DELIVERANCE FROM THE CURRENT RELIGIOUS WORLD
[p. 508] DELIVERANCE FROM THE CURRENT RELIGIOUS WORLD
Matthew 13:1,36; Matthew 16:1 - 4; Matthew 24:1 - 4; Acts 1:9; Acts 1:12 - 14
I wish to speak from these scriptures about deliverance from the world, and of our being maintained as delivered from it. I have in mind particularly the religious world, for the religious world in Scripture is treated as representing the world generally. The rudiments of the world according to Colossians are what mark the current recognised religion of man. They are called rudiments of the world, for in truth, though they take on nominally the names of Christ and of God, they have their origin in the world and are essentially worldly; so that all the features of the world appear ultimately in Babylon. What in Colossians are called the “elements of the world” (Colossians 2:8), are in Galatians called “beggarly principles” Galatians 4:9. The Christians in the Galatian district were taking on these things in addition to what the gospel presented. They are called beggarly as meaning that they are utterly impoverished as set over against what is of God and the Spirit of God; however classical or ancient they may appear, they are in fact beggarly.
I want to show from Matthew how the Lord indicated in His own path the way of deliverance from the religious world. Matthew is particularly occupied with the world as an organised system in opposition to God, having its centre in Jerusalem. Other scriptures refer to the world as the men in it. You will find that Matthew presents Christ as dealing with twos, meaning that He aimed at breaking up the world as an organised system, so we have two demoniacs, and two blind men; over against that, the ass and the colt, and “two of you” (Matthew 18:19), that is, two of the assembly; God meets organisation by organisation.
[p. 509] So the Lord, in breaking up organised opposition to God, exposes it, and leaves it, for we should not leave anything without giving reasons, and the reasons, if according to God, are the exposure of the things we leave. If we thus expose something and abandon it, our object would be that others should abandon it also. A lead thereby is given, which is another great principle with God. The Lord in Matthew is seen leading. In chapter 12 the religious system is seen as a house; in chapter 16 I hope to show that the system is seen in its leaders, and in chapter 24 in its grandeur and finery. The believer is thus furnished by the Lord with what enables him to judge and to turn away from the system in all its features.
The house aspect of the system is perhaps the most attractive to the young; you find family gatherings there, social events, garden parties — what you may regard as a ‘living’ state of things. You say, We have life in our church, we have social functions, happy gatherings, sewing classes and dancing classes, for they have even added these in our day, for they have in mind to hold the young, and it is true the young are held, but alas! it is in bondage to the world. You find enjoyable seasons and everything regarded as ‘life’. You are thus in the system regarded from the family side. In chapter 12 the Lord views the whole Jewish system as a house, but He leaves it for the same reason as that for which you should leave modern religious systems, if you are in any of them. I do not enlarge on His word here, it has its own power, lest you should think that I am unduly attacking what is around. But the Lord definitely leaves the house. He had spoken about sinning against the Holy Spirit, about an unpardonable sin, and about their own sons casting out demons — a family touch, then He went out of the house and sat by the seaside.
Then His mother and His brethren come; worthy [p. 510] people they, surely! they are without. They claim Him on natural lines, but He is not at the beck and call of those who claim Him thus; He denies the claim, and brings out those who had a family claim upon Him: those who did the will of His Father in the heavens. Do you find such persons in your social functions, in your sewing parties, in your dancing parties? The Lord “stretching out his hand to his disciples ... said, Behold my mother and my brethren!” Matthew 12:49. You say, How hard on those standing outside! Yes, it was scathing language, for Satan was in the system to which they belonged. The Holy Spirit was spoken against in it, the unpardonable sin was in it, so that all natural claims were null and void. Those who do the will of God are the only ones who have a claim on Him, and He therefore gives them a lead; in Matthew 13:1 He goes out of the house.
Young people, this word is for you, especially if you have not left that house; the Lord is indicating a lead that you should follow: “That same day Jesus went out from the house and sat down by the sea”. If He sat down, He is not going back again; you may be assured of that. Stephen saw Him standing — it was an attitude of grace, and He would have gone back, if they had repented; but Paul sees Him sitting, for He is not going back; you may expect Him to, but He will not go back, and your wisdom is to find where He is.
He sat by the sea to sow, for He will bring in another order of things; and then in verse 36 He goes into another house, for there is another house, and there are brethren and fathers and mothers; you will not be left orphaned, you will find these and you will be enriched. The disciples (verse 36) come to Him as He goes into the house and ask Him a question. It is a time for asking questions; one hears questions everywhere and one is glad of it, for the Lord delights to answer all our questions. He [p. 511] sometimes answers the questioner, which perhaps is more important. Here He answers the question, and goes further and speaks about the assembly — a divine organisation of divine material, a wonderful structure, the most wonderful of all, built by God Himself with stones which shall never be thrown down but which shall abide for ever, when every earthly system and its glory have crumbled to dust. Scripture presents it as the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God, and also as the tabernacle of God with men. It was in the house that the Lord spoke about the assembly, so that any one who had followed Him as leading out can follow Him in where He will unfold all these things. You will find every right feeling and affection there, but here it is particularly to fill your treasure, for you will become a householder, and as such you will become a most interesting person. You will have in your treasure things new and old, and you will have things of your own as you listen to Christ — wonderful things that He has to impart to you in the house.
Now the part we have spoken of is mainly for the young, but in chapter 16 we have something for those who are older. It is concerned with the Pharisees and Sadducees. As you grow up to manhood and womanhood you begin to think, and you will find these thinkers in the world, and they think according to their schools. The Pharisees are those who are orthodox, but they spin their theories out of their own minds; they recognise the Fathers and even the scriptures, but they take no account of what God is doing. They can discern the face of the sky; they can prognosticate accurately, as the Lord says in another place, “and so it happens” (Luke 12:54); they are correct in what they forecast. We are not to wonder at this, for the man of sin will say and do wonderful things; the second beast of Revelation will do great wonders. The Lord refers in chapter 16 to the “evening”. I have no doubt He alludes to the evening of the dispensation. They say ‘fair weather’, and so it is, but they ignore that the morning will bring a storm, “for the sky is red and lowering”. You may listen to them, and you may say, A wonderful address, a wonderful article, a wonderful book! yet the fact is it is written to establish the present religious order of things which is opposed to Christ.
Then there is another class of thinkers; they think nothing of the Bible, they will tell you that it was all exploded long ago; they are Sadducees, they believe nothing they do not see. You hear these conflicting things and it may be you are bewildered — many are. There are many who have taken refuge in the most ancient forms of religion, attracted by their grandeur and finery in order to escape the confusion and bewilderment of what the mind of man has evolved. These two great lines honeycomb Christendom, and the Lord in His lead and in His own withering way would say, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it save the sign of Jonas”. Note what follows, “And he left them and went away”.
These men pay no attention to God and the work of God. If you read the books of the leaders of religion written during the last century, you will find no reference to the great current work of God. It is not that they do not know of it, but they entirely ignore what they know. To such the Lord says, “a sign shall not be given to it save the sign of Jonas”. There is no need to pretend to have signs, for the Lord says there shall be none. There were signs at the beginning, but the present time is entirely in faith, not signs. Paul always taught his hearers to look at what was not seen. I am not denying that there will be signs, for there will be such — real satanic workings which will head up in the man of sin with [p. 513] all his deceitful power; but the Lord says here that no sign shall be given save the sign of Jonas.
In chapter 12 the Lord calls Jonas a prophet; He would in grace towards them give Jonah his status as a prophet in order that they might pay heed. There is more grace in chapter 12 than in chapter 16, but there is no grace for those who refuse the sign of Jonas. As viewed in chapter 12 a believer in the system might have respect for a prophet, but in chapter 16 the prophet is only ridiculed. Such teachers today have no regard for this prophet. Outside of the books of Moses no part of scripture has been so much attacked as the book of Jonah. They will argue about the ‘whale’, as they call it, but the Lord would answer all the questions, if we only ask Him. He would have spoken to them about the “great fish” (Jonah 1:17) that was prepared, but no, they would not listen. The Lord will tell you about that, if you ask Him. If you ridicule, you will only blind yourself and your fellows. The Lord would have called Jonah a prophet, as in His answer in Luke 24. He spoke of all the prophets; He said, “O senseless and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered?” Luke 24:25,26. The sign of Jonas referred to His own death, but the modern teachers ridicule the sign of His death, for that is what the sign of Jonas referred to — the death of Jesus.
In leaving such a state of things you not only leave, but you put a distance between you and it — you burn all the bridges between you, and the further you get away the better. It says that the Lord left them and went away. The epistle to the Colossians is to encourage the saints to get away as far as possible from the religious world, and in getting away not to take any of the leaven with them; the leaven is referred to in the next incident in Matthew 16.
Now there are many who appear to escape these things, but are held by what is in chapter 24 — the [p. 514] grandeur and embellishment of ancient religion. The young are held up by family feelings and affections, those older are held through their minds, while others are held by the glamour and antiquity of current religion. There is nothing like it to them. It is wonderful in its finery and embellishments; it includes Rome. Look at the wonderful services, the windows, the incense, and added to this the idolatry by which the religious mind of men is captured. Many have taken refuge in all this from the bewilderment of the diverse opinions of men. It says of the Lord that He went forth and departed — He left the place. We shall see what He meant by it, if we recall what we read; the disciples come to Him to point out to Him the buildings of the temple. Think of that! as if He did not know what buildings were there. There are those who assume to know better than the Lord, or better than Paul. The disciples even assumed that the Lord did not know. Does the Lord not know about your edifices; your St. Peters, your St. Johns, your saints, your windows and finery? The Lord knows all about them, for He walks about among the seven candlesticks; He has judged all that system and He has departed from it, never to return, and as a result, not a stone will be left upon a stone. (Compare Revelation 18.) Where will you be then, and what avail will all this finery be when He comes at the completion of the age?
Having said this to the disciples, He went and sat upon the mount of Olives. The force of His sitting on the mount of Olives is that He now speaks of the Spirit, that He is now operating through the Spirit. Then the disciples come privately and they ask an excellent question, “What is the sign of thy coming and the completion of the age?” I hope we are all thinking of the coming of the Lord and of the end of the world. He is coming and this world is wearing itself out.
[p. 515] The Lord then proceeds to unfold His coming from the Jewish standpoint, but the first remark is of importance to all of us. “See that no one mislead you”. You may have escaped all these phases of the world which we have spoken of, but the enemy pursues you. You need not think that because you have left the Pharisees and the Sadducees that you are secure, for the enemy will not leave you alone, and our safety lies in dependence on the Lord and prayer, and asking questions. The Lord has taken up a position privately to the end that we may learn, and we need to keep on asking Him questions, for it is intended that we should know, as it is said, “ye know all things” (1 John 2:20) — that is, through the unction. While there are no outward signs given, yet we have signs for our times — they are signs in the Spirit, and for the understanding of these, the believer’s eye is turned to Christ. Let no one be deceived about what is happening in the East or in Italy; it is not the time of signs except of signs in the Spirit, known only to those who have faith. It is a time of faith, not of sight, and of inquiring from Christ as on the mount of Olives. The Lord has given a lead, in order that we may know the way out of the world and the way into God’s world.
In Acts 1 we have the final touch to all this; Scripture does not say that the Lord went up from the mount of Olives, but it says, the disciples returned from the mount of Olives. They returned into the city from the mount. They do not go into the temple, for things are not recorded from the same standpoint as in the end of Luke. We are now in view of the assembly, so they went to the upper room. You say, ‘Now you are going to bring us down to very small things’; yes, you can be safe only in what is small outwardly — a “little flock” as the Lord says, “Fear not, little flock” Luke 12:32. The time of publicity and great [p. 516] things is coming, for the holy city is coming down and will eclipse all here. Look at that city, look at its measurements, its stones; it will not be destroyed. It is coming down having the glory of God, and then, as the tabernacle of God, it will be with men.
The disciples go to the upper room. The Lord had not told them to do so according to the passage, but they are persons who know what to do as having been with Him on mount Olivet. It says that He was taken up, they beholding Him, and a cloud received him out of their sight — a cloud received Him. He was not in view as He went up. The cloud indicates that what marks the present period is not sight but faith. We are tested when He is not in view; it is a test of our spiritual progress. Although they were acquainted with such wonderful things, they did not use the things to make themselves great — they were not to be heroes. Hero — worship is a present danger. The Lord told them to remain in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. They were to wait for the heavenly clothing before they were to appear in service. You will not be carried about in this world as in this garb.
The word used for ‘upper’ here is a stronger word than usual. Spiritually it means elevation in obscurity; it corresponds to our place as in Ephesians — seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, but as compared with the temple, a ‘room’ implies smallness. When you go to the upper room you find remarkable persons there; as you follow the lead given, you will find notables in the assembly. It says that certain ones were staying there — Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew etc., with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, with His brethren. What notables they were! their living associations were there. The point is that it was an upper room; you are withdrawn there from the level of the street, and you find there the companions of Christ, those commissioned [p. 517] by Him; you will find there, too, satisfaction for every spiritual affection and feeling. What a privileged and elevated although obscure spot it is!
Note that it says there were several women. The women are representative of affection in Scripture, so that they are seen here as those who love Christ — Christ’s companions who have learned to love spiritually. It is affection that counts with women, but it is a great thing when women learn to love spiritually. We are to learn to come to the meeting spiritually, it is the only way into the assembly. Then there was one distinguished woman there — Mary the mother of Jesus, a woman who could say, “all generations shall call me blessed” Luke 1:48. What an advantage to young women to find a mother in Israel in the locality!
Then there are the brethren of Jesus — a most remarkable set of persons in this world, a model company, for that is what it is. The apostles are suggestive of the moral weight that represents the authority of Christ, then the spiritual affections are seen in the women and in one outstanding woman. Paul speaks to Timothy of one who had washed saints’ feet and diligently followed every good work, who was marked too as having brought up children, for that is the test — to bring up children. All this culminates in the spirit of family dignity as seen in the brethren of Jesus known in elevation in obscurity.