It is necessary, for the newcomers as well as for the rest of us, to repeat the passages of Scripture which are foundational to our consideration in this conference.
I will ask you again to turn to the prophecies of Isaiah, Isaiah 53:10-11.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief:
when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see of the travail of His soul,
and shall be satisfied.
Then, in the letter to the Romans, Romans 9:6-7:
But it is not as though the word of God hath come to nought.
For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel:
neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children.
And in the letter to the Galatians, Galatians 3:16:
Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed.
He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one,
And to thy seed, which is Christ.
There will probably be other passages which I shall bring together as we go along.
As we come to this further phase—the whole matter of this divine seed, this fruit of Christ’s travail, this new spiritual Israel—I want just to say one or two preliminary and general things.
Although it is so well known, yet it is very necessary for us to be very clear on this matter: there are not two things, or more, in the Bible, as represented by two Testaments, the Old and the New, or by further subdivisions of the Old Testament.
There may be two or more methods of expressing the same thing, but throughout, from the beginning of the Bible to its close, there is only one thing.
We have become mechanically minded in this matter of handling the Bible by dispensations and the different characteristics of different times. It may have had an effect upon us, much as we believe in typology and symbolism.
I want just to underline this anew this morning: in the different, and perhaps many, forms of expression, God adheres to one thing and one thing alone from beginning to end. His Son governs everything throughout, at all times.
He governs everything in the realities of His Person and of His redemptive and perfecting work. It is one Person and one work from the first book to the last.
The change from the Old Testament to the New is only and simply the change from the indirect to the direct, from the symbolic to that which is symbolised, from the temporal representation to the spiritual reality. That is all.
It is not a change of purpose and object, not a change of basis or foundation. It is not in any way a change of principle.
Well, perhaps you say, “We know all that.” But there is more in it than we, or any others, have yet realised.
Carry that further. The patriarchs were, in principle, as much upon the basis of God’s Son as you and I. That is true also of Israel in the earth. Israel was as much upon the basis of God’s Son as we are in this dispensation.
God has never, at any time, by any means, worked on any other ground than that of His Son.
His creative activities were on the ground of His Son. In Him, through Him, by Him, all things were; and everything proceeds on that same basis and will be consummated in Christ.
By whatever means, however God has worked, His ground has always been nothing other than His Son; and until the ages to come, that ground will be unchanging. It is the ground of Christ.
That is a general statement that is very important for us to recall and to be quite sure about.
Having said that, I am now bringing you back to the point where we broke off on Saturday night. You remember that we were then referring to the Gospel by John, especially at the point in that narrative marked by our arrangement as John 3, and perhaps John 4.
I was saying that we think we know something about John 3, do we not? It is a great chapter: “Ye must be born again.” It is a great chapter: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” Do we not know it? Have we not heard it a hundred times, a thousand times? And yet—and yet—how much do we know about it?
As I said on Saturday night, this part of the narrative, marked by John 3 and embracing John 4, brings right into view this whole matter of the heavenly seed—its nature, its principle, and much more.
Let us look, then, at John 3. Is it necessary for me to re-emphasise the background of this? The Lord Jesus knew it all. The Spirit of God, Who made John write, knew it all. John knew far more than he had even written—not more than Jesus knew—but there is such a fullness here that does represent a tremendously comprehensive spiritual knowledge.
Perhaps something of that will break upon us as we go on. Perhaps we have here what I think is an unfortunate division from the words immediately preceding. Nevertheless, we take it:
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
—John 3:1
In John 3:10, Jesus said unto him:
Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?
A man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews, the teacher of Israel: here you have, in a person, an individual, the full embodiment of Israel after the flesh.
A full development—the Pharisees, with their technical and intrinsic meaning. I have to continually push back the temptation to dwell upon details. Half an hour could easily be spent on the history of the Pharisees, and that is a great problem.
Nevertheless, let us simply note that the Pharisees were the very end, the finality, of Israel after the flesh. They gathered into themselves all that Israel claimed to be, or was supposed to be. Metaphorically, you would meet the last word in Israelitism and Judaism.
So you have here a full embodiment of Israel after the flesh: a ruler of the Jews, and then the teacher of Israel. Note the form. Literally, the article is there in the text. Jesus did not say, “Art thou a teacher of Israel?” He said, “Art thou the teacher of Israel?”
This man evidently stood out, perhaps above all others, recognised as the teacher of that time. This one.
I indicate these things to point out that here we have Israel present after the flesh in a very full way—in every way. It is the natural seed of Abraham, a full-grown son of Abraham after the flesh.
All the natural features and factors of a son of Abraham were present in the natural state. He was born of the flesh, of Abraham. He was circumcised in the flesh according to the covenant made with Abraham. His concern, his pre-eminent interest, was with the kingdom which the seed of Abraham was to inherit.
Those three things are main factors here. I repeat them: he was born after the flesh as a son of Abraham; he was circumcised in the flesh as the seal of the covenant made with Abraham; and his all-absorbing and consuming interest, as a true Israelite, was with the kingdom that was covenanted to the seed of Abraham.
Well, here is Abraham with all his natural seed gathered right into this man, and all its marks and features gathered right here. It is not just Nicodemus; Israel is present.
From the time of Abraham unto this very hour, all the children of Abraham are present with this man in representation. Tremendous figure, this man, really.
Now Jesus, with a wave of the hand, repudiates the whole thing. He is not listening to it. He does not open the door to it, not giving it a moment’s consideration or attention.
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
To really be the seed of Abraham, you must be born from above. That literally is the meaning. You must be born from above.
The seed of Abraham, with all the covenant, the promises, the prospect, and the kingdom, is that which is born from above, not this.
The Lord Jesus here, either by direct statement or by clear implication, makes some fundamental contrasts. Firstly, between two births: that which is born of the flesh and that which is born of the Spirit; that which is born of the earth and that which is born from heaven.
There belong to two kingdoms, two births, two realms; and there is no passage from one to the other. It is closed. He is not discussing the matter at all. He is simply saying, “So different—no, Adam belongs to such a different ground—there is no getting into that, only by way of an utterly new beginning from heaven.”
Now the rest of the New Testament is built upon that fundamental truth. Paul’s ministry is built upon that. We said earlier that this was the cause of all the trouble that Paul encountered. See how drastic, see how tremendous, this thing is.
It is as though the Lord were saying, “You are not Israel after all. You are not Israel, are you? You have not begun to see the real meaning of the Israel of God.”
Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
—John 3:5
Here is not only the natural birth contrasted with the spiritual birth. Here is a fundamental difference between the Red Sea and the pillar of cloud and fire—the symbolic representations—and the spiritual reality.
Born of water? Yes, symbolically, in the Red Sea. Born of the Spirit? Yes, symbolically, in the cloud. They were all baptised into Moses in the sea and in the cloud. You could say, “You know all about that.” Oh, you think you do? You have not begun to see the meaning of that.
There is a difference between the symbolic and the spiritual, the typical and the real. “Born of water and the Spirit” has a far deeper meaning than ever you have seen or can see, Nicodemus.
And then as to the kingdom. Of course, Nicodemus had not mentioned the word, but the Lord Jesus, according to the words immediately preceding—and that is why I think it is such an unfortunate division of the narrative—knew what was in man.
But Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men,
and because He needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man;
for He Himself knew what was in man.
—John 2:24-25
And there was a man, a Pharisee, namely Nicodemus. He knew him, and what was in him. He knew that this man’s one interest in life—an honest, sincere, passionate interest—was the kingdom. That was the great hope of Israel. That was the great thing about Israel: the kingdom.
The Lord Jesus, knowing the man and knowing his interest in that kingdom, made it perfectly clear that the kingdom about which Nicodemus was thinking was one kingdom, but the kingdom itself was quite another thing. The kingdom of God is quite another thing from the kingdom of Israel on the earth.
These are very strong contrasts that are here. You can see how, by this, the whole Bible is focused into this very channel.
The inclusive conclusion of all this is just this: all that was historic was not the real. It did not conform to the Lord’s meaning when He used the word “truth.”
I said earlier that John 4 is a part of John 3. You know that it is. With the contrast which the Lord Jesus stated to the woman of Samaria—“the hour cometh, and now is”—there is a change. Here is your transition; here you are passing over.
The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth:
for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers.
—John 4:23
Not in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth.
That statement just rules out a whole order and system of things and brings in an entirely other order. All that which was historic was not the real, or, to use the Lord’s word, not the truth.
This mountain, Jerusalem—yes—but it is not the truth. This seed after Abraham—yes—but it is not the truth. This hope of the kingdom—yes—but it is not the truth.
It is very, very searching.
The fact is that everything, everything, had to be put onto the ground of Christ—onto the ground of Christ. And that could only be, and can only be at any time, through death and resurrection, or new birth, on the basis of Christ in death and resurrection.
In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
—Genesis 21:12
Why? Because Isaac is the symbolic embodiment of the principle of death and resurrection.
Everything has to be put onto the ground of Christ in death and resurrection. And that was equally true in the Old Testament as in the New.
In thinking about this reading, I have been reading again that fascinating story of Joseph—the famine in the land, the coming of his brethren, the subsequent removal of the whole family, Jacob and all his sons, seventy souls, from the land into Egypt.
It is a fascinating story. The story of Joseph and his brethren, I think, is one of those things that holds you to the end once you start reading it. The whole of that episode is full of absorbing interest.
But I found myself brought up short with a question. The Lord had brought Abraham into the land and given the land to him by covenant, and to his seed—an everlasting possession. What is this? The seed evacuating the land and going to Egypt?
The whole of them, every soul, coming out of the land of covenant and going into Egypt. Of course, the Lord had told Abraham that his seed should be in the land of Egypt in bondage for four hundred years and should be ill-treated, and so on. The Lord told Abraham that it would be.
But leave the prophecy and its fulfilment for the moment. Here is a strange thing: uprooting and evacuating, to the last soul, the very place of covenant, and going into Egypt. What is the meaning of this? Why?
I thought long about that, and then I think I saw the answer.
Yes, look at the seed of Abraham in the land. Look at those sons of Jacob. What sort of people are these? Yes, the seed of Abraham after the flesh, the inheritors of the covenant in the flesh, the historic line—but look at them.
Well, the incident with Joseph alone is enough to betray what sort of people they were. The story is not a very nice story throughout, is it? Their names, their behaviour, their disposition—it is a poor showing up of the seed of Abraham.
Do you think that God is going to allow that kind of person to follow through to His end? Not at all.
Bring them into Egypt and put them first of all upon the basis of the travail of Christ—the cross. Watch, when they are there, the principle of the cross dealing with the self-life, the flesh, until they grow—grow.
Then see the mighty energies of God in that travail, bringing out that seed from Egypt. In principle, you see, in principle, it is all this tremendous thing: travail unto a new birth through death and resurrection.
God is putting them off the ground of nature onto the ground of Christ, and that in death and resurrection. It has got to be. It has got to be. God is true to His principles. God is true to His Son. God is not play-acting. He is not just making history.
God is writing deep in history the eternal laws of His Son, in Person and redemption.
So they cannot inherit. They cannot inherit. They must go through this ordeal, this terrible ordeal. They must, to repeat, be put on the ground, on the basis of Christ in death and resurrection, before they can come through to possess again the land.
You see God taking things up anew with the seed of Abraham, with the twelve tribes, from Egypt, through the Exodus, through the wilderness, and into the land. It is all on the basis of Christ. Every piece of it, every fragment of it, is on the basis of Christ in principle.
I think I must put in a tremendous parenthesis: this matter of circumcision. It is a delicate matter, but fraught with tremendous significance.
We will read a few passages. First of all, in the Book of Acts, Acts 7, in Stephen’s great discourse:
And He gave him the covenant of circumcision.
—Acts 7:8
Then turn to Romans 2:28-29:
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly;
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh:
but he is a Jew who is one inwardly;
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter;
whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Then Romans 4:9-11:
Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness.
How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision:
and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision,
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision.
How profound. Go over to 1 Corinthians 7:19. You almost hold your breath as you read it:
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing;
but the keeping of the commandments of God.
—1 Corinthians 7:19
Fancy you saying that. Well, come to that in a minute. Then the letter to the Galatians, Galatians 5:6:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision;
but faith working through love.
And Galatians 6:15:
For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Now, a tremendous statement and exposition in the letter to the Colossians, Colossians 2:11-12:
In Whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands,
in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
having been buried with Him in baptism,
wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God,
Who raised Him from the dead.
Now, that is enough of the Word.
Let us call to mind the tremendous importance attached to circumcision by the Jews. I could hold us there all the time, and it would do well if we could get the full force of it.
Tremendous importance was attached to this matter by the Jews. It was the very sign of their national standing, of their national existence, of their belonging to that name.
Anybody without that sign was outside of it altogether—outside the pale of promise and hope and covenant and everything. Everything for them rested upon that. No one would ever be allowed to partake of the feast of the Passover who did not bear that sign. It was the door into everything.
You can realise a little of the weight they placed upon it when you come even into the New Testament, after the day of Pentecost. On the one side, it was quite a tremendous thing for the apostles themselves to handle that matter and weaken their position regarding it.
Peter, James, John, and the others—it was a real wrench. It was a real wrench to have to weaken their position over this matter of literal circumcision. It kept coming up all the time, like rooting something out of their very being.
Then what about these Judaizers, pursuing Paul all over the face of the earth, following up the churches he had established? They said to those to whom he ministered, “Except ye be circumcised, ye cannot be saved.”
I should say this was the cause of all the trouble. Both in the Scriptures and outside the Scriptures, we could give you so much that shows what a thing—what a thing—this was.
Even today, the celebration of this rite in a Jewish home is marked by festivities, sacred rites, and whatnot. Yes, something big, great, immense, and deep in their very being has circumcision as that upon which everything for them hung.
Here is this man who comes along and says, “Circumcision is nothing.” And then, “It is nothing. It is nothing.”
Paul had been a Jew all his life, circumcised the eighth day, and he says that is nothing. What does he see? Well, of course, he sees the spiritual significance, and when you see that, the other is nothing.
He sees the spiritual significance, and here, in his letter to the Colossians, for one place, he lays down precisely and concisely what that significance is.
In Whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands,
in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
having been buried with Him in baptism,
wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God,
Who raised Him from the dead.
—Colossians 2:11-12
Now there are two things here: the relationship of circumcision and baptism. Here is God’s full thought both about circumcision and about baptism. We cannot dig right into that before we go this morning.
But the other thing is what it really does mean in the light of the cross of Christ. The relationship between circumcision and baptism, as here stated by Paul, brings both these words right to the cross of the Lord. They are combined as one in principle and meaning.
As to the cross of the Lord Jesus: buried with Him and raised together with Him. The whole thing is put on the basis of Christ crucified and risen.
Well, we know that, of course, about baptism. We Christians know that to be the meaning of baptism. But what, on the other hand, did this sign signify?
The cross here is brought in, shall we say, as the instrument of circumcision. It does the job. It is that thing, and it is final.
Oh, if Israel had only seen—if they had only seen—nothing would have been given away. They would not have had to lower their idea or lessen their estimate. They would not have made less of circumcision if only they had seen.
Yes, it is a big thing. It is a great thing. After all, national existence does rest upon it. But it is not merely national existence—the heavenly one, coming into all the blessings of the eternal covenant in His blood, rests upon the principle that is here.
Yes, it is a big thing. All the kingdom, as covenanted, is entered into and inherited by this door. It is a tremendous thing. Nothing has been exaggerated as to its importance, if only they had seen Christ crucified and risen.
You see, it was simply because they did not see the real meaning of this predominant, pre-eminent rite in their own life and history that they lost everything. They lost the kingdom; they lost their national place in the counsels of God, for the time being at least.
Not everything, because they separated between a thing and its meaning. It is taking out the meaning of things. For Nicodemus, the thought is blindness. All that is there is the circumcision—that is the point.
He is a Jew; he is circumcised; he is representative in a very full way of Israel after the flesh, in all its completeness. But look how he, as such, is ruled out.
Because our time is practically gone, let us come to this: what is the meaning of this? What does it mean in the life of the true seed of Abraham, which is Christ’s seed? What does it mean?
It means simply this: that it is not of the flesh, but of the heart, as Paul says. It is a severance that has to take place deep down in the innermost being of the person—something down inside there, in the inner man. That is a cutting in between, a putting of two things apart.
I am handicapped by the clock. Everything is crowded. If I had time, we could carry that thought through. But here it is: there is here, in circumcision, blood which comes right in between and puts two things apart.
That is forever settled. That severance has taken place. That difference has been made. Those two things are no longer together. God has put them aside. And what a lot in the New Testament comes in when you say that.
That is the spiritual meaning of baptism. You cannot say, “Oh, this old life is dead and buried,” and then run away from it. But God means all this.
You see, God does not let us off. If we really mean business, He does not let us off any of His meaning. Though at the beginning we may not see it all—and thank God we do not—however, even in saying that, it might be well if we did know a little more.
What is it that is severed in the cross of the Lord Jesus, and by the cross of the Lord Jesus? What severance is it that you and I accept, come to, when we come to the cross of the Lord Jesus and take our position there in the symbolic act of baptism?
There are various terms in the New Testament for that. Sometimes it is called, by the symbolism, “the flesh.” Paul uses “the whole body of the flesh.” He is not talking about our physical body. “The body of the flesh”—he uses that word very often, does he not, in a symbolic way?
Another designation that he gives to it in the Corinthian letter is “the natural man.” In other words, the same thing: the natural man.
What is it really? Flesh. That is a difficult, difficult word. Natural man—perhaps that is still more difficult. It is much more technical. What is it? What do you mean?
Well, dear friends, this is what it means, purely and simply: the self-principle in the creation—a self-principle.
That is the root of everything. That is at the bottom of everything. That is where all the trouble began with Adam, and it is there that all the trouble has gone on. That is where the trouble is with you and with me.
There has grown up and spread and taken hold a self-principle. That is in our nature.
It will assert itself, make itself known, and help itself in any conceivable way. You will never be able to conceive of the ways in which this principle will show itself.
Oh, as though you are trying to pack it down. I could spend a lot of time going around the clock and showing it in every conceivable form—this many-membered thing, that self-principle, asserting itself.
It is not a very happy or healthy kind of consideration, but there it is. There it is. It is in the mind.
We use our intellect and our reason by our self-principle, to overpower and bring things our way, to argue, to substantiate our position.
Before you and I can ever get into the true realm of heavenly things, we have got to have a circumcised intellect, a circumcised reason, a circumcised mind.
Is not that exactly what the Lord was saying to Nicodemus? You see, he was keeping in John 3. Here is this teacher of Israel coming to argue, to discuss. Oh, there is no use, no use.
You have been circumcised in the flesh as a good Jew. What you need is to have your intellect circumcised. Except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot see. You have got it all in the mind—an intellectual apprehension.
But if I have spoken earthly things to you and you do not understand, how will it be if I begin to talk to you about heavenly things? You are out of court altogether. You need a cutting in between your natural life, even as a most devout son of Abraham, and the things of heaven.
The trouble with a lot of people, you see, is that it is their own heads that are in their way all the time. Just the one thing that is holding them back is their own heads: stubborn-mindedness, narrow-mindedness, intellectual superiority, or something—their argumentative disposition.
So in that realm, you meet it every time. No way through. If you try to take them on that line, you are simply beating yourself against a wall.
The Lord Jesus did not do that in trying to win souls at all. He said, “You must be born from above.”
In other cases, the circumcision has to take place in the realm of the feelings, the desires. That is the part of the being that gets in the way of so many people. They are just done by their desires, or their feelings, their emotions—ruled entirely by this and in bondage to that part of their being.
Whenever you meet the natural realm in which you meet them—the feeling life, the emotion, the desire life, the affection—they are very difficult people to handle.
But you see, a true child of heaven, a seed of His travail, is that in which circumcision has taken place right in that realm of the feelings, the desires, the emotions.
What is true in those two realms is true in the realm of the will. Oh, how true this is: with many people, their will is in the way. They just cannot let go. They have got an idea; they have got a position; and they hold it and support it.
They even support their position with Scripture, or support their position with a revelation superior to Scripture. The whole natural nature—their will—is the cause of all the arrest and limitation and defeat of God’s purpose, the setting back of all God’s purposes.
It is just their will: their choices, their decisions, their positions, their ways, their natural self-strength, unbroken.
It is just there that the circumcision must take place, and in so many other ways. You see, it comes down to this inner life of ours. It comes right down there.
The cross, the instrument of spiritual circumcision, has to be applied deeper and ever more deeply to this self-life, because there seems to be no end to it—no end.
What is happening on the other side? That is the painful side, and that is the bright side: it is making room for Christ, is it not? That is what it is.
The real seed, the seed of Christ, growing, becoming manifest, making room for Christ.
Meekness is just the opposite to what I have been saying about the strength of self-will and position, whether it be in emotion or intellect or will. Meekness is exactly the opposite.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart.
—Matthew 11:29
What a circumcised heart was His. Pursue this right through. Oh, yes, something had been done right down in the depths of His being.
Dear friends, I have said we cannot calculate this whole range, this self-principle: introspection, self-occupation, self-attention, self-pity, and self-consciousness—even in our Christian life.
Our devotion to the Lord—we are most happy that other people see how devoted we are, and how humble we are. It is all self, wretched self—may I use the word, stinking self—coming up all the time.
A true child of God is oblivious to himself or herself, less conscious of himself or herself in every way. Other people point out things that they did not realise—good things about them. They were not aware of it. They are surprised that anybody could say anything good about them.
They are much more pathetic. If it should be on the other side and people say bad things, they only say, “Well, you cannot tell me more than I know. I have that out with the Lord. I have got that before the Lord. I am not deceiving myself about that.”
You see, this is a true child of heaven. So we could go on. That is the meaning of circumcision. How different from that in the flesh. It never worked out that way.
Think in the light of that—the truth, the principle, the true meaning—of a son of Abraham, a Pharisee, saying, “I am better than anyone else,” and making long prayers for everybody to see. You know all that the Lord said about them. A true child of Abraham? Well, they missed the point.
Ah, but do not let us criticise and chide. It is a very searching thing for us, is it not? Very searching.
Paul says, so far as that is concerned, circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but a new creation. Circumcision is not of the flesh; circumcision is of the heart.
Then I may stop for the present. The Lord circumcise us, and give us grace to have this severance pursued to finality.