SMALLNESS
[p. 311] SMALLNESS
Deuteronomy 7: 7; Amos 7: 1 - 9
You will observe that there is the thought of smallness in these scriptures. In the first incident God is calling attention to it, and in the second, His servant Amos is calling God’s attention to the smallness of Jacob. My remarks will centre around these scriptures, which call forth much in the way of a general principle in relation to God’s ways and dealings with us: how He dissipates all natural thoughts at the roots. We are told to be natural, to think naturally, speak naturally, but God ever sets Himself against the natural in His sphere of things. Indeed He says the natural man understands not the things of the Spirit they are foolishness to him. He may seek to accommodate himself to them, but finally they are foolishness to him. And unless he is subject to God, he refutes them entirely.
God knows that, and from the outset He would dissipate what is natural: and one of the natural tendencies is the desire for bigness in the things of God. It is perfectly normal in the world, this desire for bigness. It shone out at Shinar as we remember, when they set about to build a city and a tower, the top of which would reach to heaven.
That was natural, and we might say normal in this world out of which God had been eliminated. They did not like to retain Him in their knowledge: they eliminated God from their calculations. So the outcome was that they would have something big. It comes right down to us, it is seen everywhere. Huge buildings, hospitals, cities, ships. Bigness is a feature, and will be while the world lasts as it is. “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” says Nebuchadnezzar.
[p. 312] God at the beginning would dissipate all that from the hearts of His people. He called Abraham out of that, and as called out, He refers back to him, to Isaac and Jacob in Psalm 105. They were few and of little account, and they went from one kingdom to another people. But God says in this verse (Deuteronomy 7: 7) referring to them, “Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples”.
From these remarks, someone might think that smallness is a virtue. But it may not be a virtue; it may be the result of laziness; want of industry maybe, and that is not a virtue. But smallness on account of quality, because of refusing to take on the spirit of the world; smallness on account of non-absorption with the world is a virtue.
One said, “it is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman, and a house in common”, Proverbs 21: 9. It means that those assuming to be the church, and taking the ground in relation to Christ, are marked by contentions and quarrellings. There is not a sect in Christendom that is not thus marked. There can be no dwelling with that spirit of contention. Even the church is subjected to Christ; not only subject, but subjected according to the mind of God. And the Holy Spirit works in her so that she is subjected. The mind of God for her is that she is placed in subjection to Christ; and the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring about subjection accordingly. So where a contentious spirit is, there is no dwelling. “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman”. But, “Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”. That is the kind of smallness to which virtue is attached and which heaven honours.
And that is what marked the beginning of Israel,
[p. 313] they did not link up with the world. The call to Abram was “Go out of thy land”. Why should that be first? Why not his family first? But it is “thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house”, intimating that national feeling is one of the strongest that appeals to nature. He got out from Haran; he was slow to leave his father, but after his father died, he removed and came out. Abram is definitely out: into the land of Canaan he came, and Psalm 105 contemplates him in that position. “When they were a few men in number, of small account”. Not that they were of no account to God; they were, but they were of small account in this world.
They went from one kingdom to another; they had not a foothold in those days. It was a question of purpose for them: they went from one kingdom to another, but they came under God’s protection. And the psalm says He “reproved kings for their sakes”. How precious! We may be sure that all the happenings today are in relation to those who love God. They are the apple of His eye, and all the happenings in the world bear relation to them. Nothing happens without God and nothing will be detrimental to them, for God has to say to the rulers of this world for the sake of those who love Him. So we want to be amongst those who love God.
He “reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm”. That is the protection they came under; it was when they were few and of small account. God reminds us that they were everything to Him, My prophets, My anointed. That is to say, where the Holy Spirit is owned; the anointing means the Spirit.
The Philistines were big men in the land in those days; they typify big people mentally. But “touch not mine anointed”; that is, the Spirit is the means [p. 314] of intelligence. He teaches you all things. It is the dignity of maturity, a certain character of intelligence which is beyond the natural mind. It may be foolishness to the natural man, and beyond him.
“For who of men hath known the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? thus also the things of God knows no one except the Spirit of God”. So the anointing refers to us who recognise the Spirit. “Mine anointed” and “my prophets”, it is very beautiful; and with the anointing is the prophetic word. The anointing is the dignity attached to us. The simplest believer is more intelligent than the most learned man. He has intelligence as regards God, and that is the only thing that counts. Material things do not count in eternity; it is only what continues that is of any value.
“Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me”, Jeremiah 9: 24. And if I know God I will speak about Him and not merely worship the creature, but rather the Creator. There are men in scientific circles spending their lives finding out things about the creature, and disregarding the Creator. In worshipping and serving the Creator, it is a question of knowing God and His knowing us. “If any one love God, he is known of him”, 1 Corinthians 8:3.
And therefore He loved Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was known of them; and that is because of the anointing. “Touch not mine anointed”, they were dignified by the anointing, and then there was the prophetic word. Being anointed you speak of God; men eliminate God, but His prophets would bring Him in. The world may do what it wishes, but those who love God are bound to speak of Him; He is the theme of their conversation. “My prophets”, not Baal’s prophets. There were four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and but one prophet of Jehovah. And he stood out and they all went down before him; he was God’s prophet.
[p. 315] So in this verse you see how that is enlarged. “Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples; but because Jehovah loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a powerful hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt”.
That is where every one in this world is; he is a bondman. He that serves sin is a bondman. God has set His love upon us and called us out of it. What an honour to be called out of it, not because we are many, but because of the fewness! He has chosen us according to His eternal purpose, applying it to ourselves. He set His love upon us and delivered us from the house of bondage.
Now in Amos this is taken up when Israel had been enlarged and again become small under the government of God. It is one thing to be small in our beginnings, as when Abram was called out, but it is another thing to be small under the government of God. Why are we so small? Why are there not more converts? That is a question for the heart, and Amos was observant as to it. We should not sit down and fold our hands, assuming that it is so and cannot be otherwise. It can be otherwise. That is what this chapter brings out, and Amos understood in effect.
It is the Lord Jehovah you observe, in verses 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, and in verse 7 it is just the Lord. Then in verse 8 the original word is not the same as in verse 7. It is Jehovah in verse 8 and in verse 7 it is Master. Now I mention that not to make a point of it, but it is a question of the covenant. Those who love God will always be touched by the thought of His covenant, because it expresses His love and special interest in His own. And He calls the prophet’s attention to what is going to happen; some governmental action that is going to be disastrous for the people of God. We have no such indication from God, although He is ever ready to convey to us pending happenings, perhaps not in this exact way, but the Holy Spirit has a way of impressing us, so that the people of God are never in the dark. They always know; if they cannot give an account, yet they are assured in themselves, God assures us in ourselves.
So we find that He shows Amos the pending calamity. It says, “Thus did the Lord Jehovah chew unto me; and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings”. Now this had not happened yet, and it never did happen, thank God. It was a vision of pending happening which God repented of.
Some of us may wonder why the word should be used that God should change His mind. It is compatible with His divine nature. God is perfectly righteous to send calamity, but He is righteous to cancel it. Why should not God do that? Love will do that. God is not governed by the law of the Medes and Persians; God is God. And God is love, and He is perfectly right in ordering judgments, but He may also be perfectly right in cancelling them.
And so He reveals to Amos the pending calamity. He formed the grasshoppers Himself. We most of us know the disastrous effect of a plague of locusts. They eat up everything. So God can use the most insignificant creatures to carry out the most serious judgments. That is what God can do. Scientific men can tell us a good deal about the locusts, but God can use these insignificant creatures to carry out His judgment. It is to call attention to the immensity of His instrumentalities.
He formed them and they are to eat up the grass,
after the king’s mowings — the Lord’s rights over His people. You might have some result in this town, but that does not follow that it would continue. But what comes in after the king’s mowings, the tender grass coming up, the latter growth; these locusts are going to eat it up. And Amos says, “O Lord Jehovah ... . How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. How pleasing that was to God! It was the result He sought. It was the king’s mowings in Amos; He was getting His joy from the heart of His servant, in one who was concerned. “How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. And God repented.
Dear brethren, one would urge that we should get near to the Lord and be sure to solicit His intervention. He is ready to hear us. It is the first-fruit of what He is doing. He showed the prophet this and formed the locusts in the vision, and Amos interposed and threw himself between the disaster and the people. Jesus entered into Gethsemane and into death and the grave to stand between the judgment and His people. And the Spirit of Christ is seen in Amos when he says, “How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. And the Lord said, “It shall not be”. So Amos got the gain of it and carried his ministry to the people. Any manifestation of God is not for the servant alone; it gives character to his service to the people of God. Amos would tell them about this, how that they were saved from this calamity. And so today, those who are in the secret of God will turn to Him about the conditions which prevail and He will hear and do. “It shall not be”. And it was not.
“And behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep”. That is a remarkable way of expressing the power of fire; of its eating up the inheritance. It was a greater disaster than the other. And the prophet says, “O Lord Jehovah ... . How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. It is the acceptance of the smallness under the government [p. 318] of God because of the failure of Israel. And God accepts the solicitation of His servant, and says, “This also shall not be”. For God loves His people. In the days of Abraham God came down from fifty to ten: “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake”. Abraham did not go further than that, and the city was destroyed. It shows the importance of prayer by every one of us in view of conditions; God will answer it: “This also shall not be”, and it was not. So these two great disasters did not happen at all. It is an important principle, because God has placed His people in the position of priests unto Him, and He hears and acts for them. Revelation brings that out.
Then the next vision is in the seventh verse “Thus did he shew unto me”. It is not the Lord God here, “and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. And the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolated, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will arise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword”.
This is the third vision: there is no repentance this time; there is no prayer on the part of Amos. It is a very solemn vision this. The introduction of the high places of Isaac, who is a type of Christ risen, would mean that there are those in the position of priests, who are most exalted, and yet God says, ‘I am not going to pass by them any more’, meaning that He is going to execute judgment upon them. It is very solemn and it might be applied to the general state of the professing church, Babylon; God has been prolonging this day of grace, but He solemnly calls a halt.
[p. 319] The Lord is seen now standing upon a wall which is made by a plumb-line; that means a refutation of the general principles of christendom with its lawlessness and loose thoughts and contentions that we were speaking of. They are building as they like, without a plumb-line, without a spirit level. Babylon heaps her sins one upon the other. That is building without a plumb-line; that is christendom. Not living stones but sins, heaping them one on the other.
What must that be to heaven? The high places of Isaac, the greatest pretension of things. God is standing upon a wall built by a plumb-line. It can stand His weight, the “exceeding ... weight of glory”. He is supported by the wall. Is our fellowship great enough for that? The fellowship of God’s Son; that is what this means. It shuts out evil and shuts in good. Standing on the altar means grace, but standing on the wall built by a plumb-line is solidity. God stands on that built by a plumb-line. ‘You have been falsifying all My thoughts, forcing false doctrines into My house. My building is on the principle of the plumb-line, and I will not pass by you any more’. It is very solemn; it is pending now.
So any building of God’s must be according to the plumb-line. He has got His principles; we must not force our principles on God. The temple was built entirely according to the pattern given to David. While God brooks man’s devices, He bears with them, but He refuses them. Anything not according to the plumb-line will come under the judgment of God. It is very solemn. I am not speaking so much of that as of the importance of prayer, like Amos getting to God as impending dangers and disasters are discerned, and seeing that if they come upon them, “How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. But the prayer of Amos pleases God and He says, “It shall not be”. How sweet it is that we can continue, knowing that [p. 320] our labour is not in vain in the Lord! The quality is much more important.
He drinks of the brook by the way; He loves to come in, however few there may be. He does not wish that it should dry up. While the Holy Spirit is down here the Lord will continue. Amos discerned the mind of God and prayed according to it. And our prayers will be heard. He is ready to be moved. “This also shall not be, said the Lord Jehovah”. May God bless the word.