SPIRITUALITY NEEDED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT
[p. 523] SPIRITUALITY NEEDED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT
Romans 8: 8; 1 Samuel 9: 27; 1 Samuel 10: 1 - 12
I have in mind to speak about spirituality and how it is acquired, particularly as bearing upon rule — the administration of government. Spirituality depends not only on the presence of the Spirit here and the acceptation of the Spirit, it depends not only on the believer having the Spirit, but also on environment, divinely provided; that is, on what is external to us, but within our range, the range of our observation. It depends, of course, on the Spirit in us.
Romans 8, the section of it from which I read, treats of the Spirit. In chapter 5 His service to us is to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts. That would be to bring us into accord with God, not only mentally but feelingly, as possessed in our hearts of the Spirit, and the love of God placed there by the Spirit. Chapter 8 contemplates that room is made for Him. The intent of chapter 7 is to make room in us for the Holy Spirit — it involves a process, a very humiliating one, too, by which we are caused to analyse our inwards, so as to discern the workings of those organs that are automatic. There are organs that are subject to our wills, but there are organs that work independently of our wills.
The Holy Spirit takes charge of all this as we allow Him to do so. “I myself” is the personality of the believer, who, having found his feet through the process, announces that he with the mind serves God’s law. It is “I myself” — so he announces that he is proprietor, as it were, of the house. That is, the rule — the governing principle — is the will of God, the law of God, and the Spirit coming in fills all the space available, and He will fill all the space you afford Him.
Man’s spirit is said to be “the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the inner parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20: 27). This passage enters into Romans 7, enabling us to discern what is in us and take up the attitude of refusal of all that is contrary to the law of God. “I myself with the mind;” that is, the mind — the greatest faculty man has, I suppose — is in action. It says, “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. So that there is authority and control in the house, as it were, using the figure of the house as the person in all his parts.
The type in 2 Kings 4 helps us, that is, vessels not a few. The oil is available, all the vessels are available, every vessel is to be filled, the oil stays when there are no more vessels, meaning that the Spirit fills all the room that we afford. So that whilst the Spirit is divine, a divine Person all powerful, yet we may limit Him, and do, alas. Of course He is limited in a human creature, but not in the Lord Jesus; He is limited in us creatures, but still, as we give Him room, He acts. That is what is in my mind as to chapter 8, so that the word is that we be spiritually minded, not only authoritatively minded, not only righteously minded, not only holily minded, but spiritually minded. That is a great — in a way indefinable — thought, but a very real thing.
I want to show from the passage read in Samuel how, from the divine side, Saul was to come into all this, I mean in figure. I wish to speak of him as representing a young christian, as I see that perhaps the greater number here are young, and one wanted to seek to make this service bear upon them, for the word is always written in large letters in front of such a company, The Lord has need of you — but on His own terms, and that is what comes out here. First, Samuel says to Saul, “stand thou still now, that I may cause thee to hear the word of God”. The believer is now regarded as having the Lord [p. 525] near. The sequel of this history shows that some of us turn out to be Sauls, alas, often making a good show at the outset, but turning out to be rejectors of the truth; hence the importance of noting well what is presented of God initially to the young christian. It is not merely what a servant would do, but what God would do. Samuel, representing God here, says, “Stand thou still now, that I may cause thee to hear the word of God”. So, dear brethren, it is not merely what I have to say to you, but the word of God. Indeed I should not be here had I not something to say in the nature of the word of God. These meetings are of no value aside from that. How wonderful it is that God in this very hall, at this very hour, should be ready Himself to speak a word into our ears! And not only that, but to cause us to hear it! That is the gracious service of God Himself through the Spirit, through Christ mediatorially, to cause us to hear. We are slow to hear, very slow, whereas the divine injunction is, “swift to hear, slow to speak”. Swift to hear when you come to the house of God; but in our scripture it is not only to hear, but to be caused to hear aright. So that the Lord says, “Take heed therefore how ye hear”.
Now that is the first thing, it is the ear of the young believer. Saul had his beginnings here. Samuel, it says, “took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because Jehovah has anointed thee prince over his inheritance?” How beautiful that is, for Samuel still represents God! It is love according to God here: Samuel had not known Saul, as far as we can see, before, but he had been apprised of him by Jehovah, and his affections had been drawn out to him because he was chosen of God for this service. And then we have presented to Saul a series of spiritual thoughts. So it is with God that He introduces, it may be briefly, but He introduces initially His greatest thoughts. The gospel as presented by us should carry with it the seed of the greatest [p. 526] thoughts of God. It is said to be the glad tidings of God concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is intended to represent the greatest thoughts of God, for we are to be conformed to the image of His Son, and thus we see set out the greatest thoughts. It is well therefore to note that Saul is caused to hear the word of God.
Then it says, “When thou goest from me today, thou shalt meet two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to thee, The asses are found which thou wentest to seek, and behold, thy father has dismissed the matter of the asses, and is anxious about you, saying, What shall I do for my son?” This is a very touching matter, because young people, young christians, are sure to be more or less self-occupied. I do not say this in any disparaging way, because it is true of all of us and God knows it. It takes us a long time to get rid of self; who is he that has got rid of self entirely? One is conscious of how self is there, but it is almost permissible in the early days of a young christian. But we are to be assured that other people are thinking of us; let nobody think he is alone and nobody cares for him; there is no such thing as that in the household of faith. Satan would occupy you with yourself, as if there were not a person in the whole universe thinking of you. There are many. Heaven is thinking about you and the saints are thinking about you, but then I am speaking now particularly of your own household, the christian household, your parents are sure to be thinking about you. You may not be worthy, in fact there was not much credit to Saul here, he was sent out on an errand and he failed in it; he is viewed now as not having found the asses. How humiliating! The asses were lost, now they are found and Saul is regarded as lost. It is a good thing to get the experience of being lost; indeed God intends that we should have this experience, and He too, therefore,
feels the loss. “This my son was ... lost and has been found” (Luke 15: 24).
The prophet now says, “thou shalt meet two men by Rachel’s sepulchre”. If he is capable of feelings at all, spiritual feelings, he will be greatly affected by this. The mother of Benjamin — for Saul was a Benjaminite — one of the great builders of the house of Israel, is brought to his mind; he is at her sepulchre. Everyone knows what it is to be moved at the sepulchre of a loved one, and God takes account of this, how we are capable of being moved at the sepulchre of a parent. Two men were there. Why were these two men at the sepulchre of Rachel? They had some purpose in being there. Can I share their feelings? It is a question of spiritual history, not mere natural sentiment, but spiritual history, and it is intended to be that in the christian from the very outset. In the scripture we have spiritual elements presented objectively — they are set there from the very outset of God’s dealings with man, so that man should become spiritual. The greatest spiritual era, that is the period containing the greatest spiritual suggestions, is the forty days in which our Lord Jesus was down here after He rose from the dead, before He went up into heaven. The whole period is full of spiritual suggestions; at the outset, the disciples resorted to the sepulchre, they were looking for the dead. If I were to stand by Rachel’s sepulchre, or by the cave of Machpelah, I would not be thinking of the bodies in the grave, but of the resurrection — they all live for God. The disciples were looking for the dead, they had no thought that Jesus was risen, but the spiritual education lay in His resurrection. The position of the linen cloths, of course, taught something, and Peter saw the linen cloths lying. It says, “he sees the linen clothes lying there alone” (Luke 24: 12). It is a question of how they were there — there was the handkerchief by itself folded. All that was spiritual, it was [p. 528] to make them spiritual and they discerned it, for the other disciple “saw and believed”. Well now, in connection with these two men, he says, You will find them there, and they will tell you that your father is sorrowing for you. How Rachel had sorrowed! Is Kish a true son of Rachel? Yes, he is sorrowing for his son: we read of “Rachel weeping for her children ... because they are not”. I mean it is a question of spirituality, as learning at the outset of our history as believers how to feel things, how to feel them spiritually. What is the lesson here? Well, it shows somebody is thinking of me, somebody is sorrowing for me; am I the occasion for sorrow? It is for each of us to answer this, but it is a comfort to me to know that if I am the occasion for sorrow, that somebody is there to comfort me, to think of me. So these two men tell this young believer, with great prospects before him, that his father is sorrowing for him, and it says, “the asses are found which thou wentest to seek”. What a humbling thought that is! “The asses are found”, but you did not find them — it was no credit to him that the asses were found. I have missed that piece, I have not done my work, the little bit I have been given to do I have failed in, but somebody is thinking of me, somebody is sighing for me. That is a great matter — it is the house to which the believer belongs, the Father’s house, we may say, it is a question of personal interest here. Saul belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, and Benjamin was the son of Rachel, and Kish was the son of Benjamin, and Kish was capable of sorrowing for his son; he thought of his son. All this is very essential in parents; let our youths understand they are being thought of and sorrowed for. How much sorrow they give! But what a comfort it is to know that there are parents who sorrow for their children! The secret of many going astray and remaining astray is want of this deep feeling of sorrow for them.
[p. 529] Well, the next thing is the third verse — that is, it is not simply coming to a meeting like this and listening to what is said and perhaps talking about it afterwards, it is that you should become spiritual, that is the intent of God. You go forward from that point, you have learned that people are caring for you, sorrowing for you, and that in truth you are in the position of a lost one — a very wholesome feeling: I think of the one who is lost and the parent who is sorrowing. Maybe there is someone like that here tonight, may all this be a cheer to your heart! — Rachel weeping for her children. But I am speaking of verse 3: “Thou shalt thou go on forward from thence, and shalt come to the oak of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God, to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three cakes of bread, and another carrying a flask of wine”. So far Saul is not carrying anything; he has not entered on levitical service at all, but these are a carrying people, but mark it, beloved young people, this is an environment, it is an objective thing, divinely arranged for you. We have had three days here, remarkable days; well, these three days afford objective thoughts for young people, because spirituality arises not only from the fact that you have the Spirit, but that you have spiritual suggestions presented to you. The forty days were replete with these, the Lord presenting Himself, and then being seen of them — it is where our eyes are; the spiritual suggestions are to be absorbed. The natural mind does not absorb them at all, although it may take them in superficially. It says in Hebrews, “partakers of the Holy Spirit ... and have fallen away” (Hebrews 6: 4 - 6). That does not refer to real christians, it refers to such persons as Saul here, taking part in things externally and yet failing in them entirely. So that, as I said before, we have to get into our minds, if we are to be spiritual, the idea of a divine environment presented, and God has brought it in here. It is an [p. 530] environment which is suggested, and we are to absorb what it presents. If I am not born again I shall never really absorb anything spiritual.
What I am saying is of great importance, as the apostle Paul says, “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3: 18). He is working, but then it is on persons who are absorbing from an objective environment, that is the glory of the Lord: think of what that means! He operates as we are occupied with the environment, as I said.
Now these men, as you will observe, are going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, one carrying three cakes of bread, and another carrying a flask of wine. There are three men, three kids, and three cakes of bread; that is God is giving abundant evidence of what is in His mind. The numeral three is a most important matter in what I am speaking of; it is a complete testimony. Somebody is carrying your burden for you, not only sorrowing for you, but carrying your burden for you — freighted with something for you. You are not the only object of interest, because the house of God could never be exclusively occupied with one person. The house of God is a great thought and these men are going up to the house of God, they are going up to God to Bethel — God is their objective. How many have you met like that? Thank God they are to be met, but there may be those here who do not understand what I am saying; I can assure such that throughout the world in hundreds of places these people are to be met. It is very beautiful to my mind, and it is beautiful to heaven, I am sure, to think of these saints as they issue forth from the dwellings of Jacob, freighted with these heavenly things, going up to God. God is the objective of these three men, not of Saul yet, but God is seeking to bring Saul into it, as He is seeking to bring every young person into it.
[p. 531] Now as you make God your object you come into His house, not to any merely religious building, but to where God is and to where God is known of a truth. It is said of the assembly, God is among you of a truth. You find out that, and go there, but you are drawing near to God. These men are not going empty-handed, and this is a very important matter. Saul is to go forward and he meets them going somewhere, they are going up to God to Bethel, and they are freighted with three kids, three cakes and a flask of wine. Such men are not selfish. God is very kind, He is a giving God, and the believer being of His house understands it and takes on His character. This is all educational, hence I would encourage all young people here to get to meetings and see how the brethren move to God and how they reflect heaven in going. They do not give Saul all they have. They do not give him three cakes of bread, they give him two loaves, and they do not give him the wine; it is not the time for it. I am not advocating prohibition, I never did and never would, I regard it as against the truth. The flask of wine here represents what is spiritual, it is a question of what stimulates spiritually, and it was not the time to stimulate Saul yet, he just needs sustenance and he is given enough to sustain him. Two is adequate to represent what is in mind, that he be nourished: that is the next thing — on my way I am nourished. See the objective, see the suggestion of these devoted men carrying loaves and kids and a flask of wine, going to the house of God. How sober they were, having God in mind! God would keep Himself before us and sober our hearts, so producing piety in us, for piety is profitable for all things. Samuel says, “they will ask after thy welfare, and give thee two loaves; which thou shalt receive of their hands”. That is another thing, do not forget to receive what is available in this way. Some of you are listening to me, perhaps you will speak about what I am saying,
[p. 532] but are you receiving the thing? It is what God is saying to you and you are to receive what He has for you. The apostle said to the Corinthians, “which also ye received”.
In verse 5 we have, “After that thou shalt come to the hill of God”. Now let us follow and see if we can grasp what that means. God has a hill, which is a great thought running through Scripture; it causes envy later on, God having desired it for His abode, as Psalm 68: 16 tells us, but here it is in the hands, as you will observe, of the Philistines. How sorrowful that is! We have been speaking about sorrowing; it was a great principle introduced into the house of Benjamin — the idea of sorrowing for others. Now, can I sorrow for God? Can I think for God? Can I sigh and cry for the abominations that affect the house of God, as I look abroad in christendom and see how the hill of God is in the hands of the Philistines? That is, the big men in christendom; by them Christ is shut out; I refer to what is public. Can I feel as to that? Can I sigh about it? God loves these sighs. He says to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s ink-horn by his side, “Go ... through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof” (Ezekiel 9: 4). Is Saul equal to this? Well, are all the young people here equal to this, to turn away from their ordinary matters and begin to think of God and His house and of the abominations which are in it in a public sense? So it goes on, “it shall come to pass, when thou comest thither into the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with lute and a tambour and pipe and harp before them; and they themselves prophesying”. Now this is an attractive way of presenting the matter, it is not now taking a sword by your side and attacking the Philistine on the hill of God, that will come later, and [p. 533] one would recommend the consideration of Jonathan in that respect, how manfully he and his armour-bearer attacked the Philistine. Here it is the attractive side, they have musical instruments, and you are to be called into this; it brings me to the subject of prophesying.
One of the greatest matters in these recent times amongst the brethren is the subject of prophecy; this first book of Samuel is marked by it. If Saul did not enter into it, as history shows us he did not, there were those who did and there were those who came under rule in their prophecy. This book later on presents Samuel as presiding over a number of prophets who were prophesying, and I would urge it upon every brother and sister here (sisters prophesied too in the early days), why not get into that company and learn how to prophesy? Well, you say, that is a gift. Of course, but it has to be learned; Samuel is said to have been presiding over them, and so great was the spirit of prophecy that Saul, who was seeking to murder David, came under the power of the spirit of prophecy himself, as we read in chapter 19. So you see the mind of God is to bring in this in the presence of the Philistines, to bring in this powerful service, which brings God in; prophecy brings God in, so that God is known of a truth amongst us. What can the Philistines do against God? If God comes in they must go, and that is the great point in the two letters to Corinth — to bring the Philistine, the big man, down by bringing God in. Thus it is said, God is amongst you of a truth. What can a man of the greatest human learning and experience do in the presence of the power of prophecy? He can do nothing. Thus Saul is called into the prophetic scene to learn how to prophesy. They have a lute, a tambour, a pipe and a harp. That is, that which appeals to and draws out spiritual feelings; this is largely the idea of musical instruments in Scripture, they are to draw out the best spiritual feelings we have.
[p. 534] When Elisha had to answer to the requirements of the kings, he said he would not speak to them unless Jehoshaphat were there, but, he says, “bring me a minstrel”. That is, the atmosphere was difficult, as it often is in our meetings, the saints are so low down that there are no opportunities to prophesy, and the spirit of a meeting has a great deal to do with what is said. Here we have musical instruments and the prophets are prophesying; they are not merely professing prophets, they are actually prophesying. So it was with the daughters of Philip, they prophesied, they were not merely prophetesses. Let us not talk about being servants and so forth, the point is to do the thing, that is all that is needed. Philip had four daughters and they prophesied; and so they were prophesying here, and the Spirit of Jehovah was to come upon Saul. You may say, What can I do? I have not any gift. God is ready to furnish you for any service as you are ready for it; He is just waiting for you. So it is here, “The Spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man”. That is what is needed, another man; the suggestion there is that I have not been right. Think of what Saul was, as he was known in his locality. Every one of us is known in our localities; people have a judgment about you young people, they are talking about you amongst themselves in the houses of the saints, and rightly, too, because we are to judge in that sense. I often say, without any hesitation, I have a judgment about everybody I know; I mean that is the attitude in one’s mind. Abraham inquired if God would spare the city if there were fifty righteous in it. Could he tell if there were fifty righteous in Sodom? He certainly could, and he knew there were nothing like fifty, so he quickly dropped down to ten. He knew well enough; he was a judge, and God would make us judges in that sense, not critics, of course, but holily and justly able to form an estimate of our brethren. So [p. 535] that we are well known, we do not escape. Saul became the occasion of a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” His subsequent history confirms this ironical proverb. He failed, alas! How many have done that! The time comes when God says, “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king”.
Then we are told in verse 7, “And it shall be, when these signs shall come to thee ... God is with thee”. That is another thing, the sense that God is with you; God is with you, even with a Saul. Is this all unattractive to the young people here? Think of having God with you! His Spirit is come upon you, and now, after these signs, God is with you. Then it says, “Thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to thee ... and inform thee what thou shalt do”. This is a most solemn matter because God is going to test me, to test me as to whether I can wait for Him, whether I can be obedient. That was the great test of Saul; and that was what lost him his kingdom, he failed in obedience, he failed to wait his time — the great lesson in Gilgal has to be learned. How incorrigible the flesh is! Circumcision means that it has to be dealt with drastically. If I cannot wait there I am disqualified and that is what happened in the case of this man. As the passage goes on it says in verses 9 and 10, “it was so ... and all those signs came to pass that day ... and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them”. So that immediately before he goes to Gilgal he is able to do something, and one has often seen that with young people, they can do quite a little, but the real test is Gilgal — being able to wait for God there, and in waiting you are impressed every moment and you are tested with the incorrigibleness of the flesh; that is what impresses you at Gilgal. All the feelings that are there are against the flesh — can I wait there? Saul could not wait, but that is anticipating his history — I cannot go into that, but it is well to see that, dear young people,
[p. 536] because I may preach to others and myself become a castaway unless I have learned the lesson at Gilgal and am waiting there on God.
“Then the people said one to another, What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” That is what people say among themselves, what brethren sometimes say in their houses after a meeting. A young brother is prompted to say something in a ministry meeting — pardon me for being simple and practical — well, the brethren say, What do you think of that, what do you think of so-and-so, he has attempted to prophesy, but what is his external conduct and is it in keeping? It says, “The people said one to another, What is this that has happened to the son of Kish?” It is a searching matter. I am not saying that you should not take part in ministry, but then have you given occasion for this table talk? I am not saying that the brethren should enlarge on it, I know how they do, often far beyond what should be spoken of, but here the question is asked, What has happened to the son of Kish? Why, he goes out and plays cricket, and plays tennis, and goes off on the Broads in the summer-time, and other things like that, and yet he is prophesying!
It is a solemn thing that the brethren have a judgment about you, and heaven has a judgment about you, and yet heaven wants you and heaven is doing its utmost to help you to serve as a true levite. You will understand, dear brethren, I am not here to whip you, far otherwise, but to seek to help all of us to get into accord with heaven and to become spiritual, to enter into the environment that God has placed for us here, to absorb the suggestions of the spiritual environment in which we are set, to take them on constitutionally, so that we become spiritual. Saul never did: if he had done so, we should never have had the proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” This is written again after his history was well-nigh finished ([p. 537] chapter 19); the proverb, I am sure, would never have been recorded, had Saul judged himself at the outset, but alas, he did not. So the proverb remains; it says at the end of verse 12, “It became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?” I would not like to be the subject of such a proverb: Saul was, and why was he? Because he failed in this great test, he failed to take on spirituality through what was divinely presented to him; and he failed to wait at Gilgal. Had he taken in these great spiritual thoughts he would have said there, ‘I am not in keeping with them;’ for it was the place of circumcision, and this accepted is the acknowledgment that the flesh is incorrigible and has to be put off. Gilgal is “the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ” (Colossians 2: 11).
God is calling upon us for reality and particularly spirituality in our reality, so that you have another thought here and that is, “A man of that place answered and said, But who is their father?” Someone there had that thought. As most of you know, the subject of our reading meetings during the last three days has been the ten generations spoken of in the book of Genesis, the word denoting origin, and so it is that someone in the place where one takes up service says, What about the parentage? This must apply to us all. The service of God requires more than profession, our origin spiritually must be manifest, and this is a root matter. The history from the outset must be gone into. The history or generation of Saul in that sense is gone into and this proverb is written across it: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” It is derision; a sorrowful thing as relating to one prominent in the service of God. It is written as a warning. On the other hand, the scripture before us is most encouraging as showing the pains that God takes with us so that He might have us for Himself in service, whatever it may be. May He help us all to profit by the great care He expends upon us!