SPEAKING
[p. 104] SPEAKING
2 Corinthians 4:13; John 12:41; 1 Peter 4:11; Malachi 3:16 - 18
What I have in mind is in relation to speaking. It is peculiarly a time of speaking: God is now speaking from heaven, and Luke has in mind the quality of the speaking. It belongs to the priestly state, for the priests’ lips should keep knowledge, as Scripture says, It is to be observed that he who prefigured Christ as Priest, he who became the first high priest of Israel and the father of the priestly family, is introduced in the Scriptures as one who could speak well: that is, Aaron. Impediments in speech are not rare, and where they exist they occasion discipline; but God made man’s mouth, inclusive of all the organs of speech, and made it perfectly. It is this very fact that He brings forward, when one who was to be a great servant complained that he could not speak. Inability to speak, therefore, is not to be put forward as an excuse for non-speaking, for silence. Luke records of the young man of the city of Nain who was raised from the dead, that he sat up and began to speak. We have to make a beginning in speaking. The voice of a risen young man, and the theme of his speaking, would be of deep interest. Lazarus, who also was raised from the dead, is never said to have spoken, another singular thing. Yet he was the occasion of many believing on Jesus. So that speaking is not everything in service; something more than speaking is needed. Without other essential things speaking is in the way and may become a trial to the saints. There are those who think they are heard because of much speaking, which the Lord rebukes.
So you will understand what I have in mind; and I refer to Aaron because he stands at the very beginning of what I may call organised testimony. Organisation belongs to God, and Aaron was brought forward in the [p. 105] divine system with this commendation, that God knew he could speak well. Moses was to be God to Pharaoh; he was to represent God, and Aaron was to be his prophet. That is the idea of organised testimony into which speaking enters. Confirming this we have with Barnabas and Paul the great accompaniment of good speaking in the preaching of the gospel, although Paul’s traducers at Corinth said his speech was contemptible, which I would call a lie. They said that, but the Spirit of God says he and Barnabas so spake that a great multitude believed. You have to put those two things in juxtaposition. They “so spake that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed”, Acts 14:1. Indeed, speaking is stressed in that remarkable chapter: one man heard Paul speaking and was affected by his speaking, not only by what he said, but by the act of speaking itself. Paul said something specific to the man “with a loud voice”. “This man heard Paul speaking, who, fixing his eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice. Rise up straight upon thy feet”, and he did. Acts 14:9,10.
Well now, I shall lean on my four scriptures to aid me in bringing out this matter. The first shows that speaking is based on and is the outcome of faith. The second shows that it is the outcome of seeing the glory of Christ; not simply reading about Christ, but seeing the glory of Christ. The third declares that “oracles of God” are to be enunciated. And fourthly it is stated that the saints characteristically speak one to another. They have no discrimination, as preferring one to another; the mutual feelings in the saints of God are in view characteristically as having love amongst themselves; that is, the most honoured brother speaks to the simplest, if I may so classify them. They “spoke often one to another”. The divine system affords such condescension, humility in listening to perhaps the least, as he might be estimated. The Lord Jesus listened to two speakers: one was [p. 106] Moses and the other was Elijah. There is no complaint on the part of Moses on the mount of transfiguration that he could not speak; he had learned how — he and Elijah. I suppose they spoke one after the other. There would be no interruptions as there are sometimes in our speaking together, unnecessary interruptions. One can understand how Moses would speak of the types of the Lord’s death, for it was about His death they were speaking, the greatest subject morally — the death of Jesus. One can imagine Elijah remarking to the Lord something on what happened at Carmel, and the altar he built where he slew the prophets of Baal. What speaking it must have been! I mention it because Scripture says they were speaking with Jesus, not He with them. The Lord listened to them, and of course spoke too. So that speaking in a mutual way belongs to the kingdom of God, for what transpired on the mount of transfiguration was that. It was the kingdom of God. The kingdom of the Son of man first; the kingdom of God come in power second; and thirdly the kingdom of God by itself in dignity and greatness: these are the phases of the truth that shone out on that great occasion on the mount, as seen in the three synoptical gospels.
Now the first scripture speaks about faith. When one is to speak by invitation, which is very proper, he has to inspect himself see to his spiritual condition. Then what is of paramount importance is faith, whether I can speak as believing: “I believed”, says the psalmist, Psalm 116:10. Not that faith is very prominent in actual record in the Old Testament; it was there in Abel, in Enoch, in Noah, in Abraham, in Isaac, in Jacob, and in all the rest of these enumerated in Hebrews 11; but the word ‘faith’ is not formally mentioned. The thing was there: it underlay all the testimony. Faith began as sin entered; I mean, as God acted to meet sin, faith began. Sin was to be met on that principle, on the principle of faith. So that one may speak of Adam himself [p. 107] giving his wife another name — Eve. I should say that name was, as it were, baptised. Ishshah, her first name, did not need to be baptised, no death had come in yet; the name Eve did. You will understand what I mean: death had come in; Adam and his wife were clothed with the skin of an animal, which pointed to death; they knew sin was upon them, but it had to be met; and God was already meeting it in type. Adam spoke and called his wife’s name Eve, the mother of all living instead of the mother of all dying. She could not be the mother of all living except through the death of Christ.
Psalm 116 is cited by Paul in the verse read in 2 Corinthians: “according to what is written, I have believed, therefore have I spoken; we also believe, therefore also we speak”, 2 Corinthians 4:13. So that in approaching the service of speaking it is not only that I have believed, but that I believe. Every step from my solitary sanctuary in the preparation of what I have to say, is to increase on the previous one, in faith. It is a matter of the dispensation of God which is in faith. And so the Holy Spirit has liberty and the speaker stands up, not with the thought that he believed historically, for he may have done this and not be in faith now; it is present faith in regard to what I am going to say; do I believe it now, or have I just read it and committed it to memory? Paul says, “we also believe”, that is, we believe now. Hence the preaching is on the principle of faith to faith; the speaker is counting on the hearers to have faith too. Have they had a sanctuary of enquiry? Have they waited on the Lord as to what is going to be said? It is not with them a question of what they are going to say, but of what they are going to hear. Have they faith in regard to that? For unless there is faith in the hearers the ministry must be ineffective. Hence the need of exercise and sincerity in coming to listen to ministry. It is profane to come carelessly or indifferently.
[p. 108] Now the next thing is not with regard to faith, but to the glory of Christ. One of the greatest thoughts in Scripture is the glory of Christ. There is the glory of God too; there is the Father of glory, and the Lord of glory, but this is the glory of Christ. Well, if that comes into my soul, and I am going to speak about Him, it is because I have seen that glory. Thus John says, “These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him”, John 12:41. It dissipates any thought of glory as to myself that I may have in my service of speaking, one of the greatest dangers in serving is to have any thought of personal glory in the service; it is a dead fly in the ointment of the apothecary. How often it breaks through the screen! So John the evangelist, quoting by the Spirit from Isaiah 53 says, “Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? On this account they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them”, John 12:38 - 40. A terrible judicial sentence! “They could not believe”. As quoted here, it is the second time Esaias spoke. But my verse is, “These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him”, verse 41. Now one rejoices in the great increase of ability in service, but I would urge on all of us who serve, to seek to understand and get a view of the glory of Christ. Where is that glory to be seen? It is in the sanctuary as one retires there, for if one is to speak to men, he must speak to God first. If I cannot speak to God I cannot rightly speak to men. Of one it is said, that he had power with God and men; and according to this verse the need is to see the glory of Christ if one is to speak to men rightly of Him. For that we need the power of elimination; the ability to govern our minds, so as to eliminate from them at a given time all that is extraneous to the moment, and to [p. 109] let what is needed for the moment come into them. This is one of the most important exercises and requirements that I know of in the service of God; a supreme matter in the christian’s life is to learn how to control the mind. It is thus free, and the Holy Spirit gives a view of the glory of Christ in relation to what is immediately to hand. Something will come, something is sure to come to you as you wait on God on those lines, and it will give character to what you have to say. “These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him”. One of the most beautiful verses in the beautiful gospel of John is that verse: “he saw his glory and spoke of him”. That glory is described vividly by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 6.
The next thing, dear brethren, is the oracles of God. It is said of Israel that they had much advantage because to them were committed the oracles of God. Oracles are speakings from an oracle; in Scripture they are speakings from the temple of God. That is more than my closet, my retreat before my service: it involves the assembly, it involves the saints, that is to say, those who have the Holy Spirit. I can speak much better to those who have the Holy Spirit than to those who have not. The latter need the gospel. In Acts 14 Paul spoke to those who had not the Spirit, as I have already said. The more spiritual the auditors, the more elevated the ministry; for there is a drawing out, instead of forcing it back. And why should it not be so? As we are together as of the temple there should be scope for the ministry of the Spirit. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?” 1 Corinthians 3:16. We may well take the words to ourselves: “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” The Holy Spirit has liberty in the saints and thus there is a spiritual current, that is the idea of the oracle; it is a place of immediate communication from God, not what I get in my closet, but what I get when I am on my feet [p. 110] as I minister. The oracles of God emanate from the oracle. It is a question of the Holy Spirit and it raises a great inquiry in the ministry, as to how far those who listen aid those who speak. It is obligatory upon us to do so in so far as we may, and that is by disallowing what interferes with the free action of the Spirit among the brethren. The principle enters into this meeting, into a Bible reading, into all meetings for ministry. Think of the magnitude of it, that God speaks! Actual communications from God issue forth for His people. “If any one speak — as oracles of God”. 1 Corinthians 14 governs all this. The epistle contemplates lawless conditions in the assembly, even to the extent of an evil spirit, a terrible thought: the apostle has to say, “I give you therefore to know, that no one, speaking in the power of the Spirit of God, says, Curse on Jesus”, 1 Corinthians 12:3. Think of the possibility of a state in an assembly, ostensibly the assembly of God, where the Lord Jesus would be cursed! Where He would be hated! You may say, There is no such thing now. Well, let us examine our hearts and see how much there may be there in lightness and evil thoughts as to those sitting by us, thoughts brought in from the wicked world around us by young people. Let us examine our hearts as to evil thoughts. And so the apostle says, “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha”, 1 Corinthians 16:22. God speaks severely to us in these matters. He is jealous of the assembly, of His temple, and would have us to judge ourselves lest we bring in what is antagonistic to Christ and to God as we sit listening to ministry. But then, as I said, the speaker himself has to see to it above all, that if he speaks, let it be as oracles of God. Not that he is an oracle exactly; it is more the idea of oracles, that is, communications of that character. What a great matter that is in the world of darkness around us! Young people come out of schools that are full of darkness, full [p. 111] of hatred to Christ; doctrines from the very pit are proclaimed by the teachers. We hear them in our business places too. The darkness is dreadful. But in contrast, think of the greatness of what is existent now: God speaking on the principle of oracles! What a great honour it is to have any part in this! “If any one speak — as oracles of God”, says the apostle Peter. It is not a matter of guess work or of speculation, but of what I am assured is the truth, as weighed before God in the light of Scripture; it is prompted by the Spirit, it emanates from Him. What is said in this way has the character of the oracles of God. All speaking in the assembly should take on the character of definiteness: “We also believe, therefore also we speak”. The apostle spoke what he knew to be true. This, however, does not preclude godly inquiry, for others are to judge what is said, Of the Bereans it is said, “daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”, Acts 17:11. I would like to have said to those Bereans, Have you examined what Paul said tonight? Yes. And have you found any error? No. That is what I should expect. He spoke as oracles of God. What a wonderful thing it was, Paul going out into the dark heathen world and speaking definitely the truth! He knew it was true. John greatly stresses the idea of truth, and of believers knowing it definitely.
And finally, there is the speaking one to another according to what I read in Malachi: the saints speaking one to another. It is not the way they did things on Mars’ hill: that was a place of speaking; we all know that the Greeks were speakers; they studied oratory and excelled in it too. Some of them brought Paul to Mars’ hill, having said “What would this chatterer say?” Acts 17:18. That is what they said about him. And again, “He seems to be an announcer of foreign demons, because he announced the glad tidings of Jesus and the resurrection to them”. With all their supposed intelligence [p. 112] they seemed to regard the resurrection as a god: “strange gods” — “Jesus and the resurrection” — as if Jesus was one god and the resurrection another. That indicates the intelligence of Mars’ hill! So that the speaking between the saints contemplated in this remarkable passage in Malachi is not a Mars’ hill affair. Those who frequented that famous place “spent their time in nothing else than to tell and to hear the news”, they were there to hear and to tell some new thing.
It may be profitable to suggest here that we ought to be on our guard as to things we report. To be able to tell a new thing is an attraction. That it is new does not prove it is true. The thought on Mars’ hill was, not to tell some true thing, but some new thing; and you may be sure that the reporter, if he were going to be a little prominent in the day’s session, would add to the report, and what he added might make it a lie. Let us be on our guard as to carrying new things. What value are they if they are not true? and if they are true and are not useful, what is the advantage of telling them? We are to be set to edify one another. “Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable, whatsoever things are of good report ... think on these things”, Philippians 4:8.
The passage read in Malachi says, “Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. “Feared Jehovah” is said twice, and it is recorded at a particular time when others were not doing so. “Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard”. I think that is very beautiful, that Jehovah should turn His ear to hear what a group of people who feared Him were saying. I should have liked to turn in too and hear what they were saying. “Jehovah observed it, and heard”. He heard exactly what these people were [p. 113] saying. Notes of it would, I am sure, make good matter for printing. Those people were characterised by the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; so that I learn in the fear of the Lord how to say wise things and to avoid folly. The book of Proverbs is on that line, to keep me from folly and to maintain me in what is wise and helpful. And so, it says, “a book of remembrance was written before him”. A book of remembrance does not mean He wrote down everything that was said; God put down something about these people that He would remember. It is a beautiful touch. Think of God making notes, as it were! He does not need to, being God, but He comes down to our way of doing things so that all should be understood as accurate. What caused Him to turn aside to hear these people? It brings up the whole question of the position today of those who form the assembly: whether we are attracting the ear of heaven and whether any note is being made up there as to what is transpiring among us, over against what you get in public print every day. It is a question of what heaven takes account of. And then the passage says the book was written “for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. It is not only what they said that is noted, but what they thought; that was, “upon his name”; they cherished the name of Jehovah above all other names. So that “they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”.
We come back to Exodus 4, to the great divine thought of sonship: it is not now in millions of Israelites, but in the few, the greatly reduced number, that are the true remnant. The very shrinkage makes for quality, makes what is worth while for God to note in the few that feared Jehovah and thought upon His name. He says, “I will spare them”. Does that not fit in at the present time when there is so much suffering among our [p. 114] brethren? Will God not spare us? I think He will. Things might be far worse than they are; they are bad enough in certain places, but in general they might be worse. And as we promote these features in ourselves, will there not be a sparing of us? I am sure there will. Our prayers are not always answered immediately; it is said of Jabez, “And God brought about what he had requested”, 1 Chronicles 4:10, but it may have taken months or years. I know that desires I have had for forty years, and expressed in prayer, are coming about now. You may ask me what they allude to, but I will not tell you. But what I am saying is right: if you have to wait years, it is worth while waiting. On whom are you waiting? God. Saul lost the kingdom because he could not wait, whereas David says, “I waited patiently for Jehovah”, Psalm 40:1. “Be watchful unto prayers”, 1 Peter 4:7. Waiting on God is worth while; if the answer does not come, pray again. God brings “about” what we pray for.
Then Jehovah says, “ye shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not”. Under these circumstances there is improvement in discernment. The present is a most educational time and we are not to miss it. A brother wrote to me the other day from England, saying, Is it not the finishing course? I believe it is and I do not want to miss it. But I am referring to discernment: as God spares us and makes us more discerning we do not call things by their wrong names, we know how to name things according to what they are as presented to us; so that we “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not”.