TRUTH LEARNED IN LOCALITIES IN COMPANY WITH CHRIST
[p. 79] TRUTH LEARNED IN LOCALITIES IN COMPANY WITH CHRIST
2 Kings 2:1 - 11, 2 Kings 4:29 - 37
I wish to speak of how the truth is developed and valued in the localities where saints are walking as governed by light that governs the assembly. Unless we are controlled by that light we shall make room for man, and the Lord may have to say unto us, “your house is left unto you”. That is how the Spirit of God records this remark of the Lord in Luke 13.
The book of Revelation teaches us as to local responsibility. We do not get, in the Lord’s remarks to the assemblies, the Pauline doctrine governing them all; Paul’s epistles suffice for that. The Lord in His remarks to the assemblies commends all possible from His point of view, and, as I might say, condemns as little as possible. He enlarges in dealing with us on what is good, and whilst maintaining what is right, minimises what is bad. He leaves the good to shine in its glory; that is what He does. The Lord selected seven of the assemblies from the province of Asia to set out what He had in mind, and He tells us that He walked in the midst of them, “of the seven golden lamps”. So that He comes to them, and it is only as He is in a locality that we really learn how the truth should be in that locality. That is why I read these verses in 2 Kings 2. Elisha would not leave Elijah; if he is to know Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan, it is to be in the company of Elijah. So that one’s efficiency and value in a locality is not simply that he is there: he may be there without any efficiency, or with very little; or he may be a burden. To be there rightly he must learn something of being there in the company of the Lord; realising that in that company, however short the Lord’s visit, there would be some impressions as to His thought of the place and of what there is in it now.
[p. 80] The Lord comes to this town, we will say, and there are those who used to be connected with His name here; they are no longer here in that position. He takes account of them in their changed attitude. He will have to say to them as to it in due course; later on when everything is brought into the light, He will say as setting out the true side of the matter, “thou knewest all this” — a most crushing word from the Lord in Daniel 5:22. There will be no answer to it except for each one involved to bow his head and own to his shame that what he knew was the truth he failed to walk in. Elisha would not be in this class, and he is a good example for us as to our localities.
Elijah began the movement; he started from Gilgal with Elisha, meaning that a brother or sister in a particular locality is in his mind. He is assuming that some locality is in his companion’s mind, we will say Gilgal: Elijah would start with him there. The book of Joshua teaches us about Gilgal; so does the epistle to the Colossians. It is a place of sharp knives, where sinful and worldly traits are dealt with in detail, sharp knives alluding to thoroughness in dealing with them that they might never appear again. That is what Joshua would teach us, and that is what Colossians would teach us, as Paul says, “in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ”, Colossians 2:11. This is the matter dealt with in full reality, because the circumcision of the Christ is the thing in the absolute meaning of it; in His dying for us on the cross all this was effected. He was made sin for us, and thus sin in the flesh was utterly judged and set aside to God’s glory. The Lord Jesus was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners”, Hebrews 7:26. He thus could be our substitute in effecting circumcision — the putting off of the body of the flesh. It is a question not only of the sins, but of the roots of them. It is the body of the flesh, the totality of the flesh; the putting off of it in the circumcision of Christ.
[p. 81] Elijah typically would be in Gilgal in relation to this truth in an exemplary way. He and Elisha are there together. Elisha is a young brother; Elijah is an old one, an experienced one, an honoured servant of God. And we are told before anything is said about these places that God is going to take him to heaven. His race is finished, an approved one here, and so he is an example to be followed. As he moved about Gilgal, Elisha would be near him; he would not be away from him; any absence from Elijah in those movements would be an irreparable loss. It was the learning time for Elisha: it was the teaching time for Elijah. The moments were precious, as they are now. So Elisha would never be away from his master, a remarkable suggestion, because so many are given to absenting themselves from such privileges, thinking nothing of them, some turning their backs on them. How solemn that is! But Elisha did not do this. As he says to Elijah, “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” 2 Kings 2:2. Elijah tested him; Elijah here is heaven’s representative; he is going there and he is already a heavenly man in his mind. Christ is the heavenly Man, “the Son of man who is in heaven”. He comes in amongst us and conveys what Gilgal means; He is teaching us. This is preliminary, but really it is the basic part of what I have to say. It is a question of Gilgal, of where they were, and Elijah says, ‘I will go with you from here’. Elijah did not wish to leave Elisha, he went with Elisha; that is, he conveys the idea for the moment that he is ready to go with him, to give him all the benefit of his company, and he does. I would say to you young people, the Lord is ready to give you all the benefit of His company; and Elisha would have that. Elijah says, “for Jehovah has sent me”, verse 2, because it is a question of God’s will right through here; no question of the prophet’s will, but of God’s will. Any one who is moving apart from God’s will is, I need not say, lawless. The will of God must prevail. Elijah says, “for Jehovah has sent me to Bethel” — but you stay here. Well, will he stay? He went back there afterwards, after Elijah was caught up, but he had been there before with Elijah. No one can be in these places rightly save as he has been with Christ in them. So Elijah says, I am going to Bethel and you stay here; but Elisha says, “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! So they went down to Bethel”, verse 2.
There were sons of the prophets at Bethel; there were not any at Gilgal, so far as the statement goes. The sons of the prophets in these chapters are very uncertain people; they may say the right thing, but it is just as likely that they will say the wrong thing. They are at Bethel, and they would render information to Elisha; but he says, “I know”. The brother that is with the Lord in the locality is the one who knows His mind best. These sons of the prophets are not presented as with Elijah at all; they can talk very freely as to what is going on and they know a little; but presently we shall see that they are very, very wrong. Elisha says to them, “I know”. They said, “Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head today? And he said, I also know it”. His very movements showed it, but what about theirs? Yet they can talk and tell Elisha something. It is the brother that is in the place with the Lord who can judge things and knows; visiting brothers have to be extremely careful; God has placed the responsibility as to His interests on those in the locality. He will work it out in the locality and through those in the locality, that is what He will do. Elisha represents these; he is with Elijah there, but the sons of the prophets are not; you cannot trust what they are saying. It is an important thing to be able to correct such persons: he says, “be silent”, you are not telling me anything that I do not know. How did he know? He was with Elijah. If it be a question of the international [p. 83] position in this world, any one with Christ in the assembly can say, I know; I may not put it into words, but I know; I know intuitively what things are, what the trend is, what the outcome is to be, that God’s will must prevail. The sons of the prophets may be there, but they are not with Elijah; they know something, but do not trust it, because presently you will see that they are telling Elisha that Elijah may not have been caught up into heaven at all. How serious that was! In a typical sense, they were questioning the whole truth of Christ’s present place in heaven. These men are at Jericho, but they have not been with Elijah there. So that it is the brother who is with Christ in the locality, or the brother with whom Christ is, who knows. Sometimes certain brethren in a locality are eliminated from the councils of the brethren: that is not right; the “least esteemed” in the assembly must be recognised as capable of taking part in its affairs, 1 Corinthians 6:4. A group of brothers looking after things is not of God; the one who is with Elijah in the place is the one that will know. The sons of the prophets did not know, they are not characteristically with Elijah at all, they are onlookers.
It is at this juncture, at Bethel, that Elijah calls Elisha by name: “And Elijah said to him, Elisha”, verse 4. I love that thought, a believer having his name announced, as it were, by the Lord in the locality. You are there specially. This is the only time Elijah says it. Earlier we have, “Moses, Moses”; he is addressed by name on a most important occasion when he is to enter into all that is coming out of the burning bush. Moses is peculiarly distinguished at that point. And so with Elisha here, his name is sounded out at Bethel. Each of us as taking his place in the appropriation of his privileges at the Lord’s supper is noted in heaven; he is worthy, if he is truly there as one who washes his robes, Revelation 22:14. But this is something more than that; this is a brother who is clinging to Christ, as you might [p. 84] say, one who will not leave Him. How the Lord loves that! He will give you all of His company that you want, but He values your taking it. It is at this juncture that Elijah says, “Elisha”. How lovely that word “Elisha” would sound in his ears as spoken by his master! He greatly revered the prophet; he never had any thought of displacing Elijah. No, he poured water on his hands, as if to make them even more effective; he loved to work with him and walk with him. In Revelation the Lord speaks of making the overcomer a pillar in the temple of His God. That particular overcomer is known characteristically as a temple man, as Elisha is a house man, for it is a question of Bethel — the house of God. He is a man like that, he is not a man that would build a big home for himself; when he did have an abode of his own it was just one room on the wall with a bed, a table, and a candle. But he was a man who valued the house of God, he was characteristically that; his name is spoken of there; his name is called there by Elijah. He says, “Elisha, abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho”, verse 4. We get the same reply as before from Elisha: “as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they came to Jericho”, verse 4.
What Elijah and Elisha could say to each other in Bethel! What a history Bethel had! How much Elijah could have told about Bethel and what happy seasons they could have in speaking together of the house of God! But it is in that place that the sons of the prophets join in to say to Elisha that his master should be taken from him that day; and Elisha says, “I also know it: be silent!” Elijah undoubtedly approved what Elisha said to them. At Jericho they say the same thing to him: “And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him. Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head today? And he said, I also know it: be silent!”
[p. 85] verse 5. He did not care for their remarks. What good is the voice of brethren of this kind? They are not with Elijah; they are in the locality, but they are not with Elijah there, and they have not the mind of God as to it, but Elisha has, and they cannot tell him anything; he knows.
Then we read, “And Elijah said to him. Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan”; Elisha replies as earlier — “and they two went on”, verse 6. A wonderful journey this! In every place Elijah is conveying the mind of heaven as to it, and Elisha is drinking it in. So they went on together, there is not a jar between them, those two great servants. They are thoroughly one in enjoying the truth. Elijah is surely enjoying the young man’s desire to be with him; wherever he is going, Elisha says, I am going there. The Lord loves that. As I said before. He will afford you all of His company that you wish; if you wish it you will get it, and it is the true way of progress in the things of God — companionship with Christ. Especially, He would impart to you what you need to know that belongs to your locality, what feature of the testimony He would set out in it. Later on, Elisha can go to any of these places and talk to the young brethren and say, I was here with Elijah; you were not. He can tell you the truth, he has received true impressions from Elijah, and you can have them. That is the true idea of service, imparting true impressions of what you have received in companionship with Christ. Of course we read the Scriptures and study, for we are enjoined to do it, but companionship with Christ is the chief thing, getting His mind about things.
Jericho also has its sons of the prophets. They stood to view afar off. Well, they will never get much light because they are remaining at a distance, “afar off”. It is a question of being in the place with Christ — that is the thought. One of the most interesting features of the [p. 86] truth was revived in a pertinent way about twenty-nine years ago in England: a bad state of things arose in a certain town and many knew the trouble; many letters were written and everybody was told about the trouble, but hardly anybody knew the real state of things, for the reason that they did not go there. They stayed away and wrote and never got the thought. Not that one could not set out the principles without going to the place, because principles are eternal and universal, but if I have to deal with the position locally I must go there. I must be there characteristically, though I will not do the thing that is to be done there; I will let the local people do what is needful. That is the principle. Why should they not? You say. They do not know what to do; they will make mistakes. But the Lord will make them understand.
The Lord is very jealous about this matter. It is the assembly period we are in. The book of Revelation speaks of seven assemblies and the Lord is concerned about each of them; He holds them in esteem, and it will never do if the local brethren’s affairs are handled by others. It is contrary to the mind of God. The Lord will give them understanding, and what is to be done they must do; as they are subject and seek His mind the Lord will not leave them. If they cling to the Lord as Elisha did to Elijah, they will get His mind; not these men who are looking at the matter through spy glasses! What is there in their advice? We are told they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha”, verse 15. Very good, so far! “And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground” — very good! — “and said to him. Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty valiant men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master”. Now look at this! Look at these ‘valiant’ brethren, these men that are respectfully looking on at what happened at the Jordan, but did not go there. Look now what they are saying. “There are with thy servants fifty valiant men” able to co-operate in this matter. But what help did they convey? They were, really, infidel about the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Typically, that is what verse 16 means. It says, “lest perhaps the Spirit of Jehovah have taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some ravine”. Look at the misrepresentation of Christ in their words! As if the Spirit of God would take Him and cast Him upon some mountain or into some ravine! The truth is, they did not go down to the Jordan; they “went and stood opposite afar off”, verse 7. They did not rightly see and understand what happened, they did not take it in. But Elisha did, experiencing the whole matter with Elijah, and he saw him go up in the chariot of fire.
Well, that is all clear enough. It is for all of us to see what the Lord is going on with at the present time — local companies. He is forming them, He is schooling them, He visits them to serve them in this way. Principles can be enunciated by brothers residing elsewhere, for God gives gifts to men and these are to be used universally, and among these are gifts of government, 1 Corinthians 12:28, but elders are never seen serving save in their own localities. How can an elder know the brethren in a locality unless he lives there? Think of Matthew 18 being carried out by telephone! Personal contact is enjoined; “Tell it to the assembly” — that is the idea. We are told in our chapter that the sons of the prophets urged Elisha, stressing the fifty strong men; they urged him until he was ashamed, he succumbed to them. That will not do; Elisha failed. We must learn from this incident and refuse such unholy influence in the things of God.
Well now, to proceed with my subject; we read earlier, “And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens”, verse 11. Elisha had previously asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and this was the condition for it. He will not get that at a distance, he will get it as he is there and sees him go up: “if thou see me when I am taken from thee”. If Elisha were there with the others at Jericho, would he see him? No; and they were infidel about what had happened. Go to the place, that is the idea. “If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens”, verses 10,11. One man saw that and hence was a witness to it; these men at a distance are not witnesses, when they do witness, they witness lies. A witness must see the thing that he witnesses to, otherwise he has no authority. As the Lord says, “and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from the beginning”, John 15:27.
I go on to chapter 4 now, just to finish; I wanted to show how Elisha himself had to learn this again. Here is a child given to a wealthy woman, a Shunammite. The child grows and dies, a very humbling thing; he dies at noon. He had been out with the reapers, a boy taking some interest in the work, but reaping, not sowing. Sowing is the first and more important thing — ploughing, harrowing and putting in the seed. The Lord says, “others have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours”, John 4:38. It is largely a time of reaping now and very important, of course. But this boy was with the reapers and his head got sick and he died. His father could not do anything and sent him to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon and then died. How very solemn! A child of promise, a gift from God, but he dies. This is a most searching matter, but I am not speaking now of the state of things in the house; what I want to finish with is that Elisha himself has to learn [p. 89] more fully this matter of being where the need is if he is to help. He is at mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is a somewhat general idea, not a locality in the sense of a local meeting; it is where Elijah did his great work and slew the prophets — overthrew idolatry. Now the mother of the child who died would go there; she knows where to go. I want you to bear in mind that Elisha’s local position was Shunem, that is where he lived; this woman afforded him an abode, one room, as Scripture shows. That is where he resided, but he is not there now, he is away at Carmel. Well, you say, if anybody knows everything about that Shunammite and her house, it is Elisha, and he can settle the matter even at Carmel. But can he? Here is Gehazi, his servant, and the sequel shows that he was not a spiritual man: “And he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way”. Go as fast as you can, he says, and he gave him all the regulations that would shut out unspirituality. Gehazi uses the staff, but that in itself is of no advantage, and Gehazi comes back again to the prophet saying, “The lad is not awaked”. There is no life in that staff, although it represents Elisha’s experience; but there is no life in it any more than in a letter written as to a local matter, the writer ignoring the necessity of being in the place.
I knew an old brother in England who was regarded as an assembly specialist. He tried to settle certain matters in this country and yet he lived on the other side of the Atlantic. Letter after letter came, but they never settled anything; they did harm. I know, for I had to do with the whole matter. Thus Elisha must go to Shunem. He has sent Gehazi, saying, “If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again”, verse 29; he is able to tell him how to keep out unspirituality; but Gehazi comes to tell him that nothing has been accomplished. The mother of the child knew that the prophet must go himself, and she said, “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” These words he had used himself and hence would understand the urgent character of them. He is the local man, a man of God; she calls him earlier a holy man of God, the only one I believe that is so designated. She says to him, “I will not leave thee”, she knew he was the needed man, but he must go to where the need was. He was a prophet of God, but he was also a local man at Shunem, he lived there. And so we are told that he followed the woman. She is a spiritual woman, she has need in her heart, her dead child is in her house, and any true man of God will follow her as she seeks him. The Lord followed Jairus to his house in similar circumstances. So the prophet went.
We must now consider what he does as he reaches the house where the lad is. There is no change; the staff has effected nothing. See what exercise there is with Elisha! No doubt he profited by the earlier experience of his master Elijah who did something very much like this. The passage says, “And when Elisha came into the house, behold, the child was dead”, verse 32. How solemn that is! There is no change at all. It is a question now not of refusing to salute by the way, but of shutting the door; he shut the door on himself and the child. This is a very intense matter, it is most urgent, for it is a child of promise. Think of a child of christian parents, prayed for, brought up in the truth, turning his back on them and dying morally! That is the position — he is turning his back on his parents, he is dead morally, he is in the world. I do not say this child went into the world, but he is dead, he had trouble in his head. “And when Elisha came into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed”, verse 32, as much as to say. This is your matter; the Shunammite’s mind ran thus, and the man of God seemed to accept this. He shut the door on them both and prayed. He prayed to Jehovah first; then “he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and bent over him; and the flesh of the child grew warm”, verse 34. Where did that heat come from? Not from I the staff! It came from God, but through Elisha, a spiritual man. He is identifying himself with the locality and with that dead child in the locality, and the dead child becomes alive. It is through the local man; that is the point I want to press. It is an important matter, because the enemy would becloud the whole position by not allowing the principles governing local assemblies to work out; so if the Lord would do the best He can in the locality, let Him do it.
We are told, “the flesh of the child grew warm. And he returned, and walked in the house”, verses 34, 35. Now it is a question of what is in the house. Maybe there is bad reading there; what is the effect of that upon the child? That is the suggestion I think. “And went up, and bent over him. And the lad sneezed seven times, and the lad opened his eyes”, verse 35. That is wonderful! This is the matter to come to: that you have the local man and he is acting on right principles; he is identifying himself with the dead child, and the dead child is made alive. Then Gehazi is brought into it, a poor kind of man, but still, he is the prophet’s servant and he uses him while he is a servant. “And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. And he called her; and she came to him. And he said, Take up thy son”, verse 36. What a beautiful thing that is! “Take up thy son. And she came and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out”, verse 37. Shunem was never before such a town as it was then. This lad had been brought back to life there; the whole family, as I may say, is affected. The lad is brought to life on these principles. May God help us to maintain them!