Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

by H. J. Vine.

Ministering To The Lord in Assembly

The first king of Israel fought with mistaken zeal for the freedom of God’s people from their enemies and to establish their national supremacy, but he became himself an oppressor. The second king, David, fought from a different point of view altogether. He would not rest till the centre was established where offerings according to God’s mind could ascend to Him. Long before, it had been revealed that the Lord desired this (see Deuteronomy 16 and elsewhere), but until David’s day it was altogether neglected. He, however, succeeded in this, and prospered also in that which Saul failed with fleshly earnestness to accomplish.

The place of Jehovah’s name became the centre of the nation where continual songs and sweet savour offerings arose in fragrant meaning to the Lord, for they foreshadowed the present time when worship in spirit and in truth should rise to the Father, who was seeking those who should thus worship Him (John 4:23), the new and “holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

As long as the offerings were abundant at the God-appointed centre, Israel triumphed to the uttermost bounds of her kingdom; and whenever a revival took place, the doors of the Lord’s house were opened for ministry to Him. The principle is the same now. A Person, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Centre as well as Head of the assembly, and as we ‘draw near’ together and ‘offer up’ that which the Father seeks, there will be prosperity in the work of the Lord around. “Bring in and I will pour out”, said the Lord in days of great failure (Malachi 3:10), and such “a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it”; others would therefore get the overflow!

That which typified worship was commanded in the Old Testament. The real worship and “the true worshippers” are found in the New Testament; but though the Father’s heart desires this, it is not now commanded. Its precious and rare sweetness could not thus be produced. It rises responsively. We do not here seek to answer the oft-repeated question, What is worship? but only to indicate one of the highest, if not the highest, practical functions of the assembly.

Supplication, prayer and intercession seek from God, but worship ministers to Him. So do thanksgiving, praise, blessing and adoration. At the institution of His supper the Lord “gave thanks”. Thanksgiving is, therefore, characteristic of the remembrance of Himself, also praise, blessing, worship and adoration as the power of the Holy Spirit is unhindered. What rich fullness would thus mark the worship of the assembly! It will be so in glory for ever when all things are centred in Christ. To further this now is surely the aim of every true servant of the Lord.

Some have esteemed it a waste of time and labour, but the thought betrays a lack of the true knowledge of our God and Father, and a serious disregard of that which He seeks. When Mary lavished upon the Lord the costly ointment which filled the house with its pleasant perfume, some one thought it waste and that it ought to have been sold and used for the relief of the needy (John 12:5)! To be found in the company of such an one is extremely undesirable. Surely the One who was thus ministered to was worthy of it! yea, of even more costly ointment still if it could be found! The best and most precious is His due. May we have grace and power by the Holy Spirit to give Him more as His love and glory fill our glad hearts.

Behold that glorious scene around the throne in heaven! The Lamb is seen there, and that “as it had been slain”! A new song concerning His worthiness and His redeeming blood sounds sweetly from the assembled throng. Innumerable multitudes then utter His praise, and the saints fall down and worship Him that lives for ever and ever (Revelation 5). The Spirit of Promise gives the earnest of this in the assembly now.

In closing, let it be noticed that it was when the Lord Himself was being ministered to, that the sending forth of blessing to the needy sinners of the Gentiles took place by the hand of a most extraordinary servant of Christ. In Acts 13 we are told that this took place in the assembly at Antioch—“They were ministering to the Lord”. It was then that Paul was separated for the work to which he was already called of God. Who can measure the extent of the blessing which followed? or number up those who have been reached as the result of Paul’s subsequent service? Yet he in his abundant labours ever afterwards sought to establish such in Christ Jesus, that there might be glory to God in the assembly in Him (Ephesians 3:21).

Moral Bankruptcy or Spiritual Wealth

Religious leaders, ecclesiastics, politicians, judges and others who are keenly interested in present conditions, all speak of the “moral bankruptcy” which is prevalent. The shipwreck is visible on all sides and the wreckage is cast up before the gaze of the observer from the troubled seas of the nations! We speak specially of the so-called Christian nations.

This must seriously discourage, as well as sadden, the hearts of all believers in the gospel who are not instructed in the Word of Truth. But those who know and value the Bible, which is the Word of God, are not discouraged. They are saddened as they see the general downgrade in regard to faith and morals, but they are not disheartened or daunted in the conflict of the faith thereby, for the Spirit of God has taught them concerning this very departure from the right ways of God.

In 2 Timothy 3 the Holy Spirit says, “This know,”—for it was a matter that no servant of the Lord should remain ignorant of—“in the last days perilous times shall come!” Then follows a list of the things which mark the moral bankruptcy of a degraded Christendom. In comparing this list with Romans 1:24-32, which describes the corruptions of heathendom, we become painfully aware of the fact that some of the worst forms of sin and iniquity, which were foretold in regard to Christendom, are but a recrudescence of what obtained in darkest heathendom. Nor is this only predicted in the Word of God, but on all sides the evils are so in evidence that, as we have said, it is commonly spoken of as “moral bankruptcy,” and mostly by men who are quite unaware that their very words do but prove the truth of the Bible.

Those who have salvation in Christ Jesus, redemption and forgiveness of sins through His blood, are taught by the Holy Spirit, who indwells them, to rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ, not only as Saviour but also as Exemplar. The order may not be reversed! He is only known as our example after He has first saved us with an everlasting salvation! Being saved, we are free to follow Him as our Pattern and our Guide. Of such the apostle says in Ephesians, “Ye are saved by grace” (2:5-8), and “have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus” (4:21).

These latter words connect themselves with the passage which shows that we are blessed and enriched in what is “new” in contrast to the wretched and bankrupt state of what is “old.” For our instruction, the Spirit designates one as “the new man” and the other as “the old man” (verses 22-24). True believers are of the one, unbelievers are of the other. The first describes what is vital and genuine, the second that which is corrupt and deceitful. Being renewed in the spirit of their minds, believers are not exactly exhorted to put on the new man, for that has taken place; so it reads, “having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness” (verse 24, New Translation). This shows where real moral wealth is to be found. On the other hand we read in verse 22 of “having put off according to the former conversation the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts” (N.Tr.). Here we see what marks moral degeneracy today as well as in the apostle’s day.

The true riches which belong to the redeemed in Christ Jesus find their exemplification in the Saviour, the Son of God, as we have said, “the truth is in Jesus”; and Colossians 3 tells us that those of the new man are “renewed into full knowledge according to the image of Him” (verse 10, New Translation), also that “Christ is everything, and in all.” Therefore being “the elect of God, holy and beloved,” they are to put on in a practical way “bowels of compassion, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another.” They are told to act as Christ did, and to let the peace of Christ and the word of Christ preside and dwell richly within. There is no moral bankruptcy here, but rather moral prosperity.

Travelling in a railway carriage some while ago, a wealthy man of the world talked with an earnest believer on the Son of God. He spoke sadly of the corrupt state of society in general, and of the unhappiness of the well-to-do, especially remarking that there was something seriously wrong in conditions that produced such misery.

The child of God to whom he was talking rejoined, “One of the happiest men I have ever met, lives in a small town near by, and he earns his living by sweeping the roads. Some have spoken of him as a spiritual gentleman.”

“That is interesting,” remarked the other, “How is his happiness to be accounted for?”

“First of all,” was the answer, “because he has found his soul’s need met by his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ! and secondly, because he has found true and lasting satisfaction in following Him closely. He is a living proof that moral wealth is more important than material wealth.”

A man on leaving the graveside of a beloved saint of God, remarked to me, “That was a fine woman over whose grave you spoke to us!”

“Well,” I replied, “I know she had a wonderful Saviour—God’s beloved Son!”

“Yes,” he answered, “and that is what made her such a fine woman!”

It is refreshing and cheering in these days of moral bankruptcy to be reminded now and again of the source of moral wealth. In the Son of God is the fullness, and the saints who are in Christ Jesus find their completeness for all in Him. Indeed Colossians 2:3 brings both together, for there it should read “in which” rather than “in Him,” for the Spirit is speaking of “the mystery” which is “Christ and the assembly”; so it says, “In which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (New Translation). The riches of God’s grace have blessed us in Christ, and the riches of the glory are to be expressed through the saints thus blessed in Him, because Christ is in them.

Moreover it is strengthening and encouraging to us who find ourselves in these very days—foretold as “difficult days”—to find that the Bible is so fully to be relied upon that it has told us of the moral break-down before it came to pass.

Finally, we see that the very attacks of Modernism upon this Book—which has Christ as its divine Subject—are only helping on the general bankruptcy which men deplore, and this surely causes us to turn the more wholeheartedly to the Word of God, to learn by the Spirit’s teaching more of the glorious and gracious Saviour, who has made the Father known, and caused us to sing,

“Happy still in God confiding;

Fruitful, as in Christ abiding;

Steadfast, through the Spirit’s guiding:

All must be well.”

Musical Instruments of God

1 Chronicles 16:42

In order that Israel, God’s chosen people for earth, might give expression to their thanksgivings, praise and worship to God, minerals were quarried from the hills, wood was gotten from the forests, and strings from animals slain. These were made into cymbals, comets, trumpets, psalteries, and harps, as ordered by King David, for the Levitical singers and the 120 priestly trumpeters to join “as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord.” They were called the “musical instruments of God” (1 Chronicles 16:42; 2 Chronicles 5:12-13); “the instruments of music of the Lord which David the King had made to praise the Lord, because His mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry” (7:6), and they were also designated later in revival times, “the musical instruments of David the man of God” (Nehemiah 12:36). Thus equipped, Israel—divinely called “the Lord’s people”—found a suitable mode of expressing their national and earthly praise to the Lord; but this cannot be too earnestly emphasized—the music of praise was TO GOD, and not for the mere entertainment OF MEN!

In the assembly of God today the music of praise by the Spirit is also GODWARD; but the instruments mentioned in the epistles which have been given for the guidance of the assembly are of better materials, for they must be in keeping with a better “ministry,” based upon the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the glorified Head of the assembly, and formed by the coming of the Holy Ghost. Unlike the lifeless instruments connected with the old order, a new creation in Christ has provided living instruments with the vital melodies of redemption uprising in the heart. It is true they have been quarried from the hills of a world of sin, gotten from the forests of darkness and unbelief, and brought out of death into life. Being born again, and having proved the Lord’s goodness and pardoning grace, they are fitted to offer up spiritual praise acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Once dead in offences and sins, they are now alive to God, being made nigh to Him in Christ through His atoning blood, so that they are both the priests of God and the instruments of God through the redemption work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are able to respond to the word—“By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifices of PRAISE TO GOD!” They are living instruments themselves, and they have the living power of the Holy Spirit to fit them for this Godward “ministry.”

These living instruments are the only instruments of music mentioned as being in the assembly which is in Christ, in the New Testament; but, oh, how surpassing all that went before are the grace, the melody, the spiritual songs and the theme provided! Romans 15:6 speaks of our glorifying God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ “with one accord” and “with one mouth.” One hundred and twenty priests sounded their trumpets as one, we are told in 2 Chronicles 5:12, and in chapter 9 we read of Sheba’s queen giving the king “an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon”; but in Acts 1:15 we have the chosen materials for the new and richer music, for the more surpassing excellence of assembly offering to the Lord when “the number of the names together were about an hundred and twenty” also.

We are given both striking contrasts and beautiful similarities in the Old and New Testaments. When the law of holy demand was given three thousand were slain! When the Spirit was given at Pentecost for the preaching of free grace three thousand were saved! In the typical system of the old covenant, when the music of praise TO GOD at the place of Jehovah’s name was introduced, one hundred and twenty priests sounded their trumpets, as we have said; “and the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord”; so when the inauguration of the new worship was to take place, after Christ had ascended to heaven, when, as we have seen, the hundred and twenty were together, we read, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication … And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1). Then, with a sound from heaven, the Spirit came upon them and filled them. In regard to the assembly of which Christ is the ascended Head today, we read, “There is one body, and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4); and, being “filled with the Spirit,” the new musical instruments of God are fitted for making melody in the heart TO THE LORD (5:18-19); also for singing with grace in the heart TO THE LORD (Colossians 3:16) Moreover, if the talents of gold were received by Solomon from the Queen of Sheba, along with precious stones and spices of unequalled excellence, how much more precious must the gift of the Father to His Son have been; when, having been rejected on earth and glorified in heaven, He received the hundred and twenty as the Father’s love gift; and, accepted in divine righteousness, having Him as their preciousness, the sweet fragrance of worship flowed forth, as “WITH GREAT JOY” they were found together with one accord, “PRAISING AND BLESSING GOD” (Luke 24:53).

Such harmonious worship rising to God Himself is a suitable ending to the choice Gospel of Luke, which has in its beginning song after song expressing the soul’s rejoicing and glory in the Lord. Many of the Psalms too show how the hearts of the godly turned their praise to Him, singing, “Blessed be the Lord!” “O give thanks unto the Lord!” “BLESSED BE GOD!” “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting!” “I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright!” and, toward the close there burst forth HALLELUJAHS, richly responding to the dealings of Jehovah, in which the soul has learned something of His mercy, justice, loving-kindness, righteousness, long-suffering, equity, glory and greatness, tuning the “musical instruments of God” to such lofty anthems of praise that the final words ring out, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! HALLELUJAH!” Yes, and He is ten thousand times more worthy of such high praise than our highest apprehension of His worthiness appreciates! Yet what we have learned of Him makes our praise flow to Him!

“Worthy of homage and of praise,

Worthy by all to be adored,

Exhaustless Theme of heavenly lays!

Thou, Thou art worthy, Jesus, Lord.”

When the saints gather together in the assembly today, and the Holy Spirit brings the wonderful love and loveliness of God’s beloved Son before the hearts of the redeemed, the richness of responsive music in the heart to God may vary greatly, and that according to the measure of our experimental knowledge of Christ; but in every case, whether smaller or greater, the glad strains sound sweetly in God our Father’s ears. When Paul wrote concerning assembly order in 1 Corinthians 14:15, he said, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”

In three Psalms in the inspired Song Book of God’s earthly people, we are told of “an instrument of ten strings” used for His praise (Psalm 33:2; 92:3; 144:9). In the first of these His “word” is the main theme; in the second His “work”; and in the third the Lord Himself; ending, “Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” It is clear that man, according to the designs of God’s love, is to be for His own pleasure, all his powers being used for His praise. This can only be through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 14:15 two strings are spoken of as sounding their notes of praise in the assembly—the spirit and the understanding! The law demanded love from man’s heart, mind, soul, and strength! The finished work and the present grace of God’s Son alone could bring to pass response from these four strings, which the law failed to do. Now as blessed in Christ Jesus, our voice too is to sound forth His praise; also our mouth and our lips are to praise the One who is so worthy. When He was on the earth Jesus loosed “the string” of the tongue of one man. How could the strings resound with the music of praise unless His work of divine grace freed them and tuned them to do so? All will be gloriously freed and harmoniously tuned soon, when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again! All ten strings, yea, all the being of the redeemed—will be fully fashioned for the praise and glory of God then. For this we were predestinated and called of God.

“Then, Saviour! Thou shalt have full praise,

We soon shall meet Thee on the cloud,

We soon shall see Thee face to face,

In glory praising as we would.”

Man’s Creator and Redeemer only could both design and bring to pass the scenes of universal rejoicing and splendour, with Jesus as the visible Head and Centre of all, with every part attuned by Him, where the will of God is the delight of every soul, and where all resounds with holy melody and worship in response to the leading of the Son of God. He is truly “the Chief Musician” as well as the Song Leader in the assembly (Hebrews 2:12). “I will sing!” He said. If those who run in the way of faith are exhorted to look off unto Jesus, surely the singers in redemption’s choir likewise need to be told to heed the note raised by the Song Leader! and those who share in the music of God’s praise to mark well the rhythm and harmony of the Chief Musician. The power of the Spirit is given to enable us so to do, but though our “efforts now to praise are often weak and lowly, a nobler, sweeter song we’ll raise with all the saints in glory!” There will not be a note out of tune then! There will be no discord! The musical instruments of God—the redeemed singers on high—shall sound forth His worthy praise in heavenly perfection. Faith anticipates the joyful strains.

Hark, the Chief Musician sings

Sweetest song of sacred fame!

Here He died, above He lives.

Praise sublime to God He brings!

Touches He ten ready strings!

“My Father”

Exceedingly dear to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ were the things which He spake of as “My Father’s.” Those who contemplated His glory on earth, afterwards said, when the Holy Spirit was given, it was “a glory as of an only-begotten with a father.” That was what distinguished Him in their eyes, as in devoted love He ever sought to honour His Father, doing that which was well-pleasing in His holy sight.

What a contrast the Spirit shows us in Absalom, the son of King David! Outwardly attractive to men, he was inwardly a rebel against his own father’s authority. He first “stole the hearts of the men of Israel,” then he sent spies through the land, and when the trumpet sounded, it was proclaimed, “Absalom reigneth!” The rebellion was so strong that the royal father fled before the lawless son, and all the country wept with a loud voice when the king went toward the way of the wilderness, and “passed over the brook Kidron” (2 Samuel 15:23).

Absalom sought to seize for himself what was his father’s, it was the opposite with our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. Obedient even to the death of the cross, He always sought and brought glory to God. He also went forth over the brook Cedron” (John 18:1), and entered personally into all the deep depths of suffering and judgment necessary for that. He offered Himself spotless to God through the eternal Spirit. He had said, “I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.” That commandment was treasured in His heart and carried out in His death and resurrection. When the hasty sword of Peter would fight on His behalf, He said, “Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” Although the Father loved Him with an eternally perfect love, yet this devotedness supplied Him with a fresh motive to love His Son, to love Him in a new way, to love the Son who thus proved His love for His Father, and for what was His Father’s.

The Gospel of John names THE FATHER far more than any other book of the Bible. Matthew mentions Him 44 times, Mark 5, Luke 17 but John 122; adding John’s Epistles and Revelation, the Father is altogether named 144 times by John alone, whereas all the rest of the Bible mentions God the Father but 139 times. This shows the divinely inspired reason and importance of John’s writings. The Old Testament may speak of God as the Father of a special nation, Israel, bought and put in responsible relation to Him; also of a typical and favoured King on the same ground; but only fifteen times in all. The first three Gospels may speak of the Father “which is in heaven” and of the “heavenly Father,” also of the character of “sons,” but the expressions do not occur in John, where the Father and the Son are brought so intimately before us and the nature of “children” specially, begotten of God, loved sovereignly and unchangeably, so that Jesus said in resurrection, “My Father, your Father; My God, your God.” And again, when in holy converse with His Father, “Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me” (John 17:23). Among the last words of an honoured servant of the Lord were, “My beloved brethren, I do add, let not John’s ministry be forgotten in insisting on Paul’s.”

The Lord Jesus spoke of “the Kingdom of My Father”; but this is suitably recorded in Matthew 26:29. In John, however, we read of His Father’s will, His Father’s hand, His Father’s love, His Father’s commandment, His Father’s works, and His Father’s word; also of the cup which the Father gave Him; and it is here we read of Jesus speaking concerning “MY FATHER’S NAME” (5:43; 10:25); likewise of “MY FATHER’S HOUSE” (2:16; 14:2). We will refer to these two later, if God permit.

First of all the wondrous word of Luke 2:49 may well claim our attention. There the earliest recorded words of the Son of the Father on earth are given. They show how entirely He was devoted to what He spoke of as “MY FATHER’S.” That was what engrossed Him. Blessed be His Name. “I must be about MY FATHER’S BUSINESS,” He said. In the temple, the place of Jehovah’s Name, with the teachers there, He heard and asked questions; while His own answers and understanding astonished the hearers. And even honoured Joseph and Mary understood not when Jesus spoke of His Father’s business. Many there are today who are astonished at the teaching of Christ, but have not themselves received Him as their own Saviour! Likewise many who have truly been saved by Him, little understand the vast business He came forth to carry out for His Father’s glory. What other concern in the universe is comparable to that?

His very words, “My Father’s,” indicated His conscious relationship with God. His business involved the ministry of the truth, the manifestation of the invisible God, and the revealing of the Father; also the redeeming work, demanding His life’s blood and the consequent reconciling by Him of all things in the heavens and on the earth.

It involved the putting away of sin, the salvation of sinners, and the commendation of God’s love; also the administration of grace now and of glory soon to the praise and pleasure of God; likewise the completion of His mediatorial work and the putting of all things into the hand of Him who is God and Father in flawless suitability, that God may be all in all. What holiness and love, glory and blessedness, shall then obtain! His Father’s business will be carried out faithfully and perfectly. Who He Himself is and what He has already done, leave us without one doubt. His life here, His words, His works, His death, His resurrection, His bodily ascension to His Father’s throne, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, fully prove Him able to do so. Moreover, our own experience of the salvation which is in Him not only gives peace and joy, but causes praise and thanksgiving to abound already.

Coming into a world where all had sinned and come short of God’s glory, He appeared among those to whom the oracles of God with the promises were given. All was in disorder among His people Israel. The law was not kept. There were two high priests instead of one. They were under a foreign power instead of being the head of the nations. The city of the great King, Jerusalem, was ruled by an Edomite and governed by a Roman. The opening of Luke 3 shows this. John the Baptist cried, “REPENT!” as he prepared the way of the Lord. And coming in the ordered way, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God, began early with His work, which He will carry right on to its glorious completion, the work which he called, “MY FATHER’S BUSINESS.”

It is in the Gospel of John, as we have said, we find our Lord Jesus speaking of “My Father’s Name” and of “My Fathers house.” Both were precious to Him beyond telling.

A great imitator of Christ will capture the wonder of the religious world soon. He will come “in his own name” as the Lord foretold (John 5:43). By blowing the trumpet of his own importance the many will accept him at his own valuation. His wicked career will be quickly ended by final judgment, at the appearing of Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. In the verse quoted, Jesus said, “I am come in MY FATHER’S NAME.” His Father’s honour was pre-eminent in all His thoughts and doings. That made all the difference. Self praise and glory will be the other’s governing motive and object, displacing God’s absolute authority as far as possible. The result of Jesus carrying out His Father’s business will be found in the rest and rejoicing of all blessed through that authority, and responsible worship flowing to Him fully made known by the Son.

Unregenerate religionists said the Lord Jesus was “making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18), and they therefore sought to kill Him. He was here doing His Father’s will, in dependence upon Him, and He explained that nothing was done by Him independently. Truly He did work which clearly proved who He was; “The work which the Father has given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me,” He said. But again, “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He does the works.” It was for the Father’s honour, and in His Name His works were done.

On another occasion they would have stoned Him, saying, “Thou, being a Man, makest Thyself God” (John 10:33). The Lord Jesus had said, “I am the Son of God,” also, “Before Abraham was, I am”; but it was His Father’s glory He ever sought. He had come in His Name. Doubtless His own glory was manifested also. It could not be altogether hid, and faith discerns what was made known. The Father honoured Him and the Spirit honours Him. The false Christ, who will come in his own name, honours himself, even “showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). The Son never thus acted, but “humbled Himself,” becoming obedient to the Father who sent Him, speaking and doing what His Father commanded; yea, and rather than evade the awful hour of the cross with all that it meant, He said, “FATHER, GLORIFY THY NAME.”

To His persecutors He said, “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.” They could not deny those works of mercy, grace, love and power, done by the Righteous, Just, Holy and True. They manifested the Father’s Name. They made manifest what the Father is to those who had eyes to see, as also to our faith today; for, as we have said, He came in His Father’s Name. And again, concerning the wondrous miracles which He accomplished, Jesus said, “The works I do in MY FATHER’S NAME.”

Beyond all His toil on earth for God’s glory and our blessing, beyond all the sufferings of the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ ever looked onward to His Father’s house and to preparing a new place there for us. He said, “In MY FATHER’S HOUSE there are many abodes” (14:3). He was well acquainted with that house. He spoke of it familiarly. With holy intimacy and affection He termed it, “My Father’s.”

He had used those same words before of the temple, of Jehovah’s house (2:16). It was there, too, as we have seen, He was found hearing, questioning, and answering the teachers (Luke 2:47), when He said, “I must be about My Father’s business.” The revisers translate this, “My Father’s house,” but the context is against it. Still a man’s business is carried on from and to his dwelling, and certainly the Son came thence and returned there; not to the earthly but the heavenly. He always had His Father’s house in view. There is His loved abode.

It is helpful to observe carefully that Jesus called Jehovah’s house, “My Father’s house.” It shows that Jehovah was His Father, while other Scriptures show that He Himself is also Jehovah, confirming His own saying, “I and the Father are one.” Moreover, what is said in the Psalms, Chronicles, Ezekiel, and elsewhere, concerning Jehovah’s earthly house (past and future), showing something of its temporal beauty, magnificence and splendour, bespeaks abiding and unfading glory and blessedness where Jesus has gone, since He completed on earth the work His Father entrusted Him to do.”

When leaving His disciples to go to His Father, Jesus tenderly turned their thoughts thitherwards. He told them of that place. From the earthly temple, so dear to the Jew, He lifted their faith to the heavenly home. There are many abodes there, but He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” What could surpass a place in that home of unsullied bliss?

Nevertheless, our precious Saviour added still more, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (14:3). Here we find the climax of our glorious hope! Received to Himself by Him who suffered and died for us! To dwell eternally with Him! His Father’s house now our blest abode! Where He is we are to be also! What more could our happy hearts desire?

Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! And meanwhile may the things which were so exceedingly dear to Thee, the things Thou didst call “MY FATHER’S,” become increasingly dear to us.

This ends our reading for this session. Until next time, have a great day, and God bless.