GENERATIONS
Ron Plant
Psalm 48: 11-14; Mark 11: 1-7; Judges 1: 12-15; 1 Chronicles 29: 1-5
I want to speak as to the generations. It is an extensive subject right through the scriptures and it is one of the things that the men of God were concerned about; men like Moses and Jacob and others were concerned about the generations and I think it is a right thing for us to be too. It bore in upon me as coming here, how so much has changed over the past twelve years and how so many of those who were a help to the brethren in this area are now with Christ and the generations have changed. It is a very sobering thing. As far as man is concerned it is a thing of little consequence, Ecclesiastes says, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh … The sun also riseth, and the sun goeth down” (1: 4), but I believe that in divine things God would have us care about the generations.
David was one of whom it says, “For David indeed, having in his own generation ministered to the will of God fell asleep” (Acts 13: 36), but I believe a feature of what is spiritual is not only that we serve to the fullest extent that we can in our own generation, and that is quite an exercise in itself, but God would have us concerned for the coming ones and this is seen also in David. Paul in his epistle speaks to Timothy about four generations, himself, to Timothy, to faithful men and to others also (see 2 Tim. 2: 2). I suppose in a company of this size and taking a generation as about thirty years, we have about four generations at various stages of life in this room.
There was a man in the scriptures who had little concern for the generation to come, Hezekiah the king who was helped of God in relation to the purging of the temple and so on, and for whom God came in in a marvellous way when he was sick and gave him fifteen more years of life (see 2 Kings 20: 1-11). Hezekiah responds by exposing the precious things of God to the king of Babylon and Isaiah’s solemn word to him was that whilst things would still remain in his lifetime, his sons would all be taken away to Babylon as a result of his unfaithfulness. His recorded reply in the scriptures is, “there shall be peace and truth in my days!”, 2 Kings 20: 18. I wonder if any of us feel like that, if we are really concerned, not just for ourselves and our day, but that what there is for God in the generations might be maintained.
Every generation is different and each has its own special and particular exercises. It has been said that every generation needs a fresh ministry, not that the truth changes but the conditions of the day are very different in every generation and yet in some way God is going to be served through all of them. Moses, the great man of experience in the Old Testament says, “Lord, thou has been our dwelling-place in all generations … from eternity to eternity thou art God” (Ps 90: 1,2) – wonderful! I like to think that all the generations represented in this room will prove this and will serve the will of God in their own day.
You will find that the subject is taken up in different ways in scriptures. There is the way I am speaking about it historically and then in the New Testament it is taken up in a moral way. The Lord Jesus in Luke says, “this generation shall in no wise pass away until all come to pass” (21: 32) after he had set out the course of things that were going to happen on the earth where men would be in fear and expectation as to what was coming, and going right on to the coming of the Lord Jesus. But the generation which was there was in unbelief and had no concept of all that was there in the presence of the Lord. The generation marked by unbelief goes on and on through our time, it is moral. All the happenings in the world that have and will yet transpire even the shaking of the powers in the heavens, will not change man’s unbelief (see Luke 21: 26).
What things we have seen even in our times, and it will all go on, as it says, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it … until he come whose right it is; and I will give it to him”, Ezek 21: 27. Are we alive to all that is happening in this world in which we are, amidst a groaning creation that is waiting for Christ to come? How much do we know about what is happening, how much do we pray about it? Are we content with our own little private lives or are our hearts being expanded like God’s heart so that in some measure you are a person who is affected like God is affected by all that sin has brought into the world. How many of us know about the awful things that are happening in Sudan for instance; 50,000 persons have died out there and over a million persons have been displaced from their homes with the suffering and privation that goes with it. Did we know that 400,000 of them are children? How much did we pray for them? How alert are we? When we speak of vitality and life, how much vitality and life is in me? I believe it would affect us and it would help us in our response, even in our assembly response if our hearts and our affections were opened up more to the compassions of God. I trust I say these things from the heart because I do believe that it is possible that there is a danger of lethargy affecting us in all our lives and we might just become deadened in almost every way in relation to His testimony.
I would like to speak about the generations and I love the first reference in Psalm 48 where it says, “tell it to the generation following”. The subject of Psalm 48 is about mount Zion. The sons of Korah were those who would have known what it was to be preserved when their fathers died in the rebellion in Numbers and generally speaking they greatly appreciate mercy. In their Psalms you very often find special touches of mercy. They speak here about Zion. I could not explain to you how Zion got its spiritual import. Zion was a part of Jerusalem but somehow it acquires a place in the scripture, almost mystical as far as the Jew was concerned. It seems to relate to David’s conquests when he came to Jerusalem and he “took the stronghold of Zion which is the city of David” (2 Sam 5: 7), and it came to represent a spot that was dear to the heart of every Israelite, their object was to reach Zion. The spot that is so precious to the heart of the believer is God’s intervention in sovereign mercy. What a wonderful thing! He says here, “tell it”, tell them about it, “tell it to the generation following”. “Walk about Zion, and go round about her: count the towers thereof; Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces … For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide until death”. I love to tell every soul in this room, especially young persons here, of the wonderful character of the fact that God has intervened in His grace and in sovereign mercy. There are many persons here who are triumphs of His grace. It says, “count the towers thereof … Mark ye well her bulwarks”. The lives and the experiences of the saints, not only of this generation but so many that have gone before them are testimonies to the glory of what here is called Mount Zion, beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth. The greatest thing on this earth at the present time is that God had and is operating in His mercy and even today there are persons here, the whole room almost, who have been secured through the sovereign mercy of God. I will tell you about that, I might struggle with what else I am trying to say but I will tell you about Zion! And if there is anyone here who really has an aching heart in relation to their need before God, unknown to the brethren, unknown to parents, or even to anyone else, I would assure you and tell it to the generation following that He is still operating in His grace today and He will come in in relation to your need and He will touch your heart and fill it with Christ.
One of the things that is encouraging at the present time with younger men amongst us is that there is a growing ability, energy and affection in the presentation of the glad tidings. May that continue and may it be a blessing in His testimony and amongst the people of God.
The scripture in Mark makes reference to the Lord Jesus about to go into Jerusalem for the last time, and He says to the disciples, “God into the village which is over against you … ye will find a colt tied upon which no child of man has ever sat”. It is a very striking passage, it comes into all the gospels, and in each of the synoptic gospels it says, “the Lord has need”. We have been speaking about man’s need and God’s answer to man’s need in mercy but it is something to think of and to communicate to a younger generation that the Lord has need. I believe the present time is a particular moment to draw attention to this incident. It is a colt here; Matthew’s gospel is the ass and the colt, this gospel and Luke it is the colt, and it seems to represent another generation. What I particularly wanted to draw attention to is that the Lord does not fetch it Himself – in John’s gospel he procures it Himself, but in the other gospels he lays this on the disciples, “Go into the village … ye will find a colt tied, upon which no child of man has ever sat: loose it and lead it here”. He puts that upon the disciples, “And they departed, and found a colt bound to the door without at the crossway, and they loose him”. I think that most here would be aware that the present time is near the crossway for many younger ones. Love has bound them, as it has held many of us and we thank God for it, bound in conditions of love but the crossway is near. The main route of the world is passing near to us at the present time and it has great appeal. What I wanted to draw attention to is the task of these disciples because the Lord entrusts them to go and to “bring it here”. I wonder if those of us who are of an older generation, how do we respond to that at the present time – bringing the colt here? How are we responding to it? It says, “And they led the colt to Jesus”. I want to raise this as a challenge not only to those who are older but also to a younger generation, for time quickly passes, the younger men and women here with little children, they will not be so little for long, and this same thing will be posed to you, how do we lead the colt here, and how do we lead the colt to Jesus? How do we bring it here? It was Bethphage and Bethany, and the Mount of Olives, it was the environment in which Jesus moved, it is a spiritual area. Bethany was the place where He loved to be, Jerusalem was the city of the great king, it is the environment in which Jesus moved. How do we bring the colt to the area where Jesus is today? I think we need help from the Spirit of God at the present time, we need to be very prayerful and on our knees that we may be helped to be those who can serve the Lord Jesus in bringing the colt here – “they led the colt to Jesus”.
The colt was tied at the crossway and they had to release it, to undo the knots. Sometimes the knots have become very difficult, sometimes what is governing persons in their lives is very difficult, do we have the patience for it? Do we have the heart for it? Do we have Christ and His needs sufficiently in our hearts that we might have the patience and skill to untie the knots and lead the colt to Jesus? Can we do it? No one had ever sat upon it; what potential it represented, no one had ever controlled it. Beloved young people, there will come a time in your life when someone or something will control you. The desire here of the Lord and of all here today is that you might come under the influence and the control of the Lord Jesus. I believe it is an exercise for those of us who are older that we enter into how in skilfulness, how in ability received from the Holy Spirit, we can be helped in leading the colt to Jesus.
The scripture in Judges is a well-known passage; the taking of Kirjath-sephar, the city of the book. Someone once suggested to me that the book was a history book. I know we usually speak of it as representing the world and its literature, but perhaps it is the history amongst the people of God that stands as an obstacle to you to entering into the land, into the inheritance. Perhaps it needs to be taken so that it does not just remain as names and ministry and accounts of what has entered into the recovery of the truth and what has entered into the teaching of the assembly that we have been speaking about. Let it not just end as words but you take it and take it for yourself and you find that there is entry into the land, into the inheritance.
What I wanted to draw attention to was that Caleb provides the incentive to this young man to take this city, which stood athwart his inheritance. Much of what is in the book of Judges parallels the book of Joshua; Joshua details the conquest of the land of Canaan and it is the spiritual aspect of it, so why do we have the book of Judges? This section of scripture is in both books – but Judges is written in a different way. Judges is not written historically, it is written in a particular way for a particular reason. Caleb who was coming into his inheritance seems to realise the problem that confronted them in taking up the land and the dispossessing of the inhabitants and the people. The book of Judges is written, not to set out the conquest of the land but to illustrate the lessons that needed to be learned by the people and especially by the generation to come because it says, “these are the nations that Jehovah left, to prove Israel by them, all that had not known all the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know war by learning it” (3: 1,2). I think Caleb was aware of the fact and what I would like to convey to the younger generation is that the land, the inheritance, the preciousness of divine things will not be taken and enjoyed without conflict.
I know that sometimes exercises amongst the people of God seem to be inexplicable to the younger generation but I wanted to show here, what I believe Caleb understood and that is that we shall not enter into the inheritance of Jehovah, the land, the taking up of the promises of God unless we know what it is to learn war, the wars of Canaan. You get the wars of the Lord in the wilderness and the wars of Canaan in relation to the land. I hope the brethren will bear with this and be prepared to enter into some of the exercises that there have been for the truth, conflicts that the truth may be preserved, that precious things as to the Person of Christ, the Sonship of Christ, and much more have been necessary that the people of God might enter into the inheritance. I believe we would fail if we do not encourage our younger brethren at the present time, to enter into the inheritance and seek God’s help to enter into the conflict that will be involved.
Caleb was perfectly capable of taking this city himself. We see the strength that was in him, but we do not have Caleb going for an opportunity here in relation to Kirjath-sepher. To encourage Othniel he says, “to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife”. We know that there is much as to Achsah and as to the springs of water, but I just wanted to leave with the brethren that we will not enter into the great things of God without conflict. Do not be disappointed in it, do not be one who is disillusioned in the fact that there is conflict at times amongst the saints, because the truth has been hard won and it will be hard won for the generation that is to come, the conflict and the wars of Canaan are necessary to our education.
David had concern for the next generation. Scripture refers to David’s affliction and his affection and I wanted to finish with a reference particularly as to what David was ready to give in relation to another generation out of his affection. Affliction came upon David during his lifetime, upon him and his family. It came upon him in his circumstances, in his kingdom and in his personal life and family life and even his affliction over the ark of God. These things brought out a treasure for God as they have done in the lives of the saints. How much affliction there has been amongst the people of God. I took the liberty of looking up the Bible Dictionary as to the things that David gave in his affliction to the house of God – one hundred thousand talents of gold and a thousand thousand talents of silver. According to the Bible Dictionary that amounts to millions of pounds. What an impression that gives of all that affliction has yielded for the house of God in the generations. Affliction is not premeditated, but what David gives out of his affection is premeditated, it does not come about through circumstances that arise and result in affliction, it comes about through premeditation. He says, “This palace is not to be for man, but for Jehovah Elohim. And I have prepared according to all my power for the house of my God”. But he was concerned for the generation to come. He says, “Solomon my son … is young and tender, and the work is great”, I think Solomon would be about twenty years old here and now he says, “moreover, in my affection for the house of my God I have given of my own property of gold and silver”. What a fine way to end a life, what a fine way for any of us to end our lives to give something more out of affection for the house of our God. He says, “who is willing to offer to Jehovah this day?” In Paul’s letter to Philemon as to the return of Onesimus his runaway slave, Paul appeals to him to receive him and puts everything that he could into the appeal. It is a very affecting letter in which he appeals “for love’s sake” (v 9). He could have argued all kinds of things, but above all he pleads “for love’s sake … do thou receive him” (v 12). Beloved brethren, I wonder if we are ready at the present time in the sorrows and pressures that there are amongst the saints to operate with a bit of love. I wonder if we will. You will find amongst God’s people that you can try all kinds of things, to affect something, you can try pressure, you can try force of personality, you can try everything, but there is only one thing amongst God’s people that will always work and that is love, only love works. If you want to know how to solve problems in localities, if you want to know how a future generation can be encouraged and stimulated amongst the saints, let us operate with affection for the house of our God. The generations are passing and some of us are passing with them, some like our brethren of twelve years ago are about to go off the scene, let us all demonstrate affection for the house of God and let it be an operative force amongst us at the present time.
For His Name’s sake.
Glasgow
14th August 2004