RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THE TRUTH
J. Mitchell
Jeremiah 35: 1–11, 18, 19; 1 Kings 21: 1–3, 13–16
I have read these two scriptures having in mind, with the Lord’s help, to say a little about the responsibility for the maintenance of the truth that has been handed down. Both of these passages are extraordinarily beautiful and they would attract us and help us to remain faithful to what has been committed to us, no matter what the cost. In both of the passages you will notice the reference to the father. These sons of Jonadab were carrying out the request of their father, and Naboth speaks about the vineyard given to him by the fathers. I think that is something that should help us at the present time. There have been men amongst us who could be given that designation of fathers. Mr Darby has been referred to as the father of the revival, but there were others who were faithful to the truth. You cannot help feeling that as you get deeply into the ministry of beloved Mr Taylor. You can see that, while there was something distinctive in the vessel himself, there were other persons there who were in thorough keeping with the truth, and they could be described as fathers. We have come down to the close of the dispensation, and what has been wrought out in the fathers has been handed down to us. On the basis of responsibility, we are to appreciate it and use it rightly with the Spirit’s help so that there should be formation in us according to God. That is our responsibility in the present day, beloved brethren.
In the past there was this element of fatherhood that carried the truth, held it in incorruptibility, walked in it and passed it down to us. We have come into a very great heritage. I never feel ashamed of saying that because I think it needs to be said. Some might think that we are somewhat presumptuous but I would like to impress on our younger brethren that we have come into an extraordinarily great inheritance, an inheritance that has been won for us. It speaks in the New Testament of some who bore the burden of the day and the heat (Matthew 20: 12), and these men that I am referring to certainly bore the burden and the heat of the day and preserved us from a good deal. If we follow the example that they have left us we will be preserved from much, beloved brethren. I suppose most of us have thought, Why is it that we have been brought into the light of the truth? You think of the myriads of men there are, the population of a city such as this, the population of a country such as this, and God has seen fit to bring us into an area where the truth is and where it is cherished; an area where it is worked out and is seen in formation practically among the saints. What can we say as to it? It is not because of anything that we have done, it is God’s sovereignty. That should make us all the more grateful for being brought into the area where the truth is known and where the full light of Christianity has been opened up. I have no hesitation in saying that it is the most wonderful area where it is possible for anyone to be. How much we value it would be the question. How much do we value what has gone before and what has come down to us?
These Rechabites were remarkable men, they valued the commandment of their father. It was not their direct father. If you follow the scripture you find that Jonadab was contemporary with Jehu. He was the man who went up with Jehu (2 Kings 10: 15), and therefore these sons of Jonadab are a few generations down the line. The remarkable thing about it is that the instruction of the father was held inviolate. In the message to these men through Jeremiah, it was not that God was seeking to bring them into sin, God would never do that, He is not the author of sin. Let us be quite clear about that. God would never attract any man, woman, boy or girl into a sinful position. What He wanted to do in this matter was to bring out the obedience and the faithfulness to the
commandment that was seen in these men, over against His people Israel who had thrown off the commandment, and there was nothing for them but to be carried away into Babylon. God speaks so feelingly of rising up early and sending prophets to them (2 Chronicles 36: 15), and yet they refused the word. They rejected the word so that He brings forward through Jeremiah the prophet these men as an example. They heeded the words of their father.
Now I seek to use it with the Spirit’s help, beloved brethren, to apply it to our day that we might heed and value the heritage that has been secured for us by the fathers. Jeremiah took them into the finest place in the house of God. The circumstances into which he took them were the most congenial possible to take them into, and it says, “And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink wine”.
You might say as brought into the house of God they were in the finest surroundings where they possibly could have been. They might have thought. Now that we are in the house of God it is perfectly all right to forget the commandment. But in whatever circumstances these men were, to them the commandment was everything. There was no suggestion of giving it up. What an example for us! They said, “We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, ye nor your sons for ever; neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor shall ye have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents”. I am not putting it forward literally. There is nothing wrong with having a house, there is nothing wrong with the things that are mentioned here, but there is a spiritual point in it for us. The things they speak about are things that would minister to man and things that belong to the earth, so that inferentially and typically these men were heavenly-minded men. Their hopes lay not in this scene but in another scene altogether.
Now I think that is important for us to understand in our day because, while we have to fulfil righteousness, which means that most have to go to work to earn a living, the great point is to see that our origin is heavenly, our destiny is heavenly and our life at the present time really relates to heaven. It does not relate to what is here. We are, as the hymn says, ‘Here for a season, then above’ (Hymn 446), and in that season of course things have to be worked out. I am very conscious of the pressure upon our younger brethren in these difficult days commercially in which we are, but let us not lose sight of the great fact that our life really belongs above; our life is heavenly where the Christ is, as the word says, “seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God”, Colossians 3: 1. That is where our life is, it is not here. We are only here as pilgrims. These men did not own anything here. Anything that would root them to this scene they absolutely refused. They had to have a place to live in so they lived in tents—they were pilgrims and sojourners. These are words we do not hear much of these days, but words which I believe are appropriate to Christians. I think they came in very much more in the early days of the revival than they do at the present day. That is what we are, we are here for a season, then above. What a prospect that is, the prospect of being eternally with Christ! Nevertheless our lives can be centred there even now. The verse in Colossians goes on to say, “have your mind on the things that are above ... for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God” (Colossians 3: 2, 3).
That is our portion, beloved, not just on a Lord’s day, or on an occasional Saturday when we have a fellowship meeting, thank God for them, but every day of the week. We are here as strangers and sojourners, earning our living, fulfilling righteousness insofar as the Lord is able to help us and working out piety which is great gain.
It is wonderful to think that we are here in a scene where everything is contrary, opposed to the truth and
opposed to God, but here exhibiting piety. Some of the young men work in banks which are part of the great money system in the world. There is no question about it that that system is what supports the world in all its sin, in all its opposition to God, and yet some of our brethren have to go to work there. What makes the difference between them and the generality of men? The difference is piety, they are in those circumstances with God. That is an important matter and I commend to the young people, especially the young brothers who are heads of houses to “exercise thyself unto piety”, 1 Timothy 4: 7. That means you are here in the self-same scene which is going on to destruction, and all the systems of it are going to come under the unqualified judgment of God, but you can be here as working out things in righteousness and exercising yourself as to piety.
That is what these men were in a typical way, “And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel—Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his injunctions, and have done according unto all that he hath commanded you; therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, There shall not fail to Jonadab the son of Rechab a man to stand before me, for ever”. Think of the beauty of that, “There shall not fail”, it says, “a man to stand before me, for ever”.
What a father Jonadab had been, but the idea of fatherhood had come right down the line. It must have been in each of the sons, they took on this great matter of fatherhood and influence. Every one of us is an influence of one sort or another and our concern is that we might be an influence for good. These men, the sons of Jonadab the Rechabites had been an influence for good and were able thus, not only to communicate what the father’s commandment was, but to have such influence in the family that they were able to preserve the sons. I think the passage is a very beautiful one, like a nugget which the Spirit of God has dug out from the history of the testimony and brought on to view, in order that God may use it as an example to His people so that it might help us in our pathway here.
Now I pass on to Naboth, who is often referred to, but he is a remarkable man. It says, “Naboth the Jizreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jizreel, by the side of the palace of Ahab king of Samaria”. There were these two things in close proximity to one another. There on the one hand was the palace of Ahab with all its grandeur and all its external glory, but there was absolute corruption in it. Not only was Ahab there, a wicked king in Israel, but his wife Jezebel was there, and it speaks of Jezebel as urging him on (1 Kings 21: 25). That wicked woman Jezebel comes into the address to the assembly at Thyatira in Revelation. But alongside Ahab’s palace was Naboth’s vineyard. It might not have looked very large or very imposing alongside Ahab’s palace but it immediately brought out the envy of Ahab. Now I wish to say this, one of the things that will result from men and women who are committed to go on with the truth at the present time is that it will bring out the envy and hatred of Satan.
There is no question about that. He will spare nothing in trying to overthrow them. That is what was sought in the type here. “And Ahab spoke to Naboth saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs”. He had no valuation of the vineyard according to God. Think of putting a garden of herbs over against a vineyard. The vineyard as we know produces wine, and it is that “which cheers God and man” (Judges 9: 13), and furthermore this was part of his inheritance. It had been secured through the children of Israel going over the Jordan as described in the book of Joshua. It was part of the inheritance that had been given to this man and he valued it. As I say, these inheritances have come down to us at cost. Others have laboured and we are entering into their labours. Let us never forget that we are entering into their labours. That should make us value matters all the more. “And Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee!”. He brought God into it. He said, “Jehovah forbid it me”. We must value what we have spiritually, what we have come into as handed down to us according to God and be prepared to maintain it. The garden of herbs was not on the same level as the vineyard. The enemy would seek to rob you of what is yours, but really what the enemy is at is against God. That is what he is at. Persons going on in the truth are of great pleasure to God. Persons who are going on in the light of the assembly are of great pleasure to the heart of Christ. Persons who are manifesting the truth in themselves are a great pleasure to the Holy Spirit. While the enemy may be against you and me, and he certainly is, he really is against God. That is Whom he is against. He has been against God from the very beginning and will be until God deals with him finally. Let us be clear about that, for the giving up of the vineyard was not only going to rob Naboth of what was for himself but was going to rob God, for the wine cheers God and man. It is very touching as you think about this. Ahab said he would give him a garden of herbs.
One of the outstanding ways of Satan in these days is that of imitation. There is another, perhaps more serious way, that we might not think about, and that is to hold the truth objectively, doctrinally, without there being any working out of it practically and substantially inwardly in the saints. I think that is like a garden of herbs. This is what the enemy would seek to do. Yes, you can hold to the doctrine, that is perfectly all right, you can carry it abstractly, carry it as a kind of a creed if you like; but what he is against is the formation of the truth inwardly in the saints. And that is what the Spirit is labouring for, that is why He is here. To have an outline of sound words is important (2 Timothy 1: 13). It is important that the doctrine should be preserved in its correctness. Then what is much more important is that the truth itself should be worked out inwardly in the saints and should be exhibited here as a testimony to God. According to Mr Raven, that is the way in which the truth is maintained. The Spirit of God would exercise us at the present time as to knowledge, and there is a good deal of knowledge. We remarked as to the books on the bookshelves, and some may criticize reading them. I never say that, I encourage the young people to read as much as they can, but then alongside the reading there is need to pray it down into your souls, so that it does not just become knowledge held in the mind which will never preserve the truth. That is the garden of herbs, there is not much for God in that, and the enemy will sometimes soothe us to sleep on that line.
But what the Spirit is labouring for is the truth produced inwardly in the souls of men. In contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints you first contend for it in yourself. That is the way the thing works out and the result is that what is for God is preserved. I do not go into the detail of this, brethren know the passage well, but think of the wickedness of it. I say this without a shadow of a doubt, that the enemy will spare no device that there is at his hand to rob the saints of the truth. Let us be on our guard then, beloved. Let us be on the watch constantly. It needs not only a watch on the general position, but a watch on myself, so that there may be nothing that may give an inroad to the enemy to water down or bring down the level of the truth. You remember in Nehemiah’s day they said, “Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono”. But Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down”, Nehemiah 6: 2, 3. May that be the object of every one of us.
For His name’s sake.
Address at Manchester
17 June 2000