The Christian fellowship is incomparable, it is the only fellowship existing on this earth that God recognises,

• every other fellowship is idolatrous in character, for it exalts the wrong man, it exalts man in place of God.

• We have to beware lest we link on with anything which may seem harmless in itself but which does that.
  • It says that Israel of old, “sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”, 1 Corinthians 10: 7.

• That is what marks human fellowships. They may give Christian names to them, but in them men are their own object.

• They sit down to eat and drink, that is the practical expression of fellowship, but they are not eating and drinking before God. God is not the centre.

• People might say, ‘What harm is there in sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to play?’. There is every harm in it. It is idolatrous.
  • “Neither be ye idolaters”, it says, “as some of them”, 1 Corinthians 10: 7

• – and then it quotes that verse,
  • “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”.

• We have to beware in practical relations not to allow social occasions amongst us which amount to that principle.

• We should always seek grace that our collective occasions, whatever they be, should be preserved on the level of the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

• We need to be on that level in our wedding meetings, and not to copy the world in any way whatever, nor to make anyone centre but God. Other persons will have their right place if God has His place.

• There are other occasions which are apt to come in amongst us that are on a lower level than that, but I am only desiring to draw attention to a danger, lest we drop below the level of this glorious fellowship.

And so the first reference to it is that it is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

• What an honour to be called into it.

• With their fellowships men seek the patronage of some great person, someone whom they can show as the head of the fellowship, but think of the greatness of this fellowship, the fellowship of God’s Son.

• The greatest Person conceivable is at the head of this fellowship, what a dignity this gives to it!

• But then in chapter 10 it refers to
  • the communion, or fellowship, “of the blood of the Christ”,

  • and the communion, or fellowship, “of the body of the Christ”.

• This passage bears on what was before us this afternoon. The Lord Jesus, God’s Son is over the fellowship,
  • the living glorious Head of it as we might say, but He is the One Who has made abundant provision so that it is the wealthiest fellowship that could possibly be conceived;

• and He has made this provision by the giving of Himself.
  • He “loved us, and delivered Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”, Ephesians 5: 2.

• And as called into this fellowship we are called into communion with the altar. The fellowship stands related to the house of God.

• The altar is the place in God’s house where He has provided, with such abundance, for all;
  • He has His own portion there, it is where He has His food, if we may so say with all reverence;

• but there He has provided for every one of His people, and provided in abundant measure.

And so the altar is called the table of Jehovah. What a table it is! It is there that we are privileged to sit down and to eat and drink. That is where our fellowship is.

• As to the apostles, John says
  • “our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ”, 1 John 1: 3.

• Think of a fellowship on that level, God, as it were, calling us to share in that in which His heart delights – He has His own special portion in it, but still we share in that in which His heart delights,
  • calling us to His table, to share with Him; and at His table, as I say, there is a portion for all;

  • there is His own portion, and He would enjoy it in our presence, just as He would have us to enjoy our portion in His presence;

• the whole thing is in the presence of God Himself. That is what makes it so blessed, it is all in the presence of God Himself.

• So it speaks here of the communion of the blood and of the body of the Christ. What a privilege it is to be in communion with the altar, to have a portion in what is brought there.

• From the divine side it is fully furnished, the Lord Jesus has loved us and given Himself for us, we are called to the communion of His body, and of His blood.

• If you remember, in Leviticus 7, it speaks of the priests who presented the blood of the peace-offering. He had the shoulder for his part, what strength it gives us, as it were, to present the blood of the peace-offering.

• The blood of the peace-offering would link with what the Lord says,
  • “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”, Luke 22: 20.

• It refers to what the blood has secured for us in blessing. Unspeakable blessing!

We read earlier in Leviticus of the priest presenting the blood of the burnt-offering, in presenting the blood of the burnt-offering we are thinking of what the blood means to God.

• In neither of those cases are we thinking exactly of the question of sins.

• If we think of the blood of the peace-offering we are thinking of the unspeakable good and blessing that is flowing to us through the precious death of Christ.

• How precious to present that blood, appreciatively to God. How we value it – the cup of blessing which we bless!

• But then, the priest, also, as I say, as to the burnt-offering, he presents the blood, but in the burnt-offering we are thinking of what it means to God,
  • that it is a witness to God, as it were, of a work completed in which He was infinitely glorified.

• One has wondered lately whether we sufficiently appreciate our priestly privilege in presenting the blood.

• We may have thought of the blood only in connection with the sin-offering, but the blood has great meaning in connection with the peace-offering, the witness to us, of infinite blessing,
  • that all that is in the heart of God, in love and blessing is flowing out to us, it is the living witness of that, but we can present that appreciatively to God.

• But then in the burnt-offering, the blood is a living witness to God, that He has been glorified in a completed work down here.

• I am afraid we are apt to think of the finished work of Christ simply in its bearing on the sinner, but that is not the point,
  • “I have glorified thee on the earth, I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”, John 17: 4.

• God has been infinitely glorified in a Man, in devoting Himself even to death, wholly for God, and the blood is the witness of it, the witness of the work completed, what that means to God!
• And it is because of that finished work in which God was glorified, on the ground of which He has glorified the One Who glorified Him, and because His glory is now radiant in that blessed Person,
  • and yet we stand in all the acceptance of that Person, therefore the glory in no wise repels us, it draws us, attracts us, invites us, to come and to live in it.

• But I am bringing this in as to the value of the blood.

There is another aspect of the blood, the blood of the sin-offering; at the Supper we are not primarily engaged with that.

• The blood of the sin-offering was put on the altar, on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering, and in certain cases, on the horns of the incense altar;
  • and on the day of atonement was taken in, and put on the mercy-seat, and seven times sprinkled before the mercy-seat;

• and the rest of it was poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering, it is a kind of basis poured out at the bottom.

• And we never forget that, that is never to be forgotten.

• But if the sin question had not been settled, this great system of glory and wealth and blessedness of which we are speaking could never exist.

• We greatly value the blood in that connection; but as to the actual enjoyment of fellowship it is these other aspects of the blood which actually engage our attention.

• I am not sure that it ever says that the blood of the sin-offering was presented; it was used in the way I have stated, in what the priest presents surely he is occupied with it in a particular way before God as to its value.

• I do not mean as effecting anything by it, but in the appreciation of what it is a witness of. So it says
  • “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ?”, 1 Corinthians 10: 16.

• What has come to us on the basis of that blood!
  • “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”, 1 John 3: 16

• – the blood is the witness of it, and should help us to be on that line ourselves, laying down our lives for the brethren.

“The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ ?”.

• The Lord says “Take, eat; this is my body”, Matthew 26: 26.

• What food! That body in which He carried out in full measure the will of God, and yet devoted to us – My body for you.

• The communion of the body of the Christ would raise the question with us as to how we are using our bodies.

• I believe that Romans 12 is the great fellowship chapter of Romans. Romans does not speak of fellowship in the way Corinthians does, it does not refer to the Lord’s Supper,
  • but I believe Romans 12 sets out the way of being vitally in fellowship, that we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

• Only in the measure in which that is done can we be said to be vitally in the communion of the body of the Christ.
  • Are not they who eat the sacrifices in communion with the altar?”, 1 Corinthians 10: 18.

• How can I be in communion with the altar? By presenting my body, using my body in my measure as He used His.

• So that while we often look at 1 Corinthians 10 from a negative point of view, that is as stressing that we cannot go on with what is unsuited to the Lord’s table,
  • I am wanting to present it this evening from the positive point of view, which is the main point of view.

• Paul had to deal with negatives to the Corinthians, because they had got into sin and uncleanness; but the fellowship normally is a positive matter;
  • it is a most blessed and rich and wealthy matter, the communion of the blood and of the body of the Lord Jesus involves untold wealth;

• and as we feed upon Him in this way together, we shall more and more, in all our walk and conduct, take character from the altar, and what has been placed upon it by Him.
  • That is, we shall “walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”, Ephesians 5: 2.

Now, as we were saying this afternoon, the power for all this lies in the Spirit, and how thankful we can be that the Spirit is here.

• So the last word of the second epistle is “the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”.

• The power for this wondrous fellowship, that which keeps it in continual freshness, is the blessed Spirit of God Himself.

• So that nothing ever becomes stale; as the communion of the Holy Spirit is with us, we are preserved in continual freshness, and we see that kind of state set out in the epistle to the Philippians.

• We have a kind of galaxy of persons there, who took character from the peace-offering.

• The question we raised earlier today was, for each one of us: What am I contributing to the fellowship?

• We do not come into the fellowship in one sense for what we can get, although we get there what is most blessed; we get far more, of course, than we could ever possibly give;
  • but at the same time we should raise the question with each one of us, What am I contributing?

• In a practical way, while from the Divine side everything is supplied, in a practical way, the wealth of the fellowship depends upon how much we are all putting into it.

• I am sure of this, if we put very little into it, we get an immense return. It is not 5%, or anything like that, like human undertakings pay. You get an enormous return for anything you put into this fellowship.

• So we find in Philippians, those who were practically devoting themselves to the interests of God on earth.

• He speaks of the company as a whole, and the epistle indicates how we react upon one another, also,
  • “I thank my God” he says, “for my whole remembrance of you”, Philippians 1: 3.

• You see, there was a peace-offering going up to God, a peace-offering of thanksgiving from Paul, at every remembrance he had of the Philippians.

Just think of the potentialities, that if my walk and ways are right, I can promote peace-offerings and thanksgivings amongst the whole of the brethren, all who know me.

• Think of what was going up from Paul in this respect, and how it stimulated him in his service, as he thought of the Philippians; and think of the inwards of Paul, how right they were!
  • He says in verse 8, “For God is my witness how I long after you all in the bowels of Christ Jesus”.

• In the peace-offering itself the inwards were for God, and we contemplate the holy inwards of Christ, how fully and completely He was for God; but think of the bowels of Christ Jesus being in Paul; that
  • those inward feelings and motives and affections and longings that marked the Lord Jesus, so precious to God, fully taken account of by God, were formed in Paul – in measure, of course.

  • “How I long after you all” he said.

• So you see the Philippians stimulated Paul, encouraging him to go on with his sacrifice of peace-offerings, and Paul stimulated the Corinthians; and that is how we stimulate one another in this holy fellowship.

• So that offerings to God are in abundance brought. According to this epistle there was no lack.
  • And he says of them “because of your fellowship with the gospel, from the first day until now”.

• Fellowship with the glad tidings shows that they were not in fellowship, in their minds, simply for what they could get.

• They were in the matter livingly, they were giving their all, as it were, to support the testimony, so that others might come into the wealth that they were enjoying.

Then as the epistle proceeds, he speaks further of himself, and then he speaks of Timothy, and then of Epaphroditus.

• Later in this chapter he tells us of what his own desires were, to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, but for their sakes he would remain.

• He would continue here, as set to add to the wealth of the fellowship. And not only so, but he says,
  • “But if also I am poured out as a libation on the sacrifice and ministration of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice in common with you all”, 2: 17.

• The libation, or the drink-offering, was something in addition to what we have had before us;
  • he was thinking of the sacrifice and ministration of their faith; that is what they were putting on the altar; how they were devoting themselves;

• but in order to make that more excellent, he was prepared to be poured out, in order that their contribution might be more excellent.

• And he would be gladly poured out as a libation, upon the sacrifice and ministration of their faith, that what they were ministering to God might become more excellent, more vital.
  • And then he speaks of Timothy, “no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on. For all seek their own things”, 2: 20.

• I do not think he was referring to the Philippian company when he says “all seek their own things”, no doubt they were in danger, as we all are; but it was the general position, even at that time.

• If we think of Corinth, what a lack there was, of the sacrifice of peace offering in that company, they were seeking their own things.

According to Malachi, they said “The table of the Lord is polluted”, chapter 1: 12 – and they brought what was torn and lame.

• And it says, “Yea, cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing; for I am a great King”, verse 14.

• We cannot bring anything to the altar of God.

• If we have an appreciation of the way the Lord Jesus has given His all to make the fellowship wealthy, then God looks to us, that on our part there should be a full committal, the male, the best.

• Not the best of our energies for our own things, but the best of our energies for God, and for His people. For I am a great King, he said. A great King must have the best.

• But at Corinth, alas, I am afraid they were regarding the table of Jehovah as contemptible, they were not concerned about it.

• They might not have said so in so many words; they were seeking their own things, and so they were missing the wealth of the fellowship.

• But how happy it is that we have in this epistle to the Philippians the practical example of a company who were committed; so that, according to this epistle there was no lack of the sacrifice of peace-offering.

• The table of Jehovah was being supplied.

And so he goes on to speak of Epaphroditus, who was sick, close to death; and he says of him, chapter 2: 17,

• “because for the sake of the work he drew near even to death, venturing his life”.

• What an example Epaphroditus is, he would lay down his life for the brethren.

• Think of the journey he undertook, the journey from Philippi to Rome, to carry the bounty of the saints, and almost died en route, and was prepared to die.

• But what wealth, you see, he brought into the fellowship! How it rejoiced the heart of Paul;
  • how it stimulated his heart in thanksgiving to God, reinvigorated him in his service,

• and how it affected the saints from whom he came; how it invigorated them, and stimulated them!

• These reactions on one another are most interesting, and most important.

• And then there is the company itself, for Paul says at the close of the epistle, referring to what they sent,
  • “But I have all things in full supply and abound; I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things sent from you, an odour of sweet savour, an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”, 4: 18.

• I believe we must hold to the fact that the peace-offering itself refers to Christ Himself, the way He has given Himself to make the fellowship wealthy; but it is very touching that the language used here is almost the same,
  • “an odour of sweet savour”, “an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”.

• God is prepared thus, to clothe what we do with the value of the peace-offering. And this leads to a note of worship in Paul’s heart.
  • He says “But to our God and Father be glory to the ages of ages. Amen”, 4: 20.

• And that is as it should be, that in all these activities which add wealth to the fellowship, worship to God is promoted.

• Not only thanksgiving, which means that further offerings are brought, but the final thing is worship, “to our God and Father be glory to the ages of ages”.

I just want to say a word as to the danger of feeding on the fat. Feeding on the fat is prohibited,

• the fat that covered the inwards, and the kidneys, and the net above the liver, the diaphragm, that is, I suppose, that which controls the breathing; they were for God.

• We can contemplate, but not appropriate, we have to be careful, lest in any way we appropriate the fat, it is always for God.

• We have to see in our offerings, that self is excluded, any selfish motive, any selfish ends. The inwards must be for God if it is to be acceptable.

• But then, in what others bring we must be careful not to feed upon the fat.
  • A brother, out of his love for God and for Christ, may serve me; he expresses his appreciation of the peace-offering in devoting himself in some way to me – you know it is very easy for me to feed upon the fat.

• I can become elated, as though it is making something of me that that brother should love me so much, and be prepared to do that for me –
  • that is feeding on the fat.

• If that brother loves me, it is because he loves God; the inwards are for God. I must never assume that what is done for me simply has me as an object.

• What we do for one another, if it is done rightly, ever has God as the Object, and the fat is ever for Him.

• To take any other view spoils the whole thing; it robs God of His portion, and it tends to make the person who is the offerer, if his motives are not right, to elate him, or if he is the recipient, it may elate him.

• But if the fat is given to God all is well. We have everything then, in its right setting.

Perhaps before I leave the peace-offering I would just add one more impression.

• We have been saying a good bit of our part, as taking character from it, but I would refer back once again to Leviticus 7: 13.
  • “Besides the cakes, he shall present his offering of leavened bread”.

• You will note how little is said about that, much is said about the unleavened cakes, all referring to Christ; but when it comes to that which refers to the offerer, there is just that brief mention,
  • “Besides the cakes, he shall present his offering of leavened bread with the sacrifice of his peace-offering”.

• That is where we come into the picture. We have our appreciation of the One Who has given His all, to make the fellowship so wealthy, and we could not bring to God that appreciation with one heart, without bringing ourselves into it,
  • but we must be in line with this, as the recognition that there is the leaven with us, but with the cakes, with our appreciation of Christ, we bring our offering of leavened bread.

• It is just mentioned, nothing more is said, showing in that way, how small our part is, even at the best, compared with Christ!

• It is just brought with the cakes, just the leavened bread, there it is, and how small it is, and it is well for us ever to keep things in that proportion.

• The greatest servants, if you measure their part with that of Christ, how small it is!

But now I pass on to the epistle of John to say a brief word on the maintenance of this, and that involves just a brief word on the sin-offering.

• I have spoken already of the blood of the sin-offering,
  • it says “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1 John 1: 7.

• The truth is that we all often offend. Sin-offerings are needed day by day, and in the order in which things are set out in the early chapters of Leviticus
  • the sin-offering comes in after the ‘peace-offering’ because what is in view is the maintenance of things.

• How the fellowship is to be maintained, if there were not that great provision, the sin-offering, the fellowship would break down in one day.

• We would all be disqualified. And the more we realise that, the more we shall value Christ as the sin-offering.

• The more, too, we shall contemplate Him and feed upon Him as the sin-offering, which is a very important matter.

• It is the only way we can keep ourselves clean, and fit for fellowship, able, without any cloud, to walk in the light as God is in the light. So that this wondrous fellowship, so wealthy and full should function unhinderedly.

In the inauguration of things you will find in the great inaugural matters the sin-offering comes first.

• There is the sin-offering for the altar, seven days before it refers to the morning and evening lamb.

• There is the sin-offering of the consecration of the priests, in the inauguration of the service for Israel; in great inaugural matters, including the day of atonement the sin-offering comes first.
  • But in the maintenance of things, the sin-offering is put last.

• It is well to get an appreciation of this wonderful offering, the sin-offering.

• In the inauguration of the dispensation it was the first essential, sin must be dealt with and put away from God’s sight; there could be no fellowship set up if that were not so.

• The altar had to be cleansed from sin, a way of approach made to God free from all sin.
  • But then in the maintenance of things, we go back to the same offering.

• Now at Corinth, sin had come in, and the fellowship was greatly hindered, and this leads me to make this remark, that if sin comes in, it means that one of the people, has sinned.

• And a priest has sinned, every time, because, not only are we one of the people, but we are each priests; and it may easily result in the whole assembly sinning if the matter is not met.

At Corinth, all three things had happened, in fact four things had happened.

• In Leviticus 4 you have the priest sinning, the whole assembly sinning, the prince sinning and one of the people.

• Now at Corinth, one of the people had sinned, the princes had sinned, the leaders; they were saying, “I of Paul, I of Apollos” and so on.

• The priests had sinned, for in Christianity everyone of us is a priest, and the whole assembly had sinned.

• Paul brought things to bear on them in such a manner that by the second epistle they were ready for the sin-offering. He said
  • “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”, 2 Corinthians 5: 21.

Now the first thing in the sin-offering is to contemplate – the first thing I want to dwell on at the moment – the burning. I wish we contemplated the burning more!

• You see if I sin, and I often do, of course, it is not only that one of the people has sinned, but a priest has sinned; and in the case of the priest the body of the victim was burnt outside the camp.
  • It was not eaten, it was burnt outside the camp.

• I believe we ought to consider the horror of the burning, and you see, sin coming in so often as it does, day by day, would mean this is a continual matter.

• One thing that prevents us being as free as we should be in the fellowship is because this is not a continual matter.

• We are to contemplate the burning. It says of the red heifer that it was to be burnt before his eyes – the horror of wrath without relief.
  • The horror of that scene where Jesus bore the all consuming judgement of God!

• And one result of that is, you will find your place without the camp.

• The body was burnt at the place where the ashes of the burnt-offering were placed, in a clean place outside the camp.

• We have spoken about being clean, if we are to enjoy fellowship we must be clean, and if we contemplate that burning we shall be clean in the way of being clear of all unclean associations.

• That is why 2 Corinthians 6 follows chapter 5. You have got the sin-offering at the end of chapter 5,
  • “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us”,

  • and in chapter 6: 17, “come out from among them”, it is outside the camp.

• It is the only clean place in this world – the place where the sin-offering was consumed, and where the ashes of the burnt-offering are, the place where Jesus suffered, outside.

• But then you see, the other aspect of the sin-offering is, that insofar as it was for one of the people, or a prince, it has to be eaten by the priest.

• So that there are those two sides. The contemplating the burning in all that that meant;
  • and then the eating, the appropriating that to myself, in my inward parts;

• so that it is not only that I get right as to the clean place, but I get right in my inward parts, as David did, in Psalm 51: 6,
  • “thou wilt have truth in the inward parts”.

Now that is what is in mind in the epistle of John.

• The epistle of John does not dwell unduly on the sin-offering, it just touches it, in the first and second chapters.

• It is a question of the maintenance of the fellowship,
  • “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”,

  • and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

• That is, we are cleared from external associations, and we are cleared inwardly. That is the effect of the sin-offering.

• Therefore, the rest of the epistle of John is largely occupied with the peace-offering, the normal flow of the fellowship:
  • “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”.

• There you have got the normal flow of fellowship.
  • “Beloved let us love one another, for love is of God”, 1 John 4: 7.

Well may the Lord help us in these matters, to pursue them further, perhaps, in our private meditations and contemplations,

• the character of the fellowship in Corinthians,

• the vital expression of it in the personnel in Philippians,

• and the maintenance of it in the epistle of John.

1. firstly, our walk together in separation;

2. secondly, our walk in the light, as it says,
   • “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”;

3. and finally, our walk in love, for we are exhorted to
   • “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour”.

• I wish to show from the other scriptures how our walk together affects the formation of that which is for the heart of Christ in His assembly, both
  • in its future aspect when the bride, the Lamb’s wife, the holy city of Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God,

• and also in its present aspect as seen in the Song of Solomon.

• Our walk together has a great bearing in both connections.

Now the fundamental basis of our walk together in separation must be agreement as to principles.

• We must have a common judgment as to what is of God and what is not, as to what is holy and what is unholy, what is clean and what is unclean.

• God has called us to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and He has constituted us priests
  • with the power of discernment that we might all have the same mind and the same opinion as regards separation from evil.

• The enemy would seek to bring in divergence of mind and opinion, as at Corinth.

• Some were allowing evil, while others, such as the house of Chloe, were remaining faithful to the principles of separation. The apostle writes,
  • “I exhort you, brethren, that ye be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion”.

• He would have them in agreement in mind and judgment.

Our households are of great importance in this matter; they should be spheres marked by complete separation from the world.

• That is why I read the passage in Exodus 35, in connection with the spinning of goats’ hair.
  • Goats’ hair refers to the principle of separation.

• The tabernacle consisted of ten coloured curtains – they are called “the tabernacle” – which provided the immediate surroundings of the ark and the precious vessels.

• But over that was the “tent over the tabernacle”, consisting of eleven curtains of goats’ hair to protect what was underneath, and the women spun the goats’ hair.

• I have no doubt they spun it in their tents. I do not mean to say that this exercise is limited to women; it refers to a subjective state that should mark every one of us.

• Nevertheless the sisters have a special part in this matter because principles of separation are tested.
  • Worldly elements come into the meetings because they are first allowed in the home.

• Generally speaking, the brethren have a regard for what is due to God in the meetings and in the way of extending fellowship, but we also need to be continually in exercise about our homes.

• John, in his second epistle, addresses the elect lady as to maintaining separation in her home.

The home is the sisters’ sphere in a special way, as Paul says in Timothy,

• “I will therefore that the younger [women] marry … rule the house”, meaning the rule of a despot.

• If the sister is faithful, that rule must entail the maintenance of the principles of separation in the home.

• Goats’ hair implies that there is nothing legal about the separation; the goat is a clean animal, it chews the cud and has a cloven hoof; it is agile, able to walk in high places, and is often found alone.

• If we are marked by these features, our separation will not be legal or pharisaical.

• The most unclean person is one who is separate on wrong lines, as typified by the swine which has a cloven hoof but does not chew the cud. It refers to pharisaical separation which men may admire, but God regards it as a most unclean thing.

• The goat does not represent that at all; it has the cloven hoof but it chews the cud. If we chew the cud and are often in high places and alone with God, our separation will spring from our communion with God, and that is a great thing.

• To chew the cud means to take to heart what we hear, not superficially taking in ministry but taking it home to heart and conscience, allowing it to affect our inward being;
  • so that we are drawn aside in individual intercourse with God, our sensibilities are kept alert, and we find power to exclude what is unholy and unclean.

It needs power to do this in our own homes, day by day for seven days a week.

• We may get a lift up when we are together, and feel we cannot tolerate worldly things;
  • but it requires power, and power perhaps especially among the sisters – inward power –

• to see that at all costs the home is suitable to God, that the principles of His assembly are the principles of the home.

• If that were maintained there would be very little difficulty in our assembly relations. It shows how important the household is.

• How important the house of Chloe was at Corinth! How would Paul have known of the difficulties if she had not been there?

• A sister is singled out, a sister and her house, who felt the allowance of evil and notified the apostle; and what results accrued! What a triumph for God to secure sisters in that way!
  • Through the woman the enemy got in, and now women are keeping him out!

• It often calls for more than goats’ hair. What covered the goats’ hair was the rams’ skins dyed red, speaking of conspicuous devotion.

• It is seen in Chloe herself and her house, those who would cover the goats’ hair with the rams’ skins dyed red, and would cover that with the badgers’ skins.

• That is, while they were devoted, they were not displaying their devotedness; it was a secret matter, yet it makes Chloe and her house distinguished right down to the present day.

Now this line of exercise links on with the wall of the city, for what is wrought out now will help us in administration in the day to come.

• The wall is most attractive; it is of jasper and it is clear as crystal, and it is a man’s measure.

• It is not measured with the golden reed that measures the city, but by a man’s measure, a cubit, the length of a man’s forearm.

• It is a great matter that the separation should be a man’s measure, not a Pharisee’s measure – there should be human sympathy about it.

• It is 144 times a man’s measure. I suppose there is no numeral in scripture that suggests perfect administration like 12 x 12 = 144.

• There can be no administration without separation, it is an absolute necessity; everything breaks down without it. There cannot be gates without a wall.

• All administrative matters fail the moment we fail to maintain separation.

• What an education we are passing through now with a view to forming the wall of that city and being entrusted with the administration of the gates!

• In this process what is ornamental is developed among the saints, for every precious stone was in the foundation of the wall and every gate was a pearl.

• In maintaining divine principles according to God, personality is developed, as suggested in these stones; and in the exercises relating to administration the pearl is developed, the truth of the body according to Paul.

Now I pass on to the thought of walking in the light. This is a matter which affects our state; it comes home closer to us.

• It is not now our associations, what we allow from without, but it searches all our motives within.

• Light makes everything manifest; there is nothing more searching than to walk and to serve under divine scrutiny, in the searching light of God Himself.

• It searches us through and through, disclosing all our motives, all that we are. That is where Christian fellowship is – “in the light”.
  • “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”.

• This particularly bears on our assembly relations.

• In a general way, of course, in regard of the children of Israel, God looked to them to walk in the light they had of Himself.
  • But the priests inside the holy place walked in the very direct light of the candlestick; they served in that wonderful light.

• Now, dear brethren, walking in the light would free us from all self-deception, all idea of a reputation.

• Walking in the light would mean that we are all just what we are, and this is really the basis of Christian fellowship – that we are what we are, with no pretensions whatever.

• As after the flesh we are all sinners by nature and practice, and the light shows us that truth; at the same time, through grace we are born of God. John, in the first chapter of his epistle, says,
  • “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”.

Now one feels for oneself how easily darkness comes in; how easily we can begin in the Spirit and then seek to be made perfect in flesh.

• I do not know of anything that mars the fellowship more than a kind of pretence to be a perfect Christian who can never do anything wrong or make a mistake.

• That spirit can come into assembly matters, and nothing is so deadening from an assembly point of view.

• I have sin in me and shall have as long as I am here. James, a prince among the saints, says,
  • “We all often offend”.

• To think that I do not offend is to make myself a better man than James, or Peter.

• We are called upon to walk together in all the blessed light of God, and the only ground on which we can be in that unstained light is that
  • “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”.

• It takes away all pretence, it brings us right down to rock-bottom, where we are all on one common ground, the ground of mercy.

• It makes us sympathetic, kind and forgiving towards one another; it is the great basis of fellowship – walking in the light.
  • “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth”.

• One way of walking in darkness is to deceive myself and to deceive other people as to my true state as in the flesh – to be darkened by that most subtle notion that my very Christianity makes me perfect in the flesh.

• To keep up false pretences is to walk in darkness.
  • “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”.

God has held nothing back; He is what He says He is, and He would have us to be the same. In John 8 the Lord says,

• “I am the light of the world”, and then,

• in answer to the question, “Who art thou?” He says,
  • “altogether that which I also say to you”.

• No darkness was there; He was Himself the light, and He was altogether what He said.

• Such transparency with us involves the admission of what we are by nature and of our need of the blood of Christ, and also a thankful recognition of God’s own work in us, that we have been born of God.

• We can take account of one another in that way; we walk in the light together and we have fellowship with one another.

• We thus become acquainted with God’s glory, for if I am not prepared to admit what I am, how shall I ever learn the mercy of God?

• That ray of His glory will be unknown to me, and so will the glory of His grace. How shall I understand His righteousness? How shall I understand His holiness?

It is only as we get down to rock-bottom that there is room for the divine glory to flood our souls.

• We own the truth, the light exposes the truth, it exposes things as they really are, and as we are prepared to own the truth which the light exposes,
  • our hearts are filled with the light of His glory – His mercy, His grace, His righteousness and His holiness – and we walk and serve in the light together.

• You can see how this bears on the heavenly city, the principle of transparency, for there is no part dark in it.

• I have no doubt that everyone belonging to that city will give God all the glory; they will own their blessing as the fruit of
  • “the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”.

• Thus God’s glory shines out through that city – she comes down having the glory of God. She is herself a glorious vessel, but it does not say she comes down having her own glory, but the glory of God.

• She is a living witness to what God is and to what He has done; a witness to His grace, His kindness, His righteousness and His holiness.

Now I pass on to the third point of our subject, and that is walking in love.

• As we walk in the light it makes way for walking in love – divine formation, the divine nature formed in our hearts; something that can be measured, as it were.

• John has that in view in his epistle. He begins with this thought of walking in the light, but the burden of the epistle is that we should learn to walk in love.
  • “If God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another”.

  • “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”.

• He brings some ‘oughts’ into it. They are our obligations as in fellowship.

• I believe we have been too occupied with the negative obligations of the fellowship;
  • we have thought of the communion of the body and blood of Christ, to which we put our hands and profess allegiance week by week, as a negative thing, excluding evil, connected with separation – and so it is;

• but there is the positive side to it, and how can we say we are really in communion with the body and blood of Christ unless we are walking in love?

There are positive obligations. The communion of the body and blood of Christ implies that He placed His body and blood upon the altar;

• everything He has He put upon the altar in love.

• He walked in love to the extent that He laid down His life for us. If I am really in the communion of that, I shall be walking as He walked, in measure – not simply in separation but in positive love.

• It raises the question as to what we are doing with our bodies; have we put our bodies on the altar? We ought to do it; we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
  • This is where real formation comes in – formation in the divine nature.

• Romans tells us to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, which is our intelligent service. It is a wonderful thought;
  • “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”

• – think of our bodies, holy and acceptable! –
  • “which is your intelligent service”.

Some may take the ground that they have presented their bodies to God; but

• if you have presented your body to God, let me see you laying down your life for the brethren!

• Christ presented His body to God, but He gave His body for us;
  • it was the will of God that He should lay down His life for the brethren;

• and it is none the less the will of God for you and for me.

• Christ, in devoting Himself to God, sacrificed Himself for us; similarly with believers,
  • if we devote our bodies to God, it is in view of sacrificing them in measure for the welfare of the saints. That is the way they can be used for God.

• In other words, if you speak of your burnt offering, let me see your peace offering.

• Our devotedness to God is measured by our devotedness to the brethren, and that is what the peace offering has in mind; a sacrifice of peace offering, it is called.

• It refers to what we are prepared to do for one another. It is the aspect of Christ’s death which is mentioned in Ephesians –
  • “Even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”.

• The burnt offering was there; but the sacrifice of peace offering was that He loved us and gave Himself for us.

Every clean person could partake of the peace offering. That is another test, as to how far we have presented our bodies.

• Every clean person means everyone in fellowship, thus everyone in fellowship should get some benefit from my body, some benefit in service from me, some spiritual food or sustenance.

• There is no doubt what sustained the Israelites gathered at Jerusalem for the feasts was the peace offerings.

• God’s portion was prescribed in Numbers 28 and 29; they knew how many burnt offerings were to be offered; but nothing is prescribed as to the number of peace offerings;
  • it was left to the spirit of love and sacrifice among the brethren.

• God, of course, is always the object. The sacrifice of peace offering is always spoken of as a sacrifice to Jehovah,
  • but the one who offered it has the welfare of his brethren in view, that they might be sustained before God for His pleasure.

• That is what is involved in walking in love.
  • “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”.

Thus substance is developed, the divine nature developed in the saints as walking in love. The street of the city was

• “pure gold, as transparent glass”.

• What a wonderful thing to tread the street of gold now, to walk in love! There is only one street because there is only one way to walk, that is gold – love.
  • “Walk in love, even as the Christ loved us” – that is the measure.

  • “Love one another, as I have loved you”.

• That is the street of gold; it will be trodden in the day to come in glory. What a sight!

• The city will be composed of those walking in love in perfect harmony, but now is the formation time. Not only the street is gold, but the city is a solid cube of gold.

• It says of the Son in Hebrews 1 that He is the expression of God’s substance; He is not only the outshining of His glory, but He is the expression of His substance.

• It refers to what God is in His essential Being – God is love.

• In answer to this expression, love is to be formed in our hearts; so that while in the city it is finite, yet it is an immense measurable quantity, it is real substance.

Now all this bears on our present relations with Christ, so that in the Song of Solomon the walk of the saints together is suggested in the bride coming up from the wilderness.

• “Who is this, she that cometh up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke?”.

• Our walk together is thus in view, as coming up from the wilderness, and the sight is so magnificent that the writer raises the question, “Who is this?” Who could it be?
  • “Who is this, she that cometh up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?”.

• I believe that is a present view of the saints walking in love. It represents the saints walking in the true communion of the body and blood of Christ, the real vital bond of fellowship, in love.

• The Lord Jesus has led the way in giving Himself as a sacrifice on the altar, but now the bride is coming up on the line of sacrifice; that is what is suggested here: “like pillars of smoke”.

The bride now is in conformity with the bridegroom who has led the way. Who can measure what went up from Christ –

• “an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”.

• But now the bride is coming up marked by the same features, a company of people who have presented their bodies
  • “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”,

• and who are proving what is that
  • “good and perfect and acceptable will of God”,

• in devoting themselves to His people here on the line of sacrifice.

• “Pillars of smoke” – walking in love as Christ also loved us and has delivered Himself for us.

• What pillars of smoke ascend to God, a sweet-smelling odour, love’s sacrifice, from a company perfumed with myrrh and frankincense!

• The bride is in correspondence with Christ Himself, and she is thus fitted to enter into the place that Solomon has prepared.

• No answer is given as to who the bride is: “Who is this?” but the writer goes on immediately to speak of Solomon; that is the answer – she is the counterpart of Solomon, his bride.

Then it goes on to say, “Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s”, and in verse 9 it describes it more fully:

• “King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon”.

• It speaks of what Christ Himself has prepared, His own side of things.

• She is coming up from the wilderness from her side of things, but formed in love in those circumstances, treading the path of love in those circumstances.
  • She is thus ready to pass over into the place He has prepared – ready for the day of his espousals.

• How often we feel we are not ready to pass over into His circumstances, to His present place of glory!

• His heart will never be satisfied until we are there with Him actually; He wants us to be with Him in the surroundings which He has prepared in love for us.

• He would have us come up from the wilderness formed in love so that we are in no wise out of keeping with the surroundings which He has prepared.
  • “King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon. Its pillars he made of silver, its support of gold, its seat of purple”.

• Think of the bride coming into those surroundings, fit to enter into such a realm!

• How deep should be our concern in our walk together that our collective relations might be such that we can pass over in spirit unhinderedly into His own surroundings,
  • so as to give Him a foretaste of the day of His espousals, the day of the gladness of His heart!

I think these things are closely connected, for discipline has in view adjustment and formation, and, if God sends discipline, He has in mind to comfort His people both in the discipline and also in the results that accrue from it.

• At the present time we are passing through a common discipline. God’s people were always the subjects of His discipline, but at the moment we are drawn together in sharing in that which is a common discipline.

• I think God would have us appreciate Him more than we have ever done hitherto in connection with His discipline, and to be in sympathy with Him as seeing the end He has in view.

• He would have us to realize that in His ways in government He is dealing with His household, and in that connection He is spoken of as the Father of spirits, dealing with those whom He regards as sons, in love and wisdom.

• At the same time as the blessed and only Ruler He maintains His over-ruling government amongst the nations. In His great wisdom He can make these “things work together”.

• Whilst He has His chief interest in His assembly, and everything can only serve for the furtherance of its spiritual welfare, God does not give up His other interests.

• The consideration of this enlarges our thoughts as to Him. We may have thought His chief interest was His only interest. But with Israel of old, when He chastised His people He dealt with all the nations round about.

• It is true He does not govern the world publicly yet, because when He does He will have to come in as Judge, but in connection with the happenings of the present time He is behind the scenes, and things will never get out of hand, we may rest assured.

• In Revelation it says the beast was given power to continue 42 months. Even in the darkest day nothing happens except under God’s over-ruling hand. He may allow evil to come to its full head, but things are never out of control.

• God would have us to be intelligent as to this. He is able to deal with matters among the nations, and yet cause everything to promote His chief interest – the assembly.

• He would especially have us appreciate Him in His dealings with His people.

• Parents know how much patience is required to discipline children. How much more so in the case of His children for whom He has so great an end in view.

Now there are two things that are put together in scripture as the means whereby God reaches His end.

• On the one hand there is a ministry of grace, and on the other hand there is discipline. One would not achieve the desired result without the other.

• I trust we have all appreciated God as the source of grace, but have we appreciated Him in His discipline? If discipline is not brought in children will go astray.
  • Does it not touch our hearts to think of the patience of God? If He relinquished His hand, where should we be?

• How carefully He brings in just what is needed; if He did not do so we would be swamped by the world. We can thank God for His discipline.

• So God would have us to be with Him in it, for if so, it will be an easier matter for Him to reach His end.

I referred to the scripture in Isaiah because discipline had come in at that time in an overwhelming way, and at a time when he might have thought it least necessary.

• During the 14 years of Hezekiah’s reign there had been a great recovery in Israel.

• The account in 2nd Chronicles is most heartening, for the whole service of the house of God was restored; the priests, Levites, and singers were in their places, and when the burnt-offering began the song of the Lord began.

• It was the greatest recovery since the days of Solomon. Yet in 2 Chronicles 32 we read,
  • “After these things and this faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah”.

• That bears out what I was saying; there had been a great ministry of grace, and at that very time this overwhelming discipline was sent so that the ministry might be formative in them.

This brings me to my second point – adjustment and formation. They come out in Hezekiah himself:

• “And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent His garments”.

• I think that represents adjustment, or at any rate preparedness for adjustment. Our garments suggest habits – habits of life, habits of thought.

• How often these are borrowed from the world; the fact that we are going on with something spiritually great may not prevent that. We read in the book of Ecclesiates,
  • “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider”.

• So the best thing we can do is to rend our garments as Hezekiah did.

• And then he put on sackcloth, the sign of repentance. Was it needed? It is needed all along the way.

• In 5 out of 7 addresses in Revelation 2 and 3 there is a call to repent.

• It is meet that we should be marked by such a state. Before true adjustment can take place there needs to be a state of repentance.

• The happenings of the last 12 months have shown that we do need adjustment in our habits of thought, perhaps in many ways.

• We need to take to heart the fact that few perhaps, if any, thought that discipline of this kind is necessary.

• If we did not forsee that it was necessary, if we lacked prophetic vision, must there not have been with us a state that caused blindness?

• One cause of a state of blindness is a self-satisfied condition. We need to beware of self-satisfaction. We can cloak ourselves with our blessings and become self-satisfied through the very goodness of God to us.

• One would desire to be careful as to one’s remarks. But I am suggesting this need of adjustment in order that our thoughts and hearts may be brought into line with what God has before Him.

• Our thoughts were hardly in line with God’s when we felt certain war was not coming. Did we not think we needed discipline? Did we not think christendom needed it?

• Had we felt the state of apostasy growing all around us, men becoming lovers of pleasure more than of God? Did we feel it enough?

• We need to face the question of lack of prophetic vision, and judge the state that brought it about. We need to rend our garments.

Another feature of adjustment is the need for the broader outlook to which I have already referred.

• The church is God’s chief interest; nothing can happen which does not promote its welfare.

• But He still has His interests among the Jews as well as among the nations. He would have our hearts enlarged as to all His interests.

• He would have us to feel more with Him as to the whole course of government, to feel more the state of christendom,
  • to feel more concerned about our own state and the way self-satisfaction so readily creeps in,

• so that we may be prepared to rend our garments, prepared for adjustment.

We also have to face the fact that the Lord has allowed certain of His own with whom we walk to be taken home in a way we did not expect.

• Why has the Lord acted in this way?

• Can it be that we have linked christianity too much with earth? Have we regarded it too much as an insurance for life? Have we allowed the very privileges we enjoy down here to link our hearts too much with this scene unconsciously?

• Were we limiting our piety to God’s care of us here instead of trusting Him as the God who raises the dead, and realising that the christian’s hope is in heaven, that his inheritance is in resurrection?

• Let us not doubt that God will protect us down here:
  • “We hope in a living God who is preserver of all men, specially of those that believe”, 1 Timothy 4: 10, N.T.

• He will surely keep every one of His own here until their course is finished and His work in them is done; but our hope, our home is in heaven.

• We spoke this afternoon about the pillar of Rachel’s grave which exists concurrently with the pillar of Bethel.

• It is a witness to the fact that earthly hopes are buried; if there were earthly hopes, they belonged to Israel. But Israel has died and the church is built on Rachel’s grave.

• The two disciples on the way to Emmaus said,
  • “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel”.

• Their cherished hopes had been earthly hopes, and they were disappointed, they needed adjustment. May there be a greater testimony to the heavenly calling!

What is in view is formation. If we are not adjusted how can formation come about?

• “The children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth”.

• That was a remarkable admission on Hezekiah’s part. They had great light, great privileges, great enjoyment, but there was no corresponding state, no strength to bring forth.

• God would help us that Christ might be formed in us in a practical way so that we are like Him on Monday as well as on Lord’s day.

• We would covet to be like Him in measure in our trust in God, in our piety, in our testimony, and that is what God has in mind to bring to pass. The Lord Jesus says prophetically in this very book:
  • “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion”, Isaiah 8: 18.

• One feels the challenge is most urgent that our whole lives should be in accord with Him, that our living trust in God should be in accord with Him, that our piety should be in accord with Him.

• The Lord Jesus was heard because of His piety – the 16th Psalm sets this out – a piety which did not limit itself to God’s preserving care here but looked beyond the grave to the right hand of God.

• May we become a living epistle of Christ down here, known and read of all men, so that we may no longer have a feeling of discrepancy between our practical lives and our place in the Assembly.

• God would use the discipline to remove discrepancies. He would deal with the hidden idols of our hearts as He did with the idols in Jerusalem.

• What idols in Jerusalem with the service of God going on? Yes – hidden indeed, but God says,
  • “As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria; shall I not as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?”

• So He brings up the Assyrian, “the rod of His anger”, so that there might be deliverance from the idols and strength to bring forth; and that they might know the real meaning of Immanuel.

But then God would always comfort His people. He would comfort us both in the discipline and in the results that accrue from it.

• Nahum means “comfort”, and he prophesied in Hezekiah’s reign to comfort the people in the trial. He foretold the destruction of Nineveh, the stronghold of the mighty enemy of God’s people. He says,
  • “God is jealous, and the Lord revenges … The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked”.

  • Then he goes on to say, “His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet”, Nahum 1: 3-4.

• This may primarily refer to His dealings in judgment, but may apply it as a word of comfort to His own discipline,
  • for if His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, He has His end in view, an end of perfect blessing.

• We see it in a remarkable way in the history of Job. Job lost everything but his life – his property, his children, his health – but when he had lost everything he would not give up his righteousness.
  • He says, “Till I die I will not remove my blamelessness from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go”, Job. 27: 6-7, N.T.

• If God’s discipline had not come he would have gone down to the pit, the only place for a self-righteous man. So God deals with Job that he might give up that last thing, his self-righteousness.

• Elihu speaks to him of the balancing of the clouds:
  • “Dost thou not know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous work of him that is perfect in knowledge?”, Job 37: 16.

• God has an end in view, we can take courage; when the clouds come up, they are the dust of His feet, they are the proof that He is on His way for our blessing.

• We can thank God for the clouds in every part of the earth at the present moment.

In Europe the storm has burst, but even in Australia and in America there are clouds.

• God has in mind the blessing of all His people, to bring about adjustment, to free our hearts from idols, and from self-satisfaction, and to produce formation.
  • Then Nahum continues, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knoweth them that trust in him”.

  • Finally he says, “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes peace! O Judah keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows”.

• He points us to Christ at the right hand of God. It is from that point that He has preached the glad tidings of peace:
  • “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh”, Ephesians 2: 17.

• So Judah is to keep her solemn feasts. Christ’s position is the guarantee that the feasts will go on.

• We may be dispersed, reduced in numbers, but surely we can count upon God preserving our solemn feasts to us.

• What a word of comfort it was to the people in Hezekiah’s day who had learned to value the feasts as they had not done since the days of Solomon!

The passage in Ezekiel speaks of the comfort that flows from the results that accrue from a trial.

• The prophet has another trial in mind; he is referring to Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion when Jerusalem was destroyed, but
  • what he brings out, in chapter 14: 22-23, is the positive results that God is going to get from it.

• God is acting in righteous government; but He not only justifies His ways in discipline by the fact that they are merited, but also justifies them by the results that accrue.
  • If He says, “I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, and cut off man and beast from it”, verse 17,

• it is not done without a cause. See the results, sons and daughters that provide comfort by their way and doings! He is justified by the results.

• If adjustment and formation takes place at the present time, we shall find sons and daughters that will comfort our hearts, those who are truly like Christ:
  • “Behold they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings, and ye shall be comforted … and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God”.

• How encouraging to see all that God is able to bring out of discipline!

• What wonderful children He secured in Daniel and his friends, Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and those with them! What sons and daughters! Nehemiah means “comfort of Jehovah”.

• The discipline was justified because of the state of the profession, but it was also justified by the results.

• Such children are a comfort to the heart of God, Ephesians 5: 1, a comfort to the heart of Christ, Hebrews 2: 13, and a comfort to the saints.

• May God comfort our hearts in this way! May we accept adjustment, may there be formation, and may we have the comfort of seeing sons and daughters according to His own heart, for His Name’s sake!