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NEARNESS TO CHRIST

H. B. Bodman

We had some sense on Lord’s day of how near the Lord came to us; how near we were to Him. We had a sense too of how near we were to the Father. And I believe that this is in the divine mind, indeed the psalm says, “... a people near unto him. Hallelujah”—‘Praise ye Jah’

(Psalm 148: 14), as if this is what God is seeking. And nearness was what Joseph was seeking. He had been separated from his brethren. Much testing had gone on with Joseph and he had risen to the height of glory in Egypt; but he was not content with that, beloved brethren. He was wanting his brethren near to him. It says in the previous chapter, after Joseph caused them to open their sacks, “Then Judah came near to him and said, Ah! my lord

...” It does not say that Joseph pushed them away. No! he delighted in the fact there was something coming through with his brethren. And so Judah meets the position; he goes right to the bottom and is prepared to take the place of Benjamin. What it must have been for Joseph to see these feelings, to watch the way that God was working with these men, especially with Judah! And I believe it just shows that if there is one in a company that is prepared to take the lowest place, prepared to take this place that Judah did, the Lord can come in and manifest Himself to us.

It says that Joseph could not control himself before all that stood by him. He wanted his brethren—he wanted them near to him; then he speaks to them, but they were confused and troubled. The Lord does not want us troubled, and so what

does he say? “Joseph said to his brethren, Come near to me “. I believe they would get, it may be for the first time, a sense of the love and the grace that were in the heart of Joseph. And we may have a sense too, as we move this way, of what is in the heart of Christ for each one of us. Joseph says, “Come near to me, I pray you”. And it says, “And they came near”. It was a wonderful thing that Joseph was securing. He was not content with having some of his brethren. What the Lord has in mind is that He might secure more for His pleasure. Joseph was not going to settle with just one or two of these persons; he wanted all to be near him.

He goes over the way in which God had been behind it all. And I believe we have got to come back to it, beloved brethren, that God has been behind it all. God comes in; and He comes in in order that persons might be secured subject to Christ, every one giving way to Him—as we had in our hymn, ‘Then our hearts bow down before Him’ (Hymn 211). I believe they began to accord Joseph that place, and he says to them, “Haste and go up to my father”. He not only wanted his brethren, but he wanted his father near. Then he says, “Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me”. I believe that is what the Lord wants—He does not want just a visit, but He wants us to dwell in the land of Goshen,

“and thou shalt be near to me”.

I read those verses later on in the chapter to show what nearness to Christ means. It says that Joseph fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck. What a sight that must have been to heaven!

what a sight it must have been to his brethren!—“... and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck”. What an answer to the love of Joseph—Benjamin weeping on his neck. “And he kissed all his brethren”—not one left out, beloved brethren—“and wept upon them; and after that his brethren talked with him”.

I believe that was what Joseph had been after, that his brethren should be able to talk with him; and then that his father and all of them should come and dwell in Goshen: “And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me”. I believe the Lord has this in mind, that we each one should be held in the power of the Spirit near to Him.

In Genesis 18 you get Abraham, and God had appeared to him more than once. He had spoken to him in the previous chapter as to circumcision and Abraham had been obedient.

God was pleased with that. And so it says He “appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre”. He was in a stable place. Beloved brethren, there is a place where there is stability, by the oaks of Mamre. “And he sat at the tent-door in the heat of the day”. He was not wasting his time. He sat there; and then it says—“And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men standing near him”.

I believe this meant much for the heart of God. God wanted Abraham just for Himself; He wanted something from the heart of Abraham; and Abraham, rises to what God has in mind.

Indeed it says, “And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door”. Think of the movements of Abraham here—what pleasure they gave to Jehovah. Abraham bowed himself to the earth; and then he says, “Let now a little water be fetched, that ye may wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread; and refresh yourselves; after that ye shall pass on; for therefore have ye passed on towards your servant”.

Here we have a sense that divine Persons wanted something for Their own heart’s pleasure; and Abraham was available. May we be always available for the pleasure of divine Persons.

Abraham was prepared to run—“he ran to meet them from the tent-door”. But then it says in verse 8 that “he

stood before them under the tree, and they ate”. I believe that not only God had pleasure, but Abraham had pleasure as he stood before them and they ate.

But then God was taking account of what was here in this scene, and He says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” One would delight to have some sense of divine secrets.

God loving to visit us, not hiding things from us, but letting us know the secret of His thoughts. You think of Enoch—he must have had divine secrets as he walked with God; and Abraham had divine secrets. God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” There was one person in Enoch’s day, and there was one person here to whom God could disclose His thoughts. And what does He say? “For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him”.

Then it says, “the men turned thence and Abraham remained yet standing before Jehovah”.

But that was not enough, beloved brethren, it says, “and Abraham drew near”. I believe it is a challenge as to whether we can draw near to God in relation to what He is going to do.

Abraham goes on to plead for Sodom—for the fifty righteous; and he says to God, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” I believe he had some sense as he drew near to Jehovah of His glory as “the Judge of all the earth”. As we move towards divine Persons, as we come into Their presence, we shall get some fresh impression of Their own glory—“Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Think of the patience of God; think of the longsuffering of God, waiting on Abraham as he went down and down, and down, and God met him. And then it says, “And Jehovah went away when he had ended speaking to Abraham”. I believe that is a very fine touch, as if God finishes the matter He had in mind. “Jehovah went away when he had ended speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place”. May we have

some sense of being in the current of the divine mind, having some sense of what God is going to do. May we be with Him in it, beloved brethren, for His name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry, Helston
24 June 1980

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