SECRET SERVICE
[p. 333] SECRET SERVICE
Matthew 6:6; 2 Samuel 15:32 - 37;2 Kings 6:8 - 12
I wish to speak about secret service. It is a department in God’s kingdom, as it is in man’s, but, in using the phrase “secret service”, I would at once make clear, that in no sense is it to operate against the powers that be. They, indeed, are part of it; they are ordained of God, and they have a peculiar place in His testimony that believers should understand, and especially so now. The book of Daniel opens up their service to us, God causing the first of what are now called the powers that be, to see in a vision what the great matter signified. Nebuchadnezzar was already ruling, and before he was taken on, his father had ruled, but the vision disclosed to him, through Daniel’s interpretation of it, that he was the head of gold. That image of gold and silver and brass and iron was not a satanic device, nor were the empires indicated in it to be at Satan’s behest; they were to be God’s servants. The prophet Zechariah tells us that they were the four spirits of the heavens which stood before the God of the earth, and Nebuchadnezzar is divinely called Jehovah’s servant. He was the head of gold, but all the others were integrally parts of the system indicated in the image, right down to this moment.
In speaking of secret service, therefore, there is not the slightest suggestion of any hostility to these powers. In His wisdom God saw the necessity for universal government, and it was with a view to the bringing in of Christ. He came in under the last of those monarchies which continue till now. He recognised that the head of it had power from God, and Pilate, as representative of that power, was true, abstractly at least, to the responsibility resting upon him. He primarily had no thought of putting Jesus to death; his great thought was to liberate Him. Only his natural susceptibilities [p. 334] as a poor, mortal, sinful man, made way for the devil, and of course, that has been repeated times without number in the history of government, so that, whilst men in authority are abstractly right — for government is of God — their natural propensities give way to the enemy. Still, government is government, and governors are governors, and Pilate was the governor. He is distinctively called the governor in Matthew, and owned as such, his wife sending a message to him to have nothing to do with that righteous Man. Both he and his wife were, as it were, abstractly right, but he was the weak one, and gave way. But still there was the testimony which must be accredited to the governor that Jesus was righteous and undeserving of death.
I have no thought in any way of militating against that principle, but rather of supporting it, for it is of God. Those monarchies are of God in themselves and He had His testimony in mind in forming them, and we should not be here today save for the protection that they extend. The mystery of iniquity works over against them, and the Spirit goes on to say that there is He which hinders that spirit of iniquity, and that which hinders. It is for us as spiritual to discern what is alluded to in Him who restrains and that which restrains, and to have respect for every element that restrains, in whatever measure the mystery of iniquity works. It is working; Satan is behind it. Nebuchadnezzar, as I said, was not taken up for that. He may have served it, as indeed all the monarchies, but the thing itself represented in that image is of God. It is over against what is of the devil. The four spirits of the heavens which stand before God, refer to government according to God.
Now I say all that because I know the difficulty of detaching from the abstract thought, what comes out in those who may be governing, because of what they are, poor mortal men. Save as they are supported of God, and that is surely through our prayers, they are [p. 335] amenable to evil influence. That has to be owned. Pilate is the best example you can get of a man in authority, knowing what was right, and yet weakly surrendering his responsibility to the clamour of irresponsible persons, for that was the fact. He would not have put Jesus to death otherwise.
In view of all that, I would address the young ones here as to secrecy, and the Lord sets it out in that way in telling us to enter our closets and pray to our Father who sees what is in secret. The Scriptures abound indeed with the thought of secrecy that is of God. There is secrecy, of course, which is of the devil, and we are all prone to unholy secrecy. But there is secrecy that is of God, and no one shall shine in the assembly, nor be adorned in the testimony save as he has recourse to his closet and prays to his Father in secret, and his Father who sees in secret will answer him suitably.
This leads me on to the passage in Samuel. It is a secret system, a secret service, not in one person only, but in five, and subsequently in seven, with the result that Absalom’s rebellion and kingdom were overthrown irretrievably. Absalom’s governorship was not of God; it had no title to be of God. It was rebellion against David, who was appointed and anointed of God, and the verses read present a secret system against what was characteristically anti-christian. That is the thing, dear brethren, to have a clear view as to government ordained of God and to be able to distinguish it from satanic workings with a view to apostasy. It is that that calls forth the necessity for this secret service of which I am speaking. It begins in the closet, and I might say the extension of it is the holiest, where we see the means which God has to overthrow all that is contrary to Him. We may not see that in our closet, but confidence in God will assure us, as He hears in secret, that what we suffer from here as against God and Christ will be overthrown, and we as taking it on in prayer will be rewarded. We need not be in a hurry [p. 336] for any rewards. They will all come, and perhaps at a time when we shall value them and they will not damage us. Were the “exceeding weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17) that awaits us to be placed on our brows today, it might be too much for us. There will be plenty of that — an “exceeding weight of glory”. Let us be patient in the secret service of God pending the manifestation of that. It will be more than abundant.
We thus begin firstly with confidence in God the Father in secret, and secondly the holiest, where we see how He has the means of dealing with everything, as Asaph says in his well-known Psalm 73. He was greatly disturbed by the wicked — not the rulers, not the powers that be. The previous psalm tells us of Solomon, and the prayers of David were ended. All that was necessary to the government of God was established in Solomon, but Asaph was speaking about the wicked. They flourished like a green bay tree, and he was distressed as to it, “until”, he says, “I went into the sanctuaries of God, then understood I their end”. It is the sanctuaries — not one but two, and inside involves the mystery of God. Over against the “mystery of iniquity” is “the mystery of God; in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” (Colossians 2:3); and we ourselves are hidden in that sense; “your life is hid with the Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). So we are to carry on on these lines, content with obscurity and reproach, for that is the order of the day, but with the sure end in mind: “Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end”. I cease then to be anxious about them. Still they have to be contended with.
So the first point I would make in the scripture read in Samuel is that the secret system is vested in a friend of David, a rare title, but in principle a friend of God — Hushai. Abraham was the friend of God, and the Lord Jesus said, “Ye are my friends”, that is, those who are trustworthy, to whom He can impart secrets,
[p. 337] to whom He can make known His mind, in whom He can confide. So it is that Hushai is David’s friend, and he is to be the president of that secret system. It is a question of loyalty, and proved loyalty to the rejected king. Hushai is not only the friend of David; he is a wise man, but it is the kind of wisdom that men would call foolishness. That is reproach. To act in what seems to be foolishness is reproach, and yet “the foolishness of God is wiser than men”, as the scripture says (1 Corinthians 1:25). Hushai represents that foolishness, but his advice was intended to overthrow the counsel of Ahithophel. He who at one time was David’s counsellor was now on the side of the enemy. How sorrowful! May God save us from such a state of soul. The moment demands loyalty to Christ.
David chose his man rightly. He was worshipping at the time — very significant, very portentous of good results; and God is now calling our attention to worship. It is as worshippers that we are safe and know what to do, because worshippers of God have access to God and participate in His mind and feelings as drawing near. So David in effect says to Hushai, You will serve me better by going back into the city. David had already sent the ark back; he was no partisan; he was a man of God, hence he sent the ark back, the foundation of everything, and with it, a remarkable combination; the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and their two sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan, and then Hushai his friend; five persons against a powerful rival to David, a powerful rebel to him who was typical of Christ. This is no question of the powers that be, as we speak today, but of a positive anti-christian power, and there is to be no relenting at all in opposition to that, in whomsoever it may be.
So Hushai and Absalom come into Jerusalem together — Hushai, David’s friend, and Absalom, David’s enemy. That is where the issue lies, and to a spiritual understanding there can be only one end, and that is [p. 338] the overthrow of Absalom. Two other persons are added to the system, making seven in all, and I speak of them now for the sake of the young people here. One of them is just called a maid, or a wench in the Authorised Version, a word scarcely ever used now. She was just a maid, but she becomes a powerful link in this chain of secret service. The two young men were at En-rogel, and the message came conveying what Hushai had counselled and what Ahithophel had counselled. It was urgent that David should get the facts, and this maid carried the tidings to those two young men loyally waiting to serve David and David’s interests. It was a most auspicious situation, typical of our own times in the most striking way, for God is working with the young men and young women loyal to Christ, linked on with older ones, older men and women, all moving together in secret understanding, not disloyal to the powers that be, but loyal to them, praying for them, for they are part of the secret system of God, and essential to it.
Thus the news is carried to those two young men and they with haste proceed to deliver it to David; but they are seen by the enemy, by an agent of his, another young man. There are plenty of those, alas! David’s young men are tracked by Absalom’s emissaries to Bahurim, to the house of a man there. He is not active, but his wife is. You see how extensive the thought is; our houses and families and other things must enter into the secret service of God. In the household the service can be carried on most effectively by the parents, particularly the mothers, in keeping the children’s minds pure, rebuking the evil which they imbibe in the schools, or elsewhere. It is all a question of the secret service, of the interests of our absent Lord, and loyalty to Him. The children are baptised to His name, and brought up in His name to be used of Him in due course, as these young men here, the sons of priests. What is needed in the households is that very thing,
[p. 339] priestly touches which will not neglect what is suitable in the household of faith. You will understand it is not a question of public preaching or the like, but what is inside particularly, and is essential to the maintenance of the rights of Christ in apostate conditions.
Well now, finally, there is the passage in 2 Kings. I have been speaking of priests, and all true christians are priests, at least on the divine side, and should be practically, that is, as in their houses, so that we are alive to Christ’s interests and nothing is admitted that is unsuitable to those interests. Now we have a man who is called a man of God. That is another matter. Elisha is not even named at first. It is a remarkable passage, referring to a man who could tell what the king of Syria said in his bedchamber. You might say I am speaking of things entirely unknown now, but we should not be altogether sure about that, for as having the Spirit of God we surely should know something, as Paul says, of the enemy’s devices. “We are not ignorant”, he says, “of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11). The more spiritual we are, the more we shall discern his devices, and understanding his devices we know how to battle with him effectively.
So the king of Syria would make war. It is remarkable how prone the natural man is to make war. “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart”, we are told (Psalm 55:21). It is in the natural man actuated by the devil. War is one of the leading thoughts in man’s heart. If he has any power at all, it is the opportunity to show it, and war is in his heart. If he has to do with the people of God in any way, war is in his heart. So the king of Syria says, “In such and such a place shall be my camp”, and the man of God knew. I am speaking now of the man of God — what a great thought it is! — to enlist interest in it and desire to be in it, for it is near to us, it is within our grasp. It is only applied to Timotheus, as a young man, in the New Testament; indeed, it is scarcely used,
[p. 340] and yet there were thousands, as I might say, of men of God in the early christian days; all the apostles and many others of whom we have no record. Yet if Timotheus was one, a young man, why not any young man today? That is the bearing of it. “But thou, O man of God, flee these things” (1 Timothy 6:11). A young man called a man of God. What an honour! Could one have a greater title in a sense than that? It is a moral thought that one is a man of God. He is thinking for God, and for the people of God; he is thinking for every interest of God on earth. So if the people of God are to be attacked by any one, whosoever it may be and for whatever reason, he is on the alert; he considers the matter in prayer, and with discernment. So Elisha, the man of God, says to the leading men among the people of God, that the king of Syria is to encamp at such and such a place. What an advantage! What hope was there for the king of Syria to overcome the people of God? There was no hope at all with a man of God brought into the matter.
The remaining part of the chapter shows what a man of prayer he was, for that really is the secret of it, as I began with in Matthew 6 — entering into our closets. Any calamity threatening, that affects the people of God, the man of God enters into the breach with his weapons. They are not carnal, they are after God; and prayer is the first of all. You may be sure that prayer preceded this insight that the man of God has as to the proposed encampments of the king of Syria. He was concerned about the people of God, and the Syrians must not overcome; so as he knows the encampments of the king of Syria, he tells the king of Israel. The king of Syria is perturbed, he is troubled. What can he do? The whole matter lies in what I am saying. It is a question of a man of God, and every “man of God” would have his part in this matter, but not with carnal weapons, but divine weapons, such as God furnishes.
[p. 341] So the king of Syria wonders. It looked as if there were traitors in his camp, but, as usual, there is someone who knows, even in the enemy’s camp, and he tells him simply and directly that it is Elisha the prophet who is in Israel. That is the man. He must have heard of him, but he now knows, and the sequel in the chapter shows how the attack is made on the man of God. I speak now only of the secret service, that the man of God knew of the enemy’s movements. It is not the priest, but a man of God and a prophet, and he frustrates the great Syrian power so that it can do nothing against the people of God. Let us be simple about this, dear brethren, and use Elisha’s weapons of war, especially prayer. Much more, of course, goes with the prophet, with the man of God; he is a man that flees youthful lusts and follows righteousness, piety, faith, love, and other things that are of God. He is the man that God will use effectively against every attack on His people.
Not only so, but in the midst of all this, he brings in the character of the dispensation, which is another great point. The enemy would becloud the dispensation in which we are, indeed he is doing it today very boldly in some countries. That surely is a matter of great concern to every man of God, so that the dispensation should not be lost to view in its distinctive character. Now, the man of God in our chapter rescues that great thought of the dispensation typically, as the Syrians attack him. We have to be on our guard. There is no attack against the people of God in this country in a political sense, but as soon as the enemy discerns that we have power with God and frustrate his designs, he will attack us in some way. He attacked the man of God in Dothan, and the attendant on the man of God — another young man — is bewildered and afraid, saying: “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” The man of God in answer to this has recourse to his weapons, and he prays. How beautiful it is! He says, “Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see”. And do [p. 342] we not need to have our eyes opened to what is invisible, for christianity involves what is invisible? It is not a matter of sight, but of faith: “as seeing him who is invisible”. The young man’s eyes were opened, and what did he see? In the early morning he saw the city surrounded by the Syrians attacking the man of God — that is all they had in mind — but now he sees the mountain full of horses and chariots to protect the man of God. That is the position, that God will protect His people. Whatever the character of attack, God will protect His people as in dependence upon Him, and it is all a question of this great matter of prayer. There were those who through faith overcame kingdoms. That is the point, getting into our closets, getting together, too; and what is more important than to ask God in the hour of prayer to open our eyes to see what is invisible?
So the young man saw the mountain full of horses and chariots. What could Syria do against them? What could it do against Elisha? Elisha says again to Jehovah, “Smite this nation, I pray thee, with blindness”, and He did. Then Elisha, the man of God, becomes the leader, and he led the whole army into Samaria, into the very city that they would regard as their enemy, where they could have been overthrown and destroyed. The king of Israel wanted to do it, but Elisha says, No. It is now a question of the dispensation of grace in principle, for Elisha represents that. We have Christ in resurrection and ascension in Elijah, and the counterpart of that down here in Elisha. That is our position, and we do not want to have this wonderful dispensation of grace beclouded in any way. So we have the gospel that very day in Samaria. The man the Syrians sought is their leader, and he asks God to open their eyes, and He does, and the man of God directs the king of Israel to give them bread and water. It is an act of pure grace.
[p. 343] Thus the position is maintained, because Christ as on the Father’s throne is still active and will be active, and He would call us into this secret service in the exercise of prayer, and all that goes with the man of God. He would call us into service as qualified and we need not fear. Fear God, of course, but not the enemy. God will stand by, and so the dispensation will go on, the gospel will continue to be preached, the ministry of the assembly will continue, and the elect will be saved. The whole matter will finish according to God. May God bless the word.