Easy Summaries of John Nelson Darby on God’s Grace, the Rapture, Dispensations, the true Church etc.
Author: Sosthenes
Once the ruler of the synagogue at Corinth
Then a co-writer of a letter by Paul - just a brother - no longer an official
Now a blogger seeking to serve the Lord by posting some words that the Lord has given His Church.
The Passover, the memorial of redemption of the people of God, as an assembly redeemed by Him, was obligatory during the journey through the wilderness. But according the record, it was celebrated only once. Those born in the wilderness were not circumcised till they came to Gilgal across the Jordan, so not in a condition to keep it. None born there were circumcised. God makes a provision, in grace and forbearance, for those who were not able to keep it.
However faithful Josiah had been, this had not changed the heart of the people – ‘The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? …, yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord’ (Jeremiah 3: 6, 10). Josiah’s faith was in action, and blessing depended on the conduct of the king. Despite this, the undercurrent was always tending to the ruin and rejection of the people.
For this special Passover, everything is set in order according to the ordinances of Moses and David, in a remarkable manner. It appears that even the ark had been removed from its place (2 Chronicles 35:3); but now, the ark being restored to its rest, the Levites occupy themselves diligently with their service, and even make ready for the priests, that they might keep the feast. They were all in their places according to the blessing of Israel in the rest they enjoyed under Solomon. Those who taught all Israel no longer bore the ark, but they ministered to God and to His people. The singers were there also, according to their order, so that there had not been such a Passover since the days of Samuel. It was like the last glimmering of the lamp which God had lighted among His people in the house of David. It was soon extinguished in the darkness of the nation which did not know God, and those who had been His people came under the judgment expressed by the word Lo-ammi (Not-my-people). God was yet to show His infinite grace.
The Passover has an unquestionably historical character. It was ‘a night much to be observed,’ (Ex 12:42) when, protected by the blood from judgment, they ate their unleavened bread in haste, preparing to depart out of Egypt. There is no evidence that they kept it after Sinai (Numbers 9) till they were in Canaan. Those born in the wilderness were not fitted to do so, being uncircumcised until across Jordan; when, under Joshua they were, they did so in Gilgal . Hezekiah kept it, and Josiah kept it, as it had not been kept for long years. What neglect!
Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. So at last God executes His judgment, taking the firstborn as representatives of all the people. We have thus two parts in the deliverance of the people; in one,
1. God appears as Judge
2. God manifests Himself as Deliverer, satisfied through the redeeming blood.
The Passover by Subject – The Original Passover – God’s Commandments
The Passover is the first in our series of JND on Selected Subjects
Despite the plagues, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. So at last God executes His judgment, taking the firstborn as representatives of all the people. We have thus two parts in the deliverance of the people; in one,
1. God appears as Judge
2. God manifests Himself as Deliverer, satisfied through the redeeming blood.
God says, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over’ (v. 13). It is not said, ‘When you see it’, but ‘When I see it”. The soul of an awakened person rests, not on its own righteousness, or even his value of the blood, but on God’s valuation it. Peace is founded on God’s valuation. Our faith is in that.
There is further a difference between the passover and the great day of atonement. Here the blood met the eye of God passing through the land in judgment. On the great day of atonement it purified His habitation from our defilements, and, we can say, opened up the way to God’s throne and presence; gave us boldness to enter into the holiest by a new and living way. In the passover was added, as it had the character of first deliverance and forgiveness, the bitter herbs of judgment of sin in ourselves, and feeding on the slain Lamb, with loins girded and shoes on our feet, to leave the place of sin and judgment from which as the consequence of sin we had been fully sheltered.
We can take the sabbath, the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread as making a whole. Of the two latter, the unleavened bread was the feast, properly speaking; the Passover was the sacrifice on which the feast was grounded. As the apostle says, ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with leaven,’ (1 Cor 5:7). What was indeed necessary for the sabbath, for the rest of God, was the sacrifice of Christ, and purity; and though all these feasts lead on to the rest of God, yet these two, the Passover and unleavened bread, are the basis of all, and of the rest itself for us. Christ’s sacrifice and the absence of all principle of sin, form the basis of the part we have in the rest of God. God is glorified in respect of sin; sin is put away for us, out of His sight, and out of our hearts. The perfect absence of leaven marked Christ’s path and nature down here, and is accomplished in us, so far as we realise Christ as our life, and recognise ourselves, though the flesh be still in us, as dead and risen with Him. To be without leaven was the perfection of the Person of Christ living upon earth, and becomes in principle of the walk upon earth of him who is partaker of His life.
The Passover recalled deliverance, deliverance from bondage in Egypt – for us this means deliverance from sin and Satan. It was eaten with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction. That would signify repentance – ‘truth in the inward parts’ (Psalm 51:6). They were happy, having escaped bondage, through the power of God alone. They would have had the sense that it was a deliverance from the evil under which they had been, by their own fault and to their own ruin. If unrepentant (leaven in the house) the soul was cut off.
God gathered the people around His dwelling-place, and linked them with His name and with Himself. They worshipped Jehovah
The character of the Passover sacrifice — for it is called ze-vakh (sacrifice) — is pretty plain. There was nothing burnt to the Lord; the holy character of the lamb was preserved by anything remaining over to be burnt, no bone to be broken, nor any part carried out of the house; but there was no sweet savour to the Lord, it had not that character of sacrifice — no altar or place of approach, neither hik-riv (brought near) nor hik-tir (burnt in sweet savour). It was not in character nor effect, coming to God; it was keeping God, as a righteous Judge, out, so that they escaped.
— 8, 10. The fact that the Passover was to be eaten at night, and nothing left till the morning or burned seems think, to show that it was entirely apart from the whole course and scene in which nature and sense are conversant. It was an abstract matter between God and the soul, in the full undistracted claim and holiness of the divine nature. It had nothing to do with their miserable circumstances. It looked forward to where sin and the holy judgment of God met, when all was darkness for three hours with Christ on the cross. Then all was to be burnt — there was no mixing it with any thing common; Israel was sanctified by it, like the priests, so that they ate it, but it could not be mixed with other food.
Feasts of the Lord, mo-ed (a set time), feast of unleavened bread, Khag (a holy feast).
Note the Sabbath, Passover and unleavened bread were not dependent on their coming into the land.
The Passover is the basis of all, founded on which we have the feast of unleavened bread, the general result also in the sinless character of our association with God. verse 4, therefore begins afresh as the grand basis of all, unleavened bread being connected with it. The rest are special and actual dealings of God, and states and terms of relationship with Him; hence verse 9 starts with a new “the Lord spake”, and that begins the ways of the Lord in the resurrection of Christ, first fruits from the dead presented to Him. Sabbath — Passover — and Unleaven are the general great truth of our being assembled to God, verses 1 – 8.
Jehovah says, “I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah. And the blood shall be unto you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:12,-13). This was not the deliverance of Israel, like the passage of the Red Sea, but it was the ground of it; and of the two, the Passover was really the more solemn morally, though the Red Sea displayed God’s saving power more gloriously on behalf of His people and against their foes. But on the paschal night it was a question how God could pass over the guilty, even if His people; and the blood of the lamb sprinkled on Israel’s doorposts declared that God, though expressly judging, could not touch those screened thereby His truth and justice were stayed and satisfied before that blood. The destroyer was kept from entering.Not an Israelite perished within the blood-sprinkled lintels. It was a question of arresting God’s judgment here, of destroying Satan’s power in the type of the Red Sea; but the blood of Christ laid the foundation for the victory displayed in His resurrection.
The church of Rome says that the Lord’s supper (or rather the mass, as they call it) is the same sacrifice as that which was accomplished upon the cross. But when the Lord said, ‘This is my body … do this in remembrance of me’ (See (Matt 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1 Cor 11:24) He was not yet upon the cross. His blood was not yet shed
God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood of Christ is ever before the eye of God. He never fogets it. If God does not ever forget the blood of Christ shed once for ever, He does not wish us to forget it. The Lord Jesus in His boundless grace wishes us to think of Him, to remember Him. Precious manifestation of love for us, that the Saviour should delight in our remembrance of Him, and that He has left us a touching memorial of Himself and His love. Jesus wishes us to think of Him, because He loves us! In the supper we shew forth His death till He comes.
It is important to remark that there is no sacrifice in the present time, and that the Lord is not personally present in the bread and wine. The church of Rome says that the Lord’s supper (or rather the mass, as they call it) is the same sacrifice as that which was accomplished upon the cross. But when the Lord said, ‘This is my body … do this in remembrance of me’ (See Matt 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1 Cor 11:24) He was not yet upon the cross. His blood was not yet shed, and when He broke the bread He did not hold Himself in His hands. There is no such thing now as a crucified Christ: He is seated at God’s right hand, and there is no shedding of blood now. It is a blessed fact that there is a sign, a commemoration of this, but that it should be so really and substantially is impossible – there is no such thing as a dead Christ now.
We shew forth in the supper His death and His blood shed for us: but a glorified Christ cannot be a sacrifice; cannot come down from heaven to die; and if the bread be changed into His body, and there be a soul in it, it must be another soul; this is absurd. They say that the Godhead is everywhere, and that the substance of the body is there; but the soul is individual: this lives, feels, loves, is a single individual soul. According to the Roman Catholic teaching, the soul of the Lord Jesus leaves heaven; but it cannot be the same soul, and if it is another, it is absurd. The Lord says in Luke 22:20, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood’: — that is, it represents the blood — for the cup itself is not the new covenant. Thus the bread presents to us in the most striking way the body of the Lord crucified upon the cross, and the wine His blood shed for us.
He desired to eat this last Passover with His disciples, because He would eat of it no more until the future kingdom s – His death came first. Now we enjoy the kingdom as it is now, not the millennium. Observe also what a touching expression of love we have here: His heart needed this last testimony of affection before leaving them.
The Passover
The Passover is the first in our series of JND on Selected Subjects
Scripture quotations here are from the Darby Translation
The notes are a combination of those from the 1890 and 1961 editions of the Darby Bible. Where notes refer to another scripture, the notes from that scripture are used. In many notes in the 1890 edition there is a list of which manuscripts (MSS) use which terms. These MSS have not been listed.
The Synopsis has been slightly edited to simplify the English.
Matthew 26
Mark 14
Luke 22
1And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2Ye know that after two days the passover takes place, and the Son of man is delivered up to be crucified.
17Now on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 18And he said, Go into the city unto such a one, and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is near, I will keep the passover in thy house with my disciples. 19And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
. . .26And as they were eating, Jesus, having taken the bread and blesseda, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 27And having taken the cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. 28For this is my blood, that of the newb covenant, that shed for many for remission of sins. 29But I say to you, that I will not at allc drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father. 30And having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives.
1Now the passover and the feast of unleavened bread was after two days. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might seize him by subtlety and kill him. 2For they said, Not in the feast, lest perhapsa there be a tumult of the people.
. . . 12And the first day of unleavened bread, when they slew the passover, his disciples say to him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou mayest eat the passover? 13And he sends two of his disciples, and says to them, Go into the city, and a man shall meet you carrying a pitcherb of water; follow him. 14And wheresoever he enters, say to the master of the house, The Teacher says, Where is myc guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples? 15and he d will shew you a large upper room furnished ready. There make ready for us. 16And his disciples went away and came into the city, and found as he had said to them; and they made ready the passover.
. . . 22And as they were eating, Jesus, having taken bread, when he had blessed, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, Take this e: this is my body. 23And having taken the cupf, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank out of it. 24And he said to them, This is my blood, that of the new covenant, that shed for many. 25Verily I say to you, I will no more drink at all of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it newg in the kingdom of God. 26And having sung a hymnh, they went out to the mount of Olives
1Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the passover, drew nigh, 2and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
. . . 7And the day of unleavened bread came, in which the passover was to be killed. 8And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the passover for us, that we may eat it. 9But they said to him, Where wilt thou that we prepare it? 10And he said to them, Behold, as ye enter into the city a man will meet you, carrying an earthen pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he goes in; 11and ye shall say to the master of the house, The Teacher says to thee, Where is the guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples? 12And he will shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. 13And having gone they found it as he had said to them; and they prepared the passover.
14And when the hour was come, he placed himself at table, and the [twelve a] apostles with him. 15And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer. 16For I say unto you, that I will not eat any more at all of it until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17And having received a cup, when he had given thanks he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. 18For I say unto you, that I will not drink at all b of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God come. 19And having taken a loafc, when he had given thanks, he broke [it], and gave [it] to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup [is] the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Notes
Notes
Notes
aOr ‘given thanks’
b Not in all MSS
c Strengthened negative
a or ‘lest it may be, suggesting something uncertain which might happen at any time. –‘for’ refers to ‘subtlety’
gκαινός/ kainos/Strong2537 ew’‘in a new way’, not ‘an
hὑμνέω/humneó/Strong5214 -to sing a hymn or song
a Not all MSS, some omit ‘apostles’
b Some add ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ‘from now’
c Or ‘bread’ as I Cor 11:23
Synopsis
Synopsis
Synopsis
The Lord had finished His discourses. He prepares to suffer, and to make His last and touching farewells to His disciples, at the table of His last passover on earth, at which He instituted, the simple and precious memorial which recalls His sufferings and His love. This part of our Gospel needs to be felt rather than explained.
With what simplicity the Lord announces that which was to happen! He already arrived at Bethany, six days before the passover (John 12:1): there He abode, with the exception of the last supper, until He was taken captive in the garden of Gethsemane, although He visited Jerusalem, and partook of His last meal there.
He then points out that it is the slain Saviour slain who is to be remembered. His pathway as the living Messiah was over. It was no longer the remembrance of Israel’s deliverance from the slavery of Egypt. Christ, and Christ slain, began an entirely new order of things. He draws the deciples’ attention to the blood of the new covenant, saying that it was ‘shed for many.’ – i.e. Jew and Gentile. It was shed for the remission of sins.
The scribes and Pharisees were already consulting how they might take Him by craft and put Him to death. They feared the influence of the people, who admired the works and goodness and meekness of Jesus. Therefore they wished to avoid taking Him at the time of the feast, when the multitude flocked to Jerusalem: but God had other purposes. Jesus was to be our Paschal Lamb, blessed Lord! and He offers Himself as the victim of propitiation.
But the time drew near for the last feast of the Passover that took place during the life of Jesus, the one in which He was Himself to be the Lamb. The memorial to faith was that of Himself and of His work. He therefore sends His disciples to prepare all that was needed to keep the feast. In the evening He sits with His disciples, to converse with them, and to testify His love for them as their companion, for the last time. But it is to tell them (for He must suffer everything) that one of them should betray Him.
It was Himself, His sacrifice, not a temporal deliverance, that they were to remember. All was now absorbed in Him, and in Him dying on the cross. Afterwards, in giving them the cup, He lays the foundation of the new covenant in His blood (in a figure), giving it to them as participation in His death. When they had all drunk of it, He announces to them that it is the seal of the new covenant a thing well known to the Jews, according to Jeremiah; adding that it was shed for many. Death was to come in for the establishment of the new covenant, and for the ransom of many. Death was necessary, and the bonds of earthly association between Jesus and His disciples were dissolved
The chief priests, fearing the people, seek how they may kill Him. The day of Passover comes, and the Lord shows the character of the gospel. Thus He desired to eat this last Passover with His disciples, because He would eat of it no more until the future kingdom s – His death came first. Now we enjoy the kingdom as it is now, not the millennium. Observe also what a touching expression of love we have here: His heart needed this last testimony of affection before leaving them.
The new covenant is founded on the blood here drunk in figure. The old was done away. Blood was required to establish the new. At the same time the covenant itself was not established; but everything was done on God’s part. The blood was not shed to give force to a covenant of judgment like the first; it was shed for those who received Jesus, while waiting for the time when the covenant itself should be established with Israel in grace.
John 2
23And when he was in Jerusalem, at the passover, at the feast, many believed on a his name, beholding his signs which he wrought. 24But Jesus himself did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men, 25and that he had not need that any should testify of man, for himself knew b what was in man.
Notes
a εἰς/ eis/Strong1519 Strong says ‘indicating the point reached or entered, of place, time, purpose, result’ JND on 2 Tim 1:12 ‘εἰς τίνα/eis tina/ – followed by εἰς/eis and the accusative (frequently in John) is to believe on a person as an object of faith
bἐγίνωσκω/eginōsó/
Strong1097 – a strong word, meaning ‘to know well’ or ‘recognise’
Synopsis
None
John 6
1After these things Jesus went away beyond the sea of Galilee, or of Tiberias, 2and a great crowd followed him, because they saw the signs which he wrought upon the sick. 3And Jesus went up into the mountain a, and there sat with his disciples: 4but the passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5Jesus then, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great crowd is coming to him, says to Philip, Whence shall we buy loaves that these may eat? 6But this he said trying him, for he knew what he was going to do.
Notes
aThe mountain country – note to Matt 5:1 – not a particular mountain, but mountain in contrast with the plain.
Synopsis
It was on the occasion of the Passover, a type which the Lord was to fulfil by the death of which He spoke. Observe, here, that all these chapters present the Lord, and the truth that reveals Him, in contrast with Judaism, which He forsook and set aside
John 11
45Many therefore of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he a had done, believed on him; 46but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47The chief priests, therefore, and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many signs. 48If we let him thus alone, all will believe on him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 49But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, Ye know nothing 50nor consider that it is profitable for you b that one man die for the people, and not that the whole nation perish.
. . . 55But the passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, that they might purify themselves. 56They sought therefore Jesus, and said among themselves, standing in the temple, What do ye think? that he will not come to the feast? 57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment that if any one knew where he was c, he should make it known, that they might take him.
Notes
a Some MSS read ‘Jesus’
b Some MSS read ‘for us’ or omit these two words completely
c Lit ‘is’
Synopsis
None
John 12
1Jesus therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was the dead man Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead.
. . . 20And there were certain Greeks among those who came up that they might worship a in the feast; 21these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and they asked him saying, Sir, we desire to see Jesus. 22Philip comes and tells Andrew, and again Andrew comes and Philip, and they tell Jesus.
Notes
aπροσκυνέω/proskuneó/Strong4352 Strong- to do reverence to – (prós, “towards” and kyneo, “to kiss”) – properly, to kiss the ground when prostrating before a superior; to worship, ready “to fall down/prostrate oneself to adore on one’s knees”. JND (Matt 4:9 ‘an act of personal reverence and homage – not ‘worship’ as ‘service’ in modern language.
Synopsis
None
John 13
1Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the enda.
Notes
a ‘To the end’ does not give the full force, for it makes it refer to time, whereas going through with everything is impled.
Synopsis
None
John 18
38Pilate says to him, What is truth? And having said this he went out again to the Jews, and says to them, I find no fault whatever in him. 39But ye have a custom that I release some one to you at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? 40They cried therefore again all, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
Notes
None
Synopsis
When brought before Pilate (although because of truth, confessing that He was king), the Lord acts with the same calmness and the same submission; but He questions Pilate and instructs him in such a manner that Pilate can find no fault in Him. Morally incapable, however, of standing at the height of that which was before him, and embarrassed in presence of the divine prisoner, Pilate would have delivered Him by availing himself of a custom, then practised by the government, of releasing a culprit to the Jews at the passover. But the uneasy indifference of a conscience which, hardened as it was, bowed before the presence of One who (even while thus humbled) could not but reach it, did not thus escape the active malice of those who were doing the enemy’s work. The Jews exclaim against the proposal which the governor’s disquietude suggested, and chose a robber instead of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 5
6Your boasting [is] not good. Do ye not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7Purge out a the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened. For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; 8so that let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.
Notes
a As in 2 Tim 2:21 – ἐκκαθαίρω/ ekkathairó/Strong1571 – Strong ‘cleanse out, clean thoroughly’
JND The word translated purified in 2 Tim 2:21 with his addition [in separating himself from them] is found only in 2 Tim 2:21 and 1 Cor 5:7 translated ‘purge out’. There it was to get rid of the old leaven out of the lump; in 2 Tim it is for the one who names the name of the Lord to purge himself from among the vessels. Hence we have the additional preposition ἀπό /apo/Strong575 ‘away from’, which is rendered ‘separating from’. Lit ‘purified himself away from these’
Synopsis
Discipline follows; for Christ had been offered up as the Paschal Lamb, and they were to keep the feast without leaven, keeping themselves from the old leaven; in order that they might be in fact, what they were before God an unleavened lump.
Hebrews 11
27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing a the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as seeing him who is invisible. 28By faith he celebrated b the passover and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
Notes
a These are aorists, but in English the present participle is joined to the present tense as characterising the action. ‘He refused…choosing’. ‘He refused…having chosen’ would make a different time of it, not the same. In Greek all is referred to the time of speaking.
bHere, as in verse 17, the offering up of Isaaac, the verbs are in the perfect. This is remarkable. The other facts are generally passing facts, part of the whole history; these are of standing significance, either figurateively standing the believer on a new ground, or viewed as continuing till the time of the epistle: ‘By faith Abraham has offered’, ‘By faith he has celebrated’, but this is not possible in English. It was not external continuence, for the blood sprinkling was only once.
Synopsis
Faith recognised the testimony of God by trusting to the efficacy of the blood sprinkled on the door. God would come in judgment, and seeing the blood, would pass over His believing people. By faith Moses kept the passover. Observe here that, by the act of putting the blood on the door, the people acknowledged that they were as much the objects of the just judgment of God as the Egyptians. God had given them that which preserved them from it; but it was because they were guilty and deserved it. No one can stand before God.
We have thus two parts in the deliverance of the people; in one,
1. God appears as Judge
2. God manifests Himself as Deliverer, satisfied through the redeeming blood.
God says, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over’ (v. 13). It is not said, ‘When you see it’, but ‘When I see it”.
Notes
Scripture quotations here are from the Darby Translation
The notes are a combination of those from the 1890 and 1961 editions of the Darby Bible. Where notes refer to another scripture, the notes from that scripture are used. In many notes in the 1890 edition there is a list of which manuscripts (MSS) use which terms. These MSS have not been listed.
The Synopsis has been slightly edited to simplify the English.
Exodus 12
And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2This month shall be unto you the beginninga of months: it shall be the first month of the yearb to you. 3Speak unto all the assemblya of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month let them take themselves each a lamb c, for a father’s house, a lamb for a house. 4And if the household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; each according to the measure of his eating shall ye count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish d , a yearling male; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats. 6And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregatione of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. 7And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs f shall they eat it. 9Ye shall eat none of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with its in-wards. 10And ye shall let none of it remain until the morning; and what remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11And thus shall ye eat it: your loins shall be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is Jehovah’s passover g . 12And I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah. 13And the blood shall be for you as a sign on the houses in which ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be among you for destruction, when I smite h the land of Egypt. 14And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall celebrate it as a feast to Jehovah; throughout your generations as an ordinance for ever shall ye celebrate it. 15Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread: on the very first day ye shall put away i Or leaven out of your houses; for whoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day–that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16And on the first day ye shall have a holy convocation j Or, and on the seventh day a holy convocation: no manner of work shall be done on them, save what is eaten by every person k –that only shall be done by you. 17And ye shall keep the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; and ye shall keep this day in your generations as an ordinance for ever. 18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month in the evening. 19Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eateth what is leavened–that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or born in the land. 20Ye shall eat nothing leavened: in all your dwellings shall ye eat unleavened bread.
21And Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Seize l Or and take yourselves lambs m Or for your families, and kill the passover. 22And take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and smear the lintel and the two door-posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23And Jehovah will pass through to smite h the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. 24And ye shall observe this as an ordinance for thee and for thy sons for ever. 25And it shall come to pass, when ye are come into the land that Jehovah will give you, as he has promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say to you, What mean ye by this service? 27that ye shall say, It is a sacrifice of passover to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote h the Egyptians and delivered our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshipped. 28And the children of Israel went away, and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron; so did they.
29And it came to pass that at midnight Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. 30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his bondmen, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house in which there was not one dead. 31And he called Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, Rise up, go away from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said. 32Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and go; and bless me also. 33And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men! 34And the people took their dough before it was leavened; their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked of the Egyptians utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing. 36And Jehovah had given the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave to them; and they spoiled the Egyptians.
…
43And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: No stranger shall eat of it; 44but every man’s bondman that is bought for money–let him be circumcised: then shall he eat it. 45A settler and a hired servant shall not eat it. 46In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth any of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. 47All the assembly of Israel shall hold it. 48And when a sojourner sojourneth with thee, and would hold the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and hold it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. 49One law shall be for him that is home-born and for the sojourner that sojourneth among you. 50And all the children of Israel did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron; so did they. 51And it came to pass on that same day, that Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their hosts.
Notes
aLit ‘head’
bThe beginning of the year which began with the first new moon after the Spring Equinox.
a ‘Assembly’ (קָהָל/qahal/Strong H6951) – the congregation is looked at as a moral whole, a corporate person before God – see Lev 4:13; 8:3
c Or ‘kid’ here and in all this passage. שֶׂה/she/Strong H7716 – one of a flock, a sheep (or goat)
d Or ‘perfect’
e’Congregation of the assemby’ (עֵדָה / edah/Strong H5712) is the actual subsisting congregagtion composed of all its members. C.f. v.3
f Lit ‘bitterness’
g Signifies the action of passing over (see v 13).
The character of the Passover sacrifice — for it is called ze-vakh (sacrifice) — is pretty plain. There was nothing burnt to the Lord; the holy character of the lamb was preserved by anything remaining over to be burnt, no bone to be broken, nor any part carried out of the house; but there was no sweet savour to the Lord, it had not that character of sacrifice — no altar or place of approach, neither hik-riv (brought near) nor hik-tir (burnt in sweet savour). It was not in character nor effect, coming to God; it was keeping God, as a righteous Judge, out, so that they escaped — keeping Him righteously out (we can say by glorifying gloriously His righteousness), but still as a needed means meeting the case, and excluding the Judge as having now no ground for entering. Deliverance by God (that is, the Red Sea), drawing near to God, a sweet savour to Him, or coming to Him in any way of worship or communion, are not found here. (From Notes & Comments vol. 1 p 210)
h Or ‘plague’ – also v 23.
i Lit ‘put a stop to’
j A calling together – Also Num 10:2
k Lit ‘every soul’
l Or ‘draw out’
m Lit ‘small cattle’ (c.f. v.3) – צֹאן/ tson/Strong H6629 – small cattle, sheep and goats, flock
Synopsis
Despite the plagues Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. So at last God executes His judgment, taking the firstborn as representatives of all the people. We have thus two parts in the deliverance of the people; in one,
1. God appears as Judge
2. God manifests Himself as Deliverer, satisfied through the redeeming blood.
God says, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over’ (v. 13). It is not said, ‘When you see it’, but ‘When I see it”. The soul of an awakened person rests, not on its own righteousness, or even his value of the blood, but on God’s valuation it. Peace is founded on God’s valuation. Our faith is in that.
Leviticus 23
4These also are the holy days of the Lord, which you must celebrate in their seasons. 5The first month, the fourteenth day of the month at evening, is the phase of the Lord: 6And the fifteenth day of the same month is the solemnity of the unleavened bread of the Lord. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. 7The first day shall be most solemn unto you, and holy: you shall do no servile work therein: 8But you shall offer sacrifice in fire to the Lord seven days. And the seventh day shall be more solemn, and more holy: and you shall do no servile work therein.
.
Notes
Synopsis
We can take the sabbath, the passover, and the feast of unleavened bread as making a whole. Of the two latter, the unleavened bread was the feast, properly speaking; the passover was the sacrifice on which the feast was grounded. As the apostle says, ‘Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with leaven,’ (1 Cor 5:7). What was indeed necessary for the sabbath, for the rest of God, was the sacrifice of Christ, and purity; and though all these feasts lead on to the rest of God, yet these two, the passover and unleavened bread, are the basis of all, and of the rest itself for us. Christ’s sacrifice and the absence of all principle of sin, form the basis of the part we have in the rest of God. God is glorified in respect of sin; sin is put away for us, out of His sight, and out of our hearts. The perfect absence of leaven marked Christ’s path and nature down here, and is accomplished in us, so far as we realise Christ as our life, and recognise ourselves, though the flesh be still in us, as dead and risen with Him. To be without leaven was the perfection of the Person of Christ living upon earth, and becomes in principle of the walk upon earth of him who is partaker of His life.
Numbers 9
1And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, saying, 2Let the children of Israel also hold the passover at its set time; 3on the fourteenth day in this month between the two evenings, ye shall hold it at its set time; according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof shall ye hold it. 4And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should hold the passover. 5And they held the passover in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month, between the two evenings, in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that Jehovah had commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. 6And there were men, who were unclean through the dead body of a man, and could not hold the passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 7And those men said to him, We are unclean by reason of the dead body of a man: why are we kept back, that we may not present the offering a of Jehovah at its set time among the children of Israel? 8And Moses said to them, Stay, and I will hear what Jehovah commands concerning you. 9And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 10Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your generations be unclean by reason of a dead body or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall hold the passover to Jehovah. 11In the second month, on the fourteenth day, between the two evenings, shall they hold it; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it. 12They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone thereof: according to every ordinance of the passover shall they hold it. 13But a man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbeareth to hold the passover, that soul shall be cut off from among his peoples; because he presented not the offering of Jehovah at its set time: that man shall bear his sin. 14And if a stranger b shall sojourn among you, and would hold the passover to Jehovah, according to the rite of the passover, and according to the ordinance thereof, so shall he do. Ye shall have one rite, both for the stranger and for him that is born in the land.
Notes
a Corban’ – a thing presented – as Lev 1:2 – derived from the verb translated ‘present’
b Or ‘soujourner’ as Ex 12:48, Lev 20:2
Synopsis
The Passover, the memorial of redemption of the people of God, as an assembly redeemed by Him, was obligatory during the journey through the wilderness. But according the record, it was celebrated only once. Those born in the wilderness were not circumcised till they came to Gilgal across the Jordan, so not in a condition to keep it. None born there were circumcised. God makes a provision, in grace and forbearance, for those who were not able to keep it.
Deuteronomy 16
1Keep the month of Abib, and celebrate the passover to Jehovah thy God for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to Jehovah thy God of the flock and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah will choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3Thou shalt eat no leavened bread along with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, –that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. 4And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst at even on the first day, be left over night until the morning. — 5Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover in one of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee; 6but at the place that Jehovah thy God will choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the time that thou camest forth out of Egypt. 7And thou shalt cook and eat it at the place which Jehovah thy God will choose; and in the morning shalt thou turn and go unto thy tents. 8Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a solemn assembly to Jehovah thy God thou shalt do no work.
Notes
Synopsis
The Passover recalled deliverance, deliverance from bondage in Egypt – for us this means deliverance from sin and Satan. It was eaten with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction. That would signify repentance – ‘truth in the inward parts’ (Psalm 51:6). They were happy, having escaped bondage, through the power of God alone. They would have had the sense that it was a deliverance from the evil under which they had been, by their own fault and to their own ruin. If unrepentant (leaven in the house) the soul was cut off.
God gathered the people around His dwelling-place, and linked them with His name and with Himself. They worshipped Jehovah.
2 Kings 23
21And the king [Josiah] commanded all the people saying, Hold the passover to Jehovah your God as it is written in this book of the covenant. 22For there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 23but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover holden to Jehovah in Jerusalem. 24Moreover the necromancers and the soothsayers, and the teraphim and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah took away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkijah the priest had found in the house of Jehovah.
Notes
Synopsis
None
2 Chronicles 30
1And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel. 2And the king took counsel, and his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, to hold the passover in the second month. 3For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not hallowed themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people been gathered together to Jerusalem.
Notes
Synopsis
None
2 Chronicles 35
1And Josiah held a passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem; and they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the first month. 2And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah. 3And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, and who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; ye have not to carry it upon your shoulders. Serve now Jehovah your God and his people Israel; 4and prepare yourselves by your fathers’ houses, in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son; 5and stand in the sanctuary for the classes of the fathers’ houses, for your brethren, the children of the people, and according to a the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; 6and slaughter the passover, and hallow yourselves, and prepare it for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of Jehovah through Moses. 7And Josiah gave for the children of the people a heave-offering of the flocks, lambs and goats, all for the passover-offerings, for all that were present–to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king’s substance. 8And his princes gave a voluntary heave-offering for the people, for the priests, and for the Levites: Hilkijah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God gave to the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen; 9and Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave as heave-offering to the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen. 10And the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king’s commandment. 11And they slaughtered the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed them. 12And they set apart the burnt-offerings to give them to the classes of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people, to present them to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. 13And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the consecrated things they boiled in pots and in cauldrons and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the children of the people. 14And afterwards they made ready for themselves and for the priests; because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were engaged in offering up the burnt-offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the doorkeepers were at every gate; they had not to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them. 16And all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to hold the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar of Jehovah according to the commandment of king Josiah. 17And the children of Israel that were present held the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18And there was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel hold such a passover as Josiah held, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover holden.
Notes
a Or ‘and for’
Synopsis
However faithful Josiah had been, this had not changed the heart of the people – ‘The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? …, yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord’ (Jeremiah 3: 6, 10). Josiah’s faith was in action, and blessing depended on the conduct of the king. Despite this, the undercurrent was always tending to the ruin and rejection of the people.
For this special passover, everything is set in order according to the ordinances of Moses and David, in a remarkable manner. It appears that even the ark had been removed from its place (2 Chronicles 35:3); but now, the ark being restored to its rest, the Levites occupy themselves diligently with their service, and even make ready for the priests, that they might keep the feast. They were all in their places according to the blessing of Israel in the rest they enjoyed under Solomon. Those who taught all Israel no longer bore the ark, but they ministered to God and to His people. The singers were there also, according to their order, so that there had not been such a passover since the days of Samuel. It was like the last glimmering of the lamp which God had lighted among His people in the house of David. It was soon extinguished in the darkness of the nation which did not know God, and those who had been His people came under the judgment expressed by the word Lo-ammi (Not-my-people). God was yet to show His infinite grace.
The body according to the purpose and work of God, its members quickened with Christ, raised up and sitting in heavenly places in Him.
The body manifested on the earth by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (not water), outwardly expressed by union in partaking of the Lord’s supper.
The spiritual house in the thought and purpose of God, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets of the New Testament, growing up a holy temple to the Lord.
The Body of Christ (the Assembly here) and the House of God (Christian Profession)
Based on a Paper by J N Darby – ‘The House of God; the Body of Christ; and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.’
Throughout Christendom, in both Roman Catholic and Protestant circles, there is confusion as to the difference between the house of God and the body of Christ. The error that is rampant throughout Christendom, is that these two things are regarded as essentially the same, and that membership of a church gives a person all the privileges and blessings of Christianity.
We have to distinguish between:
The Body of Christ This comprises living members on earth, born of God, quickened of the Spirit, with all their sins forgiven. They have been perfected by one offering and are heirs of the inheritance of glory.
The House of God, a more general concept, encompassing the whole Christian environment or profession. Many are brought into it by birth.
If the house and the body were the same thing, all persons attending a church, adults or infants, believers and unbelievers, would be regarded as saved and members of the body of Christ. There would be no value in the death of Christ or the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Assembly or Body of Christ
In the New Testament we have the word ἐκκλησία/ekklésia/Strong 1577 This is translated as ‘church’ in the King James Bible, and in most other modern English translations. In our minds when people use the word ‘church’ they would think of a physical building, or a particular denomination. Calling a physical church building a ‘house of God’ adds to the confusion.
It is for this reason that J N Darby preferred to use the word ‘assembly’- (see Matt 16:18 Darby Version). This is a more literal rendering of the Greek word (ἐκ-κλησία/ek-klésia = out-called = a-sembled). Where two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, He is in their midst – that is the true church. Darby noted that the rendering was better in other languages, the word in German, Gemeinde, the word normally used for ‘community’. The French église, and Welsh eglwys come directly from the Greek.
He also noted the words used in the Old Testament.
Qe-hal or kahal (Strong 6951)– congregation or assemblage – Strong uses convocation (See 2 Chron 30:25)
Mo-w-ed or moed (Strong 4150) – the appointed place of meeting where they met God (See Ex 33:7)
Ha-ed-ah or hedah (Strong 5712) – congregation or assembly – a company formed together by appointment (See Ex 12:3)
Israel was the assembly of God, but having rejected the Messiah, it is set aside, we might say, by the death of Christ. Israel failed in its witness of the unity of the Godhead, by the adoption of idolatry. So when the Lord Jesus came, Israel as a nation failed to recognise God’s visitation, and rejected Him.
From the time of the prophets onwards, God has always had a remnant of Israel who were devoted to Him. Prophecy looked forward to a remnant which would be preserved and brought back in the last days.
In Psalm 22 we have the Lord’s death as seen by the remnant (the seed that would serve Him v. 30). The Lord was to be been forsaken, and then heard of God – answereed from the horns of the buffaloes (or unicorns) (v. 21). The response is ‘I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation [kahal] will I praise thee (v. 22). This corresponds to Lord declaring to Mary Magdalen, ‘Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and [to] my God and your God’. (John 20:17). What delight God has is in the value of His sacrifice when sin is put away.
In Matthew 16:19, Peter is given the keys the keys of the kingdom of heaven: he is not given the keys for the church (assembly). The church has no keys. Neither Matthew nor Peter give us teaching as to the assembly. We have the house – Peter, in his epistle says, ‘Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 2:5).
For teaching as to the assembly we have to come to Paul: ‘The Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God (Col 2:19). Whereas Peter sees things here, Paul sees the centre in heaven, where the Head is now.
When the Holy Spirit came, we have many Jews converted – 3000 in one day. Soon after in Acts, we have the introduction of the Samaritans, and then the Gentiles. Christians were persecuted, culminating in their rejection of Stephen’s testimony to Christ in heaven, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:56). Paul is converted having witnessed Stephen’s martyrdom and testimony, and in what the Lord said to him from heaven, ‘I am Jesus whom thou persecutest’ (Acts 9:5). Thus Paul received the light of the living body united to the Head in heaven, and us seated in the heavenly places in Christ (see Ephesians 1:20). Paul also showed that the body comprised living members, all fitted together perfectly – no dead members, and not a mutilated body. That is the body of Christ here.
The Church in a Scene of Responsibility Here
Israel had failed in responsibility: now we see the Church in responsibility now. It is important to see that the house has been is established, because in the house there can be failure even to apostasy. On the other hand, the assembly cannot fail, because Christ is ‘head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all’ (Ephesians 1:22-23). As Head over all things to the assembly Christ, the glorious Man, is Prophet, Priest and King. Whereas man had failed, you have Christ such perfection that He will be ‘glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe’ (2 Thessalonians 1:10).
In Ephesians 1:1 to 2:10, we have the assembly according to the purpose and counsel of God, There is no dependence on man. Paul’s prayer was ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:17-20).
From Ephesians 2:11 we have the actual condition down here. It is being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ being the cornerstone, and what is being built is the dwelling place of God through the Spirit. In Ephesiuans Paul refers much to the mystery, and it can be seen in the church livingly here. Augustine spoke of an invisible church, and this is still referred to, but this is not invisible. There is the outward manifestation of the church its unity, recognition of the work of the Spirit of God on earth. We see it in the gifts (apostles, prophets, teachers) which have been given in the whole (not the local) assembly. They are placed in the assembly, on earth, among ‘them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints’(1 Corinthians 1:2).
The Assembly as God’s Habitation
The second aspect of the assembly in Ephesus is a dispensational one. Christ builds an assembly secured from Satan’s power. We have the assembly according to the councils of God God workmanship in an ordered condition – not as what it has become was in the hands of man. We have in Ephesians ch 1-2, facts rather than opinions – Jews and Gentiles made nigh by the blood of Christ, the middle wall of partition broken down, and all reconciled into one body by the cross, and formed together growing to a holy temple in the Lord. This is a work going on in grace on earth – God’s habitation by the Spirit. It does not say that God animates and unites believers, but He has a place where He dwells. Unity will result.
In chapter 4 we are told walk in love, worthy of the calling, and to use diligence to keep the unity. We are given the unity from God’s point of view ‘There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all’(Ch 4:4-6). This is not the view according to man’s responsibility that we get in 1 Corinthians 3:12. There you get what is being built on the good foundation – good things – gold, silver, precious stones, and worthless things – wood, hay, stubble. All man’s bad building will be lost. In 2 Timothy 2, we get the great house – with vessels to honour and dishonour also those professing Christians with the form of godliness but denying its power. The true believer to is to purge himself (or turn away), from these and follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (see 2 Tim 2:21-22 and 3:5).
After the rapture the apostate church will remain, led by the man of sin.
Summary
In summary, these scriptures referred to give us a clear view of the way the church is presented:
The body according to the purpose and work of God, its members quickened with Christ, raised up and sitting in heavenly places in Him.
The body manifested on the earth by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (not water), outwardly expressed by union in partaking of the Lord’s supper.
The spiritual house in the thought and purpose of God, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets of the New Testament, growing up a holy temple to the Lord.
The building of this house in fact by the labours of man. Paul might have been the wise master-builder; but there were others not building with good materials.
The great house with vessels to dishonour to purify themselves and turn away.
Finally, after the rapture, the actual apostasy ending in judgment.
What Church Leaders have Taught
In the subsequent thirty pages of the paper, J N Darby looks at the writings of the various church fathers starting just after the apostolic period (Barnabas, Clement etc) up till the eighteenth century – Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox. If you wish to read this in detail, it is in the original article, starting at page 39.
Here is a Summary of happenings in the Great House:
In short, almost nobody saw the assembly in its heavenly character according to the purpose of God. This was because most walked by sight. Water baptism became the method of entry, this being held by most. And the house of God was taken to be he physical building. Many considered being a member of the church as being the same as salvation. They acquiesced in evil, quoting the parable of the wheat and the tares – God would have it all right in the end. Priests became mediators. That was supposed to be Christianity!
How much does the hope of the Lord’s return (the rapture) feature in our Christian meetings – an expectation – a hope. Is it the hope of troubles being ended, of divisions being over, of our poor old bodies being changed – or the hope of seeing our Saviour whom we love, and being with Him? Is it also the joy of knowing that at that time, Jesus will have His bride (us!) united to Him in glory. Is the degree of the expectation of Christ’s imminent return, the thermometer measuring our company’s spiritual warmth?
A few weeks ago, I was at a meeting for fellowship and ministry in the pleasant town of Malvern in Worcestershire England. The brother serving gave an address on the Lord’s coming. He started with a story:
An elderly sister had spoken to him recently, and said how she woke up during the night with troubles on her mind, especially those amongst the Christian group she was with. But there were others – the world, her family, herself – particularly her health. Then she said “Wouldn’t it be great if I woke up thinking, ‘This is the day the Lord is going to come!’ Wouldn’t that make a great difference to the day – and to me?”
The brother serving read from:
Luke 12:45 ‘That bondman should say in his heart, My lord delays to come’
1 Peter 5:1 ‘The elders which are among you I exhort, who am their fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ, who also am partaker of the glory about to be revealed’
1 Thess 4:17 ‘We, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord’
This raises questions:
– Am I really looking forward for Him to come?
– Is there anything I ought to put right before He comes?
– Is what I plan to do today according to the Lord’s will?
This made me think of our Christian gatherings. How much does the hope of the Lord’s return (the rapture) feature in our meetings – an expectation – a hope. Is it the hope of troubles being ended, of divisions being over, of our poor old bodies being changed – or the hope of seeing our Saviour whom we love, and being with Him? Is it also the joy of knowing that at that time, Jesus will have His bride (us!) united to Him in glory. Is the degree of the expectation of Christ’s imminent return, the thermometer measuring our company’s spiritual warmth?
Darby wrote his poem ‘Hope’ in 1881, shortly before he was taken. Unlike many of his poems, it was written in the plural – the company rather than the individual.
And shall we see Thy face, And hear Thy heavenly voice, Well known to us in present grace! Well may our hearts rejoice. We wait to see Thee, Lord! Yet now within our hearts Thou dwell’st in love, that doth afford The joy that love imparts. Yet still we wait for Thee, To see Thee as Thou art, Be with Thee, like Thee, Lord, and free To love with all our heart.
Many of the churches in our area have websites. I have been looking at these, sometimes with blogs, or reproduced sermons, and often with a ‘Statement of Faith’ (either their own or that of the Evangelical Alliance, or in some cases the Nicene Creed[†].
There were traditional churches – Church of England, Baptist, Methodist
There were evangelical churches – Missions, FIEC affiliates, former Open Brethren
Many were charismatic and Pentecostal Churches with names such as: Kings Church , The Word House, King’s Treasure, New Life, Elim Pentecostal, the Incorruptible Word Ministries, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, The Redeemed Evangelical Church of Christ, Jesus Revival Ministries, Beulah Christian Fellowship, House of Favour, Peace & Love Assembly
What saddened me was that not a single one of these seemed to have any appreciation of the present living hope of the church – His imminent coming and the joy of being with Him. Their outlook appeared totally earth-bound – helping less fortunate people, enjoying exhilarating services, music with choirs and bands, youth outreach (now using social media) etc. I do not doubt that there are many real lovers of the Lord Jesus in those gatherings, with the full knowledge of their eternal salvation, and who have received and have the knowledge of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They have light of the Lord’s coming to take up His glorious kingdom on earth, but it is based on a ministry that is wholly earthly.
Even those citing the Lord’s return might be hazy doctrinally. The ‘Statements of Faith’ below†, seem not to distinguish between the rapture and the appearing and the millennium and eternity. I guess if these things are viewed as generations in the future, they do not appear important. Or are the church leaders wanting to avoid contention?
This does not just apply to the churches. There are many books on prophecy which accurately portray the future, based on the Bible. But they concentrate on events and judgments. The joy of our Saviour’s return is often lacking.
Of course, I may be mistaken, in some ways I would like to think that I was, and if there were more who had the light, joy and hope of the rapture, I would be immensely happy. I have not been to any services in these churches. I have not read every book on prophecy.
We can thank God there are some places which are different. I am aware of a couple of places who do not, nor would not, have websites, and where there is a true expectation of the Lord’s return – the meeting where we were till recently, and a nearby Gospel Hall where we know several who go there. Maybe there are other small companies of believers meeting separately, enjoying the Lord’s support and awaiting His return. But all this is very few in a conurbation of a quarter-million people.
May the Lord’s return be ever brighter in our hearts – and may the hope of it, and our desire to be with Him, affect our lives individually, and may it enliven our gatherings too.
May God bless you in 2018.
Sosthanes
[*] In ‘A Day of Small Things’, I have several articles on the rapture (mainly in summaries of J N Darby’ works – especially ‘The Present Hope of the Church’. These cover the dispensational teaching, and the reality of the rapture, which could happen at any time, since no prophecies have to be fulfilled first. More importantly, they also help us see the real hope – the real joy – our Lord and Saviour’s return, and our being with Him.
[†] The new UK Evangelical Alliance’ New Statement of Faith states, ‘The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth’. The older Worldwide Statement reads, ‘The expectation of the personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory’. Also the ancient Nicine Creed (referenced by the Methodists) states, ‘I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come’.
Reading 2 Cor 8:5. ‘And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God’. , I ventured to suggest we have in the past put things the wrong way round. It came to me that we have been relying on all that good teaching, the meetings and our relationships with our brethren – and then we have attached the Lord to what we have set up. He has been gracious and supported us, but is He saying.
Dear Friends
First to the Lord, and to us
– Have we had it the Wrong Way Round?
If we desire to walk in the light of the assembly, we must always be mindful as to the One whose assembly it is. I look over some of the things I have written over the past few years, even on ADOSS, and see how much I have been governed by a mind-set, structured in accordance with right scriptural teaching, but without the Lord Himself as my prime object. What the Lord is looking for? Soundness of teaching is important, but it is not the most important thing. Being close to our Lord Jesus, and being true to Him, surely is. Many true believers without the teaching have a much closer relationship with our Lord and Saviour than I do.
Paul teaching
A couple of weeks ago, I was writing to a brother, and the scripture came to mind in 2 Cor 8:5. ‘And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God’. Interesting: ‘not as we hoped’. Paul commended them for putting the Lord before them. Paul would not have wanted them to be in a subservient position, so ‘to us’, I take to mean Paul’s teaching and the practical fellowship and service to the Lord. That Saturday afternoon, a nearby gathering arranged a meeting for prayer to seek the Lord’s guidance, and I gave a short word, reading this scripture, and ventured to suggest we have in the past put things the wrong way round. It came to me that we have been relying on all that good teaching, the meetings and our relationships with our brethren – and then we have attached the Lord to what we have set up. He has been gracious and supported us, but is He saying ‘Put me first’
The Lord has given us an Opportunity.
It has been a very turbulent year amongst the Christians with whom we have been gathering. I do not want to go into details, other than to say we concluded that the ground of their gathering was sectarian. Many readers will be fully aware of what I am referring to. Whereas we had been in an average-sized company my wife and I are now breaking bread with just one elderly sister. Sadly, we felt we had to leave the gathering where we had been for 42 years and the brethren that we still love. Having been found in the situation, we broke bread simply, in answer to our Lord’s request, based on two-or-three gathered together to the Lord’s Name, and seeking to call on the Lord out of a pure heart (Matthew 18:20 and 2 Timothy 2:22).
Next, were there others with whom we could share full Christian fellowship? There are many gatherings nearby with sincere devoted lovers of the Lord Jesus, but are they gather on a sectarian basis, or are they run by human clerical organisation, or are they follow an open or independent path, not recognising the unity of the body. We can share experiences with individuals there, but cannot have part with them collectively. Thank God, we found three other gatherings, within an hour’s drive, with whom we can share full fellowship. They may be small, and we are having to travel more, but we are learning to work things out in love, above all putting our Lord Jesus first.
As to the future, who knows? God does of course, and it is for us to be with Him, and we are sure that Satan will attack. In the early 1800’s, many believers in small gatherings were moved to leave the organised denominations, where clericalism and established form has impeded the operations of the Holy Spirit. They did not know what the Lord was going to do, and that it would lead to a worldwide movement. It was said at a recent meeting, ‘When we come to practical fellowship, it is not for us to make rules, but to test everything – Is it in accord with the death of Christ?’ It is for us, first individually, and then as we find others, to seek to be faithful to Christ in the power of the Spirit, to walk simply as believers. Then let us see where the Lord leads.’
It is not an easy path. We have not been promised it. But it is a blessed one – and the Lord’s coming is very, very near!
‘Today if ye will hear His Voice’
My wife and I with some who had been through similar experiences (and a few others) met in Northern Ireland in October. I believe the Lord showed clearly in those meetings that there is ‘another way’. Accordingly, I have taken on the exercise of publishing these and other meetings. Under the title, ‘Today if you will hear His Voice’. if you would like a to receive this by email to you please click on the heading below. The first issue was distributed last month – on ‘Seven – what is Perfect, and what is Maintained in a Day of Reduction’: seven months, seven bullocks, seven loaves, seven baskets, seven lamps, seven stars, seven assemblies and seven overcomers (Word by Martin Cook). Two more issues are in the works.
I don’t spend much time on social media, but going for a walk yesterday I sat down and logged into Twitter on my iPhone. Correspondence between two brothers with whom I correspond came up:
The first sign that Moses did was to turn water into blood – judgment (see Exodus 7:20). The first sign that Jesus did was turn water into wine – grace (see John 2:10-11). ‘For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ’ (John 1:17).
And … 3,000 die at the giving of the law, the first Pentecost (see Exodus 32:28); 3,000 given new life at the giving of the Spirit, the second Pentecost (see Acts 2:41). ‘For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life’ (2 Cor 3:6).
In 1934 Malcolm Biggs wrote to a younger brother (Stuart Price)[i], who asked him for help as to what he should read. He gave him a list of ministry, but he said, ‘Make JND’s Synopsis your daily companion
[i] This was in an unpublished private letter. It is being reproduced in the following PDF files
This booklet by Malcolm W. Biggs (1875-1941) was referred to, in some meetings in Northern Ireland, published in my ‘Today if ye will hear His Voice’ series (Not yet on-line). Also referred to was a book by the same author ‘Fellowship, its Nature and Possibilities’. Neither are available on-line. The former is published by Kingston Bible Trust – 2015 Catalogue .
The latter is out of print, and unavailable through normal channels.
As neither of these publications are on line, I have digitised the shorter one, and it is beliv made available here. I would value an offer of assistance to digitise the other.
PRINCIPLES RELATING TO CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
If a path of a collective character pleasing to the Lord is to be taken by us, not only must the moral features consistent therewith be maintained—such as righteousness, holiness, faith and love—but the principles carried out in practice. It will be profitable, therefore, to consider some of these principles and note their practical application.
No believer has a right to regard himself purely as an individual. He has been called to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; and if we seek to walk in the path pleasing to the Lord, the Christian’s path, it is imperative that we regard our relations one with another. We have been called into the great partnership of Christian fellowship.
The principles therefore, to which we shall first refer are those which govern Christian fellowship. From 1 Corinthians 1:9, it is clear that all believers are called to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Hence in 1 Corinthians 1:2 the epistle is addressed not only to the assembly which is at Corinth, but to ‘all that in every place call the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both all theirs and ours’. Whether all have responded to, or answered to the responsibilities is another matter, but from the passage quoted it is evident that all believers are called to it
The fellowship being that of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the Lord Himself is the bond of our fellowship. To us Christians there Is one Lord. We must be true to his name. This is a matter of immense importance. We must ever remember the necessity of confessing Christ as our Lord and owning His authority over every department of our lives. If the reader knows of anything of his own life, his personal conduct, habits, etc., business or domestic which does not please the Lord, let him judge himself, for until he does so it is useless, indeed damaging, for him to attempt to take up the question we are about to consider. To discuss church questions when we know there is something in our lives individually that is not pleasing to the Lord, is damaging to a degree. If we are to speak about ‘our Lord’, and His will for us, each of us must recognise Him as Lord, and do His will in our personal lives individually. We cannot be right collectively, unless we are right individually; but in addition to our individual history with the Lord, we have a collective responsibility as forming part of the assembly which He loved and for which He gave Himself. It is to this side of our spiritual exercises, obviously, that our inquiry applies.
TO US THERE IS ONE LORD
It is very evident that anyone whose life is moulded on the On the principles inculcated by the word of God, of obeying the Lord Jesus, will find little real companionship with those whose life is fashioned according to the world; the whole principle of life is different, and practically there will little or nothing in common. The believer, however, is by no means to lead a life of isolation. He may find himself very isolated from the mere worldling, from worldly-minded Christians also. They may separate him from their company; he may be despised and rejected, as was his Master before him. But although isolated as to the world, the believer can say, as the Psalmist did, ‘I am a companion of all them that fear thee’ Psalm 119:63. It is here that fellowship comes in.
There is no part between him that believeth and an unbeliever; but there is a very great deal in common, and a very real and vital bond between all believers, and if our lives are what they should be in practice, we shall find real companionship in those that do the will of God. The One we obey is the One they obey ; and obedience to that one Lord will blend our lives together. Not only does each individual believer know Jesus as Lord, but as together in the same path of obedience to His will we can say, ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’. To us there is ‘to us there is … one Lord, Jesus Christ’,(1 Cor 8:6). The fact of every believer owning the same Lord, establishes a bond between them. We are called into the Fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We must be true to this bond and His fellowship. Fellowship is only practically realised as we recognise in our conduct and in our associations what is in keeping with the Lord’s name.
Hence, before fellowship becomes realisable the believer must be true to the name of the Lord not only in his personal conduct, but in all his associations. It is important to see that we may be defiled by our associations as well as by actual conduct. Numbers 19:22, makes this very clear : ‘And whatever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even’ See also Lev 13 & 14 and Hag 2:11-14 This same principle of defilement by association is seen in the New Testament: see Gal 5:9, 1 Cor 5:6-7, 2 John v.10-11.
If a believer’s personal conduct is inconsistent with the name of the Lord, who is the Holy and the True—he is by that very fact morally, or spiritually, unclean. It is not always seen, however, that if others associate with such a one, that is to say, if he ‘touches’ them, or they ‘touch’ him, they also unclean. Further, if a believer, whose personal conduct may be otherwise consistent, identifies himself with those who are associating with the unclean person, he also becomes unclean This fact is very exercising and sobering. We may have opportunity again to refer to this important matter.
Each of us is to own the Lord and be consistent with His name in every sphere of our lives. If we own Him thus, fellowship ceases to be a mere term, and becomes a practical reality. Clearly, if things are otherwise, and man does what is right in his own eyes, fellowship is impossible. One Lord is to control all. What is consistent with His name is to be recognised by each of us. So only can the expression, ‘To usThere is one Lord’ (1 Cor 8:6), have vital meaning.
THE COMMUNION OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
Christian fellowship is also the fellowship of Christ’s death, the communion of the blood of Christ, of which the Lord’s supper is the repeated expression, and to which we commit ourselves by partaking of the Supper, by drinking of that one cup.
As an Israelite who ate of the sacrifices was professedly in communion with the altar of Jehovah, so a believer who partakes of the Lord’s supper avows his communion, or fellowship, with the death of Christ. Nothing inconsistent with the death of Christ can ever be allowed. Christ in His death has become our altar—the basis of fellowship for all believers—at once severing us Judaism, or that which answers to it today; that is, any system of worship of a material or formal kind, and from idolatry, whether in its past or present-day forms. How really exclusive Christian fellowship is! The more we consider the communion of the death of Christ, the more we shall see how necessarily it shuts out all that is of the world, religious or profane
We may well speak of the cup as ‘the cup of blessing which we bless’, but we must remember equally that it is the communion of the blood of Christ. If we are partakers of the benefit secured by the death of Christ, we must be true to that which that death witnesses, and to which we are committed. The death of Christ forbids any link with the world. This is involved in our baptism. It is again forced upon our attention, as we partake of the Lord’s supper. He who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. To be one with the world would be virtually to deny the death of Christ of which the blood of Christ ” is the witness. The cup of blessing is the communion of the blood of Christ. How great the blessing secured thereby! How great the love expressed therein! It was a love that gave up all for us, so that endless and measureless blessing might be ours. We are sharers together in that cup of blessing; we must together, as one, refuse the world. Any worldliness would provoke the Lord to jealousy. His love is so great He can have no rival, no idol in our hearts. We must not allow another to share our hearts with Christ. To do this after committing ourselves to such a bond of fellowship, would provoke Him to jealousy, and we should find ourselves, typically speaking, under the curse (See Numbers 5). here is a suggestion of this type in 1 Corinthians 10:22 and 16:22. Worldliness among God’s people is very serious
The world has a religious form as well as a profane one. Judaism has its present-day features in much that is current in the professed circles of Christianity. ‘Sodom and Egypt’ are typical of the profane world; ‘where also our Lord was crucified’ speaks of the religious world. See (Revelation 11:8). Worldliness is most seductive when it wears religious clothing. Idolatry is most deceptive when linked with a feast to the Lord. (See Exodus 32:4,5). May the Lord keep us clear of such unholy associations, ever remembering that by the Lord’s s upper we are professedly in the ‘communion of the blood of Christ’.
THE COMMUNION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
‘The communion of the Holy Spirit’ is a remarkable expression ; it is found in 2 Corinthians 13:14. We have been baptised by one Spirit into one body. We may have occasion to develop this side of our subject a little later on. Here we may remark that, since the Holy Spirit is the power of Christian fellowship, anything of the world or the flesh, anything in the way of mere human arrangements in the assembly of God, or maintenance of merely social links one with another, must necessarily greatly hinder the fellowship. It need scarcely be remarked that the setting aside practically of the liberty of Spirit described in 1 Corinthians 12-14 by appointment of a minister, or any attempt to arrange the service or of God, must greatly grieve the Holy Spirit and thus hinder and prevent what is normal to our collective experience. Moreover, in the measure in which we in our assembly life, friendships on basis of what is merely natural, links of social kind, etc., in that measure fellowship is hindered, yea, it is impossible.
Our links as Christians are not in the flesh or according to what we are naturally, socially, nationally or racially, but according to what we are ‘in (the) Spirit.’ Here we have a power, the Holy Spirit, that binds us all together, that gives us spiritual tastes in common one with another, spiritual sensibilities and perception. And in the measure in which we recognise what is of the Spirit in a practical way, we shall prove what is ‘the communion of the Holy Spirit’. Many practical considerations flow from these facts. May we not each ask himself the questions:
Am I minding the things of the Spirit?
Am I walking in the Spirit?
Am I endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit?
To do these things we must, surely, refuse the flesh in its many subtle forms, and make room for the Holy Spirit and for what is spiritual. To the Corinthians the apostle had to write, ‘I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal’ (1 Cor 3:1). Were he writing to us now would he have to say the same thing? Are there not schools of thought? Are there not some Christians who are definitely boasting in following the ideas propounded by some Christian leader of so-called thought? Let abandon those fleshly habits, dear reader, and seek only to be led by the Spirit, and thus answer to the beautiful type of Rebecca of whom it is written, ‘the servant [a type of the Holy Spirit] took Rebecca, and went his way’ (Gen 24:61)
To summarise, then, what has been before us: the Lord is the bond of Christian fellowship, the death of Christ is the basis thereof, and the Holy Spirit is the power of this fellowship, making it subjectively real.
Now it is obvious that the character of Christian fellowship being such, it must of necessity be universal in its bearing.
THE UNIVERSAL CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
The universal character of fellowship is a fact of wide and practical bearing. Whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, America or Australasia, the fellowship is one, and wherever we are we must be true to it. Conduct suitable to it in one place, is suitable to it in any other place; and what is unsuitable to it in one place is unsuitable to it in any other. Locality can make no difference in a matter of this kind, for the considerations are moral, and therefore universal, in their application. Let us ever remember this fact.
Moreover, the same principle has its application to persons. If anyone is suitable or fellowship in one locality, he is obviously suitable for it in any other locality. Hence, in the early days of the assembly, letters of commendation were customary, which enabled a believer going from one place to another to be received suitably by those into whose district he might going. See 2 Cor 3:1, Rom 16:1, Acts 18:27. Similarly, if the conduct or associations of anyone are such that he is rendered unfit for fellowship in one place, he is unfit for it in any other place. If we seek to be true to Christian fellowship, we must always and everywhere recognise this principle. How often it is, and has been, overlooked by believers. To do so is to deny the character of fellowship.
The principle applies equally to actions of a collective nature. If evil exist in one locality, unless dealt with according to God, those in any other locality acknowledging bonds of fellowship with those allowing such evil are identified therewith and are responsible as to the matter, as being involved in the evil by association. Any discipline that might be necessary as to dealing with evil, would have to be exercised in the locality in which it is, as the apostle shows in 1 Corinthians 5; but nevertheless, the acknowledgment of the bonds of fellowship carries with it all that fellowship implies, which is complete association, and, let us remember, association with evil defiles.
Moreover, fellowship being universal, nothing relating thereto can have a purely local character or effect. This fact entirely forbids anything in the nature of an independent or local fellowship. Hence, in like manner this principle necessitates that the action of any one gathering walking consistently with Christian fellowship involves every other gathering acknowledging the bonds of fellowship therewith; and similarly, if a gathering refuse to judge evil in their midst, this involves in its guilt those in fellowship with it. No action can be purely local in its character or effect.
We would ask the thoughtful reader to consider how seriously these principles have been overlooked or ignored by many Christians, however unwittingly. It is not uncommon to find believers meeting together in a place to take the Lord’s supper and maintaining that their fellowship is purely local, and that they are an independent local company of Christians. This is, in practice, to deny the very fellowship professedly expressed in their assumed action of taking the Supper. The Supper cannot rightly be taken apart from recognising the fact of ‘one body’ being here on earth, and nothing is clearer than the apostle’s words in the 1 Corinthians 10:17, ’Because we, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf’. This ‘we’ is what may termed the Christian ‘we’, that is to say it embraces the universal ‘one body’ of all believers, the one fellowship of which is normally expressed in taking the Lord’s supper. To attempt to take the Lord’s supper and at the same time profess to be an independent local company, is to deny the first principle of Christian fellowship; for Christian fellowship is universal. It may be replied, however,’ But we are in fellowship with all Christians!’ Yet this, surely, cannot really meant. Do such mean to that they are in fellowship with every professing Christian, whatever his conduct or associations, be he immoral or a blasphemer or in fellowship with such, or be he linked with some antichristian, or religious system, which they who so speak would denounce as wrong? If so, this is evil indeed! It is true that all Christians are called to Christian fellowship, the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and we should be true to this fellowship, as we have already seen. But are all Christians true to it? If not we cannot say we are in fellowship with them. Were the Corinthians in fellowship with the man whom they were told to remove from among themselves? Clearly not. They had to cut their links of fellowship and not even to eat with the incestuous person. No, dear reader, fellowship means partnership, and this involves identification, and for any to be identified with evil means that they are evil too.
Now that the assembly, so far as its outward profession is concerned, is in confusion, and all manner of evil exists in the sphere of Christian profession, it becomes increasingly necessary to adhere to divine principles. we are to take a path of a collective character, the Christian’s path in days of difficulty, we must recognise the principles governing Christian fellowship; we must also constantly remind ourselves that, as believers on our Lord Jesus, we are not merely so many individuals.
THERE IS ONE BODY
However separate from evil and from evil associations we each must be individually, since we have received the Holy Spirit, we are vitally linked with all believers on earth; ‘We all have been baptised by one Spirit into one body’ (1 Cor 12:13). Therefore, in addition to the principles already considered as governing Christian fellowship, we must also consider the principles governing the assembly as ‘one body’.
The fact of assembly being one body has both a local and a universal application. Though local assemblies are recognised, Scripture makes it abundantly plain that the assembly is one universally. Those who composed local assemblies, as having been baptised with all other believers by ‘one Spirit’, made but ‘one body’; though the local assembly was to have the character of Christ’s body as we may see farther on.
Whatever breakdown may have taken place in the public profession of Christianity, the assembly Of God, as already remarked, has in no way ceased or changed in its vital existence and character. The apostle addresses Christians thus in 1 Corinthians 1. Let the reader pay attention to this epistle. The manner of address shows that although the epistle was written to the particular assembly in Corinth, its bearing was universal. Hence we find such expressions as, ‘so ordain Iin all churches’ (1 Cor 7:17). ‘We haveno such custom, neither the churches of God(ch. 11:16), and again, ‘as in allchurches of the saints’ (ch. 14:33).
Moreover, the manner in which the apostle addressed the assembly in Corinth also shows it was identified, or associated with ‘all that in every place upon the name Of Jesus Christ our Lord,’ (1 Cor 1:2) who, indeed, was Lord both to them and to all other believers; for to us, Christians, there is but one Lord
THE BODY ONE UNIVERSALLY
Other scriptures show equally that the assembly as ‘one body’ is considered as one whole existing on earth at any given time. Ephesians 4:4 tells us that there is ‘one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling’. For there to be the hope of our calling, the one body must be here. Ephesians 4:15-16 again speaks of the assembly as the ‘whole body’ increasing and growing, Christ being the Head. To increase and grow the body must be here. Then again in Colossians 3:15 we read that ‘we are called in one body’. From the nature of the exhortations given in these passages, it is clear that they could not possibly apply to us when we are in heaven; they refer to us here and speak about what has been brought about on earth. Jew and Gentile have been formed into one body, which clearly refers to what has taken place on earth; and this is confirmed by exhortation in Ephesians 4:3-4, to maintain the unity of the Spirit, because ‘Thereand one Spirit, even as ye have been called in one hope of your calling’.
1 Corinthians 12:13, however, very emphatically asserts this unity as existing on earth, having been brought about by all believers having been baptised by ‘one Spirit’. The ‘we’ of verse 13 is clearly a universal ‘we’, and include every believer on earth, since all have been baptised by ‘one Spirit’. Whereas the ‘ye’ of verse 27, refers to those in Corinthian assembly. ‘Now ye are Christ’s body, and members in particular’. Let the reader carefully note this fact : the assembly is one body on earth at this present time: one body universally. Fellowship is one, and the assembly is one: ‘one body’.
LOCAL ASSEMBLIES
Yet we must equally observe that local assemblies existed. We have seen this to be so in Corinth. Those who composed each local assembly were not only ‘one body’ with all other believers on earth, as we have already seen, but local assembly which they composed was to have the character of the whole; characteristically it was ‘Christ’s body’, as seen from 1 Corinthians 12:27. Notice the change of pronoun: ‘we all’ (verse 13), ‘ye’ in verse 27.
The writer of the of book of Acts refers to many such local assemblies as having been established by Barnabas and the apostle Paul, chapters 14:23, and 16:5, as well as those previously existing in Judea, ch. 9:31. These local assemblies, however, were not independent bodies, but were bound together by the common bond of Christian fellowship, and by the fact that all believers had been baptised by ‘one Spirit into one body’;hence, as remarked, the ‘we’ of 1 Corinthians 12:13, is undoubtedly a universal ‘we’. The local assemblies were to have the features of the whole. ‘Now ye are Christ’s body, and members in particular’ (verse 27).
It is to be regretted that a great number of believers are allowing the idea of independent assemblies. It is difficult to conceive anything more contrary to the teaching of the epistles. We scarcely imagine the apostle Paul, who insists so strongly on the unity ofthe assembly as one body on earth in his epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians, establishing local assemblies and teaching them that they were not
independent. The assembly is not an aggregate of a number of independent bodies; It is not a confederation of a multitude of local assemblies; it is one whole, as Scripture most plainly asserts, ‘There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling’(Eph 4:4).
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
However, it is necessary to see that the administration of the assembly is not carried out universally; that is to say, by any central body or authority governing the whole, but is out in the several localities, bearing in mind that their actions have a universal effect, inasmuch as their bonds of fellowship are universal.
This being the case, it is necessary that we take up our places locally in the recognition of what we are as forming with all other Christians ‘one body’ universally. In other words, we approach our local exercises from a universal standpoint. As already remarked, it was God’s desire that the assembly should not be a universal organisation governed by some metropolitan centre such as Jerusalem was, or such as, alas, Rome assumes to be. It was His will that though one universally, it should find characteristic local expression in whatever place believers might be. It was to be truly catholic, that is ‘universal’ (for word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’), a vital organism, ‘one body’ universally; yet to have administrative powers locally, which were to be exercised in the consideration of what was universal. Hence, as we have noticed, the address at the beginning of the epistle to the Corinthians is not ‘unto the church of God which is at Corinth with all that call upon the name Of Jesus Christ our Lord’, but ‘with all that in every place call the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. That is to say, there was the definite recognition of locality in regard of believers as constituting the assembly in the place in which they lived; yet they were not independent, for they were all bound together in the bonds of one universal fellowship, and by the fact that all believers form but ‘one body’ on earth.
The Lord has greatly helped of His beloved people, not only to recognise that dry are vitally linked with every believer on earth as forming with them one body, but to recognise equally their place locally, and to seek to carry out in their own localityprinciples which govern the assembly universally.
THE EFFECT OF ACTION OF ASSEMBLY CHARACTER
From the foregoing remarks it is evident that action of any one assembly in the early days of the Christian epoch would not have had a purely local bearing. If the command of the Lord was carried out in Corinth it would necessarily have to regarded by all who in place called on the name of that Lord. Moreover, the ‘body’ being one universally, those who composed the local assembly were part of the one whole; therefore, their action in carrying out administration in their locality; that is to say, the action of the local assembly, affected the whole, and had a universal bearing
This principle is of the utmost importance, but, it is to be feared, very much overlooked. If we would seek to walk in a path pleasing to the Lord in this day of difficulty, if we today seek to walk in the light that Scripture affords us regarding the assembly, and to depart from all that is contrary to divine principles, we must recognise, at least, that the assembly is one universally, ‘one body’.
The action of any local gathering of such who so walk, therefore cannot have only a local bearing. If today an individual is under discipline as an evildoer, and is so judged by those who act in their locality in the light that Scripture affords regarding the assembly, so that he cannot be allowed to partake of the Lord’s with them, he cannot rightly be received anywhere else. For another gathering to receive him would be an act of independence, and a denial of Christian fellowship and of the fact that the assembly is one universally. As another has said, ‘If a person is to be received in one place when he is rejected in another, it is evident there is an end to unity and common action. The assembly being ‘one body’ universally, and fellowship being universal also, the action of any one gathering of believers walking in the light that Scripture affords regarding the assembly and acting on divine principles, involves all others who are also walking in the bonds of fellowship.
Similarly, if a gathering refuses to judge evil in its midst, it involves in its guilt those in the bonds of fellowship with it. There is no warrant in Scripture for independent assemblies or purely local fellowship. The assembly is one body universally.
It may be added here that owning these great spiritual realities and principles, would lead us to recognise that a believer is local in the place where he resides. Hence if anyone were under discipline by an assembly and were, while in that state, to move into another locality, if or when the Lord graciously brings about recovery, his case would have to be dealt with by saints in the gathering in the locality in which he is at the time of his recovery. If he is living in Corinth, so to speak, he is local there; if in Colosse, he is local there.
All administration, whether of discipline or recovery, must be carried out locally.
‘Now ye (Corinthians) are (the) body of Christ.’ (1 Cor 12:27)
‘Do not ye judge them that are within?’ (1 Cor 5:12)
These passages put this question beyond controversy. The person is recovered in the place where he resides at the time of recovery.
In dealing with such a case, the few who desire to act according to principles proper to the assembly, would rightly get all the help they could from those who had to deal with the person when the discipline was exercised; they could in the Lord’s name call upon any one anywhere to give evidence to them; but clearly those in the locality Where the person resides would have the responsibility of handling the matter, and the Lord would support them in the discharge of their responsibility. It is well that this fact should ever be remembered. The present state of a person is only known in the place where he lives; and the Lord supports those in that place in discerning matters, for it is their responsibility.
Notes
An elderly sister had spoken to him recently, and said how she woke up during the night with troubles on her mind, especially those amongst the Christian group she was with. But there were others – the world, her family, herself – particularly her health. Then she said “Wouldn’t it be great if I woke up thinking, ‘This is the day the Lord is going to come!’ Wouldn’t that make a great difference to the day – and to me?”
This booklet by Malcolm W. Biggs (1875-1941) was referred to, in some meetings in Northern Ireland, published in my ‘Today if ye will hear His Voice’ series (Not yet on-line). Also referred to was a book by the same author ‘Fellowship, its Nature and Possibilities’. Neither are available on-line. The former is published by Kingston Bible Trust –