BEAUTIFUL FEET
[p. 331] BEAUTIFUL FEET
Acts 14:8 - 10; Acts 3:1 - 11; 1 Chronicles 28:2 - 6
I was thinking of the way in which Scripture speaks of the feet of believers. Every part of the body of the believer, of a man, I may say, is used to represent some spiritual thought. One might speak of any one of these members, but I have selected the feet of the believer with a view to dwelling on the import of their use in standing, in walking, in running, and in leaping. These words are all used by the Spirit. One spiritual man referred to his feet as hind’s feet; another is alluded to as dipping his foot in oil; again, we read of the beautiful feet of them that bring glad tidings; and again, it says God keeps the feet of His saints. So you see how wide is the use made of them in Scripture as figurative of spiritual things. One might indeed refer to God’s feet, for they are referred to in a figurative way, speaking of the place of the soles of them in Ezekiel, and that brings one down to the holy subject of the feet of our Lord.
In the gospel of Luke, and in that of John, He is specially viewed in this relation. You will remember how in Luke He is anointed on His feet. It was by one who had profited by the grace which He carried, for that is the allusion. We read of God riding upon a chariot and flying, for He can do these things, but in approaching man, and in undertaking the great work of redemption, it is a question of His feet. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet!” Isaiah 52:7 It was journeying, one step after another, every step telling its own tale of divine solicitation for man. Now we are enjoined to walk in His steps, every one of them being precious, every one spelling divine interest in man’s welfare, and in man’s salvation.
[p. 332] They were beautiful. Each of those steps was followed with divine interest, and so faith in the woman of the city, recorded by Luke, discerned in those feet that they had carried all the way to her what she needed and more, infinitely more. As a lover of Christ she followed the feet that carried Him to where she was! She was a woman of the city, a term which has its own significance.
In chapter 8, a man comes out of the city naked. He did not abide in a house but lived in the tombs. He would represent what the city means, what modern cities mean. The woman in chapter 7 is spoken of as a woman of the city, but now she is of another, and her feet will tread its streets. In that city she will be a trophy of Christ — a lover. The inhabitants of it shall all be lovers of Christ. Here she was now in the house of one hostile to Christ, but she followed those feet; she anointed them with myrrh, and she wiped them with her hair. The Lord goes over the ground of her actions in addressing Simon, for every action of hers was delightful to Him. “Seest thou this woman?” Luke 7:44 She loved much. Not that she said it; she said nothing with her lips, but she spoke volumes by her actions. As our Lord Himself in the type of the Hebrew servant declared plainly that He loved, so she declared unmistakably that she loved. But I am speaking of the feet and how she regarded them. We can only understand the subject of our own feet aright as we understand the subject of His. They were anointed with myrrh, for it is a question in Luke always of intelligence, intelligence reached through a moral process. It is as if she understood that those feet were treading a suffering path, and so it was, beloved — a suffering path. It is, as we often sing, ‘With thorns and briars overspread, where foes and snares abound’. It is that, and he who ignores it will be disappointed; hence arises the necessity for the anointing, the dipping [p. 333] of the foot in oil, for otherwise you will grow weary. But it is for the true believer in the wilderness “Garments fresh and foot unweary” (76:8) That can only be said of those who have the Spirit; as was said of Asher, he could only be viewed as triumphant in his walk as having dipped his foot in oil. So also with the great daughter of Asher (Anna — Luke 2) of whom we have often spoken with pleasure; she was unceasing in her activities. No weariness there even in old age! Her very age is given to us that old brothers and old sisters might take courage, and be fresh and energetic as at the beginning. She departed not from the temple, serving in fastings and prayers night and day. She was active; she was walking in the temple with agility; she was truly one who was an overcomer in her day with regard to her feet.
Now, having said that much, which I am sure will be commendable to you in regard of Christ, I wish to call attention to the apostle Paul’s dealings with the man impotent in his feet at Lystra. In the verse before the one I read, you will notice that they preached the gospel. A fine testimony that! “There they were announcing the glad tidings” Acts 14:7 One might well ask if it be so here. There they announced the glad tidings and there was a man at Lystra impotent in his feet, that is to say, he is the kind of man now that is to receive the blessing; it has a spiritual reference. It is a man who sat, “[being] lame ... who had never walked” Acts 14:8 and the apostle Paul looked on him, we are told, and saw that he had faith to be healed. The apostle did not give him that faith; for faith is the gift of God, and God evidently had been there before Paul. God knew Lystra and all that town before Paul, and He knew this man who had been sitting impotent in his feet. Seeing that the man had faith to be healed, the apostle Paul said with a loud voice, “Rise up straight upon thy feet” He says it with a loud voice, for things are not to be whispered in [p. 334] announcing the gospel. The Lord Himself sets the example in that respect. You find him crying out at one time so as to be heard, and you find Peter lifting up his voice on the day of Pentecost, so we have here a loud voice as if it were urgent. “Rise up straight upon thy feet” That was the word. Whatever word comes in the gospel at the outset it is intended to convey an impression that it is to give character to the convert. If it be the jailor, it is “thou ... and thy house” Acts 16:31; the house was to give character to him. Similarly here the word is, “Rise up straight upon thy feet” Those feet are to be used. God needs them. The man sprang up, we are told, and walked. What was in the apostle’s mind was that he should stand straight upon his feet. What kind of brother is he going to be? Will he be one who will lean as a partisan upon some chosen leader amongst the saints? No, not that! Paul implies plainly that it is not to be that. The man was living in a dark idolatrous town, where religious leaders brought forth garlands and sacrifices to the apostles. How great the need was of a man who could stand straight upon his feet for God in the presence of all that! It was no small thing to stand against that tide; for it is seen first in idolatrous adulation of the servants of God, and presently in murderous opposition. It is the swaying of the natural mind by the wind of satanic power, now to the right, and then to the left. How great is the need of one to stand straight upon his feet, not to be swayed this way or that, but to stand upright, and then walk and leap if need be! That was in the apostle’s mind. I am speaking now of the idea, the impression conveyed in the apostle’s preaching — he would have there a man who could stand upon his feet straight.
Now I do not go further there. You can see readily what this man at Lystra was spiritually, what material for the house, for the tabernacle as it were!
[p. 335] You will remember how the boards of the tabernacle were made standing up — a most extraordinary thing, a thing that must be understood spiritually. The scriptures deal with spiritual things, and you need not go to them for instruction with regard to human crafts, or with regard to human science, for they deny any such information. They are occupied with spiritual things. The boards were made standing up! They were at least fifteen feet high, but I dwell on that one point that they were made standing up. The exigencies of the testimony require men standing up and not sitting down at their ease. Thus the Lord, as He appears in the midst of His own, is always standing, after He rose from the dead. It is a time for energy, availability for God’s service.
Now in chapter 3, you see a similar thought, only with enlargement. The man who lay at the Beautiful gate of the temple is intended to be a type of one coming into fellowship. The other is, too, but the man in chapter 3 gives us a fuller development of the thought. The gospel is not preached to him exactly, but it is rather what is presented to him, for him to see with his eyes, for it says, “Look on us” In the other case Paul looked on him, and saw that he had faith. It was Paul making a selection of material, and looking on him saw that the material was there, and he laid hold of it. In this case, however, it is not that. It is the person who comes in seeing what he is coming to. We ought to see what we are coming to. The question is, ‘Is it worth your while?’ It is not God laying hold of you in an arbitrary way; it is a question of whether it is worth your while. The divine fellowship does not go begging. There is nothing like it, for it is the best. Others are delighted with it, millions have been in it and have proved it. A few days before three thousand had been converted and were baptised; they received the Spirit, and were added; and they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ [p. 336] teaching and fellowship. They saw that the thing was accredited of God; they were not patronising it. It was accredited of God, and they continued in it. They did not bring anything into it of their own; they made no proposals of their own; the terms were all God’s terms. Peter formulated the terms as representing God, and they gladly received them, were baptised, and came into fellowship. They continued in the fellowship of the apostles. They left what they had been going on with for Christ, for the apostles represented Christ. It was the apostles’ teaching, and the apostles’ fellowship.
Well now, this is a sample man; he is not received in a crowd. He is received by himself. He stands out in the light before us so that we can see him. He is at the Beautiful gate of the temple, something the natural mind would take account of. He was very familiar with it, for he was there daily, and had sat there for forty years a lame man. You can understand how often he must have looked around those buildings, but what he sees this day is two men coming up. They had been fishermen by occupation, but look at them! They are coming up together! That word ‘together’ has its own meaning here. They were coming up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and that hour must have touched their hearts. The ninth hour! The one in which the Lord Jesus had died! The hour of prayer! There never had been a prayer uttered like the prayer that had been uttered a few weeks before on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34 The hour of prayer was the hour of incense; it was a time for God. But there never had been such a time for God as the moment when Christ died, having prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34 These two men knew it, and they were going up to the temple at that hour, and here is this man. Peter says, “Look on us” You will say, ‘Do not occupy us with the saints’, but the Holy Spirit is wiser than we are, and He occupies us with them. He occupies us at other times with them to cause us to humble ourselves, and to show us what the flesh may do in us. But here it is two men moving in the power of the Spirit at the hour of prayer. Think of what they were to God as they moved! Peter says, “Look on us” and he took the lame man by the right hand; it was a question of helping the man. Give him every possible advantage! So Peter takes him by the right hand and lifts him up saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean rise up and walk” Then his feet and ankle bones became strong, and leaping up he stood and walked. Are those feet and ankle bones not needed? Yes, they are needed. It is a question of fellowship, and what you find is that he leaped, he stood and walked. The other man was told to stand upright, and he leaped and walked. This man is told to walk, but he stands first. Why is that? It is the finding of your balance. It is that you should walk by yourself, to be no longer a babe held by the hand. I am of little value spiritually until I find my balance. I will lean this way or that way unless I find it. The man stands first, and then he walks with them into the temple, walking and leaping, and praising God. If you start walking or leaping before you find your balance, you will come to grief. Find your balance first. That is an absolutely essential experience.
Then he held Peter and John; it is a question of fellowship, for he recognises what these men set forth. He is in fellowship, and he knows how to hold administration on the one side, and family relationships on the other. That is balance; and if you learn these two things, you will not be carried away by anyone. So this man was a wonderful testimony standing by the apostles in their persecution. He stands out as a testimony to the power of God.
[p. 338] Now I come to David for a moment. It is not now a question of young brethren but of old ones. Sometimes old age means a loss of balance, a loss of foot power, of leg power, and of eye power — a loss indeed of the senses as they should be used. These things are common, not only in material things, but in spiritual things. One is exercised that in old age he should retain freshness. It is a good exercise, and God will respect it in us all. The whole chapter shows that it was a very great occasion. Our spirituality is tested by great occasions; can we rise to them? Here is an old man who assembled all his princes and mighty men, and who stood up on his feet to address them. In 1 Kings we have a very different picture; there we see a decrepit old man with little or no heat, apparently insensible to the machinations of his son Adonijah who sought the kingdom with his coadjutors! But not so in this book. This is the spiritual side. Possibly it comes in after he is revived by the word of Nathan. This is the David of God’s mind. It is God intimating to us what he values in an aged saint. It is a great occasion. The great men of the kingdom are present as I have said. He assembled as we read “all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the princes of the divisions that ministered to the king, and the captains over thousands, and the captains over hundreds, and the comptrollers of all the substance and possessions of the king, and of his sons, with the chamberlains, and the mighty men, and all the men of valour unto Jerusalem” 1 Chronicles 28:1 Is David able for the occasion? There is a great occasion coming for us — the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him. It will be a wonderful time, a great assembly of grandees! And we shall have part in it. In the same way, today, relatively, every time we come together in assembly it is a great occasion. One feels how little appreciation we have of the greatness, of the dignity [p. 339] of the assembly. Now look at David here. It says in the verse I read, “And king David stood up upon his feet and said, Hear me my brethren” He stood up upon his feet! The word ‘feet’ might have been left out and we should have understood, but the Holy Spirit never uses a word without a meaning. It means the very thing I have been speaking about in the book of Acts. It means that David retained his balance. He has his faculties; he has his balance and he finishes with these. He is an old man but he stands up on his feet. He is not leaning this way or that way. What a history his has been with many currents of evil flowing hither and thither But through it all he stands upon his feet. At times, indeed, he gave way to his sorrow, but not now. He is now standing upon his feet. What a word to brothers and sisters advanced in years, if I may speak respectfully to them. It is fine to see an old brother taking his share in the responsibility of the testimony and not depending on others, not handing his conscience and responsibility to others but holding them for God, maintaining his balance. Look at this special feature of David here What is he occupied with? The house of God, God’s chief interest on earth. We are left here in our old age to be engaged with the house of God. David says, ‘I would have built it, I desired to build it, but God would not allow me’. He was a subject man. It is most important to be subject in old age as in youth. The desire of his heart was to build God an house, but he was denied the honour. It is a very fine moral trait, if an old brother gives way because the will of God is that a more suitable one is brought forward, and David is delighting in it, for he says, ‘I know what it is to be chosen; I know God has chosen Solomon; I was chosen, too’. He knew what divine choice meant, for regarding himself, he says, ‘God chose the tribe of Judah, and He chose my father’s [p. 340] house, and He chose me from all my father’s sons because He liked me’. Precious instruction! to be conscious of being a chosen one! And if I have been chosen, why not let God choose another? It is His privilege. Can I deny that privilege to God? Can He not choose another? It is an excellent thing morally for an old brother to pass away with a recognition of divine choice. David is standing upon his feet, being balanced, and able to say that God has chosen Solomon, and he is satisfied.
Thus, if you go into those chapters, you see what a man is who can maintain his balance right to the end — standing upon his feet. Then David says in reference to God, among many other things, “Thou art exalted as head above all” 1 Chronicles 29:11 If you recognise that, you will have no complaint as to what God has done; it is in perfect wisdom, it cannot be improved upon. So David dies, full of days, riches and honour, and his life is written down by three great men, Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. Such was the value of that life! It says, “The acts of David the king first and last” 1 Chronicles 29:29; and these last ones are the finest of all.