DEMONSTRATION
J. R. Cumming
John 16: 7–14; 1 Corinthians 2: 1–5; Philippians 1: 27, 28
I would like to say a few words, beloved brethren, on the matter of demonstration which comes into each of these scriptures. We have been singing together to the Holy Spirit, and, as said in prayer, it is a liberating matter for us to realise that the words of the Lord Jesus in John 16 become a real experience to us, “It is profitable for you that I go away”. The Spirit is here in charge of everything that is for the Lord Jesus, and where there is room made for Him then there is gain for all, and it is profitable for us. “It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you”. So the Comforter has been sent, sent from that position of glory where Christ is the Centre, and as sent here He has taken up everything that is for the divine pleasure, which includes the continuation of the testimony.
Along with that we have to keep in mind the line of the hymn we have been singing, ‘We own Thy Deity’ (Hymn 355). The Spirit is on our side, He is helping us, but who He is in His own Person should always be kept in our hearts and in our affections. It says here, “He will bring demonstration to the world”. Now it could be, of course, that that involves the saints in testimony; this is a conflict chapter; the Spirit in this setting is in relation to conflict.
I would like to leave the impression with us as to the greatness of the Person who is here. It says in Thessalonians, “there is he who restrains now until he be gone” (2 Thessalonians 2: 7); that is the Spirit of God. What that involves we do not know in its totality: you think of world powers and all that is happening in these days, beloved brethren; there is “he who restrains”. The prayers of the saints will come into that as we participate in our measure, but that does not indicate in any way the extent of the power of the Holy Spirit personally in what He restrains until He be gone; we should be thankful for that. Maybe we take things too much to ourselves and our horizons are limited. I think we want to see, maybe a little more extensively, what the Spirit is engaged in presently, especially in view of the words of the Lord Jesus here in this chapter. In Joshua 5 a man is seen with a drawn sword in his hand, and Joshua, you might say in the triumph of the forward movements at that time, says, “Art thou for us, or for our enemies?” (Joshua 5: 13). What a lesson he had to learn! “And he said, No; for as captain of the army of Jehovah am I now come”. Joshua had to learn at that point that whilst he was leading the people in, there was He who was here and the conflict really was in His hand.
So it says there of Joshua that he worshipped. What a matter that is for us all to be affected by, involving the greatness and fulness of the Spirit. What words can we use to describe that?
Let us all get some touch as to what belongs to the Spirit personally, the power that is with Him in the area of conflict where things are difficult. This chapter of John would show us how difficult things can become. It tells us.at the beginning “that every one who kills you will think to render service to God” (John 16: 2). I think the Lord was speaking sympathetically to His own, but He was speaking warningly, and yet, as the epistle says, “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”, 1 John 4: 4. What a touch we should get in our affections as to this so that we see that the matter is not all in our hands; it says, “he will bring demonstration”. What a demonstration it is! This world will have no reason and no way to escape what will come in in the way of judgment because the demonstration of the Spirit embraces everything. The Lord says, “he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”. That is all in the area of the Spirit’s own operation, which would include, through grace, ourselves in the testimony, but it is the Spirit’s matter.
Now as to Corinthians. As the testimony goes on, Paul is valuing what is here representative of the assembly in Corinth, but he was very anxious as to what was being demonstrated among the saints. In writing this word he showed that what was amongst the brethren was not altogether as it should be. It would be a marvellous thing if our gatherings, each and all and every time, were a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It is no use any one of us trying to add anything of ourselves to what proceeds in our gatherings. Whatever we may think we have in the way of ability, mentally, orally, or otherwise, that does not lead to any more power, rather it might detract from whatever power there is. What we have to learn is the demonstration of the Spirit; that is in persons. Paul is speaking here of what was amongst them. Keep in mind what he does say, “And I was with you in weakness and in fear”.
Imagine the apostle Paul saying that! Why? I think he was fearful in case some deviation from the line of what the Spirit would be operating in would develop and the brethren be taken up with human ability and intelligence, persuasive words of wisdom—all these things which might come in so easily through any one of us. What we want in our gatherings, brethren, is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power; in that way there will be results for the divine glory.
In Philippians we can view the testimony going on, and there is one thing we can be sure about—that what is of the Spirit and representative of the assembly in any place will be under attack. Paul here warns the saints as to this. What he is pointing out to them in these verses we read, beloved brethren, is that the enemy is baffled when there is unity among the brethren. It is a demonstration to them, that is, to the opposers, of their destruction, “but of your salvation”. In other words, if there is an inroad into any locality it is some breakdown in the line of not standing firm “in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings”. If there is any moving away from that, and other things are taking over, then the enemy has an inroad which will be exploited by him to cause damage among the saints.
Beloved brethren, may we all take this word to our hearts, my own included, as to the need for us, if we are going to be in the testimony as it continues, to prove and know and have experience of the Spirit and the place that He should have amongst us. The result of that is that the headship of Christ will operate; the saints will be in safety, and there will be less of other opinions coming into things, which are most damaging. What a matter it is that the brethren in every place should be standing firm in one spirit. This affects the testimony. If persons go away, become detached, what happens? Others rejoice in that. This means there is not the togetherness that the Spirit would have, and the result can be loss. We want to encourage one another to go on in the line of faithfulness.
We were speaking on Lord’s day of the value the Lord places on the assembly, and what He values in every local place where there is something representative of the assembly; and the enemy will be at that because it is precious to Christ. It is for us all, each of us in our localities, to prove what the Spirit can be to us and evidence that we are standing firm in one spirit. We speak about organic links one with another; this is the normal way in which things which may cause difficulty can be carried. What is our ability to absorb things which may be a little bit difficult? I think it is in the known power and presence of the Holy Spirit, which promotes a steady carrying, sympathetic, gentle approach in every exercise and further helps us to value our standing firm in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings.
POWER AND PATIENCE
J. Mitchell
Exodus 32: 9–14, 20; Numbers 13: 30, 31; 14: 6–10
Our brother has spoken on demonstration, dear brethren, and I suppose if any of us essay to say a word to the brethren in any meeting the brethren have a right to expect that there should be some demonstration of what is said in the one who says it. Alongside that there are times when you see a need to bring in a certain line of truth amongst the brethren, even though recognizing that formation in it might be somewhat scarce in the one who speaks. That would be in one’s mind this evening in that there is a need to bring before the brethren manhood, and particularly the need for men of power who can influence what is for God, men who are able to act for God in the very worst circumstances when the whole position might seem to be lost. I think there is a need at the present time of such men among the saints in the testimony, in order that what is for God, and what is of God, may be secured and may be stabilized.
Moses is a remarkable man in that connection; I suppose that, of the Old Testament saints, there was no one like him, and yet he can be used as an example to us to see the kind of person that God can have in His testimony who is able to act for Himself in the midst of the worst kind of circumstances that could come into the history of the testimony. He is a man who came from God Himself. He had been on the mount with God, and that is a very essential thing. He was therefore a man who was influenced by no one. That is something, I believe, that needs to be taken home to us. We are easily influenced by one another, sometimes, thankfully, for good, but sometimes not for good. The need is to be with God and to be prepared to come out from being with God and to act for Him among the saints. The other thing that marks such a person is his love for the saints, and that is another very necessary thing. It has often been said by elder brethren that if we seek in any sense to serve the brethren, the first necessity is to love them, and we are sometimes challenged as to that, as we shall see when we come to Caleb and Joshua. We must love the saints and hold them in relation to divine purpose, not in some sentimental way, but hold the saints in our affections in relation to what they are to God. Think of the divine expenditure represented in the saints, what they have cost God——“the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own”. That is something which should always affect us, and as we think of one another we can be thinking of what the saints really mean to God.
What a proposal God made to Moses here! I wonder sometimes how any of us would react to such a proposal as this. Maybe in our histories it is not one that God has made. Maybe someone else has made it. But think of Moses’ answer to such a proposal, and later on in this chapter he was prepared even to be blotted out. As we know, he was not great enough for that, but nevertheless that was the spirit of the man. The question is, dear brethren, is that spirit to be lacking amongst us at the present time? Or is that spirit to be found among the saints, because I believe that will lay the basis for God to come in in the way of revival among His own, securing what is for His own pleasure.
So Moses resists that proposal. Just contemplate it for a moment, God saying that He would make of Moses a great nation, and Moses nevertheless refusing that, and holding on to what God had in His own mind, and the promises that He had made, and pleading with Him in relation to that. That brings out another feature which I believe is necessary—our power with God in relation to the saints. I believe there is great scope there, not only among the brothers but among the sisters. A brother was recently among us in the south and gave an address which I think was very needful about the power of prayer and the service of prayer. We need to carry the saints before God at the present time. We should not be concerned so much with our own things but concerned with the welfare of God’s people, and what is for God Himself, and be prepared to labour before God about it.
That is what comes out in Moses, that he has power with God. He is a prince; he has power with God and with men. His power with God is such that it says, “And Jehovah repented of the evil that he had said”. Think of Him being turned away from what He had in mind by the power of the prayer of a man. I believe, dear brethren, there is great need of this kind of power and this kind of intercession for the saints. Sometimes you feel how little you can do in a public sense, but this is a service that is open to every one of us, the power of intercession with God, and at no time, I would think, in the testimony has intercession been more necessary than now. May we encourage one another on this line. As I say, it is a service that anyone, young, old, man or woman, can take up; it is not confined to a certain section of the brethren. Public service in a certain sense is, but not this service; it is a secret, inward service and how often we have felt the power of it when conditions are, difficult. One often thinks of those dark days of the nineteen-sixties, and some have said, How can you continue in the light of such failure? But think of the prayers of sisters over that period, prayers that really held things for God and gave Him a moral warrant to come in in revival. I believe that is open to us all at the present time, dear brethren, that there should be that service with us.
Then you find that Moses is a man who has power among the saints. It says, “And he took the calf that they had made, and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it”—he made them drink it, that is, the bitterness of their sin was brought home to them, and we need to think, dear brethren, of the bitterness of what has come in in the present position among the saints. I think any one who takes any measure of responsibility among the brethren should feel the present conditions and the cause of these conditions, and we should take it home every one to ourselves. Then the brethren can be influenced to feel the bitterness of the sin inwardly. The antidote, the great answer, to that is eating the sin-offering. Alongside drinking this bitter water would be eating the sin-offering, and eating it in a holy place, which is a priestly service and a service that is pleasurable to God. Now Moses’ service was effective, and that is what we need. It is power among the saints to effect things for God.
When you come to Joshua and Caleb their service in Numbers 13 was not very effective, and that is another side that we may need to look at. We may need to think about that, that sometimes even the finest service may not be effective among the saints. Mr. Taylor said something like that about Daniel’s service to Nebuchadnezzar; it needed God to come in in His disciplinary ways with that great king to effect what He had in mind. There was nothing wrong in Daniel’s service, there was no shortcoming in it, there was no fault with it, but it was not effective. Sometimes we need just to wait on God, to await God’s time. In the meantime, what is to be our conduct? I think it is to go along with the saints. Another thing that Mr. Taylor said was in answer to a brother who asked, If you were the only brother who was right in a meeting, what would you do? Mr. Taylor said; What could you do? Where could you go? You could not go anywhere else, could you? You would just have to go along with your brethren patiently, praying for them that God might bring them round, and always making room in your own mind that maybe they are right and you are the only one that is wrong. I think that was sound advice.
So Joshua and Caleb went along patiently with the saints. Think of those forty years that they went in the wilderness. Would there have been any recrimination with Joshua and Caleb? Do you think they would ever have said to any one, Well, it was because of your fault that we are in this position; you know we could have been in the land? I do not
think so; I think they went in the grace of God among the saints. There is a great need, dear brethren, if we are to serve among the saints, to be prepared patiently to go on day by day with them in the state in which they are, without any recrimination, without any murmuring.
The daughters of Zelophehad in a certain sense are an answer to Caleb and Joshua. That is, that there is desire among the saints, through their service and through their conduct, for that precious land that they speak of. Let us then think of that, dear brethren. Where could you go? Think of those words. Where could a righteous man go at the present time? Of course, you might say. There are plenty of places where you could go. Where could a righteous man go at the present time? Is there any alternative, dear brethren? I say, feelingly, there is no alternative for a righteous man. The only way for a righteous man is to go along with God’s people. They are God’s people, and He is committed to them, and He is going to see them through, and He is going to bring them in to the wonder and glory of His thoughts. My service then, and your service, and the service of all of us, is patiently to go along with them, never giving up what is in our affections as to the wonder of that land that He is bringing us into.
Well, I think that is effective service among the saints. I feel the need of it at the present time; many of us may feel that we are not up to what has been brought forward, but at any rate it is necessary that the truth is brought before us, that it may raise exercise with us, and that there might be a desire that that kind of manhood might come to light that can act for God, and can hold His people in their affections in the grace and patience of service and love, in view of their coming into the land. May the Lord bless the word.