THE VALUE OF BELIEVING HOUSEHOLDS IN A DIFFICULT DAY

J. Strachan

Judges 1: 12–15; 2 Timothy 1: 16–18; 4: 19

I want to say a word about the value of believing households in a difficult day. Both these scriptures we have read from are written in view of a difficult day in the testimony. The value of a believing household is highlighted under such conditions. The commitment our brother and sister have made to one another today as husband and wife is taken up in the light of Christ and the assembly. God’s prime thought as to this relationship, and I have no doubt that they will keep that steadily before them in view of their marriage being worked out according to the divine standard. The standard God has before Him was started with the man and the woman in Genesis 2 and really it was looking forward to Christ and the assembly.

That is what He will finish with. Christ and the assembly, man in that sense comprising both the man and the woman. Our dear brother and sister have been brought into such light and I have no doubt they will seek to work out their marriage in a practical way in the light of Christ and the assembly; our brother seeking to be governed by Christ and our sister seeking to be governed by the light that would govern the assembly.

Now they will not only be a husband and wife, but they will have a household; they will have a sphere where there will not only be divine light but there will be desire to answer to it practically. It will be a sphere governed by the light of Christ and the assembly, and that is very precious to heaven. Think of a household of that kind being set up, and the influence they will exert in the place where they will live first of all, and then the influence that will go out in a more general sense. I would commend that thought to our dear brother and sister and to us all, especially those of us who have households or are contemplating having households. God would find pleasure in such households where the great truth of Christ and the assembly is being maintained in difficult days.

This incident as to Othniel and his wife Achsah is very interesting. It is referred to twice, first of all in the book of Joshua, and then it is reiterated here in the book of Judges. I think that is to show how God would have this household thought maintained in a difficult day according to its own original setting, the original setting being in the book of Joshua. What is in mind in this is that Othniel was to take this particular part of the inheritance, Kirjath-sepher. God had in mind that His people would come into the enjoyment of this inheritance that He marked out for them; He had marked it out according to His purpose and He had in mind that His people should come into the enjoyment of it. Caleb himself had been one who had laid hold of God’s thought. He had gone to spy out the land originally and he was faithful in the report that he brought back. After forty-five years he still had the same thought in his heart, and he is handing it down on the principle of desire and Othniel takes it up. It is a good thing to remember those who have gone before us, persons who have valued the inheritance, and to seek to follow, on the line of desire, what has marked spiritual persons. Israel had an earthly inheritance but God has marked out something far greater for believers at the present time.

He has marked out a heavenly inheritance, the present known enjoyment of spiritual and heavenly blessings in Christ. How great these are! That is really what this type is looking forward to, that there will be someone who is prepared to take up on the line of desire God’s thought for His people.

I would commend this thought to our brother and to each one of us that Othniel saw what was there as a spiritual person, and he was prepared to take it up in exercise and go and possess it for himself. From God’s side He would say, ‘I have given you the inheritance’, but from our side we have to take it up in energy and go and possess it. Well Othniel was prepared for that, and Achsah then comes into the picture too, but what I would say about the two of them is that they have both their own personal exercises. That is a good thing to maintain even though we enter into the relationship of husband and wife, that the husband maintains his personal exercises, and the wife also has her personal exercises. These will not clash, you will find that they complement each other. “And it came to pass as she came, that she urged him to ask of her father the field”. She urged him to do that, to ask of her father the field”, which would mean having more of the inheritance.

Then Caleb says to her, “What wouldest thou?”; she came under his notice, “And she said to him, Give me a blessing; for thou has given me a southern land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs”. I think that means simply that if we are to enjoy these spiritual and heavenly blessings that are in God’s thoughts for us then we will need the power of the Holy Spirit. So that we can fill out every obligation down here and we can also have the power to enter in and enjoy our heavenly portion. God is presenting these things in the gospel—Paul’s gospel really—that the believer should have an inheritance among the saints and also the means of enjoying it in the Holy Spirit. This was her exercise and it complemented his exercise. It is a good thing to have desires on this line and to seek to stimulate one another. “She urged him to ask of her father”, she urged him. It is a good thing if such desires stimulate one another into the enjoyment of the inheritance and the means for it, in the Holy Spirit. The power for the enjoyment of divine things lies in the Holy Spirit.

I read in the second epistle to Timothy where we have one household referred to, the household of Onesiphorus. Paul commends this house. He says, “he has often refreshed me, and has not been ashamed of my chain”. Think of a man who had been refreshing to Paul!

That was in a day when all in Asia had turned away from him. There was someone who was not ashamed of Paul in captive conditions, “he ... sought me out very diligently, and found me”. Think of someone who had such an exercise after Paul and what he represented; “the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord in that day—and how much service he rendered in Ephesus thou knowest best”. Here was a man who could render service at the very highest level of the truth, involving how the saints would come into the heavenly inheritance. This household comes in for the commendation of Paul and we have a second reference to it. I think God would keep such a household before us. In chapter 4 it says, “Salute Prisca and Aquila”, they had their own distinctive place. They had been with Paul in various places including Ephesus. Then he says, “and the house of Onesiphorus”. This was a house that was worthy of salutation. How delightful it was to heaven that in a dark and difficult day there was a household that could come under the commendation of Paul. I commend this thought to each one of us, and in a special way to our dear brother and sister who have been married today and are setting up a household where this is possible. May the Lord encourage us for His name’s sake.

Word in Marriage Meeting
Adelaide, 23 April 1997