THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE TESTIMONY

J. N. Grace

2 Kings 13: 20, 21; 2 Peter 1: 12–18; 2 Timothy 4: 5–8, 16–18

These three passages refer to the end of Elisha, the end of Peter, and the closing days of Paul.

I think the imminence of the return of the Lord should bear upon us more and more. We are in the last days, maybe the last day, beloved brethren. At least we want to hold it that way.

Some of us who are young may look out upon the years that may lie ahead. But do they? The dispensation has been long, and God has lengthened it out, but we are at the end of it. We know not the day nor the hour when the Lord may come. Not just that things will be finished for us, not only that the sorrows will be over, but He is coming! The Lord is coming! The One whom we love is coming! We want Him! We want, of course, things to be completed; we want the sorrows of the testimony to be over; but we want Him! We want the Lord! I think every heart would answer to that. But the dispensation is not yet finished, and we just have a little time left to us, and the question is how that is to be spent.

This was the end of Elisha’s ministry. It says, “Elisha died, and they buried him”. It is striking that this incident comes at the close of Elisha’s history. I think we may view Elisha’s ministry as suggestive of the whole period of the assembly, and this is the end. What happened at the end of Elisha’s ministry was that “the bands of the Moabites invaded the land”. I have no doubt it is an allusion to the tremendous number of divisions in Christendom, particularly at the close; the break-up of the churches, as we speak of them, the break-up of much that is connected with the recovery—the invasion of the bands of the Moabites! The one thing that the enemy is trying to do is to divide, to bring in what is divisive, to bring in party spirits, “the bands of the Moabites”. It takes different forms. It may be social influences arising amongst us. It may be worldly influences. It may be combinations in which we unconsciously get together.

Perhaps brethren are having a similar judgment as to things and are seeking out persons who have similar thoughts and similar impressions. The danger is the formation of parties amongst us. Very subtle, these things, and as a mark of the end the enemy in various ways will endeavour to disrupt what there is in the expression of the assembly.

And how is this to be met? By recourse to the death of Christ. But not only to the death of Christ, but to the burial of Christ. That is what this alludes to; “Elisha died, and they buried him”. We need to remember the burial of Christ. We owe everything to His death, but His burial involves that the man has been removed out of sight. I think that is the answer. It is the answer to every form of partisanship amongst us, not only that things are fixed and finished and things are dead, but things are buried. The man himself is buried. That is the Christian position, of course. Baptism involves that we are buried. We are buried with Him. We have died with Him and are buried with Him. It has been said that it is no honour that Christ should be buried. He is not buried with us; we are buried with Him. Wherever we are, the distinctiveness of Christ is to be dominant. If Christ is buried, it means that every man, every man, is buried too, buried with Christ.

If we reach that in the faith of our souls, we will get a fresh touch. If we get down to the bones of Elisha that means the depth of things. The possibility of touching the bones of Elisha remains because the Spirit is here. Let us not get far away from the death of Jesus. Let us have a fresh touch of the burial of Jesus, that every man disappears out of sight with Christ. They buried this man. It says, “It came to pass as they were burying a man”. Just how the Moabites come in, or just what they refer to, we are not specifically told. Maybe it is just as well, because it leaves it open for all kinds of partisan activities to be brought into this, that they might find an end amongst us. I am not saying there are such activities, dear brethren, I am not saying that at all. What I am saying is, that that is what the enemy is doing, trying to bring in that kind of thing. He has done it in a public sense. There have never been so many divisions amongst Christians as there are at the present time. The way to finish them all is by burial, by burying the man.

So it says, “They saw the band, and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha”. This involves certain experiences. The man did not feel this, of course, because he was dead. But it is something to be cast into a certain situation that you do not like. Sometimes it is necessary to have these experiences, particularly to be cast into a grave; no honour about that. But it says, “The man went down”. It is not what others do to him now. It is the man; he takes up the truth of baptism really in his own soul. No longer is it a doctrine. No longer is it just the form of things, which is right in itself, but the man takes up the whole meaning of the thing, and he goes down and touches the bones of Elisha. I would like to have a fresh sense of the burial of Christ in my own

soul, what it means that the Christ went into death and the Christ was buried. I think if we understood what it meant to Jesus to go into the heart of the earth that would be the finish of ourselves. We would be content to go there too, to be buried with Him. If you get that touch experimentally in your soul, you will get a touch of life. That is what it means, not only buried with Him, but risen with Him. That is Colossians. That is life coming into evidence.

That is what we want. The answer to everything, beloved brethren, is life. Not just a grip of the truth; that is needed; not understanding doctrine; that is right; but what is needed beyond everything else is the expression of life amongst us. And that means you! It is not a question of gift. It is not a question of measure. It is a question of experience, experience of being buried with Him. And then faith, faith in the operation of God in resurrection, to be a known thing in your soul.

This involves power. The man stands on his feet. Oh that we might learn to stand on our feet!

That is the answer to everything. And that is the answer, dear brethren, at the end of the dispensation, because this is exactly a foreshadowing of the time we are in now, where the answer to all the divisions of Christendom is with you and me; every brother and every sister is to learn experimentally to go this way, and then to get this touch of life, to stand upon our feet.

Nobody else can do that for you. It is not formal links with the brethren. Thank God for every link there is. But what we need is brothers and sisters who are able to stand on their feet at the end of the dispensation in relation to the testimony, and stand on their feet in view of going into heaven. It is one thing to stand upon your feet in relation to the testimony here. But the Colossian truth really is that you are over Jordan, and you are

standing on your feet because you are going into heaven. That is what we are going to do, literally, soon, and because of the presence of the Spirit we can touch that now.

That is all I had to say about this scripture, that it is the end of Elisha’s ministry. It has a prophetic touch in it, in that it relates to the time in which we are, that the way that divisions come in is met, and that by way of second Timothy, by way of what is individual and a man, in himself, going down, deliberately going down in his exercises to the depth of things, to the burial of Christ, and getting a touch of life by the Spirit, so that he just stands upon his feet.

Oh what local companies they would then be, would they not? Then it would not matter if it were hundreds or just two or three. You have got those brethren standing on their feet in the power of life. What a testimony that is; there is the presence of the Spirit, and heaven is very near.

Now I want to speak of the end of Peter. This second epistle of Peter is written, Peter says,

“Knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle is speedily to take place”. These persons who are about to face death have a special message for us. The Spirit of God looked down the dispensation, thinking of Peter and his line of ministry. Peter is a kingdom man, we have often been told, and he finishes up not in any weakness; he finishes up with a sense of power.

I suppose we all feel how weak we are, how weak the position is publicly, but do not let us have any sense of weakness in our souls, beloved brethren, because the Spirit is dwelling within us, and there is no weakness connected with the Spirit. Oh let us lay hold of this!

Maybe we tremble in our knees as we think of our own weakness, but when we get the sense of the Spirit’s operations with us, there is no weakness.

connected with that. That is how Paul felt, and Peter felt it here, and at the end of his history he is not talking about weakness, he is talking about power. Is that not fine? As the outward man perishes, and the weakness physically may come on, Peter is talking about power, “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Is that not fine? You get hold of an aged brother or sister in increasing weakness and instead of things fading out in their souls you find that Christ and His power is coming into their souls. What it results in, of course, is a great sense of the power that lies in the presence of the Spirit, and an increasing judgment of all that is around. That is what came to light with Peter. What things he could speak of in the succeeding chapters of this epistle! He goes right on to the end, of course, when God will deal with the whole situation. He will roll up this present scene in view of what He is going to bring in.

But in the meantime there is a definite judgment as to the line of apostasy that is coming in. I think we need to be alert as to the character of the world in which we are. Because we see evil increasing little by little, we may get accustomed to it, and maybe our consciences get somewhat deadened. But terrible things have happened, dear brethren, in our own time in the presence of the light that God has afforded in the recovery of the truth, and I think the rejection of the recovery of the truth has given Satan great way in the world. So we have the giving up by government of capital punishment. I do not know whether you think much of these things, but that was a very retrograde step in the weakening of authority amongst the nations. I think it was a rebuke when Saudi Arabia exacted capital punishment recently. I think it was a warning by God to the western nations of what has happened amongst them and the sanctioning of

certain things by government, such as de facto situations between men and women that are adultery and yet are recognised by government. We ought to think of these things. It is wickedness that is given a certain legal sanction by government. Then the recognition by those who profess the truth in Christendom of these things. Then the corrupting teaching in the schools that has come in. What the world calls ‘education’ is the introduction of corrupting influences. We are in a world, beloved brethren, of apostasy. Let us just be simple and say that. Peter recognises it in the extreme language he uses in regard to the evil that has come back.

Well, we are in that day. Do we think that it is yet to come? It is here. The conditions are rife for the man of sin to arise. But he will not arise until the Spirit is gone, “He who restrains”.

He prevents the man of sin coming in, but the conditions here are ripe for him to come, and as soon as the Spirit is gone, overnight things will all have gone to pieces in the way of what is of God in the world. So Satan is making one last battle to overthrow every vestige of what is of God in the human race. I say that advisedly, in the human race, because he is attacking the primary institutions of God now; having attacked the truth of the assembly, and apparently successfully in the public position, he is attacking the primary institutions of God, in marriage, the relation of husband and wife, and parents and children, so that every vestige of what is of God in the human race is being attacked. Let us wake up to the fact, dear brethren, that the apostasy is here. Having said that, let us also wake up to the fact that God’s victory is that in the presence of that, in the face of all that. He is bringing about a revival of what is true of the assembly. In that revival every testimony of God is to be maintained

inviolate. If you want to see the truth of God expressed as to husband and wife, and parents and children, you will find it where there is an expression of the assembly. Sad to say, in some who profess to hold the truth of the assembly these things are being given up.

We often say that at the end there will be what corresponds with the beginning. But at the end, dear brethren, there is also what corresponds with what was the beginning in Satanic activity. Satanic opposition in every form is coming to light in the four corners of the earth.

We have heard of the early history of the church, and what Saul did. It is said of him that he entered into the houses of the saints and ravaged the houses, taking men and women, and binding them in prison. That is exactly what is happening. I trust, dear brethren, we will be alert to these things, that what the enemy is attacking today is the component parts of the assembly. He is attacking men, he is attacking women, in the break-up of the marriage institution, to get at the assembly. But he is not going to have the victory. So while the Spirit of God is here there will be a revival of the assembly, not merely by way of doctrine, but by way of the practical expression of it. That is what we all want to be in.

That is why I referred to the revival of gatherings. “Two or three”; that is not weakness. I do not think the Lord, when He spoke of two or three in Matthew, was contemplating positions of weakness. He says, “For where two or three are gathered together unto my name”, (Matthew 18: 20). That is not weakness; “unto my name” is a position of power. He says,

“there am I in the midst of them”. I am certain that what the Lord is looking for is the extension of the number of expressions of the assembly; to start with, two or three, in a

locality, in the revival of the truth, to hold back the force of evil and also in the face of a rising tide of apostasy. That, to me, is God-given victory. That is how I understand what Paul says, “God, who gives us the victory”, 1 Corinthians 15: 57. That is how He gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. The public position gone, but persons here sufficient, universally, to give an expression of the assembly, and God will credit that to the whole of the assembly. That is how God gives us the victory, and, of course, it is the victory of the Spirit.

Now I refer to Paul. I think Paul’s life, from beginning to end, is prophetic. You can take Paul’s life and regard it as a pattern, if you like individually, but I think there is a certain prophetic touch in it as to the whole assembly. Therefore at the end of Paul’s life, when he is about to depart, it is the way that the assembly is going to depart. No fag-end, no finishing in weakness. Paul says, “I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. That is the way the assembly is going to finish. Would you not like to finish that way? I think you would. There is the power available in the Spirit to enable you to do it. It is a wonderful thing when you think of Paul at this point. The enemy thought that publicly he had the victory because Paul was in chains; the vessel of the testimony in chains and kept there by the most powerful imperial power that had ever appeared on the face of the earth.

Paul says, “At my first defence no man stood with me”. Paul alone! Oh to find one man in a locality who will stand for the truth—one man. God will be with him. You do not know what the outcome of that may be. One man in a locality; that is what I look for, if there is to be any revival, any interest, in any locality; find one person who will stand for the

truth. Then you do not know what the Spirit of God may, do.

So Paul says, “At my first defence no man stood with me, but all deserted me”. Pretty strong, is it not? Think of the feelings of Paul, who had served the brethren so faithfully and so long, and now deserted by everybody. How would you feel if every one of your brethren deserted you? But Paul says, “May it not be imputed to them”. Think of the grace of the dispensation maintained by this beloved servant. Everybody gone! Is he blaming them? He says, “May it not be imputed to them”. I think, he maintains the grace of the dispensation at its height right to the very end. He says, “But the Lord stood with me, and gave me power”. Why? “That through me the proclamation might be fully made, and all those of the nations should hear; and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth”. That is God’s answer to the victory the enemy thought he had when he put Paul into the hands of Nero, or whoever it was—it was very likely Nero anyway—Paul stood there , alone in the very centre of the imperial power of Rome; he stood in the presence of the emperor and there preached the gospel. Paul was putting up the standard; in the very capital of the empire he was putting up and unfurling the standard at its full height; and not only doing that, but securing spoil in the very palace of the emperor, as he speaks in Philippians of those of the household of Caesar (see Philippians 4: 22). That is what God is doing at the end of the dispensation, in persons that the enemy thought he had; the Lord is turning it all to His own account and showing what He can do in the face of apostasy, that He can maintain, in companies here, and there, the whole truth of the assembly inviolate.

There is a man and his wife, Priscilla and

Aquilla; they stand at the end of this epistle, representing what is normal in a Christian household, going right through to the end in a way that is pleasing to heaven. The truth of Romans, if you like, the truth of Corinthians, the truth of Ephesians, maintained in the face of the apostasy. That is how the dispensation is going to end, through beloved brothers and sisters standing faithful to the truth. So what is it? Paul stands here alone; but he is not thinking of himself; just as the Lord on the cross and in Gethsemane was looking down the dispensation and thinking of us, so Paul is thinking of others. He writes this letter to a young servant, who is flagging in his activity, to encourage and revive his soul, as Mr. Darby says, in the darkening state of things, when energy was waning, and Paul, alone, was having to bear the testimony. In effect he says to Timothy, ‘If everybody else gives up, do not you give up’. Timothy might say, ‘Well, I have preached, and I have ministered the truth, and I am not getting very far. Nobody is listening’. Paul says, ‘ You preach the word’. “I testify”, he says, as if to get the urgency of the thing into the soul of Timothy, “I testify before God and Christ Jesus, who is about to judge living and dead, and by His appearing and his kingdom, proclaim the word”.

Keep at it! If nobody listens, keep at it, because heaven is listening anyway, and this is going to be a justification of God coming in, as He will presently, to overturn the whole system. So you keep at it and preach the word! Keep at it, beloved brother! Keep at it, beloved sister!

Whatever it is that God has brought within your range, keep at it in the power of the Spirit.

He says, ‘The time is coming when they will not bear it, but you do the work. You may not be gifted, but do the work of an evangelist’. That is what it is, the work needs to be done.

Who of us can claim

any gift? I do not think it is a time for such claims; it is just a time for doing the work. So he says, “Do the work of an evangelist, fill up the full measure of thy ministry”. I just want to say this in regard to this chapter, that the bearing of it upon us all is, Are we prepared to go the whole way? How many of us are prepared to go part of the way, to be in fellowship, as we say, and to do a little bit of helping. It is not the time for that, dear brethren. The time is that we go the whole way in putting our resources at the disposal of the Lord in view of the finish of the dispensation, that we lay ourselves out to see that the dispensation, as far as we are concerned, will be finished in a way that will be worthy of the appearing of the Lord. He is about to appear! The Emperor is about to appear! That is what Paul is saying. “All who love his appearing” is a reference to the final day of the games, the great day of all when the emperor appeared. That is what we are looking for. The great One who is King of kings and Lord of lords is going to appear, and His rights will be accorded Him. How long they have been denied Him! You and I can accord them to Him, and we can long for His appearing, the day when every right will be accorded to Christ publicly.

Then Paul alludes to the disposing of one and another. It is like the disposition of troops in the day of battle under the direction of a field marshal. The Lord is doing that. Let us understand that wherever we are, we are there at the disposal of the Lord; whether He has put us in London, whether He has put us in Cologne, or whether He has put us in Australia. He has put us there according to the wisdom of His own disposition in view of the final stages of the testimony. So let us accept the place where the Lord has disposed us, and work out according to the divine thought

every feature of the truth in the power of the Spirit, and stand for it, whatever the consequences.

I have said this before and I say it again, dear brethren, that we are in a time of total war.

With a clarion call from the Lord the time has come, for all our resources to be put at His disposal in the final battle of the testimony. Make no mistake, the enemy recognises this is the final battle of the testimony and he is putting all his resources in a destructive way into every corner of the earth to disturb things. It is evident in certain things that Satan himself is in the battle. There is a call, therefore, for every brother and sister to be fully in what the Lord is doing; to be alert as to what the enemy is doing, but to be alert as to what the Lord is doing. Put yourself behind it, in the encouragement and strengthening of every brother and sister in your local gathering, for the Lord’s sake.

Address at Croydon
27 September 1980