AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN
[p. 487] AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN
Acts 7:58; Acts 9:1 - 20; 1 Samuel 30:11 - 16; Zechariah 2:1 - 5
There is a great demand for young men; a great demand for them in the world, and a great demand for them in heaven. Heaven has its own way of expressing itself, and it takes particular care to secure young men. We see in Saul of Tarsus a representative of this class. He is first spoken of in Scripture as “a young man”, and as such he was employed in opposition to Christ. He stood as a witness when Stephen, the martyr of Christ, was stoned. He was not there merely as an ordinary spectator of an execution; he was there as an enemy of Christ, who had a personal interest in what was happening. He took account of Stephen as a witness of the Lord Jesus, and he would have none of Christ; he would fain blot out every remembrance of Jesus, and so he had a personal interest in what was happening, as the murderers of that witness of Jesus assailed him with stones. It is not said he cast a stone, but he was there, and those who did cast stones laid their clothes at his feet. “The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul”. But there was a demand in heaven for this young man. Heaven knew about him; the Lord had His eye on him even before this. He was in the mind of heaven, and heaven has its eye on such an one, and has a great way of attaining its end. Heaven has wonderful resources.
The first activity of heaven that we find in Scripture involved the opening of its windows, to let out some of its reserves in order that the will of God might be carried out. These contributed enormously to the deluge. There were other resources besides, for God controls everything; but let no one assume that God [p. 488] has not sufficient resources to overwhelm it, if He see fit. There were the fountains of the great deep which He broke up and the windows of heaven which He opened, great reservoirs of water above and below the firmament, as we read, “and let it divide the waters from the waters” (Genesis 1:6). These were all at the divine bidding, when God took in hand to deal with the corrupt power. I often think of these resources; how steadily, how surely, how relentlessly the waters rose, and rose, and rose till the tops of the highest mountains were covered. Men might attempt to scale the very loftiest peaks in the hope of escaping the relentless force of those waters, but of what avail? It was only to prolong their torment and terror, as those resources of God rose higher and higher at His bidding, till all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were submerged in the awful catastrophe. Whereby then can any one assume to compete with God, to stand up permanently in such an unequal contest? It were utterly fruitless.
So, as the clothes were laid down at Saul’s feet, heaven had its eye on him, and heaven was determined to overwhelm him, not in wrath, but in grace, for he was not born in a day of wrath, but in a day of grace, in the accepted time, in the day of salvation. He was born into such a dispensation. He was living when Jesus was here in the days of His flesh, but we know he lived after the cross, after the ascension, and after Pentecost; so he came into a dispensation marked by the grace and love of God, a dispensation pervaded by the very atmosphere of heaven, for One had been here great enough to give expression to all that is there, and that One was Jesus. He gave expression to what was in heaven, and that in face of all the opposition Satan could bring to bear against Him; for no one can dwell on Gethsemane and Calvary without being touched with the greatness of that blessed One who could maintain the grace of [p. 489] heaven in presence of such circumstances. He could turn to the women who followed Him, and say, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children” (Luke 23:28), and, as He suffered, He could say, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (verse 34). He maintained there at its full height what is in heaven; and, withal, as the result of the glorious work accomplished at the cross He opened the windows of heaven, not now to let out the waters of wrath to engulf a guilty world, but to let out grace. He opened wide the sluices of heaven, so to speak, that the grace should flow out from Himself in heaven. And Saul comes into that. Wonderful fact!
So heaven’s eye was on that young man, and heaven could bring sufficient grace to bear upon him to overwhelm him. He had in Jesus One who knew a young man’s experience. During the Lord’s ministry on earth, a young man came to Him, wishing to know what to do in order to obtain eternal life. Think of a question like that addressed to Jesus! He had come to make eternal life possible, and here was this deluded young man asking what he could do to obtain it. How foolish! But the Lord did not call him a fool; He knew better how to deal with young men. We need not always call things by their names, for grace knows better than to wound souls. The Lord could show him how fruitless his attempt to obtain eternal life would be. “All these things”, the youth said, alluding to the commandments, “have I kept from my youth”. Then it says, “Jesus looking upon him, loved him” (Mark 10:20,21). He knew the value of young men; and so He knew how to deal with Saul. No one is skilled like Jesus. The wisdom by which the world was framed is now employed in securing young men and young women. Luke enlarges on the wisdom and skill in which grace acts, for, after all, the great point in service is to be [p. 490] successful, and in order to be successful we must be wise. Hence the Lord in heaven exercises His wisdom, in securing His objects, and thus making His service effective; so He spoke to Saul, when the time arrived for it. He had allowed him to stand there and look after the clothes of the murderers. It was a poor employ, terribly poor employ; and yet the Lord allowed it, and He did so in His wisdom. But He had His eye on Saul all the while, and permitted him to proceed until He found him near Damascus; then He seized His opportunity, if we may venture to speak thus.
I speak of things in this way because of those here under His eye, whom He may be waiting His opportunity to address. Wisdom can wait, but if it wait, it waits effectively; it does not miss its mark. So light from heaven shines round about Saul, for it is a question of heaven, and a voice is heard in the Hebrew language. The Lord Jesus knows all the languages, and He speaks to a Hebrew of the Hebrews in the Hebrew tongue, because it was a question of the success of His service, and He speaks to him as if He were interested in him; He speaks as one well known, not as a stranger. He says, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” And the Lord would speak to you. He would say, Why this indifference? it should be otherwise; you have had opportunities, why is it thus with you? He would call you by name as He did Saul of Tarsus here. Think of the occurrence: that a man should be of such interest to heaven that his name is called out twice!
The Lord would say to you, Why persecute Me? You may say, I am not persecuting the Lord. But do not be too sure, do not flatter yourself; for if you pursue your present course, the time will come when you will be tested, and you will find yourself opposed to Christ; you will be found, alas! on the wrong side. You are there now, though your will may [p. 491] not be as active as it will yet be. If you do not love the Lord’s people, you do not love the Lord, and if not at home among them, you would not be at home in heaven, for the atmosphere there is the same as it is among His people here. You will undoubtedly be tested, and then it may come to light that you are opposed. Do you love Him? That is the test. The apostle says, “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha”; that is, accursed at His coming (1 Corinthians 16:22). He does not say, Let him be accursed now; Paul would not change the character of the dispensation on any account; it is not a dispensation of curse, but of blessing; but when the Lord comes the dispensation will be over. He would not curse any one now, but it was morally right, surely, that the apostle should speak as he does, for how could any non-lover of Christ fail to come under the curse when the day of grace is past? The Lord had His eye on this young man, and I am persuaded on many here, and would raise the question, Why are things thus with you? Your sister is converted, your brother is on the Lord’s side, why not you? Why persecutest thou Me?
We know the history of Saul, and the more we ponder it, the more it yields, for it is a model of the Lord’s dealing at the present time in expressing the mind of heaven; “that in me first”, he wrote later, “Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe” (1 Timothy 1:16). And Saul surrenders, and says, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” What a moment for heaven! It is one of the most interesting transactions that heaven has ever witnessed. Heaven knew what had happened, for every conversion, however insignificant it might appear, is of interest to heaven. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). But in Saul we have not only a sinner repenting, but a [p. 492] young man secured for Christ, one who was to shine in the testimony. He is called a vessel, “an elect vessel”. “This man is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name”. Think of the honour of coming into that! That is the demand at the present time, the demand in heaven is for vessels.
Referring now to our scripture in 1 Samuel, we find the need was urgent. Ziklag was burnt, David’s wives and family were all carried captive, and David was about to be stoned. He asks for the ephod and gets light, and now he is on the way to victory and knows it. The answer to his inquiry of the Lord was, “Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all”. I believe Nelson always counted his victories before his battles; so David knew the end of his exploits, for he never lost a battle, never! He is a type of Christ in this respect. If you are enlisted, it is on the winning side; there is great spiritual exhilaration in the certainty of victory. Now, an Egyptian is found and brought to David. The end of all gospel service is to find these Egyptians and to bring them to Jesus. David had need of this man. He is on the way to recover all and victory is certain, but he needed the Egyptian. It says, too, of the colt, “the Lord hath need of him” (Luke 19:31). And the Lord has need of you. But to follow the narrative here, they brought the Egyptian to David, and gave him bread and water. These represent the staples of life; but there is more, they gave him “a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins”, and these are the extras, the excess of grace, as another has said. Christ is offered to you now. He is the bread of God, and He gives His flesh “for the life of the world” (John 6:51), not only for His people. The food question is a great question in the world, but God has solved it, and solved it in Christ. “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven”, He said to the Jews, “but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven” (verse 32). And is there only what the Father gives? No, there is more: “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (verse 51). What did that not mean to Jesus! He went down to die, He died that we might live. Let that thought come into our hearts. Think of the Lord of glory being dead, and His flesh becoming food, and His blood drink! These are the staples of life; and then there are the extras, what the apostle calls “the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:29), all that the Holy Spirit would bring out of heaven from a glorified Christ, all the witness brought down to earth and presented in the gospel. When the trees called on the fig tree to reign over them the reply was, “Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit and go to be promoted over the trees?” (Judges 9:11). No, it retains its place, so the sweetness is ministered on earth.
Then they gave raisins to the young man; these would stimulate, and having partaken, the spirit of this young man came again to him, we read. He is now in touch with God. My soul puts me in touch with men, it is the seat of one’s affection, but in my spirit I am in touch with God. And now he confesses, he tells out his whole history. I doubt if any one would do that till in relation with God; in the light of God there is no need to keep anything back; all can be owned as bad, for through the meritorious death of Jesus it is put as far away from me as from Him who bore it vicariously on the cross. So Paul says, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). The death of Jesus clears me from my public history. So this young man acknowledges himself to be a young man of Egypt, or of the world, as we might say, but now he is a young man of David, and David can use him, and he does so immediately. “Canst thou bring me down to this company?” he says. How honoured he was, as doubtless he would realise in after years, to be used in this way! How he would look back upon the grace of David, and rejoice in the service he was able to render to him. He gave the victory to David, it might be said. Think of what you may become in the service of the Lord! Think of the service Paul rendered! God needed Saul just at that moment. The time had come when such a vessel was essential to the testimony. So today the Lord would lay hold of you. It is not for me to say who is to be secured, it is for Him to say, but He gets the heart He is after in due time.
We see in Zechariah how a young man, thus brought to Christ and set up and employed serviceably, is initiated into the purpose of God and what is to take place in the future, for it is a great mistake for any servant to be merely occupied with what he himself is doing, and the results of his service; the Lord would lead him on to the world to come. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews alludes to “the world to come, of which we speak” (chapter 2:5). Christians in those days spoke of it, and young men coming in today will hear of it, “the habitable world which is to come”. Thank God, we do not care much about the habitable earth that now is. The inhabitants of the earth cause us pain as we see them, the lowest grades of humanity as well as the most exalted, the hyssop as well as the cedar. The heart recoils from all that goes on, and looks forward to the habitable world which is to come, where men will all be like Jesus. Wisdom could rejoice in the habitable part of the earth, looking forward to that day, and so does every believer. Hence the word in Zechariah is, “Run, speak to this young man”. Is he aspiring to a place in this world, this earth, inhabited as it is? No, he is not thinking of that, he is thinking of something beyond. “I lifted up mine eyes”, it says,
“[p. 495] and saw, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. And I said, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem”. It was not the Jerusalem that now is, that is in bondage; not that, but the Jerusalem that shall be, the Jerusalem of God; my Jerusalem, as Zechariah would say. The angel is interested in Zechariah as he is in every young man who is looking forward to the world to come and to the purpose of God. So we read, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein”. What a word for Zechariah and for every one of us as to the future! Men shall be like Christ; and cattle will be there for sacrifice, no doubt, that Christ may be honoured, and God honoured. There is to be abundance.
I just dwell on this, as it shows how light comes. Zechariah was interested, and hence the word, “Run, speak to this young man”. I would say there is light for every young person who is interested. You get light as you are interested. It says in Luke 19:11, “As they were listening to these things, he added and spake a parable”. It is a question of whether you are listening, if so, light will stream into your soul. Further, we read, “I will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her”. Such is the position set before us; so we see that while we may be taken up for service, we are taken up also to shine in the sphere of divine purpose.