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Luke's Gospel.
Chapter 2436 On. And as they thus speak, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are you troubled?
And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Handle me and see.
For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when He had thus spoken, He showed unto them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them.
Have ye here enemy? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an of an honeycomb, And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I speak unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses.
And in the prophets.
And in the psalms concerning me.
Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
And said unto them, Thus it is written.
And thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And ye are witnesses of these things.
And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you.
But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
And he led them out as far as to Bethany.
Lifted up his hands and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
And we're continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Of course there is.
With intervenes between.
Luke 3 and 4 of what we read at the beginning of the Lord's ministry.
And here, where we have the risen man and his ascension into glory.
But this seems a fitting clause, and it ought to be an encouragement to all of us.
We too have a ministry and the end of it is before us here, the glory and the risen man.
Luke, of course, is so very interesting. He has written more of the New Testament than any other except Paul when we include the Acts.
And in our opening hymns and in the prayer, there was the glory, the Lord and the glory before us. We had that the Lord and something of His moral glory as a man in his service at the very beginning.
Now we have him as the risen man, the work all done entering into that glory, and we see the setting of the little company that's left on the earth, gathered at what was still then the center in Jerusalem. But going back to the first verse we read.
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Feast be unto you.
Now this is true church possession.
Even now.
An assembly gathered together, the Lord in the midst, and peace there. The only place on earth where we can expect peace. You say we have lots of strife. Well, there is conflict, but there's no place on earth where you can have the peace like you can in that divine center where the Lord is in the midst and the Scriptures are open, just like we have been enjoying. Oh, this is a beautiful scene we have before.
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I was thinking, as our brother mentioned the church here, what a contrast. I think it's helpful to make a contrast with how the Gospel of Matthew ends. Bethany is not seen there. They go into Galilee, into a mountain of heart, and there.
They, they worship the Lord and some doubt it's an earthly scene. There we have an earthly people on earth worshipping Christ on earth and it's not the church scene at all. And there there's no ascension because the Lord says, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. So it's striking to see that Luke brings in Bethany and gives us a glorified man in heaven.
Being worshipped by his people on earth.
But Matthew gives you an earthly people on earth worshipping their Messiah on earth. I mentioned that to show that the contrast between between the writings of the Spirit gave Matthew and Luke. But I enjoyed the thought our brother mentioned. We have that this very first verse that was read brings in the principle of the assembly, the Lord in the midst and the peace and blessing that accompanies that.
Verse of 15 You mean Jesus himself Drew dear?
And went with them.
Verse 27 and beginning at Moses and all the prophets.
Expounded unto them, and all the scriptures of things concerning himself. Verse 36. And as they thus spoke or spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst. Three times in the chapter we have Jesus Himself. Just a little word on that, dear ones. In the first instance it was those two disciples on the way to Emmaus.
And indeed, their hearts were sorrowing, grieved. What is it?
Or who was it that lifted up their hearts at such a time? And you know, you and I, we are saved. We are God's children. But we're going through a wilderness scene and there's trials and there's difficulties. Sometimes the death of a loved one, sometimes sicknesses, sometimes loss of work. All of these things can come upon.
Us, as well as the Ken, the unsaved, the lost but.
What do we have that they don't? We have Jesus, we have the Lord Jesus Christ himself to go to 1 to sustain us in all of our trials and difficulties. The second passage, dear ones, as we read the Old Testament, what is it in a law and the Psalms and the prophets?
Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, all that our eyes might be anointed with. I said, what is the real value as we read Genesis 37 to 50 of that lovely and wonderful story of Joseph? Just historical, no, but it's as it reminds us of that one who was the one beloved of the Father, the one rejected by his brethren, the one exalted to that high place. Oh, it's as it brings Christ.
Souls that there is real value. And so with all of the Scriptures, they concern himself. And now the last instance and our brethren have already touched upon it. We have in the midst of the assembly where the two or three are gathered under My name. There am I in the midst. Oh how blessed here once in the Gospel of John, I think, when the Lord appeared to his own.
Was it an upper room? Maybe there was a window there and they could look over in the distance and they could see that big magnificent temple.
With all of its grandeur.
But what was the comparison?
Your house, the Lord had said. It's empty. The Lord wasn't there. Thousands could go to it. Where was the best place where the two or three were there in the upper room and the Lord Jesus was in the midst.
Well, it is this chapter we might remark, brethren, that resurrection comes in here first, which is so essential to the understanding of our heavenly portion apart the river. Resurrection is the touchstone of everything. Now I was noticing while our brother was reading verse.
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Two, may we just go back there home and where we have the Lord Jesus, Jesus.
There's the open grave there. That's the first thing, the open grave, yes, He's no longer there. He's God. He's purged our sins and has sat down at the right hand of the magic in heaven. But as we read on a little, we notice in verses.
In verse 31, we noticed that their eyes were opened, first of all the open grave. Now their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and he vanished out of their sight.
Well, now in verse 32 we read and they said one to another. Did not our heart notice that there our heart burned within us while He talked with us, by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
I remember a meeting in London many years ago, I might just mention this, and there was a great deal of hierarchy in that meeting.
Preparation of servants and so on. The the testimony had been developed into a kind of hierarchy, and that was the disintegration of the work in England in those early days. And I don't remember hardly anything, those learned brethren myths.
But there was one old man came up quietly.
He appeared to be a farmer. His boots were rather heavy and his coat was not so ***** and span. But he didn't get up on that platform, but he stood before the platform and he said, Brethren, have we forgotten? The Spirit of God indwells us.
And he quoted this Did not our heart burn within us? And then he broke down. Did not our heart burn within us, while He opened unto us the Scriptures? Brethren, that affected my soul more than anything else.
He opened the scriptures to.
Now this resurrection. And then there's the opening of their eyes and then the opening of the Scriptures.
And verse 46 is we read.
Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
Well, we do know, brethren, that.
The Church is a heavenly entity. The Gospels we know very well.
Really intimate, shall we say prophetically, the assembly?
The Gospel.
The Acts of the Apostles, shall we say, introduce it in more in a historical way, the Acts of the Apostles. But when we come over to the epistles, they formally address the assembly and in the book of the Revelation they it's, it's expressed more particularly.
Now I was thinking that concerning the church here.
The beginning, beloved, is based on the resurrection, the open grave. Well, I mentioned that as the beginning. It's so important. In our meeting yesterday, we were having in Luke 4, this verse 16, He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
And stood up for to read. Now the Sabbath day was the 7th day.
And it came around every seven days.
We don't keep the Sabbath, but we have the Lord's Day. One is thought that.
Even beginning in Luke, we have a preparation for the church. It's announced in Matthew.
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And the scene broadens out, especially in Luke. I don't want to neglect Mark or we have the precious Gospel.
Where the Son of God is brought before us as the servant who came in and took the place in particular that Israel failed in as the servant before God has given us in Isaiah. But when we come to Luke, he takes the title of the Son of man.
And the scene broadens out and there seems to be a preparation beginning in loop for the church, and especially in this portion where we have.
Read where we find that there is a Commission given to the disciples in each of the four gospels, but it is only the Commission that we have read here that was carried out.
It was carried out in the book of the Acts. Whereas our brother has brought before us, we have the Church now in between.
Luke and Axe we have John, oh, that wonderful Gospel of John, and I think it comes in there rightly, very precious way. Now I want to call your attention to John 20 in connection with our first verse.
That we have read and these thoughts.
We come together to break bread on the Lord's Day.
It's only mentioned once in Scripture.
But it's clear enough here in John's Gospel chapter 20.
We have two succeeding first days of the week.
Seven days later.
Called 8 days later here, but that's the way the Jews counted time. Let us just notice verse 19, Luke John 2019. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them peace.
Beyond her youth. Well, the same scene we're reading about in Luke, no doubt. And here it is again. One would stress true church possession, the Lord's Day and the assembly gathered together and the Lord Jesus in the midst, and peace there. Now we think of the time when this happened and it says there the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.
Let's go on down to verse 26.
After eight days, I would remind you that this is the Jewish way of counting time, counting the first day and the last day. If you count Sunday right down to Sunday again from both ends, you have eight days. This again was the Lord's Day.
After eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut. Now it doesn't say anything about for fear of the Jews. I think there was progress here, that peace had entered into their hearts. With the Lord in the midst, they could have that peace and it's just the same.
Jesus said unto them, Peace be under you. Oh, isn't it precious that we have this instruction?
We need to come together every seven days, every Lord's day. We need to be where the Lord is. We need to be reminded of him as a brother was remarking recently in Leviticus. We have the blood put on the mercy seat once and before it seven times what's for the eye of God and seven times for the eye of man you and I need to be reminded from.
Week to week of that precious blood, and he has made a provision for it. The scope of Luke's gospel, which will be helpful to us, I believe, comes out even in the way John the Baptist quotes the Old Testament. Let's go back to the third chapter a moment. In the third chapter we have John the Baptist in his ministry, quoting from Isaiah 40.
Now we make a careful comparison with math. You will find it in Matthew. Only a short portion of that quotation is given.
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But in Luke, it's given more copiously and completely, and we'll see why, I believe.
The third of Luke, and verse four, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaias the prophet saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight. In Matthew it stops there, but here it says, Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hills shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough way shall be made smooth.
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Now this shows us what is in view in Luke's Gospel, in Matthew, it's the Kingdom directly related to the Jew. But now it's every valley, every hill, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Now there in, in in basis is what as we see in the church. The church is composed of Jew and Gentile. We as Gentiles have been.
We are part of that all flesh. And so I believe the Spirit of God lets us see. I mention this again, particularly for the young. These are the internal marks of divine inspiration. Because Matthew could have quoted every word that Luke quoted, but he doesn't. He cuts it short because that's not his purpose. And in Matthew he speaks of the baptism with fire. Why? That's how the Kingdom will be brought in.
And Luke, he speaks of the baptism of fire.
That's how Christ universal Kingdom will be brought in Isaiah 66. But neither Mark nor John bring in the baptism of fire, because in the oneness, the gracious precious service of the Lord Jesus and the other, it's the moral glories of the Son of God. These, I repeat, are internal marks of divine inspiration. The design of each book comes out. So Luke gives us the broad ground here.
Now how about the 1St chapter?
Brother Longs are Speaking of that the 1St chapter of Luke where you get John the Baptist referred to.
In the 16 first.
And many of the children of Israel shall return to the Lord their God.
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias.
To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
To make ready of people prepared for the Lord.
Now turning to the wisdom is an indirect reference to what the Lord gives in chapter 1152. He won't turn to it. He rebukes the Pharisees.
And he tells them that.
They have turned away the key of knowledge.
What's that wisdom?
What does that mean? It's the person of Christ here, the one who is the wisdom of God coming down as a man among men. Because wisdom, you know, is far higher than law or anything else. It's God's own mind.
It's the way he created the world by wisdom. Now this is referring to Christ, but I'm getting at is this in our chapter we have 40 days.
The Lord is restoring His disciples. He is turning their hearts.
To the wisdom of the just.
The Lord Jesus in Luke is seen as the man.
That job, in the spirit of the remnant, cries out all that there were a days men that stood between.
There we have the answer to it in this last chapter of Luke.
Here is the days men. And what is he doing?
He's turning the hearts, that's what he's doing.
It's all right to speak about the setting up of the assemblies on the Earth, and that's a marvelous thing, and Paul had that to do.
But there's something else too.
The outward shell can breakdown.
And so John's ministry continues in the minute in the epistles. It's that which is vital.
The Lord Jesus turns the hearts. We have the advocacy of Christ in this last chapter.
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When you think of the Lord Jesus back in eternity, his delights were with the sons of men.
But as he goes walking in the garden, what has happened? He finds his creature that he was seeking companionship with hiding behind the trees in the garden.
So it's all over on that basis.
Jesus has to come and die.
Because sin has come in.
In order to be that days man who could stand between man and God, he could put his hand on man, he could put his hand on God. He is God, he is man. And now in this chapter we find the closing of these precious jewels in Luke, and they are precious.
We have in the Lord Jesus set forth by Luke, and Luke was a man, you know, who hid himself.
You very seldom hear of him because he was so taken up with the person of Christ that he doesn't.
He doesn't much speak of himself.
But he does bring before us.
And not simply the fact that there will be a church.
A testimony here on Earth.
That that there will be a heart for it. That's what he's bringing before us.
The internal thing, the moral issues that are involved.
Because beloved.
The word of God in Thessalonians says we are going to live together with Him.
And we're told we're going to be like Jesus.
Physically.
We are told also that.
Son has the inheritance and he's going to share it with his bride.
What we have in Luke is the peace offering. What's that?
If you'll recall the time when David had sinned and numbered the people.
And Aruna offered him some animals for sacrifice for a burnt offering. He said no, that won't do.
I'll have to have some for a peace offering.
And I'm going to buy it myself.
Why did he want some for a peace offering?
Wasn't it a marvelous thing to offer to God that which was so excellent to God his own Son, and all his glories? I asked. But David wanted to be in on it.
Too. That's Luke's gospel. We're going to be in on it. Brethren, it isn't just that Christ as a man is going to be in the glory with the Father. He's going to take us along with him, but he's going to take us along with him fit for his company.
Not only fit by that precious blood, but morally prepared in our souls.
And this is the picture we have in the last chapter of Luke. We have the Lord Jesus taking his disciples during those 40 days.
Occupied with them.
To restore their souls. So that fear that enters immediately as he says, peace be unto you is is dispelled. And the next scene we have, he's eating and drinking with his disciples. That's heaven, brethren, that's heaven. The last chapter of Luke gives us heaven.
It's a it's a picture to us.
Of what will happen soon, very soon, when he will say.
To us to sit down and he's coming forth to service in the glory, the man Christ Jesus. And then according to Psalm 19, figuratively, of course.
We're going out with him over the vast expanse of that inheritance of his.
Not simply as those who are subject as servants, we are servants. Nor of those who are subject as created beings to God. That's all true.
But as his own personal companions, that's Luke's gospel.
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He's a man, Christ Jesus here. He's the one that wants companionship and he will have companionship and that for all eternity and all. What a day, brethren, when we go with him to explore.
All that he created, now that he has his man to be with him as his own personal companion, that we have to be in communion. That's our chapter.
Peace offering. And it might be well to say a word about the peace offering. Some of the offerings the priests could eat. They could eat certain sin offerings, and they could eat part of the of other offerings. But in the peace offering, the man who offered it could eat of it. His friends came and ate of it.
The priest had his portion and the Lord had his portion. So the peace offering, may I mention this so that it's more understandable, is not Christ making peace by the blood of his cross? That is not the point in the peace offering. Our brother has made the point that we that we have the peace offering and the peace offering is the communion offering, sharing in common the preciousness and blessedness of Christ. I believe the nearest thing we have now to the peace offering is the.
Lord Jesus, our Lord's Day mourning, we all have part in that feast and in communion with Him.
And so we have the peace offering. We're all feeding upon the same food. We're all feeding upon Christ. I repeat that again. The peace offering is not Christ making peace by the blood of His cross. He did do that all at the same time. But the peace offering means communion. It's communion one with another, all partaking of the sacrifice, and not just the priest and not only the Lord. The Lord has this portion now when it came to Satan, sin offerings where the blood was.
The sanctuary for sin and the bodies of those beasts referring outside the camp, even the priest couldn't either that sin offering, he was absolutely forbidden to eat of that if it was a sin of an individual, and he could. But in that sin offering showing the blessedness of the work of Christ. But again, the peace offering is communion, and we have communion by feeding upon Christ in the Word of God.
You have a picture of that in The Prodigal Son, don't we?
When he comes back to the Father's house, they feasted under roasted lamb. This peace offering is the communion and the enjoyment with the Father feasting on that same one and then with one another. I also thought love it that most beautiful to see that the Lord used a woman.
Married to make her the messenger to communicate that new relationship into which.
Through the death of Christ, he has brought up my God, your God, my Father, your Father. But he himself is the messenger of peace. He's the one that himself comes to give peace to the soul, and he does that. Now you and I can't do that, but the Lord can. Whether it be that we come into the enjoyment that we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Or peace when the soul is troubled because of circumstances.
Whatever it might be, the Lord is the one that brings peace, and He does that. We find that even in Ephesians. And He came and precede. Isn't it lovely? He is the one that alone can give peace to the troubled soul, and He's the one that we can turn to, and oh, how He longs to give peace to the soul. Verse 37.
But they were terrified and afraid it. That's not peace, is it?
And suppose that they had seen a spirit. But he said unto them, Why are you troubled?
And why do thoughts arise in your heart? Behold my hands and my feet.
That it is I myself handle me and see. For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me hath.
We are slow to learn to enter into God's thoughts. The resurrection was difficult for those disciples.
And the Lord instructs them.
Our brother in a prayer this morning made the remark, our unredeemed body. Well, I believe that's right. We're waiting for that part of the redemption, but we're going to get it. And it's difficult to understand, but the Lord, he makes it so clear here.
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There is. We're going to have a redeemed body. It will be this body change. Scripture is clear about it.
And here he says, A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
How is it that says in First Corinthians 15?
Spiritual body, soulish body and the spiritual body. Spiritual body. That's hard to understand, isn't it?
But here the Lord says.
Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. Now let's see how the language reads in Ephesians 5. It's the 30th, 1St.
For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of his bones. Uses the same words in connection with the Church.
We're going to have a redeemed body. It will be like his body of glory. We enter into it just as far as we can, and we ought to have peace about it and enjoy it.
Is the work of Christ that opens our eyes to salvation.
I'm referring to the 39th verse and it's the work of Christ that restores our souls, the sense of it in our souls.
The work that He accomplished for us on Calvary is what the Spirit of God occupies us with when He restores our soul.
Another thought here, they believed not for joy. Oftentimes the joy comes before the intelligence.
Because the Spirit of God is there. You get that principle on the 8th of.
Of Romans, because we don't always know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit is there, and the joy may come before the intelligence.
I've enjoyed comparing the piece that is mentioned here with that which is mentioned in the 20th chapter of John, and the way in which the Lord presents Himself here. They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. He identifies Himself beautifully before them as the Risen 1, showing them His hands and His feet.
In John, there's no mention of there being terrified and affrighted.
They are there with the doors closed, for fear of the Jews. He presents himself, and says, Peace be unto you. When he had so said, he showed unto them his hand and his sides.
They have rather enjoyed this thought. Or in the 14th chapter of John he had said to them, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you A2 fold legacy I believe.
With you, my peace I give unto you.
So I believe that child of God is entitled to that twofold peace of conscience. In the knowledge that my guilt is gone, the precious blood of Christ has forever removed it. And as evidence of this, he shows them his side, the reminder of that precious blood that cleanses from all sin and gives us peace with God.
But he had also said, My peace I give unto you.
There was a piece that the Lord Jesus endured as he passed through this world, faced with many a trial, many a difficulty, and that piece was the consciousness in his soul.
Of being in the will of his Father, and knowing that that I was looking down upon him. So I believe that the child of God is entitled to a peace in the midst of whatever circumstances may come our way.
And I have enjoyed the thought that in this connection he shows them his hand. In what sense would the hands of the Lord Jesus be a basis of peace?
Well, we read in Hebrews 1, The heavens are the work of Thy hand. They remind us of a skill and order of control that has never been rested from Him. And the disciples had seen those very hands here on earth stretched forth in such deeds of tenderness, compassion, kindness, and love.
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They had seen those hands reach out to touch a defiled leper, and he was made well.
Touch blinded eyes and they were opened.
Huh. The heads of little children, that he might bless them, break the law, that he might feed the hungry multitude. And Peter could say yes. And he stretched out his hand too, to rescue me when I began to sing. All of those things he could have done without stretching out his hand. He could have spoken the word. But those hands of power and compassion were stretched out to meet the needs of those who presented themselves.
Well, in resurrection he shows them his hand.
Could He be saying to them, Remember what these hands have done before your eyes, and these same hands are going to be uplifted in the glory until I have you safely home. The last sight they had of the Lord Jesus was He was taken up from them with uplifted hands. Oh, what a basis of peace in the soul of those of us who belong to Him.
Peace in the knowledge that our guilt is gone, Thank God for that. But peace too, in whatever circumstance may come our way, because we know that there lives for us at this moment in the glory, the one who went all through this journey and is now up there with uplifted hands.
I must admit I think of that when I read of Peter being imprisoned, chained between two guarding soldiers with the prospect of being executed in the morning. Is it wrong for me to imagine Peter closing his eyes and hearing those precious words? Peter, peace be unto you, and seeing those outstretched hands, and Peter goes off to sleep.
We don't always do that, do we? We worry, we're anxious about this and that. But I feel, dear brethren, that if we just enjoy that peace which he delights to.
Give to us. It would be a precious, evident testimony to a troubled, restless world around us that we not only know our guilt is gone and we're going to be with Christ, but we can pass through circumstances that would distress and worry those who know not the Lord. Pass through them in peace. And I believe this is pleasing to the Lord and a testimony to a troubled world too.
You speak of the Lord's control of faith.
And as I've been looking at this passage of scripture.
This is what impresses me. In this whole sea, the Lord is in full control.
He has control of the whole situation. Surely that's a lesson to us.
Right now, when we're gathered together as the assembly, the Lord is in our midst.
Do we have the consciousness that he is present and that he is well able to keep all things under control?
I believe that the eyes of these that were gathered together here were fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe it was to the extent that they weren't seeing one another. They weren't looking at one another, they were looking at the Lord Jesus. Their eyes were fixed on Him.
They were watching him and they were expecting things from him.
They saw that he was in control. He was the central figure. The word is used in the midst.
Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. He is the center.
Oh, how we need this brought home to our own hearts, how the Lord is in our midst. He is the center that we might look to Him. I think of these who come from time to time and ask that they might be at the Lord's table to remember Him.
Now I know sometimes there can be different motives, perhaps for a person wanting to come to the Lord's table and remember the Lord.
But if he has before him the Lord himself and really wants to remember the law.
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He has his eye on the Lord and he is the one he is thinking about and he wants to remember him. What a precious thing.
Now sometimes there might be those who are coming because someone else is at the Lord's Table.
Well, that's not good enough.
If we're looking at so and so as an example in our exercise, because so and so is there, that's good. But do not take your place at the Lord's table just because somebody else did. Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ there in the midst?
Are you very much aware that the Lord is there?
And do you want to be there because he is there? And do you want to be at his table to honor him, to do what he has asked us to do, to remember him?
Oh, the Lord is a central figure here, and we need grace to ask the Lord that we might keep our eye fixed upon Him until we're taken home to glory. That's very important. And I recalls in my mind as a young brother.
Gathered in the Brooklyn meeting in 1923, the older brother there, Brother Moffatt, long since with the Lord, a man who used to walk 14 miles of him, Mr. Darby Preach in Glasgow. He used to impress upon us this fact about the Lords Day morning meeting, he said As soon as I sit down, the meeting has begun from me.
Now we have a time where public responsibility commences.
But he used to point out, we don't come to sit there and talk with our brethren or read the Sunday school paper. We're there to meet the Lord. And if I'm conscious of the Lorde presence, the moment I sit down, my head will be bowed, my eyes closed perhaps, and meditating upon the Blessed One in the midst, I find.
As the years go by that in one respect, in this respect, the fine gold has become dim. We're not trying to be unduly critical, but as we go about in the different assemblies, we notice there's it isn't what it used to be. As to the absolute reverence, when I came into the Brooklyn meeting in 1923, you could hear a pin drop. I thought to myself, these people really believe that the Lord is in the midst. Well, we.
Your hearts and check this thing because the Lord is in the midst. It's His presence that makes it so valuable and precious to be there.
Were made in noticing the first Immaculate teen where two or three are gathered together.
Unto my name there am I in the midst of them. And then connecting that with the verse in the 9th chapter of Isaiah.
Where it says, His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. We find him here coming in the midst of his own, and he says, Peace be unto you. But we find that their hearts were full of joy.
Because as has already been said.
He himself was there, and it seems to my own soul that we have that brought out in that list of names, because the first one is his name shall be called. Wonderful brethren, to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is a great privilege, but to be there because he is there is so very important to have the sense in my soul.
He is wonderful that I'm in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, not occupied with my brethren, but with himself. And when we find those who has been mentioned asked to be received, so often they will speak of taking their place at the Lord's table. But if something comes in and they depart, so often we hear the expression they.
The meeting or they left the brethren. Well, it seems to me what we see is a loss of the sense of the wonderful person to whose name we're gathered. His name shall be called wonderful. Then we find it goes on to say after that, after the thought of His name being wonderful.
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Is counselor and we find when we go to the 45th verse of our chapter.
Opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. After we have that wonderful sense of himself, how precious it is to have himself open the Scriptures to us. The understanding of the Scriptures. He is our counselor and we know him as counselor. Then we find in the 49th verse it says, Behold I.
Promise of my Father unto you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. The next name in Isaiah is the Mighty God. Here he is viewed as the one who would send the Holy Spirit. That Spirit would come down on the day of Pentecost, and they would be endued with.
Power, and so it is that when we have difficulties and problems that arise.
We need to remember, it seems to my own soul, we need to remember that His name, in addition to being wonderful and counselor, is the mighty God. Then it says the everlasting Father, and we find in the 50th verse He lifted up his hands and blessed them.
The everlasting Father to my own soul brings before us a continual abiding fear.
And the Lord left them with his hands uplifted in blessing. And 2000 years later, his hands are still uplifted in blessing. His care continues, goes on and on, and he ever finally abides. The Prince of Peace, the one who came into the midst of his own and said, Peace be unto you.
Verse 41 is precious because we find out what the Lord expects from us when He's in our midst. The Lord expects something He says to them, Have you hear any meat? Have you got something that will satisfy me? Is there some portion you have that's over and beyond what you need and you can give to me? The Lord looks from the midst, and He looks for praise and worship.
I was noticing the two things that.
I mentioned here they have a broiled fish. Well, a broiled fish would indicate that which was exposed to the terrific heat of the fire. And in our worship, what do we give back to the Lord, what He's given us? We think of those intense sufferings that He went through on the cross when He endured the fire of God's wrath against sin for us. This is all brought out. But then there's the honeycomb.
I'll worship and praise Him as sweet.
Able to offer the sacrifices of praise to God, continually confessing His name.
So the Lord expects something. He asks us every Lord's Day mourning if we could hear it. Have you any meat? Have you got something for me? Have you got an overflowing cup? Yes, but would you add this too, brother?
The honey is sweet, but the honeycomb would suggest perhaps.
A little further thought.
All those 3 1/2 years.
Of the sweetness.
A communion with the Savior.
And you can liken it to each Lord's Day morning as we come together.
And if we miss one, we are going to miss something like the little bee that works and puts the sweet honey away in that six sided.
Sail with the top on it, which makes the seven and seals it and puts it away. Forgets perhaps it's there.
And then the time comes when this honeycomb is filled with all these little containers.
We've forgotten about him, perhaps.
And the Spirit of God brings them back. And now is there any presence?
And this is a picture of heaven.
Oh, brethren, what are we gathering? Are we doing what the little honey bee is doing?
Busy every moment gathering in view of that day that's coming.
All the sweetness put away for the time when we will be in His presence. What a picture we have here.
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The Honeycomb.
All the cells now ready to be opened.
Things that you and I perhaps have forgotten long ago, but that which was enjoyed in the soul.
In his presence suddenly burst forth, and that's what will bring forth that generous praise in that coming day.
As we read in the 19th of Revelation, when heaven will be filled with the praises of his servants, as it says there, the church people, the honeycomb, Let's not forget the honeycomb.
When when Samson had killed the lion, he of course lasted.
And the carcass disintegrated, but it was sort of a cavity left there where the bees could come and make their comb and deposit the honey. And so Samson comes back and he finds honey in the carcass of the lion. Well, isn't that a picture of what sweetness we get out of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that he has died?
On Calvary's cross she bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
He was judged for our sins. He laid down his life. He took the judgment that was due to sin. The soul that sinneth it shall die. And there he died. He laid down his life. And then the soldier with the spear pierced his side, and out came the blood in the water to indicate that he had laid down his life, the sign of death.
Well, when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we realize through faith in him, in his word, that will not come into condemnation, will not come into judgment.
Isn't it that sweetness that comes from the death of Christ that floods our soul to know that we've passed from death unto life? There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. All what sweetness comes to our soul? I remember when that sweetness came into my soul. Troubled, afraid of going to hell.
Worried, concerned, crying and even praying to God.
And getting nowhere until I saw that that the Lord Jesus Christ had died for me and he'd taken the judgment for me, and I just trusted Him. And that peace and that sweetness came into my soul. And we feed upon that all the time. At least that's what we come together for, is to feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, to think of Him.
To show his death.
And every time we do, we have that sweetness and we taste the sweetness. And what do we do? We give back to the Lord, thanks and praise for dying for us, taking the judgment for us that we might be saved from judgment. And we give Him thanks for this sweetness. This sweetness really fills our souls, and in a sense, we're giving it back to Him.
And all what he must think, and how he must feel about it.
When we are praising and thanking him and then saying to God.
That He has done the right thing, as we read in the 3rd or the 2nd of Philippians, exalted him to His own right hand and given him a name which is above every name. We're saying to God, Thou alone art worthy. The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of that place that thou has given him. Well, it's the result of this sweetness that's filling our souls. We're giving back to Him and He's getting as our brother was.
In connection with the peace offering we are giving to him his portion, he is getting his portion.
The exaltation which answers to the right shoulder, that was the priest portion. That's the place that's given to the Lord Jesus Christ. We acknowledge to Him as we're in His presence, that that right hand place at the right hand of the Father belongs to Him, and he's getting his portion.
Well, it's our privilege to provide a little food for the heart of the Lord Jesus, as these disciples did.
When it comes to Ministry of the Word, remind ourselves that our eyes should not be on the gift on the veteran. Many of us here come from small assembly where there is very little gift.
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Does that mean that the Saints cannot come together for edification?
I believe faith would claim the Lord's presence in the midst, and the Lord will not put them to shame in faith. They turn to Him to look for blessing. He will open to them the scriptures, perhaps not in the depth as it would be done if there would be capable teachers amongst them, but He will feed their doors.
And it's wonderful to see that the Lord Jesus.
Refers in this passage to the Old Testament that we have a verse here that gives us to know what what really is.
Or what does the Scriptures consist of? It's Moses the prophet and the Psalms. And you know there is much reasoning among learned men questioning.
What scripture? What? What is really scripture? What is not? There are Bibles that contain books that are not at all scripture but.
He, the Lord Himself, says to us what the Scriptures really are. In verse 27 he refers to Moses and the Prophet, but in verse 44 he says Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses.
The prophets and the Psalm. And so we have from the mouth of our blessed Lord Himself a word that tells us what the Scriptures are. Of course, the Old Testament we have the New now in addition to that of the Old Testament that the Jews had. And so the Lord is putting His full stamp of approval on the form of the Old Testament as they had it.
And the Jews never acknowledged the apocryphal books. In fact the very title Apocrypha indicates hidden and they didn't bring those books in as inspired at all. And if you take one glimpse at here or there in the Apocrypha, I just mentioned this in passing you, they they bear the marks of not being inspired.
They make an addition to the book of Esther. Now you read the book of Esther and the Lord isn't mentioned, and God isn't mentioned, neither under the title of God or Lord. One of the first statements in the addition is God. Man's meddling hand appears at once, introducing into the pork that which is contrary to its context. So it's good to see, as you point out, that we have the Old Testament.
Lined up here by the Lord and it's threefold character.
Just a remark or two on the last verses. So precious they worshipped him. Verse 52 in.
20 I believe it is. We read to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now just think of our precious Savior putting us in the more blessed place at the worship meeting when we come together to worship the Lord. As has been said, it's not a question of gift but of giving.
We had something of that at the beginning of this meeting.
And here we have it at the close. The scene is exceedingly beautiful. They worshipped him. It begins in.
The second of Matthew, with that, with the wise men, they came and saw Mary and the young child, and they worship him. He is the only one to be worshipped and to think that He could put us in that most blessed place. And then it goes on and says they return to Jerusalem with great joy. Oh, there's great joy when we're worshiping Him and according to his.
Word and having him in the midst as we have had so much of this morning.
And that's the type here. They were continually in the temple. It was yet the divine Center for them. They were not yet brought on to Christian ground. But the type is the same. Ought to have the Lord in the midst. And what were they doing? Praising and blessing God?
This is our privilege, brother.
Isn't it a happy as far as Bethany, didn't they? And that's the new position, that's the assembly.
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That's the place where He found His delight when He went into the temple and looked around about upon all things, and went out to the House of Mary and her sister Martha and Lazarus. And that sets before us the assembly, and that's where He leaves us here when He goes into heaven. He went out as He led them out as far as Bethany. No further yet.
We'll soon be home, and isn't it lovely, brethren, to think that we may walk the streets of glory?
Yet today.
Oh, how precious. How precious to think of it. And As for the little assembly where you are, it may be very small, but remember, there's always a pot of oil.
What's that? It's the Spirit of God in the midst.
Christ in the midst, but the Spirit of God is there as the one who leads.
And he's indwelling every believer. There's always the pot of oil.
I was going to say that what our brother Clem has pointed out here seems to me beautifully pictured in the 12Th of Deuteronomy. Without turning to it. We're familiar with it. There the Lord indicated the particular privilege of his beloved people to be where he delighted to put his name. But in encouraging them to seek and come to such a place, he said, And thither ye shall bring.
And that's what we have been hearing of. And the very next verse says Angie shall rejoice.
Ye and your households, and I think we see that pattern beautifully presented here. Well, I was just going to say in connection with what you remarked, brother, the Lord himself asks, shall I say, and they are able to present to him what was available so we can come bringing. And it ends with such great joy all to be in the company of the Lord Jesus, to be able to bring into his company that which we feel in infinite.
Grace would gladden his heart to be, if you wish, a cup bearer to the King, surely would send every one of us home rejoicing and our household. I'm just going to make this one remark that this chapter ends with that which is definitely characteristic of Christianity. We worship one we have never seen.
We are on earth, He is in heaven. Notice that they worship Him after he's ascended into heaven.
We worship a heavenly glorified Christ while ourselves are on earth. And just like Rebecca, who went to be the bride of a man she had never seen, so we are going to be the bride of a man we've never seen except by the wondrous report.
In the Word of God. So this is characteristic Christianity not cite as with Judaism, but worshipping a man in the glory, the Son of God, whom we've never seen.