It would seem from these passages that it is impossible for us to arrive at the Divine end unless the sabbath, in a spiritual sense, has its place in the very constitution of our beings.

• The first mention of the sabbath in this Book is in chapter 16, in connection with the day of atonement. It is mentioned twice in chapter 19:
  • “Ye shall reverence every man his mother, and his father, and my sabbaths shall ye keep. I am Jehovah your God” – verse 3 – and,

  • “My sabbaths shall ye keep, and my sanctuary shall ye reverence: I am Jehovah” – verse 30.

• These two passages, in themselves, show how keeping sabbath is to enter into the constitution of our being.

• They are linked up, in the first case, with the reverence of mother and father, as though it goes along with that; and, in verse 30, with the reverence of the sanctuary.

• I thought we might dwell in the main on the festive year in chapter 23, and then the sabbatical years leading to the jubilee. While chapter 23 begins with, “These are my set feasts”, the sabbath is immediately brought in;
  • it heads the list, and, in a way, it closes the list, because verse 39, where the word sabbath is not mentioned, speaks of the rest at the beginning and the end of the feast of tabernacles.

• The word “rest” there is a similar word to ‘sabbath’ – ‘shabbathon’ – sometimes linked with it in the expression “sabbath of rest”; but, while both words mean to cease from labour, it would appear that rest is more stressed in ‘shabbathon’.

• It would seem, therefore, that as God arrives at His end in the feast of tabernacles the idea of labour recedes. It will never be forgotten, but it recedes, throwing into relief the great results – the rest.

• In chapter 23 there are some additional thoughts brought in as to the sabbath: Verse 3 speaks of
  • “a sabbath of rest”, and “a holy convocation;”

• that is, it is not only a personal and household matter, but links with the assembly; and yet the household side is stressed more than heretofore.
  • “It is the sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings”

  • – not houses here as in Egypt, but dwellings.

• As the chapter proceeds, we are reminded of the assembly substantially, according to 1 Corinthians, in the two wave-loaves which were firstfruits.

• But they are brought out of our dwellings, dwellings where the sabbath is observed.

• Furthermore, the timing of the bringing out of the wave-loaves is by way of the sabbath –
  • “ye shall count from the morning after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven sabbaths” – as the note says – “they shall be complete; even unto the morning after the seventh sabbath” – verses 15 and 16.

• All this seems to me to place a very great stress on sabbath, until fulness in the appreciation of it is arrived at in the seven sabbaths.

• We are also to arrive at what the assembly is in testimony as first-fruits according to Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians.

• Then that makes way for the seventh month, which is the great climax of everything.

Ques. Are the feasts in order to bring us into accord with the sabbath? Can we not see something in them analogous to the days of Genesis 1, that the sabbath should be a time of fulness?

• All these feasts would mean a build up in affection, spirituality and intelligence, so that the sabbath should be enriched.

G.R.C. Yes. Verse 39, “on the first day there shall be rest, and on the eighth day there shall be rest”

• would suggest the time of fulness. All that has gone before in the feasts is gathered up.

• I wondered, too, whether things work from and to the sabbath, so that we must begin with some appreciation of it, both assemblywise and in our dwellings.

Ques. You mean, as being placed between the two sabbaths, we can allow to bear upon us what is retrospective in glory, and what is prospective in glory?

G.R.C. Very good. Chapter 19: 3,

• “Ye shall reverence every man his mother, and his father, and my sabbaths shall ye keep”,

• would touch home life. I doubt if mother and father have the place they should have, except in homes where sabbath is celebrated.

• We can apply that also to the motherly and fatherly elements in the assembly.

Ques. Why do you stress, “in all your dwellings”?

G.R.C. I doubt if a house can be called a dwelling unless sabbath is kept. There are houses, alas, which can hardly be called dwellings. The question is, are our houses dwellings?

Ques. Would all this bring in the Holy Spirit? We had God in the first reading; the Lord Jesus in the second.

• Does this specially bring in the Spirit in connection with the feast of weeks?

G.R.C. Really the divine dwelling was brought to pass at Pentecost, was it not? There were dwelling conditions for God.

Ques. The note against the word “feasts” refers to “fixed times for drawing near to God”.

• Have you in mind, as to our dwellings, that there are fixed times there for drawing near to God?

G.R.C. The fixed times for drawing near to God would really be the great holy convocations, and yet it says in verse 3 that the sabbath itself was, “a holy convocation”.

• I do not think we shall be ready for assembly convocations if the sabbath to Jehovah is not observed in all our dwellings. I think we should have times of drawing near to God in our homes.

Ques. Would there be certain sabbath conditions brought to pass in the households of Lydia and of the jailer in Acts 16?

G.R.C. I would think they were houses which understood and observed sabbath. In fact no house is truly in salvation which is not observing sabbath.

Rem. This thought of dwellings is stressed in relation to the two wave-loaves. Evidently the dwellings are places where there is something for God which can be brought out as wave-offerings.

G.R.C. Yes. From the standpoint of the assembly as firstfruits here in testimony – that is the Corinthian setting – we cannot bring more than we have in our dwellings.

• We cannot be more, morally and spiritually, as assembled, than we are in our dwellings.

• It is really ourselves we bring out. We bring the two wave-loaves by coming ourselves.

Ques. Would that be why the mother is mentioned first here? In Exodus it is father and mother; here the maternal thought, and the feeling side of things, are in prominence.

G.R.C. It is very interesting that, when the commandments are given from the divine side, it is,

• “thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother” Exodus 20: 12;

• but when it is a question of our entering into things constitutionally, it is,
  • “Ye shall reverence every man his mother, and his father” Leviticus 19: 3.

• How considerate God is! He has put things in that order to show that He has placed divine authority in the place where it is least irksome – in the mother. We first learn the authority of God in our mothers.
  • Reverence of the mother will lead to reverence of the father.

• We first learn the authority of God in our mothers, and that enables us to accept the overriding authority which is vested in our fathers.

• Those conditions, I believe, are found in homes where the next clause is applicable –
  • “my sabbath shall ye keep”.

Rem. Hezekiah had been very faithful in relation to the house of God, yet he had to set his house in order. Perhaps there were not sabbatical conditions there.

G.R.C. We need to look into this matter, do we not?, as to whether our houses are in order, and whether we are keeping sabbath. Now what does it mean to keep sabbath in our homes?

Ques. There must be dwelling conditions suited to God there, do you think? You cannot allow in the household what you would keep out of the assembly, can you?

G.R.C. That is a very important principle. I believe the households in the New Testament which were truly dwellings, were signalised by the fact that the assembly could be in them. We all ought to think about that.

• Is my house so ordered that, if an emergency arose, the assembly could be in my house next Lord's Day – is it spiritually suitable for it?

Ques. Would the thought of the mother be seen in the house of Chloe – 1 Corinthians 1: 11 – and the thought of the father in the house of Stephanas – 1 Corinthians 16: 15 – the firstfruits of Achaia?

G.R.C. Very good.

Ques. As regards Corinth, was it in the house that the apostle would help them as to the keeping of the feasts, beginning with the feast of unleavened bread?

G.R.C. Yes. The keeping of the sabbath in our homes would mean that we always have before us what God has done, and is doing, by Himself and for Himself;

• and what He is doing all stands related to Christ; the old man has no part in it.

• Therefore our homes are to be based on that principle.

Ques. And would it work out by the cultivation of family devotion in the things of God?

G.R.C. It would. The morning and evening oblation in our homes is most important.

• We were speaking of the fixed times of drawing near to God in our homes. It is good to have such times.

• Sisters may be able to draw near at midday, too, when they are working in the home. Brothers in offices may not be able to do so.

• Daniel had his three fixed times of praying; but every priestly household would be concerned about the morning and evening oblation;
  • and for us that would be preceded, if it is to be acceptable, by entering into the holiest.

• We need to enter the holiest, so that, as in spirit in the holiest, we can truly serve at God's altars, and not merely at our altars.

• We have these; we come to them; they have their places; but God's altars must be first.

• I believe that entering into the holiest continually keeps us in the sense of sabbath. In the holiest we see God; and what God has done in Christ, by and for Himself;
  • and what He has before Him – a system characterised entirely by Christ;

• and we become concerned not to disturb God's rest in any way. We do not want anything in our homes which is inconsistent with the rest of God.

Rem. Is David concerned that sabbatical conditions shall be maintained in his house, when he says,

• “Let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever; for thou, Lord Jehovah, has spoken it; and with thy blessing shall the house of thy servant be blessed for ever”, 2 Samuel 7: 29?

G.R.C. That is a very good prayer; yet, later, he has to say,

• “Although my house be not so before God” 2 Samuel 23: 5.

• We all have to say that in some degree; and yet God was faithful to David, and He is faithful to us.

• And we can make a start now on this great matter of observing the sabbath in all our dwellings.

Ques. It is said with regard to the children of Israel that they had light in their dwellings.

• I was wondering if the operations of God, in the creatorial sphere in Genesis, find their part in a moral way in the houses of the saints in the bringing in of light; and the next thing is that God divided between the light and the darkness.

• Are those the moral exercises which take place in the homes, so that everything which is contrary is excluded?

G.R.C. Exactly; and I think you might bring all the days of Genesis, in their spiritual application, into the matter.

• We cherish in our homes everything which came out in those days – the truth of Christ risen; the truth of Christ ascended – the sun, the moon and the stars – the gospel outlook connected with the swarming of living souls; but above all we cherish Paul's ministry of Christ and the assembly.

• That is, we have before us at all times how God is operating for His own pleasure.

Ques. Would it really culminate in the great thought of headship, in the man and the woman in their proper place in the household as well?

G.R.C. That is good. As to the mother and father, you find the same order in the assembly in Thessalonica.

• There is the maternal and paternal element in the assembly, and Paul brings the mother forward first,
  • “as a nurse would cherish her own children” 1 Thessalonians 2: 7;

• and then he exhorts them, as a father, how they ought to walk and please God. But the mother is first.

• It is very touching that both in the household setting, and the assembly setting, as divine authority is brought to bear upon us the mother is first.

• We are brought under authority in the most tender way, and that leads us to reverence of the sanctuary –
  • “Ye shall observe my sabbaths, and my sanctuary shall ye reverence” Leviticus 26: 2.

• Our dwellings thus become true dwellings, and God's sanctuary will be a true dwelling for Him.

Ques. As to the distinction between houses and dwellings, does it apply in connection with the Lord Himself and the place where He abode, according to John 1?

• Some enquired where He abode, and He invited them to come and see, and they abode with Him.

• Would it be right to connect it with keeping sabbath with Him in those circumstances?

G.R.C. It says, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” John 1: 14.

• He did not dwell in the world, He dwelt among us; and it tells us earlier who they were – those to whom He had given the right to be children of God, and who were born of God.

• I am sure the dwelling of the Word amongst such, at that time, would be in sabbath conditions.

• If we apply that today, that is where we would find the Lord – in sabbath conditions amongst such persons.

Ques. Would our houses be places where Paul could come and abide? I was thinking of Lydia in Acts 16, where she says,

• “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide” – verse 15.

G.R.C. Hers was a sample household, and an encouraging one, because it apparently belonged to a sister.

• So that sisters who have no husbands living, or who have not had a husband, are not debarred from having a dwelling.

• Two of the most honoured dwellings in the New Testament – Martha's and Lydia's – were such. The Lord valued Martha's house, and Paul valued Lydia's.

• But then, if in our homes we pay attention to the things spoken by Paul, we really arrive at God's thought of sabbath.

• The sixth day of Genesis particularly links with Paul's ministry; we do not come to completion without that; we cannot arrive at sabbath without Paul's ministry, because we would leave out the sixth day.

• Therefore you can understand that it is from dwellings where attention is given to Paul that the wave-loaves can be brought out.

Rem. I suppose we could hardly have the sabbath if we do not do our work in the six days, according to verse 3,

• “Six days shall work be done”.

• The house of Stephanas, which was alluded to, devoted themselves to the saints for service.

• We would expect to find sabbath in that house, because they were very actively employed in the Lord's work.

G.R.C. So that, while we do not, in the application of it, set aside six days for work and one for sabbath, the two things are there, are they not? Paul said,

• “My beloved brethren, be firm, immovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil” – the word toil is used – “is not in vain in the Lord”, 1 Corinthians 15: 58.

• But no one can work the work of the Lord acceptably if he is not keeping sabbath.

Ques. You would distinguish between the idea of work and servile work?

G.R.C. When it refers to the Sabbath itself it is, “no manner of work”.

• When it is a holy convocation it is, “no servile work”.

• “No manner of work” does not, of course, shut out what the priests had to do.

• In Leviticus 23, “No manner of work” is stressed in verse 3, and strongly stressed in verses 26-32 in connection with the day of atonement.

• So that the full thought of sabbath is, “no manner of work”. That is to say we are resting before God in what He effects apart from any creature hand coming into it.

Ques. Has the whole service of labour and ministry to be undertaken as resulting from being in the holiest, and contemplating? So the toil is not irksome toil, but the fruit of having been in the presence of God.

G.R.C. Quite so. The work of the Lord is not servile work; it is done in liberty, as you suggest, springing from the rest.

Rem. Paul, in Acts 20: 20 says he

• “held back nothing of what is profitable, so as not to announce it to you, and to teach you publicly and in every house”.

G.R.C. It shows that the household side and the assembly side are to go along together. Our houses are to be in keeping, morally and spiritually, with the assembly.

Ques. The morning and evening oblation which have been referred to, would be reading and prayer in the house?

G.R.C. Yes; but make sure you enter the holiest; and make sure you serve at both altars – the incense altar and the burnt offering altar!

• We could have a reading and get some food for ourselves, and pray about our household affairs, and yet not touch the altars of God.

• If we limit our approach to our household altar, we have not really touched the morning and evening oblation, although we may have had a prayer and reading.

• But if we enter the holiest, and serve at God's altars, it makes all the difference in what ascends to God, and all the difference to us.

Ques. Is the holiest a place in the presence of God Himself which each one of us should know? Would you make that, too, a household matter?

G.R.C. Yes. I would desire, in my individual approach to God, to enter the holiest, and also when I kneel down with my household. Begin there!

Rem. I think that is right.

Ques. Do you mean that as we pray individually, or household-wise, we would have God before us – His glory and service?

G.R.C. It is our privilege to come into the presence of God, and be consciously before Him; to contemplate God, and Christ in the presence of God;

• to be in the presence of the Fulness!

• How wonderful to be in the presence of the Fulness –
  • “In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, Colossians 2: 9.

  How wonderful to see the effulgence of God's glory shining in Christ! It is like God shining forth between the cherubim, God in Christ thus filling the vision.

• And then to look out, with God, from the holiest over the whole sphere of His interests;
  • getting His viewpoint of His habitation on earth, and of all the needs connected with it;

  • and also of the needs connected with the government of the world in relation to it.

• Thus we are equipped to approach the altars.

Ques. Would you say a word more about the two altars?

G.R.C. We are moving away from our subject, but one would link the incense altar with prayer and supplication for all saints – Ephesians 6 –

• and the burnt offering altar with,
  • “supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving” for all men, as in 1 Timothy 2: 1.

• We are looking outward from the court, as Solomon did.

To refer now to chapter 23: 15 and 16, the seven sabbaths which they had to count suggest a fulness of appreciation of Sabbath.

• And thus we bring out of our dwellings a new oblation.

• That is, we bring out of our dwellings nothing inconsistent with the new man, which is created after God in righteousness, and holiness, and truth; we bring a new oblation.

• It is a marvellous thing that the two loaves, which typify the saints, could be waved by the priest before God. They could not be offered on the altar, of course, but they were wave-loaves.

• There are also great offerings, the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the peace offering.

• There is an enlarged apprehension of Christ and His death as a result of counting these seven weeks, or seven sabbaths.

• The two wave-loaves, referring to the saints as formed constitutionally by what has preceded, are waved with the two he-lambs of the peace-offering.

• Think of the saints thus – in priestly affections linked with Christ as the peace-offering, and waved before God.

• The wave loaves then become food for the priests. The priests feed upon the saints viewed thus.

Ques. Would you enlarge upon the priests feeding on the saints?

G.R.C. “They shall be holy to Jehovah, for the priests”.

• As we come together in conformity with the work of God in us, other things having been judged and set aside, we become food for the priests.

Ques. Could you say why the loaves were baken with leaven?

G.R.C. It involves the recognition of what we are by nature

• – “With leaven shall they be baken”.

• As has often been said, the leaven is rendered inactive; it is there, although baken. We acknowledge what we are. Paul said as to sinners,
  • “of whom I am the first” 1 Timothy 1: 15.

• He did not hide the fact. It is in the testimonial position.

Ques. Does the counting run along with that? Would the counting involve interest and exercise so that we are not casual, although we are still in flesh and blood conditions?

G.R.C. I think so. The Spirit came down at Pentecost; there were conditions suited to Him after the 50 days.

• There were the seven weeks and the fifty days. They had to count both ways.

• We have to count by days and by weeks. It is a question of our personal and family exercises, and of our assembly exercises.

• All converge on this great matter of the first-fruits, the two wave-loaves.

• And what was true at Pentecost, Paul would bring about in each locality by the ministry of 1st Corinthians.

• We judge ourselves, and thus eat of the bread and drink of the cup. He says,
  • “We being many, are one loaf, one body” 1 Corinthians 10: 17.

• It is the testimonial position Paul laboured to bring the saints in Corinth into practical correspondence with the new oblation.

Ques. Are you thinking of such expressions in connection with Corinth, as,

• “the assembly of God” and, “so also is the Christ”?

G.R.C. “So also is the Christ”, refers to the anointed vessel here in testimony. It shows the dignity of the position.

• As viewed thus, the saints could be waved before God.

Ques. Is there something corresponding to this great offering, the seven he-lambs and the bullock and the two rams today?

G.R.C. The seven he-lambs and the two rams and the young bullock represent a wonderful appreciation of Christ as the burnt-offering.

• Then there is the sin-offering, which would link on with the fact that leaven was there; it is not ignored.

• Then there are two he-lambs for a sacrifice of peace-offering. That is the fellowship offering.
  • Only twice in scripture is the peace-offering prescribed.

• Normally, peace-offerings – usually called sacrifices of peace-offering – were voluntary, or for thanksgiving, or for a vow. They were the results of love in the hearts of the people.

Ques. Would that be the condition which the apostle is looking for as he closes the 2nd epistle to the Corinthians –

• “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion the Holy Spirit, be with you all”, 2 Corinthians. 13: 14?

G.R.C. Quite so. These two he-lambs are, typically, a necessity for the establishment of christian fellowship in its true setting.

• The communion of the Holy Spirit is one aspect of christian fellowship, and these two he-lambs are essential.

• What we may add is left to us – the voluntary offerings and the offerings for thanksgiving.

• There is unlimited scope for peace-offerings, but these are the essentials.

• Now if we are right in this setting – the Corinthian setting – it makes way for us to move on to the seventh month, which brings in, typically, the fulness of Paul's ministry.

• The seventh month is completion. I think the blowing of the trumpets on the first of the month means the full setting out of the truth – the whole counsel of God.

• Following this is the day of atonement – a great sabbath –
  • “A sabbath of rest shall it be unto you”.

• Paul is the only minister who gives us the full setting of the day of atonement.

Ques. You used the word “constitution”. Do you think affliction of soul enters into what is constitutional with us?

G.R.C. I do; and I do not think this is the affliction of soul of a sinner first coming to appreciate the work of Christ.

• I think it is the depth of feeling brought into our souls as we come to appreciate the vast scope of the effect of the death of Christ, and the depths of suffering He endured.

• In the seventh month we are not thinking of ourselves. We are thinking of God, and of what Christ has done for God – the width and scope of it, and the depths He went into for His God.

Ques. Would the 53rd of Isaiah open it up for us?

G.R.C. While that chapter treats more of what He did for us, there are things in it which are deeply affecting,

• “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin” – verse 10 –

• and “he hath poured out his soul unto death” – verse 12.

• These are touches which you get nowhere else. It shows how Israel will come into the gain of the day of atonement.

Ques. Would it bring us to the 1st of Ephesians –

• “in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood” – verse 6?

G.R.C. That again is our side of it, though on the highest level.

Ques. You made reference to the fact that Paul gave us the full thought of the day of atonement. Had you some particular scriptures in mind?

G.R.C. He touches the great day of atonement in Romans from the standpoint of the scape-goat

• “who has been delivered for our offences” Romans 4: 25; that is our side of it.

• He touches it in Colossians from the standpoint of the Fulness, and the reconciliation of all things to the Fulness,
  • “having made peace by the blood of his cross” Colossians 1: 20.

• In 2 Corinthians 5 he shows the relation between atonement and new creation. Hebrews gives another aspect of it.

• It is a vast subject, and our contemplation of it should lead us to afflict our souls as we appreciate that work in which we could have no part.

• No creature hand had any part in it – “no manner of work”. It is His work.

Rem. In Leviticus 16: 17 it says,

• “there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goeth in to make atonement in the sanctuary”.

Ques. In Colossians 1 the place the saints have is a part of a great whole, is it not, which has been effected for God Himself? There are “things” and “you”.

• “And you … yet now has it reconciled in the body of his flesh through death”, verse 22.

G.R.C. Yes. We come into our special part, but it gives the scope of the whole.

We must now refer to the feast of tabernacles, the great climax of the festive year.

• Colossians refers to all things reconciled; Ephesians refers to all things filled, and the feast of tabernacles is the filling.

• In the feast of tabernacles, His final rest, we anticipate with God, both the world to come – the seven days –

• and the eternal state, the eighth day – God's final rest in a scene filled by Christ.

Rem. “The hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”, Ephesians 1: 18. Is that it?

G.R.C. It is; and that brings us on to chapter 25, as to the sabbatical years, because chapter 25 deals with the land.

• It is a question of the land resting, and the people allowing the land to rest once in seven years, leading up to the year of jubilee.

• It was a recognition that, while it was the land of their possession, it really belonged to Jehovah. What He says about it is,
  • “the land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine”, verse 23.

• Yet it is called the land of their possession. God has given us a great inheritance among the sanctified, but we are never to forget that it is really His inheritance.

• It is all His. He is the Owner, and the selfishness of our hearts which would lead us to exploit the spiritual inheritance purely for selfish ends, is checked in this chapter.

• If we seek to exploit our great spiritual inheritance amongst the saints for selfish ends, and do not allow sabbath in connection with it, so that God gets His portion, we shall go into captivity.

• We shall lose the land. That is the teaching of chapters 25 and 26, as I understand it.

Rem. Is there a suggestion that, while God has secured His end in Christ, He is still awaiting it? He says in verse 23,

• “for ye are strangers and sojourners with me”.

• Is the Divine end in view? It seems wonderful that God has begun with a sabbath, and is going to end with a sabbath; and He brings these glories to bear upon us, so that things should be held in right perspective.

G.R.C. And we shall never have them in right perspective if God has not His true place, His supreme place, in our affections.

• I believe there is a very practical side to chapters 25 and 26.

• We have a great inheritance. We have been called to share the inheritance amongst those sanctified by faith in Christ.

• As gathered together, we can exploit some of this vast inheritance.
  • But if our enjoyment becomes our object, our only concern in such meetings being what we may get, they will lose all spiritual value.

• The great objective is God's portion – that He should rest in His love, and exult over His people with singing.

Ques. What is the thought of redemption in verse 24 of chapter 25,

• “Ye shall grant a redemption for the land”?

G.R.C. It is what we grant to our brother, so that he does not lose his portion in the land.

• According to Deuteronomy, every seven years was a year of release. That is not touched on here.

• But the seven sabbaths of years, referred to in verse 8, lead up to the jubilee, and in the jubilee it says – verse 10 –
  • “ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family”.

• That is, it brings about a state of things where no one is in debt or under oppression. Everyone is in full spiritual liberty in his place in the inheritance, every man in his possession and in his family.

• That is what we should aim at, surely, for only thus is God's pleasure secured. The land is His. Although it is ours, it is His, for He has given it to us.

• So it is the land of our possession; yet it is His, and His pleasure is to see everyone in that inheritance according to His own disposition – every man in his possession and in his family.

• The keeping of the sabbatical year, seven times over, brings us to this great climax, the year of jubilee, when everyone is in his place, functioning in the inheritance, all filling out their place as members of the body. What a thing to aim at!

Rem. Was that the point in Paul sending Onesimus back to Philemon? Then he says,

• “that thou mightest possess him fully for ever; not any longer as a bondman, but above a bondman, a beloved brother specially to me”, Philemon verse 16.

G.R.C. That is a good illustration of it. Of course the fulness of it awaits the Lord's coming.

• We rejoice in the thought of the Lord's coming, when every saint will be in his place, in his possession, in his family, in the inheritance.

• All the brethren who are in captivity at the moment throughout christendom will be in the place God intended for them.

• But then the point of this chapter is that we should anticipate that now, in the power of the Spirit with those who are available; and it comes on the line of keeping Sabbath, the sabbatical year, the land lying fallow when it ought to lie fallow.

• We are not exploiting the inheritance for selfish ends at all. We are thinking, even when we are exploiting it, of God – that the land is His, and the saints are His. They are His inheritance, not simply ours.

• So that every seventh year there was this lying fallow before God, resting and rejoicing in God, and God resting and rejoicing in His people.

Rem. So that while publicly the land is in desolation, the saints, as having the Spirit, are now enabled to enjoy the land in this way.

G.R.C. What a mercy that is, is it not? But we must take the warning as to exploiting the inheritance simply for selfish ends.

Rem. The liberty you speak of – each one enjoying his portion in the inheritance – would make a basis for the heart to be engaged with the riches of God's inheritance in the saints.

G.R.C. That is it; and I think the seventh year gives us scope to think of that, you know – the sabbatical year.

• We have our seasons, when we realise how rich our inheritance is; but, in the sabbatical year, we are thinking how rich God's inheritance is in the saints.

Ques. Would you not say that in a practical way there is much need of this with us, for in our service of praise to God there is often a very great deal in regard to our portion, whereas we should move on to God's portion, should we not?

G.R.C. I think if this comes about, and we have God more before us, and keep the sabbatical years, it will affect the way we speak to each other about things.

• When asked what kind of a morning meeting we have had, we may say, We had a wonderful time and enjoyed it thoroughly.

• But why do we not think of God and His enjoyment? Did God have His portion in it? Did Christ have His portion in it?

• It would affect our conversation, too, as to what, through mercy, we may have amongst us generally.

• We may say, what wonderful ministry we have, what wonderful times we have! It is all, “We” and “Us”; and we may get lifted up and elated, forgetting that the land is God's.

• If we do not check that tendency, we shall go into captivity. That is the solemn thing.

• It is not that we are seeking to warn one another on legal lines. But this very thing is all around us in christendom.

• Men have forgotten that it is His inheritance, and that the supreme matter is His portion – that He should rest in His people as His inheritance, and they rest in Him.

• They have so considered for themselves, and for men, that they have lost the vital value of the inheritance.

• They are in captivity to feverish human activity, which avails nothing. Sabbath is unknown.

• And we have to be on our guard lest we should develop a system of activity which will lead us to captivity, because we fail to keep sabbath, and thus leave God's portion out of account.

Rem. If we are on that line it will lead to poverty.

G.R.C. Indeed, and captivity.

Rem. It says in Ephesians,

• “what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”

• – the glory of it; the glory is to Him.

G.R.C. Quite so.

It is good to have the holy, adorable Person of Christ before us, and first of all as presented in Leviticus 16.

• We have to allow for the contrast between this dispensation and the previous one – the way into the holy of holies is now made manifest. While it says,
  • “Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the sanctuary inside the veil before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark, that he die not”,

• the wonderful result of Christ having gone in by His own blood is that today every believer can go where even the priests of old could not go.

• And the place to which they could not go was only a figure of the true, though God was there – the tabernacle was only a figure – but now we have come to the true tabernacle;
  • and every believer has privilege of entry at all times into the sanctuary, inside the veil before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark.

• It is our privilege, because the true Aaron has gone in; and you will note that He has gone in in a cloud of fragrant incense. It says, in verse 2,
  • “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat”.

• I think that is the cloud of God's presence. God would appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat; but He appeared in relation to Aaron going in in a cloud of fragrant incense.

• Christ has gone in by His own blood, the witness to the work completed for God; but He has gone in in a cloud of fragrant incense, which the very sufferings involved in the atonement brought out in fulness.

• The very sufferings depicted in Psalm 22 brought out this cloud of fragrant incense, in which the great Sufferer, having completed His work, went in to God.

• So that the sufferings of the atonement not only put away sin from before God by the sacrifice of Himself, but brought out, in all its excellence, the fragrance of His holy manhood, which fills God's presence for ever.

• Those excruciating sufferings brought out fully the fragrance of Christ to God; and, as going in by His own blood, and in that cloud of incense, you can understand God, as it were, meeting Him, and appearing in the cloud upon the mercy-seat.

Ques. Would that be involved in what the Lord said –

• “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him”, John 13: 3?

G.R.C. That helps us to grasp the antitype. The Spirit of God has separated things in the type for our instruction; but, when we came to the antitype,

• the blessed Sufferer, who goes in by His own blood and in the fragrance of His person, is, on the other hand, the one in whom God shines forth.

• God is glorified in Him. He is Himself the effulgence of God's glory.

• As we go within the veil, we go in as accepted in the Beloved, accepted in the cloud of fragrant incense; and the very Person, whose excellences have produced that cloud of fragrant incense, is the One in whom God is shining forth.
  • “Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth”, Psalm 80.

• The ark, the mercy-seat, and the cherubim of glory are all a type of Christ; and the shining forth of God from between the cherubim is in that same blessed Person.

• It is only within the veil that we can see Christ thus. We must be inside to apprehend His glory, and God's glory shining forth in Him.

Ques. In verse 2, Jehovah said,

• “Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the sanctuary inside the veil before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark, that he die not”.

• Would you say that there must be conditions on our side before we can approach inside the veil?

G.R.C. Very simple conditions –

• “Let us approach”, it says, “with a true heart, in full assurance of faith”, Hebrews 10: 22.

• Those are the two conditions on our side.

1. All we need is a true heart – a heart which accepts the truth about itself, and about God;

2. and full assurance of faith – unbounded confidence in Christ, and the work which He has completed.

Ques. Does it depend entirely upon the completed work of Christ that God might have His rest?

G.R.C. God's rest in the universe, in heaven and earth filled according to His pleasure, could never be brought to pass but for the completed work of Christ.

• That sabbath is now complete; the other is still anticipative.

• The full results are future, and we anticipate them by the Spirit, and praise God accordingly; but this side of the matter is complete.

• God's rest is complete in Christ, and His finished work; and our rest should be complete in Him, too.

Ques. In verse 12 it says,

• “Both his hands full of fragrant incense beaten small”. Both His hands were full.

• And then does, “beaten small”, suggest that the Lord Jesus, in His holy manhood here, could be examined in the most minute and detailed way?

G.R.C. What is in your mind as to both hands being full?

Rem. There was nothing else but the fragrant incense; there was the incense, and the blood.

G.R.C. And never was the beating small so much in evidence as at the cross. Psalm 22 is the cross.

• As far as I see, it does not depict any other part of the Lord's life, except in one or two retrospective statements.

• The whole setting is the cross; and we need to contemplate the cross, and how the incense was beaten small there.

Rem. It is as the incense is put upon the fire that it produces the cloud.

G.R.C. That is it. So that what is in mind here is the offering of Himself –

• “Who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God”, Hebrews 9: 14.

• What brought out the fragrant incense was the fire of the altar; He offered Himself.

Ques. And the word is, “bring it inside the veil”. It is not 'take it in'. Is it God thus claiming these things for Himself?

• “Bring it”, it says. God is there. God is claiming the whole matter for Himself.

G.R.C. It is most important to apprehend God's side of the matter. We cannot emphasise too strongly that Psalm 22 depicts the sufferings of the Christ for His God.

• Do not let us lower this in our minds by thinking of them merely as the sufferings of Christ for us. There is not a word about sin or sins in the Psalm.

• It is not a question of the sinner and his sins, but of the sufferings of Christ for His God.
  • “My God, my God”, He cried.

• How much He suffered for His God! And what a work He did for His God, laying the basis for the full rest of God!

Rem. We come in as worshippers in the light of it.

• “The fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship”, Psalm 22: 29.

• – those who have fed on these infinitely great things in their souls.

G.R.C. So that the Psalm, as it proceeds, gives the full scope of the results.

• It develops the praises, beginning in the assembly, and going on to the seed of Israel, and then to all the families of the nations.

• The Psalm does not include heaven, because that did not belong to Old Testament light; but we read it in the light of Christianity, and think of the great results for God – in heaven and on earth.

Rem. So Aaron making atonement for himself and his house would have the assembly in mind particularly.

G.R.C. It would, because the assembly is essential to give a lead to the praise of the universe.

Ques. Should the greatness of the blood, and the work of Christ, be in mind in giving thanks for the cup at the Lord's supper?

G.R.C. The cup, in its actual setting, is the witness of our blessing; it is the new covenant in His blood.

• It refers to the blood as the witness of perfect love which has secured our blessing.

• But there may be grace and power to express appreciation of the value of the blood to God.

Ques. But there would be liberty, would there not, to refer to the blood in worshipping God?

• I was thinking of J.N.D.'s great sanctuary hymn, which concludes on that note, “We should be part, through Jesus' blood”.

G.R.C. My own impression is that, as you say, there is scope in the worship of God for presenting the blood to God, as the witness of a work done for Him.

• I am speaking of the presenting of the blood, because that is how it is put. In Leviticus 1: 5, it says,
  • “and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall present the blood”.

• A priest is not thinking of what the blood did for him, but of what it has done for God.

Ques. And involving the whole universe?

G.R.C. Quite so.

Rem. The sons of Zadok are to present the fat and the blood in the sanctuary. Ezekiel 44: 15-16.

G.R.C. That is confirmatory.

Ques. Would Hebrews 9: 14 have that in mind?

• “How much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?”.

G.R.C. Yes. The word “worship” there is priestly service, and thus includes what we are saying. The purging of our conscience from dead works also bears on the matter of sabbath.

Ques. What do we learn from the blood being sprinkled before the mercy-seat seven times?

G.R.C. For one thing, it would assure us of our liberty of approach. There is a fulness in the seven times.

• We have, “boldness”, it says, “for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus”.

• And there it is – seven times sprinkled, before the mercy-seat, as well as on the mercy-seat.

• It is on the mercy-seat – that is for God – but it is seven times sprinkled, before it.

Ques. Would it be, in that sense, a complete testimony to the worshipper as to the work of Christ?

G.R.C. I would say so. So that if we do not habituate ourselves to entering with boldness, we discredit Christ and His work.

• Boldness, in that setting, is not presumption; it is rightly honouring the Person and work of Christ.

Ques. Would you help us in regard to the thought of mercy as leading to the praise of God? When Paul is occupied with mercy, he breaks into a doxology, as in 1 Timothy 1: 16-17.

G.R.C. God has acquired rights in mercy through the Person and work of Christ, and therefore speaks from the mercy-seat.

• The whole divine system is based on sovereign mercy – the rights God has acquired to act in mercy. Therefore it should be a great theme of praise.

• But our brother was quoting to, “purify your conscience from dead works”, and that bears on sabbath.

Ques. How does it work out?

G.R.C. Our conscience purged from dead works means that we have come into the gain of sabbath; we are resting solidly upon Christ and His completed work.

• Dead works are religious works of flesh.

• The only service acceptable to God, is rendered by persons who have ceased from their own works; and we arrive at sabbath, in that sense, as ceasing from our works, as it says in Hebrews 4: 10,
  • “He that has entered into his rest, he also has rested from his works, as God did from his own”.

• We cease from all religious works of the flesh, and we rest with God in Christ and His completed work, which involves the recognition that nothing of the flesh will do for God.

• That enables us to take up the true service of God, which is by the eternal Spirit;
  • because if Christ Himself offered Himself to God by the eternal Spirit, then the whole service must be on that principle.

Ques. Will you say something as to why it says,

• “… your conscience from dead works?”

G.R.C. Until we appreciate – and rest in – Christ and His completed work, we have a bad conscience, and feel impelled to make some effort in the flesh to please God.

• All around us souls are held in this bondage; and we must beware lest we, who have the light of God's sabbath, get back into bondage.

• We must ever keep this great sabbath – in all our dwellings.

• Christ and His completed work must be cherished, so that we never go back to the works of the flesh.

Rem. So that Psalm 22 is the great basis for that sabbath.

G.R.C. Yes. The last verse – 31 – is the declaration of it.

• “He hath done it”.

Ques. Would the Lord's words in John's gospel,

• “It is finished”,

• bear on what you are saying?

G.R.C. They bear exactly on what we are saying. But now, in considering the Psalm, there is the question of feelings and depth.

• We need to contemplate the depths into which the Lord Jesus went for His God.

• If depth is not produced with us, we shall not be ready for the heights. The heading of the Psalm suggests the heights:
  • “To the chief Musician. Upon Aijeleth-Shahar”; that is, “the hind of the morning”.

• What will give us the affections and agility proper to the hind of the morning? It is an appreciation of the depths into which Jesus has gone to secure a dwelling for His God among the praises of His people.

• If the depths have been entered into in our souls, in so far as the creature can do so, there will be great readiness and agility in accompanying our Beloved in the heights.

• Nothing would cause us more grief than not to be ready to move with the Lord in those high praises, which He went into such depths to secure.

Ques. Would you say a word as to the Lord saying,

• “My God”?

G.R.C. It is viewing Christ in His perfect manhood – His absolute knowledge of God, and His love for God. The word is ‘El’:

• “My El, my El, why hast thou forsaken me?”.

• El is one of the greatest titles of God. ‘Jah’, ‘Jehovah’ and ‘I AM’, which are cognate words, are the personal Name of God in the Old Testament,
  • but ‘El’ is a name in the sense of a title.

• Jehovah is the only true El. El is the greatest title of God in the Old Testament, I believe, and refers to Him in His nature and character – the One who alone stands in His own strength, the Mighty.

• It refers not only to His might in a physical sense – He can do all things in a physical sense, of course – but to His might in strength of character.

• When we speak of a strong man, we often mean a man of strong character. God is the One who stands in His own immutable strength of nature and character.

• And the Lord Jesus, because He is God, knows God in the Absolute.

• He thus has a perfect apprehension of what is due to God in His nature and character, His holiness, His righteousness, His majesty and His love.

• “My God” on the lips of the Lord Jesus means more than it could on any other lips, although we are privileged to use the expression.

Ques. Is there some unique correspondence with that in Christ Himself, as in verse 21,

• “From the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me”?

• The question has often been raised as to Christ's God. There was not only Godhead in Its fulness and blessedness, but there was glorious perfection and strength in Christ.

• I mean that there was a Man here competent to use this title, “My God”.

G.R.C. And that is what makes the work of atonement so complete and absolute in itself, because

• the One who was taking up matters for God, was One, who, because of who He is, had an absolute knowledge of all that was due to God,

• and could enter fully into all that was due to God in respect of the question of sin.

Ques. Do you mean that you are not limiting this thought of, “My God”, to the economy exactly?

G.R.C. He knows God in the Absolute. We cannot know Him thus.

• But then God has shone forth in Him, so that we do know God in His nature and character.

• The very One who went into death to uphold all that was due to God, is the One in whom, now, God is shining forth.

• He is the effulgence of God's glory; God's nature and character are in full display, and have come into full display relative to this work.

Ques. Is it not very touching that the Lord should say,

• “There is no rest for me”?

G.R.C. Very touching indeed. He was going into those depths to secure rest for His God, and rest for us; but, at that time, there was no rest for Him.

Rem. J.N.D. says in the Synopsis, in connection with John 13: 31,

• “When therefore he” – i.e. Judas – “was gone out, Jesus says, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him”,

• that His glory there refers to what He alone could do, which He must have done alone, and of which He must have the fruit alone with God, because He was God.

G.R.C. That seems a very profound statement. God is glorified in Him. As the fruit of His works God's glory is now radiant in Him.

• Every feature of God's character has come into display, and we can be in the very presence of it, and at home in it; and indeed
  • become diffusers of it, as the heavenly city will be a diffuser of the glory of God.

• But He is the One in whom it shines, as it says in Revelation,
  • “the glory of God has enlightened it” – that is, the assembly, the city, –

  • “and the lamp thereof is the Lamb”.

• The effulgence of it is in the Lamb, this great Sufferer. The glory of El is effulgent in Him, and the city becomes the great diffuser of that light to the universe.

Ques. Would you say that all that was surpassingly excellent in Man came out at the cross, so that the Son of man was glorified?

G.R.C. That is it. But then, in that very place, where all that was most excellent in Man came into display, He glorified God.

• In the darkest place, in the place of death and distance, He glorified God; and God has glorified Him; and now He is the very lamp of the glory –
  • “and the lamp thereof is the Lamb”.

Ques. Would that strength of character suggested in ‘El’ be seen at the cross, as at no other place? I was wondering whether there would be a link with El in the suggestion as to,

• “I have laid help upon a mighty one”, Psalm 89: 19.

G.R.C. Yes. And, of course, we get strength as we apprehend God in this way. It says,

• “strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory”, Colossians 1: 11.

• What makes a man strong in character, and able to face all the exigencies of the testimony, is going into the holiest, and being strengthened with all power,
  • “according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy”.

• That is a verse which refers to the holiest. There are a number of verses in scripture which refer to the holiest, without mentioning the word, and that is one.

• So that where we get might is in going into the presence of God. We thus derive strength of character from God.

• You could not move a man if he were strengthened with all power according to the might of God's glory.

Rem. So it says, “Strength and gladness” are “in his place”, 1 Chronicles 16: 27.

G.R.C. Exactly. And Psalm 68 ends, where it speaks of the sanctuary,

• “He it is that giveth strength and might unto the people”.

Ques. What you are saying bears on the Lord's words as the risen One, does it not?

• “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17.

G.R.C. Very much so – “My God and your God”. And so it says in this Psalm,

• “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”

• – the name of His God, in all that that means.

Ques. Does the Psalm bring out the fragrant in cense in all its composite elements? It was holy to Jehovah, was it not? It was the fragrant incense which formed the cloud.

G.R.C. Quite so. I trust we are receiving some impression of the depths.

• We could well afford to read over this Psalm many times, thinking of what Christ suffered for His God, and the depths into which He went.

• Think of the way He was surrounded! In verse 6 He says He was,
  • “the despised of the people”;

• that was the outside circle, the reproach of men. Verse 12 was a nearer circle –
  • “Many bulls have encompassed me”

• – the great religious leaders of the day –
  • “Many bulls have encompassed me; Bashan's strong ones have beset me round. They gape upon me with their mouth, as a ravening and a roaring lion”.

• Then we get a closer circle still in verse 16:
  • “For dogs have encompassed me”, – that would be the Roman soldiery who were nearest to Him – “Dogs have encompassed me; an assembly of evil-doers have surrounded me; they pierced my hands and my feet”.

• That was the external setting; He was surrounded by these three circles of hate.

• Perfect love was surrounded by three circles of hate; and then perfect love did its work.

• When they had done their worst, perfect love did its best, as we may say; and He endured the forsaking of God.
  • “Him who knew not sin” God “has made sin for us”, 2 Corinthians 5: 21.

• He had offered Himself without spot to God.

Ques. Would there be a special link between the sufferings of Christ in Psalm 22 and the sufferings of Christ in Mark's gospel?

G.R.C. The account in Mark's gospel, specially, brings out the sufferings of the Lord from each of the three circles of hate,

• because it gives the first three hours upon the cross as well as the second three;

• and it also stresses the sufferings of atonement.

• Mark specially stresses the severity of the sufferings, although I would say we need the death of Christ in all four gospels to cover the ground.

Rem. I was thinking of the expression in 1 Chronicles 15 in connection with the singers.

• It tells us of certain ones who were to play on harps on the Sheminith – verse 21 – to lead the singing.

• The footnote says that the Sheminith is in the lower octave. I wondered if we needed that depth in our music, to lead the singing.

G.R.C. Very good – a most interesting allusion. It shows how we do need depth;

• and therefore we need to appreciate this sabbath we are dwelling upon now, in order to get depth.

• Think of the depths the Lord went into! How can we afford to be shallow, as we think of that?

• Without depth we can never rightly touch height. We shall never be truly as the 'hind of the morning' if we have not taken in something of this.

Ques. It is the order in Ephesians 3, is it not?

• “Breadth and length and depth and height”.

• And then there is the giving glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus.

G.R.C. That is right. There is breadth and length. We take in all saints – the breadth and length of God's purposes – and we are glad to do that;

• we are glad to think of every family in heaven and on earth.

• But then we must have depth and height, and the depth comes before height. All four dimensions are necessary if God is to have His portion in the assembly.

Rem. The Psalms generally, with the feelings expressed in them, would help us in this matter of depth. They are most affecting and humbling as we ponder over them, are they not?

G.R.C. The Psalms are very valuable in that way.

Ques. Are you now about to speak of verse 22 of Psalm 22?

G.R.C. That verse, and those which follow, bring in the great results which flow

• really anticipating the great final sabbath of God as dwelling amid praise.

• So we get the nearest circle:
  • “I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”.

• As we know from the New Testament, that refers to the assembly.

• Then we have the seed of Israel in verse 23; and then, in verses 27 and 28,
  • “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before thee: For the kingdom is Jehovah's, and he ruleth among the nations”.

• This Psalm is limited to earth and the world to come, in its literal setting;
  • but, in the light of Christianity, we bring heaven and earth into it, and every family in heaven and on earth;

• and we go on to the kingdom in its eternal character – “the kingdom is Jehovah's”.

Ques. I would like to ask as to the footnote to the title of this Psalm, which indicates that it is feminine.

G.R.C. The title means ‘the hind of the morning’, and the hind is a female animal.

• The suggestion seems to be that this Psalm would bring about in us a state of affection and agility, so that we would be able to move with our Beloved.

• He is presented in the Song of Songs as a gazelle or a young hart – the male. And the spouse, at the end of the Song, is really the hind of the morning.

• She says the last word, and it is what the Beloved has been waiting for. She says,
  • “Haste, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountain of spices”.

• That is the hind of the morning speaking. She is able and ready to move with Him on the mountains of spices, and she urges Him.

• It is not that He needs urging, but how the Lord loves the assembly to urge Him! When the assembly is filled with His love, how the Lord loves us to take the initiative and say,
  • “Haste, my beloved”

• – to say, as it were, Let us move on into the service of God.

Ques. Do you think David touches this in 1 Chronicles 16, when the ark is brought in and set in the midst of the tent which he had spread for it? It says,

• “Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to give thanks to Jehovah through Asaph and his brethren”, verse 7.

• I was thinking of the richness and fulness of that collection of Psalms.

G.R.C. That is the typical illustration of Christ singing in the midst of the assembly.

• David delivered the Psalm; it came from him.

• No doubt he joined in it; but it came from him; and it was a collection, like the many contributions which come into the service of praise.

Ques. So you have three circles of hate, as you were saying, but three circles of love and praise here.

• Do you get the expression of the latter in Psalm 92?

• It is the expression of the praise for the sabbath day – praise from these three circles.

G.R.C. I think so. The three circles, if we introduce the scope of Paul's ministry, involve the full sabbath, the full and final results. Psalm 92: 1 says,

• “It is good to give thanks unto Jehovah, and to sing psalms unto thy name. O most High; To declare thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness in the nights. Upon an instrument of ten strings and upon the lute; upon the Higgaion with the harp. For thou, Jehovah, hast made me glad through thy work”.

• That is why this is a song for the sabbath day. We have noticed that sabbath means ceasing from work when it is finished;
  • and the word 'work', in this setting according to the note to Isaiah 45: 9, means a finished work done with a purpose.

• The Psalmist is saying,
  • “Thou, Jehovah, hast made me glad through thy work”.

• Whether we think of the finished work of Christ, or the final sabbath, God makes us glad through His work. And then he goes into the detail of it:
  • “I will triumph in the works of thy hands”.

Rem. You get depth in the next verse.

G.R.C. “Jehovah, how great are thy works! Thy thoughts are very deep”.

• The depths of God are there.

Ques. Do you understand that the finished work includes the thought of making known the Father's name?

G.R.C. It certainly does – making known the Father's name, and making known the name of God.

• It includes also the whole work of new creation.

• The basis of it all is Christ and His completed work. The work of atonement – or reconciliation, as it is called in the New Testament – has laid the basis for new creation.

• It has set God free – there are no moral hindrances – for God to work in new creation.

• It has laid the basis for a new heaven and a new earth, and that is the final thing.

Rem. What I mean is that it would not be limited to the work of expiation.

G.R.C. The new creation work, in its totality, can be read into this:

• “Thou … hast made me glad through thy work”.

Ques. In Acts 20 Paul speaks of,

• “the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own”.

• Would that show us that all God has is based upon the value of the precious blood of Christ?

G.R.C. Quite so. Nothing can be more important than to understand that new creation is based upon the great work of Christ.

• It is not like the original creation, simply an act of power;
  • it is based upon the settlement of moral issues;

• so that what is involved in the settlement of those issues is worked substantially into the souls of the saints –
  • “the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness”, Ephesians 4: 24.

Ques. Are the saints in mind at the end of this Psalm?

• “The righteous shall shoot forth like a palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar on Lebanon”.

G.R.C. I wanted to refer to righteousness, because in the new heavens and the new earth righteousness dwells. It links on with the work of Christ morally.

• At the end of Psalm 22 it says,
  • “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it”.

• Psalm 22 thus ends with sabbath – He hath done it.

• If we think of the atoning work of Christ, which the Psalm depicts, He has done it; no creature hand came into it.

• And if we think of the great final results in new creation, He has done it.

• And the whole matter is based on righteousness accomplished. So J.N.D.'s hymn refers to, “God's righteousness with glory bright”.

• That is how the glory of El has shone out. The Psalm shows that He is holy –
  • “Thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel”.

• Thou art holy” – that is His nature; He abhors sin.

• But the Psalm ends with His righteousness.

• The Lord Jesus has met what God is in His nature, so that He can rest complacently; but all has been effected on the basis of righteousness, and that is where God's glory shines out.

• He has effected every design of His love, without compromising righteousness one iota; and that has cost the death of Christ.

• To base things on righteousness has cost the death of Christ; it has involved the atoning work of Christ.

Rem. So we come to the word,

• “It is done”, Revelation 21: 6,

• and then the One who has done it shines before us in all His glory.

G.R.C. Quite so. That is the great point of Sabbath. What God has done – His work – has displayed Himself.

• God Himself has come into full display in connection with His operations.

• So that sabbath would involve our resting before God Himself in full display; and nothing could be more blessed. And God rests in us as the work of His hands.

Ques. In that setting I was going to ask as to the verse which has been referred to:

• “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”, Psalm 22: 22,

• and then we get it also in Hebrews 2: 12. And in Psalm 92 it says,
  • “Sing psalms unto thy name, O Most High”.

• Is that God before us – God in the majesty of His being?

G.R.C. It must include that.

Ques. What about Hebrews 2?

G.R.C. That includes it, too.

Ques. There has been a suggestion that the Father is before us in Hebrews 2.

G.R.C. Certainly so. We should make way for full and unrestricted response to God revealed as Father;

• but also to God as God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Ques. Does that mean that we can use that verse in Hebrews 2 in connection with worshipping the Father, and

• also in connection with worshipping God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

G.R.C. That is what I understand, though one would ever be ready for adjustment. The Lord says,

• “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17.

• How can we eliminate one part of that?

Rem. I think that helps us all.

G.R.C. Now I think we should have a word or two on the last Psalm.

Rem. “Praise him in his mighty acts” Psalm 150: 2.

G.R.C. That is what I was thinking of. There is the touch of sabbath there.

• When sabbath is complete and final, we do not forget the mighty acts.

• We can look back over the six days of work, as we might say, and they become a feature of the praise.

Rem. These mighty acts are not merely remembered, but they are brought forward; they are abiding and eternal.

G.R.C. I was thinking of your remarks of yesterday. How cumulative those days are; and they culminate in the final scene of rest and praise.

• “Praise God” – El – “in his sanctuary”.

• J.N.D. says His sanctuary is specially the heavenly Jerusalem; but, intrinsically, His own secret place of holiness and separatedness from all He is praised in, in the light which none can approach unto; where spiritual thought, by the Holy Spirit, alone reaches Him.

• How wonderful to praise Him, known as dwelling in the assembly, and yet in the recognition that He dwells in unapproachable light.

Ques. Are you thinking of 1 Timothy 6: 16?

G.R.C. Yes. In ascribing glory to God in the assembly, we reach out in praise to Him as the One dwelling in unapproachable light.

Ques. Was Paul praising thus when he said,

• “To whom be honour and eternal might”?

G.R.C. Quite so.

Ques. Would this last Psalm be God entering into His rest finally, and we having our part in it?

G.R.C. I think Psalm 150 is a foreshadowing of God's final rest amid universal praise, of which we antedate the chorus. We are to antedate it now; but it is universal praise.

Ques, Would you say that it is not always necessary to distinguish Persons in worshipping God?

G.R.C. That is important. We can worship God in the greatness of His Being without distinguishing the Persons.