GOD'S INDIRECT AND DIRECT OPERATIONS
GOD’S INDIRECT AND DIRECT OPERATIONS
Genesis 20:6,7; Genesis 20:17; Daniel 4:28 - 37; Matthew 27:19
I have in mind to speak about what God is doing indirectly, and what He is doing directly. I place what He is doing indirectly first, because it deals mainly with what is providential. The direct actions or operations of God have to do with His people with a view to their present and eternal welfare.
What is providential relates to the present only, and those employed in it are not necessarily Christians. They may be antichristian or heathen, for God does His own will, using beings of His creation at His will. But I wish to show, dear brethren, that in dealing with such He is not indifferent to their welfare; and that in using men or in dealing with men on providential lines, He seizes opportunities to deal with them directly. Thus the two services of God are linked together, acting and reacting on each other, and He would draw those who are His, who are the subjects of His direct service, into what He is doing. We should not fail to seize opportunities and we should not fail to represent Him, as drawn of necessity into the providential ways of God. In order to encourage us, He introduces in the Holy Writings persons who are not His people, and yet with whom He had direct transactions, and to whom He speaks of those whom He regards as His people. I believe He has peculiar pleasure in speaking of us to men. He has His own way of doing it. He spoke to Satan about one of His children, saying, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” (Job. 1:8).
I have no doubt that the different families whom the Father names cover all the eras of which Scripture speaks, and of these eras the patriarchal is one of the most distinguished. Abraham is outstanding in the [p. 292] patriarchal period. God speaks to Abimelech about him. I do not suppose there was a person on earth at that time more interesting to God than Abraham. He made the earth attractive to God, you might say; he was an adornment to it. God made him heir of the world, and He made an excellent choice. Abraham has adorned the scene already and has lived ever since to God. God seems peculiarly pleased to call attention to him right through from his beginnings; the psalmist later is used to call attention to him without naming him, speaking of God’s people (including Abraham), “when they were a few in number, of small account”, Psalm 105:12. Abraham represents the heavenly man and the heavenly dispensation.
There are the generations of ten personages spoken of in Genesis, but Abraham is not one of them, which is a very remarkable thing. That is because the generations spoken of are of the earth, whereas Abraham is the heavenly man. He is outside of dispensations and generations, but he had his part in them down here in earthly things and was characteristic of the moment as a heavenly man; that is, he was “of small account”. The psalm goes on, “And they went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people”, Psalm 105:13. Thus the psalmist speaks of these early patriarchs. At that time God reproved kings for their sakes, and the psalmist, whoever he was, fully entering into all that too, says, quoting Jehovah, “Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm”, Psalm 105:15. It is the patriarchal era and Abraham is outstanding in the era, the heavenly man of no account, “Abram the Hebrew”, according to Genesis 14:13. But he was such as made the earth attractive to God for the moment. God appeared to him and said in effect, Abraham, you and I are speaking together. I am certain that God enjoyed the conversation more than Abraham did.
The word. ‘covenant’ is written throughout chapter 17 of Genesis; God says to him, in effect, You and I are bound up for ever by indissoluble links. This would all be to release the heart of His child, as I might call him, so that he shall be in full liberty with God.
Then in the next chapter God comes to see him in company. Abimelech also came to see him in company, but it was with his military man; God did not come with a military man, He came as One of three men to visit Abraham. What a time He had there, waiting under the tree for Abraham to provide a meal for Him! I speak thus, dear brethren, so that interest may be aroused in this matter, that God is going to have a word with Abimelech about Abraham, and He is intending to evangelise Abimelech. So that if I am at all called into such circumstances, where I have to do with the rulers of this world, God would be saying to me as I am praying about it, Do not forget that you are in relation with Me, and when you come in contact with those men, do not forget you are My representative; and do not forget that I have a means of talking to those men too, and talking to them about you. But then, you are not the sole object of the conversation; these men are men, however exalted they seem to be, and God would say to you, I have rights in those men, I have rights in you, of course, I have told you so, I have My links with you, indissoluble links; but I have rights in those men you have to deal with. They do not know that, and they are not at all representative of Me in character; they may be legal, like Pilate, but not at all representative of Me in character. You are to be that; I do not expect them to be that, but I expect you to be that.
In chapter 20, God expected a good deal of Abraham. He talked with him and made a covenant with him according to chapter 17, and according to chapter 18 [p. 294] He came to see him in company and received a meal at his hands. Now we are in chapter 20, and God has in mind that Abraham is something. We are not told all that Jehovah said to Abimelech; according to the psalm He reproved kings, and no doubt Abimelech was one of them. Pharaoh was another, the great monarch of that day. God visited his country and reproved him. Now the time has come for Abraham to know and to be drawn into the indirect affairs of God with kings. In the last twenty-five years the people of God have come as never before into relation and touch with kings. The word ‘king’ denotes a person in supreme authority over all that is under him. It is a system; and God is saying to us in this scripture that He has access to these men and knows how to speak to them, and that He speaks to them of His people, “mine anointed ones”, “my prophets”. What comes out here is a delicate situation. God is occupied with the inner movements of Abimelech, and He tells Abimelech that He knows the integrity of his heart. Let us not despise this man. Think of the Creator of the universe speaking to a Philistine king! God says, “thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart”. Whatever it be in them that is good, God notes it and perhaps tells them about it, but in doing that He is telling them about His own people. Now He says, in effect, to Abimelech, This man is an important man, though so young a man. I know him; he is a prophet. What feelings the king had I cannot say, but you may be sure God made him feel He was interested in him too.
Abimelech was a man in whom God had rights. God is the Preserver of all men, and He had to do with Abimelech in regard to that.
Coming now to the gospel, we read in 1 Timothy, “For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be rendered in its own times”, 1 Timothy 2:5,6.
[p. 295] Are these times my times? Do I live in the period of “its own times”? Every one of us, from the youngest to the oldest, should greatly value these gospel times. Well, God is dealing with these men, He is using them in His governmental ways, whether they be Christian, heathen, Mohammedan or apostate. Think of being classed with Buddhists, Mohammedans, Hindoos, Chinese and other such nations that God is using governmentally, using them in His government in an indirect way! He may even use the devil, but God would never put it into my heart to speak the gospel to him. If it be antichrist, the beast, the man of sin, well, if I knew it were he, I should not preach Christ to him. What is stated about him is that he goes to perdition, and I do not want to hinder him. I cannot, of course, but if he goes to perdition, he goes, and he goes in a short time too. But I am dealing with ordinary men; God says, I have an interest in those men, and I have been telling them that you are such and such.
It is remarkable the number of young men who are able to preach the gospel now. God is speaking about these young men, for they have to do with persons whom God is employing governmentally. God would say to these persons in some way, These young men can preach the gospel. That is exactly what He said in principle about Abraham. This man can prophesy, just as He would say about you, He can preach the gospel. Abraham was a gifted man; prophecy is a gift. He was a gifted man, and God would, so to speak, say, There is right in your very premises here, in your land here, a man who can prophesy. Is that not interesting to you Abimelech? God said that Abraham was a prophet; He did not say he would prophesy for Abimelech, but that he “will pray for thee”. I do not know which is the more important; I think I should rather be prayed for. Abimelech had got himself into a difficult place; he had not [p. 296] realised, what he was doing. He thought Abraham was just an ordinary way-faring man who had just happened into his country; but God said. You are mistaken, that man is a prophet and a priest, and he will pray for you. Not only can he do it, but he will do it. I want to be like that. God is giving us great opportunities at the present time, suffering opportunities, to be sure, but suffering is a great feature of Christianity. Christianity is outside of all dispensations, it is heavenly; the sheet came down and went up and stayed up. That is what Christianity is composed of, heavenly people down here, people like Jesus that God is not ashamed of. He says to Abimelech, That man is not what you think he is, he is a prophet, he will pray for you. That is important. Is Abraham going to deny what God has said about him? Is he going to belie it? No. The chapter tells us that Abraham prayed for Abimelech and for his house and the prayer was answered. Could one do more for Abimelech? Was there anything more important at that time than to pray for Abimelech? Abraham prayed for him. I like that part of my subject. It is divided into three parts, which is abundant, I think, for any address.
The next part is about Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most remarkable of men, a man who became himself a preacher. Before that he was a skilled persecutor of the people of God. Persecutors learn how to persecute, and he was one such, but God had to say to him. He took him up when he was an unconverted man who had no interest in God whatever; but God spoke to him in a dream and then the dream left him. Why did it leave him? In order to bring one of God’s people into his presence — Daniel. The missing link must be supplied, and by the people of God. The link between God and men is really the saints. Well, I cannot enlarge on that, only to say that the dream implied that Nebuchadnezzar had the [p. 297] greatest place in the great governmental system that God set up after Israel was rejected. “Thou art this head of gold”, Daniel 2:38. He was the head of the great Gentile system that God had set up to carry on the government of this world whilst Israel was rejected. But is that all? Is this governmental matter, this war matter, all that God has in mind? What has He got for Himself in that? Nothing. It is abominable to Him. He has something more than war in mind. The newspapers really do not deal with what God has in mind in this matter at all.
We are to supply the link; He wants us to do it. The Daniels supply the link. Sometimes we say, Dare to be a Daniel. It is a time of daring and of courage. There is need for boldness in understanding the link between God and men. So Daniel established the link: “Thou art this head of gold”, Daniel 2:38. But then, he said more than that; Nebuchadnezzar, you are a wicked man, that is what he said in effect; “break off thy sins by righteousness”, Daniel 4:27. God is also saying that He is going to make something out of Nebuchadnezzar. He is not simply using him in governmental ways, providentially, God is going to establish a direct link with him, and Daniel is to be the link, to be the instrument. We are in the time in which these great gospel matters are to be announced, “the testimony to be rendered in its own times”, 1 Timothy 2:6. It is a long drawn out period, God is pleased with it, and He is telling the young men today, “You are a link between Me and these men. It is a suffering time for you, but do not forget, You belong to heaven; you are in that sheet that came down from heaven, material capable of the greatest suffering; you are to be like Paul, who was shown what great things he must suffer to bear the name of Christ before kings and the sons of Israel”. What are our young men going to do with that commission? And so word came from God when Nebuchadnezzar [p. 298] was at the height of his glory, as full of pride as a man could be. There is a king of the children of pride (see Job 41:34), and that king was educating Nebuchadnezzar. “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” he said, Daniel 4:30. The word had gone out of his mouth, the change came, he became as an ox, ate grass as an ox in the government of God. This is God’s direct dealing with him. God can make one of His own children out of him. Who are the hardest people to convert? Politicians are difficult, statesmen are not quite so difficult. Nebuchadnezzar was a statesman, he was a king, therefore not so difficult. God says, “I am going to make something out of this man by direct action”. He was put out amongst the cattle for seven years, but the time came when he was converted, and it was through Daniel.
That is the point I am making for those of us who have to do with the powers of this world. (I know one thing, that greed for making money is about the worst testimony. Nothing will do more damage to Christianity at the present time than greed for money; losing our opportunities to serve God, sacrificing the precious privilege of serving God in the assembly, to make money. I only say that by the way.) Nebuchadnezzar says finally, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of the heavens, all whose works are truth, and his paths judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase”,
(Daniel 4:37). Did ever before a statesman come to such a point? Daniel was the instrument, the link. Daniel began in Babylon with severity, not against other people, but against himself. He learned how to fast, to deny himself, and he came before kings, before great men. That is how things work. Let us therefore, dear brethren, pray that we may not fall when we come into touch with these men, who are the agents of the indirect government of God. We are the agents of the direct government of God, greater [p. 299] than any of them, and having power to speak to them with authority.
So it was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, and so with Daniel. It is a suffering time, we are not worthy of the name of being heavenly people, save as capable of suffering. The Lord said, “For I am come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me”, John 6:38. And again, “I am the living bread which has come down out of heaven ... . but the bread withal which I shall give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”, John 6:51. It is on the line of suffering, but what a noble thing it is, what a privilege, as subjects of God’s direct work, to be representatives of Him to the subjects of His indirect work! So that we have both together, and the agents of the indirect government of God are evangelised. Evangelists are brought before them in spite of themselves, the opportunity is given to speak a word in season, “For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”, 1 Timothy 2:5, 6.
I just want to finish with a few words in regard to Pilate. The greatest representative of God, the Lord Jesus, was there before him. How honoured he was, how privileged he was too! But he was not converted. His wife was available to God, though not directly apparently, because she was asleep. How God can use people when they are asleep! He never uses them when they are asleep in the meetings, never! It is another matter when they do that. But when they are asleep legitimately, like Pilate’s wife, God can use them. She says, “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered today many things in a dream because of him”, Matthew 27:19. She was asleep, and she suffered in her sleep, not because of anything she had done, but because of Him who was before Pilate now.
[p. 300] She got the idea of a just person into her soul when she was asleep. You see the means by which God may address these indirect agents of His government, selecting even a man’s own wife at a critical moment.
The testimony failed in Pilate, but it stands out particularly as the testimony of God directly to her husband through her. “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man”, she says, “for I have suffered today many things in a dream because of him”. It was as Pilate sat down, you notice. That was the tribunal, we might say, that the Lord Jesus had to do with, and Pilate was sitting down in the official position, clothed with all the authority that Rome could accord to its representatives. He was the governor, and here was a message from his wife when he was sat down thinking of what he, a poor, weak man, was going to do in the judicial position. God says, I will give him an opportunity, I will use one who ought to have influence with him. At the opportune moment, at the critical moment, the word came from the bedroom of his wife, as I might say, saying to him, “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man”. What a message! What a messenger! What history! We shall have to wait, I suppose, for the history of this woman, but she became available to God in a dream to evangelise her husband, as it were, to save him from a crime, the darkest act ever perpetrated. He did not heed the message, but the message was sent nevertheless.
Let us not be weary in well doing. Whatever she said further to her husband I do not know, but we may be sure that when he came home she would say, Did you get my message? Yes, he would reply, but I was in the midst of judicial matters sitting in Caesar’s judgment seat. He judged unrighteous judgment, he was not a righteous man; the righteous Man was before him. The Judge of all mankind shall sit upon His throne and Pilate will stand before Him,
[p. 301] yea, he will flee from His presence, consigned to eternal doom. He refused to listen to the evangelical word sent by his wife at a critical moment. He is a lost man, he had his opportunity.
We do not want to let these men we have to do with go by without some little testimony. You are fit for it, do not be afraid, you are quite capable of it. You can preach the gospel in your own local meeting and do it well; why not do it before these men? It is your opportunity to do it in your own way, as one who knows Christ; and with the Spirit of God in your heart you can bear direct testimony to these men who are the indirect instruments of the government of God.