• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God", John 1: 1.

• We are notified at once of the immense fact that the Word was in the beginning, that is, the One who unfolds the thoughts of God is not only from the beginning, but He was in it.
  • "In the beginning was the Word".

• That One who has been talking to you, and telling you of God, was in the beginning. He was in it, and He was in it not in any inferior sense; He was God. In taking up things which relate to divine Persons we are slow to apprehend the magnitude of what we are dealing with.
  • "No man hath seen God", says the evangelist, "at anytime; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him", verse 18.

• The Word conveys the thought of speaking. The glorious One presented in John 1: 1 has actually spoken to me! How affecting! If He has not spoken to you, well, you know very little – you know nothing first-hand. John would have us get things first-hand, and he emphasises that the Person who brings things to us is the Word – He is the One who speaks.

• What, you say, the One who has spoken to me? Yes; that very One. When He was here the speaking was general, for He says,
  • "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloke for their sin", John 15: 22.

• You see the wonderful speaking; by it the sin of the Jews was exposed and could not be covered up.

And so we find the very One who has spoken to you speaking to this woman here.

• He was in the beginning, not from it; bear that in mind. He was in it, and in no inferior way. He was in it, and He was with God in it.

• And then to add to that, He was God – no less than that – and that is the One who has spoken to you and to me. See what that means, beloved, not only have I things first-hand, but I have them from such an One as that – He who is called the Word.

• So abundant and universal has been His speaking, so unlimited have been His communications, that He has acquired that name in all hearts who love Him – the Word.

Immediately He is here as the Word become flesh, it is recorded:

• "We have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth", verse 14.

• And then John the baptist, who is brought in by this evangelist as representing service according to God, bears witness, as if the picture must be complete, and what did he witness?
  • "After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me", verse 15

• He is that – the One who was in the beginning. Name any dignitary in the Old Testament, any angelic dignitary, and you will come to it that every one will have to say, "He was before me".

• Than John the baptist there was none greater born of woman, as the Lord says, and he says of the Lord, He "is preferred before me". Surely He is preferred! Preferred by whom? By God, and I hope by all of us. I hope Jesus is preferred by all of us to any other man or being in heaven or on earth, however great.

• This gospel delivers us from the influence of men in these our days, when they have such a place even with the saints of God.

• John says, He "is preferred before me". He does not say by whom, but presently two of his own disciples prefer Jesus to him. Not that they despised John, far from it; he was not to be despised; the Lord would not have that; no one knew his worth more than Jesus, and He spoke of it.

• But these two disciples heard John speaking – that is John, as it were, exercising his powers; they heard John speaking about Christ and they left him; they preferred Jesus. That is a voice. I wonder if we have all preferred Him, preferred Him to all others?

Now in the light of that, we are told later that John the baptist says of Him that He comes from heaven; not only that He was in the beginning and was with God and was God, but He comes from heaven.

• That is an additional glory of Christ. He comes from above, and John gives Him a place under that heading, and says,
  • "He must increase, but I must decrease", John 3: 30;

• we see thus one going out of view in full vigour in appreciation of Christ.

• In the light of these facts you can see that more than subjection is needed for this gospel. Without it, as I said, there is no hope at all, you can be of no use to God or to the saints; whatever you may think you have, however much information or light you may have, subjection is imperative.

• But there is more than subjection contemplated here, and I have selected these three women from among others in this gospel to illustrate what God has in view for us.

I take the Samaritan woman first – in her own order, indeed, in the book – and what I deduce from the instruction is that she represents the thought of a vessel.

• It is a very simple suggestion, and one that fits in peculiarly with this gospel, because the idea is prominently introduced in chapter 2 in connection with the marriage at Cana of Galilee. You will remember that there were six water-vessels, as they are called; they were stone "water-vessels".

• They were there, but they were empty, but vessels are not made to be empty; they are made to be used. In truth each one of us is a vessel, and is to possess it, according to another scripture, in sanctification and honour; 1 Thessalonians 4: 4.

• So we get this woman, an unlikely person to be a vessel from the point of view from which I am speaking, an unlikely person, I mean, to the natural mind, but what is unlikely to that mind is quite likely in God's mind, for He thinks not as man thinks; He looks at the heart.

• And moreover God looks at us potentially, that is to say, not only according to what we may be now, but what we shall be; He takes us up from that point of view.

• And so, as I said, there were those six stone water-vessels unfilled. They were for the moment useless, that is, they were not being used. There may be some here like that, and the Lord would say to you that He has need of you.

• Indeed, the earliest instruction that we get in the epistle to the Romans implies this idea of a vessel; we have it presented in a most exalted way in that epistle, for we are said to be "vessels of mercy … prepared for glory". What vessels!

Now to illustrate what I have in my mind briefly I would remark on the Lord's reference in Luke to Elijah. He says, that there were many widows in Israel in his days, but

• "to none of them was Elias sent but to Sarepta of Sidonia, to a woman that was a widow", Luke 4: 26.

• He was sent to Zarephath, Jehovah saying to Elijah,
  • "I have commanded a widow woman there to maintain thee", 1 Kings 17: 9.

• He had already commanded the ravens to feed him, but maintaining is a very different thing; it signifies that he was to be looked after suitably, and some of the most important things in a household in connection with the maintaining of a guest are vessels.

• I just touch on the woman of Zarephath as very striking and illustrative of what I have in my mind. She is gathering sticks outside the town as Elijah reaches it, and he calls to her and says,
  • "Fetch me a little water in a vessel", verse 10.

  You might say, Why mention the vessel? If she is to bring water, she cannot bring it in the palm of her hand. But the point is, the water is to be brought in a vessel.

• In replying, she tells Elijah about her poverty, but she had the idea of a vessel; she says, I have
  • "but a handful of meal in a barrel"

• – it was in a barrel, in a vessel, where it should be;
  • "and a little oil in a cruse", verse 12

• – where it should be. I mention that because if we are to be spiritual in regard of ourselves and our vessels, we must apprehend that the vessel is to be used by God; we are to be vessels unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use.

• And so you find in the chapter referring to that widow that the meal in the barrel remained – it never failed, and the oil in the cruse never failed. Emphasis is laid on the thought of vessels throughout.

And so under Elisha's ministry – his being the counterpart of Elijah's – the widow of one of the sons of the prophets was in straits; the creditor was about to take her sons; she had not anything at all in the house but a little oil in a pot – she too had it in a vessel; that was what she had in the house.

• Now the house is mentioned, that is to say, the believer's establishment, it is a question of what I am myself. The house refers to my own establishment, and it is how things are there. What have you got there?

• You say, I have got much in heaven. Thank God! Christ is in heaven. But what is down here? The Holy Spirit is down here. But where is the Holy Spirit? He is not in the air; He is not in the elements; where is He? He is in you, if you are a believer; He is in believers, He is in the house of God.
  • On the day of Pentecost, it says, It "sat upon each of them", Acts 2: 3 – not elsewhere.

• The sound filled the house, and cloven tongues as of fire sat on each of them, and then the effect on them was that they spoke with other tongues. The Spirit had come and He was in them.
  • "These are not drunken, as ye suppose", Peter said, verse 15.

• They were filled with the Spirit; He was in them.

Now the prophet says to the widow, "Go, borrow thee vessels … not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door … and … pour out into all those".

• It is a question of vessels, that is to say, room for the Spirit. She shut the door, the vessels were brought, and all were filled, and she says to her son,
  • "Bring me yet a vessel";

• but there was not one more, and the oil stayed. Every vessel was filled; the instruction is that we should make room for the Spirit; that is the mind of God. You will see thus how important these vessels were. When the vessels were filled the oil stayed.

• Do you not see the importance of the vessels? Is it not a voice as to whether I am a vessel, and whether, as once empty, I am now full of the Spirit? I am enjoined to be filled with the Spirit. Think of the magnitude of being a vessel for the Spirit of God, as the apostle says,
  • "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you", Romans 8: 9.

• Mark you, that means that there are no rivals. If the Spirit is dwelling, there are no rivals to Him in the house. Think of the magnitude of this!

• I have dwelt upon it because it is so important for young people that there should be room for the Spirit. Think of the vastness of the thought, that the Spirit of God has come down from heaven and is here in vessels – in one great vessel – the assembly – but also in us severally!

This woman of Samaria answered to all this. The Lord spoke to her about herself. It is a well-known scripture, and I need not enlarge on it.

• The Lord says of the water, it "shall be in him", John 4: 14.

• The Spirit of God had already said that the Lord Jesus directed that the stone water-vessels should be filled to the brim; that is the mind of God. There is to be nothing else but the Spirit, as the apostle says to the Ephesians,
  • "Be filled with the Spirit", chapter 5: 18.

    "Fill the waterpots with water", the Lord says,

    then, "Draw out now" –

• as if there should be no drawing out until one is filled with the Spirit, otherwise there will be a mixture, partly Spirit and partly flesh. And so here the thought is carried forward; He says,
  • "The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life".

• That was what the Lord said. What a marvellous statement! And He also says,
  • "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water".

• That is the position. Now this woman listened to the Lord saying these wonderful things to her, and the last thing He said to her was,
  • "I that speak unto thee am he".

• Do you see what is meant? You will remember what I have been saying about the Word. The woman would, no doubt, later on trace that remark back to a past eternity. It was the same Person – the Word. "I that speak unto thee am he". He was the Christ, but also the Son of God.

Well now, "upon this came his disciples", they came as the Lord made Himself known. Thank God they did not come earlier! Sometimes we interfere with the work of God in souls instead of helping it. The disciples came on that word, but the Lord had finished what He had to say.

• They began to speak to Him about food, and they wondered why He talked with the woman; they were unspiritual. We may be seeking to serve God and be unspiritual, we may interfere with the Lord's words, but this woman was not hindered or restrained. Natural curiosity would no doubt have detained her to hear what these disciples were saying, but she was not detained; she had got her word,
  • "I that speak unto thee am he".

• What a word that was! He had already told her other things; He had reached her conscience; He had said enough, and instead of waiting to hear what the disciples were saying to Him, it says,
  • she "left her waterpot".

• Indeed, what she left was in keeping with those disciples, for that was what they were occupied with – material things, as if it was just in keeping with them. She left the material things represented in the waterpot and went her way into the city. She is spiritual now. What is the evidence? you inquire. She left the waterpot.

It is negative so far, but negatives are important, for you will never reach positive things apart from the negative.

• There must be the giving up of material things; I mean that we must learn to abandon the natural for the spiritual. She had what was positive before she left. She left the waterpot; she abandoned the natural thought she had been occupied with and went her way into the city, as much as to say, I have the Lord's mind about myself – I am a vessel. I am a vessel of living water, and so I am to be used for the help and refreshment of others.

May God grant that every one here, especially the young people, may get that thought clearly. How did the woman show that she was a vessel? She went her way into the city and said to the men,

• "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"

• She did not say He told her He was the Christ; she said something stronger, "He told me all that ever I did"; that is to say, He was a prophet; she had said that already. She spoke according to her apprehension of Christ; He "told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" That was living water, I mean in the principle of it.

• See the effect of it on the men of the city, those who knew her well. They went to see the Lord, and many believed on Him because of her word. What kind of a word was it? It says she "bore witness"; it was not a casual remark. The Lord would have us, as vessels of witness, to be definite.

I invite you to look at that word; she witnessed of Him, that is to say, she gave formal testimony as to Christ. Every true vessel will be definite in what he says. She bore witness concerning Him; and so, you will observe, many believed because of her word; she had said, "Come", for morally she was with the Lord; spiritually it means that I am with the Lord in my soul. I say,

• "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"

• Will not the witness she bore reach a conscience? It did with those men; they came to Him, and said to the woman,
  • "Now we believe, not because of thy saying":

  – it was not only her words, though they had valued that –
  • "for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world".

• You will see how as a vessel she witnessed of Christ, and her service was strikingly effective.

I come now to the two Marys. Lovelier characters you can hardly find outside the Lord Himself than these two women. They represent a constructive line of thought in this gospel.

• Mary of Bethany, I apprehend, also represents the idea of a vessel, only what is emphasised in her is the value of the things she has and it is a measured amount; she is one who, like God, has come to measure things.

• Romans 12: 3 contemplates believers learning to reckon according to
  • "the measure of faith";

• and 2 Corinthians 10: 13, in keeping with that, brings in God as
  • "the God of measure",

• and 1 Corinthians 14: 19 contemplates the principle of measurement in the assembly –
  • "five words".

• In nothing is the idea of measurement so fully represented as in the assembly; it presents a cube, as many of you know – a remarkable thing, an immense six-sided structure. It is immense, but yet compassable, or finite. That is one great feature in a vessel that it can be conveniently used.

Now, among other things, Mary of Bethany represents that side, the principle of measurement; she represents progress from the woman of Samaria; in her we have intelligence, measurement, and excellence of quality. She had, too, a local setting.

• The woman of Samaria is more general, although she goes into the city, she is called a "Samaritan woman"; but Mary with Martha had a local setting; Bethany is said to be their village –
  • "the village of Mary and Martha her sister".

• It was the Mary, as we are told,
  • "who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick";

• that was the one. But it was the town or village of Mary and Martha. What I want you to notice is that it says the sisters sent to the Lord – a word that we ought to note.

Sisters in a town are extremely interesting. Of course we know they were sisters in the flesh, but they were also sisters spiritually.

• There were sisters who in earlier days were not very congenial to one another; I refer to the two at Philippi who are enjoined to be of the same mind in the Lord, Philippians 4: 2; not one in regard of some social link or object, for it is remarkable how we are brought together by the most wretched things, so that, we are of one mind to that extent,
  • but the point is to be of "the same mind in the Lord".

• So here it says, the sisters sent to the Lord; two sisters sending a message to Jesus is very beautiful, and the message was this,
  • "he whom thou lovest is sick".

• Surely we can see the appropriateness of a message like that sent from many of our gatherings – the needfulness of it, for many are spiritually sick.

That word reaches Jesus, for it says, "When Jesus heard that", He heard it undoubtedly from the two sisters,

• He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby".

• A magnificent answer! "This sickness is not unto death". Some sicknesses are very solemn indeed;
  • "There is a sin unto death", John says – 1 John 5: 16.

• You may be a sick person, and the sickness may mean that, but not so in the case of Lazarus. Such things in John's gospel are not governmental. The man in chapter 9 was not blind because he had sinned or his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
  • God is working from Himself, and if there be the sickness of a loved one, it is not unto death, it is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby.

Now the sisters are to wait for this result. It is a wholesome thing to wait on God. Sisters are not, perhaps, generally patient, but it is an excellent habit to wait, I mean spiritually. From the very outset the people of God waited. Jacob says,

• "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord", Genesis 49: 18.

• That is the principle of faith. Here the Lord waited two days where He was. Then He said, 'Let us go to him'. Lazarus had died; it gave time not only that he should die, but to be buried and even to become corrupt. It seemed an unheard-of way, but it was love's way.

• "Dead four days", but the fourth day was necessary for the glory of God. Although corruption had set in, Lazarus would be raised – the sisters should see the glory of God; whether it be four days, four years, or four millenniums, it is the same thing. The Lord Jesus takes the dead out of the graves, and that is the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God.

• Think of what these women had in store for them! and so it is with us, there is wonderful spiritual instruction in waiting on the Son of God. But let us wait for it; and so Mary sat still in the house – a fine attitude.

Martha was active and she went to meet the Lord, an act in itself acceptable to Him. He had no complaint; He stays where she met Him, and He tells her wonderful things.

• He says, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live; and every one who lives and believes on me shall never die".

• The Lord addresses these words to Martha, and says to her, "Believest thou this?" What a question that is! Do we believe it? He is the resurrection and the life, that as a believer, though you die you live, and if you live you never die. Marvellous! Do you believe it? He inquires from Martha, and she answers,
  • "Yea, Lord; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world".

• She is learning; and then she went off secretly and called her sister. She did not make any ostentatious show of the matter; she was becoming spiritual.

• And then Mary moves; she is more spiritual, and so has more influence, for as she moves the Jews move with her. That is the effect of spiritual influence; they move with her, they follow her. She had affected them much more than Martha;
  • but still, Martha met the Lord and He stayed where she met Him; they all had to come there. Thus the Lord honours one whom we may regard unspiritual.

• But the Jews follow Mary, and as Mary arrives she is weeping and the Jews following are weeping, and Jesus wept; He groaned in spirit. Marvellous thing! He was deeply moved, as if resentful of what the loved ones were suffering, and thus death had to go.
  • "What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?", Psalm 114: 5.

• It was the presence of the Lord – the Son of God was there, and all this in the presence of these women. But I cannot enlarge on it, wonderful as it is.

God is glorified there. The Lord lifts up His eyes to heaven and speaks to the Father; it is the Son here in manhood speaking to God; doing always the things that pleased Him. He says,

• "I knew that thou always hearest me; but on account of the crowd who stand around I have said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me".

• He was here as the sent One, He was glorifying God, and He was being glorified in doing that; the Son was here in manhood carrying out the will of God, and God was glorified, and all that in the presence of these sisters. What a learning and growing time for them!

• And so we can understand how Mary had this ointment; she had he
  • "pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly",

• and as the opportune moment arrived, she is there with it. Spiritually, the reference is to herself as a vessel and what she had; she is available for worship. The whole person is there, her spirit, her soul, and her body. All is in intelligent, spiritual control, and she ministers to Christ.

• See how she anoints the Lord's feet and wipes them with her hair; and the ointment, being of such quality and on the Lord's Person, the house is filled with the odour of it. There is a full vessel for you!

• That is what I understand to be a worshipper according to John. She filled the house in worshipping, and yet it was measured, not like Nicodemus' hundred pounds weight, valuable as that was in its place. This was just one pound, but, oh, how precious! The odour filled the house.

But Mary Magdalene completes the picture of spirituality from this point of view.

• Chapter 20 introduces the first day of the week and Mary is in full view, as if that is the thing the mind of God is set upon for the coming eternity. The chapter begins thus:
  • "The first day of the week … Mary".

• There she is; and she moves in agility as did the Lord Himself; He was moving like 'the hind of the morning', as depicted in the psalm. She runs to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved.

• It says, too, that she remained without at the sepulchre, as they "went away again to their own home", and she looked into it and saw two angels sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.

• The picture, as I understand it, is this – these angels represented Old Testament administration, wonderful administration, but they are sitting now at the head and the feet of Jesus. That is where they were, as if all else was given up, and they were now taken up with the glorious Person who had come in. But He is not there.

• He was there, and these angels show what heaven thought of Him, and the woman is to understand it; she saw it. As she saw it, they spoke to her, and it says,
  • "she turned backward".

• One of the greatest features of spirituality is instinct; so here it is as if instinctively she turned backward, for Jesus was not there. Angels were there; but it was to call attention to the dignity of the Person who had been there. She looked backward and she saw Jesus, that is to say, that direction is to be given up. We are not to look in that direction again; we are to look in another direction.

• Spiritually it means that there is a complete turning round from what you have been occupied with; I do not care what it is, religiously, or whatever it may be, there is to be, from John's point of view, a complete turning-round. First she turns backward; then she sees Jesus, though she did not recognise Him. Presently He says, Mary; then she turned herself round. That is a complete change.

• Turning backward was more negative; turning round, as the Lord called her by name, is positive. Are we prepared for it? Spirituality, according to John, requires a complete change of outlook. Are not these angels worth looking at? Yes, beloved friends, they are wonderful beings, but they call attention to the termination of the old order of things.

• Their position in the tomb called attention to the dignity of Him who lay there; but He was not there, and they are not going to stay there; their business is Jesus. A multitude of them came down in a host when He was born; now two are present; a testimony to His Person and to what He had effected in His death.

• So Mary turns completely round, and she says to Him,
  • "Rabboni, which means Teacher".

• She is spiritual now. She says, as it were, I understand now that I need to be taught. And we all do. We need to look at everything from an angle different from the ordinary.

• You may have been reading the Bible from an unspiritual point of view, reading commentaries, it may be, but that in itself will not make you spiritual; you have to learn everything from Christ, so Mary turns completely round and says,
  • "Rabboni, which means Teacher".

Then the Lord says, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father".

• She is to be led into the greatest thoughts of God. Think of that! the very greatest thoughts of God for us, and that is what she is to be led into. Are we prepared for it? The very best and greatest thoughts God has about us are available to us, and the state of soul to which they are disclosed is seen here in Mary Magdalene.

• But He would detach her completely from the earth and link her with heaven. He says in effect, Do not touch me until I am ascended. Contact – links – with Him are now to be in relation to heaven –
  • "I have not yet ascended".

• It is all a question of elevation, and personal dignity.
  • "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God".

• Marvellous! That is her light. It is the light. It is no question of Israel's privileges now; it is what was before the world, as Ephesians 1: 3-4 says,
  • "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ".

• It is according to eternal purpose,
  • "according as he has chosen us in him before the world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love".

• That is the thing, the very best thoughts that God has, the thoughts of His love about us.

Well, that is Mary Magdalene, and she stands out in the front of the picture in this chapter. The first day of the week – Mary Magdalene. The first day of the week in the mind of God represents something before all that has been, and that is John's gospel. May God help us to enter into it!

• Transparency appears in each of these features, indicating to us what God is about to end up with, and how transparent everything will be in the coming world.

• But what is thus to shine is being formed now; each of us as believers is to have part in it. There will be no formation then, as far as I apprehend; all that is God's present work.

Now this is an important matter, and what suggests itself to my mind in the Old Testament is that which appeared to Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel as they ascended to the mount to meet God.

• A wonderful privilege was opened up to them; and, as ever, God gives abundant testimony as to what He would have us know. This incident proves it when there were seventy of the elders beside Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, called up. It says,
  • "They saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were work of transparent sapphire", Exodus 24: 10,

• God thus indicating at that early date how things are to be transparent, and that that which was under His feet was thus marked. He had walked earlier, and He was about to walk again, as He says later,
  • "in a tent and in a tabernacle", 2 Samuel 7: 6

  with His people. He required from them no such flooring as paved work of a sapphire stone, no walking-place like that.

• His love would lead Him to walk with them in the wilderness; indeed He had already been walking. He is the first to have walked, as Scripture presents things, here on earth; He walked in the garden, as you will remember.

• And Enoch walked with Him later for three hundred years; and in the most touching manner He, as walking in company, arrived at the tent door of Abraham, in whose family the whole thoughts of His love were to be developed. We are told that Abraham sat at the tent door and
  • "behold, three men standing near him", Genesis 18: 2.

• One of these men, marvellous to say, was Jehovah. As they stood near him, he discerned at once the Lord and the other heavenly visitors, discerning also that they were passing on. And so he says, after proposing to fetch a meal,
  • "after that ye shall pass on";

• he did not wish that he should be the terminus, but rather that he should minister to Jehovah and those with Him as in the divine way. And so Abraham prepares a meal, and Jehovah Himself, with the other two, awaits the preparation; marvellous condescension. But they were passing on.

• They partook of the refreshment and the two men passed on, but Abraham stood still before Jehovah and spoke to Him. Then ensued a wonderful conversation in which Jehovah intimated remarkable interest in the patriarch; it was personal. He said,
  • "I will certainly return to thee … and … Sarah thy wife shall have a son", verse 10.

• The conversation went on until completed, and when Jehovah had finished speaking with Abraham He departed;
  • He "went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham", verse 33,

• and Abraham returned to his place. God passed on but He had taken Abraham into His confidence.
  • "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?", verse 17,

    and then He gives the reason,

    "for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him", verse 19.

• But God was on His way to the great result of which I read in Revelation. He "went his way".

And so, as Israel is to go out of Egypt into Canaan, He is to walk with them, but before He does this He calls up abundant witnesses who, as it says,

• "saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were work of transparent sapphire", Exodus 24: 10.

• These are the divine circumstances; we shall see in due course the answer to all this in the heavenly city.

• Already all these features are being worked out, for God is dwelling among His people and walking among them, so that we might learn something of Him, of His manner, of His ways, the manner of His dwelling, and the manner of His walking.

Now I want to show you from these passages in the gospels how this principle of transparency is worked out in each one of us.

• I say in each one, because that city is composed of the saints of this dispensation; myriads of the redeemed – and not only redeemed, but each by himself the handiwork of God.

• And so the record in Mark as to this palsied man is intended to show how the believer begins with the principle of transparency. It is said that the man was "borne of four", meaning that his condition had elicited sympathy, and that the ability to sympathise had been extended.

• In the ministry of Christ the atmosphere became impregnated with the spirit of compassion. Mark presents to us such a personality in Christ –
  • "Jesus Christ, Son of God"

• – in the service, that the influence extended, and an evangelical spirit sprang up, so that the state of the man drew out the sympathy of four – which suggests general sympathy.

• You do not get that in John. John contemplates a different state of things; he presents us with a man who for thirty-eight years lay by a pool, nobody undertaking to help him;
  • whereas the wonderful servant that Mark presents, the wonderful personality that was there, created an atmosphere of sympathy, an evangelical state of things, so that the man is borne of four and the roof is dug through.

• But what I want to point out particularly is that the bed on which he lay comes down. You say, 'The man came down', but the scripture says here,
  • "the bed on which the sick of the palsy lay" came down.

Now this is a very elementary side, but most important. If we are to begin with transparency, the whole position has to be brought into view.

• It is not simply that the Lord is told about the man. It is not like the case of the centurion's servant, for the Lord never saw that servant as far as the scripture shows; it was a question of the power of His word.

• But here we have a different thing entirely, a matter which every believer, every exercised person before God, should take notice of, that all the circumstances in which the man rests are brought down.

• You can see the roof opening, you can see the light coming through, and here is this thing, this bed – the bed whereon he lay.

• We are very likely to hide the beds; they are indeed private things generally: but if they represent my secret circumstances, if they represent my secret relations, my secret affiliations, it is of all importance that the bed of each of us should come into view.

• It came down before the Lord; did He not see it? Thus it is that all that man's circumstances came into the view of the Lord and of others too.

Blessing is present in Christ for him, but it says,

• "when Jesus saw their faith";

• their faith lay in this, that they would get him into the presence of the Lord.

• But was it an accident that they could not bring him in through the door? Not at all; it was necessary that he should come in through the roof, that the whole circumstances should be seen – that bed, the bed whereon he lay, he was on it, so that the manner in which it supported him could be seen; and when the Lord saw their faith, He says,
  • "Child, thy sins are forgiven thee".

• The whole truth is out. Many are suffering governmentally because the whole truth of their position is not out. There are secret relations and affiliations and practices which are not of God, and which they are leaning on and resting on because they cannot do without them.

• Their condition is such that they cannot do without them; it is a paralysed condition. There is no spiritual power, and the secret of it is the bed – the couch – the kind of thing you are resting in.

• But now it is all out, and the Lord owns the man as a child; he is recognised as a member of the family. The youngest in the family is as much of the family as the eldest; in fact, the babe and the invalid get most attention. So the Lord would indicate now that all that is in the house, all that belongs to the family, is available to you.

These four had done their work, but look at what is in Christ for the man! Those present insinuated that He spoke blasphemies; how could He forgive sins?

• But "the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins".

  He says, "Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?"

  and so He says to the man,

  "I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed".

• To thee I say, Take up thy bed. He is occupied with that man, with the "child"; he is to be in the city by and by, he is to reflect Christ there. He is not to be an opaque element; his shining is to be clear as crystal, like a jasper, and this is where it begins. Is it not worth while to begin thus?

• Or will it pay to go on with these secret things, these secret worldly things that are eating the very vitals out of your soul? Bring them all out and let them be known, and the brethren will help you; the Lord will help you through them. You need to be helped, you have no power in yourself, and so the Lord says,
  • "To thee I say, Arise, take up thy couch and go to thine house".

• Now you are to go into your house carrying those circumstances, and if I can carry them, I can lay them down. Making your bed is another thing. Æneas had to do that, but that is not what I am speaking about;
  • carrying my bed is that I have power, I am superior to the thing that once held me.

• The whole thing has come down and has been brought into view before the Lord, it is seen as it is, and He owns you as a "child". Is it not worth while to be recognised in that family? Is it not worth while to give up these things that you have been resting in in secret for the sake of coming into the family of God?

• All that belongs to the family is yours, the very best, hence He calls this man "Child".

I want to go on now to the woman in Luke. With her it was a question of concealing, not what was bad, but what was good, that is to say, virtue had gone out of Christ and she would keep this a secret.

• She had come up behind the Lord in her malady. According to Mark she had suffered much, under many physicians; according to Luke she could not be cured by any one; the most renowned specialist could not help her; though she had spent all her living on physicians,
  • yet she "could not be cured by any one", it says.

• And so she comes behind the Lord and touches the hem of His garment. She had faith in what she was doing.

• But then whilst you may have faith for yourself, and act in your own faith, and whilst the Lord gives you credit for it, yet the result of faith is not to be kept secret.

Secreting things that are intended to be used in testimony will not do. John speaks of secret disciples; Joseph of Arimathaea was one.

• Secret discipleship may be of some value – it is of value – but it will never bring you into the assembly, and Luke has the assembly before him, the component parts of it.

• In this chapter we have the man who had been possessed of demons "sitting … clothed, and in his right mind" – that is the intelligent side, which is most essential.

• And then we have the woman, and the result of the Lord's dealings with her is that she is transparent. Women are naturally secretive; and so the Holy Spirit takes up that feature to show the danger of it, as carried into the spiritual realm.
  • Jesus said, "Some one has touched me".

• Now the Lord will not allow you to be a secret disciple; He has His eye on you. He says, "Some one has touched me".

The disciples say, "The crowds close thee in and press upon thee, and sayest thou, Who has touched me?"

• Yes, He says, "Some one has touched me, for I have known that power has gone out from me".

• It was something gone out of Him; it is a substance, so to say, gone out of Him – "virtue", "power", as it is called, and it had gone into her, and she was made whole, and she knew it, she knew it in herself;
  • but then why should not others know?

• The virtue that is gone out of Him is to shine here; it is in principle the assembly. We are to shine, but it is in the effect of the power that has come out of Christ; all this enters into the truth of the body of Christ.
  • "The body is of Christ", Colossians 2: 17.

There is nothing in the body that has not come out of Christ, and there is nothing in the heavenly city that does not come out of Christ; it all issues out of Him, but it begins thus, that healing virtue comes into my soul.

• It is not now a question of forgiveness, it is a question of power, the power of the Spirit of God, by which I am healed inwardly. This woman was conscious in herself that she was healed.

• And so the Lord said that some one had touched Him; He knows and He will bring it to light, and He knows how to do this; He insists upon it, whatever others may say, that some one had touched Him.
  • Then the woman, seeing that she could not be hid, falls down before them all, and tells all the truth.

Now let me appeal to you, dear brethren, in regard of this matter of having to do with the Lord and keeping the result secret. It belongs to the assembly really, for you are being formed for it.

• And so, as she declared the truth He called the woman "Daughter". She belongs to the family. He says,
  • "Daughter; thy faith has healed thee; go in peace".

• It was her faith, but it was the power that went out of Him, and the power by which she had been healed inwardly that was to develop and give character to her, so that she should reflect Christ; that is the thought.
  • She "declared before all the people";

• you can see the importance therefore of being transparent with the brethren, of having things out, whether they be the bad things or the good things.

• The assembly is to be transparent, and we begin now to learn how to be transparent, and then we shall fill our places in that city whose shining will be "clear as crystal".

What comes out in this chapter in Revelation, among many other things, is the very best that God has in the way of material. I was speaking here last night of the best thoughts of God.

• The apostle John gives us these, and shows us at the end of his gospel how they are conveyed to a woman, to a sister. It is said,
  • "The first day of the week … Mary Magdalene", John 20: 1;

• she stands out there in the forefront of that wonderful picture of what suggests eternity to us, what God has in view of it – "the first day". It refers to what is before everything material – to the thoughts of God
  • "before the world was", John 17: 5.

• Think, beloved, of being admitted into those thoughts! Who can admit us into such thoughts save the One who is conversant with them – the One who was in the beginning with God, and who was God?

• He was in all the secret counsels; what was before the world He was perfectly conversant with, and hence He is the Word. He has brought out all the best thoughts of God, and it is a question of who can receive them, and so John brings in a spiritual family.

From chapter 11 to 20 you have the forming of a spiritual family; Mary of Bethany represents that formation, one who, as we saw last night, learned to measure, and to have the best, so as to expend it on Christ.

• I cannot be in the heavenly city save as formed and instructed in this way, as understanding measure and what is most excellent in quality.

• The component parts of the city are spiritually intelligent beings, and Mary represents such. She understood measurement; she had a pound of ointment, and it was the best. That is what spirituality signifies; it goes in for the best there is; and she had that.

• It was not a question of the quantity. We are living in an age of quantity. It is wonderful the quantity there is of things, of money, commerce, religion, education. Today it is the vastness of the scale on which things are carried on. It is a question of volume, and men become inflated according to their volume,
  • whereas with God it is a question, not of volume, but of quality.

If you look at the material universe, you get volume. Think of the volume that there is in the worlds!

• The Holy Spirit uses that word, not only world, not only the universe that we are accustomed to, but worlds – think of the volume! It is beyond us. If it is a question of volume, why there it is; as God says, The cattle upon a thousand hills are Mine. Psalm 50: 10.

• But it is no question now of volume with God, but of quality, and that is spirituality. Mary understood that, and she kept a pound, a measured amount, and the odour of it, we are told, filled the house; and so, from that point in the gospel of John you have the bringing in and forming of a spiritual family, represented in Mary Magdalene.

• She was a wonderful trophy of grace, no one like her in that respect. Mark tells us that the Lord had cast out of her seven demons; Luke tells us that seven demons went out of her. Mark attributes the thing to the Lord, Luke evidently attributes it to the untenableness of the position – the position became untenable and the demons went out. Satan will never give up a position until it is untenable.

• They went out, for something had taken place in her that rendered their position untenable. But Mark says the Lord cast them out – a wonderful change in her! It was not a mere malady that she had, but the possession of seven demons.

• Think of what grace is – that she should be in the very picture that suggests to us the eternal thoughts of God! May we not say with the apostle,
  • "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us"?

    "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God".

    But He has "quickened us together with Christ … and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus", Ephesians 2: 4-5, 8.

• That is what God has done, and here is Mary Magdalene in the very forefront of the picture in chapter 20.

"On the first day of the week … Mary of Magdala", we read, came to the sepulchre, and then she went off and told Peter and John.

• Then she looked into the sepulchre and saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain; and then she turned herself round and looked backwards.

• She is not now possessed of seven demons, they had been cast out of her; she is spiritual – not yet intelligent, but spiritual. She has instincts, she looked round and saw the Lord.

• She did not know Him yet, but He knew her, He knew her well, and He had wonderful things in store for her. She is the very consummation of the subject, and yet she had been the abode of seven demons in her day. Think of the marvellous grace of God! And of what the heavenly city is being composed!

She thought He was the gardener, but then He says,

• "Mary" – a well-known voice –

• He calls His own by name. How precious that is! Every name known to Him, every one of us, the myriads of the redeemed all known by name; how blessed!

• And then she turns herself completely round, the position is changed; she is now in the presence of the most wonderful things. The Lord says, as it were, I have got wonderful things for you,
  • "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father".

• Think of that! a divine Person who was with the Father before the worlds talking to a woman who had once been the abode of seven demons, telling her about His Father, and that He had not yet gone to Him!

• Think of that, beloved! Had He been talking to Gabriel we could have understood it, but here is a poor woman, once demon-possessed, whom He calls by name, "Mary", and talks to her as to a friend.
  • He says, "I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God", John 20: 16-17.

• Think of her, Mary Magdalene, favoured woman – blessed indeed! As the Lord Himself said, when some one spoke of His natural mother,
  • "Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it", Luke 11: 28.

• Mary Magdalene is truly the blessed Mary.

And then it says she went and told the disciples. How beautiful! There was no ostentatious bearing, as if she were the great woman with the message.