COUNSEL
W. Lamont
Acts 20: 26, 27; Galatians 1: 15–19; Revelation 3: 14–22
One’s thought is to say a word as to counsel. It would involve that there is no claim to know everything; we do not anyway. Paul said to the Corinthians, “If any one think he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know it”, 1 Corinthians 8: 2. This would keep us humble, free of pretension. Counsel would involve that we are prepared to seek help. It is evident that, in some quarters, persons do not seem to be open for help. Of course, God does not need counselling—“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? or who has first given to him, and it shall be rendered to him? For of him, and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever, Amen”, Romans 11: 34–36.
When we think of God worship fills the soul. He has no need to be counselled by anyone.
The Lord Jesus in all His greatness is referred to in Isaiah, “his name is called Wonderful.
Counsellor” (we see that in the address to Laodicea, where He is prepared to give counsel),
“Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace”, the One on whose shoulder government will be “Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end” (Isaiah 9: 6, 7). We know about the rise and fall of the Roman empire, of the British empire, and of the collapse of governments, but we are looking forward to government being upon His shoulder.
The natural mind cannot take in the idea of a government and peace that keeps increasing, but believers can understand it spiritually.
Paul says in Acts 20, “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”. I cannot say much about it; I do not understand it too much. It comes out in the epistle to the Ephesians, where Paul speaks about things that are far beyond the affairs of
this world; far beyond the petty affairs of men, beyond the faults and failings of the saints.
Paul wrote to the saints and faithful at Ephesus in his epistle; they were these things at that time; they were living in the full light and gain of these things. These beloved brethren were expressing, in their lives, in their conduct, and no doubt in their gatherings, practically what Paul wrote to them in that epistle. But later, according to the address to Ephesus, it appears that they were carrying on just as before, but to spiritual perception there was something lacking—they had left their first love (Revelation 2: 4). I think one of the reasons would be because they had ceased to exercise the use of the panoply of God. Paul says, “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee”, Ephesians 5: 14. Wonderful thing, that is the Lord’s outlook continually in grace upon us! As the hymn says, and may it affect us—
‘Still sweet ‘tis to discover,
If clouds have dimmed my sight,
When passed, eternal Lover,
Towards me, as e’er, Thou’rt bright’. (Hymn 51)
There might be someone here who has got low in their soul; there might be someone who has lost communion with the One who loves them and who no doubt they love. You will find, as has been said, that the sun, even if you turn your back on it, will still shine upon you.
Paul says, “all the counsel of God”. I believe he is referring there to an area that we need to explore more, God’s thoughts in counsel. We need to be able to penetrate spiritually into that area where there are no problems, where there are no moral issues, where every moral issue is settled and settled eternally, where the man of offence has for ever gone, never to be brought forward again, and where One Man shines in all His glory, the One whom we love, the Man of God’s choice; that would be the area of the counsel of God. In Acts 20 Paul was labouring among them here with much feeling. It is love at the beginning, love in the middle and love at
the end, that is what characterises the chapter, and he speaks about “all the counsel of God”.
Paul did not get this by reading, although I have no doubt he was well acquainted with the Scriptures. He would be well acquainted with the scripture in Isaiah 9, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (v.6). He would be well acquainted with Isaiah 53, “He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (v.3). I love to think of him after his conversion reading these passages. What a thing that would be, when Paul re-read, “He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. How Paul’s soul would be illuminated; he would say that is the Man who appeared to me in His glory on the Damascus road and I have fought against Him all that time. How Paul’s soul would be illuminated as he re-read the types in the Old Testament, what spoke to God about the excellency of Jesus, the burnt-offering, the sin-offering and the other offerings.
Paul would re-read them in the light of the fact that he was in touch and in communion with the One that they spoke about. As the Lord says of the Scriptures, “they it is which bear witness concerning me”, John 5: 39.
No doubt we touch the counsel of God, especially at the Lord’s supper leading into the service of God; we experience spiritually the realm of the counsel of God, it is sinless. I love that thought, to be able to touch a sinless realm. It is not just abstract; we can touch it because there is no sin, no issues, no moral problems in the presence of God. As we are before God as His sons we are beyond the whole question of sin and sins in a practical way, not just abstractly, because we are touching something that is real and eternal. I believe Paul is alluding to that when he speaks about “announcing to you all the counsel of God”. There is much more involved, of course, but that would be involved.
In Galatians, Paul says, “But when God, who set me
apart even from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me”. Paul was conscious of that inward work of God in his soul. Of course, if God has wrought inwardly with us it will find its outward expression. There must be a compatibility, beloved brethren, between the extent of the work of God in us and what is expressed by us outwardly. It is a most searching exercise to be consistent with the way in which God has worked in us and what we express outwardly. It would involve how we conduct ourselves toward one another and how we approach one another.
So Paul says, “immediately I took not counsel with flesh and blood”. You remember the indictment against Saul, “having inquired of the spirit of Python, asking counsel of it; and he asked not counsel of Jehovah”, 1 Chronicles 10: 13, 14. But Paul says here, “I took not counsel with flesh and blood, nor went I up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me”—this is not natural; the desire of the human heart would be to come straight to Jerusalem to meet the great men there. Paul says. No, I will go to Arabia. I think the emphasis there, beloved brethren, is on where he could be alone with God. I give a word of exhortation, and I need it for myself, as to the danger of being influenced by what is natural. Paul refused that “I took not counsel with flesh and blood”. We were reading recently in 2 Samuel 12
about David’s failure, when he comes under the wrong influence of Joab. David is so weak, I am not speaking about him as a type of the Lord Jesus, I am speaking about him as a type of a believer in all his weakness and failure there. Then in 2 Samuel 13, in the matter of what is natural, he fails miserably; he fails to judge things that David the king ought to have judged.
Let us beware of these things!
Paul is not on that line here, he says, “I took not counsel with flesh and blood ... but I went to Arabia”. I think that bears on the need of communion, of being alone in the presence of God, and learning there.
Sometimes we get troubled in our minds, many matters arise, we see many difficulties, we see the wicked prosper and so many other things. Asaph went into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, and he says, “then understood I their end”, Psalm 73: 17. Beloved brethren, if we do not learn things from the standpoint of the presence of God, we will never be of much use in the testimony down here. Let us learn increasingly what it is to resort to the presence of God and learn there. I believe that we are in a day when we need to learn God’s viewpoint, and see things from the divine standpoint. It saves us from all the confusion of thought, confusion of expression, confusion of action that is around today. Once we learn the divine secret and how God sees things, we shall learn then how to proceed in a spiritual way, in a right way in our approach to every matter. Let us, beloved brethren, bear the word of exhortation.
Then he says, “after three years I went up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter”.
Another essential thing is our relationships together. If the enemy has been at anything at all, it has been to disrupt the relationships of the brethren; not the least those who serve in ministry to some degree. He is out to disrupt relationships, and in some cases he has been very successful, alas, and all sorts of tragic things have resulted from some dear saints allowing matters to come between them. Where the covenant of peace is broken, which ought never to be, all sorts of troubles arise. Let us learn from Paul here, it is a fine word “to make acquaintance with Peter, and I remained with him fifteen days”. What the significance of that is I do not know, but Paul specifically says that he remained fifteen days, quite an extended period. Let us learn not only to exercise ourselves more in the matter of communion, but let us learn to exercise ourselves more in our links with one another in holy intimacy. Some of us hardly get speaking to one another; Paul remained with Peter. There is a bond forged in love and mutual respect, so
when issues of the truth come up we are able to withstand one another to the face and there is no disruption in relationship. What sometimes happens, if an issue comes up as to the truth or a practical matter of administration, we find there is disruption of relationships and resentment in regard of things; it ought not to be beloved brethren. Let us not only forge our links in communion with divine Persons, but let us set ourselves by the Holy Spirit to forge proper relationships with one another.
Then he says, “but I saw none other of the apostles, but James the brother of the Lord”. I think Paul would want to learn from James. He would be so interested in the Lord as down here. I know he said to the Corinthians, “For I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, 1 Corinthians 2: 2. Of course he was speaking there in a spiritual way, but I think Paul would be intensely interested to learn from James what kind of Man the Lord was in His family setting and in the ordinary affairs of life. I am quite sure James would tell him about things that are not recorded in the gospels, and Paul would treasure those thoughts.
Now I go on to Revelation. It gives us great confidence that the Lord says, “I know”. It is not guess work, it is an absolute statement as He says, “I know” to each of these assemblies. He knows intimately the real conditions in every meeting. He knows exactly the state of soul of every individual in Cumnock, in London or elsewhere. He knows the condition of our relationships together. He knows the reality or otherwise of every one of us. So He addresses these seven assemblies. To two of them He has no word of criticism; of Smyrna, the suffering church, the Lord has no criticism; it is the only one where He does not mention His coming; but He has obviously great affection for it. He mentions His coming to the other six; to three of them He speaks about His coming normally, and to three He speaks about His
coming judicially. I would like to follow that up, there is great significance in it. We would look for the Lord coming for the saints to take them home to be with Himself, then to come into His rights, but at any time in the history of the testimony He may come suddenly into His temple (Malachi 3: 1).
We come to the assembly in Laodicea, where conditions are obnoxious to the Lord. Here is a local assembly and it is neither cold nor hot, apathy marks it; there is nothing worse than apathy, especially apathy as to the things of God and apathy as to the Person of Christ. In Christendom today, and I think especially of the United Kingdom, which has been a base of Christianity for so long, there is a state of apathy, and few seem to care what is said against the truth and the Lord’s Person. So this church was in a state of apathy and the Lord is appealing to them. He was really knocking at His own door because this assembly belonged to Him. You say He is knocking at the heart’s door; He was knocking at His own door. He has to say to them, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and am grown rich, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the wretched and the miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee”—think of the Lord counselling them. He is not thrusting Himself upon them, He is counselling them. In His power He could have come in and removed them, but in His grace He counsels them, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire”, that is the first thing; “and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest”, that is the second thing; “and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see”. Gold purified by fire represents the real material, work of God in all its purity, that comes through the fire. It is what reminds Him of Christ. The Lord says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich”. These are spiritual references; I believe there is a little spiritual wealth around but the Lord counsels us to get these things from
Himself. What illimitable resource He has! What resource there is in the Spirit, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ! These are wonderful things. Then let us think of the purity of the
“white garments”. There are a lot of soiled garments around. You wash your garments and you have right to enter the city; as you have cleansed yourself from all foul associations, from all that is impure. That answers a lot of our questions as to who we break bread with. If a person has washed their robes, they have as much right as any one of us to partake of the Lord’s supper; but it is only as we have washed our robes that we have this right.
So He says, “and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest”. Again I turn to the fact that publicly Christendom is marked by “the shame of thy nakedness”. Christendom publicly in this country has become the laughing stock of the world. Sober thinking people see the folly of what they are going on with, some of the mistakes they are making. What a terrible condition! Then He says, “and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see”. It is all available in the Lord, and He makes it good to us by the Spirit. It is not the mud of John 9 that He put on the man’s eyes and sent him to Siloam to wash; it is eye-salve with its soothing character. The Lord does not treat us harshly; he may discipline us to bring out the beauty and glory of the work of God; but eye-salve is what would soothe, and at the same time restore spiritual vision. So the Lord is working as with that man who had the second touch and saw all things clearly (Mark 8: 25). May we be persons who have come to the Lord to ask His counsel, receive from Him this eye-salve that will make for clear spiritual vision, that will not be beclouded by adverse influences, our natural preferences, our weaknesses, our natural relatives, whatever these influences may be that may becloud our spiritual eyesight. Let us seek this counsel and buy from Him this eye-salve that our vision, if it is clear, may be kept
clear, and if it is not clear that it may become clear.
The Lord says He rebukes and disciplines “as many as I love”. His love is behind all His actions, then “be zealous therefore and repent”. There is a need for zealousness, that is the opposite to apathy. There is a great need for persons who are zealous. What does that mean?
It means that you are fully committed to something. Apathy means you could not care less one way or the other, but zealousness is that you are fully committed. The Lord said, “The zeal of thy house devours me”, John 2: 17. As Man He was fully committed every moment of His life to the will of God and its fulfilment. So He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking”, how humiliating, standing and knocking at His own door, that is what the Lord was doing here and they refused entry. I read recently quite an affecting comment in ministry about a coloured man in New York who went to one of the prominent churches in New York and was refused admittance, and this coloured believer said, Well, I will tell the Lord about it.
He told the Lord that he was refused admittance to this ‘whites only’ church, and the Lord said, I have also been trying to get in there, and they will not allow Me in. O, the grace of the dispensation. He is not forcing entry. He is awaiting that the door may be opened, the door of your heart, the door of each of our hearts, to allow Him in. He will take His place there. He will fill your heart; He will fill it with better things, dear young people. He will fill it with better things than you will find anywhere else.
Then He says, “I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”. What better illustration of communion could you get than that “with him, and he with me”, the mutuality of it? The enjoyment of these things is not gained by pretension, it is gained on the principle of overcoming, as He says, “He that overcomes ... as I also have overcome, and have sat down with my Father in his throne”. He states the impregnable position that He Himself fills.
He is there in His Father’s
throne, and no power in the universe can alter that. He has been given that place as Man. We know His rights as a divine Person, I am not speaking about that at the moment, but as Man He has been given an impregnable position with the Father in His throne, and again I say no power in heaven or earth can alter that. When He arises and takes His own throne all these matters that are apparently wrong on this earth He, and He only, will put them right. May we be prepared, with one another, to prove that in the multitude of counsellors there is safety (Proverbs 11: 14), and learn to appreciate and to avail ourselves of this matter of counsel, for His name’s sake.
Address in London, 16 July 1994
THE WAY TO THE CITY OF HABITATION
J. R. Cumming
Psalm 107: 1–7; John 21: 1–7 (to “it is the Lord”); 2 Timothy 2: 23–26; Revelation 22: 14
We are instructed that this psalm is the start of the fifth book, the last book in the book of the Psalms, and it is the setting on of this matter of giving thanks. It is a great thing that we should be amongst those who are thankful. It is a characteristic of the world that it is not thankful. The invitation here is to give thanks—“Give ye thanks unto Jehovah”. So we have had a certain real experience, beloved brethren, I am sure we all agree, as to a touch of blessing that has come in amongst us today. We have had a sense that we are engaged with that which is far superior to anything of this world; a touch of what is abiding, lasting, what goes on in relation to the divine glory. The Spirit of God would help us to appreciate that more I am sure. It is a great thing to be among those who have been gathered. It says here in Psalm 107: 3, after the thought about
redemption, “And gathered out of the countries”. It says in Isaiah 56, “The Lord Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts of Israel, saith—Yet will I gather others to him, with those of his that are gathered “(Isaiah 56: 8). Are we prepared for that? To be taken with that number, that is the number that God is working with; apart from the world, apart from everything that is, you might say, recognised in authority—“the outcasts of Israel”.
I think it gives us a sense that God does not work haphazardly. If He is working in your soul, I am sure that positive direction will come into your heart on the line of obedience to the truth, so that you find your place with those who are gathered. I think that is comforting for the young people. Maybe you are growing up in a family and you say, I have never known anything else, it has always been like that. The test for you today is just to realise that God is directing your life positively in view of your part in relation to the assembly. So you do not become haphazard in how you view things, saying, If I had been born in another house it would not have been so; that is not the point. You are where you are, and God would make it real to you to find your place amongst those who are gathered and appreciate it that way. In the psalm it says, “from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea”. I do not know why it says, “from the sea”; I thought it would have been from the south. It is a four point gathering anyway. We are to know what it is to be among those who are gathered; to find our happiness and joy in our committal to the line that the Lord has set on.
It says in these verses that we have read together that there is a right way, “And he led them forth by a right way”. It speaks, of course, about the children of Israel, that is who are mentioned, going towards the border of the land, and forty years have elapsed. You may say, It tells us in Deuteronomy that it is eleven days’ journey between the mountain of Horeb and
Kadesh-barnea; surely that would have been the right way. Let us look back on our lives, all of us here, beloved brethren, let us just work out, and think about and be affected by the fact of how, over many years, the Lord has guided and preserved us. Things have happened in the testimony but we are here. None of us, I hope, say, I wish it had been otherwise. We are here, positively, and the Lord would assure our hearts at this moment that it is the right way. As coming to know the Lord, in the directions He gives through these verses that we have read, how we should appreciate the fact that grace has preserved us until now; our desire would be to go on to completion. Completion, of course, is that we go to a city of habitation. God would present the objective to us. The Spirit of God would draw attention to the fact. There is an end result, where God will have a dwelling which will be suitable to Himself, and everything will be according to His mind and His will, and all by the Spirit. You may say, That might be a long time. They had been forty years on their way here. What they had to find, beloved brethren, is what you and I have to find, that our wills have to be in subjection to the Lord; there is something new arrived at. After all it was a new generation that went through at the end of the wilderness way; Caleb and Joshua were among them, men of God.
So God maintains leadership for us to be affected by. We were reminded in the reading that we are to remember those who have given a lead in things, which is right. These two were such and yet they journeyed on day after day, year after year, along with those who were discontented and murmured. God worked in a new generation, along with overcomers, represented in these two men, and then the land was secured and a habitation of God.
We find this city of habitation in a local company, or we should. Many things mark a city, but our brother has been saying to us today, to think positively about things. We are among those who are walking in the truth, and in the light of the assembly of God, and we
would desire that there might be more added on that line. God would assure us of the certainty of all He has planned and established in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything has been set on for God in the fact that Jesus is in glory. We are reminded in the last chapter of Mark’s gospel of the Lord Jesus being taken up; in Luke He is carried up, carried up into heaven. Heaven’s affections and outlook were all centred in Christ as He was carried up, and from that position God is working out everything in relation to what will be in the millennium and in what is eternal. So Christ is the answer; He is the key point in everything, “that he might have the first place in all things”, Colossians 1: 18. Let us be affected by that, so that we know, and feel assured, that nothing can dissuade us from the fact that we are on the right way. Things may happen, of course, but usually, as I said, it is because you or I begin to think and use our own wills.
In a city there should be order. It could not be a city if it was not that way, and there is light, it must be so, and there is rule. Beloved brethren, let us see to it that our local companies have these very features in them so that there is no division of thought or practice. Paul speaks about “seeing your order”, Colossians 2: 5. There is order that is established in Christ and in the assembly. Let us see to it therefore that there is order, and light, and rule, something that we see working in our local companies.
In John 21, Peter says, “I go to fish”, and seven of them go; five are named and two are unnamed, so that leaves room for you and me. The danger is always present of persons thinking and acting independently. What is the result? They work a whole night for nothing; that is a poor outcome, is it not? Young brothers and sisters, if you feel sure the Lord has directed you in regard to the right way, and you find your part in the assembly, then see to it as long as you are here, that you continue, with the help of the Spirit.
in the right way. He says here, “Cast the net at the right side of the ship”. The way of blessing was in carrying out the Lord’s instruction, and the life of a local assembly is in relation to getting a word from the Lord. Carrying out what the Lord says is a positive matter, and the result is, “they could no longer draw it, from the multitude of fishes”. It is a wonderful thing that John is mentioned here as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Our brother spoke in the reading about the matter of affection in what is priestly. So it says, “That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved says to Peter. It is the Lord”. That settles everything. What happens in the following part of the chapter is regulated from the fact that the Lord was recognised. That is the answer to any independent thinking, or suggested formulas from this one and that one. It is the truth that the Lord sets out for us that holds us together, and it leads to fruitfulness among the saints.
We have spoken about the right way, and the right side. This chapter, 2 Timothy 2, speaks about a bondman, “setting right”. It also says, “But foolish and senseless questionings avoid”.
There is an area of things which we should keep away from, beloved brethren. It may just get a little inroad with us as to thoughts and ideas about the truth, which I might express as, ‘I think it should be this’. I am not speaking about when we are together in the temple; I am speaking about rather when we are talking personally about divine things. We can be quite opinionated about matters. It is right, of course, that we should have some conviction, but it has to be conviction about the truth. If it is about some idea that I carry or want to propagate, then it is disastrous. It says here in the footnote about these senseless questionings, Literally,
‘foolish and undisciplined questionings;’ in general a mind not subject to God, a man following his own mind and will. I do not need to say any more about it. You can see that the Spirit of God will not move any person who is thinking independently or thinking his own will; no help will come
on that line. The Spirit of God will use a person who is subject to the Lord, who is marked by the truth, and along with that is marked by meekness, as it says here, “in meekness setting right those who oppose”. That is a feature of Christ, who could say, “I am meek and lowly in heart”. He also said, “Come to me ... for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”, Matthew 11: 28–30. You may say that sometimes it is not easy to answer what is said by being meek.
Well, it should be all the time, there is no other substitute for it. I think the Lord would give us this touch, that a bondman of the Lord is really representative of the Lord to a person.
What does someone find if they come to ask you a question, or speak to you about your thoughts about a matter? If we are to get mutual help it requires the truth to be stated in meekness, as it says, “in meekness setting right those who oppose”. In other words, setting forth the truth in the grace of the dispensation will be much more effective than using an angry sword. If there is a sword to be used, use it on yourself, and I say that to myself, then there will be a lot less difficulty among the brethren. There will be increased impetus given to our pathways here, as we become more and more formed in relation to Christ Himself, as what is heavenly becomes more apparent.
May it be so, because this scripture here in Revelation 22 brings forward this other impression to us, Beloved brother, beloved sister, there is a certain right you have to the tree of life, it says, “that they may have right to the tree of life”. It tells us, “the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit; and the leaves of the tree for healing of the nations”, Revelation 22: 2. There is a river of water of life going out of the throne of God and of the Lamb there. In the midst of the street and of the river, on this side and on that side there is the tree of life. That is a millennial setting. You and I can find our part and place in the current appreciation of it. How will that be? It is “they that wash their robes”, who have this right. So it comes
back to the moral value of the truth in your life and mine. The qualification comes in that way. You see to it that you wash your robes, then you have a right to the tree of life and to go into the city by the gates. May it be so for us all, so that we are in line with the divine thoughts increasingly, for His name’s sake.
Address at Denton, Texas, 24 December 1993
THE PASSOVER
J. R. Surtees
I wish to speak a word as to the passover. It was a very critical time in Israel’s history. God was about to bring in judgment on Egypt. There had been several plagues as we know. The people of Egypt had been greatly blessed under Joseph and the people of Israel had been greatly blessed in Egypt later; but after a time that was lost, when a king arose who knew not Joseph. He started imposing hard service on the children of Israel, to oppress them. Now that is like the world. Egypt in Scripture generally is a type of the world. In one of the prophets it is said of Egypt, “My river is mine own, and I made it for myself”, Ezekiel 29: 3. That is the world in independence of God. The people of Israel were suffering under it, they were finding it very grievous. God sent plagues but He said that in the plagues He would make a distinction between the people of Egypt and the people of Israel (see Exodus 11: 7). That was their purpose. God also said He would distinguish the houses of the children of Israel from the houses of Egypt. And now the time comes when God is about to judge Egypt. The sentence of judgment upon Egypt had already been passed. God had made it known to Moses. The sentence of this world, this world’s system as we speak
of it, the organisation in which man is going on independently of God, the sentence of that is already passed at the cross of Christ. The time is coming, make no mistake about it, dear friend, when God is going to judge this world in righteousness. The Judge will be the Lord Jesus. He is going to put away for ever all that is abhorrent to Himself. The world has yet to experience what will come from God in just judgment. Men, I think, have some idea that things are going to get out of control. Many people feel that elements in the world are just about being controlled, just about being balanced out, so to speak, but fear that one wrong move by any nation or any system of men and the whole thing could go out of control. Now that is men’s view. That is not God’s view. Nothing will ever go out of His control. God is going to bring judgment on the world and am I to be saved out of it? It was an urgent matter here in Exodus, it was about to happen.
God said on the tenth of the month they were to take themselves each a lamb for a father’s house. They were going to find salvation only in this lamb. It was in the house from the tenth day until the fourteenth day so it was in the house for four days. There would be ample opportunity for the whole household to be affected by the lamb. There would not be anybody too young, I suppose, to be in some way affected by the lamb in the house, and there would not be anybody who was too hardened by the world’s system not to be impressed with this lamb. It is like the four gospels, is it not? There is ample opportunity to contemplate the Lord Jesus in the gospels; may I use this opportunity more! It was to be without blemish, or as the note says ‘perfect’, so that would impress them as it first came into the house. The family would look upon it and say that it was perfect. The Lord Jesus says of Himself, “Altogether that which I also say to you”, John 8: 25. Have you contemplated the Lord Jesus like that? He has come within your range. God has come within your range and within my range in Christ.
He has come near to us, so that men can have
to do with Him, so that men can draw near to Him and He draw near to them, but He ever remains who He was.
The lamb was perfect, and so it would go on to the second day and the third day and then the fourth day. I suppose they would be impressed with the lamb as a type of the Lord Jesus, on the fourth day “he was led as a lamb to the slaughter”, Isaiah 53: 7. It says of the Lord Jesus in all the gospels they “led him away”. He was very leadable. Men led Him away to crucify Him. This lamb in the house would be led away to the place where it had to be slain. They would be impressed with the obligation that the head of the house would have to accept that the lamb should be slain. Think of the feelings, think of the difficulty! I have often thought of this. I am sure all of us who are heads of households, and everyone else, have thought of the difficulty of just explaining to the family, Now this little lamb is coming to the house and it is going to have to be put to death. Isaiah says, “it pleased Jehovah to bruise him”. God’s feelings were such as that He spared not His own Son. It is because of His feelings towards you and towards me. God is favourable to us; God is not unfavourable to men. God is favourable. He has done everything to make it clear to you and to me that He has our salvation in view. “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all”, Romans 8: 32.
Now that is all very wonderful and we do well to contemplate the Lord Jesus, but it is a question of how much that may apply to me. The head of the house would have to take the blood and put it on the door-posts and on the lintel. It was not just a question of looking at the lamb here in all its perfection and saying, Well I can see that the sufferings of Christ were very precious to God, very needed by me and I shall never forget about that experience, I will never be without some feelings in my own soul. Now it is a little more testing, it has to apply to us. By the blood of the lamb
being put on the door-posts and on the lintel the household was identified with the blood. We have to remember that the Lord Jesus has shed His blood. The destroying angel, representative of God Himself, and indeed moving with all the authority of God and acting fully on God’s behalf, if he saw the blood, passed over but if not, judgment would fall! Now the father would put the blood on the door-posts and on the lintel; the distinction made between the houses of the Israelites and the houses of the Egyptians was becoming more prominent. This blood on the door-posts and on the lintel had cost the lamb its life; it was there as a type. Now we have the testimony to the fact that Christ has actually died and that His blood was shed. Can I say it was for me?
If I was the eldest son of the house I should say to my father, Please make sure that it can be seen, please make sure that the household is protected. The father, from his point of view, would have already considered in his love for his son; he could not do anything else but ensure that the blood was prominently on the door-posts and on the lintel. Also the lamb was to be killed between the two evenings and roast with fire and they were to eat it in the same night. It says, “your loins shall be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste”. There had been the opportunity for the contemplation of the lamb, as typical of the Lord Jesus, when it was in the house, but now it is a question of acting in haste. Judgment is imminent. God is about to judge the world. We do not know what God may allow. We know from the Revelation that most things, if not everything, man fears will be used in the judgment of the world, be it explosives or disease or famine or tempest or bad air or whatever it may be. God will use such things in the judgment of this world. The judgment was imminent and they were to eat it in haste; it is a matter of urgency, nothing casual about this. They were about to go out of Egypt.
Believers are about to go out of this world, they are not staying here for long, they are about to go. The Lord is coming for His own, He is coming suddenly to receive all His own. I do not know when it will be, nobody here can say. Indeed the scripture says that, “no one knows, neither the angels ... nor the Son, but the Father”, Mark 13: 32. They are about to go out of the world before the judgment actually falls. Are you going too, dear friend? Are you going to go out of the world with believers? Is the Lord Jesus coming for you? Is He coming for each one here? Are out loins girded about, our sandals on our feet? Are we ready? Will we be taken by surprise? There are those who say, “Come, Lord Jesus”, many are saying that. Are you among them? I say to myself, Are things ready, are they ready with you or are they not?
The destroying angel came and all the firstborn of those whose households had not the blood on the door-posts and on the lintel were smitten. The firstborn of Pharaoh was smitten, the firstborn of the man in the dungeon was smitten. How solemn!
Now I just want to speak briefly about the feast of unleavened bread. They were not to forget they had been saved from the judgment. They had escaped the wrath of God. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has saved for ever from the just wrath of God all those who believe.
Through grace many here, I trust all, can say, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth me from every sin. It is wonderful grace to be able to say that. That is a wonderful matter, salvation for sinners, salvation from the wrath of God, salvation from Egypt’s sphere and all the demands it makes, and the burdens it imposes upon us. But let us consider for a moment the feast of unleavened bread. It might seem very nice to say, Well that is that, we are all right now; everything is all right. Egypt is behind us, we have salvation from our sins, we have trusted in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, everything is fine. God says, Now there is something you have to do for Me. You have to put away the
leaven; put it away out of your houses.
Leaven is that which puffs up. They would be inclined to celebrate as men do in a fleshly way. Men love celebration. Any opportunity that comes along they celebrate with colours and flags and clothes and music and everything else, but this is the feast of unleavened bread.
This is celebration in a much different way; it means that I have to give up some things for the Lord Jesus Christ. It means that I need to be here as not being puffed up by that which satisfies self. Our life is even a vapour. James says, it could be extinguished at any time. It comes and it goes (James 4: 14). Am I going to destroy the pleasure of God and finish in immaturity and weakness and stunted growth because I take pleasure in what is here? God says, “ye shall put away leaven out of your houses”, and later on He says, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month in the evening. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses”. The lamb was in the houses of the Israelites in Egypt for four days. It was a limited period and into that limited period typically was compressed with perfection, everything for God’s heart, in the Lord Jesus. But now the seven days speaks of a full time, it speaks of all the time, it speaks of my life for God. So we are not just to go on enjoying the things that belong to Egypt. Do not get caught in that; the Lord Jesus is worthy of much more from my heart than that. He is worthy of my accepting limitations here in relation to the things that satisfy me according to flesh. They are all of Egypt anyway.
So there should be what is typified in the unleavened bread in the houses and dwellings of the saints. The dwellings of the saints are intended to be places of wonderful present privilege, present salvation, something so decreasingly known in the world. Sometimes we speak to children at school (ages eleven,
twelve, thirteen) and find that there are those that live in families that can never ever remember sitting down to a family meal at home round a table. Now what sort of home conditions are these? Where does it come from? It comes from Egypt, where everybody is kept busy and occupied with self. That is of the devil. Work them as hard as they can so long as nobody has any time to sit down and think of what is due to God. The world is a hard master and it is getting harder. The facilities that there are in the world for comparative ease in fact often work out to take up more of our time than if we never had them, I believe. The children of Israel were to have unleavened bread. It is bread without the yeast in it, so that it does not rise. You do not need much of it, unlike a hot loaf from the baker where it might not be difficult to eat three, four, five, six slices if one is hungry. And does it satisfy? Try eating unleavened bread. See how much you can eat! You do not need much, you can be well satisfied with very little and enjoy the presence of the Lord Jesus. These things are part of the salvation into which we enter, in His precious name.
Preaching at Bexley, 25 September 1994
EXTRACT
Now I want to show from the types, which always serve us in ministry, as they are intended, how this element of holiness appears in service; so I turn to the passage in Numbers 31, verse 6. The servant there is Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron—a worthy example for us, especially the young men. The Lord is calling for you: He has need of you, but remember that He has need of you on His own terms. The ten thousand instructors abroad today enter on service, alas! very largely upon their own terms. Even as to doctrine now, men take orders on their own terms, even avoiding to commit themselves to the truth of the Scriptures
although they may formally assent to an article of faith. Modernism—scepticism—is abroad.
In it there is not the slightest room made for the element of holiness and for the Spirit of truth.
In speaking about love, dear brethren, we often forget the love of the truth, but it is of the greatest importance. We forget too much that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth—and that the truth is to be loved. The second letter to the Thessalonians warns against those who “have not received the love of the truth”.
Phinehas stands out as an example for service. He appears here as a tried servant. Earlier he had proved his priesthood in his jealousy for God, and that is really what gives men a place among the people of God. He is concerned with the holiness of God’s people. Numbers 25
records the great exploit of this servant in a crisis, when the enemy was carrying the day and bringing in idolatrous practices. As it is today—the loosest principles are asserted brazenly among the people of God, and not only asserted, but adopted. The doctrine of Balaam has place, “who taught Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel, to eat of idol sacrifices and commit fornication”, Revelation 2: 14. It is the doctrine of Balaam. It is looseness—
unholiness. Phinehas establishes his right to an everlasting priesthood by an exploit in holiness—by the use of the javelin against this dreadful state of things; and so he is brought forward here. This chapter tells us of the last battle under Moses. Moses is to die after this. A very remarkable thing! He is to have part in this great service first. It is a question of the authority of Christ at the end of the dispensation as I may say. The authority of the Lord Jesus is to be asserted, and this battle is to be marked by it.
J. Taylor (Vol.39, pp.308, 309)
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