READING AND PRAYER
[p. 475] READING AND PRAYER
I want to dwell on the thought of understanding, and in order to make it clear I refer to Daniel. Daniel tells us that he “understood by the books”. I do not urge you to read everything, but it is important to read. We read of Ezra as “ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given”, Ezra 7: 6. I would be disposed to read anything that Ezra wrote. I am not saying that Daniel acquired his knowledge by such literature (he speaks of the books, the Scriptures) as may have been written to meet the local need of the saints, but I have no doubt that Daniel would gladly read any helpful production, and if you cannot hear a man whom God has qualified to minister, then do not despise what he may write, for God uses scribes. There was a scribe in David’s regime; there was a chronicler also. The scribe, or secretary, was a man who would write down at the king’s mouth what the king might wish to communicate. Such a man is of great importance, especially in a day like the present, when the saints are so widely scattered, and many isolated. The preacher in Ecclesiastes indicates the exercises of one employed in this service. He says: “The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth”, Ecclesiastes 12: 10.
The Holy Spirit has given much for the people of God and it is for us to get the benefit of what is available. So it says, “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd”. There are words of wisdom, words of truth, carefully set down as food for the saints. Well now, Daniel said he understood by books, and by these books he gathered that there were certain time limitations, seventy years, and then there should be a return of the captivity. We gather the [p. 476] mind of God in this way from reading. Daniel understood by books that there should be a return of the captivity after seventy years, and so he prays.
I have been speaking about reading. Now I would urge prayer. How much do we pray, dear brethren? How far do we travel in our prayers? The more you are with God the wider shall become the area covered by your prayers, until the whole household of faith is embraced, and indeed ‘all men’. Do not be satisfied with your prayers until you, as it were, cover the whole household of faith. As Scripture enjoins: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”, Ephesians 6: 18.
So Daniel set his face to pray; and then it says, “whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation”. What a wonderful experience that was! It was about the time of the evening oblation, and that was what his prayer was. It was an oblation; it ascended to God. And so Gabriel speaks to him: “he informed me, and talked with me”. Is it not worth while to pray? Pray on, until you, as it were, receive a divine communication. Something from the Lord will come into your soul. “He informed me”, he says, “and talked with me”. Those of us here who have had to do with God in prayer know something about this. It is a wonderful experience to have to say to God, and as you pray and embrace the saints in your prayers, you get an impression from God; you become assured He has heard you. “If we know that he hear us ... we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”. It is [p. 477] inexpressibly precious to be conscious that God hears us. And then it says further, “and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding”. These things are all within our reach.
Is there any young brother who desires to have the mind of God? “Consider what I say;” says Paul, “and the Lord give thee understanding”, but prayer enters into this. Gabriel says further: “At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved”. Think of that! As you are praying, God looks into your heart; He knows what is going on in your heart, and He greatly loves you, as you pray, taking into account, as Daniel did, the state of His people, bearing them on your heart before Him. And then it goes on: “therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision”. And now look! “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy”.
As we look abroad in the world as it is, what a message this is! “To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to ... bring in everlasting righteousness”. God had determined seventy weeks and there cannot be seventy-one. There shall be just seventy; seventy weeks are determined. What are they determined for? “To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity”. What great results to look forward to for a man like Daniel! And then, “To bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy”. Can anything fail? No! There were just seventy weeks determined for the accomplishment of all these things. And who acquires the knowledge of this? The man who reads and the [p. 478] man who prays! He comes into the light of all these great facts. In like manner the mind of God may be acquired by ourselves. Thus by reading and prayer, we become like the men of Issachar, we have understanding of the times; we know the times, and not only that, we know what Israel ought to do. And that to me involves assembly obligations at the present time.
You may ask, Where is the assembly? Well, I cannot show you the assembly but I know it exists here on earth. “The Lord knows those that are his”; and if I am an Ephesian saint, so to speak, I love all the saints. I am concerned about them all; I pray for them, for I have ‘understanding of the times’, and I know ‘what Israel ought to do’. Hence it is a question of assembly obligation and, as we apprehend that, we clothe the saints with assembly thoughts. The Lord clothes them thus. As we sit down to partake of the Lord’s supper we are taking it in the light of the assembly and the Lord views us in that light. If others are not there we miss them, if we are with God. The Lord misses them. The Supper belongs to the assembly and every member of the assembly should partake of it. If not, why not? If something is wrong, judge it; there is grace with the Lord to adjust you, so that you should be qualified to respond to His desire. Those who have ‘understanding of the times’ know that Israel ought to do that, and it is for you to have part in it. Time is precious and it is for us to fill it out, not only in regard to our personal history but the history of the assembly; the little that remains is to be redeemed and used for the Lord and naught else.
Pages 479 - 746 — “Notes of Readings in New York and other Ministry”, 1949 (Volume 178).