“UNKNOWN, AND WELL KNOWN”

N. T. Meek

2 Corinthians 6: 9 (first part); Hebrews 11: 35–I wondered, dear brethren, if the Lord would say something to us as to our going on in faith with no seen result, but with the consciousness that we are known of Him. This last section in Hebrews 11 is somewhat impersonal. Up to verse 34 it is largely the great triumphs of faith, including what was seen outwardly, even, as it says, to overcoming kingdoms and making armies give way. But this latter section that we have read is impersonal;

there are no names mentioned. That raises the question with us all as to whether we are prepared to go on unrecognised, unknown. One is always touched when passing a war memorial. Usually certain names are inscribed, but there are unknown persons who were in the same category, unknown and unsung, and what they did was as great in its way as the deeds of those who are named.

I ask myself whether one is prepared to go on unknown, even in a certain sense among the brethren (you understand what I mean), quietly going on not seeking prominence, not making any noise, but just going on. It is important, I think, that in some way we each face this matter of preparedness to go on with no seen result, but carrying in one’s soul and affections and consciousness the sense of the Lord’s approval—“unknown, and well known”.

It is not the only outlook that we are to have, of course, for there is the side of company. I think that is contained in this reference, “They went about in sheepskins”. Sheep are found in flocks. This probably relates also to the suffering character of the pathway—“As a sheep dumb before her shearers” (Isaiah 53: 7)—what a model He has left us! So part of their experience was that they went about in sheepskins. It was a suffering path, but they found company in it. We are not to be without this experience of having company and fellowship, which in a right sense is of God, and is a great support, encouragement, and source of strengthening. Even seeing the faces of one another is a cheer—face brightens face.

But it also says that they went about in goatskins, as if that was a concurrent experience (and an important one, I think). I say this as feeling in some way the need for it myself, to be

prepared to go about, so to speak, in a goatskin. I know that Scripture speaks about the flock of goats, but generally the goat is a separate animal. It is an individual, so to speak, having periods of apparent loneliness, but never out of God’s all-seeing eye. There it is, solitary maybe—not like a flock of sheep on the hills pasturing themselves—but just a single goat. The goat seems able to sustain such a life.

Now one would not like to divorce these two aspects, “They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins”. You might say, one day a sheepskin, another day a goatskin, both experiences going on together; experiences with one another in the company, and experiences individually; and that, dear brethren, was especially on one’s mind just now, that every one of us should know what it is to be “unknown, and well known”, and should covet a sense of the Lord’s approval—His own direct approval. The Lord knew all the disciples. He said, “Ye are they who have persevered with me in my temptations” (Luke 22: 28); but He also knew each one. Doubtless he observed and considered and assessed each one. Have you a sense that the Lord knows you, that you are well known? Do you covet that sense, do you cherish it? It is a great thing, dear brethren, in the joy of our occasions together, to maintain our own sense that the Lord knows us and we are known of Him; that will see you through when you are alone.

I recently came across some words of Columba, written in the sixth century—

‘Alone, with none but Thee, O God,

I journey on my way ...’.

I could not but be impressed with that. He lived in a different time, but to write those words he must have had a sense of what is was to be just

conscious of being with God. He was used to bring the gospel to these islands, but what I want to stress is that he had some impression of being alone with God, and moving under His eye.

So in this section of the Scriptures the apostle has spoken about names which are repeated time and time again in the holy writings—Abraham, Jacob. Moses, and others—we might say names of fame, and rightly so. Then the Spirit of God goes over the unknown ones. He does not miss them. Dear brethren, I ask again, Am I prepared to be unknown, just go on day by day in my lot, maybe in an obscure place, but seen by God Himself, and recorded and known in heaven? These persons had no miraculous outward deliverance, they were tortured, tempted, and tried, but they are placed in, we might say, heaven’s roll of honour and are known up there. It is a secret, dear brethren, that one would like to carry and cherish, not to live in externals, but to live in the sense of having the Lord’s approval—“unknown, and well known”.

Here we are; we are not taken account of publicly. Alas, there are sorrows we have added to the public position, but none of us has a name in public christendom. And if you wanted it, (I trust not one of us does), the most you could hope for is a name in a comparatively small circle. It is not worth it! The thing is to be known in heaven.

Hence I would just encourage us all to maintain this feature of going about in a goatskin; but, do not forget, there is also a sheepskin. We are not seeking to set one thing over against another; these things are to coalesce in our experience, they are to go along together.

Companionship is a very fine experience in which we find comfort. It is normal for a believer to find joy and comfort in it—“And having been let go, they came to their own company” (Acts 4: 23); “let go”, it is like the bowstring released and springing back to its normal place.

So these persons went about in sheepskins—in fact, that is put first, as if it is the normal thing; yet it must be, may I say simply, supported by the goatskins, otherwise you may (to employ an expression which we often use) just live on the meetings, which is not right. We should maintain and cherish this idea of the covering of goatskin. I know it involves separation on the one side, but I am just speaking of it more as what is individual.

So the believer goes on, day after day, unknown, unlettered, and unsung; but he goes on. Day after day, and no one appears to notice him, but he is known in heaven. You can understand such a believer, when he is raptured, not being missed, can you not? You can understand such a person going on quietly, steadily, patiently—the day of the rapture will come—he will be gone! What will his neighbours say? They can give no account of him; he was unknown. They will say, There was always a certain mystery about him. It is like Enoch—men could give no account of him; he was translated. He was unknown, I suppose, among his contemporaries, he had no name in their circle, but he was well known elsewhere. How well known he was! So he was raptured, he was taken; men could give no account of him. That would be normal, dear brethren. I wonder if it will be so with me. There will be believers, perhaps, like Lot, who will be taken from situations which are not really compatible with their heavenly calling. That is the abnormal side, but, viewed normally,

the saints will go, and men will be unable to give an account of them—unknown, and yet well known.

Well, that is all that I had to say, dear brethren, that we might maintain carefully, and not give up, either the sheepskin or the goatskin. They are both important. The former is perhaps more visible than the other, it is more apparent, involving some measure of mutual testimony, but we must also maintain this more individual idea of the goatskin. Paul says he went on “unknown, and well known”. He and those with him were going on in that way. May the Lord encourage us in these things, for His name’s sake.

Address at Buckhurst Hill
12 April 1975