POURED-OUT WATER
[p. 417] POURED-OUT WATER
2 Samuel 14: 14; 1 Samuel 7: 5 - 10
What I have in mind is bound up in the reference to the poured-out water. The first passage is part of the speech of a woman lured by Joab, David’s captain, with the object of securing the return of Absalom, who had been banished as a murderer. It is obvious that, while the speech contains in type the truth and a large measure of the gospel, it was truth misused, and employed to restore a murderer without repentance. There is much in the way of gospel service of this kind. The words were put into the mouth of the speaker, not by God, but by a shrewd politician. Joab had no love for Absalom or for David; he loved himself, like many who ostensibly serve Christ at the present time. He thought only of his own exaltation and so would ingratiate himself with the king. He would stand in high favour with David, and, like most men of the world, cared little for the means, provided his end was attained. So he employed this wise woman of Tekoah, and in her address to the king she used the truth to accomplish his purpose.
We may be thankful today for the truth, in whosesoever mouth it may be found, even in a Balaam’s, who was forced to convey the mind of God about His people. So today the truth is the truth, though it be announced by an unconverted man or by one converted and yet in alliance with the world. The truth is the truth and is unalterable. God sends forth His light and truth, as the sun’s rays shine forth, and as His rain falls on the just and the unjust, to bring conviction into the consciences of men and to remind them that, even as a Creator, God has a claim [p. 418] on men, and how infinitely more as a Saviour God! He commands all men everywhere to repent, whatever vessels He may use, a Nebuchadnezzar, or a Jonah, or even a Balaam. Whatever mouth He may employ, even as ass’s, He has but one end in view, to assert His claims in men’s consciences. So this wise woman of Tekoah, in the garb of a mourner, conveys in her speech some of the most wholesome truth, though in the service of a schemer; and in it we have a type of what is current at the present time, the use of the truth to bring back men who are hostile to Christ, yet clothed in a Christian garb. They deny His divinity, deny the atonement, deny the foundations of the truth, and yet are clothed in the garb of ministers of Christ.
Absalom was brought back without repentance. There can be no saving relationship without repentance. David yielded and accepted Absalom, and the result was disastrous. Joab suffered first: his barley field was burnt. If any here are supporting the ministry of Absalom today, you are an enemy of Christ. The barley field refers to the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and today the whole truth of christianity is being destroyed by these returned murderers. Christendom is being swept by destructive power by these opponents of Christ, men set up in clerical garb as ministers of Christ. They would kiss the king, but hate him, they are preparing for Antichrist and the fabric of christianity is being destroyed. The present-day christianity will be overthrown and Antichrist will have his day, as Absalom superseded David for a while, for a period long enough to show what man is. Absalom is a fine figure, a man of great ability, attractiveness, and beauty; he knew how to flatter people, to kiss! Scientists are investigating what man is; every branch of science is employed at the present time [p. 419] to find out what man is. It is all futile. Man is not able to contend with a mightier than he. And Christ knew what was in man and did not trust Himself to men. This woman knew more than the scientists. She says, “We ... are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again”. The cemetery, the undertaker’s wagon, do they not show what man is? Flesh and brain and heart, all that is connected with that person, gone for ever as having died in this world! Men prick up their ears when they hear of the discovery of some ancient fossil, but the Lord Jesus Christ said, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen”. He is the last word, the whole mind of God is revealed in Him, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life”. Man naturally is but water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up, but that is not all the truth.
In the other chapter there is water poured out before the Lord — that is a very different thing — and there is a man who can intercede for men, who can judge men. There is a different position here. There is also a whole burnt-offering of a sucking lamb, not a man dissolved by water, but a Man in perfection and entirety before God. Old Testament history is like water poured upon the ground; one generation upon another disappears, there is no recovery. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”, God said to Adam. The New Testament is water poured out before the Lord. A Man indeed, our Lord Jesus died. He died a real death, a death as real as any other man’s. His life was given up, poured out vicariously, a sacrifice to God, and He rose again on the third day. The gospel, says Paul, which I preached unto you: “How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day ... seen of Cephas, then of the twelve ... of above five hundred brethren at once”. Is He not gathered up? Yes, indeed, a real Man, never to die again! “Handle me and see”, He said to His disciples. It is that which we preach in the gospel: Christ who died, Christ gathered up in resurrection, exalted to God’s right hand, and in Him God presents every divine thought for man. Israel acknowledged, “We have sinned against the Lord”. In the light of Christ presented, true confession is made. It is in the light of Christ presented in the gospel that true repentance is brought to pass; there must be confession — genuine conscience work, “We have sinned against the Lord”. Have you made that confession?
“Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins”, Acts 13: 38. Are you prepared to come forward as Israel did at Mizpah? Our Mizpah is where we find our God; the place of confession is the place of blessing, and we invite you to our Mizpah — to say as Israel did, “We have sinned against the Lord”.
So Samuel prayed for them, and our High Priest prays for us, “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”, One who intercedes for us. He stands by us and brings about the sense of sin and guilt in our souls at the first. If there is one here exercised as to his sins, then the Lord is interceding for you and the saints are praying for you. I am not averse to after-meetings. If there is one here under exercise, I would invite you to pray to God, and there are [p. 421] those here who would gladly pray with you, and to God for you.
Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it a whole burnt-offering to the Lord. It is in type Christ in His completeness, risen from the dead, appearing before God for us. How wonderful is our position! The sucking lamb is the intrinsic preciousness and attractiveness of Christ; it is not large. Though small outwardly, it refers to Christ, the One who upholds the universe. In that sucking lamb is presented what God delights in, for it represents the Son of God. God saw in it His beloved Son, the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world, a whole burnt-offering, small but complete and acceptable to God. The believer is accepted in Him.
So there was an answer to Samuel’s prayer; the Lord thundered and Israel was saved. We do not want an Absalom, or a Joab, or a disguised widow, or a parrot repeating words, even though they are words of truth. A preacher is one impressed of God and as so impressed he presents the truth. We have the truth presented here in its proper setting: Samuel as the blessed representative of Christ, as intercessor, the water, speaking of His death, and the sucking lamb, speaking of Christ as wholly acceptable to God; and in answer to this the thunder of heaven. We are seeking to present Christ as the sucking lamb tonight, but God is coming out in His thunder, and these great Philistines, the opposers of the truth, will come down. When God comes in to judge this world, man’s armies and navies and aeroplanes will all be like burnt flax. We are content now to suffer in order to present Christ in His present attitude as the sucking lamb, the only ground on which man is accepted and forgiven.