THE WATERCOURSE
A.P.Devenish
2 Samuel 5: 6-10; 1 Chronicles 11: 4-9; John 13: 23; Acts 3: 1-11
It is always an exercise, beloved brethren, to get up to the watercourse, involving the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. David said "Whoever". David's city, Zion, the stronghold of Zion, as we have been taught, would involve the place that Christ has acquired in the hearts of the saints. The trend in the scripture in Samuel is inward: "David built round about from Millo and inward". In Chronicles it is outward rather. I just want to speak a little about these two matters, what is inward and what is outward. In Acts 3 it speaks of the Beautiful gate of the temple. It must have been attractive in man's estimate, beautifully carved work, but a lifeless system, no power there to help this lame man: no power! He was there for thirty-eight years. The Lord would have seen him when He was here and yet He left him there. No doubt the Lord would be moved with compassion but would have in view that the power and effectiveness of the presence of the Spirit was to be seen. The man was really a witness to the impotence of the system once accredited of God but which had grown lifeless. "Old and aged", Paul says, "near disappearing" (Heb 8: 13) but he became an evidence or a witness of the power and presence of a divine Person here, administration in the hands of men dispensed in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
But in connection with the inward side Joab's name is not mentioned. I think it has been said that it is as if the Spirit hesitates in this verse to bring any one's name forward but David's. So we should hesitate, should we not, certainly about bringing ourselves forward. But on the inward side it is not so much a matter of bringing persons forward but Christ. So John does not say his own name, he says the disciple whom Jesus loved; that was enough. John 13 has in mind the building inward and John was in the bosom of Jesus content to be the disciple whom Jesus loved. That is a most attractive side of the truth; we do not want to get in the way there. In the service of God we do not want to get in the way. You do not want to leave an impress of yourself at any time but especially in relation to the inward side of the truth. It is wonderful to see that the Spirit hesitates as if it would be unsuitable to bring forward Joab's name in this section, a section which is dealing with the inward side of the truth and which has in mind David's place in the affections of his people. So it says "David built round about from the Millo and inward".
In Chronicles it is rather the outward side that is in view and it links very much with Luke's writings. A priestly hand wrote this book and what is in view is the adornment of the outward position, the attractiveness of what was outward. As in Luke, the public position is in mind; they "wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth", Luke 4: 22. How attractive Jesus was as Luke the priestly writer describes Him! At the beginning of the Acts you get the position attractively adorned. So we need to be concerned about the public side. You say, It is in breakdown, ruins. Surely it is; we can be humble about that, but to what extent is the public testimony adorned by us, the Spirit of Christ seen? "Look on us"; what would they see when they looked at them? That is Luke's line. John, as we have said, is inward, and leads into God; "he came out from God and was going to God" - a great circuit, chap 13: 3. But the whole public position is in view in Luke's writings, involving that the Spirit of Christ was to be seen and an effective powerful testimony known.
So the writer of this book of Chronicles hurries on to David in the history. He goes back to Adam, as Luke does, but he hurries on to David to bring David forward as if nothing else was in his mind and heart; the rest was incidental. Sometimes we think the meeting is not going on very well until we have taken part, but everything is incidental here to the introduction of David. You would not want to get in the way, you would like to make way for Christ. Joab perhaps is viewed abstractly here because he was not up to the place he was given. The writer of this book generally does not dwell on failure; he rather emphasises, where he can, what is valuable - priestly assessment you might say. So it says here that he renewed the city, or the outer city. I think it looks on to the future when the kingdom is to be restored, but it was prefigured in Jerusalem at the beginning. It can be seen at the beginning at Pentecost in Jerusalem, the city being renewed spiritually in persons. Everywhere you went in Jerusalem, after the Spirit came, there would be a wonderful testimony to Christ risen and the Spirit here. I suppose if you had been converted in those days you would have said how drab the synagogue was, how uninteresting were those Jewish teachers, the Pharisees with their long robes, long faces, long prayers. How different! What has happened in Jerusalem? The whole city you might say was alive because of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in persons. Well, the priestly writer brings forward remarkable persons in the beginning of Acts; remarkable persons in the upper room, a crowd of names he speaks about, heavenly personalities that graced the testimony. They did not bring shame on the testimony or bring it into reproach, they graced the testimony and adorned the teaching in what they were. Peter and John are persons who could say "Look on us". It was a wonderful time in Jerusalem. What a difference you might say in every street after the many were converted. There would be a testimony, a wonderful testimony as to what had happened.
Well what is it like in our cities, beloved brethren? In any sense is the outward position adorned by the Spirit of Christ so that we can say, Look on us? Could we say that? I do not think it is too much to suggest that there should be a public testimony that is attractive. Your house on the street should be different from every other house, the children that run out of it different from the other children. Think of the streets in Jerusalem, how different they would have been. You see demonstrated "the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" that Paul speaks about to Titus (see chap 3: 5). Washing of regeneration involves a certain cleansing, bringing the saints into what is altogether new. Never had there been anything seen like this before, persons walking in newness of life. What is seen? I am concerned, beloved brethren, about what is seen. How is the testimony adorned? Is it brought under reproach by the way we live, our manner of life, or is the freshness of the life of Jesus by the Spirit seen amongst the brethren? What was altogether new was in Jerusalem: the new wine and the new skins were seen in Jerusalem, the new wine involving the coming of the Spirit and the new skins the vessel that was able to contain the Spirit and in which there would be a demonstration of spiritual power. We say we cannot claim very much but in Philadelphia there is a little power. There is to be some demonstration of the Spirit, of spiritual power amongst the brethren. So the renewal of the Holy Spirit would be in view. What was aged and traditional was there in Jerusalem and how inadequate it was to set out the testimony of God or in any sense represent Him. But how adequate the assembly was, as formed by the incoming of the Spirit, to present the testimony effectively and powerfully and attractively.
So Peter and John go up together - that is a fine reference - a kingdom man and a family man; they are together and they presented a witness to a wonderful administration of blessing. The kingdom of God has in mind God acting powerfully on man's behalf and for man's blessing. An administration is in their hands: "Look on us... Silver and gold I have not; but what I have, this give I to thee: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean rise up and walk". That is a wonderful thing as over against what is outwardly beautiful, what would attract man's attention and admiration, the Beautiful gate of the temple, but a temple that was lifeless. It is a wonderful thing to have the experience of the temple amongst us, beloved brethren, to sit down in the light of the temple and to experience the truth opening up and divine light coming in. Whoever gets to the water course: that is an exercise for every one. It might not be the most prominent brother or the most gifted brother but whoever gets to the watercourse. Mr Taylor used to wait often; he likened a reading to a fox hunt, who would get the scent? Often a brother's remark would bring a whole opening up of the truth to us - a wonderful thing that, to enjoy and to be astonished and wonder at the experience of the temple in our localities. Whoever gets to the watercourse: who can bring in what will refresh the saints and what will bring about powerful deliverance from what may hinder the saints from having part in the service of God? This man walked and leapt and praised God. "And having taken hold of him by the right hand he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God".
Well, beloved brethren, have we had the experience of these things happening? It may be that someone is not getting on too well, so we get to the watercourse, get the experience of the presence and power of the Spirit. Are we so occupied with our words, with how the brethren might be impressed by them? Do you put your name in there, in 2 Samuel 5? The Spirit hesitates, no other one but David dominates those verses: "David became continually greater". Is that not what we want in our local meetings, the Lord Jesus becoming continually greater? And then that there should be the ability and power to meet whatever may be needed to be met amongst us. The skins would suggest that, the new skins, the strength of the material, the strength of the vessel, the power that would be able to meet every matter that arose. When the Lord came in in Luke 24 they were confounded, frightened, it says. In the beginning of Acts, when the Spirit came, there is no evidence of any one being frightened, yet it was an extraordinary matter. He came as tongues of fire, the sound of impetuous blowing, the breath of God. You might say, Why were they not frightened? It was because of the material, the new skins, equal to the incoming of the Spirit and equal too to the conversion of so many. What would it be like in New York if three thousand were converted? What would we do with them? We would be so anxious, so disturbed. But the skin was equal, it would not burst, it was equal in an undisturbed way to take care of them. Such was the testimony at the beginning and in some measure such is it to be at the end. We have often been told that the mighty men in 2 Samuel are mentioned at the end of David's reign; in Chronicles at the beginning. There is to be heavenly personality, persons who can say "Look on us" without presumption. I do not think there was any presumption with Peter and John. Could you say "Look on us" without presumption? There was something attractive there, a power that was effective. I believe, beloved brethren, we are to know something of these things.
One has not been able to say it very well but I can see a wonderful illustration in what was in Jerusalem at the beginning - the washing of regeneration, public sins being judged, persons cleansed. Ananias said to Saul "Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away", Acts 22: 16. Washing of regeneration links with the truth of baptism. But then they were brought into what was altogether new. I think the life of Jesus was expressed in its freshness in these men: "In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean rise up and walk", involving administration here operating effectively in the power of the Spirit in view of a man who was lame from his mother's womb being made to walk and leap and praise God. One believer told me that in the company where he is they leave out this word "leap" when they read it. I suppose others might put it in several times; but we need to leave it in and see persons rise above their circumstances in energetic response to God. ls the presence of the Spirit seen in your part to God, in my part to God? So much of our time may be taken up to impress the brethren but God is not impressed with that. What we should see in one another is the evidence of spiritual power. That is completely different to natural power. I think, beloved brethren, the element of reproach should be understood by us; reproach leads to the liberty and presence and power of the Spirit. Reproach even in the way in which we pursue the things of God leads to the power of the Spirit. So if we are slow getting off in a reading do not be too worried, get to the watercourse. We like everything to be just lovely but sometimes we need to wait in order that we should get to the watercourse: freshness, power and life that is in the Spirit. There is nothing like it, beloved brethren. It would be a shame to project yourself into such a setting except that there is this side of the public setting being adorned. I would suggest to the brethren that we think about how we are seen - "Look on us". What would be seen? A good salesman perhaps; would something more than that, something of the Spirit of Christ be seen? Beyond what may be there externally in your vocation, your business, what would be seen? Oh, he is a remarkably able salesperson, a remarkably able administrator. It has been said that Jesus would not even have been a successful merchant. What could be seen beyond the physical side should be the Spirit of Christ that adorns the testimony. There is what is outward, it is the renewal of the outer city that one would suggest involves that the Spirit brings out in His freshness the life of Jesus in the saints. What can be seen in you? The pharisees would have their long prayers; it is better to have a short prayer like the man in Luke 18: God be merciful to me the sinner. That was not a very long prayer, he could not even lift up his eyes to heaven, he beat on his breast and said, God be merciful to me the sinner. He went down to his house justified. How would he appear the next day? I think the freshness of the life of Jesus is to come into expression in the saints. The outward position is weak and small and broken, and how we need to feel that; I do not know that we feel it enough, but with all that upon our spirits there is to shine through some expression of attractiveness and freshness of the life of Jesus. Romans 7 is that we are to serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. If you are going to serve God how do you serve Him? Do we serve Him in newness of spirit?
I just suggest that we get to the watercourse in relation to what is inward, and that is a wonderful line of things; "Strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man", Eph 3: 16. We are to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge, we are to be filled even to all the fulness of God; a great inward line is to be experienced amongst us in the power of the Spirit. But then there is what is outward, how we are seen; "Look on us". The testimony in a sense has been put into men's hands. We are entrusted with something, beloved brethren, and in the Spirit's power there is to be what is effective among us so that a man can walk and leap and praise God. How often do we see it happen? Why is it that it does not happen more? See a man delivered in your locality! See a woman like that woman who was bowed over for eighteen years get lifted up! The Lord speaks of her as a daughter of Abraham. Get lifted up, walk uprightly and serve God. How often does it happen amongst us, and why not? I believe it is because the Spirit is impeded, hindered, we get in His way. "Whoever", as if it does not matter who it is, in a sense it does not matter, but can we get to the watercourse and know the powerful movements of the Spirit of God amongst us so that persons are delivered, set free? One's desire is that we may experience something of these things and that they may leave some impressions in our hearts. In the Name of the Lord Jesus.
NEW YORK
9 September 1983
DEPENDENCE
A.Macdonald
(with Christ, 9 March 1984)
Revelation 3: 17; Isaiah 54: 1 (first phrase), 4, 5, 7 (last part), 8 (last part), 13; 55:
11 (first phrase)
It is just the simple thought, beloved brethren, of the need of being in absolute dependence upon divine help in whatever we may do or say in whatever circumstances we may be found. May we be kept and guarded from falling into a lukewarm state which marks the latter days. The Lord Himself would evaluate it: "because thou art... neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of my mouth", and I think that flows from an independent state. We have in another passage "I sit a queen, and I am not a widow" (Rev 18: 7) and here she says she has need of nothing. And yet the tremendous grace! One is touched in one's heart to think of the wonderful dispensation in which we are found, a dispensation of grace, and it has been extended even to our present time so that there is still time to repent. Because that was the word to Laodicea, and the Lord would bring in a word to open to her the reality of what independence leads to. She thought she had need of nothing but it only led to blindness and nakedness and these other matters that are brought in in this chapter, and yet the long-suffering of God and the appeal that the Lord would make to our hearts is that we might not be lukewarm. Paul's striving with Timothy was in view that he might be wholly in the things of God, and one feels the only safe place to be is wholly in the things of God and this would lead to the need of having the spirit of overcoming. So the promise is to the overcomers "Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking; if any one hear my voice and op n the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me". How gracious! What more could we ask for, beloved brethren? The promise is there to the overcomer.
So I just felt that the spirit of widowhood would be opposite to what we have in this state 'in need of nothing' and 'sitting as a queen and am no widow'. It is very difficult to know where to refer in such a book as Isaiah, he is so full. As we know, he prophesied a long time during four reigns ending with king Hezekiah. And I think we are in that time, the last time, and yet, thank God in Hezekiah's day one of the outstanding features of his reign was that he brought water into the city. One feels that in our generation - and one could say it humbly - that water has been brought to us in this city. May we value it more - the work of the Holy Spirit. The enemy is against it; that was the position which Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria sent, took up in Isaiah 36: "he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field (v 2). Oh, beloved brethren, may we be on our guard that nothing may come in to hinder the present living stream of the supply of the Holy Spirit who is bringing the living water to us. It is a very real matter. May we keep the conduit open and keep the enemy away from it so that that blessed flow of living water may be vouchsafed to us in this city until the end of the dispensation when the Lord takes us to be with Himself; that is our blessed hope.
It is a wonderful thing when God intervenes. I do not think it is by chance that we have so many widows in this city; I think the Lord is speaking to us through it. May we get the gain of it, the gain of the spirit of widowhood. I believe the Lord would touch our hearts that we may take on the spirit of widowhood, a deeper understanding and a deeper valuation of our need of dependence on divine support. We do not find any support around us, it will fail us. We may have proved that; if you go for support to Egypt you find it will pierce you, and if you seek the support of anything in this world it will pierce us right through with many sorrows. May we find divine support where love never fails and where there is a never-failing source of supply as we rely upon the Holy Spirit and make room for Him to bring Christ into our souls.
Thus I just thought of two features that are brought to light in these verses. Just think of how God Himself comes in: "For thy Maker is thy husband". Can there be any greater comfort than that in relation to widowhood? God is a God of the widows: "For thy Maker is thy husband: Jehovah of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel". As we have been reminded by beloved servants of old, every scripture in the Old Testament points us to Christ. Oh, may we be thankful in our hearts that in our gatherings we may make much of Christ. He is our Redeemer and He has gone the full way. So this is a very full section of the prophet Isaiah. In previous chapter you get the sufferings of Christ; His death, His burial and His resurrection have laid an immutable basis whereby we can come into the joy and the gain and the buoyancy of what the prophet brings in life. So we are able to exult and break forth into singing and shout for joy. These are real matters. Then we have here too two great thoughts and would desire that we might make room for them: one is the thought of teaching. "All thy children shall be taught of Jehovah". I think that the understanding of widowhood and the more we are in dependence on divine support make way for divine teaching. We know what it has been in this city to have divine teaching amongst us. If we are to grow spiritually we need divine teaching. And then the preaching, as we have in the next chapter: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void''.
O, beloved brethren, let us enter into the spirit of widowhood, not feeling that we know very much and have “need of nothing". May we be in humility and with contrite spirits and open hearts receive the divine bounty that would come to us as we are in dependence upon divine Persons and divine support. For His Name’s sake.
NEW YORK
9 August 1983