challenges Judas the leader. He restores the wounded ear of one of
the servants. He addresses the heads of the multitude. He has His eye upon Peter
for good, when Peter was giving Him to feel at that moment that His disciples
would take their place amongst His enemies. He answers the Elders and Priests.
And in the full triumph of His soul He anticipates His kingdom and glory. This
was treading the field of battle like a Conqueror. All was perfect calmness of
heart. There was no agony or sweat of blood here. No falling on the ground. O
how deeply the soul judges that that could not have been His way among the
people, though it was equally perfectly His way before the Father! He had indeed
already met the occasion in communion, and now He is only above it.

Such was His journey through this chapter; we see the path of His soul through
these distinct stages. Was ever anything like it? We have need to be set to
right in the time trouble-at least if one may speak for another. The Psalmist
bad such need in Psalms 73:1-28, and again also in Psalms 77:1-20 Poor Job was
conquered. It touched him and he fainted, though he had often before’
strengthened others. The stoutest, as an old writer says, are "knocked off their
legs." Peter sleeps and Peter lies,-and our own poor hearts again and again have
told us secrets of ourselves in such moments. But in sorrow, the like of which
never was tasted, Jesus is borne through every change of circumstance and
connection, and all is sure to be perfection. Gold it was indeed; and when cast
into the furnace, it comes out the same mass as when cast in, for there was no
dross.

What a sight! what faith! It is found unto admiration in our eyes, beloved; and
unto what acceptance was it found with God!

I feel as though. I could not look at it, or speak of it longer. Having just
traced this brilliant path of faith, tried in the furnace, to the end, I must
leave it. My own heart is so unacquainted with it. May the good Lord strengthen
with might by His Spirit! "lf thou faintest in the day of adversity thy strength
is small."-J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 16: S.   THE LORD'S RESURRECTION IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
========================================================================

The Lord’s Resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew THE resurrection of the Lord
is, we know, a grand central mystery. It bespeaks the end of the old creation,
and begins the sure, immoveable foundations of the new. It has, however, its
various results. Some of its power will display itself in heavenly places-some
in earthly-some of it will be known in the power that sets the enemy aside-some
in-the grace that saves the lost, and brings them to God forever.

It is differently presented at the close of each of the gospels. In Matthew (ch.
28) we have the resurrection in its power over the adversary. The sealed stone,
and the set watch, represent the power and enmity of the world-but the angel
that witnessed the risen Jesus, as it were, laughs them to scorn, puts the
sentence of death upon them, letting them know that it was hard for them to kick
against the pricks; self-destruction for them to resist the Son of God in power.
And this is one great result of the resurrection. It is judgment against the
world. It shows that there is direct collision between God and the world, and
that God is the stronger-for that the world had put Jesus to death, and God had
raised Him from the dead-two simple facts which indicate the entire collision
between God and man, and that the strength and victory were with God, the result
of which facts must be the judgment or doom of the world, and such judgment is
here expressed by the angel rolling away the sealed stone, and putting the
sentence of death on the keepers of it. But this same chapter shows the
resurrection in its results on earth. It puts Jesus in possession of all power,
and gives him a claim upon the discipleship and obedience of all the nations.
This claim I know is not now made good, nor is this power now exercised. But
they are His, and in the coming millennial days of the kingdom they will be
realized. Power which is His by right as the Risen One, will be exercised by His
hand then, and the nations of the earth, from the rising to the setting sun,
will own Him. This is very distinct and vary characteristic of Matthew’s gospel
so perfect are the oracles of God in their variousness as in their unity. But
here you have nothing of the effects of the resurrection upon heaven, no
peopling of heavenly places with the redemption and grace which the resurrection
has sealed and accomplished.-J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 17: S.   THE NEARNESS OF THE GLORY
========================================================================

The Nearness of the Glory THE thought of the nearness of the glory should be
deeply cherished by the heart. And we need be at no effort to persuade ourselves
of it. It is taught us richly in the Word. The place of the glory is near us,
and the path by which it can either come to us, or we go to it is short and
simple, and the moment for the taking of the journey may be present in the
twinkling of an eye.

"Whom He justified, them He also glorified," is a sentence which tells us of the
path, or title to the glory. We need nothing but the justifying faith of Jesus.
When by faith we stand washed and sanctified through the blood, we are at once
made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Our persons need no
further adorning. We are clean every whit. Presentable without fault before the
presence of the glory, whether that glory be still hid within its rail, or to be
manifested to-morrow. Nor can we say, when it may please the Lord of the glory
to appear. But this we know that He is ever near, and can show Himself in all
that His high and bright estate in a moment. The Congregation were set at the
door of the tabernacle to acquaint themselves with their High Priest. They did
so. They took knowledge of the consecration and services of Aaron, and on the
accomplishing of these services, the glory appeared. It was waiting at the door
within its proper wail, to do this, and show itself. All it needed was title to
take its little journey, finding an object worthy of its visitation. And as soon
as the Congregation stood in the value of the blood, or appeared in that
character which the priestly services and sacrifices impart to it; then the
glory reading its title to appear in finding an object worthy of its visitation,
makes its short journey, and shines around the Camp. And it shines around to
gladden them-not to alarm, but to gladden. They were entitled and prepared to be
gladdened by it, for they stood in the value and cleansing of the blood. Its
place was theirs, and the atmosphere it brought with it, their native air. But
there is another witness to the nearness of the glory. A light surprised the
persecutor as he journeyed from Jerusalem to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-43) It was
above the brightness of the sun at noon-day. And well it might have been, for it
was a beam from the land of the glory, and it bore the Lord of the glory upon
it. (See Isaiah 24:23.)

Happy to know from such a witness how near that place of glory is to us. For as
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, that glory was here! Jesus purposed,
and it came-He commanded, and it was here. But it did not come to display
itself. It came for other business, on another errand altogether. It came to
make the persecutor of the suffering members of Christ, a native of that very
land where_ this glory dwelt.

It begins therefore by laying the persecutor himself in ruins. It shines around
him, and he falls to the earth. It is like the light of Gideon’s pitchers
confounding the armies of the `Uncircumcised. Saul takes the sentence of death
to himself. With a vengeance he learns that he had been kicking against the
pricks, madly destroying himself, in all his enmity against Jesus, for that
Jesus was the Lord of the glory. But the One that wounds can heal-the One that
kills can make alive. "Rise and stand upon thy feet," says the Lord of this
glory. Life comes from Him who could wield the power of death-life infallible,
and indestructible, life too with inheritance of this very glory. And he is made
(as fittest to tell of it,) the witness of the same life and inheritance to all
kinds of sinners-Kings, Gentiles, and people of Israel.

What a business is this! the glory and the Lord of the glory comes to do it.
Never had such points in the furthest distance met before. The persecutor of the
flock, and the Savior of the flock are beside each other. The Lord of the glory,
and the sinner whom the glory was consuming are here. Can we trust all this, and
be glad in it Is it pleasant to us to think that the glory is thus near us, that
at the bidding of its Lord, or to carry as a chariot its Lord, it could. be here
in a moment? Stephen saw it thus, as by an upward glance of his closing eye. And
when the voice of the Archangel heralds it, and the trump of God summons it, it
will be here again to enfold us, and bear us up to its native land! (1
Thessalonians 4:1-18, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58)

It visited Saul, but left him as its heir and expectant, to travel and toil down
here for his appointed day. But when it visits us, it will not leave us here any
longer as its expectant, for a while strangers and foreigners in the earth, but
to take us home with itself, ever to be with the Lord-"The Lord of the glory."
(1 Corinthians 2:8., James 2:1.)

Till then, like Paul, we may "obtain help of the Lord," and testify of what we
are, and of what we shall be. But it is all service in a foreign land, with the
cherishing, gladdening thought, that the native land is near us, and our
translation asks but for a moment, for the "twinkling- of an eye." The title is
simple-the path is short-and the journey soon taken. "Whom He justified, them He
also glorified."

Note.-It is sweetly characteristic of the present age, that the hand of a
fellow-disciple, Ananias, is used in the strengthening of Paul to bear the
glory. The Seraphim alone do that for Isaiah. (chapter 6.) The Spirit does it
for Ezekiel. (chapter 2.) The hand of the Son of man does it for Daniel.
(chapter 10.) But Ananias is made to do it for Paul.-J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 18: S.   THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
========================================================================

The Resurrection of Christ THE resurrection and glory of the Lord Jesus is a
great fact. Whether we will hear, or whether we will forbear, there it is, and
cannot be gainsayed And further, we have to do with it, and cannot escape from
the application of it to ourselves. It is set above us, and before us; as at
creation, the sun was set in the heavens, and the creation of God had to do with
it.

It is thus treated in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. It is there dealt
with as a fact, from the application of which to themselves none could escape.
It has its different virtue, its two-fold force and meaning; and men are to know
how it addresses itself to each of them. But there it is and no one can elude
it. Who could pluck the sun out of the heavens? The glory seated itself in the
cloud, and Israel must know it there, and have to do with it there. It may
conduct them cheerfully, or rebuke them and judge them; but there it is in their
company, in their midst, and the camp in its different conditions must have to
do with it.

Prophets from God came among the people. There they are, whether the people will
hear, or whether they will forbear they have to know-they must know-that a
prophet has been among them. They cannot gainsay the fact, or escape its
application to themselves in judgment or blessing. The budding rod I might have
noticed in this connection. It is brought out from the sanctuary to the camp,
and the camp must accept its presence. That it is there is a fact, and none can
deny it, whether they will use that fact obediently, and taste the fruit of the
service of God’s Anointed One, or whether they will still rebel to their own
destruction is another thing. But the budding rod that speaks both of judgment
and of mercy is in the midst of them. The Lord in the garden of Eden was the
same at the beginning. It was a fact. Adam could not displace Him. He was
there-as the sun at that moment was in the heavens.

Adam must have to do with Him If he be in innocency, as in Chapter 2, that fact
will be his joy. If he be in guilt, as in Chapter 3, that fact will be his doom.
But he cannot elude the force of it; nor withdraw himself from the application
of it.

I might say that Christ in the world that Satan had usurped through subtlety,
was also a kindred fact. None could, in that day, deny it, or rid themselves of
the force of it. Satan himself shall know it, and men shall have their blessing
brought to them by it; or their guilt and judgment enhanced through it. The
kingdom of God had come, and they must accept it as a fact.

Just thus, just after this manner, is the present great fact of the
resurrection. Jesus is risen and exalted-He is ascended and glorified. We might
as well pluck the sun from the heavens as try to escape the application of this
fact to our condition, whether of repentance or of unbelief. The great
characteristic teaching of the apostles, in the book of Acts, is interpretation
of this fact to the conscience of sinners. This makes apostolic ministry among
men very simple; and blessed it is from its simplicity.

Peter, who opens that ministry, at once takes the resurrection of the Lord as
his text. He exhibits that great fact in its judicial, and its saving power. He
preaches from it the glories of the Lord Himself; and he derives from it the
blessings of all believing sinners. It is the object constantly before him He
gives it different characters, or invests it with different virtues; but it is
the object constantly before him, and the fact which he declares again and
again-his fullest interpretation of it being found at the very close of his
ministry, in the house of Cornelius, when he preaches that the risen Jesus is
set of God both for judgment and for salvation. (See Chapter 10:42,43.) The
risen Jesus may be boldly resisted, as in Saul’s case. (Acts 9:1-43) But it is
equally death for the soul to despise it. (Chapter 13:41.) It is not so shocking
to the moral sense of man, but it is equally death in the judgment of God.

Paul in his ministry, as constantly uses the same great fact of the resurrection
of Christ, interpreting it, like Peter, to the heart and conscience. In his
first preaching at Antioch we see this. In the synagogue there, he conducts the
story of God’s ways with Israel from the day of the call of Abraham to the
resurrection of Christ; and then upon the resurrection, preaches the forgiveness
of sins. But he adds that the despising of that great fact, the being careless
about it, with a carnal mind indifferent to it, will as surely be followed by
judgment, as the generation which the prophet addressed was visited by the
judgment of God through the Chaldees. At Athens, where his next great preaching
was, he has still the same great fact as his theme. But he gives it its solemn
meaning. He invests it with its terrors: for he found this Gentile people full
of idolatry, though in the pride of their sects of learning, and in the carnal
busy desire of anything new in the earth or among men. He tells them of this
great mystery, which was a fact in heaven, registered there, and he gives it its
meaning for them. Referring to their besotted worship, he says to them, "the
times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every where to
repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.." (Acts 17:30-31.) And
after his ministry had formally terminated, and he becomes the prisoner rather
than the servant of Jesus, still before his judges it is of the resurrection he
speaks. (See Acts 26:1-32) The moral that we draw is, the sweet positive
application of this great fact to each one of us. We have, each one of us,
individually to do with it-or rather it has to do with us. The resurrection
speaks of judgment to man as man-for it is the witness of a solemn collision
between God and man. God is on the side of man’s victim. God has glorified the
One, whom man denied and crucified. Here is collision-and the result of that is
judgment: for God is stronger than man. Man must be overthrown in such conflict.
Judgment must fall on him that is opposed to God. The "pricks" cannot be "kicked
against." Saul of Tarsus persecuting Jesus, shall be found in a work of
self-destruction. The resurrection speaks of salvation to the broken, confessing
sinner. Because the resurrection witnesses God’s satisfaction in that atonement
for sin which Jesus offered; and if God is satisfied, who can condemn? If God
witnesses that such has been put away for all that will trust and plead the
death of Christ-who shall lay anything to the charge of such? what tongue can
prevail against them? The resurrection thus speaks of "judgment" and of "mercy,"
as we either look to the cross of Christ, with the interest of convicted
believing hearts, or as we despise and slight it. It has a voice in the ear of
all. It speaks to us, whether we will hear or whether we will forbear. To enjoy
it as the salvation of God, we must personally, and livingly by faith, be
brought into connection with it-but if we slight it all our days, it will at the
end bring itself in connection with us, as it were whether we will or not. In
this way it brings to mind the Lord Jesus in. Mark 5:1-43 -In spite of Satan,
Jesus puts Himself in connection with him in the person of the Gadarene, in
order to judge him and destroy his work. But He does not put Himself in
connection with the poor diseased woman in the crowd, till she by faith had put
herself and the necessity she carried in connection with Him. Surely her faith
was given to her of God. It was no notion of her own, but the fruit of the
drawing of the Father in the power of the Spirit. But still so it was; that the
virtue in Jesus did not visit her, till her faith had visited Him. And this
distinction has a deeply serious fact in it. If we by faith use not a risen
Jesus now, and get the virtue that is in Him, He will visit us by and by, and
that, too, with the judgment that will then be in Him No depreciation will then
avail-no seeking now can but avail! By the preaching of the resurrection in the
Acts, we learn that God has taken out of man’s hand the very weapon of his
fullest enmity against Himself, and used it for man’s everlasting blessing-but
if man will despise such goodness then he must answer for having taken that
weapon into his hand. The sword that man was using in hostility to God, God has
turned as into a plow-share, whereby to get for man the bread of everlasting
life. Joseph of old was sold by his brethren-but Joseph sold became an
instrument and channel of life to them who had sold him. Their very wickedness
was turned of God to their blessing. J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 19: S.   THE RIVER OF EDEN.
========================================================================

The River of Eden.

Genesis 2:2-15.

(Notes of an address by J.S. Bertram at Galashiels). As creator of the universe
in bringing into being such a marvellous system, God had in His mind not only
what was material but what was moral. In the material order that which was for
the benefit of the creature essentially is a symbolism of that which must
emanate from God Himself in relation to the moral or spiritual order. In this
connection attention is drawn to the river in Genesis 2:11-15. It is striking
that the river had its source in Eden, the garden of God, the earthly paradise.
In issuing forth from Eden it became four heads, and went on its course for the
benefit of the creature. The number "four "in Scripture signifies "completeness
in relation to earth "; this forms a wonderful study throughout the Scripture.
The river was one in Eden. The great teaching of the Old Testament is to put
emphasis on the fact that "the Lord our God is one God "(Deuteronomy 6:4), but
as the river flowed forth it became four heads, surely a beautiful type of God
coming forth in Grace in Christ. In that connection it is helpful to learn from
the meaning of the names of the rivers, the coincidence with the presentation of
the Blessed Lord Jesus in the four Gospels. The first of these heads or rivers
mentioned is Pison which means a "broad river," coinciding with the presentation
of Christ in the Gospel by Luke, who gives us so beautifully His coming into
manhood and standing in relation to man and creation as Son of Man, the broadest
of all His titles, for all things will yet be put under Him as such (Hebrews
2:1-18). The river flowed through Havilah. The gold of that land was good. There
was also the onyxstone (precious and durable) . Surely we can trace in the steps
of the perfect man that which answers to the gold, onyxstone, precious indeed.
"Unto you therefore who believe is the preciousness" and its abiding nature.

Gihon is the second river which means "swift". From the books of Esther and
Daniel we find that the king’s message required post haste (swift action). We
find the Lord Jesus spoken much of as the King in Matthew’s gospel. There He was
born King, although denied His Kingly rights. There is presented in this Gospel
how He will act in Kingly dignity. His teaching in Matthew 13:1-58 in relation
to the Kingdom of Heaven, indicates the heavens as the seat of authority of the
King. In Matthew 22:1-46 is the supper where the king views the guests, He sees
one who has despised His provision. His authority at once is exercised. Action
is swift, He is also hailed as King. As the king in Matthew 25:1-46 He
differentiates His word as final, "Then shall the king say, come ye blessed of
my Father," also to the other company, "Depart from Me." No opposing power can
stay His swift action. The third river is Hiddekel which means "sharp words."
"The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword." Connecting this with the
servant character of the Lord Jesus as presented by Mark, we find His word
fraught with power and authority, the sharp keen edge was felt by the opposing
element all the way through. Demon, disease and death all fled at His word. The
proud Pharisees and reasoning Sadducees felt the keen edge and had to retire. If
it be the case of the paralytic, He dealt with the question of his sins prior to
the needs of his body. There is a laying bare of cause and effect : an essential
ministry, that the Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The fourth river, Euphrates, meaning "sweet waters." This speaks to us of the
outflowing of the Father’s love and grace in the Son of His love, who ever dwelt
in His bosom and came to earth to make it known, as He is presented in the
Gospel by John. He drew the thirsty of earth to Himself; whether the outcast in
John 4:1-54 or the unsatisfied Jew in John 7:1-53. What sweet waters flowed for
the thirsty. They would never, never thirst again. There would likewise be an
outflow too (for out of His inwards would flow living water), reminding us of
the words in Psalms 46:4, "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the
city of God." As we pursue the course through the Gospel, we see the continuance
of that rich, refreshing, sweet ministry as we come to John 13:1-38; John
14:1-31; John 15:1-27; John 16:1-33; John 17:1-26; just on the eve of the cross,
the sweetness seems to increase! May the Lord enable us to drink more deeply
into the river of His grace "which is flowing o’er this barren place where Jesus
died."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 20: S.   THE SALVATION OF GOD
========================================================================

The Salvation of God THE salvation of God may surely be traced all through
Scripture, from the earliest, simplest revelation of it, in the opening of
Genesis, to the celebration of it in realms of glory at the close of the
Apocalypse.

It came with the first utterance of God in the hearing of this sin-stricken
world. The promise of the seed of the woman conveyed it. It was illustrated in
patriarchal stories all through Genesis. It was presented a thousand shadows or
symbols in the ordinances of the law. It was echoed in a thousand voices of the
prophets. And thus the current of it may be traced all through the ages of the
Old Testament, and the line of light that was revealing it then may be seen as
spanning, or stretching across the whole old volume. In due time, in the
fullness of time, the New Testament age begins; and then at the very outset, the
salvation of God appears again. It becomes embodied. The child that was to be
born, the Son that was to be given, was named of God " Jesus." If the first
divine utterance in the Old Testament bore it upon it, so does the like first
divine utterance in the New, " Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins The salvation of God was, as I may again say, now
embodied. It entered its human temple, to dwell there forever; from thence to be
unveiled: and thereby and therein to accomplish all eternal purposes of grace.
(Matthew 1:1-25) Not only, however, was salvation thus embodied, but its arrival
here was celebrated by the ecstatic joy of heaven, and the full earnest-hearted
welcome of the earth. Angelic hosts in the light and presence of the glory, and
angels in their individuality, tell us of this joy; and vessels anointed by the
Holy Ghost proclaim this welcome. Mary rehearses it, and so does Zacharias, and
so Simeon and Anna; and the shepherds in the fields, and the babe in the womb,
wait in their several way to greet it and rejoice. (Luke 1:1-80; Luke 2:1-52)
When thus arrived, it is active. What had been ushered forth in the midst of
such congratulations, could not but stir itself, and be at its work under its
high commission; and this is the life, the ministerial activity of the Lord
Jesus. He was dispensing health and salvation all around Him. Every sickness and
every disease among the people, had to tell that "Jehovah-rophi" was here,
Christ the healer; the salvation of God was abroad, dispensing itself to the
need of a ruined, death-stricken world, in every form of its misery. Being thus
announced and arrived, and having thus dispensed itself in the ministry of
Jesus, as we read in the Evangelists; it is now the subject of preaching in the
Acts of the Apostles. The Jews hear of it first, and then the Gentiles. Peter
calls on the Jew to come to it, and goes to the house of the Gentile with
"words" that convey it. (Chaps. 2, 9.) Paul preaches it to the nation of his
kindred in the flesh, and then to the ends of the earth, on the authority of God
by His prophet. (Chapter 13) And when at the very end he leaves Israel in
unbelief, under sentence of blindness of eye, and hardness of heart, he lets
them know, that it, "the salvation of God," is sent unto the Gentiles, and that
they would hear it. (Chapter 28) It is as fresh in that day of Acts 28:1-31, as
it was when first announced in Genesis 3:1-24 The Spirit of God was as full of
it then, as the mouth of the Lord was when He uttered his earliest word in a
world where sin had entered.

There is no moment, in the story of the world, to be compared with that which
witnessed the arrival of it from heaven to earth, as we have seen, heaven in its
hosts, and its glory was rejoicing then; and earth in its anointed vessels,
great and small, was answering it. And throughout this lengthened story, we may
see, that the sinner may possess himself with this salvation, taking it
immediately from God, without debtorship to any other. Adam took it from the
lips of God, and made it his own at once. It entered the house of Zaccheus, and
came there simply and solely in company with Jesus. It is faith that gets it;
and faith is the individual act of the soul, the sinner’s exercise of heart and
conscience entirely with God alone. Old Simeon illustrates this. He took the
child in his arms, as God’s salvation, without asking leave of its mother, for
faith knows it to be God’s gift to the sinner, as the sinner; and knows that it
is our necessities as sinners that constitutes our fitness and our title for it
and to it. From that day surely, to say no more, from the day of Acts 28:1-31, "
The salvation of God " has come forth to this wide, wide world under divine
commission. It has been sealed with the broadest seal-the clear and deep stamp
of heaven, or of God, has been put upon it; and no one speaks from God, under
commission and authority from him, who does not publish it. " The salvation of
God is sent unto the Gentiles." The Epistles, in their season, teach it to those
who have received it as preached to them. They teach it in its glories. They
distinguish it in its present and future relation to us. We have now " the
salvation of the soul;" we wait for that "salvation which is to be revealed at
the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:1-25) We have now "the grace of God
that bringeth salvation." We wait for that form of it which the second coming of
the Lord shall bring with it. (Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:28.) And then when we
pass the Epistles, and reach the end, the very end of the divine book, and read
the Apocalypse, there we find that this salvation is celebrated-not preached nor
taught; not as addressing itself to a wide world of sinners, or unfolding itself
to the sacred enclosures, and assemblies of the saints, but celebrated, whether
in heaven or on earth, in courts of glory, or regions of renewed creation.
(Revelation 7:1-17; Revelation 12:1-17; Revelation 19:1-21) And surely then, as
I said, I may still say, the salvation of God is tracked all through the word;
promised, illustrated, typified, prophesied, embodied, dispensed, preached,
taught and celebrated But salvation is too great a thought for the heart of man
to suggest-or indeed to receive. God must provide us with it-the Spirit must
enable us to accept it. The religious mind of man resents it as inconsistent
with the obligation he owes to God, and with the responsibility under which he
lies to Him. The moral sense resents it as being no security of practical life
and righteousness. How deeply at fault both are! How unequal is the best human
thing to reach the divine! While neither man’s religion nor man’s morality give
toleration to the idea of salvation; God, as we see, is occupied with it from
first to last. The promise of it, the history of it, the display of it, the
illustration of it in one sinner after another, stretch across the whole volume.
God dispenses it now, and would have us enjoy it. He will perfect it in all its
glory by and bye, and will call us to celebrate it.

"Jesus" is the imperishable name-"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and
forever. This is the name which abides in bloom and freshness still, the
unfading name which eternity has no power to efface. Time may wear away rocks,
eternity will do nothing with that name but celebrate it. " Jesus," or Savior,
was the first word written by the finger of God in the record-book of this world
of sin, as we have seen-and it has ever since been kept, like the bow in the
cloud, in the vividness of its earliest power. It is the unchanging,
unchangeable name. It is not the unutterable name, it is true; but it is the
imperishable one. We have heard that the Jew, under the law, found the divine
name to be too nigh, too distant, too sacred, for human lips to use. But the
sinner, under grace, talks now of the divine name all the day long, and will
forever. When God spake in law, He satisfied Himself to speak in a sequestrated
nook of the earth, and in the hearing of the smallest of all the nations of the
earth; but when He came to speak of salvation, He summoned the wide, wide world
to listen!

Great and glorious as it is, it rests on the simplest foundation which God has
found in the sacrifice of the cross. This I have assumed throughout. God is
satisfied in Christ, the believing sinner is saved! God has found his
satisfaction in Jesus. I have found my salvation in God? Call our good thing by
what name we may, justification, acceptance in the beloved, son ship, peace,
glory, redemption, reconciliation, or whatever other name that good thing may
carry, all rests on this, that Christ has satisfied God in that which He has
done for sinners The rent vail, the empty sepulcher, the resurrection and the
ascension, the glory of the Purger of our sins in heaven, and the mission of the
Spirit upon that to earth, testify, in the mouth of the most august witnesses,
this satisfaction of which we speak. None can gainsay such witnesses on the side
of the accuser! none can exceed them in dignity and triumph on the side of God!
Himself our Justifier, we are to accept salvation from God, just because He has
accepted satisfaction from Christ-to accept it with all thankful, worshipping
assurance.

If God have rent the vail, it is obedience in the sinner to enter. When I lay my
burthen on God’s foundations, I am glorifying as well as using them.

Salvation is to be enjoyed by faith. As we read, "the salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it." " Faith comes by hearing." We cannot
get it by working. We dare not count upon deserving. It is God’s salvation,
"prepared," as we read, by Him. (Luke 2:28-32). Counseled, brought out, revealed
by Himself, and sent out into the world by Him. We have had to gaze and to
listen -to be debtors to the provisions of grace for the most ruined, miserable,
degraded condition in which the creature could find itself! J. G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 21: S.   THE SILVER CORD LOOSED.
========================================================================

The Silver Cord Loosed. By J. S. Bertram.

Some words spoken at the grave of Helen Hermiston (31/7/42).

Death, the blighter of hopes, the breaker of ties and the bringer of sorrow
seems to reign undisturbed, but in the presence of such how blessed it is to
possess the Word of God which enlightens us as to man’s construction, as to the
past, the present, and the future. The Lord God breathed into man the breath of
life, and he became a living soul, so man is more than material, but sin has
separated him from God bringing in death. The blessed God has now made Himself
available to man as Saviour. The one whose remains we now lay in the grave, in
her early days was brought to know and love the Lord Jesus, and through her long
life knew His loving heart, and guiding hand. Now that hand which was pierced on
the cross has loosed the silver chord that bound body and soul together, the
golden bowl is broken (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7), (the casket that held the jewel),
the pitcher is broken at the fountain which indicates a continued need;
dependence is now no longer required. The wheel is broken at the cistern; all
activity for maintenance has now ceased; all is still! "Our earthen vessels
break." So we commit the dust to the earth from whence it came, but the spirit
returns to God who gave it. In 2. Cor. 5:8, we see with what confidence the
apostle speaks relative to the departed; a divine light resident in the heart
imparts such confidence, and God gives it to us through the Scripture, so that
we are assured that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord;
what security, comfort and bliss there is in the disembodied state, since
"present with the Lord!" That is not an inanimate condition, but freed from the
suffering and sorrow connected with the body and at home with the Lord. From Php
3:20-21, we learn that our citizenship is in heaven, God’s thought for us then
is heaven, "the sky, not the grave, is our goal." The One who has vanquished
death and saw no corruption is going to wield His mighty power in connection
with the bodies of His own, "He shall change our vile bodies that they may be
fashioned like unto His body of glory, according to the working of His mighty
power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself." What a prospect is
this for our hearts!

Christ our precious dust will take, and freshly mould:

He’ll give these bodies vile a fashion like His own;

He’ll bid the whole creation smile, and hush its groan.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 22: S.   THE SPIRIT, INITIAL AND RESIDENT.
========================================================================

The Spirit, Initial and Resident.

J. S. Bertram. In the night scene in John 3:1-36 we learn from the Lord Jesus
that the door of entry into the Kingdom of God is completely barred to man even
at his best, and that to come under the moral sway of God necessitates a new
moral being, which as He shows is the prerogative of the Spirit to bring into
being in and for man. Here the sovereignty and grace of the Spirit comes into
view, "the wind bloweth where it listeth." In his fallen state, man could never
at any time have a point of contact with God, "that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, the natural man is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can
be, so if he was to be suitable to God here he must be born anew; having another
origin. The prophets spoke of it (Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:25-27). The Lord
confirmed the matter, "we speak that we do know." If man was incapable of
apprehending the earthly side of things (1:e., new birth), he was much more so
relative to heavenly things. From the outset, the Lord knew and accepted His
rejection, and that of the Kingdom. In John 6:1-71 they would have made Him king
to secure their own ease. Although the kingdom in manifestation is held over
meantime, and it now has a moral bearing in which sphere the Authority and
goodness of God are recognised. The thought of what is heavenly is now
introduced, and such could only be brought to light by One who came down from
heaven, and it was incumbent upon Him in view of such to take up the sin
question, so He becomes the antitype of the brazen serpent. Sin must be judged
and put away before eternal life could be offered, and in so doing a loving and
giving God comes to light. For God so loved that He gave! The acceptance of such
a testimony brings the individual into the possession of eternal life (this
matter is developed in the succeeding chapters), the rejection of the testimony
brings condemnation now, to say nothing of the future, which involves what is
eternal. Verse 16 refers to God’s love to the world in its widest sense but in
verse 36 we read "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His
hand." It was true of Him here in manhood, but He could only function in the
fulness of His commission consequent upon the cross, although what follows in
John 4:1-54 gives a perfect sample of the present. As the Lord weary, with His
journey, sat by Sychar’s well (the possessor of all things) asks a drink from a
woman of the city, and eager to dispense to her the bounty of heaven He said to
her, "If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me
to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him and He would have given thee living
water." Marvellous! the Son in humiliation, the giver of living water; that
would be in her a fountain of water springing up into eternal life, the water
typifies the Spirit, the new power or spring of life resident in the believer;
the power and capacity by which eternal life is now enjoyed: which is in the
knowledge of the Father and the Son. This involves a new relationship maintained
in righteousness (1:e., opposite to the woman’s previous course), formative in
its result bringing into correspondence to Christ. Thirst and dissatisfaction
are unknown in the order, but we are apt to allow the things of earth to choke
up the springing well as in Genesis 26:1-35. Her conscience is reached. The
matter of worship is next introduced, and the Lord has something specific to say
to her on that matter, that it neither appertains to Jerusalem nor Samaria. The
hour was then present when the true worshipper must worship the Father in Spirit
and according to the truth, so that the person in whom the Spirit dwells stands
in relation to the Faith; the Spirit conducts such to the Father and worship is
according to the truth, 1:e., the revelation of the Father whom the Son makes
known. "I will declare Thy name unto my brethren." Under Christ’s leadership and
in the Spirit’s power we join in the singing which He leadeth, in the atmosphere
of holy love, where the Father loves the Son; such is the measure of His love to
us, the many sons, His brethren.

"Rise our heart and bless the Father, Ceaseless song e’en here begun;

Endless praise and adoration To the Father and the Son."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 23: S.   THE THRONE OF THE UNIVERSE."
========================================================================

The Throne of the Universe."

Revised Notes of an address by J. S. Bertram. In days of uncertainty and
distress when kingdoms rise and fall in a decade, when men’s hearts fail because
of "the terror that flieth by night," how comforting it is to have a divine link
with the throne established in the heavens, and relationship with its Occupant!
In Psalms 11:4, we read of the throne of omnipotence established in the heavens,
now that fact could only be communicated by God, for no man has ascended to
heaven; man’s speculation and research could never have discovered this, it is
beyond his reach and his lust for power. Moreover, he is totally incapable of
administrative position. We learn the eternal nature of that throne from Psalms
93:2, "the throne is from everlasting," it is not something raised up in an
emergency; it is the eternal throne of the Eternal God, as Psalms 47:8 states
that "God sitteth on the throne of His holiness," here we have the Occupant of
that throne in all His majesty, the sole governor of the universe. He holds the
reins of government, and the hearts of all men in His hand. The throne is
supreme; he ruleth in the kingdom of men. He raises one and overthrows another.
In Ezekiel 21:27, He says, "I will overturn." We seem to be in one of the
overturning periods now. But all must be well, for God is on the throne of His
holiness! Psalms 89:14, says, "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy
throne," that tells us its character. Where there is perfect discrimination, and
eternal right-acting, the throne is upheld in absolute righteousness (in
contrast to man’s expediency), else the whole moral and physical creation would
fall to pieces.

Whatever happens beyond our powers of comprehension we can confidently say,
"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right." Ezekiel got a vision of the
throne in its heavenly enduring character as the sapphire stone suggests
(Ezekiel 1:26), but he also saw the appearance of a man above upon the throne; a
wonderful vision, premature in point of time, but there is nothing future with
God who inhabits eternity. For the interpretation of the vision we are entirely
dependent on N.T. revelation. In Matthew 1:1-25., we read of the birth of Jesus
Emmanuel (God with us), oh, wonder of wonders, such a mighty stoop was taken by
the Great God of eternity from the throne of the heavens to the manger of
weakness. God over all, blessed for ever, came into manhood. Great is the
mystery of Godliness, God manifest in flesh! In manhood, yet essentially God in
all the glory of His being, sea, waves, wind, disease, demons and death were
subject to Him. As man He was asleep in the boat, a weary, thirsty stranger.
Foxes had their holes, birds their nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay
His head. He came here to meet the claims of the throne in regard to sin. These
claims were met at the cross of Calvary, bearing that name Jesus given to Him at
His birth. Although we fain would linger we hasten from the cross to the tomb
where we see the power of His might, relative to the seal of Rome and the
stronghold of death; He who descended is the same also who ascended. He was
carried up; He went up in triumph. In Acts 1:1-26 the two men in white said,
"This same Jesus shall so come in like manner." He has gone to the throne a
glorified man. Ezekiel’s vision is true to faith in the saints today (Hebrews
2:9). We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, and so get the present benefit
to our souls of His place there. There is much in our lives about which we often
ask the reason; but everything is in the hand of the One who loves us and He is
on the throne. We await the day when we shall be with Him. Everything will be
visibly put under Him. All heaven adores Him! Ere long the groaning creation
will own her Lord and come under the beneficent administration of the throne of
His glory. What refreshment shall flow forth to the redeemed creation from the
throne, for the pure river of the water of life proceeds out of the throne
(Revelation 22:1). All creation shall take up the note of triumph and everything
that hath breath shall praise the Lord; then earth shall be in accord with
heaven!


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 24: S.   THE TWO EAGLES AND THE VINE
========================================================================

The Two Eagles and the Vine

Jehoiachim went to Babylon, thus yielding to the judgment of God, and in the end
he was exalted. 2 Kings 24:1-20; 2 Kings 25:1-30

Zedekiah remained at home; and instead of accepting the punishment of his sin,
by -submission to the king of Babylon-the Lord’s rod-he rebelled against him,
and at last perished. This is the two baskets of figs, good and bad, of Jeremiah
24:1-10 The parable of the Two Eagles and the Vine, in Ezekiel 17:1-24, is to be
read in connection with Zedekiah’s history. But the close of that chapter is
very fine: it tells us that another witness shall deliver his testimony in
Millennial days. That God takes up the lowly, and puts down the haughty and
mighty. His constant, yea, necessary action in this fallen world.

Israel’s real blessing began in the lowly place-when they stripped off their
ornaments, and sought the Lord outside the camp. Exodus 33:1-23

So, Israel’s blessing must end in the lowly place. After they had failed in the
wilderness, their blessing lay in Babylon, as before it lay outside the camp.
They must accept the punishment of their sin, and go there. And it is thus with
us individually. °We are in the way or place of blessing, when convicted. We
must be broken, in order to be blest.

Now, the Lord Himself took this same place-not by beino. broken in conscience,
as we are to be, for He was spotless, without either corruption within or
blemish without. But He was broken in circumstances. The heir of the throne was
a carpenter-the Lord of the fullness of the earth had not where to lay His head.
He was a root out of a dry ground-or, as Ezekiel here speaks, " a tender twig,"
a "low tree," a " dry tree," but planted in the last days, in Millennial days,
"upon a high mountain and eminent," becoming "a goodly cedar, under which" shall
dwell "all fowl of every wing." This is Millennial Jesus, who once had been the
Nazarene Jesus. But this was not Nebuchadnezzar’s history. His branch spread in
its day, as the branch of this Millennial Jesus will do. (see Daniel 4:1-37) But
Nebuchadnezzar had never been a "tender twig," a "low tree," a "dry tree."
Accordingly, this great tree of Babylon, which had never been a " tender twig"
in early days, in the last days exalts itself, and meets the judgment of the
Lord. Its leaves are shaken off, its fruit is gathered, its branches are cut
down. It is preserved, but preserved as "a stump in the earth," that thus being
humbled and broken, God may bless and exalt it, in His own way, at the end.-J.
G. B.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 25: S.   THE TWO TRIBES AND A HALF; PART 1
========================================================================

The Two Tribes and a Half; Part 1 THE history of the Two Tribes and a Half has
its own instruction for us, and illustrates a peculiar character of mind and
will among the saints of God. They do not stand with the ’Lot of the days of
Abraham, though in some respects they remind us of him.

It is wonderful what a variety of moral character and of Christian experience
finds itself before the soul in the histories of Scripture. The soul reads
itself there fully the workings of nature not only in man, but in the renewed
man, its conflicts and its strength giving us to see so much that we know in
ourselves; and, at times, the lights and shades as well as the distinctive
features are to be traced. The Two Tribes and a Half are not Lot, but there is
that in them which tells us of him Like him, their own distinct, independent
history begins with their eyeing the well watered plains which were good for
their cattle in, the wilderness side of Jordan. They think of their cattle
rather than the call of God, and the pilgrimage of their brethren. Had their
hearts been full of Christ, they would not have seen anything till they had
crossed the river. Abraham, their father, had never been on that side of the
river; nor did their expectation ’when called out of Egypt stop short of the
other side. Neither had Moses said anything about those plains, in the land of
Gilead. But they had cattle, and those plains were suitable to their cattle, and
they sue for an inheritance ere they, reach the land which had been their
expectation when they set out. This was all. They had no thought whatever of
revolting; of sacrificing the portion of true Israelites, but their cattle drew
their eyes to the goodly plains of Gilead, and they were for possessing them,
though, they would do so as Israelites.

How natural! How common! In moral power they come short of the call of God,
though they hold to the hope of that calling, and claimed fellowship only with
those who were the objects of it. They were not in power a risen people though
in faith one with such. They were careful to declare and hold to their alliance
with the Tribes who were to pass the Jordan; though. they were led to remain on
the wilderness side of it themselves. I do not regard them, like Lot, a people
of mixed principles, who had deliberately formed their lives by something
inconsistent with the call of God, but rather as a generation who owning all
that obey it, and refusing all thought of having any other, are not found in the
moral power of it.

Again I say how common! This is a large generation. We know ourselves too well
to ask, is there such a people

Moses at once is made uneasy by this movement on the part of Reuben and Gad and
the Half Tribe of Manasseh He expressed this uneasiness with much force. He
tells them that they bring to his remembrance the conduct of the spies whom he
had sent out years before from Kadesh-Barnea, and whose way had discouraged
their brethren, and occasioned the forty years’ pilgrimage in the wilderness.
There was something so unlike the call of Israel from Egypt in the hope of
Canaan, in all these suggestions on the part of these Tribes, that Moses at once
thus resents it: and it is bad that this is produced in the soul of a Moses;
when the first instinctive feelings and thoughts of a saint, who is walking in
the power of the resurrection of Christ, are alarmed and wounded by what is seen
in a brother. And yet how common! many a Moses now-a-days is called in spirit to
challenge what offends, as being out of company with the calling of the saints.
For many a thing gets its sanction or its excuse from the heart of a saint that
cannot stand before the judgment of faith.

Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh have to explain themselves, and to give fresh pledges
to Moses that they by no means separate themselves from the fellowship and
interests of their brethren, and they do this with zeal, and with integrity too.
In this they are not with Lot. Lot’s conduct separated him for the rest of the
journey from Abraham. But not so these Tribes. With zeal they assert their
purpose to be still with their brethren. Nay, they would by no means have taken
the Eastern Gilead, had this produced a forfeiture of their identity with those
who were to be in the Western Canaan. They are to give pledges too, that they
will be foremost in the action. which still remains on the behalf of their
brethren’s inheritance. By no means do they contemplate anything like the loss
of fellowship with them; in this they are above Lot. But still they have stopped
short of Caanan. They are not in the full power of the Canaan-calling-not in the
thoughts of the man of God, a dead and risen people; for they are pausing (ere
the promised inheritance be reached) for the sake of their cattle in. the
wilderness.

Moses, however, does not let them go, as Abraham let Lot go. They are not to be
treated in that way, neither does the judgment of God light on them, as on. the
unbelieving spies who bring up an evil report of the land. They do not belong to
such generations, though their way may savor of such. Moses cannot lose sight of
them because they propose to feed their cattle in the plains of Gilead, while
they thus with zeal assert their purposed fellowship with their brethren. They
are his, and lie is theirs still, I may say; and they hold on together, unlike
Lot and Abraham, who never met after Lot became a citizen of the world;
practically forgetful so far, of the calling of God. This is so; but still Moses
has to eye them and remember them, and keep his thoughts somewhat anxiously and
uneasily occupied about them. And this is not the best witness for a saint.
Happy when the Holy Ghost can have us and our state also, to lead us still
onward, and feed us still in the knowledge and with the things of Jesus.

Lot and Abraham never met after the way of the world had drawn Lot into it.
Jonathan and David, now and again, and in their affections there is communion
between. them true and warm. Obadiah and Elijah met only once, and it is but a
poor meeting: "Reserve" marking the way of Elijah; and "Effort" that of Obadiah;
for they were not kindred spirits. The leathern girdle of the prophet but
ill-assorting with the livery of Ahab; but the two Tribes and a Half are above
these. They are still the companions of their brethren, and will not think of
anything else; and Moses admits their title without reserve. Their desire to
have their portion in Gilead makes no difference as to this. But still they do
not go through and through; they do not measure the whole of the wilderness, but
they linger; and the thought of their-cattle being suited in the fields of
Gilead attracts them, and there they find an object, though they still accompany
the camp

What shades of difference there are in those’ different illustrations; what
different classes of the people of God; yea, and what difference in the same
class do we meet here. Lot and Jonathan and Obadiah are of one class; men of
mixed principles, as the expression is; men whose lives are formed by such every
day habits as cannot combine with the pilgrim character; or the
suffering-witnessing-character to which the call of God leads. Sodom, as Lot’s
place, Saul’s court as Jonathan’s, and the palace of Ahab, King of Israel at
Jezreel, as Obadiah’s; when Abraham dwelt in a tent, David in a den or cave of
the earth, and Elijah with the provisions of God at Cherith or Sarepta. And yet
Jonathan was not Lot or Obadiah personally, though we have to set them all in
one class. Neither was Obadiah, Lot exactly; and as between them as a class, and
such dead and risen men as Moses and Joshua, we have to bring in the Rubenites
Gadites, and Half Tribe of Manasseh, a generation who will by no means admit the
thought of their separating themselves from full companionship with the call of
God; but who, nevertheless, exhibit in moral action that which is not according
to the full measure of that call. And this is indeed a common case-nay, this is
the common case among the saints. We know it ourselves; we own the call, we
witness it, we speak of Canaan, of death and resurrection, of hopes and
inheritance beyond the river; but nature, and present ease, and present desires,
the bleating of the flock, the lowing of the oxen, as they feed in the plains.
of Gilead, lead to much which makes the more single eye of a Moses, and the more
fixed and single purpose of a Caleb or of a Joshua to wonder and inquire. (See
Numbers 32:1-42)

Joshua, who has the spirit of Moses has them in some anxious and uneasy
remembrance, like Moses; and he addresses a word of special admonition to them
when he tells the conduct of affairs under the Lord, and for Israel. For they
are still, being the Tribes, on the wilderness side of Jordan, the occasion of
this fear and uneasiness to the more simple and devoted mind of a full-hearted,
single-eyed servant of Christ. (Joshua 1:1-18)

There remains, however, another sight of them still in the progress of the
history, and one which has its own striking moral features, I mean in Joshua
22:1-34 The ark had gone over. The feet of the priests bearing it had divided
the waters of Jordan, and the ark had gone over conducting and shielding the
Israel of God. And it is true that our Tribes of Reuben, and Gad, and
Half-Manasseh bad gone over with them; but the ark and Israel had remained
there-that’s the difference. The two Tribes and a Half return, but the ark
remains. The place that becomes a ransomed people., a dead and risen people, is
left, and they return to settle where Israel had but wandered.

Joshua, like Moses, instinctively feels all this, and warns them, and exhorts
them on their departure. And as soon as they reach the place they had chosen
they begin to feel it also. They are not fully at ease; and there is something
specially significant in that. They raise an altar-(the heart of an Israelite in
the land of Gilead would do just the same at this day). They are
uneasy-Jehoshaphat was uneasy, when he found himself in the court of Ahab, and
asked for a prophet of the Lord. The renewed mind speaks that language in a
foreign land. They raise the altar, and called it "ED," or a witness-a witness
that Israel’s God was their God. But why all this Had they remained in Canaan,
where the ark and the tabernacle of God were, they would not have needed this.
But they were not there, Shiloh was not in view, nor could their souls carry the
sense of it, that Shiloh was the common center with all their brethren. They
have to give themselves some artificial help, to give their souls a crutch, If I
may so speak, to aid the confidence and the joy of their hearts; that as
Israelites, they had fellowship and common interests and calling with their
brethren. All this is very full of meaning, and is constantly experienced to
this day. Some witness of our belonging to the Israel of God is needed and
craved by the soul, when we get into a position in the earth which the call of
Israel does not fully justify. The countenance of others-the restless
examinations of our own state-reasonings with ourselves-remembrance it maybe, of
better days with the soul-something that is as artificial and of our own device
as the altar of ED, and which would have been as unneeded too as that, had the
soul been more simple and faithful.

All this is still known, and is all figured here-it is the writing on this
pillar on the eastern side of Jordan. And a wonderful pillar it thus is. Lot’s
wife, the pillar of salt, had a writing upon it which the Divine Master Himself
has read for us; and I doubt not, so has this pillar of ED, which the Holy Ghost
would fain teach us to read, that we may be warned to know what uneasiness and
doubt accompanies the soul that has retreated to find a settlement there, where
the saints are and have been strangers. This altar witnessed both for and
against these Israelites. It was just what Jehoshaphat’s uneasiness was when he
found himself with Ahab and the prophets of Baal. It is just what a saint’s
uneasiness here is when he finds himself involved in a world that he ought to
have left. For all this bespeaks the saintly or renewed mind, but in such
exercises and experiences as the grace of God has caused it.

Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, are challenged. the second: time-by Joshua here, as
by Moses before; because of their pillar here, because of their seeking the
plains of Gilead before. This is all natural, as common as Christian fellowship
is, but all more or less painful and troublesome now-a-days as it was then. A
great stir is made among the Tribes; and a great assemblage is formed to inquire
into this further.

Something appeared in the eye of them who were on the other side of the river,
which alarmed them as Israelites, as worshippers of Jehovah. It looked to be
something which the common call of God could not allow for a moment-it must at
least be explained. What a living picture this is! Are we not at home here? Do
we not scan this spot well? The calling and the election of those eastern
borderers was not made sure to their brethren who were living in the place of
the Ark of God. They have to inquire and inspect their condition; and whatever
the result of such inspection may be, the need of such a process is but a poor
thing at best.

I believe the first Epistle to the Corinthians is very much an Eleazar crossing
the river to look after a pillar. There were things at Corinth which alarmed
Paul. They seemed to be reigning as kings in the earth; his ministry in the
meekness and gentleness of Christ was getting despised. The world was fashioning
the hearts of saints there; and people were valued because of their place in the
world. "The princes of this world," the men of the schools, or the ways of the
schools, were regaining their place, and saints were returning to settle where
they ought to be unknown and strangers. Paul, in the zeal of Joshua 22:1-34, had
to cross the river; and whatever the disco very may be, the action is a painful
one, and the need of it a sad one in the history of the Church. The Tribes may
satisfy Eleazar more than the Corinthians did Paul; all these varieties are
known at this hour: but there is this common sorrow and humbling, that the call
and election is not made sure: and we have either to take journeys, or to
occasion journeys, to have our own ways and ED.’s, and altars, as brethren,
read; instead of reading to all the secrets of God’s altar and tabernacle at
Shiloh!-J. G. B.


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  CHAPTER 26: S.   THE TWO TRIBES AND A HALF; PART 2
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The Two Tribes and a Half; Part 2

Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, are challenged the second time-by Joshua here, as by
Moses before; because of their pillar here, because of their seeking the plains
of Gilead before. This is all natural, as common as Christian fellowship is, but
all more or less painful and troublesome now-a-days as it was then. A great stir
is made among the Tribes; and a great assemblage is formed to inquire into this
further.

Something appeared in the eye of them who were on the other side of the river,
which alarmed them as Israelites, as worshippers of Jehovah. It looked to be
something which the common call of God could not allow for a moment-it must at
least be explained. What a living picture this is! Are we not at home here? Do
we not scan this spot well? The calling and the election of those eastern
borderers was not made sure to their brethren who were living in the place of
the Ark of God. They have to inquire and inspect their condition; and whatever
the result of such inspection may be, the need of such a process is but a poor
thing at best.

I believe the first Epistle to the Corinthians is very much an Eleazar crossing
the river to look after a pillar. There were things at Corinth which alarmed
Paul. They seemed to be reigning as kings in the earth; his ministry in the
meekness and gentleness of Christ was getting despised. The world was fashioning
the hearts of saints there; and people were valued because of their place in the
world. " The princes of this world," the men of the schools, or the ways of the
schools, were regaining their place, and saints were returning to settle where
they ought to be unknown and strangers. Paul, in the zeal of Joshua 22:1-34, had
to cross the river; and whatever the discovery may be, the action is a painful
one, and the need of it a sad one in the history of the Church. The Tribes may
satisfy Eleazar more than the Corinthians did Paul; all these varieties are
known at this hour: but there is this common sorrow and humbling, that the call
and election is not made sure: and we have either to take journeys, or to
occasion journeys, to have our own ways and ED.’s, and altars, as brethren,
read; instead of reading to all the secrets of God’s altar and tabernacle at
Shiloh!-J. G. B. When the world has lost its power in principle over us, then we
find that inequality of position only serves to draw out affection; not to make
an equality.

God ever treats us according to what He has already given us-treating us as
though we realized it all. An Assembly which has not the Truth of God for the
condition of its existence is not an Assembly of God.

(Concluded front Page 16.)


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  CHAPTER 27: S.   THE WONDROUS WORKS OF GOD.
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The Wondrous Works of God.

Job 37:14-16; Job 38:47; 1 John 3:8; John 17:4; John 6:27-29.

Notes of an address by J. S. Bertram at Galashiels, 23/11/40. The outstanding
feature in all these Scriptures is that of works! In the first a halt is called
and Job is instructed to hearken, stand still and consider the wonderful works
of God. Whenever God has something important to communicate He calls man to
stand still and listen. The wonderful works in creation (revealing God) are
described in Job 37:1-24; Job 38:1-41; Job 39:1-30. Everything in creation is an
evidence of God! In Romans 1:1-32 we read that the things that are made evince
His eternal power and Godhead, so that men everywhere are left without excuse.
No one can plead ignorance. Every whit in creation declares the Glory of God.
Nothing has appeared by chance, but by design and that of God. Genesis 1:2,
shows that chaos and darkness were everywhere and the Spirit of God brooded upon
the face of the waters and everything was brought into order by the word of God,
and finally life appeared. God’s power is shown in every line of creation and as
a copestone to creation, God formed man. His work being accomplished He rested
on the seventh day. "The sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). From Ezekiel
we learn that there were other created intelligences. Satan was presented in the
guise of the King of Tyre. In such a dignified person pride was resident and as
a consequence he fell and with him vast hosts of angelic beings. In an early
moment in the world’s history that mighty being had introduced himself into
God’s fair creation and inserted a lie in the minds of our first parents and
they succumbed to his temptation. The beautiful harmony which had been
established was spoiled by Satan. The devil’s ingenuity has always been directed
to securing his own glory! The seed which he sowed in men’s minds was soon
manifested by the fruit thereof. Creation came to be marked by the works of the
devil. Murder and general wickedness were rampant, so that God had to sweep His
creation with a flood; but that did not eradicate the works of the devil. The
earth which emerged from the cleansing power of the Flood soon manifested a
continuance of the features which had permeated the antediluvian world. The Son
of God was manifested to annul the works of the devil, and not only so but
ultimately Satan himself. Satan tried his wiles on Christ. He suggested "if Thou
be the Son of God, etc.," but the latter’s power was not to be in evidence to
please Satan. He was here dependent on God and was an overcomer! Immediately the
Lord commenced to relieve those under the power of Satan. Relative to His power
there is love shown, e.g., in the relief of the demoniac and the woman with the
issue of blood. He relieved the captives of Satan; but while on earth his work
had relation to time. Yet when He came forth from the Father He had an eternal
work in view. "I have finished the work that Thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4).
This work outshone creation’s glory. That will redound to the Glory of God for
all eternity! His own glory was in harmony with that glory. He set his face
steadfastly to go to the Cross and the work was completely accomplished at
Calvary as distinct from the works which bore witness to the Father. On His last
journey from Jericho to Jerusalem He was dispensing blessing to His creatures
although the Cross was before him and He knew all that would befall Him at
Jerusalem. The whole prophetic word of the Old Testament pointed forward
unmistakably to that moment. To what indignities He was subjected! The callous
indifference, the gambling and jibing manifested the bitter hatred residing in
man’s heart. What meekness and love were manifested as He went forth bearing His
cross! Satan thought that he had secured a permanent triumph. But when man had
done his worst, that last word "finished" was the triumphal shout of a victor
and He dismissed His spirit. That finished work was that by which propitiation
has been made and sin removed from the eye of God, while a universe of bliss can
be formed on the sure basis of that redemption. The work completed and God
glorified, in virtue of the value of His work He has taken His rightful place at
the right hand of God. What a rich revenue of glory has accrued to God in
consequence! A mercy seat has been established as the only meeting place of the
sinner with God and the Holy Ghost has come down to make good the truth in souls
and so effect the wondrous work of God. The work of God is to believe on Him
whom God has sent (John 6:29). That belief produced by the Holy Spirit brings
life and salvation. (There is also a belief which is purely mental!) Faith
cometh by hearing and that by the word of God! The Holy Ghost is brooding over
the darkness and chaos in the souls of men, working in a moral way, awakening
them to their true condition before God. The result is a new condition which
answers to God. If we have been freed by His power, there is also that created
which will withstand all the wiles of Satan’s ingenuity and abide as an
everlasting witness to the wondrous work of God.


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  CHAPTER 28: S.   WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, HARVEST.
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Winter, Spring, Summer, Harvest.

Notes of an address by J S. Bertram. In our everyday language we speak of
spring, summer, autumn and winter, which is perfectly in accord with man’s
order, but in God’s economy there is a very different order of things. Relative
to man he was set up in Eden in the bloom of youth, the freshness of spring and
knew something of the summer of God’s beneficent goodness, but on account of sin
he reaped a bad harvest, and his day ended in death; a winter scene indeed! What
was true in connection with man was also true of Israel. Freshness, the
expression of life, was in the early days of Solomon, but alas, he too reaped a
sad harvest, and bitter winter moral conditions ensued. In John 10:22-23, our
blessed Lord was in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Despite its magnificent
structure with all its show of religious service and the feast of dedication in
progress "it was winter." True as to the season of the year, but it was also a
perfect description of the nation’s condition, where there was no life
spiritually there was not a movement toward God with all its fair show; but
there is something else to notice, "Jesus walked." What a delight to the Father
to look down upon His beloved Son in that winter scene and find in Him alone
something for Himself. There was One who walked for His glory, where every step
emitted a sweet fragrance in contrast to the corruption. In 2 Samuel 23:20, we
have another winter scene; again there is a conspicuous man. Benaiah (the name
means "whom God has made strong for Himself"). He went down into a pit to slay a
lion; surely a lovely type of the One who descended into the lower parts of the
earth, having gone down into death. How blessed that in death’s domain (man’s
unhappy lot, the result of his sin), the blessed God commences to work with the
Man of His choice. In the scene where man is helpless God’s man comes into view.
When Benaiah went down into the pit it was "the time of snow," everything was in
the grip of winter, there was not a vestige of life to be seen. So with the
blessed Lord Jesus when He went down unto death to slay him who had the power of
death, there was not a breath for God in the whole universe, everything lay in
death, in the grip of winter. The hopes of the disciples were buried with Him.
Marvellous are God’s ways. The way of life lay through death. That condition of
things which sin had brought in must be brought to an end in death. In the
domain of death (man’s dread enemy), the infinite love of God has been declared,
and the power of God’s man seen. So as Benaiah emerged from the pit victorious,
having slain the lion; so the blessed Lord arose out of death having burst its
iron portals and destroyed forever its power. In His resurrection there is the
dawn of a new day, life from the dead. The winter is past and gone, the time of
the singing of birds is come (Song of Solomon 2:11-12). In life out of death,
spring time had come indeed! He communicated His risen life to His own; the time
of singing had come. What joy and gladness filled their hearts as they were
brought into the new association with Him risen as He manifested Himself to them
during those forty days! But these conditions were preparatory for the
introduction of the summer of God’s rich grace. The One who went down into
death, and rose again has been carried up on high and acclaimed by all heaven as
the worthy victorious One God’s glory now shines in His blessed face, and as the
sun in summer rises in noonday splendour, shedding its beneficent rays over
creation, so the Son of Man has gone to the highest glory. From His place of
supremacy and acceptance God’s rich grace shines for all. We are now living in
the summer of God’s grace; what a favourable accepted time is the present. There
never was a day like the present, when God’s rich grace and love in
superabundance are free for all. From Jeremiah 8:20, we learn that the summer of
God’s grace will end; 1:e., a very solemn thought for those who have not availed
themselves of His grace, and they are not saved, let these solemn searching
words sink into every heart. Oh, that men would avail themselves of God’s grace
in the day of salvation, the summer of His grace. There is going to be a rich
harvest for God, whatever man may derive from His goodness, and it seems as if
that rich harvest will soon be reaped. God’s patient goodness and the sunshine
of His love will terminate suddenly in the Lord’s coming for His own, the first
fruits of the harvest have already been reaped, afterwards they that are
Christ’s at His coming! What a harvest that will be for God; fruit of His love!
That will also be a harvest for Christ; fruit of His grief and travail, when
myriads are caught up in His likeness. He will rest in His love, He will joy
over thee with singing (Zephaniah 3:12). When the harvest is gathered home God
will be satisfied, Christ glorified in are redeemed and glorified company; His
body and bride resplendent with His glory!


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-j-s-bertram/
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