Luke 22:7 - 23; John 13:1 - 17; John 20:14 - 18; John 21:15 - 19
I desire, at this time, that the Lord may give us help together to speak of the fidelity of the love of Christ. I think we must feel that in regard of the love of Christ we touch a theme of peculiar blessedness and sweetness. At the same time, we cannot consider the subject without also feeling that we are drawing near to that which, with all its sweetness, must inevitably be very searching to our hearts. I shall take a human illustration in a simple way. I might say that in regard of human affection, where there is a pure tie between souls, there will always be the desire that the expression of it should be heard and understood. One thing that marks the love of Christ, beloved, is its intensely plain speaking, and that touches us in many ways. But in whatever way it may touch our spirits, it always has the great end in view of its own satisfaction, and connected with that, the satisfaction of the Father's heart.
It was the plain speaking and inquiry of the love of Christ that tested the spirit of Peter so intensely. Even in the ways of the Lord with ourselves, and I touch on it with all affection, we may find the Lord speaking very plainly to us. We may be, for various reasons, inclined to interpret His speaking to us thus more on the line of His lordship, than of His affection and care for us. Often times the Lord may speak plainly to us, and it is of all moment to us that we should hear. But there is danger lest we might too
readily interpret the Lord's plain speaking as only bearing on matters that would show our contrariety to His mind, and the fact that they were out of line with His own pleasure and rights as Lord. But there are times when the Lord speaks with intense plainness, when, if we knew the truth, we should know it was not so much that He was drawing attention to existing wrongs, as to the fact that even on the line of rectitude, there may be a lack of intensity and warmth of affection to Himself.
It is insufferable to the heart of Christ that there should be remoteness -- distance -- on our part. We may incline to it, but the longer we remain there, the more accustomed to it we become, and the more disinclined to leave it, but the love of Christ will not endure distance. The institution of the Supper, the service of feet-washing, the service and care of the Lord immediately on His resurrection, in regard of Mary Magdalene particularly, and the dealings of the Lord with Peter at the close of His pathway here, are the plain speaking of the love of Christ that will not endure remoteness. I know of nothing that one becomes so accustomed to, with all one's knowledge of the truth, as the tendency to live in heart at a distance from the Lord. To know the things that are His pleasure and interest, to know the things that are changelessly dear to Himself, and yet, as to our personal links with Him, to be remote, could never satisfy His heart.
I should like to go over with you, as the Lord may help us, the movements of the love of Christ, as indicated in the scriptures referred to. As the Lord drew near to the close of His pathway, with His own outlook before Him -- death, and what death meant to Him -- and to the great end
that was to be the final and culminating testimony of His love to the Father, and His love to, and interest in, His own -- one is deeply impressed with the way in which the Lord moved as to the passover and the Supper. I do not know that I should be justified in taking for granted that every soul here distinguishes between these, but I think it might suffice if I say this in passing, that while we need the passover and the Supper, and each has its place, nevertheless, when we have distinguished between the two, we might lack the consideration of exercised affection for the Lord, that looks into the matter to see what bearing one has on the other. When we come together on the first day of the week, to answer to the Lord's desire as the One who laid down His life for us, we would surely, if ordered aright, come together in moral conditions that have been produced by the keeping of the feast together. Is there in our hearts a sufficient recognition of the fact, that when we come together to answer to the Lord in the Supper, we do not come together to create conditions, but to answer to the Lord in the power of conditions present with us? In whatever way we may order or regard the occasion, we may rest assured of this, that there is that in the Supper which touches our spirits in a peculiarly tender, and searching way. In many ways we have been tested, when we have come to take the Supper, and have been made to feel, more than in any other way, how searching was the scrutiny of the love of Christ. But it was not instituted that we might be searched, or made to feel the remissness of our affection for the Lord. It was instituted that what is due to the Lord Himself, in response to His great and precious
love, might be presented to Himself, the worthy Object of it all.
I draw your attention for a moment to the necessity with the saints at Corinth, that the apostle should recall their attention particularly to the passover at the outset of his epistle. He says, "our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Was there ever such a Passover? Paul does not bring it to bear upon them simply to make a distinction between it and the Supper, but in order that their hearts might be freshly exercised as to the bearing of the feast on themselves. He says, "So that let us celebrate the feast ... with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (verse 8). Whether in respect of the Lord Himself, or in respect of one another, as bound up together with the Lord and His interests, may we be exercised that in all our goings, in all our thoughts of the saints in secret, or when together, and in our prayers for those who are precious to the Lord, that all might be maintained with us in sincerity and truth, for there is nothing that so leads souls astray from the line that pleases the Lord as the lack of these. Individuals, even souls together, may make mistakes or be diverted, but the Lord places great value on sincerity of heart.
Sincerity, in its simple meaning is this, that if I say I am going a certain way, then I go that way. If I say I am seeking certain things (the Lord sees my heart), then I seek these things. The Lord knows I may slip and fail in my footsteps, but sincerity and truth imply that what the lips say, the heart really knows to be true. It is not a matter of saying we love the Lord more than we do, or the brethren more than we do. Sincerity and truth are that we love them
more than we can tell. May we keep the feast together! What will hold us together will be sincerity and truth.
I believe that when we come together to the Supper to answer to the Lord, even though there may be a sense of the need of the Lord's present grace, in regard of temporal things and needs, yet He, blessed be His name, gives the grace not only to rise above that, but also that an answer may be provided in simple response to His precious love. One wishes to speak simply of the Supper as that which marks the great love of the heart of Christ. What a serious thing it would be for our hearts if ever there came a time with us, when the Supper became common! Every heart can answer for itself whether there be any such tendency with it. It should ever have in our hearts the greatness of the place that the love of Christ has given it. Not a place as an ecclesiastical centre, not a thing which is the centre of one ecclesiastical setting, or another, but that which is the most precious and most searching of all things. For it raises a constant question with us as to whether our hearts are right with the Lord, as His heart is with ours. The question raised by the love of Christ is; where our hearts are. You may remember the Old Testament incident to which I refer. "Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?" (2 Kings 10:15). This question was asked by one who was not omniscient, but who would fain know how he was regarded by another.
The Lord knows our hearts omnisciently, nevertheless in the Supper there is a constant appeal to our affections, and the nature of the appeal is this, Is your heart right, as my heart is with yours? There will never be any change in the heart of Christ; His love is the same as when He laid
down His life for us. Well-known ground as the subject is, I trust that no heart here has the impression that it has become at all common ground. It never will be that to the heart of Christ, and may He grant it may never become so to us. If it become common to us, the thing that the Lord most sought in the institution of it will be that which we lack -- a clear, simple, true, and affectionate answer to the Lord Himself, for His own sake. He instituted the Supper, it was His own movement.
The hour of the passover had drawn near, and there is an inquiry on the part of the disciples as to the keeping of it, but the institution of the Supper came in distinctly outside the inquiry of the disciples, it came from the Lord Himself. It was not their request, or desire, that initiated it. Who could have taken them off the ground of the passover, bound up with their affections as it was, but the Lord Himself? Sweetly, the Lord served them in taking their hearts outside of Judaism and all connected with it. The truth as we know it will make us free. "If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free" (John 8:36). The Lord knew what those disciples needed in regard of Judaism, and He took their hearts with Himself on to new ground in the institution of the Supper. I connect the two morally. What the Lord used for the institution of the Supper was provided for the commemoration of the passover -- the bread and the wine. The bread and the cup speak to us of the body and blood of Christ. The cup speaks of the love of God. But I am speaking on this occasion of the Supper, not only as the Lord's provision, but of the conditions which the Lord would have on our side in fidelity to Him.
If we have affection, what is the character of it? Is it that which stands in the power of its knowledge? For a moment I would attempt to make this distinction, that the Lord's appeal is not best answered to by those who know most, but by those who love most. Then, you say at once, that must mean of course by those who have been a long time on the way. No, it does not mean that, but it is really given by hearts to whom the Lord in His own Person is more than anything else, any one else, time, place, or circumstance. It is hearts that love the Lord for His own sake, and respond to Him out of the sense of His own love, that please the Lord best in the Supper.
You may say any one might presume out of their knowledge. There is nothing like love for keeping people quiet. I do not know if you have tried it. I may be thinking of restless people, but there is nothing like love for keeping people quiet, for there is nothing like love so simple and easy to understand. In the presence of the love of Christ, when it lays hold of your soul and impresses your spirit, how much do you want to say? If you were speaking to my soul, which might be a little empty, I could understand your feeling much and saying it too. But in the presence of the love of Christ there oftentimes comes to us a sense that the most we can say may be said in the fewest words. We have nothing to tell the Lord about the Supper. Infinite has been the patience of the Lord in what He has told us about it, and in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, touching our hearts and bringing before us the great, precious, changeless, love of Christ, and the love of God the Father.
The more the love of Christ settles upon our spirits individually, or when together, the deeper is the sense our hearts have of the peace, the rest, of the love of Christ. Then we do not say things to the Lord on the line of description, but our hearts move only on the line of response, and thus we respond with a deep sense of the way we are indebted to the love of Christ. He instituted the Supper from His own side; it was not the suggestion of the disciples; the Lord knew they could not be without it. As one goes on, one feels more and more thankful that the time between the occasions of breaking bread, are just what they are and no more. I do not speak as if the Supper was a place of refuge; for the more we taste of the love of Christ as it is conveyed to us then, the more thankful our hearts become that the space between one occasion and the next is no longer than it is.
I come now to the service of feet-washing, as connected with the love of Christ. It was not done by the desire of His disciples. It stands on the same ground as the Supper in this respect, that it was the Lord's institution, and as much above the understanding of the disciples, on their side, as above their desire. We know much about it. Were I to make a slip tonight and seem to confuse between the Lord's feet-washing service, and His advocacy, I can understand even a young soul saying, 'You are confusing these things'. Though I saw the distinction many years ago, I did not learn till long after, what the preciousness of the love of Christ was in this particular form of service. We want the things themselves. Here we see the love of Christ moving -- the same love that instituted the Supper. I would not say we come to the Supper to get our feet
washed. But I believe that often and often, when we have come there we have proved in a most blessed way the manner in which the Lord touched our spirits and washed our feet -- removing from our souls, not only defilement, but the sense of encumbrances and weights, and thus enabling our souls to move freely to the Lord, with a fresh touch of the love of Christ that did it. Many things might press upon us -- the care of the household, physical conditions, weariness of body, the effect of surroundings; these things might be on the spirit in coming together. God in His great wisdom made man a creature of peculiar sensitivity. Before he sinned, I believe his sensibilities were keen, but they became blunted by distance from God and by sin. They may again become sensitive however, as a consequence of grace having reached us. Even when we are coming together to meet the Lord, we may pass by surroundings, and places, and conditions, that touch our spirits and fain would leave a shadow. You may say, Need I be so? Would it not be better if I did not feel them? No, it would not be better if you did not feel them. But it would be better if, feeling them, you knew the intensity of the grace, and the love of Christ, that would serve you in regard of them. Do not get away from the feeling, it might mean more insensibility than piety.
I wish now to say a word to the young, that has been impressed on my spirit by reason of certain experiences of the last few days. Possibly you pass places you have been accustomed to enter, that you could not enter now, because you love the Lord and belong to Him. But you pass the place and you look at it and say, I am glad I do not go there: I know better now. But is that safety? Is your
preservation from the things you used to serve and follow, wrapped up in your knowledge? No, it is not. Your safeguard is in the fidelity of the love of Christ. You are not safe, unless these things touch your spirit with a sense of pain, which turns you to the Lord, for you are depending then on the ministry of the Lord's grace to your spirit.
The Lord instituted the service of feet-washing, knowing that His hour was come to depart out of the world, knowing too that He was come from God and went to God, and that the Father had given all things into His hand. The widest possible outlook as to the divine dispensation was before the Lord, and He knew it all. All the inward certainty, and peace, and steadfastness of the Lord's own Spirit -- if I may speak of it in that way -- was in God the Father, and in the great desire and interest of His own love, He turns to His own circle, and institutes the service of feet-washing. What were His brethren to Him? A sort of second-best? Just something given Him, because He had lost Israel? No, that is not the love of Christ. His is a love that holds the assembly as the first, and sweetest, and best thing -- the treasure that is meet for His own heart and the answer to His own affection, and the gift, too, of the Father. "They were thine, and thou gavest them me" (John 17:6), and of all of them I have not lost even one. How He holds His own! He holds the best thing first; that which the Father would have for the Son, what the heart of the blessed God would give to Christ (I speak of it reverently), -- the best thing first. He has given Him the assembly.
With that upon His heart, the Lord instituted the service of feet-washing. He inaugurated it above the desire, above the findings of the disciples' feelings. He presented it to them in its desirability, and in its dignity. Actually it was the service of the slave of the house, a menial service in man's ordering. What is its dignity? The dignity of it is that the Son of the Father, the Son of God, the Lover of His own has instituted it. He did the service first. Will that ever become common to us, brethren? Shall we satisfy our hearts with the understanding of the doctrine, or do we value it in its own value as the thing Christ did first? He did it first, and as He did it must be its character to the end.
He laid aside His garments. It was His own act, done in His own dignity and in the peculiar greatness of His own Person. Then He took a linen towel and girded Himself. It speaks of the righteousness, lowliness, tenderness, and fidelity of His own affection. He took water, poured it into a basin, and began to wash the feet of His disciples. He commenced to do it -- notice the word. That was its inauguration. We cannot go into details now, though the more we ponder them the more precious they will become to our hearts. Look at the circle! I do not know how far round in the circle Peter was, but, in due course, the Lord came to him, and when He came to him, Peter spoke. He had had ample opportunity to consider the matter, but even when the Lord came to him he had not overcome his difficulty about it.
Those who do not know what feet-washing is, seldom continue. You say, What do you mean? Well, the sweetest thing that comes to us amongst the saints is the outcome of
the understanding of the love of divine Persons. When you get the sense that a thing that has come to you from another is for the sake of Christ, it washes your feet. You neither misunderstand the motive of the person who may be the instrument of it, nor do you misunderstand it on any false line of your deserving it or otherwise. But if the impression conveyed to your spirit, is the impression of the love of Christ, your feet are washed.
How the things that are temporal drop away in the presence of the love of Christ. Preference for persons, difference of circumstances, and many other things, how they all drop out in the presence of the activities of the love of Christ, in the circle of His own. You get a touch from a brother. You may think at times, Well, I wonder if I should be much profited by knowing that brother; perhaps he does not look attractive externally. How often we are surprised by the fact that, from a vessel that on its exterior does not promise much, there may have been much in it to wash our feet -- it was there for Christ's sake. Our difficulty may have been rather this, that what was there was not only for our sake, but for His. Brethren, what washes our feet is first and most precious of all, for Christ's sake. It must be so if He is above all others. Everything that makes much of Christ, washes the saints' feet. Peace and comfort flow from it.
May I say a word as to Peter, in regard of continuance? What Peter trusted in was his own strength. In the things of God? Yes, he trusted himself. He said, Though all should be offended, yet will not I. He found himself out of touch with the Lord in feet-washing. If Peter had taken to heart the fact that the Lord had to expose to
him that his own feeling was out of accord with Himself; if he had borne on his spirit that tender word of the Lord in regard of feet-washing; might he not have been spared the rest? If I am not minded to accept feet-washing, am I on a line on which I can have the Lord's support?
This is the first touch in John's gospel that shows us that Peter was not in accord with the Lord's feelings, and a peculiarly serious one it is; as if the Lord said to him, Peter, the thing that matters most to Me is the thing you do not understand. If he had taken to heart the Lord's word, may we not legitimately suggest he might have been saved the rest? Howbeit, he reached by discipline what the Lord would have brought him into by feet-washing. Such is the fidelity of the love of Christ. I speak from experience, which has taught me this. There are many things I may have reached by discipline, that I might have reached by feet-washing, but it is the fidelity of the love of Christ that has brought me there in the end.
In regard of the Supper, our gatherings from time to time are so variable, in what I might call their spiritual quality, that we often raise a question as to conditions from the moral point of view, but may I suggest this? If we washed one another's feet more, our answer to the Lord in the Supper might be more decided and sweet than it is, and I believe too that our power to worship would be greatly enlarged in us.
In regard of Mary, we see the unchangeableness and faithfulness of the love of Christ. I see the Lord, not only in the sense of His suffering, and superior to it in the greatness of His love, but I see the Lord again, the living One out of death, alive for evermore, having the keys of
death and hades -- as He speaks in Revelation 1:17, 18, "I am ... the living one: and I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages". Ah, you say, that is a great guarantee of the fact that He will unlock the situation at the rapture. It is a sweet guarantee of the fact, brethren, that He can unlock it now. He took the affections of Mary on to entirely new ground; rapture affections, in the principle of them, are affections that are engaged with the Lord in an entirely new place. He said to Mary, "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but 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). Before the affections of Mary were in touch with the brethren, in the power of the Lord's word, they travelled to a new place. It was the power of the ministry of the Lord to Mary, that took her affections from earthly hopes, even in Himself, and anticipatively carried them to the place with which the declaration was connected: "My Father and your Father, and to my God and your God".
Now He says, "Go to my brethren". She went and told them. It was the fidelity of the love of Christ, securing a heart in the power of affection, connected not only with the lordship of Christ, but sweetly and divinely connected with the Lord Himself -- the Object of the Father's pleasure. The Firstborn amongst many brethren, yea, I think we might say, as the Head of the assembly, His body, "the fulness of him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). Her affections went to the new place, and they went there to stay there.
I do not wish to be mystical, but I think no one can give you so much practical help in your difficulties, as a
person who is connected with heaven. God solves time's difficulties for eternity. The person whose heart is where Christ is, is not necessarily an impractical sort of person. You will find far more help in your difficulties from a man whose heart is in heaven, because he brings in the light of God's presence on them, and not the accumulated knowledge of man.
I close with one word more. The Lord spoke thrice to Peter. It was in the presence of the brethren He spoke. I would draw your attention to this, because it may touch our spirits without leaving any undue shadow on our minds, that the reason for His plain speaking these three times to Peter was to draw out in tender expression to Himself the character and the quality of the love of Peter. He did not ask Peter if he believed. Look at the tender movement of priestly care and shepherding that reached Peter! That must have been a tender proof to the heart of Peter of how much the Lord loved him. Nevertheless, three times He spoke, "Lovest thou me?" At last Peter was grieved because the Lord said to him the third time, "Lovest thou me?" and he said, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee". Brethren, that is what the Lord is seeking. Then He says to Peter, "Feed my sheep".
The object of the Lord's plain speaking to our hearts at this time may be, that as we are helped to answer to Himself in simple and deep feeling, He may entrust to us in a deeper way than before, the things that are most precious to His heart. May we covet these things.
From Memorials of J B Catterall's Ministry, pages 1 - 20.
Luke 9:37 - 52
My desire, as the Lord may help me, is to speak to you of what is involved in following the Lord. The thought of following the Lord must present a very great attraction to every one of us, and I think, too, that the young, whose hearts have been drawn out after Him, must also have some sense of the gravity of such a path. I would say at the outset that it is not a way that will be found easy naturally. The energy of nature, or even the strength that the knowledge of divine things as information can give, will not carry us through. It is a way in which we must find the help of the Lord, if we are to be walking in it for His pleasure, in fidelity, and in spiritual affection. I hope that I may be able to encourage your hearts before Him, as to what it is to Him for us to be found in that way, and to have before us the preciousness and value of following the Lord; and not only what it is to us, bringing light, and comfort, and preservation of mind and spirit, but what it is to Himself, bringing joy and comfort to His heart.
At this juncture I shall refer to a very peculiar and sweet word employed by the psalmist at a time of very great pressure, through the attitude of men in their wickedness towards him. Speaking in the Spirit of Christ, and as a type of Him, he appeals to Jehovah and says, "The assembly of the violent seek after my soul". Then he lifts up his heart to Jehovah and says, "Shew me a token
for good, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed" (Psalm 86:14, 17). I would impress upon our hearts that in the path of following Christ, we are God's token for good to Christ. We have been given by God to Him, not only that we may be associated with Him in that scene into which He has entered, but that we might come out in the spirit and character of Christ here. So that in that sense we have been given by God as a token for good to Christ. If we view for a moment the light that has come to us in these broken days of departure from the truth, it is of very great moment to realise that we have been given it for Christ's sake, not because of faithfulness in us. We have been given it in the faithfulness of God, that we might come out as God's token for good to Christ, that His enemies might be ashamed.
Now that precious thought is presented in the gospels as applying to us. In Matthew, in connection with the kingdom; in Mark, as connected with the holiness and service of God; in Luke, in regard to the testimony of divine grace; and in John, as connected with the fellowship of God according to the truth. In every case we come out as God's token for good to Christ, that His enemies might be ashamed.
I desire to raise the question in our souls as to the truth as it is known in Christ personally. The very knowledge of the truth that we possess, if we be unwatchful, may come between our hearts and the person of Christ, who is the expression of it. We may become accustomed to what exists in the company of those with whom we walk. What is clear and concise in the knowledge of the truth is our very heritage, but there is the possibility and the danger of
dissociating it from the person of Christ, in receiving whom we have received all. Every one of us is being formed in soul history in relation to God. I do not speak of our public and known history amongst the people of God, but of soul history in regard to God's things. Let me ask you how far in regard to your apprehension of the Supper, has there been consecutive steps in soul history with God? How easy it is to regard our comings together as that which has to be formally sustained, comings together that may stand upon custom, rather than upon affection! So one would raise the inquiry as to how far, as we gather together from time to time, from the least to the greatest of us, are we working out our true soul history in regard of the things of God, and spiritually and livingly following Christ.
The connection that scriptures in Luke's gospel have with the thought of following Christ, may not be immediately apparent to you, but in various aspects it opens out with the view that is seen of the glory of Christ on the mount of transfiguration. The Lord, in His own movement, takes His disciples aside from their position here, as connected with the testimony, and as the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He takes them with Himself to the mountain apart, and while He is in prayer, as recorded in this gospel, He is transfigured. The sight of the blessed Lord in that attitude is deeply touching, and to see the glory of God, in the person of Jesus, roll in as the answer to His prayer, is very affecting. It is not the majesty of His Person that we see here, it is His moral glory as the Man who has come to do the will of God.
We have in that one blessed Person the answer to every yearning of faith, and to every spiritual desire in the Old Testament dispensation; and the answer to every utterance of the Holy Spirit, "for the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 19:10). The glory that shines there is the glory of the Man Christ Jesus, the One whose "visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the children of men" (Isaiah 52:14). The One of whom the Spirit of God records the sufferings, through which the glory of God would be brought to pass abidingly. You will recall the word He spoke to two of His own who, discouraged by His sufferings, were turning away from the path of the testimony. He appeared to them on the way to Emmaus, searching their hearts and said, "O senseless and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:25, 26). Thus the glory of Luke's gospel, is the glory that is at the end of suffering: "If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him" (Romans 8:17). The beloved apostle, writing to the Philippians, said, "Because to you has been given, as regards Christ, not only the believing on him but the suffering for him also" (Philippians 1:29). The path of suffering is that into which we have been called, and we have not been called there because of any superiority on our part, but by the sovereignty of the love of God, and by the measureless power of His grace. We have been called to it, not that we may shine in any way peculiar to ourselves, but that we might come out in the mind, and spirit, and character of Christ. I do not wish to discourage, but it is possible to have a very great amount of light, and
be very clear in our minds as to divine truth, and yet not be following Christ. It is a very serious matter to be in the circle where faith, and separateness of heart are maintained for us, and yet not to be really following the One who by His faithfulness was the Originator of it.
You will observe in this chapter that as the Lord comes down from the mount of transfiguration, a condition of things is discovered which had crept in by reason of the fact that Jehovah, as an Object, had been lost to His people Israel. I apply this in principle to ourselves. There are many of us, young in years and young in faith, and many who are older too, and we are following in one path together, having one blessed and peerless Object. But let us consider together whether we are at this present moment in our soul history in the light of the truth "according as the truth is in Jesus" (Ephesians 4:21). Does that blessed Person hold our hearts as He should do? Is He nearer to us in a spiritual way than ever? Or are we in the spirit of our minds, while perhaps adding to our knowledge, less in nearness to His Person than we have experienced formerly? I have been greatly impressed by this fact, how possible it is to be adding to our intelligence, and yet to be drifting from His own Person. How possible it is to be adding to our store of knowledge, and yet not growing by the true knowledge of God. As we view these possibilities it moves our spirits to exercise.
As the Lord descended from the mount there was brought to Him by one of the multitude, his child possessed of an unclean spirit, or as Matthew describes it, he was lunatic. It is very striking that that statement follows immediately upon the manifestation of the Lord's
glory on the mount, where He is seen in His majesty, His face shining as the sun. Evidently the condition of things that had supervened was the result of the glory of His Person having been lost sight of. But in Luke's account it is spoken of as an unclean spirit: the blessed Lord speaks of it in that way. It is a spirit that is the result of a gradual process of drifting away from the glory of God in a living Person. Bear with me in a word to my younger brethren. Although you may be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, unless you are sustained in nearness to the Lord, you will become marked by another spirit. Being indwelt by the Holy Spirit does not relieve us of the need of prayer for a supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ; nor does it preserve us from the need of exercise, lest we should be affected by another spirit.
The Spirit of God has been given to us, and His normal ministry is that our hearts may be held livingly, directly, and dependently in nearness to the Lord Himself. So the condition of things which the Lord found in coming down from the mount, had come in typically by reason of the Lord in His glory having been lost sight of. Now, figuratively, in place of the power of the Holy Spirit, there was another spirit that affected the mind and character, and controlled the succeeding generation. If we, who are going before others, do not manifest unquestionable proofs of walking with a living Lord, we are leaving a door open to a contrary spirit in the next generation.
Well, the Lord meets this condition in His own power. He casts out the spirit, which was a spirit of bondage, cowardice, and fear, a spirit that may gradually possess our hearts, unless we are kept by the Lord. Then we have in a
very precious way this suggestion as to following the Lord.
If we were asked by the Lord Himself, what we wanted most in the assembly, what should we say? Some might say, I should like to preach; others might like to teach; some, perhaps, would like to be wise; while others might desire to be available to the saints in whatever service opened to them. The greatest thing open to us in the assembly of God's people is to be like Christ. But there arose a reasoning among the disciples as to who should be the greatest. The power manifested by the Lord undoubtedly underlay their inquiry and reasonings. He, knowing their hearts, took a little child and set it in their midst, as an expression of what He loved best -- the thing that was nearest to His own desires, the subject of His most tender approval. Would any one accustomed to man's ways have expected a way like this, and a word like this? But if their hearts had carried forward the lesson of the glory on the mount of transfiguration, what else could they have expected but that the Lord would take a way that was entirely His own! Man in his greatness, and wisdom, and knowledge is set aside entirely; whereas one who has seen the glory on the mount will never desire to figure anywhere in the assembly, but in the way that Christ loves, and of which He approves.
The fact is, the line of following Christ begins in the assembly. My dear young friends, you will find that the Lord will gently lead and direct your hearts to this point -- to the assembly, as the place where you are most tested by the mind and Spirit of Christ. If I am in the world -- the world that is against Christ and the testimony -- and its
conduct comes out in a flagrant form, I may present a moral contrast, and I may set upon myself a mistaken value for that reason. But when I come to the assembly where, normally, the Spirit of Christ rules, I am tested by what is according to Christ, not by what is contrary to Him. If the world speaks against Christ, any little syllable of mine for Him is great. In a sense, it stands out great by its contrast, but in the assembly I am tested as to whether I am near Christ or not.
It is where the Lord is enjoyed that our greatest tests are found. The Lord took that little child and put him in the midst. Can we follow Christ in that? It is one thing to follow Him in the world, where there is such contrariety, but come to the centre and look at the position which is Christ's own -- for where else are His joys, His possessions, but in the assembly of His people? In the midst of this company He sets a little child and challenges their hearts, as if to say, This is the starting-point, can you follow Me in this? Can we follow Him in it? Set together in our various localities, as we are under the Lord's hand, can we follow Him in this? What men love is one thing, what the Lord loves is another. He did not wait until we were like Himself, before He loved us and died for us. It was when we were totally unlike Himself. Yes, we have to do with a loving Lord. What His heart is set upon is that we should follow Him, and learn what it is to be set up here in the power, fragrance and wisdom of His own Spirit, so that we may be found in our little companies following Christ. We should therefore be prepared, in relation to one another, to take the lowest place possible, in order that the pleasure of God may be assured. Anything
else militates against it. If I have gift before me unduly, I put gift before others; if service, service. If I have Christ before me as the living, loving object of my soul, I shall put Christ before myself and before everything else.
In this same incident, according to Matthew, the Lord calls the attention of the disciples to the fact that unless they be converted, and become as little children, they cannot see the kingdom of God, let alone have greatness in it! That does not mean a person is not the Lord's. It means that in regard to the Lord's own circle, in nearness to Himself as having been converted, and become a little child, you are pursuing the kind of greatness which is greatness in His eye, and in the sight of God. There can be no other greatness. It is that upon which God had already set His approval when He said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight: hear him" (Matthew 17:5).
I come to another point -- one raised by John. Moving in the path in which the Lord had set them, the disciples encountered a man casting out demons in the Lord's name, who did not walk with them. We are surrounded with this, and this scripture is not only given as guidance in regard to it, but that we may be helped from pursuing that line. Will you bear with me in asking a question touching this? Have you ever felt inclined to use the power of the Lord apart from Himself? If we move in the light that God has given to us in these days, but apart from communion with Christ, what are we doing? We are using the power that has been given to us, without reference to the Person. But, you say, I am responsible to speak for the Lord wherever I am. Yes, you are the Lord's wherever you are. But have you ever felt yourself content to use your knowledge, as knowledge,
while in your heart of hearts you know you are not walking with the Lord? You say, You are guessing! No, I am not guessing. Then you say, You know me! No, I do not; but I know my own heart; I know what I have done, and I feel that this scripture is given to affect us so that we may be lowly, and in the mind of Christ.
Our business is to keep near to the Lord, to be in our minds and spirits free with Him, that He may use us, but not to seek the Lord's interference to justify our position ecclesiastically. In what we have from God, be it ever so much, if we are not following the Lord in it, what is it worth? Whatever I know if it be not held in my soul in relation to a living Lord, it is but religion. It may be a good brand of religion, but so far as its power and value go, it is but religion. May the Lord grant, in regard to what we have received from Him, that we may seek grace from Himself to test ourselves as to whether we are walking with the Lord as a living Person.
John was one of peculiar exercise, and I am glad that it was he who raised the question. He was the one who leaned on the bosom of Jesus, who asked the question, Lord, who is it? John is marked off in Scripture, as one who kept near to the Lord personally, and I can understand his difficulty. He was not merely seeking the Lord's guidance as to their relative positions; he was seeking the Lord's mind in this matter, for he could not understand how a person who could use the Lord's name, could do so without following that Person. If our hearts were rightly exercised, we should feel it to be an intolerable and unseemly thing, that we should move on the line of using knowledge without being near Christ. May God keep us!
But the Lord did not interfere. He said to John, Leave him alone. That was enough for John; if his Lord did not interfere, neither should he. Do not frown on anything, even though it be marked by a lack of knowledge, that seems to have little regard for Christ. If you cannot go with it, leave it alone. Our business is to follow the Lord in what we know. Have we not experienced it? I have. One has come into contact with souls who, in regard of knowledge, needed help, but in regard to the preciousness of Christ to them, they put one to shame. Let us follow this line as to being called after the Lord. It is a precious line, one in which there is testing for the spirit, one in which, however, there is great comfort, and realisation of our desires as they are found centred in the person of Christ.
But to pass on, the Lord speaks to His disciples as to the end before Him, not an end of greatness according to man, but of greatness according to God. He was going to Jerusalem, His face set stedfastly to go there, committed entirely to the will of God and His glory. As He moves in that way, a man comes to Him and says, "I will follow thee wheresoever thou goest, Lord". The Lord says, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven roosting-places, but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head" (Luke 9:57, 58). The Lord pointed out to the man the character of the way. He never indicated to him the character of the end. We start on this way with a very great deal of impetus. We start with the impetus that grace gives, with the sense of relief that comes to our spirits by meeting the Lord Jesus; so we say to the Lord, There is no place where we would not follow thee. Why does the Lord leave the question of the end of the journey when speaking
to this man? To test his heart as to what Christ was worth to him. You say, I will not leave the testimony! But you will leave the testimony, if you leave the Lord. There is not a heart among us that can be trusted as to what might transpire tomorrow, if tomorrow finds us out of communion with the Lord. But, blessed be God! The testimony is independent of human resting-places -- holes or roosting-places -- but we have the blessed love of Christ. We are not expected to stand in the place of exposure, without that love holding our spirits; but so far as nature is concerned, and so far, too, as religious supports are concerned, are they sufficient without Christ? Oh, you say, I have been with the brethren from my early days, and my parents were with them before me! And so were mine, and in the mercy of God, through that provision, I knew what it was to find a resting-place. But I did not know its value, until those who cared for me took another road from mine, and, even though professedly following the same Lord, we had different roads.
God may use what is human in bringing light to our souls, but there is not one thing in God's system, which stands with natural heredity. In John 9, we get a man's eyes opened by the power of the Son of God. Jesus having made mud and anointed his eyes, he went to Siloam (by interpretation 'sent'), and having washed came seeing. You remember what happened; the very day he saw the light for the first time, he had to turn his back on what he saw. Blessed be God, he had the light of another world in his soul, or it would have been too much to leave! He never saw the synagogue until the day that he was cast out of it for the Lord's sake. He never saw his father and
mother, until the day that they denied him! But he proved the truth of the words, "For had my father and my mother forsaken me, then had Jehovah taken me up" (Psalm 27:10). It is not of nature.
You give God thanks for the saints; you give Him thanks for the parents who loved Christ before it became yours to love Him, but you have to learn that the light of Christ in your own soul is the tie that binds you personally to Him. There is no room for natural heredity in the things of God. We do not know what happened to the man in Luke 9. We have this word of the Lord to him, as to His having nowhere to lay His head. There are few men who can do without sleep for more than a few nights; but the simple meaning of the Lord's words is, Are you relying upon nature? Are you relying upon knowledge, that came to you through the instrumentality of nature, to follow the Lord whatever changes may take place, if He tarry?
Let us learn this together, that our power to continue in the testimony lies in being kept near the Lord. Where is the Lord with you tonight? It is not a question of what we did five, ten, or twenty years ago. Has the Lord moved since then? Oh, you may say, I am in the same room and in the same locality. Where is God's room and God's locality? Where is the Lord in matters, and where am I with Him? Am I as near the Lord? Is He a name to me, or a Person? Is it doctrine, or the truth in a living Person who died for my soul? He gave Himself for the church, and to accomplish the will of God -- the living, blessed Person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. To follow Him, is not to follow a line, or a system; it is to follow all that is of God. The foxes have holes, the Lord says, and the birds of
the heaven roosting-places; it was just as much as to say, If you think you can follow Me, you will have to move in the path that I am in. Are you in it for Christ's sake? May the Lord grant that it be so. I do not know why the youngest lover of Christ here, may not step out confidently, lowlily, and dependently on a path even like this, having regard to the fact that the blessed person of Christ will be their object and support in it.
Now I come to another point; the Lord calls again. He says to another, "Follow me". This one answers Him, saying, "Lord, allow me to go first and bury my father". Then Jesus says to him, "Suffer the dead to bury their own dead, but do thou go and announce the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:59, 60). Things connected with our lives here, natural objects, live long with us. I once came in touch with a brother who seemed to be under a shadow. I inquired as to what was the cause. Well, he said, I have never got over the matter of a brother's defection some eighteen years ago. It had taken him eighteen years to bury his father, for it was the brother's father, and for eighteen years he had been under a shadow, because, looking back upon it, he thought that his father had not been rightly handled. It had taken him all those years to bury his father -- nor was he buried then. If we are not very careful, often what we think to be our rights, our own ways, and thoughts, will hinder us in the things of God. Is there any brother or sister here tonight, who feels that in their companying with the saints they have not been treated as they might have been? Is it not buried yet? Some one may say, 'Yes, but then you know it was wrong'. Well then, I say, for Christ's sake, make it a matter of sacrifice, not of
disappointment, but keep in the path of following Him. May we who feel that we have anything outstanding in our minds in connection with natural links, or of our own rights, seek grace of the Lord to bury it; for the sake of Him who is our Object in the path, the One who has died for us. Put it under ground, get it out of sight. It may cost you tears, but you will be able to enter into your relation with the saints happily, and without shadow to follow the Lord.
And now I come to the closing word. Another said to the Lord that he would follow Him, but wanted first to return to those who were at home. He wanted to save a rupture, and to preserve a reputation. He wanted to follow the Lord in a way that would carry an element of nature with it. He was not prepared quite, to set out in the reproach of Christ. He was carrying forward elements of danger, of going back. My friends, we need not stretch our imagination. Our history as brethren has proved it, that there have been things carried forward in times of crises, which have well nigh wrecked the saints and dishonoured the Lord. What is reputation in the things of God? Do you want to be reputed as a follower of the Lord Jesus?
You can leave your reputation; it will hinder you in the race. Your reputation lies before. Keep to the Lord's reputation, His honour, and yours will be all right. Make up your mind, as the Lord gives you grace, not to sully His name and yours will be cleared. Consider not your reputation now, it lies on before, and the day will declare it. No man can be a true lover of Christ, who tends to look back. "No one having laid his hand on the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
Let me close with a word for all our hearts, especially those who are younger: that he who thinks to follow Christ, must see to it that he is not easily turned aside by a word, by a threat, or by an attraction. Such an one must keep his face in one direction only. I remember, as a boy in Scotland, watching what is not seen in these parts, a ploughing match. In ploughing matches they do not usually set the furrow where all the ground is seen; they contrive in setting the men to plough, that they shall finish their furrow perhaps over the hill, so that the end is not seen at the commencement. The man who ploughed the most straight furrow was the man who kept his eye upon one thing, and one thing only. He fixed his own mark, and never watched what his neighbours were doing, and you do the same. The greatest power that can be found amongst us in following Christ, is to be attached to Him with undivided affection. I do not get in your way, nor you in mine, if we are both following the Lord. May He help us, for His name's sake!
From Memorials of J B Catterall's Ministry, pages 37 - 57.
Exodus 23:14 - 19; Deuteronomy 16:1 - 22.
I desire to speak to you simply of what God's desires are in respect of His people, and one feels the need of special grace in doing so, in order to be preserved from presenting things merely on the line of intelligence or theory. It is often possible to be clear in one's mind as to certain ideas in christianity, but it is not one's clarity of mind that is so important, but the measure in which our affections are in spiritual exercise.
I read these scriptures so that we might dwell a little upon the love of Christ, the sufferings of Christ, and the way in which the Lord delights to take account of conditions amongst His people. It is interesting to consider how graciously God expresses Himself to His people in the Old Testament, when giving them communications, and how pleasurable it was in His sight that there should be response from them to Himself.
It is a very searching word for each of us -- that we have to beware that we do not present ourselves empty before God. We may be greatly concerned as to the importance of doing right things, and that our conduct should be blameless, without flaw, and yet we may appear before the Lord empty. I venture to say that the heart that loves Christ will never be found empty. Some may think that it is our want of intelligence that is the root of the
trouble. Instruction is provided for us, if we need that, but what lies at the root is that we are spiritually deficient. But the more the heart resides in the presence of the glory of Christ, the more do we grow in the appreciation of Himself, and we shall not then be empty.
In referring to these three feasts, one would desire to consider the way in which they are brought before us in these two scriptures. For the sake of the young, I would say that it is not with us a literal appearing before God three times in the year. Nor is it a matter of keeping actual feasts, whether the passover, the feast of weeks, or the feast of tabernacles. But it is a question of spiritual response. I want, therefore, in a simple way, to bring before you how there can be with us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, what answers to these feasts. The first, the passover, presents what is moral; the second, the feast of weeks, what is spiritual; and the third, the feast of tabernacles, what is divine.
The Holy Spirit has furnished for our spiritual instruction these definite lines of divine teaching, so that we might increase spiritually. As I said, it is not a matter of keeping actual feasts. In 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8, we read, "For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; so 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". If we are careless, or indifferent, in respect of the passover, it will result in our going back in spirit to what is in Egypt. The passover is kept in the wilderness. It was to be the means of preserving God's people. He would have the sense of what was connected with the passover ever kept before them.
During the whole course of the year, He would have them in continual remembrance of the month "Abib". We often say, I think it is time we got beyond that point; but I should pity the soul that gets beyond the passover. It was observed in the wilderness, and was God's means of preservation for the people from what was Egyptian and hostile to God. But it also had to be observed in the land. They were always to be solemnised in their spirits by the fact that their place in the land was entirely due to their having been covered in the passover.
In the epistle to the Colossians, the apostle presents to the saints at Colosse the wonderful outlook, presented on the heavenly side as risen with Christ. In doing so he reminds them of the fact that they had been reconciled to God "in the body of his flesh through death; to present you holy and unblameable and irreproachable before it" (Colossians 1:22). That is the way the position was brought to bear upon the Colossians; it was presenting to their affections the sphere of things on the other side of the Jordan. He encourages them to pass over, but they could not be there on the line of the flesh, but as secured by the offering of the body of Christ.
It is very easy to get occupied with what is Egyptian. Often our associations, which are perhaps full of apparent value to us, are the hindrance. We feel we have not the power to free ourselves from them. That should be a most serious consideration for us. If we are desirous of being free from what is Egyptian, are our hearts tied or held by what is contrary to God's rest? When Moses, the leader of God's people, recounts the passage of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, he says they "removed from
Rameses" (Numbers 33:5). Moses had the opportunity of being the greatest Ramesian that Egypt had. If he, that chosen vessel of God, had made his position in the opposite direction to that which he did, he could have been the greatest head that Egypt ever had. Rameses denotes all that is great on the Egyptian line: and Moses measures their pathway from that point -- the place where the Egyptians buried their dead.
Many a heart has gone out of Egypt at the start, in the enthusiasm of evangelical conditions, and afterwards it has begun to feel that in leaving Egypt, it had left what was living instead of what is dead. Egypt is a giant burying-place; their occupation that of burying their dead. What a solemn sight in the eyes of Moses, was the thought of his heart in bringing it afresh before the people of God at the close of Deuteronomy! How have we left Egypt? Have we left it with regrets, with any lingerings in respect of its things? You will recall the incident of the children of Israel murmuring in Numbers 11:4 - 6. They said, "Who will give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; and now our soul is dried up: there is nothing at all but the manna before our eyes". The Spirit of God challenges them as to whether there had ever been any time that they had been in trouble when He had not come in for them.
How solemn to forget "Abib", the beginning of months! Moses makes express mention of this in Deuteronomy 16:1 - 3, he says, "Keep 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. And 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. Thou 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". How well might they and we remember the month "Abib". It is to be held in spiritual recollection. We must not always abide by the forgiveness of sins, we must make spiritual progress. But is it spiritual progress to forget the month Abib? Is it spiritual progress to go back to the things from which God has freed us? If we do forget it, we shall begin to long for something of Egypt. We need never be empty, we need never be spiritually deficient, or feel the slightest need of turning to the world. No heart ever found a void filled by turning to the world! We may have been disappointed because we have had a feeling that we have not been loved or cared for enough, or that others have not been sufficiently interested in us. If this has been so, there is need to get to the Lord, for Him to come in for us. There is enough in Him to satisfy our hearts; but unless God be our object, disappointed we must be. One has heard of those who had a little feeling that they were not loved enough. But let me assure you, there is warmth enough in the christian circle. There are comfort, sympathy, and tenderness, to be found there if we are prepared to keep near enough to feel it.
When God took the people out of Egypt, He thought of them as one man, as was predicated of them by the Holy
Spirit through the prophet Hosea, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1). They came out in that one identity, as one under God's eye, both in discipline, and as to blessing. As they had been similar in trials and testings, so they were to be similar in the purpose of God, in that great end to which He was bringing them -- "What hath God wrought?" (Numbers 23:23). And what possibilities there are when God puts out His hand in divine blessing and touches the soul. It is the breaking forth of the green leaf! What does God intend to do? To bless us in His own way, as those in whom He has wrought, and to establish us by the discipline and trials through which we may be called to pass. But we must be free of Egypt; there must be no entanglements; we must not forget the gain of discipline and the end God has in view in allowing us to go through it.
Much of God's discipline is exercised to get us free of entanglements. He brings us out in the power of His blessings, and sets us up richly supplied for ever. We may not get the sense at the outset, that every step of our way is a matter of divine interest. But there is not a step of our goings that God is not interested in -- not only at the beginning and the end, but also right through the whole journey.
You say, My pathway has been so vacillating. But if I told you mine, you would be amazed. That is not the point really. What is God's view? The end will be, "What hath God wrought?" I do not know anything about you, or what your path has been, but if you have got blessing from God, how comforting it is to know that from the first moment
you got blessing, God was interested in you in regard of every step of your entire pathway.
The passover is connected with what is moral. We keep the feast together. What is our mind? We are here in the world where there are many objects before men, but God's object in bringing His people out of Egypt was that He might set them free from bondage. He did not do so by dealing with the character of things in Egypt; He did not bring down the political and human greatness, but He broke its power, that He might let His people go free. He has brought us out of the world of human greatness, and pride, by the power and grace of the Lord Jesus, His Son, come down from heaven. The greatest thing in our hearts is the grace of Christ. Is there anything then in the world that appeals to us? The greatest thing that has ever been seen in the universe has been the down-stooping of the Son of God. "Who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman's form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:6 - 8). That is how we came out.
It was the blessedness of God Himself, that drew Moses' heart away from human greatness, and Egyptian pride. What has brought your heart out of the world? Has it been because you found certain troubles attached to things that are seen? The power of the plagues did not bring His people out of Egypt, but the knowledge of Himself did. What filled the heart of Moses when he came out of Egypt? It was by faith he kept the passover, and the
sprinkling of the blood. What moved the heart of Moses in connection with the deliverance of God's people were the keeping of the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood. For us, dear friends, to be detached from the One who has loved us so much should be intolerable to our hearts. If you had spoken to Paul of the many great things in the world, and asked him if he would not have been a much greater man in Egypt, he would have no doubt agreed as far as the things of the world are concerned. But as a spiritual man he reckoned it all as dung and dross. The greatness that had captivated his heart was the grace of Christ. What is the humanity that God is occupied with now? It is before His face -- the Man Christ Jesus! Jesus glorified as Man! The apostle says, "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man, (whether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knows;) that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter" (2 Corinthians 12:2 - 4). What a vision was his, to be caught up to such a place! Higher than Rameses and the Sphinx of Egypt! and enough for his heart! Oh, that one had seen earlier that God's first touch had in view that ever afterwards we should be in the knowledge of His interest, instead of only seeing oneself as a sinner saved by grace, and the interim left insecure.
But you will tell me that on the Lord's day morning we do not come together to be occupied with the passover. That may be, but we come together in a state that has been secured by the passover. We come together in moral
conditions that have been produced in that way. The passover is one type of the death of Christ. The apostle said, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:10). That was the moral obligation of the death of Christ. It is the great divine negative, applied to all that is fleshly, and that would interfere with the operations of the Holy Spirit. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body; for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:10, 11). The great moral power of the death of Christ, applied to the path of the believer, makes room for what is spiritual. May we keep in mind the month Abib! so that nothing that is Egyptian may have any hold upon us.
Now let us come to what is spiritual. The antitype of the feast of Pentecost -- the feast of weeks -- was to begin with a wonderful message to the nations of the Holy Spirit. Why should such a place be given to the operations of the Holy Spirit? Because the issues are so tremendous. The end with God is so great and glorious! What a place has been allotted to the presence and operations of the Holy Spirit! "Seven weeks shalt thou count: from the beginning of putting the sickle into the corn". That is the bringing to pass in the power of the Spirit, in the souls of the saints,
what Christ died to secure, and what He suffered to bring about -- the glory of God. He suffered in respect of everything that was offensive to God. He endured and felt it all. How can we speak of it? But the Lord would have us to consider it -- His atoning sacrifice; Him who knew not sin was made sin for us. One feels how little we have understood it! How easy it has been to say it; how often quoted; and how often preached from! What marvellous words! "Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Never had He had the slightest touch with it! When the Spirit of God speaks of His sinlessness, He is speaking of His perfect, holy Person -- Him who knew not sin. Oh, the depth of it! And it was "that we might become God's righteousness in him".
The Spirit of God has come to us in virtue of Jesus being in the presence of God -- He has come from the glory. He was in the divine majesty of Godhead glory -- Deity, before ever the world was! But the glory that the Spirit of God has come from, is the glory of God, where Christ is. Stephen saw it; and he saw the blessed Person. "Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He has come that He might be with us, to dwell in us, and to be with us as comfort and power. Also He is a Teacher to lead us into all the things that pertain to that sphere that has been brought into being through the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus as Man. So in the feast of weeks we find the great reality of not only what is moral, but of what is spiritual. What is spiritual rests on what is according to God. The Spirit has come to us. What are our links? They are
spiritual. What a sphere of divine comfort and blessing is ours! The Spirit of God has come to us, as the apostle says in Ephesians 1:13, "In whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise". He has come to us believers, not only to deliver us from what is contrary to God, but that He might form us in features that correspond to Christ. The Spirit of God fills out the whole interim, after Jesus went on high.
The truth as to the Spirit is illustrated in that incident of divine beauty in Rebecca being brought to Isaac by the servant. When she inquired who is the man? He answered her, That is my master. She sprang off the camel and meets Isaac; and then we find the account that the servant Eliezer renders of his service. "The servant told Isaac all things that he had done" (Genesis 24:66). What a rendering at the end of all the service of the Holy Spirit! We are in the feast of weeks -- the Spirit's day; but we must not forget the month Abib. Let us never forget that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. If we have forgotten the month Abib, and lost the fresh sense of the sufferings of Christ and their import, may the Lord recover it to us! The apostle says in 2 Corinthians 4:5 - 7, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your bondmen for Jesus' sake. Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from
us". And again in Philippians 3:20, 21, "For our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory, according to the working of the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself". May we give room to the Spirit! Every discipline is intended to make room for the Spirit. No discipline ever fully yields its fruit until what is spiritual has been built into our souls.
Now I come to the feast of tabernacles. In considering what the import of that is, we must not think only of certain occasions of coming together. Sometimes in getting clear as to different ideas, we are in danger of putting them into little pigeon-holes of divine truth. The truth of God will help us to distinguish one truth from another. This feast is not a matter of occasions -- three times in the year. The Lord is caring for us every step of the journey. Do we touch what is divine? If we touch what is spiritual, we must touch what is divine. How often is it so when we come together? The Lord would have us then in the inside place with Himself. Blessed be God, there have been times when we have touched divine realities! It does not satisfy the heart of God that we pass along the outside, so to speak. He would have us within with Him. There is a great difference between what is inside and what is outside. This feast of tabernacles is the type of God's rest. We are hastening on to it, but we who believe do enter into God's rest. There is a rest remaining for the people of God -- remaining in all its entirety and greatness. We are moving on to that end. And the Spirit of God is moving. The proof of it is that the Spirit of God has been
bringing to bear upon the hearts of the saints what would make them spiritually ready -- the power of the grace of the ministry of Christ -- what really answers to Christ. And how tenderly the Lord comforts us! God comforts all those who are cast down. But besides comforting us, He would give us spiritual confidence that what is divine is being built into our souls never to be removed.
The feast of tabernacles is at the end of their year's labours -- harvest labours -- and they dwell together. "The tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God" (Revelation 21:3). Oh, what a blessed end to be arrived at! And God is building the assembly to that end now! May the Lord help us! I would seek to encourage my own heart and yours, to remember that everything that has come to us is heavenly -- forgiveness of sins has come from heaven. My justification is from heaven. The Holy Spirit who has come to us, has come from above where Christ is. Everything is heavenly for us, before we reach God's end. He is building the heavenly into our souls. John shows you what is abiding, and says, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). And, "For all that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world; and this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith. Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4, 5). The apostle is not here applying the passover to those to whom he is writing, but the faith of Jesus as the Son of God. May the Lord in His grace help us in the
consideration of these few thoughts together, for His name's sake!
From Memorials of J B Catterall's Ministry, pages 105 - 122.
Acts 18:1 - 11
There are three aspects of our relation to the testimony that I have before me to present. In the first place we are to stand for the testimony in our daily occupation; then our households are to become available in connection with the testimony; and, thirdly, we have our place in our respective local assemblies. We can appreciate, I think, that there are those three spheres: our ordinary everyday life, our life in connection with the household, and our place in our local gathering.
Most of us are quite ordinary people. God has called us in ordinary positions of life, and we shall remember that the epistle to the Corinthians insists that a man should abide in the same calling in which he is called. When a man becomes a christian he usually has no need to change his ordinary circumstances; he may still remain in his situation, but the whole moral element of his life is altered. Hence he is to abide in his calling with God. "Let each abide in that calling in which he has been called ... . Let each, wherein he is called, brethren, therein abide with God" (1 Corinthians 7:20, 24).
The circumstances of our daily calling seem suggested by what is brought before us in the first few verses of Acts 18. It says, "For they were tent-makers by trade". It is a wonderful thing to be for the Lord in our daily life. We
were recently reminded that a large portion of the life of the Lord Jesus has been concealed from our view. We are told that at the age of twelve He went down with His parents and was subject unto them, and we do not hear of Him again until He was thirty years of age. In Mark 6:3 He is spoken of as the carpenter, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" and again in Matthew 13:55, "Is not this the son of the carpenter?" Think of the Lord following the ordinary routine of daily life; how extremely affecting! We may be sure it was as precious incense to God. It was the antitype of one view of the meat offering. Those eighteen years must have been exceedingly precious to God. After that period the Lord comes forth in public ministry, and heaven opens upon Him and God announces His pleasure in the Lord Jesus, and says, "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight" (Mark 1:11). In that way God covered by the divine declaration of His pleasure those years of obscurity when He was known as the carpenter's son.
The Lord now gives us the privilege of living for Him in our ordinary daily life. It is there we are to defend the testimony. Our conduct there is in defence of what we love so much and hold so dear. This is not Levitical service, but what is typified by the man of war of twenty years old (see Numbers 1). Every established believer is responsible to defend by his conduct and character the testimony that he holds so dear. There are one or two scriptures we might turn to in this connection which would elucidate the subject.
The first is 1 Corinthians 7:20 - 24 (already referred to), "Let each abide in that calling in which he has been
called. Hast thou been called being a bondman, let it not concern thee; but and if thou canst become free, use it rather. For the bondman that is called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman; in like manner also the freeman being called is Christ's bondman. Ye have been bought with a price; do not be the bondmen of men. Let each, wherein he is called, brethren, therein abide with God". The word bondman is really a slave. A slave, even, had no need to change his occupation or his circumstances in order to defend the testimony. He was not to rebel and run away. He might be the slave of a most exacting and hard man; but christianity enabled that slave to adorn the doctrine of his Saviour in those same circumstances. The trouble is not usually with our circumstances but with ourselves. God would have us abide in the circumstances in which we are found with Him, defending in our conduct and character the testimony He has given us to appreciate.
Wonderful things will be displayed in the world to come. The world to come will be governed by principles entirely contrary to the principles of this world. These principles were seen in Jesus in perfection, and they were seen exhibited in the saints collectively in the early chapters of the Acts. What a testimony there was to unselfishness and to holiness. Selfishness and unholiness govern this world; but holiness and unselfishness mark christianity. What we see in the life of Jesus is a self-sacrificing love. Those qualities will be displayed in the world to come and the believer stands for them now.
I would make a special appeal as to how we stand in our business life. In a very large part of our life we are engaged in business. We may have to start early in the
morning and be home late at night, and those engaged in domestic work have very little leisure. You may be employed in a shop, a bank, or your occupation may be a profession of some kind. Whatever it be, God says you are to abide in that calling with Him. We are to go on with our everyday work; but there is to be an immense moral change in the way we do it. We are not now to do it with a view to selfish aggrandisement and success. It is easy to do things on that line and be successful, but if you do you will fail in the testimony.
Perhaps you have a business of your own and you put all your energies into it and you are very successful. But what about the testimony? It is a very poor thing if you succeed in business and fail as to the testimony. We can count on God's mercy with regard to our everyday life, and God does come in remarkably. But if you carry on your business as an ordinary man of the world, in what way are you standing for the testimony? We want to have an entirely different outlook in the way we do things. We are to take them up for the Lord.
Many years ago I was working very hard in an office; I was going early and remaining until nearly midnight. It seemed an extraordinary life for a christian to be all those hours dealing with mundane or secular matters, nothing spiritual. But I was cheered by that word to bondmen, "Ye serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:24). After all I was not quite a slave. It enabled me to see that my ordinary daily life could be for Christ. We are all conscious of much failure, alas! But it is indeed a cheer to know that we can "adorn the teaching which is of our Saviour God in all things" (Titus 2:10). This is not preaching or teaching;
those are for other times. You adorn it as setting it out in its beauty practically. By your manner of life you adorn the teaching. It is very important that we should take home to ourselves the question of standing for the testimony in our daily life. A great deal is said in the epistles as to the conduct of slaves and masters. They are told how to behave relatively, and for the slave there is special encouragement given, for the majority of God's people are found in humble circumstances. "Bondmen, obey in all things your masters according to flesh; not with eye-services, as men-pleasers, but in simplicity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatsoever ye do, labour at it heartily, as doing it to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance; ye serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:22 - 24).
Some one remarked that no christian who is servant to an earthly master could receive his full wages from him. He might receive the amount agreed, but he could not receive full wages because, if he has served the Lord Christ in his earthly calling, he is to receive the reward of the inheritance. God is taking note as to whether you are doing it for the Lord, "not with eye-services ... but in simplicity of heart, fearing the Lord". How interesting our daily life becomes; not eight hours of blank, but every moment serving the Lord in our ordinary daily life. How different the motive; we are to do things in a way that would please Christ. How encouraging this is for the sisters who are engaged in ordinary domestic duties, which are in themselves excessively monotonous to some natures. Let us remember that every particle of our life may be taken up for Christ -- adorning the teaching of our
Saviour God. Our daily occupation is a very important section of our life.
In the passage we read in Acts we find Paul staying with Aquila and Priscilla because he was of the same craft; they were tent-makers. Think of the great apostle working at tent-making! It shows his acceptance of the governmental ordering of God. Aquila and Priscilla had come from Rome. Was it a movement directly ordered of the Lord? No. Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, and these two accepted it as under the government of God; and as accepting it they found themselves in the direct line of the testimony. We need to accept the governmental dealings of God in connection with our limitations in circumstances of life and health. As accepting the governmental limitations prescribed by God, we find ourselves in the line of the testimony.
The government of God and the testimony are never at variance. It was under the governmental ordering of God that the Lord Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem! God was behind it all. Do not chafe in your circumstances; they are what God has permitted. God has placed you as you are, and where you are. Your health, your capabilities and your circumstances are His ordering, and He would have you adorn the teaching of our Saviour God where you are, and you are to abide in your calling, with God. Of course, if I cannot abide there with God, I must get out of it. If my calling is not in keeping with the testimony, if it necessitates the denial of the principles of God's world, I must leave it. But there are very few occupations like that. The providence of God has placed most of us in such
positions that we can carry out this injunction, and adorn the teaching of our Saviour God.
I come now to the thought of households. There is a good deal said as to households in Acts 18. In verse 7 the apostle enters into a man's house which was by the synagogue, and the chief ruler of the synagogue believed on the Lord with all his house. In chapter 16, too, the house of Lydia is referred to, and also the house of the Philippian jailor. In the epistle to the Corinthians the households of Chloe and Stephanas are referred to. The households of the saints obviously have a great place in connection with the testimony.
We see in the book of Numbers that each tent formed part of a camp, and the camps were arranged round the tabernacle; so that each tent had its own place in reference to the defence and maintenance of the testimony. It becomes a practical question. It is often in the houses of the saints that Satan sees a weak point and he gets in. But our houses should be descriptive of God's house. The epistles to Timothy show that most clearly. Let us read 1 Timothy 5:4, "If any widow have children or descendants, let them learn first to be pious as regards their own house, and to render a return on their side to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God". What a lesson for us all. Our home is where we first learn to work things out. It is often said that if you want to know a man you must live with him and see how he acts in the home. What testimony do you give in your home, as a brother, a daughter, a son, a father, a mother, a husband, or a wife? We are to show piety at home. How important it is for the children to requite their parents. The home is the first
region in which we learn to exercise piety. Piety is not limited to that, however, for we are to shine everywhere, but surely there.
Then there is the order of the house. Many a house is ruined because the brother does not take his place as head. Another house may be ruined because a sister seeks to be head, which is disastrous. The whole thing should be ordered according to the divine pattern; it is in that way the scripture is fulfilled which says, "Ye are the salt of the earth; ... Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13, 14), that is, testimony. But we are also the salt of the earth. In this world everything natural is violated. There is a heartless disregard of affection, and violation of the most sensitive feelings. We only need to look round and see what is going on to observe how awfully corrupt things are becoming. Affections are violated and engagements snapped. Is that christianity? We need not go into the intense and awful forms things have taken in this world. What is natural is preserved in the christian circle in its right features. "Ye are the salt of the earth". There is the recognition of every divinely ordered relationship; it is held in a right way and God supports that and what is natural is preserved.
Then, too, the houses of the saints are the avenue by which the house of God reaches the world. A worldly man cannot see the house of God, because it is a spiritual house; he has no means of knowing it in its spiritual character, but he can see you and me; he can note our houses. What is that man's house like? Is it different from other houses? Are acts of grace shown there? Is it marked by liberality and hospitality? Does the kindness of God
shine out in that house? It is most important that there should be in our houses the expression of God's house, that there should be the maintenance of the testimony in the household sphere.
How honoured the house of Lydia was. The apostle not only went there once, but he went back there. Then the Philippian jailor's household was baptised and brought under the rule of the Lord. And as we were seeing in Acts 18, there are several houses mentioned. In the first epistle to the Corinthians we read of the household of Stephanas devoting themselves to the saints for service. We see thus how the testimony is maintained and defended through the households of the saints.
But how easy it is, alas! for worldliness to get in. Satan sees his opportunity in our weaknesses. How easy for us to allow for our children what we would not sanction for ourselves. He gets in through the most tender affection of a parent to a child. We excuse ourselves and say, The children are so young; they do not understand. And so Satan, with all his cleverness, gets in through the natural affections, and the world enters the home of the christian. What is the next thing? It enters into the assembly through the houses of the saints, and the testimony is gone, How important that the households of the saints should be supports to the testimony. Do you remember what happened to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite? He had the ark in his house. What an honour to have the ark there -- to have the testimony in that way maintained in the house. God recognised it and He blessed the household of Obed-edom. There must be the recognition of what is of God in connection with the
households of the saints. I do not think we can take up the administration of the assembly -- the house of God -- unless we have some education in connection with our own houses.
Timothy refers very largely to the houses of the saints. Look at 1 Timothy 2. I think that refers primarily to the christian household. Prayer marks it. Prayer is to be made "for kings and all that are in dignity, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and gravity; for this is good and acceptable before our Saviour God, who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (verses 2 - 4). I believe that is particularly applicable to the household. I would like to ask every head of a house what his household prayer is like. Are you conducting family reading? I once asked someone what they were reading in the morning -- family reading -- and she replied, 'We don't have family reading'. I hope you have family reading, dear brother. What a terrible thing to let the household start without the public recognition of God! Supposing you had to have a business friend to stay with you. Look at the effect it would have on him, if you did not have family prayer and reading. He would get a wrong impression of the house of God. We are to pray for all men; we may also pray for God's care over our households. I believe household prayer is particularly in view in the epistle to Timothy.
And then there is to be prayer for the gospel specifically. Some of us have had great encouragement in gathering our household around us for prayer before the gospel preaching. Some of us are not privileged to be at home always, but if we are home, what an opportunity to
gather thus as a household. I believe the household is referred to primarily in 1 Timothy 2. Let us read verse 8: "I will therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up pious hands, without wrath or reasoning". What a lovely position for a man -- dependence marking him -- characterised by the feature of Christ. And then the women "in decent deportment and dress adorn themselves with modesty and discretion" (1 Timothy 2:9). There is the preservation of what is natural in the christian circle.
We need to be very definitely set against the worldly attire of the present day. One's spirit is extremely pained to see the worldliness of dress of some believers. The sisters who are older should have a care over the young sisters in this matter. Young brothers, too, must beware of this. Worldly fashions are a denial of the rejection of Christ and the cross. There is a tendency to adopt the fashions of this world, and if we are doing that we are not setting forth the character of God; we are not defending the testimony; we are letting the enemy in. The women are to adorn themselves with modest apparel. Our houses are to be the channels for the exhibition of the features of the house of God. Men should see in our houses what the assembly is like, and they should be attracted. The Lord would greatly exercise us, that we might be found true to Himself in our daily vocation; and also in our households, that there might be the setting forth of the character of God, in our whole deportment, our hospitality, and the general upkeep and style of our houses, so that they may say, Yes, this house belongs to a different kind of man. Where else can a man learn these things?
Let me now turn to a few verses in 2 Timothy to show four qualities which should mark us in connection with each of these spheres. 2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion". One thing which is greatly needed in these spheres of our life is courage. In verse 8 the apostle says to Timothy, "Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord". I would say to the young here specially, Do not he ashamed. The testimony is such that it need bring no blush to your cheek. We can be ashamed of much in ourselves, but we never need be ashamed of the testimony. Timothy was evidently a diffident, nervous young man, and to encourage him the apostle refers to Onesiphorus. He says, he "has not been ashamed of my chain; but being in Rome sought me out very diligently, and found me" (verses 16, 17). And he says to Timothy, Don't you be ashamed. We need courage.
And then there is suffering, "Take thy share in suffering" (2 Timothy 2:3). We are often timid and are marked by the spirit of fear because we are not prepared to suffer. If we are prepared to suffer as a lamb we shall be as bold as a lion. Then next there is understanding, 2 Timothy 2:7: "Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things". We need to know what we are suffering for. There is great need for thinking over what Paul says. The next thing is devotedness. A good soldier will give up everything to please the Lord. There is a call for devotedness today; nothing else will meet the situation. An insipid lukewarmness has come over the professing church, and devotedness is necessary if we are to be for the Lord and to stand for the testimony.
Let us apply these four qualities, first individually and then in regard of our households. If a man of the world comes to see you when you are just about to start for a week-night meeting, what are you going to do? Supposing a worldly relative arrives. Is that going to stop you from going to the meeting? If it does, you are giving the situation away; you have allowed the Moabite to carry the situation, to use a typical expression. You want to express what God is like. Take them with you if they are willing; if not, go alone. You may say, It might upset them. Possibly, but it might mean their salvation. We need courage and preparedness to suffer reproach. Reproach helps us in a very definite way. We must be intelligent and devoted. The Lord would help us in our individual paths and in our households if we go on those lines.
I come now to the thought of the assembly. We have our daily individual life, our households, and lastly we have our place in connection with the local assembly. I would like to read a passage in 1 Corinthians 12:12 - 18: "For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit ... . Now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, according as it has pleased him".
We must ever remember that we are set together. We could not have a closer bond than that seen in the human body. It moves with instinct and impulse. If one member is hurt, almost unconsciously the other members go to its aid.
If a child knocks his knee, the hand is put out to soothe it. If something gets into the eye, the hand goes to the rescue and seeks to remove what is offending. The human body is a remarkable organism. And so the Lord takes up the human body to illustrate the feelings and movements of the saints as set together, not only locally, but universally. Verse 13 brings out what is universal: "For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body", and in verse 27 we get what is local: "Now ye are Christ's body". The expression, "so also is the Christ" (verse 12), does not refer to the Lord personally, as the next verse explains, "For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body" -- that is, the anointed vessel here is the one body, the assembly. The one body here, in its unity, is to be expressive of what God is in this scene where Christ is no longer.
We might say, How can God be expressed here since Jesus has been crucified and gone to heaven? The only way God can be expressed here is in that one body -- Christ's body -- here, the vessel of the Spirit for the setting forth of God. God has set you here. It is not that you have to join or become anything. Every one who has received the Spirit has been set in the body. God has put you there. This is very exercising, but it is a great privilege to be a member of the body. What care are you taking of the other members? How many have you visited? How many have you prayed for, not only locally, but universally? "Ye are Christ's body". The "we" of verse 13 embraces all christians, but the "ye" of verse 27 was the Corinthian assembly locally, that is, it represented in character what the thing was universally. The assembly at Corinth should
have been the expression of what the assembly was universally. The features of the universal church were to be maintained and exhibited in the local assembly at Corinth. That makes the movements of any local assembly very important; anything that is done is done in the light of the whole. The testimony is one and the assembly is one. Nothing is purely local. There is a great danger of becoming locally isolated. We must remember there is only one body. How are your neighbouring meetings getting on? How are you caring for your brethren elsewhere? The local gathering at Corinth was to express in feature the whole assembly -- one body.
Note verse 25: "that the members might have the same concern one for another". The grace of the Spirit is seen in the care the saints have one for another. Sometimes we ask each other how we are physically, but do we inquire as to how we are spiritually? Many a fall has been saved by the kindness of a brother who looks after us spiritually. It is the grace of the Spirit that exhibits itself in the one body, the members having the same care one for the other. It is not all for one. Christianity is not a one-man thing; it is a mutual thing -- "one for another". How we need to maintain the thought of the one body, so that there may be the right expression of the testimony.
Passing on from the mutuality of the body, we find at the end of the chapter the distinctiveness of gift. All of us are members of the body, but when you come to gift there is distinction; the idea of sovereignty comes in. "God has set certain in the assembly: first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers" (1 Corinthians 12:28); and so on. Whilst there is the mutuality of our relationships as in the
one body, there must always be the recognition of the Lord coming in sovereignly. If the Lord raises up gift it is like an ornament in the house of God. We might see some young brother raised up. It is not only a question of care for the saints, but it is gift. A young brother may be raised up in a very remarkable way, and wherever he goes he is a gift in the assembly. It is important to recognise gift.
We might refer to the Levites, which suggest the grace and devotedness of service. When the Levites were sanctified they had to wash their clothes. It was part of their sanctification. This grace of service must be seen in the exercise of gift; we must be concerned that there should be the deportment, habits and clothing in keeping with the testimony that we proclaim. The servant and his message must be in agreement. The exercise of gift is alluded to. There is the mutuality in connection with the body, and then the public side of service as the Lord might in sovereignty bestow gift. May the Lord give us to recognise both sides. I do not think He would set the young to serve immediately. If I am converted tonight, it is not that I should publicly serve tomorrow. There is a period of waiting before service.
Spiritual education is necessary for service. There might be a kind of service rendered, like the woman who said, "Come see a man" (John 4:29) -- a spontaneous service, but the definite taking up of service would come rather later. The overruling hand of God prepares a vessel. The Levites were numbered from one month and upward, and then from twenty-five years they learned to serve, and at thirty they took up service definitely. In any public service, proper experience is necessary for the
maintenance of the testimony. We need to be careful that there is no venturing into public service without the qualifications, for we are to set forth what God is.
The vessels of the sanctuary were very holy. It needed priestly skill to cover them rightly, and the Levites had to learn how to serve. The brethren should be able to lay their hands on the one that serves. Having received the Holy Spirit, we can function in the body at once. We should all care one for another. I would say to a young soul converted yesterday, you are necessary for the body; it is not complete without you. Every one is necessary in the body, and we each should function -- each member taking up its place in relation to the whole, caring for one another and esteeming one another, every member comely and every one necessary.
May the Lord give us to be greatly exercised that our conduct, first in relation to our individual pathway, then in our houses, and also in relation to the assembly, may be all in support of the testimony, not only locally, but universally.
What I had in mind in reading this passage was to try and say a word to you, beloved brethren, with regard to the matter of waiting upon God. I believe that it is distinct from prayer, although intimately connected with it. That is to say, you might have prayer without waiting upon God. There is great blessing accruing to those who wait upon God. I have no doubt every one here is accustomed to praying, for there is no more delightful occupation for a believer than praying, unless it be praising, but the one is often the outcome of the other. To have the favour of being allowed to speak to God, and speak to the Lord in heaven, is greatly valued, I am sure, by every one.
Prayer fortifies a believer as having to meet the influences of the world, and of his own heart, but what I have very much before me now is the experience of waiting upon God. Evidently there are wonderful things -- things that eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor that have entered into the heart of man -- which God has prepared for those that wait for Him. The apostle in the epistle to the Corinthians gives a beautiful touch, as showing that those that wait upon God are those that love Him. I believe that all the persons whom God has taken up from the beginning have been accustomed to wait upon God, and I raise the inquiry as to whether we are accustomed to wait upon God. I suppose we have all, in varying measure, had the
experience that we have spoken to God about a matter, and have received no reply. What are you going to do? Are you going to abandon the pursuit, or are you going to wait upon God? The waiting process tests us much, but it is a most delightful experience to wait on God, with the sure and certain sense in our souls that none ever waited on God in vain. It is part of our education for the realm in which we are to dwell presently, that we should wait on God. I think Noah stands out as one who waited on God. Noah recoiled from the condition of things in the earth where he lived, and he took an opposite course; he was a righteous man, and God regarded him as such. The time came when God told him that the end of all flesh had come before Him. Now, God frequently indicates what He is about to do before He does it, and Noah had to learn to wait on God as to what He was about to do. As waiting upon God, your heart rejoices in the sense that you are in His confidence, and that you have a secret with heaven. It is a wonderful experience to be in the secret of God's mind. Noah enjoyed that, and as he built the ark, during the long period that elapsed while it was preparing, Noah was waiting upon God. Day by day he would no doubt commune with God as he waited upon Him. And even after Noah was put into the ark, and the door was shut by the hand of God, he had to wait. I am perfectly certain that Noah acquired, as the outcome of waiting on God, a moral greatness that distinguished him from the whole generation in which he lived.
Then one might refer to Abraham. The God of glory appeared to him, as distinct from Noah. The God of glory appeared to him in a land of idolatry, and He called him to
come out of country, kindred, and father's house, and we are told that he went out, not knowing whither he went -- because he was waiting on God. What did it matter if he did not know whither he was going if he had God to wait upon? He arrived at a knowledge of God through that experience, which I suppose he could not have derived in any other way. Then, in offering up his son, he was told that the thing was to be done on one of the mountains that "I will tell thee of". Abraham still further waited upon God, and all through his experiences we find that this thing characterised him (save, alas, with certain lapses) that he waited upon God.
Our place as brought into relation with God, in His family as His children, and in His household, gives us our privilege of waiting upon Him. The thought of waiting upon God far exceeds the idea of making requests to Him, and leaving it there. There may be requests which we make, and which we leave, but that is not waiting upon God. Waiting upon God is that the affections of the heart turn constantly towards Him, ever having in mind what we have spoken to Him about, or that of which He may have spoken to us. It may involve patience, but it is amply rewarded. May I ask whether we, as believers, are intimate with heaven? Do we know the gates, the doors? Do we realise that we have been called into holy intimacy with God, not to be so only when we arrive in heaven, but now? Do we understand this? In the world great prices are paid, and great efforts are put forward, in order to be allowed to speak to royal personages. You need pay no price to speak to God. It is your rightful place to be near to Him, and to commune with Him continually. Nothing, surely,
can be greater in the life of a believer than to be intimate with God, and to know what it is continually to wait upon Him.
I might remind you of others besides Noah and Abraham: of Joseph, of David, and of many others who knew what it was to wait upon God. There were those who through long hours of dreary darkness knew what it was to wait upon God. I want you to understand that none ever waited on God in vain. As surely as the sun rises in the morning, so surely will God answer you if you wait upon Him. But He may keep you waiting, and the process of being kept waiting tests us all, but it educates us greatly. When once you have passed a period of waiting upon God -- waiting on and on, and no answer, no apparent issue -- the moment will come when the dawn will appear and the light will stream in where it was dark, and God will show you His way.
In the life of Jesus here, perfect though it was, great and Holy One of God as He was, there was this particular element of waiting upon God. Think of the Lord being in Jerusalem; He knew about His Father's business -- what great affairs were in His hands. Think of a boy of twelve years old in the temple. The One who was going to bring about the reconciliation of all things, the One who was going to effect atonement, and the One who was going to destroy the power of death and overthrow completely the whole power of evil. Did He not know what was before Him? He says, "Did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49). Think of Him going down to Nazareth and waiting. Think of that One turning daily, frequently every day, turning
heavenward, and waiting on God. Which is greater -- to accomplish great things for God, or to enjoy nearness with Him? The Lord valued the holy intercourse that He had with God. So He went down to Nazareth, and it says He was in subjection to His parents.
I ask you, Are you really in touch with God? Do you know Him? I have found believers in obscurity. One comes to my mind now who lived in a little wooden cottage, who could speak in the most intimate way of having to do with God. Never shall I forget the look that came into her face as she spoke to me. She said, 'Do you think God will ever fail me? No', she said, 'never'. Are we really intimate with God, beloved? Do we know Him? God is working at the present time to bring us near to Him. We have become nigh by the blood of Christ; we all have access in the power of one Spirit. But do we know this nearness? Do we know what it is to wait upon God? Oh, it is lovely to get into the company of one who is accustomed to wait on God.
The time came in the life of Jesus, in His precious life, when He came up to the baptism of John. And Luke tells us, "all the people having been baptised, and Jesus having been baptised and praying, that the heaven was opened" (Luke 3:21). Jesus was praying, not preaching yet, not raising that voice, which in its power could cause the dead to hear. No, He was waiting, waiting on God -- praying. It is a most touching consideration. A lowly, humble Man, standing by the water, coming up out of the river, standing there. Oh, how precious to heaven, a lonely Man standing praying by the Jordan, what a lovely sight. Waiting on God. What will God do? God opened the heavens, and the
Spirit in bodily form as a dove came down and abode upon Him. A manifest representation to all who were there that that Person was approved of heaven. That was the answer. The voice was for His own heart, that He had the place as the beloved Son.
We are missing much, dear brethren, if we do not know what it is to wait -- to wait only upon God. You may say to me, 'I am in difficulty as to my home; I have to leave the place in which I am living, and I do not know what to do'. Well, when you do not know what to do, do nothing, but wait upon God to come in; for certainly He will. What about your family? Are we accustomed to letting things drift? Are we as parents accustomed to letting our children drift into the world? This will not do, brethren; you and I as parents, and heads of households, are responsible to wait on God for them. Oh, you say, 'It is an impossible case'. What? Impossible to whom? Have you never read those words, "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). You say the case is a hopeless one. I challenge that. I ask you solemnly, is any case hopeless when you bring God in? No, there must be this practice of waiting on God, and the Lord Jesus in His lowly, humble life pre-eminently set it forth.
There came the moment of the transfiguration. Jesus went up the mountain knowing what was coming, for He had alluded to it, and that shows that nothing ever took the Lord by surprise. I have often had a desire that I might be nearer to God, so that things might not take me by surprise. I am thinking just now of the coming of the Lord Jesus. I believe that if one could only wait, and wait upon Him, He would give a definite indication that He was
coming. Have you any intimation from Him as to whether He is coming? What is your own personal experience with the Lord? Is so great a moment to come without any kind of intimation in the hearts of those who love Him? I question it. When did you ask Him last when He was coming? Just before He ascended they said, "Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). And he said to them, "It is not yours to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority" (verse 7). I have a strong impression that there will be those here on the earth who will be in the secret of the fact that the Lord is just about to come. I would like to be among them. I believe there will come into the souls of many of the saints -- I do not say all, no doubt it is open to all -- an impression in the hearts of believers that the Lord is at hand. That is my impression. I would like to wait upon Him so that we have some indication from Himself that He is about to come. I would love, if it were possible, to be able to put my book down, or leave whatever I am doing, and just wait, and say, 'Lord Jesus, come', and we shall be gone. I am convinced that the Lord would have us wait on Him as to it, for it is at hand. If He comes in the dead of night, remember it is daylight on the other side of the world; or if darkness there, it will be daylight here. I would love to wake out of sleep and have the sense that the Lord is coming, and so be ready in affection to greet Him. That is what we desire, I am sure, and it will be the outcome of waiting upon Him. How many days do we pass without ever referring to the Lord about the matter at all? There should not be one day. I went into a brother's house and I noticed a paper on the wall with these words: 'Perhaps,
today'. How lovely to be in the household of a brother who, on his knees in quietness with you alone in his room, with his whole soul moved and throbbing with affection and attachment to Christ, says, 'Oh, Lord, is it today?' If we wait upon Him we will get some intimation from Him that His coming is imminent.
I was referring to the Lord going up the mountain as knowing that the transfiguration was about to take place, for He had intimated it to the disciples. Yet, having ascended the mountain, we find Him praying, or waiting on God, and as He prayed -- not after He prayed -- as He prayed, His countenance was altered and His clothing was also changed. The fruit of waiting upon God was this transfiguration. It is open to us all to enjoy waiting upon God, and we shall prove how true it is that, "Eye has not seen, and ear not heard" (1 Corinthians 2:9), how He will act for those that wait upon Him. What will God do for those that wait upon Him?
I pass on, and think of the moment of the Lord's crucifixion, and recall the remarkable words of Psalm 40:1 in connection with it, "I waited patiently for Jehovah". Think of that moment on the cross -- Jesus nailed to the cross and abandoned of God, enduring the wrath of God against sin. Think of Him there, waiting, and He says, "he brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay" (verse 2). Although abandoned, He waited for God to come in, and God brought Him up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set His feet on a rock, and established His goings, and put a new song in His mouth. Look what an array of things come in now as the outcome of waiting, and waiting patiently upon God. The most
magnificent devotion that the universe will ever witness was seen there. It was not only that He prayed to God: He did that, but He waited on Him. You, or I, or any saint at any time or in any place, can never come into such circumstances as those; and yet here is the eternal witness that God will answer him that waits on Him. He was heard for His piety; His inmost feelings clung to God although He was forsaken, and He waited on God; and the establishment of a universe of glory will be the answer to it.
Beloved brethren, if God is to be known, and if He has revealed Himself to us, it is that we may have the joy of waiting upon Him, and He will never fail us. It is a thing that is called for in a godless world. I say most respectfully to the brethren, merely to offer our prayers is not enough. It is a great thing; there are christian households, alas, where prayers are not offered publicly; but there are others where prayers are offered. But what about this? Does not the head of the house know what it is to shut himself up alone and wait upon God? The most dire and awful need that ever arose in any house or family will be met if only we know what it is to wait upon God. The most awful dilemma into which a man was ever plunged shall be solved if we will only learn what it is to wait on God. The most distressing assembly difficulty which we have ever known, will be solved if we only know what it is to wait, and wait only upon God.
From Ministry by Russell Besley, pages 10 - 20, Manchester, date unknown.
Isaiah 48:14, 15; John 3:35, 36; John 5:20; John 14:31
I want to speak to you, if the Lord will help me, of the place which Christ the Son has in the love of God the Father, and to trace in connection with this, the place which we have in the love of God the Father. Love is the greatest thing in the universe. There is no power equal to love. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God. We shall never be brought to have any part, any share, in Deity, but we are already brought into the most intimate relationship with God that He is able to give, short of bringing us into Deity. I would ask you, beloved brethren, to weigh the magnificence of such a proposal as this. Most of us, probably, have the knowledge of forgiveness and salvation, and know something of being the recipients of divine care here in circumstances of human life, as the result of which we can sing praises and give glory to God. But that is far short of what God has in His mind for our enjoyment now and for the eternal portion of our hearts.
With regard to Christ, He had a place as a Person of the Godhead in the region of love, before ever this world was. There is no doubt about that (John 17:24). But it has pleased God to make Himself known, not only in the majesty of His power in creatorial works -- He has done that -- but fully made Himself known. He has, however, not taken the way of coming into revelation in an angel. It has pleased Him to pass by angels and to take hold of the
seed of Abraham, and to come into revelation by becoming a Man. As you perceive this, I think you must realise that it expresses the greatness of divine love. God has come into revelation by becoming Man. You will readily perceive that had God taken up angelic form, whether of an ordinary angel or an archangel, we should have felt that we had nothing in common with an angel. An angel knows nothing of human feelings, save as that which he may be capable of as an onlooker. But God has been pleased to reveal Himself by becoming Man, and our Lord Jesus Christ, while essentially divine, as the Son of God is perfectly a Man. Every human feeling, every human sensitivity is there in perfection. I do not possess human feeling in perfection. I am painfully conscious of it; but I know that the Lord Jesus Christ has human feelings in perfection. All our feelings are affected by sin, and the power of moral death having come in as a result of the fall. But in the Lord Jesus Christ there is the perfection of human sensitivity which belongs to no one else; and God has made Himself known in that blessed Man. I have sometimes sat quietly, or knelt in prayer and thought of the immensity of Godhead -- the splendour of Godhead -- and felt how entirely it is outside my range altogether. Then, as through, I suppose, the Spirit of God, one has been awakened to the sense that God has revealed Himself in a Man, our Lord Jesus, and that great and glorious Personage has come within our range, so that we may know what God is and who He is. And that we may be instructed in His thoughts, and His desires; not through teaching only, for there is something greater than teaching, and that is influence. As having come under the rule of
Christ (I do not use that word as applying it to anything arbitrary as we generally understand rule), one is instructed and educated in the knowledge of God not only by what He says, for He does speak, but by influence. There are things to be discovered by coming under His influence, and I am sure we know something of what this is. Now, as I said, the Lord occupied a place in Deity and in love. He was an object of affection and love in eternity (John 17:24), but having come into Manhood, He became in a peculiar and unique way an Object of divine love. Hence He is referred to in Scripture as "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father" (John 1:18). The Lord alone has that unique place, but in addition to this place which the Lord will ever hold, alone, He, as Man, is also Pattern for us, for we read, "that the world may know ... that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me" (John 17:23). He is now Firstborn among many brethren and brings us to share with Him, as "firstborn ones". God's purpose for us is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son; He sent forth His Son that we might receive sonship; and we are loved as He is loved.
Referring to the first passage that I read, it would appear from the words of the prophet Isaiah that in chapter 48 there is an allusion to Cyrus, king of Persia. In chapter 45 also God speaks of him as being anointed. But though alluding to Cyrus, the chapter has Christ in view prophetically, and it says there, "He whom Jehovah hath loved". Now, as come into this world, the Lord came definitely to serve. I wish you to understand that Jesus, having come into this world took up service, and He took it up in the consciousness of being loved. "He whom
Jehovah hath loved". There never was a moment in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, but He had the sense that He was loved of God, not a moment. There are multitudes of incidents in that life not yet made known, perhaps typified in the manna, placed in the golden pot and laid up in the sanctuary. There is the vast wealth into which we shall shortly be brought, when in those radiant courts of divine glory. We shall then be let into the great secrets of Jesus in humiliation, and we shall learn in a fuller measure how He had the consciousness of being loved by God. The motive power behind His service included the consciousness of being loved of God. A motive behind all our service, the heavenly impulse behind all our activities, whether they be levitical, priestly, or those of sonship, should be the sense that we are loved of God.
The proposal is a wonderful one in Isaiah 48. The power of Babylon, the power of the Chaldeans, is to be broken. Jesus is going to overthrow it for ever. Babylon has already fallen in our hearts, but the public overthrow is at hand. The world raises itself up today in its greatness; but let us remember the words, "His enemies shall lick the dust" (Psalm 72:9). So that we can afford to serve, although results may not be apparent. Our great Master had to say, "I have spent my strength for nought and in vain" (Isaiah 49:4). Yet He laboured and served in the sense that He was loved by God. And you and I must serve in the sense of being loved, whether among few or many, year in and year out, and possibly in comparative isolation. Was there ever any one who tasted loneliness like Jesus? When He said, "I am become like the pelican of the wilderness ... I have eaten ashes like bread" (Psalm 102:6 - 9). That glorious Person
served with unwearying energy, because He ever dwelt in the love of God. I know of no other way in which we can serve, but in the sense of divine love. If our serving is carried on in the consciousness of divine love, then it will be maintained at the high level of sonship.
Now I pass on to the verse in John's gospel (John 3:35) where it is said, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand". The Lord is presented here as One whom the Father loves, and He was conscious of being not only a Servant but of being the Son. I want you to understand that that was always behind His service. Though He took the place of Servant, He was ever conscious of sonship. I am speaking of what He was in manhood; for the place He had in sonship, as alluded to in Scripture, was known by Him in manhood. "The Father loves the Son" -- that is, in manhood -- "and hath given all things to be in His hand". Think of the love of the Father to the Son -- Man in this world -- being such that He could put all things into His hand. What a hand! I want you to think of the Lord Jesus as being One in manhood of such moral greatness and glory that the Father could put all things into His hand. Not merely for a moment -- it is not that He put things for a moment into His hand -- but abidingly. Yes, that blessed One was here in this world, in the consciousness of being loved, in spite of rejection by man, and I suppose no gospel portrays the rejection of Jesus so pointedly as does the gospel of John. We find at one point that He was surrounded by enemies, and yet He had the consciousness of sonship in His holy manhood, and that all things were in His hand, placed there abidingly. What about the nations? What about the world?
What about the affairs of this earth? The Father loves the Son, and He has put all things into His hand; and you and I are to be associated with Him. We can well wait patiently and serve, sustained by the love of the Father's heart. I suppose the allusion to all being given to be in His hand touches the point of the inheritance; for do not forget that we are heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ. The moment is not far distant -- it already exists according to the affections and thoughts of the heart of God -- when God will head up all things in Christ, and we are going to be with Him. All things are in His hand! What quietness and composure the knowledge of this would give to us. First, the place the Son has in the Father's heart, and then that He has given all things into His hand. Do you really believe that all things are in the Son's hand? So that whatever comes to you and to me, comes through that hand. And all things have been placed in His hand, as the abiding witness to our hearts of the love of the Father for Him, and of the character of the Person, the loved One of the Father's heart.
In the next passage that I read (John 5:20) it says that, "the Father loves the Son and shews Him all things which he himself does". This unveils to us what was taking place in the life of Jesus, the blessed Son of God here on earth as He moved in the path of divine service. The Father loved Him, and He was able to show Him all things that He Himself was doing. Indeed, the Lord says that as He saw, He wrought, and as He heard He did and spoke. You will recall that, with regard to Moses, he was charged in Exodus that everything in connection with the tabernacle had to be made according to the pattern that was shown
him in the mount. Now Moses was only a minister himself, and there is no suggestion that Moses was shown these things because Jehovah loved him. Jehovah trusted him; he was one who could be trusted. Hence he was shown, not only the pattern of the tabernacle, but the pattern of the things of the holy sanctuary. But when it is a question of Jesus, "The Father loves the Son and shews Him all things". What God had shown to Moses was but an item of the "all things". But when it is the Son of God in manhood, "The Father ... shews him all things which he himself does". You will remember that with regard to king David and to Solomon, and the building of the temple, David handed over to Solomon the pattern. Such accuracy was to be secured that the pattern of the things was handed over in writing so that there should be no departure from what was shown to David by the Spirit. The whole of the house, and the houses in connection with the temple were to be according to what was shown and given. But when Jesus comes in, "all things" are in view, the earthly and the heavenly system. The Father loves the Son and shews Him all things. Think of the place that Jesus has taken, think of the place that He had in manhood as Son, and He received these things as shown by the Father. I want you to note the name of Father; it does not say God. There is one God, the Father, it is true. But when it says "The Father" gave all things to be in His hands, and "the Father" shews Him all things which He Himself does, it implies that the whole movement is a movement of love. Moreover, we, being through redemption associated with the Son of God, are privileged to know what these "all things" are. Christ is the Firstborn, and we are with Him, and if we want to know
what are the heavenly things, we have access to Him, and they have all been shown to Him. There is nothing of those "all things" outside the range of the Son in manhood, and the saints are associated with Him. God desires that the saints should be -- indeed, they are now -- the most illustrious assembly the world has ever seen. The Father loves the Son and shows Him -- it does not say that He did show; it puts it that way in order to give it a living present force -- He shows. And you and I are presently, perhaps in a few hours, to be caught up to form that great assembly on high. We need to give our whole mind to these "all things". The things in this world are beneath you. We are privileged to know the "all things which he himself does". He has shown them to the Son because He loved Him; and because He loves you and me we have been given a place in association with the Son of God. It is not only that the Father has loved Jesus but He also loves us.
Then in John 14:21 it says, "he that has my commandments". What a word, we have His commandments. What are we doing with them? Can we, as sitting here together, say that there is not a known commandment that we are not keeping? What about the Lord's supper -- are we all breaking bread? The commandments are binding. Love has the greatest force, an arbitrary commandment is not so binding. "He that has my commandments and keeps them". You must keep them. Why? Because He loves you. You must never lose sight of the fact that He loves you, has loved you unto death. "He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; but he that loves me" -- here we come in -- "shall be loved by my Father". Has He given you the
care of His people? What has He put into your hand? Why? Because He loves you. Is it because you are a competent brother? Not at all, it is because He loves you. It is the greatest trust that can ever be imposed. He has given you something in your hand because He loves you, and not only so, He will show you things, because He loves you. Take it to heart; the Father loves you, and as Jesus says, "The Father himself has affection for you, because ye have had affection for me" (John 16:27). So that in our measure we have the opportunity of coming into the enjoyment of the love that He knew in limitless fullness. Think of having such a place of service. The Father has given it because He loves you. We can take up the path of service now, and take up the things which are put into our hands, because He loves us, and we can take them up as conscious of our relation as associated with the Son of God. Do not step down from your dignity. Remember, whatever you are doing down here -- the most menial service -- will never rob us of this, that we are numbered among the sons of the firstborn family and we are loved.
From Ministry by Russell Besley, pages 42 - 52, Nonington, date unknown.
Genesis 1:14 - 16; Matthew 2:1 - 11; 1 Corinthians 15:39 - 42
The scripture in Corinthians, which we read, justifies our regarding the people of God as under the figure of stars. You will have noticed in the book of Genesis that while the whole creation stands out as the handiwork of God, yet the stars are mentioned as an item by themselves, which will help us in what we are about to look at. It is said that God made the two great lights, the sun to rule by day and the moon to rule by night, and then it says, "and the stars". I need not remind the brethren here, I am sure, that the sun is a type of Christ, and the moon may be regarded as a type of the assembly. But the stars are figures of persons, viewed severally, but set in relation to Christ and each other.
I am not now about to speak to you of the assembly as typified in the moon, but of ourselves as persons who form the assembly, typified in the stars, not as isolated individuals, but as a constellation under the figure of the stars. I beg you, brethren, to seek from the Lord that you might be delivered from any kind of isolated position. I will show you later that it must become exceedingly perilous if we who form the assembly become isolated. From what I understand, although I am afraid I am somewhat ignorant of the stars, no star is independent of the others. Men used to think that the stars were independent, but they are rapidly arriving at the truth that
the stars have been set by God in the heavens together as a whole.
And what is stated of the sun and moon, is also stated in reference to the stars, namely, that they are there to rule. The sun is to rule in the day, and the moon and the stars are to rule in the night. And I put it as an inquiry to us all, as to whether we are exercising an influence from God over this earth. As being one of the stars, you should be ruling, taking part in an influence of rule over this earth. I do not know whether you have been aroused in your affections as to this; and what kind of life you are living where God has put you -- in the city, town, or village, where you are. But you should be a ruling influence for God, as being one of the great number of stars. It is a serious inquiry. I trust, dear brethren, that all of us here are exercising some degree, at least, of rule. I do not know whether I may address you as living in Woodstock, or Hamilton. But that place ought to be that much better off because you are there; and if it is not, then you are not filling out the divine design in giving you a place which is set forth in the stars in the heaven. A boy at school who is converted and knows the Lord ought to exercise some influence over the others, and if he is true to the Lord Jesus he will. I have no doubt there are some here who do. You may think you are only a little star, but a star is a very great thing in God's design, because the stars, with the small light, are to rule the night. There is a sense in which we are related, as I will show you, to the morning, but the main suggestion is in relation to the night.
Now in the prophet Joel we read in two places of a day which appears to be coming, when the stars will
withdraw their shining (Joel 2:10; Joel 3:15). This is a very serious matter for the world; but I raise the inquiry as to whether we are among the shining stars. Things may have come in which interfere with our shining, but God's end in putting the stars by power of creation in the heavens, is that they should shine; and we should be shining. Are you shining among the stars? Are you bringing heavenly light towards this earth, into the office where you are working -- what kind of shining is there?
Are you a shining star? On the market, in the business, in the mill, in the workshop, and in the assembly, are you a shining star? Do you bring light in? We should be among the shining stars. It will be a terrible day, to which the prophet Joel refers, when the stars withdraw their shining. We should never withdraw our shining. We should at every time be shining as the stars in the firmament.
Job refers to stars as singing. I have noticed that there are some of the saints who do not sing. I have not yet asked them why. Maybe they cannot sing, but they can make a joyful noise I am sure. I doubt whether there is any one who really cannot sing. I have sometimes discerned the voices of the children in the assembly. Some one once said, 'Do you not think it is out of place for the children to sing? They sing loudly and are often out of tune'. No, I love to hear them; it does not distract me. I love to be among the saints and know they are among the singing stars. Job says, in view of creation, "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:7). Music has a remarkable place in the divine realm. If you examine passages in Chronicles referring to music, you will find there is much to show that
music, which is under the direction of God's Spirit, has an uplifting effect. It is a great thing for the brethren to be able to sing. The effect of it is the sons of God will shout for joy. The word shout is used generally as meaning a shout of victory or triumph. We should be able to bring in an element of harmony in singing that so affects the brethren that the sons of God shout for joy -- not groan in misery. There is no such custom in the assemblies. Oh, but you say, the times are very difficult. They are; but has God changed? Has the precious truth altered? No. Oh, that the Lord may so help us in spiritual energy and power that we may be found among the stars that sing. It is the morning stars that sing -- not the persons who are in the darkness of the night, and who say it is so difficult that I cannot see the way. You belong to the morning stars, and you should be with the morning stars singing, and the sons of God will shout with joy. By that means you will bring into the assemblies an element of holy triumph in what God is, and what the Lord is. Oh, that we may be found among those that sing. Do you know the Lord sang? It says (Matthew 26:30), "And having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives", teaching us that singing a hymn has an elevating effect, similar to this, that the sons of God shouted for joy. May He help us in this, so that we may develop in what is called for in Psalm 148, where the exhortation is to the stars to praise God. So that we may not only be singing in our own soul's happiness in the knowledge of what the Lord has done; but voicing our praises, rejoicing in what God is, and what He has done, and expressing our love for Him, and for His own Son.
It is a great thing to be among the stars that are praising. You must understand, whenever there is an allusion to things of this character, there is a spiritual thought behind it, and the spiritual thought behind it is that we are called upon to praise. A person who is going on badly cannot sing praises. He has a bad conscience, and if he has not a bad conscience, he ought to have. So in order to have our part and place here among the stars that are praising, our walk must be according to God. Perhaps that is the reason, although one hesitates to think it, that certain of the saints do not sing. Is it because they are not happy? Is it because there is some secret thing in the soul -- something that has been unjudged, some unforgiving spirit? Is this the reason why we cannot sing?
Oh, that there might be heart-searching and self-judgment, so that we may not only be among the singing stars, but that we may be among those who are praising God. It is a great service; God delights in it -- to hear the voices of His people praising Him -- and He delights to hear our voices raised in praise to the Lord Jesus, for in so doing we take part in that which is going on for ever and ever. The spirit of praise will for eternity be on our lips. May God put it there on our lips for praising Him.
I notice we sometimes have meetings that are placed open, to enable the brethren to speak to us; but why do we not speak to the Lord, and why do we not praise Him? Why do not two or three rise to address the Lord in praise? It would be a wonderful thing. We are called upon to "praise him, all ye stars of light" (Psalm 148:3). That is what God is looking for, and what heaven is waiting for.
Now, leading along this line, we come to another range of things entirely, and I remind the brethren of an instance that is recorded in the book of Judges (chapter 4), when the king of Canaan came up against the people of God. What immense power he had -- great chariots of iron, and great forces against God's people. He had a great general in his army, as you remember, called Sisera. Now we have to remember that there are forces, unseen and unknown often, to us, which are against us. You know Satan and all his emissaries are against us. We have to enter into conflict, not with flesh and blood, but with the lords of darkness, who are against us because of our elevation to the heavenly places. That is where Satan is for the moment, and he will not tolerate that we should, in spirit and thought and affections, occupy the heavenly places. The Lord has gone up there. He has gone up far above all heavens, and Satan knows it, and he knows it is not long before he will be dislodged, and so he is against us. Now God's people appealed to Jehovah, and God took up two women, one of whom was a notable sister, Deborah; and God will often take up the sisters. Perhaps we brothers do not realise the place the sisters have, but we have to come to it. God will often, in an assembly, take up sisters, and He will work in them and through them, so that a victory is secured. That has happened more than once; and what the Lord showed in reference to this conflict of the king of Canaan with the people of God, was that the stars fought against Sisera. Deborah in her wonderful song alludes to it.
It says, "The stars from their courses fought with Sisera" (Judges 5:20). What a comfort it is to realise that
the people of God may come in, as identified with an exercise which the Lord may awaken possibly through the women. God has done wonderful things through women in church history, and indeed in all history. We have to remember that there is an opportunity for us to have a part in the conflict against what is opposing the people of God. I want to ask you if you realise what it is to be found among the stars that are fighting. The stars, it says, from their courses fought with Sisera. Are you among them? There may be some conflict in the assembly where you are. Are you among them? I have heard brothers say, 'The meeting is so late, I am not going. I am so tired, and it is just a prayer meeting'. The stars from their courses fought with Sisera, it says. Are we prepared to sacrifice anything and everything, to take part in the conflict as fighting stars? That is what is called for. And the effect of the stars fighting against Sisera was that Jael came with a thing you would look on with disdain, to bring down a great military general. She took a tent-pin and a hammer; she knew the moment to strike, when he was off his guard, and she struck at the critical moment. Why? Because the stars from their courses fought with Sisera. Do we know what it is to be in conflict? I am sometimes asked if I have taken part in military affairs, and I always say 'Yes'. It involves fighting under this banner, which is Christ's banner, and His banner over us is love, and the conflict in which we stand for the truth is faced by us, and we stand in it because we love Him. We desire in all our dealings to be actuated by holy love, and holy love is intolerant of evil. We must take part here in Canada -- in Hamilton, in Toronto, wherever we may be, as long as the assembly is
on earth. We must have our part among the stars that "from their courses" fought with Sisera. Remarkable words. You must know what course you are on. There are ordered ways, or courses, for stars, and the fighting goes on. The war is on, engagement after engagement, until the last great battle will come, and the saints will be translated to heaven. The truth is being maintained here on this earth, and it is being maintained by the Lord in heaven, and the stars are engaged here in conflict. May the Lord give us preparedness of heart to be here as good soldiers; as Paul says to Timothy, "Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3).
This is what we need, otherwise we may have to be numbered among the falling stars, for there are such. The Lord refers, in Mark 13:25, to a day that is coming when the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and there have been many among believers that might be numbered among the fallen stars. I do not know whether you have in mind any believers whom you know who are fallen stars. I have met them; I have seen them; some who once took a prominent part in assembly affairs, are now in the world. Persons who once had a place among the people of God, are now among those who are seeking to mutilate the truth. It is a solemn thing to feel that I may be there. Hourly watchfulness, diligence in prayer, is required that we may be preserved, that we may not be among the fallen stars.
There are certain who are referred to as wandering stars. Jude tells us of them (verse 13). He describes them so that there is no doubt as to them. There are people who have been numbered among the people of God, who are far from the truth, and I have no doubt they are wandering
stars. It says, "to whom has been reserved the gloom of darkness for eternity". If you have any fear that your course is such, I beg you in sincerity of heart, to get into the presence of the Lord. Allow those eyes that are as a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14) to search you, and inquire whether you really belong to Him, lest it be said of you, "the gloom of darkness for eternity". May the Lord help us in regard to these serious matters.
I want to turn to what I may speak of as an individual position, and the brethren will understand what I have in mind. We were speaking together in the afternoon of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the passage I read in the gospel of Matthew we have certain details which are not mentioned by Luke in his account. In Matthew's gospel mention is made of the wise men who came from the east, and they saw a remarkable thing. They say, "Where is the king of the Jews that has been born? for we have seen his star" (Matthew 2:2), (not stars -- His star). And that star appears to have moved and stood over the place where Christ was. It is said that when they saw His star they rejoiced.
Now I put it to my own heart -- indeed I have done so already, I trust, but one would do so again -- and to all the brethren here: Are you the Lord's star in the place that the Lord has allowed you to be? That star in the east may have been a very wonderful star, and I conclude it was a marvellous star as to its shining, but all else is forgotten in this, that it was His star. The only thing for which that star shone was to show where He was. Now I ask you, in your family, what are you shining for? Is it to bring Him in? Is that what you are shining for? As a husband with a wife,
how do you shine? Is it that she may know more of Christ, and that He may be greater to her? As father, do you shine that Christ may be known in your household, so that the children may know the Lord? Is He loved, and is a greater place given to Him than to any one in the house?
And in the assembly, are you a star that guides to Him? Is our influence where we are set such that it has this one result in leading every eye to Christ, so that He is known, He is worshipped, He is loved? Or have we risen to a position of leading, for the sheer love of being first? Such are not of His stars. No, you might think you are, but -- you will excuse me speaking to you gently and affectionately -- you are not His star. You will not lead us to Him, for He never took that place. You may say, 'But I am leader'. Where do you lead? Leading brother, where do you lead? Do you lead to this -- that those who are seeking Christ, when they see you shining, find Him and forget you? His star had this effect -- that when the wise men saw that star and went to the place over which that star stood, they forgot the star, and worshipped Him and that is what we must be as His stars. If you and I do not lead to Christ, we are diverting from Him. As His stars, the only thing for you and me is to guide to where He is, so that He is worshipped and we are forgotten.
From Ministry by Russell Besley, pages 66 - 77, Hamilton, Ontario, date unknown.
Genesis 45:1 - 8
What I desire to refer to in speaking of this passage of scripture is the need for restfulness in having to do with the Lord. I am not now referring quite to our side of matters. It is desirable indeed that we should be at rest in drawing near to the Lord; but what I have rather more in mind is His drawing near to us; and with that in view I have referred to this incident in Joseph's history.
I do not think that we perhaps value as we should the intensity of the Lord's desires to be with us, and to have us at home with Him. I am not speaking exclusively of the occasion of the Lord's supper, when the Lord Jesus may come to assembled saints. But I am speaking of the occasions when the Lord manifestly draws near to His people, in order to speak to them, and I am convinced that all will agree that the gain of the Lord's address to us is not possible if we are not at home with Him.
Now how wonderful it is that there are emotions, deep, measureless emotions in the heart of Jesus towards us. Think of that, think of the Personage as typified in Joseph. You might have said Joseph has enough to satisfy him in Egypt. Look at the pomp and splendour surrounding his place in the court, think of the eminence in which he is as the saviour of the world, and the revealer of secrets. But these were more or less official positions, dignities which invested him; and one might speak of the
place of glory in which Jesus is in heaven. He has a glory in heaven surpassing the accumulated glory of all others. That is the glory which rests upon His brow in heaven, the once crucified, despised and hated Man -- what a place! He has dignities investing Him. He has official glories in that place of light superb. You might say, 'Lord Jesus, these are enough to satisfy Thee'. No. What about these few shepherds who had come into the land of Egypt? That was where Joseph's heart lay; they were his brethren. Christ has in heaven glories, yet there are affections in that wonderful heart that can only be satisfied in having our companionship. What a wondrous consideration that is.
The arrival of the brethren of Joseph as he looked on them stirred the emotions of his heart, so that he had to cry, "Put every man out from me" (Genesis 45:1). The ministry of the truth in the power of the Spirit, from Christ in glory has in view to cause these elements in us, elements of the flesh, to go out. Now the question is, is every man going out? All that belongs to us as of this world is a distinct hindrance to the manifestation of Christ amongst His people. One Egyptian remaining there would have restrained the intense emotions of the heart of Joseph.
Now the ministry of the truth which we have received -- many of us for many years -- is, in the Lord's mind, to the intent that every man should go out. Now have we heard that voice of power, "Put every man out from me?" That was the command from the lips of Joseph. It was not a question now of disapproval of these elements, of these persons. It was that there were such intense emotions in the heart of Joseph that the presence of Egyptians, the presence of persons who were unsympathetic, would have
restrained them, would have hindered him, and so he gave this command, put every man out.
Now are we prepared to disallow the flesh -- are we prepared for that? It is a searching question, beloved brethren. I feel it deeply for myself, because the element of the world which is in us, and clings to us interferes with what the Lord desires to do; He desires to make Himself known to us. What a thing that this great and exalted Personage desires to make Himself known. He is not seeking the courts of the world, He is not knocking at any palace doors, He is knocking at the doors of our hearts, and He says, "Put every man out".
They went out, and the pent-up emotions of the heart of Joseph found an outlet in loud weeping -- weeping of intense emotion, intense joy, and I think one has discerned the evidences of the Lord's intense emotions as having liberty to come among His people. You may say, 'I know nothing about that'. There is a reason for that. This priceless joy which is within the reach of every believer is only known at the cost of surrender. If we are harbouring and clinging to what belongs to us as in the flesh, clinging to what we may be naturally; whether it be in talents, or attainments, or social rank in this world, it is a hindrance to the most wonderful joy that believers here can ever know; the manifestation of the Lord Jesus in the intensity of His love for His own. That is what He is seeking in the assembly.
You understand now that I am speaking of movements on the Lord's side towards us, and not of movements on our side towards Him. The emotions of the heart of Christ are so precious that they cannot be divulged in the
presence of Egyptians, so He says, "Put every man out". He gave vent to his love in loud weeping, and the Egyptians heard and the house of Pharaoh heard. It is not too much to say that this world has heard the joy that is known in the assembly, has known that such a thing is. It may have no intelligence in regard to it, but the thing is known, it has had its effect in the world.
Now that is the move on the part of Joseph to make himself known. The Egyptians have been disposed of -- they have gone out. We are walking in a path of separation from the world, I hope. If not it is high time to begin, and it is not too late to begin. The cleavage between us and the world must be absolute in heart. The taking of the Lord's supper, if it is understood, is an avowal publicly, that Jesus is our Lord. That is the meaning of the Lord's supper; it is the Lord's supper. All of us here who are the Lord's have passed very definitely from the kingdom of darkness, to the kingdom of the Son of God's love. Supposing I went over to France, and petitioned the authorities that I desired now henceforth to be a citizen of the French Republic. I renounce every right here, and I take some steps to avow my allegiance to that government. Now the crossing over from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God's love is as real as that, and more so. Have we passed over? On the Lord's Day we eat that bread, and we drink of that cup, as a definite avowal that Jesus is Lord. The days that follow are to be in correspondence with that; otherwise the situation is dishonest -- it is unreal.
So we have caused the Egyptians to go out, I trust. Joseph discovers now that there is another element to be dealt with. It says here, "His brethren could not answer
him, for they were troubled at his presence". Now, why is it that the Spirit of God is quenched in the assembly of God? I am not speaking now of His being grieved -- a most affecting consideration. Think of a divine Person being grieved. I am not speaking of His being grieved -- I am speaking of His being quenched.
We were speaking this afternoon of certain manifestations of the Spirit that take place in the assembly of God, in relation to the body of Christ. When the Lord manifests Himself in the way of ministry, or in the way of His presence as coming among us, there are occasions when those who are there are troubled. I suppose we all know what it is to have sat uneasily during an address. Sometimes a word of ministry causes uneasiness. Why? If the Lord speaks, if He speaks in a voice of thunder, we are not disturbed unless there be some secret question there that has never been touched. Is this condition of things obtaining among us, beloved brethren? Do allow me to talk plainly and affectionately. Are any troubled at His presence? Have you a good conscience? Are you silent in the assembly? That is abnormal. The Lord's desire is that all should come near to Him, and the Lord's voice is heard in the assembly in the way of ministry, or He may pursue His own ends by the Holy Spirit in a manifestation. The Lord speaks in a remarkable way on occasions to His people. But He does it for what? So that all distance may be removed.
I am greatly exercised as to why there are certain ones who appear to take no part in the functioning of the assembly. This is a condition of things that should not be. In the type, Joseph desired that all the brothers should be
free with him, and I am sure that his heart was deeply moved as he felt that they were troubled at his presence. One desires to speak with due care, and reverently, of the Lord. What must He feel when He finds us troubled at His presence? You ask a brother in the assembly, when you can get near enough to him so as not to wound his spirit, and you say, 'My dear brother, why do you never take part in the assembly?' The usual answer is, 'I am not free'. Why is that? I believe every one should be free to function in the assembly. Every sister should be free in her sphere; the young sisters should be free -- they should be holy women. There should be a difference between them, and the women of the world, as light is from darkness. The fact is the elements of the world have got in among the people of God, and we must cause the Egyptian to go out; that is what must be done. Think of people coming into the assembly, and you do not know them from people of the world. Dear brethren let me say, in all love and gentleness, these things ought not so to be.
Why should we imitate the fashions of the world? Why not imitate the fashions of heaven? That is where we belong, and in demeanour and dress we want to bear the moral marks of heaven, and what is outward is an indication of what is inward. Now what about affection for Christ? We are definitely pledged in love to Him. What about our pledge? What about your body? We were speaking in the afternoon about our bodies being holy. Think of a holy vessel. Think of a holy body, in which the emotions of sin are disallowed. Think of a heart devoted absolutely to Christ.
I believe there is a custom in the apostate church, a most terrible imitation of the church, of what is called taking the veil -- absolute devotion to Christ. Love calls for that. Could anyone view the cross in all its anguish and desolation, without giving a whole heart to Christ? He gave His whole heart to us then; nothing deterred Him -- shame and spitting, agony immeasurable. Such was the devotion of Jesus to you. What is the answer, dear brethren? What is the answer to it all?
Now there were in the hearts of the brethren of Joseph deep questions that had never been settled, and I believe there are questions which are not settled in the hearts of the saints. Have you forgiveness of sins? 'Oh', you say, 'I am breaking bread'. I was not asking if you were breaking bread. I asked have you had your sins forgiven? Is the matter really settled? Are you really clear that you are forgiven? Have you got peace with God? Do you know that you are justified? What about being justified? God delivered Jesus for our offences. What a thing to do. Why, it was God against whom I had offended; it was the blessed God against whom I had sinned; it was He against whom my will had risen in repeated opposition; He it was who delivered Jesus for our offences, and He raised Him again for our justification. Have you believed that? 'Oh', you say, 'I believe Jesus has risen'. No, that is not what it says. I have no doubt you believe He is risen. Have you believed that God raised Him for your justification? When that wonderful testimony is believed, God justifies the person. No one justifies himself, it is God who justifies. As Paul says, "Who is he that condemns?" (Romans 8:34). The believer is clear from every charge; he is justified, and he
has peace with God, and, as having the Holy Spirit, the love of God is shed abroad in his heart.
Now do we know what these things are? Do you know that you are justified? Justified means that no charge can be brought against you, neither now nor at any time. Now what about the dominion of sin? What kind of life are you going to live?
The soul history outlined in the epistle to the Romans is of vast importance, in order to give believers restfulness in the presence of the Lord Jesus. The Lord showed unto the disciples His hands. He showed them what He had done; that is the force of showing His hands (see Luke 24:40). I suppose there is hardly an occasion when the precious death of Christ is before us, but we think of what has been secured by Him. He showed them His hands -- His hands, no doubt marked with the print of the nails -- as indicating what He has done.
The effort of the enemy is to rouse all that is natural in me, to do my own will; that in its essence is sin. But sin's dominion is to be destroyed. We are to pass over from the life of the flesh, living here in the indulgence of the flesh, into life in the power of the Spirit. We are to live unto God now, and henceforth. We are entitled to reckon, to count ourselves to have died unto sin, but alive unto God. Now this is very practical. You may say I understand the truth; but that will not do. The understanding of the truth will only bring condemnation upon the conduct, unless there be the pursuit of its way. To understand the truth and yet allow sin to work is a very serious matter. You are not to live any longer in sin.
Now these experiences are typified in the behaviour of Joseph's brethren; they were troubled; and there are those now who are troubled, they are not free. I know I am touching what is practical. We are to be a holy people, we are to walk in righteousness. Sin's dominion is to be destroyed in the believer; otherwise the holding of the truth is of no value, and we shall come under the discipline of God. If you will not surrender the flesh, and the life of the flesh, then you will come under discipline in order to bring you to things. Paul says to the Corinthians, "On this account many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 11:30).
Now, beloved, the Lord's love is so intense, He desires to make Himself known to us, and to make us know that we are His brethren. Think of world-bordering; think of persons walking in alliance with the world; think of reading the wretched literature of the world, when the Lord would come to you and say, "I am Jesus". What a word! Do I live unto God? Is it true -- is it really true -- that I live in the power of the Spirit? How can I have anything to do with this world, save to walk humbly, and in a lowly manner through it? Oh, for a heart to love Him more faithfully. Oh, for zeal that would walk in conformity to the light of the truth here, so that one might never be troubled. How wonderful and lovely to hear a brother rise and speak to the Lord -- with not a cloud between himself and Christ. Yet I may hear another, you know what I mean, laboured and stumbling. Have you ever been there yourself? One troubled in the presence of Jesus. They were troubled, troubled! Oh, dear brethren, I feel the Lord is speaking to us. Would that we might have grace to hear
His word. He longs to make Himself known to us. Think of how those men must have felt when they saw Joseph in all his royal apparel, probably the chain of gold about his neck, and the ring upon his hand! Think of the glories of the Son of God, the despised and crucified Man, the exalted, glorified, heaven-seated Son of God! Beloved, what shall we be in heart, and life, and practice, so as to be at home with Him? To be His brethren morally we must hear the word of God and do it. We shall then be restful in His presence. What were you reading on Saturday? Were you smoking on Saturday? "I am Joseph your brother" (Genesis 45:4). Think of the Lord's intense emotions as desiring to be with us, and we have been troubled. He says, "Come near to me" (Genesis 45:4), do not stand afar off; draw near to me. It is an affecting word.
The Lord would have us, dear brethren, occupy this wonderful position. Joseph said, "I am Joseph". The Lord looks upon us as His brethren, of whom He is not ashamed. I have sometimes felt deeply bowed in the sense of that. I know what I am. I know of the smallness and littleness of what I am; but think that I am ranked as one of His brethren. I can speak with holy confidence, He is God blessed for ever, but He would have us at home with Him. The emotions of that heart will never be satisfied until He has us at home with Him. May He bring it to pass for His blessed name's sake.
From Ministry by Russell Besley, pages 92 - 103, Birkenhead, date unknown.
Leviticus 27:1 - 8; Matthew 11:2 - 4, 11; Matthew 16:13 - 18; Matthew 26:6 - 13; Acts 9:15, 16
I want to try and show that we are all subject to a divine estimation. It is sometimes said that it matters little how we are valued down here, but I take serious exception to that statement. We ought to be gravely concerned as to how we are valued down here; it is a matter for grave exercise, or should be, to us all. I do not refer to what the world may think of us. But what I am anxious to arrive at is that we are all set down in the divine account. I have an impression that the estimation is written down, and the estimation is the estimation of the priest, and I want your heart to be full of joy in the realisation of the estimation. I am sure every one here will value it much, that they are estimated according to the ability of the Lord to value. I believe that one's estimation of the brethren should correspond with the Lord's estimation of them. Many of us are estimated by others a great deal too highly: some of us are perhaps undervalued; but we are to think soberly, dear brethren, the apostle says. Sometimes a brother will say, 'Well, I am a poor thing, I am no good'. I sometimes wonder whether he really believes what he says. We are to think soberly, and wisely; and we should covet to be near enough to the Lord, and sufficiently often in the holiest, to know what the Lord's estimation is.
Now in the last chapter of Leviticus we have the matter of estimation according to God, and estimation according to the valuation of the priest. Doubtless you have noticed in reading the passage, that the valuation of the male differs from that of the female. At your leisure it will interest you to note the difference between the valuations; they are not regular. According to age, the valuation of the male and the female differs. I believe the spiritual meaning of the valuation of the male and the female suggests for us the valuation according to what we are according to divine purpose. The valuation according to what we are in God's ways here; that is the measure of what is actually wrought in us, what is entered into by us. You might say to me that every one is valued alike. Well, every one stands in divine favour, and stands before God in divine righteousness; all stand in the blessedness of what Christ is as risen. But you must understand that when it comes to a question of the world to come, and possibly eternity, there are variations. For instance, when one thinks of the apostle Paul, the great place that he has in relation to the divine structure, one will readily conceive that he has a distinctive place in valuation, even in relation to the ways of God on earth, and the assembly of God. But speaking of matters in the main, the valuation of the male and female, has respect to the place divinely given to us according to the purpose of God, and the place we have in relation to the formation wrought here in us in the power of the Spirit. The valuation all through in the male is higher, showing that the place we have in the divine reckoning, and the estimation in respect to the place divinely given according
to purpose and counsel, is always higher than anything we have reached here.
So I want you to understand the blessedness of what it is to view ourselves, as taken up before ever the world began, in the purpose and counsel of God, and the place given to us in that connection. Things are not done in any sense by the Lord in estimation, as we should say, by guesswork. I have seen men estimating here on earth, and they run their eye over a building and say, so much. The Lord never does a thing like that. The estimation is accurate, and is according to the shekel of the sanctuary; it is God's estimation. I want you to think that the Lord has estimated your value. He knows exactly the place that was given you according to purpose, chosen of God in Christ, and the place that you will have in the divine structure. He knows, too, your actual state, what has been formed in you. There is an estimation from five years old. Think of a young convert, a boy or girl converted yesterday. They were the subjects of divine purpose before ever the world began, and the Lord estimates them according to that, and He estimates them also according to the work that is actually there. You may say it is faith that is there. It may be a very simple faith; but because a person is only recently converted, it does not follow that the measure of faith is small. On the contrary, in a person recently converted, often the faith is wonderful. Never discredit what is in a young person, because they are young. I have often thought that I would have given anything to see older persons with the faith of a little child. I dare say you have noted in a child, a most extraordinary faith. So that you must never underestimate the young people. Always try to
remember that they have been estimated according to the estimation of the priest. So that we, as brothers and sisters in the assembly of God, would do well to become intimate with the sanctuary, to be much in the presence of the Lord. Somebody said once, 'What a wonderful thing for the priest to have access to the holy place'. I remember saying to a clergyman once, in a railway train, 'It must be a wonderful thing to be a priest;' and he looked at me and said, 'Indeed, it is'. I said, 'It must be a wonderful thing to be able to go into the presence of the Lord'. He looked at me with the utmost astonishment and said, 'I am afraid I do not know much about that!' Are you accustomed to the sanctuary? Do you know what it is to go in and speak intimately with the Lord, who is the great Priest in the house? What an indescribable something there is about such people. I do not know any human language to describe it -- persons who are intimate with the holy place, so that you have some sense of His estimation of you. It is a very sobering thing.
Now God may have to resort to a sign, in order, perhaps, to give a sense of the estimation. You remember that the heads of the tribes of Israel had to lay up their rods before Jehovah, after the rebellion of Korah and his company, and the word was that God would speak to the man whose rod budded. Now what is the estimation? You recall how they had to come and take their rods. Think of coming and finding your rod just as it was before -- no buds, no blossom, no almonds on it. But God showed by whom He was going to speak. It was Aaron; and there are times when you and I have to lay up our rods and learn that God is not going to speak by us. What is His
estimation of me on this occasion -- not last week, but now? It must be a living thing, and it will impart great power to us in the house of God, as knowing what the divine estimation is. It matters little what people think of you in the world, although I would like people to think that this is a man who wears the breastplate of righteousness. I frequently hear it said, 'There is something about that person that I cannot understand'. A brother was in conversation with a man of the world when another brother came into the office, and, seeing there was an interview going on, he retired, and the worldly man said to the brother, 'That is an extraordinary sort of man. I feel that man is a holy sort of man'. Would you like to bear priestly garments like that? He was in moral accord with the estimation. Now that is what I would like, and that is what we must covet -- we must covet this. Difficulties come in, Paul says, "That the approved may become manifest" (1 Corinthians 11:19). It is approval we need; it is sweeter than anything. I need the Lord's estimation, and I do not believe that the Scripture would justify the idea that the estimation is unvarying, for I believe it may vary. The place given to us according to the purpose and counsel of God does not vary, but the estimation according to what we are here in our growth practically may greatly vary. Are you exercised about the word of God, with you and in you? Does it ever cause you any concern? What are you doing? How are you shaping your course? How are you occupying yourself, with a view to divine working? What about the vessel in the hands of the potter? Do you ever think about it? What is the use of getting up in the morning and getting through the day anyhow? I understand that life
is an arena where God is preparing a vessel. Have you ever been through a pottery? How remarkable are the processes the clay goes through, till at last it stands a thing of beauty, perfect symmetry. What has done it all? Working has done it. How I have watched the people of God, until, seeing some going home, I have seen a vessel of mercy prepared for glory. It matters little what happens to you down here, as long as we are being prepared, so that the estimation of the priest may set us down at the value that will please Him, and be more truly in accord with God having taken you up.
You may say, 'I do not know why it is that at the close of my life I seem to have nothing but sorrow'. Shall I tell you why it is? There is a vessel being prepared for glory. Oh, the loveliness of a vessel when prepared. I do not think there is anything more exquisite on earth, than a vessel ready to go -- prepared for glory. The estimation of the priest may be fifty shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary. That is what the Lord is doing with us, and the thing is to be near enough to Him. My dear brother, how often do you speak to the Lord? Do you have morning reading? Is that the only time you speak to Him? In the evening when you kneel down and close your eyes before you sleep, is that all? No one loves your company like Jesus. Do you think He misses it? He might say, 'He never speaks to Me unless he is in need'. It is rather painful when a friend has to say to you, 'When was the last time you came to see me?' 'Well, let me see, it was when I was in trouble'. Would the Lord have to say, 'You never come to sit down under My shadow with great delight'. And being with Him would give us a sense of His estimation.
I want to show you first of all, the estimation of the Lord of a convert, and I refer to Paul, or, as he was then, Saul; he was a convert. And Ananias was not prepared to give him any value at all. He said, "I have heard from many concerning this man". Now reports may be dangerous. "I have heard", he says, but the Lord will not accept that. The Lord judges by what He knows, not by what He hears, and it is not always a safe thing to be guided by reports. The Lord's estimation of this young man, Saul, is exceedingly beautiful, "Go, for this man is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name before both nations and kings and the sons of Israel". He was a chosen vessel, the great apostle to the gentiles, and the one through whom the truth of the mystery was to come out, and the word of God was to be completed. But, nevertheless, such was the character of Saul's conversion that the estimation of the man is, "This man is an elect vessel to me". Now I want you to understand that every young convert is not necessarily a chosen vessel in that sense; but, nevertheless, every one is a definite choice of the Lord. What are you going to say to a person if the Lord has chosen him? What are you going to do with a brother or sister converted yesterday, if the Lord has chosen him? It alters the place a person has in my thoughts at once, when I regard the estimation of the priest, the valuation. That person, although he may have fled in dire need to the Lord, yet He has chosen him. He may be a tiny vessel, as compared with the great vessel, but a vessel nevertheless, and that is the Lord's estimation and valuation, and we should never value anyone at a less valuation than that. Have you ever thought of your child? You say, 'He loves the Lord'. Well,
thank God he does. Would you like to look at your boy, and feel that he is chosen, the Lord has taken him up, that is His valuation of him. You say, 'He is only a little fellow, just converted'. Yes, but he has been taken up, chosen of the Lord. "An elect vessel to me". You will regard your child very differently, if you can regard him in that light. Now, how are you going to frame your child's life in future? What do you want him to be? A Bachelor of Science? What for? He is "An elect vessel to me". Do we care for our children, and bring them up ever having that in mind? What did Hannah do? She said, 'I will give him to the Lord'. Have we done that with our children? "An elect vessel" -- that is the valuation, the Lord's valuation, the estimation of the priest. To you, my dear little boy, if you should be here, and if you know and love the Lord, I want you to understand that this great Personage has put out His hand, and chosen you as a vessel, to be for Him -- that is the valuation. "Let no one despise thy youth", said Paul to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:12). He had some sense of the valuation of the priest.
Now I want to go on from that to speak a word with regard to the valuation of the disciple. In Matthew 16, it says with regard to the visit to Caesarea-Philippi, that the Lord was with His disciples, not the apostles, they were that, but disciples. He begins to inquire, "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" What is their valuation of Him? I do not know how you regard the world. I do not want to speak disrespectfully of the world at all, but when I think of the poor ability of the world to value what is great, I am not attracted to the world at all. The princes of the world did not know the Lord of glory, and they
crucified Him. That has stamped the world forever as a community that cannot be trusted, and I am not going to accept their judgment for a moment. Now the Lord says, "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" Well, John the baptist risen again. They are all in the dark, you see. Ask the men of the world about Christ, the Holy One of God -- think of the infamous blasphemies! Young man, are you looking to the world for judgment and wisdom? You will never find it there. What is the valuation of our Lord? Now as to choosing your friends, are you going to choose friends who have undervalued the Lord? I will not be seen in their company, I will not have anything to do with people who have undervalued the Son of God; they are not my company, and I am sure I am not theirs. So the Lord goes on, "But ye, who do ye say that I am?" Now Peter has been sovereignly taken up by the Lord. I admit that this is special to Peter, but the principle of the thing is the same. Now the Lord says, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens". Now that is the Lord's estimation of a disciple, that he was the subject of revelation from the heavens, from the Father. That is special to Peter. There is no such revelation to anyone now -- the revelation is complete. But the principle of the thing remains, that to a disciple there may be given light with regard to the revelation. That is possible to us all, for the thing comes into our souls in the way of light, and you may have the light of the glory of that Person. So the Lord says, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona". What an honour for that fisherman, "Blessed art thou". Would you like the Lord to say that to you? He has said it of you, for He said
to Thomas, "Blessed they who have not seen and have believed" (John 20:29). You are blessed in His view. Think of the Lord saying you are blessed. Have you ever put that down close to your heart, 'He has said that I am blessed'. That is His valuation of you as a disciple, one that has a heart open to get light from heaven. If ever there was a day when we do need to have light from heaven it is now. There is marvellous ministry given in the assembly, but there is something more than that, and that is light from heaven for yourself. I do not discredit one word that has been spoken and written for a minute, for I value it all immensely. But there is something greater, and that is to get a ray of light for yourself, and you can have it, and the Lord's word with reference to one who has it is, "Blessed art thou".
Well, now, I just want to say one word with reference to the Lord's valuation of a sister. I refer to the woman in the house of Simon the leper. She brought the alabaster box of very precious ointment, and put it on the head of Jesus and anointed Him. There was a dispute about it -- the ointment should have been sold, and it was a waste, and so on. Now the Lord says that His estimation of her is that "She has wrought a good work ... What she could she has done" (Mark 14:6, 8). He so valued what was done that He said that wherever the gospel is preached this would be spoken of for a memorial. Think of that woman having a memorial in this world. That woman's act has come up in the assemblies as a memorial all over the world. If you go to Sydney and ask the brethren there if they have ever heard about that woman, they will say, 'Yes, we often speak of her'. Ask the brethren in South Africa or in New
York. I have been through parts of Europe, and in every meeting I have been, they know about her. My dear sister, would you not like to have a valuation like that? But you cannot have that one; she has got it. But what is the priest's valuation of you? Supposing the Lord were to come right down here, would you like Him to tell us His valuation of you? You say, 'No, I would not'. Well, He will not; but He knows. What is your life? Is it laid at His feet? Can you think of what He has suffered for you, and not put your life at His feet? Would you like to go straight to heaven, and put your head down at His feet, and put your whole soul's homage at His blessed feet? May the Lord work in us that there may be a valuation of us that is in keeping with what is priestly. Some of you young people would like to have some letters after your name; you would like to be something in this world. It is not worth being anything in this world, where your Saviour only had a cross and grave. Be something in God's world; have an estimation at the mouth of the priest, and nothing can take its place.
Just briefly, I want to speak of John the baptist as the Lord's valuation of a servant in Matthew 11. Now John was shut up in prison, and it says that he heard of Christ in the prison. It would appear that for a moment John's better judgment was swayed by what he heard. So the Lord gives a wonderful guide as to confirming a judgment. "Go, report to John what ye hear and see". I do not think we are to be much governed by things we hear, unless there is something to see. Reports are sometimes dangerous. Every report must be borne out by something that can be seen; so the Lord says to the disciples, "Go, report to John what ye
hear and see. Blind men see ..". And then the Lord runs over what has happened. He knows perfectly well that John will not doubt for a moment. I am certain that John never wavered for an instant; he knew who had come. Now the Lord gives, in the hearing of those about Him, the valuation of John, and He says, "There is not arisen among the born of women a greater than John the baptist". You might say John was very low down when he did not believe in the prison that the Lord had come. Now what are you going to do with a brother like that? Well, you say, 'That is a very poor brother'. The Lord's valuation of him according to the estimation of the priest, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, is that "There is not arisen among the born of women a greater than John the baptist". That is, in that order of service, in that dispensation, as having regard to the bringing in of the Lord. Moreover, He says, quoting scripture in reference to him from Malachi 3:1, "Behold ... my messenger ..". In prison? Yes, but "my messenger". Now that is a very serious thing for this world. I am afraid we do not perhaps realise what a serious position this world is in. "My servant" has been put in prison in this world by the hands of the political power, and the Lord Himself has been crucified and slain. That is what this world has done, and there is a day of reckoning coming for this world yet. I want you to feel that while you may pray for the salvation of poor sinners in the world, there is a line of demarcation between ourselves and the world, that no one can overlook.
I wonder if there is any one here who is not converted. You belong to this world that put the Lord's messenger in prison and crucified the Lord of glory. If there is any one
here unconverted, I beg you to flee for your life. Turn to Christ immediately; do not let another sun set over your head. Flee as if your whole life depended upon it, and accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, and believe in Him and confess Him, and you will be free of this world, and you will have the valuation of a new convert; you are chosen and taken up by Him. Here is the valuation of a servant. I question if John ever heard it. It is a wonderful estimation. He says, nevertheless, "But he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he". He belongs to another dispensation altogether, but that does not disallow the great place that John had in the Lord's valuation as a servant. And that is where we fail, beloved brethren, in our service; we may waver, for we are but poor weak men, but our service will always be valued at its highest possible estimation according to the estimation of the priest. I want nothing more than that. If I can only have a valuation from Him, and the estimation from His mouth, and hear Him say one day (great though the sense of weakness is in regard to all our service), "Well done, thou good bondman" (Luke 19:17). That is the valuation of the priest, for every man shall have praise of God.
May the Lord keep our souls in the sense of it for His name's sake.
From Ministry by Russell Besley, pages 104 - 119, Marlow, date unknown.
Song of Songs 5:9, 10, 16
On the last three occasions I spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit. I want to speak of the One of whom the Holy Spirit tells -- the One whom He makes dear and real to our hearts. I feel that our defect is want of affection for Christ. I therefore desire to speak tonight of some of the attractions of Christ. We all know a little about them; but I thought I might present Him in various aspects to our souls, so that His attractiveness might have a greater effect upon us. The essence of christianity, the very centre of christianity is the attractiveness of Christ. If our hearts really are attracted to Christ, and we ponder over His beauties, we shall certainly be occupied aright. On the other hand, if our sense of His attractions wanes and fades, we shall seek other attractions; and which of us here can say that in the course of our christian experience, he has not done so? Why? Because we have not kept close to Christ, and found His attractions sufficient for our hearts. Our affections can really be satisfied with Christ, and I suppose there is not a soul here, a christian, that has not at one time or another found that Christ is sufficient. Yet other things come in, and the attractions of Christ wane.
I want to present, the Lord helping me, some of His features, which come before us in those passages which I have read. The beloved of Solomon gives an account of her beloved. She is able to describe him. They ask her,
"What is thy beloved more than another beloved?" and she is able to give an account of Him, that He is the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely One. That is indeed true of Christ. However dimly we may know Him, there is no doubt He is the chiefest among ten thousand. There is not a defect in Him: He is altogether lovely.
In speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ personally, the whole of Scripture lies before us. It speaks of Him from beginning to end; but I want first of all to show you how certain persons we read of were attracted to Him. Let us take His attractiveness to some of the apostles. Peter was called from fishing to follow the Lord. You only follow a person who is attractive to you. Peter followed Him because he found something attractive in Christ. That is just the point. There is something in Christ that we have found, something almost indescribable, that draws us to Him, something of Him that we know in our hearts, and so we follow Him. However little we may know Him, our souls have found something of what Christ is, and it attracts our hearts, and we follow the Person who has thus displayed Himself to us. As we continue, there is the most extraordinary array of beauties that our souls gather from the contemplation of Christ. The two disciples in John 1 were touched. They did not merely follow what John said, but Jesus Himself. There was something in the Lord Jesus which attracted them, and that is what happens to us: we follow. Peter found that, and he followed Him all his life. It is true he denied the Lord; but he said, when the Lord spoke to him before about it and warned him, "Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death" (Luke 22:33). You will say that was boasting. He
meant it. He felt if he could be in the Lord's presence and company, he would go to prison and death with Him. That was not a hypocritical statement. It was true at that moment; he was so impressed with the Lord and what He was, and so attracted to Him, that he said, with Thee I will go to prison and death. Not, I will go to prison and death for Thee, but with Thee, meaning that if he had the Lord's company, he could face prison and death. That is quite true, and shows how Peter was really attracted. He did not fail in affection, but because of self-confidence. He did not fail even in faith, because the Lord said, "I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:32). If the Lord offers up a prayer for any one of us, that prayer is going to be answered. He prayed that Peter's faith would not fail, and it did not fail; his courage failed. I wanted to show you that, despite the failures, he was attracted to Christ. And so the Lord said to him at the end, "follow thou me;" continue in the path in which I am the attractive Object of your heart.
Take a less known apostle, Thomas. What does he say? "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (John 11:16). He felt like Peter, if he could only die with the Lord, he would be prepared to die -- not only for Him but with Him. Death would not be anything if he died with Christ. He failed later in having doubts, but he did say definitely, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him". He was so attracted to Christ that he felt he could die with Him. I think we have all perhaps felt that. Supposing this hall was surrounded tonight by a body of policemen, the government having turned against christians, and they said, everyone that professes the name of Christ is going to
be lined up against the wall and shot. We should say, we would not mind that, we should be pleased to die for Christ. That would not be difficult. The difficulty is to live for Him, and to die with Him now spiritually; to own that we have died with Christ, died to the rudiments of the world and sin. That is a much greater matter. It is more difficult to live daily, or die daily, as Paul says. It would be easier to have a bullet through your heart. Thomas was attracted to Christ, and said he would die with Him. The point is to live for Him.
Take all the apostles, they all followed Him in this world. Sometimes He took them through such dangerous passages that, were it not for the attraction of His Person, they would not have followed. When He went to Jerusalem, it says that as they followed Him they were amazed. They followed fearfully, they were afraid when they followed Him. If it had not been for that powerful attraction of Christ they would not have followed Him. He was going to Jerusalem, where men were going to kill Him. We are so attracted to Christ that we say, Although that path leads me into a position I feel I cannot stand in, yet if He leads, I will follow Him. Sometimes we count the cost and retreat; but let us, like them, keep on, no matter where it leads. We sometimes calculate too much. If I follow Christ in that path, where is it going to lead? To rejection, to scorn, to trouble with the world. May be it is going to lead to trouble with parents, or with fellow christians, because they do not understand that we want to follow Christ. Even though we are amazed and afraid, we follow on because our hearts are attracted to Christ.
Then take Matthew, the tax-gatherer: he was a man of means. He was sitting taking in money, and money would have a great deal of attraction for him; yet the Lord only said, "Follow me", and he followed Him. He said, I have feasted a great many people, but I am feasting the Lord today, and let those who care to come to the feast with Him, come. He was so attracted to Christ, that at a simple word he went; he was at His disposal. We know what the Lord did further; He chose him as one of His apostles. We find him following Him, one of those who took part in the last supper. He followed Him in that way faithfully. They all failed in the end, it is true, but were all attracted to Him when risen. I have no doubt if we knew about all the apostles, a similar thing could be said of all of them.
John was particularly attracted to Christ. He was so attracted to Christ that he got as near Him as he could; he leaned on His breast at the supper. He had a special place in that sense, in the affectionate heart of Christ. If Christ becomes attractive to us, we get as near Him as we can. We do not stand as far away as we can, content to say we are christians: we like to get as near as we can. What it is to get near to Christ in affections, to have His love daily as a portion of our hearts! Get near Him in affections spiritually. It is possible for all of us to become spiritually near to Christ, and there you will find the attractiveness of Christ. One cannot make it good for another, but there is that in Christ; that is what is so extraordinary, that there are thousands of people in this world who are attracted to Christ. So attracted to Christ that His love is known in their hearts, and they get as near Him as they can. It is a very serious matter. Let us examine our consciences. Are
we getting as near to Christ as we can? Or are we just going on and keeping as near to the edge of the world as possible without having a bad conscience. Are we ignoring the cost, and getting near Christ, or counting the cost and keeping Him at arm's length? Is He still as attractive to us as He was of yore, when our hearts were fresh and loyal? I remember an old christian saying, 'There were times when I would have given my eyes, as Paul said the Galatians would for him, but now, how different!' It was very sad. Later the same brother, many years after, said 'The Lord said to Israel, I remember for thee the days of thy youth, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness. But now!' We do not want that, do we? We all know how gracious the Lord is, that He remembers the days of the warmth of our affection to Him. The day comes when we get colder and the world gets a hold of us, and we will not follow Him into the wilderness. His attractions are not what they were to us.
I was speaking about John, and the attractiveness of the Lord to him. I will just follow that up a little, because it is very remarkable that the Lord, having adopted such an affectionate attitude, and allowed John to adopt it to Himself, assumed such a different form in the book of Revelation -- so much so that the beloved apostle, instead of leaning on His bosom, fell at His feet. What does it mean? It is the attitude of outraged affection, a severe attitude. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, His eyes were as a flame of fire, His feet were like unto fine brass, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. Why was it? Is that the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, in His attitude of outraged affection. A great
love had been bestowed and reciprocated, and then that love is left. Ephesus has left her first love. Therefore the Lord assumes an attitude of that kind. He will not go on with a church devoid of affection. If that continues, the Lord will have nothing more to do with it, He will spue it out of His mouth. "I rebuke and discipline as many as I love" (Revelation 3:19). The Lord cares nothing for our services and activities, if they are not actuated by love for Him; but if they are, every little service we do for His saints, even a cup of cold water, is grateful to Him. Anything we do for Christ's sake, on account of what He is to us, and because of the love we bear to those whom He loves, He values; but any other kind of activity is dust and ashes, the Lord does not care for it. What is not the effect of love is all in vain. Oh! let us see to it that we do not let our activities obscure the personal love of Christ. We are apt to be like that; we may be extremely active, and do a great many things, and perhaps in our very activities we are barren and our love to Christ wanes. We think our service more important than His heart. He does not want that.
I want to say a word about Paul -- a most wonderful example of the attraction of Christ. I want to show you how powerfully Christ attracted his heart. He may have made mistakes here and there; He was not perfect as Christ was; but I have no doubt the Philippian attitude was maintained in Paul. The things he counted loss, he continued to count as dross. Many of us can say we have had to give up things for Christ. Do we regret it? If we do, we do not hold Christ as attractive to us. If we do not, and we say I am glad I gave that up, and I am going to continue that way, then what is to be compared with the
knowledge of Christ? Let us see to it that we hold to our vows. Many of us make vows. Let your vows be few: you may make many vows in your ardour. Peter said he would go to prison and death with Him, and Peter denied the Lord; but the Lord gave him another chance. The Lord remembers your brightest day. Is this your brightest day? Should it not be your brightest day spiritually? Age does not make any difference. You should not have to say, I have not made any progress for the last thirty years. It would be a very sad thing: I hope there is not any one like that here.
Oh! the glories of Christ! He is very attractive: continue to get to know Him. Paul's great object was to know Him fully, to have a knowledge of Christ. There is so much in Christ that it will take all our spiritual activities to know Him. Our spiritual eyesight will be fully occupied; our spiritual hearing will be fully engaged; our spiritual affections will be continually expanded.
Take another apostle -- Andrew, about whom we know very little. How do we know he was attracted to Christ? Because he brought his own brother. He thought Christ was so wonderful that he would like his brother to know Him too. If He is good enough for me, He will be good enough for my brother. If you know Christ, you want every one else to know Him. You would seek to do what Andrew did: he brought him to Jesus. He was attracted.
Throughout John's gospel you find it. "My sheep hear my voice ... and they follow me" (John 10:27). They are attracted to Him, and as attracted will they not follow? At the end of the gospel Peter saw John following Him. What did the Lord say to him? It does not matter what he does --FOLLOWING CHRIST
J B CATTERALL
THE THREE GREAT FEASTS OF THE LORD AND THEIR SPIRITUAL IMPORT
J B CATTERALL
Art thou weaned from Egypt's pleasures?
God in secret thee shall keep,
There unfold His hidden treasures,
There His love's exhaustless deep. (Hymn 76)THE MAINTENANCE OF THE TESTIMONY IN THREE SPHERES
M W BIGGS
WAITING UPON GOD
R BESLEY
CHRIST LOVED BY THE FATHER
R BESLEY
STARS
R BESLEY
RESTFULNESS IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST
R BESLEY
VALUATION
R BESLEY
THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF CHRIST
C C ELLIOTT