WHERE THE LORD MAY BE FOUND
J. Strachan
Song of Songs 1: 7, 8; Luke 2: 41–46; 22: 7–13, 19, 20
I want to say a word about where the Lord may be found. From one point of view He may be found in heaven; He is in heaven. But from another point of view He may be found somewhere on the earth. I trust these scriptures will help us as to where He may be found among believers on the earth. Anyone can turn to Him and put their faith in Him as a Man who is glorified in heaven. That is the glory of the glad tidings, pointing us to a Man who is in heaven. Persons can get the gain of salvation, of the forgiveness of sins, of the gift of the Holy Spirit, by putting their faith in that Man who is in heaven at the right hand of God.
But then another question must arise in the exercises of believers as to where the Lord may be found down here on the earth. “Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon”. In typical language, that is like a lover of Christ giving expression to her desires as to where He may be found. Surely every lover of Christ would be interested in knowing where to find Him. I wonder if every lover of Christ in this room has an exercise similar to what is expressed here. Would this be the language of your heart, dear brother, dear sister? If you love the Lord, is this the language of your heart?
Is this the expression of your desires? She was conscious there was some place where she would find him feeding his flock. There is some place where the Lord provides food for His people. I think every interested lover of
Christ would want to find where that is.
John tells us in chapter 10 of his gospel of the beautiful relations between the Shepherd and His sheep. Jesus says, “I am the door—if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved”. We can come by way of Christ and enjoy what it is to be saved. Then we shall “go in and shall go out and shall find pasture”. That means we can enjoy the liberty of Christianity and find food for our souls. The Shepherd knows where to lead in the best pastures. Very wonderful relations exist between the Shepherd, and the sheep. He says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine”. Just think of the simple relations between the Lord Jesus and those who believe on Him. The good Shepherd is someone you can trust, that you can have confidence in, and who will lead you into the best pasture. Would you not want to find where that place is? Would not every interested lover of Christ want to know where the Shepherd would lead? He is not driving His sheep. He is leading them. Are you leadable? Are you amenable to the leading of the good Shepherd, the One who has laid down His life for the sheep, who has given everything for us? He wants to lead us into the best pasture in liberty and restfulness, to enjoy the food that He will provide for us. It is a very precious thing to know the simple relations of the Lord Jesus with His own.
So he says, “My sheep hear my voice”, John 10: 27. Can you discern the voice of the Shepherd as one of His sheep? “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them life eternal”. Are you ready to follow, because you have heard His voice? Not the voice of someone telling you about Him, but have you heard the Lord’s voice?
He says, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them life eternal’.
Oh the delightfulness of following the Lord Jesus as the good Shepherd, to find that He will give life eternal! He will lead you into an area where He can be known, where the blessedness of the relationships that He wants us to enjoy can be known, the blessedness of relations with others, with the flock, and the relations between the flock and the Shepherd. It is not just an isolated sheep and the Shepherd, but the flock and the Shepherd. How precious that is! There is a place down here on the earth where these things can be known and enjoyed.
So there is one with this question. She says, “For why should I be as one veiled beside the flocks of thy companions?” An alternative reading to the word “veiled” is ‘roving’—Why should I be as one roving, never coming to settle where the sheep are attended to by the Shepherd? Why should I be in that situation? “Beside the flocks of thy companions”; so near, but just not quite there. Well, the answer is, “If thou know not, thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock”. How gracious the Lord is. “If thou know not”—
Oh, in grace He draws near to us. Maybe we just do not know, or are not too sure. You know, there are others who have found the way, by the footsteps of the flock. Why should not you find it? Why should you still be roving, unattached to the flock? “Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock”. Others have found where the Lord is, others have found the preciousness of what this means, and you may find it too. The Lord would graciously take account of your exercises so that you might locate where He feeds His flock.
Now Luke, in chapter 2, tells us about certain ones who knew the Lord but had lost Him. It says, “The boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, and his parents knew not of it”. They were unaware of
it for the moment. We can be like that. We can drift along unaware that we have lost the Lord for the present. This scripture would help us about that. “As they returned, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, and his parents, knew not of it; but supposing him to be in the company that journeyed together ...” Things were small here; it was “the boy Jesus”. You might say there is not much to lay hold of; and perhaps you have lost contact with Him for a time. We can even suppose, as His parents did here, that He is in the company journeying together. You could be going along, you see, with certain ones and just be supposing that things are all right and that the Lord is there. We can get into a position like that, going along with a certain company assuming that the Lord is there. But have you found Him for yourself? Or at some point have you lost contact? They went a day’s journey with this supposition before they realized that He was not there. We want to have the conviction of things for ourselves; not just be supposing that things are all right, but having the conviction of where the Lord is.
Then they sought Him among their relations and acquaintances. We may come to realize that our supposition missed the mark. Then we may look for Him among our relations, those who are naturally connected with us, assuming that they will know where the Lord is. Or we may look among our acquaintances. We can move on friendly terms with certain people and assume that we shall find where the Lord is in that way. But one thing we have to learn is that we cannot find where the Lord is on natural or social lines. His parents had to come to that, and we have to learn that lesson. “And not having found him they returned to Jerusalem seeking him”. They had lost contact for one day, and then another three days elapsed and they were still searching. It may take us some time to find
out where the Lord is. I am not putting a premium on taking time to do it, but, alas, we may find that is so. This scripture just mirrors what our exercises are sometimes. We have lost the Lord and it takes us a little time, and that time is intended to work out in exercise in our souls.
It is not to be an unexercised time; there were three days in which they were searching for Him. It was not aimless, they were looking for Him because they missed Him. Do you feel the miss of the Lord? I just say that simply; if you love the Lord, do you miss Him? Then are you seeking for Him so that you might find Him?
Well, they found Him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers and hearing them and asking them questions. That is where they found Him, occupied in His Father’s business. Just think of the Lord Jesus being occupied in His Father’s business. If I could reverently say so, there is a divine business going on down here on the earth, what the Lord called His Father’s business. He was occupied with it, and now the Spirit of God is occupied with it. If we are to find Christ, after having lost Him, we shall find Him where there are those whose occupation is in this business. There are plenty of other things to occupy us, but there are persons here on the earth who are occupied with what the Lord is occupied with, the Father’s things, and He will be found in the company of such.
Now I think there are certain marks given in Luke 22 that pertain to where the Lord is found.
If we want to find the Lord, I think He gives certain things to guide us. These disciples were sent into the city and the Lord says, “Behold, as ye enter into the city a man will meet you, carrying an earthen pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he goes in”. In a great city like
Melbourne, or any other city, what are you going to look for as you go? There will be plenty of things that men are engaged with, but there is one important thing; “A man will meet you, carrying an earthen pitcher of water”. I think that points to ministry in the power of the Spirit, spiritual ministry bringing refreshment from heaven, here amongst persons who need it, ministry from heaven in the power of the Spirit brought through human vessels. The earthen pitcher would not be of much account, but you think of the Spirit of God using such a vessel to convey spiritual ministry that has its source in heaven! Have you ever met a man like that?
You find that you come in touch with this life-giving stream, and you get refreshment, a living touch in your soul, a touch of life that can only come from heaven. It does not come from the sources of this world at all. This man was there to meet them, part of the Lord’s gracious provision. Have you ever been put in touch with spiritual ministry, coming from the great Administrator in heaven?
Another thing is that provision was to be made here for the passover. That is an important part of the furnishings where the Lord is. “For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”, 1 Corinthians 5: 7. Christ our passover; it means that things are regarded in the light of what they have cost Christ. The sacrifice of the passover started in Egypt, where the lamb was to be roast with fire. It was in view of the people of God leaving Egypt. They were to eat it in haste, just ready to leave Egypt. That is to be the attitude of believers here in this world; we are just ready to leave this world. We shall do so literally, but we do so morally as eating the passover. He suffered in such a way. He has been sacrificed. That is to hold our affections; therefore we are to be ready to go out of the world, to go out of it morally now,
to go out of it literally very soon.
Then it says, “So that let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness”—that kind of thing does not belong to believers—“but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. That is the answer on our side to the passover. Christ has been sacrificed, and our answer to it is that we keep celebrating the feast with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We are to be marked by sincerity, and we need to be marked by truth. It is possible to be sincere on a wrong line, but as we are marked by truth then we are kept right.
Our sincerity is thus kept on right lines. Where the Lord is, one thing that you will find existing is the judgment and refusal of evil. I think that is what the passover and the feast of unleavened bread mean. There has been the judgment of evil in the sacrifice of Christ and there is to be the refusal of evil in the souls of believers in correspondence with that. So these are marks of where the Lord is—spiritual ministry and the judgment and refusal of evil.
Another thing is the Lord’s supper. Luke goes on to that. “And having taken a loaf, when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you—this do in remembrance of me”. This is an appeal of love. Think of the giving of Christ; such giving!—giving that involves His love. He has given everything for us. There could be no greater expression of love than the way that the Lord Jesus has given Himself for, us.
Love’s response to that is what we do in the Lord’s supper in remembrance of Him. Again Luke says, “In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”—the giving of His body and
the pouring out of His blood. Oh how that ought to touch our hearts! Hence you look for persons going on with the Lord’s supper out of affection for Christ. That is one of the marks of where the Lord is. I do not say the only one, because the other features mentioned already have to be there too spiritual ministry and the refusal of evil, then persons going on with the Lord’s supper out of responsive affection for Him.
So it comes back to this—Do we love the Lord? Is our longing desire, “Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon”? The Lord wants believers to find such a place, and He is looking for those who love Him to be exercised to find where He is, and to be with Him there. May the Lord bless the word.
Address in Melbourne
20 April 1985