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The Voice of the Spirit – and other
Ministry by Joseph Revell

 
Introduction
Foreword: EBG
Present Ministry
The Voice of the Spirit
Our Leaders
In Exile
"As He was Wont"
Eminence in the Church is that of Love
In Assembly
Eternal Things
Additional Articles:
The Christian Company
The Glory of the Children of God
Title and Fitness
 






INTRODUCTION

Joseph Revell, 1852-1900

The following eight articles have been selected from the 25 included in "Comfort and other Re-Published Papers" by Mr. Joseph Revell.

Three additional articles from othe sources added September 2010.

Biography: Brief Sketches: J. Revell
Other ministry by J. Revell:
Doctrine: The Unequal Yoke: Association

G.A.R.


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FOREWORD
The author of the articles was the editor of a monthly magazine of ministry from January, 1895, until his departure to be with Christ on the 10th April, 1900.

The papers composing this volume have been selected from the magazine by the writer, who felt that definite profit was derived from their perusal. They are now issued in the hope that the saints generally will find them helpful and acceptable.

The brevity of the articles is a distinguishing feature, and their accord with present ministry is worthy of remark. Those who were acquainted with Mr. Revell speak in happy terms of appreciation of his gift and ministry.

That he was sustained in his service until the end is evidenced by the fact that the article "Discipline and Exercise" [not included here] was penned only four days before he was "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord".

With these remarks the little volume is committed to the Lord and commended to His beloved people.

E. B. Griffiths, Southport, June, 1935.



PRESENT MINISTRY

Nothing changes the love of Christ to the church. We have failed, but He cannot fail. His gracious love continues to the end.

The other side of the truth connected with a present ministry is given to us in the Lord's words in Luke 12: 42,

There is, however, a further point to be considered; a present ministry will ever be the object of Satan's bitterest attacks.

The same principle remains true. It is easy to adopt as orthodoxy a past ministry which in its own time was persistently rejected, for the bitter opposition of Satan is against a present ministry.

May we have grace to discern that which is from the Lord, and to receive it humbly and thankfully!

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THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT

"The Spirit and the bride say, Come",
Revelation 22: 17.

The Spirit's voice is the expression of the present mind of God.

But now, in the close of the book, we hear the Spirit's voice in a different way.

The Lord presents Himself as the Root and Offsping of David, and the bright and Morning Star.

The darkness of the night seems most intense when in chapter 2 we read the message to Thyatira.

It is significant that in this way the Lord presents Himself at the close.

The great end of the Spirit's present work is that we may be brought to the consciousness of union with Christ.

Beloved brethren, let those who wish to do so count dates and investigate the signs of the times,

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OUR LEADERS

"We beg you, brethren, to know those who labour among you,
and take the lead among you in the Lord, and admonish you,
and to regard them exceedingly in love on account of their work",
1 Thessalonians 5: 12.

In other places of Scripture besides this the leaders are spoken of. Three times in Hebrews 13 they are named.

It may scarcely be neccessary to mention that the word "bishop" as used in Scripture, simply means one who exercises oversight; "the presbytery" simply means the elders.

A leader is one who shows us the way, because he himself knows it; and he encourages us to take it, because he himself is so perfectly convinced of its goodness.

The spring of all true intelligence and clear discernment of the way which the saints should take lies in the knowledge of God.

Again, the man of precedents is not in divine things a reliable guide.

Love is the only motive of a true leader. In this respect – though in other respects the analogy fails – he resembles Deborah of the time of the judges.

To the elders at Ephesus Paul gave himself as an example. Acts 20.

We live in days of great feebleness, but may the Lord graciously give to us true leaders of this sort; and where there are such already – however small may be the measure – may grace be given to us to discern them, and to regard them very highly in love for their work's sake.

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IN EXILE

"In the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day", Revelation 1: 9-10.

It is probable that John, exiled for the word of God, was alone, as regards Christian fellowship, in the isle of Patmos.

More than this, he became in the Spirit on the Lord's day.

It is not my intention to speak further of the things which were seen and heard by John.

But there are others who have isolated themselves without a full knowledge of all that it involved, and now feel keenly what a mistake they have made.

And again, there are those who are isolated by no act or will of their own, and who have great longing after the privilege of the assembly, if only it were granted to them.

Now, God's common way for His people is undoubtedly to give them not only all that may be enjoyed by the individual as such, but also that which can only be known when we are gathered together in assembly.

There is first the moral state which is becoming the recognition of our brethren, and the fellowship to which God has called us.

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"AS HE WAS WONT"
Luke 22: 39

In the Gospel of Luke our blessed Lord is presented to us as the perfectly dependent Man.

Though the circumstances were unique His place of dependence was common. The place of this deepest anguish was the one of His common intercourse with His Father.

Is there with us individually such a custom? Do we diligently seek a place where we can be alone with God?

Who has not known in deepest grief the sweetness and rest of such a place?

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EMINENCE IN THE CHURCH IS THAT OF LOVE

Where men have held the church to be an ecclesiastical organisation, there also they have looked upon eminence as of an official nature.

When the two sons of Zebedee asked of the Lord the favour of eminence, and the other disciples showed by their displeasure that they were of the same spirit, the Lord called them to Him and said:

It is sadly evident that the church has departed from this principle and has ignored the example.

The Lord has Himself established an incontestable claim to be Head of the church by His utterly devoted love. He has loved the church and given Himself for it.

Now, those who would be truly eminent must go the same line, and as they do so, they will gladly confess that

Let Paul be taken as an example, and let his words to the Corinthians be the proof, for to them he was obliged to speak of his apostleship.

Of the opposite principle to this the Corinthians were themselves the example.

All this, alas, we can understand, for we have been so like to it ourselves

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IN ASSEMBLY

"When ye come together in assembly",
1 Corinthians 11: 18

There is for us, as Christians, that which is individual in character, and that which is collective. The one does not interfere with the other.

That which is individual lies within our present path of responsibility to God;

As men here on earth we have all had our sins, and we still have our sorrows.

In assembly we enter upon that which is common to all saints. If we are not clear of our sins and our sorrows, which are individual, we can scarcely be at liberty to enter upon that which is common to us all.

Now His love desires the company of its objects; not one alone, nor two, nor a few, but the whole company, as He will have them in the end when He gathers them home to Himself.

Clearly, according to our chapter, that which first engages us is the eating of the Lord's supper – verse 20.

The meaning of the supper explains this; it is for the calling to mind of the Lord.

If He be thus called to mind, in the consciousness of His presence,we enter upon the sense of our companionship with Him.

Oh, that we may know better what belongs to our being together in assembly! The individual is robbed of nothing by our knowledge of what is collective;

"And stayed by joy divine,
As hireling fills his day,
Through scenes of strife and desert life
We tread in peace our way".

Whatever may be said of the importance of that which belongs to the individual, as such, and it may be fully granted,

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ETERNAL THINGS

"He that overcometh shall inherit these things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son",
Revelation 21: 7

In Revelation 2, 3 we see all that connects itself with the name of Christ in this world, as all passes in review under His eye, and about it all we have the declaration of His mind.

In chapter 4 a heavenly scene is before us. There God's rights as Creator are celebrated.

  • In the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ everything which has been comitted to man, and in which he has so grievously failed, will be taken up, and God's thought in it all carried out.

  • Thus will God be glorified in the very world in which He has been dishonoured, and man will be blest according to all the previous indications of God's mind.

  • But when all this shall have come to pass, and when every question which has been raised in the course of time has been divinely solved, God will make all things new, leaving no trace of that which formerly existed.

  • A new heaven and earth will be brought in, the first having no place.

  • The holy city will be found in perfect suitability to the whole scene, for she is described as New Jerusalem, and is seen in bridal beauty and adornment, the object of Christ's love eternally, and His everlasting glory.

  • She is the centre of administration during His reign (for those who suffer with Him shall reign with Him); but she passes into the eternal state as perfectly suited to it.

    • Some may not know that Rev, 21: 9 to 22: 5, is a kind of supplement in which the city is desribed minutely, but in its relation to the millenial world.

The blessedness of those who are on the new earth consists in this, God's tabernacle shall be with them, and He will dwell with them, they shall be His people, and He shall be with them their God.

  • They are simply spoken of as men, for all the governmental distinctions which God has formed and recognized, even on the millennial earth, shall no longer have place.

  • They shall be one complete, happy company; happy with God's own presence.

  • Not as in Eden, when man was innocent and God visited him, but in the full intelligence of all that God is, as it has been demonstrated in His wonderful ways; and thus known and loved He will dwell with them.

  • All that has marked the present course of things shall be abolished, death, sorrow, crying, pain, and God Himself shall have wiped away all tears from their eyes.

Now, the overcomer shall inherit these things. God has not only exposed for us all the workings of evil in this world, and shown us their judgment,

    • but He has also given us a sight of all that He is about to establish, that, strengthened and deeply stirred in our souls, we may rise superior to all that surrounds us at the present time.

  • As these eternal things are before us all man's glory becomes dim, and we grow independent of all man's resources.

  • We find all our springs in that blessed God who triumphs over all the power of evil, and who will bring in everlasting blessing and glory.

  • He was not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who waited for the city which He has founded, and who were content to be strangers and pilgrims on the earth;

    • thus, also, is He the God of the overcomer, who is to Him a son.

Oh, for eyes which look steadily upon the things which are not seen, and hearts that love the things which are eternal!

  • One has said, "Our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are for a time, but those that are not seen are eternal", 2 Corinthians 4: 17-18.

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THE  CHRISTIAN  COMPANY
John 13:1; Acts 4:23
Ex "The Christian Company", pages 2 - 15

I want to speak a little, in a very elementary way, on the christian company.

The thought of company is a common one to men. From the beginning of history men have gathered themselves together.

God's city has foundations. Cain's city had no moral foundations, therefore it came to nothing.

In working for the preparation of the christian company, God began with righteousness.

It would not be a righteous thing to deny the failure and ruin of man by sin; neither would it be a righteous thing to deny the place which Christ has, as having come forth from God.

God works repentance in men, and then sets before them His Son in whom all that God is finds its expression. The grace of God is perfectly expressed in Him.

All this is of an individual character. We each have our sins, and find our need of the grace that shines in the Lord; and it is as we are each in the faith of Him that we individually receive forgiveness, peace and salvation.

When here on earth the Lord accepted the place of centre. Indeed He declared Himself to be such, saying,

Such was man's state in the flesh that the sacrifice of Christ was a necessity.

The Lord, while here on earth, was the Centre for His own, and in virtue of all that they found in His company – God having wrought in their souls – they were bound together.

After His resurrection the Lord appeared to His own, and by Mary Magdalene He sent that wonderful message,

Then, in the beginning of the Acts, we read of the Holy Spirit sent down from Him. The Spirit came to dwell with the disciples, and to be in them.

In Acts 4:21 - 23, the disciples had been examined and threatened, and being let go, they went to their own company. They were not isolated as solitary individuals, they had their own company, and they knew it.

Now when a man is converted he should know his own company.

But it will be said: There are now so many companies of Christians that we cannot tell which is the right one.

I know only of one test for discovering the right company, and that is the place which Christ has with them, and consequently the intolerance with which everything is viewed which is not of Him.

In 2 Timothy 2 we are told to purge ourselves from vessels to dishonour, and to follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

My reason for reading the first verse of John 13 is that I identify "their own company" in Acts 4 with the expression "his own". The company becomes our own, because it is the Lord's own.p> In the second epistle the apostle directs that the door be closed against those who bring not the doctrine of Christ, verse 10.

The company which the Lord recognises as His own is the object of His unchanging love even at the present time.

While the whole church is under the love of Christ, if we would know the joy of His presence and the enjoyment of His love, there must be the maintenance of righteousness and holiness.

In view of His absence the Lord instituted the Supper of which we partake in remembrance of Him.

I trust that you may see the great importance of the christian company. I trust that you will not stop short at seeing, in a general way, that the church is under the love of Christ,

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THE  GLORY  OF  THE  CHILDREN  OF  GOD
Romans 5; Romans 8
Words of Encouragement, June 1899

We read in Romans 5 of the glory of God in the hope of which the believer boasts, verse 2; in Romans 8 we read of the manifestation of the sons of God, verse 19, and the glory of the children of God, verse 21.

The expression of God's purpose concerning us is seen in Christ glorified, and what corresponds to this with us on earth is the gift of the Spirit.

Heirship is attached to it; "If children, heirs also: heirs of God, and Christ's joint heirs" chapter 8: 17.

Suffering is not peculiar to those who believe; the whole creation groans and travails in pain together.

The creation also awaits this blessed moment. The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

In Revelation 21 the church is seen in its relation to the earth, under the figure of a city, the centre of administration.

What a separating effect must all this have upon him who through grace enters into it!

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TITLE  AND  FITNESS
Matthew 22: 1-13; Luke 15: 18-24
Words of Truth, Volume 15, 1947

In considering our relations with God, Christ is everything for us, both as regards title and fitness.

1. The parable of the wedding feast in Matthew is one of a group of three. The first is in chapter 21: 28-32, the significant words of which are,

2. The second parable is that of the vineyard which was let to husbandmen, who were to render to the owner the fruits in due season, verses 33-41.

3. The third parable, which opens chapter 22, is a setting forth of pure grace in connection with the Son.

The introduction of Christ, as seen in the beginning of the gospel of Matthew, entirely alters the state of things which had previously existed.

Both in this chapter and also in Luke 14 and 15 we have the idea of a feast.

The question of title is raised in Matthew 22: 11.

If anyone had natural title to the feast the Jew had, for to him pertained earthly privilege, but the previous chapter has shown that this is all forfeited, and therefore even the Jew can only come in on the ground of grace and of what Christ is.

There are two men brought before us in Scripture: the man that grieved God in His heart, in whom we have all had our part;

In Galatians 2: 16 the apostle tells us that no flesh can be justified by works of law.

Now in the same chapter, Galatians 2: 19, we come to the second point. The apostle says,

There is therefore a Man in the presence of God whose life has respect wholly to Him, and who is there to His perfect satisfaction;

Now Paul takes it up in regard to himself, and speaks of living to God.

He then continues, "Christ lives in me".

It is only in virtue of Christ living in us that we live to God. Nothing but Christ can be for God's satisfaction. The anxiety of the apostle for the Galatians was that Christ might be formed in them.

In Luke 15, we see that the welcomed one is held as cleared by the Father when He runs forth to greet him, but in order to join the festivity of the house there must be fitness, and this is found in the best robe.

The Spirit who has been given to us not only assures us that we are perfectly cleared in God's account from all that the flesh is, so that all the blessing of God can be bestowed upon us,

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