Ministry by Joseph Revell

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

G.A.R.

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

• And, as a consequence of this, He still nourishes and cherishes the church, as it is said,
  • "No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as the Christ the church".

• There is, therefore, never a time when His people cannot count upon Him for a present ministry, suited to the special need of the moment.

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

• "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?"

• Unfailing love is the spring of a present ministry; those who are used in it are described as faithful and wise.

• One such said, "It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful".

• It is the Lord Himself who is before such, not their own importance; and because He is before them His household is precious to them.

• The servant who sought to be faithful to his Master said of His household,
  • "I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved".

• We may be sure that such will be entrusted by the Lord with a portion of meat in due season for His own.

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

• His aim is always to frustrate the purpose of God, and with this in view he opposes any setting forth of the present mind of God concerning His people.

• In doing this he may most successfully use that which is past. He constantly sought to seduce Israel to idolatry, out of which Abram had been called; he now draws away Christians to Judaism, not to idolatry.
  • The same principle is seen in regard to ministry.

• No one can read the history of Israel under the direction of Moses without seeing how persistently he was opposed.

• When we reach the days of the Lord we find His opposers saying, "We know that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not whence he is".

• The ministry of Moses, which was rejected in its own time, is held as orthodoxy and constantly brought forward in opposition to that of the Lord.

• Yet the close of John 5 shows that these zealous supporters of Moses missed the whole point of his ministry, for, as the Lord said, "He wrote of me".

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.

• But however greatly prized may be a past ministry to those who are in the enjoyment of Christ's love to the church,
  • they will count on Him to speak in present power, presenting that which is peculiarly applicable to the condition and need of His people.

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

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

• Of old the priest in the house of God had the Urim and Thummim by which God made known His mind.

• Now, the Spirit maintains a living testimony within the house of God, and shows what is the mind of God.

• Thus, in the early chapters of the Revelation, the one who has an ear to hear is called to hear the Spirit's voice to the churches.

• We are not called to hear the church's voice, but what the Lord has to say in the testimony of the Spirit to the churches, and about them.

• If the church speaks there cannot but be in its voice the sad evidence of all the corruption which has found a place within the church.

• In the voice of the Spirit there is the maintenance of all that is according to God, even though it be to the condemnation of the church.

• All that in which man rests in self-complacency, and of which he boasts so loudly, is exposed, as the mind of God is made known, and judgment is pronounced upon it as evil.

• This bows the heart that loves the Lord in deepest humiliation, that that which bears His name should be found so evil that nothing can prevent its becoming the subject of the righteous judgment 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 One in whom all blessing lies, and the Spirit leads in the suited cry of invitation to Him to come: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come".

• It is not His voice alone which utters the cry, for joined with His is the voice of the saints in whose hearts bridal affection has been formed, and with it the intense longing to see the face of Him whom they love.

• In the solemn testimony of judgment in the early part of the book, the Spirit's voice gives the message of the Lord; in the cry of invitation He leads the saints to a suited response to the Lord.
  • In both He maintains the mind of God.

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

• In chapter 5, He is announced as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.

• He is thus made known as the subject of prophecy, from that of Jacob, when he blessed his sons, to that of the later prophets.

• Yet He appears in the midst of the throne in the character of a Lamb as it had been slain.

• He has overcome, but He has done so through suffering and death.

• He comes forward to take up the inheritance, and to fulfil in regard to it all the will of God.

• The first strokes of His power must of necessity be in judgment for the overthrow of evil in its various forms,
  • but all this is with a view to bringing in all the blessing which God has purposed for the earth.

• How happy will be the day when the power of the evil one shall be broken and abolished, and the Lord alone shall be exalted!

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

• Then it is that the Lord speaks to the overcomer of the day when His own shall share with Him His reign, and adds, "I will give him the morning star".

• He makes Himself known in the heart as the pledge of the day, and the assurance of its being near. The day of which He is the blessed harbinger is the day of God,
  • beginning with His reign for the subjugation of all things, but passing on to when God shall be all in all, the day of eternity.

• We taste the joy of that day in the knowledge of Himself. Here, in this closing presentation of Himself in this character, He adds the word "bright".

• It is as though the nearer we come to the close, and feel more the darkness around, the brighter becomes to us the character He bears. He is the bright Morning Star.

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

• We ourselves have had to learn the truth much in the order in which it is presented in this book; that is,
  • we have had to learn the evil that has crept into the church, which has brought it, as an outward body in this world, under judgment.

• Along with this we have learned something of the working of things in the world, and the details which are given prophetically in Scripture of the Lord's coming.

• Now, the Lord would draw us from the contemplation of the evil, and its judgment, and would wean us from the absorbing study of prophetic details, that He may have our eyes and hearts for Himself.

• The great theme of these closing verses is what He Himself is: "I Jesus … I am".

• Whatever the world is, and whatever the church has become, He remains, and all blessing is found with Him.

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

• It is dependent upon affection for Him, for no one could value union with Him to whom He is not the absorbing object.

• Leading us, therefore, by the path of deliverance, and of the knowledge of the purpose of God, He so presents Christ to us that our affection for Him grows.

• In this way does He form the bridal cry which is here spoken of, in which He Himself leads, as showing that it is the present mind of God. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come".

• It is the language of the heart divinely instructed in our relation to Christ, that longs with affectionate yearning after Him, that He may have His place and that His joy may be full.

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

• but let it be our earnest desire to be formed by the Spirit in intimate knowledge of the One whom we love, and of our proper relation to Him,

• that there may be produced in our hearts and upon our lips, intelligently and fervently, the response which the Lord looks for to the presentation of Himself –"Come".

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

• We should not misunderstand the common translation, "them that have the rule," and think of such as though they had rule like a magistrate or an officer.

• This has been the thought of many, while others, who revolt from this, refuse to recognize anything like oversight.

• Such do not deny that the Scriptures speak of overseers or bishops, but they suppose that they passed away with the days of the apostles, and we are not now to look for such.

• The question, therefore, becomes a deeply interesting and important one, Who and what is a leader, and may we look for such at the present time?

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.

• Both terms have acquired an ecclesiastical usage, but it is well to return to the simplicity of Scripture.

• The work of an overseer is very simply and beautifully named in 1 Timothy 3: 5:  he takes care of the church of God.

• And the first verse of the same chapter shows that he does this as a matter of desire, a desire which is no doubt begotten of love for those for whom he would care, and love for Him whose they are.

• The apostle shows what should be their character. In perfect agreement with all this are the words of the apostle Peter – 1 Peter 5 – where he exhorts the elders to shepherd the flock of God.

• He forbids the thought of gain or of lordship; they are to give themselves to the care of the saints readily and freely, and as being themselves examples. And this brings us to the true thought of a leader.

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.

• He is aware of the difficulties, but he knows how they may be overcome; he is conscious of the dangers, and would tenderly guard from them those for whom he cares;
  • he knows the end, and he would allow nothing short of that end to be the goal for himself or those whom he loves.

• It is therefore clear that such would be a leader in the apostles' days, and such is a leader now.

• He may not have now, as he might have had then, the sanction and the expression of fellowship which were indicated by the laying on of the apostles' hands,
  • but none the less his heart yearns over the saints in his desire to help them, and the Lord will no doubt cause his affections and fitness to be felt by others.

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

• Doctrine may be pursued philosophically, and often has been so pursued, but we may grieve for the man who entrusts himself to the guidance of such a philosopher.

• It were no wiser so to do than for a traveller to place himself under the care of a guide who only knows the region through which they pass by information which he has gained from books.

• Neither of these guides is practical. The man who has trodden the road in all sorts of weather is practical; and the man who has learned what God is amid all the varying circumstances of life is also practical.

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

• He may relate what has taken place in the past, but that may not at all be the mind of God for the present.

• The true guide has rather a knowledge of moral principles, with wisdom from God for the true application of them.

• He knows what the flesh is so that He can discern it, whatever the varied or plausible forms it may assume.

• He sees beneath the merely external shape of things and lays hold of their moral principle.

• In the knowledge which he has of God he can understand what is befitting His people at every juncture.

• Not only does he plainly see what God has called His people from, and he would have no mark of it left upon them, but also he sees what God has called them to, and he labours that all that blessedness may form their character now.

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.

• In her song – Judges 5 – she describes the misery of Israel until she arose "a mother in Israel".

• She was not a father, neither did she pretend to a father's place, but she had a mother's heart, she loved the people, and she did what she could for their relief.

• It is not that love behaves itself unseemly, for that it does not, but where love exists there will be care for the saints, according to the measure and position of the one who has it,
  • without waiting for anything like ecclesiastical approval, or without any sort of pretension.

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

• Instead of aiming at position or gain, he had with his own hands ministered to his own necessities, and those that were with him.
  • "I have showed you all things, how that so labouring, ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' ".

• His devotedness in service knew no bounds: "By the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears".

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.

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

• This being so, he would not have the privilege which belongs to our being gathered together in assembly.

• But his words make clear the fact that he did not in exile forget his brethren, or wander in heart outside their fellowship.

• He writes to them as their brother and companion, this latter expression involving the idea of fellowship.

• More than participation in privilege, was found within the circle of that fellowship, for there were afflictions to be endured and the patience of Jesus Christ is connected with His kingdom.

• In this John had his part pre-eminently, being banished on account of his testimony, but in mind he was in touch with his brethren.

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

• If he could not have the privilege of the assembly, he was separated from all around in the energy of the Spirit, and thus prepared to see wonderful things in the visions of God.
  • "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass".

• We thus see him in company with his Lord, and entering into communications which were of deep importance to a servant.

• All the principles of evil which have been at work both in the church and in the world are laid bare before his eye, and he is shown the judgment of them all, and the consequent in-bringing of all that is of God.

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

• My thought is rather a practical one having in view many who are from one cause or another isolated, and therefore outside the enjoyment of the privilege of the assembly.

• It is true that such isolation may not always have come about through the same subjection to the will of God, and the same direct testimony to the word of God as did John's exile.

• It is to be regretted that many fix the place of their dwellings without very much thought of fellowship or testimony, making all this secondary, and their own temporal well-being primary.

• Where this is the case can we be suprised that coldness grows, the sense becoming lost of the link with God's people, and the privileges of the assembly are ignored.

• Then things are turned to which had been professedly given up for the Lord's sake, and both religious and worldly evil are tolerated.

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.

• It may be they would now sacrifice much if they could only regain a position which they once too lightly abandoned, but they have no way out of their present circumstances and have in sorrow to reap the lot which they have sown.

• Nothing remains to such but to take true ground with God about it all, and seek that His grace may abound.

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.

• It may be even that since coming to a knowledge of the truth they have been alone, finding no companions in it.

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.

• It is well to be in the clear recognition of this whatever our own path may be.

• Then there will not be any ignoring of assembly privilege, nor the assumption of it where it does not exist.

• Then, I think, John's case comes in for the help and encouragement of the lonely ones.

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

• Thus the claims and obligations of that fellowship will be recognized, and the isolation will not be made an excuse for tolerating the worldliness, even of a religious kind, which is contrary to true fellowship.

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

• In full accord with this He is often spoken of as praying, for prayer is the expression of dependence.

• In the close of His life we have this touching word: "he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives".

• The shadows which had surrounded Him during His perfect path of service were deepening into blackness. Man's cruel rejection of Him was all but complete.

• The terrible burden of sin, with its abandonment of God, was before His spirit.

• He had given expression to His love for His disciples in gathering them together to eat with Him the passover before He suffered.

• He had set before them also that which they should do for a remembrance of Himself.

• Now He retires. Even from His chosen disciples He separates Himself that He may be alone.

• There He pours out His soul to the Father, divinely measuring all that was before Him, shrinking from it in perfect piety, yet desiring the Father's will to be done.

• Deepest anguish was His, yet most absolute submission. Precious, holy Saviour, who can gaze on Thee there without deepest reverence!

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.

• It was His wont thus to retire. Jerusalem was crowded during its feasts. He was the homeless One amid the crowd.

• There was one quiet spot where He could be alone, and it was His custom to go there.

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

• Where the din of the outside world is lost. Where even religious activity ceases. Where even the dearest approaches not. Alone with God.

• Where, in perfect abstraction from all that fills and engages the world, we may in perfect freedom pour out our souls to Him.

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

• But too often it is only then that we seek it instead of its being the habit of our souls.

• Let us beware of ceaseless activity even in a religious form. We need regularly this secret intercourse with God.

• We live in days of feverish excitement. We do not plead for laziness, but that the spring of all our activity may be our private communion with God.

• May He attract us to it by its unmeasured sweetness, and let it be the jealous care of our souls that nothing shall interfere with it!

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

• This has been carried to such an extent that the bishops of the church have had assigned to them a recognised position in the world as spiritual lords.

• Many who may judge this extreme worldliness scarcely judge the root whence it springs, and still hold that eminence is, at least, a semi-official thing.

• I think that no eminence is found in the Scriptures but that which love gives, and therefore the most eminent is the most lowly.

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:

• "Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister (or, servant); and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant (bondman, or slave) of you all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many", Mark 10: 35-45.

• In these words the Lord gave both the principle and the example of true greatness; the principle is that of the most lowly service of love; the example was found in Himself.

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

• In a great part of the church the man who takes the place of head claims to have power over the monarchs of the world, and he himself keeps up the pomp of a worldly court.

• Again, in some countries, the sovereign is acknowl-edged as the head of the church.

• From this latter there may be many dissenters, who also protest against the former, but they are not free from the principle which is found in both,
  • and with them eminence is given to such as distinguish themselves by human learning, eloquence, and the like.

• To us all the principle cleaves too closely, but it is that which the Lord so strongly and tenderly rebuked in His disciples.

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.

• His service is like that of the Hebrew servant of Exodus 21, it is one of love, and therefore it knows no limitation as to extent or time.

• He has gone to the uttermost extreme in giving His life a ransom. None can go so far, and none can take the place of pre-eminence which He has.

• In all things He must have the pre-eminence by reason of who He is, but He takes it as morally qualified,
  • for in the greatness of His love, and in the perfect devotedness of His service, He is beyond all others.

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

• whatever love may be manifested in their service it has not its spring in them, but is derived from Him whom they recognise as Head.

• It is beyond dispute that the apostles had a special place in testimony, and authority was given them from the Lord; but they were themselves morally great men.

• Ecclesiastical painters surround them with a halo, as though they were not men like ourselves;
  • but what distinguished them was their moral greatness, and not official prestige; the halo which surrounded them was that of love.

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.

• To them he spoke of having seen the Lord, and of the authority which the Lord had given him, though not for destruction but for edification.

• Yet he maintained the principle that the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. And power with him did not manifest itself so much in miracles as in patient endurance in service.
  • "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience".

• As against the pretensions of his opposers he spoke of two things – his surpassing sufferings and his abundant revelations.
  • "Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool.) I am more." (Not more than a minister of Christ, but he was such in a surpassing degree, as he goes on to prove.) "In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent," etc., 2 Corinthians 11: 12.

• It is an affecting way in which he proved his eminence, yet he speaks as a fool in so doing – in his own judgment – for these sufferings connected themselves with what he was as a man here,
  • and with relief he turns to speak of what was more simply and purely of the love of God – "visions and revelations of the Lord."

• In dwelling on these he touches the subject of the weakness of his bodily presence, on account of which they were ready to despise him, and he shows that the secret of it was his remarkable experience in the third heaven.

• Then his eminence finds its expression in the words which were those of love's bondman:
  • "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved".

• It was no light thing to be an apostle; but formed in love, under the influence of divine love, he was equal to its demands.

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

• There were strifes and divisions among them, even as there had been among the disciples before the death of Christ, and before they received the Spirit.

• They wished to be great and probably thought they were great, but in reality they were only children, "babes in Christ",
  • and their efforts to be great were much like the childish assumption of the clothing and external things of a man while the stature is still that of a child.

• They thought much of men, and miracles, tongues, and such things as had outward appearance, while that which belonged to their true stature as Christians was being neglected.

• It is a simple principle which most will recognise, that nothing which a man can do is of so much value as himself, though a great man imparts greatness to all that he does.

• Our spiritual stature is according to the measure in which we have been formed in the divine nature; but though having prophecy, understanding, knowledge, and faith for the accomplishment of wonders, if we have not love we are nothing. 1 Corinthians 13.

• This childish regard for great men, which the Corinthians had, exposed them to the folly and violence of such as had some outward appearance.
  • "Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face".

• Yet while willing to be humbled to such an extent by those who professed themselves great, they were themselves so little formed in love that they failed to perceive the true greatness of Paul.

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

• Many things have we suffered from men who have sought place and power, but who have had little consideration for the saints of God.

• Men have been known who may have even had distinct gift in one way or another, yet they themselves have been unbroken and unsubdued, and have brought their own wills into divine things, and thus have wrought havoc among the saints.
  • What shall we say? May God preserve us from such ambition! "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good", 3 John.

• May we be encouraged and enabled to "follow after love," which is our only true measure, and which gives the only true eminence!

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.

• The clearer we become as to our individual portion, and the deeper our enjoyment of it, the better shall we be fitted for that which is collective.

• The Corinthians very little understood what pertained to them as individuals, and the assembly was with them all in confusion.

• Along with this it may be noticed that they did not distinguish, as they should have done, between what belonged to their own circle and that which belonged to the Lord.

• Though they had houses to eat and to drink in, they made the assembly a place for pursuing their individual ways and concerns, even to the extent of some being hungry and others drunken.

• The epistle to the Corinthians, while correcting all their disorder, gives to us very valuable instruction as to those things which with them were in such confusion.

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

• that which is collective, while beginning within that sphere, reaches to that which is beyond, to that which is heavenly and eternal, the things which God in His great love has purposed and prepared for us.

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

• These are individual, for, although there may be a similarity between the sins and sorrows of all men, those of one are not exactly those of another.

• In the gospel the forgiveness of sins is preached to us, and we learn that God is Himself our justifier, His justification of us being set forth in the resurrection of Jesus our Lord from the dead.

• Thus we have peace with God, and the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. We can therefore glory in tribulation.

• And, further, the One who has manifested His love in dying for us is now at God's right hand, and there intercedes for us.

• Nothing can sever us from His love, and even our sorrows may become the opportunity for His assuring our hearts in a deeper way of His love.

• Thus we become more than conquerors through Him who loves us. All this belongs to our individual path.

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.

• Set at liberty from these things, the more fully we know the God who is for us – as seen in our justification –
  • and the more deeply we drink into the love of Christ, the better are we fitted to enjoy all that belongs to the company.

• For, though I may enter with intensity into Christ's personal interest in me, as an individual – as Paul said, "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" – yet I know that that love is not exclusively mine.

• John wrote of himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," yet he did not view himself as the exclusive object of that love, for again he wrote,
  • "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end".

• The more deeply conscious I am of His love to me, the more do I delight to see the whole band of His own, loved by Him with the same deep unchanging affection.

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.

• If we enter into this there will be with us a great desire to be together in assembly.

• It is perfectly true that we cannot gather together the whole band, but that makes no difference to the principle,
  • we shall be pleased to be with those who are endeavouring to maintain moral principles which are according to the Lord, and in whose midst He is free to take His place.

• And in so gathering together there will be the recognition of the fact that we are called to leave that which is purely individual, to be engaged with that which belongs to the whole band.

• Our houses which we have to eat and to drink in are left behind, and with them our individual concerns, to have before us the love of Christ to His own, with all that belongs to us in that love.

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

• The apostle denied that the Corinthians ate the Lord's supper, for in its place each took before other his own supper, and one was hungry and another was drunken.

• But the denial of the apostle shows that properly what first engages us is the Lord's supper.

• Thus also in Acts 20: 7, the sacred historian speaks of those who came together for the breaking of bread. That agrees with what we have here.

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

• When He was here in flesh He called His disciples around Himself and took charge of the whole company.

• Now we come together in His absence, and the more deeply we love Him the more we must feel His absence; but, in eating the supper,
  • we call Him to mind in that which was the perfect expression of the devotedness of His love to His own; we recall Him as the One who has died.

• Thus, while absent as to bodily presence, He becomes present to our mind and the affections of our hearts.

• Love is quick to catch the manifestation of His presence, and our love is stimulated in the remembrance of His own love to us.

• Merely believing that He is present – according to Matthew 18: 20 – avails us little if we have not the consciousness of it;
  • love can be content with nothing short of the manifestation of His presence, and this is that which the Lord desires to give to His own.

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

• For the time, we are outside the things which are in the world, and we come to the enjoyment of all that in which He lives before God.

• He has made known to us the Father's name, and as we are with Him He brings us to enjoy all the love of the Father's heart.

• Then as our hearts fill with the joy of this He leads their fulness to the Father; "In the midst of the assembly will I sing praise unto thee".

• What can equal this! He brings us to share His own joy in the Father's love, and to join the praise which He sings to the Father.

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;

• on the contrary, the realised joy of the assembly will make us more effective in our individual path. We shall the more intelligently be enabled to say:

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

• yet there is clearly that which belongs to the company, and which can only be entered on in the assembly.

• The Lord may graciously be with us, giving us a sense of His sympathy and support in our trying circum-stances, and no one can afford to lessen the necessity for this, or the sweetness of it;
  • yet it is a different thing when He draws us on to His own ground, and gives us to taste the joy in which He lives before the Father. This is ours in the assembly.

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.

• Nearly the whole of it is found contrary to Him, and is threatened with judgment. He would have us feel the intense seriousness of this; we are called to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

• Then while He bids us hearken to His judgment of things He encourages us to rise in spiritual energy above the moral elements which surround us, and to overcome.

• This He does by presenting various things which are present to His eye, and which He would have steadily kept before the faith of His people.

• These things are not connected with the existing state, which is so hopelessly ruined, but either with His own kingdom, which He will shortly establish in power, or with eternal blessing.

• We can only overcome in the present state of things as our eye is steadily fixed upon that which is future.

• Yet that which is future becomes a present reality and joy to the man whose eye rests on it in faith and whose heart is stirred in affection to reach the Lord.

• In reaching Him we get anticipatively the delight of heavenly and eternal things by the power of the Holy Ghost.

• And as we enter thus into the delight of all that is found with the Lord Himself, we are conscious that we have reached that which can never fail, for it is the fruit of divine love, and is sustained in divine power.

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

• Man has refused to own them, but they are owned in the mind and praise of heaven.

• In the following chapter the One is found who is pronounced worthy to open the book which is sealed. It is the Lamb that has been slain.

• In the recognition of all that is suited to God, and in devoted obedience to His will, our Lord Jesus has suffered even to death.

• As the holy Sufferer He has overcome all the moral elements of the world, and has proved Himself the suited One to take up everything and subdue it to God.

• The chapters which follow show how He clears away by judgment all that which is hateful to God, and He eventually takes up the kingdom. The kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ comes to pass.

• It will be a blessed day for the earth when He, whose feet once trod it in holy strangership and suffering, shall rule over it!

• In those days which are past, He fully showed what was the heart of God in compassionate goodness and power to relieve man, whom Satan had led captive;
  • in the day of His rule He will make all this good, establishing in divine power upon earth all that is in God's heart for man.

  • "In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth".