UNITY IN HOLINESS AND TRUTH

In the account of the holy city in Revelation 20 and 21 (which is the symbol of the church) we have “a great, and high wall”, which implies the exclusion of all that is evil. “Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, etc”. And there are gates, which give the idea of a way of entrance for all that is according to God. “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”, Rev 22: 14.

There can be no divine unity, apart from

SEPARATION FROM EVIL ...

Divine love is a holy love. Love would embrace all that is. of God, but holiness would exclude all that is not of God. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments”, 1 John 5: 2.

Separation from evil is a divine principle. There can be no unity according to God without it. True unity must be in holiness and truth, or it is not the unity of the Spirit, for it would not be in accord with Him who is holy and true. Unity must have a centre, and that must be the Son of God, the holy One and the true. The power by which it is maintained is the Holy Spirit. The bond is holy love. Therefore evil in doctrine and practice must be excluded. Moreover, we must remember, that evil association defiles. “Evil communications corrupt good manners”, 1 Cor 15: 33. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”, 1 Cor 5: 6. A sister receiving into her house a heretic would become partaker of his evil deeds, 2 John 9-11. If we received those defiled by identification with evil associations, we should be defiled thereby, such an one would become a link between us and the leavened company. Therefore we have to take account not only of the personal conduct of Christians, but also of their associations.

When Adam sinned, he was driven out from the presence of God. When God would take up Abraham to make him the subject of divine communications, and the depository of the promises, He called him out from country, kindred, and father’s house, for in that time the world had fallen into idolatry. When He would take up the nation of Israel to serve Him, they must first be separated from Egypt; God would not allow His name to be linked with Egyptian practices. When they afterward set up idolatry in the camp, Moses by divine instinct took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, afar off, and those who sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle which was without the camp, Exodus 33. When Israel came into the land of Canaan, they were commanded to keep themselves absolutely separate from the inhabitants of the land. In Israel lepers were unclean, and therefore must dwell outside the camp, they were excluded from the privileges of God’s people. A priest who had a blemish was excluded from serving in the sanctuary. When the captives returned from Babylon, they refused to intermingle with the people of the land who professedly worshipped God, nor would they accept their co-operation in the building of the house of God. And when later Nehemiah found one in the chambers of the temple, in his zeal for God he cast him out and all his stuff. Jeremiah in his day in standing for God had to testify of the sins of the people, and to separate from them, and the word of the Lord to him was “Let them return to thee; but return not thou to them”, Jer 15: 19. When the Lord was here, He was the most separate man, but ever accessible to all wherever there was need. He would not stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful; as to those who hastened, after another god, He would not take up their names upon His lips, Ps 1 and 16. He drove the merchants and money-changers out of the temple, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves”, Matt 21: 13. “The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up”, John 2: 17. He was zealous for the holiness of God’s house. Would to God there were more of this zeal found with God’s people today.

The word to us is “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? ... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean”, 2 Cor 6: 14-17. When Judaism had rejected Christ, the disciples were called upon to go forth to Him without the camp. The camp represented a religious system composed of those who were nominally God’s people, but who had rejected God in Christ, as the camp had done in Moses. That is what Christendom has become in the present day, so that we are obliged to separate from many who profess to be God’s people. There is in formation at the present time a religious system which scripture calls Babylon, in contrast to that which is spoken of as the holy city Jerusalem the assembly of God. There are many of God’s people mixed up in this evil system, Babylon. Hence the exhortation, “Come out of her, my people”, Rev 18: 4

Christian fellowship is an exclusive fellowship based upon the death of Christ. It is the fellowship of His death. Nothing could be more exclusive than the death of Christ. When He was made sin for us, He must go into the darkness and distance. “My God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me?”, Ps 22: 1. There we see how the holiness of God has excluded evil, in the judgment of it, in the Holy One.

In partaking of the bread and cup of the Lord’s supper, we commit ourselves to His death, that is, we identify ourselves with it. “The cup … which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”, 1 Cor 10: 16. This shows the holy character of the fellowship. Therefore to be consistent with it we must exclude all that God has excluded in the death of Christ. That demands first of all individual self-judgment, and then separation from all evil associations. In 1 Corinthians 5, the apostle writes to instruct the saints at Corinth as to how they were to deal with one called a brother, if walking in sin. “With such an one no not to eat”, 1 Cor 5: 11. He was to be excluded from the company. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”. We cannot be in association, with evil without being defiled by it. Whoever touched a leper was defiled. Therefore the apostle said “Purge out the old leaven”.

The second epistle to Timothy contemplates a state of general defection. It is no longer possible to put the assembly right, as at Corinth; now each one must clear himself from association with evil. “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. If the epistle be read carefully, it will be seen that the iniquity contemplated is of a religious character, it is within the pale of the profession. All in Asia had turned away from the apostle; there were teachers among them saying the resurrection was past, subverting the faith of some; then there were those having the form of godliness, but denying the power. They resisted the truth. “From such turn away”, 2 Tim 3: 5. The time was coming when men would turn away from the truth, and be turned to fables—men like Alexander, who did much evil to the apostle. All this is just what we see around us in Christendom today. Therefore “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”¹⁰, 2 Tim 2: 19. The apostle likens the Christian profession to a great house, in which there are vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour. “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use”, v 21. Those who have purged themselves from vessels to dishonour, the sanctified ones, are the vessels to honour; such are serviceable to the Master. Only such are serviceable for the testimony. Here we see that the fellowship becomes a limited one, an exclusive one. That is, we cannot walk with all who call themselves Christians, we have to seek those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. We are not called upon to determine who are real Christians and who are merely professors, this we could not do.

“The Lord knoweth them that are his”, v 19. We cannot look into persons’ hearts, but we can discern those who in sincerity confess Him Lord. “By their fruits ye shall know them”. We have to judge by their actions. As the Lord said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”, Luke 6: 46. What would mark one who calls on the Lord out of a pure heart, would be subjection and obedience to the revealed will of the Lord. These are difficult times, and no doubt it requires spiritual discernment to act upon these lines. “The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way”, Ps 25: 9. The soul who seeks the Lord will not miss his way. It is a comfort to know there is a way. We are not obliged to go on in fellowship with evil.

If we gather to His name, we must maintain in doctrine and practice what is suitable to His name, or we cannot count upon His presence and support. This involves the exclusion of all that is unworthy of His name. Many object to the term exclusive. Yet every true Christian is exclusive more or less, according to the measure of his light and devotedness to the name and glory of the Lord. For instance, no child of God would be happy to have fellowship with a drunkard, or a thief, or a fornicator, or a blasphemer, because, as begotten of God, he has instincts of holiness. The more light a person has, the more exclusive he becomes, if he is true to the light; light must exclude darkness, holiness must exclude evil. What sort of place would heaven be, if all evil were not excluded?

On the other hand it is natural for all who are begotten of God to love all the children of God, and to desire their unity. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”, 1 John 3: 14. It ought always to be a sorrow to us, when obliged to withdraw from fellowship with any true Christian. The Lord prayed that they all might be one. This was realised for a short time at Pentecost. But alas! this unity was soon disturbed, and, as far as the whole church is concerned, will never be seen again till the Lord comes, when all will be one in glory. Yet it is still incumbent upon us, as far as in us lies, to use diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In view of the present state of things in the professing body, the first step to take is to separate from all that is evil, to withdraw from iniquity, in humility and self-judgment. Then to cultivate in ourselves the graces of Christ, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance in love. Love is the only bond which will bind us together; let us therefore seek to abide in love.

Scripture does not suppose that we shall be left to walk alone, but that we shall find those with whom we can enjoy Christian fellowship. “Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”, 2 Tim 2: 22. “Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”, Matt 18: 20. In the worst days of Israel’s history there were those who feared the Lord and thought upon His name, and they spake often one to another. God always has a remnant. In the addresses to the seven churches (Rev 2 and 3), whatever the general failure, in every case there are found overcomers. Philadelphia represents a state of revival, and faithfulness which continues till the coming of the Lord. But it is a company which answers to Him who is holy and Him that is true, keeping His word, and not denying His name.

The light, and spiritual blessing found among those acting upon these principles, such as is found nowhere else, is in itself sufficient proof of divine favour and approval.

But supposing for a moment we acted upon the opposite principle of what may be termed ‘open communion’—that is, receiving every one who comes calling himself a Christian—we should expose ourselves to every kind of uncleanness. We might receive persons from any of the many unholy associations found in Christendom in the present day. The rapid increase of infidelity, and anti-Christian teaching, makes exclusiveness more necessary than ever before. Otherwise how could we expect the presence and support of the Lord with us? “Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever”, Ps 93: 5.

February 1925