POWER AFTER FAILURE
J. A. McLaren
It is striking how a number of outstanding men in the Old Testament, whose acts of power are recorded for us, and who failed in some way, become typical of the Lord Jesus in His great act of power. Some of the greatest acts were accomplished after failure. It was so here. We sometimes wonder that God should take up Samson, a man with a mixed history. You might say, what a strange person for God to take up to liberate His people. But then it is part of God’s ways in wisdom. Samson is not always failing. He is sometimes a type of the Lord Jesus. Jonah failed too, he was disobedient, but he is sometimes a type of the Lord Jesus.
There came a time when he was tumbled over the gunwale of the ship into the sea and he was a different Jonah then. When he preached in Nineveh he was a different Jonah—he has been described as ‘a monument of grace’. Although he did not deserve it, he had mercy shown him, and was told a second time to go to Nineveh and preach. What a powerful man Elijah was—with what authority he spoke—but we see failure in him too.
It says here of Samson, “But the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaved”. There are signs of fresh growth, fresh progress, a fresh appreciation of God’s power divinely given to this man.
He had failed as we all fail, “But the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaved”.
Now that is for our strengthening, and that is the main point of my word, that we need not be discouraged where there is failure. Where there is a turning to God in genuineness and readiness to confess our failure. He may yet use us then in power.
I do not go into all the details which are interesting, but we have here a picture of the world system and men enjoying something in the way of sport. Of course here it was about the victory over their enemy. But if you think of the world now, some of the largest gatherings of men are for sport—possibly fifty thousand gathering for this purpose. That is what was happening here with three thousand people on the roof. It had two pillars and you could put your hands on both of them, they were as close as that. I cannot explain it, but it seems strange that a house of that size with so many people on the roof, should be mainly supported by two pillars so close to one another that Samson could take hold of both with his hands. But what a picture this is of the time when the Lord Jesus (in whom was no failure) by one act of power at His death, in effect set at nought and brought down the whole world system, of man opposed to God and activated by the devil. The devil has entrance into men’s hearts.
Scripture speaks of “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4: 4), and how he activates men and encourages them in his own way! These people were very jubilant and encouraged, but there came a time when by one act of power by one man the whole thing was brought down.
We can be encouraged by that. We cannot put ourselves in the place of the Lord Jesus. His work was perfect and unique and impossible for us to copy. There is limitation on how far we can go, as we sing,
‘None could follow there, blest Saviour,
When Thou didst for sins atone’.
But we can get the gain of the spirit of this scripture, and be thankful that God can, if it pleases Him, use us in simple dependence on Him, even after failure. We can be used of God in power. May the Lord help us to take lowly ground and look to Him. One man in the Old Testament said, “Here am I; send me”, Isaiah 6: 8. It was going to be a difficult job for him to do; the Lord told him that. His words were not going to be accepted, but he was prepared to go as being sent. May the Lord help us, whatever we have to do, and may we all have a sense of being recovered to God.
Word in meeting for ministry, Dundee, 17 September 1991
BROTHERLY FEATURES
A. P. Grant
Genesis 4: 2; 13: 8, 9; Philemon 15–19
I was thinking of these references to brothers and brethren. What a great encouragement it is to have brethren whose love we have known and proved. We often refer to the words of the Lord Jesus, “go to my brethren”, John 20: 17. It is what we are in the purpose of God as brethren of Christ. Besides brethren of Christ, we are also brethren of one another. It says of Abel, the first to be referred to as a brother, “she further bore his brother Abel”. There is first of all ownership as to the brother. There is a contrast here between Abel and Cain. Abel was a good example of a brother, but Cain failed in being a brother when he said, “am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4: 9). Cain fell short of the spirit of the brother. Not much is said about Abel, but several times he is referred to as, ‘ thy brother Abel’, in this chapter. As well as being a brother Abel was also a shepherd. One of the features of a brother would be that he takes care of the brethren, watching, shepherding, and feeding them. It says of Timothy that he cared with genuine feeling how the saints were getting on (see Philippians 2: 20); that is the spirit of a brother. Paul writes as an apostle but often along with him there is mention of a brother. In the first epistle to the Corinthians he associates with himself, “Sosthenes the brother”, and in the second one, “the brother Timotheus”. Paul had to adjust the Corinthians but there was the spirit of the brother in all that was said. Paul himself is spoken of as a beloved brother by Peter. It is important to bear in mind how these features of care and love are prominent in the brother. Abel was a shepherd but Cain was a husbandman. Abel cared for the sheep but Cain says, “am I my brother’s keeper?” It showed exactly where he was, he had no regard for his brother.
In Abram we see another feature of the brother in the unselfish attitude that Abram takes in Genesis 13. Abram says, “I pray thee let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren”. The spirit of contention does not belong to brethren. It says in Psalm 133: 1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” How important is the unselfish spirit that Abram shows.
There can be no unity if there is any selfishness. When there was strife among the disciples, the Lord said, “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”, Luke 22: 27. Abram is marked by a brotherly spirit here—“if to the left, then I will take the right; and if to the right, then I will take the left”. He was not insisting on his own rights, but he was showing the unselfish character of the spirit of Christ.
The thought as to possessing the brother comes into the verses we read in Philemon, it says
“that thou mightest possess him fully for ever; not any longer as a bondman, but above a bondman, a beloved brother”. Onesimus had left Philemon, but how beautiful it is that Paul can say, “a beloved brother”. The brethren are to
be loved, and to be lovable too. The apostle John in writing, speaks much about loving our brother and laying down our lives for the brethren. The Lord Jesus laid down His life for us, and that is the spirit that is to mark us towards our brethren. Our brother has spoken about David and the spirit of kindness which marked him; he speaks of Jonathan as his brother, and later David showed kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake. That is the kindness which can be found in the brother. May we be encouraged to appreciate our brethren more, and to be marked by this brotherly spirit and brotherly love for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Dundee
8 October 1991