COMPANIONSHIP
[p. 240] COMPANIONSHIP
Hebrews 11:24 - 26; 2 Kings 13:20,21;Colossians 2:12,13
I have it on my mind to speak about companionship. Christians need companions, and I want to show you that as regards the companions you are to be identified with publicly here on earth, this in a sense is left to your own selection; whereas in regard of the companions you are to have in the future, they are selected for you by God. I hope to be able to make these two remarks clear to you, and to show that companionship in either connection begins with baptism. The question of companionship is one of the most practical that can be brought to our attention, especially for the young. It is of great importance that, as baptised, we should make up our minds as to our companions. Hence I have thought of Moses as a typical believer in this respect. After his baptism, I refer to his being in the river (Exodus 2:3); in due course he made his selection. It is said: “When he was come to years”.
Now one is peculiarly exposed if one has not “come to years”; therefore a junior should be much concerned as to maturing. It is said of the man in John 9:21, as you will remember, “he is of age”. A great many believers are not matured, and hence they are exposed. When Moses was “come to years”, he made his selection of the people of God. Now at the outset I want to speak a work to the young as to their selection. One might assume that many of the young at these meetings are here on account of having chosen the people of God. It is for each young person to decide before the Lord as to what it is that has drawn him hither. Of Moses it is said, that “he chose to suffer affliction with the people of
God”. The people of God are a class of people who have distinctive marks upon them. They are in reproach. They are in affliction. It is for you, young believer, to answer before the Lord as to whether they are your people. Have you decided to take your place with the people of God? That was what Moses did.
I take the first half of the book of Exodus; that is, up to the end of chapter 14, as covering the outgoing of the believer from the world. He is not to go out from the world privately. It is said of the Israelites that they went out in the sight of all the Egyptians (Numbers 33:3). They went out publicly, and they “went out with a high hand”; the hand of God. They went out triumphantly. I wish to see every young believer in the ranks of those who go out publicly. It is said “they went out harnessed”. They went out in military order, but the principle of selection of one’s companions had preceded their outgoing. Moses was their leader. It was he that had led the way in the exodus. How had he led the way? It was as one who, when he was come to years, set the example of finding his companionship with the people of God.
Now it was for him to do that, and it is for you to do it. It is an all important question for you to answer as to whether you have done it; as to whether you have resolved in your soul to take your place in companionship with the people of God in affliction. In a general way, the companions that you choose will indicate to the spiritual where you are. “Evil communications”, says the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “corrupt good manners”. Many a young man began well, and learned good manners in the house of God, but became corrupted by evil companionships. We do not read of Moses after he had made up his mind ever taking up with injurious companions. I would appeal to the young. I feel [p. 242] that we have arrived at a time in which the young are very peculiarly exposed, and it is a very remarkable thing that the first twelve chapters of Exodus emphasise the young so much.
The first chapter of Exodus is almost entirely occupied with the endeavour of Pharaoh to destroy all the male young; that is the key, in a way, to the teaching. If the male young were destroyed the national Israel would quickly disappear. Satan knew that. The parents of Moses, as well as the midwives of Israel, were used of God to preserve the males in Israel. That is what the Spirit of God is endeavouring to do. Happy are those who are engaged in the preservation of the seed that is to continue the testimony of God in this world! The names of the midwives are given to us, and, more than that, it is said that God made houses for them. The male young in Israel are represented in Moses; he advanced rapidly, and having come to years, he made a selection. Would to God that every young man here, and every young woman, would make his and her selection, and that their selection might be the people of God!
As I said before, the beginning of our course for God is baptism. And having said so much as to the selection that it is for us to make, which, I may add, involves fellowship, I wish to proceed to the other side of the subject, that baptism, whilst bearing testimony towards this world and our position in it, also looks towards heaven. I want to make that clear to you, hence I have read in 2 Kings 13 and in Colossians 2. Baptism, as I said, has a bearing towards the world in testimony, that is the side presented in the epistle to the Romans. In other words, the baptised person takes “the way”. Many of you here will be aware that the expression “the way” in Acts is almost a synonym of Christianity. It had become pronounced as leading out of the world,
[p. 243] for a way leads somewhere, and the way leads out of the world. For a moment I would call attention to an exemplification of that in the gospel of Mark. It is said of blind Bartimaeus that he “sat on the wayside begging”, and Jesus of Nazareth passed by. He was on the wayside, but Jesus was on the way. It was a definite way, that led through Jericho to Jerusalem, and Jesus was on it. Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord and the Lord called him. It was said to him, “he calleth thee”. The Lord would call us on to the way. The man came and his need was defined. “Lord”, he says, “that I might receive my sight”. And the Lord says to him “Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole”. And then we are told that he “followed Jesus in the way” (Mark 10:46 - 52).
Now I want you to get on to that way. I want you to become followers in that way. There is only one way. Others were following the Lord, a crowd was following Him, but of Bartimaeus whose eyes were opened, it is said, that “he followed Jesus in the way”. Now that is what I understand to be fellowship. Are you in it? All other ways are byways, however agreeable, they are crooked, perverse ways. The way, the only way, is known to the Spirit; it is spoken evil of by men, but it has to be taken up by faith. Thank God for the many that are in it! One would love to see the number augmented. I believe the Lord would appeal to the young, that they might take up the path of following Jesus in the way.
Well now, as I said, baptism, while it separates from the world, also directs toward heaven. The Red Sea, which is a type of baptism, coalesces with the Jordan. There is no wilderness in Colossians and no wilderness in Ephesians. I want to dwell upon that, and I want to show you that from that point of view God gives you your companions. I do [p. 244] not suppose for a moment that God would leave it to me to select my companionship in heaven. All the selection in regard to divine counsels is by God himself, it is all on the principle of the counsel of His own will. He takes counsel with no one. He has selected companions for His beloved Son.
The idea really begins in the grave, figuratively speaking. We are “buried with him”, says Paul, “in baptism”. We do well to consider the Lord’s grave. There is no grave like it. To be buried there is an honour, but it is not only that we are buried there, but we are buried with Him there. We read in John 20 that there were those who “went home” after being at the sepulchre. Peter and John went home. Of Mary Magdalene we are told that she arose very early in the morning, before it was day, to go there. She went to the sepulchre, and Peter and John ran to it on receiving her tidings. She ran and they ran, and that other disciple did outrun Peter to the sepulchre of Jesus, and he, “stooping down” and “looking in” saw the linen clothes lying, “yet went he not in”. He did not go in as yet, but he looked in. It was a wonderful sight. Jesus was not there; the grave clothes were there. Peter came afterwards; he was a slower runner than John, but he arrived, and he went into the sepulchre and he led John into it. John had led him in the running, but Peter led John into the sepulchre. John went in after him, but, beloved friends, it is said that they both went home after being there. They did not, as I might say, using a figurative expression, go into the epistle to the Ephesians out of the grave. I may remark that Ephesians is the grand terminal of the road that begins with “the way”.
The apostles got light. It is said of John that “he saw and believed”. They had not known the scriptures that He should rise from the dead, but now they believe. It was well that they did believe,
[p. 245] but in spite of their faith, they went home. What about ourselves, beloved brethren? In spite of our baptism, in spite of our professed identification with Christ in the grave, where do we go? The two disciples went away again to their own home, but “Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping”. If I might classify their state, I should say that the two disciples were simply Roman Christians. They had gone as far as the epistle to the Romans, but burial with Christ leads on to being risen with Him, quickened with Him, and seated in the heavenly places in Him, and that is Colossians and Ephesians. Instead of going on the two disciples went home.
Now I want to put you on your guard in reference to this. “Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping”. It does not say that they wept. They believed. But it says that Mary wept. They represent the intelligent side, Mary the affections. The point in Colossians is to get at the affections. In Colossians it is “the Christ”. There is more said in Colossians about the personal dignity of Christ than there is in Ephesians. Why? It is in order to establish Him in His personal dignity and greatness in the affections of the saints. That is Colossians. Hence, as I might classify Mary, she belonged to the affection side. She was prepared to have Christ established in her heart, and she got what she was prepared for. You may be assured that you will get all you want in that respect if you are prepared for it. She remained at the sepulchre, she was thinking of the One who had been there. “Where thou diest”, said Ruth, “will I die, and there will I be buried” (Ruth 1:17). That was her affection and it was Mary’s affection.
Now, you are not going to honour the Lord by being buried with Him, but you are honoured by His allowing you into His sepulchre. “Buried with him” is association with Him in His death. I just [p. 246] want for a moment to connect the passage I read in 2 Kings 13 with this passage in regard of Mary Magdalene. The whole scene on earth is to be marked by a Man risen from the dead. It is said in 2 Kings 13:20, that the Moabites invaded the land at the beginning of the year. I wonder how you take account of these Moabites? The beginning of the year for Israel, for a true Israelite, was the passover. Moses said, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2). Now I would ask you, what is to occupy the ground at the beginning of the year in your soul? Is it to be Pride? God says, “we have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud”. They invaded the land, it says, “at the beginning of the year”. We have to look out for our beginnings, beloved friends. I quite see that we have to take care of the endings as well, but I believe most Christians make poor progress because of poor beginnings. Pride is not judged. I do not know what it is you are proud of, but there is something. If you are not progressing there is some Moabitish principle at work.
Ruth was a Moabitess, but she was not proud. She invaded the land too, but not as a proud woman. She had been bereft of everything that might make her proud; she was a poor widow. At what time did she invade the land? At the beginning of the barley harvest. That refers to Christ risen from the dead, I believe. She left her pride in Moab and got the good of the barley harvest, and she continued to the wheat harvest too, and became the companion, in her marriage, of Boaz. She was a Moabitess minus the pride!
It is said in 2 Kings 13:21, that a band of Moabites; that is, a party, invaded the land. Oh, those parties! You may be assured that if there is a party, pride is at the bottom of it. The party wants to occupy [p. 247] the ground, but there is the grave of Elisha! I need not say that it refers to Christ’s death. Thank God for such a perfect remedy for our pride! That is where all the pride of man comes down; pride is a deadly evil, and if not judged will come under the severe discipline of God. In verse 21 it says, “they were burying a man”. Who is the man? The man that is suffering from a party, for a party will cause suffering. Have you got into a party in connection with the things of God? What is the remedy? Bury the man. The flesh in any of us is likely to be aroused by a Moabitish band, and hence the need for burial. Mark you, the man was dead but he was not buried. Burial is an element in the gospel, and a most essential element; we have to be buried. It says “As they were burying a man, that, behold they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha”. How happy that was! How happy to find such a grave! The grave of Christ is to be the Christian’s grave. It is said they let him down. There are those that do that for you. There are those who will let you down, and they are not your worst friends though they may appear to be so, but even an Assyrian is a good friend for us at times, if he helps to bring to nothing the pride of our hearts.
Well, they let him down, and as he went down he touched the bones of Elisha, and as he touched the bones of the prophet he revived; that was the beginning for him. That was the beginning of the year for him. He did not begin with the Moabites, he began with the bones of Elisha. I wonder if we begin there? We were speaking in our readings on Ephesians about the depth, “that ye ... may be able to comprehend ... the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” (chapter 3:18). This man discovered something about the depth. What did he find there? Corruption? No, beloved friends, he found life in [p. 248] the bones of Elisha. We have a type of Christ there. “He that descended is the same also that ascended” (Ephesians 4:10). We too must have the descending, but oh, how happy for us that it is in association with Christ, and that our life begins in the grave with Christ! Do not misunderstand me, it cannot of course be literal; Christ is no longer in the grave. The epistle to the Colossians was written long after the resurrection of Christ, yet Paul uses that language. He says “Buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him”. It is not said that Elisha was risen at this time, it is only a figure. The man who was let down revived and stood up on his feet. It is good to think of a man like that. How different was such a man from the Moabites!
We were speaking about Paul, that his name means small. He was not a Moabite, he had ceased to be Saul, to be a Moabite. He was a risen man, “risen through faith of the working of God”. Any mark of the flesh is a reproach there, a risen man is a witness to the power of God. It is not what I have accomplished, but what God has done for me. Now Paul is an example; he had, as it were, touched the bones of Elisha, he had come to realise the import of the death of Christ, he had been buried with Him morally. “Buried with him in baptism; wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God”. With Him! See what companionship you have as risen! This man that we read of in 2 Kings stood up alone, and what an answer that was to the Moabite bands; a risen man standing upon his feet! But in Christianity it is, “Risen with him”, that is, with Christ. You are not standing up alone, you are standing up with Christ, in companionship with Christ. How blessed indeed is that word with! It is used three times in this passage “Buried with him”, “risen with him”, and “quickened together with him”. Now quickened with Christ involves [p. 249] that we are made to live in His life. We are with Him in the same bundle of life.
We were speaking this afternoon about John 11, in which we are told that Lazarus was raised from the dead, and in chapter 12 it is said, that Jesus came to Bethany six days before the Passover. He came to Bethany “where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead”. Lazarus was a risen man. Then it is said “they made him a supper, and ... Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him”. There is association. Now “quickened together with Christ” places us with Him in life; as to our affections we are living with Christ. This is on the road to heaven. Colossians is not going out of the world, it is going into heaven. The exodus is Romans, Colossians is Joshua going in, “quickened together with Christ”. What companionship! You do not go in alone. The companionship is provided for you by the Father. Think of the companionship in which we go into heaven! The Lord Jesus takes us in, in all the dignity of His Person; He takes us in as “quickened together with him”.
Well now, just to return for a moment to Mary. I was remarking that she corresponds to the Colossian Christian in this sense, that she remains at the sepulchre. She does not “go home”, she remains at the sepulchre, but the sepulchre was in the garden, and hence, Mary was in the garden, and the Lord Jesus appears to her and He calls her by name. He calls her “Mary”. Would you not like to hear the Lord’s voice calling you by name? Then He says to her: “Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father”. That was as much as to say, ‘When I go there, you will have part with me then; you will have my companionship then’. Then he says, “Go to my brethren”. She is not to remain in the garden, but “Go to my brethren”,
[p. 250] He says, not, the brethren. The brethren are a class of people in this world distinguished by certain marks, they bear the character of Christ according to what He was here in the flesh, and anyone who loves them proves the genuineness of his Christianity. But the Lord here signalises the dignity of the companionship that Mary was to have. He says, “My brethren”.
I want to make one point clear to you before I close, and that is that companionship provided for you here goes into heaven. The Lord says: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2) and He also says: “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am” (John 17:24). Is not that companionship? Yes, beloved friends, it is the companionship that is provided for you in the Father’s house. Now that was what I had to say. I hope it is clear to you, and I especially hope it is clear to you that baptism directs toward heaven. You begin by association with Christ in the grave; then we go on to being risen with Him, and then to being raised up together and seated in the heavenlies in Him. So that we shall be with the Lord Jesus there, and with those whom He has selected for His companionship there. He is the first-born among many brethren there.
Pages 251 - 339 — “The Spirit of Christ in David, Headship, etc”. Belfast and Edinburgh, 1916 (Volume 33).