"LEARNING BY REVELATION"  

"In the Visions of God brought He me into the Land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a City on the south. And He brought me there; and behold, there was a Man, whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and He stood in the gate. And the Man said unto me, son of man, Behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you; for, to the intent that I may show them unto you, are you brought here: declare all that you see to the House of Israel". (Ezekiel 40:2-4)   
 
"You, son of man, show the House to the House of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the Form of the House, and the Fashion thereof, and the Egresses thereof, and Entrances thereof, and all the Forms thereof, and all the Laws thereof; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole Form thereof, and all the Ordinances thereof, and do them". (Ezekiel 43:10-11)  
 
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him; and without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of man". (John 1:1-4)  
 
"And the Word became Flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His Glory, Glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of Grace and Truth". (John 1:14)  
 
"And He said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, you shall see the Heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man”. (John 1:51) 
 
We have observed that, when 'the Divine Thought' as represented by 'the Temple' and 'Jerusalem' was forsaken and lost and ‘the Glory’ had departed, Ezekiel was given and caused to write 'the Vision of a New Heavenly House', a House in every detail measured and defined from above.
 
In the same way, when 'the Church' of 'the New Testament times' had lost its 'Purity' and 'Truth' and 'Power', and its 'Heavenly Character' and 'Order', and 'the Primal Glory' of those 'early New Testament days' was departing, then 'John' was caused by 'the Spirit' to bring into view the New, Wonderful, Heavenly, Spiritual Presentation, 'the Person of the Lord Jesus'; that 'New Heavenly Presentation of Christ' which we have in 'John's Gospel', 'his Letters', and 'the Revelation': and we must remember that 'the Gospel written by John' is, in point of time, practically 'the last writing' of 'the New Testament'.  
 
Perhaps the real significance of this has not fallen upon us with due 'Power' and 'Impressiveness’. 
 
We take up the Gospels as we have them in ‘the New Testament arrangement of Books’, and immediately we are put by them back into the days of our ‘Lord’s Life’ on the Earth, and from the standpoint of time that is where we are when reading ‘The Gospels’. 
 
For us, all the rest of 'the New Testament' has yet to be when we are in 'the Gospels', both as to the writings and the history which followed, all is in prospect.  
 
That, of course, is almost inevitable, perhaps almost unavoidable; but we must try to extricate ourselves from that position.  
 
Why was 'the Gospel by John' written?  
 
Was it written just as a record of ‘the Life of the Lord Jesus’ here on Earth to go alongside of two or three other records, that there might be a history of the earthly ‘Life of the Lord Jesus’ preserved?  
 
Is that it?  
 
That is practically the sole result for a great many.  
 
‘The Gospels’ are read with a view to studying ‘the Life of Jesus’ while He was on the Earth.  
 
Now, that may be very good, but I do want to emphasize very strongly that this is not ‘the Holy Spirit's primary intention’ in inspiring ‘the writing of those Gospels’. 
 
And this is particularly seen in the case of 'John’s Gospel', written so long a period after everything else, right at the end of everything; for when John wrote his final writings, the other Apostels were in Glory.  
 
'John's Gospel' was written when 'the New Testament Church', as we have said, had lost its ‘original Form’ and ‘Power’ and ‘Spiritual Life’, its ‘Heavenly Character’ and ‘Divine Order’; written in the midst of such conditions as are outlined in ‘the Messages’ to ‘the Churches in Asia’ at the beginning of ‘the Apocalypse’, and that can be so clearly inferred from his letters.  
 
What was ‘the Object’ in view?  
 
Well, just this: as John writes, things are not as they were, not as God meant them to be; - they no longer represent 'God's Thought' in and for ‘His People’; the order, the Heavenly Order, has broken down and is breaking down yet more.  
 
‘The Heavenly Nature’ has been forfeited and an earthly thing is taking shape in ‘Christianity’; ‘the true Life’ is being lost and ‘the Glory’ is departing.  
 
To that situation ‘God’ reacts with a new presentation of ‘His Son' in a 'Heavenly' and 'Spiritual Way'; for the features or characteristics of John, are ‘Heavenliness’ and ‘Spirituality’.  
 
Is that not true? 

Oh yes, here is a new bringing into view of ‘His Son’.  
 
But what a bringing into view!  
 
Not just and only as 'Jesus of Nazareth', but as 'the Son of Man', and 'Son of God'; - ‘God’ revealed and manifested in Man, out from Eternity with all 'the Fulness of Divine Essence' that ‘His People’ might see.  
 
And so we must get to 'the Holy Spirit's standpoint' in 'the Gospel of John', and in ‘his other writings’, and just see this, that ‘God's way of recovery’, - when 'His Full and Original Thought' has been lost, and that 'Heavenly Revelation' has departed, and 'the Heavenly Glory' has been withdrawn, - is to bring ‘His Son’ anew into view: not to bring us back to the technique of the Church or the Gospel or the Doctrine, but to bring ‘His Son’ into view, to bring ‘Christ’ again in the tremendousness of ‘His Heavenly and Spiritual meaning’ before the heart-eyes of ‘His People’. 
 
That is the answer that is found in 'John' to these conditions that we meet with in 'the New Testament', which so plainly show that the Church was losing its 'Heavenly Position', and all sorts of things were coming in, and the whole thing was becoming earthly.  
 
What will God do?  
 
In what way will He save 'His Purpose' which seems to be so dangerously near being lost?  
 
He will bring 'His Son' into view again.  
 
Remember 'God's Answer' is always in 'His Son' to every movement. .  
 
Whether that movement be in the world as it heads up to Antichrist - (God's answer to Antichrist will be 'Christ' in the full blaze of 'His Divine Glory'), - or whether it be in the Church in the declension and apostasy, ‘God's Answer’ will be in ‘His Son’.  
 
That is the meaning of the opening words of 'the Book of the Revelation'.  
 
The church has lost her place, 'the Glory' has departed, but ‘God’ breaks in with a presentation of 'His Son'.  
 
"I am...the living one; and I became dead, and behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of death and of hades". (Rev.1:18)   
 
'Christ' is presented, and then everything is measured and judged in the Light of that 'Heavenly Man' with the measuring Reed in ‘His Hand’.  
 
Well, we have not time now for following that up.  
 
That is enough really, if we only saw it, and grasped it.  
 
Everything for ‘God’ and for ‘us’ is bound up with a heart-revelation of 'the Lord Jesus'. 

Notice: it will not be, as I have said, in trying to recover 'the New Testament technique'.  

It will not be in a restoration of 'New Testament Order'.  
 
It will not even be in the re-affirmation of 'New Testament Truth' and 'Doctrine'.  
 
These are things, and they can be used to form a framework, but they can never guarantee the Life, the Power, the Glory.  
 
There are plenty here in this earth who have 'the New Testament Doctrine' and 'Technique' and 'Order', but it is a cold, and dead framework.  
 
‘The Life’, and ‘the Glory’, is not there.  
 
No, God's way of 'the Glory' is in 'His Son', God's way of 'the Heavenly Nature' is in 'His Son.'  
 
And that is 'John's Gospel' in a few words, what ‘God’ is there saying.  
 
It is all in 'the Son', and if you see 'the Son' by 'God's act' of opening the eyes, then the rest will follow.  
 
That is 'John's Gospel' again.  
 
"How did He open your eyes?"  
 
Who did this?  
 
How did He do it?  
 
Notice: the man's response or reaction to the interrogation was this, in effect, you are asking me for the technique of things; I am not able to give you the technique, I am not able to explain this thing, but I have the Reality, and that is the thing that matters.  
 
"One thing I know that, whereas I was blind, now I see".(John 9:25)  
 
It is 'the Light' by 'the Life'.  
 
"In Him was Life and the Life was the Light...”. (John 1:4) 
 
We do not want to be able just to give 'the technique of Truth', and to expound and define it all.  
 
That is not 'the first thing'.  
 
‘The first thing’ is, ‘the Life’ produces ‘Light’, and that is in 'the Revelation of the Son': and if I must bring everything to a condensation it is this - Firstly, ‘God’ has shut up everything of ‘Himself’ within 'His Son', and it is not possible now to know or have anything of ‘God’ outside of 'the Lord Jesus', 'His Son'.   
 
Listen, ‘God’ has made this a settled thing; it is final, it is conclusive.  
 
"Christ known only by Revelation"  
 
Secondly, it is not possible to have or know anything of all ‘the Fulness’ which 'God' has shut up in 'His Son' without 'the Holy Spirit's Revelation' of that in an inward way.  
 
It has to be a Miracle wrought by 'the Holy Spirit' within every man and woman if they are to know anything of what 'God' has shut up in 'Christ'.  
 
That again summarizes 'John's Gospel', for there at the center is a 'Man born blind'.  
 
He never has seen.  

It is not a case of restoration with him, it is a giving of Sight.   
 
It is 'the first thing'.  
 
It is going to be an absolutely new world for that man.  
 
Whatever he may have summarized or guessed or imagined, or had been described to him, actual seeing is going to be something with a new beginning.  

It is going to be an absolute Miracle, producing an absolutely new world, and all his guesses of what that world contained and was like will prove to have been very inadequate when he actually sees.  
 
Nothing is going to be seen except by ‘the Miracle’ wrought within.   
 
(1) 'God' has shut up everything of 'Himself' in 'His Son'.  
 
(2) No one can know anything of that except it is revealed. 

"No one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him". (Matt. 11:27)  
 
Revelation can only come by Choice of ‘the Son’. 
 
"Revelation bound up with Practical Situations"  
 
'The third thing' is this.  
 
‘God’ always keeps 'the Revelation of Himself' in 'Christ' bound up with practical situations. 

Listen, I would like for you to lay hold of that.  
 
'God' always keeps 'the Revelation of Himself' in 'Christ' bound up with practical situations.  
 
You and I can never get 'Revelation' other than in connection with some necessity.  
 
We cannot get it simply as a matter of information.  
 
You see, that is information, that is not 'Revelation'.  
 
We cannot get it by studying.   
 
When 'the Lord' gave the 'Manna' in the Wilderness (type of 'Christ' as 'the Bread from Heaven') He stipulated very strongly that not one fragment more than ‘the days need’ was to be gathered, and that if they went beyond ‘the measure of immediate need’, Disease, and Death would break out and overtake them.  
 
‘The Principle’, ‘The Law of the Manna', is that 'God' keeps 'Revelation of Himself' in 'Christ' bound up with practical situations of necessity, and we are not going to have 'Revelation' as mere Teaching, Doctrine, Interpretation, Theory, or anything as a Thing; which means that 'God' is going to put you and me into situations where only 'the Revelation of Christ' can help us and save us.  
 
It becomes a sheer necessity.  

You notice that the Apostles got their 'Revelation for the Church' in practical situations.   
 
They never met around a table to have a Round-Table Conference, to draw up a Scheme of Doctrine and Practice for the Churches, or By-Laws, or How-to's, and so on.  
 
They went out into the Business and came right up against the desperate situation, and in the situation which pressed them, often to desperation, they had to get before 'God' and get 'Revelation'.  
 
'The New Testament' is 'the most practical thing', because it was born out of pressing situations.  
 
'The Lord' gave ‘Light’ for a situation.  
 
'The Revelation of Christ', we might say, in emergencies is the way to keep 'Christ' alive, and the only way in which 'Christ' really does live to 'His own'; where we can ‘know Him’ in 'Living Reality'.  
 
I am sure, you understand what I mean.  
 
Now then, that is why 'the Lord' would keep us in situations which are acute, and real.  
 
'The Lord' is against our getting out on 'theoretical lines' with 'Truth', out on 'technical lines'.  
 
Oh listen, let us shun 'technique' as a 'thing in itself' and recognize this, that, although 'the New Testament' has in it a 'technique' we cannot merely extract 'the technique' and apply it. 

We have to come into 'New Testament situations' to get a 'Revelation of Christ' to meet that situation.  
 
So that 'the Holy Spirit's way' with us is to bring us into living, actual conditions and situations, and needs, in which only some fresh 'Knowledge of the Lord Jesus' can be our Deliverance, our Salvation, our Life, and then to give us, not a ‘Revelation of Truth’, not a ‘Revelation of the answer to our problem’, but a ‘Revelation of the Person’, that we come to see ‘Christ’ in some way that just meets our need. 

We are not drawing upon an it, but upon a HIM.

He is the WORD. - “In the beginning was the Word”,(John 1:1) and the meaning of that designation is just this, that ‘God’ has made ‘Himself’ intelligible to us in a ‘Person’, not in a ‘Book’.

‘God’ has not first of all written a Book, although we have ‘the Bible’.

‘God’ has written a ‘Person’.

‘God’ has written ‘the Revelation of Himself’, but it is in ‘the Person of His Son’, ‘the Headship of the Lord Jesus’, and we cannot have ‘the Constitution of Heaven’, except in ‘the Person’, and ‘the Constituton of Heaven’ is ‘the Person’ in the shape of ‘God’s Son’.

You and I are not going to have things, Doctrine, Teaching, and so on, for our help.

We are going to have ‘the Son’; and ‘in Him’ is ‘the Light’ and ‘Life’. 

This is only an asserting, an affirmation of things.

I do trust you will take hold of the fact stated and go to ‘the Lord’ with this.

Do not ask for ‘Light’ as some thing; - ask for a fuller ‘Knowledge of the Lord Jesus’.

That is the way, for that is the only ‘Living Way’ to know ‘Him’: and remember ‘God’ always keeps ‘the Knowledge of Himself’ in ‘Christ’ bound up with practical situations, even desparate situations. 

Of course, that cuts both ways.

We have to be in the situation.

‘The Holy Spirit’ will bring us, if we are in ‘His Hand’, into the situation which will make necessary a new ‘Knowledge of the Lord’.

That is one side.

The other side is that, if we are in a situation which is a very hard and a very difficult one, we are in the very position to ask for a ‘Revelation of the Lord’.