GO, SHEW THYSELF TO THE PRIEST
[p. 235] GO, SHEW THYSELF TO THE PRIEST
Mark 1: 40 - 44; 2 Kings 11: 1 - 16; 1 Samuel 14: 6 - 16
I trust the Lord will help, dear brethren, in dwelling on the thought of testimony as seen in persons. The testimony of God includes not only what is said, but also the persons who speak on His behalf, and even if there be no speaking, there will be testimony in persons normally in whom God works. Lazarus of Bethany, for instance, is not said to have spoken; speaking by him in words is not recorded, and yet we are told that many believed on Jesus because of him; because of him as raised by Jesus from among the dead. So in many instances that could be cited, the same thing can be seen.
Speaking, of course, is a great feature of the testimony of God, but the persons who speak are always in mind. The Lord Himself in Nazareth spoke, so as to draw out the admiration even of those who were not genuinely affected by what He said. It is said, they “wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth” (Luke 4: 22); and “the eyes of all ... were fixed upon him”. The Spirit of God stresses His attitude and movements at that time. He stood up to read, we are told; also that He found the place of a certain scripture; and that He delivered the book to the attendant, having rolled it up.
So that the testimony, as I said, includes not only what is said, but the persons who say it. I refer to these three scriptures because it is a question of the persons being shown, or appearing under certain eyes. Firstly, the cleansed leper is to show himself to the priest; and secondly, the king’s son, that is, the seed royal at that time, is shown by the priest to the military — those who would contend for the truth in the house of Jehovah; and thirdly, Jonathan and his [p. 236] armour bearer showed themselves to the enemy, the Philistines. Thus, we have in these passages what will enable us, by the Lord’s help, to dwell on a considerable area of the field of truth.
First, the cleansed leper. No doubt we are all included amongst cleansed lepers. Every true christian rejoices in the fact of his cleansing, but it may be that we have not thought much of showing ourselves to the priest for a testimony. The priest has a great deal to do with this form of disease, symbolic of sin. Leprosy symbolises sin more as a state in men and women, than as active in detail in the sense of transgressions. You will all remember how large a place it has in the types; two very long chapters in the book of Leviticus are occupied with it, and throughout these chapters the priest is in evidence. It is not a military matter; it is the priest’s service throughout to deal with it; meaning a spiritual person, pre-eminently Christ, who is our great High Priest. In character it involves every true christian; those called spiritual; those having the Holy Spirit; and particularly those who accept obligation to minister as priests.
The chief function of a priest is to minister unto the Lord. That is what Jehovah says of Aaron and his sons — that “they may serve me as priests” (Exodus 28: 41). This office also involves teaching, for the “priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and at his mouth they seek the law” (Malachi 2: 7). They were, in a way, the custodians of it, but they also had to attend to this loathsome disease called leprosy, referring to sin more as a state. The state is much more difficult to deal with than the actual transgressions. Transgressions are usually easily discerned and named, but the root whence they come is not so easy to deal with, hence the need of the priest. Throughout those two chapters in Leviticus the priest officiates. He is the attendant and everything is under his direction. Pronouncement as to leprosy belongs to him, and so in [p. 237] this particular scripture and in those that correspond in the other gospels, the cleansed leper is to go to the priest and show himself to him for a testimony to them; the word being plural, it is general, not only the priest. The idea is that the testimony is to be wide in its bearing.
In Luke 17, we have the well-known incident of the ten lepers that were cleansed, and it is not said of them that the Lord touched them. He touched this man freely, as the original word indicates; meaning that He fully identified Himself with the leper. Morally He could not touch him at all save in view of His own death, which is a very affecting matter. In dealing with us, as lepers, it is as having dealt with our state as well as our sins in His own body on the tree! That is very affecting. In Luke 17, He simply directs them to go and show themselves to the priests, and says nothing about testimony, for He had in mind that there should be a returning to Himself, for in Luke’s thought, the priest is Jesus Himself. So it was that one of the lepers returned to give glory to God; but “as they were going they were cleansed;” they were all cleansed. That is to say it was not a question of the Lord’s touch there, but of obedience to His direction, an important matter under this head; obedience to the Lord’s word. We miss much because we fail to follow His direction in these matters. They went to the priests as He directed, and, as they went, they were cleansed; and one of them returned, and falling down on his face at His feet, gave thanks and glorified God. That is surely the end in view in His service — to secure glory to God. The Lord took account of him, and inquired as to where the nine were. One only of the ten returned.
In this instance, in Mark 1, we have one leper, and the Lord touches him, and says to him, “I will, be thou cleansed”, and whilst He spoke, the leprosy left him. The Lord’s speaking entered into it, and He [p. 238] enjoined him straitly not to speak of it to anyone, but to go to the priest and show himself to him. Now, this is important, because the Lord surely had in mind that saying much under these circumstances is damaging. He straitly charged him to say nothing to anyone. Saying much under these circumstances arouses mere natural interest, which can but hinder, rather than promote, the work of God, and would indicate that the leprosy was hardly fully dealt with — I mean in a spiritual sense. The Lord says, “See thou say nothing to any one”. It is early in the Lord’s ministry, and the force of it is not just what it was later when He enjoins the people to tell no one that He was the Christ. His rejection had taken place then, but here He forbids what would call forth natural interest, which, as indeed happened, should hinder His work. The Lord tells him to say nothing to any one. It is a question of how you appear, not what you say.
In such a case now there are those who are thinking of you, and some of them at least will seek to act in a priestly way, representing the Lord, for scripture says, “if even a man be taken in some fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one” (Galatians 6: 1). The allusion is directly to priestly ability in the saints, not only to persons who have the Spirit. The Corinthians had the Spirit, but were not spiritual. The direction in Galatians is to those who are spiritual. Thank God, there are those who are spiritual today. There can be no true assembly conditions, or administration, or service of any kind, according to the mind of God, unless there are those who are spiritual. The apostle does not say if there are any. He says, “ye who are spiritual restore”. Even among the Galatians there were those who were spiritual; in spite of the efforts of the enemy to destroy the liberty of the saints, there were certain there that were spiritual. So the cleansed leper is to think of that. You have to do with them. The Lord has directed you that you will have to do with them; and it is not a [p. 239] question of what you are saying. If indeed you are saying much, it will be a detriment and will hinder perhaps their discernment of your state. It is “shew thyself to the priest”. That is a very testing matter, for one has to go humbly and show himself to the priest, carrying with him all that the law required as Moses commanded. There are to be no terms other than what the law required; there were no terms at all proposed by the cleansed leper. This is a very important thing as to testimony, that we are law-abiding under these circumstances; meek and lowly in heart and humble, as to our previous condition, and appreciative in humility of what the Lord has done for us. So in that attitude of mind and heart we present ourselves to the priest. That is what is required and I believe the testimony that God has raised up in these last days can only be continued on this line.
It is a question of what each person who is identified professedly with what is of God, is showing in himself. Is he showing the cleansing effect of the death of Jesus? Not only the forgiveness of his sins, but what he is himself; not his activities, but the person himself. Show thyself, it says. What I am in my business affairs, in my household affairs, what I am amongst men generally; it is what the person is. “Shew thyself to the priest”. It is for a testimony, not only to him, but to them. It is a general thought. You may make them as large as you like — it depends upon how far, how extensive, your radius is; the persons who know you. We have to show ourselves. We have, for instance, the case of John the baptist; he was in the deserts, we are told; not only the desert, but in the deserts, until the time of his showing to Israel. The allusion is that he was where the flesh would not be ministered to. He had recourse to that position, a variety of circumstances in which the flesh is negatived instead of being ministered to and supported — until the time of his showing to Israel. What a man he was when the [p. 240] time came! We are told what he wore and what he ate. Well this matter of the cleansed leper includes every one here, old and young; every boy and girl; every one that professes to believe in the Lord Jesus, and have thus come in for the benefits of His death and resurrection and of the Spirit here. It is for each of us to have this in mind, to show himself for a testimony. So that every christian in the world is in the sight of heaven a testimony to them. I mean every christian characteristically.
I go on to the passage in 2 Kings to show how the king, the royal seed is shown. Athaliah’s aim was to destroy the seed royal; that was what was in her mind and she thought she had succeeded, but she had not. God was watchful, as He ever is, over the testimony, and had, in the king’s sister, Jehosheba, a servant to protect the seed royal. The position is very apparent; these circumstances spiritually are apparent at the present time. That is to say, a woman ruling without any sense of obligation to a man. Her aim was to destroy every one who might have any right to challenge her position of rule. We know who says, “I sit a queen, and I am not a widow; and I shall in no wise see grief” (Revelation 18: 7). She asserts her own rights, demanding to be heard, claiming to be a queen, and her aim is to destroy all the seed royal, that is, all who in any sense could represent the divine thought in rule. Earlier, this same thing that I am speaking of, as existing today, is typified in another woman, that is, Jezebel. Her thought was to destroy the prophets, that is to say, to cut off the prophetic ministry of the Spirit. These are the two great efforts of the false system which these women represent, and it has succeeded to an enormous extent, but not entirely. In these last days particularly, God has intervened and has asserted the rights of the seed royal. We see how the seed royal is developed in the gospel of Matthew, and we do well, as having come into the light of the assembly and the rule that is [p. 241] vested in it, to see how the assembly rules in relation to Christ. She is not independent in her rule; she rules in relation to Christ; she maintains the seed royal. One of the most important features of the testimony at the present time is the truth as to the seed royal. The other great feature of the Person of Christ is His deity. The greatest feature of course always is the truth of the Deity. John has that in mind specially, and so in the book of Revelation when the Lord announces Himself to the assemblies, He says, “I am the root and offspring of David” (Revelation 22: 16); He says, “I am the root!” That is John’s testimony; John’s gospel. The offspring of David is the seed royal, that is Matthew’s line. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. There is a full understanding of these two great features of Christ, and it surely behoves us to pay attention to the ministry of the Spirit at the present time both in regard to John’s presentation of Christ — His deity; and that of Matthew which is the seed royal. He is the Root of David in John; He is the Offspring, that is the seed royal, in Matthew.
Now Athaliah thought she had succeeded in destroying all the seed royal, but Joash is preserved. Much has been said on this chapter, but what I wish to point out is the showing, and how this child, the king’s son, as he is called, is guarded by Jehosheba and kept in the house of the Lord for six years. Again what I wish to make clear is that the application of this now is not, of course, Christ in a personal or corporeal sense here, for He never will appear in that sense as a Child or a Boy again. When we get diminutive thoughts, like these, it is a question of Christ characteristically here in the saints. We see how He has been preserved, during all these terrible doings, in the house of the Lord in loving care by priestly hands, by that which regards what is of God though in great weakness. It is a very great matter that there is this, however diminutive it may be, for the child was just a year old when [p. 242] he was hidden in the house by Jehosheba, but quality was there; it was the seed royal. It was the king’s son, representing rule according to God. Historically, of course, it is an item, but spiritual brethren never deal with these matters merely as history; it is a question of their present or general spiritual application.
What a service Jehosheba rendered! Who knew that she was rendering such a service? Perhaps only a few; certainly not every one, but the priestly element was there in Jehoiada. We may be sure that it was that which supported this hiding in the house of the Lord; the priestly element, but in a very distinctive official way, Jehoiada the priest.
As the time drew nigh Joash is shown — for circumstances warranted this movement, and we always have to be alive, to have our eyes open to discern any movement of God to relieve a position; to relieve an objectionable position, or whatever it may be, for God will surely come in. He came in one hundred years ago, in a wonderful way to relieve a most objectionable position. This spirit of Athaliah was abroad, and the spirit of Jezebel too, cutting off the prophets and cutting off the seed royal. She called herself a prophetess, taking everything into her own hand, and ruling as she would, setting up dignitaries, giving them titles, and giving garments at her will. She is doing this yet, but God came in in a wonderful way and brought the seed royal to light, and in conjunction with that the house of God. These are the two great thoughts that came to light about one hundred years ago; there were others, but these are the great principles governing the kingdom and the house of God! So that here Jehoiada the priest, with spiritual skill and discernment, seizes the right moment, and he calls the military, bringing to him captains of hundreds of the bodyguard and the couriers, and he “shewed them the king’s son”. In this respect, we are to know our military service, and be good soldiers of Jesus Christ; we are to know [p. 243] what we are contending for. There is an incentive in it. He showed them the king’s son. The intelligent priestly element says, This is he. It may be in a small way that Christ is seen, but circumstance after circumstance arises and those who are spiritual discern Him and take their stand to defend Him. In the military sense all here were ready, and it is wonderful to see that when God intervenes, things go well. There is the overshadowing of the Almighty. God protects those who are with Him in the conflict, so that things reach fruition according to His mind. Jehoiada showed them the king’s son at the opportune moment.
So it is now as the saints discern what is of God in the government of the house of God, in the realm of the kingdom, they will see what they are contending for. Contention often arises upon party lines. One of the first things to be noted in the letter to the Corinthians is that some one in the house of a priestly sister apprised the apostle of “divisions among you”. One has to deplore contention on party lines in many places, but here is one to be heartily contended for; it is not this brother is on my side, or that one, it is the king’s Son. The king is brought forth in due course, and is crowned. What a fine day it is after difficulties have been settled. God comes in and the king is crowned. Not only shown, but crowned. As soon as the crown goes on, the party is over. It is for us, as seeing the divine idea in the government of the kingdom, in the government of the house, to crown it, or crown Him, for it is Christ in character. What else is there to fight for? He is the great subject of testimony, the great occasion of the enemy’s attack, whatever form it may take. So, as I said, the king is crowned, and he is acclaimed. “God save the king”. It is no question of supporting a person or persons, on partisan lines, but it is a question of Christ and the crown upon Christ. It is most interesting and instructive to think of the twenty-four elders who are [p. 244] crowned, to see that they cast their crowns before Him who sat on the throne. Whatever one may have in the way of a crown, it is to be used in that way. It does not sully it at all; it only enhances it, as I cast it before Him who sits upon the throne. Athaliah the wicked ruler, and it may come down to us in a little way, pretends conspiracy; a well-known way with that wicked system I am speaking of, to assume by her words that she represents God, but she does not. The king was on the dais, an exalted place, crowned. He was elevated, and this wicked system has to retire and come under the dire judgment of God which she is about to suffer; indeed has already suffered, for the Lord says, “her children will I kill with death” (Revelation 2: 23), and He has done it.
To finish, I would come to the third point, that is what is shown to the actual enemies. The king’s son was not shown to Athaliah, although she saw him; she saw him crowned and exalted, and that was her ruin, thank God! We have in the last scripture the soldiers of Christ, typically, showing themselves to the enemy as soldiers. The time arrives when that is the point to lay hold of; it is cold steel, so to speak; no longer a priestly showing in grace, for we have to deal with Philistine opposition; grace often is mistaken by them for weakness. Jonathan and his armour bearer were in great weakness; he went off stealthily, not even telling his father. It was a secret matter with him. For the moment he represents the right spirit and sentiment. He knows what to do, and is ready to sacrifice to do it. There stood out against him visibly two crags. They would be forbidding, but he went on; he is the leader in this movement. Leadership is a great principle with God and a great matter with us. It is the opposite of the democratic spirit; we must have leadership, but a leader is one that goes before, however threatening the difficulties. There are these two crags, one on either side, but he went on as a leader, and his armour bearer [p. 245] was ready to go with him. There is unity of spirit with the leader and the one led; they go on. They confer together, not on partisan lines, but as persons jeopardising their lives for the cause of God; exposing themselves to the greatest dangers. They understand each other, that is, there is the leader and the one led, and they are in perfect unison. The armour bearer is not being led by any undue pressure; he is thoroughly with the leader.
The understanding now is, if the Philistines say, So and so, we shall know what to do; there is to be a sign that God was in this matter. We must always look for that, dear brethren. God will never fail to signify His presence if we have eyes to see it. They pursued their way and they discovered themselves to the enemy, and he was dismayed. They progressed in a humble way; they went on their hands and feet. There is no pretence to be great military leaders, but under the most trying and dangerous circumstances they pursued their way humbly against the enemy, and God was in it. A great victory is the result, but the point I am making is this, that in those circumstances, they show themselves. They are under opprobrium, but they are military men, acting with courage and skill in a self-sacrificing way, acting in the recognition of leading and being led, in perfect unison, and they show themselves. The sign is there that God gave them, and the victory was overwhelming, as the passage shows.
Well, that is what I had to put before you, and I believe there is much in it for us all, both as to the general state of things in christendom, and as to many localities in which those seeking to walk in the truth are at the present time. The instruction is for us, to bring out what we are personally, whether as cleansed lepers, or whether the seed royal, for the government is in our hands in that sense, as of the assembly, as representative of Christ in a feminine way, or whether as the military, as the good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
[p. 246] it is a question in all cases of showing ourselves as evidencing the work of God, and that is where the victory lies, that is where the testimony lies, as the Lord says, “for a testimony to them”.