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LEADERSHIP

One desires, dear friends, to indicate a little the character of leadership that will enable us to go on together. We all, I have no doubt, realise that the great movement of the enemy — of Satan — is to destroy true leadership, indeed, that leadership should disappear, so that under the influence of democracy, which is Satan’s last weapon to destroy man, the idea of rulers and leaders should be hated. But leadership is of God; in every sphere controlled by God and by heaven that principle prevails. You find it, of course, in its fulness and perfection in Christ. He is the Prince or Leader — “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour” (Acts 5: 31). He has been made the Leader. How often the Lord used the expression, both prophetically and when here, conveying the thought that He is the Leader. He says, “I lead” — and He will always lead: He is God’s chosen and anointed Leader. What marks leaders is, that they lead. They do not have elections,

but they lead, as Deborah said in her song, “For that leaders led in Israel... Bless Jehovah (Judges 5: 2, N.T.) That is what the Lord will always do. He will lead in every sphere.

The same principle is seen amongst the angels, invulnerable hosts as they are, there is no democratic character among them; God has established among them princes, leaders — an archangel is a prince (Daniel 10: 13 and 21. Jude 9). It is a principle that also exists in the assembly according to God. The Apostle says, “Remember your leaders”, and “Obey your leaders”, that is, God would raise up and maintain those who are qualified to lead. The Devil, while blinding men as to the evil of democracy, recognises no such principle; what he aims at is that he should be prince, the prince of this world, the great leader who leads the whole system — that is what he believes in, and amongst his own hosts there are principalities and powers, there are mighty leaders of darkness — “the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6: 12). So one desires that the Lord might help us to see, first the great principle of leadership, and then to see the character of the one who is qualified to lead.

In the passage we read in Isaiah there is a wonderful statement. You have a wolf and a lamb, a leopard and a kid, a young lion and a calf, and a fatted beast; and they are together. You say, “That is impossible”. One often feels in regard to certain local conditions that the position is impossible. You see such a divergence of character — natural character — such different natural temperaments and desires and outlooks, that at first glance we might think that those people can never go on together, they, will fall out before long; and so they will unless they are led. You would never keep a wolf and a lamb together naturally; or a leopard and a kid together; or a young lion and a fatted beast together, unless you have leadership of such a character, that the control is so great, that they are preserved from what they are naturally. Now what kind of a person could do that? The world would think — we would all think naturally — you want some mighty tyrant of indomitable will, who will compel every one to yield. That is the kind of leader that men will shortly get, he will come up out of the bottomless pit, and he will go into perdition and lead the world into perdition with him. But that is not what the Spirit of God speaks of as leadership. He says, “a little child shall lead them”. The influence of a little child is so great and powerful that it can make the wolf and the lamb lie down together — it can alter the whole character of everything.

I wonder if we believe it. You can see it in scripture, and you can see it amongst ourselves. How is it possible that persons who would not walk together naturally go on together for years and years, and happily? It is because they are under the leadership of the little child, that is why. The mighty power o£ the little child is exercised over their hearts so they lie down together. That is what happened in regard of Saul of Tarsus. He was a wolf naturally; scattering, killing, ravening. He was a leopard, though he thought he had no spots, thought that he was blameless, he found out that he was indelibly spotted. He was a young lion, exceedingly mad, full of fury, when he roared, everyone feared. And there is Ananias, he is a lamb, defenceless, timid; he is a kid, separate from all that was going on in the world, in Damascus; he is a calf, pursuing his way patiently, serving others; and you see these two in Damascus together. Ananias goes to where Saul is, and he says, “Saul, brother; the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest hath sent me” (Acts 9: 17). He approached at first timidly, fearing that he could never lie clown with such a man as that; but you see what had happened was that Saul had met the “little child” on the way to Damascus, he had met this “little child” who leads — he had met Jesus — He was on the throne, but He was Jesus. As Saul pursues his way with these destructive features, the Lord says to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” — just like a little child would speak. Not like a great mighty ruler would speak, but just as a little child would speak. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” As though He would say, “What have I done that you should hate Me without a cause and be mine enemy wrongfully?” — As the Lord said in the psalm, “They hated me without a cause”. He never gave them any cause. He is saying that to Saul: “They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully”, the Lord said, “are mighty” (Psalm 69: 4), but it was just the approach of a little child, and Saul says, “Who art thou, Lord?” and the answer comes back, “I am Jesus” ...Jesus brings to our hearts all the features of a little child. And Saul comes under the mighty control and leadership of the “little child,” so that he says to Jesus, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The power of that approach was such that in principle he said to the Lord, knowing Him now as Jesus, “Lord, lead me,” and they took him by the hand and led him to Damascus.

Now there is the lamb in Damascus and the kid and the calf, and the Lord says — to that one, “Ananias. And he said, Behold I am here, Lord.” And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for behold, he prayeth”. Ananias said, as it were, “Lord, he is a lion, he is a leopard, he is a wolf”. “I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name”. But the Lord said, “he is a chosen vessel unto me — Go thy way”, and he goes down, and they lie down together, both of them led by this mighty power of the “little child”.

Now the scripture we read in Revelation shows us the power of the Man Child caught up to the throne of God, set in the place of supreme authority — “unto God”, it says, “and his throne”. It is such that every feature of the power of evil disappears — the result of the enthronement of the Man Child. The Spirit of God says, “the Man Child”; it does not view the Lord in that passage as having pursued His life through this world and reached maturity as to His years here, but He is looked upon in that passage as if taken up from birth, caught up to God and His throne — the little Child is put on the throne of God in heaven, and the consequences of that are that the dragon, the old serpent, the Devil and Satan, is cast out of heaven and there is no place found for him there. Now, that indicates for us, the enthronement in our hearts of Jesus, in the character of the Man Child, there is power that is capable of displacing the whole power of evil.

Every believer has available to him a power that will displace every character of evil; every local gathering has available to it in the enthronement of the Man Child, the power for casting out every kind of evil that may have a footing there. It is available to the church as a whole if only it be used, it is great enough to cleanse the heavens, it is great enough to cleanse — and ultimately it will cleanse — the earth. Do we believe it? That there is available to us, if we will allow the Man Child to rule, a power that will displace every principle of evil that exists, first in our own hearts, then where we are, and then ultimately, in the whole scene, heaven and earth. Now you might say, What does the catching up to God and His throne of the Man Child mean? It means that the power expressed in the Man Child, is such that it can displace evil in every form. Let us look for a moment at what; these features are, or some of them.

You see over against the Man Child is the great red dragon. What a contrast! Think of a little Child, as this passage presents it, just born. “She brought forth”, it said, “a man child... and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne”. Let, us have in our hearts that wonderful presentation of Christ over against the great red dragon. What a contrast! What marks the great red dragon is that it is an immense creature, it draws the third part of the stars of heaven with its tail. And the Spirit of God says it is red, that is, it is conspicuous in this world; there is no more conspicuous colour than red, you can see it anywhere. But look at a little child, how small it is, nothing large, nothing great outwardly, so lowly, so dependent, nothing conspicuous. What can you do with a little child in this world? Yet the consequence of the enthronement of the Man Child is that the dragon is cast out.

Look at the Lord Jesus. Think of Him in Bethlehem — what lowliness! It says, “She brought forth her firstborn, son... and laid him in a manger” — there is nothing great, nothing conspicuous, about that. I doubt if any one else but Jesus ever had such a reception, certainly none of us, or anything like it. You follow Him through this scene at Nazareth; there is nothing great about Nazareth, and there is nothing great about Christ in Nazareth as this world accounts greatness. You see Him going through His life in this world, how small He was! He had not where to lay His head. Ministered to by those who loved Him, but He had nothing of His own. See Him at Calvary, no feature of human greatness there, nothing conspicuous, nothing that this world calls great and notable there. If we will let that blessed Man Child come into our hearts and rule He will cast out the great red dragon so that no place is found for him. There is power in that blessed One, in Jesus, to displace everything.

Then, the old serpent. You think of Jesus in the character of a little child and you put alongside in contrast the old serpent — what a contrast! No greater contrast could there be than a little child and the old serpent! What marks the old serpent from the outset is that he is the father of lies, he is the source of all deception, he is “more subtle than any beast of the field”. Subtlety, deception, lying and darkness — all those elements come from the serpent, the old serpent. But when Jesus comes on the throne the old serpent is cast down and there is no place for him.

What marked Jesus, was transparency. Normally a little child is absolutely simple and transparent in everything, just what he is, and pretending to be nothing else he hides nothing. That was Jesus. He walked through this scene in absolute transparency. At the trial the Lord demonstrates it: He said “I spake openly” — “In secret,” He said, “have I said nothing... ask them which heard me what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said” (John 18: 21). That is transparency: that is just what a little child is. The Lord said, “I spake openly... and in secret have I said nothing”.

I believe a great deal of the trouble that exists between brethren, between families, and generally, has at the root of it a lie, some deception, some elements of darkness, that have not been judged, some covetous principles, there is something hidden at the bottom. When the Man Child comes on the throne the old serpent goes out, there is no place for him. That is what happened to Saul, he had a place of greatness in this world, he was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but when the Man Child was enthroned in his heart, all the greatness of Saul of Tarsus disappeared, and he was called Paul, which means “little”. That comes in remarkably as he is about to meet the sorcerer, Elymas the sorcerer, “child of the devil, enemy of all righteousness” — how will he meet it? By becoming little; it is at that time it is said “who also is called Paul” — that is how he meets it. Paul says,

consequent on Jesus being enthroned, we “have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4: 2). That is transparency. How did he become like that? By the Man Child being enthroned: and the old serpent was cast out and there was found no place for him.

The Spirit of God goes on to speak of the Devil. Could you conceive anything in greater contrast than the Man Child and the Devil? The Devil conveys to us all that is awful, all that is terrible. “Your adversary the devil”, it says, “as a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5: 8). Nobody would care to approach a roaring lion, everyone would tremble at the thought of having to do with a roaring lion — the Devil. But a little child is the most accessible of all: there is no one, there is nothing, so accessible as a little child, whether he be the child of a king or the child of a beggar, the normal condition of a little child is that anyone can approach him. The Man Child is on the throne, and the Devil is cast out, there is no place for him. How accessible Jesus was and is!

The shepherds could come with the utmost ease of heart and spirit into the presence of that little Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. There was no terror filling their hearts as they drew near to that wondrous spot. Simeon could take Him in his arms and bless God. The man full of leprosy dared not approach anybody on earth till he saw Jesus, and he came up, it says, and kneeled down. The woman of the city which was a sinner — dared not to come near the Pharisee, he was too great; too unapproachable, but when she knew Jesus was there she brought a box of ointment and stood at His feet. A blind beggar could expect no audience with the great of this world, he dared not call out to them, but when he heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried “Jesus... have mercy on me”. The dying thief, to whom could he go? Who would listen to a dying malefactor? Would Pilate? Never for a moment. Would Herod? Never! Would the priests? They would not look that way. Would the soldiers? Not at all; they would not disgrace their uniform. Would Jesus? Yes, he could approach Jesus. He is so blessedly accessible that he could appeal to Him.

We see also, that those who come under the influence of that blessed One on the throne become accessible. The apostle Paul was, I suppose, one of the most accessible men in the world after he called Jesus, Lord. Anyone who had a godly concern could write to him and come to him, he was within reach indeed he said to the Corinthians who were reigning as kings, “we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake”, (2 Corinthians 4: 5).

The consequence of the enthronement of the Man Child is that Satan is cast out. Satan is the accuser, night and day he accuses the brethren before God. He hates them and he accuses them night and day. Jesus at the right hand of God intercedes for us, His mission there on the throne is to intercede: as the Apostle says, “who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8: 34). Could you have a greater contrast — an Intercessor — an abiding Intercessor: and one who night and day — accuses! If the one rules, the other goes.

Dear friends, if we allow that blessed Man Child upon the throne of our hearts, upon the throne in the gatherings, the accuser of the brethren will be cast out, there will be no place for him. That is what marked the blessed Lord here; in all its brilliant glory it shines out at Calvary. They were accusing Him, accusing Him falsely. The accusations that they bring are false, but what does He do? He intercedes in the presence of those that hated Him without a cause.. Looking round upon the whole scene He does “not accuse, He prays for them. As sure as that blessed One comes on the throne the accuser will be cast down. One would ask that each of us may face this question. There is ever a danger of accusation. That means, Jesus has lost His place in our hearts. That we no longer are being ruled by the One who rules in heaven. He is on the throne of God, He is caught up to God, it says, and His throne. We can never be right unless we are in accord with heaven, and on the throne of God is the Intercessor, and the consequence of that is, the accuser is cast out.

All the elements of darkness, of secrecy, of accusation behind the scenes, spring from Satan. It is well to face it. The origin of accusation is Satan. If there are things that should be said, they should be said openly. “I spake openly,” the Lord says. The source of all movements that are not open and transparent is the Devil. I would urge all of us to recognise that, and judge. “If thy brother,” it says, “shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault” (Matthew 18: 15). Do we do it? Or do we accuse him? Do we go and see him? That is God’s way — go and see him. The Lord ever spake openly. If only we will let that principle into our hearts, the accuser of the brethren will be cast down. What a power is in the Man Child! He is the little Child that leads the lion and the calf, the leopard and the kid, the wolf and the lamb, so that they are together according to God.

You can see that worked out, a feature of the enthronement of the Man Child, most blessedly in Stephen. He “looked up”, it says, “and saw the glory of God and Jesus” (Acts 7: 55). He looked up and he saw the Man Child on God’s throne and he took character from Him. His heart expanded to give place to Jesus in that character. As he kneeled down there was nothing like the great red dragon about him, he was a lone, dependent man under the rule of Jesus as Lord. He sees God. “Blessed” it says, “are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5: 8). And he saw the glory of God. There was nothing about Stephen that would terrify, though indeed they could not resist the spirit and the wisdom with which he spake. The Devil in his terrifying character in no way influenced Stephen. Satan, the accuser, had no place in his heart. As he saw Jesus on the throne, instead of accusing, for he might have accused them, he had cause to complain — he intercedes. It says they gnashed on him with their teeth; he had never given them any occasion for it. They “ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city and stoned him”, but he did not accuse. Satan, the accuser of the brethren, had no entrance into his heart because Jesus was enthroned. He intercedes for them.

If there is that which is troubling us, do not let us accuse, but let us pray. God will come in if we pray, and if there is that which should be said, let it be, as with Stephen, said openly. Openly he said, “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye”. There is nothing secret about it: but then, having said all that, he intercedes for them. He says, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. There is a man who corresponds with heaven. As Jesus as the Man Child has His place on the throne of God, these awful features of Satan disappear from heaven, and as Jesus in this character is enthroned in our hearts and gatherings, so surely will those features disappear. Let us henceforth give place to this blessed One as Ruler, as Leader enthroned in this character. May the Lord grant it to us all.

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