“THE GOVERNING LAW OF DIVINE LOVE”.

John 1:4;
“In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men”.

John 2:3;
“And when the wine gave out, the Mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine’.”

John 3:3;
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God’.”

John 4:13-14;
“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to the Eternal Life’.” 

John 5:5-9;
“And a certain man was there, who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time (in that condition), He said to him, ‘do you wish to get well?’ The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me’. Jesus said to him, ‘Arise, take up your pallet, and walk’. And immediately the man became well, and took up his pallet and began to walk”. 

John 6:33-35;
“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world”. They said therefore to Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread”. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”.

John 9:1-7;
And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him”. “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work”. “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.  

John 11:1-6,17,21,23,25-26;
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” But when Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was. 
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 
Martha therefore said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. 
Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again”. 
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 

“A Zero Point”.

All these ‘passages’ which we have read are really a sequence.   
 
They are the outflow of ‘the first’. 

“In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of man”.  

And you will notice that they all represent a ‘zero point’. 

‘The Mother of Jesus’ said unto ‘Him’, they have no wine: there is nothing to draw upon!  
 
The ‘next chapter’ is only another way of saying ‘the same thing’. 

‘Nicodemus’ came to ‘Jesus’ and sought to commence at a point which he considered to be a good point from which to begin negotiations with ‘the Lord Jesus’, but it was a point far in advance of that which ‘the Lord Jesus’ could accept: and so ‘He’ took him right back to ‘zero’, and said: “You must be born from above”.  

We cannot start at any point beyond that. 

If you and I are going to come into any kind of ‘Living Relationship’, we must get right back there: we must come to ‘zero’ and start from ‘zero’. 

“You must be born from above”. 

For “...except a man be born from above, he cannot see...”.  

It is no use for our starting at some point where, after all, we are incapacitated from ‘seeing’. 

‘Chapter 4’ is only another way of setting forth ‘the same Truth’. 

‘The woman’ after all is found to be ‘bankrupt’, at ‘zero’. 

‘Jesus’ gradually draws her out and the final expression from her side is, in effect, ‘Well, I do not know anything about that, I have not anything of that; I have been coming every day, day after day, but I know nothing about what You are talking of! 

She is down to ‘zero’: and then ‘He’ says, that is where we begin. 

The water that ‘I’ shall give is not the drawing upon your own resources at all, not bringing something out of your well, it is not something that you can produce and ‘I’ improve and make better. 

No, it is something which comes solely and only from ‘Myself’; it is a new act altogether apart from you; it is the water that ‘I’ shall give.

We begin all over again in this matter.

Then in ‘Chapter 5’ ‘the Holy Spirit’ is careful to make perfectly clear that this poor fellow was in a hopeless state, that every effort was abortive, every hope was disappointed.

For ‘thirty and eight years’, a ‘lifetime’, the man had been in that state, and there is the note of despair in the man.

‘The Lord Jesus’ does not say to him, look here, you are a poor cripple; ‘I’ am going to take you in hand, and after a course of treatment ‘I’ will have you on your feet, ‘I’ will make those old limbs over anew, ‘I’ will improve on your condition.

Not at all. 

In an instant, in a moment, it is a start again.

The effect of what ‘He’ does is as though the man were ‘born again’.

This is not curing ‘the old man’, this is making a ‘new man’, in ‘principle’.

This is something that comes in that was not there before, and could not be produced before, the ground of which was not there, something which was uniquely and solely ‘Christ’s doing’.

It was ‘zero’, and ‘He’ began at ‘zero’.

‘Chapter 6’ - A great multitude.

From where shall we buy bread enough for this multitude?

Well, the situation is quite a hopeless one, but by ‘His own act’, ‘He’ meets the situation, and then follows on with ‘His great teaching’ to interpret what ‘He’ has done in feeding the multitude.  

‘He’ says, “I am the bread which came down from heaven”.

There is nothing here on this ‘earth’ that can meet this need; it has to come ‘out from heaven’; ‘Bread out from heaven’ for ‘the life of the world’: otherwise ‘the world’ is dead. 

We begin at ‘zero’. (the loaves and fishes may represent our small ‘measure of Christ’ which can be increased).

‘Chapter 7’ - The man born blind.

Not a man who lost his sight and is having his sight recovered.

That is not the point at all. 

‘The Glory of God’ is not found in improving, ‘the Glory of God’ is found in ‘Resurrection’. 

That is what is coming out here.  
 
‘The Glory of God’ is not found in our being able to produce something or put something into ‘God’s Hands’, something of ours, that ‘He’ can take up and make use of. 

‘The Glory of God’ is something solely out from ‘God Himself’, and we can contribute nothing. 

‘The Glory of God’ comes out of ‘zero’. 

The man was born blind. 

‘The Lord Jesus’ gives him sight, and he never had ‘sight’ before. 

Then ‘Chapter 11’ gathers it all up. 

If you like to sit down and look at ‘Lazarus’, you will find that ‘Lazarus’ is the embodiment of “They have no wine”. 

He is the embodiment of “You must be born from above”. 

He is the embodiment of “The water that I shall give shall be in him...”. 

He is the embodiment of a ‘bankrupt state’; in the grave four days; but ‘the Lord’ coming to that. 

‘Lazarus’ is the embodiment of ‘Chapter 6’: “I am the Living Bread which came down out of Heaven...for the life of the world”. 

‘Lazarus’ is the embodiment of ‘Chapter 9’, a man who is without ‘sight’, who is given ‘sight’ by ‘the Lord Jesus’. 

‘Lazarus’ gathers it all up. 

But if you notice, in gathering up everything, ‘the Holy Spirit’ is very careful to stress and emphasize one thing, namely that ‘the Lord Jesus’ will not touch the thing until it is far, far removed from any ‘human remedy’. 

‘He’ will not come on to the scene, into association with it, until from all ‘human standpoints’ it is ‘bankrupt’, it is ‘zero’. 

And this is not a question of lack of interest, lack of compassion, or lack of ‘Love’, for here ‘the Holy Spirit’ again points out that ‘Love’ was there. 

But ‘Love’ is bound by a ‘Law’. 

“The governing Law - ‘The Glory of God’”

‘Divine Love’ is bound by a ‘Law’. 

‘Love’ has a ‘Law’ where ‘God’ is concerned. 

‘God’s Love’ is under a ‘Law’. 

‘God’s Love’ is under ‘the Law of the Glory of God’, and ‘He’ can show ‘His Love’ only in so far as showing ‘His Love’ is going to be to ‘His Glory’. 

‘He’ is governed by that. 

In all the showings of ‘His Love’, ‘His object’ is that ‘He’ may be ‘glorified’, and ‘the Glory of God’ is bound up with ‘Resurrection’. 

“Said I not unto you, that if you would believe, you should see the Glory of God”? 

“Your brother shall rise again”. 

‘The Glory of God’ is in ‘Resurrection’ and therefore ‘Love’ demands that everything shall come to the place where only ‘Resurrection’ will meet ‘the situation’; no curing of ‘things’, no remedying of ‘the old man’.

Oh, let me start right back at the beginning if it is necessary.

You see, there are still a lot of people in this world who think that there is something in ‘man’ that can contribute to ‘the Glory of God’ and that ‘Christianity’ is only the bringing up out of man of something that is for ‘the Glory of God’. 

That is a long, long-standing ‘fallacy’ and ‘lie’.  

It is not true. 

Call it what you like; it goes by various names, such as ‘the inner Light’ or ‘the vital spark’.  

‘The Word of God’ all the way through is coming down tremendously on this thing.  
 
I start at ‘zero’,  and ‘zero’ for me means that I can contribute nothing. 

Everything has to come from ‘God’. 

The very fact that ‘the Gift of God’ is ‘Eternal Life’ means that we have not got it until it is given to us. 

We are blind until ‘God’ gives us ‘the faculty of sight’. 

We are dead until ‘God’ gives us ‘Light’.

We are a hopeless cripple until ‘God’ does something for us and in us which we can never do. 

Unless ‘God’ does this ‘thing’, unless this act takes place, well, there we lie. 

‘Spiritually’, that is how we are. 

We can contribute nothing!  

‘Nicodemus’, you have nothing to give, you ‘must be born from above’; I cannot take you at the point at which you come to ‘Me’! 

‘Woman of Samaria’, you have nothing, and you know it and confess it: that is where ‘I’ begin! 

‘Man of Bethesda’, you can do nothing, and you know it: then it all rests with ‘Me’! 

If ever there is to be anything, it rests with ‘Me’! 

‘Lazarus’, what can you do now, and what can anybody make of you? 

If ‘I’ do not come right in as ‘out from Heaven’ and do this thing, then there is nothing but ‘corruption’! 

Listen, this is one of ‘the great lessons’ that you and I have to learn in ‘the School of Christ’, that ‘God’ begins for ‘His Glory’ at ‘zero’, and ‘God’ will take pains through ‘the Holy Spirit’ to make us to know that it is ‘zero’; that is, to bring us consciously to ‘zero’, and make us realize it is all with ‘Him’. 

You see, ‘the End’ is always governing ‘God’, and ‘the End’ is ‘His Glory’. 

Take that word through this ‘Gospel’ again - ‘the Glory of God’ in relation to ‘Christ’. 

We were saying in a previous meditation that ‘God’s great End’ for us ‘in Christ’ is ‘Glory’, ‘Fulness of Glory’. 

Yes, but then there is this - that no flesh should glory before ‘Him’. 

And where does that come in? - ”He that glories, let him glory in the Lord”. (1.Cor.1:29-31) 

And what is that connected with? - “He was made unto us Wisdom from God, and Righteousness and Sanctification, and Redemption: that, according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord”. 

It is a question of what ‘He’ is made to be. 

No flesh is to glory before ‘Him’. 

“My glory will I not give to another”. (Isa.42:8; 48:11)

Therefore it is all ‘the Lord’s matter’ and ‘He’ will retain it in ‘His own Hands’. 

“And when He had heard...He abode two days...where He was”. (John 11:6)

In ‘Love’, governed by ‘Love’, that ‘the Glory of God’ might be revealed, ‘He’ kept away. 

Let me ask, have you got settled on this? 

You see, we take so long to learn these basic ‘elementary lessons’. 

We do still cling to some sort of idea that we can produce something, especially if we have some Bible-knowledge or training in that area, and all our miserable days are simply the result of still hoping that we can in some way provide ‘the Lord’ with something.  
 
Not being able to find it, but breaking down all the time, we get miserable, perfectly miserable.  
 
It takes us so long to come to the place where we do fully and finally settle this matter, that if we lived as long as ever  man lived on this earth, we shall not be able to contribute  one iota which can be acceptable to ‘God’, and which ‘He’ can take and use for ‘our Salvation’, for ‘our Sanctification’, for ‘our Glorification’, not one bit. 

All that ‘He’ can use is ‘His Son’, and the measure of ‘our ultimate Glory’ will be ‘the measure of Christ’ in us, just that. 

There will be differences in ‘glory’, as one thing differs from another in ‘glory’; one glory of ‘the sun’, another of ‘the moon’, another of ‘the stars’.  
 
There will be differences in ‘the degree of glory’, and the difference in ‘degree of glory’ ultimately will be according to ‘the measure of Christ’ that each one of us severally has.

That in turn depends upon how much you and I ‘by Faith’ are really making ‘Christ’ the basis of ‘our Life’, the very basis of ‘our Living’, of ‘our ‘Being’, how much ‘the principle’ of these familiar words has its application in our case, “not what I am, but what You are”. 

‘Christ’ is all ‘the Glory’, ‘the Lamb’ is all ‘the Glory’ in ‘Emmanuel’s Land’. 

Notice: from ‘God’s standpoint’, ‘the Glory of Life’ depends entirely upon our Faith apprehension, appropriation and appreciation of ‘Christ’, and there is no ‘Glory’ at all for us now, or in the time to come, but on that ‘ground’ and on that ‘line’. 

I know how simple that is, how elementary, but oh, it is such a ‘governing thing’. 

“Glory” - that “the Lord shall be glorified in us”! 

What greater thing could happen than that ‘the Lord’ should be glorified in us? 

‘The Glory of God’ is bound up with ‘Resurrection’, and ‘Resurrection’ is God’s unique and sole prerogative.  

So that if ‘God’ is to be glorified in us, you and I have to live by ‘Him’ as ‘the Resurrection’ and ‘the Life’ from day to day, and know ‘Him’ as that as we go through ‘Life’.