FOLLOWING

David Hutson

Hebrews 12: 1-3; Joshua 14: 6-15; 16: 13-10; John 21: 19-22

I want to say a word, beloved, to stimulate us in regard to following. Think of this word in Hebrews, "looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith". The footnote, the brethren will observe, says, 'It means, looking away from other things and fixing the eye exclusively on one'. One feels the need of that for oneself, but I read the other scriptures with a view to stimulating us in that regard. How wonderful to look at Jesus in that way! We have been speaking of Him as to the glory of His Person, who He is, the Creator - "without him not one thing has received being which has received being" - the One by whom God made the worlds, who upholds all things by the word of His power. But here the writer delights to use that precious Name of Jesus, "looking steadfastly on Jesus", fixing the eye exclusively on Him. How prone we are to look to others! Thank God for others whom we have that we can go on with, but again the writer here says, "Let us" emphatic "also therefore", so he is implying that there would be others going on together. What need there is for each one of us to be looking exclusively on Jesus, the One who has completed the course, the Originator, as it says, "the leader and completer of faith". Again the reference to Himself as the Leader, as the footnote shows if we follow it through, is a word which is used exclusively as to Himself. It is the same word as where it speaks of Him as the Originator of life (see Acts 3: 15), which would relate again to what were speaking of in the reading, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men", John 1: 4. He was the Originator of life, but the light appeared in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not, and they slew the Originator of life. But here He is as the leader and completer of faith. He has set on the pathway as no other could set it on; there had been men of God before, this great cloud of witnesses, and they have been added to in the time in which we are. These men, you might say, lived in a different day from ourselves, they did not have to face what we have to face, they were not here literally in the pathway of a rejected Christ, but nevertheless we have had this great crown of witnesses added to. The martyrs laid down their life for the Name of Jesus: they have all been added to this great cloud of witnesses who have gone before. How it behoves us to follow as they did; considering not for themselves in any way but looking stedfastly on Jesus, the One who is the "same yesterday, today and to the ages to come" (see Heb 13: 8): the One who is the same for us as He was for them, the Originator, "the leader and completer of faith". He has completed the path, as it says, "who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross". None of us will ever have to go that way. We have been speaking of the way in which He went, the work which He did which was absolutely complete. So again it says, "and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God". That is where He is, the pinnacle of power in the universe, the One on whom we can look stedfastly and count upon the power which comes from Himself. The power which is here in the Holy Spirit, administered by the Spirit, but coming from the power at the right hand of God where Jesus is and where He has gone, as it says elsewhere, as forerunner for (see Heb 6: 20), entering in within the veil. As has been said, God in a sense is behind His providence, the work of His providence. But we are not governed by God's providence; we enter in beyond providence to where Jesus is entered in within the veil and we look stedfastly on Jesus the One who is the leader and the completer of faith. "Consider well him", that is what we have been doing in the reading, beloved, we have considered well Him. Think of who He is in the glory of His Person and yet the One who was here as the leader and completer of faith, the One who has set Himself down at the right hand of the throne of God. So we have one to whom we can look and not be deflected, not looking at others. As I say, thank God there are others, but as has been said, we are in the day of the individual. Thank God we can go on together, but each one of us has to look to himself and each of us has to be looking stedfastly on Jesus. The Holy Spirit would keep Him before us, our living and glorified Lord. We would look to Him and follow Him, as we have in the other references that I read. Peter was apt to be looking at someone else, but the Lord Jesus could say to him, "If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me". I believe, dear brethren, that the Lord would say that to us today. Thank God, as I say, there are others who are going on in this course and who are following, but what of them? That is not the point, the point for each one of us is that the Lord would say to us freshly today, "What is that to thee". We would say, What about him? But the Lord would say, "What is that to thee? Follow thou me". It speaks of the way that John had special relations with Jesus, the way he could speak of himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who leaned on His breast, the one who was in His bosom at a time of crisis. "What of this man?" But no, that is not the point; "Follow thou me". That is the Lord's matter as to any other one and it is up to every one of us as to our own personal relations with the Lord. But the word is, "Follow thou me". We have been led astray enough and enough sorrow has been caused by following men, but the word is "Follow thou me".

That was how Caleb was. That is why I read of him. It shows the results, the far-reaching results, of a man setting himself to follow Jehovah. He had to endure. The word in Hebrews was to "consider well him who endured". Think of what Caleb had to endure, but he followed, he followed all the way, followed through all this time in the wilderness. What it must have meant to him! You read the book of Numbers and you find the murmurings and the disasters that happened to the people, plagues that came in because of their unbelief and the murmuring, the brazen serpent and all that kind of thing and Caleb went through it all. What is must have meant to him, but there was the land in his heart. How he must have longed to have his part in it, to have that portion that he had been promised, the one that he had set his foot upon. But with the erring people he had to go through all that time in the wilderness and yet he kept his eye on Jehovah, he followed Jehovah. He says, "I wholly followed Jehovah my God". That was it; he had his personal relations with God. That is what kept him all the way through. He was not among the murmurers, he was not among those who lightly esteemed the manna, he was not among those whom Moses illadvisedly had to term rebels, he wholly followed Jehovah. He says, "I wholly followed Jehovah my God". He would be one in our day who was looking stedfastly on Jesus. He wholly followed, not looking to others, looking away from all others and keeping his eye wholly on Jehovah; "I wholly followed Jehovah my God". His personal relations with God are what held him and he followed. All the murmurings and all the wanderings he refers to here, "when Israel wandered in the wilderness", nevertheless God was leading them and Caleb was following, "wholly followed Jehovah my God". And he could remind Joshua of it and what Moses had said, "thou hast wholly followed Jehovah my God", and he said, "Jehovah has kept me alive". That would be in it for us that if we are set to follow we shall be kept alive, kept alive by the Spirit of God, kept alive in this pathway of following as He would keep Jesus before us that we might be looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith. And he says, "Jehovah spoke this word to Moses, when Israel wandered in the wilderness; and behold I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still this day strong, as in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war". This was Ephesian conflict, this was conflict in the land. He had come through the wilderness but he was looking now to conflict in the land and he felt strong for it. He was one who was fitted out with the whole panoply of God and he was waiting upon God; "they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not tire; they shall walk, and not faint", Isa 40: 31. This is Caleb: he was wholly following and he was waiting on Jehovah and he was here mounting up, as it were, with wings as eagles, walking and not being weary, running and not fainting. He was able to get right through in spite of his increasing years. He said, "as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in". He was able to have his part in the testimony, able to go out - we go out in the testimony - but then he was able to come in, come in to enjoy in type the privileges of the assembly. That is what you can do if you are wholly following, keeping the Lord Jesus before you; looking on Jesus, not being deflected by what others may say or what others may do or how others may fall away. How many had fallen away. A whole generation had fallen away in the wilderness, their carcasses had fallen in the wilderness. But Caleb was going through and his strength was the same all the way because he was waiting upon Jehovah. And he says, "And now give me this mountain". He was not looking for an easy path but he was laying hold of the purpose of God. He wanted to have it for himself; he says, "give me this mountain, of which Jehovah spoke in that day". He realised that the enemy would be against him. We cannot minimise what the enemy would do; one way or another he would seek to hinder us from entering into the present enjoyment of the purpose of God. But there is strength for it, strength for the conflict in the land, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. The enemy is set against our entering now, not only for ourselves and our own enjoyment but for the satisfaction of God's heart as we enter into the enjoyment of the inheritance for ourselves. He says, I am well able - "If so be Jehovah shall be with me, than I shall dispossess them, as Jehovah said". What a man this is to have in your local company, dear brethren, what a man it is! I think something has been known of it in this city, a man of this kind in times past - what it is! And it says, "And the land rested from war''. What a time it was when our beloved brother served in this city. You might say he laid hold of the purpose of God, and who was wholly following in this way. It says the land rested from war. It was a time when there were no major conflicts, as we say, no major divisions among the people of God who were being recovered to the truth - the land rested from war. Think of the effect of a man who is wholly following, the one who has his eye exclusively on Jesus, the One who is the leader and completer of faith; the One who has gone through and completed it. So that is one result in the local assembly, a man like that who is able for the conflict. It is not only for his own satisfaction, but he is able for these things, and the land rested from war. He brings in peace in the local assembly. A man of influence too. We noticed at the beginning that it says the children of Judah came near to Joshua and Caleb spoke. It seems as though he had influence, so that all the children of Judah came near. It speaks elsewhere of the tribe of the children of Judah. But here it simply says the children of Judah, it is as it were the family side of things, like we have in the day in which we are, like John would bring us into. Caleb had influence in the family; and they came to Joshua, and Caleb spoke and he spoke no doubt having the family in his heart and the result was they were brought to peace, the land rested from war.

But then he was also a man of influence. He was a man who was concerned as to the continuation of the testimony. And a man like this is concerned as to the continuation of the testimony and so he stimulates the younger brethren. He says, There is still something more to go in for. And as long as we are here, dear brethren, there is always something more to go in for. We never reach the end in that sense, there is always something to go in for and Caleb is one who would stimulate others to go in for what still remains. So it speaks of the way he dispossessed these three sons of Anak and he was able to secure the inheritance for himself. But then he says there is something more and there is a prize for going in for it.

This young man, as we suppose, comes to light, Othniel, and he is stimulated too. No doubt he would be taking his cue, as it were, from Caleb; he would be valuing the inheritance, he would value what the purpose of God was and he would take account of the way Caleb had acted in relation to it: the way in which he was able for war. Othniel would equip himself in the same way so that he also was able to smite this other city. And what comes to light as this young man, as we often speak of him, Othniel the son of Kenaz takes this city, is that there is something more secure, there is something in life again in relation to the local assembly, as we would speak of this. He gave him Achsah his daughter, as wife. He is in type able to have some fresh experience of the assembly as it is vitally, as it is in relation to the Holy Spirit. She herself has clearly an appreciation of the inheritance, she urged him to ask of her father a field. There was something there which she had in mind would bear fruit for God. That is what the inheritance was for, it was in view of what it would yield for God. It was for the blessing of His people, but, dear brethren, that is what is in view all the time. Although we are brought into great blessing, how wonderful it is to be brought into the light of the purpose of God, the light of the knowledge of God, a wonderful sphere of revelation into which we are brought, yet nevertheless the great object in it all is that there should be fruit for God. So she urged him to ask of her father a field; she wants something which is going to bear fruit to God. And she realises that if there is going to be fruit for God it can only be as the Holy Spirit has His way. And so she comes to Caleb herself - this is not now that she urged Othniel, although we might say, he was persuaded by some impress of the local assembly, he was concerned with her as to the fruitfulness that there should be for God, but then she says: "Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a southern land; give me also springs of water. Then he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs". He puts it in that order, the upper springs and the lower springs; the upper springs no doubt would be in view of what would be for God. It would be the Ephesian order of things, what would be flowing, in the upper districts, what would be for the pleasure of God in fruitfulness that would be coming, and she would seek that there might be the liberty and power of the Spirit in view of what would be yielded for God. There would also be, just as Joshua had said, that he would go out and come in, so she is thinking primarily of what there is for God in the upper springs. But then there is to be the power and refreshment of the lower springs in view of what there is to be secured here in testimony at the present time. And what is to be here in testimony is Christ. I remember the question has been asked at times, What is the testimony? And the best answer to that I think is that the testimony is Christ. It was Christ personally when He was here but now it is Christ characteristically, and in the power of the Spirit there is to be maintained here that which is characteristic of Christ maintained in testimony. As Paul could say as to himself, "that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh", 2 Cor 4: 1.

Well, these things are very stimulating to us. As I said at the beginning, it is a time of the individual. It is not a time to look and see how anybody else is going on, although that enters into it because you remember that where we read in John it is a time when Peter is given his commission as to shepherding; there is the feeding of the lambs and the shepherding of the sheep and the feeding of the sheep. So that we are not to be unconcerned as to others how they are getting on and how Peter took it on. You read in his epistle how he speaks of “not as lording it over your possessions" in relation to the flock (1 Peter 5: 3). He would not say, as some do, This is my flock, but he would recognise who it belongs to. The time is coming when, as he says, the chief Shepherd is going to be manifest. But here, although concerned in that respect as to the sheep and the lambs feeding and shepherding, nevertheless this matter comes up and Jesus says to him, "follow thou me". He tells him what the end is going to be for himself, the way in which he would glorify God in his death, so that Peter could speak of it. There are not many who knew that they were going to be taken before the Lord comes. Paul could say, "we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord" (1 Thess 4: 15), and that blessed event, beloved, is nearer than ever it was. We are looking for the Lord Jesus to come with an assembling shout, with archangel's voice and trump of God. He will gather all to Himself which He has secured by His precious death. But Peter knew he would not be here then; he had been told by which death he would glorify God. But in the meantime he is to be following. We are to be following until the Lord comes. That is all we can say, however long that would be. It may not be a matter of months, it may be a matter of days, indeed it may not even be a matter of days. How wonderful that is, the imminence! May it ever be kept before us as we are following Him, so that our pathway may be completed for His pleasure. The word is to Peter "Follow men; that is, there is something to do in relation to the saints in the shepherding service, but the great thing is, "Follow me". So if we are to be of any use among the saints like Caleb in stimulating others and bringing others into the gain of the purpose of God, the great point is as with Caleb, "Follow thou me". He wholly followed Jehovah - looking away from others and fixing the eye exclusively on One, looking unto Jesus the leader and completer of faith.

Peter again, what a lesson book he is for us! Not that we speak disparagingly of Peter: as a brother once said, "when we get to heaven we will feel pretty small alongside him, but what a lesson book he is for us, and here he says, "And what of this man? ". Well, the great point is, as I say, it is the day of the individual. Thank God we are set together. Our brother Mr A.J.Gardiner used to say to us that 2 Timothy 2 is the guarantee of Christian fellowship until the Lord comes; "pursue righteousness faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart", 2 Tim 2: 22. And we are not exhorted to impossibilities, it is the guarantee that there will always be some with whom we can walk and walk so as to please God. But Peter is looking at others, "Lord, and what of this man? Jesus says to him, If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee?". Well, dear brethren, the prospect is that we shall abide until He comes. Are we going to abide with His followers? "When the Son of man comes, shall he indeed find faith on the earth?", Luke 18: 8. Have we faith in the Son of God? Get the victory over the world; it says, he that gets the victory over the world is he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God (see 1 John 5: 5). So we are in the position of victory and we can have our eye on Jesus, exclusively following Him.

Thank God others will be following with us but that is not our matter; that is His matter. We have responsibility in relation to them, but the great point is to fix our eyes exclusively on Him, the leader and completer. He has suffered for us, giving us a Model that we should follow in His steps, perhaps a form of the sufferings of Christ that we do not speak of much; it says, He has suffered for us, giving us a model (see 1 Peter 2: 21). He has given us a Model but He suffered for us, giving us a Model that we should follow in His steps.

May the Lord help us to follow. For His Name's sake.

NEW YORK

9 May 1998