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THE RESPONSES OF SOLOMON AND JEREMIAH WHEN REQUIRED FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD

W. McKillop

I thought of these two men as connecting with what was before us in the reading. You notice that Solomon says, “I am but a little child”, so he asks for a wise and understanding heart, and the word pleased the Lord. On the other hand, Jeremiah, when he is spoken to by God, says, “I am a child”, but God tells him, “Say not, I am a child”. So we should enquire as to what God had in mind in taking up these two men, but speaking differently to them when one said, “I am but a little child” and the other said, “I am a child”. All these things recorded in the Scriptures are for our instruction, and to make us more effective in every feature of the service of God. Solomon was engaged in priestly activity really, for he sacrificed a thousand burnt-offerings.

So, in Gibeon, Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give thee”. It is God’s way to approach us as we are engaged in what is priestly and what is contributory to His service. He appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. It would imply that God will approach us when we are not occupied with other things that might distract or preoccupy us. Night is a time when generally persons are free of ordinary daily activities, and God would not be behind in taking advantage of such opportunities with us.

And so He says a very simple thing to Solomon, “Ask what I shall give thee”. Clearly this would have in mind the needs of the testimony, and the carrying out of the service of God, and assembly administration. From one point of view we have been given everything already, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. That is a wonderful matter to consider and God would give us understanding about that too. The apostle desired for the Philippians who were, I would judge, a mature company of believers, “that your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge and all intelligence”, Philippians 1: 9. I think he would have in mind that they should be expanded in what was heavenly and wholly spiritual. But, I think that if God speaks to us, or the Lord does, or the Spirit of God does, it is not exactly to ask in that connection what might be given to us, for we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.

The current need is down here in the sphere of testimony and I think Solomon grasped that—he goes on to speak of God’s great loving-kindness and then he comes to this, “I am but a little child”. We were speaking about that earlier, the spirit of the little child, how that would be displayed among us; its value to heaven and its moral benefit to the brethren. But now he says, “I am but a little child”, because he is thinking about the great matter of ruling over this great people. Not that any one of us is confronted with that, but the principle is here that God would ask us what we would like Him to do for us. So he says, “I am but a little child—I know not to go out and to come in”. He is taking very lowly ground, and he rises really to a type of Christ in what God says to him later, “there hath been none like unto thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee”. He rises to a type of the Lord Jesus, and he is thinking about what is before him in the matter of reigning over the people of God, when he says, “thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen”. I think that would run along with the recognition of saying to God, I am but a little child. So he says, “thy servant is in the midst of thy people”, that is to say, although he is king, he is viewing himself as in the midst of the saints. I think the recognition with us inwardly, that I am but a little child, will lead to my understanding that my proper place is “in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen”. How wonderful to be conscious that we are in the midst of those that God has called out!

As we are reminded in some of the epistles, we are saints by divine calling, and divine choice has entered into that. Chosen of God is said in more than one epistle. So, he goes on to say, “thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people”. Think of how great the saints are! In fact, it says in Hebrews that “such a high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens”, Hebrews 7: 26. The import of that is that such a great people requires such a great priest. That would help us to understand the distinction that the saints have in the mind of God, that they are so great that they require a great High Priest. So he says, “Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart”. You notice the footnote says, Strictly, ‘a heart that hears’. Well, that is a very great matter, that we should hear divine speaking, whether it be the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit; we have a hearing heart and divine formation in us comes about by the action of the Spirit of God bringing the word of God formatively into our hearts.

So he says, “to judge thy people”; he is concerned typically about assembly government. I am taking it that Solomon at this point is a type of ourselves, not so much a type of Christ, in his request “to judge thy people”. That would bear on assembly government. And “to discern between good and bad” would be a vital thing to help us in dealing with matters that arise among us, to judge between good and bad. I expect that as long as we are down here, until the Lord comes, there will be the constant need of judging between good and bad. And then he says, “for who is able to judge this thy numerous people?” The Lord would be pleased, I think, as we individually take this ground before Him, especially in matters that arise in localities and that continue for a long time, far longer than they need to. The longer matters continue, the more likely they are to affect other localities, and what is needed is the ability to discern between good and bad.

The word pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. I would encourage every young person here to speak to the Lord in this way without fear, because if you ask for something that has in mind the edification of the assembly, I assure you that will please the Lord and He will provide what is needed. The word pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing and God said to him, “Because thou hast asked this thing”. You notice He says, “and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself”. Solomon is thinking, we might say, as a true assembly person typically, he is not thinking about himself, he is thinking of what is needed for the saints at the present time. So God says, “I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart”. It is very encouraging that God should say to any one of us, “behold, I have done according to thy word”. Think of God coming down to committing Himself to a simple request which any young brother or any young sister in this room might make of Him tonight, and saying to that brother or that sister, “behold, I have done according to thy word—behold, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart”. I would encourage the beloved younger brethren to be on the line of asking for these things because the time is critical, how soon the Lord will come we cannot say, but we know that in the meantime there will be great need for wise and understanding hearts.

I did not read the next section from verse 16 because I did not want to read too much scripture, but I want to call your attention to how quickly something came up that tested the wisdom of Solomon, that tested whether he had a wise and understanding heart. In verse 16 it says, “Then came two women, harlots, to the king, and stood before him”. They say this and they say that and in verse 23, “Then said the king, The one says, This that is living is my son, and thy son is the dead; and the other says, No, for thy son is the dead, and my son is the living”. There are no witnesses to the matter, the women were in disagreement about it, and the issue here is twofold; what is to be preserved on the one hand is the true mother, and on the other the life of the living child. I think in every issue that arises in our localities one of the things that we need to see clearly and act wisely about is protecting the true maternal character of the local assembly. It says, “Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother” (Galatians 4: 26)—that means that life is to be preserved, spiritual liberty is to be enjoyed. So you might say, this one says that, that one says this, how is it to be resolved? “And the king said, Bring me a sword”, that is the only resolution is the application of the word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit. All that is said, all the back and forth, has just to be met by the living and operative word of God. That brought out the true maternal character of the one whose bowels yearned over her son, and she said, “Ah, my lord! give her the living child, and in no wise put it to death”. Notice what the other said, and the king answered and said, “Give this one the living child, and in no wise put it to death—she is its mother”.

So I would commend to us, beloved brethren, that we need to be thinking about how, if we refer to Galatians, Sarah is to be dominant in our localities, and Hagar is to be excluded. One involves that the living child will be preserved, there will be the continuance in life, and the other, of course, leads to bondage and to spiritual death. “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged”. I think at this point it would be a question of the Lord’s judgment as over the whole position, but coming out through dependent, spiritual persons who resort to the word of God. They saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

The resolution of every matter should be plain, that what has been done is righteous, what is called “justice” here. If you look at the footnote it is the same word as for ‘judgment’, so that the thing is confirmed in the consciences of the brethren universally.

You notice it says, “all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged”. There is such a thing as the conscience of the brethren generally being carried in the resolution of a matter in a locality. We cannot exclude that. If we take the ground that what we do in Ormond Beach is inviolate and no one can question it, we are on false ground, because the conscience of the saints must be carried by what is done. So in this case, they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice—see how he began as a little child—but now the wisdom of God is seen in him. I think it would point to a spiritual element that the Spirit of God would maintain in every locality to ensure that what is done is righteous. Paul says to the Galatians, “ye who are spiritual”, Galatians 6: 1. There are persons who can be counted on to do what is righteous in any matter.

I want to refer to Jeremiah because it is quite different. It is not a question of Jeremiah like Solomon asking for anything, but “the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying”. Again I would appeal to the beloved young brethren to think of this. Think of God saying, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee”. Think of the sovereignty of God entering into your formation, even physically, and He says, “and before thou camest forth out of the womb I hallowed thee”. That would be something to inculcate even into the children, that before they were born God had in mind to set them apart for Himself. He says, “I hallowed thee”. That is, I think, one reason why the apostle says of children of a believer, “now they are holy”, 1

Corinthians 7: 14. God has hallowed them, having in mind that they should have part in the assembly, in the testimony of our Lord and in the service of God. But then he goes on to something else, “I appointed thee a prophet unto the nations”. I would ask the young men in the room, Have you ever considered that God may have had this in mind before you were born? That you were not just to come into fellowship and go along unproductively, or perhaps marked by a little activity. God had something more in

mind in marking you out even before your birth. You might say, Well, I do not feel that I have been marked out to receive a gift or to serve the brethren. Perhaps you do not think that, but have you ever talked to the Lord about it?

These are very simple matters. It is so easy for us to think about things and analyse them and come to a comfortable conclusion that. No, I was not intended to serve the saints. It may be that one reason I think that is because I have in mind to get a great deal of education, or I have in mind to be a rising star in the company I work for, but I am not thinking about serving the brethren because it is work, and it involves a lot of discomfort and arduous travel.

I think the Lord would say, I really have other thoughts in mind for you and I just wish you would come and sit down and talk with me about it. So Jeremiah says, “Alas, Lord Jehovah!”

Notice the title of God that he uses, “Lord Jehovah! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child”.

In other words, he is going to exempt himself immediately from what he quickly sees is going to involve a good deal of suffering and a good deal of reproach. “I cannot speak; for I am a child. But Jehovah said unto me, Say not, I am a child”. I do not suppose God was impatient with him exactly, but He was not going to put up with this kind of excuse. He said,

“Say not, I am a child; for thou shalt go to whomsoever I shall send thee”; that is your movements are going to be divinely regulated, not controlled by yourself and “whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak”.

Then God anticipates what Jeremiah was thinking, for He said next, “Be not afraid of them”; that is the Lord is saying, I am taking you up for service and it will involve reproach and suffering, and I know that at times you are going to be afraid to say in meetings what I have told you to say. But He says, “Be not afraid of them”. You are not different from Timothy in that sense. Paul had to write to the Corinthians and say “that he may be

with you without fear”, 1 Corinthians 16: 10. Paul knew very well what the Corinthians would try to do, try to intimidate Timothy, so that he would not say the things he should say.

The Lord very well knows that if He takes you up, and you commit yourself to His work, you are going to come under reproach and you may be afraid at times to say what you are told to say. But He says, “Be not afraid of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah”.

And then there is this lovely, gracious touch, “And Jehovah put forth his hand and touched my mouth”, really an allusion to God acting in Christ; He put forth His hand and touched my mouth. To an earlier servant Jehovah said, “Who gave man a mouth?” (Exodus 4: 11), but He does not say that here to Jeremiah. He put forth His hand and touched his mouth “and Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth”. What a fine result that is, his mouth is touched by the hand, the hand really is Christ typically, and additionally

“Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth”. So they are not your words, that is one thing that should liberate us in serving; they are not our words, if they are true words, words of truth, they really come from a divine Person. He says, “I have put my words in thy mouth”. It is not that you do not have to use your spiritual faculties and your physical faculties as sanctified, but that the source is outside yourself and yet the words are provided as they are needed. Notice what is said at the end of that paragraph, “to build and to plant”. The other things said to Jeremiah are hardly applicable to us, but building and planting are certainly applicable to us at the present time; that is, we are constructive in our movements in a day of recovery and we are planting something spiritual with a view to fruitfulness to God.

So I would leave that impression with the beloved brethren, that we should see the history of these two men and how God acted with them, and how it bears on

us at the present time so that the testimony should become brighter, the gatherings of the brethren more joyful, the service of God more enriched, and general conditions among us improved, so we are not just going on week by week preoccupied with ordinary matters or with difficulties among the brethren but we are engaged with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Everything has come to us through Him, everything as coming to us presently from Him through the Holy Spirit. How wonderful it is to find that as we go on together week by week, and as we are on these lines, on the one hand rightly saying, “I am but a little child”, and, on the other, not saying, “I am a child”. What is spiritual is becoming uppermost, it is seen increasingly in persons. We know that that which is first is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual; I would say in this point of the revival we are in the after time, afterwards that which is spiritual. That should be becoming increasingly apparent among us, and I am sure that the Lord will help us on that line, and the Spirit of God too, as we commit ourselves to it.

May God bless the word.

Address at Dundee
23 August 2003

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