The Servant of the Lord
Early Ministry by G. R. Cowell
– Part Nine

The scripture in Timothy is a challenge to all of us as to whether we are prepared to be whole-hearted in the testimony.

• It is evident, in the Old Testament scriptures, that God looked for features at the end which were like those at the beginning. In Malachi God takes them back to Jacob’s tithe,
  • “Bring the whole tithe into the treasure house”.

• He wants that at the end. The remnant was a tenth – Isaiah 6: 13 – that is to say, the whole remnant becomes a tithe.

• He also takes them back to David’s vow, when he refers to Judah as being married to the sanctuary. He says,
  • “Judah hath profaned the sanctuary of Jehovah which he loved and hath married the daughter of a strange god”.

  • David said, “I will not give sleep to mine eyes … until I find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the mighty God of Jacob”, Psalms 132: 4-5.

• David’s vow links on with Jacob’s vow. What marks true royalty according to God is unselfish seeking what is for God down here. This is implied in being ‘married to the sanctuary’.

• God’s praise in the sanctuary is the chief concern in life and that is what marked David.

• God also looks back in Malachi to the covenant with Levi, reminding the priests of what they had been at the beginning.

• He is looking at the end of the dispensation for features like those at the beginning – all requiring whole-heartedness.

• In the early church the whole tithe was brought in, there was devotion to the sanctuary, and there was an unremitting occupation in priestly service. God is looking for these features at the end.

So Paul, in his exhortation to Timothy begins by addressing him as his child. It ought to be an exercise to be true children of Paul.

• Paul is the outstanding model for us, as the one in whom these features found expression.

• Who so devoted to Christ as Paul? He had no reserves, he was wholly here for Christ, he was also, so to speak, married to the sanctuary,
  • and who maintained priestly service in the darkest moment like Paul?

• We often think of him in that prison at Philippi, turning it into a temple of praise.
  • He says “Thou, therefore, my child”.

• Paul requires children. It is necessary for the testimony that Paul should have children and it is open to each one of us young ones, in some measure, to qualify for this appellation to be children of Paul, to be imitators of him as he was of Christ.

• He had previously said,
  • “All in Asia have turned away from me”, 2 Timothy 1: 15.

• He is not questioning their Christianity; he leaves that to the Lord, for the Lord knows them that are His and if they are unfaithful He abides faithful. He never forgets one of His own on earth and we should never forget them.

• Paul says in this epistle,
  • “Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus”.

• He sends to them the best brother he has got for the purpose, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord – Ephesians 6: 21 – although all had forsaken him.

• He is representative of the Lord in this, for the Lord is faithful to every saint on earth.

• But the general feature today is that Christians turn away from Paul, and Paul completed the word of God, he filled out the word of God – Colossians 1: 25.

• No one does himself such damage as he who turns away from Paul, for his ministry is like a key which opens up the real meaning of the Old Testament.

• To understand the types we must have Paul’s ministry. We could not even understand Eve and Rebecca, as types without it.

• People object to Paul because of his whole-heartedness. There is no compromise in his ministry; he maintains things at the Divine standard.

• So few people are ready for the Divine standard at its full height. For instance, one thing many object to is the silence of women in the assembly.

• While in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, Christians are called upon to maintain every divine institution down here, and Paul insists on every divine institution being maintained in integrity.
  • The relative relationship of man and woman is one such institution.

• Christians generally are not prepared to give themselves up to God and His claims. It involves full surrender.
  • All that I am and have is to be for God and for the expression of His Own thoughts down here in testimony.

• I do not think we can be called a child of Paul unless we have committed ourselves thus, and the Lord is looking for that unreserved committal.

• Paul realised that in these days things would depend upon individual devotedness.

• There is the collective thought, that there should be in each locality the expression of features proper to the assembly as a whole, although seen in but a few.

• But this can only come about as individuals are secured in devotedness. That is why we are right in saying that things depend upon young men.

• The older ones pass off the scene and young men must be prepared to carry the burdens of the testimony.

• Paul is handing things on to his child Timothy, and he speaks of a number of ways in which the servant of God is regarded as in practical service.

• He speaks of a soldier, an athlete, a husband-man, a workman, a vessel, and finally a bondman, and he brings in what is proper to each.

• It indicates what an all round demand the testimony makes upon us, bringing into activity every spiritual faculty.

• It is a calling worthy of true manhood; it brings out true manly qualities, and this should inspire all of us to take it up.

• How this nation has been inspired by a call for manhood and suffering *, and our call to action should no less inspire us! But before he touches that, he says,
  • “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”.

• This is our resource in all that follows, and involves our freedom of access into the presence of God.

• Do not let us limit this to the meetings, for priestly service should be our most joyful occupation at any hour of the day,
  • drawing near to God and bringing to Him the sweet incense and pure oblation which delights His heart.

• What strength there is in drawing near to God and thus going forth in the power of the priestly grace of Christ!

He speaks first of service in the field – the battle-field, the athletic field and the field of husbandry. This is an arduous side of service.

• “Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”.

• Paul says, “For which cause I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed”, 2 Timothy 1: 12.

• What a soldier Paul was, suffering in an extreme way, but he says, “I am not ashamed”. He counted it an honour to be suffering, that the elect
  • “may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”.

• That is what service in the field is for, that all the elect should be secured and be brought into the full salvation that is in Christ Jesus. It involves this arduous service and Paul was content to take it up with that great end in view,
  • “for the sake of the elect”.

• To this end we need to stand for the truth as good soldiers of Jesus Christ; we need also to be engaged in husbandry, tending souls as plants – patient work, watering and feeding as we have opportunity, that they might become available as olive trees in the house of God.

• At the same time we need to be in constant athletic training, as running a race ourselves. What a runner in the race Paul was!
  • It is of little use for us to stand for the truth merely in terms.

• All this involves the suffering side of the position, but Paul brings in a word of encouragement, a “faithful” word, as a lever for the soul. There are several faithful words in the epistles to Timothy.
  • “The word is faithful; for if we have died together with him, we shall also live together; if we endure, we shall also reign together; if we deny he also will deny us; if we are unfaithful, he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himselF".

• I understand these words probably formed part of a song used by early Christians, a song surely to inspire the soul, in this arduous form of service.

• You can understand the Christian soldier, as he lays hold of this faithful word, throwing himself into the conflict. Do we want to live here where Christ has no place?
  • “He who loses his life for my sake shall find it”.

• We have the opportunity of losing our lives in this world.
  • “If we have died together with him, we shall also live together”.

• It is intended to inspire the soldier as he goes into the battle.

Paul then refers to another line of activity.

• “Strive diligently to present thyself approved to God, a workman that has not to be ashamed, cutting in a straight line the word of truth”.

• This is not field service, but workmanship with the house in view. “A workman” implies skilled service, and a workman expects that his work will come under review and scrutiny, and so the great lever in this connection is to be approved to God.

• Service in the field may be successful in some measure, but if there is to be a full result for God, skilled service is also needed, in order that the saints may be built up in the truth.

• It links on with the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4: 10. Zerubbabel was a workman who could use the plumb line, and the seven eyes of Jehovah rejoiced to see it in his hand, for it meant that what was going to be built would be according to the truth.

• Timothy was to be like that, so that when his work came under Divine scrutiny he would have no need to be ashamed.

• How important it is that the truth should be cut in a straight line, in view of the saints being built together and preserved in God’s house in a way that is entirely pleasing to the One Who dwells there.
  • Everything evenly balanced according to truth so that there is nothing to offend the eye of God.

• If there is to be in these last days an expression of the features proper to the assembly as a whole, the word of truth must be cut in a straight line.

Following this, Paul introduces the idea of a vessel, and what is in view is serviceability to the Master, which involves

• qualifications in the way of personal holiness, so that we may be sanctified and meet for His use.

• Viewed as vessels it is not a question of what we do; but of what He would do with us.

• Much might be done in service without personal holiness, but it is better to be usable than useful – to be serviceable to the Master. In order to be thus the exhortation is,
  • “Let everyone that names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”.

• We are not to try to put things right in Christendom. We are to meet error in order to seek to save souls from it, but some people think if they remain where they are they can help. But it says that
  • “profane, vain babblings … spread as a gangrene”, verses 16-17.

• If gangrene sets in, the only hope is to cut away the good from the bad.

• The believer is to withdraw from iniquity, and to purge himself out from the vessels of dishonour. The same word is used in 1 Corinthians 5 where it speaks of purging out the old leaven.

• It involves suffering, for we would like to have the company of all our brethren, but the commandment of the Lord is imperative.

• This kind of holiness is essential if one is to be sanctified and serviceable to the Master and prepared for every good work. It is a wonderful thought, every good work.

• The enemy sometimes occupies souls with one kind of good work, but this is every kind of good work.

• The Master can use such a vessel in any direction, whether in the service and praise of God, like the holy vessels of the sanctuary, or in service to the saints or in service to men.

• The great lever in the soul is the desire to be serviceable to the Master. Surely it is worthwhile, whatever the cost may be.

• The Apostle pursues the question of holiness in a very complete way, for he continues,
  • “But youthful lusts flee and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”.

Finally he speaks of the servant or bondman of the Lord. What should characterize a bondman is the spirit of his Master.

• Whatever we may undertake as soldiers or workmen, we shall discredit our service and the One we serve, unless we are marked by the spirit of the Master.
  • “A bondman of the Lord ought not to strive”.

• It is one thing to be bold in standing here for what is due to God, but it is another thing to have the boldness that is a true feature of Christ, that is,
  • boldness coupled with gentleness and meekness – boldness without contention.

• It is a great test in a day like this, when error abounds on every hand and the servant of the Lord feels he must state the truth. It is a great thing to state the truth in a right spirit.

• Nothing is worse than to stand for the truth in a spirit which discredits the truth. We are to hold and state the truth and yet be
  • “gentle towards all, apt to teach forbearing; in meekness setting right those who oppose, if God perhaps may sometimes give them repentance to acknowledgment of the truth”, verse 25.

One desires that in going over this chapter we may all be encouraged, and especially the young men and women.

• The Lord is calling you; He needs you and He looks for a full committal to these things.

• It is love for the world and the things in the world which would pull the other way.

• In dealing with the military side, the Lord says,
  • “What does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer loss of his soul?” Matthew 16: 26.

• This is a word for instructed believers. Peter had already confessed Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, but had quailed at the prospect of a suffering path; and the Lord says,
  • “If one desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”.

• Do not think that is addressed to babes; it is a challenge to young men. How the world gets hold of us! The Lord says,
  • “For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it”.

• You cannot take up this chapter in Timothy if you love the world.

• God is weakening the world at the moment *, to set young men and women free from it, that there might be found in them today these features of whole-heartedness.

• This chapter gives us every encouragement.
  • As to the arduous side, if we die together with Him we shall live together, if we suffer we shall also reign together.

  • As to the workman, it is possible for young men and women so to handle the truth as to be approved unto God.

  • And as vessels we can be serviceable to the Master.

• What levers there are in this chapter to go in for these things!
  • Then, finally, to be gentle towards all, characterised by the spirit of our Lord.

• May it be so for His Name’s sake.

Editors note: [in original book]
* The reader will appreciate that “the moment” referred to was the occasion of the 1939-45 war, as also “the call for manhood and suffering”.

Then in Psalm 68 we have a wilderness setting. It says there in verse 7:

• “O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness”.But in verse 4 we read:

• “Sing unto God, sing forth his name”, and then it says,

• “His name is Jah”.

• So that, again, in a wilderness setting, the greatest name of God is occupying the people; and in verse 20 “El” appears – also in verses 24 and 35 – indeed it is a psalm of great names and titles.

In Psalm 150, the climax of praise, it is to be noted that the name Jehovah is not used, but these two words alone appear, Jah and El. The first word is

• “Hallelujah!” – “Praise ye Jah” – then,

• “Praise El in his sanctuary”. Finally,

• “Let everything that hath breath praise Jab. Praise ye Jah”.

• There is a striking link between the original song in Exodus 15, and the climax of praise under David in Psalm 150.

• Exodus 15 begins with Jah and El, and the idea of the sanctuary comes in at the end of that chapter, and then Psalm 150 says,
  • “Praise ye Jah. Praise El in his sanctuary”.

I wondered whether, as enquiring together as to these names, the Spirit of God might help us. In so doing we might also have in mind that Psalm 22: 22,

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

• in its primary application links with Matthew 28: 19.

• It is quite right to bring in John 20: 17, but its primary application is to Matthew.

• I do not think that anyone can study Psalm 22 without seeing that this is so, and that the formal name declared – Psalm 22: 22 – is the Name of Matthew 28: 19.

Ques. Would you say a little more as to the primary application of Psalm 22 being to Matthew; is it because in Matthew and Mark we have the forsaking?

G.R.C. Yes, the atoning sufferings come into Matthew; so the first phrase of the Psalm is quoted by the Lord on the cross.

• Secondly, Matthew is the assembly gospel, and the heading of the psalm, and verse 22, imply, for us, the assembly.

• Matthew, too, would link with the praises of Israel – Psalm 22: 3 – the Israel of God, being secured; it is also the gospel of the Son of David.

• So that one would suggest that the primary link of Psalm 22 is with the gospel of Matthew.

Ques. Were you thinking of the full name of God in saying that?

G.R.C. Yes; the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I would understand, is the Name declared.

Rem. “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation”, Psalm 22: 30. Is not that very much Matthew's line – generations?

G.R.C. Very much so: “Book of the generation of Jesus Christ”, Matthew 1: 1.

Ques. With reference to the address at the beginning of Psalm 22, is that El?

G.R.C. It is very striking that that word is El.

Rem. That would connect with, “I will declare thy name”, in verse 22.

G.R.C. Quite so; He addresses His God as “El” in that setting.

Rem. Would not the praise be in answer to the declaration of the Name? We could not think that the praise would be any lower than the declaration of that great Name. There must be a commensurate answer in praise.

G.R.C. Quite so. John 20 gives the exclusive Christian position – “to my God, and your God”. No other company is brought alongside the Lord in that way;

• whereas Matthew gives the formal declaration of the Name which will govern the whole of the world to come.

• The Psalm shows that the praise extends to every circle; it is not only the Christian position; the universal position also is affected by the declaration of the Name.

Rem. So that the baptism has the nations in mind as well, presently.

G.R.C. Quite so; it has.

Ques. What do you understand by the names “El” and “Jah"?

G.R.C. What I know about them is only what I have learnt from J.N.D. He says that

• “Jah” is God in His self-existence;

• “El” is God in His essence;

• “Jehovah” is Jah come into time to effect His purpose, so Jehovah involves the idea of revelation; but He comes into time to effect His purpose that He might be praised as Jah.

• The name “Jehovah” includes the idea of Him
  • “who is, and who was, and who is to come”, Revelation 1: 8;

• that is, it is God come into time to effect His purpose; but His purpose is to secure men in the light of revelation in such a manner that they can praise Jah and praise El in His sanctuary.

• It is with that end in view that creatures are blessed in the knowledge of God as revealed in the economy – applying it to Christianity – that they might praise Jah, and praise El in His sanctuary.

The sanctuary idea is different from the home-life idea.

• When we think of access to the Father through the Son and by the Spirit, it is like divine home-life;
  • but when we think of praising El in His sanctuary, it is a question of God in His greatness.

• It is the persons who know the home-life who are qualified to praise God in His sanctuary.

• To use a human illustration: in a palace home-life is known; but also in the palace there are state apartments where the king is known in royal splendour;
  • and those who know him in home-life are best qualified to give him the glory due to him in his splendour on state occasions.

• The sanctuary involves the holy splendour connected with the presence of God in His greatness and majesty.

Rem. And, to use the human illustration, an intelligent son recognises that he is a subject of His Majesty.

• While thoroughly at home in paternal affections in the home-life, it is as a subject that he addresses the King in the state apartments;

• he would not address him as father there, although he knows him as such, but would render to him the tribute and homage due to him as the King, though we must always remember that no human illustration can adequately convey the idea of the Trinity.

G.R.C. That is just it. In the sanctuary we are worshipping God in holy splendour.

• To revert to the human illustration, when the king is in royal splendour on the state occasion, the son would not say to him, My father, but would acknowledge him as his king;

• but the king is at liberty to say, My son. That is the final touch in scripture:
  • “I will be to him God” – that is the state occasion, so to speak – “and he shall be to me son”, Revelation 21:7.

• It is not the son saying “Father” to God, but it is God owning him as son in the most glorious and dignified setting.

Rem. There is a good deal in what Mr. Raven used to say – the approach is equal to the revelation. I was thinking of what you have been saying as to the way God has been revealed; we approach him on that line.

Rem. God revealed in Father, Son and Spirit. As revealed in that way, and so approached responsively accordingly.

G.R.C. In Exodus 15 the Name Jehovah appears first. Using the name by way of analogy, as connecting Jehovah with the idea of revelation, do you not think that

• Jehovah would link with the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

• viewing that name from the standpoint of the economy into which the Persons have graciously come?

• We think of that name in two ways. On the one hand, it brings before us the idea of the economy, and we are to explore that.

• We are baptised to the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, with a view to our leaving the world and exploring all the wealth that is open to us as entering into the gain of the economy,
  • learning what the Father would be to us, and what the Son would be to us, and what the Spirit would be to us, in the relative positions and services which They have taken up.

• But then, as we get the gain of the Name in that way, is it not in view of the other aspect of it?

• For the Name also conveys the co-equality of the Persons in the oneness of Godhead; and I believe that is where the link would come in with Jah and El.

Rem. You mean that the relative positions They have come into in the economy in no way detract from the essential equality attaching to each of the three Persons;

• and the fact of Their essential equality only adds glory to the respective places into which They have come in view of revelation.

G.R.C. As getting the gain of the economy, it sets us free for what is the highest form of praise, that is the praise of God according to the abundance of His greatness, as it says in Psalm 150;

• and all the greatness suggested in the great names Jah and El applies equally to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Rem. So that in Psalm 150 Jehovah's name is not given; it is Jah and El, involving what to us are the three Persons.

G.R.C. Yes, in the greatness of Deity.

Ques. Are you suggesting that Exodus 15 comes into the service on the Lord's Day morning?

G.R.C. My main suggestion is to show that in the setting of baptism, according to the type,

• Moses and the children of Israel praised God according to the greatest names Jab and El.

• They bring in Jehovah; which for us would be apprehending God in the economy, but they immediately go on to say,
  • “My strength and song is Jah”.

• It is a marvellous thing that they touch the very height at the outset, addressing Him also as “My ·God” – “My El”.

• The service of praise is going to end with Jah and El, according to Psalm 150; but the praise begins in the baptismal setting.

• It is unscriptural, therefore, to dismiss Matthew 28: 19 as if it has nothing to do with the setting of praise.

Ques. Is it a collective setting?

G.R.C. Yes, baptism puts us together; they went out in rank, and I would say that while it is not yet the ordered service under David,

• it is in principle the Lord singing in the assembly.

• They are called the children of Israel here, but Stephen in his address in Acts 7 says that Moses was “in the assembly in the wilderness”, and they are called “the assembly” in Exodus 12;

• so the idea of the assembly is there, though not in its ordered form under David.

Ques. And might it not link up with Romans, because we are in Roman territory here, in relation to redemption, and God coming in as a Man of war, breaking the world power, and taking His people out?

• The allusion in Romans 9 to the deity of Christ, and then again having three Persons in mind at the end of chapter 11 – does not that all suggest that in this early setting, so to speak, in the light of revelation, we revert in praise to Jah?

G.R.C. It does; the doxologies in Romans greatly help as to this. All the honours of Deity are due to Christ in Romans 9;

• He is “over all, God blessed for ever”.

• He is Jah; He is El, equally with the Father,
  • “that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father”, John 5: 23.

Rem. And to give to Him that praise in the co-equality of the Godhead in Romans, and to deny it to Him in the highest range of the service in Ephesians, is surely wrong.

G.R.C. Well, in Psalm 68: 20 we read:

• “Our God is the God of salvation”; and then

• “and with Jehovah Adonai, are the goings forth even from death”.

• The “Adonai”, translated “the Lord”, is prominent in that Psalm, and J.N.D. links the Adonai in that psalm, in a particular way, with the Lord Jesus; he says, “Adonai Jesus” in reference to this psalm.

• It says in verse 17:
  • “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Adonai is among them; it is a Sinai in holiness”.

• Then it immediately goes on to say,
  • “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts in Man”.

• So the Lord Jesus is presented in this psalm as the Adonai; He has ascended on high in the right of His own Person – not simply as made Lord.

• And then it says, verse 20,
  • “Our El is the El of salvation; and with Jehovah, the Lord [Adonai], are the goings forth even from death”.

• While we would not restrict that to one Person of the Godhead, it especially applies to the Lord Jesus, one would suggest.

Ques. Does the first verse refer to the Lord Jesus? I am thinking of the similar reference in the end of Numbers 10.

G.R.C. Quite so; you are referring to the ark going forward. Of course, where the ark is, God is.

Ques. Would you kindly distinguish between the title Adonai, and the other titles?

G.R.C. “Adonai” refers to lordship in the right of Deity; it is never applied to anyone but God;

• it is the plural of Adon, and in the plural is never applied to a human being in scripture.

• Adonai means Lord, but it is lordship in the right of Deity; and it is used freely of God as such, as in the prophets – for instance, “Lord Jehovah” in Ezekiel.

• But in this psalm we can see that in certain verses it especially applies to Christ.

• He is the One who has ascended up on high, and lordship in Ephesians is lordship in the right of His own Person, not only as made Lord.

• From this standpoint the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Spirit is Lord. They all are Adonai; God is Adonai;
  • but it is especially touching to our affections when we see scriptures which apply these titles specially to Christ.

• Christ is always the Object of attack, and I believe the present attack is to deprive Christ of the honours due to Him in Deity.

• J.B.S., F.E.R., and J.T. too, in his earlier ministry, had to press the truth of the humanity of Christ, because it had been lost in Christendom, and to stress that He is on our side, and that we are associated with Him, and this still needs to be maintained.

• But the enemy took advantage of it to form a kind of creed in our minds whereby we really limited Him to His position on our side.

• We would never deny the doctrine of His Deity, and if anyone challenged it we would be up in arms; but, in fact, we may have unintentionally limited Him to what He is on our side.

• It was essential that that truth should be pressed for thirty or forty years, but the Spirit of God is adjusting us because we had become out of balance.

• In many passages in the Psalms the great names of God are applied to Christ; for instance in Psalm 45,
  • “Thy throne, O God [Elohim], is for ever and ever”, refers to Christ:

• in this Psalm “Adonai” is applied to Him, and in Psalm 102 He is called by the great title “the Same”. In Psalm 24 He is called Jehovah of hosts, the King of glory.

• The scriptures abound – both Old and New Testaments – with touching passages where the titles of God are specifically attached to that lowly though glorious Man.

Ques. Would you connect Ephesians 6 with that?

• “Be strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength”, verse 10.

• Does that imply also His Deity?

G.R.C. I think lordship in Ephesians goes beyond what He is as made Lord.

• “Thou hast ascended on high”,

• is quoted in chapter 4: 8; and the apostle goes on to say that He has
  • “ascended up above all the heavens”;

• He has ascended in the right of His own Person. And then in Psalm 68: 20 we read,
  • “with Jehovah, Adonai, are the goings forth even from death”.

• He descended in order that that should be so. Then in verse 22,
  • “The Adonai said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring them again from the depth of the sea”.

• He descended into the lower parts of the earth, where, as the prophet says, the weeds were wrapped about His head – Jonah 2: 5. He descended there to bring us again from the depths of the sea.

Ques. “Jehovah said unto my Lord”, Psalm 110: 1 – is that the thought of Adonai?

G.R.C. In that verse “Lord” is Adon, which is sometimes applied to man, but in verse 5 of that psalm it is Adonai:

• “The Adonai at thy right hand will smite”.

• There again the glory of Christ's Deity is fully set out.

Ques. Would you think that the adjustment as to His sonship in 1929* was to pave the way for further help at the present time?

* See Doctrine: The Sonship of Christ: Barnet.

G.R.C. I feel sure of that.

Ques. Would you say in regard to Romans 9, that the question of liberty with the Spirit in chapter 8 is an important matter?

G.R.C. That is very good; will you say more about it?

Rem. It seems what you have in mind is perhaps that we need more liberating in these matters, and I was wondering whether the teaching of Romans 8 does not directly bear on that.

G.R.C. Undoubtedly. A great point in the wilderness is to learn the gain of the Spirit.

• We were just saying that in baptism we leave the world, and move into the wilderness to explore the meaning of the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
  • in connection with all that the Father, the Son and the Spirit would be to us, first of all, in the wilderness;

  • and what is most stressed in those experimental chapters in Romans is what The Spirit would be to us.

• A large part of wilderness experience is that we may learn to value the Holy Spirit, and what you say is right. Chapter 8 would give us a personal valuation of the Spirit.
  • We read “the Spirit itself" – or “Himself", as we might well read it – “bears witness with our spirit”, verse 16.

• It is the personal side in that verse and also in verse 26, the Spirit accompanying us in the wilderness in all His grace; and I believe if we understand that, it does provide a foundation for the whole matter we are considering.

• It is the foundation for sustained praise. This song was rightly sung at the Red Sea, but praise in a sustained way began with
  • “Rise up, well! sing unto it”, Numbers 21: 17.

• That makes way for praises to the Son and to the Father.

Rem. It is significant that Romans 8 leads up to that point,

• “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God”, verse 14;

• which is really the final point reached in the service.

G.R.C. “I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”, Revelation 21: 7.

Rem. And praise must be vocal. It is in the realm of testimony; that is, the Persons must be praised and worshipped by name.

• We cannot say that we worship one Person vocally, and have the other two in our minds. The divine honours must be rendered vocally to each Person.

G.R.C. They must. That raises another point. One has heard the objection that Matthew 28: 19 is a Name to be used, not in praise, but in a testimonial position;

• but what is overlooked is that all praise is in the testimonial position.

• I take it that, in one sense, the eternal praise of the assembly will be testimonial to the whole universe.

Rem. I think that it is not sufficiently recognised that there is a testimonial side to the worship of God. The praise of God is an important feature in the testimony.

G.R.C. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of the lips confessing his name”, Hebrews 13: 15.

• Confessing His name in a sacrifice of praise is, I suppose, the highest form of testimony.

Ques. How far does the end of Matthew go? I was thinking of what you said about El.

• Why does the Lord after speaking of the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit say,
  • “Behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age"?

• Then in the early part of Matthew it says,
  • “They shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us”, Matthew 1: 23.

G.R.C. That is an interesting point. Matthew begins with the two great names:

• “Thou shalt call his name Jesus”, – that is, “Jah the Saviour” – “for he shall save his people from their sins”; and then

• “They shall call his name, Emmanuel … God with us”.

• I would not think that “the completion of the age” is reached till the universe is secured for the praise of Jah and El. Bringing matters to completion is in mind in Matthew.
  • “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”,

• is quoted by the Lord in Matthew 21: 16. Where is praise fully perfected? When we reach in our spirits the praise of Jah and El.

• The testimonial side of praise is stressed in the passage from which the Lord quotes:
  • “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established praise because of thine adversaries, to still the enemy and the avenger”, Psalm 8: 2.

• What can the enemy say in the presence of the praise of Jah and El?

Ques. Is it at all significant that in each of the Scriptures there is a very strong suggestion of power,

• connected in most cases with the immediate presence of God Himself; and in Matthew 28 power is seen as in the hands of Christ?

• I was only thinking of what you have been saying as to the testimonial position. Does not power operate in the testimonial position in connection with ourselves in view of this great feature of response?

G.R.C. I believe so; so as you say, at the end of Matthew, the Lord says,

• “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”;

• but it is in view of carrying forward the great Name, and bringing souls into the gain of that Name in view of the praise of God.

• I would say unequivocally that it is in view of the praise of God, for Exodus 15 proves it.

• It does not do to dismiss Matthew 28: 19 from our minds in relation to the matter of praise because of it occurring in a baptismal setting;
  • because the baptismal setting, according to Exodus 15, is a setting of praise,

• and the scope of that song is most remarkable; it goes on to the fullest thoughts of God.

Rem. In Nehemiah, when the two choirs stood in the house of God and sang praise, it was clearly a testimonial position, for the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.

G.R.C. Very good; moreover, the choirs went round the walls, involving very distinctively a testimonial position, and they finished in the house of God; and, of course, the house of God is here in testimony.

Rem. And the praise in the gaol at Philippi was in the testimonial position.

Rem. As also the music and dancing in Luke 15.

Rem. And in Acts 4 it is connected with power.

G.R.C. Yes, I am sure power, in the hands of Christ and the Spirit, is operating to carry forward this great Name, and to bring the saints into this great matter of praise. It is one of the greatest features of the testimony.

Ques. Does Luke 17 support what you are saying as to praise in the testimonial setting? The leper who returned glorified God with a loud voice.

G.R.C. That is an excellent illustration, because glorifying God means that it was in a testimonial setting.

• “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me”, the Psalmist says, Psalm 50: 23.

• If you take the position under Solomon, the praise was at the altar, which would, I believe, suggest the public side of things; it was on the east side of the altar.

• I believe our praise is always in the testimonial setting. In our spirits we may, and should be, in the inner place, but those outside cannot take account of where we are in our spirits when we are in the sanctuary; but the public service of God is at the altar.

Ques. What about the testimonial setting in eternity?

G.R.C. Assembly praise will give a lead to the whole universe in the praise of God, and will be a testimony to the greatness of God, will it not?

• But in praise, we are not thinking of testimony, although we would want everything to be worthy of God.

• We are thinking of testimony insofar as being concerned that everything should be worthy of God in the way it is done – worthy of the God we are praising, and that in the sight of the universe, angels and men.

• All that goes on in the assembly is under the scrutiny of principalities and authorities in the heavenlies.

• Testimony is not our object; God Himself is our object. We are to be absorbed with God, our whole being prostrated in worship before Him, and in the power of that worship we render praise worthy of His Name.

• It is that which affords an irrefutable testimony which no enemy can gainsay:
  • “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou established praise because of thine adversaries”.

Ques. Is it instructive that God is the great theme of Romans? God's name comes before us in a most prominent, testimonial way, all leading up to chapter 15 where we have the chorus of praise from the nations:

• “That the nations should glorify God for mercy”, chapters 15: 9

• – and the other quotations in that passage. Is that not how we arrive at it?

G.R.C. Yes, indeed; and I believe that the idea of

• “To him be glory in the assembly”, Ephesians 3.21,

• involves the praise of God, glory rendered to His name in a way that will affect the whole universe.

Ques. In Psalm 150 does not the praise start inwardly in the sanctuary, and work right out to everything that has breath praising God?

G.R.C. Quite so. The psalm begins with

• “Praise El in his sanctuary”.

• Then, as you say, it widens out till everything that hath breath praises Jah; but it all begins in the innermost place.

Rem. The assembly will be eternally the great and most intelligent vessel of vocal praise, having a knowledge of divine Persons exclusive to itself.

G.R.C. Quite so. Therefore she will affect the whole universe, but her praise is to God Himself.

Ques. Is not the morning meeting, one might say, a public matter? Do we think sufficiently of that side?

G.R.C. I believe if we become established in the service of God in full liberty, we shall be glad to invite exercised souls there; it is the greatest testimony, in one sense;

• and then they will want to come to the gospel, to hear how such a sphere of praise has been brought to pass.

Ques. Is that not confirmed – admittedly it is in the singular – in Judges 5 when Deborah says,

• “Hear, ye kings; give ear, ye princes, I, even I, will sing to Jehovah; I will hymn to Jehovah the God of Israel”, verse 3.

• Is there not a testimonial setting in that?

G.R.C. Yes, because she calls on persons to hear. Then in the last book of the Old Testament, God says,

• “From the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nations; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure oblation”, Malachi 1: 11.

• That is the service of God proceeding in every place; but it is to His name, and He says,
  • “I am a great King … and my name is terrible [or, to be revered] among the nations”, verse 14.

• It is in a testimonial setting. But we are not occupied with that in our praise. God is absorbing our hearts.

Rem. I judge that we would all say that in the latter part of the service the bringing in of the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

• brings before our souls forcibly the indivisible unity of the Godhead in the aspect in which God has been known in the economy.

• Would you say that that enables us to praise Jah and El, using, perhaps, the name, God?

G.R.C. Yes, I would. Your remark as to praising the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the indivisible oneness of Deity involves the names Jah and El. It is the one God.

• We do not need to explain in every thanksgiving at the close of the meeting, that we have the Trinity in our minds; but there should be liberty for it.

• It is well that it should be clear to all that the honours we are rendering to God as God apply, as we speak, to the three Persons equally.

Ques. Do I understand that if God is addressed as God, the three Persons being in our minds, it is not necessary every time to mention the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

G.R.C. Quite so; that would be carried forward from what precedes – if the three Persons have already been addressed; so it would be clear to everybody what is in mind.

Ques. Will you repeat what “El” stands for in contrast to “Jah"?

G.R.C. I was only quoting from Mr. Darby, who said that “Jah” is God in His self-existence; “El” is God in His essence.

• I think the way in which El is brought in rather confirms that, because it is used when the character of God is in question.

• It comes in a good deal in Deuteronomy where the faithful God, the merciful God, the jealous God, the great God, the God of truth, and the God of Jeshurun is spoken of.

• It is also used in the title, the living God. Then as to experience, it is employed in the Psalms in such expressions as
  • “the God of my life”,

  • “the God of the gladness of my joy”, and so on.

• What God is in His character springs from what He is in Essence, do you not think?

Ques. In the worship of God, can we go beyond the knowledge of God as revealed in the economy?

G.R.C. I would not say that we go beyond the knowledge of God in the economy, because in the economy we know God in the most intimate way in which He can be known. He has come out into the light.

• When these names of God were used in the Old Testament, He was in thick darkness.

• We have to distinguish between these names of God in the Old Testament, and the Name in Matthew 28.

• Matthew 28: 19 is most marvellous, because it involves that God is in the light.

• While God was dwelling in the thick darkness, these other names of God left Him in His nature and character unknown, although there were glimmerings of light. Solomon says,
  • “Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness”, 2 Chronicles 6: 1,

• but Matthew 28: 19 gives us the name of God as having come out in the light.

• We know God Himself, in His nature and character, in close relationship; and it is because we know Him like that, that we can take up these names which set forth His attributes of greatness and majesty in a way that Old Testament saints never could.

• We do not leave these names behind; they are all for us. David was free in the use of them;
  • as Christians we should be much more free than David to praise God according to these names

• – I do not mean as employing the actual words; but with the attributes which they express in our minds as applying equally to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Ques. Would you say that there is still much that is unknowable connected with these great names?

G.R.C. Yes, these great names would lead to a profound note of worship, because of that.

• They include what is beyond the creature, and yet we know the God to whom those names belong, and the Holy Spirit would give us some sense of the greatness which those names imply.

Rem. We know Him well enough to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

G.R.C. Very good.

Rem. Would you say something about Psalm 89: 26? What I had in mind is that earlier you mentioned the idea of using the Name “El” or “Jah” in the climax of praise and not mentioning the name “Father” at that point.

• I just wondered whether the two are actually brought together in this verse. “He shall call unto me, Thou art my father, my God”.

G.R.C. Well, they are. We can bring the Name “El” down, even into our circumstances. It is brought into the song of Exodus 15.

• We do not limit the use of those words to the climax of worship in the assembly.

• We are to become accustomed to them day by day, and realise that the God with whom we are walking in the wilderness is, after all, Jah and El.

• That is what it says in Psalm 68: the God who rideth through the deserts. His name is Jah, verse 4. So we can bring these names into other settings;
  • but Psalm 150 shows that in the climax of praise, those names, or what those names imply in Christianity, in Christian light, are governing the soul.

• I believe Psalm 150 completely, answers the objection that has been raised, that in our praise we should not go beyond God as Father, because the climax of praise is to God as God, according to Psalm 150.

Ques. May I be permitted to ask a question? I would like to say first that I have found the reading interesting and helpful;

• also that it has not been in my mind for a long time that the Father should be regarded as the termination of the praise, but God as God should be praised;

• and much you say tonight will, I trust, bear fruit among the saints.

• But I would like to ask why you think that Paul, who is the great apostle of our dispensation, does not use that Name, as mentioning each Person severally, in his writings?

• Can you suggest anything in regard of that – as to his not using it in an ascriptive way?

G.R.C. Yes, I can. I would not use it myself in writing a letter, unless in exceptional circumstances.

• It is a name to be used vocally. We are all accustomed to its use vocally at baptisms.

• The fact that Paul does not use it in writing letters cannot. I think, be taken to mean that he did not use it in praising God in the assembly.

Rem. The name “Almighty God” was the name by which God was made known to Abraham. Years ago, because of the way in which that title was used in Christendom,

• it was thought incorrect among us to speak about Almighty God in worship in this dispensation.

G.R.C. I believe if we get more liberty in the presence of God as such, we shall filled that there is very great scope in connection with His praise.

• Our brother has referred to doxologies to God as such; I believe in the epistles there are ten to God as such, six to God and Father, and three or four to the Lord Jesus.

• It seems to indicate that we have more scope in the praise of God as such than in any other part of the service.

• We used to regard our enjoyment of sonship as the end of everything, and speaking to God of our joy in it; whereas it is the stepping-off stone to the highest note of praise,
  • when we are not thinking of ourselves at all, but we are absorbed with the greatness of God.

• When we are in that state of soul, we can praise Him in all His mighty acts, creation, redemption, new creation, and so on.

• There is no restriction as to the praise rendered to God when we are so in the gain of sonship that we lose sight of ourselves and are absorbed with God Himself.

Rem. The relationship, of course, will continue.

G.R.C. Yes, of course; we are to extol this great God, but He says,

• “I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”.

Ques. Then would you be free to address God in the service as the Almighty God?

G.R.C. I would be quite free to speak of His almightiness.

Rem. It is very striking that that name is brought into the New Testament according to 2 Corinthians 6: 18.

G.R.C. Yes, and in Revelation 21: 22,

• “The Lord God Almighty is its temple”.

Ques. Was not the difficulty as to the use of the name Almighty God the way in which it was used as tending to bondage?

G.R.C. Yes, and to exclude relationship; but we are using these names in the power of relationship.

Rem. “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy”, Job 38: 7;

• they were not rejoicing in their sonship, but in what God had purposed to bring to pass. Is it not all the more so with us who have come into what God has purposed?

G.R.C. Yes, and similarly in the beginning of Luke, the heavenly host said,

• “Glory to God in the highest”

• at the incarnation, because they were celebrating what God was doing.

• They were not thinking of themselves; they were lost in the greatness of God. That note is now in the assembly, because the glory that is accorded to God in the assembly is higher than angels could celebrate.

Ques. Mr. Darby says in his hymn:

• Does not God love to be blessed for what He is in Himself?

G.R.C. I am sure He does; that is where we need help.

Ques. You were saying in another locality that the declaration of God according to Matthew 28 was committed only to the Son, not even to Paul, Peter, or the other apostles, but to the Son Himself.

• Has not that a bearing on the fact that in the epistles the ascription of praise to God in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit does not appear, bringing out the peculiar glory of the Son?

G.R.C. That is a point to bear in mind. There is only One who has declared God; you do not go to apostolic doctrine to get the declaration of God; you find it mainly in the gospels of Matthew and John.

Rem. Is there not a spontaneity in the Spirit’s power in response? In the notes of the 1953 meetings in London it is emphasized that there are no apostolic litanies,

• and in the sense that the response lies entirely with us in the spontaneity of the Spirit,

• but the doxologies give us a kind of clue as to how such as Paul would take part intelligently in the service of God.

G.R.C. Yes, they do. We have to recognise the wisdom of the Spirit in that He has not been pleased to record any literal utterance of Paul and others in the service of God.

• We know how he wrote letters, but you do not write letters in the manner in which you speak in the morning meeting.

Rem. The doxologies are all indirect in their address; it is “to him” not “to Thee”. That only emphasizes that the response in the assembly is really left in the hands of the Spirit.

G.R.C. It does. And if we need scriptural help, although the Psalms are not to be our litany, they should help us most. But we can only read and understand them in Christian light, by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Ques. Is not the great end God dwelling?

• “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them”, Revelation 21: 3.

• Is it not important that if we reach that, we know the God who is dwelling thus, as the One who is revealed, made known to us, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

G.R.C. God is in the light. We know Him as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

• That being so, these names which appear in the Old Testament assume a glory which they could not do when He dwelt, as regards man, in thick darkness.

Ques. Do not the Psalms furnish great stimulation for praise in the way of exhortation?

• There is a constant appeal to praise Jehovah, as if the theme engaging the psalmist is an incentive to praise, and gives us great breadth in that respect in the service of praise?

G.R.C. I am sure that is so.

Ques. And in relation to the service of praise, in the beginning of Hebrews, the quotations in regard to the Person of the Son, as has often been said, are mainly from the Psalms;

• does that not suggest that the Psalms should furnish us, as you say, in substance and spirit, with much for God's praise, but all in the light of Christianity?

G.R.C. Yes, it does.

Ques. Would you say one word as to the connection which you see between praise and worship, having in mind what we have been saying tonight?

G.R.C. There are two words in the New Testament for worship;

• one means inward adoration of the heart; the other signifies public, priestly service.

• Public service includes praise; it is all part of the worship in that sense. The scripture in Hebrews 9: 14 brings in this word:
  • “Purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God”.

• It means the whole scope of priestly service, including praise. But praise without inward adoration would be worthless.

Ques. Is not the soul absorbed with God in worship, and is not the praise but the outcome of this occupation with Him who is so infinitely blessed?

G.R.C. I think that is right. There are different levels of praise, but praise in the highest form involves that the soul is prostrated before God in adoration.

• Praise outpours on that basis, and I think that Psalm 150 would imply that, because, see where we are!
  • “Praise. God in his sanctuary”.

• It is not simply that God is there, but we are there in surroundings of holy splendour. We praise Him there.

• I wondered in suggesting these scriptures whether the recognition that Psalm 22 links primarily with Matthew would help such. The Name formally declared is the Name of Matthew 28: 19.

• John gives our particular privilege as Christians, but Matthew 28: 19 is the great declaration that affects the universe.

Rem. That song comes out from the mouth of Moses; the children of Israel join in:

• “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel”;

• then at the end of the chapter we get the real measure of the people in what Miriam sang.

G.R.C. Their apprehension would be small, but as soon as they are baptised these great thoughts come out, as the great objective before their souls.

Rem. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel” – it secures the thought of unity, although the stature may differ.

Rem. The feminine responses in that poetic utterance are below the standard of what Moses and the people sang.

Rem. All the knowledge of God which there was in the old dispensations is carried forward in the present dispensation.

G.R.C. I think that every name and title of the Old Testament is carried forward, and is not to be discarded, but taken up in Christian light.

Rem. Another difficulty which has been expressed is that the greatness of God and the majesty of God belong to the kingdom line,

• and in that sense are not so great as what we reach in assembly where the great thought of the Father is to be reached, and the thought of relationship.

G.R.C. It does not do to set one thing against another like that, and to say one thing is greater than another.

• We cannot say that the kingdom is not so great because the kingdom goes into eternity. God is
  • “the King of the ages”.

• The throne is there in Revelation 21: 5, and Him that sat upon it, and the city stands in relation to that throne, for the assembly is a city in the eternal state,
  • “the holy city, new Jerusalem”, verse 2

• – and it stands related to the throne of God, as the eternal King.

• The truth is complementary. There is the inner side of things, which we may speak of as family life; then on the other hand there is what is due all through eternity to One who is on the throne.

Rem. It is morally right that the creature in relation to God should recognise that fully. There is a remarkable verse in Jeremiah 10: 10,

• “But Jehovah Elohim is truth; he is the living God, and the king of eternity”.

Ques. Would you say that the inwardness of which you speak would come as we give ourselves over to contemplating what is before us as light now,

• so that we might find need of the names to give expression to what is with us in the way of response?

G.R.C. I think that is right. It would be good if one could give oneself more to contemplation in the presence of God adoringly, relative to these names;

• and to get into the presence of Christ in relation to the great Names of Deity which are applied to Him; it would help us.

First, one had in mind that the link between Psalm 22 and Matthew would help us;

• and then the fact that in the baptismal setting praise begins, which meets another point.

• Then, further, that praise does belong to the testimonial sphere, although we are occupied with God in the service of praise and not with testimony.

• These things show that the objection to the use of the Name of Matthew 28: 19 in the service of praise cannot be sustained in the light of scripture.

Finally, Psalm 150 shows clearly that the climax of praise is to God as such, not to one Person, the Father, but to God – Jah and El.