THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD REFLECTED IN HIS SERVANTS
[p. 585] THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD REFLECTED IN HIS SERVANTS
Matthew 24:45,46; Hebrews 3:5; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6
I wish to speak about the faithfulness of God, and as in all else we have to apprehend the idea as it came out in Christ. God’s faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds, we are told. It is its far-reachingness that is emphasised, and so it appears from the outset that He is a faithful Creator. We have about us every day the evidences of His faithfulness in the creation, particularly the creation as it existed after the deluge, for He had entered into an engagement with it through Noah and his sons, that while the earth remained there should be seed-time and harvest, day and night, summer and winter, cold and heat. Thus everything furnishes the evidence of His bounty, for under these conditions we have rain and fruitful seasons, through which men’s hearts are filled with food and gladness. While seasons may vary, as they do, the general fact remains that God has been wonderfully true to His engagement in physical things. The Christian, the godly believer, recognises this daily, as he partakes of those divine bounties for the sustenance of his body, and glorifies God in it, for these things are given, and are sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Thus from the very outset of our histories here, we are surrounded with the evidences of the faithfulness of God, and then as the gospel comes to us, it abounds with evidences of the same thing in a spiritual way; so that we have the idea emphasised in Romans and in the letters to the Corinthians, as well as elsewhere, but particularly in the epistles that take account of Christians in their early histories.
[p. 586] But whether it be in an individual way, or in a collective way, we are led to understand that we can rely upon God. One has been made to feel of late, if we regard ourselves in a collective sense, how dependent we are on the faithfulness of God. As the enemy attacks in one way or another, and there are no rules by which to hold things together according to the principles of man, we are made to prove how dependent on God we are. It is a veritable miracle that men and women scattered throughout the world, without visible means of holding themselves together, are preserved, for we are preserved.
Those of us who understand something of these epistles have learned to nestle in regard of what is collective under the wing of divine faithfulness. The apostle says to the Corinthians, “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son” (1 Corinthians 1:9) and again, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able to bear, but will with the temptation make the issue also” (1 Corinthians 10:13), so that in the temptation what is of God in us is brought into evidence. Thus we are able to bear it; for what is of God in us is never overwhelmed. What at times might appear to engulf us melts away so that we are filled with power.
Then the apostle goes on immediately to say, “I speak as to intelligent persons” (1 Corinthians 10:15), and then he proceeds to speak of the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s supper is preserved on that principle — under the wing of divine faithfulness. In the next epistle when Paul’s veracity is questioned, he says, “Now God is faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him. For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us” 2 Corinthians 1:18 - 20. You see he advances in the subject as [p. 587] he proceeds, for he brings the verification of every promise into a concrete form in the Son of God who was preached. One would have loved to have heard Paul preach the Son of God! He would bring out in his preaching how every divine engagement was secured and reached in the Son of God, and that it was God’s doing, for the Son was here at the Father’s behest, and for His pleasure, and it was of all moment to God that His engagements should be fulfilled. And so the apostle, and the other two preachers at Corinth, made it clear that the Son of God was the divine answer, the confirmation of every divine engagement. God’s faithfulness was preached to the intent that the godly at Corinth should learn to nestle under that wing.
It is illustrated in Abraham in a very striking and simple way. No doubt all of you will have noticed the prominence given to Beersheba, especially in the book of Genesis. It appears in connection with an engagement by Abraham. He entered into an engagement with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, and the requirement was that he should do no harm to the king or to his sons, or to his sons’ sons, and Abraham accepted it and entered into a covenant according to that requirement, and the place of the covenant was called Beersheba. Beersheba means the well of the oath. Abraham dug the well there. It arose from the thought of Abraham being true to his engagement. The Philistines had evidently taken a well of water away, and Abraham had reproved the king on account of this; then he said to the king, “That thou take the seven ewe-lambs of my hand” Genesis 21:29. He gave him more, but he gave him particularly these seven ewe-lambs, and the king naturally inquired as to the meaning of this gift. Abraham answered, “That they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well” Genesis 21:30. These seven ewe-lambs represented the spirit in which Abraham intended to live [p. 588] in relation to Abimelech, that he would never do him any harm, and that is the spirit of Christ. The Christian might well enter into this engagement, but for that we need the well — constant refreshment — the support of the Spirit, and so Abraham plants a grove, and calls on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, as if he would say to God, ‘You have supported me until now, and I trust in You for the future’.
Now that was Beersheba, and following it, in the next chapter, Abraham is called upon to offer up Isaac, which he does, and in figure he received Christ from the dead. And now he has not only got the promise, but the oath, the confirmation, the two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. He had strong consolation, and so he descends from the mount as having received Christ from the dead. He returned to his young men, for Isaac is not now in view; it is a question of Christ risen. He has gone up and every promise is thus sure; the promise and Christ risen go together. Below there is Abraham and his young men; and these go together. The latter is a hint of assembly formation — the experienced old brother who has counted on God, and relied on His faithfulness, and who has the confirmation of the promise of God in the oath, thus having the consummation of everything in his soul, going along together with young men. It is, as I said, a hint at assembly formation, where the old and young are together, and so they dwell at Beersheba — they dwell there. They are dwelling under the wing of known divine faithfulness, for God is faithful. It is known to Abraham, for he had proved the faithfulness of God. And so it is apparent that the understanding of 1 and 2 Corinthians from this standpoint enables us even now, in a day of brokenness and weakness, to dwell together under the wing of divine faithfulness, for God is faithful.
[p. 589] One generation passes away and another comes. A coming generation, involving the means of the continuance of the testimony, is an evidence of the faithfulness of God.
I might go on to show how this worked out in Isaac, the heavenly man, but the time forbids it; but I will show you how it works out in Jacob, the vicissitudes of whose life aptly depict those of the history of the assembly. What you find with Jacob is that he leaves the land; Isaac never did, for he represents the heavenly man. We have ever to keep that before us if we are to be balanced in our service. But Jacob has to leave the land and take a journey; and you find he starts from Beersheba. When he is sent out by Isaac to find his wife among his relatives in Syria, he begins at the most southern point, at Beersheba, as if he would say, ‘I have to leave the sphere of promise and to make a journey, but I begin with the faithfulness of God’. I say this for young people here. I love to see young people start in life in the light of the faithfulness of God.
Jacob began there, he virtually said, ‘I know God will bring me back, that nothing He has spoken concerning me will fail’. So he began at Beersheba, and later (Genesis 46:1) he is seen going down into Egypt with the intelligence then not of a young believer but of an old one, an experienced one. As he was going to Joseph he halted at Beersheba. He is leaving the land again, he is taking an untrodden path, as faith often has to do, and he halts at Beersheba. It was due to God that he should recognise His faithfulness, and so he offered sacrifices there to the God of his father, Isaac — not Abraham — as if he said, ‘I know now that not one thing that Thou hast promised will fail, for all is secured in the risen Christ’. It is remarkable spiritual intelligence, and God appears to him. That is something that faith may ever look for, for faith recognises God in His [p. 590] faithfulness. Jehovah appears to him and says, “I am ... the God of thy father” (Genesis 46:3), that is, Isaac, as we might say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” 2 Corinthians 1:3. It is what God is in Christ. “I am ... the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for ... I will go down with thee” Genesis 46:3,4. What a blessed experience for the pilgrim, as he started out on such a path, but he started out in the light of known divine faithfulness, and so he offered sacrifices to the God of his father.
I have dwelt on all these things that we might see what the faithfulness of God involves, and when we come to the epistle to the Romans we find what Jacob expected would come to pass, that all Israel shall be saved. God is not slack concerning His promise; faith, therefore, proves the faithfulness of God. We see it in God, and it came out in Christ, the Son of God. As Son of God He is risen. He is declared to be the Son of God. That is how the gospel presents Him. He is declared to be the Son of God with power by resurrection, and that is where verification comes in; One who could overcome every opposition, even death itself, for apparently death had denied the promises. There can be no verification except on that principle. Death had been the denial publicly of the fulfilment of the promises; the patriarchs all died in faith not having received the promises, and hence the great value of the Son of God. The power is inherent in Him to overcome every obstacle, and so the promises come to pass in a risen Christ, in One who is great enough to overcome every opposition. The Son of God, declared to be Son of God by the overthrow of the greatest stronghold of the opposition, the power of Satan in death. The believer lives under that wing, under the wing of the faithfulness of God.
I read about Moses because he is presented to us as faithful in all God’s house, and I wish to connect [p. 591] Moses with the passages read in Timothy before I go to Matthew. I do that because of prophetic indications made at his birth. Prophecy brings in the mind of God before the thing comes to pass. I dwell on this for a moment, so that the young may understand the connection in which ministry is set. The delicate seed sown long before should mature, and develop, and correspond with the mind of God delivered by prophecy. I speak thus, so that we may not think lightly of divine service. Every servant is watched over not only from his birth, but long before; such is God’s interest in the vessels that He uses in His ministry, and so, as Moses was born there was something for the parents to see, not much, no doubt, but long before God had foreseen Moses, so in the beginning of Exodus we have the record of the marriage of his parents. His sister was born before him, Aaron was born before him, but no reference is made to them. A son is born, and that son, according to the New Testament, was “exceedingly lovely” Acts 7:20. “By faith Moses, being born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw the child beautiful” Hebrews 11:23. There was a prophetic indication of what was in that child, what was there was potential. There may not have been much, but enough for the parents; and so it is, beloved, in regard of those who minister.
I particularly confine my remarks to those who minister. The apostle says to Timothy, “Be not negligent of the gift that is in thee, which has been given to thee through prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the elderhood”. These are two things — gift by prophecy, and the hands of the elderhood. Prophecy is the mind of God about Timothy; to whom it was indicated it is not said, but that it was indicated there is no doubt, and that the apostle Paul had an idea, a divinely given impression, of it when he took up Timothy as a young man, there can be no doubt.
In Acts 16:3 we read, “Him [Timothy] would Paul have go forth with him” Acts 16:3. The apostle sorely needed such a companion. He had lost Barnabas, and the Lord gave him Timothy. He found Timothy and there was prophetic indication of gift. The brethren look for these things, for these prophetic indications of gift. Something will come to light to indicate what is there potentially. It may be clouded later, as it was with Moses, for there was no evidence of it in the house of Pharaoh.
The life of Moses was divided into three parts, but what was potentially in that babe was indicated at the beginning. There was no evidence of it while he was in Pharaoh’s court, but when he became forty years of age and went out to see his brethren, he knew something about it himself then. And every brother should know it as a secret between himself and God. What he did on his own initiative was the outcome of his links and relations with God. His brethren did not understand, and they forced him away. We have to endure that, brethren, we have to learn how to serve unsympathetic people, and it is a wholesome exercise. The prophecy had gone before, but now Moses knew it himself; he was conscious of his interest in his brethren, and of his power to help, but the elderhood, so to speak, was not ready. The prophecy indicated what Moses was, but Moses personally was not yet equal to the prophecy concerning him. That requires the formation of the vessel and takes time, and that is where we lack. We all do. We expect the elderhood to lay their hands on us too soon, but the elderhood will not do that. The true elderhood lay their hands on persons who are formed, and you cannot deceive them, for with them it is a question of experience; they know something of Christ, the Vessel that suits God, so they are not too ready to lay their hands upon you; you have to qualify.
In Timothy’s case he had gift and they laid their hands upon him.
Now I proceed to the next epistle, and here Paul says, “I put thee in mind to rekindle the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands”. This is an advance, as you might expect; remember, if we are not advancing we are retrograding. If you have passed the elderhood, you may expect Paul’s hands, that is to say, you are qualified now for something special. The elderhood is a general idea, prophecy is a general idea, it is the mind of God about the vessel, but now there is something special. I do not know of anyone else spoken of in this way. Timothy had received gift through the laying on of Paul’s hands. When there was a general drift away from Paul, there was a special man there to stand up firmly for his ministry. If we lose it, I may say, we lose all, for Paul’s ministry is the heavenly thing. What the assembly is to Christ, as the heavenly Man must never be surrendered, and hence the apostle urges on Timothy to rekindle the gift of God which was in him.
And this leads me to Matthew; I need not remind you of the importance of special service, for it is the idea of special service in that gospel. “Who then is a faithful and prudent bondman?” He is singled out. It is not, Who are these? It is one person in view. It is not that that person accredits anything to himself — far otherwise but the Lord inquires, ‘Who is he?’ “Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman?” In Mark’s gospel the Lord says, “There are some of those standing here that shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power” Mark 9:1. There were six days to prepare, and certainly if I value seeing the kingdom of God coming in power, I shall not be unprepared, I shall not fail in anything to fit me for it, and so here the challenge is, “Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman?”
[p. 594] It is for each one to answer. The Lord intends to create in us a desire to be that. It is not that there is not room for many; there is room for any number of faithful and wise bondmen, but the Lord puts it in the singular. Am I to be that?
You will notice that “faithful” is put first. It is said of Moses that he was faithful in all God’s house, and that marked him to the end. The book of Deuteronomy is the greatest tribute to the spiritual continuance of Moses. It is in that book that the Holy Spirit eulogises him. There was no evidence of decline or weakness. He would not go over what he said forty years back in the same words. He was in such spiritual vigour and freshness that he presented things in a living way; he was able to present the same things in a new garb. He kept no stock of sermons. He spoke in Deuteronomy in the power of the Spirit — in freshness; his speech distilled as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb. He was fresher than ever; his natural force was not abated, and his eye was not dim. They were “the words which Moses spoke” (Deuteronomy 1:1) when he was over a hundred and nineteen years old, and in chapter after chapter he pours out his own thoughts for the people, so much so that at the end it says, “These are the words of the covenant that Jehovah commanded Moses ... besides the covenant that he made with them in Horeb” Deuteronomy 29:1. There is more sap, more power in Deuteronomy than in any of the books, because there it is a matter of his own feelings and affections, as inspired by the Spirit of God. He is the man Moses. When he was about to die he was able to witness to the love of God to the people; he said, “Yea, he loveth the peoples” Deuteronomy 33:3. There is nothing old or stale or mouldy about Deuteronomy. If the book witnesses to anything, it is to the faithfulness of Moses, preparing the people for God and for God’s land, and so he is faithful in all God’s house to the end, and the book finishes [p. 595] with a tribute to him, for it says, “And there arose no prophet since in Israel like Moses” Deuteronomy 34:10. It is the production of an old man in point of years, but of a young man spiritually, retaining his youth, and freshness, and feelings, and keeping before the people the mind of God.
Now who is that faithful and wise bondman whom the Lord can set over His household, to give them food, the portion of meat in due season, for that is where the faithfulness lies? There is room for many; am I to be one? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing — one whose hand is not slack, one who has not given up the ministry, but keeps going on. “Blessed is that bondman ... he will set him over all his substance”. What an incentive to be faithful! “He that is faithful in the least is faithful also in much” Luke 16:10. May God bless His word.