======================================================================== WRITINGS OF JOHN NELSON DARBY - VOLUME 1 by John Nelson Darby ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by John Nelson Darby (Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 99 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 01.00. Hopes of the Church of God 2. 01.01. 2Pe 1:1-21 3. 01.01. Lecture 1: 1Th_1:1-10 4. 01.02. Ephesians 1:1-23 5. 01.03. Act 1:1-26 6. 01.04. Luke 20:17 7. 01.05. Daniel 2:1-49 8. 01.06. Daniel 7:16-27 9. 01.07. Psalm 82:1-8 10. 01.08. Romans 11:1-36 11. 01.09. Ezekiel 37:1-28 12. 01.10. Isaiah 1:1-31 13. 01.11. Revelation 12:1-17 14. 02.00. Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ 15. 02.02. Lecture 2: Eph_1:1-23 16. 02.03. Lecture 3: Rev_12:1-17 17. 02.04. Lecture 4: Rom_11:1-36 18. 02.05. Lecture 5: Mat_13:1-58 19. 02.06. Lecture 6: On Dan_2:19-49; Dan_7:1-28 20. 03.00. On The Formation Of Churches 21. 03.01. Aim Of This Essay 22. 03.02. The Lord's Purpose In The Gathering Of The Saint On Earth 23. 03.03. National Systems And Their Relation To The Gathering Of Believers 24. 03.04. Position Of Dissent Relatively To The Gathering Of Believers 25. 03.05. In The Fallen Condition Of The Present Dispensation, Can Man Restore It? 26. 03.06. If the Dispensation Cannot Be Restored, What Remains To Be Done? 27. 03.07. Directions Given By The Holy Spirit For The Present Condition Of Things 28. 03.08. Does The Word Of God Authorize The Naming Presidents And Pastors? 29. 03.09. The Children Of God Have Nothing To Do But To Meet Together In The Name Of The Lord 30. 03.10. Conclusions 31. 03.11. Final Remarks 32. 03A.00 Burnt-offering; the Meat-offering; the Peace 33. 03A.01 The Burnt-offering - Lev_1:1-17 34. 03A.02 The Meat-offering- Lev_2:1-16 35. 03A.03 The Peace-offering - Lev_3:1-17 36. 04.00. THE MAN OF SORROWS 37. 04.01. Chapter 1 38. 04.02. Chapter 2 39. 04.03. Chapter 3 40. 04.04. Chapter 4 41. 04.05. Chapter 5 42. 04.06. Chapter 6 43. 04.07. Chapter 7 44. 04.08. Chapter 8 45. 04.09. Chapter 9 46. 04.10. Chapter 10 47. 04.11. Chapter 11 48. 04.12. Chapter 12 49. 04.13. Chapter 13 50. 04.14. Chapter 14 51. 04.15. Chapter 15 52. 04.16. Chapter 16 53. 04.17. Chapter 17 54. 04.18. Chapter 18 55. 04.19. Chapter 19 56. 04.20. Chapter 20 57. 04.21. Chapter 21 58. 04.22. Chapter 22 59. 04.23. Chapter 23 60. 04.24. Chapter 24 61. 05.00. THE PRESENT EFFECT OF WAITING FOR CHRIST 62. 05.01. Introduction 63. 05.02. The Present Effect Of Waiting For Christ 64. 05.03. Waiting 65. 06.00. Pilgrim Portions 66. 06.01. Sin 67. 06.02. Grace 68. 06.03. The Word of God 69. 06.04. The Holy Spirit 70. 06.05. The Perfections of Christ 71. 06.06. Faith 72. 06.07. Peace 73. 06.08. Guidance 74. 06.09. Humility 75. 06.10. Trial 76. 06.11. Communion 77. 06.12. Conflict 78. 06.13. Devotedness 79. 06.14. Unbelieving Fears 80. 06.15. Separation from the World 81. 06.16. Joy 82. 06.17. Dependence 83. 06.18. Cross-Bearing. 84. 06.19. Looking unto Jesus 85. 06.20. Growth 86. 06.21. The Presence of God 87. 06.22. Service 88. 06.23. Divine Affections (1) 89. 06.24. Divine Affections (2) 90. 06.25. Self-Renunciation 91. 06.26. Songs of the Night 92. 06.27. The Man of Sorrows 93. 06.28. Love 94. 06.29. The All-Sufficiency of Christ 95. 06.30. Divine Energy 96. 06.31. Help from the Sanctuary 97. 06.32. Rest 98. 06.33. The Faithfulness of God 99. 06.34. Submission ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 01.00. HOPES OF THE CHURCH OF GOD ======================================================================== Hopes of the Church of God By John Darby 1 2 Peter 1:1-21 2 Ephesians 1:1-23 3 Acts 1:1-26 4 Luke 20:17 5 Daniel 2:1-49 6 Daniel 7:16-27 7 Psalms 82:1-8 8 Romans 11:1-36 9 Ezekiel 37:1-28 10 Isaiah 1:1-31 11 Revelation 12:1-17 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.01. 2PE 1:1-21 ======================================================================== Lecture 1 of 11 on The Hopes of the Church of God, 2 Peter 1:1-21. Introduction J. N. Darby. {"The Hopes of the Church of God in connection with the destiny of the Jews and the nations as revealed in prophecy." Eleven lectures delivered in Geneva, 1840.} It should be the endeavour of the Christian, not only to be assured of his salvation in Christ, but also of all the results of thus salvation. He should not only know that he is in his Father’s house, but enjoy the privileges of his happy position "God has called us by glory and by virtue," 2 Peter 1:3. In the glory of Christ and of the church, God has given us a futurity full of His own designs, the present study of which fills our hearts full of associations with Him; and this assuredly is one of His objects in dispensing prophecy to us; He reveals it to us as His friends (John 15:15; Ephesians 1:9), making us participators of the thoughts which occupy Himself. He could not give us a more tender pledge of His love and confidence (Genesis 18:17), nor anything having a holier tendency as regards ourselves. In fact, if men are to be known by the ends they are pursuing, our conduct in the present life will have the impress and bearing of that futurity which we are expecting; our life here will be coloured by the foretaste of things there. Those whose ambition is dignity and power those who dream only of riches, those who have no other aim than the pleasures of this world, act according to that which is in their heart; their habits bear the mark of what they are longing for. So it is in the church. If the faithful understood their calling, which is no less than participation in a coming heavenly glory, what would be the consequence? Nothing less than to live here as strangers and pilgrims. In distinguishing the prophecies which relate to this earth, they would better understand the nature of the earthly promises made to the Jews, and would learn to separate them from those which refer to us Gentiles; they would judge the spirit of the age, and would preserve their hearts from being engrossed by human objects, and from many a care and distraction hurtful to the life of a Christian: they would exercise a happy dependence upon Him who has ordered all things, and who "knows the end from the beginning," and would yield themselves entirely to that hope which has been given them, and to the discharge of those duties which flow from it. It has been said, that the real use to be made of the prophecies is, to shew the divinity of the Bible by those which have already been accomplished. This is certainly a use which may be made of them, but this is not the special object for which they have been given. They belong not to the world, but to the church or remnant, to communicate the intentions of God to that church or remnant, and to be its guide and torch before the arrival of those events which they predict, or during their accomplishment. Shall we use the revelations of God merely as the means of convincing us afterwards that He has told the truth? It is as if someone were treating me as his intimate friend, heaping benefits upon me, communicating his thoughts to me, telling me all that he knew would shortly happen; and I should use all his confidence for no other purpose than to convince myself, when everything had come to pass, that he was a truth-telling person.* Alas! alas! where are we? Have we so far lost the feeling of our privileges, and of the goodness of our God? Is there, then, nothing for the church in all these holy revelations? for certainly it is not the church’s place to be discussing whether God, its divine Friend, has told-the truth. Dear friends, we wrong the goodness and friendship of God in acting thus towards Him. As Christians, we have no need to be witnesses of an event, in order to believe what God says to be true - that His word is true. You believe already that prophecy is the word of God. {*As Satan is watchful to take advantage of every part of Scripture not used to a right end, he has not been unmindful of the above argument: he has therefore led many to suppose a partial fulfilment of many of the prophecies to be their complete accomplishment. An undue prominency has been given by many commentators to little events, owing to the scope of prophecy not being understood in its utility to the present wants of the soul, or ultimately to those who in the midst of Israel wait for redemption in Zion.} But more than this. The greater part of the prophecies, and, in a certain sense, we may say, all the prophecies, will have their accomplishment at the expiration of the dispensation in which we are. Now, at that epoch it will be too late to be convinced of their truth, or to employ them for the conviction of others; the terrible judgment which will come upon those who disbelieve them, will be sufficient demonstration of their truth. No; they are given to us to direct us in our present walk in the ways of the Lord, and to be our comfort in enabling us to see that it is God who disposes of all events, and not man. They are as a light shining in a dark place. Thus, the passions, instead of being let loose in the world of politics, are quieted. I observe what God has said - I read in Daniel that all is ordered from the beginning, and I am tranquil. Altogether separated from these worldly things, I can study beforehand the profound and perfect wisdom of God, I get enlightened, and cleave to Him instead of following my own understanding. I see in the events which take place around me the unfolding of the purpose of the most High, and not a field abandoned to the struggle of human passions. Thus, and specially in the events which come to pass at the end, it is, that prophecy opens out to us the character of God - all that God would have us know of Himself - His faithfulness, His justice, His power, His longsuffering, but at the same time the judgment which He will certainly execute on proud iniquity, the public and fearful vengeance which He will take on those who corrupt the earth - in order that His government may be established in peace and blessing for all. Where was the use of the Lord forewarning the disciples that they were to flee under such and such circumstances, if they did not understand what He was speaking about, and did not believe beforehand in the truth of His word? It was precisely this knowledge and this faith that distinguished them from all their unbelieving countrymen. It is just so with the church. The judgment of God is to come upon the nations; the church is informed of this; and, thanks to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, understands it, believes it, and escapes the things which are coming. But, says another objector, these prophetic studies are merely speculative. Oh! what a device of Satan is this! If looking beyond the present, beyond the feeling of my own wants, if passing beyond the domain of material being, I launch into futurity - everything will be vague and uninfluential, unless I fill it - with my own thoughts; now these are real speculations; or with the thoughts of God; what are these? It is prophecy which reveals and develops them; for prophecy is the revelation of the thoughts and counsels of God as to things to come. Where is the man bearing the name of Christian, who does not rejoice in the prospect that "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"? This is a prophecy. If it be asked, How is this to be accomplished? it is not from man’s mouth that the answer is to come: the word of the same prophecy will tell us, and thus silence the imaginations and the vainglory of our proud hearts. In truth, although communion with God comforts and sanctifies us, and this communion, which is to be eternal, is already given to us, yet He wishes to act upon our hearts by positive hopes. Necessarily then He must communicate the subject of them to us, in order that they may have an efficacious influence, and so prevent these hopes being either vague, or the result of ingeniously contrived fables. Thanks be to the God of all grace and goodness, our futurity is neither the one nor the other. The fulness of the details of the coming glory are still the subject of prophecy. "For," says the apostle, when he wants to call forth the exercise of piety, virtue, brotherly love, and charity in the souls of the faithful, and would have them keep these things constantly in remembrance (2 Peter 1:16-21), "we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also* a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." {*Properly, the word of prophecy confirmed or made more sure, to wit, by the transfiguration.} In going through the more general features of prophecy, we shall examine these three great subjects: the church; the nations; and the Jews. In pursuing this study, we shall find, according to the measure of light which is given to us, a very beautiful result, namely, a full development of the perfections of God under two names or characters, according to which He has revealed Himself in relationship to man. To the Jews, it is as Jehovah that He makes Himself known (Exodus 6:3); to the church, it is as Father. In a word, as that which is predicted by the mouth of the prophets as to the Jews gives us the character of Jehovah - His faithfulness and all His attributes; so that which is prophesied concerning the church opens out to us the name of Father. The church is in relationship with the Father, and the Jews with Jehovah, which is the characteristic name of their relationship with God. Jesus, in consequence, is presented to the Jews as the Messiah, the centre of the promises and of the blessings of Jehovah to that nation; to the church He appears as the Son of God, gathering to Himself His many brethren," sharing with us His title and privileges, those, namely, of "children of God," members of His "family," "joint-heirs with Christ, the firstborn among many brethren," who is the expression of all the glory of His Father. In the dispensation of the fulness of times, when God will gather together all things in Christ, then will be also realised in its fullest sense the name in which He revealed Himself to Abraham, the father of the faithful: that name under which He has been celebrated by Melchisedec (a type of the royal Priest, who will be the centre as well as the assurance of the common blessing of the united earth and heavens), the name of "the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.01. LECTURE 1: 1TH_1:1-10 ======================================================================== Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Delivered at Toronto, Canada. J. N. Darby. Lecture 1 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 What I would desire to bring before you is, the coming of the Lord as the proper hope of the church, and to shew you that it is constantly, increasingly brought before it as such by the Spirit of God. When once the foundation is laid of His first coming as that which brings personally peace and salvation (and even before it, so far as it is a means of awakening the conscience), the one thing the saints were taught to look for was the coming of the Lord. No doubt the first thing the soul needs to know is the ground of its salvation. When this is known, the Lord Himself becomes precious to the believer; and when the church was in a healthy state, we shall find that the hearts of the saints were altogether set upon Him, and looking for His coming. And now our hearts should understand (as I shall shew you from Scripture was the case then) that the coming of Christ is not some strange speculation, or the advanced idea of a few, but was set before the church as elementary and foundation truth, and formed a part of all their habits and feelings, and mingled itself with every thought. It was and is the keystone of all that keeps up the heart in this solitary place (looking at it as journeying through the wilderness). Thus with a heart full of love for God, and the desire to see Christ, we can appreciate the apostle’s prayer for us - "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting* for Christ." We have not long to wait; and it is worth being patient for. {*Properly, "the patience of Christ," who is also waiting.} We shall find, too, that the teaching of Scripture as to Christ’s second coming casts wonderful light on the value of His first coming. For His second coming, as it concerns the saints, is to complete as regards their bodies (so bringing them into the full result of salvation) that work of life-giving power Christ has already wrought in their souls, founded on the complete title in righteousness which He has effected for them on the cross. He comes to receive them to Himself, that where He is there they may be also - to change their vile bodies and fashion them like His glorious body. For the saints the resurrection is a resurrection of life, not of judgment. It is a raising in glory, or changing into it by the Lord’s power, those that are already quickened and justified. When people, Christian people too, are looking for judgment, and saying with Martha, "I know he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day," they forget the judgment of the quick - that then is the judgment of this world. They are to be all caught eating and drinking. "Sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." People do not like that. They put off God’s judgment to a vague and indefinite period, when they hope all will be well. They think that then will be decided their final state, they trust, for blessing. There is surely a judgment; but all their thoughts about it are a mistake. The matter is decided now: "He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already." If we receive the statements of Scripture, all is as simple as possible: that the first coming of Christ to do His Father’s will was so complete in its efficacy that they who belong to that first coming, who have part in its efficacy by faith, are forgiven, cleansed, justified, by its virtue; and that when He comes the second time, He comes to bring them to glory. The moment I get hold of the truth that the coming is, for believers, to receive them to Himself, the moment I see that His coming the second time is to bring in the glory - to change us into His own likeness and to have us with Him, it affects everything, instead of being an unimportant thing. I believe death is the most blessed thing that can happen to a Christian; but it is not the thing I am looking for. I am looking to see Him. He might come to-morrow, or to-night, or now. Do you not think it would spoil all your plans? Suppose you thought He might come, would it not make a difference in your thoughts? You know it would. Suppose a wife expects her husband to return from a journey, do you not think there would be an effort to have everything ready? Another thing I have found to be specially blessed is, that it connects me with Christ so nearly that I do not think merely of going to heaven and being happy - a vague thought this. Of course, I shall be perfectly happy: surely we shall. The divine presence will shed sure and endless blessing around. But one is coming whom I know, who loves me, who has given Himself for me, whom I have learned to love: and I shall be with Him for ever. Christ becomes personally more in view, more the object of our thoughts. Nothing is so powerful as Scripture for everything. It deals with the soul in the power of divine light. It reveals Christ, bringing the heart’s judgment into His presence. It convicts every thought of the heart, shewing what it is in truth. There are three ways in which Christ is pointed to in Scripture: on the cross at His first coming; He is sitting on the right hand of God; and He is coming again. In the first, He has laid the foundation of that which I have in Him: the foundation was on the cross. And now that He is sitting on the right hand of God, He has sent us the Holy Ghost the Comforter while awaiting His return, giving to those in whom He dwells the full certainty of faith as to the efficacy of His work and their own redemption. God’s love and their own adoption thus lead them to desire with ardent hope His coming again. Having thus given a general idea of the place Christ’s coming holds in Scripture, I will take a few passages in different parts of the word, without going fully into them now, to shew that it is the great truth of Scripture hope, and that all the thoughts, feelings, hopes, interests of God’s children are connected with it - that not only it is not a false idea, but that it is not rare or strange, but enters into the whole structure of Christian feeling. Thus 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, "For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." Here we find that the world was talking about this expectation of the Christians: so sure was their expectation and so strong the influence which it exercised on their conduct. They (the disciples) were looking for God’s Son from heaven; it formed a part of that to which the heathen were converted - to the present waiting for God’s Son from heaven - so that the world took notice of it. In 1 Thessalonians 2:18-19, "For what is our hope, our joy, or crown of rejoicing?" Most beautiful here to see the affection of Paul for the saints; but to what did his heart look as the time when these affections would be satisfied in their blessing? The coming of Christ. Again, as regards holiness, we see exactly the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." The coming of Christ (and His coming with all the saints, so that it can confer but one thing) was so near to his spirit that he looks at their being found perfect then as the object his heart desired. And in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." We find that, instead of the Lord’s coming being a strange doctrine, while he could not look for the Christian’s dying without his going to heaven, yet the comfort he gives is not that, but their return with Jesus. Death did not deprive them of this; God would have them with Him. First note, beloved friends, the full assurance expressed here for living and dead saints alike. How do people persist in saying it is impossible to tell on this side the grave? The apostle does tell for both. The first coming of Christ has so finished redemption and the putting away of sin, that His second is glory and being with Him, for the dead and living saints. But see how present the coming of the Lord was to their minds. If I were to comfort the friends of a departed saint by saying that God would bring him with Jesus when He came again, what would they think of me? That I was mad or wild. Yet such is the comfort Paul gives to the Thessalonians, and no other, though he plainly teaches elsewhere that the soul of the saint will go to be with Christ when he dies. But these examples shew how the coming of the Lord mixed itself with every thought and feeling of Christianity then. So in his wish for Christians in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." But the world rejects this news, and the church becomes worldly - has lost her value for it. Not so the first disciples: their hearts were attached to their Master; and they desired to see Him to be like Him. They waited as a present condition of soul for God’s Son from heaven. I have gone through these passages, not merely to prove the doctrine, but to shew the way in which it connected itself with the whole of the Christian’s life. We will turn back now to see the universal testimony of Scripture to the truth of this doctrine and the various aspects it takes; and first Matthew 24:30-31, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." When the disciples ask Him the time when these things are to be, He tells them to watch; and in Matthew 24:44, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." But the Lord goes farther in the following parables, which apply to Christians. The mark of the evil servant given there is that he says in his heart "my lord delayeth his coming," and thereupon begins to eat and drink with the drunken. They lost the expectation of Christ and sank down into hierarchical power and into the world, into comfort and pleasure. But the Bridegroom did tarry, and the church lost the present expectation of Christ and the blessed fruit of it on their souls. Matthew 25:1, "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom." There is the essence of the church’s calling. They went forth, but while the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept - saints as well as professors, no exception They all lost the sense of what they had gone out to, and gave up watching. And what is it that aroused them from the sleepy state into which they had fallen? "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go ye out to meet him" (Matthew 25:6). They had to be called out again; they had got into the world, into some place to sleep more comfortably (just where the professing church is now), eating and drinking with the drunken, and the cry is, I trust, again going forth, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh." And what made the church depart from the sense of what they had been called out to was, saying (just what people, and Christian people too, are saying now) "The Lord delayeth his coming." They do not say He will not come, but He delays it; we are not to expect Him. I will pass over Mark, not that there are not plenty of passages there, but that what we find there is substantially the same as what we find in Matthew. I will go on therefore to Luke 12:35-38, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching; verily, I say unto you, that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants." Remark here that the waiting for the coming of Christ is what characterises the Christian according to the mind of Christ. Men speak of death, but death is not "my lord." We find the same truth pressed on men in Luke (Luke 17:22-37), where this passage does not warn people as to sin, but as to the unholy thought that the world may go on indefinitely. As soon as Noah entered into the ark, the flood came and destroyed them all. As soon as the church is taken up, Satan having filled men’s hearts with lies, judgment will come. And as in the days of Noah and of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, planted and builded, even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. Remark here how impossible it is to apply this to the great white throne. When He sits on the great white throne, the heavens and the earth flee away; there is a total destruction of everything. Men will not then be eating, drinking, planting, building. Now look at Luke 21:26-36. People apply this to the destruction of Jerusalem, but this is spoken of in Luke 21:20-21 : "Then let them which are in Jerusalem flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto." But then, after that, Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles till the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled (the time running on now till the last beast’s wickedness is filled up). Then come the signs and the Son of man is revealed. John 14:1-3. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Such is the promise left us, the comfort Christ gave to His disciples when He was leaving them: He comes to receive them to Himself. Acts 1:10-11. "And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." This too, though it be Christ coming in the clouds, is not the great white throne: but it is striking here that they are losing Christ; and what is the angel’s word to them? Why are ye looking up into heaven? He will come again in the same way. What the angels brought before them, to comfort them, when Jesus left them, was that He would come again; and that to which Scripture points people’s hearts to comfort and strengthen them is, that He is coming again. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment. That is the allotted portion of the seed of the first Adam; but as that is man’s portion, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation; Hebrews 9:27-28. And Christ is waiting only till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. We are not even all to die. We shall not all die; 1 Corinthians 15:51. Romans 11:25 : "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." When the church is formed, its last member being brought in; when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, Israel will be saved as a nation, and the Deliverer come out of Zion. Christ will appear for their deliverance. Again, turn to 1 Corinthians 1:6-7. "Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come behind in no gift: waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." All the promises of the prophets will be fulfilled at that coming. Turn back to Acts 3:19-21. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when [read "so that"] the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" - as had been before preached to them; but it is the same Jesus that had been spoken of to them. We cannot apply it to the Holy Ghost; for it was the Holy Ghost then come down who spoke by Peter and declared that He should come whom the heavens had then received. In Acts 17:30-31, the apostle is testifying that though God winked at the times of their ignorance, He now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world (i.e., this habitable earth) 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. The distinctive resurrection of the saints will be at His coming. 1 Corinthians 15:23. "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming." Ephesians and Galatians are the only two books in the New Testament in which you do not find the coming of the Lord. The Galatians had got off the foundation of faith - absolute justification by faith in Christ; and Paul was obliged to return to the first principles of justification. The epistle to the Ephesians takes the opposite extreme, and you see the church in Christ in heaven, so that it cannot speak of Christ coming to receive it. It is viewed as now united to Him there. But we shall find constant reference to it in the other epistles that it is a point kept before the mind for present practical effect. Php 3:19-21. "Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, from when also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Colossians 3:1-4. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." In the Thessalonians it is the main subject of both epistles. In the first epistle, except the warning in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-28, it is the blessedness of it to the saints; in the second epistle, the judicial character, though the glory of the saints is included in it (for when He executes judgment on the living, we shall appear with Him in glory). 1 Timothy 6:14. "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." The apostle exhorts Timothy to go on diligently and faithfully looking for the appearing. When the word of God is speaking of joy to the saints, it is the coming. The moment he speaks of responsibility to the world or to the saints, it is always His appearing. What would have been the use of his saying to Timothy to keep the commandment until His appearing, if it were not practically a present expectation? and then, how mighty its power on the conscience (not the very highest motive, but one we need)! And if through grace the Lord has delayed His coming, not willing that any should perish, those who have acted on that expectation will have lost no fruit of their fidelity: it will find its recompense in that day. 2 Timothy 4:8. "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." "Love!" - do you love, can you love, that which will put a stop to everything that is pleasant in the world? it asks the heart. How does this mark a spirit entirely in contrast with that of the world! Hebrews 2:5-6. "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" The world to come is the habitable earth. Christ is now at God’s right hand till God puts all things under His feet. In Hebrews 9:24, "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." There was a state of probation before man was turned out of paradise. Since then man has indeed been tried up to the death of Christ, whether law or prophets or the mission of God’s Son could win him back, but in vain. What man finds out now is, that he is lost; but then, that when man’s sin was complete, God’s work began, and redemption is by the cross on which man crucified the Lord. Sin was complete then: but He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That work is completed, and those who through grace believe and have part in it await the same Saviour to come again for their final deliverance. James 5:8. "Be ye also patient: stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Here again we see how it is presented as a present motive for patience and to be looked for in daily life as sustaining the soul in patience, yet as that which was to change the whole state of the world. In 1 Peter we have a remarkable testimony to the order of God’s ways in this respect. First are the prophets, who learned, in studying their own prophecies, that what they testified was not to be fulfilled in their day. Next is the gospel, but this not the fulfilment: in it the things are reported with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The saints are called on to be sober and hope to the end for the grace to be brought to them at the appearing of Jesus Christ, "whom, having not seen, we love." The time of the saints’ receiving the promise is the appearing of Christ; 1 Peter 1:10-13. In 2 Peter you may remark that he makes the slighting this promise, the calling it in question because the world was going on as it had, to be the sign of the scoffers of the last days. In 1 John it is mentioned in 1 John 2:28 for the conscience as ground of warning, but in 1 John 3:1-3 we have it amply used for the heart and walk of the saints. Now are we sons of God. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is: and everyone that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Our blessed and assured hope is to be like Christ Himself: this we shall be when He appears. The present effect of this special hope is that the saint purifies himself even as He is pure, seeks to be as like Him now as possible, takes his part with Himself at His appearing as his motive and standard of walk. Jude 1:14. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." The epistle is striking in this; it shews the decline of the church - the false brethren coming in unawares, who in character designated the state of the professing church in the last days and the object of the judgment of the Lord when He would appear. The whole book of Revelation refers to this; it is an account of the preparatory judgment of God on Revelation 19:21, when the Lord comes forth to execute judgment. He has accomplished the work of salvation, and is sitting at the right hand of God, and then comes to set all things right. This makes His coming (besides the righteous display of His own glory, of God’s eternal Son as man the centre of all things) of such importance. It alone actually makes good the plans and counsels of God. Glory is founded on His first coming. That, morally speaking, surpasses all glory. It is the absolute display of what God is, when evil is come in. But only at His second coming will the actual result be made manifest. He comes to receive the church to Himself, the witness of sovereign grace, and to order the world (subject to Him in the power of His kingdom) in blessing, and so display the government of God. Till He comes neither can take place. We enjoy the full revelation of Him from whom all that blessing flows, and enjoy it here in a nature suited to it and flowing from it; but we wait for the results for ourselves and for this burdened world. We love His appearing. How is it with you? Are you linked with the world He subverts when He comes, or with Him who brings the fulness of blessing, though with judgment on what hindered it? Were He to come now, would it be your awaited joy and delight, or does it alarm and try your hearts? The Lord give you to answer before His face! I have sought this evening to shew you how it forms the constant topic of Scripture, and enters as a present expectation into the whole structure of the habits of thought of those who were taught by the apostles - by the Spirit of God Himself; and how its loss was the sign of the church’s decline, sinking into worldliness and the world. I leave it to the blessed Spirit of God to bring this divine teaching home to all our consciences. To wait truly for Christ, we must have our consciences purged by His first coming, and our hearts fixed on Him that is to come. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.02. EPHESIANS 1:1-23 ======================================================================== Lecture 2 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Ephesians 1:1-23. The Church and its Glory J. N. Darby. Of the three objects which have been mentioned in the first lecture as about to form the subject of our study, that of the church and its glory is to have the first place. It introduces us to the name of Father, the character in which God has revealed Himself to us, and whence flow to the church, the fruits of grace, and all the circumstances of its state of glory, as everything flowed to Israel from the name of Jehovah. To this name of Father, however, is to be added another relationship, distinctly marked in the epistle to the Ephesians, and closely allied to the principal one, namely, that the Father has given the church to Christ as His bride, so that it will fully participate in all His glory. In adopting us for His children, the Father has associated us with the dignities and glory of the Son, "firstborn among many brethren," Romans 8:29. As the bride of Jesus, we enjoy, in virtue of His incomparable love to us, all the privileges that belong to Him. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand," John 3:35. This is the first great truth we desire to set out from. And as the Son has glorified the Father, so the Father will glorify the Son. Our second point is: we shall participate in the glory of the Son; as it is said in John 17:22, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them"; and it is in order that the world may know that the Father loves us as He loves Jesus Himself. In seeing us in the same glory, the world will be convinced that we are the objects of the same love; and the glory which we shall have at the last day will be but the manifestation of this precious and astonishing truth. Thus the hope of the church is not alone salvation, that is, to escape the wrath of God, but to have the glory of the Son Himself. That in which the perfection of its joy consists is the being loved by the Father, and by Jesus; and, in consequence of this love, the being glorified. But more than thus, the Father would have us enter into the full intelligence of these riches, and has even given us the firstfruits by the presence of the Holy Ghost in all those who are saved. Before we follow up these thoughts by other testimonies from the word of God, let us look into the chapter before us. In the very first lines, God presents Himself as a Father, and in the relationships already indicated. He is "our Father (Ephesians 1:2), and "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). From this until Ephesians 1:8 the apostle expounds salvation. God "has made us accepted in the beloved" - this "to the praise of the glory of his grace," in God’s presence, in conformity to His nature, and adopted as children to the Father. We have redemption through Christ’s blood. This is according to the riches of God’s grace. From Ephesians 1:8-10, We see that this grace of salvation introduces us by its actual power, by the Holy Spirit, into the knowledge of the proposed purpose or decree of God as to the glory of Christ; a touching proof, as we have before remarked, of the love of God, who treats us as His friends, and tranquillises our souls, in an ineffable manner, in making us see the termination of all the efforts and all the agitation of the men of this world. The decreed purpose of God is this, God will "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth." Until Ephesians 1:8, we have seen our predestination to the state of children of the Father, and the actual accomplishment of salvation. "We have redemption through his blood." In that which follows, we have the purpose of God, as to the glory of Christ, in relation with all things; afterwards, from Ephesians 1:11, our participation, yet future, in the glory thus designated; and, further, the sealing of the Holy Spirit whilst we are waiting in expectation of this glory. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance . . . that we should be to the praise of his glory." Previous to verse 8, it had been "to the praise of the glory of his grace." Now it is "to the praise of his glory"; and then, "after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." The remainder of the chapter is a prayer of the apostle, that the faithful may understand their hope, and that the power of the resurrection and of the exaltation of Christ, to whom the church is united, may be accomplished in them, a power which works towards them as believers. This position of the church, which enjoys its own redemption, and which waits for the redemption of the inheritance, has its perfect type in Israel. This people, redeemed from Egypt, did not enter at once into Canaan, but into the wilderness, whilst the land itself remained still in the possession of the Canaanites. The redemption of Israel was finished, the redemption of the inheritance was not. The heirs were redeemed, but the inheritance was not yet delivered out of the hands of the enemy. "Now all these things," says the apostle (1 Corinthians 10:11), "happened unto them" [the Israelites] "for types, and they are written for our admonition" [the church], "upon whom the ends of the world are come." Christ is waiting for the resurrection of the church, in order that everything may be subjected to Him, subjected not of right only, but in fact. He is waiting for that solemn moment when Jehovah will make all His enemies as a footstool under His feet; Psalms 110:1. Until that moment arrives, kept as a secret in the depth of the divine counsels,* He is sitting on the "right hand of the majesty on high," Hebrews 1:3. {*It is perhaps for this reason that it is said in Mark 13:1-37 that the Son Himself knoweth not the day nor the hour, because He Himself was the object of this decree of Jehovah. He will receive everything from the hand of God, as man and servant, as also God has now highly exalted Him (Php 2:9). Speaking as a prophet, Christ announced His coming as the terrible judgment which was to fall upon an unbelieving nation; but the counsel of God as to this judgment, or at least as to the moment of its approach, was contained in those words, Sit thou at my right hand until . . . ." Christ as a servant waited (as always, and this was His perfection) upon the will of His Father, and to receive the kingdom when the Father would have it 50. It is worthy of remark that Psalms 110:1-7 and Mark 13:1-37 refer exactly to the same subject. The enemies are the Jews who rejected Him (Luke 19:27).} Christ will take the inheritance of all things as a man, in order that the church, bought with His blood, may inherit all things with Him, purified co-heir of an inheritance which will be itself purified. Let us keep in mind, then, these two fundamental points: - Firstly, Christ, in the counsels of God, possesseth all things. Secondly, In virtue of being the bride of Christ, the church participates in all that He has, and in all that He is, except His eternal divinity, although in a sense we do participate in the divine nature. Let us look through the passages which furnish the thoughts we have been giving out. All things, we say, are for Christ. "He is appointed heir of all things," Hebrews 1:2. They belong to Him of right, because He is their Creator; Colossians 1:15-18. Observe, in this passage, two headships of Christ; first of all He is called "firstborn [or, chief] of every creature," then, "firstborn from the dead," "the head of the body, the church"; a distinction which throws much light on our subject. "All things were created by him, and for him. Moreover, He will possess them as man, as last Adam, to whom God has intended in His counsels to subject them. It is thus that we read in Psalms 8:1-9, which is applied to Christ by Paul (Hebrews 2:6), and is, in fact, the corner stone of the doctrine of the apostle upon this subject. He cites the psalm three times in his epistles, in passages, the leading thoughts of which are the subjection of all things to the Man Christ under three different aspects, every one of which is important for us. According to Hebrews 2:6, the prophecy is not yet accomplished, but the church has, in the partial accomplishment of that which is yet to come, the pledge of its final consummation. All things are not yet put in subjection to Jesus; but, in the meantime, Jesus is already crowned with glory and honour - certain proof that what remains will have its fulfilment in due time. Under the present dispensation (the object of which is the gathering together of the co-heirs) all things are not subjected to Him; but He is glorified, and His followers acknowledge His rights. In Hebrews 2:1-18, then, we have the application of Psalms 8:5-6, and we are informed that the subjection of all things to the last Adam has not yet taken place. In Ephesians 1:20, Ephesians 1:23, we equally see Jesus exalted, highly exalted, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and the putting of all things under His feet is also offered to our attention; but as the effect of this is the introduction of the church into the same glory, Jesus is presented to us, in this glory, as the Head of the church, His body, "the fulness of him that filleth all in all" - the other truth upon which we have been insisting. Again, in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, this same fact, the glorification of Jesus, and the subjection of all things to Him, is shewn to us, but still in another point of view, that is, as about to take place at the resurrection, according to the power of which Jesus has been declared the last Adam, and withal head of a kingdom which He will possess as Man, and which He will eventually deliver up to God the Father, whilst He Himself, as last Adam, is to be "subject unto him that put all things under him," instead of reigning as Man, as He had been doing, over all things - all things, we say, except over Him who will have subjected them to Him. The truth, then, which we have presented, besides the proper joy of being with Him and like Him and in the Father’s presence, is, a subjection yet to come of all things to Christ, a reign which He will share with the church, inasmuch as this is His body, and which will take place therefore at the resurrection of this same body, and a power which He will afterwards resign to God the Father, at some decreed time, in order that God may be all in all. Christ, glorified in His Person now, and whilst the church is gathering, is sitting upon the throne of God, waiting until it be complete; until, in short, the time be come for His being invested with His royal power, and that Jehovah shall have put His enemies as a footstool under His feet. An important distinction results from the passages we have been citing: it is this, that besides the reconciliation of the church, there is the reconciliation of all things. You may have perceived this in the chapter, with the reading of which the lecture began: we saw that the proposed intention of God was to gather together all things in Christ; that the reconciliation of the church is represented, in the verses which precede verse 8, as a thing accomplished, and the glory as a thing future, of which we have as yet but the earnest in the presence of the Holy Spirit in us after having believed. But we see in Romans 8:19-23 that the deliverance of creation will take place at the time of the manifestation of the sons of God. As to the present, that is, the time during which Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, everything is in a state of misery, the whole creation remains in the bondage of corruption. It is true that we are redeemed, and that even the price for the redemption of creation has been given; and more than this, we have received the firstfruits of the Spirit as earnest of the glory. But all this is but our expecting state, until the Most High enters upon the exercise of His power, until He reigns, and becomes possessor in fact, as He is by right, of the heavens and the earth. Inhabiting in our bodies a fallen creation, whilst indeed by the Spirit we are united to Christ, we have, on the one hand, the assurance of being children "accepted in the beloved," and the joy of the hope of the inheritance by the Spirit which is the earnest of it; but, upon the other hand, by the same Spirit, we give utterance, inasmuch as we are in the body, to the sighs and groanings of the creation, being participators therein owing to this body of death. All is in disorder; but we know Him who has redeemed us and made us heirs of all things, and who has introduced us into the enjoyment of the love of the Father: we enjoy these privileges; but, understanding also the blessings which will be shed upon the inheritance, when Christ shall take it and we shall appear with Him in glory, perceiving likewise the miserable state in which the scene of His future dominion actually is, we serve, by the Spirit, as a channel to those sighs which go up to the throne of the God of mercy. The passage already cited from the epistle to the Colossians accurately establishes this distinction. It is said (Ephesians 1:20), "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you . . . (the saints) now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh, through death." The church is already reconciled. The things of earth and heaven will be reconciled later, by the efficacy of His blood already shed.* The order of the ceremonies on the great day of atonement explained this reconciliation typically, though in special reference, as to details, to the part which the Jews will have in these blessings. {*It must be carefully attended to, that it is a question here of things, and in heaven and earth, and in no way of sinners remaining in their unbelief, who are in neither.} In Colossians 1:16, we clearly see what are the things which are comprehended in this reconciliation: "All things were created by him, and for him." All that He has created as God, He will inherit as the restorer of all things. Were there, for example, a blade of grass that was not subjected to His power in blessing, Satan would have got an advantage over Christ, over His rights, and over His inheritance. Now it is the judgment which will vindicate all the righteous title of Christ. Besides all this, Christ, when He comes, will be the source of joy to all created intelligences, joy reflected and elevated by the blessing which will be spread over the whole creation; for the joy of witnessing the happiness of others, and also that which flows down in the freeing of creation from the servitude of corruption, is a divine part of our enjoyments; we partake of it with the God of all goodness. As to us, it is in the "heavenly places" that we shall find our abode. The spiritual blessings in heavenly places which we enjoy even now in hope, though hindered in many ways, will be for us, in that day, things natural to our physical and normal state, so to speak; but the earth will not fail to feel the effects of it. "Wicked spirits in heavenly places" (see margin, Ephesians 6:12), whose place will be then filled by Christ and His church, will cease to be the continual and prolific causes of the misery of a world subjected to their power by sin. The church, on the contrary, with Christ, reflecting the glory in which she participates, and enjoying the presence of Him who is at once to her its source and fulness, will beam upon the earth in blessing; and the nations will walk by her light - "help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18) in His glory, full of thoughts of her beloved, and enjoying His love, she will be the worthy and happy instrument of His blessings; whilst, in her condition, she will be the living demonstration of their success. For God has done these things, "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus," Ephesians 2:7. The earth will enjoy the fruits of the victory and of the faithfulness of the last Adam, and will be the magnificent testimony of it in the sight of principalities and powers, as it is at present, in the chaos made by sin, of the ruin and of the iniquity of the first Adam. Without doubt, the crowning joy - the joy of joys - will be the communion of the Father and of the Bridegroom; but to be witness of His goodness, to have part in it, and to be an instrument of it towards a fallen world, will certainly be to taste of divine joys, for "God is love." It is this earth that we inhabit that God has taken to make the scene for the manifestation of His character and His works of grace. This earth is the place where sin has entered and fixed its residence; it is here that Satan has displayed his energy for evil; it is here that the Son of God has been in humiliation, has died, and has risen; it is upon this earth that sin and grace have both done their wonders; it is upon this earth that sin has abounded, yet, notwithstanding, grace has much more abounded. If now Christ is hid in the heavens, it is upon this earth He will be revealed; it is here that the angels have best penetrated the depths of the love of God; it is here, also, that they will comprehend its results, manifested in glory; upon this earth, where the Son of man has been in humiliation, the Son of man shall be glorified. If this earth in itself is but a small thing, that which God has done upon it, and will do, is not a small thing for Him. For us (the church), the heavenly places are the city of our habitation, for we are co-heirs, not the inheritance), we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but the inheritance is necessary for the glory of Christ, as the co-heirs are the object of His most tender love, His brethren, His bride. I have, then, detailed to you, dear friends, briefly and feebly, as I am well aware, what is the destiny of the church. The Spirit can alone make us feel all the sweetness of the communion of the love of God, and the excellence of the glory which is given to us. But, at least, I have pointed out passages enough in the word to make you understand - with the help of the Holy Spirit, which I implore for you all - the thoughts which I had on my heart to tell you to-night. It results clearly enough that we live under the dispensation during which the heirs are gathered together, and that there is another which will take its place at the coming of the Saviour, - that in which the heirs shall have the enjoyment of the inheritance of all things, - that in which all things shall be subjected to Christ, and to His church, as united to Him and manifested with Him. What is to follow that is not our business now: I mean that last period, when God will be all in all, and when Christ Himself, as Man, will be subject to God; and chief, as Man, of a family eternally blessed in the communion of God, who has loved that family, and whose tabernacle will be in the midst of it - God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternally blessed. Amen. It is in occupying herself with these subjects, full of hope by the Spirit, that the church will be detached from the world, and will clothe herself with the character which becomes her as the affianced bride of Christ, to whom she owes all her heart and all her thoughts. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.03. ACT 1:1-26 ======================================================================== Lecture 3 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Acts 1:1-26. The Second Coming of Christ. J. N. Darby. This evening I am going to speak of the coming of Christ. Many questions link themselves with this great one, as for instance, the reign of Antichrist. But I shall limit myself this evening to the event itself - namely, the coming of the Lord. I began by reading Acts 1:1-26 because the promise of the Lord’s return is there set forth as the alone hope of the church, as the first object which would of necessity fix the attention of the disciples, when they were vainly following with their eyes the ascending Saviour, who was going to be hidden in God. In this chapter, just as the Lord was about to leave them, three remarkable features appear. The first is, that the disciples desired to know when and how God would restore the kingdom of Israel. Now Jesus did not say that this was never to happen; He only said, that the time of this restoration is not revealed. It belonged to times and seasons which the Father has put in His own power. The second is, that the Holy Ghost was about to come; and the third, that during the time the disciples were looking towards heaven, two angels said to them, "Why stand ye here gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." They were, then, to expect the return of Christ. If we study the history of the church, we shall find it to have declined in spirituality exactly in proportion as this doctrine of the expectation of the Saviour’s return had been lost sight of. In forgetting this truth it has become weak and worldly. Not, however, wishing to quit the sphere of the word, let us see therein how the feeling of the return of Christ ruled the intelligence, sustained the hope, inspired the conduct, of the apostles. We have only to this end to look through a few passages of the New Testament. Acts 3:19-21. "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come [or "so that the times of refreshing may come"] from the presence of the Lord . . . ." The Holy Spirit is come; He has remained with the church; but the times of refreshing will come "from the presence of the Lord when he shall send Jesus." It is impossible to apply this passage to the Holy Ghost, because He was already, at that time, come down, and had said by the mouth of the apostle, "Whom the heaven must receive till the times of restitution of all things." And, in truth, the Holy Spirit has not restored all things. He who is to come, according to this passage, is not to come to judge the dead, nor that the world may be burnt up and destroyed; but it is specially for "the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets." I cite these passages to make you comprehend what I understand by the coming of the Saviour. It is not the judgment of the dead; it is not the great white throne; but it is the return of Jesus Christ in Person, when He shall be sent from heaven. If you compare these verses with what is written in Revelation 20:1-15 you will see that the coming of Jesus Christ, and the judgment of the dead, are two distinct events; that when the judgment of the dead takes place, there is not a word about Christ returning from heaven upon the earth; for it is said, "From whose face the earth and the heavens fled away," Revelation 20:11. The Lord will return to the earth. Let us now see how Himself first, then the Holy Ghost by the apostles, have constantly directed our attention to His personal return. Matthew 24:27-33. "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." Certainly the expedition of Titus against Jerusalem was not the coming of the Saviour in the clouds of heaven. Neither is this a description of the judgment of the dead before the tribunal of the great white throne. At that time the earth is no more, whilst in the passage just cited the nations of the earth are brought before us, and it is a question of an event in which the earth is concerned. "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." It is not a millennium brought about by the exercise of the power of the Holy Ghost. The world has never seen the Holy Ghost. We are told that the tribes of the earth shall lament when they see the Lord Jesus (Matthew 24:33). "So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matthew 24:42-51. The faithfulness of the church is made to hinge on its watchfulness as regards this truth of the return of Christ. From the moment that it was said, "My lord delayeth his coming," "then the servant began to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken." "Therefore be ye also ready," said Jesus, "for the Son of man [not death] cometh." Matthew 25:1-13. The expectation of the return of Christ is the exact measure (the thermometer, so to speak) of the life of the church. As the servant became unfaithful the moment he had said, "My lord delayeth his coming," so it was with the ten virgins, for it is said, they all slept. It was not death, nor the Holy Spirit, that the ten virgins were told to expect; for neither death nor the Holy Spirit is the Bridegroom. All the virgins were found in the same state; the wise ones (the true saints) as well as the foolish ones, who wanted the oil of the Holy Spirit, slept and forgot the immediate return of Christ, as, on the other hand, what wakes them up is the midnight cry that He is coming. In Mark 13:1-37 we get nearly the same thing. Mark 13:26 forbids us to apply the passage to the invasion of the Romans;* and when it is said (Mark 13:22), "It is nigh, even at the doors," there is no thought about the judgment of the dead, nor of the great white throne. At that day, the day of the judgment before the great white throne, there will be no question either of house or household. {*There may have been, at the time of the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, circumstances in some respects resembling those which will yet take place when the prophecies of Mark 13:1-37 and Matthew 24:1-51 shall be accomplished, so that the disciples might have been able to use the warnings which they contain (although there is no certainty of the fact). But there are insurmountable obstacles in applying "the abomination of desolation" to the army of Titus, or to the Roman ensigns. For there is a period which dates from this event, of which we see no fulfilment, in counting from the taking of Jerusalem. So that it has been found necessary to transport this part of prophecy to popery, which we know has nothing to do with the invasion of Titus. The passage in Luke would seem to have more to do with the events which took place at the taking of Jerusalem by Titus; but again I say, to attempt to apply the passages which have been occupying us to this event is to lose our time.} Four passages only are to be found in the New Testament which speak of the joy of the departed soul. The first occasion is when the thief said to the Lord (Luke 23:42-43), "Remember me when thou comest into [in] thy kingdom." It was about the coming of Jesus in glory that his thoughts were occupied - a truth which was familiar to the Jews. The Lord replied to him, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." The second case is that of Stephen, who said (Acts 7:59), "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"; the third, when Paul said, "To be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8); the fourth, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better," Php 1:22-23. In truth, it is far better to expect the glory, present with Christ, than to remain here below: not that we go to glory when we depart, but we are quit of sin, out of the reach of it, and we enjoy the Lord apart from it. Yes, it is a state far better, but it is also one of expectation, like that in which Christ is Himself placed, sitting at the right hand of the Father, expecting that which is to come. Luke 12:32. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning." Here we find again (circumstantially different) the parable of the unfaithful servant; only the Lord adds, "That servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself [what a picture of Christendom!] shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who knew not [the pagans], . . . shall be beaten with few stripes." All shall be judged; but Christendom is in a state worse than that of the Jews or pagans, inasmuch as it has had more advantages. Luke 17:30. "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Luke 21:27. "Then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." The fig-tree of which the Saviour speaks on this occasion, is especially the symbol of the Jewish nation. "Watch therefore," He adds, "that ye may stand before the Son of man." These two chapters, namely, Luke 17:1-37 and Luke 21:1-38, as well as Matthew 24:1-51 and Mark 13:1-37, relate to the coming of the Lord connected with the Jews - its earthly bearing. To these may be added Luke 19:1-48, where the servants who are called, and the enemies who rejected the nobleman, clearly mark the servants of Christ, and the Jewish nation. See particularly Luke 19:12-13, Luke 19:27. John 14:2. "In my Father’s house are many mansions . . . . And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself." The Lord Himself will come for His church, in order that the church may be there, where He is. Acts 1:11. "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner." Acts 3:1-26. This is the preaching of the apostle to the Jews: Repent, and Jesus will return. You have killed the Prince of life; you have denied the Holy One and the Just; God has raised Him from the dead. Repent, be converted, and He will return. But they would not repent. During three years He had vainly sought fruit from His fig-tree. The husbandmen, on the contrary, killed the Son of Him who had placed them in His vineyard. The Son of God, Jesus, asked pardon for them on the cross, whence His voice is all-powerful, in saying, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." The Holy Ghost, by the mouth of the apostle, answers to the intercession of Jesus, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it . . . . Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." But we know they continued to resist the Holy Ghost; Acts 7:51. Acts 3:20-21. "And he shall send Jesus Christ . . . whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." This is the great end of all the counsels of God. As we have before seen the secret of His will, that God would gather together all things in Christ, we find here what He has spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets: that is, the earthly part. How are all these things to be accomplished? Is it by the operation of the Holy Spirit? No, for it is said that "he shall send Jesus." It is, doubtless, true that the Holy Ghost will be shed abroad, and He will be so specially upon the Jews; but in the passage quoted the event is to take place by the presence of Jesus. There cannot be a revelation more explicit, than that it is by the sending of Jesus, that the things spoken of by the prophets will receive their accomplishment. How can the force and simplicity of this declaration be evaded? We see the fall, the ruin, of man; we see even all creation subjected to corruption. The bride desires that the Bridegroom may appear. It is not the Holy Spirit who will re-establish the creation, and who is the inheritor of all things; it is Jesus. When Jesus appears in His glory, the world will behold Him, whilst it cannot see the Holy Ghost. "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow." The work of the Holy Spirit is not to re-establish all things here below, but to announce Jesus who will return. Again, it is the Holy Spirit who was in Peter, when he said, "Whom the heavens must receive till the time of the restitution." Receive whom? Not the Holy Ghost (He was descended from heaven already), but Jesus; and all we have to do is to believe. Let us now turn to the epistles, in order to be shewn that the coming of the Lord is the constant and Living expectation of the church. We see, on referring to Romans 8:19-22, all creation in suspense until the moment of His appearing. Compare John 14:1, John 14:3; Colossians 3:1-4. Again (1 Corinthians 1:7), "Ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ"; and Ephesians 1:10, on which we have already spoken. Since at the last judgment the earth and the heavens will have passed away, it is before this time that God will gather together in one all things in Christ. Php 3:20-21. "For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Colossians 3:4. "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." The two epistles to the Thessalonians turn entirely on this subject. Everything in the first epistle has reference to the coming of Christ; all that Paul says of his work, or of his joy, belongs to it. First of all, conversion itself is made to bear upon it (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The faithful of Thessalonica, who had served as models to those of Macedonia and Achaia, and whose faith was so spread abroad that the apostle had no need to say anything, "had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." It is remarkable that this church, one of the most flourishing of those to which the apostles have written, should be precisely that one to which the Lord has chosen to reveal, with most detail, the circumstances of His coming. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." Such was the faith of the Thessalonians, that it was spoken of in all the world. What was it? That they expected the Lord from heaven. And it is for us to have this same faith which the Thessalonians had. We ought, like them, to be expecting the Lord before the thousand years. They were certainly not saying there must be a period of a thousand years ere the Saviour comes (1 Thessalonians 2:19). "For what is our hope? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" 1 Thessalonians 3:13. "To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." It is evidently the ruling idea influencing the mind of the apostle. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. It is remarkable that the consolation which he gives to those who surrounded the death-bed of a Christian, is their friend’s return with Jesus, and their mutual meeting. It is customary to say, "Be content: he is gone to glory." This was not the way with the apostle. The comfort which he proposes to those who are mourning the death of a believer is, "Be content: God will bring them back." What a change must not the habitual feelings of Christians have undergone, since the consolation given by an apostle is counted in this day as foolishness! The believers in Thessalonica were penetrated to such a degree with the hope of the return of Christ, that they did not think of dying before that event; and when one of them departed, his friends were afflicted with the fear that he would not be present at that happy moment. Paul reassures them by asserting that "those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." We can understand by this example to what a degree the church has put away the hope which occupied the souls of the first converts; how far distant we are from the apostolic views, which we have replaced by the idea of an intermediate state of happiness (the soul separated from the body), - a condition true, indeed, and by much superior to ours on the earth, but vague, and which at best is a state of waiting. Jesus Himself waits, and the dead saints wait. I by no means desire to weaken the truth of this intermediate state of happiness. Thus the apostle speaks of it in 2 Corinthians 5:1-21, "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not that for we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life . . . ." After declaring that his hope was in the power of the life of Christ, and that mortality should be swallowed up by it, he adds, "Therefore we are always confident; knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord," etc. That is, if this mortal body is not absorbed in life (is not changed without seeing death), the confidence which I have is not interrupted at death; I have already received the life of Christ in my soul - that cannot fail. It may be that I shall depart, but the life in my soul will not be affected. I have already the life of Christ: if I depart, I shall be with Him. One more remark on 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 : "We which are alive [those who shall be alive on the earth at the coming of the Lord] shall not prevent them which are asleep." "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive (those who remain) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." If the apostle had expected a millennium of the Holy Spirit before the coming of Jesus, how could he ever have said, "We who remain until the coming of Christ"? There was, then, in his soul, a continual expectation of the coming of Christ, of which he knew not the moment, but which he had a right to expect. Was he deceived in that? No, not at all: he was always expecting; his business was to do so; and waiting had this of good in it, that it kept him completely detached from the world. If we were expecting from day to day the coming of the Lord, where would all those plans be as to family, house, etc., to flatter the pride of life and to get rich? It is the nature of the hope which we have that forms our character; and when the Lord comes, Paul will enjoy the fruits of his waiting. The hope which animated him produced its good fruits; it was in the spirit of this hope that he exclaimed, "And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:23. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4. Mark well that this day ought not to overtake the followers of Christ as a thief. 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. Instead of a world blessed with a millennium without the presence of Jesus, behold the man of sin growing worse, until he is destroyed by the glorious appearing of Christ - evidence to us that a mere spiritual millennium alone is untrue. For the mystery of iniquity, which was already working in the time of Paul, was to go on until the man of sin was manifested, who will be destroyed by the glorious appearing of Christ Himself, with the Spirit of His mouth. Now, in such a state of things where is the place for such a millennium?* {*For the meaning of the expression, "spirit of his mouth," see Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 30:33.} 1 Timothy 6:14-16. "Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." 2 Timothy 4:1.* "I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom." {*This passage, compared with 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 shews that the appearing of Christ is not at the end; for at the end He has delivered up the kingdom, whereas here, the kingdom takes place at His appearing. Note - the whole period is spoken of, and therefore the judgment of the dead as well as of the quick.} Titus 2:11-13. The grace of God has appeared, teaching us first how to live, and, secondly, the expectation of glory. The appearing of grace is already come, it teaches us to expect the appearing of glory. Hebrews 9:28. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." As the great High Priest, when He shall have finished His work of intercession, He will go out of the sanctuary; Leviticus 9:22-24. James 5:9. "Behold the judge standeth before the door." 2 Peter 1:16-21. "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty; for he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came to him such a voice from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; and this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation; for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The transfiguration was, then, a specimen - a kind of pattern - of the coming of the Lord in glory. 1 John 3:2-3. "But we know that when he [the Son of God] shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." We shall only be like Him when He appears, not before. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as be is pure." He whose heart is full of this hope conducts himself accordingly - he purifies himself. Knowing that when Jesus shall appear, I shall be like Him, I ought to be as much as possible, even now, such as Jesus. How powerful and efficacious is this truth of the return of Christ, and what practical effect flows out of its expectation! This hope is the measure of holiness to us, as it is the motive.* {*This passage explains Matthew 16:28; also Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:1-2; and Luke 9:27-28.} Those also who are in heaven (Revelation 5:10) say in their songs, "We shall reign on the earth." This is the language of the saints who are already on high, surrounding the throne. Their language is, "We shall reign," and not "we reign." They are themselves in a state of expectation, like the Lord Jesus Himself, awaiting that which is to happen; namely, that His enemies be made the footstool for His feet.* {*Critical editions read "they" instead of "we"; but this only strengthens the doctrine we are occupied with, as pointing to a remnant on the earth when the church is gone.} Study also (Matthew 13:24-43) the parable of the tares and the wheat. The tares - namely, the evil which Satan has done where the good grain has been sown - are to increase until the harvest, which is the end of this dispensation or age. The evil which he has caused by heresies, false doctrines, false religions, all this evil will continue, increase, and ripen: these tares, we say, will increase in the Lord’s field, until the harvest. Here, then, is a positive revelation, which gives a formal contradiction to the idea of the millennium by the Holy Spirit, apart from the return of the Lord. We have now seen that the coming of Christ allies itself to all the thoughts, to all the motives of consolation and joy, and to the holiness of the church, yea, even to the dying bed; and that Christ will bring back with Him those who have previously quitted the body. We have also seen, on the one hand, that it is the coming of the Saviour which will be the means of the restitution of all things; and on the other, that evil is to increase in the Lord’s field until the harvest. May the Lord apply these truths to our hearts, dear friends, on one side, to detach us from the things of the world, and, on the other, to attach us to His coming - to Himself in Person; and we shall purify ourselves even as He is pure. There is nothing more practical, nothing more powerful to disentangle us from a world which is to be judged, and at the same time to knit us to Him who will come to judge it. Certainly, there is nothing that can better serve to shew us wherein ought to be our purification; nothing which can so console us, invigorate us, and identify us with Him who has suffered for us, in order that we who suffer might reign with Him, co-heirs in glory. Assuredly, if we were expecting the Lord from day to day, there would be seen in us a self-renunciation which is rarely seen among the Christians of the present age. May none of us be found saying, "My Lord delayeth his coming!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01.04. LUKE 20:17 ======================================================================== Lecture 4 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Luke 20:17. First Resurrection; or, Resurrection of the Just. J. N. Darby. The subject which I propose for this evening’s lecture, is the resurrection, and particularly the resurrection of the church apart; that is, the resurrection of the just as altogether distinct from that of the unjust. We have already spoken of Christ, the Heir of all things; of the church as co-heir with Him; and of the coming of Christ to reign before the thousand years - an event which we must not confound with the day of the resurrection of the unjust, and of the judgment before the great white throne, which will not take place until after the millennium. We have now to see that the church will participate in this coming of Christ; it does so as the subject of the first resurrection. There is no need to speak to you of the resurrection of Jesus as being the seal of His mission; it is an admitted truth; it is enough to quote Romans 1:4, where the apostle tells us that "Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power . . . by the resurrection of the dead."* This resurrection was the great fact which demonstrated that Jesus is the Son of God; but it was likewise, for other reasons, the great theme of the preaching of the apostles, the basis of their epistles, and of all the New Testament. {*It is not exclusively by His own resurrection, though there was the first and most important proof. The reader will do well to pay attention to the expression, "from among the dead," employed elsewhere. It is an expression distinct from the present, and indicates the introduction of a divine power into the realm of death - a power which withdraws some from it in such a sort as to distinguish them completely from others. This it was that astonished the disciples (Mark 9:10). Resurrection was the faith of every orthodox Jew; but what they did not understand was a resurrection from among the dead.} Let us commence by saying, that the difficulty people find in the subjects of which we are treating do not arise from the word of God not being simple, clear, and convincing; but from this - that preconceived ideas often rob us of its natural sense. We have habits of thinking apart from the Scripture, before we know it; then it is we find inconsistencies - incompatibility - in that which presents itself to us, not suspecting that this incompatibility belongs alone to human preconceived opinions. The doctrine of the resurrection is important under more views than one. It links our hopes to Christ and to the whole church, in one word, to the counsels of God in Christ; it makes us understand that we are entirely set free in Him, by our participation in a life in which, united by the Holy Ghost to Him, He is also the source of all strength for glorifying Him, even from the present time; it sustains our hopes in the most solid manner; finally, it expresses all our salvation, inasmuch as it introduces us into a new creation, by which the power of God places us, in the second Adam, beyond the sphere of sin, of Satan, and of death. The soul in departing goes to Jesus, but is not glorified. The word of God speaks of men glorified, of glorified bodies; but never of glorified souls. But, as before observed, prejudices and human teachings have taken the place of the word of God, and the power and expectation of the resurrection has ceased to be the habitual state of the church. The resurrection was the foundation of the preaching of the apostles, Acts 1:22. "One must be with us a witness of his resurrection." This was the constant subject of their testimony. Let us now see in what terms they testified. Acts 2:24. "Whom God hath raised up." So Acts 2:32 : "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses." Acts 3:15. "And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Acts 4:2. This doctrine of the resurrection was acknowledged as the doctrine publicly preached by the apostles; it was not that the soul in dying went to heaven, but that the dead shall live again. As the Pharisees were the greatest enemies of the Lord whilst He was upon earth - that is to say, the falsely righteous ones, as opposed to the truly Righteous One - so in like manner, Satan, after His death, raised up the Sadducees, who were enemies to the doctrine of the resurrection; Acts 4:1; Acts 5:17. Acts 10:38, Acts 10:40-41. Peter testifies to this same fundamental truth before Cornelius the centurion and his friends. Paul preached it to the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia, saying (Acts 13:34), "And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead . . . he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David." Acts 17:18-30. He announces, in the midst of the learned Gentiles, this doctrine, which was the stumbling-stone of their carnal wisdom. Socrates and other philosophers believed, after a fashion,* in the immortality of the soul; but when these men, curious in science, heard of the resurrection of the dead, they mocked. An unbeliever is able to discourse about immortality; but if he hears about the resurrection of the dead, he turns the subject into derision. And why? Because in virtue of the immortality of the soul he may exalt himself, he can elevate his own importance. There is something in the idea which can ally itself to man such as he is; but to think of dust raised again - of a living and glorious being made out of it - this is a glory which belongs only to God, a work of which God alone is capable. For if a body reduced to dust can be reconstituted by God into a living and glorified man, nothing is hid from His power. With the immortality of the soul man can still connect the idea of self - of power in the body; but when the leading truth is the resurrection of the body, and not the immortality of the soul, man’s impotency becomes glaring. {*It was in metempsychosis, or transmigration to other bodies, after all.} See again (whether the apostle was right or not in appealing to the prejudices of the Pharisees), Acts 23:6 : where Paul directly affirms, that it was for the preaching of this doctrine he was called in question In Acts 24:15, he tells the same truth. In Acts 26:1-32 he gives it to king Agrippa as the reason of his detention; so also Acts 26:23. From these passages it is easily seen, that the resurrection was the basis of the preaching of the apostle and of the hope of the faithful. We now come to the second part of our subject, the resurrection of the church apart, or the special resurrection of the just. "There will be," says the apostle, "a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust"; but the resurrection of the just, or of the church, is a thing altogether apart - which has no relation with that of the wicked, which does not take place at the same time with this last, nor after the same principle. For, although both the one and the other are to be accomplished by the same power, there is in the resurrection of the just, a particular principle, namely the habitation of the Holy Ghost in them, which is foreign to the resurrection of the wicked; Romans 8:11. The virtue of the resurrection embraces the life, the justification, the confidence, the glory, of the church. God Himself is made known unto us by the name of "God who raiseth the dead" (2 Corinthians 1:9), who introduces His power into the last depths of the effects of our sin - into the domain of death - to bring men out of it by a life from which that moment puts them outside the reach of all the dreadful consequences of sin - a life close to God. Romans 4:23-25. It is in "God who quickeneth the dead" that we are called upon to believe; it is the resurrection of Jesus which is the power - the efficacy - of our justification. This is the truth presented in the passage before us. Our union with Jesus raised gives us acceptance with God. We ought to see ourselves already as beyond the tomb. On this account the faith of Abraham was a justifying faith "He considered not his own body now (already) dead", but he believed in a God "who quickeneth the dead"; for this reason his faith "was counted to him for righteousness."* The resurrection of Jesus was the great proof, and as to all its moral effects, the establishment of this truth, that the object of our faith is that God raises the dead. This truth is pointedly expressed in the first epistle of Peter (1 Peter 1:21). The application is made to us by our union with the Lord. {*Remark the difference: he believed God was able to perform it, we, that He has done so. Through it we believe on Him.} Colossians 2:12. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." The church is raised now, because Christ is raised as its Head. The resurrection of the church is not a resurrection whose object is judgment, but simply the consequence of its union with Christ, who has been judged in its stead. We may observe in this passage how these truths hang together. The resurrection of the church is a thing of itself, because the church participates in the resurrection of Christ we are raised, not only because Jesus Christ will call us from the grave, but because we are one with Him. It is by reason of this unity, that, in partaking of faith, we are already raised with Christ, raised as to the soul, but not as to the body. The justification of the church is, that it is risen with Christ. The same fact is expressed in Ephesians 1:18, etc., and Ephesians 2:4-6. Paul never said, "If I am saved, I am content." He knew that it is hope that makes the soul active, which excites the affections, which animates and directs the whole man; and he desired that the church should have the heart full of this hope. Nor is it enough for one of us to say, "I am saved"; it is not enough for the love of God, which is not satisfied unless we are participators of all the glory of His Son; and we ought not to be indifferent to His will. Ephesians 2:6 shews forth the same truth. The presence of the Holy Ghost in the church is that which characterises our position before God. As the Spirit of Christ is our consoler, and helps us in our infirmities, testifying withal that we are children of God, and making us able to serve God, so it is on account of the Holy Spirit who is in us that we shall be raised; and it is on account of the Holy Spirit also that the principle of the resurrection of the church is quite other than that of the resurrection of the wicked. Our resurrection, we say, is the consequence of the abiding of the Holy Ghost in us (Romans 8:11) - a very essential difference. The world does not receive the Holy Ghost, "because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him," John 14:27. Now, "our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 6:19); our soul in consequence is filled, or at least it ought to be, with the glory of Christ. Our body, also, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, will be raised according to the power of the Holy Ghost who dwells in us; a thing which can never be said of the wicked. It is the resurrection which, having introduced us into the world of the last Adam (even now as partaking of this spiritual life), will introduce us in fact into a new world, of which He will be the Head and the glory, since He has acquired it and will reign there as the risen Man. Observe, in the passages concerning the resurrection, not one speaks of a simultaneous rising of just and unjust; and those which refer to the resurrection of the just speak of it always as of a thing distinct. All will rise. There will be a resurrection of the just, and a resurrection of the unjust, but they will not take place together. I will cite the passages successively, which refer to it. It is at the coming of Christ that the church will rise; Php 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:23. The idea of a resurrection of the just was familiar to the disciples of Christ; and such is represented as to happen in Luke 14:14, "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." But before coming to direct proofs, I would express the conviction that the idea of the immortality of the soul,* although recognised in Luke 12:5 and Luke 20:38, is not in general a gospel topic; that it comes,** on the contrary, from the Platonists; and that it was just when the coming of Christ was denied in the church or at least began to be lost sight of, that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul came into displace that of the resurrection. This was about the time of Origen. It is hardly needful to say that I do not doubt the immortality of the soul; I only assert that this view has taken the place of the doctrine of the resurrection of the church, as the epoch of its joy and glory. {*In the expression (2 Timothy 1:10): "Brought life and immortality to light," - "immortality" signifies the incorruptibility of the body, and not the immortality of the soul.} {**i.e., the propagation of this as a special doctrine comes from them.} Luke 20:35-36. "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead." The resurrection, then, mentioned here, belongs only to those who shall be made worthy of it. "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age," that is to say, this world of joy, of the reign with Christ. That resurrection of the dead, then, belongs to the period spoken of, and not only to eternity. "Neither," adds the Saviour, "can they die any more . . . for they are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." The wicked shall be raised to be judged, but those others shall be raised because they have been accounted worthy to obtain the resurrection which Jesus has obtained. We see, in the passage quoted, the proof of a resurrection which concerns the children of God alone; they are the sons of God, being the sons of the resurrection. To be a son of God, and to have part in this resurrection, is the title and inheritance of the same persons. John 5:25-29. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." It is customary to oppose the latter part of this passage to a view of the resurrection of the just apart; but we shall see that the whole passage enunciates, and even explains and strengthens, the truth which is occupying us. Two acts of Christ are presented as the attributes of His glory; one, to make alive; the other, to judge. He gives life to those whom He will, and all judgment is entrusted to Him; in order that all, even the wicked, should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. Jesus has been shamefully entreated here below; God the Father takes care that His claim of glory shall be recognised: He (Christ) gives life to whom He will - to their souls first, and then to their bodies. These glorify Him of good will. As to the wicked, the way of obliging them to recognise the rights of Jesus, is to judge them; and this judgment is in the hands of Jesus. In the work of vivification, the Father and Son act together, because those to whom life is given are put into communion with the Father and Son. But as to judgment, the Father judgeth no man, because it is not the Father that has been wronged, but the Son. The wicked will own Jesus Christ in spite of themselves when they are judged. At what epoch will these things be accomplished? For the wicked, at the time of the judgment - the judgment both of the living, and of the dead before the great white throne; for the just, the children of God, when their bodies shall participate in the life already communicated to their souls (the life of Christ Himself) at the resurrection of the just. The resurrection for these is not a resurrection of judgment, but simply, to repeat it again, the exercise, towards the bodies of God’s children, of that quickening power of Jesus, in which He has already worked upon their souls, and which, in God’s good time, shall work upon their bodies. "They that have done good," says our text, "unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment."* {*Really, judgment (see Greek); which is said before to be committed to Christ.} But the objection is made, Jesus has said (John 5:28), "The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice." The wicked and the just will then evidently rise together. But three verses before (John 5:25) it is said, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Hour comprehends here all the space of time which has elapsed since the coming of the Saviour; and under this word is contained two states of things quite different, seeing that the dead heard the voice of the Son of God during the time He was living on earth, and that they have been hearing it for eighteen centuries since. Thus, then, is the interpretation. The hour* for giving life to the soul is an hour which has lasted eighteen centuries already. And the hour is also coming for the judgment. The word hour has the same sense in the two passages. That is to say, there is a time of quickening and a time of judgment; there is a period during which souls are quickened, and a period when bodies shall be raised. For us, the resurrection is only the application of the quickening power of Jesus Christ to our bodies. We shall be raised, because we are already quickened in our souls. The resurrection is the crowning of the whole work, because we are children of God, because the Spirit dwells in us, because (as far as our souls are concerned) we are already risen with Christ. {*For the use of this word, see (in the Greek) John 5:35; John 16:4, John 16:25-26; Luke 22:53; 1 John 2:18; 2 Corinthians 7:8; Philemon 1:15.} 308 There will be a resurrection of life for those who have been already quickened in their souls; and a resurrection of judgment for those who have rejected Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:23, sets forth very clearly the connection which exists between the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. The order of the resurrection is explicitly shewn. "Christ is become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20); "of those which slept," and not of the wicked. They that are Christ’s shall rise at His coming; then cometh the end, the time when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father. When He comes, He will take the kingdom, but at the end He will deliver it up. The appearing of Christ will therefore take place before the end; it will be for the destruction of the wicked. He will come to purify His kingdom. "Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s, at his coming. Then cometh the end." 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16. "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him"; "and the dead in Christ shall rise first." It is the complement - the filling up - of our hopes; it is the fruit of our justification, the consequence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The righteous dead shall rise first; then the living righteous shall be changed, and "shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord." All this is a matter which belongs exclusively to the saints - to those who, sleeping or living, are Christ’s, and who will be, from that moment, for ever with the Lord. Php 3:10-11. "To know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead." Why speak thus, if it be true that good and bad must rise together, and in the same manner? This resurrection from among the dead is just this first resurrection which Paul had before his eyes. I am willing, he says, as it were, to lose all, to suffer all, if, cost what it may, I arrive at the resurrection of the just: such is my desire. Evidently the resurrection from among the dead was a thing that concerned the church exclusively. I might say, like the apostle, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." As to the period or interval which elapses between the resurrection of the faithful and the wicked, it is a circumstance altogether independent of the principle itself, that is, of the distinction of the two resurrections. Our faith on this point depends upon a revelation, which has only importance, because God has so chosen to order it for His own glory. The period is only mentioned in the book of Revelation under the expression, "a thousand years." Between the two resurrections a thousand years elapse. The only point then on which I cite the book is upon the length comprised in the reign of the Son of man on the earth. The passage is found in Revelation 20:4, "And I saw thrones . . . ." The world will then know that we are the objects of grace, that we have been loved as Jesus Himself has been loved by the Father. If the first resurrection - that of the just - is not to be taken literally, why should the second - that of the unjust - be so taken? As the object of our hope, and source of our consolation and of our joy, it is but a small thing to know that the unjust shall be raised; but the precious thing - the essential - is to know that the resurrection of the just will be the consummation of their happiness; that in it God will accomplish His love towards us; that, after having given life to our souls, He will give life to our bodies, and will make of the dust of the earth a form suitable to the life which has been given to us on the part of God. We never read in the word of God of glorified spirits, but always of glorified bodies. There is the glory of God, and the glory of those who will be raised. I desire, dear friends, that the knowledge of this truth, by the power of Christ, on which depends its entire accomplishment, may strengthen us in our hearts unto all perfection. For this knowledge in all its extent is that to which the scripture applies the word "perfection." Christ was thus made perfect as to His state and position before God; we, also, ourselves are now perfect by faith, in acknowledging that we are raised with Him, as we shall be later as to our bodies. May your bodies, souls, and spirits, be preserved blameless until the coming of our Well-beloved! May this truth of the resurrection of the church become bound up, in our minds, with all the precious truths of our salvation consummated in Christ, and may it be accomplished in the plenitude of our salvation in our bodies also! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01.05. DANIEL 2:1-49 ======================================================================== Lecture 5 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Daniel 2:1-49. Progress of Evil on the Earth. J. N. Darby. We have been occupied, as yet, with the union of Christ and the church conformed to His image; of the coming of Christ Himself, and of the resurrection of the church, by which it gets a share of this glory of Christ as co-heir. The subject for to-night is not so full of joy and happiness, but it is right that we should know the testimony which God gives of human wickedness. Let me hope, dear friends, that the consequence of knowing it will be to produce unfeigned seriousness of spirit. The sight of the progress of evil, and of the judgment which it draws down, ought, first of all, to have the effect of making us avoid it; and, secondly, of impressing us with the power of God, who alone can remove it. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh," Hebrews 12:25-29. This passage gives the apostle’s view of the great change that will take place when the power of evil will be overthrown. What we are about to consider will tend to shew that, instead of permitting ourselves to hope for a continued progress of good, we must expect a progress of evil; and that the hope of the earth being filled with the knowledge of the Lord before the exercise of His judgment, and the consummation of this judgment on the earth, is delusive. We are to expect evil, until it becomes so flagrant that it will be necessary for the Lord to judge it. First, I shall shew that the New Testament constantly presents to us evil as going on increasing until the end, and that Satan will urge it on until the Lord destroys his power; secondly, I shall endeavour to shew the character which this wickedness will take, in its external form, as a secular power. In other words, what I have to say can be reduced under two heads:- Firstly, the apostasy which takes place in Christendom itself. Secondly, the formation, the fall, and the ruin of the Antichrist, in the sense of a visible power. I begin with Matthew 13:36, the parable of the tares. It brings out this circumstance that, whilst men slept, the enemy sowed tares in the field of the householder; and that, upon the demand of the servants whether the tares ought to be plucked out, the answer was, No - that the wheat and the tares were to grow together until the harvest. It is, then, the sentence of the Lord, that the evil, which Satan has done in the field where the good seed of the word has been sown, shall remain and ripen there until the end. It is an express declaration, that the efforts of Christians shall not have the result of taking away the evil, which is to remain until the day of judgment: "Let both grow together until the harvest." The harvest is at the end of the world - the end of this age; that is, of the dispensation closed by the coming of Christ. We must bear in mind that now, in God’s dealings with us and by us, we have to do with grace and not with judgment. We have not to judge the world. Even could we say with certainty of such an one - he is a child of the devil, he is precisely on that account out of our jurisdiction; it is a tare. We have to do with grace; we cannot lay hand upon the evil which Satan has produced; but we can act as instruments of grace, for God permits us to sow good seed. The tares are not simply wicked men - pagans; these last have not been sown among the good grain. The tares are some particular evil sown by the enemy after Jesus Christ had sown the good seed. What, then, we may call heresy, corruption of the truth in whatever way, or to whatever extent, will remain until the harvest. The evil which Satan has produced by a corrupted religion will exist until the end. All our efforts ought to be directed - not to pluck out the tares but to gather in the children of God - to assemble together the co-heirs of Jesus Christ.* {*We read in 2 Samuel 23:1-39 a remarkable prophecy of the judgment of the wicked one who "cannot be taken with hands," and of the beauty and blessing of the coming of that One, who will reign in righteousness, and whose blessings will correspond to His faithfulness in keeping the covenant during our state of misery.} 1 Timothy 4:1. "The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy . . . ." We have no reason to expect, in the ordinary meaning given to it, the progress of the gospel; there may be, and will be, as much as is necessary for the gathering together of the children of God. But that which we ought to expect is contained in these words - a kind of picture of the last times - "Some shall depart from the faith." Compare 2 Peter 2:1-3. 2 Timothy 3:1-5. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come . . . ." Are we to heed what men say? No, but what God says. Observe the language which Jeremiah uses to Hananiah; Jeremiah 28:6, etc. And so we must reply when we are told that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the channels of the sea. We believe, undoubtedly, that the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth; but that is not the question. The question is, How will this be accomplished? By the judgment of God "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness," Isaiah 26:9. Let us return to the passage in Timothy. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves," etc. These are not pagans; they are Christians, nominal Christians; for it is written, "Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." The characters, indeed, drawn by the apostle, are those of pagans, such as they are painted in the lowest degree of vileness at the beginning of the epistle to the Romans, and nearly in the same terms. And it is added, concerning these men of the last times, "They shall wax worse and worse." We see the same expectation of evil in 2 Timothy 4:1-4 : "I charge thee therefore before God," etc. It is worth remarking, that the tares were already sown in the days of the apostles; and in one sense it is a happy thing for us. If it had happened later, we should not have had the testimony of the word in this matter in order to warn us, and direct us when these sorrowful events came to pass; as it is, we have the perfect light of God upon this state of things. 1 Peter 4:17. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God." Compare these words with Acts 20:28-31 : "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock; also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." This state of things began during the lifetime of the apostles. 1 John 2:18. This passage declares, that "the last time" does not mean the time of Jesus Christ, but the time of Antichrists. These were precursors of the great Antichrist. That which characterises the last time is, not the spread of the gospel over the whole earth, but the presence of Antichrist. Jude 1:1-25. This epistle is a treatise in itself upon the apostasy; and in Jude 1:4 we have a succinct description of its character. The apostle says, that he found it needful to exhort the believers to contend for that which they had already received. Some had already crept in amongst them, who were the germ of the apostasy; and this was to continue until the judgment of Jesus Christ. For, after having described their character more in detail, he adds (Jude 1:15), that it is this class which would be the object of the judgment of Jesus Christ when He should come. Of course, therefore, the evil, which was manifested in the church almost from the beginning of its existence, would remain until the coming of Christ. In Jude 1:11 we get three sorts of apostasy brought together in these men: natural apostasy, ecclesiastical apostasy, and open revolt, upon which last the judgment will fall. First, the character of Cain is given us - apostasy of nature - hatred, unrighteousness; secondly, Balaam - teaching wrong things for a recompense (this is the ecclesiastical apostasy); and thirdly, the character of Korah, that is, of him who set himself up against the rights of priesthood and of royalty, the royalty of Christ, in the types of Moses and Aaron. Alas! it is evil, and not the gospel, which will gather together the world. "And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the false prophet . . . to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty," Revelation 16:13-14. But, it is said that the secular power of corrupted Christendom has disappeared by judgment, and that the destruction of its influence will give place to the gospel. But the Spirit says, "The ten horns (kings) which thou sawest upon the beast (the Roman empire), these shall hate the whore (ecclesiastical power), and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled," Revelation 17:16-17. Christians are desiring the destruction of the influence of the great whore upon the world; but even should her external power be destroyed, would the kingdoms become the kingdoms of Christ? On the contrary, the kings will give their power to the beast. The great whore has ruled the beast; at length her power and her riches shall be taken away from her, but only that the ten horns may give their power to the beast, that all uncertainty may be dissipated, and that his self-will and blaspheming character may be fully manifested in his last apostasy. It is the power of corruption and seduction which will give place to the power of open rebellion against God. Thus we get the transition from corruption to rebellion. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. "That day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God." All this must happen before the day of the Lord comes. We must take the facts as the word of God reveals them Christians, having seen the promise in the scripture that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, have said, Yes, we will fill it; whilst in the scripture this event is attributed to the glory of Christ. The spirit of His mouth, by which the Lord will destroy the wicked one, is not the gospel, but the force and power of the judgment of Christ. See Isaiah 11:4, "With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked"; Isaiah 30:33, "The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." We may observe, that this Antichrist will unite in his person the characters of wickedness which have appeared from the beginning. First, man has always wanted to have his own will, secondly, he has exalted himself against God; thirdly, he has put himself under the guidance of Satan. These are just the three things which will be reproduced in the Antichrist - all the energy of man exalting itself against God, the king doing according to his will, his coming after the power of Satan. It is the ripened fruit of the human heart, which is itself an Antichrist. It is known to all of us, that there have been three successive beasts: the empire of Babylon; then the empire of the Persians; then the empire of the Greeks, or of Alexander in particular; and that the fourth is the Roman empire - a beast with marks altogether peculiar to itself. At the beginning, or rather before the beginning of these four monarchies, the throne of God was on the earth at Jerusalem. In His temple, above the ark where the law was deposited, Jehovah manifested His presence in a sensible manner. But at the commencement of this present period, which is that of the Gentiles, the throne of Jehovah was taken away from Jerusalem (as is detailed in Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-10, Ezekiel 3:1-27, Ezekiel 4:1-17, Ezekiel 5:1-17, Ezekiel 6:1-14, Ezekiel 7:1-27, Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-25 of the prophet Ezekiel). The glory of Jehovah, which the prophet had seen in Ezekiel 1:1-28 near the river Chebar, he sees, in Ezekiel 11:1-25, leave Jerusalem; it departs from the house (Ezekiel 10:18-19), and from the city (Ezekiel 11:23). It is a remarkable fact, that the glory of Jehovah has quitted its terrestrial throne. But more; at the same time, this terrestrial power was transferred from Jerusalem to the Gentiles, and government entrusted to men. So we read in Daniel 2:36-38, "This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." You thus see that, by the destruction of the last king of the Jews, earthly dominion passed to the Gentiles in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. He began by establishing a false religion by force. He made a statue that all the world was to worship, and he became lifted up in heart; hence he was made to become as a beast for seven years. That is, instead of conducting himself humbly as a man before God - as before Him who had given him his power, on the one hand, he exalted himself, and on the other, ravaged the world to satisfy his will. Omitting the second and third monarchies, which are not at this moment of direct importance to us, and pursuing the character of the fourth, we meet in it certain lineaments worthy of remark. The Jews have been in a state of captivity from the time of Nebuchadnezzar unto this day. It is true, that there was a return of the people from the captivity of Babylon, but without their having ceased to be under the power of the Gentiles. The throne of God has in no sense been re-established; and if God did permit the Jews to return to their country for a short time, it was that His Son might appear at the commencement of the fourth monarchy. And, in fact, it was at the moment when the fourth monarchy, under its imperial form, had become the universal power (Luke 2:1), - it was just at that time, we say, that the Son of God, by right King of the Jews and of the Gentiles, was presented to them. And what reception did He meet? They crucified Him. The chief priests, who, as viewed by God, were the representatives of religion upon earth, and Pontius Pilate, the representative of earthly power, joined in league together to reject and put to death the Son of God. Thus the fourth monarchy became guilty of rejecting the rights of the Messiah. The Jews, as we shall see presently more in detail, are set aside; and then comes in the calling of the church for the heavenly places. But as to that which concerns the church on earth, we have seen it marred by the seed of the wicked one, and the apostasy which resulted from it; we have seen afterwards, that this corruption will give place to a more open and daring revolt of the beast itself (that is, of this same fourth monarchy under a new and last form yet to be developed). It is this that will be the occasion of its judgment (Daniel 7:9-11, Daniel 7:13-14), "I beheld till the thrones were cast down [set,]* and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him; and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld, even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." Daniel 7:13-14, "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." {*The common translation is "cast down," but "set" or "placed" is more exact, after the LXX and a good number of other authorities.} This is the kingdom given to the Son of man, when the fourth beast is destroyed. The judgment and destruction of the fourth monarchy has not yet taken place, as we know from Daniel 2:34-35 : "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and day, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." That is, before the stone cut out without hands spreads out and fills the whole earth, it completely destroys the statue: gold, silver, brass, iron, day, are carried away as chaff before the wind. None of this is yet accomplished. In the action of the stone, no mention is made of a change of character of the statue; it is a blow - a sudden one - a blow which breaks in pieces, destroys, leaves not a trace of the existence of the statue; as it is said, "No place was found for them." The Roman empire - the feet, and with the feet all the rest - disappears. By this one blow the whole is pulverised, destroyed, annihilated; and after this judgment, the stone which fell upon the statue becomes a mountain which fills the whole earth. Did Christianity break to pieces the fourth monarchy, when it began to be promulgated? In no wise. The Roman empire has continued; it has even become Christian; nay, more, the feet of the statue were not then in existence. The act of destruction, which is marked in the fall of the little stone upon them, does not represent the grace of the gospel; nor has it any reference to the work which the gospel accomplishes. Besides, it is after the total destruction of the statue that the stone begins to grow; which signifies that the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, which is to fill the whole earth, will not begin to spread until after the fourth beast has been judged and destroyed. There remains a difficulty to be cleared up in the history of this beast. It may be alleged that the Roman empire does not exist in our days. It is an additional proof in support of what we have been saying. In Revelation 17:7-8, the angel says, "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not": the Roman empire, as an empire, exists no longer; but what follows?" And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder." It existed; next, it exists no more; then, it will come out of the pit. It will have a really diabolical character; it will be a full expression of the power of Satan. That which we learn, then, in general, of this beast, is, first, that from its beginning, the Roman empire has been guilty of the rejection of Jesus as king of the earth here below; secondly, that later in the time of this fourth monarchy, there is a little horn that speaketh great things; and, lastly, that this fourth beast, after having ceased to exist for a season, will reappear upon the scene out of the bottomless pit, and be destroyed on account of the great words which the little horn spoke. This beast is connected with a power described in 2 Thessalonians 2:9, "That wicked one, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders," whose destruction is found in verse 8. There is another description of the last head of the beast (see Revelation 17:11), which is the beast himself. Daniel 11:36, etc.* The agreement between this passage and 2 Thessalonians 2:9 is clear. We see in both the same exaltation of himself against God. In the epistle, the power of Satan is added, because the wicked one is presented in his character of apostasy and iniquity; in Daniel 11:1-45 in his earthly and royal character. As to the third mark which we have signalised in iniquity - the will of man, it also appears: "the king shall do according to his own will." It is observable, also, that this wicked one is alluded to in John 5:43. The Jewish nation will receive him who comes in his own name. The iniquity, then, of the heart of man arrives at its height in the last head of the fourth monarchy. Isaiah 14:13-15 describes the self-exaltation of the same under the title of the king of Babylon. "Thou hast said in thine heart." etc. {*Daniel 11:35, the Jews are passed by. Read Daniel 11:36 : "The king shall do according to his own will."} It is exactly all the privileges, all the rights of Christ, which this king arrogates to himself: "I will ascend into heaven" - what Christ only has done; "I will exalt myself above the stars of God" - the throne of Christ is above principalities and powers; "I will sit, also, upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north." "It is the palace of the great king," the king of Israel at Jerusalem. Christ is to come with clouds - "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds," says this one: his end is, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." I am afraid that many a cherished feeling, dear to the children of God, has been shocked this evening; I mean, their hope that the gospel will spread itself over the whole earth during the actual dispensation. It was just the church’s task to proclaim the glory of Christ everywhere; but as for the fact in result, if we express ourselves according to the word of God, as we see it in the later epistles and other scriptures, we shall see all that is powerful in this world in operation, but without regard to God. All the intelligence of man, his faculties, his talents, his knowledge, will be displayed; all that which can seduce the heart, and master the mind, all the resources in the character and nature of man, apart from conscience, will astonish the world, and draw it into following the beast, and place them under the influence of Antichrist; because the glory of man in self-exaltation, and not service to Christ in humiliation, is man’s natural bent. "He that exalteth himself shall be abased." But, you will say, to insist upon such a result is to discourage all our endeavours to propagate the gospel on the earth. We answer, If false hopes are entertained, you are already deceived. It is indeed true, that the view which has been taken of the progress of evil is not very encouraging to the efforts of those whose hopes have been founded on their own ideas. But ask yourselves this question, Did the fact that God told Noah that He was going to destroy the world, and did his full conviction that the judgment of God was about to come, prevent his preaching to his fellow mortals? On the contrary, it was precisely this which animated him, in order that he might gain those who had ears to hear. The conviction that false Christianity will become more and more refined, more corrupt in the world, ought to give but the more energy and activity to the love of him who believes, and the nearness of the judgment of God, instead of paralysing our efforts, ought to drive us with more power, more energy, more faithfulness, to present the gospel - the only means of causing men to escape the righteous judgments which threaten them. When I say that the tares, instead of diminishing, will continue to grow, do we thereby hint that the good seed will not increase? By no means. If the evil is to ripen for judgment, God gives, at the same time, power to the testimony that would separate the good from it. This I believe to be God’s usual mode of procedure. If we were to see three thousand souls converted in Geneva in a day, it would be said the millennium is come, the gospel is going to spread over the whole world How is it? There are perhaps not three hundred converted in a year. The conversion of many thousands at Jerusalem, what did it prove? That God was going to judge that city, and that He saved from that perverse generation those who should be saved. Whenever we see evil increasing, and God at the same time acting in drawing away from it those who believe, it may be taken as a sign that the judgment of God is nigh. It cannot be denied, that God is acting powerfully by His Spirit in these days; we ought to thank Him with all our hearts. Let it be a sign to us, that God will remove His own children from a world which will shortly be judged. There are two signs of the proximity of judgment: the one is, that piety increases, and that all the resources of man develop themselves in a wonderful manner; the other is, that Christians are withdrawing from this state of things. In either case, there is nothing to hinder us working for our divine Master. On one side is to be seen the work of grace operating, deepening, extending, and God separating His children from the evil around; on the other hand are to be seen all the principles of the wicked one in manifest development. In the word of God I see an express declaration, that the present economy will have an end, and the evil go on to a greater and greater height, until that wicked one is destroyed by the coming of Christ. Romans 11:22. Let us conclude with the warning which the Saviour gives us: "Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Has the church kept itself in this goodness of God? Truly Christendom has become completely corrupted; the dispensation of the Gentiles has been found unfaithful: can it be again restored? No: impossible. As the Jewish dispensation was cut off, the Christian dispensation will be also. May God give us grace to continue steadfast in our hope, and to rest upon His faithfulness, which will never fail us! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01.06. DANIEL 7:16-27 ======================================================================== Lecture 6 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Daniel 7:16-27. The Two Characters of Evil: Ecclesiastical Apostasy, and Civil Apostasy. J. N. Darby. Up to the present, dear friends, we have only spoken of the happiness that pertains to the church, save that, at our last meeting, we traced the progress which evil will make on the earth until the very end. This evil has a twofold character, upon which I will speak a few words, seeing that the relations which exist between the power of evil and the judgments which await it, have a special interest for the children of God. When the evil has come to its height, God will destroy it. The verses which I read are the interpretation which the angel gives to Daniel of the vision of the beasts which the prophet saw; and, as always occurs in symbolic prophecies, the interpretation contains many new features. In the explanation given to Daniel, all that will happen to the saints is added; but the principal subject of the chapter is the beast who exalts and elevates himself against the most high God. I say, dear friends, that there are two characters in the evil which manifests itself on the earth: the first is ecclesiastical apostasy; and the second, apostasy of the civil power itself. First, apostasy of the church - viewed in its outward responsibility here below - has in principle taken place. Later on there will be 8 more open manifestation. As to the second, the civil power will rise against Him to whom all government belongs - against Christ, whom God will establish king over the earth. It is in the time of the fourth beast, the Roman empire, that this revolt will take place. Before entering directly on our subject of to-day, I desire to make a few remarks on Matthew 25:1-46, to which we shall return when we speak of the nations; for all the peoples of the earth which shall exist at the end of the times shall be either subject to Christ and, consequently, saved, or in rebellion and, consequently, destroyed. But to remove doubts on the subject of this chapter, a few words must be said on it. People believe ordinarily that the judgment of which this chapter treats is the last or general judgment; but they are wrong. It is the judgment of the living nations on this earth, and not of the dead. Accordingly I did not speak of it when we treated of the resurrection of the dead. In this chapter of Matthew, I repeat, there is no question whatever of resurrection. In Matthew 24:1-51 and Matthew 25:1-46 are seen the judgment of the Jews, what will happen to that nation; next, what will happen to believers; then, what will happen to the Gentiles. It is the judgment of the quick, and not of the dead. It is this when we read, "Before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." What has given rise to the notion that it is the judgment of the dead is the statement that "these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." But this would only tell us that the judgment of the living would be final like that of the dead. Certainly, when God judges the living, His judgment sends some to eternal punishment and others to life eternal. The judgment of the living is as certain as that of the dead. We shall be able to speak of it in its place. Last time I was speaking mostly upon the tares, that is, the ecclesiastical apostasy - of the progress of evil there, - of that which has happened to the church as on earth. Now I am going to look into the apostasy of the civil power in its outward form, and the judgment which will come on it from God; for His wrath will fall upon this power. If at the close, ecclesiastical evil in some sort disappears in the character of secular power; and if the civil power has exalted itself, ecclesiastical power, is not the less vigorous: only it has not the supremacy; and herein is the difference. In other words, it is not that ecclesiastical power has improved itself, only it is not exercised in the same way; but its influence is not the less pernicious. It is no longer an ecclesiastical power wielding the secular arm, which is seen riding on the beast, and ruling it; but it takes a more mysterious form, and consequently a more dangerous one. Its occult influence continues, though deprived of its outward splendour; for by their pride men now begin to lift themselves up and combine against God, and so prepare the way for the son of perdition. Although ecclesiastical wickedness is always the worst, I nevertheless, as we have been saying, civil apostasy will have its time of manifestation. Scripture tells us that all civil power is of God. Now, in the same way that the church loses its proper force and character by its rebellion against God, so the civil government will be found in a state of revolt and apostasy when, instead of confessing fealty to God, it sets itself up against God, who is the source of its authority. The Spirit of God being the true strength of the church, the church’s revolt begins when, instead of being subject to Christ, it gives itself over to the will and power of man, leans upon man’s aid, and renounces truth to follow error. Christ is the Head: the Holy Spirit is the only strength by whose means the church can act; and when the church is not guided by the Spirit, and is not in this sense truly subject to Christ, Christendom is practically apostate. Now, at the end of the present dispensation, the civil power will be found in this same state of revolt; and be it remembered that apostasy in the civil power is a thing much more manifest and prominent than in the church. This will take place in the bosom of Christendom; and it would seem that ecclesiastical wickedness will be its moving power. We have examples of this in Scripture. When Absalom was in revolt against David, Ahithophel was his counsellor; 2 Samuel 15:1-37. The instigator of the rebellion was, without doubt, Satan; but Ahithophel directed the conspiracy against the king. It was Dathan and Abiram, simple Israelites (though men of renown), who rebelled against Moses; but the revolt is called that of Korah, who was a Levite, and seduced the others. In the same way, God accuses the priests and the prophets of Judah of the iniquity of the people, since the civil power had only followed their evil counsels. The same has been the order of things in Christendom. Those who ought to have instructed the church who ought to have represented the wisdom of God, and have recalled governments to a sense of their duty towards God, being themselves in a revolt against Him, have concealed the truth, have taken a form which has seduced the world, and have thus led the civil power into the same departure from God. There will be a revolt of this latter, but the ecclesiastical power will be the soul of it. What do we find at Armageddon? A false prophet who falls there along with the beast. From the beginning to the end, there is always a beast, and with the beast a false prophet. It is the one or the other who guides the rebellion. But at the end the beast takes the lead, as being able to act more directly and freely: thus it is the beast which at the last is the direct object of judgment. Such we find to be the case from Daniel 7:1-28. But spiritual energy has been ministering to its power. From the instant that the beast, or the civil power of the fourth monarchy, shall set himself in revolt against God, this monarchy will be found in relation with the Jews; and it is this which introduces us anew into the history of this people. You remember, dear friends, that when the fourth beast appeared on the scene of this earth, there were Jews at Jerusalem; Christ was presented as King of the Jews to the fourth beast, represented by Pontius Pilate, who rejected Him in this character which He is never to lose. At the end of the age the same fact will be reproduced: the Jews - returned to their own land, though without being converted - will find themselves in connection with the fourth beast. There will be saints among them; and this fourth beast, exalting himself against God, will put himself in direct opposition to Christ, as the King of the Jews. It is true, indeed, that his deadly opposition to Christ will go much farther than at the time when Christ stood before Pontius Pilate; for he will then arrogate to himself His rights as King of the Jews; and it is then that Christ, coming down from heaven, will destroy the beast, together with the Antichrist, and will take the remnant of the Jews to be His earthly people, and will put all nations under His feet. This being the case, you will readily understand that many things in Scripture apply to the Jewish saints, that is, to this faithful remnant of the Jews, and not to the church. We know, e.g., that, during the time of the ecclesiastical apostasy, there have been many persecutions against God’s faithful children; in such cases, the saints of all times could draw comfort from the consolations of God found in such passages; but in these last times, when it is a question of persecution of the saints, the application must be made to the remnant of the Jews, whose "blood will be shed like water," Psalms 79:3. If we consider the history of the beast in a general manner, whether in its pagan form, as under Tiberias Caesar, and the other emperors; or, under the influence of the corrupted Christianity of the Middle Ages, we see there have been, at every succeeding epoch, persecutions against the saints; and we may use as of them the scriptural expressions, "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth," Revelation 18:24. But when we come to the time when the civil power will openly raise the standard of revolt - to the moment when these prophetic facts have their full realisation, it is upon the Jews that the persecutions will fall; to whom, therefore, these citations have their primary application. From the moment that the rights of Christ, as King of the Jews, are agitated, it is the Jews who will appear on the scene; for the Jews are God’s earthly people. But where is the church then? It will be entirely out of the scene at the time of these last persecutions. Before we quote the chapters which treat of the apostate civil power substituted for the apostate ecclesiastical power, we would insist again upon this, that the revolt of the ecclesiastical power is not the less dangerous because it has not the supremacy. On the contrary, we repeat, that this power is the secret counsellor of all the evil. The only change that will take place is, that it will cease to have outwardly the preponderance; and the not seeing this has led many into error. Because men, in the use of ordinary observation only, have perceived that it could no longer depose kings, they have supposed that the ecclesiastical power had absolutely disappeared. No attention has been paid to that which the children of God might ascertain out of His word, namely, that its moral influence would survive the destruction of its political existence; and that it was precisely this influence which would urge on the power, properly so called political, to revolt against God, and thus to its destruction. I am not saying that it is not the will of man which, by its own energy guides the beast to its eternal ruin. This is indeed true; but in the meantime, it is the ecclesiastical apostasy which, either arrogating to itself the power, or shutting the door to the manifestation of the will of God, seduces by its machinations the inhabitants of the earth to acknowledge and adore the beast. I advert to the passages which refer to the observations just made. First, the end of Daniel 7:1-28, where the fourth beast is found; afterwards, Revelation 16:1-21, and especially Revelation 17:1-18, where the two are distinguished, namely, the great whore or Babylon, and the beast. In Revelation 17:1-18 We get the woman clothed with scarlet, a power whose principal element is ecclesiastical; she is mounted on the beast (civil power). After that, "the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore (ecclesiastical power), and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to . . . give their kingdom to the beast." Let us now examine the passages which concern the sources of evil, and more particularly the kind of evil which is exhibited in that power which is in rebellion against God, namely, the fourth monarchy. Let us see the form which the rebellion will take. In Revelation 12:3 we find the source of the power, "the great red dragon." We are there, as it were, admitted behind the scenes, and see Satan desiring to destroy Him who is to govern all nations with a rod of iron - Christ; and, in Christ and with Christ, the church. It is properly the power of Satan, and the great combat. The word of God puts in contrast the Father and the world; flesh and Spirit; Satan and the Son of God. Here we have the great dragon or Satan, who wants to devour Him who is to govern the nations with a rod of iron; but it is in heaven that we see it. Afterwards (Revelation 12:9), he is cast out - an event which has not yet taken place. Here there is a difficulty to some minds. Because the devil is cast out of the conscience, which is true,* they suppose that he is cast out of heaven. Satan has indeed no power over our conscience if we have understood the value of the blood of Christ; but he is still in heaven, where he accuses the children of God. We see from Ephesians 6:12 that the wicked spirits (margin) are in the heavenly (margin) places: by reason of this, there will be a battle in heaven - a battle, the effect, not of intercession or of priesthood, but of power, which will take place, perhaps, with the help of angels; but which will ever be a work of power. At the same time, though Satan shall be cast down from heaven, he will not yet be chained to the bottomless pit; and the fruits of his wickedness will not yet have found their limit; so it is said, "the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." {*That is, his accusing power is rendered null by virtue of the blood and work of Jesus Christ.} Satan, cast down from heaven to earth, will act there by the agency of the Roman empire. Revelation 13:1-18 describes what will appear on the scene as the providential instruments by which he will seek to make good his power on the earth: "I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns."* This is the terrestrial agency. This beast will unite all the characters of the three previous beasts. {*It is remarkable that the dragon has his crowns on his heads; the beast of Revelation 13:1-18 has them on his horns. There is no question of crowns: on the beast in the last form of all that he takes.} The authority of the dragon becomes established in the Roman empire - in the beast with seven heads and ten horns. "I saw one of its heads, as it were, wounded, to death"; that is, one of the governing forms of the Roman empire ruined. But afterwards the mortal wound is healed, and the form which was destroyed re-established. Now, if we compare the acts of the little horn of the same beast in Daniel, we shall find that the little horn "whose mouth speaketh great things, before whom three [horns] fell" - that this very one, we say, becomes the beast itself. That is, the beast will find itself under the dominion of this little horn; as we might say, that Napoleon was the French empire, because he wielded all its resources. This beast will be the civil power, the Roman empire, in apostasy, or in open revolt against God. But there is also another beast (which is not the Roman empire) which exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him. Revelation 13:11-14. "And I beheld . . . and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth." Here is something which has the semblance of Christ’s power, and which later, in the midst of the Jews, will wear the form of Christianity; but, as understood by the apostle, it is Satan’s. It is, then, the second beast who will seduce the inhabitants of the earth, and who will cause them to follow the first, namely, the civil power of the Roman empire. "And I saw one of the heads, as it were wounded to death." This has already happened to the imperial form of the Roman empire; but the wound is to be entirely healed. Thus the beast loses its imperial character for a time, and its wound is afterwards healed. When this takes place in all the astonished earth, men go after it. The imperial beast will therefore again be seen on the earth, and in all the earth they will wonder after it. But we have also read that the second beast, by the great wonders which he doeth, seduces the inhabitants of the earth. This second beast will appear at the end under the character, not of a beast, but of a false prophet; all his secular power will be lost. He will no longer be a beast ravishing, devouring; this feature will be entirely effaced. And he will be seen as the false prophet,* who will be recognised as the second beast already spoken of, by the perfect resemblance of his character, as the person, in short, who has done the things which the second beast has done, but who appears at the close under this new form. Compare Revelation 13:14, with Revelation 19:20. If we take the moral side of the events already accomplished, we know who has exercised all the power in presence of the civil authority; but there will be one also who will do great wonders and seduce the inhabitants of the earth. {*The false prophet is not Mahomet. "He exerciseth the power of the first beast before him." Now Mahomet has never done this.} Farther on we shall have to look into the consequences of all this; in the meanwhile, let us gather up what we have been saying. Revelation 12:1-17 shews us the dragon in heaven, as the origin, the first cause of all this rebellion. Revelation 13:1-18 gives us the Roman empire under its imperial form, as the providential visible agent. This beast is wounded to death, but his mortal wound is healed. There is also in its presence another power who seduces the inhabitants of the earth; and it is when the mortal wound of the first beast is healed, "that all the world wondered after the beast." Add to this the circumstance of Revelation 19:1-21, namely, that the second beast ceases to be one, and appears at the end as a false prophet. In Revelation 17:1-18 there is a description of the first beast, which gives us other particulars. Revelation 17:7-8 : "And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." It ascends out of the bottomless pit, i.e., becomes positively the power of Satan towards the end; and this is what will happen when Satan, being cast out of heaven (which event will occur when the church has been caught up into heaven), will come down to the earth in great wrath. Then, under his influence the beast (the Roman empire) "that was, and is not, and yet is," resumes his strength and form; that is, the civil power, instead of being in submission to God, takes the character of Satan, and signalises itself, at his instigation, by an open revolt against the power of God. To find all the marks for recognising this last form of the beast, we must wait until the imperial head of the Roman empire, the eighth king, shall appear in the world. This must take place before its ruin. When the Roman empire existed under its pagan form, it had not ten kings; but when this beast reappears (let us keep in mind that it is the Roman empire), ten kings will give their power to it, instead of ten kings replacing it. More than this, it is after having been destroyed that it will come again into existence. In a word, it is not the pagan beast, nor the history of the middle ages, nor of ten barbarian kings (if indeed ten could be pronounced upon with any certainty), who have taken the place of the empire, but "and yet is";* that is, the mortal wound will be healed, and the imperial beast will re-appear. {*[It is well known and sure that the genuine reading is according to Greek "and shall be present" (not "and yet is"). This evidently confirms the case, besides removing a sort of enigma, or paradox, in the vulgar text. - Ed.]} The ten kings "shall give their strength and power unto the beast"; there will be an imperial head - an emperor, and ten kings, who will give him their power; the kingdoms will continue in existence, but it will be a confederation of them. As an illustration, we may refer to the kingdoms of Spain, Holland, Westphalia, etc., under Napoleon. There has been the beast; there have been, it may be, ten kings; but never yet ten kings giving their power to the beast who was not, and who came anew into existence." "The seven heads are seven mountains." (We are still occupied with the Roman empire.) "And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is" - namely, the imperial one which existed in the time of John, - "and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth (because the seven have passed), and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." That is, there will be an eighth head, one of a peculiar character, who will re-unite all the power of the beast, who will be the beast himself, and who, whilst a head apart, is still one of the seven. It is the imperial head under a new form; for there are to be ten kings, who will give their power to this eighth head; and it is in this form that it will go down to destruction. It is exactly here that the coming of Christ, and of the church, connects itself with the subject of which we are treating; Revelation 19:1-21; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17. We must yet quote from Daniel 11:36-45 : "And the king shall do according to his will." Compare this with 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, and following verses.) We may observe, that in Daniel 11:1-45 the question is not one of ecclesiastical supremacy, but rather of wars between civil powers in the East. With Daniel 11:36 begins the history of Antichrist, of "the king who shall do according to his own will," just like the little horn in Daniel 7:1-28, and who at last, after dealing in an idolatrous and apostate way in Jerusalem, finds his end with that first beast. It is a king like any other, a king of the earth, but exercising his power in the holy land at the close. Christianity, as such, is not brought before us, nor the mystery of lawlessness in it: that had preceded the appearance of the lawless one according to 2 Thessalonians. Again, I say, it is no question of ecclesiastical matters, but of a king of this earth, who becomes an object of attack to the kings of the North and of the South. One remark on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 for our consolation in the midst of this sad concourse of events. "Now we beseech you, brethren," says the apostle, "by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind," etc. Those who love the truth will entirely escape this deceivableness of unrighteousness, to which, on the contrary, all those will be delivered by the judgment of God, who have "not received the love of the truth"; but "have pleasure in unrighteousness." This is the evil which is coming, and the world ought to be warned of it; because some may be salutarily frightened at the thought and led to consider the word of God. And why is all this announced to the children of God? It is in order that they may draw out of it the fullest comfort, and may separate themselves from all that which drags men on to destruction. I say not that we Christians shall be involved in the catastrophe; but that, by being told beforehand of the judgments which will take place at this dreadful crisis, we are led to detach ourselves, even at this present time, from the causes which, by their nature, and by the justice of God, bring it on. The apostle, it would seem, had spoken a good deal of these things to the church of the Thessalonians, and had taught them to expect the coming of the Lord. Now, what had Satan done? He had tried to terrify them, in telling them that the day of the Lord was there (Greek, present, 2 Thessalonians 2:2). No, says the apostle, I beseech you, by the coming [presence, see Greek] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him [which will precede that day], that ye be not soon shaken in mind, etc. (as if we were already in it). This day will come upon the lawless one, and not upon you; you will already have been caught up to Him, and you will accompany Him personally in that great day when He will appear.* {*The idea which usually prevails in the interpretation of this passage is, that parousia and heemera have the same meaning affixed to them by the apostle, and that he uses the words interchangeably. Parousia means "presence," not necessarily involving manifestation to the world; heemera "day," on the contrary, always has to do, in the Old Testament, with judgment. Here the apostle uses the presence of the Lord, and our gathering together to Him, in contrast with the day: "I beseech you, by his presence and our gathering to him, not to be distracted about the day. as if it were here."} The day is present, said the seducers; the day is come! No, says the apostle, the day will not come until you, the Lord’s faithful ones, have been caught up into the air, and until the lawless one shall be revealed. These consolations are again confirmed (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10): "Even him whose coming . . . is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth." It is only needful to add, that in this chapter it is the description of the moral character, and of the unbridled iniquity of the lawless one, and of the power of Satan; whilst, in Daniel 11:1-45 it is the picture of his outward character. It is to be feared, dear friends, that the exposition of prophecy this evening has not been the view which you have been hitherto led to take of it. I have been endeavouring to open out the distinction, and at the same time the connection, which there is between the civil and ecclesiastical power; as well as the distinction, and at the same time the connection, between the ecclesiastical apostasy and the civil apostasy. The two things are closely allied, because we read that the second beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him; and that the false prophet, which is the second beast, is thrown into the lake of fire with the first. We have also noticed that this fact connects itself with the presence of the Jews at Jerusalem, in whose vicinity the beast will come to his end - an event which will close this present dispensation, in bringing out the power of Christ upon the earth, which will lead to the union of Christ with the remnant of the Jews; and in consequence of that, to the bringing of all nations under His sceptre. I have only spoken of the fourth beast. There are two points worthy of remark in connection with the history of Israel; firstly, as to those nations who were in league against Israel, when this people were owned of God; and, secondly, as to the nations who carried them into captivity. As yet we have only been discussing the times of the Gentiles, that period during which the kingdom was transferred from the Jews to them; that is, the time of the four beasts - the times of the Gentiles. Daniel speaks of the four beasts only; Ezekiel speaks of the nations before the four beasts, and after; but never of "the times of the Gentiles," so called. It is during the period comprised in the history of these four beasts that Christianity comes in, and that the moral rebellion takes place. But we have seen that the ecclesiastical power, which has been the instrument of leading to such a result, by assuming the place of God - taking away faith, and, at the same time, disgusting reason; putting aside natural religion, and, under the pretext of the rights of revelation, corrupting and perverting this revelation itself, so that men should have no other objects than themselves - this power, I say, having played a part in the drama of iniquity, which the enemy of our souls and of the Lord, has brought to pass, will itself fall a victim to the violence of the human will - that will which itself has withdrawn from subjection to God; and as incapable, by its pretensions to religion, openly to serve Satan, as it is of serving God with sincerity - in one word, incapable of truth, it becomes the cowardly counsellor and abettor of that iniquity of which it cannot constitute itself the actor. It provokes crimes which it dares not consummate, and of which the civil power is to be the active chief and executor. Dear friends, when the natural conscience is more upright than that resulting from religious forms, it is all over with the church - it is near its end; and the candlestick will be removed where it serves only as the instrument of wickedness, such as the world can hardly imagine. As men say, the corruption of that which is most excellent is the worst of corruptions. As to the Antichrist properly speaking, he will deny that Jesus is the Christ; he will "deny the Father and the Son" (John 2:22); he will not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh (2 John 1:7); he will deny everything sacred - the Father, the Son, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus come as Man. We have seen his character, his acts, his form, and the source of his power. Satan will work directly by him. It will be a sort of satanic imitation of what God has done. The Father has given the throne to the Son, and the Spirit acts according to the power of the Son in the church before Him: in the same way the dragon (Satan) will confer the throne on the beast, and great authority; and the second beast (spiritual power, real Antichrist, and false prophet) exercises all the power of this last beast (civil power) before him; Revelation 13:12. The judgment will decide in such a state of things. May God make us attentive to the character and to the end of the pride of man! The energy of his will is able to employ, and put to use, all the means which God has delegated to him - and they are great; and the results, so long as God has patience with him, will be great also. But man will be the centre of all this; the feeling of his responsibility before God goes for nothing. God is, in reality, dishonoured and degraded. The end of all man’s most noble, most worthy aims - God - is wanting in it all. In fine, it is the same principle and the same source - sin - from the beginning to the end. Man, acting of his own will to satisfy his lusts, ambitious of knowledge for selfish ends, exalting himself to a level with God, disobedient, and, as a consequence, acting under the influence and energy of Satan: - such is the character of Antichrist; such is the history of Adam in his first fall - his first sin. It is the commencement and consummation of the same wickedness, whose evidence and contrast appeared in the death of our beloved and perfect Saviour, who made its expiation for us. May His name of grace and glory be eternally blessed; and may He engrave these things upon our hearts! Certainly He will preserve His church from all these evils which menace the world for His church is united to Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01.07. PSALM 82:1-8 ======================================================================== Lecture 7 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Psalms 82:1-8. Judgment of the Nations, which become the inheritance of Christ and of the Church. J. N. Darby. The last verse of this Psalm contains the subject which is to occupy us this evening: "Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations." It is God who is to judge the earth, and, as the consequence of this judgment, to become the possessor of all nations. I have spoken of Christ, Heir of all things, with the church His co-heir; then of the coming of Christ, or of the time when He will take His inheritance; and of the resurrection of the church, or of the moment when the raised church participates with Him in this inheritance. Even departed souls - blessed as they are with Him - wait for the resurrection of their bodies to enjoy the fulness of blessing and of glory. It is for this reason that a Christian may desire death, because he is thus delivered from all affliction and trial; but he awaits the resurrection for the consummation of his glory. We have spoken of the progress of evil, and shewn that, far from the world being converted by the preaching of the gospel, the tares are to increase and to ripen until the harvest. And we have seen the evil come to its height in the eighth head of the beast, which goes down to destruction in the apostasy of the civil power of the fourth monarchy, and in the false prophet, who, having seduced the world to do homage to the beast and to take his mark, is destroyed with him. We have seen that there are two beasts, and that the second is transformed into the false prophet. Compare Revelation 13:1-18 with the end of Revelation 19:1-21. The scene now extends itself; for not only will the fourth beast be destroyed, but the nations will be judged. All the races of men who inhabit the earth, which took their rise in the division of the children of Noah into their respective families, will be found at the end gathered together and judged by God. All that is high and lifted up will be brought low by the power and glory of God, in order that God, in full blessing, may enjoy the kingdom, and may have the inheritance of all nations. I have touched, at our last meeting, the most difficult part, namely, the point where the two dispensations touch, and where the evil caused by the failure of the existing one (failure, of course, on man’s part) requires the intervention of God; and, as a sequel, the judgment which terminates the dispensation. I have spoken specially of the rebellion of the beast abetted by Antichrist, because it is, in fact, the consummation of the apostasy. But when this event takes place, there comes also the judgment of all nations. God does not only judge the last rebellion of the Antichristian beast; but having- made His power felt - the moment of His wrath being come - He judges all nations. This is what we read in Revelation 11:15-18 : "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." Let us follow up the passages which speak on the same subject. We before remarked, that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the true King over the whole earth, was presented to the fourth beast and to the Jews, that is, to the Gentiles and Jews (to the Gentiles in the person of Pontius Pilate, and to the Jews in the person of the high priest). He was presented to the world and to His own, and was rejected. But in a much more extended sense it is said, "The nations were angry, and thy wrath is come." It is the wrath of God breaking forth against them by the judgment of His Son. Psalms 2:1-12. Two other things are set forth. First, that the Son is anointed (margin) king upon Zion, God’s holy hill, and that He has the heathen for His inheritance: Zion is His throne; the nations, His inheritance. Secondly, His way of dealing with the nations - a way entirely opposed to the gospel: "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron." The sceptre (rod) of Christ, in the gospel, is a rod of goodness and love; it is everything that is most sweet, most powerful, in His love; it is not a sceptre of iron. The psalmist is speaking of the kings of the earth: "Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; . . . kiss the Son." The decree of God is, that His Son shall be anointed, that is, declared King over all the earth; and He invites the kings of the earth to submit themselves to Him. He says to them, "I am about to speak in my wrath; I give the heritage of the nations to Christ; He will bruise you with a rod of iron; He will break you in pieces: now then, submit yourselves to Him, to my Son, King in Zion." These kings follow their own ways; their policy is settled according to the wisdom of man. Alas! it is not of Christ, King in Zion, that they think. Go and speak to the kings of the earth of Christ, King in Zion: you would be taken for one out of his senses. Nevertheless, God has decreed His reign surely, irrevocably, and He will bring it to pass in spite of the kings of the earth; He will establish Him King in Zion, and will give Him the nations as His heritage, and the ends of the earth for His possession. "Now," says He by the prophet Micah, "shall he be great unto the ends of the earth," Micah 5:4. At the birth of Christ, hatred burst forth upon the least appearance of His royalty. When the cry was heard that a king had appeared, immediate efforts were made to get rid of Him. Will the nations then, at last, listen to the invitation made to them to submit themselves? The answer is to be found in Psalms 82:1-8. These judges of the earth will have to give an account of their conduct. "They know not, neither do they understand." "I have said, Ye are gods," for God Himself had set them as having authority over the earth ("the powers that be are ordained of God"); but God can judge them. It is not Christians who hold the above language; it is He who has the right of judging those whom He has named judges - of setting aside those subaltern powers, in order to take to Himself His great power and reign. We find in Psalms 9:1-7, that the place where this judgment will be exercised is the land of Israel, and that the Lord will manifest Himself in this act of power. Psalms 9:5 : "Thou hast rebuked the heathen; thou hast destroyed the wicked (Antichrist); thou hast put out their name for ever and ever." Psalms 9:15-20 is not the language of the gospel; it is the prophetic demand - the righteous demand - of judgment. This it is which explains those difficulties which Christians often find in the Psalms, owing to not having understood the difference of the dispensations. To convert the wicked, by the announcement of the grace of God, is the gospel; what we have been reading is something quite different. Once the gospel has run its course, Christ will demand righteous judgment against the world. It is no longer Christ, at the right hand of the Father, sending down the Holy Ghost to gather together His co-heirs; but Christ calling for righteousness and asking it (generally by His Spirit in the humble and lowly ones of the Jewish nation) against the proud and violent men. If God were not to execute judgment, the evil would only grow worse and worse without any consolation for the faithful. God does not execute it until the evil has arrived at its height. Antichrist and the nations rise up against God and His Christ, and the earth must be cleared of His enemies to give place to the reign of God Himself. It is not David asking to rule over his enemies; but Christ who demands judgment, because the time is come. We may observe the same truth in Psalms 10:15-16 : "The Lord is King for ever and ever; the heathen are perished out of his land." There is a general principle running through this class of Psalms, of a terrible judgment upon the wickedness of the nations - God acting as Judge in the midst of judges. A passage in Isaiah 2:12-22, also presents to us the great day of God upon earth: "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is high and lofty . . . when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." It is not for the judgment of the dead, but of the earth. To make you understand that this judgment applies to all nations, and that it is after this, and by this means, that God will fill the earth with the knowledge of His name, we beg you to turn to Zephaniah 3:8 : "Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." The intention of God is to assemble the nations to pour upon them His indignation - a terrible judgment. For our expectation then, as to when the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, we refer to verse 9. This blessing will come to pass after He shall have executed the judgment, and put away the evil-doers. This passage is a very explicit revelation. The same truth, namely, that the knowledge of the Lord will spread by the effect of His judgment, is presented to us in Isaiah 26:9-11 : "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness"; for it is added, "Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness." Grace does not produce the effect, but judgment. Again, we say, that the determination of Jehovah is to assemble the kingdoms, to pour out on them His indignation, and all the fierceness of His wrath. It will be a terrible day, and one which the world ought to be expecting. Another passage in support of the truth we are urging is found in Psalms 110:1-7 : "The LORD (Jehovah) said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Jesus is set down at the right hand of God the Father, until His enemies are made His footstool. Until that time, He acts by His Spirit to gather together Christians: He sends down the Holy Ghost to convince us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. But the day will come when God will make His enemies His footstool; and it is on this account, perhaps, that Jesus says, "Of that day knoweth no man . . . neither the Son, but the Father," Mark 13:32. It is written, that He will inherit all things. This has been prophesied of Me; Jehovah said to Me, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." It is not such a year, such a day; but I go to sit at the right hand of God until-until the moment when the Father will have accomplished this decree: for the Lord Jesus, God blessed for ever, receives the kingdom as Man-mediator. Now, as to the accomplishment of the decree, it is when "the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion." We discern the boundary of this dispensation clearly marked, that is, Christ set down at the right hand of Jehovah, until Jehovah puts His enemies under His feet. After that come the words, "Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." This is what Jehovah will accomplish, when the Lord, at the commencement of the exercise of His power, shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath; shall judge among the heathen; shall fill the place with the dead bodies, and shall wound the heads over many countries; or rather, chief over a great land. In Jeremiah 25:28, the same subject is presented; and it is the end of all that we see around us: "And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink." See also Matthew 13:31. There are yet two facts to remark on. First, it is at Jerusalem principally that all this disaster will take place; secondly, God has named in His word all the nations who will participate in it. We shall see all the descendants of Noah, of whom we have the catalogue in Genesis 10:1-32, reappear on the scene at the moment of this judgment of God. We shall find nearly all of them under the beast or under Gog. As to the passages which concern Jerusalem, we may cite Joel 3:1, Joel 3:9-17; Micah 4:11-13; and Zechariah 12:3-9 : "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah; and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon." Zechariah 14:3-4 : "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." It is said in Acts 1:1-26 that Jesus "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," that is, upon the Mount of Olives. Compare Ezekiel 11:23. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives," says the Holy Ghost in Zechariah 14:4; "his feet," the feet of Jehovah. Though indeed He was the man of sorrows, Jesus is Jehovah, and has been so from eternity. As to the second point on which we have to remark, namely, that the nations, the descendants of Noah, will be ranged either under the beast or under Gog - the two principal powers; if you consult Genesis 10:5 you will read, "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands." In the generations of the sons of Japheth are named Gomer,* Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Mesec, and Tiras. Of these we get Gomer, Magog, Tubal, Mesec, under the same names in Ezekiel 38:1-23 as followers of Gog; you will also find there Persia which was united to Media (Madai), and from whose hands it received the crown (as we are told in Daniel 8:1-27 and other places), so that there only remain Javan and Tiras to be accounted for. Those mentioned above are the nations which comprise Russia, Asia Minor, Tartary, and Persia (all the people, in short, of which the empire of Russia is composed, or which are under its influence). They are described as under the dominion of Gog, prince of Rosh (the Russians), Mesec (Moscow), and Tubal (Tobolsk). {*See Hale’s Analysis of Chronology, vol. 1, p.p. 352, 357.} The children of Ham are pointed out in Genesis 10:6. Of these, Canaan has been destroyed, and his country turned over to Israel; Cush (Ethiopia) and Phut are also found (Ezekiel 38:5; see margin) under Gog; those of Cush only in part, and for the reason that one part of the family of Cush established itself on the Euphrates, the other on the Nile,* that is, north and south of Israel. Those of the north are then, by their position, in direct relation with the partisans of Gog. Mizraim, or Egypt (for Mizraim is none other than the Hebrew name for Egypt), and the remainder of Cush and the Libyans, you will find in the scenes of the last day; Daniel 11:43. {*See note, p. 367. (Lecture 10)} As to the children of Shem (Genesis 10:22), Elam is the same as Persia, of which we have already spoken. Asshur is named in the judgment, which will take place in the last times (Micah 5:6; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 30:33); also in the conspiracy of Psalms 83:1-18, and in other places. Arphaxad is one of the ancestors of the Israelites. We know nothing of the family of Joktan. It is supposed to be a people of the East. Aram, or Syria, was displaced by Asshur, and is found under the title of the king of the North. The same remarks, it appears, may be made of Lud. Javan (Greece) is to be in the last combat; Zechariah 9:13. Of all the nations, Tiras is the only one besides Joktan, which is not named as to be in this great judgment. We speak only of the word of God. Profane authors unite Tiras and Javan in Greece; but with this we have not to do. In the present day, we may observe Russia extending her power exactly over the nations who will be found under Gog.* {*We must take care to distinguish the Gog of Ezekiel from the Gog and Magog in the Revelation.} Daniel 11:1-45 introduces us to two other powers, to which we must direct our regards; they are the king of the South, and the king of the North. The chapter contains a long account of already accomplished events, as to their wars, etc,; but after this come the ships of Chittim (Daniel 11:30), and then there is an interruption in their history. These kings were the successors of the great king of Javan (Greece): the one, possessor of Assyria; the other, of Egypt. The object of their fightings was Syria and the Holy Land. In Daniel 11:31-35, the Jews are introduced as set aside during a long period of time (see Daniel 11:33). It is said, "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for a time appointed"; and then (Daniel 11:36), "And the king shall do according to his own will": this is Antichrist. In Daniel 11:41, we have him in the land of Israel, in that territory which is the cause of the difference which exists between the king of the North and the king of the South. "And at the time of the end, shall the king of the South push at him." That is, after a long interval, behold again the king of the South brought, in this chapter, upon the scene. And this has historically occurred only four years ago, after an interval of nearly two thousand years. The greater part of the nations who, as we are told, are to be at the feet of Gog, are now coming under the dominion of Russia; "and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind." Antichrist will be the object of the attack, at one and the same time, of the king of the South, or Egypt; and of the king of the North, the possessor of Asiatic Turkey, or Assyria. I do not say who the king of the North will be at the end; but we see that the circumstances and the personages described in the prophecies which have reference to this time appointed - " the time of the end" - begin to appear. It is nearly two thousand years since there has been a king of the South; and it is but a few years that he has appeared anew. In the same way a great people has appeared, of which the world a century ago hardly knew the existence, and which now rules over the exact countries of the Gog in Ezekiel. We do not desire that you should fix your attention too much upon events which are taking place in our time; it is only when we have explained the prophecy, that we advert to the circumstances which pass around us. All nations have their attention occupied about Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:3), and know not what to do about it. The king of Egypt wants to call the whole country his own; the king of the North is unwilling to cede it (the Turk being the actual king of the North, or Assyria). The kings of the North and South dispute for the same country, which they fought over two thousand years ago. This is just what the prophecy says is to occur at "a time appointed." We do not mean that all this yet comes out plain; for example, the ten kings cannot be enumerated and Antichrist has not yet appeared. But the principles which are found in the word of God are acting in the midst of the kingdoms where the ten horns are to appear: that is, we find all western Europe occupied about Jerusalem, and preparing for war; and Russia, on her side, preparing herself, and exercising influence over the countries given to her in the word; and all the thoughts of the politicians of this world* concentrate themselves on the scene where their final gathering in the presence of the judgment of God will take place - where "the Lord shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor," Micah 4:12. It is a remarkable coincidence. In observing what is passing around us, we recognise certain prophetical descriptions; at least we see those who are to act, or upon whom God will act, developing the characters which prophecy signalises. {*Everyone is aware how much more largely this is the case since, and that the dispute about the holy places has been the occasion of the Eastern war. The nations are burdening themselves with Jerusalem. (Note to fourth edition.)} If you take the trouble, dear friends, to follow the chapters which we have been quoting (many others, as doubtless there are), you will understand Matthew 25:1-46, which speaks of the Lord sitting upon His throne, and gathering all the nations (an allusion to Joel 3:1-21), judging them, and separating them "as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats."* {*It is commonly supposed that the judgment which is spoken of in this chapter is the last judgment - the general judgment: this is a mistake. It is the judgment of the nations living upon this earth, and not of the dead. There is no question of the resurrection, but only of the judgment of the Gentiles. What will happen to the Jews is mentioned in Matthew 24:1-51; then, what will happen to believers, or at least professors of the faith of Christ; and then, the fate of the Gentiles. It is the judgment of the living, and not of the dead. we say it is the judgment of the living, because we read, "Before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats." That which has given rise to the supposition that it is the judgment of the dead, is this passage, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal"; but this only means that the judgment of the living will be final, like that of the dead. When God judges, whether the dead or the living, His judgment sends the good into life eternal, and the wicked into everlasting punishment. The judgment of the living is as sure as that of the dead.} Let us remember one thing; it is, that we Christians are sheltered from the approaching storm. We have said nothing this evening about the church; but let us recall its place to our memory. It is, that during these events (yea, even at present, as united to Him by faith), its place is to be with Christ, to accompany Him; the church has this privilege, this glory, this special character, that of union with the Lord Jesus Christ; and if we search for the church in the old Testament, it is Jesus Christ we find. A striking example of this truth is found in Paul’s quotation (Romans 8:1-39), taken from Isaiah 50:1-11, where Christ says, "Who is he that shall condemn me?" which Paul applies to the church, the church being united to Christ. The union of the church in a single body, whether Jews or Gentiles, was not revealed in the Old Testament; if we seek for it, it is Christ Himself that we find. Although there are many things in the relationship of Jehovah with Zion, which also exist between God the Father and the church, nevertheless it is not in Zion that we are to look for the church. In the Old Testament, the privileges of the church are in Christ Himself, in the Person of Christ, because the church has the same portion as Christ. This is it (see Ephesians 1:22-23), "which is the fulness of him that filleth all in all": for this reason we are not to look for the church in the prophecies. The church is the body of Christ Himself; and Christ is to judge, not to be judged. We have seen that Christ is to smite, to break in pieces the nations; this is said also of the church. The church has nothing to do with that of which we have been speaking, as if it were to be subjected to the same judgments; Revelation 2:26-27. Its place is not to be in the midst of the nations that are to be broken in pieces, but to be united to Christ, enjoying the same privileges as Christ, and breaking to pieces the nations with Christ. There is nothing true, as regards Christ, in the glory which He has taken, which is not also true of the church. It is always precious for us thus to understand our place, that of joint-heirs with Christ. And the more we think of this, the more our strength will be increased, and the more we shall become in our minds, as heirs of God, detached from this world, which is judged, as, indeed, the church is justified. The church is justified; we see not yet the effects of it, because the glory is not come. The church only has the fruits of justification in glory; the world only has the fruits of wickedness in the judgment. Nevertheless, it is true that the church is united to Christ. The world is judged because it has rejected Christ. "Righteous Father," said the Saviour, "the world hath not known thee." But this is what grace has done for us. Just as unbelief separates men entirely and for all eternity from Christ, grace by faith has united us entirely and for ever to Him; and we ought to bless God for it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01.08. ROMANS 11:1-36 ======================================================================== Lecture 8 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Romans 11:1-36. Israel’s First Entry into the Land was the Result of Promise. J. N. Darby. We have, in Romans 11:1, this question put by the apostle as to Israel: "Hath God cast away his people?" As far as Romans 8:1-39 he has been detailing the history of us all as men, whether Jews or Gentiles; he has fully stated the gospel of the grace of God, namely, the reconciliation of man by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After having established this point, he begins in Romans 9:1-33 the history of the dispensations: he makes known the manner in which God has acted towards the Jews and the Gentiles; and in this Romans 11:1-36 he starts the question, "Hath God cast away his people?" We have seen, in studying the history of the four beasts, and also that of the church, that the Jews were put aside; and that the gospel has appeared in the world to save sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, in order to reveal the hidden mystery of a heavenly people, and that "unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God." A Jew, who is now converted, enters into the dispensation of grace; but upon this comes the immediate inquiry, "Hath God cast away his people?" It is not concerning His spiritual people that the question is asked, but concerning His people according to the flesh - His people, the Jews. The apostle says (Romans 11:18), "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes." In Romans 11:1-36 the gospel is not in view, - namely, the calling of the Jews, as a people, into grace by the gospel - although, indeed, there is a gospel election from among this people; but the question treated is that of the Jews, as God’s manifested people, of Jews according to the flesh, who are enemies as to the gospel, but beloved on the principle-of a national election on account of the fathers. Because, then, the gospel has come in, has God rejected His people? Does He count them enemies? The answer of the apostle is, "God forbid." We Christians boast of this, that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance"; well we may - it is a scriptural principle: but to whom does the apostle apply it? Not to us, but to the Jews. It is always important to consider the context of every passage of the word of God, and not to force it out of the situation where God has placed it. The present is the dispensation of the calling of a heavenly people, and, in consequence, God puts aside His earthly people, the Jews. The Jewish nation is never to enter into the church; on the contrary, "blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in"; until all the children of God, out of them composing the body of the church in this dispensation, are called. Israel, as a nation, will be saved. "There shall come out of Zion the deliverer." He has not cast away His people. As touching the gospel they are enemies, and they will so remain until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in: but the Deliverer will come. This is a summary of the divine purpose as regards the Jews. From the moment it can be affirmed of the dispensation of the Gentiles, that it has not "continued in the goodness of God," we can say that, sooner or later, it will be cut off. "Toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." The root of the olive-tree is not alone Israel under the law; far from it. It is Abraham, to whom the call of God was addressed. It was the calling of a single man, separated, elect, the depositary of the promises. The choice fell upon Abraham, and upon the family of Abraham according to the flesh. Israel has served for an example, as depositary of the promises and of the manifestation of the election of God; now it is the church which so serves. In order to make you understand the root of the promises, which is Abraham, I will touch upon the series of dispensations which preceded. First, at the fall of man we see him left to himself. Although not without witness, he had neither law nor government; and, as a consequence, evil was carried to the highest pitch, so that the world was full of violence and corruption; and God purified it by the deluge. Afterwards came Noah. A change took place; it was this - that the right of life and death, the right of taking vengeance, was given into the hands of men: "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed." To this is added a blessing to the earth, greater or less. "This same," said Lamech, in speaking of Noah, "shall comfort us, . . . because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed"; and a covenant is made by God with Noah and with the creation; a covenant in witness of which God gives the rainbow. "The Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground," Genesis 8:21; Genesis 9:6, Genesis 9:12-13. This was the covenant given to the earth immediately after the sacrifice of Noah, the type of the sacrifice of Christ. It may be said, in passing, that Noah failed in this covenant, as man always has done. Instead of drawing blessings out of the earth by tillage, he begins to cultivate the vine, and gets intoxicated. By this forgetfulness and fault of his, the proper principle of government also lost its power in its first elements. Noah, who held its reins, became the subject of the derision of one of his sons. We see in all dispensations the immediate failure of man; but that which is lost in all of them by human folly will find its recovery at the end in Christ; whether it be blessing to the earth, prosperity to the Jews, or the glory of the church. All that has appeared and has been spoiled, under the keeping of the first Adam, will blossom again under that of the Second Adam, Bridegroom of the church, and King of the Jews and of the whole earth. Another still more signal failure took place after Noah’s. God had made His judgments terribly felt in the deluge, and His providence was thus revealed. What did Satan do? As long as he is unbound he takes possession of the state of things here below: No sooner did God manifest Himself in His providential judgments, than Satan presented himself also as God; he made himself, as it were, God. Is it not written, "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God?" Satan made himself the god of this earth. Joshua 24:2 : "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time . . . and they served other gods," said the Lord to the Israelites. It is the first time that we find God marking the existence of idolatry. When it made its appearance, God calls Abraham; and thus, for the first time, appears the call of God to an outward separation from the state of things here below; because Satan having introduced himself as influencing the thoughts of man, as the one whom man was to invoke, it was necessary that the true God should have a people separated from other people, where the truth might be preserved; and consequently all the ways of God towards men turn upon this point - that here below God called Abraham and his posterity to be the depositary of this great truth, "There are none other gods but one" (see Deuteronomy 4:35). Consequently, all the doings of God upon the earth have reference entirely and directly to the Jews, as the centre of His earthly counsels and of His government. This is shewn us in Deuteronomy 32:8. It was according to the number of the children of Israel that the bounds of the nations were set. It was with reference to Israel that He gave them their habitations. You will see also these two principles distinctly presented in the word; on one side, the promises made to Abraham without condition; and on the other, Israel receiving them under condition, and so losing all. But as Abraham received the promises without condition, God cannot forget them, although Israel may have failed in the conditions which they engaged for. And this is very important; for if God had failed in His promises towards Abraham, He could fail also in His promises towards us. It was at Sinai that Israel received the promises under condition, and failed; but this in no wise weakened the validity and the force of the promises made to Abraham four hundred years before. I am not now alluding to the spiritual promise, "All nations shall be blessed in thee," which has found a partial fulfilment by the gospel in this dispensation; but I allude to the promises made to Israel, which rest on the same faithfulness of God. Let us begin our citations upon this subject out of Genesis 12:1-20. The chapter is the call of Abraham, who was then in the midst of his idolatrous family. The terms of the promise are very general; but they contain earthly blessings as well as purely spiritual ones. The two kinds are found in the same verse equally without condition. The spiritual part of the promise is only once repeated (Genesis 22:1-24) and that to the seed; not so the temporal ones. In Genesis 15:1-21 we have the promise founded upon a covenant made with Abraham, also without condition; it is an absolute gift of the country. Here is also found that of a numerous posterity (Genesis 15:5, Genesis 15:18); and even the exact limits of the country given. (Verse 18; and following.) In Genesis 17:7-8, the promise of the earth is renewed. These are confirmed to Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4), and to Jacob (Genesis 35:10, Genesis 35:12). Here are "the promises made unto the fathers," and to Israel, "beloved for the fathers’ sakes": they are made to Abraham, whether spiritual or temporal, without any condition. If you say that the spiritual promises are without condition, by parity of reasoning the temporal ones are. There is as much certainty in the promise made to Abraham, "To thee will I give this land," as in those which have been made in favour of us Gentiles. There is no need to cite the wrestling of Jacob. It is, in general, thought to be a proof of extraordinary faith in him. This is true; but, at the same time, it is a faith which, exerted after conduct much to be reprehended, was to be accompanied by an evident humiliation. It was God who wrestled with him; but God also sustained his faith. So shall it be with Israel at the end; they shall feel the effect of leaning on the flesh; but God shall take this controversy into His own hands and bless them after all. Thus God made Himself "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" - heirs of the promises, and pilgrims upon earth. We shall see that in this name, God, as it were, makes His boast on the earth, and that the faithful in Israel ever find in it the motives of their confidence. "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations," Exodus 3:15. But in another point of view, Israel placed themselves in relationship with God, in a way which is opposed to all that; namely, their own righteousness - the principle of the law - by virtue of which, acknowledging that we owe obedience to God, we undertake the doing of it in our own strength; for the history of the people of Israel is, whether in its largeness or details, but the history of our hearts. Exodus 19:1-25. Here was an immense change taking place in the state of Israel: until then the promise made to them had been unconditional. If you cast your eyes over Exodus 15:1-27; Exodus 16:1-36; Exodus 17:1-16; Exodus 18:1-27; Exodus 19:1-25 you will find that God had given them all things gratuitously, and even in spite of their murmurings; as the manna, water to drink, the sabbath, etc.; and that He had sustained them in their combat with Amalek at Rephidim. He recalls all this to their memory: "Ye have seen," says He to them, "how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself; now therefore, if . . ." This is the first time, in the relationship between God and Israel, that the little word if is introduced. "Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." But the moment a condition comes in, our ruin is certain, for we fail the first day; and this was the foolishness of Israel. In vain God gives His law, which is "holy, and just, and good." To a sinner His law is death, because he is a sinner; and from the moment that God gives His law conditionally - namely, that something is to come to us by keeping it - He gives it, not because we can obey it, but to make us more clearly comprehend that we are lost because we have violated it. The Israelites should have said, It is true, most gracious God, we ought to obey Thee; but we have failed so often, that we dare not receive the promises under such a condition. Instead of this, what was their language? "All the words that the Lord hath said, will we do." They bind themselves to fulfil all that Jehovah had spoken; they take the promises under the condition of perfect obedience. What is the consequence of such rashness? The golden calf was made before Moses had come down from the mount. When we sinners engage ourselves to obey God without any failure (although obedience is always a duty), and to forfeit the blessing if we do not, we are sure to fail. Our answer should always be, "We are lost"; for grace supposes our ruin. It is this entire instability of man under any condition, that the apostle wishes to shew (Galatians 3:17-21) when he says, "A mediator is not a mediator of one." That is, from the instant there is a mediator, there are two parties. But God is not two; "God is one." And who is the other party? It is man. Hence the accomplishment depends on the stability of man, as well as of God; and all comes to nothing. There being nothing stable in man, he has of course sunk under the weight of his engagements; and this is what must always happen. But the law cannot annul the promises made to Abraham; the law, which was 430 years after, cannot abolish the promise; and the promise was made to Abraham, not only of a blessing to the nations, but also of the land, and of earthly blessings to Israel. The reasoning of the apostle, as to spiritual promises, applies equally to temporal promises made to the Jews. We see that Israel could not enjoy them under the law. In fact, all was lost as soon as the golden calf was made. Yet the covenant at Sinai was founded on the principle of obedience. Exodus 24:7 : "And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood . . . ." Here is a covenant ratified by blood - and upon this foundation - " We will do all that the Lord hath said." You know that the people made the golden calf, and that Moses in consequence destroyed the tables of the law. In Exodus 32:1-35 we see how the promises made before the law were the resource of faith. It was this which sustained the people by the intercession of Moses, even in ruin itself: and by means of a mediator, God returned to man after his failure (Exodus 32:9-10). "It is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation." Then Moses besought the Lord: "Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." Thus, after the fall of Israel, Moses beseeches God, for His own glory, to remember the promises made to Abraham; and God repents of the evil which He had thought to do. Turn to Leviticus 26:1-46. This chapter is the threat of all the chastisements which were to follow the unfaithfulness of Israel. Leviticus 26:42 : "Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; . . . and I will remember the land."* God returns to His promises made unconditionally long before the law; and this is applicable to the last time, as we shall presently see. {*See also, for this appeal to promises apart from conditions, Deuteronomy 9:5, Deuteronomy 9:27; Deuteronomy 10:15. In Micah 7:19-20, these same promises made to Abraham constitute the prophetic hope. And the faithful Israelite, Simeon (Luke 2:25, etc.), recalls them as the ground of confidence to Israel, who, in these promises, might rest on the faithfulness of God.} There are two more covenants made with Israel during their wanderings in the wilderness. That under the law having been broken, the intercession of Moses made way for another (Exodus 33:14, Exodus 33:19), of which we have the basis in Exodus 34:27 : "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words; for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." Observe, with thee; for there is a remarkable change in the language of God. In Egypt, God had always said, "My people, my people." But when the golden calf was made, He uses the word which they had used - " Thy people which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt"; for Israel had said, "This Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt," Exodus 32:1. God takes them up in their own words. What happened? Moses interceded, and, so to speak, he would not permit God to say, "Thy people," as of him; but he insisted upon Thy people, as of God’s people. Now then, it is a covenant made with Moses, as mediator. Here comes in the sovereignty of grace, introduced indeed when all was lost (the condition of the law having been violated). If God had not been sovereign, what would have been the consequence of this infraction? The destruction of all the people. That is, though the sovereignty of God is eternal, it is revealed when it becomes the only resource of a people lost by their own ways: and this sovereignty manifests itself through the means of a mediator. There is still another covenant in Deuteronomy 29:1 : "These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb." And the subject of this third covenant with the Israelites is this: God makes it with them, in order that under it they, being obedient, might be able to continue to enjoy the land. They did not keep it, and so they were expelled the territory. They were installed in it at the epoch of this third covenant, and by the keeping of it they would have been maintained there. See Deuteronomy 29:9, Deuteronomy 29:12, Deuteronomy 29:19. Thus we get the principle on which they entered at all into the land of Canaan. But we have also seen that before the law God had promised them the land for a perpetual possession, by covenants and promises made without condition; and it is owing to these promises, by the mediation of Moses, that Israel was spared, and at last enjoyed the land - enjoyed it, we say, on the terms of the third covenant, made in the plains of Moab. After the fall of the Israelites in this promised land, there remains still to be applied to them, as to their re-establishment, all the promises made to Abraham. After this people had failed in every possible way towards God, the prophets shew us clearly, that God has promised again to restore them and to establish them in their land, under the Lord Jesus Christ as their king, to receive in Him the full accomplishment of every temporal promise. Let us recollect, dear friends, that all we have been going through is the revelation of the character of Jehovah; and that, though truly these things have happened to Israel, they have happened to them on the part of God; and that they are, as a consequence, the manifestation of the character of God in Israel for us. It is not only of the failure of Israel that we are to think, but of the goodness of God - our God. Israel is the theatre upon which God has displayed all His character; but not alone is Israel to be considered: the glory of God and the honour of His perfections are concerned. If God could fail in His gifts towards Israel, He could fail in His gifts towards us. We shall have yet, on another occasion, to continue our account of this people. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01.09. EZEKIEL 37:1-28 ======================================================================== Darby HCG: 10 Lecture 9 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Ezekiel 37:1-28. Israel’s Failure and Dispersion; Promises of Restoration. J. N. Darby. That which happens to the dry bones seen by Ezekiel exhibits, very forcibly, the matter to be treated of this evening; namely, what God in His goodness will yet do in favour of Israel. We shall follow our usual method of giving a succession of passages out of the word of God upon it. You remember, that in commencing this subject, we remarked the difference between the covenant made with Abraham, and the covenant of the law given on Mount Sinai; and that whenever God was going to shew grace to His people, He called to mind the covenant made with Abraham. We also remarked that Israel took the promises under the covenant made in the wilderness, and not under that made with Abraham; and that, from that time Israel, being put under the condition of obedience in order to persevere in the enjoyment of the promises, failed altogether; but that, notwithstanding, thanks to the mediation of Moses, God was able to bless the people. We shall have to see how Israel failed again after that, even when established in the land which the Lord had given to them; and that God raised up prophets, in a way altogether apart from His necessary dealings with them, to convict them of the sin into which they had fallen, and to shew the faithful ones that the counsels of God towards Israel would not be put aside; for that, by means of the Messiah, He would accomplish all that which He had spoken. We shall see also, that it was just when Israel would fail, that these promises of their re-establishment would become precious to the faithful remnant of the people. Let us remember that in the history of the sin of Israel under the law, we have the history of every heart among us; that if we place ourselves before God, we shall recognise that it is only the grace which is known to us by the work of God, which can not only sustain us in but relieve us from, the situation in which we find ourselves in consequence of sin. I am going to look through the decline and ruin of Israel under every form of its government, from the time of the entry into the land of Canaan. It was Joshua who led them. The book of this name is the history of the victories of Israel over the Canaanites - the history of the faithfulness of God in the accomplishment of all that He had promised to His people. The Judges and Samuel are the history of the failure of Israel in the land of Canaan until David; but, at the same time, of the patience of God. First, then, how does Joshua describe the Israelites - their condition and character? In Joshua 24:1-33 he recites all that God had done on their behalf - all His favours, and all His goodness; upon which (Joshua 24:16) the people answer, "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord." In Joshua 24:19, Joshua says to the people, "Ye cannot serve the Lord"; and the people say, "Nay, but we will serve the Lord"; "The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey." So [Joshua 24:25] Joshua made a covenant with the people that day." This captain of their salvation led them into the land of promise; they enjoy the fruits of grace, and they anew undertake to obey the Lord. In Judges 2:1-23 they are found in complete failure, and in consequence God says, "I will not drive out your enemies from before you, but they shall be as thorns in your sides." Judges 2:1, Judges 2:14 : "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim; and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel." It is always the same picture - kindness on the part of God, ingratitude on that of man. Let us now turn to some passages which detail the transgressions of Israel under every form of government. 1 Samuel 4:11. Eli was the high priest, the judge and head of Israel, yet was the glory of Israel cast down to the ground: "the ark of God taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain." 1 Samuel 4:18, 1 Samuel 4:21. Eli himself died, and his daughter-in-law named the child which was born of her, Ichabod, saying, "The glory is departed from Israel (because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband)." After this, God, who raised up Samuel, the first of the prophets (Acts 3:24; Acts 13:20), governs Israel by him; but Israel soon rejected him; 1 Samuel 8:6-7. "And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, according to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day." It was then that God "gave them a king in his anger"; and we know what befell the king of their choice; 1 Samuel 15:26. The judgment is pronounced; Samuel says to Saul, "I will not return with thee; for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel." These extracts are sufficient for our purpose. Israel has failed under king, prophet, and priest. They are ruined under the king whom they had chosen. David is raised up in the place of Saul: God made this choice in His dealings in grace. David - type of Christ, as he is the father of Christ according to the flesh - was His gift to Israel. Thus it is solely by the goodness of God, that Israel becomes rich and glorious under David and Solomon. But still this people transgressed afresh under these two princes; 1 Kings 11:9, 1 Kings 11:11. "And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel."* {*And the royalty, raised up of God Himself, thus failed, and judgment passed upon it, though a lamp was reserved to David in Jerusalem till the day of Zedekiah.} It is an unhappy subject to dwell on - this constant distaste of man’s heart for God, under every condition in which he is placed; and this is the instruction which we ought to draw from the history of the children of Israel. They subsequently divided themselves into two distinct parts, and the ten tribes became altogether unfaithful. It was in the person of Ahaz that the family of David, the last human stay of the hopes of Israel (for after its fall nothing but God’s promises remained), began to become idolaters; 2 Kings 16:10, 2 Kings 16:14. The sin of Manasseh put the finishing stroke to all their misconduct; 2 Kings 21:1, 2 Kings 21:14. Such, in a few words, was the behaviour of Israel, and even of Judah, until the captivity of Babylon. The Spirit of God sums up the history of their crimes, and of His patience, in this impressive language (2 Chronicles 36:15-16): "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy." This was the end of their existence in the land of Canaan, into which they had been introduced by Joshua. The name of Lo-ammi (not my people) is at last written upon them. Having thus rapidly run through the history of their fall until their deportation to Babylon, let us consider the promises which sustained a faithful remnant among them during this prevalence of iniquity, and during the captivity of the nation. There is a prominent one to be noted, which served as a kind of pedestal, on which the faithful Jews might build their expectations. It is to be found in 2 Samuel 7:1-29 and 1 Chronicles 17:1-27. Between the two there is this difference: in 1 Chronicles 17:1-27 the application is made directly to Christ, which is not quite so plainly seen in 2 Samuel 7:1-29; and this distinction holds good as to the matter of the books themselves, of which the one (Samuel) is historical, and the other (the Chronicles) a brief synopsis or resume, which connects all the history genealogically from Adam to Christ, and to the hopes of Israel; and from which book, consequently, all the transgressions and falls of the kings of Israel are excluded. Compare 2 Samuel 7:14 with 1 Chronicles 17:13. This is the promise (2 Samuel 7:10), "Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as beforetime." 1 Chronicles 17:11-13 : "And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house, and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son." In Hebrews 1:5 application is made of these words to Christ; that is, all the promises made to Abraham and to his seed - all the promises made to Israel - are placed in the safe keeping, and gathered together in the Person, of the Son of David. We have now, dear friends, seen the promise made to David, which is the foundation of all those which concern the family of that name. We have seen the failure of the people, and also the promise made to the Son of David - to the Messiah. Let us pursue the study from the direct testimony of the prophets. Isaiah 1:25-28 decrees the full restoration of the Jews; but by judgments which cut off the wicked. Isaiah 4:2-4. "In that day (time of great trouble) shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." Chapter 6 of the same book gives us full entrance into the spirit of prophecy. It was at the moment when Ahaz came to the throne - the same Ahaz who sent the heathen altar from Damascus to Jerusalem - that Isaiah is sent to meet this king, the son of David, who introduced apostasy. The first thing we have presented to us is the manifested glory of Christ, the Lord thrice holy (we have the interpretation of John as to this, in John 12:1-50); that glory which condemns the entire nation; but which produces, by grace, the spirit of intercession, to which the mercy which re-establishes the nation is the answer - mercy, notwithstanding, which finds no accomplishment, until the wicked are got rid of from the people and the land, after a state of prolonged hardening on their part carried to its utmost height, in the rejection of Jesus Christ and of the testimony given to Him by the Spirit in the apostles. Read Isaiah 6:9-13. Isaiah 11:10 : "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse . . . to it shall the Gentiles seek." Here we learn how and when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; it is after He has slain the wicked "by the breath of his lips." Then "the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people." Read Isaiah 11:9-12. Isaiah 33:20, Isaiah 33:24; Isaiah 49:1-26. It has been asserted, that in these chapters, Zion means the church; but when all the joy is come, "Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me." Impossible, if Zion be the church. What! the church forsaken in the midst of its joy?* Read Isaiah 49:14-23; also Isaiah 62:1-12, which likewise applies to Israel; also Isaiah 65:10-25, where there can be no question, but of earthly blessings - such as are hitherto unknown on earth. In that day God Himself will rejoice over Jerusalem. {*If Zion means the church, the gathering of all, and the joy of the heavens and the earth, would be necessarily the church’s joy; for that gathering would constitute the church’s joy. Therefore the supposition of its desertion would be ridiculous; whereas the chapter, if we suppose desertion of the literal city Zion, when the gathering takes place, is very intelligible; but the Lord goes on to say, that she shall be the centre of blessings, for that He can never forget her.} These are some of the promises which plainly announce the forthcoming glory of the Jewish people and of Jerusalem. But there are others still more direct. Jeremiah 3:16-18 : "It shall come to pass when ye be multiplied," etc. Certain foreshadowings have happened, which have looked like the accomplishment of many of the prophecies relating to their restoration; as, for example, the return of the people from Babylon; but God has given His own marks; He has linked circumstances together which have never yet had their fulfilment; as, in this passage, "All the nations shall be gathered unto it." It is certain that this did not take place at the return from Babylon. But you will reply, It is the church. No; for "in those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together . . . to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." We see, in a word, three things happening together, which most surely have not had as yet a simultaneous accomplishment: namely, Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; Judah and Israel united; and the nations assembled to the throne of God. When the church was founded, Israel was dispersed; when Israel returned from Babylon, there was neither church nor assemblage of nations. Jeremiah 30:7-11. "It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it . . . and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him; but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king . . . and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid." These happy times for Israel have assuredly not yet been realised. Jeremiah 31:23, Jeremiah 31:27-28, Jeremiah 31:31, unto the end. Remark Jeremiah 31:28. Who is it that the Lord has broken down, thrown down, and destroyed? The same that He will build and plant. It is a little unreasonable to apply all the judgments to Israel, and all the blessings which concern the same persons to the church. And if the church be indeed here spoken of, what is the meaning of "from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner," "the hill Gareb," etc.? Observe, also, the last words of the chapter: "It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more for ever." Jeremiah 32:37-42. Touching passage as to the thoughts of the Lord concerning His people! After having given them promises of blessings in grace, and assured them that He would be their God, the Lord says, "And I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them." Jeremiah 33:6-11, Jeremiah 33:15, Jeremiah 33:25-26. This is again the blessing of Israel - of Jerusalem: and that by the presence of the Branch, which shall grow up unto David, who shall execute judgment and righteousness, in the land. Let us remember, dear friends, that the word of God in no way presents to us the Holy Spirit as the Branch of David, nor His office as that of executing judgment upon the earth. On the other hand if you insist upon this chapter applying to the restoration from Babylon, I would quote Nehemiah 9:36-37 : "Behold, we are servants this day . . . and we are in great distress," as shewing how little the return from Babylon was the fulfilment of all these promises we have been reading. Was that restoration the whole heart and the whole soul of God in favour of His people? We have seen the estimation in which the Spirit of God held that event. No: these promises of God were not at that time accomplished. Ezekiel 11:16-20. Until this day, Israel, or rather the Jews, are under the judgment which the first part of this passage imports. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none," Matthew 12:43. The closing verses speak of their last state, in which they are subjected to judgment; and at that time (Matthew 12:19) God gives a new heart to the remnant, the nucleus of the future nation. In Ezekiel 34:22 to the end of the chapter we have David their king in the midst of them, and their blessings immovable. Ezekiel 36:22-32. If you make the objection, These are spiritual things in which we participate, I answer, Yes, we participate in the blessings of the good olive-tree; but our joy has not dispossessed the Jew (the natural branch) of that which belongs to him. Why are we made partakers? Because we are grafted into Christ. If we are Christ’s, we are Abraham’s children, and partake of all that is spiritual. "Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers," Ezekiel 36:28. The church has only one Father, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I would now remark, for a moment in passing on our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:1-36 particularly John 3:12), where there is an allusion to "earthly things." Previously (John 3:10) He had said, "Art thou a master [teacher] in Israel, and knowest not these things?" - namely, the need of being born of water and of the Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God. This knowledge was to be got out of the Old Testament, the source whence the teachers drew their instruction. The passage just quoted out of Ezekiel contains almost the very same words used by our Lord. How! says He, you a master [teacher] in Israel! you ought to understand that Israel must have a new and purified heart in order to enjoy the promises. How is it that you know not these things? If you enter not into My saying that you must be born of water and of the Spirit, and do not understand these earthly things, how can it be expected that you should believe about heavenly things? As if He had said, If I have spoken to you of the things which apply to Israel, if I have told you that Israel must be born again to enjoy those terrestrial promises which belong to her, and you have not understood Me, how will you comprehend about heavenly things - about the glory of Christ exalted in heaven, and the church, His companion, in this heavenly glory? You have not even understood the doctrines of your prophets. You a teacher in Israel! you should at least have made yourself acquainted with the earthly things, of which Ezekiel and others have spoken. In this chapter of Ezekiel, as in many others, expressions are found, such as "fruit of trees" - "increase of the field" - details of earthly things, which are the earthly blessings promised to Israel; whilst, at the same time, the necessity of a new heart is connected with them, in order that those to whom these promises belong may be able to enjoy them. Israel must be renewed in heart to receive the promises of Canaan. God must cause them to walk in His statutes by giving them a new heart, and then, but only then, they will enjoy the- blessings foretold for them. Ezekiel 37:1-28 gives a detailed history of the re-establishment of Israel - the joining together of the two parts of the nation, their return into the land, and their state of unity and fidelity to God in this same land; God being their God, and David their king being present - present for ever, in such a way as that the nations shall know that their God is the Lord, when His sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel 39:22-25. It is evident that the time here mentioned is not yet come; since, when it does, God "will not hide his face any more from them," as He is doing at the present time, and that He will gather them "unto their own land," and will leave none of them among the heathen. In conclusion, let us call to mind the great principles upon which these prophecies rest. The restoration of the Jews is founded upon the promises made to Abraham without condition; their fall is the result of their having undertaken to act in their own strength. After having exercised the patience of God in every possible way "until there was no remedy," judgment is come upon them; but God reverts to His promises. Let us make a proper application of this to our own hearts. The same history is ours - always that of the fall. No sooner has God placed us in such or such a position than we immediately fail in it. But there is behind our failure a principle of strength, that is to say, the revelation of the counsels of God, and, by consequence, unconditional promises; and we have seen (in Moses as the type), that it is the mediation and the presence of Jesus which is the accomplishment of these promises. We have also seen that God executes judgment only after extraordinary patience, after having used every possible means (however long that judgment may have been pronounced) to recall man to a sense of his duty, if there had been a spark of life in his heart; but there was none. Individuals, quickened by grace, hold to the promises which will have their fulfilment in the manifestation of Him who can realise them, and merit the realisation for others. And nothing puts these principles in clearer relief than the history of Israel: "All these things happened unto them for types (see margin), and they are written for our admonition." It is like a mirror, in which we can see, on the one hand, the heart of man, which fails always, and on the other, the faithfulness of God who never fails, who will fulfil all His promises, and who will put forth a strength able to surmount all the wickedness of man, and the power of Satan. It is when the enmity has arrived at its height, that He says, "Make the heart of this people fat" (Isaiah 6:10): but it is not until nearly eight hundred years after (Acts 28:27), that we find the accomplishment of this judgment pronounced so long before by the prophet. It was when the people had rejected everything, that God hardened them, to make them a monument of His ways. What patience on the part of God! And so in that which concerns us Gentiles - the execution of the judgment has been suspended for eighteen centuries, and God is still drawing upon all the eternal resources of His grace to try if there be any who will listen to His testimony of salvation. As the Lord said (John 15:22, John 15:24), "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." Admirable patience! Infinite grace of Him who interests Himself in us, even after our rebellion and iniquity! To Him be all the glory! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 01.10. ISAIAH 1:1-31 ======================================================================== Lecture 10 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Isaiah 1:1-31. Same subject as the preceding and Manner of its Accomplishment. J. N. Darby. Some passages of Scripture upon the destiny of the Jews, which at our last meeting there was not time to quote, will terminate our sketch of historical prophecy concerning this people; I say historical, because prophecy is the history which God has given us of futurity. I would again remind you of that important fact, that Jewish history is especially the manifestation of the glory of Jehovah. To ask, In what does this history concern us? is to say, Of what use is it that I should know what my Father is about to do for my brethren and the manifestation of His character in His acts? It is evident, from the place which the subject occupies in His word, that their affairs are very dear to our God and Father, if they be not to us. It is in this people, by the ways of God revealed to them, that the character of Jehovah is fully revealed, that the nations will know Jehovah, and that we shall ourselves learn to know Him. The same person may be king of a country, and father of a family; and this is the difference between God’s actings towards us and the Jews. Towards the church, it is the character of Father; towards the Jews, it is the character of Jehovah, the King. His faithfulness, unchangeableness, His almighty power, His government of the whole earth - all this is revealed in His relationship towards Israel; it is in this way that the history of this people lets us into the character of Jehovah. Psalms 126:1-6. "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion . . . then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them." See, on the same subject, Ezekiel 39:6-7 : "And I will send a fire on Magog, on them that dwell carelessly in the isles; and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord [Jehovah], the Holy One in Israel." Ezekiel 39:28 : "Then shall they know that I am the Lord [Jehovah] their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen; but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there." This is the way in which Jehovah reveals Himself. The Father reveals Himself to our souls by the gospel, by the spirit of adoption; but Jehovah makes Himself known by His judgments - by the exercise of His power on the earth. I have said, that the Father reveals Himself by the gospel, because the gospel is a system of pure grace - a system which teaches us to act towards others on the principle of pure grace, as we have been acted on by the Father. It is not "eye for eye, tooth for tooth"; it is not what justice requires, the law of retaliation, or equity; but a principle according to which I ought to "be perfect, as my Father is perfect." But it will not be mere grace that is suffering evil and doing good, in the government of Jehovah. Jehovah, without doubt, will bless the nations; but the character of His kingdom is, that "judgment shall return unto righteousness," Psalms 94:15. At the first coming of Jesus Christ, judgment was with Pilate, and righteousness with Jesus; but when Jesus shall return, judgment shall be united to righteousness. The people of Christ now, the children of God, ought to follow the example of the Saviour (that is, not expect or wish that judgment should be in the rigour of righteousness; but they should be gentle and humble in the midst of all the wrongs which they suffer on the part of man). United to Christ, they are indemnified for all their wrongs in the strength of His intimate love, which comforts them by the consolations of the presence of His Spirit; and, more than this, by the hopes of the heavenly glory. On the other hand, Jehovah will console His people by the direct acting of His righteousness in their favour (see Psalms 65:5), and by re-establishing them in earthly glory. The Jews, then, are the people by whom, and in whom, God sustains His name of Jehovah, and His character of judgment and righteousness. The church are the people in whom, as in His family, the Father reveals His character of goodness and love. We have already touched upon the events which will happen to the Jews in the last time, by the quotations from Jeremiah, Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah 31:1-40; Jeremiah 32:1-44; Jeremiah 33:1-26; and from Ezekiel 36:1-38; Ezekiel 37:1-28; Ezekiel 38:1-23; Ezekiel 39:1-29. I will now cite a few other passages to the same effect, following the order of the prophets. Daniel 12:1 . . . it is the presence of him who will act for the people of Daniel, that is, for the Jewish people. There are a few remarkable traits in this prophecy. First, God in His power, by the ministry of Michael, is to stand up for the children of Daniel’s people; and it is to be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. In this we have a clue to Matthew 24:1-51 and Mark 13:19. The resurrection (Daniel 12:2) applies to the Jews. "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." You find the same expression in Isaiah 26:1-21 : "Thy dead shall live; . . ." and in Ezekiel 37:12. It is a figurative resurrection of the people, buried as a nation among the Gentiles. In this revival it is said of those who rise, "Some to shame and everlasting contempt." This is what will happen to the Jews. Of those brought out from among the nations, some shall enjoy eternal life, but some shall be subject to shame and everlasting contempt; Isaiah 66:24. At the time of the accomplishment of this prophecy all of Daniel’s people are not brought up from among the nations. In a word, on the one hand, God standing up for His people in a time of distress; and, on the other, a remnant delivered - such is a summary of Daniel 12:1-13. In Hosea 2:14 unto the end, we see that the Lord will receive Israel, will bring her into the land, after having humbled her, but having spoken to her also after His own heart, and will make her such as she was in the days of her youth; that Jehovah will make a covenant with her, and bless her in every kind of way on this earth, and will betroth her unto Himself for ever. But more. There is an uninterrupted chain of blessings from Jehovah Himself, down to the earthly blessings poured out in abundance upon Israel, who is the seed of God (for this is the force of the word ’Jezreel’). On this account there is added (Hosea 2:23), "I will sow her unto me in the earth." For Israel will become the instrument of blessing to the earth, as life from amongst the dead. At this time all is hindered by sin; spiritual wickedness is now "in heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12); and every description of misery abounds, accompanied though it be with many blessings (for God makes "all things work together for good to them that love him"); but at that time there will be a fulness of earthly blessing. Hosea 3:4-5. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." They shall have neither the true God nor a false god (so it is with them now); but after that they shall seek Jehovah and David - the well-beloved, or Christ. Joel 3:1, Joel 3:16-18, Joel 3:20-21. After having spoken of the nations at the time of the return of His people from captivity (Joel 3:1-15), and the judgments exercised upon the Gentiles, God speaks in the latter verses of the Jews. Jerusalem is to be holy; Jehovah will dwell in Zion; He will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. This will be their case when the judgment of God shall fall upon the nations. Amos 9:14-15. "And I will bring again the captivity of my people . . . and I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up." This is not yet accomplished. Amos 9:11-12, of this chapter, are quoted in Acts 15:1-41, not for the purpose of shewing that the prophecy had then come to pass; but to prove that God had all along determined upon having a people from out of the Gentiles; and that, therefore, the language of the prophets agreed with that which Simon Peter had been relating of what God had done in his days It is not the accomplishment of a prophecy, but the establishing of a principle by the mouth of the prophets, as well as by the word of the Spirit through Simon Peter. Micah 4:1-8. Nor is this yet brought to pass. It is, so to speak, a topographical description of Jerusalem, when her first dominion is restored. In Micah 5:4, Micah 5:7-8, the name of Christ 15 respected and great to the ends of the earth, Israel everywhere the dew of divine blessing, and coming off victorious against all who oppose her. With regard to Micah, you will remark (as was observed in a former lecture) how, in Micah 7:19-20, the Spirit adverts to the promises made to the fathers without condition. Zephaniah 3:12, to the end. What language is this? God is said to be "silent [see margin] in his love"; He is so moved that He is "silent." On whom does he lavish all this? Read Zephaniah 3:13 : "The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." Jehovah is in the midst of them, and nothing can disturb them. Zechariah 1:15, Zechariah 1:17-21. Mention is here made of the four monarchies who scattered Israel, as themselves scattered by the force of the judgments of God. Zechariah 9:9, to the end. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee . . . ." This, you will assert, is already accomplished. No; only in part. The Holy Spirit, in the New Testament (John 12:15), cites this passage; but with the omission of the words "He is just, and having salvation" (saving himself, margin). Jesus, in fact, cared not for Himself. When they said to Him mocking Him, "If thou be the Son of God come down from the cross," He took no notice. He hid not Himself from grief: far from saving Himself, He saved us; He spared not Himself that we might be spared. Zechariah 10:6, unto the end. When was it that Israel had been as "though the Lord had not cast them off?" Never. Let us now turn to some passages which will shew that, though the people of Israel will be restored in their land, there will only be a remnant saved. Zechariah 12:2 mentions a time of war, even of all the people round about, the people of the earth, against Jerusalem: but God will defend the city and its inhabitants in a miraculous manner, and the nations will be destroyed (Zechariah 12:9). The spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured out upon the remnant of Israel - " all the families that remain"; and "they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn." Isaiah 18:1-7. Whatever critical difficulties exist in this chapter, its great object is too evident to be obscured by any rendering whatever. The rivers of Cush are the Nile and Euphrates.* The enemies of Israel, in the biblical part of their history, were situated on these two rivers. There is, in this prophecy, a call made to a country which is beyond them, to a distant land, which had never, at the time of the prophecy, come into association with Israel. The prophet has then in his view some country which would later come upon the scene. Isaiah 18:3 : God bids all the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, to take cognisance. The nations are to have their eyes upon Israel; they are summoned by God to pay attention to what was taking place as to Jerusalem; they are all interested in her fate. The world is invited to watch the judgments about to take place. In the meanwhile (Isaiah 18:4), God takes His rest, and lets the nations act of themselves: Israel has returned into her land (Isaiah 18:5-6). {*We learn from Dr. Hales’ Analysis of Chronology, vol. 1, p. 379, that the descendants of Cush extended their settlements from Chusistan, "the land of Cush," or Susiana, on the coast of the Persian gulf (into which the Euphrates falls), through Arabia to the Red sea, and thence crossed into Africa beyond the Nile. The rivers of Cush may therefore well mean the Nile and Euphrates. He also makes (p. 355) the descendants of Nimrod settled in Assyria to be called Chusdim, or "Godlike Cushites." (p. 354.) [Tr.]} It is a description of Israel returning into Judea by the help of some nation at a distance from the scene itself, which is neither Babylon or Egypt, nor other nations who meddled in their affairs of old. We say not that it is France, or Russia, or England. The Israelites return to their land, but God takes no notice of them. Israel is abandoned to the nations; and when everything would appear as if it were going to bear fruit (Isaiah 18:5) anew, behold the sprigs and branches cut down, and left to the fowls of the air to summer on, and to the beasts of the field to winter on (which terms are designations of the Gentiles). Nevertheless, at that time a present of this people shall be brought to the Lord of hosts, and from this people "to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion." Psalms 126:4. "Turn again our captivity, O Lord." Zion and Judah will be first brought back. The captives of Zion were already brought back when this prayer was presented to God (Psalms 126:1); they are but the earnest of what God will do in the restoration of all Israel. But it is fitting, here, to touch on the manner of God’s dealing with the houses of Judah and Israel in their judgment and dispersion. The first to be gathered are those who rejected Jesus, those who were guilty of His death. The ten tribes, as such, were not guilty of this crime; the ten tribes were dispersed before the introduction of the four monarchies into the rule of the world. It was the Assyrians who led captive the ten tribes, before Babylon had existence as an empire. A circumstance relating to a Jewish family or tribe (Jeremiah 35:1-10), found living in the midst of the Arabs, is related of Mr. Wolff, who visited it of late years. These Jews say of themselves, that they are descended from some who refused to return to Judea with Ezra, because they knew that those who returned with Ezra would put the Messiah to death; and for this reason they remained where they were. Even though this be false, the existence of such a tradition is not a little wonderful One thing is evident that those who rejected the Christ will be subjected to the Antichrist; they will make "a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell" (Isaiah 28:15); but their covenant will destroy all their hopes; having united themselves to Antichrist, they will undergo the consequence of this alliance, and at last will be destroyed. Two thirds of the inhabitants will be cut off in the country of Israel itself after their return; Zechariah 13:8-9. But with the ten tribes the occurrences are different, as we know from Ezekiel 20:32-39. Instead of two parts cut off in the land, the rebels - that is, the disobedient and rebellious ones among them - will not enter at all into Canaan. God does with them, as He did with Israel upon their rebellion after their coming out from Egypt; He destroys them without their even seeing it. Thus there are two classes, so to speak, of Jews, in this return. First, the Jewish nation, properly speaking - namely, Judah, and those allied with her in the rejection of the true Christ: they will be in connection with the Antichrist, and of them two thirds will be cut off in the land. Secondly, those of the ten tribes coming up, of whom some will be cut off in the wilderness on their way into the land. Matthew 23:37-39. This prediction, delivered by Jesus Himself, gives us the assurance of the coming of Christ to restore Israel, and reign in her midst: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, . . . your house is left unto you desolate . . . till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Israel will see Jesus, but it will be when this word of Psalms 118:26 shall go out of her mouth. The psalm itself gives a happy picture of her joy at that time; and out of it the Saviour drew the announcement of the judgment which He pronounced against the Jewish rulers upon their rejection of Him: "The stone, which the builders refused, is become the head stone of the corner." Out of this psalm, also, is drawn the joyful salutation with which the little children welcomed Him in the temple with Hosannahs - fit precursors of those who, in happier times yet to come, will receive the hearts of little children, and will confess that Saviour formerly rejected by their fathers! It is this psalm which celebrates the exaltation and blessing of Israel - that blessing due to the faithfulness of Jehovah alone, whilst it points out the sin of the nation in rejecting "the stone" which was to become the foundation of God in Zion; but which was also, by the unbelief of that nation, the "stone of stumbling" and of judgment. Besides these two classes of Israelites who will return by providential agency, but still of their own free accord, the Lord after His appearance will gather together from among the Gentiles the elect of the Jewish nation, who will be yet among the nations; and this return will be accompanied with great blessing. (See Matthew 24:31; compare Isaiah 27:12-13, and Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12.) We subjoin two principles, very simple and clear, which distinguish all preceding blessings (as, for instance, the return from Babylon) from the accomplishment of the prophecies of which we have been speaking. These two principles are: firstly, That the blessings flow from the presence of Christ, Son of David. Secondly, That they are a consequence of the new covenant. Neither one nor the other of these conditions was fulfilled at the return from Babylon, nor has it been since. The gospel does not occupy itself with the earthly blessings of the Jews, which is the matter of these prophecies. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 01.11. REVELATION 12:1-17 ======================================================================== Lecture 11 of 11 on "The Hopes of the Church of God" Revelation 12:1-17. Summing Up, and Conclusion. J. N. Darby. I have read this chapter, not as professing to explain it in detail, but because it gives a summary of that which will happen at the close of this dispensation, at least the heavenly sources of these events, and the woes of the earth.* My object this evening is to take up, in their order, the prophetic events which have been occupying us, as far as God shall give me ability. {*The deliverance of the earth is found elsewhere.} But, beforehand, dear friends, it will not be amiss to return to a few of the thoughts which were given out at the very beginning of these lectures. Let us be reminded, in treating of these subjects, of their great end - a double one. One end is that of detaching us from the world, to which (though indeed the effect of every part of the word, when the Spirit of God is applying it) prophecy is peculiarly adapted; its tendency must be to "deliver us from this present evil age." The other end is to make us intelligent of the character of God, and of His ways towards us. These are two precious and wholesome fruits, which spring from the acquirement of the knowledge of prophecy. Many are the objections made to its study; it is thus that Satan always acts against the truth. I do not mean objections against such or such a view, but against the study of prophecy itself. And Satan works in this way as to the entire word of God. To one he says, Follow morality, and do not meddle with dogmas, because he knows that dogmas will free a man from his power, by the revelation of Jesus, and of the truth in their hearts. To another he suggests the neglecting of prophecy, because in it is found the judgment of this world, of which he is prince. But to allow weight to such objections, is it not to find fault with God, who has given prophecy to us, and who has even attached a particular blessing to the reading of the part reputed the most difficult? Prophecy throws a great light upon the dispensations of God; and, in this sense, it does much as regards the freedom of our souls towards Him. For what hinders it more than the error so often committed, of confounding the law and the gospel, the past economies or dispensations with the existing one? If, in our internal fighting, we find ourselves in the presence of the law, it is impossible to find peace; and yet if we insist on the difference which exists between the position of the saints of old, and that of the saints during the actual dispensation, this again troubles the minds of many. Now the study of prophecy clears up such points, and at the same time enlightens the faithful as to their walk and conversation; for, whilst it always maintains free salvation by the death of Jesus, prophecy enables us to understand this entire difference between the standing of the saints now and formerly, and lights up with all the counsels of God the road along which His own people have been conducted, whether before or after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Again, dear friends, as we have before said, it is always the hope which is presented to us which acts upon our hearts and affections. There are thus always enjoyments in prospect which stamp their actual character upon our souls. That which occupies the heart of man as hope makes the rule of his conduct. Of what vast importance is it not, then, to have our souls filled with hopes according to God! Persons say it is the idle curiosity of prying into hidden things; but if it were true that we ought not to look into prophecy, the conclusion is inevitable, that our thoughts are not to go beyond the present. The way of knowing what God’s intentions are for the future is certainly the study of that prophecy which He has given to us. Prophecy records things to come; it is the scriptural mirror, wherein future events are seen. If we refuse the study of what God has revealed as to come, we are necessarily left to our own ideas upon it. The famous passage of Paul has been quoted to some here (1 Corinthians 2:2): "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." It is constantly used as an objection against the study of what is found revealed in the word. This arises from two causes. The one is due to that prolific source of error, namely, the citation of a passage without examining the context; the other, alas! arises from a greater or less want of uprightness - from a desire (unrecognised, it may be, in our own deceitful hearts) of standing still in the ways of the Lord, by making as little acquaintance with them as may be. It is not true that we are to limit ourselves to the knowledge of Jesus Christ crucified. We must also know Jesus Christ glorified, Jesus Christ at the right hand of God; we must know Him as High Priest; as Advocate with the Father. We ought to know Jesus Christ as much as possible, and not be content with saying, "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." So to say is to take the letter of the word and abuse it. The apostle, seeing the tendency that there was in the church at Corinth to follow rather the learning and philosophy of man than Christ (a thing not to be wondered at in a city renowned for science), points out, in leading their souls back to Christ, how foreign his entry among them was from earthly wisdom. He "was with them in weakness and fear; his speech and his preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom"; "he determined not to know anything among them but Jesus Christ, and him crucified" - Jesus Christ, and even Christ as the despised one among men. He is not speaking of the value of the blood, but of the condition of Christ Himself, in order to bring down, by the cross, all their vain glory, and found their faith upon the word of God, and not on human wisdom. But in the same chapter he says, that from the moment he comes into the midst of true Christians, his conduct changes; he speaks "wisdom among them that are perfect." He would have nothing to do with human wisdom; but as soon as he finds himself among the perfect ones, he says, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect." Desiring to confine ourselves to Jesus crucified, in the way it is urged, is, I repeat, to confine ourselves to as little as possible of Christianity. In Hebrews 6:1-20 the apostle says, he is unwilling to do what they would make him say in this place; he altogether condemns that which is urged upon us. "Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ," says he, "let us go on unto perfection." After these observations on the study of prophecy in general, I proceed to recall, in a few words, how God has revealed Himself by it. Revelation 12:1-17 presents to us the great object of prophecy, and of all the word of God, that is, the combat which takes place between the last Adam and Satan. It is from this centre of truth that all the light which is found in Scripture radiates. This great combat may take place either for the earthly things (they being the object), and then it is in the Jews; or for the church (that being the object), and then it is in the heavenly places. It is on this account that the subject of prophecy divides itself into two parts: the hopes of the church, and those of the Jews; though the former be scarcely, properly speaking, prophecy, which concerns the earth and God’s government of it. But before coming to this great crisis, namely the combat between Satan and the last Adam, it was necessary that the history of the first Adam should be developed. This has been done. And in order that the church, that is, Christians, may be in a position to occupy themselves with the things of God, it was needful, first of all, that they should be in happy certainty as to their own position before Him. At His first coming, Christ accomplished all the work which the wisdom of the Father, in the eternal counsels of God, had confided to Him; this effected the peace of the church. The Lord Jesus came, in order that the certainty of salvation, by the knowledge of the grace of God, should be introduced into the world, that is, into the hearts of the faithful. After having accomplished salvation, He communicates it to His followers in giving them life. His Holy Spirit, which is the seal of this salvation in the heart, reveals to them things to come, as to the children of the family and heirs of the family estate. During the period which separates the first coming of the Lord from the second, the church is gathered by the action of the Holy Spirit to have part in the glory of Christ at His return. These, in a few words, are the two great subjects which I have been opening; namely, that Christ, having done all that is needful for the salvation of the church - having saved all those who believe, the Holy Ghost now acts in the world to communicate to the church the knowledge of this salvation. He does not come to propose the hope that God will be good, but a fact - that fact, once more, that Jesus has already accomplished the salvation of all those who believe; and when the Holy Spirit communicates this knowledge to a soul, it knows that it is saved. Being then put in relationship with God as His children, we are His heirs, "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." All that concerns the glory of Christ belongs to us, and the Holy Spirit is given to us, in the first place, to make us understand that we are children of God. He is a Spirit of adoption, but more, a Spirit of light, who teaches the children of God what their inheritance is. As they are one with Christ, all the truth of His glory is revealed to them, and the supremacy which He has over all things, God having also constituted Him heir of all things, and us co-heirs. After Christ has fulfilled all that was necessary, the church, until the second coming of its Saviour, is taken from out of all nations, and united to Him. It has, whilst here below, the knowledge of the salvation which He has accomplished, and of the coming glory, the Holy Spirit, in those who believe, being the seal of salvation accomplished, and the earnest of the future glory. These truths throw a great light upon the entire history of man. But let us ever remember that the great object of the Bible is the conflict between Christ, the last Adam, and Satan. In what condition did Christ find the first Adam? In a condition into the lowest depths of which He was obliged to enter, as responsible head of all creation. He found man in state of ruin - entirely lost. It was needful that this should be unfolded before the coming of Christ; for God did not introduce His Son into the world as Saviour until all that was necessary to shew that man was in himself incapable of anything good was brought out. The whole state of man, before and after the deluge, under the law, under the prophets, only served as a clearer attestation that man was lost. He had failed throughout, under every possible circumstance, until, God having sent His Son, the servants said, "This is the heir; let us kill him." The measure of sin was then at its height; the grace of God then did also much more abound, and gave us the inheritance - us poor sinners, the inheritance with Christ in the heavenly glory, of which we possess the earnest, having Christ in spirit here below. But (to enter a little more into the succession of dispensations, and also into that which concerns the character of God in this respect) the first thing which we would remark is the deluge, because until then there had not been, so to speak, government in the world. The prophecy which existed before the deluge was to this effect, that Christ was to come. The teachings of God were ever to this end: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." Let us pass on. In Noah’s time there was government of the earth, and God coming in judgment and committing the right of the sword to man. After this comes the call of Abraham. Mark: the principle of government is not put forward by the word, but the principle of promise, and the call to be in relationship with God, of that one person who becomes the root of all the promises of God - Abraham, the father of the faithful. God calls him, makes him quit his country, his family, bidding him go into a country which He would shew him. God reveals Himself to him as the God of promise, who separates a people to Himself by a promise which He gives them. It is at this epoch that God revealed Himself under the name of God Almighty. After that, among the descendants of Abraham, by this same principle of election, God takes the children of Jacob to be His people here below - the object of all His earthly care, and out of whose midst Christ was to come according to the flesh. It is in this people of Israel that God displays all His characters as Jehovah; it is not only as a God of promise, but it is a God who unites the two principles of calling and government, which two had been each successively brought out in Noah and in Abraham. Israel was the called, separated people - separated indeed only to earthly blessings, and to enjoy the promise; but, at the same time, to be subject to the exercise of the government of God according to the law. We say then, that in Noah was marked the principle of government of the earth, and in Abraham that of calling and election; and so Jehovah will accomplish all that He has said as God of promise, "who was, and is, and is to come," and govern all the earth, according to the righteousness of His law - the righteousness revealed in Israel. We have shown that God (Exodus 19:4-9) made the accomplishment of the promises, in those times, to depend upon the faithfulness of man, and that He took occasion to prove him, and to represent in detail, as in a picture, all the characters under which He acted towards him. It was this which He was doing under priests, prophets, and kings. And it is to be particularly observed, that the bearing of prophecy, in the unfolding of this succession of relationships of God with Israel, and with man, is not alone the manifestation of the fall of man, but also, and chiefly, of the glory of God. When Israel had transgressed in every possible way and circumstance, even in the family of David, which was the last human resource of the nation - at the moment that family failed in Ahaz, prophecy commences in all its details, having these two features: one, the manifestation of the glory of Christ, in order fully to shew that the people had failed under the law; the other, the manifestation of the coming glory of Christ, to be the support of the faith of those who were desiring to keep the law, but who saw that everything was out of course It is too late to take an interest in the prophecies when they are fulfilled. Those to whom at the actual time the prophets addressed themselves, were the people from whom submission was expected. The word of God should have touched their conscience. It ought to be so with us. In the midst of all this, however, were predictions which announced that the Messiah was to come, and to suffer for ends most important. Prophecy applies itself properly to the earth; its object is not heaven. It was about things that were to happen on the earth; and the not seeing this has misled the church. We have thought that we ourselves had within us the accomplishment of these earthly blessings, whereas we are called to enjoy heavenly blessings. The privilege of the church is to have its portion in the heavenly places; and later blessings will be shed forth upon the earthly people. The church is something altogether apart - a kind of heavenly economy, during the rejection of the earthly people, who are put aside on account of their sins, and driven out among the nations, out of the midst of which nations God chooses a people for the enjoyment of heavenly glory with Jesus Himself. The Lord, having been rejected by the Jewish people, is become wholly a heavenly person. This is the doctrine which we peculiarly find in the writings of the apostle Paul. It is no longer the Messiah of the Jews, but a Christ exalted, glorified; and it is for want of taking hold of this exhilarating truth, that the church has become so weak. Having thus briefly retraced the history of the different dispensations, it remains for us now to see the church glorified, but without the Lord Jesus having abandoned any of His rights upon the earth. He was the Heir: He was to shed His blood, which was to ransom the inheritance. As Boaz said (whose name signifies, In him is strength), "What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance," Ruth 4:5. So it was necessary that Christ should buy the church, co-heir by grace (as Boaz, type of Christ, bought the inheritance by taking to wife Ruth) to whom the inheritance had devolved in the decrees of Jehovah.* {*This is true in principle; but Ruth, as a figure, applies more directly to the remnant of Israel, brought in under grace.} Christ then, and the church, have title to the inheritance, that is, to all that Christ Himself has created as God. But what is the state of the church actually? Does it actually inherit these things? Not any; because until we are in the glory we can have nothing, possess nothing, except only the Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession." Until that time Satan is the prince of this world, the god of this world; he accuses even the children of God in the heavenly places, which, however, he occupies only by usurpation (the way being made for him by the passions of men, and the power which he exercises over the creature, fallen, and at a distance from God, although, definitively, the providence of God uses all to the accomplishment of His counsels). And now, dear friends, having contemplated the rights of Christ and of the church, let us consider how Christ will make them good. The consideration of this will lead us into the discovery, in their order, of the accomplishment of events at the close. Perhaps, however, having arrived thus far, it would be better (as I have only been speaking of the Jews) to turn for a moment to the Gentiles. We have remarked that, when the fall of the Jewish nation was complete, God transferred the right of government to the Gentiles; but with this difference, that this right was separated from the calling and the promise of God. In the Jews, the two things were united, namely, the calling of God, and government upon the earth, which became distinct things from the moment that Israel was put aside. In Noah and Abraham we had them distinct; government in the one, calling in the other. With the Jews these principles were united; but Israel failed, and ceased thenceforward to be capable of manifesting the principle of the government of God, because God in Israel acted in righteousness; and unrighteous Israel could no longer be the depository of the power of God. God, then, quitted His terrestrial throne in Israel. Notwithstanding this, as to the earthly calling, Israel continued to be the called people: for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. As to government, God transports it where He will and it went to the Gentiles. There are, indeed, the called from among the nations (namely, the church), but it is for the heavens they are called. The calling of God for the earth is never transferred to the nations; it remains with the Jews. If I want an earthly religion, I ought to be a Jew. From the instant that the church loses sight of its heavenly calling, it loses, humanly speaking, all. What has happened to the nations by their having had government given over to them? They have become "beasts": so the four great monarchies are called. Once the government is transferred to the Gentiles, they become the oppressors of the people of God: first, the Babylonians; secondly, the Medes and Persians; thirdly, the Greeks; then, the Romans. The fourth monarchy consummated its crime at the same instant that the Jews consummated theirs, in being accessory, in the person of Pontius Pilate, to the will of a rebellious nation, by killing Him who was at once the Son of God and King of Israel. Gentile power is in a fallen state, even as the called people, the Jews, are. Judgment is written upon power and calling, as in man’s hand. In the meanwhile, what happens? First, the salvation of the church. The iniquity of Jacob, the crime of the nations the judgment of the world, and that of the Jews - all this becomes salvation to the church. It was accomplished all in the death of Jesus. Secondly, all that has passed since that stupendous event has no other object than the gathering together of the children of God. The Jews, the called people have become rebellious, and are driven away from the presence of God; the nations are become equally rebellious; but government is always there - in a state of ruin indeed; but the patience of God is always there, also waiting until the end Then what takes place? The church goes to join the Lord in the heavenly places. Let us now suppose that, in the time decreed by God all the church is assembled; what will happen? It will go immediately to meet the Lord, and the marriage of the Lamb will take place. Salvation will be consummated in the seat of the glory itself - in the heavenly places. Where will the nations be? The government of the fourth monarchy will be still in existence, but under the influence and direction of Antichrist; and the Jews will unite themselves to hum, in a state of rebellion, to make war with the Lamb. Why all thus? and why has not the gospel hindered such a state of things? Because Satan, unto this hour, has not been driven out of the heavenly places, and, by consequence, all that God has done here for man has been spoiled - whether government of the Gentiles, or the actual relationship of the Jews with God. All has been deteriorated by the presence of Satan, always there exercising his baneful influence. But God now, at the close, when the church is gathered and called up on high, takes things into His own hand. What will He do? Dispossess Satan - drive him from power. It is what Jesus will do when the church shall be manifestly united to Him, and He begins to act to restore everything into its proper order. Dear friends, as soon as the church shall be received to Christ, there will follow the battle in heaven, in order that the seat of government may be purged of those fertile sources, and of those active agents, of the ills of humanity, and of all creation. The result of such a combat is easily foreseen: Satan will be expelled from heaven, without being yet bound; but he will be cast down to earth, "having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time." Thenceforward, power will be established in heaven according to the intention of God. But on the earth it will be quite otherwise; for when Satan is driven away from heaven, he will excite the whole earth, and will raise up in particular the apostate part of it, which has revolted against the power of Christ coming from heaven. It is said, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! . . ." Behold, then, the created heavens occupied by Christ and His church; and Satan in great wrath upon the earth, having but a short time. Under the conduct of Antichrist, the fourth monarchy will become the sphere upon which the activity of Satan will then be displayed, who will unite the Jews with this apostate prince against heaven. I do not enter upon the scriptural proofs here - they have been already spoken of; I merely sum up the facts in the order of their accomplishment. It need scarcely be said that the result of all this will be the judgment and destruction of the beast and Antichrist, the heads of evil among the Gentiles and among the Jews, the secular and spiritual heads of mischief and rebellion on the earth. Jesus Christ will destroy, in the person of Antichrist, the power of Satan in that government, which we have seen was confided to the Gentiles. This wicked one, having joined himself to the Jews, and having placed himself at Jerusalem, as the centre of government of the earth, will be destroyed by the coming of the Lord of lords and King of kings; and Christ will anew occupy this chief seat of government, which will become the place of the throne of God on the earth. But although the Lord is come to the earth, and the power of Satan in Antichrist is destroyed and the government established in the hands of the Righteous One, the earth will not be reduced under His sceptre. The remnant of the Jews is delivered, and Antichrist destroyed; but the world, not yet acknowledging the rights of Christ, will desire to possess His heritage; and the Saviour must clear the land in order that its inhabitants may enjoy the blessings of His reign without interruption or hindrance, and that joy and glory may be established in this world, so long subjected to the enemy. The first thing, then, which the Lord will do will be to purify His land (the land which belongs to the Jews) of the Tyrians, the Philistines, the Sidonians; of Edom, and Moab, and Ammon - of all the wicked, in short, from the Nile to the Euphrates. It will be done by the power of Christ in favour of His people re-established by His goodness. The people are put into security in the land, and then will those of them who remain till that time among the nations be gathered together. When the people are living thus in peace, another enemy will come up, namely, Gog; but he will come only for his destruction. It would seem that in those times - probably at the commencement of this period - besides the personal manifestation of Christ in judgment, there will be a discovery much more calm, much more intimate, of the Lord Jesus to the Jews. This is what will take place when He will descend on the Mount of Olives, where "his feet shall stand," according to the expression of Zechariah 14:3-4. It is always the same Jesus; but He Will reveal Himself peaceably, and shew Himself, not as the Christ from heaven, but as the Messiah of the Jews. Blessing to the Gentiles will be the consequence of the restoration of the Jews, and of the presence of the Lord. The church will have been blessed; the apostasy of the fourth monarchy will no longer have existence; the wicked one will be cut off, as well as the unbelieving Israelites; in fine, the land of the Jews will be at peace. Afterwards there will be the world to come, prepared and introduced by these judgments, and by the presence of the Lord, who will take the place of wickedness and the wicked one. Those who shall have seen the glory manifested in Jerusalem will go and announce its arrival to the other nations. These will submit themselves to Christ; they will confess the Jews to be the people blessed of their Anointed, will bring the rest of them back into their land, and will themselves become the theatre of glory, which, with Jerusalem as its centre, will extend itself in blessing wherever there is man to enjoy its effects. The witness of the glory being spread everywhere, the hearts of men, full of goodwill, submit themselves to the counsels and glory of God in response to this testimony. All the promises of God being accomplished, and the throne of God being established at Jerusalem, this throne will become to the whole earth the source of happiness. The re-establishment of the people of God will be to the world "as life from the dead." One thing is to be added, namely, that at this time Satan will be bound, and in consequence the blessing will be without interruption until "he is loosed for a short season." Instead of the adversary in the heavenly places; instead of his government, the seat of which is now in the air; instead of that confusion and misery which he produces, as much as is allowed him to do; Christ and His church will be there, the source and instrument of blessing ever new. Government in the heavenly places will be the security, and not the hindrance, or the compulsory instrument, of the goodness of God. The glorified church - witness for all, even by its state, of the extent of the love of the Father, who has fulfilled all His promises, and has been better to our weak hearts than even their hopes - will fill the heavenly places with its own joy; and in its service will constitute the happiness of the world, towards which it will be the instrument of the grace which it shall be richly enjoying. Behold the heavenly Jerusalem, witness in glory of the grace which has placed her so high! In the midst of her shall flow the river of water of life, where grows the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the Gentiles; for even in the glory shall be preserved to her this sweet character of grace. Meanwhile, upon the earth, is the earthly Jerusalem, the centre of the government, and of the reign of the righteousness of Jehovah her God; as indeed in a state of desolation she had been of His justice, she will be the place of His throne - the centre of the exercise of that justice described in such language as "The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish." For in that state of terrestrial glory - though indeed placed there by the grace of the new covenant - this city will still preserve its normal character, that she may be witness of the character of Jehovah, as the church is of that of the Father. God also will realise the full force of that name: "The most high God, possessor of the heavens and the earth"; and Christ will fulfil, in all their fulness, all the functions of High Priest, after the order of Melchisedec, who, after the victory gained over the enemies of God’s people, blessed their God on the part of the people, and the people on the part of God; Genesis 14:18, etc. Dear friends, you will understand that there is an infinity of details into which I have not entered; for example, the circumstance of the Jews who will be persecuted during the troublous times in Judea, of which we have some instruction in the word. This general sketch will engage you to read the word of God for yourselves on the whole subject. For myself, I attach more importance to the larger features of prophecy; and for this reason, that there is to be found in them, on the one hand, the distinctions of dispensations, which become, by the consideration of these truths, very clear; and on the other, the character of God, which is, in this manner fully unveiled. However this may be, there is nothing to hinder your study of prophecy, even in its minute details. If, indeed, we attempt the examination of the works of man in this way, an abundance of imperfection is found; but it is the contrary in the works of God. The more we enter into their minute details, the more does perfection appear. May God perfect in you, and in all His children, this separation from the world, which ought to be, before God, the fruit of the expectation of the church, at the discovery of these its heavenly blessings in store, and of the terrible judgments which await all that which still binds man to this lower world; for the judgment will come upon all these earthly things! May God also perfect the desires of my heart, and the witness of the Holy Spirit! [End of Prophetic - Vol. 1] ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 02.00. LECTURES ON THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST ======================================================================== Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ 1 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 2 Ephesians 1:1-23 3 Revelation 12:1-17 4 Romans 11:1-36 5 Matthew 13:1-58 6 Daniel 2:19-49, Daniel 7:1-28 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 02.02. LECTURE 2: EPH_1:1-23 ======================================================================== Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Delivered at Toronto, Canada. J. N. Darby. Lecture 2 Ephesians 1:1-23 At the last lecture I mentioned that the two epistles in which the second coming of the Lord is not spoken of are the Galatians and the Ephesians. It may seem strange that, this being the case, I should have selected on this occasion the chapter we have just read. But I have done so (and shall refer to other passages with the same intention, desiring to found all I say upon Scripture) because that chapter gives us a general view of the whole scene and plan that will be fully accomplished at the second coming of our Lord. It does not speak of the fact of Christ’s coming, but it does tell of the purpose which God has, and that will then be accomplished. And not only that, but it shews us the way in which the church of God (I mean all true saints gathered to Christ by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven) at the coming of Christ have a portion or part in it - what their place in this great plan of God is, that plan having necessarily for its centre the exaltation of the Son, "the brightness of God’s glory." He was humbled to be exalted. The way in which God has dealt with us, beloved friends, is this - He has brought us completely to Himself, having respect to the whole value of Christ’s work; and, in doing that, He has given us a place with Christ. He makes us like Christ; and, having thus made us near to Himself, He then unfolds to us all His plans. It is not merely being made safe, but, being brought as children to God: "all things are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s." But then, having done this, He treats you - as His expression is to Abraham, and as Christ’s expression is to His disciples - as friends. The Lord says, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" And what He then told Him was not merely that he personally was in His favour - that He told him long before. He does not merely shew him the promises which belonged to him and his seed: but He told him too what concerned the world, and did not immediately concern himself. This was the special mark of friendship . If I am dealing with a man with whom I am on good terms, but not on terms of friendship, I tell him whatever is needed with regard to the business between us, according to the common courtesies of life; and there it ends. But if I have a friend, I tell him what is in my heart. This is what God does with His children - as Christ said to His disciples, "Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." And there is not a greater proof of the extent to which the church has lost its conscious identity with Christ, than its giving up its expectation of the coming of Christ. And why is that, but because there are so many whose hearts do not enter into this thought, that God has brought them so near to Himself that they are considered as having been taken into His family? "Sons and daughters," the expression is, and sons and daughters too of full age. That was not their position under the law. Therefore it is said that "the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant though he be lord of all. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father." And, because you have the Spirit, because you have an unction from the Holy One, you know all things, having the consciousness of being sons of God, sons of full age, so as to possess the confidence of the Father. And the same Spirit, who is the Spirit of adoption, unfolds to us all the things which are freely given to us of God. "It is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." And there people generally stop; whereas the apostle goes on to say, in order to shew the difference between that and our state, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God . . . . Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God," 1 Corinthians 2:9-12. Now is it not a strange things that people should quote that passage which declares that man’s heart hath not conceived the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him, and should pass over the declaration which follows, and which contrasts the position of Christians, saying God had revealed them unto them, and given them the Spirit to enable them to understand them? And is it not a sorrowful thing, when the Lord hath put us in such a place that He confides to us (poor creatures as we are), in a certain sense the glory of Christ, having confided to us all His thoughts about Christ, that we should say, "Oh! we cannot pretend to such things as that?" I will not say it is ingratitude - it is worse; it is dishonouring the love God has shewn to us. Suppose a child were to say, "I do not pretend to the confidence of my father; I do not want that; I am simply willing to obey him." I would say to such a one, "You are a very unhappy child, extremely unhappy; you do not know what a child’s place is." It is just that which the apostle brings out in this chapter. He first speaks (although I do not dwell upon that now - not that it is not precious: I thought, while reading, how sweet it was), in the early part of the chapter, of the place in which we are set before God - "that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." You are brought into God’s likeness of righteousness and holiness before God - "holy and without blame before him in love." You are brought into the place of sons, having the adoption of children, and you have got the forgiveness of your sins and are accepted in the beloved Himself. That is the place you are brought into: there is no other place for a Christian. And now, says the Lord, having put you there, I am going to tell you what my plan is for Christ’s glory and your glory along with Him. He says, "Wherein" - that is, "in the riches of his grace" - "he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times" - He hath not only given us this redemption, so that we know where we are in our relationship to God, but, being in this relationship, has shewn us all this of His plan - "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." Mark where we are connected with it, "in whom also we have obtained an inheritance." We are heirs, as the apostle says to the Romans - "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." That is, God says, I am going to give all to Christ; I am to gather together in one all things which are in heaven and on earth in Him; and with Him you are joint-heirs - with Him you have got the inheritance. That is the way in which the chapter presents to us the purpose and thought of God. Now just look at various passages which shew how He brings this about, and the way in which, beloved friends, He will take us to put us into the inheritance. For it is for this we are waiting. We are not waiting to be heirs, but we are waiting for the inheritance. We are not waiting to be sons - we are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus; but we are waiting to get what belongs to the sons. Poor earthen vessels that we are here, in the wilderness, we are waiting for that. He has given us "the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." That is, the glory of His grace we have got - the redemption; but the glory we have not got - this we are waiting for. Such is the order of his prayer withal: our calling, our nearness to God; our inheritance, that is, everything of which we are heirs along with Christ; and, then, there is the power which brings us into it. That is, the very same power which raised Christ from the dead has raised every believer out of his state of death in sin to the same place with Christ. And, having brought them into one, at the end he shews us the place to which Christ is raised - "at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." This enables us to see a little of the way in which God accomplishes His plan; and it was to shew what that plan is that I read this chapter - "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth" - under Christ as the Head. But when Christ takes this place as man (of course as God He is over all always; but when He takes this place as man), we take the inheritance along with Him. We are joint-heirs - "in whom also we have obtained an inheritance." And, again in Romans, "if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Now the principle of that is what many Christians are sadly unmindful of, having lost the consciousness of the way in which they have been brought by God into the same place as Christ, who became a man on purpose to bring us into the same place with Himself. "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them." If He is a Son, so are we. He is our life, our righteousness; and we share His glory, the fruit of righteousness. When He was transfigured, Moses and Elias appeared in the same glory, talking familiarly with Him. And we should consider that the Lord has come down in lowliness and humiliation amongst us, that our hearts might get near enough to Him to understand that. Having got the plan then, we shall now go through some passages of scripture to shew how the Lord brings it about. If you will turn to Psalms 2:1-12, you will see the way in which the Lord was first presented on earth to have the earthly dominion, and was rejected:* we shall see immediately how the two things are connected. "Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed." This is quoted by Peter with reference to Herod and Pilate, etc. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." That is, Christ Himself shall have them in derision. "Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure." This is not come yet. "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion" - in spite of all this rejection - "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel." These judgments, of course, are not come yet. {*The words are quoted in the New Testament, but do not give our portion of the inheritance at all.} And now, as confirmatory of what I have just said, let me ask you to turn to the book of Revelation, Revelation 2:1-29 to shew the way in which we are connected with Christ. "He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father." I refer to this now for the purpose of shewing that even in such things the saints are connected with Christ, although these, of course, are not the most blessed things in which they are connected with Him. It is said immediately afterwards, "and I will give him the morning star" - Christ Himself; and this is infinitely more precious. But still He associates them with Himself in all His glory. He receives these heathen for His inheritance and breaks them in pieces; and so shall you with Him if you are faithful. It is strange to see how the church of God has lost the sense of all things; and I refer to these passages to shew how the saints are associated with Christ, even with reference to those extreme cases. "Do ye not know," says Paul to the Corinthians, "that the saints shall judge the world?" He tells them just to think of that, and then to consider whether they were not worthy "to judge the smallest matter" (speaking of saints going to law with one another). Are you not able, any of you, to settle the commonest things between yourselves? "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" It was necessary to tell them this, because they had not got hold of a right understanding of the place in which Christ has put the saints, because they did not see their association with Christ in all the fulness of its meaning. I have referred to this association with Christ in judgment, not at all because it is the most blessed part of it, but as confirmatory of what I have said about the association of the saints with Christ. Observe that Psalms 2:1-12 speaks of Christ’s coming and being rejected. Peter quotes it in that view, and Paul also the words, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." And, being rejected, the Lord (that is, Christ) is there represented as laughing - which is, of course, a figure - at all the raging of the nations; and it is said that the time will come when He will sit in Zion in spite of them all, and have all the world given Him for His inheritance. This, however, does not present Him in the place in which the New Testament largely represents Him. Here He is only connected with the fate of the Jews, and the judgment of the heathen and rebels at the time of the end. At His first coming, He was rejected as Christ, the Messiah the Anointed. And mark what light this throws even upon the gospel. We find Christ charging His disciples strictly that they should no more say He was the Christ, because He was to be rejected, for "the Son of man," He says, "shall suffer many things." It was, as if He had said, "I am not now to take my place as King of Zion. I come in another way. I come to be the suffering Son of man, in order that I may afterwards take a far higher place of glory." You find accordingly, in Luke and the other gospels, that He strictly charges His disciples not to say that He was the Christ, because that was really over in consequence of His being rejected. Now take Psalms 8:1-9 - "O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." This, you know, was fulfilled when He rode upon the ass’s colt into Jerusalem. "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the Son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet." It is there intimated that, though as Christ He was rejected, the consequence of His being rejected was that He takes His place as Son of man, in which He was to have everything put under His feet. You will see how the apostle reasons on that in the New Testament. These two Psalms shew His coming among the Jews and being rejected, and yet His taking His place over these rebels in spite of them at the end. But the present consequence of His rejection is that He takes the place (which He always gives Himself in the gospels) of being the Son of man. Coming to the New Testament, I have just read from the Ephesians, "He hath put all things under his feet," and, being in that place, "gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body." The church is His body, making the complete man, and is therefore said to be "the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Christ is a divine Person, though a man, and fills all things; but it is the church which makes Him as the Son of man complete - makes up what is called the mystical Christ, of which He is the Head, all the members of the church making up His body. The church, therefore, is as closely associated with Him as a man’s own flesh is with himself. This is the comparison employed in Ephesians 5:1-33, "No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church; for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." And in this body there being but one Spirit, the church is associated with Christ as taking the headship over everything. We see Christ, the Son of man, in the counsels of God set over everything in heaven and on earth; and we, as being close to Him, His redeemed ones, His brethren, joint-heirs, and members of His body, are completely identified with Him in His place of headship. You thus see the connection of the church with Christ’s glory at His second coming. You find the same thing in Hebrews 2:1-18, where the apostle, citing Psalms 8:1-9, shews how far it is accomplished. "But one, in a certain place, testified, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the Son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him." That time is not yet come. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." Mark what we have got here. Here is God’s purpose of putting everything in subjection under Christ without any exception - there is nothing excepted that is not put under Him. In fact He created it all, and therefore is heir of it all. But the point is this, that what He created as God He takes for an inheritance as Man, in order that we might take it with Him; but that time is not come yet. We do not see all things put under Him; but we do see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour; we see that half accomplished, but not the other half; we do not see all things put under Him. This is what the apostle states, and the reason of it we get in Psalms 110:1-7, which the apostle also quotes in the Hebrews, and to which the Lord Himself appealed in reasoning with the Pharisees on this very matter. "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." And therefore in Hebrews 10:1-39 the apostle says, "He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" - that is, the work of their redemption - "from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool," till they are all put under His feet by God. I shall have another opportunity of referring to that. But I am speaking now of the blessed assurance it is to the saints, that Christ is sitting at the right hand of God until - and expecting till - His enemies are made His footstool. They are not made His footstool yet: if they were, He would not allow matters to go on in the world as they do now. It is another thing which God is doing now. He is gathering out His joint-heirs, and, having this purpose, He says, Sit thou at my right hand until the time when thine enemies shall be made thy footstool. As to the question when that time shall be. Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." But it is said to the Son, Sit thou at my right hand till that time is revealed. We have the plan then as clearly set forth as language can put it. We see Jesus, when He has by Himself purged our sins, "set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens," and then by the gospel gathering out the joint-heirs. And we are associated with Him while He is there at the right hand of God - associated with Him as united to Him by the one Spirit. If you will turn now to another passage, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, you will see the way in which we get this place of glory at the resurrection, all things being under His feet. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming" - those that are His heirs, they and nobody else. "Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him." That is, God the Father is not put under Him, but that very exception proves in the strongest way that everything else is - God the Father being alone excepted. But it is said we do not see that yet. Do you think that all the oppression and wars and wickedness and horrors, which now mark the history of the earth, would go on if everything were put under Him? It is Satan, and not Christ, who is now the prince and god of this world. It is strange how many people fancy that the cross put an end to that; it was exactly the contrary. The cross was the one grand demonstration - and there never was such a demonstration before - that Satan is the prince and god of this world. "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me," said our Saviour. Until Christ had been rejected, Satan was never called the prince of this world. Before that, Jehovah was on the earth, and in the temple was the Shekinah of glory. But when at last He came into this world in the Person of Christ, and the world rejected Him, then from that time Satan is the prince of this world. And it is after this that the apostle says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." When the Lord comes again, He will be the Prince of the world; but till He comes again, Satan is that prince. If you will now look to Luke 19:1-48, you will see how the Lord Himself puts it, when He speaks of going into a far country to get the kingdom, and there receiving it, and then returning and executing the judgments to which He refers. "As they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." They were looking for this, and fancied that, instead of His being rejected as He was, they would get the kingdom with Him in an earthly way directly. "He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come." This is the service of Christians, while the Lord is away. He has gone away to receive the kingdom, and has not returned yet. Then He judged the servants when He came back. "And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him," and begins to take account of their service. And then, that being finished, he says, "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." This is after He has received the kingdom and come back again. He does not judge while He is away. It is said, "The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father." But, if He were to begin to judge now, He would have to close the time of grace and the gathering in of the church. The Father judges the saints, but it is in the way of discipline - "If ye call on the Father, who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man’s work." But, as regards definite judgment, it is said in John, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." When the Son returns, He will take notice of His enemies and execute judgment upon them. But meanwhile He has gone away to receive the kingdom, and has not returned. When He does, He will not allow all this wickedness which we now see to go on. But for the present, this is the time when we must watch in faithfulness, occupying till He comes, and trading properly with those talents, the spiritual gifts He has given us. You will find this remarkably brought out if you turn to Colossians 1:1-29. I wish to dwell a little on this, that we may get to as full an understanding as possible of the thoughts and scope and plan of God, which seem to me to be very plainly set forth in Scripture. Begin at Colossians 1:12, which shews where we (I mean all believers) are: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet." He has made us meet - that is all settled. You will always find this in Scripture; you will not find anything there about growing to be meet; it speaks about growing up to Christ in everything, but this is a different thing. "Which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature, for by him" - this is the reason why He is set over all things - "by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him." He is to take them all under subjection, but not in this state of wickedness in which they are now. "We see not yet all things put under him." And how does He take them? He takes them as Man - "whom he hath appointed heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:2): and we are appointed joint-heirs with Him, as the scripture tells us. You will see, therefore, how the second part comes in. "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist" - that is, because He is a divine Person - "And he is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." He has this double headship, which is also brought together in the chapter of Ephesians I was reading - head over all things, and head to the church. "By him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh through death." He has reconciled - it is always ’hath’ as regards the saints. It is not said ’He will reconcile,’ but "hath reconciled." But the reconciliation of all things in heaven and earth is future, because Satan is not yet bound. Even Christianity itself has been corrupted in the most awful way, because Satan is not bound; and the corruptest thing in the whole universe is corrupted Christianity. The apostle says, "By him to reconcile all things unto himself, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven"; or, as it is in the Ephesians, "to gather together in one all things in Christ"; but he does not say he has done this yet. Nor does he speak at all of those who are under the earth. When he talks of subjection, of everything bowing to Him, it is said, "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." Of these things he does not say ’reconcile’ but "bow"; "but you," he says, "hath he reconciled." You thus see the truth about the double headship of Christ - His being Head of the church, and His being Head over all things; and then the double reconciliation, the present reconciliation and redemption of the church through grace, and then the reconciliation of all things in heaven and in earth. Now we see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Him by faith, sitting at the right hand of God, until His enemies are made His footstool. And when that time comes, and they are all put under Him, He will take possession, according to the character given to God in the appellation used by Melchisedec when he came out to bless Abraham - "The most high God, possessor of heaven and earth." Thus, when Christ becomes in all its fulness the King and Priest upon His throne, God will have that title. We come then to the next thing, which I will just state - I do not know how far we may be able to go through it this evening. Taking these two statements, that He is to reconcile everything in heaven and earth, and again, that He is to gather together in one, all things which are both in heaven and on earth; we also see, in several of the passages which I have quoted, that the church, or the saints who compose it, are joint-heirs with Him. What I have been seeking to shew you is, that the church of God (all the saints whom in this present time God is gathering by His grace in the gospel) are being associated with Christ, as the centre of blessing; that they get the central place with Himself, under whom all possible existences are to be placed. But the time for this which the scripture speaks of is when Christ receives the kingdom and returns, when the dispensation of the fulness of times comes. Then everything will be brought into order and blessedness under the authority of Christ. When God the Father has put everything under His feet, He will bring everything into order, and will then deliver up His kingdom. But the central thing during the dispensation of the fulness of times in the heavenly places will be the church, and the central thing in earthly places will be the Jews. This brings in what are the two great subjects of holy Scripture, after personal redemption. The church is that in which He displays sovereign grace, bringing its members to share the glory of Christ. The Jews are those in whom He reveals as a centre the government of this world. These are the two great subjects in Scripture after personal salvation. The Scripture speaks of the church of God as those who are associated with Christ, who are the heirs of Christ’s glory. But the moment we say this, we cannot but think how wondrous it is that poor wretched creatures like us should be brought into the same glory with Christ - should be brought into the same place with Himself. And the work of reconciliation is to embrace all things in heaven and on earth. This world is not to remain for ever the sporting-place and playground of the devil. That will not be allowed for ever. The Son of David will yet have His place in it, and His glory too, as its ruler, and the world will then be altered. "None shall hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain." There is a time coming when Christ will be the Prince of peace. He has declared positively that this is not at the present time. "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother," etc That is, this is the time when the bringing in the light awakens the passions of men; and until Christ’s second coming puts them down, they continue their raging. And Christians now have to take up the cross and follow Him. Do you think if Christ were reigning, His followers would only have the cross? Why, they would have the crown. We are positively told that our part is the cross. We must now take it up every day. But, when Christ reigns, that will not be the part of His people. He will "come to be glorified in his saints"; and a glorious place they will get, when He comes to reign. When this time comes to gather together all things in one, the church of God will be the centre of all things in heavenly places, and the Jews the centre of all things on earth, Christ being the Head over all. This is what we find stated in the chapter of Ephesians which we have read - "That ye may know what . . . is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" - the time namely of which we are speaking - "and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his It is the same power which raises the saints, and so, in the next chapter, he says, speaking of it now as already got spiritually, "and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." God, in setting us over angels and principalities and powers in the world to come, is shewing the exceeding riches of His grace in the place He has given to us, in His kindness towards us. This, beloved friends, is what I have been anxious to shew you, by bringing before you these various passages, that thus in the ages to come God is going to shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward you. Angels are going to learn the immense riches of God’s grace; and how? By our being made partakers of the glory of Christ, in God’s kindness to us through Christ Jesus; so that, when they see Mary Magdalene, the thief on the cross, the woman of the city that was a sinner, any one of us, in the same place of glory with Christ, they may admire the exceeding riches of His grace. Laying hold of this now even by faith in the teaching of God’s Spirit, although we have not got all the fruits of it as yet, we may find our present place very profitable in the way of discipline, and exercise, and spiritual education; still its full development is in the future, when God’s kindness to us shall be shewn to the angels. And now let me try to shew you a little the way in which the Lord brings us into this place of association with Himself. And first I will refer you to the passage in John 17:1-26, where the Saviour states the fact, that the saints share with Him His glory and the love of the Father. A wonderful passage it is, as shewing that love of Christ which passeth knowledge. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." This refers to the present time, or, at least, to what ought to be the case in the present time. And then He goes on to the time to come: "And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may [not believe, but may] now that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." All the glory thou hast given me, He says - that is, the glory He takes as man, for s a divine Person, His glory was eternal - I have given them, and this, that the world, when they see My people like Me, and having the same glory as Myself, may know that thou hast sent Me. It is not "believe": this is spoken with reference to the present time. Saints should be one now, as a testimony that there is a power in the Spirit of God which overcomes all fleshly differences. Alas! that is not so. This, too, is a precious subject; but I must pass it over just now, confirming myself to the one I am more immediately dealing with. Of the present time it is said, "that the world may believe"; of the future, "that the world may know." "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that the world may know that thou hast sent me." They will know it plainly enough for their condemnation - for the condemnation of those who are rebels - when they see those whom they have been accustomed to despise coming with Christ in glory. Now do you believe this, beloved friends? Our hearts ought to know and recognise that love - not fathom it, for this they cannot do, but confide in it, and to that extent know it, although it passes knowledge. And, as you see, the time is coming when the world too will know that love of God to us. We pass on to John 17:25 - "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." That is the present good we enjoy - that the love wherewith Christ is loved should be in us - that we should have it in our souls. No one can fathom it: it passes knowledge; but still we are to have it and to know it, and that by Christ being in us. I am not to wait till the world sees I am with Christ in glory, to know it myself; for the Father now loves me as He has loved Christ If you turn again to 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, you will see this same truth brought out in its relation to the resurrection. The point I am now to impress upon you is, that Scripture shews us these two things - that we are to be like Him, completely like Him, save that He is a divine Person; and that the time we shall be like Him is when we shall be raised from the dead. It is then we shall appear with Him. We are not of the world now, but it is said that the world will only know that we have been loved as Christ was loved, when they see us in the same place of glory with Him, when the Lord takes us up to be with Him and to put us in this glory; so that when He appears to the world, we shall appear along with Him in the same glory. The fact that it is so, that we shall so appear with Him in the same glory, we have seen already from various passages which I quoted on the last occasion; but I shall refer you to some more particularly. At 1 Corinthians 15:47 of 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, it is said, "the first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they- also that are earthy" - all like to their father Adam; and, "as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly," that is, like what Christ is, not speaking of His divinity; "and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." We shall be like Him, we shall be just the same as Himself. He does not say merely that we shall be there, in heaven, but like Him. But first, "as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy" - that is, like Adam, poor wretched sinners, mortal creatures, like him; whereas, "as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." This is the full absolute statement of the fact. Then he adds, with respect to the fact of the glory - putting it, of course, as in the future, not having yet come - "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly"; and he goes on, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." As it is said before, "it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory." Now let us refer to some of the passages which shew how Christ receives us to Himself. I follow the teachings of Scripture throughout, that we may get solidly grounded in what Christ communicates to us. He says, "In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." He has gone into His Father’s house, but He will come again and receive us to Himself, that where He is, there we may be also. He was going up then with a body, going up glorious, not as yet having all things under His feet, but crowned with glory and honour; and He says to His disciples, You must wait and occupy till I come again. But now, before He comes, we see what He is to do with us who are in the same glory - "I will come again and receive you unto myself"; as He said in the previous chapter, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." It was as if He had said, I cannot stay with you, as King and Messiah now, but I am washing you that ye may be fit to reign with Me when I come again. I am, therefore, still your servant in the sense of intercession and the like, and by My all-prevailing intercession I will wash you daily, because, if you are to have part with Me in My kingdom, you must be made like Myself In like manner we get what may be called the public announcement of this in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 - "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord," etc. See how the apostle constantly expected the coming of the Lord. Some people have boldly dared to say that Paul made a mistake in expecting the coming of the Lord in his day. It is they who are making an awful mistake. It was never revealed when Christ would come, and Paul did not pretend to know it. But he knew that that time had come when we should always be expecting Him (instead of saying, My Lord delayeth His coming, and beginning therefore to eat and drink with the drunken, and to beat the men-servants and the maid-servants). It was, therefore, that Paul put himself in this class, "we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord." And what was the effect of that? He lived like a man who expected Christ every day; and when Christ comes, he will get the fruit of that, while those people who put off the expectation of Christ’s coming, and do not wait for it, allowing their hearts to go out after covetousness and such like things, will also get the fruit of their so doing. The time of the second coming of Christ is declared not to be revealed. Paul got a revelation that he should soon die, and he knew it. Peter also got a revelation that he must shortly put off this tabernacle, and of course knew it. But it was not revealed to them when Christ should come. Therefore Paul says, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed," Christ having overcome death. We may all die before Christ’s coming - no one knows the moment of it; still we may use the language, "we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord." It is said of the man who thinks Christ is delaying His coming, that he turns to what is bad, smiting his fellow-servants, and eating and drinking with the drunken. And it is said, that while the Bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept, the wise virgins as well as the foolish; that is, the church lost a sense of the present expectation of Christ. Even the wise servants had to be waked up again; and it was a mercy to them to rouse them up in time, because to His people Christ is ever faithful. But it is the characteristic of the faithful servant that he is expecting. The church of Philadelphia was expecting the coming of Christ, and it is called the word of His patience, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience." The passage in Thessalonians goes on - "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first" - nobody else. I shall dwell upon that at another time, but I just notice it now in passing. The shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, are not to be taken as the voice of God to all the world to raise the righteous and the wicked. "The shout" is a military term; whatever the precise term now equivalent to it, it is that which follows "Stand at ease." It was first used with reference to calling rowers in the trireme, and afterwards as a military term. When soldiers are left to go about their at ease, and are then all suddenly called back into the ranks, it is the command given them for that purpose, to which the word "shout" here used is equivalent. But the only persons who hear it are "the dead in Christ," Christ being represented as in this way gathering together His own troops. "The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Here, then, we have the details of it. The Lord has declared that He will come and receive us unto Himself; and now the apostle, by the revelation given unto him, explains how it will be. He will come and call us up to meet the Lord in the air. The passage in 1 Corinthians, which I have already read, refers to the same thing, when it says, "afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming." "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits." The specific thing here is that it is not a resurrection of the dead, but a resurrection from among the dead. The raising of Christ was not a resurrection "of the dead" simply, but a resurrection "from among the dead." This was its whole character - a taking up from among the dead; and why? Because the Father’s delight was in Him. And why are we in like manner taken up from among the dead? Because His delight is in us. And therefore at the proper time the Lord comes (it is not said, appears) and calls us up to be for ever with the Lord, to take our place associated with Christ, partaking of that glory which you have already seen referred to in the words "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." But what we are called to expect is, not to die - we may die, and a blessed thing it is too, to die; but what we are to look for and expect is, as it is expressed in 2 Corinthians 5:1-21, "Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." That Christ’s power over death may be fully shewn, He takes to Himself mortal men, whether alive or dead: if alive, He changes them into glory without dying; if they are dead, He raises them. This is the first thing He does. He raises the dead first, and then the living are changed; and they go to meet the Lord in the air. He has predestinated us "to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." And, as we have seen, "the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them." This then is our portion of heavenly things. And if you turn to Colossians 3:1-25 you will see that when Christ appears, we shall appear in this glory along with Himself and be like Him. He will have already come and taken us up to Himself; and then He comes manifesting Himself to the world, and we appear with Him. You will remember what I have before quoted, that the glory which was given Him, He has given to us, that the world might know, etc. Now, turn to Colossians 3:1-25, and you will see how thoroughly the apostle identifies us with Christ. Look first at Colossians 2:20, "If ye be dead with Christ." Then, at the beginning of Colossians 3:1-25, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." He is hid in God; He is your life, and your life therefore is hid there. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." When He appears, we shall appear with Him. There can be no separation. If He is hid in God, our life is hid in God. If He appears, we appear. If He appears in glory, we must appear in glory with Him. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. You will see the same thing in the first epistle of John: only the same truth comes out in different shapes - "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" - this, that we should get Christ’s own name! (what a wonder of love is this that we should get Christ’s own title of relationship!) "therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not," shewing that we have got the same place with Him. He says, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." I have accomplished your redemption, and the effect of this is, that I have put you in the same place with Myself. "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." It is no wonder that it does not recognise us, if it did not recognise Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God" - this is the present time, "and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Further, as to this appearing with Him, I shall now refer to the book of Revelation; but, before doing that, you may turn for a moment to Zechariah 14:1-21, where it is said the Lord shall come and all His saints with Him, and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. This is referred to by s the angel, when, after Christ’s ascension from Mount Olivet, he said to the disciples, "Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Again, in verse 14 of the epistle of Jude, you find "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all." Here they are associated with Christ in the executing of judgments. "The Lord cometh with ten thousands" - properly myriads, that is, an I immense number - "of his saints to execute judgment." This shews how entirely we are associated with Christ. And what a place does not that put us in! Yet Scripture is so simple and plain upon the point, that it cannot be misinterpreted. You will find the same truth in 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12. I prefer quoting many passages to enlarging upon them, that our faith may stand, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The Thessalonians were suffering dreadful persecutions; and the apostle told them, "We glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure; which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer; seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." He comes with these ten thousands or myriads of His saints. You find a distinct statement of their coming given in figure in the Revelation. At Revelation 17:1-18 it is said, "These shall make war with the Lamb." All the kings of the earth shall be found, not in blessing, joined with Christ, but in open war with the Lamb, joined with the beast. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." Other passages shew us that angels will be with Him, but it is not angels that are here spoken of as being with Him. The angels may be described as "faithful" and "chosen," because the scripture speaks of the "elect" angels; but these that are with Him are the "called," and it is the saints who are called by the grace of God. These "called" persons then who are with Him are the saints. Having seen who they are, turn now to Revelation 19:1-21, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." You have seen all through that He is coming to judge the wicked on the earth - a thing greatly forgotten, that there is a judgment of the quick as well as the dead. "As in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean" - which, he says elsewhere, is the righteousness of the saints. I close now, as regards the quotation of passages. On the last occasion we found, running through the whole series of passages quoted, that the Lord’s coming was the one thing kept before the church as its hope in the Scripture, that it connected itself with every kind of thought and feeling the saints had, that they were even looked upon as being converted to wait for the Son of God, that every other doctrine of Scripture was connected with it, that what marked a decaying church was the thought that "the Lord delayeth his coming," and that what woke them up was the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh." Then to-night we have found that the Lord reveals to us with wisdom and prudence His plan, namely, "that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth" - reconciling them all in Christ - not merely for their own selfish good, but as a plan for Christ’s glory. And with this view He has associated us with Christ in the place He takes as Head over all, so that, being associated with Him as heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, we have the inheritance with Him; that, when He takes it, we shall have it with Him; that, when He comes, we shall come with Him; that, whereas He was presented to the earth among the Jews according to the promise of God, and they would not have Him, He then took another place - that of Son of man. That place He will take in His resurrection and in His glory, and will raise us up to have it with Him when the time comes; and not we alone, but all saints will have it with Him. Thus we see not yet all things put under Him, but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, and are waiting, as He is, till His enemies are made His footstool. But when that time comes - when it will be, nobody knows; God has not revealed it - the first thing He will do will be to have His body; He is not to be Head without the body, but will catch us up to meet Him in the air; then, if dead, He will raise us; if alive, He will change us, and take us up to meet the Lord in the air. He will come and take us to His Father’s house; for this is our place; and He will have everything there in order for us - only He must have His heirs with Him; for He cannot take a step in entering on the possession of His inheritance, without having His heirs, His body, His bride with Him. In the Revelation you first have the marriage of the Lamb, and then you see the Lamb coming out with His armies following Him. They are the bride - that is what they are; for the Lamb must have an associate with Him, a help-meet to share His inheritance. He has not yet taken to Himself His great power and reigned. We see not yet all things put under Him. But when He comes, He will take us up to be with Him, because we are perfectly associated with Him. When He appears, we shall appear with Him. When He executes judgment, we shall accompany Him - that is, when He executes judgment on the world, breaking them with a rod of iron, and dashing them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. That is anything but the blessedest part of our sharing His inheritance. The blessedest part is being with Him. But when He does appear, the world will see us with Him. He comes to raise the dead saints, and take them up to be with Himself: then when He appears we shall all appear with Him, and "shall bear the image of the heavenly, as we have borne the image of the earthy." But meantime, while Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, He has sent down the Holy Ghost to gather His heirs together. They must now carry the cross: when the kingdom comes, they will have the kingdom and the glory. But until that time, while He is sitting at the right hand of God, His people must bear the cross, and it is only by the power of the Spirit of God that anyone will follow Him. Whatever glory He has, in the time of glory He associates us in it with Himself, and, as a consequence, we shall reign with Him - we who are now reconciled in Him. And when He comes again, He comes, but not to judgment as regards us. "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation." And now, beloved friends, I would only ask, With whom are you associated? Are you associated with Christ, rejected by the world, and now sitting at the right hand of God? Are you by the Holy Ghost in spirit associated with Christ? or are you associated with the world which He is coming again to judge, and all His saints with Him? With which are you associated, while Christ is away? Having been rejected, He says, Occupy till I come, having gone to receive a kingdom and a glory far better than that from which He was rejected. With whom are you associated? You have to go through the world, you must go through it: do you really believe that Satan is the prince and god of this world, which has rejected Christ? and do you really live as if you believed this? Do you believe that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, and that He will come again to receive you to Himself, to share with Him the same blessings as Himself in His Father’s house, to witness His Father’s glory, and to share His love? Are we doing anything to recommend Him? Is there that in our hearts which is like the confiding love of a child to his father, that which shews we are sons by adoption? Is there anything in us which identifies us with those who are the heirs of that blessedness and glory? The world knew Him not; the world knows us not. Can we say this? Are we like Him in our place in the world? When Christ was in the world, they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. How is it with us? Is it the things that are not seen, or the things that are seen, that have power in our hearts? Christ is not seen; does He dwell in our hearts by faith, so as to be our portion? If He does, then, when He appears, we shall appear with Him in glory; and, better than that, shall be taken up to be for ever with Him. The Lord give us to be able to wait for Him, and to be ever saying, "Even so come, Lord Jesus." May we have all our treasure, and heart, and portion, associated and identified with Himself. A little while, yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. He only knows how long the gathering of the saints to be with Him will last. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 02.03. LECTURE 3: REV_12:1-17 ======================================================================== STEM Publishing: The writings of J. N. Darby: Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Delivered at Toronto, Canada. J. N. Darby. Lecture 3 Revelation 12:1-17 What I intend speaking of this evening, and the idea of which is given in this chapter in allegorical expressions, is, first, the gathering up of the church of God, the heavenly saints, to be with Christ; and then, secondly, if the time allows, the promises which we have, and thereby the infallible certainty of the restoration of the Jews to their place as a nation upon the earth. Both connect themselves - otherwise it would be impossible to go into the whole subject this evening - with the manifestation of judgments in this world: only that the taking up of the saints is the taking them out of the way of those judgments. On the contrary, the Jews who are to remain on the earth, and other Gentiles also, when they come to those judgments, must pass through them, as Lot passed through, and from all that happened to Sodom, making his escape, yet so as by fire, while Abraham looked on upon the judgments that fell on the guilty cities of the plain. So also Noah was saved, passing through the flood, while Enoch was taken up to heaven. Those two cases are spoken of as analogous to what shall be at the coming of the Son of man. We have in these two cases the two things of which I have spoken - the one class of persons out of the reach and out of the way altogether of the judgments that are coming, and the other class passing through those judgments which destroyed the great body of men, and thus escaping them. I have said that this class consists of the Jews and some Gentiles also; but I do not enter into details on that point at present - I wish now merely to present the general thought. We saw, last evening, that the church forms the centre of the heavenly glory - under Christ, of course, who is the centre of everything - and that the Jews are the centre of the earthly dominion, the earthly blessings. This is what gives their importance to the two points on which, if time allow, I shall dwell this evening - that is, the taking the saints in the last time to be with the Lord Himself in heaven, and their sharing His own glory and blessedness; and then the Jews brought into blessing with this earth, as reigned over by Christ, and not reigning with Him, but still a great nation on the earth. These two facts are the two great centres of God’s ways. In the chapter we have read you have first Christ Himself and the church figured in the man-child; and then, in the woman which flees from persecution for twelve hundred and sixty days, you have the Jewish remnant - those who are spared in the time of judgment but are not yet brought into glory. It thus brings before you the two subjects of which I have spoken. And I add this, that the consideration of the blessing of the church will lead us necessarily to another point; and that is, that what is called a general resurrection, common to all together - and I state it now that we may get fast hold of the idea at once - is a thing entirely unknown to Scripture. I do not deny that it was the notion entertained among the Jews, at least by the Pharisees, that all Jews at all events (as for the Gentiles they looked upon them as dogs) would rise again together; but our Lord corrected this notion. A right conception on this point is necessarily connected with our understanding the taking up of the church to heaven, because those saints who are dead must be raised for that. When I say "saints," I mean all the saints, those of the Old Testament, as well as those under the New Testament, dispensation. And I mention another point for those persons who are not familiar with these subjects, and that is, that God is not now dealing with this world - providentially of course, He governs all; but that He is not dealing with this world as He afterwards will, at this time while Christ is sitting at His right hand in heaven, and while He is gathering the joint-heirs of Christ to reign with Him when He takes the inheritance. He alone knows at what moment this will be fulfilled. Then, when He hath put Christ’s foes under His footstool, Christ will rise up from His Father’s throne, and take His own throne. But, while Christ sits on His Father’s throne, the Holy Ghost having been sent down, consequent on His ascension, He is gathering out of the world a people for His name, to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. This lapse of time, this parenthesis in the ways of God, is brought in, in the most distinct way, at the end of Daniel 9:1-27; and I refer to it because we should never understand God’s dealings with mankind, unless we get hold of this. At the end of Daniel 9:1-27 you find the Spirit of God shewing a certain period which was to elapse before Jerusalem got its full blessing; and you will see the reference that is made to what I was calling the parenthesis, or lapse of time, during which the Jews were all set aside. At Daniel 9:24 it is said, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." That took place: you know it was forty and six years going on. "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off" - the threescore and two weeks, with the other seven, making sixty-nine - "but not for himself"; or rather, instead of this, take what is in the margin, which is undoubtedly the true sense, "and shall have nothing." He did not take the kingdom at all; He was cut off and got nothing; in heaven He got all the glory, but He got nothing as regards what we are speaking of. "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." That is - what almost everyone is familiar with - Titus coming and destroying the city, until there was not left one stone upon another that was not thrown down. But there is still a week left - we have only had sixty-nine weeks; and here, without entering into details, is the great principle I want you to get hold of. We have the sixty-nine weeks, and then there is a lapse. Messiah comes, is rejected, and is cut off, does not get the kingdom at all, gets nothing - He gets the cross it is true, but that is all He gets. He ascends to heaven, and therefore our hearts must follow Him up to heaven, while He is there. Then comes the time of the end. "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week." For remark what was said before, "unto the end of the war desolations are determined." As to the time all is left vague; these desolations are to go on for no one knows how long after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Messiah having gone and taken nothing. "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations" - that is, idolatry: "abominations" mean idolatry in the Old Testament - "he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." There then we get this simple but very important fact as to the interpretation of prophecy - that there was a term of seventy weeks, which would come upon the holy city - upon the Gentiles too, but specially the Jews - until all prophecy about them was to be accomplished; but when the sixty-nine weeks had elapsed, Messiah comes, is cut off - that is actually fulfilled - and takes nothing; and there go on wars, etc., and the city is destroyed; and then there run on the times of the Gentiles; and blindness in part, according to Romans 11:1-36, has happened unto Israel, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. So again our Saviour, in Luke’s gospel, after speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, says that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Now that is what is still going on. Jerusalem is still trodden down. Christ has not taken to Him His great power and reign, spoken of in a chapter of the Revelation, preceding that which we have read. Jerusalem is still desolate, and the times of the Gentiles are still running on - I doubt not, running close unto their completion, but still running on; and Christ is sitting on the right hand of God the Father, according to that word, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." But while He sits there, the Holy Ghost comes down from heaven to declare that, if man had rejected Him, heaven had accepted Him, and that (redemption having been accomplished, and the grace appeared that brings salvation) He sits there to associate with Himself the joint-heirs of whom we have been speaking. But in the meantime the Jews are set aside, and the times of the Gentiles are running on, and nothing is fulfilled or brought to an accomplishment, because what He is doing is gathering the heavenly saints. Now those heavenly saints, as we saw in the last lecture, are completely identified with Christ Himself. He is not ashamed to call them brethren. He is the Firstborn among many brethren, who have been conformed to the image of God’s Son, and are "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." For it is said, "no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones." And the saints too are the bride of Christ. What Eve was to Adam, that is the place the church of God fills in reference to Christ. And what He is doing now is gathering the saints to fill this place. It is not the fulfilling of God’s dealings with the earth, but the gathering of saints for heaven; and while He is gathering saints for heaven, Christ sits at His right hand until His enemies be made His footstool. As the apostle expresses it in Hebrews 2:1-18, referring to Psalms 8:1-9, "but now we see not yet all things put under him; but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." There is an extremely beautiful thought connected with this, which we cannot dwell on now, and that is, that if you look for the church in the Old Testament, you can only find Christ, but when you find the blessedness and glory which belongs to Christ, the church is the sharer of it. So that what we have to see in connection with the fulfilment of the prophecies of God is, that previous to this the church is to be taken out of the scene altogether, because He cannot begin these dealings with the Gentiles in the last week until the gathering of the saints to be heirs with Christ is over. Until He has got the heirs, Christ cannot take the inheritance; and therefore, all the dealings of God (or of Christ, if you please who is the power of God) - all these dealings of God with the world - we do not speak of His providence, of course, for not a sparrow falleth to the ground without Him - but all the direct dealings of God with the world through the Jews are suspended until the church is taken up. But you never find in prophecy, until the end of Revelation - you never find the church revealed in prophecy, except in connection with Christ. I may give you some instances of this. For example, I have no doubt that the "man-child" spoken of in the chapter that we have been reading, includes the church as well as Christ. But it is Christ that is principally meant; for the church would be nothing without Christ, it would be a body without a head. It is Christ who has been caught up, but the church is included; for whenever He begins to act publicly (even as regards the casting down of Satan), He must have His body, His bride with Him; He must have His brethren, His joint-heirs. If you examine what we find here, you will see that the church is certainly included. You read "And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne." The man-child is to rule all nations with a rod of Iron, but there is an interruption. And as we have seen that Christ came to this earth, was cut off, and took nothing, we get the other side of the picture here. He takes nothing, but is caught up to God and His throne, and sits at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens This sitting at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens belongs personally to Christ, but when it comes to ruling the nations with a rod of iron, the saints are associated with Him The quotation is from Psalms 2:1-12, where it is said "Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession: thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel." That is not asked yet. And He has prayed for the saints, not for the world - "I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me." He only intercedes for the world when He asks for dominion over them, and, of course, it will be given Him - it is in God’s counsels that it will; and He will take judgment in hand, the rod of iron. But then the saints will judge the world too; that is positively revealed, "Know ye not that we shall judge angels? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" And not only is this stated in the general, but in the detail, especially as to the rod of iron. At the end of Revelation 2:1-29 you will find that this is given to the church, exactly as it is given to Christ. "He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father." And the same thing is said in Daniel 7:1-28, "Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High" (the saints who will be in the heavenly places with Christ, when Christ comes) - the "rod of iron" being there spoken of as "judgment." That is not the most blessed part: the blessed part is to be with Him; but it is true, and it is part of what we have to look for. And so in Revelation 20:1-15, where this time is spoken of, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." How sadly has the sense of this blessedness and glory of the saints been lost! I was speaking of it on the last occasion - their identification with Christ, their being joint-heirs, members of His body, His bride. The sense of all this has dropped away from the church. It is common to say that it is enough to lie at the foot of the cross. Now to me it is a blessed thing to see a person coming to the foot of the cross; but it is dreadful to stay there, because for a person to do so is the same as saying that he does not own that the whole thing is accomplished. It is a want of boldness "to enter into the holiest, through the veil, that is to say, Christ’s flesh." It is the same as saying that he is unfit to pass through the veil to be a priest in the holy place. He says, "No; I must stay outside." I say that is a very wretched condition to be in. He must come to the cross in order to get in; that is perfectly true. And it is blessed to see a person who has been careless so coming; he can never get in any other way. But always to stay outside - always to say "I am staying at the foot of the cross, and do not know whether I have the right to enter in or not" - that is a great mistake. If you say, you cannot tell whether you are redeemed or not, how then can you call yourself a Christian? Christians are redeemed, of course. Why then do you take the name of Christians, and yet remain unable to say whether you are redeemed? In Revelation 12:1-17 which we have read, you have it positively revealed that it is finished with the saints, as regards all their trials and all their accusations, before the time that the trial of the Jewish people begins in the last half-week of Daniel. In Daniel 9:1-6, you have the statement of those who are concerned in these last days. First, you have the "woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." This, I have no doubt, is the Jewish people, nothing else; because Christ is not born of the church, but looked at as reigning and glorious in the world, was born of the Jews, "of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came." There is no kind of sense in the idea of Christ’s being born of the church. Being "clothed with the sun" is being clothed with supreme authority. She has the moon - all her previous reflected state - under her feet: "and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Twelve is the number always used to indicate power - the power of God’s administration among men. You have the twelve apostles sitting on twelve thrones - the city built on twelve foundations, and having twelve gates, etc., the number being used to express administrative power - God’s administrative power over man. Well, Christ was to be born. "And she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." And so the Jews say, in Isaiah 9:1-21, "To us a son is born." The church cannot say that at all. We can say that we believe He is the Son of God; but we do not say He is born to us. As concerning the flesh, He was born into Israel. Then you come to the opposing power - the power of Satan - exercised through the Roman Empire. "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born." That is the power of Satan resisting Christ, and seeking to put an end to His power. He could not, of course, but he seemed to have done it for a while. "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron" - clearly Christ - "and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne." He did not take the power - He took nothing, but was caught up to God. Then, having seen who are the persons engaged, you get the woman’s place, "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and three-score days." You will see now the reason why I referred to the gap, with regard to all God’s dealings with the world, which there always is in prophecy - without, however, giving any dates at all-between the time that Christ is taken up, and the time that the church is taken up; and they are both united together. As I have said, it is not merely a notion of men, but it is positively revealed, as God’s own order in Daniel 9:1-27, that Messiah was to be revealed, and cut off, and take nothing; that blindness in part happens to Israel till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled; and that then the Jews would be brought to repentance, as Jesus Christ says in the gospel of Matthew, "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Thus we get the church, united with Christ, taken up to God, and the woman fled into the wilderness. Now we come to the progress of events, not as regards the church at all, but as regards Israel and the world. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven." The whole power of Satan will then be cast out. That is in direct contrast with the result of the church’s warfare: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." This is the conflict we have to wage as to our title to sit in heavenly places with Christ; and the result of this spiritual conflict is, that the power of Satan is cast out. In the prophecy we are considering this is all over, and you see the joy there is in consequence among the dwellers in heaven, the heavenly saints. "And the great dragon was cast out - that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!" We find here, that while all the heavenly people, that is, the church of God (because our conversation is in heaven and we are one with Christ in heaven) are called upon to rejoice that the accuser of the brethren is cast down - that they have overcome him - at this very moment when these heavenly saints have overcome, it is just the time when Satan comes down to earth, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time. Thus we get entire rejoicing in what is heavenly, and at the same time most desperate woe in what is earthly. This makes the contrast very distinct and definite between these heavenly ones and the dwellers on earth, who, all through the Revelation, are contrasted with those persons who are heirs of heaven, whose citizenship is in heaven. "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child." We see here very clearly that by the woman it is not the church of God that is meant, because the church of God is called upon to rejoice on account of all their afflictions being over, and the accusations against them past. They are called upon to rejoice because they have overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. But this woman is in a different position, all the rage of Satan being now directed against her. The church of God has been taken out of the way, and Satan has another object for his great wrath, namely, the Jewish people. This is for them the time of great tribulation that is elsewhere spoken of. Christ said to the Jews, "I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." If they would not take the true Christ, they must have a false Christ. I have read this chapter of the Revelation, in order to shew that while one class of persons - those associated with Christ - are caught up to God, and there is triumph and rejoicing and gladness amongst them when Satan is cast down, that is the very time when tribulation begins on the earth. "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." There in the wilderness, in this time of tribulation, God takes care of her. She makes her escape from the tribulation, the figure being employed that she receives this great power of flight, as if the wings of an eagle: and God secures her, not as He did Abraham who saw the destruction of Sodom from the top of the mount, but as He secured Lot who was saved by flight. The people in heaven rejoicing are like Abraham on the top of the mount; while the woman upon the earth is like Lot, saved by God giving her the great wings of an eagle to escape while all this great rage and power of Satan is being displayed. "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." That is, providential means were used for the purpose of saving the Jews from the violent assaults made upon them. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." I shall now refer to a more literal prophecy, which will help us to understand this same interval, these times of the Gentiles, so far as they are going on now - because I have no doubt that they began in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Turn to Isaiah 8:1-22, where, after the circumstances of the moment having been spoken of as leading to it, it is said, "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself" - a blessed testimony to the deity of the Lord Jesus as Jehovah - "and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." The Lord, you know, spoke of His being a stumbling-stone, and said that whosoever should fall on that stone should be broken "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me." This, you remember, is quoted in Hebrews 2:1-18. Although God is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, Christ says, "I will wait upon the Lord"; or, as the Septuagint has it, "I have put my trust in the Lord." And again, "Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me." These are the disciples of Christ in all ages. And then, in Hebrews 9:1-28, you have the close of all that - "For that hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth, even for ever." Here, then, we have the fact of Christ’s coming and being a stone of stumbling, and He says, "I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob." Then follows a period of dreadful sorrow for Israel, "They shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness." And then comes - what? A dreadful battle; only it has the fire of God’s judgment in it - "this shall be with burning and fuel of fire" - which is a figure of God’s judgment. And then it is said, "Unto us a child is born." Christ is this child that was born; but when He comes back, it shall be said of Him, as in Isaiah 53:1-12, "we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." What I refer to the passage now for is, the revelation it gives of the same fact of Christ’s coming and being rejected; His waiting upon the Lord that hides His face from the house of Jacob; and of the fact that at last He goes forth in glorious power, in this terrible battle of God’s judgment, "In righteousness doth he judge and make war." And then it is said, "unto us a child is born, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God," and the like, and He sits upon the throne of David to give peace upon the earth. All this comes after the time that He had been waiting. His waiting was consequent on His rejection, while God was hiding His face from the house of Jacob, as He is doing now. But that is not for ever. I refer to it that if possible our souls may get hold of the ways of God, the framework as it were of His plan: that is, that Christ comes, is rejected, and is caught up to God; and then He sits on His Father’s throne, but He does not yet take to Him His great power and reign. Meanwhile the times of the Gentiles are running on. God hath hidden His face from the house of Jacob, and Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And, while that is going on, while there is that parenthesis in God’s ways as regards the government of the world, Christ, having sent down the Holy Ghost, is gathering His joint-heirs to be associated with Him when He does take His great power. Now let us turn to the accomplishment of this, as regards the church, that is, its being taken up to be associated with Christ; and then, if time permits, we shall turn to the other part, the accomplishment as regards the Jews. My object will be to shew that the resurrection of the saints is a thing, in nature, time, and character, entirely apart from, and (except in the fact of its being a resurrection) in every particular the opposite of, the resurrection of the wicked - that the resurrection of the saints is a special favour of God, such as was manifested in Christ’s own resurrection, because they are saved already, because they have got eternal life, because they are the delight of God, not as they are in themselves, but as they are in Christ - that they are taken up and dealt with apart, by themselves, as not belonging to this world’s government, except in so far as they are kings of it; whereas the wicked (while it is quite true that they are raised, for Christ will raise everybody) are raised, not however, because they are the delight of God, but because the contrary is the case - not because they have life in Christ, for they have not - but they are raised for judgment, which is nothing but condemnation. This is another part of the subject and a very solemn part of it, which I cannot dwell upon now, that the judgment of the nations and of the earth is for condemnation. I purpose now to go through all the passages which speak of the resurrection, and to shew you that the resurrection of the saints is an entirely distinct thing in nature, time, character, and everything else - that it is the consequence of redemption, so that now we can look for it, because we are saved - that it will happen when Christ comes, whereas, when the wicked are raised, Christ will not come at all; but that when He comes He will raise the saints, and the saints only, to be with Him in blessedness and glory. Mark, beloved friends, how solemn and practical this is for all of us - that the distinction is so clearly made, that, where the life of Christ is, where we have a part in the redemption of Christ, when Christ comes, He will take us up into glory with Himself - that we who are redeemed and have eternal life shall appear with Him in glory; whereas, where there is not repentance and a receiving of Christ into the heart, this will not be the case; but when the time comes, those who are in that condition will be raised solely for judgment, and that while all are to appear before Christ, wherever a person has to do with judgment, he is infallibly condemned. Hence you find the words which are familiar to all of you, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified." Beloved friends, you can feel how important this is. It applies the subject we are now considering directly to the state of our souls. There is no judgment without condemnation. No man with whom God enters into judgment can be saved; for sentence has been pronounced already, as plainly as God can pronounce it - "There is none righteous, no, not one." I do not know what the great white throne can say plainer than that. Such is the declaration which is brought home to our hearts; but before the day of judgment which shall execute the wrath, the wrath to come, Christ comes to deliver us from it, and wherever He is received into the heart we are delivered from it, and are placed with Himself - He is our righteousness, our life, everything. Before referring to the passages which speak of the resurrection, I will only add in passing that in the very nature of things the judgment of God can never be anything else than condemnation. I speak of the judgment upon men, not the rebel angels, although it is true of them also. We have made a judge of God - and how? By sin. God could not judge Adam, if he remained as God created him; for if He judged the thing that He created, He would be judging Himself. He could not judge him unless he sinned. Suppose I made this desk, and I began to judge it, I should be judging myself, the workman who made it. God made Adam such as he was, and saw him to be very good; and while Adam remained such, God could not judge him. What brought him into judgment was, that Adam left God, listened to the devil, and turned to sin. What then can judgment be but condemnation? God may save us out of it through Christ - that is another thing; but our prayer must be "Enter not into judgment with us, for there is none righteous, no, not one." Now the resurrection of the saints is the fruit and final power of Christ’s deliverance; whereas the other resurrection is the righteous execution of judgment against those who have hardened their necks against God’s mercy in Christ, treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. First, then, as to the nature and character of the resurrection of the saints, turn to Romans 8:11 - "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you" - that is, if you are Christians (for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His), "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." This is not true of the wicked. The reasons why they and we, if we are saints, are raised, are totally different; for we are raised in virtue of the Holy Ghost dwelling in us - that is, because we are saved and sealed by the Spirit of God already. There, then, we get the principle. Now turn to John 5:1-47 and see how strongly it brings this out. It says nothing as to time, which is comparatively immaterial; but it is a most solemn and instructive passage with regard to the point we are considering. Christ says, at verse 21 - "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." They both quicken; but the Father does not judge: all judgment is committed to the Son, "that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" - even the wicked themselves, they cannot help doing so. "He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life." You see that after He had said the Father and Son quicken, but judgment is given to the Son, He puts it to us which we are to have. Am I to be the subject of judgment? That is what He is asking us here. "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" (it is given to him), "and shall not come into condemnation" (the same word in the Greek as stands for judgment), "but is passed from death unto life." Christ has exercised His life-giving power, and is not going to deny it by bringing into judgment those upon whom it has been exercised. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" - by which, no doubt, is meant spiritual quickening. "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" - which is the same word ("judgment") again. I do not want to insist on the word "damnation." It is damnation no doubt, but I do not insist upon that word, because the point all through is that it is ’judgment’; it is a resurrection of life, and a resurrection of judgment. How far they may be apart is another point, which has nothing to do with this fact, that there is a resurrection of life, and a resurrection of judgment. Where there has been spiritual quickening, where they have everlasting life, they shall not come into judgment, but have passed from death unto life; but then, if dead as to their bodies, they must be raised up to make that life complete, because they must have bodies in unison and in harmony with the state into which they enter. And on the other hand, they that have done evil shall come forth unto the resurrection of judgment. It is said, "The hour is coming, in the which," etc.; but this is really nothing as to the two things being at the same time. It is no more than if I were to say, "the hour of Napoleon’s greatness," meaning the period during which he was great, as contrasted with the period of his fall and littleness. So here, when it is said, "the hour is coming and now is," we know that it has already lasted since Christ spoke of it, for more than eighteen hundred years. The real intention of the expression is, to contrast the time of Christ’s life with the time since; it is the same as saying there is a time for quickening and a time for judgment, and therefore a time for raising up. Here, then, are two distinct characters of Christ’s power - His giving life, and His executing judgment; those to whom life is given (gracious, spiritual life) have part in the resurrection of life; those to whom it is not given have part in the resurrection of judgment or condemnation. You thus have the great principle that is involved, and I now turn to other passages which illustrate other parts of the subject. In Luke 20:1-47 the Sadducees put the case that, according to the law of Moses, if a man, having a wife, died without children, his brother should take the wife; and they supposed the case of seven brothers marrying her, and asked whose wife should she be in the resurrection. It was a quibble they raised, tempting the Lord; and Jesus answered them, "The children of this world marry and are given in marriage. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead," etc. Now what is the meaning of this - "accounted worthy to obtain the resurrection from the dead?" You see it is accounted a special favour. If you only get the resurrection from the dead, you will be "equal unto the angels." It cannot be meant that, if people are raised to be condemned, they are equal to the angels. But it is said, If you get the resurrection, you will be equal to the angels - "And are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." It is quite impossible that this can be said of those who are raised only to condemnation. Again if you turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, you will find that nothing can be more plainly set forth than this is. At 1 Corinthians 15:22 it is said, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order." Then we get the order of the resurrection, and this is just what we want. Let us see then if it is to be a common thing, in which all classes are to go up together. "Every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming." Nothing can be more plain. "Then cometh the end." There comes another time when others shall be raised, but it is they who are Christ’s at His coming. And what I affirm is, that not merely can this be proved from Scripture, but that there never is the slightest appearance of anything else - that this fact I am speaking about is linked up with the very foundation truths of redemption. Many have redemption who do not see it - I admit this fully; but nevertheless it is the effect of redemption, and you can see the light that is thus thrown on the fact of my not coming into judgment, because I have passed from death unto life, as stated in John 5:1-47, and what the church has lost by losing sight of that. Again, in Php 3:1-21, the apostle speaks of it as his own hope, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection" - that is a present thing you see - "and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Now what is it to which so much importance is attached, that the apostle desires to be made like Christ, if by any means he may attain something very special - the resurrection of the dead? When the apostle uses such language, is it possible that all, both the wicked and the righteous, should be jostled up together in the resurrection, leaving it to be found out afterwards which are the righteous and which are the wicked? The truth is, it is a word used by the apostle in a new sense, in which it is not used in classical Greek, to express a being raised up from among the dead, on purpose to distinguish the raising of the saints from out of or among the dead, from the raising of the wicked. I do not like to deal in critical points, but the fact is that in a number of passages the power is lost, because the word is translated "resurrection of the dead," instead of "resurrection from among the dead." This was the character of Christ’s resurrection, when He was declared to be the Son of God with power by being raised from among the dead. And we shall be like Christ, in that He will raise us up from among the dead, because we have got the Spirit of Christ, and life from Christ. The reason why I dwell on this is, because it goes right to the root of the question of our redemption. Nothing can be so absurd - forgive me for saying so - than the idea of what is called the general judgment. Not that we shall not all appear before Christ - this of course is true. Take Paul himself. He has been in heaven one thousand eight hundred years, absent from the body and present with the Lord; are you going to judge him after that? He is in heaven because he was entitled to go there; and to speak of judgment after that is absurd on the face of it. To do so only shews that the church of God, even true saints, have lost the sense of being redeemed already. If Christ’s dying has put away my sins, and given me a place with Himself; if, having received the Holy Ghost, I am joined to the Lord as one spirit; am I, thus joined to Christ, still to be judged? To say so is to forget the true place which we hold. I turn now to the proof of this. Look back for a moment to 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, where, having got the order, to shew further how entirely and distinctly it is saints and none else who are raised, we find, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory." How can you apply that to a general resurrection? "Raised in glory" - can you apply that to the wicked? It is impossible to read one sentence about the resurrection without seeing - not that the others will not be raised, but - that it is distinctly and definitely the resurrection of the saints that is spoken of, because they are redeemed and have life in Christ. Take again 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 which we quoted another evening with reference to the Lord’s coming, and now with reference to which we have already seen, that it is "they who are Christ’s at his coming." At verse 16 it is said, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first" - and no one else. This is the plain language uniformly held. It is indeed the capital truth of the New Testament, that as Christ, by resurrection from the dead was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, so we through grace are (not like Christ in Person but by adoption) also declared to be the sons of God, by attaining, when the time comes, the resurrection of the body. The only point that I refer to the Revelation for is, that there will be a thousand years between the two resurrections. But, whether it be a thousand years or a thousand days, the point which I feel it to be important to insist upon is, that they are two totally distinct things - that the resurrection of the saints is God’s taking those He delights in, who are already redeemed and quickened by the Spirit, because His Spirit dwells in them His taking them to be with Christ in glory; whereas the other, whether a thousand days or a thousand years after, is the resurrection to judgment - quite a different thing. There is one passage more I will refer you to, in order to shew how the same truth is everywhere affirmed - to John 14:1-31. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." That is the way in which Christ takes us up. He will take us up to be with Himself at His coming. He comes again, and receives us to Himself, that where He is, there we may be also. There is one passage which people quote to prove the erroneous notion about a general resurrection. They cannot apply to that purpose any of the passages which speak of the resurrection; but they quote Matthew 25:1-46 where the division between the sheep and the goats is spoken of. Now there is not a single syllable there about the resurrection. In Matthew 24:1-51 our Lord has been speaking of the dealings with the Jewish people until Christ comes. Afterwards, in three parables, He describes His dealings with the saints; and then lastly He describes His dealings with the nations; and then He speaks of the time when He comes in His glory to sit upon the throne of His glory, and to gather all nations - the Gentiles, if you please, for it is the same word - before Him to judge them. And this is the judgment, whose existence people have strangely forgotten - that there is a judgment of the quick as well as of the dead - a judgment of the living (and a terrible judgment it is too). I now refer to the passage which speaks of the thousand years. I went over the other passage first, because people are apt to think that this "first resurrection" is merely the explanation of some symbolical ideas which we find in the Revelation; but, as I have shewn you, there is no passage in Scripture referring to the resurrection, which does not shew that there is a first resurrection of the saints. Turn, then, now to Revelation 20:1-15. But remark, that in the preceding chapters you find that Babylon has been destroyed - she in whom "was found the blood of prophets and of saints." Then you have the judgment of the wicked on the earth, which I do not enter into now; and then the marriage of the saints and the Lamb, and their coming with Him when He comes to destroy the beast. "The armies which were in heaven followed him." Whenever Christ comes, His heavenly saints will come along with Him, as it is said, "the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee"; and "the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints"; and "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory." Here, in Revelation, they are seen in figurative language, coming forth, clothed in white garments, which is the righteousnesses of the saints. I refer to this merely to shew the place they hold. Then Christ comes forth as King of kings, and Lord of lords, with His saints, and the beast and false prophet are taken and destroyed. Then Satan is bound, and then John says, "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." There we find the saints, those to whom judgment is given, and not only so but who execute judgment, sitting on thrones, and reigning with Christ a thousand years. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished; this is the first resurrection." Mark how the whole statement shews the perfect absurdity - and it is a sad and solemn thing, the influence which this delusion exercises on people’s minds - the perfect absurdity of what is called the spiritual millennium. Not that the Holy Ghost will not be there, for He will; but you see now, before all this, the marriage of the Lamb is come with the church, the bride of Christ; the whole as regards the church is complete; and Christ comes forth to execute judgment on the beast and the false prophet, accompanied by the armies of the saints, the bride having made herself ready, and the marriage of the Lamb having taken place before that. And yet people are looking for the millennium as a state of the church down here! I admit that it is presented in a figure; but this is certain, that if the bride is gone up, and the marriage of the Lamb is come, it is not the state of the church down here that is meant. For we read also that Satan is to be bound then; whereas the character given to us while down here is that we are to overcome Satan. "Satan will be bruised under your feet shortly." Our place here is that we have to wrestle, not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places; whereas when the Lamb comes out with His saints, Satan is bound, and then begins the period of a thousand years. I wish to refer you to the connection of the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 with Isaiah 25:1-12, because the connection of these two things - the resurrection of the saints, and the restoration of Israel - will thereby be strongly brought out The apostle says that "when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." If you turn to Isaiah 25:1-12, you will see that this takes place at the time which we call the millennium, when, the Jews being restored to their place on the earth, there is that era of blessedness among the nations which is commonly called the millennium. It is there said, "Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory." That is at the time the resurrection takes place; for it is said in Corinthians, "Then shall come to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." And thus it appears that the time when the resurrection takes place is the time when the Lord restores Israel, when He establishes Israel’s place in Zion, and takes away the veil from off the face of all nations. It is said, "Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." This is the condition of the earth when this time of which I am speaking comes - "They shall labour in the very fire and shall weary themselves for very vanity." Again, it is said, "Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them." We thus see that, though favour is shewn to the wicked, they will not learn righteousness. But "when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." I am adding these few texts to shew that the millennium is not spiritual in the sense in which it is often understood. Whenever God speaks of the earth being full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and the like, it is always in connection with judgment. You find this in Numbers, when God said He would destroy Israel, that in connection with that it is written "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord"; and you find the same thing in the passage from Habakkuk, which I have quoted. You never find the idea presented of the gospel going forth and bringing all nations under its influence. In Romans 11:1-36 the apostle puts it in this way, "For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved." That is, he treats that expectation of the church not being cut off, as being wise in their own conceit. Again, in another passage it is declared that what gathers together to battle the kings of the earth and of the whole world will be three unclean spirits that come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. I do not now go into the details of that; but this must be evident to you, that when it is stated that these three unclean spirits go forth to gather the earth and the whole world to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, it cannot be the gathering of the saints that is spoken of - it is a gathering of the powers of Satan. I have now gone through all the passages in the New Testament, which, so far as I am aware, speak of the resurrection; and I think it must be as plain to you as anything could possibly be, that all those passages shew very distinctly that the resurrection of the saints is an entirely distinct thing from the resurrection of the wicked, being founded on their redemption and their having received life from Christ, the power of which is shewn by the resurrection of their bodies; that that resurrection of life is definitely distinguished from the resurrection of judgment by a thousand years elapsing between the two; and that, while the first is the fruit of redemption, the other is the fruit of the rejection of redemption. Time will not allow me to enter on the subject of the restoration of the Jews. But let me just return, in a few words of application, to these solemn truths, that, before judgment comes, Christ has come to save; that, if He entered into judgment, nobody could be saved; that, whenever He enters into judgment, no flesh living can be justified, because there is none righteous, no, not one; but that, because this is true, the Lord has sent a perfect salvation in order that we might escape the judgment - a salvation that delivers us from the wrath to come; that there is wrath coming, but that there is deliverance from it; and that when God interferes in this way to deliver us from that wrath to come, He does not merely save us from wrath, but gives us a place with His own Son. Thus not merely are our sins forgiven, but we are united to Christ by the one Spirit, Christ being the Firstborn among many brethren, who are the members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones; so that He nourisheth the church as a man nourisheth and cherisheth His own flesh, and prays, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am"; so that when He appears, we also shall appear with Him; and if He is the Judge, the saints too shall sit with Him on thrones, and judgment shall be given to them; for, says the apostle, "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" Now is that the thought, beloved friends, which you have of redemption? Have your souls believed that this world is a condemned world? I know that the world will not bear this, but it must bear, when it rises to judgment, to hear that it is a condemned world. Individual souls are tried, but it is not true that the world is in a state of probation. Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost; and a man that is lost is not in a state of probation. When we are judged, we are judged of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. That is all a settled thing with the world. How do your hearts take this up, that all this busy scene, in the midst of which you live, is a condemned world; that this is the world which said, "This is the heir, come, let us kill him"; that this world has rejected Christ, and that Christ has said, "Now is the judgment of this world"? He says, "The world seeth me no more"; and "when the Comforter is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment - of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more," etc. But, because the world is thus condemned, there is offered to us redemption, a new life, a Second Adam instead of the first; and all the promises of God are in Him. There are no promises to men; but all the promises of God in Him are Yea, and in Him, Amen. When Adam sinned, the promise was not given to Adam - there was no promise given to Adam - it was to the Seed of the woman, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. That is, the promise was given to the Second Adam, not to the first. And then, in Christ, we have not merely forgiveness, but glory. We are one with Christ, the bride of Christ, and have our place, not according to the demerits of the first Adam, but according to the merits of the Second Adam. Do you take hold of that blessed truth? The Lord give you to feel more deeply than you have ever felt before what it is to be in a world which has rejected the Lord; and then to know, with joyful hearts, that you yourselves have bowed and received Him as your Saviour, who in unspeakable love suffered and died for us. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 02.04. LECTURE 4: ROM_11:1-36 ======================================================================== STEM Publishing: The writings of J. N. Darby: Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Delivered at Toronto, Canada. J. N. Darby. Lecture 4 Romans 11:1-36 Of the two great subjects, besides our individual salvation, of which the Scriptures treat, as already stated (namely, the church and the government of the world), the latter leads us at once to the Jewish as its centre, as the church is of the heavenly glory under Christ; under whom as their head all things in heaven and earth are to be gathered together in one. That government will extend over the whole earth, but the royal nation and seat and centre of government will be the Jewish people. To Jerusalem, as the centre alike of worship and government, all nations will flow. So it was ordained from the beginning, as we learn from this remarkable passage, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance," Deuteronomy 32:8-9. The difficulty we have to meet in men’s minds on this point is this: that that people having been set aside for their sins - first, idolatry, secondly, the rejection of the Lord Jesus - and the church and kingdom of heaven having been established, it is supposed they will not be restored, but merge in the profession of Christianity. But this sets aside alike the prophecies of the Old and the declarations of the New Testament. I will refer to this last first, as correcting this very mistake; and this will make way for the direct and positive testimonies of the Old which concern this people of God’s election. In Romans 11:1-36 this question is treated: "I say then," is the question with which it begins, "Hath God cast away his people? God forbid . . . . God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew." Then the case is put of their rejection, and the apostle argues that the casting of them away was the reconciling of the world, and proceeds, "for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? . . . And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches: but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree," etc. Then he warns the Gentile Christians against the very notion to which I refer, assuring them that they are in danger of being cut off in their turn, as we shall see more fully when we treat that subject. In verse 25 he adds, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, . . . that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." They are partially set aside till the church be called, and then a deliverer, Christ, shall, after all the church is brought in, come out of Sion and turn away their ungodliness. This is not by the gospel as now preached, for he adds, "As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes," the Gentiles being thus let in; "but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Here we have God’s ways towards them clearly set forth: partial blindness for a time, during which the church, the fulness of the Gentiles, is called; when that is closed, their Deliverer comes out of Sion. Our gospel is not the means: they are as a nation enemies as respects that; but they have not ceased to be beloved for the fathers’ sakes. That is a matter of God’s election, and as to His gifts and dealings He does not change His mind.* {*Romans 11:31 should be translated, "even so these have now not believed in your mercy that they might be objects of mercy" The Gentiles clearly were, but the Jews had promises; but, having rejected the grace of the gospel, they became objects of mere mercy like the Gentiles. This calls forth the apostle’s admiration of God’s ways.} Thus it is certain that God maintains His purpose as to them as a people, and that it is not by the gospel as now preached they will be called in. As to that they are enemies. So the Lord at the close of Matthew 24:1-51, when declaring the judgment coming upon them, says, their house should be desolate till they say, accomplishing Psalms 118:1-29, "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord." And He carries on their history till His coming again, consequent on which He will gather together the elect among them from the four winds; nor should they cease to subsist as a distinct class till all was fulfilled. Compare Deuteronomy 32:5-20. Then the Lord gives His ways with His servants meanwhile, and afterwards with the Gentile nations when He returns. Thus we learn distinctly the teaching of the New Testament, of the Lord, and the apostle, as to the plan and ways of God in respect of His ancient and elect people. If we compare Deuteronomy 32:26-27, and what follows, we shall find this abundantly confirmed. In the end the Lord will judge His people, and repent Himself concerning His servants, and the nations will be called to rejoice with them,* and Jehovah will be merciful to His land and to His people. {*The apostle Paul quotes this to prove as a principle that God will bless the Gentiles. But the accomplishment is clearly yet to come. The smallest attention to the passage makes this clear.} I may now turn to the direct declarations of the prophets, which leave no shadow of doubt on their restoration and blessing; and that as a people, with Jerusalem for the centre of their dominion and glory. That these prophecies have never been accomplished the passages themselves will prove; but there are certain general considerations that affect this question, which I will here notice. That Israel as a people were not brought into their promised blessings when Christ first came, is evident. It was the time of their casting away, and the grafting in of the Gentiles - the reconciling the world; and their receiving again is set in contrast with it. Jerusalem was destroyed, not rebuilt; the people scattered, not gathered. Their restoration after the Babylonish captivity is sometimes alleged to be the fulfilment of these promises; but it was far indeed from accomplishing them. Their blessings are to be under the new covenant; but the new covenant was not established then. They are to be under Messiah, but Messiah was not then. The Jews were still in captivity, so that Nehemiah speaks thus: "Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. And it yieldeth much increase to the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins. Also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great distress." Further, when Christianity was introduced, not only was Jerusalem destroyed in judgment, but the Gentiles were in full glory and triumph. When the Jews are re-established according to prophecy, they are judged and brought under. I will now quote the prophecies which predict this establishment of the people. You will see its connection with Christ, with the judgment of the Gentiles, with the new covenant, and even with the resurrection. It will be the sparing of a remnant, in the first instance, which will become a great nation. I first quote Isaiah, who furnishes us with some very remarkable prophecies on this subject. After describing the universal evil and the judgment of this nation, he closes his introductory prophecy thus, "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain," Isaiah 4:2-6. Thus the glory will be restored to Zion when the Lord shall have purged away her guilt by judgment. Two causes of judgment are there stated: the unfaithfulness of Israel to her first calling; and their unfitness to meet the glory of the Lord when He appears. In this last (Isaiah 6:1-13) that judgment which the Lord recalls is pronounced, "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." The prophet then enquires, "How long?" The answer is, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land." Then it is added, "But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they have cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." Nothing could more strikingly depict the long winter of Israel’s desolation; but here God would in the remnant give a principle of restoration and blessing, as Paul shews in Romans 11:1-36. This point is more historically prophesied of in Isaiah 8:1-22 and Isaiah 9:1-21, where the rejection of Christ is definitely spoken of, Isaiah 9:14-18; and His manifestation in glory in favour of Israel, yet in judgment, in Isaiah 9:5-7.* Isaiah 11:1-16 and Isaiah 12:1-6, the closing ones of this series, largely declare the restoration of Israel, terminating thus, Isaiah 12:6 : "Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." {*Isaiah 9:3 should be read "Thou hast multiplied the nation, hast increased its joy; they joy, etc."} In Isaiah 24:1-23 and Isaiah 25:1-12, which form the close of the next series of prophecies, the testimony of God is carried on to the utter desolation of the earth. "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, . . . and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fail and not rise again"; that is, it is its definite and final judgment as the earth of man’s power. It is added, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth . . . . Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Here, therefore, again we find judgment on the earth, and the Jewish people brought to the enjoyment of Jehovah’s presence and blessing. But there is more than this. In Isaiah 25:1-12 universal blessing comes on the Gentiles then: "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations." At this time also it is that the resurrection takes place, Isaiah 25:8 : "He will swallow up death in victory: and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces: and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it." In the mountain of Zion is the awaited blessing and power that sets aside all that is hostile. In Isaiah 26:1-21 all is celebrated in a prophetic song. In Isaiah 27:1-13 Satan’s power is destroyed, and God’s dealings with Israel reviewed. In taking up these closing chapters of the two series of prophecies (Isaiah 5:1-30; Isaiah 6:1-13; Isaiah 7:1-25; Isaiah 8:1-22; Isaiah 9:1-21; Isaiah 10:1-34; Isaiah 11:1-16; Isaiah 12:1-6 and Isaiah 24:1-23; Isaiah 25:1-12; Isaiah 26:1-21; Isaiah 27:1-13), the first, God’s dealings with Israel as in the land, the second with the Gentiles, I have passed over a remarkable chapter in the midst of the Gentile series, to which I must now return, Isaiah 18:1-7, difficult in expression, but very plain in its purpose. Messengers are sent by a mighty protecting power to a nation scattered and feeble - a nation wonderful from the beginning. The Lord summons all the inhabitants of the world to attend. He holds Himself aloof in His dwelling. The Jews come back, looking for full national blessing in a carnal way; just as it seemed blooming they are cut down again, and the beasts of the field, the Gentiles, summer and winter on them. Still at that time a present is brought of this people to the Lord, and then from them to Him in the mount of Zion. We learn thus their return by some political movement, their subsequent desolation in their land; yet they are brought to the Lord, and they themselves bring their offering to Jehovah in Zion. You will find in Isaiah 29:1-24, and remarkably in Isaiah 32:1-20, and largely in Isaiah 34:1-17 and Isaiah 35:1-10, the Spirit’s testimony to the final restoration of Israel. You may compare Isaiah 54:1-17, Isaiah 62:1-12, Isaiah 65:1-25, and Isaiah 66:1-24 for enlarged testimonies of the restoration of Jerusalem in the glory. The prophecies of Isaiah have the character of a general revelation of the ways of God, having the Jews for their centre, including their guilt in separating from Jehovah, and in rejecting Christ; Babylon, their scourge when disowned, and the Assyrian when they were owned. But Jeremiah lived when the house of David had completed its guilt, and Jerusalem was about to be given up to the captivity of Babylon. Hence, while pleading with them as to their sins, he enters into specific detail as to the restoration of the Jews and Jerusalem, announcing (as the other prophets) the judgment of the haughty Gentiles. To his prophecies I will now return. The whole of the Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah 31:1-40; Jeremiah 32:1-44; Jeremiah 33:1-26; Jeremiah 34:1-22 are worthy of your fullest attention. I can only quote the most striking passages. In Jeremiah 30:1-24 the prophet speaks of that day of Jacob’s trouble which there is none like, of which the Lord speaks in Matthew 24:1-51, but declares he shall be delivered out of it - a declaration which, as we know, was not accomplished at the first destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; and he adds that in that day the Lord of hosts would break the yoke from off his neck, and strangers should no more serve themselves of him, takes notice of the utter desolation of Jerusalem, but declares He would bring back the captivity, and the city should be built on its own heap, and the palace remain after the manner thereof; and then announces the utter judgment of the wicked when Israel should be His people: it would be in the latter days. Both families (Jeremiah 31:1-40) should be His people. This shews at once it was not the restoration from Babylon merely. It is declared that His love is an everlasting love. Jacob was redeemed (Jeremiah 31:11); they would come and sing in the height of Zion. This is declared (Jeremiah 31:31) to be founded in establishing the new covenant, and the chapter closes with these remarkable words: "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name: if those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse-gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever." In Jeremiah 32:1-44 Jeremiah is commanded to redeem land at Anathoth; and the chapter closes thus: The Lord declares, He will gather them and they will be His people, and He will be their God. "And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul. For thus saith the Lord, Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.’ And, returning to the occasion of the prophecy, "Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanameel, mine uncle’s son, came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. And I bought the field of Hanameel, my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver." The promises are renewed in Jeremiah 33:1-26, and God declares David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. "If ye can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them." Nothing can be more positive than these promises. The Lord takes the ground of His unchangeable faithfulness, refers to all the evil man has been guilty of, and declares He will not cast him off for it, but put the law in his heart, gives local details as to the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and says that as He had pulled down and destroyed them He would build them up again; so that it is impossible to apply it to any others. We get details as to their restoration, which passing on to Ezekiel leads us to. In Ezekiel 20:1-49 of that prophet we are told that, as regards the ten tribes, they will be brought out of the countries, and as in the days of leaving Egypt the rebels fell in the wilderness, so now they would pass under the rod like a flock told by the shepherd, and the rebels would not enter into the land (Ezekiel 20:34-38). This is not so with the two tribes: they will return in unbelief, a remnant only being faithful; Daniel’s ’wise ones,’ and two thirds will be cut off in the land and the third part pass through the fire and be refined as silver is refined. See Zechariah 13:8-9. But I must quote some other passages of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 34:1-31 God judges the shepherds. He there declares He will take the flock into His own care (Ezekiel 34:11-22) He then, in Ezekiel 34:23, passes on in unsymbolical language to say what He will do in the latter days. "And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God." In Ezekiel 36:1-38 we have the well known passage in which being born again is declared to be the work which God will accomplish in them that they may enjoy their land before Him. "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen." Then the heathen would know that this restoration was Jehovah’s doing. This last point, which we find more than once in Ezekiel, is an important element in the re-establishment of Israel, and (like the others, and especially their occurrence at the same time) has never yet been fulfilled. In Ezekiel 37:1-28 we see a further point insisted on. The dry bones of Israel would be clothed with flesh, and the people brought to life again, and placed (Ezekiel 37:14) in their own land. But when this takes place in the last days, the long separated ten tribes will be reunited to Judah, and have one head, never to be divided again (Ezekiel 37:19-20). David (the beloved), that is, "Christ," is to be king over them; God’s tabernacle will be amongst them; He, Jehovah will be their God and they His people; and the heathen will know that Jehovah sanctifies Israel when His sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore. This dwelling of Jehovah in their midst has never been, if not by the presence of Christ whom they rejected, since the Babylonish captivity. Ezekiel wholly passes over the times of the Gentiles, and introduces Jehovah again in their midst in the land. Connected with this is the account of the inroad of Gog, in the two following chapters. When restored to the land, and appearing outwardly to be restored to blessing, Gog comes up against them; God pleads against him and sanctifies Himself in this judgment. Gog falls on the mountains of Israel, and God makes His holy name known in the midst of Israel; He allows them no more to pollute His name: and the heathen shall know that He, Jehovah, is the Holy One in Israel. "Behold," it is added in remarkable language, "it is come and it is done, saith the Lord God. This is the day whereof I have spoken." The prophecy is closed by these words: "Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen, but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God," Ezekiel 39:1-29. Thus the revelation of the full restoration of Israel in both parts of the divided kingdom, reunited in one under Christ, and of the new covenant - connected with the judgment of the heathen, and their learning that Jehovah is in the midst of Israel, Jerusalem being rebuilt and glorified, as in Isaiah 40:1-31 - is made as plain as words can well make it. I will confirm this, however, by some remarkable testimonies of the minor prophets. Turn to Hosea 3:4-5, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." You will remark that the blessing of Jehovah and the often mentioned David are spoken of in the latter days; meanwhile, they have not the true God, and they have not false gods - no sacrifice, but no image either. Thus they abide many days, and thus have abode. In the latter days it shall be otherwise. In Joel 3:1-21 we have again the judgment of the Gentiles summoned to awake up and come to the great day of God to the valley of Jehoshaphat (the judgment of God). There, says Jehovah, will I sit to judge all the heathen round about, and the harvest, separating judgment, and the vintage, judgment of pure vengeance, arrive. Of the Jews it is said (Joel 3:20-21), "But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation, for I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion." See Amos 9:14-15;. Here we get what has clearly never yet been fulfilled, while it applies to temporal blessing in the land: "They shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." It is here a question, which is not one for faith, whether God’s word will be fulfilled. In Micah we have a beautiful description of what Israel will be in the world in that day under Christ. They will not be added to the church one by one, and merged as blessed in it; they will be gathered as Israel; Micah 5:3. Then Christ will be their strength against the Assyrian their foe, when owned in the land. Then they become as dew in the world, the freely flowing blessing of God, but as a lion among the beasts of the forest to all that oppose them and the counsels of God in them (Micah 5:8), while all evil is purged out from them and the heathen judged, as we have never seen (Micah 5:9-15). In Zephaniah 3:1-20 we have another passage full of instruction as to the Lord’s ways with this people. First, Jehovah’s long and gracious, but useless, patience (Zephaniah 3:7). So the godly ones had to wait till judgment came on the nations, would subdue them, and bring in blessing. In Israel there would be a poor and afflicted and sanctified remnant (Zephaniah 3:12-13), but peace should be their portion. Then Zion, Israel, and Jerusalem are called to rejoice with all their heart; Jehovah was in their midst: they would not see evil any more. God would rest in His love - the blessing so great that His love would be satisfied and in repose. Blessed thought! still more blessedly true of us when Jesus shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. Then all that afflict Israel will be undone, and the people made a praise among all peoples of the earth (Zephaniah 3:14-20). In Zechariah, the whole of Zechariah 10:1-12 describes the restoration of Israel in the latter days, speaking of each division of the people, Judah and Ephraim; then Zechariah 11:1-17 tells of Christ’s rejection; and in Zechariah 12:1-14 all the nations gathered against Jerusalem are judged, and she becomes a burdensome stone for them (so that it has no application to past events), and there is a detailed account of how Jehovah will save the people: "In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah." Then there is the mourning over Christ’s rejection, and they look on Him whom they have pierced. They are sifted (Zechariah 13:9), and two thirds cut off, and the third part pass through the fire. The last chapter (Zechariah 14:1-21) closes this striking history with full details of what shall take place. The Lord comes. His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. At evening time, when men would expect darkness, it will be light. Living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem. Jehovah shall be King over all the earth; He alone shall be owned. Jerusalem shall be inhabited in her place; there shall be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. The testimonies I have cited are amply sufficient to shew, to every one who receives the testimony of God’s word as true, the certainty of the restoration of Israel to their own land to be blessed under Christ and the new covenant. The circumstances of the return of Israel and Judah are distinguished. Of the former, the rebels are cut off outside the land, which they never enter; of the latter, in the land: the residue of these last passing through the fire. This involves the history of Antichrist and the Gentiles, which will be spoken of when the prophecies as to them are considered. But Israel and Judah are united under one head. Further, in the series of events which usher in the blessing, the Gentiles are gathered against Israel and are judged, and afterwards blessed in connection with, and subordinate to, that people. Jehovah is King over all the earth. It is noticed, too, that these events take place at the epoch at which the resurrection does. Peace reigns, and the curse is removed: Jerusalem is never defiled any more, nor does Israel lose its blessing. Such is the establishment of the divine government of the world at the close. Of this government Israel is the centre, according to the fixed purpose and unchangeable calling of God. They reject now the gospel, but are beloved for the fathers’ sake: they will believe when they see. We have brighter blessings, because we believe without seeing; and this is one thing which renders the understanding of the prophecies, as to the Jews, important. Not only is it precious to us as a part of Christ’s glory, but our clear apprehension of the application of prophecy to them hinders our misapplying it to the church. T his takes its own heavenly character. It is witness of sovereign grace, giving it a place with Christ where no promise was; Israel, the testimony to God’s faithfulness to His promises - Jehovah, who was and is to come. Israel will, indeed, be the royal people, the centre of Christ’s earthly power and dominion, but they will be reigned over. We, by pure grace, shall reign with Him, suffering first with Him. The church has its place with Him, Israel its own blessing under Him according to His promises of old. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 02.05. LECTURE 5: MAT_13:1-58 ======================================================================== Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Delivered at Toronto, Canada. J. N. Darby. Lecture 5 Matthew 13:1-58 The part of the subject which will occupy us this evening, beloved friends, in treating of the coming again of our beloved Lord, is the sorrowful side of it. What we had before us in the previous lectures was the blessings and joys of the saints, founded on the sure promise of Christ Himself that He would come again; and we found that their looking for the fulfilment of that promise was connected with their every thought and action. But it is of the greatest importance that we should look at this sorrowful side as well as the other, that man may see the consequence and effect of his responsibility. The coming of Christ has a double aspect. As regards the professing church, and the world at large too, Scripture speaks of His appearing; because then it is that the result of their responsibility is manifested. As regards the body of Christ, it speaks of His coming, and our taking up to Himself. It is one thing to own the church as a responsible body in the world - another thing to look at it as one with Him. When we turn to that which has been set by God as a system down here, and see the failure of it, it is to be judged in respect of that failure as every system set up by God has been (each having been first established on the footing of man’s responsibility). There is never anything else but failure exhibited in man. Look all through the Scripture, where we have man’s history from the very beginning of creation, and we find nothing but failure. Adam most signally failed in what God had entrusted him with. And then when law was given, even before Moses came down from the mount, man had made the golden calf to worship it. So when Aaron and his sons were consecrated, on the eighth day - the first day of their service - they offered strange fire; and, as a consequence, the free and constant entrance of Aaron into the holy place was stopped. Solomon, the son of David, was given glory and riches by God, but his heart was turned from Him by strange wives, and he fell into idolatry, and the kingdom was divided. God trusts Nebuchadnezzar with power, and he is the head of gold among the Gentiles: he gets into pride, and throws the saints into the fire; he loses his reason and senses for seven years (a figure of the Gentile empires), and eats grass like an ox. So with everything. So it is with the church, and man cannot mend it. Grievous wolves, says Paul, will come in after my decease; and there will be a falling away, and then Antichrist be fully revealed. The church itself as a system, trusted to man’s responsibility, has been all a failure. All was set up in the first Adam, who has failed. All will be made good in the second Man, who is perfect, and has overcome. But it is hard to get saints to lay hold of the entirely new position in which all is set by redemption, and by the resurrection of Christ. The first Adam failed, and was cast out; the last Adam, perfect, is come into a better paradise. So of everything. In the same way, law, which man broke will be written on his heart. Christ will be the true Son of David. Christ will rise to reign over the Gentiles. So, as the church has failed, He will yet be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. In each position in which God has tried man, what Scripture teaches us is, that man has failed in his responsibility, and that God’s plans will go on in His patient mercy till all is fulfilled in Christ. If we now turn to this responsibility, we shall find there are two subjects before us as engaged in it; the professing church is one; power in the earth, shewn in the beasts, is the other. Both are found corrupt, or at open enmity with God that which is called the church will be utterly rejected of God - spued out. The thing which Scripture teaches us is, not that we shall fill the world with blessing, but entirely the contrary The evil introduced by Satan, where Christianity had been planted, will never be remedied until the harvest. Such a thought is humbling, but gives no ground for discouragement, for Christ is ever faithful. It is the occasion, dear friends, for those who have the grace of God to walk more in accordance with it. But it is a solemn thing, if what we have to look forward to is the cutting off of the professing church. Geographically speaking, Christianity was more widely spread in the sixth century than now; the world as then known was more acquainted with the gospel than it is now. Whatever man may say about progress and the like, a great part of what was then the Christian world had heard of Christ, but is now overrun by Mohammedanism or Popery; and, where that is not so, how far have infidelity and Puseyism prevailed! But it is this very thing that calls for earnestness in those who have the Spirit of God. He is surely working very specially in these days; and in the tide of evil we have the strongest possible motive for energy and activity. It is always right, but the inroad of evil specially calls for it, as in the days of Noah, in the sense of approaching judgment. The false idea of converting the world may give a stimulus for a time, but it destroys the solemn sense of what God is, and enfeebles the authority of God’s word, which gives no such hope. When it is gradually found, too, that evil is growing up, and that the world is not converted, the reaction tends to subvert the faith, and cast into infidelity. The evil which works now was declared from the beginning, and will continue its course (such is the declaration of Scripture) till God interferes - will not be remedied until the harvest. Such is the clear teaching of the parable I have read to you (Matthew 13:24-30). It is a similitude of the kingdom of heaven. People very often take the kingdom of heaven as if it were the same thing as the church of God; but this is in no way the case, though those who compose the church are in the kingdom. Supposing for a moment that Christ had not been rejected, the kingdom would have been set up on earth. It could not be so, no doubt, but it shews the difference between the kingdom and the church. As it was, the kingdom of God was there in the Person of Christ, the King. Only as He was on earth, it was not the kingdom of heaven. But Christ being rejected, He could not take it outwardly then, but ascended on high. Thus the sphere of the rule of Christ is in heaven. The heavens rule, and the kingdom is always the kingdom of heaven, because the King is in heaven; only at the end it will be subdivided, so to speak, into the kingdom of our Father, the heavenly part; and the kingdom of the Son of man, the earthly part. If we understand the kingdom of heaven as the rule of Christ when the King is in heaven, it is very simple. If Christ had set up a kingdom when He was with the Jews, it would not have been the kingdom of heaven, because He was not in heaven. Hence, it is said, "the kingdom of God is among you," but "the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The gospel is the only means we have of gathering souls into the kingdom, and such are properly the children of the kingdom; but, within its limits, Satan works and sows tares, and they are in the kingdom. Take Popery, Mohammedanism, all manner of heretics: these are tares which have been sown where the good seed had been. Church means, or is rather, simply an assembly - an idea which has nothing to do with the thought of a kingdom. The parable I did not read, where we have Christ sowing the good seed, is not a similitude of the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom is a sphere where one rules as king. Christ is simply there sowing the word in men’s hearts. It does not describe the kingdom of heaven, nor even the kingdom begun by the King being on earth; it is individual in its character. The moment He comes to this and the two following parables, we have a similitude of the kingdom of heaven. They describe the outward result in this world of the fact of Christ the King’s being in heaven. You will remark that these are spoken to the multitude; the last three, and the explanation of the tares and wheat, to the disciples, shewing the mind and purpose of God - what divine intelligence knows and does, not mere public result in the world. The tares and wheat shew the outward result, in the world, of the gospel. In the next, it becomes a great tree - a great tree, in Scripture, signifying great power. That is what Christianity became in the world from a little seed - a great political power, like the kingdoms of the world. The next shews it as a doctrine pervading a mass of measured extent, as a little leaven penetrates through the lump of dough. Then the Lord goes into the house, and explains God’s mind about these things (Matthew 13:36). "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house, and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field." The servants enquire if they should gather the tares up. They are forbidden to do it. Our part is not judgment or excision in this world. We have not to root evil out of the world by persecution. We have seen often that the wheat was rooted up. They must grow in the field (that is in the world) till harvest. "But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest." We learn from this, not only that Christianity does not spread everywhere, but that where it does spread it becomes corrupted. And, if we look at the state of Christendom, we cannot but see that this is the case. We see how the tares have been sown and sprung up, how false doctrines have crept in, Popery, and all kinds of errors. Then our Lord, having sent the multitude away, and gone into the house, explained the parable to His disciples. You will now remark that, as I have said, in these parables, with the explanation of the first, you have two distinct things - the outward result, and the unfolding of God’s design in it. Thus, with regard to the grain of mustard seed, you have the outward result - it becomes a great tree, which, in Scripture, is simply a great public power. The king of Assyria is represented as a great tree. So Pharaoh is represented as a great tree. And Nebuchadnezzar was a great tree, which was hewn down, but whose stump and roots were left in the earth. In a word, it means simply a great power. And that was what Christianity became in the world - the greatest power in it. The figure in the parable does not raise the question whether it was good or bad, but simply represents that it was a great public power in the world. The little seed of the truth, sown at the first, took root, and grew up to be a great tree. So in the case of the leaven, working within a certain sphere, represented by three measures of meal - it worked there until the whole was leavened. The doctrines of Christendom penetrate through the whole. But no reference is there made to godliness or sanctity. Christianity is represented as a public outward thing, making its way in the world. But, having sent the multitude away, the Lord takes up an entirely different thing, and explains, not the outward effect, but God’s mind in the transactions represented by these parables. And He begins by explaining the parable of the tares of the field. Matthew 13:34 : "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables . . . . Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man: the field is the world." Mark how perfectly absurd it is to think, as some do, that it is the church which is here spoken of. The Son of man comes to sow the gospel, the word of God, in the world - not in the church. The church has received it already. The church is composed of those who professedly or really, as the case may be, have already received the good seed. He does not sow it in the church, which would be repeating what had been done before, but in the world. "The field is the world"; and nothing can be more absurd than to apply this to the church, or to bring it up in connection with any church question. "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." It is not that the wheat is spoiled. The Lord will gather that and have it in His garner. But the crop is spoiled. Christianity, as an outward thing in the world, has been corrupted through the prevalence of all kinds of error and wickedness. "The enemy that sowed them is the devil: the harvest is the end of the world" (that is, "of the age"). It is not the end of the world, in the ordinary sense, that is spoken of; it is "the end of the age": there is no dispute about that for anyone acquainted with the original: "And the reapers are the angels. As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world" - of this age. "The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." That is, the mischief which Satan has done will go on until the Lord executes righteous judgment on the world. The corruption of Christianity, the spoiling of the crop - not of the wheat, because God takes care of that, and gathers it into His garner, but of the crop (the public outward thing, which Satan has set himself to corrupt and spoil) - will go on until the harvest. And indeed on this point we get a little more precise information. The first thing, we learn, will be the gathering together of the tares (those who have grown up as the fruit of the corrupt principles, sown by Satan where the gospel had been planted) in bundles to be burned. And then He gathers His wheat into His garner - takes His saints to be with Himself. This is all the parable states. The explanation goes farther, and gives the manifested result when Jesus shall appear, "Then shall the righteous shine forth" - they have been gathered already - "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father"; as the wicked are cast into a furnace of fire, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. We have first, then, the tares growing till harvest; and then the Lord gathers out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity. There is much instruction here, but I will not detain you now with entering into more than the general idea. We have this, however, very distinctly brought before us, that while the Lord gets His own wheat in the garner, yet the crop sown in the world is spoiled; while men slept, the devil comes and spoils the plan by sowing false principles of Judaism or legalism, and immorality or Antinomianism, and false doctrines about Christ. By all these things the crop is spoiled, and this is never mended in the world until judgment comes. You will now see, by comparing other passages, that the church, having a certain responsibility entrusted to her in the earth, has not fulfilled what that responsibility made incumbent upon her, and comes under judgment. Turn to Romans 11:1-36 and you will see distinctly this principle laid down: as to the facts we shall refer to other passages. There, after speaking of the cutting off of the Jews, the apostle says, "Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off; and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off . . . . For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." It is exactly through being wise in its own conceit that the professing church has fallen. It has looked on the Jews as entirely set aside, forgetting that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" - that He never changes His mind - that, though He can create and then destroy, He never sets aside His own design and purpose; and that, God having called the Jews as a nation, He never will lay aside that purpose. But the church has been wise in their own conceits, thinking that the Jews are set aside, and that the church never can be. But we shall find exactly fulfilled, as regards the church as an outward thing in the world, what is stated in this chapter, that, if it continue not in God’s goodness, it will be cut off. This is the specific instruction contained in this passage, with reference to those brought in by faith, after the natural branches were broken off, that is, Christendom, that they are placed on this ground; that, if they do not continue in God’s goodness, they will be cut off like the Jews. The only question is, how long forbearance may be extended to them. "Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off that I might be graffed in." Quite true, the apostle replies, but "because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God," etc. Now, what I ask is this: Has the professing church continued in God’s goodness? Do we not see Popery and Mohammedanism prevalent where Christianity was originally planted? Have they continued, then, in God’s goodness? There is nothing said about being restored. This will not do: what is required is to "continue." It is the same as when a man who has broken law, says, "I will do right for the future." This does not meet the law’s claims; he has not "continued in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." And I ask, Has the church continued in God’s goodness? Is that which we now see in Christendom what God set up in His church in the beginning, or anything like it? Has not the professing church turned to ceremonies and sacraments, and all kinds of things other than Christ, in order to be saved by them? They have not continued in God’s goodness. You can see that most plainly. Our own consciousness testifies to it. But, if they continue not in God’s goodness, the whole of Christendom, the apostle says, will be cut off, and the Jews will be graffed in again. There cannot be the least doubt of that. "And they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in; for God is able to graff them in again" . . . "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." As soon as the Lord has gathered the real church of God, and taken them up to heaven, He sets up the Jews again. Turn now to the positive testimony. What I have been reading is conditional; it shews what will take place if they continue not in God’s goodness. We shall see now if they have continued. You will find that Jude brings it out in a very striking way, because he takes up the whole history of Christianity from beginning to end. "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called" - that is, the true saints - "Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." That is, I would have written in order that you may be built up in the truth, but through the coming in of evil I am obliged to exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation; ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." We see, then, the cause of the falling away - that already in Jude’s time these men had crept in unawares into the church of God, and were bringing in corruption. And he warns them that the same thing had happened in the case of Israel, when brought out of Egypt, and had caused them to fall in the wilderness: they had not maintained faithfulness. He refers them also to the case of the angels who kept not their first estate, because the principle of apostasy crept in. And mark the way in which he speaks of these men that had crept in unawares - of these tares that Satan had sown. Look at Jude 1:14 : "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all; and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." That is, under the inspiration of the prophetic Spirit of God, he sees the mischief and evil done by these persons, and sees that it was to grow and ripen up to judgment, as we shall soon see appears elsewhere. And he tells the saints that the mischief has begun, and therefore he warns them that they "should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." And the Lord executes judgment, because, instead of the world becoming filled with the blessedness of the gospel, the church has got corrupted. That it is prophesied that the filling the world with blessedness is to be brought about by Israel and not by the church, you will see, and that very distinctly indeed, when we come to other passages. But here we get a remarkable prophecy, shewing that (as in Romans 11:1-36 was declared that, if they did not continue in God’s goodness, they should be cut off) they will not continue in God’s goodness; and it gives us the history of the church in the world from the beginning to the end of it, when the Lord shall come with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment. It is as plain and distinct a declaration as it possibly could be; and you will find that the whole testimony of Scripture concurs, as of course it must concur, in the same truth. Turn now to Habakkuk, where you have one of those passages which are constantly in people’s minds, as shewing that the gospel is to go on and spread until it fills the world. I refer to them merely for the negative purpose of pointing out that they shew nothing of the kind. Habakkuk 2:12 : "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity. Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The people are all labouring in the fire, and wearying themselves for very vanity, and then the glory comes and fills the earth. Turn now to other passages, where it is not stated conditionally, or in a general prophetic manner, but where distinct details are given of that which would come about. Turn to 2 Thessalonians, and you will find there the connected details of the course of that of which Jude has already given us the beginning. But the general fact we also have stated in the Philippians, where the apostle says, "I have no man likeminded; for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s." That surely was an early period in the history of the church to say that Christians were in a state of such decline and decay that they were not seeking the things of Jesus Christ, but their own interest. When we return to the second epistle to the Thessalonians we get this very distinctly brought out. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ [rather of the Lord] is [not "at hand," but] here." The expression "at hand" makes it almost impossible to get at the sense of the passage; it means "here or present," the same word being used as when things "present" are contrasted with things "to come." The whole point of the apostle’s statement rests on this, that the Thessalonians thought that the day of the Lord was "here" - that it had already come - that their having got into so much dreadful tribulation and persecution proved that it had come. The expression "the day of the Lord is at hand" is often made use of as occurring in this passage, while in fact there is nothing of the kind in it. The Thessalonians thought, not that it was at hand, but that it had come, and therefore the apostle says, "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come the falling away first" - that is, the not continuing in God’s goodness. Therefore, as the apostle had stated that, if they did not continue in God’s goodness, they would be cut off, we have here the positive revelation or prophecy that they would not continue in God’s goodness, that there would come the falling away, and that the day of the Lord cannot come until that falling away or apostasy takes place. So it is plain on the face of it that, in place of the church continuing in God’s goodness, the distinctly opposite is the case. The apostle shews how the declension goes on: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work." That is the important point here, that already, as to its general principles, it was going on in the apostle’s day. Even then the enemy was at work, sowing tares. Only it was a mystery; it was going on secretly, in a hidden way. There was Judaism, and Antinomianism, making high professions of grace with a corrupt practice, and various other forms of heresy, as the denial that Christ was a real man, etc., all of which are mentioned in Scripture - we do not require to go to church history at all to find them. They denied the humanity, quite as soon as they did the divinity, of the Lord. We find then that this mystery of iniquity was already at work in the time of the apostle, and it was then only hindered from going on; it was not to be set aside. The time will come when it will be set aside, when Babylon will be destroyed, but not by the word. I may first refer for a moment to this point. In the book of Revelation (Revelation 17:1-18) you find that it is the ten horns and the beast which shall destroy the great whore, and burn her with fire, and then men will be given up to even still greater evil - giving their power to the beast; and then judgment. Returning to the passage in Thessalonians, we find the apostle says, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." We get here this very important truth, as regards the responsibility of the church, that what was working to corrupt it in the time of the apostle himself would go on until what hindered the full development of iniquity was removed, and then that wicked would be revealed, etc. This, as I have said, is the very opposite of continuing in God’s goodness. It is intimated to us, that what was mysteriously working then would ripen and mature up to the open revelation of the man of sin, whom the Lord will consume and destroy - "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." That is the way in which the professing church will be dealt with. Having refused to retain the truth - the real truth of God, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie - "that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." The Lord then comes and destroys the wicked, the evil being open and evident; it is no longer a mystery. This is for us a very solemn view of God’s dealings. It is not the pleasant and bright side. The pleasant bright side is the blessedness the saints will have at the coming of the Lord Jesus, in being gathered together to Him. The apostle says to the saints, You will all be taken up to meet the Lord in the air, and therefore you cannot think that the day of the Lord is here, for that day will not find you here at all. That day is the execution of judgment on ungodly men. It is as if a rebellion were going on at Toronto, and the Queen were to say, I will have all my loyal subjects with me at Montreal first, and then judgment will be executed. And so long as you were not at Montreal, it would be evident that that day of judgment had not arrived yet. That is the reason why, when it is said Lo here and Lo there, we know it does not apply to us. To a Jew it is different. If you say to a Jew who is expecting Christ, Lo here or Lo there, it is a snare to him. But if it is said to us, we can only answer, It is impossible, for we are going up to meet the Lord in the air, not to find Him here; and I am not there yet. So he beseeches them by our gathering together to Him not to be troubled as if the day was come. In this passage then which I have read you have the positive declaration, that what had begun in the apostle’s time goes on, until Christ comes to execute judgment; and you find another distinct and definite declaration of this kind in 1 Timothy 4:1-16. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron." Then, in 2 Timothy 3:1-17, we have very definitely and distinctly stated what the last days will be: "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come" - not that the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord (that is a blessed time), but that "in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." That is the character of the last days. There will be a great form of godliness, much superstitious worship, but a denial of the power of godliness. That is not a continuing in God’s goodness, when the professing church in the last days, with a great form of godliness, denies the power thereof. It is a remarkable proof of the power of Satan, that in the face of these passages, men, wise in their own conceits, will bring reasoning to prove that they are to go on and fill the whole world with the gospel - that, at the very time that judgments are hastening upon them, men will cherish the expectation of the earth being filled with a widespread blessedness - is the strongest possible evidence of the power of that delusion of which the apostle speaks. It is not that God is not working, and turning men from darkness to light. It was the same before the destruction of Jerusalem; three thousand were converted in a day. If we had three thousand converted in a day now, would it be a proof that the millennium was coming? No, but rather that it was judgment which was coming. It was because the judgment was coming that this happened. It was the Lord’s gathering out His saints before the judgment, and adding to the church such as should be saved. And, if He is now working in a special manner to gather out souls, it is not because the gospel is to fill the world, but because judgment is coming upon the professing church. The apostle shews that the declension will go on, that it will not be set aside. For "evil men and seducers," he says, "shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." And then he gives the resource under such circumstances. "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." It is as much as to say, You cannot trust the church, which will have but a form of godliness, denying the power; your resource must be the holy scriptures of truth. You will find, again, how this mystery of iniquity began to work at the very outset, by turning to 1 John 2:1-29, where this very question is treated of. "Little children, it is the last time." It seems a remarkable thing for the apostle to speak of the very time when Christianity commenced to be diffused as the last time. God’s patience has nevertheless continued to go on from that time to this day; for with Him one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. "And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists." It is not the Antichrist whom he speaks of, but he says that already there were many antichrists - already the mystery of iniquity, the spirit of evil, was working - "whereby we know that it is the last time." We have seen that the last days are a perilous time; and here we see that the apostle knows it to be the last time, because there are many Antichrists. Is it possible then that the last time will be a time when the whole world will be filled with such blessedness as some speak of? The whole testimony of Scripture is as plain as can be to the contrary: "Whereby we know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." They adopt false principles: their Christianity becomes corrupted; and they go out. Turn now to Luke 18:1-43, which occurs to my mind in connection with this, shewing how far the professing church is from continuing in God’s goodness (Luke 18:6): "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" That is not like having the world full of the gospel. He puts the question, Will there be some individuals Still expecting His interference and intervention? but He does not say there will be. The church will be gone, and the question is, Will there be any looking for His interference? will there by anyone expecting the Lord to descend on the earth? It may be well now perhaps to turn to a few passages - because they rest in people’s minds, in looking at this subject - about the gospel being preached to all nations and the like. I believe that this ought to have been done from the beginning by those to whom God has given grace. But that is not the question. The question is, whether there has not been a failure on the part of the church, as to the discharge of its responsibility. It is not a question whether they ought to diffuse the gospel - of course they ought. In the sixth century, Christianity was the all but national religion of China, and there are fragments of it there still. The limits of nominal Christendom are now very much contracted from what they were in former times. Formerly they embraced all the north of Africa, and in a measure all Asia. Now they are almost confined to Europe, except that in these modern times they include also the scattered populations in America. Let us turn then to the passages which speak of the prevalence of the gospel. That in Matthew 24:1-51 is one of them. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then" - not the millennium, but - "shall the end come." There is nothing here about filling the world with blessedness. But the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached for a witness to all nations, and then will come the end - the judgment, the end of this age. It is not said that the world is to be filled with blessing. To suppose so is being wise in your own conceit. It is said that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the world, but it is not said that the gospel will; although men, fancying that they have the power to bring it about, speak as if it were the gospel that was to do this. If you look at Revelation 14:1-20 you will find this brought out still more distinctly and clearly, that the end comes when the gospel is sent for a witness to all nations. You often hear the passage quoted to shew that the gospel is to be preached to all nations, which is no doubt a blessed truth in its place. But, to see the effect of it, we must take the whole passage: Revelation 14:6, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying, with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come." It is almost a miracle how people read Scripture without understanding it. Whoever has been in the habit of frequenting public meetings, and listening to speakers from public platforms, must have heard that passage quoted hundreds of times, as if it meant that the gospel is so to be preached to all nations that it is to fill the whole world with light, while a moment’s consideration would shew that this preaching of the gospel is a precursor of judgments. I shall now refer to the passages which speak of the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. But, before doing that, let me just quote one passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 26:1-21), where you will see that this is brought, not by the gospel, but by judgments. Isaiah 26:9 : "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early; for, when thy judgments are in the earth" (not the gospel, but judgments) "the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let favour" (that is, grace, or the gospel) "be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness." There must be judgment; the time of harvest must come, as in the parable of the tares. "In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up" (when He is just going to strike), "they will not see; but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them." Turn now to Habakkuk, where you have one of these passages which are constantly in people’s minds, as shewing that the gospel is to go on and spread until it fills the world. I refer to them merely for the negative purpose of pointing out that they shew nothing of the kind. Habakkuk 2:12 : "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The people are all labouring in the fire, and wearying themselves for very vanity; and then the glory comes and fills the earth. Turn now to Numbers - another of the only three passages in which what I am now referring to is spoken of in that way; and in Numbers 14:1-45 you will find what the Lord means by filling the earth with His glory. When the people had sinned against the Lord and murmured against Moses, God said He would destroy them, and Moses then interceded for them. "Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it." That, of course, is judgment; and the filling of the earth with God’s glory here has nothing to do with the gospel. The Lord will have the whole earth full of His glory, but He does not use the gospel for that purpose. He does send the gospel, and urges it upon men with infinite patience and goodness; but they reject it; and then comes judgment. In one other passage the expression occurs. You will find it in Isaiah 11:1-16 : "But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb . . . . They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" - that is, when God smites the earth, and slays the wicked. "And," the prophecy goes on, "in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria and from Egypt," etc. That is, the Lord gathers the Jews, and slays the wicked; and it is then the earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah. "And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together," and so on - shewing that there is to be an execution of judgment in the earth. Turn now to Isaiah 66:1-24, where the glory of the Lord is also spoken of. And, in referring to these passages which are so constantly quoted, it is always an excellent plan to read the context. In this passage the glory of the Lord is brought in by fire and by sword. Isaiah 66:15 : "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many . . . . For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory." The glory of the Lord here comes with the execution of judgment; there is nothing of the gospel at all. You see, then, these three points. First, you have the statement that, after God had sown the good seed, the enemy came and sowed the evil. Then you have the conditional declaration, that the professing church, if it did not continue in God’s goodness, would, as an outward thing, be cut off. Then, further, you have the declaration that that evil which had begun in the time of the apostles would go on to the end, the Lord only restraining the public manifestation of it until the time of judgment approached at Christ’s coming, the fulness of the Gentiles being come in, and then that wicked would be cut off; also that in the last days perilous times would come, and Antichrist would come. We have seen also that the passages referring to the earth being filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and the like, are all connected with judgment; and that when favour is shewed to the wicked, as in the gospel, he will not learn righteousness. If you turn to the Revelation, you will get a little more of detail about the falling away, and about what the character of that evil is which is at work. But before we quote from the Revelation, let me remark that the two great characters of evil from the beginning have been corruption and violence. Before the deluge, the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. And in the Revelation, "Babylon" is the expression of corruption, while the "beast" is the expression of violence. I cannot, this evening, enter into details as to this part of the subject, but I wish to shew you how the one runs into the other. In Revelation 17:1-18 the expression "the great whore" indicates the power of corruption. At Revelation 17:15 it is said, "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" - the reference here is to the influence over the nations which a corrupt Christianity has exercised. "And the ten horns which thou sawest, and [not on] the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." Of course, that is not the gospel; it is violence putting an end to corruption. "For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast." It is not when Babylon is destroyed that the kingdom is given to the Son of man. It is given then to the beast. The effect of the destruction of all this corrupt influence of outward nominal Christianity, of the awful corruption of the Papal system, which was the centre of it all, that "mother of abominations of the earth" - the effect of the destruction of that, through the hatred and disgust of those connected with it, and disgusted and wearied with it, will be to put the power of the world into the hands of the beast. There is nothing at all here about the gospel. It is the violence of man refusing longer to submit to priestly power. When one reads Scripture, simply desiring to learn what it teaches, he cannot but be surprised how people form from it the systems they do. They take hold of some abstract principle, and following it out succeed in finding it in Scripture according to their expectations. In studying the Scriptures, they settle first what the Scriptures should teach, instead of being content to take simply what they do actually state. Turn now to Revelation 16:1-21, and you will find more about the time when judgment shall be executed upon Babylon, although we cannot now enter into the various details of it. "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." These are the powers of evil. "For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief." It is the devil who gathers the whole world to that great battle. People may discuss what is meant by the dragon, and the beast, and the false prophet. I have very little doubt on that point; and I may just say, without entering into the details, that the dragon is the power of Satan, that the beast is the Roman Empire, and that the false prophet is the false Messiah at the time of the end. I do not dwell upon this; but at all events it is perfectly clear that the three unclean spirits, which gather the nations to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, are not the gospel. It is the battle which in Isaiah is said to be with burning and fuel of fire. The nations are gathered to Armageddon, and then comes the judgment. I he beast and its horns destroy Babylon, that great corrupt system, and then the beast and the kings of the earth are gathered by evil spirits against the power of Christ, Satan being cast down from heaven. In Revelation 19:1-21, we read that there comes forth on the white horse He who has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords; that the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army: "and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image: these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone; and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse." Thus we get here very distinctly that there is an execution of judgment. And after that - after the execution of judgment - Satan is bound. Then we have a passage, which is the only ground we have for saying that there is to be a millennium - a thousand years of blessedness. We have seen the general statements that the world will be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and that this is to be by judgment. But the only proof we have that the period of blessedness is to last a thousand years - the only evidence for this particular character of the glory which is coming - is found in Revelation 20:1-15. We have plenty of testimony that there will be a time of blessedness, but this specific character of it is only found here, and that is after the Lord has come as King of kings, and Lord of lords, and executed judgment, and Satan is bound. Satan has been corrupting everything; but, when he is bound, he can no longer do so; and then come the thousand years, and thrones and judgment are given to us. The saints shall judge the world, for so God has revealed in His word. Are there not many professing Christians who, if you were to say to them, "Do you know you are to judge angels?" would think you were mad? And yet it was to the Corinthians (who were very far from being the most perfect of Christians, for they were, indeed, going on very badly) that this was said. The full import of the connection of the church with Christ has been almost wholly forgotten. People talk of their hopes of being saved, and of living godly; but the connection of the church with the Second Adam is practically forgotten. The power of redemption, and the high privileges connected with it, are overlooked. Let us revert for a moment to Revelation 17:1-18 to see how intimately the saints are associated with Christ in that day. We read that the beast and the kings of the earth shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; "and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." That description does not apply to angels. No doubt He will come with the holy angels; but the expression - "called, and chosen, and faithful" - applies to the saints, who come "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white," which "is the righteousness of saints." So arrayed, they come with the Lord. We shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; and when He appears, we shall also appear with Him in glory. There is another point I wish to shew you, although I cannot go into details. I can only touch upon the great principles bearing on the subject we are considering, and pass over them very rapidly. You will remember a passage of sacred history in the time of Elijah, recorded in the Kings. God had seen that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, although Elijah had fancied that he only was left, and they sought his life to take it away. Acting under God’s authority, Elijah raised the question whether Baal was God, or Jehovah was God, and proceeded to test it by a public demonstration in the face of all the people. And he proposed to test it in this way, that he who answered by fire should be acknowledged as God. Sacrifices accordingly were prepared, and the priests of Baal cried aloud from morning until noon, "O Baal, hear us!" And Elijah mocked them, and said, "Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." And they cried aloud, and cut themselves with knives, until evening; but there was no answer. And then Elijah built an altar, and laid on it the sacrifice, and filled the trench about it with water, and called upon the Lord; and the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood, and licked up the water that was in the trench; and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "The Lord [Jehovah] he is the God; the Lord he is the God." Now we find in the Revelation, that the false prophet brings down fire from heaven in the sight of men. It is all lies, of course; but he does it in such a way as to deceive men. The very thing which Elijah did to prove that Jehovah was the true God, the false prophet, or false Messiah, also appears to do - bringing down in the sight of men the very thing which proved Jehovah to be God; and that he succeeds by it in deceiving men, shews that they are given up to strong delusion to believe a lie. This refers to the government of the world, so far as the Jews are concerned. If you turn to 2 Thessalonians, you will see the same, where Christianity is concerned, in connection with the apostasy: "Then shall that Wicked be revealed . . . even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders." Of course they are all "lying," but still they are "powers, and signs, and wonders" - words verbally identical in the original with those used by Peter when he preached of "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs." That is, Antichrist does the same things - lying, of course, but the same as regards men’s apprehension of them - which proved Jesus to be the Christ, and the same things that proved Jehovah to be the true God. By these means he blinds and deceives the people, and leads them away to worship the dragon and the beast. He does this by bringing down fire from heaven and leads them to recognise the false Christ as the true one, by doing the same things - falsely, of course - as Christ had done. You cannot conceive a more awful and solemn thing, than that men should thus be given up to strong delusion, to believe a lie, and to be subject to the power of him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders; and it is not surprising that the apostle should be so impressive in his warning, when he says, "This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come." Now, beloved friends, the more you search the Scriptures, the more you will find these great leading principles clearly brought out. But the professing church refuses to see them; and this is connected with what I pointed out at the outset, that everything which in God’s great scheme is trusted to man is a failure. It was while men slept, that the enemy came and sowed the tares, and then we have the positive revelation that the church, not continuing in God’s goodness, will be cut off. Therefore the notion that the outward church of God, after having become corrupt, will again be set right, is an entire delusion - I say outward church of God; for, as regards individuals, what is revealed on this point is only a reason for greater faithfulness on their part. That is another question altogether. As regards the duty of individuals, Scripture gives plenty of directions about that, even when speaking of the last days, when there shall be a form of godliness and a denial of the power thereof. From such, says the Spirit, turn away. It will be with the saints as with Elijah - there never will be a time when individually they will have a greater consciousness of the power of Christ, than in the time of general declension. That, however, is not the point; the question is as to the outward manifestation and outward effect in the world. Men have comforted themselves with the thought of an invisible church, forgetting that it is said, "Ye are the light of the world." Of what value is an invisible light? It is said, "let your light so shine before men"; that is, let your profession of Christianity be so distinct "that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." And now, beloved friends, take this lesson with you, that, during this time of God’s forbearance, until He comes forth to execute judgment, a deep responsibility is laid upon each of us. Let each man take heed how and what he believes. Keep in mind that it is by false doctrines that Satan has corrupted the church - by Judaism, by the worship of saints, and by all sorts of errors. We have not time to enumerate them all; but it is by the introduction of these false and heretical doctrines that Satan has succeeded in corrupting Christianity: so much so, that, if you wished to look for really the darkest characters of evil, you would have to go among Christians to find it - of course Christians merely in name I mean, but yet those who boast that theirs is the only true Christianity in the world. I only add now this thought - how important it is, if we are approaching these scenes of judgment, that we should understand correctly what is the destiny of the church, instead of imagining that all is to go on rightly until the whole world is filled with blessedness! How important it is that we should understand that this mystery of iniquity, already at work in the apostle’s days, is to go on until God leaves the bridle loose, as it were, for the whole power of evil to do its worst; that the evil is working until the saints are taken up to meet the Lord in the air, and then the power of Satan will begin to work! This surely is a solemn thought for me, if I care for the church, how I have discharged my own responsibility, when the question is put, as in Jeremiah, "Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? what wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?" Read the Acts, and see what Christendom is now, and say what likeness there is. Ask not only, Is there the doctrine? but Where is the practice now? Yet the Lord is faithful. And, when judgment comes, the Lord, having bought the field, has got the treasure safe, and He has kept it safe all the while. We shall afterwards take up that part of our subject which connects God’s dealings with the world, more particularly with the Jews. But, meanwhile, the Lord give us to lay this to heart - the difference between what is called the church, the outward thing, and what the church really ought to be. And let us see what our own characters are, if there is anything in us which is an adequate fruit of the travail of the Son of God, and of the coming down of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter and Sanctifier. It is best always, in making application of these truths, to begin with ourselves. Let us see, then, whether in our hearts we love and care for Christ, and about the condition in which the church of God is, or whether we are deceiving ourselves by imagining that it is in a proper condition to set the world right. I do not doubt that the Holy Ghost is remarkably working now. From the first time these things broke in upon my mind I have always expected that the Spirit of God would work; and I bless God that He is doing so much at this time. Yet I feel assured, from what I find in the Scriptures, that it is by judgment that this working is to be followed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 02.06. LECTURE 6: ON DAN_2:19-49; DAN_7:1-28 ======================================================================== Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ Delivered at Toronto, Canada. J. N. Darby. Lecture 6 On Daniel 2:19-49; Daniel 7:1-28 I have to read this chapter, dear friends, because it gives an outline of a part of prophecy of which other parts of Scripture are the detail. We began with the church’s having a sure and certain hope, through the never changing promise of God, of being caught up to be for ever with Christ before He comes to judge the world; and we saw that the looking and longing (where the heart is truly for Christ) for His coming again is the bright and cheering influence of the Christian’s path. Last evening we saw the professing church looked at as in the world (that which is called the church) to be at last utterly rejected of God, fearfully judged for its corruption, or spued out of Christ’s mouth as nauseous. When we turn to the ways of God on the earth, we have seen that His direct government had always been exercised with the Jews as a centre. Providential government He always exercises. He makes all things work together for good to those that love Him. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him who is our Father. But when we come to direct government, the immediate dealings with men on the earth according to their conduct, and the direct public interference of God to shew His ways on earth, then the Jews come on the scene and are the pivot round which those ways turn. But they, when fully displayed, extend necessarily to the Gentiles, who surround them and fill the earth, the great body of whom have now long oppressed them. Hence, the same passages which refer to the Jews refer to the Gentiles also, as those who come up before God when He begins that government in which the Jews have the first and principal place on earth. These passages I will now refer to, some of which, by reason of what I have just noticed, have already been quoted in reference to the Jews. But, before doing so, I must point out two classes of Gentiles to which they refer, in respect of whom there are two very distinct classes of prophecy in Scripture: that which refers to those who were enemies of the Jews when God was there with them on the earth - when He owned them, or will hereafter again own them as His people; and that which refers to those who oppress them when they are not - when God has written on them Lo-ammi, "not my people," and the times of the Gentiles have begun. These are entirely distinct. We get certain powers dealt with which are outside Israel, and are their enemies when the presence of God and His throne are still in the midst of that people, and the representatives of whom will be found in the latter days, when God has taken Israel up again. But after the Jews turned to idolatry, and, whatever had been God’s patience, rising up early and sending His prophets till there was no remedy, He was obliged to give them up to judgment; He then set up Nebuchadnezzar, and the times of the Gentiles began; and they are still running on. The empire passed from Babylon to Persia, and Persia to Greece; and the Jews were slaves to the Romans when Christ came - slaves to the Gentiles. Their ecclesiastical polity was allowed to exist, but the civil power was in the hands of their oppressors. These times of the Gentiles run on, until Christ executes judgment, until those who were the oppressors of God’s people when He does not own them shall be destroyed, and those who are their enemies outside these oppressors shall be brought to nought at a time when they think they have got it all their own way; and then the Jew is set free. In a word, Scripture shews us that the Jews are the centre of God’s earthly dealings; and that as regards the Gentiles there are two classes or prophecy, one referring to the enemies of God’s people when He owns them, and the other to their oppressors when they are turned off and He does not own them. Deuteronomy 32:1-52 lays the prophetic ground, at the very origin of their whole history, of all that is to come to pass. In Deuteronomy 32:8, as we have seen when speaking of the Jews, they are shewn to be the centre of His ways. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people [peoples] according to the number of the children of Israel." Just connect it now with the general judgment of the Gentiles. The prophet first states that after his decease Israel would corrupt themselves; then he goes on in Deuteronomy 32:21 to the wickedness, the fruit of which is going on now. In Deuteronomy 32:27 He rises above the wickedness so as not to destroy them, to shew that He is God. Then he goes on to the time of His rising up to judgment, leading us to that of which we are speaking. When Israel is brought utterly low, He will indeed judge His people, but He will also repent Himself concerning His servants. His hand, as it is expressed, takes hold on judgment, rendering vengeance to His enemies; for such the Gentile powers are found to be, and apostate Jews too. He makes His arrows drunk with blood, and His sword devours flesh. Yet this it is brings in the millennial blessings, when the nations will rejoice with His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants (a thing we have not yet accomplished) - will render vengeance to His adversaries, and, mark the expression, be merciful to His land and to His people. Thus we have His people judged, His servants avenged, His adversaries brought under vengeance, yet His land and people Israel coming into mercy, and the Gentiles rejoicing with them - in a word, judgment, the Lord’s adversaries destroyed, Gentiles and apostate Jews, His servants avenged, Israel restored, and the nations blessed with them, but Israel His people. I will now turn, before distinguishing the enemies of Israel owned of God, and their oppressors when given up, to the general testimony of the judgment of the nations, and then shew you the two distinct. Turn to Isaiah 66:15, "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire; for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh." We have the great-general fact of the judgment of the nations; and, if you turn to Isaiah 66:6-14, you will see the Jews set up again. "For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her [Jerusalem] like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream" (Isaiah 66:12). Then you get the ungodly Jews in Isaiah 66:17, and thence to Isaiah 66:24 the manifestation of Jehovah’s glory, those that escape the judgment that accompanies it going off to the nations and announcing the appearing of that glory, and bringing back the scattered Jews to Jerusalem. I get, then, thus the great fact that the Lord comes to judge all flesh; and those He finds interfering with Israel He cuts off. Now turn to Psalms 9:1-20 and Psalms 10:1-18. They celebrate the judgment and destruction of the enemies of Israel in the land. The Psalmist introduces the whole subject in Psalms 9:4-5, "For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever . . . that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God" (Psalms 10:14-17). "The Lord is king for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land," Psalms 10:16. These are the two psalms which, after speaking of the rejection of Christ as King in Zion, and His taking the character of universal headship as Son of man in Psalms 8:1-9, bring in the whole testimony of the Psalms, the state and feelings of the remnant of Israel in the last days, and the judgment which God executes upon the Gentiles. Hence, remark, it is that we find in the Psalms these appeals to judgment, and demands for it, which have often stumbled Christians, when urged by the enemies of Christianity. They are not the expression of Christian feelings. We leave the world and go to heaven. In no sense have we to demand the destruction of our enemies in order to pass into glory. But Israel cannot have their rest on earth until the wicked are destroyed; and therefore they do demand this righteous judgment, and this is the way they will be delivered. To pursue our subject: turn to Jeremiah 25:1-38. This is a remarkable chapter; but first I will give you a few verses from the end of Isaiah 24:16 : to shew the connection with Israel I will read from Isaiah 24:13 : "When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree: and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done: they shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly." There you get the world reeling like a drunkard under the terrible judgment of God, and (Isaiah 24:21-22) we see the judgment of the powers of evil on high, the prince of the power of the air and his angels, and of the kings of the earth on the earth; and then the Lord reigning in Zion and before His ancients gloriously. Now turn to Jeremiah 25:15, "For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me: Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it." He speaks of the various nations in that way, and then goes on from Jeremiah 25:29-33 to declare the universal judgment of the heathen, describing the terrible coming down of Jehovah in judgment upon them. Turn now to Micah 5:15. "And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard." But then, too, Israel is blessed and re-established in power in Micah 5:7-8, and that through Christ, great to the ends of the earth (Micah 5:4-5). "And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal men." Turn to Joel 3:9-17. "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat [Jehoshaphat means judgment of Jehovah]: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more." What makes this passage additionally important is, that Jerusalem is brought back to blessing and never to be trodden down again, no strangers shall pass through her any more, but the Gentiles who helped on her affliction are destroyed for ever. In the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when Jerusalem was in trouble, and again when Titus besieged and took it, the Gentiles were not destroyed at all. When Cyrus sent back a remnant to Jerusalem, they remained captive, and strangers are yet in Jerusalem. Again we find here all the nations gathered together, the Gentiles destroyed, and the Jews set up. Zephaniah 3:3-20 : Jehovah’s determination is to gather all the nations. They are to be devoured by the fire of His jealousy. Here again, too, we find that Israel will never be cast out again. He will bring back their captivity and make them the praise among all the people. He will cast out their enemy. They will not see evil any more. Jehovah is in the midst of Jerusalem, God will rest in His love. I will turn to one more passage before I shew the difference between the two classes of enemies to Israel. Haggai 2:5-9 : "According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house [properly, the latter glory of this house] shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." The apostle quotes this passage in the epistle to the Hebrews, shewing that it has not yet come. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." He is urging them not to rest on earthly and created things, shewing that that time of universal shaking of the first and changeable creation was yet to come, declaring that all would be shaken and pass away. Let us now take a review of scripture as to the two classes of Israel’s enemies of which I have spoken. The chief enemy of Israel, while Israel was still owned of God before the captivity of Babylon, was the Assyrian. There had been others, as Syria, but Syria succumbed to the Assyrian. Egypt then sought to fill the scene of the world, and came up, conquered Judea, and met the power of Babylon at Carchemish; but its power was broken, and Nebuchadnezzar became the head of gold over the whole earth, and the times of the Gentiles began, which are still running on, and will till the Lord takes His great power and reigns. No doubt the Jews came back, or a small remnant of them, from Babylon, to present Messiah to them. But they were so wicked and perversely idolatrous that God had given them up to captivity, and, even when in their land on their return, they were subject to the Gentiles. God’s glory and His throne were no longer amongst them. When they came back, they never got the Shekinah (the Shekinah was the cloud that manifested the presence of God). They had no longer the ark, or the Urim and Thummim. What constituted the witness of God’s presence was gone, and these things were never restored. There are the times of the Gentiles still; the four beasts constituted the times of the Gentiles. And this, as to the earth, was of the last possible importance. The throne of God ceased to be on the earth. Prophecy, indeed, remained till the outward order was restored; but it is remarkable that the post-captivity prophets never set aside the judgment pronounced in Hosea - "Ye are not my people." They never call the Jews God’s people in their then standing, doing so only when they prophesy of that future day when they will be restored to the divine favour, which is yet to come. Finally, when Christ came, He was rejected, and sat down on His Father’s throne, and the divine power and glory is wholly above, the object of faith to the believing soul. The people whom God had called, and who had God’s throne among them, were wholly cut off, though preserved. Well, the throne of God had ceased on the earth at the beginning of these times of the Gentiles; and therefore, in Daniel you never get the God of the earth, but the God of heaven, because He was not there with them. The departure of God from the direct government of the earth with Israel for the centre, His throne being in their midst, sitting between the cherubim, as it is said, and His return to the government of the earth, are of immense importance. In Ezekiel we see His judgment on Jerusalem. God comes (Nebuchadnezzar being the instrument), God comes on the cherubim in the way of providence (those wheels which were so high - they were dreadful), spares His own whom He has marked and gives up the rest to destruction. He executes judgment, leaves them, and goes into heaven. The Gentiles are left to rule, subject to God’s providence and final judgment; Israel, with God’s throne in their midst, is set aside. Four great empires arise successively - Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Roman Empire, while devastating everywhere, does not succeed in getting all nations under its power, but continues the great power of the world till the judgment, though in a special form. Then the Assyrian comes on the scene again at the close; that is, geographically what is now Turkey in Asia and part of Persia, but in the last days Assyria will appear on the scene in the Russian power, according to the testimony of Ezekiel 38:1-23 and Ezekiel 39:1-29 (a passage applied to this power one hundred and fifty years ago by the elder Lowth, before the present question arose). And the world, as connected with Israel and God’s ultimate purposes on the earth, is divided into Western Europe and the basin of the Mediterranean, the Roman Empire, and Eastern Europe or the Russian. These two are never confounded in Scripture. The Assyrian was the power that warred against Israel when God owned them, and the other the power that oppressed and held them captive when they were not owned. Now in Isaiah and the pre-captivity prophets you get the Assyrian all through, the beast being scarcely mentioned (once "the king," so as to complete the scene; and even that, I apprehend, as a subordinate ally of the beast). Whereas in Daniel you do not get the Assyrian, unless, possibly, obscurely in one chapter, and then not as such, the same thing being true of Zechariah, save that all nations are mentioned in both in a general way, brought as sheaves to the floor when rising up against Jerusalem. Thus far I have been speaking of the general judgment. Now, having distinguished between the beasts and the Assyrian power of the latter day, we have to cite those which apply to them distinctively. Turning to Daniel, you get fully the beasts, but not the Assyrian. Let us examine first the chapter I read. Here we have Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold, the Persian Empire denoted by silver, the Grecian by brass, the Roman by iron (while the iron and clay represent the present state of things). Then after these last were formed, a stone is cut out without hands (God’s sovereign work), smites the image, when all becomes as the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and no place is found for them; and then the stone that smote the image became a great mountain which filled the whole earth. There is not here, remark, a trace of influence exercised over the previous component parts of the image so as to produce a change of character. The notion is that Christianity will spread and pervade these countries. Now the stone does not grow at all till they are entirely destroyed. There is no influence exercised, no modification takes place, no change at all is spoken of here. The little stone destroys all before it increases. It is the stone which has smitten the image, which grows. What we have got here is the coming of Christ’s kingdom in judgment, and a total destruction of the empires which preceded its action. That action was on the last, and more particularly on the toes of iron and clay - the last form which this image took, looked at in its geographical distribution on earth, and in the condition of its parts, partly strong, partly broken. What gives its specific character to the figure is, that the stone does not grow at all until it has done all these things, and after it has finished its work of judgment and destruction, it grows to be a great mountain. What is going on now is not this. Christ has ascended up on high and He waits, in the spirit of grace, sitting on the right hand of His Father’s throne, while the saints, His co-heirs, the church, is gathering out of the world; until, at the moment known to God alone, He rises up from the Father’s throne, then to take to Him His great power and reign, His enemies being now put under His feet. Turn now to the interpretation itself, which is perfectly clear on this point. Power in the world is entrusted to man in the person of Nebuchadnezzar; three empires succeed his, and at the end, though there be a strength in the last which breaks in pieces and subdues all around it, yet a conflict of principles characterises its latter form (I have little doubt the Teutonic and Latin elements); and it is partly strong and partly broken. But then the close comes, verse 44: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." You will remember, beloved friends, that on the last evening we saw the general outline of God’s dealings with the Gentiles in connection with His chosen earthly people, the Jews (they being the centre of all God’s earthly dealings). First, that at the restoration of the Jews there would be the judgment of the Gentiles, the nations being divided into two classes, those that were enemies to God’s people when God owned them and had His throne in their midst, and those who led them captive and oppressed them when God did not own them. Both will be cast out from the seat of power. It is evident that, as regards the world, it is an all-important fact, God’s taking His throne from it. When that took place, He was no longer the God of the earth, though He over-rules all things providentially, but does not exercise direct government as in Israel when His throne was there. Hence Daniel calls Him the God of heaven, and it is not until He comes to judge the world that He takes His name of God of the earth, Lord of the whole earth. (See Zechariah 14:1-21.) The time during which God gives up His throne on the earth is called "the times of the Gentiles." During these times the Jews, who were taken captive and made slaves to Nebuchadnezzar, have ceased to be God’s people as a present position, and are always subject to the Gentiles, and the times of the Gentiles run on till He comes to take vengeance. Then He takes them up again, casting out (as we saw before) those who oppressed them when they were not owned, and those who were enemies when they were owned and His throne was in their midst. The distinction of these two classes is important to us because we are in the times of the Gentiles. In the prophecies there is never the slightest confusion between the two. The Assyrian, and finally Gog, is the great enemy of Israel when the people is owned, the four beasts or Gentile empires their oppressors when they are not. The prophets up to the captivity and Ezekiel speak of the former, Daniel and Zechariah of the latter, to which (when we come to the New Testament) we must add Revelation. The whole New Testament history is under the last beast. The first, fullest, and most general account of these is in Daniel 7:1-28, which we have read. If we turn to it now for a moment, we shall see that it is divided into portions by the terms "I saw in the night visions." First, we have, Daniel 7:1-6, the fact of the four great empires and a brief account of three; the next division, beginning with Daniel 7:7-12, a particular description of the fourth beast, and then a throne set up and judgment. Daniel 7:13 begins another division, in which the kingdom is given to the Son of man. After this we have the explanation given to Daniel by the angel, in which the condition of the saints under the beasts and particularly the last beast, and, finally under the Son of man, is given. They are beasts as having lost their intelligence towards God, not owning Him, and doing their own will in ravening power as far as they can. Of this the madness of Nebuchadnezzar was a figure. The first three great empires are, Babylon (the head of gold); the bear, Persia (silver); the leopard, Grecian (brass). On these I do not dwell: they are past. The fourth beast, described as we have seen apart more particularly, is the Roman; you find him represented as fierce and powerful, tearing and devouring - not simple conquest, but putting all down under it, treading down what it did not devour; and where has not Western Europe sought to place its power? But, which is far more important still, we find direct antagonism to God. Daniel 7:7-8 : "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." You will remark that there is a special power here (a horn, the symbol of power or a kingdom); before it three of the kingdoms fall. Its general character is given here. We shall see the details farther on. It has eyes of man: eyes here mean intelligence, insight into things. His mouth speaks great things, saying, Who is Lord over us? Nor is this all - that his lips are his own, as the psalm speaks; but he will not allow of God. "I beheld till the thrones were cast down [here with the LXX and best judges we must read "set," which falls in with the. sense indeed of the whole passage], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." The first three powers, you may remark, had their dominion taken away (their power was destroyed), but subsisted afterwards as subject kingdoms; whereas, when the Roman Empire is put an end to, it is destroyed utterly. To this we must now turn. It has an importance which none of the others have, though Babylon has a special character. It was the Roman Empire that was in power when Christ was born and took part in His rejection through Pilate, and hereafter they will join Antichrist when he comes. The prophet regards till the thrones are set and the Ancient of days sits. The Roman Empire will then subsist, and, whatever its form or its apparent subversion, is not supplanted by any other beast till the judgment comes. The prophet beholds till the thrones are set and the Ancient of days sits. This is an important element in the fourth beast’s history; the consequence is, that it is utterly destroyed when it ceases to be an empire. Remark, too, the clear proof we have of what I drew your attention to as so important in speaking of Daniel 2:1-49, namely, that the kingdom is not assumed by the Son of man till the judgment is executed. He may and will destroy the beast by His power; but it is only when it is destroyed that His own kingdom is established. It cannot be along with evil. This is the question of the expectant and suffering Jew in Psalms 94:20. It is not now, but after the judgment, that the growth of Christ’s kingdom takes place. He is sitting at the right hand of God, but comes thence to take the kingdom with glory and power; He is gathering in now the joint-heirs. Next, we find here that what is brought out as the cause of this judgment is the great words of blasphemy of the little horn. There cannot be a more definite statement that the glory and kingdom of Christ is consequent on the judgment. I insist upon this, because it bears upon everything we are treating of, and determines our whole view of the nature of Christ’s kingdom. There is no change in the principle of sin, in the first Adam, but it goes on to the end. It was lawless at the beginning, breaking law when law was given, rose up against the Lord in hatred to God when He was made flesh and dwelt among us; and, Satan having throughout corrupted the church as we have seen, his power is allowed to unfold itself in the beasts, and in the last beast ripens to a head, and leads the kings of this earth to make war with the Lamb (the lawless one, the man of sin, being then openly revealed). Our portion, as we have seen, is in the Lord, nor will the fruitful power of His grace towards us cease till we shall be like Himself. But though the kings of the earth stand up together, and the rulers take counsel together, yet God will set His King upon His holy hill of Zion. Here, however, the aspect of His power is somewhat different, He is seen as Son of man, a term of wider dominion than Son of David, in which Psalms 2:1-12 views Him; but even there the heathen are given to Him for an inheritance, and He breaks them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. The difference is this, that here the kingdom is given and possessed as a dominion, in Psalms 2:1-12 it is established by judicial power. We now come to the interpretation in which this very judgment is spoken of, some immensely important truths besides being brought out. In the prophecy nothing had been said of the saints, heavenly or earthly: here we shall find both - I do not say the church, but still heavenly saints. Indeed, when God’s mind is thus given, and not merely the outward facts, the connection of these events with the saints is the principal point. Daniel 7:17, "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." The saints will do it, not the Son of man only. Daniel 7:21, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Here you will first remark the extremely important point that the Ancient of days Himself comes. For though Christ, as man, is gone to receive a kingdom and to return; yet the Son of man is the Ancient of days. So it is said in Timothy that the King of kings and the Lord of lords would shew Christ in glory. But in the Revelation Christ comes as King of kings and Lord of lords: and I may add, in another relationship, the traits of the Ancient of days in Daniel are found in the Son of man who walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He is there distinctly both - Son over His own house who built all things. Another term calls for remark here - the saints of the Most High; or, as in the margin, heavenly places, which we find again in Ephesians as the place of the saints; yet it is immediately connected with the name God takes as possessor of heaven and earth. It is not here the church, but all the saints who have their dwelling in heavenly places in connection with the kingdom, yet in a state of eternal glory. God took the name of God Almighty in relationship with Abraham, of Jehovah with Israel, of Father, in grace, with us. Thus Abraham was to be perfect, walking before God Almighty: Israel was to be perfect with Jehovah their God. We are called to be perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. We are before God as Christ; but as He is in us, we are called to display the divine nature, to be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ loved us. But the name of Most High is the expression of God’s sovereign dominion, above all that is called God, the Supreme. So, when Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings (figure of Israel’s deliverance and final victory in the latter day), Melchizedek (the figure of Christ as King and Priest, Priest upon His throne in the world to come, King of righteousness, King of peace) comes forward and blesses Abraham on the part of the Most High God possessor of heaven and earth, and blesses the Most High in Abraham’s name. In our chapter the saints have their name in connection with this; and indeed it is applied to God (with the difference then of being singular, instead of plural). Meanwhile tribulation and trial is the portion of those on earth. The little blasphemous horn who speaks such great things makes war with the saints. This is the general character. Of course they must be down here. Those on high he can only blaspheme. I do not believe this little horn to be Antichrist; the source of persecution is ever the traditional religious power. Antichrist will be in direct association with him and urges him to it: of this hereafter. But this is the last active power of evil in the Roman Empire or beast whose names of blasphemy are on it: of this also farther on. This persecution will continue till God’s power interferes. This is stated in a very important verse: he prevails till the Ancient of days came (here we see that the Son of man is the Ancient of days, for we know that the Son of man comes); and thus a total change takes place, judgment is given to the saints of the high places, and the time is come that the saints possess the kingdom. He does not say saints of the Most High here, for on earth and in blessing the earthly saints will possess the kingdom, as in Matthew 25:1-46; but judgment is given only to the saints of the Most High. The Ancient of days then comes, judgment is given to the heavenly saints (compare Revelation 20:4, where we read that judgment was given unto them, and they live and reign with Christ a thousand years), and the saints possess the kingdom. When will Christians learn their place? He is never called our King, but He is the King of the nations, of the world. We reign with Him. Nothing is so hard as to get the saints to accept the place they have in Christ - to know that in Him, through the price of His own most precious blood, they are one with Him in God’s sight and purpose now, and (after having been caught up to Him in the clouds, as we have already seen in a previous lecture) will come with Him when He comes to judge the nations. But I pursue the explanation. Daniel 7:24, "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Most High, the first time it is mentioned here, is God Himself. "Times and laws" refer to Jews entirely; the words are terms which refer to their statutes and ordinances. These (not the saints) are given into his hands. God never gives His saints into their enemies’ hands, though He may use these as a rod. When that time comes, the beast at first makes his covenant with Israel, according to Daniel 9:27 - first joins with them, then breaks with them, and makes the sacrifice and oblation to cease. All the Jewish order which had been set up in pride will be completely upset, as in Isaiah 18:1-7: "They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them." They are brought into such trouble as never was since there was a nation, no, nor ever will be. It is the time, times, and half a time - the great tribulation. The verse gives in few words, but precisely, the state of things when the little horn is wearing out the saints of God.* Satan will be cast out of heaven and have come down, as we have seen, in great rage, having but a short time. Before that period everything is given into the power of the beast. Then the Lord, the Ancient of days, who is come, takes all into His hands. "A short work will the Lord make upon the earth." For the judgment shall sit; the kingdom shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High - that is, to the Jewish people, now brought into connection with the rule of heaven, and secured by it. {*"The saints of the Most High" here, I do not doubt, are specially those spoken of in the last part of Revelation 20:4, who, refusing to worship the beast, will, being killed, have their place on high.} In order to get that clear a little, we turn to the Revelation, for there we find the history of this beast unfolded in Revelation 13:1-18. I shall refer to it fully farther on; here, only to notice its character and what it is. It is the Roman beast, with seven heads and ten horns. It receives its power from the dragon, blasphemes God and those in heaven, and makes war with the saints. It is ministered to spiritually by the deceitful power of Satan. It is the instrument of Satan’s power in the earth when he is cast out of heaven. Already, as the dragon, the Romans had joined in rejecting Christ. The Roman beast is the only one which has done it in the person of Pilate. But then Christ owned the power as of God, as it was. He said "Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11), though Satan’s influence, as prince of this world, was guiding the use of that power. Then judgment was on one side, perfect righteousness on the other. When Christ comes again, judgment will return to righteousness. They will be reconciled in one, as it is in Psalms 94:1-23 : "The Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it." Till then the saints must not expect it. God may hold the reins and control to His own purposes the powers that be whom He has ordained - may give thus all quietness, as we surely experience it and have to thank Him for; but we must not expect the motives of government to be righteousness as God sees it. It is the time to do well, suffer for it, and take it patiently, as Jesus did; and when God looses the reins to evil, when Satan is come to the earth, then the full true character of evil power from Satan will be manifested. "The dragon gave him his power, and his seat and great authority," Revelation 13:2. Such is the Roman beast in its final state during the time, times, and half a time. The distinct and definite place and character of this period become as plain as possible if we consult the end of Daniel 9:1-27. The prophet receives from the heavenly messenger the assurance that the Jews will be restored. "Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times: and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing," as in margin; "not ’for himself’" is not the sense. "And he shall confirm covenant with the many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." First, seven weeks, during which time Jerusalem is rebuilt, then sixty-two weeks - making sixty-nine weeks - Messiah was cut off; but there was a week or part of one left. After the close of the sixty-ninth week Messiah was cut off, and He took nothing. Thereupon the Jewish nation, instead of being restored, was completely subverted. So we find in Luke, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The last week thus remains. In the first half indeed Messiah was there, but rejected by the nation and owned only by the remnant. At the end Antichrist is owned by the nation, rejected by the remnant. The beast makes a covenant with the Jews for that week, but breaks it in the midst of the week, the half-week remains unaccomplished. You get then three and a half years that remain to be accomplished, when abominations (i.e., idolatry) will overspread the Jewish people, the times and laws will be changed. At that very time Satan is come down (in Revelation 12:1-17), and the woman, the true remnant in Jerusalem, flees into the wilderness for a time, times, and half a time. This is Daniel’s half-week. You get it thus perfectly clear. The remnant owned Christ, but the Jews did not. You get the sixty-nine weeks, and then a long parenthesis in which Christ is set aside and the Jews on the earth, "desolations being determined," which goes on until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. During this period the church, the heavenly thing, is called. Thus the time we are in is not reckoned at all. So the prophets (who do not speak of the times of the Gentiles as Daniel does) pass it over altogether and connect Christ’s second coming to earth with His first. We have a very remarkable proof of this from the Lord Himself, when quoting from Isaiah 61:1-11 : "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." The prophet adds, "and the day of vengeance of our God." This Christ does not read, though in the same sentence, but stops short in the midst of a sentence, when He had read as far as "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord," and then ceased. "He closed the book, and sat down," because the remaining part of the prophecy extended beyond the period in which they then were, and in which we still are, to a time which is yet to come - the time of vengeance of the Lord. All this time the interval in the midst of Daniel’s week runs on without being counted. We do not count by time in heaven, and this is the time of the heavenly calling. This is evident from the passage in Daniel 9:1-27, for the weeks go on to sixty-nine; then all is vague to the one week at the end; but as soon as ever God takes the Jews up again, Daniel’s week begins again. If you apply therefore the time, times, and half a time, or the forty-two months, or the twelve hundred and sixty days (which are precisely the same time, three hundred and sixty days being counted to a year, and the five intercalary days or next days being left out), to the intervening epoch, you are necessarily on false ground. I believe there is an analogy, as there are many Antichrists though they are not the Antichrist, proving in a moral sense we have been in the last days since the apostle’s time. But the moment you come to be precise, it all falls to the ground, although there is an analogy. The counting of time belongs entirely to the Jews, and the three years and a half begin to run when they are again on the scene, when Satan has been cast down, and the beast has assumed a diabolical character - is come up out of the abyss. If you take Revelation 13:1-18 you get the details of this beast. "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority" (Revelation 13:2). There I get the direct authority of Satan. The saints of the Most High did not take the kingdom then: we shall be caught up and be entirely out of the way of that power of evil. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast" (Revelation 13:3). I do not doubt that we get here the imperial head once destroyed but now revived. "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" (Revelation 13:4). That is, the direct power of Satan, as dominant, is publicly owned, and the Roman Imperial beast thus restored carries all the world enthusiastically after it. "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven" (Revelation 13:5-6). Mark here, he cannot touch them in heaven, but he blasphemes them. Satan had been cast out, he was no longer an accuser, and those above he can only blaspheme. There will be some who will have a place in heaven, and whose hearts are weaned from earth, whom he will injure. Those whom he can hurt and kill will be taken up, or they would have lost earthly blessings by their faithfulness, and not get heavenly ones. Such there will be, who refuse to worship him. But this is a detail into which I do not enter here, as our subject is the Gentile powers and their judgment. But "all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain" (Revelation 13:8 - for such I have no doubt is the true force of the passage). Complete power (only God preserves a remnant) is in the hands of Satan and his instruments. But, connected with this, we have now another power coming out of the earth. "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." In this, I have no doubt, we have the Antichrist, or false Messiah, the direct exercise of Satan’s falsehood on earth; he is not a priest, or anti-priest, here; that he exercised in heaven. He is a false prophet (compare Revelation 19:20), and he has two horns like a lamb. Horns are the power of a kingdom; and he sets up to have that like the Lamb. He pretends to the power of Messiah’s kingdom and to be the hoped for king; but when his voice was heard, it was evidently Satan’s. Antichrist denies the Father and the Son (i.e., Christianity); he openly denies its truths, and he openly denies that Jesus is the Christ; the first, so to speak, the Jewish form of Christianity, though ever, of course true, but what a Jew was and will be called on to own. "And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound r was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men" (Revelation 19:12-13). How solemn this, as the power of delusion, remark. It was the proof Elijah gave that Jehovah was the true God, not Baal. Here this active power of Satan is shewing by the same sign that his witness is to be received, and that they are to own the beast and worship him, and they are so given up that they do believe the lie. We have seen elsewhere that he did falsely what Christ did to prove His mission. He leads them thus further to open denial of Christ, denies Christianity altogether, and says he is Christ himself; but, at the same time, leads them by these means into idolatry, and to make an image to the restored beast, "and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live: and he had power to give [not life, none can do that but God, but] breath unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads" (Revelation 19:14-16): that is, he forces them to be his avowed slaves, and make an open profession of his service. In sum, we have a second beast, using diabolical spiritual energy, and playing into the hands of the beast who held his throne from Satan. You get a kind of trinity of evil and resurrection. The dragon gives the throne to the beast, as the Father to Christ; and the second beast exercises in spiritual energy the power of the first beast in his presence, as the Holy Ghost with Christ. This is the fruit of the falling away - the apostasy of Christianity. So the first beast was slain and his deadly wound is healed. In Revelation 17:1-18 we have other aspects of the beast, or Gentile power. The empire is given, but it will ascend out of the bottomless pit, become definitely diabolical, and go into perdition. "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings [forms of power], five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" (Revelation 17:9-11). That is, five forms of government were fallen in the apostle’s time; and one was the imperial; a sixth was to come and abide a short time; and the last, who is of the seven, as a form I suppose imperial, but is an eighth. In this last form he comes out of the bottomless pit - as a diabolical character. It will be a Roman emperor; he is the eighth head, and is the beast (that is, concentrates all the power in his own person). After him the world, save only the elect, will go, seeing the long-lost form of power revived in his eighth head. It is Rome; for the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits: of her anon. But another important element is added, "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast" (Revelation 17:12). "One hour with the beast" - mark this, because it is the definite evidence that it had not been going on since the fall of the Roman Empire through the inroad of the northern nations. Those nations broke up, and, for the time, destroyed the beast - gave it its deadly wound. These receive power one hour with the beast: therefore the beast must come up again. It existed at the first without these kings. Then these kings existed without it, and you have the ten kings without the beast. At the end you get the ten kings with the beast. Men form schemes; but the moment I get scripture, I can surely say we have not the beast in this form yet. What is presented here is subsisting kingdoms, but kingdoms which have given their power, without ceasing to be kingdoms, to one head, who leads all as a whole. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." This beast, with his subordinate kingdoms, rises up in open hostility against the authority of Christ; while Christ comes with His armies to judge and destroy them all. God’s mighty ones come down, the saints come with Christ. "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire" (Revelation 17:15-16). This introduces us to the judgment of Babylon, of Rome, of the great whore, the mother of harlots and abominations. We see, not a spiritual change, but her utter destruction by the beast and the ten kings - the ruin of priestcraft. They pull it all to pieces and devour its wealth and destroy it utterly, wearied with its dominion and falseness. It had deserved it. But it is not the power of good. "For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." It is a perfect riddle how people who profess to receive the Scripture have invented all sorts of notions as to the course of events connected with Christianity in this world. The moment I come to Scripture, they are all gone. Men may talk as they like about the steady growth of religion in the world, and the way in which God’s word will remove the power of evil from it. It is directly stated, that when the beast and the horns destroy the corrupt power which had long ruled them and made the nations drunk with her fornications, they give their kingdom to the beast. You will find at the end of chapter 19 God’s dealings with the beast (Revelation 19:14-20), "And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun: and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." And the false prophet, which is the second beast. Revelation 19:21, "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh" - a strong figure, drawn from Ezekiel, of judgment and destruction. There we see that power has come, not the influence of the word, whether law or gospel; but power has come in which puts down evil power. In Revelation 20:1-15 We have a full development of what we read in Daniel 7:1-28. We get in the Revelation the history of the last beast more fully developed (that is, of the Roman Empire, which had already rejected Christ when on earth in conjunction with the Jews). Consequent on the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God, the Jews being set aside as a nation, the church was formed. She does not belong to the world, but is the bride of Christ in heavenly places. Then when the church is caught up, the beast which seemed to have been destroyed is found in a new form - still as such - its deadly wound being healed; and as he had joined in rejecting Christ, he is now in the closest connection with Antichrist. At the first he deals with the Jews, makes a covenant with them, but in the last half week of Daniel turns against them, persecutes them, changes times and laws, makes the sacrifice and oblation to cease. The king, the Antichrist, establishes idolatry, and divides their land. You read his character in this point of view in Daniel 11:36 : "And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done." In a word, in Daniel, as in the part of Revelation I have referred to, is the testimony of the beast, the last form of the power which oppresses Israel when they are captive, and does so until the Lord comes and delivers, though He judges them. Now another power, the Assyrian, comes before us, Israel’s great enemy when God owns them, and who will also appear on the scene in his last form in the last days, thinking, when the beast is destroyed, to possess all, but he comes to his end. In Isaiah 10:5 we read, "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation." After giving the various instruments which God has used to chasten Israel, he comes to the last and terrible invader. That was God’s indignation against the rebellious people (the indignation describing the last terrible visitation of God). Compare Isaiah 26:20-21 with Daniel 11:36, the last words of which are also a technical expression for the short work which God will, at the end, make on the earth, as in Daniel 9:27, and this chapter - Isaiah 10:23. (Compare Isaiah 28:22.) If you look now at Daniel 9:27, you will see what will make the force of it quite clear, "For yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." That is, the whole judgment of God on Israel - His indignation - is closed in the destruction of the Assyrian. Now, beloved friends, we will turn to Isaiah 30:1-33; but before we do so, let us, just in passing, look at the passage I have referred to in Isaiah 28:14-16, "Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." That is, they made, as we have seen, a covenant with the power of evil, but to no purpose. But the remnant who trusted the Lord and counted on His promise, though not yet delivered or knowing redemption as we do, yet looking, through the testimony then given, to the Son of man, the Branch whom Jehovah had made so strong for Himself (at any rate the wise ones of Daniel and all true-hearted ones resting on such testimonies as this and Isaiah 8:1-22) did not make haste or join the Antichrist, while as to the mass, the hopes they had put in him and the beast are confounded, and the scourge of this invader flows through. Afterwards at the end, as we see in the following chapter (293, it is exactly the opposite (Isaiah 8:4-7); the enemies who were ready to devour are destroyed. Now look at the end of Isaiah 30:1-33, and you will find this enemy and his end: "For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king [or, as I believe, "also for the king"] it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." The grounded staff is God’s decreed rod. When this is laid on the Assyrian, it is the source of joy and triumph because of deliverance - the end of the indignation. Turn now to Micah 5:1-15, where we shall see the connection of Christ with the judgment of the Assyrian and the subsequent blessing of Israel. Nothing so laid hold of a Rabbi I was conversing with as this passage. Micah 5:1-9 : "Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies-shall be cut off." The rejected Christ is now to be great to the ends of the earth. He is the peace, secures the peace of Israel, when the Assyrian (their last rod whose destruction puts an end to the indignation) is in the land. He will at first tread in Israel’s palaces; but at the end Messiah’s power destroys him; and Israel will be as a lion among the Gentiles, though as the dew of divine blessing also. The enemies of the Lord will be cut off. He will judge fully rebellious Israel, indeed, but execute vengeance and fury upon the heathen such as they have not heard. At this time, remark, the Jews are owned, seen in their land, and judged as the people of God there. Daniel, we have seen, is occupied with the Gentiles when Israel is in captivity, and Jerusalem and the land desolate. He brings all these powers to an end, but never takes up the consequent blessing. His subject is the times of the Gentiles. Ezekiel does exactly the contrary. He goes, himself a captive, up to the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and goes then right over to the end, when Israel would be restored and the enemies go up against them in their land. We shall turn now to his prophecy, where you will find largely developed this other great power. Ezekiel 38:1-2, "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him." The chief prince of Meshech is properly interpreted prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal;* and then follow the names of countries which agree with the names of those of the present day under the influence of Rosh (Russia). You will remark that, in the two preceding chapters, Ezekiel 36:1-38 and Ezekiel 37:1-28, you have the restoration of the people and divine revival of Israel. Now, when restored and quiet in the land, Gog comes up against them (Ezekiel 38:8) to plunder and possess the land; but it is that the heathen may know Jehovah when He is sanctified in Gog before their eyes (Ezekiel 38:16). They will then know by His judgments that He is Jehovah (Ezekiel 38:23). In Ezekiel 39:1-29 God leaves a sixth part of them, and when judgment is thus executed, God’s holy name is known in the midst of His people Israel. He will not let them pollute His holy name any more, "And the heathen shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel." He then calls on all the fowls of the air to come and feast on the slaughtered victims whom He has slain for a sacrifice; so many are they that it is seven months before the land is clean. This also is the one of whom He has spoken in old times by His servants the prophets, the Assyrian of the last days, in whom, as these passages plainly shew, the indignation ceases. {*This translation, of the correctness of which I have no doubt, is that of the elder Lowth, some hundred and fifty years ago, before these prophetic views were mooted.} Ezekiel 38:14-20 : "Therefore, son of man prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God, In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army. And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God, Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence; and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground." Ezekiel 39:1-8 "Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God: this is the day whereof I have spoken." "And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward" (Ezekiel 39:21-22). "Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel 39:28-29). I get here this other fundamental principle: When Israel is restored, then the heathen themselves - judged that it may be so - understand that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the Most High over all the earth, and submit to Him. You will see how Psalms 8:1-9 expresses this: "O Jehovah our Lord," says Israel, when Christ is set up, not simply as Son of David, according to Psalms 2:1-12, which will indeed now be accomplished, but as Son of man, "how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" This is the prayer of Psalms 67:1-7. I should multiply quotations too much were I to quote all the Psalms which speak of this. I will allude to a remarkable series - 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. Psalms 94:1-23 calls for judgment; Psalms 95:1-11 summons Israel to repentance; Psalms 96:1-13 the heathen are called to own Jehovah, for He is coming to judge the world in righteousness; in Psalms 97:1-12 He is actually coming in clouds; in Psalms 98:1-9 the Lord is come and has made known His salvation; in Psalms 99:1-9 He is known upon the earth again, and is sitting between the cherubim; and Psalms 100:1-5 calls on all nations to come and worship Him now that His throne is set up on earth for blessing. The cry for vengeance and deliverance is the cry of the remnant, from the time of God’s bringing back the people till His sitting on the throne of judgment. He will send deliverance by power. The throne of iniquity will not share the power with Him. Now, grace calls souls from the evil, to come to God and go to heaven, and grace characterises the Christian, though he knows vengeance will come. I have now gone through the passages which give us the history of the beast, and a sufficient number of those which speak of the Assyrian, to have a distinct idea of these two powers, now concentrated in Western and Eastern Europe. Zechariah never speaks of the Assyrian. He belonged to the captivity of Israel, though the Jews were restored that Messiah might be presented to them. But the post-captivity prophets do not call the Jews God’s people, unless speaking of their future; and the other prophets, those before the captivity, never speak of the beast as such, because Israel was owned, God’s throne still there. Ezekiel, we have seen, goes over from Babylon to Israel again in the land. We have more directly to say to the beast because the time is going on in which they rule: only that in result it becomes open rebellion. There is a raising up of the beast from a seemingly fatal wound in an utterly diabolical character. God has put into the hearts of a little remnant of the Jews then to look to Him. But the nation blossoms and buds, and seems as if it were beginning a time of full prosperity in its own land. But then it is browsed and eaten down, the resort of beasts and birds of prey. These are judged and Israel is received and blessed. And if, says the apostle, the falling away of them be the riches of the Gentiles, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead to the world? All this calls our hearts, beloved, to a far more divine apprehension that our portion is in heaven while Christ is rejected; and that, Christ having been rejected, Christians are; and that, Christ being in heaven, their conversation or citizenship is there also. No living here any more, though we pass through it as pilgrims and strangers. What I have to do is to convince the world that there is a power which delivers from it, to manifest Christ and Christ’s motives in it. "If ye do well and suffer for it, and take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." The danger for the saints now is that, instead of seeing evil going on and rising up to a head against the Lord, man is thinking of improving the world and bringing in good. What is before us is, that in the last days perilous times shall come. But men are wise in their own conceits, and fancy they will do better than Christ and the apostles - not make Christians for God, but improve the earth. The testimony of God is, that the professing church and the world are both ripening up to evil, and that the Lord is coming, to receive us to Himself, and to judge the habitable earth in righteousness, and reign for its blessing, and primarily over the restored Jewish people. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 03.00. ON THE FORMATION OF CHURCHES ======================================================================== On The Formation Of Churches by John Nelson Darby This essay was published originally in French, in Switzerland, about 1840. In English it has been entitled, "Reflections on the Ruined Condition of the Church; and on the Efforts made by Churchmen and Dissenters to Restore it to its Primitive Order." 1. Aim Of This Essay 2. The Lord’s Purpose In The Gathering Of The Saints On Earth 3. National Systems And Their Relation To The Gathering Of Believers 4. Position Of Dissent Relatively To The Gathering Of Believers 5. In The Fallen Condition Of The Present Dispensation, Can Man Restore It? 6. If The Dispensation Cannot Be Restored, What Remains To Be Done 7. Directions Given By The Holy Spirit For The Present Condition Of Things 8. Does The Word Of God Authorise The Naming Presidents And Pastors? 9. The Children Of God Have Nothing To Do But To Meet Together In The Name Of The Lord 10. Conclusions 11. Final Remarks ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 03.01. AIM OF THIS ESSAY ======================================================================== Aim Of This Essay Circumstances have latterly drawn the attention of many Christians to the question of the competency of believers, in our days, to form organised churches after the model, as they suppose, of the primitive churches, and have led to the inquiry whether the forming of such bodies is at this time agreeable to the will of God. Some respected and beloved brethren insist that the forming and organising of churches is, according to God’s will, the only means of finding blessing in the midst of that confusion which is acknowledged to exist. Others consider that any such attempt is altogether man’s effort, and as such, is wanting in the very primary condition of lasting blessing, namely, the condition of entire dependence upon God; although it may be blessed by God up to a certain point on account of the sincerity of purpose and piety of those who take part in it. The writer of these pages, bound by the strongest ties of affection and of love in Christ to many who belong to bodies assuming the title of Church of God, has studiously avoided all collusion of judgment with his brethren on this subject, although he has often conversed with them concerning it. He has done no more than withdraw himself from the things he found among them, when those things appeared to him at variance with God’s word, always endeavouring to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," and remembering that word, "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth" (Jeremiah 15:1-21), a direction of unspeakable value in the present confusion. His affection is not lessened; his attachment is neither interrupted nor impaired. Two considerations especially constrain the writer to declare what to him appears the instruction of the Scriptures on this head: duty to the Lord (and the welfare of His Church is the highest of all considerations); and love to brethren - a love which must be guided by faithfulness to the Lord. He writes these pages because the project of making churches is one of the hindrances in the way of the accomplishment of what all desire, namely, the union of the saints in one body: first, because those who have attempted it, having gone beyond the power given them by the Spirit, the flesh has been fostered in them; and, secondly, because those who were wearied with the evil of national systems, thinking themselves under a necessity of choosing between such evil and that which meets their view as dissenting congregations, often remain where they are in despair of anything better. In the actual condition of things it would be an extravagance to affirm that these churches can realise the desired union; but I will not press that lest I should pain some of my readers. I shall rather endeavour to put in the foreground the points on which we are agreed, points which will at the same time assist us to form a right judgment on certain systems standing around us - systems which, if themselves incapable of yielding the good result desired by many brethren, leave the partisans of each, as their only consolation and excuse, the thought that others can do no more than themselves towards realising the object in view. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 03.02. THE LORD'S PURPOSE IN THE GATHERING OF THE SAINT ON EARTH ======================================================================== The Lord’s Purpose In The Gathering Of The Saints On Earth It is the desire of our hearts, and as we believe God’s will under this dispensation, that all the children of God should be gathered together as such, and, consequently, as not of the world. The Lord hath given Himself "not for that (the Jewish) nation only, but that he should gather together in one the children of God which are scattered abroad." This gathering together in one was then the immediate object on earth of Christ’s death. The salvation of the elect was as certain before His advent, though accomplished by it, as afterwards. The Jewish dispensation which preceded His coming into the world had for its object, not to gather the church upon earth, but to exhibit the government of God by means of an elect nation. At this time the Lord’s purpose is to gather as well as to save, to realise unity, not merely in the heavens, where the purposes of God shall surely be accomplished, but here upon earth, by one Spirit sent down from heaven. By one Spirit we are all baptised into one body. This is undeniably the truth concerning the church as it is set before us in the word. Men may go about proving that hypocrites and evil men had crept into the church, but there no resisting the inference that there was a church into which they had crept. The gathering together of all the children of God in one body is plainly according to the mind of God in the word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 03.03. NATIONAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE GATHERING OF BELIEVERS ======================================================================== National Systems And Their Relation To The Gathering Of Believers As to systems called national, the existence of them cannot be traced higher than the period of the Reformation. The very idea seems not to have found entrance anterior to that period. The only thing in the least analogous - the privileges of the Gallican Church, and the practice of voting by nations in certain general councils - are so widely different, that they cannot be considered to call for any discussion. Nationalism - in other words, the dividing of the church into bodies - consisting of such and such a nation, is a novelty, not above three centuries old, although many dear children of God are found dwelling in it. The Reformation did not directly touch the question of the true character of God’s church. It did nothing directly tending to restore it to its primitive estate. It did what was more important: it brought out the truth of God as to the great doctrine by which souls are saved, with much more clearness, and with far mightier effect than the modern revival. But it did not re-establish the church in its primitive powers. On the contrary, it placed it in general under subjection to the state, in order to free it from subjection to the Pope; because it regarded the papal authority as dangerous, and looked upon all the subjects of a country as Christians. To escape from this anomaly, believers have sought to shelter themselves under the distinction between a visible and an invisible church. But I read in Scripture, "Ye are the light of the world." Of what use is an invisible light? "A city set on an hill cannot be hid." To say that the true church has been reduced to the condition of being invisible is at once to decide the question, and to affirm that the church has entirely lost its original and essential standing, and departed from the purpose of God, and from the constitution it received from Him; for God did not light a candle that He might put it under a bushel, but that He might put it upon a candlestick to give light to them that are in the house. If it has become invisible it has ceased to answer the purpose for which it was formed. Such, upon its own shewing, is the present condition of Christianity. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 03.04. POSITION OF DISSENT RELATIVELY TO THE GATHERING OF BELIEVERS ======================================================================== Position Of Dissent Relatively To The Gathering Of Believers We are (may I not say it?) agreed that the gathering together in one all the children of God is according to God’s will as expressed in His word. But I ask, before I go farther, Can any one believe that the dissenting congregations, such as we see them in this or any other country, have attained to this end, or are at all likely to attain to it? This truth of the gathering together of God’s children is in Scripture seen realised in various localities, and in each central locality the Christians resident therein composed but one body: Scripture is perfectly clear on that head. It has indeed been objected that such union is impossible, but no evidence is produced from God’s word in support of the assertion. It is said, How could it possibly be in London or in Paris? Now the thing was practicable at Jerusalem, where there were more than five thousand believers: and even though meeting in private houses and upper rooms, Christians were nevertheless but one body, under the guidance of one Spirit, with one rule of government, and in one communion, and were so acknowledged. Thus, at Corinth, or elsewhere, a letter addressed to the church of God would have found its way to a known body. I go farther, and say, that it is plainly our duty to desire pastors and teachers to take the care of such congregations, and that God did raise up such in the church as we see it in the word. Having fully recognised these weighty truths; namely (1) the union of all the children of God; (2) the union of all the children of God in each locality; having, moreover, acknowledged that they are so seen in the word of God - the question might seem to be settled. But here we pause. It is indeed undeniable that this state of things, appearing in God’s word (for it is a fact, not a theory), has ceased to exist, and the question to be solved is no other than this: How ought the Christian to judge and act when a condition of things set before us in the word no longer exists? You will say, he is to restore it. Your answer is itself one proof of the evil. It supposes that there is power in ourselves. I would say, Listen to the word and obey it, as it applies to such a state of declension. Your answer takes for granted two things: firstly, that it is according to the will of God to re-establish the economy or dispensation on its original footing after it has failed; and secondly, that you are both able and authorised to restore it. Is this scriptural ground to take? Suppose a case: God made man upright - God gave His law to man. Every Christian will allow that sin is an evil, and that it is our duty not to commit sin. Suppose that one convinced of this truth should set about fulfilling the law and being upright, and in that way pleasing God. You will at once exclaim, he is self-righteous and trusting in his own strength, and does not understand God’s word. A return from existing evil unto that which God at the first set up, is therefore not always a proof that we have understood His word and will. Nevertheless, we shall rightly and truly judge that what He did at the first set up was good, and that we have departed from it. Apply this to the church. We all acknowledge (for to such only am I writing) that God established churches; we confess that Christians (in a word, the church generally) have sadly departed from this original settlement by God, and are guilty therein. To undertake to re-establish it all on its first footing is (at any rate, it may be) an effect of the working of that very spirit which leads one to seek to set up again his own righteousness when it has been lost. Before I can accede to your pretensions, I must see, not only that the church was such in the beginning, but, moreover, that it is according to God’s will that it be restored to its primitive glory, now that man’s sin has tarnished and departed from that glory; and, furthermore, that a voluntary union of "two or three" or two or three and twenty, or several such bodies, are each of them entitled, in any locality, to take the name of the church of God, when that church originally was an assemblage of all believers in any given locality. You must, moreover, make it clear to me, if you assume such a place, that you have so succeeded by the gift and power of God in gathering together believers, that you can rightfully treat those who refuse to answer to your call as schismatics, self-condemned, and strangers to God’s church. And let me here dwell on a most important consideration, which they who are bent on making churches have overlooked. They have had their thoughts so fully engaged in their churches that they have almost lost sight of the church. According to Scripture the whole sum of the churches here on earth[1] compose the church, at least the church on earth; and the church in any given place was no other than the regular association together of whatever formed part of the entire body of the church, that is to say, of the complete body of Christ here on earth; and he who was not a member of the church in the place in which he dwelt, was no member of Christ’s church at all; and he who says that I am not a member of God’s church at Rolle[2] has no right to acknowledge me as being any member of God’s church at all. There was no idea of any such distinction between the little churches of God in any given place, and the church as a whole. Each one was of some church, if one existed where he was, and thus in the church, but no one imagined himself to be in the church if he was separated from the church in the place he lived in. The practice of making churches has alone led to the separation of the two things, and almost obliterated the idea of God’s church, by making partial voluntary churches in different places.[3] I return to the case of the person already supposed. Let us now suppose that his conscience has been touched and received life through the Spirit of God, what will be the effect? In the first place it will be to make him acknowledge his ruined state in consequence of sin, and the absence of all resource in any innocence or righteousness of his own. The next result will be a feeling of entire dependence on God, and submission of heart to the judgment of God on such a state. Apply this to the church and the whole dispensation. Whilst men slept, the enemy has sown tares. The church is in a state of ruin, immersed and buried in the world-invisible, if you will have it so; whilst it ought to hold forth, as a candlestick, the light of God. If the professing body is not in this state of ruin, then I ask our dissenting brethren. Why have you left it? If it be, then confess this ruin - this apostasy - this departure from its primitive standing. Alas! the fact is too evident. Abraham may receive men-servants and maid-servants, oxen, camels, and asses; but his spouse is in the house of Pharaoh. How, then, will the Spirit work? What will be the acting of such an one’s faith? To acknowledge the ruin; to have it present to his conscience, and to be humbled in consequence. And shall we, who are guilty of this state of things, pretend we have only to set about and remedy it? No; the attempt would but prove that we are not humbled thereby. Let us rather search in all humility what God says to us in His word of such a condition of things; and let us not, like foolish children who have broken a precious vase, attempt to join together its broken fragments, and to set it up in hopes to hide the damage from the notice of others. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 03.05. IN THE FALLEN CONDITION OF THE PRESENT DISPENSATION, CAN MAN RESTORE IT? ======================================================================== In The Fallen Condition Of The Present Dispensation, Can Man Restore It? I press this argument on those who are endeavouring to organise churches. If real churches exist, such persons are not called on to make them. If, as they say, they did exist at the beginning but have ceased to exist, in that case the dispensation is in ruins, and in a condition of entire departure from its original standing. They are undertaking in consequence thereof to set it up again. This attempt is what they have to justify; otherwise the attempt is without anything to warrant it. It will be objected that the church cannot fail, and that God has given to it a promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I acknowledge it, if we understand by that promise that the salvation of the elect is secure, that the glory of the church in the resurrection will triumph over Satan, and that God will secure the maintenance of the confession of Jesus in the earth till the church be taken away. That, however, is not the question. The salvation of the elect was equally secured before there was a gathered church. On the other hand, if it is intended to affirm that the present dispensation cannot fail, it is a great and pernicious error so to say: indeed, if such be the truth, why have you separated yourselves from the state in which it was? If the economy or dispensation of God in the gathering of the church on earth still subsists according to its original standing, how is it that you are making new churches? It is a point upon which Popery alone is consistent with itself. But what says the word? That apostasy is to set in before the judgment; that in the last days perilous times shall come; that there shall be a form of godliness without the power. It adds, "from such turn away." And the thought that the dispensation of the church cannot fall away is treated of in Romans 11:1-36 as a fatal presumption, which leads the Gentile Church to its ruin. The Holy Ghost passes condemnation on those who have that thought, as being wise in their own eyes, and teaches us, on the contrary, that God would act towards the present dispensation as He did towards the previous one; that if it continued in the goodness of God, this goodness would be continued to it, otherwise the dispensation would be cut off. Thus the word reveals the cutting off, and not the restoration of the dispensation, in case it should not continue faithful. And to go about re-making the church and the churches on the footing on which they stood at first, is to acknowledge the fact of existing failure without submitting ourselves to the witness of God, as to His purposes in reference to such a state of ruin. It is to act according to our own thoughts, and to rely on our own strength, for the accomplishment of our project-and what has been the result? The question before us is not whether such churches existed at a period when the word of God was written; but whether, after they have, by reason of man’s sin, ceased to exist, and believers have been scattered (and these are facts, the truth of which is admitted), those who have undertaken the apostolic office of re-establishing them on their original footing, and in so doing, to set up again the entire dispensation, have really apprehended the divine will, and are indued with power to accomplish the task they have taken upon themselves-questions which are widely distinct. I cannot think that any, even the most zealous of those persons, who, with a desire of which I willingly acknowledge the sincerity, have sought to again set up the fallen dispensation (and David was sincere in his desire to build the temple, although it was not God’s will that he should do so), are in a condition to be able to do it, or that they have the right to impose upon my faith, as God’s church, the little edifices that they have set up. And yet I am very far from thinking that there have not been churches in time past, when God sent His apostles to settle them; and in my opinion, he who is unable to discern the difference between the state in which the church was in those days and its present condition, has no very clear judgment in the things of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 03.06. IF THE DISPENSATION CANNOT BE RESTORED, WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE? ======================================================================== If The Dispensation Cannot Be Restored, What Remains To Be Done It will be said that the word and the Spirit still remain in the church: most true. Blessed be God for it: this it is which is the whole ground of my confidence. What the church wants, is to learn to lean upon this. It is on that account that I am enquiring what the word and the Spirit say of the state of the fallen church, instead of arrogating to myself a competency to realise that which the Spirit has spoken of the first condition of the church. What I complain of is, that the thoughts of men have been followed, and that which the Spirit has recorded as having existed in the primitive church has been imitated, instead of searching for what the word and the Spirit have declared concerning our present condition. The same word, the same Spirit, which, speaking by Isaiah, told the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be still, and that God would preserve them from the Assyrian, said, by the mouth of Jeremiah, that he who should go forth to the Chaldeans should be saved alive. Faith and obedience in the one case was nothing less than presumption and disobedience in the other. Some will say this tends to confuse simple minds. Obedience to the word in humility of mind never confuses. I add, that those who are bent on restoring the whole church ought to be well instructed in the word, and to abstain from doing anything under the pretext of simplicity. The lowliness that feels aright the real condition of the church, preserves us from pretensions, that impel to an activity which is unauthorised by the word. The truth is, that the Scriptures, even those already quoted, prove that the condition of the dispensation at its close will be just the reverse of what it was at its opening. And the text quoted from the Romans (Romans 11:22) is decisive on this point, that God would cut off the dispensation instead of restoring it, if it continued not in the goodness of God. The passage - "My Spirit remaineth among you - fear ye not," contains a most sure and precious principle. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the keystone of all our hopes. But this cheering prophecy of Haggai did not lead Nehemiah, who was faithful to God, when Israel returned from the captivity, to set about fulfilling the task assigned to Moses, who was faithful in all his house at the commencement of that dispensation. No, he confesses, in the plainest and most affecting language, the fallen condition of Israel, and that they were "in great distress." We see him doing all that the word authorised him to do, in the circumstances in which he stood; but never did he set about making an ark of the covenant as Moses had done, and because Moses had made one-nor imitate the Shekinah, which God only could make, nor the Urim and Thummim, nor put in order the genealogies while the Urim and Thummim were wanting. But we are told in the word that he had blessing such as had not been "since the days of Joshua"; because he was faithful to God in the circumstances in which he stood, without assuming to make anew that which Moses had made, and Israel’s sin had destroyed. If he had done that, it would have been an act of human presumption and not of obedience. Obedience, and not the imitation of the apostles, is our duty in such circumstances. It is far more humbling; but, at least, it is more lowly and safe; and that is all I ask or desire, that the church should be more humble. To rest satisfied with existing evils, as if we could do nothing, is not obedience; but neither is it obedience to imitate the actions of the apostles. The sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit delivers us at the same time from the evil thought of being obliged to continue in that which is evil, and from the pretension to do more than the Holy Spirit is at the same time doing-or from regarding either the one or the other of these states as a state of true order. I shall be asked - Would you then have our arms hang down, and ourselves to do nothing until we have apostles? By no means. I only doubt whether it be God’s will that you should do what the apostles did; and I say that God has left for faithful Christians directions sufficient for the state of things in which the church now is. To follow those directions is more truly to obey, than if we should set about imitating the apostles; and the Spirit of God is ever with us to strengthen us in this way of true obedience. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 03.07. DIRECTIONS GIVEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THINGS ======================================================================== Directions Given By The Holy Spirit For The Present Condition Of Things The Spirit of God, foreseeing all that would happen in the church, has, in the word, given warnings, and at the same time, the needful assistance. If He tells us, that in the last days perilous times shall come, and if He pictures to us the men of that time, He adds, "from such turn away." If He says, "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14), and this warning is one of all ages; if He says that we are all "one body," and therefore partake of one bread; and, notwithstanding, I find no such union of the saints, He tells me at the same time, that there, where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, He is in their midst. But His directions are even more precise than this. I have for comfort in all times, that the Lord knows them that are His, but for my own direction, that he that names the name of Christ should depart from iniquity: where I find this established, I must leave it. But there is more; I learn that in a great house, such as the professing church is become, there are vessels to dishonour, and that if a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel made to honour, fit for the master’s use. And the man of God is exhorted to follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Those who have been endeavouring to form churches seem, though meaning well, to have entirely forgotten our need of power as well as of direction. When we are told that all the directions for the churches are for all times and places, I venture to ask if they are for times and places in which churches do not exist? and we are brought back to the inquiry-If the dispensation is in ruins, who is to make the churches? Again, I would ask, is the direction given by the apostle, as to the use of the gift of the tongues for our own times? Doubtless, if that gift exists; but that condition is assuredly a most material modification of your rule, and the very turning point of the discussion between us. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 03.08. DOES THE WORD OF GOD AUTHORIZE THE NAMING PRESIDENTS AND PASTORS? ======================================================================== Does The Word Of God Authorise The Naming Presidents And Pastors? Those who cling so fondly to the practice of making and settling of churches, quote the Epistles to Timothy and to Titus, with most undoubting confidence, as serving for guidance to the churches in all ages; whilst they were really never addressed to any church whatever. It may be observed that the quotations from God’s word on matters most bearing on those who are engaged in settling churches, such as the choosing of elders, deacons, etc., must be derived from these epistles alone - and most remarkable it is, that those companions of the apostle who possessed his confidence, were left in the churches, or else sent to them when already existing, in order to select such elders, when the apostle had not done it - a clear proof that the apostle could not confer upon the churches the power of choosing their elders, even when churches he himself had formed were still in existence; and notwithstanding, we hear all this adduced as instructions for the churches in after times. Official nomination is an assumption of apostolic authority, and contrary to the order and principles on which it took place then. Nor has this left the saints without resource when God graciously works. Pastors, and doctors, and evangelists are gifts which have their places in the unity of the body, and have their just exercise wherever God has graciously given them; and in 1 Corinthians 16:15-16, I find the Holy Ghost directing submission to all who in devotedness of heart have given themselves to true labour in the Lord. So 1 Thessalonians 5:12, and Hebrews 13:17, teach the same godly submission to those who labour, and thus take the lead in the work of the Lord. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 03.09. THE CHILDREN OF GOD HAVE NOTHING TO DO BUT TO MEET TOGETHER IN THE NAME OF THE LORD ======================================================================== The Children Of God Have Nothing To Do But To Meet Together In The Name Of The Lord With what design then am I writing? Is it that Christians should do nothing? No! I have written from a desire that there should be less presumption and more diffidence in what we undertake to do: and that we should feel more deeply the ruined condition to which we have reduced the Church. If you say to me, ’I have separated myself from the evil that my conscience disapproves, that which is at variance with the word’ - it is well. If you urge that God’s word requires the saints to be one and united; that it tells us that, there where two or three are gathered together, Jesus is in the midst of them, and that therefore you "assemble yourselves" together, I say again, it is well. But if you go on to tell me that you have organised a church, or combined together with others to do so; that you have chosen a president or a pastor, and that, having done this, you are now a church, or the Church of God of the place you inhabit - I put this question - My dear friends, who has commissioned you to do all this? Even according to your principle of imitation (although to imitate power is an absurdity: and the kingdom of God is "in power"), where do you find all this in the word? I see no trace of the churches having elected presidents or pastors. You say that for the sake of order it must be so. My answer is, I cannot get off the ground of the word-"He that gathereth not with me scattereth." To say that it is necessary that it should be so, is to reason after the manner of men. Your order, being constituted by the will of man, will soon be seen to be disorder in the sight of God. If there are but two or three met together in the name of Jesus, He will be there. If God raises up pastors from amongst you, or sends them among you, it is well; it is a blessing. But ever since the day when the Holy Spirit formed the church, we have no record in the word that the church has chosen them. What then, it will be asked, must we do? That which faith ever does - acknowledge our weakness and take the place of dependence upon God. God is sufficient in all ages for His church. It is of the last importance that our faith should hold fast the truth, that whatever the ruin of the church on earth, there is ever in Christ all the grace, and faithfulness, and power needed for the circumstances in which the Church is. He never fails. If you are but "two or three," who have faith for it, meet together: you will find that Christ is with you. Call upon Him. He can raise up whatever is needed for the blessing of the saints; and doubt not He will do so. The blessing will not be ensured to us through a pretension on our part to be something when we are nothing. In how many places has not blessing to the saints been hindered by this choosing of presidents and pastors? In how many places might not the saints have assembled together with joy in the strength of that promise made by Christ to the "two or three," if they had not been scared by this pretended necessity for organisation, and by charges of disorder (just as if man was wiser than God), and if their fear of disorder had not persuaded them to continue a state of things which they confess to be wrong? Nor does the constitution of these organised bodies by man hinder the domination of a single individual, or a struggle between several. It tends rather to produce it. That which the church specially needs is the deep feeling of her ruin and necessity, a feeling which turns for refuge to God - with confession, and keeps clear from all known evil - acknowledges the authority of Christ, as He who rules as Son over His own house, and the Spirit of God as the sole power in the church; and by so doing, acknowledges every one whom He sends, according to the gift such a one has received, and that with thanksgiving to Him, who by such gift constitutes such brother a servant of all under the authority of the great Head, the great Shepherd of the sheep. To acknowledge the world to be the church, or to pretend to again set up the church, are two things equally condemned and unauthorised by the word. If you say, what then is to be done? I rejoin - Why are you ever thinking of doing something? To confess the sin which has brought us where we are, to humble ourselves low before the Lord, and, separating from that which we know to be evil, to lean upon Him who is able to do all that is necessary for our blessing, without assuming to do more, ourselves, than the word authorises us to do - such is the position, humble it is true, but proportionately blessed by God. A point of the utmost importance, which they who wish to organise churches seem to have altogether lost sight of, is that there is such a thing as POWER, and that the Holy Spirit alone has the power to gather and build up the church. They seem to think that, as soon as they have certain passages of scripture, they have nothing to do but to act them out; but under the garb of faithfulness, there is in this a fatal error - it consists in leaving aside the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. We can only act out the word of God by the power of God. But the constituting the church was a direct effect of the power of the Holy Ghost. To leave aside that power, and still hold to the pretension of imitating the primitive church in what flowed from that power, is strangely to delude ourselves. Only I must remark that, where a direct act of obedience is concerned, the Christian has not to wait for power: the constant grace of Christ is his power to obey the word. In what precedes, I speak of power to do a divine work in the Church. I know that those who esteem these little organised associations to be the churches of God, see nothing but mere meetings of men in every other gathering of God’s children. There is a very simple answer on this matter. Such brethren have no promise authorising them to set up again the churches of God when they have fallen, whilst there is a positive promise that, where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, He is in their midst. Thus there is no promise in favour of the system by which men organise churches, whilst there is a promise for that "assembling together" which so many of the children of God despise. And what do we see to be the consequence of the pretensions of these bodies? Those who contrast these pretensions with the reality, are disgusted and repelled: while multitudes of them are formed apart from each other, on the various views and opinions of those who formed them; and thus the desired object is hindered, namely, the union of God’s children. Here and there the pastor’s gifts may produce much effect; or it may happen that all who are Christians may be living in unity, and there will be much joy; but the same thing would have resulted though there should have been no pretension whatever to be the church of God. _____ [1] Or, rather, the Christians of whom they consist. [2] The principal champion of the dissenting churches, an excellent man, was there. [3] Lardonism and some bodies of analogous character alone maintain a consistent course in this respect, and are consequently completely in error. By a happy inconsequence in those who are now forming little churches of God in different places, they nevertheless consider believers who do not form part of them as being in the fullest sense of God’s church. John Nelson Darby ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 03.10. CONCLUSIONS ======================================================================== Conclusions I conclude by a few propositions:- 1. The object to be desired is the gathering of all God’s children. 2. The power of the Holy Ghost can alone effect this. 3. Any number of believers have no need to wait till that power produces the union of all (provided they act in the spirit of unity, which, if carried out, would unite the whole body of Christ), because they have the promise that, where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord, He will be in the midst of them, and two or three may act in reliance upon this promise. 4. The necessity of ordination for the administration of the Supper nowhere appears in the New Testament, and it is clear that it was to break bread that Christians came together on the Lord’s Day; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:20, 1 Corinthians 11:23. 5. A commission from man to preach the gospel is a thing unknown in the New Testament. 6. The choosing of presidents or pastors by the church is also altogether without warrant in the New Testament. The election of a president is a mere act of man, entirely unauthorised. It is a mere intervention of our wilfulness in the concerns of God’s church, an action pregnant with evil consequences. The choosing of pastors is an encroachment on the authority of the Holy Ghost, who distributes gifts according to His will. Alas! for him who does not profit by the gift which God grants to another. Where elders were appointed, it was either by the apostles or else by those sent by the apostles to the churches. If the church is in ruins, God is sufficient even for that state of ruin; God will lead on and guide His children, if they walk in humility and obedience, without setting about a work that God has not called them to. 7. It is clearly the duty of a believer to separate himself from every act that he sees to be not according to the word, though bearing with him who ignorantly does the act; and his duty requires this of him, even though his faithfulness should cause him to stand alone, and though, like Abraham, he should be obliged to go out without knowing whither he goes. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 03.11. FINAL REMARKS ======================================================================== Final Remarks My design in these few pages has not been to shew either the ruined condition of the church, nor yet that the actual dispensation cannot be again set up, but rather to propose a question which is usually entirely misapprehended by those who undertake to organise churches. The ruin of the dispensation has been briefly considered in a tract on the apostasy of the present dispensation; but as a brother, to whom these pages have been read over, felt that this question of the ruin of the dispensation was awakened in his mind and desired to have some proof to satisfy such as were in like manner exercised, I add a few sentences. The parable of the tares of the field is the Lord’s judgment on this point-that the evil wrought by Satan in the field where the good seed had been sown should not be remedied, but should continue until the harvest. Let it be borne in mind that the parable has nothing to do with discipline among God’s children, but relates to the question of a remedy for evil brought in by Satan into the dispensation itself "whilst men slept," and to the restoration of the dispensation on its primitive footing. This question is decided summarily and with authority by the Lord in the negative, for He tells us that, throughout the duration of the dispensation, no remedy shall be applied to the evil; that the time of harvest, in other words the judgment, should extirpate it, and that until that period the evil should go on. Let us here call to mind that our separation from the evil, and our enjoyment of the presence of Christ with the "two or three," is altogether a different thing from the pretension to set up the dispensation again, now that the evil has come in. The former is at once a duty and a privilege; the latter is the fruit of pride and disregard of the directions of the word. Romans 11:1-36, already quoted, expressly tells us that the present dispensation shall be dealt with like that which went before it, and that, if it continued not in the goodness of God, it should be cut off - not restored. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 teaches us that the "mystery of iniquity" was already working; that, when an obstacle which then existed should be taken out of the way, that "wicked one" should be revealed; and that the Lord would "consume" him with "the breath of his mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of his coming." Thus the evil which had come in, in the days of the apostles, was to continue and ripen, and manifest itself, and be consumed by the Lord’s coming. 2 Timothy 3:1-17 shews the same thing, that is to say, the ruin of the dispensation, and not its restoration: that in the last days "perilous times should come," that men should be "lovers of their own selves" (and the Spirit adds, "from such turn away"), and that "evil men and seducers" should "wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." Jude also shews that the evil which had already crept into the church would be the subject of judgment at the Lord’s coming. (Compare Jude 1:4 and Jude 1:14). And this awful truth is confirmed by the analogy of all the ways of God toward men: namely, that man has perverted and corrupted what God has given him for his blessing: and that God has never repaired the evil, but has brought forth something better, after judging the iniquity. And this better thing has been in its turn corrupted, until at last eternal blessing will be brought in. When the dispensation was a positive revelation, as was the case under the law, God gathered a feeble remnant of believers from among those who were unbelieving, and translated them into that new blessing which He has established in place of that which had been corrupt, transplanting the residue of the Jews into the church. In the passage of Romans 11:1-36 the Holy Spirit instructs us that the Lord will in like manner deal with the present dispensation. The same thing is seen in the Apocalypse. As soon as the "things that are" (that is, the seven churches) are brought to a close, the prophet is carried to heaven, and all that follows has to do, not with anything acknowledged as a church, but with God’s providence in the world. I have done no more than cite a few express passages; but the more we study God’s word, the more do we find this solemn truth confirmed. I say, then, do whatever you are enabled to do; but do not pretend to accomplish objects which are altogether beyond what the Lord has given you to which are altogether beyond what the Lord has given you to do; and do not thus betray the pretensions and the weakness of the flesh. Humility of heart and soul is the sure way not to be found fighting against the truth, for God giveth grace to the humble. And may His name of grace and mercy be for ever praised. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 03A.00 BURNT-OFFERING; THE MEAT-OFFERING; THE PEACE ======================================================================== The Burnt-offering; the Meat-offering; the Peace-offering J. N. Darby. {Notes of Addresses, 1880.} ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 03A.01 THE BURNT-OFFERING - LEV_1:1-17 ======================================================================== The Burnt-offering - Leviticus 1:1-17 There is a very definite distinction between the first two sacrifices we have here, to which the third is an appendix, and the others. The burnt-offering and the meat-offering stand alone; dependent on these you get the peace-offering, and then those of another character, the sin and trespass offerings. Wherever we meet the actual use and presentation of the offerings, it is in the opposite order to the revelation of them here. In the revelation we get them as God presents them, as He sees Christ: but in the use of them, my need comes first. Here, it is God’s side, a sacrifice by fire of a sweet savour to the Lord: that expression is never used of the sin-offering, except in one single verse. It gives a very definite character to these two first, that it is their aspect towards God, His character and nature. When we come as sinners, we come in respect of what our sins are, but our apprehension of what the meaning and value of Christ’s death is, is greatly enhanced by seeing God’s part in it. I must confess my sins - it is the only true way of coming; and I find there is propitiation through faith in His blood, and then I find all that is essential in these sacrifices as regards God. There is no particular sin here: it was for sin of course, but it was not an individual confessing some particular sin. It is striking enough, that until you come to the institution of the law, you never get sin-offerings, except in the case of Cain, of which I do not doubt myself (though I know it is a question of interpretation), that it is, "a sin-offering lieth at the door." Sin and sin-offering is the same word; that word is never used again in that way, till the law - we get burnt-offerings and peace-offerings often. The burnt-offering is the great basis, because it is God’s glory in what has been done for sin. We must come, as I said, by the sin-offering. "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins"; but it is another thing, beloved friends, when I look at Christ’s offering and sacrifice, as glorifying God perfectly in all that He is, and that in respect of sin. He said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life," a very remarkable word, for none could give a "therefore" to God for His love; Christ could. The difference between divine love and human love is, that God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If man gets sufficient motive, he will sacrifice his life; but without any motive, Christ gave Himself, God gave His Son: it characterises the love. In John 10:11, He lays down His life "for the sheep"; but in verse 17, He does not say it is for the sheep. He has glorified God in death, in the place of sin, and He is glorified as man at the right hand of God. He goes up into that place where we get morally what the sacrifice was in God’s sight. There is nothing about sins in this chapter, though sin was there, blood-shedding, death, shewing sin was the thing in question; and yet the sacrifice was absolutely a sweet savour, that blessed character of the sacrifice of Christ, which settles every question of good and evil in God’s sight. There was this terrible thing, that sin had come in, in the creature of God’s predilection. People say that Adam learned to know evil, whereas he had only known good before; but that is not at all the point. "The man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil." It is knowing the difference between right and wrong. Man was the one in whom God was going to be perfectly glorified; His delights were with the sons of men, and He did not take up angels, but the seed of Abraham; we are to be eternally conformed to the image of God’s Son. In the meantime, Satan had prevailed over the first man; after lust came transgression, and all was over as regards his responsibility. His state was made to depend on one single thing that required obedience. He might have eaten of all the trees in the garden, if God had not told him not; it was not a question of any positive sin, but the claim of obedience. It was a thing to put angels to confusion, God’s beautiful thing ruined! Lust and violence came in, till God had to destroy it all. Everybody knows what the evil is; you cannot go into a great city like this, without knowing that the evil is such, none but God Himself could have patience with it; it has been truly said, if trusted to one of us, we should destroy it in an hour. Man, in the hand of Satan, degraded himself and turned everything to confusion. Another thing, beloved friends; God tried man in every way. The question was raised, was there any remedy for this? In the first place He destroyed them with judgment - then He called Abraham - then came the test of the law; all the things required by the law were duties already - the law did not make them duties, but it was God’s statement of the obligation of those duties and God’s claim upon man to fulfil them. The sacrifices were introduced consequent upon that. As to the state of man’s heart, nothing could have been more decided, than when he cast God off, for the one thing he was told not to do. Then came a totally distinct thing. Man being not only a sinner but a transgressor, God comes in goodness reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing trespasses. He came in perfect goodness close to man, touched man, so to speak - holiness in all His walk, but divine love in everything He did - made flesh and dwelt among us; not visiting merely as with Abraham; but He was down here as a man, manifesting what He was towards men. That was the last trial to which God put man, to see whether there was anything He could awaken in man towards God. Come in goodness from His Father, walking amongst men in grace, so that there was no sorrow He did not meet - and we know how it ended for the time; He was totally rejected, and that closed man’s history, his moral history. Not only had he sinned so that he had to be turned out of an innocent paradise, because he was not innocent, but he had rejected God’s Son, come in love. But now came the accomplishment of the divine work of redemption; there was a sacrifice! I get the blessed Son of God giving Himself, made sin in God’s sight, totally alone, and, as to the suffering of His soul, forsaken of God. I get the sin dealt with. I must come by my guilt, but this presents it from God’s end. I get absolute evil in man, and He met man with the perfect revelation of good. But it drew out hatred - that was the effect; the carnal mind, enmity against God - hatred against God manifested in goodness. I get Satan’s power complete over man; Christ’s own disciples forsaking Him, the rest wagging their heads at Him, glad to get rid of God and good. He had gone so low for our guilt and God’s glory, that even the thief hung with Him could insult Him! With the blessed Lord Himself I find just the opposite: Man in perfect goodness, love to the Father and obedience at all cost: "that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do": perfect in the place of sin, where this question had been brought to an issue, made sin in God’s sight in perfect love to His Father and perfect obedience. But further, in the cross, I see God in absolute righteousness against sin, in perfect love to the sinner; man in absolute badness; Satan’s complete power; man in absolute obedience. That laid the basis of it all; it brought angels desiring to look into it, to see the Just suffering for the unjust! It was not weak mercy giving up holiness and righteousness, but the absolute expression of majesty and righteousness. "It became him," that if God’s Son were made sin, He must be dealt with as such, there was no escape! He gave Himself for it, "a body hast thou prepared me." Totally alone there, none to comfort Him, strong bulls of Bashan around; He says, "Be not thou far from me, O Lord," and He had to be forsaken of God. The condition man was in was that it was his delight to get rid of God, and God, too, not come to judge him, but to reconcile him to Himself! But God’s eternal counsels were in it, and Christ gave Himself. All that God is, was brought out and made good there, when man under Satan’s power had succeeded in getting rid of Christ, He giving up Himself. God was glorified in Him. There was the secret work of God, God using the very thing by which Satan sought to frustrate it, to accomplish it. Satan’s power seemed to have its way when he got rid of Christ from the world, but all was then brought to an issue before God; and that gives the immutability of the blessing. All was finished on which everlasting righteousness is founded. It was not a state of innocence whose preservation hung on yet unsatisfied responsibility: the unchanging blessing of the new heavens and the new earth, depends on that - the worth of which cannot change. Morally speaking, the cross maintains it all. The question of good and evil, raised in the garden of Eden, was settled in the cross. I get the blessed Son of God, never using His divine power to screen Himself from suffering, not using it to hinder the suffering, but to sustain Him in it, to enable Him to bear what none could have gone through without it. When I come to God in this way, I apprehend what sin is, not merely my actual sins, but that in me dwelleth no good thing. I get One, hanging upon the cross, made sin before God at the very moment when the full character of sin was manifested in the rejection of Christ. And there, where man was wholly a sinner, and Christ stood in that place for him, all that God is, was brought out. Where could you find full righteousness against sin? In no place but the cross, which gives perfect righteousness against sin and love to the sinner in that same blessed work, and that in a man, and when sin was brought out in its worst character. Look at Him at the grave of Lazarus; a wonderful scene! The Lord was there in perfect obedience, for when they sent the tenderest message to Him: "Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick"; He abode still two days where He was. Death was weighing upon their spirits: what made Him weep? He was not weeping for Lazarus. Death was there, and it seemed all over; but no, "I am the resurrection and the life." I am come into this scene where death is lying on your hearts. I am the resurrection and the life in the midst of it; and when that was shewn, which even Thomas saw was on His path, He goes out Himself to die! There did not remain a slur or stain upon what God is. Not only was His righteous judgment against sin shewn, as it could be nowhere else, but His love, in that He spared not His own Son. That work and act of Christ, went up as a sweet savour to God; He gives Himself in perfect devoted love to His Father; perfect love was manifested, and all that God is. "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him": outward dishonour, but moral glory; what was in the nature of God, and what was in man as hatred against God, all brought out, Christ giving Himself up wholly and totally, that God should be perfectly glorified; so that in that sense of the word, God was a debtor to man for the infinite glory brought to Him, and that where sin had come in, where death had come in! He hung there as made sin, and God is more glorified, than if sin had never come in. It is a wonderful thing - nothing like it! He does bear our sins, blessed be His name, but when we see the blessed Son of God made sin, there is nothing like that! None of us can speak of it properly, but I trust your hearts will look at it and feed upon it. But what I have not yet referred to is, that the offerer was to do it, for his acceptance. I leave the offering now, for the man who comes by it. "By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." Coming by that sacrifice - it is important our hearts should get hold of it - I am accepted in the Beloved, in all its sweet savour. I go to God in the sweet savour of all that Christ is; not simply that my sins are put away - there I can stand in righteousness as to my sins before God - but coming by that in which God delights, He delights in me as in it, loved as Christ is loved; it brings into fellowship and communion with God, as to the value of Christ’s place. I know He takes perfect delight in me - a worthless creature in myself - and the more I know it, the better; but there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. I go to God in Him, in the perfect sweet savour of Christ. It is not a question of any particular sin, but I go to God with the consciousness of being received and delighted in; I go, as the fruit of the travail of His soul. God sees in me, the perfection of Christ’s work, and it is for ever and ever; but it rests upon our hearts now. We must come by the sin-offering, but we get in this a great deal more; no actual sin spoken of, but the sense of what His glory requires, accomplished in Christ where sin was, so that there is nothing also in the character of God not perfectly glorified, and that in love to us. Not merely my sins are put away, but I go offering Christ, so to speak. I present Christ, and God testifies of the gift. I say, what is the measure of my righteousness? Christ; and therefore we are received to the glory of God. And now, in weakness and infirmity here, speaking of our standing before God, it is in all the delight He had, not merely in Christ as a living Man, but in all the perfection of His work in the place of sin, where all that He is was glorified - obedient unto death. I do not like saying, Where are your hearts about it? but - what I do desire for us all - Does my soul go to God, owning that righteousness of God, that love of God, the gift of God in it, and that He testifies of the gifts? May He give us to see, what we never can fathom, what it was to that Holy One to be made sin, He who was the delight of the Father’s bosom; that our souls may feed on Him, eat His flesh and drink His blood - not only know that we are washed from our sins. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 03A.02 THE MEAT-OFFERING- LEV_2:1-16 ======================================================================== The Meat-offering- Leviticus 2:1-16 In the burnt-offering, beloved friends, we had the way in which Christ, sin being in the world, offered Himself without spot to God. Here, we have more His perfectness in detail, brought down to us. The priests ate part of the meat-offering, they ate nothing of the burnt-offering. We get what Christ was in His perfectness down here, all the characters and traits of that perfectness, but brought to us; the burnt-offering was not brought to us, but was burned entirely before God. Sin was there, atonement made - not sins, but sin - and it was a perfect sweet savour to God. Here, it is more the detail of what He was as a man, but burned with fire - the test of His perfectness. Leviticus 2:1. Here, I get the general character of the Lord: fine flour, perfect humanity, "this man hath done nothing amiss," as the poor thief said on the cross. Then the oil (the Spirit) and frankincense put upon it: perfect in Himself, without sin, in every sense, and then the Holy Ghost sent in bodily shape like a dove, and abiding on Him. He could not join Himself with Israel, for they were sinners and unbelieving, but there was a remnant called out of God by the ministry of John the Baptist, and He goes with them in their first right step. When He thus came out publicly, the Holy Ghost came upon Him. He takes His place, in a public way, among this remnant who were going right, under the testimony of John the Baptist, and so, blessed be His Name, He does with us in our first right step. We need redemption to bring us into the place where He stood by reason of His own perfectness. He was sealed with the Holy Ghost; we get it because of the blood; the leper was first washed, then sprinkled with blood and then anointed with oil. He made the place into which we are brought by redemption. Heaven opened, a Man upon earth, upon whom the Holy Ghost descends and abides; and the Father’s voice came, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But He must die, to bring us into it. The gift of the Holy Ghost was confined to Him until redemption was accomplished, He had to finish the work and take His place on high. We get the fine flour, and the oil, and the frankincense upon it, the perfect sweet savour of His life to God; not the sweet savour of the sacrifice, but all His life His words and works, a sinless Man, passing through this world; all He said and did was by the Holy Ghost. He was the Anointed Man, which is what the name Messiah or Christ means. "He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure." Leviticus 2:2. Here we get what was very sweet, as to the path of Christ, in which we have to seek to follow Him. The handful was all burned to God. Christ, looked at as Man, was burned to God; "the flour thereof, the oil thereof, and all the frankincense thereof." Here I get the perfectness of Christ in His path - that He never did anything to be seen of men; it all went entirely up to God. The savour of it was sweet to the priests, but it all was addressed to God. Serving man, the Holy Ghost was in all His ways, but all the effect of the grace that was in Him, was in His own mind always toward God; even if for man, it was to God. And so with us; nothing should come in, no motive, except what is to God. We see in Ephesians 4:32; Ephesians 5:1-2, the grace towards man, and the perfectness of man towards God as the Object. "Be ye imitators of God as dear children." In all our service as following Christ here, we get these two principles; our affections towards God and our Father, and the operation of His love in our hearts towards those in need: the more wretched the object of service in the latter case, the truer the love and the more simply the motive is to God. We may love down and love up; and the more wretched and unworthy the persons are, for whom I lay myself out for blessing, the more grace there is in it. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." But while that is true, yet as to the state of my heart, the higher the object, the more elevated the affection. With Christ it was perfect. How can a poor creature like me be an imitator of God? Was not Christ an example, God, seen in a man? And we are to "walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God." He gave Himself for us, but to God; it was God’s grace towards poor wretched sinners. If we look at ourselves, we shall soon see how motives get mixed up, and things come in, even where there is right truehearted purpose; and that is where we have to watch. In Christ, all was perfect; all, every bit of it, as to spring and motive, was for God’s glory in this world. No thought of men, as to pleasing them, but that singleness of eye which looked to God alone, though full of kindness to man - loving down, in that sense, but ever looking up, with His God and Father before His eye, which made Him perfect in everything. He was perfect, of course, could not be anything else. Now, it is not that the priests could not smell the sweet savour of the sacrifice, but it was not offered to them, it was all burned to God: as regards His own path, not a feeling that was not entirely to God - for us, but to God. It was that which was perfectly acceptable to God. Leviticus 2:3. Here is where we are brought, looked at as priests, our eye opened. It was the food of the offering of Jehovah, but it is our food too; we must be priests to have it, it is most holy to the Lord. I may see external beauties in Christ, I might write a book on the beautiful traits in His character - but that is not Christ’s life. It is an entirely different thing when the priest gets it as God’s food. (I am bold to use the word, for scripture does so.) The priests ate it, while as to the frankincense everything was burned wholly to God. In the burnt-offering the priest did not eat anything; it was the absolute offering of Himself to God. There was a sustaining power, a perfectly holy power, and all perfectly acceptable to God; but then at the same time, it is what we feed upon as priests. We get our souls formed into delighting in Christ, by realising in our spirits, what God Himself, the Father, takes such delight in. It is a blessed place; we need, and have to seek spiritual apprehension, to find what it is that makes Christ the delight of the Father - what was the expression of that grace, always well pleasing to Him. We follow His path in the Gospels, and we see always perfect love to us poor things, but everything perfectly and absolutely done to the Father. Turn to Matthew 17:1-27 where we get a bright example of the condescending grace with which He associates us with Himself, while shewing Himself to be the Son of the Father, in divine knowledge and power. It was just after the transfiguration, where the heavenly glory of the kingdom was revealed; His ministry as come into the midst of Israel, according to promise, closed, so that He strictly forbade them to say that He was the Christ. But what does He give them instead, if not yet in the glory revealed on the mount? This tribute was not to the heathen emperors, but what had been ordained in Ezra’s time for the expenses of the temple services. They come and ask Peter, Does not his Master pay it? in fact, was He a good Jew? Peter says, Yes; he does not look further. But when he comes into the house, the Lord anticipates him; He shews who He is, He knows all divinely, the Son of the great King, Jehovah, and He joins Peter with Himself; children of the great King of the temple. Then He shews His divine power over creation, and makes the fish bring Him the money and the exact sum,* and again puts Peter with Himself; "that take and give them for thee and me." We find the place He took in lowliness down here, but while taking the low place, bringing us into the high place with Himself. We are changed from glory to glory as we gaze upon Him, but it is the humiliation side, as in Php 2:1-30, which wins our affections. {*The word translated "piece of money" is Stater, just two Didrachmas, the name of the coin due for one, also found here.} Satan sought to get Him out of that absolute singleness of eye, in which He was perfect: "command that these stones be made bread"; but He had no orders to do it, no word out of the mouth of God: that was His manna, and He came as a servant. In Philippians 3 you get the other side - Christ glorified, and Paul running after to win Christ; the energy which hinders other things getting possession of the heart. But it is the humiliation side we get here - Christ humbling Himself, making Himself of no reputation, that I may run in the same path and spirit, for the glory of the Father. Was He ever impatient? Did He ever do a single thing for Himself? It was always God, His Father, in one sense, His disciples and the poor world, in another. And where the affections are drawn out, it is always on this humbled side. It is touching to go through the gospels, and to get sufficiently intimate with Christ, to see His motives in everything; but this is much to say, and requires to live much with Him; but this is blessing. When I get "thee and me," what a strange putting together that is! And He does it with us too: knowing who He is, the Son of the Father down here, He says, "thee and me." If you get to trace Him through all the path, you never get anything but perfectness. When I think of the death of Christ, His love to the Father, taking the cup the Father gave Him to drink, I find my delight, my soul bowed down at the thought of all the love and obedience that was in it. And He says, "Therefore doth my Father love me." It is God’s food too! We shall soon see how far He is beyond our thoughts. Now (Leviticus 2:4) we get some details, to bring out Christ more perfectly. "Unleavened cakes." The general truth was there before, but here we get no trace or form of sin in Him: nor indeed employment of mere amiability of nature, or what refreshes nature; neither can be in a sacrifice. Unleavened cakes with no honey in them. Leaven is not found in an offering except on the day of Pentecost, when we come in; there, consequently there is. The cakes were offered to God, but not burnt on the altar for a sweet savour, and a sin-offering was offered with them. There are two characters here: Christ, looked at as man, was born of the Holy Ghost, no sin in Him; we are born in sin, and get a new nature, but He was personally perfect, no leaven in Him at all. Instead of leaven, it was fine flour mingled with oil - as to His flesh, He was born of the Spirit. Then it is added, "unleavened wafers anointed with oil": Christ received the Spirit as man, down here, to walk as man, in the power of the Holy Ghost, in obedience; and then, having gone up on high to the Father, He sends the Spirit down upon us. The Father (John 14:1-31) sends Him, that we may cry, Abba; and on the other hand, Christ sends Him from the Father, as the testimony to what He is at the right hand of God. We cannot get the anointing and the sealing, that is the Holy Ghost, till we are washed with water and have faith in the efficacy of Christ’s blood. Leviticus 2:6. "Thou shalt part it in pieces"; every bit of Christ (in figure), every word He said, everything He did, all was perfect, the expression of what was divine in a man down here: not only that His general life expressed the fruits of the Spirit, but every word, every work, all absolutely perfect. Now, we may in a general way walk in the Spirit, but we often fail. But I can follow Him any day, and every day, and find "nothing amiss." It is a wonderful thing to look round this world of sin and wretchedness, and be able to trace one Person everywhere and every when, and find nothing but what was perfect. No matter what it was - obedience, love, grace, firmness - all that came out was the expression of what was perfect, in and for the place where He was. Beloved friends, I am sure I trust you do, but I would exhort you, in that way, to feed on Christ; "he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." In studying Him down here, the soul gets intimate with Him; we feed on that on which God our Father feeds. Leviticus 2:7-9. Here I get another element. When the fire of God’s judgment tested Christ, there was only a sweet savour. Now, if we get tested, alas! often the flesh comes out - I do not say always. He got tested by the evil of man, the terribleness of death, the power of Satan, and finally by the judgment of God (the proper meaning of fire as a figure), and nothing came out but what was absolutely a sweet savour. God says He is the elect and precious stone, and to the believer He is precious too! Leviticus 2:11. "Brought to the Lord," that is the point; I must have a Christ, wholly and entirely giving Himself up to God. "Nor any honey": mere sweetness of nature cannot come in. There are sweet things which God Himself has established, but Christ was entirely outside all these things: not as condemning them - when His work was over, He could commit His mother to John. There are things which God graciously gives us here, but you cannot put them as a sacrifice. They are of God in themselves: only sin has come in and spoiled the whole thing. The honey itself was not wrong. The coming of Titus comforted Paul; he got in the conflict, like Jonathan, a little honey on the top of his rod, so to speak. And the comfort was of God, who comforts them that are cast down. The poor woman at the well, the thief on the cross, were Christ’s comforters. Honey cannot come into the sacrifice: neither the sin of nature, nor mere natural joy, can come into the sacrifice of Christ. The condemning it is all a mistake; Christ carefully maintained what God had originally established: but now, we get a drunken husband beating his wife, children who are a torture to their parents; for sin has come in, though the relationships are of God. But when you come to what is for God, there can be no more honey than leaven. Leviticus 2:13. Another principle here. I get "salt," that is not sweetness. It is complete separation of heart to God - the salt of the covenant of our God. God in sovereign grace has taken me up, and separated me to Himself; it is the positive side, which preserves me for God and with God; and that, beloved friends, is what we are to desire: it is not merely no leaven and no honey; that is the negative side. There is no separation by ourselves in us; we cannot make holiness: it is holiness to the Lord, the heart separated to God in everything; a separation of heart and spirit with no pretension in it, for we are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. Through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the everlasting covenant, we are brought to God. Do I go and leave God to go to some vanity? - I do not say sin: I do not care what it is - the savour of Christ, of God, is gone. But in Christ, and walking with Him in the heart, I see a Man always separated in heart to God; it stamped everything. It is not that we are to be heroes every day. I may see a person energetic in his service, but it may not come directly from God; it is a totally different thing, as regards our service, when it does. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:3; Revelation 2:1, etc. You get here the three things spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; faith, hope, love. In 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 I get the principle of direct association with God in each operation of grace, which gives it its power and character. It is work, labour, and patience, but "work of faith, labour of love, patience of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father." I may go and serve the poor - very right and sweet - but is God’s love in it? Patience is a very good thing, but am I waiting for Christ to come? In Revelation 2:1-29 there was work and labour and patience; but they had left their first love; the freshness and spring was not as it had been, not coming forth from and in immediate intercourse with God, so as to carry it in the power of God to the person’s soul. There should be the salt of the covenant of our God; it is obligatory to have our service right, though sovereign grace; always serving in immediate intercourse with God. It is not merely that there is no sin, leaven, or honey, but positive spiritual energy, that associates my heart with God in all that I do. Only remember, that with us, there is no holiness without an object, "changed into the same image from glory to glory." We cannot have holiness in ourselves; that is God’s prerogative; we cannot do without that which is perfectly blessed before us - only God has so bound us up with Christ, that while He is the power of the life in which we walk in it, He is the expression of that divine life in a man down here, and beholding Him in glory, we are delivered from the motives which would have hindered our walking thus, and furnished with those which form us into His likeness. Leviticus 2:14. Here, I get Christ as the first-fruits to God. And another thing: He has been in the fire. All this blessed grace in His life has been fully and perfectly tried, even to death and judgment - not looking at Christ’s death as atonement, but looking at Him in His trials to see whether nothing but a sweet savour would come out. The only time when He asked that the cup might pass from Him, it was piety. When it was the terrible cup of God’s wrath, He could not go through it without feeling what it was: it was piety, which shrank from the forsaking of God, it was the thing that tested His obedience absolutely. He had been tried by man’s hatred, by Satan’s power in death and the terror of judgment; but it was a very different thing, when He had to drink that cup, the Holy One of God to be made sin and He before God as such - the One eternally in the bosom of the Father, having to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But here was His perfectness; "The cup that my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" He was tested and was always perfect. Supposing it had been possible He had not gone on, it would have shewn all His obedience to be imperfect, that when perfectly tested, it would not stand. But there was not a single thing but His own absolute divine perfectness that stood! His disciples forsook him. All else were against Him, and when He turned to God, it was, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" There was absolute testing, and He went through the fire as a sweet savour. "Therefore doth my Father love me." Sin, death had come in, Satan’s power; and He goes through it all, in the power of absolute obedience and love to His Father - the testing to the end. There is the perfection of the thing which we have seen; perfect in its origin, perfect as sealed by the Holy Ghost, and now perfect when tested to the utmost, obedient unto death. Therefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name. He has gone back there as Man, in virtue of what He was down here. And here, beloved brethren, is what we have got to think of; all Christ’s perfectness in His life, and on the other side, perfectness according to the covenant of salt in His death: not then saying, "I know that thou hearest me always," but, though doing that which perfectly pleased the Father, of which He could say, "Therefore doth my Father love me," yet, as to relief and comfort at the time, none from man (there could be none from Satan), none from God The basis of eternal blessing was laid then according to the glory of God. I have got Him in all His life through, as the meat-offering, to feed upon, study, get acquainted with - to feed upon that which was perfectly offered to God. The Lord only give us to do it, and then, when we meet Him, it will be joy. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 03A.03 THE PEACE-OFFERING - LEV_3:1-17 ======================================================================== The Peace-offering - Leviticus 3:1-17 This portion is different in character from what we had before, and closes this particular class of offerings. The burnt-offering was not for particular sins, but it was atonement: Christ made sin for us (the difference may be clearly seen in Hebrews 9:1-28 : compare John 1:1-51) but offering Himself entirely to God, so that in the fact of being made sin, the highest perfection of love and obedience was found: all the perfectness of Christ Himself towards God, and surely of love to us; but more - all that God is, perfectly glorified. Leviticus 2:1-16 takes up Christ as a man upon the earth, the character of Christ as thus come: burned in the fire, that is, tested by the perfectness of divine judgment, and nothing but a sweet savour: all the frankincense went up to God. It is a wonderful description in detail of what Christ was in all His path - no leaven, no honey, no earthly affection, or comfort in His sacrifice (He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief), but salt and a sweet savour to the Lord. In one case the cake was broken into pieces, and every piece was anointed, to shew that everything He did or word He spoke was by the power of the Spirit. Leviticus 3:1-17 gives us not only the offering, but the fellowship of the saints in the offering. While in the previous ones Christ Himself was presented, He is here presented along with our partaking of it: they ate it: the blood and the fat offered to the Lord, and then the offerer partaking in what was offered. Other elements were connected with it; but in all this there was nothing to say to sin - an immensely important principle as to what is properly worship. In the burnt-offering, there was nothing of positive acts of sin, but we get the notion of sin being in the world, and approach to God referring to its presence there, and Christ glorifying God, as a victim for it, doing such a service that He could say, "therefore doth my Father love me"; but the work in itself was a perfect glorifying of God, as He could not have been glorified otherwise. "That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father hath given me commandment even so I do." There was perfect love to the Father, besides the question of our sins, and perfect obedience: perfect love when He was forsaken, and the obedience was perfected when it cost Him that forsaking. His motives too were perfect: love to us surely, but love to His Father, obedient when God was forsaking Him. The more terrible the suffering, the more dreadful the cup, the greater the sacrifice. It is such a comfort for us that that question of sin before God has been perfectly gone into and settled. That solemn question, Christ takes up and puts Himself forward in grace to glorify God in it and by it: where man was against Him, the devil against Him, all the world against Him, the disciples ran away, comfort He had none, and in death, God Himself forsook Him. When everything outward, human and devilish was against Him, and He cried to God, then He was forsaken of God: it was the righteous judgment of God against Him, because He was made sin for us: then He goes as man to sit down on the right hand of God. That is all settled; and I can look at Christ as the sweet savour, in the absolute perfectness in which He offered Himself to God and was tested in His obedience. Then in Leviticus 2:1-16 all the blessed perfectness of Christ in His life, tested, tried, broken to pieces, comes out. In Leviticus 3:1-17 we get worship: they fed upon what God fed on. In our association with God, our intercourse with God, in worship, there is nothing about sin: it is that which is all gone, through Christ’s offering Himself for us, and then I come to God with Christ in my hand, so to speak, I present Him to God and I feed upon Him. I come with that which is perfectly acceptable to God. It is not that there are not faults and failings in us - but here I dwell on the offering itself; it was a perfect burnt-offering made by fire unto the Lord. All that was in the inwards, everything that is in Christ was absolutely offered to God. I get the blood, which was the life; the fat, the sign of the energy of nature, all given to God - no thought with Christ, no act, no object, but His Father. It was for us, thank God! but still absolutely to God: no infirmity, no listlessness of heart, but all given to God entirely, all the inward fat burned to God. Mark, not bearing our sins - that is never called a sweet savour except in one particular case. He was made sin, and that was not a sweet savour, though He was never so holy and perfect as then. When we come worshipping, it is not even about Christ as the One who put away our sins; I can approach to worship because of that, my conscience being purged; but worship is in the sense that the thing I am feeding upon is a sweet savour to God, what my soul feeds on, nourishes itself by. The worshipper is connected with the sacrifice, and the question of sin is not touched in it, though blood always supposes it to have been there: it is the food of God become my food. It is a blessed thing to see Christ’s perfectness; that every thought, feeling, motive, everything He was, every movement of His heart was absolutely to God. "In that he liveth, he liveth unto God." (I take the principle merely.) In everything in which there was energy, there was no energy of self-will; it was a perfect giving of Himself to God - the only One in whom it ever was in that perfectness. "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us," 1 John 3:16. We ought to walk like Him, love the brethren, lay down our lives for them, but then it should be to God. I bless God, that in His sovereign grace, His blessed Son took my sins and bore them upon the cross; but when I go to God to worship, it is as occupied with that One who is perfectly acceptable to God. Abel came with the fat of his lambs and God gave testimony to his gifts. Here, the worshipper comes and feeds upon it, and the Lord had His food of the offering; it was what characterised it. And see how close it brings us to God; why, so to speak, I am sitting at the same table with God, feeding on the same thing He is feeding on (only all was offered to Him and so I eat it)! - the Lord’s food of the offering. I sit down and eat, there is no question of my sins, but of the sweetness of Christ - I talking to God about it; our true intercourse with God is that. "He that eateth me," etc. Here I get that the very thing my soul is feeding on, delighting in, is the food and the delight of God; we get this nearness to God, the soul enjoying what God Himself is delighting in; the offerer comes to God by it, has intercourse with God about it. It is not prayer, the peace-offering was never prayer; when I pray, I go to God about my wants, and prayer will occur even in the highest place - for when I think of the blessedness of Christ, I say, Would to God I were like Him! and it turns to prayer; but still that is a different thing from worship, though it may and will accompany it. I pray as regards my need; I worship in the sense of what I have got. God delights in what Christ is - inexpressibly of course; my soul draws near with Him in my hand, and I find I am going on with God. It was put upon the burnt-offering, identified with it. But all this worship of God supposes no more conscience of sins. "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." It is no question whether I can be accepted or not, but coming with Christ in my hand I come by Him, as having offered Himself, in the consciousness that my soul is occupied with that which is God’s highest delight. A wonderful thought! it shews what we ought to be and what our worship ought to be; and what we eat turns to be part of ourselves. The character of the peace-offering was, it was presented to the Lord, not as bearing our sins; all true worship of God supposes the question of sin to be totally settled for ever. Chastening, we may get in passing through the wilderness, but the question of imputation, of having sins on us before God, is done with for ever. Sin is a dreadful thing, but it was all settled between God and Christ, when He was made sin for us. But the heart is apt to stay there in thinking of that. Well, without that, we could not get into heaven; but the proper worship of heaven consists in delighting in what God is, what Christ is, when He offered Himself a sweet savour to God. We cannot come at all except by that sacrifice: we turn to God and we find Christ bore our sins; but what I press now is, that as regards that, the whole thing is settled. "Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." "When he had by himself purged our sins he sat down." We are not like the poor Jews - I enter into the holiest, but more than that: have I nothing to bring, my heart no offering to bring to God? Yes, in Christ there is that in which God delights, and I come to God presenting Him. Leviticus 7:13. Besides the unleavened cakes leavened bread was offered; here we have got ourselves. I come with the offering that has been slain, with Christ in my hand, and I find too all the blessed perfectness of the meat-offering, His perfection as Man, the fine flour, no leaven at all: God delighted in Him as a living Man. I get it anointed with oil, mingled with oil, the perfectness of His manhood and besides that, now leavened bread; there am I, the worshipper. If I come to God, I own the sin, the leaven in me, but that cannot be burned as a sweet savour. I come with the leaven. I cannot say I am sinless, as Christ; I cannot be "that Holy thing," but I come with Christ in my hand. I come with the knowledge of my imperfection, but with that in which I am most perfectly accepted. God takes knowledge of that by which I come; all sins blotted out and forgiven, but I cannot say I have no sin, that is all a mistake; it is leavened bread, the leaven within, and we cannot help its being there, though not allowing it to act. The point is, I go with the sense in my soul that I have leaven: if I say I have no sin, as a present thing, I deceive myself, and the truth is not in me. There is no forgiveness for sin; for sins there is; but "what the law could not do," etc., "God condemned sin in the flesh." I get deliverance from any thought of this leaven hindering me, for I find God condemned it when Christ died. I do not talk of His forgiving it, it was all gone when Christ died. I cannot say I have none in me, but I can say I died with Christ, and I am not in it. "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake," 1 John 2:12. There is no such thing as an unforgiven Christian. It is very interesting to see the work of God in a soul on the road towards peace; all that has its place; but that is before I have got the knowledge of the blood which cleanses it all, of the blessed truth that the blow which rent the veil and opened the holiness of God upon me, presented me there without a veil, but fit to stand in it. A Christian is a forgiven person; but I cannot say sin is not there. When I see the sin, I say, why God must condemn me for it! and in one sense it is quite true, He must; but why condemn you when He has condemned it in Christ already? I do not come denying that I am leavened; I own it; but what I present to God is not myself, it could not be burnt for a sweet savour, and I have a title, in that sense, to forget it, because God has dealt with it in Christ, and then I come with unleavened bread to keep the feast. When the offering was a vow, they could eat it for two days; when a thanksgiving, for one day only. If my heart is full of Christ in the power of the Spirit of God, it connects all my worship with the value of Christ’s offering to God, it is associated with that before God, I have fellowship with God as to it. But supposing I go on, and sing, say a hymn, and instead of thinking of the blessedness of Christ and of the Father’s love, I get enjoying the singing; I disconnect the worship from Christ. Take our common worship; is it connected with Christ’s acceptableness to God? if not, it has lost its savour; apart from that sacrifice, what is it worth? There may be enjoyment of the ideas, it may go as far as that, but it has lost its savour, and that is a thing that creeps in very easily. I cannot be with God to know the blessedness of what I have, unless it is connected with the sacrifice to God. And what a thought, beloved friends! that when I do go, it is with the acceptableness of Christ, with what God finds His delight in! If I go to pray - all perfectly right - I am a poor needy creature, who wants everything from God: but worship is another thing; I go with that in my hand which I know to be of God’s delight. I go, Christ having died for me, my soul having the consciousness of God’s positive delight in the sacrifice of Christ, and if my worship in any part gets separated from that, it has lost its sweet savour. One other thing. The priest who offered it, ate part of it. It was a joy to all, but Christ takes His part, His joy in it too. God has His food in it, I have my food; but the priest has his part too. It is the fullest association of God with Christ and the worshipper. It was for all who were invited too - love to all saints, the heart takes all in to love. It shews what true worship is, when I get there: it is not merely my sins are borne, but I get my delight in what I know is God’s delight, and must be. It is what the whole community of the saints must delight in, and He says, "In the midst of the church will I sing praises unto thee." It connects all with the glory in blessedness: being such in ourselves, we anticipate in the weakness we are in now, the worship of the saints in eternal ages. I desire that the two great principles and substance of the thing may rest upon our hearts - that I am there with God, the heart giving itself up to God in thanksgiving. I go to God with this offering of Christ, and I know He does not impute anything to me; when I look up to God, I know He cannot. Here, God has found in Christ what His soul feeds on - what He delights in - we may say it reverently. I delight in it, a poor weak creature, and I know God delights in it. He receives me in worship according to His judgment of Christ. How far do our souls so enter into God’s thoughts, that when we come to God in worship (all our lives ought to be in the spirit of worship) it is in the spirit of our minds, as connected with God’s value for the offering of Christ, in our every-day walk, never to lose sight of what the sweet savour of that offering was to God? The Lord only give us that it may be thus associated in our hearts with what Christ was towards His Father! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 04.00. THE MAN OF SORROWS ======================================================================== THE MAN OF SORROWS As set forth in THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. BY JOHN NELSON DARBY, Author of "New Translation of the New Testament," "Synopsis of the Books of the Bible," "Notes on the Apocalypse," etc., etc. Glasgow: Pickering & Inglis, Printers and Publishers. London: Alfred Holness, 14 Paternoster Row, E.C. New York: Gospel Publishing House, 692 Eighth Ave. Isaiah 53:1-5. WHO hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2. For he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. A MAN OF SORROWS. 4. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 04.01. CHAPTER 1 ======================================================================== THE MAN OF SORROWS AS SET FORTH IN THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. CHAPTER 1. THE Saviour is presented to us in Luke in His character as Son of Man, displaying the power of Jehovah in grace in the midst of men. At first, doubtless, we find Him in relationship with Israel, to whom He had been promised; but afterwards moral principles are brought out, which apply to man, as such, wherever he might be. And indeed what characterises Luke’s account of our Lord and gives special interest to his gospel is that it presents to us Christ Himself, and not His official glory, as in Matthew, nor His mission of service, as in Mark, nor the peculiar revelation of His divine nature, as in John. It is Himself, such as He was, a man upon the earth, moving among men day by day. Luke 1:1-4.--Many had undertaken to give an account of what was historically received amongst Christians as it had been related to them by the "eye-witnesses." However well intended this might be, yet it was a work undertaken and executed by men. Luke had an exact and intimate knowledge of all from the beginning, and he found it good to write to Theophilus, in order that he might know "the certainty of the things he had been instructed in." It is thus that God has provided for the whole Church by the teaching contained in the living picture of Jesus that we owe to this man of God. For Luke, although he might be personally moved by Christian motives, was, of course, none the less inspired by the Holy Ghost to write. THE FORERUNNER. Luke 1:5-17.--The history brings us into the midst of Jewish institutions, feelings, and expectations. First, we have a priest of Abia (one of the twenty-four classes, 1 Chronicles 24:1-31), with his wife, who was of the daughters of Aaron. "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." All was with them in accordance with God’s law Jewishly; but they did not enjoy the blessing so earnestly desired by every Jew; they were childless. Yet it was according to the ways of God to accomplish His work of blessing while manifesting the weakness of the instrument which He was using. But now this long-prayed-for blessing was to be withheld no longer; and when Zacharias draws near to offer the incense the angel of Jehovah appears to him. At the sight of so glorious a being Zacharias is troubled; but the angel says to him, "Fear not, thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John," i.e., "the favour of Jehovah." And not only should the hearts of many rejoice in him, but he should be great in the sight of the Lord and be filled with the Holy Ghost. "Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." The "spirit of Elias" was a firm and ardent zeal for the glory of Jehovah and for the re-establishment, through repentance, of Israel’s relations with Him. The heart of John clung to this link of the people with God, and it is in the moral force of his call to repentance that John is here compared to Elias. Luke 1:18-23.--But Zacharias’ faith, as is, alas, so often the case, was not equal to the greatness of his request. He knows not how to walk in the steps of Abraham, and he asks again how such a thing can be (Luke 1:18). God’s goodness turns the unbelief of His servant into a chastening that was profitable for him, and that served, at the same time, as a proof to the people that he had been visited from on high. Zacharias remains dumb until the word of Jehovah is accomplished. Luke 1:24-25.--Elisabeth, with feelings so suitable to a holy woman, remembering what had been a shame to her in Israel (the traces of which were only made the more marked by the supernatural blessing now granted to her), "hid herself five months," whilst, at the same time, she owned the Lord’s goodness to her. But what may conceal us from the eyes of men has great value before God. Luke 1:26-38.--And now the scene changes, in order to introduce the Lord Himself into this marvellous scene that is unfolding itself before our eyes. In Nazareth, that despised place, there was found a young virgin, unknown by the world, whose name was Mary. She was espoused to Joseph, who was of the house of David; but so out of order was every-thing in Israel that this descendant of the king was a carpenter. But what is this to God? Mary was a chosen vessel; she had "found favour in the eyes of God." We must remark that the subject here is the birth of the child Jesus, as born of Mary. It is not so much His divine nature as the Word which was God and which was made flesh (though, of course, it is the same precious Saviour presented here as in John’s gospel); but it is Jesus as really and truly man, born of a virgin. His name was to be Jesus, i.e., Jehovah the Saviour. "He shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David," still looking at Him as man born into the world. But He was God as well as man. Holy by His birth, conceived by the power of God, this blessed One, who even, as born of Mary, is spoken of as "that holy thing," was to be called "the Son of God." The angel then tells Mary of the blessing God had bestowed upon Elisabeth. The wonderful intervention of God had rendered Mary humble instead of lifting her up; she had seen God and not herself in what had happened. Self was hidden from her because God had been brought so near, and she bows to His holy will. "Be it unto me according to Thy word." Luke 1:39-45.--Afterwards we find that Mary goes to visit Elisabeth, for her heart loves to see and acknowledge the goodness of the Lord. Elisabeth, speaking by the Spirit, acknowledges Mary as the mother of her Lord, and announces the accomplishment of God’s promise. "Blessed is she that believed." Luke 1:46.--"My soul doth magnify the Lord." The heart of Mary is filled with joy, and she breaks forth into a song of praise. She acknowledges God her Saviour in the grace that has filled her with such joy, whilst, at the same time, she owns her utter littleness. For whatever might be the holiness of the instrument that God might employ, and that was found really in Mary, yet she was only great so long as she hid herself, for then God was everything. By making something of herself she would have lost her place, but this she did not. God kept her in order that His grace might be fully manifested. The character of the thoughts that fill the heart of Mary is Jewish. It reminds us of Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1-36, which speaks prophetically of this same blessed intervention of God. But Mary goes back to the promises made to the fathers, and takes in the whole of Israel. Luke 1:56.--After remaining three months with Elisabeth, she "returns to her house," humbly to follow her own path, in order that God’s ways may be accomplished. Nothing is more beautiful in its way than this account of the conversations of these holy women, unknown to the world, but who were the instruments of God’s grace to accomplish His glorious designs. They moved in a scene where nothing entered but piety and grace. But God was there Himself, no better known to the world than were these poor women, yet preparing and accomplishing what the angels would desire to look into. Luke 1:57-59.--But what is only known in secret by faith is at last to be accomplished before all men. The son of Zacharias and Elisabeth is born, and Zacharias, no longer dumb, pronounces the blessed prophecy given in verses Luke 1:60-80. The visitation of Israel by Jehovah, which he speaks of, embraces all the happiness of the Millennium connected with the presence of Jesus upon the earth. All the promises are Yea and Amen in Him. All the prophecies encircle Him with the glory which will be then realised. We know that since He has been rejected, and while He is now absent, the accomplishment of these things is necessarily put off till His return. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 04.02. CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2. Luke 2:1-7.--When God is pleased to occupy Himself with the world, and to take a part in what passes therein, it is marvellous to see how He acts and the instruction He gives. There is no agreement, but a total opposition between His ways and those of men. The Emperor and his decree are but insignificant instruments. Caesar Augustus acts in view of his. subjects; yet he is, without knowing it, the means of accomplishing the prophecy that Jesus should be born in Bethlehem. The entire course of the world is. outside the current of God’s thoughts. The capital fact for Him and for His kingdom here is the babe’s birth at Bethlehem; but the Emperor has no thought about it. The decree puts the world in motion, and God makes good His thoughts here below. How wondrous! All the world is in movement to bring about this event, needed to fulfil prophecy, that the poor carpenter, with Mary his espoused wife, should be in the city of David, and David’s heir should be born there and then. And this is the more striking, for the census itself was first made some years afterwards, when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. God is accomplishing His purpose of love, but man was blind to it. Who cared to notice the poor Jew, though he might be of the house and lineage of David? The things that are perfectly indifferent to man fill the heart and eye of God. THE BIRTH OF JESUS. Luke 2:4.--Still we are in Jewish atmosphere. Promises are being accomplished; the babe must be born in Bethlehem. "The city of David" is nothing to the Christian as such, save as showing prophecy fulfilled; to us the Son comes from Heaven. On earth the babe is the object of God’s counsels; angels and all Heaven are occupied with His birth; but there is no place in the world for Him! Go where the great world registers every individual, go to the little world of an inn, where each is measured by the servant’s knowing eye, and place is accordingly awarded from the garret to the first floor; but there is no room for Jesus. And the manger led, in due time, to the lowest place--the Cross. What a lesson for us as to this world! What a difference, too, between giving up the world and the world giving us up! We may do the one with comparative ease; but when we feel the world despises us, as Christ was despised, we shall discover, unless He fills and satisfies the heart, that we had a value for its esteem that we were not aware of. When obedience is as important to us in our measure as obeying was to Christ, we shall go right on whatever be before us, without regarding the world; not that we shall be insensible, but when Christ is the object, we shall only be occupied with Him. All intelligence of the things of God comes from His revelation, and not from the reasonings of men. Hence the simple go farther in spiritual understanding than the wise and prudent of the earth. God acts here so as to set aside all appearance of human wisdom. Happy he who has so seized the intention of God as to be identified with it, and to want none but God! This was the case with the shepherds. They little entered into the great intent of the registration; but it was to them, and not to the prudent, that God revealed Himself. Our true wisdom is through what God reveals. But we never get God’s fullest blessings till we are where the flesh is brought down and destroyed--I speak as regards walk. We cannot get into the simple joy and power of God till we accept the place of lowliness and humiliation, till the heart is emptied of what is contrary to the lowliness of Christ. These shepherds were in the quiet fulfilment of their humble duty, and that is the place of blessing. Whoever is keeping on terms with the world is not walking with God, for God is not walking with you there. From the manger to the Cross all in Christ was simple obedience. How unlike a Theudas, who boasted himself to be somebody! Christ did all in God’s way, and not only so, but we must do so too. Luke 2:8-12.--The glory of the Lord shines round about the shepherds, the angel speaks to them, the sign is given, and what a sign! "Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God," and for what? "The mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh." The hope of Israel is revealed to them--glad tidings of great joy to all the people. For Jesus is the pivot of all God’s counsels in grace. Adam himself was but a type of Him who was to come. Christ was ever in the mind of God. Such displays of glory are not shown to mortal eyes every day; but God sets them before us in His Word, and we must every day follow the sign given, follow Jesus the babe in the manger. If He filled the eye, the ear, the heart, how we should see the effects in person, spirit, conversation, dress, house, money, and other things. Such, then, is the sign of God’s accomplishment of promise and of His presence in the world--"a babe in the manger"--the least and lowest thing. But God is found there, though these things are beyond man, who cannot walk with God, nor understand His moral glory. But God’s sign is within the reach of faith. It is the token of perfect weakness; a little infant who can only weep. Such, born into this world, is Christ the Lord. Such is the place God chose--the low degree. God’s intervention is recognised by a sign like this. Man would not have sought that. Luke 2:13-20.--The heavenly host praise God, and say: ’Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Nothing higher or more astonishing (save the Cross) for those who have the mind of Heaven. The choir above see God in it, God manifested in flesh, and praise God in the highest. They rejoice that His delights are with the sons of men. Of old God had displayed Himself to Moses in a flame of fire, without consuming the bush, and here, still more marvellously, in the feeblest thing on earth. Infinite thought, morally, though despicable in the eye of the world! How hard it is to receive that the work of God and of His Christ is always in weakness! The rulers of the people saw in Peter and John unlearned and ignorant men. Paul’s weakness at Corinth was the trial of his friends, the taunt of his enemies, the boast of himself. The Lord’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The thorn in the flesh made Paul despised, and he conceived it would be better if that were gone. He had need of the lesson: "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is God’s rule of action, if we may so say, to choose the weak things. Everything must rest on God’s power, otherwise God’s work cannot be done according to His mind. One can hardly believe that one must be feeble to do the work of God; but Christ was crucified in weakness, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. For the work of God we must be weak, that the strength may be of God, and that work will last when all the earth shall be moved away. Luke 2:21-28.--"His Name was called Jesus." Besides the additional testimony rendered by the offering of His mother to the circumstances in this world, in which the Lord of glory was born, we may see that while God all through the Gospel is settling man in his new place with Himself, He did not forget His ancient people. He shows us here that He met every thought in every heart that was touched by grace in Israel. His heart was especially toward those who sorrowed over the sins and desolation of His people, and who, withal, waited for redemption, crying from the darkness, "How long, O Lord?" God will accomplish in power that wherein man has failed in responsibility. Should we therefore be content if God’s people do not glorify Him? No; faith is not hard; it will sorrow, but it will wait for God, and God’s time too. For faithful is He who hath promised, who also will do it. He will bring about His own purposes. THE PROPHECY OF SIMEON. Luke 2:25.--Thus was Simeon "waiting for the consolation of Israel." Thus Anna departed not from the temple, but served with fastings and prayers night and day. Thus all they that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. There were those who watched, and Anna knew and spake to them. The rest doubtless were occupied with Roman oppression, but these few waited for Him, bowing before His hand in judgment of evil, but looking for His deliverance. Luke 2:29.--There was something more in Simeon’s soul than the joy of holding in his arms the babe, the expected Messiah. Simeon felt he had God, and was satisfied. So he says, without even looking on to the glory, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word." In Romans 5:11 the apostle, after speaking of rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, says, "and not only so." What could be more than that hope? Yes; there is more: "We also joy in God." The eyes of Simeon had seen God’s salvation, and he begs of the sovereign Lord that he may go. We often see something like this in dying saints, who deeply joy in the Lord’s love to His own, and in the nearness of His coming for them. Why, one might say, what is His near coming to those who are dying and departing to Him? Just this: The nearer we are to God, the more precious is all the truth of God, and everything which is near to His heart. Luke 2:30-32.--So Simeon rejoices as he surveys the extent of the divine deliverance. It was for the revelation of the Gentiles, who had been till now hidden in the darkness of idolatry and ungodliness, as well as for the glory of Israel. But his soul is satisfied possessing Christ, and anticipating the effect of His presence in the whole world. He has all in HIM, and desires to depart. If a man walk with God, and has finished his course, he knows that his work is done, and is conscious of the Lord’s time being come. He has a companionship and communion with the Lord he has walked with. If simply brought to a bed of sickness, he is not then ready to go; not that he fears, but God is teaching him something else. But when God’s time is come all is joy and readiness. He feels like Simeon: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace." Luke 2:34.--But, further, when Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary the Spirit gives him to disclose the more immediate results of the babe’s presence in Israel. He should be the touchstone of many hearts, an occasion for the fall as well as the rise of many; He should be a sign spoken against, a rejected Messiah; and Mary’s heart should be pierced through, whatever the present joy or the future glory. Israel was low indeed, but did not know it. Israel must be made to know it, and Christians too, for Christ had to descend to the grave and rise again. The thoughts of the heart must be revealed, whatever the outward garb. But then He is the One who brings out God’s thoughts too. If He is the Christ, the glory of God’s people, He is also the One who will abase the flesh, and meet the humble man in his pride; He is the One who will make you know whether He in His rejection is more precious than all beside. THE SILENT YEARS. Luke 2:39.--When all was done according to the law, "they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth." Jesus would not be the Christ we need if He had taken any glory from Jerusalem. His place is among the poor of the flock, His place all through in Israel. Luke 2:40.--"And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." Luke gives us more of the reality of His childhood than the other gospels; He was not made man full-formed like Adam. If one only reads the account without comment, how the soul feels it unspeakably precious! When we see WHO it was, we see human nature in Him filled with God, so to speak. It is not official distinction, but the heart feels God brought nigh. The blessedness of the child’s intrinsic loveliness fills the heart. Deeply instructive, too, is the incident recorded in connection with the Passover when He was twelve years old. His true character comes out, though He was not yet to act upon it. He came to be a Nazarene, to be about His Father’s business. This is here stated distinctly before He enters upon His public ministry, that it might be seen to be connected with His person, and not to depend merely upon His office. He was the Pastor of the flock in spirit and character. It belonged to Him. He was the Son of the Father, though abiding God’s time for showing it. Luke 2:51.--Nevertheless, "He went down with them, and was subject to them." What a majesty in His whole life! His being God secured His perfection as a child and man here below. He had ever the blessed consciousness of His relationship to His Father, an obedient child, but conscious also of a glory unconnected in itself with subjection to human parentage. He belonged to Mary and even Joseph, in another sense He was not theirs. His divine Son-ship was as well known to Him as His obedience to His parents was in due season absolutely right. Luke 2:52.--"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." His human intelligence being developed, He, though ever perfect, became so in a fuller way; the perfect child grows into the perfect man. The lovely plant grew up and unfolded before God and man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 04.03. CHAPTER 3 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3. Luke 3:1.-- Luke 1:1-80, Luke 2:1-52 have given the general character. They have shown the going out of the thoughts of God to man. Accordingly we find that the Gospel, as a whole, is particularly occupied with what is not Jewish. Still the Jewish part is given at first with considerable detail, inasmuch as Israel, because of their unbelief and moral worthlessness, are to be set aside in order to make way for new relationships, founded on what God reveals Himself to be for man in Jesus, the true and only Mediator. But if Luke 1:1-80 disclosed the faithfulness of God to the Abrahamic promises, to His covenant and His oath, Luke 2:1-52 puts us in the presence of the actual government of the world and of the Lord’s land and people under the fourth beast, the Roman Empire. What confusion does not sin create? The Jews are subject to the Gentiles. Joseph and Mary, of David’s royal house, go up to be taxed. Nevertheless, the ways of God shine so much the brighter for the darkness that surrounded them. He was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Israel, however, would be put to a new moral test by His presentation of Himself. Alas! it would soon appear that if they had not kept the law they hated grace. "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against." JOHN THE BAPTIST. Luke 3:2.--In this chapter we have the ministry of God coming in by a prophet as of old by Samuel. "The Word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness." It is not without object that the Spirit mentions the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. All the earth was seemingly at rest under its heathen lord; the Word of God found its suited sphere in the wilderness. The law and the prophets were until John, and where should he be in such a state of things but the wilderness? Could he morally own it? God will not have His messenger in Jerusalem. Luke 3:4.--Prophecy is the sovereign means whereby God can communicate with His people when they are ruined and departed from Him. John understands this, and preaches the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And such was the place assigned him many centuries before by "Esaias the prophet." It was vain for Israel to plead their privileges and rights. All was wrong, and the Judge was at the door . John’s work was not to lead the people back to the law; he was preparing the way of the Lord. Herein he differed from the prophets as well as the law, or rather, he went farther, for God’s time was come for a step in advance. The prophets led back to Horeb. John says not a word of this, though his father was a priest, and himself, of course, an Aaronite. He does not try to set up again what was closed; he announces the kingdom. He may not introduce the Church, nor even the glad tidings of God’s grace (both awaited the accomplishment of the work of redemption), but he drops the law, and shows that God’s purpose is the kingdom. Luke 3:5.--The quotation from Esaias sets aside Israel--not the Gentiles merely, but Israel--as grass, withered grass, without a green blade left. Yet the Word of the Lord endureth for ever, and this when all hope from man was gone. Israel may have failed, but the Word of the Lord shall stand. Moreover, since it was the Lord who was coming, "every valley should be filled." Not the Jews alone, but all flesh should see God’s deliverance. If sin plunges all in indiscriminate ruin and a common judgment, God can meet man thus ruined, but His glory will not be shut up in the narrow limits of Israel. Luke 3:7-14.--But to be blessed man must "repent." God would have realities, and not a mere nominal people; He must have fruits answering to hearts which felt and judged their moral condition, and which, therefore, turned from themselves to God. Ordinances and formal claims which should have been a means of blessing would be no shelter against the coming wrath, nor would God permit them to hinder His creating true children of the promise, even if this generation were but Ishmael over again. Judgment must begin at the house of God. In fact, as we know, John was beheaded, and the Lord was crucified, and the kingdom, presented in Him and by Him, was rejected by Israel. By and by it will be set up visibly and in power. Meanwhile the Church is set up, because the kingdom is not set up in this manifested way. And those who now take their place with the Lord share His rejection. They are members of His body, the Church. They shall share His glory, but it will be heavenly and not earthly glory. In another sense we are in the kingdom now. To faith Heaven rules now, and we own it, and know it; but Satan is actually prince and god of this world, and hence those who are made kings to God (for that is our true place) are called to suffer. Therefore Paul went everywhere preaching the kingdom of God, as well as Christ and the Church. We have that by virtue of which we shall reign with Christ; but even that is not our best portion. To be one with Christ--His body and bride--is far more blessed. If your mind only rests on the person of Christ, there is no difficulty in seeing that when He is cut off all must cease as regards the earth. He is the centre of all, and when rejected what prophecy spoke of, and what seemed about to be accomplished, breaks off. Thereupon Christ ascends and takes up a glory above the Heavens, and there now the saints find their place with Him (cp. Psalms 2:1-12; Psalms 8:1-9). John Baptist, then, addresses himself to the Jews, demanding repentance and righteousness as its fruit; shows them that if they were nearer to God outwardly as Jews they must expect judgment the sooner. If the Lord was coming, He must have what became the Lord. The axe was even then lying at the root of the trees. If there was not good fruit on the trees every one must be hewn down and burned. Repentance or wrath--which? The Lord would allow no plea of descent from Abraham if their ways belied Abraham; He must have righteousness. It is the Lord that is just at hand, and He must have a people fit for Him, or He would out of the very stones make a suited people for Himself. Evidently John’s word is not a voice of mercy to the poor sinner. God is presented in the way of judgment, not of sovereign mercy. He does not say "Come unto me." John could not, because he was not Christ, and none but He could say "Come unto ME." John came in righteousness. In Luke 3:10-14 moral testimony is given, and that in detail. John deals with the practical iniquity of each set of people. So even when the question of the Christ is raised (Luke 3:15-18), "One mightier than I cometh," says he. It is of His power especially he thinks, His power morally as outwardly. "He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." It is the power of the Holy Ghost and His consuming judgment. He could not speak of the grace of the Gospel which we know now. He proclaims One who was coming after him, not a present salvation. Whatever would not stand the fire was to be burned up. For His fan "is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable" (cp. Isaiah 21:10). God’s floor was Israel; there He was getting His wheat, if any were to be found. But His fan is in His hand; He is going to make short work. Titus finally set aside God’s floor upon the earth; Israel’s sin had lost it morally when they rejected Christ, but at the destruction of Jerusalem it was done with thoroughly for the present. Luke 3:19-20.--Luke’s method of instruction is to be noticed in passing. He shows that John had preached and exhorted moral truth, and then disposes of him, putting him, as it were, out of the scene in order to bring Christ in. It was not that historically John was imprisoned at that juncture by Herod the tetrarch; it took place long after. But it is a sample of Luke’s manner, who returns to the Lord as taking His place amongst the remnant of Israel. For the Lord does not identify Himself with the nation; but directly there is a poor remnant He identifies Himself with it. THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. This history opens with Luke 3:21, and how wonderful and full of grace. "Now when all the people were baptised, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptised, and praying, the Heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased." One may have looked and listened mournfully as one reads of John Baptist and his testimony. We might have asked, as the dying record of men passed before us, What is man? But now my eye rests on Jesus, I find the Lord from Heaven a Man. All is to begin again. Do I ask again, What is a man? At once Christ comes out. Do I look at myself, or at all around? What do I see? Enough to break my heart, if there is a heart to be broken. The only thing which prevents people being utterly broken down is that they have not a heart to feel things as they are. But a rest is here. I have got a Man now who satisfied God, this blessed Man on earth in the presence of God, looking to God, and an object to God! Not Messiah purging His floor, but Him in whom God’s thoughts and purposes are all folded up; not man perishing before the moth, but Jesus the Son of Man, not merely coming down from Abraham and David, but traced up, "which was the Son of Adam, which was the Son of God"--the Second Man, the last Adam, the quickening Spirit. What a relief, for what is man? What oneself when the heart’s sin is known, giving up God for an apple from the. beginning hitherto! But now a Man, a blessed Man appears, "and praying." We are not told this elsewhere, and why here? Because Luke presents man in his perfection, the dependent man, for dependence is the essence of a perfect man. Truly we see God shining all through, but yet in Jesus, the dependent Man, in the place and condition of perfectness as man. The root of sin in us is self-will, independence. Here my heart has rest. A dependent Man in the midst of sorrow, but perfectly with God in all. See Luke’s account of the transfiguration also; in humiliation or in glory it makes no difference as to this, the perfect is ever the dependent one. And when that blessed heart thus expressed its dependence, did He get no answer? "The Heaven was opened." Does Heaven open thus on me? It is open to me, indeed, no doubt, but I pray because it is open; it opened because He prayed. I come and look up because the Heavens were opened on Him. It is, indeed, a lovely picture of grace, and we may be bold to say that the Father loved to look on--to look down, in the midst of all sin, on His beloved Son. Nothing but what was divine could thus awaken God’s heart; and yet it was the lowly, perfect Man. He takes not the place of His eternal glory as the Creator, the Son of God. He stoops and is baptised (Psalms 16:1-11) . He says, "In Thee do I trust." He says to Jehovah: "Thou art My Lord; My goodness extendeth not to Thee." He says to the godly remnant in Israel (i.e., to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent): "All My delight is in them." He needeth no repentance, yet is He baptised with them; just as when, later on, He puts forth His sheep He goes before them. He identifies Himself in grace with Israel, even with such as were of a clean heart. And the Holy Ghost descends like a dove on Him, fit emblem of that spotless Man, fit resting-place for the Spirit in the deluge of this world. And how sweet, too, that Jesus is pointed out to us as God’s object. I know the way the Father feels about Him. I am made His intimate, and admitted to hear Him expressing His affection for His Son, to see the links re-formed between God and man. Heaven is opened, not on something above, but upon a Man upon the earth. Thus I get rest, and my heart finds communion with God in His beloved Son. It is only the believer who enjoys it, but the link is there. And if I have that in and about me which distresses the soul, I have that in Him which is unfailing joy and comfort. THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. Luke 3:23-38.--The genealogy quite falls in with the thought that God is showing grace in man and to man. Jesus, the beloved Son of God, is traced up to Adam and to God. Jesus is Son of Man; He is heir in this sense. He takes up the inheritance God gave to man. O what a truth! Where could one’s heart turn for rest if it had not Jesus to rest in? With Him let Heaven and earth be turned upside down, and still I have a rest. What blessedness for the heart to have the object God Himself is occupied with! May our hearts also be more and more occupied with Him! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 04.04. CHAPTER 4 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4. We saw the Lord taking His place of servant with the excellent in Israel, and thereon the Heavens opened, and Himself owned by the Father as His beloved Son. His delights were with the sons of men, and He is traced up, not to Abraham only, the root and depository of Jewish promises, but to Adam and God Himself. Independently of His proper divine glory as Son of the Father, Jesus should be called the Son of the Highest, the Son of God. As Man on earth He was sealed with the Holy Ghost. He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. His entire perfectness now was to fulfil as a servant the will of Him who sent Him, for a servant doing his own will is a bad servant. Dependence, waiting, and obedience were the characteristics of this place, and they are found in Him to the uttermost. Hence, as in the Psalms, "I waited patiently for the Lord." He would not ask for power, but waits on God. "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53). Put thoroughly to the test, He would do nothing but His Father’s will. He was to learn obedience. Having taken the place He would go through it wholly, not in one act, but experiencing the force of that expression, learning obedience, without one comfort here, with enemies around, bulls of Bashan besetting, dogs compassing. He had to learn obedience where obedience was always suffering, even to the yielding up of life. Every single step was humiliation till the close came in the Cross, where the wrath of God was borne in love to us. No doubt He found in His rejection fields white for harvest, and so shall we, in our measure, when walking in the same path. But the Cross was always before Him--everything that could stop a man. Nevertheless, He went on, patiently waiting, and not asking for deliverances. Thus, He presented perfect God to man, and perfect man to God. THE TEMPTATION. Luke 4:1.--In this chapter He begins this walk of suffering obedience publicly. And the first thing to be re-marked is, that "being full of the Holy Ghost," He is led by Him "into the wilderness," where He is "tempted by the devil." There are two ways in which the enemy has power: first, by allurements; and, secondly, by terror. In the one he works upon us through our lusts, presenting what is calculated to attract, and so he rules over us naturally. In the other he has the power of death. Thus, Judas being a covetous man, and without the faith which purifies the heart, Satan suggested the occasion and gets him. He has no right to rule over men, but he acquires dominion through the lusts of the flesh. Another way is through the terror of death. In both he assailed the Lord, but found nothing in Him. Here, then, we have the devil meeting man in the power of the Spirit of God--man tempted, not in Paradise, but in the wilderness. Jesus does not say, "I am God, and you are Satan; go away." That would not have glorified God, nor have helped us. But as the Lord was led into the wilderness, not by lust (God forbid the thought!) but by the Holy Ghost, so in His blessed grace He puts Himself in the place where man was. He has help from none, not even from John the Baptist. There was all that might have stumbled rather, had it been possible, through all He goes as man. He must be tempted, and must overcome where man not only had failed, but was lying under the power of wickedness. Luke 4:2-3.--"He afterward hungered. There was no harm in hunger; it was no sin. He could have commanded stones to be made bread, but to do so, save at His Father’s word, would have been doing His own will, and then He had not been the perfect man. Satan tries to introduce into His heart a desire which was not in the Word of God. He succeeded in insinuating a lust into the heart of Adam; he failed with Jesus, though He was for forty days exposed to his presence and power. Jesus had to know by experience what it was to be tempted of the devil, without a single support, without a friend, in solitary dreariness (save indeed the wild beasts). Thus He measured the power of Satan. The strong man was there, putting forth all his weapons, but the stronger than he overcame; Jesus binds the strong man. He was abstracted from human condition for forty days, not like Moses to be only with God, but as the One who was always with God, to be exposed to Satan. None other man needs to be abstracted in order to be tempted, he has only to go on along with men. In this case this extraordinary separation was to be with the devil. To be with God He did not need anything out of His everyday path, for it was His natural place; but to be with Satan He needed it. Others are strangers to God, and at home with Satan. He, in the most adverse things, is a stranger to Satan, and dwells in the bosom of the Father. But He emptied Himself as God to become a servant as man, and there He waits in dependence on the Word of Him whom He served. The living Father had sent Him, and He lived by the Father. He was as man under His authority, and His meat was to do His will. "By the Word of Thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer" (Psalms 17:4). Luke 4:4.--"It is written, man shall not live by bread alone." It is the written Word He ever uses, and Satan is powerless. What amazing importance Jesus gives the Scriptures! God now acts by the Word, and Satan is resisted morally in this way. A man cannot be touched by Satan while the Word is simply used in obedience. "He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 John 5:18). It was not as an exercise of divine authority He dismissed Satan, but the enemy is proved unable to grapple with obedience to the Word of God. If he cannot take out of the path of obedience, he has no power. What more simple? Every child of God has the Holy Ghost acting by the Word to keep him. Jesus does not reason with Satan. A single text silences when used in the power of the Spirit. The whole secret of strength in conflict is using the Word of God in the right way. One may say: I am not like this perfect Man; it might be so with Christ, but how can I expect the same result? True, we are ignorant, and the flesh is in us, but God is always behind, and He is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. Temptation may be simply a trial of our obedience, as in Abraham’s case, not a snare to lead us astray. Satan presents what has no appearance of evil. The evil would be doing one’s own will. Now it solves every difficulty to ask, not, What harm is there in doing this or that? but, Why am I doing it? Is it for God or myself? What! am I to be always under this restraint? Ah! there the secret of our nature comes out. We do not like the restraint of doing what God will approve. It is restraint to do God’s will. We want to do our own will. To act merely because one must is law, and not the guidance of the Spirit. The Word of God was the motive of Christ, and such is Christ’s guidance. Not fencing the old man, but the new man living on the Word is our defence against Satan. Luke 4:3-13.--"Into an exceeding high mountain." "Set Him on a pinnacle of the temple." The first temptation is an appeal to the need of the body. The second in Luke (not in Matthew) is the inducement of the world’s glory. The third in our Gospel is the religious temptation through the Word of God, and therefore morally the hardest of all to one who values that Word. And is this the reason why Luke departs from the actual order of the events in order to group them morally, as is the habit of this evangelist elsewhere also? Thus we have the tempter assailing the Lord Jesus, first, as to man’s life; second, as to the power given to man; and, third, as to the promises made to Christ Himself. Satan’s saying, "All this Power," was false as to right, but true in fact, through men’s lusts. So far as these go, he gives the power, but God, after all, is above him, and governs in providence. The Lord might have argued with the devil, but He does not even tell him that the dominion of the world would be His by and by. He takes His stand on that which settles everything, and is a perfect example for us. He stands to God’s Word and God’s worship. He awaits His Word, He worships Him, He serves Him only. How simple and how blessed! It was the immediate link of an obedient heart with God. The question was one of relationship to God. So of old, Eliezer receives blessing, but before he begins to enjoy it he gives thanks. He had the Word first, then the blessing, and what follows forthwith? He bows his head and worships. God is the first thought of his heart. And so still more fully with the Lord here. Luke 4:9-11.--The last and subtlest temptation was grounded on the promises to Messiah. "If Thou be the Son of God," why not try? But why should He try, who KNEW that God was for Him? Why should He be like presumptuous Israel of old, who would go up the hill in disobedience to prove whether the Lord was among them? Not even when Lazarus was sick would He stir till it was the Father’s will, though all nature would have moved; and He knew well the sorrow of that house which was His refuge; for "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" (John 11:5). The Lord did not listen. Who would? you say. But you do listen to Satan every day of your lives that you seek a very little bit of the world. But was there not a promise? Doubtless there was; yet why should He throw Himself down to see whether God would be as good as His Word? Did He not know that God was with Him? And so with us. Let us only have the Word behind us, no matter what may be before us. Never should we raise a question whether God is with us. If He does not send, let us not move, but let us never question His presence. If we are in the simple path of His will, the Holy Ghost will act in us to guide, and not merely on us to correct. Thus, then, in the order of Luke, which, as we have seen, is not historical, but moral, we have the progressive exercises of a man. First, natural lasts; secondly, worldly lusts; and, lastly, spiritual temptations. The Lord Jesus was tempted here, not in Eden, but in the great system where we are. He put Himself, by the will and wisdom of God, in the place of our difficulty in the world where man is. He has gone through all the difficulties a saint is in. Who wants His help? Not a sinner, for he wants salvation; but a saint needs help and sympathy in his path. We have practically to keep our first estate as renewed. Satan cannot touch the new man, but he tries to entice out of the path of godliness. We want succour to walk as obedient ones where Christ walked. IN THE SYNAGOGUE. Luke 4:14-15.--"And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee; . . . and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all." In all things His obedience is shown. Untouched by Satan, He goes forth in unhindered power, as we shall, in a measure, if like Him we pass through temptation, so as not to be touched by Satan. Luke 4:16.--"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up"--the low, despised place, but just the place where spiritual power is found. Was it not ever thus? When was it found allied to the great things of this world? Luke 4:18.--"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor." It was the characteristic of grace to come to such. The great business of Christ was to preach, i.e., to present God. The Holy Ghost gives the right word at the right time, and in the right way. Luke 4:21.--"This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." The Lord does not reason; He says here it is. The way of God is to present what we want. You want salvation, there it is; you want mercy, and there it is. God alone can thus come, by grace, into the place of a sinner. They wonder, for His were precious words, but soon they ask, Is not this Joseph’s son? Was He ashamed of being the carpenter? Grace goes down to the lowest need. But man will take occasion to despise grace, because it is clothed in humiliation. He cannot but see God, but he steps aside to look at the humiliation, and so show out the hatred of his heart. God’s grace is despised and His sovereignty is hated. God did not despise Nazareth, but man despises Jesus because He came out of Nazareth. Even the guileless Nathaniel asks, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). How little appreciation of the way of grace there is even in the godly! Christ comes into man’s misery, and finds him where he is. Could an angel? No; he stays in his proper position, doing the Lord’s commandments, and hearkening to the voice of His Word. An angel ought not to come down to me in my sins; God only can in His grace. And man despises the lowliness to which grace brought Him--wretched man! Luke 4:25-27.--But Israel ever resisted grace, and yet it was ever the way of God’s delight. Witness the widow of Sarepta in Sidon, and Naaman the Syrian leper. Grace overleaped the bounds of Israel. They might be enraged, but grace does overstep their limits. They rose up to thrust Him down who had denied their privileges, but He passed through (Luke 4:30) to renew the work of grace elsewhere. Luke 4:31-32.--"For His Word was with power." This does not move Jesus; it tries Him and breaks His heart, but it does not move Him. The reproach of man turns Him to God. His comfort in His rejection is His Father’s will: "Even so, Father." It was perfectness in the scene of grace, as before in the scene of temptation. There was also the manifestation of power, and not merely promise. There was the accomplishment of promise for the deliverance of man in power as well as grace. And this remains true for us who know Him as a Man risen and at the right hand of God. Mere promise does not give a centre for the affections--Christ Himself is that--Christ to whom promise pointed. He awakens divine feelings and thoughts in us, which find no response or satisfaction from anything in this world. It is the special character of Christ. When He presents Himself it is perfect peace and grace, and in fellowship with Him the soul can praise and rejoice in what He is. THE GREAT HEALER. This grace adapts itself to all difficulties, so as to bring man into peace with God. The very demons knew who He was; man alone was dull and blind. The devil held captive, but a single word of Jesus sets the captive free. He was there, not a promise merely, but power accomplishing, the living power of the Lord Himself among men, the power of God in man overcoming Satan. Such was Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum dealing with the unclean spirit. Luke 4:38-39.--And it is the same when He goes out and "enters Simon’s house." Disease disappears, the weak is made strong. He ministers unto Simon’s wife’s mother, as she lay taken in a great fever, "and immediately she arose and ministered unto them." Luke 4:40-41.--What can resist this delivering power in the person of the Lord Jesus? "Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them; and devils also came out of many." He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Therefore when men stayed Him that He should not depart, He pleads His mission to preach elsewhere also. He is ever the obedient One. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 04.05. CHAPTER 5 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5. It is interesting to know the progressive power of the Word of God. The Lord was preaching, as related at the close of Luke 4:1-44, and in so doing, as well as in the miracles He wrought, He was manifesting the power of goodness. Thus, in performing miracles, two purposes had to be accomplished--confirmation of the testimony given, and present deliverance from the power of Satan. But His great business was preaching the kingdom of God. He will set up the kingdom in power by and by, but His great object then was, and is, to bring the heart into contact with God, and the Word does this more than miracles. Luke 5:1.--"The people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God." In a measure even the unconverted are sensible of the presence of God. Adam was when he tried to hide himself . When the Gospel is preached with power crowds are gathered together by it, touched, perhaps, by something new, but without fruit. So it was with the Lord’s preaching and miracles. We know their motives were selfish often, yet He went on all the same. Come for the blessing of man, He would associate others with Himself in this work of grace; but He calls them in such a way as leaves no glory to man. CATCHING FISH AND MEN. Luke 5:2-4.--He "saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would launch out a little from the land; and He sat down and taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when He had left off speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." The Word had authority in the conscience. Peter and Andrew had seen Jesus before, but had not yet stayed with Him. There had not been sufficient power in their faith to attach them to Christ. There are many now, as ever, who own the authority of the Word, yet are not attached by its power to His person; many absorbed by their everyday pursuits, the Word not having laid hold of their souls so as to make them walk thoroughly with Christ. It is one thing simply to hear His word when spoken to them; quite a different thing when the Word reaches them and becomes the spring and motive of all their ways. So here these men had spent a little time with Jesus, had heard Him speak, and owned Him as Messiah; so now also we see obedience to His word when it comes to them. They launch out at His word, and at His word they let down their nets. Luke 5:5.--The miracle which the Lord wrought was one every way suited to act on those concerned. Their own powerlessness was confessed: "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing." Man could do nothing in such a case. If Jesus could it was because everything was at His disposal. "At Thy word I will let down the net." Luke 5:6-8.--"And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, . . . and they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink." There was not even strength to receive of themselves. "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." If the Word of Jesus had not reached Peter’s heart he would merely have obeyed it as a means of temporal help; but he owns Him as Lord, hearing far more in the words spoken. His conscience was reached. The Lord Himself is revealed to Peter, and that shows Peter himself. When the eye of God is consciously upon us we see in ourselves what He saw. This was Peter’s case. He, when brought into God’s presence, feels that he has been deceiving himself. Grace begins here, but we have not the end yet. So Paul was blind three days, and his soul so wrought on that he could neither eat nor drink. Here Peter falls down at Jesus’ knees. So with us. When brought really into His presence there is the discovery of our sinfulness. The means used to bring us there may be various--circumstances of life, providential occurrences. But when we are there, there is the revelation of Christ Himself, and wherever He is He takes His right place in the soul. It is not only that a man then has salvation, but he cannot longer be content without God having His due place before him. Peter does not fly away from the Lord, like Adam hiding himself, he is attracted to Him. At the same time he is there a judged, convicted, sinful man in his own conscience, which takes the part of Christ against itself. "Depart from me," he says, but he says it at Jesus’ knees. This might seem like a contradiction. It was really love to the Lord and care for His honour, because His Word had become the revelation of Christ to him. His heart was not perfect peace, but Christ has got possession of it. Grace draws to Christ, but there is withal the sense of unfitness till His work is known in all its peace-giving consequences. God sees the thoughts and intents of the heart, and we are made to see these as He sees them. Righteousness is planted in the conscience; God and manure brought together. It was not that Peter could be happy anywhere but at the feet of Jesus, but he felt all the while how unfit he was to be in such company. Luke 5:10.--But the Lord deals in perfect grace. He does not leave Simon Peter. He knew all his sin before He went into the ship, and says to him: "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." Jesus went into the ship to show Peter that he had nothing to fear. Truly "perfect love casteth out fear." Fear has torment till grace is fully revealed; and now it was, with as much authority as that miracle-working word, "Let down your nets for a draught." It was the Word of Christ to his heart . If he trusted it for the fish, why not for his fears? Peter had said "Depart," but instead of that Christ had already come, knowing all he was better than Peter. He was come as a Saviour; nay, more, He intimates to Peter that He was going to make him an instrument in gathering others. Every one who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart becomes a vessel of living grace himself. Not the source, but the river flows through him, so that people may come and drink. Recipients of grace, we are associated with Christ in the activity of love. Outward gift is not meant here, but that, as members of His body, there is living fellowship with the Head in the testimony of His grace and power. Luke 5:11.--We see in these disciples the effect of all. They are absorbed with Christ now. They not only look to Him for salvation, but they think of nothing else for life, speaking now generally and apart from any particular failure. "They forsook all, and followed Him." Christ becomes their life. It is a new line altogether, not merely obedience to an express command with the reserve of thinking and saying, perhaps, "There is no harm in this or that." Christ pleased not Himself. His reason for action was His Father’s will, and not the absence of a prohibition. And we are sanctified unto the obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ. "They forsook all," and where Christ went they went. They are associated with their Lord in His love to souls and in the walk of life. This is liberty. May we, having Christ our life, have Him as our one motive, detached from all to Him, yet channels for all the blessing and grace we have ourselves tasted in Him! There is power to attract out of every corruption around, and to gather the soul into the thoughts and ways of God by the revelation of Christ Himself. CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. Luke 5:12-14.--Christ was the manifestation on earth of God’s power and character--of grace. Of this the leper’s case which follows is a striking witness, for leprosy was an evil which none but God could remove. But God was there in grace. Leprosy presented sin in the aspect of uncleanness. A man full of it on seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought Him, saying: "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." There is the recognition of divine power in Jesus, but he has not full confidence in His grace. He seems disheartened by misery, and almost in despair says "If Thou wilt." But He who alone on earth had the title so to say it, says "I will." It was God only, not in Heaven, but come down in man and among men. Christ was there, who could touch the leper and the leprosy without being touched by it. Divine power was needed, doubtless, and the very priests could not but attest the results of its intervention, but there was divine and perfect love in His touch, while it was the touch of a man, a man who acknowledges the ordinances of God, and as one who had been born under the law. Thus this "turned for a testimony." For the leper must go to the priest, and what could he think? Why, who has been here? Jehovah must have been to heal the man. Luke 5:16.--And what next? Jesus "withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed." Let the power exercised be ever so great and manifestly divine, He is the dependent Man, and this is just where we fail. THE MAN BORNE OF FOUR. Luke 5:18-26.--"They went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling." Here we have another thing. Not the power of Satan, as in chapter 4, nor the uncleanness of sin typified by leprosy, but the guilt of sin. They brought the man because they felt the need; and there was the perseverance of faith, which would not be put off till another day. And Jesus brings forgiveness of sins as well as cleansing from defilement. This is what appears in the instance of the palsied man. The first and grand point is that Jesus pronounces his sins forgiven. Authority to pardon has come in the person of the Son of Man on earth, whatever scribes and Pharisees might think. It was God, the Lord Jehovah, but the Son of Man withal, having on earth power to forgive sins, and using it. It is in this way Israel is to be forgiven by and by (cp. Psalms 103:3), and accordingly the Lord here gives the proof of that authority to forgive by the healing the disease of the paralytic. Luke 5:24.--"That ye may know." The man was to know in his relationship to God that his guilt was gone. Through infinite grace we are entitled to more than even this, for we have the righteousness of the accepted Man in God’s presence. We are made the righteousness of God in Him. This palsied man was a sample of what will be in the future day Israel’s portion. Jesus was forgiving iniquities and healing diseases. He had shown the power to do the one, now He would show that He could do the other also. It is God’s delight to do it all. You may not believe that you can have such a boon, but it is ours in Christ. The perfect Man has come with perfect title in His person. God wrought there, but it was also as a man filled with the Holy Ghost. The believer walks, too, a proof not to himself so much as to others that God was there. The man ought not to say "I wonder if I can walk." If he has faith he will get up and do it. Two things are here present. First, the exceeding blessed grace that the Lord is come, the power of God within the sphere of human misery, which, extreme as it may be, does but make that power evident. If I look around as a man I am lost. I cannot unriddle the history of the world--abominations committed in the Name of Christ, Himself rejected by His people Israel, and crucified by those Gentiles to whom God had entrusted the government of the world, Mohammedanism, Heathenism. What kind of a God have you, says the reasoning heart, when it is such a world? But here I have the Lord come down into all the wretchedness, sickness, sin, and my heart is drawn away from pleasure and sorrow to Him. How beautiful to see heart after heart brought around this One, the only true centre, soon to be the risen head of the new creation; Himself the object drawing out feelings and affections of which He alone is worthy. He who by His excellency gives excellency, and by His gracious thoughts towards us produces and draws out gracious thoughts in us. Next, our hearts are fixed just so far as we have an object--fixed according to God, when we have Christ Himself before us. How can I love if I have nothing to love? A man is what he feels, and likes, and thinks. If my soul lives and feeds upon that which is most excellent--Christ the bread of God--Christ becomes, in a practical sense, formed in the heart. In Him, the Man Christ Jesus, God has had all His delight, and the display of it too. Remark further, that in the accounts we have seen, divine power in the person of Jesus, the Son of Man, is exercised in the midst of Israel. First (Luke 4:31-41), its triumph over the enemies’ power in sickness and in demoniacal possessions, and the testimony of the kingdom, when all such effects of Satan’s work should disappear. This last opens the way for the more positive and deeper blessing of souls being put in relationship to God. Hence from Luke 5:1-26 (the call of Peter, the cleansing of the leper, and the pardon of the palsied man), it is a question of the state of the soul (whatever the outward accompaniments might be), of the authority of the Word over the heart, of faith, and of Christ’s personal glory. Still it was grace in operation towards Israel; grace, if one might so speak, in government. To Israel God had said that He would not put upon them the plagues of Egypt save for their sin. They were an outwardly elect, redeemed people, but they were under God’s government; and hence chastening came, of which the leprosy and the palsy were peculiar samples. Jesus shows Himself to be "Jehovah that healeth thee," in the midst of Israel, though He was passing away from them into a wider display of power and goodness. He could have healed every one, leprous or paralytic; He could have removed all the diseases, now, alas, brought on the Israelites; but in these cases it is where they come to Him in quest of healing, i.e., it is in answer to faith that He works. He was there, showing divine power and grace in healing. THE CALL OF MATTHEW. Luke 5:27-32.--"Levi left all, rose up, and followed Him." But this grace, being of God and sovereign, could not be bounded by human circumstances. Wherever a want appeared to Him, could He gainsay His power or His love? Now, see how that connects itself with what follows. There was full deliverance for all who trusted in Israel, but He could not, and would not, limit His grace. The law limited, but when Himself, the God who gave it, came everybody who needs Him is welcome. His house is a house of prayer for all nations. Hence He calls a publican, a Jew indeed, but detested by the Israelites, and in a sense rightly, when viewed as the mark of their servitude nationally. A publican was one who profited by their Gentile masters, to extort money from Israel, and therefore naturally regarded with horror. But Jesus calls one named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom--calls him to be an apostle. Grace must act according to its own rights. If God has been good to you or me, does that hinder His mercy and love to another? Grace creates the instrument it wants to act by; and it will flow further than the publican yet, even to the most distant Gentile. True, Israel had the promises; the Gentile, strictly speaking, had none; but for that very reason it was more purely grace, and grace would act towards the Gentiles. The Lord Himself, God, was there, and Israel could not be the centre nor the temple when He was there, the despised Lord of both. He is the door, the new centre and turning point of blessing; not a mere branch of the old vine, but Himself the true vine. As a Jew He was subject to ordinances, but as the Lord He is above them, and He breaks out beyond all the old restrictions. Luke 5:29.--"Levi made Him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them; but the scribes and Pharisees murmured." It was a terrible sight and blow to such. Luke 5:31.--But Jesus answers, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." They mistook the Lord altogether. He came to show how grace could deal with those who had no righteousness. Luke 5:34.--"Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast?" He is now breaking, as it were, out of the old thing. He is faithful to Israel, but breaking up that order of things. How could they fast who owned the presence of the divine husband of Israel, the Messiah? The time was coming when the Cross must be taken; but when the Bridegroom is there, fasting was out of place and season. Luke 5:36-39.--Further, the old garment cannot be patched with new cloth. Jesus would do no such thing as tack on Christianity to Judaism. Flesh and law go together, but grace and law, God’s righteousness and man’s, will never mix. Neither can the new wine, the power of the Spirit, be put into the old legal ordinances without loss on all sides. A man accustomed to forms, human arrangements, father’s religion, etc., never likes the new principle and power of the kingdom; he says the old is better. . Such is nature; grace is offensive to it. Nor does man improve in divine things. He can degrade himself and give up what his heart never relished. And this goes on rapidly to-day. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 04.06. CHAPTER 6 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6. Here we have a most weighty thing spoken of--the Sabbath. It is a question that often agitates the minds of men, and was then specially important as closing Jewish relations. And this, it will be borne in mind, was just where the Lord had morally arrived at the close of the preceding chapter. The rights of His person and His grace, now becoming more rejected by the religionists of Israel, reach out beyond the narrow bounds of that proud people. God thereon, by degrees, intimates the coming purpose of His mercy. His salvation in due time shall be sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear. If the Jew judges himself unworthy of everlasting life, God will have His own joy of saving souls somewhere. THE QUESTION OF THE SABBATH. Luke 6:1-5.--Now it is very evident that the incident of the cornfields, "on the second Sabbath after the first," thoroughly falls in with the object of the Spirit in hand. "The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." His person entitles Him to supremacy over that which was the sign of the covenant of the law. Luke 6:6-10.--In the next case He asserts the right to do good on the Sabbath day, as His adversaries on the same day show their disposition to destroy. The Sabbath, in any real sense, man had entirely lost. Indeed, he had never entered into God’s thoughts of rest. It was His rest, and had not sin spoiled all, man should have enjoyed that which was the result not of his own, but of God’s labour. This is the proper character of that rest which belongs to man distinctively; but sin having come in the necessity has arisen that God should work afresh if man is ever to share the rest of God (see Hebrews 4:1-16). Meanwhile, Christ has appeared and finished the work which God gave Him to do. Hence we who believe find rest in Christ, as does God Himself. In Him, by virtue of the accomplished and accepted work of redemption, we have our Sabbath spiritually. The day was set apart and hallowed from the beginning (Genesis 2:1-25). Afterwards it came in, first in grace to Israel, marked by the cessation of the manna and a double portion to provide for that holy day (Exodus 16:1-36); and, secondly, as a part of the law of Sinai, and incorporated with every new and special dealing of Jehovah (Exodus 20:1-26; see also Exodus 31:13-14; Exodus 33:13; Exodus 34:21; and Exodus 35:2). It was a memorial thenceforward of the deliverance out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15). Accordingly the prophets expressly treat it as a sign of Israel’s separation from all other nations unto God, and of God’s covenant with them (Ezekiel 20:12-20; Ezekiel 22:8; Ezekiel 23:38; Ezekiel 44:24; Isaiah 56:1-12; Isaiah 58:1-14; Jeremiah 17:4). But then, in the past, Israel, a sinful people, had the Sabbath as a legal ordinance, and consequently are condemned by it as by all else. Where is this covenant with Israel? All gone, because of their iniquity. Hence they were thrown into the hands of the Gentiles and became slaves. Behold, we are servants this day; and for the land that Thou gayest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us, because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great distress" (Nehemiah 9:36-37). If they had a temple after the captivity it was only at the mercy of their Persian masters. The outward emblem lingered on no doubt, and was especially made much of to dishonour Him, of whom and whose work it was so significant; but where was its reality when Jesus was on earth? Alas! He lies in the grave all the day which His murderers kept as a day holy to Jehovah--"for that Sabbath was an high day" (John 19:31)--awful testimony to the Jews of their position. Their own Messiah slain by His own people. Such was the truth which that Sabbath day uttered to Him who had ears to hear. Israel never had the rest of God. "If Joshua had given them rest" (Hebrews 4:1-16). "There remaineth therefore a rest" (Hebrews 4:9). They must own Jesus first. Luke 6:5.--But the rejected Jesus was Son of Man, and the Son of Man was Lord of the Sabbath, a truth of the utmost gravity, to be asserted with all strength. Those who confound the Lord’s day with the Sabbath are in danger of forgetting this. It was the very point here in controversy with the Jews who maintained that the Sabbath was superior to the Lord. But He shows that another new principle had come in which wholly overleaped the old, and that to remain in the old was to have no deliverance. For there is no possibility for a lustful creature to be under a commandment that condemns lust without being condemned. Grace, however, has entered through a rejected Christ, and now there is rest for us who believe--not for those who are on the ground of law. THE LORD’S DAY. This is the reason why Christians keep the first day of the week, and not the seventh or Sabbath day. The rest was acquired by the power of Christ’s redemption, and the first day, when He arose from the dead, was that which proclaimed it to faith, spite of man’s guilt and ruin. The seventh day will be the rest of man on earth; the first day celebrates Christ’s taking us in Him to Heaven. Then was life from the dead, life more abundantly, liberty from the law, and every consequence of sin--in a word, the victory of grace. The Christian, therefore, has the first day distinctively, because it belongs to and witnesses of the perfected work of Christ, and consequently introduces heavenly rest . The first day is in contrast with the seventh, which appertained to the round of man’s labour in nature and of the Jew’s under the law, in which Adam and Israel utterly broke down. It is the Lord’s day emphatically, and this testifies of the triumph of Christ’s Word and the glory of His person--not the day which guilty unbelief would have perverted into the proof and means of His inferiority. It is positive, direct blessing to him who owns and honours it, not because it is the close of legal toil, but the commencement of Christian hope; the resurrection day when we begin our spiritual life, and look on for what will crown so precious a pledge. Here, however, the grand thing is the maintenance of the rights and authority of the Son of Man. You never can, according to God, raise up the title of the Sabbath against the Lord of the Sabbath. Luke 6:3-5.--"What did David," the anointed of the Lord, when Saul persecuted him and sought his life? Was it of God, then, to uphold the ritual and so starve the man after His heart? No; the foundations were out of course, and everything became common in Israel when the chosen king was thus iniquitously rejected. But a greater One, and graver sin were now in their midst, The Son indeed, but the Root of David, God Himself was there; He who instituted the Sabbath, its Lord, was there in the person of the Son of Man. Luke 6:6-12.--But if God was there, would He deny His own goodness or restrain His power in presence of human misery, because "the scribes and Pharisees watched Him whether He would heal on the Sabbath day?" Divine love must act and heal the withered hand, even if wretched man should seek to find therein an accusation. And they were filled with madness and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus (11); but Jesus in those days retired to a mountain to pray. He drew near to God to commune with Him as to what He was to do for them (12). His was the activity of grace, of love displaying itself holily and mightily in the midst of evil. THE TWELVE CHOSEN. Luke 6:13-16.--"And when it was day He called His disciples." In this call He proves that He was the only One who could empower others to bear this testimony also. And yet here, as in all that passed before, He is the lowly dependent One--perfect Man, as well as God. He was in perfect, unbroken communion with His God and Father, though Himself God manifest in the flesh. How blessedly near to us this brings Him, though so infinitely above us! What He did we should aim at, whatever our measure and our little sphere. In Him we see man perfect in that place of power wherein He came. He knew whom He chose. He knew that one of them had a devil; but He sent them out. Twelve He chose specially, whom also He called apostles, "sent ones." It was an important and significant word, as quite a distinct thing both from law and promises. No one was sent out by law. Now God is active; He is sending His Son, and the Son is sending out apostles. The love of God is active in gathering souls. This first Sent One is a Man really and truly. God’s work of His grace must be done by His Son, not by angels, but by His own Son, as the Man Christ Jesus, and He sends men out from Himself. The gathering point is Man--Himself of course. To Man God has committed all things. While it must be God who shows grace, the Son of Man it is who comes on the mission of love and sends out men to men. Luke 6:17-19.--Whatever He attracts by He gathers round Himself to worship, surrounds Himself with them, and then comes down and stands in the plain. The great multitude are attracted by His miracles and their want, coming to hear and be healed. The company of the disciples were an inner circle. "The whole multitude sought to touch Him." It is not said that they were converted, which is another thing; but living power went out of Him, healing their bodily misery and delivering from the power of Satan. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Luke 6:20.--He now lifts up His eyes on His disciples and speaks to them, not as in Matthew 5:1-48, giving them the developed principles of the kingdom, but distinguishing those before Him as the remnant. Hence it is "ye" here. He puts seal and stamp on those actually gathered round Himself. They are to be like Him. He is at once their centre and their pattern. He was God, but the fulness of the Holy Ghost dwelt in Him as man also; and so He could say "I do always those things which please Him." So should it be with those around Him. Luke 6:20-26.--"Blessed (are) ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed (are) ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed (are) ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you." These words of the Saviour give the contrast of those He pronounces blessed with all that are at ease in this world. Those who, if in this life only they had hope in Christ would be of all men the most miserable, are the only happy few. They are severed from all others, and put in relationship with Him, the source of blessing, to be blessed. If you can make yourselves happy and comfortable in this world which has rejected Jesus, count not on His blessing. It is the poor, the despised with Jesus who shall have the kingdom. He says, if we may so speak, "I am distinguishing you," for there is no enunciation of abstract principles, as in the beginning of Matthew 5:1-48, but a speaking to the hearts of those gathered around Him. "I am come as the centre of power and active love. There is but one sole place of blessing on earth. With Me you are blessed." Others may be gay and cheerful where Christ has no place; but it is a time when a true spiritual soul can get no good save with Christ. It is a definite distinction of, and address to, the disciples who attached themselves to Him. This is made clear in Luke 6:22, where the persecution for righteousness, which St. Matthew carefully records, is omitted. Here it is only a question of suffering "for the Son of Man’s sake" (Luke 6:22). In the midst of a world of misery and selfishness there came One who displayed not law nor judgment, but grace. But the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Like the adder that hears nothing the world goes on as deaf as it is blind. No; you who are "full" now Jesus has no charm for you; but you, disciples, are weeping now, the sorrow and the sin of man distress your spirit; you shall rejoice. When God has His way, you who cannot be satisfied with the husks shall be filled. "Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in Heaven; for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." You have your portion with Christ here, you shall have it with Christ in Heaven. You suffer with the suffering One; you shall have glory with the glorified One. But the others!--they shall have what they seek. For the full there shall be a famine by and by, for they have lost God. If you can laugh in such a world as this, you shall weep when God’s time for blessing comes. They are of the world, and the world naturally loves its own. "So did their fathers to the prophets." Are the times altered? Is Christ ’s character changed? It is not a whit more agreeable to the flesh. And if you can find your joy, ease, and pleasure in the world, Christ could not, and you have not His Spirit. He that will be its friend is the enemy of God. Can the disciple of Jesus be merry and gay in a world which has sin wrapped up in it? There is communion with Jesus, joy in the Spirit, while patient in tribulation; but this is quite another thing. It is a serious joy, though very real and blessed. Luke 6:27.--He now shows what must be the conduct of the disciples as such. They were to manifest God, to be the unfolding of what was displayed in Him. Grace which was in Him in fulness and perfection should be reproduced in them, sadly as we all fail in this--the principle of our path. "Love your enemies." God loved us when we were His enemies, and we have now to show practically what God is. Luke 6:29.--This brings us into entirely human circumstances, patiently learning in them; or, as in 1 Peter 2:1-25, doing well, suffering for it, and taking it patiently. This may seem poor comfort. But Jesus did so, and love must so manifest itself in an evil world. The time comes when God will judge, instead of bearing long as now; but now, at whatever cost to self, show love as Christ did. Luke 6:35.--Flesh can love for love, but the disciples of Christ are called to imitate God, and walk in love. "Love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil." What a blessed character of God comes out here! It is not righteousness, though surely there was that, but in the world where God had to do with the unthankful and evil He shows grace. For the angels He has not grace, but love; but Christ in this world of sin is grace, i.e., love to those who deserve it not. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36). It is not with, but "as your Father." As He loves His enemies, so do you; He is merciful, be ye also merciful. In all this God’s character is displayed--perfect love in a world of sinners. It must cost us something; it cost the life of Christ. His love was a stream which if it met with hindrances in its way only went on flowing over, and leaving them behind till it reached the Cross. Luke 6:37.--"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged." This is not certain things required in order to get life, but the result of certain conduct shown. As though He had said: You will find the consequences of your conduct as Christ did. He took the lowest place, but He has got the highest now. He humbled Himself; "wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him" (Php 2:9). He came not to judge, and now "all judgment is committed to the Son" (John 5:22). Thus we not only have the display of grace, but divine character meeting its consequences. Luke 6:38.---It is a question of government--of walking with the Lord. It must cost a great deal in the path, but in the end it will be "full measure, pressed down." There will be God’s blessing, too, in the way, though self is mortified. Grace will abound, according to God’s way. Luke 6:39.--"Can the blind lead the blind?" See the contrast of those who are in utter blindness, and the blind leading the blind. You must let them alone; leave them to go on their own way; but you have to take your place with Me; and the disciple is not above his Master, but you shall be as your Master. If your Master suffers, you suffer; if it has cost your Master much, it must cost you much. If Christ teaches you, it is to make you possess the divine learning that He has Himself. And see what a place He gives us! When He gives, what does He give? The very same that He has Himself. "As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). "Not as the world giveth" (John 14:27), which if it gives a little reserves the chief for itself; but as though He said "I am putting you in the very same learning that is in My nature, the grace that I have you are to have." But people do not like to do those things that Jesus did. Why is there so much argument about that one passage, "Resist not evil?" It is because you like to resist evil. Your will is touched, your conscience is reached, for it is given you as a matter-of-fact exhortation. But you do not like it, and you will get rid of it if you can. These things are given as tests for the conscience; they judge the eye, not the path only. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" (Matthew 6:22). The object is wrong if you have not light for the step. There may be difficulties in going up a steep hill, but if the object before you is clear, you get over them as quickly as you can. This is what is meant by the expression "This one thing I do" (Php 3:13) . It is having one object, and the mind intent on accomplishing it. If it is so with you there will be sure to be light in the path--light not for ten years hence, but for this one step that is before you, and then for the next. It was said to Moses, "Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward" (Exodus 14:15), and when they were out in the wilderness the pillar was given to be their constant guide. So with us. We are called out to go after Christ on the principle of obedience, and this puts us into connection with Him in the revelation of His will, not giving us to see all the path onwards. A man may see a wall, and say "I cannot go that way, there is a wall," while if he but takes a single step he will find that there is a path all down by the side of the wall. Luke 6:44.--"Every tree is known by his own fruit." Not only bearing fruit, but fruit that Christ produces should be ours. There is fruit that an upright nature produces, such as that of the young man who came to Jesus, but that was not divine fruit--’’its own fruit;" and where Christ is the root and the stock, it is Christian fruit, i.e., fruit that will remain (John 15:16). Two men may go together up to a certain point, and then some test for Christ comes; one goes on with Him, and the other turns aside. "Its own fruit’--fruit shows itself, springs of itself. There will not be the question of: What harm in this or that? What harm in being rich? as a person once asked me. If it shuts you out of Heaven, is there any harm in that? Oh, I did not think of that! But the secret is that you like the things. The evil is not the things themselves dug out of the earth, but the love in the heart for them. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." An impatient word betrays the heart. A blow I may restrain, yet utter the word. THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK. Luke 6:47.--In the hearing of all the multitude the Lord speaks now about the house built upon the rock. This is not a question about building upon Christ, the Rock, for the salvation of the sinner. It is the path of the saint. But where Christ’s Word does connect with Himself, see the result. The very thing people are called upon to do is to follow Him; and when I follow it proves that the Master’s words have taken such a hold upon my soul that they have power to carry me over the difficulties. "My soul followeth hard after Thee" (Psalms 63:8). A man’s affections, heart, will, are taken and connected with Christ instead of with himself. Is Christ sufficiently precious to make me leave all beside and follow Him, to do those things that please Him? "If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, but shall have the light of life" (John 11:9). "As when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light" (Luke 11:36). Keeping close to Christ, the light shines upon us. If we have to get into the light we may be dazzled by it. Thus He has gathered round Himself in light and love those whom He will have to enjoy Himself, and be as their Master, at length to be conformed to His image in glory. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 04.07. CHAPTER 7 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7. We have seen the Lord rejected by Israel gradually, in virtue of His person and rights, breaking out beyond the ancient limits, and gathering the remnant round Himself, the new and only just object of God, the source of a mission in grace, and the full development and exemplification of holy love in an evil world; for whatever the principles laid down in chapter 6 they are but the expression of God’s character in grace, as displayed in Christ here below. THE CENTURION’S SERVANT. Luke 7:1-10.--In accordance with this, we have now the case of the centurion, and a very full and striking one it is. It is not merely an act of grace, but grace to a Gentile. Nor is this all. The principle on which the apostle rests this question is brought out. "It is of faith, that it might be by grace, that the promise might be sure to all the seed" (Romans 4:16). Faith, as the great turning point, is introduced. It was no mere theory. It was living faith, and such faith as had not been seen in Israel. Neither was there presumption, but, on the contrary, remarkable humility. He recognised the honour God had put upon His people; he sees, holds to it, owns and acts upon it, spite of their low and debased and in every other respect unworthy condition. Despised and failing as they might be, he loved the Jews as God’s people, and for His sake, and he had built them a synagogue. Unfeigned lowliness was his, though (yea, rather, for) his faith was far beyond those he honoured. Consequently he had a very high apprehension of the power and glory of the person of Christ as divine, reaching out beyond Jewish thoughts altogether. He does not refer to the Lord as Messiah, but recognised in Him the power of God in love. This was blessed faith which forgets itself in the exaltation of its object. He saw not Jesus, it would seem, but assuredly gathered from what "he heard’’ that diseases were nothing to Him but occasions wherein to display His absolute authority and His sovereign mercy. He was a stranger, and the Jews were God’s people; must not they or their elders be the fittest to bring this wonderful Person? For he confided in His mercy as well as His power, and his servant, "dear unto him," was sick and ready to die. He needed Jesus. Luke 7:6.--"Then Jesus went with them. And when He was not far from the house the centurion sent friends to Him, saying unto Him, Lord, trouble not Thyself; for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof; wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed." There was surely the deepest personal respect and affection. Untaught as he might be in other things, he strongly felt the excellency of Christ’s person, and here again with humility correspondent to the measure in which His glory was seen. This message of the centurion’s friends admirably depicts his character and feeling. He told nothing to Jesus of his service to the Jews, spoke of nothing personal save his unworthiness, and this so consistently that he begged Jesus not to come to his house, as unworthy to receive Him. There was in this soul the exact opposite of doing Christ an honour, by believing on Him, and far from him was the pretence of receiving Christ to set himself up--both, alas! found often elsewhere. The simplicity of his heart is as apparent as his strong faith. There was none such in Israel, and yet it was in one who loved Israel. It was a lesson of grace in every way for the crowd that followed Jesus--for us, too, most surely. THE WIDOW’S SON. Luke 7:11-17.--Along with grace to the Gentiles came the evidence of power to raise the dead, but here it was manifested in human sympathies, in witness that God had visited His people. It was the power of resurrection, a power which was yet to be shown more gloriously and to be the source of that which is new for man according to God--the God who raiseth the dead. It was another and wondrous proof that He is here going, in the character of His action, without the sphere of the law and its ordinances. "For the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth" (Romans 7:1) . What can it avail for one who is dead? "But what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3). It was grace indeed, and divine energy, but withal displayed in One who was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And how astonishingly all the details bring this out? The dead man was "the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." "And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother." How exquisitely human, and withal how unmistakably divine! It is manifest that these two cases illustrate the change which the Spirit is attesting in this part of St. Luke. Nor is it otherwise with the scene that follows, which brings out in fact the hinge of the dispensation. The Lord bears witness to John Baptist, not John to the Lord. John sends two of his disciples, on the report of the Lord’s miracles, to learn from Himself who He is. Are we surprised? He had preached and baptised in the confession of sins and in faith of the coming Messiah. But now all was changed. John was in prison, not delivered, and it was no longer a people preparing for the Lord. Was it not strange? At any rate, John sought a plain answer, and well could he trust the word of One who did such mighty and holy works. But what a comment upon the marvellous change was this very inquiry. It was a sort of turning over the disciples of John to the Lord. Luke 7:21-35.--"And in the same hour He cured many of their infirmities, and plagues, and evil spirits; and unto many that were blind He gave sight . Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way and tell John." At the same time, if He receives no longer testimony from John, He bears it to him, owned John and his work. But they were owned from a higher ground where the Lord in grace and resurrection power had placed Himself, and this was based on entire rejection in and by the world, so that, though He was doing all good, still it was "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me." Hence in the very verse where the Lord recognises in the fullest way John the Baptist, He marks the change about to take place: "He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." Happy they who justified God in being baptised of John; wretched the self-righteous who rejected his counsel against themselves. Wisdom is justified of all her children. They understand the ways of God, whether in the servant or the Lord. The ways are quite different, but understood in grace. This generation, alas! understands none, finds fault with all. John is too righteous for them, Jesus is too gracious. The mourning of the one and the piping of the other are utterly distasteful. Such is man’s wisdom to the ways of God. But the children of wisdom justify wisdom notwithstanding. IN THE PHARISEE’S HOUSE. Luke 7:36-50.--And in spite of the perverseness of men our Lord did not stop manifesting Himself to the world. Accordingly a tale follows which shows how God’s wisdom is justified by, and in, those who own it in Jesus. It is a tale of grace, of pure, plenary, pardoning grace, which rests not till its object is dismissed in perfect peace. Jesus is in the Pharisee’s house, who failed entirely in the essential point; Simon perceived not the glory of Christ. In this the Lord meets him, and shows in contrast with the woman, "which was a sinner," the point where this Pharisee was exercising judgment to be precisely that wherein he failed. God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. What if the despised Jesus were not a prophet only, but a Saviour of poor, lost sinners? Ah! God was unknown, that was the secret. The converted soul sees the glory of the Lord as grace towards itself; he who is unconvinced, however interested humanly, judges according to his own thoughts, and therefore necessarily fails to see the glory which is not according to these thoughts. Man’s judgment of the Gospel must be wrong therefore; his reception of it, as grace, is alone right, and alone the way of coming to the knowledge of it. This was, then, a direct and distinct example of God’s ways. It was a forgiving of sins in grace, sovereignly and freely, to any poor sinner manifesting and producing love in the forgiven who loves God, because God is love, and this in respect of his sins, in Jesus the Lord. It was proper grace, the ground on which any one, a Gentile or not, would be received, and God manifested not in requirement from man (and so making man in the flesh of importance), but making God all, and His character in sovereign grace, so bringing in blessing, and its blessed effect upon the heart, developing the fruits of grace in a heart restored to confidence in God by the sense of His goodness. What a blessed picture! Goodness known not only in the act, but in Him who did it . The discernment of guilt in its gross forms by man was one thing, but the grace of God which could blot out and forgive all was quite another. It was not Christ there to judge and sanction Pharisees, but love to a sinner, manifesting God in this new character of grace, producing thankful, holy love to God, and a blessed relationship, sovereign, and beyond the reach of man. Note how God has always to prove Himself right in His goodness to man, so hard is man’s heart. But the Lord identifies Himself with the believer, and vindicates him against the haughty world, and this gives assurance. Perfectly regardless of comments, He applies Himself, not to unbelief, which were useless, but to those who have faith, and having communicated forgiveness, shows the soul His uprightness, i.e., the right thoughts of God and self, which faith has. The last word settles the question. The soul’s love was a ground of evidence and reasoning, not, of course, the cause. "Thy faith hath saved thee," said the Lord to the woman, "go in peace." All is discharged from the conscience, and the heart finds itself infinitely and everlastingly a debtor to the continual fountain of all grace. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 04.08. CHAPTER 8 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8. We have seen in what has preceded the Lord presenting Himself, by His words and His work, as a new centre to which and round which His people were gathered. Before this JEHOVAH had been the centre when Israel was the gathering point, for Jehovah was among the Jews, and the temple the place where He met with the people. But now the Son is here, "God manifest in the flesh," and He must be the centre of everything. But Israel would not be gathered, as the Lord Himself said in Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered, . . . but ye would not." Again, in Isaiah 65:2, "I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people." Israel could not have the blessing, for the flesh could not hold it. The flesh simply looked at as such is "as grass" (Isaiah 40:1-31). "All flesh is grass." We have these two great principles running through the latter chapters of Isaiah. First, that flesh, as flesh, could not hold the blessing and be the depositary for the promises. For when all grace came, in the person of the Lord, the people to whom He was sent He found withered down like grass. "Surely the people is grass: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand for ever." But God was not going to give up His purpose . Therefore in chapter 49 we find Jehovah says unto Christ, "Thou art My Servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Then Christ says if God is to be glorified in Israel: "I have laboured in vain, and spent My strength for nought, and in vain, yet surely My judgment is with Jehovah, and My reward with My God." Then saith Jehovah, "Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah. I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation to the ends of the earth." This is what Christ is becoming in Luke’s gospel, "A light to lighten the Gentiles." And afterwards we find Paul, with the perfect accuracy of the Spirit, quoting this very scripture, so exactly fitted for them, to the Jews at Antioch. "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken unto you, but seeing ye judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46-47; and, again, Acts 28:28). Israel will be gathered afterwards, for Christ will hereafter raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel; but before this He turns to the Gentiles. All this the Lord pictures to us in Luke. In Luke 7:1-50 we see Israel refused both John the Baptist and Christ, but "wisdom is justified of her children." The Pharisees and lawyers did not justify God at all, for they saw no beauty in Jesus, whereas the publicans did; and thus the poor woman, "who was a sinner," whose heart was touched by the grace of God, is the true child of wisdom, and is brought in here as an illustration of Christ being the new centre of blessing, "though Israel be not gathered." The Lord then goes on with His testimony, gathering by the Word, first, by parables, as in Luke 8:1-56, and then in Luke 9:1-62 sending forth His disciples to preach with this commission, to shake off the dust from their feet if they are not received, a token of the last testimony being given when they are given up. Luke 8:1-3.--"The twelve with them, . . . and many others." Here are two classes of persons gathered round Christ. First, the twelve apostles were public witnesses, fitted by divine grace to be the vessels of testimony, manifesting the electing power of God in calling them, and sending them forth in all the energy of ministry; Christ’s apostles, sent out by Himself, "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you," His chosen ones. "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." Then, secondly, there were others who were gathered by affection round Him, having no place of office in the Church, but those whose hearts were touched and drawn round Him, not sent out like the first class, but not less devoted in heart than the apostles, for they followed Him, and ministered to Him of their substance. THE SOWER. Luke 8:4-8.--In the parable of the sower, as previously remarked, it is not the kingdom brought out as in Matthew, but the testimony as to what and whom Christ was gathering, and not as to the form the kingdom would take afterwards. The very fact of Christ coming as the Sower proved that Israel was set aside; for had it been now to Israel as His vine-yard, He must have come seeking fruit from the vine He had long before planted. He had come to Israel previously, seeking fruit, and finding none He now comes in the new character of the Sower, which is quite another thing. He comes into a waste world where there was nothing, and He begins a fresh work. God is not now looking for fruit from man in one sense, because man has been proved to be a bad tree, and the more you dig about and dung a bad tree the more bad fruit it produces. "A tree is known by its fruits." Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. God is now going to produce the fruit He requires. He is not now looking for man to produce anything, for John Baptist said, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 3:10), Therefore the Lord now comes as Sower, not looking for fruit, but doing that which will produce it . Luke 8:9-15.----He then goes on to describe the character and effect of the sowing, and the disciples ask the meaning of the parable. Israel, as such, had forfeited its place, and therefore was "a people of no understanding" (Isaiah 27:11) . Long patience had waited on Israel. Seven hundred years had passed since the Word was given to Isaiah: "Go, tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not." As individuals they might be drawn round the person of the Lord, but as a nation they were blinded. The disciples had an explanation of the parable, but as a nation the Lord speaks to them in parables (Luke 10:1-42), thus fulfilling to the nation the very words spoken by the prophet so long before. Now the testimony is closed as to Israel, though not as to God’s final purpose respecting them. The seed is sown indiscriminately, and although man rejects it because his will is opposed, nevertheless it is sown in his heart, for this parable shows how the Word of God is perfectly adapted to the need of man, meeting his conscience and heart. "Never man spake like this Man" (John 7:46). Christ’s Word came with a power that reached the heart and affections; the WILL is corrupt, and therefore resists it. It is not abstract grace here, but the condition of man that is recognised, therefore we find the Word so perfectly suited to the need, not claiming righteousness from man, but coming in with power to show him that he is a sinner, and laying open the thoughts and intents of the heart. When the heart is thus detected the Word comes with all gentleness and comfort for healing and rest, because there is grace to meet a soul in whatever state it may be found. The heart is spoken to, and therefore the Gospel leaves man without excuse. Luke 8:13.--Some "received the Word with joy." This was a proof that the conscience was untouched, for when that is reached it is anything but joy until forgiveness is known. The feelings may be moved for a time, and the Word be listened to with a joy which will give place to sorrow. The reason truth is thus flippantly taken up with joy is because there is no root, and so it is received in joy and given up in trouble. Luke 8:14.--Another class is where thorns spring up and choke the Word. The understanding may be convinced and receive the truth, but the cares, pleasures, and riches of this world come in and choke the Word. Now these "cares" are most subtle things, because they enter as necessary duties, and there is no sin in doing one’s duty. Nay, it is right that a man should do his duty in his daily calling. But if these duties choke the Word, and a man loses his soul through it, what then? The natural tendency of the heart often needs to be met with that Word, "Take heed and beware of covetousness" (Luke 12:1-59). It is the love of possession. One came to the Lord, saying, "Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me." The heart wanted to keep it. If love of the world or covetousness gets in among the saints it is an insidious thing, and most difficult to meet, because it is often not open to discipline, and yet if covetousness slips into the heart it checks the power of Christ over the soul and conscience, and eats out the practical life of the Christian, and his soul is withered, withered, withered . It may be checked by the power of God coming in, but this covetous care about earthly things is so subtle that while there is nothing on which to lay the hand, the practical power of Christian life in the soul is gone, though, of course, I need hardly say, eternal life can never be lost in those who once had it. Luke 8:15.--"That on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." There may seem to the world to be fruits bright and blessed, but if people have not got Christ they tire. There will be no enduring unless Christ has possession of the soul; but if He has, there will be an abiding motive, and people will go on, and "bring forth fruit with patience." They that hear and keep go steadily on, having their motive for action in the Lord. Trouble may come into the Church; disappointment may arise, even from brethren; but they go on just the same, because they have got Christ before them. For the Word they have heard and keep connects them with Christ, and He is more than anything else. Luke 8:16-18.--This is a question, not of eternal salvation, but the practical effect of the Word as seen in this world, the growth of the Word in the soul, and that will not be hidden under a bushel. "Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14) and "the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13). In those who only appear to be Christians it soon comes to nothing. "Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that which he seemeth to have." But those in whom the Word works effectually are to be as a "candle" set on a candlestick. Israel being set aside for a season, God sets up a new light in the world; a light lit up by God because of the world’s darkness. When Christ was here He was the Light of the World because of its darkness, and now we should be a light in the world as we are "light in the Lord." The light is here set up by Christ’s Word, and people are responsible for the Word received. Suppose you have heard the Word, and bring forth no fruit, it will all come out by and by that you have heard the Word and lost it, and the spiritual power accompanying it. For even if you are saints, all that you have heard without fruit or power resulting therefrom, it will come out. For nothing is hid that shall not be known or come abroad. "Take heed how you hear." Christ is looking for the results of His sowing. There must be not only the hearing but the possessing, and in this rests the responsibility, for if you keep the Word which you have heard, more shall be given you. If on hearing I possess that which I hear, not merely have joy in receiving it, but possess it as my own, then it becomes a part of the substance of my soul, and I shall get more, for when the truth has become a substance in my soul there is a capacity for receiving more. Suppose, e.g., you hear the truth of the Lord’s Second Coming, and see your portion as the bride of Christ, and you do not lay hold of it practically so as to possess it (have communion with God about it, which is possession), you will presently lose the expectation of His coming, and forget your place of separation from the world, and the truth will gradually slip away, because you are not holding it in your soul before God. Consequently your soul becomes dead and dull, and you lose the very truth you have received. Thus, if one lives daily as waiting for the Lord from Heaven, there will be no planning for the future, no laying up for the morrow. Such a man will learn more and more, as other truths will open round this one grand central one, and he will be kept in the truth. If, on the other hand, he drops this centre truth by saying "He cannot come yet, so many things must happen first," then is the progress of such a one’s communion with God hindered, for, as we have said, it is according to what a man has heard and holds with God that there can be any growth. For what is the use of teaching me that the Lord may come to-morrow if I am going on living as though He were not coming for a hundred years? Or where is the comfort and blessedness of the truth to my soul if I am saying in my heart "My Lord delayeth His Coming?" Though I cannot lose my eternal life, yet if I am losing the truth and light I have had I shall be merely floating on in the current of life, half world and half Christ, and all power of Christian life will be dimmed in my soul. If the truth is held in communion with God it separates to Himself. Truth is to produce fruit, and you have no truth that does not bear fruit. Truth must build up the soul. "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17). Christ becomes precious in and by the truth that I learn, and if it has not that power it all drops out, comes to nothing, and is taken away. If Christ is precious to me I shall be waiting for Him with affection, and if it is not so, the bare truth will soon be given up. NEW RELATIONSHIPS. Luke 8:19, Luke 8:21.--"Thy mother and thy brethren stand without." Here He closes up His connection with Israel after the flesh, for the relations of mother and brethren put Him into connection with Israel after the flesh. Observe, He here distinguishes the remnant by the word "these," as He did in chapter 6 by the word "ye." His mother and His brethren came to Him on the ground of natural relationship only, and there was all natural affection in the Lord, as on the Cross we find Him remembering His mother, and commending her to the care of John. But He replies here, as much as to say, "I am not on that ground now, My mother and My brethren are these which hear the Word of God and do it." Israel was now given up as to that position, the Lord owning and acknowledging only those to be His relations on whose hearts and consciences the Word of God had taken effect. It was not what was found in nature, but what was produced by grace, and being thus produced by power through the Word, the principle is hereby established that it might go out to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews, although not fully brought out until after His resurrection. In these three verses we have a judicial sentence on Israel, which closes in Luke 8:21. STILLING THE WAVES. Luke 8:22-26.--Here is a parabolical display of what we may expect if we follow the Lord, and the opening out of what the Lord would be to those tried by such circumstances. The consequence of being the disciples and companions of Jesus is that they get into jeopardy every hour, they are not on terra firma, but are tossed about on the troubled sea, and Christ Himself absent (’’asleep")."There came down a storm of wind on the lake," the ship was filled with water, and they filled with fear, and were in jeopardy. But the fact was Christ was in the same boat with them. He who made the worlds, the Son of God, was with them, and yet they are afraid, and cry out "We perish," as though He could be drowned, thus showing they had no sense of who He was that was with them in the boat. To us, now calmly reading the circumstances, what absurdity there seems in such unbelief, when, alas, is it not just the same with ourselves spiritually? Have we no sense of jeopardy when tossed about, and trouble is in the Church? In truth we have, for there is many a heart saying "Who will show us any good?" forgetting what God is acting and doing, though man is battling to all appearance against God’s purposes. But God is not baffled, and He is calmly carrying on His purposes through all the storms raised by men or devils. In John 16:1-33 we find the disciples sorrowing because Jesus was going away, and the Lord had said to them (John 14:1-31), "If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go to the Father." In John 16:1-33 Jesus says, "Now I go My way to Him that sent Me, and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? But because I have said these things, sorrow hath filled your hearts." God was accomplishing His blessed purposes in redemption by Christ’s going. You forget that God is acting in all this, for you cannot suppose that God is so baffled as to give up His purpose. The disciples thought when Jesus was crucified that all their hopes were disappointed. They say, "we thought it had been He that should have redeemed Israel" (Luke 24:21) . In fact, in that very act, and at that very moment, all was being accomplished for them, Where is the Lord going? should have been their question. It is not now that there seems no jeopardy, no confusion, no sorrow; but faith looks at and through it all to God, and asks, What is the Lord doing? Where is the Lord going? In and through all the trouble the Lord has not turned a hairbreadth out of His way. We may be in distress, but faith will not say the Lord is far away, but will know Him nigh at hand. Luke 8:24.--The Lord let them be in jeopardy, the ship filled with water, and Himself asleep on purpose to put their faith to the test, to prove if they were really trusting Him, and that it might be seen if such foolish thoughts would arise when they were put into jeopardy. They say "Lord, we perish;" but they were in the ship with Christ, and could they be drowned? He said to them: Where is your faith?" Well might He say thus to them, for though the water was in the boat, He was there too, and could sleep through it all. It was not so much of Him they were thinking as of themselves. "We perish," said they, and it is just the same now, for the fact of being in danger with Christ in the boat is the same at one time as at another, just as impossible now as then. And in truth Christ is much more with us now, being more perfectly revealed to us, and we are united to Him, one with Him, so that He is with us every moment in the power of the Spirit. However high the waves may rise there is no drowning His love and thoughts towards us. The test is to our faith. The question is: Have we that faith which so realises Christ’s presence as to keep us as calm and composed in the rough sea as the smooth? It was not really a question of the rough or the smooth sea when Peter was sinking in the water, for he would have sunk without Christ just as much in the smooth as in the rough sea. The fact was the eye was off Jesus on the wave, and that made him sink. If we go on with Christ we shall get into all kinds of difficulties, many a boisterous sea, but being one with Him, His safety is ours. The eye should be off events, although they be ever so solemn, and surely they are so at this present time, and I feel them to be so, for none perhaps has a deeper sense than I of the growth of evil, and of the solemn state of things. But I know all is as settled and secure as if the whole world were favourable. I quite dread the way many dear saints are looking at events, and not looking at Christ and for Christ. The Lord Himself is the security of His people, and let the world go on as it may no events can touch Christ. We are safe on the sea if only we have the eye off the waves, with the heart concentrated on Christ and on the interests of Christ. Then the devil himself cannot touch us. THE GADARA DEMONS. Luke 8:26.--A solemn picture of the consequence of Christ’s rejection by the world. Christ comes and finds them utterly under the power of the devil. A man of the Gadarenes was possessed, but He delivers "him, thus showing that the Lord had complete power over the enemy. With a word of Christ the devils were off. "The Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). What was the effect of His thus casting out Satan? Why, the whole multitude of the country round about "besought Him (Christ) to depart from them." These Gadarenes, who had borne with the devils because they could not help it, will not bear with Christ, and they beg Him to depart. Man would be glad to bind legion if he could, for he does not like the effects of the devil’s power; but man’s will is against Christ, he has a deliberate, determined hatred to Christ. The Lord came to the world full of love and power to deliver from the consequences of sin, but man rejected Him, cast Him out, and God will not stay where the will is determined against Him. When the Gadarenes request Christ to depart He immediately went up into a ship and returned back again. And, mark, the world in which we live is just going on as having quietly rejected Christ. But does God give them up though Christ is gone away for a season? No, He did not give them up, but sent amongst them this man whom He had healed to tell them what great things God had done for him. This is what the disciples did in the world, and the delivered residue also are to tell the world what great things God has done for them. Luke 8:32.--The swine appear to represent the state of the Jews after their rejection of Christ. The Lord, doubtless, permitted the devils to enter the swine (as the swine having no passions of their own, it was their being possessed with these devils which made them run violently to destruction), showing it was not merely the evil passions in the men, but their being possessed by wicked spirits which hurried them on to destruction. And we know historically, from Josephus and others, that one can hardly conceive the infatuation with which the Jews rushed on to their own destruction when those Gentile powers went and ploughed up the holy city. This is just a consequence of Israel’s rejecting the Lord. JAIRUS’ DAUGHTER. Luke 8:41-56.--Then the Lord gives us two other pictures through the medium of real events of His dealings in deliverance. In Luke 8:41 we have Jairus’ daughter, who lay a dying; and here is a picture (dispensationally) of Israel. The Lord was going to heal Israel, who was just like one dying, but while in the way the people throng Him. What He came to do He did, for the world crowded Him while on the way to heal the sick "daughter of My people;" whosoever could touch Him by faith got healing, the activities of grace going forth from Him. Jairus’ daughter "lay a dying." Man was not pronounced to be dead until Christ was killed. Before Christ came there was no healing for man. Abraham longed for the day of Christ . There were prophets who spoke of Christ as a healer, blessing was promised, but there was no physician. "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" (Jeremiah 8:22). There was none, for no physician could be found to heal man’s condition until Christ came, and Him they put to death. In Him there was living power, for when the people thronged Him a woman does but touch the border of His garment, and virtue goes out of Him to heal her. Healing depended not on the condition of those who were healed, but in the power of the healer. Physicians might apply remedy after remedy, but it is of no avail until One came who could impart life, then the case was changed. When the multitude press upon Him, and He recognises the touch of one to have been the touch of faith, He says, "Somebody has touched Me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me." And now, before the Lord comes forth in resurrection power and glory to bring life from the dead in Israel there is perfect healing where there is faith, for the Lord is always alive to the exercise of faith. The woman hid herself, for there was shame in her, because of the consciousness she felt of the disease which had needed to be healed. "But she could not be hid." The heart always shrinks from opening itself when within itself, but when it looks at Christ it is open to Him, for that is always the effect of being in the presence of Jesus. Shame, reputation, character, all give way before the sense of what He is. When grace gets to the bottom of the heart all else is easily set aside. A link was formed between this woman’s soul and Christ. "Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." He brings perfect peace and comfort into her heart, for His way is not only to heal, but to make Himself known. She is not only to be cured, but to have the assurance of peace from His own mouth. Luke 8:49.--Meanwhile they come, saying that Jairus’ daughter was dead; "Trouble not the Master." They thought He might possibly heal her while she was living, but now she is dead, they supposed He could do nothing. This is a picture of Israel, who are dead before God (as are Gentiles, too, of course). But Jesus encourages them, and says, "Only believe, and she shall be made whole." When He came to the house He suffered no man to go in save Peter, and James, and John (the pillars of the future glory, when He will come forth as the resurrection and the life to the dead nation), and the father and the mother of the maiden. In this chapter we get a picture of what was then doing, and what will come to pass. We have the seed, the Word sown, and the effect of it, the use man made of it. We have God’s explanation of all that was going on, as being all known and settled in His mind, and if a storm arise, and if Christ appear asleep and insensible to the danger, though "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalms 121:4), as disciples we are in the same boat with Him. The Lord give us to rest on that with undivided, undistracted hearts, for Christ is in the boat as well as the water. Only let the eye of faith rest on Christ, then come what may we shall say "Who shall separate us?" (Romans 8:35), nay, in all, "more than conquerors." Then the more the trouble the more the blessing, because of the exercise of faith. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 04.09. CHAPTER 9 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9. After the Lord had given a picture, as it were, of all that was going on in Luke 8:1-56 He raises the question in Luke 9:1-62 as to who He was, and He tells His disciples some should see His glory, for the mount of transfiguration shows what the glory of the kingdom would be. Peter speaks of the power and coming, "when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory . . . when we were with Him in the holy mount" (2 Peter 1:17; 2 Peter 1:13). But it is closing testimony at that time, though the glory would come, and as a signal that it was the disciples were to shake off the dust from their feet when they were not received. It is interesting to mark all the circumstances which bring out the fact of its being the Lord Himself there, and a test to Israel. He worked miracles, and could confer on others the power, as we have seen. Now we find another thing, He is committing the power to several together, giving to those men, a number of them together, power and authority over the devils, and not only entrusting it to whom He pleases individually. Three things we have noticed in connection with the testimony of the Son of Man: (1) The testimony of God to Him; (2) the misery of man set aside by Him; and (3) devils cast out, so proving that it was really the Lord visiting this world in grace and power. There will be the display of power by and by; but He was bringing in, in His own Person, the manifestation of that which will be then full and perfect, so being an earnest of the "powers of the world to come" alluded to in Hebrews. This was not redemption, but the exercise of power in dealing with the enmity of man against Himself, and they would not have Him in this way. THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. Luke 9:3-6.--He is sending out His disciples, and in so doing He disposes of all their circumstances. While He was with them He supplied them with everything, they lacked nothing. The power of the Lord was there to take care of them wherever they were. Afterwards, when He was going to leave them, He tells them to take a sword. They would. have to shift for themselves, as it were, but while He was with them He was their shelter. As in the demand for the ass to ride into Jerusalem, He proves His authority royal and divine altogether, "the Lord hath need of him." The disciples depart, preaching the Gospel, and healing everywhere. Then comes the question of who He was; He would have the conscience awakened about Him. There are two things in man brought out by the question--curiosity is excited on the one hand, and perplexity and dismay on the other. Luke 9:7-11.--He goes on, and wherever there is an ear to hear He ministers to them according to the grace of the kingdom. FIVE THOUSAND FED. Luke 9:12.--The disciples ask Him to send the multitude away. Let them go and get lodging. No, says the Lord, "give ye them to eat." He does not now say He would feed them, but He is committing to others tile same power as He had Himself, and He would exercise their faith in what He could do by them. This applies to the Church now. Faith uses the power that is in the head. "Give ye them to eat." What He expected was for faith to exercise His divine power, that which they saw in Him. We should be so reckoning on the power in the head. The Lord was trying their faith in Him, "Give ye them to eat." But, no; they had no faith. They began to reckon on their resources. Luke 9:13.--"We have no more but five loaves and two fishes." So it was with us. No faith. Memory is not faith. "He smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also?" He gave us water, but can He give us food? We know He has done that one thing, but can He do this other thing to-day? We want to count on the energy of the Lord’s love, and expect Him to be interested for us. When He said "Give ye them to eat" they should have expected He would give them the power. Jehovah was amongst them exercising His own power, but we see in their answer the horrid principle of unbelief. Unbelief shuts out God, and limits itself to what it sees; "except we go and buy meat." Luke 9:14.--"He made them all sit down by fifties in a company. And they did eat, and were all filled." It was said in Psalms 132:1-18, "I will satisfy her poor with bread," and here He was doing it. This was said of their King, and He had chosen Zion; He had desired it for His habitation. He was here giving a sign that He was the One to accomplish this blessing, for He was feeding their poor with bread. He was not only sending out the power through His disciples, but Himself among them, not only as a man, a messenger, but as it is said in Hebrews, "The Word began to be spoken by the Lord." He was the Apostle. There were others sent afterwards, but He Himself was there first as their Apostle. It is a solemn thing to think that the Lord has really visited this world. He has come and presented Himself first to His people Israel, but they would not have Him. It shows us what the world is we are in. God is now dealing with it in grace, though His Son has been rejected. Luke 9:17.--"Twelve baskets of fragments." Just observe, in passing, that the number twelve is significant of power exercised in the way of government--twelve apostles, twelve gates to the city in Revelation. PETER’S CONFESSION. Luke 9:18-20.--"Whom say ye that I am?" Hitherto we have been looking at Christ presenting Himself among the people as Jehovah, the Messiah; we now see Him as the dependent Man (praying). He was Immanuel, God with us; Son of David; Son of Man. He was to be all. Then the question is started among the disciples who He was. Some said one thing, and some another, but Peter said, "The Christ of God." Upon this He charges them to tell no man that thing. There was faith, however feeble, dictating this answer, and therefore there is no thinking about it. With perfect certainty Peter says, "The Christ of God." So it always is with faith. When the Spirit of God brings home the truth with power there is no uncertainty about it. A man may not doubt whether Christ is the Son of God or not; but the mind may work upon it, and think, perhaps, I do not love Him enough to be saved; then there is uncertainty. But when the Spirit, with power, shows whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him; then I believe it, and I see that my sins and my iniquities He will "remember no more." It may set a man thinking about the consequences of a truth. Luke 9:22.--He now passes by the thing that has been already brought out, and He presents Himself to them as the Son of Man, and He is going to suffer, to be crucified. They must therefore be content to take up their cross. A new thing was coming in. He was going to be rejected, going to be slain, and the third day rise again. It is no longer Messianic ground, but in another sphere altogether beyond this their hopes must lie. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily." "Daily," this is the trial. A man might heroically do it once for all, and he would have plenty of people to honour him, and have books written about him, but it is truly difficult to go on every day denying oneself and no one knowing anything about it. It came to this, that if you spare the flesh in this life you will lose your life in the next; and what if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? It is not a question of bringing life down to the flesh; but if you lose your life here you will get it elsewhere, above and beyond this world: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it." It is giving up the world for eternal life or for eternal misery that is the real question. "What is a man advantaged?" You must give it up, you cannot keep it. There is the glory of the kingdom, there is the manifestation of glory coming. Those tastes and dispositions which are attracted by Jesus cannot find their portion here. "They declare plainly that they seek a country; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God" (Hebrews 11:14). Luke 9:26.--"Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, . . . of Him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He comes in the display of His own glory." One like to the Son of Man came to the Ancient of Days, and there was given Him dominion (see Daniel 7:13). Then He comes, too, in the glory of the Son of God--His Father’s glory, and in the glory of the angels. The angels are waiting upon Him who created them, for they were created for Him as well as by Him, and thus give glory to Him as Son of Man, giving Him His proper glory, for He has not lost a tittle of His glory. "Thou hast set Him over the works of Thy hands." "Let all the angels of God worship Him." There was the same thing at Sinai. "The law was ordained by angels." "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels" (Psalms 68:17). We are now finding the displayed glory in this triple character spoken of. It is that glory when He appears; and it is a question of His being ashamed of those who have been ashamed of Him--they could not deny themselves present advantage. I do not here allude to the Father’s house, which, of course, has another character. Here it is the kingdom manifested in its glory on the earth. THE TRANSFIGURATION. Luke 9:28.--"He went to pray." This is not mentioned in the other gospels. He was going to show His disciples His glory, to give the declaration of His power and coming. From the other gospels we find that a week after this He went up to Jerusalem where He was to be crucified. Luke 9:29.--"The fashion of His countenance was changed." An entire change of things is here. He talks of His decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem, where He ought to have been crowned; but there He is going to be crucified. There, where this horn of David was to bud, shall this Root of David be taken, and by wicked hands be crucified and slain. This is the deep centre of all the change. Luke 9:30.--"There talked two men with Him, Moses and Elias." This we may look at in two ways: dispensationally, as representing the law and the prophets, and in this way Moses held a very peculiar place, for it was through him the law was given; Elijah had nearly as important a place also, for though the Jews were in a right position, they had failed in it, and he goes back to Horeb. The other prophets were never called to work miracles. Except the account of the dial of Ahaz, we hear of no miracle in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Habbakuk, etc. Those prophets, sent of God, gave proof that He was caring for Israel; but there was nothing like the calling back in Elijah. Elias stood as the maintainer of the law, when the people had departed from it most grossly, though all the prophets, even to Malachi, called back to law. Moses and Elias were taken away, and Jesus is left alone. Law was gone, prophecy gone, and Christ is alone, and He was going to be crucified. All the fabric built up by law and prophets (not the testimony given by them, but the law as given to man in the flesh) is broken up because man ended by killing the Lord come in the flesh, therefore all is gone. Luke 9:33.--Peter would have had the three established together, taking all alike: "Let us build three tabernacles." But that moment Moses and Elias disappear, and the voice is heard: "This is My beloved Son, hear Him." It is now the righteousness of God without law in Jesus. Law did not send Christ. What law could have been put upon God to do it? Nothing but divine love could have originated such a thought. "Grace reigned through righteousness" (Romans 5:21). The law was good and perfect, but Christ was far beyond law. Moses and Elias, therefore, were not to have any place with Him. God the Father puts them aside when Peter wishes to put them in connection. They disappear immediately. This is the important thing for us. Every word of law and prophets is the truth of God, but these were until John. Now the Son of God is the Messenger of the Father’s love and the Accomplisher of divine righteousness. When He is there, the voice says, "This is My beloved Son, hear Him," and He is left alone. Mark, too, that they were occupied with His death while talking with Him. One thing occupies the minds of Heaven and earth. He was going to be crucified where He ought to have been King. Under such circumstances there was nothing for Heaven or earth to talk about but His death. And so for us the great thing to talk about Messiah is that He died. Though He could destroy all the evil that had come in, He must die--in grace, of course. It must all end in death, because the carnal mind is not only under Satan’s power, but enmity against God; therefore Heaven has to speak. Zion, the very place He had chosen, where He had been and is to be the special place of God’s favour, is to be the scene of His death. There they cast Him out of the world He came to save. The One in whom all human and divine righteousness and perfections were centred must die there. All man’s nature, under the most advantageous circumstances; all man’s wickedness, spite of the public, and patient, and varied ways of God in government, are brought out here. Moses could deal with man as man, and bring water from the rock for them in answer to their murmurings; the prophet the same, "Plead with me," "Put me in remembrance, let us plead together" (Isaiah 43:26). But now all this was gone. God had cultivated the vineyard, done all that could be done for it. There was yet one thing, His Son, the best of all. Him He sent, and they cast Him out, and slew Him. And now the testimony concerning man is that he has "killed the Prince of Life," and "denied the Holy One and the Just" (Acts 3:14-15). We never can have peace then till we get pardon through Christ on the Cross. Then we see a true picture of Heaven; but all the intermediate dealings of testimony are entirely short of what we have in Christ on the Cross, because short of the ground of what man actually is, which fully came out only when he "killed the Prince of Life." TEST OF DISCIPLESHIP. When the Lord’s Messiahship was given up we have seen He takes the place of translation from earth to Heaven. He, being rejected, was no longer to be looked upon as the Head of Israel down here, but as the heavenly Christ; for He takes His place on high when cast out by man, and this fact was to give a character to the path of those who follow Him. The two things go together--rejection on earth and a heavenly place. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). The Lord shows them that this heavenly calling involves the Cross down here, as it was with Christ Himself. The peculiar place given Him in Heaven was, in God’s counsels, dependent on the Cross which He bore as the Man. "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death; wherefore God hath highly exalted Him." It was through the Cross that He went there; and if we are to have a place in Heaven we must have it too. The Cross was for the destruction of sin and for the destruction of self in which sin dwells. We have the same place, therefore He says, "Let these sayings sink deep into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men" (Luke 9:44). We want the heavenly calling to give power to take up the Cross; and it is at the same time in proportion as we are dying to things down here that the heavenly things are realised. When the blood was taken within the veil, the sacrifice was taken without the gate. So we are to go "without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Hebrews 13:13); and if we apprehend the value of the blood, and go within the veil, we get to the place of being where the burning outside the camp was. For while we are in spirit where His Blood has been carried in, our bodies are where His body was given the place of the "burned" "outside the camp." Judaism only put men between the two; for they did not go in within the veil, His Blood not having been shed, and they never went without the camp (Luke 9:18-22). He is going to take another place, and they are to follow Him in it; and then, in order to strengthen them for it, He shows them what the heavenly place was. THE KINGDOM OF GLORY. Luke 9:28.--"He took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray." The heavenly part of the kingdom is here represented by Christ, Moses, and Elias; the earthly part by the disciples (and there is one part in which the Church on earth is alluded to as down here). Peter speaks of this scene as the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Himself, in the position of the dependent Man (praying), takes them up into a mountain. "Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep." Asleep in the presence of the glory, just as in Gethsemane, showing what human nature is. There is no power in it, in suffering or glory, to fix the attention on Christ and His interests. Moses and Elias were in the same glory (Luke 9:30-32), and we are made the associates of Christ in the same glory, the glory of the kingdom in its broad character, not, of course, the essential glory. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49), even of God’s Son in glory. "We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him in glory" (1 John 3:2). The portion is not to be under Christ, but with Christ. "We shall appear with Him in glory," with Him in the same glory. We look for the Lord from Heaven, "who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned" (Php 3:21). We shall be with Him and like Him, and this we shall all alike share, though there will be different degrees of glory for one and another, e.g., Paul’s measure will not be mine. What we speak of now is all the same glory, and we are predestinated "to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29). "The glory Thou hast given Me I have given them" (John 17:22) . The next thing that we see is the perfect familiarity in this glory. They are talking with Him, not presenting a petition, not at His feet, though this is our blessed place, too; but this part of the scene represents communion, familiarity of intercourse, the same as that of the disciples on earth, though better of course. On the holy mount they had a higher understanding about it, but it was the same subject occupied them. This shows us the kind of intercourse we have with Jesus now, for we belong to the heavenly part of the kingdom. A third point to mark is the subject they talked of. This is quite a new thing, for He ought to have been a King. But man was a sinner, and there was the determinate counsel of God to be fulfilled--redemption. Jerusalem was the place of royalty, and His decease was to be accomplished there, where He ought to have been acknowledged King. There was full intimacy on the theme which occupied His heart, for they talked on this, His decease. Then He told His disciples afterwards the consequences of it to them. They must deny themselves. "Let these sayings sink down into your ears." The great subject on God’s heart should be that for us. Another thing is, it is the glory which enables us to talk on this subject. We cannot talk of it until we have peace with God through the knowledge of forgiven sin. When a man has not this he has to come in his need and get it; but when he is in it he can contemplate and enjoy it. Besides this, God saw all that was passing in Christ’s soul as to obedience unto death. We shall never cease having interest in this subject, when with the Father in the glory it will be the absorbing theme. He said Himself, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life" (John 10:17). How much more shall we not love Him for the same cause? Think what it must have been to be occupied with Christ about His decease. What His knowledge was of what He was going to do. He knew what man was, what the counsel of God was. He came to "reconcile all things to Himself" (Colossians 1:20). It was so effectually done that the eye of God could only see the effect of that Blood in what was washed away. The rejected Christ a Saviour, and this the subject of intercourse with Christ Himself! "They speak of His decease." THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN. Peter says, "Master, it is good for us to be here." Then immediately there was a voice from the cloud: "This is My beloved Son, hear Him." The effect on Peter’s mind is a wish to put Moses and Elias on a level with Christ. We have spoken of this, viewing it dispensationally, law and prophecy mixed with Him; but there is another thing to be noticed in it, viz., that which characterised the Son was peculiar. Nothing could be put on a level with Him. There necessarily comes out, therefore, the Father’s testimony to the Son: "This is My beloved Son." When a saint knows Jesus, though he also knows he will be like Him hereafter, and that all the saints will be like Him, too, yet Christ has the supremacy in His heart. He is single and alone in blessedness, having supremacy in the heart, as well as being the object of faith. I delight in the saints, but Christ is the alone object of faith. Then I get into this fellow-ship with the Father. I have the Father’s thoughts about the Son, as well as the Son’s thoughts about the work. I have fellowship with the Father and the Son. We cannot have communion with the Father about redemption work because He had not been made a man. Notice, the Father does not say: This is the Son whom you ought to adore and admire, but He tells us His own thoughts about Him: "This is My beloved Son." Wherefore "beloved?" "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life" (John 10:17), thus I know that I have one thought with the Father, in delighting in the Son and in His death. The Father communicates His own thoughts about the Son, and by the power of the Holy Ghost they are put into my heart, and I have fellowship; and as a consequence I know that He that hath everlasting life shall never come into judgment. Luke 9:34.--Mark, further, how they came into the excellent glory. There came a cloud and overshadowed them. The cloud is the Shechinah, the dwelling place of God, which the people had to guide them through the wilderness, and they were to stay or move according to it. It was the divine presence, and "they feared as they entered into the cloud." They were not protected by the cloud, as Israel were, and as they will be by and by. "Upon all the glory shall be a defence" (Isaiah 4:5), but here they enter into the cloud. The fact was, coming into the cloud was coming into the presence of the Father, now a dwelling place for us. It was thence the Father’s voice was heard: "This is My beloved Son." Thence they were told who this Son was. He had been with them as one of them. He was the Father’s beloved Son, in a place worthy of adoration, but the companion of their hearts. He brought them to the Father, the only place into which redemption brings us (as to our relationship). Until a man knows redemption, and is brought into His presence, he can never know the Father’s love; but when there he can never know the end of it. It is the kind of love the prodigal never knew till he was in his father’s arms. He had doubts and fears as he went on, and thoughts about the hired servants, but none when he was in his father’s house. It is known only by the teaching of the Holy Ghost in us--in the cloud--God in us. It is in the presence of the glory, realised by faith now, we know the power of redemption; and by its brightness and its truth it blots out all other relationship. THE POWERLESS DISCIPLES. Notice who are learning this glory. Saints walking on the earth--Peter, James, and John; and so with us. The truths written in this book are not for us to know in Heaven. Is the Father’s love not to be known till we are in Heaven? Is redemption only to be known there? Was God less intimate with those on earth than with those in Heaven? Not at all. It was to Peter, James, and John this was communicated, not to Moses and Elias. The Father’s voice was to men on earth. We learn the rejection of men here and the grace which has brought us to share in the glory. In what follows we find the Lord coming down into the crowd of this world, not remaining on the mount. We may listen and enjoy, but we have to come down and pass through this world. Luke 9:37-42.--The Lord comes down and meets three things: (1) A throng of men, (2) Satan’s power, and (3) the disciples’ unbelief. There was no seclusion here for Him, but He comes to a crowd. What a picture of distress this is! The son possessed with a devil (Luke 9:38), and the father’s heart racked more than the son’s body. The world will weep till they are tired of weeping, and then go on with the same thing again. We have seen before how the Lord was come in the display of His power and bound the strong man. The disciples could not do it. The power of Satan remains the same unto this day. He is not literally cast out, but remains the "prince of this world," the character he has gained, not lost, by Christianity. He will be bound; his power will be overthrown as a fact, and not to faith only. The question was to be settled about Satan’s right, and what did the Lord say of him? "Now is the judgment of this world: now is the prince of this world cast out" (John 12:31). His title is "cast out," but Christ has not yet exerted this power. Therefore in the epistles we find him spoken of as still ruling in this world. In Ephesians he is called the "prince of the power of the air," "the spirit that now worketh." Then we hear of the "rulers of the darkness of this world." When "the powers of the world to come" are in their full display Satan will be cast out entirely, but these instances and more show he was here then as he is still. "How long shall I be with you" (Luke 9:41). It was not because Satan was here that Christ said this, because the disciples could not use the power He had brought in, and that closed the dispensation. So it will be in this. The power and goodness of God brought Christ into the world, but the incapacity of man to believe so as to use that power will close it. So we read in Romans 11:1-36 : "Towards thee (the professing body now) goodness, if thou continue in His goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." But until His grace ceases there is refuge for us to go to Him. While He was here, the moment the father of the child sought to Him, He cast out the spirit. As long as Christ’s grace is at work, if there is only one saint on the earth, and everything else failed around, He would find the power of Christ ready to be exercised on his behalf. There can be no failing in meeting the need of a soul, because as there is Christ to go to there is help in Him. However dark the dispensation may be there is exactly the grace that is needed for the position. Not that God would have our eyes blinded to the darkness around, for if we do not take heed of the ruinous state conscience is not in its right place. If I am ready to say, "Why should He not stay?" when He says, "How long shall I be with you?" I am insensible to the state of things around me, and I am not awake to the response that Christ’s love to the Church demands; but, on the other hand, if I am not able to look up and count on the grace of Christ to meet that state, however bad it may be, I am powerless. THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD. Luke 9:43.--"They were amazed at the mighty power of God." It is very humbling to see how amazed they were about this power. They did not wonder at the power of the evil. But they ought so to have counted on His power as to have been amazed if the power were not exerted. Christ brings them back to the Cross. "Let these sayings sink down in your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men" (Luke 9:44). You ought to have been able to get this power; but you must now know not only the power of Christ, but the Cross of the rejected One. "Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven" (Luke 10:20). We have more to be rejoiced at in this than if a miracle were to be performed to-morrow. It is more blessed to know the Cross. It was as though He had said: "I had rather you should come now to own the rejected One than be looking for this power even." Beloved friends, you are not thinking of what God is doing at this present time if you do not see that now it is not power on the earth but rejection. Luke 9:46.--"There arose a reasoning among them which should be the greatest." What a tale this tells! What a selfishness runs through and through! Even at the Lord’s Supper it was the same thing. In Luke we find it, where there is so much of what man is brought out. We see, then, from what we have been tracing, that we need to come down from the hill; not to be without Jesus, but to learn what man is. It is not necessary to come down from the mount, as some people say, lest we should be puffed up there, for we shall never be puffed up while on the mount. Like Peter, we may be afraid, but we are never puffed up in the presence of God. It is when we quit it that we are in danger. Paul was not exalted above measure when in the third Heaven, but after he came down he needed the thorn in the flesh to prevent it. Besides, there is an historical necessity for us to get through this world. But Jesus was as much with His disciples when they came down as while they were on the mount, and that is our comfort. Do not let us suppose we have lost Christ. We have to serve Him, walk with Him, learn from Him, and mark His patient grace towards us in and through all circumstances. The Lord give us to know while passing through this world what a Christ we have, taking our hearts clean out of the defiling circumstances around, so that, whether we get a taste of the glory, or are passing through the crowd of this world, He may be everything to us, as He is everything for us. THE DISCIPLES’ PLACE ON EARTH. The Lord is now showing His disciples the place they are to take upon earth. They are not to be in a position connected with Him as Messiah in earthly glory, heavenly glory they could have till the end. In the meantime they have to take their place with Him in rejection, and thus put them to the test, for they were to give up things right enough in themselves, to hate father, mother, wife, etc., all which earthly relationships had a claim upon them, and especially so upon the Jew. "Honour thy father and mother." But all these relationships would not stand in association with the Cross. Everything must be sacrificed, everything that linked man with the earth must be snapped asunder to faith where Christ was rejected. The character of the world was fully manifested in His rejection; its deeds were evil, and it rejected the light. The incarnation, which should have been the link to man’s blessing, is rejected. He accomplishes redemption by His rejection on earth, and He has a place in Heaven. This alters the character of everything. It brings in the judging of self. There never would have been this if Christ had been crowned on earth. He was "delivered into the hands of men." He whose very Name carried power and authority is to be delivered up. If Christ had had His place on earth the heart of man would never have been put to the test. Why? Because if men had seen all the dignity and glory displayed on earth which was His right it would have gratified their flesh with its greatness. But flesh cannot inherit Heaven, and what place has it on the Cross? There they go together so blessedly, the Cross and Heaven, and for the flesh there is no place in either. There was a terrible breach between man and God, and the One who would have healed it they crucified . Then every carnal thought that was in accordance with such an act must be judged. The disciples were disputing who should be the greatest, not greatest in the world, but the greatest in the glory. It is self after all. They have not to tell Him much, but their thoughts are judged. When in the light everything is judged. Jacob had the word from God to go to Bethel (Genesis 35:1-29), and he immediately says to his household, "Put away the strange gods that are among you." And why so? Everything is detected when getting into the presence of God. Jacob could get the blessing before he went to Bethel; but when he goes into God’s presence the idols are judged. When he has got rid of the idols it is "El-bethel," the God of Bethel. THE LESSON ON THE CHILD. Luke 9:47-48.--The disciples were reasoning which should be the greatest, and when He detected their thoughts, He "took a child and set him by Him." This shows us our place; we ought to seek the lowest place. We never can have it, because Christ has taken it. He went down under sin, wrath, death. He took the lowest place, because the Servant of all. This is the truly happy place for us, but how it judges self. This is what the Cross does. Not only are the idols judged, but self is judged. It is a blessed thing to have done with self. When there is room for God we can be full of joy and happiness. We are not humble, even when we are occupied with our own nothingness, or how bad we are, but we are humble when we do not think of ourselves at all. When we have to learn our nothingness and badness, that is being humbled. If we get away from the Lord we have to be brought back, and that is a humbling process. We want to judge the flesh in ourselves. It is quite easy to judge it in another, but it is in ourselves we miss it. Things are brought to a crisis. Luke 9:49-50.--"He that is not against us is for us." Mark how thoroughly conscious the Lord was of His utter rejection by man, so utter that He said: "He that is not against us is proved to be for us." Christ was perfect, therefore He was a perfect test to men’s consciences, and as far as He is manifested in us we shall be so also. Paul could say: "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (2 Corinthians 4:3). Why could he say so? Because it went out from him as pure as it went in. John said: "We forbad him, because he followeth not with us." That tells the whole tale. They were thinking of themselves, not of Christ; of their own importance, and not His honour. If it had been His importance they would have thought how blessed it was to find the effect of His Name, and rejoiced to know how His power was being exercised by man. But, no; they were looking at themselves as well as at the Messiah. Even John was thus using Christ Himself to further his own importance. And is there not something in us of the same thing, a satisfaction at that which aggrandises self as well as Christ, instead of seeking the honour of Christ alone? The Lord takes him up and answers him on the ground of His utter rejection which was coming. "He that is not against us is for us." And mark that the very selfishness of John brings out the grace of Christ. He says "us." You do not know the lot you have with Me. If you find one who can use the power of My Name rejoice in it. LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. Luke 9:51.--"It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." I am going to get a portion in Heaven, and you are to have the same portion, but it must be through rejection here. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily" (Matthew 16:24). "When the time was come that He should be received up, He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem." In Isaiah, "I set my face as a flint." He was accomplishing His Father’s will here, as in all His course. Redemption must be accomplished through the Cross. He "learned obedience by the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8) . It was the same obedience as at the beginning, when He was coming amongst them with "Blessed are the poor" (Matthew 5:3); more painful, and, of course, He felt the difference, but still He goes in the same blessed spirit and earnestness. Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not. He had found it His meat to do the will of Him that sent Him. There was joy to Him in this; but in the cup of wrath which He was going to drink there was no joy. He had met with scorn here, smiting there, rejection all through, but nothing like this cup, and there-fore He cried, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me" (Matthew 26:39). Christ proved His perfectness, for He felt what it was to be "made sin." His holy nature shrunk from it, yet there was the same quiet, steady, patient obedience, for "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem," as all through. He knows His Father’s will, and He does it. He sets His face there where His Father’s will is to be done, not looking to this side or to that, but there--Jerusalem. We, according to the measure we have of the single eye, shall be following in the same course, going to the Cross steadily with one purpose, and in proportion as we do so will those who do not so set their face oppose us. But the Lord says, "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me" (John 12:26) . Service is not doing a great deal, but following the Master, and the world and half-hearted Christians do not like that. There is plenty of doing in the world, but "if any man serve Me, let him follow Me." Paul wanted to serve every way, but we find the Spirit forbidding him to go into Bithynia or Troas, and yet two years afterwards we read that "all Asia heard the Word" (Acts 19:10). God’s work was to be done, but it was to be in His time and of His ordering. His servant had only to follow in obedience. It was the same with Moses. Nature would say of him: "Why not stay in Pharaoh’s court that the people there may be converted in-stead of leaving it?" Flesh cannot understand what faith leads to. Then after he goes out in all the earnestness of his spirit natural energy comes in, but still there is no deliverance. Moses has to go and keep sheep for forty years, to be broken down and made nothing of, and what were Israel to do all that time? To wait. Then when he comes back to serve them, how is it done? There is the flesh appearing in another way. "Lord, I am not eloquent" (Exodus 4:10). Then Aaron is sent back with him, and the work is done in the power of God. Luke 9:52. "They went and entered into a village of the Samaritans." We see the very reason they did not receive Him was because His face was set towards Jerusalem. His very obedience, singleness of eye, going to do God’s will without honour, or attractiveness, or repute, going to Jerusalem is the very reason they would have nothing to do with Him (Luke 9:54). See the religious opposition of the disciples to them. The Samaritans would not submit to God’s way. Christ did. That is the difference, and the disciples want to command fire to come out of Heaven as Elias did, and at the very place where Elias worked the miracle. In fleshly reasoning they think Christ was as worthy as Elias to call down fire. This is a more subtle kind of self than the other. It seemed like direct zeal for Christ, but they did not understand the zeal of Christ. He was not come for judgment, not to destroy men’s lives, but to suffer Himself for them. If they had known God’s thoughts they would have submitted quietly. Peter again understood not the Lord’s mind when he drew his sword and smote the servant of the high priest. All the miracles of Elias were characterised by the spirit of judgment, not like Elisha, who had his commission from Heaven. Elijah stood in the place of judgment and righteousness, like John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elias, saying, "Every tree that bringeth not forth fruit shall be hewn down (Matthew 3:10), and "the axe is laid to the root of the trees." Elisha had life-giving power, on the contrary, and was a type of grace. Elijah passed through Jordan (death in type), while Elisha starts from the other side of Jordan in resurrection. Luke 9:56.--"They went to another village." It is not pleasant to be trodden upon in this world, but Christ was. To do well, and suffer for it, and take it patiently, is what we have; and is it to end there? Yes, and that is "acceptable with God." Christ came to suffer, to bear anything for the sake of others, and He would not have been doing that if He had called down fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans. We have to follow Christ in carrying the testimony of God’s love into the world in all our walk through it. The world needs it. We must not be seeking for ourselves, but having Christ the object. At the end of the chapter he goes on to show how the links with this world are to be broken. SOME DISCIPLES PUT TO THE TEST. Luke 9:57-58.--One says, "Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest," but Christ puts him to the test. You cannot go if you do not take up your lot with One who had not where to lay His head; for you may sooner go to the birds of the air for a nest, or to the foxes for a hole, than to the Son of Man for a home in this world. They were not now to come to Him as the One who had the promises, but to One whose portion was utter and entire rejection. Following Him could not be accompanied with ease and comfort here. He was to be delivered into the hands of men. At His birth we see the same things. Every one found room in the inn save He, but any who wanted to find Him whom angels celebrate must go to the manger. Luke 9:59.--He says to one, "Follow Me." The first one wanted something with Christ; but here where He says "Follow Me," then immediately a difficulty is started; and it is when He calls a man that difficulties are felt. There was no sense of the difficulties in the one who said "Lord, I will follow Thee" without His call. But this man who is called says "Let me first go and bury my father." He is going presently, but there is a link felt. Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their dead;" you must leave them to follow Me. You may be ready to say the things of the earth have no power over you; but just try what it is to have them, and you will learn the extent of their power. A man may go to the length of his cord, but when he gets to the end he is checked. A father had the first claim in nature, and especially to a Jew, but Christ says: "I am calling you out in the power of life; I am putting in My claim for the life I give you, and it breaks every bond here." It is a question of life in the midst of death. This word "first" shows something put before Christ, as though the man said: "There is something I put before your calling." Death had come in, and this very plea told Christ they were all under death. It was quite a right thing for a man to bury his father; but if life has come in, and the question is one of redemption, to be lost or saved, you must give yourself up to it. In the divine light which is in the Cross He saw all dead, and therefore He said, "Let the dead bury their dead," The one thing to be done now is to follow Christ. The question is: Death in the world, or life in Christ? Where are the affections? THE TEST OF AFFECTION. Luke 9:61.--"Another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house." In the previous case it was just this: When my first affections are settled, then will I come and follow Thee. There is no good in that, the Lord says "Let the dead bury their dead." But this case shows that those at home were not left in heart. He felt he had to break with them, and yet his heart lingered. "No man looking back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). "Remember Lot’s wife" (Luke 17:32). "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:3) . If Christ be not first and last He will always be last, for faith is not in exercise. The question is whether we are walking as seeing what the Cross tells us. The Cross lifts the veil, showing the skeleton of this world, and when I see this sentence on all that is in the world, self as well as what is outside, and our links of affection with it, I learn that all is to be given up; but there is Christ Himself and the love there is in Him to meet it. It will and must judge self; and it brings out the will, too, for there is a great deal of will in all this shunning of the Cross. People may speak of the claims of affection, but it is not really and only family affection, but the end which connects with self is felt. Natural affection there should be--indeed it is one of the signs of the last evil days to be without it--but if you have power to judge yourselves you will find that many an excuse you make has this secret at the end. So in affliction, bereavement, etc. It is not only the affection that is touched, but the will. There is sweetness in the sorrow so long as we realise Christ in it, and affection only is sorrowing. But if the will is touched there is rebellion, resistance, struggling, and all this the Lord must judge, for a mass of flesh and self can never follow Christ. What a wonderful detail all this is! It is God going through our hearts, entering into every corner and crevice. Why? Because of the constant, undeviating steadfastness of His love; and as a father loves his child when it is naughty as well as when it is good, so our God takes pains, as it were, with us all even when so bad. The effect of all is not only to make us practically righteous, but happy--"imitators of God as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1). It is well, on the one hand, for us to judge ourselves and see what there is to detect in us, and, on the other, to see the fulness of His grace in Christ. May the Lord give us to feel more and more that "the friendship of the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4), and that the energy of the flesh cannot accomplish the work of God, so that we may learn to work from God, for God, and with God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 04.10. CHAPTER 10 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10. The Lord pursues the subject we have been looking at in the preceding chapter, connected with the change that has taken place in His own position amongst them. It is no longer the Messiah on earth, but the heavenly Christ they are to look to. There is another thing brought out here in the amazing importance attached to that moment, the last testimony being applied to them, and those who heard it would be subject to greater judgment than Tyre and Sidon. Any among them would have repented with the truth you have, but they had it not. The blessing now was the Lord Himself being there; and He was so glorious and excellent that to hear Him was the prime source of blessing. All hung upon their reception or rejection of Him. THE SEVENTY SENT OUT. In the sending out of the seventy we see the same patient grace at work as when He sent out the twelve. If they were not received they were to shake off the dust from their feet. God’s love never stops, whatever the wickedness of man, until His work is done. His grace never fails. Christ looks at the power of grace in God more than at the wickedness of men, and He went patiently on, and said, "The harvest is great," though knowing what there was all around Him. The Lord was not like Elijah, who needed to be reminded of the seven thousand who, as God knew, had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. He came in by the door, and went through everything with God. Nothing stopped Him from seeking out His sheep scattered on the dark mountains. He laid down His life to save His sheep, and not one should be lost. To gather them He went on in the power of grace. Paul was of this spirit when he says, "I endure all things for the elect’s sake" (2 Timothy 2:10). Did Christ suffer nothing in it? Look at Him, weary with His journey, sitting at the well, and a poor, wretched, vile sinner coming to meet Him, to whom He gives the water of life. There He finds meat to eat that they know not of, and He says, "The fields are white unto harvest" (John 4:35). He was as fresh and happy in His testimony while sitting at the well with this poor woman as if all Jerusalem had received Him, because the fountain was within. In Him was "a well of water springing up." So with us. If we are going on with Him we shall be "troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) . The testimony is in the earthen vessel, it is true, but the fountain is within, and they were to be perfectly dependent on God, and independent of everything else. They were to expect to meet enemies, wolves. Luke 10:3.--"Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as Iambs among wolves." You cannot turn a lamb into a wolf to defend itself. Peter was for taking a sword to smite off the servant’s right ear, but the Lord forbids him, and says, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matthew 26:52). It is difficult to receive everything and do nothing, to be a lamb among wolves, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in prospect of the fiery furnace, saying, "We are not careful, O king, to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver." Luke 10:4.--"Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way." Be not uncourteous, but waste not time in useless ceremonies. When in God’s service, and among God’s enemies, God must be everything. It needs concentration of heart in Him, as knowing that the world has rejected your Master, and will reject you if you are faithful to Him. Faith knows this and goes on, not with carnal prudence and worldly wisdom, but as knowing what to do and going on to do it. Faith always carries to the house peace; it produces enmity--two against three, and three against two--because some will receive it and some not; but the thing brought is always peace. Luke 10:7-9.--"The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." Not merely such and such a thing is God’s will, but whatever you do, whether you receive or reject it, "the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." The condition of the world now is that it has rejected it. The Son of God, the King, has come into the world, put it to the test, and it says: "We will not have Him." This fact has not lost its solemnity now, for we are walking through the world that has rejected Christ; we bring the testimony of peace to it--peace that has been made, for the sacrifice has been offered. It is also true that the testimony has been rejected. Luke 10:11.--"Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." Faith carries things in its own sphere, needing nothing but God’s Word. The sight of the eyes is constantly tending to dim the estimate which faith forms; and if faith is not nourished by the Word it sinks down and fades away. If I am not feeding on the Word faith is not fed, for it cannot be fed by sight of things then around. When the Lord spoke to Jerusalem, saying, "Their house should be left unto them desolate, and there should not be one stone left upon another," they could not actually see the stones then falling, but it was Christ’s Word for them to believe. Natural reasoning is fed by what we see, but faith is fed by what God has revealed to the soul. Luke 10:15.--"Thou, Capernaum, . . . shalt be thrust down to Hell"--in God’s eye, not man’s. In man’s eye it might be exalted to Heaven. So with this world. And what does that prove? That it may last as long as God permits, but that His Word will be fulfilled. "The earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10). There is nothing stable here. When God comes in, where will it all be? though there are scoffers who say, "Where is the promise of His coming? " NAMES WRITTEN IN HEAVEN. Luke 10:16.--"He that heareth you, heareth Me." That is where faith has its resource. In hearing the Word the disciples spoke: "I am hearing Christ Himself." That is where faith walks. I know it must be true, for Christ has said it. Everything may go wrong, the world, Jews, the Church, but God’s Word never. And it has been given. It never changes, for it has been given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine. The Church, as ground of confidence in testimony, is gone, though we know it is founded upon a rock; and, as to its security, it can never be destroyed, but God’s Word will not fail. Whatever we see tends to weaken and deface faith puts to the test what the affections of the soul are, because it is not to be what I like, but what God says. Luke 10:17-20.--"Rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven." This shows the change of everything. Devils may be subject to you, but the Lord says: "That is not the portion for you to rejoice in; I am now showing My power in another way." This word, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven," alludes to the time when Satan, the "accuser of the brethren," will be cast down. Nov he is in Heaven, not in God’s presence, in light inaccessible, but before the throne of judgment--two different things. "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" (Job 1:8). Proving that when others came before the throne Satan came also. Contrast Luke 10:19 and Luke 10:20. The one speaks of what can be seen, the other what could be known only to faith. The unseen thoughts of your heart are much more important than what can be seen. The invisible is always more important than the visible. In this world it is not merely that man is a sinner, but there is the introduction into it of the power of evil. Satan has got hold of this world through man’s sin. So in the case of the poor woman it is said, "Whom Satan hath bound these eighteen years" (Luke 13:16). But when the Church has been caught up Satan will be cast down. There was war in Heaven; but when he is on earth he will for three and a half years be raising up the Man of the earth against the Lord from Heaven. When He comes Satan’s power will be put away. He is not put into the "lake of fire" until the close of the thousand years, but into "the bottomless pit." That is just what the devils asked to be saved from when cast out of the man whose name was Legion (Luke 8:30); "deep," meaning "bottomless pit." The Lord did not cast them down to it, because the time was not then come. This ability to cast out devils was a great thing. The communicating of the power by the Lord was a power above the immediate working of the miracles themselves. It required divine power, and none but that could give the power to others. In the Millennium there will not be the power of good and evil together; the latter will be cast out. "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with Thee?" (Psalms 94:20). The pit shall be digged for the wicked. Satan must be cast out. And when Christ was upon earth He was presenting Himself in the power of God to bind the strong man and spoil his goods. It was a wonderful thing to meet a man under the power of Satan and to cast Satan out. It was an earnest of the "powers of the world to come," the "world to come" referring not to Heaven but to this earth being renewed. He was then putting forth the same power that He will exercise fully in the coming kingdom. Luke 10:19.--"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents." And it was at the point when He was rejected that He says this. He knew what was really going on, and though He said peace, they did not say peace to Him. "I give you power" over all the power of the enemy. "Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven." That is the Church’s place. When Christ was manifested on earth it was a blessed thing; but it is better to be His companion in Heaven, as we shall be when He comes to take us. Far better to be with Himself, and as Himself, in the Father’s house. We have nothing to do with earth, our names are not written in the earth; kings in it, indeed, but our portion is not in it. "He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3). We shall have the inheritance with Him, but it is below us; our hope is to be with Himself above it. The inheritance is the consequence of having this place with Him (Ephesians 1:1-23). We are children of the Father, to be "holy and with-out blame before Him in love." Now we have our portion according to the riches of His grace, of poor sinners whom He has saved, and we shall be to the glory of His grace in the manifestation of it. The inheritance comes in afterwards. "Rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven." As though He would say to them: "Do not let your minds be filled with things down here, but think of what you have in Me and with Me." We find two things brought before us in God’s ways: first the government of this world--that which is still prophetic, connected with the kingdom; and then the Church up in Heaven. When the inheritance is spoken of it is always future, but when our place is spoken of it is always up in Heaven. The Lord saw that the present setting up of the kingdom would all fail, and He was bringing in a better thing than any kingdom, and He rejoiced in that, for when He gives joy to another He cannot help having it also Himself. When the thief on the cross asked Him to remember him in His kingdom, He said, "This day shalt thou be with Me" (Luke 23:43). He was gratifying the thief and also Himself. So with these disciples. He would have them not be rejoicing in the good down here, for it is not good enough. Not only do not be troubled with the bad, but rejoice not in the best thing in this world. DISPENSATIONAL CHANGE. Luke 10:21.--’In that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit; .. . even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." He felt the circumstances deeply, but His soul was up to the source, and He would say: "It is quite right that these proud and haughty ones should see they are nothing, and that these poor despised lambs should get the glory." "Even so, Father." He must bow to the evil, because the time to judge it was not yet come. Evil is going on; people are saying: "Where is the God of the earth?" We have to bear it; the Lord did. We must get our thoughts away from the expectation of having things better down here. The soul that enters into God’s thoughts and purposes bows to His will. "Even so, Father." Then He, as it were, retires into the glory of His own Person. The Son has to reveal the Father. The world rejects Him, and He submits to the rejection of the kingdom, and brings out instead of it the blessedness of the heavenly thing, and now speaks of Himself as the Son, and glories in that. The present result of His coming is the Son revealing the Father, and this is even better than the kingdom. The testimony is brighter as to what God is about when I take things quietly and submit, not desiring to be a wolf among the wolves. It is exceedingly difficult for one’s heart to bow, and say, "I will be nothing but a lamb;" but that is our place, for the Lord says, "Vengeance is Mine;’’ "rather give place unto wrath" (Romans 12:1-21); and neither "give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:1-32). But if you do not give place to wrath you will give place to the devil. Shall we lose anything by being quiet and taking things patiently? No. "All power," He says, "is given unto Me in Heaven and on earth." We must bow to what is without, and be satisfied with what is written. If not, we shall be only wearying ourselves in the greatness of our way. May we be satisfied to have our "names written in Heaven." Luke 10:23-24.--"He said to them privately." These things could only be enjoyed by faith. He would have them in the consciousness of present blessing. THE RICH YOUNG RULER. Luke 10:25.--Now that the Lord has shown out the dispensational change, He shows the moral change. A lawyer comes and asks how he is to get eternal life. The Lord brings him to the law--keep the law and you shall live. But he is stopped directly with the simplicity of this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." He does not love his neighbour as himself! He asks, "Who is my neighbour?" "This do, and thou shalt live." Who does love his neighbour as himself? The good Samaritan is the one who does not ask who the neighbour is, but arts in grace, without asking what title the other had. Christ has the title of doing good to him that is in need and misery. This is grace that gives without a title. See how thoughtful this grace and love is. He went to him, did not send some one else, but went, bound up his wounds, poured in oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, took care of him, gave him in charge to the host, and said, "When I come again I will repay thee." How beautiful are all the details of the actings of this love which flows from what is within, and acts according to what is working there, and not according to the claims upon it! MARY’S GOOD PART. Luke 10:38-42.--In the closing part we see the one great thing was to hear Jesus’ Word. Hence the approval given to Mary above Martha, who in a certain sense was doing a very good work. She received Him into her house, and served Him; but there is something better than this: "Mary hath chosen that good part which shall never be taken away from her." He wanted His words to enter and to have power in the heart. The only thing that endures for ever is "the Word of the Lord." The wisdom of this world is against it, human reasoning is against it, but it is the only thing worth waiting upon diligently; and if Christians reason about the things of God instead of appealing to the Word they are sure to be going down. We want to have the Word in our hearts, to sit at Christ’s feet that we may understand and treasure it up. To hear Jesus is the "one thing" needful. No attention, even to Himself in the flesh, though it were from one who loved Him and whom He loved could replace this. "The many things" end only in disappointment and death instead of leading into life eternal, as did the words of Jesus, issuing from a broken heart that it might let forth the stream of life. The hearing ear for His Word delighted Him. He was bringing in truth to people’s souls. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). "Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth" (James 1:18)."Now are ye clean through the Word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3). Truth sets everything to rights; it sets God and man in their place, or it is not truth. Sin, and righteousness, and love, these never came out fully by the law, but "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Every-thing was set morally in perfect light by Him, but men saw it not because they knew Him not. The Word now is the instrument of revealing truth. The law was perfect because it was of God, but it did not tell what man was, much less what God was. It told what man ought to be. Christ comes in as the light, and says: "You are all dead, but I can give you life." His coming into the world showed out everything exactly as it was. As the living Word He came and revealed to those who could see God, not at first in redemption, but in testimony. What value to Him was it that Martha cumbered herself about serving, in comparison of a soul listening to His Word? It is the same now to a Christian. When God’s Word comes with nothing else it has a right to have power over the soul. It makes its way by its own authority and its attractive grace to the heart, and where received it gives life in Christ. There is no living power in a miracle to quicken a soul, but there is living power in the Word. It is by the Word that any soul can get into Heaven. We are begotten by the Word. If the Word cannot do it it will never be done. There are three things constantly pressed in connection with the power of the Word. First, the Word spoken will all come up against them another day (John 12:1-50); second, though perilous limes come (2 Timothy 3:1-17) the Word is able to make wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. There is another thing also. When a soul is quickened by the Word the moral effect is to make it dependent and obedient, "sanctified to obedience." Such is the character of the new man, as the old man would be independent. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 04.11. CHAPTER 11 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11. Luke 11:1.--At the beginning of this chapter we have an-other instance of our Lord praying, the expression of dependence. And there the disciples ask Him, "Lord, teach us to pray." They had not learned the simple confidence in the Father that would go up naturally to Him and tell Him all. There may not always be wisdom in asking, but there should be confidence of communion by the Holy Ghost. Even Paul had not always intelligence of God’s mind, or he would not have asked to have the thorn in the flesh taken away; but he was not afraid to make his request. The disciples had not this simple-hearted confidence. THE DISCIPLES’ PRAYER. Luke 11:2.--"Our Father." They understood not their place as children of the Father. He condescends to teach them when in this condition, and gives them this prayer. The Lord teaches them to pray for things about which His own heart was occupied. "Father, glorify Thy Name" (John 12:28) was expressive of the grand desire of His heart. Luke 11:2.----"Hallowed be Thy Name." He first tells them of Him with whom they are brought into relationship. Not that they had the present power of the Holy Ghost giving them the consciousness of their relationship--that they did not get till the day of Pentecost--but He teaches them to say, "Father, hallowed be Thy Name." There we have perfection. It is the desire for Him to be glorified, though I cannot tell what it may involve me in. There will be the desire not to sin. This was the expression of the perfect desire that was in Christ Himself: "Hallowed be Thy Name." Luke 11:2.--"Thy kingdom come." There will be the removing of those things that are made, that "those things which cannot be shaken may remain." Are you quite sure that you would like Him to come in this kingdom that will involve the shaking out of every-thing that may not remain? Surely that will wrench the heart from a quantity of things that are attaching you to that which does not belong to the kingdom to come. There may be the desire for these things, while at the same time the consciousness that I have not the sense of the object, but a sense of distance from it which hinders my enjoyment, though I know Him to be "the Chiefest Among Ten Thousand," and the "Altogether Lovely." There are often complaining prayers, because there is not the present enjoyment of seeing Him in the sanctuary, though the remembrance of it. We may have the hope of the Lord’s coming, being glad to get to the end of this desert, because it is a desert; or we may long to get out because Canaan is at the end. If it is not the latter we shall be in danger of being tired with running, which is always wrong. We should be in the spirit of waiting pilgrims, not weary ones. We ought not to be weary; I do not say we are not, but we ought to be ever desiring His coming, because He is precious. In Revelation 22:17 the bride says "Come," in answer to what He is, when He says, "I am the Bright and Morning Star." God does not reject the cry which comes to Him as "out of the depths," but there is a difference between the cry of distress and the cry of desire. When Christ was on earth there was an answer in Him to God’s will, for He always did the things which pleased His Father. He did it as no angel ever could. Luke 11:3.--Then He comes down to notice our daily need, and there is dependence, indeed, in this. "Give us day by day our daily bread." Luke 11:4.--"Forgive us our sins." This chapter does not go in to what we may call proper Church privileges; the desires are perfect, but the place is not known. The Lord touches upon all the circumstances down here. Man is looking up from the earth, he is walking there, and needs his feet washed. There are trespasses to be forgiven, and the spirit of grace is wanted. There is no sin imputed to us now; it is all put away. But will that make me hard when others fail? No; my seeing that Christ has agonised on the Cross for me will give me a sense of my freedom, but not indifference about sin. Instead of hardness it will give us tenderness and softness of spirit . Luke 11:4.--"Lead us not into temptation." Why should God ever lead us into temptation? it may be asked. Sometimes the Lord has need to put us through a certain process to make us learn our weakness. Look at Peter. The Lord saw he needed to be sifted, or He could have prayed for him to be saved from that fall. A soul would always desire that he may not have this sifting. Christ Himself, though it was a different thing for Him, desired to be delivered from it when bearing sin. Paul prayed for the thorn to be removed. But Paul did not get a fourth Heaven, that would have made him worse, but a "thorn in the flesh," something to make him despicable in preaching--otherwise people might have come to him and said, "Paul, you must be better than any one else, for you have been to the third Heaven"--to prevent his being puffed up, and to keep him even. It was a gracious provision for him, though it is a right thing for the soul to desire not to be led into temptation, but to be delivered from the evil. THE IMPORTUNATE FRIEND. Luke 11:5.--"Which of you shall have a friend?" This is another character of prayer, earnest waiting upon God. There is majesty in God’s goodness, and yet He takes knowledge of all our wants, and we must wait His will and pleasure. Suppose one asks his father for anything, and he says, "You must wait five minutes," is the child to say, "No, I cannot; I must have it directly?" Meantime, while waiting, faith is exercised, and the spirit broken down in the sense of need. Look at Daniel, and see another thing. God gave him a deep sense of his identification with Himself in what he was doing, so He must make him pray three weeks before he has his request granted. This is a great privilege, for it is to have fellowship with God. In the case of this friend there is a depth of interest excited in desire for the thing, and because of his importunity he gains it. There is a certainty of God’s answering in blessing though He delay. Luke 11:9-13.--"Ask, Seek, Knock." This is prayer for the Holy Spirit, which they, though believers, had not then received. In one sense a man may pray for this now, when he has not the Spirit of adoption, like the disciples then. But now the Holy Ghost has been given, consequent upon the Lord’s ascension to the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:22). There could be no union with the Man Christ on earth. It is as a heavenly people that there is union with Him. Christ was looked upon alone until His work was done. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone" (John 12:24) . The Holy Ghost was the seal of Christ’s work, not of John’s preaching righteousness. The second time He received the Holy Ghost was for the Church. He received it Himself (Matthew 3:1-17) at His baptism, but for us when He ascended, having finished the work of our salvation. The fruits of the Spirit in us are the consequences of the grace and righteousness in Him, He being the only righteous Man. The firstfruits of the Spirit in us are love, joy, peace, then come the practical fruits toward men. The first named fruits are towards God, then patience, temperance towards men. The Holy Ghost cannot be the subject for the Church, as such, to ask for now, seeing He has thus been given. Christ received Him for us. We pray by or in the Holy Ghost, not for Him now. We should pray for more of the working of the Spirit in us, and desire to be filled with the Spirit--poor little hearts indeed, but they may be filled, It does not at all follow that we are filled with the Spirit because sealed with the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit would keep out evil thoughts. It will not take away the evil nature, which ever remains, but thereby that will be kept down. GATHERING OR SCATTERING. Luke 11:14-26.--See the dreadful opposition of man’s heart against Him, which brings out a very important test: "He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth." When Christ is manifested it is for or against Him that people take their stand. We have spiritual enemies to contend with, and Joshua leading the people in conflict was figurative of the Spirit leading the soul against our spiritual enemies. It is not Christians but Christ who is become God’s centre. We may gather Christians together, but if it is not Christ in one’s own spirit it is scattering. God knows no centre of union but the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Himself the object, and nothing but Christ can be the centre. Whatever is not gathering round that centre for Him and from Him is scattering. There may be gathering, but if not "with Me" it is scattering. We are by nature so essentially sectarian that we have need to watch against this. I cannot make Christ the centre of my efforts if He is not the centre of my thoughts. It is a great thing for a man to say: "I have no other object but Christ, no other activity in my heart but for Christ, not only that He is the chief object at bottom--every Christian has that--but there may be a quantity of middle things in our hearts between the inside and the outside." These must be judged in the soul. Besides love to Christ, there may be love of company, and we must judge all that is between Christ, the Root, and the Offspring. THE MOST BLESSED. Luke 11:27.--"Blessed is the womb that bare Thee." They speak of the honour of being His mother. No, we would say, that has nothing to do with it. The closest connection with the Son of Man is not equal to keeping the Word of God. Religionists make a great deal of natural affection, but though blessed in its way it is nothing to the life of God in my soul. Of course it was a blessed thing to be the mother of the Lord; yet it was but a natural relationship, though a miracle, nor could it have been a light thing to her heart. Still, it was not equal to the blessing of the Word of God bringing a soul to Himself. Oh, beloved friends, if you will only let the pure Word of God abide in your hearts you will find that it will sweep away all the cobwebs of the flesh! Luke 11:29.--They are seeking a sign, another natural thing, but He says, "There shall no sign be given." Jonah is a sign. He preached, and they repented. Now My Word has come to you, and that is the test to you . Luke 11:31.--"The queen of the south." The Word of God is so perfectly suited to man’s heart, even the natural feelings are touched by it . The Word is sown in the heart, though it may bring forth no fruit. THE LESSON OF THE LIGHT. Luke 11:33-36.--"The light of the body is the eye." Light is there, and the question is about the man’s eye. If a man has bad eyes the light is painful. So the Word to one who has not clear eyesight or the single eye. This is a solemn Word, but if a person was converted only yesterday, it might be true of him; he might be full of light. It applies as much to the babe in Christ as to the grown man. Where God is in the soul His light is seen. "If a man walk in the day he stumbleth not." "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light, having no part dark." When the candle is there we see all around. It shows itself, and thus shows all around. The eye receives the light, single or evil. It is not single or double, but single or evil. If Christ is not the object, there is some evil object. If the eye be single, it is all simple, though there will be difficulties in the path, as with Paul. The light is set on a candlestick that all who come in "may see the light." The man is forced to the question: Do you see it or not? Christ has set up the light in the world. God has displayed Himself in Him, and the effect of that is to show your condition. Do you say: "Suffer me first to go and bury my father?" (Luke 9:59). Ah! you have something first. If my body is not full of light there is something not single in my eye, something has not given way before the power of Christ, something not given up. People say I cannot see. No, of course you cannot; you have some other light. Further, what you do see now will presently be given up if you do not walk in the power of what you have. "Take heed that the light that is in thee be not darkness." Our manner of judging may be wrong, because the standard is not Christ, and then the light becomes darkness; we are guided wrong and mistaken in our path. If the eye be full of Christ, and we judge everything by that light, when I see anything that would not glorify Christ, I say that will not do for me. I may be a little vessel, but I must be wholly for Christ. May we be walking in the power of the Holy Ghost, and by the divine teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ content to follow Him, and desire no other path, having the eye upon Him, and only upon Him, so that when other objects are put before us we may be able to say, "This one thing I do." While walking through the world may we be occupied with Christ, not making it our business to judge evil, but simple concerning it. THE SAVIOUR PRONOUNCES "WOES." Luke 11:37-43.--"Woe unto you Pharisees." We have the sure judgment of the Lord on the various forms which the lifeless religion of those who led the people took up expressed in different ways, but His constant and unmingled judgment upon it all. The first ground of condemnation is the substitution of out-ward cleansings and services, which the flesh can render, for purity of heart and the spirit of love; where these last are external things are clean. Thus money occupies the heart where there is only a religious form, for it represents the world, and pre-eminence is another expression of the same thing. Luke 11:45.--Next the doctors of the law are sentenced, and with them the imposing of burdens on others, while they spared themselves from the trouble. It might not at first appear why building the sepulchres of the prophets showed approval of those who killed them; but the truth was that the lawyers sought in this their own honour, instead of receiving the testimony of the prophets, which would have humbled them, for the moral and utter ruin of the nation. But they were adorning, as if all were right, the tombs of the righteous and good. It was the spirit of the world arrogating credit to itself for piety to the dead, not holy fear at the prophet’s rebukes. But a clearer proof should be in the wisdom of God that they sympathised not with the word of the prophets, but with the works of their fathers. Prophets and apostles would be sent, and once more be slain and persecuted. The Pharisees were hypocrites, and so judged; the expositors of the law perverted their nearness to Scripture in their hatred of any real testimony to their own conscience. These could least of all bear what detected their evil. Hence in pride and fear they took to themselves all the springs of knowledge, neither entering themselves (for they must do that as learners, and needy, and lost), nor allowing those to enter who would, lest they should condemn themselves, and besides their honour and characters go for nothing. The closing verses show us the invariable conduct of false religionists. Having no answer of moral truth to the evidence of deceit and evil exhibited in their ways their effort was to perplex and to entrap. Convicted of sin, and incapable of truth, they sought to make void God’s goodness in accusing even Christ of error. It was mercy towards others to be plain as to these false guides, and therefore the Lord denounced them unsparingly. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 04.12. CHAPTER 12 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12. The last section of this Gospel showed the two great means of blessing to the soul, namely, the Word of God and prayer, the precious gift of God, and the true need of man in the presence of a rejected Messiah. It showed withal the doom of the people who refused every testimony of God. Luke 12:1-59 presents the disciples carrying on their testimony in the midst of hypocrisy and opposition, but in the power of the Holy Ghost. The Lord addressed His disciples first of all, but fearlessly and without compromise, before a vast throng as one who acted in the spirit of what He taught. He warns them against that religious formalism which consists of what could be presented to man, and insists strongly and explicitly upon the sure bringing of all things into the light. Luke 12:1-3.--But just as the breaking down of forms and the revelation of the full light of God had its highest operation and effect in His own death, so the disciples must look for the world’s hostility, must be prepared for it in their own case, it might be up to death itself. If Messiah were rejected and slain, what could they look for in the same scene while Satan’s power is not set aside? Hence, also, in these chapters it is a question of the soul’s relationship with God. It was not the unfolding of the Church yet, but the kingdom in its Jewish application is set aside, and the consequence is that the disciples are to look for the Lord’s coming again, and until then trial and violence. His return would have two aspects--one for such as are in relationship with Himself, and the other for the world, and both are taken up here. They were to beware of hypocrisy, and to remember God’s necessary determination to bring everything to light. "For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." OUR FATHER’S CARE. Luke 12:4-5.--Next, as to the danger of walking in the light. They were not to fear them who kill the body, but God, who could cast into Hell. Jesus perfectly feared God, and called on His friends to fear none but Him. "Yea, I say unto you, fear Him." Luke 12:6.--But further, not even a sparrow is forgotten before God. "And the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Therefore they were not to fear. Our God has made it of faith to be assured that He cares much for us. Luke 12:8-12.--On the other hand, they were not to trust in themselves, in their own courage, or their own wisdom, but to confess Christ. There was the result in relation with the humbled, but yet to be exalted, Son of Man. There would be a return of love or shame before the angels of God according as He should be confessed or denied before men. He had hidden His glory to effect grace. He had come among men and into the midst of evil that God might be fully glorified in His humiliation. This was the patience of God, for Christ claimed nothing. But the Holy Ghost would come asserting the glory of God, and claiming subjection to it, witnessing the grace and proving the glory in power. Hence a word spoken against the Holy Ghost would not be forgiven. Wonderful to say, this is attached to the disciples to console and strengthen them in their weakness. The Son of Man might be slighted, and yet there was forgiveness; but if He by whom they would speak was blasphemed it would be unpardonable. Further, the Holy Ghost would speak by them whatever the power, ecclesiastical or civil, that arraigned them. Such were the principles, the-warnings, the motives, and the encouragements the Lord attached to a mission which, rejected by and outside Judaism, was the introduction of light by grace into a world of sin and darkness. Luke 12:13-14.--Thereupon the Lord, by positively refusing to adjudge in Israel, shows that Jewish blessing had lost its place. It was no longer a question of dividing the inheritance, but of the soul in its position before God. Only He warns against the folly of loving the things which gave occasion to such disputes. Righteousness on earth is not looked for now. Jesus declines the place of regulating it, and proceeds to show the inward principle of the kingdom in contrast with the world. Hence He told the multitude to beware of covetousness, for a man’s life is not in what he possesses, adding a most solemn parable as to the doom of the rich man, who was not rich toward God. Whatever he might say to his soul, God required it that night. "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself" (Luke 12:16-26). Luke 12:22-31.--"Take no thought for your life." If it be thus with the world, do you who have a Father, even the Father, not be anxious for your soul or body. Food and clothing were not just objects for disciples’ care, but rather to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Their thoughts should be in another channel, rising above a mere natural view of the life and the body. But He proceeds to assign positive grounds operative upon them as believers. Needful things were subsidiary which God provided, for they were His and under His ordering. He cared for much less than they were. The fowls of Heaven and the grass of the field read them no uninstructive lesson, as interpreted of Christ. And if there was on the one side God’s provident care for the least of His creatures; on the other side let them bear in mind the utter weakness of their anxieties. Whatever might be natural to those who knew not God, they were not to be seeking what to eat or drink. Their Father knew they wanted such things. Let them seek the kingdom of God, and all the rest should be added. THE LITTLE FLOCK. Luke 12:32-34.--The Lord now takes higher ground for them. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Therefore were they rather to get rid of what they had as men, and to provide things such as the Father gives to the heirs of the kingdom. They were to act the part of kings called to and having a higher inheritance. The heart follows the treasure. Let them provide a treasure in the Heavens and their heart will be there also. The great saint is not the value of what they gave meritoriously, but the effect internally suitable to their position and their calling. God is not ashamed to be called their God. Luke 12:35-37.--Further, they were to wait for their Lord. This was especially to form their character, and to be continually and outwardly expressed, the habitual expectancy of the Lord. Their loins were to be girded, and their lights burning, as if Christ was actually on His way. And He that shall come will come; and "blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." They were now associated with the heavenly character of the kingdom. This world was nought; what they had of it they could return into the privilege of doing good, unselfishly, and have their treasure above, where there would be no losing it, and so their hearts would be kept there. Thus their character would be heavenly. Meanwhile they were to be as men who waited their Lord returning from the wedding. The general aim of the heavenly effect of the calling is here in question. They were to be on the watch. It is not prophecy, but character and position. There are no signs or historical circumstances, as in Luke 17:1-37 and Luke 21:1-38, for people on earth; here there is heavenly separation from it. For those who thus wait Jesus is still a servant. He will make them sit down to meat, and come forth and serve them. Girded to serve as man, His ear bored in death, in joy He comes forth delighting in disciples so walking. Gladly He releases them from their endurance, and watching, and service; He sets them at the feast, and honours their faithfulness thus. They were therefore left in uncertainty; and so the Church, when formed, was left. The Church is always to wait for Christ, having no special time; every moment is its time in desire and duty, as, alas, it is the world’s for negligence. The Jews have a time. Days, years, and earthly computations belong to them, and therefore signs. To us it may be the second watch or the third watch; blessed only if we are found watching. THE WISE STEWARD. Luke 12:41-48.--"That faithful and wise steward." Peter puts the question of the application of what goes before, which brings out the portion of those who serve faithfully. They will be set over all the Lord’s goods when He returns to take possession of all He made and will inherit. A very encouraging thought, though not the highest . On the other hand, Christendom apostatises by putting off in heart the Lord’s coming. The great stay of heavenly-mindedness is lost thereby, and so our peculiar calling and hope. To expect the Lord detaches from the world, putting it off left the servant to his own will. It is not doctrinal denial, but he says in his heart "My Lord delayeth His coming," and then he acts with violence towards the fellow-servants, and his fellowship with the world. But that servant, let him act ever so independently, has a Lord, and He will come when not expected, and set that servant’s portion with the unbelievers, whatever may have been his boasted rights and privileges. Further in detail there would be a righteous adjudgment (Luke 12:47, Luke 12:43); for here we have the principles of service, as before of position. The ignorance of heathenism will not be spared, but far more tremendous will be the doom of Christendom. Most righteous, but, oh, how solemn! Luke 12:49.--"I am come to send fire on the earth." There is another thing to be noted, the import of our Lord’s coming then into the world. Had man been what he ought peace would have been the result; but man saw no beauty in Christ to desire Him, and the effect was hatred--not peace, but a sword. The nearer the relation the deeper the grievance. The will of man comes out, and is utterly opposed to God. They would not endure to be told that they were under God’s judgment. But there is this peculiarity in the character of division which the entrance of grace makes. He who is converted in a family becomes generally, and at once, the slave of the rest. Nature even is subverted in such cases. How often thus a husband or parent loses his authority! There is a fire kindled before Christ comes again in judgment to kindle it. He was not then come to judge, but they by their rejection of Him kindled the fire of judgment. THE BAPTISM OF HIS DEATH. Luke 12:50.--Now, look at the Lord’s part. "I have a baptism." What could straiten the Lord’s heart? The perfect, infinite love of God in Him was, as it were, shut up. If He spoke to His disciples of His death, "That be far from Thee, Lord" (Matthew 16:22), was all the response He met with even in Peter. How painfully was He thus shut up into Himself! But on He went in His service of living love through the world, looking forward to the baptism of His death, and His being straitened showed the fulness and strength of His love. Till then there could be no letting out of heart, for who understood Him? The Jews said, "Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" They were shut up within the walls of Judaism, so that, though One was there with a flowing river of blessing, they would not receive Him. Divine love was, we may say, pent up and driven back into the heart of God. But all is met. "How am I straitened till it be accomplished?" He is not straitened now. The barrier is broken in His death. How could they as sinners have communion with Christ? There could be none. When He came to meet man’s need they hated and rejected Him. But on the Cross He has put away sin, and now grace can flow out without hindrance or measure. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20). Man is not changed, but God can act in His own way through redemption. Christ’s love and glory did come out in a measure before, for "He could not be hid" (Mark 7:24). But at the Cross all overflowed, and looking back from that over His life we see what infinite love and sorrow and suffering filled it up. Luke 12:54-57.--The multitude are addressed on the principle of personal responsibility. First, upon the evident signs of God’s dealing with the world; and next, from their moral judgment of what was right. The conclusion was that God was in the way with the Jewish people, and that if they did not agree with Him then they would turn Him into a judge, and must incur the full penalty of their iniquities. In human affairs man would be prudent enough to come to terms with his adversary, knowing himself wrong and anticipating the judgment. If they did not submit and be reconciled to the Lord now in the way they would soon be delivered to His judicial dealings, and not cease from them till they had received of His hand double for all their sins. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 04.13. CHAPTER 13 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13. There are two great principles or subjects in connection with man on the earth: The Church of God as such, and the government of God in the world. And these are very distinct. In the Church the riches of His grace are manifested. In His governmental dealings we see the display of His justice, mercy, and goodness. An example of God’s governmental power as to Israel we have in Exodus 34:5-7. This is not sovereign grace, bringing a soul to eternal life, but government of the same character as we may see every day around us. If a man wastes his fortune or ruins his health by intemperance of any kind his children suffer for it. "What a man sows, that shall he also reap." See God’s dealings with David because of the matter of Uriah. "The sword shall never depart from thine house. . . Thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, . . . because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die" (2 Samuel 12:10-14). And we know that this judgment for his sin was accomplished in David’s after history. This is not grace, but government. God deals in the same way with a saint now, that is, both in grace and righteousness. THE TOWER OF SILOAM. Luke 13:1-3.--The Jews had this thought of government in their minds, nor was it wrong in itself. They thought that God could not let such a guilty fellow live as this Pilate, who had been mingling the blood of the Galilaeans with their sacrifices. But Christ brings them to a new principle by which to judge, and tells them judgment was coming upon themselves if impenitent. "Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners? . . . I tell you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." It refers to judgment in the government of this world, which would overtake all who repented not. They had God’s Son there, and they were practically rejecting Him, and how many of the Jews had their blood mingled by Titus? Christ had said to the Jews at the close of Luke 12:1-59, "When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate . . . give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he hale thee to the judge;" but of the state of the Jews, who were under God’s dealings, and would not escape till the chastenings of the Lord upon them are complete. Thus it is very evident that this passage refers simply to God’s government of His people. Natural conscience ought to have told these Jews not to reject the Messiah, for God was going all the way along with them to the magistrate, dealing with them in patient grace, and He would say to them: "If you do not repent and be reconciled judgment must come upon you, when it will be the same with you as with those whom ye think to be such sinners." THE BARREN FIG TREE. Luke 13:6.--The Lord is dealing here with the same state of things. The fig tree is Israel, and God comes seeking fruit in them, and finding none. In the Gospel there is this difference . That grace, instead of seeking, sows in order to produce fruit. He found none, and the sentence therefore upon it is, "Cut it down." He not only found it useless, but His vineyard was encumbered by it. "The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you" (Romans 2:24). Then comes in Christ’s mission. Last of all "He sent His Son" (John 3:16). God had planted a vineyard and pruned it, but there was no fruit. Then a new Gardener comes in, and He says, "Spare it this year also, till I shall dig about it." It must bring forth fruit then, and be digged up. He has done as He said, but still there is no fruit. THE WOMAN WITH AN INFIRMITY. Luke 13:11.--Jesus heals on the Sabbath day, and brings out another thing that was working in their hearts in the place of the law, which left room for hypocrisy. They would lead an ox or an ass from the stall on the Sabbath, but they would not bear that a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound these eighteen years should be loosed on that day. One of the infirmities of man’s mind is to use possessed truth to resist revealed truth. Paul was an example of this. "As touching the righteousness of the law, blame-less" (Php 3:6). Still, he "thought he ought to do many things contrary to Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). So also Christ says of the Jews in John 16:1-33, "These things will they do unto you." They were using the Name of the one true God, which had been given them ("The Lord, thy God, is one God") to reject the Son, for when Christ came in humiliation they would not receive Him. Orthodoxy is used to stop the reception of truth. When truth is the ground of a man’s standing it gains him credit, but when a new truth comes in it puts faith to the test. Truth that requires faith to walk by is resisted by the natural heart, and the root of this is hypocrisy. Luke 13:14.--The ruler of the synagogue said, "There are six days in which men ought to work: in them come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." But he ought to have known that the Lord of the Sabbath was there for that single word, "daughter of Abraham," ought to have told him who He was that stood there. The Lord answered him, ’Thou hypocrite!" A solemn word this! Luke 13:18.--He goes on to show what the kingdom will be like when the King is rejected and gone away. A kingdom without a King, who is sitting on His Father’s throne, until He comes to take His own throne. The kingdom is like a little seed thrown into the ground, which springs up and becomes a great tree; just what we call Christendom. This fills up the gap between His rejection and His coming again. There is no power exercised while the King is away. As in Mark’s gospel it sprang up, men knew not how. When the harvest is ripe He will come again. He sowed the first time, but He will put in the sickle the second time. He is looking for heavenly fruit now; but when He comes He will find Christendom a great tree with the fowls of the air lodging in its branches. Pharaoh was a great tree, Nebuchadnezzar a greater still. They were the high and mighty ones of the earth, representatives of worldly power. Even Israel, which had been planted a noble vine, wholly a right seed, was bearing no fruit. Therefore, as it is said in Ezekiel 15:1-8, "What is the vine tree more than any tree" if it bear no fruit? It is only fit to be burned. Otherwise useless, if it does not bear fruit it only makes the best firewood. THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN. Luke 13:21.--Here the kingdom is likened unto leaven, and leaven is that which spreads throughout the whole mass, and also gives a character to that in which it works. It is nominal profession of Christianity which is spread into a vast system. There is not a word here about the Holy Ghost, but about the effect in the world. In Matthew 13:1-58, in the first parable, there is individual result, and not the kingdom spoken of. In the three first of the six parables it is the public appearance; in the three last the inward character is described. Luke 13:23.--"Are there few that be saved?" The word used here is the same word that through the LXX. signifies a remnant, or such as shall be saved. The question really was as to whether this remnant would be few or many who were to be spared when the judgment came; but this being a mere idle question, the Lord does not answer it, but says to them: Luke 13:24.--"Strive to enter in at the strait gate." The strait gate was receiving Christ at that time, the real but narrow entrance of faith in Him and conversion to God. There will be some come and knock when the door is closed, to whom He will say, "I know you not whence you are;" you are not changed. Strive to enter in at the strait gate, through which Christ goes before you, that is, rejection. "Many shall seek to enter in (not at the strait gate), and shall not be able." It is most simple when we see the rejection of Christ. Those who reject Him in the day of His humiliation will themselves be rejected in the day of His glory; and instead of being His companions in the kingdom, they will be thrust out. The unbelieving Jews will see the Gentiles come into the glory of the kingdom, while they remaining in unbelief will be cast out. Luke 13:31.--The Pharisees say to Him, "Get Thee out and depart, for Herod will kill Thee." Now Herod was an Idumaean, and what right had such a stranger to be their king? What had he to do with the promises to Israel? Nothing. In Herod we have a figure of the wilful king. He tried to kill Christ, and therefore the character of opposition king belongs to him. He had no faith in God’s purposes or in Christ’s glory, and the Lord says, "Go and tell that fox." I shall do My Father’s will till the moment come for Me to be glorified. I am here as long as My Father wills, and then I shall be perfected. The power of God must be fully known. What divine contempt for the apostate king, but what perfect human obedience combined! "Leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps." LAMENT OVER JERUSALEM. Luke 13:33.--"Nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets." After all Jerusalem is the guilty place. Let the Edomite king do and say what he will it is "the holy city" that is guilty, for it was nearest to Himself. The nearer I am to God, if I reject Him, the worse is the sin and the more dreadful the judgment (See Psalms 132:1-18). "The Lord hath chosen Zion," and Psalms 88:1-18, Psalms 65:1-13, Psalms 66:1-20; Psalms 67:7, Psalms 68:1-35, the same election of Zion. Christ does not put the sin upon them till they have rejected both Him and His Father. He brings out a purpose of grace in these closing verses. The old man is condemned and profitless, Israel and all of us. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" (Jeremiah 13:23). The Gospel begins with seeking and saving that which was lost. Here we see that though they have rejected Him in responsibility He has not rejected them in the day of His grace. Grace shines out in His yet choosing Judah. Luke 13:34.--Notice how the divine Person of the Lord comes out here. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered." A prophet could not say this, and He was a prophet, too, and more than a prophet. He was Jehovah, for none but Jehovah could gather Israel, as "He that scattered Israel will gather him" (Jeremiah 31:10). Israel had rejected Jehovah under responsibility, but Jehovah will own them when He comes in sovereign grace. How blessed is the way; the circumstances through which He passed in His path down here did bring out in a far brighter way WHO HE WAS than any text to prove it, important as that is in its place. For sup-pose you believed there was a God, yet if He were to come down by your very side and say "I AM," would not that be a very different thing? Christ was the humbled Man all through His path down here, for He was ever the Servant of all; yet when the service was done, and rejected as of no use, His glory shines out. "Before Abraham was, I AM." See in this chapter of Luke the connection between Luke 13:33-35 as illustrative of this: "How often would I have gathered thee . . . desolate . . . until ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord." The complaint in the Psalms is that there is none to say "how long," none to count upon the faithfulness of God to His people. (See Psalms 74:9.) This expression is often used in the Psalms and in Isaiah 6:1-13, and refers to chastening, not retribution. How long is Israel to stumble and fall? (Romans 11:1-36). In Isaiah 6:1-13 the prophet having uttered these words, "Make the heart of this people fat," taken up by the Lord in John 12:1-50, then says, "How long?" He waits in faith, and reckons upon God, and having God’s mind He cannot believe that God will give them up, and therefore asks "How long" is the chastening to continue? To which the Lord answers, "There shall be a great forsaking in the midst of the land, but yet in it shall be a tenth, and the holy seed shall be the substance thereof" (Isaiah 6:12-13). The sap is still there though there are no leaves. So in Psalms 118:18, "He hath chastised me sore, but He hath not given me over unto death. THE COMING OF THE BLESSED. Luke 13:35.--In the same way the Lord does not say, "Your house is left unto you desolate, and there-fore ye shall not see Me again." No. But He says, "Ye shall not see Me until ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord." He can give, as Jehovah, the answer in grace, and when He gives repentance to Israel, then He will send Jesus, whom until that day the Heavens have received. Meanwhile our connection with Him comes in. The prophet spake only of earthly things, though divine; but to the Church it is, "Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1), and "Hath quickened us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:5). That gives security. How did I get there? By virtue of Christ. He is my title. My desire is to be acquainted with this, that I am one with Christ in Heaven, an ever-lasting portion, that the Holy Ghost seals upon my soul, and would have me enjoy more and more. When Israel is brought to repentance "The stone which the builders rejected" will be "the head of the corner" (Luke 20:17), and owned of them. They will say "O give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever" (Psalms 106:1) . Alas! they will receive another first; but when their hearts are turned, and grace works, they will use the language of Psalms 119:1-176, and find the expression of the law within their hearts; and when faith is thus exercised, and their hearts are broken and open to receive Him, then He Himself will come to them. If there is not a prophet to say "How long?" Jehovah will give the answer. He never changes, and though He executes judgment and righteousness grace is found in Him still. "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). Well, if there be not faith to be found, or a prophet to say "How long?" there is One who will lay up in His treasures something for faith to lay hold on in the sovereignty of His own grace. Thus we see Jehovah in that humbled One, and how He is able to rise above all iniquity. How precious does all this make Jesus to us, and we are one with Him. May we learn Him, and so follow Him, remembering that all that is left outside the narrow way is the flesh and evil. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 04.14. CHAPTER 14 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14. This chapter shows out the distributive justice of God. First, it is toward His saints the consequence of conduct with God, and the place a man will take in view of that. Next, we have responsibility connected with grace, the moral position of the soul, because of having grace presented to it. Slighting God’s grace fills up the measure of man’s sin. But here is the presentation, which is a different thing from the possession of grace. This is brought out in those who refused to come to the supper. THE SABBATH. Luke 14:1-6.--"On the Sabbath day . . . they watched Him." The Lord in bringing the dispensation to a close consequently brings before Israel the Sabbath. The question was: Could man, as man, find rest with God? Could man ever enter into God’s rest? We know man broke God’s rest directly; how soon we are not told; but perhaps the very day he ought to have rested he ate the forbidden fruit. Man never entered into God’s rest; and now the question was how to enter in--by his own work or Christ’s? It was essential to the rest after creation to have it at the end of six days of work, and therefore it was on the seventh day. So afterwards when the legal ordinances were given the Sabbath became a sign of the covenant. The Lord when here constantly trenched on the Sabbath to show that, sin being unremoved, He must work. He could not rest, the Sabbath being a sign of man’s getting rest after work, and the law showing that man constantly broke that covenant. The Lord presses home to their consciences their sin by showing them that He must work if they were to have rest. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). If man had kept the law he was entitled to the rest, but he neither did nor could keep it . All that was the sign of God’s rest for man, after work done, failed; but "there remaineth a rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). The Sabbath continued as a sign, and all through the prophets we find it insisted on, but they did not get rest. Paul, reasoning upon it in Hebrews 4:1-16, says "We which have believed do enter into rest." But Canaan, the nominal rest, they of old did not enter, save the few faithful ones, and these did not get rest, for if they had, another day would not have been spoken of, and so it is said by the Psalmist, and quoted in Hebrews, "If they shall enter into My rest." "If" means "they shall not." This being the Sabbath was no rest to them. The Sabbath was still the sign, but no real rest. The whole thing being therefore gone as to man’s getting into God’s rest it must be now on an entirely new principle, by faith and not by works. When Messiah came He would have been rest to the people, but man would not have Him, as we find it here. Man could not have God’s rest by law, and they would not have it by grace, and this proves man altogether broken with God. If I have got to God I have rest, and need not journey farther for it. I have my rest in Himself, for grace, not law, has given me a capacity to enjoy what God is. But when the creature had broken the rest of his Creator there could be no relationship between them. Sin has come in and caused God to be towards me as a judge, and there can be no link of heart between a judge and a criminal. If God judges me as a sinner the only word I can have from Him is, "Depart from Me, ye cursed." Therefore all that man can say is, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord." There is a link between a father and a child that brings them into relationship, but it is a new thing. All must be put on a new footing, for there is no rest in the old creation. HEALING ON THE SABBATH. In Luke 15:1-32 we have grace at work to give rest, the Shepherd bringing the sheep home, and in Luke 14:1-35 we have a case of misery brought out in the man who had the dropsy. Luke 14:3-5.--Christ said, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" But they held their peace. He puts the case to themselves. "If you shall have an ox or an ass fallen into a pit, . . . and they could not answer Him." There was no present rest, no hope of rest, no possibility of rest for man as a sinner, and there could be no rest for God, for God could not rest where sin was. There was no Sabbath for righteousness, for man had no righteousness. There was no Sabbath for love, for love could not rest where judgment must be exercised. Love might come in and work, but work is not rest. Man has lost his communion with God through his sin, and this is a solemn thing, for he has made God a judge through his sin. The very thought of judgment connected with God shows man a sinner, for there was no necessary association of judgment with God; but when sin came in judgment must follow, for God is holy. If brought to the consciousness of there being no relationship between us as sinners and God, we learn what a place becomes us when once we have faith in His grace. HUMILITY AND EXALTATION. Luke 14:7-11.--"And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked how they chose out the chief rooms." It is just the place that nature likes. The world which has no relations with God delights in exalting self and shutting Him out. Self gets for self what it likes, and forgets God. Man is always setting up self, pushing for self against God. He does not think so, for he says he is only using his faculties. But so Adam did to hide himself from God. Do not we use our faculties to please ourselves rather than for God? While the master is away the servants go on their own way and do their own will. A man is naturally hurt when he is put down in a corner and despised. Flesh does not relish being thrust aside, but this seeking for a place is to seek for it where Christ had none. "Therefore," He says, "when thou art bidden to a wedding, sit down in the lowest room." The point of this parable is seen in Luke 14:8-11. It refers the heart to the master, to "him that bade thee." If I am conscious of being a sinner, and therefore deserving no place, I shall take none, but wait till God bestows one on me. I shall have honour indeed when God gives me a place. The point is: What does He bestow upon me? Having the eye upon God, and referring to Him, seek for the lowest place as Christ did. It will not do to say I will not have a place in the world. The great thing is the heart resting on God’s place in the world. When the eye is thus upon God self is forgotten. If not, I am thinking of the slights I receive, and neither faith nor grace are in exercise. If I could think nothing of myself I should be perfect. The man who bade the guests has the right estimate of each and the honour due to them. The evangelist’s place, the pastor’s, the apostle’s will all be appointed by God. When God gives me a place it is one of power and nighness to Himself; but when a man takes a place for himself it is one of weakness and alienation from God, because self is the object. Then, again, we must guard against the mere refusing to take a place in the world, because we know it is wrong as followers of Him who has been rejected. A mere legal estimate of what is right can never last. A thing may be very right, but there is no stability in pursuing it, because there is no power to subdue the flesh in merely doing what one knows to be right . There was the sense of obligation with the law, but the law did not set an object before me to attract my heart; it did not bring God to me nor me to God. That lasts which feels that we are nothing and that God is everything. Many have begun very energetically, and taken a certain place right in itself; but if legality be the source of it there will be no power of perseverance, for that which is taken up under law will be sure to be lost in the flesh. When God is the object the low place here is sufficient. He Himself carries me on, and whatever it be, if the mind and affections are upon Him, what was hard at first is no effort as I proceed. His love which attracted and gave me power at first to take such a position becomes brighter and brighter when better and longer known, and what was done at first tremblingly is easy with increasing courage. The only thing which can enable me thus to go on is to have Christ the object before me, and just in proportion as it is so can I be happy. There may be a thousand and one things to vex me if self is of importance; they will not vex me at all if self is not there to be vexed. The passions of the flesh will not harass us if we are walking with God. What trials we get when not walking with God and thinking only of self! There is no such deliverance as that of having no importance in one’s own eyes. Then one may be happy indeed before God. If we look at Christ we learn two principles. First, that He humbled Himself because of the sin of the world all around Him. Second, the world did all they could to humble Him, for the more He went down so much the more they sought to pull Him down. No one cares for another, so that if a man does not care for himself he will be sure to be pushed down low enough. Then, again, so deceitful are our hearts that it is possible we should be willing to humble ourselves if we could get anything by it, even the approbation of men. On the other hand, if we, in the usual sense of men, merely seek to imitate Christ in this it will be but legal effort. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Php 2:5) . He humbled Himself . First, "He made Himself of no reputation" (Php 2:7) . That is, He emptied Himself of His glory to become a Man. In doing this He left the Father’s glory to become a Man. This was a great descent, though we think a great deal of ourselves. But was that all? No. He humbled Himself to death, even the death of the Cross. Luke 14:11.--It is the same principle which is put before us in this chapter in Luke. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Real lowliness is being ready to serve any and everybody; and though it may to the eye of man look low it is in reality very high, being the fruit of divine love working in Our hearts. God operating in our hearts makes us unselfish. The only thing worth doing in the world is this service, except it be enjoying God. We should be ready to serve one’s enemies. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." This is not only being humbled, but humbling oneself, and not doing it before those who would honour us all the more for being humble. Paul could say of himself and others, "Ourselves your servants for Christ’s sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5). He felt they had a title to serve in grace, and in proportion as he took the humble place he will be exalted in the day that is coming. THE GREAT SUPPER. Luke 14:12-14.--The next statement in the chapter goes on to speak of Him who bade. Before, it was about the guest; but here it is the principle on which feasts are made. "Call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, but thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Thus He takes them all out of the world again to the time when they shall meet God, and makes it a present guide for action. They must not act on the principle of getting reward here, but must wait for the time when they are to meet the Lord, as it is not till the Master of the house returns that the servants receive their wages. This is not a question of salvation, but of reward for service. "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Mark how the Lord brings out the JUST as a separate class. The resurrection is not a common one; there is no such thing in Scripture. There is no thought of confounding in another world what God has separated in this. Grace has separated the believer, so that He has risen in his soul now; but he does not get the reward of his service till "the resurrection of the just." A sinner is quickened here, though not judicially manifested here, because we are in a dispensation of faith, and the portion is in glory. There is no "general" resurrection to good and bad alike, but there is the "first resurrection," which is God separating in power those whom in grace He has made His own. It was the resurrection from among, or out of, the dead that awakened such wonder among the Jews. The Pharisees could teach the resurrection, though the Sadducees denied it. A resurrection was commonly believed, as Martha said, "I know that he shall rise again at the last day" (John 11:24). But they could not comprehend divine power coming into Satan’s house and taking the righteous dead out from among the rest of the dead. Jesus replied to Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:25), speaking of the living power that visits a man when he is in a state of death and takes him out of it. They knew nothing of the discriminating process of the one to life and the other to judgment (John 5:1-47) . The Master of the house will show His approval of the faithful servant. There will be degrees of glory given according to the service done. Not that I shall be saved for what I have done, but my service will be rewarded, whatever may have been produced by the Holy Ghost answering the desire of Christ in working in me, for it is service of which I could not do an atom without His power. It is likewise the answer of God according to His counsels, as we may see in the reply to the mother of Zebedee’s children: "It shall be given to those for whom it is prepared of My Father." The service of love is never influenced by recompense. Reward is not set before the soul as the motive for doing anything; but when we find difficulties in treading the path of service, then the crown is set before us to encourage us to go on. So even Christ, for the joy that was set before Him, "endured the Cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2). So also Moses, while esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, had respect unto the recompense of the reward. If the recompense and not love be the spring of our service it would just amount to this: "Take thy penny, and go thy way." But if the world is broken with no recompense can be looked for from that source, which is as great a deliverance as the deliverance from self. Luke 14:15-24.--"A certain man made a great supper." See how grace, when brought in, is rejected. The supper was ready, the guests were bidden, but they would not come. The Lord had before spoken of the kingdom, and here He shows what the reception of the kingdom would cost. "All things are now ready." But they all make excuses. They do not care enough for the supper to leave their yoke of oxen, the piece of ground. The supper was in God’s thoughts from the beginning, and it was to be when He came to the Jews as their Messiah at the close of the day. But they rejected Him, they did not want Him. It does not say that their sins shut them out from the supper, for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Neither was it the piece of ground, the oxen, or the wife that were in themselves the evil; but in their case they became so, because their minds were intent on them to the slighting of the supper. And is it not just the same now? What harm is there in these things do you say? If they have occupied your heart, and made you slight God, that is the harm. In the kingdom of God where are you? There was not one link of heart between Christ and the people He came to, and therefore they rejected the supper. This is also a test to our souls all through the day. It is not a question of whether a thing be right or wrong, but what savour have the things of Christ to our souls in it? It may be a very small thing. If we find the reading of a book makes the manifestation of Christ to become less precious to us we have got away from God, and we cannot tell where the next step may take us. Satan often cheats us in this way. The soul is put to the test day by day, whether the things that are revealed by God in Christ have so much power over us as to engage the heart; but if other things have come in between when we want the enjoyment of the things of Christ we shall not have it, and this will show us how far we have got away. If anything comes in and takes the freshness of Christ from your soul take heed, for if the oxen are thus cared for when you have opportunity for the things of Christ you will have no taste for them. "THE POOR OF THE FLOCK." Luke 14:21.--The Lord turns to "the poor of the flock," those who have no yoke of oxen, and are glad of the feast . The priests and chiefs of the Jews had the first invitation, but they rejecting it the Master of the house sends out into the streets and lanes of the city to bring in the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind of the people, still the house is not filled; and then He sends outside the city, into the highways and hedges, and compels them to come in that the house may be filled. These are the Gentiles. In this Gospel the poor of the flock and the Gentiles are distinguished from each other. But in Matthew, whose aim is Jewish, there is no mention made of both classes as distinct. "The wedding was furnished with guests," includes the Gentiles gathered in after the Jews are brought into the blessing. Then mark the lowliness of the servant and the patient grace of the Master; that goes right on to the end. He cannot rest till He gets His house filled with guests. What perseverance there is on the part of God! And we are called to go on in the same spirit. It does cost a great deal to go on, and on, and on, in spite of everybody and everything; and for us to do so marks the presence of divine power in us, for God’s grace is unwearied. Luke 14:24.--There is indeed judgment at the same time, for it is said, "Not one of those that were bidden shall taste of My supper." But God’s acting thus shows us what lowliness there should be in us as regards self and grace as regards every one else, and all grounded on this one fact that all man’s relationships with God are morally broken, and if you are really going to take such a path as that of following Christ you must count the cost. It is all very well to see such grace and admire it, but there is no power to persevere in it, without such love in the heart as the establishment of a new relationship with God gives. There must be a link in the heart with the new thing, and Christ must have such strength in the heart as to give power to break with old things. Luke 14:24-33.--"Multitudes" were attracted by the hearing of such grace, so in Luke 14:26 He tells them what discipleship will involve. There may be an allusion here to Micah 7:5-6. Friends must be given up for Christ. A man may have to leave everything else, but the question is: Am I to leave God? What! life too? Yes; no matter. In that life you are linked with the world, and that must be given up, too, if I am in question. You cannot have two hearts, a heart for the world and a heart for Me, Christ would say. I tremble when I see people who have not counted the cost setting out in the profession of following Christ. It is God’s way to put the barrier at the first start. If you can leap that you will do. Legal obedience will not stand, but following Christ. If He is in the path it is happy and easy, but it is a path between two hedges. If Christ is not with you in it there will be nothing but trouble and difficulty. SAVOURLESS SALT. Luke 14:34-35.--"Salt" is grace in spiritual energy. That is, the saints being witnesses in the world of the power of holy love instead of selfishness. Salt is the consecrating principle of grace. If that is gone, what is to preserve? Salt is rather grace in the aspect of holy separateness unto God than in that of kindness and meekness, though, of course, these are also inseparable from grace. If the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? If I have meat without salt I can salt it, but if there is no saltness in salt, what can I do? What a character we have here of an unspiritual church or an unspiritual saint! Like the vine which represented Israel, good for nothing at all but to dishonour the Lord, its owner, and be destroyed. Mercy, it is true, may recover us, but as saints we should have the savour of Christ. Whatever enfeebles attachment to Christ destroys power. It is not gross sin that does it, which, of course, will be met and judged, but it is the little things of everyday life which are apt to be chosen before Christ. When the world creeps in the salt has lost its savour, and we show that a rejected Christ has little power in our eyes. The Lord keep us in the path with Christ, where all is bright and blessed. If the film of this world has been drawn over our spiritual vision, hiding Christ from us, He alone can remove it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 04.15. CHAPTER 15 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15. We have seen the Lord showing out His own rejection in grace, followed by an entirely new order of things. The Church brought in subsequently is not an age, properly so called, but a heavenly episode between the ages. There are three ages spoken of in Scripture: The age before the law; the age under the law; and the Millennial age. Christ was "made under the law," and that age is not finished yet. The disciples said to Him, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?" That was the age when He was there, but when they rejected Him the age was suspended. As He straitly charged Peter to tell no man He was the Christ, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected" (Luke 17:25). Therefore He says to them, "Ye shall not see Me till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord" (Mark 11:9). We who form a part of the Church of God, and not having anything to do with the earth, are in no sense an age, but are a heavenly people united to Christ above during the suspension of this age, filling up the gap between the Lord’s leaving the Jews and His return to them again. So in Romans 11:1-36 we have the olive tree with some of the branches broken off and others grafted in. This is a tree with its root in the earth, and consequently could have nothing directly to do with the Church in Heaven. Some of the branches were broken off and some left; but this could never be said of the Church, the body united to its head at the right hand of God. The Church, of course, does fill up a certain place and time, but it is during the suspension of the age to which Christ came. Characteristically we belong to that which is above and beyond anything connected with this world. It is grace that has set us there, and that is not of the earth but of Heaven. In Luke 15:1-32 we find the Lord rising above Jewish dispensation altogether to the full display of God’s own nature--love--in the Gospel. At the close of Luke 14:1-35 He takes up the professing system in its responsibility. "Salt is good, but if the salt have lost its savour" it is good for nothing. Thus He shows what man is. Then in Luke 15:1-32 come publicans and sinners, and we have the display of what God is. Here God is dealing with lost man in grace. Sinners who owned their sins and came to repentance were those who justified God. "Wisdom is justified of her children." God is vindicated in His ways, whether in condemnation or salvation of a sinner. The publicans and sinners justified God, being baptised of John, while the Pharisees rejected His counsel against themselves. All that is wanted to justify God is that He should show Himself, and this is what the Lord now does. He manifests what God is in grace, and this it is which makes the chapter ever so fresh and full to our souls. The heart that has been awakened never tires of such a chapter. Then in Luke 16:1-31 He shows the responsibility of those who are thus dealt with. The earth was given to the children of men, and God looked for fruit. He first dealt with man as to what he ought to have been on the earth, but there was entire failure. Now there comes out another thing, entire grace, which is irrespective of all that man was, and takes an absolutely heavenly character. Divine love is its source, and its character is heavenly. Revealing Heaven, it puts man into connection with it, and the people so put must be a heavenly people. Why so? Because this world is all gone wrong; it has fallen from God, and is become the "far country." Hence its riches are of no value, but a great hindrance unless used in a heavenly way, and Luke 16:1-31 shows how they should be used. Luke 15:1-32 shows the sinner called out by grace; that which follows shows what He who is so called out is to be as a heavenly man. This world is a scene of evil, and that which attaches to it is now ruin and not blessedness (see the rich man and Lazarus) . Adam had a place in this world, and Israel had a place in it, but now that is all gone, and grace has come in, lifting those who are the subjects of it into another state of things altogether. Christ is justifying God. His nature being love, it was His joy to manifest grace to sinners. It is not here the joy of those brought back, but God’s own joy in bringing the sinner back to Himself. This gives the tone to Heaven. "There is joy" there in the poor wretched sinner brought back. I have no doubt we have in these three parables the unfolding of the ways of the Trinity. In the first is shown the Son as the Good Shepherd going after the sheep. In the second, the woman lighting a candle and searching diligently till she find the piece of silver, we have the painstaking work of the Holy Ghost lighting up a testimony in this dark world. The third is the Father’s reception of the returning sinner when brought back. In this, the prodigal son, we find the work in the sinner, but in the two previous ones it is the sovereignty and the activity of grace which go out in love to find that which was lost, and bring the sinner back without his having anything to do in it. THE LOST SHEEP. Luke 15:4-7.--This persevering energy of love is in the Shepherd Himself. The Good Shepherd cares for the sheep, and gives it no trouble in getting home; He carries it on His shoulders. Herein is seen the perfect grace in which the Lord Jesus has so charged Himself with bearing our every burden, our every trial and difficulty, all along the road. Christ is thus the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. Then mark, in Luke 15:6, the peculiar character of this joy. "He calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost." There could not be a more genuine picture, or a fuller expression, of a person being happy than this. Joy always speaks out. THE LOST COIN. Luke 15:8-10.--In the second parable we have the same general principle. The painstaking of the Holy Ghost is shown in the acting of the woman who sought the lost piece of silver; the piece of silver could have neither trouble nor joy itself. The difference in the two is that in the first the Shepherd bears all the burden; in the second it is the pains taken in finding the lost piece, proving the woman cared enough for it to take all this trouble to search it out. Thus does God’s love act toward us to bring us out of the dark world to Himself. What a work it is to bring man’s heart back to God! "’Twas great to speak a world from naught; ’Twas greater to redeem." THE PRODIGAL SON. Luke 15:11-32.--If we look at man as he is in himself, he could never get back to God. But look at what God is in Himself, and who or what can resist His grace? Still it is the joy of the finder, and not of the thing found. "Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep--My piece--that was lost." And in the case of the returning prodigal, who made the feast? Not the young man, but the father, saying to those in the house, "Let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." All caught the joy of the father’s heart, the servants, etc., all except the unhappy, self-righteous elder brother (the Pharisee, the Jew), to whom the father replied, "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again." It is the joy God has in receiving a sinner back to Himself. In the parable of the prodigal son by itself the full glory of grace is not seen, as these three parables set it forth together. The case of the sheep is the Shepherd charging Himself with the whole burden of the sheep; the silver is the painstaking of the Holy Ghost. Before actual departure there was moral departure. When the young man left his father’s house it was but a display of the evil in his heart . He was just as wicked when he asked for his portion of goods and crossed his father’s threshold as when he ate husks with the swine in the far country. He was, doubtless, more miserable then, but his heart was gone before. One man may run further into riot than another, but if we have turned our backs upon God we are utterly bad. In this sense there is no difference. The moral evil was just the same with Eve. She gave up God for an apple. She virtually thought the devil a much better friend to her than God, and took his word instead of God’s. Satan is a liar from the beginning, and at the Cross the Lord Jesus proved this. It cost the Lord His life to prove that God was good. Christ came to contradict the devil’s lie, which man believed, and under which the whole world is lying. Grace and truth came by Christ, and, at all cost, were set up by Him on the Cross. Man can do without God, and from the beginning the whole world has been a public lie against God. Who could unriddle it? Look at creation, how it groans under the bondage of corruptions! Look at providence, how can I account for the goodness of God when I see an infant writhing in pain? How can I reconcile the two things? The villain prospers, the good man suffers. When I see Christ on the Cross I see what God is. Death came on man by reason of sin. But Christ takes my sin on His own sinless person, bows His head in death upon the Cross, and thus sets aside the lie of Satan, "Ye shall not surely die." Thus was God’s truth re-established here below in the work and person of the Lord Jesus, and nowhere else. In Him I see holiness, truth, and love, no matter at what cost. Luke 15:14.--The natural man is just like this prodigal. He spends his substance in the far country and ruins himself. A man having £5000 a year and spending £20,000 will seem very rich for the time. But look at the result. He is a ruined man. The moment man departed from God he sold himself to Satan, and is spending his soul, his heart, away from God. He even spends what God has given him against God, and when he is thoroughly spent, and has nothing to live on, he begins to be in want. "There arose a mighty famine in that land," and all the world feels that. Every sinner does not go to the same length of eating the swine’s husks, but all are in the same condition of ruin. Every man has turned his back upon God, though all have not run to the same excess of riot, nor fallen into the same degradation. The famine never draws back to the father’s house. The prodigal joined himself to a citizen of that country, not his father’s country. Luke 15:16.--"He would fain have "filled his belly," and "no man gave to him." Satan never gives; that is found where God’s love is, who spared not His own Son. When the prodigal thinks of his father’s house, the whole work is morally done, though he is not back there yet. He turns, his heart was changed, and thus his whole desire was to get back to his father’s house from whence he had departed. He was not yet in the full liberty of grace so as to have peace and happiness, and he says to himself, "Make me as one of thy hired servants." He is brought to a sense of his guilt, and what was it? Feeding with the swine? No; that was the fruit of it, but his guilt was in leaving his father’s house, turning away from God. When he came to himself he desired to return. This was truly a right wish, but the form it took in his mind, from his not yet knowing grace, was a legal one. "I am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants." But the father does not give him time for that. Luke 15:20.--We hear nothing more about hired servants. For when he was "yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion on him, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him." He could not have been a servant with the father’s arms round his neck. It would have spoiled the father’s feelings, if not the son’s. It was the joy of Him who was receiving back the sinner to Himself. And it is the knowledge of this which gives peace to the soul. Nothing else does. If a man does not know love he does not know God, for God is love. The full revelation of God is what we have in Christ. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me?" (John 14:9). God acts from the joy and delight He has in Himself in receiving back the sinner, and therefore He does not think of the rags, but of the child He has got back again. What right has man to call God in question when He indulges His own heart in the outflow of love to the sinner? You will never get peace by the mere act of coming back, but by learning the Father’s mind about you. Could the prodigal get peace as he was coming back if the father had not met him? No; all along the road he would be questioning: How will he receive me? Will he be angry with me? Will he spurn me from his presence? And if he does, what will become of me? "But when he was yet a great way off his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him." If not so, he would have trembled even to knock at the door. When the father’s arms were on the son’s neck, was he defiled by the rags? No; and he will not have the son bring rags into the house, but orders the best robe to be brought out of it. God sends His own Son out of Heaven, and clothes the sinner; and thus arrayed the young man could bring credit to his father’s house. And surely if we are so clothed with Christ we shall do credit to God; and in the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. Luke 15:23.--"Let us eat and be merry." It is not: Let him eat and be merry. Again, he says, "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad." There was but one exception to the delight in the house. The elder brother (the self-righteous person) was angry, and would not go in. God had shown what He was in Himself, by His Son, in thus receiving the prodigal, and now He would show what they were in themselves. We know the Pharisees murmured from the beginning, and the elder brother had no communion with his father, for if the father was happy, why was not he happy, too? He was angry, and would not go in. If such a vile person as the publican gets in that makes my righteousness go for nothing. It is truly so. For where God’s happiness is, there self-righteousness cannot come. If God is good to the sinner, what avails my righteousness? He had no sympathy with his father. He ought to have said my father is happy, so I must be. There should have been communion in the joy. "Thy brother is back." That ought to have rung on his heart, but no. Luke 15:28.--Then see the perfect patience of God’s grace. The father goes out and entreats him. And do we not all through the Acts see God entreating the Jews to be reconciled, although they had crucified His Son? So Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16, says that the Jews filled up the measure of their sins by forbidding the apostles to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. It is all selfishness in the elder son. "Thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends." To which the father replies, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." The oracles of God, the covenants, the promises, God gave to the Jews, but He will not give up the right to show His grace to sinners because of the self-righteous selfishness of the Jews or of any one else. "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 04.16. CHAPTER 16 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16. Luke 16:1.--"There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods." Man generally is God’s steward; and in another sense and in another way Israel was God’s steward put into God’s vine-yard, and entrusted with law, promises, covenants, worship. But in all Israel was found to have wasted His goods. Man looked at as a steward has been found to be entirely unfaithful. Now, what is to be done? God appears, and in the sovereignty of His grace turns that which man has abused on the earth into a means of heavenly fruit. The things of this world being in the hands of man, he is not to be using them for the present enjoyment of this world, which is altogether apart from God, but with a view to the future. We are not to seek to possess the things now, but by the right use of these things to make a provision for other times. "Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." It is better to turn all into a friend for another day than to have money now. Man here is gone to destruction. Therefore now man is a steward out of place. THE UNJUST STEWARD. Luke 16:2.--"Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward." He is discharged from stewardship, has lost his place, but not the things of which he has the administration. Here is something far better than the alchemy which would turn all into gold. For this is grace, turning even gold itself, that vile thing which enslaves men’s hearts, into a means of showing love and getting riches for Heaven. To Israel God is saying: "You have failed in the stewardship, therefore now I am going to put you out." In Luke 15:1-32 the elder brother, the Jew, would not go in; and here, in Luke 16:1-31, God is putting the Jew out of the stewardship. With Adam all is over, but we have a title in grace to use, in a heavenly way, that to which we have no title at all as man. Luke 16:11.--"If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?" Our own things are the heavenly things; the earthly things are another’s; and if you do not use your title in grace in devoting in love these earthly temporal goods, which are not your own, how can God trust you with the spiritual things which are "your own?" Our own things are all the glories of Christ. All that is Christ’s is ours, for "we are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold" (1 Peter 1:18). We were bought with a price, it is true, not with money, but "with the precious Blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:19). God has not given us eternal life in order that we might be getting money. "No man can serve two masters," and if you want to be rich you cannot be seeking to serve God. We have to do our duty in this world, but it is never our duty to serve mammon and desire riches. Now He goes on to show that there are these everlasting habitations, when the grand results will appear of what has been done here. The old thing is fleeting away and the new coming in. The Jew, who refused to come to the feast, is loosening the law while rejecting grace. (See Luke 15:18-19) THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. Luke 16:19.--"A certain rich man, clothed in purple." The thought here is Jewish, and the great principle is that all God’s dealings as to distributive justice on the earth were no longer in force, and that now He only deals in grace. He draws aside the veil to show the result in another world. The rich man had his good things here, he belonged to the earth, and the basket and the store belonged to him. His treasure was on earth, and his heart there too. But look into the other world and see the result--"torment." The good things have changed now. "The rich man died and was buried; and in Hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment." "And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores," "and the beggar died." Was he buried? Not a word about it, for he belonged not to the earth, "he was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom." He who had the "evil things" down here was carried to the best place in Heaven. Then mark, it was not the afflictions, sores, etc., of Lazarus made him righteous, any more than the riches of the rich man made him unrighteous. God having done with the earthly things, no earthly circumstances are a mark of God’s present favour or the reverse; though, no doubt, God’s dealings with Lazarus were the means of bringing down his pride, breaking the will, and so preparing him for the place He was going to take him to Luke 16:31.--"If they hear not Moses and the prophets." Here this solemn truth comes out that even the resurrection of Christ will not convince them; for if they refuse to hear God’s Word as they have it, they will not hear the testimony of God, even though One rose from the dead; and we know they did not. This chapter is to let in the light of another world upon God’s ways and dealings in this. The whole world is bankrupt before God, so that man is now trading with another’s goods. When man rejected Christ he was turned out of his stewardship. This is man’s position. We should, therefore, dispose of everything now in reference to the world to come, according to this permission in grace revealed in Luke 16:1-31, to use the things of which we have the administration. If we are serving mammon we shall not get the blessing of serving God in the sense of God’s gifts, for it is retributive justice here in a sense. If you are not faithful in another man’s, who will give you that which is your own? If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you are loving money, you cannot have your heart filled with Christ. We are not to be "slothful in business," but "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," and for this He opens Heaven to us. Not as He said to Abraham, "Unto a land that I will show thee." He has shown Heaven unto us, having opened it to us in grace. It is the revelation of grace that gives power over earthly things. May the Lord keep before us a living Christ as our light for guidance and salvation to walk and trust in! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 04.17. CHAPTER 17 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17. We have seen the great principle of divine grace in contrast with self-righteousness, and the Jewish economy, which refused its Messiah, the Son of God, set aside to make way for bringing to light life and incorruption through the Gospel. Luke 17:1.--"Then said He unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come; but woe unto him through whom they come." We enter here on the spirit and way of serving, now that the world to come was let in upon the conduct and faith of the disciples in this world, for none could serve two masters. God is carrying on a work--in a little child perhaps--but it is His own work, and individual faith is needed in the path of a rejected Christ. Among those who professed to follow Him and His glory on the principle of faith there would be, alas, many scandals. It was not now, nor yet, to be a reign of judicial power when the Son of Man would gather out of His kingdom all scandals and them which do iniquity. Satan’s power is permitted; the exercise of faith is required. It is a time of proving by the prevalence of evil that which lasts because of God. The Cross must be taken and self denied. It is a hard lesson, but blessed when learned. The Cross and the glory are always connected. The Cross must be on the natural man, not on sin merely, so as to break the will. Christ had no will, showing perfectness; but we need the Cross practically as the means of communion by breaking down that which hinders. Then, again, the whole system of the world is a stumbling-block. There is not one thing in it which is not calculated to turn the heart from God. Take the merest trifle, dress, vanities in the street, flattery of man, of brethren perhaps, all tend to elevate the flesh. What a different thing is Heaven opening on a rejected Saviour! And this is our light and pathway through the world, for now the Heavens are opened to faith, as we pass through it to Him whom we see in glory. There is an active, energetic flow of God’s love in carrying on souls. Is our walk a witness? Take care you are not a stumbling-block. You may say a person must be very weak to feel such or such a thing. But it is the very reason why he is to be cared for. The Lord give us never to hinder but to help the weak! These things are the stumbling-block of the enemy, and the man by whom they come is so far an instrument of Satan. The Lord loves His little ones. Better for that man that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea than that he should offend one of them. INSTRUCTION IN FORGIVENESS. Luke 17:3.--But suppose a person does something to stumble you, what then? "Take heed to yourselves." Your part is to forgive. Take heed to yourselves, jealous and self-judging. "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." What! if he trespass often, "seven times in a day?" Yes, if he "seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him." Watch incessantly yourselves, and see to it that the spirit of love (the power of unity and the bond of perfectness, as we know from elsewhere) be not broken, nor the spirit of holiness, that the peace be not false. Blessed path! What condescension to our weakness and danger in the introduction of grace, and the moral judgment of present things, which are the aliment of the flesh and the domain of the world! Watchfulness against self and grace to others bring us through, rising like a life-boat above all breakers. Luke 17:5-10.--"Lord, increase our faith." In such a position there would be need of faith and the energy proper to it. The apostles led of God, though perhaps seeing but the brighter part of the difficulty, and with a confused sense of this new position, pray for an increase of faith. The Lord answers by setting forth the fulness of its energy. For faith realises a power which is not in the person, and thus acts without . limit. He applies it also, though in general terms, to the removal of the obstacles of a system which might present the form of what was good and great, but fruitless. In every need we may draw upon God. All consists in looking simply to Him. All things are possible to him that believes. For it is God accomplishing His will, and He has willed to accomplish it by man and to honour Himself in man, after being dishonoured of Satan in and by man; but this in faith according to His will, till the Lord Jesus returns in power and glory. God is at work, and if you are co-workers under Him you could believe that He is, and say: "Let this be done and this." Is it nothing to wield God’s power? If you know not what it is to be opposed by Satan you will feel how blessed it is to call in the power of God. Your place and work may be very humble--outside--no matter what, still you need God’s power to be little. What the Lord says in Luke 17:7-10 is not applicable to a careless servant. If he has neglected his work he is a slothful one. But I am an "unprofitable servant" when I have done all that I am commanded. Am I neglected? It is to try me. Something needs it. Perhaps I want to learn that God can do without me. Now that Christ is rejected God is at work. If He uses me it is a great honour. If He lays me by because self was elated it is a great mercy. He is saying, as it were: "Be satisfied with Myself, be content to know I love thee." Are you content with His love? Do you want man’s honour or your own? Remember that when you have done all it is the time to say "unprofitable servant." THE TEN LEPERS. Luke 17:11-19.--"Ten men that were lepers." The history which follows shows that when God brings in new power those who have had the previous privileges are the last to rise above them into what is better, but there is a fate wrought of God in the heart which sets free from the subsidiary forms thrown round God’s will in the past economy. Thus recognising God in Jesus, it carries the soul beyond the law of a carnal commandment, and associates it with Him in whom is the power of an endless life. It occupies us with His person who is above all, planting us not in dishonour of the law ("yea, we establish the law" through faith), but in the liberty wherewith the truth--the Son--makes free. All were cleansed by the Word of divine power. The nine went on to show themselves to the priests, acting on the word of Jesus, and thus far in faith. But the Samaritan stranger perceived God’s glory in what had taken place, and so turned back to Jesus and aloud glorified God. The others owned the power which had come, but remained in their religious habits and associations. He, less pre-occupied with outward institutions, returned to the source of power, not to its shadow and witness, which nature always uses to hide God. He had experienced divine power in Jesus, and instead of merely enjoying the gift, he most humbly, but in the boldness and propriety of faith, went back to own the Giver. "He fell down on his face at His feet giving Him thanks." He wanted no priest. The priest did not, could not, cleanse, but only discern and pronounce a man clean. Evil had levelled the Jew and the Samaritan. They were alike cast out of the presence of divine communion by the leprosy which afflicted them. But He who healed lepers under the law was He who gave the law, and the word of Jesus at once recognised the law and manifested the Jehovah who crave it. The gratitude of faith was a readier reasoner than the instruction of the law; for the blessing afforded by the work and presence of Jesus was to the nine the means of keeping up Jewish distinction, to the tenth it was the evidence of divine goodness. To him, therefore, it was complete deliverance. He has by faith arrived in grace at the fountain head from which the law itself proceeded, and was let go in peace, made whole by his faith, having liberty from God and with God, giving thanks and glorifying Him, and withal knowing how acceptable it was in His sight. How many reasons might have been pleaded for going on and not returning to Jesus! How might the nine Jews have said: "You are ordered to go and show yourself to the priest." But faith goes straight to the heart of God, and there finds all grace and a dismissal in the liberty of grace. To him who returned to Jesus, cleansed and with heart-felt thanks, the priests were left behind. In spirit and figure the healed Samaritan was passed into another system by faith--the grace and liberty of the Gospel. It is blessed thus to be at the source of power and goodness, and there only does God put now those who believe. If under the law before, we are become dead to it by the body of Christ that we should belong to Another--to Him who is raised from the dead. It is this way alone that glorifies God, however men may plead the latter. Thus only can we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received, not the law, but the reconciliation. In Him, thus known and enjoyed, we have all and more than all than the priests ever conceived. We have communion with the Father and Son by faith in God fully revealed. Luke 17:19.--We have to do with Him in Heaven now, not with a temple and priests on earth. "Arise, go thy way." You have found the person and glory of the Lord. You are beyond the priests and the temple, your faith has pierced the veil and found One greater than both. The rest went their way cleansed to be under the law. Stupified by Judaism, they did not return to glorify God. All this, at the point of the Gospel we are arrived at, is full of importance. It is another light thrown on the passing away of the law and of that dispensation. THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Luke 17:20.--In the next verses the question was actually raised as to the coming of God’s kingdom. The Pharisees asked when it should come, and the Lord places them on their plain responsibility. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," or outward show. It should not be said, "Lo here!" or, "Lo there!" for that kingdom was then there among them. The King was speaking to them. Ought they not to have known Him because He came in grace? If He had humbled Himself to know their sorrows and to die for their sins, was that a reason for not discerning His greatness and moral perfection manifested in ten thousand ways? Did not His holy love to the poor and guilty prove plainly enough who He was? If man’s heart had not been opposed to all that was the delight of God in the kingdom, if his eye had not been blind to all that was lovely and of good report, he would have felt that the lower Christ stooped the more wonderful were His works. Luke 17:21.--To His disciples He had other things to say. He was rejected and leaving them. Suffering awaited them. Trying as their position might now be as the companions of His rejection, the days would come when they would long in vain for one of those days when they had enjoyed blessed and sweet intercourse with the Son of Man. They would as Jews in the land feel the difference. Then Satan, to allure and deceive in that day, would lead men to say, "Lo here!" or, "Lo there!" but the disciples would know its falsehood. There was no hope for the nation which rejected Christ. The King had been there, but was refused; He was no longer "here" or "there." This day the Son of Man would be as the lightning flashing from one quarter under Heaven to another. But first He must suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation, i.e., the unbelieving Jews. THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN. Luke 17:24.--"So shall the Son of Man be in His day." It is evident that while the Lord takes this name of Son of Man to His disciples as revealing a relation higher and wider than that of Messiah (the link of which was broken and gone in the nation’s ruinous rejection of Him), the whole of this instruction is Jewish, and shall find its accomplishment properly in a godly remnant of the latter day. The Christian part is not spoken of here, for that is association after a heavenly sort with Christ, and we have its great moral outlines, at least, in Luke 12:1-59. Here we are on the ground of responsibility, not of heavenly grace. We must separate the Church’s place with Christ from the government of the world by Christ. The very character of the predicted delusion confirms this distinction. For if men said to the Christian "Here is Christ" he would instantly know that it was of Satan, because we are to meet Him, not here or there on earth, but in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:1-18). But this is not the case when you come to the government of the world. There the hope rests on Jewish ground, and then the witnesses for God must go through tribulation such as has never been. Now, unless expressly forewarned they would naturally look here or there for the Deliverer. For in that character His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, and He shall come to Zion, and shall come out of it. "Jehovah shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies." All this differs from the Christian’s hope and his desire meanwhile, for we do not want our enemies destroyed, but converted, and we are looking to be taken from them all to Heaven with the Saviour, instead of waiting for Him to join and exalt us under His reign upon the earth. Luke 17:30.--"In the day when the Son of Man is revealed." But, again, the subject here is neither the past siege of Jerusalem nor the future judgment of the dead. Titus’ capture of the city was not like the lightning, but a long, fierce, hardly-contested struggle. Nor were the Jews up to the moment of the final stroke in a state of ease and carnal security, resting on the continuance of things as they were, as in the days of Noah and Lot. Suddenness of judgment is its first feature, certainty is the next, discriminating certainty, neither of which things could be fairly said of the Romans. Without or within, at rest or at work, men or women, it mattered not, God would burn up the chaff and preserve the wheat, the one would be taken and the other left. Next, there is a local, earthly stamp, which excludes the scene from that of the great white-throne judgment. For there is no resemblance between the judgment of the dead and the deluge or the fate of Sodom. It is the end of the age, not of the world, and is a judgment on a temporal people, and more especially on their city. For they were not to return into the house if on the house-top, and if in the field they were not to turn back. None of these things could be said of the dead, any more than the bed or the mill. It would be no time for human motives, artifices, or concessions (Luke 17:23). Faithfulness to the Lord and His testimony would be the true and saving wisdom. The day of the Son of Man’s revelation was in question, His judgment of the quick, and especially of a generation which has rejected and caused Him to suffer. Luke 17:37.--If they asked, "Where?" the solemn word for conscience was, where the body, the corpse was, the swift, inevitable judgments of God would fall. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 04.18. CHAPTER 18 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18. We saw from Luke 17:20-37 that the kingdom of God was presented, first, in the person of Jesus as a question of faith, not of outward show, nor of a "lo here!" or, "lo there!" And, secondly, in the way of judgment, which should deliver the remnant by the execution of divine vengeance on their enemies. The first eight verses of our chapter complete the prophetic warning, and show that the resource of the righteous in the last days will be prayer. Nevertheless, though the parable has that special application to the future oppression of God’s witnesses who will then be found in Jerusalem the instruction, as usual with this Gospel, is made general so as to suit any or all kinds of difficulty by which men might be tried. THE UNJUST JUDGE. Luke 18:1.--"And He spake a parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Faith would be put to the test. If God were looked to, and not merely the blessing, men would not faint, though there was no answer. They would go on, always looking up, though all seemed against them. The widow represents those who have no human resource; their resource would be constancy in prayer. Such will be the godly seed in Israel, for it is the remnant, not the Church, which is here meant. They will plead with the judge to avenge them of their adversary. Their patience and confidence may be sorely tried, but they will not cry in vain. Luke 18:6-7.--"And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?" He may be slow in taking up their cause; but when once He shall rise up a short work will He make on the earth. Meanwhile patience must have its perfect work. In Jesus it had its full perfection. There was the rejection and the reproach of men, the forsaking of disciples, the power of Satan, the cup of God’s wrath. But He went through all to the glory of God. In detail we, too, have to be sifted, and to find all circumstances against us, but God for us, yet more than if we had outward help, miraculous power, the Church all right. Even joy may hinder our entire dependence on God, making us forget practically that the flesh profits nothing. When no circumstances lead you to have any hope, is your hope then in Him? The flesh may get on for a long while, as in Saul; but faith only can wait with all against it. It is then the divine life depending on divine power. Thus it was in Christ pre-eminently. "I believed, therefore have I spoken" (2 Corinthians 4:13) . He went down into the dust of death, and has introduced a wholly new order of things. And we, having the same spirit of faith, we also believe, and there-fore speak. "Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:16-17). Christ is dead, risen, and now set down at the right hand of God. Having this life, we are put to the test practically to learn the lesson of death and resurrection, where nothing but God can sustain. In the parable there are two considerations. If the unjust judge hear and act for the defenceless, be the motive what it may, will not God? But this is far from all. God has His affections, not only His character, but objects of His delight. "And shall not God avenge His own elect?" It never can become the righteous God, who taketh vengeance to make light of evil or let the wicked go unpunished. For then how shall He judge the world? He notices the cry from the oppressed day and night, and it is the cry of His own elect. Luke 18:8.--"I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." But will there be the faith that expects His interference? They will cry from distress, and God will hear. Nevertheless, the question is raised: Will there be when the Son of Man cometh that faith on the earth which is founded on God known in peaceful communion? Will it not rather be the cry of the righteous in bitterness of spirit, a cry forced out of them, and not the cry of desire? THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. Luke 18:9. "Two men went up to the temple to pray." We have next the moral features of, and suited to, the kingdom, the characters which are in harmony or discord with the state of things introduced by grace. The Pharisee and the publican set forth, not the doctrine of atonement or of justification by faith, but the certainty that self-righteousness is displeasing to God, and that lowliness because of our sin is most acceptable in His sight. Luke 18:11.--The Pharisee does not set God aside. He "stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank Thee." But then he thanks God for what he is, not for what God is. The only hope of the publican was in God Himself. He was very ignorant, no doubt, but he had the right spirit to get at God. Light had broken in and shown he was a sinner, and he submitted to the painful conviction, and confessed the truth of his state to God. He was cast on God’s mercy to his soul. He dared not appeal to justice, he did not ask indifference, but that mercy which measures the sin and forgives it. The revelation of grace had not yet come in, the work of reconciliation was not yet done, so that the publican stood "afar off;" but his heart was touched, and God was what he wanted. If a soul is brought to a sense of sin now it need not, and "’tight not, to stand afar off. The grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared. Nevertheless, though he did and could not thus know grace, the publican gives God and himself their true character. It was not full knowledge, but the knowledge as far as it went was true. Luke 18:14.--"I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Universal truth! but where so shown as in Jesus? For if the first man, exalting himself, was abased to Hell, He who was God made Himself of no reputation, humbled Himself to the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him. In one sense men cannot humble themselves, because they are sinners already, and cannot go lower; a saint may. True humility is forgetfulness of self. This is illustrated yet more by the incident that follows. Luke 18:15.--"And they brought infants unto Him, that He would touch them." It is the lowliness of real insignificance, as the former was because of sinfulness. Who would be troubled with beings of such little consequence? Not the disciples, but Jesus. The Lord delighted in them, and that is the spirit of the kingdom of God. And here, too, a general moral maxim comes out . If a man is to enter that kingdom all confidence in self must be broken down, and the truth be received simply as a little child hears its mother. If it is not so, God and man have not their place. When He speaks all I have to do is to listen. This is the humility of nothingness, as the other was on account of sin. THE RICH YOUNG RULER. Luke 18:18,--"And a certain ruler asked, . . .What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Here is the question of doing in order to obtain eternal life, not salvation for a lost one, but that which searches the heart to the bottom. The young man was a lovely character, looked at as a creature. For if there are the ravages of sin in the world, there are traces of God there too. This ruler did not see God in Christ. Morally attracted, he came to learn to do good, without a doubt of his own competence. In Jesus he only saw a perfectly good Man, and one therefore eminently able to advise and direct him in the same path. Sin, on the one hand, and grace on the other, were altogether ignored by him. He knew neither himself nor God. There is no man good. All are gone astray. Man is a sinner, and needs God to be good to him. He is incompetent to do the good which satisfies God. The Lord took up the young ruler on his own assumption that he could do good for the purpose of bringing out what he was. The good Master that he had appealed to puts to the test what his heart really is. Luke 18:22.--"Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast; . . . and come, follow Me." Would he give up self-importance? After all he loved his riches too well. "He was very sorrowful, for he was very rich." Had not such things been promised as a blessing to the Jews? Christ shows them to be a snare. But then they do much good. Nay, are they good for your heart? It is not that they may not be used in grace; but the man did not know his own heart. Good is not there, nor the strength to produce it. Every motive which governs man is rooted up by the Cross. But all within is bad, and I can never work a thing fit for God out of bad material. I need God, therefore, who can give me a new and holy nature, who can be merciful to me because He is above all sin. The spring of all good is that it flows from God and not man. It is an impossibility, as far as man is concerned, that any should be saved. Sin has ruined man and all his hopes. If one looks at the means he can avail himself of they are wholly useless to save him. But "the things which are impossible with men" (Luke 18:27), said the Saviour, "are possible with God" (Mark 10:27). Such is the sole foundation for the sinner. Luke 18:28.--"Lord, we have left all and followed Thee." If Peter is quick to speak of the devotedness of the disciples in leaving all and following Jesus, the Lord shows the certainty that every loss for the kingdom’s sake will turn into manifold gain, both now and in the world to come. DEATH AND RESURRECTION FORETOLD. Luke 18:31-33.--But He binds it all up with what was coming on His own person. They were going up to Jerusalem, but for what? He, the Messiah, "shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death." All hopes must end here: "Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more" (2 Corinthians 5:16). Even He, if He is to deliver the lost, must come down to the dust of death. Christ has no association with sinful man. How then can He deliver? He must die for us; He cannot take corruption into union with Himself. A living Christ, we may reverently say, could not deliver us, consistently with God’s nature and character; redemption was a necessity. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." But if it was the only means of a holy salvation, man’s full wickedness came out in the rejection and death of Christ. He hated what is in God and He who is God--hated both the Son and the Father. All question of human justice is settled and negatived for ever. Luke 18:34.--Alas! "the disciples understood none of these things," neither His shame and death, nor His resurrection. It was the accomplishment of what the prophets had written concerning the Son of Man. But they knew not what He said nor what they wrote. The death of Christ would manifest what man was, and what God was; His resurrection would evince the power of life that can deliver the dead. But He was not understood. Luke 18:34 closes that part of our Gospel which shows the bringing in of the new and heavenly dispensation. With Luke 18:35 we enter on the historical account of the Lord’s final intercourse with the Jews. "Son of Man" was the general character of the Gospel, but now, in the midst of Israel, He takes up that of Son of David. Jericho was the first place Israel had to conquer when they crossed the Jordan, and a special curse was pronounced against it. But Israel had not walked in obedience, and the Messiah enters not as the King in outward glory, but as the rejected Jesus of Nazareth, with blessing for the remnant that received Him in faith. HEALING THE BLIND MAN. Luke 18:35.--"And it came to pass that as He was nigh unto Jericho." It is not come nigh, as if it were necessarily His first approach, but a general expression, just as applicable to His being nigh on His leaving the city. (Cp. Matt. and Mark.) Luke 18:35.--"A certain blind man sat by the way side begging, and he cried, saying, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." He was rebuked by many, but there was the perseverance of faith, and he cried so much the more, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." Here was a sample of the gathering to the Name that Israel rejected. The eye of the blind was opened then, as it will be in the remnant by and by. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 04.19. CHAPTER 19 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19. Luke 19:1-10.--Next we have the account of "a man named Zacchaeus," for the Spirit of God did not tie Luke to the mere order of time, and morally viewed it was the fitting sequel to the healing of the blind man. Found only in this Gospel, it is a striking illustration of the grace which receives a man, no matter how low, and in the face of Jewish prejudices. For a publican, a rich chief of the publicans, was justly an object of abhorrence to those who regarded him as the expression of Gentile dominion. All was wrong through sin, and Israel was not humbled. Still it was a sad position for an Israelite, however honest and conscientious Zacchaeus might be in it. But it was the day of grace, and "he sought to see Jesus." There were difficulties, hindrances in him and around; but faith perseveres in spite of opposition. As the blind man was bent on his object, so was the rich publican set on seeing Jesus. This marks the working of God’s Spirit, the apprehension of the worth of the object. We want it and more of it, we know enough to want more. It is an appetite produced by the Holy Spirit. It is a terrible thing if we as Christians have not this craving, this hungering and thirsting after a greater enjoyment of God, for where this is not, deadness and apathy of soul have come in. CONVERSION OF ZACCHAEUS. Luke 19:5.--Jesus came to the place and saw him, and said unto him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully." He had not yet the full knowledge of Jesus, but his desire had been met, and he had joy. It was neither law nor glory, but a hidden Messiah come in full grace. There was abundant evidence who He was, but in grace He was come down where they were. No matter what people thought. Finding Jesus is everything. Zacchaeus had the answer to the want which divine grace had created. Grace does not give at first the knowledge of Christ’s work; there may be little or no understanding that we are made the righteousness of God in Him. Hence the first joy often wanes, because, when conscience is accused, I want the consciousness of that righteousness. The first joy is constantly that of discovering that we possess the felt need of the soul for Christ; but the full question as to righteousness may still have to be met in the conscience, though, of course, every believer in possessing Christ does knowingly possess divine righteousness. Nevertheless, much as there is to learn, there is joy. New interests are awakened, new desires arise, a new insight is obtained into good and evil. When there is a deep sense of what it is to be lost and saved the world (man) is a light matter. But when the pressure on the conscience is removed too often nature resumes a sort of place, and then Christ is not all and everything to the saint . Zacchaeus’ heart is opened. There is confidence which tells itself out. There might be ever so much honest effort to satisfy conscience in his false position, but, after all, what a place it was! Men murmured. The Lord passed all over. Self-defence was needless. The Lord did not accuse, and speaks of nothing but the salvation that was that day come to the house. Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham, and the Son of Man was come to seek and to save that which was lost. What could a Pharisee object? There had been a work with the conscience of Zacchaeus, but the Son of Man was come, and salvation was the word. He brings it . He gave what Zacchaeus had little thought of. He was come to meet the need He had created. He was come to seek, i.e., to produce the desire; and to save, i.e., to meet that desire. NEARING JERUSALEM. Luke 19:11.--The Lord was now "nigh to Jerusalem," and so He added a parable to correct the thought that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear, for Jerusalem is the city of the great King, and the question of His rejection would be closed there. He shows, on the contrary, that He was going away, going to a far country, to Heaven, where He was to receive the kingdom and to return. The time was not come to set up the kingdom on earth. Meanwhile, the business of His servants was to trade with the money He delivered them. When He returns, having received the kingdom, He assigns them places according to their faithfulness; for in Luke it is a question of man’s responsibility; in the corresponding parable of Matthew God’s sovereignty is the point. Difference of gifts appear in Matthew, difference of rewards in Luke. In Luke each servant receives a mina from the Lord; in Matthew all who gained in trading enter alike the joy of their Lord. Luke 19:13.--Here the whole force is occupy. "Occupy till I come." Our position is serving a rejected Saviour till He comes again. We are not yet to share in the glory of the kingdom. When He returns all will be disposed of impartially, and there will be that which answers to authority over ten cities and over five. The righteousness of God is the same for us as for Paul; but as there is very different service, and different measures of fidelity, so there will be speciality of reward. No doubt it is grace that works, still here there is reward of faithful service. The secret of all service is the due appreciation of the Master’s grace. If one fears Him as an "austere man" there is unfaithfulness, too, even on one’s own principles. Luke 19:26.--"Unto every one which hath shall be given" is a universal principle. When through grace there is the realisation in our souls of the truth presented to us we are of those "who have." But if a truth comes before a man, and he talks about it without its being mixed with faith in the heart, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. Truth, if it reveals Christ, humbles me and deals with the evil within. Then it is not only Christ as an object outside me, but a living Christ in my soul. Knowledge, which has not power over the conscience, only puffs up. If truth be not acted on it troubles the conscience. But how often one sees a conscience, having lost the light, quite easy at a lower standard than before, rejoicing that it has lost its trouble, though the light of truth be lost with it! The soul has sunk below that which had exercised the conscience, and thus the whole standard, principle, and life are lowered, and opportunities of winning Christ lost for ever. Holding fast the truth--Christ--I have Him as it were a part of myself, and learn to hate the evil and to delight in the good, so that I get more till I grow up in Christ into the measure of the stature of His fulness. Common duties do not rob us of Him; from these the heart returns with fresh delight into its own centre. It is the heart clinging to vanity that spoils our joy; it is anything which exalts self and lowers Christ, an idle thought, even if allowed in the heart. As to the citizens, the Jews, on whom He had rights as King, their will was against Him, not only hating Him there while among them, but, above all, sending the message after Him, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." Unsparing vengeance must take its course on them in His presence. ENTERING JERUSALEM. Luke 19:28.--Jesus entered Jerusalem as Messiah. His rights as Lord of all were to be asserted and acted on (Luke 19:29-36). He presents Himself for the last time to Israel, in the lowliness of grace, which was of far greater importance than the kingdom. This gives rise to the most marked contrast between the disciples and the Pharisees. The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with loud voice, saying, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord: peace in Heaven and glory in the highest." Some of the Pharisees appeal to Him to rebuke the disciples, but learn from His lips that if these were silent the very stones would cry out. There must be a testimony to His glory (Luke 19:37-40) . When Jesus was born angels announced it to the poor of the flock, and the heavenly host praised God, saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace"--good pleasure in men. Such will be the result, and the angels anticipate it without reference to the hindrances or to the means. But Christ was rejected here below; and now the disciples say, "Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest." When the question of power is raised in order to establish the kingdom there will be war then (Revelation 12:1-17). In fact there can be no peace in Heaven till Satan and his host are cast out. Then will the King be established in power when the obstacles shall be taken out of the way. Psalms 118:1-29 celebrates this, His mercy enduring for ever, spite of all the people’s sins. It is the song of the latter day. If God sends peace to the earth in the person of His Son it is in vain, not as to the accomplishment, but as to present effect. Meanwhile to faith there is peace in Heaven, and when this is asserted in power against the evil spirits in the heavenly places there will be blessing indeed. Oh, what a time will it be! What a relief to the working of God’s grace! For now it is ever toil and watching. What, always? Yes, always; and that is not the rest. But then it will be, as sure as God takes His great power and reigns. "The Lord shall hear the Heavens" (Hosea 2:1-23) . There will be an unbroken chain of blessing, and that, too, on earth. It will not be one "building, and another inhabiting," but blessing flowing down and around to the lowest and the least. Till then, as now, the word is suffering in grace, not victorious power. Never fear persecution, it will make your face shine as an angel’s. But God could not be silent if His own Son were cast out. He might leave Him to suffer, but not without a testimony. If there were no others the stones would speak. And so if we are faithful and near to Christ, that will turn for a testimony. WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM. Luke 19:41-44.--"He beheld the city, and wept over it." Here we have, not the cursing of the fig tree, but the spirit of grace in the Lord’s weeping over the city. The counsels of God will surely be accomplished, but we ought also to know His real tenderness in Jesus. Those tears were not in vain, whatever the appearances. It was the time of Jerusalem’s visitation, but she knew it not. We ought, as having the mind of Christ, to know when and how to interfere spiritually. We are the epistle of Christ, whereby the world should be able to read what God is. Christ manifested Him perfectly. But what did He find in the people? See Luke 19:45-46.--God declares His house to be one of prayer. Men, the Jews, had made it a den of thieves. It was a terrible moral estimate, but this is the true way to judge, i.e., having God’s Word to take facts as they are. We are ignorant and morally incapable of judging without the Word of God. Let the eye be fixed on Christ and our judgment be formed on things around by the Word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 04.20. CHAPTER 20 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20. Luke 20:1-8.--The first question raised was by the scribes as to the authority of Christ and its source. Jesus questions them about the baptism of John: "Was it from Heaven or of man?" They reasoned without conscience. They owned their incompetency rather than acknowledge His Messiahship. The simple child of God receives the Word as certainly as Christ gives it. Reliance on God’s Word is the only sure ground. How can you be certain? God has said it. If God’s speaking requires proof, I must have something more sure and true than God. Is the Church? Alas! alas! If God cannot speak so as to claim authority without another to accredit what He says, there is no such thing as faith. PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD. Luke 20:9-16.--The parable of the husbandmen sets forth the Lord’s dealing with Israel, to whom the vineyard was first let, and upon the rejection of "the Heir" the gift of it to others. Nor was this all. The rejected stone becomes the head of the corner. Whosoever fell on that stone should be broken; but on whomsoever it fell utter destruction would be the result. The past sins of Jerusalem illustrate the first; for the second we must wait for the execution of judgment when the Lord appears. Luke 20:19-26.--The question of tribute to Caesar was very subtle. They used the effect of their own wickedness to tempt the Lord. Abstractedly, the Jews ought not to have been subject to the Gentiles. And, moreover, the Messiah was come, the Deliverer of Israel. If He said obey the Gentiles, where was His delivering power? If He said rebel they would have had an excuse to deliver Him to Pilate. Because of Israel’s sin God has broken down the keystone of nations, and given power to the Gentiles. The Jew has been rebellious under the sentence, and ever craving deliverance from their thraldom. But the Lord answered with divine wisdom. He put them exactly in the place where their sin had put them; Caesar’s things are to be rendered to Caesar, and God’s things to God. MARRIAGE AND THE RESURRECTION. Luke 20:27-38.--After settling the question as to this world between God and the people He next meets the Sadducean or sceptical difficulty as to the next world. "In he resurrection, whose wife shall she be?" The Lord shows the place of the risen saints in entire contrast with the world. The idea of a general resurrection is set aside. If all rise together, there is uncertainty, a common judgment; but if the saints are raised by themselves because they are children of God, leaving the rest of the dead for another and distinctive resurrection, a resurrection of judgment, all is changed. No passage of Scripture speaks of both rising together. The resurrection is that which most of all distinguishes, and this for ever. It is the grand testimony to the difference between good and bad. The saint will be raised because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells in him, the application to his body of that power of life in Christ which has already quickened his soul. It is a resurrection from among the dead, as was Christ’s. So here, "they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age," for such it is, "and the resurrection from the dead, . . . they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God." Luke adds another characteristic point omitted elsewhere: "All live unto Him." It is the present blessed living unto God of those who have died and await the resurrection from among the dead. DAVID’S SON AND LORD. Luke 20:41-44.--The Lord puts His question: "How is David’s Son David’s Lord?" This was just what the Jews could not understand. It was the hinge on which turned the change in the whole moral system. He had taken the place of the holy dependent One, a pilgrim as others, and He had drunk of the brook by the way. He was going on in meekness and quietness, but living by the refreshments which came from God His Father. Thus having emptied Himself, humbled Himself, He is now exalted by God. This great universal principle, "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased," is fully exemplified in the two Adams. The first Adam, man’s nature, would exalt itself to be "as God," until in its full ripeness anti-Christ will exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. Satan tempted man at the beginning to make himself like God, and at the end God shall send them strong delusion to believe a lie. Satan not being able to exalt himself in Heaven will attempt to do it through the seed of man, but the end shall be abasement (Isaiah 14:12-15) . In the second Adam we have Him who was God humbling Himself, going down, becoming obedient unto death, even the vilest, and then we see that humbled One going back to the place of power at God’s right hand, but as Man as well as God. God highly exalted Him, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow. Having been obedient all through, in humiliation, He is exalted to be David’s Lord. This took Him out of the line of Jewish promises, though as David’s Son, of course, He had them. The Jews did not understand the Scriptures, and fulfilled them though not understanding them. God’s ways have gone on through all, manifesting His grace and patience towards man. He placed man on the earth, and then sent law, prophets, etc., until man gets to the end in rejecting all, God tries man, and then brings in the new Man, who is the fulfilment of all His blessed counsels--the second Adam. Then He takes up the second Adam as the Heavenly Man into a heavenly place, and all now depends, not on the responsibility of man, but on the stability of God. Life, righteousness, and glory descend from Heaven. Is it life that is needed? God gives the life of Christ in resurrection. Is it righteousness? It is a divine righteousness that God gives. Is it a kingdom? It is the kingdom of Heaven. All flows down, not simply from God in grace, but from the place which man has in glory, from the counsels of God about the Heavenly Man in glory. He has first taken Him up, and thence the blessing flows down. The Man Christ Jesus has fully met all man’s responsibilities. This is the reason of the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel, and also that of the kingdom to come. The Gospel is the power of God, and the kingdom is to be set up in Heaven. The King is gone into the far country, and when He returns it will be to bring in the kingdom of Heaven. All the counsels of God now take their centre and seat in Heaven. Thus, in the largest way, the turning point in all the plans and counsels of God is Jesus being set at the right hand of God. All the character, the stability, and the perfectness of our blessing takes its source from the exalted Jesus. The character of it is heavenly; the stability is what God has done; and the righteousness that fits me for it is God’s. The Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, has come down to bear witness to Him on which the peace of the soul rests, even on the accomplished righteousness of Him who is taken up into glory. His office is to work within, and make us manifest what God is down here. All this we have as the result of Christ, instead of accomplishing the promises as David’s Son, bringing them in as David’s Lord. Mark the moral blessedness of this general principle: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Christ humbled Himself, not was humbled, that is another thing. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." That is what we are to do--take the lowest place. We cannot do this till we are Christian;; but it is our glory to take the lowest, and hear Him say "Come up higher." "He hath left us an example that we should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21). The Lord Jesus has been rejected as David’s Son. He will come forth as David’s Lord. Now, while He is thus hidden, we see the Church’s place. We are "hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3), and have our portion by faith, as united to Him, while He is out of sight. The Holy Ghost having come down gives us a place as associated with Him in all the blessedness of the Father’s house, and in all the glory which He has to be displayed by and by. The place of Eve was one of union with Adam in the dominion over all things (Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 5:2). We find the Church in the display of Christ’s glory only as by grace the bride and companion of Christ, never as part of the inheritance. Viewed even individually, we are "joint-heirs with Christ." It is of the last importance to the saints in these days to apprehend the distinct place which we have as one with Christ, the Heavenly Man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 04.21. CHAPTER 21 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21. At the close of Luke 20:1-47 and the beginning of Luke 21:1-38 we have a most instructive, though painful, contrast between the selfish hypocrisy of the scribes, whom He condemns before the people, and the real devoted love of "the widow casting in two mites," whom He singles out for honour. Remark also that the Lord knows how to separate the intention of a sincere soul from the system that surrounds it, judging the whole state of that with which the individual is associated. Observe, further, the difference of giving one’s living and one’s superfluity. It is easy to compliment God with presents, and thus really minister to self; but she who gives her living gives herself in devotedness to God, and proves her dependence on God. Thus the two mites of her who had these only expressed all this perfectly, for there was need and everything else to hinder, while the applause of men and the pride of the donor found no place here. For Jewish splendour the act had little worth; but the Lord saw, and bore witness of the poor widow, blessed in her deed. Luke 21:5-8.--The account which the Lord gives in this Gospel of the sorrows of Jerusalem is also, like the preceding, much more allied to the simple fact of the judgment on the nation and the change of dispensation. It differs much from Matthew 24:1-51, which fully refers to what is to arrive at the end; while our Gospel bears more than the first two on the then present time and setting aside of Jerusalem. Hence, Luke plainly sets forth the siege and destruction by Titus and the times of the Gentiles. Let it be observed also that the question in verse 7 extends only to the predicted destruction. Consequently in what follows we have the judgment on the nation, taken as a whole, from its then destruction till the times of the Gentiles (with whose economy this Gospel is so much occupied) be fulfilled. Nation should rise against nation, signs from Heaven and sorrows on earth follow. And before all these the disciples would be objects of hostility, but that would turn for a testimony instead of destroying theirs. They were to go on testifying, while the unhappy devoted city where they were filled up its iniquity. The Lord would permit trial, but not a hair of their head would be lost. But this would close. The sign given here is in no wise the abomination of desolation, but an historical fact--Jerusalem encompassed with armies. Its desolation now approached. They were then to flee, not to return. These were days of vengeance (it is not said of the unprecedented tribulation, as in Matthew, which is only in the latter day) . All that was written was to be fulfilled. Great distress there was in the land, and wrath on this people. Slaughter first and captivity afterwards wrought their cruel work of devastation, and Jerusalem till this hour abides the boast and prey of Gentile lords, and so must it be till their day is over. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. Luke 21:8-19.--In these earlier verses the Lord dwells on the dangers, duties, and trials of the disciples before the sack of Titus. Specially were they to beware of a pretended deliverer, and of the cry that the time, i.e., of deliverance, was at hand. Neither were they to be terrified by wars or commotions, any more than seduced by fair promises. These things must first be, but the end not immediately. Besides, it was not only confusion and woes and signs of coming change and evil outside. Before all these they them-selves were to be in affliction and persecution for Christ’s sake. Luke 21:20-24.--In these verses comes the actual judgment of the city and people, already judged virtually by His rejection. This extends down to our own days in principle. But all is not yet fulfilled. For in Luke 21:25 begins the Lord’s description of the closing scene--a judgment not on the Jews merely, but on the Gentiles also, for the powers of the Heavens, the source of authority, shall be shaken, as in Haggai 2:1-23 and Hebrews 12:1-29. This is not said to be immediately after the siege of Titus; but, on the contrary, room is left for the long course of treading down of Jerusalem under Gentiles, till their times are run out. It is in Matthew that we must look for the great tribulation of the last days, occupied as the first evangelist is with the consequences of Messiah’s rejection, especially to Israel. Therefore, it is said there, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days"--i.e., the short crisis of "Jacob’s trouble" yet to come. Here, however, after mention of the times of the Gentiles it is said that "there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them." Men were astounded because they saw not the end, and trembled as they were dragged along to some unknown, awful conclusion. For principles were at work, they knew not how, dragging them along whether or no. The coming of the Son of Man disclosed all the scene to the disciples. But it is clear from the circumstances, and especially from the character of the redemption spoken of (Luke 21:28), that it is a question, not of Christians, but of earthly disciples, and of an earthly deliverance by judgment here below. The Lord in mercy turns the terror of man into a sign of deliverance for the remnant of that day. THE COMING KINGDOM. Luke 21:31-32 are interesting in this point of view here, because they furnish remarkable evidence, first, that the kingdom of God does not mean the Gospel of His grace; and, secondly, that this generation cannot refer to the space of time from the prophecy to the destruction of Jerusalem. (1) For when they see these things coming to pass (and He had spoken of the final, universal trouble for the whole habitable earth, and not merely of what has befallen the Jews), they are to conclude that the kingdom of God is nigh. Now, even if it were only the Romans taking away their place and nation, and, still more, if it include the latter-day trouble, it is undeniable that the Gospel had extended far and wide before the first. In fact, the manifestation of its influence was declining rather before that time, as we see in the later epistles. But the things here seen were signs like the budding of the trees, and the kingdom of God is evidently to be at the coming of the King, when the Lord God Almighty takes His great power and reigns. That there was a partial, analogous judgment when Jerusalem fell is true, but Luke 21:25-28 ought to leave no doubt of a wider, subsequent judgment, with signs which introduce, not the sorrows of the Jews, but the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. (2) For a similar reason "this generation" does not apply to a mere lifetime, but is viewed morally, as in Deuteronomy 32:1-52, Psalms 12:1-8, and many other scriptures. It is here expressly put at the close, after not only the fall of Jerusalem, but the totally distinct scene of Christ’s coming in power and glory. THE ENDURING WORD. Luke 21:33.--"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." This expression is very solemn. Deeper interests were involved than a casual change as to Jerusalem. The time was wrapped up in purposed obscurity, but nothing more sure than the facts predicted. The Lord had provided for His then disciples what was needful, but also in the written Word for the like times to come. Still, though the principle be always true, Luke 21:34 clearly applies to a day to come on the earth. The privilege is to escape the judgments and stand before the Son of Man. This again is earthly, not the rapture to Heaven. The great moral principles, of course, remain true for all; specially indeed for those who, by virtue of a higher calling, can enjoy them in a more excellent way. Luke 21:37-38.--The Lord yet returned to give testimony, walking and working in the day; but His resting-place was there, whence He did depart, and where His feet shall stand in that day. Patient in service, He taught daily and early in the temple; at night He was separate from the judged city. His time was now come. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 04.22. CHAPTER 22 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22. Luke 22:1-2.--"And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill Him." How was the carnal mind shown to be enmity against God in rejecting Christ! Wickedness was summed up and brought out in all--people, priest, rulers. If a friend, he is a traitor; if disciples, they either fled when danger approached or denied Him when near. The religious chiefs who ought to have owned the Messiah took Him to the infidel power of the world. He who was in the place of judgment washed his hands, owning His innocence, but gives Him up to man’s will and rage. Thus man’s evil was brought into complete juxtaposition with that which was perfect, and this in putting Him to death. It is no use to look for good in man. Not that there are no amiable traits of nature, but God has no place at all if man is put to the test. Along with this is the picture of the Lord’s perfect patience through it all. THE BETRAYAL OF JESUS. Not man only, but Satan was there in temptation. It was the power of darkness as well as man’s hour. And the Lord Jesus passes through this scene of men’s wickedness and Satan’s power; His heart melted like wax, but the effect always being the manifestation of perfectness. An angel strengthens Him; for He was really Man, but perfect Man, enduring all that could try Him, and nothing brought out but perfect grace and perfect obedience. Whenever there was sorrow His love surmounts the suffering to help and comfort others. Luke 22:3-6.--"Then entered Satan into Judas." It is a solemn thought that the nearer to Jesus, if there is not spiritual life, the more a man resists God, and the more sure and sad an instrument of the enemy he becomes. If truth has been presented and not received nowhere has Satan so much power. This is a sample of Luke’s manner as to dates. The entrance of Satan into Judas was what was morally necessary to present here; not so the particulars. Strictly, he put it into Judas’ heart then, and entered after the sop was received. Covetousness was the means used; but though they plotted to betray and crucify Him in a corner this could not be. They were obliged to accomplish it according to God’s purposes. THE LAST PASSOVER. Luke 22:8-13.--"Go and prepare us the Passover." Then the light from behind the scene makes a passage. It is the Lord; and no matter what He suffers, or what is before Him, yet we find the divine knowledge and power. There is the chamber. What calm and peaceful dignity! It is no effort, nothing to display a character. All yields before the unwitnessed authority of this rejected Saviour--all but that to which it had been most manifested, the unrenewed heart of man. To the householder, unknown it seems to every eye but one, it was enough to hear, "The Master saith to thee." Luke 22:14.--How blessed to see such perfect human affections combined with His divine knowledge of all things. "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer"--like one leaving his family and first desiring a farewell meeting. When we see the divine glory in the person of Christ we find the human affections shining out. (Cp. Matthew 17:27.) It is this which gives Him a power and charm which no object else has, so that God can delight in man and man can delight in God. The Lord breaks every link with the old thing (Luke 22:16). It is not setting up the kingdom here, but setting up man with God when the old connection was impossible. He was taking a new place where flesh and blood could not enter. His death and resurrection introduce a new relation with God. The Lord distinguishes here between the paschal lamb and the wine, and both from the institution of His Supper. He entered in the fullest way into all the feelings of Israel, the Israel of God, into the interests of the people as such, till His rejection put them on other ground, and divine favour passed into another scene by the resurrection, becoming Himself the Substitute, the true paschal Lamb. His disciples held the foremost rank as to this fellowship, as we have Hushai the king’s friend. With them He desired the last testimony of parting and love. But while thus expressing His affection to them He assumes manifestly (Luke 22:18) the Nazarite character, which was always His morally, but now externally and painfully: "I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God come." He postpones His joy with them as in the common enjoyment of the kingdom till then. THE LORD’S SUPPER. Luke 22:19-20.--He institutes the memorial of His better redemption, of His self-sacrificing dying love. If He separated Himself now to God in His joy, it was not want of love to His disciples, but its fullest display. It was to be done "in remembrance" of Him. We remember Him suffering, dead, absent; we know Him as a present living Saviour. The new covenant is established in His Blood. We cannot in all the joy of fellowship with Christ above forget what brought us into it. On one side, it is a body broken and blood shed; on the other, it is Himself and all the perfectness of love in dying for us. We are united to Him as a risen Christ, but He calls us to remember Him as a dead Christ. The blessedness of this last is in the work He did alone, by virtue of which I am put in union with Himself, alive again for evermore. As to man’s part in it (Luke 22:21, Luke 22:23) it was treachery and wickedness. THE CALL TO SEPARATION. Luke 22:28.--The Lord then distinctly sets forth this calling to walk in His own lowliness, and not as the world. Earthly grandeur was recognised among the Jews, but now it was sentenced, like all their system, as the rudiments of the world. All other greatness, though under the form of being benefactors, was worldly. He was one that served. The grace of His heart sets them right without a reproach. He lets them know that whatever high place they sought He took a low one. He might have said: "Nothing will break down this horrid selfishness." Yet says He, "Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations." And He is the same now. What we should seek is to have as much of the burden of the Church as we can. Suffering thus with Him, His heart goes on with us. Luke 22:31-34.--Peter was bold enough in the flesh to enter temptation. But it is impossible for man to stand where it is a question of good and evil. He is a sinner, and cannot go through that trial. If God judges flesh comes to nothing. There is the weakness of human nature, but, besides, Satan’s title and power over man, who had brought out his own condition. in God’s presence and come under death as the judgment of God. I may have learned in grace that the flesh is thus profitless, but it must be learned by intercourse with the enemy if not with God. For Simon, the Lord prayed that his faith should not fail; all his self-confidence must perish. Nor did he distrust Christ like Judas, who had no faith. What enabled him afterwards to strengthen his brethren? He discovered that there was utter badness in himself when he meant best, and that there is perfect grace in Christ even when he did worst . Luke 22:35-38 show an entire change of circumstances. Previously He had protected them and supplied all as Messiah disposing of everything here. That was now gone since the Righteous One was being more and more rejected. He had come, able to destroy Satan’s power, but it was the Lord, and man would not have Him. That is the condition the world is in . He must be reckoned among the transgressors. What link could there be between God and man? Humanity is a condemned thing because it refused Christ. You may find a scrupulous conscience as to putting the money in the treasury, but no conscience in betraying and crucifying Him. But it is in a rejected dead Christ that faith delights. The Christ that man scorns, it requires faith and grace to own. But the disciples still rested on man’s strength, not on Messiah crucified in weakness, and said "Here are two swords." The Lord in saying "It is enough" alludes to their words, and implies that they did not enter into His mind. He did not want to say more. THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. Luke 22:39-46.--"Pray that ye enter not into temptation." There are siftings needed to exercise us and to judge flesh. Christ, of course, did not need this, but dealt with all in communion with His Father. To Him it was a path of obedience, a blessed opportunity of doing God’s will; to Peter it was Satan’s power. Christ did not speak of the wickedness of the priests, the will of the people, or the injustice of Pilate, but of the cup His Father gave Him. There was positive intercourse with God about the trial before the time came. And so it must ever be. It is late to put the armour on when we ought to be in the battle. A man living with God, when he gets into trial goes through it, in his measure, as Christ did. He stands in the evil day, because he has been with God when there was no evil day. On the Cross it was not a question of communion; in the garden Christ is in communion with the Father, as to Satan’s power, which was about to fall on Him. He felt all, but succumbed under nothing. Thus instead of entering into temptation He was in the highest exercise of spirituality accomplishing the will of God in the most difficult circumstances and the most perfect submission where it cost everything. Our Father never can lead us into sin, but He may into temptation, i.e., into the place of sifting, where the flesh is exposed, when this is needful, because hardness, or levity, or inattention to His patient warnings has come in. It is the last, and often necessary means of self-knowledge and discipline. Though it is great grace that He should take such pains, yet .seeing our weakness and the terribleness of the conflict with the enemy, it well becomes us to pray that we may not be cast into the furnace. In such times a bad conscience drives to despair. The flesh in its undiscerning carelessness meets the trial in uncertainty, or carnal opposition, and falls. If, on the other hand, trial comes we learn our position before God--watching, prayer, entreaty, spreading all before Him in child-like confidence, but submissive desire that His will be done. The Lord was thoroughly Man in this, for an angel appears and ministers, strengthening Him. For the conflict of His soul was great; but it urged Him, in the realisation of the trial, to pray more earnestly. The effect of this is to see more clearly the power of evil and the sorrow, and that so as to act on the very body. He was in agony Himself, but always says "Father." He is, and speaks, in His relationship as Son; not yet the victim before God, but the sufferer in spirit, feeling all the depths of the waters He is passing through, but crying out of them to His Father. Satan tried to stop Christ with the difficulty when he could not beguile Him with the pleasure. But He went through all with His Father. At the Cross was another thing, the power of God against sin. Luke 22:47-53.--It is blessed to see these two things brought together--patience with men, and yet power to stop everything. Having been in an agony with God, He is calm before man. When the servant’s ear was cut off He puts forth His hand to heal. What a picture of man, what a picture of God, if we look here at Christ! PETER DENIES HIS LORD. Luke 22:54-62.--When we tremble before men it is when we have not been with God. Peter breaks down, proving the deceitfulness of the flesh. In Jesus, suffering as He was, there was nought to disable the perfect and simple action of grace at each moment required. When the cock crew He turned and looked on Peter, who remembered His word, went out, and wept bitterly. Luke 22:63-71.--The Lord spent the night, not before His judges, who took their ease till morning before they judged the Lord of glory, but with the men whom they employed, the object of all injury and insult. Then when it suited the convenience of the Jewish rulers they brought Him to their council; but the Lord knew it was not the time of testimony, and left them to their weakness. The presenting of Messiah to the Jews was finished. From this the Son of Man was to be seated at the right hand of God. All was settled with God, they could go on. They draw the right conclusion, and He conceals nothing. He was the Son of God. They must be guilty, not of mistake, but of condemning Him because He was the Son of God and owned it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 04.23. CHAPTER 23 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23. Luke 23:1-25.--Religious iniquity had now only to lead on the world to finish the wickedness in which itself had taken the lead. The civil power must give in to the wilful evil of the apostate people of God. This is the history of the world, and, of the two, the religious side is always nearest to Satan. The chief priests manifested their enmity by their accusation, which was calculated to arouse the jealousy of the governor, charging on Christ what was entirely false as to Caesar, but with the subtle groundwork of that which they knew (reckoning on His truth) He could not deny. CHRIST BEFORE PILATE. The guilt of the Jews was complete, as was also that of the Gentiles, for Pontius Pilate declared Him innocent, and desired to release Him. Cruel enough himself, the Roman governor disliked cruelty in others, but he would not go so far as to save Christ from the malice of His enemies. It would have cost something to do this; it threatened his interest, and Pilate gave way. The one thing that is strong in the world is enmity against Christ. But there was another form of evil to be introduced, to wit, Herod, the apostate king of apostate Israel; and in rejecting Jesus all are friends, however jealous and divided. How terrible the union between the fourth beast and God’s external people? But if the Gentiles failed shamefully in protecting the just, and hence fell into basely unrighteous judgment, the activity of an evil will was with the Jews. Three times the opportunity of a relenting voice was given; but while the governor’s indifference was as plain as the disappointed insolence of Herod every time the cry of the people increased in ardour for the death of the Messiah. Pilate, therefore, released the guilty Barabbas, whom they desired, to appease the Jews, and "delivered Jesus to their will." Luke 23:26-31.--"They led Him away." It was a terrible time and full of violence. It mattered little whom they met if they could only force them to help in their iniquity. Their hour was struck, and all fell into the same mass of rejection and insult of Christ, save that the Jews acted with more knowledge. The forms of privilege became sorrows and harbingers of terror, they must be laid low, for all was untrue now. The natural feelings, touched by affecting circumstances, as we see in the weeping daughters of Jerusalem, did not change this. They understood neither the Cross of Christ nor the ruin which awaited themselves. One may be affected with compassion, as if one were superior to Christ, and fall under the judgment consequent on His rejection and death. No humiliation of Jesus put Him out of His place of perfect capability of dealing with all others from God. Alas! it was not only on Pilate and Herod, nor on the chief priests that judgment was coming, but on the women that lamented Him, unconscious of their own state, which was under condemnation. Neither natural conscience, nor natural religiousness, nor natural feelings will do, nothing short of the glory of God in Jesus. And if He, the living and true Vine, who indeed bore fruit to God, was thus dealt with, what must be the lot of the fruitless and unprofitable, for such branches were they? Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Man rejects the green tree, and God rejects the dry. Life was there in the person of Jesus, and they would not have it, and are therefore given up. It cannot be had now but through a dead and risen Christ. THE PLACE CALLED CALVARY. Luke 23:32-43.--"And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him." There is the setting aside of all they looked for here in present deliverance, for Christ must die. But if we are also to see how low man can go morally we learn, at the same time, that Christ in His grace can go lower still. "Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." Therefore, whenever you see an attempt (and it is the attempt of man’s religion) to connect a living Christ before death and resurrection with living sinners be sure there is error. It unites sin with the Lord from Heaven, and it denies that its wages is death. Had Christ delivered Himself, as the rulers, with the people, said in derision, He would not have delivered us. He must pass through death and take a higher place, even in resurrection, and there He takes us. Per se the incarnation cannot bring life and redemption to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. We need to be set beyond all in resurrection life in Christ. Luke 23:39.--Thus, then, in spite of the grace of Jesus in intercession, Jews and Gentiles joined in mockery of the crucified. Yet God had prepared even here the consolation of His mercy for Jesus in a poor sinner. But no sorrow, no shame, no suffering brings the heart too low to scorn Jesus; a gibbeted robber despising Him (Luke 23:30). There is an instinct, so to speak, in every unrenewed heart against Jesus, which was not quelled even by that power of love in which He was going down into the deepest humiliation to suffer the wrath due to sin. Say not that you are one whit better than this wretched man. "There is none righteous, no, not one; none that understandeth; none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become unprofitable" (Romans 3:10-11). In two words, there is "no difference." You are as bad in God’s sight as the railing, impenitent thief. See now the fruit of grace in the other. Grace works in a man who was in as low a condition as he who, notwithstanding his own dying agony and disgrace, had pleasure in outraging the Lord of glory; indeed, both had done it (Mark 15:32). But what more blessed and certain than the salvation of this thief, now that he bows to the Name of Jesus? He is going to Paradise in companionship with the Lord whom he owned. THE TWO ROBBERS. It is often said that there was one saved in this way, that none might despair, and but one, that none might presume. The truth is that this is the only way whereby any poor sinner can be saved. There is but one and the same salvation for all. There was evidently no time for him to do anything had that been the way, but all is done for him. That very day his knees were to be broken. How could he get into Paradise? Christ wrought his deliverance through His own death, and his eye was opened in faith of what Christ was doing. Luke 23:40.--Nor was it only that Christ’s work was wrought for him--the ground on which his soul rested for salvation. There was a mighty moral work wrought in him through the revelation of Christ to his soul by the Spirit who convinced him of his utter sinfulness. "Dost not thou fear God," is his rebuke to his railing fellow, "seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we, indeed, justly." It was not all joy. Conscience had its place. There is a real sense of good and evil, for he has got in spirit into God’s presence, and this, making him forget circumstances, elevates him into a preacher of righteousness. And if he owns the rightness of his own punishment in honest confession of sin, what a wonderful testimony he bears to Christ! "This Man hath done nothing amiss." It was just as if he had known Christ all his life. He had a divine perception of His character. And so with the Christian now. Have you such jealousy about the spotlessness and glory of Christ that you cannot help crying out when you hear Him slighted? He believed that He was the Lord, the Son of God, and so could answer with assurance for what He had been as a man. As completely a man as any other, the holy obedience of Christ was divine. "This Man hath done nothing amiss." What a response in the renewed heart to the delight of sinlessness! His eye glances, as it were, over the whole life of Christ; he could answer for Christ anywhere, because he has learned to know himself. Luke 23:42.--Then he says, turning to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom." As soon as he can get rid of what was said, when he has done with his testimony to the other thief, his heart turns to Christ instinctively. How undistracted he was! Was he thinking of his pain,. or of the people around the Cross? As is always the case, where God’s presence is realised, he was absorbed. In the extremity of helplessness, as to out-ward appearance, he hears the Shepherd’s voice, and recognised Him as the Saviour and King. He wants Christ to think of him. The judgment of men was that Christ was a malefactor. The weeping women saw not who He was. But no degradation of circumstances could hide the glory of His person who hung by his side. He owned Jesus as the Lord, and knew that His kingdom will certainly come. The other malefactor thought only, if he thought at all, of present deliverance; but this one saw the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. His mind was set, not on being free from bodily pain, but on the loving recognition of Christ in glory. He looks not to earth, nor nature, but to another kingdom, where death could not come. There was not a cloud, not a doubt, but the peaceful, settled assurance that the Lord would come in His kingdom. TO-DAY IN PARADISE. Luke 23:43.--And the Lord gave him more than his faith asked. There was the answer of present peace. It was not only the kingdom by and by, but, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." As if He said: "You shall have the kingdom when it comes, but I am giving now soul salvation; you are to be associated at once with Me in a way far better and more than the kingdom, blessed and true as it is." For indeed the work was accomplished on the Cross which could transport a soul into Paradise. If the Saviour had taken the sinner’s place, the sinner is by grace entitled to take the place of the Saviour. The poor thief might know but little of Christ’s work and its effects, but the Holy Spirit had fixed his heart on the person of Christ. The words of the Lord (Luke 23:43) imply the atonement, by virtue of which we are made fit to be His companions in the presence of God. The work of Christ is as perfect now for us as then for him; it is as much accomplished for us as if we were already caught up into Paradise. How distinct this is from anything like progress of the soul to fit it for Heaven! And how wonderful that such a soul should be a comfort to the Saviour! He had come into the condemnation; yea, and wrath was on Him to the uttermost. And now the converted thief was a bright witness of perfect grace and eternal salvation through His Blood. THE NINTH HOUR. Luke 23:44-49.--The scene was closed which let in the light beyond through the portals of a heart now purged by faith, and the darkness proper to the hour took now its suited course--specially over Israel, it would seem. "And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." Thus the way into the holiest was made manifest by the act which had its place in this darkness, and God in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice shone forth upon the world. Darkness of judgment as it was to one, the light broke through, and access was opened within the veil. All was finished, and the Lord with no hesitating voice, but aloud cried, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." This was not Jewish blessing (for the living, the living, they shall praise thee), but it was much higher. It was sonship, death overcome, and the occasion merely of presenting the spirit safe, happy, confident, notwithstanding death, into the Father’s care and presence. This is an immense principle, and, short of resurrection, of the highest possible importance. Death in the hands of Jesus--what a fact! The centurion in the course of duty struck at least in natural conscience glorified God, and owned a righteous Man on the Cross . The masses were troubled and went away, auguring no good. Those who knew Him, and the women from Galilee, were more nearly interested, but in fear stood afar off. Luke 23:50-56.--But the providence and operation of God, the righteous judge, took measures for the body of the Holy One. If the more prominent witnesses were set aside, others feeble in the faith are found active and faithful in the post of danger, confession, and attachment to the Lord. How often the difficulties which frighten some force others forward! So was it with Joseph of Arimathea, for Jesus must be "with the rich in His death." The women, too, in true but ignorant affection, make useless preparation, awaiting the just Jewish time for a Lord who had passed far beyond their faith. The resurrection was soon to usher in the dawn of a bright morrow; for the honour of the grave, like the intentions of the women from Galilee, was of a Jewish character, and all this was now closed in death. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 04.24. CHAPTER 24 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24. Luke 24:1-12.--What now occupies our evangelist is the risen Man again with His disciples, and the testimony to the world founded on the resurrection--this new truth and power above all the principles of natural life. The door of the Cross is shut on all that man in the flesh is, and the new thing is introduced in this risen Christ. THE RISEN MAN. Resurrection is an entirely new condition; but even the Jew could not have the sure mercies of David without it. Man, lawless and under law, has had the sentence of death pronounced on him. He may pride himself on his natural powers, but he is without God. He has rejected the One who came to him, a Man in perfect, divine grace, and in so doing has fully shown what he is. Therefore says the Lord, "Now is the judgment of this world" (John 12:31). An entirely new ground appears, and this is here brought out in Christ Himself. Our bodies are still the same, but the life, character, motive, means, end are altogether new in the Christian. "Old things are passed away, and all things are become new." The women, preoccupied with their own thoughts and affections, come with their spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus, while He was already living in the perfume of His work and offering before God, having effected all which placed man anew before God the Father, the last Adam in living acceptance. Then they were thrown into an unlooked-for difficulty at first, for they did not find the Lord’s body. Neither did they know He was risen. They under-stood not that there was neither judgment nor sin remaining. There may be real and great love to Jesus without understanding this. But soon the question was put which involved the answer to all. "Why seek ye the living One among the dead?" These women, faithful if ignorant, were not forgotten of the Lord, and He whose ways are grace has preserved their memorial and their early seeking of the Lord, thence to bear the message to the apostles themselves. But to them they were as idle tales. Peter’s heart, broken and contrite, was the more affected by what he heard, and he ran to the sepulchre, and having seen the linen clothes laid aside there, went away wondering. Surely it was a marvellous secret, baffling and rising above all human thought! Luke’s statements of circumstances are always general. In John we have more details, especially developing Mary Magdalene’s devoted affection to His person, but showing also how little she as yet knew of the power of God in resurrection. THE EMMAUS JOURNEY. Luke 24:13-27.--The touchingness of this interview with the Lord on the journey to Emmaus need not be spoken of . How the Lord draws out all their thoughts! But He is here altogether as a Man, and presenting the truth they speak Jewishly. How naturally their minds rested always in the same circle! He was a prophet, and they hoped He might redeem Israel. The fact of the resurrection occupied their attention, but it had no link with the counsels of God. They were astonished, and, like others before them, there they rested. Christ takes up quite other ground, though it was only in the way of intelligence and not yet the power of the Holy Ghost. "O fools," says He, "and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written." These He expounds, and opens their understanding to them, for though viewed completely as Man, He operates divinely and spiritually on their mind. "Ought not," said He--was it not the counsel of God plainly revealed in His Word? What He presses is the mind of God in the Scriptures relative to the Christ. This was an immense step; it took them out of their. egotism and the egotistical character of Judaism. Their thought was of the redemption of Israel by power. They had no idea of a new and heavenly life, though, of course, they had it. Even as to the Christ death must come in if God were to be vindicated and man really blessed, and so Moses and all the prophets had taught. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" not set up His kingdom down here, but "enter into His glory." Luke 24:28-32.--Then we have a most graphic account of the scene at Emmaus. "He made as though He would have gone further." Why should He, to their eyes "a stranger," intrude? "But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And it came to pass, as they sat at meat with Him, He took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight." This was not celebrating the Lord’s Supper with them; yet was it taking up that part of it, the act of breaking the bread, which was the sign of His death. He was not now merely as the living bread that came down from Heaven, but as He had said, "This is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51), not which I will take, but give. He did take flesh, of course, in order to give it; but it was His death that became the life of the world. For Jew or Gentile there was no other way. The condition of man was such that he could be quickened only in connection with the Cross. All that was in man, as a child of Adam, was under sentence of death and judgment. Christ, by grace, entered into the place of man, came where I am, that I might be on equal terms with Him, as far as acceptance with God; His broken body shows me that I have got that which brings me to God. A dead sinner can find life and divine favour only in a dead Christ. So the Lord had taught in John 6:1-71. To eat His flesh and drink His blood must be in order to have life. It was not any longer a question of His bodily presence merely as incarnate. Redemption was absolutely necessary and faith in it. Christ is to be fed upon, not alone as a living Messiah, nor only as One alive again for evermore in resurrection; but, besides that, as He who died, His body broken and blood shed in atonement. Thus it was the Lord was known to the disciples at Emmaus, though it was not the Lord’s Supper. Their hearts had been opened by what encouraged them in connecting the truth of God with the facts of human unbelief and Christ’s rejection, and thus turning the cause of their despair into joy and peace by the sight of the counsels of God in it. But His actual revelation was by the affecting circumstance of personal association in the breaking of bread. It was Himself who broke the bread. There could be no mistake. He was gone in a moment, "vanished out of their sight." But His object was gained. They had life through His death. And He was risen. The body was a spiritual body, and had flesh and bones, which a spirit has not. He had shown them not only the fact, but its necessity. Why does He not say "did," but "must rise from the dead?" Because all the sentence must be passed on the first Adam. All that I have now is in the last Adam. I am not only quickened, but quickened together with Christ, having all trespasses forgiven. Christ, by His death, puts them away for all who believe, and for such, all that belonged to the first Adam is clean gone. This is power over the principle of sin, which as a fact is still within. And hence the apostle bids the believers reckon themselves dead to sin. In the power of the Holy Ghost giving me the consciousness of new life in Christ I am to mortify my members here below, because I have to apply the death of Christ to my old nature. The monkish principle tries to kill sin in order to get life, but the apostle shows that we must have life by faith in Christ in order to treat sin as a dead thing (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 7:1-25; Romans 8:1-39). Luke 24:34.--The holding of the disciples’ eyes was of importance. To have recognised Jesus would have been, in their state, to have satisfied their thoughts. The Lord, on the other hand, engaging their hearts by all God said of Him, furnished them with scriptural intelligence; and then in the act of intimate friendship, which recalled the great truth of His death, brought to mind His great deliverance. "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Filled with the concentrating event which began a new world, they hastened back to Jerusalem, where the eleven and others were occupied. "The Lord," said the latter, "is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." Then the two told the tale of their wondrous journey, and still more wondrous recognition of Jesus in breaking of bread. The Lord was proving that there should be independent witnesses. JESUS IN THE MIDST. Luke 24:36.--Thus their hearts were prepared. Yet in the fact of this new thing, "the beginning, the first-born from the dead," there was that to which earthly hearts could ill assort themselves. "Jesus Himself stood in the midst." The Lord presents Himself as the very same Man all through and in every way. In His intercourse with the two it had been just the same; all was human, though what no man ever was, and what none but God could be, was shown in and through it. Here also His hands, His feet, His previous wounds are presented. Luke 24:41-43.--He takes of fish and of an honeycomb, and eats before them. Two sentiments had overpowering possession of the disciples--joy to see Himself again, and astonishment. The Lord presents the truth of resurrection, not as a doctrine, but in living reality, thus restoring their souls and making them know Him most familiarly, risen indeed, but yet a Man properly and truly. Luke 24:44.--"And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." This showed the standing before God in justification of life and liberty. But another thing was wanted before men--power. This is not the question before God, where the Christian stands as Christ stands, "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6) . But the testimony of the Christian here below, whether preaching or anything else, needs power to be given. This power was promised to the disciples, but even yet they must wait for it. We must not confound service of any kind with standing. The power of the Spirit is requisite to live before man--power over and above regeneration, and distinct from spiritual understanding. This last is needed to give us the apprehension of our standing in Christ; and when He opens our understandings to understand the Scriptures it does not puff up. It is a revelation of Himself, and leads to communion with Him. Yet the other want still remains. Even this knowledge is not necessarily power. The testimony and purpose of God in the Word has to be fulfilled. The great truth of a suffering, risen Christ reaches out to the Gentiles. In Matthew His association with the Jewish remnant is taken up. Consequently He meets them in Galilee after, or before, His resurrection, and thence flows the commission to go and disciple the Gentiles. But all this is dropped in Luke. Jerusalem, Emmaus, and Bethany, above all, are prominent, for thence He ascends to Heaven, where He has to do with poor sinners. The testimony was to begin at Jerusalem expressly. The riches of His grace must be shown first where there was the deepest guilt. The Cross broke this link with the Jews as a Jewish Messiah, but opened the door of repentance and remission of sins, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. THE MASTER GLORIFIED. Luke 24:45-53.--"And ye are witnesses." He came in the need of power. "And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." This all-important index of Christ’s exaltation could only be obtained for man by the reception of Jesus in Heaven when redemption was effected. The Holy Ghost had ever acted in creation, in providence, in revelation, in regeneration, and in every good thing, but He had never been given before. That hung on the glory of Jesus. To that the Holy Ghost could become a servant in man, for it was the divine counsel and perfection of love. Meanwhile, before this endowment, they returned with great joy to the city which their Lord had left. Their hearts were filled with the influence of this great fact, that their Master was glorified, though it was still associated with Jewish thoughts. And these two elements reproduce themselves in the Acts, particularly in the earlier part. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 05.00. THE PRESENT EFFECT OF WAITING FOR CHRIST ======================================================================== THE PRESENT EFFECT OF WAITING FOR CHRIST by John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby, (November 18, 1800 - April 29, 1882) was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren, and considered the father of modern Dispensationalism. He made at least 5 missionary journeys to North America between 1862 and 1877 working mostly in New England, Ontario, and the Great Lakes Region, but took one extended journey from Toronto to Sydney by way of San Francisco, Hawaii, and New Zealand. He used his classical skills to translate the Bible from the original texts. In English he wrote a Synopsis of the Bible and many other scholarly religious articles. He wrote hymns and poems, the most famous being, "Man of Sorrows". He was also a Bible Commentator. (Wikipedia) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 05.01. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== There are two things which constitute the joy of a Christian, which are his strength on the road, and the object constantly before his heart. - First, present communion and fellowship with God the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. - Secondly, the hope of the coming of the Lord. And these two cannot be separated without loss to our souls, for we cannot have all the profit without both of them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 05.02. THE PRESENT EFFECT OF WAITING FOR CHRIST ======================================================================== If we are not looking for the coming of the Lord, there is nothing that can separate us in the same way, from this present evil world; neither will Christ Himself be so much the object before the soul, nor yet shall we be able, in the same measure, to apprehend the mind and counsels of God about the world, if there be not this waiting for His Son from heaven. Again, if this hope be looked at apart from present communion and fellowship with God, we shall not have present power, the heart being enfeebled by the mind being too much occupied and overborne by the evil around. For we cannot be really looking for God’s Son from heaven, without at the same time seeing the world’s utter rejection of Him, seeing that the world itself is going wrong, its wise men having no wisdom-all is going on to judgment, the principles of evil are loosening all bands. The soul thus becomes oppressed, and the heart sad; but if, through grace, the Christian is in present communion and fellowship with God, his soul stands steady, and is calm and happy before God, because there is a fund of blessing in Him which no circumstances can ever touch or change. The evil tidings are heard, the sorrow is seen, but the Christian’s heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, and this carries him far above every circumstance. Brethren, we all want this; for to walk steadily with God we need both this fellowship and this hope. I do not believe a Christian can have his heart scripturally right, unless he is looking for God’s Son from heaven; for there could be no such thing as attempting to set the world right if its sin in rejecting Christ were fully seen. Moreover, there never will be a correct judgment formed of the character of the world until that crowning sin be apprehended by the soul. To a Christian who is looking and waiting for Christ to come from heaven, Christ Himself is unspeakably more the object before the soul. It is not that I shall get to heaven and be happy, but that the Lord Himself is coming from heaven for me, and for all the Church. It is this which gives its character to the joy of the saint; so Christ Himself says, "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Where I find my delight, there shall you find yours also, I with you, and you with me-for ever with the Lord. You may think to find good or produce good in man, but yon will never find waiting for Christ in man. In the world the first Adam may be cultivated, but it is the first Adam still; the last Adam will never be found there, being rejected by the world. And it is the looking for this rejected Lord which stamps the whole character and walk of the saints. Then again there is another thing connected with my waiting for God’s Son from heaven. I have not yet got the Person with me I love, and while waiting for Him I am going through the world tired and worn with the spirit and character of everything around me. The more I am in communion with God, the more keenly shall I feel the spirit of the world to be a weariness to me, although God still upholds my soul in fellowship and communion with Himself. Therefore, Paul says, in 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, "To you who are troubled, rest with us." (2 Thessalonians 1:7) I get rest to my spirit now in waiting for Christ, knowing that when He comes He will have everything His own way; for the coming of the Lord, which will be trouble to the world, will be to the saints full and everlasting rest. Still it is not that we are to be "weary and faint in our minds;" it is not right to be weary of the service and conflict. Oh, no! Father let me be victorious every day, but still it is not rest to be fighting. However, when walking with God, it is not so much thinking of combat, as joying in God Himself. I shall know it all better when I am in the glory, my soul will be enlarged, and more capable of enjoying what God really is; but it is the same kind of joy that I have now, as I shall have when He comes to be glorified in His saints, only greater in degree. And if this joy in God is now in my soul in power, it hides the world from me altogether, and becomes a spring of love to those in the world; for though I may be tired of the combat, still I feel there are people in the world that need the love which I enjoy and desire that they should possess (it is the joy of what God is for me that sustains me and carries me on through all the conflict), so that our souls will be exercised in both the fellowship and the hope. Thus if I look for Christ’s coming apart from this fellowship and communion with God, I shall be oppressed, and shall not go on steadily and properly. When the love of God fills my heart, it flows out towards all those that have need of it, towards saints and sinners according to their need; for if I feel the exercise of the power of this love in my heart, I shall be going out to serve others, as it is the power of this love that enables me to go through the toil and labour of service, from that attachment to Christ which leads to service, although through suffering for His sake. If my soul is wrapped up in the last Adam, attachment to Christ puts its right stamp upon all that is of the first Adam. When this love has led out into active service, then the conflict, doubtless, will be found. In 2 Corinthians 1:1-24 there is present blessing in the midst of trial; but in 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 it is tribulation, and not rest out of it till the Lord come - "That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 there is present blessing in the midst of the trial - "who comforteth us in all our tribulation" - so that if the sufferings for Christ’s sake be ours, there is, at the same time, the comforting of God in the soul. How rich a spring of blessing is this in return for this poor little trouble of mine! I get God pouring into my soul the revelation of Himself. I get God communicating Himself to my soul, for it is really that. I find it to be a present thing; it comes home to me, to my heart, this very joy of God - God delighting in me, and I in God. He identifies Himself with those who suffer for Him. If, therefore, the expectation of Christ and His constraining love lead us out into service, in the desire that others may share our blessing, and thereby bring us into trials or persecutions, how rich and sustaining are the consolations ministered to our hearts. "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." (2 Corinthians 1:5) May the Lord ever fill our souls with the sense of His own presence, and keep our hearts under the present power of waiting for His coming. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 05.03. WAITING ======================================================================== Psalms 40:1 It is Christ’s perfect life, and sorrows at the close of it, in which He refers to the faithfulness and goodness of Jehovah, so as to lead His people to confide in it, instructing them in this in which His perfection is shown. "I waited patiently for Jehovah." Patience had its perfect work - an immense lesson for us. Flesh can wait long, but not till the Lord comes in - not in perfect submission; and confiding only in His strength and faithfulness, so as to be perfect in obedience and in the will of God. Saul waited nearly seven days; but the confidence of the flesh was melting away - his army. The Philistines, the proud enemies, were there. He did not wait on till the Lord came in with Samuel. Had he obeyed, and felt he could do nothing, and had only to obey and wait, he would have said, "I can do nothing, and I ought to do nothing, till the Lord comes by Samuel." Flesh trusted its own wisdom, and looked to its own force, though with pious forms. All was lost. It was flesh which was tried and failed. Christ was tried. He waited patiently for Jehovah. He was perfect and complete in all the will of God. And this is our path through grace. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 06.00. PILGRIM PORTIONS ======================================================================== Pilgrim Portions J. N. Darby. This edition reproduced by permission, and modified from sedin.org Contents 1 — Sin 2 — Grace 3 — The word of God 4 — The Holy Spirit 5 — The Perfections of Christ 6 — Faith 7 — Peace 8 — Guidance 9 — Humility 10 — Trial 11 — Communion 12 — Conflict 13 — Devotedness 14 — Unbelieving fears. 15 — Separation from the world 16 — Joy 17 — Dependence 18 — Cross-bearing 19 — Looking unto Jesus 20 — Growth 21 — The presence of God 22 — Service 23 — Divine affections (1) 24 — Divine affections (2) 25 — Self-renunciation 26 — Songs of the night 27 — The Man of sorrows 28 — Love 29 — The all-sufficiency of Christ 30 — Divine energy 31 — Help from the sanctuary 32 — Rest 33 — The faithfulness of God 34 — Submission 35 — Satisfaction 36 — Nearness to God 37 — Backsliding and restoration 38 — The light of eternity 39 — Our needs and His fulness 40 — Power 41 — The divine heart 42 — Practical sanctification 43 — Praise 44 — Cheer for pilgrims 45 — The will of God 46 — Sympathy 47 — The courts above 48 — Christ is all 49 — Walking with God 50 — Confidence 51 — The heavenly light 52 — Our hope ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 06.01. SIN ======================================================================== Sin "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. Father! Thy sovereign love has sought Captives to sin, gone far from Thee; The work that Thine Own Son hath wrought, Has brought us back — in peace and free! First Week A single sin is more horrible to God than a thousand sins — nay, than all the sins in the world — are to us. It is the action of an independent will which is the principle of sin. God can let nothing pass; He can forgive all and cleanse from all, but let nothing pass. Christ is love; the greater sinner I am, the more need I have of Him. If all the sins that ever were committed in the world were congregated in your persons and were your own act, this need not prevent your believing in Christ and coming unto God through Him. Look at the state man is really in as regards the trust he puts in man rather than God. If his neighbour should ask him to do anything, though his conscience may tell him God hates what his neighbour wants him to do, still, rather than disoblige his companion, he will sin against God. Sinning and religiousness go on together. . . . Where the power of godliness is not, nearness to godly things is only the more dangerous. If our hearts . . . feel not sin, Christ felt it when He drank the cup and bore sin for us. If the heart does not feel the gravity of sin, not to the same point as Jesus knew it, but at least in some degree — if, feeble as it may be, the feeling of sin is a stranger to us — we have not at all entered into the mind of Jesus. Adam sinned and left God, because he thought more of what Satan offered him; he thought the devil a better friend to him than God: but he has since found out to his cost that the devil was a liar; that he never had the power of giving him what he promised, and that by catching at the devil’s bait; he has received his hook, and that "the wages of sin is death." On the cross hung the one spotless, blessed Man, yet forsaken of God. What a fact before the world! No wonder the sun was darkened — the central and splendid witness to God’s glory in nature, when the Faithful and True Witness cried to His God and was not heard. Forsaken of God! What does this mean? What part have I in the cross? One single part — my sins. . . . It baffles thought, that most solemn lonely hour which stands aloof from all before or after. Christ . . . died rather than allow sin to subsist before God. Directly grace acts in the heart, it gives the consciousness of sin; but, at the same time, the love of Christ reaches the conscience, deepening the consciousness of sin; but if this is deep, it is because the consciousness of the love of Christ is also deep. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 06.02. GRACE ======================================================================== Grace "The God of all grace." 1 Peter 5:10. There is rest in the calming grace That flows from those realms above What rest in the thought I we shall see His face, Who has given us to know His love! Second Week Oh! when will the heart of man, even in thought, rise to the height of God’s grace and patience? It is the love that is in God, not any loveliness in the sinner, that accounts for the extravagant liberality of his reception in Christ. What the natural man understands by mercy is not . . . God’s blotting out sin by the bloodshedding of Jesus, but His passing by sin with indifference. This is not grace. There is no giving in the "far country," not even of husks. Satan sells all, and dearly — our souls are the price. You must buy everything. The world’s principle is "nothing for nothing." Would you find a giver? You must come to God. Grace has no limits, no bounds. Be we what we may (and we cannot be worse than we are), in spite of that, God towards us is Love. His grace . . . is ever more astonishing . . . and it so connects itself with every fibre and want, too, of our hearts in Christ’s becoming man, that it brings us into a place which none can know who are not in it. And yet one is nothing in it, though united to Him who is everything — and to be nothing is to be in a blessed place. The law may torture the conscience, but grace humbles. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We see just two things in this — that the sinner is without strength, without riches. Like the poor prodigal, he has spent all he had, and now he comes to himself, and is about to return, he has nothing to bring with him. Like a shipwrecked mariner, all is thrown overboard, everything going adrift, and he himself struggling with the dark billows is just cast ashore, wearied and poor, having nothing! But blessed be God, if we have got to shore, God is there, and He is for us . . . and we know we shall not be cast out again, and that we may lay claim now to all things that God can give. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" The way I come at the sense of the immensity of sin is by the immensity of the grace that has met it. "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of grace in his kindness toward us by Christ Jesus." This is the way the angels will learn, and principalities and powers in the heavenly places, the meaning of "the exceeding riches of his grace." They will see the poor thief, and the woman of the city that was a sinner; ourselves, too, in the same place and glory as God’s Son! In the desert God will teach thee What the God that thou hast found; Patient, gracious, powerful, holy, All His grace shall there abound! The word, "Well done, good and faithful servant," sounds sweet in the ears, and most so in his who knows that by His grace alone can we be one or the other. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 06.03. THE WORD OF GOD ======================================================================== THE WORD OF GOD “The word of God endureth for ever.”“The word of God endureth for ever.” 1 Peter 1:10 Where’er we ope the pages, In which—Thy wondrous word! Man’s path through varied ages Is given us to record­— Of failure, ruin, sorrow, The story still we find; God’s love but brings the morrow Of evil in mankind. THIRD WEEK In these days when the word of God is so called in question, it is blessed to think how a single verse of scripture was sufficient for Christ for authority, and sufficient for the devil, who had not a word to say. I do not care for novel interpretations of scripture, cream lies on the surface. But, oh, how is the word its own proof, and how has it its own power, though surely nothing but the Spirit of God can give it that power in us. But in walking with God alone can we draw out its sweetness and feed upon it. I believe that the Spirit of God is a positive teacher in this respect, and may give, if He sees good, developed thoughts of its contents, but if rivers are to flow out we must drink for ourselves as thirsty for it. Let us now stop and ask ourselves, What has my mind been occupied with to day? What has it been running after? Could you say, “The word of Christ has dwelt in me richly”? Now, perhaps, we have been occupied with politics, perhaps with the town talk, or with something of our own, Has the word of our own heart, the work of our own mind, filled up the greater part of our day? That is not Christ. There is nothing more dangerous than the handling of the word apart from the Spirit … I know of nothing that more separates from God than truth spoken out of communion with God; there is uncommon danger in it. God reveals not His things “to the wise and prudent,” but unto “babes.” It is not the strength of man’s mind judging about “the things of God” that gets the blessing from Him; it is the spirit of the babe desiring “the sincere milk of the word.” … The strongest mind must come to the word of God as the new born babe. There is not a single word in the book of God which cannot feed our souls. Study the Bible … with prayer. Seek the Lord there, and not knowledge—that will come too; but the heart is well directed in seeking the Lord. I think … you have studied too much, and read the Bible too little. I always find that I have to be on my guard on this point. It is the teaching of God, and not the labour of man, that makes us enter into the thoughts and the purposes of God in the Bible … I do not think that any one will believe that I do not wish it should be much read, but I do wish it should be read with God. There is one Man who knows the truth, because He is the truth, who is satisfied with the written word, and that is the Lord. There is no craft of Satan that the word of God is not sufficient to meet. When this fleeting life shall be over that only shall abide which has been produced by the word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 06.04. THE HOLY SPIRIT ======================================================================== The Holy Spirit "Another Comforter." John 14:16 But God, in love, has freely given His Spirit, who reveals All He’s prepared for those, in heaven, Whom here on earth He seals. Fourth Week Let me ask you how you treat this divine Guest. I am now speaking reverently of God’s presence. How often do you think of it in the day, that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost? If the queen were to come, and for a time take up her abode with any of us, we should think of nothing else. . . . But what of the Holy Ghost who dwells in us? We think not of it half the day, we think of it if we do all things so as to please the Lord. The effectual presence of the Spirit crucifies egotism, and gives freedom of thought about ourselves while on the way; it occupies us with one object — Jesus. Where the life of the flesh ends, the life of the Spirit begins, and practically we have power in the life of the Spirit in proportion as the flesh is dead. To have the Spirit is one thing; to be filled with the Holy Ghost is another. When He is the one source of my thought, I am filled with Him. When He has possession of my heart, there is power to silence what is not of God, to keep my soul from evil, and to guide in every act of my life and walk. Sometime there may be need to rebuke . . . but the flesh cannot rebuke the flesh, nor will the flesh submit to it; but if you indeed walk in the Spirit, you will have God’s authority according to your measure, and Satan will yield to the Spirit. Habitual unprofitable speaking I think ought to be stopped. . . . I never could understand why the church of God is to be the only place where the flesh is to have its way unrestrained. It is folly to suppose this. I desire the fullest liberty for the Spirit, but not the least for the flesh. The Spirit is overflowing like "rivers of living water" from the soul of him in whom He has entered, flowing on all around; it may be on the good soil, or on the barren sand, but still His nature and power is ever to flow forth. We ought to be able to confound every enemy, not with man’s wisdom, intellect and understanding, but in the power of the Spirit. Do others not believe in it (the word of God)? I am not going to give up the sword of the Spirit because you do not think it will cut. I know it will cut, and therefore use it. When a man is not filled with the Spirit of God, who gives force to the truth in his heart and clearness to his moral vision, the seductive power of the enemy dazzles his imagination. He loves the marvellous, unbelieving as he may be with regard to the truth. He lacks holy discernment, because he is ignorant of the holiness and character of God, and has not the stability of a soul that possesses the knowledge of God . . . as his treasure — of a soul which knows that it has all in Him and needs no other marvels. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 06.05. THE PERFECTIONS OF CHRIST ======================================================================== The Perfections of Christ "He is altogether lovely." Song of Solomon 5:16 Yet sure, if in Thy presence My soul still constant were, Mine eye would more familiar Its brighter glories bear: And thus Thy deep perfections Much better should I know, And with adoring fervour In this Thy nature grow. Fifth Week The Lord Jesus . . . is the summing up of all possible beauty and perfection in Himself. What was then the life of this Jesus, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? A life of activity in obscurity, causing the love of God to penetrate the most hidden corners of society, wherever needs were greatest . . . this life did not shelter itself from the misery of the world . . . but it brought into it — precious grace! — the love of God. As Adam’s first act . . . was to seek his own will . . . Christ was in this world of misery, devoting Himself in love, devoting Himself to do His Father’s will. He came here emptying Himself. He came here by an act of devotedness to His Father, at all cost to Himself, that God might be glorified. The only act of disobedience which Adam could commit he did commit; but He, who could have done all things as to power, only used His power to display more perfect service, more perfect subjection. How blessed is the picture of the Lord’s ways! The more faithful He was, the more despised and opposed; the more meek, the less esteemed: but all this altered nothing, because He did all to God alone: with the multitude, with His disciples, or before His unjust judges, nothing altered the perfectness of His ways, because in all circumstances all was done to God. The Man Christ Jesus grew in favour with God and man. He was always the servant of everyone. The first thing that struck me some years ago in reading the gospels was, Here is a man that never did anything for Himself. What a miracle to see a man not living to himself, for He had got God for Himself. The gospels display the One in whom was no selfishness. They tell out the heart that was ready for everybody. No matter how deep His own sorrow, He always cared for others. He could warn Peter in Gethsemane, and comfort the dying thief on the cross. His heart was above circumstances, never acting under them, but ever according to God in them. Self-pleasing, self-exalting, self-advancing are ever the principles of men’s actions . . . In the blessed Lord . . . there was true devotedness of heart and affection, and service, without the smallest particle of self-seeking. . . . The very thing man so much covets, there was the perfect absence of in Him. "I receive not honour from man." We find admirable affections in the apostles . . . we find works, as Jesus said, greater than His own; we find exercises of heart and astonishing heights by grace . . . but we do not find the evenness that was in Christ. He was the Son of man who was in heaven. Such as Paul are chords on which God strikes, and on which He produces a wondrous music; but Christ is all the music itself. May God grant unto us to value the perfect beauty of that Jesus who came to us. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 06.06. FAITH ======================================================================== Faith "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." Galatians 2:20 Then would’st Thou that I should rejoice, And walk by faith below — Enough, that I had heard Thy Voice, And learnt Thy love’s deep woe. Sixth Week Faith makes me see that God is greater than my sin, and not that my sin is greater than God. Connect your service with nothing but God, not with any particular persons. You may be comforted by fellowship, and your heart refreshed; but you must work by your own individual faith and energy, without leaning on any one whatever; for if you do, you cannot be a faithful servant. Service must ever be measured by faith, and one’s own communion with God. . . . In every age the blessing has been by individual agency, and the moment it has ceased to be this it has declined into the world. The tendency of association is to make us lean upon one another. The simplicity of a life of faith has charms that they do not know who never tried it. One does not get rid of the difficulties of the path of faith by trying to avoid them, one must surmount them by the power of God. A difficulty may be a real one, but it is only for the unbelief of hearts that it is an obstacle, if on the path of God’s will; for faith reckons upon God . . . and difficulties are as nothing before Him. Experience ought to strengthen faith; but there must be a present faith to use experience. It is by faith that God is honoured. It is enough for Satan if he succeeds in frightening us away from the pure and simple path of faith. Faith acts on God’s behalf, and reveals Him in the midst of circumstances, instead of being governed by them. Its superiority over that which surrounds it is evident. What repose to witness this amid the mire of this poor world. It is characteristic of faith to reckon on God, not simply spite of difficulty, but spite of impossibility. I have not seen the Lord leave those who have given themselves up to work, trusting Him; and I have seen distress of spirit and greatly hindered usefulness in those who, through their wives or own hearts, have turned to other things to help wife or family here. Faith tested is faith strengthened; it is to have learnt your weakness, but to have learnt the faithfulness of God, His tender care even in sending the difficulties, that we may be there with Him. My resources are somewhat diminished . . . but it is all right: everything is right for faith. . . . "In everything give thanks," and if all come from God it must be right. There is One above . . . all able to bring about His thoughts, and he who has faith will find the sureness of His hand if He be really waited on. We are quick at seizing the reins when we see danger ahead; but the Lord knows better than we do what has to be done: in due season He will deliver all who look to Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 06.07. PEACE ======================================================================== Peace "Peace . . . which passeth all understanding." Php 4:7 And stayed by joy divine, As hireling fills his day, Through scenes of strife, And desert life, I tread in peace my way. Seventh Week It is a serious thing, whatever be the goodness of God, to find peace with a God of holiness. Christ has made peace; but He would have us feel what it is to have need of it, in order that we may know it. You look to getting the victory in order to get peace; we must get peace to get the victory — peace already made by Christ’s work — then you will get strength. We do not find it till we see we have none. The gospel of peace is ours in Christ; but I must have the spirit of peace in my heart. Peace has been made for us that we may dwell in peace. It is Christ’s work which gives peace to the conscience; but it is subdued will, having none of our own, which in great and in little things makes us peaceful in heart in going through a world of . . . trial. In all things . . . instead of disquieting ourselves . . . we ought to present our request to God with prayer, with supplication . . . so that, even while making our petition to Him, we can already give thanks, because we are sure of the answer of His grace, be it what it may. . . . It does not say, you will have what you ask; but God’s peace will keep your hearts. . . . Oh, what grace! that even our anxieties are a means of our being filled with this marvellous peace. One great evidence of my abiding in Christ is quietness. I have my portion elsewhere, and I go on. . . . No matter what it may be, we bring quietness of spirit into all circumstances whilst dwelling in God. The soul is not only happy in God for itself, but it will bring the tone of that place out with it. Does all trouble find your heart so resting on God as your Father, that when it is multiplied, it leaves your spirit at rest, your sleep sweet, lying down sleeping, and rising as if all was peace around you, because you know God is, and disposes of all things? Is He thus between you and your troubles and troublers? And if He is, what can reach you? The soul in communion with God will live in the spirit of peace. There is nothing more important, to meet the turmoil of the word, than getting into this spirit of peace. Nothing keeps the soul in such peace as a settled confidence in God. Without this a man will be continually excited, in haste, and full of anxiety. If the peace of God keep your hearts, you will have the triumph of it; nothing can be heard that is distinctive from it and that does not perfectly harmonise with it. The love and grace of God which set us in close connection with heaven fill our hearts, and we know how to carry to distracted souls that calm and peace which nothing in this world can destroy. A little leisure enables us often to see all things quietly with Christ’s eye. And stayed by joy divine, As hireling fills his day, Through scenes of strife, And desert life, I tread in peace my way. Seventh Week It is a serious thing, whatever be the goodness of God, to find peace with a God of holiness. Christ has made peace; but He would have us feel what it is to have need of it, in order that we may know it. You look to getting the victory in order to get peace; we must get peace to get the victory — peace already made by Christ’s work — then you will get strength. We do not find it till we see we have none. The gospel of peace is ours in Christ; but I must have the spirit of peace in my heart. Peace has been made for us that we may dwell in peace. It is Christ’s work which gives peace to the conscience; but it is subdued will, having none of our own, which in great and in little things makes us peaceful in heart in going through a world of . . . trial. In all things . . . instead of disquieting ourselves . . . we ought to present our request to God with prayer, with supplication . . . so that, even while making our petition to Him, we can already give thanks, because we are sure of the answer of His grace, be it what it may. . . . It does not say, you will have what you ask; but God’s peace will keep your hearts. . . . Oh, what grace! that even our anxieties are a means of our being filled with this marvellous peace. One great evidence of my abiding in Christ is quietness. I have my portion elsewhere, and I go on. . . . No matter what it may be, we bring quietness of spirit into all circumstances whilst dwelling in God. The soul is not only happy in God for itself, but it will bring the tone of that place out with it. Does all trouble find your heart so resting on God as your Father, that when it is multiplied, it leaves your spirit at rest, your sleep sweet, lying down sleeping, and rising as if all was peace around you, because you know God is, and disposes of all things? Is He thus between you and your troubles and troublers? And if He is, what can reach you? The soul in communion with God will live in the spirit of peace. There is nothing more important, to meet the turmoil of the word, than getting into this spirit of peace. Nothing keeps the soul in such peace as a settled confidence in God. Without this a man will be continually excited, in haste, and full of anxiety. If the peace of God keep your hearts, you will have the triumph of it; nothing can be heard that is distinctive from it and that does not perfectly harmonise with it. The love and grace of God which set us in close connection with heaven fill our hearts, and we know how to carry to distracted souls that calm and peace which nothing in this world can destroy. A little leisure enables us often to see all things quietly with Christ’s eye. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 06.08. GUIDANCE ======================================================================== Guidance "I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalms 32:8 Rise my soul! Thy God directs thee; Stranger hands no more impede: Pass thou on, His hands protect thee — Strength that has the captive freed. Light divine surrounds thy going; God Himself shall mark thy way: Secret blessings, richly flowing, Lead to everlasting day. Eighth Week The steps of a good man are ordered by Jehovah. This is a vast and precious blessing. . . . A young Christian may, in confiding zeal, not see so much the value of this . . . but when one has seen the world, what a pathless wilderness it is; it is beyond all price that the Lord directs our steps. If we look to Him all is simple; we see our way clearly, and we have motives that do not leave the soul a prey to uncertainty. It is the double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways. It is an amazing comfort for my soul to think that there is not a single thing all through my life in which God as my Father has not a positive will about to direct me . . . that I do not take a step but what His love has provided for. The Lord guide you . . . it is ever good to wait on Him, and not be in a hurry, or let our own will work. "I waited patiently for the Lord" is a word of Christ’s Himself, and He cares for us and directs in everything. I have no doubt that if we kept close to Christ, His Spirit would guide us in our intercourse with others. We are not always conscious of divine guidance even when it is there; but the word comes from Christ to the souls we have to say to, even if rejected. . . . But our part is to keep close to Christ, so that it should be "not I, but Christ liveth in me," and thus He acts in our thoughts and ways without our, at the moment, thinking of Him directly; but we always have the consciousness of speaking for Him, and of His presence. The Spirit and the word cannot be separated without falling into fanaticism on the one hand, or into rationalism on the other — without putting oneself outside the place of dependence upon God and of His guidance. The sheep know the voice of Christ, and if they have not got His voice they stop until they have. There is one voice they know. There are plenty of other voices, but they do not know them. Sheep are silly, stupid creatures; but they know the shepherd’s voice — that one voice. The moment Christ’s voice has reached me, it is enough; and this gives a peace and quietness in one’s path that nothing else does. It is not great wisdom or great strength that gives this, but it is hearing the Shepherd’s voice and knowing it. If not the shepherd’s voice, it is dreaded. "A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him." The Shepherd does not frighten. He gives strength and confidence; and His voice having once reached the heart, nothing else is needed. And, Saviour! ’tis Thee from on high I await, till the time Thou shalt come To take him Thou hast led by Thine eye To Thyself, in Thy heavenly home. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 06.09. HUMILITY ======================================================================== Humility "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." Matthew 11:29 O lowliness, how feebly known, That meets the grace that gave the Son! That waits, to serve Him as His own, Till grace what grace began shall crown! Ninth Week Pride is the greatest of all evils that beset us, and of all our enemies it is that which dies the slowest and hardest. God hates pride above all things, because it gives to man the place that belongs to Him who is above, exalted over all. Pride intercepts communion with God, and draws down His chastisement, for "God resists the proud." "Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well." The valley of Baca is a place of sorrow and humiliation, but one of blessing also. . . . With some of us this valley may be the loss of that nearest our hearts, or the thwarting of the will — something that will humble us; but it is a place of blessing. We get more refreshing from the painful than the pleasant things. . . . The refreshment and the blessing come from that which has pained us, humbled us, emptied us of self. He who is lowest and lowliest will be most blessed. Often the soul, by seeking joy, cannot get it; this would not purify and bless it and to bless God must purify. When emptied of self and seeking God we find joy. Shall I ever forget the humiliation of Christ? . . . Never! never! through all eternity. I shall never forget His humiliation on earth. While seeing Him in glory animates the soul to run after Him, what feeds the soul is the bread come down. That produces a spirit that thinks of everything but itself. . . . Go and study Him, and live by Him, and you will come out in His likeness, in all His grace and gentleness and loveliness. . . . The Lord give us to be so occupied with Him who was so full of love . . . so full of lowliness, that we shall manifest the same. True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of ourselves as in not thinking of ourselves at all. I am too bad to be worth thinking about. What I want is, to forget myself and to look to God, who is worth all my thoughts. The only real humbleness and strength and blessing is to forget self in the presence and blessedness of God. May you be in yourself so broken down that you may find One who never breaks down. We do not know how to be weak, that is our weakness. The humble spirit does not think so much — it receives God’s thoughts. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." What was the mind that was in Jesus? It was always coming down. . . . The more He humbled Himself, the more He was trampled on. . . . He goes down . . . till He can go no lower, down to the dust of death. . . . Are you content to do this? Are you content to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, content to be always trampled on? The Lord be with you, and keep you near Himself, humble and serving, but having more of Him than you spend in service. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 06.10. TRIAL ======================================================================== Trial "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." Hebrews 12:6 There is rest in the midst of grief, For grief’s been the proof of love; ’Tis sweet in that love to find relief, When the sorrows of earth we prove. Tenth Week Christ never makes a breach except to come in and connect the soul and heart more with Himself; and it is worth all the sorrow that ever was, and more, to learn the least atom more of His love and of Himself, and there is nothing like that, nothing like Him: and it lasts. Everybody is not passing smoothly through this life, though some may be more so than others. . . . But, after all, it is only "for a season" and if "need be." Do not make yourself uneasy: the one who holds the reins of the need-be is God. He does not take pleasure in afflicting. If there is the need for it we go through the trial, but it is only for a moment. We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, the soul of some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? . . . Can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them? Yes; Christ has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground upon which I can go . . . God can afford to meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ’s work has been so perfectly done. In the main all sorrow is from sin, and all help is grounded upon the atonement. There is no position a saint can be in but that he may go to God for help. I have been very happy during my illness; it has made me feel much more than ever that heaven and the bosom of God is my home, seeing that I shall be with Him for ever. Pride and stoical resistance to sorrow will not do. That does not draw the soul to God, but effectually . . . keeps it from Him. . . . Sorrow, when it is complete and helpless, gives intimacy with Him who is willing and able to help, and this is now with God. If we . . . carried all our . . . troubles to God, to go fully through all with Him, our hearts would be all free and happy to turn round and care for others. When the believing soul is under trial the recurrence to God as its source and hope is the natural movement of faith. . . . Nor is there a sweeter time for the soul that trusts Him than the time of trial. When we look back to a past life we have more to be thankful for our trials than for anything else. He comes down into all our circumstances, and for a poor trifle of affliction I get to find (not the thing set aside, but) God Himself taking the place of our sorrow. The time will come when all our sorrow will be over, but our Friend will remain. He is our tried and true Friend. He has entered into the deepest woes of our heart, and will make us the sharers of His joy for ever. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 06.11. COMMUNION ======================================================================== Communion "I sat down under his shadow with great delight." Song of Solomon 2:3 We wait to see Thee, Lord, Yet now within our hearts Thou dwell’st in love that doth afford The joy that love imparts. Eleventh Week Moses "sees Him who is invisible." This makes him decided. When we realise the presence of God Pharaoh is nothing. . . . Where there is lack of communion there is weakness and indecision. There is no strength but in Christ. I have none at any time except as my soul is in secret communion with Him. . . . Now the direct power of Satan is towards this point, to keep our souls from living on Christ. One great thing we have to seek is that communion with Christ be as strong as all the doctrines we hold or teach. Without that the doctrine itself will have no force: besides, we ourselves shall not be with God in it, and, after all, that is all. God may make men as active as possible, like Paul or Boanerges, when He wants them; but communion is the most precious thing to Him. There is a difference between Peter and John. His heart rested with satisfaction on him who leaned on His bosom. There should be a going of the soul to God in a far more intimate way than to any one else. Communion with saints is precious, but I must have intimacy of communion with God above all; and communion of saints will flow from communion with God. Joy in God is communion . . . presenting a want to God is not communion. "God talked with Abraham," "his friend" — that is communion. Communion with God is the retiring place of the heart. If living in communion with God we are not thinking of ourselves. Moses did not know his face shone when every one else did. He had been looking up out of himself and turned towards the earth, bearing upon him the light of heaven. None can be so intimately near us as God, for He is in us. Yet what an intimacy it is! The cross and the crown go together; and, more than this, the cross and communion go together. The cross touches my natural will, and therefore it breaks down and takes away that which hinders communion. If I am not in communion it is for the Holy Spirit to speak to my conscience, instead of using me. May our work be a work of faith, drawing its strength, its existence even, from our communion with God our Father. In speaking of God’s truth, whenever we cannot "speak as the oracles of God," through communion, it is our business to be silent. I may study the word again and again, but unless I get into communion with Him by it, it will profit me nothing — at least at the time. What is the joy of a Redeemer but the joy and communion, the happiness of His redeemed? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 06.12. CONFLICT ======================================================================== Conflict "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Romans 8:37 The strong man in his armour Thou mettest in Thy grace, Did’st spoil the mighty charmer Of our unhappy race. The chains of man, his victim, Were loosened by Thy hand, No evils that afflict him Before Thy power could stand. Twelfth Week Many have not the courage to go on in God’s warfare, because they hold on to something which is inconsistent with the light they have received. Perhaps, alas! they lose the light which they have not acted up to, and Satan is able to bring their mind under the darkness of his good reasons for staying where they are without conquering more territory from him. The armour should be put on before the battle, not just at the battle. It is exceedingly serious to fight God’s battle against Satan. . . . It is a most solemn thing that my business is to overcome Satan. The greater the energy of the Spirit the more is the individual in whom it is manifested exposed to the fury of Satan. We ought not merely not to be beaten by Satan, but ever to be gaining ground upon him. A new place brings new temptations . . . but if temptations are new, grace is as new, as various, as infinite to meet them when we are where He would have us. It was by the power of death that the Lord destroyed all his strength who had the power of death. Death is the best weapon in the arsenal of God, when it is wielded by the power of life. There is nowhere that conflict is so much felt as in prayer: that is where Satan desires to come in. If a Christian gets out of dependence on the Lord, he will be beaten by Satan in conflict. Moses, Aaron and Hur go up to the top of the hill, and Israel under Joshua fights in the plain below with Amalek . . . Israel might have reasoned on the manner of their fighting, on the strength of the enemy, and on ten thousand things; but, after all, their success depended on Moses’ hands being stretched out. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan to be as nothing and God to be everything. I daresay many of us have thought . . . that one good battle with Satan and all will be over; but no such thing, we have security and the certainty of victory, but no promise of cessation from conflict. (Hebrews 2:18.) He suffered — never yielded. We do not suffer when we yield to temptation; the flesh takes pleasure in the things by which it is tempted. Jesus suffered being tempted, and He is able to succour them that are tempted. It is important to observe that the flesh, when acted upon by its desires, does not suffer — being tempted, it, alas! enjoys. But when, according to the light of the Holy Ghost and the fidelity of obedience, the Spirit resists the attacks of the enemy, whether subtle or persecuting, then one suffers. This is what the Lord did, and this we have to do. My happiness, O Lord, with Thee Is long laid up in store For that bless’d day when Thee I’d see, And conflict all be o’er. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 06.13. DEVOTEDNESS ======================================================================== Devotedness "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus." Php 3:8 ’Tis the treasure I’ve found in His love That has made me a pilgrim below; And ’tis there, when I reach Him above As I’m known, all His fulness I’ll know. Thirteenth Week Absolute consecration to Jesus is the strongest bond between human hearts. It strips them of self, and they have but one soul in thought, intent and settled purpose, because they have but one object. Can we honestly say, with glory before us, with Christ before us: "This one thing I do"? Which way does your eye turn? Which way are you going? God has only one way — Christ. Paul saw Christ on the way to Damascus, and he gives up his importance, his Pharisaism, his teaching, his everything else, and he counts all but loss that he may win Christ. . . . People talk of sacrifices; but there is no great sacrifice in giving up dung. If the eye were so fixed on Christ that these things got that character it would not be a trouble to give them up. The thing gets its character from what the heart is set on. I hope that God will keep you from every bond save the bonds of Christ, and that He will rivet these bonds of security and joy more and more. In all true devotedness Christ is the first and governing object; next, "His own which are in the world"; and then our fellow-men — first their souls, then their bodies, and every want they are in. The love of Christ constrains us in the cross to give ourselves wholly up to Him who has so loved us, given Himself wholly up for us. . . . It makes us of little esteem to ourselves in the presence of such love. We see we are not our own, but bought with a price. The sense that we are not our own deepens the claim in our hearts, yet takes away all merit in the devotedness. It is by looking to Jesus that we can give up anything. Following Christ wholly the world or the human heart will never stand. We have to live in natural ties as those who are not in them, to act from Christ in them. You may be blessed to your husband . . . as strengthening and comforting and encouraging him . . . in the weariness and trials which accompany the service. But do not seek to relax his energy. A wife sometimes likes to have her husband for herself, and when her husband is the Lord’s labourer it is a great evil. I have known a wife spoil a labourer . . . in this way. A husband is bound to care for his wife, consider her, and do anything but neglect her . . . but the wife of a labourer for the Lord must put his work and labour before herself. . . . A wise wife who seeks first the Lord herself, puts Him first for her husband, and does not love him the less; it is a bond, and her husband will honour and value her, and so will the Lord. Oh, how surely we shall feel it that day, that all that was not a heart given to Him was loss and wretchedness. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 06.14. UNBELIEVING FEARS ======================================================================== Unbelieving Fears "I will trust, and not be afraid." Isaiah 12:2 The Lord is Himself gone before, He has marked out the path that I tread; It’s as sure as the love I adore, I have nothing to fear nor to dread. Fourteenth Week You must not attach too much importance to your joy . . . nor to your distress. . . . You can add nothing by joy or sorrow to the perfect work of Christ. . . . If some one has paid my debts, my sorrow at the folly that contracted them or my joy at their being discharged adds noting whatever to the payment of the debt, though both be natural and just. Abraham found in the mountain a place where he could intercede with God, while Lot was saying, "I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die." Unbelief always looks at the place of faith as the most awful thing possible — all darkness. He is not ashamed to call you brethren; and will you be ashamed to confess Him as your Lord and Master in the face of all the world? Be not debating within yourselves when you shall avow yourselves; do it at once, decidedly. Make the plunge, and trust God for the consequence. I know it by experience that an open, bold confession of being Christ’s is more than half the struggle over. . . . I say, as one who knows, that if a man, in the strength of the Lord, is just brought to say to his companions and friends, I am Christ’s, and I must act for Him — that he will not suffer what others must feel who are creeping on fearful and afraid to avow Him whom they desire to serve. I know no word more settling to the soul than "Be careful for nothing." How often have I found it so . . . "for nothing." How little we gain by the prudence of unbelief; it gives occasion to the power and attacks of the enemy. Never can unbelief — however good its intentions in joining the work of faith — do anything except spoil it. How far the child of God may go astray when he puts himself under the protection of unbelievers, instead of relying on the help of God in all the difficulties which beset the path of faith! Satan gets entrance for his full power in the soul the moment there is a shade of distrust in God. When unbelief is in action it only produces troubles and sorrows. When there remains in the heart any groan which is not uttered to God as to a God of grace, any distrust of Him, it is the flesh and work of the enemy. . . . We may be cast down at times (although scarcely ever without some want of faith) and yet everything goes on well if we bring it all to God. Anxiety which anticipates evil is not the faith which faces the difficulties through which God sees well to make us pass. When the soul is distressed or cast down, that is not sin in itself. But sin comes in when there is distrust of God. I am not afraid while He lives and is Jesus. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 06.15. SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD ======================================================================== Separation from the World "For whom I have suffered the loss of all things." Php 3:8 Art thou wean’d from Egypt’s pleasures? God in secret thee shall keep; There unfold His hidden treasures, There His love’s exhaustless deep. Fifteenth Week Every mark of the world is a reproach to him who is heavenly. It is only the heavenly man who has died with Christ that disentangles himself from all that is of Egypt . . . the principle of worldliness is uprooted in him who is dead and risen with Christ and living a heavenly life. Alliance with the world prevents our overcoming the world. Called to glory, faith of necessity quits Egypt; God has not placed the glory there. To be well off in the world is not to be well off in heaven. I dread the saints getting tired of unworldliness. It is with a rejected Saviour we have to walk. The whole system of the world is a stumbling-block to turn the heart from God — dress, vain show, flattery . . . All that puts us into the rich man’s place is a stumbling-block. Heaven is open to a rejected Christ. Remember this. Samson . . . was one separated to God, sanctified for Jehovah . . . his hair was not to be cut. While the commandment and precept were observed, his strength was with him. There might have seemed little connection between long or uncut hair and all-overcoming strength; but God was in it: and an obeyed, honoured God, is a God of strength to us. God’s design is to link us with heaven. You must have heaven without the world, or the world without heaven. He who prepares the city cannot wish for us anything between the two. I remember saying . . . that our giving up the world and the world giving up us were two very different things. It is the latter which tries all the elements of self-importance, which lie much deeper than we are aware. Where activity is distinctly wanting is in bringing up Christ to souls and devotedness to Him, unworldliness, a life where we do one thing, a home, dress, manners, which say that Christ is all. (2 Corinthians 6:17-18.) We come out from among the worldly . . . in order to enter into the relationship of sons and daughters to the Almighty God: otherwise we cannot possibly realise this relationship. God will not have worldlings in relation with Himself as sons and daughters; they have not entered into this position with regard to Him. Wise was God indeed to choose not many mighty, not many noble, not many rich; they find it hard to submit their comforts and comeliness to God’s. A rich body of Christians will become practically poor and simple or practically worldly. A distracted heart is the bane of a Christian. When my heart is filled with Christ I have no heart or eye for the trash of the world. If Christ is dwelling in your heart by faith it will not be the question, What harm is there in this, or that? Rather, Am I doing this for Christ? Can Christ go along with me in this? If you are in communion with Him you will readily detect what is not of Him. Do not let the world come in and distract your thoughts. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 06.16. JOY ======================================================================== Joy "Joy unspeakable." 1 Peter 1:8 Sing without ceasing, sing, The Saviour’s present grace, How all things shine In light divine, For those who’ve seen His face. Sixteenth Week The thing that hinders our rejoicing is not trouble, but being half and half. If in the world his conscience reproaches the Christian, if he meets spiritual Christians he is unhappy there; in fact, he is happy nowhere. Ours ought not to be a religion of regrets, but a rejoicing of heart continually. "Rejoice evermore: pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks." Closer connection between these three than our souls are wont to acknowledge. Joy will ever rise in proportion to prayer and thanksgiving. Where His will is there is happiness. . . . Christ is my happiness . . . but it is in the path of His will that we find the enjoyment of His love. . . . Thus I find in Him a source of profound and ineffable joy . . . our treasure is Himself. I have been unspeakably happy lately, yet as making me nothing in the thought of being the object of God’s love; I had been seeking right affections towards Him — all right — but the thought that He loved me flowed in on me in joy and peace; and peace is a very deep thing, like a river. I attach more importance to peace than to joy. I should wish to see you habitually in a joy more deep than demonstrative, but if Jesus is at the bottom of your heart . . . then your joy will be deep. Sorrow is a good thing, and makes God a more abundant source of joy. The true effect of real joy in the things of God is to empty us of ourselves and to make us think little of ourselves. (Php 4:4.) The apostle . . . exhorts Christians to rejoice: it is a testimony to the worth of Christ. "Would to God, that not only thou, but all that hear me, were . . . altogether such as I am, except these bonds! "What happiness and what love (and in God these two things go together) are expressed in these words! A poor prisoner, aged and rejected, at the end of his career he is rich in God. Blessed years that he had spent in prison! He could give himself as a model of happiness, for it filled his heart. (Php 3:18; Php 4:4.) If he even weeps over many who call themselves Christians he always rejoices in the Lord; in Him is that which nothing can alter. This is not an indifference to sorrow which hinders weeping, but it is a spring of joy which enlarges when there is distress, because of its immutability, and which even becomes more pure in the heart the more it becomes the only one, and it is in itself the only spring that is infinitely pure. When it is our only spring we thereby love others. If we love them besides Him we lose something of Him. When . . . we are weaned from all other springs His joy remains in all its purity, and our concern for others partakes of this same purity. Our woe is Thine, Lord Jesus! Our joy is in Thy love; But woe and joy all lead us To Thee, in heaven above. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 06.17. DEPENDENCE ======================================================================== Dependence "Without me ye can do nothing." John 15:5 Oh, keep us, love divine, near Thee, That we our nothingness may know And ever to Thy glory be Walking in faith while here below. Seventeenth Week When we are really weak God never leaves us; but when unconscious of our infirmities we have to learn them by experience. The whole thing for us is to get to absolute dependence on infallible faithfulness, on unwearied love to carry us through. Conscious weakness causes a saint not to dare to move without God. The place of strength is always that of being forced to lean on God. The very essence of the condition of a soul in a right state is conscious dependence. Let us delight in dependence — that a Person above us should minister to us and care for us. There is an easy way of going on in worldliness, and there is nothing more sad than the quiet comfortable Christian going on day by day apart from dependence on the Lord. We must always be in dependence or fall. In every detail of our lives there is no blessing but in dependence on God. . . . If in speaking to you now I were to cease from depending on the Lord in doing it, all blessing to my own soul would cease. "Without me ye can do nothing." Neither can I speak, nor you hear, to profit without dependence on the Lord. The point for us is to rest in the arm of the Lord, whatever may be, and not run to get help elsewhere. We may be saying true things in prayer or in testimony, but if we are not realising our dependence on the Lord we shall not have His strength in the battle. When victory does not tend to worship we and God part company as soon as the victory is achieved. How sad to see victory often leading to mere joy instead of still greater dependence on and delight in God. We cannot make a visit right without His hand. Remember, if we are in entire dependence, the temptation does not meet us at all. . . . Trial comes; but, like Jesus, we can say of it, "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" Every trial becomes a blessed occasion for perfecting obedience, if near God; if otherwise, a temptation. One cannot do an instant without Him; and oh, how blessed it is to trust Him! I feel all our work ought to be directly the immediate expression of God’s mind, and it is a very solemn thing to work (and wait) directly from Him. No one can pluck us out of Christ’s hand; but why say this if there was not real danger and keeping of us in it? The wolf "catcheth" (same word as "pluck") the sheep and scattereth them, but cannot catch them out of Christ’s hand: but here our responsibility comes in, our dependence on Him, our leaving ourselves to His infallible care; and one is as precious as the other is necessary. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 06.18. CROSS-BEARING. ======================================================================== Cross-Bearing. "Let him . . . take up his cross daily." Luke 9:23 We cling to Thee in weakness — The manger and the cross; We gaze upon Thy meekness, Through suffering, pain and loss. Eighteenth Week Before we take up the cross for ourselves there is the cross for us. He suffered and gave His life a ransom. All must be forsaken in this world: every link with this world must be broken. The nearer anything is to the heart the more dangerous, the more it must be abhorred. Not that the affections are evil things: but Christ being rejected by this world everything that binds us to earth must be sacrificed for Him. Cost what it may, He must be followed; and one must know how to hate one’s own life, and even to lose it, rather than grow lax in following the Lord. The cross we shall have: and what of that? It is a good thing for us; it draws us away from the world; it breaks the will; it delivers from self by cutting, it may be, the next link to the heart. The cross has a delicious power, though not a pleasant thing; it would be no cross if it were. Jesus is the good Shepherd; He leads forth His own sheep, He walks before them and the sheep follow Him. The disciples were afraid as they followed Jesus; Jesus led them to the cross. The cross is on the road which leads to glory. . . . It is the cross which takes from us all that which hinders our realising Christ in glory. The more faithfulness there is in us the more sorrows doubtless, but then there will be consolations abounding; only let us take up the cross, and if it be really the cross we shall find Jesus with it and the earnest and spring of glory in our hearts. The Lord says, You must take up the cross and follow Me. If you follow Me I can give you the cross; that is all I have to give you now. . . . You shall be like Me, and close to Me, too; but what you must reckon on is the cross if you are going to glory. . . . Are you ready to take up your cross or have you a question if the cross is right or if there is any other road ? The Lord knows none, and I know none. All that leads us to be agreeable to the world and to the customs of men takes away the offence of the cross, and . . . puts us at a distance from Christ. When my heart thoroughly trusts Christ it is His cross and His reproach, and it has the sweetness of Christ and all is sweet. It is needful for us that we should pass through the sorrows as well as the joys of the work of the Lord, happy if our sorrows are His sorrows and His joys ours. The nearer we are to Him, and the more we thus reproduce the faithful image of what He is, the more we shall encounter the opposition of the world . . . and still more shall we experience the want of sympathy from Christians who will not walk to His footsteps. . . . But if we suffer with Jesus we shall reign with Him. To whatever degree we enjoy the position of Jesus in heaven we must also share His position here below, to be hated. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 06.19. LOOKING UNTO JESUS ======================================================================== Looking unto Jesus "We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour" Hebrews 2:9 But though the world can see no more Him it cast out with scorn, The eye of fresh-born faith can soar Above — where He is gone. Nineteenth Week Are we . . . looking steadfastly into heaven? Alas! what inconstant hearts we have; how fickle and changing! The Holy Ghost ever leads the eye to, and would keep it fixed on, Jesus. . . . To reveal and glorify Him is the habitual aim of the Spirit. It is well to be done with ourselves and to be taken up with Jesus. We are entitled to forget ourselves, we are entitled to forget our sins, we are entitled to forget all but Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-2.) The way in which the apostle engages them to disentangle themselves from every hindrance, whether sin or difficulty, is remarkable; as though they had nothing to do but cast them off as useless weights. And, in fact, when we look at Jesus nothing is easier; when we are not looking at Him, nothing more impossible. What I would press upon you is to study Christ, so that we may be like Him here. There is nothing that so fills the soul with blessing and encouragement, or that so sanctifies: nothing which so gives the living sense of divine love, that gives courage. The Lord give us while resting in His precious blood to go and contemplate Him, feed upon Him and live by Him. . . . See Him the lowly blessed patient One at God’s right hand now, the One that God has given to keep our hearts right in the world of folly and pride. When we are occupied with Jesus the littleness of all that one is, or of all that one has done, remains in the shade, and Jesus Himself alone stands out in relief. There is a danger of being too much occupied with evil; it does not refresh, does not help the soul on. "Abstain from every form of evil," but be occupied ourselves and occupy others with Christ. The evil itself becomes not less evil, but less in comparison with the power of good where the soul dwells. Looking to God one is above the heaving and breakers, and walking on a rough sea is the same as walking on a smooth sea. If Christ is my life . . . Christ and heavenly things become the object of my life. Every creature must have an object. It is God’s supreme prerogative not to want an object. He may love an object; but I cannot live without an object any more than without food. . . . "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." There is the life; and this life has got a perfect blessed object which it delights in and contemplates: and this the Lord Jesus is . . . in His glory. How the heart knows that, how sweet soever the common joy of saints . . . yet that in joys and sorrows there is a looking to Jesus, a communion with Jesus, a dependence of heart on His approbation, in which none can participate. . . . The heart that knows Him could not do without this. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 06.20. GROWTH ======================================================================== Growth "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18 ’Tis His. Yes, yes; no other sound Could move my heart like this; The Voice of Him that earlier bound Through grace that heart to His. In other accents now, ’tis true, Than once my spirit woke To life and peace, through which it grew Under His gracious yoke. Yes! then ’twas faith — Thy Word; but now Thyself my soul draw’st nigh; My soul with nearer thoughts to bow Of brighter worlds on high. Twentieth Week The great secret of growth is looking up to the Lord as gracious. It is astonishing what progress a soul sometimes makes in a time of sorrow. It has been much more with God; for, indeed, that alone makes us make progress. There is much more confidence, quietness, absence of the moving of the will — much more . . . dependence on Him, more intimacy with Him and independence of circumstances — a great deal less between us and Him — and then all the blessedness that is in Him comes to act upon the soul and reflect in it; and, oh, how sweet that is! What a difference it does make in the Christian, who, perhaps, was blameless in his walk in general previously. If we are "to grow by the sincere milk of the word" . . . we need the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and in order to this there must be the exercising of ourselves unto godliness — the "laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings," so that the Holy Spirit be not grieved. Has the Christian envy, guile, hypocrisies, allowed to work in his heart? There can be no growth in the true knowledge of the things of God. What is called the higher christian life is only the getting out of Romans 7:1-25 into Romans 6:1-23 and Romans 8:1-39 — a very real thing, and that which the great body of teachers would have you content without. In the measure in which our spiritual position is raised, so, of course, do the difficulties and exercises of heart assume a character which requires greater experience and greater power. Our spiritual advance introduces us necessarily into them; but God is faithful not to suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. Those who dwell in spirit in the heavenly country take the tone of it, and grow in the things wherein they find themselves. As you grow in . . . knowledge of Him a joy grows deeper than that of first conversion. I have known Christ, more or less, between thirty and forty years, and I can say that I have ten thousand times more joy now than I had at first. It is a deeper, calmer joy. The water rushing down from a hill is beautiful to look at, and makes most noise; but you will find that the water that runs in the plain is deeper, calmer, more fructifying. (1 John 2:12-15.) We . . . find three classes of Christians: fathers, young men, and babes. He (John) addresses them each twice. . . . That which characterises fathers in Christ is that they have known Him who is from the beginning, that is Christ. This is all that he has to say about them. All had resulted in that. He only repeats the same thing again when, changing his form of expression, he begins anew with these three classes. The fathers have known Christ. . . . They are not occupied with experience — that would be being occupied with self, with one’s own heart. All that has passed away and Christ alone remains as our portion, unmingled with aught besides. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 06.21. THE PRESENCE OF GOD ======================================================================== The Presence of God "In Thy presence is fulness of joy." Psalms 16:11 Such here on earth I am, Though I in weakness roam; My place on high, God’s self so nigh; His presence is my home. Twenty-First Week It is a terrible thing . . . when God’s presence, in the place of being the home of our hearts, is terror and distress. I have no doubt that you will find hundreds of Christians who, instead of feeling away from home when they have got out of God’s presence, are at ease. We are called to be "at home" with God. The Lord Jesus Christ, when about to go back to heaven, said to Mary, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." We ought to be as much "at home" in spirit there as He. Was it not with joy, with confidence, that Jesus said He was going to the presence of His Father? . . . And was it not, in a certain sense, with the feeling of going home? . . . This is the church’s place; we are called to be "at home" with our God and Father — to the blessedness of His house. No matter what the world may be, we should be there at home — happy home! as truly there in spirit, and as happy there as Christ. We sometimes enjoy peace, we enjoy scripture, a hymn, or prayer, without realising the presence of God; and then there is not the same power, or the same exercise of heart in it. . . . It is very important not only to have a right thought, but to have it with Him. If you search your own heart, you will find that you may sing without realising Jesus Himself. I find the constant tendency even of work for the Lord, and an active mind, ever is to take us out of the presence of God. . . . God present puts us in our place, and Himself in His place in our hearts; and what confidence that gives, and how self is gone in joy! Our great affair is to keep in His presence. God would have us not only say, "We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ," but add, "I am manifested to God." Be much before Him. This getting out of God’s presence is the source of all our weakness as saints, for in God’s strength we can do anything. If you have the assurance that God has intrusted you with His word, do not be troubled if you are set aside for a time. . . . Profit then by your present separation from the work to be much with Him. You will learn much inwardly in your incapacity to go forward, much of Himself. The Lord’s presence in the soul will bring self into utter ruin and nothingness. It is touching to go through the gospels, and to get sufficiently intimate with Christ to see His motives in everything; but this is much to say, and requires to live much with Him; but this is blessing. . . . If you get to trace Him through all the path, you never get anything but perfectness. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 06.22. SERVICE ======================================================================== Service "Whose I am, and whom I serve." Acts 27:23 Lord! let me wait for Thee alone: My life be only this — To serve Thee here on earth unknown, Then share Thy heavenly bliss. Twenty-Second Week Love for Jesus sets one to work. I know no other way. All true service must result from the knowledge of Himself. The grand secret of power in these days is faith in the presence of the Spirit of God. Living to God inwardly is the only possible means of living to Him outwardly. All outward activity not moved . . . by this . . . tends to make us do without Christ, and brings in self. . . . I dread great activity without great communion. What need we have to cast ourselves entirely on Him (the Spirit) in the work, and how simple it is when we do this! There is one thing that gives strength and that is to keep close to Christ. . . . The pressure of the work without that . . . contracts the heart, tends to make us lose that largeness of heart, that capacity of presenting the love of God freshly to souls. It is not that I believe in the work one will always be in that liberty which sees all in the light. It is necessary to walk by faith sometimes. Alas! the best workmen have borne witness to it; an apostle, an earthen vessel . . . placed in a contest between the Lord and the enemy of souls, will feel sometimes the shock of the battle, seeing it takes place in him and by him and the engaged forces. Oh! for labourers who after God’s heart might present Christ to souls. A real workman, "a man of God," is a great, the greatest treasure in the world. It is a dangerous thing to be raised all at once into a pulpit. . . . Man’s acceptation is not God’s approbation, although God can give it to us to favour the propagation of the truth; but if we stop at the result we are at a distance from the source, and that becomes a snare to wither up our soul, instead of a means to lead us to those upon whom we should pour out His riches. In connection with your work . . . seek the Lord’s face, and lean on Him. Work is a favour which is granted us. Be quite peaceful and happy in the sense of grace; then go and pour out that peace to souls. This is true service, from which one returns very weary it may be in body, but sustained and happy; one rests beneath God’s wings, and takes up the service again till the true rest comes. Oh! how little have we of the Spirit, to baffle the plans and devices and snares of Satan! The church ought to be not only in possession of truth but so possessed with the Spirit as, though tried, to baffle all his snares. This is what so humbles me . . . no strength or adequate power to keep every saint by the presence of His Spirit out of his power. "If any thirst, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." You drink for yourself, you thirst for yourself, thus it is that rivers flow from us for others. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 06.23. DIVINE AFFECTIONS (1) ======================================================================== Divine Affections (1) "God is love." 1 John 4:8 O mind divine! so must it be That glory all belongs to God; O love divine, that did decree We should be part, through Jesus’ blood. Twenty-Third Week What is deepest is simplest, that is the perfect love of God. When once we come really to know God, we know Him as love. Then, knowing that everything comes to us from Him, though we be in a desert — no matter where, or what the circumstances — we interpret all by His love. There is but one only sense in which God cannot suffice to Himself, that is, in His love; His love needs other beings besides Himself to render them happy. He will render others happy. The law says, Love: it is a righteous demand. But the gospel, Christ Himself, says, "God so loved." No creation, nothing that has ever been seen in this world, could be what the cross was. Creation may shew God’s power, but it cannot bring out God’s love and truth as the cross does; and therefore it remains everlastingly the wonderful and blessed place of learning, what could be learnt nowhere else, of all that God is. There is so much selfishness in the heart of man that the love of God is to him an enigma, still more incomprehensible than His holiness. No one understood Jesus, because He manifested God. The Holy Spirit makes us feel the love of the Father. He brings us into liberty by shewing us, not that we are little, but how great God is. Where does faith see the greatest depth of man’s sin and hatred of God? In the cross; and at the same glance it sees the greatest extent of God’s triumphant love and mercy to man. The spear of the centurion which pierced the side of Jesus only brought out that which spoke of love and mercy. It is indeed a sore trial to see one who is part of ourselves . . . taken off at one blow, and unexpectedly. Still, what a difference to have the Lord’s love to look to. It is a consolation which changes everything. . . . The knowledge of the love of God, which is come into the place of death, has brightened with the most blessed rays all its darkness; and the darkness only serves to shew what a comfort it is to have such a light. Christ must be all to us or we shall soon be discouraged. . . . When Christ is not everything and the Father’s love the air we breathe for life we are not going right. The Father’s love, the source of all, Sweeter than all it gives, Shines on us now without recall, And lasts while Jesus lives. Jehovah chastens those He loves. . . . The word draws two conclusions from this truth. . . . It will not be without a cause in me; it will never be without love in God. Hence I am not to despise, for there is a cause in me which makes the holy God of love act so; I am not to faint, for it is His love which does it. It is correcting a son in whom his Father delights. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 06.24. DIVINE AFFECTIONS (2) ======================================================================== Divine Affections (2) "The love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Ephesians 3:19 Love, that no suffering stayed, We’ll praise, true love divine; Love that for us atonement made, Love that has made us Thine. Twenty-Fourth Week The Lord that I have known as laying down His life for me, is the same Lord I have to do with every day of my life, and all His dealings with me are on the same principles of grace. . . . How precious, how strengthening it is to know that Jesus is at this moment feeling and exercising the same love towards me as when He died on the cross for me. His death opened the flood-gates, in order that the full tide of love might flow over poor sinners. (1 Corinthians 11:26.) Impossible to find two words, the bringing together of which has so important a meaning, the death of the Lord. How many things are comprised in that He who is called the Lord had died! What love! what purposes! what efficacy! what results! O Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee? Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll, Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul. O what rest . . . for the poor soul when he sees he has to do with One who has conquered all enemies for him. . . . Before he came to the consciousness of this, the book of his daily transgressions appeared to ascend up before God, black with the catalogue of his offences, on every leaf of which was written, Sin, sin, sin; but now these blackened characters are effaced, and on each page is transcribed in letters of blood, in the blood of God’s dear Lamb, Love, love, love. That love is a sanctuary in which we walk while passing through a world of snares, the provoking of all men . . . and the more the crossing and entanglement of what is without, the sweeter the rest of His presence. The great thing is to be near Christ, and to be constantly near Christ, where the soul is kept in peace . . . and thus in the sense of love, that our service may flow from thus dwelling with Him, and carry the stamp of it. How did Christ reveal the Father? "The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." He . . . could declare Him, as in the present sense of the love of which He was the object, which He enjoyed in His bosom. He was perfect, and we are failing servants, but that is the only way of all carrying the unction of His presence. And when the storm is all passed, the brightness for which He is preparing us will shine out unclouded, and it will be Himself. . . . And oh, how blessed the love, Jesu’s love, that has brought us there for ever with Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 06.25. SELF-RENUNCIATION ======================================================================== Self-Renunciation "Men shall be lovers of self." 2 Timothy 3:2 (New Translation). O man! how hast thou proved What in thy heart is found; By grace divine unmoved, By self in fetters bound. Twenty-Fifth Week The flesh always pens itself in, because it is selfish. When we are in the Spirit there is always unity. Impossible when we think of ourselves to be witnesses to others of what God is! The grief, which egotism and self-love produce, makes room for the action of the evil spirit on the soul. Love likes to be a servant, and selfishness likes to be served. If I get hold of the path, the spirit, the mind of Jesus, nothing could be more hateful to me than anything of self. You never find an act of self in Christ. Not merely was there no selfishness, but there was no self in Him. When the soul is cast upon God the Lord is with the soul in the trial, and the mind is kept perfectly calm. The Spirit of love, the Spirit of Christ is there; if thinking of myself this is the spirit of selfishness. The Holy Spirit has no fellowship with . . . self. The heart is not delivered from it until the Spirit has guided our thoughts to Jesus. . . . The effectual presence of the Spirit crucifies egotism and gives freedom of thought about ourselves . . . it occupies us with but one object — Jesus. We have the privilege to have done with ourselves in the house and bosom of God. Our own will and making ourselves the centre is the spring of all our wretchedness; for outward circumstances may be trying — may give sorrow, but not wretchedness — where this is it is the fruit of will, restless and discontented. Our natural tendency is to get pleasures for self. Innocent they may be but they take the heart from God; they are spoiled by sin. People ask the harm of these things. The question is, What use are you making of them, and where is your heart? The moment there is a turning from the cross (death to everything) our Lord says, "Get thee behind me." Moses did not seek to have his face shine, nor even know when it did, but when he had been with God it did so. . . . A shining face never sees itself. The heart is occupied with Christ, and in a certain sense and measure self is gone. Self is always alienation from God. Self-confidence is ruin. "Be not wise in thine own eyes." They do not see far if they only see self, and that is what always is in our own eyes. Our prayers, our praises and our services are so poor and worthless, and yet we are proud of them. We seek praise from our fellowmen for the very things we have to confess as tainted with sin before God. What need, therefore, to bare our hearts and say, "See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 06.26. SONGS OF THE NIGHT ======================================================================== SONGS OF THE NIGHT “In the night his song shall be with me.” Psalms 42:8 And oh I how deep the peace when, nature gone, Thy Spirit fills the soul, strengthened with might, With love divine; and God as love is known! Lord! keep my soul, and guide my steps aright. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Praise be for ever His who giveth songs by night. TWENTY-SIXTH WEEK The most important victory has often come when we have been most afraid of being beaten; the brightest songs when an evil day has forced us to lean on God. To me partings go dreadfully deep. In spirit all is well. … Jesus is the bond which no distance breaks and no nearness can give without Him, and which will, blessed be His name, last for ever. He weans us in every way from this world, that He may attach us to that one for which He has created us anew. God’s hand is always better than man’s; His seeming harshness even is better than the world’s favour; the spring which guides it is always love, and love directed by perfect wisdom, which we shall understand by and by. He makes His own feel that His support is worth all the trouble in the world. The soul needs daily the comfort of the blood. Broken vessels are often better than whole ones to shew the sufficiency and grace of Christ. His good hand is upon us, even (and very particularly) in things that are painful. It was not worth while to give a long history of the prosperity of Job, but the Holy Spirit of God has given us details of all that took place in his difficulties. It was worth while; and it is for the profit of His own to the end of the age. It is there that the work of our God is found. May He give us to have entire confidence in Him. Christianity was sown in the tears of the Son of God. It is the travail of His soul which He will see in that day. So in all service (and we must make up our minds to it) where there is to be real blessing there must be the sorrow of the world’s opposition, and even in the church the greater sorrow of trials, of failure, and shortcoming, where we desire to see Christ fully represented. Nature, of course, shrinks from suffering: still, when it comes, if we are with God, strength and joy are there. I have found in the little difficulties I have had much more trial in expecting trial than when it was there. When there I was calm and quiet and in no way uneasy. Whereas I was when expecting it: Out of it, if it threatens you are thinking of it. In it, you are looking out of it to the Lord. If the needed work can be done without the sorrow, He will not send the sorrow. … His love is far better than our will. Trust Him. … If He strikes, be assured He will give more than He takes away. [The loss of] a mother … is always an immense loss …. No one can be a mother but a mother, but God can be everything to us, and towards us in all our cares.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 06.27. THE MAN OF SORROWS ======================================================================== The Man of Sorrows "A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Isaiah 53:3 O Lord! Thy wondrous story My inmost soul doth move; I ponder o’er Thy glory — Thy lonely path of love! But, O divine Sojourner, ’Midst man’s unfathomed ill, Love, that made Thee a mourner, It is not man’s to tell. Twenty-Seventh Week "Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well." . . . Oh! to think of the Lord Himself, whom none of the princes of this world knew, but who was the Lord of glory, sitting weary on the well, thirsty, and dependent upon this world for a drink of water — the world that was made by Him, and knew Him not! He was the display, at all cost to Himself, of divine love to man. I adore the love that led Him to be made sin for me. There was the full testing of the love that carried Him through all. It is deeply instructive, though very dreadful to see there what man is. What do I expect of my friends if I am on trial? At least that they will not forsake me. They all forsook Him, and fled! In a judge? I expect him to protect innocence. Pilate washes his hands of His blood, and gives Him over to the people! In a priest, what do I expect? That he will intercede for the ignorant and for them that are out of the way. They urge the people, who cry, "Away with him, away with him!" Every man was the opposite of what was right, and that one Man was not only right, but in divine love He was going trough it all! His sorrows must ever be a depth into which we look over on the edge with solemn awe. . . . It exalts His grace to the soul to look into that depth, and makes one feel that none but a divine Person (and one perfect in every way) could have been there. He looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but found none. . . . He was tested and tried to the last degree of human suffering and sorrow, standing alone in this, praying in an agony and alone . . . none to sympathise with Him; Mary of Bethany was the only one, but for the rest never one had sympathy with Him; never one that wanted it that He had not sympathy with. None of us can fathom what it was to One who had dwelt in the bosom of the Father to find His soul as a man forsaken of Him. In the measure in which He knew what it was to be holy, He felt what it was to be made sin before God. In the measure in which He knew the love of God, He felt what it was to be forsaken of God. He is the resurrection and the life. Wonderful that He, such in this world, Master of death, steps then into death Himself for us! He has purchased us too dearly to give us up. The traits of that face, Lord, Once marred through Thy grace, Lord, Our joy’ll be to trace At Thy coming again. With Thee evermore, Lord, Our hearts will adore, Lord; Our sorrow’ll be o’er At Thy coming again. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 06.28. LOVE ======================================================================== Love "Love is of God." John 4:7 God’s nature, love without alloy, Our hearts are given e’en now to share. Twenty-Eighth Week When love leads us, men are indeed those for whom we give ourselves; but God, He to whom we offer ourselves. (Ephesians 5:2.) It is a serious though a most happy thing to undertake direct service. . . . The mere fact of an inclination does not shew that we are called to it. I believe the surest sign is earnest love to souls, and intercourse through the need of the heart with Christ about it. . . . It is not the desire to speak, but for souls and the building up of saints which is the real moving spring of service. How many needs, hidden even in the most degraded souls, would confess themselves . . . if a love, a goodness, which could give them confidence were presented to them. . . . How many souls are whirling in pleasure, in order to silence the moral griefs which torment them. Divine love not only answers needs, it makes them speak. "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.". . . I beseech you . . . earnestly to maintain this spirit of love which is the presence of God. . . . For sin is separating, and God is uniting, for He is love; and this will be the healing of all things, for they are to be gathered into one in Christ. . . . Walk then in love . . . and you will walk in power, and in the glory of God. I dread narrowness of heart more than anything for the church of Christ. Love enables a man to meet all trials. Should one spit in his face, this makes no difference, for love abides; because it never draws its strength from circumstances, but rides above all circumstances. Love . . . is the true means of holiness, when it is real. "Love to all the saints" is an element of the blessing spoken of by the apostle, and even as to intelligence — "able to comprehend with all saints"; because they are in Christ’s heart, and if not in ours, He has not His place, and self has so far excluded Him. Love, free from self, can and does think of all that concerns others and understands what will affect them. Love does not grow weary of serving, though service may be often in trial . . . indeed, save with rare encouragement, always in the general run of it, is. "Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake." How few so present their charity to God, and bring God into their charity, exercising it for and towards Him, though in behalf of man, so that they persevere nothing the less in its exercise, though the more they love the less they be loved! it is for God’s sake. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, &c. . . . Remark that the first of these fruits are love, joy, peace. The Spirit will surely produce those practical fruits which manifest the life of Christ in the sight of men, but the inward fruits, the fruits Godward, come first, the condition of soul needful for producing the others. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 06.29. THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST ======================================================================== The All-Sufficiency of Christ "My grace is sufficient for thee." 2 Corinthians 12:9 Lord Jesus! Source of every grace, Glorious in light divine. Twenty-Ninth Week It is a blessed truth that . . . we cannot be in circumstances Christ is not sufficient for. Whether it be the church or individual saints, it is impossible to be in a place for which Christ is not sufficient. I was noticing awhile back how perfect the words, "Rejoice in the Lord always"! — there is the positive portion. "Be careful for nothing" then, as to all that is down here; and in laying our burdens on His throne and heart, it is peace — for He is not troubled and knows the end from the beginning — the peace of God keeps our hearts. What a sanctuary to have in going through! Above all, believe ever — "My grace is sufficient for thee." When the heart gets on Christ, all is easy: it is away from what is a snare to us. He is always the same, sufficient for the young, and sufficient also for the old, and so full of tenderness and grace. May we be kept humble, so as to know Him, and all the resources that are in Him, and they are in Him for . . . even loneliness — for He has felt it: "Ye shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." So you can say, "I and Christ that is with me." The more we know of Him, the more we know He is everything. Our wisdom is to know that we can do nothing without Jesus — with Him everything that is according to His will. The secret of peace is to be occupied with Him for His own sake, and then we shall find peace in Him and through Him, and be more than conquerors when trouble comes. It is a great thing to see that the power of Grist in us can set us entirely above everything. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." In practice we often contradict this truth, probing into that which is below, and only learning disappointment. But God is never disappointed when we are disappointed. He allows us to be disappointed with ourselves, in order that we may better learn our need of, and be satisfied with, Christ. "Lead me in the way everlasting.". . . Is not this way Christ Himself, the only way, the way everlasting? . . . He (is) pleased to search out our own ways, that He may lead us therein — to shew us that Christ must be practically to us that which He declares Himself to be in His word, "the first and the last," our "Alpha and Omega.". . . All is well that leads us "in the way everlasting," that beats us out of our own ways and brings us there, that makes us in result value Christ for the way, as well as at the outset, and the end — Christ learnt as our portion to live upon, as well as known for the pardon of our sins. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 06.30. DIVINE ENERGY ======================================================================== Divine Energy "This one thing I do." Php 3:13 Thy glory, Lord — this living waste To us no rest can give; Our path is on with earnest haste, Lord, in Thy rest to live. Thirtieth Week The man with one object is the energetic man. The Christian’s one object is Christ. It is devotedness that . . . God will have: everywhere . . . that love for souls which seeks them out with more activity easily rows slack. . . . One may lose one’s first love as to the work while continuing to work. May God kindle in us again that energy of love. Certainly riches never entered the church of God without producing more trial and difficulty. You may see rich men giving their riches to relieve the poverty of others, and this is very blessed; but wherever the character of riches continues it enfeebles the energies of the church of God. Where there is the energy of the Spirit, there is light, and a single eye which makes us judge that Christ is worth all, and that all else is worth nothing: and this purifies the saint’s heart. We need to be constantly renewed; without that, spiritual energy does not keep up. . . . And it is not progress in knowledge that effects that . . . what is of moment is the keeping of oneself near God. There love maintains itself and grows — His love in our soul. In seeking earnestly the Lord and His grace . . . power comes in to deliver and free us and make us find in Christ delight which shuts out evil and the world. Seek this, and do not be lazy in divine things. Christ is presented in glory as One who leads us on in energy, conforming us to what He is according to glory; and . . . when the question is of nourishing the inward life . . . and character, it is the humbled Christ on whom we have to feed. This is partly the case in Php 2:1-30, Php 3:1-21 : the former the inward state and character, Christ coming down; the latter a glorified Christ, the Object after which we run. (2 Corinthians 11:23-33.) Troubles and dangers without, incessant anxieties within, a courage that quailed before no peril, a love for poor sinners and for the assembly that nothing chilled — these few lines sketch the picture of a life of such absolute devotedness that it touches the coldest heart; it makes us feel our selfishness, and bend the knee before Him who was the living source of the blessed apostle’s devotedness, before Him whose glory inspired it. Our souls know what it is to leave things here behind, and to find Christ excellently precious: and then some vain trifle comes in, and pulls us down, and makes us more intensely interested about the passing trifle than all the solid realities which are in Christ Jesus. God produces desires within us that nothing but the glory can satisfy. The Holy Ghost produces the power now to enter into these things. This shews the importance of our minds dwelling there . . . . "Whatsoever is lovely" — or "of good report, think on these things." How bright the heart would be! What growing up to the knowledge and preciousness of Christ, if accustomed to be where God dwells. The secret of real progress is personal attachment to Himself. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 06.31. HELP FROM THE SANCTUARY ======================================================================== Help from the Sanctuary "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Isaiah 40:31 Though thy way be long and dreary, Eagle strength He’ll still renew Garments fresh and foot unweary Tell how God hath brought thee through. Thirty-First Week We should be in the spirit of waiting pilgrims, not weary ones. You must not call yourself old as if you were tired. The Lord is never weary, yet the Ancient of Days; you have to renew your strength as an eagle to bear fruit in old age. The source of real strength is in the sense of the Lord’s being gracious. The natural man in us always disbelieves Christ as the only source of strength and every blessing. His way is "in the sanctuary" if His way is "in the sea," and if we are with Him there, the sea bows to His power; but to none else that I know of . . . when He works all is soon still. Oh, if the Lord Himself was not the workman, how hopeless would be the thought of reaching all the souls that are in need. It is a comfort then to be able to look to Him, that His eye and grace may reach them. I have only one precious word to say to you: keep close to Jesus, you know you will find there joy, strength, and that consciousness of His love which sustains everywhere and makes everything else become nothing, there is our happiness and our life. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." . . . Human efforts shut this help out. . . . No human planning is ever right. In His own time and way, God will come in. . . . Human efforts prove want of faith and restlessness, and planning is mere flesh. For the path where my Saviour is gone Has led up to His Father and God — To the place where He’s now on the throne: And His strength shall be mine on the road. Duty ever leads into difficulty, but I have the consolation of saying, God is there, and victory certain. Occupy yourselves with Christ that you may be refreshed and strengthened. . . . It is a great thing to pass through sorrows with Him; they are then turned to a well, and grace comes down too. Pray for the saints — all of them — carry the sorrows to Christ, and in your own spirit bring Christ to the sorrows. It is a great comfort that, in looking at Christ, I not only see the thing I ought to be, but I get the thing I ought to be, "grace for grace." "We all, with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory unto glory." There is real growth there. . . . In likeness to Christ, and it ought to be growth every instant. I generally have many things which press heavily within the range of my responsibility. But I commit them to Him who is mighty above all which this poor world can require, and to whom a burden is no burden at all. . . . He orders everything according to the counsel of His will. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 06.32. REST ======================================================================== Rest "Come unto me ... and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28 There is rest in the Saviour’s heart, Who never turned sorrow away, But has found, in what sin had made our part, The place of His love’s display. Thirty-Second Week We . . . look to our state and our fruit and our feelings to know if we are His . . . which cannot give rest, and ought not. Jesus does not say, Find out our state and you shall have rest, but "Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden," as you are, "and I will give you rest." Our rest comes not from our being what He wants, but His being what we want. It is Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be. Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves and apprehends what God has revealed, and what are God’s thoughts about Jesus, in whom is His rest. And here we walk, as sons through grace, A Father’s love our present joy: Sons, in the brightness of Thy face, Find rest no sorrows can destroy. He has not only made peace, but "My peace I give unto you." . . . What was the peace of Christ? He was here in uninterrupted intercourse with the Father — the peace of perfect communion. Christ puts us into His place, and we have fellowship with the Father; and when we walk in that, we have this peace of Christ. There is but one man . . . who never had a place of rest. . . . "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." And if we now have a nest, a place of rest in God, it is because for our sakes Jesus was without rest on earth. After weariness of heart in the world — after the Lord Jesus had gone through the world and found no place where a really broken heart could rest — He came to shew that what could not be found for man anywhere else could be found in God. This is so blessed! that after all, the poor wearied heart, wearied with itself, with its own ways, wearied with the world and everything, can find rest in the blessedness of the bosom of the Father. One may rest sometimes with God, as well as act with Him; for one cannot act without Him, save to trouble, even though meaning to do good. He gives rest supreme as One who knew what peace was in trouble as none ever did. I . . . seek to minister Christ. It is what souls want, both for quietness and forming them in His image. It is those who are not with Him who are restless. What settled quietness of spirit it gives, to have found yourself with the Father, through the knowledge of the Son, in confidence of heart! Have your hearts got that? Are they really occupied with the Father? . . . Can our hearts say, I have found the Father in Christ? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 06.33. THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD ======================================================================== The Faithfulness of God "God is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:9 Oh! when — without a cloud — His features trace, Whose faithful love so long We’ve known in grace; That love itself enjoy — Which ever true Did, in our feeble path, Its work pursue? Thirty-Third Week We should . . . have faith in the faithfulness of God to keep His own. He will not always use us in everything, but He will always do His own work, and we can or ought to trust Him for it. Patience is often a great remedy, because there is a God who acts. . . . There are cases where we must let God alone do all. Do not doubt His faithfulness . . . oh, how ungrateful I should be if I did not testify to His faithfulness, and to His great and sweet and precious patience with His poor servant. Mere attacks, I feel, are never to be answered. If we have failed — acknowledge it; if not — leave it to the Lord. "Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God." . . . You get as dirty in contending with a sweep as in hugging him . . . our part is to live above these things, and not to think of attacks but of souls. When God works we look for full results. I have constantly found that bringing things to God, if real, is the way of having them done. His love and grace never fail. Were we alone in the world, His grace would be sufficient, and blessed be His name, perpetual company. Paul . . . could do all things through Him who strengthened him. Sweet and precious experience! not only because it gives ability to meet all circumstances, which is of great price, but because the Lord is known, the constant, faithful, mighty friend of the heart. It is not "I can do all things," but "I can do all through him who strengtheneth me." It is a strength which continually flows from a relationship with Christ, a connection with Him maintained in the heart. Neither is it only "one can do all things." This is true; but Paul had learnt it practically. He knew what he could . . . reckon on. Christ had always been faithful to him, had brought him through so many difficulties, and through so many seasons of prosperity, that he had learnt to trust in Him, and not in circumstances. And Christ was the same ever. (Paul’s) heart rested in God; his assurance with regard to the Philippians expresses it. My God, he says, shall richly supply all your need. He does not express a wish that God may do so. He had learnt what his God was by his own experience. My God, he says, He whom I have learned to know in all the circumstances through which I have passed, shall fill you with all good things. . . . He applies his own experience of that which God was to him, and his experience of the faithfulness of Christ, to the Philippians. May the presence of that faithful and all good Jesus sustain you and rejoice your heart. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 06.34. SUBMISSION ======================================================================== Submission "Take my yoke upon you." Matthew 11:29 There is rest in the blessed yoke That knows no will but His; That learns from His path, and the words He spoke, What that loving patience is! Thirty-Fourth Week All power and real effective service will be found to spring from entire submission. Circumstances would not trouble if they did not find something in us contrary to God; they would rustle by as the wind. Until the will has been crushed in the presence of the majesty of God, there cannot be a right state before God. There is nothing that forms the heart, breaking down the will in us, like the delight that we have in Christ in fellowship with the Father. Whenever I act in my own will in anything, I am wronging God of His own title through the blood of Christ. The breaking of the will is a great means of opening the understanding. It is only when the will mixes itself up with the sorrow that there is any bitterness in it, or a pain in which Christ is not. "So it seemed good in thy sight" was the hinge of the Lord’s comfort. Liberty of will is just slavery to the devil. We want our hearts to get right; we want our wills broken down; if we go to look at Christ as . . . presented to us in Gethsemane, can we seek to satisfy the will now? There is a wonderful difference between a soul . . . whose will has been broken and made subject, and one which, while seeking to do right, does it according to its own will. If the soul walks with God, it is not hard, but it is submissive; and there is no softer spirit, nor one which is more susceptible of every feeling than submission; but then it takes the will out of the affections without destroying them, and that is very precious. God is full of mercy and has compassion on us and on our weakness. He is tender and pitiful in His ways; but if we are determined to follow our own will, He knows how to break it. . . . The worst of all chastening is that He should leave us to follow our own ways. He (the Lord Jesus Christ) takes the sorrows of human nature — weariness, hunger; but with a heart that never was weary when a service of love was to be performed. . . . It is most sweet and blessed to see it, and to see He had no will of His own in it. When they tell Him, "He whom thou lovest is sick," we should have thought He would have started off at once. No, He abode two days still where He was, He had no commandment from His Father. We see it was to shew His Godhead. Still, as a servant, He had no word, and He did not stir. It seemed very hard. His home, if He had one on earth, was that house at Bethany. You never find Him going out of the place of a servant, and a never was anything but the perfection of love in it. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-john-nelson-darby-volume-1/ ========================================================================